While Phil DeTolve was growing up and learning he had a love for music he wasn’t thinking that he would be winning Emmy Awards.
DeTolve is a lifelong musician who came up playing piano and guitar with his garage band. This led him to MSU where he received two Bachelor of Arts degrees, one in music and one in telecommunications in 2007. Using his degrees, he works at Levels Audio in Hollywood as a re-recording mixer.
“As the mixer, I take everything they record to camera, plus the score from the composer, sound effects and Foley—basically every element of sound,” DeTolve says. “It's my job to balance everything so the story is told and the dialog, music and sound effects come together into a nice, cohesive package.”
During his time at Levels Audio, DeTolve has worked on “America’s Got Talent,” the reboot of “Unsolved Mysteries,” and “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour.”
DeTolve says his goal is to help engage viewers in the story so they forget about the sound completely. “Most people don’t notice a good mix, but they do notice a bad mix,” he said. When nobody notices it, I've done my job.”
This year he has gotten plenty of notice. DeTolve has raked in six award nominations for various projects in 2024. He and his mentor and mixing partner, Brian Riordan, earned a Primetime Emmy win for their work on “Billy Joel: The 100th - Live at Madison Square Garden.”
This was the third Emmy win of DeTolve’s career, but it was his first time attending the event and accepting an award in person. Despite having a Hollywood career and three Emmy wins, DeTolve continues looking to learn new things and share his knowledge.
“Share the experiences, share the knowledge, because there's no point in hoarding all that information,” he said. “I saw that bestowed upon me by the Spartans who came out here and have incredibly successful careers. They’ve shared their insights and given me great advice and mentorship and friendship. And the common thread is Michigan State. I’ve taken that as a lesson in every aspect of my life: If you can help someone, do it.”