The sound production facilities at Sony Pictures have received an update to incorporate state-of-the-art technology. Television mix stages 6 and 7 now support Dolby Home Theater Atmos (9.1.6) and Dolby (7.1, 5.1) mixes with Imax support integrated.
“You have to have the right technology. You have to be able to give the talent the tools they need to succeed, and have clients and filmmakers want to work with them,” says Tom McCarthy, Sony’s exec VP of post-production facilities, who was a sound editor on films including “Arachnophobia” and “Lean on Me.”
The increase in streaming clients for episodic television production is driving the need for the Atmos upgrade. McCarthy hopes to renovate one more stage over the next year; so far, 10 of the 14 stages have been upgraded to meet the demand.
Lane Burch (who worked as a foley mixer on movies such as “National Security” and “Road to Perdition”), Sony’s executive director of post-production sound engineering, adds that stages can be used for home entertainment or TV and, of course, theatrical, which has long been using Dolby Atmos. The advantage of standardizing the stages is that crew who go from stage to stage have a seamless work experience.
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While all shows are not aired in Atmos, Kimberly Jimenez (“The Zookeeper’s Wife,” “Cedar Rapids”), VP of post sound operations, says more viewers are equipping their homes with speaker systems and soundbars that allow for Atmos playback. The upgrade, she notes, is a way to “future proof” the facility at a time when more mixers are mixing in Atmos.
