IDEAS Orlando Post Production Facility (Mix Magazine)

From Mix Magazine – By Tom Kenny July  1, 2011

When you bill yourself as an “innovation studio,” part of a creative juggernaut of marketing and agency services—from story to shoot to edit to post to distribution—you need facilities and workflow that match the mission. After 20 years in south Orlando, IDEAS was in need of a new home, and in 2009, they found one downtown.

“We had tremendous post audio facilities for 20 years, but the building was from the late ’80s,” says John Lux, IDEAS COO, “and the technologies and philosophies used to design mix rooms have changed. We started building out in 2009, and it was critical that we had a versatile mix room that would allow us to do the same work—feature films, made-for-TV movies, corporate image pieces and Internet-based communications—but do it with the comfort and efficiencies that come with a modern room. It’s designed for 7.1 and 5.1 mixing.”

Audio A at IDEAS was designed by Bob Alach of Alactronics, who had a previous relationship with senior audio mixer Rob Hill, and built by The Collage Companies. Alach recommended the full-range Bag End surround monitor system as part of the room’s acoustic signature. Lux and Hill selected the Avid ICON as the centerpiece because they have been a Pro Tools house for a long time and because the room must move from ADR to Foley to voice-over recording to 7.1 mixing at any time.

“The new mix room is just one part of the post audio expansion,” Lux adds. “On July 1, we will be opening our recording stage, which will allow for voice-over, group ADR, Foley. And it’s an insert stage, with multiple acoustic panels, mobile Foley, mobile LED and a ‘cove’ that is 30 feet wide by 15 feet tall with a curved corner.”

Orlando has maintained a relatively small but vibrant post industry during the past 20 years, built mainly around gaming and special-venue audio. The new rooms at IDEAS have been busy, and the team has been signed for the complete post audio package for Season 2 of an animated children’s series. With ESPN opening production facilities in town, Digital Domain opening facilities in South Florida and theme parks that seem to keep on expanding, not to mention the boom in corporate work, the future for IDEAS looks bright.

Click HERE to read the article from the Mix Magazine site.