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Audio Workflow Considerations

Audio File Delivery Specifications

By Larry Blake

Revised April 14, 2024

Note: This should be read in conjunction with, and refers to, the "ADPF_AudioDeliverablesNaming" Excel file

Abstract

The document below is an attempt to create for motion pictures a standardized manner in which to create, organize, name, and deliver the full suite of audio elements that are a key part of motion picture post-production today. It should be read alongside the sister Excel file which goes into detail on the naming options.

These documents are only a part of the whole goal, which is to have a similar set made for the other three parts of motion picture delivery: picture elements, subtitles, and documentation. Taken as a whole, the hope is to give filmmakers a one-stop guide to the delivery and digital archiving of movies, either new or restorations. There is nothing like this today, and the need is clear, the benefits being reaped today by filmmakers who need guidance in finishing movies, distributors which receive finished movies, and by anyone in the future who has to unearth them.

1. Audio File Types: Bit Depth, Sample Rate

2. Audio File Type: Interleaved vs. Mono

3. Audio Set-up Considerations: File Start

4. Audio Set-up Considerations: Pops

5. Delivery: Checksums

6. Delivery: Documentation

7. Audio Naming: General Rules

8. File Naming: Overall Philosophy

9. Audio Field Definitions

10. Audio Deliverables Naming Spreadsheet