Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1197255
during this period that I really dedicated myself to becoming a re-recording mixer. I had a girlfriend at the time who had a graduate student project that she turned into a feature and finished after she graduated, and I mixed that. And then I did two feature documentaries. Errol Morris hired me to do his first film, Gates of Heaven, which was about pet cemetery owners. I also mixed one called The War at Home, which was about the anti-Vietnam War movement in Madison, Wisconsin, in the mid-1960s. The War at Home was nominated for a feature documentary Oscar in 1979 and was directed by Barry Alexander Brown, who later became a film editor and who I worked with on many of Spike Lee's films. YOU CAUGHT THE FEVER. YOU WERE ON A MISSION MIXING WHATEVER YOU COULD GET YOUR HANDS ON. Yes! And suddenly, film editor Craig McKay called me up and said, "Do you think you could mix a feature film for us?" He was working on Jonathan Demme's Melvin and Howard. This was 1979, and they hired me to mix Melvin and Howard as my first narrative feature. And I did it all by myself with a huge amount of help from Craig. AND YOU STILL MAINLY MIX AS A SINGLE MIXER, CORRECT? THAT IS A BIT MORE COMMON IN NEW YORK. I do now mix with a partner on many projects, but in those days in New York there were no mixer teams at all, ever, until much later. And even now, still, I do many projects on my own. WHEN I WAS ON THE EAST COAST, I NEVER HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO WORK ON THE CONSOLE WITH ANOTHER MIXER. We didn't have that many mixers in New York. Dick always mixed by himself, and that's how I was trained to do it. And in those days when I first started, there was no automation. There was no Dolby Stereo. It was mono, Academy Curve mono on one 35mm mag three-track master. And we would just put all the tracks up and mix them. There was no pre-dubbing. The sound editors would just set up the tracks, and we had to put it all together. So, I spent probably the first 10 years just doing films by myself. WELL, I HAVE TO ASK THEN, WHEN I MIXED BY MYSELF, I EDITED AS WELL. I DID ENJOY MYSELF, BUT NOW I MAINLY MIX ON A TEAM AND I REALLY RELISH THE GROUP. IT KEEPS ME INSPIRED AND ON TRACK. ONE CAN GET LOST WORKING ALL BY THEMSELVES. I wasn't by myself in the studio. The picture editor and sound editors were there, and often the director, but there was no other mixer. I was the only mixer. So, I was handling all of the elements. All of the elements were under my hands. Tom at work. Photo by Jeff Thompson Tom also has a long history of mixing documentaries: Elvis Presley: The Search- er (2018); Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese (2019); Free Solo (2018); Rolling Stone: Stories from the Edge (2017); History of the Eagles (2013)