Trio Of Recording Facilities Teams Up

In an effort to attract new clients and provide a broader range of services, three of the recording industry's premier facilities have partnered.

The mobile Remote Recording Services and the Hit Factory studios, both based in New York, and Marin County, Calif.-based Skywalker Sound intend to offer a streamlined production process.

Jointly, the three facilities will offer complete recording and postproduction of live concerts and events destined for CD and DVD release.

Under the partnership, clients will be able to utilize a combination of the three facilities' services, which include location recording, multitrack mixing and postproduction.

Events recorded by Remote Recording's flagship vehicle, the Neve VR console-equipped Silver Studio, can now be mixed on either coast.

Remote Recording VP Karen Brinton says the partnership was a result of "us getting together and talking, trying to think of ways to better serve our clients and make things more attractive to them."

"Karen and I were at the Surround Conference in December," Skywalker Sound director of music recording and scoring Leslie Ann Jones says, referring to the annual two-day conference in Beverly Hills. "She and I both came to the idea when we were there about joining forces.

"Then Karen spoke to Zoë [Thrall, Hit Factory GM], because she thought it would be a good idea to have [a studio facility] on the East Coast as well. And of course, the Hit Factory is a great studio. Hit Factory and Skywalker have shared projects from time to time."

Jones adds that the partnership was particularly attractive "since Skywalker is in the post business and Remote Recording does so much live recording. People are so 5.1- and DVD-conscious now. It seemed like a really great way to combine all the things we do best and offer folks one place to call."

Utilizing the partners for any combination of recording, mixing and postproduction will offer not only convenience, Brinton says, but also cost savings.

"We can do as much or as little as they want us to do," she says. "There is the simplicity of it, there's streamlined service."

The Silver Studio, a mainstay in the remote recording industry, recently provided recording and 5.1-channel mixing for the 76th Academy Awards telecast.

In January 2003, engineer Ed Cherney recorded a Rolling Stones performance at Madison Square Garden in the Silver Studio. Following the concert's simulcast on HBO, Cherney refined the mix at the Hit Factory for its later presentation in the Stones' "Four Flicks" DVD-Video boxed set.

The partnership also makes available Hit Factory-owned Criteria Recording's five studios to clients. Hit Factory acquired the Miami facility in 1999.