One Union Recording Studios, a provider of postproduction sound services in the Bay Area, has completed a total rebuild of its facility in San Francisco. The finished site features five all-new, state-of-the-art studios designed for mixing, sound design, ADR, voice recording and other sound work. Each studio offers Avid/Euphonix digital mixing consoles, Avid MTRX interface systems, the latest Pro Tools software PT Ultimate, and robust monitoring and signal processing gear. All studios have dedicated, large voice recording booths. One is certified for Dolby Atmos sound production. The facility’s infrastructure and central machine room are also all brand new.
One Union began its reconstruction in September 2017 in the aftermath of a devastating fire that affected the entire facility. “Where needed, we took the building back to the studs,” said One Union president and owner John McGleenan. “We pulled out, removed and de-installed absolutely everything, and started fresh. We, then rebuilt the studios and rewired the whole facility. Each studio now has new consoles, speakers, furniture and wiring, and all are connected to new machine rooms. Every detail has been addressed and everything is in its proper place.”
During the 18 months of reconstruction, One Union carried on operations on a limited basis, while maintaining its full staff. That included its team of engineers, Joaby Deal, Eben Carr, Andy Greenberg, Matt Wood and Isaac Olsen, who worked continuously and remain in place.
Reconstruction was managed by L.A.-based Yanchar Design & Consulting Group, a specialist in design and engineering for sound facilities. The rebuilt studios conform to the highest industry standards and are equipped with top quality components. All five studios feature Avid/Euphonix System 5 digital audio consoles, Pro Tools 2018 and Avid MTRX with Dante interface systems. Studio 4 adds Dolby Atmos capability with a full Atmos Production Suite as well as Atmos RMU. Studio 5, the facility’s largest recording space, has two MTRX systems, with a total of more than 240 analog, MADI and Dante outputs (256 inputs), integrated with a 9-foot Avid/Euphonix console. It also features a 110-inch, retractable projection screen in the control room and a 61-inch playback monitor in its dedicated voice booth. Among other things, the central machine room includes 300TB LTO archiving system.
Along with employing top-of-the-line gear, the facility was rebuilt with an eye toward avoiding production delays. “All of the equipment is enterprise-grade, and everything is redundant,” McGleenan noted. “The studios are fed by a dual power supply and each is equipped with dual devices. If some piece of gear goes down, we have a redundant system in place to keep going. Additionally, all our critical equipment is hot-swappable. Should any component experience a catastrophic failure, it will be replaced by the manufacturer within 24 hours.”
McGleenan added that redundancy extends to broadband connectivity. To avoid outages, the facility is served by two 1Gig fiber optic connections provided by different suppliers. Wi-Fi is similarly available through duplicate services. “Service interruptions are not an option,” McGleenan said. “We can operate with every room functioning at maximum capacity without stressing our resources and horsepower.”
One Union Recording was founded by McGleenan, a former advertising agency executive, in 1994 and originally had just one sound studio. More studios were soon added as the company became a mainstay sound services provider to the region’s advertising industry. In recent years, the company has extended its scope to include corporate and branded media, television, film and games, and built a client base that extends across the country and around the world. Recent work includes commercials for Mountain Dew and carsharing company Turo, the television series Law and Order SVU and Grand Hotel, the podcast series Root of Evil and the game The Grand Tour.
