Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1335892
50 I M PS E . O R G how we wanted the crowd reactions to ebb and fl ow, but ultimately abandoned the idea for lack of prep time. As predicted, the monitoring was terrible as we were slave to Zoom's prioritization algorithm in determining what came through our speakers when all 12 actors got going at the same time. Not knowing in the moment what is being captured was particularly frustrating, but Tina and her group exceeded all expectations when we got the hundreds of recordings back and painstakingly hand-sync'd all of them to picture. We ran the radio announcer through a vintage Nagra to take advantage of some tape saturation in pursuit of that vintage sound. The ringside group recordings—the shouts and taunts and reactions are played quite hot in the mix, along with the constant coaching from Cassius' corner, maintaining the sense of being with the boxers in the ring. The group reactions to each punch, block, miss, and to Cassius' dancing and taunting formed the foundation for creating the larger crowd sounds. Bryan used Sound Particles and Envy to scale up the original group recordings into a crowd of tens of thousands, all defi ned and separated into different pre-dub groups for ease of mixing by size and distance from the action. I had Eli Goree perform both fi ghts when he came in for ADR. He danced and boxed his way around the ADR stage—two takes nudged forward by six frames and I had everything I needed for the fi ght efforts. All of his dialogue while boxing is also ADR. The Boston Ballroom Concert memory is one of my favorite moments in the fi lm, and is a perfect example of creating a sonic landscape completely from scratch. Beside Sam's vocal, everything in that scene is created in post. Regina and I developed a broad idea of how we wanted the scene to make us feel in our fi rst meeting. What Sam is able to accomplish in that scene is Exhibit A for Malcolm's entire rant as to why his friend needs to take his voice, his power more seriously with respect to the struggle for Black civil rights. It's an incredibly powerful moment that I'm particularly proud of. Sam takes the stage after a performance by Jackie Wilson and just as he begins to sing, the PA cuts out. The crowd quickly turns against him and descends into a nearly violent eruption. Malcolm is at the back of the hall witnessing all of this. He is recounting the memory back at the motel room—we intercut back-and- forth between the ballroom and the motel room, a delicate balancing act in the mix. Sam manages to