CREATIVE
AUDIO SERVICES
VENTURA/SANTA
BARBARA,
CALIFORNIA
Photos Courtesy Studio bau:ton/Ed Colver, Photography
A bit about my role
in the renovation of The Newman Scoring Stage, and the team that made
it all possible.
In the mid-90's, I was called upon by 20th Century Fox Sound Department
Chief Engineer Barry Ross to join his staff as the Project Engineer for
the renovation of the historic Fox Scoring Stage, which occupied the
original Stage
1 of the Fox Lot in Century City, CA. Since I had worked on many
high-end music studio builds, and had done a renovation in the mid '80s
of the famous MGM/Lorimar (now Sony) Scoring Stage in Culver City, it
was felt that I was the best person for this complex job.
At that time, the Fox Scoring Stage had been shut down for several
years. Everything stored on the stage was covered in a thick layer of
dust. It looked like an unopened archeological site. It was actually
not
completely clear when I came aboard as to whether the renovation would
actually proceed. It was very possible that the stage would be turned
into offices, as was also proposed. After many complex bureaucratic and
political twists and turns, and continued lobbying by Fox V.P. of
Feature Music Robert Kraft, his counterpart in TV Music Carol
Farhat, TV Post V.P Ed Nassour, amongst others, the project was given
the corporate green light, and a working
budget.
I had the pleasure of joining Chief Engineer Barry Ross, and Fox V.P.
of Feature Music Daniel Brock at the AES Show in New York City to hand
Solid State Logic a purchase order for $1M for the custom SSL SL-9000J
Film Scoring Desk to be built for use on the finished stage. Consultant
Scoring Mixer Danny Wallin and I worked with SSL to develop the custom
Film Scoring Monitor, which later became part of the SSL product line.
We also developed the specifications for custom features of the console
appropriate to the varied tasks required in this specialized
environment. I also created the specifications and block layout for an
advanced custom stage monitor mixer that was realized by John Windt, to
be installed in the new SSL's recordist desk.
As the project deveoped, it was determined that our main criteria was
to restore the stage to it's original 7500 square foot space. This was
a big challenge, as the original control room had been on the second
floor, and the prior control room had been built out from the stage
wall onto the stage floor, taking up almost 1/3 of the stage floor
space. A second floor control room was quickly deemed not workable
today. After much discussion, and a passionate presentation by Danny
Wallin, it was decided that the only way to do this stage renovation
right would be to build the new control room on the adjacent
stage- Stage 2- which was separated from Stage 1 by two thick
cinderblock walls over 8 feet apart! So, besides the extremely complex
bureaucratic issues involved in annexing Stage 2, there would be major
structural and mechanical engineering issues to solve before we could
commit to this plan of action.
Once Fox Management signed off on the annexing of Stage 2, Studio
bau:ton and their team was up to the task of solving the site technical
issues. We ended up creating a peerless 1600 square foot acoustically
precise 5.1 control room environment that was up to handling the
complex tasks required of one of the world's premiere scoring stages.
We also succeeded in restoring the recording stage to it's full 7500
square feet while maintaining the reknown Fox acoustic signature so
beloved by film composers, musicians, and scoring mixers.
THE
'THANK YOU' LIST
As Project Engineer,
I was only a very small part of a large team
consisting of the world's greatest managers, executives, craftsmen,
designers, engineers and technicians. I would like to say a special and
personal 'thank you' to the following
Fox Staffers, Independant Scoring Engineers, Mixers, Architects,
Engineers,
Contractors, Sub-contractors, Consultants, and project Vendors for
their
work, input, inspiration and support during the renovation of the Fox
Stage.
THANK YOU for making this project a success!!!
For more pictures, go
to
the Newman Project Picture Gallery.
For a history of the Fox Scoring Stage, visit the Film
Musicians Secondary Market Fund Newman Stage Page.
Fox Staff:
- Barry Ross
- Larry Goga
- John Brunnick
- Robert Kraft
- Gary Ehrlich
- Ed Nassour
- Daniel Brock
- Carol Farhat
- Terry Brown
- Fernando Carillo
- Victor Montez
- Rick Nordstrom
- Jeff Zyndroski
- Mike Knobloch
- Denis St. Amand
- Victor Zaslov
Stellar Participants:
- Dan Wallin, Consultant Mixer
- Tom Steel, Scoring Stage Manager
- Armin Steiner, Scoring Mixer
- Tim Boyle, Scoring Mixer
- Norm Delugatch, Paramount Scoring
- Mark Gabauer, Todd AO Scoring
- Peter Grueneisen, AIA, Studio bau:ton
- Peter Maurer, AIA, Studio bau:ton
- Bob Hodas, Acoustic Analysis
- Jack Edwards, AIA, Edwards & Edwards
- Phil Wagner, Solid State Logic
- Steve Drummond, Solid State Logic
- Brian Bair, Solid State Logic
- Paul Cox, Solid State Logic
- George Horton, Solid State Logic
- Tim Nagle, Solid State Logic
- Ronnie Kittel, Solid State Logic
- Patrick McDougall, Solid State Logic
- Chris Barnett, Solid State Logic
- Will Eggleston, Genelec USA
- Gary Marshank, Genelec USA
- Ari Varla, Genelec OY
- John Windt, Windt Audio Co.
- Janice Frazier, Canare
- David Brand, Intercom Specialties
- Howard Shpegel, Clear-Com Systems
- Chuck Kavooras, Studer Pro Audio
- Charlie Bolois, Vertigo Recording Services
- Bruce Gordon, Gordon & Williams
- Bill Francis, Gordon & Williams
- Doug Allen, Gordon & Williams
- Tom Tshudin, Gordon & Williams
- Daniel Williams, Gordon & Williams
- Hakim Kalil, Gordon & Williams
- Paul Franceschi, Nabih Yousef & Assoc.
- Brent Nutall, Nabih Yousef & Assoc.
- Ron Hyle, PRK Assoc.
- Jack Haleblian, PRK Assoc.
- Edmund Elizade, PRK Assoc.
- Johnny Zehm, Morrow-Meadows
- Mike McCann, Morrow-Meadows
- James Prahm, Technology Services & Safety Solutions
- Bob Predovich, Soundmaster Systems
- Larry Jackson, Jackson Cabinets
- John Costa, Westcam Industries
- Richard Davenport, Piano Services
- Steve Schaeffer, Studio Percussionist
- Lee Stein, Neumann/Sennheiser USA
- Paul Hugo, Neumann/Sennheiser USA
- Doug Enderson, Pacific Radio Sales/No Shorts Cable Co.
- Gil Reyes, Location Sound Co.
- Carl Ditto, Coast Recording Supply Co.
- Sye Mitchell, Sye Mitchell Sound Company
- Gary Schneider, DCE
- David Carroll, DCE
- Margaret Lux
- The teams of Artisans, Craftsmen, and Craftspeople
...And all the mixers and editors who answered my
multitudinous
queries
as to how they'd like to have it!
All of your work and attention to detail has created this
exquisite
environment for creating and capturing
the performances of the great composers and musicians of our times!
You are all MOST AWESOME! THANKS and CONGRATULATIONS!
RETURN
TO THE TOP OF THIS PAGE
BACK
TO MAIN PAGE
© 2010 John B. Rotondi