94 - Sonic World-Building on "Love, Death, and Robots"

As we begin our coverage of the 2021 Emmy Awards, we're excited to sit down today with Sound Designer, and 3-time Emmy Winner, (and returning guest) Craig Henighan, and Supervising Sound Editor and Dialogue Editor, as well as 4-time Emmy Winner, Brad North — who are nominated again, this time for their incredible work on the Netflix animated anthology series, LOVE DEATH + ROBOTS. They are nominated for Outstanding Sound Editing and the series itself is nominated for Outstanding Short Form Animated Program. And the series is exactly that — Outstanding.

So, just how difficult is crafting a sonic landscape for animation? Especially for animation which takes place in a completely alien landscape? And one which utilizes cutting-edge photo-realistic computer animation? As you can imagine, it's very challenging. But also, it turns out, very fun. And you can tell these sound artists had an absolute blast creating a whole new world for their nominated episode, "Snow in the Desert," In Dolby Atmos®.

"With no production track, it's literally from the ground up. Which is why animation is so fun. Especially things like this — the world is your oyster, to a certain degree. You've obviously got to follow visuals and you've got to follow story, which is always, ultimately, the biggest point of it all. But within that framework, there is tons and tons of opportunities for sonic details and little things and stuff that you might not even hear on the first watch."

— Craig Henighan, Sound Designer, LOVE DEATH + ROBOTS

Be sure to check out LOVE DEATH + ROBOTS on Netflix.

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