Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1434375
50 W I N T E R 2 0 2 2 I C A S Q U A R T E R L Y b y C A S A s s o c i a t e m e m b e r S a m C a s a s Every mix we finish is a snapshot of a moment in our careers. As time goes on, not only do technology and practices change, but we change as well. I was rewatching the movie Swingers the other night, and I love how that movie instantly took me back to my college years and memories of my early days living in Los Angeles. I make it a point to watch the credits on everything I view, and to my surprise, a familiar name popped up next to the re-recording mixer credit—Larry Benjamin CAS. Today, Larry mixes hit shows such as Ozark, Better Call Saul, and The Nevers, to name a few. I was curious. What were circumstances like for other mixers in the early days of their careers? What lessons could be learned from revisiting an old mix? How has the job of mixing evolved over the years and, perhaps more importantly, how have they evolved with it? I had the good fortune to interview Larry Benjamin, and two other very successful CAS members, Tom Fleischman CAS and David Fluhr CAS. Each offered a wealth of knowledge, and I am glad to share some of their stories from the early days to today. The Early Days Larry Benjamin began his career at Pacific Sound Services, a Division of Laser Pacific, as a sweetening mixer. "Back then, everything was a one-person job. You were kind of the Swiss Army knife of mixers. You would record a little bit of voice over, record a little bit of Foley, and then cut sound effects from a library." It was his colleague Ross Davis that plucked him from the sweetening world into the world of episodic television and three-person dub stage style mixing. Starting off mixing music and Foley, Larry was able to change positions as others moved on, eventually landing in the dialogue chair. He has worked at almost every great facility on the West Coast, and is currently working at Signature Post in Burbank mixing Ozark, and recently wrapped a new show for Apple TV+ called The Shrink Next Door at Formosa Group. Tom Fleischman, who was the CAS Career Achievement recipient in 2020, almost seems as if he was born a mixer. I asked Tom about his very first mix and here's what he had to say. "It was about 1970 at a place called Image Sound. It was a little industrial film. It was all analog, no automation, all PEC/Direct, you know—listen and match. But I got through it, and I figured it out." Tom's career really began to take trajectory when he began working in the transfer room at Trans Audio with famed re-recording Dick Vorisek. While running off long M&E transfers of shows like Bonanza, Dick would let Tom sit in the back of his room. "I got a lot of experience just sitting in the back of the room, watching how the room worked." Trans Audio then began servicing the local film schools and Tom really got to cut his teeth mixing graduate student films on Saturdays and Sundays at his regular transfer rate. "It was amazing, great training." In 1981, after selling his Volkswagen van, David Fluhr came to L.A. with his suitcase and a thousand bucks. He did have a few leads, and landed a job at Compact Video as a runner. "In addition to getting people their coffee and cleaning the ¼-inch machines, I spent a lot of time learning and watching. I was able to sit in on big sessions and small sessions." Then, Tex "Rudolph" (re-recording mixer Gregg Rudloff's famous dad) hired David on his first union gig doing optical transfers in the film sound department where John Reitz was mixing. "I was seeing the shows come in and then seeing the shows when they went out and I was like 'Wow! This is what happened!' I How Has Your Mixing Evolved?