CAS Quarterly

C A S Q U A R T E R L Y I S U M M E R 2 0 2 1 41 The good off-axis response of these retrofitted vintage mics gives a sense of spatiality and realism during her movements on stage." In this particular episode, Midge is the opening act for a fictional crooner, Shy Baldwin, at the Apollo Theater. Matt related, "It was challenging because they wanted the band live. Amy Sherman-Palladino said, 'We're in the Apollo, it should sound like the Apollo!!' You know we don't want to record in a studio and have to [fake the ambience of the space]. It was very challenging. We started out with a set of tap dancers, and the camera crane was behind these two kids tapping with the crowd behind them. To do this, they needed to put the base of the crane in center back of the stage where the drummer was. So, they put the drummer off to the side, and it threw the rhythm off for the band. So, the band's performance wasn't as tight as it could have been, and the band was loud! We had put PZM mics across the front of the stage to pick up the tap dancers, but it kind of got overwhelmed. In hindsight, I might have tried to find a way to mic each shoe! But you know, you live and you learn. So, eventually they got the tap dancers great, and we turned the camera around, the band was tight, but the tap dancers were a little off. I think they ended up recording Foley for all of that tap dancing anyway, and I'm sure they made use of it!" GEORGE LARA CAS: Foley Mixer I thought that story set up a nice segue into chatting with George Lara CAS, the show's Foley mixer. He's been active for more than 20 years, first at Sound One and then at C5 Sound in Manhattan as a Foley mixer. George tells me his approach to the Clockwise from top left: Mathew Price CAS, Ron Bochar CAS, and George A. Lara CAS show takes about three days per episode. After his Foley editor has spotted the show, they sit down and screen it, and then go straight into recording a full episode cloth or "rustle" track. On day two, they address all the footsteps in various passes depending on the footwear and the floor surface. Day three consists of hitting all the called-for props cues. Since the show tends to have long uncut shots with enormous frenetic action, how do you keep from over-covering the show with footsteps? Well, in the big musical moments in the show [for example], where people are singing or there is a lot of score, we tend not to cover a lot of material there. We tend to focus on the more important things that are able to carry the scene. So, if there is a scene in a train station or in a store where people are walking in the background, we try not to cover them. We try to do all the passers-by who are crossing in front of the camera and in front of the character instead of doing everyone all around. And that leads me back to the big scene shot in the Apollo Theater with its tap dancing bit. I'm told that you guys had a major hand in making that audio work for the scene. When that happens, we get the production track and [my Foley walker] Marko Costanzo will throw on his cans and listen to the music or whatever is happening and perform it to help out the scene. That's if we have to replace it. [I do remember that] we did the main tap dancing, but then after, they would be able to use other means to get that happening, like the effects sweeteners.

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