Today we’d like to introduce you to Amanda P.H. Bennett.
Hi Amanda P.H., so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
It’s funny how deciding to get on a random bus touring a college campus can lead you to an unexpected, new career path. From that tour, I was introduced to the Sound Design program at Savannah College of Art and Design and began studying the field in 2014. I have always been involved with music for the majority of my life – from piano lessons as a kid to high school marching band. Sound Design, however, was a completely new field for me. It was a true leap of faith to pursue both sound design and music, but I felt deeply that if I didn’t go forward with it, I would only be regretful. Turns out that through it, I’ve been able to meet and work alongside the best artists, filmmakers, and composers that led not only to continued collaborations in the future but enduring friendships as well.
I came out to Los Angeles in 2017 immediately reaching out to the handful of friends that I knew out here, getting to know the locals through their mutual contacts, and from there met incredibly passionate and open independent filmmakers and freelance composers – such as Christy Carew, Nikhil Koparkar, Michael Faner, and Catherine Joy – eager to create and get started on their next project. The majority of the work that I have been involved with to this day has been through the same network of people that I was so thankful to meet during that first year. Today, I continue to collaborate with artists – like local composer Salil Bhayani through cAMP Studio,The Lagralane Group with their short film “LIFELINE”, and storyboard artist George Bennett, who is also my husband, on animatics for proof of concepts – that I am continually inspired by, making me realize that the connections and experiences that I’ve made along this wild journey have made it more wonderful and all the worthwhile.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Though I have had incredible experiences and have met amazing people, the city and industry have a nice way of leaving you in the dust among the charmed and disillusioned. I’ve had my share of job losses and project cancellations that could have easily caused me to throw the towel in. This doesn’t include the personal doubt in my own abilities when I don’t have a clue as tohow to execute an idea (if I had a coherent idea) or whenever my colleagues would be casually talking about different mixing or editing techniques thatall completely going over my head. (Talk about “fake it ‘till you make it”!)
However, this not only fueled my determination to understand and grow in my craft but taught me an essential thing that self-promoting, grind culture refuses to fully acknowledge: humility. It has kept me grounded in my own expectations of what I can accomplish realistically. It has also taught me how to communicate with and learn from other sound folks, slowly but surely dismantling the competition and constant comparisons between mine and other’s work. I by no means have mastered this humility and have definitely messed up in the past, but I am working so that I can help cultivate a work environment that I want to be a part of, one with less toxicity and more creativity.
Many of those in my film-making network have demonstrated such grace and genuine enthusiasm for their work amidst hardships, and I am continually learning from them, as they are also learning from me and my side of the work. It’s groups like these that I want to continue to work alongside and bring forth stories that are begging to be told.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Sound Design involves the arrangement of sound within a piece to serve its story and theme, the creation of new sounds for things that have long gone or have yet to be, or anything involving the soundscape of a project that usually doesn’t involve music. This can include creating sounds of magical spells for a new video game, editing background sound effects to put the viewer in the space of a suburban neighborhood for a short film, and so much more.
My favorite aspect of post-production sound is capitalizing on those everyday elements we deem insignificant – the rush of traffic, the brush of foliage, the song of a sparrow, etc. – and using them to emphasize on story moments within a film to bring suspense or to release tension. Even within my musical work, I want to bring forth a tenderness that many repress within themselves. Our society promotes the need to have a tough exterior, to be on top of your game, and to think that showing emotion is weak. However, I believe these notions to be severely overrated. I want to encourage softness and gentleness. When tough walls are brought down, compassion, understanding, and love for others begin to blossom, and from that, true life can be felt. I want to inspire this sort of experience in my work that brings others outside of themselves and into their true home.
What was your favorite childhood memory?
I have always been a coastal girl, needing to live near a large body of water. This is most likely attributed to my experience growing up in South Carolina’s low country where the warmth of the East Coast drips from its humidity, marshlands abound, and summer thunderstorms were my nightly lullaby. Even living more inland, I grew up next to a large pond that my friends and I would go fishing in with the grasshoppers we caught from the field next to it. Nothing has sunk quite as deep and continues to live in my day-to-day experience as our family beach trips to Edisto Island. From fishing boat trips into the sunrise, morning runs on the sand, jumping the waves in high tide, and munching on fresh peaches while fighting mosquitoes on the wooden porch in the sultry evening time, its unpretentious and genuine nature left a true mark in my life. Funny enough, this tactile experience even permeates my work today as I seek out interesting, natural textures and subtle yet poignant rhythms within sound to bring a project to life.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.amandaphbennett.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amandaphbennett/
