Grand Central Recording Studios (GCRS) in London has secured its first guest sound designer, Los Angeles-based Ben Wilkins. GCRS will be representing Wilkins in the U.K. and Europe.
He brings to GCRS a stellar track record in sound design and mixing, for which he has been recognized with a host of accolades including both an Oscar and a BAFTA for his work on the critically acclaimed Whiplash.
Wilkins spent his formative years working in London where GCRS founder/managing director Carole Humphrey gave him his first break into the industry at The Tape Gallery. He moved to L.A. and has since made his name working in the film industry on projects such as Starship Troopers, Dazed and Confused, Stargate, The Last Samurai, The Fast and The Furious, Star Trek, and Whiplash.
Wilkins said, “I’m thrilled to be working with the team at GCRS again and to have the opportunity to share the unique experience that I’ve cultivated since my formative Tape Gallery days. It will be exciting to delve into the unique challenges that sound design for advertising and short form presents. As the lines blur between film, broadcast and digital technologies I can think of no better facility to explore those new creative frontiers than at GCRS.”
Ivor Taylor, technical director and co-founder, GCRS, commented: “As the world gets smaller, remote working enables us to collaborate with world class talent such as Ben. The time zone difference is an enormous advantage, as it enables for 24/7 work on a project. Cloud based working means full technical compatibility between the two locations and allows for seamless integration of digital workflows.”
Growth Brings Growing Pains–and Bots–To Bluesky
Bluesky has seen its user base soar since the U.S. presidential election, boosted by people seeking refuge from Elon Musk's X, which they view as increasingly leaning too far to the right given its owner's support of President-elect Donald Trump, or wanting an alternative to Meta's Threads and its algorithms.
The platform grew out of the company then known as Twitter, championed by its former CEO Jack Dorsey. Its decentralized approach to social networking was eventually intended to replace Twitter's core mechanic. That's unlikely now that the two companies have parted ways. But Bluesky's growth trajectory — with a user base that has more than doubled since October — could make it a serious competitor to other social platforms.
But with growth comes growing pains. It's not just human users who've been flocking to Bluesky but also bots, including those designed to create partisan division or direct users to junk websites.
The skyrocketing user base — now surpassing 25 million — is the biggest test yet for a relatively young platform that has branded itself as a social media alternative free of the problems plaguing its competitors. According to research firm Similarweb, Bluesky added 7.6 million monthly active app users on iOS and Android in November, an increase of 295.4% since October. It also saw 56.2 million desktop and mobile web visits, in the same period, up 189% from October.
Besides the U.S. elections, Bluesky also got a boost when X was briefly banned in Brazil.
"They got this spike in attention, they've crossed the threshold where it is now worth it for people to flood the platform with spam," said Laura Edelson, an assistant professor of computer science at Northeastern University and a member of Issue One's... Read More