ABSTRACT
Sound is an incomparable stimulant to the audience’s imagination and only rarely gets its due. Ideally everyone is alert to sound-composition possibilities from the moment the script begins to be written and keeps building on these concepts until postproduction ends. Opportunities and special moments arise in addition to those programmed in from the beginning, and this is part of a work asserting its identity. It’s important to keep track of every idea for sound that anyone has along the way, and not leave it all to an audio-sweetening session. That, by the way, is an expression I detest. It suggests that sound is sour and needs sugaring. Sound design, sound editing, and sound mix are more direct and respectful terms. Especially if you have monitored and directed the sound treatment throughout, the sound mix will be a special and even exhilarating occasion.
