Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1512678
C A S Q U A R T E R L Y I W I N T E R 2 0 2 4 43 Nice. Alexandra, what is your compression philosophy? ALEXANDRA FEHRMAN: I prefer not to use a "catch- all" method. I try to set the compressor with the least amount of compression I can get away with given the time that I have and the quality of the production dialogue. There's a lot more tools that production mixers are using these days, which can be both good and bad. So, I really have to analyze the material before I pick my start settings. Typically, I have a light multiband compressor on my individual dialogue tracks, and then I have a compressor on my chain. I stick with the multiband mostly because you have just a little bit more control over what you're compressing. The chain is what I try to use very judiciously, so I can individualize how I'm compressing the dialogue. I definitely keep my fingers on everything. I am still very much utilizing the board, the faders, and the spill zones on the console to adjust as I'm mixing. Great. And Sal, what is your approach to compression on the projects you're working on? SAL OJEDA: In my case, I'm currently working on a docuseries for a cable network, another doc for streaming, and a feature film for festivals. So, it's three different loudness ranges. In my template, I do have a compressor on all my dialogue tracks but bypassed, so I only use them if I really need to. For the docuseries that's going to a cable network, we don't really have much time. So, on the interviews that sound clean, I can use a little bit more compression on the tracks. Otherwise, I'd spend days riding those faders. But for production dialogue, I rarely use the compressor because I don't want to bring up the noise floor. And, to me, it sounds more natural if I control it with my faders anyway. But in general, I do have a very gentle compressor on my dialogue bus just to give it a little hug. On my music bus, I have a compressor that I rarely touch because I want to keep the original dynamics. But on the Tupac documentary we did earlier this year, Dear Mama, I got some raw multitracks from the early '90s—probably from ADAT's—those tracks really needed some punch and color. So, I had to rely on my music tools and experience to make it sound like a [music] record first, and then make it work in the show. In that case, I used compression, not only for level control, but also for the color of it. Alexandra Fehrman Steve "Major" Giammaria CAS Sal Ojeda Awesome. Do you all think about compression differently with respect to dialogue or sound effects? AF: I'm primarily a dialogue and music mixer, but in the early days of my mixing career, I was mostly on projects