A COLLABORATIVE POST

WRITTEN BY BOOM BOX POST

The 73rd MPSE Golden Reel Awards ceremony is quickly approaching! On March 8th we’ll be gathering with friends and familiar faces to celebrate the work of the most talented in our industry. We’re beyond excited and feeling so honored to have received three nominations this year! Each of our nominations fall under the same category: Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Non-Theatrical Animation. In this post we dive into the sound behind our nominated series, hearing directly from the supervising sound editors. Enjoy!

Transformers: EarthSpark: “Legacy of Hope” Paramount+
Supervising Sound Editor: Brad Meyer MPSE
Sound Effects Editors: Natalia Saavedra Brychcy MPSE, Jacob Cook MPSE, Brad Meyer MPSE, Kyle Stockbridge, Vivian Williams MPSE
Dialogue Editors: Christine Gamache, Michael Wessner MPSE
Foley Editors: Tim Vindigni MPSE, Nathan Yamaguchi

Invincible: "I Thought You’d Never Shut Up" Amazon Prime
Supervising Sound Editor: Brad Meyer MPSE
Sound Effects Editors: Natalia Saavedra Brychcy MPSE, Katie Jackson MPSE, Noah Kowalski, Jayson Niner MPSE, Mia Perfetti
Dialogue Editor: Logan Romjue MPSE
Foley Editor: Carol Ma MPSE

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: “The Last Straw” Disney+
Supervising Sound Editor: Tess Fournier MPSE
Sound Effects Editors: Katie Jackson MPSE, Tim Vindigni MPSE, Vivian Williams MPSE
Dialogue Editor: Logan Romjue MPSE
Foley Editor: Nathan Yamaguchi

Transformers: EarthSpark: “Legacy of Hope”

A conversation with Supervising Sound Editor Brad Meyer

Congratulations on your nomination! What are some of your favorite sound moments from the nominated episode: ‘Legacy of Hope’?

The Transformers: EarthSpark episode “Legacy of Hope” was a massive sound challenge in terms of sheer size and action. Aside from a satisfying ending to the series, it has some of my favorite sound moments. The first has to be the character Liege generating The Enigma of Combination, an intricate ancient artifact that he summons to exert extra power over Cybertron and the surrounding planets. Made from small clockwork and timepiece sounds, as well as custom designed steampunk and magic elements, we were able to illustrate the fragile, supernatural nature of the artifact. Once The Enigma Of Combination fuses with The Emberstone, we contrast these small, intricate sounds with sudden, massive tentacles emerging from the planet’s core. Constructed using various metal wronking, groaning, and creaking sounds, as well as musical elements such as Hans Zimmer style megahorns and low end drones, these tentacles feel like a true cosmic event in their weight and grandiose. 

How did you go about putting your own spin on this iteration of such a massive franchise like Transformers?
EarthSpark is steeped in Transformers history and lore, so we do our best to include references to older versions of the franchise in our editorial, like the classic sound of the bots transforming, while also creating fresh custom designs for things like vehicles, foley, fight moves, and even subtle transactional foley-type sounds like hand grabs and bot movements. We were fortunate enough to obtain some of the original SFX from Hasbro, used in the first generation Transformers series, and we do our best to either include some of those sounds in our sound design, or design fresh SFX inspired by the originals. The end result is a soundtrack that is new, custom, and has a sense of weight and action, while maintaining a familiarity and staying true to the Transformers universe at large.


Could you speak to the custom design work you tackled for new characters on this episode?
We’re very proud of the bespoke vocals and movement sounds we designed for The Sparkless and Rat Bots! The Sparkless are zombie bots, out of commission for decades and hungry for Energon. For The Sparkless vocals, we used a combination of custom recorded zombie vocals processed with Krotos Dehumaniser and Futzbox, as well as shrieking banshee recordings. For their movements, we used metallic elements like rusty door hinges and metal gates creaking, as well as groaning metal wronks and metal shrieking made by holding dry ice against metal sheets and drums. The Rat Bots are exactly what they sound like, robot rats! For the rat bot vocals, we used our own vocals, pitched up Alvin and the Chipmunks style, and then processed with metallic IR reverb and Futzbox. We also used remote control car servos for the sound of the Rat Bots’ little engines, which was a fun departure from the larger format vehicles we typically use for the other Transformers. 

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: “The Last Straw”

A conversation with Supervising Sound Editor Tess Fournier

Congratulations on your nomination! What makes this film Golden Reel worthy?

Our work on The Last Straw reflects both technical expertise and creative bravery. We didn’t just edit sound—we used it as a storytelling engine to expand character, enhance comedy, and shape the world from a kid’s larger-than-life perspective. For these reasons, we believe it is deserving of Golden Reel recognition.

Could you tell us what the sound editorial team’s main goal was in approaching this film?

The sound editorial team behind Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw approached this film with a clear mission: to elevate absurdity into something operatic, memorable, and emotionally engaging—all through sound. Our team embraced the film’s exaggerated tone and quick pacing by crafting a soundscape that leaned into stylization while maintaining a strong sense of clarity and rhythm.

Do you have any favorite moments in the film that illustrate this approach?

There’s a lawnmower fiasco moment that exemplifies this well. What could have been treated as a simple comedic beat was instead transformed into an epic disaster by layering guttural monster-truck engines, aggressive bys, and mechanical roars. This hyperbolic treatment not only magnifies Greg's tendency to turn small problems into giant catastrophes—it also locks the audience into the film’s point of view: that of a child overwhelmed by the scale of his own mistakes.

Similarly, the final soccer match demanded a delicate balance between realism and heightened emotion. We integrated authentic textures like realistic crowd noise and natural ball kicks, then amplified pivotal moments with deep bass hits, stylized stingers, and cartoon flourishes. These choices injected drama and humor into the scene without sacrificing believability, supporting the emotional arc of Greg’s underdog journey.

Rhythm was essential across the entire film. In the chaotic gym sequence where Greg causes a chain reaction of calamities, we cut with extreme precision—utilizing short, transient-rich sound effects, often nudging sync to better match the scene’s energetic flow. The result is a tightly paced sonic rhythm that mirrors the film’s rapid-fire visuals.

Invincible: "I Thought You’d Never Shut Up"

A conversation with Supervising Sound Editor Brad Meyer

Congratulations on your nomination! Tell us about the sound of Invincible and what you think sets it apart.

Although animated, the goal of the soundtrack for Invincible is realism. We want the audience to feel like they are part of the world, and to be fully invested in the relationships between characters and stakes of the story. The show strikes a stunning balance between over-the-top action scenes and emotionally intimate moments, which allows us to highlight both our action-packed sound design and hyper-focus on some of the more subtle sound details. From the sounds of Mark drenched in Conquest's blood to Oliver's individual vertebrae breaking as Conquest pulls his body apart, some of Invincible's most impactful moments are also some of the most intimate and visceral. In contrast, we're not afraid to go big when the story warrants it. Entire cities getting destroyed. Planetary wars. A horde of evil Martian squids. You name it. For moments like these, we lean into low-end sweeteners and explosive elements to pack a punch. We also get creative with the 5.1 surround space with tools like panning and reverbs. We want to make the audience feel like they are right in the middle of the action.

We go out of our way to tailor original sound design and editorial to the needs of the show. From heightened sonic builds like a massive underwater sea creature, to more subtle custom-recorded ambient sounds like distant Chicago El Trains passing by, you can hear signature sounds in every nook and cranny of the show. However, sound effects aren’t the only elements of the soundtrack that get bespoke treatment; Foley is designed depending on the weight of the character, their footwear, and the surface they are on. Certain characters like Allen The Alien have custom vocal processing for things like telepathic speech. Backgrounds and ambiences are fully built out, down to the dog barking across the street or a city bus pulling up offscreen. 

Could you tell us about some of your favorite or proudest sound moments from the nominated episode?

The Invincible Season 3 finale episode, "I Thought You'd Never Shut Up", has to be my favorite episode of the season. Aside from a satisfying ending to Season 3, it has some of my favorite sound moments. The first has to be Atom Eve's fight scene with Conquest. In an attempt to save Invincible from Conquest's wrath, she pulls out all the stops, and even uses some powers we haven't seen before. We see Atom Eve use natural elements for the first time, like creating water out of thin air in an attempt to drown Conquest mid-battle. We used some great bubbling water cooler and fish tank recordings for this. Eve also increases the density of the air around them so Conquest can't fly as fast. For this we leaned into low end elements, using bass drops, electric bass guitars, and LFE drones to feel the actual weight of the air as Conquest struggles to move his way through it. In addition to Atom Eve's signature power sounds, our custom sound design really makes this fight scene feel dynamic and threatening.

Another scene I’d like to highlight is the moment when Invincible beats Conquest to death. Once he pins Conquest to the ground, you'll notice that the music cuts out, almost reminiscent of when he kills Angstrom in the Season 2 finale episode, driving home the idea that even though he tries not to hurt anyone with his strength, he's been driven to his breaking point. This is a moment where we cut out all the fluff and hyper-focus on the impacts, blood dripping, writhing on the ground, and vocal performances. It's the small details in this scene that make it feel so jarring. Blood drips made from water, Jell-O, and pasta. Impacts sweetened with bass hits. Sudden cloth movements for Conquest flailing around. The cherry on top is Steven Yeun's vocal work. The vocal performance is so desperate and painful that you truly believe he's using every last bit of his energy to avenge his loved ones and cement his place as a killer.

Could you speak to how you approached the signature sound design of a character like Conquest?

Conquest is one of the most powerful beings in the universe, and we went out of our way to make that obvious in everything he does. His punches and impacts are layered with explosions and sonic booms. He moves through the air so quickly that we treat him like a fighter jet, often using actual jet recordings and the feeling of breaking the sound barrier, as well as various firearms like shotguns and missile launchers. Even the act of coming to a stop displaces so much air that we can feel and hear the shockwave he creates when stopping. He often levels entire city blocks just by flying past, so we went out of our way to accentuate how his presence affects the space around him. You can hear and feel his strength in the breaking of concrete, creaking of steel beams, and rumbling of the earth.

Thanks so much to Brad and Tess for shedding some light on all of the work behind the scenes that makes the sound of these programs so memorable! Congratulations to all of the nominees and we’re looking forward to seeing you at this year’s MPSE Golden Reel Awards!


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