Michael F. Bates
Rick Blything
Michael began his career working in the art world, on projects that were shown at the ICA, Venice Biennale and Palais de Tokyo.
He shifted into sound designing and then mixing independent films, alongside mixing branded documentaries for companies such as Hyundai, Bloomberg, Boiler Room and Huawei.
From there he moved into the wider film and TV world, working on series and feature documentaries, as well as TV drama.
His work has been shown at film festivals such as Cannes, Sundance, IDFA, Sheffield DocFest, Raindance and across the streaming and broadcast spectrum; Netflix, Discovery, Nat Geo, Channel 5, UKTV, Sky, Disney+ and BBC.
Michael is an active field recordist and member of the international sound community, trading recordings with fellow sound professionals across the globe.
His passions outside work are making music, visiting museums in new cities and looking after his very demanding cat.
Michael has been a Full member of the Association of Motion Picture Sound since 2018 and Membership Secretary since 2025. He has been a member of Motion Picture Sound Editors since 2024.
“I consider myself incredibly privileged that I’m able to combine my love of film and sound into a career. Working closely with filmmakers during sound editorial and on the mix stage to craft their films soundtrack is my favourite part of the process.”
Rick started his career at Envy Post Production in 2011 where he gained insight into all aspects of post production workflows and focused on developing his passion of sound design for documentaries.
After 5 years at Envy he moved into the world of freelance to build closer relationships with clients and also to cover a broader spectrum of work and that is still going strong to this day.
Since shifting to freelance Rick has worked with the majority of Post Houses in London and has strong relationships within the industry. Rick’s passion is working closely with the director / producer / picture department to bring stories to life through sound.
His work has been shown at major film festivals such as Sundance, IDFA, Sheffield, True/False, Telluride, CPH:DOX and across the streaming and broadcast spectrum; Netflix, Nat Geo, Amazon, Apple+, HBO, BBC, CH4, ITV.
Rick’s other passions outside work are nature and conservation, spending as much time outdoors as possible.
He has been an active field recordist for the past 15 years and has recorded in the UK, Guyana, Nepal, India, Costa Rica amongst other locations.
“It’s very creatively fulfilling for me to work on documentaries with subjects I’m passionate about and using my skills as a listener and sound designer to bring the directors vision to life.”
Michael and Rick have been working together since 2021, when they collaborated on the BAFTA and BIFA nominated feature documentary Rebellion.
Since then they have worked on multiple projects across different formats and varied subject matter.
Our Approach
We approach documentary sound from a standpoint of cinematic immersion, expanding the frame of the filmmakers image by creating a rich, textured soundtrack.
Rather than applying a template approach of post production sound as an afterthought, we work in close collaboration with filmmakers to ensure that the sound of their film is in tune with the emotional core of their story.
Our collaborative process comes from a creative feedback loop within the sound team. By constantly reviewing each others work we avoid falling back into old patterns and create a space to generate new ideas.
In this way we ensure that the final mix isn’t just cleaned up production sound, but a fully realised sonic experience where sound and story are in sync.
How We Work
Our workflow uses the flexibility of freelancers and the infrastructure of facilities. As part of the ongoing shift in high end post production not being constrained to solely using centralised post facilities, we use a hybrid method to get the best of both worlds.
- Initial spotting sessions are carried out either in-person or remotely using secure online viewing platforms
- Sound editorial is carried out in professionally built home studios with constant communication between the team
- For larger projects or compressed schedules we can draw upon a large pool of highly experienced freelancers
- Foley is handled either in-house or sub-contracted to trusted dedicated foley studios
- Pre-mixing is handled in Michael’s calibrated and tuned 7.1 equipped studio
- Final mix and reviews use tried and tested facilities, dependent on budget and location
- Post QC deliverables and near field mixes are finished in Michael’s studio