The WAV Lab Post Production Sound Delivery Specs
A quick-reference guide for filmmakers, editors, and post teams preparing to hand off picture and audio to The WAV Lab.
Below are the specs we ask for, organized by stage. If anything here doesn’t match your workflow, reach out before you export — we’re glad to walk through it together.
Video
Burn-in: Timecode burned into the top-right corner of frame.
Head & Tail Sync Pops: Placed 2 seconds before Program Start and 2 seconds after the last frame of the program.
| Setting | Spec |
|---|---|
| Head Sync Pop | 00:59:58:00 |
| Program Start | 01:00:00:00 |
| File Type | MP4 |
| Encoding | H.264 |
| Resolution | Project native resolution |
| Quality | High, no Handbrake |
| Frame Rate | Project native frame rate |
| Sample Rate | 48000 Hz |
| Bits per Sample | 24 |
AAF Export
A few ground rules that apply no matter which editing software you’re exporting from:
- Remove all video tracks from the sequence before exporting the AAF.
- Flatten all multi-cam audio clips prior to export.
- Sync and include everything from the Production Sound Mixer — mixes and all ISOs (boom and lavs).
- Organize tracks by audio type, in this order: Dialog (DX), ADR, Music (MX), Effects (FX). Keep each track to a single audio type — a track with dialogue shouldn’t also carry music or effects.
- Breakout to Mono: Enabled
- Sample Rate: 48000 Hz
- Bits per Sample: 24
- Format: Broadcast Wave (WAV)
- Handle Frames: 120 frames (23.976/24fps) or 150 frames (29.97/30fps) — this normalizes to roughly 5 seconds of handle regardless of frame rate, giving us consistent crossfade room across projects.
File size: Embedded audio is accepted for most projects. For larger projects that would exceed a reasonable file-size limit, please export as a referenced AAF with a linked resource folder, and combine both into a single ZIP file for delivery.
Rendering clip-based effects: If your sequence has clip-based gain, EQ, or other real-time processing applied, please render those effects into the exported audio so playback is accurate regardless of the plugins available on our end. If your software offers the option, also include unprocessed copies of affected clips alongside the rendered versions — this gives us a clean starting point if a full remix is ever needed.
Settings for Programs
Open the AAF Export Settings dialog via File > Export > AAF, and configure per the settings above. A few Premiere-specific notes:
- Render Audio Clip Effects and Include Clip Copies Without Effects are both available in the export dialog — enabling both gives us a rendered version and a clean unprocessed copy of every affected clip.
- Embedded AAF files larger than 2GB are not supported on Windows and will fail to export outright. If your project is likely to exceed that, export with separate/referenced audio instead of embedded audio, per the file-size guidance above.
Full official settings walkthrough: Adobe — Export AAF files
From the Deliver page, use the Pro Tools render preset rather than the general Export AAF/XML command — the Pro Tools preset is specifically formatted for a clean handoff to Pro Tools (or any AAF importer using the Pro Tools-style format).
A couple of things to know going in:
- Resolve’s Pro Tools preset does not bake in Fairlight FX, EQ, compression, or other effects the way Premiere does — there’s no equivalent “render clip effects” toggle. If you’re coming from Premiere, don’t go looking for it.
- Choose Linear PCM in the Audio panel’s Codec dropdown for a referenced AAF with a linked folder of audio files, or Embedded in AAF for a single embedded file — follow the file-size guidance above to decide which fits your project.
Full step-by-step walkthrough: Production Expert — How To Create A Pro Tools Friendly AAF From DaVinci Resolve
Export your sequence via right-click Output > Export to File, selecting AAF Edit Protocol as the format.
- Leave Marks and Use Enabled Tracks unchecked so the full sequence and all tracks are included, and make sure Include All Audio Tracks in Sequence is selected.
- We ask for referenced audio, not embedded — Pro Tools does not support AAF files with embedded media, so please link to consolidated media files rather than embedding.
- Uncheck video tracks in the export — send a separate reference movie instead, with burned-in timecode and encoded in DNxHD or ProRes (not H.264).
Official Avid documentation:
Avid Knowledge Base — How to export an AAF from Avid Media Composer
Avid Knowledge Base — Media Composer AAF Audio Export Options for Pro Tools
Avid — OMF/AAF Import/Export with Avid Editing and Pro Tools (PDF)
Completed Score Delivery
Stereo Mixes
Stem Delivery: Stereo stems representing the core divisions of the musical band — for example, a typical orchestral stem-out (Strings / Brass / Woodwinds / Percussion / Synth) or a rock band stem-out (Drums / Bass / Guitars / Keys / Vocals). If you have questions about how to group your stems for a particular score, reach out to Music at The WAV Lab and we’ll sort it out together.
Timecode should be embedded in both the file metadata and each cue’s filename (e.g., “1M01 01-01-07-05 Song One Stereo Mix”).
| Setting | Spec |
|---|---|
| File | Pro Tools Session or WAV or AAF |
| Sample Rate | 48000 Hz |
| Bits per Sample | 24 |
Questions about any of the above? Reach out to The WAV Lab before you export — a quick conversation up front saves a re-export later.