Audio Mixing for World War 1

World War 1 - American Legacy was released on December 5th, 2006. Nearly a year of pre-production, production, directing, editing and finishing went into the film. Tens of thousands of photographs and newspapers and drawings were collected. Monuments were filmed, period songs were recorded and eyeballs were strained during weeks of editing. All in all it was a challenging film to produce but I think it gives a very interesting and entertaining look at World War 1 and the American men and women who served in "The Great War".



This film has one of the most robust audio mixes that I've had in my recent films and drops you right into the middle of the war. The music is fantastic and rich. The original score was composed by Gene Ort of GMP Music in Michigan. I used a lot of period 1917-1918 vintage 78's and Edison Cylinders as well. David Carradine's voice thunders through the mix so you can hear every detail of his performance and follow the exciting stories of Father Duffy, Joyce Kilmer, The Lafayette Escadrille, Nurses in the War, The Harlem Hell Fighters and more.

The DVD offers the mix in DTS surround sound and Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound for those home theater buffs out there. A stunning transfer straight off the HD editing system as well.



Here's a shot of our mixing session on 5 Mackie HR824 monitors with Digital Performer on the Apple G5. Gene also mixed the film and we polished the mix at his studio in Niles, Michigan back in September. Not only was it fun to see the final audio mix come together, but I also got to spend some time in Niles, Michican.



I really enjoy getting out and walking around a cool small town. I'm also very proud to have worked with an all-American crew on my film. Everything was done in the United States, which is fitting for a film about America in WW1 I think.



Niles has the best riverfront park that I have ever seen and I hiked it two days in a row. I cannot remember the name of the river at this time, but the park has benches all over the place so people can sit and relax, a great walking and biking path, a skate park and some other cool stuff.



There was a great bar in Niles called the Golden Nugget! I loved this place, this was a straight up BAR. Check out how awesome this place is. They did not have spitoons though or a place to tie my horse, "Nissan Pathfinder".



I had a roast beef sandwich there that was out of this world. I also sampled some local Michigan brewed beer called Bells. They have a number of varieties, but the one I enjoyed the most was called Two Hearted Ale. I highly recommend it. And when I found it on tap at the Golden Nugget they didn't serve it in some wimpy 12 oz glass. They kept it real. I should have put a penny down for scale but this thing is the size of a truck tire.



More news coming soon on Classic Game Room: The Rise and Fall of the Internet's Greatest Video Game Review show, a documentary film on the classic video game reviews broadcast on the Internet back in the day. More production photos on the Civil War Documentary series that I've been working on and this particular World War 1 documentary.

Cheers!