Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/987065
26 S P R I N G 2 0 1 8 C A S Q U A R T E R L Y One thing Michael learned from mixing many jazz records is that you need to create a vibe that the client is comfortable with. "I have been fortunate that directors continue to raise the bar, and Pixar has set it very high. Coco was intimidating. It was the hardest mix I have ever done. The music came from so many different sources in the movie, layered with many splits. The dialogue was exhausting, plus all the singing. Lee is great at listening." The film was mixed on the Kurosawa Stage on the AMS Neve DFC Gemini console. Asked about how they treated sound for the afterlife, he replied: "We used reverbs extensively. During the transition, we used a backward reverb but only for a few lines of dialogue when the main character first goes into the crypt. It would be distracting to continue that throughout the film. I use the Lexicon 960 and TC-6000 for reverb." Asked whom he would like to thank, he replied: "Chris Boyes and his crew did a great job. The real unsung hero was Steve Davis, who is a fantastic music editor. Composer Michael Giacchino delivered over 250 tracks of music. It was tough to match the on-screen guitar playing when you could see the strings vibrating. Also, dialogue editor Marshall Wynn was fantastic." Sound effects re-recording mixer Chris Boyes (who was also the supervising sound editor) has won the CAS Award twice, for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (with Michael) and The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones. He is an 11-time Oscar nominee, with wins for mixing The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and King Kong with Michael. Chris studied at San Francisco State Film School. He started with photography and later wound up making films at UCSC. He eventually got a job offer at Saul Zaentz in 1985. He offered his services to editors so that he could learn the craft, and he had a great group of mentors there: Richard Hymns, Anne Krober, Alan Splet, Walter Murch, and David Parker. He later stopped by Lucasfilm (Sprockets Systems at the time) and was hired on the spot. He worked his way up from delivering supplies to editors to recording. Starting in the machine room as recordist, he moved to ADR and then Foley, then Gary Rydstrom hired him to record sound effects in the field. After only six months of film mixing, he was feeling comfortable with clients. "I had interviews with Don Rodgers, went to Todd-AO, met Chris Jenkins, Buzz Knudson, and mixed in LA for a while." Chris added, "Coco was a dream job. Lee is wonderful to work with. They are wonderful clients, and Michael Semantic was great. It's a gift that I get to experience all this." Chris did field recordings in Mexico with his son Daniel. Because Chris was also the sound designer, he was able to premix his material down to about 150– 175 tracks before going to the stage. He pointed out that sound is cleaner when there are fewer elements to deal with. Interestingly, Chris uses no plugins when mixing. He uses traditional hardware, including the Lexicon 960 and TC Electronics 6000. Asked about his approach to making sound for the afterlife world, Chris replied: "It needed to be a magical world, starting when there is a big giant sweep of guitar strumming in the crypt. It took several tries to get that sound correct. One element eventually used was a giant upright bass swiped with bow. "It was difficult to keep things from sounding alike. There were many skeleton characters. We had to establish the skeletons as different, some are loose, some tight, some come apart. At some point, it starts to sound real. Hector had a specific gait that had a rhythm with his hip popping. I edited samples in the Synclavier to create the different sounds. "When Miguel needs to get the blessing, Lee wanted it to be organic—it had to rise in intensity but not change pitch, it had to be organic. I wound up recording some pitched crystal glasses that sounded like singing tones. Both music and FX had to work together. "The hardest sound was the flicker when the skeletons disappear [once] they are forgotten. We tried several passes, but nothing stuck. Finally, director Lee Unkrich said, 'I want it to sound beautiful,' which pushed me in the right direction. The sound must register emotionally." Asked if he had any mentors, Chris mentioned mix tech Gilly Lake in New Zealand, Juan Peralta and sound editors Alan Murray and George Waters. Director Lee Unkrich got a sound foundation in sound design at the USC School of Cinematic Arts. Lee met Michael Semanick on Toy Story 3, which Lee edited. Lee carries a Marantz recorder so that he can record material he hears as suggestions for the movie. Because of his background in editing, Lee is very hands-on during early passes of the film, cutting music, sound effects, and backgrounds as the film develops for what he calls "proof of concept." There is always a back-and-forth with post, as Lee turns over his temp work and Chris and his team would expand on the ideas. This allows the film to naturally develop and the sound designers can get approval for all sound concepts early in the process. I asked Lee what the hardest part of the sound design was and, like Blake, he replied that the bones were the most challenging, along with vehicles. Another challenge was finding the right sounds for Dante, the hairless xolo dog in the film. Lee explained, "You have to remove as much artifice as possible—the sound needs to be organic enough that it starts to feel rich and immersive." Lee summed it up by saying: "It is always a joy working with both Michael and Chris—they are great to know as people, and Chris is a great, happy guy—always a pleasure to be on the stage with them."