(I receive a lot of email and texts with questions about sound and my process. Often, these exchanges have value worth sharing)

1. •Are there any projects you are currently working on?
   

I’m taking time off to write a book and catch up on my blog. I just finished a short film for a young director I really admire and that was really satisfying. I am also hoping to start a new project next week but I don’t want to jinx it by saying I’m working on it because it’s really unique and I will get to exercise some new muscles in it. It’s a big challenge for me with a lot of responsibility. How dumb is it that at my age, I still worry about “jinxing” myself?

1. •Do you have a film that was your favorite to work on?
   

Not really. They are all like my children, I love all of them deeply and often for very different reasons. Some films I love for how they sound and how they came out, some films I love because of what I learned on them, some films I love because of a great relationship that was forged with a filmmaker and some I love simply because I had a great time on them. I’ve been very lucky to have worked on a lot of high profile studio movies and, along the way, meet amazing directors and producers and actors and writers. These are deeply gifted and creative people who I am blessed to have worked with and learned from. I know I live in a rarified world that few will inhabit and I try to be grateful for all that it has given me. That being said, Mad Max Fury Road holds a special place in my heart because it was for that film that I won my first Oscar. That meant a lot to me, to be recognized by my peers in the sound community and in the global film community to have done something that they all thought was really good. That kind of recognition does wonders for ones ego and anxieties. It has really helped me feel like I know what I’m doing.

1. •How did you get into working in post-production for film audio?
   

I dropped out of college to come to California to find a place in the filmmaking community. I was not happy in college and didn’t really like my major (Foreign Languages). I watched the Oscars on television in 1976 and it hit me; what I really loved was making movies. So I packed all my stuff and drove across country to Los Angeles. The first gig I got was editing sound at a cartoon studio. I loved that job and would have stayed there forever... until I saw Star Wars and realized that there was more to sound than Boinks and Sproings and that I wanted to achieve more. So I got another job at Paramount Studios in Hollywood and that introduced me to my future business partners, Richard Anderson and Stephen Hunter Flick. What’s odd is that I didn’t have any sound editing experience when I moved to Los Angeles. In fact, I didn’t even know what post-production was or what a sound editor did. It just happened to be the job that was available at that studio at that time and they offered to train me. I got really good at sound editing and decided this is what I want to do for my career.

1. •Do you work with projects by contracts for a specific studio or get contracts by project?
   

I am usually hired by the director. They are given the authority to hire the best people that fit their vision for the movie. In the early days this made it hard to get hired because I had no reputation, even though I was good. Now it’s much different and most directors know my name and my work and so it’s much easier to wait for the phone to ring rather than go out and hustle a movie by making cold calls to producers I didn’t know. There have been rare occasions when a studio recommended me to a director because they know I am reliable and come in on budget so I have had my fair share of “sound doctor” gigs rescuing films that weren’t working. And yes, I always work with a contract that spells out the money, the time etc. We all need some protections. I am also a member of the Editors Guild, a union that makes sure we are treated fairly.

1. •What is your general workflow for post-production? What does a day of work look like for you?
   

This is too large a topic for an email but I can reduce to a few ideas;

Workflow: a) meet director and talk about the film, b) run the film with director and editor and make notes on what to do c) Go and work offline recording, designing and editing sound to achieve the directors vision d) review sound work with director and make modifications d) Bring approved sound to mix studio for final mixing e) Make modified versions of final audio useful for TV and Streaming broadcasts.

A typical day could include: Meetings with a director, going out in the field with a sound recorder to capture sounds we need for the film, sitting in an edit suite and synchronizing sound with picture, meeting with producers and studio to haggle about budget, going to a recording studio to record actors and dialog, reviewing sound work from my team of editors and assistants. These are but a few of the many things I might do in a day.

1. •Do you mainly only have a few things you focus on in the post-production process, or do you have to wear multiple hats in the process?
   

I have made a successful career out of being trained and fluent in as many disciplines in Post as possible. This is the exception rather than the rule. In an industry built around specialization, I have done my best to embrace everything. The skills I have developed overlap and inform each other in ways you can’t imagine when you only know how to do one thing. This inspires confidence in the filmmakers that I work with because they know they can ask me anything about sound and I have the answer. I also have studied Cinematography and Acting and Writing and all of those skill make me a better sound designer and allow the filmmaker to afford me a great deal of trust with their film. They don’t see me as just the “sound designer”, they see me as a creative partner.

1. •Do you work on projects one at a time, or do you work on multiple concurrently?
   

I prefer to work on one project at a time. I’m monogamous that way. It’s a weird emotional attachment that I get to a film, like a girlfriend or wife, I can only be the best boyfriend if I’m faithful to just one. However, movie schedules change constantly and sometimes a movie shifts schedule or goes longer than expected and it overlaps with something I have already promised to work on. This can be problematic. That said, many in my profession do more than one film at a time and they are successful at it. It just doesn’t work for me.

1. •Do you usually work in isolation or a group? If you work in a group, who do you work with?
   

I work most often in a group. It is rare in narrative cinema (perhaps unlike docos) that all the work that needs to be done can be done only by one person. On most feature films, my crew will be a minimum of 4 people and as many as 15. None the less, many of us are working at home so, essentially, isolated for some stretches but we always congregate on Zoom or meet at the studio for talks and review sessions. I am in regular and constant contact with: the director, the film editor, the producer, the post production supervisor, sound editors, dialog editors, foley artists, ADR mixers, Production Sound mixers and ReRecording Mixers.

1. •How have you seen the industry change since you started working on post-production for film?
   

It has change dramatically technologically and creatively. The tools I used in 1976 were mechanical and analog. Now most of our tools are electronic and digital. In 1976, sound was seen as a “technical” craft. Today sound has much higher respect as a creative contributor much like that of  the Writer or the Cinematographer.

1. •How have expectations of you and new hires in the industry changed since you started working?
   

That hasn’t changed much. I am hired to do a good job and make a movie better with sound. That will never change. New hires are expected to know what they want and dedicate themselves to the job. This has been true since the dawn of time...and hiring people. Did cavemen do this?

1. •Do you have any predictions or insight on how the industry will evolve and change in the future?
   

Technology will continue to impact jobs and employment, as it has for a century, in cinema. Many mechanical  jobs in cinema will be displaced by AI. Those who have learned to master the tools will prosper. The best way to succeed is to always peg your success on your inner and innate talents and creativity, not on your mastery of technology. A machine can replace technology, it can’t replace creativity.

1. •Do you have any advice for someone wanting to get into working on post-production sound for film?
   

There are ten entries in this Blogs archive called “ADVICE TO YOUNG SOUND PROFESSIONALS 1-10”

Read them.