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Helping Filmmakers Tell a Story – Deb Adair – Re-Recording Mixer

Deb Adair is a freelance re-recording mixer. Deb has been nominated for an Oscar (for the film Moneyball), has won three Emmys and nominated for an additional five, and has won two Golden Reel awards as Sound Supervisor. In the past couple of years, her film credits include Entourage, Pele, and Keanu.

Deb earned a degree from Syracuse University where she studied film production. She worked in the music industry in Nashville before moving to Los Angeles to pursue a career in sound for film.

April Tucker interviewed Deb about her career

Are you primarily mixing dialog/music? Are you ever in the FX chair?

I have been primarily mixing dialogue and music for the last nine or ten years but have also had the opportunity from time to time to work alongside very talented colleagues as the effects mixer.

What’s the difference between these roles?

Being the dialogue mixer, you are the person who guides the flow of the mixing process.

Give us a little background on how you got into sound, where else you’ve worked, went to school, training background, etc.

I attended Syracuse University in the TV, Radio, and Film Production program, wanting to be involved in filmmaking is some capacity.  The classes that focused on sound immediately became my favorites. I started recording bands and mixing live music at some local venues.

Why did you move from music to film?

 How did you transition from tv work to film? Was it something you were seeking out?


I had always wanted to be involved in filmmaking, so music recording was a good way for me to learn the equipment. I started mixing in TV but had always wanted to work on feature films, and I told this to my manager at Sony at the time, Richard Branca. When an opportunity to do additional mixing on a film came up, like helping pre-dub or updating pre-dubs, Richard would bring my experience up to the clients and with the appropriate approvals I was able to participate in the completion process.

Oscar Luncheon 2012

Can you explain what a re-recording mixer is, the workflow, who is generally on the stage at your mixes, etc.?

There are usually two mixers on the dub stage. Each handles hundreds of tracks of material whether it be dialogue, music or sound effects.  We work with the sound supervisor and the picture editor or the director or both (depending on the project) to balance all elements to shape the soundtrack of the film.  At some point producers usually come in for playback.

Can you explain the advantage of having two (or more) mixers on a film? How does it make things easier or harder?

Mixing a motion picture is a collaboration of talent and experience learned over many years by both mixers.

Are you usually on the same stage and mixing with the same partner? If not, what dictates who you work with?

Every project is different.  We could be predubbing on separate stages at the same time on each of our assigned disciplines and then come together for several weeks of a final mix. I have worked with various partners and on various stages based on client requests.  The crew is usually chosen based on past working relationships with the director, picture editor, sound supervisor or post-production supervisor.

What’s your system working with multiple mixers (especially early in the mix or trying to EQ)? Taking turns, using headphones, etc.? 

Most of the time we pre-dub the material simultaneously on separate stages then work together on the final stage to blend everything together.

How many stage days do you usually get on a film? How often do you see the director and how much time do you get with him/her? How long do you spend on Atmos, 7.1 vs. 5.1, or stereo mix?

The number of stage days varies based on the release date and the budget of the project. At the time of the final mix, there are so many things happening simultaneously for the director like color timing and D.I. so we will get to spend time with them based on their schedule.  Atmos adds some time for deliverables, but a native Atmos mix doesn’t necessarily take longer than 7.1 or 5.1.

Do you do your own pre-dubs or how many people are involved with a mix before it gets to you?

I prefer to do my own pre-dubs. The number of people depends on the project.  There is usually one music editor and one or two dialogue/ADR editors.

Favorite plugins? 

I’m a big fan of Spanner because it provides a lot of flexibility to adjust separate channels of a single multichannel track.

Any other favorite gear? Are you usually working on the same console?

I’m mostly working on the Avid S6 these days.  It’s a great tool. Very intuitive.

Do you think you have to do anything different from your male counterparts on the stage? How about with clients?

No. I think some clients appreciate having a variety of points of view in the room.

Any advice you have for other women and young women who wish to enter the field?

Pursue your true passion. If a new opportunity comes up, volunteer.  Be ready to step out of your comfort zone and tackle new challenges.

What path do you see for someone today to get to the type of job you are in?

As a matter of fact, the Academy recently started the Gold program, which is a mentoring program for people interested in film careers.  Beyond that, I would say start with an entry-level position and work your way up.

What are must-have skills to do your job?

Being a good listener for the client and understanding what they need. Helping the filmmaker tell a story and achieve their vision is the most fulfilling part of the job.

Are you mixing continuously throughout the year? How many films do you do on average and how much time off?

I’ve been very fortunate to have been busy the past several years, working on four to six films on average.

What is the average time you are working on a project?

Anywhere from one week to eight or nine weeks usually depending on budget.

Is there a time you would be working on two at once?

Schedules sometimes overlap if you are doing temp dubs for previews or creating deliverables like the home theater mix.

What is the difference between mixing for film vs. TV?

Mostly schedule, TV also has strict parameters for levels and compression, etc. for broadcast and streaming.

Any comments on work/life balance? How do you not burn out or keep things interesting?

I love my job, and I get to work with a great variety of really talented people. I have a husband who is very supportive and understanding. When I have time off, I do lots of yoga.

What do you like most about being a re-recording mixer?

 What do you like least?

What I love most about my job is collaboration. What I like the least is traffic!!



What is your favorite day off activity? Any other hobbies or interests?

When I’m off, I love traveling with my husband, and we love snow skiing and motorcycle riding.

What has been one of the most challenging or rewarding films you have worked on?

One of the most challenging films I’ve worked on is also the most rewarding.  While mixing MONEYBALL, there were many vintage and archival recordings from real broadcasts and baseball games. There were also new recordings with specific information to help tell the story that was much “cleaner” than the archival recordings so we needed to blend the two seamlessly so that the audience wouldn’t notice the difference.  This was a challenge, but it also landed my team an Oscar nomination for sound mixing.

Deb Adair – IMDb

 

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Profiles of Women in Audio

 

Post-Production Audio: Promo Mixing

One area of the post-production industry that goes under the radar when looking for jobs or career paths is advertising and promos. A promo is a form of advertising used in media/broadcast to promote a program or event. You’ve probably seen these a million times and never thought much of it. “Coming up next on the Simpsons!” or “Tuesday night right after the Voice!”

 

Mixing a promo is not terribly complicated. There’s usually voice-over, dialog, sound fx and music. The content is short – generally, you are given a “spot” which is 30 seconds (but could be other lengths). Then, there can be “cutdowns” of that spot – shorter spots that are usually derivative of the longest one. For a 30 second spot, the cutdowns might be 20, :15, and :10. Here’s an example of a 30-second spot and a basic cutdown version:

 

Once you mix the:30 it’s often a matter of conforming your mix/tweaking or applying settings from the original mix to the cutdown versions.

The main thing that makes promo mixing difficult is organization and file management. For one spot, you might have 3 cutdowns (4 mixes in total) plus “versions.” Versioning is taking your mix and changing the tag – the VO at the end of the spot that identifies the show, time, date, network, etc (“The Americans. All-New Next Tuesday. Only on FX”). Your average tv show that has a promo for next week’s new episode might have the following tags: Next Wednesday, Wednesday, Tomorrow, Tonight, Next. If they’re running a spot early there might be tags like “This summer,” “coming in May,” “premieres May 5.” Sometimes it gets specific like “Next Wednesday at 8” or “Wednesday at 9/8 Central.” There might be promotion across networks or platforms, too. For example, a mix I do for the cable network FXX might also air on FX, Fox, On Demand, and online streaming (FXNow). Some promos are also on the radio or play at movie theaters.
This basic Protools session shows tags for a :30 spot and 3 cutdowns (:20, :15, and :10). The three versions for each spot are “Starts Today at 3,” “Starts Next” and “Continues.” Sometimes it’s easier to do the mix and tags in separate sessions.

If you have a bigger session – say 10 tags for a spot and 3 cutdown versions – that means 40 total you have to edit voice-over (and mix), output and name files, double-check the file names match the mix and spot check the mixes. You may be asked for similar named versions like “premieres next” and “premiering next” so naming files correctly is very important. This is just one promo and you might be doing multiple in a day! This is why people who are detail-oriented do really well in promo.

Voice over script with many tags

As a promo mixer, you get to wear a lot of hats. You might be recording voice-over, editing dialog, sound design, recording Foley or walla (background voices), and music editing. Generally, you don’t get to wear so many hats working on movies or tv shows and definitely not on the same day.

There’s a nuance to promo mixing because there’s a lot of things happening at once that are all competing for your attention. Your job is to point the listener to what’s most important. There can be a lot of mood changes in a short period of time and a good promo mix can navigate these without calling attention to volume rides or overlapping audio. When an explosion happens in a promo you’re usually onto the next idea when the audio is barely starting to decay.

Promo mixing can be a great gig if you’re trying to pursue another interest, too. Mixers are usually booked by the day and there are opportunities to mix from home. It’s not as hard to break into as film mixing, for example. However, it’s not the type of gig you necessarily want to learn on the job because deadlines can be tight. Often a mix is booked the same day a spot needs to air so there’s not a lot of room for error. If you are good with details, organization, are a fast editor and mixer, enjoy wearing a lot of hats, and not looking for your name in the credits, promo mixing might be a good fit for you!

Kirsty Gillmore – A Diverse and Rewarding Career

kirsty3Kirsty Gillmore is a London-based sound designer, sound engineer, voice demo producer, and voice actor. She started working as a sound engineer in 2000 in her home country of New Zealand. She has had a diverse career since that start, working across a variety of fields including music, post-production, broadcasting, theatre, opera, and live sound.

Musical since the age of five Kirsty was always part of the choir and orchestras at school. As she grew up, she played around with recording technology using cassette players and her mum’s record player. One of her favourite toys was a Casio PT-1 Synth and Kirsty credit’s this with an endearing love of vintage synths! After secondary school, she applied to study for two degrees in music and arts at the University of Auckland in New Zealand because it seemed like the logical choice. At this time. Kirsty wasn’t aware that studying sound engineering was an option until the second year of her degrees.

While playing viola in an outdoor production of Macbeth she struck up a conversation with the composer about a gig they had both been to and how it could have been improved by changing the mix. It was the first time she had thought about what went into making that music and sound happen, and it grabbed her. It was around this time that Kirsty decided that she didn’t have the talent to make it as a solo musician and the only other career option that seemed to have a clear path for music graduates was teaching. Kirsty was already teaching and didn’t consider this to be a lifelong career at this stage of her life. Being a sound engineer gave her an entirely different career path and a way of using her musical training without being a musician.

After that conversation in the mid-1990s, Kirsty spoke to a lot of sound techs and sound engineers, all had learned on the job by attaching themselves to particular bands. At the time, it was a pretty closed shop, exclusively male, and Kirsty couldn’t see a way in. She started looking into courses when her composer friend suggested a course that a friend of his had done. In the ’90s in New Zealand, there were only two institutions that offered sound engineering courses, so Kirsty applied to the one with the best reputation, the Music and Audio Institution of New Zealand. She almost had to decide on studying stage management and technical theatre, as she had been involved with theatre all the way through university, but the only technical theatre course in the country was brand new and didn’t cover sound. She spent two years training as a sound engineer, mostly in music production and also synthesis, live sound, post-production, radio sound, electronics, and sequencing. In her second year, Kirsty did a placement at a post-production studio and was offered a trainee role, which then led to a freelance position.

Her first job after graduating from the Music and Audio Institution of New Zealand was as a freelance ADR & Dubbing Engineer at Native Audio in Auckland, New Zealand. One of Kirsty’s jobs as a dubbing engineer was for a series of English-speaking children’s programmes that were dubbed into Maori. At the time in New Zealand, there weren’t many opportunities to work in sound and in 2002 Kirsty made the decision to move to London, UK. She threw herself into the local scene and applied for any audio job she could find and surprised herself by getting a job within the first month as an audio archivist at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).

For the next eight years, Kirsty built her experience working in various roles at the BBC where she learned about sound for speech-based radio, TV and online.  By 2010 her job had somehow become entirely administrative, and she was pretty unhappy, so when the opportunity for a redundancy came along, Kirsty took it and went back into freelance work.

By the end of 2010, Kirsty had set up her company, Sounds Wilde and spent the next year doing various freelance sound jobs in post-production, live sound and theatre before deciding to focus on theatre, voice acting, and voice production. Currently, Kirsty is looking to expand into sound design for games, which works well alongside voice acting work and directing for voice acting. She is also interested in more composition work.

Kirsty is a big believer and advocate of educating yourself both formally and with ongoing training. Her initial formal training gave her a solid understanding of the basic concepts and a common language for sound, but she finds that since she has been working in sound, she has consolidated these concepts, and it’s allowed her to build and expand her knowledge. Kirsty says there are topics she covered in her formal training which she only now really understands. In the past few years, Kirsty has done short courses on mixing for musicals, radio production and various aspects of theatre sound.

Through the early years of Kirsty’s career, she didn’t have much support, in fact, asking for support was actively discouraged in the jobs she held in the first five or so years of her career. Kirsty found that everyone was just expected to get on with their jobs and learn through mistakes. While Kirsty never had a mentor, (though she would have really loved one) there were people whose work she admired like Nigel Godrich, an English record producer, recording engineer and musician best known for his work with Radiohead, Butch Vig, an American musician and record producer, who is the drummer and co-producer of Garbage and also Sylvia Massy who, at the time was the only female producer, mixer and engineer Kirsty knew of. Massy is recognized for her work on Los Angeles’s alternative metal band Tool. When Kirsty started to specialise in post-production, she found she definitely admired the work and career of Leslie Ann Jones.

In her studio, Kirsty has Focal CMS50s as monitors, (which she loves). Kirsty does all her mixing in the box and in doing it this way – she doesn’t need a console.  Her main go-to mic for voice-overs currently is an AKGC414 and for software, she uses ProTools for most of the recording and mixing she does, Ableton is used for looping and Qlab and Ableton are used for the theatre sound design work. For theatre sound, Kirsty prefers DiGiCo desks (with the theatre sound “T” software) and definitely DPA mics!

kirsty2Kirsty has had her share of discrimination and is a prime example of self-belief and determination to come out the other side. Discussing how she has been accepted in a male-dominated field, Kirsty will tell you she has been discriminated against too many times to count.

Thankfully, the more experienced Kirsty became, the discrimination issues seem to be fewer. She is not sure if the climate is changing or if her body of work speaks for itself but says it’s nice not to have to deal with it as frequently.

Looking at what’s ahead for Kirsty seems pretty exciting. In her studio, Kirsty is looking to invest in more mics. She is interested in what Advanced Audio can offer as alternatives to the Neumann U47 and U87. She is also looking at replacing her soundcard soon and is hoping to trial a Focusrite Claret with Thunderbolt, and the equivalent from Apogee as well.

Hopefully, there will be more international opportunities. After years of working in London Kirsty is looking forward to working at least a few months next year in her home country of New Zealand both as a sound designer and sound design tutor. She would also like to expand into game sound design and develop a composition portfolio, as well as taking on more voice-over directing opportunities.

Kirsty’s message is about being consistent, persistent, and open to opportunities.  She says “It’s great to have your heart set on a particular career in sound but don’t be put off if that doesn’t pan out at first. Once you know the fundamentals of sound, you can apply them to lots of different career paths as long as you’re willing to learn and take the time to meet people and build relationships. Technical skills are obviously imperative, but it’s your people skills that will get you the job. You’ve got to be prepared to hustle and find the opportunities; the jobs won’t come to you. Don’t be afraid to sell yourself, be proud of your achievements and confident in your skills while being open to learning from others”.

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