SamWatson Posted June 12, 2013 Report Share Posted June 12, 2013 Hello one and all, I recently saw the movie Mud. I found it quite enjoyable on many levels. Good story, great acting - particularly notable kid actors, a soundtrack that perfectly fit the vibe. As a movie it is a great blend of Mark Twain and Stand By Me. I was struck by how good the dialog sounded. And there were many difficult scenes: on small boats with engines running, actors in trees, around lots of water, or any number of situations like that. Best I can tell via IMDB the production sound mixer was Ethan Andrus. Anyone know much about the onset work? How much ADR? Lots of wires or multiple booms? Just curious. Cheers, Sam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Wielage Posted June 13, 2013 Report Share Posted June 13, 2013 The movie has been getting rave reviews -- currently 99% on Rotten Tomatoes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Hoppe Posted June 13, 2013 Report Share Posted June 13, 2013 I'm currently working with the camera utility from Mud, and he remembers it to be a mix of boom and wires, most actors wires at all times. Very little ADR as far as he knows. Marc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamWatson Posted June 13, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 13, 2013 Marc Wielage- that is exactly what lead my wife and me to see it. The reviews are accurate. Strong story & characters. No gimmicks. And great dialog writing. (And recording!) If they ADR'ed parts then it was very well done. Marc Hoppe - Thanks for the info! I figured most people were wearing wires. And I kept and eye out for hiccups in T-shirt neck lines from vampire clips or the outline of the wire running down a chest. None to be seen. Kudos to whomever did the gig - location and post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Wielage Posted June 14, 2013 Report Share Posted June 14, 2013 Credited to mixer Ethan Andrus, and boom op Tom Sturgis. A character-driven, dialogue heavy indie like this can be made or broken by sound recording, and I'm glad to hear they did it so well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ethanandrus Posted June 14, 2013 Report Share Posted June 14, 2013 Hey All, I was the production sound mixer on "Mud", and a couple of mixers i know notified me about this post. First, thanks so much for the compliments about the sound on the film! Always nice to hear good things from fellow mixers. To answer the questions above: The film was mainly single or double boom, with wires employed when necessary (wide shots or noise isolation), about 20% or 30% of the time. No ADR on the film, except for one line due to actor delivery, not recording quality. Thanks Again, Ethan Andrus, CAS PS: Thanks Sam for the comment on not being able to see any evidence of lavs; pride myself on good sounding invisible wires. As we all know, that's a challenge we all face, being at the mercy of costume decisions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiomprd Posted June 14, 2013 Report Share Posted June 14, 2013 Hi, Ethan... and welcome... being able to get good production sound involves a lot of proper planning and preparation on the part of the production, and a lot of cooperation. care to comment, please? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old school Posted June 14, 2013 Report Share Posted June 14, 2013 Hey Ethan, thanks for chiming in and saying hi. Hope you visit often and share what you can. BTW, do you know Kay Colvin? Old friend who lives in Austin and does sound. She's great to work with and know. adios. CrewC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamWatson Posted June 15, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 15, 2013 Ethan! Thanks so much for stopping by the thread & welcome to the board. Congrats to you and your team on a job well done. I'd love for you to expound a bit about your methods on the film. Everything sounded quite consistent which is a feat considering you spent time in boats, trucks, around & in water, up in trees. For instance: When hiding wires are you using moleskin or some sort of tape down? I have Trams and love vampire clips for a quick mount but they can cause hiccups in neck lines of shirts. And Mud's shirt it so thin & mostly unbuttoned it seems it would be really hard to hide *any* wire. Were you using visor mounted capsules w/ collette cables for the cars or body wires or something else? It seemed like the mother was actually driving the car rather than a trailer mount which makes it that much harder for the sound department. And in general it seemed like real world locations rather than sets. Were the powers-that-be conscientious in regards to sound during scouting or were there some difficult locations? Cheers! Sam p.s. The feature I just finished had quite a few crew members from Austin. Great folks. You guys seem to have a good thing going over there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
codyman Posted June 18, 2013 Report Share Posted June 18, 2013 The film was mainly single or double boom, with wires employed when necessary (wide shots or noise isolation), about 20% or 30% of the time. No ADR on the film, except for one line due to actor delivery, not recording quality. Very impressive work. I saw the film and loved it... and being a sound junky, of course subconsciously eagle eyed into seeing if I spot a lav or whatnot but I did not. What shotguns were you deploying on the shoot? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiomprd Posted June 18, 2013 Report Share Posted June 18, 2013 " What shotguns were you deploying on the shoot? " what did they sound like to you ?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ethanandrus Posted June 22, 2013 Report Share Posted June 22, 2013 hey all, to answer some of your questions: studiomprd- what a production mixer can deliver is really limited by location, so I think one of the most important preparations is to attend the tech. scout and do whatever you can to protect your locations from potential noise (inherent or crew made). I work close with best boy electric regarding generator placement. Discuss a list of potential sound problems for each location with the location manager to keep accountability there, ie. know how to turn off things like AC, coolers, other noisemakers etc. I stress need for ITC (traffic control) whenever needed. Lastly, i work under the principle of knowing when dialogue is useable, and not "crying wolf" too often. That way, when I do, the director and production heed my warning, and thing get done to fix it. old school- I know Kay Colvin, and have worked with her on a few occasions and she's great. She's usually working with John Pritchet, whom I also know quite well. SamWatson-I use sanken's not trams, but vampires are probably one of my favorite rigs b/c they make no noise. The problem is they can only be employed in certain situations. Shirts with buttons are the best, i go right behind the highest button that is buttoned (unless it is buttoned all the way up), just make sure you spread the 2 layers of fabric on the button side, and pin into only the inside layer. That said, wiring is kinda black magic, and i have different techniques that i have developed (or borrowed from other mixers) over the years for just about every costume situation. I also use the sanken's rubber boots, undercoat/overcoats, putty, joe's sticky stuff, butyl, moleskin, topstick, medical tape etc. and combinations of them. Regarding car mounts, i typically use hypercardioids/cardioids, pzm's, and wires, think in the scene you are referring to, she is driving the car and is on a wire for noise isolation. The locations were generally pretty good, but very remote, and many times without set power. The director seemed to me to be very much a purist, with not many location "cheats". What you see, is what you get. codyman- thanks for the compliment, think exposed lavs is one of the worst things a mixer can do and i see them way too often in films and TV. I typically use MKH50's and 416's. I've used lots of shotguns, and it's not the best sounding mic out there, but i like the 416 for it's sound, it's tight pattern, it's reliability, and mostly for what it doesn't hear. I will say that it's not about the wand, but more about the magician (boom op). Proper placement (on axis) with a cheap mic, is gonna sound better than bad cueing with a high end mic. Schoeps, Neumann, Sennheiser, Sanken, DPA, etc. are all good mic's. It's just personal taste, and most importantly proper placement. Ethan Andrus, CAS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christian Spaeth Posted June 22, 2013 Report Share Posted June 22, 2013 Thanks for your insight Ethan! A good read! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiomprd Posted June 24, 2013 Report Share Posted June 24, 2013 " What shotguns were you deploying on the shoot? " " it's not about the wand, but more about the magician (boom op). " copy that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Childers Posted October 29, 2013 Report Share Posted October 29, 2013 Great thread! And thanks for sharing Ethan! Fantastic movie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.