Sitting at the AICP show this year, I realized what's wrong with this industry. People don't understand the importance of sound as an entity unto its own because they don't fully understand what it is to be a filmmaker.

At the show, commercial directors and producers were being referred to as filmmakers, and commercials as films. If that's the state of affairs, then why do I see so many of these filmmakers not pursuing sound and music as two crafts developed separately as is the norm in Hollywood?

My guess is that the digital evolution has influenced commercial producers by giving them access to sound and music as one element, allowing them to fall prey to the assumption that "that's all there is to it". In other words, "I hear sound, I hear music, they are the same element".

All you have to do is look at how much has changed in the nearly 20 years I have been a sound designer and audio mixer. In 1986, I took the first synclavier into Sound One, NY to digitally sound design on feature films. Back then I created a music box sample patch and sequence for Peggy Sue Got Married in three weeks. Now, I design and mix a complete 30-minute show in one day.

While the fundamentals of sound creation remain intact for filmmakers, technology has influenced how the sound element is approached and developed - or not developed at all. The changes aren't limited to the advances in digital technology; they include a new generation of producers that haven't had the fortune to apprentice under superiors to learn the unchanged creative goals of audio post inherent in the filmmaking process.

But it wasn't always like that. Years ago, editorial companies had editors on one side of the hall cutting picture on moviolas, and sound editors on the other side of the hall cutting sound on moviolas (in the sound editorial department). The power of their work came to life in the mix when combining dialogue, sound, and music. This process was a natural melting pot of sound ideas that had an inherent ability to create options from an imaginative point of view.

With today's digital technology, many editors handle sound as well as picture. Some are good, some are bad. The bad ones say music is enough, or ask the music house to throw in some sound effects for free, with no development or thought into how sound could contribute to the goal of the spot. Music houses are not sound designers; they are composers.

I suppose the fact that sound design is creatively challenging and requires imagination and experience could influence a producer to not consider developing sound, rather settling for music only. However, I continue to be surprised that many producers don't realize how a good sound design can mend and smooth a spot's many edits and elevate it to a new level of sophistication in a way music alone can't.

To those that feel dialogue and music is all that is needed, you're missing out. Consider it this way: the dialogue is the story, the sound design is the feel of the spot and the music is the emotion. So often live-action spots have emotional support, but no feel support from sound. That's why I've been known to do a "before and after" to help producers realize that I can sculpt sound just as a composer creates music - especially when doing sound for HD in Dolby E and Dolby Digital surround for theatrical spots. That's where the real opportunity for a Hollywood experience is.

So how did we come to this place in the history of sound design? It's partly due to the nature of the craft. To wit, if I do a great sound design, with high believability, it doesn't get noticed because it is believed to be real, and is therefore taken for granted, confirming the true effectiveness of post audio sound. And I can tell you, most sound in entertainment and commercials is not real.

But as with all aspects of commercial - or film - production, it's the people that make the difference, not the technology. That's why many picture editors see the value in including me, a sound designer, to contribute ideas early This integration of fully developed dialogue, sound design and music gives clients the power of Hollywood sound.

All that's left now is for producers and editors to get to know us sound houses as much as they research their production, music and effects houses. There's a lot of value in finding a good sound designer. We have reels too.