Sound Design Secrets: A Conversation with Kenneth Johnson

About this episode

This episode features a conversation with award-winning sound designer Kenneth Johnson about his work and the importance of diversity in the industry.

This episode’s guest is an award–winning supervising sound designer whose groundbreaking work has shaped the sound of some of television and film’s most iconic projects, including Netflix’s hit series Forever and Kevin Hart’s animated comedy Lil Kev . Born and raised in South Central Los Angeles, he rose through the ranks of Hollywood post-production, breaking barriers as one of the few Black sound designers in the industry and earning multiple MPSE Golden Reel Awards and Emmy nominations. Today, he’s not only redefining sonic storytelling but also championing greater diversity behind the scenes, ensuring the voices shaping what we hear are as dynamic as the stories themselves. His name is Kenneth Johnson, and in this episode, we’ll discover how he transforms silence into emotion and builds powerful storytelling through every note, tone, and texture. As always, if you have questions for my guest, you’re welcome to reach out through the links in the show notes. If you have questions for me, visit audiobrandingpodcast.com , where you’ll find a lot of ways to get in touch. Plus, subscribing to the newsletter will let you know when the new podcasts are available, along with other…

People in this episode

Host: Jodi Krangle

Guest: Kenneth Johnson

Topics covered

• sound design
• sonic storytelling
• diversity in film
• Hollywood post-production
• audio branding

Keywords

• sound design
• sonic storytelling
• diversity
• Hollywood
• audio branding
• Emmy nominations
• MPSE Golden Reel Awards

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Netflix, MPSE

Books & works: Forever, Lil Kev

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