David Farmer

David Farmer grew up on a farm in Gladys, VA. As a teenager, he dabbled as a guitarist and drummer with dreams of being in a rock band. A seed was planted one fateful day after he saw a behind-the-scenes movie showing Ben Burtt recording sounds for Star Wars. It was at that moment that he realised that he could pursue a career in film sound. After getting a recording arts degree at Full Sail University in Florida, Dave headed west to Los Angeles to intern at a postproduction facility in Burbank.

Since then, David has worked extensively in sound for feature films, television, and video games. As the sound designer for the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies, David was responsible for creating many of the signature sounds, including the Ringwraiths, the Balrog, Cave Troll, Smaug, and more. More recently, he has contributed to the sound design of Marvel films, including The Avengers and both Ant-Man films.

David was the sound designer for several feature films that received Oscar nominations for sound editing: Space Cowboys (2000), The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), King Kong (2005), The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013), and The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014). Two of those films—The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) and King Kong (2005)—won Oscars for Best Sound Editing.

David has been nominated for 3 BAFTAs and won multiple MPSE awards. In 2011, David was inducted into the Full Sail Hall of Fame.