What are the default track layouts for mix and master?

Report · Apr 22, 2020

Hey all, I am working on a documentary feature. Budget is pretty low, so I am going to do the initial sound design/pre-mix myself to get a chunk of the groundwork done, then do an AAF export and pass it on to a pro for the final mix/master.

I know enough to keep all my tracks serperated by type (dialogue, music, ambient, sfx, etc) but I was curious if there is an industry-standard order to how they should be laid out so that my sound pro can hit the ground running once he gets the project. For instance, do you usually put Dialoge 1st, then follow with SFX, then Music at the bottom? Or is there no set standard, and the tracks are ordered differnently from project to project?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Report · Apr 22, 2020

I've never come across a rigid list - I think people do it the way they're comfortable with. Chances are that if you export the session and whoever gets it is using different software, it doesn't matter anyway - they just put the tracks where they want them in their particular software. In Audition, if you use the Film Sequence (stereo) layout when you set the session up, you'll have all sorts of options available in a reasonably sensible order. Just delete any tracks you don't use. As it's laid out, it gives you options to submix groups of tracks to a bus, which you might find useful, depending on what you've shot, and how. If you just expand out the whole track list, you get a pretty clear idea of how it works.

The most important thing about exporting tracks to somebody else to mix is to make sure they're labeled sensibly, so that if it's a dialogue track, somewhere in the track name it says 'dialogue'... pretty obvious perhaps, but you'd be amazed how many people don't do it until provoked!

Report · Apr 22, 2020

Thanks for this Steve... very helpful.