Pioneering New Workflows in Sound Design and Editorial

Every frame counts when it comes to Television & Cinema advertising, and traditionally, sound begins at the very last stage of post-production when picture lock has been achieved. But we at Final Cut Sound believe things should be done a bit differently.

Sound design can play an integral role in bringing the picture to life and enhancing the visuals, which ultimately helps to create a more powerful and emotional response from the viewer.  Being involved from day one of the rushes completely changes the creative approach to the sound design resulting in much more flexibility in the creative and production processes.

The Music and Sound award nominated commercial for Virgin Trains, 'Be Bound for Glory’ is a fantastic example of this new creative workflow in post production. Editor and Founder of Final Cut, Rick Russell worked alongside the directing collective Traktor, Krow's Creative Directors Nick Hastings and Tim Robertson and Final Cut’s Sound Designer Patch Rowland from the very earliest stages of the edit.

Everything from guide voice to initial sound design and early mixes were bounced between the edit suite and the sound studio, and, at times both were working in conjunction. This allowed a continual development of the very precise humour that Nick & Tim wanted, whilst complimenting the imagery and performances both from the shoot and the edit.

Ole Sanders, Director at Traktor said: "We had a great experience working with Patch and the guys on Virgin Trains. The ability to leave the edit and slip over to Patch’s sonic chamber of commerce without getting dressed was SO much easier than having to hustle around to an over-booked sound house on the other side of Soho. Every time we returned to Patch, the project had moved on and we could return safely to Rick of the Rooms. This allowed us to oscillate wildly - and we did!"

Patch adds: "Being involved from day one completely changed my creative approach to the sound design. Working in those early stages with Traktor and Rick allowed me to tune into to their sense of humour and allowed all of us to explore ideas before presenting the edit to Tim & Nick. Working together really helped our collective understanding of what should be in Colin Salmon’s voice-over performance. Ultimately with Nick & Tim in the recording sessions, the rule was; if it didn’t make us all laugh then it didn’t make the cut."

The ‘Be Bound for Glory’ commercial is currently nominated in this years Music and Sound Awards 2016 and is available to view here.