“I think that sound drives the emotion of a scene, right? As much as dialogue, right? Sound and music, score in particular… I just think it helps to create emotion in a scene or augments the performances. Because you gotta have great performances, but great performance coupled with, you know, great sound design or a great score, it just makes you feel, it does something, it makes you tingle. It does something to you that just envelops you in that moment, right?” – Kenneth Johnson

This episode is the second half of my conversation with sonic storyteller and founder of Artistry in Sound, Kenneth Johnson, as we talk about his experiences as one of the earliest Black sound designers in Hollywood, the changes that AI and streaming media have brought to sound design, and how horror movies in particular combine a variety of sound approaches to make a powerful impact.

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(00:00) – The Role of Sound in Film

Our discussion continues as Kenneth walks us through the process of sound design, from shooting script to the recording booth.“As I’m reading the script,” he tells us, “I’m sort of envisioning the project and thinking about, okay, well, what do I think it should sound like? And what can I do to embellish those scenes? And so once I’ve kind of digested that, then we do what’s called the spotting session with the creatives.” He tells us more about creating a cinematic soundscape and reveals just how little of what the audience hears comes from the action onscreen. “Everything, usually, other than the dialogue, we recreate,” he says. “Whether that’s a car race, a spaceship, or it’s by a river, everything that you hear, all the ambience, all the sound effects are redone. We’ve recreated that whole soundscape.”

(15:45) – Production Recording vs. Post-Production

Kenneth tells us about his up-and-coming experiences in Hollywood and the importance of diversity in the sound industry. “What I do is I try to give people opportunities,” he explains. “My team, you know, are from their early twenties to forty, and the majority are African American, and the majority of them, well, all of them, basically, I trained and mentored. And they’re very talented.” We discuss the growing role of AI and streaming content in sound editing, and how much software apps have changed the process since his audio career began in the ‘90s. “Once we put [the audio track] into iZotope RX,” he tells us, “we could see it, and so I had to figure out what’s making this resonance. I had to take some things out, and it turns out it was a metal music stand that was vibrating and causing that frequency.”

(25:30) – The Future of Sound Design

Our conversation comes to a close as we talk about the different roles and responsibilities involved in cinematic sound, from soundtracks to dialogue to each layer of Foley sound. “We want it to be able to breathe because if you just throw everything on the wall,” he says, “then it’s not going to be as nice as if you selectively pick what’s going up there. That’s important to figure out, who’s going to handle what, because a lot of times sound design and score can overlap.” Kenneth tells listeners how they can get in touch, and he offers his advice for newcomers in the sound industry, including the value of hands-on experience. “I can take you to a class and talk for a few hours about techniques… Are you going to retain that? Probably not,” he says. “If you’re able to get in there like I did and have access to being able to work and try out different things and get advice, you’re going to move faster.”

Episode Summary

We discuss how sound drives emotion and shapes a movie’s narrative.
Kenneth outlines his creative process from script reading to ambient sound design.
Insights and advice from Kenneth for the next generation of sound designers.

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