Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1521562
52 S U M M E R 2 0 2 4 I C A S Q U A R T E R L Y me a bit about your experience working on this show, this episode, and what have been your challenges along with things you're proud of? PAT CHRISTENSEN: As an ADR mixer, the proudest thing is when people aren't talking about the ADR, right? It kind of lurks in the background, is always there but you don't know it's there and that's what makes it work and makes it good. With this show specifically, they're very judicious with their ADR, so there's never a ton of it. They're never trying to extrapolate more dialogue or put in little moments trying to explain something a little bit more, which some episodic network stuff tends to do. SG: Like trying and wedge in the main character's name a bunch of times? PC: Yeah. But as it relates to this show, they're very judicious. When the actors come in, they're all pros. They come in, do their lines, and we never have to over-direct or push them this way or that, they're already usually on point. On this episode, for the dinner scene at Chef Terry's restaurant, we did sprinkle in some extra goodies. Especially when Richie serves the pizza dish. Just getting some added wow and a little zhuzh. SG: Pat's stuff mixed in perfectly with what was already there. Pat's one of the top few people on the planet doing what he does. With The Bear, you can get ADR in intimate, quiet scenes, and then you get people screaming in the kitchen, and credit to the actors, obviously, but you can't fix improper intensity and projection—all those things that are not actually a technical thing of where the mic is. Pat is very good at making sure that performance is proper without overstepping, obviously [taking into account] the politics of the room and all of that. PC: Luckily, even for the loop group, we had the show runners come in and listen to the group and make sure that they're talking proper lingo. If it's kitchen stuff, to have somebody who's got kitchen experience at a high level always helps. At dinner service at Chef Terry's restaurant, you're not likely to have two guys talking about their trucking routes, for example. So, tailoring the group and letting them know this is the type of clientele that you are, that always helps even though it's supposed to be in the background. Not to say truckers don't eat fine dining! Some people like to process their ADR, some record very dry. When recording ADR, what's your method and philosophy? PC: I like to see what Scott is doing [on the production side] and adjust from there. If there's any EQ, it's just to roll off the low end. Generally, no compression, but I don't mind recording with compression if it makes sense. ADR stages are kind of like big living rooms. And that's to accommodate directors or ADR editors who are used to being on the stage. But it's also to neutralize, so it doesn't sound boxy like a booth. Having it be as dry as possible allows it to let the creativity happen, so you're not having to take anything off it. Scott, in this particular episode, there's movement and sound of the forks being polished, and everything is all happening simultaneously with the dialogue. SCOTT D. SMITH CAS: In that scene, a lot of it happens with the dialogue. So, in that case, all we can hope is that the forks don't overpower the dialogue. But they shoot a fair amount of insert shots. So, when we can, we get clean tracks, so they don't have to Foley everything for the insert shots. But it's usually catch-as-catch-can what happens a lot of times. There are vent fans running there, people talking, and all sorts of other stuff going on in the background. So, it's almost impossible to get clean effects on those shots. The Foley in this show is kind of like the forks in this episode, not only literally, but metaphorically. They are the unsung hero. There's so much little tactile stuff and you guys did an excellent job of making everything feel so cohesive and not added in afterward. Tell me a little bit about your approach to that. SG: A big credit goes to Ryan, Connor Nagy, and the Foley team at Alchemy. They spot it, shoot it, mix it, and send it back edited, so it just plugs in. On this show, there's a lot of PFX ADR mixer Patrick Christensen