Veteran re-recording mixer Kevin O’Connell has returned to Sony Pictures Post Production Services. A 20-time Academy Award-nominee, O’Connell has already completed four projects at Sony, The Boy Next Door, Self/less, No Good Deed and Pitch Perfect 2. He was previously on staff at the studio from 1993 to 2008 with credits including Pearl Harbor, Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, Memoirs of a Geisha and Transformers, all of which led to Oscar nominations for sound.
O’Connell is currently working on the upcoming feature Goosebumps for director Rob Letterman.
“Kevin is a master of the craft of movie sound,” said Tom McCarthy, executive vice president, Sony Pictures Post Production Services. “He has contributed his talents to scores of great films and worked alongside many of today’s finest filmmakers. We are glad to have him back as part of the industry’s best sound team.”
O’Connell has spent the past five years freelancing as well as holding a position at Todd AO, where he worked as a mixer and held an executive position.
O’Connell began his career in 1978 as a sound technician at The Samuel Goldwyn Studios working on films such as the second Star Wars film, The Empire Strikes Back, and Raiders of The Lost Ark. He earned his first credit as re-recording mixer a few years later on Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid and garnered his first Academy Award nomination in 1983 for Terms of Endearment. He has also been nominated for 10 Cinema Audio Society Awards and a BAFTA Award. He won an Emmy Award in 1989 for Lonesome Dove.
O’Connell is happy to be back mixing at Sony Pictures. “It feels like coming home,” he said. “It’s one of the greatest post-production facilities in the world and I’m thrilled to be part of it again.”
Even after mixing nearly 200 films, O’Connell’s enthusiasm for cinema sound remains undimmed. “I love to be part of the creative process,” he said. “Every movie is different, every director, every crew is different. I learn something new on each film, I meet new people and form new relationships. It’s a very exciting job.”