CAS Quarterly

Spring 2019

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cases, cases opening and closing, and the sound of the string players "applauding" by tapping their bows on music stands, etc. DeLeone explains, "We always try to approximate sounds accurately. But because this show is about music, we want to get these sounds exactly right, so we actually acquired instruments and instrument cases to recreate these sounds." Another notable scene that required Foley relating to music was in a Tokyo arcade. The actors were playing an arcade game where the object was to whack objects as they popped up in rhythm with the music. DeLeone arranged to have the music track at the Foley stage because it was assumed it would help the Foley artist Laura Macias make the "whack" sounds in sync with the picture. But part of the gag of the scene was that the actors are often out of sync with the music, causing them to miss. So, ironically, the music track was actually miscuing Macias, who soon decided she would just use the visual cues. An interesting twist in this year's award is that New York-based production sound mixer Thomas Varga CAS, who was the regular mixer during the show's four seasons and has an Emmy to show for it, was not taken to Japan due to travel budget. As a result, he did not work on this particular episode, and therefore, was not mentioned on this CAS Award. It's fair to say that a single episode of a TV series is rarely if ever solely responsible for a show's award nomination and win, as the notoriety of a television series is developed over time by all of its episodes. In no way does this take away from the work of production mixer Ryotaro Harada, whose outstanding work is clear throughout the winning episode. That said, acknowledgment is certainly in order to Varga for his years of contribution to this winning series. When asked what the CAS Award meant to all of these mixers, the responses were all the same: There are other awards in television and film production, but CAS Awards are the only ones nominated and elected exclusively by the top sound mixers in the profession, therefore, they are the most meaningful and humbling. They all have this year's award proudly displayed in a place of prominence in their homes. Mozart in the Jungle has all the qualities a CAS Award-winning TV drama should have: Challenging and artistic production value, technical excellence, and a dedicated professional crew working hard to make it all seem easy. A well-deserved congratulations to all for your win!

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