The sound designers behind ‘Django Unchained’

The Academy Awards are coming up on Sunday. Before the stars walk the red carpet, reporter Ari Karpel has one final look at some of the less heralded artists who worked below the line on one of the Oscar-nominated features, Quentin Tarantino’s “

Django Unchained.”

Karpel recently sat down with Mike Minkler, sound re-recording mixer, and Wylie Stateman, supervising sound editor for the film.

Minkler is a third-generation sound artist whose own credits go back to “Star Wars” and include three Oscar wins. Stateman’s work spans genres, from “Shrek” to “Jerry Maguire” to “Wanted.” Stateman is nominated for the Oscar for sound editing on “Django,” which is his fifth collaboration on a Quentin Tarantino movie with Minkler.

When they caught up at the Todd AO West studio in Santa Monica, they broke down the elements that make up what we hear in the opening moments of “Django Unchained.”