Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1515063
C I N E M A A U D I O S O C I E T Y. O R G 53 Mixers! Mixers! Mixers! b y K u r t K a s s u l k e C A S "Mixers! Mixers! Mixers!" was the first discussion at The Sounding Board. The panel description read as: "Take a deep dive into the magic of mixing. Be it Foley, scoring, ADR, or group, mixers capture and create materials that can help define the soundscape of every project." The moderator for the day was Timothy Muirhead, host of Tonebenders Podcast, and his knowledge and insightful questions led to discussions that were excellent primers on all the topics covered. The panel included scoring mixer DAVID BOUCHER CAS; Foley mixer GARY DELEONE CAS; ADR mixer JESSE DODD CAS; and Foley artist MITCHELL KOHEN. Following is an excerpt of the discussion with a full video available at https://CinemaAudioSociety.org/the-sounding -board-v3-0/ We're going to be talking about Foley mixing, scoring mixing, and ADR loop group mixing. I think we're all going to have a lot of fun and learn because we don't normally get to hear a lot about this. [Let's] talk about Foley mixing first. [Gary and Mitchell], when you start your day as a mixer, how are you prepping the session and getting everything ready so you can hit record? GARY DELEONE CAS: I have a template, so I can just come in and I could hit record. There's not much prep work to do. But typically, I'll look over the cues. MITCHELL KOHEN: And Foley cueing is a whole other art form within itself. I can't stress how important Foley cueing is. I started out as a Foley cuer for a couple of years, and I still cue my own content now if I have the opportunity. I think it helps tremendously. GD: Usually, the first thing we'll do is a cloth pass. That way, we get to see the entire show. And while Mitchell is doing the cloth, I'll watch the show with the guides. I'll look at the cues and I'll get a feel for what's going on. After that pass, we discuss our day and how we're gonna attack it. MK: Sometimes Gary will notice issues within the cue session— where things are on the wrong track. We run track-specific cues. Every Foley stage does things a little differently, but we tend to run characters on their own tracks, and then we have like, 15 to 20 prop tracks that are efficiently cued so we can tap and go. Right? So, we might have a glass track. And we'll break the glass track down into just beer mugs, then coffee cups, then plastic cups. And then we'll do a sip pass. So, it's just sips, and then just pours. Each one is on their own track. This way, when I have the prop in front of me, I can perform it, and Gary can just tap and go and get them all done. That's especially helpful if I've created something very complicated. We recently just finished an A24 show, and I had to kind of come up with this very unique sound for this L-R: David Boucher CAS, Jesse Dodd CAS, Gary Deleone CAS, and Mitchell Kohen