Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1152266
C A S Q U A R T E R L Y S U M M E R 2 0 1 9 21 The most difficult days. The most difficult weather. The most difficult show. In 2011, I received a phone call from a producer asking me if I wanted to relocate to Baltimore, Maryland, for three months to mix a politics-driven comedy about a vice president of the United States. The show was to star national treasure Julia Louis-Dreyfus. A no-brainer, right? I said yes. After reading the first script, I realized, hello, this was wall-to-wall dialogue! Most scenes contained seven or more speaking characters. I proceeded to update my equipment to accommodate the audio demands of the show. I needed more wireless systems. There was a bit of a hiccup at first, with another mixer being hired for the pilot. I'm not sure how that scenario ever came to pass—but whatever it was, I'm glad it happened. Otherwise, I would have missed the opportunity to mix The Comeback for HBO. But that's another story... After the pilot for Veep got the official greenlight, production still wanted me to mix the series. They called again and requested my services in Baltimore. And so it began: a journey that led me to work with some of the greatest talent of all time. On a late September night in 2011, I landed in Baltimore. HBO, legendary for taking great care of their crews, had me booked into a suite at the Hilton in the Inner Harbor area of downtown Baltimore. A friend recently asked me if there was one word that could describe my experience as production mixer for the HBO comedy Veep. I thought about this for a minute. Greatest. The greatest comedy. The greatest cast. The greatest crew. Then, another word immediately came to mind. Difficult. A cold day in the land of crabcakes The day after I arrived, we had a production meeting and scout. During the scout, I met Armando Iannucci, the showrunner and creator of Veep. At that time, he explained his vision to me regarding sound for the series, saying, "I like to use all the dialogue recorded on camera. All the nuances, all the inflections; that's where the magic lives." He was aware I recorded the last four seasons of Curb Your Enthusiasm and that I was familiar with wiring all talent, all the time. One evening after wrapping the cast and camera department, Armando kept the background and the sound department on for an additional hour to record sound effects: FX that would normally occur in the EEOB (Eisenhower Executive Office Building), general office sounds, phones ringing, background murmur, etc. Because our stage had Opposite page: Paramount Stage 5 video village. From top: Full load on the 688; director Chris Addison.