Rocky Mountain Express Audio Work

Cory Mandel, Supervisor of Sound Services at Technicolor Toronto, was honored at the 59^th Golden Reel Awards with the award for “Best Sound Editing: Special Venue” for his work on Rocky Mountain Express.  Cory worked as the Re-Recording Mixer and Music Editor on the Stephen Low film, helping to blend the music into one unified voice with the SFX and breathtaking vistas. This impressive IMAX film recounts the story of the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway and the astounding accomplishment of building a transcontinental railway through the beautiful and unforgiving Canadian Rockies.

In production since 2006, Rocky Mountain Express features the Empress (CPR 2816), a restored steam engine built in 1930. Director Low says that “we wanted to give audiences an intimate ’being there’ experience of steam power and this magic place that even train engineers don’t get to experience.” Cory’s work was vital to creating that feeling of being there while not distracting from the film and pulling audiences out of the experience.

Cory created the film’s soundtrack using a complex setup of 8 microphones that were mounted on the steam train and used to capture the unique and vivid symphony of sounds that define a journey through the Rockies. Together with the music score by celebrated composer Michel Cusson, the rhythm of the locomotive engine helped define the aural landscape of this historic journey. Rocky Mountain Express was filmed with full 15/70 negative — the world’s largest film format – for spectacular image fidelity on the giant IMAX screen. Produced by Pietro L. Serapiglia and Alexander Low, the film stands as the definitive testament to the bold history of the Canadian Pacific Railway.