LOS ANGELES - Advanced Audio Rental, here, recently provided the scoring team for the new King Kong feature with six Prism Sound ADA-8XRs multi-channel converters and processors. The sound team began recording back in August in order to meet the film’s December 14th release date.
For the King Kong project, director Peter Jackson worked with the same music team that was involved with the Lord Of The Rings trilogy.
“Our main reason for choosing Prism Sound converters was continuity,” explains John Kurlander, chief recording engineer for the music score of the movie. “They performed brilliantly during our Lord Of The Rings recordings because they work so well with the Avalon mic pre’s we use and, indeed, with the whole signal chain.”
According to Kurlander, the score was recorded over three periods, the first taking place back in August in Berlin where the sound team recorded the twelve cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic at Teldex Studios. “They completed a series of themes that were composed by Howard Shore especially for them,” he notes. “After that we moved to New Zealand where we are recording the main score with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.” The sessions took place at the Michael Fowler Centre in Wellington, which was chosen for its excellent acoustics. An acoustically treated control room was built backstage to accommodate the mixing facilities. Engineer Pete Cobbin concurrently handled the mix on a Euphonix System 5.
The music team recorded 40 channels, with the Avalon 2022 and GML mic pre’s feeding directly into five Prism Sound ADA-8XRs. The sixth unit was used as a spare.
Kurlander says the team used Digilink direct to Pro Tools with AES into Pyramix. “With these recordings we only carry out one analogue to digital conversion, therefore the sound quality of the converters has to be as good as it possibly can be. I am most satisfied with the neutrality of these converters and their ability to allow the balance and depth of the orchestral sound to transfer faithfully into the digital domain, where it will remain throughout the mixing and mastering process.”
Final dubbing and mixing sessions took place at Park Road Post in Wellington, New Zealand - the same facility used by Jackson’s team on The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King.
Paul Levy, head of Advanced Audio Rental, notes: “We’ve stocked Prism ADA-8 converters for some time, but when the company brought out the new ADA-8XR units we realized they were perfect for the film community because they operate at sampling rates of up to 192 kHz and boast even greater analogue performance. They are also 100 percent compatible with Pro Tools|HD and, because they do not require a Digidesign 192 I/O interface, they are ideal for people working on location or moving around from studio to studio – as is the case with the King Kong crew.”
For more on King Kong, check out Post’s upcoming December issue.