Unless you’re a wizard, it’s hard to be in two places at once. That is,
unless you have a business with studios located on both sides of the
country. Bob Giammarco, partner of the New York City-based audio post
house audioEngine, lives in Scottsdale, AZ, and had been "commuting" to
the office once a month. Eventually, the long trips started to take
their toll and Giammarco decided it was time to open a Phoenix
facility. That was one year ago. Earlier this year, audioEngine |West
moved from its original 400-square-foot space into a larger, freshly
built 2,500-square-foot facility.

While convenience was a major factor in the move, Giammarco says it
wasn’t the only one. "The more I looked at the market in Phoenix, the
more I began to realize that there was a lot going on there," he says.
"And we knew that if we were going to be seen as a serious player, we
needed a facility that was of the same caliber as anything we would
have in New York."

On the East Coast, audioEngine has been in business for three years
offering audio post, original music and sound design services. While
the new shop takes on the same type of commercial spots and branded
entertainment as its sister location, longer-form projects have also
found a place in the mix. “In Phoenix, we do a wider breadth of work,
including a local show called Arizona Highways and a two-hour
documentary for the History Channel,” explains Giammarco. Recent
projects for east and west include spots for Got Milk?, Nike, Major
League Baseball, Starbucks and Miller Lite.

Despite the fact the studios are separated by a few time zones, both
audioEngine east and west collaborate regularly on projects. According
to Giammarco, "Our entire library of music and sound effects are all on
a centralized server (Mac OS X server) – in the New York office – that we
all share." On one recent project, Giammarco created the original music
score and completed the edit in Phoenix, then sent it off to New York
for the final surround mix.

Part of audioEngine |West’s charm, says Giammarco, is its overall
boutique appearance and atmosphere. "We wanted to create a spot that
was distinctive looking. We have grass and palm trees – there’s no big
office building. We didn’t want our clients’ experience of trying to
find our studio to be like trying to find their gate at a large city
airport."

Giammarco says the team at audioEngine relies almost exclusively on
Avid Digidesign Pro Tools. "I would love to tell you that we use some
fascinating new technology," he laughs, "but we are all running Pro
Tools here. We copy and paste the sessions and then put them on the
server. That long list of equipment just
doesn’t exist any more."

When Giammarco got his start in the music world – long before he moved
into post – there was no such thing as computer sequencing. By the 1990s,
he says, he worked at a studio that started using "a Solid State Logic
Screen Sound, an integrated digital audio workstation, which was really
primitive by today’s standards. But it was pretty obvious that was
where we were heading. It wasn’t until we started using an Avid product
and started doing more and more out of the box." Then Avid bought
Digidesign, he says, and really ramped up Pro Tools to be the kind of
ideal integrated solution it is today. "It’s gotten to the point where
it can do pretty much anything you need it to do. As a studio owner,
that means I can bring down my costs. It’s really an amazing tool."

Audio post production, original music and sound design services, with offices in New York and, more recently, Phoenix, AZ.

The partners are: Bob Giammarco, Rex Recker, Tom Goldblatt, Joe
Vagnoni, Michael Porte and Brian Wick. The mixers are: Hillary Kew and
Carl Mandelbaum. The composer is Jason Camiolo.

Avid Digidesign Pro Tools
Dolby approved 5.1 surround
Mac OS X servers

audioEngine |West
www.audioengine.net
376 Virginia Ave.
Phoenix, AZ 85004
ph. 602.250.8605