Gabriel Gutierrez (Minus Twelve DB) gets the most out of Avid's S4 in the new series 'La Fortuna'

Sound designer Gabriel Gutiérrez, who together with Aitor Berenguer is in charge of the studio Minus Twelve DB, has faced each other in the new Movistar+ series La Fortuna to one of his most demanding works by the hand of director Alejandro Amenábar. The S4 console from Avid and its interoperability with Dolby Atmos has played a key role in a fiction in which sound, more than ever, takes a leading role in the action.

La Fortuna, one of the great fiction bets of Movistar+ in partnership with AMC Studios and in collaboration with MOD Pictures, has just been released under the direction of Alejandro Amenábar, who thus tackles his first serial project.

This ambitious international project, with 6 episodes of 45 minutes long, is based on the version of the Odyssey case drawn by the Valencian Paco Roca in the comic The Treasure of the Black Swan. Amenábar reconstructs the litigation that between 2007 and 2012 pitted the Government of Spain against a US treasure hunting company for the treasure of the Spanish frigate Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes, sunk in 1804 by the English in the Atlantic, a fortune valued at 500 million dollars.

The fiction is starred by Álvaro Mel, as the young diplomat Álex Ventura, and Ana Polvorosa, in the role of Lucía, his co-worker and adventurer.

For this series in which naval battles, underwater shootings, and fast-paced action take place, MOD Pictures relied on Menos Doce DB, the Madrid studio founded in 2005 by Aitor Berenguer and Gabriel Gutiérrez. Avid technology has always been very present in its facilities, first in a ProTools D-Command and since this same year with the implementation of the S4 console. The new control surface, despite its compact design, increases mixing efficiency on a more optimized semi-modular surface that provides intelligent DAW control.

S4 integration with Atmos

Gutiérrez, who has worked with directors such as Steven Soderbergh, Asghar Farhadi, Paco Plaza, Roland Joffé, Neil Jordann, Guillermo del Toro and now, Alejandro Amenábar, shares in this video interview with Panorama Audiovisual some of the aspects that have been key to achieving an impeccable, immersive sound with Dolby Atmos, in the new Movistar+ series.

"For me, the way of integrating S4 with Dolby Atmos is the best I know, it is the one that is the most developed and above all the one that has understood that they have to go hand in hand," Gutiérrez stresses.

Among other aspects, the versatility of the console, the management from the S4 itself of complex projects like this and its integration with the Working with objects that immersive sound entails.

As in all his works, the sound design of La Fortuna It provides a great subliminal charge within the cinematographic narrative by composing a hidden emotional message that is capable of effectively influencing the viewer and their emotions.

Gabriel Gutiérrez recognizes that "La Fortuna it has a universe of interiors, of characters with different moods that makes it very interesting to work with the subtleties of sound".

During the filming, they generated a really extensive library of all the spaces thanks to the Impulse-response technology of the reflections within each space, implementing the result later in Avid's S4 which facilitated the reverberation in dialogues, foley, effects...

Although La Fortuna has scenes in which sound is a first-rate protagonist such as the naval battle, Gutiérrez stresses that "the important thing is that the series as a whole works, that this sequence threads well with the next, with the previous one and that the story flows".

Working with the director

"Working with Alejandro Amenábar is a gift. He is a director who has such clear ideas that once they are established, you just have to follow the axis of what is narration, of what is the history of storytelling and not deviate from what is marked by a professional who trusts those who work with him, but who always listens to and values each contribution. He leaves a lot of room to work. He is very critical of the levels of the elements, of the music to come and go just when it belongs, and that, of course, plays with the effects. Amenábar is enthusiastic about technology, he loves everything new, using it whenever he can to tell the best story," acknowledges the sound designer.

La Fortuna, one of Movistar+'s big bets for this season, is already available in Spain, premiering next winter in the United States through AMC+, AMC Networks' exclusive premium content offer, and in early 2022 in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Other articles about AMC, Avid, Dolby, Minus Twelve DB, Mod Productions, Movistar