Written by Doug Siebum, photos courtesy of Peter Lyons
Doug Siebum (DS): How did you get your start in film sound?
Jacob Bloomfield-Misrach (JBM): My entrance into film was a gift. I had been working in a guitar shop in Brooklyn for a couple of years, mainly to support my habit as a musician and a lover of sound. An old friend came in one day and we started chatting about his location sound company. One of his engineers had left town and I offered to help out, so he gave me a start as a boom op and production sound mixer. There wasn’t much training involved. It was kind of crazy actually. I stayed up all night before the first job reading the manual of a Sound Devices 722 and watching YouTube videos on Lav placement. But it wasn’t long before I found myself on set with Lexus, The New York Times, and Saturday Night Live.
DS: And how did you transition into post production and sound design?
JBM: I’m so glad that I had several years of experience in production sound. I think everyone should do that first, before transitioning into post. It informs the decisions we make as sound designers. But I also knew that I preferred the process of creating and crafting sounds in post, especially musical sound design. Also, those 4:30am call times for SNL were brutal! So I started to make the shift into post.
Trailer for You Cannot Kill David Arquette
DS: What originally peaked your interest about indie films?
JBM: I love independent films. They often have the most heart, and they often take the biggest risks. Also, they were the only jobs I could get when I was first starting out. Some of my favorite clients today are still the ones making really creative, low budget and self funded projects.
Budget is probably the biggest one. It could be a friend’s film, or a good film with no funding, but we all work on indie films from time to time with little to no budget. And that’s ok!
DS: What are some of the challenges of doing indie films?
JBM: Budget is probably the biggest one. It could be a friend’s film, or a good film with no funding, but we all work on indie films from time to time with little to no budget. And that’s ok! It’s part of the process. I used to tell young sound designers that when you’re starting out you should say yes to everything. Take on the low budget projects because it’s good experience, it will hone your craft, and you’ll build relationships with clients. But guess what? I still do it! And I still try to say yes to everything. I just did a job last month, mixing for John Nutt. Relatively speaking it was a pretty tiny budget. But it was a great film, and I got to collaborate with John who is an epic sound designer (Apocalypse Now, Amadeus, Iron Man). My realization is that the value of working on indie films never stops. We are always honing our craft, we are always building relationships, and I think it’s a great thing to say yes to a good project, even if it doesn’t pay very much.
Trailer for Go! Go! Cory Carson
DS: What’s the typical budget for an indie film?
JBM: Ugh! There’s no answer for that. “Indie” can mean so many things. If we’re talking about true, independent filmmakers, who are not funded by a major production company, then the price range for post sound can be from “I’ll owe you a favor” to $100k. A lot of indie films these days have private funding who actually have quite a lot of money. But if it’s not associated with a production studio then it could still technically be considered indie. I think that the best thing to do is to value your time. Try to present a budget proposal based on how much value you bring to the project, but also how much value the project brings to you.
My goal as a sound designer and supervisor is to push the filmmakers into thinking about the sound for the film before it gets to me.
DS: Are the producers or the director usually thinking about post sound ahead of time?
JBM: Great question. I hope so! But not always. My goal as a sound designer and supervisor is to push the filmmakers into thinking about the sound for the film before it gets to me. Here’s a simple trick for that. Ask your client to create a google spreadsheet with timecoded notes, outlining all of their ideas for sound, before you have your first spotting session with them. That way, once you start working together they’ve already given the sound quite a bit of thought. It makes the spotting session much more focused, and there are less variables in how to proceed with the design of the film.
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DS: Are they usually planning on finding distribution or putting their film in festivals?
JBM: Most of the indie films we work on have festivals in mind for the initial goal. And from there they hope to find distribution. Usually they are looking for both.
DS: Do they usually have a schedule in mind?
JBM: Yeah, most of time, clients come knocking when they have a festival deadline. So we work backwards with them to sort out the schedule. A typical work up on an indie feature takes us around 6 weeks. We’ll make sure they are picture locked and ready to go by then.
DS: Does the director usually keep coming back to you or is it usually a one off thing?
JBM: The thing I love the most about Berkeley Sound Artists and IMRSV Sound are our clients. They have been repeat customers for years. Sometimes for decades! James LeBrecht founded Berkeley Sound Artists 25 years ago, and he’s established relationships with those filmmakers that have made them like family. We are very fortunate to be a part of a filmmaking community that has come back time and time again.
DS: I see that you are also a composer. Can you talk about your approach to a film as a composer vs. your approach to a film as a sound designer?
JBM: Yeah, they are different but also very closely tied together. The goal for both is to elevate the emotional experience of the film. I’ll often use music as a sound design element. And I’ll often use sound design or Foley as a musical element. Johann Johannsson is one of my favorite composers. You can feel the landscape and the sound design in his scores.
DS: Are they typically doing stereo or 5.1 or other formats?
JBM: Pretty much all the films we work on need 5.1 mixes. Streaming platforms and festivals require 5.1 deliverables. So we typically start all of our projects in surround, and our template has been built to have a solid stereo downmix with stereo stems ready to go. That way it’s easy to create any assets the client might need in the future right from the get go.
I love keeping a diverse portfolio. It keeps things interesting.
DS: Do you work on other things besides indie films?
JBM: Oh sure! We work on everything. Facebook commercials, animated Netflix series, Marvel ADR… we have quite a range. Then there’s everything in-between, like books on tape or AI voice construction. I love keeping a diverse portfolio. It keeps things interesting.
DS: Do you have any final thoughts that you would like to share?
JBM: Nothing in particular. I love what I do and we have a great team at IMRSV Sound & Berkeley Sound Artists. We all love talking about the craft, so I encourage people to reach out to us if they have any questions. Also it was a pleasure chatting with you Doug!
A great big thank you to Jacob Bloomfield-Misrach for sharing some of his stories and experience with us. You can find him on IMDb here and at Berkeley Sound Artists here and IMRSV Sound here.
2:20 Sound Editing • 3:05 Spotting Session • 3:37 Dialog Editing • 7:03 Sound Design • 11:08 Sound Mixing
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