Fellow M. AES/ips
UNAMAS-Label・Surround Terakoya
Introduction
This article, I focus on the 2019 Academy Award winner for Best Sound Editing. The story unfolds with the conflict and friendship between racing car designer Carroll Shelby and driver Ken Miles, who has his own philosophy, as the vertical axis, and the desire of Ford's management to refresh the brand image as the horizontal axis. This moving film culminates in the 1966 Le Mans 24-hour race, developed by the Ford chairman with the goal of defeating Ferrari.
The film features a Dolby Atmos mix, so I also focused on how the height channels are utilized.
１ Production Crew
Director: James Mangold
Sound Design: Donald Sylvester. David Giammarco
Final Mix: Paul Massey. David Giammarco
Music: Marco Beltrami. Buck Sanders
Music at Pianella Studio. Capitol Studio
Foley Artist: John T. Cucci. Goro. Koyama. Dan O Connell. Andy Malcom
Production Sound: Steven Morrow. Stepane Bucker at Le Mans Venue
Sound Recordist: Jay Wilkinson. Tim Gomillion. John Soukup
Final Mix at 20C FOX John Ford Dabbing Stage
2. Story and Main Characters
Racing driver Carroll Shelby won the 1959 24 Hours of Le Mans driving an Aston Martin, becoming the first American driver to do so. However, he was forced to retire due to heart disease. He then founded Shelby American to design his ideal sports car, targeting wealthy customers, and the business was successful.
Meanwhile, British racer Ken Miles had emigrated to America with his family, building a loving home cherished by his wife Molly and son Peter. Yet his days of running an auto repair shop while competing in races proved financially unsustainable, and the shop eventually faced foreclosure.
In 1963, Henry Ford II, chairman of the giant American automaker Ford Motor Company, dissatisfied with the company's current state, lashed out at all employees: “If you don't think, you don't come to the factory tomorrow!” At the same time, Lee Iacocca, Ford's vice president and general manager, was contemplating a complete overhaul of Ford's traditional brand image.
One such attempt was the failed acquisition of Italy's prestigious Ferrari. In his report to Henry II, he honestly responsed the words of Ferrari's chairman.
Enraged, Henry II resolved, “We will gather Ford's finest engineers and commit the company's full resources to defeat Ferrari at Le Mans in 1964.” Understanding that winning races required an experienced team leader and driver, Iacocca asked Shelby to develop a car within 90 days and recommended Ken Miles as the test driver. Miles, wary of interference from the large organization, avoided giving an immediate answer. However, after test driving the airlifted Ford GT-40, Miles was moved by the car's potential. Supported by his wife and son, who loved him most as a racer, Miles joined forces with Shelby and participated in the development.
Despite wrestling with challenges and friction within the organization, the development of the GT-40 accelerated through the efforts of these two men. They went on to win major races back-to-back: the 1966 Daytona 24 Hours and the Sebring 12 Hours, just before Le Mans. They entered the 1966 Le Mans with three cars, including Miles's. With Henry II and Ferrari Chairman Enzo watching, the long and grueling 24-hour battle between the reigning champion Ferrari and challenger Ford began.
3. Characteristic Sound Design for Each Part of the introduction-transition-main body and conclusion
３−１Introduction 00H00’00”―34’10”
The opening title sequence features a design that leaves a lasting impression of the Le Mans venue. First, the race car sound, starting from the FR channel, wraps around the rear and reaches the FL, followed by commentators from various countries placed prominently throughout the mix, showcasing the immersive surround sound experience of Le Mans about to unfold.
From 1'08",
The Aston Martin driven by driver Carroll Shelby takes the lead on the final lap and wins, making him the first American driver to win Le Mans. Although the car models differ, this interior scene appears frequently in racing scenes and has a basically similar design. That is, the interior ambience sound creates a 360-degree base, with the engine, gear, clutch, pedals, and tires in the FL-FR, and the exhaust sound in the LS-RS.
As will be explained later, the height channel consists of the sound of the wind cutting through the air.
3'27“
Before the roaring crowd's surround sound at Le Mans, the cry” Shelby! Shelby!" emerges from the rear channel. This triggers a scene shift to America, where Shelby is told by a doctor in an examination room that his heart can't handle racing anymore—that he must stop competing or risk his life.
16'00"
Willow Springs 100-Mile Race venue. As Ken Miles races his beloved MG to the front, the in-car surround sound design introduced earlier makes its appearance.
３−２Transition 00h34’10”-55’03”
43'32"
Shelby's in-flight scene aboard the plane with executives enroute to the Ford Mustang launch event features 4-channel cabin sounds and flight controls in LFE. The aircraft then performs acrobatic maneuvers over the venue. Here, flyovers utilizing height effectively come into play, moving both forward/backward and left/right. This is the only instance where such dramatic flyovers are employed.
３−３Main body 00h55’03”-1H43’23”
These scenes primarily feature scoring music and dialogue, with no prominent sound design elements.
At 1H24'19",
Ford Chairman inspects the $9 million GT-40, and Shelby takes him for a high-speed drive, bringing the in-car surround sound design back into focus.
At 1H33'16",
during the Daytona 24 race, Shelby overrules the executives' objections and instructs Ken Miles, whom he forced to drive, to push the engine to 7000 RPM on the final lap.
Here, the design brilliantly shifts from the previous powerful, roaring sound design to an impressionistic sound emphasizing Ken's heavy breathing, instantly heightening the viewer's focus on the scens.
３−４Conclusion 1H43’23”-2H33’00”
1H43'23"
Le Mans venue on race day. To convey the vastness of the venue and the crowd's excitement, the front features marching music and applause, the middle captures the venue's ambiance, and the rear incorporates helicopters and reverberation for a three-dimensional sound design.
From 1h44'44“to 2h18'25”,
The finale where three Ford cars cross the finish line simultaneously, features a brilliantly designed sequence interweaving scenes inside and outside the race cars, crashes, tires, brakes, pit stops, and rock music. It's no wonder this scene won the Sound Effects Award.
4. Atmos Height Channel Design
Let's examine how the height channel was used in specific scenes. Across the entire production, the height channel was designed for a total of 26 scenes. Categorize by purpose, they are as follows:
* Wind noise during driving in race car interior shots
* Stand-alone sound effects - Ford factory shutdown alarm, Le Mans venue chime
* Overall spatial ambience - Ferrari factory, jet aircraft flyover, helicopter flyover,
Le Mans venue ambience
* Rain sounds, distant thunder, birds, and other natural sounds
* Race car crash and flying debris sounds
* Overhead flyover sounds
Representative design examples are introduced below.
● 01 Le Mans - Aston Martin's wind noise
The interior shot will appear many times later in the GT-40 scenes.
● 02 Ford Factory Production Halt Alarm
This alarm sounds to stop the production line so the Ford Chairman can address all employees with the speech: “Incompetent people, don't come to work!”
● 03 Willow Springs MG Interior Wind Noise
This shares a similar design, but being an OPEN CAR, the texture is distinctly different.
● 04 Race Car Crash
Scenes where dust and debris fly into the air during car crashes appear frequently. Compared to the base channel alone, the height channel delivers an overwhelming sense of three-dimensional space, allowing you to truly appreciate its benefits once again.
● 05 Acrobatic Flight at Ford Mustang Launch Venue
This design is the only one featuring an intentional flyover. All others are primarily natural spatial support.
● 06 Rain Drops on the Eve of Le Mans
This design might seem rather understated, but it depicts the scene where Shelby, who arrived earlier than Ken at the Le Mans venue the night before, is drinking beer under the pit when Ken arrives and Shelby calls out, “Le Mans is always rainy!” I find it a brilliantly introspective design, using raindrops falling on the pit roof to convey the calm before the storm of tomorrow's fierce competition and the mutual trust between the two men, as if saying, “I'm counting on you!”
● 07 Le Mans Race Day Venue
This design captures the excitement of the Le Mans race day venue. The echoes of the marching band, overhead helicopters, and crowd ambiance create a sense of spaciousness and depth.
● 08 Distant thunder hinting at Le Mans rain
As night falls, distant thunder overhead expects that rain is coming soon.
● Rain Sound on the 09 GT-40's Windshield
Ken is battling Bandini, driving a Ferrari, for the lead. It's nighttime, and heavy rain is pounding against the windshield.
● 10 Test Site OPEN Ambience
A wide-angle view of the spacious course where Shelby and Ken, who triumphantly returned home after winning Le Mans, drive their further-refined prototype vehicle.
5. Scoring Music
The score was composed by Marco Beltrami, who operates a home studio in Malibu, and his collaborator Buck Sanders.
Director James Mangold requested, “I want it based on 60s and 70s jazz and rock. Not sophisticated scoring music, but raw, unrefined sounds—think Rolling Stones, not Steely Dan.” As a result, we recorded a 15-piece band ensemble simultaneously, capturing most takes in a single take.
He added, “Traditional scoring music is normally meticulously planned before recording—everything from dynamics to nuance is decided beforehand. This time, though, we spent five months preparing, then finished recording in one take, almost instantly. By recording simultaneously, we captured each other's feelings in the moment, creating a great vibe.”
The band lineup is:
Gtx3
El Bsx1
Cbsx1
Drumsx1 Apf/Hamondx1
Percx1
Plus, a brass section of Tp/Tb/Fl/Sax, making a total of 15 members.
Since the credits mention Capital Studio, I assume this is where it was recorded.
The part that caught my interest was the PAD during Ken's 7000 rpm run at the Daytona 24 race. I assumed it was a synthesizer, but in an interview, he explained it was created purely with acoustic sounds by combining elements like steel guitar sustain, brass sustain, and guitar feedback.
The design, which places each instrument in the band's lineup on discrete channels, lacks the so-called enveloping feel due to gaps in the mix. Conversely, this spatial separation prevents clashes with the various race sound effects.
Below is the surround placement for the jazz Rock band and the Pad-based scoring.
● Jazz
● Rock
● Pad
While not directly related to this work, their music production style is highly efficient. Except for recordings involving large orchestras, they record each instrument separately in their home studio and then combine the tracks. This approach saves time and keeps production costs down.
6 Vehicle Sound Recording and FINAL MIX
I believe obtaining authentic engine sounds for the Ford GT-40 V-8 and Ferrari P3 V-12 was a major challenge. The sound team reportedly sought help from vintage car collectors in the US, but finding willing participants proved difficult as owners were reluctant to risk damaging their valuable vehicles.
They eventually succeeded by recording from a replica owned by a collector in Ohio. Over two days of recording, the team captured all necessary material across 16 channels. What particularly caught my attention was their use of Ambisonics microphones for the interior sounds, allowing them to record the natural acoustic space inside the cabin.
Regarding the Ferrari, we recorded the 250 Testa Rossa equipped with a similar engine in Florida.
Regarding dialogue production sound on location, recording Ken's lines amidst 140dB of roaring noise was a challenge. We used laveria microphone 90% of the time. The dialogue editor was excellent and made extensive use of restoration plugins, allowing us to use the recordings almost entirely.
The Foley work also involved an enormous amount, recorded across two Foley Studios. As mentioned in our article on the 2017 award-winning Blade Runner 2049, Goro Koyama of Toronto's One Step INC also worked on this film alongside his mentor.
Paul Massey and David Giammarco, who handled the final mix, utilized 15 tracks for 5.1ch music, 8 tracks for dialogue and GT-40 material, 16 tracks for Ferrari P-3, and 4 tracks for SE, totaling 24 tracks.
In Closing
The work follows a classic narrative structure with a straightforward progression of events, avoiding gimmicks to deliver a truly solid foundation. I found not only the sound but also the visual design to be outstanding. The race scenes, of course, were impressive, but the sunset scenes also left a strong impression.
