350 - Zootopia 2

Zootopia 2 had the second biggest box office in 2025. People all over the world flocked to see it and that is not lost on the sound team behind it. In this episode Jeremy Bowker (sound designer & supervising sound editor) and David Fluhr (supervising re-recording mixer) discuss how they tackle a film with this much anticipation behind it, mixing dialog for animation, designing sounds to work with the massive score, their approach to international versions and lots more. ______SPONSORS: If you work in sound design, post, or game audio, you already know how much time the right library can save you. For the month of February, get 50% off any Sound Ideas Membership Tier, no matter which level of access you need. That’s half off the entire professionally recorded sound effects catalog, from cinematic and broadcast to hard-to-find specialty sounds. Just head to http://sound-ideas.com/ and use the promo code TONEBENDERS50 at checkout. ______ If you are interested in field recording, you should know about the O-Mini P48 and the brand new O-Mini PIP miniature omni-directional electret microphones. Each one is hand made by Chris Trevino, a practicing field recordist, and a really engaged member of the sound community. He puts a lot of work into making and testing each mic to ensure they live up to his high standards. They are ultra-sonic capable, which makes manipulating your recordings with them a lot of fun. They are also extremely affordable. At $150us for the P48 & $130 for the PIP, they offer a lot of value for a stereo matched pair. Find out more at https://www.chrisatrevino.com/store _______ Come celebrate the best sounding films, series and games from the last year at the MPSE Golden Reel Awards on Sunday March 8th starting at 3pm. For full details and to find out how to purchase tickets head to https://mpse.org/event-6300024 Episode Notes: https://tonebenderspodcast.com/350-zootopia-2/ Podcast Homepage: https://tonebenderspodcast.com This episode is hosted by Timothy Muirhead

To celebrate Mark Mangini's upcoming Lifetime Achievement Award from the Motion Picture Sound Editors, I sat down with him to stroll down memory lane. We dig into all the films that he has been nominated for Golden Reels on over the years. That is a lot of films! 23 nominations in total. In this part 2 of the conversation we go from the late 80s up to modern day, covering films like Aladdin, The Green Mile, Mad Max: Fury Road, Dune and many more. We also talk a bit about some of the upcoming films Mark has been working on recently. Make sure you check out part one as well, just go back one episode in the feed. You can purchase tickets to attend the Golden Reels by going to https://mpse.org/event-6300024. ______SPONSORS: If you work in sound design, post, or game audio, you already know how much time the right library can save you. For the month of February, get 50% off any Sound Ideas Membership Tier, no matter which level of access you need. That’s half off the entire professionally recorded sound effects catalog, from cinematic and broadcast to hard-to-find specialty sounds. Just head to http://sound-ideas.com/ and use the promo code TONEBENDERS50 at checkout. ______ If you are interested in field recording, you should know about the O-Mini P48 and the brand new O-Mini PIP miniature omni-directional electret microphones. Each one is hand made by Chris Trevino, a practicing field recordist, and a really engaged member of the sound community. He puts a lot of work into making and testing each mic to ensure they live up to his high standards. They are ultra-sonic capable, which makes manipulating your recordings with them a lot of fun. They are also extremely affordable. At $150us for the P48 & $130 for the PIP, they offer a lot of value for a stereo matched pair. Find out more at https://www.chrisatrevino.com/store _______ Episode Notes: https://tonebenderspodcast.com/349-mark-mangini-pt-2/ Podcast Homepage: https://tonebenderspodcast.com This episode is hosted by Timothy Muirhead

Mark Mangini will be receiving the Motion Picture Sound Editors Lifetime Achievement Award at this years's Golden Reel ceremonies. To celebrate this honour, Mark and I sat down in Formosa's Stage 6 for a fascinating talk about all the projects for which he has been nominated at the Golden Reels over the years. In this part 1, Mark discusses his early work starting with all time classics like Raiders Of The Lost Ark, Poltergeist, Gremlins and Star Trek: The Voyage Home. Part 2 will be coming out in a few days where we cover the rest of his career to present day. You can purchase tickets to attend the Golden Reels by going to https://mpse.org/event-6300024 ______SPONSORS: If you work in sound design, post, or game audio, you already know how much time the right library can save you. For the month of February, get 50% off any Sound Ideas Membership Tier, no matter which level of access you need. That’s half off the entire professionally recorded sound effects catalog, from cinematic and broadcast to hard-to-find specialty sounds. Just head to http://sound-ideas.com/ and use the promo code TONEBENDERS50 at checkout. ______ If you are interested in field recording, you should know about the O-Mini P48 and the brand new O-Mini PIP miniature omni-directional electret microphones. Each one is hand made by Chris Trevino, a practicing field recordist, and a really engaged member of the sound community. He puts a lot of work into making and testing each mic to ensure they live up to his high standards. They are ultra-sonic capable, which makes manipulating your recordings with them a lot of fun. They are also extremely affordable. At $150us for the P48 & $130 for the PIP, they offer a lot of value for a stereo matched pair. Find out more at https://www.chrisatrevino.com/store _______ Episode Notes: https://tonebenderspodcast.com/348-mark-mangini-pt-1/ Podcast Homepage: https://tonebenderspodcast.com This episode is hosted by Timothy Muirhead

This episode features an interview with Supervising Sound Editor and Re-Recording Mixer Skip Lievsay, from the recent film Marty Supreme. Skip discusses his team's approach to the ping pong sound effects and how to use use background sounds to ground a film in a certain time and place. Skip has worked with both Safdie brothers together on Uncut Gems and then with Benny on his own for Smashing Machine and Josh solo on Marty Supreme. Skip tells me what each experience was like. After I finish talking with Skip Lievsay, this episode concludes with backstage interviews featuring all the winners from the sound categories at the recent Director's Guild of Canada Awards. ______SPONSORS: As the New Year begins, Sound Ideas is offering its largest sale to date. For a limited time, receive 55% off professionally recorded sound effects and music libraries. This New Year promotion applies across their esteemed catalog, making it an ideal moment to expand or update your professional collection with authentic audio and a proven standard of quality. The Sound Ideas New Year Sale is available now for a limited time– so visit https://sound-ideas.com/ now! _______ Episode Notes: https://tonebenderspodcast.com/347-marty-supreme/ Podcast Homepage: https://tonebenderspodcast.com This episode is hosted by Timothy Muirhead

Wicked For Good pushed the Oscar nominated sound team from last years blockbuster, Wicked, to go further into the sonic world of Oz. Continuing the idea that every sound making it into the film had to have an Ozian twist to it. Nancy Nugent Title (Supervising Sound Editor), John Marquis (Supervising Sound Editor/Sound Designer/Re-Recording Mixer), Jack Coleman (Supervising Music Editor) and Simon Hayes (Production Sound Mixer) tell us about all the obstacles and challenges they met to complete this massive project. The music and sound effects departments worked really closely together in post, while production sound was constantly thinking about what would be needed by the audio post team. Wicked For Good is the culmination of a massive project where sound was an integral part of the the entire production. ______SPONSORS: As the New Year begins, Sound Ideas is offering its largest sale to date. For a limited time, receive 55% off professionally recorded sound effects and music libraries. This New Year promotion applies across their esteemed catalog, making it an ideal moment to expand or update your professional collection with authentic audio and a proven standard of quality. The Sound Ideas New Year Sale is available now for a limited time– so visit https://sound-ideas.com/ now! _______ Episode Notes: https://tonebenderspodcast.com/346-wicked-for-good/ Podcast Homepage: https://tonebenderspodcast.com This episode is hosted by Timothy Muirhead and edited/mixed by Therese Gylfe & Tove Lidman for TnT Sound Design

This interview was recorded live, in front of a packed house, at the Glen Glenn Film Center in Hollywood California. F1: The Movie presented a multitude of complex challenges for it's sound team, as the race cars have to sound huge and immediate and the music had to be "driving" as well. Then you add in the dialog and crowds and you are dealing with a monstrous brew of editorial and mix obstacles. Joining Tim on stage from F1 are Gary Rizzo (re-recording mixer), Al Nelson (supervising sound editor), Gwen Yates Whittle (supervising sound editor) and Gareth John (production sound mixer). They discuss their experiments with recording the cars, the involvement of Lewis Hamilton, the many levels of futz on the voices during the races and lots more._______SPONSORS: As the New Year begins, Sound Ideas is offering its largest sale to date. For a limited time, receive 55% off professionally recorded sound effects and music libraries. This New Year promotion applies across their esteemed catalog, making it an ideal moment to expand or update your professional collection with authentic audio and a proven standard of quality. The Sound Ideas New Year Sale is available now for a limited time– so visit https://sound-ideas.com/ now! _______ Episode Notes: https://tonebenderspodcast.com/345-f1-the-movie-live/ Podcast Homepage: https://tonebenderspodcast.com This episode is hosted by Timothy Muirhead

Five members of the sound team from Director James Gunn's recent Superman film, join the show to talk about giving a new sonic identity to the Superman legacy. Supervising Sound Editors David Acord & Katy Wood are joined by re-recording mixers Chris Boyes & Tim LeBlanc as well as production sound mixer Lee Orloff, to do a deep dive into super hero sound. Challenges included capturing the dialog on set while surrounded by complicated visual effects and stunts and the sound design and editorial of creating entirely new sounds for super powers and pocket dimensions. The final mix had to find clarity within huge music, sound effects and important dialog. This film required a lot of skill and high end execution to create a soundscape that lived up to the Man of Steel himself. _____ SPONSORS: As the New Year begins, Sound Ideas is offering its largest sale to date. For a limited time, receive 55% off professionally recorded sound effects and music libraries. This New Year promotion applies across their esteemed catalog, making it an ideal moment to expand or update your professional collection with authentic audio and a proven standard of quality. The Sound Ideas New Year Sale is available now for a limited time– so visit https://sound-ideas.com/ now ____ Episode Notes: https://tonebenderspodcast.com/344-superman/ Podcast Homepage: https://tonebenderspodcast.com This episode is hosted by Timothy Muirhead

Listeners of Tonebenders sent in their favourite stories of recording sounds out in the world. This is part two, of two, featuring these amazing soundscapes from all over the world. Recordings were sent in of sounds from Kenya, Zimbabwe, Australia, England, Palau, Laos, Poland, Botswana, Germany, Albania, Switzerland, Canada and The USA. So get ready for a sonic trip around the world! This episode features contributions from listeners Ronald Schmidt, Dmitry Chernov, Richard Walters, Jonathon Pilon, Lucas Vitale, Udo Baumhögger, Ryan Granger, Leon Regula, Anita Yung and Jan Dzyr. If you missed part one go back and find eps 334. Congrats to Diego Lukumy and Lamar Samuels for winning the draw to receive a free pair of O-Mini high-sensitivity, miniature omnidirectional electret microphones, kindly donated by Chris Trevino._____ Los Angeles Listeners come out this Thursday, January 8th, to the very first Tonebenders Screening Series. We will be showing the film F1: The Movie followed by a live recording of a Tonebenders episode with the F1 sound team. Guest will include Gary Rizzo, Gwen Whittle, Gareth John and Al Nelson. Space is limited, so reserve you seat now https://tonebenderspodcast.com/tonebenders-f1-screening/ _____ SPONSORS: As the New Year begins, Sound Ideas is offering its largest sale to date. For a limited time, receive 55% off professionally recorded sound effects and music libraries. This New Year promotion applies across their esteemed catalog, making it an ideal moment to expand or update your professional collection with authentic audio and a proven standard of quality. The Sound Ideas New Year Sale is available now for a limited time– so visit http://www.sound-ideas.com now. ______ If you are interested in field recording, you should know about the O-Mini P48 and the brand new O-Mini PIP miniature omni-directional electret microphones. Each one is hand made by Chris Trevino, a practicing field recordist, and a really engaged member of the sound community.  He puts a lot of work into making and testing each mic to ensure they live up to his high standards.  They are ultra-sonic capable, which makes manipulating your recordings with them a lot of fun.  They are also extremely affordable.  At $150us for the P48 & $130 for the PIP, they offer a lot of value for a stereo matched pair. Find out more at https://www.chrisatrevino.com/store Episode Notes: https://tonebenderspodcast.com/343-2025-listener-field-recording-stories-pt-2/ Podcast Homepage: https://tonebenderspodcast.com This episode is hosted by Timothy Muirhead

The new film Nuremberg is a surprisingly dense and complicated film for it's sound. What I assumed was going to be a standard courtroom drama ended up being a much larger film and it sounded fantastic.  The dialog was crisp and up front, the sound design was intense. Dialog/ADR supervisor Ulrika Akander & Re-Recording Mixer/Sound Designer/Supervising Sound Editor Michael Babcock joined me to talk about their unique approach to the audio post on this film. Using what they refer to as a "rolling premix" the film was tackled over a longer period of time with a small crew. They discuss their approach to dial cleaning, historic footage, ADR recording and using audio to focus the audiences attention.______ On Thursday January 8th, Tonebenders will be hosting a free screening of the film F1, at the Glen Glenn Film Center, that will be followed by a live interview with the sound team behind the film. Glen Glenn’s studio one is about the greatest place possible to hear a film with such dense and powerful sound design. This is the room some of my favourite films were mixed in over the years. Classics like Saving Private Ryan, ET, Apollo 13 and more recently Stranger Things, were all mixed in this room. So come out to the Glen Glenn Film Centre at 900 Seward Street, in Hollywood, to hear this spectacular film and then join me for a live Tonebenders episode recording with the F1 sound team, right after the film. January 8th, doors open at 6:30, film starts @ 7pm. Go to https://tonebenderspodcast.com/tonebenders-f1-screening/ to sign up now._________ SPONSORS: Sound Ideas is closing out the year with a massive Year-End Sale, and you’re invited! Now through to the end of Decemeber, enjoy 50% off all proprietary items, including premium sound effects and production music trusted by creators worldwide. Don’t wait, these savings disappear on December 31st at midnight, as we move into 2026. Check out https://www.sound-ideas.com/ today and create something amazing.________ Episode Notes: https://tonebenderspodcast.com/342-nuremberg/ Podcast Homepage: https://tonebenderspodcast.com This episode is hosted by Timothy Muirhead

The latest film in the Tron franchise, Tron: Ares, expands that world's sonic pallet in dramatic ways. The music by Nine Inch Nails is huge, the sound design is grittier and the dialog is being processed in creative and constantly changing ways. This film benefited from an international sound team, collaborating together. Re-Recording Mixer Ron Bartlett & Supervising Sound Editor Addison Teague, both based in California, shared duties with Supervising Sound Editor Baard Ingebretsen and Sound Designer/Re-Recording Mixer/Supervising Sound Editor Tormod Ringnes, who are working out of Oslo, Norway. Bringing these two teams together became a great strength for the sound of the film as a whole. They discuss merging the sounds of the real world with "The Grid", building light cycle sounds from scratch, the detailed process of finding exactly the right amount of dialog processing when digitizing the human voice and lots more.________ SPONSORS: Sound Ideas is closing out the year with a massive Year-End Sale, and you’re invited! Now through to the end of Decemeber, enjoy 50% off all proprietary items, including premium sound effects and production music trusted by creators worldwide. Don’t wait, these savings disappear on December 31st at midnight, as we move into 2026. Check out https://www.sound-ideas.com/ today and create something amazing.________ The Cargo Cult’s Matchbox 2 is a change management tool that is invaluable when doing comforms. It reveals the differences, reports on the damage, and then re-times your sound mix, saving you incalculable amounts of time. To learn all about the new features in Matchbox 2, head over to http://thecargocult.nz/ , to learn more about Matchbox 2 and pulldown the free 15 day trial. Matchbox 2 is exactly what you have been waiting for. Spend your time being creative and let Matchbox handle the conforming.___________ The Soundscape Fund - George Vlad, Andy Martin and Thomas Rex Beverly are three of the sound community’s busiest field recordists and they have joined forces to raise money for environmental causes this holiday season. All three have a deep love for the natural world and actively work to conserve the soundscapes of nature, through their field recording. They are each offering some of their recordings as prizes to bring the community together to help a great cause. There are three identical prizes to win, each worth more than $15,000! These prizes include, huge collections of commercial sound effects libraries, a one hour call with each of the three organizers, and nature albums for casual listening. For every $5 you donate, you get an additional chance to win! Just head over to the https://thomasrexbeverly.com/products/the-soundscape-fund-2025, and choose your donation amount.  Contest runs until Dec 28th 2025. so enter now._________ Episode Notes: https://tonebenderspodcast.com/340-tron-ares/ Podcast Homepage: https://tonebenderspodcast.com This episode is hosted by Timothy Muirhead