Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1335892
58 I M PS E . O R G DIAGNOSIS The big question was, what exactly is it that makes something sound 'old'? We all know it when we hear it, but what are the hallmarks of that old movie sound? There are several aspects; most based on the effects of technology. Today, we have digital sound technology which allows for full spectrum sound quality coming from multiple speakers all around the audience. But in the 1930s, it was much less sophisticated; it was a single monaural soundtrack playing from a single speaker. This monaural soundtrack was an analog 'optical' sound image (a visible squiggly line living on the edge of the 35mm film print next to the image). This 'optical' soundtrack could reproduce the soundtrack, but with vastly inferior sound quality to what we have today, with less dynamics—and a very limited frequency range. When music played loudly, it could only play to a certain level, and when it played softly, it would be buried in the hiss and noise of this squiggly optical line. Although an incredible innovation at the time, the early iterations of optical sound were quite primitive, and only years later (with advancements such as Dolby Noise Reduction) would the quality improve. Another hallmark to the 'old movie sound' was the texture and quality of the dialogue. We noticed that there was often an odd quality to the performances with a louder than normal projected delivery (as if on stage), as well as a slight affectation. It was something between a Vaudeville and thespian accent. Fincher was well ahead on this front—and as the dailies came, it was wonderful to see and hear this quality in the performances he was getting from his actors. The only actor who would not always speak with louder than normal protection was Gary Oldman (who played Mank). This would later prove to be a challenge at times, in getting some of his quieter lines to speak through the Patina process. Lastly, in addition to the old mono Patina sound Fincher desired, he also wanted to create another sound on top of the Patina: the sound of the movie theater itself. Fincher realized that part of the experience of watching films from this era was that they were played in large venues that would seat as many as 2,000 people. These old venues were different from theaters of today in that they had hard walls, floors, and ceilings all of which added to a cavernous echo-like sound. Modern movie theatres of today are designed with soft walls to absorb and eliminate echo. Fincher wanted his soundtrack to feel like he was seated in a large room such that the mono sound would come from the screen, bounce off the wall behind him, and create this feeling of an acoustic space. METHODOLOGY David has referred to the Patina process we arrived at as splitting the atom in terms of its challenges. All along, we had planned to add the Patina after we had done a pristine mix, because we knew how important it would be to work in the most high fidelity possible. We wanted to know the quality of what we had, and if what we had was the best it could be, rather than guessing the shroud of the Patina. We wanted to work the soundtrack as we normally do—striving for the best fidelity. We wanted to work in our normal mode so that we could make the creative choices that needed to be made, and also such that we wouldn't suffer from ear fatigue. We realized that we first needed to degrade the sound at Photos courtesy of Netflix Amanda Seyfried as Marion Davies, Gary Oldman as Herman Mankiewicz, and Jamie McShane as Shelly Metcalf.