FEATURES

51st CAS Annual Awards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Meet the Winners. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Up close & personal with Birdman, Big Hero 6, Sherlock,
Game of Thrones, Modern Family, and Sonic Highways

Technical Achievement Awards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

And the winners are: iZotope and Sound Devices
8 CAS Student Recognition Award . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Bringing the award to life

CAS Filmmaker Award . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Richard Linklater honored

Work at Home? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Sound isolation is crucial

11

DEPARTMENTS
President’s Letter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Introducing our new president, Mark Ulano, CAS

From the Editors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

2015 Board of Directors announced
40 Been There Done That. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
CAS members check in

The Lighter Side . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

42

Cover: Meet the Winners collage

CAS QUARTERLY SPRING 2015 3

 Dear Membership,

KUDOS
With gratitude and friendship, I want to thank David Fluhr
and his administration for their extraordinary effort and
service over the last four years. The resulting growth and
progression of the Cinema Audio Society along with our
new Board of Directors—a great blend of seasoned hands CINEMA AUDIO SOCIETY
and new voices—will refine and engage our goals for the MISSION STATEMENT
THE PRESIDENT’S LETTER

future. To educate and inform the general public and

The CAS 51st Awards was a banner event and a great the motion picture and television industry that
success. Excitement, gravitas, and heartfelt acknowledg- effective sound is achieved by a creative, artistic
ments were shared. Special thanks to Peter Devlin for his and technical blending of diverse sound ele-
ments. To provide the motion picture and televi-
preparation in support of the Career Achievement Award to David Macmillan, sion industry with a progressive society of master
an emotional high point to Past Presidents Richard Lightstone and Ed craftsmen specialized in the art of creative cine-
Moskowitz for their magic behind the scenes, Sherry Klein for her terrific matic sound recording. To advance the special-
energy in bringing the enormously valuable Student Award into existence, ized field of cinematic sound recording by
Dorothea Sargent and others for shepherding the Filmmaker Award with exchange of ideas, methods, and information. To
advance the art of auditory appreciation, and to
Richard Linklater, and of course, Patti Fluhr for her tireless efforts in the office. philanthropically support those causes dedicated
I’d also like to thank Karol Urban and Matt Foglia for their fine work as edi- to the sense of hearing. To institute and maintain
tors of the CAS Quarterly; the quality and depth of coverage in our publication high standards of conduct and craftsmanship
continues to serve the membership both domestic and international. among our members. To aid the motion picture
and television industry in the selection and train-
ing of qualified personnel in the unique field of
LOOKING FORWARD ... cinematic sound recording. To achieve for our
There is excitement on multiple fronts. members deserved recognition as major contrib-
A symposium and panel on the application of CGI techniques during pro- utors to the field of motion picture and television
duction is in the works as well as a collaborative workflow symposium focusing entertainment.
on the partnership between production and post-production sound. This col-
laboration is increasingly essential as the tools in both realms become more CAS SPRING 2015
sophisticated and interactive. NEW MEMBERS
We are in talks regarding screenings of classic sound films for the education, Active
analysis, and entertainment of our members. Amanda Beggs, CAS
Our beloved Parade of Carts event is being substantially expanded into a Gustavo Borner, CAS
CAS Expo (working title) weekend with educational and technical sympo- Bruce Botnick, CAS
siums, manufacturer and vendor booths and displays, facility tours and more. Stéphane Bucher, CAS
As we look forward, we will also engage our stewardship of our half-century Chris Chappel, CAS
Antoin Cox, CAS
of history by establishing access and context of that material in useful ways. Jeff Fuller, CAS
Peter Gleaves, CAS
THE MISSION Craig Hunter, CAS
These, along with other activities and services, are an important part of fulfill- David Kirschner, CAS
ing our Mission Statement: “To provide the motion picture and television Larry Long, CAS
industry with a progressive society of master craftsmen specialized in the art John Mooney, CAS
of creative cinematic sound recording.” Jack Norflus, CAS
Matthew Sanchez, CAS
For me, the keyword here is progressive, as we continue to form a collective Nicholas Sjostrom, CAS
bond toward the goal of creative excellence. Thomas Varga, CAS
Please check the website regularly for updates on our many activities.
Associate
Vanessa Ament
Spring is upon us, the season of growth. Andrew Bahls
Kevin Cerchiai
Warmest regards, Robert Josef Michalski
Diego Perez
Bruce Tanis
Allen Lee Williams, III
Mark Emory Woodham
Student Retired
Henry McGehee Daniel Latour, CAS
Mark Ulano, CAS Brad Meyer
President of the Cinema Audio Society Matt Yocum

4 SPRING 2015 CAS QUARTERLY

 F O R Y O U R C O N S I D E R A T I O N

©2015 AMC Network Entertainment LLC. All rights reserved.

OUTSTANDING SOUND EDITING
FOR A SERIES
CORMAC FUNGE Supervising Sound Editor
TODD NIESEN Dialogue Editor EDMOND COBLENTZ Sound Editor
MARK COOKSON Sound Editor JENNIFER BARAK Music Editor
LAURA MACIAS Foley Walker

OUTSTANDING SOUND MIXING

FOR A COMEDY OR DRAMA SERIES ( ONE HOUR )
PETER BENTLEY, CAS Production Sound Mixer
KEN TEANEY, CAS Re-Recording Mixer ALEC ST. JOHN, CAS Re-Recording Mixer
 Welcome to our “Meet the Winners” issue
again. This quarter, explore the awards section for a
recap of the evening, interviews with the winners, and
information about this year’s Filmmaker Award recipi-
ent, Richard Linklater. In addition to those who work
in our craft (the CAS Award winners) and those who
help create the tools that make our jobs easier (the
Technical Achievement Award winners), this year we
meet members of the next generation who are recog-
FROM THE EDITORS...

nized for their outstanding efforts by being nominees OFFICERS

for the first CAS Student Recognition Award. Read President: Mark Ulano, CAS
April Tucker’s article to find out more about some of Vice President: Phil Palmer, CAS
these next-generation sound professionals, the origin Secretary: David J. Bondelevitch, CAS
of the award, and the inaugural recipient of the award, Treasurer: Peter R. Damski, CAS
Danny Maurer.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Deb Adair, CAS Lee Orloff, CAS
In addition to the “Meet the Winners” interviews, Bob Bronow, CAS Lisa Piñero, CAS
check out what our new CAS President, Mark Ulano, has to say in “The John Coffey, CAS Gary A. Rizzo, CAS
President’s Letter.” Also, acoustician Bruce Black contributes some hints Peter J. Devlin, CAS Glen Trew, CAS
on isolating leakage in your home studio. As always, you’ll find submis- Edward J. Greene, CAS Karol Urban, CAS
sions from your fellow members in the “Been There Done That” section Tomlinson Holman, CAS Steve Venezia, CAS
Sherry Klein, CAS Jeff Wexler, CAS
and be able to check out some pictures in their “The Lighter Side” sub- Walter Murch, CAS
missions.
OFFICE MANAGER
The CAS Quarterly is produced as a service to our members on a voluntary Patti Fluhr
basis. If you are a member and would like to contribute an article—whether
on the production or post-production side—please let us know. Additionally, EDITORS
we greatly appreciate, and want, your feedback and suggestions—so send Matt Foglia, CAS
them in! Email us at CASQuarterly@[Link]. Karol Urban, CAS

PUBLISHER
Finally, don’t forget that our sponsors are professionals like you who IngleDodd Media
understand the business and needs of our industry. We encourage your 11661 San Vicente Blvd., Ste. 709
commitment to them. Los Angeles, CA 90049

QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS:
Cinema Audio Society
827 Hollywood Way #632
Matt Foglia, CAS Karol Urban, CAS Burbank, CA 91505
Phone: 818.752.8624
Fax: 818.752.8624
Email
CASQuarterly@[Link]
Website
[Link]

ADVERTISING:
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310.207.4410
CAS@[Link]
[Link]

2015 Board of Directors and Past Presidents

From left: Steve Venezia, Bob Bronow, Jeff Wexler, former President Richard
Lightstone, Walter Murch, former President Melissa Hofmann, Secretary David ©2015 by the Cinema Audio Society. All rights
Bondelevitch, Vice President Phil Palmer, outgoing President David Fluhr, Sherry Klein, reserved. CAS®, Cinema Audio Society®, and
Tomlinson Holman, Karol Urban, John Coffey, Ed Greene, former President Edward Dedicated to the advancement of Sound® are all
Moskowitz, Peter Devlin, Glen Trew, and Treasurer Peter Damski. Missing from photo: trademarks of the Cinema Audio Society and
incoming President Mark Ulano, Lee Orloff, and Lisa Piñero. Photo: ©Ana Gibert may not be used without permission.
6 SPRING 2015 CAS QUARTERLY
 F O R Y O U R C O N S I D E R A T I O N

©2015 AMC Network Entertainment LLC. All rights reserved.

OUTSTANDING SOUND EDITING
FOR A SERIES
NICK FORSHAGER Supervising Sound Editor
KATHRYN MADSEN ADR Supervisor
JANE BOEGEL Dialogue Editor MARK COOKSON FX Editor
CORMAC FUNGE FX Editor JEFF CRANFORD Foley Editor
TIM CHILTON Foley Artist JERRY TRENT Foley Artist
JILL SANDERS Foley Artist DAVID TORRES Foley Mixer
JASON TREGOE NEWMAN Music Editor

OUTSTANDING SOUND MIXING

FOR A COMEDY OR DRAMA SERIES ( ONE HOUR )
PHILLIP W. PALMER, CAS Production Sound Mixer
LARRY BENJAMIN Re-Recording Mixer KEVIN VALENTINE Re-Recording Mixer
 CINEMA AUDIO SOCIETY AWARDS:

Celebrating
Another Year
of Sound
Excellence
b y Kar ol Ur ban, CAS & Dor ot hea Sar gent

E
ach year, the CAS Awards serve as a unique Awards, some very special highlights of the evening
opportunity among the sound for picture included the honoring of David Macmillan, CAS with
community—unifying practitioners of the the CAS Career Achievement Award. A three-time
related and yet distinct disciplines of sound mixing. Academy Award® winner for The Right Stuff, Speed, and
Production mixers, re-recording mixers, ADR mixers, Apollo 13, Macmillan was feted by previous CAS Career
Foley mixers, and scoring mixers meet on this special Achievement honoree Scott Millan, CAS, along with
night to share war stories, exchange information, visit Steve Bowerman, CAS and David Kirschner.
past co-workers, and celebrate the year’s winners. Additionally, the Oscar®-nominated director of
This past February 14 continued the tradition. The event Boyhood, Richard Linklater, received the CAS Filmmaker
took place in the Crystal Ballroom at the historic Millennium Award in a presentation that included remarks by
Biltmore Hotel. Festivities were hosted by Doug McIntyre Christopher Nolan, John Pritchett, CAS, and Tricia
of McIntyre in the Morning on KABC 790 Los Angeles. Linklater. Linklater joins an impressive list of previous
Besides the awards given in the six standard categories CAS Filmmaker Award honorees including Quentin
of sound mixing and the Technical Achievement Tarantino, Gil Cates, Bill Condon, Paul Mazursky,

8 SPRING 2015 CAS QUARTERLY

 CAS 
rsr
AWARD WINNERS FOR 2014
51ST CAS AWARDS
FOR OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT
IN SOUND MIXING
MOTION PICTURES – LIVE ACTION
BIRDMAN
OR (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE)
Production Mixer Thomas Varga
Re-recording Mixer Jon Taylor, CAS
Re-recording Mixer Frank A. Montaño
Scoring Mixer Gustavo Borner
ADR Mixer Jason Oliver
Foley Mixer John Sanacore, CAS

MOTION PICTURES – ANIMATED

BIG HERO 6
Original Dialogue Mixer Gabriel Guy, CAS
Re-recording Mixer David E. Fluhr, CAS
Re-recording Mixer Gabriel Guy, CAS
Scoring Mixer Alan Meyerson, CAS
Foley Mixer Mary Jo Lang, CAS

TELEVISION MOVIES AND MINI-SERIES

SHERLOCK “His Last Vow”
Production Mixer John Mooney
Re-recording Mixer Howard Bargroff
Scoring Mixer Nick Wollage
ADR Mixer Peter Gleaves
Foley Mixer William Everett

TELEVISION SERIES – ONE HOUR

GAME OF THRONES “The Children”
Production Mixer Ronan Hill, CAS
Production Mixer Richard Dyer, CAS
Re-recording Mixer Onnalee Blank, CAS
Re-recording Mixer Mathew Waters, CAS
Foley Mixer Brett Voss, CAS
TELEVISION SERIES – HALF-HOUR
MODERN FAMILY “Australia”
Production Mixer Stephen A. Tibbo, CAS
Henry Selick, Taylor Hackford, Rob Marshall, Jonathan Re-recording Mixer Dean Okrand, CAS
Demme, and Edward Zwick. Re-recording Mixer Brian Harman, CAS
Finally, Danny Maurer, a student at the University TELEVISION NON-FICTION, VARIETY, MUSIC
of Colorado-Denver, was awarded our inaugural CAS SERIES OR SPECIALS
FOO FIGHTERS: SONIC HIGHWAYS “Los Angeles”
Student Recognition Award and presented with a check
Re-recording Mixer Eddie Kim
for $2,500. The Cinema Audio Society couldn’t be
rsr
Re-recording Mixer Jeff Fuller
more proud than to honor a member of our future
generation in this manner. 11TH ANNUAL CAS
The 51st awards ceremony was a great success, TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS
marking another year of fraternity, creativity, and PRODUCTION
SOUND DEVICES
technical achievement. As the awards night wrapped DANTE AND MADI AUDIO RECORDER MODEL 970
and attendees enjoyed coffee and cake, we look back
POST PRODUCTION
with satisfaction on another great event and forward iZOTOPE
with anticipation to the next. RX4 ADVANCED

CAS QUARTERLY SPRING 2015 9
 Right: CAS Filmmaker Award
honoree Richard Linklater
(left) with fellow filmmaker
Christopher Nolan.
Photo: ©Ana Gibert

Former President
David Fluhr, CAS
(left) with newly
appointed President
Mark Ulano, CAS.
Photo: ©Ana Gibert

CAS Career Achievement Award recipient

David Macmillan, CAS. Photo: ©Ana Gibert

10 SPRING 2015 CAS QUARTERLY

 MEET THE WINNERS
MOTION PICTURES – LIVE ACTION
BIRDMAN
OR (THE UNEXPECTED
VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE)
by Paul Vik Marshall, CAS

Congratulations to the winners of this year’s Outstanding

Achievement in Sound Mixing for a Motion Picture—Birdman.
The winning team is comprised of production mixer Thomas
Varga, re-recording mixers Jon Taylor, CAS and Frank Montaño,
scoring mixer Gustavo Borner, ADR mixer Jason Oliver, and
Foley mixer John Sanacore, CAS.
IMDb categorizes the film as a dramatic comedy. Yes, but
that would fall short of what it is really about. The film encom-
passes flaming egos, personal risk-taking affecting sanity, and
pocketbook. Riggan, the main character will, at all costs, seek Scoring mixer Gustavo Borner, ADR mixer Jason Oliver, and
production mixer Thomas Varga. Photo: ©Ana Gibert
validation of his abilities as an actor, trying to erase his acting
past as an iconic comic book character. Set in a Manhattan
theater, the journey begins. make them sound less perspective forced. As you know, we
Aaron Glascock (supervising sound editor) eloquently tells used to not have the option of remixing in post with iso’s, so
us how he saw and heard the film. “The dynamic concert the mix track really is what separates the men from the boys.”
between the pace and perspective of the visuals, with the dia- Varga continues, “I had Brendan O’Brien as key boom and
logue, score, and FX, to me blurs the delineation of the compo- Adam Sanchez as a third, but both boomed equally due to the
nents. The effectiveness of the Birdman experience is the whole complexity of the shots.” He gives Sanchez the ultimate
experience. The spectral cadence that happens as the dialogue praise: “Adam Sanchez is the best radio person in the uni-
feeds the viewer a rhythm of words, language values—add to verse! We had to be very creative on lav placement because of
that the changing visual environments, sound FX geography, wardrobe and constant camera movement. Adam is so good, I
and the drumming score. This is happening in so many layers; rarely heard clothing noise.”
in the most intense moments, the viewer’s focus is being pulled Describing his equipment, Varga states: “My main cart was
apart at the seams. I believe that is why Alejandro was so spe- a 788 and a Fostex 824 as a backup, and Lectro wires and
cific about the sound design during its development. Gritty and mostly Schoeps MK-41 on swivels (GVC mounts), due to
raw is in the track, but ultimately, gritty and raw really is the the very low ceiling height. Lavs were Sankens and B6s.
effect within the viewer.” Exterior mics were 416s and 816s. Cooper CS-106 with a
Director Alejandro G. Iñárritu (Biutiful, Babel, 21 Grams, seventh channel. I could’ve used a larger board on a few shots,
Amores Perros) sought to keep the soundtrack as “real” as pos- but had to make it work with seven preamps. Less is more
sible in order to express this complex tale. sometimes.” Taylor comments on Varga’s mix: “We had very
Production mixer Thomas Varga explains how the story little ADR. Lots of camera moves take a lot of practice. It’s a
appeared to him: “In my opinion, it was a story about a man complete choreography with the actors. Tom was living on the
having an identity crisis, trying to prove the importance of his edge recording his production sound. Varga started shooting
existence to himself and the world. Alejandro (Alejandro G. in Manhattan, establishing the theater where Keaton’s charac-
Iñárritu, Birdman’s director) had a lot at stake making such an ter (Riggan) would put on his play as director, producer, and
unconventional movie. I’m sure he felt a lot of pressure, almost actor. Riggan was fully committed to putting on the produc-
like Keaton’s character, Riggan, in the film. In a sense, the movie tion. No options but to succeed or fail. Production continued
could be considered autobiographical in that way.” to shoot in Manhattan while the huge three-story sets were
Varga describes Alejandro as “very focused, and pushes people being built in Queens. Later, photography would take place on
to work to the best of their abilities. So the job was very intense stage. Camera movement (a lot of Steadicam), low ceilings,
… when everything came together creatively and technically, and extraneous noises would be brought up many times dur-
you could sense we were making something special.” Before ing our conversation. How Varga pulled it off is a testament
principal photography, Varga was asked to record rehearsals for to his mixing abilities and boom op’s level of expertise.”
camera moves and timing in the dialogue scenes. Two weeks Martín Hernández (supervising sound editor and sound
with stand-ins and a week with the principal actors. Varga’s designer on all of Alejandro’s films) began with sound super-
work was just beginning. “What were our challenges? You name visor Aaron Glascock, and later added sound designer Jeremy
it. Blending booms and wires are what we as mixers have been Peirson. Early on, they worked with re-recording mixers Skip
doing since the early mono Nagra days. When we needed wires, Lievsay, CAS and Tom Ozanich. Glascock and Peirson
the daily mix track always had a boom underneath the wires to worked closely with Alejandro near the end of their schedule.

CAS QUARTERLY SPRING 2015 11
 there were too clean
for some cues. We set
up the drums on the
loading dock of our
studio in Burbank and
we put mics all around.
A couple of old RCA
Michael Keaton in Birdman. KU3 ribbons in the
roof and different
Jon Taylor, who has worked on every one of Alejandro’s features parts of the alley to give it some natural ambiance. We spent
save one, became available, so the team transition began. Taylor two days recording—and had a lot of fun. I brought out an
was given a temp dub and he and Frank Montaño started to mix old Neve board that sounded a little gritty. We captured what
their magic. Martín was looking for.”
At a pre-Oscar gathering hosted by Patrushkha Mierzwa and John Sanacore had just a couple of days to do the Foley.
Mark Ulano (president of CAS and Local 695), I overheard Time was tight and Sanacore was asked to work on specific
CAS’s publicist, Dorothea Sargent, talking to Tom Varga and scenes. Sanacore states: “The most memorable part of the
Aaron Glascock. Dorothea commented: “When I closed my eyes recording for me were all the footsteps. Since most of the
and just listened (to Birdman), I could hear and feel the city movie takes place in one theater, it was a challenge to make
(New York City).” Dorothea’s experience validates the artistry every hallway, staircase, and room sound unique. In addition,
and power of the soundtrack. Alejandro’s genius starts with shots would change speed mid-take, which would then make
placing the viewer in an environment that is familiar: the hectic, following sync difficult. I think the scene that was the most
vibrating city of New York. fun was when Riggan destroyed his dressing room.”
Production and post sound were able to realize Alejandro’s Jason Oliver did the VO and ADR, supervised by
vision by emphasizing emotions and movement with a fantas- Hernández. Taylor describes working with the director. “Boy,
tic production track (Varga), creating a manipulative, selfish does Alejandro push you in a positive way. I learned so much
alter ego in the voice-over track for Birdman (ADR Jason about my job from him.” I’ve been told that Alejandro spent
Oliver), and, in what I consider the best supporting actor in quite a bit of time on VO. He knew what voice he wanted for
a non-speaking role, having a drum track (scored by Gustavo his Birdman character and he took his time. Taylor sums it
Borner and Antonio Sanchez, who also performed the tracks). up: “Getting Birdman’s voice right was so important. Once
Taylor makes it clear that: “Alejandro wanted movement. The we got it, it was really, really good. Alejandro certainly got it
drums would be a constant energy, movement no matter right.”
what. Alejandro loves it all (all phases of production). He It is very apparent that Alejandro’s Birdman demanded an
spends a lot of time in the editing room. He’s part of every acute awareness of sound. There are clean dialogue tracks
process. Every sound he has an emotional connection to. You (Varga, Taylor), a drum score to match the flow, and move-
give him as much as you can and he’s happy.” ment of the camera (Sanchez, Borner, Taylor, Hernández),
Taylor describes how he and Frank “Frankie” Montaño extensive rehearsals to work out timing, a specific voice-over
worked on a Harrison MPC4 board, the latest digital board choice for the Birdman character (Alejandro, Hernández,
that Harrison offers. “It’s a massive board. Heads-up displays Oliver), well-placed FX, and room and scene enhancing Foley
and 1,500 inputs. I do the dialogue/music mix and Frankie (Montaño, Sanacore). The sound mix was worthy of the CAS
mixes the effects. I always do a dialogue stem, a group stem, Award and nominations for the BAFTA Award and Oscar.
a separate dialogue reverb stem, score stem, and a source Congratulations to all the CAS winners. You deserved it.
stem. Frankie’s side of the console would have a hard effects
stem, a background stem, Foley stem, a design stem and, in Antonio Sanchez on the loading dock
this particular project, we had an added stem for things that of Igloo Music playing for Birdman.
were flown in that weren’t in the predubs. We had around 24
days to finish.” Taylor and Montaño do all their work at
Universal on the Hitchcock Stage.
The drums were such an integral part of the film. I was
surprised at the lengths that were taken to record the drum
score. Gustavo Borner explains, “Antonio Sanchez was flown
into our studio, Igloo Music, from New York. Alejandro and
Martín thought the drum tracks that they recorded back

12 SPRING 2015 CAS QUARTERLY

F O R Y O U R C O N S I D E R A T I O N

©2015 AMC Network Entertainment LLC. All rights reserved.

OUTSTANDING SOUND EDITING
FOR A SERIES
JERRY ROSS Supervising Sound Editor
LOU THOMAS Dialogue & ADR Supervisor
TIM FARRELL Sound Designer CLAYTON WEBER Sound FX/Foley Editor
JOSEPH TSAI Foley Editor MICHAEL BABER Music Editor
CATHERINE HARPER Foley Artist GREGG BARBANELL Foley Artist

OUTSTANDING SOUND MIXING

FOR A COMEDY OR DRAMA SERIES ( ONE HOUR )
MICHAEL P. CLARK, CAS Production Sound Mixer
DAN HILAND Re-Recording Mixer GARY D. ROGERS Re-Recording Mixer
 records for artists like Bob Dylan, Diana Ross, and Bryan Ferry.
As the industry shifted to a more hip-hop focus in the late ’80s
and early ’90s, Alan totally switched career paths, only to return
to music—this time as a scoring mixer—after a chance meeting
with Hans Zimmer in 1994. He has since worked on more than
200 major motion pictures.

The fact that you’ve been a CAS Award nominee each year since 2012—
and receiving two nominations this year—speaks to the level of projects
you work on. Congratulations on “scoring” an award this year!
[laughs] It’s an honor to be nominated and was certainly a thrill
to win this year.

Let’s talk about project preparation. Prior to the first record date, what
is your interaction with the composer? Do you do the equivalent of a
“spotting session” where you and the composer listen through the cues
and discuss what is needed or what the musical intent of the scene is?
Yes. On this project, for example, (composer) Henry Jackman
Re-recording mixer Gabe Guy, CAS, Foley mixer Mary Jo Lang, CAS,
and re-recording mixer David Fluhr, CAS. Photo: ©Ana Gibert invited me into his room a lot and we talked about sounds,
arrangements, programming, and how to make it interesting.
He likes to get my aesthetic as well as the aesthetic of other
MOTION PICTURES – ANIMATED members of his team—relative to what they like—and include
that. The same thing happens when we’re on the stage and,
BIG HERO 6 perhaps, there’s something that Henry’s not sure about—he’ll
ask me my thoughts. That’s part of the creative process and part
by Matt Foglia, CAS of being Team Jackman.

In this year’s “Animated Feature” category, we find some famil- I’ve read some interviews where you mention that composers will,
iar faces. After picking up the CAS Award for their work on the typically, come in with the sequenced/synth elements and you’ll record
highest grossing animated film in history—last year’s Frozen— the orchestra based around those. Was that the case with this project?
Mary Jo Lang, CAS, David Fluhr, CAS, and Gabe Guy, CAS It was. You know, something Henry does really, really well is
share this year’s award for Big Hero 6 with scoring mixer veteran build that hybrid world where the orchestral elements and his
(and multiple CAS Award nominee) Alan Meyerson, CAS. The programmed elements really work well together—as can be
film follows Hiro, a robotics prodigy, and his group of friends heard on Big Hero 6.
who become unlikely heroes—along with the healthcare com-
panion robot, Baymax—as they try to restrain a sinister plot. Can you run us through a “typical” first day of a scoring session?
[If you haven’t seen it, check it out with your niece, nephew, We actually take the first day and make that our “setup” day—
kids, or grandkids and take note of some of the more specific since there’s so much to prepare. Especially for a movie like this
questions asked here.] where we’re recording everything together: strings, brass, winds,
For last year’s spring edi- etc. This allows us to be ready to record at 10 a.m. the next day
tion of the CAS Quarterly, in because, during the first pass, I have to be recording since you
addition to the “Meet the never know where the magic is—and you don’t want to miss it.
Winners” article that dis- Because of this, we don’t really have the luxury of “testing” each
cussed more personal back- group individually—so you use your experience to make sure
ground info, David and Gabe the levels are correct.
provided some insight into
the sound process for anima- Are you printing mixes while recording or are you concentrating more
tion at Disney in a separate on instrument levels?
article written entitled I’m always printing a surround mix for every pass and will adjust
“Sound at Disney Animation the mix as needed and as the day progresses.
Studios” on page 36, by April
Meyerson Tucker, CAS. Check out the Given the interactive nature of orchestral performance, I’ve always
Photo: [Link]
Spring 2014 Quarterly— wondered—what cue mixes are you feeding the musicians and, is it
available on the CAS website, if you don’t have a hard copy. difficult to find balances for such a large group of people?
The cue mix is music dependent. If there’s prerecorded mate-
ALAN MEYERSON, CAS: Scoring Mixer rial that will live with the orchestral score, we’ll feed the musi-
Alan Meyerson started as a music engineer in the late ’70s, cians enough of it so that they’re in tune and in time. If there’s
working on commercials and jingles before moving on to a solo instrument that they’ll be playing behind, then we’ll give

14 SPRING 2015 CAS QUARTERLY

them that or, if there’s a specific percussion rhythm that they’ll The CAS has a number of members, including myself, who teach full or
need to play along with, we’ll make sure that’s in their cues. part time, as well as mix. How was it teaching and working with the
Usually, though, we’re giving them a click and some type of students last year at your “Mix with the Masters” event in France? Are
pitch-based element. Also, the headphones the musicians use are you looking forward to doing it again this June?
single-sided and are designed to avoid leakage—not necessarily I have to say, it was an incredible event. I was there with 15
to provide stellar sound—so they don’t really want—or need— professionals ranging in age from 25 to 55. I feel that it was
a full mix. more a collaboration than a teacher/attendee scenario. It really
did a lot for me to help clarify my concepts in terms of what I
About how many days did you have to record the orchestral portion of consider good recording and mixing techniques. It was a great
the score for BH6? experience and I am definitely looking forward to doing it again
I believe we had seven days with three sessions per day. this year!

Do you send mixes from the session to the picture editor so the director MARY JO LANG, CAS: Foley Mixer
can hear what the “real” score will sound like against the visual or is As a Foley mixer, you have to
it, typically, too late in the process by then? track everything from noisy, tran-
Usually, by the time we get to this point in the process, it’s late sient-laden sounds to those that
enough that we hand over the final mixes to the music editor are inherently very low in source
and they go right to the final dub. level. Given that some of these
quiet sounds, such as cloth, are
Are you usually given the luxury of taking the recordings to your studio fully exposed during some scenes,
for mixing? what is your signal chain so that
Yes. I mix in my room at Remote Control Productions using the you can minimize the noise floor?
Euphonix System 5. I record on B&Ws and mix in 5.1 on ATC Some sounds are very low
monitors. They both work well in the capacity that I use them. level and getting rid of the
noise floor is important. I
When mixing in your studio, does the composer come by and listen to Lang have Dolby noise reduction
the mixes once you have them in a solid place or are you delivering mix built into the chain that I use
& stems to the dub stage where tweaks can then be performed? regularly and I occasionally use the Pro Tools plug-in to up the
There are times when, due to scheduling and deadlines, I will gain a bit—if there is no other way to get enough level.
deliver my mixes to the dub stage without the composer having However, I don’t usually use plug-ins as I like to hear the final
listened to the mix in my room. With most however, and always sound as I record it.
with Henry, I’ll balance the score and then the composer will
come in and we’ll adjust each cue to their specification. For scenes that have multiple sounds that have many layers—like the
scene where Hiro goes into the lab at the University for the first time and
What stems do you typically send to the dub stage? folks are playing Ping-Pong, etc.—does that part of the Pro Tools session
Obviously, stems will change based on the score. But, generally, just become very dense? How do you manage tracks in those areas?
there will be a 5.0 orchestral stem and, since we typically record I have up to 40 tracks to record onto and can play back many
percussion separately, there will be a 5.1 orchestral percussion more. For some shows, I split the footstep session and the prop
stem. I’ll also create a 5.1 low, non-orchestral percussion (pro- session to be able to use as many channels as I can. I can import
grammed) stem and then solos, bass, synth sounds, keyboards, the footstep tracks into the prop session to play back for the
guitars, etc. I’ll often use quad for those other elements. client, if necessary. Some props need to be included with the
footsteps such as movements in armor, leather, chains, etc., or
What’s the strangest instrument you’ve had to record? walking through debris, snow, glass. The Foley artists listen to
I recorded a double E flat contrabass clarinet—which is 6½ feet the footstep tracks on headphones to match what they have
tall! already laid down.

What would you say is one of the more difficult sounds to have accu- Generally, what subgroups do you break your Foley tracks into?
rately translate with a microphone? Normally, I record footsteps on the first tracks, putting the
For orchestral instruments, the bassoon is interesting to record main characters on tracks one through whatever and keep those
because the sound comes from everywhere—there’s not a real characters on those tracks throughout the film. This gives each
focus place. But, honestly, the voice. While getting a good voice reel a consistency and makes it easier for the dubbing mixer.
recording can be straightforward, it can be difficult to get a The rest of the tracks are used for props with cloth movement
great recording of the voice and will require time working with normally being on the last track recorded.
the singer. Recording choir is also challenging, especially when
it gets a little bright and a little powerful. I find the room tends How time-locked is the picture once you and your team receive it?
to give up a little in those situations, which can result in the It used to be in the old film era that the picture was pretty much
recording sounding a little edgy. locked when we got it. These days, the picture can change daily,
which can add to the schedule if the sound editors cannot make

CAS QUARTERLY SPRING 2015 15
the old stuff work. We have also been booked to do Foley when terms of its
the film goes to DVD, as they often include scenes that were creative crew of
deleted from the film in the theater. directors, edi-
tor, composer,
Since animation dialogue tracks don’t contain any production effects, sound design-
do you and your Foley artists participate in a spotting session? er, etc., so,
We usually follow the supervising sound editor’s direction. while it might
They have spotted with the director and have a good idea of still be a Walt
what is necessary. If they are not sure, they will cue everything. D i s n e y
Animation
Do you record items in a typical order? Studios film,
I normally record footsteps first. That gives us all a chance to they each have
see what props will be needed and it is easier for me to have the their own chal- Guy
footsteps recorded to monitor how the props will fit in. lenges. Also,
we’re being asked to provide more sound material for interna-
It would seem that, with animation, you and the Foley artists would be tional versions of the film in a variety of formats beyond the
given a little more creative freedom in sound development relative to typical M&E, in an accelerated timeframe. The amount of local-
non-animated projects since many of the sounds aren’t literal. Do you ization we achieve in both picture and sound has grown signifi-
find this to be the case? cantly. For example, we had versions with different songs and
Animation gives everyone a chance to be creative! It depends on even different English dialogue for territories with subtitles. In
the mood of the film and the director’s vision if we go in for terms of schedule, people might not be aware that Big Hero 6
more over-the-top sounds or a more realistic approach. was actually released in Russia two weeks before North America,
Sometimes we are asked for “cartoon” sounds—slide whistles, including in Dolby Atmos, so managing the deliverables on this
jaw harps, xylophone notes. It just depends on the film. film was our most challenging yet—with no doubt, it will only
get more complicated. Tracking the voice processing of the
I can imagine that there were a couple of different sounds auditioned Baymax character across the territories, starting even before
for Baymax’s movements. sound design began, was also a challenge.
Baymax consisted of 4–5 layers, which we worked on with the
supervising sound editor. The microbots were the same. I try Since you are involved from the get-go with the dialogue recording and
not to look at what the Foley artists use. I want the sound to continue through to print mastering, are you “assigned” to follow a
come to me with no preconceptions. We also have a day, when project during the whole process?
doing animation, where the directors come by and give us their I’m fortunate enough to work on all of our films from begin-
input. That is a fun day. We try to get them out on the stage ning to end and beyond. Even though we generally release only
to create a sound on their own. They really enjoy seeing their one film a year, due to the long creation period, there is a great
film with the Foley. deal of overlap between projects at any given time. I do become
somewhat of the sound point person for our films after their
Do you often have to go back and record pickups? If so, do you end up theatrical release as well because they continue to live on in the
recording into a new session or are you returned to one of your prior theme parks, consumer products, and home theater.
sessions that may have gone on to sound editorial for further work by
that point? When dialogue has to be recorded out-of-house, do you consult with
We are often asked to go back into a film for pickups. I keep the other engineers and listen in during the sessions?
the original sessions on my computer until the film is released Yes, I also handle the scheduling of both our internal recording
so we can all revisit what we had done earlier. studio as well as arranging with studios all over the world to
explain our needs and workflow, while achieving the greatest
Any fun, non-work-related things on deck for this summer? continuity of sound quality between studios. Whenever possi-
Not this summer, but in September, I am leaving for a trip to ble, we not only listen-in from Burbank via ISDN, we also
Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Germany. I am record a video conference feed for use in animation as a refer-
talking to a film class in Finland set up by a Foley artist there. ence.
I am also bringing a little recorder with me, just in case I come
across a great sound! With your work on Frozen, you mentioned that the effects were being
built and mixed in Pro Tools as they went along—kind of like a con-
GABRIEL GUY, CAS: Original Dialogue Mixer tinuous predub. Was that the same process for Big Hero 6?
and Re-recording Mixer (Effects) Yes, we kept the mix virtual again since it offers us the greatest
You and David provided a rundown of the animation process at Disney flexibility. Some of the visual effects for the climactic battle in
in an article from the Spring 2014 CAS Quarterly. Being that you’re a Big Hero 6 came to us very late, so we were constantly updating
couple of projects in as a team, does it now operate like clockwork? and blurring the lines between predubbing and finaling. I did my
Try as we might to achieve perfection, the needs of each film keep initial predub pass at Skywalker Sound and then we finaled on
us on our toes for sure. Each film has a distinct personality in Stage A at Disney, so staying in the virtual mix realm made

16 SPRING 2015 CAS QUARTERLY

 sense given that we had traditional panner. The microbots and Baymax definitely got the
to make that transi- full Atmos treatment, which was also helpful in gluing all of their
tion. various sound elements together. During the microbot demon-
During the final mix, stration scene you mentioned, Hiro’s footsteps on the bots actu-
the first thing I did ally walk over the audience through the overhead speakers. You
with a new reel was don’t often get a chance to put footsteps up there!
jump to the spots with
new FX and “predub” After the domestic mix is approved, what effects stems do you deliver
them into the existing to international?
mix. Editorial used For animation, we usually just make a single FX stem that
markers and color contains all of the effects, backgrounds, and Foley. For
codes to denote what Atmos, we deliver separate bed stems as well as all of the
was new. When we put object tracks and their automation in addition to traditional
up the last reel, the ses- M&Es.
sion had so many
markers, it looked like What are you up to next, outside of the studio? Any fun plans for the
a solid stream of yellow summer?
in the marker row! A little travel to wine country and a food adventure to the
Pacific Northwest. My wife and I are house hunting, so you’re
Just because everyone more likely to see me with a toolbelt than an umbrella drink this
likes to know, what was summer. But we’ll definitely be fitting in a few trips to Dodger
your approximate effects Stadium!
track count on this film?
The effects session was about 400 tracks, organized into 16 DAVID E. FLUHR, CAS: Re-recording Mixer
predubs on a Pro Tools HDX|3 with 192 outputs. Backgrounds (Dialogue & Music)
and Foley were 120 tracks, organized into 12 predubs on a Pro How do you find your dialogue anchor on a film like BH6 since there are
Tools HDX|2 with 128 outputs. Both were patched into the the quieter, emotional scenes as well as the more dynamic action
Avid System 5 console, so I had access to both Pro Tools scenes?
EuCon and S5 automation. For example, the main console layer The approach I’ve taken for animation, as well as live-action
would be my AFX as an S5 predub, and the swap layer would be films, is to first get my dialogue track where I want it to be. I’ll
AFX as a Pro Tools VCA master. make a pass, usually following the arc of a scene, or scenes that
are coupled together, review, make adjustments. Then I’ll make
Something that stood out to me in this mix is that I could hear so many, a pass with music and work it around the words. If there’s
typically, quiet effects. Things like a hand going into a pocket, the vocals, I’ll work those first, making sure the transitions in and
sound of Baymax’s little motors and squeaks, the cord of a shade being out of dialogue work seamlessly.
pulled, etc. How is it balancing those subtle effects against some of the It all ultimately has to be about the story—and how the scenes
larger, more dynamic effects and music? feel. Since I always work “virtually” (no recorded predubs),
One of the things I really try and do with our films, due to the I always have the units available and am never locked into any
lack of a production track bed, is to really fill out the environ- levels—or approach. Things can remain flexible to the end. So it’s
ment and keep the characters alive and believable with small all about making constant adjustments and tweaks. Then once the
sounds. This means a lot of Foley coverage. We don’t do a full SFX are mixed in, there are further adjustments—but it’s a con-
cloth pass, but make sure to cover specific moments or charac- stant fine-tune. If I’ve got the dialogue where it should be, and
ters such as Baymax. Our editor, Tim Mertens, also kept me you can’t hear the words, it’s time to LOWER something and
honest, making sure we heard all of the fun little moments he carve around it rather than constantly raising the baseline level.
built in his temp track—which were important to the timing of
the scenes. Baymax’s line deliveries were very happy and pleasant. Yet, you would
have to alternate between these characteristics and, on a number of
Did mixing in Atmos allow you to have a little more fun with, for example, occasions, the kids yelling during an action scene. Was controlling the
the microbot demonstration at the science fair (when they go overhead) dynamics and believability of these scenes challenging?
or when Hiro is being chased by the bots in the villain’s factory? In a word … YES! But that’s the job—facing the challenges
Absolutely. I used Atmos extensively for big events as well as and solving problems all day. There were several instances where
smaller effects and Foley. Almost all of my surround panning Baymax was making his gentle vocal deliveries with a lot of
was done using Atmos objects. I also used it frequently to give activity going on. The good news was we were able to do a tre-
a sense of scale and elevation. I was excited that this film had mendous amount of preplanning with the sound designer
such a sense of scale and could really benefit from an immersive (Shannon Mills) and the composer (Henry Jackman) so that
mix. I also used Atmos to place specific screen effects, some- everyone could get out of the way sonically for those moments.
times just slightly off-center. It sounds more specific and the That was really the key—the collaboration and preplanning to
subsequent downmixing versions also benefit more than using a help execute those moments. Also, the processing on Baymax

CAS QUARTERLY SPRING 2015 17
was a constantly moving target. I didn’t want his voice to sound try to map out who should lead at which points—so we have a
TOO robotic, but also needed to have its character remain rec- plan of attack. I also work with the scoring mixer (Alan
ognizable. So his voice was tailored to each scene as needed. For Meyerson) and music editor to make sure I have lots of stem
example, during the more emotional areas, he was basically dry separations on the score and songs. This way, we can go in and
in order to help draw the audience in without distractions. Also, do some specific surgical detailing, without having to do an
to convey that Baymax was really almost human—as a surrogate overall lowering or raising of music. Again, it’s all in the pre-
brother to Hiro—there were, essentially, no effects for these planning and doing the best you can with the time you get.
moments. Those action scenes took a while to find the balance—and we
were grateful to have a decent schedule to allow that.
During the scene on the condemned island, when Hiro finds out the
villain is Professor Callaghan and has Baymax try to destroy him, it goes Do you feel that mixing in Atmos helps make the blending of the DME
solely to score for a time. Were there effects builds for the whole a little clearer, given the additional speakers and placement options?
scene—with you auditioning various approaches and amounts of ele- I am mixing the majority of films here now in Native Atmos.
ments—or did the director walk in knowing that they wanted the scene Yes, since we don’t all have to share the same sonic real estate,
to shift to just music? it offers sound opportunities to use the space without making
We knew that scene represented so much as a turning point in things feel disembodied. I make “custom arrays” in Atmos so
the story. And Baymax needed to transform immediately into a that it can maximize the use of immersive techniques for dia-
monster. There was no other way to convey this clearly and dra- logue, music, and effects. One needs to be careful, obviously,
matically then to raise the tension with sound. The scene WAS about making things feel too disconnected, but all the R&D we
built with all the elements, but we knew from the early spottings have done here pays off by enabling us to get close relatively
that we would try creating something there. After a few fast, without adding extra time to the mix schedule. It also
experiments, we let the music lead the way as it builds—and the helps to know how you are going to version out from Atmos,
chords get more dense and intense up to the ultimate climax. It so that you can make the conventional 7.1, 5.1, etc., all work
proved to be very effective. We slowly slid away the dialogue and as expected.
FX so that it transitioned—rather than dropped off suddenly—
allowing your ear to follow the thread to the ultimate moment. Do you still mix in reels for animation or are you given a composite?
Baymax needed to be EVIL—a real threat at that moment. The We mix in reels. Even though physical film is iffy in the future,
exact OPPOSITE of his true self. In the end, it was experiment- it’s still a delivery requirement. Therefore, we join everything
ing with how loud we should be in order to give us a place to together for the executive screenings at the end, but also check
build to, but always being mindful of our audience. all the joins as we go from reel-to-reel, so there are no surprises!

The character Fred (voiced by actor T.J. Miller) wears a monster-type of Fluhr at console with stuffed Olaf
costume on his head during certain scenes that affects his voice. Did
you have to audition a number of sounds to see which would be accu-
rate, yet clear enough to understand his dialogue?
Well, yes and no. We do temps early on for Disney Animation,
so I had a chance back in June to rehearse some approaches and
get ideas going. We knew he needed to sound “different,” but
not gimmicky or too affected. It ended up being a simple roll-off
in combination with a very tight “car interior” plug-in. This gave
him an “interior” sound without damaging the intelligibility. It
was fun taking it on and off his head—and adding other rooms
to it as he was in other locations. And during the action scenes,
it got modified for intelligibility as the action ramped up.
Another cool thing about this was that the processing for him
and Baymax were all in the box—as were all the reverb and dia-
logue treatments—and were automated so that the foreign- I saw a picture from when you were mixing Frozen showing a stuffed
language versioning would exactly duplicate the effects and Olaf at your console. Did you have a life-sized Baymax in the corner
verbs. No guesswork. That way, all the language territories during this mix?
around the world had the same sonic experience. Yes, but not a life-sized one since he was so big!

The score contains a good amount of heavy, punchy yet clear percus- You’ve officially passed the CAS presidency torch to Mark Ulano. What
sion hits. When these types of cues are present, such as during the car are you going to do with all of the free time (ha, ha!)?
chase and during the end battle outside of Alistair Krei’s headquarters, [laughs] Mixers HATE free time, don’t they?? I still plan to be
do you and Gabe have to do a good amount of back-and-forth between active with the CAS and other sound organizations. Since I’ve
the music and effects? been on the CAS Board since the late ’80s, there’s no reason to
Yes. Any action scene whether live action or animation requires stop now. However, I am glad to pass the torch to my good
the care of the “dance” between dialogue, music, and effects. We friend Mark, and I’m confident the CAS is in good hands!

18 SPRING 2015 CAS QUARTERLY

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MEET THE WINNERS
The transition to film sound was fortuitous early on. Mooney
explains, “I was still boom operating at this time, and on one of
my first freelance jobs, I met a young trainee called Stuart
McCutcheon who seemed very keen. We hit it off quite well and
continued working together—and are still a unit to this day.
Our meeting was definitely one of my luckier breaks as, almost
20 years later, there’s a unique shorthand between us which
speeds up our day to no end.”
Mooney further explained the importance of set demeanor.
“If I had to put an emphasis on just one aspect of the sound
recording package being correct on location, it’s the relation-
ship between the mixer and the rest of the sound crew. Not just
from a sound point of view, but when you consider the 60+
hours a week you spend at work, it’s important that you’re all
getting on and having as good a time as possible. Hey, we only
get one life!”
Like many mixers, John provides a dailies mix on track one,
Benedict Cumberbatch in Sherlock “His Last Vow.” with booms and lavs isolated on other tracks. “I’ve got quite a
selection of mics, but I seem to remember on that particular
TELEVISION MOVIES AND MINI-SERIES episode we used Sennheiser MKH816s outside and MKH416s
inside with a mix of Sanken COS-11s, and DPA mics, depend-
SHERLOCK ing upon what we felt worked best with each actor’s voice.”
The constraints of wiring actors can always be a challenge,
“His Last Vow” but Mooney explains, “The Costume Department is headed up
by a lady called Sarah Arthur. I’ve been fortunate enough to
by David Bondelevitch, CAS work on shows with Sarah on and off for around 15 years now,
and everyone in her department goes out of their way to help
This year’s CAS Award winner in the Television Movies and see that any radio mics are as successful as possible. Clever
Mini-Series category goes to the crime drama Sherlock “His Last pockets are sewn into costumes for radio transmitters, and
Vow.” This episode was the mini-series’ final of three and gar- routes made through clothing for cables, etc.
nered the CAS Awards for production mixer John Mooney, re- “All the actors on Sherlock are used to being radio mic’d all
recording mixer Howard Bargroff, scoring mixer Nick Wollage, the time and are quite comfortable with it. (Actors) Benedict
ADR mixer Peter Gleaves, and Foley mixer William Everett. I (Cumberbatch) and Martin (Freeman) are also two of the
had the privilege of speaking with some of these talented mixers brightest people I’ve met and go out of their way to make things
and hearing about their rise to success. work on set for all departments—including sound—from cut-
ting lines short to avoid overlaps where necessary, to being
JOHN MOONEY: Production Mixer deliberately careful with noisy props.”
Like many of us in audio, production mixer John Mooney Mooney explains that he uses the Sound Devices 788, as it
became interested in sound at a young age. “It really started in is his personal favorite recorder. Most of the shooting was on
the early ’70s when, for some strange reason, my dad bought location in and around Wales and London. “We shot the
himself a cassette deck. I seem to remem- 90-minute show over 24 days, which is quite a generous sched-
ber it came with a variety of leads, con- ule. Out of those 24 days, I think around 19 were on location
nectors, and headphone jacks, which and five in the studio where the interior Baker Street is.”
meant I could get in and out of radios The post being done at Bang Post Production is another
and the record player we had in the lucky break because Jon Joyce, Doug Sinclair, and Paul
house. All in all, it was very interesting McFadden do an amazing job from a sound editing point of
for a 7 year old!” view—which makes the dialogue recordings sound even better,
From there, he moved on to doing and was reflected this year with their Sound Editing Emmy win!
Mooney sound for his high school plays. “I must “These, in turn, end up with the very nice re-recording mixer
have spent more time looking after the Howard Bargroff who adds the final layer of gloss to the dia-
school sound system than I was supposed to. When I turned 18, logue—as well as mixing in Will Everett’s Foley (which he also
I was surprised to find that I might fail to get into a university. records at Bang) and everything else to the finished soundtrack!
Fortunately, I spotted a newspaper advert for BBC technical I’ve made a point of mentioning the post-production guys here
operator trainees which, reading between the lines, basically as one thing we all do is communicate quite a lot throughout
said, ‘Going to fail your exams? Don’t worry, come and work the whole process.”
for us!’ I was lucky enough to be accepted and, in 1985, started Mooney’s love of the work shines through in all of his com-
work as a trainee sound operator at BBC TV Centre in London. ments. “It’s a nice situation, as it really feels like production
I worked there until 1997, when I left to become freelance.” sound and post sound are all part of a close-knit team on

20 SPRING 2015 CAS QUARTERLY

Sherlock and not disjointed—as can be the case on some shows. Bargroff got involved in the Sherlock series as he was lucky
All in all, Sherlock, generally has a ‘returning’ crew and is a lovely enough to mix the unaired pilot. Sherlock was mixed in Pro
show to work on.” Tools, using a 32 fader Icon desk. Bargroff explains, “Everything
is in the box, all treatments, EQ, bus compression, etc. For any
PETER GLEAVES: ADR Mixer film work, I try to use the AMS DFC, unless it looks like the
ADR mixer Peter Gleaves got into sound as a runner for a job is going to undergo a lot of editing after the premixes have
company that mixed television commercials. He progressed to
be a sound camera operator and running the transfer bay. After
a few years, he joined another company running the sound
department, where he worked on documentaries and corporate
videos. Eventually, he joined Goldcrest Post as the senior ADR
mixer.
He explains, “Whilst there, I came into contact with Doug
Sinclair and Paul McFadden of Bang Post, based in Cardiff. I
recorded a lot of their London-based ADR and, so, was asked
to record for Sherlock, as most of the Bargroff
actors were available in London.”
Gleaves records ADR on Pro Tools. started. This is where mixing on the same platform as the edit-
“I nearly always record two tracks; a ing is taking place is really useful.”
boom mic on the left channel and a lav Bargroff has high praise for ADR mixer Peter Gleaves. “All
or radio mic on the right. This gives the the actors on Sherlock are amazing at ADR and, even now, I can’t
dubbing mixer the choice of matching in really spot where we’ve used it. That’s most of my job done for
the ADR depending what the original me in the recording—performance, pitch, and projection. If
Gleaves tracks were like. I use the Schoeps these are correct, I only have to do a bit of EQ and match the
CMIT or a Sennheiser MKH50 as reverbs, then take all the credit!”
boom mics and either a DPA 4071 or Sanken COS 11 as radio Bargroff explains the challenges of this particular episode.
mics. For preamps, I use a Focusrite 428 or the Neve preamps “This was a monster episode to mix. It features a 20-minute
in the DFC Gemini desk.” near-death “mind palace” sequence. The challenge on the mix-
ADR is often a necessity due to shooting conditions. Gleaves ing of Sherlock is just the complexity of making sure the sound
explains how he tries to salvage production. “Sometimes the is supporting the narrative whilst never really getting in the way.
original can be saved by using odd words or part of words from And, as it can sometimes enter such a surreal world (the “mind
ADR. I had one actor who really didn’t want to ADR a line, as palace” sections), there are no hard and fast rules to what works,
he loved his original performance. He did the first three words so finding your way through the drive of the sound is quite a
of the sentence, and I was able to edit it back into the original long process of trial and error. It’s also a comedy drama, so you
line. The smile on his face as he appreciated what had been want to drive the story while never getting in the way of the
achieved to save his original performance was most pleasing! comedy.”
“This episode had some challenges for ADR, as there were Like production mixer John Mooney, Bargroff enthusiasti-
scenes that had some new dialogue which had to match into cally credits his crew for their success: “It’s all beautifully sound
preceding and following dialogue. Also, there were some diffi- edited by Bang Post—plus has a lovely score by Michael Price
cult locations that gave different backgrounds as the scene went and David Arnold—
on. I was always trying to match into original dialogue, as they so my job is made a
didn’t want to record the whole scene again. It was a great show lot easier given this
to work on, as the people who worked on it were highly tal- rich palette of source
ented individuals whose efforts created a great soundtrack. It material. The shows
was an honor to have been part of that team.” are so beautifully
written, directed,
HOWARD BARGROFF: Re-recording Mixer acted, and edited
Re-recording mixer Howard Bargroff got into sound by work- that, although hard
ing as technical support at Sarm Studios in London. “Whilst work it is, it’s always
studying and eventually getting a degree in electronic engineer- a tremendous plea-
ing, I developed an interest in studios and all things technical. sure to work on.”
So a natural move was to enter the technical department in a The CAS would
recording studio.” like to congratulate
He quickly moved up the ladder as a mix assistant. “After all of the mixers on
seven years at Sarm, and a couple freelance, I landed a job at Sherlock “His Last
Dolby as a sound consultant. After meeting nearly every film Vow” for a job well
mixer in the UK, I fancied trying my hand out in the world of done.
re-recording.”

CAS QUARTERLY SPRING 2015 21
MEET THE WINNERS
I have been very fortunate through the seasons to receive from
mine the level of commitment and dedication needed to work at
this level.”
But technology cannot be understated. While the first epi-
sode was shot on film, all consecutive shoots have been to the
Arri Alexa, necessitating an immediate change in workflow at
the start of the series. But, the need for flexibility and adopting
innovative new workflows and technologies didn’t end with
episode one.
Ronan currently uses a workflow that allows him to ensure
that what he hears gets to the dub stage. Splitting sound and
camera rushes twice daily to help distribute the load for syncing
dailies, he ensures sync through a Sound Devices 788T SSD
and Lockit boxes carried by picture. He insists further that:
“No sound is recorded on the camera, which assures me the
sound heard in the edit suite and on the dailies is of the same
quality I monitor on the recorder and is not compromised by
dropouts or artifacts possible when transmitting it to the cam-
era. It also eliminates the possibility of camera sound being used
in the production.”
Foley mixer Brett Voss, CAS, re-recording mixer Onnalee Blank, Richard Dyer reports that, while his workflow stayed the
CAS, and production mixer Ronan Hill, CAS. Photo: ©Ana Gibert same during the first three seasons, times are changing. And
after the redesign on Season 3, he is revisiting and revamping
again to increase productivity and efficiency. He announces:
TELEVISION SERIES – ONE HOUR “Part of the build will include detachable or additional receiver

GAME OF THRONES
rack[s] for radio mics with PSU, additional aerials & combiner,
sending RF and monitoring via fibre optic back to the cart. This
will improve reception around the many large, hostile and, each
“The Children” year, new locations which we encounter.”
Both reported that weather, costuming, and the large scale of
by Karol Urban, CAS the production are continual challenges that require great care
in the field. Ronan reports that Iceland “threw a few challenges”
The sound team on Game of Thrones appears to be experiencing specifically. In fact, some of the lovely landscapes we enjoy on
déjà vu. This time last year, while the post team was working the show left his team mixing from a portable rig. But Ronan
through the epic Season 4, Season 3’s “The Rains of Castamere” found a solution. “The only way to work on these occasions was
took home a CAS Award. This year, as they make headway on out of a bag. My portable rig, which includes a dedicated Sound
Season 5, the crew walked away with yet another CAS Award for
Excellence in Sound Mixing for a one-hour TV drama for the
Season 4 finale “The Children.” It is certain they have a crack
team and an award-winning formula for making great sound.

RONAN HILL, CAS and RICHARD DYER, CAS:

Production Mixers
Production consists of two units: Dragon and Wolf. Ronan
Hill is the production mixer of the Dragon Unit and leads a
team consisting of boom operator Simon Kerr, second assistant
Jonny Waite, and sound trainee Daniel McCabe. Production
mixer Richard Dyer leads the Wolf Unit, comprised of first
assistant Bradley Kendrick and second assistant Kelly Stewart.
According to both mixers, the key to their success is a close
bond and consistent unspoken understanding of what needs to
be done amongst their team. Richard Dyer of the Wolf Unit
explains: “There are no occasions when I need to ask them to
address a particular issue. We are all on cans throughout the day
and they are usually in there making adjustments before I even
get to say anything.”
Ronan Hill of Dragon echoes the same sentiment: “On a Ronan Hill at his cart
show like Game of Thrones, you are only as good as your team and

22 SPRING 2015 CAS QUARTERLY

Devices 788T + CL8, Audio Ltd. RK3 rack with 2040
receivers and Sennheiser IEM system, was expanded to
include a 744T from my cart as backup and a Sound
Devices MixPre.”
The mic pre specifically is an example of his problem-
solving talents. The limiters of the 788T can be severe
when recording the epic clashing of swords. So, two
Sennheiser MKH 60 mics were boom mounted. He
explains: “[With] the MixPre, I was able to take the heat
out of any peaks, so swords clashing retained a more natu-
ral sound.”
It appears these crews must stay on their toes for any
surprises. Richard explains that a typical day may only
reap 3 GB or 4 GB of data (3–5 speaking parts, two
booms, plant mics, and a production mix). But, this can
vary on high stunt days from as little as 500 MB to as
much as 13 GB–14 GB for large cast dialogue scenes.
Additionally, Richard reveals: “We [Sound] generally
don’t get to see many of the locations until very close to
the shoot date—sometimes not at all! Educated and expe-
rienced guesswork is sometimes the order of the morn-
ing!” mic placement. First, he starts on cloth, making notes and
Finally, preparation and communication are cited by both familiarizing himself with the show, and then follows with feet.
team leads as being their best advice. Producer Greg Spence is Finally, he moves on to props—saving anything muddy or dirty
cited as a particular facilitator, ensuring good sound through for the end, as it can affect air quality for the artist.
communication with other departments. Richard finds that one He also unveiled a bucket of armor. It was interesting to see
must “embrace the challenge” and “carry as many spares as pos- what we are actually hearing during the action. He explains that
sible.” Richard has even attended ADR sessions in London to Peter Brown showed up on Season 2 with presents that he and
gain perspective of other departments. Ronan reiterates this Jeff accepted with childlike enthusiasm. Brett retells: “The
message, adding: “Ensure you consult with other head of supervisor was like ‘I bought you guys some armor. Here ya go.’
departments, such as Special FX, Costume, and Electrical to It is a very specific sound. You can kind of fake it. We brought
evaluate the potential impact on production sound and find in this guitar pickguard and it’s been used in something but,
solutions prior to the start of principal photography.” you would [have to] use it on something specific.”
He expresses that a key to their success as a team is getting
BRETT VOSS, CAS: Foley Mixer the “playable details.” You can’t cover everything. But, he
Foley is a character in Game of Thrones. You simply cannot feel describes looking for the special moments. He, Dylan, and Jeff
the intense nature of these stories without the seductive draw of will oftentimes pick up something that is uncued because they
the props, cloth, and feet. The Foley team consists of Foley feel it might add something to the story. Brett exclaims: “When
mixer Brett Voss and artists Jeff Wilhoit and Dylan Wilhoit. we are all together, we pick up these cool little things. We think
Brett and Jeff explain the mad dash(ing) this lovely beast of that would just be this cool little thing that could just put us
programming requires. over the edge. And that stuff plays. It is the little things. Anyone
For 48–58 minutes of material, these two gentlemen create, can do the broad strokes. It’s finding those moments.”
at times, 14 tracks of footsteps and 24 tracks of props, which Brett cites his artist, Jeff, as responsible for teaching him
then are delivered to editorial to be organized and timed for the much about where the line of over coverage and stellar detail
dub stage. exists. Brett says: “Jeff has been a Foley artist since 1980. He
Tim Kimmel, supervising sound editor, delivers cues. Brett knows what is going to play. In my time with him, over eight
explains that an experienced individual cueing is paramount to years, I have learned what is going to play. So we try not to
efficiency. It is a delicate balance of specificity and strategy as waste time on things that are not going to play.”
time is of the essence and overcueing can easily become the Jeff adds that the show is not just logistically complicated,
tendency on a project of this scope. Brett explains with satisfac- but being in peak physical condition is a must. Jeff continues:
tion: “He’s [Tim] really gotten it down to a science. He knows “It is a physically exhausting show. I leave here and I go to the
what we are going to do, what is going to help, and what we gym and I soak, lay in the pool, steam, soak some more … It is
should be spending our time on. So, we are not necessarily a lot of texture. You think [about it], there is ice, snow, mud,
spending time doing body falls. We are spending time on clay, marble, grass and then all of the leather chain metal and
[things] that are actually going to play and that he doesn’t have plate metal. Pouring and drinking wine—we should do those at
a million of in his library.” the end of the day and really do wine!” [laughs]
He records in a feature-style using a U87 and another large Jeff, who started in music, goes on to explain that Foley adds
diaphragm mic, favoring a dry signal recording with thoughtful a subtle emotional layer akin to music. He explains: “I had no

CAS QUARTERLY SPRING 2015 23
 Even though Onnalee and Matt show great loyalty
to the crew (a definite good thing) and adhere to a
very successful and specific workflow, they do not
stop experimenting and seeking new tools. Onnalee
explains: “We are always getting new toys and new
stuff. But our workflow is always our workflow. Matt
and I work a certain way.”
Matt reiterates: “Onna’s right about that. Every
year we try and find new gadgets to kind of up our
game. We don’t want to always use the same [thing].
‘Oh, let’s just go to the Pyramid Hall … Boom’ …
We try to change it up, change the reverb, and try it.
Make sure it sounds good, but bring a different flavor
to each season. We are trying to constantly develop
and ask, ‘How good can we make it?’”
In the effects chair, Matt finds he is often centered
on spaces and reverbs. But his discoveries still find
themselves on both sides of the console. Onnalee
recalls: “Sometimes I will say, ‘Hey, what are you
using on your Foley? Let me put that on the dialogue’
and vice versa. We try to both use chambers or both
intention that I would be a Foley artist. I was not even pursuing use lots of similar stuff.”
sound. I came from music. I realized that sound told this dif- Matt is sure to point out that she has her special tools, as
ferent story that I wasn’t quite aware of because it is such an well. He endearingly describes her as a “real cool ninja geek
undertone. And when I discovered Foley, I discovered it was gearhead.” Recently, she has been utilizing Zynaptiq’s Unveil to
another form of composition.” help bring off-mic recordings more on-mic presence. Matt is
Brett gives an example from Game of Thrones of how the con- currently really happy exploring the Lexicon reverbs on both the
dition of Foley can reinforce an emotion within an environ- 480 and the plug-ins.
ment: “In the palace, it has to be pristine. So we have to go Additionally, both mixers describe the importance or taking
through and make everything nice and clean for the floor, and risks or, as Onnalee referred to it, “playing.” Matt elaborates:
the props have to sound perfectly clean. Everything has a dis- “There are so many smart people in broadcast now and they all
tinct sound. So, then we are outside and now it’s dirty and want it to be hyper-real. They want it to be as real as possible
gritty and gross and we pay a lot of attention to that.” but still cool. And that is, I think, super fun.”
On a show like Game of Thrones, there are plenty of places to
ONNALEE BLANK, CAS and innovate in front of you from your provided materials or from
MATHEW WATERS, CAS: Re-recording Mixers
2014 was a year of great change in the post world of scripted
television and features and, like many other professionals, the
post crew moved facilities, but the re-recording mixers, Matt
Waters and Onnalee Blank, kept the same award-winning
team—ensuring that the workflow was not disturbed or greatly
modified. Matt explains: “Wherever we moved, we were lucky
enough to keep the team … sound supervisor and editorial. So
that kept the workflow the same. We do that with whatever we
do, whether it be Girls or Black Sails. They are crazy shows all in
their own regards. We need to make sure they come with us.”
Mixing on ICON D-Control control surfaces at Audiohead,
Matt and Onnalee have perfected a very specific dance. Each
mixer spends one day individually predubbing. Typically, FX
will begin before dialogue to help provide a bed for dialogue.
Then the duo will balance their elements while receiving final
music. Finally, there is a full surround playback for show run-
ners, post supervisors, and executives to attend and to give mix
notes. The final step culminates with a final 2.0 playback and
record pass. Matt shows his gratitude to the producers saying:
“You know, sometimes you are on shows where, you just have
to do it and get it out. For this one, we are able to experiment Hill on set in Iceland working out of a bag.
a bit and it is fun. And I think it shows.”

24 SPRING 2015 CAS QUARTERLY

 MEET THE WINNERS
elements that would otherwise be seen as realistic. Onnalee
points out: “We try to think of organic materials in sounds that
we can use and just tweak to make sound a little bit differently.”
While convention can be useful in cueing the viewer, modify-
ing convention or searching the story for what may be a more
custom evocative method of conveying emotion can be very
effective and elegant. Matt explains: “We have been on stages
and it’s been ‘Can we put a drone here? Can we put a rumble
here?’ It’s like … ‘Okay, that’s been done.’ That’s been used a
hundred times. But, let’s say you don’t have that as a tool, now
what are you going to
do? And that’s a chal-
lenge and that’s fun.”
Onnalee is also quick
to jump in: “And some-
times we are like, ‘Well,
that didn’t work!’”
[laughs]
While Game of Thrones
has a huge sound, there
is also a crisp, detailed
openness to much of the Re-recording mixers Dean Okrand, CAS and Brian Harman, CAS,
production mixer Stephen A. Tibbo, CAS, presenter Maddalena
soundtrack. When Ischhiale, and boom operator Serge Popovic. Photo: ©Ana Gibert
inquiring as to how
these balances and
choices are made, Matt TELEVISION SERIES – HALF-HOUR
and Onnalee advise the

Foley gives us a visual of the

following. Matt
explains: “So many peo- MODERN FAMILY
real sound of warriors on
Game of Thrones.
ple, when they start out,
just go for big and awe- “Australia”
some and, really, the
by David Bondelevitch, CAS
megastars in sound, I think—which took me a while to learn—
[will say] ‘No, it’s about story.’ If it’s about dialogue in this
scene, great. If it’s about the action in this scene, great. It can The crew of the ABC series Modern Family has won their third
be about the music, whatever.” consecutive CAS Award for their outstanding work on this mock
Onnalee advises: “Be really detail-orientated. Really just try documentary. Production mixer Stephen A. Tibbo, CAS and re-
and make it better. Sometimes these scenes, when we watch recording mixer Dean Okrand, CAS were joined by re-recording
them, we think we really have to spice this up. We have to make mixer Brian Harman, CAS for this year’s award.
the Foley a character or that treat in the background really sing. Stephen Tibbo was introduced to audio work in college, where
We really try to be detail-oriented. That is the main thing.” he took film and TV production. One person asked him to
boom, and from there he wound up doing more audio work at
SUMMARY Cal State Northridge. Within a few years, he had invested
Game of Thrones is a story of an incredible visual menagerie of $30,000 in equipment, such as production stalwarts, the
battles, loves, and vast kingdoms. Its soundtrack completes this Sennheiser 416 and 816.
experience by surrounding and enveloping the audience in the Re-recording mixer Dean Okrand got into audio while in high
story. school. He volunteered at KPFK, where he edited news and had
All crews divulge that this is all only made possible through an all-night disc jockey show before going to college at Berkeley.
the great support they receive from their network and producers In college, he worked at KPFA and became a certified board
who believe in sound. The team expresses that they get great operator with an FCC license. While there, he went on to do
support from David [Benioff], Daniel [Weiss], and Carolyn live-music remotes, which began his transition into production
[Strauss], who are described by their re-recording mixers as sound. Like many mixers, he also has a background in music,
“super smart and talented.” And all teams from production studying clarinet and saxophone. Effects re-recording mixer
through post specifically mention producer Greg Spence, who Brian Harman is a third-generation sound person! His grandfa-
can be sighted having fun on the dub stage “playing” or acting ther, Eddie Harman, was a sound recordist, and his father,
as a liaison between Post Sound and Production Sound, as well Robert L. Harman, was a re-recording mixer.
as the other departments, such as Costuming and Editorial. The episode submitted for the CAS Award was the episode
shot in Australia, where the family takes a vacation together. It

CAS QUARTERLY SPRING 2015 25
 the boys loses his bathing suit while swimming in the ocean.)
Stephen explained that, whenever possible, he uses lavalieres on
every character, although the re-recording mixers generally use
the boom whenever possible. In these beach scenes, there was
nowhere to put a lavaliere, so it was mic’d predominantly with an
816. The sound of the ocean was so intrusive that the actors had
to time their lines to be in between the waves crashing. “There
was about one second between the waves, so we had to work very
efficiently to get usable dialogue.”
Post mixer Dean points out that “the biggest challenge was
the material shot at the beach. Steve Tibbo does a great job, so
we try to use the boom as much as possible.”
Like many contemporary shows, the schedule is so tight that
ADR frequently has to happen while the actors are shooting on
soundstages or on locations. Stephen is very careful to get wild
lines whenever possible to avoid having to do traditional ADR.
“We did five or six wild takes of every line on the beach,”
Stephen explained. “Occasionally, we are playing a video and
using a traditional loop, but most of the time we do them wild.”
The show is shot in the mock-documentary style. From day
one, the producers did not want it to look or sound like a typical
scripted show. There is hardly ever any music in the show, and
aside from the brief main title, no musical underscore at all. The
producers also avoid ADR, which means the production track
has to be delivered perfectly to the stage every time. Post mixer
Dean Okrand states, “We probably average only one or two lines
of ADR per episode, and they are often lines that were added or
rewritten, rather than being shot for technical reasons.”
Stephen Tibbo uses a crew with two boom operators (plus
utility sound) as part of his strategy to make sure every line is
covered. Srdjan Popovic, Dan Lipe, and Peter Hanson are his
usual crew. For this episode, they added Mark Van Kool. He also
records isolated tracks from lavalieres with the intention that
they be used as backup. Although the show may seem semi-
improvisatory, he points out that the actors stick to the script
Top: Stephen Tibbo mixing on the tarmac. for the most part, with only Ty Burrell and Julie Bowen occa-
Above left: The Modern Family flyer. sionally adding unexpected lines or reactions.
Above right: The regular Modern Family production rig. Normally, Stephen records on a Deva 5 and backs up to a
788T, but for this shoot he used a Zaxcom Nomad. For scenes
with the entire family, there are typically two booms and 12
lavalieres. Most of the booming is done with Schoeps CMIT5s,
might sound like fun getting a “vacation” from the usual sound- with a Sennheiser 8060 occasionally used for louder locations.
stages and locations in Los Angeles, but the scheduling for this The radio mikes are typically Countryman B6s or Sanken COS-
episode was the same as any other episode, with travel to and 11s for scenes where characters are screaming.
from Australia jammed into a weekly episodic schedule. The crew To add to the difficulties of the shoot, Australia was still mak-
arrived in Australia on a Monday. The equipment went through ing the transition from analog to digital, making it much more
customs while Stephen went immediately to scout locations. A difficult to find usable frequencies. (Comteks could not be used
late decision was made to shoot at one of the locations that same at all!) Thankfully, they were able to work with some locals who
day—and they were barely able to get their equipment set up assisted with finding reliable channels. Perhaps the most diffi-
before rolling, with no prep time at all. For various logistical cult location from that standpoint was shooting on top of the
reasons, the equipment package shipped was not the usual setup, Sydney Harbour Bridge. Due to the constrictions of the loca-
so they had to dive in right away on a new setup. tion, they did not use a full cart. Stephen explained, “We just
During one day of the shoot, Stephen’s cart was not held in used an over-the-shoulder Nomad and six wireless mikes.”
place correctly and fell over but, amazingly, nothing was broken. The scenes that were supposed to be the Outback were actu-
“The cart was built like a brick house,” says Stephen. ally shot very close to an airport. “We had to use a flight tracker
New locations always provide challenges for production mix- app to figure out when we could get a good take.” The fact that
ers. A significant amount of material was shot on beaches, with Stephen has also worked in post production helps him to under-
the talent in bathing suits. (In the most memorable scene, one of stand what may present problems later on. “Like most shows,

26 SPRING 2015 CAS QUARTERLY

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CAS QUARTERLY SPRING 2015 27
Clockwise, from above left: Boom operator Dan Lipe on the beach in Australia; the production sound team of Mark Van Kool, Serge Popovic,
Dan Lipe, and Stephen Tibbo on the beach; Tibbo mixing on a cliff; the wounded cart.

this show is about dialogue, so I have to deliver usable tracks all

of the time.”
The show typically gets a one-day, 12-hour final mix. Dean did
the first seasons by himself, but starting in the third season,
Brian Harman joined him as a regular mixer. One post challenge
for this episode was coming up with backgrounds for all the new
locations in the episode that were authentic to the Australian
locations.
Dean mixes at Smart Post Sound’s Stage 3 on Hollywood
Way, which has an Icon. He explains, “I have learned to enjoy
mixing in the box. Sonically, it is up to snuff, and it makes things
simple.” Although the editors do not use any noise reduction,
Dean does use a Cedar on the stage.
“Typically, we have about eight tracks of dialogue, and hardly
any group ADR, one or two tracks, maybe eight at the most.
ADR is minimal. Music is minimal. BGs are usually about 16–24
tracks. FX are as needed and there are usually eight tracks for
Foley.” Penny Harold-Coughlin was the supervising sound editor
and edited FX on that episode, with Lisa O’Donohue editing
dialogue.
Effects re-recording mixer Brian Harman normally gets 24 FX
tracks, 20 background tracks, eight Foley, and six walla tracks.
For plug-ins, he uses a seven-band EQ, L2 limiter, and ReVibe
reverb.
“Simple is better. The less processing, the better,” Dean
explains. He uses EQ3 and Waves Q10 for EQ.
Apparently, it works. As they were shooting the Australian epi-
sode, Stephen explains, “When we were in Sydney, Lemac and the
Australian Screen Sound Guild sponsored a lunch to talk shop on
how we do sound for Modern Family. This happened on Sunday
afternoon Sydney time. Back in LA, it was the night of (last year’s)
CAS Awards. When we were finished with lunch, I started getting
texts saying we had won the CAS Award. It was really nice to be
around other sound people in Australia when we won!”

28 SPRING 2015 CAS QUARTERLY

CAS QUARTERLY SPRING 2015 29
MEET THE WINNERS
cination with Los Angeles, but also because of my fascination
with the music it examined. I love listening to people who are
obsessively excited about music tell their stories about music.
The episodes close with a new Foo Fighters song and accom-
panying music video—where it becomes very apparent
(spoiler alert) that the song was deeply inspired by their
travels, history, and current experience—which was examined
throughout the documentary. This gives each episode a very
appropriate bookend.
I’d like to introduce you to the winners: Jeff Fuller and
Eddie Kim. They served as the re-recording mixers for this
series and they both work at Therapy Studios. The three of
us met for breakfast at the Urth Caffé and talked shop for
over an hour. The following weekend, I chatted up Fred
Stuben who served as the production sound mixer for this
project.
With eight amazing episodes to choose from, I was curious
Re-recording mixers Eddie Kim and Jeff Fuller what put the Los Angeles episode over the top as the CAS
Award selection. Eddie Kim remembers: “We chose that one
because it had the most sound design and clean dialogue, and
TELEVISION NON-FICTION, VARIETY, it was a little snippet explaining what the whole show was
MUSIC SERIES OR SPECIALS about. So, it was really the piece that we thought would go
over the best.” Jeff Fuller shared his sentiments about how
FOO FIGHTERS: lucky he feels to be working on this project: “This show is
just like a dream for me because it’s about musicians making
SONIC HIGHWAYS music in various recording studios around the nation. There
was never one minute of any of the late nights that I wasn’t
“Los Angeles” 100 percent interested in it.” It was so fascinating talking to
these guys about some of their post-production mix tech-
by Devendra Cleary, CAS niques, especially for some of the live on-camera music
recording sessions, and how they related to the techniques
I began watching Foo Fighters: Sonic Highways and, within the implemented during the production process. Like a passion-
first five minutes, I thought: “Wow, someone made a docu- ate craftsman, Jeff Fuller explained the unique way he mas-
mentary just for me.” This is especially true when I tuned in saged the mix for some of these musical pieces: “I get goose
to the Los Angeles episode, which has won the Outstanding bumps talking about this because I had so much fun. I liter-
Achievement in Sound Mixing for Television Non-Fiction, ally would … I had all the lavs. And I had a board mix and
Variety, Music Series or Specials category at this year’s that was it! And so that was part of my wonderful crossword
Cinema Audio Society Awards. This series, and specifically puzzle of putting the show together. It was being able to see
this episode, resonated with me, not only because of my fas- how I can make that work. Seeing how … Okay, now we’re
going over to the drummer. And I would open
up his lav.” Eddie Kim remembered: “Well, a lot
of that stuff also was on-camera mics.”
Production mixer Fred Stuben provided the
raw words of this crossword puzzle. He explained
his acquisition and his rig: “Yeah, I just tried to
get a mic wherever there were people talking on
camera. I had little Sennheiser mics on the
[Cannon] C300s. We had two roaming C300s
during the sessions with Lockit boxes.” He con-
tinued: “I used a Soundcraft board, a [Sound
Devices] 788, linked with a [Sound Devices]
744T. The 788 was basically all wireless. I had
eight available wireless, which were always run-
ning. And then, for the 744T, I took a stereo
bus and the other two [tracks] I used for plant
mics. I had a shotgun mic in the control room
Eddie Kim at the helm. and a Sanken CUB-01 on the desk. Basically, for
anybody that walked in the room, I attempted to

30 SPRING 2015 CAS QUARTERLY

throw a wire on them. And if I had additional
transmitters lying around, I would go plant
them somewhere. I would just try to have mics
everywhere anybody was.” Not the easiest of
production sound gigs from my perspective!
Fred admitted: “I was just doing it all by
myself for the most part. Especially for the
first three cities. I was going out and doing
interviews and then rushing back and plugging
all my gear back in to capture the recording
sessions.”
As a Foo Fighters fan, I was excited to get
some firsthand accounts and cool stories about
Dave Grohl. He’s not a first-time director and
he’s someone who wears many hats. But what
was he like from the mixer’s perspective? Eddie
Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl
Kim told me: “Overall, Dave Grohl is a very
‘kickback’ kind of dude. Very funny and very
like ‘bro style.’ He just instantly makes you feel comfortable tary, which he also produced and directed, as kind of a tem-
when you’re around him. He doesn’t have any sort of atti- plate for what I was mixing. The thing was that was a theatre
tude, and he just loves people and you can tell this in the way mix and, you know, your dynamic range is much wider than
he interacts with you.” Jeff shared with me a story: “I’m a what HBO gives you on the spec sheet. I got all my ducks in
a row as to how I wanted to approach the mix.
And we even sent HBO little tests of what the
dynamic range was going to be. You know,
since it is a music documentary, they want
music loud. I wanted the music loud because
that’s what it’s about. And I think we pulled
it off.” Eddie adds: “Well, I know in the end,
all the meters had to stay true in their legal
limits. But to pump that music, the other
things kind of had to give, and so that was the
dilemma.”
When I sat down with production mixer
Fred Stuben, I was surprised with the news
that he once met Dave Grohl in his previous
career! “Well, we crossed paths years ago in
the early nineties. My band [Saucer] opened
Fuller playing one of Dave Grohl’s for Nirvana back in
Trini Lopez guitars (above) and deep
in thought (below).
Bellingham, Washington. I
never met him [again] until
we started Sound City. He’s a
guitarist as well as Foo Fighters fan. And I think it was the great guy. Very funny, very
last day he was in, he came in and he was carrying his two intelligent. Quick-witted
main guitars. For guitar aficionados, these are very expensive, and just really fun to be
very unique, beautiful guitars called Trini Lopez made by around. David definitely
Gibson. And no case, nothing. He literally parked his car in seems like a great guy with a
front, walked in carrying these two guitars. The executive great big heart. I was
producer, Jim Rota, and I are like: ‘Dude, don’t you own a reminded of something I
guitar case?’ ‘Oh no, no, no I’m doing a photo shoot in a had seen on the show: Dave
little bit and I want to have them just in case.’ Just sitting was featured wearing an
there, getting to play these instruments, just put me in guitar IATSE Local 695 T-shirt.
heaven. But that’s the way he was. There was no, you know … This being the union local
attitude.” for video engineers and pro-
I was very curious to know if Dave Grohl’s musical talent, duction sound caused me to do a double-take!” Fred filled
ability, and taste made him different than other directors to me in: “It was the New Orleans episode. He came in in the
work with in any way especially from a re-recording mixer’s morning and it was cold, and I had my IASTE [695] shirt in
perspective. Jeff explained: “I used the Sound City documen- my cable case, and I go ‘Here, throw this on.’ And I didn’t

CAS QUARTERLY SPRING 2015 31
 Fuller interjected: “I expected that Rodney Bingenheimer
DID live in a mansion in Beverly Hills. Not in a little apart-
ment off Gower or wherever that was. But you never know.
I love that aspect of it because it brings it into reality. What
you’re seeing is people that are doing their craft, practicing
their art with no exceptions, you know? They’re willing to be
broke, they’re willing to not have that house in the hills to
be able to still practice their art. I think that’s even brought
up in a couple of the episodes—it’s so true. Whether it’s
music or whether it’s audio: It’s our passion.” Fred Stuben
had a variety of remarks for this as well: “I think we have
similar views on Los Angeles. It’s a very sprawled-out city,
but also has these amazing pockets. He did mention that LA
has all these amazing studios. The Rolling Stones recorded
here, everybody that was anybody recorded in LA. I think he
captured it pretty well. He brings up that you do need to get
out of LA every once in a while!”
A very good point. I do believe that a big part of living in
Los Angeles is getting out enough to then fully appreciate it.
Much of this episode features scenes shot out in the hidden
recording studio known as Rancho De La Luna. “Yeah, and
seeing what the rest of California has to offer. Because LA
itself does have a lot to offer, but so does the rest of the
state. We did a little bit of both, like interviewing Jimmy
Iovine at his mansion—and Pat Smear! Going back to Pat
Smear’s neighborhood … that’s gritty. And I think that was
a big part of the LA episode—Pat Smear and his history with
LA. He believes in (like he said in the episode): that it’s his
Fred Stuben in
favorite city on the planet and he grew up here. And he’s an
mid-interview. amazing individual.”

know that anybody was going to … He was just warming up,

he sat down with an acoustic guitar and they started filming
with him wearing it.” To be honest, there was just something ...There was something “
about that image of him wearing the shirt that was really
inspiring. I have no idea why. It was as simple as: here’s this about ... [Dave Grohl] wearing
badass, cool guy wearing our union’s shirt.
The re-recording mixers were not short of any humble the [IATSE] shirt that was
respect for their fearless leader. Jeff remembers: “He respect-
ed what we were doing and that was totally reflective. By the really inspiring ... Here’s this
end of the series, the Sonic Highways album had come out, he
was bouncing from city to city doing tours and stuff, and he badass, cool guy wearing
was able to surrender a little of the control. When he first
came in, it was like … Okay, Dave is coming in to review the our union’s shirt.

”
mix. And then by the last episode, he’s watching it on his
laptop. That obviously shows trust, and Dave must have
known these guys had his back.” Jeff continued: “That felt
really good because then I caught that vibe from him for the
second episode, and I’m sure Eddie did, too, and it gave us And speaking of amazing individuals, I wanted to go into a
the liberties to go: Okay, we want to kind of try to push this. little back story of our winners’ career history. First, Eddie
Whereas, when you work under some people, it’s like you’re Kim briefly explained to me how passion for music can very
afraid to push a fader.” often bridge so naturally into a career in audio. “Oh, I used
At risk of overusing the word “gritty,” I gravitated toward to be a DJ. Still doing the DJ thing. But when I was in San
that description while asking the guys about the stylization Francisco at film school, I did the DJ thing and was going to
of the episode in regard to Los Angeles as the backdrop. The school. I decided to focus more and more on audio, and that’s
settings of the interviews, neighborhood tours, and hidden- how I got into the studio working on projects for all of my
away recording studios are more ‘rough’ and less ‘fancy.’ Jeff friends at school.”

32 SPRING 2015 CAS QUARTERLY

 owners are very artistically driven. We’re not in a corporate
environment. We’re in a very creative environment.”
In conclusion, I would like to share pieces of advice that
these three guys had come up with off-the-cuff. Fred Stuben
would suggest to people who may be starting out in other
departments on set, such as production assistants, who may
be interested in the craft to: “Start talking to the sound
department if that’s the department you’re interested in.
Start hanging around the sound department and say, ‘Hey,
I’m really interested in getting into this game, can I, when I’m
not working, help you out in any way?’ Therapy Studios has
many students who intern with them.” Eddie Kim explains:
“One piece of advice that I give is to never stop learning. If
Foo Fighters you have nothing to do, try to learn something. I also always
say, ‘be quick.’ Try to do your craft really fast, but also with
Jeff Fuller recounted some of his history from Portland, taste. You have to be fast because, generally, audio to produc-
Oregon. “I first got into mixing in 1996. I started at a place ers should sound clean but be done quickly. So learn your
called Rex Recording Video Post. They were one of the old- programs inside and out.”
est post-production facilities in the Northwest. Interestingly In closing, I really want to thank Jeff Fuller, Eddie Kim,
enough, I went up there, I got hired thinking I was going to and Fred Stuben for taking their free time to meet with me
start music and they were in the middle of transitioning over in person. Weekend breakfast/audio talk in the heart of beau-
to doing advertising. I’ve always been an engineer. I grew up tiful Los Angeles would never feel like a task if you ask me.
with a Tascam 3340 in my basement. I knew how to take Fred Stuben ends our interview on a sentimental note: “I
things apart and fix them. Just by trial and error. So, when I really had a blast on Sonic Highways. I really hope there is some
started there at Rex, I basically had no life up in Portland. I, additional seasons in the future. It’s really a dream project of
basically, lived in the studio. There were nights I’d sleep mine because I’ve, basically, interviewed almost every one of
there, but for the most part, my apartment was the closest my idols over the last three years between Sound City and Sonic
and I was the guy everyone called when they needed some- Highways.”•
thing changed, and it was like I got thrown to the wolves. And
I think because of my obsession for my art and my craft, I
loved it. And it took off from there.”
Fred Stuben, coincidentally, is also from the Northwest.
He was born in Portland and then moved up to Seattle when
he was a teenager. As far as his audio career jump-start, it
happened as follows: “I had a friend that moved to Los
Angeles and had became a producer. I was looking for a career
change and was living in Seattle at the time. So my friend
goes, ‘Well, since you are a musician, you should come down
and sit in with a sound mixer.’ She introduced me to
[Maurice Sydnor]. I came down, introduced myself to him
and went out on a couple of jobs and he liked me. I moved
down here and just started interning with him. He taught me
hands-on how to mix, boom, and playback. He really got me
started. I’m always thankful for that.”
Hearing how people’s careers grow as they develop into the
accomplished professionals they are, I’m reminded that this
rings true for the facilities and companies around us. Therapy
Studios has grown so much over the years and continues to
do so. Jeff Fuller explained: “Therapy Studios is a full pro-
duction house. We shoot, we edit, we do color, we do visual
FX. When we did the series, we upgraded all the studios.
Eddie’s and my rooms are mirrored [with Avid] C24s and
we’re running Pro Tools 11, [with] Genelec [8040B] moni-
tors.” Eddie Kim adds: “I’ve known these dudes forever, but
I didn’t start at the company until a couple years ago.
However, I’ve been working with them, actually hanging out
with them, for a long time.” With admiration, Jeff continues:
“One thing I would like to say about Therapy is that the

CAS QUARTERLY SPRING 2015 33
TECH AWARDS
AND THE WINNER
IS ... EVERYBODY!
by G. John Garrett, CAS
I had the opportunity to talk with the 2015 CAS Technical
Achievement Award winners recently and it’s no surprise that
making useful tools that people want is a winning strategy.

POST PRODUCTION:
iZOTOPE RX4 ADVANCED
iZotope is located about three miles from me in Cambridge,
MA, so I had the opportunity to tour the new-ish digs in
Kendall Square and have lunch with product manager Matt
Hines to talk about the current state of the art in restoration
tools. Matt’s in charge of all the post-production products at
iZotope. RX4 (which I reviewed in the Winter 2015 Quarterly)
is the most powerful audio repair toolbox we’ve ever seen, and
everybody has their own uses for it, from denoising, click
removal, ambience matching, de-verbing, spectral manipulation,
and so on. In fact, a lot of people learn the two or three life-
saving tricks that they need and are not aware of how much
more it will do! According to Matt, it’s not likely that any one
user knows all the things RX4 will do. When RX3 was intro-
duced in September of 2013, Matt said post-production usage
“blew up.” It was an instant hit. But they didn’t stop at that.
How did they get there? They started by asking people like
you and I what kinds of problems we have on set, in the studio,
or in the post suite. They have bimonthly company-wide meet-
ings to brainstorm, talk about progress on projects, and inte-
grate customer feedback and ideas. Then, they set out to build From top: iZotope RX product manager Matt Hines holding his award at
the iZotope headquarters; Sound Devices President Jon Tatooles and
solutions. So far so good, don’t you think? Now they’re build- development specialist Paul Isaacs. Photo: ©Ana Gibert
ing their own mastering room, mix room, and performance
space for a more controlled evaluation environment going for-
ward. And since a lot of iZotope employees are musicians, I
expect some great-sounding late-night recording sessions, too. PRODUCTION:
SOUND DEVICES—DANTE AND
MADI AUDIO RECORDER MODEL 970
Meanwhile at Sound Devices, President Jon Tatooles and
development specialist Paul Isaacs have been listening to
more than their great gear since before they started making
their great gear. I had the opportunity to learn how they got
to the award-winning 970.
Jon said, “Production sound is our core, and what we saw
with the 270 was this video recorder being used in contexts
where there was a lot of multitrack audio.” The uses
changed in ways that may not have been anticipated, because
the demands changed. Jon continued, “The emergence of
competition reality as a category is very track intensive.
This was a response to that. While the 970 isn’t for every

34 SPRING 2015 CAS QUARTERLY

cart, there are dramas where they are in need of very RESCUE
high track counts and they are using complementary
tools that have interfaces (using) Dante and MADI
and, in those cases, the 970 is really a super fit.” Paul
YOUR
added, “I would say the majority of our clients are run-
ning with some Dante-based console. Even Behringer
has jumped in.” Beyond reality, they’re starting to see
AUDIO
a growing need in sports and live event trucks where
multiple units are grouped as one through PIXNET.

“
I would say the majority
RX 4 and RX 4 Advanced
Complete Audio Repair & Enhancement
of our clients are running
Transform noisy, distorted, or flawed audio
with some Dante-based into pristine material. With intelligent new
modules, time-saving new features, and
console. Even Behringer deeper levels of integration with your editing

has jumped in. software, RX 4 is the next generation of an

”
industry standard.

The 970 is a small 64-track recorder with analog,

AES, MADI, and Dante I/O, capable of recording up
to four drives simultaneously and connecting to the
rest of the production in “Network” mode via SAMBA.
Everything is protected against data loss and power
loss, thanks to the Sound Devices-developed
“PowerSafe” and “FileSafe” technologies. Making the
970 not only powerful, but robust in the field.
When it comes to development, Paul says, “It all
Winner of the 2013 Emmy Award
starts with customer feedback and we’re very fortunate for Outstanding Achievement in
that we have a great customer base who really want to Engineering Development
share ideas very openly—and they’re all very passion-
ate. There’s one thing for sure here at Sound Devices, Learn more about RX 4 at [Link]/rx
we’re not short of ideas!”
Congratulations to Sound Devices and iZotope for
your 2015 Cinema Audio Society Awards! There’s a
future in making things your customers help design,
and all the CAS Technical Achievement Award winners
in recent years share this philosophy in making our
world a better place to record and mix.•

CAS QUARTERLY SPRING 2015 35
 Voilà
Meet the SSM micro transmitter.

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[Link] A U D I O & V I D E O P R O D U C TION PRODUCTS
2014 CAS STUDENT RECOGNITION AWARD
DANNY MAURER
by April Tucker, CAS
Danny Maurer, the winner of the inaugural CAS Student
Recognition Award, was caught off guard when his name was
announced at the ceremony. “I almost didn’t get out of my seat
because I didn’t know what to do,” he said.
Danny, a 2014 graduate of the University of Colorado-
Denver, didn’t think he would win. He has a music-centric
degree and lives in a city not known for film. He was impressed
by the other candidates, their degrees, and their credits.
“They’re all really cool people—I got a chance to meet them the
day before,” Danny said.
What Danny did have, though, was an interest (and talent) in
sound for film, and a drive and ambition to create opportunities
for himself. Danny was pursuing a bachelor’s degree full time,
had a job with Apple, and was still taking on film projects to
learn the craft.
Danny grew up in Chatfield, CO, where his early interest in
music lead him to sound. “I started playing drums when I was Danny Maurer, Student Recognition Award winner.
Photo: ©Ana Gibert
younger, and that’s what got me into music. I did music in high
school, and I really enjoyed doing sound for theater. I was sure
that I wanted to do sound for touring bands or theater. I had blown away! What really got me into sound was that class,” he
never even really heard of sound for film as a career. But I knew said. Danny’s interest bloomed after taking audio post-produc-
that I wanted to do sound,” Danny said. tion classes with UC-Denver professor David J. Bondelevitch
He learned about sound for film during a class at UC-Denver. (MPSE, CAS). “David really helped me push my career, and he
“One day, the teacher put on a behind-the-scenes video of Star also backed me up for the CAS Award,” Danny said. “His
Wars. I just sat there with my jaw to the floor watching these classes offered a broad spectrum of different things you can do
sound designers and mixers put the film together. I was just in sound for film. That’s where I was like, now I know for a fact

BRINGING THE STUDENT RECOGNITION AWARD TO LIFE

Outgoing CAS President David Fluhr put it best in his introduction part of the ‘giving back’ to the community I speak of often.”
at the awards ceremony: “It’s our responsibility to provide the next Thanks to the hard work of the committee (led by Sherry Klein,
generation of sound artists with the creative tools, sensitivity, and CAS), the Student Recognition Award turned from a long-term goal
the inspiration to continue the art of sound mixing. Benjamin to an awards program that already has had an impact on the lives
Franklin said it perfectly: ‘Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I and careers of the participants.
remember. Involve me and I learn.’” “Every single one of these finalists was amazing. Everything
2014 marks the inaugural year of the CAS Student Recognition they submitted to us—they really put their all in it,” said Klein. The
Award, an award that has been many years (and a lot of hard committee’s focus was on finding candidates who were nurturing
work) in the making. Fluhr said the Student Recognition Award their interest in production or post-production sound, regardless of
was something he focused on during his entire presidency. their circumstances. Eligibility for the CAS Student Recognition
“This was one of the original goals I set forth four years ago Award was open to any student enrolled (and in good standing) in
when I first became president. I spoke about it every year at the a bachelor’s or master’s degree program at an accredited college
awards, and at most Board meetings. It seemed this last year or university. Students could be pursuing any major, but needed to
we had the financial capabilities and the team in place to make demonstrate an interest and some experience in production and/or
this happen. After all, it’s one of the CAS’ main missions. The post-production sound for film and television.
next generation needs us to support and guide them. It’s all The finalists were invited to attend the Awards Dinner as guests

C A S   Q U A R T E R L Y S P R I N G   2 0 1 5 37
 this is what I want to do for the rest of my life.”
David’s support went beyond the classroom, where he enlist-
ed Danny’s help with Foley and temp dubs on his own film
projects. “David’s the one who’s made the biggest impact on my
career,” Danny said. “There are the people that started me
out—like my teachers in high school, various teachers in col-
lege, and friends that were really supportive—but it really
came down to David pushing me. He’s had that real mentor
mentality with me that’s constantly trying to make me push
and strive for more.”
Danny stood out for being a self-starter who created his own
opportunities to learn post from within his degree (a “Recording
Arts” emphasis). “Part of the problem with my degree not being
a film degree was that I didn’t have much film work,” he said.
“The school was very flexible, but what ultimately happened was

David Fluhr, CAS and Sherry Klein, CAS present the CAS
Student Recognition Award.
STUDENT RECOGNITION AWARD
NOMINEES
of the CAS. All five were given a gift bag that included the
following items from sponsors:

• RX4 FROM iZOTOPE MICHAEL CULLEN

• GRAPHITE MINI-BOOM POLE WITH (CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY,
PERSONALIZED ENGRAVING FROM K-TEK DODGE COLLEGE OF FILM AND MEDIA ARTS, ORANGE, CA)
• BRANDED APPAREL AND GOODIES Michael’s graduating in May with a degree in film production
FROM LECTROSONICS (sound design emphasis) and a minor in music (vocal perfor-
• A DISCOUNT GIFT CERTIFICATE FROM mance). He’s considering Los Angeles or opportunities
LOCATION SOUND abroad, and is interested in learning more about dialogue
• A PAIR OF MDR-7510 HEADPHONES FROM editing, music editing, and re-recording mixing. [Link]
SONY PRO AUDIO
• AMERICAN EXPRESS GIFT CARD FROM HEATHER FINK
SOUND DELUXE (NEW YORK UNIVERSITY, GRADUATE PROGRAM)
• SPECIAL COMBO COLLECTION SOUND EFFECTS Heather is based in New York, working regularly as a Local
PACKAGE FROM SOUNDDOGS 52 boom operator and utility sound technician. She will be
shooting a feature comedy called Inside You in June for her
• DISCOUNT GIFT CERTIFICATE FROM TREW AUDIO
graduate thesis. [Link]
“The swag bag was a wonderful surprise, and I’m very JOHN HARTON
grateful to the generous companies who donated, and for (SAVANNAH COLLEGE OF ART & DESIGN, SAVANNAH, GA)
Dorothea’s hard work with assembling the bag,” said John is moving to Los Angeles with his wife (just married
nominee Heather Fink. “I’m especially grateful to CAS that March 2015) after graduating in May. He is seeking oppor-
this award exists. Any reason to be a part of this, I’m tunities in production sound. [Link]
happy.”
In addition to the winner (Danny Maurer) getting a DANNY MAURER
$2,500 check, an anonymous donation of $2,000 made it (UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO-DENVER)
possible for each of the other four finalists to get $500 each. WINNER
The CAS Board has also decided to give all five finalists one
Danny graduated in 2014 and is seeking an internship or
apprentice position in Los Angeles. He’d like to learn more
year of student membership to CAS.
about production sound, but is also interested in post-pro-
The CAS would like to thank all of the sponsors and duction sound. [Link]
donors for their generous contributions. Also, a huge thanks
and appreciation to Sherry Klein and the members of the ALYSSA SCHWARTZBERG
committee for their time and effort. Special thanks to Debra (BROOKLYN COLLEGE)
Bronow and Dorothea Sargent for their efforts and expertise After graduation in May, Alyssa is looking to freelance in
in helping this award come to fruition. production sound mixing. [Link]/in/alyssaschwartzberg

38 S P R I N G   2 0 1 5 C A S Q U A R T E R L Y
that during my senior year, I took the reins for my own con- production mixing. I really want to do both for a while,” he said.
trol.” Because of the award, Danny received an invitation to Telluride,
Danny knew that the school had a film program, but it didn’t CO, to visit sound mixer Mark Ulano, CAS, during the filming
have a lot of classes in sound. “What I did was approach the of Quentin Tarantino’s new film, The Hateful Eight. Danny is
faculty and say, ‘I’m an audio student, and I want to be the currently planning a move from Denver to Los Angeles (where
liaison between your program and the music program, because he did an internship at Larson Studios back in 2013). Ideally,
I know that there are kids who don’t know that there’s a world he’d like to find a starting position in production sound, but is
that exists outside of music.’” Through that relationship, he open-minded to any opportunities that may come up. Danny
worked on a nine-episode Web series and a number of student said this about the future. “I know for a fact that I just want to
films (many of which have gone on to local film festivals). pursue this career. I’ll do whatever is available and just go from
The $2,500 prize award from the CAS is allowing him to try there. I find it all interesting.”
something different: production sound. “With the money, I’m
getting some wireless mics and more production equipment Danny can be reached through his website at [Link].
because, up until now, I was pretty sure I was going to focus on
post-production mixing. I definitely have taken more of a liking to

The items in the swag bag they

received at the awards have already
gone to good use. “The K-Tek
belt clip was one of the simple
things missing from my gear
when I boom or utility,” said
nominee Heather Fink. “The cus-
tom boom pole was just the
sweetest thing. On set we do such
dirty, unglamorous things—I
always like to paint my nails so
there’s this glimmer of ‘girl’ that
comes out. The custom engraved
boom pole is definitely next-level
glam. I also really loved the head-
phones! Especially because I lost
a set on a shoot a while ago.”
The relationship didn’t just
end at the awards. John Harton
The Student Recognition Award finalists: Alyssa Schwartzberg, Heather Fink, Michael Cullen, asked Danny Maurer to help mix
Danny Maurer, and John Harton. Photo: ©Ana Gibert his senior film project. Also, John
and Heather have stayed in touch
about possibly working together.
The five finalists met in Los Angeles the day before the ceremo- Participating in the Student Recognition Award has Danny
ny for a tour of Sony Pictures and to attend a screening of the already thinking about how he can give back to CAS. “I’m
MPSE Student Film nominees. “At Sony, we had the opportu- really thankful that I participated, but I also want to make
nity to tour most of the post-production facilities including the sure that I return on it to the CAS as much as I can, such as
ADR stage, the Foley stage, and the Barbra Streisand scoring if they have goals in the future with what they want to do with
stage. It was very encouraging to see the practices and tech- student involvement,” he said.
niques that I am using at the film school being used in a profes- “That whole weekend was pretty surreal for me,” John said.
sional setting,” nominee Michael Cullen said. “It was absolutely wonderful—I can’t thank the CAS enough.
At the awards, CAS members were generous in introducing I’m just really excited to get out to California and start work-
themselves to nominees and helping them connect with others. ing with you guys.”•
“I got to meet a lot of my production sound heroes and spend
a significant amount of time with them. Kevin Cerchiai person- If you know a student who would be perfect for the next CAS
ally took me around for 40 minutes just introducing me to Student Recognition Award, watch the CAS website for informa-
people,” said nominee John Harton. tion on how to apply.

C A S   Q U A R T E R L Y S P R I N G   2 0 1 5 39
Richard Linklater
Receives CAS Filmmaker Award

40 SPRING 2015 CAS QUARTERLY

by Karol Urban, CAS

ON FEBRUARY 14, 2015, AT THE 51ST ANNUAL CAS AWARDS,

THE CINEMA AUDIO SOCIETY HONORED RICHARD LINKLATER
WITH THE PRESTIGIOUS FILMMAKER AWARD.
“We are delighted to be honoring Richard Linklater this year. For nearly three decades, he
has made his mark on cinema. From Slacker and Dazed and Confused to the Before series to this
year’s groundbreaking film Boyhood, he has entertained and surprised us with his vision as a
storyteller and filmmaker,” said former CAS President David Fluhr.
Linklater not only believes and wields the power of sound throughout his films, but he
embodies the soul of a storyteller by inspiring others and embraces so many styles and
methods in his work.
From experimenting with graphic treatment in A Scanner Darkly and Waking Life to creating a
period comedy in Me and Orson Welles to a comedy about music inspiring children in School of
Rock to a trilogy exploring the mystery of love, Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, and Before Midnight
and much more, Linklater
appears to be able to mys-
tify us with a tale about
just about anything using
almost any voice. Linklater
is in production on vari-
ous projects but current-
ly has 19 major films to
his credit. His most cur-
rent release, Boyhood, was
filmed over a 12-year peri-
od with the same cast and
crew and has been criti-
cally acclaimed as “One
of the most extraordinary
films of the 21st century.”
The film has received six
Academy Award® nomina-
Production mixer John Pritchett, CAS, assistant sound editor tions, five BAFTA Award
Tricia Linklater, Filmmaker Award honoree Richard Linklater, and nods, and an Oscar in addi-
filmmaker Christopher Nolan. Photo: ©Ana Gibert tion to 125 wins including
Golden Globe wins for
Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Patricia Arquette.
More than 150 critics across the country have picked Boyhood as the Best Film of the Year.
Additionally, he remains a citizen to his community by educat-
ing through his work as the Creative Director of the Austin Film
Society (AFS), which he founded in 1985 when he was a young
film student at Austin Community College. Today, AFS is one
of the nation’s top film organizations, showing more than 200
films a year. They sponsor educational programs and have given out more than $1.5 million
in grants to Texas filmmakers since 1996.
Linklater is the 10th CAS Filmmaker honoree and joins this prestigious list of directors:
Quentin Tarantino, Gil Cates, Bill Condon, Paul Mazursky, Henry Selick, Taylor Hackford,
Rob Marshall, Jonathan Demme, and Edward Zwick.
His award was presented by his sister, assistant sound editor Tricia Linklater, fellow direc-
tor Christopher Nolan, and production mixer John Pritchett, CAS.
Congratulations to Richard Linklater, our 10th honored Filmmaker Award recipient. •

CAS QUARTERLY SPRING 2015 41
 Work at Home?
Sound Isolation Is Crucial!
by Br uce Bl ack

Turning a spare space in your home into a mix room, editorial room,
or other creative space is quite common—so much so that it’s likely
most people reading this have done it. So you likely know one of the
biggest problems that can come from this.

Sound can intrude into other rooms, disturbing others in the

house, and perhaps even leak out and assault the neighbors. But
help is one the way! There are things you can do before turning
things ‘way down’ or resorting to headphones.

You likely know that one way that sound leaks out is through
airborne transmission. So true, but there’s another, perhaps
more devious way that it can get into spaces where it’s not
wanted—structure-borne transmission. But first …

It Flies Through the Air with the

Greatest of Ease
The thing about airborne sound is that it can find and escape
through every little opening in the room. The solution is simple
in theory—just seal up your room. But accomplishing this can
be complex in execution.

Any doors to your room need to be sealed. Good weatherstrip-

ping around the top and sides, and a threshold with integral
weatherstripping, or an automatic drop seal on the bottom, will
do the trick. Just make sure everything is sealing properly. You
also want to patch any obvious cracks and holes in the walls,
floor, and ceiling. But there can be stealthy leaks as well.

Take for instance, light switches and outlets. Remove the cover Adhesive-backed foam weatherstripping applied to
plates and you’ll likely find gaps all around the box that holds the door jamb where the door will compress against
the switch or outlet. Sound knows where these openings are, it and seal. Remember to put a sealing threshold on
the door bottom too.

42 SPRING 2015 CAS QUARTERLY

and has no qualms about using them to find its liberation. number of different diameters. Just stuff it in the gap and caulk
over it.
There are a number of ways to deal with this. The easiest is to
install energy conservation gaskets under the plates. You can Use a small pry bar to gently pull the trim away from the wall,
also fill the gaps with acoustical caulk. The important word using a block of wood on the wall to pry against in order to
here is acoustical. Normal caulks can dry up and shrink, which avoid damaging it. And go slow so you don’t crack or break the
reopens the gap. But acoustical caulk (like OSI SC-175 made trim. If you’re careful, the nails will stay in the trim and you
by Henkel) remains flexible and doesn’t dry out. Meaning the can just gently tap it back when you’re done. Again, tap against
gaps remain sealed for a very long time. a wood block on the trim to avoid damaging it.

You can also use expanding foam from a home improvement All these materials are also available from Amazon.
center, but since a wall is a constrained space, the expansion can
actually push your wall apart. Save this one as a last resort and
proceed gingerly. A Solid Transmission
There’s another sneaky one. If you remove the baseboard, or the Sound also travels through the physical structure of your
trim around your door or windows, you’ll likely see a gap there building. This is more efficient than air! So if your speakers
too. The best solution is to caulk it using the same SC-175. If (especially subwoofers) have solid contact with the room struc-
the gap is too wide to support the caulk, you can get a backer ture by sitting on the floor—or even sitting on a stand or table
rod to fill it first. This is a round, flexible rope of polyethyl- or shelf—there is a path for the cabinet’s vibrations to travel.
ene foam available from most home improvement centers in a

Caulking between the drywall and the electrical box Some gaskets have an adhesive back that
holding a light switch. This can also be done with allows installation on the back of the cover
electrical outlets. If air can pass through it, sound plate for ease of installation.
can pass through it.

CAS QUARTERLY SPRING 2015 43
Foam weatherstripping and several types of expanding foam are available from most home centers, as well as pre-cut gasket sets.

“
Once this energy gets in the structure, it will travel until it
finds an unrestrained panel, like floor underlayment or the
drywall between the studs in a wall in another room. The
panel then vibrates, regenerating the sound. Voilá! Sound
The thing about airborne where you don’t want it!

sound is that it can find and There’s an easy, inexpensive, and quick solution. This is
to resiliently isolate the source that generates the offend-
escape through every little ing sound in the first place—your speakers. You can do
opening in the room. The this with Sorbothane™ hemispheres. (Sorbothane is the
best vibration damping material available). But proceed
solution is simple in theory— carefully.

just seal up your room. But Sorbothane, like all resilient isolators, needs to be
compressed to where it is around 1/3 to 1/2 its origi-
accomplishing this can be nal thickness. You can’t put your speakers on a slab

”
of it (or any resilient isolator for that matter), as the
complex in execution. material won’t be properly compressed. By matching
the weight of your speaker to the size and hardness
of the hemispheres, you can get the isolation you
need. If you get the weight of your speaker and visit
[Link]/hemispheres/[Link],
you’ll find the type that will work best
with your speaker. Each product page
lists the recommended weight range
for each available hardness (“durom-
eter”). These are also available through
Amazon, but the Isolate It website has
much better product descriptions to
help you select the correct weight range.

You’ll need four hemispheres—one for

each speaker corner. Note that they
come in different durometers, and their
weight rating is per hemisphere. Divide
your speaker weight by four and that’s
the weight rating per hemisphere that
you need.

They’re sold in sets of four or eight,

depending on which version you get.
In the end, it works out to $10 to $20
per speaker. You’ll get speaker isolation
that works much better and costs far
less than commercial isolation stands
or blocks.

Important note. In earthquake-prone

California, you should seriously con-
sider seismic restraint for all your
speakers.

Epilogue
By investing a few dollars and some
elbow grease, you can go a long way
toward solving your sound leakage
problems and preserve (or regain)
your domestic tranquillity. •

Bruce Black is an international acousti-

cal consultant and designer based in the
Greater Los Angeles area. He is a member
of AMPAS, AES, IATSE Local 700, and
SMPTE; he is also an Affiliate of AIA/
LA, and a National Allied Individual with
the Architectural Institute of America.
You can visit his website at www.
[Link] and contact him at
info@[Link]

CAS QUARTERLY SPRING 2015 45
 Eric Batut CAS is Paul James Zahnley CAS mixed in early Showtime, then right into Season 1 of Empire
mixing Roadies, a pilot 2015, America Is Still the Place for director for 20th Century Fox. With little rest for
for Bad Robot and Patrick Gilles which stars Mike Colter and the weary, they are currently working on the
directed by Cameron Dylan Baker. Paul is currently mixing Lucky pilot Love Is a Four-Letter Word, directed by
Crowe. Boom operator Chow for PBS and Aerial America for The George Tillman Jr., also for Fox.
is Simon Bright and sound assistant is Tim Smithsonian Channel in addition to Daisy
Crich. and Max for Al Jazeera America. Shooting continues on the second season of
the NBC/Universal series Chicago P.D., with
Phillip W. Palmer CAS has wrapped Jay Patterson CAS, along with Doug Scott D. Smith CAS handling mixing
the series Glee, after seven years and six Shamburger and Tom Pinney, are happily duties. He is assisted by the able crew of boom
seasons. We had the final curtain call late working on our second season of Extant, with operator Jeff Williams and utility tech Michael
February with great emotion and fanfare. Halle Berry! Capulli. With conditions ranging from July
I’d like to thank my crew that has been with heat to winter bliz-zards, we keep churning it
me over the past six seasons: Devendra Fred Ginsburg CAS was once again busy out!
Cleary CAS, Mitchell Gebhardt, Patrick during NAB conducting workshops and
Martens, Chloe Patenaude, Scott Solan, explaining the craft of production sound on Shaun Cunningham CAS and April
and Jeff Zimmerman. A big thank-you and behalf of Audio Technica USA. He has also Tucker CAS recently completed the mix on
great appreciation to all the 2nd unit crews been working with iZotope to introduce their Adam Bhala Lough’s documentary Hot Sugar’s
that joined us for the many double-up days RX4 Advanced noise reduction software into Cold World at Anarchy Post (Burbank, CA).
throughout the series run. I’ll be going back the curriculums at Chapman University and The film premiered at SXSW on March 16.
to Albuquerque for Season 2 of Better Call Cal State University Northridge, where Dr. The two are currently working on Lough’s
Saul, beginning late summer. Ginsburg is an adjunct professor and teaches latest documentary, The Motivation 2, about
their production sound courses. Fellow CAS skateboarder Chris Cole.
members who instruct at colleges may contact
Fred to find out about Scott Harber CAS has been finishing up
special academic licenses Season 7 of Castle at Raleigh Studios with

Denecke, Inc. for faculty and students

being provided by iZo-
John Agalsoff Jr. and Erik Altstadt. Along with
this, there have been days of pickups on Jay
tope. Roach’s film Trumbo, with Bryan Cranston.
Home of the Industry Standard
for Electronic Time Code Slates Christian T. Cooke After finishing Season 1 of The Last Ship
CAS is working on (TNT/Michael Bay) with the unsinkable John
Texas Rising, directed Sheridan and the indomitable Knox White,
by Roland Joffé and pro- Steve Nelson CAS, Tom Hartig, and John
duced by Leslie Greif jumped over to the Warner Ranch to do a
for History Channel little haunted house movie called Crawlspace.
and mixing at Deluxe Steve then, traveled to Albuquerque and points
Toronto. beyond to take over on Blood Father, an actioner
starring Mel Gibson, Diego Luna, and Erin
Alex Riordan CAS Moriarty, with boom operator Brent Becker.
and his crew of boom Currently, Steve is starting the final episode
operator Eric Anthony of Season 2 of The Last Ship, again with Knox
and 2nd boom/utility and John. Thanks to Glenn Berkovitz, Richard
Michael McGrath have Lightstone, and all who helped with the extra
been very fortunate to work here. Next up, The Lonely Island movie
stay busy working on at Universal. It looks like a lot of fun! Steve
great projects. First up is also once again serving on the Executive
was season 1 of Sense8 Board of Local 695. Finally, this spring, Ariel
DENECKE, INC.
with the Wachowskis Claire Nelson, my daughter, will graduate from
25209 Avenue Tibbitts
Valencia, CA 91355 for Netflix, followed Harvard Law, come back to California, take the
Phone (661) 607-0206 Fax (661) 257-2236 by a short stint doing Bar, and begin her clerkship for a federal judge in
[Link] Email: info@[Link] the Chicago portion of Santa Ana, not missing Boston winters one little
Shameless’ Season 5 for bit. Well done, Ariel!
46 SPRING 2015 CAS QUARTERLY
It’s been an incredible winter and spring for
Gavin Fernandes CAS. He finished the
second season of Helix for Sony/Syfy, mixed
The Dovekeepers for CBS and the Quebec
feature The Journal of Aurelie Laflamme for
Vision 4. Looking forward to spending some
R&R time in Nevada (NAB) and California
in April before starting Demolition, with
director Jean-Marc Vallée.

Joseph Geisinger CAS is finishing

Season 10 of the one-hour crime drama
series Criminal Minds, with Todd Bassman
and Bill Shotland.

After a solid finish to 2014 with Season 2

of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Kenn
Fuller CAS, Valeria Ghiran, and Ron
Hairston Jr. on booms moved on to TNT’s
Agent X at 20th Century Fox studios. Big
thanks to executive producer Sharon Stone
for insisting the show shoot in Los Angeles
after the pilot was done in Vancouver. Thanks
also to Mike Krikorian, Tom Payne, and Jay
Golden for holding down the fort at AOS.

Steven Grothe CAS, along with Adam

Blantz on boom and Greg Gardner as utility,
just finished up Season 2 of Brooklyn Nine-
Nine. I am then jumping onto a Fox pilot ten-
tatively titled The Brainy Bunch, with Greg
Gardner and Scott Solenz on boom. Right
after that, I will be starting the first season of
Judd Apatow’s new comedy Love, with Adam
Blantz back on boom. The completion of
that will take me right back into Season 3 of
Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

Sony Pictures’ post facility continues to be

very busy with feature and television produc-
tions. We are excited about the new talent
who have joined our family: Re-recording
mixer Kevin O’Connell, supervising sound
editor Victor Ennis, sound designer and re-
recording mixer Tony Lamberti, the Foley
team of Gary Hecker, Rick Owens, and
Nerses Gezalyan, and supervising sound edi-
tor Alexandra Fehrman. We are starting the
year with the install of two S6 consoles into
the Anthony Quinn Theatre and an upgrade Ft. Lauderdale : 954.289.4770
to Foley Stage A while transitioning the facil- New York : 212.586.1033
ity into Pro Tools 12 at the end of April. In New Orleans : 504.309.7112
addition, we plan on installing Stage 11 with
CAS QUARTERLY SPRING 2015 47
 the Atmos format for television projects. We
hope this is a great year for everybody in the
sound community.

Tamas Csaba CAS along with his boom

operator Mate Gabor and the local Moroccan
crew, Abderazak Amouzoune and Yassine
Dichane, are working on Tyrant Season 2.

Brett Grant-Grierson CAS had the privi-

lege to be on board of Sons of Anarchy’s final
ride as the series came to an end. Along for that
ride were boom operator Chris Diamond and
utility Tanya Peel. It was a bittersweet finale …
four seasons of challenging locations, soft-spo-
ken dialogue, loud bikes, noisy cuts, and skimpy
tight wardrobe—what’s next! Just so happens
that Justified decided to have their final show-
down which brought another fun series to an
end. Thanks to all the colleagues and crew, Josh
Bower and Tanya Peel. Brett now has started
pilot season with The Adversaries, an ABC show
that hopefully will stay in town.

Philip Perkins CAS mixed the series That’s

Good Science (LinuxTV). He also mixed live
multi-cam music video recordings for the band
Best Coast and for The Great Wall Youth
Orchestra. A feature doc Philip mixed, Theory
of Obscurity, just opened to great acclaim
@SXSW. He is currently mixing Changing
Seasons for CAAM and PBS.

Patrick Hanson CAS is finishing up Season

6 of The Vampire Diaries in Atlanta along with
Trevor Stott on boom and Benjamin Farthing
doing utility.

Dennis Sands CAS finished up Season 1 of

UnReal in November, a very challenging show
that should turn a few heads. Currently, he is
working on a spooky feature thriller called The
Boy, being filmed on Vancouver Island. After
two years in the wilderness, it’s great to be back
in the saddle on the coast.

It’s been an exciting year (this year) for Georgia

Hilton CAS. Lionsgate released my first inter-
nal feature film Subconscious. The project was
filmed on a real WW II submarine, a battleship,
and a destroyer. Besides being the writer/direc-
tor, I also did the post-production editorial and
visual effects, as well as assisting Charles Maynes
(U-571, Twister) in the final re-recording at
Monkeyland Post. Ken Wilkenson and Peter
Morrison handled all the production audio for

48 SPRING 2015 CAS QUARTERLY

Subconscious. Moving on, we’ve been funded for our next feature, Attack
on Ashville, a present-day thriller with Sherman tanks and an M1A1. In
the meantime, we edited and delivered a number of corporate projects, and
Internet projects as well as completing post on yet another feature film
Asockalypse. Additionally, we’ve started post production on 150 Internet
episodes for the Moving Picture Institute.

Frank Morrone CAS and Eric Apps are mixing The Strain for
Guillermo del Torro at Technicolor.

Larry Benjamin CAS and Kevin Valentine are mixing Season 6 of

Automatic
The Good Wife at both Smart Post Sound and Post Haste Sound and
Season 10 of Bones at Smart Post Sound and Lotus Post. They wrapped Global
Better Call Saul, which mixed at Smart Post. Larry just completed mix-
ing the IMAX film Living in the Age of Airplanes which opened April 10. Loudness
Richard Lightstone CAS returns to Season 2 of Disney XD’s Kirby
Buckets, along with boom operators Jeff Norton and Sara Evans, finishing
at the end of October.
Correction
Stacy Hill CAS says thank you and goodbye with heavy heart to Key
and Peele for four wonderfully funny seasons. And thanks to Tim Hays
CAS for covering the second half of the finale season. Currently, Stacy is
having fun on the third season of VH-1’s narrative series Hit the Floor.
Big thanks to Buck Robinson CAS for doing a wonderful mix on the
second season that helped bring a third. At season wrap, Stacy heads over to RX Loudness Control
USA Network for second seasons of Playing House, followed by, with fin- Two-click compliance with global
gers crossed, the second season of ABC’s Fresh Off the Boat. The wife and
loudness standards
daughter have been happy since everything has been here in Los Angeles.

Deliver broadcast-compliant audio faster than ever

Steve Weiss CAS is wrapping a hilarious first season of Angie Tribeca
for Turner. After that, the team of Steve, Vince Shelley on boom, and Dennis before. RX Loudness Control efficiently analyzes
Carlin handling utility chores returns for Season 4 of Major Crimes. and renders a mix for loudness compliance
while transparently preserving dynamics.
Allen Williams CAS (Associate) has been booming for sound mixer Intelligent algorithms eliminate the guesswork of
Aron Siegel CAS on MTV’s Finding Carter Season 2 since January. compliance, so you can get to "finished" faster!
Every 4–8 weeks, he spends a weekend teaching sound classes to members
of IATSE Local 479 in Atlanta, GA. Following in the footsteps and with
the guidance of Whit Norris CAS, he’s helped take classroom instruc-
tion and mentoring to a new level in Georgia. The education department
of IATSE Local 479 was formed in spring 2014 and has been devoted to
offering nonstop classes to Local 479 members since.

Karol Urban CAS is finishing the last few mixes for Season 11 of
Grey’s Anatomy and enjoying dialogue editorial for both Scandal and How
to Get Away with Murder. Additionally, she is mixing three film shorts,
Prick, Not Right Now, and Yvonne. And is currently starting on predubs
for a feature dark suspence thriller Director’s Cut. She also completed a
nonprofit piece to raise money to educate children about abuse and abduc-
Download a 10-day free trial at
tion for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
[Link]/rxlc
Devendra Cleary CAS is currently mixing Season 2 of Murder in
the First for TNT, with Billy King booming and Veronica Kahn doing
utility. We’re on Stage 8 and 22 at Fox Studios as well as some San
Francisco location shoots. Thanks to Brett Grant-Grierson CAS,
Brian Robinson, and Scott Kinzey for their help on the double-ups we’ve
had so far. Here’s to a happy and busy spring!
CAS QUARTERLY SPRING 2015 49
 Gerald Beg, CAS
with George Lopez on
the pilot for Are You
George Lopez?

Mark Ulano, CAS staying cool at

11,000 feet.

Andy Wiskes, CAS volunteering by doing pole

Jeff Williams manning the Fisher boom on the set of work restoring an 800-foot, four-wire receiving
Chicago P.D. antenna at the Maritime Radio Historical Society in
Marin County at the Point Reyes National Seashore.
KPH is the oldest operating radio station on the
West Coast. No one has attempted this kind of work
in more than 40 years. There are no manuals. Fun
working on a pole, you ought to try it sometime.
ok e,
Christian T. Co , an d
CAS, Lesli e Gr eif
Brad Zoern, CAS Rising,
working on Texas
d Joffé
directed by Rolan
uc ed by Le slie
and prod
ry
Greif for the Histo
Channel.

Daniel S. McCoy, CAS and mixer Adam

Peter Lawrence (right) on the set of The Wrong
Stuff, with the talented Ernie Hudson!

Mixer Aron
Siegel, CAS,
boom op Allen
Williams, CAS
Associate, and
Tamas Csaba, CAS sends his regards along utility Chris Mills
with his boom operator Mate Gabor and the local process trailer work
Moroccan crew, Abderazak Amouzoune and Yassine on MTV’s Finding
Dichane, from Season 2 of Tyrant. Carter.

50 SPRING 2015 CAS QUARTERLY

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