Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/348146
www.postmagazine.com 36 POST JULY 2014 AUDIO FOR WEB SERIES & SHORTS Higgins at Anarchy Post (www.anarchy- post.net) in Glendale, CA, worked with sound supervisor/co-owner of Anarchy Post Dan Snow on Crackle's original Web series Chosen, now in its third season. Anarchy Post provides audio and video post services for the fi lm and TV indus- tries. They have two 5.1 Dolby-tuned mix stages featuring Dolby cinema monitors, an ADR stage equipped with the most popular production mics for best sound matching, and a separate Foley stage with multiple pits. Recent theatrical releases include the food industry docu- mentary Fed Up, and horror fi lm The Qui- et Ones, distributed by Lionsgate. Last year alone, Anarchy Post was nominated for three separate MPSE Golden Reel awards for "Best Sound Editing." Chosen is an action series that tells the story of small-time defense lawyer Ian Mitchell, who is forced to become an assassin in a deadly game after he fi nds a box on his porch containing a gun, a photo of a stranger, and instructions to kill the person in three days. Ian's daugh- ter has been kidnaped to ensure his par- ticipation in the game. Chosen is fi lmed on location in and around Los Angeles. "Unlike other series shot in LA, all the locations they shoot Chosen in tend to be featured, particularly from a sound stand- point," says Boykin. He and the Anarchy Post background editors on the series recorded sounds from actual Los Angeles neighborhoods to use in the show, instead of pulling stock eff ects. Boykin used the portable TASCAM DR40 with a Rode NT4 stereo mic, which off ers an X/Y stereo array without the need for matched pair mics, and a Sennheiser MKH 60 shotgun mic for mono recordings. Since Chosen is not fi lmed on a soundstage, the production dialogue contains all the noise from the location, whether they're shooting on a street or in a restaurant with the refrigerators still running. Boykin notes that while they want to take some of that noise out, they also want to leave some in to keep the real sound of the location. "Director Toby Wilkins, executive producer Ben Ketai, and I all dislike ADR. So there is very little ADR for the show," Boykin notes. Higgins cut all the dialogue in Season 3, as well as mixed two episodes. EQ is the fi rst process in his dialogue chain. Higgins likes DMG Audio plug-ins, in particular, the EQuick to notch out hums and light buzzes. In addition, he uses the Cedar DNS One plug-in, and the iZotope RX3 plug-in. Chosen's score is comprised of at- mospheric sounds and pads; it has very little percussion. Boykin notes the sound eff ects, Foley and dialogue are used to create the show's rhythm. Since the series looks and sounds dark and gritty, Boykin sometimes runs a clean sound- ing music pad through the Waves GTR3 Stomps plug-in to add some grit. He also uses it on the sound design. "The Waves GTR3 Stomps plug-in has an array of six guitar pedals, like distor- tion, doubler, delay, fl anger, phaser and fuzz. You can use that to create some really cool textures for sound design," he says. "For example, if the gunshots didn't sound dirty enough, then I process those using one of the guitar pedals to make it sound distorted, or punchy, or even put some delay on it. The Waves H-Delay is another good plug-in for analog delay. You can tweak the feedback setting in realtime. " In mixing Chosen for Crackle, Higgins and Boykin pay particular attention to the upper frequencies since playback is most likely to happen on tablets, or over computer speakers. "Really low frequencies aren't going to translate at all on those devices," says Higgins. "Adding some high-frequency distortion to the gunshots, for instance, can help give them a little more impact rather than using the LFE." Higgins notes the composer also does a lot of work in the upper frequencies. "Traditionally, where you may have a low-frequency drone, the composer adds a little high-frequency element in that will come across on the smaller speakers." Chosen is mixed in 5.1 on Stage B at Anarchy Post using an Avid C24 console with Pro Tools 11. They also delivered an Lt Rt for Crackle to use online. While it wasn't specifi ed that the series should hit the -24dB LKFS broadcast spec, Boykin feels that's a good standard for anything that's not going to play in theaters. He used the Waves WLM plug-in to mon- itor his mix output. "That lets you have enough dynamic range where big hits, gunshots, and big sounds still pop, but it's not so dynamic that you're constantly reaching for the volume to hear regular conversation," he says. "If you watch Chosen, or any show mixed at that level, on a computer, you're not going to be tapping the volume down because it's super loud. It gives you a good range of dynamics." MOZART IN THE JUNGLE Wade Barnett was the co-supervising sound editor for the pilot episode of the upcoming Amazon Original series Mozart in the Jungle. Barnett also cut the sound eff ects and production dialogue. He worked along side co-supervising sound editor Steve Sax, who also cut the ADR and backgrounds. The pilot was mixed by Leslie Shatz. Audio post was han- dled at Wildfi re Post Production Studios (http://wildfi repost.com) in Los Angeles. Originally an audio post compa- ny, Wildfi re Post Production Studios grew into a world-class post produc- tion facility that off ers everything from mixing, sound design and ADR/Foley, to picture editorial suites, visual eff ects and screenings. They provide services to the fi lm, TV and digital media industries. Past projects include: 12 Years A Slave, Olym- pus Has Fallen and Warm Bodies. The Mozart in the Jungle Web series, available soon on Amazon Prime, is inspired by the 2005 memoir of profes- sional oboist Blair Tindall. Tindall chroni- cles her experience playing for the New York Philharmonic and various orchestras for Broadway shows. The series depicts a dark side to the New York orchestral Mozart in the Jungle receives audio post services at Wildfi re in LA. (L-R) Higgins and Boykin collaborate on Crackle's Chosen series.