Simon J. Willis and Chris Burdon are the production sound mixer and re-record mixer, respectively, in Martin McDonagh’s new film Golden Globe nominee-leading film The Banshees of Inisherin. Here, in an interview with Awards Daily, they dig into the challenges of capturing sound while working on an open island. They also reveal how great it is to have actors with such strong voices, and they analyze the distinct sounds Martin McDonagh brings to his films.
Awards Daily: What was it like working with Martin McDonagh?
Simon J. Willis: It was brilliant. It was really good. You know he comes from good stock but he’s done it before, and it was very exciting to have the privilege to work with him.
Chris Burdon: I’ve been lucky to work with him on two previous films. So it’s always a thrill to work with him again. It’s disappointing for those people who are keen to work with him again and there is a four to five year gap. Usually you hear about the film being shot and the first time I’ll see him is with the preview mix before we get into the pre-mixing, then into the final. It’s really lovely to see him and there’s a relationship that has built up over the years. The little bits of feedback from the sound supervisor Joakim (Sundström) by asking him about the film, and in this particular case we knew well in advance how excited everybody felt about the film and how good it was from very early on. Even before we got to the final cut. It is always a thrill to work with him.
Awards Daily: How much interaction did you two have with each other when working on the sound?
Chris Burdon: It was borderline no interaction. Coming onto these Zoom meetings is the first chance we got to interact after the end project. I am just so thrilled with what Simon recorded on location. I just wanted to wait for us to finish. I didn’t want to tempt fate, I just wanted to wait till we’re at the end of it to make sure everyone’s happy. Then I let Simon know what a tremendous job I thought he did. Which is often the nature when you come on to a project. I was busy with other things. I was just hoping that it would be good and the original floor tracks were fantastic. Simon does his things and then it’s handed to Simon Chase, the dialogue editor, then onto me.
Awards Daily: I was curious about fiddling taking a major part of this film–with the musical scenes in the bar and in Brendan Gleeson’s home. How much was done in the film and how much was done in post?
Simon J. Willis: As far as we were concerned I always knew that it was going to be live. We recorded stuff for a few weeks beforehand for them to play back on the set on Galway Island. When we got to the scene it was like they were there, the tracks were there and Brendan was, like, let’s just play it. It’s fantastic when you have someone who can play. We got stuck in and were able to knock it out to the best of our abilities.
Chris Burdon: Then came the through line into the mixing theater through the editorial. The musical recordings in addition to the dialogue recording were just that perfect percentage of no ADR. We had a handful of extra lines that we shot. So the musical takes, whether it was the violin or the fiddle, playing in the house or the pub or the beachside, were just authentic real tracks and were beautifully recorded. And really interesting sounding as well. Because they had all of Brendan Gleeson’s vocalizations and movements they represented such an interesting authentic sound. Recorded in the space sounding right so at no point did we think we had to do anything like rerecord. The takes that you’re seeing on screen is what you’re hearing. It’s tremendous, it’s a dream for a re-recording mixer to have that work that is the equivalent of the actor’s dialogue being authentic. It’s fantastic.
Simon J. Willis: We always knew whether it was music or with them opening their mouths it was gold that you were getting. We always wanted to get what we could and the fact that we were able to accomplish it was fantastic. It puts Brendan at ease as well because you’re not giving him something to do. He can play back to that, or get on with it and he was able to do that. You knew he was very relaxed with that aspect of it.
Awards Daily: So much of the set work is on an open island or in this town with a lot of ambient noise. What were the challenges for you guys in taking that out so it wasn’t distracting?
Simon J. Willis: Sheer luck. When I had my Zoom meeting with Martin beforehand we didn’t get into any of the technical stuff. I was saying it’s an island. It’s going to be beautiful. We’ll have a lot of the stripped back stuff that you don’t get on the mainland. Then when we arrived we found that the sets were nicely built right beside the sea and rivers. It became what I call a beautiful challenge to try to override nature. But we managed to do it and we worked out really well.
Chris Burdon: The through line to my work versus the dialogue premix (which is kind of technical)–there’s a little bit of creativity at that point just trying to make sure you’re going to get the right elements through the final mix and then balance them with sound effects and music. We were fortunate that we had actors with really good resonant voices that just gave you that separation from the backgrounds. Simon did an astonishing job of having low levels of winds, sea, and interior sound, with all the potential difficulties. If you listen to the mix you’ll appreciate Martin’s style is a pared back version of the world. There is not a lot of wind, there is not a lot of sea. You see these big broad seascapes. It’s a very unusual mix in that respect and I think it harks back again to the sound we alluded to. We don’t talk in depth with Martin about this, it’s a feel thing as we’re mixing. He just responds and we adapt. Having all these actors with tremendous rich voices almost without exception means we always have that nice separation from background noise to start with if it’s well miked and the work is done well on location. And we had that. I think when you see how well the film is doing in terms of people’s response to every main actor it just feels like the mission was accomplished in that respect. I think it’s pretty important for the narrative and emotion of those actors who performed some of the best performances of the year.
Awards Daily: What was the process of adding the score to the film?
Chris Burdon: Again we had the good fortune of having a preview mix. You get a sense of what you can use as a guide of how loud the music should play or the way it should be introduced with the cues subtly. But again, if you look at the overall shape of the film, watching the film now the music does not dominate. It’s got a subtlety, there is space for all the instrumentals to go through, but again it’s a sort of evolution of note taking. It’s not a long mix time. The film is a day per reel, which is a day per 20 minutes, and then a day or two review with some notes. So over that period of time Martin will respond, and he and our editor Mikkel (Nielsen) were our two conductors in the dubbing theater. There wasn’t a sense that this needs to be played and dominate this scene. There is only one action scene later on, and again me knowing Martin’s sensibilities from earlier films then I would mix the music in and allow the layers, visuals, and sound effects to appear as necessary. Then you would get a bit more feedback. But it really was just a little bit of sculpting. I think it’s a wonderful thing working on something so wonderfully rich with someone you trust so we as a team are doing the best we can for the film. Martin will appreciate that and just give you subtle turns in the road of the way he wants to go.
Simon J. Willis: That’s a great point. With Martin, if you had discussed with me all the stuff I got prior to the Zoom meeting stuff I would be out of my mind. The whole thing would have changed. It would be geez, I need to do this, I need to do that. With Martin you just go in and get on with what you do, and you are allowed to do whatever you want to do. You are not curtailed in any way so you can grow with it. He is here to help you absolutely. It’s brilliant, his way of operating.
Awards Daily: Any final thoughts?
Chris Burdon: There is a pride in achieving something in the style of Martin McDonagh in his transparent approach to filmmaking, in terms of sonic layers. I’m really, really proud of the sort of high fidelity that we have achieved with the elements. Because If it was badly recorded on location we wouldn’t have been able to do what we do. It just allowed it to be beautifully simple. The cinematography is bold, vivid, and stunning. There is beautiful music, and you get that wonderful dialogue written and performed. I am really proud of what we ended up with. It was reliant on the whole team. I’m very happy.