In the context of the series, how would you explain your role for the folks at home?
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PAULETTE LIFTON:Well, theres editing and theres mixing.
So, music is part of the mixing process.
Maya Erskine as Mizu in ‘Blue Eye Samurai.‘Courtesy of Netflix
So, theres a number of different types of elements that have to be edited.
There is no sound.
And on this particular show, they wanted to approach it like a live-action.
Maya Erskine as Mizu inBlue Eye SamuraiNetflix
They did not want it to sound like your typical animation.
Each scene has challenges, too.
DEADLINE: How did you come on boardBlue Eye Samurai?
NETTINGA:David Farley from Netflix reached out to us.
LIFTON:This is our third animated series with Netflix.
Myrons specialty is that he worked on theKill Billmovies.
And like that movie, the sword is a character in this TV series as well.
But hes always up for the challenge because he always delivers what clients want.
NETTINGA:We love a challenge, and we love animation.
NETTINGA:It was unique.
The way we approach doing shows is probably a little more unique than most people are used to.
They do their thing and show up and you get whatever you get at the end.
We get all that dialed in, and then I get the materials and backgrounds from our sound team.
I work it all into where I got a mix dialed in without music.
So Ill know every element of sound design we have before adding any music.
I really think it elevates it.
Theyre so collaborative with that.
Everybody really was like, Lets just make the best thing we can possibly make.
DEADLINE: You mention textures throughout this interview.
Can you shed a little more light on what that means for the aspect of the show?
Its more of, OK, what is the feeling you want, and what is this?
And so, we learned to interpret.
And I had to interpret what I was going to do for that.
I told the supervisor at the time, Dont worry, I got it.
I know what to do here.
It was a character, and it was aKill Billreference.
There was this great vocabulary of the sword.
We inherited some of this language already, but we wanted to give it intent.
The sword had to have intent on what Mizu was doing.
Shes on a quest, and that sword is an extension of her intent.
And then, in a fight, what do you do with it?
DEADLINE: Sound plays a major role in distinguishing and identifying certain environments.
What kind of themes or other references do you keep in mind?
They really did some heavy lifting on episode 6 especially.
And we get what their intention was and what they wanted [an environment] to feel like.
They were good at describing a lot of emotional [beats].
For example, in the episode, there are zombies.
You dont know the zombies are there at first, theres that trepidatious feeling like a horror film.
NETTINGA:Exactly, thats a great example.
There are some eerie tones.
And Micheal was like, You know what to do, this is what I want to achieve.
With regards to environment, every sound of the background never sits still.
Its all based in reality and its quiet before the storm hits.
Music kicks in gear, but the atmosphere is in everything.
DEADLINE: That sounds like incredibly challenging work to think up all those sounds and apply them.
This is what we need.
And Netflix gave me what I needed and we were able to achieve this because of that.
And thats all you get.
But Netflix was not that way.
Everyone involved really was allowed to do their thing.
LIFTON:You know whats interesting?
I have a couple of Emmys for animation sound.
But those are Daytime Emmys, because thats whats normal.
So now theres so much adult animation.
Our category includes live-action shows.
We are the only animated show in this category.
LIFTON:Its a lot of heavy lifting.
So, its not just another show for us.
