Magic Hair Studios Masters Discovery’s New Audio Specification
Magic Hair Studios, a post-production facility in Los Angeles, has been providing audio mixes to Discovery Networks using Dolby’s LM100 Broadcast Loudness Meter.
According to Mark Edmondson, Discovery Networks’ audio post-production supervisor, “Discovery installed Dolby LM100 units in all of our offline, online, QC, mix, dubbing and machine room facilities in the spring/summer of 2005 as our first tangible step towards resolving the escalating problem of uneven broadcast levels and level shifts between programs, as well as dynamic compression issues at affiliates.”
“We wanted to be ahead of the curve by adopting the LM100 specification as early as possible, as we have multiple Discovery shows in-house for picture and sound editing,” states Magic Hair Studios’ audio supervisor, Mike Forslund—a veteran mixer for television whose credits include shows for TLC, Fox, The History Channel, MTV, A&E Biography, and many others. “We aligned ourselves with top technicians at Dolby as well as Discovery Networks to educate ourselves on the box’s intricacies, as well as to share our findings with the engineers at Discovery and Dolby so that everyone benefits.”
The first mix that Magic Hair Studios submitted to Discovery Networks after experimenting with the LM100 resulted in a clean bill of health from Discovery’s Quality Control department. “We’re thrilled,” says Chris Monte, Magic Hair Studios’ creative director. “To be able to produce quality mixes in-house using the same LM100s that the Discovery Network’s engineers are using in their quality control department is an invaluable service that we can provide to our clients.”
“Conforming to the LM100 spec for the Discovery Networks is just the tip of the iceberg for broadcast audio,” remarks Forslund. “The popularity of home theaters and more sophisticated playback equipment has driven the consumer to be more demanding of the quality of broadcasters’ products.”
Magic Hair Studios has been providing services for more than 10 years to clients including American Express, Lexus, Microsoft, DirecTV, AOL, Lifetime Television, AARP, The Discovery Channel, Shape magazine and PBS.
For more information, visit www.magichairstudios.com and www.dolby.com.
