IF the present-day Alvin Wee could return back to his younger self, he would tell him, “Just keep going and put yourself out there. Know there is always time, that you don’t have to get it perfect. Be less afraid of what people think and pursue that passion.”
Like many other children, Alvin said his mother had sent him for piano lessons when he was six years old. “The general consensus in the early 90s in Kuching was that piano was a good way into music. It made me calm, and I enjoyed how it made me feel.” When he was 12, Alvin took electric guitar lessons.
Back to present day 2022, the 34-year-old had just won the Cinema Audio Society Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Sound Mixing category for Disney’s ‘Encanto’ soundtrack. ‘Encanto’ is based on its main character Mirabel Madrigal’s path in search of her true self.
When asked how he felt about being able to work in Hollywood, the producer, mixer and musician said that everything still felt like a fairy tale. “It’s always fun and I just watch and listen in awe every day when I go into the studio. I’m very grateful to work with the most talented people in the world.”
With ‘Encanto’, Alvin was the recording and mixing engineer for the soundtracks, particularly for the score, “which is the accompanying part of the movie where the string swells or the band plays during the scenes. Sometimes that can go underneath the dialogue or sometimes it can be part of the song.”
“For ‘Encanto’ in particular, there’s almost imperceptible weave in and out from the score and the songs and the dialogue. So I took care of all the orchestral parts of the music in the movie.” Alvin also worked with composer Germaine Franco who wrote the music, which he, later, mixed as they worked together. “This meant combining parts of the orchestra and the traditional Colombian music.”
The challenge was to make sure that the traditional element of Colombian music was able to combine with the beautiful music associated with all Disney films. “All this while also integrating them seamlessly into the catchy ear-worms of Lin Manuel Miranda, the songwriter for ‘Encanto’,” he said.
Among the many songs from the film, Alvin revealed that his favourite was ‘Dos Oruguitas’, which translates to ‘Two Caterpillars’ — a song about two caterpillars, who fell in love only to be separated. The song played when Mirabel’s grandmother recalled the story of how she and her husband separated.
“It’s a beautiful song. It was played during a big moment in the film and it touches the heart. Loss is a traumatic experience and I think we all have gone through that in our lives.” The song was also nominated by the Academy Award for Best Original Song.
Having worked on the film’s music for months, Alvin discovered a life lesson he gathered throughout the mixing for ‘Encanto’. “I learned to unpack all the trauma and heal from it. And that I think is very relevant in my own life.”
Nevertheless, the win had proven that Malaysians can pursue the arts. Elaborating further, Alvin said art is not an unreachable goal as it can be a viable career path. “Being behind the scenes, people like me tend to get overlooked and I am proud to show people that our contributions make up a huge part of what the audience experiences.”
For his success, he thanked his mother Alice Sim and his late father for their love and support. “I am also grateful to my wife, Leah Dennis who has been nothing but my backbone my whole career and without her, I wouldn’t be here.”
Alvin also thanked Germaine Franco, alongside the team he won the award with — “David Fluhr — the man who steered the ship, David Boucher my good friend and amazing mixer, the rest of the team Gabe Guy, Doc Kane, Scott Curtis and Paul McGrath without whom we wouldn’t have this award.”
To end this article, Alvin shared a note of encouragement to Malaysians that they can go beyond too. “Start small. There are many avenues to pursue your passion. The fear is always going to be there and you’re always going to wonder if you don’t try. Learn to be kinder to yourself. I know I am trying to.”
