Sound designer Mac Ruth has done an excellent work on movies like ‘Underworld’ and ‘Martian’. Find out everything about him including his overal net worth.
Who is Mac Ruth?
Mac Ruth was born in 1967 in Ellensburg, Washington. He is an American sound mixer who has worked on numerous films such as, ‘Underworld’ in 2003, ‘The Cave’ in 2005, ‘Eragon’ in 2006, ‘Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters’ in 2013, ‘Hercules’ in 2014, ‘The Martian’ in 2015 and ‘Spy’ in 2015 and many more. Ruth was nominated at the 88th Academy Awards in Best Sound Mixing category for ‘The Martian’. Paul Massey and Mark Taylor also shared the nomination with him. He was nominated again at the 89th Oscar Awards and then at Oscar 2018 for his work on ’13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi’ and ‘Blade Runner 2049’ respectively. Oscar 2018 will be held on March 4, 2018. Blade Runner 2049 was a fantasy/mystery film released in 2017. Ruth was the sound designer for the film ‘The Cave’ released in 2005. ‘The Cave’ was about a few Cave divers who were hired to investigate ruins in caves in Romania. But the group’s escape route is cut off and they are hunted by the monstrous creatures that live down below. His sound effects in the movie provided the eerie and bone-chilling effects that made the movie a wow to watch. He also worked on the movie, ‘Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters’. Released in 2013, ‘Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters’ was a fantasy/drama film that was directed by Tommy Wirkola.
His net worth
Mac Ruth has a net worth of $1.6 million.
Mac Ruth’s work on ‘The Martian’
The Martian provides a near real glimpse into the future of space exploration as Matt Damon (scientist Watney in the film) his brainpower, resilience, and sense of humor to survive. Ruth managed to capture every nuance of the story that is driven by dialogue spanning the distance between Mars and Earth. The filming took place in Jordan and Hungary. Ruth got an Oscar and BAFTA nomination along with his re-recording mixers, Paul Massey and Mark Taylor. In an interview, he shared his experiences on the film’s fascinating emphasis on reality and communication. He said, “Arthur Max, the production designer, was extremely helpful. It was never a problem to knock on his door, Oscar-winning costume designer Janty Yate was absolutely fantastic because we really had to dive in deep on the costumes, particularly the spacesuits.” He added that the team was always focused on realism since the very beginning. “We knew going in that a semblance of reality was the mandate, and that filtered down in many different ways in terms of our methodology on set,” explains Ruth. “We believed a visible mic could be completely realistic and true to what the team called the ‘near future, very believable, accessible technology.’” “There was a great deal of collaboration, and the spacesuit team was fantastic. There were weeks and weeks of prep,” remembers Ruth. “The actors need to be able to hear each other, so the suits are mic’d. In fact, they’re redundantly mic’d to have backup systems. They have ear monitors, and the technology behind that is not as simple as it sounds. It involves dedicated ear monitoring personnel to route the communication matrix between the actors. The systems stay true to the type of technology we believe would be used for Mars travel in the very near future.” Ruth further explained that the film featured several conversations between characters. They creatively manifested a situation in which the actors could utilize technology to perform the scenes. He further explained that they shot all the conversations using Skype-type communications simultaneously on different sets. Due to this, the actors could see and hear each other in real time. To do that was real challenge as explained by Ruth. but they could create that whole experience that was totally transparent and realistic for actors. Ruth also explained how the illusion of movement on set is captured by simply moving the camera in certain directions during filming. To shoot the scene of a space capsule taking off, the team opted for a more realistic alternative. “The cameras didn’t shake to simulate the rumble of takeoff. The entire capsule set was elaborately built to shake, and the cameras were on long suspended rigs which kept the movements smooth and elegant,” explains Ruth. “The entire space capsule set shook violently, which gave the faces of the actors that jiggly movement. We made the rig so loud that you couldn’t hear anything else, and that was a very effective technique.”
Quite a humble human being, Mac Ruth is truely an artist in his department and he excels at what he does. He knows the naunces and knacks of sound designing right to the deepest core and it is this skill of his that has helped him render brilliant films like ‘the Martian’ and ‘Blade Runner 2049’. His sound effects add emphasis to the emotions of the scene, eerie sound to create emphasis on fear and sad sound to create an emphasis on loss, the sound designer knows the science of sound too well and it is with his brilliant mixing that a film sounds and feels complete.
