Below are various headings roughly outlining the types of services I provide for projects. Some of the various specific roles and tasks within audio-post production can be a bit of a word salad, so this is my attempt to help delineate between different tasks and help give clarity on the needs you may have. If you would like further explanation on any of these roles, please let me know!
These “primary” services are my forte – this is where I hold the most experience, and what most of my clients bring projects to my desk for!
Most people know what this is: writing music and synchronizing it to a film or video. Pretty simple!
As far as how I offer this service, there are a few ways I can work with you to develop a score for your project. I can write to a script, on abstract guidance or reference music (very specific references, or asking to outright clone existing music, is generally discouraged, though), or to your picture-locked video.
Traditionally, this role is called a “re-recording mixer” or a “dubbing mixer” if you’re in Europe.
This process involves taking all of the audio (dialogue, effects, foley, music, etc.) and combining it into a final, combined audio track that is used as the final audio for your deliverable render. This is generally in a 5.1 surround format for film and broadcast projects or a stereo format for online. There are also combined and derivative formats depending on agency, broadcaster, or deployment-specific requirements.
If you are not in need of a full audio post workup but still need to verify and/or provide documentation of audio specification compliance for your project, a consultation can help give you peace of mind and the records you require. As part of a consultation, I will review your delivery specifications, meter your programming, and provide you with a timecoded readout of any overs or unders per your media spec. This also includes a QC rundown on best practices, so that if your program has any rough spots or inconsistencies that are not technically out of spec but should nonetheless be addressed, both callouts for those timecodes, as well as methods you can use to tackle these problems, are provided to you.
These services are additional tasks I take on for clients semi-regularly but rarely perform as one-off services. If you’re looking to keep your budget down or simplify your audio post-production process by only engaging with one freelancer, I can include these roles within the scope of my work on your project and cover everything!
Sound design involves creating the audio for things that do not have sound (computer graphics, monster or alien sounds, firearms and machines that do not actually exist, etc.), or creating audio in a surrealistic or enhanced way for actions on-screen, or world elements off-screen. This would also include ambiance, atmospheric, and background noise for both scripted and non-scripted content.
Similar to sound design and sound effects, but distinct in a particular way. Foley are sounds that occur naturally, but production sound either does not provide a high enough quality for use in the final project or did not capture at all during filming. This includes things like doors, footsteps, character interactions with objects, clothing movement sounds, and so on.
I can provide foley to a limited degree, but if you are serious about getting foley work on your film I would recommend utilizing a foley artist completely dedicated to that task.
An audio editor will sort through audio assets captured during production, clean and rework any edits made by the picture editor, add in room tone, and generally prepare a session for re-recording mixing. Audio editing also involves the process of denoising and noise-mitigation which may or may not be necessary given the source material.
Hi, I’m Charles Gaddis, a composer and audio post-production engineer near Charlotte, North Carolina. If you’d like to know a little more about me, check out the bio. If you’d like to reach out, for any reason, you can use the contact form. Please also check out the film and commercial work reel and the music reel!
