Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/398272
www.postmagazine.com 33 POST OCTOBER 2014 arena, Gershin's team placed mics as if they were recording an orchestra, with close-up crowd mics on each separate area to capture less reverb and more direct signal, multichannel mics at various distances around the arena to capture the space's natural reverb and decay, and several more mics in creative places like tunnels and behind safety walls. They also had sound eff ects recordist Peter Zinda moving around the arena with a mobile rig. "In Atmos, we were able to place the diff erent recordings into diff erent speak- ers. Because they are all slightly delayed, based on where the mics were in the bullring during recording, when you hear it back in Atmos, it sounds like you're in that acoustical space, in the bullring. It's a great illusion. It's fantastic," says Gershin. When mixing the sound eff ects, Bor- ders notes one challenge was keeping the fun in the track while still capturing the intensity of the visuals, particularly in the land of the forgotten. "There are a thousand dead bulls chasing Manolo, trying to maul him. How do you maintain excitement while keeping it kid friendly?" Borders achieves a balance by highlight- ing the comedic events, like people's hats blowing off when a bull slams into an object. "Just because visually it looks like something huge and intense happens, it doesn't always have to be supported with a bombastic sound. We looked into our ingredients and tried to dig out things that were intense but more fun," he explains. "One thing that makes a great mix is the ingredients," says Borders. "Gershin brought on Dan O'Connell at One Step Up to do all the Foley and he's one of the best in the business. Gershin is an ace at creature vocals, and we had his whole amazing team putting together our soundscapes. I can only do so much as a mixer because if the ingredients aren't there then I have nothing to create with." The Book of Life was mixed natively in Atmos, which Borders admits is his new favorite toy. The most eff ective scenes in Atmos, Borders feels, are the quieter scenes. His favorite scene in The Book of Life takes place during a rain and thunderstorm on a dock over a lake. "You can take high, wispy winds and light rain and put them directly above the audi- ence. All the rain that hits the water, and hits the dock, and hits the people, those sounds are perceived to be a lot lower in elevation. Then you can have the thun- der move around the room. You're not doing it to be gimmicky; you're doing it because that's what a rainstorm sounds like if you were standing on a dock in the middle of a lake," explains Borders. Koyama reports the dialogue was recorded in ten diff erent studios, from LA, New York, Dallas and London. Since each studio uses diff erent mics, com- pressors, and recording booths, Koyama had to give the dialogue a bit of love. He used the FabFilter Pro Q plug-ins to get all the lines to seamlessly match. "The FabFilter Pro Q is very transparent and powerful," says Koyama. Borders, who was recently introduced to FabFilter Pro Q on The Book of Life, adds, "It sounds more like an analog console than any- thing I've experienced." The Book of Life was mixed in Pro Tools 11 using an Avid ICON. Koyama feels it's more effi cient to stay in-the- box for an Atmos mix because all the Atmos panning is actually done using a Pro Tools plug-in. "When it's all self-con- tained like that, I think the process is more streamlined," he says. They mixed the Atmos version fi rst, followed by the 7.1, 5.1, and Lt Rt mixes. Koyama also found that the Dolby RMU (Rendering Mastering Unit) plug-in did an excellent job of folding down the Atmos pans and atmospheres into 7.1 and 5.1, with only a few minor elements needing to be reworked during that process. A WALK AMONG THE TOMBSTONES Based on the Lawrence Block novel, A Walk Among the Tombstones was adapt- ed and directed by the highly-respected screenwriter Scott Frank, known for The Wolverine, Minority Report and Get Shorty. Premiering on September 19th, A Walk Among the Tombstones stars Liam Neeson as Matt Scudder, a private inves- tigator hired by a drug kingpin to fi nd out who kidnaped and murdered his wife. Visually, director Frank uses long takes and wide-screen shots, with stark, cold imagery that captures the darkness of the story. Supervising sound editor Wylie Stateman notes the fi lm is a homage to the 1970's style detective thriller genre. In terms of sound, it employs the sonic effi ciency of the 1970s, when the avail- able technology allowed for only minimal layering of sounds. "Layering had to be very judicious and very specifi c. You had to present very clean and concise concepts that reveal themselves succinctly and effi ciently," says Stateman. To achieve that sound for director Frank, Stateman and his Twenty Four Seven Sound team of sound designer Dror Mohar and dialogue super- visor Branden Spencer worked closely with composer Carlos Rafael Rivera and dialogue and music re-recording mixer Lee Dichter at PostWorks New York (www.postworks.com/postworks). At the new PostWorks theatrical mix stage located at 100 Avenue of the Americas in New York, they were able to craft a The mix team on Book of Life included (L-R) Andy Koyama, Beau Borders and Scott Gershin. AUDIO FOR FEATURE FILMS