If you plan to tune into the Oscars tonight, keep your eye’s peeled for an MTSU alum Brian Chumney, a 1998 audio production graduate, who’s nominated for his technical work on the movie The Wild Robot.

Chumney earned a nomination for Best Sound alongside legendary film sound designer Randy Thom and will be among the host of nominees hoping their projects and names get called as winners of the coveted gold statue at this year’s 97^th Oscars set for Sunday, March 2 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles.

Chumney is a supervising sound editor at Skywalker Ranch. His previous projects include Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Angry Birds 2, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Alice in Wonderland and John Carter.

“Part of the fun of my job is that the days vary depending on where we are in the cycle of our schedule. Early in the schedule, we’re focused on budgeting and scheduling crew. As the schedule progresses, I’m cutting or reviewing the work of other editors and departments,” Chumney explained.

He was previously nominated for an Academy Award and a British Academy Film Award for his work on West Side Story and has worked with industry greats like Gary Rydstrom, Randy Thom, and Walter Murch.

Chumney said he was asleep in a Burbank, California, hotel room when this year’s nominations were announced in late January since they take place at 5:30 a.m. on the West Coast. A text message from his dad let him know he was nominated again.  

“Like a kid on Christmas, I woke up early, picked up my phone, and saw a message from my dad telling me I ‘might as well start planning on a return trip.’ That’s how I knew I was nominated,” he said.

Originally a professional chemistry major at MTSU, Chumney changed his major to recording industry, then known as production and technology, during his junior year. He said so much of his success now is because of the foundation he learned at MTSU.

“So much of what we do is crew-based collaboration, and the team-based projects in classes like (upper level course) RIM458 were the ones that really prepared me for what came next,” he said. “I also really value the opportunities we had to listen — take advantage of that; listen to each other’s work and find people whose opinions you trust.”

Those key pieces of knowledge are still things Chumney still does when working on a project.

“To this day, I’ll pull a colleague into my edit room to listen to something when I feel like I’m done and ready to move on. Sometimes, you’ll get validation, and other times, you’ll get a fresh perspective that you can utilize to make your work better. Always strive to be better.”

MTSU audio production professor Cosette Collier remembers teaching Chumney in her soundtrack design for film class in the 90s.

“I’ve been following Brian’s career for many years now by regularly looking at his film credits on IMDb (Internet Movie Database),” Collier said. “He’s risen to the top ranks as a supervisor sound editor, and this latest Oscar nomination is just icing on the cake. I couldn’t be prouder of Brian.”

And Chumney, who is currently working on a new live action of How to Train Your Dragon, is very proud of his time at MTSU.

“There are so many things I’m proud of since I graduated and started working in film sound. I think I’m most proud of the relationships and friendships I’ve made along the way…,” he said.

“I’ve always been proud of my Tennessee roots and my time at MTSU. I work with some Michigan State alums, so wearing my Middle Tennessee gear around them is always a fun flex,” a reference to the historic upset by MTSU men’s basketball team, a 15th seed, over the highly favored and No. 2 seeded Michigan State in the 2016 NCAA Basketball Tournament.

Presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Oscars will be hosted this year by late-night show host Conan O’Brien and airs live on ABC and Hulu beginning at 6 p.m. Central Sunday.

Chumney recently won a Motion Picture Sound Editors award for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing — Feature Animation. •

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