187 - Swan Song

Are you nervous about starting a new project? Don’t worry; so is everyone else, including your sound design hero, Randy Thom. Spotting sessions are a chance to talk through the edit, scene by scene. These gatherings give the director, the composer and the rest of the editorial team a chance to sort out out technical issues and determine the direction and shape the soundtrack is going to take. Randy joins us to talk about about what kind of attitude, questions and objectives he brings to the spotting sessions for new film projects. (This episode was originally released in March 2020) Show Notes & Full Transcript: https://tonebenderspodcast.com/258---randy-thom-on-getting-the-most-out-of-spotting-sessions-re-podcast/ Podcast Homepage: https://tonebenderspodcast.com Tonebenders Hosts This Episode: Timothy Muirhead & Teresa Morrow

Laurence Anslow, who recently recorded and mixed the score for the recent Percy Jackson series and also worked on Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, joins us this week.  He is at the top of the game, and yet his workflows as a score recordist and mixer, are a complete mystery to many in audio post.  So I asked him to come on the show and talk us through what a orchestral score recording session is like, how he delivers his tracks and who he is interacting with the most from the rest of the sound team. I learned a lot while talking with Laurence and I hope you are able to gain a bunch of knowledge as well. Show Notes: https://tonebenderspodcast.com/257---the-art-of-recording--mixing-score-with-laurence-anslow/ Podcast Homepage: https://tonebenderspodcast.com Tonebenders Host This Episode: Timothy Muirhead

Magic is always a massive challenge to do sound design for and we can alway use advice on how to tackle it. So we brought in the experts from the team behind the impressive new sound library Conjure, from Echo Collective. Rene Coronado and Brad Dale discuss their approach to magic sound design, recording new material and props, the tools they use in processing and lots more. Check out their Conjure magic library at https://echocollectivefx.com/product/conjure Show Notes: https://tonebenderspodcast.com/256---sound-design-for-magic/ Podcast Homepage: https://tonebenderspodcast.com Tonebenders Host This Episode: Timothy Muirhead

The sound work of the recent Netflix series "Avatar The Last Airbender" was a massive challenge on both the sound design and the dialog side of things. We talk with Re-Recording Mixers Joe Barnett & Adam Jenkins as well as Supervising Sound Editors Tim Kimmel & Luke Gibleon about how they made massive battle sounds for powers based on fire, water/ice, earth and air. Plus they talk about how they organize a session to go from editorial to the mix stage smoothly. Show Notes: https://tonebenderspodcast.com/255---the-sound-of-avatar-the-last-airbender/ Podcast Homepage: https://tonebenderspodcast.com Tonebenders Host This Episode: Timothy Muirhead

We talk with Norway's own Tormod Ringnes, about his excellent sound work on director Margreth Olin's new documentary, Songs Of Earth. As the film's title implies, the sound of the film is extremely important. We follow the director's 83 year old father as he hikes the rugged and beautiful nature of Norway in every season of the year. From intense ice sound design to desolate mountain silence. Show Notes: https://tonebenderspodcast.com/254---songs-of-earth-with-tormod-ringnes/ Podcast Homepage: https://tonebenderspodcast.com Tonebenders Host This Episode: Timothy Muirhead

Tonebenders ran episodes with members of the sound teams of all five nominees in the "Best Achievement In Sound" category at this year's Oscars. So here are some of our favourite clips from each interview. Plus a few un-aired minutes from the Oppenheimer interview that we saved for this episode. Starting with James Mather talking about the epic Fiat car chase scene in Mission Impossible:Dead Reckoning Pt 1. Then Richard King talks about the immense research the team did to get the sounds correct on Oppenheimer. Next is Tom Ozanich explaining his approach to making the huge climatic orchestra scene work emotionally. After that is Erik Aadahl discussing how explosions can't just go "boom" they have to reflect the plot when they happen in the story. Finally we have Johnnie Burn explaining how the two films he worked on last year, Zone Of Interest & Poor Things, intersected with each other. Show Notes: https://tonebenderspodcast.com/253---oscar-pool-sound-category-round-up/ Podcast website: www.tonebenderspodcast.com Tonebenders Host this episode - Timothy Muirhead

Richard King joins the podcast to talk about his amazing last couple of films, Oppenheimer and Maestro. He explains how his approaches varied between the two films, before spending the majority of the talk digging deep into some of the most arresting sound design scenes in Oppenheimer. LA based listeners, don't forget about The Los Angeles Tonebenders Sound Design Meet-Up this Thursday, Feb 29th. We will be gathering on the covered patio at the Thirsty merchant in Studio City. Full Details at https://tonebenderspodcast.com/tonebenders-los-angeles-sound-design-meet-up/ Show Notes & Full Transcript: https://tonebenderspodcast.com/252---oppenheimer-with-richard-king/ Podcast Homepage: https://tonebenderspodcast.com Tonebenders Host This Episode: Timothy Muirhead

Dane Davis will be getting the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Motion Picture Sound Editor’s Golden Reel Awards.  So I asked him walk down memory lane and talk about many of the amazing films he has worked on over the years.  In part 1, episode 250, you can hear him talk about his long and successful collaboration with The Wachowskis.  In part 2, we get into his work and relationships with other film makers, including Walter Murch on Romeo is Bleeding! Dane also digs into his latest project "Expats" on Prime.  This pyscholicaly complex drama, starring Nichole Kidman, features excellent opportunities for the sound design to tell stories that the camera is not showing on screen. Show Notes & Full Transcript: https://tonebenderspodcast.com/251---dane-davis-part-2/ Podcast Homepage: https://tonebenderspodcast.com Tonebenders Host This Episode: Timothy Muirhead

For our 250th episode we got one of our all-time favourite guests, Dane Davis, to come back on Tonebenders. He is going to be receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award at the MPSE Golden Reels this year, so we took the opportunity to have him walk us through his storied career. In this episode, part one, Dane talks mostly about his long collaboration with The Wachowskis. Starting with the indie hit film Bound, through 4 Matrix films, multiple other films and series like Sense8. He shares how he built the relationship with the directors and what it took to keep it strong. Look for Part 2 next week when Dane will talk about his work on other projects, including the excellent new Prime series Expats. Get Tickets to The Golden Reel Awards on March 3rd at https://www.mpse.org Get info on The Los Angeles Tonebenders Sound Design Meet-Up on Feb 29th at https://tonebenderspodcast.com/tonebenders-los-angeles-sound-design-meet-up/ Show Notes: https://tonebenderspodcast.com/250---dane-davis-part-1/ Podcast Homepage: https://tonebenderspodcast.com Tonebenders Host This Episode: Timothy Muirhead

The Creator is the recent film by Director Gareth Edwards, that features a sound design philosophy of Retro Futurism. The world is going to war over Artificial Intelligence and the robots, or simulants, powered by AI. Oscar Nominees for their sound work on The Creator, Erik Aadahl & Ethan Van der Ryn, give sonic life to multiple generations of futuristic robots, weapons and vehicles. Show Notes: https://tonebenderspodcast.com/249---the-creator-with-erik-aadahl--ethan-van-der-ryn/ Podcast Homepage: https://tonebenderspodcast.com Tonebenders Host This Episode: Timothy Muirhead