Christopher Woll’s Boutique Audio House Downmix Post Specializes in Boundary-Pushing Indie Films

Downmix Post founder Christopher Woll isn’t just a sound mixer for hire. He’s also a hands-on collaborator interested in helping directors achieve their unique creative visions. And he’s an all-around good hang.

“I would love to position myself as an as-set in this industry for filmmakers who just need that collaborator, need that individual, someone that they can work with — not just hire as a service,” Woll tells MovieMaker.

“When you hire Downmix, you’re hiringChris Woll,” he adds. “You’re hiring a person who’s going to be invested in your film, and not a big company where you might get lost as a small-budget, independent feature.”

You can be assured of that by hanging out and watching him work.

“I’m a hands-on kind of mixer. I love it when the director is in the room giving feedback in real time as we’re working,” he says. Clients are pleasantly surprised to find a freelance sound mixer who is eager to pro-vide a personalized, bespoke experience.

“It’s really hard to find an independent contractor who doesn’t work for a post house or a production company or a studio where it’s gonna cost $50,000 to do a little mix,” Woll said.

Woll has been a sound mixer pretty much his whole life.

“I was cleaning out our basement many years ago, and I came across cassette tapes of me as a kid recording sounds around the house on a Walkman cassette player and then, like, editing together sound effects,” he says.

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He trained in sound mixing at the now-closed Institute of Audio Research in New York, and also spent 10 years as an adjunct professor at the City College of New York’s Sonic Arts Center. In 2017, he started Downmix Post, which specializes in feature-length content by unique filmmakers.

Downmix Post Founder Christopher Woll Loves Independent Filmmakers

“I’ve always been interested in independent filmmaking — the types of films and documentaries that really aren’t afraid to do their own thing or speak about topics and issues that might not otherwise be funded by mainstream funding sources, and work with people that really have a story to tell,” he says.

He wants sound to help tell those stories.

“I really want to push the boundaries of what can be told through sound, and I feel like the place to experiment with that is with the filmmakers who are willing to push boundaries.”

One of the latest films Woll did sound design for is Craig Ouellette’s Straight On Till Morning. Premiering at Dances With Films on Saturday in Los Angeles, it follows Dani and Kaitlin, two dreamers falling for each other on a romantic road-trip. The future is theirs — until they cross paths with a pious couple who have something much, much darker in mind.

Woll has sound mixing studios both in New York and Los Angeles, where he presently resides.

“My current passion really came out of composing for film, working with directors, and realizing that I just love the collaboration between a producer and a director and the sound department. Wanting to be apart of that more led to doing the mixing, because that’s the last step that happens on many films, the sound mix.”

His favorite part of the filmmaking process is seeing the relief on the director’s face when it’s all finished.

“It’s this huge celebratory moment when you get the final locked sound and the color corrected picture comes in from the color house and we bring this thing together,” he says.

His overall goal is to understand each director’s unique vision so well that when he does his sound mixing, “it’s exactly what they would envision for themselves — or hopefully, better.

You can contact Downmix Post at 347.766.4414 or downmixpost.com.

Main Image: Christopher Woll, courtesy of Downmix Post.