We were lucky to catch up with Steve Lee recently and have shared our conversation below.

Steve , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

I feel like need to answer this from two different phases of my life… when I was just starting out in film sound – and when I started thinking about creating my current project, The Hollywood Sound Museum!

I grew up in Hollywood, specifically in the science fiction/fantasy film world. My dad was a writer and consultant on those sorts of genre films. So of course they were a huge influence on me. I used to listen to films more often than I saw them. I would record the soundtracks to those films on cassette – since this was before VCRs, DVDs, streaming, and all that. And I loved all the sound effects in those films. Science fiction movies were fun to listen to, and I became fascinated with the sound effects. “Forbidden Planet,” “War of the Worlds,” all those classics. But when “Star Wars” came out in 1977, that’s what really blew me away and made me want to start working in that business. Long story short… I spent over 30 years making sounds for films.

Just a few years ago, I was having lunch with a few of my pals from those days, working on all those films, making sound effects. We were talking about how, these days, there are a lot of newcomers in our field who seem to be more interested in the gadgets and equipment more than artistry and technique. So I decided there needed to be a place specifically dedicated to sharing the craft of film sound. The artistry of what we do. A place where students, fans, and professionals can learn more about how we make sounds for films and other media. So, that’s what has motivated me to create The Hollywood Sound Museum.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’ve spent most of my life learning about how to tell stories with sound. I’ve had the honor of working with many really great sound people, and have been lucky to contribute to a few amazing films. The Hollywood Sound Museum will be a place where I can share all that – to give back to this wonderful craft – and hopefully inspire new talent.

When I was starting out in the 70s and 80s, it was tough to find specific information about movie sound. It’s a bit easier now. It’s amazing what’s out there. But, again, a lot of it is steeped in just the technological side of things. Don’t get me wrong – of course all that is terribly important to what we do. But I want to put the emphasis back on the sounds themselves. Through our displays and programs, we’ll be encouraging more *listening.* Going out and recording new, fresh sounds from the real world. Building your sound library that you can use to help filmmakers tell their stories… and to help you tell your own stories with sound. We’re going to encourage that by having classes and workshops where we go out, capture sounds, and create narrative sonic art to tell stories. And we’ll have “audio exhibits” where people can listen to the work of some of the amazing artists in our craft.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

That lunch with my pals, 6 or 7 years ago, was when I first came up with the idea for The Hollywood Sound Museum… and it’s been a slow but steady journey. I have always been very gratified that almost everyone I’ve talked to about the project has been positive and supportive. Unfortunately, the pandemic hit right as we were gearing up to find a physical location for the Museum… but we used the time as well as possible. We’re now an official 501c3 non-profit, and we have a huge amount of content for our Patreon subscribers online – including webinars, interviews, audio clips… all sorts of good stuff.

When we were starting out, I listened to a lot of interviews and stories about Walt Disney when they were building Disneyland. Much like the Museum – but on a much much grander scale, of course – Walt was creating something that had never really been done before. The stories about how they made the Park are just fascinating. But it’s hard trying to convince some people to have faith in something where there’s really no precedent. “A sound museum? What are you talking about?” But I’ve always believed in this and have doggedly stuck with it… and now we’re looking to move into our first physical space in the next couple of months.

I think it was Art Lindquist, one of Walt Disney’s team and the President of Disneyland, who said that the best thing they had going for themselves when they were making the Park was *ignorance.* It meant that they tried things that had never been done before and they had no clue whether they’d work – but they did them because they needed to do them! I can really relate to that with what we’re doing now – making The Hollywood Sound Museum a reality.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

We still have a lot to do! As I said, we are just now gearing up to move into an actual brick-and-mortar location. Since Covid messed up our earlier plans, it’s taken a long time to recover. But thanks to our generous supporters, and our fantastic subscribers on Patreon, we’re going to make it happen very soon. And as more people hear about our plans, the support and donations keep coming. I’m so grateful for that and want to turn all that into something really great.

I was a little disappointed in a couple of industry veterans who, from time to time, would ask very pointedly on social media “Where IS the Museum?” almost to insinuate that it wasn’t really happening. I remember reading an interview with Paul McCartney about making the legendary album “Sgt. Pepper.” He said it took so long to make, that one critic published a piece saying that the Beatles had “dried up.” It really encouraged Paul to work harder and say “oh, just you wait…!” And that is how I feel right now myself!

I’m semi-retired from film sound work in order to dedicate myself to making the Museum a reality. I want to get all of the stories out of my head and put them in the Museum so they can be shared with up-and-coming soundies… and where others in the audio community can share their stories too. It’s gonna happen! And I hope I hear from anyone reading this who is interested in helping to make it happen!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.HollywoodSoundMuseum.org