ExploringHow MediaTeaches Usto Listen
Emmy-winning sound editor, educator, author, and speaker examining the relationship between sound, storytelling, and audience experience across film, television, games, and emerging media.
Every story asks us to listen in a particular way. I work on both sides of that exchange: shaping sound for the screen, and teaching people to hear what it is doing to them.
Honors and awards
Dialogue Editing for Motion Pictures and Television
A Guide to the Invisible Art, from Routledge, now in its third edition. The voice is where most stories live, and this book goes inside the craft of dialogue editing, written by a working editor who also teaches it.
Talks on listening, craft, and the screen
Keynotes and presentations for festivals, conferences, universities, studios, and industry gatherings.
Recent and upcoming talks
All talksIn print and online
All writingContemplating
Sound
with Korey Pereira
Essays and insights exploring how film, television, games, and emerging media shape the way we listen.
You’re on the list. The next essay will find you.
A life spent listening closely
From the edit room to the lecture hall to the page, one question runs through all of it: what are we hearing, and why does it move us?
Most people never think about the sound of a film. That is the point. When dialogue is edited well, a voice simply arrives, clear and believable, carrying a scene without calling attention to itself. Korey Pereira, MPSE, has built a career in that invisible space, shaping the voices that audiences trust.
That work has been recognized at the highest level. He received a Primetime Emmy Award in 2022 for Stranger Things Season 4, and a Motion Picture Sound Editors Golden Reel Award for Prey. His credits also include films from Richard Linklater and Robert Rodriguez, and series from Law & Order to Fixer Upper: Welcome Home. The credits matter less to him than what they taught him: that audiences are always listening more carefully than they know, and that craft is the art of respecting that attention.
He is also a product of the place where he now teaches. After earning his degree in Radio-Television-Film at The University of Texas at Austin, he kept mixing student films, joined the faculty as a lecturer in 2018, and is now Assistant Professor of Practice and Audio Area Head. In the classroom he teaches students to hear the way professionals do, and to ask why a scene sounds the way it does before they decide how it should. In 2024 the Texas Exes named him one of the Texas Ten, their most prestigious teaching award.
The teaching led to the page. His book, Dialogue Editing for Motion Pictures and Television: A Guide to the Invisible Art, published by Routledge, brings the craft into the open, and his articles have appeared in MPSE Wavelength, Production Expert, Pro Sound Effects, and designingsound.org.
He was elected to the board of the Motion Picture Sound Editors in 2021, re-elected in 2023, and in 2026 stepped in as the organization’s interim Vice President. He has now been elected to a full two-year term as Vice President beginning in March 2027, serving the professional community that champions sound craft across the industry. Between the studio, the university, and the stage, he is a working professional who treats listening as a subject worth studying in public.
- RecognitionPrimetime Emmy Award, Golden Reel Award, Texas Ten
- TeachingThe University of Texas at Austin
- ResearchSound, narrative, perception, listening
- CommunityMPSE Board of Directors, Vice President
Honors and awards
Where theory and practice meet
- How sound shapes perception and emotion
- The history of listening in cinema
- Dialogue, voice, and intelligibility
- Sound in television and streaming
- Game audio and interactive narrative
- Emerging media and the future of listening
Books
A working craft, written down for the people who practice it.
Dialogue Editing for Motion Pictures and Television
A Guide to the Invisible Art. A practical and thoughtful look at the craft of editing the human voice for the screen.
The third edition, from Routledge, updates John Purcell’s industry staple. It expands from feature film to television and covers current workflows and tools, including AI noise reduction. 476 pages, 163 illustrations.
Speaking
Your audience will hear film, television, and games differently afterward. Keynotes, workshops, and conversations for professionals, students, and curious listeners, in person or virtual.
Four ways into the conversation
Each talk can be tailored to your audience, from film and television professionals to game developers, students, and curious listeners.
Keynotes
Opening and closing addresses for conferences, festivals, and symposiums.
Workshops and masterclasses
Hands-on sessions in critical listening and sound storytelling for teams and classrooms.
Panels and conversations
Moderated discussion, fireside chats, and industry panels on sound and storytelling.
Recent and upcoming talks
What organizers say
1 Share the details
Tell me about the event, the audience, and what you want people to leave with.
2 Confirm the fit
You will hear back about availability, format, and which talk suits your audience best.
3 Shape the session
We tailor the talk to your room, in person or virtual, and agree on logistics.
Tell me about your event
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Writing
Essays and articles on film sound, television, games, storytelling, listening, and the culture around them.
Published elsewhere
Articles and interviews on dialogue editing, workflow, and the sound community, from Production Expert, Pro Sound Effects, MPSE Wavelength, and designingsound.org.
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Media
Interviews, podcast appearances, press coverage, video presentations, and industry panels.
Topics I’m glad to discuss
Available for interviews, podcasts, panels, and expert commentary.
- How sound shapes what we feel at the movies
- Behind the scenes of dialogue editing
- Why some films and shows are hard to understand, and what is really going on
- The hidden role of sound in television and streaming
- Game audio and the future of interactive storytelling
Projects
Creative work, research, teaching, and community. Different forms of the same inquiry.
Stranger Things, Season 4
Dialogue editing for one of the most widely watched series in the world. The work on Chapter Seven: The Massacre at Hawkins Lab won a Primetime Emmy Award.
Prey
Additional dialogue editing on the Predator prequel for Hulu, honored with a Motion Picture Sound Editors Golden Reel Award.
Law & Order
Dialogue editing across multiple seasons of the long-running drama, since 2022.
Boyhood, Hit Man, Apollo 10½
Dialogue editing on Boyhood and Hit Man, and ADR work on Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood.
Hypnotic, Spy Kids: Armageddon
Dialogue editing on two features from Austin filmmaker Robert Rodriguez.
Soularity Sound
The post-sound company Korey founded, which upgraded to Dolby Atmos mixing in 2020 and expanded into spatial audio for VR and games.
Contemplating Sound
Ongoing essays that connect film, television, games, and emerging media through the act of listening.
Audio at UT Austin
Leading the audio area in the Department of Radio-Television-Film, where students learn sound as both craft and critical practice.
Motion Picture Sound Editors
Service within the professional organization that supports and celebrates the sound community.
Contemplating
Sound
with Korey Pereira
Essays and insights exploring how film, television, games, and emerging media shape the way we listen.
You’re on the list. The next essay will find you.
Close listening
Scenes, shows, and games taken apart by ear, and what they reveal about how stories work.
Inside the craft
Perspective from the edit room and the classroom, without the jargon.
The larger conversation
Culture, technology, and the future of how we listen. Thoughtful, and never noisy.
Press kit
What a journalist, host, or event organizer needs to introduce Korey. Copy, paste, and go.
Bios to use as written
Two lengths, ready for programs, articles, and show notes.
Short bio
Korey Pereira, MPSE, is an Emmy-winning dialogue editor, educator, author, and speaker. He won a Primetime Emmy Award for Stranger Things Season 4 and a Golden Reel Award for Prey, and has been named one of the Texas Ten and an Outstanding Young Texas Ex by the Texas Exes. He is Vice President of the Motion Picture Sound Editors and Assistant Professor of Practice and Audio Area Head in the Department of Radio-Television-Film at The University of Texas at Austin, and the author of Dialogue Editing for Motion Pictures and Television: A Guide to the Invisible Art.
Full bio
Korey Pereira, MPSE, is an Emmy-winning dialogue editor, educator, author, and speaker whose work explores how sound shapes storytelling, perception, and audience experience across film, television, games, and emerging media.
As a sound professional, he received a Primetime Emmy Award for Stranger Things Season 4 and a Motion Picture Sound Editors Golden Reel Award for Prey, and has been nominated again for both. His credits include films from Richard Linklater and Robert Rodriguez and series including Law & Order and Fixer Upper: Welcome Home. He serves on the board of the Motion Picture Sound Editors and is the organization’s Vice President.
Pereira is Assistant Professor of Practice and Audio Area Head in the Department of Radio-Television-Film at The University of Texas at Austin, his alma mater. He has been named one of the Texas Ten, the Texas Exes’ most prestigious teaching award, and an Outstanding Young Texas Ex. He is the author of Dialogue Editing for Motion Pictures and Television: A Guide to the Invisible Art, published by Routledge.
Honors and awards
Photos for press use
Web-size previews. Press and hold (or right-click) to save, or ask for full-resolution files.
Quick facts
- NameKorey Pereira
- TitleAssistant Professor of Practice and Audio Area Head, Radio-Television-Film, UT Austin
- Industry roleVice President, Motion Picture Sound Editors (MPSE)
- Known forDialogue editing, sound education, writing on listening
- BookDialogue Editing for Motion Pictures and Television: A Guide to the Invisible Art (Routledge)
- NewsletterContemplating Sound with Korey Pereira
Angles for hosts and editors
- How movies teach us to listen
- Why dialogue is so hard to understand, and what editors do about it
- Sound storytelling in film, television, and games
- The future of listening
Contact
For speaking, press, publishing, collaboration, and student questions.
Let’s talk
- Emailkorey.pereira@gmail.com
- SpeakingSpeaking page
- Press and podcastsChoose “Media” in the form
- PublishersChoose “Publishing” in the form
- Prospective studentsChoose “Students” in the form
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Your email app should open with your message ready. Press send to deliver it. If nothing opens, email korey.pereira@gmail.com directly.