David J. Bondelevitch MPSE, CAS is an American sound editor, re-recording mixer, composer, and educator. He has worked on more than 150 film and television projects and is a past president of the Motion Picture Sound Editors (MPSE). His credits include the Emmy-winning The Hunley (2000), the Peabody AwardâÂÂwinning documentary (2016), and the Heartland EmmyâÂÂwinning Above the Ashes (2011). He has received two Golden Reel Awards and more than 25 nominations.
Bondelevitch was born in Swampscott, Massachusetts. He began playing trumpet at age nine, inspired by a television appearance by Louis Armstrong.
He earned two bachelorâÂÂs degrees in 1985: a Bachelor of Science in Art and Design from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Composition from the Berklee College of Music, where he graduated magna cum laude. At MIT, he performed with the Festival Jazz Ensemble under Herb Pomeroy, winning two Outstanding Ensemble awards at the Notre Dame Collegiate Jazz Festival, and appeared with the MIT Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall in a program including StravinskyâÂÂs Rite of Spring. He went on to earn a Master of Fine Arts in Cinema Production from the USC School of Cinematic Arts in 1989.
Bondelevitch began working professionally in the late 1980s. He received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Sound Editing for The Hunley (2000). In 1999, he won a Golden Reel Award for the IMAX documentary Island of the Sharks, and in 2001, another Golden Reel for the Showtime musical RubyâÂÂs.
He won the George Foster Peabody Award as dialogue editor and re-recording mixer for ' (2016), a documentary that has also won multiple festival prizes. His other credits include Battlestar Galactica (2005âÂÂ2006), Strangers with Candy (2006), Two Weeks (2006), Tortilla Heaven (2007), Above the Ashes (2011), Jimmy Vestvood: Amerikan Hero (2016), Empty Net (2018), and El VacÃÂo (2019), which was nominated for a News and Documentary Emmy Award.
Recent projects include Burning Sky (2021), a documentary on atomic testing, EcoQuest (2023), a climate change series pilot, and Touchy Feely (2025), an art film about haphephobia that premiered at the Phoenix Film Festival.
Bondelevitch has composed original music for films, conducted choral recording sessions, and collaborated with composers including Branford Marsalis, Randy Edelman, Mason Daring, Christopher Lennertz, and Alan Williams. His scholarly essay North by Northwest: A Case Study of the Bernard Herrmann Style is widely cited in film music studies and used in university curricula.
Bondelevitch joined the faculty of the USC School of Cinematic Arts in 1991, teaching courses in sound editing, mixing, and film music until 2008. In 2008, he became an Assistant Professor of Recording Arts at the University of Colorado Denver, where he was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2013. He retired in 2023 and was named Associate Professor Emeritus.
At USC, he introduced the course "Directing the Composer," the schoolâÂÂs first course integrating film students with music students. At Denver, he designed and revised courses in audio post-production, music editing for visual media, surround mixing, and the history of film music.
Bondelevitch served as president of the Motion Picture Sound Editors from 2003 to 2005 and was on its board of directors from 1997 to 2023. He also served the Cinema Audio Society as Vice President (2006âÂÂ2010), Secretary (2012âÂÂ2019), and board member (2006âÂÂ2023). He is an Honorary Lifetime Member of the MPSE and a regular contributor to both MPSEâÂÂs Wavelength and CASâÂÂs Quarterly magazines.
He is additionally a member of the Television Academy, the Recording Academy, Film Independent, and the International Documentary Association.