Re-Recording Mixer Michael Keller Returns to Todd-AO

Re-Recording Mixer Michael Keller has returned to Todd-AO, the industry’s leading independent sound company. Keller, who has mixed more than 75 films, including Oliver Stone’s Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, Roland Emmerich’s 2012 and Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof, will team with Re-Recording Mixer Mike Prestwood Smith. The pair is currently mixing Abduction for Director John Singleton and Lionsgate.

"Michael Keller is a talented mixer as evidenced by his impressive body of work,” said Robert C. Rosenthal, President of CSS Studios, Todd-AO’s parent company. "He is an asset to the filmmaking community and a wonderful addition to the Todd-AO team.”

The move marks a homecoming for Keller who previously worked at Todd-AO in the 1990s and began his career in Hollywood at the company’s affiliate, Soundelux. "Todd-AO offers great facilities, but for me, it’s more personal,” Keller said. "Soundelux and Todd-AO sparked my career 20 years ago and I think it’s time to come home to my roots.”

Keller began his career in his teens as a recordist and later as re-recording mixer with ARRI in his native Germany, and earned his first film credit on Roland Emmerich’s Moon 44. He later moved to Los Angeles where he worked as a sound designer before resuming his career as a mixer. He earned his first Hollywood mixing credit on the director’s cut of Wolfgang Peterson’s Das Boot.  Keller first worked with Prestwood Smith in 2008 on Hellboy 2 for Director Guillermo del Toro and the pair also worked together on The Darkest Hour for Director Chris Gorak.

"Mike and I have very similar taste in sound and storytelling,” said Keller. "He does the music and dialogue while I mix the sound effects. We bring the best out in each other and have fun doing so.”

Prestwood Smith noted that he and Keller enjoyed an immediate affinity linked to the similar way they approach mixing. "We are both overviewers,” Prestwood Smith said. "Whilst we have separate roles technically, we are both very aware of the bigger picture and always looking at opportunities to best serve the film as a whole, rather than the elements within it.” 

"I love to support a good story with creative sound,” Keller added. "My goal on every film is to deliver a clear soundtrack that is to the point and transparent.”

About CSS STUDIOS, LLC

Hollywood, California-based CSS Studios® is a wholly owned subsidiary of Discovery Communications (NASDAQ: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK), the world’s number one nonfiction media company reaching more than 1.5 billion cumulative subscribers in over 180 countries.  CSS Studios provides creative post production soundservices to major motion picture studios, independent producers, broadcast networks, cable channels, advertising agencies and interactive producers.  The services of CSS Studios are marketed under the brand names Todd-AO®, Sound One, Soundelux®, POP Sound®, Modern Music, Soundelux Design Music Group and The Hollywood Edge, with facilities in Los Angeles and New York.  With more than 50 years of experience in providing creative sound services and technical solutions, the companies, collectively, have garnered more than 50 Academy Award nominations and won 26 Academy Awards.