Always make sure to get the specific spec sheet from the audio post house you’ll be working with. Things are always changing and every audio house can have different specifications.
That being said, the list I’ve created below is pretty much currently the industry standard at the time of writing.
Reference Picture:
- Quicktime video with audio as it is so far in the creative process
- Name each spot with a unique title (even revisions)
- File should be Apple Prores 422 proxy codec
- DNxHD files also work but these are larger and take more time to transfer/storage space
- The above codecs are recommended due to Pro Tools being the industry standard audio post software at this time of writing.
Reference Audio
- AAF with EMBEDDED audio
- OMF files also work but are an older file type and are not as versatile
- PLEASE make sure that you check that the AAF/OMF has EMBEDDED audio. If you are unsure check the file size upon export. An embedded file will be XX.XX MB and unembedded file will be XX.XX KB
- Include a 2 pop two seconds before the first frame of picture
- Especially important if the picture begins with a fade in.
- It seriously baffles me that people never include this little thing. It helps ensure that all of the audio lines up to the picture properly. Yeah, we can usually figure it out, but why leave it up to chance?
- Include volume and/or clip based automation
- This helps us to maintain the mix level that the clients have heard so far.
- Include audio handles of at least 5 seconds
- This allows us to adjust edits as needed and have enough wiggle room for it.
- Export AAF with stereo tracks for stereo audio
- The alternative is exporting all tracks as multiple mono and us having to manually move to and pan stereo audio tracks. Saving time.
- Keep voiceover, dialogue, effects, and music on separate tracks whenever possible
- This is a small organizational method that really is so appreciated. Please at least keep this consistent if able.
- Let me tell you, most editors are messy in their sessions. If editors sessions are any indication of how they organize the rest of their life I would hate to see it.
- Please include all production mics
- Please, please, if you don’t remember anything else, this is one of the few points I would love you to etch into your brain if you’re able. Look, I get it– you sussed out the mics, you picked the best one, maybe you even got fancy and cleaned it up, it could be very likely we go with what you gave us, they’re also taking up valuable screen real estate. (breaking this up in points so it’s easier on people’s psyche)
- But ultimately we have final control over audio. There are times when we are able to make use of the other mics for one reason or another the reason can be many but having the flexibility to get another mic that’s readily available saves time in having that conversation asking for it and you taking the time to send it over– likely when you are working on something else.
- Do not use any special characters within clip names in the AAF/OMF
- Ok so this is where I really feel like some editors don’t care as much as they should about their job.
- Just to make sure, special characters are any of the following: “~!@#$%^&*()+={}|\:;”<>’.?/” as well as SPACEBAR, any letters with accents, and any of the other fun symbols you can type on a keyboard.
- Just as a fun fact about computers because it feels like many don’t know– special characters give computers trouble. It has mostly been handled since programmers have to account for it, however they can cause problems for different programs. Special characters in filenames affects a program’s ability to be read and can cause errors. This stems from programs not having the capability to do it as well as many special characters being used for certain functions within programming itself.
- Please do yourself and all computer geeks a favor and please quit including special characters in filenames. Stick to “-” and “_” to ensure your files are always good to go universally. Just eliminate that possibility entirely and know your files will never cost your dollar signs by being held back by one in a filename. (Yes I’m aware how bad that was)
- Do not embed any video in the AAF/OMF
- Use AAFs and OMFs strictly for audio purposes, they’re not the best for video.
- It feels like most editors know this because I don’t see it ever properly done. What I usually see seems like people leaving a small accidental forgotten clip. But a clip and track I have to deal with and remove nonetheless.
- Do not enable multiclip to include any offline clips when exporting an AAF/OMF
- Another things to delete and a PITA, luckily I have never seen this personally
- Do not use clips with different sample rates within the same AAF/OMF
- Unless your audio post house is using Reaper (not likely), then their program can’t handle multiple sample rates. What happens is, all of the clips that come in of the differing sample rate get slowed or sped up since they are resampled (reconverted) on import.
- If you use any rendered audio effects or speed changes please include the original unaffected clip on a track below in the AAF/OMF
- Same reasoning as all production mics and what you get from stretching every day— flexibility. (friendly reminder: you should probably stand up and stretch/walk around every at least hour or so if you can when working. Try to mitigate the negative effects of sitting all day)
MUSIC & SFX
- High res audio files (.AIFF OR .WAV) are a must. At least a sample rate of 48kHz and bit depth of 24 (unless it’s music which is fine at 44.1kHz 16bit)
- Please avoid MP3 audio files unless you know there will be a sound designer replacing everything. Y’all are great at sound designing, we mostly just end up mixing what y’all send us when we can. Which leads me to my next point
- Please make sure you have the correct usage rights so there are no legal issues down the line. This means your music and sfx should be licensed to you.
- Avoid ripping clips from YouTube and using free sfx that require attribution (at least in the broadcast industry. Some places don’t mind giving attribution to use an sfx). freesound.org is fine to use as long as you see that the sfx is licensed under Creative Commons 0 as that doesn’t require attribution.
- Friendly reminder about the popular ALIBI SFX Library. Their sound effects are licensed on a “per project” basis. Which I don’t understand at all and personally I would avoid it, seems too expensive to license individual sfx when you could just amass other libraries and edit those sounds to fit or make your own.
- Another reason to avoid using sounds from these places is that the client may end up LOVING what you put in there but we won’t be able to use it and we will have to create something reminiscent of the original. Let’s not end up needing to replace effects unless we have to
- If you edit the music, please include the full music track in the prep.
- There are times we will need to re-do or adjust the edit
- If possible please always provide MATCHING splits to the music track.
- With clients it’s always a possibility that they will keep adjusting everything till the very end. Better for us to have everything so they can play accordingly.
- Please provide a ref mix file and not only splits so that we can be certain as to how the finished track sounds so we may stay true to the original vision.
- Please export your splits so that they equal the ref_mix file as close as possible. This saves time in that we don’t have to try to guess the final mastering chain.
- If providing mix(es) and splits, please ensure that all files have a PROPER 2-pop and filenames. Please use unique names for each iteration of the mix(es) and splits.
- I just love knowing my files are sync’d instead of assuming they are. Can you tell?
File Transfer
If at all possible, please put all files with intuitive organization into a folder and compress it into a .zip file. This allows upload of only one file with is usually faster/safer allowing less chance for one of the multiple files to fail/be corrupted in the upload.
That seems like a long list but if you delete my commentary it’s a pretty reasonable length.
Download a free simplified spec sheet below.
If you work in the industry and have any questions or comments please do reach out to me and I will address accordingly.
Have fun editing!
All the best,
FCP