Professor and director Midge Costin talks about her ear-opening new film that aims to remind audiences just how much work goes into cinematic sound
Midge Costin has had it with people forgetting the difference between sound editing and sound mixing every time the
Oscars roll around. Once and for all: “Sound mixing brings all the elements together, all the various recorded tracks, and synthesizes them into one soundscape. Editing covers voice,
music, effects, ADR – how do they sound?” So, that should be the end of that.
Of course, the professor and audio-biz legend had more on her mind than settling cocktail party disputes when she set out to create her new documentary Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound. Her career’s emphasis on education gave her the idea to condense a semester’s worth of introductory material into one compact package, breaking down the essentials of her craft for an audience of laypeople. She introduces and defines key terms – foley work, automated dialogue replacement, mono v stereo v surround sound – in order to render visible labor that generally goes unseen and unnoticed when done well.