Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1500189
44 M PS E . O R G
Thom was nominated three times in one
category also (in 1984) and the presenter
(Michael Keaton) saying something like
"and Randy Thom, who had a big year!"
GR: Yeah!
SL: Backdraft you mentioned… That's
an amazing job. You created so many
different emotions within the sound of
fire than anyone had done for a film at
this point.
GR: Yeah. Ron Howard, who I had
known from Cocoon, was great. It
comes back into my mind because
I recently did—I don't usually do
these—but I did a home Atmos remix
of Backdraft.
SL: Wow!
GR: And it was great to revisit it.
And I remember if any sound effects
editor were to make a list of sounds
that are hard because they're
essentially hard sounds to make
interesting, or sounds that would
tend toward pink noise ... water,
crowds … and fire. Fire is a very
boring sound, for the most part. The
trick that I tried to do in Backdraft
was fire be in the mix almost as
little as possible. And have it be
more about the effects of fire on the
things around it. Or to do things for
fire like compressed air. I would do
compressed air manipulation and
make these kind of wispy airy sounds
that sounded like fire, but weren't
fire. That was what I attempted
to do in that, was to make fire the
least. There's very little literal fire
in that movie, and I tried to lean on
explosions and warping sounds,
and traveling metal, and sizzles …
all to the effect of—when we do
sound, anyone who does sound—
you're not doing it just to make a
believable fire scene, you're trying
to give it a personality. And in that
movie, especially, the fire had a literal
personality, because the William
Baldwin character has got this
history with fire, so you have to give it
a living thing.
SL: It becomes a character. Another
character in the film.
GR: Exactly. And we mentioned
Randy Thom earlier… I will tell you
that the Backdraft sound—in the
film when they test a doorknob to
see if it's hot—the literal backdraft,
and there was a wisp of smoke that
would come underneath the crack in
the door, and instead of smoke or fire
sounds, I would use a coyote howl,
processed.
SL: Oooo.
GR: But when it explodes out toward
us, one of the main elements was a
belch from Randy Thom.
SL: