Jimmy the Sound Guy
Interview Series
Today we welcome James Sieczka from Noise Boys LLC.James experience is extensive, working in Asia for many years and learning from Greg Curda and Emmy winner Les Wolf, he returns to the States to partner with Noise Boys LLC. We learn how he combines his knowledge gained from Documentary into TV & Feature Film productions to crack some of the tougher technical challenges that come his way.
James Sieczka Production Sound Mixer
Email
IMDb Profile
Linkedin Profile
Tell us a little about yourself. Where are you based, what you do and who are the Noise Boys LLC? My name is James Sieczka but most people call me Jimmy or Soundguy. I grew up in Chicago and attended Columbia College Chicago for all my Film/Sound Training. When I finished school I immediately moved to LA. After 3 years there, I felt the need to travel the world. I got lucky and landed a job in the Philippines at a film studio working as their in-house production and post-production audio mixer. I also split my time as a mixer to teach sound at an international film school in the islands.
I spent 5 amazing years there working, teaching and learning from some of the top production/post production mixers in the game. Oscar Winner Greg Curda and Emmy Winner Les Wolf helped shape me into the mixer I am today and I'm forever grateful for their teachings and advice to always maintain a good sense of humor.
In 2013, I decided to move back to the states. After 8 months, I met business owner and operator David Macaulay Flynt of Noise Boys LLC. We hit it off immediately. Within a few months, Macaulay asked me to join his company Noise Boys and create a partnership that has been going strong ever since. I'm currently based in LA now and primarily work on run and gun adventure shows and occasionally swing boom on feature films.
I knew at the age of twelve that I wanted to spend the rest of my life working in film industry.
How did you get into the Film & television industry? I knew at the age of 12 that I wanted to spend the rest of my life working in film industry. That's when I met Paul Matian (Producer at Leo Brunett Agency) and together with some friends we started making skateboard movies. We kept the dream alive and 10 years later, I decided to move west and Paul stayed in Chicago to start a career working in commercials and film. I arrived in LA as a kid with little direction and only a few friends working in the business. My first job there was working at a Post House doing dub work, scratch removal on old films and basic secretary work. It was long hours, little pay and lots of responsibility with no potential sound work on the horizon. After 8 months in LA, I was still looking for audio opportunities so I could finally leave my job. Out of nowhere, a friend invited me to a wrap party for some networking where I met a camera operator that worked for a small production company in Burbank. By the end of the night he gave me a number to a production coordinator and said Call this number and in a month, you'll have a job as an audio mixer. Tell them Malibu referred you. Later I made the call, quit my current job, and started the next day as a day player on Fear Factor and a number of different LA-based TV programs. This was the point that I officially became a working Sound Mixer.
What is a typical day like as a sound mixer on assignment? It really all depends on the gig and the conditions the crew will be working in. One thing that always remains constant is gear because it never hurts to be over-prepared. For example if I know I'll only be working on interiors for the day, I'll still bring all my microphone accessories like my Rycote Softie, Super Softie, Cyclone and Zeppelin Windshield.
Some mixers think its overkill but there was a time where I was scheduled for interiors and the producer decided to add a quick exterior shot, on a rainy windy day. The producer knew he could save some cash for production using the rain versus bringing in rain machines and generators on another day. By the end of the day the exterior was scheduled and I was stoked I had my Rycote Zeppelin and Windjammer. Otherwise I would have lost a mic trying to capture the dialogue in the rain without the right protection from the elements of the outdoors.
The Rycote Cyclone really came in handy for a lot of the Naked and Afraid shows I've worked on. The design is flawless and is a huge step up from the previous Rycote Zeppelin.' James Sieczka
I see you've worked on several projects with National Geographic, the Ice Holes and Filthy Riches series and Discovery's Naked and Afraid. Can you tell us a little about these shows? Looks like there were some interesting characters to record, did you get to know any of them personally? These shows look like they could pose some tricky technical challenges, Ice Holes with unpredictable wind changes and sub zero temperatures. How did your kit stand up to this environment? Every show gives you an opportunity to get to know the cast personally. Besides the director and producers I tend to have the most contact and face time with cast since I'm having to mic them daily and make adjustments on them throughout shooting. During principle photography I keep any conversation that isn't related to the show to a minimum, but once the show is completed I certainly have kept in touch with some cast members.
Shooting adventure shows poses a lot of technical challenges when in the field. For example, NatGeo's Ice Holes was extremely difficult and dangerous to shoot. The entire show was shot on several frozen lakes as we followed cast members through various ice fishing challenges and contests. Temperatures were as cold as -45 F in some locations as well. Some of the biggest challenges were the weight of all of the clothing and gear
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
31/08/2025
Legrand | AV, a global specialist and industry leader in audiovisual solutions, returns to CEDIA Expo 2025, taking place Sept. 4-6 in Denver, with a powerful li...
31/08/2025
Global media technology company Backlight will unveil new capabilities in its Iconik, Wildmoka, and Zype product lines at IBC2025 (booth #1.D09), September 12 1...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
Jimmy the Sound Guy
