Media Strikes Back · Codes of Sound
Nine tracks · one chase · 52 seconds
Paris, in the rain, in a Mini. What you remember as one sound is nine separate tracks, built by nine different crews, and balanced by a mixer who decided — moment by moment — what you were allowed to hear. Tonight those nine tracks are yours. Pull them apart, take them away, put them back. Then pass The Final Mix to earn your Codes of Sound certificate.
THE BOURNE IDENTITY (2002) · ISOLATED SOUND STEMS · STUDY USE
The session
Work the passes in any order. Clear all four to unlock The Final Mix — pass it and the certificate is yours. The desk is the same desk throughout; whatever you learn on one pass carries to the next.
Free play
The desk with no brief attached. Solo anything, mute anything, ride the faders — nothing is being marked.
Audio and picture: The Bourne Identity (2002, dir. Doug Liman) — isolated sound stems from the DVD special features, supplied by the studio to demonstrate the sound mix. Used here for study and critique in a Year 10 Media classroom. Stems trimmed to a common 52.6-second window and downmixed to stereo; picture is the same excerpt at its original frame rate.
Beat 1 · Solo every channel
Hit S on a strip to hear that track and nothing else. Do all nine. Each one you solo unlocks its note underneath — you can't read the card until you've heard the track.
Beat 2 · Blind call
The desk will solo one track without telling you which. Listen, then make the call.
Beat 3 · What the numbers say
These are measured off the nine stems you just heard — the percentage of the 52 seconds each track is actually making sound.
The subtraction method
Soloing tells you what a track is. Muting tells you what it does. Run each experiment below — the desk will set the mutes for you — then answer while it plays.
Five briefs, one desk
Everything starts muted. Read the brief, unmute exactly the tracks it asks for, and hit Check the mix. Mutes only — leave solo alone.
Featurette 1 · Building the sound of Bourne
The crew who cut the tracks you have been playing with, explaining how they built them.
The Bourne Identity · Sound design featurette · 3:48
Featurette 2 · The tenth track
There is one layer your desk does not have, because it was never part of the effects mix: the score. Here is how it was written for the sequel.
The Bourne Supremacy · Scoring featurette · 4:41
Final