#108 John Roesch- Foley Artist for Skywalker Sound

Photo of John Roesh taken by Marjo Tynkkynen.

Today’s guest is John Roesch. John is a professional foley artist that has worked in the film business for over 30 years. He was an actor at Radnor High School and attended the United States International University School for Preforming Arts in San Diego for one year. During that time, he, along with 3 other peers, created a short film called " Indian Magic is What You See". This won the San Diego Film Festival in 1972, Spring-boarding from there, he attended New York University and graduated with a BFA in Film. He then applied and was accepted to the American Film Institute as a Directing Fellow . As fate would have it, a fellow filmmaker asked if he could "help" with the sound on the film she was working on and that was his first taste of foley and he never looked back from there. He is a member of Local 700 , Motion Picture Sound Editors, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He still loves his job to this day. He credits much of his success to those he has met along the way.

Shout out to the My Music Masterclass series online as well as the Akulkul Podcast with David Rivera.

As promised, here is THE LIST of movies that John and his team have provided foley on.

Educational spotlight for this week……..

New educational series called Sound Field from PBS studios that explores the DNA of different songs.

Iconic recording for this week…….

“Happy Birthday” by Stevie Wonder, from the album “Hotter Than July” (here are the other credits for the album that Marcos brings up)

Other recordings to check out written for and inspired by Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Music News for this week…..

How to break into the wedding band scene to make some serious money. Also mentioned is the company Gig Salad which can help as a classified listing for promoting your band to potential clients. Bandcamp is opening its first Brick and Mortar store in the Oakland area next month. Five ways to get better at using hashtags on Instagram to promote your business. The Entertainment Business Survival Guide Video. The Attributes You Need For A Prolonged And Successful Career In Entertainment. A GoFundMe Page for Unpaid Fyre Festival Catering Staff Raises Over $142,000. Also, Fyre Festival Cofounder Ja Rule Says He Had No Idea the Festival Was a Fraud (aka “false advertising”). Sony Music Entertainment drops R. Kelly. Despite Serious Controversy, Gladys Knight Agrees to Sing the National Anthem at Super Bowl LIII. Cardi B Slams Trump Amid Government Shutdown in Heated Expletive-Filled Rant and also clashes with conservative commentator Tomi Lahren over shutdown.

The song leading into the interview is “Birdfingers” by Larry Coryell and Eleventh House from the album “Introducing Eleventh House”

Damon mentions playing in San Fran and visting Muir Woods. John suggests taking the Open Top Bus Tour of the city.

John attended the American Film Institute.

Foley comes from Jack Foley. Jack was born in Yorkville, N.Y. in 1891, and was raised in the Seagate section of Coney Island. He went to Public School No. 158. His classmates were James Cagney, Arthur Murray, and Bert Lahr. His first job was as a general order clerk on the New York docks. During this period, Jack met Cary Grant, who was a stilt walker at Coney Island. Jack also played a lot of semi-pro baseball in the New York area, which sparked his lifelong interest in sports.

Dissatisfied with the weather, Jack moved to California. His first job was as a double and stunt man. One of his studio acquaintances introduced Jack to the rugged beauty of the California's Sierra Mountains and surrounding Owens Valley. It was to become a lifetime love affair. Jack was the developer of many sound effect techniques used in filmmaking. He is credited with developing a unique method for performing sound effects live and in synchrony with the picture during a film's post-production. Accordingly, individuals engaged in this trade are called "Foley artists".

John gives a brief description of this stages in the post production process.

He works up at Skywalker Ranch which is part of the corporate offices of Lucasfilm. One of his partners who he mentions is Shelley Roden and the mixer Scott Curtis.

A couple of the mics that they might use are the Neumann KMR 81i (shotgun mic) and the Sennheiser MKH 416.

Ben Burtt explains how he came up with the lightsaber sound for Star Wars below……

There’s also the imperial walker sound and the blaster sound.

John has won a Career Achievement award from the 60th Motion Picture Sound Editor Awards.

In addition to AFI, John attended NYU. NYU has both undergraduate and masters programs available from the Tish School of the Arts. He also mentions the program at Chapman University and USC for having good film departments.

If you are interested you can check out the Foley Artist Facebook Page.

Big shoutout to The Right Scuff Podcast, run by John’s Daughter Sarah and features John and some of his team in a few of the episodes.

You can check out John on Facebook, Instagram and IMDB.

Bonus music news, Marcos points out that Spotify will be releasing a car music player soon.