Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1401019
doing it for Encanto, our next fi lm. And David Fluhr, who did all those fi lms, and then some! When it came to Season 1, there was a lot of work Shannon and David did, but it was very often with existing sound—or perhaps slightly amplifying some existing sound. In Season 2, we really decided—and held hands-on the idea—of going all the way back to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. And to be able to really explore Shannon creating more sound design for these moments—including some iconic moments that don't have sound design elements, like Cinderella's very famous dress transformation. And from a "purist's" perspective, to have Shannon envision that—it felt right. And to have David Fluhr's artist touch on that felt right. So we really did play a little more in Season 2. And what I think is especially cool is we did have access to Jimmy Macdonald's library. That library over the years has been digitized by Berenice Robinson and her post team. And Shannon utilized many sounds from that library. I felt that that added an authenticity and respect to the work as well. SL: When I worked on Beauty and the Beast, I had the thrill of going through Jimmy Macdonald's sound library. One moment that is in Zenimation that I'm very proud of is the very fi rst shot in Beauty and the Beast, of the castle—where the birds fl y by. Those are Jimmy's birds, that he performed for Cinderella. All of the background birds are real birds—but anytime you see a bird go by, it's one of Jimmy's performances, from the library. And you used it in Season 1 of Zenimation. Shannon, I noticed that in a few clips from Sleeping Beauty, it seemed to me you added a little more enchantment, sound-wise, to those clips. I believe I heard a little more sparkle, a little more exotic birds … am I correct? SM: Yeah… We may have dressed it up a little. And another thing we tried to do, speaking to that, was for backgrounds, for some of the older stuff , we tried to add a few backgrounds to help it blend more seamlessly when you're transitioning from a newer fi lm to an older fi lm. We tried to help that transition somewhat, which David (Fluhr) also helped with in the mixing of it. So, yeah, we were sort of adding backgrounds to sort of glue stuff together a little better. Because the objects for the show is relaxation. We don't want to jar anyone going from one clip to the other. DF: Which of course creates interesting challenges when you've got, as David (Bess) was mentioning earlier about thunder. And there's flying. And even water can be not very zen-ish if it's not played right. The fi rst season, I mixed at home here in 5.1, and two-track stereo. Then the second season, we were fi nally able to go back to the lot, so we did Home Atmos, 7.1, 5.1, stereo. I don't normally mix with headphones theatrically. But I found myself needing to do that, because that's where a lot of our audience was. Especially during the fi rst season. So helping the transitions… even the "DING!" that's at the front in the back of every episode—which is the kind of announcement of setting the tone—it's a bright bell! So, a little bit of control on that, and a big long reverb tail. And "It really was freeing to know I don't have to worry so much about how these sounds are going to mesh. I mean, obviously, I tried to keep that in mind a little bit, and defi nitely listening and paying attention to the sound." –David Bess Cinderella © Disney