How TA2 Sound + Music Took Film Audiences on a Walk with a Killer

By this point, it should be indisputable that audio plays a major role in the success – or failure – of a film. Time and again, we’ve seen how the right song choice can elevate a scene, how thoughtfully-used sound effects draw audiences deeper into the story, and how a powerful score can define the entire emotional tone of a moment. Still not convinced? Go watch ‘The Empire Strikes Back’, but mute the audio while John Williams’ ‘Imperial March’ plays and swap in some big band jazz instead. It doesn’t quite land the same way.

Among all film genres, however, horror may be the most reliant on strong audio. After all, what’s a jump scare without music designed to induce anxiety, or a gory death scene without horrifyingly lifelike sound effects? A truly scary viewer experience demands impactful audio to get the heart racing – and that’s exactly what Oliver Wickham and the team at TA2 Sound + Music understood when they were invited to help bring the 2024 slasher film ‘In a Violent Nature’ to life.

Tasked with handling music licensing and sound mixing, the team really went above and beyond to elevate the audience’s experience. From working with foley artists to capture the sounds of walking outdoors – creating the feeling that the viewer is walking with the killer – to ensuring that even small details, like a car horn rotating around the audience while reverberating through the film’s forest environment, were executed perfectly, no detail was overlooked. And, it’s this level of meticulous work that earned the studio a Canadian Screen Award for Achievement in Sound Mixing and Sound Editing.

With that in mind, LBB’s Jordan Won Neufeldt wanted to know more about what goes into practically executing such an ambitious, award-worthy endeavour, so she sat down with Oliver for a chat.

LBB> From the top, tell us about the brief for ‘In a Violent Nature’. How did you get involved, and what were you tasked with doing?

Oliver> My colleague, Christine Leslie, and I had just finished working on a very cool thriller called ‘The Dogs’ with Wild Media. I wrote the musical score, and Christine was our music supervisor. At the time, the VFX side of Wild Media was also conveniently working on ‘In A Violent Nature’ (IAVN), and put us in touch with the producers to collaborate on the music licensing and sound mix.

Outside of licensed diegetic (in the scene) music, IAVN didn’t want to have any traditional music scoring, so I felt like it would be an interesting opportunity to bring some of my experience writing music for horror films to the sound mix and see what creative and unconventional things we could do to bring a sense of musicality to the final piece.

Our mix engineer, Adam Ive (who’s also a massive film buff), had experience working in the indie horror genre as well, having mixed the viral hit ‘Antrum: The Deadliest Film Ever Made’. And between the three of us, we were in a great spot to take the film and bring it to the next level on the audio front.

LBB> Coming into the project, knowing what the film was about, what ideas came to mind for how you could use sound to enhance the viewing experience? What was the early iteration process like?

Oliver> For those who don’t know, IAVN is a slasher that mostly takes place from the killer’s (Johnny) perspective. This tweak to the slasher formula completely flips the genre on its head. Rather than having the intense ups and downs that you’d expect, IAVN is slow, meditative, and borderline ASMR-like at times. It’s an intentional slow burn that pays its respects to the classics, but also brings something completely new to the table. Plus, without a conventional score to enhance the drama, we knew that the sound would have to work overtime to bring the sonic side of the film to life.

One of the main themes of the film is nature’s indifference to humanity. So, in our first few iterations of the mix, Adam and I placed a heavy emphasis on the ambient sounds, having the wind, birds and insects very loud in the mix to create a sense of oppressiveness, and give the audience a feeling of sustained chaos.

The sounds of Johnny’s footsteps also needed to convey a sense of fear and repetition, bordering on madness. The rhythm of his walking was almost music-like, so we made sure to have these front and center, allowing the long sections of walking to function like musical interludes, breaking up the plot points of the film.

LBB> Since release, many people have complimented the way that the film uses sound to push the plot forward. So, tell us, what did it take to actually achieve this?

Oliver> Because the film takes place from Johnny’s perspective, the majority of the dialogue and backstory is conveyed through fragments of overheard conversation. In our first pass of the mix, we experimented with treating these conversations as realistically as possible, using volume, reverb, and 360-degree panning to match the exact placement and proximity of the voices in relation to the audience.

It was a good exercise, but we ultimately had to dial some of this back in order to get more intelligibility out of the dialogue. But with that said, we still treated the dialogue as realistically as we could while also making sure that it was intelligible. It was a delicate balance, but I think we got there in the end.

Outside of the dialogue, there were some other interesting moments near the end where the sound slipped into an almost dreamlike state. After so many long, drawn-out scenes, we wanted to make the audience feel like they were losing their minds near the end – pushing the eerie sounds of the forest at night forward, extending the murderous sound of Johnny hacking into his victims, and even filtering out the entire mix before our final character is saved, mirroring her delirium as she barely makes it out alive.

LBB> Of course, knowing when to place sound front and centre, and when to take a step back is very important. What did it take to find the right balance, allowing audiences to feel fully immersed throughout?

Oliver> Finding moments to step back and give the film some contrast was tricky, given the intentionally monotonous nature of the project. But taking the concept of the film (doing horror backward) and running with it gave us some really unconventional ideas.

A few times, we did this sort of reverse jump scare, where instead of having the sound go from near silence to a sudden sharp burst of noise, we did the opposite. In one of the kill scenes, Johnny slowly dismembers a park ranger with a very noisy log splitter. The scene takes place over a few long minutes, and for the entire duration, we had the log splitter deafeningly loud. When we pull out of the scene, the sound goes from max volume to near silence, and the effect is incredibly jarring. You’d think that going from complete chaos to peace would feel soothing, but it’s actually quite unsettling after watching someone be brutally murdered.

LBB> Seeing as the movie takes place largely outdoors, tell us how you collaborated with the foley artists! How did you capture these ASMR-like qualities for the sound mix?

Oliver> We worked with some fantastic foley artists and sound designers, Michelle Hwu and Tim Atkins. They gave us some incredibly detailed material to work with and created the perfect layup for us to bring it all to life in the mix.

As I mentioned before, Johnny’s footsteps were a critical component, so we needed these to be front and centre. Enhancing the bass of each step to create an imposing sense of weight, but also making sure that each leaf rustle and twig crack was clear and detailed, were crucial for making the audience feel like they were right there walking with our killer.

This, plus all of the immersive ambient layers that we mixed in surround, really creates a sense that you are in fact the killer, seeing what he sees, and experiencing what he experiences.

LBB> From here, how did you bring everything together in the final mix? Were there any challenges you faced in working on it?

Oliver> Not having traditional scoring was equally a blessing and a curse. On one hand, there’s way more room in the mix to allow everything else to breathe and be heard. But on the other hand, you’re always feeling a bit naked without music to gloss things over and act as the glue.

Coming from a music background, this was very different from what I was used to. But I think we ultimately embraced the empty feeling, allowing the lack of music and lack of consistent dialogue to bring us into that ASMR-like state.

Our final mix rides the line between peaceful meditation and crippling anxiety. Weird for a horror film, but that was the entire idea; show the side of a slasher that’s never been seen. What does the killer hear? What is he seeing? How long did it take him to walk all the way over here? What did he do with those bodies after everyone ran away?

LBB> Soundtrack selection also plays a big part in the story. Can you tell us more about the licensing process? How did you find the right songs for the job, and use them tastefully when needed?

Oliver> Chris Nash offered some excellent suggestions for lesser-known songs by up-and-coming artists that perfectly complemented the scenes. The songs we licensed felt authentic, like the kind of music the characters would genuinely have playing during a weekend like this.

Christine had a set music budget to work within, and Chris had a clear vision for the songs in each scene. Every licensed song in the film is sourced through a radio, speaker, Walkman, or boombox. Many of the artists were already on board with the film, which made the process of clearing the songs much easier. (She also had some fun with an unexpected song over the end credits that totally shifted the vibe).

LBB> Overall, working on this project, how would you say your creative approach shifted based on the genre? Were there certain things you had to keep in mind because it was a horror film?

Oliver> One of the cool things about this project was that even though at the end of the day it was a slasher film, everything from the storytelling to the pacing and perspective was different than a typical horror film. So, we knew that our work on the audio wouldn’t be a typical Hollywood approach.

Like I mentioned before, we really wanted everything to feel immersive and experiential. So, we had a great opportunity to play with surround sound and break out some of our fun 360-degree audio tools and tricks to help tell the story.

One scene in particular that was a lot of fun to work on was when Johnny sets off a car horn to lure the characters out of the cabin. After setting off the horn, Johnny walks all the way around the cabin while the car horn continues to blast. For this sequence, Adam and I took the horn sound and drew a perspective path that follows Johnny’s movements to match the placement of the horn in relation to the audience. After that, we placed the entire movement into a surround reverb, so that not only does it rotate around the audience, but it also reverberates within the environment of the forest, exactly how it would in real life.

These things might not be noticed by everyone (especially at home, haha), but they are the kinds of details that we’re super proud of, and make working on projects like this fun and creative.

LBB> Notably, ‘In a Violent Nature’ was recently nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for Achievement in Sound Mixing and Sound Editing. Having mixed the film, how does that make you feel?

Oliver> It’s truly incredible. We always go 110% on every project that we work on, but sometimes it’s hard to predict which ones will go on to make a massive impact like this.

Not that awards and festivals matter to the art, but it feels nice to get that validation for what we do and how much we care about it. And it’s always great to bring your friends out to a theatre to watch a movie that you worked on.

It’s a pleasure to work on creative projects like this that are really outside the box, and when everyone on the team is game, you can come up with some truly amazing things. This is a massive win for TA2, and we’re all so proud of what’s become of the film.

LBB> What lessons have you learned in the making of this film?

Oliver> Working on this project and watching its success has completely affirmed my belief that you need to lean in and hold nothing back. Even if you end up going too far, you need to test the limits to know what they are. And that doesn’t happen unless you take those risks and really see how far you can push things before they break.

This film is constantly pushing you outside of your comfort zone, and I think that audiences are craving that. Sure, it's not going to be to everyone’s taste, but I think it's better to make a big impact on fewer people than a smaller impact on many people.

LBB> Finally, awards and getting to show friends aside, is there a part of this project you’re especially proud of?

Oliver> There's a moment at the end of the film where we were asked to come up with a creative solution to avoid some messy dialogue from the set that wasn’t feeling right. Rather than ADR it, we took the opportunity to create an unconventional soundscape with the existing dialogue. We messed it up with some spatial effects and filters, and layered in some intense bottom-end rumble to create a trippy shell shock tinnitus effect.

I thought that this was a really cool way to solve the ask, but also create this very stylistic moment. This is the kind of thing that can give a film its character and unique signature, and I’m especially proud that we thought of that.