Film Sound: Behind The Final Mix

What goes into mixing a film? Find out in this interesting new series from Avid. In the two-part series, award-winning film mixer and Avid Audio Specialist Sreejesh Nair (Gangs of Wasseypur, The Legend of Maula Jatt) shows you how he approaches the final mix for feature film Bombairiya, and he shares his setup and workflow along the way. As an added bonus, you can also download his Dolby Atmos Pro Tools template below for free. Oh, and on top of that, we’ve included an excellent film sound tutorial by Thomas Boykin.
Happy exploring!

Part 1 – 15:56

Setting up for the final mix

Here’s Avid’s description:

In this episode we join Sree in the mixing theatre, where he’s setting up for the final mix. Sree explains how to configure the Dolby Atmos® renderer to create the final deliverables, and how he sets his console layouts to instantly recall his Pro Tools groups. He also shows how Pro Tools’ integration with SoundFlow allows him to add custom functions and Dolby Atmos® renderer control to the S6 console.

Part 2 – 20:21

Mixing, automation, and the review pass

Here’s Avid’s description:

Here, Sree works on the final mix and reveals the essential automation methods used by pro film and TV mixers. You’ll learn how to create the foundation of your mix, working in scenes with the Preview and Write workflow. The space of the film is created with panning and reverb. Finally, Sree blends the elements together dynamically with VCA groups ready to be reviewed by the team.

Free download

Get the Dolby Atmos film mix template

Avid gives you the Pro Tools session Sreejesh Nair works from: 48k/24-bit, 24fps, built around the Pro Tools internal renderer, with stem routing, VCA groups, and print paths already wired up. The .zip also includes the list of plugins he uses, so you can see his processing chain.

His Avid S6 layout XML is in there too, and it is embedded in the .ptx session, so if you are on an S6 or S4 you also get his worksurface layout, soft key setup, and spill arrangement.

Download the template from Avid here

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Bonus

Want to learn more about film sound mixing?

Don’t miss this amazing tutorial (originally a live stream) by Thomas Boykin which takes you through the entire process – from editing sounds, to mixing sound effects, music, dialogue, working with Foley and balancing everything out: