On January 31 at the Sportsmen’s Lodge in Studio City, a joint AES/SMPTE meeting will showcase the intricate sound editorial and re-recording of the Netflix mini-series Stranger Things. Come and learn how the sound team creates the unique 5.1-channel soundtrack, including the eerie music that is key to the show’s look and feel. A second season from The Duffer Brothers is scheduled to start later this year, with its haunting Eighties-style, synth-based musical score.
The editorial team for Stranger Things is headed up by supervising sound editor Brad North, who works closely with sound designer Craig Henighan, sound-effects editor Jordan Wilby and music editor David Klotz; the re-recording crew, working at the Technicolor Seward stage, comprises Joe Barnett handling dialog and music, and Adam Jenkins handling sound effects.
“We drew our inspiration – subconsciously, at least – from such sci-fi films as Alien, The Thing and Predator,” Craig Henighan recalls. Part sci-fi, part horror and part family drama, Stranger Things is often considered as an homage to Eighties movies like Close Encounters of the Third Kind and ET.
About Stranger Things
On November 6, 1983, in the small town of Hawkins, Indiana, 12-year-old Will Byers vanishes mysteriously. His mother becomes frantic and tries to find Will while police chief Jim Hopper begins investigating, and so do Will's friends: Dustin, Mike and Lucas. The very next day, a psychokinetic girl who knows Will's whereabouts is found by the boys. As they uncover the truth, a sinister government agency tries to cover it up, while a more insidious force lurks just below the surface.
Our panel
After graduating from the University of Miami in 1990, Joe Barnett relocated to Los Angeles to work in the machine room at EFX Systems, then as a re-recording mixer at Digital Sound and Picture, where he helped pioneer the marriage of servers, workstations and consoles. Having, in 2000, joined Todd-AO in the dialog chair, he became the company’s first mixer to gaff a “console-less” Pro Tools stage at its Lantana facility. During 14 years at Todd-AO, he mixed everything from episodic TV to feature films. In 2015, he signed with Technicolor to helm a brand new dub stage centered around an Avid S6 console. Now teamed with Adam Jenkins, Joe is focused primarily on the exploding high-end OTT market on such projects as Daredevil, Luke Cage, Stranger Things and the just released OA.
Originally from Toronto, and now based in Los Angeles since 2006, Craig Henighan is a sound designer/supervising sound editor and re-recording mixer whose film/TV credits include Deadpool, Stranger Things, Black Swan and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.
Adam Jenkins began his career at Todd AO in 1981, working as a film loader and recordist before progressing to mixing in 1989. Since then, he has worked as the sound-effects mixer on well over 100 films and many TV projects. In August 2012, he joined Technicolor, where the fusing of audio technologies – specifically workstation and console platforms – allowed him to craft material sonically in ways not possible just a few years ago. His love for mixing stems from the opportunity to work in a number of genres with a wide range of sonic landscapes. “Making a completely manufactured sound-effects track feel like an organic, natural part of the film – be it in a romantic comedy, science fiction, or a shoot 'em up,” he says. “It is always a challenge that I welcome.”
David Klotz is an Emmy-award winning music editor for film and TV, who began his career at PolyGram Filmed Entertainment coordinating scoring sessions. In 1999, he began music supervising (Memento) and, in 2003, started working as a music editor on the TV shows Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Firefly. In 2005, he formed his own music editorial company working on HBO's Entourage, Fox Television’s Prison Break and the feature films Iron Man, Eat Pray Love and the Glee 3D Movie. He won MPSE Awards for his work on Glee and Game of Thrones. He won two Emmys for Game of Thrones (2012 and 2015) and one for American Horror Story (2013). A musician and songwriter, he co-wrote and performed the theme song to the 2001 Robert Rodriguez blockbuster, Spy Kids. Recent credits include Stranger Things and Season 6 of American Horror Story.
Having attended Full Sail University, Brad North moved to Los Angeles and interned at Wilshire Stages, where he edited sound effects for a couple of IMAX movies and other features. After editing and mixing feature films at a small post-production company, in 2004 he landed at Universal, where he worked as a sound-effects editor on features and TV shows. He ended up becoming the sound supervisor on House, for which he earned an Emmy, three Golden Reels, two HPA Awards and several other nominations. Now at Technicolor, his resume includes Justified, From Dusk Till Dawn, Banshee, Bosch, Quarry and Stranger Things. He is currently working on Bosch and American Gods, which will debut on Starz later this year.
Jordan Wilby graduated from UCSB in 2001; his love of underground electronic music and sound design led him to LA in 2002, subsequently completing LA Recording School’s Recording Engineer Program in 2004. Internships at the Sony Scoring Stage and Hammerhead Sound followed soon after, as well as working on such films as The Incredibles and The New World. He was then hired at Technicolor, and worked his way up to SFX editor by 2007. During the past 10 years he sound edited and designed a variety of shows and projects in TV, film, and video games. In addition to SFX editing on Stranger Things, he is currently sound designer/lead SFX editor on several of Marvel’s Netflix properties, including Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, and The Punisher. He has received two Emmy and a Golden Reel nomination.
About the Audio Engineering Society
The Audio Engineering Society was formed in 1948 and now counts over 14,000 members throughout the U.S., Latin America, Europe, Japan and the Far East. The organization serves as the pivotal force in the exchange and dissemination of technical information for the industry. Currently, its members are affiliated with more than 75 AES professional sections and more than 95 AES student sections around the world. Section activities may include guest speakers, technical tours, demonstrations and social functions. Through local AES section events, members experience valuable opportunities for professional networking and personal growth. More information at http://www.aes.org.
About the SMPTE® Hollywood Section
The Hollywood Section of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers® (SMPTE®) was originally organized as the West Coast Section in 1928. Today, it encompasses more than 1,200 SMPTE Members in the Greater Los Angeles area with a common interest in motion-imaging technology and is its own SMPTE Region. The Hollywood Section offers free meetings on a monthly basis that are open to SMPTE Members and non-members alike. Information about meetings is posted on the Section website at www.smpte.org/hollywood.
