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 35 On top of that, our FX editor, Mark Glassman, goes through everything that he's sent and helps dial things in so that when we get it, I can just start playing it against music and dialogue and spend our time making it sound punchy and creative. There were a lot of modern gun sounds and rhythms that came through that reminded me of Lone Survivor; it was pretty intense. Sam: Yeah, keeping it going, keeping the intensity, but also handing off. Because there are a lot of moments where FX are very quickly handed off to music, and then music comes back into FX. We really tried to keep the energy up and that intensity going without turning everything into a mess of noise. That was the big dance and why we spent so much time on the sequence. Because the rest of the show, there's not that much going on in terms of complex sound-driven moments. Yeah, it seems to get back into trucks and talking after that. Sam: And sort of setting up, you know, where are we going with the story. There were also some very nice surreal bits, such as the point of view stuff with sound design and orchestral bits working really nicely together to give you that "inside the head" POV. Does that get delivered or is that somewhere where you say to yourselves, "Here is an opportunity to push this?" Diego: Yeah, the guide had some of that. Sam: And this is a show where the guide is a very good reference for what the filmmakers are looking for. They do spend a lot of time, even before the sound spot. For those sorts of moments, the guide is very good at letting us know here's the idea and then we push it farther and see what more we can get out of it. Diego: Even in other episodes, we have these dreamy flashback moments where we montage different layers of what is or was happening in different places, or different perspective and points of view from certain characters. So, we have that with Monica coming upon a scene where there had been some shooting and seeing a vision of what happened in her imagination that's not presented as real, but as her subjective interpretation of what she sees. Also in this episode, there is the flashback to the 1890's. Do you guys treat that differently when you do those family history flashbacks? Diego: I don't think we did. Sam: I think these are a way for us to establish the pre- industrial landscape. So there wasn't much difference. So, you're sort of just removing radios and trucks… Diego: Yeah, and no electronics or buzzes or generators. So, a lot more cleaning of production sound. There's very little ADR and a lot or RXing! Are they doing that before it gets to you? Diego: Some of it, and I take another pass when it becomes necessary. Chris Gomez, who cut this dialogue, cleans a lot, but is very cognizant of not going too far. So, whenever I feel I can go a little bit further without damage in the integrity of the lines, I do. Because it is easier when you have some FX to sink the dialogue into. Diego: Yeah! Even on my dialogue pass, I try not to de-noise too much. I try not to get it super clean. I wait until we do a pass together before I proceed with more. It looks like a lot of this is shot near an active highway. Diego: And we have been encountering some winds that when you hear them by themselves, they are perfectly fine, but in the mix, they too sound like a distant highway! Yeesh! Sam: You know, the producer on the show that we L-R: Re-recording mixers Diego Gat CAS and Sam Ejnes CAS. Photo: Alex J. Berliner