The Defenders Unite With Technicolor to Save the Day

• The Defenders brings together the heroes – and sounds by Technicolor – developed on their previous individual Netflix series.

When an evil sect threatens to destroy New York City, it’s up to The Defenders to put aside their personal struggles and come to the metropolis’ rescue – and it was up to the Technicolor team to put a unique stamp on each of these troubled but heroic characters by creating their clear and distinct sound signatures.

Most of these Marvel heroes are well known to Technicolor, as the team handled the sound for individual series revolving around the Daredevil, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist characters – then made a smooth transition of sounds they had created for them to the new project. But as these solitary figures came together in The Defenders, along with the character of Jessica Jones, it was also important to differentiate their unique situations and motivations as they learned to unite toward a common goal.

How did the Technicolor Sound team achieve this? The stomping ground for each character covers a different area of Manhattan, so as the team mixed for the various New York neighborhoods – for example, Hell’s Kitchen for Daredevil – they were able to creatively use background noises and sounds in the environment as another way to create signatures for each of the heroes.

 “There are hand-to-hand combat sequences that involve all of the characters and a challenge was how to articulate the action, not just a wall of sound. So the team would focus on specific moments in the fight, creating a clear, immersive experience for the viewer.”

The Defenders was mixed at Technicolor’s Seward facility in Hollywood, with editorial done at nearby Technicolor at Paramount. The Technicolor sound team returning to the Marvel Universe included Sound Re-Recording Mixers Adam Jenkins and Joe Barnett; Supervising Sound Editor Lauren Stephens; Sound Effects Editor Jordan Wilby; Dialogue Editor Christian Buenaventura; and ADR Mixer Judah Getz.