AudioShake Isolations Bring Maria Callas’ Voice to Life in Maria

Creating a film about one of the most renowned opera singers of all time demands exceptional quality and authenticity in the music. For Maria, featuring Angelina Jolie as Maria Callas, the filmmakers explored songs from Callas’s archive, including the iconic “Vissi D'Arte.”

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Many of these recordings were captured live in the 1960s and 70s, presenting unique challenges for the audio team. To address this, they used AudioShake's stem separation technology to separate Callas's vocals from the instruments on “Vissi D'Arte.” This stem splitter technology allowed for precise vocal isolation, enabling the crew to enhance the score while maintaining the integrity of Callas’s original performances. The ability to isolate vocals was crucial for increased control and helped them achieve a fuller, more authentic final mix.

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As Pablo Larrain, Director of Maria, mentioned in an interview with IndieWire, “In post- production, we were able to mix [Angelina Jolie's voice] with Maria Callas’ voice. So sometimes you hear 1 percent of Angelina’s voice, sometimes it’s 5 percent [...] Obviously, this is a movie about Maria Callas, so you want to have Maria’s voice,” said Pablo Larrain, Director of Maria.

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While Jolie performed vocally when the scenes were originally shot, the filmmakers decided to layer Callas's original recordings over Jolie’s performance at times to ensure that a film about Maria Callas would indeed sound like Maria and feature her voice. Having Callas’s isolated vocals made that process possible.