Mix has published an article about the sound mixing of  Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood. Check:

“It’s going to need a lot of work,” acknowledges dialog/music re-recording mixer Paul Massey, as he turns from the screen in the Cary Grant Theater on Sony Pictures’ Culver City lot to face other members of the sound and picture crew. Massey has just rolled a faders-up mix of the re-conformed Reel 8 for Robin Hood, directed by Ridley Scott, and there are several dialog elements that sound at odds with some new tracks that have been synched to picture following a re-sequencing of the film’s final battle scene. There are also places where the music ends or transitions too early, and sound effects require sweetening.

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Stay tuned for the next week for an interview we had with sound designer Ann Scibelli talking about her work on Robin Hood.

SFGate has published an article talking about the Dolby Surround 7.1 Mix on Toy Story 3, the future of sound for 3D films, and how the people could take this new sonic adventure.

Walt Disney Co.’s Pixar made the latest installment of its “Toy Story” franchise in 3-D to satisfy the growing appetite for immersive visual effects.

Its next challenge: getting the sound effects to match.

The current setup in most theaters, known as 5.1, couldn’t direct sounds precisely enough to specific parts of the theater, says Paul Cichocki, post-production supervisor at Pixar. The audio didn’t feel like it was putting the viewer in the middle of the action, he says.

“We really wanted to take sound to the next level, and we just weren’t able to do much in 5.1,” Cichocki said. “If we could put sound in the right places, it helps your brain look in the right place.”

That’s why Pixar urged Dolby Laboratories Inc. to develop a new version of its sound system, the dominant audio technology in theaters. The resulting Dolby Surround 7.1 standard lets movies deliver sounds through seven speakers, plus one subwoofer, which handles bass. For Dolby, the technology helps the company keep pace with other cinema improvements — from crisper digital images to reclining seats — and give audiences a reason to keep coming back.

Sound technology alone doesn’t compel people to see a movie, says Paul Dergarabedian, president of Hollywood.com’s box-office tracking division. It’s just a subtle part of improving the experience, he says.

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Some days ago, I asked to Paul Ottoson for an interview on the sound of “The Hurt Locker”. That was days before the Oscars night, so he becomes very busy, but he made an effort and sent me the answers to all the questions I did. Many thanks, Paul!

Designing Sound: Tell us… How did you get involved with “The Hurt Locker”?

Paul Ottosson: I got a call from one of the producers and the post supervisor. They had this great script they wanted me to read and the director wanted to meet with me if I liked the script. I loved the script and went to meet with Kathryn and Mark, the writer.

We sat and talked for a bit at her office and got along really well. They liked that I had a military background. Kathryn also mentioned she had not intentions to have any music beyond something over the credit roll. It would be up to me to design the entire thing. I liked the idea even though I knew it would be hard.

DS: How was your relationship with Kathryn Bigelow on the film? How was the importance she gives to the sound of the film?

PO: I loved working with Kathryn. We talked a lot about the overall sound of the film. It had to be very organic and yet have a design to it. We always needed to be there and most of the time in some kind of danger even though we might not see it most of the time. We ended up playing the perspective of every person in the scene a bit differently.

DS: When you started to work on the sound of “The Hurt Locker”? How long the process took?

PO: Well I think I was the first one that got hired, this is way before they shot a frame and you start thinking about it already then. I re-read the script take notes etc. I think all and all I was on the movie with a crew for perhaps 4 months.

DS: What was the most you enjoyed from the film? A favorite scene. perhaps?

PO: It was a rare movie to be on, I really love the movie, the entire movie. I’m very proud to have been a part of it, I think a big part of it. The crew did a fantastic job. The big set pieces are all really good scenes. I honestly can’t say I have a favorite scene. I think because I don’t think of the sound as much as a separate element but a part of the movie in it’s entirety.

DS: What were your main tools to work with sound on the film? Any interesting technique or specific process to talk about?

PO: The trick was to always stay organic it was important to not through off the audience with some “cool” over the top sound design or sfx. It had to kind of melt into the fabric of the movie. Of course we try to push it but without going over the limit. I used a lot of band compressing. I use MacDSP plug-ins a lot. I love how their plug-ins sound. It makes me stuff sound better and they’re so easy to use.

DS: How was the approach on the foley and field recording processes?

PO: All we tried to do was to always get it to sound real. Get the perspective right was important. Every cut was played and mixed of the perspective of the person we were with.

DS: And the mixing? What were the main goals on the mix?

PO: The mix was a bit tricky, I mixed it perhaps in a different way then most traditional mixers would have. Also perhaps because I have not mixed as much as most mixers out there. I think that also helped, we needed a
out of the box thinking mix. Had to make the mix sound like you would not expect it to.

It all came from that the sound would have to carry a lot of the scenes when not to much happened. I paned a lot of the dialog in the hectic scenes. It might not seem like a big deal but for those who knows it is. Usually we mix foley and dialog up the center cone.

When you pan dialog, now the air drone that the dialog is married to paned to the left which would leave a hole in the center so then I had to sneak in another fill in the center. I also needed to fill in with bg’s to fill in all sides otherwise the right side would seem empty. Then the foley needed to follow as well. Which mean I needed to shoot more foley other wise there would be nothing in the center or where ever the other character were on screen. I also did not really let anything sit still in the mix. I swiped EQ’s, rode the fader volume up even with simple bg’s to get a more dynamic and changing mix.

Like a very quiet scene when the get ambushed, after the gun fight is over it seems like there is not that much going on but mixing wise there is tons. Every perspective was cut and mixed different to make it feel a bit more stressful laying there in wait. After a gun fired I would even mix the tails with different eq and compression.

I would even sit and mix the attack on guns on the compressors to get the kick of the gun then maybe I wanted to compress and push the swell of the gun echoing around the mountain range. It was a really deep mix and I think the mix succeeded with helping to tell the story and keep you more in the movie then perhaps as an audience.

DS: Let’s talk about the first scene. I love every bomb-deactivation scene, but the first one is awesome. When the first bomb explodes, everything get slow down and you get a detailed vision of the moment, feeling the ground shaking, the wave expanding, etc. Great moment to make a great sound. How were your sound decisions on that scene?

PO: I drew from my time in the military. I was in a volunteer army when I was perhaps 15.

Then I was a ranking officer in the army when I was around 19-20. I remember the first time we blew up explosives. We had to “guess” how much plastics we would need to cut a railroad track in half. We truly just guessed and piled on a bunch. We then went underground in a bunker and detonated. It was insane, the pressure wave made the air in front tremble. I will never forget how it felt, it wasn’t that it was loud, it just shocked the entire body. When a bomb blows up and you’re really close you don’t die from the shrapnel but ahead of it is a shockwave expanding very fast. Your lungs can handle around 7lbs per sq inch. The shock wave expands in your nose and mouth and blows out your lungs at 100lbs per sq inch. It pops every capillary in your body.

So playing it from the EODs perspective he would never hear it. He would feel it and he would be dead before sound would get there. Thats how I played it and I came back to real sounds after his dead, then I played the scene as a viewer, like the others heard it.

I used insane amount of low end for the slow mo stuff to emulate what I felt when I blew up that bomb some 25 years ago.

DS: I really enjoy the way you manage the POV of each character, specially when the guys have the anti-bomb suit. You can feel what he feels, listen to his breathing, hear what he hear, it’s really great. What where the main concept used on the sound to give that feeling? There’s something special on the editing and the mix there?

PO: Kathryn liked it, it was kind of like an astronaut walking by himself in space. I felt that hearing his breath we would get his mindset. That he was focused and it put us in his space. I played it all around us, I even cheated it and played it a bit around us even when we were close to him.

DS: For James, war is an addiction and he see everything like a challenge. For the others is different, for example with Owens, his vision is more dramatic and he feels the pain and fear to death. How the sound design helps to expand the vision of each character of the film? Any special work for each character?

PO: Each character was treated different, James had a more solid walk and his movements were more deliberate. Eldridge being more scared did not have the same confidence in his walk and his gear made a bit more sound. I tried to use more of his scared breathing.

Ray Beckett, the production mixer did a fantastic job capturing all that live stuff from the set.

DS: One thing I loved was the helicopters. They come in the best moments and reminds you that you are in a “serious war”. In the tense scenes, in the calm, great details. For example when James is talking with his baby, you start to listening the helicopters and then start the final scene with the contrast of the end. How the audio team deal with the helicopters? How was the mix on those cut-scenes?

PO: We needed to maintain the war and where we were, we could not forget that there is still a war going on. I used the helicopters as well as jets to drive in and out of cuts as well as building tension in scenes. Even to escalate shots and dialog in a scene.

Like when the man comes up to Sanborn and ask if he’s from California. Sanborn gets angry he doesnt know if he is going to kill him and he start to yell at him and poke with the gun. I pushed two jets going by at supersonic speed with tons of sub info and kind of gave the scene a crescendo.

DS: I think tension is a key factor on THL. Sound design and music helps a lot there. How was the approach of the sound to make that hard-tension moments?

PO: To always keep you on your toes, sometimes to play foley louder then I would have in a regular movie. I would start out with a real environment sound then morph it into something a bit strange, still real but strange. I think the audience did not hear the change but they felt that it was un natural or strange and it helped with the tension.

Also as a final note, these things I have mentioned is easier to do when you’re working on a fantastic movie. When the script, acting, picture editing, the score, photography, the practical visual fx when it all is done in the best way possible and when you have a fantastic director like Kathryn making it all come to life.

DS: This is your third film working with director Tim Burton, how does he embrace the dubbing process?

TJ: Tim is very much into the sound mixing process. He is incredibly attentive and precise in his desires. He is very much into the rhythm or tempo of the soundtrack. This is true of all of the elements (Music, effects and dialogue). For Tim, all of the elements have to work in terms of timing or beat. Just like the picture itself has a certain rhythmic pace, so to does the soundtrack as a whole. Often notes are given based on this feeling more than anything else.

DS: Has it changed since your first collaboration of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”?

TJ: Tim is just as concerned about sound as he has always been, meaning he is very focused. Sound is as important to him as anything else in the film. I would say that for Tim, all aspects of the film are equal in importance because he sees them as fitting together to make the whole piece. In terms of sound, all elements are also equally important to him. In the case of “Alice”, Tim wanted a very rich and detailed track full of texture and rhythmic precision.

DS: How did the sound team on “Alice” establish the sonic differences between London and Wonderland?

TJ: The above ground scenes (or the “London” scenes) are meant to sound “normal,” meaning rather bland and uninteresting. This is supported by the picture too, in that it is rather colorless and two dimensional. When we get to “Underland,” or “Wonderland,” the world sounds and looks colorful, exotic, and very deep or three dimensional. Strange birds, insects, frogs, and other animals were used to sonically convey this idea of Wonderland.

Also, we wanted each of the places to have their own particular sound. For instance, the White Queen’s Castle, which is near huge waterfalls and lots of vegetation, needed to have a fuller, lusher sound than the Red Queen’s Castle which is in a desolate environment. Also, the area where the final conflict takes place is very empty, with only a stark, lonely wind playing.

The idea was to make Underland sound very site specific and interesting; while the real world of “London” was to sound boringly normal.

DS: What sounds were you able to embellish while the film was “down the rabbit hole”, which wouldn’t work in England’s realistic setting?

TJ: In terms of Backgrounds, we were able to use things like exotic birds that would never be found in England. Plus we were able to use crickets and frogs that would never be found in the cooler climates of Great Britain, either. And, of course, there were all the creature specific voices of the Bandersnatch, Jub-Jub Bird, Jabberwocky, etc.

We were also able to layer sounds on top of each other in such a way that Underland becomes deeper, more three dimensional sounding than the two dimensional world of England.

While surround channel usage is usually dictated practically, by someone of something’s movement passing by the POV of the camera, what creative reasons did you guys utilize the rear speakers in the film? How do you know when to avoid using them? (i.e., panning takes away from the action).

We used the surround channels a lot to enhance the three dimensional world of Underland. We tried to give a sense of things coming off the screen by often putting them slightly (or often even more than slightly) into the surround speakers. We did this with the music and effects a lot, but also with the dialogue as well. For instance, at one point Alice tells the Caterpillar that she wouldn’t fight the Jabberwocky even if her life depended on it. He responds, “It will!” We put that line in the Center speaker AND the center surround speaker to give it a bit of emphasis as his head comes out into the theater. This kind of treatment does not work at all in the 2D version of the film; it was really distracting and we found ourselves looking around the room because we were really aware of the surround speakers (especially when it was dialogue we were putting there). But when we ran the 3D version of the film, this technique really seemed to work pretty well.

We also did a lot more panning of the dialogue in the 3D version of the film. In fact, when we were in Underland we were pretty consistent at trying to pan the dialogue to wherever the person was speaking was in the frame. There is much less panning of the dialogue in the 2D version.

DS: I always get a kick out of the smallest sonic details in a film, like in “Alice,” I loved the sound of the door mouse pacing while she’s locked up in the metal birdcage. What character had your favorite sounds to mix in the film?

TJ: In terms of the dialogue mix, I have to say that I enjoy the White Rabbit a lot. Once you realize that all of the “animated creatures” in the film were wholly created after their voices were recorded, it is truly amazing how fantastic their performances really are. For me, I never tire of watching the White Rabbit. His facial and body movements are a perfect match for his vocal performance. And once you realize that it was a wonderfully talented group of animators that made that character come alive frame by incredibly detailed frame, the whole performance is quite an amazing feat of creativity and collaboration between animators and actor.

And this is true of all the animated creatures in the film. It was quite exciting watching them come to life over the course of the film making process.

DS: Alice frequently and dramatically changes height in the film; how did you guys play with her aural perspective while she was small versus when she was normal sized or tall?

TJ: We discussed this pretty early on. The first thing we decided was to NOT change Alice’s voice quality when she was small or big. We felt that this would be really distracting, and would also take away from the basic performance and interaction between the different characters. We did do some subtle thi
ngs with reverb when she was in the round room towards the beginning of the film. When she is big the reverb is fairly tight and small because the room is now smaller compared to her body size. And when she was small we used a larger reverberant space because the room is now bigger and more alive compared to her body size.

We also used a deeper sound for some of her feet when she was larger. But in the rest of the film we really let the visuals tell most of the story.

I suppose if one was to theorize about this, the idea is that in the case of Alice’s size changes we felt that the visual elements were so strong that if we tried to be equally bold with the sound, it would most likely diminish the impact that the picture was having on us.

We did find that we could do things with backgrounds that would help. For instance, when she was small the sound of the grass would become important because the blades of grass were as big as she was.

DS: What was your first gig like?

TJ: I would say that many of my first jobs were pretty intimidating. I remember a film called The Hot Spot, directed by Dennis Hopper. It was one of the first times Gary Rydstrom and I were really on our own. I mixed dialogue and music, and it was really very scary for me. Here you have Dennis Hopper directing; a great score by Jack Nitzsche, performed by the likes of John Lee Hooker, Taj Mahal and Miles Davis; and me a virtual newbie! The first day of the final we do a run through of our predubs for Dennis. During the whole rundown I am sweating bullets. I mean this is Dennis Hopper, man! At the end of the first reel he tells Gary how much he loves the sound effects work he has done (and it was and is a really nice job; definitely a film worth checking out). Then he turns to me and says, “The dialogue sounds kinda weird. Why is that?” This has got to be the worse comment anyone can ever make about a dialogue premix. And it is truly my worst fear to this day. He then says, “Can we play the first scene again?” And so we do. There is silence at the end of it. It seems like days before Dennis says anything. Then he says, “I guess it is just that it sounds so much cleaner than I’m used to, is that it?”

I think the whole room sighed with relief (or probably it was just me, but it certainly felt like the whole room, or world, suddenly was feeling better). And from that moment on we had a really fun time…..

New Avatar Sound Profile, this time by SoundWorks Collection, with great information about the sound of the film, given by Chris Boyes from Skywalker Sound.

The groundbreaking technical and directorial abilities of Director James Cameron can be experienced in his breathtaking visual world of Pandora in “Avatar”. This never before seen world is filled with landscapes, creatures, and civilizations that have also never been heard before by audiences.

Bringing to life the sounds of Pandora include the talent of Skywalker Sound’s Supervising Sound Editor, Sound Re-recording Mixer, and Sound Designer Chris Boyes in this SoundWorks Collection sound for film.

Avatar @ Designing Sound

Creating Echo Effects

Cubistic Sound in the Trial

Dynamic Range in the Rushing Hallway

Jet Car Sound Effects

Motorcycle Sound Effects

Music as Sound Effects

Music Box in the MRI Scene

Radio Chatter Voices

Room Tone in the Limbo Prison

The All-Pervasive Voice

The All-Pervasive Voice

Torture Scene

THX 1138 Website

This is the end of the Dane A. Davis Special, finishing with another article about his masterpiece Matrix, this time with the second part of the trilogy: Matrix Reloaded. Let’s check another article at Mix Online with interesting info about the mix, the music and some sound effects of Matrix Reloaded.

CAR DROPPING

Dane Davis: “It was all about the angles that things would bounce. We had to drop the cars right in the middle of the microphone array, and then keep them from rolling over the mics or over all of us. We also had a couple of wrecking balls — including one that weighed 3,500 pounds — that we dropped through the cars. At one point, one of the balls went all the way through the cars, through the concrete under them, into the dirt and back up through the car, then rolled over a bunch of mic cables and came to rest on a PZM mic, completely crushing it. We got some really great sounds out of that.”

THE SENTINELS

Dane Davis: “The Sentinels had to be very monstrous-sounding, very alive and very lethal; yet we know that they’re machines. Each one has eight motor and gear tracks, plus about four Foley tracks that are done live [mostly for the tails]. Each track is a composite of a bunch of sounds, and every move that the Sentinels make has to be expressed in every one of those tracks. The dubbing mixers then had to carefully pan each element of each Sentinel as they moved through space to give them a very real, three-dimensional power and menace.”

WHOOSH!

Dane Davis: “A really key part of the sound of The Matrix is the way air is pushed out of the way. The whooshes are the power: all those molecules of air being moved out of the way so that fist or foot can connect with you in a bad way. It’s unlike a lot of Hong Kong movies that go ‘thuk’ — with no air. The way we approach it is that every limb is a combination of different whooshes. They’re very complicated, with a lot of sound manipulation, but they all start out with real sounds: me swinging things around my head as hard as I can — computer cables, phone cords, unraveled nylon rope, lots of odd things on the ends of rope — you name it, we flung it.”

Full Article Here.

September Special will feature a wonderful sound designer, considered by many as “the father of modern sound design”.

I wanted to thank Composer Joseph Stephens for taking time out to do the following Q and A.

DS: Director Jody Hill talked about particular 1970′s films (“Taxi Driver” and “Shampoo”) influencing “Observe and Report;” Did they influence the score too?

JS: No. “Taxi Driver” music was never referenced…or any other film for that matter. Our score is very loud, very in your face. Ronnie, the main character, has a lot of pent up aggression and we wanted the music to be a bit of a window into that side of his personality; an aggressive foreshadowing, a turbulent insight into his internal struggles which is sort of the antithesis of “Taxi Driver”, which, musically, is very brooding, understated, and repetitive. Where “Taxi Driver” went for the narcotic lull of New York jazz, we went for the pounding drums, walls of feedback, and razor fuzz of punk and rock n’ roll.

DS: How did you discuss music with Jody? Did you converse in musical language?

JS: Jody Hill and I talked a lot about the music while the film was still shooting. Conceptually, we had a strong idea of where the score was going from a very early stage. While I don’t think either one of us really spoke in musical language, we did have a clear understanding about each others musical ideas and tastes. When I described an abstract wall of interlocking, subverted guitars playing only feedback for Ronnie’s arrest scene, he got the picture, just as his description of “The Kiss” (dictating hope; describing that ray of sunshine, that perfect moment which suspends and changes everything and doesn’t seem to want to end) was succinct and very direct. The language of music is pretty universal and has no set guidelines when you know what you like and don’t like and you can communicate your ideas clearly.

DS: How hard was it to develop a theme for Ronnie? How did it have to change over the course of the film?

JS: Ronnie’s main theme occurs at two distinct points in the film. Both points center around his honesty and innocence. The first is at a psychological interview. He tells about his dream of becoming a cop. We wanted the scene to sound sweet and honest and we wanted the audience to get on board with Ronnie’s perception of his place in the world, despite what a sociopath he sounds like in reality. The second time we hear this theme is when Ronnie goes to the police station for his first day on the job. The same theme has an uplifting, driving, and “things are finally changing for the better” feel. Here we need the audience to, once again, get behind Ronnie and pull for him. He seems so happy and proud of himself in both scenes.

It actually wasn’t that hard to develop. The “First Day on the Job” cue was one of the first pieces written for the film. It was actually submitted as a temp idea with the vocal melody as a place holder for another instrument to be added later. However, the vocal had a certain feel and hook that paved the way for many of the other cues and ultimately lead to the overall feel of the score, (that feel being very melodically vocally driven). We wanted to explore that same Ronnie melody at different points with the psych interview being a logical place to revisit.

Joseph Stephens(left) and scoring engineer Bob Engel(right).

DS: With “Observe and Report” using a lot commercial songs, how hard was it to make your cues blend in?

JS: Not that hard. This score sounds like it was performed by a band. I used instruments that are traditionally found in rock n’ roll music; guitar, vocals, drums, bass, keys, etc. Much of the score was recorded and mixed at Mitch Easter’s studio, Fidelitorium, which is primarily known for recording bands, not film scores.

There are also a couple “fake songs” in the film; Songs that I wrote and performed exclusively for the film but are meant to sound like pre-existing material from some other artist who licensed the music for use in the film in the same manner that Patto, The Yardbirds, and The Band licensed their music.

There is also the cover of the song “Where Is My Mind?” which was performed by one of my bands; City Wolf. As well, as the end credit song “Babyteeth” by my main band Pyramid.

With me singing “fake songs”, cover songs, and an original song; using the same drummer, recorded at the same studio as the score, it was easy to blend into the other licensed commercial songs throughout the film.

DS: Did this film have a temp score and if so how did that affect the composition process?

JS: We did use temp score here and there. When
I saw the first cut I knew I had to get in there fast because they were editing to temp, interchanging temp, becoming attached to temp, etc. I must say that I’m not a fan of “temp love.” Some of the temp worked really well but some didn’t. After I saw the cut I insisted I get a copy and get to work. The director and editor are close friends of mine so I got involved much earlier than traditional composers. Also, this being my first job with a major studio, I wanted as much time as I could get to work on this. I got home and started sending two or three cues a day, basically facilitating my own temp score. I threw as many ideas at them as I could; trying to get the temp out of picture so they would start editing to my music and become attached to original score. The temp that did remain served as a guideline. I didn’t particularly like following these guidelines but when the temp is working well it can be very useful…and sometimes hard to fight.

DS: Having also composed for HBO’s “Eastbound and Down”, in what ways did your approach to writing differ covering a feature verses a 30min episode?

JS: We were on a tighter deadline with television. There were six episodes that each had different time frames. So I moved much faster. I recorded everything for “Eastbound and Down” from my home – strictly “out of the box.” The instrumentation was different. I used mandolin, accordion, lots of synths, and female vocals. There was also a significantly smaller budget so renting a professional studio was not economical. Granted the cues were less grandiose so a studio wasn’t really needed but this certainly affected my approach. I had to pay closer attention to my mixes because I didn’t have a sound engineer or $15,000 monitors to fall back on.

In terms of difference in approach, the “Observe and Report” score was very guttural and raw; Lots of vocal passes and loud guitars, the writing was very traditional and basic, and at times more loose in large part because the score has that rock n’ roll feel. There were a lot of happy accidents. The pulse and instrumentation is very familiar and accessible. I think that comes somewhat naturally to me. Same with the TV show, though with “Eastbound and Down” the music went with jokes a little more, although some were quite serious in tone. “EB&D” cues were also shorter.

There were a couple cues on “O&R” that were massive. One had something like 150 drum tracks. Also some cues took a few passes before we got it right. With “O&R” I worked hand in hand with a music editor who helped tremendously in keeping me up to date as the picture cut changed and editing cues as needed. I couldn’t have done it without him. I did not work as closely with the music editor on “EB&D” though she was also great.

DS: How does composing music for a film differ from writing music for a band? What do you like more?

JS: The ultimate difference is that writing music for a band is essentially writing music for you. You are your own judge. What works and what doesn’t is not up to anyone other than you. When you’re happy; when you can say “This song sounds perfect to me”…that’s it. You’re done…next song. Certainly you want to push yourself and strive for excellence, but other than band mates, you don’t have that many people looking over your shoulder or waiting, sometimes impatiently, for the product. With film scoring, everything passes through a variety of stages of approval. It’s sort of like putting the music under a microscope. “The director loves it but the producer doesn’t think it works.” It gets a bit dissected and whittled down…in a good way. When you’re scoring something, you’re making music for someone and something else so you can’t cling to things. It’s all subject to the approval of others. You have to work together and you have to roll with the punches.

There’s also the obvious difference of using pictures. Scoring works in tandem with action on screen, dialogue, editing, sound effects, etc. In many ways, these elements do a lot of thinking and decision making for you. Cues have to be of certain length and tone. It has to interplay with a lot of factors that are out of your control. You have to listen for room to move and watch for interference.

I haven’t worked enough as a composer to know whether I like it more than writing music for myself. Composing can be very stressful, but it has big rewards. There is truly nothing like hearing your music up on the big screen. It’s very unique. However, writing for a band comes from and is channeled back directly into your heart so it’s hard to compete with that. I’m very lucky to be in the position to do both.

“The Dark Knight” swooped into theaters July 18th. Helping Nolan create a Gotham City that sounds as real as it looks is sound supervisor and designer Richard King. Riding tall with his work on“The Assassination of Jesse James…” King returned to work with Nolanafter a previous collaboration for 2006′s “The Prestige”. Mixing took place at Warner Bros. stage 10 where re-recording mixers Gary Rizzo and Lora Hirschberg manhandled dialog and effects/music, respectively. The pair mixed Nolan’s last two films. Known for his emphasis on the importance of production dialog, Nolan tapped Ed Novick to shoot location sound. Novick is currently working on Michael Mann’s next, “Public Enemies”. Recorded at Air Studios in London, Composers Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard divvied up the work on “TDK” following their formula from “Batman Begins”.

When I seem to have a grasp on what production sound crews have to overcome on set, I sit in a theater watching a film like “The Dark Knight” and humbly remind myself I really have no idea. Production sound mixers have to battle everything from wind machines to air conditioners all while doing their best to capture performances that may not be able to be duplicated on an ADR stage. Sadly, in the case of “TDK” this scenario rang true with the untimely passing of Heath Ledger. Thankfully, with Ledger’s incredible performance on screen and Ed Novick‘s hard work on set no looping was needed. Confirming with sound supervisor Richard King (his interview will be up this weekend) Novick’s mixing captured Ledger’s “Joker” well enough that everything you hear in the film is production. Moreover, King revealed that there is very little ADR in the mix, period. I don’t think there is a better compliment for a production mixer and thankfully this one took some time out to talk about his experience in Gotham City.

Designing Sound: With Nolan’s emphasis on practical effects that happen during the production as opposed to CGI which is replaced after the fact, do you find yourself recoding more SFX on set when, say, a big rig flips over or a hospital blows up? If so, does your relationship with the post sound department become more important?

Ed Novick: My job always has been, and continues to be about recording good dialog on set. Anything beyond that is often seen as a bonus. However, I don’t disregard the non-dialog portions of the process. Any production recordist has the responsibility to record what the camera sees; even if it’s only a reference or guide track. You have only one chance to record any given take, and you should use that opportunity. I might even do something good! My production tracks may be used as a base layer upon which post sound can build.

On this project, though, post asked me to record ambiance tracks in Hong Kong. And so I spent a day with my local sound guy recording cars, trucks, traffic, police and emergency vehicle sounds (Hong Kong specific), birds, markets, and the like. I took a DEVA V over the shoulder and had a Schoeps M-S rig and came back with good stereo ambiance for post to use. It may be all background, but it helps a lot that it’s authentic. Plus I got to see (and hear) Hong Kong from more of a local’s perspective.

DS: I’ve read that Nolan does not have a second unit on his films. Is there an advantage to not having two production sound crews?

EN: If second unit is far from the main unit, there’s no problem. Often though, a second (or splinter) unit is working at the same site as the first unit. This is usually a problem, as locking up one unit as the other shoots is pretty tough to do. Thankfully, this doesn’t happen with Chris Nolan projects, as there is no second unit work.

DS: Nolan said in a recent interview, “I just think separating the voice from the face and the body is very tricky… It is, after all, blatantly unreal.” With an established dislike of ADR, was Nolan more accepting of input from you on set?

EN: Chris likes to use the production sound for the final, yes. And if during shooting I can identify a problem – that’s fine. But he expects me to have a solution, as well. His method of shooting one camera at a time is very sound-friendly. I think we both agree that matching the camera perspective (wide shots sound more distant than close-ups) is correct, and that a well-positioned overhead boom mic will be better than a lavalier hidden under the clothing.

But there are exceptions to every rule, and there are plenty of lavs in use in “The Dark Knight”. For one, the bat suit has a place for a lav built in to the suit. Graham Churchyard, who designed the bat suit, and Day Murch, who did the day-to-day maintenance of the bat suit, were both very helpful in making sure that I had a good mic position for the lav (and that I didn’t do anything I shouldn’t)!

Chris made sure that sound was invited to every location scout. Many potential problems are solved this way, as issues like generator placement and cable-entry can be worked out in advance. This movie had a number of locations in practical office buildings, so identifying location issues (escalators, air-conditioning, elevator dings, etc…) early can help make them go away on the day. James McCallister (location manager) and his location team were terrific in this regard.

DS: What kind of challenge did the Imax cameras (louder then traditional 35mm) bring to the set?

EN: They are loud. Fortunately, most of the scenes that were shot with IMAX are action scenes, with little or no dialog. When IMAX was present for dialog, close micing became mandatory, regardless of the frame size. There is simply no opening for an overhead mic when that camera is running. Radio mics and/or plant mics were required in those instances. There are a few instances where radio mics were impractical, either for action or costume. In those cases we took wild track right after shooting, with good success, I believe. Baffling the camera with furniture pads (whenever practical) was also used for IMAX/ dialog shots.

There’s a scene where Bruce Wayne is driving his Lamborghini while talking to Alfred, who is back at the Bat Bunker. There’s an IMAX camera mounted on the hood and another on a side mount. Even with the windows rolled up, I could still hear the camera noise outside the moving vehicle. Now that’s a loud camera.

DS: As an unabashed fan of the new “Batman” films, I just have to ask what was the most rewarding scene to shoot? And, what was the trickiest location to shoot?

EN: Anytime I can make a music recording good enough to end up in the final product, I’m happy. So it was here that the version of “Balmora” played by the Chicago Police Dept. Pipe & Drum band was the one I recorded live. And anything that Heath Ledger did as The Joker was wonderful. He was a terrific guy.

There’s a dialog scene between Bruce Wayne and Lucious Fox on the Central Escalators in Hong Kong. It’s an elevated area in a noisy environment in the center of the city. And there were tons of extras. All in all, a very noisy place to record.

Also, many locations in Chicago (Gotham) were glass and steel structures. Lots of reflections! But our boom operator, Kurt Peterson, was very good at keeping those reflections out of the frame.

DS: What was your first gig like?

EN: I can’t remember that far back!

AUDIO MEDIA MAGAZINE

• Interview with Sound Designer Ben Burtt about his work on “Indiana Jones’s” current outing, HERE.

MIX MAGAZINE

• Sound Supervisor Richard King talks up his work on “TDK”, HERE.
• Production Sound Mixer Mac Ruth breaks down a day in the life on the set of “HellBoy II, HERE.

CHUD.COM

• Not too in depth but still exciting to see a non-sound related film site describe their trip to the dub stage for next month’s, “Mummy 3″, HERE.