Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1535806
68 S U M M E R 2 0 2 5 I C A S Q U A R T E R L Y Maitland shared advice from his legendary production sound mixer father Dennis: "If you don't have an answer, but somebody else does, then you're not doing your job." This pushes him to explore every possible solution before accepting defeat. One solution in Namib involved opening the actor's vinyl suit so he could hide a big-enough windscreen underneath, which conflicted with continuity. He presented the only options to the director: "We either somehow deal with the continuity side of it or you're going to have to replace all the dialogue." The director chose sound saying, "She walked for a little while. She could've unzipped her thing ... no big deal." Aaron "Cujo" Cooley CAS, Production Sound Mixer Aaron Cooley recalls a story from a smaller feature film that relied heavily on Steadicam work. Despite warning the producers and director about a noisy gyroscopic stabilizer that would compromise dialogue, the team insisted on proceeding. "The DP assured everyone they use this stabilizer all the time on music videos and it won't be a problem," he says. Though Cujo documented the issue in his notes for every take, the problems eventually caught up with post-production. "I got calls and emails from the editor up to a year after shooting asking, 'What can we do about this? Why didn't you fix this?' The movie never saw the light of day." In such situations, Cujo has learned that staying composed is crucial. "Sometimes the hardest part of this job is that you have to disconnect from the emotions of it," he explains. "They are making a decision that they think is right—you've done your job to tell them it's not going to work. And when they say no, you go back to your cart, press record and give them the best thing you can. "I had been trained by hotheads," Cujo continued, referring to sound mixers who would react dramatically to on-set noise. "They were the guys that were jumping up and down screaming and hollering, making sure that the tiniest noises were taken care of. You could sense the tension and how adversarial sound was to the rest of the production." But working with Willie Burton CAS on Selma showed him another way. "Willie said, 'What good would it do me to be that guy? I don't have to scream. I don't have to get upset. I just pull the faders down and in very short order someone will yell cut and ask me what the problem was.'" Stephen Fitzmaurice CAS, Re-recording Mixer When faced with unfavorable production tracks on the post side, re-recording mixer Stephen Fitzmaurice focuses on transparent client communication. "I was told at one point that a huge part of our job is not the audio, but helping the client understand the situation and their best options," he explains. Rather than simply pointing out problems, he presents a roadmap of potential solutions. For example, if the talent isn't available for ADR: "Here are some alternates. This alternate take syncs well but has a different inflection. While this other is closer to the original inflection, the sync will always be imperfect. I've found that people like to have choices and know that you've looked under every rock trying to find a solution for them even if they're not in love with any of the options." Fitzmaurice doesn't typically approach the production sound team with issues they're surely already aware of. "The production sound mixers I've worked with are absolute pros that would love nothing more than to deliver pristine sound on every channel," he told me. Instead of second-guessing their work, he advocates for them with producers: "The job is really tough, and these folks are held responsible for things that are very much out of their control. As much as possible, give them an opportunity to get good mics in good positions, make corrections, and if necessary, offer contingencies when a correction isn't possible."