Today we’d like to introduce you to Matt Baum.
Hi Matt, 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?
I was born and raised in Dyersville, Iowa – the town where the Field of Dreams was made. My childhood home is 5 minutes away from the field. I never even considered film as a career option when I was growing up. I took a Film History course at Kirkwood Community College thinking it would be an easy A, and fell in love with film all thanks to a film professor named Bobby Klopp. I then went on to the University of Iowa and studied Creative Writing and Film Studies.
Not knowing how to get into film as a career after my studies at formal colleges, I attended the Motion Picture Institute in Troy, Michigan. It was a year long, hands on program. Most of the students there wanted me to do sound on their thesis films because I bought sound equipment and was one of the only students interested in sound. That school helped me network and reach other local Michgian filmmakers who needed sound on their projects. It also gave me the opportunity to speak with Mark Haygen, an experienced sound mixer in the Detroit Area, who sat with me and gave me plenty of advice to start my career.
Once I had gear, and people knew I was interested in movie-making my phone started ringing. I eventually landed a job in Traverse City, Michigan where I boom-operated for a mixer named Nick Heppding out of New York. The project was The Wretched, a horror film which actually landed #1 at the box office during COVID due to it’s success at drive-ins when nobody could go into theaters. On that film, I shadowed and learned a ton from Nick, who has since had me boom operate for him on a feature in New York as well.
After a heck of a whole lot of schooling, and tremendous mentorship I really began honing my craft and working on a variety of different films and commercials. I’ve since worked on projects that have been on Netflix, Hulu, A&E, People Magazine, Investigatoin Discovery, etc. and have worked on commericials for Belle Tire, Crown Royal, Hyundai, eBay, Google, Biggby Coffee, etc. I’ve worked on films with less than 100k dollars to films with over 2 million dollars, and tons of local and non local productions companies.
I owe so many people with helping me start out that it would take up a whole nother five paragraphs. There are so many coworkers and now friends that have helped me get work. There are so many producers and production companies that have been good to me over the years – hiring me, rehiring me, knowing that my schedule can be insane, but still reaching out anyway just to see if I was available. There are so many independant filmmakers that had a vision but were working on a tight budget that trusted me to get as good of sound for them as I could. And most importantly there is my wife, my parents, and my family that have always known my love for movies, believed in my dreams to work in the movies, and have supported me throughout. I really would not be able to do what I do without any of the following.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Anyone in film will tell you that the industry can be grueling and difficult. The independant film world, especially here in Michigan, can be like the wild west in terms of wages, treatment, and consistency. You really need to fight for appropriate working conditions and pay. There are slow months. There are projects that make you wonder why you even enjoy making movies in the first place. You very quickly will realize that crew work is not as glamorous as what’s on TV and in a lot of respects it’s just like any other job. Adjusting to 12 hour days, never having a consistent sleep schedule, and missing out on certain events out of needing to take the work when it comes are all struggles that are hard to overcome still to this day. Also, not knowing exactly when your paycheck is coming in or having to wait 30 days for the money can create a juggling act in it’s own right.
I will say one thing I hear a lot in this business is people dealing with imposter syndrome. While the technicals within film, especially sound, can be objective, there is a ton of subjective aspects to it as well as we are creating art as a team. It’s easy to think I’ll never be as good as so and so or this person went to that school and worked with the biggest of the bigs, what am I doing on a set of this stature? When you’re first starting out and you’re really passionate about the work you are doing, you want everything to be perfect. Well news flash, it won’t be. I’ve had plenty of mistakes and misteps along the way, and I’m still not perfect. It can be really difficult not to bring that home with you, and beat yourself up about it especially when you really care for what you do.
Film is a collaborative affair. For example one of if not the most important part of my job as a sound mixer is to capture the dialogue as cleanly as possible. In order to get it clean, it can rely on the locations acoustics, the actors wardrobe, where the lights are placed, etc. – all other aspects of film that are other departments jobs who probably aren’t always worried about the sound department. It’s also a collaboration between employer and employee – how I expect to be treated and paid as an employee, and how the employer expects the finaly product to be. All of this requires communication, and when you are doing it for many, many different jobs each year it can be overwhelming. Now it takes skill, knowledge, talent, and some experience to really make you feel comfortable knowing you belong in the room and on the job with certain people, but as long as you do communicate well with others, prepare, bring a postive mindset, and try your best, you know at the very least you did all you could think to do in that very moment. The experiences will bring lessons and I truly hope to never stop learning until I’m no longer able. It obviously took me awhile before I had the proper skills, talent, and experience, but it also took me awhile to realize that as long as I’m doing what I can do at this very moment for each job I can’t beat myself up over it. I’ve put in the hours, I’ve studied, and I immensely and deeply care about this stuff. I belong.
In conclusion, I wouldn’t trade any of the hardships for an easier or less exciting job (money is another thing – I am no better than most men especially in this economy!). Like I said, I’m still learning lessons on how to do things one way or the other and I hope that never changes. I get to work with extremely fun, lively, and creative people and I get to watch performers interpret different characters and worlds that will hopefully live on past all of our times. While filmmaking is undoubtedly a grind, it is also extremely rewarding and when you get a great project to be a part of or you make a scene sound as perfectly crisp as can be, there really is no better feeling.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I specialize in Location Sound Mixing and Boom Operating for films and commercials. I would say at this point in my career I am very specialized in Boom Operating specifically as there’s only so much mixing you can do as a one-man band. I’m responsible for all of the audio that is recorded on set while the movie is being made. Mostly trying to capture the performances as cleanly as possible. I use a boom microphone that is attached to my boom pole and I use wireless microphones that are attached directly to the talent. There are other tricks to the trade as well, and I could get way more in depth, but mostly I try to eliminate any sort of outside noise that can corrupt the audio – even things we don’t think of making loud sounds like our heat in our homes or our fridges – and I try to record the talent and performances in conjuction with all the other departments on a film set.
I’m just known to be a solid audio recordist that loves movies. I think what sets me apart is how much I care and my attitude on set. As I said earlier, you’re spending 12 hour days with people on projects they are spending a lot of money on and that they can be intensely passionate about. Them not only knowing that you care about the quality of their project and knowing that I am going to be a decent hang to boot sets me apart.
I’m proud of a lot of things to be honest. I’m proud I’ve been doing this for 9 years and I started a business from scratch in a hard industry. I’m proud of the little creative things I am still able to create and direct like music videos or short films with friends since that is why I got into film in the first place. I’m proud of making friends in this industry who have gone on to make their own features – those are always the most fun for me and remind me of my film school days and filming for the passion of it, only this time I’m being paid to do it. I think if I have to pick one project I’m most proud of, right now I would say it’s a film titled “On The End’ which isn’t out yet. I got to film it in Montauk and New York City with a friend I didn’t know I’d ever work with again. Just the thought that I was once a clueless kid from a small town in Iowa to now being in the big apple working on a million dollar movie with actors I’ve seen in some of my favorite movies makes me very proud of how far I’ve come.
So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
They can reach out to me at my email [email protected] or follow me on Instagram @mjbaum7 and reach out to me there. If you are in the market for needing a sound person for your film, commerical, branding, etc. let me know and I’m always willing to talk business. I know a ton of professionals within the area so even if you are looking to produce something I can point you in the right direction.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mjbaum7/?hl=en
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@matthewbaum7113
