In response to ongoing discussion, three Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences sound branch governors notified branch members that the categories of sound editing and sound mixing would be combined for the upcoming 93rd Academy Awards presentation. The decision takes into account how the advancement of digital technology has changed the industry and the fact that the same film is often chosen for both awards.

Most of the sound created for a motion picture is generated separately from the actual filming of actors and scenes. The process requires time, patience, technology, creativity and imagination to create dimensional sound that is realistic and adds the right emotion and sensibility to a film. Though sound mixing and sound editing are two separate disciplines, the terms are often interchanged. To gain some better understanding, Engineering360 asked Tom Miller, founder of Big Pictures Media, a Denver-based production company, to explain the difference.

"A good way to think of it is that sound editing is truly editing the audio tracks (adding and subtracting sounds and bits of sounds), while sound mixing is changing the levels of each audio track and adding any filters and such to make them blend together better for the overall experience," Miller said. A film may have as few as two audio tracks, or as many as 50 or more, for narration or dialogue, ambient sounds and various sound effects. "In a complex film, each character might get their own track. Yoda might have one in Star Wars that’s distinct from Luke, for example. They are separate so that you can control them all individually. Editing includes cleaning up the voice tracks by editing out the things you don’t want, adding in ambient sounds from the scene you are looking at that might have been recorded on-site, adding in sound effects, and so on. Mixing is changing the levels of each track so that the overall listening experience makes sense."

While the Academy has chosen to create a single category for Best Sound, the governors who made the decision based on feedback from branch members stated that the intention is to honor the industry as a cohesive team.