I agree with you Brad…Wall-E should win…..Ben Burtt & Co. deserves an award……..

waaaaAAAAAAAAaaaaallEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Wall-E for sound. TDK for sound mixing. I'd like to think. I know in the past that some musicals have won sound mixing because it's so hard to mix the sound in musicals just right, what with all the transitions from song to dialogue, etc., etc. And then animated films would win best sound because they have to create every single sound in the movie.

But there are no musicals in the sound category this year. I look back to last year, where "Bourne Ultimatum" won both Sound and Sound Mixing, and I wonder if the same will happen this year with TDK. I wouldn't mind if it did–in fact, I'd really like it. I'm going to be down in the dumps if TDK only wins Best Supporting Actor. But I also want Wall-E to win more than one award. Maybe Wall-e could win Best Musical Score instead? And it might even get Best Song (although I personally like "Jai Ho" better). This wouldn't be so pressing if "Wall-E" and TDK had been nominated for Best Picture like they should have been. If that was the case, I'd be perfectly content with Wall-E winning only Best Animated Feature and TDK winning only Best Supporting Actor. But such is not the case.

I think Wall-E will win at least one of the sound awards, though I personally think it deserves both of them. I don't think the voters will fail to recognize the exemplary job Ben Burtt and co. did with Wall-E so it's a good bet they'll take at least one of the two, then that would leave the other one (whichever one it is) as a toss up between TDK and Slumdog.

Ben Burtt can't possibly go home empty handed for his work in Wall-E, it will be a travesty in my book.

WALL-E should win both of them
Heck yeah

I would like to think Wall-E wins here, but last year the movie that clearly relied the most on sound and used it most effectively in my opinion was No Country For Old Men. The sound design was incredible in that film, intensified because there was no score, and really used very effectively to heighten the tension. And yet The Bourne Ultimatum won both categories. I have to believe that the same situation will replay itself this year. The better use of sound will be overlooked for the louder movie. I think it's hard for most people to really discern the quality of sound or its effect on the film, but everyone knows which was the loudest movie. I'd like to be wrong here because Wall-E obviously relies on sound design exclusively for the first 40 or so minutes and left a hell of an impact but I just don't see it happening.

What say you?

As I sit here with my Oscar ballot – yes, you read that right (I am a Sound Branch member who's been nominated once himself) – I am faced with a conundrum: Ben's work in WALL-E is absolutely brilliant, and is so crucial to the making the whole thing work that the movie would probably not be so affecting without the genius in his vocals for Wall-E… but the work of the other nominees is masterful as well. And Ben already has four Oscars.

The supervising sound editor of TDK has one for MASTER & COMMANDER. The other sound editing nominees have none. The re-recording mixers of WANTED have a load of past nominations, and one has two Oscars. One of the re-recording mixers of BUTTON has two wins also, but his mix partner who handled the sound effects, and who also supervised the entire brilliant sound job, has none, and he's widely admired in the sound community for the inventiveness of his body of work, all for David Fincher. The TDK mixers have never won, and that was a very challenging mix. The SLUMDOG folks are all new to the Oscar party.

I guess you can tell I take prior wins into account when facing my ballot. I like to see the grace of Oscar spread around. Will I reveal here how I decide to vote? Sorry, Academy rules are strict about that – I really can't.

BTW – Brad's explanation of what the Sound Editing and Sound Mixing categories are about is basically correct. Suffice it to say that the editors are responsible for providing everything that you end up hearing in the mix; this can run to literally hundreds of tracks and often requires a huge amount of fresh recording of sound effects, then redesigning them to fit what we see on screen. But the material isn't high quality and well organized, the mix will suffer badly; if the editors provide crap, the mix can't be anything better than that. The Mixing category covers both the work of the mixer on the set and the work of the re-recording mixers months later. The work the editors provide in the way of sound effects is sort of obvious, but there is also a tremendous amount of work that goes into preparing the dialogue for mixing, especially with an action film where much of the dialogue must be redone later in a quiet studio.

Wall-E should win in Sound editing…but slumdog will win it..which makes no sense??????!!!?!?

I think Ben. Button should win for Sound Mixing. It was incredible
Wall-E was good too as with TDK.
My guess is it will go to slumdog…

@Oscar Smarty: And you've decided that Slumdog will win the Sound Editing Oscar… on the basis of what exactly?

Realistically, I'm not so sure that the received wisdom that Slumdog will "sweep" will carry over to the sound awards (and it certainly can't sweep the four acting awards). It's possible of course, and I've seen it happen in years past; that's attributable I believe to the huge percentage of the Academy being made up of actors who simply have no understanding of or appreciation for the sound end of things. But don't count out TDK or Wanted or Wall-E; the studios have at least made some effort to push for sound awards, and reminder ads in the trades probably do have some impact.

And if Slumdog takes Sound Editing and/or Mixing, then so what? It's hardly the end of the world. Slumdog's a damn fine piece of work, far harder to have achieved than you likely can appreciate unless you have the thirty years of experience I have, Burtt already has a shelf full of Oscar recognition, and Ben is getting a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Motion Picture Sound Editors honorary group (the sound editing equivalent of the American Society of Cinematographers) on Feb 21st, which is no small honor within the sound community.

@Dave: Thank you for the insight into what things are taken into account in an Academy Member's vote. Myself, I am rooting for Wall-E for Score and for Sound Editing and Dark Knight for Sound Mixing though it is tempting to award TD
K both Sound Editing and Mixing. However, past awards or lack thereof should not rightly negate a masterpiece of work in any case. Personally I think all elements related to sound are masterful in Wall-e from the Songs to the Score to the mix of sound and editing (though there was no dialogue but I don't know if that makes the editing easier or harder.)