Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1061972
65 Q4 2018 / CINEMONTAGE 5.1-channel A and B stems of drums, toys, percussion, keys, accordion/cimbalom, synth, jazz bass, guitar, orchestral room, strings- close, harp, woodwind- close, horns-close, brass-close, saxes-close and tympani — plus spare 1 through 3. "We also had three stereo and three mono tracks for some on-camera source music, together with vocal stems," explains Dunnington. "There were 13 mono tracks — one for each singing character — plus six 5.1-channel ensemble tracks and eight mono production tracks for the live vocals. We also had two sets of the orchestral tracks because, in many cases, the overlapping crosses between cues and songs, or new and old material, was much less complicated to combine if they were checker-boarded for the dialogue/music re-recording mixer." COLLABORATIVE WRANGLING ON THE MIX STAGE "Because of the film's music focus, we opted for a 7.1-channel surround format for the target audience, and then spent two weeks opening up that mix with Atmos objects for the surrounds and overheads," Prestwood Smith relates. "Rob is a Broadway guy who believed that this film should be about live musical performances; it was my role to bring that excitement to the screen, but fully integrated within the rest of the film. After all, music is at the center of the film's narrative and emotional drive." The 5.1-channel stems from music editorial were opened up to 7.1 format using panning and ambience plug-ins. Prestwood Smith received two sets of score stems, each of which was 14 stems wide. "So that we could control everything we needed — especially the solo instruments — the final score contained spot mics on all groups," he explains. "Vocals were a combination of live and pre-recorded across 48 tracks, including ensemble and group vocals. I also had 30 dialogue tracks with production and ADR. Group was huge, especially in the Royal Doulton Music Hall, with some 60 or so tracks." The dialogue/music re-recording mixer had to carefully weave the live and pre-recorded vocals between the dialogue tracks, using processing. "We also had a lot of animated characters and crowd noise during 'Ceramic World,'" he continues. "That made for a very complex mix, with continually changing balance between dialogue, music and sound design being handled by my co-mixer, Michael Keller." Following the temp mix, pre-dubs started in March 2018 with finals in June and July. Working closely with Tondelli and Gearty, sound effects re-recording mixer Keller developed a Pro Tools template based on a 9.1-channel Atmos format with a 7.1-channel output. "The 5.1-channel pre-dubs I received from Eugene were very useful for the temp mix, and formed the basis for my pre-dub mixes," Keller says. "It's important on virtual mixes that editors Mike Higham, left, and Mike Prestwood Smith. Mary Poppins Returns. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures