Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/987065
46 S P R I N G 2 0 1 8 C A S Q U A R T E R L Y things up with sound. They're both very clever people, very smart writers and directors. They know what they're after. So, were you guys surprised when you won? I know Ben Patrick was. TB: Oh my God! EP: Incredibly! You have no idea. I literally sat back in my chair and went, "Oh cool, let's find out which of my buds won this year." When they said our name, my wife looked at me, and I said, "They didn't just call our name." Ben couldn't be there because he was actually still shooting the last episode of the current season. TB: Which is a bummer because we've been all together for all of them. EP: It so happens that this episode was a little busier than most. It was on location at a convention center. There was stuff going on that's way more than the average Silicon Valley. Did you approach it differently? EP: In cases like "Hooli-Con," we were pretty sure we were going to get away with playing a fuller show. They let us run with it. They wanted it to be busy and a little crazy. That's what made that episode fun. They all make us laugh, man. They're funny episodes. The writing is really good. We're lucky we get to work on it. TB: There was a point [during] the whole opening, it was big and windy and crazy and I don't think we underplayed it but I remember thinking: "Are we going to get away with more?" And, by the time that thing was over, we ended up going farther, which was great, because sometimes you're just suppressing a little. There were a few things that got thrown in on the stage just out of nowhere. Elmo, who are some of your influences and/or mentors or both? EP: Joe Hostetter at Berklee College of Music, who was a professor of music production and engineering. He taught an acoustics class and that was a big influence on me because it got me into the science of sound. As far as mixers: Ray Vaca & Mike Abott while we were at CBS Television City. Chris Jenkins at Todd-AO gave me my break to mixing features with Gary Bourgeois and Scott Millan. I look up to both of them very much and learned a lot from them. I learned some tricks about how to organize large sessions from Anna Behlmer, who started mixing around the same time I did at Todd-AO. Gary Alexander, who I sat next to as an effects mixer. If you watch what the man does and did, he was carving … he was a sculptor, very talented. They were models for me as dialogue mixers. Dennis Kirk, who I sat next to for a long time, he was a music mixer in the three-man mixing team days. Dennis had done a lot of great records that I admired. When I was in college, I was listening to Jackson Browne and he was the guy who recorded those records. Dennis just had great ears. He had just a fantastic sense of sound, and I learned a lot from and had a lot of fun mixing with him. We've remained friends for a long time. Todd, what about you? TB: I had a guy that I interned with who is still quite active. He records concerts all over the world and I started working with him on a remote truck. I learned a ton from him, even just outside of the job, just dealing with stress and people. Then I ended up at what used to be called Film House in Toronto which then became Deluxe. And there were a couple of very senior guys there that took me under their wing that mixed things like A Christmas Story. They're big names and I spent a lot of time working under those guys. They brought up a number of people, but I'm working on a stage where Paul Massey spent a bit of time, and Gary Bourgeois. Keith Elliot and Dave Appleby are the two guys in Canada that were big for me. As we were walking up, you were saying that you guys were big fans of Ben Patrick, the production mixer. Can you expand on that? EP: Ben is a team player. Right from the beginning, he introduced himself to us and we've just had a good rapport over the years. If any problems come up, we know that information is going to get back to us. He'll just drop an email saying, "Just so you know, on this set for this episode, you may have trouble with this." He keeps you informed. EP: But he's just really communicative and a nice guy and very talented. So it's been a good team. I grew up with seeing a little separation between the production mixers and the re-recording mixers. Ben is a stellar example of the kind of relationship I wish I had with all my production mixers. He's fun to hang out with and records some great sound and he cares, you know? He's aware when there are problems and tells me what they're doing to resolve them. He's the real deal. And the producers are aware. The producers are very sound-savvy. Mike Judge is a musician himself, so he gets "sound" and he has great ears. They always shoot booms and lavs so that we have the option. It's time for Ben to get an Emmy. I just thought I'd throw that in there! What kind of gear are you two using? EP: We're in a transition right now. I don't know if you noticed, we have small Avid S6s sitting on top of the Harrison next door. We mixed that episode and the last four seasons on a Harrison MPC4-D digital film console. iZotope is my friend. Actors can sometimes have clunky quirks. You hear sinuses, you hear weird things. Good mic'ing doesn't always bring out the best sound in people, or they are quiet with poor signal-to-noise. I live in iZotope. I freaking love it. It's changed our world in a lot of ways and especially now that even the booms are wireless, right? Oh yes, 100 percent. At least, that is the case in my world. EP: So there are still artifacts that come with that occasionally. So iZotope has been great for cleaning that up. We use it