Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1061972
119 Q4 2018 / CINEMONTAGE 119 Q4 2018 / CINEMONTAGE the Maysles brothers, Alan Pakula, Bob Fosse, Frank Oz, Francis Coppola, the Coen brothers, Mike Nichols, Robert Altman, Nora Ephron, M. Night Shyamalan, Lasse Hallström, Robert De Niro, Wes Anderson, Stephen Daldry, Woody Allen, Woody Allen and...Woody Allen! I regret that I have never worked with Lee, though I would love to, but I know from the several occasions I have met him, and from talking to people who have worked with him, that he fully embodies the hard- won wisdom that the re-recording mixer is the midwife at the final stages of a film's birth. When all is going smoothly, and there are no complications, the mixer oversees (or rather overhears) the re-recording with the necessary vigilance, sensitivity and efficiency. But if there are problems — and sometimes those can even be unresolved, lingering problems with the film's script — the mixer has to intervene quickly, carefully and diplomatically, helping to solve, with deft fingers, the equivalent of a breech birth, an umbilical cord around the neck or even a caesarian section! Understanding this, and the knowledge of human relations it requires, is Lee's great personal and diplomatic skill, alongside the superb technical and artistic quality of the work itself. Walter Murch, ACE, CAS, MPSE Friend/Colleague; Sound Designer, Sound Editor, Re-Recording Mixer, Picture Editor n W hen Lee and I were both pups, I had the pleasure and blessing to work on Distance, a first feature-length film directed by Anthony Lover. Tony decided to shoot the entire film in masters with actors overlapping, camera perspective always changing, and almost no cuts within a scene. After recording the film on location, and working on the sound editing, I had the honor to sit throughout the mix with Lee Dichter. That time spent with Lee shaped my entire film career. I learned what was probably the most important lesson for a sound person when Lee said, "You don't have to hear all sounds; many you just feel." (I was wondering where the cricket track was in a night scene.) Many days during the mix, Tony and I would come in as scheduled, but Lee had come in early, saying, "I had an idea last night and wanted to try something," as he played a change that he had made. And, invariably, Lee was right on target. Throughout these 45 years since, Lee has re-mixed more than a dozen films that I recorded. And when I see the final release, I have invariably wondered, "How did Lee do that?" What I knew was a difficult scene as we shot it ended up sounding perfect, and the entire soundtrack was flawless. So often, the production mixer doesn't get to actually follow the sound in a film to the end, but I wish everyone had the experience I had watching Lee at work. He is a master at listening with a sensitivity to produce soundtracks that fulfill the highest expectations of all who worked on the The Soundtrack Group congratulates Lee Dichter, CAS on his MPEG Fellowship & Service Award