SOUND MIXING Julian Ellingworth discusses the new Atlab mixing theatre. The Australian film and commercial industries have been fortunate to have had a tradition o f invention and a supply o f creative technicians and audio-engineers which have com pensated fo r the lack o f the latest equipment. But with the opening o f another stereo sound film mixing facility in Sydney, Australia is now being serviced by audio p o st production o f a quality that will allow it to present its material at a standard equal to any in the world. The continuing im provem ent in the quality o f theatre sound equipment, with the installation o f stereo sound and D olby noise reduction systems, has created demand by local and overseas m arkets that m ust be met. The im proved sound systems are also increasing the range o f subtleties that a producer and director can call upon, and this in turn places demands on the operators. Julian Ellingworth is the chief mixer at A tlab and it was at the opening o f its new mixing theatre that Ian Wilson was able to interview him and fo llo w this double theme o f craft and technology. Ellingworth begins by discussing his entry into the film industry. I left school in 1961 and did six months chartered accountancy, before getting a job at Artransa Film Studios in the accounts departm ent under Keith Williams. But it didn’t take long before I found myself spending more time in the sound department and in the animation department where the tracers were. I became fairly interested in production and i finally managed to enveigle Gus Lowry into getting me into it; he could see I was wasting everybody’s time in accounts. The first job I had was as a director’s assistant to Alec Ezard on The Adven turers. It was about three young children, one of whom was played by the 12-yearold Sonia Hoffman. After that I went into the editing room with Paul Bushby and learnt how to synchronize rushes, and bits and pieces like that. Then camera time of retrench ments and I was the first to go, being fairly expendable. I then worked for Les Kelroy, who had a Nagra, for a while. People would ring him up and say they needed a sound recordist; one day I said, “ This is it. I’ll take this Nagra and record sound.” So I went to record on the Cinesound sound stage, with Lloyd Shields on camera, for an episode of Memoirs. I forget which episode it was but it was being made for Channel 10. The sound must have been al! right because they asked me to come back to work on it again. I became a freelance recordist on the strength of that. In the famous words of Peter Fenton [mixer at United Sound], I had a Nagra and a roadmap and I was off and running. I freelanced for a while and eventually got a three-month contract at Film Australia as a location recordist, a contract which ran for about three years.
Eventually I joined the staff and went on location to New Guinea and all around Australia. However, I got heartily sick of standing around or sitting on camera cases waiting for the lights to be set up or for people to make up their minds about which way the eye line should be! I became so bored I decided I would try studio work and do the
. . two plus our computer”: at work in the new Atlab mixing theatre.
mixing; at least I was involved, pushing knobs up and down, while others sat around. I was at Film Australia for a total of 10 years; I left shortly after my long service leave, so I guess I was mixing for about eight years. During my leave I worked for United Sound. Although I intended going overseas on a study tour, I only got as far as Pier St They were getting busy with Barry McKenzie Holds His Own and the second Alvin Purple. It was a great experience working with Peter Fenton. He was doing things differ ently. In Film Australia, it was just “ laceem-up and record ’em” . When I went to
United, they were recording Hollywood style on the three-track. It was new, exciting and a lot easier. You were able to do things that you would get frustrated trying to do when recording from 16mm. Then I got bogged down working on Luke’s Kingdom. I was doing effects for three months and I got the shits again. So I went back to Film Australia and worked there for another year while they were setting up the new mixing theatre. Armed with my knowledge of United Sound, I designed the mixing console. The console was made by Neve, which cost a fortune, and ergonometrically was my idea of how a console should be laid out. Because I had worked at United Sound for 12 months, I figured I was an expert! It was designed about six or seven years ago and now is actually out-of-date for stereo films, though it has been doing them quite successfully. They have done Mad Max 2, Freedom, Starstruck, Dead Easy, The Pirate Movie and a few others. After leaving Film Australia, I freelanced for a while as a mixer. At the same time, I became interested in stereo mixing and applied for a Commonwealth Film Com mission Grant for assisted passage overseas. Much to my surprise, because I had never won an award before, they said “ Sure!” It wasn’t a lot of money, just enough for an around-the-world ticket and about $50 a day. I was away for six weeks and watched some stereo mixing in Hollywood and London. I picked up an enormous amount of information and a lot of tricks about how the rest of the world operates. Did they welcome you?
Julian Ellingworth, during a sound mix.
Yes. I was not allowed into a couple of films because the directors were a bit ‘anti’, but, through Ron Purvis’ contacts in Hollywood, I was able to see quite a few films. I saw them do The Muppet Movie which I felt should have been done in about one quarter of the time. I watched Bill Barney, who won the Academy for Raiders of the Lost Ark,
CINEMA PAPERS December — 545