Audio Post Production – Ones To Watch

The importance of sound design and mixing can often be overlooked by first-time directors, but as George Lucas said “Sound is half the picture”.

We catch up with three leading lights in the UK’s post-production sound department…..

Jay Whittaker is a Sound Designer, SFX Editor and Re-recording Mixer from Formby on Merseyside. In the audio and music industry for many years, he had started out – like many – as a guitarist at the age of 7, joining different bands through his teens, and on to recording and assisting Grammy award winning and platinum selling mix engineers.

Once the band had gone their separate ways, his passion for sound in film & TV led him into working for local Indie film directors and on large scale corporate video projects as a Sound Designer and Re-Recording Mixer.

Soon after joining The Association of Motion Picture Sound (AMPS), he earned a place on the AMPS mentoring scheme, which has led to him working on some acclaimed HETV, factual and feature projects. These include –

Time Series 2  – Jimmy McGovern and Helen Black’s critically acclaimed BBC prison drama, starring Jodie Whittaker (Dr Who) and Bella Ramsey (The Last of Us).
Granite Harbour – BBC police drama set in Aberdeen, starring Romario Simpson and Dawn Steal.
Everything And The Universe – Feature drama, written and Directed by Sarah Scarlett Downing.

On his approach to sound design, Jay says – 

“It’s very organic….firstly I throw a lot of mud and see what sticks and pops out the other side. This can be time consuming but can also yield amazing and unexpected results. By using many real-world sound FX as a jumping off point, this allows me to give specific cues their own identity, character and originality, so that the listener – whether they are aware or not – becomes more invested in the story. 

Of course, my approach will hugely depend on the source material, as a Sci-Fi or Horror editing job, is far more exaggerated and hyped from a Sound Design perspective, than a prison drama or cop show. Real life sounds can just be as interesting to cut as otherworldly content. Creating feel, atmospheres and life out of nothing, is a real buzz for me.”

Matt Snowden AMPS

Matt Snowden is a Sound Designer, Supervising Sound Editor and Re-recording Mixer from Brighton, Sussex. 

Like Jay, Matt has a background in the music industry. After his band were signed to Acid Jazz Records at an early age, Matt then worked as a music engineer for the likes of Amy Winehouse, Pete Townshend, and the Hoosiers, before moving into audio post production. 

Recent credits include – 

Stardust – David Bowie feature biopic starring Johnny Flynn and Marc Maron
Code 404 – Sky Comedy Drama series, starring Stephen Graham
Katherine Hepburn – Call Me Kate – Sky Arts feature documentary
Breaking Habits – Netflix feature documentary
The Royal Mob – Sky History drama
Exploration Volcano – BBC Earth / Discovery Natural History
The Who: Live at The Albert Hall

On the difference between working as a supervising sound editor, as opposed to a sound editor, or re-recording mixer role – 

“When I’m in a supervising sound editor role, I’m working as an interface between the director / production and the sound editing team. This can mean organising ADR sessions, scheduling dialogue and sound effects editors, and doing some sound design or dialogue editing yourself. But ultimately, I am collating all the sound elements that will be taken to the final mix stage. This means having a clear understanding of the directors intentions, preferably as part of the production process”

“On other projects, when I’m Re-recording mixer, this empirical understanding of the film making schedule, should lead to greater success in transferring the director’s intentions to the screen (and speakers)”

Andrew Wilson AMPS CAS

Andrew Wilson is a Re-recording Mixer currently based in Bristol.

He started his career straight from school at the BBC, working in audio for Radio, TV and Film. He soon found film sound post to be his focus; having started mixing on analogue 16mm with no computers he became an early user of some of the first computer-based recording and editing systems. 

A fascination with finding innovative ways of using emerging technologies to allow greater creative scope and flexibility in building soundtracks quickly developed, and an early mould-breaking departure from the “BBC norm”, using a digital workstation and a hired-in sampler, led to his first BAFTA nomination. As well as producing the first all-digital sound mix for the BBC’s Natural History Unit, he mixed the first BBC wildlife documentaries in surround sound as well as the first DisneyNature features, including the first in Dolby Atmos. 

Selected credits include:

Blue Planet / Planet Earth / Trials of Life / Human Planet – BBC National History
Earth / African Cats / Chimpanzee / Monkey Kingdom – DisneyNature
The Biggest Little Farm / Silverback / The Letter: Laudato Si – Feature Documentaries
Hollow / The Royal Mob / Old Windows – Dramas

On his approach to mixing sound for film Andrew says:

“The single most important thing in any film is the story, and the most important thing the soundtrack can do is to help tell that story. With every line of dialogue, every music cue and every sound effect – right down to tiny sounds you can barely hear – I ask myself ‘is this adding to the story?’ If the answer is no, then it should go. When selecting sound elements, I tell my team to remember – it doesn’t have to be the right sound, it has to sound right. 

“I love finding new ways to improve the storytelling; that might mean using new technology to try out new things or perhaps using old technology in a new way. But the tech is merely a tool that helps us achieve the sonic storytelling we aspire to, and in an ideal world should never limit the craft or the imagination. Detail and precision are vital, and getting the sound right can help get the audience to the emotional engagement intended by the Director far more quickly and easily than you’d ever imagine.”