A love-letter to classic Hollywood musicals, La La Land switches effortlessly between dialogue and songs, often in a single take \u2013 making the film a logistical and audio challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe idea behind La La Land was that these big sweeping long takes where they sing and dance are to serve as a backdrop for a previous scene. All those pieces have to come together to form a whole, because that’s what [director] Damien Chazelle wanted \u2013 that feeling that these aren\u2019t hand doubles playing a piano, this is actually Ryan Gosling playing the piano, or this is Emma Stone and Ryan singing and dancing,\u201d said Morrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe overall guidance from our director to the sound department was, hey I want to be ready to do any of these scenes live at any time. Which was of course not easy to arrange, but it was a welcome challenge,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is where Phonak\u2019s in-ear receivers<\/a> came into their own: he explains: \u201cWe would have moments where the director would just say okay let’s do it live, and so we would pop the earpiece in. I always had 10 Phonak earpieces ready in the cart.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Phonak\u2019s earpieces also allowed La La Land\u2019s makers to give their actors much more subtle cues, according to Morrow. In one scene where Stone\u2019s character is dining with her boyfriend and his brother, she has her memory jogged by a song in the restaurant, prompting her to start singing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn the scene we had Justin Hurwitz, our composer, off to the side on his digital piano. We’re recording the track, and then feeding it to Emma Stone via an earpiece. And she was the only one at the table that had an earpiece,\u201d says Morrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He explains that Phonak\u2019s earpieces allowed him to offer the director multiple options, in this case allowing Stone to be the only one hearing the piece of music. Morrow says there were many similar examples throughout the film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For the song Audition it was decided early in production to give Stone in-ear receivers, said Morrow: \u201cThe idea wasn’t to have a playback track so that she could sing along to it. Justin was going to accompany her on his electronic piano off-set, and his goal was to play along with her, not that she sings along with him \u2013 so she\u2019ll drive the speed of his music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe put the earpiece in, and as always it’s basically a flawless system. It was one of the bigger songs in the film, and one of the more impactful moments, because the music was able to play along to her singing. It was a live performance by both of them,\u201d he added<\/p>\n\n\n\n Morrow has used Phonak\u2019s in-ear receivers since 2001, and says they have always been a reliable tool: \u201cThe quality is great, the battery life is great on it, and they just work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Phonak is the market leader for in-ear receivers. The new Roger Earpiece System<\/a> has been on the market since 2016 and is based on the Phonak’s proprietary technology for digital sound processing. The Roger Earpiece provides a clearer sound while being lighter and more compact than ever before, with a flexible selection of accessories for a perfect audio experience, however and wherever you want it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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