Sound-Design

Hey all. I wanted take this time to apologize for the lack of postage here lately. I was slammed at work last week and decided to just take a few days off to recoup and front-load the next month of film sound news. During that time though, I ran into a little bit of a slump. It seems it is still a tad difficult to get people in the community turned on to the idea of this blog. I want to reiterate that this thing is here to raise awareness of our craft(s) and celebrate all the hard work and creativity that goes into film soundtracks, period. So hopefully in the next couple months more of the people I try and contact will let me pass over the bridge to continue on my quest for the holy grail, er, on my quest to raise awareness of this thing I love, sound for film. That said, I have secured some fun Q and A’s for every week this month and promise to cont. on! Break out the coconuts, we are in for a long ride! ...

I am pretty excited about this Q and A. My first interview with a production mixer, I am happy to finally start to include some of the craftsmen who I, as a part of post-production sound, reap what they sew. Though I only dabble in production sound mixing at an admittedly armature level, I am humbled by the shear amount of obstacles these men and women have to overcome at work. Noise on set is ever increasing and devices like the wind machine in the photo to the right add to the sound dept.’s woes. It takes a very courageous man to stand with his back to his nemesis. Production mixer Jeff Wexler laughs at the challenge as he got his photo taken with not only Jackie Chan but in front of one of his biggest fans! Any who, enough of the corn-ball jokes. Hats off to you production mixers and on to the fun! ...

Jason Bourne breaks back into theaters August 3rd. Helping to sell all the close-quarter sounds are sound supervisors Karen Baker Landers and Per Hallberg. The film was mixed at Todd-AO WEST in Gary Summers, David Parker, Bob Beemer, and Scott Milan’s dub stage. production mixer Krik Francis shot the location dialog while composer John Powell scored the film at Abbey Road. Sorry for the brief entry on this film but you can get your film sound fix with the recently published Mix Magazine article HERE. There is great coverage on the LA based foley stage “One Step Up” which foley artist Dan O’Connell(brother of mixer Kevin O’Connell) shoots feet and props on some pretty big films… ...

“The Invasion” touches down in theaters August 17th. Sound supervisor Richard Yawn handled the editorial. He supervised last year’s “Dreamgirls,” his second film with Director Bill Condon, (“Kinsey” was the first). Sound designer Bryan Watkins helped with the aural scare telegraphing on the film. Bryan heads up Gametracks, a game-sound sister company to Dane Davis’s LA based Danetracks, Inc. Long-time mix partners Gregg Rudloff and John T. Reitz mixed the show over at Warner Bros stage ten. The duo won the best Sound Oscar for their work on “The Matrix” with their recently retired third mixer David Cambell. Rounding the mix team out on “The Invasion” was Michael Herbick. Herbick, has been nominated five times for the best Sound Oscar including twice in 1995 for “Clear and Present Danger” and “Shawshank Redemption”. Mixers David Kelson and Mary H Ellis headed up the production sound dept. I read there was extensive re-shoots on the film so I believe each of the mixers represented the two different filming schedules. Both established mixers, Kelson is hot off this fall’s Owen Wilson led comedy “Drillbit Taylor” while Ellis helped the dirty south sound nastier in last year’s “ATL”. Fresh off this summer’s “Fantastic Four 2,” John Ottman composed for the film. There is a great little feature over at Soundtrack.Net on the scoring session. ...

" The King of Kong: A Fist Full of Quarters" is a great documentary. It opens limited this weekend and expanses to a few more cities on the 24th. I wish I was going to the premiere tonight because, at the location of the after party while the audience is the theater watching the film Steve Wiebe is going to try to beat the world record for Donkey Kong. So best-case scenario when the after party starts, there will be a “kill screen” on the Steve’s machine and new high score for the record books! Thanks to sound editor/re-recording mixer Nathan Smith for doing this Q and A… ...

Today CHUD.COM found youtube footage of a concert composer Alan Silvestri conducted with the Corporación Radiotelevisión Española (RTVE) Orchestra. In addition to performing Silvestri composed themes from films like “Forest Gump” and “Back to the Future”, he and the RTVE previewed passages from this fall’s animated epic, “Beowulf”. Though not great in quality, it is cool to find video of this so early! You can find part two of the preview HERE. ...

Here is a little video interview with Re-Recording Mixer Gary Rizzo about his work on “Sicko”. Rizzo mixed Michael Moore’s Last film “Fahrenheit 9/11”, too. Mixonline.com Posted by FILMSOUNDDAILY at [11:23 AM](/2007/07/gary-rizzo-video-interview/) 0 comments: Post a Comment [Newer Post](/2007/07/simpsons/) [Older Post](/2007/07/i-now-pronounce-you-chuck-and-larry-pt2/) [Home](/) Subscribe to: [Post Comments (Atom)](http://filmsounddaily.blogspot.com/feeds/5176968681221582591/comments/default) Data preservation for the cinematography community.

" Harry Potter and the Order if the Phoenix" materializes into theaters July 11th. Helping to make all those spells sound “wicked” is sound supervisor James Mather. This the fifth Potter flick is Mather’s first venture into Hogwarts. Joining an alumni that includes Randy Thom and David Evans, Mather enters a great pedigree of Muggle free sound soups. Sound designers James Boyle and Andy Kennedy join along in the editorial rebellion both of which worked on “Batman Begins” my favorite of the franchise. Mixing took place in London at De Lane Lea’s Soho post production facilities, with Re-recording mixers Doug Cooper, Mark Taylor, and Mike Prestwood Smith. The trio comes off a big last year with their work on “Casino Royale” and “Children of Men”. Production sound’s spell was cast by Stuart Wilson, his first Potter film as well. Wilson shot production on another film I am really excited to see later this year, “Eastern Promises”. Composer Nicholas Hooper handled scoring duties. Another Potter “first year”, Hooper is the third composer to helm a film in the series. A great little preview of the soundtrack can be heard HERE. ...

I have been getting a lot of comments recently about the inclusion of “sound designers” in my posts. Initially I decided to only include the supervisors, mixers, and composers because it was relatively easy to consistently find info on those craftsmen for every film. As momentum and interest has grown for the blog , I am going to be more mindful about posting about designers, too. Their role is important. Still, I am more then aware there are countless others that I still don’t include who are paramount to a soundtrack’s quality. I will eventually be able to include more info on their specific disciplines and I wanted to thank all of them for the hard work and dedication that has made my day job possible! With that said, on to the fun! I just wanted to thank Sound Designer Andy Kennedy for this brief Q and A! I know he must feel like he’s working in “the stone age” currently, so I appreciate his time. ...

“Hot Rod” crashes into theaters August 3rd. Helping Rod and his friend’s stunt filled adventure is Sound Supervisor Sean Garnhart. The definition of a renaissance (sound) man, Garnhart was also the sound designer and effects mixer on the show. He has bounced from mixer to designer to editor as well as dabbling in music editorial during his career in NYC. At The Sound Lounge(where the film dubbed), VP of the New York City based sound house, Tony Volante, mixed music and dialog. An established NYC Re-Recording Mixer, Volante has mixed three academy award nominated documentary films in the last few years. Filmed last summer in Vancouver, Michael McGee shot production dialog. For the past decade, McGee shot sound on multiple TV movies and at least one theatrical release per year. Though the test screening I saw had a lot of 80’s songs filling the musical quota for the soundtrack, I have heard rumblings that the final score will pretty bombastic! Trevor Rabin composed for the film, tracking the score at the Todd-AO Scoring Stage. Trevor is currently working on “National Treasure 2” and is going to compose on next year’s “Get Smart”. ...