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Picture editorial hands you a cut. Before anyone edits a word, you rebuild that cut from the original location recordings, with every microphone, in sync. This is the conform.
You will learn toAbout 3 hours + exercise
Lesson 1.110 min
A conform rebuilds the picture editor's cut using the original location recordings, so you get every microphone, in sync, with extra audio on each side.
On set, the production sound mixer records each microphone on its own channel: the boom and each actor's lapel mic. These are the isos. The recorder also makes a mix track, a quick blend of them. Chapter 02 covers all of this in detail.
The picture editor then cuts the film. What they cut with is different from editor to editor:
| The editor cut with | What that means for you |
|---|---|
| The mix track | The easiest case. Each edit points to the right sound roll and timecode. |
| The camera's scratch audio | Each edit points to a camera card, not a sound roll. You'll match by timecode or by scene and take instead. |
| All the isos | You'll see the same shot on several tracks. Clean the list first, so you don't bring it in four times. |
Either way, the editor's sound is only a guide. It shows what they chose and where. The conform replaces it with the real recordings. That gives you:
Lesson 1.215 min
The turnover is the package picture sends to sound. Ask for everything on this list, in writing, before picture lock.
Tick each item as you receive it. Your ticks are saved in this browser.
Many facilities start each reel's leader at 00:59:52:00. The 2-pop (one frame of beep) lands at 00:59:58:00, and the film starts at 01:00:00:00. Reel 2 starts at hour 02. Always confirm this on each job.
Lesson 1.320 min
Each line of an edit list says: take this piece of this recording, and put it at this point in the film.
An EDL (edit decision list) is a text file with one line per edit. Each line has a source, where the sound comes from, and a record position, where it goes in the film. Click any part of the list to see what it means. Click a line number to see it on the map.
Every part of the list has one job. Begin with the event number of the first line.
The map is drawn to scale. Top: the film. Bottom: the location recording each edit comes from. The pale area around each piece is extra audio (handles) that the conform gives you.
1. Source length always equals record length. If they don't match, the shot has a speed change, and you need to flag it. 2. Old-style EDLs only allow 8-character roll names and carry no scene or take. That's why AAF and XML lists are better.
Lesson 1.420 min
Roll name plus timecode is the address of a recording. Scene and take confirm it. File names alone are not enough.
Every location WAV carries hidden information, called metadata. The two pieces a conform needs most are the roll name (which recorder card or day) and the timecode (what time it was on set when recording started).
Why both? Timecode is usually the time of day, so 2:22 pm happens every shooting day. And recorders restart their file numbers on every roll, so 22A_T03.WAV can exist twice. Roll name plus timecode is unique.
Click the file you would use.
Lesson 1.545 min
EdiLoad reads the editor's list, finds every location file, and builds a Pro Tools session with all the microphones in sync.
EdiLoad is made by Sounds In Sync and runs on Mac and Windows. This chapter uses the current version, EdiLoad v6.
Load the editor's AAF, XML or EDLs. You can add several reels into one list. Check the frame rate is right.
Remove duplicate events and join clips the editor split into pieces, so you have fewer, longer events.
Point EdiLoad at the location WAV folders. It matches each event by file or by timecode. Fix any event that doesn't match, and write down any you can't fix.
In the Assembly window, pick which microphones to keep and drop empty channels. Align Waveforms lines each event up with the editor's guide, fixing small sync errors.
Export a Pro Tools session. Open it, add the QuickTime and the editor's guide track, and check sync (next lesson).
All from Sounds In Sync. Where v6 has no video for a step, the latest official video is used.
The User Guide comes inside the installer. EdiLoad needs an iLok (USB or iLok Cloud) and Pro Tools 2021.3 or later. A 3-day trial starts the first time you open it, so plan your practice before you launch it. Sounds In Sync offers student discounts.
Lesson 1.620 min
Play your conformed boom together with the editor's guide. If they sound like one voice, you're in sync.
The editor's guide is always in sync with picture, so it's your reference. Use this lab to hear what being slightly out sounds like.
Less than ¼ frame out sounds hollow and phasey. About 1 frame out sounds like two claps. Both mean the sync is wrong.
The beep on the guide must line up with the "2" in the picture leader. If it doesn't, stop and fix that first.
Play through each scene. Listen for hollow or doubled sound. Zoom in on claps and hard consonants like "t" and "k".
The first and last edit of each reel, and any edit EdiLoad matched by waveform instead of metadata.
A short list of anything that didn't match, anything you moved, and questions for picture editorial.
Lesson 1.72–3 h
Use a 2–4 minute dialogue scene recorded on a separate sound recorder: from your own film, or a school project you have permission to use.
Use the checklist in lesson 1.2. Export the AAF and QuickTime yourself if you're also the editor.
Import, clean, match, assemble, export.
Follow the four steps in lesson 1.6.
One page. Hand it in with the Pro Tools session.
1. Why conform from the location recordings instead of using the editor's AAF audio?
2. In an edit list, which timecodes tell you where the sound goes in the film?
3. Two files have the same name and timecode, from different days. What tells them apart?
4. The editor synced all the isos onto separate tracks. What should you do before matching?
5. Boom and guide sound hollow when played together, but not doubled. What's wrong?
6. An edit's source length is longer than its record length. What does that mean?