Sync Tanks: The Art and Technique of Postproduction Sound

Author(s): Elisabeth Weis

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide
range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and
facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@[Link].

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
[Link]

Cineaste Publishers, Inc. is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access
to Cinéaste

This content downloaded from [Link] on Thu, 17 Jan 2019 04:06:24 UTC
All use subject to [Link]
 the music as well." Today an editor on a This article ca
Clementine (1946) include Wyatt major feature would either hire a supervis-how digital tech
The Earp Clementine
Earp ascredits
technicalas consultant1
technical forbut(1946)
only John consultant1 Ford's include My but Darling Wyatt only ing sound editor who gathers a team of production sou
one person responsible for all of postpro- sound specialists, or go to a company likewide variation
duction sound (the composer). The credits C5, Inc., Sound One, or Skywalker that can another, digital
for Lawrence Kasdan's Wyatt Earp (1994) supply the staff and/or state-of-the-art facili- ing faster than
list the names of thirty-nine people who ties. fiction movie.
worked on postproduction sound. The dif- Sound is traditionally divided into three
elements: dialog, music, and effects (any
ference is not simply a matter of expanding PRODUCTION
egos or credits. auditory information that isn't speech or Even the sound recorded live during
"An older film like Casablanca has an
music). Although much of the dialog can be principal photography is not wedded physi-
empty soundtrack compared with what we recorded during principal photography, it cally to the image and has to be precisely
do today. Tracks are fuller and more ofneeds
a fine tuning later. And almost all other relinked during postproduction. It is usually
selling point," says Michael Kirchberger sound is added during postproduction. recorded on 1/4" magnetic tape (though
( What's Eating Gilbert Grape?y Sleepless in How does sound get on pictures? The there are alternatives) and marked so that it
Seattle). "Of course a good track withoutfollowing is a rough sketch of the procedure can be ultimately rejoined with the picture
good characters and storyline won't be for a major Hollywood feature production. in perfect synchronization.
heard by anyone."2 But it is not a blueprint; exact procedures On the set the location recordist (listed
With soundtracks much more dense vary tremendously with the budget and as production mixer) tries to record dialog
than in the past, the present generationshooting
of schedule of the film. Blockbuster as cleanly and crisply as possible, with little
moviemakers has seen an exponential
action films, for instance, often devote much background noise (a high signal-to-noise
growth in the number of people who work
more time and money to sound effects than ratio). A boom operator, usually suspending
on the sound after the film has been shot. is described below. The process certainly the microphone above and in front of the
What do all those people add - both techni- does not describe how the average film is person speaking, tries to get it as close as
cally and esthetically? "When I started out, made abroad; few other cultures have such a possible without letting the microphone or
there was one sound editor and an assis- fetish for perfect lip-synching as ours - so its shadow enter the frame.
tant," says picture editor Evan Lottman ( Theeven dialog is recorded after the shoot in An alternative to a mike suspended from
Exorcist , Sophie's Choice , Presumed Inno-many countries. an overhead boom is a hidden lavalier mike
cent). "As editor for a big studio picture in on the actor's chest, which is either connect-
Photo: A mixing session for Walter Murch's
the early Seventies I usually cut the ADR
Academy-Award-winning sound design ed to the tape recorder via cables or wired to
[dialog replaced in postproduction - EW' and
for Francis Coppola's Apocalypse Now (1979). a small radio transmitter also hidden on the

This content downloaded from [Link] on Thu, 17 Jan 2019 04:06:24 UTC
All use subject to [Link]
actor. But dialog recorded from below the was photographed in an ice plant with
technique for creating his unique multilay-
mouth must be adjusted later to match the tremendous reverberation (which wouldn't
ered dialog style. During the shoot Altman,
better sound quality of the boom mike. And be heard outdoors), the dialog of all who sixallows a lot of improvisation, mikes
radio mikes can pick up stray sounds like characters had to be looped. When Welles each of his simultaneous speakers on sepa-
gypsy cabs. heard the original looping, he rejected rateit
tracks (sixteen for Prêt-à-Porter). Later
While on the set, the sound recordist because the voices were much too static; the rerecording mixer can raise and lower
may also ask for a moment of silence to pick they didn't sound as though they were spo- the relative volume of each track to create a
up some "room tone" (the sound of the ken by people in an automobile. The sound- weaving effect among the various actors'
location when no one is talking), which man's low-tech solution was to redo all the lines.
must be combined with any dialog that is lines with the performers and himself seated Dialog can also be edited to affect char-
added during postproduction (with recon- on a twelve-inch plank suspended between acterization. Suppose the director wants to
structed room reverberation) so that it sawhorses. For a week, says James G. Stew- make an arch-villain more domineering. A
matches what is shot on the set. (We don't art, "As we watched the picture I simulated mixer could raise the volume of his voice
usually notice the sound of the breeze or a the movement of the car by bouncing the and adjust the tonal qualities to make him
motor hum, but their absence in a Holly- performer and myself up and down on the sound larger than life. It's the aural equiva-
wood product would be quite conspicuous.) plank." lent of someone invading our space by
The set recordist may also capture sounds It is tough, however, for actors to match standing too close to us. The picture editor
distinctive to a particular location to give the later the emotional level they achieved on could enhance the villain's sense of menace
postproduction crew some sense of local the set. Ron Bochar, who supervised the by regularly cutting to his voice before we
color. sound on Philadelphia , describes the power- see him. Because he seems to lurk just
ful scene where Tom Hanks is responding to beyond the edges of the frame, the viewer
POSTPRODUCTION an opera recording as a case in point. Ideally will feel uneasy about his potential reap-
Theoretically, the first stage of thesound
aria and the dialog would be on sepa- pearance whenever he is not present.
editing is "spotting," where the editor(s) rately manipulable
and tracks so that the dialog
possibly the director go through each could be kept intelligible. But Hanks wanted
sec- ADR
ond of the film with the supervising bothsound
the freedom to move around and the Dialog that cannot be salvaged from pro-
editor in order to generate a list of every
ability to hear and react to the singing duction
of tracks must be rerecorded in a
sound that needs to be added, augmented, process called looping or ADR (which is
Maria Callas. As a result, both his dialog and
or replaced. This practice has fallenher aria are
prey to recorded on the same track and variously said to stand for "automated" or
demands for early previews, which
the dialog
have is less than ideal. But everyone"automatic" dialog replacement). Looping
wreaked havoc on postproductioninvolved
sched-agreed that the live performanceoriginally involved recording an actor who
ules. was preferable to looping the scene. "That'sspoke lines in sync to "loops" of the image
one of those things about 'mistakes' that getwhich were played over and over along with
Dialog put in because you are forced to or they just matching lengths of recording tape. ADR,
Dialog editing is mostly a matter of says Bochar. "They turn out to bethough faster, is still painstaking work. An
happen,"
cleaning up production sound. The work
things that you could never re-create. You'dactor watches the image repeatedly while lis-
can be, as detailed as reusing a finalruin
conso-
the scene by making it cleaner." tening to the original production track on
nant ôf one word to complete another Today, one of the first jobs of dialog edi- headphones as a guide. The actor then
where it had been obscured or removingtors isan
to split spoken lines (usually from reperforms each line to match the wording
actor's denture clicks. different camera - hence microphone - and lip movements. Actors vary in their
angles) onto separate tracks. Doing so, says ability to achieve sync and to recapture the
Some of the dialog heard in the complet-
ed film was not recorded on location. Kirchberger, "makes them as independentlyemotional tone of their performance. Some
Shooting silent (MOS) is much easier than
controllable as possible, so that we can later prefer it. Marlon Brando, for instance, likes
having to achieve perfect quiet from the them in such a way that they fit to loop because he doesn't like to freeze a
'massage'
crew, the crowd watching the film, or air- seamlessly." This is not to say thatperformance until he knows its final con-
together
planes and birds passing overhead. filmmakers
Even can't do creative things with dia-text. People have said that one reason he
with the compliance of onlookers, nature,
log. mumbles is to make the production sound
and ubiquitous car alarms, however, miked Robert Altman, most notably, developed unusable so that he can make adjustments
with rerecording
dialog may be unusable because it picked up mixer Richard Portman a in looping.
extraneous noises such as a ADR is usually considered
squeaky camera dolly or a necessary evil but Bochar
clothing rustle. has found there are moments
Despite these difficulties, when looping can be used not
directors almost always prefer just for technical reasons but
production dialog, which is to add new character or inter-
an integral part of the actors' pretation to a shot. "Just by
performances, to looping altering a few key words or
(rerecording speech in post- phrases an actor can change
production). Although there the emotional bent on a
is a trend in looping sessions scene."
toward using booms and the
original microphones to Sound Effects
mimic the situation on the Dialog editors are usually
set, it is nearly impossible to considered problem solvers
duplicate all the conditions of rather than creative contribu-
the shoot. Orson Welles tors, but there's considerable
found that out after shooting room for artistic input in
the festive horseless carriage choosing and editing sound
ride in The Magnificent Chris
Am- Assells cutting dialog on the Cyberframe Workstation
effects. For
for one thing, sound
Oliver
bersons. Because the scene Stone's Heaven and Earth. (Photo courtesy Moviesound effects tracks are normally
Newsletter)

This content downloaded from [Link] on Thu, 17 Jan 2019 04:06:24 UTC
All use subject to [Link]
built from scratch. We would not want to puter, which can then manipulate it and
hear everything that really could be heard in provide a whole range of sounds from the
a given space. Even if it were possible to original. One powerful tool is the Synclavier,
record only the appropriate noise on the set which combines a computer sampler and a
while the film is being shot, it wouldn't keyboard that can play a sound (or sounds)
sound right psychologically. Sound is very assigned to any of seventy-three keys with
subjective and dependent upon the visual the stroke of a finger.
context and the mood set up in the image. New sounds can also be created by mix-
The soundtrack of real life is too dense for ing disparate sources. In order to accentuate
film. In the real world, our minds select cer- the idea that the pen is mightier than the
tain noises and filter out others. For sword, the final close-up of the typewriter
instance, we mentally foreground the person keys pounding out the Watergate exposé in
speaking to us even if the background is All the President's Men combines gunfire
louder. On film, the sound effects editors with the sound of clacking typewriter keys.
and rerecording mixers have to focus for us. Many of today's sound effects are
Focusing on selected sounds can create "stacked"; they are layers of combined
tension, atmosphere, and emotion. It can sounds from different sources that often
also impart personality to film characters. begin organically but are processed digitally.
Walter Murch (the doyen of sound design- Kirchberger reports that he created the roar
ers) once described the character sounds (in of the Komodo Dragon in The Freshman by
a film he directed) as "coronas" which can starting with tapes of vultures recorded for
magnify each character's screen space. A fig- Ishtar. The sound was processed, added to
ure who is associated with a particular other sounds including a pig, and then
sound (often suggested by his or her cloth- vocalized through digital sampling. "I knew
Lee Dichter (left) and Michael Kirchberger at a
ing), has "a real presence that is pervasive
sound console at New York's Sound One. we had something that was vaguely reptil-
even when the scene is about something else
(Photo by Judy Janda) ian. What made it 'talk' was altering the
or the character is off-screen." pitch as we played back the stacked sample.
Indeed, sound is a major means to lend
crew will include the artist or "walker," whoThat gave it the vocalization we needed, as
makes the sound, and a technician or two toopposed to its being just a screech or a caw."
solidity and depth to the two-dimensional
record and mix it.
screen image. Furthermore, new digital Much of the freedom in sound design
Foleying needn't be a slavish duplicationcomes when making horror or science fic-
release formats allow filmmakers to literally
of the original object. The sound crew cantion films, where stylization is the norm.
"place" sounds at various locations through-
out the theater. Thus sound can expand characterize actors by the quality of the Most sonic sources are hard to identify
space, add depth, and locate us within thethey attribute to them - say, whatunless we see them - and films of the fantas-
sounds
scene.
type of shoes they wear. To attribute sometic have sources we have never heard in real
A crucial difference between visual and subtle sleaziness to Nicolas Cage's lawyer inlife. So there is great latitude in deciding
aural .manipulation of the audience is thatIt Could Happen to You , Michael Kirchberg-how something should sound.
even sophisticated audiences rarely notice er's foley crew sonically added a squeaky However technically sophisticated the
the soundtrack. Therefore it can speak to usshoe and rattling pocket change as Red But-equipment that processes sound, the origi-
emotionally and almost subconsciously puttons walks around the courtroom. It's the nal source can be quite mundane. Gary Ryd-
us in touch with a screen character. In a film opposite shoe of the one that squeaked strom, in the lead sound designer at Skywalker,
like Hitchcock's The Birds , for example, any Jerry Lewis movies, says Kirchberger. likes to challenge listeners to a game of
time we see a bird we know we are being tit- Usually the more exotic - less literal"name - that sound," that is, to guess the
illated. But by merely adding a single "caw" sounds are created by the effects staff. sources of his sounds - exotic noises he cre-
to the soundtrack on occasion, Hitch was According to Murch, "That's part of the art ated from prosaic origins. One favorite tool,
able to increase the tension without our of sound effects. You try to abstract the he says, is air compressed in a can. The
being aware of his manipulation. essential quality of a sound and figure out source of the "sliming" noise in
To understand the manipulability the of best way to record that, which may not Ghostbusters , for example, is Dust-Off
effects it is useful to know how effects tracksbe to use the thing itself but something sprayed into Silly Putty. He is also proud of
are created. A regular source of effects else." is a Thus, some sounds have nothing to the do sound of the mercury-like character (T-
stock library, where sounds are storedwith on the original source - the real thing 1000) passing through steel bars in Termina-
CD. The rest have to be recorded or com- would be unconvincing. Mimi Arsham, who tor II. Seeking a sound that was part liquid,
bined from several sources. Foleying is the worked on Ben-Hur , reports that the sound part solid, Rydstrom came up with the
"looping" of sound effects by a specialized of a whip cracking was actually a hefty steaksound of dog food being extruded from a
department in a studio designed for watch- being slapped on a thigh. can.

ing the picture and creating the sounds at Most sounds need processing (fiddling The majority of the sound crew are not
the same time. The process is named after its with). The most common strategy is to start brought onto a picture until it is "locked,
developer, legendary sound man Jack Foley with a sound made by a source that is the that is, the image is finalized. On film
of Universal. Because virtually all footsteps same as or similar to what was pho-where sound is considered a major creativ
are replaced, a foley stage usually includes tographed and then to distort it. One simple element, directors may hire a sound design
several pits with different sounding surfaces method is to slow it down or speed it up. er like Walter Murch ( Apocalypse Nowy Th
on which the foley artist will walk in time Two to other common processing tricks are to Conversation The Godfather) or Skip Lievsay
the one or more characters he or she is choose just part of the frequency spectrum (who creates sound for the Coen brothers
watching. Clothing rustle (another sound or to run a sound backwards. As far back as Martin Scorsese, and David Lynch). "Soun
we never notice until it's missing) and 1933 the the original sound man at RKO createddesigner" is an elusive term which can refer
movement of props such as dishes are likely King Kong's voice by playing backwards the to a person brought on to create just on
to be recorded here as well. Even kisses are roar of a lion he recorded at the San Diego kind of effect (for example, Bochar w
foleyed. A steamy sex scene was probably Zoo. Today digital editing techniques have hired late in the postproduction of Wolf jus
created by a foley artist making dispassion-vastly expanded the possiblities: a sound to create the effects that accompanied
ate love to his or her own wrist. The foleyeditor feeds a sample of a sound into a com- Nicholson turning into a beast). In som

This content downloaded from [Link] on Thu, 17 Jan 2019 04:06:24 UTC
All use subject to [Link]
cases, however, sound designers phone and track so that scoring
are thought of as artists who are mixers can balance them.
brought on staff during the plan- Apart from esthetic issues,
ning stages of a film, along with film music composers must deal
the set and costume designers, with particular technical require-
and who do their own mixing. In ments. For the sake of clarity, a
these instances, the sound film composer must orchestrate
designer works with the director with instruments that do not
to shape an overall, consistent overlap much with the frequency
soundtrack that exploits the of the human voice or any domi-
expressive possibilities of the nant sound effects to be heard at
sound medium, is organically the same time. In theory, com-
related to the narrative and the- posers keep in mind any antici-
matic needs of the film, and has pated noises for a sequence so
an integrity not possible if sound that the music and effects aren't
is divided among an entire working at cross purposes. In
bureaucracy. A case in point practice, music editors often
would be Jurassic Parky where serve as master tacticians caught
Gary Rydstrom first designed the between the work of the sound
sounds of the dinosaurs and then editors and the composer who
models were built to match those says: "Dump those goddamn
roars. Lon Bender (sitting) and Wylie Stateman mixing and designing sounds sound effects!"
at Soundeluxe in California for Wolfgang Petersen's In the Line of Fire.
On the average A-picture (Photothe
courtesy Moviesound Newsletter ) The scoring is also affected by
first postproduction sound per- the need for scratch mixes, for
son brought onto the film is the supervising like. They'll try to iron out a dialog scene
which the music editor has had to select
sound editor, who not only directs where andthe sound shifts dramatically from
temporary music. This may be a counter-
coordinates the creative contributions of the cut to cut. They didn't use to do this at all.
productive trend. The editor will probably
postproduction sound staff but also must Now they do it on any mid- to high budget use music that was composed for an earlier
handle all the related administrative duties film. You try to keep it simple: you have justAs the producers and directors get used
film.
like scheduling mixes. one sound editor and an assistant, perhaps."
to their temporary track they often want
Although the supervising sound editors Because of demands for scratch mixes
something similar, so the composer is inad-
are usually not consulted during shooting,the sound editors are under greater time vertently rewarded for not straying far from
in the best of all possible worlds they are inconstraints than ever. By the first scratch
what has already proved successful.
touch with the location sound recordist dur- mix, the editors must have cleaned upOne of the more positive changes in
ing and after the shoot so that their worknoticeable sound-image problems and sup- scoring practices has been made possible
can be coordinated. Bochar feels stronglyplied the major effects. Yet this is also the through computer programs and synthesiz-
that his work should start early on: "To mebest time to introduce their most inventive ers for musicians. Instead of presenting their
the whole adage is that postproduction ideas, while directors and producers are still ideas to the director at a piano, composers
begins the first day of production." open to experimentation. can now present them in a form "orchestrat-
Like most filmmakers, sound personnel One result of scratch mixes is that they ed" with simulations of different instru-
work under extreme time constraints. One become weeding-out processes. During this
ments.

way for them to get a headstart is to work on stage sound editors, given the time, have a
a picture one reel at a time. Thus, if a direc-certain amount of latitude to present cre-Rerecording (The Mix)
tor and editor are satisfied with reels two ative options to the director. One downside,The climactic moment of postproduction
and three, they can send them on to the says Kirchberger, is that if the director likes
sound is called the "mix" in New York and
parts of the scratch mix, those sounds may
sound editors while they are still solving pic- the "dub" in L.A. On the screen the credit
ture problems on other reels. never be refined even though they were just goes to a rerecording mixer, but that term is
presented as a sketch. rarely heard in daily parlance, says Lottman;
Scratch Mixes/ "If we said we were going to a rerecording
Temp Tracks Music mix, they'd laugh."
Like the foley crew, the music personnel
Today the tendency is to bring the supervis- At the mix all the tracks - singly called
are a discrete department. The composer
ing editor on earlier and earlier. The main elements - are adjusted in volume and tonal
may be brought in as early as the first
reason is the changing demands for sound cutrelative
quality to to each other and the image.
discuss with the director and editor(At
in early screenings. According to Kirchberg- the gen-
some mixes the music editor and effects
eral character of the music and its placement
er, this practice has engendered the greatest editors may be sitting at the "pots" control-
in the film.
changes in the logistics of postproduction ling their subsets of tracks.) During the mix
sound in the last two decades. The person who spends the longest time the director and/or picture editor will decide
As Lottman describes it, "On most A-
on the scoring is the supervising music edi- with the mixer which sounds should be
pictures a sound editor will come on tor.
someIt is the job of the music editor to spot emphasized. A composer can find that a
time before the picture gets [Link]
You cue, that is, to make a precise list of particularly inspired fugue has been
can't put them on too soon; that'stimings
too - to the split second - for each dropped in one scene In favor of sound
appearance and "hit" (point of musical
expensive. But you put them on, say, before effects or dialog. However much effort the
the first screening. Now there's thisemphasis)
big of the music. In addition, the edi- composer and effects editors may have put
tor will log all the concomitant action and
trend towards scratch mixes at screenings. into their creations, their efforts are sub-
Most directors don't want to screen adialog
pic-during each cue. The composer then servient to the ultimate dramatic impact of
has about six weeks to come up with a score.
ture for anybody unless it has a complete the overall sound plus picture. Asked what
The supervising music editor will set up
and full soundtrack - a temp track with makes a good mixer, Bochar says, "The best
temporary sounds, temporary musicrecording
and sessions, which for, say, thirty mixers, like Richard Portman, Lee Dichter,
dialog to give the audience a preview of of music, take four to five days.
minutes and Tom Fleischman have the ability to
Eachbe
what the final, polished soundtrack will set of instruments has its own micro- leave their egos at the door. No one has to

This content downloaded from [Link] on Thu, 17 Jan 2019 04:06:24 UTC
All use subject to [Link]
lay claim on the track. Mixing becomes an Given that a mix costs from $400 to $800
Creating Sound for Demme
experience, as opposed to a job and or more an hour, sound editors do as much
drudgery. When those moments hit, it just Ron Bochar discusses the creation of sound in advance as possible so that the mixer can
soars." effects in scenes from Jonathan Demme's Silence
worry about the bigger balance rather than
The top mixers are orchestrators who of the Lambs and Philadelphia. hundreds of small adjustments. With track
create a sonic texture. You can't have wall- "Here's how Jonathan described Jodie Foster's separation, the remixed tracks need not be
to-wall noise, says Rydstrom; like music, thefirst trip down to visit Lecter in the dungeon: permanently wed to one another. If at the
sound effects have pitch, rhythm, and pace 'This is the bowels of the building. Let me hear final mix of a car crash, the director chooses
which must be varied to create interest and howling and let me hear bowels.' So that's what
to emphasize one sound of shattering glass,
you got. I can't begin to list the material that went
may be manipulated to raise and lower dra- into all that. But there were animal screams and that specific element can still be manipulat-
matic tensions. noises built into the ambience itself downstairs ed if necessary. Often the director or editor
The mixer also has to equalize, blend, there. From a little movie I had made years agois given a choice among several types of
and balance the tracks for the seamless, called Little Monsters I took this lunatic kind of sound for a given effect.
invisible style that characterizes Hollywood screaming that I had recorded; I took track, Technology has inevitably affected the
processed it, slowed it down, and played it in
style cutting. Thus, at a minimum, the mixer reverse. That became one of the ambiences in the
esthetics of the mix. A few decades ago,
must match sounds created by dozens of room, too. It's the room tone, but the room tone merely pausing to make a correction would
technicians in different times and places. has been made from some guy screaming in pain. create an audible click, so an entire reel had
The engine roar of a 1954 Chevy may Whenever you're down there with Lecter there's to be mixed in one pass or started over.
include sound obtained from a stock library, this element - it's a low tone that rises and then
Then, with the advent of "rock 'n' roll" sys-
recorded on the set, and augmented with comes down again. It's very organic as opposed totems, mixers were able to move back and
new recordings during postproduction. It something you can create electronically. I don't forth inch by inch. Once consoles became
like taking sounds that start electronically; I like
may have been "sweetened" with synthe- computerized to "remember" all the mixer's
sounds that start organically. It's a lot more fun."
sized sound. But it has to sound like one car. adjustments, says Murch, he was able to
Mixers have a number of tools. Equaliz- On Tom Hanks's first visit to Denzel Washing- think in larger units. "You take a sweep
ers and filters, for example, can boost or ton's office in Philadelphia : through the reel, knowing that there are cer-
"When Tom Hanks tries to talk Denzel into
decrease the intensity of low, middle, or tain things you're doing that are not perfect.
high frequencies in order to make dialog or taking the case and Denzel shakes his hand, IYou get the sense of the flow of a ten minute
sound effects match those that came from introduced a bus with really ugly brakes. During
that whole interview the bus [which you never
or longer section of film, rather than doing
microphones and sources with different see - EW] just won't leave that intersection. Itit bit by bit. So you go through in ten
characteristics. Filters are also used to elimi- constantly hangs in there, filling in the little gapsminute segments until you've got the basic
nate unwanted steady frequencies, such as between the conversation with ugly squeals thatgroundwork for what you want, knowing
the buzz of an air conditioner. In dealing finally cease when Denzel begins to not want tothat there are things wrong in there that you
with image size, the mixer adjusts perspec- take the case. To me that contributed something can fix later. It's like a live performance:
emotionally coming from outside.. .It's not as up
tive (determined mainly by the ratio of sometimes there's something that happens
front as in early versions, but it is still in there in
direct to indirect or reflected sound), which
the final print. Those things aren't meant to be inspontaneously that way, that you can never
can be manipulated through the addition of your face, but even at a lower level you're getting get when you're trying to do it inch by inch.
artificial reverberation. it across." Thus automated mixing allows you to work
Great rerecording mixers are artists as in large sections but it also encourages you
much as technicians. The mixers' console is On subjective ambience in the trial scene of
to be very finicky about small things and it
Philadelphia:
their palette: they have an infinite number doesn't penalize you for that."
"When Tom Hanks begins to get sick at the
of choices for blending. Their tools can be trial, Jonathan said that scene was begging for The end product of the final mix is not
used in expressive ways. For example, an something. The convention is to add reverb to just one printmaster from which domestic
annoying voice can be adjusted to sound Mary [Steenburgen]'s voice, but Jonathan said exhibition prints are struck; effects, dialog,
more screechy, or the roar of an approach-that would be hokey. We discussed certain colors and music are kept discrete to allow for
ing truck can be made more ominous. At[with tonal associations for Demme - EW] and release in different formats ranging from
what it's like on a seashore when you hear people
the mix some of the many sound effects are monaural optical 16mm tracks, to multi-
talk while putting conch shells to your ears. We
heightened and others are lowered or elimi-didn't want the sound to be a focal point but to channel digital systems, to foreign versions
nated. Sounds can be emotionally effective evolve as Tom got sicker. So from the time when minus the dialog.
even when they are reduced to near inaudi-Tom starts to hallucinate and the camera does a
bility. (See, for example, the sidebars on slow Dutch tilt, we dropped the previous room Directors and Sound
tone and shifted the ambient sound. There's a
Silence of the Lambs and Philadelphia.) And The soundtrack is perhaps the most
low, subliminal thumping, almost like a heart-
the most eloquent "sound" of all may bebeat, but it wasn't. The room tone had included laborative component of filmmaking.
silence. In our age of dense soundtracks, theshuffles and dim movements. When Tom starts created by all the personnel mentio
sudden absence of noise can have a stunningto get ill we created an air tone from a note being above plus their assistants. Nevertheless,
impact. sung. We added reverb and so thinned out the editor and ultimately the director do ca
A mix on an average A-picture combines tone, making it sparse and whistly like wind, so shots. How do sound personnel comm
at least forty to sixty tracks, and perhaps that it's not a note anymore. There's also a conch- cate with directors?
type sound I created on the Synclavier from some
hundreds. Therefore for manageability of There have always been a few direct
underwater sea sounds and a few other things.
dense soundtracks there may be any number And Mary's voice was at least three different particularly attuned to the expressive po
of premixes, wherein groups of tracks are Marys talking at once - each once processed a lit- tial of sound; these include Robert W
combined and equalized in relation to each tle bit differently. You only heard this on Tom's Orson Welles, Robert Altman, and A
other. For example, twenty-four tracks of POV and it was never the dominant effect. We
Hitchcock. Hitchcock, for one, usually
foleys may be boiled down to one or two also played with the space at that point; up to that pared a detailed list of sounds and
time we had restricted sound pretty much to the
six-track elements. A typical final mix might actively involved in choosing them. (Fo
left, right, and center speakers. But once the hal-
begin with seven six-tracks: two six-tracks lucination began we played more with the sur- sound of the knife entering the body in
each for effects and foley, and one each for round speakers, while keeping the dialog more in cho's shower scene, Hitchcock did a bl
backgrounds, dialog, and ADR. Dialog is the center. That whole scene allowed all of us at sound test among different types of m
usually mixed first. In Murch's words, "Dia- the board to experiment, to see how far we could finally settling on a casaba.) These so
log becomes the backbone of the sound and take it. We had some pretty wild versions, but sensitive directors often incorporate s
ended up using a subtler version." ■
everything else is fit into place around that." as part of the basic conception of their f

This content downloaded from [Link] on Thu, 17 Jan 2019 04:06:24 UTC
All use subject to [Link]
For example, Hitch experimented with
expressionistic sound ( Blackmail ), interior
monologues (Murder), subliminal sound
(Secret Agent), and electronic sound (in The
Birds , which orchestrates computer-generat-
ed noises and has no underscoring).
Other directors do not think creatively
about sound but choose personnel who do.
These directors may have unerring instincts
for the best sound when presented with sev-
eral specific options. Most directors, howev-
er, do not use the expressive potential of the
soundtrack and leave sonic decisions up to ■ SCHOOL OFTHE ARIS
their staff.

Cinema Studies
In general, the younger generation of
filmmakers are more savvy than their elders.
For one thing, they were part of the revolu-
tion in music technologies. For another,
they were probably exposed to sound cours-
If you are fascinated by film... If you want to
es in film school. According to Murch the
very raison d'être for Coppola's team in cre- learn about all aspects of the medium. . . Discover
ating Zoetrope was to have their own sound the Cinema Studies Program at Tisch School of
facility. And a few of today's directors con- the Arts, where movies are a learning experience.
sider sound an equal partner with image.
(But even these directors still may have to We conceive of film as a medium that shapes our
figure out how to convey their sonic ideas - understanding of society. Our program offers the
Jonathan Demme has been to known to ask
study of film history, theory, aesthetics, and
his sound editors for "something blue.")
The best way to appreciate the expressive criticism in the context of a comprehensive
possibilities in an American soundtrack is to liberal arts education. At Tisch, combine your
study in great detail virtually any movie by study of film with course work in history,
the sound-sensitive directors, such as Alt-
man, the Coen brothers (try Barton Fink) or
literature, and the social sciences, drawing from
David Lynch, among independents. To find New York University's extensive liberal arts
the most interesting soundtracks in other curriculum.
Hollywood productions, check the sound
credits. The most respected sound designers In this exciting and contemporary discipline,
and supervisors may be called technicians, examine the great directors, including Hitchcock,
but their artistry can be heard in all the films
Renoir, Buñuel, Lang, Welles, Deren, and
they touch. ■
Scorsese, and explore the major film movements:
Footnotes:
Film Noir, the French New Wave, New German
1 Ford had met Earp in the Twenties.
2 The sources of the information and citations in this
Cinema, Cinema Novo, and the American
article are interviews conducted by the author in 1994 Avant-Garde.
(Michael Kirchberger, Ron Bochar, Evan Lottman),
1986 (Walter Murch), and 1975 (Dede Allen, Mimi Graduates of our program have careers as critics,
Arsham, James G. Stewart). The comments by Gary
journalists, historians, archivists, educators,
Rydstrom were made at a lecture at the Walter Reade
Theatre in February 1992. curators, and film industry professionals.

Recommended Books and Periodicals Summer Film Study for High School Teachers
on the Art and Technique of Film Sound W T AT" Intensive introduction to film study and appli-
Altman, Rick, ed., Sound Theory/Sound
Practice. New York, NY: Routledge, 1992. NcWlORK cations to high school curricula. July 10-28.
Chion, Michel, Audio-Vision: Sound on
Screen, ed. by Claudia Gorbman. NY, NY:
MJlVFRSriY F°r more information, return the coupon below or
Columbia University Press, 1994. L p»iv«tc uNivtmm in tm public !»Kvict call 1-800-77 1-4NYU, ext. 818.
Moviesound Newsletter: The State of Film
Soundtracks in Theaters and at Home, P.O.
Box 7304, Suite 269, No. Hollywood, CA 91603.
Usch School of the Arts Please send me information on the Cinema Studies Program.
LoBrutto, Vincent, Sound-on-Film:
Interviews with Creators of Film Sound. New York University □ Bachelor's Program □ Master's Program
Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 1994. 721 Broadway, 7th Floor D Summer Sessions
Weis, Elisabeth and John Belton, eds., Film New York, N.Y. 10003 □ Summer Film Study for High School Teachers
Sound: Theory and Practice. New York, NY: Att.: Danielle Fellin Bernardo
Columbia University Press, 1985.
Forlenza, Jeff and Terri Stone, eds., Sound for
Name

Picture: An Inside Look at Audio Production for Address

Film and Television. Emeryville, CA: MixBooks,

New York University is an affirmative action/ , n

Terms and Concepts. Boston, MA: Focal Press, All

This content downloaded from [Link] on Thu, 17 Jan 2019 04:06:24 UTC
All use subject to [Link]