Universal Studios Sound has 18 mix rooms and stages, and is located on one of the largest studio lots in the world. As a full service post production sound facility, Universal Studios Sound handles features, television, and trailers along with animation and gaming. It offers sound editorial & design, mixing, Foley, ADR and transfer plus digital mastering, preservation, restoration, and archival services. In addition to work done for Universal Pictures, Universal Studios Sound’s services are in high demand by third party productions as well.
Having multiple stages and edit suites, Universal Studios Sound required a more efficient, secure, enterprise-wide solution for its storage needs in its mix stages. Each fully digital mix stage has multiple DigiDesign Pro Tools workstations for playback and recording, as well as additional systems for video playback.
Doc Goldstein, Vice President of Post Production Engineering at Universal Studios Sound said, “Our clients are usually in a time-critical situation and so we need our workflow to be as efficient as possible to meet their requirements. In addition we take security very seriously; we want to make sure their content is as secure as we can make it. So we knew we needed to look to the future and a more robust storage solution.”
Jeff Taylor, Chief Engineer of Post Production Sound began to detail a department wide Fibre Channel storage solution. He worked closely with his engineering team to develop a comprehensive requirement specification for the system. After carefully evaluating their current and future requirements, Universal Studios Sound called upon Studio Network Solutions, who partnered with LA-based reseller Audio Intervisual Design (AID), to design and build a robust Fibre Channel storage solution that would enable them to easily store, share and move media assets in a secure manner. The solution for the sound stages comprised of over 80 seats of SANmp, with Fibre Channel switches, and 12 IBM DS4200 Enterprise class storage arrays.
Taylor said, “It was critical that we have a system that is reliable and designed to be fault-tolerant. We could not afford to have a system that could break and bring down the entire department. Our customers rely on us to get their work done quickly and safely. In addition, we wanted a solution that had local support, again due to the 24/7 timeframe associated with our industry. We did a lot of testing, and SNS met our criteria for both Macintosh and Windows platforms. That, coupled with the local support of AID and SNS, made us feel comfortable with our decision and future direction.”
Universal Studios Sound has deployed the new system throughout its three main buildings, first in the BluWave Audio building and then to the Hitchcock and Mancini buildings. The goal was to connect everyone in the stages, suites and departments to this architecture and have them be a part of one large fabric, the largest in the studio’s history. The Digital Mastering group, which handles all of the after-market product/post production – such as home video, DVD, foreign language mixes – is now able to consolidate all their working media into one location with a single copy rather than multiple copies, staff can access it efficiently, thus enabling them to spend more time on the creative process rather than back-up and copying, and storage space itself is reduced, also resulting in less capital expenditures due to less copies. This efficiency and security has been extended, through the use of the Fibre Channel solution, to both television and features, and deployed so that any user in any location in the department can see any storage volume.
“By using a central secure storage location, we are able to eliminate the need for multiple copies which speeds workflow and heightens security of our client’s intellectual property,” said Doc Goldstein.
Universal Studios Sound has utilized the SNS storage solution on television shows such as House, The Office, Heroes, Law & Order: Criminal Intent and features such as Wanted, The Express, Flash of Genius, and The Incredible Hulk.
Company: Universal Studios Sound
Working Environment: Pro Tools HD
About SNS
Studio Network Solutions (SNS) specializes in the development of shared storage hardware and software solutions for the Media and Entertainment industry. Since day one we’ve applied unmatched ingenuity and experience to create outstanding products that exceed industry expectations while providing outstanding support to our customers.
Our customers range in size from individual freelance engineers to multinational media powerhouses. Our solutions are used to produce everything from books on tape to full track scoring for major Hollywood films. Our products have been at the technical core of the music you listen to, the games you play, the shows you watch and the movies you see.
We have a valued network of resellers located throughout the United States… and the world. Whether you have a product question or you’re ready to place an order, we encourage you to contact us today.