Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1524863
M OT I O N P I CTU R E S O U N D E D I TO R S 137 FX masters. The indexes were in card catalogs that I would pour through looking for that gem from Ben-Hur or some old Western. On projects like Top Gun, The Hunt for Red October, and Days of Thunder, we would travel to the filming locations to record source material and then I would design necessary elements back in the studio. For Top Gun, we recorded at Miramar Naval Air Station and outside of Las Vegas (at Nellis AFB) with the Thunderbirds where I got to work for the first time with Doug Hemphill. Before Doug became known as mixer extraordinaire, he was a sound FX recordist extraordinaire and he helped me learn some of the key differences between music and sound FX recording techniques. For The Hunt for Red October, Cece, George, and I recorded a submarine at the US Navy Submarine Base in Groton, Connecticut, and spent several days at Cece's backyard pool; for Days of Thunder, we joined the NASCAR circuit with stops in Daytona, Atlanta, and Darlington, South Carolina. At this point, I was both recording and designing sound effects for these projects and my mechanical background became invaluable when dealing with the myriad list of cars, motorcycles, planes, trains, boats, helicopters, guns, etc., that went into creating the soundtracks for the various films. Understanding how these things worked made it much easier to communicate with the operators and explain what we needed them to do while understanding what their limitations were. In some cases, my own vehicles would be pressed into service: That's the sound of my old BSA 650 (much to Recording catapult launches on the deck of the USS Ronald Reagan. Godzilla May 2013. Photo courtesy of Erik Aadahl. Rigging car for Through the Corn sequence, Interstellar 2013. Photo courtesy of Richard King. "At this point, I was both recording and designing sound effects for these projects and my mechanical background became invaluable when dealing with the myriad list of cars, motorcycles, planes, trains, boats, helicopters, guns, etc., that went into creating the soundtracks for the various films."