Mix Analysis #12

Mix Analysis #12

Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Time	SFX 1	SFX 2	SFX 3	Voice	Music
0:00 – 0:15	Punching	Moving		Gandalf	Adventurous
0:15 – 0:17	Armor clinking		Growl	Gimli
0:20 – 0:21				Gandalf	Dreary
0:23 – 0:25	Footsteps
0:25 – 0:26				Theodin
0:26 - 0:33		Footsteps		Gandalf
0:29 – 0:43			Thunder
0:33 – 0:43				Theodin	x
0:43 – 0:50				Theodin	Dreary
0:51 – 0:52	Robe Drop				Choir
0:53 – 0:54				Theodin
0:55 – 1:00				Gandalf
1:00 – 1:04	Hitting Wood		Whooshing
1:05 – 1:08		Footsteps
1:10 -1:12				Aragorn
1:13 – 1:17				Theodin
1:17 – 1:18	Hitting Wood	Whooshing
1:18 – 1:26	Wood Cracking		Whooshing	Gandalf
1:26 – 1:27				Theodin
1:27 – 1:29	Whooshing	Hitting Wood
1:29 – 1:30				Gandalf
1:31 – 1:32				Theodin
1:32 – 1:35	Wood Cracking		Hitting Wood
1:35 – 1:36				Theodin
1:36 – 1:37	Hit	Screeching	Sliding		x
1:37 – 1:42					Dreary
1:42 – 1:43				Theodin
1:45 – 1:46				Gandalf	x
1:48 – 1:50	Moving in Chair			Theodin
1:50 – 1:53			Footsteps	Heavy Breathing
1:57 – 2:13	Heavy Wind				Up lifing Music

Re-Recording Mixer : Christopher Boyse

-The Avengers

-TRON: Legacy

Supervising Sound Editor: Mike Hopkins

-Transformers

-The Frighteners

Mixed at: Skywalker Ranch Marin County, CA

This movie, in my opinion, seemed very hard to mix. For one, it's so long, and two it is such a vast and epic movie spanning so many different locations, and using many SFX, that I wouldn't even know where to start. The scene I chose, is a very cool scene in my opinion. When I first watched it, there seemed to be more sounds in there than when I went back and did the sound map. There was more music and talking than actual sound effects. The sound effects were very well placed and well mixed. Everything seemed to fit in to the scene nicely. But they didn't make the scene, what really did was the music. The music for this scene was incredible. Everything from the mixing down to how long each piece was for what parts of the scene. Even when there was no music, I could almost hear what would have gone into that empty space. The change from piece to piece was very seamless. When the scene first started, it was a very adventurous song, action packed, because of the fighting. Then when Gandalf started exercising Theodin, the mood quickly changed to dreary and uneasy. Then when Gandalf takes off his robe and reveals his white robes underneath, the music changes again to an angelic choir. Everything seemed to have a place in the space of the scene it was not too much or too little. Everything was just right.

In an article on mixonline.com, it goes through and talks to some of the sound people that worked on the film. Chris Boyes, the lead re recording mixer, and how he used some of what he learned off the first movie, to help the sound of the second movie. He stated that the first movie was a bit too loud, so on this movie, he didn't want to over do the loudness of this movie. He stated that he didn't want it to be too “in-your-face” and that it was a challenge because the reels of film were so big. I believe that he did a great job fixing the problem. In the scene that I reviewed, nothing was too in your face. Everything was as loud as it could be without being too in your face. 

Mixing this movie was a huge challenge not only because of having to try and keep things at an audible level, but also using and revamping sounds from the first movie, and mixing without the director being there. For this movie, Chris Boyes used a lot of sound effects from the first film but would make them have a bit more lower end, and darker. He states that some scenes were more ghost-ly and panning around the audience to give a dreary feel to some scenes. Also he started the mixes while Peter Jackson was in London working with the music. So Boyse had to essentially do a skype session with Mr. Jackson to have him hear the mixes and see what Mr. Boyse wanted to do with them. It wasn't as good as having them in the same room together, but it was better than just written notes. The final mix was with both the Mr. Boyse and Jackson at a dub studio later on.

http://mixonline.com/sound4picture/film_tv/audio_two_towers/