Features

The 1970’s

While the 1960’s saw some further advances in the techniques of both production sound recording and re-recording, it wasn’t until the 1970’s that some of the nascent technologies developed for music recording began to make inroads into the film industry. Although stereo and surround sound were nothing new (going all the way back to the early 1950’s), the films released in either four-track 35mm Cinemascope mag or six-track 70mm mag were limited to major roadshow titles like 2001: A Space Odyssey and Woodstock. Prints were extremely expensive, and the number of theaters equipped to run either 35mm mag or 70mm were typically limited to major cities. And even with the advent of these technologies, theater loudspeaker systems hadn’t really evolved much past the technologies of the late 1940’s and early 1950’s. Despite the extraordinary quality of 70mm magnetic, the Academy curve was still the norm, with its severe rolloff of high frequencies.

Other changes were beginning to take place in the 1970’s as well. Audiences had become more sophisticated in relation to sound. A new generation of music listeners had become accustom to high-quality home sound systems, FM radio began to take off, the quality of the compact cassette improved, and those with the means invested in recorders to listen to four-track reel-to-reel releases. Audiences of this generation were not going to be satisfied with the sound of a theater system developed two decades ago. Commensurately, theater attendance was in decline, and studios were looking for ways to attract a younger audience.

It was against this backdrop that a number of advances in film sound took place. Most notable among these was the introduction of Dolby noise reduction in the post-production stages (first used on Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange in 1971). While the film was originally released in Academy mono (due primarily to Kubrick’s concern regarding how many theaters would be able to play stereo optical), it was clear from the tests done at Elstree Studios that the quality of sound could be markedly improved if the process could be applied to the optical track itself. Further development was done at Dolby Labs over the next few years, which culminated with the release of Lisztomania in 1975 and Star Wars in 1977.

Also notable was the introduction of Sensurround by Universal Studios, which was first used for the movie Earthquake in 1974.
And perhaps most important in the realm of production sound recording, 1975 marked the year that Robert Altman’s movie Nashville was released, significant both for its use of multitrack dialog (with stellar work by mixer Jim Webb), in addition to live multitrack music recording (utilizing a remote truck built by the author).    

While multitrack dialog recording was not exactly new per se (having been used for the production of three-channel Cinemascope films), the use of multitrack for production sound would mostly be limited to Robert Altman films for nearly two decades. It did, however, help to spur a move to a more sophisticated approach to production sound, which was still largely done on mono Nagra recorders (despite the introduction of the stereo Nagra 1970).

With the introduction of op-amp technologies, mixer designs began to take on a significant change in design philosophy during the 1970’s. These advances, along with more sophisticated printed circuit board designs and smaller components, made possible more compact mixers with less current draw than their predecessors. It also heralded the adoption of a modular approach to console design, with components separated into input modules, master modules, buss assignment modules, and monitor modules. While these approaches were at first destined for the music and broadcast world, it wasn’t long before they were adopted by manufacturers engaged in designing mixers for the film industry. This was due in no small part to the increase in the channel counts of film dubbing stages, which were beginning to increase with the advent of Dolby stereo in 1975.

The same approach was also used for smaller production sound mixers, with more limited facilities. The 1970’s would also mark an era that would see a more ready adoption of European film sound equipment by US sound mixers. Although companies such as Sennheiser and Neumann had made inroads into the United States with their microphones (primarily for music recording), and Nagra with portable recorders, up until the seventies, if you walked into most film sound operations, nearly everything you saw was of US manufacture.

In the early seventies, there were still not many choices when it came to lightweight production mixers (the Nagra BM-T and Sela 2880-BT not withstanding). For stage work, it was still common in Hollywood to see mixers made by both Westrex and RCA dating back at least a decade (with many custom variants) used on set. As the move to location shooting became more prevalent, sound mixers started looking for alternatives to the bulky production boards typically used for stage work.

However, there were some alternatives for those who wanted to take a bit different approach, which in many cases involved doing a bit of customizing. Notable among these were the following:

• The Sennheiser M101 mixer, a four-input, mono-output mixer with built-in battery supply and T power, which was first introduced in 1969, but took a little time to catch on in the US market. Some enterprising individuals would also customize these boards into a six-input configuration.
• The Stellavox AMI mixer, a five-input, two-output mixer introduced in 1971. Designed by former Nagra engineer Georges Quellet, this was intended as a companion piece to the Stellavox SP7 recorder.
• The Audio Developments AD031 “Pico” mixer, which could be supplied in a few different configurations, and utilized a 24-volt power supply.
• The Neve 5422 “suitcase mixer” brought to market in 1977, and intended primarily for use in location music recording and broadcast.
• The Studer 169/269 series mixers, introduced circa 1978, and which could be ordered in a variety of configurations. Intended primarily as a location broadcast console for the European market, this console could be either AC- or battery-powered. While prized for its sonics by music engineers, it was only used by a handful of production mixers in the States (due in no small part to its size and weight).       

As amplifier technology evolved and components became smaller, it allowed designers the luxury of adding more features, including three-band equalization, better high-pass filters, better mic preamps, and more sophisticated signal routing. It also marked the move away from the traditional four-input mixer, which had dominated production sound recording for nearly four decades. Still, production sound equipment had to be portable, which limited the sort of features that would be found standard on even fairly rudimentary re-recording consoles of the period.

A (very few) ambitious sound mixers also took it upon themselves to build or commission mixers to their liking from scratch or perform significant modifications to mixers that were designed for other purposes.

The 1970’s also saw an extensive adoption of straight-line faders, which had moved from wire-wound designs to carbon composition resistive elements. While early straight-line faders were prone to problems when used under unfavorable conditions, the new faders were both smaller and more reliable. In addition, sound mixers who began their careers in music recording or post production were more receptive to using them for production work. By the end of the decade, nobody except Sela were manufacturing location mixers with rotary faders.

The 1980’s

Despite the fact that the seventies saw a host of developments in film sound recording, it didn’t translate into very many changes in the sound mixing techniques and equipment used for production work. Most of the advances made in the previous decade were in the area of re-recording, as well as the advent of Dolby Stereo on optical tracks (Stereo Variable Area), which allowed studios to release titles in L/C/R/S stereo without the need for four-track magnetic release prints. Since the optical tracks could be printed and processed on standard laboratory equipment, it greatly reduced the costs associated with making a stereo release.

As such (with the notable exception of Robert Altman), most production sound packages still consisted of a four- or six-input mixer, perhaps mated with a Nagra stereo recorder with Dolby noise reduction, and four channels of wireless. And for most productions, this was sufficient. Even with the introduction of the Sony PCM-F1 in 1981 and DAT in 1987 (both being two-channel formats), there was no compelling reason to change the basic approach used for production recording.

While some sound mixers (including this author) opted to use somewhat larger consoles intended for broadcast and remote music recording, there weren’t really many options available to the industry until the introduction of the Sonosax SX-S in 1983, and the Cooper CS-106 mixer in 1989. Like most equipment destined for the highly specialized film market, these mixers were designed by individuals who had a dedication to producing high-quality sound recording equipment specifically for the film industry.

The Sonosax SX-S mixer was the brainchild of Swiss engineer Jacques Sax, who had begun his career as a live sound mixer. Frustrated with what was available on the market at the time, he took it upon himself to design something that was more to his liking, beginning with the SX-B mixer in 1980, and culminating with the current SX-ST series consoles.

The Cooper 106 was designed and built by Andy Cooper, who besides being a bright designer, was also cognizant of the particular needs of the film production market. So instead of designing something that he “thought” represented the needs of production mixers, he actually went out and took the time to talk with notable mixers of the era (a lesson that some manufacturers still have yet to learn).

The Cooper CS-106 marked a fairly significant departure from anything else available at the time. With straight-line faders, the option for seven inputs, three-band EQ, a lightweight chassis, DC powering, sophisticated monitoring and signal routing functions, the Cooper mixer embodied much of what production mixers had been looking for at the time.

Film sound being a very small slice of the overall worldwide audio market, larger manufacturers simply weren’t interested in developing a highly labor- and design-intensive console for a small market segment, when there were much bigger rewards to be reaped in the studio, sound reinforcement, and broadcast markets. Many of the consoles built by Sonosax and Cooper Sound are still in use nearly three decades later, which attests to Jacques and Andy’s strengths as careful designers who understood the rigors of film production.

There were of course, other options available in the eighties. Audio Developments continued with their line of portable mixers, which included the AD 062 and AD 075 series. Sony actually introduced a  twelve-input mixer, the MXP-61, which had some features such as 12-volt T-powered mic inputs, which were clearly aimed at the film production market, but didn’t generate a lot of sales.

There were also some entries in the portable “bag rig” market, most notably by the British company SQN, which introduced the SQN-4S mixer.

Being the highly individual craft that production recording is, many sound mixers weren’t content with what was offered on the commercial market, and opted to design something that suited their personal approach to production recording, or make extensive modifications to stock consoles. Not everyone who sat at a mixing board had the kind of electronic background to undertake this sort of task however.

Highly customized mixer designed and built by Bruce Bisenz in the 1980’s, utilizing Nagra mic preamps. Note the modified Altec graphic equalizer, with one octave band intended for dialog EQ, and the group buss assignments. Photo courtesy Bruce Bisenz

Among the few who took on this challenge during the seventies and eighties include David Ronne, an Academy Award-winning production mixer (who also designed the RollLogic remote control). Bruce Bisenz, who built a highly customized console from the ground up, and Jim Webb, who commissioned a console to his liking that was built by Jack Cashin. The list goes on…

There were also sound mixers such as Nelson Stoll, Ray Cymoszinski, Michael Evje, and others who decided they loved the big sound of the Neve consoles, and took it upon themselves to modify the boards to their liking for film work. Others (including the author) opted for the modular configurations offered by the Studer 169/269 series consoles.

The important thing to note in this regard is that every one of these sound mixers had a particular approach to the challenges of doing production sound under all kinds of conditions, and wanted a console that would give them the most flexibility and best sound quality for their style. In a world that has now become defined by the stock offering of various manufacturers, the “signature sound” that many mixers had sought to achieve during this period has now become lost.

Next up, “The Nineties.”
 –Scott D. Smith CAS

With sincere appreciation to Jeff Wexler CAS for invaluable contributions in style and content.

by James Delhauer

On a set, the job of the person who is tasked with acquiring the content that is shot throughout the day is incredibly stressful. Whether we’re discussing the tape operators of days gone by or the most modern media recordists, there are challenges that have stood the test of time. Somewhere between hundreds of thousands and hundreds of millions of dollars are spent assembling the production. Countless man-hours contribute to making it the very best that it can be. Literal blood, sweat, and tears are spilled to create what we all hope will be a veritable work of art. Then, after all of that, it falls on the shoulders of the one person who is tasked with handling the media. They are simply given very delicate assets that have been created throughout the day and which represent the sum total of the production as a whole. Just about anything can go wrong. Data can be corrupted. Hard drives can be damaged. Video tape can tear. Fortunately, these risks are being minimized by the advent of a new method of media acquisition: server-based recording.

Though different productions utilize a vast array of workflows, every single one since the Roundhay Garden Scene was first filmed in 1888, has come down to the media. And every single production needs someone to manage it. In today’s digital era, the most common workflow goes a little something like this. Cameras or external recorders capture video and audio data to an internal storage device some sort. When that unit is full, it is ejected and turned over to a media manager. The production continues with another memory card while the media manager takes the first one and offloads, backs up, and verifies the files on it. This is usually done with an intermediate program such as Pomfort’s Silverstack or Imagine’s Shotput Pro—programs that can do file comparisons to ensure that what was on the source media is identical to what ends up on the target media. When all of that content is secured on multiple external hard drives, the original memory card is returned to the production so that it can be wiped and reused. Rinse and repeat. At the end of each day, the media manager turns over at least one set of drives containing the day’s work to someone who will bring it to a post-production facility.

There, the work is moved from these temporary storage drives onto work servers, where assistant editors can begin their work.

While prominent, this workflow does come with a few inherent drawbacks. Most notably, the process is both fragile and time-consuming. Digital storage, no matter how sophisticated, is vulnerable to failure, damage, or theft. When the media manager receives a card with part of the day’s work on it, that card is often the only raw copy of the work in existence. Careers could end in a heartbeat if anything were to happen to it. So it becomes his or her job to create multiple copies. Unfortunately, the time during which data transfers from one storage system to another is the time at which it is most vulnerable. An accidentally yanked cable or sudden power surge is all it takes to corrupt the open files as they are transferring over. This vulnerability is compounded by the fact that transferring files is time-consuming and becoming ever more so. As our industry continues to push the boundaries of resolution, color science, and bit depths, video files are getting bigger and bigger. As such, they require more time to offload, duplicate, and verify, meaning that the period of vulnerability is growing longer.
 
But emerging technologies are creating new workflows that circumvent these drawbacks. Among the most promising is server-based recording.

Rather than relying on disparate components that must be passed back and forth between different individuals on a set, server-based recording allows productions to streamline their workflows and unify everything through one interconnected system. All of the components can be plugged into a single network switch and communicate with one another directly. Cameras and audio devices send uncompressed media directly into the switch. The network feeds them into a digital recording server (such as a Pronology’s mRes or Sony’s PWS 4500), which takes the uncompressed data and encodes the signals into ready to edit files. These files are then sent back into the network, which in turn sends them to any desired network-attached storage devices (such as SmallTree’s TZ5 or Avid’s ISIS & NEXIS platforms). The moment the recordist hits the Stop button, he or she can open the files on a computer and bring the newly created clips into a nonlinear editing application in order to assess their viability. This method eliminates the intermediate process of utilizing memory cards, transfer stations, and shuttle drives in favor of writing directly to external storage and thus removes both the time and risk associated with manual offloading. It also offers instant piece of mind to both the person handling the media and the production as a whole that the work that has been done throughout the day is, in fact, intact and ready for post-production.

And this is only the most basic of network-based workflows.

By utilizing advanced encoder systems, such as the aforementioned mRes platform, multiple tiers of files can be distributed across multiple pieces of network-attached storage. This gives the recordist the ability to simultaneously create both high-quality and proxy-grade video files and to make multiple copies of each in real time as a scene is being shot. This eliminates the potential need for time-consuming transcodes after the fact and, more importantly, this instant redundancy removes the key period of danger in which only a single fragile copy of the production’s work exists. As a result, recordists can now unmount network drives mere minutes after productions wrap and turn them over for delivery to post with one hundred percent certainty that there are multiple functioning copies of their work from the day. There is no need to spend several hours after wrap each day offloading cards and making backups.

Or, to take things a step further, productions can take advantage of the inherent beauty that is the internet to skip the need for the shuttle process altogether. It is possible to create files in a manner that sends them directly to a post-production edit bay. With low bitrate files or a high-capacity upload pipeline, recordists can set up their workstations using transfer clients (such as Signiant Agent or File Catalyst) to take files that are created in a particular folder on their network-attached storage and automatically upload them to a cloud-based server, where post-production teams can download them for use. This process has the distinct advantage of sending editors new files throughout the day in order to accommodate a tight turnaround.

Conversely, for productions where the post-production team may be located on site, a hard line can be run from the recording network directly to the edit bays. By assigning the post team’s ISIS server (or comparable network attached server) as a recording destination, editors gain access to files while they are recording. In cases such as this, the production may opt to use “growing” Avid DNxHD files. This format takes advantage of Avid’s Advanced Authoring Format in order to routinely “close” and “reopen” files, allowing editors to work with them while they are still being recorded. For productions with incredibly tight turnarounds, this is the single fastest production to post-production workflow possible.

All of this makes server-based recording an incredibly versatile tool. However, it is not without its limitations. At this time, network-based encoders are limited to encoding widely available intermediate or delivery codecs, such as Apple ProRes or Avid DNxHD. Without direct support from companies with their own proprietary formats, they cannot output in formats such as REDCODE or ARRIRAW. Furthermore, setting up a network of this nature requires persistent power and space. It is also worth considering that, like most new technologies, server-based recording often comes with a hefty price tag. These limitations make the process unsuited for productions hoping to take advantage of the full range of Red and Arri cameras, productions in remote or isolated locations, and low-budget productions.

So when is it most appropriate or necessary to take advantage of this emerging technology? While it can be of use in a single-camera environment, this method of recording truly shines in live or archaically termed “live to tape” multi-cam environments, where anywhere from three to several dozen cameras are in use. After all, if a show records twelve cameras for one hour, the media manager suddenly has to juggle twelve hours’ worth of content. It is much easier to write all twelve to a network-attached storage unit than to offload all twelve cards one by one. Also, due to the fact that network-attached storage drives can be configured to store hundreds of terabytes, the process is ideally suited for live events or sports broadcasts where stopping and starting the records risks missing key one time only moments. But above all, it is best used when time is critical. The ability to bring files into a nonlinear editing system as they are being recorded and work in real time is a game changer for media managers, producers, and editors alike.

This technology is already revolutionizing the way television productions approach on-set media capture and it is still in its infancy. It will continue to grow and evolve. Given time, it is my sincere hope that it will find its way into the feature film market and become more practical for smaller productions to adopt. For the time being, Local 695 Video Engineers should begin to take note of what is available and familiarize themselves with the technology so that they are prepared to take advantage of the technology in the future.

Truth and Action

Sound mixes a moving palette for Spike Lee’s new joint

by Daron James

The Civil Rights movement in 1950s and 1960s America was a tinderbox ready to explode, then in the ’70s, it continued with the emergence of the Black Power movement. The latter is the historic setting for BlacKkKlansman, a taught sociopolitical film from director Spike Lee.

Based on the book Black Klansman by Ron Stallworth, the first African-American detective in the Colorado Springs Police Department, the adapted screenplay follows the true story of Stallworth’s (John David Washington) infiltration of the Ku Klux Klan and his eventual take down of an extremist hate group.

Production Sound Mixer Drew Kunin, Boom Operator Mark Goodermote, and Utility Marsha Smith took on the project, a paced schedule lasting from October to December 2017 that included a glut of filming locations in New York and a jaunt VFX stop in Colorado to blend Centennial State exteriors into the Big Apple.

The movie opens up in black-and-white, featuring Alec Baldwin as a bigot-spewing racist; a 16mm projector beams images of his message overlapping his face and onto the wall behind him—the noise of the machine pierces through the soundscape. On set, everything was done live with no visual effects. It meant the clacking of the projector would compete with Baldwin’s dialog. “I didn’t know how loud Alec was going to be, which turned out to be very,” says Kunin. “I was a bit surprised when he launched into it—it was a little bit of wild ride to keep his level from overloading, but we were lucky he had enough volume that overrode the projector.” Sound ran a Schoeps CMIT-5U as boom and placed a lav for dialog.

Kunin uses a mix of DPA, Sanken, and Countryman lavs with Lectrosonics wireless on projects. His general mantra being to only wire when necessary, however, on BlacKkKlansman, they went ahead and wired everyone to be safe. Multiple roaming cameras shooting wide and tight coverage were an acting catalyst, but also being the team’s first project with Lee, they didn’t want to interrupt the rhythm with the need of adding a lav after the fact.

We first meet Stallworth working in the file room of the police department but he soon receives his first undercover assignment to attend a lecture delivered by Black Panther Party philosopher Kwame Ture aka Stokely Carmichael (Corey Hawkins). It’s here he meets Patrice (Laura Harrier), a fiery activist Stallworth warms to. Inside the assembly hall, hundreds of extras look on, shouting with praised remarks during Ture’s moving speech.

Sound couldn’t place a microphone overhead Ture because of wide camera shots. Instead, the period microphone at the lectern was made live and an additional plant mic was hidden. Another boom captured reactions of the crowd.

For that scene in post, Re-recording Mixer Tom Fleischman, a longtime collaborator of Lee’s, augmented the speech with a bit a reverb to add to the size of the room and layered dozens of responses from the crowd. “Drew turned in production tracks that were really well recorded. When you have a good track, it makes my job easier,” says Fleischman.  

The challenge of the Ture speech scene in post was making sure the audience callouts felt like there were actually in the room and not ADR. Mixing in 7.1 made it easier for Fleischman, then it became a matter of going through it to make it sound natural.

“It could have easily become quite a noisy scene, but my philosophy at any given moment in any film is that there is one sound that needs to be in the forefront,” says Fleischman. “We needed to balance the scene in a way that made sure every line was intelligible so that the underlying track sounded real to the audience and not like they were hearing something in a vacuum. The whole idea for me is story and keeping the audience involved and not letting them be distracted by any sound element.”

If you listen closely to the scene, you will hear a “boom shakalaka” from the crowd. That’s actually Lee’s voice. During the mix, the director asked Fleischman to grab a mic so he could record the audio and found spots for it in the scene.

After that initial assignment, Stallworth starts his own undercover operation after stumbling across a newspaper ad from the Ku Klux Klan seeking new members. Stallworth calls the number on the notice and David Duke (Topher Grace), the leader of the hate group, actually picks up the line. Disguising his voice, Duke thinks Stallworth is a racist white man and invites him in the inner circle.

To shoot these scenes, Production Designer Curt Beech built two sets outfitted with period-appropriate props on NY stages so production could shoot Stallworth and Duke simultaneously. Sound recorded both actors’ dialog simultaneously as well. “We placed mics overhead on both ends, plus we tapped the telephone line on a separate track for editorial to play with,” says Kunin, whose cart setup is based around a Sonosax mixer and an Aaton Cantar X-3 recorder. All Fleischman had to do was “filter down the track a little” to make it sound more like it was coming from a phone.

Stallworth, now a member of the KKK, has one problem: he’s black. To be the face of the operation, he asks fellow detective Flip (Adam Driver) to pose as Ron, where he meets the leader of the local chapter, Walter (Ryan Eggold). Stallworth asks Flip to wear a wire and Kunin was able to find a few in the style of the old BCM 30 to put on camera, which added to the complexity of lav placement.

Costumes from designer Marci Rodgers posed a different challenge as they lauded the fashion of the time. Stallworth wore lush colors, jazzy prints, and mixed textures of denim, velvet shirts, silky button-downs, suede vests, and leather jackets. To lav Washington, center chest became the default position to avoid material movement leaking into the track.

For Patrice, she was dressed in long leather jackets, dark turtlenecks, mini-dresses, and knee-high boots, among others. “Laura was a little tricky to mic,” admits Kunin. “Not because of the material she was wearing but because it was hard to hide a mic. Marsha worked with wardrobe to sew in special compartment to place in the bodypacks.”

Sound had to pay close attention during the nightclub scenes Ron and Patrice go to hang, talk, and dance. For dialog to be mixed cleanly, Kunin dropped the song to capture the dialog and used a thumper to aid the beat. Music is a big part of Lee’s storytelling. Besides the musical soundtrack that includes “Too Late to Turn Back Now” by Eddie Cornelius and “Oh Happy Day” by Edwin Hawkins, the director tapped Terence Blanchard (Malcom X, 25th Hour) for its score.

“When it comes to writing music, I let the film tell the story,” says Blanchard. “The first thing I thought about when I saw a cut was Jimi Hendrix playing the National Anthem on guitar. Being an African-American, you’re constantly bombarded with issue of bigotry every day. This story is a reaffirmation of what we’re going though. Jimi was a primal scream for all of us, so it’s why the electric guitar plays a prominent role in the sound of the score.”

Flip, now deep in the local Klan chapter, attends meetings at the home of Felix (Jasper Pääkkönen), a follower who wants to put words into action. It’s here the undercover detectives learn Felix is planning a plot to spoil another activists meeting; one that involves a character played by Harry Belafonte, an icon of the Civil Rights movement.

Felix’s residence, a practical location found upstate in Ossining, New York, was small and scenes were filled with multiple actors and multiple cameras. At times, squeezing in a boom operator was not possible, especially when Felix puts Flip through a lie detector test in a broom closet of a room. It meant sound had to rely on plant mics and lavs to cover the dialog. In other tight locations, gaps in the wall allowed to place the boom in the room but not Goodermote.

Leading up to the climax of the movie, picture intercuts two different story plots. On one side, you have Flip being initiated into the Ku Klux Klan, where a crowd gleefully cheers during a screening of 1915’s The Birth of a Nation. On the other, a group from Patrice’s African-American student union peacefully sits around Belafonte as he delivers the most galvanizing moment in the movie; a recounting of the lynching of Jesse Washington he witnessed as a young man. “To see him was a very powerful moment,” says Kunin. “Working on that scene had so much gravity to it, we took extra precaution in our approach.” In recording Belafonte’s dialog, sound let the cameras set up its shots, then they strategically placed an extra in front of a plant mic for additional recording.  

Though backdropped in the mid-’70s, the film is not only about the past but about the state of how we’re living today. Nothing couldn’t be more evident than the film’s final sequence; a collection of uncensored videos from the Charlottesville protests. Lee left the material untouched. “What you hear is the sound straight out of the smartphones and online videos. There’s no foley or effects added,” says Fleischman. “We only mixed in the score and it plays against the raw sound really strongly.” Blanchard notes, “That’s classic Spike. He makes a statement about what’s going on in our country and leaves you there to think about it.”

by Steve Morrow

From my very first meeting, it was obvious that Bradley Cooper knew he wanted A Star Is Born to feel real and immersive. He certainly achieved that in this film, with handheld camera work and live vocals, he leads us into a world that feels simultaneously epic and intimately authentic.

As a director, Cooper cultivated a great atmosphere on set that was familial and inspiring to work in. Communication and collaboration were paramount for him, which fostered an environment where every member of the cast and crew could perform at their best.

There was never any doubt that Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga would be singing live. Neither of them wanted the film to feel like a traditional musical and there would be no lip-syncing to playback. For me, this was a dream come true, recording a music-based film and capturing the performances live, with the production sound being the vocal track instead of a studio recording.

For the next few months, I ran through different concept setups to figure out exactly how to get the best vocals and tracks possible for the various scenarios we would be shooting in. To ensure that we had the best system in place, we set up a mini-concert during prep to run through and test the concepts. We ultimately landed on having the band perform to playback with just the vocals being recorded live. Jason Ruder, Music Editor, and one of the re-recording mixers, did a quick mix of the prep mini-concert and with Warner Bros., Cooper, and Gaga happy it was clear that we had landed on the right method.

The movie opens on Jackson Maine’s performance at Stagecoach, the entire scene was filmed live at Stagecoach in only eight minutes. We shot between two concert acts, Jamie Johnson and Willie Nelson. Moving only between their sets meant we got our gear up in the few minutes allotted before Johnson’s set and then filmed and broke down in the minutes before Nelson’s set. One of the biggest concerns to everyone was the potential of music being leaked while filming at these venues with live crowds. To counter that, we came up with an earwig playback setup with no amplification. The performers could hear the music and the singing was recorded live, but the crowd couldn’t hear the vocals or music beyond the first couple of rows. We modified this system for Glastonbury where we had to be super mobile, we were a skeleton crew with only four minutes to set up and shoot. We had the festival’s monitor mixer put the instrument playback into Cooper’s wedge at a low level, and he sang live (unamplified) in front of one hundred thousand festival goers. The crowds were always so fantastic and excited even though they couldn’t hear much of anything. There were some fun headlines at the time about technical difficulties causing the lack of amplification, but it was all a part of the plan to keep the music as secret as possible.

We shot performances all over, from Coachella and Stagecoach, to Glastonbury, the Shrine Auditorium, the Greek Theatre, the Orpheum, to the Palm Springs Convention Center, a few small nightclubs and a drag bar. We had to be prepared to record absolutely everything live, which meant up to sixty-one tracks of audio at any given time. I used two Midas M32R mixers with a digital stage snake, each mixer has thirty-two inputs and by combining them via Dante into the Sound Devices 970, I could record all the tracks needed. We muted the musicians’ instruments through the amps but still recorded the feeds for post to use. To help capture the atmosphere, we used a DPA 5100 surround sound mic in the crowd and two shotgun mics, one at stage left and right, aimed at the crowd for their reactions. We created a room mapping whenever possible by recording an impulse response for post to be able to take the original studio instrument recordings and balance them to sound like they were recorded live with the vocals in each venue.

For the track “Always Remember Us This Way” (one of my favorites in this film), Gaga requested a digital grand piano so we could record the piano isolated from the vocals. We were able to take a stereo feed from the digital piano to track her playing, record the vocals cleanly, and keep the music from being heard by the crowd.

For regular production days, we were a three-man crew: myself, Craig Dollinger (Boom Operator), and Michael Kaleta (Sound Utility.) On music days, we had Nick Baxter on our team as our Pro Tools music editor and monitor mixer Antoine Arvizu. Each music day was like throwing a concert, and the whole team was needed to set up and break down the mics, cabling, stage snakes, in ears and earwigs. These days, we generally had a three-hour pre-call, to set up the wedges, mic all the instruments, and get everything patched to a Midas digital stage box. We used the stage box to split the signal of all the feeds, one to me at the cart and the other to a monitor mixer at the side of stage. The monitor mixer would control the reverb that was heard by Gaga and Cooper via Phonak Earwigs. We would also route the singing and music to the band through earwigs for the concerts with live crowds since the music and singing were not amplified. At the cart, I worked off of the two Midas M32R’s recording to two Sound Devices 970’s. I prepared for sixty-four tracks, our highest track count was sixty-one. We were also joined on set by Jason Ruder, there to observe our recording process during music performances to make handling all the tracks in post as easy as possible.

Music interacting with the script was so important to Cooper’s vision of the film. He wanted the songs to be a character in the film and each word of the music there to propel and reflect the story. To help achieve this, multiple songs would often be performed in one setup so that he could have the options available when he went into editing. On our end, we built each Pro Tools session to include nearly all of the film’s music so we could easily and quickly switch from song to song at a moment’s notice, with some songs being added the day of shooting.

There’s always a sense of fun on set when you do a music-driven film. In between setups, the band would jam out and occasionally, Matthew Libatique would grab a camera and start rolling on the action. I was often glued to my seat staring at the monitors as we could just start rolling at any minute. This film is one of the most rewarding I’ve worked on to date, filled with plenty of technical challenges and lots of fun. Bradley Cooper’s directorial leadership always let you know you were an integral part of something special. It was an honor to work with both he and Lady Gaga, two incredibly talented and passionate artists.

Mission: Impossible – Fallout marks my second outing in the series and third film with Tom Cruise. I had previously worked on Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, but collaborated with a new team for this latest installment. My longstanding colleagues, Steve Finn and Anthony Ortiz, who worked on Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, both decided to make the break to mixing. I’m pleased to say both were successful, and hopefully, they learned as much from me as I learned from them in the years we spent together.

by Chris Munro

Previous experience has taught me to expect the unexpected; after all, anything can happen. So, upon starting pre-production, it came as no surprise when one of my first meetings with Tom Cruise was at the London Heliport in Battersea. It took place as Cruise piloted the helicopter that took us to an airfield close to the studios. He explained there was a plan for a helicopter-chase sequence in the film where he needed to be able to pilot the helicopter with no visible headset or helmet. At this stage there was no script, and for some weeks, we worked with Writer/Director/Producer Christopher McQuarrie, verbally explaining the storyline. The Mission films are all about practical stunts and FX so everything has to work in real-life situations.

Fortunately, I have worked on a number of films featuring helicopters and used them as an essential means of reaching challenging locations. The most notable project, Black Hawk Down, garnered me an Academy Award for Best Sound.

I had previously considered using bone conduction technology, most recently on Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation for the sequence where Tom Cruise is on the outside of a giant Airbus A400M in flight. The technology has been around for years, but I learned that the military had adopted it, which greatly improved the audio quality. The challenge with older technology is that many of the sounds in speech are made in the mouth and not all transmitted through bone conduction. Without these sounds, speech can sometimes be less intelligible. The research process was quite extensive, as not all information was readily accessible. I eventually came upon a company that was developing bone conduction headsets for commercial use, but the caveat was headsets needed to be custom made. Thus, we needed to arrange for an audiologist to take impressions of Cruise’s ears and create concealed bone conduction headsets specifically for him.

Photo: Chiabella James.

The next stage was to test if and how they would work. I set up four large powered speakers in a studio office and played back helicopter sounds at a level in which you could not hear someone speak. We then invited Tom Cruise to sit in the room with the earpieces fitted and connected to a walkie-talkie. Incidentally, the earpieces also offered a high degree of hearing protection, which would be important for anyone spending hours in a helicopter without a headset. I went outside the room with another walkie-talkie, and we were able to communicate perfectly. With the first stage complete, I now had to work out how the system would function in a helicopter.

At this stage, the model of helicopter had not been determined, though we knew that it would be one made by Airbus Industries. Speaking with Airbus engineers, I established that different helicopters may use different avionics systems, and it was not possible to modify or interfere with these in any way given it may affect airworthiness of the aircraft.

As a result, I called upon long-term collaborator Jim McBride, who has been the technical wizard on many films that I have been involved with in the past such as Black Hawk Down, Gravity, and Captain Phillips. McBride has worked in varying technical capacities on films, as well as in music, and even in a nuclear power station. McBride and I decided we needed to build totally independent self-powered interfaces that were isolated from the helicopter avionics, yet could still use the same PTT (push to talk) button on the helicopter cyclic or control stick.

Once we had prototype interfaces made, we were ready to start testing with helicopters. With the assistance of aeronautical engineers, we went back to Denham Airfield and installed our equipment in a helicopter. Pleased with the results, we sought approval from Tom Cruise and asked him to give it a try. The first thing Tom did before take-off was to call the control tower for a radio check. ATC reported good quality but were suspicious. The controller remarked he didn’t believe we were in a helicopter because it was too clear, as he couldn’t hear any engine or rotor noise. This result was due to the fact we’d used the bone conduction units fitted in Cruise’s ears with minimal pickup of background noise.

The next step was sorting how we would connect to a recorder. The limited space within the helicopter prompted us to find something that could be easily hidden when cameras were fitted.
 
We originally thought about using a radio link to connect to a hidden multitrack recorder that would also be recording 5.1 FX but wanted to avoid radio transmission within the helicopter if possible. I decided to record to Lectrosonics PDRs which would have timecode sync with cameras and could be easily hidden. We made an output on the helicopter communication interfaces for them to connect to.

Even with production not yet underway, I had put in a substantial contribution to the film. This level of prep was essential for sound efficiency and to ensure all ran smoothly. In some respects, there are similarities to sound design in the theatre, and perhaps a production sound designer would be a more appropriate title considering we no longer mix to a mono or stereo Nagra. The mixing component of our job has become less important; however, our responsibilities have increased proportionately with the advancements in technology.

The helicopter sequences were not at the start of the schedule so we still had a little time to perfect the systems. Shooting began in Paris in April of 2017 at the Grand Palais, with car and motorbike chases throughout central Paris. I was joined by UK assistants Lloyd Dudley and Jim Hok, as well as Paris-based assistant Gautier Isern, who had recently finished working with Mark Weingarten on Dunkirk.

I needed a small multitrack capability at this stage and experimented with the Zoom F8 and the DPA 5100 surround mic which we could easily hide in the BMW M5 cars. Given we had several cars with different camera rigs, their relative low cost made it possible to hide one in every car. We used radio mics on the actors, primarily so that we could record a rushes track for editorial purposes. This also allowed McQ to monitor performances in a follow vehicle. Supervising Sound Editor James Mather, his dialog editors, along with Re-recording Mixer Mike Prestwood Smith, would later decide which of the mics worked best. We also mounted transmitters on various parts of the car exterior with DPA 4160 mics to get sound FX. We followed the chases in a specially adapted high-speed-chase vehicle with antennae mounted for sound and video and remote camera heads. The van was rigged to carry McQ, DP (who also operated a remote head camera), video assist, another camera remote, and 1st ACs. We would chase the cars or motorbikes whist shooting either from cameras mounted on the action vehicles, tracking vehicles, or very often, an electric bike. We always had a team pre-rigging the next car or bike to be used after a shot was complete. Our team rigged mics on every camera tracking vehicle whether it be the Russian Arm, an electric camera bike or ATV. The rear-mounted mics on the cars and bikes were rigged close to the exhausts, while others were mounted close to the engines. I was particularly looking for FX that sounded real, knowing that sound FX editors could use these later as a base to create a much bigger soundscape. I was not always looking for super-clean FX but usually something raw that sounded more documentary style rather than super-clean FX. That said, I did usually try to record clean interior ambiences in 5.1 with the DPA 5100 surround mic.

The Grand Palais sequences were set in a big music event with lasers, light shows, and projected graphics that all had to be in sync, so we worked closely with an AV company to provide audio playback linked to a timeline based on timecode from playback to ensure continuity from shot to shot of graphics, sound, and lighting. Several weeks were spent working in Paris shooting a major action sequence alongside the River Seine. The sequence is where Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) once again meets Soloman Lane (Sean Harris). Sean had previously established that the voice of his character was quiet yet menacing. It was not easy to record during the mayhem of the wild action sequence, but we managed to capture it while retaining his performance.

The following location was in Queenstown on New Zealand South Island where we started with sequences set in a medi-camp prior to shooting helicopter sequences. Steve Harris joined our crew here, as he had worked on several films in New Zealand, thus very familiar with the landscape. Many of our locations required travel by helicopter, so I needed an ultra-small shooting rig that could give me the facilities of my normal rig yet fit easily into a helicopter. I built a rig on one of the larger all-terrain Zuca carts fitted out with a Zoom F8, a custom-built aux output box with the ability to send feeds to video and comms, an IFB transmitter, a Lectrosonics VR field with six radio mic receiver channels powered by a lead acid block battery in the base.

On our first helicopter shooting day, the 1st AD told me with a grin, we would be starting with dialog on the first shot and had dialog to record from Henry Cavill hanging outside a helicopter. Fortunately, I had already taken the precaution of having bone conduction earpieces made for Henry. These were invaluable when connected to a Lectrosonics PDR to record his dialog in flight. I also needed to record sound FX inside the helicopter, and I used the smallest multitrack with timecode that I could find, the Zoom F8. We fixed a DPA 5100 5.1 microphone to the interior roof and hid the F8 under a seat. This was done so if it were caught in camera, the 5100 could look as if it were part of the helicopter. We were able to start/stop and adjust levels on the F8 without needing to access it by using the F8 controller app on an iPhone. Similar to the Paris chase sequences, I wanted the FX to sound real and not like enhanced library recordings. Thus, a little wind on Henry’s mic often added to the reality. Additionally, because the bone conduction units were largely unaffected by background noise, the 5.1 recordings could be useful even if only certain elements of the six tracks would be used.

Tom Cruise always piloted his own helicopter with cameras mounted on it. Director Christopher McQuarrie would fly in another and film from at least one other camera helicopter. Because the helicopters would take off and shoot for at least thirty minutes at a time, Editor Eddie Hamilton asked if I could record McQ’s helicopter comms in addition to what I was recording of Tom and Henry for the takes. This would allow him to align with exactly what McQ was intending for each shot. I used another PDR for this because of the timecode sync capability and small size. At the end of the day, we became data wranglers downloading the various SD cards and making sound reports.

After New Zealand, we returned to the UK to shoot in studio and various London locations, eventually joined by Hosea Ntaborwa. I had mentored Hosea when he was at the National Film and TV School on behalf of BAFTA and Warner Bros. creative talent. This was one of his first jobs after graduating and since then, has become part of my regular team working with us on The Voyage of Dr. Dolittle and Spider-Man: Far from Home. We had some rather challenging locations in London and it was whilst shooting on one of these, Cruise injured his ankle.

The company went on hiatus for a few weeks, which gave me an opportunity to prepare for the HALO jump sequence. That is High Altitude Low Opening and involved Tom Cruise jumping from an aircraft at an altitude high enough to require oxygen. We had a huge wind tunnel built on the backlot in the studio so that the skydive team could plan and practice manoeuvres while
experimenting with camera angles. The wind tunnel was also useful for my first asssistant Lloyd Dudley and I to develop the system for recording Cruise during the jump. We were able to set up communications between the skydive team, McQ, camera operator, and ground safety.

The wind tunnel was incredibly noisy so we were appreciative of the fact that the bone conducting earpieces offered a high degree of hearing protection. The skydive team were amazed that we managed to achieve audible communication in the wind tunnel, which made it much easier to plan shots and make adjustments. The team warned that skydivers have been trying for years to get good recordings during the dives but that they were always battling against wind noise and that it would be impossible to record. I reminded them that this was Mission: Impossible!

When we began shooting again, many of the locations were very inhospitable to sound, but nothing I had not come across before. The team also continued on studio sets at WB studios at Leavesden.

During this time, I continued to prepare for the HALO jump sequence, which was to be shot in Abu Dhabi. We did a number of tests with Cruise and the skydive team jumping from a Cesna Caravan at various UK sites. What we couldn’t test was what would happen at the highest altitudes when oxygen was required, and the jump was from a giant C17 aircraft. I was concerned with safety and that the equipment we were using in both Tom and the skydiver’s helmets was intrinsically safe. The dive helmets contained lighting which could potentially ignite the oxygen, so we arranged for tests to be done in an RAF lab with all of the equipment used for the HALO jump. We also had dialog to record inside the C17 as the jump progressed from a dialog scene directly into the jump. We shot some exteriors of the C17 and interiors on the ground at RAF Brize Norton near Oxford in the UK. This at least gave us a chance to consider what we would be up against.

Eventually, the time came to travel to Abu Dhabi. My crew there was Lloyd Dudley and Hosea Ntaborwa. Lloyd concentrated mainly on looking after Tom Cruise’s bone conduction headsets and fitting Lectrosonics PDR recorders to actors. Hosea was in charge of comms for the skydive team and recording 5.1 FX in the aircraft. I was particularly interested in sounds of breathing and how that can add tension. Once we played some of these sounds for Tom, he immediately wanted it to be a major part of the soundtrack during the jump sequence. I was not looking for pristine recordings that sounded like they were shot in a studio, instead, I was interested in the raw sounds of the helmet mics and bone conducting units which could give a more realistic documentary-type sound. I was not opposed to some wind noise and realised this could add to the reality. Having original sound adds to the feeling of reality even the audience are only subconsciously aware of it. Post production was greatly contracted due to the hiatus in shooting. Supervising Sound Editor James Mather had time restraints, thus appreciated all of the raw sound FX we could give him as elements to enable his team to create the final audio to be mixed by Mike Prestwood Smith. Both have been collaborators of mine on several previous films.

In conclusion, this film involved huge leaps of faith from all parties involved. I greatly appreciate the support from Tom Cruise, Chris McQuarrie, the production team, and my team throughout. My previous experiences, intuition, along with an incredibly well-respected new team proved immensely valuable. Much of the sound was unmonitored being recorded on PDR and hidden recorders. Chris McQuarrie and the producers trusted us to deliver on Mission: Impossible – Fallout using never-before-used technology. Most importantly, Tom Cruise trusted we would develop technology that would allow him to perform stunts efficiently, safely, and wherever possible, avoid ADR in order to enhance the reality.

HALO COMMS
The original intention was to use a radio mic TX on TC with a recording facility and have each of the additional divers and camera operator have a receiver connected to helmet-fixed earpieces. When we were safety testing, one of the requests was that we did not transmit anything inside the aircraft but that it was OK to transmit as soon as the divers had exited. I argued that radio mics would be fairly low power and on legal frequencies but then realised that it may have been a mistake to try to achieve recordings and comms with the same device. Additionally, we needed ground contact when the divers reached a lower altitude so that they could be given any safety information about wind or any other issues and radio mic TX may not have enough range.

I decided to use Motorola walkie-talkies for comms mainly because they were reliable and we were familiar with them. We used finger-operated PTT (push to talk) with custom-made interfaces to connect to the Motorolas. The PTT was run inside the sleeve of each diver and operated with a finger and thumb.

For TC (shown as EH on diagram), we used a bone conduction headset in each ear. One ear was talk/listen connected to the Motorola via the PTT and the other ear was connected directly to a Lectrosonics PDR. Another PDR connected to a da-capo mic (Que audio in US?) mounted in the helmet. I chose the da-capo mic mainly because I just happened to have some and also because these are what I had successfully used in helmets on Gravity. I had to send mics for safety testing to be intrinsically safe when used in the helmet, which also had oxygen being pumped in. I immediately thought that the da-capo mics may be well sealed as they are waterproof. It was not a particularly scientific decision.

Tom Cruise’s Bone Conductive Earpieces & Microphone

I had custom-moulded bone conduction units in each of TC’s ears. It was necessary to have one in each ear to give hearing protection but also allows use of the aircraft PTT as one ear is for talking and one for listening. There is a switch on the interface that allows for either, and this was connected via the pilot’s headset connectors in the helicopter on a US NATO plug or on some aircraft a Lemo connector. Trim pots on the interface require a miniature screwdriver to adjust talk and listen levels. It is powered by an internal battery and has transformer isolation on the connection to the helicopter to ensure isolation from the helicopter avionics.

The PDR records directly from the “talk” ear for a clean track of TC and is therefore pre PTT. That is to say that even if TC is not transmitting through the aircraft radio, his voice is still recorded.

An output from the co-pilot comms socket goes to track eight of a Zoom F8 which is primarily to record 5.1 ambience within the helicopter. Track eight records all comms: the director, any communication with other aircraft, ATC, and so on.

The DPA 5100 was fixed to the inside roof of the helicopter cabin toward the rear. If ever it were inadvertently caught on camera, it looks like part of the structure. The recorder was hidden and operated by the F8 control app on an iPhone.

The PDR was stopped and started using dweedle tones within the Letrosonics PDR remote app, also from an iPhone.