Film Career · Sound
Sound Mixer (Production Sound)
Sound · IATSE Local 695 and craft locals
- Union
- IATSE Local 695 and craft locals
- Day rate
- ~$650–$1,100/day
- Experience
- 4–9 yrs
What does a Sound Mixer do?
The production sound mixer captures dialogue on set, balancing radio mics and the boom into clean tracks the post team can build on. They own the sound cart, wire the actors, and tell the AD when a plane overhead means going again.
What does a Sound Mixer make?
- Day rate about $650-$1,100 (Local 695 scale around $500-$650), plus $250-$650+ a day in kit and wireless rental billed separately, which is the big multiplier and often adds $50K-$100K+ a year.
- All in, roughly $90K-$220K+.
- Feature and premium-TV credits push the top.
Film work is gig based, so crew are paid a day or weekly rate rather than a salary. These are realistic 2024-2025 ranges grounded in union rate cards and industry data; actual pay swings with budget tier, market, overtime, and reputation.
Sources & how we estimate pay
Union scale is the floor; the ranges above also reflect market day rates above scale. They are grounded in the following 2024–2025 sources:
Union rate cards & wage schedules
Official guild scale — the floor each craft is paid from.
- IATSE — 2024 Basic Agreement wage scales (PDF) ↗
- IATSE Local 600 (International Cinematographers Guild) — camera rate cards ↗
- DGA — minimum salary rate cards (director, unit production manager, assistant directors) ↗
- WGA — schedule of minimums (writers) ↗
- SAG-AFTRA — theatrical & background rate sheets (cast, stunts, background) ↗
- Teamsters Local 399 — basic feature wage rates, 2024–27 (transportation, locations, wranglers) (PDF) ↗
Government wage data
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, for the closest federal occupation.
On the job
- Record clean dialogue tracks from boom and radio mics
- Design the day's approach: mic plans, timecode, and playback
- Flag unusable takes before they become post problems
- Deliver organized sound reports and media to editorial
You’ll like and be good at this job if:
Hard skills
- You know a sound cart, wireless, and mixing on a busy set
- You can solve audio problems fast
Soft skills
- You have great ears
- You are comfortable owning gear and running your own kit
Career progression
The department ladder is utility, then boom operator, then mixer. Mixers own significant equipment packages, so the step up is financial as well as craft. Veteran mixers become the calm center of difficult locations.
A typical path, from entry to the top of the craft. Times are rough and vary by market, luck, and how steadily the work comes.
- Sound Utility· 1-3 yrs
~$60K–$220K+/yr
- Boom Operator· 3-6 yrs
~$65K–$130K/yr
- Sound Mixer (Production Sound)you are here· peak of the craft
~$50K–$100K+/yr
How do you become a Sound Mixer?
Start as a sound utility or boom low-budget projects while learning the cart. Recorder, wireless, and timecode fluency are entry requirements now; ears and diplomacy grow with the set hours.
On covered productions, rates, hours, and conditions for the role are set by IATSE Local 695 and craft locals contracts.
Covered by a union? The joining a film union guide explains how each one takes members.