BIG RAPIDS — Many might not know that one Big Rapids resident, Michael Kreple, has had his hands in countless TV shows and movies, from YouTube Red to Netflix and Amazon Prime.
Working as an audio engineer in post-production and mixing at his studio in Big Rapids, “Magic City Studios,” he has won awards and worked for some big names, including the Golden Reel Award he won for his work on the 2016 movie “The Duel” with Woody Harrelson and Liam Hemsworth.
Kreple’s love for sound, as a self-proclaimed audiophile, started when he was young. He said his mother could attest to him always messing with the equalizer in the car stereo, turning the treble and bass up or down depending on what genre was playing.
“I like being in the studio. I like being around people who make creative products,” he said.
This love for creativity and desire to sit at the table brought the Kreples to Los Angeles, a far cry from the quiet, natural surroundings of Big Rapids.
Now, the animal-loving couple spends time recording local bands, mixing movies and TV and caring for their three dogs, Husky brothers Bo and Arrow and a chihuahua named Little Dog.
The purpose of the audio post-production Kreple does is usually to make sure the viewer never knows that most of the movie’s sounds are pre-recorded from terabyte-sized sound banks that Kreple has amassed over the years.
“The biggest misconception is that 90% of sounds you hear in a movie is not from the set, it’s added afterward,” Kreple said.
These sounds include everything from footsteps to an explosion to a car driving down the road in the background of a scene or the howling of the wind.
“Everything is always mitigating problems. In the audio post, there’s clothing rustling, microphone bumps and people’s mouths making disgusting noises all the time,” he said.
Kreple uses the tools of the trade, usually Pro Tools, to make sure nobody ever knows these sounds were there, adds in sounds that weren’t there in the first place, gives each movie a unique sonic signature, and ensures immersion isn’t broken in the theatre.
“Michael is an exception. Based on 27 years of mixing experience and what that means when you’re taking sound effects, dialogue, and music and then score, you have 650 tracks to make sound coherent,” wife Jacky Kreple said.
The way Kreple might mix a Western movie would differ completely from how he would mix a drama, and his sonic signature is what Jacky Kreple refers to as his “paintbrush,” and it has taken years to hone his ear.
“Engineers have their paintbrush, so they know the technical side. How they paint that particular scene is different because it’s different for every movie, it’s like a different vibe for every movie,” she said.
Michael Kreple said that the decades of mixing experience can harm his ability to enjoy movies since his ears are so trained, he will notice when things are off, audio-wise, much more than most.
“You get to a certain point where your ear is trained on a certain level where you can immediately diagnose problematic audio,” he said.
Kreple also refers to himself as a creative technician, and when he records bands in his studio, likes to take the role of the producer and share his artistic vision.
Recently, he recorded local band Michigan Soul Tribe with Michael Marsac and offered an idea for a song that the band liked, so they changed it to sound how Kreple imagined it.
“The immediate gratification part is when you see the light bulb for them go on, and they go, ‘I totally see what you’re saying,'” Kreple said.