The Mix One Studios Blog

Busy Doing the Audio Production Thing

2009-10-27T15:55:00.008-04:00

Val Kilmer came to Mix One Studios last week for not one, but two, ADR sessions with David Porter. One was for "The Irishman", directed by Jonathan Hensleigh. "The Irishman" stars Kilmer and Christopher Walken and tells the true story of Danny Greene, a tough Irish thug working for mobsters in Cleveland during the 1970's. Kilmer's other project, "Provinces of Night", directed by Shane Dax Taylor, has him as the lead in a romantic drama set in Tennessee. Both films come out in 2010.

Ted Paduck also had a busy week. He helped local band, Big Party Orchestra record a short demo, continued to mix the new Loomers album, “Reeling Down a Road,” and recorded some new tracks for the Joe Birmingham Experiment.

Look out for out next blog entry because there is a lot of excitement going at Mix One—Ben Affleck will be here, along with Chris Cooper and maybe even a surprise guest!

It’s Tough to Be a Girl

2009-10-06T16:40:00.005-04:00

Chris Anderson engineered and mixed a session for the upcoming PBS documentary, “A Girls Life.” Hosted by researcher and author Rachel Simmons, “A Girls Life” explores the challenges facing young women as they surf the waves of 21^st century adolescence. Rachel, along with producer Elizabeth Arledge and co-producer/director Jackie Mow, came into Mix One for sound design and mix for the one-hour long program, which airs December 30^th.

“A Girls Life” focuses on the opportunities and hardships of girls coming into adulthood. Rachel interviews parents, psychologists, teachers, and social workers who are helping nurture girls into capable, resilient adults. She also talks with four very special girls who tell their own deeply personal tales of dealing with issues like cyber bullying, body image, and violence. “We’re proud to have been a part of such an in-depth exploration” says Chris. “I see this show as a guide to anyone with daughters—a required viewing for sure!”

Mix One Makes a Lasting Impression

2009-10-06T15:57:00.003-04:00

Just a few weeks ago I was reading Shred News and stumbled on an interview with up-and-coming indie/folk singer Will Knox. I wondered why this name looked so familiar. Then it hit me; Will Knox came into the studio summer of 2007 to record his Buckled Knees EP.

Will approached Ted after doing some overdubs with Sydney Wayser a few years back. He liked that Ted was doing some un-orthodox tracking for her CD, such as recording with no headphones and tracking her duet on a bi-directional mic as a single performance rather than overdubbing each person. Will wanted Ted to record his EP in a similar fashion.

Ted set Will up in Studio A for the initial tracking session. He didn’t use headphones and got as close to the band as he could so that they felt like they were in their rehearsal space or at a gig. Tracking was very organic and natural, with minimal overdubs. Ted led will through some great vocal takes, which no one had ever done before. The album turned out to be a success, landing Will gigs all across the US and Europe. Shred News called his set a “sublime blend of intriguing new music, and relaxing atmosphere to combine for one of the most enjoyably unexpected pre-show acts I’ve ever seen.” Good job Will! We knew you had it in you.

Catching up with Ted

2009-09-15T15:52:00.007-04:00

Ted has been so busy these past couple of months that I usually just get glimpses of him through the glass door of the machine room. But today I had the rare opportunity to actually chat with him (rather than text or email) so I took advantage and had him bring me up to speed on some of his recent work.

Ted recorded two songs with Kris Allen (American Idol season 8 winner) for his new album, produced by Steve Kipner and Andrew Frampton. After recording vocals for one of the songs, Kris was inspired to whip out an entire new song while at Mix One.

Debbie Cavalier recorded a few tracks with Ted for her new children’s album.
Ted tracked/mixed an album for Matt Jackson for Never Web Records.
Currently Ted is working on the Loomers new album, which is expected to come out before the end of 09.

I’m glad I caught Ted when I did because his workload is definitely not getting any lighter!

Mix One Makes boston.com's List of Top Spots

2009-07-10T15:48:00.006-04:00

Maybe we're dating ourselves a bit here, but recently, boston.com posted an article about the best TV spots out there with Boston ties, so maybe it's fair game to bring up our past. Mix One's Dave Porter and Chris Anderson occupy two of those top ten slots - 6 and 9, respectively. Click here to see the full list - it puts us in some pretty nice company.

Not bad for an upstart company, huh?

I Know I Can't Dance

2009-06-01T12:45:00.005-04:00

So You Think You Can Dance was in town last week doing their Boston-area auditions for the upcoming season, and they needed a place to park host Cat Deeley for the day so she could record voice over for a show in the current season.

Yeah, I didn't get it at first, either - seems while they're out there auditioning and taping for the new season, the current season's dramas are still being played out. It makes for a lot of travel and, I would guess, some continuity issues for the hosts - as in, if this is Boston, it must be Friday and season 6. Until I have to do that voice session for season 5.

Huh?

Anyway - it's good to know that some stars are genuinely nice people, it is too often just the opposite. Cat was sweet, friendly, warm, professional, and has a great sense of humor about the whole thing - and yes, she really is that tall! About 6 feet, I'd say - but she was wearing heels, too. But I'm nearly 6'4", look at the pic and you do the math.

The session was done via ISDN with Levels in Hollywood - Mix One alum Sean Cunningham handled the engineering chores on that end.

Spring Update

2009-04-22T12:48:00.007-04:00

Wondering what been going down at Mix One Studios? Well, in the past few months...

Paul Simon and Phil Ramone stopped by to record a new piece featuring marimba and acoustic guitar in studio A.

John Mayer was in coaching/co-producing and playing on Berklee songwriters' projects.

Carrie Underwood was in here for radio interviews.

Former American Idol John Stevens has been recording original songs.

Ted tracked and mixed the latest Jazz Revelation disk for Berklee College of Music.

The Big Heavy recorded 3 songs for possible video game placement.
Colin Cannon, Manami Morita, Tomoko Omura all did full length CD's.

How's business?

2009-03-19T11:11:00.004-04:00

It's a tough call when someone hits you with that question in this climate, especially in this biz - no one in production or post-production ever wants to admit it when their business is down and they might be slow, absolutely everyone hedges to some degree when that bit of small talk comes up. You're likely to hear anything from the most vague to the most blatant of truth-stretchers - "we're doing good", to "keeping busy", to "we've got so much going on, I shouldn't even be talking to you right now". In several years of doing this, I've heard 'em all . . .

I certainly won't be disclosing any corporate financial statements here, but I'll go ahead and call it for what it is - yes, we've been slow. And it's scant comfort, knowing that a lot of others have been, too . . . maybe that's why I can bring myself to say it here and now, I feel a solidarity with everyone else who's suffering through it with us. My caveat/disclaimer/sliver lining to that, though, is that it's definitely getting better . . . and that's no hedge . . .

In the audio post world, we find ourselves in an information vacuum sometimes, and always at the mercy of just about every other process in the production process - we're at the bottom of the hill, and everything else rolls downhill and onto us - be it schedules, sunspots, budgets, market conditions, ratings, deadlines, weather - whatever. We get to pick up the pieces, put it all together, and somehow make it all work within all the constraints of the process - and we do. Usually. Most of the time . . .

The feeling here, in our insular little sound world, is that so much has been put off on the production side in these uncertain times - and for so long - that the whole pipeline of content has run dry, or very nearly so. Television, film, net, advertising, music production - so much has been put off for so long that there's a shortage of new content out there to feed the beast, and it feels like folks are scrambling . . . it's not mine to name names, but I see certain prodco's, both in Boston and beyond, that seem to be in a critical staffing-up, oh-my-God, gotta-get-it-done-NOW mode, that I can't help but feel a little optimistic about what it all means - for us at Mix One, certainly, but for our production and post-production community as a whole.

Am I off-base? Let us know what's going on with you . . . if nothing else, it would be good to hear from you!

How I spent my summer at Mix One

2008-09-26T11:19:00.003-04:00

Ok, I can't really talk about one of my coolest projects till it's done - suffice to say, a certain gonzo journalist who is no longer with us on the physical plane might be involved. More developments as they come.

Seems like summer was just here, so here's the "what I did with my summer vacation" entry - it's only a little late:

Congrats to Moore Huntley here in Mass with "Tougher in Alaska" doing so well in the ratings - I had the privilege of mixing a bunch of them, and they seem to be standing up pretty well in their Sunday night time slot - right next to "Ice Road Truckers" on the History Channel.

We also got to work with the Man in Black - posthumously, of course. Northern Light Productions produced a 90 minute documentary around Johnny Cash's Folsom Prison concert back in the day, and Mix One partner Jim Sullivan had the mixing honors on that one.

We also posted "The Works" for History Channel, Boston prodco Powderhouse Productions was behind that one. Also, another installment for the "We Shall Remain" series that will be airing during the spring of 2009 on PBS - this one was about the early-70's standoff at Wounded Knee, the last one was about Geronimo - check the American Experience website for details - http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/weshallremain/project/

All this and I still found the time to buy a house, take the fams on vacation, twice, and get attacked by a seal while kayaking in Maine - long, embarrassing story there . . .