Inside Hollywood Sound With Kenneth L. Johnson

We dive into the craft and career of Emmy-winning supervising sound designer Kenneth L. Johnson, from South Central roots to leading major film and TV mixes. He shares how sound shapes story, how teams collaborate, why relationships matter, and where AI fits in the future of post.

• supervising sound designer role and team scope
• planning sound from script to final mix
• working with directors and composers without clashes
• analog-to-digital shift, Fairlight to Pro Tools
• building tension and jump scares in horror
• balancing creative instincts with technical skills
• advocacy for diversity and opening doors in post
• breaking into Hollywood through mentorship and persistence
• practical advice on AI literacy and multi-skill fluency
• relationships as the main driver of long-term work

Visit: www.artistryandsound.com

Chapters

• 0:49 Welcome And Series Context
• 1:08 Why Sound Drives Screen Stories
• 1:26 Introducing Kenneth L. Johnson
• 2:55 What A Supervising Sound Designer Does
• 3:57 From South Central To Sound
• 5:02 Crossing From Analog To Digital
• 7:52 Planning Sound From The Script
• 9:44 Working With Directors And Composers
• 11:21 Finding A Personal Sound Aesthetic
• 13:31 Building Fear In Horror: IT
• 16:55 Balancing Creative And Technical
• 19:44 Diversity, Access, And Mentorship
• 22:25 Breaking In: The Todd AO Story
• 25:00 First Big Win And Confidence
• 26:24 Hollywood’s Shift And AI Anxiety
• 29:20 Using AI As A Creative Tool
• 32:10 Advice For Newcomers And Skills
• 34:20 Relationships Over Raw Talent
• 36:01 What I’d Tell My 21-Year-Old Self
• 37:34 Where To Find Kenneth And Wrap

Transcript

SPEAKER_03: 0:43

Hi, Georgie. What a nice boat. Well, hello, everybody. Welcome to another episode of the Final Cut Podcast. Now, if you've been a regular viewer or listener to these podcasts, you'll see that recently we've done a series of interviews featuring people who work in and around Hollywood, including writers, hairdressers, makeup artists, stunt men. And today it's the turn of sound. Now, if any of you are unconvinced that sound is important to film and television, just try switching the sound off when you're watching a movie or a TV show, and you'll see how important sound actually is. So to take us through and unpack for us the role of sound in movies and television productions, I'm absolutely delighted to welcome Kenneth L. Johnson, who's one of the leading sound designers, supervising sound designers in Hollywood working today. He has over 153 credits on IMDB, according to that site. And he's won, I think, three primetime Emmy Awards and been nominated for at least 10 awards elsewhere. Now, Kenneth grew up originally in South Central LA, where he had to contend with all the drugs and gangland violence. But he managed to escape that initially through music, and then by taking courses initially in sound editing and sound engineering, latterly with the famous Hollywood post-production company, Todd A. O. And for the last 30 years, he's worked extensively in and around Hollywood, winning awards, as I say, in sound. You'll be familiar with many of the movies that he's worked on, such as The Dark Knight Rises, Mission Impossible 3, The Road to Perdition, It, that scary movie from 2017. And he's also worked on a range of television shows. Most recently, the hit Netflix series Forever. So, Kenneth L. Johnson, it's an absolute delight to welcome you to the Final Cut podcast.

SPEAKER_00: 2:52

Hi, it's a pleasure to be here. Thank you for having me. Thank you.

SPEAKER_03: 2:55

Now, can I just kick off by just for our audience, if you could just generally explain for our audience, what is actually the role of a supervising sound designer on a Hollywood production?

SPEAKER_00: 3:08

Well, well, my job primarily is to oversee the creative process when it relates to sound. Usually under my team, I usually have a dialogue editor, sometimes an ADR editor, a sound effects editor, as well as sometimes I have a co-supervising sound designer as well. And also I am responsible for overseeing, in conjunction with the associate producers and producers, the final mix of the project and delivering that.

SPEAKER_01: 3:46

So I know you grew up in South Central LA, but what what what first drew you to sound and music as a creative analytic? What what inspired you to work on sound?

SPEAKER_00: 3:57

You know, I mean, I've always, as I grew up, I always had a love for music. I I I recall, you know, I lived in the housing projects, and I recall, you know, walking down the street in the evening, and you would hear guys that would be huddled up and just sort of vocalizing, you know, like the temptations songs and you know, four top songs from back in the day. And and and that always really interested me. And I was always standing around just sort of listening to the music, right? And and the quality of the different tonalities of the vocals, you know, the the alto, uh, the falsetto voices, the bass. And and that always intrigued me how all of that sort of blended together to make a harmony. And I think that's probably my first time really sort of being drawn into sound. Because back then, the televisions, we didn't have real high fidelity uh TV back in those days, you know. I mean, it didn't sound like they do today.

SPEAKER_03: 4:58

Yeah. That's one of the interesting things with your career. The way that your career falls, you must have sort of started in the analog era. Uh, and now, of course, really about 20, 25, 30 years into the digital era. So, how did you you straddle that divide? If you notice our our background on our YouTube feed here is from the famous movie Blowout, which started John Travolta as a sound technical. I remember that movie. And of course, that was in the old analog days of uh you know, real to real. So, so how have you managed that transition from from analog to digital?

SPEAKER_00: 5:36

Yeah, well, I did start an analog, you know, as you know, I said earlier, I am uh a musician. And so, you know, when we would go into the studio, we had what they call two-inch 24-track tape, right? Analog, right? So that's what we recorded to. And so when I ended up going to Todd L, it was my first introduction into sort of the digital world. And at that time, we were using what's called a synclaver, right? Which is really like a sampler. Okay, but it only had four channels, right? Four outputs, right? So what we had to do was we took the 20, we were still using 24 tracks in the beginning. So we took those two-inch 24 tracks, and four tracks at a time we would record from the synclavir, the samples, onto the 24 track. It was kind of a tedious process because in order to do that, we would have to first, you know, get what we call a cue sheet, and we would map out where every single sound went on what track we were going to put that particular sound, right? And so we'd have specific tracks that were dedicated to the backgrounds, specific tracks that were dedicated to effects and sound design, right? And so it would be our job to write, we'd hit that's the first thing we'd do. We'd write it all out, right? It was like a roadmap, right? And then we would go to the Sinclavier, put the 2 inch 24 track in to record, and we would record those sounds onto the 2 inch 24. I mean, yeah, the 2 inch 24 track tape, right? That's when I started in this industry in film and television. That's how it was done. And I think a few years in, it sort of started to lean more towards fully digital, which Pro Tools came in, and that was really and Fairlight. We first started on FairLight, right? And so FairLight was the platform that Tateo chose, but would they quickly abandon that once Pro Tools started to make strides and and they started to improve their workflow within that system?

SPEAKER_01: 7:52

Can I ask you a bit about this process? So when you do receive a script on your product, so what are the first questions you ask yourself about sound or how it serves the story? Well, how do you you know what what question? What do you think? Oh, where is is the sound going to go in? Or how how what how do you plan?

SPEAKER_00: 8:11

How do I plan it? Well, it it certainly depends on a lot, I think, on the type of film it is, right? So for instance, I did a film called Biker Boys, right? And and so what happens with that particular film, I knew that the bikes played an integral part in the sounds game, right? So I started to think about how I could embellish those motorcycles and you know what motorcycles we were going to use. And we were fortunate enough to have a pretty big budget on that show. So we were able to go out and actually do recordings of those sounds. So in that type of film, where it's whether it's even either like the Italian job or it's it's which is you know, the Mini Cooper uh car chases and stuff, I usually focus on the action first, right? Because that's usually the hardest part of it, right? Is designing the action scenes, right? Because the dialogue, you know, it's pretty standard. Like you want it to sound great, you know, you we have certain techniques to enhance that and make it better. And today it's even easier than it was back then. There's a lot of new tools that that are really beneficial to us. But usually I go in and if it's an action piece, I'll focus on the action. And if it's not an action piece, I'll focus on the dialogue first.

SPEAKER_03: 9:39

And what's your relationship with two sort of major figures on a production? The director, obviously, but also the composer.

SPEAKER_00: 9:49

Okay. Well, it kind of depends. Like typically on television, like a television series, you don't really interface with the director. He's usually gone on to his next gig, right? Because they on those types of projects, they're kind of a gun for hire. And so they direct their episodes and then they move on, and then the producers take it from there. On a film, it's it's a bit different. You work through the whole process with the director. He's usually there at the mixes, he's in the spotting sessions, you know, he's very involved with that. So that's how those relationships work. As far as the composer, a lot of times, I'd say the majority of the time, we like to meet the composer prior to starting work on the projects and just kind of talk through moments in the project where either we want to lean into the music or we want to lean into the sound design. Because we what we don't want to do is be competing for the same territory if we don't have to. Right. So sometimes we'll say, okay, you take that part, you know, you take that part of the scene and we're gonna do that in sound design, or I'm gonna take that and and I'm gonna score it, you know, to help with the emotion. So it's just it's a conversation that you know we like to have with the composer before starting out, before he starts really working on his process.

SPEAKER_01: 11:21

You you describe sound design storytelling. How do you find your own aesthetic, or how do you how do you have put your sound signature? I mean, how do you do put your mark on the piece?

SPEAKER_00: 11:32

Well, I I think I think my how I do that, I think it really comes from within, right? So typically I don't know, it's a vibe for me. It's a it's really it is, it's really a vibe. You know, it's you know, it's what I envision. So I just sort of put myself in creative mode, right? And I just start thinking about how I want it to sound. Because that's the first step for me is how do I feel it should sound, right? Now, sometimes I'll have notes from the spotting session where they want specific things. And I certainly I'll you know integrate those, you know, immediately. But as a creative, you know, I like to just sort of sit with it and think about, okay, what do I want here? And so with my team, I'll sit down with them and I'll say, okay, well, at this particular moment, you know, I would like this particular type of sound to happen. Or, you know, in these type of backgrounds, I would like to have these things. And we have something that's called like, you know, spotted backgrounds as well, whether that be like usually it's like sirens or a dog barking or a helicopter, just kind of depends on the film and what the needs of the film are. But for me, it's usually me just immersing myself in that world and just sort of creating in that world what what I personally think it should sound like, which, you know, hopefully everybody else feels that way as well at the end. But, you know, first I have to create it the way that I want it to sound. And a lot of times I'm given that creative, you know, I'm given that creative leeway to be able to present what I feel it should be, and then we'll tweak it from there.

SPEAKER_03: 13:23

Yeah. Interesting. And can I take you through then maybe the sound design of a particular film or genre of films? Because one of the things I noticed from your CVs, you've, and here we are coming up to Halloween, you've done a lot of horror movies over the years. I mean, I've done a lot of horror. Yeah. You won an award, I believe, for the TV series of the shining right early in your career. But maybe take us through one that maybe a lot of people have seen more recently, which is the 2017 movie It that I think you worked on as a sound designer.

SPEAKER_00: 13:58

Is that correct? Yeah, yeah. So in that in that particular project, you know, I I was working with uh a good friend of mine, Victor Ennis, he was a sound supervisor. And at that point, you know, we were signed, and I was part of a team, right? Right. Uh, because on bigger projects, you know, you have a team, you might have, you might have two or three people working on design, you might have, you know, might have a couple of people working on dialogue, right? So, you know, I sit down with Victor because he's the one, if he's the silent supervisor, he's usually the one that sits down with a client first, right? Sits down with the client and you know, gets notes, and then I sit with him, right? Right. And then he gives me his notes or his impressions of what he thinks, and then, you know, I'll usually have watched it and I'll talk to him about my thoughts, and when we'll sort of merge those two together, right? And then they'll give me the project, and I'll my particular scenes or whatever that I may have to do, you know, I'll just start focusing on those. You know, I'll start focusing on any sort of ambient textures that that help it sound scary, you know, any stings that are impactful for certain moments to, you know, sort of give you that jump scare kind of feel. You know. Yeah. So that's kind of how I I worked through that.

SPEAKER_03: 15:34

Just as a quick follow-up, is there any specific scenes that people might remember from it that you particularly worked on and are are proud of? Like jump scare or something.

SPEAKER_00: 15:47

You know, I that movie was a long time ago for me.

SPEAKER_03: 15:54

Or anything. Any any particular scene that you're you're you know you're proud of in your career.

SPEAKER_00: 16:00

I mean, I'm I'm kind of proud of all of it, but uh I don't know. You know, and I'm I'm trying to be really totally honest and transparent. I'm really trying to remember the film. I mean, I work on so much stuff that you know it's sometimes difficult to go back, you know, eight, ten years and remember everything that I did on it. Um because I'm usually off to the next project. But I'm just trying to think. I I know that there was a gutter scene where you know the little boy was talking to you know the the it creature or what have you in in the street gutter. And I worked on on that, and I thought that turned out really well.

SPEAKER_03: 16:43

It certainly did. It scared the bejesus side of me, and and that's a very memorable scene. A lot of people will remember that. So you worked on that one. Wow, yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 16:55

Can I ask how do you balance the technical side with the creative side? Because it must be a sort of uh kind of tension area between the make it technical and creative. Make it well, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 17:10

Yeah, I don't well I think you know, it's how do I balance the technical and the creative? Well, I tend to lean more into the creative side. You know, the technical side, of course, you know, we all gotta have chops and we all have to be able to, you know, run this particular program and and you know find the different sounds or create them from scratch or what have you. But uh but I do think that I lean more into the creative side than I do the technical side. So that's really usually my my main focus is to be creative, but the tools certainly help us do that. And I think that now, you know, it's we have AI assisted uh plugins and stuff that you know have really helped us. But I think in order to be creative, you have to be proficient at at the technical side of it, right? Before you can unleash your creativity. Right. So, but I do think that creativity is the most most important part because anyone can sort of learn how to operate the plug-in or you know, record into the program or what have you. And and that's something that you know you can, you know, you can just have a you know, anyone do, but the creative side is is really where you have to have it. You know, you have to be really creative and you have to have really good instincts. And so I've done this for a really long time, but even when I started, I think I had good instincts. I think I was blessed to have those. You know, I don't think I would have made it this far had I not innately had those qualities to be able to hear something or or you know envision how it should sound. Right. And and have those, you know, when I'm giving my sort of presentation to have that sort of be, you know, liked by the people that I'm I'm showing it to. I mean, uh that that's important too, because if you're doing stuff and and you know, you present it and they don't like it, that's a problem, right? So what you present has to really be special.

SPEAKER_03: 19:43

Yeah, quite so. And obviously when you started, and this is something that you've spoken, I think, a fair bit over the years, you know, you were quite conscious, I think, when you started that you were one of the very few persons of color behind the scenes at that particular time. You know, you were one of the few black people behind the scenes working in this in this area. Now, I know you've done a lot over the years around trying to advocate for diversity, not only in front of the camera, but behind the camera as well. So can you maybe talk us through that journey that you've been on around that? I mean, it w a very interesting phrase that leapt out to me is you is you said, you know, I didn't just break the sound barrier, I also had to break the perception barrier as well. So how's that affected your career?

SPEAKER_00: 20:32

Uh you know, I I think, you know, my career has been, you know, it's it's been a good ride. Like I I think that what happened to me was, you know, I just wasn't getting the opportunities that that you know I felt I was deserving of, based on, you know, my commitment to the process, my skill, my talent. And so when I was able to start my own company, you know, it was incumbent upon me to make sure that I offered some opportunities to people of color, women and people of color, because I understood the difficulties that I faced in trying to break into this industry. And so, and I'm still an advocate of that. You know, I mean, the majority of my team, you know, is African American. You know, most of them I personally mentored and I personally trained, right? And brought them up from sort of like an assistant to now they're full-fledged sound editors. And you know, they're working on major projects, and you know, they're able to make a decent living and have medical care and and a pension, you know. So I'm very proud of that, and I continue to do that and will continue to do that. So yeah, I hope that answers your question.

SPEAKER_01: 22:06

But involve you then, what is the biggest barrier for underrepresented Black American, you know, to rep, you know, to get into post-production of sound? What what what do you think the barrier is?

SPEAKER_00: 22:20

I to be really honest, I think, okay. So unfortunately, for the most part, we don't control the projects, right? I mean even our own projects, a lot of times, we're not at the top. There are only a few people, you know, maybe like Tyler Perry and people like that that actually can control that process. I think that the jobs that we do, as far as sound is concerned, and even other parts of the industry, uh, you know, in front of the camera as well, is that, you know, those because those jobs are coveted, those jobs tend to go to people that are either friends or relatives of the people in power. Right? And usually the people in power and the people, you know, that control it are not African American. And so I think that that's difficult. You know, for me, you know, I my company is is a black-owned company, of course. And it's even difficult for me sometimes to get on a black show. You think that because not just because I'm black, but because I understand, you know, that, especially like forever. I'll give you an example. Like forever, based in South Central. I grew up in South Central. Uh, you know, I understand what it, you know, what it is like living in South Central. I understand what it sounds like in South Central, you know, I understand how we talk, you know, when we're dealing with the dialogue and and and stuff like that. So I think that there are certain things that, you know, we are accustomed to that that help benefit that. But again, I don't think that that's just limited to African American projects. I've done more non-African American projects, I think, in my career than I have African American projects. Right. And I think the other thing is that you have to have someone who advocates for you, someone who likes you, who appreciates what you bring to the table, and is willing to, you know, help you move forward. That's super important. And and without that, I don't think I would be here today. I think that struggle still exists. Just finding those people who are open and unbiased and willing to give you an opportunity. Right. I wish there were more people that uh felt that way. You know, so you know, like, you know, my brother, he's a first assistant director. My sister's, you know, like uh, well, now she is a production accountant, but she was a producer for Universal. And, you know, they're they're doing a lot of production work. And, you know, a lot of times when, even when you're on a set, right? A lot of times, if even if it's an African-American film, we're uh we're not given those opportunities to have those jobs. Not that we are not, you know, qualified to do those jobs, but again, it it's it's nepotism, it's favoritism, it's sometimes racism, you know, to be really brutal about it. You know? Yeah. So that's how I feel about that.

SPEAKER_03: 25:56

Absolutely. And and I mean, obviously, you know, you've encountered these what you might call systemic, systemic barriers throughout your career, but you mentioned it about having somebody to support you. So I I just wondered at the very start of your career, who gave you that break? Who who helped you get into the position that you've managed to establish against the odds, if you like, in in all of that? Okay.

SPEAKER_00: 26:19

Yeah, we can talk about that. So the firstly, you know, without my brother and sister, I I wouldn't even know about this industry industry, probably, right? Because I was heavy in the music thing and trying to just trying to find some of the avenues. And my sister actually, well, my brother uh first introduced me to a guy named Walter Anderson. He was a boom guy, and he had a mixer with him. And I I tried production sound first, right? And they were really nice and they liked me, and I and and I did good, but I it really didn't feel like what I wanted to do. The hours were long, and you know, I just had a baby, and so I wasn't really trying to go out of town and do all those types of things. So I reached out to my sister, who then introduced me to J.R. Delaney, who was executive vice president of Todd L. And J.R. was instrumental. I mean, I think I owe my career. I'm pretty sure I owe my career to J.R. Because the first thing he did after we met, he said, Well, we have a weekend program that kind of introduces you to sound editing. Because I wanted to be a mixer because I came from music mixing. But he said, you can't just walk in and be a mixer. That's that's not how it goes. He says, you got to kind of work up to that point. So he says, I think you should start as a sound editor. So I'm gonna put you in this program for this weekend and we'll see how that goes. So he put me in, and you know, of course, I didn't know anything about what was going on, and and as I was telling you before about the Q sheets and writing them by hand, about like, okay, the door open is on track one, the squeak is on track two, you know, the car buy is on track three, doing stuff like that, which is how you write the cue sheets, I had no knowledge of. So that was part of the whole course, was was trying to do that. And I was kind of a little bit struggling with that because I had no clue what I was doing. So at the end of the class, you know, they said to me, they said, Well, okay, why don't you go and get some experience and come back? Because we don't hire, you know, people with no experience. So I so I said, okay. So I walked back upstairs to J.R.'s office, and I said, okay, JR, this is what I was told. Right? I was I was told to come back when I had some experience. I said, but how can I get experience if no one gives me an opportunity? Right? So he said, here's what we're gonna do. He said, you go back downstairs and you tell them that I said that I want you to be able to sit with an editor, right, ask questions and learn, and I want you to be able to come in on the weekends and practice. So I went back downstairs and I looked at those guys who had just told me to basically get lost. Uh huh. I said, this is what JR said, and the look on their face was priceless, you know. They couldn't believe that happened, right? Because they had just told me to go. Right? And so, but they warmed up to me after a while, and you know, we all became very close. You know, yeah. So that's my story of how I entered into this game. Amazing.

SPEAKER_01: 29:49

Wasn't there a moment when you realized I can do this, I can be a sound editor, I can break into post production Hollywood, or you know, what's it kind of like.

SPEAKER_00: 30:00

Well, you know what? I think it probably so for three years, three straight years, I came in at night, sent with editors, I came in every weekend and I worked on the projects, right? You know, they would give me like what you call test reels, which is like they'd give me like a reel of 90210 or something. And so I cut it and then I, you know, give it to someone, they listen to it, and they give me some some advice or what have you. So that went on for three years. At three years, they told me, okay, well, we're gonna give you a shot. So we have a show that we're gonna put you on starting on Monday. And they said it's uh it's uh Merrill's place. So I said, okay, great. I was so excited, so excited. And I think when I finished that first week and it went well, that was when I really realized that I could do it. You know, I mean, I really felt like I had accomplished something at that point, you know, because I'd really done an episode of the show and it went well. And I was very proud of that, and and and I knew at that moment, you know, you know, you have these little inklings as you're going through it. Like, I I know I'm I'm getting good at this, I'm getting good at this, right? But you never know until you're really put to the test as to whether or not you're gonna pass muster.

SPEAKER_03: 31:37

And and the rest, as they say, is history. Yeah, so there's that's brilliant, brilliant. Well, as we come towards the end of this interview, let's take you from all the way in the past to right now and looking ahead to the future. I mean, one of the key themes that Charlotte and I have explored in these interviews with people working in Hollywood is how much Hollywood is changing. Uh, and uh, you know, here we are in away from Melrose Place and network television. We're in the era of Netflix and uh that you're obviously working for, and the big tech companies that are coming in and disrupting Hollywood. From from your perspective and sound, how is it changing for you? And where do you think it's going in the future?

SPEAKER_00: 32:21

Well, that is a wonderful question because we are I think we're at a crossroads right now. It's really uh a strange time in Hollywood. I mean, production is down, everyone's uh nervous, right? Everyone in Hollywood is a little bit nervous because productions are going out of the country, and you know, to whether it be like I had a show went to South Africa, you know, I there's shows that a lot of shows that go to Canada. So it's it's a little fearful as to because okay, I'll tell you what happened. So there was a strike, the writers, right, the writers had a strike, and then that sort of shut shut us down, and it was this whole chant of stay alive to 25, right? Because everyone thought that that in 25, you know, everything was gonna be okay because the strike, you know, was gonna be over, and you know, things would get back to normal, right? Things have not gotten back to normal at all, right? So that coupled with everyone's fear right now, which I don't think we should be afraid, but everyone's afraid of AI replacing people. Right. I you know, I think AI is uh, you know, is is wonderful personally. I think that it's wonderful as a tool. But I, you know, and I think that's how we should view it. That maybe can it can take some of the more mundane chores that we really have to do, but we don't really want to do, and allow us to be more creative, right? And I think as a tool, it can be really an asset. But a lot of people are deathly afraid of it, like, you know, of it taking over. And, you know, we won't be needed anymore, we'll be disposable. But I don't think AI can be creative the way a human mind can be creative. You know, yes, it can create some stuff, but it's not gonna have the same emotional impact as something that a person actually created. That's just, you know, that's my personal opinion on AI. But you know, but you know, I'm certainly immersing myself in it and learn, trying to learn it. And I was just at uh Kevin Hart had a um, it was called Prompt Theory last Saturday, where he took five groups of people, and I was in one of the groups, and we all created a two-minute and two-minute AI movie, right? Which which we all screened our movies, and there were three judges, and you know, that was a winner. It wasn't us, it wasn't my team. But we came second though. So I was I'm still proud of being second, right?

SPEAKER_03: 35:25

Yeah, it was pretty good.

SPEAKER_00: 35:26

And they're going to air that on his network, which is called Laugh Out Loud Network. So that was really the first time I had really created something like that in AI, and I was on a team, and it was it was a wonderful experience. Everyone was contributing, and you know, we did this movie based on because what happened was just to go back, they brought in five comedians who who gave us either a joke or a short story. And so each team had a comedian assigned to them. And so we had to develop whatever they talked about, whether it was a joke or a short or a short story. And so we had to figure out sort of how we were going to present that. And it was it was a beautiful experience. And, you know, now I'm kind of really excited about creating in an AI. I think that I think, you know, I don't think I think we're a long way from creating cinematic movies in AI personally, because again, there's no there's no emotion I think that they can create with that now that would replicate perfectly a human being, you know, and the emotional uh, you know, nuances of a performance.

SPEAKER_01: 36:46

It's certainly a piece of advice you would give to someone coming in with AI and that's coming in that someone now wanted to enter the profession, like it may be a young person.

SPEAKER_00: 36:56

You know, and yeah, I think I think I think certainly I would tell them, you know, certainly learn how to prompt in AI. That's because that's gonna help you. That's we're not stopping that train, right? That train is moving. So I would say that's gonna be important. The second thing is learn learn your craft and figure out what it is that you really want to specialize in. But I tell all of my guys, I think it's important to be proficient in all the different aspects of what we do. Because you never know. Like they might a job a place may not need a sound effects editor, but they may even need a dialogue editor, right? So if you can do both of those things, then you double your chances of getting a job. Right. This the other thing that I would I would tell them that took me a really, really long time to understand and to, you know, sort of accept was that when I started out and I as I grew in my profession, I thought that my talent alone would take me where I wanted to go. Right. And I realized much later than I should have that that was really not it. Yes, you have to have talent and it will help you, but the most important thing are relationships in this business. It's the most important thing, you know. Nobody, I mean, if you have a relationship and you don't have talent, they're not gonna they're not gonna put you on. But if you have talent and you have strong relationships and you keep those relationships, you know, alive, right? You just keep talking to people and checking in with people and developing those relationships, that's what moves you forward. Because those are the people that hire you. You know, and usually people hire people that firstly that they know and they like. Right. And then, you know, if they're not available, then they'll go to somebody else. But it's relationship-based.

SPEAKER_01: 39:14

So uh our final question that we always ask people this so what would you say to your 21, you yourself? What piece of advice if you could go back in time?

SPEAKER_00: 39:24

If I could go back in time, I I I think that would be my advice, is what I just said. I I think my advice was like, Ken, you're sitting in this room by yourself most of the time, get up, network, right? Build that network. Because had I done that, I think I I think you know, I would have even been more successful than than I was, you know. Because, you know, the if you have a small network, right, that's gonna limit your opportunities. If you have a large network, of course, your opportunities are expanded. Right. So that's what I would have told myself. And and and you know, yeah, that would be the most important lesson that I would have learned.

SPEAKER_03: 40:17

Yeah. Makes complete sense, Kenneth. Well, thank you very much. That's been a wonderful interview, and I I'm sure along with Charlotte, we we wish you all the very best for the future in this uh increasingly uncertain world of of AI.

SPEAKER_01: 40:33

And if and for our listeners, if you they want to find out more about you, you have a website, I believe. Artist and sound, is that correct?

SPEAKER_00: 40:43

Yes, it's www.artistryandsound.com. That's my website. You'll be able to see my team. You'll be able to see the projects that we are working on, the projects that we have, some of the select projects. I couldn't get them all on there, but some of the select projects that we've all worked on. I mean, you know, my my creative partners, he's he's right up there with me. He's probably worked on close to a couple of hundred projects, you know, in his career, like you know, the help and you know, apocalypto and and and movies like that. And yeah, you'll find you'll be able also you'll be able to see pictures of my studio as well.

unknown: 41:27

Right.

SPEAKER_03: 41:28

Right. Well, definitely check that out. So thanks very much, Kenneth, and and all the best for the future.

SPEAKER_00: 41:34

Well, thank you both for having me. It's been a pleasure.