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54 M PS E . O R G responses that were intuitive and immediate. The same applied to music. What was it like to collaborate with him? Did he talk very eloquently about sound, did he outline a lot of his sonic ideas in the script or how did he communicate his ideas? We spotted both Twin Peaks projects in the cutting room. On the pilot, David wanted to draw heavily from Alan Splet's sound library— especially his winds and ambient textures—for the cold and lonely environment of Twin Peaks. The post schedule was TV tight: just a few weeks of editing, a week to premix dialogue, and another week for FX. I assembled a great crew—many had worked on Blue Velvet—and we aimed to channel what we thought of as a "Lynchian" style, leaning on Alan's library and our own instincts. The final mix itself was frantic. We worked seven days straight, including an all-nighter on Sunday. David wanted to keep going, and the facility only charged for labor on the extra hours, which helped. Alan Splet was scheduled to start premixing Winter People on that stage the very next morning, and we were literally mixing up until he walked in. David hated ADR, as many great directors do, so we spent a lot of energy salvaging original production dialogue wherever possible. His notes were always about making things feel more real, truer, and more alive. In the classroom scene when Laura's absence is first felt, the script only mentioned a pencil snapping in James' hand, which we covered. In the spotting session, he said he wanted to hear the sound of the electric clock on the wall to enhance the quiet tension. In the final mix, David didn't like any of our clock options. Describing what he wanted, he made a soft whistling sound with his mouth. Mark Berger sampled and looped it using a Lexicon 480, and that became the ambient tone—David's own breath becoming part of the texture of the film. Fire Walk With Me was a different beast. We had a longer editorial schedule and a less experienced but more adventurous crew. It was clear early on that this film was intensely personal for David—no longer trying to please a network, but instead digging deep into his own surreal and emotional world. During the final, we essentially composed a new sonic score beat by beat, moment by moment. Every sound was examined and reimagined. We had a sampler on stage for the first time, the same EIII I used for much of the design. Lori Eschler used the SSL ScreenSound DAW to bring in music stems, pitch shift, reverse—whatever was needed to stay in step with David's evolving ideas. He was warm and full of praise, but also endlessly curious and open to new possibilities. It was exhilarating. At the end, David screened the film for Gilles Jacob from Cannes, who didn't like it—which devastated David and led to major changes in the cut. We revised the track to match, but for me at least, the disappointment lingered. Which moment or moments that you've created with Lynch are you the most proud of? The classroom moment from the pilot still stands out to me— the subtle combination of David's whistling-clock ambience and the pencil snap creates a moment of quiet dread that really matters. In Fire Walk With Me, the sequence where Laura and Leland are driving and are accosted by the one-armed man is probably my favorite. The backward music, the yelling, and screaming, the squealing tires and revving V8 engine, the dog barking—it all builds into this layered, nightmarish crescendo. And of course, the motifs of fire, wind, and electricity that echo dreamily throughout the film—those still give me chills. What part of Lynch's sonic legacy do you hope will inspire future generations of filmmakers? David opened the door to the use of expressive, abstract sound design in mainstream cinema. His interweaving of sound and music as co-equal storytelling tools set a template that so many filmmakers have followed. His collaborations— with Alan Splet, Randy Thom, Ron Eng, Dean Hurley, myself, and others—showed that sound could carry emotional weight, deepen narrative, and create something dreamlike and unforgettable. He proved that great sound isn't just support—it's a powerful lead character. Jai Guru Deva.