New Pic of my studio

[iocomposer]

Hi folks.
Long time lurker, first time poster. The studio's been complete for over a year, but I just finally got around to taking a picture of it that's worthy of publishing.

Lots of hard work went into this thing and it is my dream come true. Let me know what you think:

http://dramaticmusic.com/studio.htm

Cheers,
Jamey

[Relax]

very nice, got a close-up of the rack?

[MJGreene Audio]

Very nice. I am curious. How did you like working with Chris Pelonis and does the room meet or exceed everything you had hoped for or that he promised?

Michael Greene

[Jazzpunk]

I work professionally as a post production mixer but as a freelancer, I am subject to sharing rooms (i.e. patching always changes, Pro Tools settings F'd with, drinks and food left in bays, etc.).

To have a room of my own...ah, what a dream.

Congrats and ENJOY!

[iocomposer]

Relax- thanks for the compliment. Regarding my rack, well that's very forward of you, but what the hell....I guess I could take off my shirt and post a few. JK

There is actually a larger .jpg if you scroll down the page a little bit. You can see what's in the rack. My real rack is actually in the machine room. I haven't figured out how to take a picture of that yet cuz it's mostly vertical. I may have to buy a really wide angle lens to squeeze in all of the stuff.

Michael- My exprience with Chris was nothing short of flawless. He's just a really cool dude and we became great friends over the process. It's really tough not to be a great friend with him because he's just that likeable and has a professionalism way beyond what I would have expected from someone of his caliber and demand. Regarding what he promised and what he delivered, well as an example... last week I mixed a feature film for MGM in this room. I went to a screening on Monday at the MGM tower and the translation was actually better than what I was expecting. I thought for sure it would be close, but it was far better than that. Obviously, we're talking about a small room to a big room translation, so everything's gonna be different, but in regard to the frequencies of what I was hearing in my room to what I heard in the theater, it was pretty much identical. All of my 200Hz punches on the SFX thumped just as they did here, the dialog was perfectly translated, etc. It's an extraordinarily liberating experience to be able to trust that what I dial in in my studio mix will be interpreted so well theatrically.

I think that's about as glowing of a recommendation as I am capable of giving

Cheers,
Jamey

[scott757]

Nice.

[not_so_new]

Hey Jamey

First nice looking place and second, I really like your attitude about the industry in your FAQ. Very cool man, professional but not trying to be a prick about it.

[iocomposer]

Thanks a lot Michael.
I'd forgotten that people actually read that stuff!

Cheers,
Jamey

[not_so_new]

Originally Posted by iocomposer

Thanks a lot Michael.
I'd forgotten that people actually read that stuff!

Cheers,
Jamey

LOL

Well only because one of my personal dream gigs in the audio industry would be to score film or video games. Sounds kind of crazy but I would love and I mean LOVE LOVE LOVE to score music for this stuff I just don't know where to begin. Of course after reading your FAQ I came away thinking that I probably should not bother in the first place…



.. but I have never let that stop me before.....

[HDGuru]

Man, what a sweet spot. You smoke in there?

[Sqye]

Very nice - nice design and work - looks like a pleasant, comfy place to work - nice going

[MJGreene Audio]

Originally Posted by iocomposer

Relax- thanks for the compliment. Regarding my rack, well that's very forward of you, but what the hell....I guess I could take off my shirt and post a few. JK

There is actually a larger .jpg if you scroll down the page a little bit. You can see what's in the rack. My real rack is actually in the machine room. I haven't figured out how to take a picture of that yet cuz it's mostly vertical. I may have to buy a really wide angle lens to squeeze in all of the stuff.

Michael- My exprience with Chris was nothing short of flawless. He's just a really cool dude and we became great friends over the process. It's really tough not to be a great friend with him because he's just that likeable and has a professionalism way beyond what I would have expected from someone of his caliber and demand. Regarding what he promised and what he delivered, well as an example... last week I mixed a feature film for MGM in this room. I went to a screening on Monday at the MGM tower and the translation was actually better than what I was expecting. I thought for sure it would be close, but it was far better than that. Obviously, we're talking about a small room to a big room translation, so everything's gonna be different, but in regard to the frequencies of what I was hearing in my room to what I heard in the theater, it was pretty much identical. All of my 200Hz punches on the SFX thumped just as they did here, the dialog was perfectly translated, etc. It's an extraordinarily liberating experience to be able to trust that what I dial in in my studio mix will be interpreted so well theatrically.

I think that's about as glowing of a recommendation as I am capable of giving

Cheers,
Jamey

Thanks Jamey. I spoke with Chris 6 years ago about building a couple of rooms that sadly never got off the ground. I found him to be very likable and pleasant and have heard really great things about his room. It seems like I worked in an early one when I was in LA but I don't remember the name. Based on that experience I called him for these rooms. I also like the fact that he is more than willing and able to swing a hammer if thats what needs to happen to get the job done.

By the way, You didn't used to work with a Terry Clarkson in the early 90's as a songwriter guitar player did you? Does the name Milagro studios or the Bakery Studios ring a bell? If not I am a total space cadet.....

Thanks again,
Michael Greene

[iocomposer]

Originally Posted by MJGreene Audio

Thanks Jamey. I spoke with Chris 6 years ago about building a couple of rooms that sadly never got off the ground. I found him to be very likable and pleasant and have heard really great things about his room. It seems like I worked in an early one when I was in LA but I don't remember the name. Based on that experience I called him for these rooms. I also like the fact that he is more than willing and able to swing a hammer if thats what needs to happen to get the job done.

By the way, You didn't used to work with a Terry Clarkson in the early 90's as a songwriter guitar player did you? Does the name Milagro studios or the Bakery Studios ring a bell? If not I am a total space cadet.....

Thanks again,
Michael Greene

Yeah, Chris will definitely get his hands dirty if he needs to. He didn't have to in my case during construction, but he definitely sweat it out when it came time to fine tune things.

I think you may have me confused with someone else. I once played in a Big Band where Clark Terry was a guest soloist...but I don't think that's the same thing

Cheers,
Jamey

[iocomposer]

Thanks again for the compliments. No smoking in here. I don't even let my dog in here, which is sad because she used to be the greatest footwarmer.

Originally Posted by crossroad

Great design
And man..... the Sony Cineza screen.

Do you use Logic and DP for midi aplications?

Yes, I do...but I've got it rigged up through protools and work between the apps via the IAC bus. I just don't like either applications DAE support, so I monitor all audio in protools while sequencing in DP and Logic in native modes and then print tracks in PT via MTC. Kinda weird, I know but it works out pretty well....much more flexible than using DAE within the apps.

Cheers,
Jamey

[Jazzpunk]

Nice clips...loved the 'Disney' themed cue.

Where are the dancing mops?!

[iocomposer]

Originally Posted by Jazzpunk

Nice clips...loved the 'Disney' themed cue.

Where are the dancing mops?!

Ha! yeah, one of these days I'm gonna update that page. The music on there is 5 years old already... Lots of evolutions since then!

Cheers,
Jamey

[Rob King]

Hey Jamey, Rob King here.. Have have you been man? Long Time no talk.... Noticed Max is your Rep now? How is that workin' out? He was talking to me for weks, then dissapeared... What have you been up to? Give me a shout.

Rob

[iocomposer]

hey dude.
I'll catch up with ya offline.
-Jamey

[not_so_new]

Hey Jamey

If you don't mind me asking, what size is your room in the photo? I don't see it listed any place.

Thanks.

[iocomposer]

Originally Posted by not_so_new

Hey Jamey

If you don't mind me asking, what size is your room in the photo? I don't see it listed any place.

Thanks.

Hi Michael.
My control room is about 16x13, at its largest points (there are no straight angles). The machine room is very small, just wide enough to fit a single 8' vertical rack and a little extra moving around room. There's also a vo booth which is about 7'x10', and a "lock" for the main entrance which is about the same size. I'm planning on taking pictures of those rooms as soon as I get some downtime.

Thanks for your interest!

Cheers,
Jamey

[audiothings]

greetings!

rocking room man!

my partner and i find ourselves doing a lot of post work on 'indie' films... stereo mixes i do in house, surround mixes i go elsewhere. Going elsewhere is always stressful coz' the clock ticks real expensive.

Now have been thinking of a new place with a (believe it or not!) very similar layout and dimensions to what what you have... (jbl 6332 mains, (6 x) 6325 surrounds in a 6.1 config, with the tascam monitor controller).

last week I mixed a feature film for MGM in this room. I went to a screening on Monday at the MGM tower and the translation was actually better than what I was expecting. I thought for sure it would be close, but it was far better than that.

heres my question... the film monitoring standards specify a -2dB/octave high shelf starting at around 2K, no? Plus, listening 20' away from the screen should create an even more significant HF shelf, no? How come this does'nt hinder translation?

Recently i was listening to some of my two track mixes (done at my small studio) in a thx certified film mixing studio, and i was quite surprised that the translation was pretty good (LR+Sub only). Was expecting it to sound very dull, but it was actually more than adequately bright. This is what got me thinking, why don't i setup for surround and just hire a thx certified studio for a day to crosscheck? That way i can work at leisure on the intricacies of the project at a cost the indie clients can afford...

your experiences/opinions?

thanks,

jai shankar.

[iocomposer]

Hi Jai.
I am by no means an expert when it comes to film sound, so I won't pretend to slather on any bs. I come from games, where there are no real standards except for "make it sound big, deep and LOUD". That said, my first surround mix for a game was about 8 years ago and I've done very few non-surround mixes since. Everything is pretty much required surround these days in games, whether it be encoded/decoded in realtime, a 6 channel stream or a pre-encoded Lt/Rt mix. So, mixing in surround for 8 years and studying DVD mixes constantly has taught me a lot....in sort of a folk storytelling kinda way, but I felt pretty confident when it was my turn to start mixing features. I've mixed 4 features and about a dozen shorts now and I learn a lot and evolve every time which in turn gives me more caliber to bring to the game world.

Now, the tricky part about understanding how to mix in my room is that the speakers that I'm using are dual-concentric and they point directly behind my ears, so the high frequency material is very strong when I sit at my desk. Because the distance between me and my speakers is only about 6 feet, it's essentially a mid-field listening experience, even though they're mains and not near-field speakers. So, I'm constantly getting up and listening to the mixes in the back of the room (I have 2 super-comfy black leather lazy-boy chairs for my clients). For some crazy reason, this gives me a theatrical perspective to my mixing decisions. Because the high end is so focused in my mixing position, I naturally compensate for the standard frequency curve. I'm constantly referencing my DVD collection when I mix because I know that it's a good reference standard which if I can recreate, I'm at least close. Just like using reference CDs for mixing albums, I would suspect.

In regard to your mixing practices, it is standard practice to mix films on a dub stage, so yeah you can take it as far as you like in your studio and then make the appropriate changes at the final mix session. That will save your client money, which is a huge consideration in the indie-film world. There are very few feature films that will be mixed in a small room like mine. The feature that I just mixed will likely not be finished in my room...not because it didn't sound good but because of the politics of the film world. Film mixing is the realm of big post house corporations and not the realm of the individual, unless it's an independant production that can't afford ToddAO or SoundDelux. But then, I recently worked on an indie feature that is currently being purchased by a major studio so a remix on a major dub stage is more than probable at this point.

I hope my long-winded bantering has answered your questions.

Cheers,
Jamey

[iocomposer]

Most definitely ITB.
-Jamey

[Phunkeman]

I really like the desk. Who made it?

[iocomposer]

Hi.
That would be me. You can never get EXACTLY what you want unless you do it yourself

Thanks for the compliment!

Cheers,
Jamey