It was such an honor to spend two days in Santa Barbara to learn from one of the greatest scoring mixers in the game, Dennis Sands! Dennis is a 4-time Academy Award nominee and has worked as scoring mixer for Alan Silvestri and many others for nearly 4 decades. His impressive list of credits include everything from Back to the Future and Forrest Gump to Ready Player One and Avengers Infinity War.
Over the course of two days, we were able to learn everything from how to best use samples to enhance live recordings to which plate reverb* Dennis prefers (UA EMT 140). It was also interesting to learn that while mixing the score for Avengers Infinity War, Dennis kept the reverb to a minimum so that all the musical details could speak clearly while competing with SFX and Dialogue. However, reverb was then added when it came to mixing the soundtrack.
*For those who don’t know, a plate reverb is a type of mechanical reverb in which a steel plate is placed under tension and held up by springs at its corners where it’s attached to an outer shell. When hit with sound waves (via an electrical audio signal feeding a driver), the plate’s vibrations are picked up by a contact microphone. Rather than emulate the reverberations of a real room like a hall or chamber reverb, a plate has its own distinct and sought-after sound. For example, it is often used to enhance the brightness of a sound source, which is great for things like pop vocals, acoustic guitars, or in Dennis’ case, percussion.
For reference, here are short audio samples of a kick drum and a guitar presented both dry (without reverb) and with a plate reverb.
Kick Drum (Dry)
Kick Drum (Plate Reverb)
Guitar (Dry)
Guitar (Plate)