Editing Sound design (section)

===Film===
{{See also|Sound editor (filmmaking)|Foley artist|Director of audiography}}
In motion picture production, a ''Sound Editor/Designer'' is a member of a [[film crew]] responsible for the entirety or some specific parts of a film's soundtrack.<ref>{{cite web|title=Sound designer|url=http://filmsound.org/terminology/designer.htm|website=FilmSound.org|access-date=13 October 2015}}</ref> In the [[Cinema of the United States|American film industry]], the title ''Sound Designer'' is not controlled by any [[professional organization]], unlike titles such as [[film director|Director]] or [[Screenwriter]].

The terms ''sound design'' and ''sound designer'' began to be used in the motion picture industry in 1969. At that time, The title of ''Sound Designer'' was first granted to [[Walter Murch]] by [[Francis Ford Coppola]] in recognition for Murch's contributions to the film ''[[The Rain People]]''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ondaatje |first1=Michael |last2=Murch |first2=Walter |title=The conversations: Walter Murch and the art of editing film |date=2003 |publisher=Bloomsbury |location=London |page=53}}</ref> The original meaning of the title ''Sound Designer'', as established by Coppola and Murch, was "an individual ultimately responsible for all aspects of a film's audio track, from the [[dialogue]] and [[sound effects]] recording to the [[re-recording (sound/film)|re-recording]] (mix) of the final track".<ref name=reeves>{{cite web|last1=Reeves|first1=Alex|title=A Brief History of Sound Design|url=http://www.theawsc.com/2014/01/31/a-brief-history-of-sound-design/|website=Advertising Week Social Club|publisher=Advertising Week|access-date=13 October 2015|url-status=bot: unknown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304084311/http://www.theawsc.com/2014/01/31/a-brief-history-of-sound-design/|archive-date=4 March 2016}}</ref>  The term ''sound designer'' has replaced monikers like ''supervising sound editor'' or ''re-recording mixer'' for the same position: the head designer of the final sound track. Editors and mixers like Murray Spivack (''King Kong''), George Groves (''The Jazz Singer''), James G. Stewart (''Citizen Kane''), and Carl Faulkner (''Journey to the Center of the Earth'') served in this capacity during Hollywood's studio era, and are generally considered to be sound designers by a different name.

The advantage of calling oneself a sound designer beginning in later decades was two-fold. It strategically allowed for a single person to work as both an editor and mixer on a film without running into issues pertaining to the jurisdictions of editors and mixers, as outlined by their respective unions. Additionally, it was a rhetorical move that legitimised the field of post-production sound at a time when studios were downsizing their sound departments, and when producers were routinely skimping on budgets and salaries for sound editors and mixers. In so doing, it allowed those who called themselves sound designers to compete for contract work and to negotiate higher salaries. The position of Sound Designer therefore emerged in a manner similar to that of [[Production Designer]], which was created in the 1930s when [[William Cameron Menzies]] made revolutionary contributions to the craft of [[art director|art direction]] in the making of ''[[Gone with the Wind (film)|Gone with the Wind]]''.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Bordwell|first1=David|title=William Cameron Menzies: One Forceful, Impressive Idea|url=http://www.davidbordwell.net/essays/menzies.php|website=davidbordwell.net|access-date=13 October 2015}}{{sps|date=July 2016}}</ref>

The audio production team is a principal member of the production staff, with creative output comparable to that of the [[film editor]] and [[director of photography]]. Several factors have led to the promotion of audio production to this level, when previously it was considered subordinate to other parts of film:

* [[movie theater|Cinema]] [[Sound reinforcement system|sound system]]s became capable of [[high-fidelity]] reproduction, particularly after the adoption of [[Dolby Stereo]]. Before stereo soundtracks, film sound was of such low fidelity that only the dialogue and occasional sound effects were practical. These sound systems were originally devised as gimmicks to increase theater attendance, but their widespread implementation created a content vacuum that had to be filled by competent professionals. Dolby's immersive [[Dolby Atmos]] format, introduced in 2012, provides the sound team with 128 tracks of audio that can be assigned to a 7.1.2 bed that utilizes two overhead channels, leaving 118 tracks for audio objects that can be positioned around the theater independent of the sound bed. Object positions are informed by metadata that places them based on ''x'',''y'',''z'' coordinates and the number of speakers available in the room. This immersive sound format expands creative opportunities for the use of sound beyond what was achievable with older 5.1 and 7.1 [[surround sound]] systems. The greater dynamic range of the new systems, coupled with the ability to produce sounds at the sides, behind, or above the audience, provided the audio post-production team new opportunities for creative expression in film sound. <ref>{{cite web|url=https://professional.dolby.com/content-creation/Dolby-Atmos-for-content-creators/2|title=Dolby Atmos for content creators|access-date=January 6, 2022|archive-date=October 8, 2021|archive-url=
https://web.archive.org/web/20211008071530/https://professional.dolby.com/content-creation/Dolby-Atmos-for-content-creators/2 |url-status=live}}</ref>

* Some directors were interested in realizing the new potential of the medium. A new generation of filmmakers, the so-called "[[Easy Riders and Raging Bulls]]"—[[Martin Scorsese]], [[Steven Spielberg]], [[George Lucas]], and others—were aware of the creative potential of sound and wanted to use it.
* Filmmakers were inspired by the [[popular music]] of the era. [[Concept albums]] of groups such as [[Pink Floyd]] and [[The Beatles]] suggested new modes of storytelling and creative techniques that could be adapted to motion pictures.
* New filmmakers made their early films outside the [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]] [[the establishment|establishment]], away from the influence of film [[labor union]]s and the then rapidly dissipating [[studio system]].

The contemporary title of ''sound designer'' can be compared with the more traditional title of ''[[supervising sound editor]]''; many sound designers use both titles interchangeably.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Müller|first1=Bastian|title=Sound Design: The Development of Sound Design for Hollywood Films and its Impact on Modern Cinema|date=2008|publisher=diplom.de|location=Hamburg|isbn=9783836618922|page=24|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2fpxAQAAQBAJ|access-date=13 October 2015}}</ref> The role of ''supervising sound editor'', or ''sound supervisor'', developed in parallel with the role of '''sound designer'''. The demand for more sophisticated soundtracks was felt both inside and outside Hollywood, and the '''supervising sound editor''' became the head of the large sound department, with a staff of dozens of [[Sound editor (filmmaking)|sound editor]]s, that was required to realize a complete sound job with a fast turnaround.<ref>{{cite book|author-link1=Norman Hollyn|last1=Hollyn|first1=Norman|title=The Film Editing Room Handbook: How to Tame the Chaos of the Editing Room|date=2009|publisher=Peachpit Press|location=Berkeley CA|isbn=978-0321679529|page=144|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IRSq9qWQeMIC|access-date=13 October 2015}}</ref><ref name=dakic>{{cite book|last1=Dakic|first1=Vesna|title=Sound Design for Film and Television|date=2009|publisher=GRIN Verlag|location=Norderstedt|isbn=9783640454792|page=2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wSVPl1TSOm8C|access-date=13 October 2015}}</ref>