David Bondelevitch

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David Bondelevitch
Born
Swampscott, Massachusetts
Occupation(s) Re-recording mixer, sound editor
Years active1981–present

David J. Bondelevitch MPSE, CAS is an American sound editor, re-recording mixer, composer, and educator. He has worked on more than 150 film and television projects and is a past president of the Motion Picture Sound Editors (MPSE). His credits include the Emmy-winning The Hunley (2000), the Peabody Award–winning documentary Southwest of Salem: The Story of the San Antonio Four (2016), and the Heartland Emmy–winning Above the Ashes (2011). He has received two Golden Reel Awards and more than 25 nominations. [1]

Contents

Early life and education

Bondelevitch was born in Swampscott, Massachusetts. [2] He began playing trumpet at age nine, inspired by a television appearance by Louis Armstrong. [3]

He earned two bachelor’s degrees in 1985: a Bachelor of Science in Art and Design from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Composition from the Berklee College of Music, where he graduated magna cum laude. [4] At MIT, he performed with the Festival Jazz Ensemble under Herb Pomeroy, winning two Outstanding Ensemble awards at the Notre Dame Collegiate Jazz Festival, and appeared with the MIT Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall in a program including Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring . He went on to earn a Master of Fine Arts in Cinema Production from the USC School of Cinematic Arts in 1989. [5]

Film and television

Bondelevitch began working professionally in the late 1980s. [6] He received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Sound Editing for The Hunley (2000). In 1999, he won a Golden Reel Award for the IMAX documentary Island of the Sharks, and in 2001, another Golden Reel for the Showtime musical Ruby’s. [7] [8] [9]

He won the George Foster Peabody Award as dialogue editor and re-recording mixer for Southwest of Salem: The Story of the San Antonio Four (2016), a documentary that has also won multiple festival prizes. [10] His other credits include Battlestar Galactica (2005–2006), Strangers with Candy (2006), Two Weeks (2006), Tortilla Heaven (2007), Above the Ashes (2011), Jimmy Vestvood: Amerikan Hero (2016), Empty Net (2018), and El Vacío (2019), which was nominated for a News and Documentary Emmy Award. [11]

Recent projects include Burning Sky (2021), a documentary on atomic testing, EcoQuest (2023), a climate change series pilot, and Touchy Feely (2025), an art film about haphephobia that premiered at the Phoenix Film Festival. [12]

Music and composition

Bondelevitch has composed original music for films, conducted choral recording sessions, and collaborated with composers including Branford Marsalis, Randy Edelman, Mason Daring, Christopher Lennertz, and Alan Williams. His scholarly essay North by Northwest: A Case Study of the Bernard Herrmann Style is widely cited in film music studies and used in university curricula. [13]

Academic career

Bondelevitch joined the faculty of the USC School of Cinematic Arts in 1991, teaching courses in sound editing, mixing, and film music until 2008. In 2008, he became an Assistant Professor of Recording Arts at the University of Colorado Denver, where he was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2013. He retired in 2023 and was named Associate Professor Emeritus. [14]

At USC, he introduced the course "Directing the Composer," the school’s first course integrating film students with music students. At Denver, he designed and revised courses in audio post-production, music editing for visual media, surround mixing, and the history of film music. [15]

Professional service

Bondelevitch served as president of the Motion Picture Sound Editors from 2003 to 2005 and was on its board of directors from 1997 to 2023. He also served the Cinema Audio Society as Vice President (2006–2010), Secretary (2012–2019), and board member (2006–2023). [16] He is an Honorary Lifetime Member of the MPSE and a regular contributor to both MPSE’s Wavelength and CAS’s Quarterly magazines. [17]

He is additionally a member of the Television Academy, the Recording Academy, Film Independent, and the International Documentary Association. [18] [19]

Selected filmography

Awards and nominations

YearResultAwardCategoryWorkRef.
1988Nominated Golden Reel Award Best Sound EditingClash: The Last Soldier
1989Nominated Golden Reel Award Best Foley EditingState of Fear
1996Nominated Golden Reel Award Best Sound Editing – Music in a Feature Film The Quest
1998Nominated Golden Reel Award Best Sound Editing - Television Episodic - Music Brimstone
1998Nominated Golden Reel Award Best Sound Editing - Television Movies of the Week - Music The Christmas Wish
1999Nominated Golden Reel Award Best Sound Editing - Television Episodic - Music Cold Feet
1999Nominated Golden Reel Award Best Sound Editing – Television Movies and Specials – Dialogue & ADR The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn
1999Won Golden Reel Award Best Sound Editing - Special Venue Island of the Sharks
2000Won Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Sound Editing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Special The Hunley [20]
2000Nominated Golden Reel Award Best Sound Editing - Direct to Video - Sound EditorialStonebrook
2000Nominated Golden Reel Award Best Sound Editing - Television Movies and Specials - Music Hendrix
2001Nominated Golden Reel Award Best Sound Editing - Music (Foreign & Domestic) Black Knight
2001Won Golden Reel Award Best Sound Editing in Television - Music, Movies and SpecialsRuby's Bucket of Blood
2002Nominated Golden Reel Award Best Sound Editing – Direct to Video Cowboy Up
2002Nominated Golden Reel Award Best Sound Editing in Television Long Form – Dialogue & ADR Gleason
2002Nominated Golden Reel Award Best Sound Editing in Animated Features - Music The Princess and the Pea
2002Nominated Golden Reel Award Best Sound Editing in Television Long Form - MusicJohnson County War
2003Nominated Golden Reel Award Best Sound Editing in Special Venue FilmKilimanjaro
2003Nominated Golden Reel Award Best Sound Editing in a Feature - Music - Feature Film Jeepers Creepers 2
2004Nominated Golden Reel Award Best Sound Editing in Television Long Form - Music A Separate Peace
2005Nominated Golden Reel Award Best Sound Editing in Television Short Form - Music Battlestar Galactica
2006Nominated Golden Reel Award Best Sound Editing in Music for Television - Long Form The Ten Commandments
2011Nominated Golden Reel Award Best Sound Editing - Short Form DocumentaryAbove the Ashes
2012Nominated Heartland Emmy Awards Best Sound DesignerAbove the Ashes [21]
2012Won Heartland Emmy Awards Documentary - TopicalAbove the Ashes [22]

References

  1. ↑ "David Bondelevitch". emmys.com. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  2. ↑ "David Bondelevitch" (PDF). MIT.
  3. ↑ "David Bondelevitch Interviewed by Forrest Larson" (PDF). libraries.mit.edu. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  4. ↑ "David Joseph Bondelevitch". cinema.usc.edu. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  5. ↑ "MPSE taps Bondelevitch prexy". variety.com. September 3, 2003. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  6. ↑ "Berklee Today | Berklee College of Music". college.berklee.edu. Retrieved September 16, 2025.
  7. ↑ "Board of Directors". cinemaaudiosociety.org. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  8. ↑ "2018-2019 MPSE Board of Directors". mpse.org. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  9. ↑ "Faculty cast their votes for the GRAMMYs". news.ucdenver.edu. February 15, 2016. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  10. ↑ "Film Review: 'Southwest of Salem'". variety.com. April 25, 2016. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  11. ↑ jon (August 1, 2012). "Fire documentary earns Emmys for Carpenter, Bondelevitch". CU Connections. Retrieved September 16, 2025.
  12. ↑ "Bondelevitch Way Open for Travel". Swampscott, MA Patch. September 11, 2011. Retrieved September 16, 2025.
  13. ↑ "David Bondelevitch - Film audio, Re-recording mixer". Soundlister.com. Retrieved September 16, 2025.
  14. ↑ "david.bondelevitch@ucdenver.edu". artsandmedia.ucdenver.edu. Retrieved September 16, 2025.
  15. ↑ Barcus, Steven (February 15, 2016). "Faculty cast their votes for the GRAMMYs". CU Denver News. Retrieved September 16, 2025.
  16. ↑ "Motion Picture Sound Editors Elects New Board of Directors". Animation World Network.
  17. ↑ jon (August 1, 2012). "Fire documentary earns Emmys for Carpenter, Bondelevitch". CU Connections. Retrieved September 16, 2025.
  18. ↑ "CAS Awards" (PDF). Cinema Audio Society.
  19. ↑ "Cinema Audio Society picks new officers". The Hollywood Reporter. August 14, 2007. Retrieved September 16, 2025.
  20. ↑ "NBC Leads Tally of Early Emmys, Boosted by 'West Wing'". Los Angeles Times . August 28, 2000. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  21. ↑ "2012 NOMINEES". emmyawards.tv. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  22. ↑ "2012 WINNERS". emmyawards.tv. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
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