New York Metropolis’s Sound Lounge has been a fixture in audio submit for almost three a long time, working throughout movie, tv and industrial initiatives. Over time, it’s constructed a popularity for growing expertise from inside.
Since The Bear’s inception, supervising sound editor/re-recording mixer Steve “Main” Giammaria and dialogue editor Evan Benjamin have formed the sound of the present throughout all 4 seasons. In truth, each are a part of The Bear staff that was nominated once more this yr for Excellent Sound Modifying for a Comedy or Drama Sequence (Half-Hour), and Giammaria is a part of the staff nominated for Excellent Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Sequence (Half-Hour) and Animation. The audio submit staff has already gained Emmys for sound enhancing and mixing in 2023 and 2024.
Steve “Main” Giammaria
Now a associate on the artist-owned submit home, Giammaria joined Sound Lounge almost 19 years in the past after learning sound recording expertise at SUNY Fredonia. “I began within the machine room as an assistant, and I by no means left,” he says. “Fortunately, I landed at a spot that’s artist-owned and actually into cultivating expertise from inside.”
Benjamin’s path started at Berklee Faculty of Music in Boston. After taking part in in bands and dealing at varied music homes in New York, he ultimately landed at Soundtrack New York, the place he spent seven years earlier than going freelance. “I used to be all the time within the recording aspect of issues,” he says. A reference to a former colleague introduced him to Sound Lounge, the place he’s now a daily fixture. “It simply grew to become a relationship over time… I moved in right here full-time round 2018.”
Collectively, Giammaria and Benjamin have crafted a soundscape that captures the depth that The Bear has turn out to be recognized for — a mix of chaos and intimacy that displays each the pressure-cooker vitality of an expert kitchen and the emotional weight behind every character’s journey.
Evan Benjamin
The Bear is understood for its quick tempo, overlapping dialogue and uncooked feelings — and sound performs an enormous half in making that work. From the clatter of pots and pans to the quiet stress in a stare-down to the curse-filled screaming matches, the audio has to really feel actual but in addition be clear sufficient to comply with. That’s the place Giammaria and Benjamin are available.
Giammaria has led the staff at Sound Lounge by means of each season of the present. (Learn postPerspective’s protection of Season 2 right here.) “The character of the present is chaos,” he says. “However you even have to regulate it.” His job is to take all of the layers — dialogue, results, music — and form them into one thing that feels alive however by no means overwhelming.
Benjamin, the present’s dialogue editor, cleans up and stitches collectively performances which are usually improvised and filled with crosstalk. “I’ve gotten superb at eliminating one syllable out of one other syllable due to The Bear,” he says. Utilizing instruments like iZotope RX and Sound Radix Auto-Align Submit, he’s in a position to dig deep into the audio to verify each line is usable with out shedding the pure rhythm of the scene.
Their work begins with manufacturing sound mixer Scott D. Smith, who data on-set in Chicago. Due to the consistency throughout seasons, Giammaria and Benjamin have constructed a direct line of communication with Smith. “He’ll textual content me stuff whereas he’s on-set,” says Giammaria. “Like, ‘Hey, we’re taking pictures this type of scene,’ so there’s a little bit of a forwards and backwards, which is nice.”
A Versatile Setup
By Season 3 of The Bear, the sound staff at Sound Lounge had turn out to be extra deeply embedded within the submit course of, usually engaged on episodes earlier than image lock. This early involvement gave them extra inventive enter, which was particularly invaluable in episodes that leaned into stylized sound design.
One of the crucial formidable examples was the episode titled “Doorways,” which captures the repetitive, high-stress rhythm of opening a restaurant. “It’s simply the identical day again and again, and increasingly chaos,” Giammaria explains. “It was attention-grabbing how they had been in a position to mix chaos and monotony and the way we received to sort of amp it up with sound.” Set completely to a classical music rating, the episode options speedy scene modifications and layered transitions that demanded tight coordination between editorial and blend.
To handle that complexity, Giammaria combined the present utilizing Professional Instruments on an Avid S4 management floor paired with a Professional Instruments | MTRX Studio interface. “Sonically, I may hear the distinction instantly,” he says. “The whole lot received easier — we went from 5 containers down to at least one.” The setup additionally enabled versatile routing and room tuning, which grew to become important as Sound Lounge upgraded its studios to help Dolby Atmos.
This streamlined setup gave the staff the flexibleness to decide on rooms primarily based on the wants of every session, quite than being tied to particular gear. It additionally supported a extra collaborative atmosphere, the place sound design, dialogue and blend may evolve in sync with image editorial.
Overlapping Dialogue, Improv
One of many largest challenges the staff confronted was managing the present’s unpredictable, overlapping dialogue with restricted takes and numerous improvisation. Giammaria usually needed to deconstruct total scenes and rebuild them from scratch to make the chaos really feel intentional and clear. “You find yourself taking all the additional sounds out of a scene simply to attempt to make the dialogue play,” he explains. “After which you need to construct it again up, ingredient by ingredient.”
Benjamin used iZotope RX to surgically take away undesirable syllables from crosstalk and clear up noisy takes with out shedding the pure rhythm of the efficiency. Outside scenes added one other layer of issue, with sirens and automobile horns interrupting traces that couldn’t simply be re-recorded. “Generally you find yourself with one thing you need to cobble collectively as a result of that’s what the manufacturing audio allowed you to do,” says Giammaria.
Reasonably than defaulting to ADR, which they attempt to keep away from with the intention to protect the present’s uncooked, in-the-moment vitality, they used each software obtainable to make the unique audio work. “You wish to have that aliveness left there,” says Giammaria. “In the event that they got here in to do ADR, conserving the vitality in ADR could be difficult. The actors and our ADR staff are nice — we simply wish to reserve it for once we really want it.”
Suggestions
Reasonably than defaulting to ADR, which they attempt to keep away from with the intention to protect the present’s uncooked, in-the-moment vitality, they used each software obtainable to make the unique audio work. “You wish to have that aliveness left there,” says Giammaria. “In the event that they got here in to do ADR, conserving the vitality in ADR could be difficult. The actors and our ADR staff are nice — we simply wish to reserve it for once we really want it.”
Giammaria added that persistence is vital, noting it took him 15 years earlier than anybody actually observed his work. “I used to be quick lengthy earlier than I used to be any good, and that served me properly,” he says. He additionally confused the significance of mastering Professional Instruments like an instrument: “If you’re within the room with shoppers, that’s your live performance. You don’t wish to be studying your scales in entrance of individuals.” Their recommendation is evident — be dependable, keep curious, and deal with your craft with the identical self-discipline as any severe musician.
