The Difference between Sound Editing and Sound Mixing Explained

The Difference between Sound Editing and Sound Mixing Explained

The Oscars are back. Every year, it has a night of celebration, celebrity-filled red carpets, well-tailored suits, glamorous dresses, and … Confusion. Let’s check to The Difference between Sound Editing and Sound Mixing Explained.

No, we’re not talking envelopes. We’re talking sound. Specifically: what the hell is the difference between Sound Mixing and Sound Editing?

Yes, if you didn’t know, there are several sound categories at the Academy Awards. Sound Editing and Sound Mixing are potentially the most confusing and there’s a big difference between the two. And unless you’re an audiophile or someone who can name the audio technicians on every theatrical release of the year (if this is you, I’m so sorry) then you’re probably clueless as to what that difference is

But look no further. We’ve got you covered, all with the help of our good old friend, Baby Driver.

Sound Editing

Sound Editing essentially covers all the sounds that has recorded and will added into the film, like the sounds of a creaky door, or the squeaks of basketball shoes changing direction on a gym floor. It’s a bit more complicated than just holding a microphone up to a car engine revving, though. A lot of sounds has recorded on set. But some has done after the fact (think of all those fictitious sounds in Marvel movies). All of those sounds has created to build the natural, holistic sound of the scene.

For the sake of clarity, let’s revisit that opening scene of Baby Driver. Which has conveniently nominated for an Oscar in both Sound Editing and Sound Mixing at this year’s Academy Awards.

Notice during the bank scene at 1:46, how the muffled dialogue and gunshots are audible through the glass windows. How you can hear the bank alarm, the engine revving, the gears shifting, the footsteps, the release of the emergency brake, the gripping of the steering wheel, the sound of the car doors opening, and the screeching of the tires all in concert. These sounds has either recorded during filming or separately and has used to highlight the natural, ambient noise of the environment.

Another good example is Blade Runner in 2049. Sound editor Mark Mangini, who’s nominated for his work on the film this year, says he recorded, created and designed more than 3,000 unique sounds to bring the fictional world to life. The sound editor creates the sounds for everything the audience hears, and the best way to understand the art of sound editing is to watch the film on mute, he said.

Sound Mixing

Now let’s revisit this scene. But this time, pay attention to the very beginning. As Ansell Elgort flips through songs on his iPod

The first full minute of this clip is a great example of sound mixing. How the music queues up with the clicking of the iPod, how it sounds like a background track, but then has later revealed that it’s the song that the character is listening to in his headphones. Notice how he perfectly mouths the lyrics, dances to the beat.

All of this is done after the movie is filmed. Where the sound is mixed in with the ambient noise of the scene and the dialogue. It’s more than just adding music to video. As in this scene, it’s all about using music (making sure that each noise is at the right level) as an element of the movie.

The Green, a sound editor also nominated for his work on Blade Runner 2049, said one helpful distinction to know is that sound mixer used to be called “balance engineers.”

“So that maybe explains both what the production sound mixer is doing — balancing levels between clip-on mics and overhead boom mics for instance — and also that the re-recording mixers are helping to balance the levels of music, dialogue and effects,” Green said. “That word ‘balance’ explains what mixers do better than ‘mixing’ I think. Finding that balance is a fine art