South African sound engineer and owner of Sound Surf Audio Post Production Jim
Petrak recently won the African Movie Academy Award (AMMA) for Best Achievement in
Sound for the film Shirley Adams.
“I was thrilled to receive the AMMA Award and was extremely happy to win in this
category. It means a lot to me to gain this type of recognition for my work,’ says the
SAFTA-nominated Petrak, who has worked on a variety of local and international
features including Stander, Hotel Rwanda, Catch a Fire, Tsotsi, State of Violence, How to
Steal 2 Million and Skyf.
Petrak notes that the challenge with Shirley Adams was that the soundtrack had to be
very simple and straightforward while simultaneously reflecting the emotional headspace
of the film’s title character.
“It’s a very demanding film in terms of visuals as the camera follows Shirley around all
the time – she is always in the frame,’ explains Petrak. “We had to ensure that the
soundtrack reflects her state of mind so that the audience feels her suffering. The other
challenge was that we only had four weeks in which to do the final mix and polish.’
Petrak was brought on by producer Jeremy Nathan to do the sound design and final mix
for the film. Ivan Milbrrow did the sound editing.
Asked what makes a great sound engineer Petrak responds: “The most important thing
is to achieve the right feel for the film and make it more powerful. I do not believe that
one must create sound to be cool; sound must be meaningful. The sound track should
be subliminal and most importantly evoke emotion. I like to incorporate synthetic and
organic sounds to make the sound more organic and natural.’
Sound design for a feature film takes about six weeks. Petrak stresses that producers
should look at placing 6 to 10% of their budget aside for this process.
In 2009 Petrak started his company Sound Surfers. “I am passionate to make local
sound engineering and recording on par with international standards. My objective is to
be the best there is in the industry.’
He began his career with the late, legendry local sound engineer Jeremy Saacks of Chris
Fellow Sound Studios. “Jeremy truly was my mentor. I started to work with him after
graduating with a diploma in sound recording and engineering. Jeremy taught me about
ADR recording, sound effects and sound design.’
One of the highlights of Patrak’s career was doing sound for the Coca-Cola commercial
for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. “This commercial was flighted all over the world and
accompanied the tournament. Don Searll did the 3D and it took me two months to do
the sound from scratch.’
