Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1535880
BY KOREY PEREIRA MPSE started my time at the University of Texas (UT) at Austin as a viola major in the school of music. In my freshmen year, we took a tour of the recording studio on campus and I immediately fell in love with the recording process. The facilities were great. I learned how to record and mix music on a Harrison console with a ton of outboard gear and a well-stocked mic closet. I came into college with a background in making movies in high school. My recording professor, Mark Sarisky, asked if I would be interested in working on a film. At the time, the radio, television and film program had created Burnt Orange Productions, a program that provided the opportunity for students to work on feature films. I got the internship and was partnered with supervising sound editor Tom Hammond and taught how to edit dialogue. Due to my experience and access to the studio over at the music school, I talked my way into recording and editing the Foley for the film as well. I promptly transferred to the film school and never looked back. Looking back at my career to date, my time at UT put me on the path to where I am today. When I was asked to take over teaching the post sound class as a lecturer in 2018, I was excited to pay it forward. In fall 2023, I took over as the Audio Area Head of the radio, television and film program at the Moody College of Communications at UT. I now teach a dedicated production and post class for undergrads and an intro to sound course for the graduate students in the program. While it is important to cover the basics, experiential learning is the best way to prepare for the real world. I wanted to build a Foley stage and upgrade our mixing spaces to support Dolby Atmos. I had a meeting with university leadership. I played them an Atmos demo and talked about Foley and they just got it. In just over a year, we were able to take the project from inception to completion. Anyone working in education will know what a feat that is. We wanted to do it right. For the Foley stage, we brought on veteran Foley artist and MPSE member Susan Fitz-Simon to consult on the project. We have worked together professionally and knew that she would be able to help take the space we had and turn it into a great- sounding space. We were not able to cut into the slab because there was a basement below us, so we built three Foley pits above ground. They are around 18 inches deep. They have perpendicular walls and are lined with a thick layer of neoprene that really cut down on the reflections. Our primary mic is a Schoeps CMIT-5U that feeds a Rupert Neve Designs 5211 preamp. Susan and I have been using this combination for years now and it is the best sounding combination for Foley. Students also have access to a variety of other microphones from equipment checkout if they want something different. The control room also doubles as a 7.1.4 Dolby Atmos mix suite. We also have a smaller room across the hall that supports 5.1.2. Both rooms are also equipped with Avid S3 consoles. Our tech team worked with Dolby to make sure the spaces sounded great. As an Avid Learning Partner, we have Pro Tools Ultimate in the computer labs. Students can start mixing in Atmos on headphones and come down to these rooms to finish their mixes. The project has been such a hit, we are now looking to update several of our larger rooms around the building to Atmos as well. Whether our students end up wanting to work in film, television, or games, Atmos has become a part of all those workflows. I have to give a big thank you to everyone at RTF, Moody, and the university that say the value in what these upgrades bring. Unlike a lot of The University of Texas at Austin puts Sound in Focus I 30 M PS E . O R G