Tonebenders Podcast

In late 2021 young filmmaker and audio person Juliana Henao Mesa released a documentary about women in film sound titled Listen To Us – Celebrating Women in Sound. In the process of creating that film, a lot of the interviews ended up being cut for flow and time, but Juliana reached out to us with the idea that we could air the rest of the thoughts and ideas of these amazing women on the podcast. So with that in mind we’re very excited to release the unreleased conversations Juliana had with luminaries Sherry Klein, Paula Fairfield, April Tucker, Kim Patrick, Baihui Yang, Danielle Dupre, Karol Urban, Midge Costin, Vicky Samson, Paulette Lifton, Teri Dorman, Ceci Hall, Catherine Harper, Ulriika Akander, Katy Wood, and Anna Behlmer. sit back, relax and enjoy!

In this episode hosts Mark Kilborn & Timothy Muirhead talk with Playground Games' Audio Lead Fraser Strachan, about the amazing work he and his team did on the sound design of Forza Horizon 5. Fraser discusses in deep detail the process of recording hundreds of cars and their implementation in the the game. We also discuss the ambiances, the games acoustic system, and generally how to mix a game with car engines roaring at all times. Show notes with episode Transcription: https://tonebenderspodcast.com/184-forza-horizon-5-with-fraser-strachan/ Podcast homepage: https://tonebenderspodcast.com

We're launching a crowdsource! The purpose of this crowdsource is to generate a lot of source material from which to algorithmically generate walla crowds of varying densities and compositions.  The goal is to be able to generate not only large gatherings of walla, but also the much more challenging 4-12 person groups that are often needed in post and games.   For this library you’ll bet setting up and recording one side of a real-live phone conversation with someone that you enjoy speaking to.  To do this, we’ll be using earbuds on our phones during the recording (no speakerphone)  The pauses and breaks in your natural speech will be pretty key to keeping the cadence of the walla sounding natural.

We talk with Tara Webb (Sound Editor & Re-Recording Mixer) and Leah Katz (Dialog Supervisor) about the sound of Jane Campion's The Power Of The Dog. They tell us about defining a character through sound, building expansive landscapes and using ADR to refine the story. Show Notes (including transcript): https://tonebenderspodcast.com/182-the-power-of-the-dog-with-tara-webb-leah-katz/ Podcast Homepage: https://tonebenderspodcast.com

Sound Designers Gene Park (Bruised), Olivia Zhang (One Night In Miami), Aaron Glascock (Creed II) and Foley Artist Jay Peck (Bruised) all sit down for a roundtable talk about their experiences designing sound for boxing and MMA films. We talk about hero moments, knockout punches, making crowds roar and the need to find room to hear the fighters breath. See Show Notes at https://tonebenderspodcast.com/181-sound-design-for-boxing-mma-roundtable/ Podcast homepage: https://tonebenderspodcast.com

We are happy to "re-podcast" this great interview, originally aired on The SoundGirls Podcast. Kyrsten Mate is an award winning Sound Designer who has worked for Skywalker Sound for 25 years. Her credits include Mulan, The Midnight Sky, Ready Player One, Tomorrowland, Jarhead, and many others. Among the directors she has worked with are Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg, Brad Bird, and Walter Murch. In addition, she recently completed the Sound Design for Disneyland’s Batuu: Galaxy’s Edge.

We are joined by Tim Nielsen, Kristina Morss & Mark Kilborn to talk about gear obsession and strategies to reign in those new purchase impulses. Why do we all feel like we need 20 reverbs!? We also talk about Tim's impressive Handheld Recorder comparison of 11 different units. Show Notes: https://tonebenderspodcast.com/179-handheld-recorder-shootout-gear-obsession-roundtable/ Podcast Homepage: www.tonebenderspodcast.com

Supervising Sound Editors and Re-recording Mixers Christopher Scarabosio & Wayne Lemmer talk to us about their work on The French Dispatch. They tell us about what is it like working with director Wes Anderson, mixing at Abby Road Studios for the first time, and how they go about building/mixing an amazing sounding montage sequence. Show Notes at https://tonebenderspodcast.com/178-the-french-dispatch-with-wayne-lemmer-chris-scarabosio/

We are joined by Mark Mangini, Theo Green and Dave Whitehead to talk about their work on the new Denis Villeneuve film, DUNE. They talk about designing the sounds for the personal shields, Ornithopters, the ambiences of all the planets and the sand worm! Plus lots, lots more. Show Notes: https://tonebenderspodcast.com/177-the-sound-of-dune/ Podcast Homepage: https://tonebenderspodcast.com

We are joined by Barry Donelly, Kristen Quinn, Benoît Marsalone and Arnaud Noble to talk about recording and designing sounds for underwater scenes in films and games. We discuss our favourite underwater recording sessions, what works and doesn't work with hydrophones and when it is best to fake it with water sounds recorded with normal microphones. See Show Notes and full Bios at https://tonebenderspodcast.com/176-recording-designing-underwater-sounds-roundtable/

Guest host Mark Kilborn sits down with Loic Couthier & Toivo Kallio, to talk about their sound work on the new PS5 game, Returnal. The Game is a sci-fi third person shooter, based on time loops happening within a shape shifting planet. The game really takes advantage of the new sound capabilities on latest playstation console, especially 3d audio. Show Notes: https://tonebenderspodcast.com/175-returnal-with-loic-couthier-toivo-kallio/ Podcast Homepage: https://tonebenderspodcast.com

Brad Engleking tells us about working on the sound for the amazing documentary, Fathom. The film is about scientists that are recording humpback whale calls and trying to decipher their language. Fathom features some of the most beautiful whale recordings ever captured.

In this episode we talk to Emmy nominated co-supervising sound editors Bernard Weiser and Brent Findley, from the hit series Ted Lasso. They do a deep dive on how they built a massive stadium full of fans chanting "Wanker" from a small loop group for source. They also discuss the rapid evolution of the ADR process in pandemic times, having now done two seasons under various levels of lockdowns. Some things they hope stay going forward and others that they can do without.

In this episode we talk with Craig Henighan (Supervising Sound Editor/SFX Re-Recording Mixer), Paul Massey (Dial/Music Re-Recording Mixer) and Ryan Cole (Dialog Supervisor) from the Shawn Levy directed film, Free Guy. We talk about finding sonic space for dialog when total chaos is happening on screen, dealing with visual effects changing with each new delivery and ADR during a pandemic.

In this episode we talk with the team behind the music documentary Billie Eilish: The World's A Little Blurry. Joining us are director RJ Cutler and members of the sound team including re-recording mixers Elmo Ponsdomenech & Jason "Frenchie" Gaya as well as Supervising Sound Editor Richard E. Yawn. They talk about the challenges of having source footage originally recorded on everything from VHS to iPhones, mixing music for concert footage and keeping Billie's home life sounding intimate.

In this episode we talk with Supervising Sound Editor Mac Smith and Re-Recording Mixer Brandon Proctor, from the new film Nine Days. They tell us how they created the sound for a story that takes place on another plane of existence and yet is entirely recognizable. The film centres on a wall of TVs that that needs sound to lead the viewers to what is (and isn't) important to the story.

Al Sirkett and Lucy Mitchell tell us about their experiences building new stand alone studio spaces in their backyards. They tell us everything they learned, what they would do different, and how much it has changed their lives.

In this episode we are joined by the sound team from the hit Disney Plus series WandaVision. Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Kim Foscato (Co-Supervising Sound Editors) as well as Danielle Dupre (Re-Recording Mixer) tell us about the immense pressure to complete the series to match Marvel's cinematic standards while working under pandemic restrictions. The also discuss how co-supervisors share the work load, creating sounds knowing they will become cannon and the workflow of processing White Vision's voice.

Way back in January, the great Mark Mangini penned a little blog post outlining some audio tropes that he was hoping to put to rest. That post inspired some slack threads, facebook posts, and a good general discussion about how we can be more original and creative when tasked with designing sounds and situations that can have quick and easy answers. In this not-so-serious conversation Mark gets together with Tim, Teresa and René to break down some tropes, spell out some reasons for going there anyway, and maybe…just maybe…we retire the now infamous Wilhelm.

We talk to Peter Albrechtsen (sound designer) & David Barber (re-recording mixer) about the intense and unique sound work done on director Robert Machoian's film The Killing of Two Lovers. Visually the film plays out over long steady shots, while much of the films plot takes place off screen with sound taking the lead. The director also chose not to have a composer and instead use sound design, almost as musique concrète, to build the tension.