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Byron Shire
June 24, 2026

Vale Paul ‘Salty’ Brincat

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Paul Brincat. Photo supplied

Paul (Salty) Brincat was an Australian sound recordist who worked in television and film on more than 100 productions. He was a resident of Fernvale, New South Wales for over 35 years, living on his property ’Illalangi’.

Paul passed 1 June, 2025 at home with his family after battling a brain tumour following surgery undertaken in January, 2024.

He worked in Australia during his early career and globally for most of his time in film, working in Australia occasionally up to his retirement.

Winning artist

His achievements are both significant and many.

Paul was nominated for an Oscar for Best Sound for ‘The Thin Red Line’ at the 71st Academy Awards in 1999. He won an Emmy for Outstanding Sound mixing for the US 1996 television series ‘Flipper’.

During his career Paul has been nominated nine times in the categories of Best Sound in both Film and Television, Best Sound Editing and Mixing and Best Achievement for a Television Drama Series.

He won seven awards including Best Sound, 2012, Australian Screen Sound Guild Award, for the Television Drama ‘Redfern Now’. Best Foreign Funded Film Soundtrack 1999 by the Australian Screen Sound Guild for ‘The Thin Red Line’. Best Sound 2020, Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) for ‘The Invisible Man’. Outstanding Sound (Mixing & Editing) Satellite Award 2005 for Star Wars: Episode 3 – The Revenge of the Sith, Best Sound in Television, Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) 2017 for ’Wake in Fright’ and Best Sound, 2020 International Online Cinema Awards for ‘The Invisible Man’.

Paul worked with directors the like of George Lukas, Ron Howard, Terrance Malik, Russell Crowe, Michael Apted & John Woo.

He worked with such talented people as Anthony Hopkins, Kylie Minogue, Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer, Vin Diesel, Hayden Christensen, Christopher Lee, Elizabeth Moss, Barbara Streisand, Sean Penn, George Clooney and John Travolta to name a few.

Paul was the sound recordist on such films as ‘The Thin Red Line’, ‘Star Wars 2 and 3’, ‘Thirteen Lives’, ‘The Invisible Man’, ‘Nania-The Dawn Treader’, ‘Mission Impossible 2’, ‘The Delinquents’ and’ ‘Young Einstein’.

His work in television includes ‘Flipper’, ‘Archer’, ‘Melba’, ‘Irreverent’, ‘A Place to Call Home’, ‘Eden’, ‘The Young Doctors’, ‘Redfern Now’, ‘Terra Nova’, ‘Wake in Fright’ and ‘Cleverman’.

A Memorial is planned to honour his life this month. It will bring together family, friends and a host of work colleagues from both television and film.

Paul is survived by his sons, Sam and Marcus and close family.



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