Studio Monitor: Masterdisk, Aix Go Separate Ways On Dvds

A year ago, New York mastering studio Masterdisk and Los Angeles-based DVD authoring house AIX entered into a strategic alliance intended to bolster both companies' efforts in the new media arena.
Now, the two companies have decided to part amicably and pursue DVD-related endeavors on their own, according to Masterdisk and AIX principals.
"It turns out the companies are too different," says Masterdisk owner Doug Levine. "Our corporate cultures are different. AIX wants to be a content company, while we're here to service our clients."
AIX owner Mark Waldrep says, "AIX will be implementing independent DVD production across a wide spectrum of clients, and that wasn't how Masterdisk wanted to work. We want to spread the net wider. Our focus is not strictly music. We have a large number of music clients as well as film clients."
Despite the split, the two companies are on good terms and have left the option open of working on projects together in the future. Furthermore, DVD authoring specialist Ross Goodman, who was working for AIX/Masterdisk out of Masterdisk's New York headquarters, will remain there as a Masterdisk employee.
As they go their separate ways, Masterdisk and AIX are both busy with a wide range of projects. At Masterdisk, mastering engineer Leon Zervos is up and running in a rebuilt studio that occupies the space once used by Bob Ludwig and Scott Hull.
Elsewhere at the facility, Tony Dawsey recently completed albums for The Artist Formerly Known As Prince and a collaboration between Method Man and Redman. Veteran engineer Howie Weinberg has been working on music by the Smashing Pumpkins and Oasis, and he is collaborating with fellow staffer Andy Vandette on a Beastie Boys project.
In the DVD area, Masterdisk recently finished a DVD Video for Matador Records' 10th anniversary. Furthermore, the studio has upgraded its DVD authoring capacities and is now ready to tackle all phases of multimedia work in-house, from video compression to authoring to audio mastering.
AIX, meanwhile, is turning around approximately 60 DVDs a week in its various locations, which include Los Angeles, New York (AIX Media Group East), London, and Sydney.
While AIX's U.S. operations are self-contained, its Sydney and London studios are co-ventures with, respectively, Microview and Sensible.
Waldrep says he expects AIX's DVD capacity to swell to 100 titles per week by early next year, and he is eyeing expansion into such hot multimedia markets as San Francisco, Chicago, and Orlando, Fla. AIX employs approximately 45 people.
Among its biggest clients are WinStar, Fox Lorber Films, Trauma Films, Zomba Records, and BMG Entertainment.
"At [the Video Software Dealers Assn. (VSDA) Convention] in 1997, we had the only booth with a DVD player. People didn't understand it at all. Last summer, VSDA was all about DVD," Waldrep says.
Although DVD Audio has yet to emerge as the format that music labels are hoping it will become, both Waldrep and Levine are ready to jump on the format.
"I think DVD Audio is going to be huge," says Waldrep. "I believe there will be very compelling titles. The differentiation between video and audio will fade, and we'll have DVD by the middle of the year. Figure that by Christmas of next year there will be $300 combiplayers and a couple of hundred titles. I believe it'll happen very quickly."
Levine is also eager to service his clientele with DVD Audio product, but he's concerned about a lack of authoring tools and a lack of understanding on the part of labels about the capabilities of the format.
"We've been asked questions about DVD Audio by our clients, but there's no way to do it yet," he says. "As the need arises, we'll be ready."
Digidesign and Focusrite-two highly respected pro audio companies that have collaborated on plug-ins for Digidesign's popular Pro Tools platform-have taken their relationship a step further by signing an exclusive distribution agreement.
Effective Jan. 1, Digidesign-a unit of Avid Technology-will exclusively distribute U.K.-based Focusrite Audio Engineering Ltd.'s software and hardware products in North America.
"This distribution agreement is a natural extension of a healthy relationship between Digidesign and Focusrite as all segments of the market increasingly shift toward [digital audio workstation] technology and Pro Tools in particular," says Digidesign director of North American sales Christopher Bock.
"As this market shift continues, Digidesign customers will still require high-quality analog input signals and processing," Bock says. "Carrying both the hardware and software Focusrite lines lets us meet the customer's needs with a one-stop-shop solution."
Focusrite chairman Phil Dudderidge says, "Focusrite has been in partnership with Digidesign since 1996, when they launched the d2 Equalizer Plug-in for Pro Tools and subsequently the d3 Dynamics Plug-in.
"Both companies recognize the strategic benefits of a closer relationship," he says. "Many of our dealers in the States are already Digidesign dealers, and we see the two brands complementing each other in both the high-end markets and in the home studio market . . . It truly is a perfect marriage."
Established in 1985 by legendary British console designer Rupert Neve, the Focusrite brand includes the Forte and Studio series consoles; the Blue Range of Mastering processors, converters, and controllers; the Red Range of studio signal processing; and the Platinum Range of processors for the project studio market.
Digidesign is best known for its Pro Tools line of digital audio workstations, which ranges from the entry-level 001 to the Pro Tools 24 MixPlus 24-bit system.