Mixer Glen Landrum, formerly of ServiSound, New York, has joined Lower East Side, a downtown Manhattan facility that East Side Audio is launching to complement its midtown location. Neil Karsh, VP, audio services at New York Media Group-the parent to East Side Audio and Lower East Side-explained that Lower East Side, situated in the Union Square neighborhood, was designed to give the firm a foothold in a downtown area where assorted agencies and post companies have migrated.
"This [part of town] is becoming a new mecca for production and postproduction," said Karsh. "We want to offer some high level services downtown in a setting that will appeal to the clients in that area."
Landrum becomes the second resident mixer at Lower East Side. Bob Giammarco, an established artisan who’s been with East Side Audio for the past eight years, is also working out of the new downtown site which at press time was slated to now be fully up and running with client sessions. Lower East Side features a pair of mixing studios. There is also an infrastructure for a third possible studio for which there is no immediate construction timetable. East Side Audio general manager Jackie Sparks will additionally serve in the same capacity for Lower East Side.
The launch of Lower East Side marks the culmination of a long-standing plan. Originally the downtown operation was scheduled to open in November ’98 (SHOOT, 7/31/98, p. 8). Karsh said that the facility took longer than anticipated to open because of the details and decisions involved in the design and construction process. Karsh would not specify the cost of the new facility.
Employing seven people, Lower East Side is 8,000 square feet on a single floor. Karsh said that the studios are wired for HDTV and will be able to display images in the format after installing equipment which he plans to purchase at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) convention this month in Las Vegas.
To reduce overhead and to keep the two facilities related, Lower East Side and East Side will use the same scheduling and booking system, which is located at the latter’s 45th Street location.
Landrum was introduced to Karsh and Sparks by other audio mixers who knew that he was looking to progress from ServiSound. Karsh explained that part of Landrum’s appeal-in addition to being comfortable with the technical resources planned for Lower East Side-was a solid client roster. "To help justify our investment, we were looking for someone with a reasonable client base," he said. "Glen offered that." Landrum has mixed spots for clients including Infiniti for TBWA/Chiat/Day, New York, Sprint for McCann-Erickson, New York, and Dairy Queen for Grey Advertising, New York. Landrum has also mixed longform projects including some independent films that have not as of yet gained major distribution.
Landrum said that Lower East Side represented a tremendous opportunity for career advancement. "It was something that I thought in my career was a little further down [the road], but to have it offered to me now was the best thing," he said. "This is the top job in the city. Compared to any other industry-whoever you want to call the best in their industry-this is it." Landrum added that he looked forward to learning from Giammarco at the new facility.
Before coming aboard ServiSound in October ’97, Landrum was a mixer at Henninger Digital Audio, Arlington, Va., which he joined in June ’95. Prior to that, Landrum was an assistant mixer at The Mix Place, New York. He graduated in ’90 with a Bachelor of Arts in Music/Sound Recording Technology from Lebanon Valley College, Annville, Pa.
