Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1487730
M OT I O N P I CTU R E S O U N D E D I TO R S I 63 perform. So I found if you move your Foley up, two to four frames, it'll be in better sync. We're very forgiving on late, but you cannot forgive early. You can see things you're looking at that's out of sync and you don't know why, but if it's a little bit late, it's okay. Life is two frames late. Are you recording into Pro Tools? BH: We actually work in Nuendo, which is just another tool, but it has some really nice features. We use for our cueing system. It has a really great cueing system with streamers that come together, which we started using a couple years ago which really helps Katie lock in on when things are starting. Especially with props, you can really hit that sync. And there are a few things in there that we use when we're spotting. KW: It's called the ADR panel, Nuendo's ADR panel. It was actually designed for recording ADR. But you can make different categories. They call them attributes. We have it organized for a prop category, a footstep category, and move cues. And you can break it down by shoe type, surface type, prop type and all that, and when you make a cue, you can put it at the exact timecode that you want, and you just select that for the recording and the streamer starts for that and it names your recording clip based on the information that you put in the ADR panel. SSS: Can you create a Pro Tools session from a Nuendo recording? BH: You can if you want to but because we have the whole team in place and everyone's working in Nuendo, we don't have to do that too often, simply just because the work is all staying in house. It moves from the Foley room to the edit room to the mix stage so we don't really have to do that. But yes, you can export Pro Tools sessions if you need to. SSS: Are you recording Foley in Nuendo, and then editing a new window and delivering it to the dub stage in Nuendo? BH: Correct. SSS: Got it. So the rest of your editorial, are you Pro Tools at all or is it all exclusively Nuendo? BH: It's all Nuendo, but we have Pro Tools. KW: If someone asks to deliver in Pro Tools, we can. BH: We work with a lot of outside composers. We do have our staff composer, but if outside composers are working on something, a lot of times they'll deliver in Pro Tools, and then we have to convert it and move it over. But we have Pro Tools, we work with it all the time. We have a lot of projects, especially on the video game side that needs to stay inside of Pro Tools. So it's not something that we're not using, it's just not our go-to. SSS: Very interesting, very cool. In Los Angeles, we're exclusively Pro Tools across the board. BH: It's something we bump into every now and again. But we've managed to be all right with it. It is a little challenging when bringing on contractors or freelancers because it's not as prevalent as Pro Tools is. On the gaming side, it's all over the map. In gaming, they use Pro Tools, they use Logic, they use Reaper, they use Nuendo, they use all of them. So when we're working there, we don't run into that exclusivity as much as we do on the film side of things. SSS: Katie ... Little Miss Foley artist queen. Where is your crown? KW: I don't have one, but I have an Xbox controller. (She places it on her head.) SSS: Perfect! In your performance, do you create a personality for each character in your footsteps? KW: Oh, yes. I follow the actor on screen and the decisions that they made. I have to study the character based on what the actor did, and then I will recreate that in my performance, and how they respond to certain situations. SSS: It's hard. It isn't see a step, record a step. It's all about the character and the personality of those footsteps. KW: It IS hard. And the personality is the motive. What is the intent of the step and what they're saying to what they're reacting to? A lot of times I might do a take and then decide, oh, no, I didn't like how that sounded because of the last step. The step doesn't say what their face is saying or what the dialogue was. I've watched the movie and I know what the conversation is, so this last step needs to have more of a scuff or stomp. I'm definitely harder on myself on first takes when I'm trying to really get whatever they are trying to say with their feet. I might say let's do it again because I want it to end differently or I want this beginning to be faster. SSS: Bryen, when you record Foley footsteps, are you recording over the original cue, or do you record multiple channels for the same cue? BH: I'll record it and if I don't like it, I'll say we have to do this again. What typically happens is, I'll record something that's pretty good, and I can gauge how much editing that's going to have to be done to something. If it's spot on, then the way the session lays out, I'll have eight or 10 footstep channels, and I'll drag that one down to those. Then I'll say to Katie, let's get in one more to see if you can top yourself, and then I'll have her do it again. The first couple might be for mic placement or for timing, or for whatever unless she gets it right away. This happens often, she'll do it and it's natural, and it sounds great. And then I'll just have her try it again, just to see if maybe she's got an even better one. SSS: Do you keep both of those performances? BH: Yes, I'll keep them and then I'll decide later. But a lot of times with the budgets and the time that we have, we have to keep moving. So if I like one, that's the one I'll pull down. Or, I'll keep both and later on I'll combo them. SSS: So you're editing while you're recording, you'll actually take a cue and cut it up after you've recorded it? BH: Sometimes. If someone moves from, say, a wood floor to carpet, and then back, I'll do a quick edit on those just to make my life easier later on when I do an actual real edit, but I can quickly combo those out on the fly and then keep moving.