A24’s epic period drama The Brutalist earned 10 Oscar nominations, including one for “Best Picture.” The film follows a Hungarian-Jewish architect named László Tóth, who immigrates to America after WWII to rebuild his life. Toth has to start from scratch — find stable employment and residence, rebuild his respected career as a visionary architect, secure passage to America for his wife and niece, and help them settle into this new reality.

The London-based sound team — led by supervising sound editor/dialogue editor/re-recording mixer Steve Single (a 2023 BAFTA Film Award nominee for “Best Sound” on Tár) and sound designer/re-recording mixer Andy Neil (winner of 2005 MPSE Award for “Best Sound Editing in Foreign Features” on House of Flying Daggers) — used sound to expand the on-screen image, like extending the construction site in the hills in Doylestown, PA and adding a sense of massive scale to the marble quarry in Italy, and to expand László’s perception of reality. Their sound work also conveys the emotional state of László, who struggles to find his place in post-WWII America as an immigrant with no permanent residence, desperate for work, food, and supportive family (as his wife and niece were still abroad). The sound design and music weave together seamlessly and carry the weight of László’s experience in a heady, heavy, and at times chaotic soundscape.

Here, Neil talks about recording construction sounds using a RØDE NT-SF1 ambisonics mic to design the off-screen construction sounds, working with Single’s foreign language loop group recordings to build street crowds, using sound to foreshadow events like the train accident, and much more!

The Brutalist

The Brutalist | Official Teaser HD | A24

Sound designer/re-recording mixer Andy Neil

How did director Brady Corbet want to use sound to help tell this story?

Andy Neil (AN): Brady was keen on always expanding the world outside the frame. We were encouraged to be bold and to heighten the sound at times. Going in and out of László’s heroin…