The Art of Sonic Subtly on ‘The Banshees of Inisherin’ – with mixers Chris Burdon and Johnathan Rush

Oscar-winning Writer/Director Martin McDonagh – known for his dark comedy films In Bruges, Seven Psychopaths, and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri – recently released The Banshees of Inisherin, which tells the tale of a life-long friendship at its end. Set on a fictional island off the coast of Ireland, the location suggests isolation, provincialism, and quiet simplicity.

'Quiet simplicity' has always been a signature of McDonagh's approach to sound, and for The Banshees of Inisherin he takes it even further, letting the dialogue stand as the soundtrack's backbone. Here, re-recording mixers Chris Burdon and Johnathan Rush talk about pulling back the ambient sounds, enhancing the production dialogue, weaving in the delicate score by Carter Burwell, and more.

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Interview by Jennifer Walden, photos courtesy of Searchlight Pictures

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I‘ve been a fan of Oscar-winning writer/director Martin McDonagh’s films since In Bruges (2008), so when his new film The Banshees of Inisherin was released, I immediately bought my ticket to see it. Before heading to the theater, I had read several posts on Twitter talking about how quiet the backgrounds were. “And just how quiet are they, that people are commenting on that?” I wondered. Well, let me tell you, they’re pretty damn sparse – intentionally.

The film is set on a remote island and there are scenes on the beach, but the sounds of waves and wind are only a suggestion, and not constant. They say hello when they need to and then disappear. Because it’s not about waves and wind. It’s about friendship and how that’s disappeared.

The use of ambient sound, foley, and effects in The Banshees of Inisherin is highly restrained and subtle, but it never feels lacking. For instance, protagonist Pádraic owns a pet donkey named Jenny, and we hear the bell around her neck signaling her coming and going. That’s because Pádraic cares deeply for his “wee donkey,” and so he’s aware of her presence, making her bell an important sound. And if the sound of something isn’t important or essential to the story that McDonagh is telling, then it didn’t have a place in the film. There isn’t sound for sound’s sake. There’s only sound for the story’s sake. It’s a bold choice that the filmmakers execute with confidence.

Here, WB Sound’s award-winning re-recording mixers Chris Burdon and Johnathan Rush – at De Lane Lea – talk about their long-time collaboration with director McDonagh, and discuss their careful effort to pull back the sound in this film to the barest, most essential elements so that the richness of the actors’ performances (beautifully captured by production sound mixer Simon Willis) can shine through. Burdon discusses the on-screen musical performances by Brendan Gleeson (as Colm Doherty), and mixing in composer Carter Burwell’s delicate score. Rush discusses the biggest moment for sound effects – the fire – and how they were able to play with perspective and work in the surrounds.

THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN | Official Trailer | Searchlight Pictures

Where did you mix The Banshees of Inisherin? And what was the main format you mixed in?

Re-recording mixer Chris Burdon

Chris Burdon (CB): This was our last main mix done at the original De Lane Lea on Dean Street. WB has just moved into its brand new facility at Ilona Rose House, just a few streets away from Dean Street. So this was the last full theatrical film mixed at the old facility.

And Martin [McDonagh] was rather sad knowing we were leaving the premises because he particularly enjoyed that room. We had mixed Seven Psychopaths and Three Billboards… there. He’s a man who likes the feel of a place, and he liked the atmosphere there. So, we can hopefully get the chance to get him into the new studio at some point in the future.
 

Re-recording mixer Johnathan Rush

Johnathan Rush (JR): We mixed this in 5.1 on Stage 1 – the main theatrical dubbing stage.

CB: There was a discussion about whether to mix in Dolby Atmos or 5.1. These days, there isn’t much discussion about mixing in 7.1 – it’s usually between Atmos and 5.1. And it was felt that 5.1 was the best delivery format for this. And when you see the film, that decision makes sense based on the shape and feel of the film. That was established quite early on, during the discussion for the preview mix. We knew we were aiming for 5.1.

What were writer/director Martin McDonagh’s tastes, mix-wise? How did he want to shape this soundtrack to support the story?

CB: If you know Martin – and have worked with him as we have – you know he takes a minimalist approach to layering sound and sound effects.

We mix a whole range of movies, from superhero blockbusters to dramatic films, and you can end up with layers and layers of sound, or with films that are much more pared back and have a simpler, cleaner sound. Martin takes that latter approach.

Even as the process unfolded, we continued to pare things back more and more…

Joakim Sundström, the supervising sound editor, would have known this even earlier on – in working with Martin and picture editor Mikkel E.G. Nielsen during the edit. We knew we weren’t going to be layering loads of sound effects on this film. It would be a bit more transparent, more akin to a theatre stage play, and hugely dialogue-driven. Even as the process unfolded, we continued to pare things back more and more, to fit how Martin sees, feels, and hears a film.

JR: For our first pass, we did have some more effects. But Martin felt he wanted it – especially the backgrounds – to be held back, to give an empty feel to the island. So much of the time, the backgrounds and effects are there just to support the dialogue slightly. But it was very subtle, and that goes for foley as well. We held that back a lot, and literally just put in a few feet around sync sound where it needed to be filled in, as opposed to filling in the whole scene with foley.

We…just put in a few feet around sync sound where it needed to be filled in, as opposed to filling in the whole scene with foley.

CB: If you’re lucky enough to build up a relationship with Martin – which we’ve done over the years – you’ll know that this is his style. So we were never fighting to put in loads of extra sound effects. And if we did, he would hone it in and be very specific. So, even though it was sparse sometimes, he could be very specific about how he wanted the sound to come in and out. For instance, Jenny the donkey has a life of her own in terms of her bell and her sounds. Occasionally, her feet wouldn’t be prominent in the sync sound and that’s an important sound.

Overall, it’s visually very rich, sonically simple, and profound in terms of dialogue and the way the music is used. We knew it would be that way in advance, and as it evolved, it became clearer that was the direction we were going in.

THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN | “Maybe He Doesn’t Like You No More” Clip | Searchlight Pictures

To say the ambiences are understated is an understatement! For instance, Pádraic goes into the port town to sell his barrels of milk and there are crowds, boats with their crews, and the water close by. There’s activity and you only hear a slight blush of it – only when it’s obviously in the scene, and to not hear it would be weird. So with all of this quiet, there is nowhere for the dialogue to hide. Did you do a lot of dialogue cleanup? Also, what did it require in terms of EQ or reverb?

CB: The production sound was wonderful. I’ve mixed quite a few films over the years, and this was one of the best-sounding dialogue tracks I’ve ever been involved with. It’s so important that the dialogue is clear. The actors all have these rich, wonderful voices that vary in character. Brendan Gleeson (who plays Colm) has this lovely, rich voice and Colin Farrell (who plays Pádraic) has a distinct voice. Barry Keoghan (who plays Dominic) has a voice that’s very different from those two. It was wonderful that they were so beautifully recorded.

I’ve mixed quite a few films over the years, and this was one of the best-sounding dialogue tracks I’ve ever been involved with.

It’s really astonishing. There were scenes with Pádraic and Dominic sitting on a wall just 20 – 30 yards from the cliffs (and it was shot with a wide lens so you can see the whole coastline), and we got this incredible track that had so much fidelity that if we needed to denoise slightly and judiciously with a few denoising tools (and that’s all it needed!) we’d still have this phenomenal sound. You can see hair movement from the wind, and yet the boom tracks were clean.

The dialogue editor Simon Chase gave me a lovely balance of lav mic and boom, but I didn’t need a lot of the lav mic. If the whole film had been poorly recorded, and we had an issue with noisy lav mics due to cloth rustle, then we’d have to do a bag load of ADR. But we did very limited ADR for technical reasons; you can count the lines on two hands. And I don’t even think it’s that many. It’s astonishing.

EQ-wise, I worked to retain the richness – to bring out the low end and the lovely top end.

In keeping with the minimalist approach that was taken with the effects, it was the same for reverb. I only used a medium amount, just a cushion of reverb for all the different rooms, like the stone rooms, so that John would have something to bed the foley footsteps and effects into around the dialogue.

It was a joy to have such a brilliant dialogue track.

It was a joy to have such a brilliant dialogue track. The way the film is being received – in terms of the acting performances – I feel so lucky to have that clean dialogue to help deliver something that is so important with this genius-level script.

We like to think of Martin as a good friend. He’s a humble guy but he’s confident and brilliant. For the sound to come together so well technically, it was wonderful to be able to give Martin the sound he wanted.

The dialogue sounded amazing! Were you using a combination of lav and boom mics together, using something like Sound Radix’s Auto-Align Post?

CB: Absolutely. That’s the clear winner these days to do that. Although, it does give the dialogue mixer almost double the work sometimes. I like to get in there and EQ and check as many of the lines as I can during the dialogue pre-mix, so that doubles the work.

…because the boom was so strong, the lav mic was just needed on occasion…

Simon Chase gave me a nice balance of those two components (the lav and the boom) but because the boom was so strong, the lav mic was just needed on occasion (for some scenes more than others). The lack of phasing with Auto-Align Post gives you so much more control.

For just about any scene – like going from inside the pub to outside – there was a usable boom track. I want to call Simon J. Willis, the production sound recordist, and find out how he did it. Maybe it was just one of those perfect situations where the shots allowed him to get the boom in close, but it really sounded quite special.

THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN | “I Just Don’t Like Ya No More” Clip | Searchlight Pictures

Even for dialogue scenes on the beach – like after Pádraic burns down Colm’s house – the wind didn’t seem to be an issue. The dialogue sounded just as rich. There was no tonality shift to indicate that you did extensive denoising. Was that one of the scenes that you had to ADR?

CB: No. That was an instance where any other director would have put in the sound of the sea. But that was pulled back, and the dialogue is very exposed.

Martin is a theatre director, scriptwriter, and film director. I haven’t talked to him about his approach, but there’s no need to be controversial about being minimalistic with sound because the proof is in the pudding. There’s been a great audience response to the film in the end.

… there’s no need to be controversial about being minimalistic with sound because the proof is in the pudding.

I think when Martin gets into the cutting room, he gets the rhythm that he wants, he hears what is necessary to get the right rhythm – like Jenny’s bell and a few footsteps here and there – and then he knows what’s missing and that’s what we put in during sound editorial. We didn’t have a lot of time for the mix, but during that time, he was pulling the sounds back even more.

We had interiors for the pub, which was located near the sea, and so we had sea wash on the interiors. Those were denoised a bit more than you’d expect. But the beach scene had astonishing levels of signal-to-noise that allowed us to denoise it. And I could have gone further with the processing. If I put extreme noise reduction on that, I could have almost gotten it to sound like pure ADR (with no sea). But Martin didn’t want a lot of sound there. There’s a bit of birdsong from a tern – just a little bird motif – and a few waves lapping, then we pull back and it’s just dialogue and the tiniest hint of backgrounds.

I feel that the confidence that Martin has in what he’s doing just draws you in. You just have to take that direction and push and pull with it occasionally. There were some sound effects scenes, like the house fire, but Martin likes the minimal approach. Even for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, which is inherently richer sound-wise, we still used a minimal amount of sound for the narrative.

One thing that was happening in the ambiences was this distant rumble of war on the mainland. Can you talk about working that into the mix?

JR: Yes, there were distant explosions from the civil war in Ireland early in the film. Other than that, it was distant sea and a touch of wind – ust enough sound effects to tell the story.

So Johnathan, what was your biggest challenge on the effects side of the board?

JR: I’d have to say the fire at the end. That was the biggest moment for effects. We had the opportunity to play with perspective. Inside Colm’s house we played the effects in the surrounds so you feel like you’re in there with Colm.

If you had to pick a particular scene that defines your work in this film, what would that be?

JR: The fire! That was one of the few scenes where we could really play with the effects.

CB: For Johnathan’s work, the fire scene is the stand-out for effects work. But Johnathan taking Martin’s direction for using sound subtly for the whole film was equally important. For example, there was Jenny the donkey’s bell. Crafting that sound was so important to Martin. It had its place. Then you have the footsteps of the old lady approaching Pádraic, coming and going. Those were things we had to craft in. Once Martin was happy with it, we moved on. But, that was really important for him. There are rhythmic things happening with the dialogue that he introduces to sound effects.

It was delightful to get all the nuances to come through, like the breaths and the timing of the pauses.

In terms of dialogue and music, there are so many scenes that I enjoy and that were a challenge. There was an interesting conversation around the dinner table with Pádraic, Dominic, and Siobhan, and the challenge was to get the subtleties of the performance through. It was all the small things. It was delightful to get all the nuances to come through, like the breaths and the timing of the pauses. And Martin and Mikkel were very specific there.

Another thing that fits with the pared-back/minimalist approach is the music. Composer Carter Burwell’s lovely score is mixed with tracks that Martin had in the original Avid cut. None of them were really long, huge music cues that dominate the track. It’s just lovely, transparent bits of evocative music that fit in with the minimalist aesthetic. They don’t leap out at you. They fit Martin’s style.

THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN | “Jonjo’s Pub” Clip | Searchlight Pictures

There’s diegetic music as well, which is important to the story. Colm is a fiddle player and holds sessions at the bar. Were those performed on set? Or was it playback?

CB: It was all performed on set. Brendan Gleeson played those songs on the fiddle and it was recorded on set. That made it more complicated to do the foreign-language versions of the film because there was English dialogue recorded at the same time as the music.

And these original music performances were evocative and interesting. They had the movement, the sound of the wood.

But the live performance lent itself perfectly to the feel of the film. He’s playing his fiddle down on the beach – beautiful. It’s just a simple little piece. It’s sync sound, and the way it was cut by Mikkel and the way that Martin wanted to put it together worked really well. It’s what you want. If I had the choice between sync sound or ADR and playback, I want the sync sound. Any mixer will agree – you want good sync.

And these original music performances were evocative and interesting. They had the movement, the sound of the wood. There’s a scene where Colm is bashing the table as the other musicians play and it creates a madness that would be difficult to recreate after the event.

The recordings of the music performances were wonderfully detailed. After Colm cuts off his first finger, he isn’t able to play as deftly. The bow has a scratchier quality and his performance isn’t as precise and sharp. And that was all captured on set!

Did Simon Willis individually mic each instrument for the pub sessions? Or was that captured with just an overhead mic?

CB: I’m going to plead beautiful ignorance on what he did for miking. I had just one or two mono tracks for it in my tracklay. So, I’m blissfully unaware of the combination he used to create that track. But it was very nicely done. It captured the combination of the music and the environment. I don’t think it’s overly complicated, just the excellent use of booms and lavs that were used on the exteriors and what looked like difficult locations. That same approach was used for recording the music and singing. We had the ambience of the space on those tracks. It was a nice set. And it was cool to have everything from this location in the sound.

Hats off to Simon Willis for his excellent work on the production sound!

How has working on The Banshees of Inisherin helped you to grow as a mixer? What’s one lesson you’ve taken away from this experience?

CB: I’m very lucky to have done a number of films. For each one, and each year that’s come and gone, I have kept my enthusiasm and desire to keep learning. It’s nice to have the confidence to do a film like this, to take this direction. It’s very special when it’s a special film, and we all knew this was good but you never know how good until the audience receives it.

For each one, and each year that’s come and gone, I have kept my enthusiasm and desire to keep learning.

You just evolve, and this was a dialogue-heavy film. So all the tricks and technical things you do as a mixer in the pre-mix to get the film ready for the creative realm allowed me to present a stage-ready dialogue track because that’s the backbone of this film. It was nice to feel confident that we had the goods to bring to the stage for Martin. As soon as he arrived at the studio, he was able to give his notes on the direction that we should go. That felt really good. And we added the lovely music and it turned out gratifyingly well.

JR: It was nice to have a director who knew what he really wanted, and was able to give us guidance on what that was and move on. It was nice that he knew exactly what he wanted.

A big thanks to Chris Burdon and Johnathan Rush for giving us a behind-the-scenes look at the sound of The Banshees of Inisherin and to Jennifer Walden for the interview!

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