Barasch Music & Sound (BM&S), New York, has moved into the space formerly occupied by the New York Media Group (NYMG)’s now defunct audio studio Mixed Nuts. Mixed Nuts was on the premises of postproduction house Post Perfect, which is also owned by NYMG. Having opened with three studios in the new accommodations, BM&S is currently building a fourth. Company owner Mark Barasch expects the new room to open by January 2001.
"At our old place we ran out of room," said Barasch, "and Pat Howley [Post Perfect’s VP/general manager] is a friend. He and I had talked for years about whether or not we’d ever get an opportunity to work in proximity."
In July, Post Perfect approached Barasch about taking over the space. Howley knew that Mixed Nuts mixer Peter Buccellato wanted to work downtown at NYMG audio house Lower East Side (see related story, above), which would have left Mixed Nuts staffed by lone mixer Mark Schultz. So the parties agreed that Barasch would rent the space formerly occupied by Mixed Nuts, and would hire Schultz, who has been with Mixed Nuts for about five years. Already at BM&S, his mixing credits include AT&T’s Asian market "Family Room" via Kang & Lee Advertising, New York; and Estee Lauder’s "Beautiful Exclusive Holiday Set" and "Beautiful/Blockbuster Good as Gold," through Bates USA, New York.
Barasch said that although NYMG has no financial interest in BM&S, both companies and their clients can benefit from the arrangement. "What’s unique about Barasch [Music & Sound] is that we do original music and sound design as well as straight mixing and audio post," he related. "This means the people that come to Post Perfect can find original music in addition to audio postproduction on these premises. For me, it means I can offer my clients the opportunity to do video and graphics work with them, if they desire."
Barasch has fitted out the studios with Pro Tools, wiring the rooms for surround sound. As he explained, "With [the increasing popularity of] hi-def and DVD, if you want to be able to function in the media business, you’re going to have to be able to function in surround sound." He added that all the rooms have identical equipment so clients can use the studios interchangeably.
Barasch estimated that the three studios now in use measure 20’x30′, though the fourth will be slightly smaller. "Each room has a live recording area for voiceovers. They’re not huge spaces, but you could comfortably fit between 10 and 20 people there," he noted.
The company recently completed the music composition and mixing for a Hallmark Entertainment interactive television project that is being beta tested in Singapore.
Last year, Barasch also launched the Web site cy-fidelity.com, which he called "a marriage of cyberspace and high fidelity. … Cy-fidelity.com has done CD-ROMs for IBM, Century 21 and American Express. We created a Web site for Bayer’s Prolastin, [an emphysema treatment], using compressed video and full audio. It’s a whole other direction that the company is taking." In fact, said Barasch, "I suspect that at some point, cy-fidelity.com will probably outgrow Barasch Music & Sound."
BM&S’ mixers are Barasch, Schultz, P. Dennis Mitchell and Christopher Sherwin.
