While it begins as a “dull, dark and soundless day,” the famous Edgar Allen Poe short story, The Fall of the House of Usher, is anything but boring or quiet. In fact, the chilling tale of Roderick Usher, a man living alone, seemingly descending into madness, comes to life in the upcoming horror/thriller film 3 Days Rising. As the film’s gruesome story unravels, sound plays a pivotal role in telling the tale. But that was not without its challenges.
When it came time to record the Netflix original French-language film, Oxygène (Oxygen in English), the audio team had quite the challenge in front of them. The premise of the scientific horror film focuses on a scientist, played by French actress Melanie Laurent, who has lost her memory, awakens, trapped in a medical pod and must find her way out before the oxygen levels diminish. Given the setting, the pod is used for 90 percent of the film, and, with its tight quarters, production sound mixer Ken Yasumoto and boom operator Josselin Panchout knew they needed a reliable and unobtrusive microphone solution.
A 15-year veteran of the film and TV business, freelance re-recording mixer Alexandra Fehrman loves to get creative with her projects. Nominated for a 2021 Sound Mixing Emmy for her work on Amazon’s drama The Boys, Fehrman works with Formosa Group, a post-production facility in Los Angeles, as well as from her home studio. Fehrman, like many audio pros, started her career in music as a teenager and has been pursuing sound mixing ever since. Her specialties include streaming and TV series, as well as feature and independent films.
Chicago audio post house Another Country has promoted executive producer Tim Konn to the position of managing director.
Goldcrest Post has completed a major upgrade to its sound department, expanding its capacity to deliver soundtracks in Dolby Atmos Home Theater format. State-of-the-art immersive sound technology has been added to the facility’s Studio A to accommodate streaming, broadcast and home theater projects requiring Atmos sound. Goldcrest’s largest mix stage, Studio Q, was upgraded to support Dolby Atmos Home Theater in 2018.
The Motion Picture Sound Editors association is now accepting submissions for its annual Verna Fields Student Award honoring outstanding work by student sound editors. The award, which will be presented at the 69th Annual MPSE Golden Reel Awards ceremony on March 13, 2022, is open to students worldwide with the winner receiving a grant from MPSE’s Ethel Crutcher Scholarship Fund. The award named for legendary sound and picture editor Verna Fields, who won an Academy Award in 1976 for her work on Jaws.
Goldcrest Post sound artists were honored for Sound Editing and Sound Mixing at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards for their work on Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit.
The Motion Picture Sound Editors association is now accepting submissions for the 69th Annual MPSE Golden Reel Awards. Honoring outstanding achievement in sound editing across 17 categories encompassing feature films, broadcast media, gaming and student work, the awards will be presented on March 13, 2022.
Nugen Audio has named Thomas Cassetta, Vladimir Bajnoci and Dean Lee as the winners of the company’s Show Us Your Setup photo contest. The contest tasked mixers and producers to submit beauty photos of their studio or workstation with Nugen Audio’s Paragon reverb on their monitors for a chance to win a $599 Nugen Audio voucher, and branded swag.
Emmy-nominated composer/playwright, novelist, musician and TV producer, Scooter Pietsch (pronounced peach) has created film and television music across the media landscape. Pietsch’s underscores, themes and original songs have graced thousands of TV series episodes including ABC Family’s Pretty Little Liars, USA Network’s Burn Notice, USA ‘s All Dogs Go to Heaven and E!’s Keeping Up with the Kardashians.
