Combining leading-edge technology and the highest levels of expertise with the pristine preservation of some of the film community’s most historic structures, Fox Studios Post Production Services is rightfully regarded as one of the world’s finest state-of-the-art post facilities. The layout and design of the complex is truly a work of art, and the facility’s technical design and technology substantiate its pre-eminent place in the audio post industry. This is no surprise, however, coming from the studio that first introduced sound on film over 70 years ago.
“Our facility in Los Angeles is the most advanced on the planet because it was designed from the inside out as a fully digital facility,” observes Alan Bond, Vice President of Post Production Services. “We built the studios around a digital network and routing system that can take audio data in any format, convert it to the 48kHz standard we use for in-house work, then output it as any format, any sampling rate, any playback protocol that the client wants. That’s incredibly useful when you realize how many formats and sampling rates that sound elements from a single production can utilize.”
The Post Production facilities are housed in four of the original Fox soundstages, with screening and projection rooms adjacent. Specific studios have been dedicated to famous directors and actors from Fox’s past, such as the Howard Hawks, Robert Wise and John Ford Dubbing Theatres, the Marilyn Monroe and Marge Simpson ADR Stages, the Jane Russell Foley Stage, and the magnificent Newman Scoring Stage.
The technology within their walls underscores the value associated with their prestigious names. The Newman Stage, reopened after extensive refurbishment in 1997, offers a 96-input SSL 9000J fully automated mixing console, a 75×100-foot stage that can accommodate up to 150 musicians, and Genelec 1035 Series monitoring. Three dubbing theaters each offer AMS Neve DFC digital film consoles with up to 96 inputs and upward of 300 signal paths each. Both ADR stages feature analog and digital audio capability, as well as phone patch and DolbyFax ISDN capability. Tascam MMR-8 and MMP-16 recorders and playback systems are standard throughout the facility, as are Pro Tools 5.0 systems, providing full compatibility throughout the facility and with the rest of the post production industry. In addition, Fox Studios Post Production Services offers more than 100 well-appointed editorial rooms, all interconnected with basic services of intercom, cable, video and audio ties, and reference signals, and a large inventory of 4GB and 9GB hot-swappable hard drives.
The sense of history is pervasive throughout the Fox facility, and it coexists easily with its complement of leading-edge technology and a service environment designed to put the client first. “All of these aspects are part of the Fox legacy to the industry,” says Bond. “All we’re doing is keeping it alive into the next century.”
