We could not be more excited to hear that Welcome to Pine Hill, a film we sound edited, designed and mixed in 5.1, has made it into Slamdance!  Mark Corbin of CorbinSound, served as Supervising Sound Editor for the film.

Traveling from the backyards of Brooklyn crack houses to the lush Catskill Mountains, the film is a meditative journey about how we choose to live our lives.

Welcome to Pine Hill will be screened twice – Sunday January 22nd at 1:30pm and Monday January 23rd at 2:30pm.

Follow the link to check out more on the film!

CLIENT – SPIKE TV

PRODUCED BY: Mighty Pictures

I demoed a Sony TV with the required glasses and was amazed. Its depth perception allows the viewer to examine details of an image from every angle. That’s not possible in 2D. It forms the gateway from viewing to participation. And come to think of it, participation is where it’s at.

Imagine the video game Call Of Duty in 3D. Now you are the soldier and you are immersed in that environment, removing you from the couch and putting you on the battlefield. That’s pretty exciting.

And these visual advances bode well for sound.

I’ve been eager to see the adaptation of audio surround by consumers for years. In anticipation, I’d set up my own system at home to critically examine surround mixed DVDs and broadcast programs. When Protools released its 5.1 version software, we engineers thought the age of surround was upon us. Except it wasn’t.

Unfortunately, after the release of Protools 5.1, there was no sudden jump in requests for surround mixes. Despite the push by networks to broadcast in HD and with surround capability, this was the reality we faced. I suspect clients weren’t eager to spend the additional money for a 5.1 mix when the technology hadn’t been fully embraced by the consumer. Among the obstacles to adaptation, you needed enough space for a proper listening environment, you needed to get through the complex signal patching and worst of all-especially for dedicated mixers-most people wouldn’t even notice the difference.

Most consumers have, at best, a vague notion of what surround is. So the hapless consumer who’s purchased his system will stack all the speakers up front, connect them together and wonder why it doesn’t sound right.

With the advent of very good quality 3D television, true demand for surround sound and the need to get home audio systems set up correctly should emerge. After all, 3D visuals beckon us to venture beyond the living room and surround sound makes the experience more complete for the goal of the mix is to make the make believe world of 3D more believable. If you think TV in 2D high def is cool, just wait. This is a giant step towards the rabbit hole and we audio engineers will help pave the route. And as we continue to improve ways to create a totally immersive experience for the viewer, the viewer will hopefully not be satisfied with stereo. This advance leads us to conquer the next sense. Perhaps it could be the nose. Anyone for smell-o-vision?

Its hard to imagine that just 10 years ago this weekend, the events of September 11th changed the lives of every American. In such a short amount of time, we have come so far in rebuilding.

When asked to be a part of this project, HOBO jumped at the opportunity to join Steven Spielberg, Dreamworks, Danny Forster, and KPI to help honor the memory of 9/11 and its victims.

Please join us this Sunday, for the re-airing marathon of all 6 one-hour episodes of Rising: Rebuilding Ground Zero starting at 5pm on the Science Channel.

CLIENT – Discovery Channel

PRODUCERS – Stephen Spielberg, Danny Forster, KPI TV

As JFK so eloquently put it more than a generation ago, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country”.

So quit your bellyaching, raise taxes and help this country get out of this mess.

We Hobos have been known to frequent a flea market here and there.  When our friends at KPI called us to mix their new TV series, FLEA MAN, for the National Geographic Channel, we couldn’t say no to that deal!

Engineers Julienne Guffain and Chris Stangroom not only mixed, recorded the narration, and cleaned up the audio for the TV series, but picked up a few good flea market “dos & don’ts” along the way.  They got first hand experiencing watching the FLEA MAN host, Jimmy Kaplow, help people sell their belongings at flea markets all over the country.

So if you have a basement full of stuff you’ve been meaning to sell, check out the FLEA MAN TV series.   The Two Episode Premiere Event is Friday, June 17 at 8 & 9pm on the National Geographic Channel.

We are currently working on the feature film, Lilith, with a very talented director – Sridhar Reddy.

Follow the link below to his blog, where he gives high praise to us Hobos!

[ Lilith.]