Tonebenders Podcast

Tonebenders' host, Tim Muirhead, tells tales of some of his favourite field recording (mis)adventures and invites all the podcasts' listeners to send in their own stories of capturing interesting sounds in the wild. Tim shares stories of recording in unusual places, when strangers find microphones left to record on their own, his favourite sound he has ever recorded and lots more. To get full details on how to submit your own recordings to be part of a future episode of Tonebenders, go to https://tonebenderspodcast.com/field-recording-story-submissions/ This Episode is an updated re-podcast, that originally aired Oct 5th 2023. SPONSOR: Check out Extension 12 of the iconic, General Series 6000 Library: Sound Ideas’ most popular sound effects collection. This newest addition features over 2,500 high-quality recordings, over a wide range of sounds for both the fantastical and the realistic. Including noises of nature, industrial sounds, magical creatures and lots more. Available in four resolutions with descri

While in Los Angeles I was able to get 3 of the city's busiest sound effects recordists together, in the same room. We had a talk about their careers and some of their adventures in capturing the sounds for Hollywood's biggest films. John Paul Fasal, Charlie Campagna & Eric Potter have recorded jets, race cars, and many more iconic sounds! They discuss how they approach different projects, what their responsibilities are and how things have changed over the years. We also announce Tonebenders' is collecting Listener Field Recording Stories, for an upcoming episode. So dig out your favourite recordings and tell us the stories behind them. Full Details on how to participate at https://tonebenderspodcast.com/field-recording-story-submissions/ Also Don't forget about Tonebenders London Soul Design Meet-up, coming up on August 24th, at The Crown and Two Chairmen in Soho. Full Details at https://tonebenderspodcast.com/tonebenders-sound-design-meet-up/ SPONSORS: The Cargo Cult’s Matchbox 2 is a change managemen

House Of The Dragon is one of the biggest shows on TV and the sound of the show is one of the big reasons for that success. Al Sirkett (Re-Recording Mixer/Supervising Sound Editor), Barnaby Smyth (Foley Artist /Foley Supervisor), Ruth Knight (Sound Editor) and Doug Cooper (Re-Recording Mixer) joined me for an in-person interview to talk about the immense challenge of building the world of Westeros through sound. They also discuss the many different kinds of fire recordings they used, and some keys scenes including The Battle of Rook's Rest, The Red Sowing and Blood and Cheese's mission. 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://www.mpse.org. They are doing great work to support and advocate for sound editors all around the world. SPONSOR: The Cargo Cult’s Matchbox 2 is a change management tool that is invaluable when doing comforms. It

Arcane is a ground breaking animated series, especially when it comes to how the show used music and sound design, working together, all the way through the process. In this special conversation from the Riot Games Campus, in California, Supervising Sound Editors (Eliot Connors & Brad Beaumont) sat down with the series composers (Alex Seaver and Alex Temple) to talk about how each of their contributions, inspired the way the others approached their work. They discuss how the musical themes evolved throughout the series, how the sound design had to be based in organic sounds and their desire to make the sound live up to the impressive visuals of Arcane. If you enjoy this episode, go back to eps 309 for more Arcane talk, with the re-recording mixers Penny Harold & Andy Lange. SPONSORS: 
The O-MINI Microphone is a miniature omnidirectional electret microphone. Each one is hand made by Chris Trevino, a practicing field recordist, and a really engaged member of the sound community. He puts a lot of work into m

Hospitals are really hard to create sound design for. The walla and general soundscape of a hospital is very different than any other location, because they are dense but not necessarily loud. Plus there are lots of medical machines that need to be accounted for. In the new HBO emergency room drama, The Pitt, this challenge is amplified as the show takes place entirely inside an especially intense ER. Supervising Sound Editor Bryan Parker and Re-Recording Mixers Ed Carr & Todd Grace, tell us how they used the sounds of The PItt to increase the tension, emotions and payoffs..... all with almost no score in the series. No detail was left to chance, as a map of the fictional emergency room was used extensively by the sound team, to motivate panning and what kind of sounds are heard by the audience. The use of sound design to draw you into the story is one of The PItt's greatest triumphs. SPONSORS: Check out one of Sound Ideas latest libraries The General HD vol 6, which brings over 4000 new effects, to add to yo

With "From the World of John Wick: Ballerina" hitting theatres, it is a good time to talk to the sound team that, for some, have been working on the John Wick films for over a decade. Supervising Sound Editor Mark Stoeckinger, Re-Recording Mixers Andy Koyama & Casey Genton and Sound Designer Luke Gibleon discuss designing massive gun sfx, the challenge of each film getting bigger that the last, their relationship with the franchise's directors and how they find ways to make room for the huge music and sound effects that give the John Wick films their signature sound. SPONSORS: Sound Ideas Annual Memberships put Sound Ideas’ full range of over 600,000 sound effects, music tracks, and production elements at your fingertips with three tiers to choose from based on your Sound Design needs. The Creator’s Access Plan is perfect for the independent creator working on a smaller scale, looking for high-quality sound options at a great price. With up to 100 Downloads, you’ll enjoy significant savings compared to buying

I was able to get 4 busy dialog editors all in a room together, to discuss the highs and lows of working on dialog for films, series and games. They talk about the tools they use, the road blocks they regularly encounter and the ways they use problem solving and creativity to get clean dialog tracks for each project they work on. Sophie Mapplebeck, Louise Burton, Robbie Mann & Michael Maroussas share their experiences working on everything from blockbuster films, AAA games and prestige series. 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 www.MPSE.org.  They are doing great work to support and advocate for sound editors around the world. If you are in The Toronto area on June 13th, come out to the Back To The Future Screening screening with one of the original sound editors, Scott Hecker, in attendance for a Q&A about how they came up with all the

Penny Harold and Andy Lange tell us about their work as the re-recording mixers, on Season 2 of the hit Netflix animated series, Arcane. This is a show with intense dialog, massive sound design, soaring songs, and a bombastic score. Wranglng all of these elements into a cohesive whole, was a fun challenge. Arcane's groundbreaking artwork and visual style, made it a tall order to match that level with the series' soundscape. Penny and Andy discuss their workflows, how they work as a team on the mix stage and the importance of finding the perfect compressor! SPONSORS: Sound Ideas Annual Memberships put Sound Ideas’ full range of over 600,000 sound effects, music tracks, and production elements at your fingertips with three tiers to choose from based on your Sound Design needs. The Creator’s Access Plan is perfect for the independent creator working on a smaller scale, looking for high-quality sound options at a great price. With up to 100 Downloads, you’ll enjoy significant savings compared to buying individ

While in London, Tonebenders was invited to Wave Studios in Soho, to talk to Johnnie Burn and Paul Davies. I brought them together, to talk about their varied approaches to finding the "sonic voice" of each project they work on. They discuss the importance of a good relationship with a director, spotting sessions, pouring over a script well in advance, identifying the ambitions of a film and lots more. SPONSOR: 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 www.MPSE.org.  They are doing great work to support and advocate for sound editors around the world. If you are in The Toronto area on June 13th, come out to the Back To The Future Screening screening with one of the original sound editors, Scott Hecker, in attendance for a Q&A about how they came up with all the iconic sounds in this classic film. If you are interested in going to this screening,

I love a good book about sound design or other aspects of the audio post industry. Think of this episode as a summer reading guide for the audio nerd. The authors of 3 recent publications about sound, get together to talk about their books, how they decided to write them and how to best use them as resources. Emi Paternostro talks about his book "The Pro Tools Post-Audio Cookbook", Gina Zdanowicz discusses "The Game Audio Strategy Guide" that she co-wrote (with Spencer Bambrick) and both Andrew Knight-Hill & Emma Margetson are here representing their book "Art of Sound: Creativity in Film Sound and Electroacoustic Music" SPONSOR: Sound Ideas Annual Memberships put Sound Ideas’ full range of over 600,000 sound effects, music tracks, and production elements at your fingertips with three tiers to choose from based on your Sound Design needs. The Creator’s Access Plan is perfect for the independent creator working on a smaller scale, looking for high-quality sound options at a great price. With up to 100 Download

After over 300 episodes talking mostly to sound editors and re-recording mixers, let's get to know what the people we work in parallel with, are going through in their gigs. Tim talks to two successful music supervisors, Jody Colero and Michael Perlmutter, about the trials and road blocks that they encounter overseeing the music in high end series & films. They discuss how important a good music editor is, important ways they can save the post production process time and money and why it is important to get picture editors clearable music early on. Plus, the perils of people hoping they can get an expensive song on the cheap, because their brother's, best friend's, wife used to date the bass player from the band. Spoiler alert: it rarely actually works out. SPONSOR: Sound Ideas Annual Memberships put Sound Ideas’ full range of over 600,000 sound effects, music tracks, and production elements at your fingertips with three tiers to choose from based on your Sound Design needs. The Creator’s Access Plan is p

For the film Becoming Led Zeppelin, a documentary about the formative years of the group, the sound of the band was one of the most important elements. Supervising Sound Editor Nick Bergh had to figure out how to get the best possible audio quality from source material that was over half a century old. From tracking down quarter inch tapes in Australia, to finding the perfect pressings of albums, and having the National Archives hand deliver historical recordings, extraordinary efforts were given to make everything in the film sound it's authentic best. Nick tells us about how he personally did all the audio transfers, how he dealt with mostly mono material for use in an IMAX mix and lots more. SPONSOR: Sound Ideas Annual Memberships put Sound Ideas’ full range of over 600,000 sound effects, music tracks, and production elements at your fingertips with three tiers to choose from based on your Sound Design needs. The Creator’s Access Plan is perfect for the independent creator working on a smaller scale, looki

The Listeners is a BBC series, that is not an easy project for any sound team to take on. The plot revolves around a mysterious sound that only a very small number of characters can hear, but it is intense and intrusive for those that can experience it. Over the coarse of the 4, hour long episodes, the ones that are being effected by the mysterious hum search each other out and try to band together for support.  They find relief in each other, but to the outside world they look suspiciously like a cult of people, with a loose grip on their sanity. So how do you represent this idea on screen?  A constant sound that only a few people hear, but they hear it so intensely that it over takes every part of their life?  That was the riddle presented to Steve Fanagan (sound designer/supervising sound editor), Michelle Cunniffe (re-recording mixer) & Louise Burton (Supervising Dialogue Editor). SPONSOR: Sound Ideas Annual Memberships put Sound Ideas’ full range of over 600,000 sound effects, music tracks, and productio

A few weeks ago Tonebenders' host, Tim Muirhead, flew to Los Angeles for a bunch of adventures with the sound design community in LA. From hosting interviews on the red carpet, at the Cinema Audio Society Awards, to attending the MPSE Golden Reels, to doing a bunch of interviews for future episodes of the show, Tim was busy while he was in town. By far the best night of the trip was The Tonebenders Los Angeles Sound Design Meet-up, sponsored by The Motion Picture Sound Editors. The night was a massive success with over 250 people coming out to share laughs. In this episode Tim tells some behind the scenes stories and plays clips from the interviews he did while in town. SPONSOR: Sound Ideas Annual Memberships put Sound Ideas’ full range of over 600,000 sound effects, music tracks, and production elements at your fingertips with three tiers to choose from based on your Sound Design needs. The Creator’s Access Plan is perfect for the independent creator working on a smaller scale, looking for high-quality

Tonebenders was able to do an episode with every sound team, that has been nominated in the Best Sound category, at this years Oscars. So with the award show only a few days away, this week we are going to take listen to a selection of each interview, to try to get an idea of what was done on each film, to lead to it's nomination. First up we will hear from Paul Massey, Ted Caplan and Don Sylvester from A Complete Unknown. That is followed by Hortense Bailly, Cyril Holtz, Aymeric Devoldère & Carolina Santana from Emilia Perez. Jack Dolman, Nancy Nugent Title & John Marquis speak about their work on Wicked. The only animated film nominated, The Wild Robot, is represented by Gary Rizzo, Brian Chumney, Randy Thom & Leff Lefferts. The final sound team I talk to is from Dune Part 2, with Richard King, Doug Hemphill and Ron Bartlett. What a line up on this episode! Check out Sound Ideas latest library, General Series 6000 Extension 12: www.sound-ideas.com/Product/2459/Ge…00-Extension-12 Episode Notes: https://

Guest host Mark Kilborn jumps in to talk with the sound team behind the amazing journey of survival through Viking time period Iceland, in the game Senua's Saga: Hellblade II. This adventure from publisher Ninja Theory, follows our main character as she unknowingly deals with psychosis, including many auditory hallucinations. The audio team had their hands full to translate these hallucinations from inside a character's head into something the game's players could understand and react against. David Garcia Diaz (Audio Director), Alessio Mellina (Technical Sound Designer) and Daniele Galante (Sound Designer) discuss the entire soundscape from voices that were manipulated heavily, to their use of binaural audio, and how the music interacted with the rest of this complicated mix.Check out Sound Ideas latest library, General Series 6000 Extension 12: www.sound-ideas.com/Product/2459/Ge…00-Extension-12 Full Details on the Tonebenders Los Angeles Sound Design Meet-up, Presented by The Motion Picture Sound Editors H

Dune Part 2 had a lot to live up to after the success of Dune Part 1. The sequel has a bunch of new audio challenges to solve, as it is about as epic a film as there has ever been. Supervising Sound Editor Richard King and Re-Recording Mixers Doug Hemphill & Ron Bartlett, sit down to talk about how they prepared for the challenges this film presented them and what it is like to work with director Denis Villeneuve. This episode originally air on the Silver Screen Social podcast. Check out Sound Ideas latest library, General Series 6000 Extension 12: https://www.sound-ideas.com/Product/2459/General-Series-6000-Extension-12 Get Tickets to the MPSE Golden Reel Awards Here: www.mpse.org Full Details on the Tonebenders Los Angeles Sound Design Meet-up, Presented by The Motion Picture Sound Editors Here: tonebenderspodcast.com/tonebenders-s…sign-meet-up/ Episode Notes: https://tonebenderspodcast.com/300-dune-part-2/ Podcast Homepage: www.tonebenderspodcast.com This episode is hosted by Jackson Vickery

Join the composer, sound editorial team and re-recording mixers of director Chris Sanders emotional animated feature, The Wild Robot. The film has been nominated in both the Best Sound and the Best Score categories at this years Oscars. So we brought together the whole team to talk about how they found the "sonic voice" of the movie. Through unique instrumentation, in parallel with a full orchestra, and sound design that evolves along with the main characters, the sound in The Wild Robot is a driving force behind it's success. Check out Sound Ideas Latest Library Doors Gates & Hatches: https://www.sound-ideas.com/Product/2455/Doors-Gates-and-Hatches-Sound-Effects- Get Tickets to the MPSE Golden Reel Awards Here: https://www.mpse.org Full Details on the Tonebenders Los Angeles Sound Design Meet-up, Presented by The Motion Picture Sound Editors Here: https://tonebenderspodcast.com/tonebenders-sound-design-meet-up/ Episode Notes: https://tonebenderspodcast.com/299-the-wild-robot/ Podcast Homepage: www.tonebe

The Lifetime Achievement recipient at the M.P.S.E. Golden Reels this year will be Greg Hedgepath. He and I got to sit down and go over his career from his start in Washington DC with NPR, through his time at Lucas Films/Skywalker Ranch to his current hometown in Los Angeles, as a busy sound editor on films like Straight Out of Compton, Speed, Twister, Higher Learning, Blade and many, many more. Tonebenders is also excited to announce The 3rd Annual Los Angeles Tonebenders Sound Design Meet-Up, presented by The Motion Picture Sound Editors. Come on out on February 20th, 7pm, at The Thirsty Merchant in Studio City. This episode is sponsored by Sound Ideas, check out their latest library Doors, Gates and Hatches: https://www.sound-ideas.com/Product/2455/Doors-Gates-and-Hatches-Sound-Effects- Get all the details for purchasing tickets to this years Golden Reel Awards at: https://www.mpse.org/event-5866365 Episode Notes:https://tonebenderspodcast.com/298-greg-hedgepath/ Podcast Homepage: tonebenderspodcast.com

Oscar winning production sound mixer Simon Hayes sits down with Tim, for an in-person, one on one talk. He describes his goal of a world where there is no distinction between the production sound team and the audio post team. Everyone is working as one big crew to get the best possible sound for each project, through collaboration and open communication. Simon spins wonderful stories, going all the way back to Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels, about his innovative ways of recording performances so that is ready for a dialog editor to use with ease. He also discusses he techniques to keep everyone on set, working towards the goal of clean dialog. I could listen to Simon all day. This episode is sponsored by Sound Ideas, check out their 50% off sale happening now until Jan 31st: www.sound-ideas.com Notes: https://tonebenderspodcast.com/297-production-sound-mixer-simon-hayes/ Podcast Homepage: https://tonebenderspodcast.com This episode is hosted by Timothy Muirhead