Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1257029
18 Unlike many comedies I've mixed where you wire everyone, let them go and the actors all ad-lib, I'm at a real advantage with Maisel in that we tend to get a few rehearsals. They're needed because many of our shots are elaborately choreographed. Mixing as much episodic TV as I have, the dreaded "Let's just shoot the rehearsal and see what happens" approach rarely applies, and I've gotten pretty spoiled by that. In addition, Amy and Dan insist that the scripts be very strictly adhered to—every word, comma, and pause. Our principal cast understands that, but I've seen an actor terrified of flubbing a word or two near the end of a big, multi-page oner, knowing we would have to reset to the top, especially after multiple takes. I once had a wire on an actor who was so thin, I was faintly picking up her heartbeat and I could hear it beating faster the closer we got to the end of the scene. It even stresses me out! They're so adamant about it, we even have TWO script supervisors at all times, one to watch for continuity and the other just to listen to the words! That's another first for me, but it speaks to the highest level of quality they demand, and the time and money they pour into this unique show. All of our stand-up performances are filmed with at least three cameras. They are lit with hard spots so, for consistency from shot to shot, we don't even try to boom them. I always wire Midge but keeping it clean is challenging because of her custom-made wardrobe, and hyper-critical because if it's at all scratchy, it will get into the reverb that's always added when they "worldize" every set we shoot in. Ron Bochar, our Re-recording Mixer, swears by Altiverb. By the start of Season 2, at my request, our Prop Department, along with Gotham Sound, started to modify many of the on-camera vintage mic shells with Shure lav elements from their new TL series. They sound really great with nice, smooth off-axis response. We always hard wire them and I use them as my primary source. In the show, Midge Maisel is what we call a "stalker," in that she roams the stage holding the mic during her set so her relationship to the mic is pretty consistent. Lenny Bruce (Luke Kirby), however, leaves it on the stand when he performs so I always have my finger on his lav fader for the times when he turns his head or backs away from the mic and I'll blend the two while trying to avoid any potential phasing. Sara Stern, our Dialog Editor, uses Auto Align Post to help. On the other hand, it often sounds very natural to lose him a little when he does go off mic. Another challenge, though more for editorial than for me, is in getting clean performances without too much of the audience's reactions bleeding in. As production mixers, capturing the performance and keeping the dialog tracks clean are our primary directives. I remember mixing scenes on The Sopranos when all of the guys would get together in a room and we'd do wide masters where everyone is having a blast and joking and laughing, then when we would go in for singles, I would try to limit any off-screen overlaps in order to keep the on-camera tracks clean. It would suck the air right out of the room and the performances would just go south. On Maisel, Rachel and Jane Lynch (Sophie Lennon) understand, and are amazingly good at faking it. When we bring in actors for the day to play some of the old-time comedians, they can get really thrown by the quiet background and you can see how it can affect their performance. For the sake of a good performance, I let the background go, strive for the punchiest dialog and just hope post can fix it when they lay in all the background. When I am given the time to get a take with the background actors silent we then record wild tracks with all manner of reactions, from chuckles, guffaws, and swelling laughter to different levels of applause. Some of Mrs. Maisel's jokes are directed at the women in the audience so we'll also get reactions just from them. Post now has a well-trained loop group that are brought in to supplement and fill out the tracks because ASP is very specific about what she wants to hear. Amy Sherman-Palladino was originally a dancer and watching her move through a space as she choreographs all of our oners with our incredible Steadicam Operator Jim McConkey is a joy. We don't just have our AD's move background through a scene, we bring in a choreographer for that. We'll even play music on set just for McConkey to Steadicam to the music. ASP is very musical, has brilliant ears, and she's incredibly sound-conscious. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel has won multiple awards for music supervision and we upped the ante for Season 3 by sending our eponymous Mrs. Maisel on tour as the opening act for the Johnny Mathis-like singer, Shy Baldwin. He's acted by LeRoy McClain, but his gorgeous singing vocals were voiced by Darius de Haas. When it comes to the musical performances, we do something I've never done before. I call it "live to tape." ASP is very specific that all of the recordings happen in the actual locations we film in because she wants the music to sound "right" in the space. For some of the smaller combos, my team and I will get an hour or so pre-call on the day to pre-record the band. Then we turn it over to Egor Panchenko, our Pro Tools Operator, for playback. We'll use the usual combination of straight playback, earwigs, and/or a thump track in order to get the dialog as clean as possible. But the show gets pretty big sometimes and as the season progressed, ASP wanted more than pre-record playback, she wanted us to record the music live during filming. This is made all the more challenging because LeRoy isn't a singer. In S3 E3 "Panty Pose," I experienced another first. After bombing on stage at one of her first big gigs, Midge's manager Susie pushes Midge to get back on stage to regain her momentum. At some point, after the crowd grows and Midge gets her groove back, Shy, his manager Reggie (Sterling K. Brown), and his whole entourage show up. Midge cedes the mic to Shy but when his piano player