LA Comic Con 2024 Interview: Sound Editor/Mixer John Chalfant

During the 2024 Los Angeles Comic Con, Impact24’s panel “Post-Production Workshop: Behind-the-Scenes of Film and TV” offered “a unique behind-the-scenes look at the art and craft of filmmaking.” One of the panelists was John Chalfant, a sound editor and mixer who has worked on various projects, including the documentary Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off.

Sound editing/mixing is one of those industry jobs I feel is an unsung position that aren’t noticed by many people. As such, my first question was how someone gets into the field. “My path is typical of people who do what I do,” Chalfant said. “You start as a musician, and then you want to learn to record your music. So, you already have an aptitude for audio and a passion for it and you start recording music, and then that transfers into recording audio for film and TV and manipulating it for media.”

So what is his favorite part of the job? “I guess it depends on the people you’re working with,” Chalfant said. “If you’re working with good people, it’s a joy. I liken it to playing in a band with people, which is just this collaborative, fun thing. It’s not even work. When you’re working with good, collaborative, fun people, it’s not even work. That’s the easiest part.”

With creative careers, I always like to hear the story of when they realized it was something they could do for a living, as opposed to “just” for fun. “I did something early on,” he started. “I was just dabbling in it. I was doing recording engineering for music, which is what I thought I wanted to do with my life, and then I started playing with computer audio, early digital audio, and I created something, and I played it for a bunch of friends. It wasn’t music, it was something that went to picture, and everybody was like, ‘Whoa, wow.’ I got that reaction from people, and it was a high. It’s a buzz. Like any artist, you share something you made from inside you, and you see people react in a positive way. And, boy, that’s just addictive.”

Having grown up in the ’80s myself, dealing with 8-tracks and cassettes and editing actual physical tape, I know how much the technology has changed over the years. I was curious how Chalfant kept up and if he embraced the new technology.

“This is a good question and something that’s on my mind a lot right now,” he answered. “The reason I was able to get into the industry, and it is hard to get into the industry, was because things were changing at the time and I was familiar with digital audio. I went to college for computer science, so that gave me an opening. Some people don’t want to learn the new technology, so people fall by the wayside. It’s happening again right now with AI. And AI has become a dirty word in our industry, for good reason in a lot of instances. I’ve been studying it a lot recently, and I’m realizing it’s just a tool. It’s not going to take over our jobs. So, I’m in the process of learning it. I think we’re in the middle of a revolution right now. So I did do some fist shaking and resenting this new wave of technology coming, but I’m now embracing it and I encourage other people to do the same.”

So what’s next on Chalfant’s plate? “I’ve got a film coming out, Magic Hour. Katie Aselton wrote and directed that. I’m very proud of the work we did on that that should be out in the next several months, and that’s all I can talk about for now.”

You can find out more information about John Calfant at his website, Chalfant Sound.

You can see my interviews with the other panelists on the LA Comic Con tag, and you can watch the full LA Comic Con panel on Impact 24’s YouTube channel.

Author: Angie Fiedler Sutton

Angie Fiedler Sutton is a writer, podcaster, and all-round fangirl geek. She has been published in Den of Geek, Stage Directions, LA Weekly, The Mary Sue, and others.

She also produces her own podcast, Contents May Vary, where she interviews geeky people about geeky things. You can see all her work (and social media channels) at angiefsutton.com.

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