Tonebenders Podcast

Crystal Lake is the hit new prequel series to the Friday The 13th franchise. The sound team had tricky tightrope walk, to find the tone of the original series but also make it something new as well. The show is a great mix of drama, horror and comedy and the audio post team was tasked with guiding the viewer through all this with sound design that is both over the top and extremely subtle. Supervising Sound Editors/ Re-Reording Mixers Steve "Major" Giammaria and Nicholas Renbeck walk us through their fantastic work on Crystal Lake. ______ Come out to Audio Post MX...

The conversation continues about what is expected when working in audio post on high level films and series. Where is the line between an sound editor and sound mixer? Greg King, Jon Greasley, Brittany Ellis, Nikola Simikic and Ben Cook all share their vast experience and thoughts on where things are going. Make sure you go back, to catch part one of this roundtable talk in episode 379. _______ Register for the Inside NYC Audio Post Event coming up on Oct 15th at Sound Lounge here: https://www.mpse.org/event-6844200 ______ Come out to Audio Post MX in Mexico City on Oct 29...

What is expected of the modern crafts person working in Audio Post? A lot of mixing is done in the sound edit, and a lot of editing is done on the mix stage. After a long day of work, 5 busy Los Angeles sound professionals gathered in Stage 10 on the Warner Brothers lot, to hash out how their jobs have evolved in recent years. They hash out what is expected from the sound team on high level projects like prestige series and wide release films. Greg King, Jon Greasley, Brittany Ellis, Nikola Simikic and Ben Cook all share their vast experience...

Lindsey Alvarez, Anna Behlmer, Laura Wiest & Karen Baker Landers recently gathered together in Formosa Hollywood's Stage 2, to share their paths while forging a career in audio post. The conversation is filled with stories of their experiences in Hollywood that range from horrible to hopeful. They discuss their early mentors, how they are managing being mentors themselves and ways things have changed over the course of their careers. Register at https://www.mpse.org/event-6844200 to come out to the Inside NYC Audio Post Event coming up on Oct 15th at Sound Lounge. ______ SPONSORS: Sound Ideas is heading to GameSoundCon 2026 at...

James Mather, Tormod Ringnes and Kim Christensen join Tonebenders' host Tim Muirhead on Stage in front of a packed theatre as part of the 2025 Sonic Days Conference. They talk about their work on iconic franchises like Harry Potter, Tron, Dracula, Top Gun and more. ______ SPONSORS: If summer has your next project heating up, Sound Ideas is making it easier to build up the library you’ll need. During the Sound Ideas Mid Year Sale, you can save 50% on all proprietary items. From impacts and ambiences to vehicles, animals, machinery, production elements, and specialty effects, you can stock up on professional so...

In the final episode of the talks from SoundDay LA, we have the HBO Panel of Emmy nominated re-recording mixers from The Pitt, DTF St Louis and Hacks. James Parnell, Todd Grace & Ed Carr join Tim, for a lively talk in front of a packed house at Glen Glenn Film Center in Hollywood, California. They discuss their approaches to long "oners" and the detailed panning they need, pushing backgrounds and ambiences as much as they can without crowding dialog, and how far is too far with the sounds of medical procedures. Big Thanks to SoundDay LA's sponsors: Remoto Playback (https...

The sound team from Stranger Things, Season 5, joined SoundDay LA to discuss how the series has changed since it's beginning and the massive undertaking they took on to complete the series' final season. Supervising Sound Editor Craig Henighan divulges an super interesting and creative story about what makes up the Mind Flayers massive vocal screams. Music Editors Lena Glikson and David Klotz breakdown, in detail, a specific scene to show how the music evolved over a full year of tackling it. Re-recording Mixers Will FIles and Mark Paterson discuss their approach to huge action sequences that have to play on...

The sound team from Spider-Noir join Tim on stage as part of SoundDay LA to discuss their Emmy nominated work on this unique sounding series. Supervising Sound Editors Ethan Beigel and Andy Sisul, Re-Recording Mixer/Sound Designer Ryan Collins and Location Sound Mixer Matthew Sanchez share behind the scenes stories from both on-set and in postproduction. Including how Nicholas Cage was mic'ed up under the Spider mask, the enormous amount of original recordings they did for sound design and getting loop group to perform in old-timey "noir" accents. Big Thanks to SoundDay LA's sponsors: Remoto Playback (https://remotopro.io/) , ASG...

The first panel of SoundDay LA was a wonderful talk with some of AppleTV's Emmy nominated sound teams. Including Larry Benjamin, Tim Hoogenakker, Matt Yocum and Sang Kim from Window's Bay. Anna Wilborn and Alex Jongbloed from Shrinking. As well as Phillip Palmer from Pluribus (Larry and Tim mixed Pluribus too). As a group they discuss finding the voice of a show, capturing the dialog on set in difficult situations, how foley can be an emotional catalyst and lots more. Big Thanks to SoundDay LA's sponsors: Remoto Playback (https://remotopro.io/), ASG (https://www.asgllc.com/) & Sound Ideas (https://sound-ideas...

Emmy nominated re-recording mixers Andy Lange & Penny Harold (Beef), join Steve “Major” Giammaria (The Bear) in conversation about life on the mix stage for high end shows. All three discuss how they approached the mixes for the most recent season of both series. They compare and contrast what a day looks like while working through an episode, their techniques for getting in and out of music heavy scenes smoothly, what their reverb chains look like and lots more. ____ For full details on how you can take part in this year's Tonebenders Listener Field Recording Stories, go to https://tonebenderspodcast.com/fiel...

Recent Emmy nominees Danielle McBride and Tyler Whitham join the podcast to discuss their roles as supervising sound editors on the sci-fi comedy Murderbot. Building the sonic world of a brand new sci-fi series is just about every sound person's dream gig. What does a giant two headed monster centipede sound like? What about spaceships with futuristic propulsion systems? These are some of the puzzles that needed to be solved for Murderbot. Plus the dialog had creative challenges as well, with lots of interior dialog, robot processing and comms that each needed their own signature sounds. ____ For full details on...

Alien: Earth expands on the sonic universe of the Alien franchise, with terrifying new creatures and technology. Supervising Sound Editor Lee Gilmore and Sound Designers Justin Davey & Nolan McNaughton, join the podcast to tell us about how they tackled the cavalcade of audio challenges this series threw at them. The classic Xenomorph is more menacing, 4 new Aliens needed vocals and movement sounds. plus lots more. ______ Los Angeles listeners, you can still sign up to the waitlist for SoundDay LA, on August 9th: https://luma.com/58xnoz87 ____ For full details on how you can take part in this year's Tonebenders Listener...

Re-recording mixers Erik Valenzuela & Sal Ojeda join Tonebenders to talk about their wild schedule during audio post on RuPaul's Drag Race. Between them they have combined to work on over 330 episodes of Drag Race, making them experts on reality TV postproduction workflows. Dialog often presents the largest challenges and they have to use every tool they can get their hands on to make the final show sound smooth and clean. We also dig deep into the Rusical (a Rupaul Musical) episodes and the many challenges they present. Los Angeles listeners, make sure you sign up now for SoundDay LA on...

Backrooms was a massive blockbuster this spring and the sounds in the film are a big reason why. The team was presented with some real sonic puzzles to solve, including the unique set where it was shot, creating sound design from the camera's perspective and sonically leading an extremely tense opening scene with no music or sustained dialog. Plus they discuss working with the film's director, Kane Parsons, who voiced some of the creature sounds himself and was one of the composers on Backrooms. Los Angeles listeners, make sure you sign up now for SoundDay LA on August 9th https...

Supervising Sound Editor Andre Fenley and Re-recording Mixer Kent Sparling join Tonebenders to talk about working with Director Boots Riley on his latest film, I Love Boosters. They discuss how the challenge of creating sound to match the heights reached by the vibrant and arresting visuals in this film, where the line is on how comedic the sounds should be, designing demon voice processing and lots more. Plus a big announcement of Tonebenders biggest live event ever! Get ready for SoundDay LA on August 9th. Go to https://luma.com/58xnoz87 for full details and to claim your seat. ______ SPONSORS...

This episode jumps back in into my interview with John Fasal, Charlie Campagna and Eric Potter. 3 of the world’s top field recordists, working in films and games. They discuss the never ending list of new gear out there and how they approach what gear they use, plus their favourite non traditional types of microphones and when they use them. We also announce the details on how you can take part in this year’s Tonebenders Listener Field Recording Stories. Go to https://tonebenderspodcast.com/field-recording-story-submissions/ to get all the details. Go back and here part one of this talk in Eps...

John Fasal, Charlie Campagna and Eric Potter are 3 of the world's top field recordists, working in films and games. We previously brought these three legends together in eps 315, and everyone decided it was time for a follow up chat. This time we focus mainly on the craft of recording weapons, including finding a good place to record them, developing your "voice" as a recordist and how the industry has changed in recent years. Big thanks to Formosa Hollywood for hosting us in their beautiful Stage 2. We also announce the details on how you can take part in this year's Tonebenders...

Gary Rydstrom sits down with Tim for a fun talk about his work on director Steven Spielberg's latest film, Disclosure Day. Gary's enthusiasm for the craft is evident as he discusses some of his favourite techniques, including building in small sections of silence during action sequences, removing ambient sounds to manipulate the audience, and how Spielberg films often begin with sound montages before music or picture even arrive. Disclosure Day has a stand out sequence involving the main character speaking an alien language consisting of clicks. From script to the final version, Gary takes us through his role in the...

David Acord, Matthew Wood, Bonnie Wild and David Collins have had their ears on just about every high-level Star Wars project in the last decade or more. From films to games to series (both live action and animated) these four are the modern-day trail blazers of the sounds from that galaxy far, far away. We discuss the Star Wars Sound Effects library, how the iconic sounds of the franchise are evolving, and why The Mandalorian And Grogu was the most fun they have ever had on a Star Wars gig. _____SPONSORS: Get up to 60% off Sound Ideas proprietary libraries right...

I recently got to visit supervising sound editor John Loranger, from Netflix's hit series Wednesday, at his studio in the Toronto area. We spent the afternoon talking about his work on this fantastical series and it's many audio challenges. These include creature vocal designs for the many different characters, finding comedy in the chaos, and discovering the right tone for this unique genre. We also touched on what it is like to work with legendary director Tim Burton and how important the entire audio post team is. _____SPONSORS: Sound Ideas works with partners across the media and creative industries to...

We brought together members from the sound teams of some of our favourite recent streaming projects, so they could share their workflows and triumphs. Vinny Alfano worked on both Dexter: Resurrection and Emily In Paris, Ethan Beigel & Andy Sisul we co-supervising sound editors on the recent hit Spider-Noir, Christina Wen was on the faders for Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette and R. Hollis Smith wore many hats to complete to sound of Noah Kahan: Out of Body. Although these projects are all wildly different in content and genre, each presented their own unique obstacles. It is fun...

When Johnnie Burn first came on Tonebenders in 2022, to talk about his sound work on director Jordan Peele's hit film Nope, it was immediately clear that he was going to be one of our favourite guests. He has since been on many more times, but this first interview is a classic. He discusses designing the film's ominous winds, the "voice" of Jean Jacket and lots more. As a bonus this episode also features a mini-interview with Johnnie about his latest film, Tuner. ______SPONSORS: Sound Ideas works with partners across the media and creative industries to distribute professional sound libraries, and...

Netflix's live action take on the classic manga and animated series, One Piece, has been a massive, world wide success. For season 2, supervising sound editor Paul Col and re-recording mixer Gavin Fernades, were presented with an intimidating amount of audio challenges. A sword fight involving 100 enemies, bad guys that battle by turning into smoke, whales the size of buildings and lots more had to be given sounds built from scratch. This episode was recorded live as part of AirCon 26. ______ Tonebenders' host, Tim Muirhead, will be hosting and moderating a FREE screening of Independence Day to mark the films 30th anniversary...

In the fall of 2025, Tonebenders' hosts Tim Muirhead & Renè Coronado travelled to Mexico City to host a talk with 3 members of the Pan's Labyrinth sound team. The event was to celebrate the film's 20th anniversary. Re-Recording Mixer Jaime Baksht, Supervising Sound Editor/Sound Designer Martín Hernández and Sound Editor Alejandro Quevedo, chase down their fond memories of working on director Guillermo del Toro's modern day masterpiece. This episode also features a quick message from Guillermo himself! This talk was recorded in front of an enthusiastic room made up of the Mexican sound community. Big "Thanks" go out to the...

One of the most watched films ever on Netflix is the recent Joe Carnahan directed action-thriller, The Rip. Key members of the sound team sat down with me at Formosa Hollywood to walk me down the path of the unique challenges this film presented them. From endless dog barking on set, to gun shots sounds that are huge, to a fun scene where they got to use ATMOS in a really special way. Supervising Sound Editor and Re-Recording Mixer Craig Mann is joined by Daniel Pagan (Supervising Sound Editor), Laura Wiest (Re-Recording Mixer) and Chase Keehn (Dial/ADR Supervisor) for...

Psychological Thrillers present some of the most fun sound design challenges. Building tension through ambience shifts, and subtle builds can manipulate an audience with out them even realizing it. The recent hit film The Housemaid, from Director Paul Feig, is a masterclass in using sound to to bring the thrills to their highest peaks. Supervising Sound Editors Andrew DeCristofaro and Darren 'Sunny' Warkentin joined me in the room where this film was actually mixed, Glen Glenn film Center's Stage 1. They walk us through their long standing collaborative relationship and their bone chilling work on The Housemaid. Including finding places for...

Supervising Sound Editors Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl have been working together for 19 years and have built a reputation for working on films that are highly sound dependant. The two sit down to discuss their work on the new blockbuster film, Project Hail Mary, which is another movie that relies on it's sound design in order for the entire film to work. The two describe how they created the "Eridian" alien language for Rocky, the sonic design of the space ship, their field recording trips to NASA facilities and lots more. ______SPONSORS: The NAB Show is one of...

Tonebenders' host, Tim Muirhead, went to LA last month to host the 4th Annual Los Angeles Tonebenders Sound Design Meet-up and attend the C.A.S. Awards and MPSE The Golden Reels. He shares some stories of his adventures in Los Angeles as well as a bunch of backstage interviews he did with the winners at The Golden Reels. As a bonus this episode also includes a short interview with all-time legendary sound person Ben Burtt!!!! ______SPONSOR: The NAB Show is one of the biggest gatherings for professionals working in media, post-production, and broadcast, and it’s happening this Month in...

Get an educated head start on your Oscar Pool this year! Go on a deep dive into each nominated film in the Best Sound Category at this year's Academy Awards. Featuring interviews with the sound teams behind One Battle After Another, F1: The Movie, Sinners, Sīrat, and Frankenstein. ______SPONSORS: Great sound leads to great storytelling. With Sound Ideas Memberships, you get full online access to the largest professional sound library in the world. Choose the tier that fits your needs, including up to unlimited downloads on the royalty-free use of hundreds of thousands of sounds. From cinematic impacts and d...

Supervising Sound Editor Laia Casanovas flew in from Spain to join Tonebenders in front of a packed theatre in Toronto. Laia shows real enthusiasm while talking about her Oscar nominated sound work on Sirāt. She discusses "worldizing" the music featured in the film to match the homemade sound systems depicted on screen, as well as the role wind sounds plays to ramp up tension and how the vehicle's engines presented unexpected audio problems for Laia and her team to solve. Listeners in LA, don't forget to come out to the 4th Annual Tonebenders' Los Angeles Sound Design Meet-up, Presented b...

One Battle After Another is the latest film by director Paul Thomas Anderson and it is his first time finishing a project with a full ATMOS Mix. Embracing the idea of "widening the screen with sound" Supervising Sound Editor Christopher Scarabosio, Re-recording Mixer Tony Villaflor and Production Sound Mixer José Antonio García set out to create an energetic and engulfing soundscape for One Battle After Another. In this talk they discuss building the riot scene, the truly unique car chase, the obstacles that the VistaVision camera brought to them and lots more. ______SPONSORS: If you work in sound design, po...

Zootopia 2 had the second biggest box office in 2025. People all over the world flocked to see it and that is not lost on the sound team behind it. In this episode Jeremy Bowker (sound designer & supervising sound editor) and David Fluhr (supervising re-recording mixer) discuss how they tackle a film with this much anticipation behind it, mixing dialog for animation, designing sounds to work with the massive score, their approach to international versions and lots more. ______SPONSORS: If you work in sound design, post, or game audio, you already know how much time the right library can save you. For...

To celebrate Mark Mangini's upcoming Lifetime Achievement Award from the Motion Picture Sound Editors, I sat down with him to stroll down memory lane. We dig into all the films that he has been nominated for Golden Reels on over the years. That is a lot of films! 23 nominations in total. In this part 2 of the conversation we go from the late 80s up to modern day, covering films like Aladdin, The Green Mile, Mad Max: Fury Road, Dune and many more. We also talk a bit about some of the upcoming films Mark has been working on recently. Make...

Mark Mangini will be receiving the Motion Picture Sound Editors Lifetime Achievement Award at this years's Golden Reel ceremonies. To celebrate this honour, Mark and I sat down in Formosa's Stage 6 for a fascinating talk about all the projects for which he has been nominated at the Golden Reels over the years. In this part 1, Mark discusses his early work starting with all time classics like Raiders Of The Lost Ark, Poltergeist, Gremlins and Star Trek: The Voyage Home. Part 2 will be coming out in a few days where we cover the rest of his career to present day. You...

This episode features an interview with Supervising Sound Editor and Re-Recording Mixer Skip Lievsay, from the recent film Marty Supreme. Skip discusses his team's approach to the ping pong sound effects and how to use use background sounds to ground a film in a certain time and place. Skip has worked with both Safdie brothers together on Uncut Gems and then with Benny on his own for Smashing Machine and Josh solo on Marty Supreme. Skip tells me what each experience was like. After I finish talking with Skip Lievsay, this episode concludes with backstage interviews featuring all the winners...

Wicked For Good pushed the Oscar nominated sound team from last years blockbuster, Wicked, to go further into the sonic world of Oz. Continuing the idea that every sound making it into the film had to have an Ozian twist to it. Nancy Nugent Title (Supervising Sound Editor), John Marquis (Supervising Sound Editor/Sound Designer/Re-Recording Mixer), Jack Coleman (Supervising Music Editor) and Simon Hayes (Production Sound Mixer) tell us about all the obstacles and challenges they met to complete this massive project. The music and sound effects departments worked really closely together in post, while production sound was constantly...

This interview was recorded live, in front of a packed house, at the Glen Glenn Film Center in Hollywood California. F1: The Movie presented a multitude of complex challenges for it's sound team, as the race cars have to sound huge and immediate and the music had to be "driving" as well. Then you add in the dialog and crowds and you are dealing with a monstrous brew of editorial and mix obstacles. Joining Tim on stage from F1 are Gary Rizzo (re-recording mixer), Al Nelson (supervising sound editor), Gwen Yates Whittle (supervising sound editor) and Gareth John (production sound...

Five members of the sound team from Director James Gunn's recent Superman film, join the show to talk about giving a new sonic identity to the Superman legacy. Supervising Sound Editors David Acord & Katy Wood are joined by re-recording mixers Chris Boyes & Tim LeBlanc as well as production sound mixer Lee Orloff, to do a deep dive into super hero sound. Challenges included capturing the dialog on set while surrounded by complicated visual effects and stunts and the sound design and editorial of creating entirely new sounds for super powers and pocket dimensions. The final mix had to find clarity...

Listeners of Tonebenders sent in their favourite stories of recording sounds out in the world. This is part two, 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 listeners Ronald Schmidt, Dmitry Chernov, Richard Walters, Jonathon Pilon, Lucas Vitale, Udo Baumhögger, Ryan Granger, Leon Regula, Anita Yung and Jan Dzyr. If you missed part one go back and find eps 334. C...

The new film Nuremberg is a surprisingly dense and complicated film for it's sound. What I assumed was going to be a standard courtroom drama ended up being a much larger film and it sounded fantastic.  The dialog was crisp and up front, the sound design was intense. Dialog/ADR supervisor Ulrika Akander & Re-Recording Mixer/Sound Designer/Supervising Sound Editor Michael Babcock joined me to talk about their unique approach to the audio post on this film. Using what they refer to as a "rolling premix" the film was tackled over a longer period of time with a small crew. T...