Johnnie Burn

Johnnie Burn is an Oscar-winning film sound designer, supervising sound editor and re-recording mixer. He works with directors, ideally from script to final mix, developing sound as part of how a film tells its story. Johnnie has a dedicated workspace in London, Los Angeles and New York.

His influences include Hitchcock, Bergman and Walter Murch, particularly their use of sound to carry something the image cannot: a character’s perception, an unseen world, or a feeling that arrives before its explanation.

His film work includes longstanding collaborations with Jonathan Glazer and Yorgos Lanthimos. Recent projects include Daniel Roher’s Tuner, Danny Boyle’s INK and Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s Digger. For The Zone of Interest, he and production sound mixer Tarn Willers received the Academy Award and BAFTA for Best Sound. Other recognition includes the Cannes Vulcan Award, the Georges Delerue Music and Sound Award and European Sound Designer of the Year.

His work combines field recording, sound editorial and mixing. Most of his core team have worked with him for over a decade. The approach changes with each film, but the starting question remains simple: what can sound tell us?

Johnnie began with an apprenticeship in sound and spent his first decade in advertising, co-founding Wave Studios in 1999. His first film project was WIZ’s cult short Weekender. He also gives talks and masterclasses and is an ambassador for the Film and TV Charity.

Listen to a recent interview with Mastermind magazine’s Masterpieces podcast.