Mirco Mencacci

Mirco Mencacci (born 1961) is a prominent Italian sound designer who works with all aspects of sound, principally within film, art, and music.

In 1981, Mencacci founded the SAM recording-facility in Lari, Italy. The studio is also known for its independent record label, book production, film editing, and sound design. Since 2001, he has been fighting a personal battle against noise pollution, the second biggest pollutant in the world.

From 1996 to 2011, Mencacci relocated to Rome, where in 1999 he established a secondary arm of SAM studios, providing post-production services for cinema. In 2001 he also became a partner of Sound On Studios. During his time in Rome, Mencacci coordinated and supervised the post-production on over 400 films.

The film won 19 critic and festival awards, including audience awards at the São Paulo International Film Festival and Sydney Film Festival. It also won a David di Donatello Award from the Accademia del Cinema Italiano.

Cinema

Mencacci has crafted sound design for international films that have screened in over one hundred film festivals across the world. His work has also featured and been exhibited at the Guggenheim in New York City, MOMA, Pompidou in Paris, MAXXI Museum in Rome, and the Venice Biennale with films including Michelangelo's Eye to Eye by Michelangelo Antonioni, Puccini and the Girl by Paolo Benvenuti.

He has frequently collaborated with director Yuri Ancarani, on films including, The Challenge for which Mencacci received the special Jury Award at Locarno Cinema, San Siro which won the Maxxi Award in 2014 and the Sky Arts award in 2014. Mencacci also worked on the trilogy composed by Il Capo which in 2010 screened at the Venice Film Festival, Piattaforma Luna which premiered at the Rome Film Festival in 2011, and the film Da Vinci from the Venice Biennale in 2013.

Mencacci has worked prolifically on films that have screened internationally at film festivals such as the Venice Film Festival, the San Francisco International Film Festival, Eye Honors New York, the Milwaukee Film Festival,

Mencacci is the inventor of the Spherical Sound System, which he uses in his cinematographic works. In 2016 he was invited by Dolby to the Casa del Cinema in Rome in to demonstrate his system to audiences and how it applied to the newly launched Dolby Atmos system. Sound Supervisor Ferzan Özpetek 2002 The Embalmer Sound Supervisor Matteo Garrone 2003 The Best of Youth Sound Supervisor Marco Tullio Giordana 2004 Michelangelo Eye to Eye Sound Designer Michelangelo Antonioni 2004 First Love Sound Supervisor Matteo Garrone 2006 Fascists on Mars Sound Designer Corrado Guzzanti 2008 Puccini and the Girl Sound Designer Paolo Benvenuti 2010 Il Capo Sound Designer Yuri Ancarani 2011 Piattaforma Luna Sound Designer Yuri Ancarani 2013 Da Vinci Sound Designer Yuri Ancarani 2013 Nato prematuro Sound Designer Enzo Cei 2014 San Siro Sound Designer Yuri Ancarani 2014 Séance Sound Designer Yuri Ancarani 2015 Il Rifugio Sound Designer Guy Masseaux 2015 The Colour of Grass Sound Designer Juliane Biasi 2016 The Challenge Sound Designer Yuri Ancarani 2015 The Sounds of Massimo Bottura’s Lasagna Co-director & Sound Designer Yuri Ancarani & Mirco Mencacci 2017 Whipping Zombie Sound Designer Yuri Ancarani 2018 The Dark Wood Sound Designer Guy Masseaux 2018 San Vittore Sound Designer Yuri Ancarani

Music

Mencacci is a prolific music producer and recording engineer across multi genres and international artists. He has been involved in the recording of jazz, classical, pop and experimental music from artists including Benson Taylor, Blonde Redhead, Playing for Change, Luke Winslow-King, Niia, Stefano Bollani, Anthony Sidney, Mauro Refosco, Tony Scott, Sportfreunde Stiller, Irio de Paula, Nguyên Lê, Kazu Makino, Ornella Vanoni, Nada Marina Rei, Il Teatro degli Orrori, Paolo Fresu, Enrico Rava, Bruno Tommaso, Nada, Stewart Copeland, Giovanni Caccamo, Riki (Riccardo Marcuzzo), Zen Circus, Bandabardò, One Dimensional Man, Tooth, Emma Morton, Thegiornalisti, Mauro Ermanno Giovanardi, and many others.

Career

Mencacci regularly hold master classes on sound in cinema across Europe and at international educational institutions including universities & film festivals. In 2009 he travelled to the United States to provide a lectures in sound design for cinema at Syracuse University.

He participated as a speaker on the experimentation of Spherical Sound, and the system of sound recording at Artevisione with Sky and Careof in Milan in 2016, Centro Professione Musica at CPM in Milan, and the Cinekid festival in Amsterdam in 2016, Festival du film de Beauvais in Paris in 2012, Ear to the Earth in New York City in 2006. In 2006, he was a member of the Grand Jury for the Festival International du Film d'Aubagne.

Mencacci has given many interviews and special appearance talks throughout his career, including being the special guest of RAI Uno TG1 news, La vita in diretta, in 2016, an interview for TG1 Persone by Angelo Angelastro in 2014, and many others. He participated in the 90th anniversary celebrations of the Italian Blind Union as a blind person who is distinguished in prestigious activities.