G+ Mailbag: Sound Editing vs Sound Mixing?

I win a LOT of Oscar pools, mostly because I usually nail the technical awards. I just received this question from my pal Kathleen on Google Plus:

Hey, +Juan Carlos Bagnell ! Can you give me some schooling on the Academy Award's sound categories? Namely the giant differences between the two, and what one looks for when analyzing/judging sound mixing and editing? 

Sure! The difference between the two is actually pretty simple to explain.

Sound editing is the creation of individual elements for the film. Anything created, or recorded on location, is the purview of the Sound Editor, who is responsible for collecting all of the elements needed to complete the film. Often it's referred to as Sound Effects Editing or Sound Design.

Sound Mixing is the final mix down of all the audio elements to create the finished product for display. This is the older of the two categories, and in the past was simply referred to as "Best Sound".

Now judging good sound is often a little tricky. On the one hand sound effects shouldn't be distracting, but to win the award, work must be done that stands out to a degree. Looking at the list of Sound Editing winners, you'll see a number of films which pushed right to the knife's edge boundary line of "cool" versus "distracting".

Sound Mixing is judged on the cumulative effect of the audio on the film. Beyond just whether or not there are any distracting elements, the audio must have a unified vision which enhances the films it is supporting.

Obviously it's very common for one film to win both awards, though occasionally two films with amazing sound will split the awards, like in 2008 where Dark Knight took Editing and Slumdog Millionaire took Mixing.

Now, these categories are usually decided by the people that work in those respective fields. You can always turn to the awards they give themselves (like the MPSE Golden Reel) to see who's building momentum for the Academy Awards.

This year, the Reels were all over the place, so I wouldn't be surprised to see a split between Hugo, Super 8, or War Horse.

Good luck in your Oscar pool! If any of these tips help you out, you should buy me a cup of coffee with your winnings (donation links to the left)... ;-)

Some Audio Guy Microphone Featured During The Acadmey Awards!

Ok, so I've been sitting on this one for a little while, but I had to wait to make sure everything was clear to use these samples.

This is just flippin cool!

A friend of mine works at the production company that was responsible for doing the graphics and inserts for the Academy Awards. They needed microphones, and my pal called me up (since we already know, I've got a few microphones).

 They rented a Canon EOS 5D Mark II (my current dream camera) to shoot video elements, and I got to snap a few stills with it (reinforcing dream camera status).

Here's a tiny little snippet of how some of the video was used.

Bonus points if you can tell me which mic it is!

I gotta say thanks to Prologue Films, one for letting me man handle my dream cam, and two for letting me see one of my mics on a movie screen!

Did you win your Oscar pool...

...cuz I certainly didn't win mine.

Transformers let me down, man...

Transformers totally let me down...


Transformers (Two-Disc Special Edition)

I MET A LIVING LEGEND!!!: Norman Corwin Edition

Yup he's 97, and as sharp as ever.

I got to go hang out at the the Museum of Television and Radio yesterday. AFTRA was wrapping up this years mentoring program by having college students perform a radio play, complete with live sound effects. Of course I'm a sucker for this and had to be there. It was only after RSVP-ing that I realized the play they were performing was an unpublished work from Norman Corwin, and that he would be in attendance. To be honest I only had a cursory understanding of who Corwin was, but I knew enough to know that this was a pretty big deal.

I showed up 90 minutes early.

The play was a funny little romp called "The Strange Affliction", and dealt with a woman who couldn't stop speaking in rhyme, and the students had a fun time performing it. After the play we were then treated to the Academy Award winning documentary about the life of Corwin called "A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin".

As it was also so close to his birthday, a reception was held with a cake and refreshments. My favorite moment was Corwin's proclamation post blowing out the candle on his cake, that he couldn't enjoy the cake because of dietary restrictions, but that it was sweet enough knowing there were only some 500 days left for Bush.

It was a great way to spend an afternoon.

For those not as familiar with Corwin's work, first up, check out these Youtube clips of him speaking, the link should direct you to search results.
Then check out his web page here. It has tons of clips of his work in radio.


someaudioguy some audio guy narration voice over production aftra voice acting radio drama plays theater demo audiobooks