Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/348146
www.postmagazine.com 35 POST JULY 2014 ixing for the Web — it's like mixing for broadcast but better, because what you give is what you get back. With Web series, there is no 'TV crunch' of brick-wall limiters or other signal processing that happens to mixes before they air. Most audio post facili- ties approach mixing a Web series and a broadcast series the same way, even as far as making a Web series CALM Act compliant. The biggest diff erence? With Web mixes, more attention is paid to how it translates on small speakers. Interestingly, many mixers are more pleased with how their Web mixes sound over their broadcast mixes. Chris Philp at Larson Studios explains, "If you listen to some of the shows we've worked on for network television, you'd come to tears. It's not the mix we gave them. It's the dog's dinner." ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK John Kincade is the supervising sound editor on Season 2 of the Web series Orange is the New Black, which is avail- able now on Netfl ix. He worked with re-recording mixers John Chamberlain and Chris Philp at Larson Studios (www. larson.com) in Hollywood. Larson Studios is a full-service audio post company that has two separate locations in the heart of Hollywood. Their Sunset Building, located on Sunset Blvd., features four stages for 5.1/7.1 mixing, six separate audio editing suites, and a dedicated ADR and Foley Stage with custom-designed, sunken Foley pits. The Wilcox Building, located on Wilcox Ave., features three 5.1/7.1 mixing stages, and an ADR and Foley stage. Their award-win- ning mixers and sound editors have worked on many popular series, including Fargo, NCIS: Los Angeles and Weeds. The Netfl ix series Orange is the New Black is based on a memoir by Piper Kerman, chronicling the time she spent in a women's prison. In the series, Piper is sentenced to 15 months in a women's federal prison for transporting drug money. In Season 2, Piper is moved from a maximum-security prison to minimum security. Kincade had a hard time fi nding eff ects for a minimum-security prison, because there aren't all the bells and clanks that happen in maximum security. To build up the backgrounds, he record- ed loop groups to create the sound of many incarcerated women. "We only had six women's voices in the loop group, but we learned to manip- ulate them, and make them sound diff er- ent," he says. Kincade recorded the loop group outside the ADR studio to get a natural reverb. Then the tracks were layered to create a diff erent fl avor for each scene. "When you watch the show without those backgrounds happening, the actresses are just walking around a set talking. There is nothing dramatic happening. Everything you hear has been added, but you're not supposed to think about it. You're supposed to just enjoy the show," notes Kincade. Because the dialogue was record- ed on sets that represent real places, without sound panels on the ceilings or carpets on the fl oor, the sound, Kincade describes, is bouncy. Re-recording mixer Philp, who handled the lead dialogue/ ADR/group/music, had two days to polish the dialogue and build up back- grounds that sounded busy but wouldn't hamper the intelligibility of the actresses. "It's so noisy and that is one thing we're trying to create," explains Philp. "Getting the dialogue to read, particularly in the cafeteria scenes, where everything is happening, those are the challenges." To clean the dialogue, Philp used an array of tools from companies like Cedar, iZotope, and McDSP, particularly their AE400 Active EQ. "You name it and I've used it," Philp says. "It's tricky locations and we have a lot of ADR lines to match in." On average, they record 60 lines of ADR per episode, spread out among the large cast. Dialogue editor Todd Niesen was a key player in getting the dialogue sounding great on a short schedule. Larson Studios has a week to complete each episode, with only two days for the fi nal mix. "It's all about preparation," says Philp. "With John [Kincade] supervising the show, he brings all the pieces together before we even hit play." Re-recording mixer Chamberlain, who handled the sound eff ects/Foley, adds, "John is up for days on end making sure everything is ready for stage and is easy for us to understand. The speed at which we mix heavily depends on the many hours of in- tense preparation done by John Kincade." Other key audio team members include sound eff ects editor/sound designer John Peccatiello, ADR/Foley mixer Andrew Morgado, and Foley artists Adam DeCoster and Eileen DeCoster. All the Foley is handled at Larson Studios. "The Foley in this show is more promi- nent in the mix than any other show I've worked on," notes Chamberlain. "The Fo- ley team's work is dynamite; it's spot on." When it comes to mixing for Netfl ix, Philp and Chamberlain note it was refresh- ing to mix a show without any restrictions. Philp explains, "Some people might think that if you're mixing for Netfl ix or other digital content providers, then you'd be re- stricted in some way, but it's not the case. We can do whatever we want, and we do, and that's good for the show." They mixed the series in 5.1 on Stage 3 in the Sunset Building, using an Avid ICON console running Pro Tools 11. They also delivered an Lt Rt. "This is the only show we work on that has full bandwidth, full theatrical sound potential, and we're taking advantage of that," says Chamberlain. "Unlike broad- cast, nothing is done to your mix for a Web series. All the time and eff ort, and money spent to create an amazing mix is represented quite well." Larson Studios starts post on Season 3 of Orange is the New Black in mid-Ju- ly. Philp notes that Netfl ix requires the new season to be CALM Act compliant. "Mixing to that spec of -24dB LKFS is a little tricky for a 60-minute program. I guess that will be our challenge for this new season," he says. CHOSEN Re-recording mixers Tom Boykin and Sean BY JENNIFER WALDEN M Orange is the New Black is mixed in 5.1 at Larson's Sunset location. The Larson Studios team.