Larry Benjamin

Larry Benjamin

SOUND MIXER

Acclaimed mixer explains the real-world value of speech intelligibility

The mix is part of the storytelling

For 11-time Emmy®-nominated Re-recording Mixer Larry Benjamin, CAS, sound is not just an important part of the story, it is the story. Based at NBC Universal, Benjamin has spent over three decades mixing dialogue and music for some of television’s most acclaimed dramas, including “Ozark,” “Better Call Saul” and many others. Known for his meticulous attention to dialogue intelligibility, Benjamin is constantly in search of tools that help ensure viewers don’t miss a word. Already an avid NUGEN Audio user, Benjamin’s pursuit for pristine audio led him to the brand’s new DialogCheck speech intelligibility plug-in.

"If they want to tell a story in a unique way, how can sound help do that? That’s the question I’m constantly asking."

Whether it’s creating a sonic POV inside a character’s mind or blending ambient tension into a dialogue-heavy scene, Benjamin’s mixes help shape how viewers feel. When you’ve worked with the likes of the creatives behind “Ozark” and “Better Call Saul,” collaboration and experimentation are essential. “They [Jason Bateman and Vince Gilligan] really leaned into sound as another character,” he recalls. “They weren’t just ticking boxes; they embraced the mix as part of the storytelling.”

For Benjamin, ensuring dialogue clarity is not just an artistic choice, but rather a responsibility. “I love the challenge of helping a client solve a problem,” he says. “If they want to tell a story in a unique way, how can sound help do that? That’s the question I’m constantly asking. As a mixer, one of the strengths I think I bring to the table is my experience with perfecting speech intelligibility, which is incredibly crucial to my work. If I do my job right, viewers shouldn’t need to use the subtitles or the remote control. Netflix actually sent me to Southeast Asia to speak on this very topic.”

"I’m always trying to create a mix that translates across all devices. Even if you listen on a laptop, you should still be able to hear all the words."

Qualitative judgement

At a time when audiences often complain about not being able to hear actors’ lines, Benjamin is fighting for clarity. One of his biggest obstacles, however, is the home entertainment setup. With viewers consuming content on everything from cinema-quality home theaters to tiny laptop speakers, Benjamin says the margin for error is slim. “The speakers on modern TVs are often very small and face the wall, which just doesn’t cut it,” he explains. “I’m always trying to create a mix that translates across all devices. Even if you listen on a laptop, you should still be able to hear all the words.”

To help navigate these challenges, Benjamin started incorporating NUGEN’s DialogCheck into his workflow, deploying the new solution for his work on season two of “Poker Face,” and for the recently released Netflix series, “Black Rabbit,” as well as a new Vince Gilligan project coming to Apple TV+. “It’s another tool in the arsenal for creating a standard. It’s a real-time snapshot into where you are in the process,” Benjamin explains. “It doesn’t have bias or hearing loss, it just judges where the spoken word sits in the mix. It’s an agnostic tool that just tells you whether the dialogue is intelligible compared to everything else.”

"[DialogCheck is] an agnostic tool that just tells you whether the dialogue is intelligible compared to everything else."

Though new to his workflow, Benjamin sees DialogCheck as a promising safety net — especially as speech intelligibility is more scrutinized than ever. He tested the plug-in in both real-time on the master tracks and offline using AudioSuite. “The measurements were very close,” he says. “It gave me confidence that I was in the desired range for dialogue intelligibility, even in scenes with whispers or loud music.” On these projects, DialogCheck gave the spoken content scores that confirmed his mixes were hitting the mark. “It’s like the meter is grading you, in a way. It offers a qualitative judgement of where dialogue should sit, which is exactly what I need.”

Consistency and unity

While DialogCheck is one of the newest solutions in his toolkit, Benjamin is no stranger to NUGEN Audio plug-ins. He has been relying on solutions from the brand for over a decade and finds himself most frequently turning to Halo Upmix and VisLM. “Anytime I have music that’s just a stereo mix and I need to get it into 5.1 and 7.1.2, Halo Upmix produces a great result,” he explains. “I also love VisLM. It’s a very accurate meter that consistently updates as I’m mixing. The ballistics are desirable, and it gives us exactly what we need for LKFS compliance.”

Beyond the individual plug-ins, Benjamin praises NUGEN Audio for the consistent interface design throughout its line of solutions. “There’s a unified look to all of the plug-ins, which makes usability easy,” he says. “DialogCheck had a familiarity to it when comparing it to VisLM — even though they do different things, the similar interface made it so easy to just dive right in.”

"DialogCheck could become the standard for clarity. It just gives you the confidence that your mix is truly ready for the world."

As the industry leans more into streaming, immersive audio and global content distribution, the pressure for mixes to be perfect across multiple formats is increasing. That’s where Benjamin believes tools like those from NUGEN Audio can shine. “When I went to Southeast Asia, I saw industry peers tapping Halo Upmix and VisLM in many instances; NUGEN has pretty much become a standard in our industry, even globally,” he notes. “Like NUGEN’s VisLM for loudness, DialogCheck could become the standard for clarity. It just gives you the confidence that your mix is truly ready for the world.”

Despite decades in the business, and a list of credits as long as a streaming giant’s highlight reel, Benjamin remains grounded. “I love what I do, and I still get excited about the fact that a sound, or a moment of silence, can completely change how a story is told,” he says.