Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/783510
19 muted, and they sang to a playback track fed to them by ear- wigs. The same playback was also fed into the Comteks and the video assist feed so James Brown, Video Assist, could play back takes with the proper mix of piano and vocals. Emma's audition song was also sung live, in one long shot and had no prerecording at all. She was accompanied live by Justin Hurwitz, the Composer, on a digital piano played in the next room with the audio fed to her through an earwig. This allowed Emma to set the pace of her song in- stead of following a prerecorded track. Justin's piano was also recorded in stereo on its own iso tracks to be used as reference later. This film was an incredible challenge and immensely satis- fying to make. Even though this was my fourth movie that incorporated music, it was the first true musical filled with live singing, dancing and musical instruments. The long sweeping shots throughout that creates so much of the movie's magic, required a lot more preparation from our team than a usual show. We were almost always the first ones in and the last ones out. We had a large amount of equipment out and being used, as there was a lot of music that needed to be played back invisibly to actors and danc- ers, whether it was through earwigs or hidden speakers. I live for the challenges that production mixing provides and I am thrilled to have been a part of the making of this movie. For all of us on the sound team, it was an honor to be a part of a project filled with people pushing to create something unique in a way that hadn't been done before. " " We had lots of fun working live recorded lines into playback scenes. In order to capture the essence of a live musical, we made sure to record all of the spoken lines and actor nuances whenever possible. Left to right: Craig Dollinger, Utility Michael Kaleta and Steve Morrow enjoying Emma Stone's wrap gift candy bar. Top: Director Damien Chazelle on set. Photo: Dale Robinette Above: The track count.