Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1541592
42 M PS E . O R G to imbue raw noise with interest. How to give emotions to the absolute roar of a wide range of water and how to make it musical, rhythmic, dramatic, and narrative. Sound can be all this at once!! PA: Actually, I remember that the airplane crash from Bayona's latest film, Society of the Snow, has the same kind of thing, where every little shot, every little moment, has its own signature moment in a way. OT: Yes, and the same goes for the avalanche sequence in that film. Again, this was a sequence where Bayona didn't want to use music. He knows what he wants, and he stays true to that throughout. He doesn't tell me technically how he wants to achieve something, but he gives me emotional directions. He affords you a lot of space and a lot of freedom. Sound design can be not just a tool for explaining what you see, but also transmitting emotions. Of course, Bayona gives me feedback along the way, but we just see and hear the movie the same way. PA: You also did A Monster Calls together with J.A. Bayona, which is about a boy who encounters an ancient tree monster that helps him cope with his mother's illness. The sound of the tree must have been a big challenge? OT: This was also quite formidable. I connected deeply with the film's subject matter and was immensely invested in the process. Again, I just follow my instinct. It's a tree of 50 meters, so I started out recording vast quantities of wood. We were bringing furniture to the studio and recording lots of different pieces of wood. But in that film, I learned about the scale of sound. The size of an object is paramount to its sound—influencing its loudness, pitch, tone, and timbre. Small wood doesn't sound like huge wood, even if you pitch it down or treat it. It's more complex. So, one day I heard a programme on the radio about these people that take care of the forest after, for example, a fire or a thunderstorm or whatever, if trees are falling. I said, "Man, I have to talk with these guys." And this was before they even started shooting the film. So, I was following them again and again. One day they just got two trees, and then another day we got five—I was following them for a year—and then later I added all the little acoustic elements that I recorded myself in the studio. PA: Speaking of tackling big sonic challenges, your next major project with J.A. Bayona took you into the blockbuster realm: Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. How did you navigate that scale, especially collaborating with the established legacy of Skywalker Sound? OT: It was an absolute privilege, and a joy to work on a Bayona film of that magnitude. I had collaborated with Skywalker Sound previously on Crimson Peak, but this time my involvement was in a more significant capacity. My participation was possible thanks to Bayona directing the film, and specifically because Al Nelson, the film's supervising sound editor, thought it would be interesting to have me on board. This allowed me to work from my base in Barcelona—a tremendous opportunity—working on the Jurassic saga was a dream come true. I decided to focus on the film's prologue, the creature's vocalisations. For the second part of the film, which primarily takes place inside the house and has a more genre- specific profile, I realised that the Indoraptor needed to be truly terrifying. Therefore, I put forward my proposal for the Indoraptor's sound, which was ultimately well received by the team. The Indoraptor is a beast, a genetically manipulated dinosaur designed to be a weapon of defense. We strived to imbue it with a very aggressive, impulsive, and precise personality, incorporating high- frequency screeches and a science fiction-like flavour. We finished the project by mixing it all in London with the legendary Chris Boyes. PA: There's generally many rich textures in the sounds you're using in Oriol Tarragó reading personal notes during final mix of The Impossible. Deluxe Barcelona. January 2012.