3127 cas spring 2010

First Class Presorted U.S. postage Paid Santa Ana, CA Permit No. 450

the official quarterly of the cinema audio society

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www.wbpostproduction.com ™ and © 2010, Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

FEATURES 47th Annual CAS Awards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Meet the winners & ceremony highlights

14

Headphones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Not all cans are created equal

Everyone Remain CALM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Lowering the level of TV commercials

EXPERIENCE MORE .: INNOVATION :.

25

DEPARTMENTS President’s Letter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 A rededication to CAS members

From the Editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Technically Speaking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 More file types

Food for Thought . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 The art of mixing

38

Tips & Tricks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Addressing Pro Tools playback delays

Been There Done That . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

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The Lighter Side . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

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37

Cover: The Hurt Locker

CAS QUARTERLY

SPRING 2010

3

THE PRESIDENT’S LETTER

In 1964, a group of rerecording mixers in Hollywood

met with each other and formed the Cinema Audio Society. Their goal was to have a group that could share information with other sound professionals in the motion picture and television industry. Because they were all working, it was difficult for them to engage in what we now refer to as networking. Their desire to have a united voice and to share their knowledge was a driving force. This has not changed. Our industry has grown and reshaped itself in many different ways. Even more today than before, we are partnering with filmmakers and, along with them and the tools we now have available, are creating the best product we can.

All industry professionals need to have the full knowledge and understanding of how our products are created. Starting with the origination of clean, usable production tracks and following through with the many complex, involved steps of the post process and culminating with the final delivery of the best dialogue, effects and music. There are many places and tools available to educate upcoming sound professionals. The CAS is very fortunate to be able to facilitate resources with which we can network.

Our depth of membership, which was started by our founding members almost five decades ago, is tremendous. Our founders wanted to have a place that could educate and inform the whole industry to assist in raising the professional level and therefore, further the appreciation of our products whether it was on the large screen or the small screen or how it was distributed. We proudly recognize our membership and their professional achievements. Personally, I know that having met some of the top post-production mixers through the CAS in my career was instrumental to furthering my own level of achievement. The CAS has fostered a communication channel for so many people to learn from, and this is one of the parts of the CAS value. We have been able to stand on the shoulders of those that have come before us and who had set the highest of standards for themselves. The pathways they forged, the innovations they achieved, and the standards of professionalism they established are what drive many of our current CAS members. It is this pride that has been handed to us that drives many of our members to insist on the recognition of our contributions by having our names and CAS initials listed in the credits.

In becoming members of the Cinema Audio Society, you recognized the value of our organization. Thank you. In the same spirit as our founders, your camaraderie, sharing of knowledge, and insistence on the goals of high quality and professionalism will support our continued mission of dedicated to the advancement of sound.

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 SPRING 2010 NEW MEMBERS

cinema experience

Sound within reach...

Active Jonathan Chiles, CAS John D’Aquino, CAS Laurence A. Ellis, CAS Russ T. Fisher, CAS Ken Ishii, CAS Tamara Johnson, CAS Michael B. Koff, CAS Jan McLaughlin, CAS

Terence (TJ) O’Mara, CAS David Raines, CAS John Clinton Richardson, CAS Ray Rifice, CAS John Sanacore, CAS Rudy Zasloff, CAS New Woods Universal Quick Connect

Associate

Regards,

Josselin Panchout

Student Edward L. Moskowitz, CAS President of the Cinema Audio Society

Erik Bailey Blake Benthall

Theodore Quinn Michels Areya Isabel Simmons

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SPRING 2010

CAS QUARTERLY

FROM THE EDITORS...

Spring. A time of renewal and rebirth. As many of you are working on pilots, in this issue, we’ll be reflecting on the year’s big winners at the CAS Awards banquet with our annual “Meet the Winners” articles. These are some of our favorite articles to prep for here at the Quarterly, because they allow us to speak with peers we may, otherwise, never have the chance to. Hopefully, you’ll enjoy reading about the winners and their projects. In addition to the awards section, we have some excellent contributions from our membership, including a very well-researched discussion on headphone responses over the years written by none other than Tomlinson Holman, CAS. Plus, Karol Urban, CAS discusses a new governmental bill aimed at keeping the level of TV commercials within a similar range as the surrounding program (Really! It passed the House and is on its way to the Senate!) Editor Peter Damski, CAS voices his concerns regarding a move to record only iso’s on set instead of a production mix. G. John Garrett, CAS continues his summary of audio file types in his “Technically Speaking” column. Also, we have a “Tips & Tricks” submission from student member Brian Sacco, who shares a way of alleviating playback delays in Pro Tools. We are saddened by the loss of Hal Whitby, CAS and say goodbye and finally, we received a good amount of submissions for this issue’s “The Lighter Side” and “Been There Done That” sections.

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.

For this or any other issue relating to the Quarterly, you can email us at Quarterly@CinemaAudioSociety.org.

Traveling light.

The SRa Series receivers have a new traveling companion called the Quadpack. The design was inspired by a good friend in Holland with the goal of lightening the load in bag systems for field production. Four wireless channels, a common power suppy distro and multiple audio outputs are combined in a compact, 39 ounce package.*

Frank Morrone Lee Orloff Lisa Pinero Greg P. Russell Jeff Wexler

2010 CAS Board of Directors & Former Presidents

ALTERNATES

SPRING 2010

CAS QUARTERLY

Made in the USA by a Bunch of Fanatics.

OFFICE MANAGER

Patti Fluhr EDITORS:

Peter Damski Matt Foglia

Walt Disney Studios Post Production Services Next Generation Talent, Tools & Technology For Your Film or Television Project

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

Dan Dodd 310.207.4410 x 236 Email: Advertising@IngleDodd.com

6

www.lectrosonics.com *With two SRA/5P receivers

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Here is the 2010 CAS Board of Directors and former Presidents: Front row, from left: Richard Lightstone, Joe Foglia, Lee Orloff, Ed Moskowitz, David Bondelevitch, Lisa Pinero, Melissa Hofmann and James Corbett. Back row, from left: Peter Damski, David Fluhr, R.D. Floyd, Jeff Wexler, Tomlinson Holman, Gary Bourgeois, Bob Bronow and John Coffey. (Missing are Greg Russell, Frank Morrone, Paul Rodriguez, Agamemnon Andrianos, Bob Beemer and Ed Greene.)

And, like the Dutch mariners in the Golden Age, it’s tough enough to travel the world.

Bob Bronow Joe Foglia Peter R. Damski Paul Rodriguez

PUBLISHER:

Matt Foglia, CAS

Power is provided from an external source of 7 to 18 VDC through locking LZR and Hirose connectors.

Passive circuitry automatically pulls power from the jack with the highest voltage, so it’s easy to connect a second power supply for backup or extended runtime.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

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One side panel provides XLR audio jacks, and the other panel provides TA3 audio jacks and dual power inputs.

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L

More File Types

by G. J ohn Gar r et t , CAS

Last time, I presented a short overview of some popular PCM digital file types. There are more.

I want to talk about the AIFF wrapper, which is Apple’s Audio Interchange File Format. It was developed from Electronic Arts’ Interchange File Format, and of course, one would think Apple could not bring itself to use anything from MS/IBM. In fact, the WAV extension is based on EA’s IFF as well. The difference is that Apple’s AIFF reads the data with the most significant bit first, and the PC WAV is read with the least significant bit first.

The widespread popularity of Apple computers in the creative arts helped make AIFF a very popular file type but ironically, AIFF does not support time code or BEXT/iXML metadata, so it is virtually useless for time code-based production. With the advent of OS-X, a new AIFF variant based on the AIFF-C (compressed) architecture, it sometimes appears as a compressed file type but is not a compressed file, though AIFF can be used to wrap MIDI data. Finally, Apple recently created another iteration of AIFF for Apple Loops, which uses the same .aif or .aiff extension but has pitch and tempo-shifting information as well as MIDI sequencing info imbedded.

You’d think they would have implemented time code in the spec by now!1 Another irony is the Sound Designer II (SDII) file format, developed by Digidesign, which was bought by Avid and forever unreadable on any Avid system. That’s right; Avid could not read one of its -own- major digital file types. The format was limited to 48kHz max, interleaved stereo or mono files. So multi-track sessions were comprised of many mono files. SDII files kept the sampled audio unchanged in a “data fork� and all the fades, processing, etc. was stored in a “resource fork.�2 As it was proprietary to Pro Tools SDII, or SD2 as it is sometimes written, it has been almost completely orphaned worldwide by now, and Avid is about to strip Digidesign of all their branding and call all the Pro Tools systems Avid Pro Tools from here forward. Current versions of Pro Tools on Macintosh computers can import SDII, files and presumably SDII sessions, but it doesn’t appear that they write SDII any longer.

8

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Most file extensions depend on the wrapper being used.

Pretty much any linear PCM file can be stored in raw form with the RAW extension and a lot of editors and playback systems will open RAW files.3 AES3 is an interface format which specifices a pair of interleaved PCM signals which travel on a single twisted-pair transmission line. There is an AES file extension, developed presumably by Snell & Wilcox for storing these data streams.

SMPTE developed an extension of the interface for transmitting non-PCM AC3 compressed audio.4 So you could run into a file with an AES file extension. I would think that if not supported directly, a DAW could open the file as a RAW file.

OGG files are a product of Vorbis and a wrapper used for audio and other audiovisual data. It is a completely open-source file specification and appears to work with mono or multiple mono files. It can be used as a stream delivery mechanism for media file storage or as a building block toward implementing a more complex, nonlinear container.5 If you’re running any flavor of Unix or Linux, you probably know about OGG.

There are several compression schemes for linear PCM files appearing nowadays that are considered lossless compression, and makers claim most or all of the audio information is restored on playback. A few of these are Real Media’s RealAudio_ LL, Microsoft’s Windows Media’s WMA_LL codec, the Free Lossless Audio Codec FLAC,6 which OGG has a variant, Apple Lossless Audio Codec ALAC, and a supposedly lossless codec from Monkey’s Audio.

Zaxcom has a lossless compression scheme available for their Deva recorders, and I believe it’s proprietary. I’m just adding the lossless codecs to this list because you may be running into encoded material and it’s worth noting that some prosumer cameras may include an option for a lossless codec over MPEG audio recording. The quality of these codecs is said to be very good, perhaps a codec play-off can be arranged for a future column.

The Library of Congress has a pretty good listing of file types and such, which I’ve drawn from heavily in these discussions. Their website is a good resource and worth checking out as a starting point to understanding popular PCM file wrappers, file extensions, and encoding schemes. http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/ formats/fdd/sound_fdd.shtml• 1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Audio_Interchange_File_Format 2 http://www.crucial-systems.com/ SDII_format_specification 3 http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/ formats/fdd/fdd000011.shtml 4 http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/ formats/fdd/fdd000142.shtml 5 http://www.xiph.org/ogg/doc/ oggstream.html 6 http://flac.sourceforge.net/

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SPRING 2010

9

Mixing: Use It or Lose It

by Pet er Damsk i, CAS

T

The art of mixing is under the threat of obsolescence. I don’t make this statement lightly; the signs are all around us. What follows, is some back-story to help understand my thoughts.

One of my goals as an educator of future generations of sound people is to make sure that they are exposed to professionals and professional practices. In an effort to achieve that goal, I invite a variety of professionals in our industry to give presentations to our students in Savannah, Ga. I have our Sound Design Student Club, PASO (Professional Audio Student Organization), make all of the arrangements. This is a skill which will come in handy for their future success. Our list of prestigious visitors include Jeff Wexler, CAS and Ed Greene, CAS from the production side and sound editors David Van Slyke, Greg Hedgepath and Chris Basta on the post side. The film department at SCAD also brings in outstanding speakers. Walter Murch, CAS was just here and gave a great presentation on picture editing and creativity.

During Wexler’s presentation, one of the bullet points emphasized was that the art of production mixing includes having the sound recorded for a particular shot have the same perspective as the camera composition. In other words, the sound for a wide shot should include more of the ambient space than the sound recorded for a tight shot. From my discussions with many production mixers and my own approach, I find this to be accurate. The editor loves to get sound that works well with the picture without having to spend a great deal of time making adjustments to the production track. Here is where the conundrum exists.

During Murch’s presentation, he gave some examples of the influence of the high-quality visual effects in use today. One example began with a wide-framed photograph taken in England. He then cut to an insert, or blowup, of the same shot; turning a wide master to tight single. His point was that many changes are under the control of the editor in the edit bay. In the days of film, this modification could not be achieved without increasing the grain of the picture; not a desirable outcome.

If the editor (and director) decide to make changes of this nature in post, does it put our desire to consider perspective under question? Now, our wide perspective during production is no longer accurate. Is the workflow of the future to wire everyone and eliminate the production track?

I have already mixed a pilot on a major lot that has requested that I not do a production track. “We only want ‘iso’s”’ was the 10

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word from post production. The intent was to create the entire production track in the edit bay. I fought hard, and won, to get to “mix” this show. While I agree that wireless technology keeps getting better and sounding better, there is still nothing like the sound of a boom microphone. Under this new workflow, the mixer becomes a “sound acquirer,” making sure that the wireless mics are being recorded on the right tracks and that they sound good. Charleston, S.C.–based production mixer Jon Gaynor shared that he knows of a mixer who doesn’t even use a boom operator any more, everything is wireless and iso’s. I find this workflow disturbing and hope that it is just a bump in the road.

I think that the re-recording mixers in the crowd need to pay attention here, as the technology available to the editor also makes it possible for them to do the final mix in the edit bay.

While I agree that the quality suffers from this approach, many low-budget producers don’t care. Most viewers don’t know the difference either.

I realize that this is a very The sound for a wide shot c o n t r o v e r s i a l subject, and I am should include more of the hoping to get a dialogue about ambient space than the this started in this publication. sound recorded for a tight We are approaching the 100th shot. From my discussions anniversary of “Talkie,” and with many production mixers the many years of and my own approach, I find trial and error have gotten us to where the quality this to be accurate. of the sound in film and television is fantastic, pretty much across the board. Is this new approach going to be a big step backward? Please let me know how you feel about this by replying to the CAS Quarterly editors at quarterly@cinemaaudiosociety.org. •

Brief ‘stutter’

in Playback After Pressing Play

P

Pro Tools users may have experienced an issue with playback latency that seems to have gone undiagnosed by Digidesign.

The issue is a brief ‘stutter’ in playback after pressing play on either a control surface, keyboard, or in the transport section of any Pro Tools LE or HD rig. Although brief, the lag becomes quite irritating after awhile.

For the longest time, I thought that it was just the computer allocating resources in order to deal with the demands of RTAS or TDM plug-ins, but I’ve come to believe that the issue is related to the virtual routing of the operating system audio versus the audio coming out of the DAW. Essentially, if one uses a Pro Tools interface (002/003, 192, etc.) as a standalone D/A converter for desktop applications like iTunes or Safari (via Digi CoreAudio Manager), the user must designate where the audio is being routed via the “System Preferences�

by Br i an Sacco window. Once Pro Tools is launched, the Pro Tools interface disappears from the list of possible output paths, leaving your system audio with no place to go. Even though you may not be using a desktop application that has audio, your machine still needs to know where to send it, and it’s looking for your interface to send it to.

The fix is simple. All you have to do is select an alternative path, like the built-in speaker, and the issue is resolved, your Pro Tools playback will be back to normal.

SYMPTOM: Delayed playback after hitting Play in Pro Tools PRESCRIPTION: Make sure “Digidesign HW� is NOT selected under System Preferences > Sound > Output Hope this helps!

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www.zaxcom.com CAS QUARTERLY

SPRING 2010

13

The CAS Celebrates Its

46th CAS Awards

by Peter Damski, CAS

The signs of economic recovery can be seen in Paul Vik Marshall, CAS, David Fluhr, CAS, many areas. If attendance at the 46th CAS Peter Damski, CAS, Greg Russell, CAS and Bob Awards is any indication, better times are not far Beemer, CAS. A special CAS President’s Awards off. More than 425 tickets were sold for this event was presented by CAS President Edward L. and once again, the Moskowitz to Manfred attendees were a ‘Who’s Klemme of K-Tek and Who’ of the sound mixNagra fame. Klemme was ing industry. In his third instrumental in the incluyear as emcee, Sam Rubin sion of time code in the began the festivities at Nagra IV-S recorders in the 8:20 p.m. This followed early ’80s. Klemme attendOUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT FOR an extended cocktail party ed the ceremony in a MOTION PICTURES (by one-half hour) and a wheelchair accompanied The Hurt Locker fantastic meal in the by daughter Brenda Ray Beckett Production Mixer Crystal Ballroom/Tiffany Parker. Klemme has been Paul N.J. Ottosson Re-recording Mixer Room at the Millennium battling cancer for several OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT FOR Biltmore Hotel in Los years and we all wish him TV MOVIES AND MINI-SERIES Grey Gardens Angeles. Our Career well. Awards for new Henry Embry Production Mixer Achievement recipient for technology in both the Rick Ash Re-recording Mixer 2009 was Randy Thom. production and post-proOUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT FOR Many of his Skywalker duction disciplines were TV SERIES friends were in attenpresented to Lectrosonics, Mad Men “Guy Walks Into dance. In addition, Henry for their “Octopack” an Advertising Agency” Selick received the CAS receivers and to Avid for Peter Bentley, CAS Production Mixer Filmmaker Award. Pre– Pro Tools 8, respectively.

Ken Teaney, CAS Re-recording Mixer Todd Orr Re-recording Mixer senters for Thom were The ceremony ran just director Robert Zemekis under two hours and was OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT FOR TV NON-FICTION, VARIETY OR MUSIC – and sound mixer/editor a great presentation.

SERIES OR SPECIALS Walter Murch, CAS. Selick Congratulations go out to Deadliest Catch “Stay Focused or Die” was presented with his the CAS Board of Directors Bob Bronow, CAS Re-recording Mixer award by actress Dakota and especially to Edward OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT FOR Fanning and CAS Board L. Moskowitz for putting DVD ORIGINAL PROGRAMMING member Agamemnon together another great Into the Blue 2: The Reef Andrianos. Mixing awards event. In the following John Reynolds Production Mixer were presented by the pages, you will find stories Terry O’Bright, CAS Re-recording Mixer following dignitaries: CAS about all of the winning Keith A. Rogers, CAS Re-recording Mixer Vice President John mixing teams from the TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT IN PRODUCTION Coffey, Brian Slack, CAS, 46th CAS Awards. We Lectrosonics Octopack: Portable Gary Bourgeois, CAS, congratulate you all!!

CAS

‫ﱙﱚﱙ‬

Award Winners for 2009

Multicoupler for SR Series Receivers TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT IN POST PRODUCTION

Avid Pro Tools 8 14

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CAS QUARTERLY

Left: Randy Thom Below: Agamemnon Andrianos and Dakota Fanning

Outstanding Achievement for Motion Pictures

THE HURT LOCKER

by Matt Foglia, CAS

Above: Randy Thom and Henry Selick Below: Gordon Moore from Lectrosonics

Robert Zemekis Left: Manfred Klemm

2010 Honorees

16

CAS Filmmaker Award

CAS Career Achievement Award

Henry Selick

Randy Thom

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This year’s CAS Award for Outstanding Motion Picture, The Hurt Locker, follows soldiers serving as Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) technicians in Iraq. While the story, in my opinion, is nothing short of superb, the sound is equally as enticing. Production mixer Ray Beckett and sound designer/ re-recording mixer Paul N.J. Ottosson take some time out from their current projects to give us some insight into the sound of The Hurt Locker.

I caught up via Skype with Ray Beckett who is on location in Belgrade working on a film adaptation of the Shakespeare play Coriolanus, directed by Ralph Fiennes. Ray, who is based out of the UK, has been working internationally for years. “Well, I started in a sound-transfer facility in the late ’60s, where I would transfer the day’s production audio to mag. These were usually for documentaries, so I received a great education listening to these recordings and speaking to the mixers while the recording techniques were fresh in their minds. I was there for three years and then starting as a production mixer for documentaries. After doing regional and international jobs for a number of years, I was given an opportunity by producer Ismail Merchant to go and do a film called Heat and Dust that was being filmed in India. This was my first large foray into being isolated from some of the sound luxuries of the day and was a great experience. However, I recall using these Dolby 361 rack units, which are supposed to live in a studio, and we hooked them up to our Nagra and carted them around India for three months—and they worked fine! Going forward a bit to the 1990s, I began working with cinematographer Barry Ackroyd and continue to work on projects with him to this day. In fact, he connected me with (The Hurt Locker director) Kathryn Bigelow because he was working on it.”

This experience working in extremely hot locations over the years served Ray well on The Hurt Locker, but didn’t fully prepare him for shooting on location in Jordan. “I knew we were in trouble when the locals were saying, ‘Boy, it’s hot.’ Fortunately, though, we didn’t have any equipment malfunctions, but we were constantly covering the gear.” Speaking of gear, “I used a Cantar. It has a really interesting magnetically coupled fader mechanism, which keeps the sand out. I used the Danish Pro Audio (DPA) 4060 mics to go on the actors, which were attached to a special European version of a Lectrosonics transmitter that tunes in to European frequencies.” Asking Ray about mic and transmitter placement, he recalls, “We actually placed the mic on their helmets so that whenever they moved, they’d always be directional, plus we wouldn’t get rustling from all of the gear they were wearing. So then, we housed the transmitter to the inside top of the helmet. Costuming was able to adjust the inner fittings so that the transmitters didn’t bother the actors. This setup worked out extremely well.” And what of the scenes when the helmets are off? “I had Simon Bysshe, the boom operator, right up to where the camera was, using the

Left to right: Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett

Ray Beckett, production mixer, on The Hurt Locker

Schoeps CMIT (the blue one) shotgun through a Sound Devices MP-1 portable mic pre and then out the transmitter at line level. I would also use an M-S pair of Schoeps, about 25 meters back, for when the scene had the actors firing guns in the shot. This is because the transmitter would clip due to the level of the gunfire, so I was able to catch the actual sound.

Then, in post, Paul would slip them so there would be appropriate time alignment. This way, we could still cover the lines using a good level without worrying about not having the sound of the gun or having the level too low to compensate for the loudness of the gun.”

Speaking of coverage, there are a number of scenes where you have to wonder where the sound crew is. “That’s funny because even the editors have asked me that. We were usually able to be totally out of the way by being near the second camera. I figured that (cinematographer) Barry (Ackroyd) would end up framing us out of the shot, so we’d be OK.” What about being on location and having a situation arise where you wish you could use a different piece of gear. “Well, with the transmitters in the helmets, it would have been nice to have the smaller, newer Lectrosonics transmitters, but we didn’t have them and I didn’t want to change brands because I absolutely love the sound and range of the Lectros.” How about RF issues? “We did a week of run-through, and I had some issues with interference. There were some powerful carrier waves that shouldn’t have been there, so I remember spending a long evening with head torches trying to tune out these frequencies so that we could find six CAS QUARTERLY

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that would work for the next day.” Ray’s advice to anyone working away from home using radio mics, “Even if you’re told so, don’t believe that it’s OK until you’ve tested it yourself at the location.”

As for recording, “If it’s a really tight shot, I like to have the personal mic and a boom covering an actor, with the boom about a foot above the head, any more than that and you run into some obvious phasing. This gives a really nice, natural sound. I did, however, try to cover everything with lav and boom and then let Paul and his team decide which mic was the better choice in post.” Ray and Paul spoke before production to make sure that they were on the same page. “Paul and Kathyrn were looking for clear, clean dialogue and lots of backgrounds & wild tracks, which were my feelings too.” Did he use any interesting sound-gathering approaches? “I had two Sanken COS-11’s that I wasn’t using, so I rigged them up to a pair of sunglasses and connected them to a small recorder. I’d collect sounds that way by walking around and, interestingly enough, I had Baha Othman, my Jordanian sound utility person, because he could blend in, walk through some of the markets that were frequented by Iraqi refugees so that we could have authentic market sounds with authentic Iraqi dialects.” Interestingly, this ended up providing a sound that was somewhat binaural, given the placement of the mics.

So what happened with all of Ray’s dialogue once it got to Paul N.J. Ottosson in post? “We did cue a few hundred lines of ADR, just to be safe. First day on the ADR stage, something funny happened. Our first actor came into our cool, comfy stage, grabbed a cappuccino & donut and got himself cozy. On the set they lived, sometimes in tents, and it was like 110 degrees there.

We discovered that after someone living the life of the person on the screen, they really became that guy. So after 15 takes on the first line of ADR, Kathryn and I took a pause and talked about it. We both knew the ADR would not work so we said, ‘Let’s make the production work and we’ll make the bleed from the city, etc., become a part of the soundscape.’ We then went back in the ADR stage and crossed out, probably, 75% of the lines from our cue sheets. I think it worked in our favor because there is a lot of random stuff on the production tracks that was unexpected, but became a really interesting part of the mix. Overall, I think we ended up with perhaps 3–5 principal on-screen ADR lines. I’ve seen some reviews of people thinking we had ADR’d a ton of it to get it sounding so clean and intelligible—even during the shootouts. Truth is, it was all due to Ray’s great production, along with good dialogue editing, and really working with the dialogue mix since there was no option of going to ADR since we hadn’t even recorded it!”

Paul N.J. Ottosson came from the world of music: recording, mixing and producing it—everything from gospel to black metal. “My last gig was a crazy one. We worked until 3 to 4 a.m. every day, seven days a week for three months. So I thought, maybe I should switch to post and maybe get home a bit earlier. Fast-forward 15 years ... nothing has changed! I still don’t have a lot of time off! I was initially hired as a music editor and mixer for a composer. I mixed and re-edited his music for music libraries and that led to mixing a few commercials and short films. I started to work with (sound editor) Wayne Joness and our first real gig was a show called Alex Mack, which became the number one show for Nickelodeon at the time. I 18

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think I got kind of hooked after that show.”

In the film, there is a lot of use of perspective, perhaps more than I can recall in recent times. “Kathryn and I talked a lot about the sound of the movie and we wanted to be close with the person on screen and all the detailed sound that would come with each person. We also considered the environment and how that would change a bit from that person’s perspective vs. the perspective of the previous guy we cut from. Even how each person perceived the same situation would be different. We felt that the movie worked best when you felt you were with the person on the screen. So, sonically, I tried to go with that approach. Also, playing each perspective kept you, as an audience member, on your toes. It took away the comfort factor. The trick was to not make it sound choppy, though. It did take a lot of work to make each cut work well and then tie it all together. We also didn’t want it to sound so complicated that you would be aware of all the sound, which would take you out of the experience of being with them. In many ways, I would say it is harder to get all that detail in the mix but without making it seem like a ton of sounds are coming at you.”

For one scene in particular, perspective was especially apparent and seems like it would be a big challenge to mix: the scene with the insurgents and snipers. “That scene with the sniper was a ton of fun to mix but it was, technically, a bit of a nightmare as well.

As you know, there is always wind and noise, etc., on any production recording when you’re outside. So panning dialogue is usually not done on movies, but I felt it was necessary in this scene.

It helped with identifying the location of people as well as the chaos around them. When I panned the dialogue from C to R, the wind on the same track would follow, so I would then have to sneak in another fill on both center and left speaker, otherwise it would sound unbalanced. I also had to pan the Foley that was intended for that guy, so now I had to bring up some more Foley for the guy on the screen. Then the shot changed back, and it all had to go back to the center and I had to loose the extra tracks because it didn’t work with just lowering the volume. I also ended up sweeping with eq to get a smoother in and out. Additionally, I would also pan the reverb and slap delays. That way, if the person spoke or fired a gun on the left, I would change the timing of the reverb and/or delay on the right compared to the left side.

Then we visually pan back, and I would have to automate the reverse of that! I know all of you re-recording mixers get the nightmare of this, but in the end, I think it was worth it— although I might not do it again!”

One thing that I found interesting about the mix was the evenness of it. And while the explosions and gunshots, for example, were louder than regular dialogue, it was as if there was more of an impact—more of an “oomph”—something you could feel— as opposed to just an obvious level increase. “Well, thank you! I did not compress the dialogue too heavily, I really just mixed it.

Compression, to me, muddies up the dialogue. I did de-ess carefully. That is something to me that makes a mix uneven, when the actor hit that 7 kHz “Ssss” no matter how low you mix it. I would start each scene by trying to get the dialogue to sound relatively even with volume alone and then I’d go back and ride eq. I don’t ‘set it and forget it,’ I really work the tail ends of sentences. I find that most of the time, actors get quiet in the end, but also lose their clarity, and I usually can’t get that back

by just raising the volume. So riding lows and highs was a few passes alone.”

And what about the low end in the mix? “I do love the sub, and I work a lot with it in all movies. I sometimes have other mixers tell me I shouldn’t push the sub that much because when it plays in some old, uncalibrated theater, the mix won’t sound the same. My thought on that is that I don’t spend 6-12 months of my life working on something trying to make it the best it can be just to then dumb it down for some theater where they’re missing a speaker! Should we then crank up the print in the DI suite for all the theaters that are not playing at the right luminance and wash out the print for the rest of us?”

How about tracks? “Well, I had around 250 tracks for the sfx, design, Foley, BG, pfx was up to eight tracks in some scenes. All of these were prepared into subgroups that I had on a group master, but every track was live. Music at its peak hit about 60 tracks. Dialogue was on 12 tracks, fills a few more tracks. We did have a lot of group and group specifics—I think that was 16 or 24 tracks.” And, in a nutshell, how long did you spend working on the project? “Pre-dubbing on the sfx, BG, and design side was about 3–4 months. I pre-dub the volume as I cut and design because when I run the reels with my editors, I always want it to be well balanced. Then, we had six days of sfx, Foley, BG pre-dub on the stage. Dialogue was six days of pre-dub and about three weeks of final mix including Print Mastering.

Paul is well known for his sound-design work but doesn’t generally act as a mixer. “For most movies, it is a relief to be

able to sit back and let another mixer do the hard work that mixing really is. It is also nice on most movies to get a fresh set of ears and someone else really talented to take my stuff and make it better or look at it in a slightly different way.

However, with The Hurt Locker, it would’ve been too hard to get a mixer that has never seen the movie to get to the same place myself and Kathryn had been after living with it for such a long time. That’s how it came about that I ended up mixing the movie and, with The Hurt Locker, I wouldn’t want to have it any other way.”

In conclusion, Paul states, “I would like to thank my crew.

Also, I would like to add a ‘Thank You’ to all the CAS members for awarding us with this great honor, as well as on the personal thanks to my entire crew. And, finally, a ‘Thank You’ to Ray for delivering the best production tracks I’ve ever worked with.” I asked Ray for any parting words. “This project was a complete team effort. There was a lot of respect for the sound and respect between Paul’s crew and mine. The way Paul was able to enhance sounds when I was unable to get in there and the way the composer’s score weaved in and out so perfectly with our sounds. I’m very excited by how it all turned out. And I’d just like to say how pleased and truly honored I am to receive the CAS Award this year.”

Congratulations to Ray Beckett and Paul N.J. Ottosson on their CAS and Academy Awards. Thank you, also, for taking the time to provide such a great insight into a truly great sounding film.

Outstanding Achievement for TV Movies and Mini-Series

GREY GARDENS

by Will Hansen, CAS

Grey Gardens is a story of a mother-daughter tandem living in complete recluse: the relatives of the late Jackie Kennedy Onassis. Maybe some of you are familiar with the documentary of the two that came out in 1975 starring Edith Bouvier Beale and Edith “Lil Edie” Bouvier Beale. The story of Grey Gardens is a love story, not one of a man and a woman, but of a mother and daughter. Drew Barrymore is “Lil Edie” and Jessica Lange is “Edith Beale.” Directed by Michael Sucsy, this take on the documentary includes the 40 years of their lives leading up to the documentary.

And what an interesting life they lived! The film starts off in 1936 in New York and moves primarily to the East Hamptons of New York at a place they called Grey Gardens. This being the place where the two spend the remaining years of their lives together. Ironically, they start off as le crème de la crème of the high society in New York, only to take a blind eye to the dilapidation of their lives that followed; truly a fascinating character study. So fascinating I think, that it helped Henry Embry and Rick Ash take home this year’s CAS Award for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for Television Movies and Mini-Series.

Henry Embry and Rick Ash

Shot in Toronto and the surrounding areas, production mixer Henry Embry’s team consisted of James L. Thompson on the boom, Ron Stermac handling the cable duties and acting as a second boomer when needed, and Mike Filippov taking care of the Pro Tools playback. There was quite a lot of singing in the beginning of the movie, as Edith loved to sing.

A sidenote about James from Henry. “He is a very wellrespected and experienced boom operator who has enjoyed a career anyone would dream of. He has been a mentor to many aspiring boom operators in Toronto. I’m proud to say that it was an honor to work with him and have him retire on such a high note—Grey Gardens.” So here’s to you, James! May your retirement be filled with fishing and family!

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Henry ran with the Zaxcom Deva 5 hard disk recorder, Zaxcom Cameo digital mixer, Lectrosonics Venue system, Lectrosonics sm transmitters with Sanken and Countryman B6 lavs and a Schoeps 5U shotgun. A dialogue track with isos was provided along with an occasional music mix.

Grey Gardens presented challenges in many regards to Henry and his team. There were many dramatic scenes with actors overlapping dialogue because they wanted to keep the pace and intensity of the scenes. Thus, requiring them to mic all lines on-camera and off. Also, in order to give the actors more realism on set, they filmed all the phone scenes live. This was a technical challenge because they did not have a phone line to make a connection at those locations. Instead, they had Harry Quan from Location Audio Digital rewire all the period, oncamera, telephones with modern electronics in order to make them compatible with Henry’s phone interface boxes. And, because they had no phone line, Henry had to hard-wire a cell phone to the interface box in order to complete the connection. As if that alone was not enough, Henry connected a pressto-talk mic on the phone interface for the director to communicate with both actors.

The singing scenes were handled a few ways. All the music was pre-recorded and played back via Pro Tools. Some scenes had dialogue during the playback, so a Thumper was used since it would thump while the actors were talking and dancing and, when they were done, the music would cue back up. On one scene though, the actors didn’t want to use an earwig so they had to carefully work out all the music and dialogue cues. Silly actors. However, they knew the material so well that Henry had no problem fading the music in and out while maintaining sync.

Henry is about to start an eight-part mini-series called The Kennedys. I wish you the best of luck. Maybe this time, you’ll get to hard-wire a satellite to your receivers to pick up a man on the moon!

Re-recording mixer Rick Ash said his general experience was delightful. The director was great, editorial was good and the studio was very supportive. He mixed on a Neve DFC, from Pro

Tools to Pro Tools. He doesn’t use much outboard gear or plugins, just a little bit of reverb, delay and eq. The film warranted integrity, simplicity and honesty. The period of the piece is not an illusion, therefore, the soundscape demanded authenticity.

Rick explored many complicated and extensive ideas over the course of the mix. After experimenting, he campaigned to simplify matters. He thought the viewer would be more focused on the story if less dramatic shifts were made in sound. The storyline was, essentially, a continuous thought and, therefore, didn’t warrant interruption. A single-camera sound was then chosen to play both camera and flashbacks. It was used subtly and was meant to be felt rather than heard. The acting was telling the story extremely well and Rick was there to support it, not be tricky and distract from it.

An odd character, the house became a voice of its own: quirky, comical, sad, mysterious and awkward. Floorboard creaks, cats meowing off stage, raccoons and rain, tree branches rubbing against the roof. They all helped to facilitate the story. As the years passed, the voice of the house grew more grave, more distorted and hopeless. It mirrored the women of the film.

Music was a wonderful character in the film, setting the period, capturing the mood and twisting the story in interesting ways. Rick said the composer nailed it with each cue fitting like a glove, it felt indigenous to the film. Rick thought it was wonderful finding the pocket for each start. Once the pocket was found, the music told him what to do. The pre-records were well handled and sync was not much of an issue. Vocals for the singing were re-recorded, but pieces of production were cobbled together with the re-records to give the final result.

As we ended our conversation, Rick received a phone call from a producer about a blues film based on the life of Little Walter. He told me the script is wonderful, and he’s discussing the opportunities of pre-records, sync, music editing and how it all will ideally converge on the stage for the final mix. I wish you luck, and if you ever need some more material with camera noise on it, I got you covered.

Congratulations to Rick and Henry on a job well done!

Outstanding Achievement for TV

MAD MEN

by Peter Damski, CAS The winner of the CAS Award for Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Television Series was presented to the team from Mad Men. Peter Bentley, CAS handled the production mixing duties while re-recording mixers Ken Teaney, CAS and Todd Orr created the final mix. I caught up with Bentley and Teaney last week and had the opportunity to ask a few questions about their work. The following is a result of that communication.

Can you give us a brief bio of how you ended up here?

Bentley: I was born and raised in Holland. After high school, I attended flight-school college and enlisted in the Royal Dutch Navy spending time on Holland’s only aircraft 20

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Corporation (CBC). Moving from the TV studios, I landed a junior producer’s job in radio drama and music recordings. After five years, I left the corporation and started building my own recording/film studio complex in Calgary Alberta, with the assistance of local financial help. Our studio was a copy of the A&M recording studios in Hollywood (Blue Room). The studio was in operation for 16 years with a staff of 12. We had two record labels, Horizon and West Mount Records, a publishing department and complete art department for record and album productions. After six years, we branched out to offer a high-speed film-dubbing stage with Foley, editing, and negative cutting rooms. Due to the economic changes in 1983, I was forced to close the studio and became a freelance record producer and sound mixer. The Nagra recorder was with me 24/7 in those days, and I developed a love for location sound and recordings of sound effects. With my good friend, cameraman Robert Gibson, we traveled all over Canada and the U.S.A. for documentaries and other interesting projects.

After obtaining a work visa (the legal way), I started to get some work in Los Angeles as a boom man and sound mixer and learned the trade from some of the best.

Hollywood has treated me very well, and I enjoyed working for all these years on many features, TV series, and meeting the finest crew members this industry has to offer.

Teaney: This is my 34th year in the business and I’ve done just about everything you can do on a console; radio, records, commercials, theme parks, live, TV, features and I’ve done more IMAX mixing than any other person! I started re-recording at ABC in Net-Promo and spent 19 years with EFX/Wilshire Stages and I’m starting my fourth year at Todd-AO.

What is your general experience of working on Mad Men?

Bentley: The drive behind Mad Men is our creative and executive producer Matthew Weiner. Working with Matt is an incredible experience. The detail of Mad Men in every department is so real that at times I feel young again.

Working with this cast and crew is a joy from the moment I get on the set until wrap. Most of our days are spent on the three soundstages in downtown Los Angeles, with some locations in other parts of the city.

Teaney: Less is more when mixing Mad Men. It’s a very wellwritten show and dialogue is KING!

Where do you mix the show and what equipment are you mixing on?

Left to right: Peter Bentley, CAS, post producer Blake McCormick, Ken Teaney, CAS

carrier and seeing the world. When I had a taste of North America, I made my move. At the age of 23, I immigrated to Canada and obtained a job with the Canadian Broadcasting

Bentley: The heart of the sound cart in my Zaxcom Cameo mixer. The two recorders are the Deva 5 and Fostex PD4 as back up. Lectrosonics is also well represented with the Digital Hybrid Wireless Venue System, and 14 Comtek headphone systems. Most of our microphones are the Sennheiser 50 and 60 models. Some of our sets are bright by nature, the sound is very rich. My crew is Chris Sposa on boom and David Holmes on second boom. Both Chris and David are bringing an incredible amount of experience to this production. I

Mad Men

would say most of our scenes are recorded with two booms.

Mad Men is a dialogue show, and we like to give post production as many choices as possible. Even if only one off-screen line is used. I think Mad Men has a very rich sound. I’m mixing on the Cameo mixer in the analog mode. Maybe it is just me, but I like the sound of it this way.

Teaney: We begin the mix on day one on Stage A at ToddAO Burbank and day two on Stage 7 at Todd-AO Hollywood.

Stage A has four big Pro Tools rigs and we mix on D-Command consoles. I do DX and MX and Todd handles FX, BGs and Foley. Day one is just us, and we mix the show to where we think it should be (getting ready to start our fourth season, so we’re pretty close). We move to Hollywood for the client day, where we are mixing on Control 24 consoles and the first playback is for the post producer, Blake McCormick, and supervising sound editor Jason George.

Then we address notes, tweeks, and are ready for playback number two for creator/EP Matt Weiner.

Are there any specific challenges to getting a good mix on Mad Men?

Teaney: This show is all about being subtle and as real as we can get to the time period (last season ended in December 1963). We try for VERY clean (some might say sparse) sounding dialogue tracks and a throwback mix style. It’s designed to sound like a show made in 1963. Very few sound effects, backgrounds as needed, almost no Foley or Score.

Period needle drop songs are sometimes featured and sometimes just background and there is little use of the surrounds!

We play it, almost (not quite) mono … on purpose!

Do you have any fun stories to share about the show?

Teaney: We spend a lot of time talking about the New York traffic. What street are we on? What time of day is it? That car doesn’t sound like a 1960s car. What cracks me up is that I’m the only one on the crew that was alive in 1963, I was 5 years old and a Southern California native!

What other current projects are you working on?

Bentley: As far as other interests, I have a passion for food.

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Men has a very short production schedule (4.5 month), so between seasons I started a DVD series called Culinary Horizon.

Two seasons ago, I went to Thailand and borrowed a camera to shoot a culinary production featuring 12 Thai dishes. The show was released on DVD including a cookbook and interesting travel stories. This is now available online as well as a download from the website. Last year, I went to Tuscany, Italy, to kick it up a notch and worked with a small film crew to shoot our second DVD in high definition called Culinary Horizon Tuscany, which will be released late July 2010. If you

have a moment, go to www.culinaryhorizon.com.

Teaney: We have just finished seasons of Dollhouse and Saving Grace. Also, the IMAX film Arabia. In June, we start our summer TV season and will be doing The Glades and season four of Mad Men. Congratulations go out to the mixing team from Mad Men. Thanks to Peter Bentley and Ken Teaney for their participation in this interview. We look forward to several more seasons of Mad Men to come.

Outstanding Achievement for TV Non-Fiction, Variety or Music – Series or Specials

Wizard, since it uses these air switches that keep going off in the background. So when we mix, we have to be extra-conscious of the ambience changes so as not to disrupt the continuity.” And for those scenes that are extra noisy? “While we like the nat sound, sometimes it does call for de-noising, especially the low-end noise that you can barely hear but really hits the VU meters. So, I’ll use EQ and the iZotope RX suite of plug-ins to help reduce the unwanted background noise. I also have sound profiles for each area of each ship that help give me a reference point for usual noise levels. Plus, listening to every piece of dialogue and working my way through it really makes the dialogue pre-dub go extra smooth.”

Does he feel all the dialogue cleanup work is noticed? “Oh, definitely. What’s really nice is when I’m able to remove enough noise from dialogue clips that the producers decide to remove titles. In fact, they’ll usually loose 30%–60% of the titles that they thought were needed based on the offline audio. I take that kind of stuff as a great compliment.”

This season has a rather somber undertone, being that one of the main fishermen, Captain Phil Harris, passed away as a result of a stroke. “The audio post had been wrapped for a couple of months when his passing occurred on February 9. It was, obviously, a very sad moment, not only for the producers and those who worked directly with him, but for the rest of the staff and, of course, the fans. You know, I’ll talk to people and they’ll be like, ‘Man, I really like that show, but how do you keep it on the air—it looks so dangerous.’

Obviously, it is dangerous, but I think there is such a personal element with these characters that resonates with the audience and it keeps bringing them back.” Bob concludes, “And it’s such a great feeling to know that you’re contributing, even just a little, to something that people really connect with.”

Congratulations again, Bob, from your colleagues here Bob Bronow, CAS with his award. at the CAS.

DEADLIEST CATCH “Stay Focused or Die”

by Matt Foglia, CAS When I caught up via telephone with this year’s Television NonFiction, Variety or Music – Series or Specials CAS Award winner Bob Bronow, CAS, he had just returned from a family trip to Oregon to celebrate his great aunt’s 100th birthday, “and my grandmother is 97!” he added. Whereas for humans, longevity is largely based on genes, for TV, it’s usually based upon viewership.

“We began airing our sixth season a couple of weeks ago to our highest ratings yet!” shared Bob enthusiastically.

Last year, Deadliest Catch also captured the CAS Award. “That was a career high point,” Bob recounts. “To be honored by my CAS peers in this manner is something that I can’t articulate with words.” Since we covered a lot of Bob’s back-story in last year’s “Meet the Winners” article, I wanted to hear what he’s been up to.

“Well, I’ve been mixing a couple of series for Discovery and History channels and I’ve also been doing sound design and mixing for a Spike TV series called 1,000 Ways to Die. It’s kind of like CSI meets the Darwin Awards and it’s very fun to work on because it’s so sound-design heavy.” Bob’s also opened up a third room at Max Post (the post-production division of Original Productions—the creators of Deadliest Catch) and, as was the case when the second room opened, has promoted a former assistant to work the new room.

Our conversation shifted from the new breed of interns to meters (“I use an LM100 on everything now—even if it’s not in the spec”) to the, dare I say, crazy producers (who also act as cameramen) working on the show. “They’re their own breed—they love it. I don’t think any of them would be happy working on a set some place. Without them, think of all the crazy, real things that the viewer wouldn’t be able to experience.”

While those images carry the story visually, Bob’s sound design & mix are necessary to keep the realism going aurally. “I’ve built up a library of ambiences and effects that allow me to keep the sound exceptionally accurate and the transitions as smooth as possible, since there are microphones all over the place with each having its own timbre and noise characteristics. For instance, if you consider the wheelhouses of the various boats, one may be relatively quiet, like Captain Sig’s, while another will be extremely noisy, like on the 22

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Outstanding Achievement for DVD Original Programming

INTO THE BLUE 2: THE REEF

by Peter Damski, CAS This year’s recipient of the CAS Award for Outstanding Sound Mixing for Original DVD Programming is the team from Into the Blue 2: The Reef. The team consists of production mixer John Reynolds and re-recording mixers Terry O’Bright, CAS and Keith A. Rogers, CAS. The film is centered on a pair of divers who are drawn in to a search for sunken treasure and was shot entirely in Hawaii. Hawaii is the home of Reynolds and, as a resident, he is knowledgeable and well suited for shooting in this exotic location.

John Reynolds moved to Hawaii 33 years ago after receiving a degree in theater from the University of Washington. His plans for the bright lights of Broadway were cut short when he found himself in the islands and never left. Reynolds spent several years as a lighting technician and set builder and had a couple of local shops, which serviced both crafts. In 1988, Reynolds began working in audio production. He was picked up as the utility person by Susan Moore-Chong, CAS on Tour of Duty. “Living in Hawaii, there is a price for paradise. You have to do whatever comes along. I was lucky to have a strong background in lighting and as an electrician, which kept me busy.” Reynolds worked as utility on several projects since and began mixing about 10 years ago. Most of the mixing projects have been for lower budget features, TV movies or series. He did two seasons of the Discovery Kids network series Flight 29 Down five years ago. Reynolds still works utility on some of the larger productions that come into town. Hawaii has a mixed local and there are few restrictions on mixing one day and doing utility the next. His training for mixing comes from working with many top-notch visiting mixers. A large part of Into the Blue 2 was shot on a boat in the harbor at Makaha. The sound mixer and the DIT worked on another boat and were always cabled to the picture boat, which provided some challenges. Interior sets were built around the yacht club so that they didn’t have big company moves. Most of the film was boomed due to the lack of clothing on the cast. Audio was recorded on the cameras and also backed up at the sound cart.

Reynolds’ equipment package includes Lectrosonics wireless with Sanken mics. Six of his transmitters are the Lectrosonics MM-400 waterproof model. Shooting in Hawaii always has the potential for the equipment to get wet. He uses Lectrosonics IFBs for foldback, Sound Devices 788T and 744T recorders, and a PSC M-6 Retro Mixer. “Faders are not a good idea in Hawaii with all of the moisture, salt and sand. The pots are sealed and you stand a chance of keeping the elements out.” He has a custom-built cart, which is rack-based and allows for easy separation of parts when mobility is an issue. “On the boat, I had two cases with everything I needed.” Reynolds added that “people don’t come to Hawaii to shoot on a stage all day long.

They come here to wander around the beaches, climb the

Keith A. Rogers, CAS and Terry O’Bright, CAS

mountains or see the scenery, so every job is unique and you have to be very, very, flexible.” The biggest challenge on Into the Blue 2 was the limited space available on the picture boat.

Boom operator Richard Linke worked hard to find a useable boom position on the boat. Utility duties were performed by Dan Garab. “It took all of us to figure out the logistics to make this all work together and look seamless.” Reynolds likes to spend time with his wife Brenda and 15-year-old son J.J. when not on set.

Terry O’Bright and Keith Rogers have had a long relationship with Into the Blue 2 executive producer Hudson Hickman.

This was the first film done for Hickman, which was shot in Hawaii. O’Bright handled the dialogue and music and Rogers

John Reynolds (sitting) with utility sound technician Dan Garab.

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dealt with the effects. The approach to the mix was more like feature work than television. According to Rogers, “Since it was a DVD release, the 5.1 mix was the priority. We did a separate pass for the Lt/Rt downmix, making sure it all translated. The mixing challenges included the ocean ambiences, both above and below the waves. Sounds of life on the beach also presented challenges for the team.” Rogers adds, “Getting the right elements for sound underwater is always a challenge.

You have to find the right textures to make it sound right.”

O’Bright had some off time during production and flew to Hawaii to visit the set. “It was great to hang out with producer Hickman and director Stephen Herek and then several months later, get to mix the film.” Sound supervisor/sound designer Mark Friedgen got most of the sounds together at Smart Post Sound. Some elements came from library material and some were recorded specifically for the film. The mix took four days with a day of fixes and Herek was very involved in the mixing process. O’Bright commented, “Steve wasn’t happy with the sound of the underwater sleds at first and spent some time finding the right sound with Friedgen while we continued mixing. It was a very efficient use of time.” The film was mixed on a Digidesign Icon, as have all the mixes by this team for the past four years. Rogers emphasized that the technology in Pro Tools makes their workflow much more efficient. “It has made mixing more fun for us. It is easier for us to make small fixes ourselves, without having to send things back to editorial.”

47th cas awards timetable

O’Bright and Rogers left Buena Vista Post Production three years ago to start a new re-recording wing for Smart Post Sound, Smart Move Sound. O’Bright is the president and Rogers the vice president of the new facilities. They just completed two brand-new rooms in Burbank, both equipped with Icon work surfaces and JBL Cinema Array monitors, making a total of three stages. Into the Blue 2 was actually mixed at Novastar. “They have a great Icon mix stage down there.”

O’Bright adds, “We have been lucky to work with some great clients lately and Into the Blue 2 was no exception.” Rogers joins in, “We were blown away when we won the award. It is great to be acknowledged for work that was so fun to do. There were just good vibes all the way through.” Although it was hard work with a short schedule, the team really enjoyed the creative time spent with the director and producer. The guys have just completed Camp Rock 2 for Disney. They are currently mixing the independent feature White Irish Drinkers for director John Gray and are continuing to mix the TV series Bones for Fox. Smart Move Sound continues to grow and has taken on a great group of mixing partners, including Sherry Klein, CAS, Tamara Johnson, CAS and Larry Benjamin, CAS to name a few.

Rogers finished with, “One thing we would like to add is that we have been working together for about 18 years now. It’s a big advantage because we work so well together, and we are such great friends. We’re just fortunate that we have been able to stick together, it’s been a great thing.” •

• Entry Submission Form on CAS website Tue., Oct. 5, 2010 • Entry Submission Form mailed Mon., Oct. 25, 2010 • Entry Submissions due by 5 p.m., Fri., Nov. 26, 2010 • Nominations Ballot mailed Sun., Dec. 12, 2010 • Nominations Balloting closes 5 p.m., Fri., Dec. 31, 2010 • Final Five Nominees announced Thu., Jan. 6, 2011 • Final Ballot mailed Fri., Jan. 14, 2011 • Final Voting closes 5 p.m., Sat., Feb. 12, 2011 • 47th CAS Awards Sat., Feb. 19, 2011

Headphones:

From Ancient to Modern b y To m lin s on H ol m an , C A S

f you are like me and have been at this business for a while, you may have followed the same path I did for headphone (or earphone) listening, because I think it was quite common. I started in the ’60s and wore Permoflux headphones for a short time while I used a Nagra III. These phones were designed for bomber crews in WWII, and the name shows the development: they were an early application of permanent magnets, new to the game. Did you know that 1930s theater loudspeakers had to be powered up to energize the “field” coil and make a magnetic field for the moving coil to work against? Permanent magnets had yet to be perfected. Technical developments made for the war effort were spun off to help our industry post war. Among these were the A4 Voice of the Theater, which used permanent magnets of the type developed for the Permoflux phones, and Cinerama, which started out as WWII tail-gunner training films, like a giant video shooter game.

The Permoflux sounded pretty bad, so I moved on as soon as I bought a Nagra IV to Beyer Photo courtesy National Institute of Standards and Technology 1

Of course, that was only a wiring difference between the mono DT-48s and the DT-480s.

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KEMAR manikin

DT-48s, the standard for the time. These put a cylindrical metal piece into your concha, the major opening in the outer ear, and boy did one’s ears get red and sore wearing those. When I traded up to the beautiful Nagra IV-S, I got Beyer DT-480s—a lot more comfortable, and stereo to boot1. None of these solutions had much bass it was clear, but at least there was increasing comfort from one to the next.

I left production sound and went to work first in consumer electronics then at Lucasfilm as chief engineer of post. The headphone “problem” was a lingering one—it would affect us in production but only remotely, but more close to home in transfer rooms and QC. By this time, Henrik Staffeldt, a Danish researcher, had proposed the theory that all you had to get right is the frequency response at your eardrum, and all will be well in transferring from one room to another. I read the literature and found out about a research tool, the Knowles Electronics Manikin for Acoustic Research (KEMAR), which mimics the whole enchilada: head, outer ear (pinna), middle ear, and then places microphone elements where the eardrum would be. I thought that if I got a good standardized room and measured it, I could equalize other rooms for the same ear canal response in a dummy, and get good translation.

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Because of the THX efforts, I was able to buy a KEMAR and measure the frequency response of a properly-aligned dubbing stage sound system in its ear canal. I realized that this would also be useful for headphone listening, because if the reference is your eardrum, the frequency response should match there whether the sound field is external or from phones. I got a number of headphones and compared them to the dubbing stage response and found they were mostly off, significantly. This was some years ago, and Grant Imahara made the headphone measurements. Grant went on to reality television stardom—he plays himself on Discovery Channel’s MythBusters.

Here’s what the Permoflux delivered compared to the “proper” response, which is the ear canal response measured on a dubbing stage aligned correctly to SMPTE 202.

The sensitivity is very high at 17 mV for 85 dB SPL at 400 Hz. That would put it on film reference level for -20 dBFS, but you may need more given how loud it is on sets. On the other hand, with the high isolation, you need not run the headphones so hot, and probably a reference level this low will do. I haven’t tried that yet—to get them to absolute sensitivity.

Here’s the next gen, a couple of AKG models, widely used in music studios:

Etymotic AKG K141 AKG K240

They measure -20 to +8 dB in one case, a distinct improvement, but an ear canal resonance around 2.5 kHz is strongly evident, and the lows are still not up to snuff.

The film industry kind of moved on to settle, more or less, on the Sony MDR-7506 model. It measures thusly:

These show some roll off in the bass due to the degree of seal we were able to get to the (metal) ear canals of the dummy.

I think on an actual ear and tightly coupled the bottom end would be flat. And the response is a spectacular ±1 dB from mid-bass through a quite high frequency, above 12 kHz! Note graphically, we’ve gone from a 60 dB range to a 30 dB one, and in measurement from a 50 dB response range to a <6 dB one, probably less than 3 dB.

Permoflux

And here’s the DT-48s

The Etymotic ER-4Ps with their various supplied ear tips Sony MDR

Bey DT-48

Not much better, but note that the scale has changed. Instead of -46 +4 dB of the Permoflux, now we’re -38 +5 dB. Yikes, these things are pretty bad, and yes they lack bass, a lot of bass.

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While it still shows a strong ear canal resonance, the bass has been improved, and the response is -5 +10 dB, and we have moved a long ways from Permofluxes.

Then, more recently, I discovered a company with a very familiar philosophy: earphones should be matched in response at your eardrum to the external sound field produced by a good sound system. They came at it from high-end consumer electronics and loudspeakers, not cinema, so I was interested to see how they’d match. A little surprisingly, they matched beyond my expectations. They are the Etymotic ER-4P model, and here is their response:

How do they sound you ask? Spectacular. However, in my case, with curvy ear canals, it took a custom Westone siliconefitted earpiece with molds made at the House Ear Institute to get a really good seal for the low end and isolation. You may find that the supplied several types of ear tip devices work perfectly well, or you may find that you need the custom ear molds. I know that I got more bass and better isolation with the custom molds. I can believe their data sheet that the isolation is in the range of 35 dB–42 dB, and if you want to be in aural contact with others around you, all you have to pull out is the transducer, not the ear mold. With Oto-Ease lubricant that I find necessary to get a good comfortable seal, I’ve worn these for hours on end with little fatigue.

My ear molds, cast by the House Ear Institute and made by Westone.

The Etymotics use a mechanical filter that needs to be changed out when the sensitivity drops, but this is easy to do and they supply a number of filters and a changing tool with the original package. The only accessories I needed are Oto-Ease and pipe cleaners to keep my molds free of earwax.

The Etymotic ER-4P has Internet pricing in the $175–$230 range.

As I recall, the House Ear charges, the molds cost about $125. All very well worth the developments that are embodied in them.

The experimentation, taking place over years, has been very productive to get to an amazing place. And the Etymotics sound great with iPods too.

The fate of the original KEMAR was not so good. When an intern was told to clean out the basement of the Tech Building at Skywalker, he took the manikin for a clothes model and threw it in the trash. Luckily, my lab at USC was able to afford one, and so we continue to make these kinds of measurements. •

Photos by K. Koenig except as noted

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Everyon e

remain

! ! !

M L CA A Look at the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act

by Kar ol Ur ban, CAS

For years, my folks have demanded of me, knowing vaguely what I do as a sound designer and re-recording mixer for television and film, to “turn down the commercials!” Apparently, I am not the only one receiving such requests.

The FCC has been receiving complaints related to the increased volume of commercials as compared to their accompanying programs for decades. And the U.S. broadcast industry has acknowledged this issue through the Advanced Television Systems Committee’s (ATSC) development of a recommended standard, which began in 2006 and was officially accepted by membership in November of 2009. However, in early 2009, Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) introduced HR 1084 or Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act (CALM Act) to the House of Representatives seeking legal reinforcement to eliminate what she describes as “the ear-splitting levels” of commercials.

Originally, CALM sought to require the FCC to prescribe a standard of loudness aimed at equalizing the volume of commercials to that of their accompanying programs. After the standards were set and accepted, they were to be implemented another year later.

Since its introduction, the bill has received two amendments. The first amendment recognizes the ATSC’s work on the “Recommended Practice: Techniques for Establishing and Maintaining Audio Loudness for Digital Television (A/85),” and names it the new standard to be implemented by the FCC. The second amendment gives the FCC the ability to grant compliance waivers to television broadcast stations, cable operators, or other multichannel video programming distributors that can demonstrate financial hardship resulting from any required equipment purchase.

So what does the ATSC recommend?

Merely a new age of “proficiency in loudness measurement, production monitoring, metadata usage, and contemporary dynamic range practices” aimed at meeting the needs of the “content supplier, the broadcaster, the audience, and governing bodies.” Yowza! But luckily, only part of the responsibility falls to the studio. The document recognizes and addresses that our mixes are greatly affected by the master control centers and redistribution centers outside of the mix suite. But with that being the case, it is paramount that metadata accurately matches program content when it leaves our hands, that we adhere to recommended loudness measurements, and that we ensure proper calibration and setup of our mix suites.

So how will it affect the fader pushers of the world?

We will need to use ITU-R BS.1770 to determine loudness.

We will have to control our content’s volume without relying on metadata as an equalizing “God in the Sky.” Multiple reference monitoring environments will need to be set up in order to approximate our mix for a broad scope of reproduction environments. And finally, we must assign metadata accurately, when applicable, to match content. Most of these things should sound familiar. For some of us, an investment in equipment that can use the ITU-R BS.1770 recommended algorithm would be a really good idea.

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So how loud can we rock?

The ATSC recommends the loudness measurement of an anchor element, the perceived loudness reference point by which all other elements are situated in the mix. This is also typically the focal point of an average viewer. In most cases, dialogue will be used as an anchor element to determine overall loudness.

Thus, the term Dialogue Level has been employed. When the content is too short or too long to use dialogue as the anchor element or when dialogue is not present, the long-term loudness of all elements for the entire duration of a piece of material will be reported as the Dialogue Level.

And so, the target volume of Dialogue Level is (drum roll please…) -24 LKFS. According to the ATSC, LKFS is a K-weighted loudness measurement gathered using the ITU-R BS.1770 recommended algorithm. An LKFS unit is equal to one standard decibel. Wiggle room of + or -2 db will be permitted. The ATSC does not recommend aiming above or below -24 LKFS. True Peak is defined as -2 db. While this may not be what an individual broadcaster may permit based on its outgoing distribution process, this is what the FCC may require, if this bill becomes law, as an absolute ceiling.

In addition, to ensure our audio is correctly treated at the broadcast level and is reproduced properly, it is essential that attention be given to ensuring our content matches our metadata and that our rooms are calibrated properly. The A/85 document does specify various audio room types and their appropriate functions in the production/post-production process as well as how to calibrate one’s room to ensure accurate neutral monitoring.

While much has been published on the dismay of some constituents who feel the bill addresses an issue of little concern in the wake of public healthcare, environmental issues, and foreign-policy concerns, this train appears to be coming our way. Rep. Eshoo has compared the overwhelming accession of this bill’s mission as unrivaled in her experience by all but the Do Not Call list. Also, countries including Australia, Brazil, France, Russia, and United Kingdom already have established loudness standards for commercial broadcasts. It appears the couch-based television volume “remote” management system may be a thing of the past. (You’re welcome, grandpa!)

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the bill on December 15, 2009, by voice and it is now on its way to the Senate. If the bill passes in the Senate and receives its presidential signature, CALM will become law and the ATSC’s “recommended” standards will no longer be “recommended” but mandatory.

Many in our field have questioned how we can deliver commercials at program level without making programs feel like never-ending commercials. I, however, find this to be an exciting prospect. Technology’s growing ability to quantify what we hear gives us the opportunity to expand our awareness and utilize a larger palette of tools within our craft. I see this additional mix restriction as an invitation to explore what psychologically affects a viewer sonically. One of the most important lessons I learned when I got married was that the “bullhorn” town-crier type of persuasion only works so long before the listener becomes saturated and can’t hear another word. We may, in fact, find advertising becomes more effective and exciting, as it begins to incorporate campaigns that take advantage of new volume requirements, providing even more interesting audio opportunities. • CAS QUARTERLY

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Tom Hartig and I are on location in Venice, Italy, on the production of The Tourist, starring Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie and directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. We have been here since mid-February and will be here till early June, other than the first week of shooting in Paris. Before that, Tom and I were in Pittburgh on The Next Three Days, starring Russell Crowe and Elizabeth Banks, directed by Paul Haggis. Best to all, Mark Ulano CAS

Thomas Curley CAS is mixing Pizza Man, starring Frankie Muniz till late April, then flying to Louisiana to mix Samuel Bleak.

Kent Sparling CAS has had a busy winter-into-spring—working on the sound design and mix for Richard Bowen’s feature debut, Little Sister— recording a library of production effects for a documentary on the voyage of the Plastiki, a 60-ft catamaran made almost entirely from recycled plastic bottles, now sailing the Pacific from San Francisco to Sydney to raise

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awareness about plastic pollution in our oceans (www.theplastiki.com).

He’ll be doing the sound design and mix for this film later in the summer (see photo in “The Lighter Side”), prepping for design and mix of Pepe Bojorquez’s upcoming feature Hidden Moon. Also, design and mix of Beth Lisick and Frazer Bradshaw’s Sinking State.

Philip Perkins CAS mixed Malcolm Murray’s Camera, Camera (to premiere

at the LA Film Fest) and made a new TV mix for Emiko Omori’s Ed Hardy: Tattoo the World and A Journey to Africa.

On the production sound side, he recorded live music for the new TV series San Francisco Late Night, recorded an album’s worth of new jazz tunes for The Lost Trio, worked on the Discovery doc series Through the Wormhole and the PBS doc Discontinuity.

William B. Kaplan CAS writes: We

had a big year! Several of the films we did in ’09 bled over from ’08. We finished a long run of motion-capture films like Mars Needs Moms while we

CAS QUARTERLY

did A Christmas Carol and Alice in Wonderland between wrapping and prepping on another stage, while having a good run on Avatar. We started another mo-cap project named Yellow Submarine.

We actually took off and did a regular, sprocketed camera-type film titled Unstoppable. We used as many as 12 cameras and three helicopters, microwave to get the stuff around, and stayed very mobile between trains and insert cars. We were on the road for almost five months, in four states and eight hotels.

It was a real Tony Scott production and it was great fun. I have used Tommy Giordano throughout, being the tech man that makes it all work. Boom people would come and go, depending on the projects: Cary Weitz, Peggy Names, Don Coufal, Robert Jackson, and of course, Jesse Kaplan.

Andy Wiskes CAS, Scott Kinzey and

Fred Runner recently finished U.S. shooting on Red Tails, the JAK Films production on the Tuskegee Airmen of WWII. Andy has also been filming commercials for Honda and a doc on the Restoration of Sierra #3, the

steam locomotive made famous in the Back to the Future film.

It’s pilot season in Texas. Stacy Brownrigg CAS, with boom ops Thadd Day and Scott Streetman, are doing 13 episodes for Fox’s The Good Guys, with Colin Hanks and Bradley Whitford.

Eric Batut CAS will be mixing Fringe

Season 3 for Bad Robot. Boom operator will be Danny Duperreault, sound assistant will be Millar Montgomery.

From Universal Studios Sound: Chris Jenkins CAS and Frank Montano

rolled out the first temp on Universal’s Your Highness for director David Gordon Green. They are currently in the middle of temp one for Warner Bros.’

Sucker Punch for director Zack Snyder.

Jon Taylor CAS and Bob Beemer CAS are temping Universal’s The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud for director Burr Steers. Michael Olman CAS and Ken Kobett CAS are working on Desperate Housewives, 24 and Caprica on Stage B. Bob Edmondson CAS and Roberta Doheny are working on Ghost

Whisperer and finishing up the season of NBC’s Trauma. Jon W. Cook II CAS and Peter Nusbaum CAS are working on an untitled Adam Carolla pilot, The Strip and The Pink House pilots for NBC; Awkward Situations for Men and How to Be a Better American pilots for ABC; and the pilot Most Likely to Succeed for Fox. Gerry Lentz CAS and Richard Weingart CAS are mixing Heroes and Eureka. Pete Reale and Todd Morrissey in Studio G are mixing all these three series: Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU and Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Mixer Joe DeAngelis is mixing the current season of House.

Patrick Hanson CAS, Trevor Stott,

boom, and Paul Sorohan, utility, just finishing up Season 1 of The Vampire Diaries in Atlanta, Ga. Looking forward to Season 2 in July.

Richard Lightstone CAS, boom

operator Ken Beauchene and utility Steve Blazewick are laughing their way through the Paul Reiser half-hour comedy pilot Next.

Marc A. Gilmartin CAS finished Nip/Tuck in June 2009 and worked on Three Rivers until its cancellation in

December 2009. He just completed a pilot called Edgar Floats with the same crew as Three Rivers, Gunnar Walter, boom op, and Steve Blazewick, sound utility. A great team to work with, lucky to have them with me on so many jobs says Marc.

Craig Berkey CAS completed the mix for The Tree of Life at Audio Head Stage B. This is the former Widget Post Stage at The Lot. Gavin Fernandes CAS had a var-

ied start to the year. First up, was final mixing for IMAX: Ultimate Wave Tahiti (Ed Douglas on FX), then building and inaugurating a new mix room (two D-Commands, HD Accel 4 and HD Accel 6) on the feature Le Journal d’Aurelie Laflamme, and now onto Pillars of the Earth ... they built a cathedral, I’ll build the mix.

Woody Woodhall CAS has been re-

recording mixing the first season of the

new reality show for Food Network, The Private Chefs of Beverly Hills. He has also sound supervised and mixed the award-winning, feature-length documentary Best Worst Movie that is being released theatrically in the United States this spring. August marks the publication of his college textbook Audio Production and Post Production for JB Publishers, with help from fellow sound experts Eric Pierce CAS and Fred Ginsburg CAS on the production side of sound.

From Sony Pictures Post Production: Paul Massey CAS and David Giammarco have finished dubbing Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood at the Cary Grant Theatre. Chris Carpenter and Andy Koyama are currently mixing Screen Gems’ The Roommate in the William Holden Theatre. At the Kim Novak Theatre, Greg Russell CAS and Jeff Haboush CAS are pre-dubbing Columbia Pictures’ feature Salt. Deb Adair CAS and Gregg Landaker are wrapping up Easy A at the Burt Lancaster Theatre.

Also at the Lancaster Theatre, Greg Orloff CAS is temping Happy Madison’s Zookeeper. Tateum Kohut CAS and Steve Ticknor CAS are dubbing Harald Zwart’s The Karate Kid at the Anthony Quinn Theatre. In Dub Stage 6, Rusty Smith and Bill Freesh CAS are dubbing FX’s Justifed and Season 2 of Lie to Me. Gary Bourgeois CAS and Bill Benton have just completed finaling for Screen Gem’s Death at a Funeral in Dub Stage 7. Alan Decker CAS and Mark Linden CAS continue to work on Fox’s The Simpsons in Dub Stage 11. On Dub Stage 12, Nello Torri CAS will be mixing TNT’s second season of Hawthorne. John Boyd and Wayne Heitman are working on ABC’s drama pilot Matadors and CBS’ Medium on Dub Stage 17.

Shooting a documentary for Heiffer International (giving livestock to rural, women’s collectives) in Alto Hayraplata, meaning (high and windy) and freezing cold, above Lake Titicaca. Over 13,000 ft. with no running water or toilets, I wore my thermals, down jacket and all my clothes to sleep, because all we had were thin sleeping bags. Just imagine lugging equipment around and working with altitude sickness like we had in Tibet. I had altitude sickness for only a few days (I tried taking Ginko Biloba), but some guys had it real bad (pulmonary edema) (camera was dropped, matte box & filters unusable). It was tough but whenever I film with Heiffer, we are welcomed into a special community.

–Susumu Tokunow CAS

Season 4 of Heroes and jumped into the NBC pilot The Event.

Having finished up a successful Season 1 of Cougar Town for ABC, with boom operator Adam Blantz and utility Fred Johnston, Jon Ailetcher CAS is going to take some much-needed time off. Jon said that he should get in at least 10 trips to Disneyland before starting back on Season 2 in August.

Fred Ginsburg CAS spent another

NAB Week instructing audio on behalf of Audio-Technica USA. Fred was involved in on-going sessions throughout the week, both on the exhibits floor and special workshops. AudioTechnica hosted four student interns from CSUN (where Fred is an adjunct professor) at this year’s CAS Awards banquet and also at NAB.

We’re well into our third season of Sanctuary.

I’m still broadcasting master split-track dialogue to a multiple RED Camera system via UHF. My talented boom operator of 15 years, Eliah Matthew, is still with me.

I hope all is well with our global sound department. –Kevin Sands CAS

On Stage 1 at Technicolor Sound Services, Joe Earle CAS and Michael Colomby CAS are deep in Season 2 of ABC’s Castle, while Joe teams up with Doug Andham and rocks the secondhalf season of Fox’s Glee.

Jonathan D. Andrews CAS is currently working with his crew on 25 Hill, a story on the Soap Box Derby, directed by Corbin Bernsen in Akron, Ohio. It looks like the new tax incentive in Ohio is starting to pay off.

I am presently shooting The Dark Fields, directed by Neil Burger. It stars Bradley Cooper, Robert DeNiro and Abbe Cornish. Our N.Y. movie shoots in the Big Apple for two weeks and then in Philadelphia for seven weeks. Here’s hoping work returns to the cities we live in. Best to all, Danny Michael CAS

David Fluhr CAS and Adam Jenkins are completing Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue, directed by Brad Raymond

and produced by John Lasseter. David and Dean Zupancic are then mixing Step Up 3D, directed by Jon Chu, and this summer will be mixing the animated

EXCELLENCE IN THE FIELD

musical Tangled for Disney Feature Animation.

From Warner Bros. Post Production: On Warner Bros. Re-Recording Stage A, Carlos Sanches is busy mixing animation including Warner Bros.’

Scooby: Camp Scare, Disney’s Kick Buttowski and theatrical shorts. On Re-Recording Stage B, Matt Vowles CAS recently mixed the WBTV John Wells’ pilots Shameless and an untitled Hannah Shakespeare project. On Re-Recording Stage C, Rick Alexander CAS mixed Little Engine for director Elliot Bour. Up next, Rick Norman and Brian Harman CAS will mix the WBTV/Silver Pictures pilot The Odds. On Re-Recording Stage C, Tim LeBlanc is pre-dubbing effects for director Nanette Burstein’s Going the Distance. Skip Lievsay CAS is pre-dubbing dialogue for Going the Distance on Re-Recording Stage D. On Re-Recording Stage 5, J. Stanley Johnston and Gregory Watkins are finishing up Just Wright for director Sanaa Hamri. Jeremy Peirson is mixing Jonah Hex for director Jimmy Hayward. Steve Pederson and Tom

FM-4

: FM-3 Portable Location Mixers Robust, high specification, professionally engineered portable mixers specifically designed for location film & TV production, electronic field production and ENG applications.

Associate Daniel S. McCoy adds: I’ve been on stage at Paramount listening to final mixes on The Space Between, starring Melissa Leo (www.spacebetweenmovie.com). A film I had the honor to location mix and act in … a real gem of a story.

Managed to keep up with the shooting schedule using a Sound Devices 302, Sanken CSe-3 and a Zaxcom TRX900, big sound in small packages! Look for it at Tribeca later this month and hopefully, nationwide by late summer.

Student member Chauncy Taylor writes: I am exploring and being there and doing that out there in Los Angeles next week, do you take couch surfer’s interns or young jedi’s-in-training (office visits) tour? Do I get a free Zaxcom at the end of my tour? I am trying to explore West Coast networking and work opportunities. Do you guys have a career services department yet for your student members? Umm ... my college sends me to local radio stations when I tell them what I do. I love them though.

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Spring greetings to all of our CAS brothers and sisters: Kenn Fuller CAS, Tom Payne and Ron Hairston Jr. finished up

FM-3: 3 Channel Mixer

FM-4: 4 Channel Mixer with EQ

www.fostexinternational.com For more information email or call: info@AmericanMusicAndSound.com 800.994.4984

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Ozanich recently finished director Sylvain White’s The Losers on Re-Recording Stage 10. On Warner Bros. Re-Recording Stage 6, Gregory Watkins and Tim LeBlanc just completed the CBS Films feature Beastly for director Daniel Barnz. Tom Ozanich and Mike Babcock are finishing up Killers for director Robert Luketic. Following Killers, Tim LeBlanc and Mike Babcock will mix Lottery Ticket for director Erik White. Ron Bartlett and Doug Hemphill CAS finished mixing director Drew Goddard’s Cabin in the Woods on Re-Recording Stage 9. Ron and Doug are currently working on a temp for Life as We Know It for director Greg Berlanti, which will be followed by Due Date for director Todd Phillips on Re-Recording Stage 10. Lora Hirschberg and Gary Rizzo are mixing Chris Nolan’s Inception on Re-Recording Stage 9. John Reitz and Gregg Rudloff recently finished Cats and Dogs 2: Revenge of Kitty Galore for director Brad Peyton on Re-Recording Stage 10.

Up next for John and Gregg is director Ben Affleck’s The Town and Hereafter for director Clint Eastwood. On Re-Recording Stage 12, Steve Pederson and Brad Sherman CAS are currently mixing Splice for director Vincenzo Natali. Following Splice, Gregory Watkins CAS and J. Stanley Johnston will mix the CBS Television pilot Hawaii Five-O. Tim Chau will mix Fox TV’s Friends With Benefits. Gary Rogers CAS and Dan Hiland CAS are mixing Smallville, Human Target and In Plain Sight on Warner Bros.

Re-Recording Stage 1. They will also be mixing WBTV pilots Chase and The Whole Truth, ABC Studio’s No Ordinary Family and the TNT summer series Dark Blue. Todd Grace CAS and Ed Carr CAS are currently mixing Chuck, The Mentalist, Life Unexpected and Men of a Certain Age on Warner Bros.

Re-Recording Stage 2. They are also mixing ABC Studio’s pilot Boston’s Finest and the TV movie True Blue for ABC Studios.

Todd and Ed will be mixing the summer series’ Californication and Pretty Little Liars.

Mike Casper and Tennyson Sebastian are mixing One Tree Hill and the new TV series V on Re-Recording Stage 3. They will also be mixing the CBS pilot Defenders.

Adam Sawelson and Doug Davey are mixing Jerry Bruckheimer’s series Miami Medical on Re-Recording Stage 4. They are also mixing WBTV’s pilots Edgar Floats and The Wyoming Project (aka The Damn Thorpes).

Kathy Oldham is mixing Two and a Half Men on Warner Bros. Re-Recording Stage 7. She will also be mixing WBTV pilots Mike & Molly, Open Books, Bleep My Dad Says and Strange Brew. Charlie McDaniel continues to have a full schedule mixing The Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, Old Christine, Rules of Engagement, Accidentally on Purpose, Gary Unmarried

and True Jackson, VP on Re-Recording Stage 8. He is also busy mixing the pilots Dance, Dance, Dance Chicago, Freshman, Hitched, Hot in Cleveland, Livin’ on a Prayer (aka untitled Thomas Bays pilot), Nevermind Nirvana, The Pink House, This Little Piggy, an untitled Shana Goldberg pilot, and Who Gets the Parents. Re-Recording mixers Jeffrey Perkins and Eric Justen are busy mixing Numb3rs, The Good Wife and Breaking Bad on Warner Bros. Re-Recording Stage 11 and the pilot H.M.S. Rick Norman and Mark Hensley are currently mixing Fringe on Warner Bros. Post Production’s Remote Re-Recording System.

Michael Keller CAS is currently finaling Oliver Stone’s Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps with Scott Millan CAS at Lantana West Stage 2 and is moving on to mix Sex and the City 2 with John Ross CAS at 424 Inc.

Phillip W. Palmer CAS is finishing up Season 1 of the new Fox series Glee. It’s

been an exciting and lengthy first season, with more music production numbers than I thought we would ever do in a career. I would like to thank my crew

Patrick Martens on boom and Devendra Cleary CAS on playback and utility. Also, a big thank-you to the numerous and helpful second unit mixers, boom operators and utility sound techs that have helped us out over the season.

At Smart Post Studios in Burbank,

Sherry Klein CAS and Brian Harman CAS are mixing CBS production pilot Nomads and getting ready to start Season 3 of Sons of Anarchy for

FX network. At Larson Studios, Sherry and David Raines are mixing Season 4 of Burn Notice and getting set for an early start to Season 2 for White Collar, both on USA network this summer.

Also, on Stage 3 at Larson Studios in Hollywood, Sherry and David are mixing a new summer show for Fox network, The Good Guys, by one of the creators of Burn Notice, Matt Nix. We’re currently on Downton Abbey, written by Oscar-winning writer Julian Fellowes, starring Maggie Smith and Hugh Bonneville, amongst many others. It’s an Upstairs, Downstairs–style show with all the intrigue, twists and turns of Robert Altman’s Gosford Park.

It’ll be aired as seven episodes, made by

Carnival Films and Television for ITV and, if successful, will run to another two series at least. Peter Eusebe is on boom and Lee Sharp is our assistant/ second boom operator. Then, I’ll be back overseas again this summer on Monte Carlo for 20th Century Fox, a romantic-comedy adventure which tells the story of three bored schoolteachers from the American Midwest. The trip is turning out to be almost as dull as staying at home when one of them is mistaken for an English heiress.

Regards, John Rodda CAS After a relatively quiet winter, the Chicago area was recently host to six pilot projects, resulting a flood of work for local crews. (All of them happening virtually at the same time, of course!) First on the lineup was a short demo piece for actor/director Vince Vaughn, who is pitching Fox on a project entitled Firsts. The day after wrapping, our crew of mixer Scott D. Smith CAS, boom operator Jason Johnston and utility Adam Mohundro, started on the pilot of Matadors for Sony Pictures/ABC. Next up was the Chicago end sequence for the feature Source Code, which came down from

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Montreal for exterior work. All in all, it is shaping up to be a busy summer for the Midwest.

Steve Weiss CAS finished the third and final season of Saving Grace, with Holly Hunter, and then did a pilot for Jerry Bruckheimer at Warner Bros., The Whole Truth, with Chris Tiffany on boom and Dennis Carlin handling utility

John Pritchett CAS and crew Dave

Roberts and Shawn Harper, recently finished The Green Hornet for Sony, a campy version of the comic book starring Seth Rogen, Cameron Diaz and Christoph Waltz under the direction of Michel Gondry. Pritchett is just finishing his second film for Jake Kasdan (Walk Hard), the very funny Bad Teacher, again starring Cameron Diaz along with, wait for it ... Justin Timberlake and Jason Segel. The team is now on to their second hop with Tom Hanks at the helm on Larry Crowne, with Tom also starring alongside Julia Roberts and produced by the Tom and Gary Goetzman’s Playtone Pictures. John’s opinion of all this?

“One must work whilst the sun shines.”

Glenn Berkovitz CAS and boom operators Ken Beauchene CAS

Associate, and Danny Greenwald are happily rolling (and grinding, kickflipping and ollie-ing) for Disney’s teen skateboard opus Zeke & Luther.

Pleasant work, attractive teens, and Redondo Beach too. Methinks our next job will be in Lancaster, Calif.

I have been busy this past fall with Alcon Entertainment’s production of the Lottery Ticket, with Kevin Summers on boom and Mike Clark as utility. Then the pilot mode started with an A&E/ Fox pilot called Sugarloaf, for which Bartek Swiatek joined Kevin and I. After the first of the year, the pilots continued with MTV’s Teen Wolf. Then onto ABC’s 187 Detroit with Jay Ticer joining us as utility. I have now started a feature for Fox/New Regency, Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son, with Damian Irving joining us as utility, which we will finish in mid-June. It has been great to work at home for a big change over the last few years! –Whit Norris CAS

Beau Williams CAS had a busy 2009 in Michigan mixing The Irishman with boom op Gail Carroll-Coe and boom/ utility Ron Ayers, Little Murder with boom op Gail Carroll-Coe and utility Mike Faba. Also, Game of Death, with boom op Mick Davies and utility Mike

Faba. With help from day players Mark Gougeon and Mike Hampton.

Oh Vancouver, how I love your winter!

Greetings from the Great Green North or Vancouver, the home of the 2010 Winter Olympics. It has been seven weeks up here in Le Studio Mobile, parked outside BC Place next to a lovely grove of trees. I have been engineering for the 2010 Winter Olympic opening, closing and victory ceremonies. John Simpson of Final Mix Post for Sydney, Australia, was the main mixer in our truck for the opening and closing, I assisted and took care of various mics and all the victory ceremonies. Trust me, the scale of this show is just plain nutty. More HDTV trucks than the lot at the LVCC during NAB. The $250 million trailer park!

The Olympics are done and now I am rehearsing for the Paralympic opening ceremonies, with Dennis Baxter in the HDTV truck taking my feed and sending it onward to the world via OBS. It has been one crazy season, looking forward to getting back to Halifax and getting the boat back in the water and mixing a film or three. Congrats are due to our Olympic team for their aweinspiring performances. Thanks, Brian Power CAS

Student member and boom op Stephen M. Fortunato getting in position before shooting a medium shot for Robot & Ghost in Savannah, Ga.

Andy Wiskes, CAS on the set of Red Tails.

Kent Sparling, CAS shooting on the KS Plastiki.

TION

CA ON LO

Beau Williams, CAS (foreground) mixing on Game of Death in Detroit, Mich., with boom op Mick Davies (left) and utility Mike Faba (center, background).

Left to right: Tom Payne, Ron Hairston, Jr. and Kenn Fuller, CAS on location in Long Beach, Calif., for The Event.

Eli Matthew and Kevin the set of Sanctuary.

Sands, CAS on

Glenn Berkovitz, CAS demonstrates his hypothesis of “How to Keep Your Gaffer Smiling” with thanks to Elan Yaari for enduring the side effects of our clinical trials.

Daniel S. McCoy on stage at Paramount listening to final mixes on The Space Between.

Dollhouse Department of Sound from left: James Eric, Ace Williams, & Coleman Metts, CAS. Trevor Stott, boom, Patrick Hanson, CAS, mixer, and Paul Sorohan, utility. Sound ninjas on The Vampire Diaries in Atlanta, Ga.

NAB crews at Audio Technica and K-Tek started off their week with a BBQ lunch, backyard wood-smoked Texas-style by Fred Ginsburg, CAS. Kudos to Fred’s son Vince, who graduates in May 2010 from CSUN with highest honors and a scholarship award, earning a BA degree in multi-media. Fred is offering to arrange a CAS Day at the shooting range if anyone is interested.

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^

]

[

SON

AND EW GR

FAMILY, FUN & AN AMAZING LOCATION

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Peter and Robin Damski welcomed grandson Teddy Murray to the world on March 19, 2010. Here are Emily (mother) and Teddy taking a nap.

David Fluhr, CAS and 9-year-old son Nicholas with their second-place trophy at the local Pinecar Derby.

]

^

[

\

Yosemite Falls in moonlight taken

by Dan Dugan, CAS.

CAS MEMBER

Harold “Hal” Whitby The Cinema Audio Society sadly loses one of our own.

Harold “Hal” Whitby, CAS passed away on April 8, 2010, after a lengthy and most valiant battle against cancer. Hal was born on October 18, 1948, to Joyce and Harold “Whit” Whitby in Portland, Oreg. He was raised with his half brother Jim and sister Barbara. At age 2, Hal’s parents moved the family to North Hollywood, Calif. Hal graduated from San Clemente High School in 1965.

Hal began his sound career in the 1960s working for ABC, covering political campaigns and quickly moved on to other television productions. After a long career as a boom operator, he moved up to production mixing, working on many TV shows and feature films. He had retired while working on The West Wing in 2002, due to complications from his cancer 38

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and the extensive treatments required to combat it. Since retirement, he had spent many of his days on and in the water, surfing with family and friends. He was with the love of his life, Suzy, for more than 40 years.

Rest in peace our friend. We will miss your sincerity and friendship.

–Peter Damski, CAS

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