Frank Serafine

Frank Serafine (c. 1953 – September 12, 2018) was an American motion picture sound designer, sound editor, and composer. He was best known for his work as a sound editor and sound designer on films including the Star Trek and Tron series, Addams Family, The Fog, Poltergeist II: The Other Side, Robot Jox, Ice Pirates, Hoodwinked 2, Orgazmo, The Lawnmower Man, Virtuosity, and Field of Dreams. He won an Emmy Award for Sound Design on The Day After (1983) and an Academy Award for Best Sound for The Hunt for Red October (1990).

Frank Serafine
Bornc. 1953
Died (aged 65)
Palmdale, California, U.S.
Occupation(s)Composer, sound designer, sound editor
Years active1975–2018

Early career

After performing live with progressive rock guitarist Robben Ford and producing laser light shows at the Fiske Planetarium in Boulder, Colorado, Serafine was selected by Disneyland to compose and produce live grand opening summer shows at the Space Mountain Pavilion which brought him to Southern California. Shortly after that he created several records and toured live throughout Europe and the US with avant-garde jazz great Don Cherry.

Serafine produced music with his friend and music teacher Ravi Shankar along with George Harrison on Tana Mana. He produced the remixed Peter Gabriel "Kiss that Frog” travelling Pepsi ride film with William Orbit, which won the MTV Award in 1993.[1] In the same year Serafine worked on sound design live on stage with Gabriel's Secret World Concert Tour for the shows in California (Oakland, Los Angeles, and San Diego) and Phoenix, Arizona.

Sound Designer

Beginning his film career in the 1970s, Serafine worked on engineering sound effects on Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, and both Tron films (Tron and Tron: Legacy).[2]

Serafine made hundreds of commercials and TV episodes including Baywatch, VR.5, Thunder in Paradise, 13 years of Chrysler, CBS and FOX IDs, Eveready Bunny series, Nintendo, National Geographic ID, Mercedes, Maserati, California Lottery, Seaworld, and Disneyland's California Adventure Park,

He supervised the audio production, acoustic design and construction installations for several ride films and interactive themed attractions with Six Flags, Busch Gardens, Ford Museum, Disney, Epcot Center, Iwerks, Universal, and Sony.

Serafine's game credits include TRON, Grand Theft Auto, Pocahontas, Wing Commander, Interstate '76, and The Suffering. The Serafine Collection consists of volumes of top-selling sound effects libraries featured by filmmakers and editors throughout the world for their unique, hard to find, high-resolution audio quality and 5.1 surround. (serafinecollective.com). Frank was commissioned to produce two CDs (Emotional Response and Ice Sculptures) for the European music library-licensing group Media Music. After great success he was then commissioned by the biggest US Music Library Giant APM Music to custom compose 2 CDs titled “The Serafine Experience” that are now heard on over a 100 global broadcasts including the Clint Eastwood, Brad Pitt and Jane Fonda documentaries, as well as To Catch a Predator, MSNBC, Dateline, and Animal Planet.

He composed music and supervised the sound editing and design for the documentary on the life story of Paramahansa Yogananda film Awake then went on produce, design and construct the interactive museum exhibit installation for Disney/Marvel's Avengers S.T.A.T.I.O.N. currently featured at the historic Discovery New York Times Square building.

Serafine was a major part of several advanced hardware and software innovations in the film sound industry including the first to implement Apple Computers and Avid/Digidesign Pro Tools on a major feature film.

Sound Advice Tour

In April 2015, Serafine went on an educational tour to 33 cities through MZed called Sound Advice. On tour, he taught filmmakers about his award-winning secrets for sound recording, editing, effects, mixing, design, and inspiration. Product sponsors for the Frank Serafine MZed Sound Advice 33 City US and Canadian tour include: Rode, Izotope, Sony, Universal Studios, Sandisk, Shutterstock, Auro, Adobe, Figure 53, Zoom, DPA, ESI, Roland, Triad-Orbit, Anvil Cases, Wirecast, Samson, Mytek, Presonus, Angelbird, Zynaptic, TriCaster, Manfrotto, Countryman, Aja and many more. Introduction of workshop by Director Brett Leanord.

Death

Serafine was struck by a car on September 12, 2018, in Palmdale, California, as he was crossing Palmdale Boulevard between 12th and 15th streets East.[3][4] He died from his injuries at the scene.[5] Deputies at the scene said the driver stopped at the scene.

Accolades

Serafine won an Oscar in 1990 for his work on The Hunt for Red October.[2] He won a Primetime Emmy Award in Outstanding Sound Editing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Special for his work on 1984's The Day After.[6]

References
  1. Johnston, Christopher R. Weingarten, Daniel Kreps, Al Shipley, Reed Fischer, Maura; Weingarten, Christopher R.; Kreps, Daniel; Shipley, Al; Fischer, Reed; Johnston, Maura (2014-08-22). "20 Best MTV VMAs Opening Performances". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2022-07-20.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. Muncy, Julie (September 15, 2018). "The Sound Engineer Behind Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Tron Has Passed Away". io9. United States: Univision Communications. Retrieved September 15, 2018.
  3. The AV Times Staff (September 12, 2018). "Man hit, killed by car in Palmdale". The Antelope Valley Times. Antelope Valley: ANG. Retrieved September 15, 2018.
  4. KCBS-TV Staff (September 16, 2018). "'Star Trek' Sound Designer Frank Serafine ID'd As Victim In Calif. Crash". KCBS-TV. Los Angeles: CBS Corporation. Retrieved September 17, 2018.
  5. Sippell, Margeaux (September 14, 2018). "Frank Serafine, 'Star Trek' and 'Tron' Sound Editor/Designer, Dies at 65". Variety. Los Angeles: Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved September 15, 2018.
  6. "Nominees/Winners". Primetime Emmy Awards. New York City: Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved September 15, 2018.
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