Temporary dialogue from set recordings or ADR scratch — syncs editing rhythm and visual timing, replaced by clean dialogue later. Rough-cut standard.
During editing, you immediately need audible dialogue to check the timing of cuts — and that's exactly what the scratch track is for. The editor sits in the cutting room, has the raw footage from set or a provisional script reading, and places these audio tracks as working material under the visuals. This saves you hours of silent editing and immediately shows you whether the cut moments breathe dramatically or feel clumsy.
In practice, it works like this: Your assistant or the editor themselves reads the dialogue into a microphone, or you use the best takes from the set audio you have — whether clean or with reverb. This material is roughly synchronized but does not have to be perfect. The scratch track is a guide tool, not a final audio track. Many editors work with it to identify where cuts are too short or too long, whether reactions from the other person need to be timed, or whether a scene fails in its tempo. You immediately see where the speech melody breaks or where there's room for visual gags.
Scratch track is indispensable, especially in comedies or fast-cut scenes — without audible dialogue, timing decisions lose their foundation. Some productions have a dedicated ADR editor or sound assistant who creates scratch tracks in high quality; others work with phone recordings and read-through video recordings. The standard remains the same: provisional, practical, purpose-driven.
After picture lock, the scratch track is replaced by clean dialogue synchronized on set — or by professional ADR sessions (see ADR), if the original takes are unusable. The scratch track disappears but leaves its work in the edit. It is the bridge between raw footage and the final audio track, and without it, the editor would be working blind.