SoundWorks Collection

Composer Takeshi Furukawa had the incredible task of creating the musical score for The Last Guardian, which is best described as a traditional orchestral fantasy score. The Last Guardian, from Shadow of the Colossus designer Fumito Ueda, centers on a boy and his friendship with Trico, a giant creature who looks like a hybrid of a bird and a cat. Furukawa was first approached for the project five years ago — but the game was delayed to be reengineered for PlayStation 4. Two years later, he resumed his efforts and went on to compose and conduct a score that was performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, Trinity Boys Choir, and London Voices at Air Studios.

It should come as no surprise that a movie that explores the loneliness that Batman must feel in the bat-cave after leaving his adoring public behind — even one involving LEGOs — has a fairly dark orchestral score thanks to composer Lorne Balfe, who argues that The LEGO Batman Movie has just as much emotional depth as any live-action Dark Knight tale. Balfe, who was part of the musical department for The Dark Knight series of films, shared some of his thoughts on writing for this animated incarnation of the hero’s story. Composer Lorne Balfe [TERMINATOR GENISYS, CHURCHILL, THE STORY OF GOD WITH MORGAN FREEMAN] is a Grammy Award-winning, EMMY and BAFTA nominated film composer from Inverness, Scotland. His filmography boasts an incredible breadth and depth of titles, ranging from major studio to independent films, tentpole video game franchises, beloved animated feature films, critically acclaimed television series, and documentary features.

In Part 1 of this episode, Steve Morrow (Best Sound Mixing) describes his work as the production sound mixer on this contemporary movie musical filmed largely on location in Los Angeles, and the challenges of capturing the live on-set signing of stars Ryan Gossling and Emma Stone. In Part 2, Ai-Ling Lee (nominated for Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing) and Mildred Iatrou (Best Sound Editing) discuss weaving the sung performances into a magical musical design soundscape.

Sylvain Bellemare (Best Sound Editing) and Barnard Gariépy Strobl (Best Sound Mixing) discuss the unique challenges of building the soundscapes of the alien heptapods and managing their multi-national crew working in Paris, Montréal, Los Angeles, and New Zealand. Adhering to director Denis Villeneueve’s mandate to keep everything real and organic, the sound artists describe using no electronics in generating the film’s sounds, and how the sound design interweaves seamlessly with the haunting score by Jóhan Jóhannsson.

Renée Tondelli (Best Sound Editing) joins us for an in-depth exploration of the sound design of Peter Berg’s film, for which she is nominated with Wylie Stateman. From the challenges of learning to speak “oilese,” the specialized language of the oil exploration world, to the problems of capturing usable production audio at the film’s noisy locations, Renée discusses how the sound for this action-packed film, mixed by Ron Bartlett and Doug Hemphill, came together.

Kevin O’Connell (Best Sound Mixing), celebrating his 21st Academy Award nomination, joins first-time nominees Robert Mackenzie and Andy Wright (double nominees for Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing) in conversation about their work on Mel Gibson’s film. The artists talk about using sound design and music to sculpt the three different battle sequences which comprise the film’s second half, the challenges of using period accurate weaponry, and how the sound of breathing can take you inside the main character’s experience.

Two-time Academy Award winner Alan Murray (Best Sound Editing) joins us to discuss his 37th film in collaboration with director Clint Eastwood, for which he has received his ninth Oscar nomination. From his first conversation with Captain Chesley Sullenberger to an eventful sound recording trip on an empty A320 in flight, Alan recounts the lengths to which his team went to make sure they kept realism in the sound track of the famous “Miracle on the Hudson.”

Greg Russell (17 Oscar nominations), Gary Summers (11 Oscar nominations and 4 wins), and Jeffrey Haboush (4 Oscar nominations) talk about their work, nominated for Best Sound Mixing, on Michael Bay’s film. The artists describe their long collaboration with Bay, and their work on this film to keep the tension high through the film’s chaotic scenes of battle.

This week we talk with Production Sound Mixer Steve Morrow about his work on Director Damien Chazelle's new film, La La Land. From an early age, production sound mixer Steven A. Morrow, CAS knew that his passion for movies would lead to a career in the entertainment industry. What began as a teenage hobby making films has since turned into a full-time career recording sound for a wide range of prominent films and television series, including the critically acclaimed musical comedy La La Land, starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone. This podcast episode is sponsored by Sound Devices. For nearly two decades, the Sound Devices team has remained true to the spirit of creative innovations and its original goal of providing top-notch, superb quality products that help sound professionals capture the clearest, most enjoyable media in the world. To find out more visit www.sounddevices.com

This week we spoke with music producer Greg Fidelman who recently finished Metallics’s new album Hardwired...To Self-Destruct. This is Metallica's first studio album since 2008 and is not the first time Fidelman has worked with the band. Greg also worked as an engineer and mixer on Death Magnetic and was the co-producer, engineer and mixer on Lulu, the band’s collaboration with the late Lou Reed. He also oversaw the band’s live soundtrack to their first-ever feature film Through The Never. Greg has also worked with other bands such as Slayer, Black Sabbath, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bush, Audioslave, Marilyn Manson, Slipknot, and System of a Down.