Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
PROVO — Utah has long been a hot spot for TV show and movie filming, and now it can add a cult classic children's show to its resume.
"Yo Gabba Gabba!" is back in the form of the new Apple TV+ 10-episode revival series "Yo Gabba GabbaLand!", with much of the filming and audio work done in Utah. The original show aired on Nickelodeon from 2007-2019 and was filmed in California. The 2024 revival series was largely filmed at the Utah Film Studios in Park City, with audio tracking and editing done in Provo at June Audio.
Recording engineers and producers Mason Winter and Chance Clift, of June Audio, gave a unique insight into what it took to create the magic of "Yo Gabba GabbaLand!"
"I engineered the recording for the voiceover audio for a few of the characters," Clift explained. "I would record the voice actors doing their dialogue and then, from what I understand, the actors would film to that audio."
Recording the audio was just one piece to the audio puzzle, as it made its way to Winter, who then painstakingly edited and added music to create entire episodes for the actors to perform.
"It's kind of a "Teletubbies" sort of situation, which is a really funny sentence that I've said many times," Winter laughed. "There's a really creative element to it because you have to visualize what they're doing because there's no visual that you're referencing. So I would go through the script with only the audio and envision what would be happening onscreen to make the episodes flow where characters talk to each other and go on adventures. … It was a lot of hours building the show in audio before we were able to go on set and film it.
"I think 'Yo Gabba GabbaLand!' is unique because most shows have actors on stage talking and acting. But, since the characters are in costume, they can't talk when they're on stage. I don't think there's really any other show that does it like this."
All the logistics aside, Winter said seeing his nieces and nephews enjoy the final project made it worthwhile.
"After it left my hands, I didn't see it until it came out," he said. "When it came out, my wife and I sat in our apartment and it was kind of surreal, but it really didn't feel like we had really done anything special until we got to show my nephew, who is 1-and-a-half, and my niece, who lives in California. They both love it, and watching them enjoy it was like, wow — you know, this is who we made it for. I thought the show was cool but it didn't really matter what I thought; it mattered what they thought."
"Yo Gabba GabbaLand!" released the 10-episode series on Aug. 9, with all episodes streaming on Apple TV+.
Correction: The article initially mentioned Nate Pyfer, though, the interview was with Mason Winter.
