Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1469840
26 S U M M E R 2 0 2 2 I C A S Q U A R T E R L Y the treatment for the dialogues and then bringing them into the songs helped to craft the mix, according to David. David used reverb to fit all dialogue in the space, but was careful not to make it evident. Thus, sometimes he would use a mono reverb following the characters around, each character with its own object. Wider reverbs would be used for larger and specific places like Isabella's room, with front and back reverbs with some elevation to give sonic interest and depth to those spaces. Gabriel Guy CAS was involved in the dialogue recordings for the domestic versions, in house and remotely (in Los Angeles, New York, London, Atlanta, Bogota, Boston, Orlando, Nashville, Santa Barbara, and Vancouver). He supervised the process with remote studios, from choosing equipment, studio layout, running tests, and setting standardized workflows. Every aspect, like microphones, preamps, and acoustics are critical to meet the high standard of quality control. It is about protecting the kind of quality that goes into the Disney brand. Working closely with Gabriel, the original dialogue mixer on Encanto was Paul McGrath CAS. Paul McGrath CAS: Original Dialogue Mixer When Paul got out of school, he started working at one of the premier voice studios in town (L.A. Studios). He worked on a lot of different projects and films. Disney, one of their clients, was looking for somebody to work with them internally, and Paul seemed to be the perfect candidate to take the job. Although he wasn't planning to leave, the opportunity arose and he took it. He began working mainly on franchise animated films for Disneytoon Studios, specializing in recording dialogue and music vocals and having the opportunity to work with Disney's affiliated companies like Disney Animation Studios and Pixar. His stage is at Disney's Sonora Studios and his specialty is character voice recording for animation and ADR. Paul shares, "Disney is my 'casita,' it's my home. Working with this incredible team, cast, production management, and crew is a great experience. We care about sound quality, the story, equipment, and performance." For this film, home recordings were avoided and talent eventually came into the studio for all sessions, which was a challenge they faced after the COVID outbreak a year earlier. In terms of equipment at the studio, Paul used a Brauner VM1 tube microphone with Avalon preamps. As for the studio layout, there were two booths, so the talent, the director, and the dialogue mixer could each have independent rooms; following all the health protocols in a comfortable environment for all involved to get the best takes in performance and sound. "Everything has to be recorded as best as possible, so then the character can be placed anywhere and it can be processed as needed [such as underwater, off-screen, etc.], which becomes important for animation due to the nature of the process." Paul worked on Encanto from the ground up. He uses a Gabriel and David said they had a great degree of freedom while working on Encanto. Listening to the director's sensibilities and being involved throughout the process allowed them to contribute to the film. The sense- memory that directors had from their trip to Colombia was conveyed by the entire team of sound design, sound editing, music, and Foley. For example, the shoes or sandals used by many characters, which are not conventional shoes as they don't have rubber soles, are called alpargatas and are made from fique—a natural fiber used for rope—so sound had to be truthful to these elements for authenticity. They work to make movies robust, to fulfill the expectation that the audience has for Disney movies; making them interesting, dynamic, and with emotion within the envelope of the Disney brand, and at the same time, making each film unique. It was all about the right amount of each sound. Sometimes during the fantasy and flashback moments, they approached it with subtle presentation of the sonic elements in a more surrealistic style. For instance, in the scene after the house collapses and Mirabel runs away, the environment is very rich, but when she gets to the river and the "Two Oruguitas" song begins, it starts as an intimate moment. The performance of the music then kicks in to drive the emotion and, subsequently with the butterflies, the atmosphere blossoms again. It was a constant process of removing elements and bringing them back that gives sound and story a place to go within the scenes. "Sometimes mixing is about taking stuff out, not just piling sound elements," they add. Dialogue is a key element in audiovisual storytelling, and having the dialogue consistent with the singing vocals in Encanto was a challenge for them. They had 12 main characters who had to transition smoothly from dialogue to singing and vice versa. Tools like different microphone options, transitioning reverbs, and starting the songs with Re-recording mixer Gabriel Guy CAS