Johnnie Burn

Johnnie Burn is a British sound designer, supervising sound editor and re-recording mixer.

At around nineteen, while studying business, Johnnie briefly lost his hearing after a water bottle exploded. The experience prompted him to leave university and pursue his interest in sound.

He started as a runner at a recording studio in Soho, learning the craft through an apprenticeship and working on the studio’s equipment after hours. Commercials and music videos brought him into contact with Jonathan Glazer.

Glazer’s Birth (2004) marked his move into major feature films. Their collaboration continued with Under the Skin and The Zone of Interest, alongside a long-standing working relationship with Yorgos Lanthimos and films with directors including Jordan Peele and Trey Edward Shults.

For The Zone of Interest, he shared the 2024 Academy Award and BAFTA for Sound with Tarn Willers, and received the 2023 CST Award for Best Artist-Technician at Cannes. In 2024, he became the first sound designer to sign with Creative Artists Agency.

His work includes long-standing collaborations with Jonathan Glazer and Yorgos Lanthimos, and films with Jordan Peele, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Danny Boyle, Chloé Zhao, Ben Affleck, Trey Edward Shults and Daniel Roher.

He often begins with the script, working with the director to find what sound can bring to the story.

For Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest, a long period of research and experimentation went into building the world heard beyond the garden wall. Distant voices, machinery and violence tell the part of the story that remains outside the frame. The film received the Academy Award and BAFTA for Sound, shared by Johnnie and Tarn Willers, and Johnnie received the CST Award for Best Artist-Technician at Cannes.

On Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s Digger, he joined during post-production for the final mix, working with the shifts in perspective and dynamics that shape the film.

For Ben Affleck’s Animals, the sounds of Los Angeles contribute to the pressure surrounding the characters.

Danny Boyle’s INK draws on the everyday noise of the pre-digital era: printing presses, typewriters, telephones and trains. Their rhythms give the film much of its pace.

In Daniel Roher’s Tuner, sound brings the audience into the experience of a character with an unusually sensitive ear.

Other films include Under the Skin, Nope, The Favourite, Poor Things, Kinds of Kindness, Bugonia, 28 Years Later and Hamnet. Johnnie is based in London and represented by CAA.