Oscar-winner Pedro Almodóvar’s new movie ‘Broken Embraces’ starring Penélope Cruz, was premiered on 18th March 2009 (in Spain). Marc Orts, the audio re-recording mixer, was awarded the 2008 Golden Reel by the Motion Picture Sound Editors USA for the movie ‘El Orfanato’ (2007).

What was your mission within the whole movie project?

Usually my job begins in the last audio production stages - that’s movie mixing. My task is to group all audio tracks into stems, starting with the dialogs, followed by the foleys, ambiences, special effects and finally the music. There are two main processes to accomplish. Firstly to achieve a pleasant sound for the listener, ensuring dialogue is not sounding too harsh or sharp, inviting the audience to automatically become part of the film by hearing something related to the on screen picture. Then I spot the rest of the audio takes, ambiences, foleys and special effects accordingly to picture. The second process, the more creative one, essentially involves the music soundtrack plus other sound elements used to emphasise and generate certain emotions in the viewer. The process is carried out together with the film director, the sound editor and the picture editor. Team work.

What were the needs regarding the audio equipment?

After watching the movie for first time, we selected the scenes that required extra process in terms of comprehension and/or EQ and the decision was made with sound editor and picture editor, to dub them (ADR). We clearly anticipated the need of a deEsser for each dialog track. In dialogs, I like to work with the original dynamics as a starting point, changing them if the listener benefits from it. For this reason I put a dynamic EQ (or de-esser) on my request list, since there weren’t any in the SSL Avant console’s channel strips. Apart from this, all certified film mixing rooms do offer a wide range of tools.

What is your workflow?

It’s crucial to know the film very well, its storyboard, the author’s idea and the production team’s point of view (director, picture editor, sound editor,...). The next step is to summarise these ideas and print them on the movie. I always start with the most technical bits: EQ, process (compression, expansion, dynamics EQ, reverbs....) and finally I adjust the dialog levels. Usually I do foleys at the same time, adding the music soundtrack last. I can always touch up the results if the film character demands it.

Why did you choose to use the Oxford SuprEsser to de-Ess?

It took some time to find a solution due to the lack of de-essers in the mixing room. They only had one and I could only use it on one track as an insertion, which wasn’t an option. With the help of a colleague, we searched for a hardware de-esser but we realised that it was easier to work with a plug-in rather than carrying metal pieces under our arms. Then we investigated the software de-essers but none really convinced us, until we discovered the Sonnox Oxford SuprEsser, which turned out to be really versatile, easy to use, fast processing and with superb results.

How did you use the SuprEsser in your workflow?

Mainly as a de-esser. It was inserted on all 12 dialog channels of the session. Each one with the right preset. In former productions, we always used the console plus some external outboard. This is the first time we added a computer as part of our mixing environment, to host the SuprEsser, which really helped control the dynamics of the mix.

Did you use other Sonnox plug-ins in the production?

Yes. I used the expander in the Oxford Dynamics to eliminate some background noise in a couple of scenes. To produce the trailer mixes for the TV, I relied on the compressor and limiter sections also in the Dynamics plug-in.  

Interview and editorial provided by Josep Maria Sola