The Sound Design Of ‘Stranger Things’

stranger-things-soundtrackThe latest episode of the Soundworks Collection Interview Series is a discussion with the sound team behind Netflix’s retro sci fi series Stranger Things.

The show is set in 1983 in the small town of Hawkins, Indiana, and explores the disappearance of 12-year-old Will Byers, the appearance of a mysterious girl with unusual powers and a government agency that connects them.

Host Michael Coleman talks with re-recording mixer Adam Jenkins, re-recording mixer Joe Barnett, Sound Designer Craig Henighan and Supervising Sound Editor Brad North.

You can listen to the interview via the embed below:

23 thoughts on “The Sound Design Of ‘Stranger Things’

  1. Is Netflix paying Synthtopia to promote this show or what? This is the third story about this obscure show in the past couple weeks.

    1. I doubt it. The show has a great soundtrack – synth inspired and at least there have been less posts about this than the DeepMind12. One always has the option not to read the article…or my reply. I don’t think the amount nor quality of the site has suffered as a result of these articles.

    2. Obscure? It’s a hit show set in the early ’80s with a synth-driven soundtrack reminiscent of Tangerine Dream, John Carpenter, etc. Why *wouldn’t* Synthtopia be talking about this?

    3. SCOAMF

      There is no ‘paid post’ option on Synthtopia, unlike many of the popular electronic music gear news sites. We make decisions about what to cover based on what we think is newsworthy, what we know visitors are interested in, and the articles that visitors actually read on the site.

      While ‘Stranger Things’ may be obscure to you, there’s huge interest in both it and its synth-heavy soundtrack:

      Search interest in it has spiked, for example:

      https://www.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%203-m&q=Stranger%20Things,Star%20Wars

      And the synth soundtrack is currently the #1 album on iTunes:

      http://www.apple.com/itunes/charts/

      If you’re not interested in a particular post on the site, rather than complaining or making false accusations, consider suggesting an item that you’d like to see covered. There’s a Feedback link provided at the top of every page of the Synthtopia site, to make this easy.

      1. Yeah well who paid you to make THAT post, huh?!? And what about mine, who’s paying me for THIS one??!?!?

        Anyway my rampant ADHD means I’ll probably never get thru a full ep but more synthwave == better than, so God bless ’em.

    4. Definitely not obscure. The frequency it shows up on this site is minimal compared to how much people are talking about it everywhere. I can’t open up a single social media feed on any given day without seeing several mentions of it.

      And, it’s a great show with some of the best synth music on the soundtrack since the days of Tangerine Dream and early John Carpenter movies.

  2. LOVE Synthtopia and love Stranger Things, but wow its always baffling to me the overwhelming negative comments that appear again and again on this site. People really go out of there way to say something mean…..

  3. I’d say a new show that is only view able by Netflix subscribers(not everyone has Netflix) and has never been aired on regular TV or basic cable, is at least semi-obscure.

    1. Sorry if you can’t afford Netflix, dude, but it’s already got a bigger audience than the traditional big three stations. Do you think ABC, CBS & NBC are ‘semi-obscure’, too?

  4. Thank you Synthhead for responding. People dont understand that if you dont like something, go away. If you like something, check it out. 99% of people dont care what you think about something especially if 99% of people like it.

  5. I am really glad that synthtopia is covering this. I watched an episode of this show with some hesitation but was instantly drawn in by the music…so much so that I binge watched the whole season…… and I want more music from these guys. It feels like listening to a lost but beloved album from the past that is inspired by the “greats” without being derivative. very refreshing!

    As synthtopia is my homepage in my browser, I would have been disappointed if this did not have a mention

  6. Well im going to be self promoting here, thanks to Stranger Things opening the doors a bit more for us “synthwave” producers.

    Upcoming release on Future Retro Records:

    “Street beats for the Apocalypse” by SYNTHICIDE.

    If you dig Carpenter, Moroder, and 80s soundtracks in general, i cant see why you wont dig this release.

    More shameless self promo to come…

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