Part of the team behind Darius Marder’s recent directorial debut Sound of Metal, feature film re-recording mixer Jaime Baksht has spent three decades behind SSL consoles – most recently a C300 at AstroLX in Mexico City. Now, his most recent acquisition – an SSL 2+ two-channel audio interface – has earned a permanent place in his studio set-up for both critical listening and ADR.
Baksht was rewarded with an Oscar nomination for Best Sound for his work on Sound of Metal, joining an Ariel Award Best Sound award nomination for mixing I Am No Longer Here in 2020, and a Goya award for Best Sound on Pan’s Labyrinth in 2006.
Despite being caught in the global pandemic, Baksht and re-recording mixer/dialogue editor Michelle Couttolenc completed work on Sound of Metal – with sound design by Nicolas Becker and music by Abraham Marder – released in November of last year.
Recognising the quality of its amplifier and conversion circuitry, Baksht added the SSL 2+ into his workflow, starting with Sound of Metal: ‘Before we sent the stereo streaming mixes through to the producer, we checked all of them on our SSL 2+ interface on our headphones – this is an amazing box for this,’ he explains.
While Baksht uses a pair of TAD monitors during mixdown, those watching and listening use an array of devices and systems including phones, laptops and tablets. ‘When I listen to things on mobile devices, the sound is often blurry and low frequencies in particular can be a little muddy, but as soon as I plug the SSL in, the soundstage becomes bigger and wider. The low end becomes very tight and punchy, and high frequencies become clean and silky. This soundstage depth and level of detail informs my streaming stereo mix decisions. I will take this back to the mix and make any needed adjustments.
‘The SSL 2+ has a very nice flat frequency response and is wonderful for critical listening,’ he continues. ‘If you are going to send files across the internet, you can really hear what you are doing by listening through this interface.’
Baksht’s colleague Couttolenc uses the device to monitor and QC film dialogue during editing when she is focused on the actors’ voices: ‘She is listening for noise, intelligibility, and EQ on the voice to make sure everything is clear before we start the 5.1, 7.1, or Dolby Atmos mix in the stage,’ says Baksht.
He adds that his colleague will soon begin using the SSL 2+ for ADR dialogue sessions. ‘We have been eager to use it for in-person sessions here, but the pandemic has made in-person sessions such as this very difficult.’
As an award-winning film mixer, Baksht has high expectations in critical listening, which the SSL 2+ exceeded. ‘This box is worth it for the monitoring applications alone,’ he says. ‘There is no noise in the system, and it is a perfectly quiet device. Also, the amplifier has plenty of headroom and sounds great with my Sennheiser HD 280 Pro headphones which I monitor on.’
In a world of audio devices that often require complicated set-up and fiddling, the SSL 2+ was a welcome relief: ‘I simply connected the USB cable to my computer, and then connected my headphones – everything was instantly recognised’ he says. ‘There was also Waldir Xavier, one of the top Brazilian sound designers, who recently worked here on Lorenzo Vigas’ [2015 Venice Golden Lion winner for From Afar] last feature film, and he loved the big blue monitor control as well. It’s got a very professional feel.’
Baksht’s work can be delicate, since the audio must support the emotional range of the story and help carry a movie. ‘When you are working in sound for film, you are using sounds that convey innate instincts and emotions – the idea of survival, for instance. Every emotion sounds different, and this is why the mix of all sonic elements are so important. It can really add to the story. And if the mix sounds great on my SSL 2+, I know it will translate to other devices as well.’
See also:
Case Study: Sound of Metal
More: www.solidstatelogic.com
