Studio Monitor: Masterdisk Joins Forces With Dvd Developer Aix

New York audio mastering powerhouse Masterdisk has entered into a strategic alliance with Los Angeles-based DVD developer AIX, according to Masterdisk owner Doug Levine and AIX owner Mark Waldrep.
The venture is designed to propel each company into a new area of DVD authoring. For Masterdisk, it means entering the graphics and interactivity side of the DVD equation, while AIX expects to tap into Masterdisk's audio specialization, according to both parties.
Levine says, "What this does is, overnight, it gives us full DVD capacity from beginning to end. AIX is relying on us for audio and we on them for creating the interactivity as well as the graphics."
Waldrep adds, "I want Masterdisk to be able to say to their clients, "We've got everything you need. We want to master your audio, and we want to work with you on interactivity.' At the same time, I have clients here that I could refer to New York for the mastering of audio, so the relationship could flow both ways."
Although Levine and Waldrep say they want to test the alliance before they make huge staff and space commitments, AIX has already established a beachhead on the East Coast by asking engineer Michael Stellatos to temporarily relocate to New York to act as DVD coordinator at Masterdisk. Meanwhile, Masterdisk has hired DVD engineer Drew Anderson and converted the studio formerly occupied by Greg Calbi into a DVD authoring suite, with surround-sound monitoring and full interactive capabilities.
Currently, AIX authors approximately 40 DVDs per month. Levine says he hopes that by mid-1999 Masterdisk will participate in audio mastering for approximately 20% of that workload.
The financial arrangement between the two studios is simple: The facility that generates work for its counterpart gets a commission for the job. For instance, if Masterdisk refers a client to AIX for DVD authoring, Masterdisk receives a percentage of that booking.
Depending on the success of the Masterdisk/AIX relationship, and of DVD in the marketplace, Masterdisk is prepared to add DVD mastering rooms, according to Levine, who says there is additional space available at Masterdisk's West 45th Street headquarters.
The move couldn't happen at a more propitious time for both companies. Masterdisk lost ground recently when Calbi‹a four-year veteran of the facility and one of its star engineers‹left to rejoin Sterling, where he built his mastering career starting in 1976 (Billboard, Sept. 26). Rather than replace Calbi with another high-profile audio engineer, Masterdisk‹which has its share of talented music specialists in chief engineer Scott Hull and staffers Howie Weinberg, Tony Dawsey, Andy VanDette, and Roger Lian‹went for the bigger picture by taking the DVD plunge. Although Masterdisk still faces the ominous task of competing with a fortified Sterling in the music business, it has leapt ahead of the competition in the DVD arena.
AIX, which was founded by musician and mastering engineer Waldrep in 1994, is now poised to become a leader in a rapidly growing market. Although the company could have soldiered on with its current resources, partnering with an established player for audio sends a message that AIX is serious when it comes to delivering the highest possible quality in DVD.