Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1530210
Winter 2025 – LOCAL695.COM 33 I have been using for a number of years: recording the pre- recorded vocals with the same boom and lav mics we would be using on the set, along with the Music Producer's choice of mics. Greg Wells used a combination of Telefunken and Neumann vocal mics for those sessions and joining him and the music studio staff was my Key 1st Assistant Sound (Boom Operator), Arthur Fenn, who would fit a DPA 4061 lavalier mic to the actor and also rig an overhead Schoeps CMC6/MK41 boom microphone in the same position he would later use when shooting close-ups. Having Arthur in those sessions rigging the lavaliers on the actors also had an incredibly important impact on trust and relationship building before shooting as he will be the person who rigs their lavs on the shoot. This would give Re-recording Mixer Andy Nelson the ability, if required, to blend from live vocals seamlessly into a pre-records if for any reason, it had been unachievable to deliver live vocals on the film set. Our mantra through the whole prep period was to make sure that Jon Chu, Cynthia, and Ariana had complete support and could make a decision at any point to sing live or not. We needed to be completely ready for issues beyond anyone's control that would prevent live performances. What we didn't know at that point was just how incredibly motivated all three filmmakers would be to capture every single performance live once we started filming! It quickly became evident on the very first day that Cynthia and Ariana were absolutely determined to sing live all day, every day. Despite the action sequences during the songs, the incredible vocal stamina required to do that was not just within their capabilities but they thrived on it. This unwavering determination to sing live was so infectious, it gave all our other cast members the confidence to sing live as well. This was quickly becoming an absolute dream job for me and although we had the safety of the pre-records in our back pockets, every morning we would have the IEM's out, ready to go, and capture those wonderful onset vocal performances! When Jon Chu and Marc Platt let me know that Andy Nelson was the Re-recording Mixer on the project, I was overjoyed. Andy and I had formed a very close and special creative bond on Les Miserables. We spent many hours discussing the tracks I had delivered, his approach to his musical mixes, and everything in between. I have learned so much from Andy on what he requires and how I should deliver. Working as a team with Andy again, filled me with confidence. He made the trip out to London from LA to visit the set, and we also had regular catch-ups throughout shooting where I could bounce ideas off him and give him the latest developments. I absolutely knew that Andy would get the very best from my production tracks and his skill and dexterity with live vocals, knowing how to immersively work them into the score, along with the sound FX so that all the elements blended seamlessly as the musical DNA is unparalleled. We decided that we would have a keyboard always available, routed to Pro Tools. If the actors needed to waver from the original musical tempo during their live solo either for emotional or performance reasons, or the camera move required them to, then Ben Holder could accompany them. We would be able to weave in and out of keyboard and locked Pro Tools music pre- records to their IEM's during a take whenever required. My crew on main unit would be the same 1st AS duo who have been with me for my entire career: Arthur Fenn and Robin Johnson. Arthur's additional responsibilities alongside boom operating is liasing with the costume department regarding lavalier rigging and then during the shoot rigging cast radio mics. Robin's additional responsibilities are everything technical from software through to hardware, including frequency coordination with other departments and our own department's frequency plots. We were using more than fifty frequencies on Wicked every day in our department alone. Robin is also responsible for interfacing between Pro Tools, Live Keyboard, Lighting Desk, Video, and my production sound cart, as well as running the induction loops we prefer to use for earwigs. Taz Fairbanks joined us again for 2nd AS duties which includes assisting all of us in our specific roles, rigging the Voice of God (VOG), the Music PA, and carpeting sets to reduce footfalls on a shot-by-shot basis. She always had Harry King, our 3rd AS, to assist her (the JBL PA speakers we use are a two-person lift). We had twenty-four of them at our disposal to ensure that however large our sets were, we had enough kilowatts of sound reenforcement to fill the space. We would then surround the set with subwoofers so that anyone not wearing an earwig could stay in tempo with the music. The thumper track would be removed in sound post. We were able to get some wonderful huge vocal performances within the acoustics of the sets that added a reality that is incredibly difficult to reproduce with a loop group in post.