Sound
Sound notes that survive the shoot.
Production sound generates critical information — wild lines, room tone, problem takes, playback requirements — and most of it is written on a report that reaches post as a photograph, if at all.
What is sound department software?
Sound department software organises a production's audio requirements and records — cues identified during breakdown, production sound notes captured against the take on set, and the handover of both to post-production. It keeps sound information attached to the scenes and takes it belongs to.
What you get
Cues from the breakdown
Sound effects tagged during [breakdown](/script-breakdown-software) import as the department's outstanding requirements, grouped by scene — not as notes somebody has to remember to act on.
Filed against the take
A production sound note carries its scene, category and timecode in and out, so it points at a specific moment rather than a vague recollection.
Handover to post
One click hands a sound note to the [post-production hub](/post-production-software) as a tracked task, keeping its scene and a link back to the original note — so post works from what the mixer wrote rather than a retyping of it. A note can only be handed over once.
Music cues with their timings
Cue number, title, composer, and whether the cue is temp, original or licensed, with SMPTE in and out points. A spotting-to-mix pipeline runs from spotted through demo and director review to recorded and mixed.
Room tone is always the problem
Every sound mixer knows to capture room tone. It still gets missed, because it's captured at the end of a location when everyone is packing and the unit is being called to move.
Tracking it per location as a requirement rather than a habit means the gap is visible before the trucks leave — which is the only moment when fixing it is cheap. A requirement is outstanding until somebody marks it captured, and the outstanding list is grouped by location.
Notes that mean something in post
"NG sound" tells post nothing. The useful note is specific: what the problem was, whether it's fixable, and whether a wild line was captured to cover it.
That distinction determines whether a take is usable and whether ADR is needed — which is a scheduling and budget question, not just a technical one.
Where sound gets lost
The handover from production sound to post is one of the weakest links on most productions:
- Reports written on paper, photographed, and emailed
- Wild lines captured but not logged, so nobody knows they exist
- Room tone assumed rather than confirmed
- Playback and sync requirements known only to the mixer
- Slate mismatches with camera, discovered during sync
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is room tone and why does it matter?
- A recording of a location's ambient sound with nobody speaking, used in post to fill gaps and smooth edits between takes. Without it, cuts in dialogue sound abrupt. It's easily missed because it's captured last, as the unit is packing.
- What is a wild line?
- A line recorded separately from picture, usually because the on-set take was unusable or a delivery needs replacing. Capturing it on the day is far cheaper than scheduling ADR later.
- How does this connect to the camera report?
- Not directly yet. Sound notes are filed against the scene with timecode in and out, and takes are logged against the same scenes, so both sides point at the same scene record.
- What should a production sound note contain?
- Specifically what happened — the source of any problem, whether it's fixable, and whether a wild line was captured to cover it. 'NG sound' is not actionable in post.
- Does it handle post sound too?
- Production sound notes hand over to the [post-production hub](/post-production-software) as tracked tasks, carrying their scene and a link back to the original note. A note can only be handed over once. Sound editing, ADR and mix are then tracked there as tasks, and music cues run their own pipeline from spotted through to mixed.
- Is it free?
- Yes, on the free tier alongside the other department hubs.
Terms explained
- Slate
- A slate is the board filmed at the head of a take carrying the production, scene, take and roll numbers. Its hinged arm is clapped to produce a sharp sound and a matching visual frame, giving post a point at which picture and separately recorded sound can be aligned.
- Take
- A take is a single recorded attempt at a shot. Takes are numbered sequentially within a setup, logged with a circled marker when the director considers them usable, and identified by scene, slate and take number so the edit can find them.
- Continuity
- Continuity is the consistency of everything visible and audible across shots that will be cut together — wardrobe, props, hair, position, eyeline, screen direction and the state of the action. It is tracked on set by the script supervisor and matters because scenes are shot out of order.
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Stop losing sound notes to paper.
Captured against the take, handed to post intact. Free to start.