NEW YORK — Bob Pomann got his start in pro audio back in 1976, working as an intern on radio advertisements. In 1984, he opened Robert Pomann Sound Productions Inc., as a single-room facility, and laid out $100K for a Solid State Logic ScreenSound digital audio workstation — high-end digital audio gear at the time.
Bob Pomann and Justin Kaupp
Thirty-two years later, Pomann’s studio is still providing audio services for radio, as well as television programming, independent films and most recently, virtual reality projects. Pomann sees his studio as one of New York’s longest-running, independently-owned audio facilities. He’s scaled up and down over the years, operating as many as eight rooms at its peak, and currently has three studios that are constantly busy.
Pomann Sound (www.pomannsound.com) occupies 5,000 square feet across two floors at 2 West 46th Street in Manhattan. The studio started in the penthouse and later moved into additional space on the floor below it. When Post dropped by in mid-August, the studio’s penthouse suite was being used for a VO casting session. The facility’s two 5.1 suites on the lower floor were also busy — one hosting a session of Investigation Discovery’s
Grave Secrets, and the other being used for a game project.
The studio regularly hosts VO and ADR sessions, as so much of the acting talent is based in New York. Some of the studio’s recent TV work includes TLC’s 90 Day Fiance and Discovery’s
American Tarzan. Pomann has provided ADR services for
Blindspot, Madam Secretary, The Walking Dead and
Fear The Walking Dead. They have also worked with Telltale, the publisher of episodic gaming content, on their
Batman,
Minecraft and
The Walking Dead titles.
On the independent film front, Pomann provided a host of services for the upcoming feature Blind, starring Alec Baldwin and Demi Moore. In addition to handling the sound design and mixing in-house, Pomann’s Justin Kaupp performed the final mix at Postworks in Manhattan.
Ghostbusters director Paul Feig was also in recently to record commentary for the film’s Blu-ray release. Pomann also provides audio services for commercial clients, including NASCAR, Pepsi, Denny’s Citizens Bank, NY Lottery and Ikea.
As if all that isn’t enough, the studio is breaking into the virtual reality market. Pomann recently worked on a promo for MatPat’s Game Lab, which is available on YouTube Red. Gaming expert Matthew Patrick’s new 360-degree VR series explores the real life science behind popular video games.
“360-degree sound positioning — ambisonic — is the next format,” says Pomann, excited by the possibilities the new format can provide creatively and from a business standpoint.
Pomann Sound just completed a studio-wide upgrade of its Avid Pro Tools system. The three rooms are now running Version 12 software and operate on new Mac Pros with Avid’s latest I/O hardware. The upgrade, says Pomann, offers “more power and increased track counts.”
The Pro Tools systems are paired with Avid D-Command and Command 8 consoles. The studio also relies heavily on Soundminer’s sound library search engine, which helps the facility keep tabs of some 400K sound effects.