Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/551510
21 SUMMER 2015 / CINEMONTAGE Because Spanish was spoken in most of the Mexico-set scenes, Blake prepared two M&E mixes: one for markets that elected to preserve the Spanish dialogue and another for those that chose to dub it. "We tried to get countries to take [the former], and we had mixed success," he adds. In August, two temp mixes were done at Weddington Productions in Los Angeles in stereo. Ahead of the first temp, Blake assigned 10 dialogue editors to work on one reel apiece in the span of a single week. "I began on this movie what has since then become my standard for all movies," he notes. "I try to shoehorn the schedule such that we go to the first temp with correctly cut, properly edited dialogue. Not the usual 'we're going to replace it later' quick and dirty job." Thereafter, the dialogue was in the hands of sound editor Aaron Glascock, a longtime colleague of Blake and Soderbergh who had previously been a picture and sound assistant. "Aaron's contribution, with the dialogue and effects, was critical to the finishing of this film," Blake says. "Looking back, it's almost inconceivable to me that I would have gone into these uncharted territories without him." In October, mere minutes into the first day of the final mix at Swelltone, another significant decision was made. In the first scene in Mexico, with Del Toro and Vargas, an airplane roars by overhead. As Blake recalls, "I had the plane fly into the surrounds, and Steven said, 'You know what? Let's keep this on the screen.'" It was decided to keep all effects in the left- center-right channels. And, when a check screening of the final mix was held at the Samuel Goldwyn Theatre in Beverly Hills, a further adjustment was made. "After the Goldwyn screening," Blake says, "Steven decided to have all effects [and dialogue] in the center." For his part, Soderbergh recalls Blake coming up with the idea. "Larry said, 'I think it's weird with the aesthetic of the movie to have these wide stereo background and effects tracks,'" Soderbergh told Directors World. "He said, 'We ought to dump everything into the center channel to give it the documentary feel that you're going after.'" Regardless of where the credit lies, however, both agreed that the film would seem more of a piece after this change. "He wanted it to feel like the movie was shot with one big mic above the camera," Blake says. "Obviously, you could never do that in reality, but he just thought that the documentary feel of the movie would be better supported if everything was in the center." The sole exception was the score composed by Cliff Martinez, which remained in 5.1 and was uniquely utilized by Soderbergh and editor Mirrione (who also won an Oscar). Many scenes are underscored, but nearly as often, dialogue and effects are wiped from the soundtrack, leaving Martinez's music to stand on its own. "I remember a specific moment when a car is going through downtown San Diego during the trial where Eddie is testifying against Carlos Ayala," Blake recalls. "There's a shot of the camera panning by the courthouse, and we took out all the sound there." At the mix, Soderbergh wondered if they had "gone to the well" one too many times, but Blake reassured him. "I said, 'No, that cue at that moment is so perfect.' Any other sound was not contributing to anything on the scale that Cliff 's music was." For their contribution to the film's feeling of events unfolding, rather than being staged, Blake and Glascock were nominated for a Motion Picture Sound Editors' Golden Reel Award, as they would for their work on Erin Brockovich (2000) and Ocean's Eleven (2001). "It was an amazing moment in that period, too, with Erin Brockovich, Traffic and Ocean's Eleven being back to back," Blake says. And Blake — along with the rest of Soderbergh's trusty sound team — was along for that remarkable ride. But Traffic stands apart, for confirming Blake's confidence in mixing in Pro Tools, which allowed him to shift his work to his home turf. "It completely changed how I work," Blake says. "And where I work." f MY MOST MEMORABLE FILM Traffic. USA Films/Photofest