Soho postproduction facility Hackenbacker has completed the audio postproduction for new UK television drama Inside Men.

The BBC Drama Production for BBC One tells the story of three employees of a security depot who plan and execute a £200m cash heist. The protagonists are not seasoned criminals – just honest, hard working men who see an opportunity, weigh up the risks and take a leap into the world of crime. The story is told from their perspective and is a study of how men behave when they step out of their comfort zones and cross the moral line.

The audio for Inside Men was postproduced at Hackenbacker, a facility that has had a long association with BBC Drama Productions. The company received two BAFTA and two EMMY nominations for its work on Downton Abbey and Any Human Heart, and has high hopes for Inside Men…

Hackenbacker handled all of the track laying, ADR and all final mixing in order to fulfil the very specific brief to create an aurally spectacular soundtrack in a three-month period. ‘Right from the start, Inside Men’s director James Kent had a very clear vision of how he wanted the soundtrack to work, therefore the shooting and editing style he adopted allowed us to explore some interesting sound avenues,’ Hackenbacker’s Nigel Heath explains. ‘Some of the scenes in the series are exquisitely simple and the superb performances from the great cast meant that there was little we needed to do to sonically enhance them.

‘However, we did have the opportunity for real sonic fun with some of the more “radical” moments in the series. To help create the sound James was looking for we binaurally recorded the ADR and integrated this with similarly re-recorded premixes, which we achieved by literally throwing a ‘dummy head’ mic around in front of a set of speakers and re-recording the results. This was a really interesting and enjoyable approach to the ADR and we were all very pleased with the final outcome.’

BBC producer Colin Wratten (Waking The Dead, The Turn Of The Screw), reckons the Hackenbacker investeed heavily the project: ‘I was very impressed with the quality of the ADR and how it sat in the mix,’ he says. ‘I was also pleased how different locations were brought to life by sympathetic sound design. The smooth workflow at Hackenbacker made this project a joy – James Kent and I were amazed at the speed of the Final Mix. This was down to great preparation and pre-mixing by Nigel and his team.’

‘It’s great to work with a bold director and producer and, indeed, executives who work hard to create strong and original programmes and are accepting, supportive and appreciative of an interesting and original sound track to accompany them,’ Heath adds.

The four-episode, 60-minute drama was filmed in Bristol, and begins screening on in February BBC1.

More: www.hackenbacker.com