Mixing the score for picture

A score that sounds magnificent on its own can disappear the moment dialogue arrives. Mixing for picture is the work of making the music serve the frame: present when it should be felt, out of the way when a line has to be heard.

Mixing against dialogue and effects

We mix with the picture playing and the dialogue present. A theme that sings in isolation may need to lose its middle register where a voice lives, and a low string swell may have to be carved so an effect can read. The mix is a negotiation among three sound sources, and the music is only one of them.

Stems, not just a stereo mix

A stereo mix alone is not enough for a dub stage. We deliver the score as separated stems, usually by family: strings, brass, woodwinds, percussion, keyboard and synthetic layers, and voices kept apart from everything else. The re-recording mixer can then lift the strings under a tender line or pull the percussion back in a quiet scene without asking the studio to rebuild the cue.

Loudness and headroom

Score delivery for broadcast and cinema follows conventions rather than taste. We mix so the score sits at a sensible level against the rest of the soundtrack, leave headroom for the dub stage to work, and provide reference levels so a mixer can drop the stems in and know where they belong.

Alternates and versions

Directors change their minds and editors need room. Alongside each mix we deliver an alternate without the lead line, a version with the percussion reduced, and, where useful, a cue with a quieter opening. A little extra time at the mix saves a lot at the dub stage.

Beyond film

The same craft serves animation, series episodes, trailers and games. A cartoon may want the music pushed forward and playful; a documentary may want it held back and steady; an episodic drama may want the stems to match the previous episode's balance so the show sounds consistent week to week.

Mixing is the last step before delivery; see our process for the stages that lead to it, or licensing and rights for the paperwork that travels with a finished score. To have a score mixed, send a brief.

Choosing what the scene must hear

Mixing a score is an exercise in deciding what matters most in this particular minute of the film. A reveal may need the low end of the strings and nothing else; a chase may need the percussion and a thin string layer that only registers at the edges. We make those choices cue by cue rather than applying one balance across a whole film, because the picture rarely wants the same thing twice.

We also plan for the mix that follows ours. The re-recording mixer will blend our stems with dialogue and effects, so we hand over a score that has been prepared to share the space: sensible levels, clean separations, and an alternate where a single element needs to be lifted or dropped. A good handover is invisible at the end of the process.

The reference listen

Every mix is checked on more than one reproduction chain before it leaves the studio. A cue that holds together on large monitors can thin out on a television speaker, and a balance that flatters headphones can collapse in a cinema. We listen on a known room, a near-field pair and a modest set of speakers before signing a mix off, so the score travels from the edit suite to the dub stage without a surprise.

We also keep a quiet reference in mind. Most film dialogue is heard in rooms that are not loud, and a score that only works at high level is a score that will disappear in an ordinary living room. We mix for the room the audience is actually in.