
When it comes to horror films, production teams work hard to find new approaches to scare audiences. Today, with Dolby Atmos and immersive sound growing in popularity, there are even more ways to give viewers a fright. That's exactly what Re-recording Mixer Jonathan Wales accomplishes for the horror shows and films on which he works, both as a freelancer and for Warner Brothers Studios.
Wales didn't set out to specialize in horror, but a 30-year-long career path brought him there. I tend to work on a lot of horror movies, he says. It wasn't supposed to be that way, but when you start doing something well, people notice, and you end up doing more of it. It was an accidental career path, but it's a fun genre to work in. Right now, there's probably an even amount of time spent between original series content and horror films and shows.
Among Wales' most notable mixing projects are Netflix projects like Haunting of Hill House, Midnight Mass and Fall of the House of Usher. His feature-length film credits include Insidious, The Red Door and The Black Phone. When he's not working on re-recording projects, Wales is also a scoring mixer and is credited with mixing the score for every Mike Flanagan project, from the first episode of Haunting of Hill House in 2018, forward.
Wales says he has also seen a change in the way directors and producers attack horror projects. Over the past five to 10 years, there has been an increasing trend towards mixing in Atmos as the primary format, he explains. That requires us to have solutions that handle a lot of detailed format conversions like upmixing and downmixing, while simultaneously managing level specs. That's how I've come to grow my relationship with NUGEN Audio.
Wales credits the brand's Halo Upmix as being one of his go-to tools. It sounds natural and you can control what it's doing in a very understandable way, he continues. It's one thing to be able to make tweaks in a plug-in, it's quite another to have them be predictable and do what you expect. That's one great benefit of NUGEN plug-ins. Another thing I like about Halo Upmix is that it has relatively low latency. Some upmixing plug-ins have incredible processing delays and that's not very useful. People in my line of work can't use extremely high-latency plug-ins while working in real-time.
Halo Upmix has become a staple on Wales' scoring work as well. It played a huge role on the Fall of the House of Usher,' he adds. I use it on all sorts of audio elements, including things you wouldn't expect like individual stereo background files. Sometimes I like to deploy it just to see what happens. With music especially, there are always songs we try to make sound bigger. One of the great things about this plug-in is when you expand a track and then later have to fold it back down, your efforts aren't working against you. There are plug-ins out there that do an okay job making tracks sound bigger, but when it comes time to make the tracks smaller, they start sounding really strange. Halo Upmix doesn't suffer from that problem. It's very up-down compatible. NUGEN was also one of the first companies that provided a way to fully upmix beyond 5.1, into Atmos, in a way that makes sense.
As many of Wales' latest projects are for Netflix, keeping his projects to spec has become especially critical. We use NUGEN's VisLM loudness meter as a sort of bible on level specs, he says. That plug-in is very important because it maintains a history of what you've been doing over the length of the program. So, if something isn't quite in spec, you can find the exact placement of the problem and go directly to that section to make corrections. The results are reflected in real-time, so you can decipher if you're making something better. It provides exceptional visual feedback of the information that you need.
Wales says NUGEN Audio's Halo Downmix is another of his go-to solutions. There are many downmix plug-ins, and, to some degree, they all do the same thing, but Halo Downmix actually gives you a level of base management control when going from 5.1 to stereo, he says. Its feedback also massively exceeds all other plug-ins. As we're having to cope with even larger formats folding down, I think Halo Downmix has become an increasingly important tool for me. It used to be that it didn't make a difference which fold-down software you used, but all the extra tools you get from Halo Downmix are very important and they have a good reason to be there.
As a longtime NUGEN user, Wales says Halo Upmix, Halo Downmix and VisLM those three plug-ins are in every template I have. There is no scenario where I'm not using them. The plug-ins are very well written, by people who really care. When you're using tools that are involved in your final delivery chain, that's really important.
Wales continues on, saying The plug-ins are also very efficient. They're not processor hogs that you can only use offline to experiment. When you get facetime with a director, you want to be able to make changes right there in real-time; these tools allow that. NUGEN is also very good at issuing updates for compatibility or corrections. That level of dependability is important. You want to use tools that you can trust, from companies that stand behind their solutions.
For more information about NUGEN Audio products, visit: https://nugenaudio.com.
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...
04/07/2025
By Lucy Spicer
Editor's note: We are deeply saddened by the passing of Robe...
04/07/2025
The Summer Reading Challenge has inspired children across the U.K. to embrace a ...
04/07/2025
Introducing CVP Auctions: Trusted Tech, At Auction-Only Prices
Brie Clayton July 4, 2025
0 Comments
A New Destination for Film and Broadcast Gear at U...
04/07/2025
Unveiling China's Ecological Wonders with URSA Mini Pro 12K
Brie Clayton July 4, 2025
0 Comments
Nature Documentaries Freeze Epic Momentsin Extrem...
04/07/2025
Create Any Planet in After Effects
Graham Quince July 4, 2025
0 Comments
The Advanced 3D renderer in After Effects makes it really easy to import 3D o...
04/07/2025
Custom Gradient Colorize for Resolve Fusion
Simon Ubsdell July 4, 2025
0 Comments
Digging into the theory of the gradient colorize process to build ou...
04/07/2025
Watching live sports on TV these days is a delicate balance for broadcasters how much information is too much?...
04/07/2025
WASHINGTON As Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr works to achieve his goal of a very busy, productive summer at the FCC, the agency has rele...
04/07/2025
Other World Computing Launches OWC Guardian USB-C Hardware-Encrypted Portable SS...
04/07/2025
CANAL Brings MotoGP to Vision Pro with Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive
Brie Clayton July 3, 2025
0 Comments
Experience MotoGP like never before as CA...
04/07/2025
Friday 4 July 2025
Watch the trailer here https://youtu.be/Od5WpvWmDr8
Further...
04/07/2025
The Pitch comes to RT Radio 1 airwaves this Sunday at 7pm. The Pitch is a brand...
03/07/2025
For our Vario-Jib, as well as for a repertoire of weights, we now have carts that make transport easier...
03/07/2025
One of our latest innovations: Slider Drive Unit!
Our Vario Slider not only comes with improvements and new features, but also with its own drive unit!
Our i...
03/07/2025
The 360 EVO lives up to its name: 360-degree rotation not only on the pan axis, but also on the roll axis, enables filmmakers to take their creative visions eve...
03/07/2025
What a buzzing few days at BSCExpo in London!
We were thrilled to connect with so many talented professionals from the world of cinematography.
A huge thank ...
03/07/2025
ADOLESCENCE - Shot with Panther Tower"The whole rig had to be detachable mid-episode
Netflix limited drama series Adolescence has been gaining attentio...
03/07/2025
To achieve a true level of decisive overmatch, communication systems must be as ...
03/07/2025
The Broadcasters Foundation of America has named Ray Hopkins, president of U.S. distribution at Paramount Global, to its board of directors....
03/07/2025
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. In his first major policy speech, Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr outlined his Build America Agenda for the agency'...
03/07/2025
As the industry is making a major push to transition to NextGen TV and develop new businesses that will fund the next generation of broadcasting, TV Tech's ...
03/07/2025
Despite enabling its subscribers to watch films and TV shows in the highest possible resolution, Netflix has revealed it is taking things old school with the in...
03/07/2025
WASHINGTON In response to news that Paramount Global has agreed to pay $16 million to settle a lawsuit by President Donald Trump, Democrats and other administra...
03/07/2025
WUPPERTAL, Germany Riedel Communications today launched RefSuite for professional sports workflows....
03/07/2025
WEITERSTADT, Germany LYNX Technik, a provider of modular signal processing solutions, has announced that founder and longtime CEO Winfried Deckelmann is steppin...
03/07/2025
WASHINGTON Representatives from six trade groups representing tech, pay TV, broadband, LPTV and other sectors recently met with Federal Communications Commissio...
03/07/2025
PLYMOUTH, Wis. Dan Whealy has acquired Heartland Video Systems and will be its new owner and president, the systems integrator said....
03/07/2025
Acclaimed filmmaker, educator, and industry veteran Jay Holben has released his most ambitious work to date: The Director's Guide to Everything a sweeping...
03/07/2025
For Los Angeles-based photographer Scout Pruski, documenting the annual Dyke Day LA is a way to honor and give back to the city's legacy queer community and...
03/07/2025
Modular, Travel-Ready Solution Matthews Studio Equipment launches the new Chimera V-Flat Panel Frame Kit, the lightweight and modular, ultra-durable alternativ...
03/07/2025
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the release of Dalet Flex 2025.6 LTS (long-term support), introdu...
03/07/2025
Lightware's LARA Wizard makes it quicker and easier than ever to set up audio-visual (AV) room automation and control configurations, ensuring anyone, from ...
03/07/2025
Alfalite, the only European manufacturer of LED screens, has obtained both the NCAGE Code (NATO Commercial and Government Entity) and TAA (Trade Agreements Act)...
03/07/2025
nxtedition is implementing a new solution for WIN Network, based in its headquarters in Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia. The nxtedition integrated platfo...
03/07/2025
ORS Group and Insys Video Technologies today announce the launch of a new joint brand identity: Big Blue Marble. The move reflects the evolution of a long-stand...
03/07/2025
Evergent, a global leader in customer lifecycle management and monetization solutions for subscription-based businesses, today announced the successful results ...
03/07/2025
LYNX Technik, provider of modular signal processing solutions today announces an executive leadership transition, effective July 1, 2025. Markus Motzko has been...
03/07/2025
Chaos Releases V-Ray for Blender
Brie Clayton July 2, 2025
0 Comments
Production-Proven Renderer V-Ray Arrives Natively in Blender for the First Time;...
03/07/2025
Calvin University Adds Blackmagic Replay to Broadcasts and Streams
Brie Clayton July 2, 2025
0 Comments
Replay workflow joins 14 Blackmagic Design cam...
03/07/2025
Berklee's Gospel Performance Program Welcomes Jonathan Nelson as the Herb Al...
03/07/2025
Back to All News
Get Ready for Even More Action! Netflix Has Confirmed the Thir...
03/07/2025
Back to All News
Get ready for even more action! Netflix has confirmed the thir...
03/07/2025
In today's fragmented media landscape, advertisers expect more than just reach - they want seamless cross-platform campaigns that deliver measurable results...
03/07/2025
** MEDIA ALERT ** Shonen Jump Store Hosting Los Angeles Pop-up During Anime Exp...
03/07/2025
Thursday 3 July 2025
David Harewood and Matthew Broome in Mozart: Genius for Hi...
03/07/2025
The Sky WNT Fund supports Womens National Team players with a 30,000 bursaryThursday 3 July 2025
Sky Ireland has announced the four recipients of the 2025 Sky...
03/07/2025
The forecast this month is showing a 100% chance of epic gaming. Catch the scorching lineup of 20 titles coming to the cloud, which gamers can play whether indo...
02/07/2025
Hege Wik and Odin appear in FOLKTALES by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, an official selection of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institut...