About Us

The Cinema Audio Society was formed in 1964 for the purpose of fostering community among mixers, educating and informing the general public and the motion picture and television industry about good and effective sound usage, and to achieve deserved recognition for sound mixers as major contributors to the field of entertainment. Our full position statement can be accessed here.

We have six (6) categories of membership: Active (Full), Associate, Career Achievement, Honorary, Student, and Retired.

Active members are mixers – Production and Post Production – who work on features and television shows. This includes production mixers, re-recording mixers, foley, ADR, and scoring mixers.

Associate members are industry professionals – such as sound editors, technicians, engineers, microphone boom operators, in adjacent sound professions.

The CAS also holds social events like film screenings with Q&As, family friendly events, membership meetings, and educational meetings on topics of interest to those in our industry. Some of our past meetings and panels have been “Dialogue: from the Microphone to the Screen,” “Digital Multi-Track Formats – Their Uses and Abuses,” and “Sound at the Speed of Light – Dante’s Capabilities and Applications.” We’ve also held wireless microphone symposiums, a dialogue pre-dub forum, and a demonstration of digital post production and digital sound effects editing.

We also publish the CAS Quarterly – a well-respected publication filled with member-contributed articles that seek to educate and inform.

Each year the CAS hosts their eponymous awards show to present nominated sound mixers and teams with the CAS Award for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for both theatrical features and shows, including live-action, animated, and documentary categories. The CAS also presents the highly prestigious Career Achievement Award to a deserving sound mixer as well as the Filmmaker Award to a creator who encourages and promotes sound as a narrative tool. Past Career Achievement honorees include Ray Dolby, Walter Murch, Jim Webb, Doc Kane, Tomlinson Holman, Anna Behlmer, John Pritchett, Lee Orloff, and Tom Fleischman. Some of our past filmmakers include Quentin Tarantino, Jonathan Demme, Richard Linklater, Steven Spielberg, and Jon Favreau.

Additionally, we also have a Student Recognition Award. With this award and our education outreach, we hope to help encourage and shepherd in the next generation of sound professionals.

To learn more about the individual awards and eligibility, as well as past award nominees and winners see our download page.

The Cinema Audio Society is a philanthropic, non-profit organization that has become the organization for sound mixing professionals in the motion picture and television industry.