The 49th annual Cinema Audio Society awards were held at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles. Awards were given for outstanding achievement in sound mixing and technical achievement in production and postproduction. The event featured cocktails and dinner, with live music performed by The Nelson Kole Trio, as well as an after-party following the awards show, giving winners and their peers a chance to exchange congratulations.
KTLA’s entertainment correspondent, Sam Rubin, kept the event light and pleasant, occasionally summing up portions of the show with the “live tweets” he joked about sending out. Actors were paired with audio professionals to present awards, presenters included Frank Stettner, CAS, Carolyn Hennesy, Richard Lightstone, CAS, Frances Fisher, Willie D. Burton, CAS and Anne Hathaway.
After lengthy, but heartfelt speeches from Hathaway and Burton, Jonathan Demme received a standing ovation as he accepted the CAS Filmmaker Award. In his acceptance speech, Demme was sure to thank Roger Corman who was present at the show that night.
Chris Newman’s acceptance of the CAS Career Achievement award got the entire audience of its seats to applaud as he took the stage for his acceptance. At the top of his speech, he offered a story of one of his first jobs recording sound for a film. There was a scene with a town meeting with about 12 people speaking. He had no idea how to mic it, so he set up three mics, one in the middle and one on the right and left. And he left all the mics open. “When I finished the job, I played it back for the producer,” Newman recalled. “And the producer said, ‘Newman, that’s the worst f***ing sound I’ve ever heard.’”
“If I hadn’t worked on great movies, nobody would’ve ever listened to the sound,” Newman said, before thanking the prestigious list of professionals who had contributed to and inspired his notable career.
After accepting the award for achievement in motion picture, live action, the sound team from Les Misérables thanked director Tom Hooper and the film’s producers for protecting actors’ original performances, and for their efforts “to ensure actors’ magical performances are given priority only using ADR for creative reasons rather than technical ones.”
The winners of the Cinema Audio Society awards for outstanding achievement in sound mixing for 2012 are:
Motion Pictures – Live Action
Les Misérables
Production Mixer – Simon Hayes
Re-recording Mixer – Andy Nelson
Re-recording Mixer – Mark Paterson
Scoring Mixer – Jonathan Allen
ADR Mixer – Robert Edwards
Motion Pictures – Animated
Brave
ADR Mixer – Bobby Johansen
Re-recording Mixer – Tom Johnson
Re-recording Mixer – Gary Rydstrom, CAS
Scoring Mixer – Andrew Dudman
Foley Mixer – Frank Rinella
Television Movies and Mini-Series
Hatfields & McCoy’s, Part 1
Production Mixer – Dragos Stanomir
Re-recording Mixer – Christian Cooke
Re-recording Mixer – Brad Zoern
Scoring Mixer – Jeff Vaughn
ADR Mixer – Eric Apps
Foley Mixer – Peter Persaud
Television Series – One Hour
Homeland, “Beirut is Back”
Production Mixer – Larry Long
Re-recording Mixer – Nello Torri, CAS
Re-recording Mixer – Alan M. Decker, CAS
ADR Mixer – Paul Drenning
Foley Mixer – Shawn Kennelly
Television Series – Half-hour
Modern Family, “Disneyland”
Production Mixer – Stephen A. Tibbo, CAS
Re-recording Mixer – Dean Okrand
Re-recording Mixer – Brian R. Harman, CAS
Television – Non-Fiction, Variety or Music – Series or Specials
The 2012 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony
Re-recording Mixer – Brian Riordan, CAS
Re-recording Mixer – Jamie Ledner
The technical achievement winners are:
Production
Sound Devices – 664 Field Production Mixer with Recorder
Postproduction
Dolby – Atmos
