Doppler & Dubbs covers the entire range of the sound postproduction process and have over 40 years years of industry experience to draw from.
Working as a team, their skills cover the entire array of the sound post and music production processes from consultancy to final delivery and QC.
We caught up with Partners Gwilym Perry and David Escott this week to discuss everything that goes into the art and science of postproduction.
How was your company born and where are you based?
Doppler & Dubbs was born from a collective of likeminded individuals with a desire to form a company that would allow us to be a more independent, dynamic and creative entity within the audio postproduction industry.
We operate in facilities spanning from London to Norfolk, this allows us the scope and flexibility to react to the specific needs of our clients effectively, whether it be fully attended Dolby Atmos mixes in London, or produced remotely, our international commercial projects.
What was the biggest challenge to the growth of your company?
With a small core team, in the early days when one has to wear all the hats, time management between creative pursuits and the process of managing a business.
Which was the first huge success that you can remember?
Ah that’s a tricky one, there are many projects we’re very proud to be involved with…Creating content for Virgin Festivals stage screens, The Prodigy and sound design for Madonna’s ‘Sticky & Sweet’ world tour opening are a few that spring to mind.
Also, working for major London facilities such as Goldcrest, Shepperton and Twickenham for studios such as Warner Brothers, Universal, 21st Century Fox and Disney Pixar are right up there too.
What’s the biggest opportunity for you and your company in the next year?
In conjunction with other commercial projects, we do have some exciting episodic streaming, long form documentary and feature film projects we’re working on. These are enabling us to have complete creative freedom on the soundscape produced as we’re lucky enough to be responsible for the entire sound department on these projects.
Can you explain your team’s creative process? What makes it unique?
We derive from different disciplines, backgrounds and skill sets including Music Production, Sound Design, Creative Direction, Video/ Film Direction & Editing, FX & Foley Editing, Sound Supervisor, Graphic Design and Fine Art. We believe this myriad of skills and experience offers us a unique insight into sound for pictures.
Having worked behind the camera and concurrently in visual and sound postproduction we understand the nuance of editing tempos, the relationship between sound and picture, the emotion of picture / framing and most importantly narrative.
This gives us the ability to better interpret visual cues, direction and therefore translating that into the soundscape we create. That process always starts with the sonic blueprint for that project. We usually begin with sound creation. Making sounds that reflect the intended emotion of the project and gradually build out from there.
We feel what makes our approach unique is that we really explore the relationship between sound design and music composition. Where often delivered as separate elements to a soundscape we specialise in developing a cohesive relationship between the two. We work on the basis that, when creating/writing, they are supporting each other and moving in the same direction together.
This results in a more powerful emotional response than as standalone elements. Music blurs into sound design and sound design blurs into music. We treat the soundscape as one crafted experience not a collection of separate disciplines all fighting for the same attention at once.
How does your team remain inspired and motivated?
Everything around us is inspiring…we live in a fast world, and it is our responsibility as artists to reflect that. There’s so much great work out there from our contemporaries it really is a privilege to be contributing to culture in this way.
There’s always the next idea to experiment with and remaining in a mindset of ‘learning ‘ is really important. It keeps you hungry and fresh. That could come from new software, tech, nature or an imagined experience…it's not so much how to remain inspired, it’s more finding the time to manifest every idea that you can imagine.
We create continuously as a consistent ethos, it’s more a state of being rather than an occupation, whether it be on a paid project or during our free time. Free time is never downtime, it’s another opportunity to explore new material, ideas and sonic landscapes.
How has COVID-19 affected your company?
We were lucky in that working in sound often requires remote facilities due to the equipment involved. So, in a way we were already set up to deal with limitations of movement and any proximity issues. Due to existing projects the first year had little to no effect on workflow.
Commercial projects did slow down, however, long form film projects continued with a variety of solutions to deal with location work and no international travel. It did provide time to develop some of our own projects and spend some time learning new skills and tech which was really great.
Which agencies do you gain inspiration from? Do you have any heroes in the industry?
Gwilym: Stanley Kubrick, David Lynch, Steven Speilberg, Darren Aronofsky to name a few hero directors. When it comes to sound designers I would have to mention Ben Burtt and Brian Emrich. The legendary creativity by sound designer Ben Burtt on the Star Wars trilogy was the ‘first awakening’, discovering how he captured and manipulated sound using lateral thinking was a turning point in my understanding of what is possible within the sonic domain.
It was Brian’s astonishing output on Requiem for a Dream that really crystallised the intensity and visceral power of sound design in cinema. Since making contact back in 2005 Brian has been a constant mentor for me personally, always there to offer solid advice whether it be technical or creative, how to effectively support the film’s narrative with sound, why we capture sounds with emotion and feeling from our own recorded material rather than just reaching for something off the shelf.
David: We have worked with Saatchi & Saatchi, Imagination, McCann Erikson and just recently Stink Studios on the new Peloton Campaign. All of which create really great work that is inspiring. It’s all about the emotional response. How does something make me feel? That usually arrives in the form of ‘the new’ or a twist on an existing take’... people that break down barriers and create new genres or change perceptions on any given subject.
Sound wise there are so many! Producers in the past such as Brian Eno and composers like Ennio Moriccone, Philip Glass, Vangellis all seemed to paint pictures with sound and then through the dance revolution of the 90’s genre defining dance acts like The Prodigy, The Chemical Brothers and Leftfield.
Indie giants like Radiohead and the Pixies of the same era. More recently Benjamin Clementine, dubstep artists like Excision and composers like Clint Mansel, Ramin Djawadi and Bear McCreary …I could go on! combined have all defined our present sonic landscape for music, advertising, movie trailers, sound design and full film scores. Reinvention, diversity and genre crossovers keep things interesting in the sound world so there’s no shortage of inspiration out there.
What is one tip that you would give to other agencies looking to grow?
Keep creating, try to make it fun, play around in between jobs with new ideas and concepts. Trust your instincts and believe in your talents and abilities as individuals but also as a team. Teamwork is vital, there is a lot of power in the significance of the whole, our best work has always been when all our team has synchronised and communicated as one creative entity!
How do you go about finding new clients/business? (Pitching, work with retainers, etc.)
New work comes mainly from nourishing and maintaining strong relationships with existing clients. It’s partly an administrative activity but being super organised with contact & networking time is key. In this ultra competitive world you just can’t afford to lose contact with people and agencies, never be afraid to pick up the phone and say hello.
One call or email can totally change your year ahead! With this ethos set you will then certainly be on solid ground for gaining new clients, leads and referrals for further work and exposure. Networking is vital which is why platforms such as Creativepool play a key role in maintaining exposure to the media industries moving forwards.
What’s your one big hope for the future of the industry?
We would like to see an increase in the equality of opportunity for young people, irrespective of socio/economic background, through apprenticeships via independent agencies with equal access to exposure from existing media outlets and platforms.
Do you have any websites, books or resources that you would recommend?
Sound Design - Larry Sider
Film Sound - Elizabeth Weis
In The Blink Of An Eye - Walter Murch
Sound Design - David Sonnenshein
Art of the Cut - Podcast - Steve Hullfish
