1 00:00:05,190 --> 00:00:07,860 S1: The sound design of solar is almost like a character 2 00:00:07,860 --> 00:00:10,740 S1: in and of itself. And today we're talking about it 3 00:00:10,740 --> 00:00:14,700 S1: with more excerpts from our behind the scenes. I'm Jenny Curtis, 4 00:00:14,700 --> 00:00:17,759 S1: director and producer, and we're getting into a conversation here 5 00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:21,180 S1: where creator Chris Porter, executive producer Bill KURTIS and I 6 00:00:21,210 --> 00:00:24,779 S1: are chatting with Solar's sound designer, mixer and Master C.J. 7 00:00:24,780 --> 00:00:27,780 S1: Drumheller about some of our favorite world building moments in 8 00:00:27,780 --> 00:00:29,130 S1: the sound design of this show. 9 00:00:32,159 --> 00:00:34,770 S2: Speaking of episode eight, I would like to talk about 10 00:00:34,770 --> 00:00:38,070 S2: one moment in particular in episode eight that actually ties 11 00:00:38,070 --> 00:00:41,010 S2: back to episode one ends the communication that we had 12 00:00:41,010 --> 00:00:43,890 S2: with C.J. during this project. I had a nine throwaway 13 00:00:43,890 --> 00:00:47,250 S2: line in the first episode where Jamal says, I miss 14 00:00:47,260 --> 00:00:48,360 S2: the sound of the ocean. 15 00:00:48,420 --> 00:00:51,830 S1: I have 52 unique recordings of the Ocean Alley, Please. 16 00:00:51,840 --> 00:00:54,060 S2: And I always knew that later on in Episode eight, 17 00:00:54,060 --> 00:00:56,190 S2: when Jamal was at a dark point, he was going 18 00:00:56,190 --> 00:00:59,790 S2: to retreat into that sound as a way of comforting himself. 19 00:00:59,790 --> 00:01:03,090 S2: And that was that particular moment, which shows how important 20 00:01:03,090 --> 00:01:05,730 S2: and how much thought was put into the sound even 21 00:01:05,730 --> 00:01:07,650 S2: before we were able to give it to C.J. to 22 00:01:07,650 --> 00:01:11,010 S2: do his magic. But when C.J. was reading the script, 23 00:01:11,100 --> 00:01:13,320 S2: he was like, I wonder if Ali could just play 24 00:01:13,319 --> 00:01:15,360 S2: a whole bunch of different ocean sounds on top of 25 00:01:15,360 --> 00:01:17,970 S2: each other when she says she has 52 unique recordings. 26 00:01:18,390 --> 00:01:21,810 S2: And I was like, I actually love that. That's actually 27 00:01:21,810 --> 00:01:24,929 S2: a really cool moment. I appreciate you mentioning it, but 28 00:01:24,930 --> 00:01:28,740 S2: every wave is different. There aren't 52 different sounds. 29 00:01:28,740 --> 00:01:31,200 S1: I have 52 unique recordings. 30 00:01:32,720 --> 00:01:35,210 S2: I get it. Ali, thank you. Please just let me 31 00:01:35,209 --> 00:01:37,010 S2: get through this and trying to figure out how I 32 00:01:37,010 --> 00:01:37,610 S2: want to say it. 33 00:01:37,970 --> 00:01:38,840 S1: Okay, Jamal. 34 00:01:39,680 --> 00:01:41,420 S2: And I just thought that was a really cool moment 35 00:01:41,420 --> 00:01:44,510 S2: of the sound design being a part of the script 36 00:01:44,510 --> 00:01:45,380 S2: and storytelling. 37 00:01:45,410 --> 00:01:47,390 S3: When we first talked and we first agreed that we 38 00:01:47,390 --> 00:01:49,100 S3: were going to do this thing, I just went on 39 00:01:49,100 --> 00:01:51,410 S3: to see what was going on with space sound or 40 00:01:51,410 --> 00:01:54,320 S3: like sound for astronauts and different things and what they'll use. 41 00:01:54,320 --> 00:01:56,570 S3: And a lot of people don't know that actually audio 42 00:01:56,570 --> 00:02:00,309 S3: is used a lot in space for not only just 43 00:02:00,320 --> 00:02:03,200 S3: communication and stuff like that, but also for comfort and 44 00:02:03,200 --> 00:02:06,410 S3: to add soundscapes that are familiar so that you're not 45 00:02:06,410 --> 00:02:08,000 S3: like if you're on the space station or whatever, you 46 00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:10,130 S3: can hear the sound of a park or so like 47 00:02:10,130 --> 00:02:12,440 S3: the idea of having those ocean sounds was actually something 48 00:02:12,440 --> 00:02:14,839 S3: that came up in some of the talks with actual 49 00:02:14,840 --> 00:02:17,180 S3: astronauts and different people that we were talking to. But 50 00:02:17,180 --> 00:02:20,480 S3: it was also, I know with episode one we were like, 51 00:02:20,690 --> 00:02:23,900 S3: Let's define the rules of the game. What can we 52 00:02:23,900 --> 00:02:26,990 S3: do here to make sure that the sound design things 53 00:02:26,990 --> 00:02:29,570 S3: are going to happen? And we know that from the 54 00:02:29,570 --> 00:02:32,750 S3: sound design level of episode one. We want it to 55 00:02:32,750 --> 00:02:35,390 S3: be something that grabbed the attention to where like, Hey, 56 00:02:35,389 --> 00:02:37,460 S3: we're not going to go full out here, but we 57 00:02:37,460 --> 00:02:39,890 S3: want you to know that things are going to happen. 58 00:02:40,400 --> 00:02:43,700 S3: And so where headphones and and get into this space. 59 00:02:44,570 --> 00:02:46,610 S2: But it's a good point. 60 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:49,080 S3: I don't know. It's probably the most used pun ever 61 00:02:49,850 --> 00:02:52,100 S3: on our project, but but we wanted to get into 62 00:02:52,100 --> 00:02:54,710 S3: that space early and even talks with Will. And we 63 00:02:54,710 --> 00:02:58,040 S3: were talking about the mapping of the spaceship itself, everything 64 00:02:58,040 --> 00:03:01,280 S3: having its own sound and the idea that each capsule 65 00:03:01,280 --> 00:03:04,310 S3: has its own identifiable thing. And so we literally went 66 00:03:04,310 --> 00:03:07,130 S3: to the drawing board, even in 3D mapping on where's 67 00:03:07,130 --> 00:03:11,910 S3: the door, where's Rin's door, and where's the ants nest habitat. Yeah, yeah. 68 00:03:12,020 --> 00:03:13,880 S3: And so we knew that from the beginning and kind 69 00:03:13,880 --> 00:03:16,100 S3: of since we're kind of jumping around in time and stuff, 70 00:03:16,100 --> 00:03:18,620 S3: I think it's another layer of like just keeping the 71 00:03:18,620 --> 00:03:23,630 S3: listener engaged in identifying different without having to say, Hey, 72 00:03:23,630 --> 00:03:26,450 S3: you're in this capsule like on the nose. We could 73 00:03:26,450 --> 00:03:27,980 S3: just play the sound and they would kind of know 74 00:03:27,980 --> 00:03:30,440 S3: that it was there. So we knew that this coming 75 00:03:30,440 --> 00:03:31,640 S3: from the other side of that idea. I knew it 76 00:03:31,639 --> 00:03:34,910 S3: was going to be more discourse or more dialogue than 77 00:03:34,910 --> 00:03:37,790 S3: than I think I've done before. And just knowing that, like, 78 00:03:37,850 --> 00:03:41,240 S3: even the subtleties and and the details of what we 79 00:03:41,240 --> 00:03:44,690 S3: could do with a more dialogue heavy show was something 80 00:03:44,690 --> 00:03:47,030 S3: that we're going to be bringing a personality to the 81 00:03:47,030 --> 00:03:49,910 S3: show that people will know, you know, whether they're flipping 82 00:03:49,910 --> 00:03:52,490 S3: through shows like when they get to solar, like, Oh, 83 00:03:52,490 --> 00:03:54,740 S3: I'm listening to solar. Now. Part of the reason that 84 00:03:54,740 --> 00:03:58,100 S3: we really encourage listeners to use headphones is because of 85 00:03:58,100 --> 00:04:00,650 S3: that perspective. If you picture yourself watching a movie at 86 00:04:00,650 --> 00:04:03,290 S3: home and you're sitting on the sofa, the TVs all 87 00:04:03,290 --> 00:04:05,720 S3: the way across the room, so that no matter how 88 00:04:05,750 --> 00:04:08,600 S3: much the sound designer wants to be close to you, 89 00:04:08,660 --> 00:04:10,790 S3: they are still going to be across the room. So 90 00:04:10,790 --> 00:04:13,370 S3: when you wear headphones, it opens up a whole new 91 00:04:13,370 --> 00:04:16,130 S3: world to where now I can bring that perspective super 92 00:04:16,130 --> 00:04:19,729 S3: close and I can also control what position you are 93 00:04:19,760 --> 00:04:22,760 S3: in relation to everything else that's happening. And so the 94 00:04:22,760 --> 00:04:25,640 S3: mindset from the beginning on solar was almost like a 95 00:04:25,640 --> 00:04:28,460 S3: VR mindset to where we're in virtual reality. We're going 96 00:04:28,460 --> 00:04:30,680 S3: to have all these different things that are happening that 97 00:04:30,680 --> 00:04:34,909 S3: can actually be placed spatially around you because we're taking 98 00:04:34,910 --> 00:04:39,890 S3: it from mono dialogue to this interactive immersive experience for 99 00:04:39,890 --> 00:04:44,510 S3: Inside the Home. I just got out all my junk 100 00:04:44,510 --> 00:04:47,029 S3: that I have. I have this big I think it 101 00:04:47,029 --> 00:04:50,029 S3: used to be like a cheeseball container. We could go 102 00:04:50,029 --> 00:04:53,839 S3: for sponsorship on the cheese balls probably without even having 103 00:04:53,839 --> 00:04:56,990 S3: to eat them. And I have this smaller size binaural 104 00:04:56,990 --> 00:05:00,140 S3: microphone and also just this little tiny little speaker that 105 00:05:00,140 --> 00:05:02,450 S3: has a little line input. And so I would put 106 00:05:02,450 --> 00:05:05,630 S3: some of the sounds in through and I would place 107 00:05:05,630 --> 00:05:08,719 S3: that little tiny speaker and the binaural microphone and then 108 00:05:08,720 --> 00:05:11,960 S3: cover it up with this plastic jug and play some 109 00:05:11,960 --> 00:05:13,640 S3: of those sounds through there. And you can hear like 110 00:05:13,640 --> 00:05:15,710 S3: literally you can hear some of these sounds coming through 111 00:05:15,710 --> 00:05:17,870 S3: that speaker and then the different voices. 112 00:05:17,870 --> 00:05:20,900 S4: Specialist Dizzy you may begin payload bay arm extension for 113 00:05:20,900 --> 00:05:21,770 S4: orbital placement. 114 00:05:22,279 --> 00:05:25,610 S1: All right payload bay arm extending for orbital place over 115 00:05:26,150 --> 00:05:26,730 S1: around time. 116 00:05:26,779 --> 00:05:34,070 UU: You guys, you are right there Margaret I was caught 117 00:05:34,070 --> 00:05:34,610 UU: off guard. 118 00:05:35,060 --> 00:05:38,450 S1: The arm extension began moving us faster than I anticipated. 119 00:05:39,710 --> 00:05:40,460 S1: Please continue. 120 00:05:40,940 --> 00:05:43,250 S3: I'll tell you, the other secret was I use my 121 00:05:43,250 --> 00:05:46,700 S3: dryer a ton, so I have a big circular dryer 122 00:05:46,700 --> 00:05:48,980 S3: that I would just put the mic in there and 123 00:05:48,980 --> 00:05:51,620 S3: I'd close the door, and a lot of the sounds 124 00:05:51,620 --> 00:05:54,409 S3: was like I would do the actual Foley like on 125 00:05:54,410 --> 00:05:56,540 S3: some of the spacewalks, like to where they're attaching their 126 00:05:56,540 --> 00:05:57,530 S3: tethers or whatever. 127 00:05:57,529 --> 00:06:00,440 S4: I'm confirming visual and physical lock and tether, failsafe safe. 128 00:06:00,620 --> 00:06:02,510 S4: Chief Scientist Cohen can you confirm the same? 129 00:06:05,300 --> 00:06:08,600 S1: I confirm. Oh, my God. I can hear it. Yeah. 130 00:06:08,900 --> 00:06:10,130 S3: That's my dryer. 131 00:06:10,550 --> 00:06:13,610 S2: Yeah. Yeah. Well, what I love is that C.J. is 132 00:06:13,610 --> 00:06:17,930 S2: actually fairly active on his social media, in particular on Instagram. 133 00:06:18,230 --> 00:06:20,810 S2: And he when he wasn't allowed to talk about the show, 134 00:06:20,810 --> 00:06:22,910 S2: but he was working on it, I would sometimes see 135 00:06:22,910 --> 00:06:25,190 S2: these photos that you would post of like the microphones 136 00:06:25,190 --> 00:06:27,140 S2: in these weird places. And I was like, I know 137 00:06:27,140 --> 00:06:29,570 S2: what you mean. Where you creating. 138 00:06:29,570 --> 00:06:33,410 S5: Ali Obviously incredible talent on the. Part of the actor. Yes. 139 00:06:33,420 --> 00:06:35,670 S5: But you also did a lot of work and I'm 140 00:06:35,670 --> 00:06:38,880 S5: not sure how many different renditions of how Ali would 141 00:06:38,880 --> 00:06:41,430 S5: finally sound you went through, but I know it was 142 00:06:41,430 --> 00:06:42,680 S5: more than two or three. 143 00:06:42,690 --> 00:06:45,750 S3: The ones that actually got submitted to Chris and Ginny 144 00:06:45,750 --> 00:06:49,289 S3: was around 60 different options probably. It came down to like, 145 00:06:49,710 --> 00:06:53,130 S3: what is Ali and where is Ali and how does 146 00:06:53,130 --> 00:06:56,210 S3: Ali interact? And I think from the get go, I 147 00:06:56,220 --> 00:06:59,400 S3: know that we had this idea of Ali was going 148 00:06:59,400 --> 00:07:04,260 S3: to continually become more and more relatable and almost more 149 00:07:04,260 --> 00:07:07,140 S3: human as the show progressed, which was, you know, obviously 150 00:07:07,140 --> 00:07:09,930 S3: a challenge in itself. And looking at the different, you know, 151 00:07:09,930 --> 00:07:13,920 S3: ideas of like what a I might sound like, I mean, 152 00:07:13,920 --> 00:07:16,830 S3: this is my tie into also like was the idea 153 00:07:16,830 --> 00:07:19,100 S3: of we had this printer that was like super or 154 00:07:19,170 --> 00:07:22,200 S3: this came into also creating the personality of the ship 155 00:07:22,200 --> 00:07:27,780 S3: itself because Ali is is a super caring and understanding AI, 156 00:07:27,780 --> 00:07:31,230 S3: but she's not something she's not a robot that walks around. 157 00:07:31,230 --> 00:07:33,630 S3: She's part of the ship. She's a part of these 158 00:07:33,630 --> 00:07:36,870 S3: locations to where like she would be coming from either 159 00:07:36,870 --> 00:07:40,620 S3: the alley speaker's from above you or beside you and 160 00:07:40,620 --> 00:07:43,380 S3: through these playback speakers. And I think the identity of 161 00:07:43,380 --> 00:07:46,050 S3: what Ali is as we get to the end of 162 00:07:46,050 --> 00:07:49,620 S3: the series really comes in and hits a home run 163 00:07:49,620 --> 00:07:51,480 S3: at the end. And I'm not going to give any spoilers. 164 00:07:51,480 --> 00:07:55,110 S3: It's really great. I think it's the acting the with Jenny, 165 00:07:55,110 --> 00:07:58,350 S3: what you did with it was amazing and knowing that 166 00:07:58,350 --> 00:08:01,710 S3: we were going to try and find something subtle enough 167 00:08:01,830 --> 00:08:03,900 S3: that they would know that it's in the ship, but 168 00:08:03,900 --> 00:08:06,390 S3: it had room to grow and it had room to 169 00:08:06,660 --> 00:08:08,910 S3: go places to where we had a good par for 170 00:08:08,910 --> 00:08:11,250 S3: the course. We're going to have other things that happen 171 00:08:11,250 --> 00:08:13,230 S3: with Ali that are going to bring this out. And 172 00:08:13,230 --> 00:08:16,290 S3: I loved placing Ali in the room, especially, I think 173 00:08:16,290 --> 00:08:18,420 S3: in episode one to where you'll if you listen to 174 00:08:18,420 --> 00:08:21,750 S3: the distance of where Ali is, like some of the times, 175 00:08:21,750 --> 00:08:25,520 S3: Ali's really close and sometimes she's far away, almost too far, 176 00:08:25,650 --> 00:08:27,630 S3: like now listening to them. Like I should turn to 177 00:08:27,630 --> 00:08:28,290 S3: Ali that moment. 178 00:08:32,250 --> 00:08:36,150 S1: There are so many more sonic moments to discuss. Make 179 00:08:36,150 --> 00:08:38,790 S1: sure you check out the full conversation with C.J. on 180 00:08:38,790 --> 00:08:43,620 S1: the solar panel, available exclusively on our Apple Podcasts Premium Channel.