114 - The Sound of Steven Spielberg's West Side Story

If it seems like the Hollywood musical is making a comeback, that's because, in many ways, it is. And after decades of promising to one day direct one, legendary filmmaker Steven Spielberg finally decided to tackle a new interpretation of "West Side Story." The film is now nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Cinematography, Best Director, Best Picture, and Best Sound.

Joining us today is the sound team behind this film, who collectively took great pains to use as many modern recording techniques available to them to create this impressive, cutting-edge soundtrack.

• Gary Rydstrom - Re-recording Mixer / Sound Designer / Supervising Sound Editor - this is his 20th  Academy Award nomination (seven wins)
• Shawn Murphy - Scoring Mixer - fourth nomination (one win)
• Brian Chumney - Supervising Sound Editor - first nomination
• Tod A. Maitland - Sound Mixer - fifth nomination
• Andy Nelson - Re-recording Mixer - 22nd nomination (two wins)

"I think the most remarkable thing in this movie is you never, for one second, don't believe that the singing you're hearing, or the acting you're hearing, is not happening on that set. It feels completely believable at every time. And seamlessly goes in and out of the music. I've never heard a musical be that seamless before. I think that's one of the great achievements of this particular movie."

— Gary Rydstrom, Re-recording Mixer / Sound Designer / Supervising Sound Editor, "West Side Story"

"West Side Story" is now playing in cinemas and will be streaming on HBO Max and Disney+ as of March 2, 2022. 

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