The Master Guide / 13 Sound design and mix · Where sound comes from
Three layers and the order of the sound work
Every sound in the film comes from one of three layers, and each layer has one source.
Every sound in the film comes from one of three layers, and each layer has one source.
Layer | What it holds | Source | When it is made | Track |
In-shot [proven] | The sound of the shot's own world (diegetic sound): ambience, footsteps, fabric, liquid, the product's own sounds | Seedance 2.5's own audio, generated with the shot | With the shot | Shot sound, linked to its picture; earlier takes' sound beneath it, switched off, for shots whose own sound is used |
Real recordings [best available, not yet validated] | Anything that exists in the world: city and room ambiences, crowds, weather, room tone, foley (the small sounds of handled objects, steps and cloth) | Openverse, CC0 only (CC0: free for any use, with no credit needed) | In finishing, against the locked cut | AMBIENCE for beds and room tone; SFX (sound effects) for one-shots |
Designed [official guidance] | What doesn't exist or must be stylised: whooshes, impacts, risers, braams, logo stings, interface clicks, magical textures | ElevenLabs Sound Effects; free CC0 effects from Openverse as the fallback | In finishing, against the locked cut; the treatment's 2–3 key sounds earlier, in the rough cut | SFX |
A bed is a continuous sound under a scene (an ambience or room tone). A one-shot is a single sound placed on one event. Room tone is the quiet sound of a space with nobody speaking.
The order of the work: speech first (the voiceover and dialogue are locked before the cut), then the music, fitted around the speech, then the effects. Design the effects after the music is chosen, and judge them with it playing [proven]. Effects made before the music is known rarely sit well once it arrives.
Keep beds and room tone on their own ambience track, apart from the one-shots. A hit placed over a bed then never overlaps it on one track, and you can move either without touching the other.
Sources
Walter Murch, "Dense Clarity – Clear Density"; Randy Thom, "Designing a Movie for Sound".
Factory, London (A Sound Effect); Yessian (LBB).
Welcome to the Team by @chip_frames (project) and VARMINTS by Outreal Production (project), which keep Seedance's own sound in finished films.