Here is Part II of my interview with Skywalker Sound supervising sound editor Matthew Wood. In this segment we focus on Matthew’s work on Disney/Pixar’s WALL-E. Matthew worked closely with his mentor, the lengendary Ben Burtt, on the project, who supervised the sound design and also played the voice of the lead character, WALL-E.

We go on to talk about how he managed multiple projects of such a large scale (he was simultaneously doing WALL-E and Star Wars: The Clone Wars) and some of the cutting edge tools he learned, including Symbolic Sound’s Capabara Kyma. Matthew also give us some insight into working in animation and the unique approach he and Ben were able to take to create the audio environment for the film. Enjoy!

By Lawrence Jordan

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Link to Matthew Wood Interview Part I

By Lawrence Jordan

Today we present Part I of a three-part interview with Matthew Wood, supervising sound editor at George Lucas’ Skywalker Sound. Matthew is one of a unique new breed of craftspeople who have not only embraced digital technology but who, since early in his career, have contributed to its evolution. Starting out at Skywalker as a teenager, he’s had the amazing opportunity to see the technology develop from ground zero. From his beginnings as a QA tech on the first of its kind Sound Droid, he has had a chance to work on almost every digital editing technology used at the Ranch.

In this first segment I cover the basics. What exactly does a sound supervisor do? We go on to talk about how he approaches each project creatively, how technology has changed since he started out 16 years ago, and who were his mentors? We also talk about his current tools of choice and why those products best address his workflow.

Stay tuned for Parts II and III where we get more into what goes on up at Skywalker and his experiences working on his most recent projects, “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” and Disney/Pixar’s “WALL-E”.

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