[{"content":"Following all that production sound talk from \u0026ldquo;The Dark Knight\u0026rdquo; I knew I needed my next post to focus on something I never really covered here, ADR. In a mix, ADR and production dialog try to play nice, hopefully resulting in a pristine dialog track that keeps an audience engaged. Luckily, people like ADR supervisor Tammy Fearing are on call, ensuring the viewing public an enjoyable experience. Even better, she was willing to discuss her job as an ad lib wrangler on \u0026ldquo;Step Brothers\u0026rdquo;.\nFSD: What do your duties encompass as an ADR supervisor and what are the best or worst aspects of the job?\nTammy: My duties as an ADR supervisor are as follows: I spot the movie for production dialog that needs to be replaced and keep a current list of ADR requests from the picture editor and the director. During the ADR sessions I help the actor or actress match the original production dialog performance by suggesting changes in pitch or volume. I edit the ADR and turn it over to the picture editor after each recording session. I keep a transcription log of all the improv jokes that are recorded during each ADR session to help the director keep track of the numerous joke options for each scene. By the end of the film, that log is 15-20 pages long. The best part about my job is being a part of an ensemble team during the ADR process. ADR is a great tool for the director to get more jokes into the film. During “Step Brothers” our director, Adam, wrote the jokes, the actor or actress would improv on the script, our picture editor, Brent, cut each scene so the timing of the jokes worked, and I made sure the ADR takes we recorded matched production performances in the scene. An ADR joke won’t play if the new line sounds different from the production dialog. Bad ADR is a distraction, while good ADR adds more laughs and no one ever knows it is ADR.\nFSD: Working with improv advocates like Adam McKay, Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly, how do you navigate through all the ad lib on the ADR stage and then in your cutting room?\nTammy: The picture editor gives me an edit of the scene that contains space for the ADR joke we are adding. The mock up edit allows us to record and playback the added ADR line to make sure it is working within the scene. During “Step Brothers,” director Adam McKay would write multiple jokes for each ADR cue. The actor or actress then performs the written lines doing several performances for each joke, including ad libs. We typically go into record for several minutes while the actor improvs. The challenge for me is to unobtrusively slip in directions of “louder please” or “try a little higher pitch” while the actor is improving. I am responsible for matching the ADR line to the production dialog in the scene. Adam works with the actor to come up with funny stuff but isn’t always aware if the performance will work in the scene. It is a team effort and is a lot of fun. After the session I cut Adam’s selected takes and give them to editor Brent White to cut into the picture. Brent shows Adam the different lines in the Avid and they choose their favorite take to put into the film for different previews. Our sound supervisor George Anderson, records audience reactions so we can determine which jokes get the best responses. At the end of the screening process the joke with the most laughs is usually the one that gets into the final cut.\nFSD: When directors or editors can’t make a looping session how do you have to adapt creatively or otherwise to the situation?\nTammy: My job is to help the actor get a performance that will work in the context of the scene. To do this I have to understand what each ADR line is intended to achieve, I need to know what the director wants so I can convey that to the actor, and I always have the actor perform several takes so the director has a few reads to choose from. If we are doing jokes I have the actor or actress improv on each line after the scripted jokes have been performed. In doing all of this I become the defacto director for the session when the director and picture editor can’t make it.\nFSD: Removed from the focus demanded of them on set, how do you reengage a frustrated actor, any specific examples?\nTammy: Do a few loop lines yourself and you quickly see how challenging it is to match picture sync and give a good performance months after the filming has ended. After doing a lot of takes on the same line an actor can get frustrated and loose energy. Here are few tricks I use when the actor has reached their limit on a cue: I ask them if they want to take a break or want to move on to another cue and come back to the problem cue later. Most actors will want to finish the line and get it right before moving on. Offering to return to the cue later seems to make the actor view the performance as a challenge. They will conquer the line- it won’t conquer them. Another option is to playback the scene with the last recorded ADR line in place. Playing back the scene lets the actor step back and learn what adjustments are needed to get a performance they are happy with.\nFSD: With that reliance on improv for the funny, on the Apatow Produced films you work on, does ADR ever steer a meandering story back on course?\nTammy: ADR is used as a tool for connecting ad lib material back into the scene or helping to transition between scenes. For example, in “Step Brothers” we have an exterior shot of a steak house in which Adam wanted to make it clear that we are at Derek’s birthday party. To do this we added Will’s ADR line “Happy Birthday Derek.” and Adam Scott’s ADR line “Nice gift TJ. Where are the rest of my gifts?” These 2 lines are heard over the exterior shot of the steak joint as a lead in for the scene. Example 2: For timing purposes, Adam deleted a scene of Will [Brennan] making plans to get his Mom and step Dad back together at the Catalina Wine Mixer and used ADR to convey this information. At the Catalina Wine Mixer Nancy greets Robert [Brennan’s step dad] by saying “How nice to see you here.” For Robert we added the over the shoulder ADR line “Brennan sent me an invite.” Will [Brennan] then walks up and in another over the shoulder ADR line says “I see you two are getting along.” By adding the 2 over the shoulder ADR lines we were able to keep the action moving forward but still convey the intent of the deleted scene.\nLastly, John C and Will [Dale and Brennan] are talking about launching their new company, Prestige Worldwide. At the request of Dale, Brennan sings him a song and then starts giving excuses about why his performance was bad. Adam wanted to make Dale as sincere as possible about how much he loved Brennan’s voice so we added the ADR line “Your voice is like a combination of Fergie and Jesus.” Not only does the ADR line get the point across, but it gets a big laugh so it serves two purposes.\nFSD: What was your first gig like?\nTammy: My first gig as an ADR supervisor was “The Perfect Score” directed by Brian Robbins. The big challenge was the narration. Originally, the lead character, Kyle, was narrating the story but after several recording sessions the director decided it wasn’t working. He then had the character Roy, the stoner dude, do the narration. It completely changed the tone of the film and added a nice touch of extra humor. Narration is a tricky ADR beast. The two big pitfalls are an actor or actress tending to read the narration too fast or not keeping a consistent tone for the narration from scene to scene. My job is to make sure the narration is well paced and that the energy and tone are consistent throughout the film. We do many takes of narration which are then cut together to make the final performance that goes into the film.\nA funny side note: In “Step Brothers” the “Playboy” lawyers informed us that we couldn’t us their brand name in any context using the word “masturbation”. Apparently their readers buy the magazine to read the articles. In the original tree fort John C and Will [Dale and Brennan] are looking at Playboys. Brennan comments “I still hate you, but you’ve got an awesome collection of Playboys.” Dale makes the joke “I’ve got some from the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s. It’s like masturbating in a time machine.” The Visual FX team had to change the magazine title to “Hustler”. We had to ADR Brennan saying “I still hate you, but you’ve got an awesome collection of nudie mags.”\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2008/08/step-brothers/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eFollowing all that production sound talk from \u0026ldquo;The Dark Knight\u0026rdquo; I knew I needed my next post to focus on something I never really covered here, ADR. In a mix, ADR and production dialog try to play nice, hopefully resulting in a pristine dialog track that keeps an audience engaged. Luckily, people like ADR supervisor Tammy Fearing are on call, ensuring the viewing public an enjoyable experience. Even better, she was willing to discuss her job as an ad lib wrangler on \u0026ldquo;Step Brothers\u0026rdquo;.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"STEP BROTHERS"},{"content":"When I seem to have a grasp on what production sound crews have to overcome on set, I sit in a theater watching a film like \u0026ldquo;The Dark Knight\u0026rdquo; and humbly remind myself I really have no idea. Production sound mixers have to battle everything from wind machines to air conditioners all while doing their best to capture performances that may not be able to be duplicated on an ADR stage. Sadly, in the case of \u0026ldquo;TDK\u0026rdquo; this scenario rang true with the untimely passing of Heath Ledger. Thankfully, with Ledger\u0026rsquo;s incredible performance on screen and Ed Novick\u0026rsquo;s hard work on set no looping was needed. Confirming with sound supervisor Richard King (his interview will be up this weekend) Novick\u0026rsquo;s mixing captured Ledger\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;Joker\u0026rdquo; well enough that everything you hear in the film is production. Moreover, King revealed that there is very little ADR in the mix, period. I don\u0026rsquo;t think there is a better compliment for a production mixer and thankfully this one took some time out to talk about his experience in Gotham City.\nFSD: With Nolan’s emphasis on practical effects that happen during the production as opposed to CGI which is replaced after the fact, do you find yourself recoding more SFX on set when, say, a big rig flips over or a hospital blows up? If so, does your relationship with the post sound department become more important?\nEN: My job always has been, and continues to be about recording good dialog on set. Anything beyond that is often seen as a bonus. However, I don’t disregard the non-dialog portions of the process. Any production recordist has the responsibility to record what the camera sees; even if it’s only a reference or guide track. You have only one chance to record any given take, and you should use that opportunity. I might even do something good! My production tracks may be used as a base layer upon which post sound can build.\nOn this project, though, post asked me to record ambiance tracks in Hong Kong. And so I spent a day with my local sound guy recording cars, trucks, traffic, police and emergency vehicle sounds (Hong Kong specific), birds, markets, and the like. I took a DEVA V over the shoulder and had a Schoeps M-S rig and came back with good stereo ambiance for post to use. It may be all background, but it helps a lot that it’s authentic. Plus I got to see (and hear) Hong Kong from more of a local’s perspective.\nFSD: I’ve read that Nolan does not have a second unit on his films. Is there an advantage to not having two production sound crews?\nEN: If second unit is far from the main unit, there’s no problem. Often though, a second (or splinter) unit is working at the same site as the first unit. This is usually a problem, as locking up one unit as the other shoots is pretty tough to do. Thankfully, this doesn’t happen with Chris Nolan projects, as there is no second unit work.\nFSD: Nolan said in a recent interview, “I just think separating the voice from the face and the body is very tricky… It is, after all, blatantly unreal.” With an established dislike of ADR, was Nolan more accepting of input from you on set?\nEN: Chris likes to use the production sound for the final, yes. And if during shooting I can identify a problem - that’s fine. But he expects me to have a solution, as well. His method of shooting one camera at a time is very sound-friendly. I think we both agree that matching the camera perspective (wide shots sound more distant than close-ups) is correct, and that a well-positioned overhead boom mic will be better than a lavalier hidden under the clothing.\nBut there are exceptions to every rule, and there are plenty of lavs in use in “The Dark Knight”. For one, the bat suit has a place for a lav built in to the suit. Graham Churchyard, who designed the bat suit, and Day Murch, who did the day-to-day maintenance of the bat suit, were both very helpful in making sure that I had a good mic position for the lav (and that I didn’t do anything I shouldn’t)!\nChris made sure that sound was invited to every location scout. Many potential problems are solved this way, as issues like generator placement and cable-entry can be worked out in advance. This movie had a number of locations in practical office buildings, so identifying location issues (escalators, air-conditioning, elevator dings, etc…) early can help make them go away on the day. James McCallister(location manager) and his location team were terrific in this regard.\nFSD: What kind of challenge did the Imax cameras (louder then traditional 35mm) bring to the set?\nEN: They are loud. Fortunately, most of the scenes that were shot with IMAX are action scenes, with little or no dialog. When IMAX was present for dialog, close micing became mandatory, regardless of the frame size. There is simply no opening for an overhead mic when that camera is running. Radio mics and/or plant mics were required in those instances. There are a few instances where radio mics were impractical, either for action or costume. In those cases we took wild track right after shooting, with good success, I believe. Baffling the camera with furniture pads (whenever practical) was also used for IMAX/ dialog shots.\nThere’s a scene where Bruce Wayne is driving his Lamborghini while talking to Alfred, who is back at the Bat Bunker. There’s an IMAX camera mounted on the hood and another on a side mount. Even with the windows rolled up, I could still hear the camera noise outside the moving vehicle. Now that’s a loud camera.\nFSD: As an unabashed fan of the new “Batman” films, I just have to ask what was the most rewarding scene to shoot? And, what was the trickiest location to shoot?\nEN: Anytime I can make a music recording good enough to end up in the final product, I’m happy. So it was here that the version of “Balmora” played by the Chicago Police Dept. Pipe \u0026amp; Drum band was the one I recorded live. And anything that Heath Ledger did as The Joker was wonderful. He was a terrific guy.\nThere’s a dialog scene between Bruce Wayne and Lucious Fox on the Central Escalators in Hong Kong. It’s an elevated area in a noisy environment in the center of the city. And there were tons of extras. All in all, a very noisy place to record.\nAlso, many locations in Chicago (Gotham) were glass and steel structures. Lots of reflections! But our boom operator, Kurt Peterson, was very good at keeping those reflections out of the frame.\nFSD: What was your first gig like?\nEN: I can’t remember that far back!\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2008/07/dark-knight-pt2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWhen I seem to have a grasp on what production sound crews have to overcome on set, I sit in a theater watching a film like \u0026ldquo;The Dark Knight\u0026rdquo; and humbly remind myself I really have no idea. Production sound mixers have to battle everything from wind machines to air conditioners all while doing their best to capture performances that may not be able to be duplicated on an ADR stage. Sadly, in the case of \u0026ldquo;TDK\u0026rdquo; this scenario rang true with the untimely passing of Heath Ledger. Thankfully, with Ledger\u0026rsquo;s incredible performance on screen and Ed Novick\u0026rsquo;s hard work on set no looping was needed. Confirming with sound supervisor Richard King (his interview will be up this weekend) Novick\u0026rsquo;s mixing captured Ledger\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;Joker\u0026rdquo; well enough that everything you hear in the film is production. Moreover, King revealed that there is very little ADR in the mix, period. I don\u0026rsquo;t think there is a better compliment for a production mixer and thankfully this one took some time out to talk about his experience in Gotham City.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"THE DARK KNIGHT pt.2"},{"content":"If you know me, you know a bat-nerd. I grew up on batman, I have seen the franchise through good times and bad (1997 was excruciating). That said, I was very stoked on Chris Nolan\u0026rsquo;s retooling of the series with 2005\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;Batman Begins\u0026rdquo; and with the release of the second Nolan helmed film this July my excitement is nearing fever pitch. So this is a warning if you will, there might be a slight bias towards \u0026ldquo;The Dark Knight\u0026rdquo; in the next couple of months. I might damn near post any and everything sound related for the film including up to the three interviews I am trying to do with \u0026ldquo;TDK\u0026rdquo; sound folk. So to start the ball rolling I submit THIS LA TIMES BLOG, an interview with the two composers returning to Nolan\u0026rsquo;s Bat universe, Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard. Please don\u0026rsquo;t fault me for the addiction, if there is a Batman Anonymous, I\u0026rsquo;ll join.\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2008/06/it-begins/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIf you know me, you know a bat-nerd.  I grew up on batman, I have seen the franchise through good times and bad (1997 was excruciating).  That said, I was very stoked on Chris Nolan\u0026rsquo;s retooling of the series with 2005\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;Batman Begins\u0026rdquo; and with the release of the second Nolan helmed film this July my excitement is nearing fever pitch. So this is a warning if you will, there might be a slight bias towards \u0026ldquo;The Dark Knight\u0026rdquo; in the next couple of months.  I might damn near post any and everything sound related for the film including up to the three interviews I am trying to do with \u0026ldquo;TDK\u0026rdquo; sound folk.  So to start the ball rolling I submit THIS LA TIMES BLOG, an interview with the two composers returning to Nolan\u0026rsquo;s Bat universe, Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard.  Please don\u0026rsquo;t fault me for the addiction, if there is a Batman Anonymous, I\u0026rsquo;ll join.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"IT BEGINS..."},{"content":"Albeit a slight bias toward the leaning tower of Pixar, I am always game for a great animated film regardless of the brand. \u0026ldquo;Kung Fu Panda\u0026rdquo; was just that - a well crafted story supported by some well crafted sounds. While Ethan Van Der Ryn, Erik Aadahl, and co. attack another Dreamworks animated film next year with \u0026ldquo;Monsters vs. Aliens\u0026rdquo;, I\u0026rsquo;d like to thank them for taking some time out to talk about their work on this one..\nSOUND SUPERVISOR/ SOUND DESIGNER: ERIK AADAHL\nSOUND SUPERVISOR/ SOUND DESIGNER: ETHAN VAN DER RYN\nUPDATE: seems some browsers/flash players couldn\u0026rsquo;t handle 48k mp3s so I converted the Q and A so it plays correctly. I sware I don\u0026rsquo;t sound like Michael Clarke Duncan!\nFSD: Vintage Kung Fu film influences?\nFSD: Fielding the record sessions?\nFSD: The sounds of \u0026ldquo;The Furious 5\u0026rdquo;?\nFSD: \u0026ldquo;Composing\u0026rdquo; the mix?\nFSD: For the Re-Record?\nFSD: See about a \u0026ldquo;Skadoosh\u0026rdquo;?\nPosted by FILMSOUNDDAILY\nat 10:43 AM\n1 comments: Rene said\u0026hellip;\nexcellent work as always. great interviews!\nJune 14, 2008 7:02 AM\nPost a Comment\nNewer Post\nOlder Post\nHome\nSubscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2008/06/kung-fu-panda-pt2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAlbeit a slight bias toward the leaning tower of Pixar, I am always game for a great animated film regardless of the brand.  \u0026ldquo;Kung Fu Panda\u0026rdquo; was just that - a well crafted story supported by some well crafted sounds.  While Ethan Van Der Ryn, Erik Aadahl, and co. attack another Dreamworks animated film next year with \u0026ldquo;Monsters vs. Aliens\u0026rdquo;, I\u0026rsquo;d like to thank them for taking some time out to talk about their work on this one..\u003c/p\u003e","title":"KUNG FU PANDA pt.2"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;The Strangers\u0026rdquo; introduced itself to theaters May 30th. Supervising sound editor Scott Hecker makes sure you notice the film\u0026rsquo;s sound. Hecker is continuing a horror roll with this falls retelling of \u0026ldquo;The Tale of Two Sisters” with, \u0026ldquo;The Uninvited\u0026rdquo;. \u0026ldquo;The Strangers\u0026rdquo; mixed in Burbank at \u0026ldquo;the dub stage\u0026rdquo; with Marti D. Humphrey and Chris M. Jacobson on dialog/music and effects, respectively. Humphrey and Jacobson continue mixing together with this August\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;The Horsemen\u0026rdquo;. Jeffree Bloomer, who is mixing on David O. Russell’s current film, handled production sound on the film \u0026ldquo;Nailed\u0026rdquo;. Composer Tom Hajdu, teaming up with the Slovakian based Bratislava Symphony Orchestra provided score for the film. Hajdu, also known as Tomandandy is heading up the film adaptation of the video game, \u0026ldquo;Return to Castle Wolfenstien\u0026rdquo;\nCLICK HERE FOR Q AND A WITH RE-RECORDING MIXER MARTI D. HUMPHREY\nTHE DUB STAGE\nSUPERVISING SOUND EDITOR: Scott Hecker\nRE-RECORDING MIXER: Marti D. Humphrey\nRE-RECORDING MIXER: Chris M. Jacobson\nPRODUCTION SOUND MIXER: Jeffree Bloomer\nBRATISLAVA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA\nCOMPOSER: Tom Hajdu\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2008/06/strangers/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;The Strangers\u0026rdquo; introduced itself to theaters May 30th. Supervising sound editor Scott Hecker makes sure you notice the film\u0026rsquo;s sound. Hecker is continuing a horror roll with this falls retelling of \u0026ldquo;The Tale of Two Sisters” with, \u0026ldquo;The Uninvited\u0026rdquo;. \u0026ldquo;The Strangers\u0026rdquo; mixed in Burbank at \u0026ldquo;the dub stage\u0026rdquo; with Marti D. Humphrey and Chris M. Jacobson on dialog/music and effects, respectively. Humphrey and Jacobson continue mixing together with this August\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;The Horsemen\u0026rdquo;. Jeffree Bloomer, who is mixing on David O. Russell’s current film, handled production sound on the film \u0026ldquo;Nailed\u0026rdquo;. Composer Tom Hajdu, teaming up with the Slovakian based Bratislava Symphony Orchestra provided score for the film. Hajdu, also known as Tomandandy is heading up the film adaptation of the video game, \u0026ldquo;Return to Castle Wolfenstien\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e","title":"THE STRANGERS"},{"content":"It\u0026rsquo;s been almost a year since I posted about my last bad (and I mean bad) experience in a theater. When I saw the latest \u0026ldquo;Harry Potter\u0026rdquo;, the theater sounded crappy. When I went to see \u0026ldquo;The Strangers\u0026rdquo; this past weekend it was godawful. A 60Hz hum plagued the center channel, all but pooping on the hard work done on the mix stage. Of course I complained multiple times to the management - they assured me it was the speaker not the print(glory) and \u0026ldquo;there was nothing they could do about it, would you like a refund?\u0026rdquo; Man, did I want to storm out of there, cash in hand but alas, I had a job to do. It was a task using the notch filter in my head to tune out that terrible buzz and listen to the work re-recording mixer Marti D. Humphrey and the rest of the sound crew did. Luckily Marti took some time to talk about mixing \u0026ldquo;The Strangers\u0026rdquo; before I wasted your time just now complaining about my attempt to enjoy it!\nFSD: First time director Bryan Bertino seemed quite clued in to the horror sound formula, i.e.: jolting effects and score to mislead and terrify the audience, (the smoke detector for example). What was it like working with someone who understands sounds role in story telling?\nMH: Well, Director Bryan Bertino had a solid idea of what he wanted. He worked very well with the Picture Editor Kevin Greutert, whose experience on a dub stage helped create an atmosphere of collaboration. Being fortunate to start working with them beginning with the first temp dub gave the mixing crew a chance to work together and understand what the client was looking for in terms of telling his story through a sonic landscape. It was also an excellent opportunity for Chris Jacobson, my mixing partner who mixes Sound Effects at The Dub Stage, and me to work with Sound Supervisor Scott Hecker. I have been a fan of Hecker’s work on such features as “Road to Perdition”. After meeting Hecker about four years ago, I mentioned to Hecker how much I would like to mix a feature with him in the future. This film gave me that opportunity. Hecker worked exceptionally well with both Bertino and Greutert. Hecker brings a very calming personality to The Dub Stage. It was a new experience for Hecker mixing with Jacobson and me, since this was one of the first times Scott had mixed a feature exclusively “in the box” with Pro Tools from start through Print Master. The temp was mixed over several days and then was screened before an audience to get their feedback. The first temp was considerably longer and much more graphic than what made up the Final. After the first audience screening, Director Bertino and Picture Editor Greutert went back and tightened up the story. We then had an opportunity for a second temp mix. That went very well for both the mix and audience screening. The second temp was very close to what is seen in the final.\nFSD: One of the best scenes in the film is the reveal of the hooded man. How did the decision to play it so deathly quiet come about? Was rolling into a cacophonous next scene factored in?\nMH: One of the things that I, as a Re-Recording Mixer, enjoy doing with this type of film is to build suspense by utilizing dynamics. In this film we used quiet sound as a subliminal part of the storytelling process. It was Chris Jacobson’s and my goal to provide a sufficient sonic bed with just enough presence to maintain a person’s focus on the picture on screen, yet not enough to tip the viewer off as to the impending horror.\nAs for the next scene being polar opposite in regards to sound, this calm before the storm helps to elevate a viewer’s senses to the true horror that is to follow. It is an enjoyable experience to be able to sit in the theater knowing what is about to happen, and watch the audience become terror-stricken as they begin screaming, gasping and covering their eyes unsure as to what to expect.\nFSD: Bertino seemed to love using that record player in the film. There are scenes where the music sways from score to source and vise versa. What notes were given in those scenes about the music emitted from the player and did they change moving into the final?\nMH: Bryan Bertino and Kevin Greutert really knew what they wanted. They gave me a lot of creative rope to run with. They let me try different approaches and gave me enough time to be creative. The record player and the great score from Tomandandy blended extremely well. I really enjoyed the score. The composers know the art of writing around dialog, and the music stems they provided gave me maximum flexibility. This is one of the benefits of being involved from the first temp. It allows a mixer to create communication with the Composers and the Music Editor about what works or what needs to be adjusted for when the sound team gets to the final. The Music Editor for the film, Sheri Ozeki, was a pleasure to work with. She was cutting on the dub stage, doing updates for the Director, Picture Editor or Producer using her Pro Tools system. This allowed Ozeki to send us the files via our gigabit ethernet connection on the stage, and we laid the updates right into our Pro Tools session. At The Dub Stage, we mix Virtual with Pro Tools so we never have to commit to anything until Print Master. This gives us a tremendous amount of flexibility to try subtle changes, or even large ones, without having to unravel any predubs. We were able to keep presets and templates from the second temp that ended up being used in the final.\nFSD: So much tension is built up in a film like “The Strangers” with scenes quiet enough to hear the characters breathing (i.e., the hooded man wheezes). On average, how much of that can actually be saved from production? What other examples of this kind of creative ADR helped improve the mood?\nMH: I had some challenging Production Sound on the interiors of the house because it was shot in a very large warehouse. When there was any screaming, it rang for two plus seconds! Jeff Rosen the Dialog Editor was seated to my left during the mix. With his nearby system, he was able to fix little things that arose, and quickly shipped them over to me via ethernet into my Pro Tools system. He did a great job of cutting the dialog and ADR. I used Production when possible, but when it was not possible because of noise or performance issues, Rosen worked closely with Jeff Gomillion, the ADR Mixer at Universal. Rosen brought his experience to the mix and did his best to get the performances out of the talent when ADR was required. Another example of creative ADR is Liv Tyler’s breathing in the kitchen pantry with the hooded man across the room.\nFSD: A trait I have noticed in re-recording mixers is their ability to focus on film-sound when the dub stage is full of other kinds of noises, for example, a noisy backfield. How long did it take to adapt when mixing with so much commotion and conversation behind you?\nMH: I am glad you bring up this question. Being focused is the one thing I am regularly complimented on in regards to my mixing skill set. As a mixer, it is essential to listen deeply into the mix. A trait of a good Re-Recording Mixer is being able to listen not only to what is happening on the screen at the front of the room, but also what is being said in the back of the room. One must be able to deeply focus on what is coming out of the speakers, yet keep an ear open to the clients’ needs and comments. It is a talent that one perfects with experience. Furthermore, The Dub Stage has all the computers, hard drives, fans, etc. located remotely in a back machine room outside of the stage to reduce unnecessary noise. I cannot tell you how many times I have visited other mix stages and seen four or more Pro Tools workstations with their computers, drives and fans making excessive noise just a few feet away from the Mixers. Unnecessary noise can be very distracting.\nAs for conversations, I have learned to tune them out when needed. If it becomes a problem, I try to tactfully let the ‘backfield’ know that everyone needs to keep noise down for a couple of minutes, or provide them with an adjacent lounge for group meetings or discussions. The lounge being located close enough to round up the clients and bring them back into the room to listen to an area in question for their opinion has helped considerably.\nFSD: Speaking of noise, I went to see the film In Santa Monica at a theater whose center channel had a 60hz hum accompanying your sound for the duration. How many times have you gone and seen your work pooped on like this? Is there anything we can do (I did complain) to raise standards for sound in theaters?\nMH: Didn’t you know I put that in the mix to drive other mixers crazy! Just joking! Now, give me the name of that theater with the hum and I will go over there and complain. I’ll tell them my name is…… from filmsounddaily. (Ha!)\nI saw “Pulp Fiction” when it first came out in theaters. The dialog was coming out of the right speaker only and the left had the right soundtrack coming out of it. To make matters worse, there was no sound coming out of the center speaker! I think I was the only person in the theater who got up to complain. I have a terrible fear that when we get fully into Digital Cinema and we no longer do a Dolby Print Master for film, that it will take out a third party, such as the Dolby technician, that helps to uphold standards. When anyone can mix a film in a room that is not calibrated, and it ends up being projected in a theater with a hundred or more seats on a large sound system, people will complain. That means we will end up mixing theatrically through some sort of box such as a LM100 that will ultimately change the way we mix. With limited dynamics, movies such as “The Strangers”, would not have the same sonic impact.\nFSD: What was your first gig like?\nMH: It was in 1980. I was lucky enough to be working for a great Mixer, Ed Greene. He brought me on as an assistant on “The Big Show”, a two-hour weekly variety show. There was a huge group of very talented sound people attached to the show. We worked 110 hours a week doing both the Production Sound and then the Post Sound. We were located at the Sunset Gower Studios on Stages 8 and 9. One stage had seating for about 125 audience members. The other stage had a swimming pool and an ice skating rink! There were great bands, stars and comics. While we waited for the next act to appear or for lighting etc, I was able to pick the brains of all the sound people around me. I did not make much money in the beginning, but what I learned has helped put me down the path to where I am at now. I have nothing but respect for people who do Production Sound, but it is too much hurry up and wait for me. It feels very natural for me to be sitting on The Dub Stage. My wife and I met and began dating during that show. She understands the commitment that I make to my job. She also knows how much I love it! We have been married for over 26 years and have two kids and now a grandson. Maybe I can get him involved in sound one day.\nBefore I close, I would like to mention all those who helped on the mix:\nWe had a great group of people working here at The Dub Stage on the film. There was Scott Hecker Sound Supervisor, Jeff Rosen Dialog Editor, Rick Hromadka Sound Effects/Sound Design, Roy SeegerFirst Assistant Sound Editor, Sheri Ozeki Music Editor, Brad Semenoff Dub Stage Assistant and Chris Jacobson Mixing Sound Effects and Foley.\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2008/06/strangers-pt2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIt\u0026rsquo;s been almost a year since I posted about my last bad (and I mean bad) experience in a theater. When I saw the latest \u0026ldquo;Harry Potter\u0026rdquo;, the theater sounded crappy. When I went to see \u0026ldquo;The Strangers\u0026rdquo; this past weekend it was godawful. A 60Hz hum plagued the center channel, all but pooping on the hard work done on the mix stage. Of course I complained multiple times to the management - they assured me it was the speaker not the print(glory) and \u0026ldquo;there was nothing they could do about it, would you like a refund?\u0026rdquo; Man, did I want to storm out of there, cash in hand but alas, I had a job to do. It was a task using the notch filter in my head to tune out that terrible buzz and listen to the work re-recording mixer Marti D. Humphrey and the rest of the sound crew did. Luckily Marti took some time to talk about mixing \u0026ldquo;The Strangers\u0026rdquo; before I wasted your time just now complaining about my attempt to enjoy it!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"THE STRANGERS pt.2"},{"content":"Ben Burtt has one of the best answers to the my favorite reoccurring question, \u0026ldquo;What was your first gig like?\u0026rdquo; After graduating from USC with a masters in film production, he was hired to record some sounds for this sci-fi movie fellow USC alum George Lucas was putting together. Some 30 years later, Burtt is credited with designing the most memorable sounds for some of the most beloved films as well as helping to put film sound into the public consciousness. In the late 1970\u0026rsquo;a he was there when what was Sprocket Systems started and has been a cornerstone in its evolution into skywalker sound. He is now an employee of Pixar and adding to his ridiculous resume, he has two huge films releasing this summer. Thanks so much, Ben, for taking time out to talk about one of those films, \u0026ldquo;Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.\u0026rdquo; Check back next month for a discussion with Ben about the other film, Pixar\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;Wall-E\u0026rdquo;.\nUPDATE: If you like your interview\u0026rsquo;s visual and I know you do, Mix Magazine has a video with Ben, HERE.\nFSD: Coming back to \u0026ldquo;Indy\u0026rdquo; after 20 years?\nFSD: Mixing \u0026ldquo;Crystal Skull\u0026rdquo;?\nFSD: Sounds carrying over from the first 3 \u0026ldquo;Indy\u0026rdquo; films?\nFSD: Picture editorial cut on film?!?\nFSD: Field record sessions?\nFSD: Dividing the sound editorial work?\nFSD: \u0026ldquo;Sound designer?\u0026rdquo;\nSearching around for video about Ben\u0026rsquo;s work I came across this one that seemed appropriate.\nPosted by FILMSOUNDDAILY\nat 1:36 PM\n3 comments:\nPaul said\u0026hellip;\nSweet FilmSounddaily has a voice! Keep them coming.\nMay 22, 2008 4:03 PM\nSteven G said\u0026hellip;\nGreat interview and great job getting onto the website.\nMay 23, 2008 1:49 AM\nGeoff said\u0026hellip;\nLove the audio interviews.\nMay 26, 2008 6:22 PM\nPost a Comment\nNewer Post\nOlder Post\nHome\nSubscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2008/05/indiana-jones-and-kingdom-of-crystal_17/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eBen Burtt has one of the best answers to the my favorite reoccurring question, \u0026ldquo;What was your first gig like?\u0026rdquo; After graduating from USC with a masters in film production, he was hired to record some sounds for this sci-fi movie fellow USC alum George Lucas was putting together. Some 30 years later, Burtt is credited with designing the most memorable sounds for some of the most beloved films as well as helping to put film sound into the public consciousness.  In the late 1970\u0026rsquo;a he was there when what was Sprocket Systems started and has been a cornerstone in its evolution into skywalker sound. He is now an employee of Pixar and adding to his ridiculous resume, he has two huge films releasing this summer. Thanks so much, Ben, for taking time out to talk about one of those films, \u0026ldquo;Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.\u0026rdquo;  Check back next month for a discussion with Ben about the other film, Pixar\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;Wall-E\u0026rdquo;.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL pt.2"},{"content":"Hey All,\nMy apologies for the limited movement over the past couple of weeks. No offense to the great craftsmen who offered up their time for this humble cause, the Q and A\u0026rsquo;s were great! I guess I\u0026rsquo;m just hypersensitive of the slow goings on here. With that said, summer is almost upon us and with that a slew of some of biggest films of the year. Not downplay any of the great work heard in releases outside hotter months, its just nice to see sound coverage on these high profile films too. So with my eyes fixed on the horizon I am turning to you guys for any suggestions of what you\u0026rsquo;d like to see more of here? I can already note the lack of music peeps represented(I am in the process of nabbing one for an upcoming release). So any other notes or suggestions would be outstanding. Thanks for your support and bring on the blockbusters\u0026hellip;\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2008/04/calm-before-storm/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHey All,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMy apologies for the limited movement over the past couple of weeks. No offense to the great craftsmen who offered up their time for this humble cause, the Q and A\u0026rsquo;s were great! I guess I\u0026rsquo;m just hypersensitive of the slow goings on here. With that said, summer is almost upon us and with that a slew of some of biggest films of the year. Not downplay any of the great work heard in releases outside hotter months, its just nice to see sound coverage on these high profile films too. So with my eyes fixed on the horizon I am turning to you guys for any suggestions of what you\u0026rsquo;d like to see more of here? I can already note the lack of music peeps represented(I am in the process of nabbing one for an upcoming release). So any other notes or suggestions would be outstanding. Thanks for your support and bring on the blockbusters\u0026hellip;\u003c/p\u003e","title":"THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM..."},{"content":"Thanks to sound supervisor Julian Slater for taking time out to do this Q and A!\nFSD: How did director Martin McDonagh’s theater background influence his thoughts on sound in this film?\nJS: Martin, more than many of the directors I have worked with is extremely focused on the dialogue in the film. Being a playwright, he is obviously a man who sees the sound effects and maybe even the music as secondary to the words in his film. As for looping, he will do everything he can to avoid looping dialogue or adding new dialogue for that matter. As far as he is concerned, what he captures on the day is what he wants to go out in the cinema.\nFSD: In a film with so many different accents, did any actor stray away from their role’s dialect? How often does that happen in film, and is looping the only solution to bring cohesiveness back to a performance?\nJS: In \u0026lsquo;In Bruges\u0026rsquo; it wasn\u0026rsquo;t really an issue. With Martin\u0026rsquo;s desire to capture the performance on the day shot, he made sure that all the accents were tuned in on set. I have been involved with other films where that is not the case though. Of course the editor will fish around for takes that will bring the most to the performance and indeed the accent but when this avenue is exhausted, looping is the one option left where you have the ability to start again so to speak. This can make for a tricky looping session and you must be very careful how you communicate with the actor that there accent needs to be or can be improved!\nFSD: During the film, Bruges as a city is viewed as a fairy tale and at the same time, a nightmare. Was there any specific direction in presenting the town sonically and did it differ with point of view?\nJS: Very much so! Having worked on the film for a few weeks, the effects editor and myself trotted off to Bruges for a few days to record the ambiances. We were immediately struck with how different it sounded compared to how it looks in the film. Watching the film you get the impression that it is very quiet and almost idyllic in its overall sound but not so. Bruges, like most places today has heavy traffic, sirens and many other modern day noises that we have all gotten used to. There are sounds that are specific to Bruges such as the many clock towers with their bells chiming and we did record these but on a Sunday morning at 5am! In effect we did a \u0026lsquo;Sonic Lie\u0026rsquo; in the final mix and made the town sound much quieter and peaceful than it actually is.\nFSD: Speaking of dramatic change in sound, how did your approach differ between “In Bruges” and last year’s loud and proud “Hot Fuzz”?\nJS: Chalk and Cheese! Edgar is a very different director to Martin. With Edgar, the sound design and the layering of sounds is another tool at his disposal to take the film to another level. Edgar is a machine gun of ideas and he is constantly firing them at me! Its great fun because all the time we are trying different sound ideas on different scenes to see what direction we can take it. Also, the sounds have to be justifiable with a comic twist. You can\u0026rsquo;t just lay a bar atmosphere in a bar; there has to be elements which to some degree will make you laugh with the action on screen or add to it in some way. Without a doubt Edgar is the most sonically demanding director I work with but the pay off is you get to produce stuff that is very unique and fun to watch and make!\nFSD: When was the idea to use sound puns in “Hot Fuzz” mocking action movie clichés conceived? Did you guys do any research for accuracy in the mockery?\nJS: That came from Edgar at the outset. He gave me the generic conceit and we, as a sound team developed it. Looping Simon in the action scenes to make him sound over the top macho was an example of this. We tried to pay homage to Michael Bay and Bruckheimer in the film a lot. It wasn\u0026rsquo;t always easy as “Hot Fuzz” is essentially a Hollywood high budget action film comedy with the real budget and confines of a small to medium British film!\nFSD: What was your first gig like?\nJS: Hehe, I feel like every gig is my first gig! As every film is unique and has its own set of challenges I really do feel like I am starting out for the first time every time. I always make sure that whatever challenges I have in a certain movie, I take the solutions with me to the next project. I never relax into the job and I have learned that that is a good thing.\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2008/03/in-bruges-pt2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThanks to sound supervisor Julian Slater for taking time out to do this Q and A!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFSD:  How did director Martin McDonagh’s theater background influence his thoughts on sound in this film?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJS:  Martin, more than many of the directors I have worked with is extremely focused on the dialogue in the film.  Being a playwright, he is obviously a man who sees the sound effects and maybe even the music as secondary to the words in his film.  As for looping, he will do everything he can to avoid looping dialogue or adding new dialogue for that matter.  As far as he is concerned, what he captures on the day is what he wants to go out in the cinema.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"IN BRUGES pt.2"},{"content":"You really can\u0026rsquo;t beat RED CARPET DISTRICT\u0026rsquo;S coverage of the Cinema Audio Society awards last night, in which the mixers from \u0026ldquo;No Country for Old Men\u0026rdquo; walked away with the award for outstanding achievement in sound in motion pictures. Info on the rest of the awards are available HERE.Congrats to all the winners!\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2008/02/cas-award-their-fav/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eYou really can\u0026rsquo;t beat RED CARPET DISTRICT\u0026rsquo;S coverage of the Cinema Audio Society awards last night, in which the mixers from \u0026ldquo;No Country for Old Men\u0026rdquo; walked away with the award for outstanding achievement in sound in motion pictures. Info on the rest of the awards are available HERE.Congrats to all the winners!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eData preservation for the cinematography community.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"CAS AWARD THEIR FAV"},{"content":"The 55th annual Motion Picture Sound Editor\u0026rsquo;s Golden Reel awards acknowledging the year\u0026rsquo;s best work in the various areas of sound editing, were held last night in Los Angeles with the sound team from The Bourne Ultimatum claiming both dialog/ADR and effects and foley awards. Into the Wild rambled on with a music editing win while Hairspray danced all the way up to the stage accepting their award for best musical editorial. Best Foregin Film sound editorial went to the team from The Orphanage. The Hollywood Reporter has coverage on the rest of the awards including some quotes from the night\u0026rsquo;s Filmmaker Award recipient, Michael Bay. Congrats to all the winners!\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2008/02/mpse-unravel-their-reels/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThe 55th annual Motion Picture Sound Editor\u0026rsquo;s Golden Reel awards acknowledging the year\u0026rsquo;s best work in the various areas of sound editing, were held last night in Los Angeles with the sound team from The Bourne Ultimatum claiming both dialog/ADR and effects and foley awards. Into the Wild rambled on with a music editing win while Hairspray danced all the way up to the stage accepting their award for best musical editorial. Best Foregin Film sound editorial went to the team from The Orphanage. The Hollywood Reporter has coverage on the rest of the awards including some quotes from the night\u0026rsquo;s Filmmaker Award recipient, Michael Bay. Congrats to all the winners!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"THE MPSE UNRAVEL THEIR REELS"},{"content":"Just like Jason Bourne final realizing who he was, last night the little golden guy and his army of academy members realized that the sound work in The Bourne Ultimatum was their favorite of the year. As such supervisors Karen M. Baker and Per Hallberg were awarded the best sound editing Oscar and mixers David Parker, Scott Milan, and Kirk Francis the best sound mixing Oscar. Congrats to all the winners and make sure to go buy tickets to the academy\u0026rsquo;s THE ART of SOUND event on Saturday March 8th featuring a panel discussion with these craftsmen as well as showing off clips from all the nominees!\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2008/02/oscars-state-their-ultimatum/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eJust like Jason Bourne final realizing who he was, last night the little golden guy and his army of academy members realized that the sound work in The Bourne Ultimatum was their favorite of the year. As such supervisors Karen M. Baker  and Per Hallberg were awarded the best sound editing Oscar and mixers   David Parker,  Scott Milan, and Kirk Francis the best sound mixing Oscar. Congrats to all the winners and make sure to go buy tickets to the academy\u0026rsquo;s THE ART of SOUND event on Saturday March 8th featuring a panel discussion with these craftsmen as well as showing off clips from all the nominees!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"THE OSCARS STATE THEIR ULTIMATUM"},{"content":"With so many panel discussions and articles in the trades (please send anything I miss), its hard to keep up. Nevertheless, it is awesome to see so much coverage on our craft!\nNO COUNTRY PANEL (01.27.08)\nclick HERE for the higher rez version (the panel starts after the clips)\nIN CONTENTION/TECH SUPPORT steals some time away from the sound team to discuss their work, VARIETY does too.\nVARIETY asks a few sound folk what their favorite work of the past year was.\nTHERE WILL BE BLOOD PANEL (02.02.08)\nEllen Pasternack (an attendee of the screening and Q and A last Saturday) was kind enough to kick some first hand knowledge down. \u0026ldquo;Moderator Gary Rydstrom began the Q\u0026amp;A after the movie by stating that he loves the movie and very much admired the sound work. Gary had worked with Paul Thomas Anderson on Punch Drunk Love, as had Michael Semanick and Chris Scarabosio, in fact Semanick has worked with PTA since Boogie Nights. It was Matt Wood’s first time with the director and he said after working on all the Star Wars prequels, it was a huge difference to work on a movie where nearly all the recorded dialogue was used on the track with very little looping required. Chris talked a lot about all the elements that went into the sound of the town as the oil fields were developed around it. He had found a guy in southern CA who had a museum-like collection of all sorts of old pumps and related oil derrick equipment to record. They said PTA likes to try everything LOUD but that he pulled back on a lot of it and that this track had a lot of dynamic range compared to his earlier movies. Several people in the audience asked questions related to the emotional quality of the track. Two admitted being really unnerved by it, but in a way that made the movie all the more compelling. \u0026quot; -Ellen Pasternack.\nThere was another panel last night in the bay area. If anyone attended that please feel free to report in.\nThanks to the heads up from Hannes, Here\u0026rsquo;s another great video from MIX MAGAZINE.\nTRANSFORMERS PANEL (02.07.08)\n\u0026ldquo;Transformers\u0026rdquo; is having a panel tonight at the Sony lot with Michael Bay and Shia LaBeouf moderating. They will show clips and discuss the sound and VFX work for the film. I am going to try and cover it but, with any luck paramount will flow Miramx\u0026rsquo;s lead and upload a video of the panel(hint, hint). THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER explains what it takes to build them giant robots, or at least their sounds. Posted by FILMSOUNDDAILY\nat 4:44 PM\n0 comments:\nPost a Comment\nNewer Post\nOlder Post\nHome\nSubscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2008/02/thursday-scatter-shots/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWith so many panel discussions and articles in the trades (please send anything I miss), its hard to keep up. Nevertheless, it is awesome to see so much coverage on our craft!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNO COUNTRY PANEL (01.27.08)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eclick HERE for the higher rez version (the panel starts after the clips)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIN CONTENTION/TECH SUPPORT steals some time away from the sound team to discuss their work, VARIETY does too.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVARIETY asks a few sound folk what their favorite work of the past year was.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"THURSDAY SCATTER SHOTS"},{"content":"Wow, I feel like Daniel Plainview in \u0026ldquo;There Will Be Blood\u0026rdquo;: \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;ve abandoned my child! I\u0026rsquo;ve abandoned my child!\u0026rdquo; Sorry for the long gap in posts. The current gig has ruined any free time I had to do this thing, but we\u0026rsquo;re almost into final mix so things here will get back on track. So I promised some coverage on last week\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;Transformers\u0026rdquo; event. There is some great stuff already online (RED CARPET DISTRICT has coverage and links most of the other sites). So what do I have? Blurry video with mediocre sound! Thanks to sound editorBarbara Delpuech for providing the footage (way more forward thinking then I was about covering this event by the way) and I\u0026rsquo;ll be back with regular posts soon.\nUPDATE!\nI was talking to sound designer Erik Aadahl after the event about the video below and how I wish more people would have got a chance to see it(shown at the MPSE sound show this summer). Now, its online\u0026hellip;\nNOW ONTO THE EVENT FOOTAGE!\nSOUND MIXING INTRO\nSOUND EDITORIAL INTRO\nEFFECTS MIXER GREG P. RUSSEL\nSOUND SUPERVISOR MIKE HOPKINS\nPosted by FILMSOUNDDAILY\nat 7:00 PM\n1 comments: Anonymous said\u0026hellip;\nuhm did they actually launch an air to ground missile for recording purposes ? wow\u0026hellip;. great post, thanks for the footage and your efforts for the site.\nFebruary 15, 2008 1:50 AM\nPost a Comment\nNewer Post\nOlder Post\nHome\nSubscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2008/02/transformers-sound-off/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWow, I feel like Daniel Plainview in \u0026ldquo;There Will Be Blood\u0026rdquo;: \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;ve abandoned my child! I\u0026rsquo;ve abandoned my child!\u0026rdquo; Sorry for the long gap in posts. The current gig has ruined any free time I had to do this thing, but we\u0026rsquo;re almost into final mix so things here will get back on track. So I promised some coverage on last week\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;Transformers\u0026rdquo; event. There is some great stuff already online (RED CARPET DISTRICT has coverage and links most of the other sites). So what do I have? Blurry video with mediocre sound! Thanks to sound editorBarbara Delpuech for providing the footage (way more  forward thinking then I was about covering this event by the way) and I\u0026rsquo;ll be back with regular posts soon.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"TRANSFORMERS SOUND OFF"},{"content":"Early this morning the Cinema Audio Society announced their nominees for outstanding achievement in sound mixing for motion pictures. Four out of five of the CAS\u0026rsquo; picks have been in line with the Oscars\u0026rsquo; every year since 2000. Winners will be announced in a sealed envelope ceremony in the Crystal Ballroom of the Millennium Biltmore Hotel on February 16, 2008. Congrats to all the nominees!\nTHE BOURNE ULTIMATUM Kirk Francis,CAS, Production Mixer Scott Millan, Re-recording Mixer David Parker, Re-recording Mixer\nINTO THE WILD Edward Tise, Production Mixer Michael Minkler, CAS, Re-recording Mixer Lora Hirschberg, Re-recording Mixer\nNO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN Peter Kurland, CAS, Production Mixer Skip Lievsay, Re-recording Mixer Craig Berkey, Re-recording Mixer Gregg Orloff, CAS, Re-recording Mixer\n300 Patrick Rousseau, Production Mixer Chris Jenkins, CAS, Re-recording Mixer Frank Montano, Re-recording Mixer\nTRANSFORMERS Peter Devlin, CAS, Production Mixer Kevin O’Connell, Re-recording Mixer Greg P. Russell, CAS, Re-recording Mixer\nThe CAS Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing are presented annually to the winning Production Mixers and Re-Recording Mixers in each category. The competition is open to programs and films released or aired during the previous calendar year.\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2008/01/cinema-audio-society-nods-in-approval/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eEarly this morning the Cinema Audio Society announced their nominees for outstanding achievement in sound mixing for motion pictures.  Four out of five of the CAS\u0026rsquo; picks have been in line with the Oscars\u0026rsquo; every year since 2000. Winners will be announced in a sealed envelope ceremony in the Crystal Ballroom of the Millennium Biltmore Hotel on February 16, 2008. Congrats to all the nominees!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTHE BOURNE ULTIMATUM\nKirk Francis,CAS, Production Mixer\nScott Millan, Re-recording Mixer\nDavid Parker, Re-recording Mixer\u003c/p\u003e","title":"CINEMA AUDIO SOCIETY: NODS IN APPROVAL"},{"content":"The Motion Picture Sound Editor\u0026rsquo;s are celebrating their 55th anniversary this year and of course they will be handing out some golden reels. The annual awards acknowledge the year\u0026rsquo;s best work in the various areas of sound editorial. The nominations dropped this morning and the winners will be announced at the ceremony on Feburary 23rd. Congrats to all the nominees!\nClick on the each of the Category headers to get a pdf listing of all nominees and crew.\nBest Sound Editing in Feature Film:Animated\nBEE MOVIE\nMEET THE ROBINSONS\nPERSEPOLIS\nRATATOUILLE\nSHREK THE THIRD\nTHE SIMPSONS: THE MOVIE\nSURF’S UP\nTEKKONKINKREET\n** Best Sound Editing in Feature Film:Foreign **\nATONEMENT\nTHE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY\nEASTERN PROMISES\nHARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX\nTHE ORPHANAGE\nREDACTED\nSHARKWATER\nBest Sound Editing in Feature Film:Music\nAMERICAN GANGSTER\nTHE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD\nTHE GOLDEN COMPASS\nTHE GREAT DEBATERS\nINTO THE WILD\nPIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT THE WORLD’S END\nSPIDERMAN 3\n** BestSound Editing in Feature Film: Music – Musical **\nENCHANTED\nHAIRSPRAY\nSWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET\nWALK HARD\n** Best Sound Editing in Feature Film:Dialogue and Automated Dialogue Replacement**\nAMERICAN GANGSTER\nTHE BOURNE ULTIMATUM\nTHE BUCKET LIST\nGHOST RIDER\nMICHAEL CLAYTON\nNO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN\nPIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD’S END\nTRANSFORMERS\n** Best Sound Editing in Feature Film:Sound Effects and Foley**\n3:10 TO YUMA\nAMERICAN GANGSTER\nTHE BOURNE ULTIMATUM\nI AM LEGEND\nNO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN\nPIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD’S END\nSPIDER-MAN 3\nTRANSFORMERS\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2008/01/mpse-nominations-drop/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThe Motion Picture Sound Editor\u0026rsquo;s are celebrating their 55th anniversary this year and of course they will be handing out some golden reels. The annual awards acknowledge the year\u0026rsquo;s best work in the various areas of sound editorial. The nominations dropped this morning and the winners will be announced at the ceremony on Feburary 23rd. Congrats to all the nominees!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eClick on the each of the Category headers to get a pdf listing of all nominees and crew.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"MPSE NOMINATIONS DROP"},{"content":"Early this morning the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced their nominees, with news dropping yesterday thatJonny Greenwood\u0026rsquo;s work on \u0026ldquo;There Will Be Blood\u0026rdquo; and Michael Brook\u0026rsquo;s for \u0026ldquo;Into the Wild\u0026rdquo; was deemed ineligible by the academy for a best score nod. I added polls to the sidebar, feel free to vote for YOUR favorite in each category(please only vote once, come on). Winners will be announced on Sunday February 24th. Congrats to all the nominees!\nORIGINAL SCORE\n“Atonement\u0026quot; - Dario Marianelli\n“The Kite Runner” - Alberto Iglesias\n“Michael Clayton\u0026quot; - James Newton Howard “Ratatouille” - Michael Giacchino\n“3:10 to Yuma” - Marco Beltrami\nSOUND EDITING\n“The Bourne Ultimatum\u0026quot; - Karen Baker Landers and Per Hallberg\n“No Country for Old Men” - Skip Lievsay\n“Ratatouille” - Randy Thom and Michael Silvers\n“There Will Be Blood” - Matthew Wood\n“Transformers” - Ethan Van der Ryn and Mike Hopkins\nSOUND MIXING\n“The Bourne Ultimatum” - Scott Millan, David Parker and Kirk Francis\n“No Country for Old Men” - Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloffand Peter Kurland\n“Ratatouille” - Randy Thom, Michael Semanick and Doc Kane\n“3:10 to Yuma” - Paul Massey, David Giammarco andJim Stuebe\n“Transformers” - Kevin O’Connell, Greg P. Russell and Peter J. Devlin\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2008/01/oscar-picks-his-favs/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eEarly this morning the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced their nominees, with news dropping yesterday thatJonny Greenwood\u0026rsquo;s work on \u0026ldquo;There Will Be Blood\u0026rdquo; and Michael Brook\u0026rsquo;s for \u0026ldquo;Into the Wild\u0026rdquo;  was deemed ineligible by the academy for a  best score nod. I added polls to the sidebar, feel free to vote for YOUR favorite in each category(please only vote once, come on).  Winners will be announced on Sunday February 24th. Congrats to all the nominees!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"OSCAR PICKS HIS FAVS"},{"content":"Always on the hunt for a truly scary film, \u0026ldquo;The Orphanage\u0026rdquo; is now my prey. I haven\u0026rsquo;t been so terrified in a theater in a long time. Thanks so much to sound designer Oriol Tarragó for taking the time to talk about the work he and the crew on \u0026ldquo;The Orphanage\u0026rdquo; did to scare theater-goers everywhere.\nFSD: How did you get involved with the film?\nOT: Juan Antonio Bayona [director] and I have been friends since we were in college (ESCAC) and he has always counted on me to work on his projects. When he got the chance to make a feature movie he didn\u0026rsquo;t hesitate to show me the script, years before he started shooting.\nFSD: How long was the schedule? How early did you start?\nOT: I got involved in the movie from pre-production. I followed the project until the final cut. Regarding post-production and sound design specifically, I began in November 2006. The process of sound post-production lasted some 6 months. The final cut was ready in early November 2006 and we finished mixing by late April 2007.\nWe edited dialogue for 5 weeks, getting rid of any undesirable sounds from the production which also pointed out which sounds would be needed. Then we created all the foley effects (2 weeks) and all the sound effects that would be mixed in with the dialogue. We then spent another 2 weeks recording “walla” and ADR and doing special recording sessions for sound effects. After that, we spent 2 months editing and designing the sound. Once all the sound was layered, we also spent a week editing the music by listening to the movie as a whole, just right before mixing. We had 3 weeks of pre-mix and the final mix was over one week.\nFSD: What specifics did you record for the film?\nOT: After principle photography wrapped, we spent a day on the empty set recording sounds.\nThe house is one more character in the movie and so I needed many sounds to emphasize its personality. My family has a very old house in the mountains, which is completely isolated from civilization. I went up there one weekend. I was lucky because it wasn\u0026rsquo;t windy and it was a quiet, misty winter day, so I could record a lot of sounds both from the inside and the outside of the house using a stereo Schoeps microphone and recording on a MacBook Pro with an M-Box Pro running Pro Tools. I recorded steps from different floors, bangs on the wooden beams, doors slammed from different positions within the house, and glass windows being opened and closed. The creaks I got from the main staircase of the house were edited later into the foley footsteps to get that creaky wood floor of the house.\nFor the séance, we did a lot of recording with different children. We used ADR actors, children actors and the children of relatives and friends. It took us a long time of recording to get the truly terrified screams. We had to play scary games to have the kids scream. We got a lot of laughter and a lot of wasteful stuff. It took us 5 days of recording, but we got enough out of those 5 days to make up the séance.\nOne day, I locked myself in the studio to create weird sounds with my mouth, using water, which I later used to create Tomás\u0026rsquo; breathing. I wanted to create some breathing made up by two textures, a very high-pitched, almost choking one, and another one that had a rather animal, low-pitched and threatening tone. Sergio, the screenwriter, told me that he\u0026rsquo;d had asthma as a child. I recorded his breathing and used his sounds for the inhaling and the sounds I made for the exhaling.\nFSD: This was director Juan Antonio Bayona’s first feature film – what original ideas did he have for how the sound would be utilized?\nOT: Bayona always insisted on the fact that the house should be one more character in the movie. He wanted the movie to sound “worn”, to sound like old wood. He repeated this over and over: \u0026ldquo;The house has to sound like wood”. He didn\u0026rsquo;t want the sound to be too fantastic; on the contrary, he wanted every sound to have a plausible \u0026ldquo;real world\u0026rdquo; source, to delve into the dichotomy of ghosts versus non-ghosts. He always asked for frightening sound elements to be real.\nFSD: Was Guillermo Del Toro involved in any sound related concepts or decisions?\nOT: I met Guillermo del Toro when I worked for him as a sound editor in “The Devil’s Backbone”. He gets very involved in the process of making the sound. This time he totally trusted Juan Antonio Bayona and me for the sound and did not interfere at all in the process. However, when we first saw the movie at the Cannes Film Festival 2007, Guillermo, J.A. and I agreed that some things needed to be changed; thanks to Guillermo, we had the chance to re-mix some scenes. It’s great that Guillermo del Toro is so aware of the importance of sound and we were lucky that he gave us this chance to go back to the mixing.\nFSD: During the séance scene in the film a lot of the action takes place through video monitors and off-screen (obviously only conveyed with sound). How did you approach that scene? Was it always intended to be such a sound heavy scene?\nOT: This was the most difficult scene in terms of sound design. Ever since I read the script, it was always a challenge for me. Why was it a challenge? Because I needed to figure it out how to make the sound design of a parapsychologist séance, yet keep the realistic tone of the movie. We had to maintain the realistic tone and hear ghosts at the same time. It was kind of contradictory and therefore very difficult. The visual approach for the séance helped me deal with the design. I decided that all paranormal sounds would be always heard through the old devices that we saw in the movie. The vintage look of these devices helped me to find the old and realistic sound for the psychophony. I then understood that the whole séance and everything we’d heard should be mono and would only be on the central channel, instead of trying to create a fantastic sound design that would not be consistent with the tone of the movie. Before we even began the sound design, we intended the sound to be terrifying, horrific and irritating.\nFSD: Moans and creaks throughout the house leave the audience ill at ease. What motivated the placement of these sounds? How do they evolve over the course of the story?\nOT: This is because we wanted to give the house a personality. Make it a character, from the beginning. Early into the movie, these creaks and moans are justified realistically; however, when Laura has lost her son, she enters a desperate search for him. The sound of the movie becomes somewhat subjective and her six senses are tuned on to trying to find her son. Exaggerating these little creaks and moans of the house emphasizes the feeling of paranoia that Laura has in trying to find any clue as to where her son is. In the end, the sounds appear to be increasingly related to the ghosts or dwellers of the house.\nFSD: The ghosts affect a lot of real world objects in the film. Was there any emphasis on the sound a prop made when manipulated by the dead as opposed to that of the living?\nOT: There are few times when ghosts touch real world objects. There was no intention to create different sounds for these movements. However, we always intended the movie to have marked sound dynamics. So, when these sounds do appear, we are usually in silence and there is a very strong leap in the volume, which exaggerates these actions.\nFSD: Silence is mentioned a lot when discussing sound. What was your approach in this device’s usage?\nOT: Silence is a very important element in this film. I tried to build the sound design toward silence; I tried to build downwards, from harder to softer. Thus, at the beginning of the movie, the house and the ambiences are very rich in terms of sound, even cheerful. However, when Simón goes missing and as Laura gets lonelier, the house becomes more and more silent, just like the character of Laura. Total silence represents Laura\u0026rsquo;s loneliness and desperateness in the world and her realization that her dreams have been destroyed. Then, toward the end, when Laura finds Simón, the movie bursts into sound again to emphasize this idea.\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2008/01/orphanage-pt2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAlways on the hunt for a truly scary film, \u0026ldquo;The Orphanage\u0026rdquo; is now my prey. I haven\u0026rsquo;t been so terrified in a theater in a long time. Thanks so much to sound designer Oriol Tarragó for taking the time to talk about the work he and  the crew on \u0026ldquo;The Orphanage\u0026rdquo; did to  scare theater-goers everywhere.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFSD:  How did you get involved with the film?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOT:  Juan Antonio Bayona [director] and I have been friends since we were in college (ESCAC) and he has always counted on me to work on his projects. When he got the chance to make a feature movie he didn\u0026rsquo;t hesitate to show me the script, years before he started shooting.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"THE ORPHANAGE pt.2"},{"content":"“There Will Be Blood” started sound prep in Los Angeles with Richard King and Michael Babcock leading the editorial charge but the show ultimately ended up at Skywalker Sound where P.T. Anderson’s last, “Punch Drunk Love” was edited and mixed. I had a chance to sit with Sound Designer Chris Scarabosiso and Re-recording Mixer Mike Semanick for a brief discussion about their work on the film.\nSemanick has been with PT since 1997’s “Boogie Nights” where he temped the show but was ultimately unable to final it. He teamed up again with Anderson on 1999’s “Magnolia” and they have been rolling together since. Knowing that Semanick has been with P.T. on four films now, I was interested to hear how their sound relationship works.\nMICHAEL SEMANICK: Paul will call me and say, “This is when we’re going to post it, these are the dates.” When it gets closer, if I have time, I may go to the set but usually I’m mixing another film. As the sound [editorial] crew starts getting put on I try to at least go hear stuff. It’s always fun to see which direction it’s going in. I mean, it’s one thing on the page and then those things take a different light once you start shooting. You’re so riveted by Daniel’s performance and Paul’s direction of him that it plays much better in actuality than on paper.\nAlong with P.T.’s directorial skills comes the favorable command he has over the film’s cut.\nMICHAEL SEMANICK: Paul’s deal with studios lets him never really preview for audiences. I think that’s a good thing and a bad thing. I don’t like when directors have to do that. I mean studios see it differently and some directors do, too. If you’re making a movie that’s going to be a blockbuster, then maybe you should preview it a little bit. In that sense it’s good to get audience reaction and see how things flow. So I’m not totally against previews but P.T is in a unique situation, because he’s so damn talented. They just let him go make his movie.\nBefore Scarabosio worked on “There will be Blood,” he worked on Anderson’s “Punch Drunk Love” as a designer. He explained how PT loves to experiment.\nCHRIS SCARABOSIO: I remember on “Punch Drunk” I sent down a bunch of sounds that were just kind of weird “sound designy” things. And he cut them in weird places that if most sound editors would have done it, they would have gotten yelled at. I wouldn’t normally cut something like that for that \u0026ndash; but that kind of juxtaposition makes it work better. Or certainly makes it more interesting. It’s kind of a cool way to do it. It’s, “Here’s a bunch of stuff-use what you like.”\nThe score for “Blood”, composed by Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood, was handled somewhat in the same vein.\nMICHAEL SEMANICK: Jonny gives music editor Paul Rabjohns his stuff and then he’ll take this part and move it here. Then he might trim the pitch or change a cue altogether. They send him a palette of stuff and it’s “Oh that’s great! And parts of this are great; what if I put these two things together and this together…” etc. The tone is set and P.T. pretty much guides it all the way; Lets you run with it and then pulls you back in.\nIn a recent interview, P.T. described the oil derricks on set: “…It was hypnotic to watch this thing just slam a pole into the ground - over and over again. It\u0026rsquo;s like poking a monster in the chest and daring him to get mad\u0026hellip; eventually, he gets mad.\u0026quot; The derricks were a important symbol of the effect this kind of business was having on Little Boston.\nMICHAEL SEMANICK: [THE DERRECK’S HAVE] a constant grinding-they’re going and going, you know. And I mean a constant (he makes a “Chug! Chug!” sound). It’s like poking at the town’s folk and poking at the preacher kid because they got shorted out of the money. And the derricks are still pumping away, so it’s this ongoing character in the background, a constant track audible every day in these people’ lives.\nCHRIS SCARABOSIO: [Paul] was pretty adamant about it sounding dangerous. But Paul doesn’t like things to sound too over produced So, it’s the challenge of trying to create that without it sounding too over done. Give it that sense of darkness, danger, but also convey it’s this big piece of wood with these big metal wheels and stuff and they always have to have some kind of imperfection to them as well.\nCrafting the sounds aren’t always the hardest part of the job, translating the director’s wishes can be a beastly burden in itself.\nCHRIS SCARABOSIO: I don’t like surprises in final mix. I’m try to show anything I’m working on as often as possible so they get a sense of what I’m doing. So when we get to the final, we’re talking about details more than re-designing. There’s a scene at the Little Boston train station where there’s a lot going on. There’s cars going by, there’s animals, there’s a lot of people and these guys are rolling oil barrels along the platform. And PT’s like “I want those barrels to sound like money, to sound like they’re just making money!” And it was kinda like “Oh, okay…?” And you have to just stop and think about it. It’s just trying to decipher what that means. But that’s the good thing about working with them in the past.\nMICHAEL SEMANICK: Well, you learn their taste and their styles and whether they change \u0026ndash; the picture always seems to. I can usually just look at a movie and know what they’re going for.\nWhen the filmmakers feel confident in the sound crew’s work, they are more willing to experiment. One of the most daring stylistic choices P.T. made was to open the movie without any dialogue between characters for roughly twenty minutes.\nMICHAEL SEMANICK: I knew from seeing a rough cut of it the first time, that there were people who were a little uneasy about not having any dialogue. It’s a long time [without it]. [I thought], “Are we going to hold the audience’s interest?” And when I saw it, I totally was \u0026ndash; you just get sucked right in.\nCHRIS SCARABOSIO: Yeah, it’s more riveting. It allows your mind to work more instead of having just too much going on. And you don’t really have the chance to think about where it’s going. You just react to the visuals. What makes it such a great film is that there’s time for the audience to catch up, to stay focused and to take in what’s happening.\nFocus is something I have been trying to bring to this blog; Focus on the behind the scenes things that people in our community do that most audiences don’t think about.\nMICHAEL SEMANICK: I mean yeah, for the most part audiences are not supposed to think about sound. They are but they’re not. I had a film screening just a few days ago and some guy came up to me and said the foley sounds amazing. And I was like “What the hell?” You know? If you’re listening to the foley and not the story, then I screwed up. It should be there and be natural. [However] as you educate an audience more and more, they’re going to say things like that. They’re going to say the foley sounded great or the sound effects were fantastic. I think all those elements should support the story and take the audience on the same journey that the director wants you to go on without being totally aware of it.\nThanks so much to Michael Semanick and Chris Scarabosio for taking the time to do this!\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2008/01/there-will-be-blood-pt2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e“There Will Be Blood” started sound prep in Los Angeles with Richard King and Michael Babcock leading the editorial charge but the show ultimately ended up at Skywalker Sound where P.T. Anderson’s last, “Punch Drunk Love” was edited and mixed. I had a chance to sit with Sound Designer Chris Scarabosiso and Re-recording Mixer Mike Semanick for a brief discussion about their work on the film.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSemanick has been with PT since 1997’s “Boogie Nights” where he temped the show but was ultimately unable to final it. He teamed up again with Anderson on 1999’s “Magnolia” and they have been rolling together since. Knowing that Semanick has been with P.T. on four films now, I was interested to hear how their sound relationship works.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"THERE WILL BE BLOOD pt.2"},{"content":"Media coverage momentum builds as award season approaches. Nominations trickle out as early as this Thursday with the Cinema Audio Society. For fun, I plan to have a few polls on the blog once the \u0026ldquo;bigger\u0026rdquo; nods are announced to let you guys vote on your favorites. Until then, below is this week\u0026rsquo;s scatter shot of articles covering an array of film sound related topics.\nTHE NEW YORK TIMES\nSits down with sound friendo\u0026rsquo;s Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey of \u0026ldquo;No Country For Old Men\u0026rdquo;. THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER\nBreaks down the motivation and execution of a ton of 2007\u0026rsquo;s notable film scores. MIX MAGAZINE\nCatches wind of what the sound crew for \u0026ldquo;The Kite Runner\u0026rdquo; did on the film. VARIETY\nSweats the details of the post sound process.\nExposes the similar differences among genre film sound.\nCelebrates the platinum anniversaryof an relationship forged in sound editorial.\nReminisces with a fan-boy\u0026rsquo;s awe turned sound career.\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2008/01/tuesday-scatter-shots/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eMedia coverage momentum builds as award season approaches. Nominations trickle out as early as this Thursday with the Cinema Audio Society. For fun, I plan to have a few polls on the blog once the \u0026ldquo;bigger\u0026rdquo; nods are announced to let you guys vote on your favorites. Until then, below is this week\u0026rsquo;s scatter shot of  articles covering an array of film sound related topics.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTHE NEW YORK TIMES\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSits down with sound friendo\u0026rsquo;s Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey of  \u0026ldquo;No Country For Old Men\u0026rdquo;.\nTHE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER\u003c/p\u003e","title":"TUESDAY SCATTER SHOTS"},{"content":"Another week another round of scatter shots. The Golden Globes came and went silently, Dario Marianelli\u0026rsquo;s work on \u0026ldquo;Atonement\u0026rdquo; won him best original score while Eddie Vedder nabbed a best orignial song globe for \u0026ldquo;Guarranteed\u0026rdquo; from \u0026ldquo;In to the Wild\u0026rdquo;. I didn\u0026rsquo;t post about \u0026ldquo;Atonement\u0026rdquo; so I was happy to find Q and A with Marianelli from November. I really dug the typewriter he incorporated within the score. Stay tuned for the BAFTA nods tomorrow.\nFILM IN FOCUS MAGAZINE\nChat it up with the golden globe winner. EDITORS GUILD MAGAZINE\nPast Oscar winners list their favorite work of 2007.\nDub stage recordists elaborate on the dynamic requirement of their job.\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2008/01/tuesday-scatter-shots_15/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAnother week another round of scatter shots. The Golden Globes came and went silently,  Dario Marianelli\u0026rsquo;s work on \u0026ldquo;Atonement\u0026rdquo; won him best original score while Eddie Vedder nabbed a best orignial song globe  for \u0026ldquo;Guarranteed\u0026rdquo; from \u0026ldquo;In to the Wild\u0026rdquo;. I didn\u0026rsquo;t post about \u0026ldquo;Atonement\u0026rdquo; so I was happy to find Q and A with Marianelli from November. I really dug the typewriter he incorporated within the score. Stay tuned for the BAFTA nods tomorrow.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"TUESDAY SCATTER SHOTS"},{"content":"As the Oscar hype machine keeps rollin\u0026rsquo; I am glad to see coverage on almost all the nominees. Though its hard to keep up with all of it, so if I miss anything of note, please feel free to email me links!\n(David Giammarco) THE WATER HORSE\nHas two videos covering James Newton Howard\u0026rsquo;s work on the film that I missed.\nTracking at Abbey Road.\nCollaborating with \u0026ldquo;The Chieftains\u0026rdquo;.\nTHE WELLAND TRIBUNE\nStops re-recording mixer David Giammarco in his tracks to talk about his work on \u0026ldquo;3:10 to Yuma\u0026rdquo;. MIRAMAX\nOn January 27th Miramax helped bring together the sound team for \u0026ldquo;No Country For Old Men\u0026rdquo; to the Harmony Gold Theater in Hollywood. After showing a few clips from the film, moderator Spike Jonze asked Skip Lievsay, Greg Orloff, Craig Berkey, and Peter F. Kurland along with The Coen\u0026rsquo;s about their work. In addition to talk about the role thats score had in the film, the filmmakers reveled the shot on-set the voice-over by Tommy Lee Jones was favored in the mix over any of the looped reads. Read more HERE.\nA few film critics and bloggers (though a little off the mark about how much music was actually in the film) get and A for effort discussing the sound for \u0026ldquo;No Country\u0026rdquo; in THIS PODCAST. (click below to listen to an excerpt)\nPARAMOUNT VANTAGE\nOn Feb 2nd seven time Oscar winning sound designer Gary Rydstrom, currently a director at Pixar Animation Studios, hosted a screening of \u0026ldquo;There Will Be Blood\u0026rdquo; with former Skywalker Sound protégés. Sadly, all I have from the screening is this picture, please send any coverage my way! (Michael Semanick, Chris Scarabosio, Matt Wood, Gary Rydstrom)\nTHE FILM EXPERIENCE\n\u0026ldquo;Transformers\u0026rdquo; effects re-recording mixer Greg Russell talks about working with director George Waters and of course giant robots. (click below to listen to an excerpt) Posted by FILMSOUNDDAILY\nat 11:36 PM\n0 comments:\nPost a Comment\nNewer Post\nOlder Post\nHome\nSubscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2008/01/tuesday-scatter-shots_30/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAs the Oscar hype machine keeps rollin\u0026rsquo; I am glad to see coverage on almost all the nominees. Though its hard to keep up with all of it, so if I miss anything of note, please feel free to email me links!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e(David Giammarco)\nTHE WATER HORSE\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHas two videos covering James Newton Howard\u0026rsquo;s work on the film that I missed.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTracking at Abbey Road.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCollaborating with \u0026ldquo;The Chieftains\u0026rdquo;.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTHE WELLAND TRIBUNE\u003c/p\u003e","title":"TUESDAY SCATTER SHOTS"},{"content":"December\u0026rsquo;s issue of Mix Magazine has a great piece on \u0026ldquo;The Golden Compass\u0026rdquo; sound supervisor Glenn Freemantle. Its Available HERE.\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2007/12/december-mix-magazine/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDecember\u0026rsquo;s issue of Mix Magazine has a great piece on \u0026ldquo;The Golden Compass\u0026rdquo; sound supervisor Glenn Freemantle. Its Available HERE.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eData preservation for the cinematography community.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"DECEMBER: MIX MAGAZINE"},{"content":"I want to thank sound supervisor and re-recording mixerSkip Lievsay for taking time for this Q and A!\nFSD: It’s hard to imagine NYC without the specific sound staples like endless car honks and city drone that we’ve come to expect as the local sound. How was the landscape’s sound perceived after the plague hits?\nSL: During the research, Franics created a specific soundscape for the film. As you say, removing the city from the city - cars and people, changes the sound of the city completely. Aside from the physical structures, the research shows that when the electricity goes off the city rapidly looses much of what we think of as city and reverts back to nature.\nIn New York City there are several underground springs and streams that would flood the underground infrastructure and the metal supporting structure. Buildings would begin to crumble. Above ground, animals and creatures would take back the parks and there would be a new city soundscape very similar to what we think of as a New England forest.\nGathering these sounds was not as difficult as removing the actual city sounds and traffic sounds from the production recordings. As you might imagine, some scenes had to be replaced with ADR because of traffic sounds.\nFSD: Was there time to establish a contrast sonically for before and after the pandemic?\nSL: The film begins after the epidemic has already killed almost everyone. There are several flashbacks, mostly dealing with the evacuation of New York City at the beginning of the disaster. These scenes are about emergency vehicles and helicopters and hysterical crowds trying to escape the city.\nFSD: The literal money shot in the film (costing 5 million dollars alone to shoot) is the evacuation of NYC over the Brooklyn Bridge. With a set piece that massive and recognizable, what did your team do to sell the size and weight of the bridge’s collapse?\nSL: Sound Designer Jeremy Peirson used all of the giant metal recordings that we had in our library and could scrounge from our colleagues. Recording at high bit rates of 96k or 192k allowed us to pitch down our recordings with little distortion. This was one of the ways to give more heft to the sounds.\nFSD: With over 1,000 extras on location for the bridge scene, did you guys get to record any of the crowd reactions during the shoot?\nSL: There were good recordings from location mixer Todd Maitland. These were mixed with sound fx and group ADR tracks. Emergency vehicle sounds and production yelling completed the track.\nFSD: I’ve read that the infected are described as “in a state of perpetual hyperventilation”. How were their vocals approached and did the conceptual design of their bodies give you and your team any advantages in making them scary?\nSL: Jeremy and I spent much of our time recording actors and animals to mix together for the creature sounds. We had hours of recordings and then hours of editing in the process of chasing down each type of vocalization. Jeremy would prepare mixes of each type of sound for review by Francis. These temp mixes informed Francis about how the creatures would operate and this helped Francis and the CG team with their creature design. These vocals were in flux to the very last day of the dub.\nFSD: You have worked with the Coen brothers for the length of their entire career. With so many great film collaborations, which was your favorite?\nSL: I have many favorites. \u0026ldquo;I Am Legend\u0026rdquo; was very challenging work and I enjoyed working with Francis again. I believe that the tracks for \u0026ldquo;The Who Wasn\u0026rsquo;t There\u0026rdquo; and for \u0026ldquo;No Country for Old Men\u0026rdquo; were the closest I have come to meeting the original goals with the fewest missed opportunities.\nFSD: You are part of a literal hand full of sound folk I’ve seen with an opening title credit. The Coens make an effort to recognize the role sound plays in their films with the title card. I’ve heard requesting for a sound title is an uphill battle and most directors can’t do it without a fight. What did it take for Joel and Ethan to be able to do it?\nSL: It is my understanding that the main titles and the order that they appear are regulated by several guilds and their agreements with the producers and the studios. Joel and Ethan had always given me head credit and because they didn’t belong to any of the guilds, there wasn’t an issue. When they joined the directors guild they made an arrangement and were able to continue to make the head titles as they saw fit.\nFSD: Recently, a colleague of mine made the observation that sound is one of the only crafts with Oscar eligibility that does not get a regular opening title card. Can anything be done to change the status quo?\nSL: There are many others that don’t get main title credit. The agreements between the guilds and producers refer to the main titles with the separation of them being only for “Artistic Contribution” In most cases they consider all other workers to be contributing as “Craft Workers”. Filmmakers may wish to adjust this and in future they may adjust these rules to embrace others’ contributions. I don’t think the guilds would be happy about any changes. As my esteemed colleague Dan Sable used the infamous quote, “They don’t leave the theater whistling the foley”\nFSD: What was your first gig like?\nSL: I worked very hard for $75 a week on a terrible movie that was sold to the Navy to show to sailors on their aircraft carriers.\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2007/12/i-am-legend-pt2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI want to thank sound supervisor and re-recording mixerSkip Lievsay for taking time for this Q and A!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFSD:  It’s hard to imagine NYC without the specific sound staples like endless car honks and city drone that we’ve come to expect as the local sound. How was the landscape’s sound perceived after the plague hits?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSL:  During the research, Franics created a specific soundscape for the film. As you say, removing the city from the city - cars and people, changes the sound of the city completely. Aside from the physical structures, the research shows that when the electricity goes off the city rapidly looses much of what we think of as city and reverts back to nature.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"I AM LEGEND pt.2"},{"content":"Continuing the coverage of potential Oscar nods, Variety shifted their gaze over to the Best Score and Song categories, HERE. I especially dig the piece, \u0026ldquo;Composers lower film score volume\u0026rdquo;, mentioning among others, composer Carter Burwell\u0026rsquo;s polarized efforts on \u0026ldquo;No Country for Old Men\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;Before the Devil Knows your Dead.\u0026rdquo;\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2007/12/variety-eye-on-oscars-music/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eContinuing the coverage of potential Oscar nods, Variety shifted their gaze over to the Best Score and Song categories, HERE. I especially dig the piece, \u0026ldquo;Composers lower film score volume\u0026rdquo;, mentioning among others, composer Carter Burwell\u0026rsquo;s polarized efforts on \u0026ldquo;No Country for Old Men\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;Before the Devil Knows your Dead.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eData preservation for the cinematography community.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"VARIETY: EYE ON THE OSCARS, MUSIC"},{"content":"Dewey Cox unwrapped a holiday treat this weekend stuffing our stockings with his own brand of top 40 hits. Making all those songs fill out the theaters for \u0026ldquo;Walk Hard\u0026rdquo; is re-recording music mixer Bill Benton. I wanted to thank him for taking the time for this Q and A, he wanted to\u0026hellip;\n\u0026ldquo;First and foremost, tell you this show was one of the most enjoyable times I’ve had mixing. Everyone on the crew from the director on down was really passionate about the project, plus we all had a lot of fun together.\u0026rdquo;- Bill Benton.\nFSD: How was the music delivered to you on the dub stage? How does this process differ when mixing non-musicals?\nBB: \u0026ldquo;Walk Hard”, being a musical was pretty involved. In addition to the songs there was quite a bit of score. We had the luxury of having two music editors. Fernand Bos handled the songs, and Tom Kramer took care of the score. The songs ranged from an acoustic guitar and vocal to up to 56 tracks of band, vocals, background vocals, and orchestra. The score was usually 24 to 32 tracks. I used 3 recorders, band, vocal, and score. Fernand and I spent 5 nights before the final automating the songs for balance and reverb. We knew there were picture changes coming down the pike, so laying anything down to hard copy was useless. Updating the automation worked OK, depending on the picture changes. It definitely got us ahead of the game, but I still had my hands full on the final.\nFSD: Do composers or in the case of “Walk Hard”, songwriters visit the dub stage during the mix? How much does “their mix” from the studio differ to the final mix on the dub stage generally?\nBB: It’s different on every show. Some are there quite a bit, some come for a final playback and some never show at all. I intentionally didn’t listen to any of the record mixes for the songs. I wanted the “live” show to be it’s own animal. Live music in a movie has to be played for the song but also attached to the visual on the screen. Left and Right, Center and Surrounds get a different due when the screens’ involved. Mike Andrews was the composer and also produced most(if not all) of the songs for the film. Mike came by a few times during the final and heard the final playback. He said he was very happy, though I didn’t see any extra cash come my way at the end. Mike Viola and Dan Burns came by to see Jake and saw a reel, no cash either…\nFSD: You guys had a lot of temps; did the music production change at all through the outcome of the screenings?\nBB: The songs were all recorded before the shoot, but I didn’t get my hands on all the tracks until the final. With each temp, we got a little more stuff. Funny story, after preview 3, I think, I heard word back that the screening had gone really well, but someone piped up that it sounded like I’d used the same reverb on everything. I did! Changing verb wasn’t in the budget. We mixed the whole show in a day and a half. Luckily, sound supervisor Joel Shryack was there and threw a bucket of water on that fire.\nFSD: I watched Walter Murch described his love-affair with echo and atmosphere on Youtube recently. Since mixers are delivered dry vocal tracks to the stage, you are given the task to match the song’s vocal track to the production dialog from the set. How is this accomplished? What was you favorite example of this in the film?\nBB: As the arc of Dewey’s career progresses, so do the venues he performs in. Each has it’s own space, from country store to huge halls. I came up with the treatments for the band tracks, and I got some separate reverb tracks for the vocals and background vox. I supplemented these with my own stuff for each different venue. I used 2 Lexicon 480’s. Not automated, kept a lot of notes. We had a 3 man crew on the board. Tateum Kohut mixed the dialogue and Gregg Landaker mixed the sound effects. We all 3 worked together to match treatments for dialogue, crowds etc. The last song, “Beautiful Ride” has Dewey talking to the crowd before they start. 1st line, production, recorded on the shoot. 2nd line, ADR recorded 4 months later. Then lead vocal, almost a capella, recorded 9 months earlier. Make ‘em match, suckah!\nFSD: You guys were blessed with a lead actor who could sing in John C. Riley, were you as fortunate with the rest of the cast? Does re-voicing complicate matching the actor’s production dialog?\nBB: Blessed is right….He handles virtually all of the heavy lifting vocally on this show. The band members’ bg vox were pretty embedded in the songs, so that wasn’t a problem. Jenna Fischer was revoiced for “Let’s Duet” and I think the match was pretty great. The aforementioned production to pre-recorded vocal was the only challenge.\nFSD: When talking to another music re-recording mixer, Michael Semanick (Sweeny Todd) last week, he exclaimed “that one of the biggest surprises audiences have about musicals, is when an actor start singing, that’s playback [on set]. All of the other sounds have to be replaced for the duration of the song. What else would surprise laymen about mixing music for film?\nBB: That ALL the sound isn’t recorded on the set. Gunshots, car chases, full blown orchestras, the public assumes it’s all there when the cat says ACTION! And that means we’re doing our job right, because when Joe Blow says, “That was SO FAKE!”, then we lost ‘em in the sound world. Hopefully, it’s “That was SO COOL!”\nFSD: What was your first gig like?\nBB: I worked for a recording studio, “The Record Plant” for 8 years, doing studio, live, and film scoring. When I moved to Sony,(then MGM) they asked me if I’d like to try “re-recording mixing”. I said sure, having no idea what it was. The first thing I did was this short film about a ballerina. The climax of the film was a dance set to the wailing singing from Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon”. I was being a little tentative, and my 60 year old lead guy, Bill MacCaughey leaned over and said, “Bill, it’s rock and roll, go ahead and play it.” Needless to say, the next pass, I LET IT ROCK! He let me play it out, stopped and said, “That was a little too much rock…” I made another pass….and pulled it a half a db\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2007/12/walk-hard-pt2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDewey Cox unwrapped a holiday treat this weekend stuffing our stockings with his own brand of top 40 hits. Making all those songs fill out the theaters for \u0026ldquo;Walk Hard\u0026rdquo; is re-recording music mixer Bill Benton.  I wanted to thank him for taking the time for this Q and A, he wanted to\u0026hellip;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;First and foremost, tell you this show was one of the most enjoyable times I’ve had mixing.  Everyone on the crew from the director on down was really passionate about the project, plus we all had a lot of fun together.\u0026rdquo;- Bill Benton.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"WALK HARD pt.2"},{"content":"I just wanted to thank Production Sound Mixer William Sarokinfor taking time for this Q and A.\nFSD: I read recently that Ridley Scott really shot from the hip on this one: fast moving, quick set ups, etc. How does this type of shoot effect the sound department, especially on a show that is set in such an aural jungle like NYC?\nWS: Ridley is a master at capturing every bit of energy there is in a scene. Nothing (well\u0026hellip; except for thousands of feet of unused film\u0026hellip;) goes to waste. As much as possible he would use multiple cameras in a scene. Often cameras would be hidden in the shot. He\u0026rsquo;d have set dressing find a piece of furniture or a car (or even a potted plant) to hide a camera and crew. And just in case, he\u0026rsquo;d often dress the camera operators in period wardrobe. Ridley is always thinking and looking for opportunities, so if he sets up a shot with 3 cameras looking in one direction, just before we\u0026rsquo;re about to shoot he might set up a 4th (or 5th or more) looking in the opposite direction. Every department had to be on their toes. At first I thought sound was the only dept that was out of the loop. I assumed the Director of Photography had planned all the alternative shots in advance with his gaffer and key grip, but eventually I realized we were all in the same boat.\nOne example: In the script there was an 1/8th page scene where Russell Crowe and his fellow officers race up the stairs of a housing project. Ridley turned that into a scene where 2 teams of cops barge into the lobby of a building, subdue tenants and drug dealers in the lobby, race up 2 sets stairs for 6 flights (speaking quietly into walkies at key points) and then plan how to take out 2 guards at the drug dealers door. There was dialog throughout, from the lobby, up the stairs, down the hall and at the drug dealer’s door. If I remember correctly, 5 cameras were hidden en-route. I had to figure out how to record everything for every camera. Oh, and by the way, did I mention the entire sequence was shot simultaneously?\nEvery crew member, from sound and camera to props, wardrobe, lighting and grip, etc., had to be at the top of their game. The result is a dynamic scene with a live performance feel because it is in effect, a live performance. Instead of shooting the same scene numerous times from different camera perspectives, (and in the process draining every bit of life out of it) Ridley shoots his scenes in relatively few setups and few takes.\nIn one of the rare quiet moments on set he told me he got his start doing live television. Then it all made sense.\nNOTE: the below photo of a typical shot. That\u0026rsquo;s Ridley on the camera facing up. Both cameras, facing in opposite directions were both working for this shot.\nFSD: In my limited experience shooting production sound, overcoming obstacles on set that hinder a good sounding scene are the most rewarding experiences on a gig. What are some of the biggest hurdles you leapt over?\nWS: Radio Range. How do you cover 2 camera crews 3 blocks apart shooting the same scene simultaneously? Or how do you cover an entire apartment building from lobby to the 6th floor and from one end to the other? It was a given that the majority of the film was recorded on wireless body mics, but even my boom mics are wireless. Fortunately I had help, I\u0026rsquo;m using the newest generation of Zaxcom radio mics that include built in recorders, so even when I did lose range, I could take the SD cards out of the transmitters after the scene and re-record them. To my great benefit, Ridley had a world class post production team who would edit the re-recordings into the dailies track to make me look like an absolute genius at the daily screenings.\nHmmmm\u0026hellip; creaky floors. Everyone thinks my toughest days are when we are in noisy environments like a factory or near an airport. NOT! It\u0026rsquo;s when we are in quiet environments and \u0026lsquo;friendly fire\u0026rsquo; (noise created by the filming process) rears its ugly head. Nothing like a slow dolly shot across a creaky floor to make me pull my hair out! Specifically to \u0026lsquo;Gangster\u0026rsquo;, my main obstacles were:\nFinding a place to hide me and my sound cart and yet stay in radio range of all the action. Considering the number of multi-camera shots covering huge areas, this was not easy.\nOnce finding a place to hide my next problem is getting the gear there. The narrow, 1/2 mile elephant trail in northern Thailand, all uphill and dotted with elephant droppings comes to mind, especially when the multiple cameras saw North, south, East AND West simultaneously.\nOnce hidden, my next trick is to get microphones near the people who speak (or may speak…often non-scripted characters would break into dialog with Ridley\u0026rsquo;s eager prodding). While I use many wireless mics on the actors I also love to plant mics when the situation allows it. I have a few Audio Ltd analog FM wireless mics that accept Schoeps microphone heads. I\u0026rsquo;ll often plant them in car visors or on desks, or behind trees (or elephant pies). They are my favorite \u0026lsquo;secret weapon\u0026rsquo;\nFSD: What factors determine the level of sound perspective achievable in a scene? How important is that perspective at all during the shoot?\nWS: I think proper perspective is very important. I almost always try to make the recording match the camera shot. Of course, there is always \u0026lsquo;movie magic\u0026rsquo; that allows you to hear characters walking a block away having a quiet conversation as if you were right next to them. So, there are times when you surrender that perspective, but mostly, my goal is to:\nmake sure the dialog is audible.\nwhile keeping it audible, try to make it sound natural.\nI am very tolerant of noises caused by something you see in a shot or would expect to hear in that shot. I\u0026rsquo;ll often allow background noises to continue (even if the film crew has control) because it can affect the actors’ performance. For instance, in the film \u0026ldquo;North Country\u0026rdquo; we had a big scene in the machinery room at a pit mine in New Mexico. The noise was deafening, but I had the characters mic\u0026rsquo;d in their hardhats and I knew they would be audible. Out first shot was on Charlize Theron and the camera was facing away from the machinery so the assistant director had it turned off. I asked for it to be turned back on because I knew if we filmed the first shot with the machines off the actors would speak fairly quietly while when we turned around and filmed with the machines on they would be screaming. Nothing would have matched, so I asked for the machines to be left on for the entire sequence. The assistant director and location person were not used to a sound person asking for noise makers to be turned on, but the scene worked perfectly (sound-wise) if I do say so myself :-)\nI am very intolerant of friendly fire - floor creaks caused by a slow moving dolly and crew, background chatter, walkie talkies, etc., or inappropriate locations (ie, trying to do a bucolic country scene near a major interstate, etc).\nFSD: We all know that getting in early is important for any film craft. In sound, if you\u0026rsquo;re lucky you get hired before location scouting commences. How often have you been involved in that process? Why doesn\u0026rsquo;t this happen more often?\nWS: I\u0026rsquo;m never hired before the location scouting begins. I usually have 4-5 days prep on most films while the location manager starts months before production begins. My prep consists of 2-3 days of tech scouting, a day for the production meeting and a day for the equipment load in so often the best I can do is damage control. Often the UPM will call me weeks in advance if there is a question about a location they want to use but are concerned about sound issues, but that is pretty rare.\nFSD: Are you ever in a theater watching a film you worked on and wonder \u0026ldquo;what happened to my mix?\u0026rdquo;\nWS: The sound systems in many theaters are so bad that usually I\u0026rsquo;m concerned more with the presentation than the mix! Usually post teams on the films I have worked on do a terrific job, though every now and then something will sneak in that will make me cringe. Often it\u0026rsquo;s the result of someone in post using the wrong track for a scene and somehow it sneaks through the cracks. There was a short scene in \u0026ldquo;Inside Man\u0026rdquo; where I blew the mix. A character ad-libbed a line and I had the other actor’s mic opened and it phased terribly (made the actor sound for a word or 2 like someone was holding his nose). I had recorded the scene multi-track so each mic was soloed (pre-fader) on their own channel, so it was extremely easy to re-mix it in post to correct the mistake, but I guess it slipped on through. Makes me cringe every time!\nFSD: What was your first gig like?\nWS: Oh my gosh, it was for Austrian TV news a million years ago and the journalist was doing a standup in front of a Con Ed power plant on the east side of Manhattan. In my limited German it sounded like he was saying \u0026lsquo;Here I am in front of a nuclear power plant right in the middle of Manhattan\u0026rsquo;. So I asked the producer if that is what he was saying. He said \u0026lsquo;yes\u0026rsquo; and I said it wasn\u0026rsquo;t a nuclear power plant. They said “…Of course it is.” Vienna told them. And I was never hired by Austrian TV again :-)\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2007/11/american-gangster-pt2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI just wanted to thank Production Sound Mixer William Sarokinfor taking time for this Q and A.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFSD:   I read recently that Ridley Scott really shot from the hip on this one: fast moving, quick set ups, etc. How does this type of shoot effect the sound department, especially on a show that is set in such an aural jungle like NYC?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWS:  Ridley is a master at capturing every bit of energy there is in a scene. Nothing (well\u0026hellip; except for thousands of feet of unused film\u0026hellip;) goes to waste. As much as possible he would use multiple cameras in a scene. Often cameras would be hidden in the shot. He\u0026rsquo;d have set dressing find a piece of furniture or a car (or even a potted plant) to hide a camera and crew. And just in case, he\u0026rsquo;d often dress the camera operators in period wardrobe. Ridley is always thinking and looking for opportunities, so if he sets up a shot with 3 cameras looking in one direction, just before we\u0026rsquo;re about to shoot he might set up a 4th (or 5th or more) looking in the opposite direction. Every department had to be on their toes. At first I thought sound was the only dept that was out of the loop. I assumed the Director of Photography had planned all the alternative shots in advance with his gaffer and key grip, but eventually I realized we were all in the same boat.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"AMERICAN GANGSTER pt.2"},{"content":"Extra, extra, the MPSE sound show is back! As hinted a few weeks earlier, here in Los Angeles on Nov. 5th, 2007, a sound event featuring editorial crew members (and maybe other craftsmen) of \u0026ldquo;Transformers\u0026rdquo; is being put on by the Motion Picture Sound Editors. Though my favorite transformer Soundwave didn\u0026rsquo;t make it into the film, I am excited that the MPSE is putting on what seems to be a very awesome night! Please note that this press release is very \u0026ldquo;hot off the presses\u0026rdquo;, so there is not going to be any info on either the American Cinematheque or MPSE websites as of yet. You heard it, er, read it here first!\nUPDATE: You can purchase tickets online HERE\nThe MPSE Sound Show returns to Hollywood this Fall to reveal the sound effects of this summer’s Paramount/Dreamworks blockbuster “Transformers.”\nJoin award winning supervising sound editor Ethan Van der Ryn (King Kong; the Lord of the Rings trilogy) and sound designer Erik Aadahl(Superman Returns; I, Robot) for an exploration of the sonic world of the action-packed Science Fiction film directed by Michael Bay. Clips from the movie will be screened with special “pre-dub” soundtracks showing off the variety of sounds created for the motion picture.\nAs an extra attraction, all audio will be played through a state-of-the-art audio system developed by Meyer Sound Laboratories so that you can hear every subtle and bone-crushing sound effect.\nBy the end of the evening you will experience how the craft of movie making is \u0026ldquo;more than meets the eye.\u0026rdquo;\nOne night only: Monday, November 5, 2007, at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, California. 6712 Hollywood Boulevard, just east of Highland Avenue. General admission is $10. Seniors and students with valid ID are $8. Members of the MPSE and American Cinematheque are $7. Tickets can be bought on Fandango.com and at the Egyptian box office.\nA co-presentation of the Motion Picture Sound Editors and the American Cinematheque. More information will be available soon at www.MPSE.org and www.AmericanCinematheque.com.\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2007/10/news-flash-mpse-sound-show-returns/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eExtra, extra, the MPSE sound show is back! As hinted a few weeks earlier, here in Los Angeles on Nov. 5th, 2007, a sound event featuring editorial crew members (and maybe other craftsmen) of \u0026ldquo;Transformers\u0026rdquo; is being put on by the Motion Picture Sound Editors.  Though my favorite transformer Soundwave didn\u0026rsquo;t make it into the film, I am excited that the MPSE is putting on what seems to be a very awesome night! Please note that this press release is very \u0026ldquo;hot off the presses\u0026rdquo;, so there is not going to be any info on either the American Cinematheque or MPSE websites as of yet. You heard it, er, read it here first!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"NEWS FLASH: MPSE SOUND SHOW RETURNS!"},{"content":"I want to thank supervising sound editor Craig Henighan for doing this Q and A.\nFSD: Material like “Dark is Rising” allows for creation of sounds no one has ever heard before. What are some of your favorite creations in the film?\nSome of my favorites are the sounds we created for the Rooks (crows), which were a combination of different species of crows, mixed with female screams. We had to create different layers of intensity to give them somewhere to build to, but not be too scary since the movie is PG. There are some pretty intense scenes in this film, and with music and sound in the mix it added another dimension of intensity that we had to be conscience of. A “less is more” approach was taken after we did a first pass. We all agreed that it sounded great but it would be way too intense for a PG rating. Chuck Michael and Ai Ling Leewere also in charge of coming up with great sounds for everything from possessed horses, to houses that turn to ice then melt and get swallowed up by giant flocks of Rooks that turn into a huge tidal wave of what the director called \u0026ldquo;The Apocalypse\u0026rdquo;, which is what the title \u0026ldquo;Dark is Rising\u0026rdquo; refers to. Fun stuff to create.\nFSD: As a sound supervisor could you describe a typical spotting session with the director and or editor?\nI don\u0026rsquo;t know if there is ever a typical spotting session. I find every film has its own way of living and breathing that permeates how the sound work starts and grows throughout the time we have. I\u0026rsquo;ve worked with directors that want to sit down and hang, work arm in arm with you, really get into the meat of what sound can bring to the table. I\u0026rsquo;ve also worked with directors that give a frame-work, or a general idea of what they want to convey, then let me go do my thing, come back and we do playbacks and mini temps to get that dialed in before we hit a dub stage. Beyond spotting, it’s even more important to get your work back into their cutting systems, be it Avid or FCP. When directors and picture editors can live with your sounds for a period of time, I find that they become much more open to exploring ideas of what and where sound can take their film.\nFSD: During spotting I am sure other films of the same type get referenced as good descriptions for sounds the filmmakers are hoping to have. How do you fulfill the filmmaker’s needs while maintaining originality in your sound design?\nCertain films do get citied, of course, but for the most part it’s a frame of reference or the idea that the director would like me to know about. I will distill that into my own ideas and see where it leads. It is a collaborative process and usually as the sound design grows, it becomes its own thing, and the roots and references of the sounds become less and less until you achieve what the director wants, while it still retains an original spin on itself.\nFSD: Since the story takes an “ordinary boy” on an extraordinary journey, does the sound he perceives, and in effect the sound the audience hears, change once the story starts to unfold?\nAbsolutely - we start off with Will, and things are \u0026ldquo;normal\u0026rdquo; with the visual and with the sound, but as things move along, say for instance the crows start showing up, the sound starts to change, sometimes subtle changes in the BG\u0026rsquo;s, sometimes more obvious. The journey the boy takes is something that we were very aware of sonically, but it’s also how the film unfolds in terms of story, so in a way the road map is already set, we just had to follow it and enhance it when we could. It was a team effort on this one; Composer Christophe Beck, his editor Fernand Bos, mixers Paul Massey and Dave Giammarco all did fantastic work, as well as the rest of my crew, Helen Luttrel, David Butler, Mike Axinn, Warren Hendriks, John Larsen, John Murray and John Morris. Our Director, David Cunningham had no shortage of ideas. He had very definite things he wanted the sound to get across to the audience and he depended on all departments of sound to come up with things.\nFSD: Darren Aronofsky’s “The Fountain.” Just won a DGC(directors guild of Canada) award for sound editing. Darren’s films have always been very sound-centric. How did you end up working on “Requiem” and now two films in, how is he to work with?\nDarren is a director that absolutely loves sound, isn\u0026rsquo;t afraid to take chances, expects his crews to be risk takers and think outside the norm. He\u0026rsquo;s also around a lot, so instead of watching something together every week, he\u0026rsquo;d be around everyday, stop in, hang out, discuss ideas, then leave and come back the next day. For \u0026ldquo;The Fountain\u0026rdquo; we all worked on one floor together at Sound One in NY Pix Department, Music, Visual FX and Sound Editorial. Ideas were tossed around, back and forth, things were put together within an ongoing temp mix scenario, so by the time of the final mix, things really had time to develop and grow in a natural way. “Requiem”, on the other hand was done with us in Toronto, Brian Emirch (sound designer) in New York and mixed at Skywalker in Marin County. Brian had done “Pi”, which was very low budget and done very independently. From what I can remember, Doug Wilkenson, a Toronto Post Supervisor, was involved with the show, and introduced Nelson Ferreira, Steve Barden and myself to Darren and Eric Watson (producer) as a possible team to work along with Brian. That’s how it initially started; from there Brian and I went off and designed all of the sound effects and Steve and Nelson took care of the Dialog.\nFSD: What was your first gig like?\nMy first regular paying gig was doing Cue sheets for a Foley artist named Steve Hammond, at Filmhouse in Toronto. I was doing production sound on shorts and independents during the day and writing out Cue sheets at night. It was an absolutely invaluable experience - from there I learned a lot about how sounds were put together, how things worked, how the layers added up to make one sound or a series of sounds. It was a great way to see the merging of recording, the gear, etc. and learning the craft; [I learned] how to make the film come alive with sound.\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2007/10/seeker-dark-is-rising-pt2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI want to thank supervising sound editor Craig Henighan for doing this Q and A.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFSD:  Material like “Dark is Rising” allows for creation of sounds no one has ever heard before. What are some of your favorite creations in the film?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSome of my favorites are the sounds we created for the Rooks (crows), which were a combination of different species of crows, mixed with female screams.  We had to create different layers of intensity to give them somewhere to build to, but not be too scary since the movie is PG. There are some pretty intense scenes in this film, and with music and sound in the mix it added another dimension of intensity that we had to be conscience of.  A “less is more” approach was taken after we did a first pass.  We all agreed that it sounded great but it would be way too intense for a PG rating.  Chuck Michael and Ai Ling Leewere also in charge of coming up with great sounds for everything from possessed horses, to houses that turn to ice then melt and get swallowed up by giant flocks of Rooks that turn into a huge tidal wave of what the director called \u0026ldquo;The Apocalypse\u0026rdquo;, which is what the title \u0026ldquo;Dark is Rising\u0026rdquo; refers to.  Fun stuff to create.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"THE SEEKER: DARK IS RISING pt.2"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;3:10 to Yuma\u0026rdquo; saunters into theaters September 7th. Donald Sylvester, who supervised director James Mangold\u0026rsquo;s last effort \u0026ldquo;Walk the Line,\u0026rdquo; dueled with the sound editorial. Sylvester, a sound editing renaissance man has cut everything from foley to ADR to dialog to effects during his career. Re-recording mixers Paul Massey and David Giammarco came out, faders blazing on FOX\u0026rsquo;s John Ford dubbing stage. Another \u0026ldquo;Walk the Line\u0026rdquo; alum, Massey is fresh off this May\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;Pirates of the Caribean\u0026rdquo; sequel while Giammarco mixed New Line\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;The Last Mimzy\u0026rdquo; earlier this year. Jim Stuebe was deputized to mix the production sound. Stuebe has production mixed Wes Craven\u0026rsquo;s last few films and shot sound on Ben Affleck\u0026rsquo;s directorial debut \u0026ldquo;Gone Baby Gone.\u0026rdquo; Composer Marco Beltram, another Wes Craven frequenter, scored \u0026ldquo;3:10 to Yuma\u0026rdquo; at Abbey Road in London. Beltram has already had a big summer composing for June\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;Live Free or Die Hard.\u0026rdquo;\nCHECK BACK TOMORROW FOR A Q AND A WITH SOUND EFFECTS RECORDIST ROB NOKES!\nJOHN FORD STAGE\nSUPERVISING SOUND EDITOR: Donald Sylvester\nRE-RECORDING MIXER: Paul Massey\nRE-RECORDING MIXER: David Giammarco\nPRODUCTION SOUND MIXER: Jim Stuebe\nABBEY ROAD\nCOMPOSER: Marco Beltrami\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2007/09/310-to-yuma/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;3:10 to Yuma\u0026rdquo; saunters into theaters September 7th.  Donald Sylvester, who supervised director James Mangold\u0026rsquo;s last effort \u0026ldquo;Walk the Line,\u0026rdquo; dueled with the sound editorial.  Sylvester, a sound editing renaissance man has cut everything from foley to ADR to dialog to effects during his career.  Re-recording mixers Paul Massey and David Giammarco came out, faders blazing on FOX\u0026rsquo;s John Ford dubbing stage.  Another \u0026ldquo;Walk the Line\u0026rdquo;  alum, Massey is fresh off this May\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;Pirates of the Caribean\u0026rdquo; sequel while Giammarco mixed New Line\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;The Last Mimzy\u0026rdquo; earlier this year.  Jim Stuebe was deputized to mix the production sound.  Stuebe has production mixed Wes Craven\u0026rsquo;s last few films and shot sound on Ben Affleck\u0026rsquo;s directorial debut \u0026ldquo;Gone Baby Gone.\u0026rdquo;    Composer Marco Beltram, another Wes Craven frequenter, scored \u0026ldquo;3:10 to Yuma\u0026rdquo; at Abbey Road in London.  Beltram has already had a big summer composing for June\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;Live Free or Die Hard.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e","title":"3:10 TO YUMA"},{"content":"Introducing the most fun part of sound effects editorial, field recording! Sound supervisors always seek out new sounds, most would add, and if they had it their way, they would record all new effects for every show. While every project might not warrant sessions out in the field, films like \u0026ldquo;3:10 to Yuma\u0026rdquo; cry out for them. So, when sound soup Donald Sylvester needed new sounds to blanket the Arizona desert, he sent up smoke signals for sound effect recordist, Rob Nokes. Nokes is among the few sound effects recordists that work as much as these guys do (Mix Magazine covered a few more HERE), and without their heart, adventurous attitude, and health insurance, we as an film audience would never be treated to all of those cool new effects.\nFSD: Did you get to record any production effects during principle photography on \u0026ldquo;3:10\u0026rdquo;? How often does that happen?\nRN: I did not record production effects on this movie. Anytime a movie has a unique situation involving crowds or machines it makes sense to capture the original on location as the costs to re-stage unique events are usually cost prohibitive. A couple of examples of this would be recording the production crowds\u0026rsquo; performance on \u0026ldquo;Walk Hard\u0026rdquo; a new movie by Jake Kasdan; the real authentic crowds sit more naturally than library crowds. Sometimes stock library crowds and clapping jump off the screen or are too close -According to Bob Grieve and Joel Shryack (Sound Supervisors) the production crowds sat perfectly in the mix and everyone was very happy. Another example would be recording the final ten-second countdown and the “USA! USA!” chant in the movie “Miracle.” The director gave us 4,000 extras to perform these critical story elements on location. Typically we get the location or machines after the principle photography, such as destruction of the house wood set on “The Spiderwick Chronicles” (Mark Mangini, Sound Supervisor), or the original beat-up Volvo used in the movie “Blue State,” (Jake Eberle, Sound Supevisor).\nFSD: What was the bulk of the coverage that Donald Sylvester needed for editorial? What were your favorite sessions on the film?\nRN: Don Sylvester (Sound Supervisor) wanted a great collection of new gun recordings that did not sound like Howitzers and many gun libraries are over processed and lack natural dynamics. Don\u0026rsquo;s friend and collaborator Doug Hemphill, the Re-Recording Mixer on “3:10” and “Walk The Line,” was an exceptional sound effects recordist early in his career and had pioneered and recorded some of the best guns in the 1980\u0026rsquo;s. Based on my experience with Doug, I learned that a lot of his efforts have been passed on to subsequent generations of sound effects recordists. Our goal at Doug\u0026rsquo;s neighborhood of Missoula Montana was to capture a clear, crisp, natural gun library for the movie. My only objective on the shoot and subsequent mastering of the ten channels recorded, was deliver Don and Ted Caplan (Sound Designer) a great gun library.\nFSD: What does your main rig comprise of these days?\nRN: Deva 5, three Neumann 190i stereo microphones, Sanken CUB-01 boundary mics, several PZM mics, Sennheiser 815T, Countryman lavs, four Sennheiser E835s dynamic mics, seven Hydrophones, Fostex Fr-2, and M-Audio Micro Trak. I am not crazy about the latter two recorders; I plan on buying two new small two-channel recorders.\nFSD: Does being an active supervising sound editor help in prep for the field sessions?\nRN: While mixing with Re-Recording Mixers good recordings are appreciated and the Mixers generally know good unique libraries from stock CD libraries or poorly recorded libraries. On several movies the Mixers have complimented me on my recordings which is greatly appreciated, however, that thanks is due, in part, to the Supervisor or Sound Editor that used the right sound in the right place in the movie being mixed. With that being said, all experience is beneficial; sometimes I may not get what I want exactly, however, another opportunity may present itself where I can provide another series of sounds for the Supervisor.\nFSD: How much time do you normally get for experimentation during the effects shoots?\nRN: With the Deva 5 on all effects shoots, I can experiment with a couple of channels and try different mic techniques or microphones. Most sound effects shoots are partly experimental because I am dealing with situational factors such as the target to be recorded, background noises, wind, temperature, time, security, safety, acoustic reflections, speed of a moving target, and the people that are helping or hindering the shoot. The more recording experience a person has the better they can resolve these factors. I strongly recommend that recordists listen to test recordings during the shoot to ensure that these factors are properly observed and adequately adjusted for.\nFSD: You shot effects on \u0026ldquo;Walk Hard\u0026rdquo;; What was it like working on a musical? Did your focus differ from a large-scale action film?\nRN: On some movies less is more - my goal on “Walk Hard” was to provide broad crowd coverage of the crowds without having the mics seen on camera or having my presence be an intrusion to the Director or the 1st AD. As a result of directorial overlaps talking to the crowd and music playback, I hid small microphones behind the seats so that the density of the immediate crowd would obliterate the overlapping voice or music and in many cases this helped. On a musical the setup is very important and patience is critical - doing less is more. Action films usually have greater speeds and decibels, which results in more setups and movement.\nFSD: What was your first gig like?\nRN: I had some awareness of sound effects recording at Master\u0026rsquo;s Workshop in Toronto. They had a really good recordist named Terry \u0026lsquo;Turk\u0026quot; McCarthy. My first recording gig was as an Assistant for Peter Thillaye on IMAX Mountain Gorillas. We drove outside of rural Toronto and pretended to be Gorillas rummaging in an African forest. After that I borrowed microphones all the time and recorded as much as possible; fortunately for me Greg King, whom I started working for, preferred to have a unique sound library so original recordings were encouraged and preferred. It was a great environment for a young sound effects recordist.\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2007/09/310-to-yuma-pt2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIntroducing the most fun part of sound effects editorial, field recording!  Sound supervisors always seek out new sounds, most would add, and if they had it their way, they would record all new effects for every show.  While every project might not warrant sessions out in the field, films like \u0026ldquo;3:10 to Yuma\u0026rdquo; cry out for them.  So, when sound soup Donald Sylvester needed new sounds to blanket the Arizona desert, he sent up smoke signals for sound effect recordist, Rob Nokes.  Nokes is among the few sound effects recordists that work as much as these guys do (Mix Magazine covered a few more HERE), and without their heart, adventurous attitude, and health insurance, we as an film audience would never be treated to all of those cool new effects.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"3:10 TO YUMA pt.2"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;Eastern Promises\u0026rdquo; hits theaters September 14th. Supervising Sound editor Michael O\u0026rsquo;Farrell helped mark the soundtrack with dialog, ADR, effects, and Foley. O\u0026rsquo;Farrell, whom supervised director David Cronenberg\u0026rsquo;s last, \u0026ldquo;A History of Violence, is currently mixing one of Judd Apatow\u0026rsquo;s next projects, the David Gordan Green directed \u0026ldquo;Pineapple Express\u0026rdquo;. Mixing for \u0026ldquo;Promises\u0026rdquo; took place at Deluxe\u0026rsquo;s Toronto based sound facility, with re-recording mixers Christian T. Cooke and Orest Sushko at the helm. Also sound thugs in the Cronenberg ranks, the team has mixed four of the director\u0026rsquo;s films. Hot off this summer\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,\u0026rdquo; Stuart Wilson mixed production dialog on the film. Continuing his working relationship with director Michael Winterbottom, Wilson just mixed the director\u0026rsquo;s current film \u0026ldquo;Genova\u0026rdquo; as well his last seven other efforts. Beating all the musical notes into submission, Howard Shore scored the film at London\u0026rsquo;s Abbey Road studio. Shore looks to be attached to Martin Scorsese\u0026rsquo;s next two narrative ventures, \u0026ldquo;Silence\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;The Rise of Theodor Roosevelt\u0026rdquo;.\nCHECK BACK LATER THIS WEEK FOR A Q AND A WITH SOUND SUPERVISOR MICHAEL O\u0026rsquo;FARRELL!\nDELUXE TORONTO: THEATER 1\nSUPERVISING SOUND EDITOR: Michael O\u0026rsquo;Farrell\nRE-RECORDING MIXER: Orest Sushko\nRE-RECORDING MIXER: Christian T. Cooke\nPRODUCTION SOUND MIXER: Stuart Wilson\nABBEY ROAD\nCOMPOSER: Howard Shore\nPosted by FILMSOUNDDAILY at [8:22 AM](/2007/09/eastern-promises/) 0 comments: Post a Comment Data preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2007/09/eastern-promises/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;Eastern Promises\u0026rdquo; hits theaters September 14th. Supervising Sound editor Michael O\u0026rsquo;Farrell helped mark the soundtrack with dialog, ADR, effects, and Foley. O\u0026rsquo;Farrell, whom supervised director David Cronenberg\u0026rsquo;s last, \u0026ldquo;A History of Violence, is currently mixing one of Judd Apatow\u0026rsquo;s next projects, the David Gordan Green directed \u0026ldquo;Pineapple Express\u0026rdquo;. Mixing for \u0026ldquo;Promises\u0026rdquo; took place at Deluxe\u0026rsquo;s Toronto based sound facility, with re-recording mixers Christian T. Cooke and Orest Sushko at the helm. Also sound thugs in the Cronenberg ranks, the team has mixed four of the director\u0026rsquo;s films. Hot off this summer\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,\u0026rdquo;  Stuart Wilson mixed production dialog on the film. Continuing his working relationship with director Michael Winterbottom, Wilson just mixed the director\u0026rsquo;s current film \u0026ldquo;Genova\u0026rdquo; as well his last seven other efforts. Beating all the musical notes into submission, Howard Shore scored the film at London\u0026rsquo;s Abbey Road studio. Shore looks to be attached to Martin Scorsese\u0026rsquo;s next two narrative ventures, \u0026ldquo;Silence\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;The Rise of Theodor Roosevelt\u0026rdquo;.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"EASTERN PROMISES"},{"content":"I wanted to take a second to inform everyone that I originally forgot to include co-sound supervisor Wayne Griffin, in the part one \u0026ldquo;Eastern Promises\u0026rdquo; post. I corrected the error and now wanted to thank Michael O\u0026rsquo;Farrell for doing this Q and A. I saw the film last night and I got to say the bathhouse house scene that Mike teases in his answers is definitely as intense as he claims\u0026hellip;\nFSD: While \u0026ldquo;A History of Violence\u0026rdquo; is 100% Cronenberg, he was still at his tamest by keeping the sound very naturalistic. What was the approach on \u0026ldquo;Promises\u0026rsquo;\u0026rdquo; soundtrack?\nMO: It\u0026rsquo;s interesting to hear you say that, thanks! Actually, the sound on \u0026ldquo;History of Violence\u0026rdquo; and again on \u0026ldquo;Eastern Promises\u0026rdquo; is anything but naturalistic but it\u0026rsquo;s great that you remember it that way.\nUsually the films themselves determine what the feel of the soundtrack will be. Both of these films are really character driven and heavily claustrophobic. They are essentially quiet complex films about interpersonal relationships, secrets hidden and occasionally revealed. I think sound editors by nature are terrified by quiet. They often try to fill the glass to the overflowing point, stretching to fill every blank aural space. Noise is, after all, why people primarily hire us. Knowing when to back off and stay quiet is just as important.\nIn these pieces, as the tenor of the film changes, as the drama builds, so does the force and nature of the sound effects. I think if you went back and looked at a few of the set pieces in \u0026ldquo;History\u0026rdquo; or \u0026ldquo;Eastern Promises\u0026rdquo; you\u0026rsquo;d be surprised at how outlandish some of the sounds are. In a straight run however, the viewer is hopefully caught up in the tension of the situations and brought to that emotional point where more surreal sounds are accepted as part of the dramatic landscape.\nI think when you are starting a film you should remember the music you love, and that most great compositions have a broad arc. Beauty, in this case at least, lies in the dynamics: The interplay of hard and soft, loud and quiet, knife and flesh.\nFSD: I read in a recent interview that what makes working on a thriller so much fun is the opportunity the genre allows for playing with the audience. Given that David likes to use that device on his audience, did you guys get any time to play?\nMO: Well, some time [to play]. For me, Foley and effects recording are definitely my personal play time.\nI\u0026rsquo;m extraordinarily lucky to have a great collaborator in my co-supervisor Wayne Griffin who handles the dialogue department, as well as our foley artist Andy Malcolm and a great production recordist in Stuart Wilson. Along with our great crew, Tony Currie on Dialogue and Rob Bertola on FX, we did manage to get in a fair bit of play time sonically and otherwise.\nDavid Cronenberg is quite remarkable in the fact that he usually only does one or two recruited audience screenings. He\u0026rsquo;s that confident and that sure footed. That\u0026rsquo;s quite unusual in this age of multiple previews and short schedules. I\u0026rsquo;ve gotten used to laying down my preliminary version of the FX tracks in the first couple of weeks that I\u0026rsquo;m on a film. And while it\u0026rsquo;s amazing how much of that version is what takes hold and becomes the basis of the final track, I do love to get other people\u0026rsquo;s perspective on a particular sound; hearing things that are 180 degrees opposite from what I was thinking of, something that I never would have come up with. This film is full of these kind of happy accidents and plain hard work. From Tony\u0026rsquo;s great crowd ADR work in England to Rob\u0026rsquo;s peculiar take on a tattoo needle, this project was a definite group project. Collaboration, interaction and play are what make this job worthwhile.\nFSD: The word \u0026ldquo;visceral\u0026rdquo; is often used to describe his films, yet, to me that word always seems like a nod to sound. What are some of your favorite visceral sound moments in this film?\nMO: Hmm…that would be telling. Let’s just say that there is a very intense scene set in a bath house and a very unfortunate incident involving an eye. Oh and a throat\u0026hellip; actually a couple of throats. David C\u0026rsquo;s new pet name for me is \u0026ldquo;O\u0026rsquo;Feral\u0026rdquo; if that gives you any clues.\nDavid did a study of street fighting techniques when he was prepping “History of Violence.” The primary rule for survival, for coming out on top in life threatening situations, was to get in very close to your opponent when fighting. I think we\u0026rsquo;ve all taken that to heart in both of these films. We get in close, really close. It\u0026rsquo;s all about small perfect sounds\u0026hellip; listen for the fingertips hitting the metal tabletop…(Andy Malcolm our Foley artist can take credit for that one..)\nFSD: One of the first and simplest \u0026ldquo;tips\u0026rdquo; I got for BGs (backgrounds) coverage was to use wet car-bys to convey night. Since I have read most of this film takes place in the evening hours, what ways did you convey nighttime while keeping it interesting and obviously menacing?\nMO: Actually, it rains a lot in this nightmarish version of London. The nights are about rain and unseen trucks rumbling by. We recorded a lot of new rain for this film, hopefully enough to keep it interesting, at the very least really damp\nFSD: I am a big fan of David Gordon Green. How is he to work with on \u0026ldquo;Pineapple Express\u0026rdquo;?\nMO: Just great so far. He\u0026rsquo;s got a very funny film on his hands. If he magically turns into an jerk during the mix you\u0026rsquo;ll be the first to know!\nFSD: What was your first gig like?\nMO: Some poor, put upon, commercial editor in Toronto with a very tight deadline (And obviously no viable options\u0026hellip;) hired me fresh out of film school to cut negative for his series of spots. Strangely enough, I didn\u0026rsquo;t get a call back for a return engagement. Shame really, I probably could have had a very hot neg cutting career by now!\nMy first real sound editing gig was for the late, great Canadian sound editor Ken Heeley-Ray on an epic high school football film called \u0026ldquo;Crunch\u0026rdquo; back in 1981 or so. If you can\u0026rsquo;t find it at Netflix, they subsequently changed the name to the much classier \u0026ldquo;The Kinky Coaches and the Pom Pom Pussycats\u0026rdquo;.\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2007/09/eastern-promises-pt2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI wanted to take a second to inform everyone that I originally forgot to include co-sound supervisor Wayne Griffin, in the part one \u0026ldquo;Eastern Promises\u0026rdquo; post. I corrected the error and now wanted to thank Michael O\u0026rsquo;Farrell for doing this Q and A. I saw the film last night and I got to say the  bathhouse house scene that Mike teases in his answers is definitely as intense as he claims\u0026hellip;\u003c/p\u003e","title":"EASTERN PROMISES pt.2"},{"content":"September\u0026rsquo;s issue of Mix Magazine unloaded a bunch film sound articles online today\u0026hellip;.\n\u0026ldquo;The Invasion\u0026rsquo;s\u0026rdquo; Gregg Rudloff, \u0026ldquo;Captivity\u0026rsquo;s\u0026rdquo; Melissa Hofmann, and \u0026ldquo;Halloween\u0026rsquo;s\u0026rdquo; Perry Robertson unleash their tales of horror sound, HERE.\nFranklin Martin, director of the documentary \u0026ldquo;Walking on Dead Fish\u0026rdquo; carries us through post production of his film, HERE.\nA showcasing of composer Hans Zimmer\u0026rsquo;s Santa Monica stomping grounds and interview with long-time scoring mixer/colaberator Al Clay, HERE.\nAn article about documentarian Ken Burn\u0026rsquo;s(whom most of know for THIS) new PBS mini-series called \u0026ldquo;The War\u0026rdquo; is available to those who register in the magazine\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;insider network,\u0026rdquo;\nHERE.\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2007/09/september-mix-magazine/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eSeptember\u0026rsquo;s issue of Mix Magazine unloaded a bunch film sound articles online today\u0026hellip;.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;The Invasion\u0026rsquo;s\u0026rdquo; Gregg Rudloff, \u0026ldquo;Captivity\u0026rsquo;s\u0026rdquo; Melissa Hofmann, and \u0026ldquo;Halloween\u0026rsquo;s\u0026rdquo; Perry Robertson unleash their tales of horror sound, HERE.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFranklin Martin, director of the documentary \u0026ldquo;Walking on Dead Fish\u0026rdquo; carries us through post production of his film, HERE.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA showcasing of composer Hans Zimmer\u0026rsquo;s Santa Monica stomping grounds and interview with long-time scoring mixer/colaberator Al Clay, HERE.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAn article about documentarian Ken Burn\u0026rsquo;s(whom most of know for THIS) new PBS mini-series called \u0026ldquo;The War\u0026rdquo;  is available to those who register in the magazine\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;insider network,\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SEPTEMBER: MIX MAGAZINE"},{"content":"I am glad to see the academy rolling out more of these events!\n\u0026ldquo;This three-evening seminar series offers a detailed look at the music scoring process from the perspective of motion picture composers themselves. Each week’s topic will be illuminated by film clips, on-stage discussions with guests (subject to availability) and questions from the audience. Each session will begin with a film clip illustrating two different scores for the same scene.\u0026rdquo;\nSept. 20 – Traditional Scores Moderated by Charles Bernstein (Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision, Cujo), with Lalo Schifrin (Rush Hour, Cool Hand Luke), and Jan Kaczmarek (Finding Neverland, Unfaithful)\nSept. 27 – Alternative Scores Moderated by Bruce Broughton (Lost in Space, Silverado), with Mychael Danna (Little Miss Sunshine, Capote), Mark Isham (Crash, A River Runs through It) and Rolfe Kent (Sideways, Election)\nOct. 4 – The Music Team With George S. Clinton (The Santa Clause 2, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery), Michael Giacchino (Mission: Impossible III, The Incredibles), John Powell (Happy Feet, United 93) and Mike Flicker (music editor, The Santa Clause 2, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery)\n\u0026hellip;On the topic of great events, all you fans of \u0026ldquo;The Transformers\u0026rdquo; sound editorial will be excited to hear I caught wind of an event that may be coming to the Los Angeles area this November. I\u0026rsquo;ll post more info when I get the official word!\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2007/09/music-soundtrack/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI am glad to see the academy rolling out more of these events!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;This three-evening seminar series offers a detailed look at the music scoring process from the perspective of motion picture composers themselves. Each week’s topic will be illuminated by film clips, on-stage discussions with guests (subject to availability) and questions from the audience. Each session will begin with a film clip illustrating two different scores for the same scene.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e","title":"THE MUSIC SOUNDTRACK"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;Bee Movie\u0026rdquo; doesn\u0026rsquo;t come out until this November but, there is already a fun little clip available online showcasing the kind of thing us sound effect folk have to deal with everyday. Recording bugs in an ADR studio. The guys over at gizmodo.com have a little piece about the clip HERE.\nPosted by FILMSOUNDDAILY at [12:00 PM](/2007/08/bee-movie-promo/) 0 comments: Post a Comment Data preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2007/08/bee-movie-promo/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;Bee Movie\u0026rdquo; doesn\u0026rsquo;t come out until this November but, there is already a fun little clip available online showcasing the kind of thing us sound effect folk have to deal with everyday. Recording bugs in an ADR studio. The guys over at gizmodo.com have a little piece about the clip HERE.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cpre\u003e\u003ccode\u003e      Posted by\n      FILMSOUNDDAILY\n\n\n\n\n\n      at\n\n      [12:00 PM](/2007/08/bee-movie-promo/)\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003e\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cpre\u003e\u003ccode\u003e      0 comments:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n    Post a Comment\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eData preservation for the cinematography community.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"BEE MOVIE DOL(BEE) CLIP"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;Halloween\u0026rdquo; haunts theaters August 31st. Sound supervisors Perry Robertson, Barney Cabral, and Scott Sanders took a stab at the editorial. All linked to Earcandy Post (an editorial/design house in the valley), the two have worked together on Rob Zombie\u0026rsquo;s last, \u0026ldquo;The Devil\u0026rsquo;s Rejects\u0026rdquo; as well as continuing a working relationship with Jason Rietman, supervising his next, \u0026ldquo;Juno\u0026rdquo;. Re-recording mixers Patrick Cyccone Jr. and Daniel J. Leahy dubbed the film at Widget Post on their ICON driven stage Cyccone one of Alxeander Payne\u0026rsquo;s usual mixer\u0026rsquo;s, dubbed the directors last 3 films including 2004\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;Sideways\u0026rdquo;. While included in Leahy\u0026rsquo;s established mixing career, one of his first gigs was 1985\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;Back to the Future\u0026rdquo;. Production mixer Buck Robinson sleighed the sound on set. Robinson, another \u0026ldquo;Reject\u0026rsquo;s\u0026rdquo; alum, splits his production mixing time during the year between features and television shoots. While staying true to the source, Composer Tyler Bates was charged with the monumental task of revising Carpenter\u0026rsquo;s iconic score. Bates has had a big year already, composing for \u0026ldquo;300\u0026rdquo; and has been quoted as providing conceptual material for Zach Snyder\u0026rsquo;s next film, \u0026ldquo;The Watchmen.\u0026rdquo;\nCHECK BACK LATER TODAY FOR A Q AND A WITH SOUND SUPERVISOR PERRY ROBERTSON!\nWIDGET POST: STAGE D\nSUPERVISING SOUND EDITOR: Perry Robertson\nSUPERVISING SOUND EDITOR: Barney Cabral\nSOUND DESIGNER: Scott Sanders\nRE-RECORDING MIXER: Patrick Cyccone Jr.\nRE-RECORDING MIXER: Daniel J. Leahy\nPRODUCTION SOUND MIXER: Buck Robinson\nCOMPOSER: Tyler Bates\nPosted by FILMSOUNDDAILY at [1:00 PM](/2007/08/halloween/) 0 comments: Post a Comment [Newer Post](/2007/08/halloween-pt2/) [Older Post](/2007/08/bee-movie-promo/) [Home](/) Subscribe to:\n[Post Comments (Atom)](http://filmsounddaily.blogspot.com/feeds/4858454637653221454/comments/default) Data preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2007/08/halloween/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;Halloween\u0026rdquo; haunts theaters August 31st. Sound supervisors Perry Robertson, Barney Cabral, and Scott Sanders took a stab at the editorial. All linked to Earcandy Post (an editorial/design house in the valley), the two have worked together on Rob Zombie\u0026rsquo;s last, \u0026ldquo;The Devil\u0026rsquo;s Rejects\u0026rdquo; as well as continuing a working relationship with Jason Rietman, supervising his next, \u0026ldquo;Juno\u0026rdquo;.  Re-recording mixers Patrick Cyccone Jr. and Daniel J. Leahy dubbed the film at Widget Post on their ICON driven stage Cyccone one of Alxeander Payne\u0026rsquo;s usual mixer\u0026rsquo;s, dubbed the directors last 3 films including 2004\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;Sideways\u0026rdquo;. While included in Leahy\u0026rsquo;s established mixing career, one of his first gigs was 1985\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;Back to the Future\u0026rdquo;. Production mixer Buck Robinson sleighed the sound on set. Robinson, another \u0026ldquo;Reject\u0026rsquo;s\u0026rdquo; alum, splits his production mixing time during the year between features and television shoots. While staying true to the source, Composer Tyler Bates was charged with the monumental task of revising Carpenter\u0026rsquo;s iconic score. Bates has had a big year already, composing for \u0026ldquo;300\u0026rdquo; and has been quoted as providing conceptual material for Zach Snyder\u0026rsquo;s next film, \u0026ldquo;The Watchmen.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e","title":"HALLOWEEN"},{"content":"I am going to see \u0026ldquo;Halloween\u0026rdquo; this weekend. I only was turned on to the 1978 original last year, so I am late to the party. Carpenter\u0026rsquo;s version is great! Scary, intense, and the score is classic. I am interested to see what Rob Zombie does with the material. Since most of the scuttlebutt has been about the film\u0026rsquo;s radical new vision, I am going to try and watch it with an open mind. I am always interested to hear about how young-in-the-tooth directors approach sound conceptually. It seems to me they would be a lot more open to exploring what sound can achieve in their films. I want to thank sound soup Perry Robertson for taking time for this Q and A and I can\u0026rsquo;t wait to hear his crew\u0026rsquo;s work this weekend!\nFSD: Mike Myers is a character that looks frightening but never actually speaks so how do you help him sound scary?\nPR: Believe it or not, his scariness comes from lack of sound. A lot of times in the film he appears without making a sound. When we do hear him move, because he is so large, his sounds are heavy; whether it is his weight walking down stairs or the large chains that are on him while he is in the sanitarium. The weight of the sounds just seems to make him that much more menacing.\nFSD: Is there a lot of Myers POV in the film? If so, how did you guys approach these sequences?\nPR: The POVs in the film all have his breathing in the mask. Through his evolution in the film, Meyers wears several different masks. In ADR we had Tyler Mane breathe for us through the different masks. Our Sound Designer, Scott Sanders, also did some mask breaths, so between the two, when it came to the mix we could pick and choose which breaths worked best for the scene.\nFSD: This is your second film with Rob Zombie, who comes from a musical background. What is his approach to post sound?\nPR: Rob is one of those dream directors. He knows exactly what he wants and can tell you. Rob and editor, Glenn Garland do quite a bit of sound while cutting the picture, which gives us a great template to go by. For the big sound scenes, picture assistant, Joel Pashby, will send us Quicktimes of the scenes they need help with. We will build those scenes, pre mix them, and send them back for use in the AVID. Rob relies heavily on music but, if we have an idea on something, we can play it for him and he listens with an open mind. Because of the schedule on this movie, a lot of the tonal design was from composer, Tyler Bates, with most of the scare hits coming from Scott.\nFSD: What\u0026rsquo;s so great about horror films is their reliance on sound for the scares. If you watch a horror film without sound it just doesn\u0026rsquo;t have the same creepy impact. What are your favorite parts in this film that deliver those stereotypical chills?\nPR: I think the most fun are the scares. Because we can make sound so big today, I think our sound combined with the picture can definitely make you jump. With the sub woofer we can actually make you physically feel the impacts. The challenge for us on a film like this is to make it have dynamics; make the quiet scenes really quiet so that the loud scenes and scares really have an impact. We don\u0026rsquo;t want you to come out of the movie complaining it was too loud. Then you didn\u0026rsquo;t enjoy the movie. We can also help trick an audience into thinking something bad is about to happen when it doesn\u0026rsquo;t so that the moviegoer doesn\u0026rsquo;t know when to expect a scare.\nFSD: Did the sound in the original \u0026ldquo;Halloween” influence the choices you made for this remake?\nPR: Not really. Obviously it influenced composer, Tyler Bates, with the theme but that was about it. If you listen to the original it was pretty sparse in sound. I go into every movie with the approach of making it sound as good as sonically possible and give the director exactly what he wants and more.\nFSD: What was your first gig like?\nPR: Scary, [because] I knew I had to prove that I could do the job, yet I knew I had a lot to learn. I was still in college and went to work as an intern for a Post Production company in Dallas. I soaked up everything I could from the folks there and was working full time for them and going to school with in 6 months.\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2007/08/halloween-pt2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI am going to see \u0026ldquo;Halloween\u0026rdquo; this weekend.  I only was turned on to the 1978 original last year, so I am late to the party.  Carpenter\u0026rsquo;s version is great!  Scary, intense, and the score is classic.  I am interested to see what Rob Zombie does with the material. Since most of the scuttlebutt has been about the film\u0026rsquo;s radical new vision, I am going to try and watch it with an open mind.  I am always interested to hear about how young-in-the-tooth directors approach sound conceptually.  It seems to me they would be a lot more open to exploring what sound can achieve in their films.  I want to thank sound soup Perry Robertson for taking time for this Q and A and I can\u0026rsquo;t wait to hear his crew\u0026rsquo;s work this weekend!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"HALLOWEEN pt:2"},{"content":"Thanks to Sean Garnhart for taking time to do this Q and A. This is my first New York based interview and I am excited to branch out beyond my Los Angeles confines. The point of this blog is to showcase the talent that we sound editors, mixers, and composers work with and alongside. I again point to awareness and recognition as motivation of why I do this and I hope to continue to include more interviews and info on crews who don\u0026rsquo;t have The Terminator as governor.\nFSD: Rod\u0026rsquo;s cycle is a great extension of his character\u0026rsquo;s goofiness in the film. How did you go about achieving that aural representation?\nSG: When I heard the moped in production I thought it sounded too good for such a goofy guy. It had a whine that made it sound too high-end. Believe it or not, the summer before I started working on this film, I had heard some kids riding a moped around my neighborhood. I remembered it having a great put-put sound. So, I decided to ask my neighbor if I could borrow his moped for this movie. My assistant Billy Orrico and I took it to a farm and spent a day recording it. It was perfect. Not only did it have a great pathetic sound, it was also spray painted purple and had a metal basket on the front. What\u0026rsquo;s not to like?\nFSD: The impacts in the film are great because they are over the top! They really add to the physical comedy. How did you decide to design them that way?\nSG: That\u0026rsquo;s interesting you find them over the top. I am not sure the filmmakers would agree. I think we found a happy medium. There was a lot of discussion between Andy, Akiva, and me about how \u0026ldquo;big\u0026rdquo; to play things. I wanted to play things big because I thought they would be funnier that way. Andy and Akiva often wanted to use production with no additional sound fx help. They thought production was funny enough. I agreed that what they shot was hilarious but assured them that with a little aural help, the scenes could be even funnier. We examined each impact, exploring every element and found a good place for each sound I think.\nFSD: Rod\u0026rsquo;s spill goes on forever! How did you guys keep it interesting and funny?\nSG: I\u0026rsquo;m psyched you asked about the BIG FALL. That was shot MOS. I had a blast with that scene because I approached it just like it was an animated movie. Even though I had finished building all the fx I quickly realized it still wasn\u0026rsquo;t working. It was missing the key funny element\u0026hellip;Rod\u0026rsquo;s vocals. I didn\u0026rsquo;t have anything from Andy to work with so I opened up a mic myself and went nuts. As the scene progressed I made more over-the-top efforts. I thought it was hilarious but I had to run it by the film makers. This was the VERY first scene the pix department sent to me for sound. So, I wanted to make a good first impression. They loved it and played it the way I had designed it with my vocals for all seven of the preview screenings. As we got closer to the final, we all realized the challenge would be for Andy to keep the same insanity and silliness when he replaced my vocals. After a couple ADR sessions, Andy and my dialogue editor Fred Rosenbergspent a few hours finding just the right performances. It was an interesting process right from the beginning. The stick breaks and body falls made the fall down the hill real but the vocals took it to the funny place. Although it was hard getting there, Andy and Fred nailed that scene in the end.\nFSD: One of the things I love about sound mixing is solving problems on the stage. Were there any instances where problems with the film were solved with sound?\nSG: One thing I loved about my experience with Akiva was how willing he was to always make his film better. Even after he got to the stage he didn\u0026rsquo;t want to be finished cutting if he saw a better way to do it once he heard the sound or music or both. One scene where sound really influenced the picture cut was the movie-within-the-movie scene. When Rod is listening to the crowd laughing at his stuntman movie we start going into his head. During one of the temp dubs, Akiva realized how that transition would work better if we played the sound a certain way. He asked us to mix the scene without paying any attention to the picture. He then recut the picture to match the sound.\nFSD: \u0026ldquo;The Host\u0026rdquo; is one of my favorite films of last year . How was working on it?\nSG: It was fun\u0026hellip;but weird. I never saw any of the movie except the shots that had the beast. I was hired with Coll Anderson to design the sound of the beast. Coll took it upon himself to do the vocals and run them by me, and I decided to do the body, feet, and whatever other sounds the beast made and run them by Coll. He and I spent a few days recording things from animal vocals to yogurt slurps to vegetable splats. Then we went our separate ways and worked with the visuals. Once we were happy with our individual parts we sent them to the other for feedback. After some adjustments we turned over the \u0026ldquo;sound of the beast\u0026rdquo; to the film makers (who I never got to meet) who had no notes. They dug it the first time they heard it. You gotta love that. So working on it was painless and fun.\nFSD: What was your first gig like?\nSG: My first gig was as a transfer engineer on a movie called \u0026ldquo;Blank Check\u0026rdquo;. I basically copied the sound rolls from 1/4\u0026quot; tape to DAT so the dialogue editors who were working on a digital workstation could have the production dialogue in a digital format. That part of the job wasn\u0026rsquo;t fun but sitting behind some FX editors was a blast. I got so excited when I saw how people were making films sound cool. I asked if I could take a stab at a chase scene and I haven\u0026rsquo;t looked back since. I still wake up in the morning excited to go to work and appreciating that I get paid to play!!\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2007/08/hot-rod-pt2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThanks to Sean Garnhart for taking time to do this Q and A.  This is my first New York based interview and I am excited to branch out beyond my Los Angeles confines. The point of this blog is to showcase the talent that we sound editors, mixers, and composers work with and alongside. I again point to awareness and recognition as motivation of why I do this and I hope to continue to include more interviews and info on crews who don\u0026rsquo;t have The Terminator as governor.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"HOT ROD pt2"},{"content":"There have been two great articles on music editorial this past month: The Hollywood Reporter ran a piece on TV and Film Music Editors which can be found HERE and The Editor\u0026rsquo;s Guild is previewing a piece from their current magazine HERE. I am going to do a Q and A in October with the Coen Bros. music editor Todd Kasow for \u0026ldquo;No Country for Old Men.\u0026rdquo; The Cohens always populate their soundtracks with great licensed music and score, so I am excited to hear what they are like to work with! On a related and sadder note, the scoring stage at Todd Radford is closing soon. One of priemere feature scoring stages in LA, it has been around since 1945 and has tracked music for some of the biggest films in Hollywood. Variety ran THIS op/ed piece speculating the impact said closing will have on the biz and community\u0026hellip;.\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2007/08/music-editors-are-people-too/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThere have been two great articles on music editorial this past month:  The Hollywood Reporter ran a piece on TV and Film Music Editors which can be found HERE and The Editor\u0026rsquo;s Guild is previewing a piece from their current magazine HERE.  I am going to do a Q and A in October with the Coen Bros. music editor Todd Kasow for \u0026ldquo;No Country for Old Men.\u0026rdquo;  The Cohens always populate their soundtracks with great licensed music and score, so I am excited to hear what they are like to work with! On a related and sadder note,  the scoring stage at Todd Radford is closing soon. One of priemere feature scoring stages in LA,  it has been around since 1945 and has tracked music for some of the biggest films in Hollywood.  Variety ran THIS op/ed piece speculating the impact said closing will have on the biz and community\u0026hellip;.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"MUSIC EDITORS ARE PEOPLE TOO"},{"content":"Hey all. I wanted take this time to apologize for the lack of postage here lately. I was slammed at work last week and decided to just take a few days off to recoup and front-load the next month of film sound news. During that time though, I ran into a little bit of a slump. It seems it is still a tad difficult to get people in the community turned on to the idea of this blog. I want to reiterate that this thing is here to raise awareness of our craft(s) and celebrate all the hard work and creativity that goes into film soundtracks, period. So hopefully in the next couple months more of the people I try and contact will let me pass over the bridge to continue on my quest for the holy grail, er, on my quest to raise awareness of this thing I love, sound for film. That said, I have secured some fun Q and A\u0026rsquo;s for every week this month and promise to cont. on! Break out the coconuts, we are in for a long ride!\nPeace, Filmsounddaily.com\nLet us celebrate one of my favorite sound jokes\u0026hellip;\nPosted by FILMSOUNDDAILY at [9:33 AM](/2007/08/none-shall-pass/) 2 comments: c.alexander said... Hello, I\u0026rsquo;m a fledgling sound designer/editor in Atlanta and I just wanted you to know that I\u0026rsquo;ve been reading your blog dilligently since I discovered it last month. It\u0026rsquo;s very informative and helpful to me. Keep up the good work!\n[August 29, 2007 10:51 AM](#comment-7112079148553301525) Kelly said... I also find the entries not only entertaining, but inspiring. There\u0026rsquo;s not many outlets for sound designers, engineers, and editors to speak about our craft instead of discussing gear - you do that well here. Nice job.\n[August 30, 2007 11:28 AM](#comment-8423359418144107934) Post a Comment Data preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2007/08/none-shall-pass/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHey all.  I wanted take this time to apologize for the lack of postage here lately.  I was slammed at work last week and decided to just take a few days off to recoup and front-load the next month of film sound news.  During that time though, I ran into a little bit of a slump.  It seems it is still a tad difficult to get people in the community turned on to the idea of this blog.  I want to reiterate that this thing is here to raise awareness of our craft(s) and celebrate all the hard work and creativity that goes into film soundtracks, period.  So hopefully in the next couple months more of the people I try and contact will let me pass over the bridge to continue on my quest for the holy grail, er, on my quest to raise awareness of this thing I love, sound for film.  That said, I have secured some fun Q and A\u0026rsquo;s for every week this month and promise to cont. on! Break out the coconuts, we are in for a long ride!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"NONE SHALL PASS!"},{"content":"I am pretty excited about this Q and A. My first interview with a production mixer, I am happy to finally start to include some of the craftsmen who I, as a part of post-production sound, reap what they sew. Though I only dabble in production sound mixing at an admittedly armature level, I am humbled by the shear amount of obstacles these men and women have to overcome at work. Noise on set is ever increasing and devices like the wind machine in the photo to the right add to the sound dept.\u0026rsquo;s woes. It takes a very courageous man to stand with his back to his nemesis. Production mixer Jeff Wexler laughs at the challenge as he got his photo taken with not only Jackie Chan but in front of one of his biggest fans! Any who, enough of the corn-ball jokes. Hats off to you production mixers and on to the fun!\nFSD: In your 2005 Mix Magazine interview, Maureen Droney asked you if \u0026ldquo;…You like to be involved in pre-production. Is that common for production sound people?” Now, two years later, what has changed with the production\u0026rsquo;s mixers involvement early on?\nJW: I think the situation in regards to pre-production involvement is much the same, possibly with the trend continuing to still be towards less and less involvement before shooting actually begins. I had about 8 days of location scouting on Rush Hour 3 in and around our Los Angeles locations, and this was very helpful. I did get the chance for a little bit of pre-production scouting in Paris but it was minimal. I still feel that it is very helpful for everyone on the production to be included in these tech scouts and the smart directors and producers usually demand it (even in the face of some of the production supervisors and production managers feeling it is a waste of money).\nFSD: Although your presence may differ on set to that of a greener mixer’s, how is the sound dept. treated during production?\nJW: For me and my crew, at this point in our careers we are treated with a good deal of respect and the respect and attention that the guardians of the soundtrack deserve. Again, those who have had the experience, particularly in those instances where they have had the experience of working with me, there is a clear understanding of the value, to the project, of holding the production sound team in high regard. There are times when someone on the set says something like \u0026ldquo;this place sound awful, Jeff\u0026rsquo;s not going to like this!\u0026rdquo; and I have to say, as nicely as possible, that if I don\u0026rsquo;t like it you have to be sure there are others far more important than me who also are not going to like it (the actors who may have to needlessly ADR a scene, the director who is going to have to get a good performance TWICE and probably 4 months apart, and of course the producer who is going to have to pay for it all).\nIt is a wonderful thing when the production sound department is treated properly and with respect, and this is something that can happen even with less experienced crews including the sound crew. I might add that even the weight of 35 years of experience, really outstanding work and several awards and nominations, does not insure decent treatment of the sound department.\nFSD: As an assistant sound editor, production mixers are sometimes scapegoats in the post world. I feel that a lack of communication between prod. sound and post is the root of this evil.\nJW: I think it goes much deeper than this. It is true that there is less and less communication between the production sound crew and the post sound crew in today\u0026rsquo;s world, but this is also true to a certain extent of ALL production crews, not just sound. For many reasons (and I won\u0026rsquo;t take the time to give an extensive analysis) there has been a trend towards a disconnect between those working in production and those working in post. This is in some ways even a conceptual disconnect. As we have moved more and more into the digital age, the old adage \u0026ldquo;we\u0026rsquo;ll mix it in the mix\u0026rdquo; is being applied to more and more departments, most notably the camera department. Not to denigrate the tremendous advancements that have been made with the tools that are available, not only to \u0026ldquo;fix\u0026rdquo; things but to actually create things never seen before (e.g. “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy), the byproduct of this has seen a big change in the work that is done in production. Along with this there is the increasing departmentalization of the whole process. In the past when there actually was a lot of good communication amongst the production sound crews, picture and sound editorial and so forth, this communication was not as important as it is now. Today, with so many variables, real world problems on the set, technical issues with multiple ways to record sound, the lack of communication can have serious consequences. There is also the fact that with so many new people coming into our industry there are fewer and fewer people who have been doing the job long enough to know \u0026ldquo;how we used to do it\u0026rdquo;. They get caught up in the current trends of practices and procedures without a fundamental knowledge of how we got here. You would be very surprised the number of people in sound editorial whose only connection with production sound recording is that they have heard a lot of production sound tracks. This fact also applies to the production sound crews, many of whom have almost no idea what happens with their tracks after they turn them in at the end of the day.\nThis disconnect has not always been the case. When I was starting out, production sound mixers would often meet regularly with post people, usually picture editors first and then sound editors, and after a few years of working with the same people you had a definite sense of community and no one would grandstand (or backstab) anyone who was part of the team (and the team was ALL of us, the production sound crew, the director, the picture editor, the sound editor and the re-recording mixers).\nFSD: How much do you keep in touch with post?\nJW: I am usually the first person who is calling for a meeting in PRE-production so we can talk early about what we think we\u0026rsquo;re all going to be doing. It has been vital for me, certainly at specific times during the last 20 years, to have these meetings because I embarked on doing things differently in production and needed the support of those in post. I was one of the first to use a stereo 2-track Nagra and so I had to go into the transfer facility and help them gear up for making transfers off 2 track 1/4\u0026rdquo; tape with center track sync, something almost no one else was doing. I was the first to introduce DAT to production sound recording when it was a format that few had any familiarity with. Both of those things were fairly simple but the last one was a biggie: file based multitrack recording (I was the first to do this also on the west coast with the first Deva I). Now that non-linear file based production recording is firmly established, there are many issues with post that require extensive communication (with so many variables on both sides, production and post) at a time when this vital communication is going away.\nFSD: What can we do as a community to insure that the two depts. (prod. and post) work together to insure the integrity of the production sound?\nJW: I don\u0026rsquo;t know the answer to this. I do know that the power resides more within the post crews \u0026mdash; if picture editors and sound editors could be more involved in the beginning, some of the disasters that are common in production could be avoided. Sadly, often the picture editor, and usually the sound editor, are not on the movie before we start shooting.\nFSD: I have heard you comment once on how the role of a production mixer is getting more and more diverse; while on set, you as mixers have less time to focus on the track. Is there anything that can remedy this?\nJW: Well, I don\u0026rsquo;t remember exactly what context I made that statement. I do know that as many of the other departments, starting with Locations, do less and less of the things that help the sound crew have a fighting chance at success, we have had to be very diligent in many areas that are NOT sitting behind the sound cart. These efforts are, however, fundamental in our primary \u0026ldquo;focus on the track\u0026rdquo; \u0026mdash; without these efforts there will be no track worth recording.\nFSD: Who dictates microphone set-ups on set?\nJW: The SHOT and the SCENE dictate the microphone set up. With Don and me this is almost always quite obvious. Don Coufal (my boom operator) and I have been working together for 30 years and we have done about 60 movies \u0026mdash; there is little discussion of how to approach a scene and we rarely, if ever have a disagreement on how to do a scene. The two of us together have obviously made a lot of the right decisions, many, many times on lots of movies, so neither of us is about to change our process.\nFSD: What motivates you as mixers to use lavs or booms or multiple mic set-ups? (I know this is a very broad question, so just let me know if it is too much to answer)\nJW: It is a broad subject but it does bring up the primary and fundamental decision we have to make when approaching how to do a scene. The choice, microphones on the actors, boom mic, multi-track or not, will be different, even for the same scene, amongst different sound mixers \u0026mdash; there is a lot of variability amongst us even with regards to what constitutes good sound. Much of the technique these days will be dictated by the project and the overall style of shooting. The best example of this is what episodic television has become: put a mic on anyone that might talk and put them on their own track. Most sound mixers who have settled in to the television world, even if they may have different ideas personally, will be required to work this way. I might add that the byproduct of this approach, at least for me personally, is that almost ALL television shows sound horrible these days. Maybe it\u0026rsquo;s just me.\nFSD: “Rush Hour 3” marks your first gig with Brett Ratner. How is he to work with?\nJW: Brett has a reputation for being difficult to work with and little patience for technical problems \u0026mdash; he just wants it to be good and doesn\u0026rsquo;t want to wait for anything. Brett was surprisingly (at least I was surprised) good to the sound crew \u0026mdash; I think he fundamentally understands the value of production sound, on the day, particularly for a comedy. Even when I thought he might not be paying attention to some of the things on the set that he should be paying attention to, he was always very aware of what we were doing and what it sounded like. I also think he was pleased with the way our crew works \u0026mdash; we never came to him with a problem without also having a clear and workable solution in hand, even if sometimes the solution was something he did not want to implement. Overall, Brett was really good to work with and I think we did a reasonably good job on the movie.\nFSD: Who has been your favorite director to work for?\nJW: Hal Ashby, hands down, number one. Cameron Crowe is a very, very close second (and Hal is no longer with us as you know, so maybe Cameron is number one). Interesting side note: I think Brett Ratner hired me in part because I had worked so much with Hal Ashby \u0026mdash; Brett has stated publicly that Hal was one of his favorite directors.\nFSD: What was your first gig like?\nJW: My first gig in the Sound Department? Well, that would be \u0026ldquo;Cool Breeze\u0026rdquo; a non-union low budget black exploitation film in 1970. I had never done sound before. I showed up for the job interview (with the producer, Gene Corman \u0026mdash; Roger\u0026rsquo;s brother) and said I was a Sound Mixer. I guess on the strength of my last name, Wexler, Gene thought I was telling the truth and probably knew what I was doing. Also, in those days, producers like Corman were pleased to just get someone who was willing to show up with some equipment and work unlimited hours for 3 weeks for $400.00/week. \u0026ldquo;Cool Breeze\u0026rdquo; was also the first movie for Andy Davis(who was a cameraman at the time, later to direct \u0026ldquo;The Fugitive\u0026rdquo;, \u0026ldquo;Under Siege\u0026rdquo;, etc.) and Tak Fujimoto (who went on to shoot many movies for Jonathan Demme and others).\nI knew that I didn\u0026rsquo;t know what I was doing but having been on the set all my life, I knew what I was supposed to LOOK like I was doing (and of course, the movie set was very familiar territory for me). At Andy\u0026rsquo;s suggestion I hired a very old friend of his from Chicago to come out to L.A. and work as my boom operator. This was Tom Holman(Tomlinson Holman who later worked for George Lucas developing the THX specification for theaters) who was a schoolteacher at the University of Illinois. So, we started the job and although Tom was not a terribly good boom operator he was a terrific teacher \u0026mdash; everyday of shooting I would learn a little more about how to record sound (\u0026ldquo;Hey, Tom, on the Nagra what does this switch do?\u0026rdquo;). We got through the movie okay, they were pleased with what we did (and it was truly awful) and Tom went back to teaching and I went on to mix another movie, and another, and another.\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2007/08/rush-hour-3-pt2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI am pretty excited about this Q and A. My first interview with a production mixer, I am happy to finally start to include some of the craftsmen who I, as a part of post-production sound, reap what they sew. Though I only dabble in production sound mixing at an admittedly armature level, I am humbled by the shear amount of obstacles these men and women have to overcome at work.  Noise on set is ever increasing and devices like the wind machine in the photo to the right add to the sound dept.\u0026rsquo;s woes.  It takes a very courageous man to stand with his back to his nemesis. Production mixer Jeff Wexler laughs at the challenge as he got his photo taken with not only Jackie Chan but in front of one of his biggest fans!  Any who, enough of the corn-ball jokes. Hats off to you production mixers and on to the fun!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"RUSH HOUR 3 pt2"},{"content":"Jason Bourne breaks back into theaters August 3rd. Helping to sell all the close-quarter sounds are sound supervisors Karen Baker Landers and Per Hallberg. The film was mixed at Todd-AO WEST in Gary Summers, David Parker, Bob Beemer, and Scott Milan\u0026rsquo;s dub stage. production mixer Krik Francis shot the location dialog while composer John Powell scored the film at Abbey Road. Sorry for the brief entry on this film but you can get your film sound fix with the recently published Mix Magazine article HERE. There is great coverage on the LA based foley stage \u0026ldquo;One Step Up\u0026rdquo; which foley artist Dan O\u0026rsquo;Connell(brother of mixer Kevin O\u0026rsquo;Connell) shoots feet and props on some pretty big films\u0026hellip;\n\u0026ldquo;O\u0026rsquo;Connell says that when possible, they\u0026rsquo;ll try to match the feeling of existing production tracks: “If we can fall into that area sonically, it helps the dubbing mixers in the long run because if they have to match something we\u0026rsquo;re doing into a scene that exists, it\u0026rsquo;s an easier time for them.” Adds Baker Landers, “The art of great Foley is that it sounds like it was recorded on the day [the visuals were shot].”\u0026ndash;****Mix Magazine Aug 2007\nTODD-AO STAGE 2\nSUPERVISING SOUND EDITOR: Karen Baker Landers\nSUPERVISING SOUND EDITOR: Per Hallberg\nRE-RECORDING MIXER: Scott Millan\nRE-RECORDING MIXER: David Parker\nRE-RECORDING MIXER: Gary Summers\nRE-RECORDING MIXER: Bob Beemer\nPRODUCTION SOUND MIXER: Krik Francis\nABBEY ROAD\nCOMPOSER: John Powell\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2007/08/bourne-ulitimatium/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eJason Bourne breaks back into theaters August 3rd.  Helping to sell all the close-quarter sounds are sound supervisors Karen Baker Landers and Per Hallberg.  The film was mixed at Todd-AO WEST in Gary Summers,  David Parker, Bob Beemer, and Scott Milan\u0026rsquo;s dub stage. production mixer Krik Francis shot the location dialog while composer John Powell scored the film at Abbey Road.  Sorry for the brief entry on this film but you can get your film sound fix  with the recently published Mix Magazine article HERE. There is great coverage on the LA based foley stage \u0026ldquo;One Step Up\u0026rdquo; which foley artist Dan O\u0026rsquo;Connell(brother of mixer \u003ca href=\"/2007/07/transformers_02/\"\u003eKevin O\u0026rsquo;Connell)\u003c/a\u003e shoots feet and props on some pretty big films\u0026hellip;\u003c/p\u003e","title":"THE BOURNE ULITIMATIUM"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;The Invasion\u0026rdquo; touches down in theaters August 17th. Sound supervisor Richard Yawn handled the editorial. He supervised last year\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;Dreamgirls,\u0026rdquo; his second film with Director Bill Condon, (\u0026ldquo;Kinsey\u0026rdquo; was the first). Sound designer Bryan Watkins helped with the aural scare telegraphing on the film. Bryan heads up Gametracks, a game-sound sister company to Dane Davis\u0026rsquo;s LA based Danetracks, Inc. Long-time mix partners Gregg Rudloff and John T. Reitz mixed the show over at Warner Bros stage ten. The duo won the best Sound Oscar for their work on \u0026ldquo;The Matrix\u0026rdquo; with their recently retired third mixer David Cambell. Rounding the mix team out on \u0026ldquo;The Invasion\u0026rdquo; was Michael Herbick. Herbick, has been nominated five times for the best Sound Oscar including twice in 1995 for \u0026ldquo;Clear and Present Danger\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;Shawshank Redemption\u0026rdquo;. Mixers David Kelson and Mary H Ellis headed up the production sound dept. I read there was extensive re-shoots on the film so I believe each of the mixers represented the two different filming schedules. Both established mixers, Kelson is hot off this fall\u0026rsquo;s Owen Wilson led comedy \u0026ldquo;Drillbit Taylor\u0026rdquo; while Ellis helped the dirty south sound nastier in last year\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;ATL\u0026rdquo;. Fresh off this summer\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;Fantastic Four 2,\u0026rdquo; John Ottman composed for the film. There is a great little feature over at Soundtrack.Net on the scoring session.\nCHECK BACK THIS WEEK FOR A Q AND A WITH SOUND SUPERVISOR RICHARD YAWN AND SOUND DESIGNER BRYAN WATKINS!\nWARNER BROS DUB STAGE 10\nSUPERVISING SOUND EDITOR: Richard Yawn\nSOUND DESIGNER: Bryan Watkins\nRE-RECORDING MIXER: John T. Reitz\nRE-RECORDING MIXER: Gregg Rudloff\nRE-RECORDING MIXER: Michael Herbick\nPRODUCTION SOUND MIXER: David Kelson\nPRODUCTION SOUND MIXER: Mary H Ellis\nWB SCORING STAGE\nCOMPOSER: John Ottman\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2007/08/invasion/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;The Invasion\u0026rdquo; touches down in theaters August 17th. Sound supervisor Richard Yawn handled the editorial. He supervised last year\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;Dreamgirls,\u0026rdquo; his second film with Director Bill Condon, (\u0026ldquo;Kinsey\u0026rdquo; was the first). Sound designer Bryan Watkins helped with the aural scare telegraphing on the film. Bryan heads up Gametracks, a game-sound sister company to Dane Davis\u0026rsquo;s LA based Danetracks, Inc. Long-time mix partners Gregg Rudloff and John T. Reitz mixed the show over at Warner Bros stage ten.  The duo won the best Sound Oscar for their work on \u0026ldquo;The Matrix\u0026rdquo; with their recently retired third mixer David Cambell. Rounding the mix team out on \u0026ldquo;The Invasion\u0026rdquo; was Michael Herbick.  Herbick, has been nominated five times for the best Sound Oscar including twice in 1995 for \u0026ldquo;Clear and Present Danger\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;Shawshank Redemption\u0026rdquo;.  Mixers David Kelson and Mary H Ellis headed up the production sound dept. I read there was extensive re-shoots on the film so I believe each of the mixers represented the two different filming schedules. Both established mixers, Kelson is hot off this fall\u0026rsquo;s Owen Wilson led comedy \u0026ldquo;Drillbit Taylor\u0026rdquo; while Ellis helped the dirty south sound nastier in last year\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;ATL\u0026rdquo;.   Fresh off this summer\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;Fantastic Four 2,\u0026rdquo;  John Ottman composed for the film. There is a great little feature over at Soundtrack.Net on the scoring session.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"THE INVASION"},{"content":"\u0026quot; The King of Kong: A Fist Full of Quarters\u0026quot; is a great documentary. It opens limited this weekend and expanses to a few more cities on the 24th. I wish I was going to the premiere tonight because, at the location of the after party while the audience is the theater watching the film Steve Wiebe is going to try to beat the world record for Donkey Kong. So best-case scenario when the after party starts, there will be a \u0026ldquo;kill screen\u0026rdquo; on the Steve\u0026rsquo;s machine and new high score for the record books! Thanks to sound editor/re-recording mixer Nathan Smith for doing this Q and A\u0026hellip;\nFSD: Though documentaries differ from narrative features in terms of sound, a great dialog mix still helps the audience invest in the story. What was the quality of the dialog on this show upon turnover? How was it handled during the mix?\nNS: On this show, the dialog was in fairly decent shape upon turnover. There were some typical problems, but nothing I couldn\u0026rsquo;t work with. Most of the dialog was recorded indoors, so there wasn\u0026rsquo;t much wind distortion, traffic or airplane sounds. Of course, a lot of dialog in “King of Kong” was recorded in arcades, which not only have ambient game noises but also background music. So one of my challenges was to extract the music whenever possible.\nI can\u0026rsquo;t recall if there was a production mixer on the show, since there was 600 hours of footage captured by the director and producers. But overall, they did a good job on the dialog recording which is not always the case with documentaries.\nWhile mixing this film, I spent the bulk of my time ensuring that the dialog was of top quality. There is really no ADR option in documentaries, so you have to work with what you have. At NL3 Audio we have a Cedar Cambridge at our disposal, which is really indispensable when it comes to dialog cleanup and restoration. Sometimes you can cover up the flaws in a dialog track when doing a stereo mix, but for a theater release like this one the dialog track has to be particularly clean since it is destined for that center channel.\nFSD: How does your mix room translate to the theaters? Do you have to compensate for mixing in a smaller room?\nNS: At NL3, we first mix our films in a controlled near field 5.1 environment. This saves time and money, since we only have to do fine-tuning once we finish things up in a bigger mixing stage. Dolby will not certify mixes on near field stages, so you have to go to a bigger mixing stage regardless. On “King of Kong,” my initial mix was so good that I only had to adjust one fader move on the mix stage.\nThe technology has really come a long way in allowing near field mix rooms to be on par with the big theatre-sized mix stages. Plus, a documentary is ideal for this situation since it does not have explosions, heavy low end, or panning \u0026ndash; all of which are better handled on big stages.\nFSD: Obviously, the doc revolves around video games, with Donkey Kong as its centerpiece. How much of the original sound FX and music from the game did you get to cut into the film?\nNS: Unfortunately, for copyright reasons I wasn\u0026rsquo;t able to use any custom recorded sounds from the actual Donkey Kong game. But I was able to use sound from the footage recorded during production. So in a pinch I would take B-roll footage, clean it up, and incorporate key sounds where necessary. So when you watch the film, be assured that all the Donkey Kong sounds are from the original game.\nFor strictly research purposes, I spent many hours playing Donkey Kong on the studio\u0026rsquo;s arcade machine. This really helped me absorb the audio environment and style of the game. Never reached the kill screen, though.\nFSD: Still frames play such an important role in documentaries with sound effects and music helping the narrative process along. What are your views on the role sound plays in documentaries?\nNS: Sound is obviously very important in documentaries, but it has to complement and not overwhelm the picture. I try to avoid the big whooshes and other effects. Instead, I put most of my focus on creating a crisp and coherent dialog track, because it is crucial that the audience understand and enjoy the story.\nOn King of Kong, you must also put a lot of time into making the simplest effects sound right. The sound of Kong jumping at the start of the game, the sound you hear when your character dies, these are unique and identifiable sounds that cannot be faked. There were squabbles in the mix room to make sure the sounds were right, because a lot of Kong fans are going to be seeing this film and they will know if the game doesn\u0026rsquo;t sound right.\nFSD: Do you think sound\u0026rsquo;s role has changed during the documentary boom in the last decade\u0026hellip;?\nNS: The use of new tools has definitely made it possible to have a better sounding film. But the real boom in documentaries is that the stories themselves have improved, become more engaging and original, and sound has been an integral part of conveying these great stories to audiences. As filmmakers use bolder techniques in their documentaries, sound designers get more leeway in creating an ambitious aural environment.\nFSD: What was your first gig like?\nNS: When I started NL3 Audio, I was doing the sound for short films and video games to build up credits and develop contacts. My first big gig was “The Incredibles” video game, where I was paid as a subcontractor but basically did all the sound. I learned two things from that experience. First, I would not do subcontract work again. You don\u0026rsquo;t have a lot of control, you aren\u0026rsquo;t paid very well, and quality suffers because you aren\u0026rsquo;t always working directly with the main producers. Second, I learned a lot about creating a total audio environment from scratch, something that has served me well as I\u0026rsquo;ve moved into feature film work. Whether I\u0026rsquo;m working on an animated feature like Terra, where I have to create an entire universe of sounds, or a video-game inspired documentary like “King of Kong,” having that gaming experience has been indispensable.\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2007/08/king-of-kong-pt2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u0026quot; The King of Kong: A Fist Full of Quarters\u0026quot; is a great documentary. It opens limited this weekend and expanses to a few more cities on the 24th. I wish I was going to the premiere tonight because, at the location of the after party while the audience is the theater watching the film Steve Wiebe is going to try to beat the world record for Donkey Kong.   So best-case scenario when the after party starts, there will be a \u0026ldquo;kill screen\u0026rdquo; on the Steve\u0026rsquo;s machine and new high score for the record books! Thanks to sound editor/re-recording mixer Nathan Smith for doing this Q and A\u0026hellip;\u003c/p\u003e","title":"THE KING OF KONG pt2"},{"content":"Today CHUD.COM found youtube footage of a concert composer Alan Silvestri conducted with the Corporación Radiotelevisión Española (RTVE) Orchestra. In addition to performing Silvestri composed themes from films like \u0026ldquo;Forest Gump\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;Back to the Future\u0026rdquo;, he and the RTVE previewed passages from this fall\u0026rsquo;s animated epic, \u0026ldquo;Beowulf\u0026rdquo;. Though not great in quality, it is cool to find video of this so early! You can find part two of the preview HERE.\nPosted by FILMSOUNDDAILY at [7:16 PM](/2007/07/beowulf-score-preview/) 0 comments: Post a Comment Data preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2007/07/beowulf-score-preview/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eToday CHUD.COM found youtube footage of a concert composer Alan Silvestri conducted with the Corporación Radiotelevisión Española (RTVE) Orchestra. In addition to performing Silvestri composed themes from films like \u0026ldquo;Forest Gump\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;Back to the Future\u0026rdquo;, he and the RTVE previewed passages from this fall\u0026rsquo;s animated epic, \u0026ldquo;Beowulf\u0026rdquo;.  Though not great in quality, it is cool to find video of this so early! You can find part two of the preview HERE.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"BEOWULF SCORE PREVIEW"},{"content":"Here is a little video interview with Re-Recording Mixer Gary Rizzo about his work on \u0026ldquo;Sicko\u0026rdquo;. Rizzo mixed Michael Moore\u0026rsquo;s Last film \u0026ldquo;Fahrenheit 9/11\u0026rdquo;, too.\nMixonline.com\nPosted by FILMSOUNDDAILY at [11:23 AM](/2007/07/gary-rizzo-video-interview/) 0 comments: Post a Comment [Newer Post](/2007/07/simpsons/) [Older Post](/2007/07/i-now-pronounce-you-chuck-and-larry-pt2/) [Home](/) Subscribe to:\n[Post Comments (Atom)](http://filmsounddaily.blogspot.com/feeds/5176968681221582591/comments/default) Data preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2007/07/gary-rizzo-video-interview/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHere is a little video interview with Re-Recording Mixer Gary Rizzo about his work on \u0026ldquo;Sicko\u0026rdquo;.  Rizzo mixed Michael Moore\u0026rsquo;s Last film \u0026ldquo;Fahrenheit 9/11\u0026rdquo;,   too.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMixonline.com\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cpre\u003e\u003ccode\u003e      Posted by\n      FILMSOUNDDAILY\n\n\n\n\n\n      at\n\n      [11:23 AM](/2007/07/gary-rizzo-video-interview/)\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003e\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cpre\u003e\u003ccode\u003e      0 comments:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n    Post a Comment\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n  [Newer Post](/2007/07/simpsons/)\n\n\n\n\n\n  [Older Post](/2007/07/i-now-pronounce-you-chuck-and-larry-pt2/)\n\n\n\n\n  [Home](/)\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSubscribe to:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cpre\u003e\u003ccode\u003e [Post Comments (Atom)](http://filmsounddaily.blogspot.com/feeds/5176968681221582591/comments/default)\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eData preservation for the cinematography community.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"GARY RIZZO VIDEO INTERVIEW"},{"content":"\u0026quot; Harry Potter and the Order if the Phoenix\u0026quot; materializes into theaters July 11th. Helping to make all those spells sound \u0026ldquo;wicked\u0026rdquo; is sound supervisor James Mather. This the fifth Potter flick is Mather\u0026rsquo;s first venture into Hogwarts. Joining an alumni that includes Randy Thom and David Evans, Mather enters a great pedigree of Muggle free sound soups. Sound designers James Boyle and Andy Kennedy join along in the editorial rebellion both of which worked on \u0026ldquo;Batman Begins\u0026rdquo; my favorite of the franchise. Mixing took place in London at De Lane Lea\u0026rsquo;s Soho post production facilities, with Re-recording mixers Doug Cooper, Mark Taylor, and Mike Prestwood Smith. The trio comes off a big last year with their work on \u0026ldquo;Casino Royale\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;Children of Men\u0026rdquo;. Production sound\u0026rsquo;s spell was cast by Stuart Wilson, his first Potter film as well. Wilson shot production on another film I am really excited to see later this year, \u0026ldquo;Eastern Promises\u0026rdquo;. Composer Nicholas Hooper handled scoring duties. Another Potter \u0026ldquo;first year\u0026rdquo;, Hooper is the third composer to helm a film in the series. A great little preview of the soundtrack can be heard HERE.\nCHECK BACK LATER THIS WEEK FOR A Q AND A WITH SOUND DESIGNER ANDY KENNEDY!\nDE LANE LEA STUDIO 1\nSUPERVISING SOUND EDITOR: James Mather\nSOUND DESIGNER: James Boyle\nSOUND DESIGNER: Andy Kennedy\nRE-RECORDING MIXER: Doug Cooper\nRE-RECORDING MIXER: Mark Taylor\nRE-RECORDING MIXER: Mike Prestwood Smith\nPRODUCTION SOUND MIXER: Stuart Wilson\nABBEY ROAD\nCOMPOSER: Nicholas Hooper\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2007/07/harry-potter-order-of-phoenix/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u0026quot; Harry Potter and the Order if the Phoenix\u0026quot; materializes into theaters July 11th. Helping to make all those spells sound \u0026ldquo;wicked\u0026rdquo; is sound supervisor James Mather.  This the fifth Potter flick is Mather\u0026rsquo;s first venture into Hogwarts.  Joining an alumni that includes Randy Thom and David Evans, Mather enters a great pedigree of Muggle free sound soups. Sound designers James Boyle and Andy Kennedy join along in the editorial rebellion both of which worked on \u0026ldquo;Batman Begins\u0026rdquo; my favorite of the franchise. Mixing took place in London at De Lane Lea\u0026rsquo;s Soho post production facilities, with Re-recording mixers Doug Cooper, Mark Taylor, and Mike Prestwood Smith.  The trio comes off a big last year with their work on \u0026ldquo;Casino Royale\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;Children of Men\u0026rdquo;.  Production sound\u0026rsquo;s spell was cast by Stuart Wilson, his first Potter film as well. Wilson shot production on another film I am really excited to see later this year, \u0026ldquo;Eastern Promises\u0026rdquo;.  Composer Nicholas Hooper handled scoring duties.   Another Potter \u0026ldquo;first year\u0026rdquo;,  Hooper is the third composer to helm a film in the series.   A great little preview of the soundtrack can be heard HERE.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX"},{"content":"I have been getting a lot of comments recently about the inclusion of \u0026ldquo;sound designers\u0026rdquo; in my posts. Initially I decided to only include the supervisors, mixers, and composers because it was relatively easy to consistently find info on those craftsmen for every film. As momentum and interest has grown for the blog , I am going to be more mindful about posting about designers, too. Their role is important. Still, I am more then aware there are countless others that I still don\u0026rsquo;t include who are paramount to a soundtrack\u0026rsquo;s quality. I will eventually be able to include more info on their specific disciplines and I wanted to thank all of them for the hard work and dedication that has made my day job possible! With that said, on to the fun! I just wanted to thank Sound Designer Andy Kennedy for this brief Q and A! I know he must feel like he\u0026rsquo;s working in \u0026ldquo;the stone age\u0026rdquo; currently, so I appreciate his time.\nFSD: So first off, what stage did the movie final in @ De Lane Lea?\nAK: The Mix schedule for \u0026lsquo;Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix\u0026rsquo; took place at studio one at De Lane Lea London. Pre-dubbing from the end of march till mid April and the Final mix over four weeks from mid April till 13th \u0026lsquo;ish of May 2007. The foreign versions (27) continued right through June. A generous schedule even by blockbuster standards.\nFSD: As sound designer on the film, what were your duties?\nAK: I started on the picture September 18th 2006 at the Leavesden Studios were all the Potter films have been filmed - most of the big key scenes for the end of the movie still had not been shot at this stage and I started working on early animatics and previs sequences. James Mather the supervising sound editor thought I would be a good choice for sound designer as I have worked on the previous 3 \u0026lsquo;Potter\u0026rsquo; movies on effects. This was an opportunity for an all british sound crew to rise to the challenge. Aside from the first film - Harry Potter II, III, IV Have always been headed by American supervisors and designers. David Yates the director had only made one previous feature film and his other work was mainly in television, so I guess he felt more comfortable dealing with James and myself ! He proved to be a discerning director with clear views on how the movie should sound. James and I tried to get as many recordings as possible - I nearly got blown up during a fireworks recording session with special \u0026lsquo;attempts\u0026rsquo; department that went a bit astray - We also recorded Glass bowls shattering for a scene that had yet to be shot and existed in only previs form. 2nd Unit effects shoots were recorded extensively - A Tesla machine and high powered hoses were recorded during a visual effects session and Impulse responses from the sets were collected. I worked on designs for the fireworks or Thestrals which we could get the director to check on in the evening after shooting finished for the day or I would fold down 5.1 sounds to stereo mixes for Mark Day the editor to include in his assemble cut for David to listen too during editing. This soundtrack evolved over quiet a while and David Yates made time in his busy schedule to be involved in the audio process all the way.\nFSD: With more and more spell casting in these films, what motivates the sound design?\nAK: Before we moved to De Lane Lea in Soho, London in November we did a mini mix for the head of Warner Brothers when he visited the studio at Levesden. I had to \u0026rsquo;temp\u0026rsquo; up some wand effects for the scene where harry \u0026rsquo;teaches\u0026rsquo; other students defensive spells. This proved invaluable in getting a sense of what David \u0026lsquo;didn\u0026rsquo;t\u0026rsquo; like. He had a problem with explosive or dynamic elements and wanted to use \u0026rsquo;natural\u0026rsquo; sounds (the term organic was used but I really don\u0026rsquo;t like it!) He wanted to turn down the Thunderous elements in favor of warped water and feed back blips with a touch of airy whoosh. I did try to create a wand language based on familiar styles of sounds from the other movies, but if the director wants you to make an original sounds with no bearing on what\u0026rsquo;s gone before you have to follow his lead! Alfonso Cuaron on HP III had the same desire to have wands sounds completely different to the other two films and got a very individual soundtrack. The kids spells during Harry\u0026rsquo;s classes start with Neville making a blunder of his spell and the wand spins and vanishes into the mirrored wall - This change very little from my first layout but essentially it had a comic firework feel about it but the rest of the spells within this section went through many forms. The warped water I made on my old Synclavier and the feedback wumpfs, built by James Boyle my co-sound designer, for the adult wands during the dual in the atrium. I felt there should be a sonic connection between the two scenes even if it\u0026rsquo;s subtle one. The airy whooshes came from light steam jets phased with a couple of other sweeteners added or deducted during the final mix dependent on completed visuals.\nFSD: What was your favorite sound design moment in the film?\nThe room of requirement door forming was a glutinous - rocky - wooden - metal morph combo. It was more abstract on our temp version but in the end David preferred a quieter and more natural sound so we added Foley dust grains and metal to fit the CG image and favored the \u0026lsquo;real\u0026rsquo; elements more. Grimmuld Place was also fun but I think the sub-harmonic element got a bit overdone. I also really liked the effects James Boyle designed in the wand battle with Dumbledor and Voldermort. A very cool power suck to a pin head of silence and blast back wumpf which shatters all the windows of the ministry. This sequence was outstanding and the only section in the movie without music so it gave a chance to let the sound effects rip.\nFSD: Many different crews and directors have worked on these films. Is consistency an issue? What established sounds did you guys have to use and what sounds were due for an update?\nEach of the Potter films retreads familiar sonic themes, fortunately this one didn\u0026rsquo;t have the proverbial Quidditch match which incidentally we have always used the sound designs from HP I made by Martin Cantwell for the Snitch, Qwaffles and Bludgers. Broom sounds have been a common reacquiring sound effect and I think each time we try NOT to make them sound like jets but under the barrage of complex orchestral music they color up like A10 fighter jets. Randy Thom established the Pheonix sound in HP II and it makes a brief fleeting appearance in HP V and the producers were keen to reprise this sound. Richard Beggs created a tonal bell sound for the \u0026lsquo;Lumos\u0026rsquo; constant illumination from the wands in HP III. I took this and \u0026lsquo;Pure Pitched\u0026rsquo; it down so it did interesting things against the slow\u0026rsquo;d Glass Harmonica / Water-phone background sounds in the Hall of prophecy.\nFSD: Have you ever worked in the States? Are there any differences in work-flow or technique from across the pond?\nI haven\u0026rsquo;t worked in the united states - It\u0026rsquo;s difficult for us Europeans to work on a movie in the US without a green card or union ticket! Although I have had the privilege of working with excellent technicians from the US on movies over here. Randy Thom and Dennis Leonard came here to do HP II and IV and we had a fantastic time on both movies. We proudly won an MPSE award for \u0026lsquo;The Goblet of fire\u0026rsquo; for Best Sound Editing in Feature Film: Foreign. Nearly all the sound designers/fx editors are working 5.1 over here. I\u0026rsquo;ve been plying my trade this way since working with Randy and Dennis on \u0026lsquo;Chamber of Secrets\u0026rsquo; and developed a common Busing I-O within pro-tools with other sound crews in the UK over the 5 years since. So when I did \u0026lsquo;Goblet of fire\u0026rsquo; again with Randy and Dennis, the technique had developed were it was possible to keep every piece of automation on the effects from temp to final mix using the \u0026lsquo;virtual\u0026rsquo; method. Mike Prestwood Smith has refined the technique for dialog premixes \u0026lsquo;in the box\u0026rsquo; and works from his home \u0026lsquo;Liondubbs studio\u0026rsquo; in Somerset and has pre-dubbed some great films this way (\u0026lsquo;Flight 93 - Constant Gardener - Casino Royal and of course Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix\u0026rsquo;) James Mather and myself with Mike and Mark Taylor our effects mixer, decided to go for a total virtual mixing method for the film before our first temp. So from the start in post and during the mixing all parts of the soundtrack were kept virtual: Production dialogue with ADR - Crowd - Backgrounds with foley and sound design and hard effects where then played back from five pro tools rigs. Three D commands and two command 8\u0026rsquo;s were used for internal balancing within pro tools during the mix - The VCA faders in the pro tools 7.2 software provided overall bus output control which made it conformable during changes for visual effects and re-cuts during mixing. We were completely flexible during the whole editing, design and final mix process and we never conformed any \u0026lsquo;stems\u0026rsquo; because there weren\u0026rsquo;t any! So I am proud to say our team of audio wizards produced a fantastic end result and at the cutting edge of muggle technology.\nFSD: When I go see movies like these I get so excited about working in sound. I love hearing all the unique and interesting work the crews cook up. What excites you about your job?\nI have always thought I was lucky to be doing a job that I enjoy - So many people in this world just work to earn the money to live and loath the daily grind of a regular job that they hate. Sometimes in our line of work, we moan and groan about this \u0026lsquo;budget\u0026rsquo; and that \u0026rsquo;time-frame\u0026rsquo; but, some how in the end we get the job done and strive for excellence and satisfaction in our craft. Occasionally we receive recognition for the late nights and long hours in the form of trophies or awards - None the less I am always amazed at mixes, how producers and directors suddenly become experts in sound and rarely appreciate the guidance or advice of the people in the room who do this all day, year in, year out. It makes me laugh when we get notes like: \u0026lsquo;make the door louder at 320ft\u0026rsquo; at he first temp mix and at the review we get: at \u0026lsquo;320ft make the door quieter so we can hear the dialouge line\u0026rsquo; but I suppose it\u0026rsquo;s now part of the course to be able to change everything at a whim or a even the click of a mouse. On a final note I would like to thank the whole sound team on \u0026lsquo;Harry Potter and the order of the Pheonix\u0026rsquo; for being wonderful people work with and making the whole creative experience so pleasurable.\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2007/07/harry-potter-and-order-of-phoenix-pt2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI have been getting a lot of comments recently about the inclusion of \u0026ldquo;sound designers\u0026rdquo; in my posts.  Initially I decided to only include the supervisors, mixers, and composers because it was relatively easy to consistently find info on those craftsmen for every film.  As momentum and interest has grown for the blog , I am going to be more mindful about posting about designers, too. Their role is important. Still, I am more then aware there are countless others that I still don\u0026rsquo;t include who are paramount to a soundtrack\u0026rsquo;s quality.  I will eventually be able to include more info on their specific disciplines and I wanted to thank all of them for the hard work and dedication that has made my day job possible! With that said, on to the fun! I just wanted to thank Sound Designer Andy Kennedy for this brief Q and A!  I know he must feel like he\u0026rsquo;s working in \u0026ldquo;the stone age\u0026rdquo; currently, so I appreciate his time.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX pt:2"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;Hot Rod\u0026rdquo; crashes into theaters August 3rd. Helping Rod and his friend\u0026rsquo;s stunt filled adventure is Sound Supervisor Sean Garnhart. The definition of a renaissance (sound) man, Garnhart was also the sound designer and effects mixer on the show. He has bounced from mixer to designer to editor as well as dabbling in music editorial during his career in NYC. At The Sound Lounge(where the film dubbed), VP of the New York City based sound house, Tony Volante, mixed music and dialog. An established NYC Re-Recording Mixer, Volante has mixed three academy award nominated documentary films in the last few years. Filmed last summer in Vancouver, Michael McGee shot production dialog. For the past decade, McGee shot sound on multiple TV movies and at least one theatrical release per year. Though the test screening I saw had a lot of 80\u0026rsquo;s songs filling the musical quota for the soundtrack, I have heard rumblings that the final score will pretty bombastic! Trevor Rabin composed for the film, tracking the score at the Todd-AO Scoring Stage. Trevor is currently working on \u0026ldquo;National Treasure 2\u0026rdquo; and is going to compose on next year\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;Get Smart\u0026rdquo;.\nCHECK BACK TOMORROW FOR A Q AND A WITH SOUND MIXER SEAN GARNHART!\nTHE SOUND LOUNGE\u0026rsquo;S STUDIO J\nSUPERVISING SOUND EDITOR: Sean Garnhart\nRE-RECORDING MIXER: Tony Volante\nRE-RECORDING MIXER: Sean Garnhart\nPRODUCTION SOUND MIXER: Michael McGee\nTODD SCORING STAGE\nCOMPOSER: Trevor Rabin\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2007/07/hot-rod/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;Hot Rod\u0026rdquo;  crashes into theaters August 3rd. Helping Rod and his friend\u0026rsquo;s stunt filled adventure is Sound Supervisor Sean Garnhart.   The definition of a renaissance (sound) man, Garnhart was also the sound designer and effects mixer on the show. He has bounced from mixer to designer to editor as well as dabbling in music editorial during his career in NYC.  At The Sound Lounge(where the film dubbed), VP of the New York City based sound house, Tony Volante, mixed music and dialog. An established NYC Re-Recording Mixer, Volante has mixed three academy award nominated documentary films in the last few years. Filmed last summer in Vancouver, Michael McGee shot production dialog. For the past decade, McGee shot sound on multiple TV movies and at least one theatrical release per year.  Though the test screening I saw had a lot of 80\u0026rsquo;s songs filling the musical quota for the soundtrack, I have heard  rumblings that the final score will pretty bombastic! Trevor Rabin composed for the film, tracking the score at the Todd-AO Scoring Stage.  Trevor is currently working on \u0026ldquo;National Treasure 2\u0026rdquo;  and is going to compose on next year\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;Get Smart\u0026rdquo;.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"HOT ROD"},{"content":"Thanks to Co-Sound Supervisor Elmo Weber for taking time for this Q and A!\nFSD: With so many physical comedies under your belt, how hard is it to find the perfect sound that complements the wackiness?\nEW: When working on comedies, no matter what your job is, it’s important to have a good sense of humor. Every project is different. Your success depends on not only understanding the humor of each film, but also knowing your place in the “big picture”. Most of the time I find myself playing the “straight man” when it comes to comedy sound design. Don’t over-do it. The comedy is mostly in the hands of the writers, actors, and directors, so create realistic sounds that support and don’t distract. Then when your sound moment comes, make it count. The most important rule is to never make a moment un-funny. Then it’s back to the old sci-fi action and academy awards for you.\nFSD: The public understands sound effects editing and mixing in movies like Transformers because the visuals demand heavy editorial and mixing to work. Every film needs sound, so what can be said about sound\u0026rsquo;s role in comedies?\nEW: I don’t think the public will every fully understand the true function of post-production sound. Regarding sound for comedies, if we really do our job well, then no one will notice. We’re like the airline mechanics that don’t generally cross people’s minds unless the engine catches on fire. In my view, every picture is unique and the true art of sound lies in the details, whether those details create an exploding robot or a quiet moment where the ADR matches the dialogue from three different takes.\nFSD: Re-recording mixers/supervisors impress me, though the majority of you guys also have gigs like this one, where you only do one or the other. What prompts you to mix and cut verses just cut?\nEW: I love sound editing and I love mixing. When I get the chance to do both on the same project, it’s always the most fun and the most rewarding experience. I respect both as separate arts; not every editor would make a great mixer and visa-versa. As a supervising sound editor I’ve had the privilege of working with some fantastic mixers and I’ve learned a great deal from them. I began mixing FX early in my sound career and I know that it has made me a better editor. I started mixing dialogue and music in 1998 when I opened my small facility in Burbank. It was great building my dialogue mixing chops on documentaries and independent films, which seem to have the most challenging dialogue and schedules. I sold my facility a couple of years ago, but I’m very excited to be mixing around town at the major studios such as Sony and Warners.\nFSD: I\u0026rsquo;m not sure why I haven\u0026rsquo;t asked this question yet in all my interviews, but you can break this one in: What was your first gig like?\nEW: My first sound-editing gig was on “The Lawnmower Man”. I was working as a composer for Frank Serafine when one morning in 1991 he came in and asked me if I wanted to do some sound design for a sci-fi film. I replied, “I don’t think so. I don’t know anything about sound editing.” Frank then says, “I’ve got a scene with a monkey driving a virtual tank and battling laser-firing robots. The director will be here after lunch to check it out, so get busy.” That job was an incredible experience for me. An experience I hope to never repeat. :)\nFSD: Whats your favorite sound moment in the film?\nThe big fire scene in which Sandler and Kevin James save a 400-pound man. That sequence has some great sound opportunities. Sound FX Supervisor Derek Vanderhorst did an incredible job designing a threatening environment engulfed by flames with creaking and crashing all around. The foley team of Catherine Harper and Chris Moriana brought wonderful detail into the soundscape with the firemen gear, boot steps on debris, and chopping through walls with axes. The mixing team of Jeff Haboush and Bill Benton very skillfully brought it all together. I’d also like to acknowledge my co-supervisor Dave Bach, ADR Super Russell Farmarco, Dialogue Editors Cameron Steenhagen and Hugo Weng, FX Editors: Marc Glassman, Paul Berolzheimer, and Piero Mura, and my illustrious Assistant Editor: Matt Hanson. Without me they’d be nothing…uh, I meant that the other way around. Freudian slip.\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2007/07/i-now-pronounce-you-chuck-and-larry-pt2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThanks to Co-Sound Supervisor Elmo Weber for taking time for this Q and A!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFSD: With so many physical comedies under your belt, how hard is it to find the perfect sound that complements the wackiness?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEW: When working on comedies, no matter what your job is, it’s important to have a good sense of humor.  Every project is different.  Your success depends on not only understanding the humor of each film, but also knowing your place in the “big picture”.  Most of the time I find myself playing the “straight man” when it comes to comedy sound design.  Don’t over-do it.  The comedy is mostly in the hands of the writers, actors, and directors, so create realistic sounds that support and don’t distract.  Then when your sound moment comes, make it count. The most important rule is to never make a moment un-funny.  Then it’s back to the old sci-fi action and academy awards for you.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"I NOW PRONOUNCE YOU CHUCK AND LARRY pt2"},{"content":"DOLBY: In Broken Arrow, there’s this scene where the A-bomb goes off and the ground sort of heaves up in a wave toward the audience.\nCB: This kind of thing is always a big challenge, because so often the production wants to arrive at the major climactic moment, and they’ve already brought a freight train of sound. So I have to try to figure out a way to work against that. You can’t be in a battle that’s really loud, and all of a sudden introduce a cannon and make that louder.\nThere\u0026rsquo;s a great interview over at Dolby.com with Sound Designer/Re-Recording Mixer Chris Boyes. I have to tip my hat to this German blog for the heads up! Boyes is supervising and mixing next year\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;Iron Man\u0026rdquo;. Director Jon Favreau has mentioned a mid-air battle against F-22 raptors and Iron Man as one of the major set pieces of the film. It would seem that Boyes and his mics have a date with an airstrip soon.\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2007/07/interview-with-chris-boyes/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDOLBY: In Broken Arrow, there’s this scene where the A-bomb goes off and the ground sort of heaves up in a wave toward the audience.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCB: This kind of thing is always a big challenge, because so often the production wants to arrive at the major climactic moment, and they’ve already brought a freight train of sound. So I have to try to figure out a way to work against that. You can’t be in a battle that’s really loud, and all of a sudden introduce a cannon and make that louder.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"INTERVIEW WITH CHRIS BOYES"},{"content":"Here is a little video interview with Randy Thom on his work on \u0026ldquo;Rattaoullie\u0026rdquo;. The film is great and the sound is too\u0026hellip;\nMixonline.com\nPosted by FILMSOUNDDAILY at [9:32 AM](/2007/07/randy-thom-video-interview/) 0 comments: Post a Comment [Newer Post](/2007/07/transformers-pt3/) [Older Post](/2007/07/transformers_02/) [Home](/) Subscribe to:\n[Post Comments (Atom)](http://filmsounddaily.blogspot.com/feeds/8321484611253037332/comments/default) Data preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2007/07/randy-thom-video-interview/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHere is a little video interview with Randy Thom on his work on \u0026ldquo;Rattaoullie\u0026rdquo;.    The film is great and the sound is too\u0026hellip;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMixonline.com\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cpre\u003e\u003ccode\u003e      Posted by\n      FILMSOUNDDAILY\n\n\n\n\n\n      at\n\n      [9:32 AM](/2007/07/randy-thom-video-interview/)\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003e\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cpre\u003e\u003ccode\u003e      0 comments:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n    Post a Comment\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n  [Newer Post](/2007/07/transformers-pt3/)\n\n\n\n\n\n  [Older Post](/2007/07/transformers_02/)\n\n\n\n\n  [Home](/)\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSubscribe to:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cpre\u003e\u003ccode\u003e [Post Comments (Atom)](http://filmsounddaily.blogspot.com/feeds/8321484611253037332/comments/default)\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eData preservation for the cinematography community.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"RANDY THOM VIDEO INTERVIEW"},{"content":"O\u0026rsquo;CONNELL: What percentage of what we do is artistic vs. technical?\nLANDAKER: It\u0026rsquo;s very much artistic––at least 50-50 but more like 70-30 [artistic to technical]. You can have all the chops in the world about faders and EQ, but it\u0026rsquo;s actually the fine balancing act of putting that movie together than makes it a reality. You have to have a feeling for that screen.\nHere is a great little bit the Editor\u0026rsquo;s Guild transcribed from the \u0026ldquo;Sound Behind the Picture\u0026rdquo; event that took place this spring. The picture above was taken during \u0026ldquo;The Empire Strikes Back\u0026rdquo; dub. If you look hard enough you cannot see me in the picture wishing I was there. You can read the rest of the transcription HERE. The academy\u0026rsquo;s sound branch will be putting another event on soon for animated film sound. Keep updated on their calender of events HERE.\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2007/07/sound-behind-picture-transcribed/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eO\u0026rsquo;CONNELL: What percentage of what we do is artistic vs. technical?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLANDAKER: It\u0026rsquo;s very much artistic––at least 50-50 but more like 70-30 [artistic to technical]. You can have all the chops in the world about faders and EQ, but it\u0026rsquo;s actually the fine balancing act of putting that movie together than makes it a reality. You have to have a feeling for that screen.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHere is a great little bit the Editor\u0026rsquo;s Guild transcribed from the \u0026ldquo;Sound Behind the Picture\u0026rdquo; event that took place this spring.    The picture above was taken during \u0026ldquo;The Empire Strikes Back\u0026rdquo;  dub.  If you look hard enough you cannot see me in the picture wishing I was there.   You can read the rest of the transcription HERE.   The academy\u0026rsquo;s sound branch will be putting another event on soon for animated film sound.  Keep updated on their calender of events HERE.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SOUND BEHIND THE PICTURE: TRANSCRIBED"},{"content":"Yesterday, I went to see Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix at a local theater chain and to my delight the soundtrack defaulted down to the stereo mix from the third reel on. I was obviously a little annoyed so I decided to talk to the manager and let them know that the film in their biggest theater was playing back in not so optimum conditions. They nodded and awarded my effort with lip-service about how they would \u0026ldquo;look into it.\u0026rdquo; I always get empathy but no action. They want to make me feel like they care about how the film is presented, but unless a majority of patrons file out of the theater to complain I don\u0026rsquo;t think anything will change. So, what do we do as a community? Is there anyway to champion a campaign to remedy this plague of bad sound? I mean I am sure if the picture looked crappy audiences would be up in arms. I asked Randy Thom about this epidemic recently and he had this to say:\n\u0026ldquo;The two weakest links in film sound have always been the script and the exhibition. Neither of them has ever taken sound seriously except for occasional isolated cases. The picture and sound quality in most movie theaters sucks. In an era when exhibitors should be more worried than ever about competing with home theaters they have shown very little awareness of how important it is to exhibit the film accurately. The popcorn machine is almost always better maintained than the projector and sound system. True, the profit center of most theaters is the concession stand, but if people stop coming there won\u0026rsquo;t be anyone to buy the soft drinks and popcorn. For a huge number of movie lovers going to a well maintained and beautiful theater to see and hear a film with others who share their admiration for great film storytelling is a secular form of going to church. It\u0026rsquo;s an experience that isn\u0026rsquo;t duplicated at home, no matter how wonderful a home theater system you have. The fact that most theater owners are too lazy, ignorant, and/or greedy to make sure the movies sound and look first class is a shameful thing. Filmmakers everywhere have to demand better performance from exhibitors, and we need to set up mechanisms to make that happen.\u0026rdquo;\n-Randy Thom\nI agree that if the filmmakers knew that this kind of disregard for their films was going on regularly and everywhere, that something might happen. I would love to walk into a theater and not worry about how my craft will be presented.\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2007/07/audience-isnt-listening/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eYesterday, I went to see Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix at a local theater chain and to my delight the soundtrack defaulted down  to the stereo mix from the third reel on. I was obviously a little annoyed so I decided to talk to the manager and let them know that the film in their biggest theater was playing back in not so optimum conditions. They nodded and awarded my effort with lip-service about how they would \u0026ldquo;look into it.\u0026rdquo; I always get empathy but no action.  They want to make me feel like they care about how the film is presented, but unless a majority of patrons file out of the theater to complain I don\u0026rsquo;t think anything will change. So, what do we do as a community? Is there anyway to champion a campaign to remedy this plague of bad  sound? I mean I am sure if the picture looked crappy audiences would be up in arms. I asked Randy Thom about this epidemic recently and he had this to say:\u003c/p\u003e","title":"THE AUDIENCE ISN'T LISTENING"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;The Simpsons Movie\u0026rdquo; does the Bartman into theaters July 27th. Helping bring the sounds of Springfield to the big screen are Supervising Sound Editor Gwen Whittle and Sound Designers Chris Scarabosio and Randy Thom. All fixtures at Skywalker Sound, the trio have each worn numerous hats in post sound. Each person has done a big film this year, Whittle Supervised the ADR on \u0026ldquo;Zodiac\u0026rdquo; and Scarabosio designed on \u0026ldquo;Pirates 3\u0026rdquo;, while Thom has kept it low key by supervised AND mixed \u0026ldquo;Ratatouille.\u0026rdquo; Though the four temp dubs mixed at a few different stages around LA,(read the editors guild article HERE) the film finaled on the Fox\u0026rsquo;s Howard Hawks stage with Andy Nelson and Anna Behlmer. This duo already has a big 2007 with \u0026ldquo;Shrek the 3rd\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;Live Free or Die Hard\u0026rdquo;. Behlmer, one of the only female mixers in LA and has been nominated for nine Oscars, all of which have been during the mixing team\u0026rsquo;s ten-plus years together. Original dialog on the film was shot by Greg Zimmerman at the Todd-AO West\u0026rsquo;s Stage A. Zimmerman a busy ADR mixer shot 20-plus films already this year. This great scene from one of TV show\u0026rsquo;s 400 episodes illustrates turmoil on an ADR stage\u0026hellip;.\nThe score was recorded on the Newman Scoring Stage at Fox. Hans Zimmer fresh of \u0026ldquo;Pirates 3\u0026rdquo; composed for the film and is lending his talents to my most anticipated film of next year \u0026ldquo;The Dark Knight.\u0026rdquo;\nCHECK BACK TOMORROW FOR Q AND A WITH SOUND SUPERVISOR GWEN WHITTLE!\nHOWARD HAWKS STAGE\nSUPERVISING SOUND EDITOR: Gwen Whittle\nSOUND DESIGNER: Chris Scarabosio\nSOUND DESIGNER: Randy Thom\nRE-RECORDING MIXER: Andy Nelson\nRE-RECORDING MIXER: Anna Behlmer\nORIGINAL DIALOG MIXER: Greg Zimmerman\nFOX SCORING STAGE\nCOMPOSER: Hans Zimmer\nPosted by FILMSOUNDDAILY at [8:56 AM](/2007/07/simpsons/) 0 comments: Post a Comment Data preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2007/07/simpsons/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;The Simpsons Movie\u0026rdquo; does the Bartman into theaters July 27th.  Helping bring the sounds of Springfield to the big screen are Supervising Sound Editor Gwen Whittle and Sound Designers Chris Scarabosio and Randy Thom. All fixtures at Skywalker Sound, the trio have each worn numerous hats in post sound. Each person has done a big film this year, Whittle Supervised the ADR on \u0026ldquo;Zodiac\u0026rdquo; and Scarabosio designed on \u003ca href=\"/2007/05/pirates-of-caribbean-at-worlds-end/\"\u003e\u0026ldquo;Pirates 3\u0026rdquo;,\u003c/a\u003e while Thom has kept it low key by supervised AND mixed \u003ca href=\"/2007/06/ratatouille/\"\u003e\u0026ldquo;Ratatouille.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/a\u003e   Though the four temp dubs mixed at a few different stages around LA,(read the editors guild article HERE) the film finaled on the Fox\u0026rsquo;s Howard Hawks stage with Andy Nelson and  Anna  Behlmer.  This duo already has a big 2007 with \u003ca href=\"/2007/05/shrek-third/\"\u003e\u0026ldquo;Shrek the 3rd\u0026rdquo;\u003c/a\u003e and \u0026ldquo;Live Free or Die Hard\u0026rdquo;.   Behlmer, one of the only female mixers in LA and has been nominated for nine Oscars, all of which have been during the mixing team\u0026rsquo;s ten-plus years together.  Original dialog on the film was shot by Greg Zimmerman at the Todd-AO West\u0026rsquo;s Stage A.  Zimmerman a busy ADR mixer shot 20-plus films already this year.  This great scene from one of TV show\u0026rsquo;s 400 episodes illustrates turmoil on an ADR stage\u0026hellip;.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"THE SIMPSONS"},{"content":"THANKS GO TO SOUND SUPERVISOR GWEN WHITTLE FOR TAKING TIME TO DO THIS Q AND A!\nFSD: During the dubs, were there donuts on the stage?\nNo! I\u0026rsquo;m glad though because I would have eaten them. We had them during editorial at the ranch one Sunday when we were working. Our fabulous assistant Josh Gold brought them in for us.\nFSD: The Simpsons TV show editorial was done by Skywalker for a while, right? What differences in approach and detail are there between the TV show\u0026rsquo;s sound and the film\u0026rsquo;s?\nNo, we only did \u0026ldquo;The Movie\u0026rdquo;. It was a challenge though expanding the track for a big screen. A few classic effects are straight from the show - Maggie\u0026rsquo;s pacifier for instance. But 99% of the effects are fresh for the film.\nFSD: What are your favorite sound moments in the film?\nHmmmmm. There are a few. Is it cheating to reveal them before the film is released? I love the \u0026ldquo;Bambi\u0026rdquo; feet in Alaska; The \u0026ldquo;bloop\u0026rdquo; sound as the silo sinks under; The bomb dancing on top of the dome; Homer pulling the arrow out of his head\u0026hellip;those are a few of my favorite sounds!\nFSD: Lucas spoke at the MPSE awards a few years back. He expressed interest in having sound crews on earlier to help the picture editorial\u0026rsquo;s creative process along; How early was your crew brought on?\nWe were brought on about 10 months after the picture editor John Carnochan started. This film didn\u0026rsquo;t really call for early involvement from us. We would send FX to LA when requested.\nFSD: I read in your Editor\u0026rsquo;s Guild interview that you guys had four temp dubs. Do you think that editorial will continue in the direction of multiple sprints rather than a long distance pace? Does this workflow hinder the creative process?\nThis type of animation makes it possible to do super quick picture changes. The temps came every three weeks. It was fast, and the changes didn\u0026rsquo;t stop just because we were in the middle of a temp. The \u0026ldquo;brain trust\u0026rdquo; of the Simpsons think very quickly and don\u0026rsquo;t like to wait for things to be implemented. This type of schedule pleased them, so we made it work for them. In this case, the creativity was spurred by the temps. I don\u0026rsquo;t see it being like that for all shows. Comedy needs an audience that\u0026rsquo;s fresh to see if it\u0026rsquo;s working on the funny level. Live action is limited by the footage you have on hand. You can\u0026rsquo;t reconfigure characters out of nothing in the real world the way you can in \u0026ldquo;Springfield\u0026rdquo;!\nFSD: Did any sound mixed during the dubs add to creative decisions made in the animation?\nYes. I think they changed things when places weren\u0026rsquo;t working as a whole - sound included. The music also played a tremendous part in solving issues \u0026ldquo;the trust\u0026rdquo; were having with certain scenes.\nFSD: How long have you been at Skywalker Sound? What was your first gig like?\nA long time. I was very young when I began :-). I started so long ago that I know how to cut sound on Mag. I was an assistant editor working with Ben Burtt, Richard Hymns, Gary Rydstrom, and many other talented folks. I was lucky to have such a very inspiring start! [My first] film was \u0026ldquo;Willow\u0026rdquo; - one of the first shows to edit and the second to mix at the Tech building. On a personal note, during that film I spent some quality time with the transfer department, and I met my future husband while waiting for an effects transfer from Ben\u0026rsquo;s library!\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2007/07/simpsons-pt2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eTHANKS GO TO SOUND SUPERVISOR GWEN WHITTLE FOR TAKING  TIME TO DO THIS Q AND A!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFSD: During the dubs, were there donuts on the stage?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNo! I\u0026rsquo;m glad though because I would have eaten them. We had them during editorial at the ranch one Sunday when we were working. Our fabulous assistant Josh Gold brought them in for us.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFSD: The Simpsons TV show editorial was done by Skywalker for a while, right? What differences in approach and detail are there between the TV show\u0026rsquo;s sound and the film\u0026rsquo;s?\u003c/p\u003e","title":"THE SIMPSONS pt2"},{"content":"Thanks to Re-recording mixer Kevin O\u0026rsquo;Connell for taking time out to do this brief Q and A!\nFSD: With this the second huge film you guys mixed this year(the first being Spiderman 3), how much adaptation is needed working with different directors and sound crews?\nKO: We had been in communication with Supervising sound editors Ethan Van Der Ryn and Mike Hopkins for many months prior to the mix strategizing and laying out a game plan for the mix. That communication helped us enormously. As far as working with different directors, having worked on numerous films for both Sam Raimi and Michael Bay really helped to get us where we needed be much faster then if we had not had that luxury.\nFSD: Did you guys do anything differently on this film you don\u0026rsquo;t normally do on others?\nKO: Yes, we basically mixed the movie with mostly temp music tracks. The final music trickled in throughout the mix and was not all available until late during the final mix. At that point I basically had to re-mix the entire music stem on every reel and Greg (Russell) and the sound effects team had to re-shape a bit as well. Having had the benefit of mixing all of Michael Bays films helped enormously on Transformers. Michael is a guy who knows what he likes but more importantly knows what he does not like and communicates that very well.\nFSD: In films with such huge set pieces, how do you find a healthy balance between music and FX ?\nKO: That is the challenge on all action adventure movies. That balance is the key to a great sound track. You can’t hear everything all of the time so knowing what to hear and when is really the cornerstone to any great mix.\nFSD: How were the transformer vocals handled on the dub stage? Is there much processing to their voices?\nKO: We processed the entire conversational robot dialog during the dialog pre-dubs. We started by pitching down the autobots (good guys) approximately 1 semi-tone and the decepticons (bad guys) between 2 and 3 semi-tones. Then we fed the track into a small speaker in a chamber in the back of the stage and returned the output to the console and balanced it against the untreated track to add a bit of an edge. Then we took a feed to the lexicon 480 to add a bit of space and reverb to the track. We took another feed and sent it to the boom and adjusted each voice individually to maximize the effect. Then, we spread all of the voices into two, 5.1 predubs to maintain flexibility. As far as the non english speaking robots, they were cleverly processed by sound editorial prior to coming to the stage.\nFSD: On music passes, how much flexibility do you usually like to get coming from the editorial rig(s)?\nKO: On these types of movies you have to have as many things separated as possible to maintain flexibility. The more the tracks are separated, the better.\nFSD: Do mixers usually go to test screenings to see how the temp dub plays in a \u0026ldquo;filled theater\u0026rdquo;?\nKO: We try to go as often as possible but sometimes they are in different cities or even different states and we generally are in the middle of mixing for the final film and often don’t have the time to go. But when we are able to attend, it helps very much to see the film with an audience.\nFSD: Though chops and savvy are important. What other attributes must aspiring re-recording mixers possess to make it?\nKO: In my opinion, the biggest attribute to being a successful mixer is in how you deal with people. You are often working with many high profile personalities at one time and that can be a bit tricky at times. Being as diplomatic as possible is a good start. I believe every one on the stage deserves to be treated with respect whether you are the assistant or the producer, everyone should be treated the same. Also, using every mixing experience to learn what works and what doesn’t work and applying that knowledge to future projects.\nCheck back tomorrow for the conclusion of the Q and A\u0026rsquo;s with Sound Designer Erik Aadhal!\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2007/07/transformers_02/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThanks to Re-recording mixer Kevin O\u0026rsquo;Connell for taking time out to do this brief Q and A!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFSD: With this the second huge film you guys mixed this year(the first  being Spiderman 3), how much adaptation is needed working with different directors and sound crews?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eKO: We had been in communication with Supervising sound editors Ethan Van Der Ryn and Mike Hopkins for many months prior to the mix strategizing and laying out a game plan for the mix. That communication helped us enormously. As far as working with different directors, having worked on numerous films for both Sam Raimi and Michael Bay really helped to get us where we needed be much faster then if we had not had that luxury.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"TRANSFORMERS pt:2"},{"content":"Holy Crap! I went to see \u0026ldquo;Transformers\u0026rdquo; tonight. I just wanted to applaud all the great work in this film. Too much cool stuff to list! Check it out in the best sounding theater available. Thanks so much to Sound Designer Erik Aadahl for taking some time out to do this Q and A!\nFSD: I\u0026rsquo;ve read a lot of discussions lately about defining a Sound Designer. What were your duties on Transformers?\nEA: The term \u0026ldquo;sound designer\u0026rdquo; can mean lots of things. In some cases, a designer is brought in to handle a scene or a concept, with effects editors handling everything else. In other cases, a designer may have a broader role and oversee the overall track. This movie was a little of both\u0026ndash;I was brought on by Ethan van der Ryn to design the robots, but as time went by that job broadened to encompass the entire final track. By the end of the final mix, I had plenty of chances to go over the whole film, tweaking details till we couldn\u0026rsquo;t do it any more.\nFSD: Ben Burtt has said films don\u0026rsquo;t get released, they escape. As a sound designer, how did you guys decide when a sound design or editorial sequence was \u0026ldquo;done\u0026rdquo;? Were they ever \u0026ldquo;done\u0026rdquo;?\nEA: On this film we were blessed with a healthy schedule. Ethan had been doing military recording sessions starting more than a year ago, and I started on the robots around September. By that time, I had known I\u0026rsquo;d be doing the movie for a few months, so I had already started getting into the \u0026ldquo;headspace\u0026rdquo; of the movie, collecting servos and as much fun-sounding gadgetry I could find. So, the design starting coming together around then, and just kept evolving day after day. Ethan is great to work with in that he\u0026rsquo;s always looking to the next cool concept; something wacky and wild that people haven\u0026rsquo;t heard before\u0026ndash;so that was a great challenge and inspiration to me to keep evolving the sounds as far as we could. Because we started early, we could get our sounds into the Avid right away and get those crappy temp fx (the bane of many a sound team) out of the cutting room. So Bay got a chance to hear our ideas early, fall in love with them, and know all our sounds intimately so they could be featured in our mix to the end. We kept coming up with ideas through the very last day. Playing the Dreamworks and Paramount logos with all sound design and none of the traditional music was a last minute decision that we did on the final mix stage. Some of the best ideas appear late in the game! And then suddenly we were printmastering and it was over. All new ideas after that get saved for the sequel.\nFSD: How much time did you get to spend on conceptional proofs before going full bore on design and editorial?\nEA: It all happened at the same time. The first scene I got was Blackout (at the time his name was Vortex) destroying the Qatar airbase. I had a week to come up with the transformation and weapons and destruction and the shape of that very first pass stayed pretty much intact until the end. After that first week, I had a chance to catch my breath and go conceptual again, spending my days under headphones recording everything that might be useful\u0026ndash;scissorlift servos, remote control copters, sliding acrylic sheets, power windows\u0026ndash;and then throwing them into ProTools to manipulate them into fun sounds. After a few weeks of that, I had a palette of several hundred fresh robot sounds that I could draw from as the movie progressed.\nFSD: Did you guys get to rap with the VFX dept. during editorial about what the finished robots looked like?\nEA: ILM sent us full still-frame renders of the robots, which was very useful. Our foley team, John Roesch and crew at Warner Bros, used those pictures to create \u0026ldquo;robot foley\u0026rdquo; to sell the robotic sinews and joints for the various characters.\nFSD: How late in the process did you guys finally see the fully rendered CGI?\nEA: One of the nice things about having a really demanding director is stuff gets done quickly. When I started Transformers, it was leagues beyond most big films in terms of finished visual effects shots 9 months before release. Of course shots were pouring in until the very last minute but we were actually very fortunate that ILM had their game together so early. I could design to shots I knew wouldn\u0026rsquo;t keep changing.\nFSD: Ethan said his favorite sounding Transformer was Bumblebee. What was your favorite to design?\nEA: Bumblebee was my favorite, too. I was a pleasure to give him his voice and act for him. We used our own voices with processing to give him his personality. For the emotional scenes where Bumblebee is in pain, we used the pitch down cries of a baby and even a little bit of vocal that Mike Hopkins performed.\nPS: Listen for a vocal from Michael Bay when Megatron flicks an unlucky pedestrian across an intersection-That\u0026rsquo;s Michael going \u0026ldquo;No ! No! Woooooahh!!!\u0026rdquo;\nThanks again to everyone that took time to contribute!\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2007/07/transformers-pt3/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHoly Crap! I went to see \u0026ldquo;Transformers\u0026rdquo; tonight. I just wanted to applaud all the great work in this film.  Too much cool stuff to list!  Check it out in the best sounding theater available.   Thanks so much to Sound Designer Erik Aadahl for taking some time out to do this Q and A!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFSD:  I\u0026rsquo;ve read a lot of discussions lately about defining a Sound Designer.  What were your duties on Transformers?\u003c/p\u003e","title":"TRANSFORMERS pt:3"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;Underdog\u0026rdquo; marks theaters August 3rd. Helping give the four-legged superhero\u0026rsquo;s barks and growls life is Sound Supervisor Robert L. Sephton. Sephton, no stranger to canine audio, supervised \u0026ldquo;The Shaggy Dog\u0026rdquo;, \u0026ldquo;Snow Dogs\u0026rdquo;, \u0026ldquo;Homeward Bound II\u0026rdquo; and was an effects editor on 1994\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;Iron Will.\u0026rdquo; F. Scott Taylor, a long time assistant sound editor for Sephton, was the Assistant Sound Supervisor on the show. Dean A. Zupancic and Terry Porter mixed the film at Disney\u0026rsquo;s Main Theater on the Burbank lot. Together the team has mixed almost all of Disney\u0026rsquo;s traditional 2-D animated films since 1995\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;Pocahontas.\u0026rdquo; Separately, Porter has been mixing them since the reemergence of Disney-animated theatrical hits starting with 1989\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;The Little Mermaid\u0026rdquo;. Production mixing duties rolled over into Tom Williams\u0026rsquo; lap. Williams is currently shooting location sound on Jonathan Demme\u0026rsquo;s next film, \u0026ldquo;He Comes in Peace.\u0026rdquo; Continuing his collaboration with man\u0026rsquo;s best friend, Williams was the mixer on The National Geographic\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;Dog\u0026rsquo;s with Jobs\u0026rdquo;. Randy Edelman composed for the film at \u0026ldquo;Hear No Evil Studios\u0026rdquo; in London. Edelman, an established musician/songwriter in his early years, has composed for over 60 films.\nCHECK BACK THIS WEEK FOR A Q AND A WITH SOUND SUPERVISOR ROBERT SEPHTON!\nDISNEY\u0026rsquo;S MAIN DUB THEATER\nSUPERVISING SOUND EDITOR: Robert L. Sephton\nRE-RECORDING MIXER: Dean A. Zupancic\nRE-RECORDING MIXER: Terry Porter\nPRODUCTION SOUND MIXER: Tom Williams\nHEAR NO EVIL STUDIOS\nCOMPOSER: Randy Edelman\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2007/07/underdog/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;Underdog\u0026rdquo; marks theaters August 3rd. Helping give the four-legged superhero\u0026rsquo;s barks and growls life is Sound Supervisor Robert L. Sephton.  Sephton, no stranger to canine audio, supervised \u0026ldquo;The Shaggy Dog\u0026rdquo;, \u0026ldquo;Snow Dogs\u0026rdquo;, \u0026ldquo;Homeward Bound II\u0026rdquo; and was an effects editor on 1994\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;Iron Will.\u0026rdquo;  F. Scott Taylor, a long time assistant sound editor for Sephton, was the Assistant Sound Supervisor on the show.   Dean A. Zupancic and Terry Porter mixed the film at Disney\u0026rsquo;s Main Theater on the Burbank lot. Together the team has mixed almost all of Disney\u0026rsquo;s traditional 2-D animated films since 1995\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;Pocahontas.\u0026rdquo; Separately, Porter has been mixing them since the reemergence of Disney-animated theatrical hits starting with 1989\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;The Little Mermaid\u0026rdquo;.  Production mixing duties rolled over into Tom Williams\u0026rsquo; lap.  Williams is currently shooting location sound on Jonathan Demme\u0026rsquo;s next film, \u0026ldquo;He Comes in Peace.\u0026rdquo; Continuing his collaboration with man\u0026rsquo;s best friend, Williams was the mixer on The National Geographic\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;Dog\u0026rsquo;s with Jobs\u0026rdquo;.  Randy Edelman composed for the film at \u0026ldquo;Hear No Evil Studios\u0026rdquo; in London.  Edelman, an established musician/songwriter in his early years, has composed for over 60 films.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"UNDERDOG"},{"content":"Many thanks to Robert Sephton for taking time out to do this Q and A. This next week marks the three month anniversary of this thing. I am quite pleased with the way it is going so far, but I would love any comments or suggestions about where it could go. I want this to be interesting not just to people within the sound community, but to people who have an interest in film in general. So any improvements I could make to achieve that goal, please feel free to email me or comment\u0026hellip; So without further ado, on to the fun!\nFSD: Though the dog is voiced by Jason Lee, what approach was used in handling the dog foley and vocals?\nRS: First off, the foley was done at Fox Studio\u0026rsquo;s Foley Stage thanks to Stacey Robinson and the crew, Alicia and Dawn ( Best Dog feet I ever had!) and Dave Foley, the Mixer. Great Job!! As with all animal movies I\u0026rsquo;ve dealt with you have tons of trainers in the production track, so foley was extremely important, I.e.texture, surfaces and such. Mark Pappas was my supervisor on this and did a great job. We had tons of different dogs and CGI so foley with certain design FX were very important and mixed by Dean Zupancic who handled all the FX foley and BG\u0026rsquo;s. The vocals went through various treatments (all done by Terry Porter): There were dog to dog conversations that humans heard as dog barks, also when he was just thinking we heard him out loud, and of course when he got his powers he was able to talk with humans. Jason didn\u0026rsquo;t have to alter his readings to go from one to the other.\nFSD: Did his FX change after he gets his superpowers?\nRS: Not as far as the foley or vocals; as I said, we now see he can communicate out loud to humans in English.\nFSD: Are there any dog-specific sound jokes in the film?\nRS: He farts when he bounces on the ball in reel 5 and we took the edge off the fight scene a little with a few cartoon type FX but most were line jokes and also stuff through the end credits.\nFSD: I saw Rob Nokes is credited as FX recordist on the film. Did you guys have any fun experiences out in the field?\nRS: Usually I\u0026rsquo;m too busy to go with Rob. He\u0026rsquo;s my favorite to go to for field recordings because he always delivers the goods and we have many movies under our belts together and more to come. Rob has an unbelievable passion for doing this; he is almost obsessed to the point of [me saying] \u0026ldquo;Rob I\u0026rsquo;ve got enough-its all great!!! Stop already!!!!\u0026rdquo; We are really good friends going on 15 years at least. I know he has fun because its pretty much his favorite thing to do\u0026hellip;.(Plug)\u0026hellip;. he runs the Internet Sound Effects site Sounddogs.com, a good source for gotta have [sounds]\u0026hellip;..!!!!!!\nFSD: I always wonder how designers conceptualize the sense of speed while in flight. I mean, Underdog has a cape and that helps sell speed visually but how did you go further with sound?\nRS: Well, first and foremost most of the flying effects started with very organic sounds: winds, whooshes, Doppler\u0026rsquo;s, etc. We then added hi pitched speed sound, i.e. fighter jets, F1 racing cars and such, which were processed and used as sweeteners for certain shots. When he is in cruise mode with Polly, it\u0026rsquo;s all cape and winds.\nFSD: On films like these where lip-sync is paramount to selling the animation, how early are ADR editors brought on to facilitate the need?\nRS: Very, very early. [They start] during the production reads. Jessica Gallavan was my ADR Supvisor and one of the best in town: Ton\u0026rsquo;s of film experience, great personality, very hard worker and a perfectionist. She was on the longest and at the end we went away for 2 weeks while the final muzzle shots were being rendered for final output. We then had to go through the whole show one last time to verify final CGI shots for lip-sync and sound effects. We made fixes and then updated stems and then printmastered.\nFSD: What was your first gig like?\nRS: Interesting. I did and still do dabble in music. I was one of the first to be a digital gunslinger with my own Pro Tools (we\u0026rsquo;ll let that part go). Version 1 was pure Hell. I had done a lot of small things in film-low budget stuff. The first gig that showed me the direction I wanted to go in ( if not music) was sound design, and that happened when I was hired to do a digital sound job on a movie called New Jack City. I was set up with a guy cutting dialogue on a Wave Frame and another editor on a Synclav. It was a disaster way to early for a feature, i.e. 1990-91. The whole crew was fired! Though, since I was sleeping on the floor and cutting 20 hours a day for 500 dollars a week!!!!!, the Post Super kept me on and I transitioned to the new sound editorial team and actually got in the union and funny, I almost tripled my pay in straight time to $1300\u0026hellip;..WOW!!!!! Though long ago, I always remember that time and experience as so valuable a lesson, even today!\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2007/07/underdog-pt2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eMany thanks to Robert Sephton for taking time out to do this Q and A.   This next week marks the three month anniversary of this thing. I am quite pleased with the way it is going so far, but I would love any comments or suggestions about where it could go.  I want this to be interesting not just to people within the sound community, but to people who have an interest in film in general.  So any improvements I could make to achieve that goal, please feel free to email me or comment\u0026hellip; So without further ado, on to the fun!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"UNDERDOG pt2"},{"content":"Walking out of supervising sound editor/re-recording mixer Larry Blake\u0026rsquo;s Virtual Post-Production Sound Paradigm presentation on Monday night I couldn\u0026rsquo;t help feel a little torn. Don\u0026rsquo;t get me wrong I love gatherings like those, especially when they are helmed by someone who seems to be as controversial as Blake is in his field. Expectedly strong feelings were thrown over both sides of the fence, I just always hope the friction in the room grinds out a jewel of some sort. A great primer on all this hubbub can be found here. Though dated, the meat of the conversation among these great mixers is very relevant, yet these opinions both valid and passionate, really do nothing to unify our small community. If anything they create animosity instead of helping the collective push toward creativity, style and innovation in mixing. Personally, I really see no way to gauge which approach is better if the end result pleases the client. Blake implied during his presentation Monday night that If Joel Silver walked on to any dub stage in town he wouldn\u0026rsquo;t care if there was a Neve DFC or a Digidesign ICON sitting in front of him if when the mixers hit play Silver loved what he heard. Much like the craftsmen and women in both camps have stated in unrelated discussions, in the end mixing consoles are just creative tools, so when a film hits theaters and audiences emotionally invest in the story with the quality work on an interesting and creative soundtrack then it doesn\u0026rsquo;t matter what the film was mixed on. I think more then anything it is the sound people involved that makes the aural experiences memorable not whether the console had motorized panners. I guess I really can\u0026rsquo;t see how control surface mixing\u0026rsquo;s weight in this craft will ever crush traditional mixing desk re-recording(see exhibit A), so it really just comes down to personal preference. Don\u0026rsquo;t get me wrong I love the competition between rival companies because it is a catalyst for innovation in our work, and admittedly I don\u0026rsquo;t like the idea of one company controlling all the sound editorial and mixing technologies. So I guess I am not drawing a line in the sand, I see each technology when utilized correctly able to make me smile in a movie theater when something sounds cool. I would like to put a disclaimer at the end stating that I am fully aware that money fan these flames more then anything and as I also noticed I didn\u0026rsquo;t address it in this editorial at all. I just like to believe behind every successful film console there is a great re-recording mixer and that its the skill and experience of these mixers that is what I love about film sound not that the branding on the console.\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2007/06/sound-arbitration/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWalking out of supervising sound editor/re-recording mixer Larry Blake\u0026rsquo;s Virtual Post-Production Sound Paradigm presentation on Monday night I couldn\u0026rsquo;t help feel a little torn. Don\u0026rsquo;t get me wrong I love gatherings like those, especially when they are helmed by someone who seems to be as controversial as Blake is in his field. Expectedly strong feelings were thrown over both sides of the fence, I just always hope the friction in the room grinds out a jewel of some sort. A great primer on all this hubbub can be found here.  Though dated, the meat of the conversation among these great mixers is very relevant, yet these opinions both valid and passionate, really do nothing to unify our small community.  If anything they create animosity instead of helping the collective push toward creativity, style and innovation in mixing.  Personally, I really see no way to gauge which approach is better if the end result pleases the client. Blake implied during his presentation Monday night that If Joel Silver walked on to any dub stage in town he wouldn\u0026rsquo;t care  if there was a Neve DFC or a Digidesign ICON sitting in front of him if when the mixers hit play Silver loved what he heard.  Much like the craftsmen and women in both camps have stated in unrelated discussions, in the end mixing consoles are just creative tools, so when a film hits theaters and audiences emotionally invest in the story with the quality work on an interesting and creative soundtrack then it doesn\u0026rsquo;t matter what the film was mixed on. I think more then anything it is the sound people involved that makes the aural experiences memorable not whether the console had motorized panners. I guess I really can\u0026rsquo;t see how control surface mixing\u0026rsquo;s weight in this craft will ever crush traditional  mixing desk re-recording(see exhibit A), so it really just comes down to personal preference.  Don\u0026rsquo;t get me wrong I love the competition between rival companies because it is a catalyst for innovation in our work, and admittedly I don\u0026rsquo;t like the idea of one company controlling all the sound editorial and mixing technologies. So I guess I am not drawing a line in the sand,  I see each technology when utilized correctly able to make me smile in a movie theater when something sounds cool.  I would like to put a disclaimer at the end stating that I am fully aware that money fan these flames more then anything and as I also noticed I didn\u0026rsquo;t address it in this editorial at all.  I just like to believe behind every successful film console there is a great re-recording mixer and that its the skill and experience of these mixers that is what I love about film sound not that the branding on the console.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A SOUND ARBITRATION"},{"content":"A sound job with great taste, Ratatouille scurries into theaters June 29th. Sound supervision was cooked up by Randy Thom and Micheal Silvers. No strangers to animated film sound this is their second Pixar film together. They won the very first sound editing Oscar for an animated film with 2004\u0026rsquo;s The Incredibles. Thom mixed the show along side Zodiac re-recording mixer Michael Semanick. Semanick won an Oscar during his LOTR fellowship and with 2005\u0026rsquo;s Kong. Original dialog recording credit went to Doc Kane who has three Oscar nominations for his duties on Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Incredibles. Kane, a busy and distinguished ADR mixer in his own right, works out of ADR B on Disney\u0026rsquo;s Burbank studio lot. Michael Giacchino another The Incredibles alum, composed the music for the film. Giacchino also an established television composer has been busy on Lost and Ailas as well as writing the music for Gary Rydstrom\u0026rsquo;s directorial debut Lifted. The Oscar nominated animated short is playing before screenings of Ratatouille this Friday.\nI wanted to thank Randy Thom for taking time out of his busy schedule to answer a few questions!\nDetails are an important way for audiences to invest in an animated film, what sound details are you most are proud of in this one?\nI don’t know if details are more important in an animated film than in a live action film, but there are lots of details in Ratatouille I’m proud of, to name a couple… The wind blowing through the underground drain pipes during Remy’s wild ride was an accidental discovery, and I think it works in a very “musical” way in the sequence. The gas fire in the oven that almost burns Remy alive was made from about a hundred gas stove “flame ups” cross-faded with each other.\nSince these films have such a long production schedule, do you find yourself working differently on them appose to live-action features?\nI tend to work on an animated film I’m supervising in several parcels of time. I’ll have some initial meetings with the Director, talking mostly about fairly broad areas of overall style and a few specifics, usually when the film is still entirely in storyboards. There’s a tendency on some animated films to fill every moment with dialog since in the early stages of work there isn’t much music or sound effects to play with. Sometimes I’ll encourage the Director to open up some space here and there that music and effects can later occupy in a useful way. No need to do that on a Brad Bird film because he’s so sophisticated about that part of the work. After the initial meeting I’ll go away and mull that over for a few weeks, during which time I’ll spend a few days making some speculative sounds, but I’ll also be spending time working on other films. After a few weeks I’ll play some of those spec sounds for the director in “sync” with the boards in order to get some more specific directions about what the Director thinks is working, and what isn’t. I’ll usually do another big chunk of work leading up to a temp mix for a test screening of the film followed by another hiatus. Then a few weeks or a couple of months later we’ll work for another six weeks or so that will include more design of specific sounds, the premix, and the final mix.\nWhen in sound editorial, how much do you premix before the stage?\nWe’re tending to do more and more “mixing” during the sound effects editing process. By mixing I mean adjusting relative levels of sounds, basic panning, reverb and eq. It’s all kept virtual. In the final we’re usually mixing from essentially the same ProTools sessions the editors were building.\nThe Foley requirement for these films must be intensive, is more supervision during the Foley shoot helpful or needed? Is there any unique Foley you have to cover that you wouldn\u0026rsquo;t in a live-action feature?\nThe Foley for an animated film isn’t necessarily any more complex or intense than the Foley for a live action film. In general, the process of designing, editing, and mixing an animated film is remarkably similar in most ways to doing a typical big budget live action film.\nWorking again with composer Michael Giacchino, do you guys converse early about cues and where FX and Music are competing?\nWell, Brad Bird (the Director) did most of the coordinating of music and sound effects on Ratatouille. I’ll usually suggest a couple of places where I’m hoping the score will be sparsely orchestrated enough to allow key sound effects to be heard. I’ll also usually point out a couple of places where I think music should rule the day. Lots of directors are so insecure about their films that they want sound effects and music to cover the same ground all the time. On the other hand, a few directors, like Brad, are courageous enough to make a decision about which department should be the main one carrying the baton in a given sequence. There is a widespread myth, mainly popular among young inexperienced directors, that a great action sequence has to be fully orchestrated with both music and sound effects at all times. I completely disagree. The action sequences I admire, and the ones that tend to stand the test of time, are the ones where music clearly dominates in some areas, and sound effects clearly dominate in others.\nI read somewhere you got your start @ skywalker sound by writing an essay to Walter Murch?\nIt’s not how I got my start at Skywalker, but it’s how I got my start in movie sound. I called Walter out of the blue one day when I was trying to break into the film biz, and he invited me to come watch him and Ben Burtt mix a stereo version of American Graffiti, which had been released in mono originally. At the end of the day he asked me to write an essay about what I had seen and heard. He liked what I wrote, and hired me to work on the next project he was doing… Apocalypse Now. I hadn’t gone to film school, but Apocalypse was as good a film school as I could ever have hoped to attend. The post-production crew was a wonderful mix of young wild-eyed kids and veterans. Each group energized the other, and it’s one of the reasons that movie has such a landmark track. Brad Bird, by the way, is a huge fan of Apocalypse, and we often talk about it when we’re working on his films.\nWhen Apocalypse Now was finished Ben Burtt asked me to work on The Empire Strikes Back, and that was my introduction to Skywalker.\nAs a last note I want to say that I’m extremely proud of the Skywalker Sound team that produced the Ratatouille track. Michael Silvers, my co-supervisor, and I want to thank the amazing Skywalker crew that pulled it all together.\n-Randy Thom\nSKYWALKER SOUND - MIX A\nSUPERVISING SOUND EDITOR: Randy Thom\nSUPERVISING SOUND EDITOR: Michael Silvers\nDX/MX RE-RECORDING MIXER: Michael Semanick\nFX RE-RECORDING MIXER: Randy Thom\nORIGINAL DIALOG MIXER: Doc Kane\nSONY SCORING STAGE\nCOMPOSER: Michael Giacchino\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2007/06/ratatouille/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eA sound job with great taste, Ratatouille scurries into theaters June 29th. Sound supervision was cooked up by Randy Thom and Micheal Silvers. No strangers to animated film sound this is their second Pixar film together. They won the very first sound editing Oscar for an animated film with 2004\u0026rsquo;s The Incredibles.  Thom mixed the show along side Zodiac re-recording mixer Michael Semanick. Semanick won an Oscar during his LOTR fellowship and with 2005\u0026rsquo;s Kong.  Original dialog recording credit went to Doc Kane who has three Oscar nominations for his duties on Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Incredibles.  Kane, a busy and distinguished ADR mixer in his own right, works out of ADR B on Disney\u0026rsquo;s Burbank studio lot. Michael Giacchino another The Incredibles alum, composed the music for the film. Giacchino also an established television composer has been busy on Lost and Ailas as well as writing the music for Gary Rydstrom\u0026rsquo;s directorial debut Lifted. The Oscar nominated animated short is playing before screenings of Ratatouille this Friday.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"RATATOUILLE"},{"content":"Though I doubt the sound schedule was anywhere near 28 weeks long, taking place 7 months after the events of the first film, 28 weeks later runs into theater this friday May 11th. Prodiuction sound mixer Simon Hayes handled the brunt of the location sound with Sound designer/supervising sound editor Glenn Freemantle reanimated to tackle sound editorial and mixers Brendan Nicholson and Ian Tapp dubbing @ Pinewood studio\u0026rsquo;s Theater one just outside of London. The film score was composed by John Murphy another survivor of the first film\u0026hellip; Though I admire the simplicity of the \u0026ldquo;28 days later\u0026rsquo;s\u0026rdquo; video photography I am stoked that the sequel went with a little classier look and though the story seems to rehash some theme\u0026rsquo;s from the first installment the trailer already indicates that big sound events will take place\u0026hellip;\nPINEWOOD THEATER ONE\nSUPERVISING SOUND EDITOR: Glenn Freemantle\nRE-RECORDING MIXER: Brendan Nicholson\nRE-RECORDING MIXER: Ian Tapp\nPRODUCTION SOUND MIXER: Simon Hayes\nCOMPOSER: John Murphy\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2007/05/28-weeks-later/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThough I doubt the sound schedule was anywhere near 28 weeks long, taking place 7 months after the events of the first film, 28 weeks later runs into theater this friday May 11th. Prodiuction sound mixer Simon Hayes handled the brunt of the location sound with Sound designer/supervising sound editor Glenn Freemantle reanimated to tackle sound editorial and mixers Brendan Nicholson and Ian Tapp dubbing @ Pinewood studio\u0026rsquo;s Theater one just outside of London. The film score was composed by John Murphy another survivor of the first film\u0026hellip; Though I admire the simplicity of the \u0026ldquo;28 days later\u0026rsquo;s\u0026rdquo; video photography I am stoked that the sequel went with a little classier look and though the story seems to rehash some theme\u0026rsquo;s from the first installment the trailer already indicates that big sound events will take place\u0026hellip;\u003c/p\u003e","title":"28 WEEKS LATER"},{"content":"\u0026quot; Knocked Up\u0026quot; arrives in theaters June 1st. The LA TIMES recently named director/writer/producer Judd Apatow The Mayor of Comedy; That said, Supervising sound editor George Anderson could be the mayor of comedy sound editing. Anderson has supervised sound on the last four movies that Apatow has produced or directed. Starting in 2005 with \u0026ldquo;The 40-Year-Old Virgin\u0026rdquo;, Anderson supervised \u0026ldquo;Talladega Nights\u0026rdquo;, \u0026ldquo;Knocked Up\u0026rdquo; and the soon to be released \u0026ldquo;Superbad\u0026rdquo;. Re-recording mixers Scott Millan and David Parker join Anderson on the dub stage. Millan won an Oscar in 2005 for his work on \u0026ldquo;Ray\u0026rdquo; and is finishing up his work on the \u0026ldquo;The Bourne Ultimatum\u0026rdquo;. Parker Won an Oscar in 1996 for \u0026ldquo;The English Patient\u0026rdquo; where he worked along side Water Murch and mixed \u0026ldquo;Zodiac\u0026rdquo; earlier this year. Production sound mixer David Macmillan also and Oscar winner most recently for 1995\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;Apollo 13\u0026rdquo; shot this summer\u0026rsquo;s remake of \u0026ldquo;Hairspray\u0026rdquo;. Loudon Wainwright III and collaborator Joe Henry scored the film. Wainwirght also has a supporting role in the film and acted in Apatow\u0026rsquo;s TV series \u0026ldquo;Undeclared\u0026rdquo;.\nTODD-AO STAGE 2\nSUPERVISING SOUND EDITOR: George Anderson\nRE-RECORDING MIXER: Scott Millan\nRE-RECORDING MIXER: David Parker\nPRODUCTION SOUND MIXER: David MacMillan\nORIGINAL MUSIC: Loudon Wainwright III\nORIGINAL MUSIC: Joe Henry\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2007/05/knocked-up/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u0026quot; Knocked Up\u0026quot; arrives in theaters June 1st.  The LA TIMES recently named director/writer/producer Judd Apatow The Mayor of Comedy; That said, Supervising sound editor George Anderson could be the mayor of comedy sound editing. Anderson has supervised sound on the last four movies that Apatow has produced or directed. Starting in 2005 with \u0026ldquo;The 40-Year-Old Virgin\u0026rdquo;, Anderson supervised \u0026ldquo;Talladega Nights\u0026rdquo;, \u0026ldquo;Knocked Up\u0026rdquo; and the soon to be released \u0026ldquo;Superbad\u0026rdquo;.  Re-recording mixers Scott Millan and David Parker join Anderson on the dub stage.   Millan won an Oscar in 2005 for his work on \u0026ldquo;Ray\u0026rdquo; and is finishing up his work on the \u0026ldquo;The Bourne Ultimatum\u0026rdquo;.  Parker Won an Oscar in 1996 for \u0026ldquo;The English Patient\u0026rdquo; where he worked along side Water Murch and mixed \u0026ldquo;Zodiac\u0026rdquo; earlier this year.  Production sound mixer David Macmillan also and Oscar winner most recently for 1995\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;Apollo 13\u0026rdquo;  shot this summer\u0026rsquo;s remake of \u0026ldquo;Hairspray\u0026rdquo;.   Loudon Wainwright III and collaborator Joe Henry scored the film.  Wainwirght also has a supporting role in the film and acted in Apatow\u0026rsquo;s TV series  \u0026ldquo;Undeclared\u0026rdquo;.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"KNOCKED UP"},{"content":"Hi All,\nJust wanted to take the time to explain the purpose and goal of this blog. I started this in hopes of creating something that focused on feature post sound, showcasing all the talented people and world class facilities that often are faceless entities or job titles in the finishing of films. I found it strange that other post production disciplines press release their involvement but sound, for the most part, remains a mystery. Internet hype is everywhere for upcoming films, but rarley does sound get the attention it deserves. To change this paradigm, awareness and recognition are paramount. So, I view this blog as a more extensive, sound only imdb.com: a one-stop shop for all things film-sound including, but not exclusive to info on the dubbing stage(s), and scoring stage(s) used, as well pictures, mini-bios of the supervising sound editor(s), re-recording mixer(s), production sound mixer(s) and composer(s). I do understand that with this kind of endeavor there is an amount of potential toe stepping involved, so I intend to keep the posts, at least initially, to finished films that already have info available online. I hope that this idea is appealing to fellow colleges and hopefully fan-boys and girls of the internet are already amped up about upcoming films. Obviously, I am trying very hard to post accurate information but any and all comments or corrections are encouraged and appreciated. In addition, I know calling this blog \u0026ldquo;fimsounddaily\u0026rdquo; should really entail daily posts. I hope with enough support for this idea I can get the post frequency up to \u0026ldquo;daily\u0026rdquo; but until that point it\u0026rsquo;ll be a little more sparse. I hope this blog can evolve into something that will include tech announcements and reviews as well as interviews with crew members and maybe even op-ed pieces, but again, all of that will come with interest and time. If you would like to get in touch with me I have a link to my email in the sidebar; please spread the word, suggest anything you would like to see on this thing, and hopefully, \u0026ldquo;\u0026hellip;If we do our jobs well and throw in a little evangelizing, we can make sound as important part of filmmaking as it should be.\u0026quot;-Gary Rydstrom\nEnjoy, Filmsounddaily.com\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2007/05/mission-statement/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHi All,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJust wanted to take the time to explain the purpose and goal of this blog.  I started this in hopes of creating something that focused on feature post sound, showcasing all the talented people and world class facilities that often are faceless entities or job titles in the finishing of films. I found it strange that other post production disciplines press release their involvement but sound, for the most part, remains a mystery.  Internet hype is everywhere for upcoming films, but rarley does sound get the attention it deserves. To change this paradigm, awareness and recognition are paramount. So, I view this blog as a more extensive, sound only imdb.com: a one-stop shop for all things film-sound including, but not exclusive to info on the dubbing stage(s), and scoring stage(s) used, as well pictures, mini-bios of the supervising sound editor(s), re-recording mixer(s), production sound mixer(s) and composer(s).  I do understand that with this kind of endeavor there is an amount of potential toe stepping involved, so I intend to keep the posts, at least initially, to finished films that already have info available online.  I hope that this idea is appealing to fellow colleges and hopefully fan-boys and girls of the internet are already amped up about upcoming films. Obviously, I am trying very hard to post accurate information but any and all comments or corrections are encouraged and appreciated.  In addition, I know calling this blog \u0026ldquo;fimsounddaily\u0026rdquo; should really entail daily posts. I hope with enough support for this idea I can get the post frequency up to \u0026ldquo;daily\u0026rdquo; but until that point it\u0026rsquo;ll be a little more sparse. I hope this blog can evolve into something that will include tech announcements and reviews as well as interviews with crew members and maybe even op-ed pieces, but again, all of that will come with interest and time.  If you would like to get in touch with me I have a link to my email in the sidebar; please spread the word, suggest anything you would like to see on this thing, and hopefully, \u0026ldquo;\u0026hellip;If we do our jobs well and throw in a little evangelizing, we can make sound as important part of filmmaking as it should be.\u0026quot;-Gary Rydstrom\u003c/p\u003e","title":"MISSION STATEMENT..."},{"content":" Content Unavailable — This post was referenced by other articles.\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2007/05/pirates-of-caribbean-at-worlds-end/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eContent Unavailable\u003c/strong\u003e — This post was referenced by other articles.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eData preservation for the cinematography community.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD'S END"},{"content":"In a summer of sequels \u0026ldquo;Shrek the Third\u0026rdquo; rides into theathers May 18th. Bringing that CG created fairytale world to life, let alone sound funny are Richard L. Anderson, Thomas Jones Supervising Sound Editors, Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson Re-recording mixers, and Harry Gregson-Williams Composer. Animated soundtracks have always lent an enhanced level of creative license, and though the majority of feature releases replace most production sound with foley and/or sound effects, every single auditory event are left to the sound editors, mixers, and composers to design from scratch. Richard L. Anderson and Thomas Jones are no strangers to animation, co-sound souping Dreamworks\u0026rsquo; \u0026ldquo;Over the Hedge\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;Flushed Away\u0026rdquo; over the last two years. Anderson just received the \u0026ldquo;career achievement award\u0026rdquo; at this years MPSE Golden Reel awards for his work on everything from \u0026ldquo;Raiders of the Lost Arc\u0026rdquo; to \u0026ldquo;Being John Malkovich\u0026rdquo;. Andy Nelson and Anna Behlemer coming off back to back sound mixing oscar nods for \u0026ldquo;\u0026ldquo;War of the Worlds\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;Blood Diamond\u0026rdquo; respectively, mixed the film at Fox\u0026rsquo;s Howard Hawks dub stage, one of the three feature stages located on the Centery City lot. Harry Gregson-Williams returns to the swamp having scored the first 2 shreks. As Tony Scott\u0026rsquo;s go to guy, Williams has scored all of Scott\u0026rsquo;s features since 1998\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;Enemy of the State\u0026rdquo;. Though I do not have confirmation of this, I believe the score was tracked ar Air Studio\u0026rsquo;s in London, being that almost all of the most recent Dreamworks animated films including \u0026ldquo;Shrek 2\u0026rdquo; were scored there\u0026hellip;\nFOX HOWARD HAWKS STAGE\nSUPERVISING SOUND EDITOR: Richard L. Anderson\nSUPERVISING SOUND EDITOR: Thomas Jones\nRE-RECORDING MIXER: Anna Behlmer\nRE-RECORDING MIXER: Andy Nelson\nCOMPOSER: Harry Gregson-Williams\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2007/05/shrek-third/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIn a summer of sequels \u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026ldquo;Shrek the Third\u0026rdquo;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e rides into theathers May 18th. Bringing that CG created fairytale world to life, let alone sound funny are Richard L. Anderson, Thomas Jones Supervising Sound Editors, Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson Re-recording mixers, and Harry Gregson-Williams Composer. Animated soundtracks have always lent an enhanced level of creative license, and though the majority of feature releases replace most production sound with foley and/or sound effects, every single auditory event are left to the sound editors, mixers, and composers to design from scratch. Richard L. Anderson and Thomas Jones are no strangers to animation, co-sound souping Dreamworks\u0026rsquo; \u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026ldquo;Over the Hedge\u0026rdquo;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026ldquo;Flushed Away\u0026rdquo;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e over the last two years. Anderson just received the \u0026ldquo;career achievement award\u0026rdquo; at this years MPSE Golden Reel awards for his work on everything from \u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026ldquo;Raiders of the Lost Arc\u0026rdquo;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e to \u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026ldquo;Being John Malkovich\u0026rdquo;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e.  Andy Nelson and Anna Behlemer coming off back to back sound mixing oscar nods for \u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026ldquo;\u0026ldquo;War of the Worlds\u0026rdquo;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026ldquo;Blood Diamond\u0026rdquo;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e respectively, mixed the film at Fox\u0026rsquo;s Howard Hawks dub stage, one of the three feature stages located on the Centery City lot. Harry Gregson-Williams returns to the swamp having scored the first 2 shreks. As Tony Scott\u0026rsquo;s go to guy, Williams has scored all of Scott\u0026rsquo;s features since 1998\u0026rsquo;s \u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026ldquo;Enemy of the State\u0026rdquo;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e. Though I do not have confirmation of this, I believe the score was tracked ar Air Studio\u0026rsquo;s in London, being that almost all of the most recent Dreamworks animated films including \u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026ldquo;Shrek 2\u0026rdquo;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e were scored there\u0026hellip;\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SHREK THE THIRD"},{"content":"Wow. Leaving the Samuel Goldwyn Theater on Wilshire last night I couldn\u0026rsquo;t help feel inspired, The Science and Technology Council of AMPAS presented a show called **The Sound Behind the Image. Kevin O\u0026rsquo;Connell, re-recording mixer and 19 time oscar nominee was the MC and introduced Ben Burtt one of the first people to coin the term sound designer, who took us on an informative and exciting tour of the history of sound in action adventure films arriving at star wars where he expanded upon some of his experiences while on the working on the film. After Ben\u0026rsquo;s solo presentation Burtt, O\u0026rsquo;Connell and almost all the re-recording mixers from the star wars trilogy, arguably the most influential few films in the world of sound, sat down on stage to rap about their experiences and journeys while finishing those soundtracks. Its amazing to think about how far our craft has come in 30 years, all in all a tremendous event highlighting some of the great pioneers of our community. The Academy is planning more of these, I can only hope that they help the rest of the academy and with any luck some of the general public understand how much creativity and effort go into what they hear while in a darkened theater. Hopefully, events like this that can attract broad audiences with the academy\u0026rsquo;s reach, so filmmakers and audiences alike can discover how important a quality soundtrack is to the storytelling process. Bravo to the sci tech council, way to toe the mark!\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2007/05/towing-mark/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWow. Leaving the Samuel Goldwyn Theater on Wilshire last night I couldn\u0026rsquo;t help feel inspired, The Science and Technology Council of AMPAS presented a show called **The Sound Behind the Image.  Kevin O\u0026rsquo;Connell, re-recording mixer and 19 time oscar nominee was the MC and introduced Ben Burtt one of the first people to coin the term sound designer, who took us on an informative and exciting tour of the history of sound in action adventure films arriving at star wars where he expanded upon some of his experiences while on the working on the film. After Ben\u0026rsquo;s solo presentation Burtt, O\u0026rsquo;Connell and almost all the re-recording mixers from the star wars trilogy, arguably the most influential few films in the world of sound, sat down on stage to rap about their experiences and journeys while finishing those soundtracks. Its amazing to think about how far our craft has come in 30 years, all in all a tremendous event highlighting some of the great pioneers of our community. The Academy is planning more of these, I can only hope that they help the rest of the academy and with any luck some of the general public understand how much creativity and effort go into what they hear while in a darkened theater. Hopefully, events like this that can attract broad audiences with the academy\u0026rsquo;s reach, so filmmakers and audiences alike can discover how important a quality soundtrack is to the storytelling process. Bravo to the sci tech council, way to toe the mark!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"TOE THE MARK"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;Fantastic Four 2: Rise of the Silver Surfer\u0026rdquo; lands into theaters June 15th. The second Marvel property sequeling this year, guarantees loads of aural opportunity with its metallic beach bum villain. Craig Henighan and John A. Larsen co-supervised the show, with the bulk of the sound editorial being done on the Fox lot. Henighan and Larsen have been working together since last year\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;X-Men 3 \u0026ldquo;. Mixing took place on Sony\u0026rsquo;s William Holden dub stage, with Gary C. Bourgeois and Greg Orloff as DX/MX and FX mixers, respectively. This is their second marvel movie this year, hot off the heals of February\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;Ghost Rider\u0026rdquo;. Eric Batut, coming off another big film with last year\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;Eragon,\u0026rdquo; shot production sound. John Ottman, also a returning craftsman from \u0026ldquo;Fantastic Four\u0026rdquo; (Larsen and Batut also worked on it) scored the film. Ever the multi-tasker, Ottman both cut and scored last year\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;Superman Returns.\u0026rdquo;\nThanks go out to Craig Henighan who took time out of his busy dub schedule to participate in a brief Q and A:\nWith so many characters having unique super powers, which was your favorite to design sound for?\nThe most interesting character to design was Silver Surfer. He had to be graceful, sleek, stealthy, but also capable of showing immense speed and power. I started with basic recordings of thin sheet metal with contact mics placed on both sides of the metal. I then put some thick oil on the metal and performed movement to some of the earliest sequences I received from the pix editors. From that I built specific moves for Surfer. Hovering, slow moves and fast -bys were accomplished by layering different pitches of the sound. I also used GRM tools doppler plug-ins to get even more movement from the performances. I then had [foley artist] Dan O\u0026rsquo;Connell do some wild recordings of anything that came to his mind for the Silver Surfer. He did some interesting stuff, so I would take bits and pieces of what he did and incorporate them into the sounds for specific moments. I also built a library of \u0026ldquo;breath-bys\u0026rdquo;, which came from conversations with Director Tim Story, who wanted to have Surfer be graceful in spots. I ended up recording my own voice, added some chorus and tremolo, then once again set about pitching and layering to get the required feeling I was after. As for the other characters, my job was to take their signature sounds and further refine them. I didn\u0026rsquo;t work on the first \u0026ldquo;Fantastic Four,\u0026rdquo; so I first listened to all the original sound elements for the given characters, then built upon them, making some stronger, (Johnny\u0026rsquo;s flames) and some more precise (Dr Doom\u0026rsquo;s power blasts).\nHow much field recording did you get to do?\nWe recorded four cars for the \u0026ldquo;Fantastic Car\u0026rdquo;, which makes its debut in this film. We did a Dodge Viper, Dodge Hemi Charger, and two Ford Mustangs. Rob Nokes, from Sounddogs.com came out and helped us with his deva. We did a day at a drag strip and another night session out in Palmdale. We used Rob\u0026rsquo;s 8 channel Deva, plus two Sound Devices 744\u0026rsquo;s. I also did a bunch of smaller recordings for things such as Reed\u0026rsquo;s stretching, Johnny\u0026rsquo;s flames, the Silver Surfer\u0026rsquo;s board going through walls and windows. Everything from liquid, to smooth glass elements, to flares, etc.\nDid you and John Larsen get a chance to communicate with John Ottman during editorial about score and FX correlation?\nJohn Ottman and I started sending mini mixes back and forth in late January. We had a few discussions of what tonal stuff I was doing and how it would play against his music. For the most part, everything has its place; he really knows how to score around big action moments, so it gives my stuff a chance to breathe. The track has great clarity to it.\nWith large shows like this, how important is premixing units, before hitting the predub stage?\nWe spent about three weeks premixing my tracks from the ground up. I normally do a lot of premixing in my suite and deliver 5.1\u0026rsquo;s, 5.0\u0026rsquo;s and LCR\u0026rsquo;s. This time I thought it\u0026rsquo;d be fun to deconstruct what I did in my room and reinterpret it at the premix stage. Greg Orloff and I had a lot of fun. We did a lot of work prior to the final mix. Most of the VFX didn\u0026rsquo;t show up until the final, which made it interesting at times because some of the visuals changed quite dramatically.\nWILLIAM HOLDEN DUB STAGE\nSUPERVISING SOUND EDITOR: John A. Larsen\nSUPERVISING SOUND EDITOR: Craig Henighan\nDX/MX RE-RECORDING MIXER: Gary C. Bourgeois\nFX RE-RECORDING MIXER: Greg Orloff\nPRODUCTION MIXER: Eric Batut\nFOX SCORING STAGE\nCOMPOSER: John Ottman\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2007/04/fantastic-four-2-rise-of-silver-surfer/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;Fantastic Four 2: Rise of the Silver Surfer\u0026rdquo; lands into theaters June 15th. The second Marvel property sequeling this year, guarantees loads of aural opportunity with its metallic beach bum villain.  Craig Henighan and John A. Larsen co-supervised the show, with the bulk of the sound editorial being done on the Fox lot. Henighan and Larsen have been working together since last year\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;X-Men 3 \u0026ldquo;.  Mixing took place on Sony\u0026rsquo;s William Holden dub stage, with  Gary C. Bourgeois and Greg Orloff as DX/MX and FX mixers, respectively. This is their second marvel movie this year, hot off the heals of February\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;Ghost Rider\u0026rdquo;.  Eric Batut,  coming off another big film with last year\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;Eragon,\u0026rdquo; shot production sound.  John Ottman, also a returning craftsman from \u0026ldquo;Fantastic Four\u0026rdquo; (Larsen and Batut also worked on it) scored the film. Ever the multi-tasker, Ottman both cut and scored last year\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;Superman Returns.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e","title":"FANTASTIC FOUR 2: RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER"},{"content":"This June 8th, \u0026ldquo;Hostel: Part 2\u0026rdquo; hacks into theaters. Making all the blood and guts sound as gross as they look are the sound supervisors from last year\u0026rsquo;s Mayan adventure \u0026ldquo;Apocalypto\u0026rdquo; Kami Asgar and Sean McCormack and the Re-recording mixers from this year\u0026rsquo;s epic \u0026ldquo;300\u0026rdquo;, Chris Jenkins and Frank A. Montaño. Sound editorial took place @ Asgar and McCormack\u0026rsquo;s post sound company 424post. Horror films heavily reliant on ambiance, sound design and musical stings to sell scares are great opportunities for sound creative license. Mixing took place at Universal\u0026rsquo;s Alfred Hitchcock theater or Dub 4, also a popular stop on the universal studios tram tour. Tomas Belohradsky returns to the hostel series as the production sound mixer, with most of the principle photography being shot in the Czech Republic. Nathan Barr returning as composer, tracked the score in the Czech Republic at CSNO studios. A repeat composer for the broken lizard produced films, Barr continued scoring last year\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;Beerfest\u0026rdquo;.\nALFRED HITCHCOCK DUB STAGE\nDX/MX RE-RECORDING MIXER: Chris Jenkins\nFX RE-RECORDING MIXER: Frank A. Montaño\nSUPERVISING SOUND EDITOR: Kami Asgar\nSUPERVISING SOUND EDITOR: Sean McCormack\nPRODUCTION SOUND MIXER:Tomas Belohradsky\nCNSO STUDIO 1\nCOMPOSER: Nathan Barr\nData preservation for the cinematography community.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/2007/04/hostel-part-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThis June 8th, \u0026ldquo;Hostel: Part 2\u0026rdquo; hacks into theaters. Making all the blood and guts sound as gross as they look are the sound supervisors from last year\u0026rsquo;s Mayan adventure \u0026ldquo;Apocalypto\u0026rdquo; Kami Asgar and Sean McCormack and the Re-recording mixers from this year\u0026rsquo;s epic \u0026ldquo;300\u0026rdquo;, Chris Jenkins and Frank A. Montaño. Sound editorial took place @ Asgar and McCormack\u0026rsquo;s post sound company 424post. Horror films heavily reliant on ambiance, sound design and musical stings to sell scares are great opportunities for sound creative license. Mixing took place at Universal\u0026rsquo;s Alfred Hitchcock theater or Dub 4, also a popular stop on the universal studios tram tour. Tomas Belohradsky returns to the hostel series as the production sound mixer, with most of the principle photography being shot in the Czech Republic.  Nathan Barr returning as composer, tracked the score in the Czech Republic at CSNO studios. A repeat composer for the broken lizard produced films, Barr continued scoring last year\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;Beerfest\u0026rdquo;.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"HOSTEL: PART 2"},{"content":"Film Sound Daily was a blog dedicated to the art and craft of film sound design, originally published from 2007 to 2010.\nThe blog covered sound design breakdowns for major film releases including Transformers, The Dark Knight, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Ratatouille, There Will Be Blood, and many more. It featured interviews with legendary sound designers, industry award coverage (MPSE, CAS, Oscars), and technical analysis of film soundtracks.\nAbout This Archive This site is a data preservation effort for the cinematography community. All content is preserved as originally published, with internal links maintained where possible, to preserve knowledge of the craft for future generations of filmmakers.\n","permalink":"https://filmsounddaily.com/about/","summary":"About this site","title":"About Film Sound Daily"}]