RISING TALENT 2023 - SOUND

SOUND

So impressed are we with the industry’s up-and-comers, we have decided to make our Rising Talent list an annual fixture. These are the people we think the industry needs to sit up and take notice of; the names you’ll need to know and want to work with in the years ahead. Some faces are relatively new, while others have recently moved up the chain into leadership positions where they are making change.

Thank you again to everyone who helped us put this list together, including the hundreds of submissions we received through our public call out. We know this list is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the talent in this industry, but we hope it hints towards its future.

•••

WERONIKA RAŹNA

Weronika Raźna is a Sydney-based sound editor/designer/mixer, hailing from Poland.

A graduate of sound engineering at Frederic Chopin University of Music, her focus is on sound post-production for film, audio and visual arts projects. She has a live mixing background (theatre and TV), and her interests also include field recording.

Her credits include documentaries The Final Quarter and I’m Wanita, features Square and Sweet River, and shorts Nice 14.07.16, Birdie, Sydney Film Festival winner Second Best, and The Best Fireworks Ever, which won the Canal+ Award at the Cannes Critics’ Week.

Raźna has been nominated for five Australian Screen Sound Guild (ASSG) Awards for her work across The Final Quarter and Machine in 2019, The Strange Chores and The Commons in 2020 and All Silent Dogs in 2022.

She is a member of SFP (Polish Film Association), AES (Audio Engineering Society), and the ASSG.

•••

ADAM DIXON-GALEA

Kaurna man Adam DixonGalea graduated from Flinders University with a Bachelor in Screen and Media in 2019 and quickly gained experience on a range of productions.

In 2021, the South Australian Film Corporation supported Dixon-Galea with a post-production attachment on ABC/Netflix children’s series MaveriX, working under industry leader Pete Best of Best FX.

Last year, Dixon-Galea had his first head of department role as sound designer, sound recordist and FX editor on Rolf de Heer’s latest feature film The Survival of Kindness, which made its debut at the Adelaide Film Festival. Working alongside Pete Best, Dixon-Galea also dialogue edited two feature documentaries: Madeleine Perry’s The Angel’s: Kickin’ the Door Down, chronicling the seventies Aussie rock group, and Larissa Behrendt’s You Can Go Now, tracing 50 years of First Nations activism in Australia.

•••

XOE BAIRD

Based in Perth, Xoe Baird is an accredited supervising sound editor and ADR engineer for film, TV, and interactive media.

In 2016, Baird opened her own sound post-production facility, XB Studios. She has won several awards, including the AACTA for Best Sound in a Documentary in 2022 for Facing Monsters and in 2019 for 100 Days to Victory

Baird is currently the vice president and WA representative for the Australian Screen Sound Guild (ASSG). She’s passionate about nurturing young emerging talent and an advocate for the needs and growth of the WA industry. She has been nominated for three ASSG Awards, for Facing Monsters, Carmentis, and Sol Bunker.

Baird recently sound supervised both How to Please a Woman and Where All Light Tends to Go, and was sound editor for 100% Wolf: Legend of Moonstone.

•••

MARISA MARSIONIS

Marisa Marsionis is a freelance sound editor based in Sydney, with work spanning features, TV, shorts, TVCs, podcasts, immersive installations, live radio and theatre. After graduating with a Bachelor of Music and Sound Design from UTS, she quickly gained an internship as an assistant sound editor, falling in love the screen industry.

Marsionis was then hired as a junior sound designer at Wildbear Entertainment, working on projects such as And We Danced, a documentary series on The Australian Ballet; and Jurassic World By Brickman, an immersive Lego exhibition co-produced with Universal Studios.

In 2021, she moved back to Sydney and went freelance. Her current focus is on long-form drama as a dialogue editor, with recent projects including Three Thousand Years of Longing, Wolf Like Me and Elvis.

•••

ROSE MACKENZIE-PETERSON

After graduating with a Bachelor of Sound and Music Design from UTS, Rose Mackenzie-Peterson initially went on to work as a score recordist, working on scores by composers including Dominic Lewis (Peter Rabbit) and Benjamin Wallfisch (Mortal Kombat). Recently, she has pivoted to focus more on composition for screen, studying at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, while continuing to work as a music editor, mix engineer and composer’s assistant, and picking up a few additional music and co-composer credits.

Mackenzie-Peterson has been nominated for two Australian Screen Sound Guild Awards: Best Sound in an animated short film in 2021 for Goodbye Home and Best Film Sound Recording in 2018 for Peter Rabbit.

Under her solo indie-pop project, VRDA, Mackenzie-Peterson fuses her background as a classical violinist and her love for rich synth and vocal harmonies to create a symphony of layered sounds. Her performance career began at age 14 touring NSW folk festivals, before becoming a violinist and vocalist for Lupa J. VRDA released her first EP, Honey Organza, in 2022 and signed to Peer Music Publishing in 2023.

SPONSORED BY: