This is the first feature work for Spencer, partner in Asche & Spencer, but the prospect of working on more feature projects is very enticing for the Minneapolis-based composer. Gedemer, on the other hand, has a long history of sound work for features: He was part of the Academy Award-winning sound team on "U-571" and has worked on a host of other long form projects.

"Commercials are very challenging and there are a whole set of required skills, especially in working with time constraints. So, we thought, why not take those skills to support storylines and ideas that take longer to develop," says Spencer, who connected with "Monster's Ball" after a fateful Sundance meeting with Forster and editor Matt Chesse (of Crew Cuts) a few years ago. When the project came together, Spencer and composers Chris Beaty and Richard Werbownko started writing music prior to shooting, based on conversations with Forster and music supervisor, John C. High.

"We limited ourselves to certain instruments and a particular sonic point of view that was very ambient. The story is about sadness and death with a hopeful love story intertwined. We read the script and talked about how the bleak starkness could be brought to film," says Spencer. "We employed ambient textures and subtle but poignant melodies. We used heavily layered and processed guitars with huge reverbs and echoes as well as standard acoustic instruments like the marimba treated using cool, modern processes."

The spaces between the sound contribute to the mood of the film as much as the music. Only 45 minutes of the 108-minute film are scored and the silence is powerful, with looming ambient tones spilling out only to heighten emotion, as opposed to overcompensating. Despite the critical success garnered by this project, Spencer assures that commercials will continue to be first on Asche & Spencer's agenda.

On the other hand, Gedemer, an experienced features sound designer, is expanding into commercials while continuing his features work. While he recently did Gary Larson-induced sound design for a Wrigley's campaign out of BBDO Chicago, his biggest project of late was the sound design for "From Hell."

Working with sound supervisor Steve Williams, Gedemer continued the collaboration he began with the Hughes brothers on "Menace II Society" and "Dead Presidents." Gedemer was supplying the pictures editor with temp sounds as soon as shooting started, when he began the task of sound design in earnest. Many of these temporary sounds were used as the basis for the final soundscape.

"We wanted to attach some kind of sound to the ripper. We used steam train sounds as a way of foreshadowing the murders. When the whistle is heard in the distance, it's a trigger that a murder is coming and builds tension. In one scene that takes place entirely in blackness, we pulled the train to the foreground and had it travel through the theater during a murder sequence," says Gedemer.

As for slashing sounds, Gedemer procured a field surgeon's kit and sampled sounds of the various sharp implements clashing together and slicing into meat. He then processed those sounds, pitching them down, compressing them and adding drastic EQ changes. He credits Roland Thi with creating the background sounds appropriate to the film's 1888 setting. As for the dream sequences brought on by the Johnny Depp character's opium smoking, Gedemer took the sound of an old hand-cranked camera to match the aged-looking and disjointed visuals. While he points to this job as one of his most difficult, he acknowledges commercials bring with them a set of different problems.

"With film, you have time to let things unfold and happen in a natural, relaxed fashion instead of making them happen in 15 seconds," says Gedemer. "I would say that a lot of the work we do in features is conceptually applicable to commercials but in practice is not, because you need to compact your information and message into a much smaller package. There is a skill to that way beyond just creating interesting sounds."

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