Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1277927
44 S U M M E R 2 0 2 0 I C A S Q U A R T E R L Y the house sound mix or broadcast mix. But the real balancing act is that if the artist is not comfortable, can't hear pitch or time, or generally not feeling confident, the performance will suffer. A poor performance means the house sound mix will suffer. Both those factors mean the audience won't connect to the performance and their reaction will suffer, compounding the artist's confidence. All this then piles on the broadcast production mixer who would end up getting unwanted sound interference from both the stage and house, a poor performance from the artist, and no energy in the room. It's a domino effect that mixers like Mike and Tom don't let happen. For the orchestra monitors, Tom Pesa has the job of supplying mixes to the 45-piece live orchestra and the musical director, most recently, Rickey Minor. Mixing monitors for a large orchestra is a slightly different animal than for a band, and not just that there are 45 of them in this case. Tom, like Mike, has to ensure that everyone in the orchestra can comfortably hear timing, pitch, and potential cues or click tracks. Tom gets sub- mixes from Tommy Vicari's music truck, as does Mike. He also has to take elements from the stage performances, both singers and instruments, some of which may come as sub-mixes from the artist mix truck (more about that later). Unlike the stage monitors, for the orchestra, Tom gives each member a single in-ear monitor. This allows them to hear the other elements in a performance while still feeling connected to the orchestra as a whole. He also gives the section leads (strings, horns, etc.) a small sub-mixer that they can use to blend certain sub-mix elements to the players in that section. Musical director Rickey Minor gets a full mix of the orchestra and any stage performance elements. Here again, Tom's job is to make sure the orchestra can hear timing and rhythm as they get their visual cues from Rickey Minor. There are occasionally some track elements in the Oscars audio presentation, though the vast majority of the music is live. When the orchestra has to play alone with track elements or a video like the In Memoriam, Tom also has to supply the click track in the mix for timing. Perhaps the most sensitive and crucial part of Mike's work is when the orchestra performs with an artist on the stage. That's where Tom and Mike's mixes have to work seamlessly together so that the artist on stage and the orchestra in the pit feel connected. Musical director Rickey Minor noted how quickly these guys put these mixes together: "We start rehearsal of a section of the show and nine times out of 10, the mix is there, right out the gate. I've worked with these guys a lot, in some cases for over 30 years, not only on Oscars, but the Grammys, Super Bowl halftime, and others. These guys are the best in the business." Oscars FOH mixer Patrick Baltzell CAS (foreground). Photo by Brian Bowen Smith