In this report Playback looks at the state of the union for editors, getting the opinion of tried and true talent on creativity, technology and where do they go from here? (See story this page.) We also talked to a couple of the growing shops, Productions Modulations (below) and Solar Audio (p. 32) to see how they’re functioning in a growing and changing field. And last but not least, we profile three up-and-comers who are making names for themselves early in the game. (See pages 24, 25 and 28.)

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Montreal: Marcel Pothier, sound designer and supervising sound editor with Montreal’s Modulations says Americans and Europeans each have their own distinctive approach in sound-editing, at least historically.

In Europe, the various levels of the sound mix are particularly distinct.

‘The Europeans have worked a lot with post-synchronization of the dialogue, with sound effects and very little with ambient sound. It’s a sound I personally find quite cold.’

As for the Americans, he says, dialogue is emphasized while sound effects are primed or pumped between talking sequences. In general terms, it seems the u.s. has been slower to picked up on adr, although this has changed in recent years.

One of the current and sometimes disconcerting production trends Pothier has to deal with is a demand by directors and producers for ‘gritty realism,’ sound tracks that can be characterized as ‘dirty.’

The issue came up recently on the primetime Radio-Canada cop series Omerta. One reviewer, Louise Cousineau in La Presse, wrote that the series dialogue is great but lines are sometimes lost to overwhelming ambient sound-effects.

‘I keep telling them,’ says Pothier, ‘that they should turn down the effects, turn down the music, and turn the dialogue up front, like the Americans. But that is not what they want. We don’t always have control. They want it dirty, so they’ll get it dirty!’

Modulations has five Fairlight editing suites and two 24-track Dolby SR suites.

The company intends to build a fully integrated Fairlight network within the next year or two, says Pothier, adding the cost is steep.

Converting the two Dolby suites to Fairlight is a $200,000 proposition while the network configuration will cost as much as $200,000 to $300,000, once it becomes available, he says.

‘We want each part of the operation to be able to make exchanges with every other part and have direct access to the sound library (le sonotheque),’ he says. ‘That’s our goal but we’re not there yet.’ Modulations has some 68,000 sound titles in its library including 20,000 original titles recorded by the house. The house is also equipped with two Digital Fairlight recording stages used for adr and the rerecording of actors and for foley.

Modulations provides audio post services for original sound. Mixing and final-edit assignments are moved on to houses like Sonolab or Marko Studio, which is in the same complex.

Recent feature projects at Modulations include Francois Girard’s The Red Violin, Marc Andre Forcier’s La Comtesse de Baton Rouge and Michel Poulette’s film noir suspense La Conciergerie.

For the sake of authenticity, Modulations imported a huge metal container in studio to re-record sound-effects for the critically-acclaimed immigrant stowaway drama Clandestin, which mainly unfolds in the hold of a grimy cargo ship.

The house also does tv work on film-originated series such as The Hunger, Omerta, and the ‘high-concept’ cbc tv movie Platinum, directed by Bruce McDonald.

On the issue of location sound, Pothier says there’s a trend to equip everyone on set with radial microphones. Sometimes that approach works well but he prefers a real (unmixed location) sound recorded by a ‘good boom and a good boom man (sound recordist) who knows the dialogue by heart and who is actually with (on top of) the actor who has the (speaking) line.’

Modulations employs some 30 people, six editing teams, during the busiest periods. The high tide in audio is typically November to May, generally the mirror image of shooting schedules.

The house is considering moving into imax sound editing and Pothier along with Montreal directors Pascal Blais and Stephen Low were in Vancouver recently for an imax conference. Neighbor Marko recently became the first shop in Montreal to acquired an imax mixing console.

And while there may be many competent sound editors in the city, Pothier says the real challenge is taking on a 13-hour primetime drama assignment and delivering on schedule.