AI tools clean up a voice, remove background noise, transform a timbre. The temptation is to aim for a “perfect” sound. Yet in a film, what moves us is rarely what is smooth. Imperfection can be an artistic choice, and that choice belongs to someone. Here is our point of view as editors and directors: a reflection, not a study.
What AI can do with sound
Clean a recording, reduce noise, equalise, separate tracks, transform a voice or generate one. These are real time-savers, especially on difficult takes.
What a professional may decide to keep
- A breath before a sentence: it speaks of hesitation, emotion, effort.
- The noise of a place: the workshop, the street, the room. It is what situates the scene.
- A voice imperfection: a slight catch that makes speech true.
- Saturation: sometimes a colour rather than a flaw.
- A silence: often louder than any music.
- A texture: the grain of a take, the warmth of a room.
Cleaning is not deciding
A tool applies a rule: reduce noise, smooth, even out. A professional arbitrates: here we keep, there we remove, here we emphasise. Artistic arbitration rests on the film’s intention, the intended audience, the emotion sought. That is exactly the part a tool cannot choose for us.
At That Dog
On our films, sound is worked together with the image, from the shoot: clean recording, captured ambiences, then mixing in post-production. We use the available tools when they help, and we keep control over what gives a voice or a place its personality.
To go further: the CNC’s AI observatory (in French) · the Afdas study on generative AI (in French)
Key takeaway. A clean sound is not necessarily the right sound: intention decides what we keep. Discover our Post-production.
A film where sound matters?
Interview, brand film, documentary: let us talk about recording and mixing from the brief.