Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1544300
M OT I O N P I CTU R E S O U N D E D I TO R S 23 before widespread acceptance. SSS: Everybody thought that. I remember those days. On Under the Cherry Moon, I think it was Dane Davis who was performing digital editing under a canopy while we were all struggling on mag. MM: He embraced technology quickly. Some people have minds for that. Mine isn't that good. I had less RAM. SSS: Well, apparently yours is. MM: Well, I use technology every day. I mean, you know what it's like. We're constantly chasing the newest plugin, like, what's the coolest noise- reduction thing or what's the coolest equalizer? So, one should at least try to keep up. SSS: Do you find yourself staying ahead of that game? Or are you happy with what you have? MM: I'm happy with what I have until such time as I must adapt to a new technological paradigm, like we did switching from mag to digital. I think I can continue to create compelling sound for years without anything changing because the quality of my work isn't equipment or technologically dependent. My growth centers around learning to be a better storyteller. Being technologically dependent is a race to the bottom for any artist. Think of what an arid existence that is, living in a world where your success or employability is a function of how much technology you wield? If that is the case, you will be replaced by AI. For me, it's all about the sound and storytelling. Invest in those tools. It also just so happens that I don't like twiddling knobs … and the time it takes. I'm too impatient (maybe my old boss was right) and I'm not very good at it. I don't want to spend an hour manipulating the parameters of a plugin when in that same hour, I could find a better idea or record something fresh that is the perfect sound. Plugins at their worst, are 1,000 ways to make most things sound electronic, which is to say 1,000 ways to make things not feel believable. I will always reach for a sound that has a soul, that tells the story long before I try to turn a knob to do the same thing. SSS: See, that's a real tough concept for, I want to say, for the kids today. The people of today who are getting into the industry. That concept of sound is not taught, and that's where we need a person in the classroom to teach the concept of sound, not the technology of sound. MM: What is rarely taught in film schools is how to use sound as a narrative tool. Sound tells stories in nonverbal ways just as cinematographers use light and shadow or costumers use fabric and color. These choices comment on a character's state of mind, point of view, or emotional state. It's so much more important to learn this artistic approach, the storytelling approach before the mechanics. In this way, sound can be such an extraordinarily economical storytelling tool, sometimes more so than exposition. I have a favorite phrase: Sound is cinema's unspoken narrative. Film editors travel in unspoken narrative constantly, ever deciding how the timing of a cut speaks to a character's intention. Are they impatient, thoughtful, reactionary? The editor makes these choices without the use of words. Unspoken narrative. SSS: 'Narrative' and 'unspoken narrative.' That's a classic quote. That's absolutely brilliant. I come from the school of mag, and it was a trial and error for me, but where you come from, I feel that you had a better understanding between mag and digital. MM: I remember distinctly back in the Weddington days (Mangini's sound editing company in the'80s and '90s), our transition from Moviolas to digital workstations. Our first was a Solid State Logic Screen Sound, and I was the first to work Weddington Productions L-R: Mark Coffey, Mark Mangini, George Simpson, Elliott Koretz, Richard Anderson, Steve Lee c. 1990