Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/830490
14 S P R I N G 2 0 1 7 C A S Q U A R T E R L Y As supervisor sound editor and re-recording mixer in charge of SFX, Ai-Ling Lee used many approaches to help the sfx contract, blend with production, and expand and dissipate around the characters. "I started on really early and, just from the initial meeting with Damien, one of his main concerns being a musical is having the seamless transition." She explained she would, at times, "gradually play the back- grounds," mixing it slowly in and around in favor of music. Other times, however, the backgrounds would be the element that would snap you back into reality and dialogue. Nelson complimented Lee on her careful weaving of atmospheres say- ing, "I think they work really well. Because you didn't realize you were being taken somewhere." Lee explains how on her side of the board, "We're trying to get more of a realistic soundscape for this film, but yet we want to envelop the audience with its environment so that when we go into a really fantasy musical moment when the sound drops out, it's just the music … you have somewhere to go. So it's just about playing the right sounds and placing them around the audience … or slowly dispersing the sound away, melting the sound away." Those special moments in La La Land were plentiful. The world would drop out and you found yourself alone, feeling these two characters were just in a world with only each other. One of the most incredible aspects of this particular film was the grand nature of many scenes juxtaposed by much more minimal and intimate scenes. Nelson recalls, "What I loved about this was the dynamics of it. Because it was the fact that it would go from very big, very rich, and full either orchestrally or with the jazz to just one finger on a piano. And I'd never worked on a musical that was so dynamic like that. So it was really fun for Ai-Ling and myself to kind of sit and work through these scenes where you could be as big and as sumptuous as you liked with the sound, but the minute it came down to that sort of solo piano, it was like just nothing, it was just a whisper of a background. So, for me, I think the challenge was finding those dynamics and making the film as big and as small as they wanted. It was just a little bit unique for this picture, which I loved." Indeed, scoring mixer Nicholai Baxter can relate to the efforts needed to go create the needed dynamics when conducting music recording and mixing sessions. With about 100 players in the A Orchestra, a rhythm section, and an occasional 40-piece choir, he used many different environments to piece together an organ- ic feeling for both the numbers that called for grandness as well as those that called for isolation. Nicholai explains, "The orchestra was recorded at the Barbra Streisand Scoring Stage on the Sony lot. Our rhythm section and smaller jazz group were recorded at Conway Studios. Vocals were recorded at Igloo Music Studios and Marius de Vries' home studio. I also mixed songs, score, and soundtrack at Igloo Music Studios." While, in the end, the material delivered to Andy was the stan- dard 5.1 stems along with a few Atmos stereos for the ceiling speakers, a diverse feeling of big and small was definitely embedded. Additionally, while La La Land is not the obvious big Atmos soundtrack, the advantages of Atmos' full spectrum monitors and spatial panning were employed very effectively and is, in a large part, responsible for the widening and closing worlds around the characters. Nelson explains, "We knew it wasn't going to be Atmos in the sort of big scale of Atmos but, for me, it was just a little bonus that I could play the full-range sur- rounds for the music more than anything, and widen the screen out." For the opening scene in Cinemascope, the music and sfx were artificially narrowed and then widened. "And then by going to those sort of outer screen speakers in Atmos, which is still full range of course, I was able to [expand things]—most of the orchestra lived outside the screen, most of it, yeah." Lee explains that she also utilized the format to expand and contract her worlds hugging and floating out from the characters. "Mostly, I used it in areas such as when Mia was walking alone out in the streets, to help immerse the audience in different parts of the city. Also at the end of the 'Roommate' song when the camera spins around, I panned the sounds of the stomping feet, claps, and underwater bys, utilizing the Atmos overheads and full-range surrounds." Nelson summarizes, "So it was kind of—I don't want to say Atmos lite, but it was definitely a good use of Atmos, because people always think, oh, if it's Atmos, is it going to be huge? Actually, I think when Atmos is subtle, it's really powerful. I think that's when you really notice it." The commitment to the narrative and openness to continu- ally reevaluate what is effective use of sound from the entire sound team and director Damien Chazelle was paramount to its success. Nelson expanded on Chazelle's vision. "From the first frame, [he knew] exactly how they'd love their film to sound." Lee worked with Chazelle from the initial spotting sessions. She explained that, while he was very specific, Chazelle was also so open to how to achieve his vision that, at times, he would go back and structure the cut to allow for a successful marriage of sound and picture. Nelson reiterated this and explained this even happened on the dub stage. Lee, as the supervising sound editor and re-recording mixer, was creating, cutting, and mixing through the whole sound post process, and gives the example of the opening scene as one that was created, pre-dubbed, and completely revisited. "It was a last-minute decision to open with a sound montage, so there was a lot of going back-and-forth. The orchestral recording sessions at the Barbra Streisand Scoring Stage at Sony Studios