Even as stories of both real-life and fictional serial killers have proliferated across the TV landscape, the Dexter franchise remains a cut above all those other self-serious interrogations of cold-blooded killers. Dexter’s brand of vigilantism has always made him one of TV’s most complex and compelling murderers, and his return to our screens via a whole host of spin-off series from creator Clyde Phillips has been a welcome sight.
Re-Recording Mixer Vinny Alfano was particularly grateful when he and his colleagues at Parabolic NY were tapped to handle the post-production audio on Dexter: Resurrection, the long-term answer to the questions posed by Dexter: New Blood and Dexter: Original Sin. With a second season on the way and Vinny’s work on S1 firmly in the Emmy conversation this awards season, Vinny sat down with HorrorBuzz to discuss how the soundscape for Resurrection came to life, capturing all the gushing blood and dreamlike conversations with the dead that make the series such a successful continuation of Dexter’s story.
Hey Vinny! How early were you brought into the process, and what were the initial conversations about how this series should feel sonically compared to previous Dexter installments?
Lewis Goldstein and I—along with our sound team at Parabolic—were lucky enough to have been asked to work on Dexter: Original Sin prior to Dexter: Resurrection. Because of that opportunity, we were able to establish a strong rapport with the Dexter team and get a feel for what they were looking for in terms of sound for the Dexter franchise and identity. That being said, we were brought on pretty early in the process, it might have even been during pre-production as we were finishing post-production on Original Sin. The goal was to make Resurrection feel fresh and new while still maintaining those dark, dramatic, and even sometimes comedic tones that we all know and love about Dexter and the history of the series.
How does sound help communicate where Dexter is emotionally at this stage of his life?
Dexter’s voice-over narration is a central part of the show. It provides direct insight into his inner life and reveals clues as to what he’s thinking about throughout the series. During the flashback sequences and the sequences where he finds himself talking to the deceased characters, we tend to either heighten or subdue sound effects depending on whether it’s an intense interaction (like where he talks to his brother in Season 1 Episode 10), or a more relaxed conversation like the ones with Harry throughout season 1 of Resurrection. We try to cater the mix to Dexter’s perspective in an attempt to immerse the audience in his head.
The series often shifts between tension, dark humor, and emotional drama. How challenging is it to balance those tones through sound design?
It’s a matter of knowing when to tap the breaks and when to put your foot on the gas. The more comedic moments tend to have a lightened design to them in terms of sound, and the heavier, darker, more emotional moments are when we go full throttle with big whooshes and cinematic, dark, impactful stingers. The storylines dictate where we’re going and how much sound we’re using at any given moment, whether it’s a mellow scene, a stark transition, or an epic fight action sequence.
How much collaboration was there between sound design, editing, and music in crafting the show’s overall mood?
There is a ton of collaboration between the sound and music departments, and I’m thankful to say that the sound team and the music team on Dexter are some of the most incredibly talented people to work with. It’s truly a dream team. In regards to sound, our sound effects editors will work independently until we’re ready for the mix process where then we’ll take their material and begin the mix. At that point we’ll go back and forth with ideas. Maybe we need more city traffic noise in this scene, or maybe these fight noises need to be more intense. Once we are aligned and feel good about the decisions we’ve made, we’ll present it to the Dexter post-production team. If they want to explore anything else or have ideas, we may go through another round of notes to see what we can try and what might be best sonically for any given scene.
Were there any sequences this season where the sound design became especially important in telling the story?
One of my personal favorite sounding sequences is in Episode 7, where Dexter confronts the second Gemini Killer and eventually kills him at the mansion. We spent a lot of time sonically building the tension between them during their conversation and eventually escalated everything leading up to their physical conflict. The fight sounds, the gushing blood when Dexter stabs him in the neck with glass, all of that was a ton of fun to work on during the mix. The sounds during that scene are super up-front and in your face; we tried to match the mix to the closeness of the two characters to give it a visceral feeling.
Dexter’s internal perspective has always been central to the franchise. How do you use sound to place viewers inside his headspace?
A lot of times, when we’re in Dexter’s head we will slowly, slightly, and subtly drop out all of the sound around him. The ambiences become lower, the foley drops, maybe we even lose sound effects or blur them in reverb. All of those techniques make Dexter’s voice-over the main focus point, and hopefully it draws the audience into his world a bit more.
What kinds of practical or real-world sounds did you incorporate to keep the series grounded and immersive?
All of our foley (footsteps, clothing rustle, hand pats, props) are recorded to picture by our foley team. It’s all tailored specifically to the series and we utilize it heavily in the mix to make the show sound more immersive and real for the viewers at home.
Does the age of streaming change the way you think about sound design, knowing many viewers watch with headphones or home theater setups?
We mixed Dexter: Resurrection in Dolby Near-field Home ATMOS. That means there were four speakers on the ceiling, seven speakers around the walls, and a sub-woofer in the room. It’s an incredibly immersive experience listening to the show on our Mix Stage. Not everyone in the world has access to a super high-end surround sound system in a calibrated room, most people are probably watching this on their TV speakers, headphones, and laptops. With that being said, we check all of our mixes in stereo, on smaller speakers, and on headphones to make sure that everything is coming across and translating best as possible across all mediums. We’re never going to be able to control how people will listen to the show, but we do our best to check QC as much as possible.
For fans returning to Dexter’s world, what do you think they’ll immediately recognize, or what might surprise them, about the sound of this new chapter?
As seen in Resurrection Season 1, we still had the iconic Dexter voice-over moments, and we still had a handful of scenes where he’s working his magic on the kill table. The sound of him running his fingers along the bloodslide box made a fun comeback and there’s a few other recurring elements and themes from previous iterations of the franchise that we had fun breathing new life into for Resurrection Season 1. As for what lies ahead in Resurrection Season 2, we’re not at liberty to divulge any spoilers or drop any hints, but I can say the sound team is super excited to dive back into the Dexter world and find new ways to amp up the series in terms of sound. Stay tuned for Season 2!
