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Douglas Murray On which project/projects did you collaborate with David Lynch and what was your role? In 1989, I worked as the supervising sound editor and sound designer on the 94-minute Twin Peaks pilot, "Northwest Passage," that introduced the strange and unforgettable world of Twin Peaks to television audiences. A couple years later, I returned as supervising sound editor on Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, the 134-minute prequel to the series. It had a rough reception—booed at Cannes and largely dismissed at the time—but in hindsight, it's one of Lynch's most powerful and personal works. How did you meet Lynch for the first time? Back in 1984, I started at Fantasy Films, also known as the Saul Zaentz Film Center. It was the home base for Alan Splet, the groundbreaking sound designer and longtime Lynch collaborator— from Eraserhead through Blue Velvet. When the Twin Peaks pilot came along, Alan wasn't interested in doing TV and had too much on "Sound is almost like a drug. It's so pure that when it goes into your ears, it instantly does something to you. And you can tell if that's working for you." This quote from David Lynch says all about how much this visionary filmmaker loved sound. He passed away in January just a few days before he turned 79 and he leaves behind an enormous legacy. His unique, expressive, sometimes surreal and very musical approach to film sound set new standards for cinema sound and movies like Eraserhead, The Elephant Man, Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart and the iconic TV series Twin Peaks made audiences use their ears in new ways as Lynch's visceral, emotional, atmospheric storytelling was always very much based on audio. Personally, I don't think I would have been doing film sound today if it wasn't for Lynch's spellbinding sonic storytelling. Lynch was a director for whom sound and image were on equal footing ("I always say cinema is sound and picture moving together in time"). During Lynch's early years, he always collaborated with the audio genius Alan Splet who sadly passed away in 1994 and Splet's wife, Ann Kroeber, who passed away last year. They were so close that Splet's ashes now are buried beneath the mixing console in Lynch's private mix stage and recording studio, Asymmetrical Studio, which he built in 1998 at his home in the Hollywood Hills. For this article, I've talked with three of Lynch's sonic collaborators during the years to hear more about Lynch's creative approach to sound: Douglas Murray, Randy Thom, and Dean Hurley. They all have great stories and fond memories. 52 M PS E . O R G