Transcript:Reunion (commentary)

Michael Dante DiMartino	Hello, this is Mike DiMartino, co-executive producer and co-creator of this show.
Bryan Konietzko	Hey, this is Bryan Konietzko, uh, you're the-you're the executive producer.
Mike	I don't know what I...
Bryan	[Interjects.] You're not the co-exec...
Mike	[Interjects.] I don't know.
Bryan	... you're the co-creator.
Mike	I mean, we're co...
Bryan	[Interjects.] We are both...
Mike	[Interjects.] Yeah, I don't know.
Bryan	Yeah, anyways.
Mike	It's early.
Bryan	Here we are. And we are joined by.
Benjamin Wynn	I am Benjamin Wynn, I do sound design.
Aran Tanchum	And I'm Aran Tanchum, I do foley.
Bryan	Welcome back.
Ben	[In a mock enthusiastic tone.] What's uh...
Mike	Hey, guys. So, uh, recap for our audience the difference between sound design and uh, foley.
Ben	Uh... [Ben, Aran, and Mike chuckle.]
Bryan	[Interjects.] I'm-I'm glad you came prepared. [Ben chuckles.]
Mike	Or re-or recap for yourself [Ben affirms; Bryan and Aran laugh.] what you do.
Ben	I'm not really sure. [Bryan and Mike laugh.] Um, yeah, I think foley can be recorded with a microphone, and it's uh, movements, and stuff, right? I don't know, Aran; what do you... [Mike chuckles.]
Bryan	[Interjects.] I always think of it as, like, natural sound, like...
Aran	[Interjects.] Yeah, I mean, we typically think of it as, like, human kinda sounds, but generally, it's-it's anything that you record, in-synced picture, while you're watching it, yeah.
Ben	Right, they, like, perform it, right?
Aran	Yeah.
Ben	So, you uh, there's actually somebody sitting there, or standing, walking...
Bryan	[Interjects.] Or crawling, or laying.
Ben	... in-sync to somebody else walking on the screen.
Mike	Like, who does...
Ben	[In the background.] Sorta...
Mike	... [Refers to the sound of Naga's footsteps as she runs and circles around Korra at their reunion on Air Temple Island's courtyard.] Naga's footsteps? That's foley, right?
Ben	Yeah.
Aran	Oh yeah. [Gives an affirming murmur.]
Mike	Or is it a mix?
Aran	Yeah, our foley artist, his name is Vincent Guisetti, and he does Naga's footsteps, um, not with shoes, like the other characters, [Mike chuckles.] but he'll, you know, sit on his knees and use a leather jacket, or something like that, and make big padded...
Bryan	[Interjects.] And then there's...
Aran	... dog steps.
Bryan	So, they sometimes call that position, like, a foley walker, right? Like, is that...
Aran	[Interjects.] Yeah, yeah, I mean, it's usually-it's sorta casually referred to as a foley walker. [Bryan affirms.] Um...
Bryan	And then...
Aran	... I kinda prefer...
Mike	[Interjects.] Like on the street? You see him on the street, you'll be like, "hey." [Laughs.]
Bryan	Foley artist.
Aran	Yeah, I kinda prefer foley artist, and they-they certainly do.
Bryan	Because they do more than just walking, yeah.
Aran	Yeah.
Bryan	Yeah. So, um, yeah, and then you are more like the kinda engineer, uh...
Aran	[Interjects.] Yeah, I'm-I'm the guy who records, and sort of runs the session, um, and...
Ben	[Interjects.] And edits, right?
Aran	And edits, yeah.
Ben	So, you make sure all the steps are in-sync; stuff like that.
Aran	Correct.
Ben	Ooh. And how uh, like, what-what kinda surfaces does he have, or do you guys have?
Aran	So, a typical foley stage has, you know, a plain, sorta concrete surface, and then we'll have various sorts o' wood surfaces, you know, more, um, something more like a deck, um, and s...
Bryan	[Interjects.] Rocks.
Aran	Yeah, and then there's...
Bryan	[Interjects.] Sand.
Aran	... we-and then there's pits that have sand and gravel and decomposed granite, which we use for dirt, [Refers to the sounds of Bolin's footsteps on the packed dirt of the forest floor.] like this surface.
Ben	[Gives an affirming murmur.] No, yeah, not actual dirt.
Aran	And uh...
Ben	[Interjects.] Never know. [Bryan chuckles.]
Aran	Yeah, I mean, it's sorta-that's kinda what dirt is, it's just, like, broken down rock. [Ben gives an affirming murmur.] So, um...
Bryan	[Interjects.] And poop, like, broken down. [Laughs.]
Aran	[Gives an affirming murmur.] Uh, and then um...
Bryan	[Interjects.] You guys use a lotta cornstarch.
Ben	Really says poop.
Aran	Uh, yeah. [Aran and Bryan laugh.]
Ben	Why don't you just use poop?
Bryan	[Laughs.] Sounds better. [Ben chuckles.]
Aran	Yeah, actually, I wanted to talk about cornstarch, 'cause we didn't talk about it in the last one.
Bryan	Let's... [Bryan and Aran laugh.]
Ben	Whoo!
Mike	I was-I was really hoping you were gonna bring this up, 'cause uh, I've been dying to talk about cornstarch.
Bryan	Man, we've been waiting years.
Mike	Tell-tell me all about it. [Bryan and Ben laugh.]
Aran	Well, we didn't use it a whole lot...
Ben	[In the background.] Go on. [Bryan laughs.]
Aran	... uh, this season, but in-in Book Two, I think, there was a lotta snow, and uh, for snow, we use a bag full of cornstarch. It's, like, a pillowcase.
Bryan	[Interjects.] Didn't you guys get real snow, one time?
Aran	Yeah, yeah, we actually got uh...
Bryan	[Interjects.] I just want to remind the audience that we live in Southern [Bryan and Ben chuckle.] California.
Aran	Well, right over here, a few blocks away, is the North Hollywood Ice Company, and they sell huge, either blocks of solid ice, or, um, big bags of snow cone ice, and so we bought, I think, like a hundred pounds...
Mike	[In the background.] Wow.
Ben	Oh, wow.
Aran	... of snow ice, and just dump it out on the floor, and then it melts really fast. So, [Bryan affirms; Mike chuckles.] um, we basically just kinda libraried a bunch of, um, snow sounds that we-that I could then layer in over the crunchy cornstarch snow step. So, basically, with the cornstarch is-once-once it's in a bag, you can kinda knead on it, and it makes this, like, crunchy, [Ben gives an affirming murmur.] uh, snow sound.
Ben	Did-did that actually sound better than the real snow?
Aran	In some cases, it does, yeah. [Ben affirms.]
Bryan	[Refers to when Asami was reading a magazine while waiting for Korra, the article's back cover advertisement depicting two female Future Industries engineers working on a device.] I just wanna point out the magazine we-cover we saw... couple seconds ago. The uh, originally, I don't know, I don't think it was in the script, it was just, like, in the storyboard; I think they had started on this, you know, Asami reading this magazine, or maybe in the script, it said like, "Asami reads a [Mike affirms.] fashion magazine," or something, and uh, and, like, we even had it designed, and I think in the storyboard meeting, we thought, "oh, it'd be funny if it was Ginger in, like, some glamor ad." And then, you know, I-we had it designed based on the storyboard; uh, Ang-Angela Mueller designed it, and I-something about it just always bugged me, and I was like, "you know what? I mean, I know Asami likes fashion, and stuff, but, like, like, I think she should be reading, like, an engineering magazine, or something. She's like this inventor." So, in the end, I made it this, an ad, that she had put out; so that's actually a Future Industries ad, [Refers to the text on the advertisement describing how Future Industries is offering entry and expert level positions to female applicants.] and it's, like, a call for women to uh, like, apply for jobs in science and engineering at-at Future Industries, and I was like, "instead of this vapid, like, stupid fashion ad, where, like, Ginger looked," just, like, a little-she had, like, a feather boa on, or something, I was like, "let's-Asami'd be-be heavier-heavier than that."
Ben	Persuade 'em, I like it.
Bryan	Yeah, we put that in.
Ben	[Refers to when Wu held his pinky out while holding his glass filled with aloe cucumber water.] Also like how Wu holds his glass, [Bryan and Aran chuckle.] with his pinky out.
Bryan	[Refers to the aloe on the rim of Korra, Asami, Mako, and Wu's glasses.] I like the little uh, pieces of aloe on the uh, although aloe stinks pretty bad. I wou-I would imagine this uh...
Ben	[Interjects.] Smells like a-a...
Bryan	[In the background.] Garnish.
Ben	... aloe taco?
Bryan	Yeah, this little garnish; it's like uh, cu-cucumber aloe water. I do like drinking aloe, [Ben affirms.] coconut aloe. Uh, so then, yeah, sound design is mo-the stuff that you don't record with a microph-like, Ben does not record explosions in his studio. [Laughs.]
Aran	But somebody recorded explosions. [Ben gives an affirming murmur.]
Bryan	At some point. [Ben gives an affirming murmur.] But it's not happening live to the picture as-he's not performing those explosions, live.
Ben	Yeah, and it's-it's, you know, it's-it's a lot about layering, uh, a buncha sounds, that you have the whole spectrum, the whole frequency spectrum, and it's about giving things the impact that they need, you know, uh, versus making them sound... I guess more realistic, which I think foley does. You know, the int-the interesting thing about foley is that I was gonna say more literal, but often the sounds are-are not what you're actually, [Bryan affirms intermittently.] what they're supposed to-to be depicting, but they kind of give it a realism. Sound design kind of, you know, can take it in other directions.
Bryan	And then you have a background in, like, digital synthesis, and stuff, so a lotta the stuff you do is, like, actually processing sounds so they, [Ben affirms.] you might s-they might start one way, but you process it to sound bigger, or different material.
Ben	Yeah, totally. I mean, I think, for me, it's about mixing and then manipulating things, just to make 'em, uh, yeah, have impact and-and-and serve the story. Which is pretty vague, but...
Aran	[Brief pause.] But there's kind of a line that you're treading between reality and surreality, right? I mean, you're-in-in some ways, you're trying to-to create a world that's believable...
Bryan	[In the background.] Ye-totally.
Ben	Worked on...
Aran	... with uh, with-wi-you know, with backgrounds, like, you know, if you're in a forest, you're hearing birds and wind, and stuff like that, but then all of the-kinda the supernatural elements are...
Bryan	[Interjects.] Yeah, Ben [Ben affirms.] bui-Ben builds all the-the ambient backgrounds for the different...
Ben	[Interjects.] Yeah, I mean, this show has all these, you know, supernatural things for our world, but it's supposed to real in their world; so... we go for realism.
Bryan	Yeah, we try to ground it.
Aran	[Brief pause.] So, yeah...
Bryan	[Interjects.] What're-what are the sounds that are, like, most fun for you to do? Or, like, the-the types of sequences, or something.
Ben	I think probably the ones that are more abstract; um, I-I like doing all of the-the spirit stuff, and, you know, the spirit explosions, and the portals, and [Bryan affirms intermittently.] passing through the portals, and all these things where there's a less clearly defined solution, and it's more, uh, subjective-ble, and then uh, I think, in some ways, a bit more cr-creative, in a way. And it's fun to-to be able to use synthesis, and to generate some sounds, and uh, you know, to come up with things that sorta didn't exist before.
Bryan	'Bout you, Aran? What kinda stuff do you, you and Vinnie, like doing the most?
Aran	Um, I th-I mean, I think it's kinda the-the same answer as Ben, because, you know, the-the things that we don't have physically in the studio are the things that are the most challenging to create, and I'm trying to think of an example. Um...
Bryan	[Interjects.] Like some wings? I remember you guys [Aran affirms.] were doing, like, spirit wings, and stuff.
Aran	Yeah, yeah, we did some spirit wings; uh, we used, like, um, tissue paper. [Bryan affirms.] Or-and that was just an element that we kinda added to-to Ben's, uh, sound that he came up with. But things like, you know, there's a lot-lotta vines in-in this, uh, season, and we had to...
Bryan	[Interjects.] Oh yeah, like, when they move around.
Aran	Yeah, like, when they move around, we used-it's actually kinda similar to the bloodbending sound that-that we came up with, which was also added to by Ben. Um, but we used vegetables; like, we used celery and cabbage, and...
Bryan	[Interjects; laughs.] Nice.
Aran	... kinda, um, crunch those, and twisted 'em to get, like, these rubbery kinda sounds.
Bryan	Yeah. So, Vinnie is, like, a really muscly guy; is that just from, like, squeezing cabbages, and stuff? [Mike chuckles.]
Aran	[Laughs.] Uh, part-partly, I think, yeah.
Bryan	You sh-should start a new uh, like, a cabbage bootcamp. [Aran affirms.]
Ben	Vegetables can sound like so many things. [Mike chuckles.]
Bryan	[Laughs.] That's my favorite book. [Mike, Bryan, and Aran laugh.]
Ben	Most of 'em disgusting. [Bryan and Mike laugh.]
Aran	Vinnie, also, is a master of using a wet shammy. [Mike chuckles.]
Bryan	[Laughs.] ShamWow?
Aran	Yeah. [Bryan and Ben chuckle.] Uh, but it's gotta be-a ShamWow wouldn't do, actually. [Bryan laughs.] It's gotta be-it's gotta be a legit, leather shammy. [Ben affirmingly murmurs intermittently.] Um, but...
Bryan	[Interjects.] Leather shammy, I don't even really know what we're talking about. [Aran chuckles.]
Ben	Oh well. [Laughs.]
Bryan	[Laughs.] Educate me on this world of...
Aran	[In the background.] Well, sha...
Bryan	... leather-leath-leather shammys.
Aran	... shammy is, like, a-you know what a shammy is, it's like, you know, a piece of dried...
Bryan	[Interjects; laughs.] I thought I did.
Aran	... lamb... [Ben and Aran chuckle.]
Mike	[Interjects.] Yeah, I thought it was just, like, a rag, or something like that.
Aran	Eh, well, it's like a-it's like a specialized, you know, piece of lambskin that they use for, you know, cleaning cars, and...
Mike	[Interjects.] Ah.
Aran	... stuff like that; but it's-it's really soft, supple leather that...
Bryan	[In the background.] "Supple". [Laughs.]
Aran	... when it's wet, it's, like, really slimy and gross. [Mike and Bryan laugh.] You can make all sorts o' gross, [Bryan and Aran laugh.] gooey sounds with it. So...
Mike	[Interjects.] Cool.
Bryan	All these, like, car detailers through the years just didn't know. They just took that sham-shammy, and [Aran affirms intermittently.] put a mic up to it; have a second career. [Refers to Varrick's diabolical grin when he taunted the Earth Empire fugitives for not anticipating Bolin's lavabending.] Oh, that expression of Varrick's cracks me up, some of my favorites; he's like all demonic, [Refers to the orange tinge on Bolin, Varrick, and the fugitives from the simmering lava pool.] the fire glow under...
Mike	[Brief pause; refers to Baraz, one of the fugitives Bolin and Varrick encounter, explaining that they have been scouting the area near an Earth Empire checkpoint.] We sh-you wanna talk about this Baraz guy?
Bryan	Yeah.
Mike	He's pre-he's kinda funny, and uh, he's-his voice is by Steve Blum, who did uh, the voice of Amon [Bryan and Aran affirm.] back in Book One, and uh, because it was-Steve also was the voice of uh...
Bryan	[Interjects.] Spike Spiegel.
Mike	... Spike and Mugen, um, on uh, yeah, Cowboy Bebop and Samurai...
Bryan	[In the background.] Samurai...
Mike	... Champloo, respectively.
Ben	No-no way. [Bryan affirms.]
Mike	Yeah, so, the...
Ben	[Interjects; in a mock insistent tone.] No way. [Bryan laughs.] Very hard to tell.
Mike	Well, the-the storyboard artists, I think-I think it was Eugene Lee did this section...
Bryan	[In the background.] We didn't have a design, yeah.
Mike	... we started some of the sections with him, yeah, there wasn't a design, so he just kinda did his own homage to, like, both those characters, I think; so when Steve saw the character finally, during ADR, he's like, [Refers to Baraz's fluffy, messy hair.] "it's great! It's, like, the perfect combination of...
Bryan	[Interjects; laughs.] Well, I...
Mike	... Mugen and-and...
Ben	[Interjects.] Whoa.
Mike	... Spike."
Bryan	So, what happened was, yeah, we didn't have the design ready, so the board artists just, a-as they often do, they'll just kinda do their own temporary design, a rough one, for the-for the boards. And then it just looked like Spike; I mean, [Laughs; Mike affirms intermittently.] it was just Spike, and um, and then the designer did, you know, basically just did a design that looked like Spike, and I was like, "man, we-we gotta change this." [Mike chuckles.] But the problem is you can't change it; I mean, you could, but if you change it too far from the board, then, like, the expressions get watered-down in translation. [Refers to Baraz's large forehead.] So, I just made him, like, balding, [Laughs.] so he's, like, it's, like, he's got Spike's hair, but he's, like, he's got a receding hairline.
Mike	It's good-it's good little homage [Bryan affirms.] to uh, our...
Bryan	[Refers to Bolin's clipped tone when he told the Earth Empire officer where he was taking the "captured" fugitives.] Dude, P. J.'s read on this, he's like, [Imitates Bolin's excessively serious tone.] "camp fourteen." His, like, cop-speak.
Mike	Yeah, uh...
Bryan	[Interjects.] "We gotta-we gotta get them a se-secure facility."
Ben	[Refers to the officer's undercut hairstyle.] He's got a cool haircut.
Bryan	"'S'all good."
Aran	How often are you guys modeling characters after the actors?
Bryan	Uh...
Ben	[Interjects.] Or people that you know?
Bryan	Uh, never really-not never, but usually not after the actors themselves. But um, but, yeah, sometimes it might be an homage to something, or-or based on something else. Um, but...
Ben	[Interjects.] How often-how often do you, when you're working on the story or the design, do you think about the sound?
Bryan	Uh, oh man, all the time. I mean, back when I was a little kid, I would draw-any, like, drawi-I'd do, like, a Battle of the Planets drawing, and I would make sound effects. Like, I, [Ben gives an affirming murmur.] my family and, like, teachers, and everybody, would-would always comment on how I would, like, as I would draw a space battle, or something, just...
	Ben emphasizes the point by making an explosion sound.
Bryan	... sure, your G.I. Joe, or something. I mean, always making sound effects, and yeah, when I would storyboard, it was really important to me.
	A brief pause in commentary until the scene fades in from black to Bolin, Varrick, and the fugitives, currently surrounded by Earth Empire soldiers and mecha suits.
Bryan	I would say...
Ben	[In the background.] S...
Bryan	... the-the degree to which I think about sound as we're wor-working on these kinda silent episodes, or, you know, we-maybe they just have dialogue for a long time, is probably why I was such a pain in your butt with notes, 'cause I, like, had something [Laughs.] really specific [Ben affirms.] in my mind, you know? And it's-it's-it's...
Mike	[Interjects.] Yeah, I thi-I mean, even in the writing part, there are-there are points where I think about like, "oh, this sound could happen off-screen, and you don't need to show that," [Ben affirms intermittently.] or-or in the storyboard process, like, this, you know, if we have a sound here, you know, there's often times where there's, like, a-we know there's gonna be a sound there, but there isn't for a really long time. Um, or we put a temp sound effect in, just to help kind of, like, explain the idea. Um...
Ben	Are there any um, examples that you can think of, from the whole series, that-where you kind of, like, had a sound in your head?
Bryan	Well, I mean, we-we definitely, you know, having done so many mixes, we know that a lotta times, really big, you know, dynamic sounds have a har-or-or, like, really, like, wide bandwidth sounds have a hard time... we have a hard time fitting 'em in the mix with all the music, so Mike and I would start spotting with that in mind, you know, knowing that the sound, like, like, "oh, is," uh, you know, if Vaatu's spirit ray, or something, is gonna happen, or there's gonna be, like, a huge landslide, or something; it's, like, maybe we-we let the music back off, or if it's, [Ben affirms intermittently.] if there's gonna be music, maybe it just should just be, like, strings, or something, that's not gonna take up too much-too much bandwidth. I'm saying bandwidth; I don't know, [Ben chuckles.] if it's the right-I'm tired. Is that the right word? [Laughs.]
Ben	Yeah, sure.
Bryan	Sure.
Ben	Yeah, I mean, [Laughs.] sometimes when I'm working on these, and it's one of the huge action sequences from the show, it's just so full, it's hard for me to even imagine anything else [Bryan affirms.] fitting in there.
Aran	[Refers to Bolin and the fugitives engaging the mecha suits with their bending, while Varrick builds a makeshift EMP device.] How many tracks might you have in a scene like this, Ben?
Ben	Um, wow, um... I mean, I could have a hundred. [Aran affirms.]
Bryan	Hundred different tracks of audio; [Ben affirms.] that's crazy. Uh...
Ben	[Interjects.] I mean, they wouldn't all be playing at the same time, you know, [Bryan affirms.] I mean, yeah, any, you know, playing at the same time would probably, if you count BGs, and, uh, or-or backgrounds, um, you know, I probably have, like, you know, eight background tracks at any given time.
Bryan	Wow.
Ben	And then uh... gosh, I don't know, probably fifteen to thirty.
Aran	I mean, just the mecha tanks, how many elements, how many individual elements were there in those?
Ben	I always-I always do a lot, and I always err on the side of a lot, uh, because I find that when you're building stuff like this, um, in order to make it sound natural, it-it-it really helps to-to mix the different elements for each sorta, like, step or scene. So, if you build something that has a lot of, you know, uh, elements to it, you can really, like, play with that later. Um, so the mechas are probably, I don't know, maybe twelve different tracks of sounds; [Refers to the metallic, heavy footsteps of the mecha suits as they moved around the battlefield.] 'cause there, you know, there's, like, the-the footsteps, [Refers to whirring mechanical sound when the mecha suits jumped off the border wall and landed on the ground.] and then there's the-just the metal, uh, impact sorta sound when they start or stop. [Refers to the hydraulic lifting sound when the mecha suits moved their limbs.] And then there's the hydraulic sounds for their movements; and those come from, like, you know, dump trucks, and, you know, uh, factories, and stuff like that. [Aran gives an affirming murmur.]
	A brief pause in commentary until Mako unlocks a trunk in one of the train's compartments, drawn to the shifting luggage by the repeated thudding sounds emanating from it.
Ben	That, you know, [Laughs.] I mean, as-as a simple sound as that, [Refers to the sounds the train doors make as they open and close, either through automatic mechanism, being physically moved by Asami and one of Wu's kidnappers, or Korra's metalbending.] like a subway door, that's-that's a good example of... it's probably made up of four different sounds, 'cause...
Bryan	[In the background.] Wow.
Ben	... 'cause you have to, you know, in this-in this sequence, they open and close a door, like, twelve times, or something.
Bryan	[Laughs.] You don't want it to sound exactly the same.
Ben	Yeah, so you ha-each one has to sound different, [Bryan affirms.] so it's about mixing or pitching certain elements, or, you know, play...
Aran	[Interjects.] You know, we do that with foley, too, quite a bit, layering different sounds, [Refers to the different sounds the trunk that Wu is stuck in made each time he hit it.] like that um, that trunk for example, you know, would have-might have three or four different elements to it; you know, we'd have the-the hits, um, on the trunk, maybe like a rattling sound for the whole trunk, and then we'd have an individual rattling sound for the, um, the clasps, or the-the locks on the-on the trunk. [Ben affirms.] And that's something that we can do now with, you know, with the-with digital recording; back in the early days, the, you know, foley's named after this guy, Jack Foley...
Mike	[Interjects.] Oh, I didn't know it was named after a dude.
Bryan	Yeah, [Aran affirms; Mike chuckles.] it's-it's a dude.
Mike	Jack Foley. [Laughs; Aran gives an affirming murmur.]
Bryan	That's why-that's why it's often capitalized. [Mike chuckles.]
Ben	So 24.
Aran	Yeah. [Bryan, Mike, and Aran chuckle.] And he apparently used to do, like, everything in one pass.
Bryan	Wow.
Aran	He would do footsteps, and cloth, and props...
Ben	[Interjects.] Whoa.
Mike	Whoa. Uh...
Aran	... all in one pass.
Ben	Straight to vinyl. [Bryan and Mike laugh.]
Aran	I mean, pretty much; you know, there was no editing, so basically, he had one shot to do this, and if, you know, if there was way too much for him to do, he would have, like, a propman, or something. [Ben affirms.] But...
Bryan	[Interjects.] When you worked at-that hard, they name it after you. [Aran affirms.] So...
Mike	[Brief pause.] That's crazy. So, was it, like, right after, like, once there was sound in movies, [Aran gives an affirming murmur.] like, it was like, "Jack Foley, to the rescue." [Bryan and Ben chuckle.]
Aran	Yeah, he was, like, the first kinda soundtrack guy.
Ben	Well, there's still, like, that tradition of live radio foley kinda stuff, right? [Aran gives an affirming murmur.]
Mike	Right, there were, like, sound effects in the old, like, radio shows, and stuff.
Aran	Yeah, radio shows.
Bryan	We're not talking about, like, morning DJs [Mike laughs.] pre-pressing, like, sirens... [Ben chuckles; makes several siren noises.] yeah, we di-Mike and I were on David Faustino, the voice of Mako's uh, radio show, and-and uh, afterward, they-they dressed it up with a lotta, like, sound effects, [Bryan and Mike laugh.] and stuff.
Ben	Oh really?
Bryan	People clapping. [Mike affirms; Bryan and Ben laugh.]
Mike	Yeah. It's kinda...
Bryan	[Interjects.] Gunshots, [Mike, Bryan, and Aran chuckle.] and stuff.
Ben	Howard...
Bryan	[In the background.] La...
Ben	... Stern, yeah.
Mike	[Refers to when Mako takes Wu to live with his extended family, currently living in Asami's mansion.] Oh, I just wanna point, when Mako go-er, when Wu goes, [Refers to the establishing shot of Asami's mansion.] here, to-this is Asami's mansion, uh, at the end of Book Three, we did have a scene that we ended up cutting where we saw Asami, like, tell au-tell uh, grandma Yin, like, "oh, you guys can stay at my place." So, it was an idea we always had that they were-they'd been staying at Asami's uh, mansion after they fled uh, Ba Sing Se. But uh, we know-we didn't have room for it in the end of Book Three, so we just thought we could...
Bryan	[Interjects.] So, if you notice, they've got...
Mike	... she can show up here.
Bryan	... [Refers to Yin, Tu, and their family wearing undamaged clothing.] they've got nicer clothes on, now. [Mike affirms.] Figure that [Mike chuckles.] they've uh...
Ben	[In the background; refers to Yin fainting backward after meeting Prince Wu.] Swept off...
Bryan	... live-living in the lap of luxury.
Mike	[Refers to Yin wearing the red scarf Mako gave her.] But she's still got Mako's scarf. [Bryan affirms; Mike and Ben chuckle.]
	A brief pause in commentary until Bolin, standing beside Varrick, apologizes to Baraz and Ahnah for what the Earth Empire did to them.
Bryan	[Refers to Varrick, looking on with half-lidded eyes, staring at Baraz and Ahnah as they converse with Bolin; laughs.] I like how, like, disrespectful Varrick looks, even here. [Bryan and Ben laugh; Mike affirms.] He looks so bored.
Mike	[Refers to when Bolin saved the Earth Empire fugitives from the border soldiers after Varrick told him to leave them.] Yeah, this-this story was more about Bolin wanting to, like, you know, make-make amends for his past actions in the Earth Empire, and Varrick doesn't really care about that. [Laughs.]
Bryan	[Laughs.] He has a conscience, now, but not a big one. [Mike affirms; refers to when Varrick struggles to step from the dock onto the fugitives' boat, keeping one foot on the dock and another in the boat.] This uh, this posing of him, getting into the boat, [Ben affirms.] uneasy...
Mike	[Interjects.] Yeah, this was really fun.
Ben	[Refers to the sound of Varrick's feet as they hit the boat's deck, and the sound of water flowing as he causes the boat to sway with his movements.] This was a weird one to do sound... [Bryan, Mike, and Ben laugh.] it's... so many small little things. [Laughs.]
Bryan	[Refers to Varrick falling over as he manages to fully enter the boat, then quickly standing back up; laughs.] And then he just pops back up. [Ben and Mike affirm; refers to the clicking sound Baatar Jr.'s gauge device makes as it connects to the banyan-grove tree's roots.] I like that sound.
Ben	[Laughs.] Little... that's one of those sounds where the actual dial is not doing that sound at all, but it sorta helps sell it. [Aran gives an affirming murmur.]
Mike	[Refers to Kuvira's mecha suits cutting up the banyan-grove tree's roots.] So, I always imagine that they cut down, like, all the roots of the tree, but not necessarily... [Bryan affirms.] the tree itself.
Bryan	[Refers to the tree's roots being thicker and larger than the mecha suits.] That's pretty big, [Mike laughs.] pretty big tree. [Laughs; Mike affirms.]
Aran	[Refers to the mecha suits having mounted chainsaws on their arms.] Pretty small chainsaw, comparatively.
Bryan	Thanks, guys. Thanks for coming.
Aran	Yeah, thanks. Thanks for having us.
Ben	Thanks for having us.
Bryan	So, we just had the-the final mix, ever, for Korra yesterday, and uh, Ben and Aran were there with us. Just wanna thank you guys for all the years of...
Mike	[Interjects.] Yeah, thanks, guys.
Bryan	... amazing work.
Aran	Oh, it's my pleasure.
Ben	It's been-been a ride, it's been amazing. [Aran affirms.] Thanks for having us. The mix was great.
Bryan	What-what sound are you not gonna miss? Earthbending? [Aran chuckles; Ben gives a thoughtful murmur.] Appa's foo-er, bison footsteps? [Laughs.]
Ben	I miss them all equally. They're all my children. [Bryan, Aran, and Ben laugh.]

Commentators

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Episode transcript

• Michael Dante DiMartino
• Bryan Konietzko
• Aran Tanchum
• Benjamin Wynn

See also

• "Reunion"