Metadata

The purpose of this page is to give a brief overview of how metadata should be handled during production and post production.

 
For double system production shoots, metadata is vital. The production sound mixer typically records a polyphonic Broadcast Wave File (BWF) – track 1 being a mono guide/mix of all the mics used during production that is later sent to the video editor, track 2 might be the boom mic, track 3 might be lav 1, track 4 might be lav 2, and so on… During or immediately after production, the production sound mixer should take the time to embed scene, shot, take, and tape metadata to ALL of the recorded files. The ‘tape’ metadata field should be identical (character for character) to the tape name that the camera operator gives to the video. Sound Devices’ Wave Agent is a free app that can write metadata to the BWFs. It is also typical for the production sound mixer to label the filename of each recorded file with scene/shot/take information – this MUST be done if the production sound mixer cannot, for some odd reason, embed metadata onto the BWF.
 
Before editing the footage, the production sound mixer should have sent the video editor the mono guide track to edit the video with. This mono guide track is derived from the field recorder (usually track 1 – the mix of all the mics used on set) and SHOULD have metadata embedded. This includes the scene/shot/take/tape information that is vital to this entire process. This mono guide track MUST be synced to the video prior to video editing. This is where the clapper during production or timecode will come into play in the video editing system.
 
When the sound department is ready to receive the deliverables, the video editor must export a non-embedded AAF or OMF for the post production sound team. It is important to note that embedded AAFs and OMFs strip all metadata. Also, by this time, the post production sound team should’ve receiving the original BWF from the production sound mixer with metadata embedded.
 
After receiving the deliverables, the post production team will assemble the original polyphonic BWFs, which contains the original independent boom and lav tracks, to the mono guide track using the embedded metadata.
 
This is why accurate metadata should be maintained throughout the production and post production process.
 
** Special Notes **
 
Final Cut Pro only exports embedded OMFs. This means that all metadata is stripped from the imported audio files.