Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1521562
58 S U M M E R 2 0 2 4 I C A S Q U A R T E R L Y Can you share some insight on the Foley process? TS: Erika Koski and the team at Reel Foley Sound are absolute professionals that understand what it is to do good Foley. What they provided for Weird was filled with rich textures that really brought so many scenes to a higher level. Where did you mix and what formats were delivered? PM: For this project, I mixed the score in 7.1, down to nine stems that were sent to Tony Solis. There was 52 minutes of music to mix across 45 cues, so it was a decent amount to mix in just three days, but fortunately, there was a decent amount of consistency from cue to cue. I do all my mixing at my personal studio that is in a guest house behind the house my wife and I rent in Culver City. The first day was just organizing assets, combining the pre-lay audio from the composers with the orchestra sessions from Budapest, in addition to some soloist overdubs that were done in each musician's personal studio. I then made what I call a "Cue Triage" list where I make three lists, Small, Medium, and Big, so I know which cues to tackle first. I prefer to get all the biggest, most complicated cues out of the way first for two reasons. Reason #1 is so that I establish a tone and sound for the majority of elements early on, which is usually achieved by mixing all the big cues as they usually feature most of the individual elements that will show up in other parts of the score. Reason #2 is pure stress management! I prefer knowing that once I get most or all of the complicated difficult cues done, the rest of the mix should get easier as I go along. Then, when I'm at the end, I can enjoy mixing the smaller simpler cues knowing the bulk of the task has been completed. TS: Phil McGowan is probably the best scoring mixer in Los Angeles, if not the entire country—and probably even on the planet. What he was able to do with such an incredibly dense and wide score made my job that much easier once I had to incorporate the score into very dense scenes. Be it action or a complex LSD trip scene, the way he masterfully prepared/ mixed the score stems allowed me to balance everything together without losing the power and richness of the amazing score by Leo Birenberg and Zach Robinson. I also had the pleasure to receive stems from Al Yankovic for the re-records he did of some of his classic hits. Having these stems allowed me to mix his music in full Dolby Atmos, which truly elevated the feel of the movie. How many times will you admit to having seen the movie? PM: Given the short mix time, I didn't initially get to watch the film down and I was jumping around from scene to scene and reel to reel, so my first experience of the film was only the scenes with score, totally out of order. This is pretty typical as I often don't have time to screen the films I mix, given that our schedules are only getting shorter and shorter these days. I decided to wait until Tony had finished the final mix of the film before I watched the whole thing down. The first time I saw it was at a screening and Q&A that Zach and Leo put on in Westwood and, man, was this a fun one to watch! I've watched the film several times after, and I always enjoy it. I know I speak for everyone on the team that we are all very proud of this one on so many levels. TS: Honestly, this was a movie that I knew I had to be a part of. Everyone on the crew took this to be a passion project and it showed during the whole process. We were all incredibly proud of what we helped create with Al. I have seen the movie more times than I would like to mention, be it with audiences all over the place or at home. This one is going to stick with me for life. What does it mean to you to win the CAS Award? RB: When it comes to winning the CAS Award, I have to say that I was a little surprised as I thought it would most likely go to Daisy Jones & the Six, as they had won the Emmy. But in the weeks leading up to the CAS Awards, I heard from many members who said they had voted for Weird, and I remember saying to my wife, "You know, we might win this!" It was an absolute thrill when they called our names for the award. It's funny as we made our way up to the stage, my Apple watch started vibrating, I had a call coming in. I looked around the room as I walked between the tables thinking, "OK, which one of you clowns is calling me!?" I was laughing as I got up on stage and turned around to look at the audience. It was such an amazing feeling to see all the faces of people who I've known for so many years. It really was a huge honor. TS: I was incredibly surprised that we won. My fellow nominees represented the most talented people in our field, and to be included among them was honor enough. To then actually win communicated to me that the people that I look up to and respect and see as heroes view me as a peer, and I can't think of a greater honor than that. I can't thank CAS, Formosa, Eric, Al, and my whole crew enough for this incredible opportunity and achievement. L-R: Scoring mixer Phil McGowan CAS, re-recording mixer Tony Solis, and ADR mixer Brian Magrum CAS at the Emmys.