Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1061972
113 Q4 2018 / CINEMONTAGE 113 Q4 2018 / CINEMONTAGE I pronounced it "absolutely natural." Lee erupted with glee and explained that he had spliced the dialogue in the frequency domain using the lifeless ADR reading for the high frequencies for intelligibility and the production for the low-frequency guttural voice that gave the performance a punch; an amazing feat. We played it again and now, knowing the technical backstory, I was amazed how natural it sounded. This was in the 35mm mag days before digital time-alignment via computer. Lee as prankster: I witnessed many of Lee's high jinks directed at colleagues, but one of his most successful poked fun at me. Lee, who knows how important loyalty is to me, lifted my name off my business card, pasted it on a competitor's card, made copies and spread them throughout the studios. Congratulations, Lee, on getting my goat! And congratulations on the great honor bestowed on you today. Brad Hohle Friend/Colleague; Senior Director, World Wide Cinema Support, Dolby Laboratories n L ee is more than a mixer with a good ear. He's a diplomat, a negotiator, the voice of reason and harmony in a cacophonous argument, and master of the creative audio solution. I was supervising ADR editor on more films than I can count with Lee as mixer. On Postcards from the Edge, I had a very strong desire to create vocal audio chaos just before a visual sight gag. Everyone in the room objected. The editor, the supervising sound editor and even Lee chimed in supporting their argument against my tracks, saying that it would hurt the joke. I disagreed and asked that we just play it for the director and let him decide. Before we played it for the director, Lee mixed it, placing the extra voices on the right and left to give them a real dimension. The end result: It made the director laugh. My goal was achieved, and Lee made it happen. On Far and Away, Lee took painstaking effort to help place and balance the building breaths and footsteps of a running actor before a big explosion. It was a work of art, but the film editor said he didn't want to hear the breaths after Lee had spent hours making the track sound great. In my personal opinion, being close on the face of the actor, seeing him huffing and puffing and then only hearing his footsteps, hurt the cinematic moment. With a philosophic shrug, Lee let go of the baby he had been nurturing. I argued with the film editor to no avail, but Lee's humble, easy c'est la vie nature made the whole experience acceptable, teachable and memorable. There is absolutely nothing negative that can be said about this giant of a gentle man. Michael Jacobi Friend/Colleague; ADR Editor n L ee Dichter may be the sole reason I was able to get my start in the film sound business. My father was a colorist and knew Lee in the '80s. When I was a kid, I started to work in recording studios, but realized I wanted a career that had a little bit more stability to it than the music business. My father told me about this guy he knew named Lee, and how he came from a family-operated post-mixing house called Photo-Mag and was now at a facility called Sound One. I was able to get a messenger position there and, months later, was promoted to the ADR machine room, which was right across the hallway from Lee's studio in the Brill Building. Up until this point, I had never really met Lee or had a chance to introduce myself because he was mixing all the time — I mean all the time. One day in the hallway, I finally got a chance to talk to him and I was star-struck. This was the legendary Lee Dichter, the Oz behind the always-closed doors of Studio L. After years of working my way up to ADR mixer, I would come to respect Lee as the king of dialogue; he could make unusable noisy tracks sound amazing. I often reflect back on people I met in my life and realize how much Lee was a key part in more than just introducing me to my profession. Sound One is where I grew up, met my wife, had a family and started my career. Thank you, my friend. Bobby Johanson, CAS Friend/Colleague; ADR Mixer n I n so many instances a film can be a symphony of nightmares to work through: deadlines, personalities and egos. But when the film progressed to the dub stage, and Lee Dichter was sitting there behind the giant console he called his toy, I always knew the nightmares were over and the final fix was in the works. Lee was the maestro, the gentleman, the friend who would always officiate the marriage of all the sounds, bringing them together with his master stroke. He was always welcoming — a listener — and transparent with his work. He would respect his crew in the machine room, always having their backs. That show of respect would spread to everyone on the stage. It brought out the best in people. Golden hands would coerce a note or a syllable… drastic EQ changes on the fly (practicing in reverse while rewinding)…continual motion of the faders — and Lee's constant banter of what he was doing on the board (or his golf game), all the while punching into "record"… seamlessly. I've been honored to work with Lee and very honored to call him my friend. Todd Kasow Friend/Colleague; Music Editor n M azel tov, Lee! I will always associate Sound One with Lee Dichter's genius and endearing smile. Mixing with him was sheer pleasure, as he brought unlimited expertise and poetry to the monitor while mixing my first two documentaries on Jewish heroes: Partisans of Vilna and The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg. Working on Partisans allowed Lee to explore his own family roots in Yiddish-speaking cinema, while Hank Greenberg afforded him the opportunity to hear beloved baseball sounds emanating from his studio instead of the stadium.