Today we’d like to introduce you to Rob McIntyre.
Hi Rob, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I began looking for a career as a music teacher. I have been involved with music and dance since I was young. I was a percussionist. I went to college initially as music education major. But as I moved along I realized that although I loved teaching, I was going into the field for the wrong reasons. My mother was a speech teacher and I saw her with a regular schedule and summers off and I felt that is not fair to the children I’d be teaching.
My instructor in college said I was a strong candidate for a music performance major, so I switched. However I did not feel that looking for music gigs and playing around and traveling was for me either despite my love of playing. I took a general course called Rhetoric of Vision and Sound. I was completely taken with the idea of film sound. I added a double major and graduated with a double major in Music Performance and Communications Digital Film. While in my communications courses I sought out to study sound on my own. There wasn’t a lot of study in that specific arena when I was in school. I had to make my own path. I pitched for every job in sound on every project we filmed. I decided I would train my ear in music and learn how film worked and how to construct a story in Communications. I would learn all the software on my own.
In 2004, after graduation. I moved across the country to LA determined I wasn’t going back. I proposed to my now wife then. I told her, “I’m not going out there to fail.” She came with me and has been my rock ever since.
I got a job at a Post Sound house as an unpaid intern and worked my way up. By 2007 I was mixing and editing full time.
I finally landed a dream job doing the sound design on “Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness”, an animated show for Nickelodeon and Dreamworks. This would prove to my break through in the industry. I would go on to win an Emmy for that show in 2012 and again in 2014 and 2015. Since then I have been fortunate enough to win 11 Emmy awards including this year and also 4 Motion Picture Sound Editor Golden Reel awards and have been nominated over 30 times over the years for a variety of these awards.
Today I own my own Sound Company in Burbank. called Sound Rebels where we do sound for television and film. I started that business with my business partner D.J. Lynch in 2018.
Back in 2o16 the rigors of working in the entertainment industry was taking its toll. I was working long hours and my health was an issue. I started working on myself and decided I wanted to try my life long goal of training martial arts. I didn’t want something just physical. I needed to work on body and mind. I found an amazing school called “American School of Martial Arts” located in Burbank. Grandmaster Don Baird was so welcoming and so was the rest of the school. I began to balance my life between sound and training Kung fu and Tai Chi. MY dance background helped make it a natural transition.
The school I believe in some ways saved my life. I trained hard. As the pandemic hit, the schools numbers dropped some and Grandmaster Baird was looking to semi-retire and start a small school near his family on the east coast. He so graciously passed the school on to me. I now also own and run the school as well as Sound Rebels. I am dedicated to preserving the art I was taught and keep the school going for all those who need it like I did. I am using the money from the school to help my Grandmaster in his retirement. I don’t run the school for profit. Just for the love of everything it has brought me.
This past December Grandmaster Baird bestowed the rank of 4th degree black belt as well made me a”Master” of KungFu. I look at this as rank of service to the school. I have taken over teaching classes at the school ( I found my calling as teacher after all!)
Today I spend my days working at my sound company by day and teaching and training at the school at night. The rest of the time I spend writing music for my online church family and have recently released an EP. I love being with my children Katelyn and Eric. It has been quite a ride so far.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It has been hard work and a lot of sacrifices. I was launching my career as my kids were young. While I made it to all of the important moments of their young lives, I missed that routine schedule my parents had. I worked long into the evenings and look back on it wishing I had more time with them. However I was working to provide them a childhood and a future so in some ways that helped a little. My parents at one point filed for bankruptcy so I had to deal with all of my student loans coming due. That made it difficult to purchase a home and other things I wanted to do. But I’ve learned. There is what happens to us, and how we react to it. One does not determine the other
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Sound Rebels?
We specialize in Sound for Animation but also work in other areas. I feel that I bring a musical ear and approach to sound design. My background in percussion has provided me the understanding of how to get unique sounds out of everyday objects. Each scene to me is a piece of music to be played. Each sound enters where it needs to and they all work together like an orchestra.. I think it gives our work a flow and story narrative which makes us unique.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
My favorite childhood memory is going to see Nascar Races with my dad. He worked a lot too. So I cherished time with him. The last time I spent with him before he got sick with cancer was in Los Angeles when I had moved and he came out to go to a race with me. I try to take my son to events as well. I hope he cherishes those like I did with my dad.
Contact Info:
- Website: soundrebelspost.com, asmaburbank.com
- Instagram: mackie.makesmusic, soundrebelspost, asma_kungfu
- LinkedIn: sound-rebels-post
- Twitter: soundrebelspost
Image Credits
Melinda McIntyre – Kung fu Picture
Andi and Angela Summadsad – Midnight Symphony Picture
