An audio post facility has launched in New York that combines award-winning talent in audio mixing and sound design with a pedigree of one of the industry’s top music and sound studios. The audio post house is Vinyl Mix, and it opens as a sister shop to Yessian, the international music and sound company that’s been a fixture of the advertising, entertainment, theme park and experiential markets for years.
Leading Vinyl Mix is managing director/EP Marlene Bartos, who continues in her role as head of the New York office of Yessian. Heading up creative is Weston Fonger, Sound Designer/Audio Post Mixer, who will continue to create sound design for Yessian’s music projects while guiding the mix projects at Vinyl Mix locations. Backing up Bartos and Fonger are sr. producer Emily Smith and audio mixer Jarrett Farkas.
“In the ever-changing climate of New York’s postproduction industry, there’s a need for a company that can provide clients with a creatively driven, high-end environment where all aspects of their project’s audio needs can be thoughtfully curated,” said Fonger about the Vinyl Mix launch.
The Vinyl Mix studios are housed within the Yessian offices in New York. Brian Yessian, partner and chief creative officer of the company, said the goal is to grow the Vinyl Mix brand to include outposts in Detroit, L.A. and Hamburg, Germany, where Yessian also has offices, and to pursue work that originates outside of Yessian, rather than have Vinyl Mix focus solely on internal projects.
“The presence of Vinyl Mix in New York space is part of our commitment to providing a 360-degree experience for clients,” he said. “I think it’ll help counter the perception that music houses can’t offer top-rate audio post services. Beyond that, our plan is to be totally agnostic in how we work; if an independent project comes in–and we welcome them–we won’t steer them to our music side. And for those clients that are working with us on music, we can offer audio post as part of an attractive, one-stop package.”
Fonger says there are creative motivations behind Vinyl Mix as well, coming from his perspective as a sound designer. “For a number of years I’ve been fortunate to judge the AICP Show’s Sound Design category, so I’ve seen many projects with otherwise brilliant sound design suffer from a bad mix,” he observed. “At Vinyl Mix, we’ll offer an integrated solution: sound design, with a thoughtful approach to detail, coupled with a great mix that highlights every sonic nuance.”
Vinyl Mix offers a full range of audio recording and post services, Fonger noted, including mobile and on-site recording solutions. Among the projects the studio has worked on since openings its doors are spots for Lincoln via Hudson Rouge, Oreo via The Martin Agency and Volvo via Townhouse. It’s also handled several projects for The Brooklyn Brothers, including mixing spots for Remy Martin and a series of ads and web shorts for Optimum.
In addition to its advertising credits, Vinyl Mix has worked on music videos and films for Taylor Swift, Beyoncé and Coldplay via a collaboration with the director Jonas Åkerlund, as well as on short and feature-length films with acclaimed animator Bill Plympton and educational videos for TEDEd, the educational arm of the TED Conferences.
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