Find out how echolocation for an alien carnivorous plant was created using reverbed guiros and contact mic recordings of stomach growls, ASMR-type cricket chirps laid the foundation for the Xenomorphs' lexicon, a plastic RC toy firetruck played a role in designing Morrow's Swiss Army-style cyborg arm - and what Tasmanian Devil screams have to do with an evil sheep + much, much more!
Interview by Jennifer Walden, photos courtesy of FX Networks; Lee Gilmore
When it’s right, it’s right. That gut feeling is what drove the sound team on FX’s sci-fi horror series Alien: Earth, yet their north star was always series creator/producer Noah Hawley, who had a clear idea for how he wanted his show to sound. Hawley pays homage to the ’79 Alien film while introducing all-new technologies, environments, and, most of all, aliens to the Alien universe.
The series is set in 2120; two megacorporations — Weyland-Yutani and Prodigy Corporation — compete for technological dominance, pushing the limits of human advancement. When Weyland-Yutani’s deep-space exploration vessel, USCSS Maginot, crashes back to Earth, it gives Prodigy the opportunity to study the alien species on board.
Here, Pacific Standard Sound‘s Lee Gilmore (sound designer/supervising sound editor),
Brad North (supervising sound editor), Nolan McNaughton (sound designer), and Justin Davey (sound designer) talk about designing new sounds for Weyland-Yutani’s tech, creating a unique sound for Prodigy Corporation’s tech, crafting creepy ambiences for the crashed ship, building a Xenomorph vocabulary, designing sounds for several new alien species, and so much more!
WARNING: May contain spoilers
Alien: Earth | Official Trailer | FX
What was Noah Hawley’s sound aesthetic for the show? How did he want to contribute to this franchise in terms of sound?
Sound Supervisor/Sound Designer Lee Gilmore
Lee Gilmore (LG): Right from the jump, it was important to make sure that Alien: Earth was its own thing. Noah wanted us to pay respect to the legacy sounds of the original film, where it was appropriate, but at the same time, he was introducing a lot of new locations, creatures, and concepts that we hadn’t seen before. The goal was to create sounds for all these new ideas, trying to make them rad and interesting, while also ensuring they fit into the sonic palette established in ’79.
Having worked on other Alien projects, were you able to repurpose or draw inspiration from what you created previously and adapt that for the sounds you created for Alien: Earth?
LG: We made a concentrated effort not to use any sounds from Romulus. Romulus was an amazing experience and reusing any of those sounds felt sort of gross and skeezy. It felt like it would cheapen both projects, and it just didn’t sit right with me.
From L to R: Kristy Reed, Justin Davey, Nolan McNaughton, Lee Gilmore, Brad North, Joe Deangelis, Richard Kitting, Albert Romero
reusing any of those sounds felt sort of gross and skeezy […] like it would cheapen both projects
That’s all nice and high-horse-sounding, but then that means you have to actually go back to the drawing board, creating new tech sounds, new pulse rifles, new backgrounds, etc. None of that is what I’d call a fast process, but it was important to us to focus on creating something unique for Alien: Earth.
What went into the ship sounds/ambiences for the USCSS Maginot (pre-crash)? We really get to hear this tech in Ep. 5…
LG: We’re on the Maginot for almost the entire runtime of Ep. 5, so we spent an exhaustive amount of energy making sure each location was as unique as possible. We really wanted to feel a contrast shift in the backgrounds from one scene to the next. It was a challenge at first because your immediate instinct is “we’re on a ship; it’s gotta have a rumble going on right?” That ship rumble can wear out its welcome with a quickness, though, and does you zero favors when trying to differentiate between locations.
That ship rumble can wear out its welcome with a quickness, though, and does you zero favors when trying to differentiate between locations
When we needed to sell weight and size, we kept away from steadies and went with that classic Alien chugging hallway feel. We wanted to sell the geography of the ship as well, so the backgrounds get darker and heavier the closer we are to the bowels of the ship.
We also incorporated numerous subtle breathing elements into the backgrounds. It was my way of referencing the original MU/TH/UR chamber. No one will probably clock that, but it always made me smile.
Justin Davey (JD): So much of this season we focused on the Prodigy corporation’s technology, but Ep. 5 really let us dive into the traditional tech for the franchise. While the Prodigy tech was an exploratory endeavor to find the sound, the Weyland tech is a target we know, but that doesn’t make it an easy one to hit. There’s not a formula for it and it takes experimentation. But, you know in your gut when it’s right.
It was a rewarding challenge to create sounds for new pieces of equipment that we haven’t seen before in the Alien universe, but that needed to feel as though they could have been outtakes from ’79.
New aliens mean new sound opportunities! What were your guiding principles for creating new alien sounds? Were there any specific parameters, or was it a case of it just ‘feeling right’?
LG: It’s interesting because there are so many new creatures in this show that at first you’re really getting hit over the head with the blank slate of it all and a healthy dose of imposter syndrome. Crafting interesting Xeno vocals is hard enough as it is, and now we have four other creatures we have to figure out? I typed “octopus eyeball” into Soundminer, and surprisingly nothing came up.
Noah Hawley and Regis Kimble
Everyone dipped their toes in the creature pool, and it was a serious collaborative effort. We had a couple of goals in mind: try to make them unique from each other, try to establish a language for each of them that allowed us to convey different emotions, and — the biggest goal of all — make it creepy.
We would do our first passes of these creatures, and it was evident early on if we were sticking the landing or not. If we had something that had some potential, we’d send it over to Picture Editor Regis Kimble to review. If we got him to sign off on something, we were in good shape. Thankfully, nothing got outright rejected. Every creature needed tweaks, of course, but thankfully, most of them landed pretty well on the first go.
I love the Ocellus — that eyeball/octopus/spider thing. What went into its sounds?
LG: She went through a couple of iterations when it came to body movement. At first her legs were too wet, then too rubbery. Our foley team at POSTRED saved our butts and came up with a really effective, dry-ish leg movement.
I had always intended the Ocellus to have no vocals, but then, at the last minute, I experimented with the idea that it vocalizes when its pupils move
I had always intended the Ocellus to have no vocals, but then, at the last minute, I experimented with the idea that it vocalizes when its pupils move. I had Regis sitting in my room with me, and we started messing around with this idea and auditioning sounds. We were coming up blank, and then I played some completely unrelated, super random sound by accident, and we both looked at each other with raised eyebrows. There’s no way this is going to work, but it did. It’s in a much lower register than you’d expect for something that size. They aren’t huge players and are pretty subtle, but the Ocellus vocals were one of my favorite things this season, just due to the “happy accident-ness” of it all.
What went into the sounds for the alien ticks? There’s that great scene in Ep. 5, where one escapes and releases its larvae into Chibuzo’s drink. Later, Rahim tries to surgically remove them from apprentice engineer Malachite’s chest cavity, but they release a defensive toxic gas — so many fun sounds!
Nolan McNaughton (NM): I’m loving how audiences are reacting to the ticks. Everyone’s disgusted, and it’s the best. They were a team effort: our foley crew at POSTRED gave us a great foundation of movement and feet, and I layered in surface details and extra legs to make them feel even more crittery. More legs = more critter.
My own voice is in there making suckling, slurping, drinking sounds. When you can’t find it, make it yourself
There are lots of gross textures for close-up head and body movement, plus a slithery tremolo for their speed. The blood-sucking and sack inflation were fun, too. My own voice is in there making suckling, slurping, drinking sounds. When you can’t find it, make it yourself.
Lee and I tag-teamed the vocals. I did a first pass with high screeches, squeaks, and lower, talky clicks. After notes from Noah and Regis asking for more mocking traits and a hyena-like laugh, Lee ran with it, giving them the staggered rise-and-fall signature they wanted.
What went into the sound of the plant creature D. Plumbicare (The Orchid)?
NM: Everyone brought their A-game and their own flavors for this. Chris Terhune had made some Orchid sounds in predesign, and Regis really latched onto one: a rhythmic, shrieky chatter.
I expanded it with uber-pitched-down bird calls, verby guiros, and my favorite: processed hydrophone/contact mic recordings of my stomach growling and gurgling
Noah and Regis had the idea that the Orchid interacts through echolocation, which was dream territory for us! Regis laid in a great round, clicky, poppy layer that set the tone, and I expanded it with uber-pitched-down bird calls, verby guiros, and my favorite: processed hydrophone/contact mic recordings of my stomach growling and gurgling. No clue what I ate that day, but it gave me amazing bassy pops and groans.
Lee later locked in that sequential rhythmic clicking that became the Orchid’s signature motif. I love that sound. Once the Orchid’s stamen extends, I shifted the echolocation to be more present and sharper in timbre; dolphin clicks helped to sell that.
What went into the sounds that Wendy hears coming from the Xenomorph eggs — the sounds she’s also able to reproduce through her voicebox/internal speaker?
LG: Noah wanted this locked early since it’s a huge story beat. He wanted something that felt like ASMR, something that poked the eardrum, but wasn’t exactly pleasant. Chris Terhune and Craig Henighan started working on these sounds months before we saw any footage.
I had been trying to sneak in different insects into the Xeno vocals, so Chris expanded on that idea and based the ‘Wendy Echos’ off of different types of cricket chirps and chitters
For whatever reason, we called these sounds the “Wendy Echos.” Chris and I have always really dug the Xeno insect hierarchy concept that was introduced in ’86 with the hive/drones/queen. I had been trying to sneak in different insects into the Xeno vocals, so Chris expanded on that idea and based the “Wendy Echos” off of different types of cricket chirps and chitters.
Wendy can chat with the Xenomorphs. What were your challenges for sound here? Can you talk about building the Xenomorph communication sounds?
LG: This was yet another thing that was just really collaborative. Regis had access to all these pre-design sounds Chris had made very early on. Regis is incredibly thorough and delivered the most fleshed-out AAFs I’d ever seen. He had cut in what he thought would work for the Wendy- Xeno speak, using Chris’s material. Then Nolan added his spin to them and introduced some really rad layers. I’d come in and try to trim the fat and find the gold pieces.
What really made these scenes come to life, though, were the actual efforts from Wendy
What really made these scenes come to life, though, were the actual efforts from Wendy. Brad North, who was co-supervising sound editor, brought actress Sydney Chandler (who plays Wendy) in to record different breaths and mouth movements. Having that human breath element was absolutely the glue we were looking for. It wasn’t going to work without her coming in and contributing that material, so Brad really saved the day there.
What went into the ambiences/backgrounds for Prodigy Corporation’s ‘Neverland’?
LG: The idea of Neverland is that this place is not what it seems on the surface. Everyone is putting on a happy face, but there’s always some type of weird machine running in the background. These guys are definitely up to something.
A good example would be the Secure Lab. We put a lot of effort into establishing “call and response” tech loops in the backgrounds. Machines fire up, that causes an air purge, and the air purge causes this thing to reset, and then this happens, etc. It was all very intentional and so much of those lab backgrounds are really just a pantload of spotted effects.
All that tech is juxtaposed with the fact that we’re also in the middle of a rainforest. Justin Davey handled all of our backgrounds here. He created the most beautiful beds of birds, insects and rain from recordings he had made in the Maldives. What I loved about what he did is the vibe of nature totally changes depending on what character we’re with. Anytime we’re in Wendy’s bedroom, all of the ambiences are lush and full of life with gentle window rain, but when we get to Boy Kavalier’s office, all of the wildlife bleeding through is more sparse, darker, and insect-driven. Our effects re-recording mixer, Richard Kitting, really pushed our backgrounds to play, which we were super grateful for after putting in all that work.
JD: As Lee said, I had gathered some recordings on my honeymoon (my very accommodating wife tolerated me bringing six microphones and a few recorders with us). Many of the other birds I used for the island were from recordings that Nolan and I had made on our various travels — primarily in Asia. We combined those with a wide variety of tropical birds and non-existent fantastical birds. A few of them are my cats.
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Most of them came from recordings I’ve made of actual frogs and insects here in the US and abroad. There are also a few I made from percussion instruments just for kicks
As we journeyed deeper into the island, the animal and insect life shifted to feel more dangerous and unpredictable. I started to introduce mysterious offscreen animal sounds, especially as Slightly makes his way to a mountain top to converse with Morrow. I had fun with the frogs and insects by the lake. It’s quite the combo-platter of sources. Most of them came from recordings I’ve made of actual frogs and insects here in the US and abroad. There are also a few I made from percussion instruments just for kicks. The southern US is represented particularly well in that location, as both Lee and I have recorded critters in different places below the Mason-Dixon.
What went into the tech sounds for Prodigy Corporation? How did you want their brand of tech to sonically stand out from the Weyland-Yutani Corporation?
LG: Justin found a great balance of Prodigy sounding fancier and richer than the WeyYu tech we’re used to hearing. Prodigy still feels retro and analog, but it’s also a little rounder and a little more evil-sounding, if that makes sense. If WeyYu tech is “broken,” then Prodigy is “polished broken.”
It’s also worth mentioning the transfer table from the first episode, as it’s the first bit of Prodigy tech we see in the series. This machine is transferring the consciousness of terminally ill kids into the bodies of hybrids — pretty standard, really. We let sound effects editor Tim Walston lose on this thing, and he did a great job of making it sound very sinister yet believable for being such an abstract concept. It really set the tone of what Prodigy tech was all about.
JD: I’ve always loved the tech in the Alien universe, and it was a blast to get to play in that sandbox. At first, I was trying to create “classic” Alien sounds for the Prodigy tech, but immediately it just didn’t sit right on screen. It took quite a lot of experimentation to find the Prodigy sound.
Once I had found elements I liked for her telepathic-esque ability to control technology, it helped me find the sound for their tech in general
There was a needle to thread between gritty and pretty. Lee and I both worked on the film Passengers where the tech was appropriately soft and harmonic. That became a metric for us as I was making sounds. We’d often look at each other and say, “it’s too Passengers.” Part of what helped me find the sound of Prodigy’s tech was creating Wendy’s “Tech Magic” sound. Once I had found elements I liked for her telepathic-esque ability to control technology, it helped me find the sound for their tech in general.
I spent […] time taking recordings of analog electronics and then sonically abusing them until I found phrases and pieces that felt right
I spent a decent amount of time taking recordings of analog electronics and then sonically abusing them until I found phrases and pieces that felt right. For Wendy’s Tech Magic, the sounds needed to feel digital but have a fluid and subtle musical quality to them. That allowed the sounds to feel like they were extending through the air while also carrying Wendy’s elegance.
Lee is right, the Prodigy tech is rounder in its sound. Weyland-Yutani’s tech has rougher edges to it. Like the corporation itself, the tech has an almost brute force power behind it. The Prodigy tech is, like Boy Kavalier, just slightly too clever for its own good.
Can you talk about your sound work on the Maginot crash sequence?
JD: This has to be the most worked-on sequence in the series. It was one of the first things we started on, and it was continuously tweaked and experimented with until the very end of the process. Noah and Regis had a vision for how the ship entered the scene that worked well rhythmically. They knew what type of sounds would trigger which characters to notice the ship and in what order.
[Nolan] created the vehicles, oodles of siren variations, and crafted what we called the ‘Private Ryan’ sequence once the rescue crew arrives at the crash site
The visual effects were also extremely complex, and we had to react to them as they continued to evolve. Once the ship was down and Hermit and the crew are on their way, the scene became Nolan’s baby. He created the vehicles, oodles of siren variations, and crafted what we called the “Private Ryan” sequence once the rescue crew arrives at the crash site.
NM: It was definitely a labor of love! Like Justin said, the VFX in this sequence were complex and slow to arrive. The biggest element was the ship’s sputtering engine, which sets the tone. This is a massive ship about to take down a skyscraper and throw the city into chaos, so the engine had to feel menacing and HUGE. Shoutout to our effects re-recording mixer Richard Kitting for masterfully bobbing and weaving through it all.
We kept digging for chunkier and chunkier rock sounds
I love how the APC’s door kicks off the scene, inspired by Saving Private Ryan’s Normandy beach. We spent a lot of time shaping the crowd, carving space for distinct shrieks and screams as the camera moves. You get some relief from the engine as we pan up to the crumbling building. There were so many VFX updates in this area. We kept digging for chunkier and chunkier rock sounds. And of course, the boulder smushing that poor guy as the crew nears the entrance? Brutal… but so satisfying.
The Xenomorph crashes the dinner party — great off-screen storytelling with sound! And I love the slow-mo Xenomorph fly-over as it comes flying through the glass. What went into your sound work for this scene?
LG: Honestly, this is my favorite scene of the season. We’ve seen a Xeno mess up fools before, but never a Louis XVI costume party. The scene is great because it has a little of everything: our first pulse rifle, first mouth punch, and first massacre. When the Xeno storms into the party, we really tried to turn it into an off-stage radio play. Homie is just wrecking people, and it’s so much worse because you can’t see what’s happening and you’re left to your imagination. We ended all that off-screen slashing with this awesome female scream that abruptly gets cut off mid-swipe. It’s so brutal and fun.
I spent a lot of time creating the Xeno’s complex, slow-motion crash through the glass, and was really proud of how it turned out
I spent a lot of time creating the Xeno’s complex, slow-motion crash through the glass, and was really proud of how it turned out. Then I had the pleasure of remembering an earlier spotting session in which Noah said he wanted that whole thing to play mostly silent. So I went to mute-town and really just focused on that scene being driven by Hermit’s heartbeat. Remember to review your spotting notes, kids.
JD: Tim Walston did a fantastic pass on this off-screen mayhem, and it was so darkly hilarious it made us all cackle with laughter. It’s absolute chaos as these people got butchered. I did a pass that was more cause and effect (crash > scream, slash > bleed), then Lee tied it all together. We used a similar approach when the Xeno eviscerates the soldiers behind Morrow and then gallops off to wipe out more.
‘Cause and effect’ was the name of the game for just about everything this season
LG: Justin is totally right. “Cause and effect” was the name of the game for just about everything this season. Everything needs to be intentional. Everything needs to be on purpose. Everything needs to tell a story. No filler sounds.
What went into the sounds of Morrow’s gun? (It’s half stun gun/half goo-shooter)…
NM: Lee set me up on the stun gun with some wicked taser files he designed. He wanted it to be real and grounded, not over-the-top sci-fi, but still cool. With that in mind, I went to town. I love the punchy start, the growly synthy electricity, and the signature ending: a satisfying rhythmic suck-out with a high, tonal cooldown. Super fun sound!
The weapon has a pressurized, punchy start (sweetened with glass), a steady spray (Lee used chittery bats for movement), and an airy, wet suck-out to finish
The goo-gun and the cocoon sack it creates were just as satisfying. Lee crushed the gun spray, which visually was all practical effects — a big reason why this series looks so good. The weapon has a pressurized, punchy start (sweetened with glass), a steady spray (Lee used chittery bats for movement), and an airy, wet suck-out to finish. Foley gave us excellent layers for the shell forming and hardening, which we reinforced with sound effects.
What went into the sounds of Morrow’s Swiss Army-style cyborg arm?
NM: Swiss Army is right — dude’s got everything in that go-go-gadget hand. It’s a quick beat in Ep. 1, but I loved his torch/welder start-up. The rhythm of the shot with VFX just clicked: pshew-pshew… paaa-shewwww (I’m a drummer, ha). Sonically, it’s classic acetylene sparks blended with taser zaps, and a phasey explosive bass from fire igniting in a tube. The constant is a tubular, wavy, almost mouth-like kerosene torch movement that cuts through perfectly.
Sonically, it’s classic acetylene sparks blended with taser zaps, and a phasey explosive bass from fire igniting in a tube
The torch extension has lots of layers, but the one that really fills it out is from a recording I made ages ago of a plastic RC toy firetruck. I went after servos, but the real gem was its chunky, heavy plastic timbre as I rolled and twisted it around. It’s a total library treasure. I wish I still had it to mine more sounds! This reminds me, I need to hunt for more quirky props like that, so thanks..
What went into the background sounds for inside the Maginot, after it crashed? There are such cool, creepy vibes with random alien sounds in the background, sparks, lights flickering….
LG: There are probably no fewer than 10 billion sparks, steam bursts, and ship groans in those scenes, so it was a serious undertaking. You could never really go into copy/paste mode either, because it was important to us to make sure every stinkin’ event was interesting and intentional.
there is a real type of emotion you can find just between the interplay of different types of sparks and steam, not to mention how moody the right ship groan can be
It sounds artsy fartsy, but there is a real type of emotion you can find just between the interplay of different types of sparks and steam, not to mention how moody the right ship groan can be. At the end of the day, what we were really doing was scoring the wreckage scenes with those elements. It was a ton of work. Nolan handled the majority of our wreckage scenes, and I think he was pretty relieved once we finally got off the ship.
NM: Relieved indeed! Our spark, steam, and metal wreckage/wronk pass took ages, finding gaps between dialogue, shaping perspective, panning, and reverb sends. It was lots of work, but so rewarding to hear it all come together in Joe and Richard’s final mix.
Lee knew early on that sparks would be a big sonic instrument for the crashed ship. In my first weeks, he asked for constant spark showers for the “waterfalls” in the background. Honestly, those were trickier than the big discharges — they’re noisy by nature and risked blending in. The key was building a timbrally diverse library of constants, swells, and one-offs. Having that grab bag on my Pro Tools timeline let me quickly cut, crossfade, and keep things evolving, layering in bolder hits or swells and sync discharges on top.
my highlight came from some recordings I made camping in Sequoia. I found a firepit grill and bear-proof food cache that both had insanely tasty squeaky hinges
The ship’s metal wronks and groans were a group effort. I built Radium patches and a custom library early on, but my highlight came from some recordings I made camping in Sequoia. I found a firepit grill and bear-proof food cache that both had insanely tasty squeaky hinges. The grill had a heavy, rusty iron vibe; the bin had a big resonant body that sang. I even climbed inside with the mics before realizing I had a tripod. Big thanks to my girlfriend/assistant for working the hinges and humoring me. And a shoutout to all the partners of sound designers — you’re the unsung heroes of field recording!
For Chibuzo’s research room, Noah and Regis wanted to keep it alive with creepy critters the Weyland-Yutani crew had collected. They pushed for it to feel active and present, so I spent a lot of time finding the right creature vocals and movements to slip between dialogue lines — sometimes familiar, sometimes ambiguous. It was fun peppering the space with all kinds of unsettling life.
In Ep. 4, they had shut off Wendy’s hearing and then restored it, dialing it back in until it’s not painful anymore. Can you talk about your sound here?
JD: We all loved the choice to open an episode this way. It’s so impactful to come out of the massive and powerful main title and immediately smash cut into silence. There is a slight low-frequency rumble we decided to play that served as our “don’t adjust your TV” message to the audience. The scene is well-balanced with humor and drama. It serves as a fantastic example of the power dynamics at play in the series. Wendy is vocalizing, trying to hear her own voice, and while it’s somewhat funny, it’s a stark reminder that every aspect of her physical life can be controlled by Prodigy.
We exaggerated this idea by holding back elements in the backgrounds […] as opposed to just a global high-frequency roll-off to the whole mix
Wendy’s hearing comes back online with a device that controls frequency and amplitude. First, she gets a muffled version of the world, then gradually, they bring back a full human range of hearing. We exaggerated this idea by holding back elements in the backgrounds until she had her “full” hearing back, as opposed to just a global high-frequency roll-off to the whole mix. Finally, they extend her hearing range beyond the frequencies of human processing until she’s able to clock the Xeno language again. Because we are also mere mortals, we can only hear these frequencies and sounds when the show is in Wendy’ perspective. It’s a nice John Cage moment and a reminder that sometimes the best way to emphasize sound is to take it away.
In Ep. 4, they release the Ocellus into the sheep-testing enclosure. Can you talk about your sound work for this scene?
NM: Pretty gross, right? This scene was all about sounding violent, brutal, and horrific. The Ocellus has zero mercy. It’s quick, nimble, and ruthless when latching onto a host. To sell that, I leaned into its whip-like tentacles: latching, grabbing, punching, piercing, and ripping into the host’s eye socket. Even when the camera cuts to the Prodigy gang’s reactions, the carnage had to keep going. Rhythm was the key, and every sound was given its beat.
Sheep vocals were a challenge […] I landed on a blend of goats, baby sheep bleats, and Tasmanian Devil screams
Sheep vocals were a challenge. They needed to shriek with pain and desperation, but still sound like a sheep. After a lot of trial and error, I landed on a blend of goats, baby sheep bleats, and Tasmanian Devil screams.
Noah and Regis also wanted a story point supported in sound: once Ocellus takes over a host, it goes through a learning phase. It’s figuring out how to control the nervous system, vocal chords, and breathing. Early on, the sheep/creature vocals are awkward and broken: human throat wheezes, squeals, and labored breaths. Over the series, those vocals slowly evolve, becoming more natural and less processed, more classic bleats and baas as the Ocellus masters its host.
In Ep. 6, I love the rainy walk-and-talk scene! Can you talk about your sound work here? Where did the rain sounds come from? I love the plant subtle bush-by sounds and the rain on their jackets…
JD: Any sound professional worth their salt knows that rain can very quickly turn into a wall of noise. In my experience, crafting a good rain scene is about depth and specificity.
crafting a good rain scene is about depth and specificity
For that scene, you want to feel the rain falling on the various types of dense vegetation at different distances. We want to feel close to the characters, so you need to hear the specifics of rain falling on a broad leaf to their left versus tall grass on their right. And the rain on the ponchos really connects us intimately with them and grounds us in the scene.
What went into the sounds of ‘The Fly’, including its POV flying scene?
LG: The flies were so freaking nasty. The front of its face leaves little to the imagination. One of the overriding themes throughout the show was that Noah didn’t want our creatures to sound overly wet and gooey, so we focused on carapace and exoskeleton-type sounds.
Noah didn’t want our creatures to sound overly wet and gooey, so we focused on carapace and exoskeleton-type sounds
For their flying, we went with papery, crunchy, dragonfly-type wings. When it came to its retractable nose and digestive barfing, we just went to 11 on the grossness and relied on some help from our friend Donnie Saylor.
NM: Lee nailed it — nasty! The phallic nature of Alien lives on with the new creatures. For the Fly’s vocals, I built Radium patches and performed a whole library to cut with. The signature came from a chittery, tremolo-like cheetah vocal, layered with all sorts of materials rubbed on surfaces to get a stutter effect. One fave was a coat hanger dragged on a wooden rack. The resonance was killer.
What went into the sounds of Isaac being destroyed by the Fly acid?
NM: We wanted to have an homage to Ash’s meltdown in the original Alien (1979) by sneaking in legacy sounds as an easter egg. We had access to his original freakout, and I built a base layer of glitchy servos using this, and then boosted fidelity with new recordings of malfunctioning motors. To expand on the glitchiness, I added synth UI tones and circuit-bent Speak & Spell sounds with a similar timbre to the original.
What went into the fight between Kirsh and Morrow in the lab? (Great vocal processing for Kirsh, when he’s half broken!)
LG: Nothing more fun to cut than a good fight scene. It was great because the on-screen tension between Morrow and Kirsch was palpable. Anytime they’re on-screen together, it’s electric, and you’ve been waiting for it to reach a boiling point the whole season.
We snuck in some servo strains to help sell the fact that Kirsch is a synth and then went super heavy on the metal when it came to Morrow’s cyborg arm
For the fight, we focused on walking the tightrope of it sounding really aggressive and hyperreal while trying not to tread into superhero territory. We wanted it to be a dance of never knowing who was going to be the victor. We snuck in some servo strains to help sell the fact that Kirsch is a synth and then went super heavy on the metal when it came to Morrow’s cyborg arm. This was one of the few scenes where music took a back seat and really let effects rip. Richard Kitting mixed the heck out of that scene.
Brad North (BN): Broken Kirsh dialogue had three layers. The first was a sci-fi analog sound, which was a nod to the original “Ash” treatment. The other two layers were a digital hash and a synthetic vocal treatment.
What were the most challenging scenes or biggest challenges for dialogue?
BN: The most challenging scenes for dialogue were those set on the Maginot spaceship, where multiple characters were speaking at the same time. Another particularly difficult scene was in Ep. 6, featuring Joe, Siberian, and Rashidi walking in the rain. Due to the production sound quality of the scene, we ultimately opted to use ADR for its entirety.
From L to R: Brad North, Albert Romero; Ben Schorr, Joe Deangelis, Kristy Reed, Regis Kimble, Lee Gilmore, Richard Kitting, Justin Davey, Nolan McNaughton
Alien: Earth is an incredible-sounding show! There are so many sonic details and well-crafted sound moments. This must have been a feat to accomplish on a TV schedule…
LG: This show hit the trifecta of being VFX heavy, introducing a ton of complex sound concepts, and was a pressure cooker of tight deadlines. Thankfully, we had a group of total pros. I honestly don’t know what we would have done without this sound team. So, thank you to co-supervisor Brad North, dialogue/music re-recording mixer Joe DeAngelis, effects re-recording mixer Richard Kitting, mix tech Albert Romero, dialogue editor Byron Wilson, Sound Designers Nolan McNaughton, Justin Davey, Chris Terhune and Craig Henighan, Effects Editors Tim Walston and Alec Rubay, our foley team at POSTRED, assistant sound editors Smokey Cloud and Katrina Henson, and music editor Ben Schor. Also thanks to Kristin and Moksha at Pacific Standard Sound, picture editor Regis Kimble, and post-supervisor Kristy Reed. And, of course, Mr. Hawley.
A big thanks to Lee Gilmore, Brad North, Nolan McNaughton, and Justin Davey for giving us a behind-the-scenes look at the sound of Alien: Earth and to Jennifer Walden for the interview!
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