Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/830490
24 S P R I N G 2 0 1 7 C A S Q U A R T E R L Y Did you have any communication with your post team before or during the process? It's usually the first thing I want to do is just to, whether it's the post supervisor, whoever, just to say, "I'm available. Here's my information. Anytime." And the thing is that a lot of times, even when I go day play … [for instance] I was working on the show Scorpion. Scorpion has a big cast, right? I sent my informa- tion out. So I said, "I'm filling in for the mixer for a couple of weeks and here's my info." And wouldn't you know it? They contacted me after I'd been done for a week or so. And so, I was able to provide this to them a week after I was done. Helped them out. Stuff like that. It's always like that. They'll call me up and they'll have some, something. They'll have a problem with something. Anyway, I'm just able to help solve things because I know why usually. Did you actually get to meet your re-recording mixers? I went to Technicolor and sat in with them. And it was great because the post supervisor was there, Alexis Woodall. But now, I have a trained ear for what I do. But sitting in with those folks because Alexis, she's like, "I don't like the way that's decaying," and she's talking about the music behind the scene. I'm sitting there and I'm going, "I thought that sounded awesome." She's like, "I don't really like." And, you know, she's "Literally, here, here. What is that? Is that a dog barking?" I'm going, "What!?" "Dog barking?" "You've got dog hearing." I can't. I'm listening to the words only and she's listening to everything. And every- thing she says, Joe and Doug know exactly what's going on. Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. It was really cool. Who was on your team? I had a number of people come through the show. My primary team was [boom operator] Ace Williams and [boom operator/ utility] Kris Wilcox. Kris is the utility but pretty much he's the second [boom]. On that show, it was just mics, mics, mics everywhere. But he didn't start the show. I had a bunch of people. I started with [boom operator] Andy Adams, and then Andy left and I had [boom operator] Don Coufal. Kris was the guy for the whole time. It was an interesting thing because the guy I wanted wasn't going to be immediately available. So I got Andy to start the show, knowing that he had another show to go to. And then he had to leave early and I got Don Coufal who is like, you know, he's a rock star. Don's like, he's that guy. You bring him on and you don't think about another thing. And then, Don left and I had [boom operator] Dennis Fuller. Then Dennis left and I got Ace Williams … and in between all this, Kris is jumping in and Kris is always there. He's the constant. So, it was great because we had somebody consistent to deal with the cast, wiring, and things like that. And Kris, like Ace and those other guys, he's a guy I don't have to tell him what to do. He's been in it for 25 years. He just takes care of everything. Excellent. Is he a regular partner for you when you do a pro- duction? If I'm working and he's available, he's my guy. Ace and Kris. Yes, they're the two guys that did Feud with me and they're going to do American Crime Story moving forward. I'm very excited to have them. Was there a specific crazy day or moment that you had to think on your feet to find an on-the-spot creative solution? When we did the Bronco chase. So they had an insert car with the process trailer. And they had this whole thing set up and we blocked off the north side of the 710 where the freeway ends or begins depending on your point of view. So we're going to do some shots and they're setting up the process trailer, and Ryan wants to go. He's directing the episode. So he's like, "Let's just go. We'll do some free driving stuff. It will be great." So I'm in scramble mode because they've got this whole video village set up in a big Mercedes sprinter van. They've hung blacks in this thing and they've put their big microwave antennas suction- cupped to the roof. And they're all sitting. Ryan's back there, so it's like a disco back there. He's got all the producers, all the writers. It's a party. They're listening to music, they're having a great time. And I'm like, I don't know what to do because they've got the cameras handheld in the Bronco with the actors. And I'm thinking … we're going to free drive. How are my wireless, right? If I get out of range—well, this is another great reason that I use Zaxcom because the transmitters record locally with timecode. So, if I have any problem, I can replay what it recorded. And then this is the thing about NeverClip. So we're doing this sequence. I'm in the front seat in a bag. I've got my antennas kind of out the window, suctioned onto the roof. And so anytime I got a drop, I'm thinking, okay, no prob- lem. I can retransfer those. But if they get loud, and this is all ad-lib, right? None of it's scripted. This was the nature of working on the show. We went from "We're going to do process trailer" to "Let's start rigging it" to "No, we're just going to go drive." And they're having a ball back there. So they don't even want to go in the process trailer. We're not doing the process trailer. The last thing they were thinking about was sound recording. So they didn't even use the process trailer. For two days, they're like, "No, we're not using that anymore." It sat there. We didn't use it. We did free driving for the whole sequence. And we sort of, make it work. What was great in terms of the NeverClip was, sure enough, I've got Cuba Gooding in the back seat and he's obviously going through this range of emotions. And all of a sudden, he does this thing and it's in the show. If you actually watch Episode 2, he goes, "I'm tired of you driving me around, A.C." He screamed out this line. And I had the fader pumped because I'm like, I can barely hear From left: Judah Getz, Joe Earle, Doug Andham, and mix tech Robin Warren