Margarita Mix Santa Monica, a long-time provider of high def mixing, sound design, ISDNs and other audio services for commercials, has diversified to provide those same services for long format media via the launch of an Entertainment Division. The new venture will service TV networks, film studios and reality production companies, as well as interactive and long-form branded entertainment media produced by advertising agencies.
Heading up the division is producer and sales rep Whitney Warren, a Southern California native who joined the company four years ago and has stewarded notable projects for such clients as Coca-Cola and Sony PlayStation3.
Margarita Mix has also brought on board audio artist Michael Jesmer, whose creative experience as a mixer for television and film, especially in the realm of reality TV, include E! Entertainment’s Party Monster, FX’s Operation MySpace and MTV Network’s Big in Japan. Jesmer will work in a 5.1 surround sound mixing studio equipped with a state-of-the-art ProTools system.
“Long format is a natural extension for Margarita Mix,” noted general manager Michele Millard. “The growth in independent TV and film production on the Westside creates a great opportunity for us. Additionally, many of our advertising clients have begun to produce entertainment-style products for their clients, and this allows them to have their audio needs enhanced by a company they know…There is increasing crossover between the advertising and entertainment worlds and in the audio zone, we are the link.”
Margarita Mix has just wrapped up its first project under the new Entertainment Division, a video documentary series for insurance giant Liberty Mutual, engineered and mixed by Jesmer and Margarita Mix veteran Jimmy Hite, who has been with the company since its inception in 1991.
Jesmer’s arrival at Margarita Mix (part of The LA Studios audio post company) is actually a return, as he began his career at the shop as an assistant mixer in 2002. For the past two years, he has been on staff at reality TV specialist Bennett Productions, where he worked on series for ABC, HDNET, ION and others. In addition to mixing the shows, Jesmer was involved in production sound for several series including The 25th Miss Hawaiian Tropic International Model Search and the ION lifestyle series Men7. He recently recorded Tori Spelling for her new book MommyWood and is currently working on a new series for the 2009 CBS TV season.
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More