The L.A. Studios-the Hollywood-headquartered parent company to audio post houses The L.A. Studios, Hollywood, Margarita Mix, Hollywood, Margarita Mix de Santa Monica, and Zona Playa, Santa Monica-has promoted three staffers, Mark Herscovitz, Cameron Davis and Paul McGrath, to full fledged mixers. Additionally, audio mixer Konrad Pioon has been shifted from The L.A. Studios facility to Margarita Mix, Hollywood.
Margarita Mix, Hollywood’s Herscovitz has been upped from second engineer to mixer. Davis, formerly general manager at Zona Playa, is now a mixer at The L.A. Studios. And McGrath moves up the ladder from assistant engineer to mixer at The L.A. Studios.
Audio mixing equipment and networks at Margarita Mix, Hollywood, The L.A. Studios and Zona Playa have been upgraded to include the state-of-the-art Pro Tools/24 MIXplus. This allows mixers to utilize OMF and EDL options, a necessity for expediting mixes and optimizing versatility. Margarita Mix de Santa Monica, the L.A. Studios, Margarita Mix, Hollywood and Zona Playa are all installing fast 100-Base T Ethernet sound effects networks which will enable each facility to share and transfer files across rooms. At press time, construction of Margarita Mix de Santa Monica was nearing completion. That audio post facility is slated to be fully up and running next month.
Joan Webb-Ewen, director of sales and markting for The L.A. Studios, Inc., noted that by virtue of the company being 42% employee-owned, an important part of its philosophy is "to promote from within."
Pioon has been with The L.A. Studios since ’86, and his experience spans television and radio advertising, broadcast promos, feature films and television animation. He has worked as a mixer for such clients as AT&T via Foote, Cone & Belding, San Francisco; Taco Bell and Nissan for TBWA/Chiat/Day, Los Angeles; Chevron for Young & Rubicam, San Francisco; and Coca-Cola out of McCann Erickson, New York.
Herscovitz joined Margarita Mix Hollywood in ’94, and has now been promoted to mixer. His credits include television trailers for The Prince of Egypt, Armageddon and Saving Private Ryan, and he has worked on spots for McDonald’s from Leo Burnett Co., Chicago; Toyota for Saatchi & Saatchi L.A., Torrance, Calif.; Nike for Wieden & Kennedy, Portland, Ore., and Lexus via Team One, El Segundo, Calif.
Davis has been with The L.A. Studios for seven years, and was a mixer before assuming a management role at Zona Playa just over a year ago. He yearned to return to a more creative role, and has been reinstated as a mixer with his own room at The L.A. Studios.
McGrath has been with The L.A. Studios for almost four years, and has worked his way up the ranks from the machine room to becoming a full time mixer. He has conducted ISDN and voiceover sessions for clients, including Warner Bros., TBWA/Chiat/Day, Leo Burnett, The Richards Group, Dallas, and Radioland, Portland.
Additionally, Lori Vinciguerra has been promoted from executive assistant at The L.A. Studios Inc., to sales and marketing coordinator for The L.A. Studios Inc. companies. And assistant scheduler Veneta Butler has been upped to assistant manager/scheduler at Margarita Mix, Hollywood. Jesse Meli continues as COO for parent firm The L.A. Studios Inc.
