'Boiling Point', a sequel to the highly successful feature of the same title, follows Head Chef Carly's journey as she strives to establish a reputation for the new Dalston based restaurant, Point North, while working with her former kitchen team, eight months after her mentor Andy Jones experienced a severe heart attack.
James Drake, Supervising Sound Editor and Jules Woods, Re-Recording Mixer give valuable insight into the
Sound Post Production Process:
In the early conversations with Phil Barantini (Showrunner and first block director) we both
felt it was vital to keep the feel of the feature when transitioning in the world of television. While
this time around sections would be scored and commercial music would be used, the sonic
realism of Boiling Point was integral to creating the world.
Work began while the series was still being shot. James started sifting through the sound rushes and
building a library of production sounds that could then be used in the effects editing: cast using
the pot wash, pans being slammed down, doors squeaking closed. This gave us a great starting
point in having a wealth of “real world” sounds that James could build and blend with his own recordings, foley, and some library sound effects.
James also started recording a whole host of sounds in his kitchen at home. This carried on
throughout the edit and even into the final mix as new ideas were brought forward or something new was noticed. Jules said how he loved the sound of cutlery being poured out of a tray in a
restaurant documentary he’d seen, so James pulled all the cutlery from my drawers at home, waited
until a reasonable hour, and recorded variations of himself tipping it all into the sink.
The kitchen was one of the most returned to locations during the series and from working in
restaurants before it was a place that we were very aware of the sound of: deafening fans, metal
clangs, pot wash whirring in the background. All of these are built from the ground up in many
many layers, giving us the ability in the mix to push, add, remove and shape how we wanted in any
scene.
One of the most important elements of this were the voices of our cast off camera as they’re
working. In that single space we could have eight or more people at a time, all working together,
and when you’re in a kitchen people are rarely silent. We started by meticulously marking up any
time a character was seen so we had a map of where we could add their voices. We then divided them up into who they’d be working with, or perhaps who they could shout across the kitchen to. Once this was complete we brought in all the actors who made up our kitchen staff for one mammoth day of ADR, bringing groups of them in to adlib together for these moments.
We then picked up extra additional background wild tracks with them and the rest of the cast during their individual ADR sessions.
During the mix, all of these voices needed to be accurately placed based on their distance from us and location within the kitchen - a lot of panning and reverb were used to achieve the perception that the characters are in multiple areas. All of this not detail only keeps the realism of the working environment but adds dynamism and energy to the scenes.
One of the most successful aspects of the project was using sound design to add to tension or
confrontation. It’s heard in moments like Bolton antagonising Johnny in episode two, and Jake
and Holly arguing in the car in episode three. In both cases design layers were built out of real
world sounds. With Bolton and Johnny it’s the sound of the gas, the frying meat and sizzles
creating an overwhelming crescendo until Johnny snaps. While with Jake and Holly a similar
effect was achieved by pitching, shaping and modulating the sounds of the car engine, window
mechanism and windscreen wipers. All working in a way to sonically reflect the characters
emotions while never truly diverging from the world we are in.
Credits:
Sound mixed at Splice Post Production
Supervising Sound Editor: James Drake
Re-recording Mixer: Jules Woods AMPS CAS
Dialogue Editor: Oscar Bloomfield-Crowe
Foley: Longstocking Studios