Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1469840
C A S Q U A R T E R L Y I S U M M E R 2 0 2 2 31 from recording music. Since then, he has been working in Foley for more than 25 years in different studios as an editor and as a mixer. The latter being his current role at Skywalker since 2016. His experience as a former editor helps him understand the possibilities within the Foley stage. One particularity is that Scott tends not to watch how the Foley is performed. He believes that if he is convinced of the sound, it probably works for the film. He prefers not to be biased by knowing the prop or element used to make specific sounds that could otherwise be clouding the judgment. Before they began recording Foley for Encanto, Scott watched the film to get a sense of what they wanted and how it would be approached, receiving guidance from supervising sound editor Shannon Mills and Foley editor Alyssa Nevarez, who would cue the Foley session. Then, Scott and the Foley artists, John and Shelley, had around three weeks to record it. There is a sequence in the film inside Bruno's room when Mirabel discovered the vision in which sand became a prominent sound. According to Gabriel, a combination of Foley and SFX was required to create this element. Scott recalls that it was a challenging sound to record to avoid phase artifacts, to have the right perspective, and the right signal to noise, as minor movements in mic position made a huge difference. He also helped with pitch shifting to allow for layers to work together. Part of it was covered in the Foley process to help with the movement and nuances by recording hands, knees, and touches first, and then overall movements in order to layer and cover the sand thoroughly. Another sound that had a particular request was Luisa's walking. Her footsteps needed to feel heavy, so in order to achieve this, Scott took a copy of the footstep signal, pitch- shifted it, sent it to the sub-synth filtered at specific low frequencies, and then mixed it with the original sound into a single signal. A sound that Scott recalls spending a good amount of time while recording and layering was the glass of Bruno's vision, the broken pieces. He usually performs a rough edit while recording to make sure the sound works and to identify if anything needs additional recordings. Since sounds in isolation behave differently than sounds mixed in context, he then checks that the selected takes fit in the film and that everything is covered appropriately by playing back against the temp FX, ambiences, music, and dialogue. He even records some elements such as jewelry or keys against temp reference tracks for better judgment. Another important element for authenticity is the cast. Because the cast was international, they could use some voices internationally as well. David Fluhr CAS mixed the domestic version and also supervised the international releases. After finishing the mix at Skywalker, he flew to Shepperton Studios in England to supervise the international versions. He would have a workflow where all the vocals, dialogue automation, and track layout had to be consistent with the domestic session. All the treatments for vocals were shared so all processing matched the domestic version, allowing all territories the ability to see and listen to the film as close as possible as the filmmakers originally intended. In order to achieve this, David takes constant notes. He writes notes on performance elements and takes changes, sending editors and the foreign versions department updates so they can be as consistent as possible with the domestic version that David and Gabriel mixed. Directors in every territory take a great amount of care to adapt the dialogues and keep performance and sound consistent. David's presence in the process allows other mixers to be on the same page in terms of concept, goals, and processes. While he was in Shepperton supervising foreign versions on more than eight stages running simultaneously with identical setups, Gabriel worked on the near-field mix. Congratulations to the sound team for their work on the film. Thank you David E. Fluhr CAS, Gabriel Guy CAS, Paul McGrath CAS, Doc Kane CAS, David Boucher CAS, Alvin Wee, and Scott Curtis for taking us through the journey and magic of Encanto with its alluring experience and captivating sound.