MPSE Wavelength

68 I M PS E . O R G found it has too great a visual thing. I found myself tending to see more, rather than listening to the sound, so that's the reason I still use Digidesign EQ. For reverb, I like Phoenix Surround, Valhalla, and of course, D-Verb. I still use D-Verb. In certain locations it works well. I'm probably the only one who still uses D-Verb. I don't use a lot of plug-ins, but basic things still work for me. EM: When you're working on a documentary and you have footage of someone in an interview, and then it cuts to b-roll during their dialogue, what's your typical approach to covering that? How much detail do you cut for backgrounds, Foley, etc., for that b-roll? SRC: I try to cover most. It's the same way that I do with narrative films. Many times the documentary filmmaker, not American documentaries, but international documentary filmmakers, are reluctant to use Foley or Sound Effects for their films. It's a purist approach to it. It's an old notion from the old days, like Andre Bazin. I think they are neglecting the apparatus they're using in the documentary is also defective. Your mic is touching someone's chest, which doesn't reflect the reality of what's happening unless you're telling a story about chest hair movement of the subject, so you have to believe only a part of what you are experiencing. On the set, you can trust the filmmaker, but not the camera or microphone. You think about the time spent in the expensive dub stage trying to fix the frequency reaction of a super cardioid mic— that's probably the most time I've spent in the documentary work. We're trying to fix that defect of the apparatus. But for B-roll under interview dialogue, I try to cover most of it. Sometimes I mute it in the mix for certain circumstances, but I try to prepare most of the details. That's how you make your arguments stronger in the film. EM: When it comes to a documentary, there are sometimes challenges when cutting between scenes, and keeping sounds consistent and in the same world. Have you picked up any tricks when it comes to crossfading sounds across scenes to not call too much attention to the change? SRC: Ah, I'm actually on the opposite end of that. I try to hard cut as much as I can. I think smooth cuts, smooth transitions, kind of reduce the energy coming out from the cut itself. I believe the cut is what keeps your story moving forward, so when you crossfade or are smoothing too

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