332 - The Sound Legacy Of Harry Potter With James Mather Pt 2

In Part 2 of this in-depth interview with James Mather we talk more about his work as Supervising Sound Editor on the final 4 Harry Potter films (Order of The Phoenix, Half Blood Prince, Deathly Hollows Pt 1&2). James digs into the sound of the horcrux and how the overall sound design was able to become more complex/scary as the main characters grew up. There is also an added bonus of a mini interview with Gillian Dodders, Ben Barker & Glenn Freemantle about their work on The Fantastic Beast Trilogy. All of that is proceeded by Tim's run down of his trip to Mexico City for a recent Tonebenders/MPSE/SAE Institute event, including his adventure being detained by police at the airport on his way home?! SPONSOR: Take your sound design to the next level with the Creator Access Plan from Sound Ideas. This membership puts 100 downloads a year from over 630,000 world-class sounds right at your fingertips: easy to search, simple to use, and built for creators. Power your next project with the sounds pros trust at Sound Ideas. Go to https://www.sound-ideas.com/ to learn more. Episode Notes: https://tonebenderspodcast.com/332-the-sound-legacy-of-harry-potter-with-james-mather-pt-2/ Podcast Homepage: https://tonebenderspodcast.com This episode is hosted by Timothy Muirhead

The sound design in the Harry Potter series completely changed the way audiences expect magic to sound on screen. Those magical sounds also had to evolve as the series went on, to match the skills developed by the main characters. James Mather was the Supervising Sound Editor on the final 4 films in the series (Order of The Phoenix, Half Blood Prince, Deathly Hollows Pt 1&2) and in this episode he discusses what it was like to find out he got the gig, discovering inspiration from both the books and the sounds of the previous films, and how his team designed the magic to match the circumstances and personalities of each character. Stay tuned for part two of this talk coming soon. SPONSOR: Take your sound design to the next level with the Creator Access Plan from Sound Ideas. This membership puts 100 downloads a year from over 630,000 world-class sounds right at your fingertips: easy to search, simple to use, and built for creators. Power your next project with the sounds pros trust at Sound Ideas. Go to https://www.sound-ideas.com/ too learn more Episode Notes: https://tonebenderspodcast.com/331-the-sound-legacy-of-harry-potter-with-james-mather-pt-1/ Podcast Homepage: https://tonebenderspodcast.com This episode is hosted by Timothy Muirhead

Last year I got to go to the Sonic Days Conference in Denmark, to do a bunch of interviews with the various people doing presentations about their sound work. With the schedule and presenters for the 2025 edition of the conference now announced, these interviews can give you an idea of what to expect. First up is Shelley Roden, foley artist from Skywalker Sound. Next, game Sound Designer, Katrine Amsler talks about her desire for everyone to find bespoke workflows that meet their own needs. The organizer of the conference, Lars Tirsbæk then gives us a quick history of Sonic Days and Sonic College where the conference resides. Leslie Gaston-Bird talks about the need for skill diversification to make a career in audio and all the different roles she is performing. Finally Sound Designer Peter Storm Wich and picture editor Anne Østerud discuss their collaboration on director Thomas Vinterberg's "Families Like Ours". Head to www.sonicdays.com to see the 2025 schedule and who will be presenting this year. SPONSOR: After over a year of dedicated work, the entire Sound Ideas sound effects collection, over 500,000 individual files, has been upgraded to the Universal Category System’s, filename and metadata standards. With this enhancement, sounds are now more organized, searchable, and ready for seamless integration into your workflow. Head over to https://www.sound-ideas.com/Page/ucs-data-upgrade to learn more. Episode Notes: https://tonebenderspodcast.com/330-sonic-days-interviews/ Podcast Homepage: https://tonebenderspodcast.com This episode is hosted by Timothy Muirhead

Directors Domee Shi & Madeline Sharafian, join the show to talk about their approach to collaborating with the audio post team on the newest Pixar film, Elio. Re-recording Mixer Bonnie Wild & Supervising Sound Editor/Sound Designer Jeremy Bowker are also on board to share how they built the soundscape of the "Communiverse", a friendly and warm version of outer space. Together the directors and sound team discuss how scary is too scary, how they share new sounds during development and what types of references and language they used to communicate the film's sonic needs. If you are going to be in the Mexico City area on Oct 21st, at 4pm, come out to SAE Institute for a afternoon and evening of audio post talk, food and drinks. please register in advance at http://www.tinyurl.com/mpseincdmx and find full details at https://tonebenderspodcast.com/tonebenders-sound-design-meet-up/ SPONSOR: After over a year of dedicated work, the entire Sound Ideas sound effects collection, over 500,000 individual files, has been upgraded to the Universal Category System’s, filename and metadata standards. With this enhancement, sounds are now more organized, searchable, and ready for seamless integration into your workflow. Head over to https://www.sound-ideas.com/Page/ucs-data-upgrade to learn more. Episode Notes: https://tonebenderspodcast.com/329-the-directors-sound-team-from-elio/ Podcast Homepage: https://tonebenderspodcast.com This episode is hosted by Timothy Muirhead

Dick Maitland has worked on the sound for over 4,700 episodes of Sesame Street, starting with the show back in 1969. 50 years into the show's run, Steve "Major" Giammaria joined the show as re-recording mixer, and had to quickly get up to speed on all the iconic sounds found on Sesame Street. Together they walk us through the sonic history of one of the most important television programs of all time. Dick talks about performing live foley & sound effects on set during the early days of filming, the importance of signature sounds to make the puppets "real", and how much focus Jim Henson put on the sounds of Sesame Street. Listeners in the Mexico City area, mark you calendars for the Tonebenders Event there on Oct 21st. Full details coming soon! SPONSOR: Sound Ideas’ highly anticipated Mid-Year Sale has been extended for a limited time, but there are only a few days left! Unlock 50% off, on thousands of premium recordings, from epic cinematic sounds to authentic ambiences, ideal for any creative project. This applies to all Sound Ideas proprietary libraries. With over 45 years of experience, Sound Ideas delivers audio trusted by professionals worldwide. Head over to https://www.sound-ideas.com/ to learn more. Episode Notes: https://tonebenderspodcast.com/328-sesame-street/ Podcast Homepage: https://tonebenderspodcast.com/ This episode is hosted by Timothy Muirhead

Michael Babcock (re-recording mixer/sound designer/supervising sound editor) talks about the challenges of the sound work for KPop Demon Hunters. The animated film has quickly become a world wide sensation and Netflix's most watched title ever (523.6 million viewer hours)! Michael calls the project the most challenging film he has ever worked on. Coming up with sound design that compliments the massive music tracks that have to be the main feature put his skills to the test. This episode is a re-podcast of an episode from The Creative Leaders Podcast, hosted by Stepnen Scott. https://open.spotify.com/show/4nAAx7xPdTW0rxoOxgvygH Listeners in the Mexico City area, mark you calendars for the Tonebenders Event there on Oct 21st. Full details coming soon! SPONSOR: Sound Ideas’ highly anticipated Mid-Year Sale has been extended for a limited time. Unlock 50% off, on thousands of premium recordings, from epic cinematic sounds to authentic ambiences, ideal for any creative project. This applies to all Sound Ideas proprietary libraries. With over 45 years of experience, Sound Ideas delivers audio trusted by professionals worldwide. Head over to https://www.sound-ideas.com/ to learn more. Episode Notes: https://tonebenderspodcast.com/327-kpop-demon-hunters/ Podcast Homepage: https://tonebenderspodcast.com/ This episode is hosted by Stephen Scott

Director Zach Cregger's latest film, Weapons, has been both a critical and a box office success. One of the film's biggest strengths is it's distinctive sound work, created by Luciano Vignola (Supervising Sound Editor & Re-Recording MIxer), Filipe Messeder (Sound Designer & Re-Recording Mixer) and Jake O’Brien (Dialogue Editor). They discuss what makes a jump scare work, the importance of ambiences and foley in the psychology of horror, getting a director to engage on the mix stage & lots more. A big announcement off the top as Tonebenders is going to Mexico City on Oct 21st! SPONSOR: After over a year of dedicated work, the entire Sound Ideas sound effects collection, over 500,000 individual files, has been upgraded to the Universal Category System’s, filename and metadata standards. With this enhancement, sounds are now more organized, searchable, and ready for seamless integration into your workflow. Head over to https://www.sound-ideas.com/Page/ucs-data-upgrade to learn more. Episode Notes: https://tonebenderspodcast.com/326-weapons/ Podcast Homepage: https://tonebenderspodcast.com This episode is hosted by Timothy Muirhead

This episode is a re-podcast of a live panel from last year's Sonic Days Conference, in Denmark. The panelists explore the creative process behind game audio development, diving into strategies for fostering innovation, overcoming creative blocks, and enhancing collaboration in the industry. The panel is made up of: Richard Lapington, Audio Director, Remedy Entertainment Katrine Amsler, Sound Designer, IO Interactive Simon Stevnhoved, Senior Sound Designer, Massive Entertainment Mikkel Anttila, Freelance Sound Designer Moderated by Niels Böttcher, Sound Designer Mark your calendars for Sonic Days 2025, and join Tonebenders' host Tim Muirhead, in Kolding Denmark on November 19th and 20th. Full details will be coming out soon...... SPONSOR: After over a year of dedicated work, the entire Sound Ideas sound effects collection, over 500,000 individual files, has been upgraded to the Universal Category System’s, filename and metadata standards. With this enhancement, sounds are now more organized, searchable, and ready for seamless integration into your workflow. Head over to https://www.sound-ideas.com/ to learn more. Episode Notes: https://tonebenderspodcast.com/325-cultivating-creative-flow-in-game-audio-development-sonic-days-conference/ Podcast Homepage: https://tonebenderspodcast.com This episode is hosted by Timothy Muirhead

Black Mirror has consistently been a ground breaking series over the show's decade plus run. It has set a high standard within the sound community as well. The recent release of Season 7, keeps that sonic bar extremely high, especially on the Emmy nominated episode "USS Callister: Into Infinity". Supervising Sound Editor Tom Jenkins, Music Editor Poppy Kavanagh & Re-Recording Mixer James Ridgway tell us about the challenges of working on a science-fiction anthology series where every episode is completely different, the importance of having Poppy work with the music across the entire series 7, and what they learned designing the sound for an epic space battle. Listeners in London England, come on out on August 24th at 7pm to the Crown and Two Chairmen to the second Tonebenders London Sound Design Meet-up, presented by the Motion Picture Sound Editors. https://tonebenderspodcast.com/tonebenders-sound-design-meet-up/ SPONSOR: Sound Ideas’ highly anticipated Mid-Year Sale has been extended for a limited time. Unlock 50% off, on thousands of premium recordings, from epic cinematic sounds to authentic ambiences, ideal for any creative project. This applies to all Sound Ideas proprietary libraries. With over 45 years of experience, Sound Ideas delivers audio trusted by professionals worldwide. Head over to https://www.sound-ideas.com to learn more. Episode Notes: https://tonebenderspodcast.com/324-black-mirror/ Podcast Homepage: https://tonebenderspodcast.com This episode is hosted by Timothy Muirhead

The Righteous Gemstones is a big broad comedy about excess, except for the first episode of season 4, which takes place nearly 200 years before the main series. With the American Civil as the backdrop, this story is gritty and dirty, a complete departure from the bulk of the series. Pee-wee as Himself is a disarming documentary playing with what is true and what is Hollywood gamesmanship. Featuring an uncompromising interview with Paul Reubens as he wrestles with where Pee-Wee starts and Reubens ends. A common thread between these two projects is pristine sound work that leads the charge. The Emmy nominated Supervising sound editors/re-recording mixers for both Righteous Gemstones (Nicholas Renbeck) and Pee-wee as Himself (Daniel Timmons) join Tonebenders for a fascinating talk, as they compare and contrast working on these two very different projects. Listeners in London England, come on out on August 24th at 7pm to the Crown and Two Chairmen to the second Tonebenders London Sound Design Meet-up, presented by the Motion Picture Sound Editors. https://tonebenderspodcast.com/tonebenders-sound-design-meet-up/ SPONSOR: Sound Ideas’ highly anticipated Mid-Year Sale has been extended for a limited time. Unlock 50% off, on thousands of premium recordings, from epic cinematic sounds to authentic ambiences, ideal for any creative project. This applies to all Sound Ideas proprietary libraries. With over 45 years of experience, Sound Ideas delivers audio trusted by professionals worldwide. Head over to https://www.sound-ideas.com/ to learn more. Episode Notes: https://tonebenderspodcast.com/323-the-righteous-gemstones-pee-wee-as-himself/ Podcast Homepage: https://tonebenderspodcast.com This episode is hosted by Timothy Muirhead