Fuzzy in LA, cinema mixing part 2

Greetings fellow sound lovers! Today I spent the day at ToddAo in Hollywood and, well, lordhavemercy! Here’s what went down.

Ok, lets just get this out of the way. I shook hands with Mike Minkler, and I think all I could manage was “fleingngndmn!” in way of greeting. I think I may have peed just a little too.

Ok, enough of that. Thanks to the awesome Kimberly, today I somehow landed up in some of the most distinguished company in film sound. I owe her big time! Of special interest was probably the biggest geek out I’ve ever experienced under the kind and insanely knowledgeable custodianship of Chief Engineer, Pat Stoltz. The good Mr Stoltz gave me an amazing tour of the facilities (pictured here next to a very rare, and still functioning, 35mm dubbing projector). It was awesome to talk to somebody with his insight into the enormous technical quagmire that is so hard to navigate. There is so much disinformation out there and having someone so open to sharing was actually a lovely experience. Suffice it to say, the tour of Stage 1 and the trip behind the screen to the tower of speakers was a blast! And to talk to these guys about calibration and conceptions and misconceptions about cinema setups…man! Of historical interest, stage 1 is not only where mixers like Mr Minkler mixed awesome modern sound movies like Black Hawk Down and Transformers—golden age credits include The Alimo and Sound Of Music, haha!

Between the geek outs sessions I got to see a lot of the studios in action, including the performance of a “donut” on an ADR stage (too funny) and various predub layers. *happy sigh*

And to round off my day, the acquisition of a Neumann KMR82i rifle mic and a fabulous artisanal pizza…

Stay tuned for part 3, BURBANK.
Simon Fuzzy