Hollywood Sound Design and Moviesound Newsletter A Case Study of the End of the Analog Age

As film students and younger fans experience "Big Hollywood Sound" in Imax presentations and digital theaters, many are also discovering action and adventure movies made well before they were born. There is a legacy to be enjoyed in the sound of these films: Blockbuster movies of the ‘80’s, and ‘90’s are notable for the extraordinarily dramatic impact of their sound mixing, and the way in which it could immerse audiences in a surrounding space. During this period, a small group of sound professionals in Hollywood wrote and published a critical journal about the craftsmanship, new technology, and changing aesthetics that excited conversation in their community. Their work has been edited and compiled here for the first time. David Stone is a sound editor, a veteran of roughly 100 Hollywood feature films, such as Gremlins, Top Gun, Die Hard, Speed, and Ocean’s 11. He was a Supervising Sound Editor for projects as varied as Predator, Edward Scissorhands, Beauty and the Beast, Batman Returns, City Slickers 2, and Dolores Claiborne. He has collected Golden Reel awards for Best Sound Editing five times, and won the 1992 Academy Award® for best Sound Effects Editing, for his supervising work on Bram Stoker’s Dracula. In 2015, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the San Luis Obispo Jewish Film Festival in California. Stone is now a Professor and former Chair of Sound Design at Savannah College of Art and Design. Between 1989 and 1994, he was the editor of Moviesound Newsletter, which was published by Vanessa Ament. Dr. Vanessa Theme Ament is the author of The Foley Grail, and a contributor to Sound: Dialogue, Music, and Effects (the Silver Screen Series). She is on the steering committee for Cinesonika, an international film festival and conference. A veteran Foley artist, sound editor, and voice actor from Los Angeles, she also writes and sings jazz, and is a member of the American Federation of Musicians, SAG-AFTRA, Actors Equity, and the Editors Guild. She worked on Die Hard, sex, lies, and videotape, Platoon, Predator, Edward Scissorhands, Beauty and the Beast, Noises Off, and A Goofy Movie, and many other films. Dr. Ament received her Ph.D. in Communication, in the area of Moving Image Studies, from Georgia State University in Atlanta, and is presently the Edmund F. and Virginia B. Ball Endowed Chair Professor of Telecommunications, at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana.

Foreword Preface & Acknowledgements Reel One: Short Subjects: (Glossary, Trivia, Scoreboard) Sc. 1 Introduction to Short Subjects Sc. 2 Welcome to It Sc. 3 Bits of Glossary Sc. 4 Trims and Trivia Sc. 5 Music Scoreboard Sc. 6 Post Script for the Scoreboard Reel Two: Exhibitionists (The Theater Beat) Sc. 1 Theater Beat Short Notices Sc. 2 Theater Beat Articles Reel Three: Sound Reports: (Notices, News Articles, and Big News) Sc. 1 Introduction Sc. 2 Notices Sc. 3 News Articles Sc. 4 Big News Reel Four: Rewinding (Articles, historical) Sc. 1 Setting the Context for Historical Articles Sc. 2 Articles of Historical Note Sc. 3 Understanding SFX and Libraries Sc. 4 Rick Mitchell Research Reel Five: Talking Pictures (Interviews) Sc. 1 Introduction Sc. 2 Patching Up Lawrence (Richard L. Anderson) Sc. 3 Jammin’ with the Cosmos (Mark Mangini) Sc. 4 Ben Burtt Sounds Off! (Ben Burtt) Sc. 5 Thoughts from E.T. (Elliot Tyson) Sc. 6 Sound Director Runs TV Academy (Leo Chaloukian) Sc. 7 The Washing Machine (Tim Hoggatt, Deborah Dobb, and Jim Cavaretta) Sc. 8 We Chat with DTS’s Jeff Levison (Jeff Levison) Reel Six: Active Listening (Reviews at the Movies) Sc. 1 Introduction Sc. 2 He Bugged Me (The Fly II) Sc. 3 Dead Calm Sc. 4 The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey Sc. 5 Classic Comic (Robert Altman’s Popeye) Sc. 6 Lethal Effects (Lethal Weapon 2) Sc. 7 Bear with Us (L’Ours, a.k.a. The Bear) Sc. 8 The Hunt for Red October Sc. 9 Ben Hur Sc. 10 Doors of Pretension (The Doors) Sc. 11 Director Sharpens Blade (Blade Runner) Sc. 12 Digital, Schmigital (Final Approach) Sc. 13 One Man’s Meat (Dante’s Matinee) Sc. 14 Gump Sounds Great (Forrest Gump) Sc. 15 When Dinosaurs Ruled the Box Office (Jurassic Park) Reel Seven: Critical Listening (Reviews at Home) Sc. 1 Introduction to George Simpson Sc. 2 Laser Discs and the Reviewer Sc. 3 Picks Disc Pix Sc. 4 1989 Great Vintage for Laser Sound Sc. 5 Golden Reels on Disc Sc. 6 And the Competition is Fierce Dep’t. Sc. 7 The West Side Kids Sc. 8 Laserblast: Surround Yourself Sc. 9 LaseReviews Sc. 10 LaserViews Sc. 11 Laserblasts: Dep’t. of Suspicious Restorations Sc. 12 Laser Louie Looks at Musicals Sc. 13 Pardon Me, But Your Fangs are in My Wallet Sc. 14 Sounds Your Father Never Heard Sc. 15 Home Video in Identity Crisis Reel Eight: Sound Thinking (Thoughts and Analysis) Sc. 1 Introduction Sc. 2 Indy Splits Sc. 3 Holy Split-Surrounds, Batman! Sc. 4 What’s Q-Sound? Sc. 5 Cinema Digital Sound Introduced Sc. 6 Cinema Digital Sound Falters Sc. 7 Digital Editing Meets Mag-Dracula Reel Nine: Sturm und Drang (Editorial and Opinion) Sc. 1 Editorial Notices Sc. 2 Opinion - Colorizing, Restoration Standards Sc. 3 Editorial: The Colorization of Sound Sc. 4 Restorations and Re-Releases Sc. 5 Opinion - Labor Relations, Personal Standards Sc. 6 Busman’s Holiday Sc. 7 Editorial: Aby… Abbeh… Abbbah… Abbuh… Sc. 8 Opinion - Credit For Movie Sound Workers Sc. 9 Editorial: Eighty-One Out! Sc. 10 Thoughts from the Foley Stage: Sc. 11 Editorial: The Foley Grail Reel Ten: Unsound Thinking (Humor) Sc. 1 Introduction Sc. 2 Humor pieces Sc. 3 April Fool’s Issue Sc. 4 In Appreciation of John P. Sc. 5 New Equipment Roundup (not really) Reel Eleven: Reader Participation (Bag of Snail-Mail) Sc. 1 Introduction: Life Before the World Wide Web Sc. 2 On the Bylines Sc. 3 The Mail (1989-1994) Sc. 4 Call and Response: The Johnson Letter Sc. 5 Concluding Thoughts Reel Twelve: Time And Tide (Concerns And Obituaries) Sc. 1 Jimmy Macdonald: The Sound of a Spider Web Sc. 2 Ken Berger Sc. 3 Remembering Alan Splet Sc. 4 Murray Spivack Tribute Sc. 5 Three Lively Spirits Sc. 6 To the Trained Ear Appendix Afterword and Further Reading Appendix 1 MSNL’s Guide to Reading Material Appendix 2 Extended Note: A Case of Blackmail Appendix 3 Personal Note: In Combat with E.T. Appendix 4 Extended Note: Auteur or Hauteur? Appendix 5 The Whole SFX Catalogue Appendix 6 The Couch Potato’s Guide to Laser Sound Index

David E. Stone is a sound editor, a veteran of roughlyone hundredHollywood feature filmssuch asGremlins, Top Gun, Die Hard, Speed, and Ocean’s 11. He was a supervising sound editor for projects as varied as Predator, Edward Scissorhands, Beauty and the Beast, Batman Returns, City Slickers 2, and Dolores Claiborne. He has collected Golden Reel awards for Best Sound Editing five times, and won the 1992 Academy Award® for best Sound Effects Editing, for his supervising work on Bram Stoker’s Dracula. In 2015, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award by the San Luis Obispo Jewish Film Festival in California. Stone is a now a professor and former Chair of Sound Design at Savannah College of Art and Design. Between 1989 and 1994, he was the editor of Moviesound Newsletter, which was published by Vanessa Ament. Dr. Vanessa Theme Ament is the author of The Foley Grailand a contributor to Sound: Dialogue, Music, and Effects (the Silver Screen Series). She is on the steering committee for Cinesonika, an international film festival and conference that celebrates sound and music in film and video. A veteran Foley artist, sound editor, and voice actor from Los Angeles, she also writes and sings jazz, and is a member of several industry unions, including American Federation of Musicians, SAG-AFTRA, Actors Equity, and the Editors Guild. Some of the films Dr. Ament has worked on include Die Hard, sex, lies, and videotape, Platoon, Predator, Edward Scissorhands, Beauty and the Beast, Noises Off, and A Goofy Movie. Dr. Ament received her Ph.D. in Communication, in the area of Moving Image Studies, from Georgia State University in Atlanta, and is presently the Edmund F. and Virginia B. Ball Endowed Chair Professor of Telecommunications, at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana.