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Blockbuster sounds from the barnyard

June 9, 2023

Peter Burgis is a rock star among noise makers: he scores blockbuster movies like "Harry Potter". Along with his international team, the Foley Farmers, he generates these sounds heard around the globe from his home base in a tiny Mecklenburg village.

https://p.dw.com/p/4LcHc

Burgis, a two-time Emmy winner, has worked on a truly impressive number of big films: "Quantum of Solace," "Sherlock Holmes," "Bohemian Rhapsody," and "Slumdog Millionaire," to name just a few. Whether it's the creak of a door, footsteps in a puddle, or a bullet hitting an aquarium, these ‘masters of sound‘ always find a way to create movie sound faithful to the original noise. This work requires great creativity, as well as absolute silence. That's why Peter Burgis and the team at his Foley Farmers studio have moved from noisy London to the German countryside. For Peter and his colleague Franziska Treutler, however, true silence is something that can only be found at night. During the day, concrete mixers, power saws and cordless screwdrivers make constant noise, as Peter's new studio is being built under the roof of a former sheep barn. They are also working on completing the largest "water stage" in Germany, an eight-by-five-meter water basin, that will be used for sound recordings. Thanks to the energetic help of neighbors from the village, the construction work should soon be done, and the noise makers can get back down to business.

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