Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1545125
34 C I N E M O N T A G E C O V E R S T O R Y even after seeing it a hundred times. "When Boone [Killam] was a young football player and got tackled, that's my absolute favorite," she said. "In the next episode, there's a trombone player walking on the field who trips over him, and the trombone makes a noise. That whole thing was so dependent upon sound because there's no dialogue. So we really needed to make sure that we incorporated the realism of the tackle and the game, but also a little bit of a funny element to it." Achieving the right balance between funny and real, and paying attention to tiny sound details, are big parts of what produc- er Todd Aronauer said elevates the show to another level. "Every show develops its own sound palette and world for the characters to live in," he said. "'Stumble' is a bit unique within the wide variety of other moc-doc series because of the cheer routines and performances in every episode. Lauren and her team put a lot of time and effort into keeping the show sounding authentic for the sports aspects as well as maintaining the moc-doc comedy style in how we tell our stories." To that end, Price credits the talented sound team led by dialogue editor John Creed, sound effects editor Ben Gieschen, and Foley artist and editor Brian Straub with helping to punctuate both the comedic and heartfelt moments throughout the series, whether the squad is on the field performing cheer routines in practice o r a t g a m e s , o r i n t y p i n g c l a s s w h i l e passing notes. "From start to finish with this show — the creators/showrunners, the actors, the sound team I work with — it's such a great experience," she said. "It's so positive and fun. You can tell that everybody really enjoys their job." SURROUNDED BY SOUND Price was born in Vineland, New Jersey, and raised in Millville. She had originally planned to work in music production, having played acoustic and electric guitar, drums, and bass since she was seven. "I was in high school in the 1990s, so I was a grunge kid," she explained. "Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Hole, all of those '90s rock bands were my jam, but I was also into '70s rock thanks to my parents: Fleetwood Mac, Heart, Pink Floyd, to name a few." While she was still living in New Jersey, she wrote and recorded a few songs at her friend's recording studio, The Audio Lab. "Tony Mascara Jr. (owner, engineer, and phenomenal drummer) and I recorded all the tracks," she said. "I played guitar and bass, and he played drums and upright bass. This was my first experience in a recording studio." She was hooked instantly. "I immedi- ately fell in love with the recording studio. I asked him to teach me different mic tech- niques and show me how things worked in the control room," she said. "I would go over and hang out and play guitar on other people's sessions, and I just knew I wanted to learn more about the audio world." She first became interested in post-pro- duction sound work during her time at the Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences (CRAS) in Tempe, Arizona. She graduated with her certificate in audio engineering in 2013. "I thought I wanted to be a recording or mix engineer," she said. "But while I was at school, we had a post-production cycle where they introduced us to dialogue, editing, sound effects, Foley, music, and mixing. I thought, 'OK, this is interesting.' At the time, I didn't even know that was a career path." After some research and discussion with her instructors at school, Price secured a post-production internship in Los Angeles at Kappa Studios in Burbank, where she learned more about sound editing and mixing processes, and a second internship with Micdi (also in Burbank), a music edi- torial company. Both have served her well, especially in her role as a supervising sound editor. "I believe a key to being an effective supervisor is understanding each step of the post-production process and being able to jump in wherever needed," she said. The move to LA also allowed her to 'In the '90s, I was a grunge kid.' P H OT O : N B C CHEERS: Taran Killam and Jenn Lyon in "Stumble."