Dolby Creator Talks

“I think that sound is, by far, the most powerful tool in the cinematic language.”

—Denis Villeneuve, Director, Co-Writer, and Producer, “Dune: Part Two”

Director Denis Villeneuve returns to Dolby Creator Talks to discuss the incredible sound work in “Dune: Part Two,” his latest adaptation of the epic sci-fi saga. He and his multiple Academy Award®-winning sound team share their thoughts on how sound plays such a pivotal role in his films, offering insights into his process of integrating sound design even during the early stages of development. From Paul’s iconic worm-riding sequence to the hauntingly quiet deserts of Arrakis, this episode explores the bold artistic choices that make the film such an immersive sonic experience.

Joining today’s conversation:

- Richard King - Supervising Sound Editor and Sound Designer

- Ron Bartlett - Re-Recording Mixer

- Doug Hemphill - Re-Recording Mixer

- Clint Bennett - Supervising Music Editor

Be sure to check out “Dune: Part Two,” now streaming in Dolby Vision® and Dolby Atmos® on MAX.

Please subscribe to Dolby Creator Talks wherever you get your podcasts.

You can also check out the video for this episode.

Learn more about the Dolby Creator Lab and check out Dolby.com. Connect with Dolby on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn. 

Multiple Emmy® Award-winning A1 audio mixer Glenn Stilwell joins us for an in-depth discussion on mixing live sports in Dolby Atmos®. As one of the first to adopt this immersive audio technology for sports, Glenn shares his journey into the high-pressure world of live sports audio, where he has worked on everything from the Olympics to Apple’s Friday Night Baseball. From setting up microphones for the iconic “bat crack” in baseball to leveraging the immersive capabilities of Atmos for crowd sounds and announcer placement, this conversation offers a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the artistry and challenges of live sports audio production.

“When you go from stereo… now the room that you're listening in has opened up. The room, it feels bigger. Now imagine when you add four more speakers above you, now the room really opens up… If you can spread things out and get them away from the center channel, which is — the money. If the money's in the middle and the room becomes bigger, it becomes more distinct.”

—Glenn Stilwell, A1 Audio Mixer and Engineer

Special thanks to Major League Baseball and Apple for this week’s episode. You can find MLB’s Friday Night Baseball, now exclusively on Apple TV+.

Please subscribe to Dolby Creator Talks wherever you get your podcasts.

You can also check out the video for this episode.

Learn more about the Dolby Institute and check out Dolby.com. Connect with Dolby on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn. 

The art of pitching is a high-stakes, nerve-wracking aspect of filmmaking, where ideas transform from concepts into potential projects. Joining us to help demystify the pitching process is Dolby Institute Fellowship winner Carlos López Estrada, hosting another insightful Satellite Session from April 2024. Carlos gathers an exceptional panel featuring film and television creators, each sharing personal insights and practical tips on crafting pitches, to offer invaluable wisdom on what it takes to pitch a project and navigate the journey from idea to production.

Joining today’s discussion are:

- Marvin Lemus – Director, Co-creator, and Co-showrunner of Netflix's Gentefied

- Sadé Clacken Joseph – Director of Rap Sh!t on HBO Max, CEO of Out of Many Media

- Francisco Cabrera-Feo – Writer for Acapulco on Apple TV+ and Gordita Chronicles

- Matt Braly – Creator and Showrunner of Disney’s Amphibia

- Jessica Virtue – SVP of Production at Walt Disney Pictures

This is another installment of our ongoing “Satellite Sessions” series, which we’re bringing to you in partnership with Antigravity Academy and the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment. 

Follow @antigravityacademy and @capeusa for more information on even more upcoming panels.

Antigravity Academy

CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment)

For more inspiring Satellite Sessions just like this one, be sure you are subscribed to Dolby Creator Talks wherever you get your podcasts.

You can also check out the video for this episode.

Learn more about the Dolby Institute and check out Dolby.com. Connect with Dolby on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn. 

You have probably heard about the Hollywood writer’s room, but what, exactly, goes on inside one? Joining us once again to demystify yet another filmmaking topic is our good friend — and Dolby Institute Fellowship winner — Carlos López Estrada, with another of his excellent Satellite Sessions — this one from March 2024. Carlos welcomes an impressive and diverse panel of film and television writers to share their experiences, break down how these rooms come together, and discuss how collaboration drives storytelling from inception to screen.

Joining today’s discussion are:

- Teresa Hsiao – Writer, Producer, and Co-creator of “Awkwafina is Nora from Queens”

- Charise Castro Smith – Writer, Director, and Academy Award®-winning Co-writer and Co-director of “Encanto”

- Amy Aniobi – Head Writer and Co-executive Producer of “Insecure.”

- Francisco Cabrera-Feo – Writer for “Acapulco” on Apple TV+ and “Gordita Chronicles”

This is another installment of our ongoing “Satellite Sessions” series, which we’re bringing to you in partnership with Antigravity Academy and the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment. 

Follow @antigravityacademy and @capeusa for more information on even more upcoming panels.

Antigravity Academy

CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment)

For more inspiring Satellite Sessions just like this one, be sure you are subscribed to Dolby Creator Talks wherever you get your podcasts.

You can also check out the video for this episode.

Learn more about the Dolby Institute and check out Dolby.com. Connect with Dolby on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn.

Pharrell Williams has had a remarkable life and career in music, which are chronicled in the film “Piece By Piece,” a uniquely animated documentary made entirely out of LEGO. Joining today’s discussion is Director Morgan Neville, Supervising Sound Editor Al Nelson, and Re-recording Mixer Pete Horner, to talk how Pharrell’s creative vision for using LEGO opened up exciting storytelling possibilities, the film’s imaginative sound design and immersive audio mix, and how they brought Pharrell’s experience with synesthesia to life through sound and animation.

“This film had so many more opportunities than a documentary normally [has]. Because of animation, I felt like we could time- and space-travel… That kind of freedom I got incredibly excited by. Normally we have so many constrictions, but both in terms of what I could do with sound, but also particularly with Pharrell, what I could do visually with sound. Both in terms of creating the synesthesia effect — which he sees color when he hears sound, and that we could actually see that — and by creating the beats, represented by physical objects of color, too. So that, from a storytelling point of view, was great.”

—Morgan Neville, Director, Writer, and Producer, “Piece By Piece”

Be sure to check out Piece by Piece, now in theaters and Dolby Cinemas in stunning Dolby Vision® and Dolby Atmos®.

Please subscribe to Dolby Creator Talks wherever you get your podcasts.

You can also check out the video for this episode.

Learn more about the Dolby Institute and check out Dolby.com. Connect with Dolby on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn. 

Academy Award®-winning composer Hildur Guðnadóttir and executive music producer Jason Ruder join our guest host, music journalist Jon Burlingame, to discuss their extraordinary work on “Joker: Folie à Deux.” The sequel to 2019’s Oscar-winning “Joker” comes with high expectations, and Hildur and Jason talk about the challenge of evolving the sound of the Joker universe, while incorporating new elements like live-recorded songs and experimental instruments. They discuss how the music helps define the tone of the movie, blurring the lines between score and song to create an immersive experience.

“We really wanted to honor the sound world that we had already established [from the first film]... so we didn't want to go too far away from it. We knew that there would be strings and there would be a cello connection… Well, it just so happened that my instrument that I used in the first song got stolen a week before the recording session. So I had actually intended to just use the same instrument, but the Gods of Creativity forced me in a different direction… So I came up with this idea of creating what I call ‘the string prison.’ It’s literally like an electric fence that’s playable... an electroacoustic, large scale, playable string instrument that formed this prison cell of very, very, very hot strings, that I played through another instrument.”

—Hildur Guðnadóttir, Composer, “Joker: Folie à Deux”

Be sure to check out “Joker: Folie à Deux,” now in theaters, in Dolby Vision® and Dolby Atmos®.

Please subscribe to Dolby Creator Talks wherever you get your podcasts.

You can also check out the video for this episode.

Learn more about the Dolby Institute and check out Dolby.com. Connect with Dolby on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn. 

Director and co-writer Nora Fingscheidt joins her sound team to discuss their extraordinary work on the new film “The Outrun” — a moving portrayal of one woman’s struggle with sobriety and memories of a traumatic childhood, using sound design to explore the emotional landscape of its main character, Rona, played by the extraordinary Saoirse Ronan. From the quiet, wind-swept expanses of the Orkney Islands to the bustling streets of London, the team reveals how they crafted distinct sonic environments that reflect Rona’s turbulent emotional journey. The film was a standout at this past year’s Sundance Film Festival and is a masterclass in how to use sound design to tell a compelling, layered story.

Joining today’s discussion:

- Nora Fingscheidt - Director and Co-Writer

- Gregor Bonse - Re-Recording Mixer

- Dominik Leube - Supervising Sound Editor & Sound Mixer

- Oscar Stiebitz - Sound Designer & Sound Mixer

"As soon as we get together - this crew, with our composers - we see it as this merging [of an] audio landscape, between sound design, mix and music. And we start thinking, ‘how should this movie sound?’ Basically at the same time as I get together with the DOP discussing, ‘how should this movie look?’ It's 50% image, 50% sound, no matter what the budget is.”

—Nora Fingscheidt, Director and Co-Writer, “The Outrun”

Be sure to check out “The Outrun” now in theaters, in stunning Dolby Atmos®.

Please subscribe to Dolby Creator Talks wherever you get your podcasts.

You can also check out the video for this episode.

Learn more about the Dolby Institute and check out Dolby.com. Connect with Dolby on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn. 

Legendary filmmaker, animator, writer, and voice actor Chris Sanders (you may know him as “Stitch”) joins his sound team — including our first-ever guest on this podcast, Randy Thom — to talk about their stunning work on the latest animated adventure/tearjerker from DreamWorks Animation, “The Wild Robot.” A truly visual spectacle, the film has an appropriately spectacular soundtrack, which Chris and the team relished in crafting its richness and complexity for over two years.

“We didn't have any score at all for a while. So one of the really neat things about the opening [reel] is that it's all sound design. It's all sound effects, which is really, really cool. I was impressed with how much detail — and it was necessary to have that kind of detail — and because we had the opportunity of getting as deep into this as we wanted to. So it's an especially good reason to go see this movie on a big screen as the sound of this whole film is really is so spectacular.”

—Chris Sanders, Writer and Director, “The Wild Robot”

Joining today’s discussion:

- Chris Sanders - Writer and Director

- Randy Thom - Sound Designer

- Gary Rizzo - Re-recording Mixer

- Leff Lefferts - Re-recording Mixer & Supervising Sound Editor

Be sure to check out “The Wild Robot” in stunning Dolby Vision® and Dolby Atmos®, in theaters now.

Please subscribe to Dolby Creator Talks wherever you get your podcasts.

You can also check out the video for this episode.

Learn more about the Dolby Institute and check out Dolby.com. Connect with Dolby on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn. 

“The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars” is the first David Bowie studio album to be released in Dolby Atmos® and joining us today is Ken Scott, the original co-producer of the album (and many others from Bowie), as well as Dolby Atmos mix engineer, Emre Ramazanoglu.

Ken Scott is a legend in the world of music production and engineering, and he takes our guest host, Ben Givarz, inside the studio with David Bowie to explore the production of the original album and discusses how he wanted to create a new experience for listeners in Dolby Atmos, which also led him to the creation of brand new stereo mixes.

This interview is part of our new series, "Reimagining the Classics."

“If you're going to ask people to listen to a record in a different format, you need to give it to them totally in that format, not just take the stereo and just put things in different places. It should be something different so that they become interested in it again. And I think it worked, because Woody, [Bowie’s] drummer, he heard some of it — and his first words were, ‘I felt as if I was there with the band.’ He felt as if he was on stage, because it surrounded him so much. Which is exactly what we were aiming for.”

—Ken Scott, Record Producer and Mix Engineer

You can listen to these and many other classic and contemporary albums in Dolby Atmos, on enabled streaming services.

You can purchase the album, “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars,” here:

https://davidbowie.com/

https://rhino.com/

Many thanks to Mike Exeter for the B-roll of Ken and Emre in the mixing studio. The full video can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/LVcagYbrd6o

Interested in creating content in Dolby Atmos? Check out our free resources to give you a jump start!

- Dolby Atmos Music Accelerator: https://www.dolby.com/institute/music-accelerator/

- Dolby Atmos Essentials Course: https://learning.dolby.com/

- Dolby Atmos Music Support: https://professional.dolby.com/music/Professional-resources/

Please subscribe to Dolby Creator Talks wherever you get your podcasts.

You can also check out the video for this episode on our YouTube channel.

Learn more about the Dolby Institute and check out Dolby.com. Connect with Dolby on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn. 

“Sing Sing” — an independent feature film now in theaters — made a big splash at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival. Directed by Greg Kwedar, the film is notable for its unique casting approach, blending actors such as Colman Domingo with real-life, formally incarcerated individuals. It’s set in the Sing Sing Correctional Facility in New York, focusing on the prison’s theater troupe. But one of the most interesting aspects of the production was how it was financed. And in particular how it used a profit-sharing model where all crew members, including those non-professional actors, received a share of the film's profits. Today’s discussion details how exactly that financing strategy worked, as well as the inspiring journey to getting the film made.

Joining today’s discussion:

- Carlos López Estrada - Moderator

- Valerie Bush - Moderator

- Greg Kwedar - Producer, Director, and Writer, Sing Sing

- Clint Bentley - Producer and Writer, Sing Sing

- Monique Walton - Producer, Sing Sing

Be sure to check out Sing Sing, now playing in theaters.

This is another installment of our ongoing “Satellite Sessions” series, which we’re bringing to you in partnership with Antigravity Academy and the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment. 

Follow @antigravityacademy and @capeusa for more information on even more upcoming panels.

Antigravity Academy

CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment)

For more inspiring Satellite Sessions just like this one, be sure you are subscribed to Dolby Creator Talks wherever you get your podcasts.

You can also check out the video for this episode.

Learn more about the Dolby Institute and check out Dolby.com. Connect with Dolby on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn.