The soundtrack for Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building received multiple Emmy nominations, including those for Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Music Composition and Original Music & Lyrics.
Re-recording mixer Lindsey Alvarez (pictured) is part of a team that also includes re-recording mixer Mathew Waters, CAS; production mixer Joseph White Jr., CAS; and scoring mixer Alan DeMoss. The crew is nominated in the "Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Comedy Or Drama Series (Half-Hour) And Animation" category for their work on the "Sitzprobe" episode.
"I was brought onto the show because of my relationship with the post supervisor and the editor of the first season," Alvarez explains. "I was given the script and was immediately hooked. As the dialog and music re-recording mixer, I was integral in giving life to a fictitious musical. It’s normal to collaborate with the sound crew, show runner, editors and producers, but for this season, we also worked with a Broadway music producer. Integrating that world into a scripted comedy became this season’s unique challenge."
The team mixed in Avid Pro Tools on an S6 console.
"Some of my [favorite] plug-ins for this series were Fab Filter Pro Q3, Clarity Vx Pro, RX10, Pitch-n-Time Pro, Altiverb and Slapper," says Alvarez. "I also couldn’t do it without an almond-milk vanilla latte. Mixing the performances were the most challenging, but I’ll hone in on Steve Martin and his Pickwick Triplets song. We wanted to keep him in the space and make it as believable and intelligible as possible. It’s an incredibly wordy song, so sync was tough. I was provided with both pre-recorded tracks and his on-set production track, which meant toggling between both sources for something as minute as a musical phrase to see which source played better. In general, it was also a challenge to match the pre-records with production - like ADR matching for vocals in addition to putting Steve in the space of the theater. What looks simple on-screen was actually an incredibly painstaking process."
The "Sitzprobe" episode is also in Emmy contention in the "Outstanding Sound Editing For A Comedy Or Drama Series (Half-Hour) And Animation" category. The sound editing team consisted of co-supervising sound editor Mathew Waters, co-supervising sound editor Danika Wikke, dialogue editor Taylor Jackson and sound effects editor Meredith Stacy.
"I started on Season 1 cutting the dialogue," Wikke recalls. "By Season 2, I began co-supervising. I tag team alongside Mathew Waters, helping on ADR and editorial needs. (i.e. cue ADR, cover ADR sessions, find dialogue alternatives, cut sound effects, etc.) I also help in the finishing process while on the mix stage with any fixes that may come up. I work on Pro Tools - I use RX Izotope, Auto-align post, & Clear to name a few."
Wikke (pictured) describes "Sitzprobe" as a dynamic episode with many notable scenes from a sound perspective.
"One in particular that I find really interesting to watch is during Charles' patter song," she notes. "Visually, there are a lot of things going on, and the sound really helps track it all. The perspectives are constantly shifting, moving from on-stage with Charles to backstage to an audience POV, etc. The sound builds and builds in such a wonderful way, creating a powerful end to the act."
Composer Siddhartha Khosla is nominated in the "Outstanding Music Composition For A Series (Original Dramatic Score)" category. And in the "Outstanding Original Music And Lyrics" category, the "Which Of The Pickwick Triplets Did It?" track is recognized. Benj Pasek, Justin Paul, Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman are credited with the song's music and lyrics.