Alan Meyerson: Mixing The Movies Part 1 - Immersive Audio 

"I have an outgoing personality and it's easy for me to put my foot in my mouth" - I can relate, Alan. I can relate.

I am a native New Yorker dance music producer and had no idea he worked for Arthur Baker in his early career, (if you don't know who that is..... "PLANET ROCK" is just one of the Legendary records he's done"). This was such a treat of an interview. I have watched so many Alan Meyerson interviews and this is full of so much great history of his amazing career. He is a true "Master" and to hear him share all the nitty-gritty details of his career is just INCREDIBLE and inspiring.

It's always refreshing to come across somehow who is so humble and gracious, especially in a naturally self-centered industry such as music or film. Alan is a real joy to watch.

Alan, who I called "The Kid," was an amiable young man with a tall frame and sandy blond mop of hair, who quite accidentally walked into the Gershwin Sound Studio at Brooklyn College, a part of its Performing Arts Center one afternoon, circa 1973,. He seemed mesmerized by everything his eyes took in; his fascination was evident right from the get-go. And from day one, he was like a sponge -- he just absorbed anything and everything related to sound and recording and micing technique. He was as inquisitive as he was inventive when it came to recording all the variety of concerts that went on in the PAC -- from small ensembles to full orchestras and everything in between. He never seemed to tire of the heavy recording schedule. Even back then, he was developing his own micing style. I was always amazed how intent he was on trying new things and experimenting and amazingly, his instincts almost always were spot on. Also, in one wing of PAC, there was a magnificent, 2500 seat, single screen art deco theatre The Walt Whitman Theatre. In that huge space it was our job to install playback capability for the then only stereo system available for cinema, a 4 track magnetic playback system with three stereo screen channels and a single surround channel. Simple as it was, the concept was there -- surround sound. Alan seemed particularly enamored of this surround sound system. We ran dozens of films with surround stereo tracks and he was smitten with the idea of spacial, immersive sound for the movies. Of course soon after, Dolby came along with their CAT 50 optical cinema processor -- a poor man's mag sound system -- which gave only two "real" screen channels with a matrix derived, very limited surround channel -- but while it was crude compared to mag film tracks, it was the first in a long line of what over the years would up as an ever expanding and ever improving tool for the score mixer/recordists to be able to manipulate spacial perception. In my opinion, the use of deeply immersive surround sound very early on became Alan's signature achievement -- the ability to place the cinema patron right in the middle of the orchestra in a way that a patron can literally FEEL the space between the instruments and now with Atmos, that patrons can be made to feel like they are floating in space along with the musicians. One can actually reach out and touch the instruments, just like you can touch that object in a 3D movie -- same concept --two eyes, two ears = SPACIAL perception...a wonderful, breathaking experience! Unfortunately, the Academy has no Oscar category for Outstanding Achievement in Score Mixing, but I have always been of the mind that the music score is a paramount element so essential in a film and certainly deserving of its own Oscar. And Alan's work is, in my opinion, so three dimensional and so unique, that I almost always can identify when the score of the movie that I just watched was recorded by him; I sit and wait thru lists of credits for everything from food crafts to vehicle drivers to law firms, waiting until they get around to where I can see who recorded the score, and yes, there finally, just as I thought, comes Alan Meyerson's name. FA

I used to work with Gary Chester at The Edison. I was a writer for a lot of those commercials in the 90's. He was great. I miss those big live sessions and working with those great players (Breckers, Lyle Mays, Danny Gottlieb etc.)

1:59 he's so good he can mix without even looking or touching the computer

What an incredible story! Thanks for sharing it 😊🙏

The Hans Zimmer dollar story was something I'll remember for a good while, epic stuff. I know some musicians and had some quite funny moments with them, but for some reason the thing that sticks in my mind is when I had a private music teacher in Italy, I had just started in italian school and coming from sweden I missed some things - I had the lessons to catch up to my class, but it ended up being 50/50 school stuff and just music. I had this 'harmonica' thing, a plastic blow "instrument" with a mini piano keyboard on it - it was mandatory to have for music class in school. Anyway, I ended up playing almost only on the teachers concert piano, and didn't learn the mini thing really. But the thing that sticks with me most was a piece of a song I'd play every lesson because I liked it, and one day my teacher had detuned one of the keys. I played the piece and stopped after that key, then played it until the end, and again until that key, tried it again, it didn't "work for me" and I thought about why, and then asked my teacher what was wrong with the piano - was it broken? That's how I found out what tone perfect hearing is...

Awesome! thank you for making such amazing content and for free SOS! YOu guys are the best!!!

Damn, relatable....on a much , much smaller scale. thank you....did I say "MUCH LESS"....this is an amazing interview.

Great hearing his story!

Very educational, very informative!

Super interesting!! Thank you!

Great to see some reality, what a great, honest appraisal of pro recording / mixing. Film music rocks, fab.

This is an incredible story and very inspiring how all these failures started to lead to success in time. comment And then i eventually got fired and then got fired again. classic and still made it. Rock n roll.

This is an awesome awesome interview

Class)

See how these film guys are always inside the levels envelope. They don't make it so loud.

Whoa! That started blurry. 7:09

I’n going back to America and try to apply to be Alan’s coffee guy. When i heard his story - i was like “it’s me, just like me” and now i’m stuck in the middle of nowhere doing some occasional projects and wasting my talent…

🤯 I need to get fired more often!

The reality is, none of us would ever admit to being terminated/fired in a job interview. But this more biographical and he's a celebrity, just don't use it as an example of what to say in a job interview!

Got fired a lot.