Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1316380
M OT I O N P I CTU R E S O U N D E D I TO R S I 59 system is highly accurate, so when presented with off-screen sound opportunities, Ticknor was able to pre-dub and place sounds in the space of the Cary Grant from the comfort of his home office. In the film, the female lead is strapped to a bed with eye blinks being her only form of communication. Ticknor elaborated, "[There are scenes where] we're tight on her face and her eyes are darting back-and- forth, so sound is carried by her looks around the room. I'm being directed by the actress on how to create the sound effects … and where to place them in the mix. Not only can the 360 VME give me a way to mix at home, or in my office with headphones, but it also lets me know that the sounds that I'm moving around are working." Tara Paul, re-recording mixer on Future Man, Preacher, Unbelievable, and the last 10 seasons of The Simpsons, shared that after moving to her home- based mixing environment, she went through multiple iterations of monitoring her mixes before she decided to use the 360 VME exclusively on the season finale of The Simpsons. Paul reported, "I threw the headphones on, I put up the pre-set for my stage at Sony and it was so close. When my mix partner and I combined our stems and played it back through actual monitors, there was very little that we had to change in terms of our normal balances. It got me a lot closer than mixing on headphones without the plugin, a lot closer." The technology is not just limited to a remote workflow. Elmo Ponsdomenech, the Emmy Award- winning re-recording mixer for Barry, Silicon Valley, The Blacklist, The Morning Show, and Insecure shared how he and his mix partner don't share the speakers on the dub stage, so now with 360 VME, he is able to go on cans and yet still hear the imaging of the dub stage. "It's fantastic, I can get a balance of more or less where I think [the dialogue and music is] going to sit in the room and feel like I'm in the room when I put on a pair of headphones which, before now, I had done the same thing but without that advantage." Ticknor looks at the Sony software and prototype headphones as a valuable tool. "I never expected to work in 360 VME for Blink. But I was like, I've got this software available to me, I'm going to use this tool. It's sad that we're in a pandemic, but because of this tool, I was able to get my job done. There's nothing that I know of in the industry that does what this 360 VME software does. The engineers at Sony have been so amazing in crafting this product, I believe that this could become an industry standard software. There is a willingness and motivation by the engineers to create this professional product for sound." That willingness and motivation by Sony has potential to be great news for everyone involved in the sound process, including directors, producers, and executives who come to the dub stage in order to review mixes. Paul embraces the idea of that future implementation. "We send out a lot of reference QuickTimes and we never have any idea of what [clients are] playing back on. So, there's always this big question mark of what the mix is going to sound like to the client as they're listening to it. It would be great if they could have something that emulated the mix stage so that when we got the notes back, we knew that it was based on what we were hearing as opposed to a translation factor... It would actually solve a lot of questions." The 360 Virtual Mixing Environment software and prototype headphones are currently being further developed by Sony and is undergoing real-world testing on Sony Pictures television and film projects. It is currently not available for retail sale. See You Next Year? An annual criticism of the Mix SFF&TV event is that there are so many excellent conversations, networking opportunities, and panel discussions that you can't possibly see them all. One of the best side benefits of this year's event being virtual is that all panel discussions, interviews, and keynote addresses were recorded and available to peruse and review for 30 days following the event. So, if you missed a panel because you were caught up in conversation, you could go back tomorrow or next week in order to catch up on what you missed. Hopefully, this excellent value-added benefit will be a key takeaway by Future and Mix and can somehow be integrated into coming years. As of this point, the Mix Presents Sound for Film & TV event is planning to return to the Sony Pictures Studio lot in 2021 for the 8th annual event. No word yet on whether the success of this year's virtual event could offer an opportunity for a hybrid, on-site/virtual event for next year. But based on the international turnout, it seems the global sound community is more than happy to attend in any way they can. As an event partner, the Motion Picture Sound Editors will be certain to provide members with more information on the 2021 event as it becomes available. "The best way to make the film, is to feel the mix through someone else's contribution." –REN KLYCE