With a legacy that extends back over 50 years and spans hundreds of classic films and television programs, Universal Studios Post Production Services has adapted its extensive range of capabilities to cover the entire gamut of modern media, serving the needs of independent filmmakers, major studios, DVD-Audio mastering and 5.1 music mastering.
The facility has six multiformat digital re-recording stages. Three of them designed and equipped specifically for feature film work and fitted with the largest re-recording consoles in the world – 528-input Harrison MPC digital consoles with 124 mix buses and full automation on every channel. Once a planned networking scheme is implemented later this year, all studios and editorial facilities will be completely linked.
Dub Stages 3, 6 and 4 (the Alfred Hitchcock Stage, with a 208-seat theater) are also equipped with three way JBL Theatrical monitoring systems. The three other re-recording stages are equally impressive in their versatility. Dub Stages 1 and 2 have Otari Premiere consoles with DiskMix automation and are focused on television work – they’re where acclaimed series such as Law & Order get their trademark sound. Dub Stage 5, fitted with two Otari Concept consoles, is also capable of a wide range of applications. All studios at Universal have been upgraded as part of a decade-long, $150 million program that has kept the facility on the cutting edge of technology.
The facility’s two ADR studios are equipped with ISDN and custom consoles with state-of-the-art dB Technologies A-to-D converters and Massenburg preamps; and the large Foley stage has the distinction of being the home of the late Jack Foley, the brilliant progenitor of the art of live sound effects.
Universal Studios Post Production Services handles all major professional recording formats, including analog and digital multitracks and Tascam digital dubbers, as well as all theatrical and broadcast playback formats. Other services include full-format audio transfer, a complete Rank telecine system with da Vinci color correction, digital audio mastering services, and various-sized theaters equipped for any picture/sound format.
What makes Universal Studios Post Production Services so unique is a combination of high-end technology, client services and what Bill Varney, Vice President of Sound Operations and a multiple Academy Award-winning sound mixer, calls “the talent factor. I’ve spent 40 years working with sound for picture, and I’ve come to know what constitutes true talent in this business. And I can say without reservation that the staff here is the finest you will find anywhere in the industry. Combine that with our dedication to the clients’ needs and comfort, and the fact that we have adapted our range of services and economics to address the entire spectrum of creative needs in sound for entertainment, and then you know why Universal is as widely respected as it is.”
