Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1314046
C A S Q U A R T E R L Y I FA L L 2 0 2 0 37 Recap by Sam Casas The Sound of Spike Lee's DA 5 BLOODS During the panel for the Netflix film Da 5 Bloods, Tom McAndrew from Dolby Laboratories sat down with re-recording mixer Paul Hsu to discuss his experiences working with director Spike Lee. Hsu provided great insight into his mixing philosophies and how he uses Dolby Atmos to deliver great results. Hsu's working relationship with Lee runs so smoothly because of their similar aesthetics. "The reason you work with certain people, I think, is actually more about the interpersonal stuff. With Spike, our styles are very similar in terms of what we like." Hsu compares his mixing style to that of the R&B music style of "round, warm, present dialogue, but with sparkle and a lot of bass. What [Lee] wants is basically that … the 'conceptual conversation' almost doesn't have to happen." Concerning Atmos, "[Lee] leaves all the technical stuff to us, but he's very into surrounds in general." With Atmos, Hsu prefers to minimize over-localization. "I only do stereo objects … and then all the reverbs and delays, any special fx, are on their own 7.1.2 bed. So I can go as wide as I want … to create a more traditional but open sound field." Hsu also praises Atmos for its flexibility. "When I start the Atmos mix, I'm thinking about the down mix. That's what's great about Atmos, there's just more bandwidth. It gives me the flexibility to really put everything all over the place all the time." Additionally, the ability to mix Atmos in the box is helpful to Hsu's workflow. While pre-dubbing, his basic sound field can be "set up very early on," and carried over from pre-dub to pre-dub. Hsu concludes: "The mixing happens over almost a year." (L-R) Dolby's TOM MCANDREW and Re-recording Mixer PAUL HSU Shooting Da 5 Bloods on location. Photo by David Lee/Netflix ©2020