An audio post facility has launched in New York that combines award-winning talent in audio mixing and sound design with a pedigree of one of the industry’s top music and sound studios. The audio post house is Vinyl Mix, and it opens as a sister shop to Yessian, the international music and sound company that’s been a fixture of the advertising, entertainment, theme park and experiential markets for years.
Leading Vinyl Mix is managing director/EP Marlene Bartos, who continues in her role as head of the New York office of Yessian. Heading up creative is Weston Fonger, Sound Designer/Audio Post Mixer, who will continue to create sound design for Yessian’s music projects while guiding the mix projects at Vinyl Mix locations. Backing up Bartos and Fonger are sr. producer Emily Smith and audio mixer Jarrett Farkas.
“In the ever-changing climate of New York’s postproduction industry, there’s a need for a company that can provide clients with a creatively driven, high-end environment where all aspects of their project’s audio needs can be thoughtfully curated,” said Fonger about the Vinyl Mix launch.
The Vinyl Mix studios are housed within the Yessian offices in New York. Brian Yessian, partner and chief creative officer of the company, said the goal is to grow the Vinyl Mix brand to include outposts in Detroit, L.A. and Hamburg, Germany, where Yessian also has offices, and to pursue work that originates outside of Yessian, rather than have Vinyl Mix focus solely on internal projects.
“The presence of Vinyl Mix in New York space is part of our commitment to providing a 360-degree experience for clients,” he said. “I think it’ll help counter the perception that music houses can’t offer top-rate audio post services. Beyond that, our plan is to be totally agnostic in how we work; if an independent project comes in–and we welcome them–we won’t steer them to our music side. And for those clients that are working with us on music, we can offer audio post as part of an attractive, one-stop package.”
Fonger says there are creative motivations behind Vinyl Mix as well, coming from his perspective as a sound designer. “For a number of years I’ve been fortunate to judge the AICP Show’s Sound Design category, so I’ve seen many projects with otherwise brilliant sound design suffer from a bad mix,” he observed. “At Vinyl Mix, we’ll offer an integrated solution: sound design, with a thoughtful approach to detail, coupled with a great mix that highlights every sonic nuance.”
Vinyl Mix offers a full range of audio recording and post services, Fonger noted, including mobile and on-site recording solutions. Among the projects the studio has worked on since openings its doors are spots for Lincoln via Hudson Rouge, Oreo via The Martin Agency and Volvo via Townhouse. It’s also handled several projects for The Brooklyn Brothers, including mixing spots for Remy Martin and a series of ads and web shorts for Optimum.
In addition to its advertising credits, Vinyl Mix has worked on music videos and films for Taylor Swift, Beyoncé and Coldplay via a collaboration with the director Jonas Åkerlund, as well as on short and feature-length films with acclaimed animator Bill Plympton and educational videos for TEDEd, the educational arm of the TED Conferences.
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More