Behind the Oscar-winning Sound of Top Gun: Maverick
By 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:
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.
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.
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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.
The 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:
Stuart Wilson, William Files, Douglas Murray and Andy Nelson
ELVIS:
Go behind the sound of Elvis:
Nominees:
David Lee, Wayne Pashley, Andy Nelson and Michael Keller
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The 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:
