Dolby Creator Talks

The audio team behind “Battlefield 6” sits down with Dolby's Alistair Hirst to explore the immersive, visceral, and detailed sound of all-out warfare. The team discusses how they built the game’s raw and authentic soundscape, from field-recording weapons, vehicles, and environments, to using Dolby Atmos® to design a dynamic mix that helps players hear the threats even before they see them.

"Since we do just play as [many sounds] as we can, we have to have a lot of systems just to trim down to the relevant things. Relevant things normally [are] someone running at you, about to shoo...

Director and star Olivia Wilde and Emmy Award®-winning cinematographer Adam Newport-Berra join us to discuss their creative collaboration on “The Invite” — a deceptively simple, four-character comedy set almost entirely in one apartment. But by shooting on 35mm film, and using creative framing, blocking, lenses, and carefully chosen camera movements, Wilde and Newport-Berra created a visual language to reveal the evolving (and devolving) relationships between the characters.

“There's something about the film running through the camera that changes the weather in the room. Everybody, I think, kind of snaps to... I think a lot of people forego film in c...

Legendary editor, sound designer, writer, director, and seminal author Walter Murch returns to the show to discuss his latest book, “Suddenly Something Clicked: The Languages of Film Editing and Sound Design.” The three-time Academy Award® winner reflects on a remarkable career that includes film classics like “The Godfather” series, “The Conversation,” “Apocalypse Now,” “The English Patient,” and “American Graffiti,” while exploring the hidden languages of cinema, the relationship between sound and image, and how creative choices in sound can be among the most powerful tools for immersing an audience into a character’s subjective experience.

“The job of the film editor [is] trans...

Two-time Academy Award®-winning composer Alexandre Desplat returns to the show to discuss his score for Aaron Sorkin’s “The Social Reckoning.” In this conversation, Desplat breaks down one of the most innovative scores of his career: An electronic-heavy soundscape designed to complement Sorkin’s famously rapid-fire dialogue and sharp, rhythmic language.

“Words are used by Aaron in a very musical way. When he writes them, there's a musicality, there's a rhythm, there's an energy, there's a flow. So that's very musical. For me, I just have to listen to it and try to dance with his words.”

Lance Oppenheim returns to the show to discuss his first-ever narrative feature film, “Primetime,” starring Robert Pattinson as “To Catch a Predator” host Chris Hansen. He is joined by members of his longtime creative team to break down the film’s audacious juxtaposition of truth and fiction: Everything from shooting with (literally) dozens of cameras and recording formats, filming much of it like an actual documentary, at its deliberate use of “fever-dream” editing, music, and sound design, resulting in an astonishing film that begs the question, “what is real?”

“I want everyone [here]… to do something that [they] would never do w...

Winner of the Dolby Creator Lab Grant, “Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!” also earned director Josef Kubota Wladyka the Directing Award in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. Wladyka joins supervising sound editor, sound designer, and re-recording mixer David Forshee and composer Nathan Halpern to discuss how they used music, sound design, and an inventive Dolby Atmos® mix to bring the film’s exuberant ballroom dancing, magical realism, grief, romance, and irrepressible sense of joy to life.

“Our whole thing that we always reminded each other is where to find the joy, how to keep it f...

The sound team behind “Cairn” joins guest host Alistair Hirst to discuss the immersive sound design and mix of this survival-climbing game from acclaimed French indie studio The Game Bakers. Built around the tension, focus, and physicality of climbing a massive mountain, the game uses detailed Foley, breathing, wind, environmental soundscapes, and a sparse musical score to make every handhold, footstep, and moment of silence feel essential… and perilous.

“The core gameplay is climbing. So that was all about the small Foley sounds, differentiating between different [holds]… There’s [also] a whole breathing system, which is the primary stam...

Rewriting can be one of the hardest, most important, and most mysterious parts of the writing process. In this panel discussion, Academy Award®-nominated filmmaker (and Dolby Creator Lab Grant winner) Carlos López Estrada leads a practical, honest, and often very funny conversation about taking notes, protecting your voice, finding the “note behind the note,” learning when to hold on… and when to let go.

Joining today’s conversation:

- Marcus Gardley – Playwright and Screenwriter

- Aiyana K. White – TV and Screenwriter

- George Watsky – Writer, Musician, and Multi-disciplinary Artist

- Jon Cohe...

Showrunner Oren Uziel and director of photography Darran Tiernan join us to discuss how Prime Video’s “Spider-Noir” was designed, shot, and finished for two distinct visual versions at once: “Authentic Black & White” and “True-Hue Full Color.” They break down the creative and technical challenges of building both looks simultaneously, from old-school noir influences to modern custom LUTs, as well as the enormous collaboration required across the camera, lighting, production design, costumes, makeup, and visual effects departments.

"Nothing was brought to set that hadn't been looked at already through both LUTs... It's measure twice, cut once. This was prep twice...

The Audible Original® adaptation of “Mexodus” brings the acclaimed Off-Broadway musical into a new immersive audio experience in Dolby Atmos®. Created and performed by Brian Quijada and Nygel D. Robinson, “Mexodus” is a live-looped, two-person musical set in the 1850s, telling the powerful story of the Underground Railroad that led south, following enslaved people who sought freedom across the Rio Grande into Mexico. Quijada and Robinson join sound designer Mikhail “Misha” Fiksel to discuss both the live stage production and the Audible Original adaptation, and how they used music, sound design, foley, live performance, and an immersive audio mix to bring this...

Season two of Netflix’s anthology series “Beef” received 16 Emmy Award® nominations, including recognition for its bold cinematography and meticulously crafted sound. In this conversation, creator, showrunner, writer, director, and executive producer Lee Sung Jin — who also goes by Sonny Lee — joins members of his creative team to discuss how they gave the second season its own distinct identity while still retaining the DNA of the show.

“The dialogue is kind of musical in a way. We are chasing these rises and falls to land a joke or a dramatic moment. And we all collectively feel it. And so that's...

Academy Award®-winning composer Michael Giacchino returns to Dolby Creator Talks for his fifth appearance, this time to discuss his latest score for “Spider-Man: Brand New Day.” In this conversation, Giacchino explores how he approached Peter Parker’s new emotional reality: One where the character is alone, isolated, and carrying difficult memories no one else shares, by reshaping familiar musical themes, excavating pieces out of the melody, and introducing a dark, synth palette beneath the orchestra. He also reflects on his working relationship with director Destin Daniel Cretton, recording an 85-piece orchestra at Abbey Road, and finding the right balance...

Justin Gray’s Grammy®-winning album Immersed was composed, recorded, produced, mixed, and mastered all with Dolby Atmos® in mind, from the very beginning. In this conversation, guest host Ben Givarz is joined by Gray, co-producer Drew Jurecka, immersive mastering engineer Michael Romanowski, and Dolby’s Greg “Stryke” Chin to discuss how the team crafted a captivating musical experience featuring 38 artists from around the world, where every performance, microphone placement, production choice, and mix decision was designed to put the listener at the center of the music. Together, they explore how Immersed reimagines what an album can be when space is t...

Composer Claudia Sarne joins guest host Jon Burlingame to discuss her bold, hybrid score for “Supergirl,” and how she blended orchestra, choir, synths, and experimental textures to match this more complicated, emotionally wounded version of the iconic DC character. Sarne also breaks down how she built Supergirl’s theme gradually across the film, letting it emerge piece by piece as Kara steps into her heroic identity.

“[Director] Craig [Gillespie] did not want the theme to play properly until she had emerged into the suit and walked into the character fully. We hinted at it earlier on when she's st...

*NOTE: This episode contains spoilers.

“Disclosure Day” is at once a conspiracy thriller, a first-contact story, and a wildly inventive showcase for cinematic sound. In this conversation, Gary Rydstrom, Brian Chumney, and Andy Nelson join us to discuss crafting the film’s immersive soundtrack, from its disorienting opening wrestling sequence, to Emily Blunt’s alien-clicking language, to John Williams’s score, and its many spectacular action sequences. But underneath the film’s mystery and spectacle, the sound team was guided by something much simpler and more human.

“We came to the one word direction, which was: ‘Empathy...

The team behind Pottermore Publishing and Audible’s “Harry Potter: The Full-Cast Audio Editions” joins guest host Richard Addis to discuss one of the most ambitious audiobook productions ever attempted. Featuring more than 200 actors, original music, detailed sound design, and fully immersive Dolby Atmos® mixes, the series brings all seven books to life in a new way — while staying true to the text, the characters, and the world fans know so well. *NOTE: This interview may contain spoilers from the Harry Potter series.

Joining today’s conversation:

- Ann Scantlebury - Head of Audio Development, Pottermore...

Sam Witwer — the voice of Maul himself! — joins us alongside supervising director and executive producer Brad Rau and supervising sound editor, sound designer, and re-recording mixer David W. Collins to discuss the voice, sound, and cinematic scale of “Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord.” Together, they explore how the series deepens one of Star Wars’ most iconic villains, from Witwer’s layered vocal performance and Maul’s emotional complexity to the show’s bold sound design and Dolby Atmos® mix. Collins also reflects on carrying forward the sonic legacy of Skywalker Sound, while staying open to the strange, unexpected discoveries that...

The sound of “Stranger Things” has always been huge, cinematic, and unmistakably its own — and the series finale takes that signature style to its most epic scale yet. In this conversation, supervising sound editor Craig Henighan, re-recording mixer Mark Paterson, and dialogue and ADR supervisor Ryan Cole join us to discuss bringing the final chapter to life, from the sonic DNA first established in season one, to the massive battles and emotional moments that define the end of the series. They also break down how the team balanced all of that scale and intensity without losing clarity, dynamics, or the em...

“Tuner” is a rare film where sound is not only essential to the cinematic experience — it is central to the story itself. Today we welcome back Academy Award®-winning sound designer, supervising sound editor, and re-recording mixer Johnnie Burn, joined by the film’s star Leo Woodall, to discuss how they brought audiences inside the world of Niki, a piano tuner with hyperacusis whose acute hearing makes him an expert safe cracker. Together, they explore how sound shapes the film’s tension, romance, and point of view, from delicate safe-cracking rhythms and subjective hearing shifts to put the audience directly in...

Front of house mix engineer Paul Falcone joins host Ben Givarz to discuss how he helped bring Mariah Carey’s residencies at Dolby Live at Park MGM in Las Vegas to life as immersive live music experiences. He reflects on his journey from legendary New York recording studios to live concert mixing, and shares how he uses Dolby Atmos®, along with precise room tuning and even in-car reference checks, to keep the focus on Mariah’s iconic voice and maximize the emotional impact of the show.

“I always would get that feeling as a kid. I always wanted...

Independent film financing can be one of the most mysterious — and most essential — parts of getting a movie made. In this illuminating panel discussion, Academy Award®-nominated filmmaker (and Dolby Creator Lab Grant winner) Carlos López Estrada leads a practical conversation about how projects move from script to package to market, what financiers are actually looking for, and what emerging filmmakers can do to give their films the best possible chance of getting made.

Joining the discussion:

- Marissa Frobes – Media Finance Agent, CAA

- Chris Quintos Cathcart – Independent Financier and Co-CEO of Unapolo...

Front of house mixer Vince Casamatta joins us to discuss how he helped transform Maroon 5’s residency at Dolby Live at Park MGM in Las Vegas into a powerful live Dolby Atmos® experience. He reflects on everything from pre-production to the subtle live spatial decisions that make the technology disappear behind the music, always in service of the songs and the emotional impact of the show.

“The format has to serve the art and not the other way around. And I think we were really able to do that by making movements and making decisions that maybe audie...

Today we welcome acclaimed horror filmmaker Lee Cronin back to the show, alongside sound designer and supervising sound editor Peter Albrechtsen, to discuss their delightfully gory new horror film, “Lee Cronin’s The Mummy.” As with their previous collaboration, 2023’s hit “Evil Dead Rise,” Cronin and Albrechtsen embraced sound design from the earliest stages of the creative process, using it not only for maximum impact, but also to sharpen the film’s storytelling.

“I actually found the edit on this one quite stressful… We would have been in big trouble without early sound in it. Because of the way it was wri...

Legendary mix engineer Kevin Madigan joins us to discuss his pioneering work helping create Santana’s live Dolby Atmos residency at House of Blues in Las Vegas and what it takes to reimagine one of rock’s most iconic sounds for a live audience. He also reflects on his work at Larrabee Studios in Los Angeles, building out the Dolby Atmos® room and mixing music from Santana’s landmark album “Supernatural.”

“The music felt 3D and you were immersed in it. And we do have a lot of elements to do that with the Santana band and within the mu...

Composer Daniel Pemberton returns to Dolby Creator Talks to discuss his inventive new original score for “Project Hail Mary.” In conversation with guest host Jon Burlingame, Pemberton breaks down how he built a custom musical language for the film using everything from wooden blocks, body percussion, treated vocals, bowls of water, and even a squeaky water tap recorded on his iPhone. He also reflects on balancing the film’s vast sci-fi scale with its intimate emotional core, and how experimentation, failure, and discovery shaped one of his most ambitious scores yet.

“Developing all your own sounds… I call it mi...

Getting a project made in the entertainment industry can be a mystifying process. But one thing is for sure: nothing would happen without the Hollywood assistants who help champion them and assist (and, yes, sometimes cajole) the executives into getting a green light. To help shed some light on all this, filmmaker Carlos López Estrada hosts another insightful Satellite Session, featuring a panel of top executives, producers, agents, and assistants, to explain how Hollywood assistants work, and why they are so essential to the entertainment industry. As well as how it could be a pathway “in,” for those of yo...

https://tinyurl.com/k7nu9zs5

Check out our playlist of exclusive interviews with the 2026 Academy Award® nominees via the link above. Categories and nominees include:

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

- Frankenstein, with Dan Laustsen and Director Guillermo del Toro

- Marty Supreme, with Darius Khondji

- Sinners, with Autumn Durald Arkapaw

- Train Dreams, with Adolpho Veloso

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

- Bugonia with Jerskin Fendrix

- Frankenstein with Alexandre Desplat

- Hamnet, with Max Richter

...

Join us for a behind-the-scenes conversation with Academy Award®-nominated cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw about her work on “Sinners” — and the creative choices that shaped the film’s look from the very early stages of conception. Autumn breaks down how she and director Ryan Coogler developed the visual language together, from camera and lens selection to lighting strategies designed to support performances, tone, and mood, especially in those challenging night scenes. Along the way, she reflects on collaboration, preparation, and the real on-set problem-solving that is always involved in filmmaking.

“How our team collaborates: It’s the authority [di...

Join us for a behind-the-scenes conversation with the Oscar-nominated sound team behind “One Battle After Another,” as they share how they shaped the film’s world through sound—from intimate character moments to large-scale action. They discuss what it takes to capture great audio on set, build powerful sequences in post, and blending dialogue, effects, and music into a mix that plays on the biggest screens — plus how their collaboration with Paul Thomas Anderson guided the sonic identity of the movie from start to finish.

“Knowing Paul [Thomas Anderson] — and knowing any director — something happens on set, sound-wise and...

Academy Award®-nominated cinematographer Darius Khondji joins us to discuss his stunning work on “Marty Supreme.” In this episode, Khondji unpacks his bold visual approach with director Josh Safdie, from shooting on film with classic anamorphic lenses and expressive close-ups to building a richly textured 1950s world through production design, lighting, and color. He also shares how collaboration across every department shaped the film’s emotional power.

“Anamorphic can be very minimal… The important thing is the way it renders closeups; it makes people bigger than life, like black and white does… The real old classic anamorphic of the fiftie...

Join us for our conversation with Academy Award®-nominated cinematographer Adolpho Veloso, here to discuss his stunning work on “Train Dreams.” In this episode, Veloso breaks down his natural-light approach to capturing the film’s poetic portrait of early 20th century America, from shooting digitally on the Alexa 35 to embracing a 3:2 aspect ratio inspired by old family photographs. He also shares how close collaboration with the actors, along with memory and metaphor, shaped everything from handheld camera movement to the film’s unforgettable wildfire sequence — all in service of telling an intimate story on an epic visual canvas.

“It’s suc...

This week we sit down with the Oscar-nominated sound team behind Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein,” to explore the film’s epic and deeply expressive soundtrack. Sound designer and supervising sound editor Nathan Robitaille, supervising sound editor Nelson Ferreira, re-recording mixer Brad Zoern, and production sound mixer Greg Chapman break down their long-standing collaboration with del Toro and the bold creative choices that shaped the film’s sonic identity. From early sound exploration and practical effects to dynamic use of Dolby Atmos® and the creation of the film’s unforgettable creature voice, this conversation offers a deep dive into how sound dri...

The sound of “Sinners” is bold, immersive, and essential to the film’s emotional power — a standout achievement that has earned the film a spot on the shortlist for Best Sound at this year’s upcoming Academy Awards®. We’re joined by re-recording mixer and sound designer Steve Boeddeker, supervising sound editor Benny Burtt, re-recording mixer Brandon Proctor, and production sound mixer Chris Welcker to break down how they layered music, dialogue, and sound design to shape the film’s mood, rhythm, and storytelling, including that incredible sequence conjuring musical spirits from the past and the future.

“This comes back t...

After winning the Cannes Jury Prize in 2025, “Sirât” has been added to the shortlist of potential nominees for Best Sound at this year’s upcoming Academy Awards®, a rare achievement for an international feature film. We are delighted to welcome acclaimed filmmaker Óliver Laxe, sound designer & supervising sound editor Laia Casanovas, re-recording mixer Yasmina Praderas, and production sound mixer Amanda Villavieja to talk to us about how they crafted such an immersive and visceral track for this powerful film.

“We wanted to make a genre film inspired by American cinema from the ‘70s…. I come from underground cin...

GRAMMY Award®-winning producer, mixer, and engineer Ryan Hewitt joins us from his Nashville studio to discuss re-mixing the entire Oasis catalog in Dolby Atmos®. We dive into his journey from learning the craft from his father, to engineering the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Stadium Arcadium with Rick Rubin, to building his own Stratmosphere Studios. Ryan shares insights on Dolby Atmos mixes for artists like Noah Kahan, his meticulous work preserving the power and legacy of Oasis’ iconic albums, and his experience seeing their long-awaited 2025 reunion tour at Wembley.

“The idea was to honor the original mixes, note for...

Writer, director, and producer Bradley Cooper joins us to discuss the sound of his latest film, “Is This Thing On?” Audio became a primary storytelling tool in shaping the film’s deeply subjective point of view. In conversation with the film’s sound team, the director breaks down how perspective, texture, and restraint were used to place audiences directly inside the emotional experience of a man discovering stand-up comedy as his marriage unravels. For Cooper, that approach ultimately comes back to how films are meant to be experienced in theaters.

“It’s really about the theatergoing experience — how you best t...

Audio Director Chris Fox and Composer Olivier Derivière sit down with guest host Alistair Hirst to explore the immersive sound of “South of Midnight,” the groundbreaking action-adventure game from Compulsion Games. Set in the American Deep South, the score skillfully weaves together traditional Southern-style music and folk songs with a dark, otherworldly essence as the player faces the eerie creatures of Southern legend. In this conversation, Fox and Derivière break down how sound design, music, and a fully realized Dolby Atmos® mix work together to pull players deep into the game’s mythic world.

“It really come...

What does it mean to create art during times of global conflict? Guest moderator Abiram “Abi” Brizuela leads a thoughtful and timely conversation on how filmmakers respond to war, displacement, and uncertainty through their work. Spanning both narrative and documentary filmmaking, the discussion explores the emotional challenges of telling these stories and the enduring role of cinema in helping audiences reflect, connect, and understand complex human experiences.

Joining the discussion:

- Cherien Dabis – Writer/Director (“All That’s Left of You”)

- Ramona S. Diaz – Director (“And So It Begins”)

- Gregory Nava – Wri...

Legendary filmmaker Darren Aronofsky and cinematographer Matthew Libatique, ASC, LPS, join us to reflect on their three decades of creative partnership: from “Pi,” “Requiem for a Dream,” “Black Swan,” and “The Whale,” to their newest collaboration, “Caught Stealing.” In this wide-ranging conversation, they discuss the evolution of their visual language, how technology continues to reshape the craft, and the inspirations behind the kinetic, East-Village-in-the-’90s aesthetic of “Caught Stealing.” And as the industry stands on the brink of profound transformation, Aronofsky shares why he believes the future is full of opportunities for new kinds of innovative storytelling.

“I think how we make films is...

Academy Award®-winning composer Volker Bertelmann joins guest host Jon Burlingame to explore his gripping and sonically inventive score for “A House of Dynamite.” Their conversation delves into his use of unconventional textures, low-frequency resonance, and layered instrumental techniques to create a sense of mounting dread throughout the film. And as Bertelmann explains, embracing irregular and unexpected sounds became central to building the score’s tension and character.

“I learned that when I was working a lot with prepared piano sounds, there were a lot of random sounds that just somehow did what they want. The material was just...