Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1546135
42 FA L L 2 0 2 6 I C A S Q U A R T E R L Y same way in the same room and the same stem formats, so the score and songs shared a continuous sonic world. Those stems share the same custom arrays as the orchestral stems so that there are seamless transitions. I send my planner to my mix tech several days before we hit the stage, and I build my music and vocal sessions in my own room before we even set up on day one. That way, when we walk onto the mix stage, we're not planning on day one—we're mixing. Dennis: I'm always thinking about the re-recording stage when I'm mixing the score, no matter what format. If there's an intimate dialogue scene with a woodwind solo running through it, I'll put that solo on a separate stem so the re-recording mixer can adjust it without pulling all the music down. If there's a big bottom-end sound effects moment and I've got heavy orchestral drums underneath, I'll stem those separately so they can be managed against the effects. I'm always preparing for the re-recording mixer while being loyal to the composer's vision—and usually it's not too complicated a process. Good composers are filmmakers. They're writing their music to get into the movie, not to fight with it. Michael: Most of the time, I'm working either as a composer or as a re-recording mixer, so I maintain two separate custom Atmos templates that are tailored to those workflows. My composing template is built around a large collection of hardware synthesizers, software instruments, custom plugin chains, and Atmos native routing that lets me create and hear ideas in an immersive environment from the very beginning. Over the years, both templates have evolved organically. Rather than starting from the same template every time, I typically build on the workflow from my most recent project and use that as the foundation for the next one. That way, the template is constantly improving based on real-world projects and new creative or technical discoveries. The templates include custom plugin settings, SoundFlow automation, and routing that allows Atmos, 7.1, 5.1, stereo, and binaural outputs to all come from the same session. The goal is to remove as much technical friction as possible. When deadlines are tight and budgets are limited, I don't want to be building sessions or troubleshooting routing. I want to be making creative decisions. Having those templates already built means I can focus on the music, the story, and the emotional impact of the mix or score. How does that planning extend to your relationship with the scoring mixer or composer? David: I have a few conversations with the scoring mixer and the composer weeks before the score is recorded— sometimes months before, because I've been living with the film through all the temp mixes for several years in most cases (being in-house allows this). I'll discuss what stems I'm going to need and why. For a musical, I might request that the high strings and low strings be separated, that the different percussion such as orchestral, drum kit, and ethnic percussion be on their own stems, that the song orchestra record in the same room and the same stem format as the score orchestra—so when you move from a score cue into a song, it doesn't sound like a needle drop. The imaging transitions naturally because both were conceived the same way. All of that is decided before a note is recorded. Dennis: Typically, I'm delivering 7.1 or 5.1 stems—sometimes 7.1.2 or 7.1.4 to the re-recording stage. There have been mixes where I've delivered my Atmos score mix to the stage Dennis Sands' room at Sound Waves SB