Sounds in Cinema Podcast

With Tony and D-Rock both taking (well-deserved) beatings from life over the course of the summer, we decided to lighten things a bit with a look at sound design in the movies of director Edgar Wright. From a zombie comedy to a heist/car chase movie, these movies bring fun, laughs, and plenty of ear candy for our boys to talk about as they ponder what on Earth to do for the next episode.

Rediscovered through research for the previous episode, Tony and D-Rock take a listen to and analyze the sound design for Peter Weir's Master and Commander. Tony takes a look behind-the-scenes as to how the sounds were created while D-Rock plays Whack-A-Mole with his mute button to prevent someone's pesky lawnmower from making its debut on the show.

When you think of certain genres, you probably don't think of sound design, much in the same way you don't hear Tony's name and associate it with peace and quiet. In this episode, the boys take a look at and give a listen to movies from over the decades that exceed sonic expectations by way of perspective. The challenge is to listen to movies - even familiar ones - in a different way as a means of further appreciating the craft of filmmaking.

After a brief break, the boys return to the mics with a research project on one of the great modern sound designers in the world of cinema, Gary Rydstrom. Have a listen, go watch the movies with a fresh set of ears, always remember to keep a lookout for your favorite talents in the industry, and somebody please come clean my desk if you have an hour to spare.

Tony and D-Rock take a final crash course through any number of movies featuring sports that were not represented in the previous weeks' episodes, taking an in-depth dive into the sound design of one movie per topic while also leaving recommendations for other movies revolving around each sport. What comes next after the sports suite? We don't know.

Tweedle D-Rock and Tweedle Dumb-Dumb chime in for another round of sports movies to focus on sound design and score in a pair of hockey flicks, prefaced by a discussion on the current state of blockbusters (intended or otherwise) in current Hollywood.

The boys talk through some of the their experiences in youth with America's Pastime before delving into the analysis of sound design in a couple of clips. Let's face it: there are so many baseball movies out in the cinematic universe that we could have gone for hours, so we decided to focus on a couple of favorites that provide the best ear candy for you, our beloved listeners.

The boys open their sports movies suite with an analysis of a couple of football movies, comparisons as to how the sound is designed for football movies versus live football games, and their thoughts on sports, life, love, and laughter. Some of that might not be true.

After a harrowing week away from action sequels featuring colons in their titles, the boys return to form for an early 90s classic with a wide array of unnecessary background information on vehicle sounds, car crashes, gunfire, and how to use a condom and amorphous goo to create the sound of liquid metal reshaping. Fun times were had by all.

The boys take a dive into one of the most effective movies since the turn of the century, both as a quality piece of entertainment and a unique masterclass in sound design and the use of score as a mood-altering layer.

The boys continue their reset of Sounds in Cinema with another movie title containing a colon. Listen along as they try to figure out how to talk about a two-hour car chase as anything but a two-hour car chase.

Tony and D-Rock return to the fold together for the first time in nearly four years, and, boy, does it show?! The fortunate part is that the topic of conversation was about as fun, exciting, and easy to talk about as movies get.