Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1546135
64 FA L L 2 0 2 6 I C A S Q U A R T E R L Y Reality Cowboys b y T e r r y D w y e r C A S Reality Before the Name Reality television didn't have a name when I started mixing it. They were quasi- documentary, sensational, and cheap—and almost no one in post treated them as a genre, much less one that deserved craft. My first network mix was 1994's U.S. Customs Classified, featuring Stephen J. Cannell, followed by How'd They Do That? Then, Barry Diller bought the studio out from under us and showed us the door. So, I went where the work was: editorial gigs and low-budget features. The one I remember best is Hulk Hogan's 3 Ninjas at Mega Mountain—not for its place in cinema, but because I mixed it in 5.1 on Pro Tools 4, panning with a mouse on a system that crashed every 15 minutes. The most valuable reflex a mixer owned in those days was Command-S. Terry Dwyer CAS at Mixers Post Sound