Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/987065
50 S P R I N G 2 0 1 8 C A S Q U A R T E R L Y made a bunch of racket for the BBC. I also have done a lot of stereo field recordings for sound design work, like recording waterfalls in New Zealand or a beach in Maine or the NYC subway. I've gathered a modest library of my own sounds, and I love using them in sound designs because every time I use one of my sounds instead of stock stuff, it transports me to where I was when I recorded it. I also do a fair amount of on-location music recording. It's a nice marriage of my roots as a music recordist and production work. So whether it's multitracking a concert or recording a band in a field for a live video, it's fun to use techniques and equipment from both disciplines together. When you're not working, what do you enjoy doing? When I'm not working, I enjoy spending time with my wife Kara and with friends and family. I still play as much music as my schedule will allow, which is a cathartic balance to the rest of life. I am truly passionate about this work, and often when I get off the clock, I just start thinking of the next shoot, recording or mix. Healthy? Who's to say, but I don't know any other way. I see you went out to the CAS Awards. Did you have a good time? I loved attending the CAS Awards. It was really a dream to be in the same room with so many distinguished members of the community. I met some folks that I definitely intend to keep in touch with. It was a night of great conversation! I truly enjoyed meeting Gordon Moore, president of Lectrosonics. What a kind man. The CAS Awards ceremony was really life affirming— there were so many great people who were all there in service of sound and fostering a community around it. I loved every minute of it. Tom Fleischman CAS: Re-recording Mixer Your father Stephen was a documentary filmmaker in the sixties—with a number of them focusing on music. Did his work have an impact on the teenage Tom Fleischman? My father's work had a great impact on me. He was a writer/ director/producer for the news divisions of both CBS and ABC television. In those days, the network news divisions were separate from the entertainment divisions and the networks were required to produce content "in the public interest." Part of that was the production of hour-long documentaries on a wide variety of subjects. My dad traveled a lot. He went all over the world shooting his subjects and spent countless hours writing the scripts. One of the things he taught me about documentaries was this: "You've got to tell 'em what you're going to tell 'em, then you tell 'em, then you tell 'em what you told 'em." His shows covered many topics but several of them were about musicians and the music business. Music was big in our household and as a child, one of my favorite things was pushing the red button on the record player (which started the record playing) and recording things on our reel-to-reel tape recorder. My parents took my sister and I to concerts and to many Broadway shows. In grade school, I took clarinet sessions but never really took to that instrument and gave it up after a few years. I didn't play another instrument until taking up guitar in my mid-50s, but music has always been a big part of my life. Early on, before turning to sound, you apprenticed for your mother (renowned film editor Dede Allen). Aside from the obvious exposure to the technical process of how film editing works, what did you learn from her during this time? With both parents being in the industry, I absorbed a lot of the day-to-day politics of the cutting room listening to discussions over the dinner table, but I think the most important thing I learned from my mom was to just show up, be dedicated to the work, and do the best I could at whatever task was in front of me. I spent a fair amount of time growing up visiting her workplace. I went with her to sets during shooting, to her cutting room when she was editing, and a number of memorable visits to her mixes. She mixed many of her films with Dick Vorisek, and I visited his mix stage at Reeves Sound Studios on several of her films. I can remember one time visiting the mix on one of her films and during the lunch break, I got up on Dick's chair and started fiddling with the console. Dick was in the room and when he saw me he said, "I don't mind you doing that, as long as you put everything back just as it was when you started." This was in the days before console automation and that memory came back and stuck with me when I began to learn about mixing. Since you had been working in film editing with your mom, was it while attending NYU's School of the Arts that you became interested in sound?