Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/526086
www.postmagazine.com 23 POST JUNE 2015 t's no secret that audio post schedules for broadcast series can be brutally short, and on VFX-heavy shows, ever evolving picture can put even more pressure on the post sound teams. So how do audio post pros deliver a great sounding show, week after week, while still meeting delivery dates? The talented audio post teams on Falling Skies, Wayward Pines, The Whispers and The Island talk about their tactics for staying on-schedule and still delivering stellar sound. FALLING SKIES With roughly 225 VFX elements to sound design per episode of Falling Skies — TNT's alien invasion series executive pro- duced by Steven Spielberg — the Smart Post Sound team in Burbank, CA, (www. smartpostsound.com) gets a head start by working with previz for the upcoming alien characters. Supervising sound edi- tor Rob Webber, who has been with the show since Season 1, says Falling Skies producer Scott Schofield understands the trial and error process of creating the perfect sound. "We are actually graced with a very long turn over. Scott gives us a couple of weeks to prepare and hear different elements against each other, but we don't fine-tune until the last cou- ple of days due to the often late arrival and late changes to the VFX," says Web- ber, adding that Schofield appreciates the power of sound and its ability to help move those VFX through the approval process. "Things can look a lot better when they sound good," states Webber. Falling Skies, which follows teach- er-turned-military leader Tom Mason (played by Noah Wyle) as he leads his band of survivors in battles against invading aliens, begins its fifth and final season on June 28 th . In a series that kills off a new alien creature every other ep- isode, it can be challenging to come up with unique voices. Add to that the gun battles, motorcycle chases, and space- ships, and the workload per episode seems immense. Webber and his team divide the sound editorial work to help them more efficiently move through the show. While a group of sound effects editors tackles all the battle and trans- portation effects, sound designer Rick Steele crafts the alien sounds. "Rick is uniquely brilliant at character voices and creatures," says Webber. Occasionally, an actor is cast to do the emotional bridge points for the alien voices, and those elements are turned over to Steele for use in his design. "We give Rick the emotional bullet points, but by the time he is done, there is very little left of that original performance." Much of the series is shot in Canada, so rain is a big issue on the production tracks. "We do massive amounts of noise reduction using the iZotope RX 4 and every de-clicking, de-crackling tool you can come up with really," says Webber. Several episodes worth of ADR on Falling Skies happen at once and Webber likes his team to sync their line choices to picture right away. "If you don't come back to those episodes for a month then it's harder to remember what the choices are. As soon as the ADR elements are available, we get them cut in," says Web- ber. It's the same for VFX. As the VFX elements come in, Webber likes to create full sound effects builds for them. "We know that they are going to change, but we also know we aren't going to have as much time as we would like later on. We are able to give some sound elements back to the VFX teams and it allows the process to be a give-and-take. That also allows us to stay on-schedule." WAYWARD PINES Long before the first frame is shot, AnEFX owner/supervising sound editor Jack Levy and his sound team are hard at work developing a project's sound, and Wayward Pines was no exception. Levy had a conference call in 2013 with director M. Night Shyamalan, music editor Richard Ziegler, co-producer Cathy Frank, and composer Charlie Clouser — a former member of Nine Inch Nails — to discuss sound possibilities for TV series Wayward Pines, now airing on Fox, Thursdays 9/8c (see "Primetime" on page 16). "From the beginning, we were invested in the sound and as such, the entire project had the I BY JENNIFER WALDEN Smart Post Sound (Webber, right) sound designs for VFX elements of TNT's Falling Skies (here and left).