Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1538091
36 FA L L 2 0 2 5 I C A S Q U A R T E R L Y appropriate positions, simultaneously capturing both close and wide sound perspectives to give more options for our post sound team to shape the sound appropriately to match the edit. We leaned heavily into recording these clean wild tracks and worked with the AD team to ensure minimal ambient noise. It wasn't easy. It took discipline from the entire crew and commitment from the actors, who gave full performances even without the camera rolling. Since the release of Sinners, there have been a couple instances of our actors speaking to the challenges of acting alongside the sound that the IMAX camera produces. The general takeaway was that there is an intentionality behind all the choices that are made leading up to a take that, seemingly, helped them lock in on their performance and be more in the moment. They spoke about the nostalgia of working on a period set film with a camera that has an audible mechanical sound. Our IMAX technician, Scott "Smitty" Smith, said it best: "When the IMAX camera is rolling, people are really on point. They really try their hardest on every take to get everything exactly right because film is precious." I know that the feeling I had on set was that it was of utmost importance that everyone performed their job flawlessly. There was a sense of permanence in what we were coming together to achieve, and that felt truly special to be a part of. THE ROLE OF REAL-TIME EDITORIAL Our video assist operator, Dan Furst, worked closely with our on-set editorial team to create a workflow that allowed us to check edits in near real time. Travis Cantey was able to assemble an edit immediately after a take was shot by ingesting a low-resolution proxy file that was captured from the film camera's digital video tap. We provided timecode to the video assist rig, which then flowed through to the Avid system on set. This was also extremely helpful for syncing sound to film in instances where film may have rolled out before viewing the timecode slate. Having an on-set editor was great for many reasons. For me, it allowed an opportunity to check our work while still on set and be able to respond. I would frequently run over to the editing tent to review how our sound-only passes were syncing with IMAX footage and how the sound perspective matched the shot. The first time I saw it working nearly flawlessly, I flagged the scene for the post sound team that was brought on early. Brandon Proctor and Benny Burtt Jr. gave a look and listen to what we had captured, and they gave their approval to continue moving forward with this approach. THE SIGNAL-TO-NOISE DISCOVERY Still, I couldn't shake the idea that maybe some of the IMAX camera takes could be salvaged outright. With careful lav placement and proper gain staging, the signal-to-noise ratio of the actor's voice over the camera noise was far better than I initially expected. This led me to experiment on set by sending my mix track and select ISO channels into my laptop and editing them with iZotope RX, and I was shocked at the results. RX did a solid job cleaning it up. And then I discovered Hush, a newer plugin by developer Ian Sampson. Hush was even better at suppressing the specific tonal profile of the IMAX camera. I was working daily with our music editor, Felipe Pacheco, throughout this shoot. I brought Hush to his attention, originally out of interest that it could be a good solution for cleaning up some of the musical recordings we were capturing live on set rather than in an acoustically treated studio environment. Felipe was blown away at how well L-R: Utility sound technician Emily Poulliard, boom/ music playback operator Ryan Farris, production sound mixer Chris Welcker CAS, and additional boom operator Charlie Mascagni. The sound and music team for Sinners (L-R) Ludwig Göransson, Noah Gorelick, Felipe Pacheco, Ryan Farris, Chris Welcker CAS, Charlie Mascagni, and Emily Poulliard.