What term describes starting music but not tracking until a later time?

• A. Dead Roll
• B. Post Roll
• C. Deferred Cue
• D. Hold Track

Answer: (A)

Starting music without logging the cue until later is about rolling the audio early while keeping the cue out of the rundown until the precise moment it’s needed. This is called a dead roll. The term emphasizes that the sound is in progress (the music is rolling) but the cue is not actively tracked or treated as a formal entry in the program schedule yet, giving you flexibility to bring it live at the exact right time. For example, you might dead roll a theme during a host’s intro so the bed is ready, and only officially log and trigger it when the transition to the next segment occurs. The other terms describe different behaviors: a post roll would play after the main action, a deferred cue would be scheduled to start later but still tracked, and a hold track would keep a track ready without starting it.