How Academy Award®-winner Richard King Approaches Sound Design

Get advice on how to approach sound design for film from an award-winning sound artist.

Are your decisions in the creative sound design process guided by a specific philosophy?

In this excerpt of the Film Sound Design Master Class with Richard King, the four-time Academy Award®-winning sound artist shares insight into the guiding principles of his sound design approach. With four Oscar wins for Best Sound Editing – Dunkirk (2018), Inception (2011), The Dark Knight (2009), Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2004) – King is among the most renowned sound designers and supervising sound editors in the industry today.

In the video, King describes how he puts himself in the place of the characters in the film and builds the world using sound from that perspective. It's about using your imagination to feel what the characters must be feeling in that moment. He discusses the importance of seamlessly placing sounds in the space of the scene while supporting the emotional storyline so that the audience does not think twice about what they are seeing.

Create with world-class sound effects.

Pro Sound Effects is honored to be collaborating with Richard King to develop his personal sound library into the King Collection – featuring exclusive libraries now available to sound artists everywhere. 

Richard King's library has been steadily and masterfully built throughout his feature film sound career and continues to serve his craft as an invaluable tool. Take your sound to the next level with the same rare and big-budget sounds used by award-winning professionals – expertly captured by top recordists with Hollywood resources.

Explore the King Collection here.

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