First of the two AXANAR sequels has FINAL SOUND MIX session in Los Angeles!

It was nearly twelve years ago when ALEC PETERS, MARK EDWARD LEWIS, and a bunch of members of the production team of PRELUDE TO AXANAR sat together inside a the SOL 7 sound studio in Encino, CA while the sound levels of that groundbreaking fan film were mixed together and equalized.

It is now 2026, and the sequel that fans have been waiting a dozen years to see is now mere weeks from release! Oh, I know what some of yoou are thinking: We’ve heard THAT one before! “Thirty days out…yeah, right!” was the frequent taunt from detractors as the release date of the two AXANAR sequels (permitted by the 2017 legal settlement with CBS and Paramount) slipped later and later and later still—years later, in fact!

So what makes this time different? Why am I confident enough to state on this blog that I firmly believe that AXANAR: THE GATHERING STORM (the first of the two sequels) will be released to fans before the seasons change from winter to spring in 2026?

Because I’ve just watched the entire thing!!!

With the exception of a handful of shots of two of the actors that haven’t been composited yet to replace the green screen with a CGI-generated digital background (maybe a total of less than 3% of entire film), it’s done. All of the incredible VFX shots, every sound effect, all of the digital readout display animations, the opening credits, the closing credits, the voice-over narration of John Gil, and most of all, the sumptuous musical score composed by the identical twin LIVESAY brothers, JASON and NOLAN. (These guys have worked on and orchestrated multiple big-name Hollywood film, TV, and video projects—including STAR TREK: PICARD, DISCOVERY, STRANGE NEW WORLDS, THE ORVILLE, DAREDEVIL, X-MEN, and a host of others. And now they’ve given Axanar one of the greatest soundtracks in fan film history, at least in my opinion.)

I’ll be honest with you, when I first saw a rough cut of Axanar: The Gathering Storm last year, I wasn’t nearly as impressed as I’d hoped to be. The acting was certainly quite decent, and those VFX shots that had been completed looked spectacular. But it all felt kinda flat and exposition-heavy. I feared that, once the long-anticipated sequels were finally released, fans (especially the more cynical and negative ones) would complain, “We waited twelve years and donated a million and a half dollars for this????”

Oh, me of little faith!

Now that I’ve had a chance to hear the sound mix—a combination of dialog, music, and sound effects—I can truthfully say I was absolutely bowled over! This fan film now feels so ALIVE! Now, granted, I was seeing this on a big screen with 35,000 watts playing through 11 cinema-quality speakers! It felt very much like watching a movie in a theater. And indeed, Mark Lewis (who co-directed, edited, and is doing the sound design) told me he would be creating three different soundtracks for this fan film.

The first sound mix will be intended for the private screenings that Alec is planning at rented theaters in Los Angeles, Atlanta, and ultimately (when the second of the two sequels is released during the summer) at San Diego Comic Con and later at Dragon*Con in Georgia. The second mix will be encoded onto the Blu-Rays distributed to Axanar donors. Those who own decent home entertainment sound systems with quality speakers and sub-woofers will be able to at least get close to a movie theater experience, although still not quite the same richness and range of sound. And finally, there will be a third mix for YouTube, compressing the Empire State Building down to the size of a townhouse in terms of digital sound information conveyed, so the film won’t sound nearly as awesome on YouTube. But Mark is still trying to make that version sound as good as possible. Personally, I’ve now been totally spoiled!

And I will say that the amount of meticulous subtleties that have gone into engineering the sound of this fan film is nothing short of staggering. I mean, of course the subtle “spit clicks” that happen when an actor is speaking have been removed, but that’s just the start. Each character’s voice has certain distinct filters applied. For example, the Klingon voices sound deeper and more gravelly with a slight hint of reverb. Garth (Alec) sounds different than Travis (JG Hertzler) not only because they have different voices but because they also have a certain audio “presence” that distinguishes them from other characters. It’s possible that most fans won’t be able to perceive the differences coming through the standard speakers on their computers, but they are definitely there.

Another example of the attention to detail is the sound of the ships themselves. Obviously, the Klingon engines make different noises than the Federation starships. But as I learned yesterday, each class of starship has its own distinctive sound. There’s one VHX shot where a half dozen starships of different classes are coming out of warp, and each one sounds different as it whooshes to impulse.

It’s these subtle, almost imperceptible sound engineering flourishes on things like voices, engines, weapons fire, explosions, and ambient background noises when people are speaking that will make Axanar not just look like an entirely different kind of fan film but FEEL like one, as well.

So what happens in a sound mixing session? Well, if you’re not the sound engineer sitting at the control console or the mentor advising him, the answer is “not all that much!” There’s a LOT of sitting around quietly (talking distracts the sound guys!) and watching them discuss the same few seconds of film over and over and over and over and over again. You hear the same snippet of music and dialog and sound effects repeated enough times that some (most?) people would start tearing their hair out. Not me, though, as I like to edit video (although I know little about adjusting sound levels), and I’m used to the ridiculous amount of repetition of short clips that’s required. So for me, I found the whole day fascinating!

You, however, might think I’m crazy after watching the following video. Alec told me not to record any of the actors’ faces, as some of them are still secret and will be quite a surprise to many fans when they discover who is in the next two episode sequels. So instead, I recorded a few minutes of Mark working on a VFX sequence. Sadly, my iPhone video can’t really convey the subtle differences in the sound and music as tweaks were made. But if you watch, you’ll at least get a taste of the process…

Granted, not every 10 seconds of film required this much adjustment. But many times, close attention is paid to when certain sounds trigger and end, fade in, fade out, etc. Also, there aren’t simply three sound elements (dialog, music, effects). Often, multiple sound effects are layered over each other, and certain instruments in the music can be increased or decreased in intensity without adjusting others, often allowing a certain word or phrase to be more clearly heard without lowering the volume of the entire piece of music.

The man interacting with and helping Mark in the above video is legendary Hollywood composer and musician MICHAEL BODDICKER, the owner of the Sol 7 Sound Studio that we were in. How legendary is Michael? Well, he has his own Wikipedia page, but take a look at that list of credits—including one of my all-time favorite cult classics, Buckaroo Banzai—and you’ll see he’s had quite a busy Hollywood career!

Ultimately, I was at the studio for around six and a half hours yesterday, including having lunch there with the other guests who’d come: both Axanar composers the Livesay brothers, Mark’s son JOSEPH and brother JOHN-PAUL, Mark’s business partner STERLING, Axanar associate producer DAVE HERNANDEZ (who drove up from San Diego), and JOSH BISHOP, a documentary filmmaker who is planning to make a feature length film about the loooooong and complex history of the Axanar fan film project. There was also Michael Boddicker’s assistant Casper in the room with us as well as Michael’s wife and adult son in the adjacent house. Mark himself flew in from Tennessee and Alec, of course, traveled to L.A. from Georgia. I only had to drive 30 minutes on the 405 and 101 Freeways.

Anyway, folks, it looks like our 12-year mission of waiting is finally nearing its endgame. In the meantime, here’s some more photos that were taken during yesterday’s session…