{"id":19218,"date":"2025-09-16T05:12:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T05:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/19218\/"},"modified":"2025-09-16T05:12:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T05:12:09","slug":"crafting-the-unique-sound-with-billie-eilish-tuning-forks-and-pillows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/19218\/","title":{"rendered":"Crafting the Unique Sound with Billie Eilish, Tuning Forks, and Pillows"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s safe to say that KPop Demon Hunters<\/a> took the world by storm after its August 23 release; it became Netflix\u2019s most-watched movie ever, immediately spawned talks of a sequel, and found its way from the streamer to movie theaters for special sing-along screenings. All that thanks to the movie\u2019s infectious blend of humor, music, and a grippingly emotional story.<\/p>\n

Because of that blend, the filmmakers behind the critically acclaimed KPop Demon Hunters<\/a> had quite a challenge ahead of them. Not just first-time director Maggie Kang and co-director Chris Appelhans, either; creatives like sound designer, supervising sound editor, and re-recording mixer Michael Babcock found ways to combine K-pop music techniques with the necessities of action movie filmmaking.<\/p>\n

ScreenRant interviewed Michael Babcock about his work on KPop Demon Hunters. Babcock discussed some of the biggest challenges he faced in crafting the sound of the movie\u2019s world, and revealed how some of the movie\u2019s standout moments were created. Plus, he revealed how he took cues from the movie\u2019s chart-topping music<\/a> in how he approached his craft.<\/p>\n

KPop Demon Hunters Is Musical, Even When It\u2019s Not<\/p>\n

\"HUNTR\/X<\/p>\n

HUNTR\/X KPop Demon Hunters Record<\/p>\n

Michael Babcock is not only a sound designer, editor, and mixer whose credits include Inception, Dune: Part Two, and Doctor Sleep; he\u2019s also a musician. That skillset was helpful on KPop Demon Hunters, a project he described as \u201cone of the most creative challenges I\u2019ve been a part of.\u201d<\/p>\n

The reason for that, Babcock said, was that \u201cevery aspect of the sound is handshaking with each other.\u201d The need for a cohesive sound inspired Babcock to turn to K-pop itself for cues on techniques. \u201cK-pop music in general is very highly polished,\u201d he said, \u201c[with] a lot of wonderful engineering. There\u2019s a lot of attention to detail.\u201d<\/p>\n

From that, Babcock chose to use \u201csome of the same thought concepts and some of the same tools you\u2019d use to make a K-pop song\u201d for the movie\u2019s sound. That included using genre-standard reverbs and delays, and working with the music team to see how they were shaping the sounds of the movie\u2019s infectious songs.<\/p>\n

How Billie Eilish Helped Create The Voice Of Demons<\/p>\n

\"One<\/p>\n

One of the performers of Saja Boys in Kpop Demon Hunters<\/p>\n

KPop Demon Hunters also steps beyond the mortal realm, and Babcock had to come up with the sound of the movie\u2019s demons, led by the malevolent Gwi-Ma. That\u2019s where Billie Eilish, and other artists, came in. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe first thing [the directors and I] talked about, creatively, was the processing of the voices,\u201d Babcock said. \u201cThey gave me a playlist of a bunch of different pieces of music with vocal processing that they liked.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t just K-pop music that they sent me,\u201d he continued, \u201cit was Billie Eilish [and] Imogen Heap, and a bunch of artists that are pretty obscure, but would have an interesting vocal performance that [would] be manipulated later, like stutter [manipulation] or a really weird computer-generated harmony delay.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, [the demon sound] was a little bit of pitching and a little bit of chorus\/harmonization with a tremolo-type stutter to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The demon voice had to work for Gwi-Ma, Rumi in her demon moments, and garden variety monsters alike, but it also had to work with, and occasionally within, the movie\u2019s songs. \u201c[The demon voice] sounds musical, but it\u2019s also not music, which is what it had to be,\u201d Babcock said.<\/p>\n

Demon Death By Tuning Fork<\/p>\n

\"Rumi<\/p>\n

Rumi & Jin fighting in KPop Demon Hunters<\/p>\n

There\u2019s quite a bit of action in KPop Demon Hunters, with HUNTR\/X members Rumi, Mira, and Zoey wielding specialty weapons that help them get the better of their enemies. Those scenes gave Michael Babcock another opportunity to design sounds that fit seamlessly into a musical world. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I tried to do on this was use certain music tools and stay in a music theme in an organic way,\u201d he said, \u201cand probably the most obvious thing you can hear [that] in is the girls\u2019 swords. They wanted the swords to be slightly magical, but also, they look like swords.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere also has to be a musical genesis to it,\u201d Babcock added, specifically citing the fact that the swords are used even during musical numbers. \u201cSo, what I did with that is, I went on Amazon and I bought a bunch of tuning forks,\u201d Babcock revealed, \u201cand recorded them at high bit rates and manipulated them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has this resonance like a sword would, and you can move it and manipulate it like a sword, but it\u2019s derived from a musical thing, and that got pitched to the music.\u201d What that means, Babcock elaborated, is that \u201cwhenever it\u2019s against music, it\u2019s matching the pitches of the music, or works with either the score or the song.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Secrets Of Derpy Tiger<\/p>\n

\"the<\/p>\n

the derpy tiger with a letter on his tongue, which is hanging out of his mouth, in KPop Demon Hunters<\/p>\n

Babcock revealed that a surprisingly difficult scene in KPop Demon Hunters was the one in which a mysterious tiger delivers Rumi a message from the demon Jinu. The scene transitions from creepy to cutesy in moments, with plenty of help from the sound design. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s more of a challenge to make something cute than it is scary,\u201d Babcock reflected, \u201cand the tone of this entire movie is warm [and], in place, cute. That scene is a real contrast and was a real challenge \u2026 Every little sound you hear in there is intentional.\u201d <\/p>\n

The creaking of the floor under the tiger\u2019s paws made its arrival surprisingly tense given its friendly features, but the sounds of the creature itself were much more in line with its appearance. \u201cEvery single footstep of that cat, every single movement, is actually a pillow poof,\u201d Babcock revealed. <\/p>\n

\u201c[It\u2019s] the sound of a pillow either being hit or being slammed on the ground,\u201d the sound designer continued, \u201cit has this softer [sound], and you can manipulate it to make it sound really big and deep.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMaking it cute but somehow heavy and somehow slightly threatening at the beginning\u2026 that was a huge challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n

KPop Demon Hunters is out on Netflix.<\/p>\n

\"01893263_poster_w780-1.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Release Date<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJune 20, 2025<\/p>\n

Runtime<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t96 minutes<\/p>\n

Director<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tChris Appelhans, Maggie Kang<\/p>\n

\"Headshot<\/p>\n

\"Headshot<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Netflix<\/p>\n

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