MPSE Wavelength

M OT I O N P I CTU R E S O U N D E D I TO R S I 49 At the start of day two, Larry Blake spoke with Ren Klyce for the second keynote interview of the event, The Music in Sound. Klyce, the sound designer and re-recording mixer based at Skywalker Sound, is best known for his work for director David Fincher on Se7en, Fight Club, Zodiac, The Social Network, and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. The UC Santa Cruz alum reflected on how his music degree and study of early electronic music and musique concrète, the genre that utilizes recorded sounds as instruments in an abstract orchestra, challenged his definition of "music," opened his mind and ears to questioning his preconceived notions of sound vs. music. [the recorder is running at] 15 inches per second, then half of that is a half note, and [half again] is a quarter note. You keep cutting it down ... I was very into rhythms with sounds, so it was a very great way to start." This early, rudimentary form of music editing showcased both Klyce's keen sense of timing but also the emotion and color that sound can convey. This background helped bridge the gap between the sound and music departments when Klyce was approached by David Fincher with the notion of bringing Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross on to score The Social Network. Klyce recalled when it came to the film, "Fincher didn't want to make their music feel like it had to fit a picture. He wanted them to write music for music's sake." Reznor and Ross wrote 22 demos which Klyce and the picture department re-cut in an attempt to help Fincher find the rhythms and beats of the film. Being detached from the process of composing gave Klyce an editorial perspective that allowed for musical experimentation without personal sacrifice. Klyce explained that he was able to bring multiple edits to Fincher, Ross, and Reznor, "they would trust me enough to go 'we don't like that,' or 'hey, that's pretty cool,' or 'that idea gave us another idea.'" Klyce was quick to add that there has to be a level of trust between the music editor and composer to not completely wreck the composition in the process of editorial. What Klyce found beneficial to the process was that "It gave [Fincher] the freedom to discover a color of music It was through his electronic music course where Klyce learned to record various sounds, splice tape, and create sound montages. These practices, in tandem with his study of the works of musique concrète pioneers Pierre Henry and Pierre Boulez, laid a groundwork for Klyce that lead to a clear trajectory of his career path. Klyce recalled, "Our first assignment was to create a piece of music from these sounds [we recorded] … so from a very early age, I was sort of taught that music is sound and sound is music ... if you open your mind to it." This early exposure and education developed his palate for what Klyce would later come to understand as sound design or what he defines as a "creative approach to sound effects … crafting sound effects in a way that might suit film creatively in ways that sound may not normally be able to be considered to do." This education lead to the success of his first project, his own musique concrète-inspired track for a Sesame Street short wherein a young girl walks the street listening to the sounds of the city and goes home to imagine her own abstract orchestra of the same found sounds composing a melody just for her. Klyce smiled as he reminisced, "That was the first thing I did and it was wonderful for John [Cordy, director] to actually give me that little job. Because I had to make this :30 montage and I did it all by splicing tape." At the time, samplers were available, but very much unaffordable for the recent graduate. By measuring the length of tape, Klyce knew that he could create rhythms that could create a musical composition. "I was taught that, well, if DAY TWO Keynotes from Key Pros Ren Klyce REN KLYCE Sound Designer Re-Recording Mixer LARRY BLAKE Supervising Sound Editor Re-Recording Mixer

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