George Lucas has been quoted that “Sound is 50 percent of the moviegoing experience.” Think about the helicopters overhead in Apocalypse Now, think about the hum of the lightsaber’s in Star Wars or the din of war from the opening of Saving Private Ryan. The use of sound in all of these examples evokes an emotional response. These elements help tell the story, convey feelings, set place and mood. The best features use sound to pace the story, give meaning and context to the visual story being told. It is often noted that filmgoers will be very forgiving regarding technically distorted visuals but will have no patience for technically distorted audio. How often have you “watched” a movie while cleaning the house, doing the wash or ironing the laundry? Try doing that with the sound turned off.

OK, so sound is important, what does that mean for me? If you make films it should mean that sound is a priority not an afterthought. You should understand the sound process from post to production and the personnel and gear required. Even the most technically deficient director or producer knows about 720P or 1080i or SD vs. HD. Ask then what microphone they use or what mic-pre or mixer and there is usually just a blank stare. Or “we use wireless.” Or worse “what does it matter?” As a post sound professional I can tell you that if you want to make your post production process easier, save money, have a better quality product and use most if not all of your production recordings I suggest spending a bit of time learning more about sound.


I posted a low-budget feature film that sounded as if the entire recording was off-mic and the sound man was in the building next door. Every scene of recorded dialog was filled with “room” and the filmmaker wanted to know how to remove some of that “reverb” from the production tracks. Even if there were some sort of magical plug-in or device that could solve such a giant problem it would be an enormous job to process all of those individual sound edits for a two-hour feature. Instead he was looking at extensive dialog replacement, (all of which would have to be treated to sound equally thin and distant) and a shrug of “lesson learned.” The filmmaker was shocked about the quality of his audio since he was told he had to use a boom and had indeed used a boom for the entire shoot. After some deeper exploration he divulged that there actually was no sound person, just the aforementioned boom – attached to the top of the camera. So whatever the distance the camera was from the scene the boom mic was of course equally as distant. No one was wearing headphones and monitoring the takes. This film is still seeking distribution.

We’ve had “talkies” for many decades now and the sound process essentially remains the same although the tools are much more sophisticated. Sound is a key technical element of filmmaking. Sound is a key element of storytelling in film. “Listen” to the story you are creating and tell it with sound as well as picture.