Sound Report

If the camera crew have their own full time secretary to take care of the paperwork, the production recordist isn't that lucky. He must take care of... sound (veeery goooood !!!) and of his own paperwork. The sound report books can be purchased in most camera equipment rental shops. They are made up, just like the continuity reports, of several carbon-copy leaflets, one for the studio, one for the sound editor, one for the transfer lab and one for the film lab.

The production recordist jots down the shots/takes along the way, with commentaries that can concern the sound as well as the picture (why a shot is OK for sound but cannot be used as sync sound because the picture is screwed-up). Each roll (or cassette) is numbered . The most popular recording format in the sixties, seventies and eighties, was 1/4" analog tape. The recorders used were usually a NAGRA III, NAGRA IV, NAGRA IV.2 (these being full track mono : the entire width of the tape is used to record one channel) or NAGRA IV.S (full track stereo : two channels take up the tape width, with an option for a third little track fitted in between, on which a time-code can be recorded, that format is called centre time code stereo). Moreover, since several recording speeds were possible (3,75 / 7,5 or 15 inches/sec), you understand why all these boxes are necessary. This sound report is a bit old, since it doesn't implement the more recent audio formats : DAT (yuuck !!!), NAGRA D, HHB Genex, etc... It would be a good idea to replace all these boxes by just one, named "recording format".
Finally, one of the most important information on a sound report concerns the frame rate . During the transfer, it is very important that a second of sound takes up the same number of sprockets than a second of picture. The normal frame rate for a motion picture is 24 frames/sec. But for TV series and features in countries where the mains frequency is 50 Hz, shot on film (to get a certain type of image), the producers chose most of the time to shoot at 25 frames/sec. Since the entire film is shot at the same frame rate (except for some effects like slow-motion shots, during which sound cannot be synced anyway !) all the production recordist has to do is to ask the director of photography once and for all, during pre production, what the frame rate will be.



Since we're talking paperwork, the production recordist must also identify the rolls with white gaffer tape, stuck on the flange. On that piece of tape, he writes the roll N°, the title of the film, the production company and, he might as well write that down too, the date.

He'll do the same on the boxe's side, in which the roll will be stored. The sound report will be folded and kept in that box.

All these precautions are necessary to avoid losing the elements in the numerous lab processes of the film's production.