Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1469840
48 S U M M E R 2 0 2 2 I C A S Q U A R T E R L Y You're a really busy series mixer. Can you give a quick daily rundown of a "typical" week since, I assume, you're working on multiple series at once? It seems that scheduling has become the biggest challenge these days as schedules are always pushing later. Some weeks, we can be working on a single show (one that has a five or more day mix schedule) and sometimes we can be working on several episodes of different shows. For example, recently we did playbacks of Cobra Kai Episode 506 on Monday, Episode 507 on Tuesday, then on Wednesday, Day 3 of premixing on Umbrella Academy Episode 310, Thursday was playback of Umbrella Academy Episode 310, and Friday was Cobra Kai Episode 508 playback. It can make for a hectic week, but we really enjoy working with such a great group of people. How did you become involved in Mare of Easttown? Pam Fitzgerald, a co-producer who we worked with on American Gods and Watchmen, brought us Mare. We are so grateful to be able to work with her; she's one of the best! It was through her we met (director) Craig Zobel and (creator/ writer) Brad Ingelsby and the rest is history. I remember when we started mixing Mare I was thinking to myself, "This show is so good!" This limited series has lots of characters and many locations. Can you share info on a challenging scene or location? First off, I'd like to give a big shout-out to our sound editorial team; sound supervisor Brad North, dialogue editor Tiffany Griffith, and FX editor Jordan Wilby. We were working on this show during the height of COVID when logistics were a huge challenge and they delivered great tracks for us to work with. The two main challenges of this show were to get the dialogue in good shape and, secondly, get the sound of Easttown correct. There were several challenging scenes due to locations. One that comes to mind is the scene under the bridge where Mare and Zabel are planning out their next moves. There was a ton of traffic noise coming from the bridge, as well as low dialogue (due to performance). Richard Bullock, Jr. did a great job of just getting us something to work with and Tiffany did a great job of cutting it. I did my best with iZotope and EQ to try and keep the noise floor down and at a steady state. Then Chris filled it in with the BG's and helped mask the angle changes. Everyone was happy we were able to get to a good place without looping the whole scene. When you're not in the studio, what do you like to do? Since I spend so much time indoors on the stage, I like to spend my time off outside. I enjoy hiking with my wife Cindy and our four dogs the most. I also enjoy mountain biking and paddleboarding when I get a chance. Any closing comments? I would like to say "Thank You!" to everyone who voted for us. It's an honor to be recognized by your peers and colleagues. Koyama, and Chris Carpenter. That is where I really learned how post-production works. In those days, very few people were using Pro Tools for mixing, but Andy was one of them. I was responsible for prepping his dialogue sessions and then I would go out on the stage to watch and listen to what he was doing (Recordists were still in the backroom in those days). I learned a lot from him back then and still do when I get a chance to watch him work. He has always helped me by passing along his knowledge whenever I have questions, and for that, I'm very grateful. Did you transition to the stage at that point? When it became apparent that Pro Tools was going to become the dominant force in dubbing, the Tascam systems were falling by the wayside and the backroom recordists were going to be scaled back to one-man operation, I moved into the newly formed restoration department at Blu Wave Universal. I worked in restoration for a little over a year using Sonic Solutions to clean up and restore many old Universal titles. In 2004, a position opened up in digital mastering and I transitioned to that department. I worked in mastering for six years where I would do client-supervised laybacks to D-5 and HD cam of TV shows, DVD mastering, and director commentary and foreign-language mixes of Universal titles. How did mixing your first series come about? In 2010, I was given the opportunity to mix the TV show House. I started midway through Season 6 when the producers wanted to start mixing in-house on the FOX Lot. I single-man-mixed House until the show ended in May of 2012.