Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/942009
48 CINEMONTAGE / Q1 2018 mixer several years ago, Fernandez freely concedes that his favorite room is the Eastwood Scoring Stage on the studio's Burbank lot. "But I have also worked successfully on the Sony and the Fox scoring stages," he says. "I look for a great production crew, together with a space that will give me a flexible sound; the moveable screens on the Eastwood Stage are great for modifying the reverb time and ambience character." The scoring mixer's go-to mic array is a classic Decca Tree consisting of a central array of three omni mics over the conductor's podium, with two outriders on tall stands either side of the ensemble. "I use a Decca Tree layout pretty much all the time, even for smaller combos," he explains. "The director might ask me to stem off one of the Decca Tree mixes if he is looking for a different sound, but is unsure if it will work later." Fernandez will also have spot microphones to cover key instruments. "The Eastwood Stage boasts a fine collection of two dozen vintage Neumann U67 tube microphones," Fernandez attests, "which I like to use on violins, violas and cellos. I also use a variety of Schoeps condenser mics." Looking back on his big career break in 1972, the scoring mixer said it came as something of a surprise. "I was called into Al Green's office at 8:00 a.m. and told to go down to the main scoring stage and work with Dan Wallin," he remembers. "'Learn everything you can,' Al told me, adding jokingly, 'But don't tell Dan that I think he's a good mixer, because he already has a big head. And Danny probably won't like you!' But Dan and I hit it off straight away and got on fine." Fernandez was originally confined to the live space — eventually being named stage manager — but soon gained access to the control room. "Dan wanted me to fully understand how to set up for a scoring session, so I learned about all the microphones he used and how they worked," he says. "He was okay with all my questions. 'That's the only way you are going to learn,' he reasoned. He was very open and giving during that time, explaining everything to me. Once I had mastered the session setup — 'You've got it!' he would tell me — Dan brought me into the control room. So I then started to take careful notes of all the EQ and filter settings he was using, and would set up the console each morning to match the mics he had put out on the session setup lists." Back in the mid-1970s, the scoring mixer recalls that Wallin preferred to print a "three- or six-channel live mix of the orchestral session; 'fix it in the mix is bullshit,' he thought. But we did add Ampex analog 16-track decks, then a pair of 24-track Studers and eventually 32-track Mitsubishi X-800/X-850 digital machines. However, we soon ran out of console inputs and outputs with so many backup tracks available for remix!" His first mix date came about via a circuitous route. "After four years on the stage as stage manager, I was called into Al's office and told that Danny wanted me to start mixing, but that I first needed to work for a year on a dub stage to learn what's expected of a scoring mixer. The 15:17 to Paris. Warner Bros. A Neumann m150 microphone, a newer version of the original vintage Neumann m50's that Bobby Fernandez normally uses.