SPECIAL AWARDS SECTION: MPEG WINNERS GALLERY
Minkler, Beemer and Burton's Mix Belies Academy's 'Dreamgirls' Snub
by Michael Kunkes
 Michael Minkler, left, Bob Beemer and Willie Burton. Photo by Kevork Djansezian/AP |
If you look at the credits for Michael Minkler, CAS, with film adaptations of Rent, A Chorus Line and Chicago on his résumé, you might be tempted to call him Broadway’s movie mixer. But Minkler, who won his third Sound Mixing Oscar for Bill Condon’s Dreamgirls (along with Bob Beemer, CAS, and production mixer Willie Burton, CAS), says that it’s just coincidence. “I’d like to think it was just chance,” he says. His other Academy Awards were for Chicago (2002) and Black Hawk Down (2001).
“Dreamgirls has 32 musical numbers, all of which are directly part of the narrative,” relates Minkler, who mixed music and dialogue. “Bill wrote the screenplay based on those songs, then added what he needed to make it a more complete movie. His concern was to make a seamless, realistic movie that was constantly moving on an emotional level. In order to tell that story, you are going in and out of performances, listening to music from empty stages, offices, nightclubs, a garage, recording studios, car radios, etc. He wanted the musical numbers to play to the audiences in the film, and for the audience watching the film to feel a part of it all.”
“The sound on Dreamgirls was something that had to keep percolating, changing and evolving throughout the mix,” adds sound effects re-recording mixer Beemer. “The overall plan for the sound was for a soft magical feel. Accordingly, the sound effects had to have a soft touch to them as well; they are subordinate to the music, but also had to fulfill the fantasy and gentility of the whole presentation.” Beemer himself is now a four-time Oscar winner, having won for Ray (2004), Gladiator (2000) and Speed (1994).
“The biggest challenge for me was ‘manicuring’ the crowds so that they would interact with the facial expressions of the actors,” Beemer explains. “There were so many different kinds––large, small, white, black, mixed, rich, poor, sophisticated, grungy––and none of them were production; they were all concocted.” Beemer created series of smaller crowd beds with murmurs, rhythmic and non-rhythmic clapping, and male and female reactions, along with large crowd beds composed of group ADR and loop groups. “I used to believe that musicals were the easiest type of show to mix, but I don’t feel that way anymore,” he adds. “It takes the most meticulous manipulation to make music and dialogue match identically.”
Dreamgirls was mixed in 5.1 surround sound at Todd-AO West on a Euphonix System 5 digital console with 64 channels of audio, separated into vocals, dialogue and instruments. Two ProTools systems carried 12 terabytes of storage for the music alone, and audio processors included TC Electronic Systems’ 6000 and the Lexicon 480 and 960 reverb effects processors. “I had to use more reverb and room ambience than ever before, because there were so many layers of music going on,” says Minkler. “But even though the music sessions were enormous––with so much data running on the stage––we didn’t do anything that we haven’t done before. Also, the 5.1 environment enabled us to go both small and big with the music at different times.”
Minkler credits music editor Paul Rabjohns, MPSE, with solving most of Dreamgirls’ massive sync issues. “Once Virginia Katz, the picture editor, finished her cut, Paul got down to the tiny details of fine-tuning.” On every path through every song, there were always many things to be done, according to Minkler. “It’s not like ordinary sync; you may have to stretch it, or pitch correct it,” he explains. “And you need a very talented music editor to do that.” Beemer adds, “Paul was the unsung hero of Dreamgirls. He and his crew micro-edited every lip connection and every throat movement. It was amazing what he did.”
Beemer also recalls one anecdote that shows what a labor of love Dreamgirls was. “They had me set up the theatres for the premieres,” he says. “We were wiring the Wilshire Theatre in Beverly Hills, which is not a movie house and its sound system wasn’t working out very well. We had to retrofit it with a screen and I was tearing my hair out trying to make it work.”
Condon came to the theatre to check out the sound. “I had to be honest and tell him that it just wasn’t working out,” Beemer continues. “He told me, ‘I chose this theatre because 30 years ago, my first job in movies was as an usher here, and I promised myself that if I ever made it, I’d have my premiere here.’ After thinking about it for a minute, all I could say was, ‘Bill, I guess this theatre is perfect after all.’ And he just smiled in agreement.” They made it work.
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