Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/551510
42 CINEMONTAGE / SUMMER 2015 for development of the Advanced Data Encoding System, a technology designed to bridge the gap between linear film editing and non-linear sound editing using time code. The Digital Foley System, conceived by Bender in 2002, accepts input from the Foley artist as MIDI signals from pressure-sensitive foot controllers that trigger an extensive sound library of shoe types, surfaces and performances. Dolby-certified for editorial and pre- production of Atmos soundtracks, Bender's editorial suite at Formosa features an Avid ICON D-Command control surface and Pro Tools HDX with Atmos plug-in panners linking to a local renderer — another Pro Tools plug-in that emulates a Dolby Atmos Rendering Mastering Unit/RMU — and hence to a 9.1.4-channel loudspeaker array. The latter is a horizontal 9.1-format setup with four overhead speakers, all individually addressable from the local renderer. By writing assignment and pan automation with his Avid Pro Tools mixes, Bender could bring that data to the dub stage within his multi-channel sessions. "Everything is such a rush when you get onto the stage," he explains. "Without that pressure I have contemplative time here in my Atmos-capable room to work out panning and moves through 3D space, and an approach on how to make that access virtually transparent" without the clock running. MOVING SOUND IN THREE DIMENSIONS "I had researched other approaches to Atmos mixing, which utilize object tracks either at the bottom of the session or within our 'food groups,'" Bender explains. "I imagined Atmos Fields whose profile I could control, and into which panned sounds can be placed. We used the Atmos Panners very little for panning, although access would be needed from the discrete tracks within each food group — whooshes, impacts, flying, etc. — to hasten the process." As a result of his investigations, Bender made a number of significant breakthroughs. "I conceived Atmos to be a tool that would let me create a sonic 'plane' in three dimensions, through which targeted sounds would move," he continues. "I set each Atmos Panner at a static point and used them as Positions of various waypoints within Atmos Panner Pro Tools plug-ins for a given Field. Monk Comes Down the Mountain. Property of New Classics Media Pty Ltd.