Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1335010
72 W I N T E R 2 0 2 1 I C A S Q U A R T E R L Y PETER PERSAUD CAS (FOLEY MIXER) AND STEVE BAINE (FOLEY ARTIST) AT FOLEY ONE (TORONTO) Thank you both for taking the time to answer these questions. Would you mind starting by briefly introducing yourselves and summarizing your paths to starting Foley One and careers as Foley mixer and artist, respectively? What made you interested in audio and motivated you to choose it as a career? PETER: Hi all. Like everyone in sound, I played an instrument, got obsessed with sounding better, and ended up going to college for sound. From there, I worked at Filmhouse/Deluxe Post- Production in Toronto for 16 years, and that's where I started recording Foley and teamed up with Steve. Deluxe needed to downsize and, with their help, we spawned Foley One. Foley One was actually their studio designation and it's cool that our past is incorporated into our identity. STEVE: I am the owner and head Foley artist at Foley One. I have been in the sound business and been a Foley artist for about 30 years. I was always interested in sound and music and I was able to find an entry-level job at a local post audio studio. While working at that studio, I was able to gain knowledge in various areas other than the Foley department. But Foley seemed to be a passion, so I pursued that. Foley One's Peter Persaud CAS and Steve Baine Peter, you mentioned to me that you and Steve have been working together since the late 1990's, with a body of work spanning multiple genres in film and television. Does your spotting process change when working in various genres? For example, working on an action film such as Terminator: Dark Fate versus a horror film like A Quiet Place, would you choose to spot a certain element in one project that would be omitted in a different genre? PETER: Oh yes, definitely, but even those two titles are different. Terminator was so big and cool to just try everything. There are so many incredible Foley teams that have handled this film franchise that have influenced us. It was great to get a chance to try our hand at it. It was embracing everything from recording to technology (outboard gear). A Quiet Place was just so detailed. It's our bread- and-butter mentality of our tracks sounding like you are in the environment. I think Foley was the lead in A Quiet Place by default. No talking and limited electricity means a pretty quiet environment for our stuff to play. But I should mention the supervisors for those projects. Jonathan Klein was our supervisor on A Quiet Place and Craig Henighan CAS was everything on Terminator. They tell us what the feel is for what they are looking for and then unbuckle our leash and let us go. STEVE: It really depends on what the sound effects editor wants or needs. Working closely with them completes the overall concept for the sound of each project. As in the subtleness of sound in A Quiet Place to the massiveness of it in Terminator. Steve, how do you alter your Foley performances and recording techniques to fit this sonic vision? For example, how does your approach change for a horror film like A Quiet Place that requires hyper-realistic sounds versus a different genre? STEVE: We use different miking techniques for certain recordings, for sure. Pete is always tweaking the EQ from take to take to get "that" sound. With A Quiet Place, there was not a lot of music or huge effects in many scenes. Because our recordings weren't going to be hidden by the aforementioned sounds, the challenge was to record more realistically or naturally with subtlety in mind, yet still loud enough to hear at a quiet level. As for mixing technique, it's more about getting the feel of the motion happening on screen. I move the mic based on how it sounds and whether it is matching the picture. If there's too much thud, I'll back off the mic or aim it off-axis. If I'm doing a subtle skin touch or swipe, I'll bring the mic up close. It's all based on how it sounds in my headphones. Do the Foley teams you work with become more involved in a film's overall sound design based on the genre? For example, was the Foley team for A Quiet Place asked to create sound effects that would not traditionally be considered Foley? PETER: Well, Foley has changed so much over the past 20 years because of the evolution of sound designers and SFX editors. The borders of who does what have crossed over quite a bit, probably because the tech of sound has had huge advancements. Our Foley supervisors cue everything for us on what to tackle. We're given the picture, guide, and EDL and just go for it. That probably