What do we hear? The pluralism of sound design in Hollywood sound production
Benjamin Wright · The New Soundtrack · 2013
The sound designer remains one of the most controversial and least understood aspects of contemporary Hollywood sound production. Described by Walter Murch as someone who conceptualises the sound world of a film, the sound designer credit has been embraced by some sound editors, rejected by others and defined by some as an occupation that never took hold. This article revisits the origins of the sound designer in Hollywood sound production and examines the pluralistic expressions of the term by exploring how current sound professionals define their work as designers of film sound. The sound designer designation has been used to describe at least three different occupational roles in the Hollywood sound chain: the overall architect of a film's sound track; the sound editor who designs special sound effects; and the combined creative and administrative sound supervisor who is responsible for a sound track's aesthetic and economic dimensions. To illustrate the complicated history of Hollywood sound design, the article considers the work of noted contemporary sound editors Ren Klyce and Scott Sanders.