The 10 Most Popular Film Sound Stories in 2022:

2022 has been a great year for film sound, and we’ve had the honor of speaking with many of the sound teams behind the year’s biggest and most interesting films. Supercharge your brain with lots of in-depth film sound stories and insights below:

Perfecting Pinocchio’s Distinct Sound for Director Del Toro – with Scott Gershin

Pinocchio has been a popular subject for films in 2022. Three different films portraying their version of the immortal puppet were released this year, with director Guillermo del Toro’s stop-motion animated film (now streaming on Netflix) being the latest one. Here, sound supervisor Scott Gershin talks about their approach to crafting a unique aesthetic for Pinocchio – from creating a sonic arc throughout the film to designing wooden sounds with personality, and everything in between:

How the Harrowing Sound and Mix of ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ was made – with Frank Kruse, Markus Stemler, and Lars Ginzel

Netflix’s All Quiet on the Western Front, directed by Edward Berger, is a harrowing look at trench warfare during WWI. The film (adapted from Erich Maria Remarque’s novel) depicts the physical and emotional atrocities of war as experienced by young German soldier Paul Bäumer. Here, supervising sound editor/sound designer Frank Kruse, co-sound designer Markus Stemler, and re-recording mixer Lars Ginzel talk about their approach to making the film feel gritty, scary, and devastating – putting the audience in the trench beside Paul and his fellow soldiers.

Karen Baker Landers on the Surgical Use of Sound in ‘Pearl’

Director Ti West takes an ‘Old Hollywood’ approach to Pearl, the second film in his X horror film series. Set in 1918, the film tells the backstory of Pearl, who grows up on an isolated farm in Texas. Here, 2x-Oscar-winning supervising sound editor Karen Baker Landers talks about evolving the sound to match Pearl’s descent into madness, using subtle, natural sounds to create feelings of anxiety and tension, working sound around a massive score, showing restraint on the gore sounds, and she talks about the sound of specific scenes, like the subjective approach on Pearl’s dance tryout, and more:

‘Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me’ at 30: Exclusive film sound interview with award-winning sound supervisor/sound designer Doug Murray:

In celebration of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me’s 30-year anniversary: Sound supervisor Doug Murray shares lots of fascinating sound stories behind the haunting film and the Twin Peaks series, the creative joys of “sound painting” with David Lynch, channeling Alan Splet’s sensibilities, its impact on film sound today, the sound for signature scenes – and how it transformed him as a sound designer. Hear the full interview below:

The Powerful Sound of PREY – with Chris Terhune, Jessie Anne Spence, and Craig Henighan

Director Dan Trachtenberg’s Predator prequel Prey (distributed by Disney+, Hulu) is set in 1719, so the sound team – led by supervising sound editors Chris Terhune and Will Files – got to reimagine the advanced weaponry and armor known from previous Predator films in a more primitive form.
In turn, the Predator in Prey faces off with humans who are also less technologically advanced – a tribe of Comanche with stone and wood weapons and a roaming pack of French fur traders, who have black powder muskets and pistols.

Here, Terhune talks about redesigning iconic Predator sounds to fit the more primitive time, Dialogue/ADR Supervisor Jessie Anne Spence discusses the unique opportunity to record and edit Comanche dialogue and group, and re-recording mixer Craig Henighan (who co-mixed with Terhune) talks about finding the emotion for the mix in Dolby Atmos.

Designing and Mixing the Far Out Sound of ‘Nope’ – a film sound deep-dive with Johnnie Burn

Director Jordan Peele’s film Nope has surpassed $100 million the US box office. The IMAX-filmed and Dolby Atmos-mixed movie is definitely a spectacle for the big screen! In this massive interview, A Sound Effect talks with supervising sound editor/sound designer/re-recording mixer Johnnie Burn about his collaboration with Peele in the pre-viz phase to the final Dolby Atmos mix at Universal Studios, & everything in between:

Ruy Garcia on Making the Playful Sound of ‘Marcel the Shell With Shoes On’

A24’s mockumentary Marcel the Shell With Shoes On is a live-action film that incorporates stop-motion animation for the main character – a shell named Marcel – and his family. Director Dean Fleischer-Camp plays with perspective, sometimes showing the world from Marcel’s POV at one inch tall, and other times from a standard POV. Or, sometimes the sound is from Marcel’s POV even when he’s not in the shot. On top of it all, there’s this documentary feel that’s true to the original Marcel the Shell videos that were a YouTube sensation.
Here, supervising sound editor/sound designer/re-recording mixer Ruy Garcia talks about letting the emotion and story make the rules instead of adhering to a strict set of dos and donts. He talks about the film’s foley, recording custom sounds, working during the pandemic, playing with perspective, and so much more! Plus, he shares some really cool behind-the-scenes videos and pictures of their process.

Building The Batman’s Brooding Sound – with Doug Murray and Will Files

Supervising sound editors Will Files and Doug Murray had a rare opportunity when they started work on Director Matt Reeves’s The Batman: they did the sound for the film trailer! And those trailer sounds not only set the tone for the film’s sound later on, they were even carried forward to the final mix. Here, Files and Murray talk about their incredible adventure of building this soundtrack during Covid, creating iconic sounds for the Batmobile, working against Michael Giacchino’s nearly-complete score, and so much more:

Making the Majestic, Oscar-winning Sound of ‘Dune’ — with Ron Bartlett, Doug Hemphill & more

Director Denis Villeneuve brings author Frank Herbert’s sci-fi classic Dune to the big screen. Like his previous film Blade Runner 2049, Villeneuve weaves sound design and music into a fluid sonic experience that feels cohesive and distinct.
Here, WB Sound re-recording mixers Ron Bartlett and Doug Hemphill talk about how they found the perfect balance of the two, the mixing decisions that helped pull focus on what best tells the story, how they used the Dolby Atmos surround space, and more:

How the Inventive Sound of ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’ was created – with Julie Diaz, Alex Fehrman, Brent Kiser, and Andrew Twite

Go behind the inventive sound of Everything Everywhere All At Once here, in Jennifer Walden’s excellent group interview with supervising sound editor/re-recording mixer Brent Kiser, ADR supervisor Julie Diaz, sound designer Andrew Twite, and re-recording mixer Alex Fehrman.

Mark Mangini on Guiding the Sound Design of Sundance Documentary ’32 Sounds’

American documentary filmmaker Sam Green worked with Oscar-winning sound designer Mark Mangini to craft a unique sound experience for his film 32 Sounds, which just premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. The immersive documentary is a meditation on the power of sound to bend time, cross borders, and profoundly shape our perception of the world around us:

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