Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1500189
78 M PS E . O R G Dave and Michelle, can you tell us a bit about yourself and your journey into sound editing? Dave Whitehead MPSE: Having grown up in Aotearoa, New Zealand, in a large family, there was always music and an element of chaos with 10 children in the house. From a young age, I was acutely aware of nature, particularly birds and anything musical at all, and the wider world of sounds around me. The first recorded music and sounds that pricked up my 5-year- old ears were: the treatment of David Bowie's voice on "The Laughing Gnome" and the jet at the start of the Beatles' "Back in the U.S.S.R." I played those records so many times. I also have memories of my grandad carving a giant log with other men. The slap of the wooden mallets on chisels bouncing off the hills while they laughed and spoke in Maori and the beautiful smell of wood chips. Shell (Michelle) and I talk of 'smell-ucinations,' where a memory of a smell or a taste can anchor sound or visual memories. When I was 6 years old, I was hit by a car and through that experience, drifting in and out of consciousness, it was really my first vivid aural experience. It was terrifying and strangely beautiful at the same time. The woman with bright blue eyeshadow crying hysterically over me, the siren as the ambulance arrived, my brother and foster sister crying Hello to our global MPSE family! I am delighted to have been able to have an (email) conversation with two of my favorite, and most inspiring sound artists—Dave Whitehead MPSE and Michelle Child. They have done amazingly creative work since the beginning of their journey through film sound design, and I do hope the MPSE Wavelength readership will become obsessive fans as well! –CHARLES MAYNES MPSE somewhere in the background, the doors, the RT, the gurney, the scissors cutting off my clothes, the hospital emergency room and most memorably, the waves of dappled light and darkness in between. As a sound designer, I've always felt the best asset you can have is your ability to clearly or creatively recall the sounds from your life experience. Musically, I played piano, saxophone, trumpet but eventually ended up on guitar in various obscure alternative bands. I bought a 4-track cassette recorder when I was 17 and that was where my love of recording truly began. I then got offered a job at the University of Waikato as a technician in a MIDI/recording studio. My job was to help record the students' assignments and write music for the university television production company. That was my first dose of post-production. I then started composing for student short films and theatre in which I inevitably ended up doing the sound design. The turning point was a short film called A Little Death by my dear late friend Paul Swadel. From that film, I was offered to sound design my first feature film called The Ugly. I continued to compose when I could, but my reputation for sound design took over and here I am. Even till now, I still wake up thinking in music, not sound design. I guess it's good to keep all creative pencils sharp-ish. Ultimately, I do love sound and the journey of bringing a project to life. I'm naturally a whimsical person, but between the laughs, I take it very seriously, very personally and I put my heart into my sound design. Michelle Child: Like many sound editors, I started out in music. I was a guitarist, teaching guitar and playing in bands. From an early age, as young as 5, I knew I wanted to be an artist and to not have a normal job. It was just never an option. I was too much of a dreamer. I was at University for a very long time as I figured I needed to just keep studying until art was all I could do. I really wanted to be a film composer, but I knew that was very hard to get into. The more I studied composition at University, the more abstract my music became until I realized it was more like sound design. A friend suggested that I look into studying sound editing for films. Once I began down that path, I was hooked. I fell completely in love with film as an art form and loved how it unifies so many artists across a huge variety of disciplines. As an artistic medium, it is the ultimate collaboration. I love how sound is an invisible force. It deeply affects the audience emotionally, but more subtly than film music does. Sound design is more visceral and primal, tapping into our sonic sensation of the world. Hearing is the first sense humans develop which begins in the womb. What are some of your favorite films, TV, and games that inspire you for your sound aesthetic? MC: I grew up watching sci-fi and fantasy films. I had three brothers