Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1448505
72 I M PS E . O R G childhood was spent in a little village called Agárd, next to the Lake Velence. In addition to school, first there was sports, rowing, athletics, handball, then came music—guitar playing, blues, jazz, and the folk music. When I was 14, we moved to the city of Székesfehérvár, where I went to high school. During that time, in addition to my passion for guitar playing, I was also caught up in fine arts and painting, but in the end, I decided in favor of music. It was also at this time that I started working on audio technology, making my first self- made mini-sound mixer and guitar distorting pedal. I continued my studies in history and music at a teacher training college. There was a lot of travel, concerts, guitar playing, choral singing, and sometimes street running races and half marathon runs were my hobby… After graduating, I started my teaching career with great enthusiasm, but after four years of elementary school teaching, it matured in me that I wanted to try something else. So I drifted into the College of Theater and Film Arts in Budapest, into the film studies, and the first exam film, mini-staff film productions. My guitar and the sports activity slowly lagged behind with filming and sound post-production completely filled my life; a new love was born in my work. Then, 20 years ago, we founded the SAINT Audio Studio with colleagues and friends (SAINT comes from a Hungarian acronym). I still work here almost every day. I have a wonderful wife who is a psychologist, dance and movement therapist, my little son Milan will be 5 years old and my daughter Maja will be 8 years old. CM: Are there any artists in the film sound community that you feel were influential in your work and sound philosophies? TZ: Well, right! There are fantastic Hungarian sound engineers: András Imre Nyerges, György Kovács, Dr. Gábor Erdélyi (senior), and the others. I was also a fan of the works of Jack Foley, Ben Burtt, Walter Murch, and other US grand masters. Several of the latter's writings were published in Hungarian, as well. But of course, you know, while you're young, you're more into technology and audio tricks, but at the same time, many welcoming, intuitive solutions are born. Then only later you start to think more about the psychological, aesthetic, and philosophical qualities of sound. CM: How did you (and your team) get involved with Son of Saul? TZ: We have known each other with the director, László Nemes, for a long time, I also worked in his previous shorts. Perhaps the most interesting of these is With a Little Patience, which was born a good eight years before Son of Saul. László had read the book made from the scrolls of Sonder commandos and found them in a French edition long before and he was very interested in the story. When the first version of the script was born around 2013-2014, he called me on the phone to talk about it. He also showed me the location, which was highlighted for filming: It was an old Hungarian military area near Budapest on the banks of the Danube River, with a large warehouse building. For me, this is how the story of Son of Saul movie began. Tamas Zanyi recording playing music on the street before 30 years ago