What a great time I had chatting with the extremely talented Newton Brothers (Andrew Grush & Taylor Stewart). A composing team that has already “scored” an impressive resume. I talked with them while they were in the midst of promoting their composing work on the horror film “Ouija: Origin of Evil.” Matthew Toffolo: You guys… Continue reading Interview with The Newton Brothers (Composers – Ouija: 2, The Runner)
Category: sound in film
Interview with Sound Mixer Tony Dawe (Return of the Jedi, Alice in Wonderland, Troy)
George Lucas was very involved in the making of “Revenge of the Jedi”, and spent a lot of time on the sets. I got on very well with George, and we had many discussions about the use of computers in film making and where that was going to go. Looking back, of course he was absolutely right. He is a most incredible person and visionary and I really loved working with him.
However, working on “Revenge of the Jedi” (which was its original title), was very intense and not one of my favourite experiences.
Interview with Sound Editor Piero Mura (The Accountant, 500 Days of Summer)
Piero Mura has worked in the sound department on over 100 films in the last 25+ years. His list of credits include Ben Hur, Fast & Furious 6, Skyfall, Warrior, War of the Worlds, and Training Day to name a few. It was an honor talking to him about his career and sound in general.… Continue reading Interview with Sound Editor Piero Mura (The Accountant, 500 Days of Summer)
Interview with Composer Henry Jackman (Birth of a Nation, Captain America 2 & 3)
The future is always a guess. If you go back 30 years in music in film, the tolerance then is different than it is today. There is more variety in music in film today. Film scores are now a broad church. Producers are less freaked out by a wide score of music composed in a film. People now listen to a wider range of music so in relation there is more freedom for the composer to add a wider range. So the future is probably going to simply go wider as access to all kinds of music that people listen to become less judgemental.
Interview with Composer/Vocalist Dominic Lewis (Money Monster, Batman v Superman)
Dominic Lewis is a pure talent in the industry. He is a master vocalist, and composer of the new film “Money Monster”, directed by Jodie Foster and starring George Clooney & Julia Roberts. I had the privilege to interview him and talk about his career and the art of music in film.
Interview with Sound Effects Editor Matt Snedecor (Revolutionary Road, The Jinx)
Effects editors are responsible for building the entire sonic environment for a film, everything from backgrounds to the sync effects we see on screen. The majority (90% and up) of the sounds heard in film are added by editors. But it’s more than just see car, hear car. We also need to come up with sounds that identify with characters or moods or that tell stories without the audience having to see something on screen to know what’s happening.
Interview with Emmy Winning Sound Designer Andy Kennedy (Band of Brothers, Generation Kill)
Modern soundtrack are far more complex then ever before – There are multiple formats at delivery and the final soundtrack has to play in Dolby Atmos – 7.1 – 5.1 – stereo and on your mobile device. The attention to detail is very important and QC of all areas of the process is a critical part. This leads to other roles that are not always related to sound editing and design but also tech support and management.
Interview with Music Editor/Composer John M. Davis (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies)
Not really. Music is something I’ve always done. I was arranging for bands and choirs from junior high on. I went to NYU film school with the intention of becoming a director or screenwriter, but over time I discovered that my musical abilities were more unique and more marketable.
Interview with Foley Artist Marko Costanzo (Silence of the Lambs, The Departed, Life of Pi)
You need to be a good listener. We work for editors. Editors have different criterion for each show we work on. Some like it big and over the top. some like it subtle and more realistic. Each time a different foley editor would come into the room to supervise the recording, I would walk away with a better understanding about how things should sound. It’s important to gain the trust of your editors and listen to what they have to say. When they want something heavier you need to understand what they mean. Does heavier mean louder? Bigger? It’s a subjective art with lots of possible variations. It’s important to do things the way the client intends for it to be heard.
Interview with Kami Asgar, Oscar Nominated Sound Editor
Everything used to be a lot more time consuming and cumbersome.
As an example you had to go down to the sound library and search through reels of sound fx (later CDs) armed with a notebook looking for one sound effect. You usually picked the first one you found, took it back to your room, and sampled it in to the computer and synchronized it to the picture and went to the next effect and the repeated the cycle. since you could only do very short sequences because of lack of computer memory, you laid back to tape and hand wrote (legibly) each event on a cue sheet for the mixer.
Now you audition sounds from your database of hundreds of thousands of sound effects available to you remotely and pick just the right sound, and if you want to alter the sound, you have at your disposal a dizzying amount of plug-ins to change every aspect of your sound to fit the picture. You then upload it for the mixer to open in his session. (no more carrying reels and reels to the stage)
Matthew Toffolo's Summary 