SOUND DESIGNER & SUPERVISING SOUND EDITOR
Academy
Award-winning sound designer and supervising sound editor DANE
A. DAVIS, MPSE was born quietly in La Mesa, California in the
late fifties. From then on he was always noisy. In early adolescence
Davis borrowed reel-to-reel tape recorders and experimented with ways
to use them improperly. Other than his Grandfather’s clarinet,
his access to legitimate musical instruments was very limited so he
built and converted various illegitimate (mostly unplayable) instruments
to use in conjunction with partially disassembled tape decks. His mother
moved him into the garage where he continued to live noisily for more
than a decade.
In high school Davis began making super-8 movies, which became a good
excuse to make seemingly purposeless audio assemblages that could be
repurposed as movie soundtracks. This aural intent took him to the film
school of California Institute of the Arts where he confronted modular
synthesizers and many new noise-producing tools. While making his own
films, he continued to create soundtracks for student films and eventually
mixed most of the films being made at the school.
After matriculation into the real world, Davis continued making mostly
non-musical soundtracks for experimental short films and started working
as a sound editor on various longer film projects. In 1986 he founded
Davistracks in Hollywood in a closet of the company he worked for during
the day as a sound transfer operator. As more sound design and editing
work for low-budget independent movies passed through his closet, he
quit his day job.
Davis continues today working primarily as a Sound Designer and Supervising
Sound Editor on feature films as varied as The MATRIX trilogy, Treasure
Planet, and 8 Mile.
He also creates sound design for TV ad campaigns like Nike Shox (Boing!)
and the herd of Pirelli tires rolling across the country.
Along the way, Davis became enamored by the audio seduction of interactive
game play. He still gets the shivers when reminded of how evocative
the music and sound design of Myst and Doom felt in
the context of exploring an unknown world. Today Davis and Davistracks
are active in exploring the psycho-acoustic boundaries of interactive
media as the platform technology approaches the depth and detail potential
of motion pictures. He considers the application of the subjective emotional
and dramatic principles of cinema sound design to the non-linear paths
of game play to be the challenge of the current decade.
FILMOGRAPHY
The Matrix Revolutions (2003) (Sound Designer; Supervising Sound
Editor)
The Matrix Reloaded (2003) (Sound Designer; Supervising Sound Editor)
Northfork (2003) (Supervising Sound Editor)
Treasure Planet (2002) (Sound Designer; Supervising Sound Editor)
Ghost Ship (2002) (Supervising Sound Editor)
8 Mile (2002) (Supervising Sound Editor)
The Good Girl (2002) (Supervising Sound Editor)
Thir13en Ghosts (2001) (Sound Designer; Supervising Sound Editor)
Swordfish (2001) (Sound Designer; Supervising Sound Editor)
Exit Wounds (2001) (Sound Designer; Supervising Sound Editor)
Dogtown and Z-Boys (2001) (Supervising Sound Editor)
AntiTrust (2001) (Sound Designer; Supervising Sound Editor)
Tachyon: The Fringe (2000) (Sound Effects Designer)
Sand (aka Sandstorm) (2000) (Sound Designer; Sound Re-recording Mixer;
Supervising Sound Editor)
Red Planet (2000) (Sound Designer; Supervising Sound Editor)
Romeo Must Die (2000) (Sound Designer; Supervising Sound Editor)
House on Haunted Hill (1999) (Sound Designer; Supervising Sound Editor)
Go (1999) (Supervising Sound Editor)
The Matrix (1999) (Sound Designer; Supervising Sound Editor)
Simon Birch (1998) (Supervising Sound Editor)
Your Friends & Neighbors (1998) (Supervising Sound Editor)
Phoenix (1998) (Supervising Sound Editor)
Boogie Nights (1997) (Supervising Sound Editor)
Little Boy Blue (1997) (Supervising Sound Editor)
Loved (1997) (Sound)
Bound (1996) (Sound Designer)
Mother (1996) (Supervising Sound Editor)
Follow the Bitch (1996) (Sound Re-recording Mixer)
Pie in the Sky (1996) (Supervising Sound Editor)
Bed of Roses (1996) (Supervising Sound Editor)
Divinity Gratis (1995) (Sound)
Gunfighter's Moon (1995) (Supervising Sound Editor)
Tom and Huck (aka Tom Sawyer) (1995) (Supervising Sound Editor)
Gordy (1995) (Supervising Sound Editor)
Panther (1995) (Supervising Sound Editor)
Don Juan DeMarco (1995) (Supervising Sound Editor)
Don't Do It (1994) (Music Editor) (Supervising Sound Editor)
Curse of the Starving Class (1994) (Sound Effects Editor)
Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead (1994) (Supervising Sound Editor)
My Father the Hero (aka My father, ce héros) (1994) (Supervising
Sound Editor)
Younger and Younger (1993) (Supervising Sound Editor)
Airborne (1993) (Sound Re-recording Mixer; Supervising Sound Editor)
Romeo Is Bleeding (1993) (Supervising Sound Editor)
Boxing Helena (1993) (Supervising Sound Editor)
Traces of Red (1992) (Supervising Sound Editor)
There Goes the Neighborhood (aka Paydirt) (1992) (Supervising Sound
Editor)
Roadside Prophets (1992) (Supervising Sound Editor)
El Patrullero (aka Highway Patrolman) (1992) (Supervising Sound Editor)
The Gun in Betty Lou's Handbag (1992) (Supervising Sound Editor)
The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992) (Supervising Sound Editor)
Blue Desert (aka Silent Victim) (1991) (Supervising Sound Editor)
Iron Maze (1991) (Supervising Sound Editor)
Hard Promises (1991) (Supervising Sound Editor)
Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (1991) (Supervising Sound Editor)
Suburban Commando (1991) (Supervising Sound Editor)
A Rage in Harlem (1991) (Supervising Sound Editor)
Defending Your Life (1991) (Supervising Sound Editor)
Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael (1990) (Supervising Sound Editor)
Pump Up the Volume (1990) (Supervising Sound Editor)
Maniac Cop 2 (1990) (Supervising Sound Editor)
Bad Influence (1990) (Supervising Sound Editor)
Drugstore Cowboy (1989) (Supervising Sound Editor)
The Abyss (1989) (Sound Effects Recordist)
Far from Home (1989) (Supervising Sound Editor)
Warlock (1989) (Supervising Sound Editor)
Fright Night Part II (1989) (Supervising Sound Editor)
I'm Gonna Git You Sucka (1988) (Supervising Sound Editor)
Rocket Gibraltar (1988) (Supervising Sound Editor)
Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988) (Supervising Sound Editor)
The Night Before (1988) (Supervising Sound Editor)
Remote Control (1987) (Supervising Sound Editor)
Surf Nazis Must Die (1987) (Supervising Sound Editor)
Date with an Angel (1987) (Supervising Sound Editor)
John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness (aka Prince of Darkness) (1987)
(Special Sound Effects Creator)
It's Alive III: Island of the Alive (1987) (Special Sound Effects)
Back to the Beach (1987) (Sound Effects Library, Design)
Square Dance (aka Home Is Where the Heart Is) (1987) (Sound Designer)
Armed Response (aka Jade Jungle) (1986) (Additional Sound Effects editor)
The Tomb (1986) (Supervising Sound Editor)
Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI (1986) (Supervising Sound Editor)
Prison Ship (aka Star Slammer) (1984) (Supervising Sound Editor)
As Actor:
Treasure Planet (2002) ... Morph (voice)
As composer:
Follow the Bitch (1996)