CAS Quarterly

Spring 2016

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C A S Q U A R T E R L Y S P R I N G 2 0 1 6 17 T his year's winners of the CAS Award for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for Live-Action Motion Pictures are production mixer Chris Duesterdiek, re- recording mixer Jon Taylor CAS, re-recording mixer Frank Montaño, re-recording mixer Randy Thom CAS, scoring mixer Conrad Hensel, ADR mixer Michael Miller CAS, and Foley mixer Geordy Sincavage. This group did an amazing job and accomplished quite a feat. I had the pleasure of speaking to many of them amidst all of our busy schedules. (Of note, due to scheduling issues, we were unable to conduct interviews with Randy Thom, Conrad Hensel, and Geordy Sincavage.) This talented group and their talented teams are among some of the top professionals in their field. Chris Duesterdiek: Production Mixer I was given just a tiny glimpse of what their experiences were. Being a production mixer, learning about what production mixer Chris Duesterdiek witnessed and worked through really took my breath away. "I worked on The Revenant from early September [2014] to the end of April [2015]. The eight months would have gone longer, but spring had arrived and we ran out of snow— leaving us with just the final battle sequence. Production was sending scouts around the globe and the decision was made to shoot it in Argentina." In a behind-the-scenes documentary, there was an abundance of footage of the actors on location but not in costume. This huge undertaking of a shoot must have required abundant and careful rehearsal time. "Most of the film was shot as a dry run during rehearsals with stand-ins and lead actors to get a sense of how the shots looked and worked. There was just shy of three months of rehearsals and I was there for the last two weeks before we went to camera. I had the fortune of being able to call our video assist, Justin Johns. He spent two months on location before the bulk of the crew arrived. He had informed me that this shoot was going to be very out-of-the-box and to prepare a secondary package that was extremely mobile, as the locations would be very difficult to access. I began putting together a bag rig that would have as much capability as my full sound cart. It included a Sound Devices 664 mixer recorder, nine Lectrosonics 411a receivers, and two Lectrosonics IFB transmitters. I ended up using the bag rig for more than two-thirds of the film. When I had the luxu- ry of working off the cart, I had my Cooper 206 board with a Deva 5.8, a Lectrosonics Venue receiver and all the other bells and whistles. In addition to that, I had another Deva 5.8 in a Charlie O'Shea, Candice Todesco, and Chris Duesterdiek bag that I used for sound effects and ambient recordings that I could run off with." A common theme gathered from all interviewed is the impor- tance of a their incredible crews. Chris explains: "I had a sound team of three: Charlie O'Shea, as my boom operator, Candice Todesco, as my sound assistant, and myself. I was lucky to be able to bring a top-notch team with me. I feel the success of any given project depends on the strength of the team, not only in skill set but also in how well the team operates together. Some of the places we filmed were postcard perfect. The surroundings offered up plenty of material to record. The trick was how to eliminate the variables that a crew of 200-plus brings. As we all know, this can be one of the biggest challenges of the production sound team. Cooperation is key. To go through such a long and arduous shoot and come out the other end with recognition from your peers on accomplishing some- thing of note has been an amazing experience and a blessing." Director Alejandro Iñárritu is known to be very creative and demanding. I'm sure he expects the best from his collaborators. Chris offers me a snapshot. MOTION PICTURES LIVE ACTION THE REVENANT by Devendra Cleary CAS "This film was my first time working with Alejandro. One of the things he really wanted from me was to record as much nature and ambient sound as possible. He liked the idea of me using both my 7.1 mic and my M/S stereo mic. He was also fixated with water and would always check in to see that I recorded every stream, river, or creek that we filmed at or near. Always trying to find new and interesting sounds like under sheets of ice or recording rushing river sounds." From left: Geordy Sincavage, Foley mixer, Candice Todesco, sound assistant, Jon Taylor CAS, re-recording mixer, Randy Thom CAS, re-recording mixer, Chris Duesterdiek, production mixer, and Charlie O'Shea, boom operator. Photo: ©Ana Gibert 2016

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