Tonebenders Podcast

The new film A Complete Unknown follows the early life of Bob Dylan as he first arrives in New York City and meets the people that would define his musical journey. Director James Mangold's movie features live performances in small rooms, bars, as well as massive festivals and the sound team had to make each song feel real and unique. Supervising Sound Editor Don Sylvester, Re-recording Mixer Paul...

Four members of the sound team from director Jacques Audiard's new film, Emilia Pérez, joined me for a talk about how they tried to use the sound design to make a new kind of musical. Cyril Holtz (Sound Supervisor & Re-Recording Mixer), Aymeric Devoldère (Supervising Sound Editor), Hortense Bailly (Supervising Voice Editor) and Carolina Santana (ADR Supervisor) share their workflows on this compli...

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is the kind of film that feels like anything can happen at any time. The wild sound design plays a large role is setting up that feeling of comedic unease. Supervising Sound Editor Jimmy Boyle, Re-Recording Mixers Chris Burdon & Gilbert Lake, Supervising Dialogue Editor Buster Flaws and Music Consultant & Arranger Mike Higham, join the podcast to talk about their bizarre ad...

When Alex Garland's latest film, Civil War, was released earlier this year, there was a lot of talk about the sound design of the film and its ultra-realistic take on the sound of battle. I was invited by the sound team to come to Pinewood Studios, near London, to hear the film in the room it was mixed in. We talk about the decision process they went through to land on the innovative mix of the fi...

This past September, Tonebenders' host Tim Muirhead got to cover The Toronto International Film Festival. In this episode he interviews the sound teams behind some of the films he saw at TIFF '24. The main interview is with Eugenio Battaglia and Michael Babcock who did the sound work behind the psychological horror, Heretic. Next, Katie Halliday drops by to talk about her work as supervising sound...

Gemma Nicholson made the leap from being a busy sound editor to a successful post production supervisor. It is not a typical career path, but it gives her insight into the sound work done on any given project. This differentiates her from many other post supervisors, that might not have this built-in knowledge. In this interview she gives us her advice on how to get the most out of a working relat...

In this re-podcast of an episode from 2018 we talk with Re-Recording Mixer Bernard Gariépy Strobl and Supervising Sound Editor Sylvain Bellemare, about their work on Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi epic Arrival. They tell us about the way they brought the soundtrack of the film to new heights. They even created an entire character in post, that was not in the script, through communications chatter and w...

The Palme D’or winner from this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Anora is the latest film from director Sean Baker. Anora is also one of my favourite movies of the year so far. Co-supervising sound editors (and also the re-recording mixers) Andy Hay and John Warrin discuss how they molded the sound of this film. The film was largely shot docu-style with lots of overlapping dialogue and real life sound...

"Best Score" Oscar winner and Grammy "Album of the Year" winner, Jon Batiste joins Tonebenders to talk about his score for the Jason Reitman film, Saturday Night. He discusses the unusual way the music was recoded. It was captured on the set of the film during the evenings, after shooting was wrapped up each day. He also explains the way this idea came together and the people he collaborated with...

At the premier of Saturday Night at The Toronto International Film Festival, Director Jason Reitman made a special point of telling the audience that the sound team "put in a lot of work into making it feel like they didn't do any work at all". This is not the kind of film that you would think would have tricky sound obstacles, but that was not the case at all. Supervising Sound Editors Will Files...

The Sounding Board 4.0 has just been announced by The Cinema Audio Society and The Motion Picture Sound Editors! So that makes it a great time to push out this talk from last year's Sounding Board, that was moderated by Tonebenders' host Tim Muirhead. We have all heard many interviews with Re-Recording Mixers, so as a contrast, this panel focuses on the rest of the important mixers involved in the...

Inside Out 2 takes the foundation of the original film and pushes those ideas even further, especially with sound design. Coya Elliot and Ren Klyce join the show to discuss how the glass memory balls became a much more important sound in this sequel and how they recorded and designed sounds for all the hockey sequences. They also talk about the lessons they learned from the first film as their dia...

Kneecap is a film chock full of manic energy, about an Irish hip-hop group swept up into a political grassroots movement almost against their will. This perfect mix of the music, multiple languages and madcap sound design fuels the chaos around our main characters. The Audio Post team of Louise Burton (Dialog Supervisor), Richard Armstrong (Music Editor), Aza Hand (Re-Recording Mixer) and Brendan...

Today we are going to be talking about field recording for the National Parks Service with recordist Chris Trevino. He tells us about his recent recording gig at Isle Royale Nation Park in Michigan, where he had his mics rolling in the park for 2 summer weeks. His goal was to capture the natural sounds of the pristine environment and the animals that call it home.  Chris discusses how he got the c...

Deadpool & Wolverine is the biggest film of summer. It combines action and comedy in a rapid fire pace. The sound team behind the film joins me today to talk about how they managed dialog tracks where the main character is speaking behind a fabric mask and the importance of the interplay between iconic music drops that play over massive sound effects sequences. Supervising Sound Editors Ryan Cole...

As a longtime fan of the Alien franchise, I have been looking forward to seeing director Fede Alvarez's latest instalment Alien: Romulus. The sound team was tasked with designing an audible world that fit in with the original 1979 film but still lives in today's definition of what blockbusters should sound like. Supervising Sound Editors, Will Files and Lee Gilmore, are joined by Dialog/ADR superv...

Tonebenders' listeners are simply the best. Back when I asked people to submit their favourite field recording stories, I never dreamed there would be enough sent in for two full episodes!? In this instalment you can hear recordings of cannons firing, beautiful feedback loops, plumbing pipes going entirely wrong, and lots of animals and nature. Big thanks to Carlos Honc, Matt Glenn, Ben Reichstein...

Shōgun is an epic series that covers the struggle for power in mid 1600s Japan. The show features excellent sound work. From the extremely detailed foley to the fury of earthquakes, every moment feels like it has a sonic signature. Five members of the audio post production team join the podcast, to discuss how they brought the world of Shōgun to life with sound. Supervising Sound Editor Brian Arms...

Vancouver based Eugenio Battaglia joins us to go over his work as Supervising Sound Editor, Sound Designer and Re-Recording Mixer on Longlegs. The films amazingly successful theatrical run was fuelled by the unique sounds that drive this movie. Eugenio was instructed by director, Oz Perkins, that he wanted the film's soundscape to feel like rock & roll, so the film is infused with subtle sounds of...

Charles Maynes and Frank Bry have been friends and admirers of each other's work for decades. They combined forces for the new sound effects library BLAST, that featuresincredible explosion recordings. They talk about the process of recording Tannerite, dynamite, debris and lots more. Plus they discuss their thoughts on 32bit recording, the importance of creativity in field recording and what is g...

We asked our listeners to submit their favourite field recordings and tell us the stories behind how they were captured, and we got some really great submissions. These stories prove that sound design is not for the weak of heart, as people are mauled by dogs or accidentally lit on fire. Other stories are tales of pure luck, by being in the right place at the right time. Listen to these adventures...

The sound design community lost one of its brightest stars this week, with the passing of Ann Kroeber. Ann was a legendary field recordists and she left a legacy of amazing sound work. Her talent especially soared with animal recordings. Her sounds are the basis of countless Hollywood creatures and animal characters. Tonebenders' host Tim Muirhead starts this episode with a few stories of his inte...

Creating sound for an installation in a physical space, like a museum or for an art piece, is a whole different world then tackling the sound of a film or game. There are so many variables it can make your head explode, exhibition space acoustics need to be accounted for, speaker placement can be any arrangement you can dream up, client expectations need to be met and managed, playback systems mus...

When working on a project that features horses on screen, the sound design can be broken up into 3 main categories: Their hooves, Saddle/Bridle, and their Vocalizations and Breathing. None of these are easy to design the sound for. Luckily we have some of the most talented people working in audio post-production chiming in, to tell us how they approach horses in their work. Paula Fairfield, George...

Have you ever been watching a stand-up comedy special and felt like you were in the room the day it was recorded? A lot of that energy relies on the sound of the crowd as they laugh and react to what the performer is doing on stage. Vinny Alfano has worked on the audio post-production on stand-up specials from Mike Birbiglia, Sarah Silverman, Iliza Shlesinger, Louis C.K, David A. Arnold and more....