Sound Design: Simultaneously the Ever-Evolving Trapdoor and Warm Hug
Yessian Music stays on the forefront of sound design and audio innovation thanks to its incredible team of sound designers, editors, and foley artists.
From crafting immersive sonic experiences for theme parks and interactive installations, to film, TV, and commercial work, they are always exploring new technologies and raising the bar on what is possible in the world of sound.
Led by Yessian director of sound design, Jeff Dittenber, this power house team is comprised of sound designers Ben Lantz, Mike Baluha, and Jacob Wolfe.
LBB> When you’re working on a new brief or project, what’s your typical starting point? How do you break it down and how do you like to generate your ideas or response?
Ben> My process is non-linear – more like asset and emotional triage.
The temptation to dive right in looms heavy, but slowing down to actually ingest the brief helps a lot. I usually start by plotting a rough course with markers: part survival, part strategy. It’s a way to assess the lift and sort the work into manageable ‘food groups’ of sound. That makes it sound clinical, but it’s more function than performance.
Idea generation isn’t clean. It usually shows up as a noisy flood – tangents, sparks, half-thoughts. I try to honour the chaos without letting it derail me, which is often the bigger challenge. There’s also the SFX doom-scrolling trap – spending hours looking for the ‘perfect’ sample when what I really need is to just make a call and move on, or build what I’m hearing from the ground up. That part never really goes away.
Jacob> Narrative deconstruction. Understand the story, and what needs to be told with sound. Watch the film once, then watch it again, and again, and again.
Have a spotting session with the director, if applicable. There’s also list making – what sounds need to be collected/recorded/designed versus what sounds already exist. From there, you can start designing/cutting/editing.
Mike> First, it’s all about assessing the creative direction of the project and how to achieve the desired sonic landscape. From there, I usually like to cover the broad strokes of the environment we are building before going through and dialling in and sweetening things up to create a cinematic sonic experience.
LBB> Music and sound are in some ways the most collaborative and interactive forms of creativity - what are your thoughts on this? Do you prefer to work solo or with a gang - and what are some of your most memorable professional collaborations?
Ben> Sound design is strange because it’s simultaneously solitary and deeply collaborative. When everything’s aligned – music, mix, story – it feels seamless. But when the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand’s doing (and music cues change mid-project), it shows. I’ve worked on projects where I was designing blind, and it’s never ideal.
I’m more efficient solo, but I’m usually more effective in a team. Our sound crew is wildly talented, and there’s a kind of creative competition that pushes all of us to level up. Some of our most award-winning (or infamous) sessions have been the messiest – multiple designers pitching chaos at each other until something sticks. (Probably a mix of professionals being professionals and a little trauma bonding).
Learning not to be precious is often the hardest part of the job. Or maybe it’s the time crunch. Sometimes both.
Some of my favourite collaborations have also been the most stressful – where we had to earn the outcome. A couple years ago, we did a full-length animated film in under two weeks. Top to bottom. That’s unheard of. You don’t pull something like that off unless the whole team is firing on all cylinders. It was brutal, but we pulled it off.
There’s a kind of weird pride that comes from surviving those projects together. You don’t forget them.
Jacob> The way we do sound design, and audio post production in general, is as a team sport. Passing sessions back and forth, dissecting others’ sound designs, etc. Working hands-on with people creates a symbiotic vessel in that every party involved typically progresses and learns from others on the team.
Being on-site for location-based projects is a favourite collaborative process; it offers real-time, in-person, and schedule-based opportunities to be collaborative.
Mike> I love the intertwining of the music and sound design in projects where they work together hand in hand. I don’t really have a preference for solo or collaborative when it comes to sound design, as they both have their benefits.
In my case, I am lucky to work with some of the most talented audio people in the business, so working on a project with any of them is always great. There are piles and piles of amazing projects I’ve been on, but our work for the many theme parks is an exemplary display of collaboration between my colleagues and I.
The sheer depth of sound we create for each park/attraction is amazing, and it is always cool to hear what my colleagues come up with as I also develop sound for the various parts I am working on.
LBB> What’s the most satisfying part of your job and why?
Ben> Satisfaction is murky in this industry. Clarity and appreciation are often afterthoughts – there’s rarely space between completion and repetition. Work disappears without warning, like an unfinished conversation. It’s by design – a creative business that often forgets it's a business of creativity. That’s not cynicism; it’s recognition, and maybe even transcendence. So, when something does land – a genuine reaction, a thoughtful critique, a rare ‘thank you’ – it hits. Connection is still possible in the noise. It’s not about ego. Careers can be work. But being seen is human.
Jacob> Designing sound. It’s a thrill to bring life to a new kind of fictional technology that has never existed, or reimagine what a 70 tonne dinosaur might sound like…
Mike> Seeing a project be approved and put out on the airwaves, whether that’s TV, live events or theme parks. Knowing that hundreds, thousands, and in some cases, millions of people will hear my work is quite an amazing thing to wrap your head around.
LBB> As the advertising industry changes, how do you think the role of music and sound is changing with it?
Mike> As the methods of content delivery continue to evolve, so does our approach to the sound of it all. Higher level animation, more immersive content and truly original stories being told all lend a more creative outlet for our jobs as the sonic creators, enabling us to pursue a dynamic maybe never heard before. Every job is different, and I like to see how we can make each project special.
LBB> And when it comes to your particular field, whether sound design or composing, are there any particular ideas or pioneers that you go back to frequently or who really influence your thinking about the work you do?
Jacob> The ‘useful sound theory’, coined by Jeff Dittenber. Basically, sound design has come to be very over the top at times (both in practice and in sound library creation). The goal of the useful sound theory is to design sound that lives in the ‘this might actually make this sound’ realm, instead of the ‘wow, cinematic, lots of sound!’ realm. Memorable, realistic, no frills.
LBB> When you’re working on something that isn’t directly sound design or music (lets say going through client briefs or answering emails) - are you the sort of person who needs music and noise in the background or is that completely distracting to you? What are your thoughts on ‘background’ sound and music as you work?
Ben> It really depends on the depth of the task. My brain’s easily hijacked – by the room, by a lyric, by my own thoughts. Sometimes, music helps when I’m answering emails or sorting through client notes – it can lighten the tone or help me settle in. Background sound works well for setting a mental landscape, especially during conceptual work. I use an audible ticking timer to remind myself to look away now and then – it helps keep me from getting pulled too far in. But overstimulation hits fast, and set-shifting becomes its own obstacle. So, I tread carefully. Mood-setting? Yes. Mind-hijacking? No.
LBB> On a typical day, what does your ‘listening diet’ look like?
Mike> Ha, that’s one that is always evolving. I love discovering new music, so I love the radio feature of Spotify as it introduces me to new artists based on ones I’ve listened to over and over before. I pluck my favourites out and have a playlist of my own going that highlights those new findings.
On a more general level, I’m a rock/hip-hop/jazz guy, mostly, so those genres are always in rotation.
LBB> Do you have a collection of music/sounds and what shape does it take (are you a vinyl nerd, do you have hard drives full of random bird sounds, are you a hyper-organised spotify-er…)?
Mike> Guilty on all fronts! I’m a bit obsessive with the organisation of my media, and have spent countless hours of my life managing it all.
I have a decent collection of vinyl that I love listening to, but as previously mentioned, I also spend a lot of time with Spotify. I’ve curated a tonne of playlists there, and make frequent backups of my entire library. That way, in the off chance things were to somehow disappear, I can get it all back.
In the pre-Spotify days, all of my music came from CDs and digital downloads, all of which are meticulously organised on my media hard drives, by genre, artist, album and year. So yeah, I’m very hyper-organised. All of my vinyl is catalogued in my Discogs account as well.
LBB> Outside of the music and sound world, what sort of art or topics really excite you and do you ever relate that back to music?
Ben> Video games were my first real passion. I grew up alongside that industry, through all its strange evolutions, and the soundtracks were always the part that stuck with me. Total escapism. I obsess over them.
Long before I became a sound designer, I was using game music to inhabit other worlds. That habit never really went away. I still reference game audio when building scenes – I know which titles match a mood, a texture, a tone.
It’s a massive and diverse industry, and one that constantly rewrites the rules of immersive sound. It's been a quiet influence on how I work, even now.
LBB> As we age, our ears change physically and our tastes evolve too, and life changes mean we don’t get to engage in our passions in the same intensity as in our youth - how has your relationship with sound and music changed over the years?
Ben> It’s an ever-evolving trapdoor, and a warm hug. I find myself looping – chasing how something used to feel – instead of just hearing it as it is now. Nostalgia becomes a kind of numbing agent – a performance. Who wouldn’t want to be thrilled again in a way that feels familiar? That’s control, cleverly disguised.
But, I’ve started listening differently. Working differently. I’m trying new things. It’s complicated – a strange mix of the death of youth and the question, ‘Who am I now?’.That might sound existential, but this relationship question has heavy implications.
So, the short answer: it’s changed, it’s complicated, but I’ll never let it go.
