Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/933783
18 W I N T E R 2 0 1 8 C A S Q U A R T E R L Y Right. In my opinion, there is much more to mixing than just knowing how to use the tools. Experience is priceless. Who taught you to mix dialogue? I originally had to figure it out myself because there was no other way to learn. Eventually, I came to LA to find my masters. And who helped you? Todd Langer was probably the person who spent the most time with me. So, you saw how it should be done. Yes. And then you realized that you weren't quite doing it the right way. Yes. But you were in the ballpark. I was in the ballpark. He was an incredibly generous man and he would come in and he'd be like, "No, no, no. This is a tender moment," or "Watch this, focus on that." "What story are you trying to tell?" I started to see the real power of what we can do. Richard would pre-mix his dialogue against my background pre-mixes. He didn't want to overly sanitize the tracks and sacrifice the tonal quality of the voices. Sometimes you can do too much. That's very true. Just because something is cleaner does not mean it is better. No. It's not. It doesn't sound right. [Natural ambience] sounds like reality. Isn't that what we're doing here? What do you think is the thing you have to have in order to survive and thrive in this world as a re-recording mixer? I think you have to love it. I think that's the one thing that all of us are fortunate enough to have in common—sound editors, mixers; we love what we do. We put up with all the crazy hours and make a fair amount of personal sacrifice —because it's fun. It's satisfying. It's rewarding. I feel a great sense of pride when I see a film that I've mixed and my name is on the screen. So that's it. • Seabiscuit Planet of the Apes War of the Worlds