Tonebenders Podcast

John Fasal, Charlie Campagna and Eric Potter are 3 of the world's top field recordists, working in films and games. We previously brought these three legends together in eps 315, and everyone decided it was time for a follow up chat. This time we focus mainly on the craft of recording weapons, including finding a good place to record them, developing your "voice" as a recordist and how the industr...

Gary Rydstrom sits down with Tim for a fun talk about his work on director Steven Spielberg's latest film, Disclosure Day. Gary's enthusiasm for the craft is evident as he discusses some of his favourite techniques, including building in small sections of silence during action sequences, removing ambient sounds to manipulate the audience, and how Spielberg films often begin with sound montages bef...

David Acord, Matthew Wood, Bonnie Wild and David Collins have had their ears on just about every high-level Star Wars project in the last decade or more. From films to games to series (both live action and animated) these four are the modern-day trail blazers of the sounds from that galaxy far, far away. We discuss the Star Wars Sound Effects library, how the iconic sounds of the franchise are evo...

I recently got to visit supervising sound editor John Loranger, from Netflix's hit series Wednesday, at his studio in the Toronto area. We spent the afternoon talking about his work on this fantastical series and it's many audio challenges. These include creature vocal designs for the many different characters, finding comedy in the chaos, and discovering the right tone for this unique genre. We a...

We brought together members from the sound teams of some of our favourite recent streaming projects, so they could share their workflows and triumphs. Vinny Alfano worked on both Dexter: Resurrection and Emily In Paris, Ethan Beigel & Andy Sisul we co-supervising sound editors on the recent hit Spider-Noir, Christina Wen was on the faders for Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette and...

When Johnnie Burn first came on Tonebenders in 2022, to talk about his sound work on director Jordan Peele's hit film Nope, it was immediately clear that he was going to be one of our favourite guests. He has since been on many more times, but this first interview is a classic. He discusses designing the film's ominous winds, the "voice" of Jean Jacket and lots more. As a bonus this episode also f...

Netflix's live action take on the classic manga and animated series, One Piece, has been a massive, world wide success. For season 2, supervising sound editor Paul Col and re-recording mixer Gavin Fernades, were presented with an intimidating amount of audio challenges. A sword fight involving 100 enemies, bad guys that battle by turning into smoke, whales the size of buildings and lots more had t...

In the fall of 2025, Tonebenders' hosts Tim Muirhead & Renè Coronado travelled to Mexico City to host a talk with 3 members of the Pan's Labyrinth sound team. The event was to celebrate the film's 20th anniversary. Re-Recording Mixer Jaime Baksht, Supervising Sound Editor/Sound Designer Martín Hernández and Sound Editor Alejandro Quevedo, chase down their fond memories of working on director Guill...

One of the most watched films ever on Netflix is the recent Joe Carnahan directed action-thriller, The Rip. Key members of the sound team sat down with me at Formosa Hollywood to walk me down the path of the unique challenges this film presented them. From endless dog barking on set, to gun shots sounds that are huge, to a fun scene where they got to use ATMOS in a really special way. Supervising...

Psychological Thrillers present some of the most fun sound design challenges. Building tension through ambience shifts, and subtle builds can manipulate an audience with out them even realizing it. The recent hit film The Housemaid, from Director Paul Feig, is a masterclass in using sound to to bring the thrills to their highest peaks. Supervising Sound Editors Andrew DeCristofaro and Darren 'Sunn...

Supervising Sound Editors Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl have been working together for 19 years and have built a reputation for working on films that are highly sound dependant. The two sit down to discuss their work on the new blockbuster film, Project Hail Mary, which is another movie that relies on it's sound design in order for the entire film to work. The two describe how they created the...

Tonebenders' host, Tim Muirhead, went to LA last month to host the 4th Annual Los Angeles Tonebenders Sound Design Meet-up and attend the C.A.S. Awards and MPSE The Golden Reels. He shares some stories of his adventures in Los Angeles as well as a bunch of backstage interviews he did with the winners at The Golden Reels. As a bonus this episode also includes a short interview with all-time legenda...

Get an educated head start on your Oscar Pool this year! Go on a deep dive into each nominated film in the Best Sound Category at this year's Academy Awards. Featuring interviews with the sound teams behind One Battle After Another, F1: The Movie, Sinners, Sīrat, and Frankenstein. ______SPONSORS: Great sound leads to great storytelling. With Sound Ideas Memberships, you get full online access to t...

Supervising Sound Editor Laia Casanovas flew in from Spain to join Tonebenders in front of a packed theatre in Toronto. Laia shows real enthusiasm while talking about her Oscar nominated sound work on Sirāt. She discusses "worldizing" the music featured in the film to match the homemade sound systems depicted on screen, as well as the role wind sounds plays to ramp up tension and how the vehicle's...

One Battle After Another is the latest film by director Paul Thomas Anderson and it is his first time finishing a project with a full ATMOS Mix. Embracing the idea of "widening the screen with sound" Supervising Sound Editor Christopher Scarabosio, Re-recording Mixer Tony Villaflor and Production Sound Mixer José Antonio García set out to create an energetic and engulfing soundscape for One Battle...

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...

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 G...

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 Raide...

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 Mach...

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...

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....

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...

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...

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...

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, b...