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Secretariat(pictured on the opposite page) is just one of many recent films that have passed through this Todd-AO mix theater. Over the years, the film industry has adopted various types of surround sound, starting in 1940 with Fantasia Sound for Walt Disney’s Fantasia. Broadcast television by comparison is new to surround sound audio and is currently experiencing the growing pains much like film experienced since the 1940s. Surround sound for television and film often have confusing or conflicting audio standards that are sub- ject to a multitude of variables. Some of those vari- ables are based on the personal preferences of the re-recording mixer while many others are based on the different audio requirements for each of the broadcast networks and movie studios. In the second of a two-part series on sur- round sound audio, we take an in-depth look at mixing surround sound for film and television series.We start with the film industr y, which has a histor y of over 60 years of multichannel play- back of audio. FILM Scott Millan, re-recording mixer at Todd-AO (www.todd- ao.com) in Santa Monica, gives his in-depth view on how a typi- cal f ilm is mix ed in sur round sound. With recent credits such as Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, Salt,The Other Guys and Secretariat, he sheds light on how the home A large part of HBO’s new series Tremeinvolves live musicians, which challenges Sound One because the dialnorm level requirement doesn’t take into account music mixing. market has become an integral part of the film industry overall.With DVD releases, Blu-ray and PPV becoming more and more popular, the home theater market can be very lucrative. Knowing that a feature film will very likely be played in the home, Millan explains how he ap- proaches mixing for the home environment:“The pro- jects I work on allow for a near-field mix for the home theater market after the final mix of the film is com- pleted.The value of this mix is certainly acknowledged by the creative team. From the filmmaker’s perspective, it’s a big advantage to have the same mixers, who did the the- atrical mix, do the home theater v ersion of the f ilm. When I start work on a film, the theatrical mix might take an average of six to 12 weeks.That’s why I like to go right into the near-field pass. I know the material and all the nu- ances of the mix are still very fresh in my mind.” When mixing for the home, Millan is careful to keep the film’s content as true to the director’s vision as possi- ble.“The two main considerations for me when I am mix- ing are to maintain the creative integrity of the film and to conform the dynamics to the confines of the home envi- ronment.To accomplish that, I have some standards built into my workflow, such as monitoring on the mid-size Genelec speakers rather than the large theatrical speak- ers on my stage.We mix with the model #1031A — all five channels positioned nine feet from the listening posi- tion. For the sub-channel we use the 7070A.” When Millan was mixing the home theater version of Wall Street, he worked from the stems of the theatrical mix, which he says is normal for most movies.“When mix- ing films we create multiple stems.This also allows me some latitude to reach for specific elements independent of others when mixing the near-field version. Our theatri- cal stems normally consist of one dialogue stem, a group walla stem and a music stem.We also create five different stems for the sound effects, hard effects plus two centers, backgrounds, Foley, an add stem and the production ef- fects stem. Each of these stems can be up to six channels.” www.postmagazine.com November 2010 • Post 45