CINEMA AUDIO SOCIETY AWARDS NOMINEE OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND MIXING
PRODUCTION MIXER: ROLAND WINKE RE-RECORDING MIXERS: CHRISTOPHER SCARABOSIO CRAIG BERKEY, CAS SCORING MIXER: ANDREW DUDMAN
“ A fairy tale of lightning speed, driven by the electronic beat of a hypnotic score by the chemical brothers. Like nothing you’ve ever seen. A knockout.” – PETER TRAVERS, ROLLING STONE
WINNER
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS LOS ANGELES FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION
For up-to-the-minute screening information and more on this extraordinary film, go to: www.FocusAwards2011.com
FEATURES 48th Annual CAS Awards Nominations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 CAS Career Achievement Award . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Scott Millan, CAS receives highest honor
Technical Award Noms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 New Production Sound Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 An app that makes it easier
14
Visiting the Other Side . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 A post guy goes on location
Reality TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 The reality of Reality audio
Working Overseas? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Gotta have a Carnet
26 DEPARTMENTS President’s Letter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 It’s Awards season!
From the Editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
30
Happy 2012
Technically Speaking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Normalization, compression and dynamic range
Been There Done That . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 CAS members check in
The Lighter Side . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
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Cover: Scott Millan, CAS
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THE PRESIDENT’S LETTER
Welcome everyone to our winter edition, right in the middle of Awards season! Inside these pages, you will find articles of interest to the sound community written by our members, as well as contributions from our corporate sponsors, which we hope you will find interesting as you work and learn in the craft of sound mixing. Your CAS Board has set in motion several ideas and concepts, which will expand the reach of the CAS, as well as to further our mission: to advance the art and craft of sound mixing. Recently, we launched our new website—CinemaAudioSociety.org—which will be our platform for all of our events and news. The site will be a two-way street, as we grow it into an interactive site. Check it out and please send feedback and ideas! Regarding our Awards, we have revised three of our categories to now include scoring mixers as nominees. This goal was realized this year for the very first time, and next year will likely expand to include other mixing disciplines, as well as new Award categories. I am very excited to see these and many other changes happening as the CAS grows. Also on the website, you will find our Awards Timeline which outlines our Awards season, leading up to the dinner held at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles on February 18, 2012. The Awards event this year promises to be exciting and surprising, so don’t miss it. Along with our Awards for Achievement in Sound Mixing and our Awards for Technical Achievement in Production and Post Production, we are honoring Mr. Scott Millan, CAS with our CAS Career Achievement Award. Plus, we will be honoring Mr. Rob Marshall as the recipient of our prestigious Filmmaker Award. If you do miss the Awards dinner however, you will find it online, along with a segment to “Meet the Winners.” Speaking of seminars, keep an eye out in the spring for our next public event, which will be based on music in production and post-production mixing. We will have a distinguished panel of mixers, music executives, composers, and music editors on hand to discuss anything and everything involved with the prep and execution of music mixes for film and television. Another goal of ours is to reach out to our national and international sound community, and hopefully bring this seminar to the East Coast, and possibly overseas. We are constantly looking for ways to include our ‘out of town’ members, and use the available technology to close the gap of distance, and involve more of our membership in our events. I see no reason to delay! We will also be partnering with our sister guilds and organizations to make our events even stronger, and bringing topics of interest to the entire membership. In closing, I’d like to say “thank you” to your CAS Board of Directors for all their hard work. We are now entering a new election year, with some of our Board members moving on to other endeavors, others being re-elected, and still others entering the Board for the first time. I am very excited to tell you that the participation for Board membership is at an all-time high. This will enable us to provide the membership with more value, representation, and activities to enjoy as a CAS member. If you would like to get more involved, just let us know, you will be welcomed.
CINEMA AUDIO SOCIETY MISSION STATEMENT
To educate and inform the general public and the motion picture and television industry that effective sound is achieved by a creative, artistic and technical blending of diverse sound elements. To provide the motion picture and television industry with a progressive society of master craftsmen specialized in the art of creative cinematic sound recording. To advance the specialized field of cinematic sound recording by exchange of ideas, methods, and information. To advance the art of auditory appreciation, and to philanthropically support those causes dedicated to the sense of hearing. To institute and maintain high standards of conduct and craftsmanship among our members. To aid the motion picture and television industry in the selection and training of qualified personnel in the unique field of cinematic sound recording. To achieve for our members deserved recognition as major contributors to the field of motion picture and television entertainment.
CAS WINTER 2012 NEW MEMBERS Active Kevin Roache, CAS Robert Sharman, CAS
Associate Brett Butler Yu-Ting Su Eric Stolz Phil Vo
Student David E. Fluhr, CAS President of the Cinema Audio Society 4
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Bennie Hester Jean Tsai
GOLDEN GLOBE® AWARDS
NORTH TEXAS FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION
CRITICS’ CHOICE MOVIE AWARDS
WINNER BEST FILM EDITING
WINNER BEST FILM EDITING
ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS
LAS VEGAS FILM CRITICS SOCIETY
THELMA SCHOONMAKER, A.C.E.
THELMA SCHOONMAKER, A.C.E.
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ACADEMY AWARD® NOMINATIONS
BEST PICTURE BEST SOUND EDITING BEST SOUND MIXING INCLUDING
FROM THE EDITORS...
Happy 2012 everyone! 2012? When did that happen? Anyway, here we are in a new year and our first Quarterly of the year includes an interview with our Career Achievement Award recipient, Scott Millan, CAS, courtesy of Peter Damski, CAS. Should you be starting your year off with a trip out of the country for an upcoming shoot, Paul Vik Marshall, CAS provides some excellent info about Carnets. Karol Urban, CAS discusses the realities of mixing a reality show while Will Hansen, CAS checks out a new production sound focused app, MovieSlate. G. John Garrett, CAS discusses normalization and compression in his “Technically Speaking” column while Matt Foglia, CAS recounts an experience being on set instead of in the studio. As always, you can see what your fellow members are up to in the “Been There Done That” section and don’t forget to heckle them at the CAS Awards ceremony (February 18) about their “Lighter Side” submissions! The CAS Quarterly is produced as a service to our members on a voluntary basis. We appreciate, and encourage, your feedback and suggestions—so send them in! We would like to thank the members who send in story ideas—or even the whole story already written! If you have something of interest, whether on the production or post-production side, please feel free to contribute! Email us at casquarterly@cinemaaudiosociety.org. Finally, we ask that you remember that our sponsors are professionals like you who understand the business and needs of our industry. We encourage your commitment to them. On behalf of the CAS, we wish you and yours a happy, healthy and prosperous 2012.
OFFICERS
President: David E. Fluhr Vice President: John Coffey Treasurer: Peter Damski Secretary: David J. Bondelevitch BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Deb Adair Bob Bronow Ed Greene Tom Holman Paul Vik Marshall Scott Millan
Frank Morrone Lee Orloff Lisa Pinero Greg P. Russell Jeff Wexler
ALTERNATES
Bob Beemer Phil Palmer Joe Foglia R.D. Floyd OFFICE MANAGER
Patti Fluhr EDITORS
Peter Damski Matt Foglia PUBLISHER
IngleDodd Publishing 11661 San Vicente Blvd., Ste. 709 Los Angeles, CA 90049
Peter Damski, CAS
Matt Foglia, CAS
QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS:
Cinema Audio Society 827 Hollywood Way #632 Burbank, CA 91505 Phone: 818.752.8624 Fax: 818.752.8624 Email casquarterly@cinemaaudiosociety.org Website www.cinemaaudiosociety.org ADVERTISING:
Dan Dodd 310.207.4410 x 236 Email: Advertising@IngleDodd.com ©2012 by the Cinema Audio Society. All rights reserved. CAS®, Cinema Audio Society®, and Dedicated to the advancement of Sound® are all trademarks of the Cinema Audio Society and may not be used without permission. 6
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ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATIONS
BEST SOUND EDITING
速
BEST SOUND MIXING
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Normalization, Compression and Dynamic Range or by G . Jo h n G a rre tt, C A S
B
“What do you mean ‘dynamic range?’ I’m playing as loud as I can!”
Broadcast radio, more or less, began the loudness wars with each station wanting to be the loudest on the dial. Analog mediums, such as vinyl records, had a different horse in the race, being physically limited by what the cutter heads could do in the medium. Mastering engineers still wanted to maximize levels for the best S/N they could get, and in the process, give many artists what they wanted; a “louder” sounding mix. I think, though I’m not at all certain, that this, along with the limitations of the analog medium, may have kept pre-masters from being overly hot and compressed—since the mastering engineer had to have something he could limit and get onto lacquer without wrecking the pressing or the lathe. With digital audio, there is an absolute program level limit built into the very concept; once all the numbers in a digital word are 1s, adding more level creates instant disaster. With that in mind, here are a couple of thoughts on normalization, compression and dynamic range in the digital world— and maybe a couple of pitfalls to avoid. Here’s the short of it: Normalization just takes the loudest part of the waveform as a reference and increases the overall level until the loudest part is at the target level, say -3 dBFS (decibels Full Scale). It does not change the dynamic range of the waveform at all. It may sound “better” because it’s louder. If you play the same piece of music in an A/B listening test, the one which is louder, even by a dB or two, will appear to sound “better.” That’s just how our perception works, and I have been fooled by not observing equal loudness a time or two. It may be that some people normalize tracks so they are louder. When this is done, the noise level in the track goes up, too, since you are elevating the whole signal. Also, loudness depends on a lot more than the peak level of a program. Anybody who’s tracked drums should know this. If you normalize something to near 0 dBFS, you can have clipping when you apply other FX (such as an EQ boost), because the pre-fade level is high to begin with. You can also create audible distortion from the D/A converters if they have no headroom above 0 dBFS. Sure you can pull the fader back before you send to the next process, but then why go through normalization to 8
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begin with? Also, maximizing the peak level of any track for loudness’ sake doesn’t consider how that track will sit in a mix. There are certainly cases for normalization, like when a track is recorded so low that you can’t get the level you need from the channel strip (although, these will often require some form of noise suppression on the back end since you are bringing up the noise floor considerably). My favorite bit of wisdom on compression comes from the Nagra 4.2 manual. Paraphrased it’s “When faced with a decision on whether to use compression on a track, no (field) mixer is in need of advice.” This is partly because compression can’t really be undone once it’s printed to tape or disk and partly because it will likely be applied to the material at least once in post. Also, compression is not difficult to over-do. Compression reduces the dynamic range of the material. A somewhat simplified explanation is that it lowers the loudest parts of the waveform, and usually results in a net reduction of the average level (compressing the signal), so makeup gain is applied to retain a consistent output level. Of course, once it’s made louder, it is perceived as better sounding. From a practical standpoint, compression makes it easier to mix sources whose average loudness varies more than one would like; you have to ride the faders less. And of course, once you’ve applied the makeup gain, the material is louder. In the music world, the trend toward “louder” has resulted in mastering engineers working with rectangular waveforms, having had most of the life and air compressed right out of them (search for mastering engineer Ted Jensen’s discussion on Metallica’s Death Magnetic record). The same thing happens on plenty of mix stages too. My advice to our student members (since our voting and associate members are in no need of it!) is to normalize last, not first, to compress tracks less and save it for the final mix. Use your hand and the fader more instead of relying on a processor. There are great reasons for using normalization and compression in your mixes. Make sure you have one before you decide to do it! •
outstanding achievement in sound mixing for 2011
motion pictures Hanna Production Mixer: Roland Winke
Re-recording Mixers: Christopher Scarabosio Craig Berkey, CAS
Scoring Mixer: Andrew Dudman
Hugo Production Mixer:
48th Annual
CAS AWARDS nominees The Cinema Audio Society will host the 48th Annual Awards on Saturday, February 18, 2012, in the Crystal Ballroom of the Millennium Biltmore Hotel. A highlight of the evening will be the presentation of the CAS Career Achievement Award to re-recording mixer Scott Millan, CAS. Another highlight is the presentation of the CAS Filmmaker Award to director Rob Marshall. Awards for Outstanding Mixing will be presented in four categories. Winners will be announced in the categories for Motion Pictures; Television Movies and Mini-Series; Television Series; and Television Non-Fiction, Variety, Music Series or Specials. For the eighth year in a row, the CAS will present two Technical Achievement Awards honoring technical innovation in the areas of Production and Post-Production sound. The evening kicks off with cocktails in the Tiffany Room at 5 p.m., with dinner at 6:45 p.m., followed by the Awards presentation at 8 p.m. To order tickets, contact office manager Patti Fluhr at (818) 752-8624 or e-mail: CasOffice@CinemaAudioSociety.org. Event address: The Biltmore Hotel, 506 South Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90071 10
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John Midgley
Re-recording Mixer: Tom Fleischman, CAS
Scoring Mixer: Simon Rhodes
Moneyball Production Mixer: Ed Novick
Re-recording Mixers: Deb Adair, CAS Ron Bochar, CAS David Giammarco
Scoring Mixer: Brad Haehnel
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides Production Mixer: Lee Orloff, CAS
Re-recording Mixers: Paul Massey, CAS Christopher Boyes
Scoring Mixer: Alan Meyerson
Super 8 Production Mixer: Mark Ulano, CAS
Re-recording Mixers: Andy Nelson Anna Behlmer Tom Johnson
Scoring Mixer: Dan Wallin
outstanding achievement in sound mixing for 2011
outstanding achievement in sound mixing for 2011
television movies and mini-series
television series
Cinema Verite
Boardwalk Empire
Production Mixer:
“To the Lost”
Petur Hliddal
Re-recording Mixers: Lora Hirschberg Scott Lewis Douglas Murray
Production Mixer: Franklin D. Stettner, CAS
Re-recording Mixer: Tom Fleischman, CAS
Scoring Mixer: Greg Townley
Innocent Production Mixer: Shane Connelly
Re-recording Mixers: Mark Hensley Tamara Johnson, CAS
Scoring Mixer:
Breaking Bad “Face Off” Production Mixer: Darryl L. Frank, CAS
Re-recording Mixers: Jeffrey Perkins Eric Justen
Tom Brissette
The Kennedys
Dexter
Production Mixer:
“Just Let Go”
Henry Embry, CAS
Re-recording Mixers: Frank Morrone, CAS Stephen Traub
Scoring Mixer: Larold Rebhun
Mildred Pierce Production Mixer: Drew Kunin
Re-recording Mixer: Leslie Shatz
Scoring Mixer:
Production Mixer: Greg Agalsoff
Re-recording Mixers: Pete Elia, CAS Kevin Roache, CAS
Game of Thrones “Baelor” Production Mixer: Ronan Hill
Re-recording Mixer: Mark Taylor
Todd Whitelock
Too Big to Fail
The Walking Dead
Production Mixer:
“What Lies Ahead”
James J. Sabat, CAS
Re-recording Mixers: Chris Jenkins Bob Beemer, CAS
Scoring Mixer: Chris Fogel
Production Mixer: Bartek Swiatek, CAS
Re-recording Mixers: Gary D. Rogers, CAS Daniel J. Hiland, CAS
R LI N Y T EW 011 C A S QC UA A SR TQE U RA L YR T EW R I 2N0T1E2R 2 11
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PROFESSIONAL SOUND EQUIPMENT RENTALS
“Great Shows Deserve Great Audio”
outstanding achievement in sound mixing for 2011
television non-fiction, variety, music series or specials
American Experience “Triangle Fire”
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Production Mixers: G. John Garrett, CAS Rick Angelella Everett Wong
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Production Sound:
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INTRODUCING THE GR-2, AN AFFORDABLE MASTER CLOCK
Coll Anderson
Bobby Fischer Against the World Mark Maloof
Re-recording Mixer: Bill Marino
Deadliest Catch “New Blood” Re-recording Mixer: Bob Bronow, CAS
Great Performances at the Met: Nixon in China Re-recording Mixer: Ken Hahn, CAS
Music Mixer: Jay David Saks
DENECKE, INC. 25030 Avenue Stanford, Suite 240 Valencia, CA 91355 Phone (661) 607-0206 Fax (661) 257-2236 www.denecke.com 12
Email: info@denecke.com
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Lady Gaga Presents the Monster Ball Tour: At Madison Square Garden Production Mixer: John Harris
Re-recording Mixer: Brian Riordan, CAS
Scott Millan, CAS
A An n Interview with
Scott Millan by Pe t e r D a m sk i, C A S
For the past 29 years, the Cinema Audio Society has been honoring the best and brightest stars in the sound mixing world. This, the 30th year, is no exception. Scott Millan, CAS will receive the CAS Career Achievement Award on February 18, 2012, at the 48th CAS Awards, being held in the Millennium Biltmore’s Crystal Ballroom in Los Angeles. If I had to describe Millan in one word, it would be ‘humble.’
When you investigate the body of work that Millan has contributed to the film industry, you might envision a person full of himself, with nothing left to accomplish. Scott is the antithesis of that fantasy. Millan is constantly pushing the envelope and staying a step ahead in a quickly-changing industry. Millan’s career has now spanned 37 years and includes both production and post-production credits. He began his sound work in the local TV market at Channel 13 in Los Angeles. He moved into post production, full time, in the late 1980s. Some of the facilities that were lucky to have Millan ‘on board’ include Larson, Todd/AO and Sony. In the fall of 2011, Scott took a new position at the Technicolor/Paramount sound facilities on the Paramount lot, continuing his role as re-recording mixer and serving as Sound Director for Feature Films. Millan has received eight Academy Award nominations with four wins; Scott has also been nominated for seven BAFTA Awards, winning three. He has also been recognized for his work with nine nominations from the CAS and three awards. He was nominated for eight Emmy Awards, winning one, and also received a Satellite Award for The Bourne Ultimatum. Here is a partial list of some of his credits: Schindler’s List, Braveheart, Apollo 13,
Left to right: Kirk Francis, CAS, David Parker, Scott Millan, CAS
Scott & Deborah Millan, daughter Ashley Garing, son Brandon Millan CAS QUARTERLY
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‘‘ Scott and Phillip Noyce on the stage for the film Salt
Gladiator, three Bourne films, and Ray. Even though Millan may be too humble to accept his place in sound history, I believe his work speaks for itself. I had the pleasure of interviewing Scott, and it is my privilege to be able to share the interview with you. How did your love for sound develop? I believe it all started when I was in my mid-teens listening to the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Dylan and CSNY. At that time, there was a film I wanted to see, but I was too young to buy a ticket, so I snuck in. The film was Woodstock. The impact of the music alone was powerful, but with the merging of images and sound ... wow! From that point on, I looked at films differently. Films like Apocalypse Now, The Godfather, The Deer Hunter, The Conversation and Star Wars—it was an epiphany. It’s hard for me to express the thrill of working with legends Richard Portman, Danny Wallin and Walter Murch some 20-plus years after being inspired by their talent. What was your first sound job? Who were your mentors? My first job in sound was working at Channel 13, a local TV station in Los Angeles. I was a one-man crew working on live productions, taped TV shows, commercials, and remote broadcasts. It was there that I had my first experience mixing music, a “live” big band performance, and I was hooked. A gentleman named Hank Legler helped me get my first job. Hank has since passed away, but he was responsible for helping numerous people get their starts. I think of him often. Naming just one or two individuals, as mentors, would be unfair. So many people have taught and inspired me with their talent and generosity of support. I see by your IMDb credits that you used to be in production, specifically doing soaps. Why did you transition to post? How has that production expe16
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We are the guardians of a creative process that many artisans over the last eight decades have entrusted to us. We must continue their work, improve upon it and mentor those who share our passion for it.
’’
rience influenced your post career? I spent more than 13 years mixing all different types of production sound for television including music pre-records. The experience of learning good recording technique and training my ear to properly recorded dialogue was invaluable. It was there that I learned what the expression “in the pocket” meant. In 1988, I was ready for a new challenge. Rick Larson and Tom Huth offered me an opportunity to get into post production at Larson Sound, where I was hired as a music mixer on a threeperson dubbing stage. My background in mixing dialogue and music assisted my transition into post-production sound, but I knew I had a lot to learn about the use of sound in the process of storytelling. In 1990, Gary Bourgeois was looking for a music mixer to work with at Todd-AO Studios Stage “S,” he and JR Delang took a chance and gave me the opportunity to mix feature films. What really turns you on about this work? Why do you put in those long hours? I have a passion for this work and the people who do it. I love collaborating with creative individuals and learning something new every day. I love using sound to magically take an audience on a journey, seamlessly navigating the subtext of a story. To answer your question about the time and commitment of being a mixer, I believe if you’re doing something you truly love ... the clock doesn’t matter much.
What was your most challenging project? Every project has its challenges, but the film that was the most challenging (emotionally) was Schindler’s List. Andy Nelson, Steve Pederson and I mixed that film in 1993. Shawn Murphy, a longtime member of John Williams’ team, was the scoring mixer on the film. He invited me to Sony during one of the scoring sessions and I remember sitting on the stage during the recording of the first cue—hearing the orchestra play and
watching the silent black-and-white images as Mr. Williams conducted, what I consider, one of his finest scores. I was moved to tears. That emotional reaction would happen daily on every reel we mixed. As emotionally difficult as it was, the experience could not have been more rewarding. With challenge comes a reward. Which project(s) are you most proud of? That’s like asking someone to pick his or her favorite child. I am very proud of all the films that our peers have felt worthy of nominating for award considerations: Schindler’s List, Gladiator, American Beauty, Road to Perdition, Ray, Braveheart, Apollo 13, Salt, The Bourne Ultimatum and The Bourne Supremacy. Where do you see the future of post for sound going? Workflows? Facilities? The cloud? I think the challenges of the parallel workflow in post production will continue to be more demanding. The most precious commodity we have during post is time. With the likelihood that, in the near future, most if not all feature films, will be distributed as digital cinema releases, the time between our completion of the sound mix and the film being in the theaters will be greatly reduced. This will allow filmmakers more time to work on their projects but greatly increase the pressure on all of us. Post-production sound facilities will need to be able to expand and contract their operations at a moment’s notice to facilitate our clients’ ever-changing scheduling demands. Maximizing the interconnectivity of the picture and sound processes will be necessary. The ability to transparently connect facilities in real-time from around the world to support our filmmakers’ creative process, and also accomplish the mechanics of worldwide distribution, will be even more crucial.
What challenges do you still face in your career? Have you set any goals for yourself that you have yet to achieve? I believe that we all share a common challenge, which is the responsibility to continue to fight for excellence in the craft of production and post-production sound regardless of the pressures due to economics. We are the guardians of a creative process that many artisans over the last eight decades have entrusted to us. We must continue their work, improve upon it and mentor those who share our passion for it. Do you have any suggestions for those interested in a career in sound for picture? I suggest you study the processes and you spend as much time as possible doing the work. Learn from those you respect, whose style you admire and appreciate. You need to have a clear understanding of the systems that technically allow us to get the work done, but remember that it is a creative process and you need to watch and learn to gather experience. Remember that owning a guitar does not make you a guitarist. Study with a master and find your style. Tell us a little about your family? Hobbies? My wife Deborah and I met in our teens. We have two children, Ashley and Brandon, and now a son-in-law, Ryan. In December 2011, we became very proud grandparents of a beautiful baby boy named Cayden. We are so blessed! Anything you would like to add? I would like to thank the CAS for this tremendous honor. My first reaction when told was that there are many other people more deserving than I. When I look at the list of names that have received this tribute, it’s hard for me to believe that I will share the same distinction. I want to thank Scott for his time and cooperation. Please join Scott in this celebration in his honor. You can contact Patti Fluhr in the CAS office if you would like to purchase tickets or receive more information about the 48th CAS Awards at (818) 752-8624 or via email at casoffice@cinemaaudiosociety .org •
Scott and Greg Russell, CAS on the new stage at Technicolor/Paramount
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CAS
Technical Achievement nominees The Cinema Audio Society is proud to announce the nominees for the 8th Annual CAS Technical Achievement Awards. An Award will be presented for new technologies in both the Production and Post-Production disciplines at a sealed envelope ceremony on Saturday, February 18, 2012, at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, CA. Nominations were submitted by the membership of the CAS and a “Blue Ribbon� panel made the final determination of the selected nominees listed below. We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate our 2011 Technical Achievement nominees and look forward to sharing the festivities with them on February 18.
production nominees Calrec Apollo Broadcast Mixing Console (software release 1.6 and later)
MovieSlate Sound Dept. Plugin by Pureblend Software
Remote Audio Meon LiFe
Yamaha 01V96i Digital Mixer
Zaxcom Nomad Production Sound System 18
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post-production nominees
Avid EUCON Protocol Version 2.6.2
Avid Pro Tools 10
Dolby Media Meter 2
iZotope Ozone 5 Advanced
Meyer Sound Acheron Designer Screen Channel Loudspeaker
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Congratulations
Scott from your Technicolor family
technicolor.com
Got Sound Reports? by Wi l l Hansen, CAS
Do you find yourself tired of writing detailed sound reports in today’s multitracking world? Has running out of paper in the field ever been a problem? In order to combat some of these issues, a few months ago, the app MovieSlate HD version 3.0 was launched with the objective being to reduce the amount of tediously written notes. This app for iPhone 3GS (or newer), iPad or the iPod Touch 2G (or newer) is, simply put, amazing. It costs $25 at the Apple app store and boasts a massive amount of functionality. The app serves as the basis for the software, allowing you to add spe-
cific plug-ins, depending on your creative area or shot needs, at additional cost. As we’re sound people, I’ll start with the Sound Department Plugin. Running a cool 50 bucks, you’ll find that you’ll never need a pen again. Sound Department Plugin was designed, in part, with the help of Joe Foglia, CAS. The program is specifically designed for a production sound mixer’s workflow for entering metadata. This metadata can be exported and emailed in various formats including Final Cut 7 XML, Avid ALE and Adobe Premiere Batch, to name a few. It supports up to 24 tracks and two different recorders. You can easily arm and disarm tracks and label them with fields including edit roll, folder, media, file type, frame rate, sample rate, bit depth, ref tone, scene, take, timecode, notes and tracks info. You can set what the developers call “snippets,” allowing pre-saved metadata for every field. You can include a custom production logo CAS QUARTERLY
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(a feature I really like). With the additional Timecode Sync Plugin ($50), you can jam the program with your master timecode 1/8-inch d iin a number b off ways: via i your ddevice’s i ’ 1/8 i h mic i iin, a Bluetooth connection, over a Wi-Fi network or with another iDevice. This feature makes the plug-in a much more valuable tool than just a sound report app. One thing to be conscious of is the level in and out of your iDevice. When sending LTC from the device, the level is fine, however, if you’re receiving LTC, keep in mind that your device’s input is at mic level, so you’ll need an attenuator (since your LTC will be coming in at line level). The company website has an informative section discussing how to make an appropriate cable as well as where you can purchase the right connectors. The Timecode Sync Plugin, supports 23.98, 24, 25, 29.97 DF, 29.97 NDF and 30 fps. With each version, the accuracy of the jammed timecode has improved. For example, with version 2.4, five hours after jamming, there was a seven-frame differential between the Timecode Sync Plugin reading and a Denecke TS-3 (the source of the jam). With version 3.0, there was no difference five hours after jamming when tested against the source timecode on a Denecke GR-1 (test result information 22
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available on the company website). I couldn’t find any test results for the latest update (v 3.02) of MovieSlate. If you plan on using this as a slate, you may wish to keep it jammed every hour or feed timecode into it via a Comtek or an R1A. Or even better, like old slates, stick a 23.98 modified Denecke SB-2A on the back. Another suggestion, if using the iPad as a slate, is to get a Pomfort MamboFrame ($479). This is a device that acts as a clapper that your iPad fits into; making it have the familiar feel of an old slate for ACs to use. An additional use for this program is that everything that an AC would want to write down in their report can now be entered on the slate as their metadata. So no more pens for them either! Another excellent feature is that when you’re both on a Wi-Fi network or Bluetoothed or iDeviced together, all your metadata, and theirs, will be saved to the same report—which can then be directly imported into whichever platform your editor is working on. This is a great way to get the camera crew on your team. What I dream of is a “scripty plugin” which would allow script timecode info to be linked to one report that includes all of the crew’s metadata & notes. Given this much functionality at this price, this app and the associated plug-ins seem to have the ability to turn the postproduction workflow into a one-stream river. Will this be a new way to do business? Only time will tell, but it is worth a serious look. • For more information: www.Movie-Slate.com
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MILDRED PIERCE: PART 5 Production Mixer: Drew Kunin Re-Recording Mixer: Leslie Shatz Scoring Mixer: Todd Whitelock
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BOARDWALK EMPIRE® “TO THE LOST” Production Mixer: Frank Stettner, CAS Re-Recording Mixer: Tom Fleischman, CAS
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Visiting
the Other Side b y M a t t F og lia , C A S
MTSU students Brian Sanders and Amy Parks search for frequencies on set.
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Unlike this year’s CAS Career Achievement recipient, Scott Millan, CAS, most of us began our careers on one side of the process—either production or post—and have stayed there. While we may be well versed in terminology and technique associated with “the other side,” we don’t often get to put that information into play. My “side” is post—which is the area I discuss mostly with my students—grooming them as I used to groom my assistants. Recently, however, I was able to switch sides when my students and I had the opportunity to handle production sound duties on a behind-the-scenes documentary for a PBS concert special. Working with a diverse group of current and former industry professionals across many departments at MTSU, I’m often asked to have myself, and my sound for picture students, participate in projects. Being a university, some are pretty cool while others, well, not so much. This project sounded like it would provide valuable experience with just enough real-world pressure to ensure that everyone’s chops were up to speed (pun intended). Plus, it would actually be seen by a bunch of people! We’d have two days of filming rehearsals and interviews with a final shoot day being an intimate performance in front of about 150 fans. The shoot was to take place between semesters—right after New Year’s Day. I solicited interest and picked three students whom I knew I could rely on—both to show up and to do things correctly—including proper preparation. The biggest “plus” of participating was the interaction; both with professionals and with new gear. We actually had a rental budget for audio, which I was so excited about. No need to use the Sound Devices 722 (no timecode) or the wired lavs that we have on checkout at the university. Oh no, we grabbed a 788T and welcomed ourselves to the world of wireless with four Lectrosonics for the lavs. The students (and myself) had a great experience scanning frequencies, sending audio feeds to the camera, generating timecode and having the cameras jam to the 788T (and having the students figure out how to deal with the audio and timecode settings on the cameras). Equally as gratifying was watching them interact with the other crew by having to ask for the music mix feed, or an alternate power source, for example. When roaming around with the video production students, interviewing artists and fans, they had to navigate their booms around crowds of people—and keep it out of frame. A good deal of “hurry up and wait” occurred since you are, naturally, at the mercy of the schedule of the subject you wish to interview. These are all difficult things to practice in a studio classroom setting and I was quite proud to see how well the students handled everything. In the end, the students (both video and sound) captured some really good stuff and loved being a part of the production side. What’s nice is that the students will also be handling the audio post for the project, with me handling the final mixing duties. What an excellent and exhilarating experience leaving the (usually) controlled environment and workflow associated with audio post and exploring the here’s-your-onechance-to-get-it-right environment of production sound. •
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The
Reality Is…
by Kar ol Ur ban, CAS
There are more channels and shows being produced for television than ever before. Even with the advent of new viewing options such as DVRs, online streaming, digital cable, and video on-demand, the 8 to 11 p.m. time slot of prime time still has an average of 200 million sets of ears listening every night. So why are the lots not busting at the seams with crews and sets? Why aren’t we knocking down buildings to build additional Foley pits and soundstages? It’s because sitcom production is down and reality programming is still on the rise.
In 2000, the finale of Survivor: Borneo shocked the television landscape when Nielsen reported an average of 51.69 million viewers, garnering a 48 share in its last half hour. It was second only to the Super Bowl that year, and it aired in August as opposed to January. This new reality was thought by many to be a passing phase. But since 2002, the genre has consistently held more than half of the top 10 prime-time television spots, and it’s still growing. It’s no surprise then, that many of us have seen our business begin to include more, if not completely shift to, reality programming. And with new formats come some new “realities” when it comes to our jobs.
From Script to Screen Reality shows are typically made on significantly smaller budgets, cutting down both on time spent taping and posting. But the drama of the character’s lives rarely unfolds within convenient dialogue bites all recorded within the controlled setting
undfor und for f ality Show Reality shows from top left: Survivor: Borneo, The Apprentice, Hoarders, America’s Next Top Model, Last Comic Standing 26
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“The reality crews handle the daily conversations of the cast, morning wake-up, showers, getting dressed, breakfast, etc…” of a confessional booth. Plots are artfully cobbled together by creative-thinking producers and inventive editors using found elements from different, naturally occurring story lines. Martin Talty is an experienced production audio mixer with well over a decade of reality credits including America’s Next Top Model, Last Comic Standing, and Crime Scene University among many others. He describes one of the largest differences in comparison with scripted formats is the number of crews. He explains, “On season two of The Apprentice (2004), we had 20 regular staff camera ops and sound mixers for run of the show.” He tells of two types of crews used in many reality programs: a reality/documentary crew and a challenge crew. Talty describes their function as very distinct. He states, “The reality crews handle the daily conversations of the cast, morning wake-up, showers, getting dressed, breakfast, etc. Specifically, sound mixers that work on these type of shifts need strong boom skills and excellent anticipation of who may or may not speak next... The challenge crews handle the events or competitions. The audio recorded for this portion of the show usually involves a host and has some basic routine that occurs making mixing/ recording sound easier than the reality portion.” I feel I have to pause and applaud my production counterparts. My long days on the job are at a console, inside, with plenty of fresh coffee. Their days consist of nonstop obstacle courses, following characters in uncontrollable environments that are prone to ad-libbing because, well, there is no script. Add to this the fact that the “talent” is often untrained actors who have no understanding for the technical side of the production. They pound their chests when making a point. They wear jingly jewelry and give each other abrupt embraces while having a heartfelt chat. For this reason, despite the skills of the production audio team, the use of bleed from another lav or heavy restoration is required in post because what happened to be yelled across the room by male character no. five is the perfect transition bite to Act 3. In addition, B-roll of an establishing shot is often used over bites taped from a completely different environment to help continue a narrative story. So while you may be able to reduce the background of a waterfall to an acceptable level for a scene set next to a waterfall, when a sound bite from that scene is juxtaposed out of context over the same character getting out of bed that morning, it becomes even more imperative that we keep the audience focused on the content and not the background noise. But the lack of a script and professional talent can’t hold the entire claim for the troubles of
Martin Talty, describing season two of The Apprentice
“The challenge crews handle the events or competitions…” the production mixer. The plethora of random uncontrollable environments can make even the most experienced production mixer shake their head. On an airfield, at an air show ... on a boat, in a storm... Talty recalled, “I have mixed on horseback, on the back of a snowmobile, and on top of a cruise ship in the middle of the Pacific Ocean; these are all wonderfully challenging experiences that make my workday one of the most uncommon in the world.” In addition, oftentimes, a production mix is all that is provided from editorial for a particular scene or section and, as a post mixer, I am expected to do the best I can with mixed materials and minimize my requests for split feeds as time is tight to turn around the end product. Talty encounters this approach from the production side as well. He states, “In the unscripted world, the editor may never even hear or ask for the multi-track, if one even exists, depending on the location of the conversation. If the audio is not good on the camera tracks, then they will ask for a “backup” or “multi-track files.” As a result, it is not uncommon in post to noise reduce 80%–90% of the dialogue that is provided for any given show in the mixing suite. Waves’ Restoration Bundle, Izotope RX or Cedar Audio’s entire range of tools, are typically required just to make the story arc audible. And many producers are even savvy to our secrets. Potential clients often call and ask how familiar I am with these noise-reduction tools, as their use is paramount in providing an acceptable air-able mix for the program in question.
He beginning of sentences are just as important as the en Up-cuts in offline are also inevitable. It is often difficult to meet total running time requirements, and tell a whole story, without the editor having to cut off a character mid-ramble. In addition to borrowing “Ts” and “Ds” from other sections of dialogue to make the cadence of phases seem more natural, masterful uses of FX and music swells can be employed. But crafting a natural ending to a sentence out of what was originally the middle of a thought is cake compared to the opposite problem. What happens when the character doesn’t speak enough? Editors often will cobble together segments from multiple bites to make a cohesive thought. These were the principal issues in TLC’s Hoarders. The characters were generally well recorded, in a reasonably controlled environment. But, because the show must introduce the character, state their condition, propose an action to affect their current state, and report a conclusive result without a script, someone, somewhere will be too long ... or too short. CAS QUARTERLY
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FRANKENBITES “Just the other day he bought me this, that’s why I love my husband.”
=
+
“You see … because this is so crazy right now, I don’t know what to do.”
+
“Uhhhh, I just can’t take this anymore.”
“This is so crazy. I just can’t take this anymore because I love my husband.” Scott and Phillip Noyce on the stage for the film Salt
It’s alive!!! (and comprehensible) Thus, we encounter the “Frankenbite.” You may have heard this term tossed around. The “Frankenbite” is exactly what it sounds like, a monster of a new sound bite created from multiple phrases often spoken in multiple environments, across multiple days of taping, often on different mics that are edited together to create a conclusive statement. But unlike its namesake, you have to be able to understand what this thing is saying. All of us in audio post who have touched a reality show have faced the dreaded “Frankenbite” at some point. Most often they are found at the end of programs to make a conclusion less abbreviated, to replace pronouns that have no explanation due to the cut, or at critical times in the story where a plot turn must be verbalized in order to provide an explanation to the action being shown. Just as an example, let’s say that amongst the footage, the offline editor found these dialogue pieces: Our character is in her car driving and saying, “Just the other day he bought me this, that’s why I love my husband.” Then she is in a field, walking through tall grass saying, “You see ... because this is so crazy right now, I don’t know what to do.” Finally, flopping onto her living room couch she says, “Uhhhh, I just can’t take anymore.” In the end, the sentence that may be needed to bring a catharsis to the story is, “This is so crazy. I just can’t take this anymore because I love my husband.” In a situation like this, you’re going from grass field to living room, back to the grass field and on to an auto interior in two sentences. Don’t forget that we’re also walking, sitting, walking, and then driving. It’s an extreme example but not terribly uncommon to find. Reaching a common ground amongst these bites is where experience and creativity come into play. Each situation calls for a different set of tools and approaches. Sometimes you can remove the rumble and hiss from the bad bites, sometimes you need to dirty up a perfectly acceptable phrase to match an unfixable bad one attached to it. But sometimes you just have to let go and release the situation into the 28
you can work a ‘Frankenbite’ into a smooth “Ifphrase even 80% of the time, you just might make some serious money in reality TV...”
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listening universe in an un-ideal state and move on to meet air. The truth is there are no tried-and-true solutions to the indicative issues of reality TV just like the various challenges of mixing any genre. But if you can work a “Frankenbite” into a smooth phrase even 80% of the time, you just might make some serious money in reality TV, in spite of the lower budgets. With the increasing number of shows, you will certainly not stop working.
Final Elimination While it can often be frustrating at times, some of us really don’t mind reality TV. A select few of us actually like it. The shows still tell stories. There are still settings to be established, characters, exposition, sequences of events, conflict and resolution ... or a cliffhanger for the next episode. The task of crafting a story from the disparate pieces provides some great learning experiences and can be a very engaging challenge. Many of my most effective processing techniques were learned while in the midst of a crazy “Frankenbite” or battling an emotional scene shot on a drag racetrack. Did you know X-Crackle does a really decent job of removing clothing noise, or that the C4 as a multi-band expander can save the day? I have also become a more confident and resourceful dialogue editor. As in the world of reality programming, a mixer is typically her own dialogue editor as well. The world of a reality show re-recording mixer is unique and provides many opportunities for which I find myself grateful. Martin Talty echoes the same sentiments. “The reward after I have survived a day of all of the above [is that] I usually get called again because I have knowledge of a highly specialized area of audio mixing that most people have no idea how to approach. I have been able to earn a very good living and provide for my family and do something I love—mix sound. I have had the opportunity to work with some fascinating people in amazing places.” And that’s, simply, the “reality” of the situation. •
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Working Overseas? Be Sure to Have a Carnet
Before you start your trip abroad, make sure you, or the production company that you are working for, secures a Carnet for your equipment. What is a Carnet? Carnets are custom documents for your equipment that make it easier to pass through customs—avoiding long and tedious procedures.
Some of the benefits of having a Carnet: They save money and time. They allow you unlimited exits and entries into foreign countries and the United States. Once issued, the Carnet is good for one year. There are 75 countries that honor Carnets. Even if traveling to a non-participating Carnet country, having one will make it easier to clear customs in the United States upon your return. They help avoid value added tax, VAT, duties and high security deposits. Note: Carnets do not exempt you from having necessary licenses or permits.
What do you have to declare on a Carnet? A complete list of your equipment, including product name, model, serial number and value in U.S. dollars. Almost everything can be included on a Carnet, with the exception of consumable and disposable products like food and agricultural goods.
How do you get a Carnet? There are three basic elements in applying for a Carnet. First, a detailed list of your equipment and the personal items you want included on the Carnet (i.e., computers, cameras, notepads, etc.) Second, the Carnet application. Third, the security deposit. For the most part, your production company will get the Carnet through a Carnet broker. Your part in the process will be to give the production company an accurate list of all the equipment and personal items that you will be bringing with you.
There are several Carnet brokers out in the market, so if you are personally securing a Carnet, I suggest going online and doing a little research. If you are going to secure your own Carnet, be aware that the National Guaranteeing Association, USCIB, is required to take a security deposit, which is usually 40% of the shipment value. This is to cover any customs claims that might arise from the misuse of the Carnet. Acceptable forms of security are certified check or surety bond. Cash deposits are returned in full and surety bonds are terminated upon the cancellation of the Carnet.
How much does the Carnet cost? Usually, your production company will pick up the cost of the Carnet, but as a reference, it costs between U.S. $200–$350 and will take about two working days to process.
Helpful travel tips from personal experience: My advice to those starting any project overseas, or even here in the United States, is to make sure all your equipment is in working order before traveling. Make sure you have all of the equipment that you need and it is packed and stored securely. In addition, make sure your production company has their insurance broker issue a Certificate of Insurance before you leave. Read the fine print on the Cert and be weary of deductibles higher than $2,500. Also, look out for any amendments on your Cert that state the insurer is not responsible for the rental of equipment while damaged equipment is being repaired or lost equipment is being replaced. Know where everything is packed. Before one trip to Thailand, I got a call from the producer a day before we were to leave telling me that none of the crew’s equipment was going over as cargo. The “Red Shirt” workers uprising in Bangkok made it impossible for the production company to get insurance on cargo. We were told to pack our gear as personal luggage; each bag or case having to be less than 50 pounds. In haste, I threw my entire package into 18 cases. When we arrived in Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport, the customs agent looked at my Carnet and pointed at just one item, a Lectrosonics sm receiver. After going through every case, I finally found the sm transmitter in the 18th case!! James Berek, CAS a frequent traveler, suggests that you bar code all of your gear and take pictures of each item, as well as taking a group photo of each case of equipment. This is so that it is easy to identify what should be where and, for insurance claims, if something goes missing in transit or an entire case is lost, you have pictures. Hold onto your Carnet when you get back to the States. You will most likely get a call about a year after your trip from the Carnet broker asking for the original documents to be returned. Finally, make copies of your passport and Carnet before you leave and make sure all your shots are up to date—and take lots of pictures! • CAS QUARTERLY
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Recent newcomer to the CAS family, Andy Hay CAS, has had a busy year following the success of the Sundance 2011 best picture winner, Like Crazy. Andy sound-designed and mixed the feature, currently in theaters nationwide, and is “in consideration” for best sound editing and mixing. Also in theaters this past summer, the multi-award-winning feature documentary Thunder Soul, presented by Jamie Foxx, supervised and mixed by Andy. Ongoing collaborations with Santa Monica’s Lotus Post include mixing the horror feature You’re Next, recently acquired by Lions Gate, along with the upcoming mix for Outrun, starring Bradley Cooper. Andy’s boutique post sound outfit, Proper Post, continues to thrive with three features slated to begin post-production in early 2012. Happy holidays to all!
Pete Elia CAS and his partner Kevin Roache CAS, have moved to the new
Stage 7 at the new Technicolor at Paramount facility. They continue with their broadcast clients, including Dexter,
True Blood, Eastbound & Down, Revenge, The Killing, and In Plain Sight. The new facility is an incredible place to dub with great new tools, and more importantly, the most inspiring professional colleagues. After a summer-long documentary shoot, Sylvain Arseneault CAS is mixing The Firm on location in Toronto, Canada, with boom ops Michael Kearns and Ryan Longo.
Steven A. Morrow CAS has just wrapped up the feature film Lovelace, with
Craig Dollinger on boom and our newest sound team member, Bryan Mendoza. We were thrilled to film in Los Angeles with such an experienced crew.
Joe Earle CAS and Doug Andham CAS just finished Season 1 of FX network’s American Horror Story, while anchoring the return of ABC’s Castle and FOX network’s Glee. Dick Hansen CAS has been in Shreveport, Louisiana, filming The Iceman. The film
is based on a true story about Richard Kuklinski, a hit man who killed more than
200 people. Michael Shannon plays The Iceman, with support from Winona Ryder, Ray Liotta, David Schwimmer, Chris Evans and Stephen Dorff. Ariel Vromen is directing. Robert “Max” Maxfield is booming for me. It’s the pilot of Zombies and Cheerleaders for Richard Lightstone CAS with boom operator Jeff Norton, 2nd boom Mick Davies and playback operator Fred Johnston.
Philip Perkins CAS mixed Stephen Olsson’s new doc for LinkTV, The Soldier’s Heart, recorded SFX for the forthcoming doc feature Invisible Highways, mixed location music and dialogue for Philippe Jaroussky for France 2, recorded and mixed music for a new musical The Summer of Love, and has just begun mixing work on Leo Chiang’s new PBS film Mr. Cao Goes to Washington. I had the great fortune to work on several very interesting films and to meet very interesting directors. I sound-designed and mixed the Spanish-Swiss movie Los Pasos Dobles, from the Spanish director Isaki
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Lacuesta; already winning top prize at the San Sebastian Festival. I have sounddesigned and mixed the German-SwissFrench movie Kill Me, from Emily Atef. I sound-designed the German-Swiss movie Escape From Tibet, directed by Maria Blumencron, and I did the final mix together with Ralf Krause. For the TV movie Vater, unser Wille geschehe by Robert Ralston, winner of the TV Filmfestival in Baden Baden and the TV movie Kommissar Hunkeler by Christian von Castelberg, I also did the sound design and mix. The movie The Italian, with director Paolo Poloni. It is about an Italian restaurant and his not Italian stuff. Delicious food... I got very hungry doing the sound design and mix. Very nice year that 2011. Regards, Jürg Von Allmen CAS
David Barr-Yaffe CAS just completed ABC’s Good Christian Belles and is currently mixing The Client List for Lifetime, with Billy King and Alexandra Gallo on the stix. David Bondelevitch CAS mixed the documentary Above the Ashes, about a
devastating fire near Boulder, Colorado, which destroyed more than 100 homes.
The film aired on PBS stations. He also recently completed work on the first episode of Mile High Jungle, a National Geographic series about The Wild Animal Sanctuary near Denver and its efforts to rescue abused circus lions from Panama and Bolivia. It will air later this year.
Frank Morrone CAS is mixing a feature for Christian Charles called Happy and Bleeding. He is also mixing Raising Hope at RH Factor.
Fred Ginsburg CAS recently pro-
duction-mixed a pilot for the History Channel about Western era and Civil War reenactment groups. Seems most appropriate, considering that Fred shoots competitively in local cowboy action shooting matches. This semester, in addition to being an adjunct professor at Cal State University, Northridge, Fred will be teaching a graduate-level class about production sound for Chapman University. Tascam has invited Fred to speak about their HS-P82 multi-track recorder at the NAMM Show in Anaheim. Tascam will be distributing copies of the users’ guide that Fred wrote for the P82.
Steve Weiss CAS is sitting in the mixer’s chair with Chris Tiffany booming and Dennis Carlin on utility at Disney stages on Body of Proof, airing on ABC. It’s been a busy television season so far for Jon Ailetcher CAS. In August, it was time to go back to do Season 3 of ABC’s Cougar Town, with Mark Jennings booming and Laura Rush handling utility duties. As our season came to a close, Jon moved over to Sony to do Season 2 of Breaking In for FOX, with Dave Hadder taking over booming and Mike Anderson at utility. Let’s hope the rest of the year stays just as busy.
Gary D. Rogers CAS and Dan Hiland
CAS are busy working on the first season of Hart of Dixie for the CW network, second season of The Walking Dead for the AMC network, and the first season of The River for Steven Spielberg and the ABC network, at Warner Bros. Dubbing Stage 1.
Jonathan Andrews CAS and Steven Guercio CAS have just finished working on the EPK sound for Oz: The Great
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and Powerful in Detroit. Shooting for this started in August and went through to December 23 and was done during the week of Christmas. On weekends, you usually could find either of these mixers on the sidelines for NFL Films, helping to create their documentaries and archival footage.
Mark Ulano CAS here. We are currently working on Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained and will be shooting through
June of 2012. The film has 95 speaking parts with lead rolls played by Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DeCaprio, Kerry Washington, Samuel L. Jackson, Sasha Baron-Cohen, Kurt Russell, Don Johnson and others. Working with me is Tom Hartig (boom operator) and Dirk Stout (UST). The film is scheduled for release Christmas 2012.
In mid-October, I finished up Great Hope Springs, directed by David Frankel and starring Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones and Steve Carrell. I am now in New Orleans on Now You See Me, directed by Louis Leterrier. The cast includes Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Melanie Laurant, Morgan Freeman and Woody Harrelson. After a few months here, we move to my hometown of New York and then a few days in Las Vegas. Best wishes for a Happy New Year, Danny Michael CAS
Tom Marks CAS just completed the mix for Bryan Fogel’s feature film Jewtopia at Monkeyland Audio.
Woody Woodhall CAS has had a busy
Q4 in 2011, having completed supervising sound editing and re-recording mixing for the second season of Storage Hunters for truTV. He also supervised, sound-edited and mixed the first season of Invention USA for the History Channel and just completed a one-hour pilot for the Oxygen network, Love Scouts. His professional organization, the Los Angeles Post Production Group, (LAPPG.com) has seen stunning growth in 2011 and has also just passed their 40th consecutive monthly meeting mark. The LAPPG is a group devoted to all things post-production with an expanding worldwide member base. The LAPPG has also begun creating more post events beyond the monthly meetings with “LAPPG Presents.” Appropriately, the first session was a daylong event devoted to audio taught by Woody, covering post audio and Fred Ginsburg CAS, who detailed the location audio portion of the class. Woody recently posted an extensive interview with Oscar-winning supervising sound editor David Stone, for 34
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his blog WoodysSoundAdvice.com, detailing David’s amazing career in sound as well as his current work as an educator at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). Woody’s book, Audio Production and Post-Production, has been adopted by many more universities across the United States as a textbook for graduate and undergraduate studies of audio. But most importantly, his daughter has started kindergarten this year!
Bob Israel CAS reports that he intends to lose the holiday weight by avoiding craft service. Recent commercial projects for Lexus, Medifast and Ping have made that a challenge. Happy New Year to all. From Universal Studios Sound: Chris Jenkins CAS and Frank Montaño are just
wrapping up director Daniel Espinosa’s feature film Safe House for Universal, with sound supervisor Per Hallberg. Up next is the mix for Hotel Noir, for director Sebastian Gutierrez and producer Steve Bing. Kevin O’Connell and Beau Borders wrapped up the year mixing The Muppets for Walt Disney Pictures and starting off the new year mixing American Reunion for Universal, directed by Jon Hurwitz. Elmo Ponsdomenench and Bob Edmondson CAS are in Dub 1 pushing faders for BET on a movie of the week titled Gun Hill, with supervising sound editor Steve Williams. Nello Torri CAS and Alan Decker CAS had a busy December in Dub B mixing Grimm, Covert Affairs and wrapped up the first season of Showtime’s hit series Homeland. John W. Cook III CAS and Peter Nusbaum CAS are in Studio A mixing The Office, Parks and Recreation, Happy Endings, Up All Night, and a new show for ABC called Last Man Standing. Mixers Pete Reale and Todd Morrissey are mixing the USA series Suits, along with Desperate Housewives and Law & Order: SVU for NBC. Mixer Joe DeAngelis is mixing the final season of House, with supervising sound editor Brad North. Before the new year, Carl Rudisill CAS took over the sound department for The Hunger Games on short notice, when sound mixer Mark Weingarten CAS came down with pneumonia. Chris Main and Albert Hedgepeth joined Carl’s team, replacing boom operator David Roberts and 2nd boom Randy Freeman. Upon arriving on set, Mark Weingarten informed Carl that not a lot of the dialogue scenes had been shot even though they were on day 53 of the shooting schedule. The producers informed Carl that the majority of the dialogue scenes were to be shot around the locations in Charlotte, 36
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North Carolina. Even though Carl and Chris Main had never met until the first day of shooting, the dialogue recording went extremely well. After completing The Hunger Games, Carl and Chris were off to Virginia to mix another feature film, To Have and to Hold, a film that also sent them to the Bahamas and Cayman Islands. After spending a little quality time with his girls and wife Shirley, he now has to get his gear ready for another show. In mid-February, Carl will start as sound mixer for the feature film The Conjuring, with director James Wan, famous for the horror film Saw. Carl is looking forward to working at home for this feature. Carl’s company, North Star Post and Sound, Inc., is located at EUE Screen Gems Studio in Wilmington, North Carolina, continues to work with the Lifetime series Army Wives in their ADR for Season 6. And the studio calendar is filling up with ADR, voiceover, and music sessions. Last October, Colin Firth was in the studio recording a farewell message to Sandra Hebron for the BFI London Film Festival Awards 2011.
CELEBRATING CELEBRAT A ING 15 YEARS
The long...
Mac Ruth CAS and the team of George Mihaly on boom and Balazs
Varga as utility, were happy and privileged to pick up the entire 1st and 2nd unit work of the Hungary Location Unit for the Paramount feature World War Z. Five wind machines, four cameras on cranes, 6000W playback system to direct 1000+ zombie extras didn’t lead to pristine location tracks but it sure was fun!
Bob Bronow CAS reports: I finished off a crazy year with mixes for Deadliest Catch, Ax Men, Wild Justice and Around the World in 80 Ways. Had a great time leading master classes and speaking to sound
...and short of it.
students at SCAD, NYU and Emerson College. Looking forward to more in 2012!
Dallas Taylor CAS has been busy these past few months on everything from docs, shows, spots & trailers to games. In addition to leading multiple unannounced game projects, he also mixed the latest Skyrim and Fallout trailers. The Fallout launch trailer was a finalist in the “Best Use of Sound” category at this past PromaxBDA Game Marketing Awards. On the television front, Dallas recently finished a season of spots for Mythbusters and Say Yes to the Dress as well as around 60 other spots for Ford, Discovery, PBS, NatGeo, TLC, Velocity, Fit and Health & Science. He also mixed two feature docs The Road We Know and Love Costs Everything, as well as the latest season of How It’s Made for science. Steve Bowerman CAS, boom op Tom Thoms and utility Jeffrey C. Hefner have just finished episode 200 on CBS-TV’s NCIS. It’s
remarkable that any series can go 200 episodes but more remarkable is that it remains the no. 1 most watched show on television. Hats off to many people including our post brothers, producer Josh Rexon and our post mixers Aaron Levy and Ross Davis, ADR mixers Bill Kerr and Marty Church and sound supervisor Gregg Schorer. As always, we thank Kenn Fuller CAS for serving up this job up to us on a plate!
Stephen Tibbo CAS has been busy working on Season 3 of Modern Family, with Preston Conner and Dan Lipe swinging booms. Noel Espinosa, Srdjan Popovic, Rob Cunningham, Adam Blantz, Fred Johnson and Craig Dollinger have all been out to 3rd boom as needed. During the hiatus weeks, Stephen has been re-recording a number of independent films. Michael Keller CAS and Mike Prestwood Smith are currently working on The Hunger Games, directed by Gary Ross at Todd-AO
www.ktekbooms.com Tel. 760.727.0593
info@ktekbooms.com MADE IN THE USA
Seward. As of June, their new home will be Lantana Stage 2.
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ill, Carl Rudnis cing CAS re-sy er ft the slate a t a snorkeling . ch n lu
Steve Morrow’s utility tech, Bryan Mendoza (above): “Tell the truth, did you get the boom in the shot?” Not guilty! (from the Lovelace set)
CAS member Dick Hansen’s daughter Audrey’s softball team won the USFA 12U Fast Pitch Softball World Series in Birmingham, Alabama. They were undefeated in tournament play. They were also the USFA 12U Indiana state champions and the first team in any age group from Indiana to win a USFA World Series. Son, Lars Hansen, also just made the Carmel Indiana travel baseball team. From left: Lars, Buddha, Audrey, Donna, Nanna, and Dick Hansen, CAS.
Left to right, back: Hans Kunzi, owner SDS Studios Bern, Peter Scherer, music, Ralf Krause, mixer, Jürg von Allmen, CAS, sound designer and mixer. Front: Markus Fischer, producer CH, Jörg Bundschug, producer BRD
phone Replete with head Israel, CAS b Bo saddle hair, o golfer makes sure that pr works re wi n’s Bubba Watso gag. be ro rd wa is th with Preston Conn
er, Stephen Tibbo, CAS an d
Santa Anita Pa Dan Lipe at rk shooting an episode of Modern Family .
Dallas Taylor, Pete Elia, CAS and Kevin Roache, CAS on their new stage at Technicolor/Paramount.
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CAS on location recording vehicles for a series of Ford spots.
Avid is proud to support the CAS and the art of sound mixing. Congratulations to Scott Millan on his CAS Career Achievement Award and to this year’s nominees for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing.
Left to right: Greg Russell, Scott Millan On Stage 1, Technicolor at Paramount
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