Top Gun: Maverick Oscar Best Sound Asbjoern Andersen


Top Gun: Maverick won the Oscar for Best Sound at the 2023 Oscars! A huge congrats to James H. Mather, Al Nelson, Bjørn Schroeder, Chris Burdon, Mark Taylor, and Mark Weingarten - and to the other Oscar Best Sound nominees. Here's the story behind Top Gun: Maverick's award-winning sound + as a bonus, we've included the sound stories behind the other 2023 Oscar nominees for Best Sound too:

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The Sound of Top Gun: Maverick – by the Dolby Institute:

 
DDirector Joseph Kosinski and his sound team discuss their groundbreaking work on the hit sequel to the classic 80s film Top Gun. Joining the discussion are re-recording mixers Chris Burdon and Mark Taylor, as well as supervising sound editors James Mather, Al Nelson, and Bjørn Schroeder. Since most of the movie’s flight scenes were filmed practically (or “”in-camera””) without relying on too many visual effects in post-production, this created some unique challenges for the sound team.



The Sound of Top Gun: Maverick | The #DolbyInstitute Podcast


Top Gun: Maverick – Tonebenders:

 
We talk with the audio team behind the smash hit film Top Gun: Maverick about making the film sound bombastic and loud while also letting smaller sounds, like the pilots breathing, play prominently to build tension. Sound supervisors Al Nelson, James Mather and Bjorn Schroeder are joined by re-recording mixers Chris Burdon and Mark Taylor explain the whole audio post process from field recording jets on an aircraft carrier to the final mix.


Sound highlight - article continues below:

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Why Top Gun: Maverick won the Oscar for sound – VOX:

 
One of the most exciting things about Top Gun: Maverick is their emphasis on practical effects. Most times, when you see the film’s actors struggling against high-level g-forces, that struggle is real. The actors spent months training to be in planes doing their own stunts, and the whole film feels grounded because of it.

Most times these sequences were shot practically … but not every time. In the film’s incredible seven-minute opener (also known as the Darkstar sequence), nearly everything we see is completely fake. The plane used to go Mach 10 doesn’t really exist yet. It’s a prototype for a plane that will exist in the future, built by Lockheed Martin. While a prototype of that plane was used for taxiing around the runway, anytime we see the plane in the air it’s entirely VFX — impeccable VFX. But beyond the VFX, the thing that makes it feel so real is the sound design.

In this video, Top Gun: Maverick‘s supervising sound producer Al Nelson breaks down the Darkstar sequence. He explains how his team made a plane that doesn’t exist sound real, and, more importantly, how they leveraged the sound design to be just as emotionally impactful as a piece of orchestrated music.



Why Top Gun won the Oscar for sound


 

Audio Podcast AllianceThe Dolby Institute and The Tonebenders are part of the Audio Podcast Alliance, featuring a hand-picked selection of the very best podcasts about sound. Check out the full list of Audio Podcast Alliance members below, and click a on podcast name to go directly to their latest episode:
 
AMPS PodcastCAS In ConversationField & FoleyImmersive Audio PodcastLA Post Production Sound DesignLevel with Emily ReeseLocation Sound PodcastSound BusinessSoundbytes PodcastSoundGirls PodcastSoundtrack ShowSoundworks CollectionThe A Sound Effect PodcastThe Dolby Institute PodcastThe Game Audio JourneyThe Sound Architect PodcastTonebendersTwenty Thousand Hertz

Hear more audio-related podcasts here


 

Bonus: Here are the sound stories behind the 2023 Oscar-Nominees for Sound as well:

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT:

 

Go behind the sound of All Quiet on the Western Front:
AllQuietWesternFront_sound-01
Get the full sound story behind All Quiet on the Western Front here


Nominees:

Viktor Prášil, Frank Kruse, Markus Stemler, Lars Ginzel and Stefan Korte

AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER

 

Go behind the sound of Avatar: The Way of Water:



The Sound of Avatar: The Way of Water | The #DolbyInstitute Podcast


Nominees:

Julian Howarth, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Dick Bernstein, Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers and Michael Hedges

THE BATMAN:

 

Go behind the sound of The Batman:
The Batman film sound
Get the full sound story behind The Batman here


Nominees:

Stuart Wilson, William Files, Douglas Murray and Andy Nelson

ELVIS:


Go behind the sound of Elvis:



"Elvis" Re-recording Mixer, Sound Designer & Supervising Sound Editor Wayne Pashley Joins Film U!



Nominees:

David Lee, Wayne Pashley, Andy Nelson and Michael Keller

 

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