Update: the Cinema Audio Society has announced its winner – The Revenant
Earlier:
The Cinema Audio Society (CAS) will have their annual awards dinner tonight at the Millennium-Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles. The CAS is one of two primary precursors for the Oscar in Sound Mixing (along with the BAFTA Best Sound award). If you’re still confused about the difference between sound mixing and sound editing: mixing relates to the layering and harmonization of the various audio elements in a film (e.g., sound effects, music, dialogue), while sound editing pertains to the creation and design of sound effects. Or to use an orchestra analogy, sound editors are like composers while mixers are conductors: composers create the music, conductors try to figure out how to harmonize and balance all the instrumental sections.
This year’s nominees after the cut:
“Bridge of Spies”
Drew Kunin (production mixer), Andy Nelson (re-recording mixer), Gary Rydstrom (re-recording mixer), Thomas Vicari (scoring mixer), Bobby Johanson (ADR mixer), Chris Manning (Foley mixer)
“The Hateful Eight”
Mark Ulano (production mixer), Michael Minkler (re-recording mixer), Christian P. Minkler (re-recording mixer), Fabio Venturi (scoring mixer), Nerses Gezalyan (Foley mixer)
“Mad Max: Fury Road”
Ben Osmo (production mixer), Chris Jenkins (re-recording mixer), Gregg Rudloff (re-recording mixer), Thomas J. O’Connell (ADR mixer), Ryan Squires (Foley mixer)
“The Revenant”
Chris Duesterdiek (production mixer), Jon Taylor (re-recording mixer), Frank A. Montaño (re-recording mixer), Randy Thom (re-recording mixer), Conrad Hensel (scoring mixer), Michael Miller
(ADR mixer), Geordy Sincavage (Foley mixer)
“Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens”
Stuart Wilson (production mixer), Andy Nelson (re-recording mixer), Christopher Scarabosio (re-recording mixer), Shawn Murphy (scoring mixer), Charleen Richards (ADR mixer), Chris Manning (Foley mixer)
All of the CAS nominees were also nominated for Sound Mixing this year, with the exception of The Hateful Eight, which was replaced by The Martian in Oscar’s lineup.
CAS will probably be between Fury Road and Force Awakens. Fury Road is likely the consensus prediction, although Force Awakens can easily win here too. And then, of course, we have The Revenant, which won the Sound BAFTA last Sunday and may certainly spoil again here. Lest we forget, Birdman won the CAS last year, although eventual Oscar winner Whiplash was not even nominated.
If you’re curious, Statsgasm’s prediction model for Sound Mixing does not have the CAS as a predictor variable, so tonight’s outcome will not influence the model’s findings (which, along with the other 20 Statsgasm predictions, will be released in a few days – stay tuned!).
