"40 Years of Sound for Film" Overview

In the excitement of the Academy Awards, I stumbled upon an event they decided to host this year. The Academy’s Science and Technology Council hosted “40 Years of Sound for Film” March 6^th. Luckily, Oscars.org archived the event hosted by sound mixers, Tom Fleischman and Chris Newman. You may have heard Fleischman’s work in films like this year’s Oscar-winning film, Hugo, Marley & Me, Goodfellas, and The Departed. Newman is known for his audio work on film greats like The Godfather, The Silence of the Lambs, and The Exorcist.

The two professionals offer some great advice as they walk you through the process of how audio is made, chosen, and put into films. They call the initial sound recordings the foundation for the rest of the audio. Newman says, “It starts with me getting crew and my myself to decide where to put the microphones, what’s going to work best, what’s going to work best for the particular director, particular actor, particular location.” A lot of people don’t consider all the factors necessary to get a specific sound right for a certain shot or film. Sometimes you may feel it would make most sense for a sound to be a particular way, but the director wants it to be completely different. At that point you may have to sacrifice your creative input for the sake of direction.

Fleischman touches on more of the music editing side of things when he says, “The editors take that track and they add other elements to it. They add other sound effects to bring realism, music is composed and brought in…that’s an emotional connection.” I think a lot of average audience members would be surprised to learn all the different aspects there are to a film’s soundtrack. It’s very important that the music editors create a realistic sound while grabbing at their emotions to draw them in. I feel if they’re doing it right, the audience wouldn’t realize it, but rather it’s when they become aware that they’re sitting in a theater or on their couch and think, “was that right?” that something probably went wrong in the process. Newman says “I try to deconstruct the sound elements in the space that we’re shooting…and the sound editors and Tommy reconstruct in a balance that is favorable for both a director and the audience, and for the story.”

The two men go on to speak about analog vs. digital, technology advancements, as well as discuss the audio work on their films. For example, Newman speaks of the problems he encountered doing audio for The Godfather, and how he overcame them. The overall discussion is something truly inspiring and educational that I advise any audio professional and hopeful to observe, especially if you’re interested in doing work in the film industry.