Members of the Cinema Audio Society were invited to tour the new postproduction sound facility, Technicolor at Paramount Thursday. Theatrical sound director Scott Millan, C.A.S., guided the majority of the tour, with help from some of the mixers and editors who have been able to use this facility as a catalyst for their work.
“It’s not often we get to see something of this level be built from the ground up,” C.A.S. president David Fluhr said.
The top-notch facility features eight mix stages of various sizes, including two large theaters, custom designed with six sound editorial work stations. These rooms feature Euphonix System 5 consoles with Eucon hybrid protocol and are capable of mixing multiple sound formats, including IMAX.
There are also three ADR stages, two of which are designed to be exactly the same. There is one Foley stage, sound design and editorial suites, and DVD audio and restoration rooms.
Each of the rooms is designed to be completely compatible with every other room. “What’s so amazing is that, from the small to the medium to the large, these rooms are as consistent as anything I’ve ever seen before,” Greg P. Russell, C.A.S. said. “We’ve worked at a number of facilities through the years — multiple stages — and everywhere you go they’ve got a little different tone. So what’s phenomenal is to be able to work in multiple formats in multiple rooms and have it be absolutely perfect.”
Keeping everything at the same technological level, giving each studio the same capabilities, allows the facility to expand and contract at a moment’s notice.
Connectivity is an important theme at this facility, and it reaches beyond the walls of the building. In addition to ensuring that the rooms were able to interact on every level, Technicolor at Paramount can also access its proprietary Technicolor Production Network at 10 GB/second. This system allows those at Technicolor at Paramount to access files at other Technicolor facilities around the world or around the corner at Sunset Gower.
“Really at the end of the day, it costs what it costs to build a building, it costs what it costs to install the consoles,” Millan said. “Really the only place left to push now is back on the employees — it’s on labor — which means we have to perpetuate excellence, try to push this craft forward, so that we don’t allow it to be the lowest common denominator.”
