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www.postmagazine.com 32 POST FEBRUARY 2015 Palmer on Glee and Bruce Litecky on American Horror Story, we'd really be standing still," explains Earle, who han- dles dialogue and music mixing for the aforementioned series. According to Earle, the most im- portant factor in getting the job done quickly on the dub stage is having state- of-the-art gear: a Euphonix System 5 Hybrid console (now Avid), Pro Tools 10, dbx 120 Low Frequency generators and the TC Electronic System 6000. "Com- bine that with an old school Dolby Cat. 430 and a good set of ears, and away we go," says Earle. Andham explains the Euphonix System 5 console is at the heart of their setup. "It's the piece of gear we use most. We do so much work through the console. It houses all our compressors. We rely on the console's EQs. Every- thing about that surface is fantastic. You can use it as an analog console or as a digital interface/controller for Pro Tools. The flexibility it gives us is unparalleled," he says. Earle uses three Pro Tools 10 systems for the dialogue and music, Andham has two for effects, Foley, and backgrounds, and there is a separate sys- tem used as a 'toy box,' which runs any plug-ins the team chooses in Pro Tools 10. They bring all those elements togeth- er through the Euphonix console. Technicolor at Paramount features Euphonix System 5 consoles with the EuCon hybrid option that allows the mix- ers to control audio tracks from multiple DAWs directly on the console surface. Euphonix (www.avid.com) was ac- quired by Avid in 2010, a move that can only mean better integration between Pro Tools software and the System 5 console. According to the Avid site, the System 5 console offers a deep level of integration with Dolby Atmos, which includes "support for 9.1 panning of the 'bed' channels, integrated monitor control of the Dolby RMU unit, support for Object panning metadata, and direct Atmos plug-in control in Pro Tools from the surface." As Technicolor Sound's chief engineer Michael Novitch noted in the December issue of Post, mixing TV and Web series in Dolby Atmos is just on the horizon. With the System 5 console and Pro Tools, Earle and Andham should be well-prepared for that next step of mixing series in Dolby Atmos. For Earle and Andham, another key tool for mixing series is the TC Electronic System 6000 (www.tcelectronic.com), a dynamic processing unit that offers a variety of compressors, limiters, reverbs (including multi-channel reverbs), EQs, and loudness metering tools. It can be specifically tailored for music, film, mastering or broadcast. The Film 6000 includes the LM6 Loudness Radar Meter, UnWrap HD for up-conversion of stereo mixes into 5.1, and Reverb 8 an 'infinite channel' reverb that processes reverb to an infinite number of output channels. Additional licenses can be purchased for the System 6000, allowing users to cus- tomize the unit to their needs. TC Elec- tronic also offers an Integrator plug-in that allows users to save and reload the complete settings of their System 6000 for each project within the DAW. Earle notes they use the TC 6000 on all the shows they mix, at the end of their chain for print mastering. Broadcast TV series Glee for Fox has a different deliv- ery spec than cable series Togetherness does for HBO and Web series Grace and Frankie for Netflix. With the TC 6000, says Earle, "We can limit our mix based on the specs, which is +14dB for TV and +18dB for HBO and Netflix." Prior to print mastering, Andham uses compressors/limiters individually in the TC 6000 to control the peaks on the effects and Foley tracks. For more dynamic sounding series, like American Horror Story, where Andham says he re- ally needs to have the effects and Foley as loud as possible while still staying in spec, he adapts the brick-wall limiter in the TC 6000 to fit his needs. "It allows me to have control without crushing the sound too much. The TC 6000 is so transparent. It gives me clean, sharp sounds without being over-peak." DOLBY CAT. 430 As technology marches on, sometimes it's nice to take a step back. Before joining New York City's SuperExploder in 2012, award-winning mixer/sound designer Jody Nazzaro manned a mix- ing board at Tonic, where he was first exposed to the Dolby Cat. 430 Series background noise suppressor (www. dolby.com), an outboard noise reduction unit introduced by Dolby in 1991. "I was mixing a spot where the dialogue was recorded on-set. The boom operator was a bit too far away from the talent and it wasn't a proper soundstage, so the dialogue was reverberant, and there was noise and hiss on the track. The client was concerned about how it sounded," recounts Nazzaro. An engineer at Tonic suggested running the dialogue through the Dolby Cat. 430. "It basically changed my life," says Nazzaro. After leaving Tonic, Nazzaro tracked down a Dolby Cat. 430 for sale on UNSUNG AUDIO GEAR VETERAN SOUND MIXER RELIES ON DPA MICS NEW YORK — Whether it's for the set of a television pilot or a Hol- lywood film, veteran production sound mixer Danny Michael says he relies on DPA Microphones (www.dpamicrophones.com) for his diverse miking needs. Michael, who has worked as a sound mixer on such films as The Departed, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, 8 Mile and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, and whose work on the film Mississippi Burning earned him a Best Sound BAFTA Award and Oscar Nomi- nation, says he looks to the company's d:dicate 4017B Shotgun for traditional booming situations. For the wider ranger of productions he works on, he occasionally turns to a variety of the company's other mics as well. After first discovering DPA Microphones in 2011 during pre-pro- duction for Now You See Me for director Louis Leterrier, Michael's admiration for the company quickly grew. "I was tasked with finding a headset mic to use during the on-stage magic scenes in the movie," he says. "We received a few different samples, but the DPA d:fine stood out as it provided the best sound. Since it was ul- timately an artistic decision, I left it to the director to make the final call and, luckily, he also preferred the d:fine. That little mic piqued my interest to try additional DPA products and I've been using the brand ever since." Within the last year, Michael has also used DPA mics on a variety of productions, including the New York set of Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, directed by Shawn Levy. While film- ing exterior shots with stars Ben Stiller and Ricky Gervais outside of the Museum of Natural History in Manhattan, Michael relied on DPA's d:dicate 4017B to battle the noise of Central Park West. "We found that the d:dicate 4017B was very useful for this project since it is small and lightweight, which lends perfectly for use during closer shots on the actors," says Michael. "With other microphones, which tend to be longer, when you come in for a close-up, sometimes it doesn't sound flattering because it adds an odd tube-like sound. The d:dicate doesn't have that discoloration, which is a very positive aspect."