What is Production Sound? It can be defined as the complex craft of recording live dialogue and sound effects on the set during principal production of a motion picture or video. By complex craft, we mean a blend of artistic as well as technical skills. Not only must the sound mixer be creative, but he or she must also master the electronic hardware and skillsets necessary to capture good location audio.
We have spoken briefly about Production Dialogue. Earlier on, we also mentioned recording sound effects on the set, either sync or wild. Combine these concepts, and what unfolds is "Production Sound"--namely, everything that is recorded on the set during production.
Production Sound should be thought of as raw material for the editors. It is standard practice for editors to divide the production soundtrack into separate tracks for each actor and for sound effects, so as to provide the most flexibility and control to the re-recording mixers during the final dub (mixdown). Therefore, editors tend to prefer clean, isolated dialogue with effects and ambiance recorded separately.
However, the expression that "you live or die in the dailies" seems to countermand the notion about Production Sound being raw material earmarked for post-production embellishment. A production soundtrack free of effects and ambiance is candy to a dialogue editor, but will sound sterile and unnatural to many producers (who usually know a lot about business and little about editing).
So whom should the Production Sound Mixer strive to please, the editor or the producer? Think about it and draw your own strategy. No one said this game would be easy, but you were forewarned about the importance of compromise.
On some occasions, the production sound track recorded in the field may be the end product itself, except for the addition of a little music, possibly some narration, and an odd effect or two. This is especially true in low budget productions, where there seldom exists any budget for sound editing nor A.D.R. In these instances, the production mixer must be extra diligent in acquiring crisp dialogue tracks complete with perspective, sync sound effects, and ambiance. (As you can see, there is a lot more to this business than just knowing how to plug a microphone into a camcorder or digital audio recorder.)