Another busy year is soon coming to a close. With the holidays coming, work is slowly wrapping up for the year. Some R&R during the holidays is needed and well deserved after a record year for Bionic Audio.
Projects over the latter half of 2013 have consisted of several film and television projects, as well some exciting work on the Cinematics (aka Cut Scenes) for the recently released video game Batman – Arkham Origins.
Many of the film projects throughout the year were edited and mixed at my personal studio, with playback and mix adjustments at DBC Sound on their theatrical mix stage. The transfer process of protools sessions to the DBC mix stage is pretty much seamless. The mixes translate nicely between rooms and the workflow between stages is surprisingly smooth.
During the summer, Gord Hillier (Co-Supervising Sound Editor/Dialogue Mixer) and I had the pleasure of working once again with director Carl Bessai on Brent Butt’s comedy feature film No Clue. A healthy editorial and mix schedule allowed for an energetic and fun sounding mix which was highlighted by Schaun Tozer’s excellent score. No Clue will be in theaters in the Spring of 2014.
No Clue – Starring Brent Butt and Amy Smart
Meanwhile at Post Modern Sound, Greg Stewart (Supervising Sound Editor/FX mixer) and I (in the Dialogue & Music chair) mixed the Hallmark channel original series Cedar Cove starring Andie Macdowell. The dialogue heavy, multi-character series set in a small Pacific North West town presented many challenges. Due to shooting locations, the production audio was quite noisy, and the clients wanted the town to feel quiet and intimate. There were also several scenes shot by the ocean which presented issues with dialogue clarity due to the surf. Years spent mixing Davinci’s Inquest gave me an abundance of tools and tricks to deal with the noise challenges. Combinations of notch filtering, subtractive EQ and Cedar noise reduction helped minimize the majority of the noise without affecting the quality of the voices. In the end the show turned out really well. It was a hit for Hallmark with a #1 rating for Saturday evenings in the US.
Sound Design and Mixing recently wrapped on the feature film Sitting on the Edge of Marlene. Director Ana Valine was very particular about creating a certain mood with sound in her film. The soundscape is dark and edgy enhancing the downward spiral of the story.
The final mix was at Post Modern Sound with Greg Stewart mixing Dialogue & Music, and as I was the Sound Designer on the film, I mixed the Sound Effects. Ana was thrilled with the work on the film and I’m looking forward to it’s release in 2014.
As the year wraps, I’m finishing up the last mixes on the reality series The Emergency Room at DBC Sound, as well as Sound Designing the Sci-Fi/Horror film Extraterrestrial which will be mixed in early 2014 at Post Modern Sound by Gord Hillier and I.
Still from “Extraterrestrial”