Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1383074
process. Our engineer, Avi Laniado, helped keep all the technical issues fine." ROBERTO FERNANDEZ: Re-recording Mixer Roberto started working in audio as a DJ and slowly moved into mixing music and then post-production in New York. He was brought aboard Hamilton by Tony Volante, who did the theatrical mix of the film. They both work at Harbor Sound in NYC. "Tony was involved in the project over a year before I came on board." The decision to mix a final version happened in February, although Disney at that point did not have a release date. The goal was to create an Atmos mix for a theatrical release. When the pandemic hit, the goal changed. It was to be released in July, so suddenly there was a real rush to complete it. In addition to creating the Atmos mix, Roberto was charged with creating a near-field mix for the streaming environment, as well as downmixes. He had about five weeks to complete the mixes. He spent the first week working alone, and then started getting feedback from the clients. It was mixed in Pro Tools using faders and an Xkey controller. "The Atmos miking was great; there were numerous stereo pairs around the theater during the performance. Occasionally, I added a little bit of reverb to fill out the speakers." Roberto used three 9-channel beds and created a 7.2.4 mix, as well as a 5.1 downmix and a stereo version. Clients were never in the room with him when he mixed due to the lockdown. Picture editor Jonah Moran would monitor in his 5.1 setup for notes. Eventually, the 7.1 and Atmos mixes were sent to Disney for approval by upload to a secure server. Lin-Manuel Miranda was included at this stage, resulting in Roberto getting texts at 2 a.m. from Lin asking, "What's the password?" Roberto added that the notes were all great, particularly from musical director Alex Lacamoire, who "has the most amazing ears!" according to Roberto. Asked about plugins, Roberto said that he used Altiverb, ReVibe, and PhoenixVerb, using mostly stereo pairs for the Atmos tracks. He also used some multiband compression, but did not use any spatialization plugins. Roberto thanks "Tony Volante, of course, who did the mix first, and Dave Patterson, who did some editorial fixes working at home." Closing out the interview, Roberto added this funny reveal, "Oh, and by the way, I had never seen the show when I was hired to work on it!"