Production Sound Mixer
Full Member / Fellow
Simon's recent feature credits include David Yates' Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Robert Zemeckis' Allied and James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy.
He has collaborated regularly with director Matthew Vaughn on Layer Cake, Stardust, Kick Ass, X-Men: First Class and Kingsman: The Secret Service. He has also collaborated numerous times with Guy Ritchie on Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch, Revolver and King Arthur:Knights of the Round Table.
Other varied film credits include David Yates' The Legend of Tarzan, Ridley Scott's Prometheus and The Counselor, Danny Boyle's Trance, Daniel Barber's Harry Brown, Paul Greengrass's Green Zone, Phyllida Lloyd's Mamma Mia!, Edgar Wright's Shaun of the Dead.
Born in London and began his career in 1986 at 16 years old as a runner in Commercials.After deciding he wanted to pursue a path in the Sound Department,from 1988 he worked as a Sound Assistant and Boom Operator.During this time he enrolled at The National Film School in Beconsfield to study Sound under Mervyn Gerard.
He began mixing commercials in 1991 and moved onto feature's in 1997 mixing his first film "Lock,Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.
Awarded an Oscar for Sound Mixing on Les Miserables.His work on Les Miserables was also honoured with the BAFTA for Sound, CAS award for Achievement in Sound Mixing and Satellite Award for Sound.
Other Awards include the UK Screen Association's Conch Award for Production Sound Mixer of the Year in 2008, 2009 and 2012. He also received the MPSE Golden Reel Award in 2002 for Best Sound on Snatch directed by Guy Ritchie.
Simon has had and continues to enjoy, a remarkable career as a Production Sound Mixer. In 1988, after a short spell as a runner, he joined the sound community as an Assistant Boom Operator and completed a sound mixing course at the National Film and Television School. He was mixing commercials in the early 1990s, and his first feature film was 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels'. To date, he has amassed an amazing thirty-one sound nominations and nine awards from numerous organisations worldwide. This includes three Academy Award nominations, and an Oscar win for 'Les Misérables', for which he also picked up the BAFTA.
Specialising in on-set vocal recording, Simon's methods are groundbreaking and have raised the authenticity and standards for sound in musical films. He has mixed over ten of the most popular musicals and continues to hone his pioneering workflow to perfection. He is widely respected among the international sound community for generously sharing his technical and collaborative work practices with his peers and sound students, and Simon's magazine articles, digital media posts and podcasts are avidly followed and shared by many sound practitioners.
Collaboration is at the heart of Simon’s methodology, and he is always seeking to foster communication between production and post production sound. His drive to constantly improve workflows and find creative new techniques which benefit the entire sound process is constantly challenging norms and creating a more collaborative future for sound. Simon cares deeply about the creative storytelling of sound in film and truly understands the importance of the performance of the actor. His work is always leading the way in establishing best practices and is a luminary for all sound creatives.
Simon has consistently and enthusiastically supported the AMPS aims and ambitions including time spent on Council.
For his extraordinary contribution to sound acquisition so far, and the prolific and invaluable wealth of information he regularly makes available for others in his profession, the AMPS Council is proud to honour Simon Hayes AMPS with a Fellowship of The Association of Motion Picture Sound.
