Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1487666
different. So, I know that there sometimes needs to be a little bit of touch-up EQ. I don't mind that if it's done carefully and judiciously. I do the best I can, and I try to mix in spaces that are representative [of the dub stage], but I understand that they can sound different. The second thing, of course, is dramatic content, and sometimes the EQ or rebalance needs to happen because of dramatic content. Sometimes I print reverb separately. Sometimes I'll stem things out differently when I know that there's a certain amount of material in an action sequence, or a chase, or a dialogue sequence. Things might need to be controllable a little bit more or differently in order to make the music survive a sequence. I'm understanding and I do account for the fact that a good re-recording mixer might judiciously do some EQ. Do you still ever do "live" mixes (recording the mix direct to a mixdown without remixing anything after the session)? Or is it always multitracked and then mixed down? We do live mixes frequently. I don't work on a lot of TV shows, but I worked on a TV show called The Orville for the past couple of seasons. Fantastic show! I'm amazed. This season, every episode was like a feature film! The visual effects were great, and the orchestra sounds fantastic! And those are pretty much live mixes. Those are about 95% live mixes. It's the energy you get on a live mix and the performance, knowing that you're not likely to go back and remix everything. It gives it a different texture and quality that I think is very attractive. Plus, we had great composers (John Debney, Joel McNeely, Andrew Cottee, and Kevin Kaska). We had a producer (Seth MacFarlane) who was super supportive and loves music and was always very helpful and made sure in the dubs that the orchestra was heard. We had a sound supervisor (Jon Greasley), music editor (Stan Jones), and re-recording mixer (Tom Ozanich), who were really good and cooperative. Everything about that show was very attractive. The orchestra was live-mixed most of the time. Now, having said that, a lot of other feature projects are multitracked. But a lot of the John Williams projects I've worked on have been live mixes. I was actually very impressed with The Orville for being able to adhere to Hulu's specs, yet it still sounds fantastic! Yes, I think Jon [Greasley], who is our effects mixer and essentially supervises the dubs, was very careful in terms of trying to stick with the specs, and I think he did a great job. I like the fact that the streamers don't follow the formula all the time, and that some of those episodes were more than an hour and a half, which gave the opportunity for a three-minute music montage, which rarely would happen on broadcast TV. Is it recorded at Fox? Yes. It was with large orchestras and, depending on the episode, anywhere from 75 players to 95 players. That's a lot of players for a TV show! Thank God Seth still loves orchestral music! If it weren't for him, there wouldn't be much live music on TV. He's a huge fan, and I really respect the fact that he's willing to promote it and make sure it happens.