Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1061972
95 Q4 2018 / CINEMONTAGE "We used the word 'spread' — 'spread the music a little.'" The mix mainly used the center channel, a little left, a little right, but only the tiniest hint of surrounds. Mixing in New York for his entire career, Dichter came to feel that he worked on a certain kind of film, even though each project — and each director — was distinct. "We're telling stories in New York," Dichter observes. "Coming from theatre, the storyline is important." He points to Mike Nichols, with whom he worked on 13 films, including Working Girl (1988), The Birdcage (1996) and the HBO miniseries Angels in America (2003), for which Dichter shared a CAS Award from the Cinema Audio Society Award for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for Television – Movies and Miniseries. "Mike did a movie, then did a play, did a movie, did a play," Dichter comments. "He loved the process. A lot of directors just come in for the final mix, but he would be involved earlier." In between his work on A-list films, Dichter found time to take on more unusual projects. He mixed numerous documentaries for Ken Burns, including The Civil War miniseries (1990). "We had to make still pictures feel like live action by working with the soundtracks," Dichter says. "They had the archival cannon sounds and musket sounds. That was a wonderful experience in bringing those shots alive." In 1992, the re-recording mixer also "collaborated" with Orson Welles; even though the master filmmaker died in 1985, Dichter mixed a restoration of his 1951 adaptation of Shakespeare's Othello. "It was very challenging because we were Above: Lee Dichter, left, with sound editor Michael Kirchberger at Sound One in 1994. Photo by Judy Janda Right: The mix crew for Across the Universe, the last feature film to be mixed at Sound One's large studio on 54th Street, in 2007: Back row, from left, music editor Daryl B. Kell, assistant sound editor Igor Nikolic, assistant editor Bob Allen; middle row, music editor Christopher Brooks, supervising recording engineer Lawrence Manchester, music score mixer/recordist Joel Iwataki, supervising music editor Curtis Roush, composer/music producer Elliot Goldenthal, re-recording mixer Ro- berto Fernández, sound designer/supervising sound editor Blake Leyh, Lee Dich- ter, sound re-recordist Shane Stoneback; front row, assistant editor Joe Hobeck, picture editor Françoise Bonnot, director Julie Taymor, dialogue editor Eliza Paley, apprentice editor Libby Thomas and post-production supervisor Jeff Robinson.