Asians in Animation: Working with Sound, Music, and Voice-Over
by Angelica Ramos and Marc Yu
September 10th, 2025
AnimationProductionSound DesignVoice-OverMusic
In June, our audio production studio had the amazing opportunity to speak on a panel with Kenny Adrian to the Asians in Animation community, a non-profit organization dedicated to the celebration and support of the Asian animation community. Hosted by Michelle Marakasherry of AIA, Marc Yu (audio director), Neil Small (sound designer), Angelica Ramos (voice-over Producer and Assistant), and Kenny Adrian (composer) spoke about working with audio post-production teams on animation, keys for effective collaboration, and what makes animation special.
Kenny Adrian is a film composer from Jakarta, Indonesia passionate about blending orchestral textures with sounds from her homeland and creating a unique sonic identity that marries orchestral and traditional folk instruments. Her latest scoring work for the film Hair For You has been recognized as an Official Selection at prestigious festivals, including The Independent Shorts Award, The Animators Guild India Fest, and Kineko International Film Festival. Kenny's composition "Daisy" was recorded by the Boston Conservatory chamber orchestra at the iconic Power Station studio in NYC. Now based in LA, she has had the opportunity to work alongside Oscar-nominated composer John Debney on the upcoming animated feature In Your Dreams by Kuku Studios.
Below is an abridged summary of the presentation, highlighting the important questions and answers delivered at the panel.
Q: What is something that is recently inspiring you, as of late?
KENNY: I would say the movie Sinners. Story-wise, I really loved when movies aren't just, like, one thing. It turned out to be something else, having historical meaning and all these ties…yeah, I just love everything! And of course, the score is great.
MARC: Part of the reason I love doing what we do is that every project brings on its own unique challenges and inspirations, and that's what drives a project forwards. We're working on a horror game with music inspired by Severance, a musical inspired by Epic: The Musical, and a game with influences from Genshin Impact and Final Fantasy. I've been listening to a ton of that music, and I love it.
ANGELICA: I have a radically different answer. There's a graphic novel called Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees. It's very gory, which I wasn't expecting because it looks like a children's illustrated novel. But the art style combined with the murder-mystery-type story was really intriguing to me, and it's nice to discover new works that help with my thought process.
Q: What do you do in your various roles?
KENNY: Film composers—as the name says—we write music to film. It's a really special job, especially with animation, which can tend to rely more on music. Music does a lot to really shift and complete the story. And it's fun! You score to what's on screen and make everything better.
MARC: As an audio director, I oversee the entire audio production process. It's not just music, sound design, and voice-over—it's also interfacing between the clients and the audio team. It's so important to have someone who supervises audio on your team. What that work entails is project management: working with multiple composers, sound designers, voiceover casting directors, voiceover producers, mixing and editing engineers, recording engineers. There's also session coordination for large to small-scale recording sessions, whether it's an orchestra or a small band. Knowing all the ins and outs of contracting and working with an audio team, as well as sync licenses, mechanical licenses, and intellectual property.
It's also budgeting and knowing standards. What's the expectation for the level of work you're looking for? Last but not least, it's being that person who helps you talk to your composers and sound designers. One thing I've encountered a lot in indie is that you, as an individual, might be looking for a composer or sound designer. But you may not have a background in audio. Perhaps your team is also fresh out the gate. So I'm really there to help with that line of communication.
NEIL: In sound design, we create sound effects for different actions onscreen. So maybe people are running, we do the footsteps. It can also involve a lot of field recording and working with sample libraries. We even handle ambient noises, like wind or just background ambience. Then there are synthetic sounds, like lasers. That's all handled by sound designers.
ANGELICA: Taking it over to voice-over production: I help codify the audition processes and casting calls for any project that requires voice actors because every project is looking for something different. Some need only one or two actors. If it's a larger video game-style project, they may want ten or more, which will require different types of casting calls and audition processes in order to get through the auditions. I also help with prepping for recording sessions in a live studio, or virtually over Zoom helping the actor with the right equipment.
Q: How can artists and filmmakers best prepare to collaborate with your respective fields?
KENNY: I think that before you approach a composer—or when you're looking for a composer or sound team—you want to make sure that you have all the details available. This could be a pitch deck or a document, but basically, general information that would be really helpful for the team to know. Things like the logline, title, the aesthetic. An animatic would be great, or concept art at least, just so your prospective composers know what it's going to look like. When do I allocate time to do this project? What kind of music are we looking for? What kind of sound? There is where sometimes people have links to their Spotify inspiration playlist. I find that really helpful because it gives you a good idea of the kind of sound they want.
MARC: Yeah, you really want to start thinking about audio early on. Depending on what it is you need, some of it might even start in pre-production. This is one of those things where, if this is a small project where you are handling everything yourself, you want to talk to someone who is experienced to help you figure out the processes of getting audio. I'll give you an example of a musical theater film we worked on…
We had to work on the music way before anything was animated because we recorded scratch tracks with video footage of the instruments and vocalists so that it could be animated. Then we re-recorded it with the animation. Depending on your project's needs, the production scope and scale and budget can really change, so I would advise that you start thinking about audio and talking to someone who knows audio early on. Even just a friend who has some experience with editing. They will be able to offer some insight where you're like oh, I didn't think about this before, that's something that I need to consider in my schedule.
NEIL: Another thing that I'll add is figuring out different options for composers or sound designers. Take a look at what kind of sound design or music they do, and see if it fits within what you want. Just figure it out, test the waters. Knowing how long your film runs is super important, too—that can go in the pitch deck.
ANGELICA: Looping back to what Marc said, sometimes you have to record sound or music before you start animation, especially with voice actors. You have to get the actors recorded before animating. Because if you animate what your characters are saying, then have actors dub the lip flaps, it's going to be much harder than having them speak normally. They'll need to match with how it's animated, and if they don't, you'll need to make corrections—it's a mess. So I would highly suggest getting your actors in before you animate anything, and that way, you can also get visual references. Chances are, they will also have good facial expressions or gestures that you can put in your animation.
Q: How can animators and filmmakers provide feedback? Are there any terms that you think people should know to help make feedback easier and more constructive?
KENNY: Yeah, definitely don't be afraid to be as descriptive as possible. Use as many adjectives as you need. When I first started doing short films, I was in music school and we were surrounded by music people, so we all spoke the same language. And then when you do your first project outside of school, you're like 'Whoa, we use totally different languages'. Over different projects, I've learned that being really descriptive and specific is a great tool.
If you struggle to describe what you're looking for, you can always find an existing piece of music as reference. We won't take offense if you're like 'Oh, I really like this thing that this Wes Anderson movie has. This twinkly sound, I don't know what it is, but can we have that?' Just a friendly reminder that the composer will try their best to emulate what you want but will not replicate because that is otherwise an infringement on copyright—we don't want that. That is why spotting sessions are the best time to say what type of sound you want in detail.
There's a term called 'Mickey-Mousing'. You see this a lot in animation. It's when the music highlights an action—what's going on onscreen. A glass drops, and then you want a cymbal crash. Do you want the composer to really highlight that in the music? Or maybe the type of film that you're making is more serious, something not as lighthearted, so you don't want them to do that. The spotting session is when you would say these things.
MARC: I've worked on a number of projects in varying capacities as music editor, sound designer, composer, etc.. And I think that—to take a bit of weight off of your shoulders—the responsibility is ultimately the audio team's to bring your vision to life. But at the end of the day, it's a collaborative effort. One important thing to understand is that everyone is doing their best. You may not know all the audio terms. The composer or sound designer may not know all the terms about animation either. Really, it's a matter of 'I want this, I'm feeling this. Okay, let's find a reference. I think I got it.' And then they're gonna try something, and that takes a considerable amount of time and energy and effort. It's also important to acknowledge that the audio team may come up with their own interpretations. Sometimes that's good, sometimes it's not, and that's totally okay.
I have a couple of tips for communication. Just as important as talking about things you don't like…is talking about things that you do like. When you talk about things you don't like, that's great—that's fantastic. We now know to avoid that. But when you talk about things that you do like, your audio team knows that it's something they should do more of. As Kenny mentioned, finding references is really great. Sometimes ideas can be so abstract in concept. Even if it's not perfect, find a reference where you can pinpoint: 'At this timestamp, I like this. At this timestamp, there's this sound I don't like'.
From an audio director perspective, the most important thing for people to understand is that music, sound design, and voice-over are three different things. On a small project, the composer will probably end up mixing their own tracks, and that's okay. Sometimes you'll need a sound designer who's also a composer. But it's not uncommon to hear someone say: 'Ah, you're a composer? So how are you going to do the ambience for this outdoor scene?' And it's suddenly like, 'Wait, that's not a music thing'. The lines are gray sometimes between music and sound design, but you want to be aware that these are different fields.
NEIL: Yeah, I agree with the separation of feedback. I'll go straight into the terms: foley versus synthetic sound design. 'I'm moving the napkin around', that's foley. Any sort of electronic stuff—'you're in a spaceship console and you're swiping things around'—that's synthetic. We create those sounds using synthesizers.
ANGELICA: The point I want to hammer in, in terms of voice-over, is the difference in the way you communicate with actors during auditions and casting, versus when you actually have the actors and are coaching them on their lines. It's two separate types of feedback that you need to give.
When you write the script, you know the characters, but it's coming from a different perspective. To put it in an analogy, it's like when you go see a production of the same show at two different theaters. It's the same script. But each show has two different directors, so some characters are interpreted differently. When you start your casting call, you need to think like a scriptwriter: 'Okay, this is the voice type for this character'. Are they masculine, feminine, high, low, androgynous? Do they speak fast or slow? Do they have an accent? Things that are completely objective about the character go in the casting call.
Once you have those voice actors and are in the recording session, then you act as a director. Let's say you have a character that's really gruff and you know that they soften up over time, so you want their voice to get softer and softer. That's something you tell the voice actor in the booth so they can deliver the lines that way.
Q: How long does this work take? How do you plan schedules and deadlines?
KENNY: This depends on when you bring us in. Like Marc said, the sooner the better because it gives everyone time to get acquainted with the world of your story. The composer can potentially experiment with the sounds you want. Let's say you found your composer, you want to work together. I like to get talking with the team and to know the story and the characters…to make sure we're on the same page about where the story is going and what it's trying to say. This is the time to talk about the inspiration playlist and what they imagine for the story. I like making demos in the beginning stage if there's time and it's a story that calls for thematic writing. I find writing a demo—to get a sense of the sonic palette—makes it easier when I score because we've already established what sounds and textures you like.
After that, we go into the spotting session. Spotting is when you have a meeting and you share the rough cut or locked cut. Timecode is really important so you know where you want the music to start and end. This is the best time to talk about the details. Say there's an action you want to highlight, or a mood that you think may not be obvious at first glance. The composer would take notes of the timestamps and take it into consideration.
After that, we go into scoring. I like scoring per cue (track), then sending it off to the director for notes as I work on the next thing. It makes revisions faster for me. Then I send in the final mix. For reference, I'll export a clip of the scenes, then at the end, I'll send the audio files. So a rough timeline—for a short film—would be a month or two months, depending on when we're brought in and the deadline.
MARC: A short film? Six to eight weeks. It's very important that when you're delivering your cut, to the audio team, you deliver the locked cut. There are no more timing changes. For you, it might be very easy to move a couple frames. For the audio team, it can mean re-rendering the audio or even rewriting music. Things don't have to be colored or properly lit. What's important for the audio team is to receive a locked cut.
And that's where the six-to-eight weeks comes in. It's really four weeks to start. Give your audio team something reasonable: two weeks to do a first draft. Then one week for revisions, another week for more revisions. Add in two buffer weeks in case of any recording, mixing, or editing. So that's six weeks. Then add two weeks of buffer—one at the start, one at the end—so that your schedule is comfortably padded. You can spend the first week doing the spotting session.
The spotting session is really important. You go through the movie, second by second, and talk about: 'This is where I want the music to come in and come out. What kind of shoes is the character wearing? What does that sound like? Is the backpack heavy or light? Is the city ambience busy or empty and quiet? The character says something important here. Let's do something with the music. Bring it back down. Make it happy. Make it sad.'
Six to eight weeks is a very basic schedule for something like a short film. You've probably heard us say this many times, but it also really depends on your project. There are so many variables and I haven't even touched on voice-over. Angelica will talk more about it, but it's something that needs to happen in pre-production. Six to eight weeks for post-production is the very general answer.
NEIL: Yeah, I would definitely hammer in that because sound effects are so tied to what's happening on screen, it can be super difficult if the animation isn't all there. It's also great to have temporary sound effects in so that the sound designer has a reference for where and how the sound is timed. Of course, you'll have the timecode, but it's always nice to see and hear something there, especially if it's something from a reference.
ANGELICA: It's important for the voice-over production to start during the casting process—and have the recording sessions—as soon as possible. Casting does not have a specific timeline, but I would suggest two to three weeks, if not more, for the first round of auditions. Then a shorter week and a half for callbacks. Keep in mind that depending on the volume of auditions, it will take your team a longer time to process them. Marc and I recently did a project where we got…what's the number?
MARC: Yeah, we're working on a game where we received 7,000+ auditions within a couple months, which included working with bigger actors and contracting them through SAG-AFTRA. We're working on a musical as well, where we put out the casting call a couple days ago. That has been blowing up already with 100,000+ views on the post.
ANGELICA: The casting process does not have to be that long, especially if you're on a deadline. You just need to make sure you're getting the reach that you want and doing the marketing to get it out there. Recording sessions will probably take one to three hours, depending on the lines.
If your film or game involves a song with a vocalist, you'll not only need time to record, but also to rehearse. The vocalist can teach themselves, but I would highly suggest getting a music director or producer; someone who is specifically there to direct the vocalist to sing it the way you want it. Some voice-over producers, like myself, already happen to be music directors.
Q: What is the budget to work with an audio team (on a student film)?
MARC: Budget can be such a mysterious, foreboding, and overwhelming topic for audio and non-audio people, and I have a really simple way of boiling it down. How many hours of work is it? What's your hourly wage?
So if we think about it, $100 per minute of music is sort of where student projects fall. That's on the lower end. One minute of music takes at least a couple hours to write, right? That's $20/hour for five hours, and then you also want revisions on top of that. And we don't know how complicated the revisions are. So we're really pushing the minimum wage here.
Something that's a little bit more reasonable is $150 per minute of audio for each person working on it. Something that's higher quality—you'd definitely want to make sure you're getting someone who knows what they're doing—maybe $300 per minute of audio. But this is a very, very generic answer.
Other things that you might consider. Are you getting sound effects as well? Maybe you're animating and developing a game and you need sound effects—what's that gonna cost? You might also be looking at casting. What if you're looking for live music? A vocalist? Each vocalist might charge something different. So there are a lot of factors, but I think that when it comes to the indie community, that big thing is to think about how many hours and the minimum wage.
I've worked on projects before where the client says 'Oh yeah, I have $50 to do this film and I need music for the full thing.' And I say, 'How long do you think it takes to write music?' I worked on another project where the director paid X money for an audio team…who were fired later on. They contacted us to replace them and we said 'we'll do it, but since we only have two weeks on the schedule now, there will be a rush fee.' And their response was 'Oh, I thought that it would be less money because you're working on it for less time.' These kinds of conversations are not uncommon.
I think there's one really important thing to keep in mind, which is a mutual sense of respect for each other's work. And that's not just clients respecting the audio team, but the audio team respecting clients as well. There's a lot of work that goes into different aspects of a film, and it's the same for audio teams. So this is a conversation that you want to approach respectfully with your team. You want to acknowledge the level of work they're putting into your project, and to understand the scope of the work.
Q: How do you get scoring gigs? Any platforms that work well?
KENNY: Scoring gigs come from everywhere. It's hard to pinpoint. I've been approached and have approached for scoring gigs. It's very competitive, especially if you're around other composers or you're in music school. You sign up for a newsletter and then everyone's on it the minute someone is looking for a composer. Instagram is a great resource. Go to film festivals; that's what I found really inspiring here in LA. If you find these events, go and talk to strangers and they might have a project needing sound. So I think getting yourself out there, being visible, talking to and meeting people. It's a good way to start, but the internet is also great to take advantage of.
MARC: Alright, I'm going to give the most real and most blunt answer. Get a job that pays your bills. You can't do all of these trips and go to festivals and reach out to people if you don't have the money to be making those sorts of expenses. You don't have the budget to do recording sessions…unless you have a job. What's important to acknowledge about audio work is that this is gig work. Or maybe you're working for a big studio with a big composer, which is a totally valid career path as well.
Kenny is working with a big composer. I'm doing more freelance things. The place to start is…make sure that you are living comfortably. Because the last thing you want is for the job hunt and the grind to ruin your passion for music. Music, at the end of the day, is a creative art. So is sound design, so is voice-over. It's so important that you don't lose that flame. Make sure that you're able to support yourself, and that is going to enable you to go even further.
ANGELICA: I have a really weird answer to this question. If you are looking for scoring projects that are lighter and more fun to dip your toes in, I would suggest looking into fandoms. Chances are, there are a lot of creatives that are sharing their projects and need music, actors, a fan dub, or even animatics. When the Dropout Discord server was still active, a lot of people shared their artistic works and asked for help! So it's not bad to look through these niche spaces and find creatives that have similar interests as you.
Q: What are necessary skills to become an audio director?
MARC: That's a great question. I don't know if I have the perfect answer for you. Everything that I've done has sort of led to me becoming an audio director. And it's not because I had these grand plans, but it's because I constantly push myself to do more. I like learning skills unrelated to audio, like spreadsheets and coding. Things like task management and using Jira, Asana, and Slack. Managing my own recording sessions. Bringing friends onto projects because they're a sound designer and I'm not. That's how we ended up with a studio.
It's always about 'what's the next thing I can do?'. And if you can do that—if you can propel yourself—you will have what it takes to become an audio director. An audio director is responsible for taking initiative and thinking about everything that needs to happen. Other people aren't necessarily trained in that, and you might end up working with a composer or sound designer who doesn't know about budgeting and scheduling expectations. That's okay—this is an entirely different skill set. A great place to start is learning as much as possible about management, building teams, communication, scheduling, and taking initiative.
Q: Does it help to have temp music and sound design in animatics? What makes temp audio useful for audio teams?
KENNY: Temp music doesn't hurt the composer. I know some people prefer not having temp and would rather have complete creative freedom. But I think that for most people, it's helpful because it gives you an idea of where you want the music to start and end. If anything, it helps the composer. If you want it to sound like Philip Glass or this other movie, the composer will try their best to emulate what you want.
The tricky thing with temp is that some filmmakers work with temp for so long, they get stuck to the idea that the music sounds the best. But then it's a song that you can't buy the rights to and whatever. When you use temp, just understand that it's temp and you're bringing on a composer who'll hopefully create something better than the temp.
NEIL: For sure. I think it's super helpful. It's totally fine for someone to say 'I would like it to sound like this', especially if it's something not expected. Maybe you want something to sound very unrealistic for something otherwise very realistic. Like, I'm throwing a ball, but the ball makes a ZING instead of a booming impact. That's super useful for me to know. Temp audio will also help us figure out if it's foley or synthetic.
MARC: Having references is so good. I love references. Make sure that you say what you like and don't like. One time, a client wanted grungy, underground crime music, so I suggested jazz noir, like those black-and-white detective movies. They agreed, so I wrote it, and they didn't like it. They said 'This is actually what we're thinking of' and played some hip-hop music. Completely left-field. So make sure you actually listen to the references and point out things you like and don't like. What Kenny said about the temp…you want to be careful about temp. It's one thing to get attached to the temp, but it's another to trust your composer when they say 'I don't know how much closer we can get to the temp'.
ANGELICA: When you're putting out casting calls for voice actors, I would recommend just describing the voice you want and not putting any references. If you tell an actor 'I want this character to sound like J. Michael Tatum', instead of actors giving their authentic voice, they'll be doing imitations instead. Sometimes, an impersonation is not what you want.
Q: Do composers have specific genres they specialize in, or to be a jack-of-all-trades?
KENNY: It's a jack-of-all-trades vibe. You can specialize, but this is a gig line of work. Most people want to get as many gigs as possible, so you have to be a jack-of-all-trades. In an ideal world, I would only write whimsical or orchestral music, but that's just not the market, is it? Not everyone wants that type of thing, so as composers, we have to be really flexible and open to experimentation. Of course, you can be known for a specific genre—that's a good thing. But as composers, it's good to be reliable for filmmakers. You want people that know you to be: 'I should definitely go to them for this film because I trust them completely. They know what they're doing, even if they might not know this genre'.
MARC: Yeah, Kenny is absolutely right. Part of our job is to be a jack-of-all-trades. People want different things and that's part of the reason why I started a production company. We're a big team with different specializations. Even if audio people are supposed to be a jack-of-all-trades, that doesn't necessarily mean they're good at it. One thing that's important is to look at demo reels. You'll find work people have done. You can check out their work and know that they are actually capable of doing what it is you want them to do. That's part of gig work. That's why we want to be jack-of-all-trades, and that's why the market is so tough.
ANGELICA: Don't be ashamed if you do know that you're better in one genre than another. I'm a film composer, but my strength is in musical theater. I know how to format piano/vocal scores, I know how to orchestrate for musical theater, rehearse voice actors, etc.. You'll get better at other things. Don't let it negate what you're good at.
[Marc leaves; Q&A extends into overtime.]
Q: Is it okay to tell audio teams that they have creative freedom, or is lack of direction frustrating?
KENNY: Okay, that's really sweet. I don't know any composer that would mind being told to be creative. Do whatever you think is best. It's great to hear that, but if we're on a tight deadline, a demo would be really helpful. Before a composer starts scoring to picture, they can make a demo and present it to the filmmaker: 'Before I start scoring, I just want to see if we're on the same page. Do you like it or hate it? What do you think?'. I think that's what I would prefer instead of having complete creative freedom and it turns out to be the exact opposite of what you had in mind. To avoid that scenario, having reference tracks would be helpful so we're not wasting time figuring it out.
NEIL: For sound design, I think creative freedom is good. During a spotting session, it's important to really nail down what you want the audience to feel. Is it a comedic tone or a serious tone? Getting those details documented will really help with creative freedom.
Q: Do composers have instruments readily available to make music? How do vocals work?
KENNY: We have virtual instruments, so we don't necessarily need physical instruments. You can record, but composers also have libraries of virtual instruments ready to go. You can do a full score without recording—recording live players is great, but you have to put that into the budget. It's great if everything could be recorded, but obviously, musicians need to be paid, so that's going to cost more.
I haven't had too many opportunities to use vocals, but if you're talking about having a song in the score, that would be getting into songwriting territory. There are some composers who are also songwriters, but not everyone is. Composers can help a little bit, like making a melody on the piano. It differs to everyone, but we would probably find a vocalist together. This is where—if Marc were here—having an audio director would be really helpful because they can contract a vocalist and direct things where they need to go. Not all composers are familiar with this process.
ANGELICA: I can help and jump in because I've worked on musical theater with Marc. If you have a vocalist, they'll need a demo track to practice and record to. This doesn't have to be live instruments—it can just be a MIDI mockup. After the vocalist is done recording their demo, you can record the live instruments, then re-record vocals so that everyone's timing is the same.
In terms of writing the song, you'll want to check with your composer if they're comfortable with songwriting and/or lyrics. Some people are good with it, some are not. If you're writing lyrics or hiring a lyricist, you need to be communicating closely with your composer because the composer and lyricist will have to work together to create something cohesive.
Q: What is your favorite project that you've worked on?
KENNY: Is it cheesy to say the short film we worked on together? Hair For You is Michelle's short film. It was so special to me because Michelle and I knew each other back in Indonesia. I randomly reached out when I was in college, and she was like 'Oh, I happen to be working on my film soon and it's set in Indonesia, so it'd be cool if you got to work on it!'. I got to do stuff that was an homage to home. That was really special to me.
Q: What are your greatest inspirations?
KENNY: I know everyone says Joe Hisaishi, but I agree. But I also really like Alexandre Desplat, who composes for Wes Anderson's films. His type of sound is so inspirational to me. It's really whimsical and light. I love the scores to Fantastic Mr. Fox and The Grand Budapest Hotel. Shape of Water, too, really interesting and pretty. Little Women, yes. What about you, Neil?
NEIL: I get a lot of inspiration from games. There's a lot happening, and my favorite part about sound design is communication and user design, which is why I worked on projects at MIT. Fortnite is a huge inspiration because every single sound tells you so much information. Red Dead Redemption as well. Ff course, the way that sound design is used narratively in There Will Be Blood. Also Paris, Texas, if anyone knows that film as well.
ANGELICA: For me, a lot of musical theater. Big ones are Stephen Sondheim and Dave Malloy. Stephen Sondheim is more of a recognizable name: Sweeney Todd, Into the Woods, Sunday in the Park with George. I love everything he does. Dave Malloy did Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812, and he does a lot of avant-garde contemporary music, which is very weird in a musical theater setting, but I quite enjoy it. In terms of film? I'll give a shout out to Alan Menken because he did so many songs for Disney movies.
Q: What do people misunderstand the most about your job?
KENNY: Not really a misunderstanding…but I think people sometimes forget that composing is just as technical as it is creative. Because we are writing music to a medium, there are technical things that we do. Sync (synchronization) points are why timecodes are so important and why working with locked cuts is very much preferred. The minute you receive a new cut…you did a whole orchestra thing, and the director says 'you can barely see the small edit', but it changes everything for the music. I think people forget that. It's part of the occupational hazard.
NEIL: People think that I do everything. They think I can mix and master every sound system. Which I could, but it'll take me longer than someone else who specializes in that. Being a sound designer, there's a need to ask 'what do we actually do?', which is great that we're having this discussion.
ANGELICA: In voice-over, I find the thing that people misunderstand the most is the difference between objective information and directions you give to a character. When you're doing a casting call, you create this world and you love it. I get it, that's okay—you have this huge backstory for your character and their personality. But the actor does not need to know everything when they're auditioning.
Q: What do you love most about your job?
KENNY: Seeing everything come together with the film, especially with animation. Most of the time, you're working on a rough version of what the film will look like. Either some stills or storyboards—you get the gist. So when you finally see it all finished with the music and sounds, it's like 'wow, I was part of that.' I love that feeling!
NEIL: I love seeing how people react to audio as a whole. Will a player hear an audio cue and think 'oh, maybe I should go this other way?' I love seeing people react to what I've made because it's out of my hands at that point. I want people to take and interpret whatever they want from my sound, and see how creative they can be. It's really about the audience, not me.
ANGELICA: I love recording sessions. I find that I really tend to focus and concentrate the best when the situation is tight, so whenever I'm taking session notes and we're on a specific timeline, it feels so good to be locked in.
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