Northern Lights (http://northernlightspost.com) in NYC is dramatically expanding the audio services side of its business with the recent launch of SuperExploder. Northern Lights initially added audio post to its list of offerings four years ago. SuperExploder will use that original John Storyk-designed 5.1 suite, and will add more this summer.
The dedicated audio facility is located on the 7th floor, just below Northern Lights’ existing space on W. 27 St. The company also has a production division — Bodega on the 5th floor. Its design division, Mr. Wonderful, has space on the 7th floor too, but there are separate entrances for it and the new audio division. All SuperExploder suites will center around Avid’s new Pro Tools 10.
According to David Gioiella, editor/owner/partner in Northern Lights, the expansion is a response to two trends he’s seen developing over the past few years. “The trend has been two-fold,” he notes. “One, there are projects that want to go from start to finish, from production through post —including audio, sound design, mixing, and music composition” under one roof. “Whether it’s an agency producer or a network, they’d like to look to one group of people that are centrally located and have excellent talent so they can have an economy of scale with pricing.”
The second is a result of so many smaller creative shops sprouting up. “Whether it’s production companies, freelance producers or freelance editors that are editing at a smaller post facility or editing at home, mixing is one of those things that requires really talented artists and dedicated infrastructure,” he notes. “You can’t pull off a mix room in your bedroom, but you might be able to edit or do After Effects. So, we’ve found that by making an investment like this, we can offer companies that aren’t doing any part of the video process here, the top quality creative that they need to complete their projects.”
Northern Lights’ Beth Cummins moves to the new audio division as EP.