On July 25th, I attended the ‘Masters of Sound’ presented by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, California. It was a great panel where I learned more about the jobs in the post industry, in the sound department. The nine panelists, experts in their field, talked about their roles and showed videos related to their work. After that, there was a short Q&A period. One of the questions was quite apropos to my #ThisPostLife subject matter. “How did you get your start in film sound?”
Below are their answers:
Alan Meyerson — I was in the record business for many years and the record industry had changed a lot. I didn’t fit quite as well. And, just one of those strange happenstances. I ran into someone who worked with Hans and they stopped by and they asked me to stop by and visit and I ended up covering a session for someone else and did a little session with Hans and he asked me what am I doing for the next couple of months and here I am 24 years later!
I think that stuff just happens. I think sometimes opportunities make themselves available. And then it’s up to you whether or not you take advantage of that opportunity. And that’s sort of the magic of being successful. And I think in any profession but certainly this one.
Dan O’Connell — I agree. I was actually a projectionist on a Foley stage. The Foley artists asked me to help them on a project. Because in those days, it was an automated projector. So there was nothing for me to do, other than hang around. So, I said, “Sure, I’ll help you guys on a project, even though I don’t know what I’m doing…” It was a film called Skatetown, U.S.A. Peter Bogdanovich was in it and Dorothy Stratten was in it. It was Patrick Swayze’s first movie. And it all took place on skates, roller skates. And I used to be a roller skater at the time, strangely enough.
So, I helped them for about two days and then they quit and disappeared. And the owner of the studio came to me and said, “Well, you’ve been on the film, you do it!” And literally from that point, I ended up doing that project and then went on to continue to do Foley. And so, opportunities, you know.
Teri Dorman – I think though anybody up here is going to say that they really love movies. That love of movies or being involved in theater or being involved in drama, they want to be a part of something where you’re a team. We’re all part of something. And in sound, I feel part of the team. I could sit in a room for days, weeks, months, up to a year, working with the dialogue with headphones on and yet, I’m a part of something that makes the whole. I think that’s really important to remember.
John Paul Fasal – Oh me?! You know, a lot of people here I think got in through music. I moved to LA to be a rock star. And so I am… But I had a girlfriend who had gone to high school with a guy who had a post-production house. And so, as a starving musician, I got a job doing sound transfer, when I wasn’t in my studio trying to write a hit song with my song writing partner. And one thing sort of led to another. They said, “Well, do you have a synthesizer?”
I go “Yeah.”
“Well, can you make us sounds for a rocket-ship?”
And I go, “Yeah. I can do that.” And then they’d bring me sounds to process with the outboard gear that I had, and the sounds were terrible.
“Well, let’s record some better sounds.” So, I started doing that too and it just sort of took off from there.
Mark P. Stoeckinger – Yeah, I mean I was always fascinated with film. So, I think I have that in common with all you folks and probably all you folks too (talking to the audience). But ultimately, I really got impressed with how sound as I can be… [[Frankenstein?] the scientist brings something to life. I just want to be a part of that. Take something from nothing and make it into something.
Ai-Ling Lee – Yeah, pretty similar to Mark. Same thing that Teri said, grew up watching…
“You sought it out?
Yes. Kind of. Yeah. Maybe I’m the odd person… I sought it out. Yeah.
Lee Orloff – I did a film in film school that I got very involved in recording sound effects. It was a movie without any dialogue. One of my instructors who saw me through the mix, offered me a job. I think it was my first offer. He was an IA mixer in New York. So it was a fabulous opportunity I went off and I spent some time with him and I realized, this is not for me.
I can’t be in that room with the headphones on all the time. I need to be with people out in open air and to be on the set and so I said, “Hmm… Well, he liked my sound effects, maybe I’ll try doing voice. And so I started doing documentaries. And documentaries led me to other opportunities. I was kind of a subtractive. I found the thing that I didn’t want to do and it led me to the thing that I loved.
Mark(?) — Can I add to that one because actually I started doing production sound and I felt like “all this sitting and waiting around, I want to be doing something.
Scott Millan – I thought, my parents, before I was born, and my sister was a little bit older, they were performers, they acted, and that was the last thing in the world I had wanted to do but I liked the creative spirit. And I think what really motivated me to do was listening …sound was really something important, the production value. It was “how’d they do it?” …emotionally how they move… The first thing I did was local television and then .. to get into post production I did television I went to work for CBS for a while, had a chance to do a lot of production and a lot of pre-record some music as well. And then moved into what was a three-person recording line, which I didn’t even know existed. I though most of the time, you sit there and you had to do it all yourself. And it was great. I just loved it. I was in town for ten years before I knew how films were mixed.
Brian Slack — I was a projectionist, I ran a carbon arc changer when I was 15 years old.
15-16, I was working in the theater and I was also working at a little local radio station. And I remember thinking to myself, “My god, my god, I really like doing film… but I like doing the sound… If there was only some way…” I gotta tell you, I had no clue that there was actually an industry that did this. And then like at some point I decided, I’m going to be a brilliant cinematographer and somehow I ended up doing this.
Although, oddly enough, when you mentioned Terminator 2, we were on completely opposite ends of that film. That was the first kind of real film that I ever worked on. I worked for a company called cinema digital sound and I watched every digital print of Terminator 2. So, I sat down for like two weeks and watched that film like 52 times. But not the fun way, it was like, sit down and watch 70 reel 5’s….
So, as you can see there are many, many ways into the business, as we keep finding out!
I’ll keep you updated, if they release the video of the whole event.
