Interview with Jussi Tegelman

Posted by Catarina Feijão on Feb 9

Jussi Tegelman is a sound supervisor, designer and mixer, part of the sound team of Sony Pictures, with more than 100 credits, including Disney’s “Oz the Great and Powerful” (supervising sound editor) or the remake of “Poltergeist” (supervising sound editor).

Hi Jussi. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself? How does someone change from being a musician in Finland to audio post-production in LA?

Almost purely by accident, but not. LA is naturally a film town in addition to music. I had a ton of experience of recording and producing records so applying that to film was bound to happen.

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From your long list of credits, is there a special movie that was memorable for you?

The first "really good" film I worked on, "Virgin Suicides", which in a way made me want to get further into film. And the first collaboration with Sam Raimi, "Spider-Man 2" where the images were so strong from the get go I knew it would be fun. "Hurt Locker" for which I did the Dialogue pre dub took my breath away with just production playing.

With the new immersive formats, do you notice any changes in the sound design/sound editing side of audio post-production?

There is good and bad news with immersive formats. Naturally they are great for making the sound more natural and fun to play with. The bad side is that the budgets are getting smaller and schedules shorter while these formats and producers want more tracks and coverage that comes with them.

The first time we met, you mentioned that when you were working on the “Oz the Great and Powerful” you found the need for having a tool like “Sound Particles” for a scene with flying monkeys. Can you tell us more about that scene?

When you have scenes with hundreds of flying monkeys you would love to have a way to multiply your designed elements easily and fast without cutting each one by hand, just to find out that in the VFX turnover has a 1000 more.

You have been using Sound Particles in some movies now. Can you give us an example of the things you have done with it?

A good one would be "the other side" scene at the end of Poltergeist. Although it is subtle, I used Sound Particles to "multiply" SFX and Foley elements to enhance the ghost skeleton movements in the scene. To create layers of movement.

What is your favorite Sound Particles feature?

Right now it is that sometimes I will try things that wound up something you don't expect but so won't the audience. You'll come up with something new and unexpected. Especially in multichannel field.

Pixar is an interesting case-study where scientists and artists work together to achieve a new way of doing movies. If you could have a team of scientists/developers creating custom audio software for you, what would you want them to create?

I am not quite sure. Right now whatever saves time on everyday regular tasks, so you can spend your energy on the creative stuff.

Is there a special director that you would like to work with?

Alejandro Innaritu, Steven Sodenberg, Stanley Kubrick (sigh).

What advice would you give to anyone who wants to start a career in audio post-production?

Work hard and show up on time. Be nice to each other.

 

Topics: Sound Design, Interviews