The Listeners is a BBC series, that is not an easy project for any sound team to take on. The plot revolves around a mysterious sound that only a very small number of characters can hear, but it is intense and intrusive for those that can experience it. Over the coarse of the 4, hour long episodes, the ones that are being effected by the mysterious hum search each other out and try to band together for support.  They find relief in each other, but to the outside world they look suspiciously like a cult of people, with a loose grip on their sanity.

So how do you represent this idea on screen?  A constant sound that only a few people hear, but they hear it so intensely that it over takes every part of their life?  That was the riddle presented to Steve Fanagan (sound designer/supervising sound editor), Michelle Cunniffe (re-recording mixer) & Louise Burton (Supervising Dialogue Editor).

SPONSOR: Sound Ideas Annual Memberships put Sound Ideas’ full range of over 600,000 sound effects, music tracks, and production elements at your fingertips with three tiers to choose from based on your Sound Design needs. The Creator’s Access Plan is perfect for the independent creator working on a smaller scale, looking for high-quality sound options at a great price. With up to 100 Downloads, you’ll enjoy significant savings compared to buying individual sounds, and have free rein over Sound Ideas’ extensive collection. Go to www.sound-ideas.com/Collection/105/Memberships/0/2 and use the promo code TONEBENDERS50 for 50% off of any Sound Ideas’ Annual Membership, to amplify your future productions.

Episode Notes: https://tonebenderspodcast.com/304-the-listeners/

Podcast Homepage: www.tonebenderspodcast.com

This episode is hosted by Timothy Muirhead

A few weeks ago Tonebenders' host, Tim Muirhead, flew to Los Angeles for a bunch of adventures with the sound design community in LA. From hosting interviews on the red carpet, at the Cinema Audio Society Awards, to attending the MPSE Golden Reels, to doing a bunch of interviews for future episodes of the show, Tim was busy while he was in town. By far the best night of the trip was The Tonebenders Los Angeles Sound Design Meet-up, sponsored by The Motion Picture Sound Editors. The night was a massive success with over 250 people coming out to share laughs. In this episode Tim tells some behind the scenes stories and plays clips from the interviews he did while in town.

SPONSOR: Sound Ideas Annual Memberships put Sound Ideas’ full range of over 600,000 sound effects, music tracks, and production elements at your fingertips with three tiers to choose from based on your Sound Design needs. The Creator’s Access Plan is perfect for the independent creator working on a smaller scale, looking for high-quality sound options at a great price. With up to 100 Downloads, you’ll enjoy significant savings compared to buying individual sounds, and have free rein over Sound Ideas’ extensive collection. Go to https://www.sound-ideas.com/Collection/105/Memberships/0/2 and use the promo code TONEBENDERS50 for 50% off of any Sound Ideas’ Annual Membership, to amplify your future productions.

Episode Notes: https://tonebenderspodcast.com/303-tonebenders-goes-to-la/

Podcast Homepage: www.tonebenderspodcast.com

This episode is hosted by Timothy Muirhead

Tonebenders was able to do an episode with every sound team, that has been nominated in the Best Sound category, at this years Oscars. So with the award show only a few days away, this week we are going to take listen to a selection of each interview, to try to get an idea of what was done on each film, to lead to it's nomination. First up we will hear from Paul Massey, Ted Caplan and Don Sylvester from A Complete Unknown. That is followed by Hortense Bailly, Cyril Holtz, Aymeric Devoldère & Carolina Santana from Emilia Perez. Jack Dolman, Nancy Nugent Title & John Marquis speak about their work on Wicked. The only animated film nominated, The Wild Robot, is represented by Gary Rizzo, Brian Chumney, Randy Thom & Leff Lefferts. The final sound team I talk to is from Dune Part 2, with Richard King, Doug Hemphill and Ron Bartlett. What a line up on this episode!

Check out Sound Ideas latest library, General Series 6000 Extension 12: www.sound-ideas.com/Product/2459/Ge…00-Extension-12

Episode Notes: https://tonebenderspodcast.com/302-2025-oscar-pool-sound-category-round-up/

Podcast Homepage: www.tonebenderspodcast.com This episode is hosted by Timothy Muirhead

Guest host Mark Kilborn jumps in to talk with the sound team behind the amazing journey of survival through Viking time period Iceland, in the game Senua's Saga: Hellblade II. This adventure from publisher Ninja Theory, follows our main character as she unknowingly deals with psychosis, including many auditory hallucinations. The audio team had their hands full to translate these hallucinations from inside a character's head into something the game's players could understand and react against. David Garcia Diaz (Audio Director), Alessio Mellina (Technical Sound Designer) and Daniele Galante (Sound Designer) discuss the entire soundscape from voices that were manipulated heavily, to their use of binaural audio, and how the music interacted with the rest of this complicated mix.Check out Sound Ideas latest library, General Series 6000 Extension 12: www.sound-ideas.com/Product/2459/Ge…00-Extension-12

Full Details on the Tonebenders Los Angeles Sound Design Meet-up, Presented by The Motion Picture Sound Editors Here: tonebenderspodcast.com/tonebenders-s…sign-meet-up/

Episode Notes: https://tonebenderspodcast.com/301-hellblade-ii/

Podcast Homepage: www.tonebenderspodcast.com This episode is hosted by Mark Kilborn

Dune Part 2 had a lot to live up to after the success of Dune Part 1. The sequel has a bunch of new audio challenges to solve, as it is about as epic a film as there has ever been. Supervising Sound Editor Richard King and Re-Recording Mixers Doug Hemphill & Ron Bartlett, sit down to talk about how they prepared for the challenges this film presented them and what it is like to work with director Denis Villeneuve. This episode originally air on the Silver Screen Social podcast.

Check out Sound Ideas latest library, General Series 6000 Extension 12: https://www.sound-ideas.com/Product/2459/General-Series-6000-Extension-12

Get Tickets to the MPSE Golden Reel Awards Here: www.mpse.org

Full Details on the Tonebenders Los Angeles Sound Design Meet-up, Presented by The Motion Picture Sound Editors Here: tonebenderspodcast.com/tonebenders-s…sign-meet-up/

Episode Notes: https://tonebenderspodcast.com/300-dune-part-2/

Podcast Homepage: www.tonebenderspodcast.com This episode is hosted by Jackson Vickery

Join the composer, sound editorial team and re-recording mixers of director Chris Sanders emotional animated feature, The Wild Robot. The film has been nominated in both the Best Sound and the Best Score categories at this years Oscars. So we brought together the whole team to talk about how they found the "sonic voice" of the movie. Through unique instrumentation, in parallel with a full orchestra, and sound design that evolves along with the main characters, the sound in The Wild Robot is a driving force behind it's success.

Check out Sound Ideas Latest Library Doors Gates & Hatches: https://www.sound-ideas.com/Product/2455/Doors-Gates-and-Hatches-Sound-Effects-

Get Tickets to the MPSE Golden Reel Awards Here: https://www.mpse.org

Full Details on the Tonebenders Los Angeles Sound Design Meet-up, Presented by The Motion Picture Sound Editors Here: https://tonebenderspodcast.com/tonebenders-sound-design-meet-up/

Episode Notes: https://tonebenderspodcast.com/299-the-wild-robot/

Podcast Homepage: www.tonebenderspodcast.com This episode is hosted by Timothy Muirhead

The Lifetime Achievement recipient at the M.P.S.E. Golden Reels this year will be Greg Hedgepath. He and I got to sit down and go over his career from his start in Washington DC with NPR, through his time at Lucas Films/Skywalker Ranch to his current hometown in Los Angeles, as a busy sound editor on films like Straight Out of Compton, Speed, Twister, Higher Learning, Blade and many, many more. Tonebenders is also excited to announce The 3rd Annual Los Angeles Tonebenders Sound Design Meet-Up, presented by The Motion Picture Sound Editors. Come on out on February 20th, 7pm, at The Thirsty Merchant in Studio City.

This episode is sponsored by Sound Ideas, check out their latest library Doors, Gates and Hatches: https://www.sound-ideas.com/Product/2455/Doors-Gates-and-Hatches-Sound-Effects-

Get all the details for purchasing tickets to this years Golden Reel Awards at: https://www.mpse.org/event-5866365

Episode Notes:https://tonebenderspodcast.com/298-greg-hedgepath/

Podcast Homepage: tonebenderspodcast.com This episode is hosted by Timothy Muirhead

Oscar winning production sound mixer Simon Hayes sits down with Tim, for an in-person, one on one talk. He describes his goal of a world where there is no distinction between the production sound team and the audio post team. Everyone is working as one big crew to get the best possible sound for each project, through collaboration and open communication. Simon spins wonderful stories, going all the way back to Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels, about his innovative ways of recording performances so that is ready for a dialog editor to use with ease. He also discusses he techniques to keep everyone on set, working towards the goal of clean dialog. I could listen to Simon all day.

This episode is sponsored by Sound Ideas, check out their 50% off sale happening now until Jan 31st: www.sound-ideas.com Notes: https://tonebenderspodcast.com/297-production-sound-mixer-simon-hayes/ Podcast Homepage: https://tonebenderspodcast.com This episode is hosted by Timothy Muirhead

Robert Egger's latest film, Nosferatu, is loaded with dread. That feeling of dread is largely delivered by the amazing sound design created by Damian Volpe (Sound Designer, Re-recording Mixer & Supervising Sound Editor), Steve Little (Supervising Sound Editor, Dialog Editor & Supervising ADR Editor) and the rest of the sound team. Egger's instructions were to base everything on organic sounds, so eerie ambiences were built out of the actors breathing and machines were built to create haunting winds. They also discuss the voice processing that was done to create the iconic voice of Count Orlock and lots more. Please consider donating through the M.P.S.E donation portal to California Wild Fire Relief. https://www.justgiving.com/page/mpselafirerelief If you donate now M.P.S.E. will match your donation, effectively doubling the amount that will get to those in need. Tonebenders has already donated this way, and hope that listeners will follow.

This episode is sponsored by Sound Ideas, check out their 50% off sale happening now until Jan 31st: www.sound-ideas.com Notes: https://tonebenderspodcast.com/296-nosferatu/ Podcast Homepage: tonebenderspodcast.com This episode is hosted by Timothy Muirhead

Director Steve McQueen's new film, Blitz, is full of stunning visuals. The audio team was tasked with coming up with sounds that could match, and often exceed, the beauty of the images they are accompanying. The war surrounding our main characters is often happening off screen, as the bombs are raining down as a catalyst for the human drama happening in underground shelters and tube stations. The team had to dream up the sound design of steam trains, massive fires and explosions galore.  All of this while creating a realistic sound scape for 1940s London. James Harrison and Paul Cotterell both served as Blitz's re-recording mixers and supervising sound editors and they are joined in this talk by production sound mixer John Casali.

This episode is sponsored by Sound Ideas, check out their 50% off sale happening now until Jan 31st: www.sound-ideas.com Notes: https://tonebenderspodcast.com/295-blitz/ Podcast Homepage: tonebenderspodcast.com This episode is hosted by Timothy Muirhead