The five moments to check by ear

After the mix, listen again at the five places where a mistake is most likely, or would cost the film most (decided).

They come after your own full pass on every effect, never instead of it. Pick one of each kind:

1. the opening hook, the first two seconds of sound;

2. the loudest moment of the mix;

3. the worst sync: the cue with the largest offset, or a NO HIT;

4. the effect nearest a line of speech;

5. the weakest effect: the one with the weakest rank verdict, or the quietest over its bed.

Each moment gets its timecode, one question ("Is the cap's click heard under the voiceover?") and a 3-second clip around it, with picture, so you can play it on its own and see the sync. The clip starts 1.5 s before the moment (s = t − 1.5), or at 0 if that is earlier, and no later than 3 s before the end (steps below).

Write each verdict (ok, too loud, buried, harsh, early, late, extra, missing) under the sound list as "Five moments", one line each. The verdict column keeps your full-pass verdicts. The clips also work when someone else, a client's sound lead or a colleague, needs to hear exactly what you heard.

Do it yourself

Cut a moment's 3-second clip, with picture (ffmpeg)

1. Work out the start: s = t − 1.5, or 0 if that is earlier, and no later than 3 s before the end.

2. Cut the clip from the review render, here for a moment at 12.00 s:

ffmpeg -ss 10.5 -t 3 -i review.mp4 M3_00m12.00s.mp4

Sources

• The idea of a short list of moments to check by ear: Clipwing's Real SFX (page).