William Vahlkamp: Blurring the Lines of Working in Film and Audio

Written by Lucia Sanchez Solis, Edited by Nneoma Agbaghara

The newest inductee into our Wall of Fame is William Vahlkamp, a man with a passion for the many branches within audio engineering, especially those that relate to the intersection of audio and film. During his audio journey, he has ventured into many sub-genres of audio, but he has consistently found his way back to film and is eager to keep returning.

Back to the Beginning

Will got an early start and found his way to audio at just 11 years old when he would experiment with a friend on a DAW and create beats. He was hooked and realized pursuing audio was his passion. His dad was supportive of his interest in audio, but out of necessity, Will worked in the trades.  

The lingering pull of working in audio still tugged at him, though.

“I reached this point where I was like ‘I need to do something… this ain't gonna get me anywhere that I really want to be.” 

Will ultimately decided to rekindle his previous interest in audio and found his way back to his passion. 

From the Bedroom Producer, To Studio Engineer

Having already experimented with DAWs earlier on, Will knew ProTools was the industry standard and knew the basics of working with a digital audio workstation, but felt he wanted to learn about it in a more formal setting with more hands-on experience. He found Avant Media Institute, toured, and enrolled.

Will chose Avant because "I knew that audio was always sort of a thing that I really enjoyed… I knew that Pro Tools was the industry standard.  I knew that's what I needed to know to get in these studios…”

William Vahlkamp in AMI's 401 Live Sound class, working on the mixing board.

“I wanted something that would teach it to me hands on…so, I found this. I did a tour around the school, and it was pretty clear to me that y'all were very hands on. Y'all have… three studios over here, and, y'all get in those studios every day. You get pretty hands on, and one-on-one with almost all the students. And there's always somebody there to help you.  So I jumped on board. “

Reigniting the Film Flame

After graduating from AMI, Will worked a live sound job at a church, which involved helping the audio and music team with their mic set-up and making sure they sounded their best. He was finally working in the field he was so passionate about, and he enjoyed his time there, but something was still missing. He began working at a movie theatre, which is where he noticed that he had a keen interest in the behind-the-scenes aspect of a theatre, the technicalities and how everything worked, which only reminded him of his interest and previous experience working in film.

However, Will’s fascination with film started with foley…

Will’s dad introduced him to foley when he began to show an interest in audio, and Will has been enchanted by it ever since, but it wasn’t until he was reminded of it during his 201 Post-production project at AVANT that he realized he might actually want to pursue foley professionally…

“I did do a post-production project here for school, and I had a blast with that… a lot of creativity involved, and, it's like I call it: audible puzzle solving.”

Will did a Lucky Run Studio internship and did studio work, but also worked on foley for a movie called CASS (dir. Sarah Ontaveros) that got him back into wanting to pursue projects in the film sphere.

Once his mind was opened up to the vast possibilities within the film industry, and how much thought goes into seemingly simple things such as the sound of a doorbell or a bite of an apple, Will was unable to focus on anything else…

Will Vahlkamp recording Foley sounds

“You're like… I wonder how they made those crunching sounds of like the chest burster punching through and… squishing all the way through the chest… It makes you think a lot more of what's going on in the background than what you're just seeing on the film, and before you know it, you just spend 20 minutes wondering how they made that one sound, and I haven't really followed the movie.”

Providing, but Daring to Dream

Will now works all over the country, installing A/V systems in movie theatres and other businesses. His current work allows him to blend both of his passions, and he is excited about getting Atmos certified in the future, providing for his family, and learning more about projectors.

While still creative, Will’s current work installing projectors and A/V systems is more on the practical side, financially, and is within Will’s current skill set. Will acknowledges that he still has a lot to learn in the big world of audio and is excited to grow his craft.

It makes sense that Will is realistic about his career path, but he allows himself to be optimistic and still look towards his dreams of working in film, and even expanding his skills

and doing some screenwriting.

Future Ambitions

This is just the beginning for Will. He has so much talent and so many interests that he is ready to dive into. 

Dolby Atmos certification, provide for his family, get into projectors, screen write and find his way back to the film industry.

These are Will’s career and personal goals that he aims to achieve in the near future. Will’s advice for aspiring audio engineers is simple: Start where you are, with what you have, and network.

“Start at home. Pick up a mic. Pick up a mic, put something down. It doesn't matter what it is, just get into it. “

For the full podcast episode with Will and our 301 Instructor Mark Drew, visit our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@avantmediainstitute