Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1532010
22 S P R I N G 2 0 2 5 I C A S Q U A R T E R L Y filming the opening shot, and it involved a real doo woo group singing on the corner. It was around two in the morning and an elderly woman opens her window and screams, "Will you shut that 'woo woo' shit up? Cut that 'woo woo' crap out!" The entire crew burst out in laughter. I think the production actually gave her a credit; she was the "woo woo lady." Paint me a picture of working in film early in your career. On the first few jobs I did with my father, there was a thing called Cinemobile. It was a bus that was totally retrofitted with compartments throughout. We had a little spot for a sound cart, some cases and poles, the grips and electrics had enough room for around 10 lights, camera had space for their stuff, and that's how it worked. We all lined up to get our gear and would load into a set. Films had a much smaller footprint back then. There was only one camera, and sound was more focused on using the boom not wireless. We used wires only when we needed to. I remember on Tootsie [1982, directed by Sydney Pollack], having to walk with the receivers 10 feet away from the actors because that was all the reception you could get! Booming with hardwired cables was the way that everything was done back then; that was the main process. I think learning to assess a scene as a boom person was the first real lesson to becoming a sound mixer. I had to learn quickly about what microphones can and cannot do and that was crucial to understanding how to make good recordings. When did you move onto production sound mixing? Around 1985, I was still working with Les, and the last movie I boomed might have been Hannah and Her Sisters [1986], directed by Woody Allen. A production manager friend of mine, Alex Kitman Ho, was going to produce a Michael Dinner movie called Off Beat [1986], starring Judge Reinhold. That was my first mixing job; Alex gave me my first break. I still remember how, early on, I didn't have a feel for the faders, the meters, all that stuff. Just transitioning from one mic to another was a challenge because it's something that comes with experience. Learning sound is one of those "10,000 hour" things, where you really need to do it for an "X" amount of time. At that point, I think one of the important things I did to become a better mixer was to go to dailies. I got to hear all the decisions I made the day before laid down on two-track analog tape. With Oliver Stone, Wylie Stateman, and Mike Scott on Savages. Mixing in an abandoned building in Brooklyn. Talking with Joe Cocker on Across the Universe. My sound crew on Private Parts with Joel Holland and Fred Norris from Howard Stern's team.