The Media Arts Film Department welcomed an Academy Award nominee to the lab for a three-day guest artist residency and workshop.
The three-day workshop with David Wyman started in May when Wyman called Mississippi School of the Arts looking to share his two-decades worth of sound mixing experience with film students, during a hiatus caused by the ongoing Writer’s Strike. Wyman has mixed sound for multiple major films and TV productions. He was nominated for an Academy Award for the 2020 movie Greyhound, starring Tom Hanks. On his first day with our students, he discussed what the sound mixer does and gave an overview about the terminology of sound recording. On day two, students were on their feet learning about how to properly operate a boom pole and sound microphones. They learned how to wire an actor for sound before filming a scene, and how to remove the wire after filming is completed.
All of the equipment used was a mixture of MSA’s Media Department microphones, and mixing recorders and transmitters provided by Wyman. This allowed students to practice professional recording with industry-standard equipment. On the 3rd and final day, students took turns practicing how to both operate the boom microphone and mix sound recording while filming a scene from the movie Home Team, which Wyman worked on as a sound mixer. It can be seen on Netflix. The hands-on experience allowed students to gain an understanding of how important sound is to a film and o allow them to think more about how to prepare sound recording for their films. The workshop ended with an opportunity for students to ask questions about his experience and ask advice about sound recording for their own short films. The time with Wyman also allowed the Media Arts Department a chance to evaluate their current equipment and receive advice on upgrades to film industry standards.
About David
David has been involved in sound recording from the age of 14, when he first stepped into a recording studio in London. Since then, he has always been fascinated by the medium of sound. At age 20 while working for a small film company in London and studying sound acoustics and dynamics at the North London Polytechnic University, he was thrust into production audio recording when the scheduled sound mixer fell ill just days before a location shoot in Norway. Presented with a Nagra, a time-code slate and a boom mic by the director he went on to record several documentaries for the company both in the UK and abroad. After a 12-year hiatus from film life, he returned to his craft in Los Angeles in 1996. Working with several sound mixers he became an indispensable boom operator and utility on commercials, documentaries and short films. In 2001 he began in earnest to work solely as a sound mixer and by 2002 landed his first major motion picture. The Haunted Mansion starring Eddie Murphy. After 10 years working in Los Angeles, David moved to New Orleans to seek better opportunities in Feature Films. From 22 Jump Street through The Big Short his reputation grew. Award nominations for Deepwater Horizon added to his repertoire. Now with such great movies and TV dramas such as Greyhound and Your Honor he continues to work and contribute to the industry as one of the premier sound mixers today.
The MSA Media Arts Department is a film and cinematography program aimed at gearing students with knowledge and skills in acting, writing scripts, digital recording, and editing video and audio. Eligible Mississippi high school sophomores may apply to audition for the two-year residency program. Click here for more information.