By Randi Altman

Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis is a tour de force of filmmaking, earning eight Oscar nominations including for Best Picture, Best Actor, Cinematography, Editing and Sound.

Wayne Pashley

The film follows Elvis Presley as a poor child in Tupelo through to the last weeks of his life. That is a lot of ground to cover and a lot of sounds needed to tell the story of those different time frames. That was just one of the challenges for the film’s Oscar-nominated sound team, made up of Wayne Pashley, David Lee, Andy Nelson and Michael Keller.

Pashley, who is the owner/co-founder of Sydney’s Big Bang Sound Design, worked with Luhrmann on creating a “symphony of sound,” which was intended to immerse the audience into the life and music of Elvis Presley. We recently spoke to Pashley to discuss his frequent collaborations with Luhrmann, his workflow and the sound of Elvis.

You’ve collaborated with director Baz Luhrmann before. How did that shorthand help? And what direction did he give you?
Having now collaborated with Baz for over 30 years, starting with his first film, Strictly Ballroom, I feel that we have a trust and respect that has been established over the years. He expects me just to ‘get on with it’ and solve the problems as they appear. I believe we both have a similar energy that drives both of our passions forward.

As for Elvis, Baz simply started our journey together with three big directives.

1) We are about to embark on the great American operatic tragedy.

2) The soundtrack needs to be triumphant, emotional, gorgeous and awesome.

3) Protect Elvis Presley at all costs!

Then, he left the building!

You have a few different job titles. Can you talk about all the different roles you played on this one?
I am credited as supervising sound editor, sound designer and re-recording mixer on the film. Each of these roles has a different set of responsibilities. As supervisor, I’m essentially responsible for the entire soundtrack as it appears in the film — crewing, budgeting and dealing with all of Baz’s needs as they come up.

As sound designer, I have the responsibility, along with dialogues and sound effects, to come up with the sonic ideas and shape the creative vision as required from Baz’s directives. Throughout post production, I was also asked to mix the film for all the various presentations. Audience previews and studio screenings were a regular occurrence, and I was given the task of mixing each of these previews. That led to a natural progression into predubbing all components for the final mix — dialogue, crowds, sound effects and sound design elements.

How did you go about creating the various soundscapes that relate to the different parts of Elvis’ life?
When Baz first approached us about the soundtrack for Elvis, and having not read the script at this stage, I thought we were going to portray a certain part of Elvis’ life in order to fit into a feature film length. I was wrong.

We were about to do a film that crossed his entire 42 years, as the story sweeps through four decades — from Elvis Presley’s poverty-stricken childhood in Tupelo, Mississippi, through to his meteoric rise to megastardom in the ‘50s, the turmoil of the ‘60s and to his downfall and death in the ‘70s. I was reeling at the thought of how we were going to sonically represent each of the various decades of Elvis’ life. The music, the crowds, the guitars, the cars and of course the political and cultural changes that happened during his very short life.

Baz takes an iterative approach to filmmaking, which means we had to constantly adapt to emotional and visual changes. The film had to be visceral and immersive, as we were heading into a native Dolby Atmos final mix. Add to that five audience recruit screenings throughout the process, which meant building and updating the soundtrack as the schedule progressed.

How was the production sound? Did you discuss with the mixer prior to the shoot?
The production sound from David Lee was absolutely wonderful. Not only did he have to deal with everything to do with performance sequences, but he also had to deal with all the incredible costumes and prosthetics employed on Tom Hanks as Col. Tom Parker.

The makeup was a big deal for Tom … hours in the chair and having to perform all day long with the restrictive makeup. At times we were worried how David was going to approach clarity and clean dialogue records, but he did it.

To Baz, the performances on the day are sacred, and we all had to pull together to protect the cast’s performance. David and I had many discussions before and throughout the shoot to reassure Baz that all was fine and to keep the dialogues as his primary objective. All other recording, including crowd records, had to be secondary to the dialogue.

Speaking of cheering crowds, they play a huge part of the film. Can you walk us through those scenes?
The first major sound element during production was going to be the crowd sequences during the shoot. At times there were 500 extras, all accessed during the pandemic. This was something that we couldn’t miss capturing. David is a wonderful production mixer, and we asked him to record the reactions from the crowds wherever he could. We got him a Sennheiser Ambisonics microphone so we could get full immersive recordings on shoot days.

What about capturing the sounds of the different time periods?
In the last two weeks of production, I got myself up to the studio in Queensland and proceeded to record all of the wonderful props and vehicles that I could lay my hands on. We fully recorded 20 restored classic cars along with hundreds of vintage props and musical instruments. The production designers and set decorators opened their doors and gave me full access to capture all of the authentic world that they had spent so much time collating.

Baz creates a fantastical, theatrical, operatic world, and I knew that we had to build every scene like tiles in a mosaic,  at times creating a whirlwind of sonic architecture to tell the story against a montage-heavy narrative.

We immersed ourselves in research about the time periods and Elvis’ impact on the world stage. This would lead us into using dialogue as a major atmospheric sound design element, representing the political landscape of the times. The soundtrack had to represent all that was emotional, sexy, Shakespearian and dangerous during Elvis’ time with us. Elvis Presley shifted the cultural landscape of America, and indeed the world would be changed forever.

The film used a combination of playback recording and live musical recording with Austin Butler singing. Can you talk about the beauty as well as the challenges of that?
From the outset of early workshops with Austin Butler (who was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar), we knew he was going to be our secret weapon in getting the vocal performances seamlessly working in conjunction with Elvis Presley. We began by running sync tests with cinematographer Mandy Walker, David Lee and the wonderful music team helmed by composer Elliott Wheeler. Austin embodied Elvis Presley in every way, and vocally, he gave us the foundation to make the performance sequences rock! Both live and with playback being completely as one holistic performance.

Baz made the call from these early tests that Austin would sing every performance, along with the original recordings as playback. In the end, Austin sang all the songs from the 1950s on his own, then we used a combination of Elvis/Austin for the ‘60s and ‘70s.

David had a Sound Devices Scorpio 32-track recorder, where he not only handled all the playback material from the music team but also from all the mics. He had the responsibility to mic up everyone and the instruments. This was key, as it gave flexibility throughout the post process to determine what was the best combination as we headed into sound post.

We had restored vintage microphones from each era, Shure 55 for 1950s, Altec 195a for the 1968 Comeback Special and the Electro-Voice RE15 for Vegas performances in the 1970s. These microphones were used to capture Austin’s performance vocals to match the original Elvis masters from the 1960s NBC television special and RCA multitrack masters from the 1970s, seamlessly integrating Austin/Elvis together when required.

Working so closely with the music department was a complete joy. I can honestly say we were joined at the hip, making the sound design and music a singular vision. When we got to the final mix, there were no surprises. Baz knew what he was going to be getting, and we knew what he wanted to hear.

You worked on this during the heart of the pandemic. How did that affect your typical workflow? Any best practices taken away from working like this?

When the pandemic hit, we were three days from start of shoot. Famously, Tom Hanks contracted COVID and went home to the United States to recover. At that stage no one knew if the movie was all over. It was a time of enormous uncertainty. Thankfully, due to Austin Butler’s tenacious outlook on holding firm, and Tom Hanks agreeing to return in the midst of the world lockdown, the movie got back on track.

Elvis was wholly produced and post produced during the pandemic lockdowns, which was no easy feat. Thankfully the producing team dug deep and set the tone for the whole company to get on with it. Like so many other productions and businesses, we faced enormous challenges to our normal workflow. As the movie was shot in Queensland, Australia, and our studio, Big Bang Sound, is based in Sydney, we were separated from Baz and the editorial team throughout post.

The editorial demands changed constantly, so we had to work out a way of using the latest technologies to communicate and capture all the sonic requirements for the film while constantly remaining fluid in our approach to the soundtrack. We had to adapt to the “new norm,” embrace new communication technologies and make it work for all the creatives involved.

During the shoot we had picture editor Matt Villa here with us in Sydney, while our other picture editor, Jonathan Redmond, remained in Queensland. This was perfect for us because had direct access to the dailies and how Matt was approaching each scene. Through this period, David and I were on the phone regularly to stay on top of the forward schedule and the enormous challenges he was facing with recording and playback, plus dealing with scenes that had 500-strong crowd sequences that we needed recorded.

During the post process, constant communication between editorial and the music department was the order of the day. I would speak to the editors and music teams several times per week to stay on top of the coming changes and shifting story arcs. Zoom, Source-Connect for ADR and remote live-mixing direct into Baz’s purpose-built theater were just some of our mainstays for creative fluidity.

Did you work with music and sound effects only? Or dialogue too?
Along with supervising dialogue editor Derryn Pasquill and ADR supervisor Libby Villa, I was also responsible for all dialogue premixing, and I was at all ADR sessions with the cast, including all crowd sessions with the remarkable Barbara Harris and her team.

I believe all music and sound effects must play to the performances of the cast, the story and characterization. It’s always been very important for me to be present across all dialogue and performance choices with ADR; it’s where all the clues lie for the overall sound design of a film.

As I mentioned earlier, one of the biggest challenges was creating the fervor of the crowd. Thematically, the crowds were extremely important to the Elvis story, as they had to portray the audience’s hunger for him and his love for us in return. Baz wanted the interchange between audience and performer to create the feeling we are there with him, like we are seeing Elvis Presley once again — creating an energy and a totally immersive experience for the cinemagoer.

In other interviews, you mention the “sonic glue.” Can you explain what that is?
When you enter the magical world of a Baz Luhrmann film, you know you’re in for an audiovisual wonder. To tell the life story of Elvis Presley in a feature film format, you have to find ways to constantly move forward with the narrative. Elvis uses montage and visual kaleidoscope to excite and drive the story forward. With the use of wonderful VFX, a term emerged from the editorial department: poetic glue. Baz then needed the sound department to follow suit with a sonic architecture to match the whirlwind of imagery and grand tragedy of the story. “Sonic glue” was born!

Atmospheric sound design additions were employed into the soundtrack through the film. Along with sound effects design, we used voices within the environments, swirling and transitional, while commenting on the narrative. We recorded hundreds of real-world commentary and quotes from people who knew Elvis and the Colonel, plus newspaper headlines from across the world bridging the three decades of Elvis Presley’s life … thereby creating a “poetic” soundscape within the soundtrack.

What tools did you employ on this one?
Elvis was edited on Avid Media Composer, and our main DAW was Avid Pro Tools using a host of plugins, both Avid and third-party. We predubbed everything in Dolby Atmos on Avid S6, which was also hooked up with Source Elements’ Source-Connect for remote-mixing direct into Baz’s theater in Queensland.

When it came time for the final mix at Warner Bros. Stage 9, we used a combination of AMS Neve for dialogue and music and Avid S6 for sound effects, backgrounds, Foley, crowds and sonic glue.

Finally, what about this project was different than any other films you’ve worked on before? What was most memorable?
I’ve been extremely fortunate to have worked with many extraordinary directors over the years, but to have the opportunity to be a part of a Baz Luhrmann extravaganza is always incredible. Everybody brings their A-game. Our crew is simply the best. They all brought a great love for the project, and I believe it ends up on the screen. What’s not to love about greeting eachworkday with Elvis Presley’s music?

To collaborate with Baz opens up a wonderful world of expression, innovation and passion. Everyone on the team feels this. He’s an innovator, and he allows you to take risks like no other I’ve experienced. I think Baz’s company mantra says it all: A life lived in fear is a life half-lived.

About a film where sound is such an important part of the story, Baz said, “My aesthetic vision for Elvis required a multilayered construction that was a monumental challenge. The sound team were able to fulfill my vision by creating a sonic architecture that I believe is without equal in filmmaking today.”

Randi Altman is the founder and editor-in-chief of postPerspective. She has been covering production and post production for more than 25 years.