Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1259912
C A S Q U A R T E R L Y S P R I N G 2 0 2 0 35 on sound (which would lead to Making Waves), and had David cut them. After graduating, David taught re-recording mixing at USC for a couple years, and did some post sound work on projects, including Chernobyl Diaries and writer/director Ryan Coogler's Fruitvale Station. Once funding came in for Making Waves, David was back on board as the production sound mixer. "I was excited to be brought on in any capacity. But to be able to meet the people interviewed in the movie was so incredible—like getting a PhD in sound just listening to these icons." When I asked about the recording process for these renowned practitioners, David shared, "When I received the CAS Award, I thanked everyone we interviewed because they were the easiest people to record. If there was a plane overhead, they 'd stop. If a crew member dropped something, they 'd pause. When we were recording Gary Rydstrom, I think a truck went by and he stops and goes, 'Do we need to do that again?' Everyone was so aware of the sound, it was great." The interviews were recorded over a number of years, yet the sound in the film is very consistent. Asking about consistency, David recalls, "Ben Burtt's interview was one of the earlier ones we recorded, and we did that on one of the mixing stages at Skywalker. With his voice being so pure—especially in a room that was so meticulously treated for sound—that became the benchmark I tried to achieve regardless of location." In order to accomplish this in other environments, he is happy to report, "Midge cared so much about the sound that she gave me time to acoustically treat the various spaces. And our DP Sandra Chandler was open to the grips helping me set up some of the baffling, too." While David had started (and continued) on the production sound side, he eventually jumped on as picture editor as well, along with supervising editor Thomas G. Miller. He shares, "The reason Midge hired me as the editor was because she needed someone who understood both sound and picture. We not only had to describe sound concepts and aesthetics in the film, but also a big part of the editing of the film would actually involve sound editing, too— highlighting sounds from films, and really having the sound editing holding equal weight in the edit as the images did. It really was a case of images serving the sounds as opposed to sound reinforcing the images. The sound editing and mixing of the film was so central to everything we were doing the entire way through, and so it was really important to bring that to bear in the cut from the very beginning—and it was such a joy to bring all these crafts together in helping shape the film." David states that his rig consisted of a Schoeps CMIT 5U, Lectrosonics wireless, DPA lavs, and the Sound Devices 788T with the CL-8 mixing surface. Outside of interviews, he used a bi-directional Schoeps fitted on top of the CMIT to allow for some M/S-style processing for some of the vérité footage. Asked about this setup, he shares, "Trew Audio helped me put my bag and rig together—they 're very insightful. I wanted to be 100 percent portable but still be able to send to video village. Trew also custom-fit my boom pole with internal stereo cabling so that I could easily record the M/S-style stuff. I also used plant mics. If someone was mixing at the console in a shot, I'd place mics on the left and right to get some imaging in case post wanted to hear from the room perspective." Finally, David was able to attend the re-recording sessions. "Midge had wanted me to be there, which was great. It was so amazing to hear how Tom took all of the feelings and intentions we had been exploring in the edit, and added this depth, nuance, and wonderfully fresh storytelling perspective to the material to create this expansive theatrical mix. I loved seeing that, and learned so much from watching him work." DAN BLANCK CAS: Scoring Mixer Dan Blanck, an Upstate New York native, has a background in classical and jazz performance, as well as recording. His early mentoring included studying engineering under Jim Abbott at Syracuse University, starting at age 13, and working his way up to working on recordings for the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and many jazz legends from DownBeat to Jazz at Lincoln Center, among others. Dan's ability to read a score for a 50-part orchestra and know how to capture it sonically led him to receiving a scholarship to attend USC's Thornton School of Music, where he focused on music recording engineering and production. There, in addition to studying guitar with the legendary Telecaster player Steve Trovato, he took coursework on the design side (A/D converters, microphones, speakers), as well as the creative (producing and audio engineering). Of one of his most memorable classes, Dan recalls, "Midge (Costin— professor at USC and director of this documentary) gave me departmental permission to take score mixing from Bruce Botnick and Kenny Hall." Now that sounds like a masterclass!