Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1487666
30 W I N T E R 2 0 2 3 I C A S Q U A R T E R L Y situation is much different. Smaller crews, almost never having a UST, and often not even a boom op, the mixer has to wear all of the hats and cover all of the duties. Their challenges usually revolve around production providing near-zero information or opportunities to serve the client. Dave Schaaf CAS, Mike Sexton, and Robert LaRosa are all well-established and respected commercial/corporate PSM's and all share the same hurdle to capturing "good sound." Primarily, the difficulty of getting a production crew that will remain quiet, camera teams that regularly prohibit the boom from being able to work effectively, and horrid location choices are the monsters in the room. Jim Tanenbaum CAS sums it up this way: "Many producers don't want good sound—they want fast, cheap sound. My regular directors have to insist on good sound. Many young directors don't care about sound." In the narrative world, the single largest problem identified from PSM's is multi-cams shooting wide and tight with dissimilar headroom, terrible location choices, impossible shooting schedules, and the interminable, "We'll fix it in post." Interestingly, the solutions to kill these dragons run pretty wide. Usually it breaks down to cajoling production and crew into caring about sound as if it is an unpleasant medicine that must be swallowed. For the elite few, sound is a critical part of the project and from the very top down, the sound department gets treated as an artistic equal and not a frienemy. For the bulk of the rest of us, it is a daily grind to deliver something better than what production may deserve from their own poor choices. More than one mixer has admitted to (and I suspect many do this, but don't say it) cueing purposefully toward an offensive noise while rolling in order to get it killed for the next take. Because according to them, "Sometimes they won't listen to your words, but they will listen to their headsets." Other mixers rely on being as proactive as possible by opening dialogues with DP's, directors, and UPM's to advocate for sound-friendly shooting styles. When the schedule simply demands multiple cameras shooting competing angles, the solution is more boom ops. When wide and tight seems to be the right answer (we know it isn't), then the ask is for matching headroom. When the UPM is crying about the budget, then sometimes the conversation about how you are going to save them thousands of dollars in post is appropriate. Sometimes though, this argument fails because the chasm from shooting budget to post budget is too wide and some UPM's have a great skill to pass the buck down the line and let it be someone else's problem. Problem solving on set is a multi-layered task, and the human interaction is far more difficult than pushing faders. Michael Wynne CAS puts it into perspective well: "That would depend on the problem. Timing is everything and knowing when to let go. It's important you always respect the chain of command and are familiar with everyone's role, especially if you expect them to understand yours." Simon Hayes CAS Felipe Borrero CAS Dave Schaaf CAS Sara Glaser CAS