Now in its third year, The Media Production Show (MPS) is a two-day annual event showcasing technology and talent from across the media and entertainment industry. It also features a free-to-attend seminar programme delivered by industry names prepared to share their insight, knowledge and creativity.
New to the show, the Audio Theatre covers ADR, location sound, audio in post, technical seminars and audio case studies from recent film and TV projects.
‘They flew me to Nashville for a month, put me up at the Vanderbilt Hotel and we recorded at the famous Woodlands Studio. There were days when I went in and didn’t do anything. I played the Carol King Tapestry piano on that record. But then there were fewer and fewer gigs like that…
‘Studios were closing, budgets and record deals were going away. People were still making records, but they were doing it in their basement on a computer.’
Michael Carnes has been developing surround reverbs for more than 20 years. He was the lead developer behind what may have been the first true surround reverb – the Lexicon 960L, shipped in 2000.
A fully-loaded 960L could provide two 5.1 reverbs at 96kHz and cos a little under $20,000 – 30 times the cost of an Exponential Audio plug-in that will provide up to 22 channels of reverb at up to 384kHz with money left over for popcorn.
A long-time software developer and musician, Michael Carnes is the man behind US company Exponential Audio, which arrived in 2013 with its PhoenixVerb and R2 reverb plug-ins.
That both were reverb processors is no accident, as Carnes developed the groundbreaking 960L and PCM96 studio reverberation processors while at Lexicon, as well as being responsible for Lexicon’s plug-ins.
The now familiar shipping container dates to the 1830s and the inspiration of American trucker Malcom McLean. In the intervening years, it has become an international standard for modular commercial transportation, provided building site ameneties, and spawned the ‘cargotecture’ behind pop-up shops and restaurants.
Now, the humble yet versatile shipping container has won itself a major part in the making of a forthcoming Hollywood blockbuster.
With a face familiar from his role as LAPD Detective Vic Mackey on the FX police drama The Shield and Captain Nathanial Barnes in Gotham, US actor Michael Chiklis is also keen to be recognised as a recording artist.
‘It’s frustrating just getting people to listen,’ he says. ‘No-one was looking for music from me. One of the greatest joys is hearing from people who have just turned on to the music – once they hear it, they’re onboard.’
Taking on location recordings throughout North America, Europe and Russia, recording entrepreneur John Newton refers to ‘exotic locales’ – as exemplified by his most recent project in Russia’s Saratov Cathedral. Here, the founder of Soundmirror Recording has unpacked up his mics to record a male voice choir.
Founded in 1972, Soundmirror has undertaken projects for every major classical label and received more than 80 Grammy nominations and awards.
Nicolas Becker is a leading French Foley artist and sound designer, with credits on hundreds of top-flight movies. Highlights such as Batman Begins, Gravity, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, The Impossible, Hellboy II: The Golden Army and a string of collaborations with Roman Polanski stand out on an extensive CV.
Now well-known and sought-after in Foley and sound design, Becker flaunts a willingness to engage with the creative brief of a project.
Flare Audio is relatively new to the loudspeaker market, but the company promises to bring with it a sea change in our understanding of loudspeaker physics and possibly set a new benchmark in loudspeaker performance.
With a background in applied physics, founder Davies Roberts’ ideas on fixing the ills of loudspeaker enclosure have evolved into a range of products that covers large-scale line-array components to close-field studio monitors.
With two MPG Mixer of the Year awards under his belt, music producer/mixer/engineer Cenzo Townshend opened the doors on his Decoy Studios in late 2014. The move follows time at London’s Trident in the 1980s, work with Ian Broudie and then Stephen Street at The Bunker in Olympic Studios.
In the Suffolk countryside, Decoy studio complex is kitted out with choice equipment, centred on Audient ASP8024 and SSL SL4000G mixing consoles.
