When humans see something move, there is almost always a sound involved in this. Move around and your clothes rustle. Scratching your skin makes sound. Lightning is always followed by thunder. When a plane flies, we hear the propulsion. When we see something move with motion graphics or animation, we expect to hear something.
If you don’t hear something when it moves, it can feel creepy or otherworldly. Horror films use this for ghosts. Things are eerily silent and then they scare you by breaking that silence or isolating sounds. If that’s not an effect you are going for, then not hearing sound can seem cheap and inorganic. Putting in sound effects like footsteps, clothing moving, and doors closing is a way to make your video come alive.
Sound Design can be a fairly cheap process as long as you have access to a Sound Effects library. Editors or Sound Mixers can usually do it. Keep in mind that you want to have isolated sound effects to make it easier for the Sound Mix. What is a Sound Mix? Well, let’s move on.
4. Sound Mixing
Much of the audio recorded and placed in video has been recorded in a lot of different places. It is being brought into a video that may have motion graphics, multiple days of shooting, or any number of things. In order to unify the sound, we hire a sound mixer.
In addition to unifying the sound, Sound Mixers also prepare the sound to perform best for the platform on which you are showing it. A theater often has great speakers and a high dynamic range. That is a very different environment from viewing a seven second Facebook ad on a phone.
Sound Mixers may also be called Sound Re-Recordists. These days we “Bounce” the file in a computer, or “Export” the final delivery, but the old wording sticks around. Some effects Sound Mixers can add include EQ (Equalization), Compression, Limiting, and Reverb or Echo.
An editor can mix sound, but being a great editor and a great sound mixer are two very different skills. Clients often don’t want to work with multiple people, but if your editor doesn’t have the technical expertise needed to mix sound, hiring a separate sound mixer may help you get the best final product. As an editor I prefer to have professional Sound Mixers finish the audio. They are more efficient with the tools needed to mix audio properly, as it’s often done with separate software from editing software. Sound Mixers often charge the same rate I do, but can improve the audio more in less time.
Sound Mixing can make a huge impact on your end product. The beloved resonance of a voice-over actor or podcast host’s voice are often aided by the sound mixer bringing out their best qualities.
5. Color Correction
You may think, my video looks fine, why would I need to color correct it? Isn’t correction only for when you have problems?
Yes, originally color correction was done when there were problems with film and editors had to match shots that looked a bit different. That still exists, but in addition there is often amazing details that make your image pop or enhance the feeling and goal of the video. It’s the final touch on the visual medium of a movie. Besides not mixing sound, not applying color correction is the first indication that a video is not done professionally. Here are some examples of video before and after it is colored.
Often you’ll hear an editor respond to the request of color correction with “I’ll throw a LUT on it.” What is a LUT? LUT stands for “Look Up Table,” which is is a preset like an Instagram filter but applied to video images. This is a cheap way to complete this process, but it can be problematic if the video contains clips from various parts of the day. Color Correction evenly matches the images to the time of day as well as to the style and mood of the video. This step fully immerses the viewer in the world of the video while also enhancing the visual aspects.
