Audio Track

REQUIRED BACKGROUND: marketing-studio skill. Work in C:/Projects/animations. Read C:/Projects/animations/docs/playbook/audio.md first (endpoints, ducking, manifest contract).

Every film gets this pass; it is not opt-in (CLAUDE.md: a film is not done without audio, and audio means narration). node scripts/check-audio.mjs <brand> --project <product> is the exit gate for all three recipes that touch video.

Three modes; pick by what the target is:

• Bespoke film (studio/src/films/<brand>/, e.g. PostflopFilm) — post-render scoring with scripts/build-<brand>-film-audio.mjs + scripts/score-film.mjs. Recipe A0.
• Video soundtrack — a directed LaunchVideo composition scored with music and voiceover inside the product workspace. Recipe A.
• Standalone audio — a music track and/or narration mp3s delivered as files (a sting, a jingle, a narration for something outside this studio). Recipe B.

Both need ELEVENLABS_API_KEY in the repo .env (missing key = feeder exits 2; videos stay silent). Generation costs real money: one pass, trim copy rather than regenerate blindly. Free tier returns 402; Starter or above required.

Recipe A0: bespoke film

1. Shared-repo guard + toolchain per marketing-studio.
2. Copy source of truth: scripts/build-<brand>-film-audio.mjs (copy postflop's). Narration lines carry the film SECOND they start on, computed from the film's timeline.ts so a re-timed shot moves its line with it; SFX cues carry the frame the shot lands something on (Stamp/Rule/click constants + the shot's from), max two per beat. Budget ~2.6 words/second minus a 150ms breath per line.
3. Run it (VO lines and the exact-length bed hit the API once; re-runs reuse files, --force <id,...|music> regenerates). Read the printed start/end table: every line inside its shot.
4. node scripts/score-film.mjs <brand> <product-film> --project <product> — refuses overlapping lines (trim copy, re-run the builder) and zero-VO manifests; masters by measured gain and verifies the DELIVERED file (I within 0.5 of TARGET_I, TP <= -1).
5. Listen-proof: node scripts/verify-cue.mjs <scored.mp4> <voStart> <voDur> on one narration window and one bed-only window (voice ~6 dB above the bed), then node scripts/check-audio.mjs <brand> --project <product> (exit 0), then SEND the scored file.

Recipe A: video soundtrack

1. Shared-repo guard + toolchain per marketing-studio.
2. Copy source of truth: scripts/build-<brand>-audio.mjs (copy the noban one for a new brand). VO lines are keyed by act, written FOR THE EAR ("dot gg", not ".gg"), one line per act, terse. Music prompt describes the brand's sonic character.
3. Run it with --project <product> (music takes 1-3 min). Check every line's duration fits its act; trim TEXT if not, re-run with --force.
4. Merge with --project <product>, then render into the product workspace using its public directory. Picture and sound consume the same shot plan; explicit audioRef maps voice independently of visual source IDs, while null means no narration.
5. Listen-proof: verify the mp4 has an audio stream (ffprobe), then SEND the video — audio is approved by ear, by the user. Ducking feel (base 0.35 / duck 0.12) is tunable in studio/src/lib/audioMix.ts if redlined.

Recipe B: standalone audio

1. Shared-repo guard per marketing-studio. The feeder code lives in the engine, but all generated audio lives in the product workspace.
2. Music: node feeders/audio/client.mjs music --project <product> --brand <brand> --prompt "<sonic character>" --length-ms <n> --out <product-output>.mp3 (exact-length, commercially licensed on paid plans; 3s-120s). Voiceover: write {lines: [{id, text}]} to a temp JSON (text written for the ear), then run the voice feeder with --project <product> --brand <brand> and a product-owned output. Durations print as ... OK: <name> <ms>ms; probe --file <mp3> re-measures.
3. Listen-proof: SEND the product-owned mp3(s) to the user. Machine loudness, beat, and cue reports remain incomplete until a human listens.