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www.postmagazine.com 35 POST JANUARY 2015 they were able to review and revise the sound as a work in progress. They spent days going through all the sound eff ects, dialogue, and ADR lines, match- ing them with the fi nal edited dialogue to make sure they had the best options in place. "Being able to work with direc- tors, especially fi rst time directors, in a laid-back and informal session — away from the dub stage where you're on the clock and feel pressured to get things done quickly — can be an invaluable part of the creative process. These ses- sions also sparked a lot of great sound design ideas," says Nierenberg. While The D Train is defi nitely char- acter and dialogue driven, there are ample sound design opportunities, from character enhancements to scene transitions that support the pacing and mood. Nierenberg loves how they were able to craft little details that help shape the characters. For example, he notes Jack Black's character carries around a hard plastic cooler that establishes his nerdiness. "We went out and recorded a cooler being carried, but it wasn't empty nor just full of ice. We had things fl oating in partially melted ice so you hear this sloshing sound as he's walking. It may seem minor and silly but specifi city makes all the diff erence in the world," says Nierenberg. The D Train was mixed in 5.1 on an Avid-Euphonix System 5 console in Sonic Magic's new North Stage by re-recording mixer Jonathan Wells. At fi rst glance, audiences may expect a typical Jack Black comedy, but they're in for a surprise, says Nierenberg. "It isn't what you expect. It's hysterical yes, but it's also smart, sad, shocking, and really well made. Also, the sound is pretty de- cent [laughs]. Let's just say it's going to make some noise at Sundance." GLASSLAND Sound designers Niall Brady and Steve Fanagan at Ardmore Sound in County Wicklow, Ireland (www.ardmoresound. ie), have recently worked on two fi lms for Sundance, The Hallow in the Park City at Midnight category, and Glassland which is in World Dramatic competi- tion. Glassland, writer/director Gerard Barrett's second feature-length fi lm, is a "claustrophobic character study of a guy in his mid-20s," describes Brady. Glass- land explores the relationships of South Dublin cab driver John (Jack Reynor), and the diffi cult fi nancial choices he has to make in order to take care of his mom Jean (Toni Collette). Brady notes the production and post crews on Glassland had very realistic expectations; everyone knew what could be achieved with a limited time and bud- get. "The director didn't want to create a diff erent fi lm from what the schedule allowed. Everyone did very concentrated work on the fi lm over a four-week peri- od," notes Brady. They recommended the limited budget for post sound be spent mainly on mixing, forgoing both ADR and Foley work. "The production track was the main anchor we used in the fi lm," says Brady. In addition to capturing the dialogue as cleanly as possible, location sound mixer Hugh Fox set up multiple mics in each location to capture a variety of audio angles, giving the post sound crew substantial coverage of production sound to make up for a lack of Foley. "Hugh put so much work into planting mics. Many scenes take place around the house and people are moving from room to room. If someone goes off one of those plant mics then they would go on to another one. Hugh's planning was really meticulous," says Fanagan. Visually, Glassland is comprised of tight shots, putting the audience in close proximity to John and creating a boxed- in atmosphere. "This character is not really able to think outside the four walls he's within," says Fanagan. "So the world outside is excluded from the sound de- sign, as if John has tuned out everything that isn't necessary in his life to survive." It's an experiential fi lm; the audience sees and hears the world as John does. For example, when John drives his car, a diesel-engine Volkswagen, the sound is heightened. Fanagan layered produc- tion sound eff ects with hard eff ects and sound design to make the audience feel John's immediate experience. "We want- ed to make it more visceral, more physi- cal, and more right there in the moment. You're in this run down house, or this clapped out car, and John is just hanging on by a thread. Anything we could do to enhance that we did." The hard eff ects came from recordings Fanagan captured in Dublin. Brady, who cut the production dia- logue, relied on Clip Gain in Pro Tools 10 to help him boost the Foley-esk produc- tion sounds in the track. For example, if there were usable footsteps, Brady was able to give them more presence. Addi- tionally, because picture editor Nathan Nugent chose hard, angular cuts from scene to scene, Brady enhanced these by pushing any sound that fell on a cut. "The house was quite a live space because of the fl at walls and sparsely furnished rooms. The refl ections are quite harsh and we leaned on that aesthetic for the fi lm," says Brady. Fanagan used the Avid EQ-7 to tweak the production eff ects, and the Flux Epure II EQ for more surgical EQ shaping. Reverbs included Avid's ReVibe on dialogue, and for eff ects the Waves IR-1 Convolution Reverb, Flux's Ircam Verb, and also ReVibe. "The reverb work we did was all about keeping the sound in a small space: in the small kitchen, or small bathroom, or the living room, or in the car space," notes Fanagan. The audio post editing and premixing was done BY JENNIFER WALDEN Audio post for The D Train was completed at Sonic Magic, headed by supervising sound editor Jay Nierenberg (inset). AUDIO FOR INDIE FILMS