In Contention

Tag: Erik Aadahl

  • On the sound of ‘Transformers: Dark of the Moon’

    I think “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” will be back for the full trio of Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing and Best Visual Effects at the Oscars this year, after the franchise’s second installment managed only one of those. The sound work in particular is once again top notch, one of the most carefully sculpted and edited aural experiences I’ve heard in a theater.

    Erik Aadahl, Peter Devlin, Jeff Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers and Ethan Van der Ryn, among others, were all back to their respective duties creating the soundscape of the film, and as always, the Soundworks Collection has done a wonderful job bringing that task to light.

    In an accompanying interview of the featurette (which you can check out after the jump), Russell says, “It’s the most ambitious sound film I know, without question, I’ve ever been a part of,” and that’s a pretty bold statement for a guy with his resume.

    (more…)

  • TECH SUPPORT INTERVIEW: Sound mixer Greg P. Russell

    Greg P. RussellWhen you’re coming off of one of the most elaborate and intensive sound mixing gigs in movie history, let alone of your own career, how do you top it with a sequel?

    That’s the challenge sound re-recording mixer Greg P. Russell faced when he and his team set about weaving in the various sonic elements of “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.” His seventh collaboration with director Michael Bay, the film proved to be the most aurally ambitious film Russell says he has mixed to date.

    “Back in the day when a large movie had three or four set pieces within a film, we have two set pieces within a reel now,” Russell says in his spacious media room in his home, a number of Academy screeners stuffed into a basket on the coffee coffee table in front of him.  “And this was an eight-reel film, so you can just see the size factor alone.”

    Let alone the new variations in robot sounds and articulation, the amount of artillery and weaponry featured on the screen this time around dwarfed anything Russell had ever seen before.  According to one of the film’s technical advisers, Bay filmed every aircraft that exists in the military save for one.

    “Everything from helicopters to hover boats to aircraft carriers to submarines, the artillery alone just from a human level was enormous,” Russell says.  “Then you add on top of that massive robots and their weaponry and all their intricacies, it’s a very complicated movie to bring to life.”

    (more…)

  • Behind the sonic magic of ‘Transformers’

    Transformers: Revenge of the FallenSpeaking of sound, Paramount was shrewd enough to put together a wonderful event last night in the Cary Grant Theater on the Sony lot dedicated to the sound design of “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.” Re-recording mixers Gary Summers and Greg P. Russell were on hand, as well as sound effects editors Ethan Van Der Ryn and Erik Aadahl.  Michael Bay was also in the house, introducing his crew and discussing the importance of sound in his work, which he has said is 50% of the movie-going experience. And the Cary Grant, by the way, is the actual stage the film was mixed on.

    After a brief introduction from Bay, Russell took the mic to briefly explain what it is he and the boys do.  “Painting with sound” is what he likes to call it, since as a re-recording mixer, he gets to sit at a console and play with a treasure trove of effects created specifically for the film by Van Der Ryn, Aadahl and their team.  Most of the effects for the film were indeed original to the piece, which is preferable with something as aurally unique as the “Transformers” films.  “Some people take it off a shelf,” Bay said, referring to the use of stock or cataloged sound effects, “and that’s just wrong.”

    Then it was on to the first of five clips, the opening set piece in Shanghai, which was a nice way of getting the modest crowd in the mood for the night’s shenanigans.  Frankly, this kind of thing should be open for the Academy, which votes in the sound categories at large when it becomes clear year in and year out that most of the membership doesn’t understand quality sound work, let alone the difference between sound mixing and sound editing.

    (more…)