Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/681510
C A S Q U A R T E R L Y S P R I N G 2 0 1 6 19 "You want to feel like it's there. You don't want to be behold- en to what people normally do in theaters. Let's just do what it is. It's easy. The camera is telling you what to do. It's shot in a way that, if you don't pan it, it's wrong. In both of these movies, Birdman and The Revenant, they were both shot in a way that the picture travels. The picture turns and it tells you what to do. Birdman was easier because there were no cuts. This one had both. In dialogue not much, but with the effects, the back- grounds, let's say, where the camera is pointing down the river. Then it turns to the river and everything has to go with it— that's easy. But then the next shot is actually a cut that goes back down the river. You'd have to change that perspective again. It's very difficult and it takes a long time to make it sound natural. You'll see mixers are starting to mix a little bit different. And you're going to see a little bit more immersion just generally. Theaters are getting better and their standards are higher, so these things can happen. "That being said, now that we have Atmos and are getting audiences used to even more immersiveness and DTSX and other formats, 100 percent immersion will be standard. I kind of wish we always did Atmos or those other immersive formats. It is pricey. So we don't get the okay to do that until the end. So we've already finished our 7.1 mix, which will then get pre- mastered to 5.1. And then at the very end they may say, 'Okay, we need it'—like in this case—we needed Atmos. Frank Montaño and myself finale'd mostly in the Hitchcock Theater, which is our normal stage. And Randy Thom and I also mixed on Stage Six, right across the street. We work on Harrison MPC 4D consoles. Both of the consoles are exactly the same and both of the back rooms are exactly the same. So we actu- ally take projects back-and-forth." F rank Montaño and Jon Taylor have been working togeth- er for a very long time. Frank speaks fondly of his mixing partner: "Working with Jon Taylor has been fantastic. We are cut from the same cloth in a lot of ways. We work hard and have fun. He's really talented but, more importantly, he's a great person. It's a real blessing." Jon also talked about the major team element of pulling proj- ects like this off. "Movies like this are always going to be very difficult. Everybody has to be at 100 percent all the time. It was such a pleasure working with this whole crew. The guys that came from up north that helped us—Randy Thom, obviously, Brian Chumney—fantastic! Leff Lefferts—huge help. The whole dialogue crew was absolutely amazing. Nobody dropped the ball. Stephen Mirrione, the only picture editor on it, keeping everything together. The support that we got at Universal from the facilities. Michael Moore always fighting to make sure that we get the support that we needed. Kirstin Smith, Bill Meadows—who was our mix tech. Our mix tech got hit by a car after the first week of the final. He's good. But he did miss most of the mix. Tim Limer [mix tech] was available and stepped in and did an amazing job in a place that he doesn't know that well. The file hierarchy, dealing with all the different rigs and two, three stages at times. We really needed that help and we were so lucky that Tim was able to come in. Without Bill [Meadows] we thought, man, this could all go down in flames because that's so important. When you have so many sounds, so many files, so much going back-and-forth, you need somebody that's on it and Tim filled it. Bill Meadows, yeah, he's our normal guy and he took it all the way up until, I think, the first week of final and that's when he got nailed. He was riding his bicycle as he does almost every morning." What a terrible thing to happen! You can't get hit by a car and then not get a mention in the CAS article! It is very inspir- ing to interview these top-notch professionals. My favorite thing to learn about sound professionals I meet is how they got their start. Jon Taylor shares: "When I was 17 years old, I fabricated computer workstations out of fiberglass and plastic injection. The company was going under, as it just was very expensive to run. My brother Scott Taylor was an assistant picture editor and I called him up and he got me an interview that same day at a place called TAV Sound in Hollywood on 3rd and Burnside. I started as a recep- tionist and I think I did that for two months. And then I got into scheduling and I probably did that for a month. And then I started doing dailies and I did that for maybe a month. And then became a recordist and I did that for about six months. And then I started recording ADR and Foley. And very soon after that, had a chance to become a re-recording mixer. I moved up fast because it was on my own time. I really started re- recording mixing when I was 19 years old." I wondered how these guys liked working with Alejandro Iñárritu. Jon Taylor remarks: "Alejandro's a genius, you know. He definitely explores and you have to be ready to explore and change things on a dime and, hopefully, you can get in his head a little bit. Nobody gets in his head a lot, just little chunks at a time. I've learned so much about sound in films from Alejandro, you know, always pushing the envelope and—you're scared at first. Going down the rabbit hole with him. And then watching that first playback and going, 'Damn! Man, it's different and it works!'" And from Frank Mantaño: "We worked on Birdman in 2014 and that was the first time. The moment I remember most was when Alejandro told me I was allowed one good idea per day and if there were more, he [would] take them for his own. I thought that was funny." So, I wondered how did Frank Montaño get his start in mix- ing? "I've been mixing films, believe or not, for 30 years … wow! I started mixing at Cannon Films in the mid-'80s. I was origi- nality hired as an engineer for the installation of the consoles and 35mm tape machines in the new post-production facilities at Cannon. Once that phase was complete, and by default, I rolled in a mixing chair because I knew the gear. In a strange way, I had a knack for it, so it stuck. I've been extremely fortu- nate to have worked with some great mixing partners through my career from Doug Tuner, Patrick Cyccone, Donald O. Mitchell, Mike Minkler, and Chris Jenkins to name a few." Both of these guys are now working on Star Trek Beyond. Jon Taylor remarks: "We just finished The Huntsman, which was fantastic. Just a great experience. We had a great time. Then we'll start on Star Trek with Justin Lin."