David Parker Wiki: Sound Engineer, Net Worth, 'The Social Network' & Facts To Know

You have probably watched the movie, “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.” If you have not, you need to catch up and watch it. You will notice that the sound in the movie has been worked on perfectly. Well, it wouldn’t be so good if it were not for David Parker, the sound engineer of the movie. Not much of Parker is known, and you might confuse him with the serial killer also known as David Parker. Parker is just a down to earth sound engineer who has worked on other projects like “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl,” “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” “The Social Network,” and Brad Pitt’s “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” 66-year-old David Parker has bagged two Oscars for best sound and nominated for another five, including the Oscar 2018. Parker has worked on over 140 films since he became a professional sound engineer in 1980. The awards Parker won was for “The English Patient” and “The Bourne Ultimatum.” The first movie Parker worked on was “Never Cry Wolf” that was released in 1983. The nominations that he has received are for the movies like the “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl,” “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” “The Social Network,” and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” The most recent movie that Parker has been nominated for is “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” and it helped Parker grow his net worth.

“The Last Jedi” was very successful at the box office with $1.2 billion. It looks like it’s about to receive some gold awards as well. It is nominated on the four categories on Oscar 2018, one of them being the best sound engineer, David Parker. Parker was delighted when he heard the good news. Parker is in the sound mixing category alongside Ren Klyce, Michael Semanick, and Stuart Wilson. You wonder why the likes of David Parker could not miss in this year’s nomination. The reason is “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” sound was just great and was one of the reasons the movie did so well. It was the ninth sequel of one of Hollywood’s most successful space saga movie. The director, Rian Johnson, with the assistance of Parker and the other members of the crew, tried something never attempted before in other films, silence. After its release, some movie theatres posted signs telling people that after an hour and 52 minutes, the movie sound stops for 10 seconds and they were not supposed to be alarmed as it was the intention of its makers including Parker.

Parker stated that when he ventured into film as a sound engineer, it was a hard start for him since he didn’t have the funds to buy all the equipment he needed. But as Parker’s career grew, he managed to buy the most vital equipment one by one. Parker said that it was very crucial for a sound engineer to have both the knowledge of music technology and the tools. Parker also said that when you have the required software and hardware and the knowledge, you can make a boring movie which also has some poor visuals one of the best grossing depending on how created the sound in it. Parker also believes that his knowledge as a sound engineer partly helped “The Last Jedi” perform well.

In life, it’s essential to have a mentor when you are beginning a career. Parker has mentored some sound engineers in Hollywood. The reason Parker mentors them is that he wants them to get better and without Parker, some upcoming might lack the constructive feedback. According to Parker, people who do good in their field of profession didn’t depend on books alone, but they found their mentors who helped them adapt to their profession. Parker is quite experienced with the industry. He has worked on almost 150 films since 1980 and Parker has won a couple of awards. That’s proof that Parker is one of the most successful sound engineers in Hollywood, and if you want some guidance, you can reach out to him.

Parker states that Copyright issues on music are very common and that’s why movies hire singers to make the theme songs of the movies. But when it’s urgent, and you can’t be able to bring a singer on board, Parker suggests that before you use it on the scene, make sure you have the right. Parker added that if you allow the actor to sing it without the permission of the owner, you will have to reshoot the scene or drop the whole scene. Parker also added that the most important thing to remember is that you are not working alone. The director and the sound person are most important when shooting a film.

Parker’s net worth has not been revealed yet. Regardless of that, Parker has, of course, made an awesome net worth with all the 140 films he has worked on.

With all his net worth and two Oscars, Parker has achieved much in his career as a sound engineer. He just might win his third Oscar this year.