Biography

Gary Rydstrom

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Gary Rydstrom, Director of Creative Operations/Sound Designer and Mixer, joined Skywalker Sound in 1983 as an operator in the machine room. Since then, he has contributed his talents to many projects as a sound designer, re-recording mixer, effects mixer and foley mixer. In 1998, Rydstrom was appointed Director of Creative Operations for Skywalker Sound, overseeing the creative and technological direction for the facility. Apart from his feature film and commercials work, Rydstrom has completed several television projects, rides and attraction films. Rydstrom holds a graduate degree from the USC School of Cinema and Television. He is the recipient of 7 Academy Awards for Best Sound and Best Sound Effects Editing for his work on Saving Private Ryan (1998), Titanic (1997), Jurassic Park (1993), and Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991).
- IMDb mini biography by: filmsound.org

As of 2017, he had involvement in eight film that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: Quiz Show (1994), Titanic (1997), Saving Private Ryan (1998), Up (2009), Toy Story 3 (2010), War Horse (2011), Lincoln (2012) and Bridge of Spies (2015). Of those, Titanic (1997) is a winner in the category.

I'll always love sound, but sound comes at the end of the process. And I went to film school, I wanted to make films, and I was yearning to get involved at the beginning of the process. Sound is great, but there's so much that happens before then. So it's really just due to having a lucky break and an opportunity that Pixar gave me at an opportune time in my life. I was very lucky.
To tell you the truth, I went into film because I liked physical comedy. That's my love. My career in sound was ironic, because I got into film because I love Chaplin and Keaton. And then I ended up doing sound for 20 years.
Sound effects editing and sound design to me is a lot like knitting. And sometimes I think that it's like quilting. Or sometimes I even think that it's like arranging knick knacks in a cabinet and you just want the knick knacks to look right, where you place them, which one looks good. All of these analogies I consider bad and not very manly, so I decided sound effects editing is actually more like flying a fighter jet. But not really. It's more like quilting.

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