Any good, detailed articles on sound design in movies?

February 20, 2008 4:47 AM

I really enjoyed this NYT article on sound design in No Country For Old Men. Does anyone have any links/references to any similar articles about sound design in other films, past or present? Ideally they'd be a little longer and more detailed than the NYT piece, but I'd rather not read a book on this (unless it's brilliant!)
posted by caek to Media & Arts (10 answers total)

This might be good. I think he has a book about it, and people say he's brilliant.

http://transom.org/guests/review/200504.review.murch.html
posted by sully75 at 5:11 AM on February 20, 2008

Not articles, but Ovation TV has a series called Music Behind the Scenes about sound design. I just saw the episode about the music used in Fargo and really enjoyed it.
posted by suki at 5:11 AM on February 20, 2008

Here's a link to Murch's book, The Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film.

(Coudal revere Murch as a hero, btw, so I reckon the book fits into the "brilliant" category.)
posted by jacob at 6:47 AM on February 20, 2008

I think filmsound.org has what you're looking for.
posted by fire&wings at 6:55 AM on February 20, 2008

Here's a long article on my favorite sound designer, David Lynch.
posted by Bookhouse at 8:45 AM on February 20, 2008

If you do want to browse a book on the topic, I'd suggest Michel Chion's Audio Vision.
posted by mattbucher at 9:00 AM on February 20, 2008

There was a great article about Richard King's work on the sound-design for Master and Commander in the New Yorker's Cinema issue in 2003
posted by Hogshead at 10:03 AM on February 20, 2008

Having been an Mix magazine reader for years, I can recommend them for articles about sound mixing in films.
posted by Lynsey at 10:27 AM on February 20, 2008

While I like films (although probably less than the next guy) I buy and watch DVDs for the DVD extras. If there are documentaries about the making of the film, I'm a happy camper.

The Star Wars box set has really good extras on sound design and footage from the sound stage. It covers all the sound special effects but also really interesting things like smashing foods and dropping objects to create a soundboard form which the sounds you hear in the films are mixed. It's neat!
posted by DarlingBri at 11:50 AM on February 20, 2008

Only two people recommended Murch? I thought this was going to be a murch-a-thon. Murch. Murch. Murch.
posted by history is a weapon at 8:02 AM on February 21, 2008