Australia's favourite little pig goes a long way
Just over two decades ago, Julius Chan Sales Engineer Specialist Audio Products at Amber Technology was involved in a small Australian film as sound supervisor. This movie was “Babe” released in 1995 which went on to take over $250 million at the box office worldwide. It also collected a few boxes of award trophies, with 19 wins and 23 nominations, including the Academy Award for Best Effects, Visual Effects and a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical. For sound, it won Best Sound Editing - Animated Feature – ADR at the Motion Picture Sound Editors Golden Reel Awards.
Some twenty one years later, the film’s composer Nigel Westlake asked Julius to rework the original sound mix so it can be performed as a film screening with a live symphony orchestra. In his home studio (using Avid Pro Tools of course), the soundtrack was remixed, with all music removed, and with dialogue, sound effects, singing mice, narration split off in order to have some control upon playback.
Dubbed Babe; Pig in the Symphony, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra commissioned this endeavour requesting Julius’ ears and fader fingers for concerts around Australia. Two sold out concerts in Melbourne, and a free open air concert for over 10,000 punters in Canberra.
Featuring the original score, reinvigorated and revised by Nigel Westlake, and with adapted music from "Symphony No. 3" by Camille Saint-Saëns, there were a few more chances in 2016 to see Julius’ sound engineering work in action:
Hobart: two concerts on April 16 with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra
Sydney: three concerts April 28-30 with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra
Update
The little pig continues to conquer the symphonic world, with Nigel Westlake's production performing with the Darwin SSO on December 10 2016.
Internationally, on December 16 and 17 2016 the New York Philharmonic perform the score with the film screening at the Lincoln Centre, conducted by Nigel Westlake.
Sadly, Julius Chan passed away on November 7 2016, before he could mix the sound once again for these events. His talent lives on through the live performances.