Audio mixers Bobby Elder and Kenny Fredrickson, principals at New York-based audio house The Mix Place, are closing their 30-year-old company to join East Side Audio, New York. East Side Audio is part of the New York Media Group family of companies, which includes Crush Digital Video, Cyclotron, Lower East Side, Mixed Nuts Recording Studio, Post Perfect and Superdupe Recording.
Elder and Fredrickson are slated to make the move in early April, at which time the East Side Audio name will be changed to East Side Mix.
Dean Winkler, COO of the New York Media Group and president of Post Perfect, said that discussions with Elder and Fredrickson began around five months ago. The Mix Place was going to lose its lease and the partners were exploring their options.
Elder and Fredrickson said that the owner of their building was taking over all of the floors; The Mix Place was one of the last remaining tenants. "We had to make a decision about which way we wanted to go," said Fredrickson. "This opportunity presented itself. We liked the people and the opportunity [at East Side], so we decided to go with this."
Elder added, "We liked it because we’re not really that great a business set-up here, in terms of [being] businessmen. We wanted to go someplace where we could just mix and not think about running a business." In the wake of the imminent closure of The Mix Place, mixer Joe Miuccio has joined newly formed Penny Lane Studios, New York, while mixer Frank Alter is considering his options (which include joining East Side).
"This really started a year ago, when we determined it was time to reinvent our entire East Side branch," said Winkler. The first step in that process was the formation of Lower East Side, which opened last April in the Union Square area as a complement to East Side Audio’s midtown site (SHOOT, 4/16/99, p.7).
East Side mixer Bob Giammarco moved over to Lower East Side, leaving a gap in East Side’s talent roster which the company had been looking to fill. "We’d been looking for exactly the right fit, which [Elder and Fredrickson] are," said Winkler. "These are really great, creative guys. This is an opportunity for them to do nothing but be creative with clients. It really worked out brilliantly on both sides."
Elder and Fredrickson began working at The Mix Place 30 years ago, at which time it was owned by John Quinn. When Quinn retired in ’94, Elder and Fredrickson bought him out to become the principal owners.
Among Elder and Fredrickson’s recent credits are spots for Wendy’s via Bates USA, New York; The New York Times via Bozell, New York; Burger King out of Lowe, Lintas & Partners, New York; Purex for DDB New York; and Neutrogena via Tarlow Advertising, New York.
Elder and Fredrickson join fellow East Side mixers Tom Goldblatt, Rich Cutler, Todd Hrinda and Steve Weisbrot; mixers working out of Lower East Side are Glen Landrum and Giammarco.
