I love Charlie Chaplain. I really do. But was he ever wrong when he predicted that “talkies” were a fad that would quickly die out. Since “The Jazz Singer” revolutionized cinema eighty years ago with its addition of sound to a movie’s visuals, so much of filmmaking has been told by its audio elements.

There is a distinction between the “sound” awards awarded by the Academy. Best Sound Editing recognizes achievement in integrating effects – the artificially created “clinks, rustles and grunts” – into the overall soundtrack. Best Sound Mixing refers to the creation and integration of all aural elements – effects, dialogue, music and anything else heard in the film – into a soundtrack of appropriate volume and consistency. Up to three re-recording mixers and one production sound mixer are eligible to share this award.

This is a category where several types of films are frequently seen. The first among these is the musical. As I discuss below, when musicals are good, they are almost always nominated and frequently win. Also seen regularly is the war film. Alas, there do not seem to be any traditional entries from this genre that are in real contention this year.

Blockbusters and big money makers also frequent the category. The sheer loudness of many of these films seems to get them nominated. But then there’s the fact that Best Picture contenders have an incredible knack of showing up all over the place, this category included. That said, the last two years have both been absent of Best Picture nominees – perhaps signaling a change of sorts, perhaps not.

The sound community is a tight-knit one in Hollywood. Among the nominees every year, there are several individuals with career nominations totals of close to, if not well within the realm of double digits. The significant majority of nominees every year have been nominated before. Films being nominated without any past nominees aboard a crew are almost unheard of.

Perhaps the biggest question of this year’s race is what will become of Kevin O’Connell and Greg P. Russell. The duo has gained a fair bit of Oscar infamy for having accumulated 30 nominations without a win between them. O’Connell’s 19 nods without a win is the highest tally in Oscar history, which got him a great deal of media attention last year.

The duo worked together twice this year – on Sam Raimi’s “Spider-Man 3” and Michael Bay’s “Transformers.” They have previously been nominated for not only their two previous efforts in Raimi’s hugely successful franchise but also for “The Rock,” “Armageddon” and “Pearl Harbor,” all from Bay. Both films this year were massive hits and very loud indeed. I can’t see them winning for the “Spider-Man 3” given they couldn’t manage it for the first two and this one is widely seen as where the franchise jumped the shark. Nevertheless, I do think that they have fantastic chances at a nomination for it.

I personally believe O’Connell and Russell have a great shot at finally winning for “Transformers.” There is no denying how loud this film was or how integral the sound was to the overall feel of the movie. Moreover, I don’t see any film being that much of a challenge, as most of the other contenders are either sequels, marginal as sound category contenders or films of which I’m simply doubtful. Then again, there is that big musical coming out around Christmas…but I’ll get there in a minute.

Last year, the season’s big musical was Bill Condon’s “Dreamgirls,” for which Michael Minkler won his third Oscar. Unfortunately, Minkler made some highly inappropriate remarks regarding O’Connell after the show which left an awfully sour taste in that close-knit community of sound technicians. While Minkler apologized and O’Connell accepted, I can’t help but wonder if that will affect Minkler’s future chances in this category. But I’m just thinking out loud here. Minkler’s work will also be on display this season in Ridley Scott’s “American Gangster.” Scott’s film has received some kind advance word. But will the film be loved? And will the sound be notable enough to bring Minkler back into the race? It’s hard to say.

But familiar faces will be seen outside of O’Connell, Russell and Minkler. The team behind “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End,” led by Christopher Boyes, Paul Massey and Lee Orloff – Oscar favorites all – will be back in the hunt again this year. They’ve been nominated for the two previous installments in this series from Jerry Bruckheimer, king of the sound awards. Surely they’ll be in contention once more.

Now for the musical. Blending dialogue, singing and instrumental music is always an audio feat which draws attention to itself. Tim Burton’s “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” will be doing just that this year. Many think Burton is over due for Oscar recognition, and Sondheim’s Broadway masterpiece has been awards bait elsewhere. If the film comes off without a hitch (which I still think is considerable “if”), then I certainly expect this nomination to follow.

Continuing down the road of musicals, Adam Shenkman’s “Hairspray” turned out to be one of the biggest surprises of the summer to many a viewer, myself included. Given the campiness of this material and Shenkman’s past filmography, I assumed the film would wind up being a dud. But instead, embracing its own cheekiness, it became a surprising hit with both critics and audiences. The sound mixing from Oscar winners Rick Kline and David MacMillan must surely be considered as a potential nominee. Nonetheless, if there is room for only one musical, I’d give the edge to “Sweeney Todd.”

“Beowulf” is the latest experimental semi-animated feature from Robert Zemeckis. Zemieckis is a director who has had a very mixed record with Oscar, from incredible success with “Forrest Gump” and “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” to relative misses (“Cast Away,” “The Polar Express”) in recent years. Nonetheless, “The Polar Express” managed to grab a sound mixing nomination here three years ago, an extremely rare feat for an animated feature. “Beowulf,” one would imagine, would be even more reliant on its soundscape to tell the story. Sound guru Randy Thom is in charge of this effort and he’s been nominated six times over strictly for his Zemeckis collaborations. That said, I’d also imagine that it could turn out an even tougher sell at the box office – to say nothing of quality. We’ll wait this one out.

Having read the scripts for both “Lions for Lambs” and “There Will Be Blood,” I can tell you that certain scenes in both movies could be very loud indeed. If either movie catches on in a major fashion, I wouldn’t rule them out here. Neither film are saddled with sound favorites but “There Will Be Blood”’s Tom Johnson and “Lions for Lambs”’s Petur Hliddal are both previous nominees. That said, I remain highly skeptical of the quality, if any, that will come out of Redford’s film, while I’m not sure how much of a sweeper Anderson’s will become, even if it is an instant classic. AMPAS hasn’t embraced his filmography to date, nor does he usually work with crafts artists who are Oscar regulars (in fact, one-time nominee cinematographer Robert Elswit is the only non-sound craftsmen on board who has ever been nominated before).

“No Country for Old Men” will attempt to return the Coen brothers to the sort of Oscar success they only experienced once, with “Fargo.” There will likely be a great deal of action and violence in this. So while I don’t think that it will be memorable enough to sneak in here, I’d keep an eye on it nevertheless. Peter Kurland and Greg Orloff are both past nominees.

And if we’re speaking of potential sweepers, I would not totally discount Mike Nichols’s “Charlie Wilson’s War” either. Nothing about that film screams “Best Sound Mixing” to me, but given the premise, there could possibly be some basis for a nomination, if the film really begins to rack up the nods. Petur Hliddal is on board here as well.

Chris Weitz’s “The Golden Compass” could be a tech category behemoth. The soundscape will combine a great deal of sound effects with much action chaos and what could be an iconic score from the great Alexandre Desplat. If Weitz turns out a hit, this category ought to be considered. That said, none of the re-recording mixers are past nominees (though production sound mixer Tony Dawe does have four nominations to his credit) and I don't know if the box office will be as big here as for the summer films. We'll see.

Finally, I’d like to mention Paul Greengrass’s “The Bourne Ultimatum.” I’m probably just pimping a favorite here but I have found the sound work in the last two installments in this series, especially the second, to be nothing short of fantastic. Bob Beemer and Scott Millan are also both consistent nominees, with seven statuettes between them. Admittedly, an Oscar nomination for the series hasn’t happened in any category thus far and it’s very rare when the third film out is the first one to accomplishment that trick (in fact, I’m not sure if it’s ever happened.) Nonetheless…I’ll keep hoping!

Another category down. We’ll keep plowing through them in the next few weeks, but be on the look out for some special features mixed in here and there.

(EDITOR'S NOTE: If there's anyone sorely missing from this initial prospective line-up, it's five-time nominee Paul Massey and his work on the ever-prevalent "3:10 to Yuma.")

Sound mixing is the multi-faceted art of compiling, engineering and balancing what we hear in a given film’s soundtrack. It is not the integration of artificially created sounds into said soundtrack (that would be sound editing), but the mixing of recorded sounds into the overall audible template of the film. Up to three sound re-recording mixers and a production sound mixer can share an Academy Award nomination for Best Sound Mixing, which had simply been known as “Best Sound” prior to 2003.

It goes without saying that films often recognized in this category are of a louder breed. Musicals are always threats, as are war films and action films of varying tonal degrees. At least a couple of Best Picture nominees tend to find their way into the category, with last year being a very noticeable exception. On the flipside, the category can be the refuge of films relegated to technical merit above and beyond anything close to major category consideration (“The Mummy,” anyone?).

Musicals are obviously an opportunity for a sound mixer to show their talent, with the task of blending a musical soundtrack into the film being essential for success. Within the songs, a mixer has to make sure the vocal work is balanced with the instrumental music in the most effective way possible. On "Dreamgirls", Bill Condon has Bob Beemer, Michael Minkler and Willie Burton on the job. These three men have accumulated 21 nominations and 6 wins between them, so if any other indication was needed…

As mentioned, war films are another genre that tends to bring attention from the sound design branch. Clint Eastwood’s “Flags of Our Fathers” fits this mold like a glove, given the noisy and chaotic battle sequences in the Americans’ raid on Iwo Jima. When one factors in the fact that John Reitz, Dave Campbell, Gregg Rudloff and Steve Pederson are all esteemed Oscar winners in the field, this nod begins to look quite assured indeed. But I must say I’m curious as to how the entrance of “Letters from Iwo Jima” into this year’s race will affect the Oscar prospects of “Flags of Our Fathers” on the whole.

There seems to always be room for a summer blockbuster in the Best Sound mix (no pun intended). In fact, at least one so-called "summer popcorn flick" has been nominated here for the last 13 years.

“Superman Returns” has aforementioned Oscar winners Dave Campbell and Greg Rudloff on board to form a soundtrack for a film that is very noisy indeed. But they are already working on the crew of Eastwood’s film, and I sense that the box office troubles of Bryan Singer’s film may sour its Oscar potential.

Despite a talented and revered crew (Andy Nelson and Anna Behlmer are perennial favorites), I have real problems seeing “Mission: Impossible III” scoring where its predecessors failed – even if it is a very loud film.

Nevertheless, I see a genuine contender in “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.” There’s no denying the great track record of films in this category from producer Jerry Bruckheimer (typically due to Oscar’s biggest “loser,” multi-nominee Kevin O’Connell being in the hunt). And this film is not only Bruckheimer’s most financially successful to date, but it's also noisy and somewhat epic in scope. Gregg Orloff, Paul Massey and Christopher Boyes are all usual suspects in the category. The only hesitation I have is that it the film is widely seen as an artistic disappointment. But frankly, that doesn’t always matter.

Speaking earlier of Andy Nelson and Anna Behlmer, their talents will also be on display this year in Edward Zwick’s “Blood Diamond.” Along with Ivan Sharrock (another Oscar winner), they are responsible for crafting the sound of war-torn Sierra Leone. This strikes me as a possibility depending on how effective the terribly uneven Edward Zwick is on his latest effort (which early word seems to indicate it was a miss).

Recent weeks have shown that Paramount is hard-core about promoting "World Trade Center" with their strategic DVD release and their high profile screenings. The sound in the film is also eerily effective. Michael Keller (heinously snubbed for Oliver Stone’s “Any Given Sunday”) is on the sound crew with Oscar nominee John Pritchett and Oscar winner Scott Millan, so this strikes me as great possibility, Best Picture or not.

The other 9/11 film this year, Paul Greengrass’s “United 93,” had a very effective sound design. It’s almost as if you can close your eyes and hear the story told quite effectively still. But the work strikes me as awfully subtle for a nomination, and it’s lacking major name recognition on the crew to sell it.

Tom Fleischman and Danny Michael are both past nominees who have this year lent their talents to Martin Scorsese's "The Departed," a film that had very memorable and effective sound work in its action scenes, not to mention a loud and rambunctious musical soundtrack. With the film looking more and more like a Best Picture contender, I suspect we'll see Fleischman and Michael in the running again.

Animated films tend to be noticed more for their sound editing than for their sound mixing. Yet both "The Polar Express" and "The Incredibles" were nominated here two years ago, a tribute to the great integration of music, sound effects and dialogue to create two very loud, exciting films. The crew on Pixar’s “Cars” has, for the most part, not experienced Oscar love to date in this category (with the notable exception of Gary Summers, a 7-time nominee and 4-time winner). Considering the very loud race scenes and the cleverly chosen musical soundtrack, a nod is still clearly possible.

The crewmembers on Warner Bros.’s “Happy Feet” are veterans of the Australian awards circuit, but they’re hardly known here in the States. The sound work on the film is still exceptional, so we'll see if it can build on its mega hit status to the point of garnering Oscar attention.

“Monster House” is yet another animated treat with great sound design. Rick Kline is a 11-time nominee and Gary Rizzo was nominated for an animated feature here in 2004 (“The Incredibles”). But Sony’s film was not exactly a huge hit, and it’s really more of a sound editor’s film than a sound mixer’s.

A film I felt had excellent sound design was “Babel,” effective in the most unexpected of ways. But considering the subtlety of the work, and the fact that the crew is unseasoned Oscar-wise, I wouldn’t bet on a nomination – especially without Best Picture placement.

Moving on to a film very hot at the moment, “Casino Royale” has the best reviews of the Bond franchise in AGES (deservedly so, might I add). It has nevertheless been over two decades since a 007 effort tickled the Academy’s fancy, and even if the sound design on the film was quite accomplished, there aren’t any strikingly recognizable engineers on the crew.

I’ll finish up today with the aforementioned Kevin O’Connell, whose name is among the nominees almost every year. O’Connell has been cited in this category an astounding 18 times in the past 22 years. Shall we call him the John Williams of the sound design arena? Yet, unlike Mr. Williams, O’Connell has never managed a win – which is rather unfortunate. He’s working on Mel Gibson’s “Apocalypto” this year with longtime collaborator (and 12-time loser) Greg P. Russell. As I highly doubt this will be a quiet endeavor, I suspect O’Connell and Russell are headed towards their 19th and 13th nods respectively. And with a fair bit of luck, I could perhaps see them in the running for the win next year for Sam Raimi’s “Spider-Man 3.”

Next week, we turn to Music and finish up the first glances at the categories.