The past four years have seen some memorable keynote speeches, from Randy Thom’s talk of art to Mark Mangini’s tribute to sound as a storyteller. This year, in looking at the changing nature of post-production, and the influence of videogames and the coming of virtual reality, we asked the incomparable Scott Gershin to say a few words about how sound might shine in the coming years of interactive storytelling.

Gershin is an award-winning sound designer who has been active in the film and gaming community for more than two decades. With credits on films such as Pacific Rim, Hellboy 2, Chronicles of Riddick, Team America, Shrek, Star Trek and American Beauty as well as major games such as the Gears of War series, Epic Mickey, and the Resident Evil and Fable series, he has garnered an impressive number of awards and nominations.

Gershin has studied music since he was 10 years old and could easily be identified as that kid you grew up with who made sound effects and creature noises with his mouth. Little did he know it would lead him into a career doing just that. His talent for creating personalities with his voice has been tapped for such memorable movie characters as Flubber, Disney’s Herbie, Reapers in Blade II, the dragon in Shrek, Kirchek in Tarzan, and numerous characters and creatures in Pacific Rim, Hellboy II, Book of Life and PVZ Heroes, to name a few.

After attending Berklee College of Music, Gershin made a name for himself as one of the pioneers of audio technology in film and games. Using what he learned as a synth programmer and recording engineer in the music industry, he was one of the first to make use of computers to edit and design sound against picture. He has embraced technology to better help him tell stories through audio and take audiences on an immersive journey. Gershin describes what he does as a bit of an “audio photographer,” capturing the sounds of the world and of life and manipulating those sounds in new and exciting ways to bring the director’s vision to life.

Gershin worked at the acclaimed independent group Soundelux for 27 years as a sound supervisor and sound designer, and he was the founder and executive creative director of Soundelux Design Music Group. He also created departments and served as Creative Director at Formosa Interactive and the Soundlab at Technicolor.

Gershin has 31 MPSE Golden Reel nominations, with nine wins; one Emmy nomination; a BAFTA nomination for American Beauty; and four GANG awards for game sound.

An award-winning executive, audio director and composer, Paul Lipson’s career has taken him all over the world and has helped him innovate and advocate as a leading figure in the interactive entertainment industry. As the creative leader of Formosa Interactive, he works as Senior Vice President, driving strategy, content development, and audio pipelines with the famed team in Los Angeles.

Lipson previously worked as Senior Audio Director at Microsoft Studios/343 Industries, and the Chief Operating Officer of Pyramind Studios He has created award-winning content and managed extensive AAA teams and audio pipelines for leading clients like Microsoft Studios, SEGA, 343 Industries, Ubisoft, LucasArts, 2K Games, Sony Interactive Entertainment, EA, Hewlitt-Packard, Harmonix, etc. Recent AAA game credits include God of War, Halo Wars 2, Call of Duty franchise, Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Halo: Online, Halo: Spartan Strike, Halo: Nightfall, Halo Channel, Sunset Overdrive, Forza Motorsport 5, Halo:Spartan Assault, Crimson Dragon, Project Spark, Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary, Disneyland Adventures, Galactic Reign, Crimson Dragon, Microsoft Flight, Infamous 2, 5th Cell’s Hybrid, Rocksmith, Bioshock 2, Iron Man 2, Lego Indiana Jones: The Adventure Continues, and many more.

Lipson and his team have been nominated for numerous awards, and recently won an 2018 MPSE Golden Reel Award for Halo Wars 2, Best Original Instrumental at the 2015 GANG Awards, Best Original Soundtrack Album at the 2014 GANG Awards, the Best Interactive Score and Best Use of Licensed Music awards at the 2012 GANG Awards, and the Best Audio – Other Award at the 2011 GANG awards/GDC for work on the Halo Universe. Paul was also awarded the GANG Distinguished Service Award at the 2006 GANG Awards/GDC for his wide-ranging work in interactive audio.

Lipson holds a BM and MM with summa/highest distinction from the world-renowned New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. He is a member of the International Game Developers Association, The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, BMI, The Recording Academy Producers and Engineers Wing Advisory Council, and the Game Audio Network Guild.

BAFTA Award-winning and Billboard/MTV VMA–nominated Danish composer Jesper Kyd is renowned for creating unique scores with a diverse array of live instrumentation and manipulated sounds. His original soundtracks feature an immersive blend of styles ranging from the epic symphonic and dark, hybrid scores for the Hitman series (British Academy Award for Original Music) recorded with the Budapest Symphony Orchestra and Hungarian Radio Choir, and anthemic choral score for cult favorite Freedom Fighters, to his four iconic scores for the blockbuster franchise Assassins Creed and the post-apocalyptic, fantasy, sci-fi thematic scores for State of Decay series, Darksiders 2, and Borderlands series.

Kyd was recently honored with the 2018 Nile Rodgers Global Creators Award at Canadian Music Week for his innovative and unique body of work in video game scoring. His latest projects include composing and producing the Norse mythology inspired tribal acoustic score for Warhammer: Vermintide 2, based on the popular Games Workshop fantasy universe, and atmospheric guitar and analog synth score for Microsoft/Undead Labs’ zombie survival sequel State of Decay 2.

Kyd’s non-traditional methodology is also attracting big screen collaborations with international filmmakers, including Chinese director Lu Chuan’s #1 box office fantasy action adventure Chronicles of the Ghostly Tribe, based on the best-selling Chinese novel Ghost Blows Out The Light. Kyd’s latest feature Tumbbad, releasing worldwide and across theaters in India this fall, is a dark thriller set in British colonial India produced by the team behind Ship of Theseus.

Kyd’s journey as an artist is ever-evolving and reflects a penchant for experimentation: “I love exploring new music styles and mixing different genres together,” says Kyd. “Finding a unique approach adds extra depth, which can help truly define the experience of a film or game.”

Emmy Award-winner and three-time BAFTA-nominated composer Inon Zur is internationally renowned for his emotionally dynamic original music scores for film, television and blockbuster video game franchises, such as the Fallout series, Dragon Age series, and Prince of Persia series.

Zur’s best-selling soundtrack for Bethesda’s blockbuster Fallout 4 has been described as “sophisticated and atmospheric” (Classic FM) and celebrated as one of the best video game scores by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, PlayStation Awards, FACT Magazine, Paste Magazine and Classic FM. In addition to his music in videogames, Zur has been providing critically acclaimed scores for film and television, including the EMMY winning documentary Saber Rock as featured on CNN and the suspense thriller Reclaim for Lionsgate. His music is also celebrated in the concert world, having had his works performed in Los Angeles, London, Cologne, Leipzig, Malmo, Seoul and Sydney. He has also produced and collaborated with international recording artists including Florence + The Machine.

Jack Wall is an ASCAP Award-winning and BAFTA-nominated composer best known for his rich, cinematic scores found within popular videogame franchises such as Call of Duty: Black Ops II & III, Mass Effect I & II, the Myst series, Jade Empire and many others. Wall is currently composing for the supernatural drama television series Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments airing on Disney’s Freeform TV. He has also written additional music score for numerous other TV series, including the fantasy drama series Reign on the CW and Emerald City on NBC, as well as scoring the hi-octane action film Hard Target 2 available on Netflix.

In addition to his composing achievements, Wall served as Music Director and co-producer for composer/librettist Cindy Shapiro’s PSYCHE: A Modern Rock Opera, an innovative modern retelling of the ancient Greek myth. He also co-created Video Games Live and served as its Music Director/Conductor from 2005-2010, performing with more than 50 of the world’s finest orchestras, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and London Philharmonia Orchestra.

Wall was co-founder of The Game Audio Network Guild and is a frequent speaker/instructor at various educational institutions such as Columbia College, USC, UCLA, Ex’pression Center for New Media, The Los Angeles Recording School and Berklee College in Boston.

Continuing to raise the bar for emotional, performance-driven scores at the highest level, Wall’s repertoire encompasses a diverse range of musical styles and influences: from ethereal ambience, choral crescendos and heavy tribal orchestra to traditional Asian, Middle-Eastern, Eastern European instrumentation, futuristic electronic soundscapes and big band jazz recorded with the world’s top musicians.

Two-time Emmy-nominated composer Nathan Barr has received critical acclaim for his unmatched versatility, incorporating eclectic instruments from musical cultures across the world. Nathan recently completed construction on his new 8,000 square foot personal studio in Tarzana, California. The studio, named Bandrika, houses the original Wurlitzer pipe organ that was installed at Fox studios in 1928. With 1,500 pipes, its music can be heard in iconic films including "Journey to the Center of the Earth," "The Sound of Music," and "Patton." Nathan recently used the Wurlitzer to score Eli Roth’s upcoming adventure film "The House with a Clock in Its Walls" starring Jack Black and Cate Blanchett. The film's release on September 21 marked the Wurlitzer's 21st-century debut for movie audiences.

Additionally, Nathan recently completed the score for the gritty dystopian action thriller, “The Domestics,” starring Kate Bosworth and Tyler Hoechlin, coming to theaters June 28. He is currently scoring season two of AMC’s multi-generational western epic, “The Son,” starring Pierce Brosnan and later in 2018, Nathan will score Amazon’s upcoming fantasy, period drama, “Carnival Row,” starring Orlando Bloom and produced by Guillermo del Toro. He also scored Columbia Pictures’ sci-fi drama, “Flatliners,” starring Keifer Sutherland, Ellen Page and Nina Dobrev, and both seasons of Amazon’s acclaimed con man drama “Sneaky Pete,” starring Giovanni Ribisi.

Nathan’s hallmark adaptability has led him to scoring an eclectic roster of some of television’s biggest shows. He scored all six seasons of FX’s “The Americans,” starring Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys, which earned him an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music in 2013. Nathan’s music can also be heard on all seven seasons of HBO’s Emmy-winning and fan-favorite series, “True Blood” and Netflix’s “Hemlock Grove,” for which Nathan earned his second 2013 Emmy nomination for the main title theme.

With two Emmy nominations for both “The Americans” and “Hemlock Grove,” Nathan has the distinction of being the first composer to have two nominations in the Main Title category in the same year.

Alongside his extensive career in television, Nathan has a long record of scoring successful films, as he approaches his fortieth feature. A frequent collaborator with gore-horror master Eli Roth, Nathan scored Roth’s early cult-classics “Cabin Fever” and “Hostel.” Some of Nathan’s other feature scores include Jason Blum’s box office hit thriller “The Boy Next Door,” starring Jennifer Lopez, Warner Bros.’ “The Dukes of Hazard,” Lionsgate’s “The Last Exorcism,” and Stephen Moyer’s “The Parting Glass,” starring Anna Paquin.

Nathan began studying music in Tokyo, Japan at four years old. He grew up surrounded by music ranging from Kabuki Theater to the sounds of his mother performing on the koto and piano, and his father playing the banjo, guitar and shakuhachi.

In addition to writing scores, he performs many of the instruments heard in his compositions, and is skilled in many styles and genres ranging from orchestral to rock. Nathan is also known for his collection and inclusion of rare and unusual instruments from around the world such as: a human bone trumpet from Tibet, dismantled pianos, a rare Glass Armonica, gourd cellos and many others.

Nathan Barr currently resides in Los Angeles, California.

Erik Aadahl was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, and now lives and works in Los Angeles.

He began his career as a freelance Sound Effects Editor at 20th Century Fox on films like X-MEN 2. He later taught sound at USC's School of Cinematic Arts, while sound designing I, ROBOT and SUPERMAN RETURNS.

In 2006, he partnered with Ethan Van der Ryn on the first of five TRANSFORMERS films, followed by WORLD WAR Z and GODZILLA. His sound design work on animated films includes the KUNG FU PANDA franchise, MONSTERS vs. ALIENS, TROLLS and the upcoming WONDERPARK.

He received Oscar nominations for sound editing TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON and ARGO. Erik believes strongly that sound is half the cinematic experience.

David Fluhr studied at Manhattan School of Music during high school, building a portfolio in Music Composition, then attended Crane School of Music in New York, majoring in Electronic Music Composition. After coming to Los Angeles in the early 1980s to work at Compact Video, he began his career in sound for picture as a transfer operator, sound editor, and then stage recordist. Soon, he launched his re-recording career, mixing many of the musical specials on television at the time.

After winning 9 Emmys with 38 nominations, and two CAS awards for his work over the next 10 years, he transitioned in 1996 to Todd AO Studios to move into film sound re-recording.

In 2004, he was invited to Walt Disney Studios, where he expanded his live action mixing credits, and also began mixing animated films. Since 2004, Fluhr has mixed dialog and music on every animated film for Disney Animation Studios, including Bolt, Tangled, The Princess and the Frog, Wreck it Ralph, and the Oscar-winning Frozen, Big Hero 6, and Zootopia. He and his team won the CAS award for Sound Mixing for Frozen and Big Hero 6, along with MPSE honors.

Fluhr recently completed the Nat Geo documentary “JANE” (winning the CAS Award, and nominated this year for an Emmy), and the Lin Manuel Miranda musical Moana; and Smallfoot, an animated musical for Warner Brothers. He is currently mixing Wreck It Ralph 2: Ralph Breaks the Internet.

Fluhr is a former two term governor of the Sound Peer Group of ATAS, a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Sound Branch, a member of the Cinema Audio Society Board of Directors since 1986, and the CAS immediate past President, serving two terms.

Karol Urban, CAS, MPSE, is a re-recording mixer for television and film with more than 18 years in the business. Her television credits include: Grey’s Anatomy, Kingdom, Station 19, New Girl andSingle Parents. Her feature credits include: Adam Rifkin’s Director’s Cut, Band Aid, #realityhigh, Mortified Nation. She serves on the Television Academy’s Governor’s Peer Group for Sound Mixing, as well as the board of directors for the Cinema Audio Society and co-editor of the CAS Quarterly publication. In 2017 she received an MPSE Golden Reel nomination for her dialog editorial work on the film USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage. Karol is a storyteller above all else and enjoys the collaborative aspect of the craft and exploring new technologies and workflows. She often refers to her principal duty in the filmmaking process as “playing mind games with sound.”

Gary Bourgeois has been mixing post-production audio across all formats for more than 50 years, all the while continuing to mix for numerous music artists. Recently, Bourgeois brought his talents to Roundabout / South Lake Studios in Los Angeles, though he also enjoys traveling around the world to work with—and educate—up-and-coming talent.

Mathew Waters is a four-time Emmy winner as a re-recording mixer and has won an MPSE Golden Reel Award as a sound supervisor. With 29 years of experience in post-production sound—as an Assistant, Transfer person, Sound Designer, Sound Supervisor, and Re-Recording—Waters has for the past 20 years concentrated on re-recording in film and television. His credits include Game of Thrones, Lost in Space, I Feel Pretty, I Can Only Imagine, and the soon to be released If Beale Street Could Talk.

Andrew DeCristofaro is a Supervising Sound Editor with over 100 feature films to his credit. He received a Best Sound Editing Oscar nomination in 2014 for Unbroken, together with colleague Becky Sullivan. He is also known for work on The Heat, Iron Man 3, Spy, the remake of Ghostbusters with director Paul Feig, and the Netflix series The OA. Andrew has enjoyed working on independent films such as Crazy Heart and Little Miss Sunshine, and award-winning documentaries.

Andrew is a native southern Californian who comes from a family of doctors and started college at UCSD intent on a career in medicine. He was sitting in a required humanities elective watching the classic film Citizen Kane when he realized his life was going to take a very different path. With his parents’ blessing he transferred to USC, graduated from film school, and hasn’t looked back since.

Ben has 10 years of production sound experience mixing and recording for films, commercials and live events. Over the past four years he has focused on creating immersive ambisonic audio for concerts and cinematic virtual reality productions. Some of the bands he has worked with in VR include Coldplay, U2, Major Lazer, and has also worked at many festivals such as Coachella, Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits. He also mixes live streaming concerts and events for the Oculus Venues app. On set, Ben has helped create dozens of VR experiences with some of the biggest companies in the world including Google, Coca Cola, Hulu, Fox and Yahoo. In post, he has worked on many projects including IT: Float and Big Air with Elliot Sloan, among others. In 2017, Ben taught a series of classes at Local 695 teaching his fellow sound mixers proper recording techniques for VR productions. Ben believes high quality spatial sound is by far the most powerful tool in creating a convincing immersive experience for mixed reality productions.

Tim Gedemer is president and CEO of Source Sound, Inc., a premier audio design and mixing group based in Los Angeles. He is a 29-year veteran of the Hollywood feature film audio post-production community, having concentrations in music, sound design, mixing, supervision and sound editorial. Gedemer has been afforded numerous awards, including an International Monitor Award, several Golden Reels, and was a member of the “Best Sound Editing” Academy Award Winning team for the film U-571.

Under Gedemer’s direction, Source Sound has become the premier audio finishing provider to Warner Brothers and Fox Feature Film Marketing groups. Partnering with game audio legend Charles Deenen in 2012, Source Sound Digital was formed for the purpose of servicing the game and interactive media industry at large. Since that time, the company has been active in the AAA game arena, providing sound design and mixing for Star Wars Battlefront, Call of Duty, Halo, The Crew, Need For Speed, Gears of War and many other top franchises. In 2014, he started Calliope Music Design, a boutique music production company servicing the feature film, television, game and interactive media spheres.

Also in 2014 Gedemer began working with Jaunt on its groundbreaking cinematic virtual reality projects, including the Paul McCartney and Jack White concert experiences, the cinematic short film “Kaiju Fury” from Academy Award Winner Ian Hunter, and many other pioneering VR experiences. Since then he has further focused on VR/AR/MR audio by providing audio experiences to more than 60 cinematic, game-based and live broadcast virtual reality projects, positioning Source Sound as one of the leading providers of VR-specific audio services worldwide.