The Sound of Ad Astra - Oscar Podcast 2020

In this episode, 7 time Academy Award-winner Gary Rydstrom delves into using sound to create an increasingly unsettling journey for the audience through the use of subliminal ambiences, manipulated vocal loops, and strategically used distortion. We also deconstruct the film’s signature lunar rover chase sequence and discuss the film’s rules of sound, an important topic to director James Gray.

As a series of immense energy surges sweep the entire solar system and the unprotected Earth, the U.S. Space Command suspects that the reasons behind the space anomaly may be the ambitious Lima Project and the renowned long-lost astronaut, Clifford McBride. Now, Clifford’s composed son and impeccable astronaut, Major Roy McBride, has to travel to the edge of the cosmos on a manned mission to the cold blue planet, Neptune, to see firsthand whether his father is still alive, and, hopefully, locate the source of a problem that threatens the stability of our vast galaxy. The answers we seek lie 4.3 billion kilometres away; however, in the unending emptiness of space, is Roy prepared to answer the ultimate question? Is anybody out there?