October’s Featured Sound Designer: Ann Kroeber

It is my distinct honor to introduce this month’s featured guest at Designing Sound. Ann Kroeber has graciously agreed to share her experiences and thoughts on our profession and industry. Her career has spanned some of the most significant changes in our profession, and her background provides us a wonderful opportunity this month. Please join me in welcoming her.

Bio:

Ann’s reluctant entry into the world of sound and effects recording came during her time at the Office of Radio and Television at the United Nations. A nervous start while recording the Chinese New Year’s celebration in New York instantly became life long passion. She eventually turned her sights to the West Coast.

It was there that she met her future husband, Alan Splet, pioneered the use of contact microphones in sound design, worked repeatedly with David Lynch, and contributed to some of the most repsected sound films in history. During the course of her career, Ann has earned a reputation for a profound ability to work with animals and capture their speech in ways that few others can.

In recent years, Ann’s reputation has attracted requests for presentations from the Audio Engineering Society, The School of Sound and many others. She continues to record for her ever-expanding library and effects service, Sound Mountain, and today contributes in both the film and games industry. A recent project, Faust, has just won the Golden Lion award and is garnering a great deal of attention around the world. It is just one example of Ann’s increasingly global reach.

Some of Ann’s past contributions include:

The Black Stallion
Elephant Man
Star Wars Trilogy
Dune
Blue Velvet
Star Wars Trilogy
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Dead Poets Society
The Horse Whisperer
The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
Hidlago
Faust

World of Warcraft
Spore
Dragon Age
Kinectimals