Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1277927
C A S Q U A R T E R L Y I S U M M E R 2 0 2 0 47 them out by over-rehearsing. It would be especially hard on the horn players." No matter how much pre-production work is done and plans and layouts drawn, it's the Oscars. There will always be the last- minute adds. "They added a choir to the performance," Tommy reflects hearing just as set up for a rehearsal starts. "We always find a way to make it work," he says. THE FINAL BROADCAST TRUCK The last stop is the final production mix truck, the NEP Denali Summit truck. The sound team is led by Paul Sandweiss, the head production mixer and audio director. For those who mix in a post-production environment, envision that while you're mixing, there is constant audio coming at you from multiple sources. The final production mixer for a live show will be constantly switching monitoring from stereo to 5.1, making sure that the two common consumer listening modes are translating well. But at the same time, have a speaker on one side listening to the director constantly calling cues, a speaker on the other side with A2's on stage or the music mix truck giving him updates or info on patch changes or readiness. And in the same tiny room, there's a Pro Tools playback mixer and an audio sweetening mixer plus truck engineering staff working and interreacting with you and each other. And all this is going on simultaneously and constantly for some three to four hours. And yet if you were to stand in the back of this tiny audio room in the broadcast truck, it feels calm and steady, everyone moving like a well-choreographed dance. For Paul Sandweiss, it's all in a day's work. For the Emmys, Paul has been the music mixer for many years. Paul really considers himself a music mixer at his core. For the Oscars, he sits in the lead chair mixing the final broadcast mix for the show. For Paul's mix, he gets discrete feeds of all the dialogue mics, podiums, lavs, handhelds, and voiceovers. He also takes discrete feeds of all the house mics for room tone and audience response. The music mixes from the music truck and Pro Tools playback mixer Pablo Munguia come in as stereo. Christian Schrader, the audience sweetening mixer, delivers Paul a 5.1 mix. Pre-recorded voiceovers and video packages come from the production truck playback servers, and may be 5.1 or stereo. As the audio director, Paul not only does the final mix, he oversees all aspects of the audio team with regards to the broadcast mix. For the Oscars, Paul will tell you he has the easiest job because all the people that feed him sub-mixes are so good at their jobs. Paul's main creative role, as any live TV production mixer will tell you, is to tie all the elements together in a seamless sound so it's all one cohesive mix. As Paul describes it, "Our job is to put you, the home viewer, in the fifth row center of the Dolby Theatre." Paul explains one of his biggest challenges is consistency. Having the variety of mics used on stage, and again the variety of types of voices from host to presenter pairing to winners. These are issues he shares with house mixer Patrick Baltzell. Unlike Patrick in the house, however, Paul doesn't just have to contend with the varying levels and tonality of the voices, he has to maintain consistent room tone. Regardless of his use of the room mics he has at his disposal, with the varying level he has to use for the different mics and voices, room tone is constantly changing. "Room tone is really important to the mix. I want to hear the room tone that represents the room for this show. That's what makes it a live event." As part of maintaining room consistency, the sweetening mixer helps to fill in the gaps in audience participation. Awards shows like the Oscars are quite long and maintaining consistent level of audience response is sometimes a challenge. Paul, like all production mixers, wants to use a minimum of sweetening and will only add what is essential for the home experience. Sweetening mixers like Christian Schrader and others who do this high level of shows have the subtle touch to both match the tone of the room and the moment, and at a level that would be only noticed in its absence. Going back to the orchestra pre-records mentioned earlier, Pro Tools playback mixer Pablo Munguia works behind Paul in the production mix room. A large part of what Pablo prepares for, hopefully, won't ever be used. That's the pre-record backups of every orchestra pre-recorded cue from Capitol Records. Pablo is the backup for any loss of signal feed from the music mix truck. He constantly tracks the show second by second so if at any point the music truck feed is lost, Paul and Patrick can seamlessly (or pretty damn close) fader-up Pablo's feed, keeping the show running without missing a beat. Pablo, however, does mix live throughout the show. Due to the live nature of awards shows and no one knowing who will win until the envelope is opened, Pablo plays all the winner's walk-up music that is specific to the winner's film. The walk-up music is the music recorded at Capitol Records with Rickey Minor and the Oscars orchestra. With an immediate need for the correct film score for each winner, it is very difficult for a 45-piece orchestra to be instantaneously on the correct page of music. The walk-off (or play-off) music goes back to the live orchestra, which allows Rickey Minor and the show director to play appropriate fade-ins, level, and tempo, especially when a speech goes too long! Paul points out that at the end of the day, "It's a team effort from everyone on the audio crew." Every mixer on the audio team Tommy Vicari CAS, Marc Repp, and Biff Dawes in the Oscars music truck.