Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1504731
M OT I O N P I CTU R E S O U N D E D I TO R S 41
worked in sound … and movies had
sound had no allure. And then I saw
Star Wars. That's when the lightbulb
went off. I connected, "Hey, that's
amazing sound!" with "I do sound
for a living! Wait a minute—maybe
there's something beyond this
picket fence." I had my Wizard of Oz
moment…
SL: "Over the Rainbow."
MM: …Exactly. I realized "I wanna
do THAT … or something LIKE that,
something nearly as good as that,
someday!" My career aspirations
arrived not from some inner
yearning or parental grooming, but
the inspiration I got from hearing
work that moved me. I immediately
dedicated myself to wanting to do
something as good someday. And I
set myself on a path of learning and
practicing to get there.
SL: You found your way to
Paramount. It was just a couple
years later, and you're working
on Star Trek: The Motion Picture
(1979) taking over from your
mentor.
MM: Sean Hanley. Sean Hanley
was a great mentor. He took me
under his wing at Paramount
Studios' sound department and
taught me selflessly. I started as his
apprentice learning as I watched
him on whatever he was working
on, knowing nothing about what
we called in animation "live action."
I had only ever been an animation
sound editor, my only professional
work. A couple of months into my
training, he started work on Star
Trek: The Motion Picture as the
supervising ADR editor. At one point,
Sean became very ill and had to
leave for an extended period. Robert
Wise (the director) asked who was
sound for animation based on that
branding idea. I knew I could play the
Hanna-Barbera cartoon sounds, and
you'd pick them out immediately.
Just as you'd know immediately
the Tasmanian Devil wind-up, and
the Road Runner's zooming down
the road—they are so iconically
identified with their studios.
SL: I remember that Academy
program. You took a Road Runner
cartoon and you cut different
versions of it with the sound
effects from the different studios.
That was a great idea.
MM: I loved that idea. Dave Stone
cut that—I have to give him the
credit. But I really wanted to do that
experiment.
SL: I remember. I had a small hand
in that Academy program, and that
was really fun to watch. I remember
you excluded me from identifying
the different studios when you
asked the audience!
MM: Yes! Because you know too
much! We'd have to kill you!
SL: