Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1434375
C A S Q U A R T E R L Y I W I N T E R 2 0 2 2 63 Which is a double-edged sword. Yeah, it's great because you have all of the flexibility [that this separation gives you. Because the sections are recorded separately, they are not bleeding into each other's microphones, which can help with editing and arrangement choices after the fact.] Filmmakers love that because they are able to do their own thing, but there is also the other side of that coin. You know, there is a magic in the room when everyone there is making music together. And with the separation of players, you lose some of that band cohesion, that self-blending that a good orchestral performance will naturally provide. Yeah! In some senses, it makes my job harder when everything is recorded separately. Because if you are doing it right, in my opinion, then you are capturing the room. And if the whole band is in the room, they are doing the balances, basically mixing themselves! Like with Frozen II, we recorded most of that with everyone together. To the dub stage we sent a single 7.1 of the orchestra and one of the choir. Maybe there were a few solo instruments here and there but, by and large, it was two 8-track stems that went into the movie. Additionally, I had composers in there with me, the filmmakers are in the room, too, and that's the point on Frozen II where we were making those [music editorial and arrangement] decisions. And, it takes a lot to make those decisions on the spot because on the dub there will be less flexibility for the mixers. But if the filmmakers are already happy, they're happy! Exactly. You know, in the case of working on Terence and Spike (composer Terence Blanchard and director Spike Lee) movies, it is generally all live! With Spike, one of the most amazing things is, early on, he and Terence sit at a piano and work out some themes for a film. And then, pretty much the first time Spike is seeing music to picture is on the scoring stage! And that makes it a super exciting process for me, because Terence is out on the podium, Spike is sitting next to me at the console, and we're … making the movie right then and there! Which is the old-school method, right? Yeah! It's very old school. And what I realized after the first one I did with them is that I'm getting so many cues live, in the moment, that I'm having a hard time beating my live mixes later on. [Because on the scoring stage], Composer Sherri Chung Spike is talking to me in one ear, I'm looking at picture and Terence is giving me cues from out on the stand. You know, I go back to finesse them a little bit, but what's being captured in the room at that moment is amazing. For BlacKkKlansman and Da 5 Bloods, a big percentage of the mixes that made it into the film are my live mixes. Is that a function of not having any pre- recorded music mocked-up and therefore, no "temp love"? Yes! That's one of the biggest parts of it because, to go back to your original question, by the time I'm involved and working, the producers, directors, and filmmakers have all heard demos. They have become more than accustomed to whatever that is. Right, so when we go in and replace mocked-up (synthetic) orchestrations with live performances, there is always the concern that now it's going to feel different or sound different. A lot of the time, I'm playing a game where I'm thinking, "How do I make this feel like the demo, but better?" And in the case of Terence and Spike, I don't have that to compete against. So, in a sense, it is a little more freeing.