Sound Designers & Composers

Randy Thom started his career in radio and music recording before making the transition to film in 1978, when he was hired on Apocalypse Now (1979) as a sound effects recordist. Since then, Thom has worked in a wide variety of creative capacities within the sound department in over 175 films. For example, in addition to being the music mixer on Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983), Thom was also the production sound mixer for all the footage shot in the US. Since 1983, Thom has been on staff as a sound designer and mixer at Lucasfilm's Skywalker Sound facility. He is part of a small group of sound designers that are following in Walter Murch and Ben Burtt's footsteps in the continuing work of turning motion picture sound into an art form and not simply a series of technical processes. His work on a film often begins before the film has started shooting, and becomes an integral part of the storytelling and emotional impact of the film. Randy Thom has been part of Robert Zemeckis' core creative team ever since Forrest Gump (1994). Through his career Thom has worked with such top Hollywood talents as Walter Murch, Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Brad Bird, Tim Burton, Chris Columbus, Mel Brooks and the Farrelly Brothers. Thom has received two Academy Awards for sound, The Right Stuff (1983), and for sound editing, The Incredibles (2004). He has fifteen Oscar nominations.

Walter Murch has been editing sound in Hollywood since starting on Francis Ford Coppola's film The Rain People (1969). He edited sound on American Graffiti (1973) and The Godfather Part II (1974), won his first Academy Award nomination for The Conversation (1974), won his first Oscar for Apocalypse Now (1979), and won an unprecedented double Oscar for Best Sound and Best Film Editing for his work on The English Patient (1996). Most recently he helped reconstruct Touch of Evil (1958) to Orson Welles' original notes, and edited The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999). Mr. Murch was, along with George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola, a founding member of northern California cinema. Mr. Murch has directed --Return to Oz (1985) -- and longs to do so again, but as an editor and sound man he is one of the few universally acknowledged masters in his field. For his work on the film "Apocalypse Now (1979)", Walter coined the term "sound designer", and along with colleagues such as Ben Burtt, helped to elevate the art and impact of film sound to a new level.

Composer, conductor, arranger and flautist, educated at the Manhattan School of Music (BA, MA) and Juilliard (on scholarship) (MM). He was first flautist for Radio City Music Hall from 1934 to 1936, the Detroit Symphony from 1936 to 1941, the NBC Toscanini Orchestra from 1942 to 1948 and staff arranger for Radio City Music Hall from 1948 to 1956, and the opera conductor for the Brooklyn Academy of Music from 1948 to 1955.

He was music director for the Broadway stage production of "Once Upon a Mattress" and the touring companies of "Kismet" and "La Plume de Ma Tante". He joined ASCAP in 1952.

Ren Klyce was born in Kyoto, Japan. Ren is an actor, known for Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017), Gone Girl (2014) and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008). Ren is married to Rachel Distler.

Alan Splet was born on 31 December 1939 in the USA. He is known for Dune (1984), Rising Sun (1993) and Blue Velvet (1986). He was married to Ann Kroeber. He died on 2 December 1994 in Berkeley, California, USA.

Lora Hirschberg is known for Inception (2010), The Dark Knight (2008) and Iron Man (2008).

Pete Horner is known for Jurassic World (2015), Jurassic World Dominion (2022) and Upstream Color (2013).

Gary Rydstrom, Director of Creative Operations/Sound Designer and Mixer, joined Skywalker Sound in 1983 as an operator in the machine room. Since then, he has contributed his talents to many projects as a sound designer, re-recording mixer, effects mixer and foley mixer. In 1998, Rydstrom was appointed Director of Creative Operations for Skywalker Sound, overseeing the creative and technological direction for the facility. Apart from his feature film and commercials work, Rydstrom has completed several television projects, rides and attraction films. Rydstrom holds a graduate degree from the USC School of Cinema and Television. He is the recipient of 7 Academy Awards for Best Sound and Best Sound Effects Editing for his work on Saving Private Ryan (1998), Titanic (1997), Jurassic Park (1993), and Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991).

Vivien Hillgrove, a member of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, has over fifty years of experience as an editor and a sound editor for both narrative and documentary films. In the 1980's and 90's, Hillgrove worked as a dialogue editor on many feature films, including Amadeus, Blue Velvet and The Right Stuff. As a narrative film editor, she worked with Dede Allen on Phil Kaufman's Henry and June and with Walter Murch on Kaufman's The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Her documentary editing work includes seven films by Lourdes Portillo (including Senorita Extraviada, The Devil Never Sleeps, Corpus: A Home Movie for Selena, La Ofrenda: The Days of the Dead...), and several for Deann Borshay Liem, including In the Matter of Cha Jung Hee, for which Hillgrove won the Best Editing Award at the Asia Pacific Film Festival, and First Person Plural, on which she was also the co-writer. Hillgrove has also served as an advisor for multiple Sundance Documentary Composer/Edit Labs, the Latino Producers Academy (NALIP), and for Chicken & Egg Pictures. She is directing and producing an autobiographical documentary, Vivien's Wild Ride, with producers Janet Cole and Dawn Valadez.

Ben Burtt was born in New York, USA. Though he is a writer, an editor and a director, he is best known for his work as a sound designer. Ben has worked on many Pixar and Star Trek movies and all of the Star Wars movies. He is credited for creating Chewbacca's voice and sounds as well as the voice of Yoda and several others.

Baker Landers first displayed an affinity for sound at age eleven when her parents gave her a tape recorder. She would walk around her house and make up stories just through sound effects. While studying Film at California State University at Long Beach, she impressed sound designers Richard Anderson and Mark Mangini, and they hired her to work at their company. In the early days of her career she met Per Hallberg. Realizing that they worked very well together, they began a professional partnership that has lasted over 25 years. Baker Landers appreciates having a colleague like Hallberg to bounce ideas off of. While she frequently supervises her own projects, she still enjoys collaborating with him whenever possible. Baker Landers was selected for Variety's Women's Impact List in 2013, and she is the first woman to ever win two Academy Awards for Sound Editing.

Anna Behlmer is an American re-recording mixer for film and television. Behlmer was the recipient of the Cinema Audio Society Career Achievement Award in 2018.

During her career Anna has worked with many esteemed filmmakers, including Baz Luhrmann, Steven Spielberg, Niki Caro, Bong Joon Ho, Chris McQuarrie, Ed Zwick and Michael Mann, just to name a few.

Prior to working with The Formosa Group, Anna worked as a re-recording mixer at Technicolor, 20th Century Fox and Todd AO respectively. She began her career at Glen Glenn Sound in 1983.

In 1995, Anna became the first woman to be nominated for an Academy award in the Sound Mixing category. Since then, she has received 10 Oscar nominations, 6 BAFTA nominations (with 3 wins), 12 CAS nominations and 5 Satellite Award nominations.

She is a long-time member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences and has served several terms on the Sound Branch Executive Committee.

Anna is an avid runner, skier and golfer. She lives in Studio City with her husband Curt.

Skip Lievsay is known for Gravity (2013), No Country for Old Men (2007) and Roma (2018).

Deb Adair studied film production at Syracuse University where she earned her bachelor's degree. She then moved to Nashville to work in the music recording industry. Her passion for filmmaking led her to Los Angeles, where she has more than 28 years of experience in sound with expertise in music recording, sound supervision, sound editing and mixing. Her diverse background lends itself to an open-minded perspective to the collaborative process of filmmaking.

Gwendolyn Yates Whittle is a producer, known for Avatar: The Way of Water (2022), Fight Club (1999) and Tron: Legacy (2010).

Kyrsten Mate was born in 1968. She is known for Minority Report (2002), Ready Player One (2018) and War Horse (2011).

Gloria S. Borders is known for Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), Forrest Gump (1994) and Snow White and the Huntsman (2012).

Christopher Boyes is known for Avatar (2009), King Kong (2005) and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003).

Curtis Choy is known for What's Wrong with Frank Chin? (2005), The Fall of the I-Hotel (1983) and Dupont Guy: The Schiz of Grant Avenue (1976).

Richard Beggs was born on 8 January 1942 in San Francisco, California, USA. He is a producer, known for Children of Men (2006), Apocalypse Now (1979) and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005).

Saul Simon MacWilliams is known for Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012), Chasing Coral (2017) and Gleason (2016).

Jana Vance is known for Avatar (2009), Iron Man (2008) and Top Gun: Maverick (2022).

Dennie Thorpe is known for Avatar (2009), Iron Man (2008) and The Iron Giant (1999).