Aaron Horne sent me an update earlier today…. it read:
 
Sound Team Aaron Horne, Crystal Farnam, Ted Sissons, and Topher Barnett have been working for several weeks now on the Cowboy Smoke Post-Production Sound.  This includes blending dialog recorded on-location with sound fx from libraries, as well as sounds that the team has gone back into the field to record.  Cars, guns, footsteps, doors, all added (or sweetened) by our sound team, will give Cowboy Smoke a more realistic feel, and will compliment the film’s visual aesthetic .  Music, Sound FX, and Dialog will all be mixed together (both in stereo, as well as 5.1 surround sound) for the final release of the film.  We are sitting down today to watch the whole thing through a couple times to figure out what has fallen though the cracks.  Then we’ll add in those things, plus the foley layer (footsteps, clothing rustle, etc.) and should be pretty close to finished.  ANYWAYS, I’ll give you another update after we’ve watched the thing through (hopefully tonight) and let you know how much work we have left…..days not weeks

I am excited to announce that we have roughly ten weeks until the film is finished. Over the next ten weeks I will be finalizing the credits; hiring a graphics artist to create all the artwork; hiring a motion graphics artist to create the video game graphics for the film; working with Aaron and his four-eyes studio crew to sweeten the sound; supervising Brian as he finishes the score; having the film mastered to HD; and mixing down the sound. I am so eager to be finished and there are so many things to be done I know these next ten weeks are going to fly by.   

Once the Cowboy Smoke is completed our goal is to have the film screened at South By South West. The early deadline is in November although the festival is not until March 2008. A premiere at SXSW would be ideal because it’s one of the largest festivals in the world and conveniently located right here in Austin.

Brian has been working on the film for roughly three weeks now and I received an update from him the other day.  

“Almost done with all the prep work. I’m on real three. I’m  kinda hoping I can move into my new studio space before I start writing but that may take too long. I haven’t been given an ETA yet  n when the work is to be completed so I’m just gonna keep moving forward and see where things go. I want to take advantage of the new space if I can because it’ll really let me set up a great creative playground to do some cool stuff but again I’m not going to wait for it.  I talked with a good friend of mine in NYC and he’s agreed to mix my score for us. He’s a great engineer and wanting to get into film so he’s going to mix the score as I go. This is good because production isn’t my strong point. I can do a good job but pretty much any good engineer can do better.  I should be getting my new acoustic bass by Monday.    What do you think of having a shakuhachi in the score? I found a guy here in Austin who apparently is really good. It would be a cool addition. I haven’t thunk it through completely but I have it on the forefront of my mind.  Almost done with the prep work. I’m setting up the cue files as I go to so once this is all done. All I have to do is lay down tracks. I’ve been experimenting a lot as I go and again I’m excited as ever. I know you’re anxious to hear stuff.”