I started out by scratching my head a bit, considering the topic of Collaboration. After all, there’s often only one engineer in the room, particularly in composer’s personal studio. But then, I figured, even in that case I’m certainly not working alone or in a vacuum. It’s almost impossible not to work with other people in this business, and who would want to? Here are some ways in which a score mixer collaborates with others.
The Scoring Stage
When called on to work in a commercial studio or scoring stage I almost always work as a member of a team. As an independent free-lancer, I am hired by the composer, and am the designated “team leader”; I’m in charge of the composer’s technical needs and interfacing with the staff of the studio.
I couldn’t do it without helpers, almost always provided by the stage or studio: setup personnel, an assistant engineer, most likely a recordist/Pro Tools operator. When those guys have their act together, it can really help the session go “like butter”, and a smooth technical experience in the studio is essential to success for the date. Everything has to be planned out in advance, set up perfectly, tested before the downbeat, and there can be no delays for technical problems. The best studios and stages earn their reputation for excellence by providing staff personnel who are uncompromising experts at this.
I also have my “horror story” list of studios where this kind of thing didn’t happen, where not to go back. In the ideal world of projects with nice big budgets, we would always record at top-notch places like Capitol or the studio stages, but that’s not always the case. A part of what I have to offer in helping composers record is my career-long experience in the various studios around LA, what they can do technically and, most importantly, whether their staff “gets it” and understands the world of scoring. Not all of them do. A few years back, on a low-budget film project, we booked a large room over in Burbank for a day of string recording. Because of various delays in setup, we got started almost an hour late. After an extremely tense day of recording, I expressed my disappointment to the manager, who replied, “We’ve been working with Joe Walsh recently — he books 10 a.m., usually shows up at noon, and we like it that way!” (If you want to know which studio, just call me.)
Unless it’s a “live mix” gig (see my SCO article about live recording), most projects go back to the composer’s private digs or mine for mixing, and of course they started there as well with rough mixes, MIDI work, file prep, conversion, etc. That’s when the job for me may be a solitary one in the engineer department. But there are sometimes opportunities for engineer collaboration there as well, as was illustrated recently when I worked on an exciting Disney action-adventure score with composer Greg Edmonson.
Teamwork, Tag-team, and Sending a Sub
It’s incredible how much work a composer has to do in a short amount of time, to meet a deadline on a film score. Burning the candle at both ends is old hat — how about both ends, the middle, several sides…? I take it as my responsibility to be a “safety net” for the composer, and make sure nothing gets missed in all the myriad of technical details that have to be attended to, even (especially) when the composer is sleep-deprived and desperately trying to get it all done on time.
Sometimes I consider the responsible thing to do is to ask someone to help out. If the composer needs an engineer to work both day and night, and I can recommend and train someone to continue with what we’re working on, I may make the suggestion to call in a “fresh horse”. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not opposed to working hard, but I think the ultimate goal should be for the success of the project (not just the maximum number of hours on my clock).
That situation didn’t come up on this particular project, but a couple of things did that were similar: after several days of work mixes and preparation, Greg and I went into a commercial studio to record strings and brass. In his personal studio, he uses Logic, but Pro Tools is almost always used in public studios, so there is file preparation and conversion needed, from one software to the other and back again, which takes time. The composer didn’t want to wait, the following morning, for tracks to be consolidated and exported from Pro Tools before he could bring them into Logic and start editing them to match the MIDI parts, because of the looming mix delivery deadline.
So I called on my old friend and expert engineer David Appelt. When we finished with strings, he met us at the studio and took away a hard drive copy to another Pro Tools system (mine) and exported string submixes from all 40 cues. By the time we were done with the evening brass date, he came back over and delivered the files. Teamwork!
There are other situations that require sending a good sub. An old buddy, John the studio guitarist, once told me a definition of the free-lancer’s life: “The good news is, I have three gigs this week; the bad news is, they are all Tuesday morning at 10 o’clock!” We all work for more than one client, and sometimes there is a schedule conflict. And, on rare occasions one must call in sick, which happened on this job. I haven’t had anything worse than the sniffles for probably five years or more, but got a little slammed during the mixing process; it was great to have David available to come in and sub a couple of days without missing a beat.
If I have to send a sub, I would never send him in “cold”; I always have a detailed conversation with the other engineer to bring him up to speed on all the technical details he will need to know — software, mixing board, outboard gear, patching, and any personal preferences the composer might take for granted. I’m not such a control freak that I would totally set things up in advance or micro-manage everything. I believe a good experienced engineer works best with his brain fully engaged, and if he has to figure out one or two things or make some setup decisions himself, this can be helpful.
What makes someone a good sub? Two things, plain and sample: one, he has to be reliable, technically and business-wise, that is, he shows up on time and knows how to do the job right. And, second, he doesn’t try to schmooze the client or steal the gig. This isn’t the time to yak about your website or latest big feature. You’d be surprised how some don’t get that part. It’s a small town; ethics and relationships matter.
Collaborating with the Composer
Last but not least, as a mixer I develop a good collaborative relationship with the man or woman who brought me there, the composer.
Because of the time-intensive nature of what we do, a mixer may well be the one professional that has more “face time” with the composer than anyone else on the job, be they studio musicians, orchestrators, whatever. It’s a situation that requires a lot of trust, confidentiality, and discretion. Often a discussion will come up that is more than just whether the guitar or oboe is loud enough — “Do you think this works? Which do you like better? Does that instrument sound in tune?” and so forth.
I have a pretty good background as a musician, with experience in classical, jazz, and pop. I have never played or composed professionally, and have no ambition to do so; I’m truly happy in a supportive role. But as a composer gets to know me, he or she often will find it useful to have a musician to bounce performance questions, production ideas, and other things off of. I would never impose myself when unwanted, or argue. With some clients it’s strictly about the technical business at hand, and I’m fine with that. But I come to work with all my experience and talents available, and feel most useful when I can contribute whatever is necessary to making the project as good as possible.
That’s what it’s all about — when it ends up great everyone shines, and maybe we even get to do it again!
For more information about Les Brockmann, please visit http://lesbrockmann.com/