Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1529890
28 W I N T E R 2 0 2 5 I C A S Q U A R T E R L Y A Mixer's Perspective: A Boom, LAV Story! Fast-forward some 40 years later, I now have the privilege to work in sound as a production mixer and am no stranger to today's modern workflows on set. Multi-camera shows with ambitious shooting schedules, wide-and-tights for coverage, and noisy locations are common. Choosing what you can push for and what you let go of is a balancing act, and you have to learn to roll with the punches. But something I find challenging is when I'm not able to get my boom mics over the actor in a scene for what I believe is necessary coverage, relying on an electret condenser lavaliere mic to do what I know doesn't sound as good as it would be on the boom. In this article, I decided to follow those production sound rolls beyond my perspective as a production mixer and track them on their journey throughout the filmmaking process. To do this, I reached out to a production mixer, picture editor, dialogue editor, and re-recording mixer. What all of these roles have in common is they all work with the dialogue extensively throughout their process. With this in mind, we'll be discussing workflow, mix choices, some of the latest tools, and what each of their goals are for the dialogue mix. The Production Mixer I started my conversation with production mixer Stephen Tibbo CAS from his studio in L.A. Stephen has had a long and successful career in the film industry and spent 11 of those years working on the hit series Modern Family from 2009-2020, during which he received three Primetime Emmy Awards. I began our conversation by asking Stephen about the flow of his process on set and what he hopes to achieve in a production mix. "I hope to record the performances of the actors on a boom as much as possible. I want their voices to sound natural with presence with whatever mic I choose. I think there is an overreliance on the wires [and] think we've gotten away from just getting a good boom track, and it kind of bums me out." I also share Stephen's preference for more natural perspectives, however, we also discussed how wires also play a critical role Being a child of the '80s and growing up in theaters seeing blockbuster films such as E.T., Raiders of the Lost Ark, and The Empire Strikes Back, I imagine there were minimal lavaliere microphones used in the mix. And since this was decades before I began my sound career as a production mixer, I wouldn't have noticed anyhow. Mix subtleties such as matching perspectives with the right amount of air around the microphone or dialogue intelligibility while balancing the backgrounds, music, and sound effects weren't even a thought. The movie experience was simply taken in with all of my senses, fully immersing me into the story while sitting in front of the big screen. b y M i c h a e l W y n n e C A S