The very first thing that supervising sound editor/re-recording mixer Lee Salevan designed for Michael Sarnoski’s “A Quiet Place: Day One” was the opening title card high above the New York City skyline informing us that 90 decibels are the equivalent of “the sound of a constant scream.” That became the baseline for the chaotic sounds that accompany the alien invasion of Manhattan in this prequel to John Krasinski’s blockbuster horror franchise. Sarnoski’s (“Pig”) conceit was simple: Sam ( Lupita Nyong’o ) is determined to grab the last slice of pizza in the city, joined by her adorable cat and Eric (Joseph Quinn), a shell-shocked law student from Kent.
“I absolutely adore the city,” Salevan, who lives in Brooklyn, told IndieWire. “And so it was super fun to destroy it at the same time we’re trying to make a love letter. And there are a lot of times that we were able to use sound design to push the emotional moments, the scary moments, to just go with this world.
” For Salevan, it was an opportunity to do more than just go out on the streets and record some of his favorite loud sounds in Chinatown, where the meteors crash and the alien attacks begin at the speed of sound. As everything suddenly goes silent around the disoriented Sam, everyday sounds like dripping water and creaking chainlink fences are suddenly amplified. “Michael and I had a very fun time with the idea of brick dust, as we called it,” added Salevan.
“Which is any time there.
