Bob Gillespie believes in hedging his bets in the fractured Atlanta media market. Since buying out former boss James Oliverio in ’95, Gillespie has steered Atlanta-based Oasis Recording on a middle course that hits all ports: advertising, broadcast promos, industrials, and more recently sound design and mixing independent feature films.
"Atlanta is real steady right now. We haven’t had too little work, and we haven’t been slammed. A lot of that has to do with the Atlanta market being a little bit of everything. It’s got the Turner folks here doing on-air promos and stuff like that. We have some ad agencies doing local stuff. And we have a lot of corporations here who are doing a lot of audio work," says Gillespie.
To service a broad mix of clients, Oasis offers two digital suites equipped with Pro Tools software that are manned by Gillespie and engineer Brent Busby. Oasis offers a full range of audio services that include sound design, sound effects, ADR (automated dialogue replacement), voiceover recording, jingles, audio mixing and sweetening, and layback to picture. Suzanne Hawn, the third member of the Oasis team, handles scheduling, client relations, bookkeeping, sales and marketing.
In addition to its own client roster, Oasis also serves as the de facto mixing and sweetening arm for neighboring editorial house Magick Lantern. The two firms share the same building on Ralph McGill Boulevard just east of downtown Atlanta in an area crammed with audio, digital effects, editorial and production companies. Oasis uses Magick Lantern’s video decks to download video to Pro Tools for mixing and sweetening, ADR, and sound-to-picture layback.
One area where Oasis is treading cautiously is HDTV audio. Gillespie is anxious to get into the new medium, but wants to wait until a standard format emerges before investing in new equipment.
"It’s more a delivery issue than how we’re creating it because audio already is digital. Right now the audio people are dealing with the different formats in Surround Sound and how that’s going to be delivered. We’ve kind of got the DVD stuff worked out, but now we’re in the midst of how to broadcast hi-def with digital audio. We’re figuring out whether we’re going to do stereo Surround Sound or 5-1, 6-1. It’s up in the air," says Gillespie.
Starting Out
Gillespie first joined OMI Studios (which became Oasis Recording in ’95 when he bought the studio) in ’87 as Oliverio’s assistant. "Jim basically had a project studio here where he composed music for film and TV. He needed an assistant and I came over. As Magick Lantern grew, we started to do more audio post. Jim started getting away from doing music and audio into other areas, and I spent a lot of time running the studio. There came a point where we sat down and decided it would be a neat thing for me to go ahead and purchase the studio from him. It was an easy transition," Gillespie recalls.
Oasis’ client roster includes Coca-Cola as a mainstay for industrials; steady ad business from the Atlanta offices of J. Walter Thompson and Freebairn & Company, other southeast agencies, and a few outside the area; promo work for various Turner companies; and the occasional independent feature.
On the spot side, Freebairn & Company brings in AgrEvo agricultural pesticides and Colt Firearms. "They’re a small agency, but they have really interesting clients," Gillespie says. J. Walter Thompson handles the Ford Southern Region account.
Recent regional spot credits include: "Puma" for AgrEvo’s Decis product line; three spots, "Puppies," "Teacher" and "Coffee" for Carle Hospital via agency Storandt Pann Margolis in Western Spring, Illinois; "Night Light" for Powercall Security via Atlanta-based agency Bennett Kuhn Varner; "Cleaver" for Quincy’s Family Steakhouses through Solomon Says, also in Atlanta; and "Get Off the Fence," a national commercial for client Direct TV via Bazil Victory, Greenville, S.C.
"We do a lot of regional and local advertising, but it’s not our mainstay because there’s not a ton of it. I’m not sure how viable Atlanta is for advertising right now. A lot of times when bigger local agencies have national spots, they don’t really do them in Atlanta," Gillespie explains.
Most of the promo work is for various Turner channels: TNT, the Cartoon Network, WTBS and CNN. Like all of Atlanta, Gillespie expects this piece of his business mix to fall off substantially once Turner’s new post facility begins operation early next year.
"It really doesn’t bother me too much [Turner building its own facility]," confides Gillespie. "I enjoy the work that they bring over here, and really enjoy the people. But I also totally understand why they’re doing it. I’m sure it’s going to affect my business, but I don’t think it’s going to affect us as much as others in town that really rely heavily on Turner. I intentionally spread out my client base so that if I lose one or two, I’m not totally out on the street."
One area Gillespie hopes will make up some of the expected slack is independent feature projects. He performed sound design, ADR and mixed two indie features late last year: The Height of the Sky, a story about sharecroppers in Arkansas in ’36 that was produced and directed by Lyn Clinton for Good Girl Films, Little Rock, Ark., and Clear Air Turbulence, which was shot in Jacksonville, Fla. and directed by Sherri Karrigan for Red Wagon Productions in Colorado.
"We’ve been doing a lot of independent feature films lately that have turned out really well, so I think that’s another little niche that we’ve gotten ourselves into," says Gillespie.
Gillespie enjoys the challenge of sweetening voices and mixing independent films, but overall prefers promos as his favorite type of audio work, citing the immediacy of the projects as the most powerful lure.
"Promos are usually pretty fast paced, exciting spots. The producer usually comes in with a lot of stuff for me to do. It’s nice to come in, in the morning, and walk out that evening with a full :60, :30, or :15 promo with quite extensive sound design to it, and be able to put them on the air the next day. I like that," he says.
Long term, Gillespie wants to keep Oasis small. Other than transitioning to hi-def capability, the company plans to add one additional audio suite.
"We’re small on purpose. When you’re in a service oriented business, your people are key, and I’ve got great ones," he says. "The larger you get as a company, the more risk you run of having to staff up with more people to wind up getting less done. I’m sure others don’t share my views, but I’ve seen companies that are small and efficient that get a lot done. I’ve also seen companies that are a little bigger that are inefficient and impersonal. We don’t want to become that."x
