Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1545202
For Babcock, the most important metric wasn't technical, it was emotional. "The final judge on almost every mix decision was, honestly, an emotional one," he said. "When everyone's gut agreed with how they were feeling, we knew we were there." That approach allowed the team to embrace a surprising amount of dynamic range. Rather than filling every moment with sound, the filmmakers leaned into pacing, alternating dense, high-energy sequences with intentional space. "They weren't afraid of space on all levels." Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning re-recording mixer Tony Lamberti took that shared philosophy and translated it into precise technical execution. While Babcock handled dialogue and music, Lamberti focused on sound effects, backgrounds, and Foley. His goal was not simply to support the mix, but to integrate those elements directly into its musical language. "I treated the effects as an extension of the music," Lamberti explained. That meant aligning effects hits with the transients of the music's percussion so the two elements would reinforce each other rather than compete. It also meant making surgical frequency decisions, carving out the 200 Hz–500 Hz range in effects to preserve clarity in the music's low-mid energy. Scale came from control, not accumulation. "The risk was in the dynamic range," Lamberti said. "Instead of filling every hole, we used what I call 'sonic vacuums,' pulling elements back right before a major sequence so the impact would feel larger." Transitions became another critical tool. Rather than cutting abruptly from dialogue into music, Lamberti would build bridges using atmospheric elements, allowing the score or songs to emerge naturally from the environment. "It made the music feel like it was coming from the world, not just being switched on," he said. That approach paid off in the film's first concert sequence, which he described as the moment the mix truly locked in. "The effects and music became a single percussive engine," Lamberti said. "That's when the scale of the movie finally felt real." While the re-recording stage focused on integration, that process was only possible because of the groundwork laid in the music. Scoring mixer Erich Talaba, whose credits include major studio features such as Free Guy and Eternals, approached the score as a bridge between cinematic storytelling and the film's K-pop identity. "The main thing was finding a way to balance the score with the songs," Talaba said. "Helping the transitions feel seamless while still maintaining the musical progression." Working closely with composer Marcelo Zarvos and the music team, Talaba evaluated cues both in isolation and within the full mix, determining which elements needed to drive emotion and which needed to step back. "We would play scenes with and without dialogue and effects," he said. Tony Lamberti KPop Demon Hunters stage crew