Posted in: Hulu, TV | Tagged: hulu, Only Murders in the Building

Only Murders in the Building Sound Editors on Whistles, Story & More

Only Murders in the Building sound editors Mathew Waters & Danika Benton Wikke spoke with Bleeding Cool about each season's creative process.

Each season of Hulu's Only Murders in the Building always becomes an adventure not only on the screen, but also behind the scenes, since supervising sound editors Mathew Waters and Danika Benton Wikke won't always receive the full content of the season as they work on the ready episodes. Naturally, as professionals with over five decades of combined experience, the two work with what they've got for the Steve Martin and Jeff Hoffman murder-mystery comedy series. As they're working on the fifth season of the critically-acclaimed series starring Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez as kindred spirits, true crime podcast hosts, and investigators, who live in the same New York City apartment complex, The Arconia, Waters and Wikke spoke to Bleeding Cool about how the premiere episode "True Crime" became their most difficult stemming from a certain whistle from a Western classic, dealing with the chaos from any series turnover, memorable moments, and how Only Murders narrative differs from other shows of its kind.

Only Murders in the Building: Supervising Sound Editors on Navigating Through Series Chaos and Comedy, and Memorable Moments

Bleeding Cool: Was there a particular sequence that was like the most difficult to scrounge together?

Waters: Yes, from the get-go, I'll be honest with you…episode one ('True Crime') from script, picture editing to final mixing, trying to figure out Steve, his whistle [Wikke laughs], and his hearing the whistle from the tea kettle to the window. That's a whistle he hears in 'How the West Was Won' (1962), and it's also a whistle that is going to bring us to the answer to who killed whom. All this when episodes nine and 10 weren't even written yet, so we don't know where it's going. That was an odd amount of huge struggle, not to mention the whistle comes from the tea kettle, then he hears it off the window.

Wikke: It's a window, and then that girl blows it on the bottle.

Waters: Oh my god! I loved that one.

Wikke: Yeah, but then it's like trying to make it correlate to the others, even though they're all different whistles in theory, but they're the same.

Waters: Yeah, no, Danika is correct, Tom [Wikke laughs]. The one thing we always say when we work with new people on the show who come in and haven't worked on previous seasons is that they're always amazed at how much work goes into this show. This is a prime example of that. It wasn't easy.

Wikke: Yeah, we always need more time [Both laugh].

As you work on each season, did it ever become an easier process to streamline, or was it always similar chaos?

Waters: I'll say for sure, "No" is the answer to that because, unlike let's say, you're doing a 'Law & Order' or something like that, that is the same most every year as far as where you are and what you're going. I'm always amazed every year, even like we're doing season five right now. I'm like, "We're in a totally different space now." Yes, they'll be in The Arconia, but there's all, and they always have a thing. I remember…What was it, Danika? Season three that had the parrot or season two?

Wikke: Yeah, the parrot is the thing, and then the tunnels, I found interesting (in season two).

Waters: Yeah, that season they had the tunnel.

Wikke: That was a whole new sound, and you wanted to know, then you would go through the tunnels, and hear other rooms while they're going through the tunnels, and voices. That was fun.

Waters: We can't tell you what season five's specialty is, but there is. So, "No "is the answer. Danika, would you agree with that?

Wikke: No, other than I would say the only thing that has been a little like, "Here we go again" is that the mixers have always changed. I feel like, to a degree, this is the first season where everyone is returning, right?

Waters: Not the editorial.

Wikke: Not the editorial, you're right, so just the mixers. Mat always was like, "Here we go. I'm having to guide them again to what we need this to be." [Waters laughs] Yeah, for the most part, "Yes and no." The job isn't different. It's just new people.

To build on top of that, does working on a show like this force you to rewire your brain in the sense of how it changes how you think of narratives, callbacks, and being extra aware of storytelling conventions?

Waters: I would say, because it's a comedy and so story-based, we…I probably did this on 'King of the Hill', and I've brought it to 'Only Murders in the Building' is we don't have a lot of continuation of things. We don't get in the way of the dialogue, like if a car blows up, which it doesn't in 'Only Murders', but let's say it did, we don't continue it. We go back to the comedy, we're like "Oh, the car blew up, and now we're back to comedy." Whereas on some films, you keep that. You know you can keep it real, but we want to clear the dialogue. That's our biggest thing, and making sure every joke is heard in the way it should be, probably more so than other things that I've worked on.

Mat, Danika, thank you for your time. I adore the show so much. It has so many quirks and personalities from the top down. I love and appreciate it.

Waters: Who's your favorite character, Tom?

It's a mix between Oliver (Short) and Charles (Martin), but Mabel (Gomez) has grown on me a lot more in recent seasons, too.

Waters: Yes.

Yeah, and then there's also the one…

Waters: You mean Howard (Michael Cyril Creighton)?

Wikke: I was going to say Howard.

No, it was. Nathan Lane's character, Teddy.

Waters: He was great. Well, he went to jail, not Nathan Lane with his character.

I appreciated the range he's able to show, which I haven't seen in his other roles.

Waters: Yeah, cool. That's great.

Wikke: Yeah, he has good range, yeah.

With season five slated for release in 2025, all four seasons of Only Murders in the Building are available on Hulu.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!