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FILMMAKING www.postmagazine.com 29 POST JAN/FEB 2023 phone visible to the camera or making it sound like a bucket." Prasil says the team knew from the beginning that they wanted to do a lot of wild tracks. "We couldn't record them all ourselves, so we chose scenes from the shooting schedule where we would need an additional sound mixer," he recalls. Throughout the entire shoot, they recorded an enormous number of wild tracks with actors, stunts and extras. "We recorded fighting in the trenches or a hun- dred extras shouting and running at us on the battlefield or all the picture cars we had. We want- ed to deliver as much sound to post production as possible. We knew that some of it would have been difficult to record again or even not possible at all. It was over 40GBs of edited audio files in mono, stereo and five-channel. Some of them at 192kH/32dB. Plus, (director) Edward Berger has a huge passion for sound and he helped us a lot. He directed the extras, and even did the Foleys him- self. His contribution to the sound was huge." SOUND DESIGNER FRANK KRUSE According to sound designer Frank Kruse, work on All Quiet on the Western Front began with the script and research of the sounds of World War I. "Since this was the first real industrialized war, we want- ed to find a sound that would also represent the industrial 'war machine' that was manufacturing an endless stream of bombs, grenades and metal machinery while young soldiers were turned into 'expendable' killing machines," he recalls. Since mud, dirt, the wet and cold was omni- present at the front, the team wanted to employ metaphorical sound to heighten the moments of fear while staying away from synthetic sounds. "We recorded contact and protected regular mics being dragged though dirt and soil at high sample rates, which were then pitched down and turned into an extreme close-up sound," says Kruse. "It should feel as if your head would be pulled underground, with the earth rubbing against your eardrums. The recordings were turned into a surround layer and panned to cycle around the cin- ema as Atmos objects, as an element of stress and overwhelming confusion. You can hear this in the opening battle scene, when Heinrich the soldier is behind the tree stump and the background battle is blurred out." He also points to the recycling of the uniforms sequence in which an abstract throbbing and pounding is heard beneath the sound of the sew- ing machines. "We worked closely with the composer and picture editor to refine the timing of the images in order to create this transition, which we wanted to borderline between sound effects and music when over the close-up of the sewing machine. The sound of the needle turns into the sound of machine gun fire and that turns into the chain drive of the truck…I sent layouts to picture editorial as AAFs so our editor [could] move elements around easier in Media Composer." Another interesting sequence that was in- spired by their research involved the nighttime bunker collapse. "Since there are almost no actual recordings of that time, written letters from soldiers describing the sounds and terror at the front were of great help. The descriptions of grenades and explosions, down to the sounds of dying horses and de-com- posing bodies left between the fronts were so much more emotional than any scientifically-cor- rect sound would have been." In the nighttime scene, where Paul and Kropp are on guard, audiences hear an ambiences made from metal dangling in the wind and distant screams of horses that echo across the battlefield. "We prepped a lot of abstract reverb and echoes in sound editorial," Kruse explains. "The sequence has an extremely high dynamic range until the bunker collapses, but I have theatrical speakers in my studio (Meyer Sound Acheron series), which enable a high dynamic range without unwanted compression or distortion, so the whole track-lay translated very well to the mixing stage to give Lars (Ginzel) a good starting point. We usually have our version of EQ, compression, reverb and panning applied during editorial to give Lars a good starting point for object panning. We have worked together as a team many times, so there was a good workflow in place. We knew about each other's way of working." SOUND DESIGNER MARKUS STEMLER According to sound designer Markus Stemler, one of the film's more challenging scenes takes place in the middle of the film, when the German troops attempt to storm the French trenches and then get surprised by French tanks. "WW1 really was a revolution in terms of military technology," says Stemler. "Tanks and flamethrow- ers saw the battlefield for the first time. They still might have had lots of technical issues, but their psychological impact on the enemy alone was just enormous. It was important to mirror that aspect into the sonic appearance of these weapons and make them sound highly threatening from the soldiers' subjective point of view. We prioritized emotional reality over perfect historical accuracy, so to speak. It felt appropriate for certain mo- ments, while in other areas, a lot of focus was put on authenticity. The Foley team at Studio Warns, for example, was able to use the original uniforms that the costume department had generously provided for them." He credits production sound mixer Viktor Prasil with getting fantastic recordings of both the flame- throwers and tanks on-set. "We already had some great-sound material to start with. For the tanks, we then recorded additional heavy-metal elements in our warehouse to use as a layer on top of the engines. It helped pointing out their extreme armored housing that could easily stand bullet hits and also add a strong sense of weight for when they cross the trenches, with terrified soldiers below them." For all these recordings, Stemler says he went with a simple mono setup, using a Sennheiser MKH8050 or Schoeps MK41, and a SoundDevices MixPre running at high sample rate. "It is most important for me that the equipment is set up very quickly, lightweight and solid so you can go for spontaneous ideas without much hassle." RE-RECORDING MIXER LARS GINZEL Lars Ginzel served as the film's re-recording mixer and says he wanted to point the atten- tion towards one of the quiet scenes in the film. "In fact, it's the moment after Paul get's stabbed in the back right after the ceasefire came into force. We hear how the battle activity dies away and how the outside becomes more and more still, while the French soldier walks out of the bunker. Paul is left alone in the dark with the creaking of the wooden structure around him and the music starts. Then, when he walks up the stairs, wounded and with little to no strength left, we gradually lose the steps as they become less present at first, so there is a brief moment of just music while Paul is climbing the last steps and stepping outside. "When Paul and the camera step outside the bunker we start to hear his breath again. Low, but up close, and the crackling of a near by fire, and a gentle breeze of wind is starting. There is a lot of movement in that little wind, and it adds a lot of detail to the particles we see in the image. It's a very peaceful moment, like it should be. And in my opinion all these nuanced movements of the differ- ent layers of wind sounds are key to creating this impression and to really make the audience feel the fresh air, after having been in the bunker and all the fighting and battles before." The mix took place at The Post Republic in Berlin, and even though the whole film was mixed within Avid's ProTools, Ginzel says he had a Euphonix/Avid System 5, which was used as a EuCon controller. "While more modern controllers like the S6 allow for way deeper integration with ProTools, the System 5 still has those fantastic motorized joysticks, which make my work — especially in Dolby Atmos — so much easier. They are just the Kruse Stemler Ginzel