FX's What We Do In The Shadows was recognized with an Emmy nomination in the "Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Comedy Or Drama Series (Half-Hour) And Animation" category. Samuel Ejnes, CAS, re-recording mixer is part of the team, which also includes re-recording mixer Diego Gat, CAS, and production mixer Rob Beal, CAS.
"I originally got involved with What We Do In The Shadows when we mixed the pilot back in 2018," Ejnes recalls. "Formosa Group had been approached to take on the sound editorial and mix for the pilot and put us up for the show, as we had worked with several of the folks involved and had experience doing shows for FX. We didn’t have a lot of time to mix the pilot, so having that shorthand with the rest of the crew was vital in getting things across the finish line. The show was picked up to series very quickly after the pilot mix and a few months later we were on stage mixing the first season.”
As a re-recording mixer Ejnes’ (pictured) primary job was taking all the material from picture and sound editorial and mixing it all together to create a seamless soundtrack that feels natural to the world of the show.
“I primarily focus on sound effects, backgrounds and Foley, while Diego Gat handles dialog and music,” he explains. “Our goal is to find the right balance between all of the different elements to help tell the story and heighten the immersion of the show. As Shadows is styled as a documentary, we take extra care to make things sound like they were recorded on-location, sometimes messing up the dialog or adding microphone bumps to sell the documentary feel. There are certainly moments where we play the sound more heightened and less ‘real’ for emotional or comedic impact, but the goal is to always keep the viewer engaged in the narrative without distracting from the story.”
The sound team works primarily in Avid Pro Tools Ultimate, mixing everything in-the-box using Avid S6 consoles.
“Working with the S6 allows us to work with many tracks of audio at once to quickly dial in changes and adjustments as we go through the show,” Ejnes explains. “We make extensive use of plug-ins, like iZotope’s Exponential Audio Stratus 3D and Cargo Cult Slapper 3 for reverbs and delays to help everything fit in the space as if it was recorded on-location. For Foley, I’ve been using the Transient Shaper module of iZotope Neutron 3 to give me greater control over the perspective of the sounds, and on the dialog side we use a fair amount of iZotope RX 11 Advanced for cleanup.”
Ejnes points to the “Local News” episode as a highlight, as the episode is constantly cutting between several different locations and perspectives.
“It was a challenge to make each place or POV sound unique enough to help the viewer track what was happening while keeping it all connected,” notes Ejnes. “Throughout the episode, we cut between a live news broadcast, the vampires’ mansion, and a birthday party across town, all happening simultaneously.”
He also points to the scene where the vampires try to kidnap the news reporter standing outside the mansion.
“As the plan goes awry, Colin Robinson creates a distraction by lighting the news van on fire and causing an explosion,” he explains. “We watch this unfold through the POV of the documentary crew, then the news camera, then the inside of the house where we see Guillermo watching the broadcast on TV as it cuts out and the explosion rattles the room. Getting everything to play as we quickly cut between different perspectives of chaos presented a challenge, but by carefully choosing what we do - and don’t - hear throughout makes the sequence very effective and funny.”