CAS Quarterly

28 S U M M E R 2 0 2 1 I C A S Q U A R T E R L Y MOTION PICTURE – ANIMATED Soul by DANIEL VASQUEZ VELEZ CAS Meet the Winners Soul is a film that highlights the importance of living in the present as the most precious moment. A reminder that life is happening now and sometimes the most subtle and overlooked things in life are the ones that keep us fresh, alive, and emotionally active. As the film's director Pete Docter described it, "This film started as a love letter to jazz, but we had no idea how much jazz would teach us about life." Joe is the main character in Soul. He's a middle school music teacher who is in love with jazz and is constantly looking for that opportunity, waiting for that special gig that will transform his life and make him a professional jazz musician. He discovers an "afterlife" and "beforelife" while trying to avoid the idea of dying, just when his life-changing opportunity is about to happen. He struggles to join his soul back to his body by trying to find the spark that would give 22, an unborn soul, the badge that Joe could use to return to earth. This wonderfully crafted story draws you into it and targets both kids and adults with profound thoughts in a fun way. Its extraordinary sound and music have made it meritorious of various awards and nominations, and the CAS Awards were no exception. I spoke with the award-winning sound team of Ren Klyce, David Parker, David Boucher CAS, Scott Curtis, Vince Caro CAS, Bobby Johanson CAS and Atticus Ross about their background and the process of making and mixing the sound of Soul. Sound Design and Mix Ren Klyce was Soul's sound designer, supervising sound editor (with Coya Elliott), and re-recording mixer (music and SFX), along with David Parker (re-recording mixer: dialogue and Foley). Ren considers David Parker his mentor, not only in the art, craft, and technique of mixing, but most importantly in the human aspect—in how to behave as a human being with other people. Ren was born in Japan and moved to California when he was a child. He has a remarkable career that includes working with top directors and having numerous nominations and awards for his work in sound. He remembers experimenting with sounds on tapes when he was a kid, which led him to study music at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Later, he got one of his first jobs working on a film produced by George Lucas (Twice Upon a Time), where he met a young David Fincher and became collaborators years later on Fincher's films. The first Pixar film Ren worked on was a short called Lava. Then he met Pete Docter while he was making Inside Out and became friends after that collaboration. Ren feels that "In the end, hopefully, it comes down to just people enjoying other people's company." The process of creating the sound of Soul was interrupted during premix due to the pandemic. Part of it had to continue at Ren's home studio and Nathan Nance, also a key member of the mixing team, did premixing at his home studio in Texas. Thanks to the engineers at Skywalker, they managed to go back to the dub stage by making some adjustments such as having a piece of plastic divide the console to maintain distance between the mixers, using infrared sanitation lights for console cleaning, and by applying strict protocols, they managed to finish it. David Parker mixed dialogue and Foley using the Neve DFC, while Ren mixed SFX and ambiences on the S6 and music on a Neve DFC. Being an animated film, there is no sound at the beginning. Once

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