What do you look for when you're hiring a production sound mixer? Do you look for experience, a winning personality, impressive credits, word-of-mouth recommendations, a demo reel?
Sometimes you need a mixer with a specific know-how, or one who has worked with a specific actor or director… Sometimes, due to talent or client sensibilities, you chose to hire a minority; sometimes you seek a mixer who has developed or perfected a certain workflow…
Clearly, there's a myriad circumstances, and every producer tailors his or her expectations to the job at hand.
Most mixers, on the other hand, don't typically choose their clients. We may specialize in certain fields, but that's seldom by design: we keep getting hired for the same kinds of projects, or by the same kinds of productions. We continue to perfect a certain workflow, and clients notice; word of mouth does the rest. So, we try to be marketable and, within reason, we cast a wide net: if we've mostly done, say, documentaries, we can either rely on a steady stream of documentary projects - or, if the documentary stream is more of a trickle, we can remind our corporate clients that we're available, or call narrative clients for whom we might have done a project in the past…
If, as a client, you're lucky enough to have a steady diet –so to speak– of the same kind of project week in and week out, and have found the perfect people for your Sound Department, you've got a match made in heaven. But that's not as often the case as we would like, is it? More frequently, you're gravitating from one kind of project to another, with an equally wide variety of budgets and workflows; and you find yourself having to hire different mixers. And, if you're worth your salt, you have a healthy list of contacts to cover any and all eventualities.
So at some point, none of your "regulars" is available, or a combination of budget/workflow/content doesn't match what you've done in the past, and you're looking for someone new. What do you do? Do you rely on your colleagues' opinions or recommendations? Do you scroll through listing services or custom websites? Do you post ads on professional sites? Do you ask for a resume, or a reel? What do you look for in said resume or reel?
In my experience, word of mouth is the most powerful advertising. There's a personal connection and an inherent expectation of results. Naturally, much weight is placed on a personal recommendation, as the recommending party has a stake in it - and the closer the relationship between the seeker and the recommending party, the higher the stake. That's why you place more weight on the recommendation of a close friend or teammember, than on someone you hardly know.
If word of mouth is not possible, a resume with verifiable references is a close second. Depending on whether you know the references, or if they're well known in the industry (and you can check them,) you may rely on this method to determine the suitability of a given candidate.
Eventually, you will want to interview the candidate. At this point you know they've worked in the field for X years, they've done X shows/films/docs, they've worked with X, Y and Z. But… how do they get along with other departments? Will they be a "sound Nazi"? Will it be a chore to deal with them through long days on set? Do they have a sense of humor? Intuition here wins the day. There's no magic question - and we're not all star interviewers. Just have a conversation with the candidate, discuss typical scenarios or the subject matter of the project at hand; see how they react, rely on your instinct. Most of us can make a determination within 20 minutes.
And, once you've chosen, stick by your decision. There's nothing worse than hiring someone for such a sensitive position, only to replace them at the first sign of friction… Just as you have to be decisive and know when your mixer is not the right match in the culture or the dynamic of your film crew - and let them go to avoid further damage.
So, how do YOU handle this delicate task?