Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1521562
C I N E M A A U D I O S O C I E T Y. O R G 47 players are saying. I always edge toward getting the most audible dialogue I can get, [which] seems to be what most people want—the director, the script supervisor, and editorial. And using that as my rule of thumb, I get very few phone calls! Marc, on the post side, where were you doing this show's mix? Was it all at Formosa? MF: Yeah, the whole [mix and sound editorial] with Michael Benavente as the supervising sound editor. We mixed the whole thing at 959 Stage 6 for about four months, right Kevin? KR: It went into February, so longer than that. And you Randy, you are up in Canada too, right? RW: Yes! We have a studio in Toronto, and it has two rooms that we use. One does feet and the other does props. It's actually two separate teams working together. How long did you get to cue, shoot, and mix the Foley for the first episode? RW: Well, we did the first two episodes together at the start [and] I think we had 10 days. Was the mix done as two episodes at a time or was that specific to Foley? KR: It was written as two episodes, but as they were going through it and putting the first cuts together, they realized the first one didn't end in a place that would launch you into the rest of the season; you wouldn't have even met Ellie yet. So, they fused the two together and we got extra time for that mix because it was simply so long. MF: I think that was the third episode. You have to remember, we mixed the show and it had the old episode numbers on it, so one and two became one. So, we were very confused, and originally, what we mixed ended up being episode three with the Clickers. That became episode two. I think we mixed the whole thing out of order. KR: I think we did three-four and then one and two… MF: And we did eight last instead of nine! KR: Yeah, it was all VFX dependent. OOOF! Well, to me, that kind of bodes well for your opening episode because you get to figure out the language of the show ahead of time. You know the show is really moody and has a certain soundscape to it… KR: On a normal show, I would agree, but on this show, the environments changed all the time, and the themes, and the dramatic pacing. Each episode was kinda its own stand-alone [show]. And what became the first episode got a lot of extra attention; it got the most time to be reviewed and had the most adjustments. For post, was there a sonic mandate from the producers when it came to the mix? Or did they say, "Here is the video game the show is based on, look at this." KR: Well, we had a few early meetings with Craig Mazin and we kind of figured each other out and understood what he wanted. We found that realism was extremely important to him. The audience won't believe it if the execution of the suspension of disbelief wasn't perfect! So, he wanted everything to sound very real and authentic. For example, when the Clickers are breathing, what makes them make that sound? The idea is the fungus inside of them is causing an asthma attack. That's the level of thought going into every detail. He would be asking us about specific sounds, asking if it should be there, asking why it was there. [That way], when fantastical things did happen, the audience would be primed by the realism to accept it, because so much of the groundwork had been laid. MF: Following up on that, with Craig, he didn't give us a lot of specific questions from the get-go, and he didn't ask us to play the game, but I had! Of all the people on the crew, I was the only one who had played it. There were a few times where it was clear a shot was referencing the game and I would pass that along to Kevin. Like the opening shot and later when the Re-recording mixer Marc Fishman CAS Foley mixer Randy WIlson CAS