Meet Ailin Gong | Sound Editor&Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ailin Gong and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ailin, we’d love for you to start things off by telling us something about your industry that we and others not in the industry might be unaware of?
I work as a sound editor/sound designer for motion pictures, in other words, re-creating “sound” for films and multimedia. Not many understand that ninety percent of what they hear in the cinema was manually created in the post. Not only do the spaceship or laser guns in the sci-fi movies need to be sound-designed, but all the city backgrounds, weather, traffic, group voices, etc. This rule even fits documentaries. For example, “Plague at The Golden Gate”: a recent episode from PBS “American Experience” TV series documentaries. To make the documentary “back in time” and sound authentic, I re-created a lot of “sound” to help the storytelling. For example, the vintage sound of steam trains clanging along the railroad, honking their horn, or the sound image of Chinese labor banging their hammers while chatting in Cantonese, etc. Video editors edit the images to make the story, and we edit the sound to bring the story to life.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
As a sound editor, I not only design sound for films but also animation and video games. Working on projects of different styles brings me more fun. For example, in drama films, my sound design can contribute to story-telling and emotion expressing, like in “Dickinson Season 3”: the crazy battlefields, the “time-travel” sequence, and the imaginary trip to hell. It was my job to create an immersive experience for the audience. On the other hand, I need to design unique sound elements from scratch if I work on a sci-fi story. For example, creating sound for high-tech robots or futuristic transportation, like what I did for “Oblivio” and “Mechamorphosis” I am a big fan of technology, so nothing can be more exciting when those imaginary things come to the screen with their unique sounding. Besides my set of skills in the sound area, my music background always takes credit when we come to the final mixing. Though I no longer work as a musician, my over twenty years of music training gives me a great sense of hearing, which always allows me to make the best judgment of how to shape the sound to great quality and be alive in space. When the composer brings his work to the stage, I can also use my music knowledge to be the bridge between the composer and director.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Museums can’t be missed. Either Met or MOMA is a good place to visit. And we need to watch the Broadway shows. after all, this is New York! “Hamilton” or “Phantom of the Opera” would be good choices. If my friend like Chinese food, we can take a walk in Chinatown. No one can be more professional about Chinese food than I am.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I am a lucky person who has received much guidance on my way up in this industry, so there are many people I want to shout out to. Of course, Jeffrey, my mentor back in school, is on the top of the list. He was the one who led me into the sound world of films. With his unsparingly teaching and encouragement, I found my love for this industry and became who I am today.

Website: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm8988565/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sound_mushroom/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ailin-g-16b160158/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/irene.gong.39

Image Credits
Photo by: Chao Chen