Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1261193
M OT I O N P I CTU R E S O U N D E D I TO R S I 29 PL: This is kind of an obvious question, but do you approach comedy when you're cutting or editing diŽerently than you would on a horror film? RD: Yes, most definitely. Whether I'm designing sounds or looking for sounds in a library, the horror stuff is usually darker. A lot darker, toney, droney elements, big and strong and impactful as opposed to a comedy. PL: Do you have a lot more tracks when you're doing horror? RD: Well, just a lot more categories for horror. One of my main priorities is organization. I think layout in your Pro Tools session is just as important as what you're cutting because it can make a mix go much smoother. PL: So tell me a little bit more about your laying out your tracks in Pro Tools. RD: I used to teach Pro Tools over at Video Symphony in Burbank for eight to nine years. I can't express how important organization is for a mixer or an editor. In my opinion, layout is just as important as cutting and designing. You have to be organized and you have to make decisions. I've seen editors give a mixer 70 tracks of a motorcycle and I'm like (just shake my head) "Oh my God," what a nightmare for me and the mixer if I'm the supervisor. PL: Well, especially on a TV show. You don't have the time. RD: You really don't. Most TV shows have a three to four day mix schedule, whereas most feature films have a much longer mix schedule, depending on if the show needs predubs. Turnover rates in TV feel like they're coming twice as fast as ever. And sometimes the turnover comes days before the mix. There is no room for error. PL: Do you have a scene you ever worked on where you can't stop laughing? RD: Yes I do. But here's the funny part about this story. It's not a scene, it was the end credits for episode 102 of Barry. We were sitting there with all the HBO executives and a room full of people on our final playback and Bill Hader goes, "Wouldn't it be funny if, instead of having music, we just do comedy sound effects through two minutes of end credits." And I'm sitting there and I look at Matt, he looks at me, and we just shrugged our shoulders and started finding stuff and putting it together. And by the time we were done, Matt and I looked around our monitors and everyone was on the floor just laughing at the sounds we were throwing at them. It was one of the funniest moments I've ever had in sound. When you look over and everyone, I mean literally everyone, was buckled over just spitting and crying and laughing. It was so funny. PL: I know a lot of sound designers record live sounds. RD: Yeah, I got my recorder right over here. Above: Rickley W. Dumm poses after winning the Primetime Emmy (2019) for Outstanding Sound Editing for a Comedy or Drama Series (Half-Hour) for the "ronny/lily" episode of Barry. Photo by Tracie Costabile