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Film & Television vocabulary · Sound and Music

Room tone

Meaning in film & television, with examples

nounAdvanced term

In film & television, room tone means: The natural background sound of a room, recorded without dialogue, to keep audio edits smooth and consistent.

In Turkish: ortam sesi

How it is used

Used in sound recording and post-production when editors need matching background noise under dialogue cuts or replaced lines.

Example sentences

  1. Before striking the set, the sound mixer asked everyone to stay still for thirty seconds to capture room tone.

    Here it means a clean recording of the space itself, which editors can later place beneath spoken lines.

  2. The editor used room tone under the interview cuts so the office ambience would not jump between answers.

    In this example, room tone prevents sudden changes in background noise and makes the edited conversation sound natural.

Common collocations

  • record room tone
  • capture room tone
  • add room tone
  • sound effectsRecorded or created sounds, other than dialogue and music, that are added to a film to make actions and places feel real, such as doors, cars, rain or explosions.
  • boom micA directional microphone fixed to the end of a long pole and held above or below the actors, just outside the frame, to record dialogue.

More terms: Sound and Music

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