Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1545202
64 S U M M E R 2 0 2 6 I C A S Q U A R T E R L Y Alex, an Atlanta-based musician and audio specialist, works across a wide range of disciplines like film scoring, post- production sound, playback, and communications. I'd previously worked with him on the Netflix series Dolly Parton's Heartstrings, where each episode reimagined one of Dolly Parton's songs. I brought him on for playback, and his command of Pro Tools was remarkable. At one point, Dolly Parton wanted to change a single line in a verse. In my experience, playback tracks are usually locked and final. He quickly routed a mic into his Pro Tools rig, had Dolly record the revised line cold, and then dropped it seamlessly into the track. It was flawless. I'd also worked with Alex on communications before. On Fly Me to the Moon, director Greg Berlanti wanted practical playback and believable two-way phone conversations. Alex showed up with his full kit—earwigs, Pro Tools, everything, and crushed it. Below, some of the team share their experiences working on the project. ALEX LOWE CAS: Playback/Communications When Matt called me about the Peacemaker project, he mentioned there would be up to 10 actors in helmets who needed communications between each other, James Gunn, and our AD Ed Tilden's VOG's. Because of the pace that I know James likes to work at, I made sure I was prepared to receive all the signals from the actors' isolated tracks. I think there were 10 tracks coming from Matt's transmitters into my system. We set up a rig with Lectrosonics DSQD What I had imagined in my head (think Peter Coyote in E.T. with a large domed helmet) didn't quite match what production had in mind. Michael Crow, our costume designer, stopped by set to show me the prototype headgear. It turned out to be a tight-fitting, hard plastic helmet. "Oh, it's like a spacesuit," I said. I was also delighted the suit would be made of a soft rubber and completely silent instead of noisy "swishy" polyester-type material. Luckily, I had some experience with that. On Hidden Figures, which depicted the Mercury-era missions, I worked with single astronaut helmet setups. We miked the helmets and gave the actors earpieces connected to IFB's so they could hear the director. On Fly Me to the Moon, things got more complex. There were two actors in helmets, which meant they needed to hear and talk to each other. In that case, I ran the two actors, director, and script supervisor VOG [Voice of God] through my board and distributed from the custom outputs of the Sound Devices Scorpio to three Comtek transmitters to the various people who had to hear different elements. The usual suspects heard the mix and the actors playing the astronauts heard the other actor but not themselves and the director and script supervisor but not any other elements of the mix. Later, I expanded to stunt performers and a moment coordinator. I brought in Keegan Osburn to assist with distributing receivers and earpieces, but I was already pushing the limits of my system's technical limitations Peacemaker took it to another level entirely. We were looking at 10 principal cast members, plus stunt performers and background players—all wearing suits and helmets. When you're staring down a situation like that, you do what every production sound mixer does when communication gets complicated: You call Alex Lowe CAS. ALEX LOWE CAS Alex Lowe's setup