WRITTEN BY KATE FINAN, CO-OWNER OF BOOM BOX POST
Last fall, I had the pleasure to take part in a roundtable discussion about sound design for series animation with the lovely people at the Tonebenders Podcast. At the time, I had just had a new baby a mere matter of weeks before and was in the heart of the sleep-deprived, can-barely-grab-a-banana-much-less-a-sandwich days of motherhood. But, I couldn’t turn down the flattering invitation to join this discussion between key animation sound design players. So, I aggressively fueled up on coffee, shut myself up in my garage studio (ahhhh, the joys of a completely silent soundproof room after playing maidservant to a screaming tyrant…), set up my mic, and away we went!
The roundtable consisted of five members: Heather Olsen (Gravity Falls, The Fairly Odd Parents), Dom Lawrence (The Octonauts, Danger Mouse), Teresa Morrow (Nina’s World, Elinor Wonders Why), and Tim Muirhead (PAW Patrol, Bakugan), and myself. We spanned three countries around the globe--Dom in Ireland, myself and Heather in the United States and Teresa and Tim in Canada. Unsurprisingly, we found that despite our different locations, we had all met with similar challenges and creative feats in the course of our work in the animation industry.
We ended up gabbing for so long that they split the roundtable up into two episodes. Rob Speight kindly volunteered his time and applied some editorial magic to the episodes to keep things coherent and streamlined (probably editing mostly me and my wild caffeine-fueled tangents). But, the bulk of our chat is right there for you all to enjoy.
This was such a fun experience for me, and I’m so thankful to have connected with such powerhouses in our animation industry. With a toddler and baby at home, my house is now a near-constant loop of Octonauts and PAW Patrol. So lately, I’ve been been able to appreciate the amazing sound design of these designers on a daily basis. Having the opportunity to meet them was such a fun window into the workings of their creative minds. Thank you to the Tonebenders podcast for facilitating a great conversation and new friendships along the way!