ABSTRACT
Mixing is physical as well as mental, with fingers constantly tweaking the faders, and eyes constantly darting between picture monitor, level meter, and tracks. Most postproduction mixes are done either on digital consoles hooked up to multiple outputs of an audio workstation, or on a console-like controller for the workstation itself. Both systems look similar: there is a panel with sliding faders for each track, some knobs to control effects, a few computer screens, and of course the picture monitor. In a sound studio, "dub" means duplicate. Re-recording individual sounds into a finished track originally meant copying the combined sounds onto a new piece of film. The effect of Automation Predubs were invented because the alternative—trying to mix everything at once on a big film—is virtually impossible. It would take an army of engineers at a gigantic console, each paying attention to their special area of the track, while a supervisor coordinated the overall sound.
