Tonebenders Podcast

At this years Toronto International Film Festival I got to interview a bunch of sound people in town to support films screening at TIFF. This episode collects 3 of those interviews, covering some of the international films that I saw during the festival. First up I talk with Oscar winning sound supervisor, Sylvain Bellmare, about the Quebecois film Mille secrets mille dangers (Lovely Day). Then Therese Gylfe & Tove Lidman discuss their work on the Swedish/Spainish film Forestera, which won a major award at TIFF. The final interview of this episode is with María Alejandra Rojas & Arturo Salazar about the really cool Brazilian/Mexican film The Blue Trail. The is movie is a futuristic science fiction film covering the unique ways technology will affect third world countries. __________ Sponsors: This Black Friday, Sound Ideas is offering its biggest savings of the year! Enjoy 50% off all proprietary sound libraries and memberships: our best deal yet on world-class audio collections. But that’s just the beginning

Sinners was a massive critical and box office hit earlier this year. The sound work was a major reason audiences flocked to see it. Part Vampire/Horror, part period gangster and part full blown musical, Sinners is not a film that needed a standard approach to it's sound design and mix. Re-recording mixer Brandon Proctor, Supervising Sound Editor Benny Burtt, Supervising Dialogue & ADR Editor David Butler, Music Editor Felipe Pacheco and Production Sound Mixer Chris Welker talk us through how the sound track was built. Topics range from capturing the the voices and live music on set, to designing the sound of the Mississippi Delta in the 1930s, to mixing everything together to feel real on the mix stage. Finally Re-Recording Mixer/Sound Designer, Steve Boeddeker, joins us to lead an in depth discussion on how long is the perfect amount of time for a blood curdling scream to last? __________ Sponsors: This Black Friday, Sound Ideas is offering its biggest savings of the year! Enjoy 50% off all proprietary

Listeners of Tonebenders sent in their favourite stories of their adventures recording sounds out in the world. This is part one, 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 features contributions from Nathan Moody, Simon Panayi, Tim Kahn, Chris Bolte, Andrew Dawson, JååN Verschoren, David Thomas, Philipp Feit,  Diego Lukumy and Lamar Samuels. Stay tuned in the coming weeks for Part 2. Congrats to Diego Lukumy and Lamar Samuels for winning the draw to receive a free pair of O-Mini high-sensitivity, miniature omnidirectional electret microphones, kindly donated by Chris Trevino. Sponsors: This Black Friday, Sound Ideas is offering its biggest savings of the year! Enjoy 50% off all proprietary sound libraries and memberships: our best deal yet on world-class audio

Viktor is an impressive documentary that relies on sound to tell it’s story. The film’s protagonist is a deaf photographer living in Ukraine, documenting the Russian invasion of of his country after he finds out he is not allowed to sign up as a soldier. Using innovative sound design to immerse the audience in Viktor’s POV (or more accurately POH, point of hearing), the film focuses on his frustration at being unable to fight in the traditional sense and his passion for photography, as a way to serve his country. This spoiler free conversation with Sound Designer Peter Albrechtsen, Sound Designer/Foley Artist Heikki Kossi and Re-recording Mixer Tim Nielsen, discusses how they manipulated the sound in the film to approximate how Viktor hears and just as importantly, when to employ these techniques. The sound design for Viktor evolved drastically from the start of postproduction to the final mix. They began with hard rules for when and how to twist the audio. Yet for the final version, all those rules were t

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 Soun

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 http

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.

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

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. Th

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

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://tonebe

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, an

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

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, prese

How is it possible that it took until the 322nd episode of Tonebenders for a discussion about the sound design of the Star Trek franchise?! This episode, featuring two guests that have collectively worked on over a 150 episodes within the Star Trek universe, will finally give us a chance to dig deep into the iconic sounds of Star Trek. James Lucero (Supervising Sound Editor), from Star Trek Lower Decks, and Michael Schapiro (Supervising Sound Editor/Sound Designer) from Star Trek: Section 31, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Star Trek: Picard, Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Short Treks are absolute experts on what this sci-fi giant sounds like. Both have also been nominated for Emmys this year as well! 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. Also you have until August 15th to get your Listener Field Recording Stories. Full details on how to submit are at

The audio post teams from both The Penguin and Season 2 of The Last Of Us, sit down together to hash out the work they did on their respective series. Workflows are discussed and compared, favourite sound moments are shared and many other challenges, that must be overcome in these types of prestige series, are opened up. From The Last Of Us, Michael Benavente (Supervising Sound Editor) & Samuel Ejnes (Re-Recording Mixer) join Rich Bologna (Supervising Sound Editor) & Andy Kris (Re-Recording Mixer) from The Penguin, for this illuminating conversation. Also Congrats to all four for their recent Emmy Nominations! 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. Also you have until August 15th to get your Listener Field Recording Stories. Full details on how to submit are at https://tonebenderspodcast.com/field-recording-story-submissions/ SPONSOR: Sound Ideas’ highly

Adolescence is a limited series on Netflix consisting of 4 episodes, each made up of a single continuous hour long take. This "one-er" format presented tremendous challenges to the sound team, both on set and in post production. Intense planning was needed in order to capture everything in production, and constant panning was needed in the mix to keep the sound locked to the shifting camera movement. Production sound mixers Rob Entwistle & Kiff McManus tell us about the organized chaos during filming, while supervising sound editor, James Drake, and re-recording mixer, Jules Woods, discuss the intricate detail they dove into to create the immersive feel of the final mix. 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. Also you have until August 15th to get your Listener Field Recording Stories. Full details on how to submit are at https://tonebenderspodcast.com/fie

This episode has been a long time coming. I have been trying to figure out how to tackle a discussion about A.I. and it’s influence on how sound editors will all be able to do our work in the future. So when the MPSE put out a press release about A.I. created work and it’s eligibility at their Golden Reel Awards, I saw it as a chance to broach the subject. David Barber, MPSE President, and Brent Findley are both on the A.I. committee with the guild and have spent countless hours thinking about how A.I. is going to effect sound editors. 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. Also you have until August 15th to get your Listener Field Recording Stories. Full details on how to submit are at https://tonebenderspodcast.com/field-recording-story-submissions/ SPONSOR: Sound Ideas is Introducing the newest instalment to The Hollywood Edge’s legendary sound effect

Recorded in the legendary Formosa Trident Studios, this talk features someone on the sound team from every James Bond film released since 1973?!!!! Michael Fentum ( Sound Editor on No Time To Die), Karen Baker Landers (Supervising Sound Editor on Skyfall & Spectre), Mike Prestwood Smith (Re-recording Mixer on Casino Royal & Quantum of Solace) and Graham Hartstone (Re-Recording Mixer on Moonraker, For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy, A View To A Kill, The Living Daylights, License to Kill, Golden Eye, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough, Die Another Day and more), talk about their initial thoughts when they found out they would be working on the Bond franchise, the scenes they are most proud of and lots more. Big “thanks” to the Motion Picture Sound Editors, for sponsoring this series of episodes featuring the interviews I did while in England.  To learn more about the Motion Picture Sound Editors, you can go to https://mpse.org/.  They are doing great work to support and advocate for sound editors around

Fresh off of receiving 2 Emmy nominations, for Sound Mixing and Sound Editing, the audio team from The Bear sits down to talk about their work on the latest season of the acclaimed series. Re-Recording Mixer & Supervising Sound Editor Steve "Major" Giammaria, Dialog Editor Evan Benjamin and Production Sound Mixer Scott Smith, break down the many challenges this series presents, both on set and in post production. They breakdown a few key scenes and follow how the dialog is captured on set, cleaned and prepped in editorial and finally crafted on the mix stage. Listeners in England mark your calendars for Sunday August 24th for the Tonebenders London Sound Design Meet-up presented by the motion picture sound editors. Full Details at https://tonebenderspodcast.com/tonebenders-sound-design-meet-up/ See you there everyone! SPONSORS: The Cargo Cult’s Matchbox 2 is a change management tool that is invaluable when doing comforms. It reveals the differences, reports on the damage, and then re-times your sound mi