Stewart Sound plans for the future: this Orange County studio is designing sounds for a high definition world

Post, Nov, 2004 by Mike Joseph

SANTA ANA, CA -- Stewart Sound (www.stewartsound.com) isn't in the center of LA's production ghetto, yet they're still in the thick of things. Bob Stewart, the company's founder and resident composer has built his studio's reputation on technical and creative innovation. He's also built a cutting-edge, if somewhat different, studio environment for his creativity. Their daily bread is music composition, sweetening, sound design and mixing for radio and TV spots, along with longform audio for video. Their specialty is providing audio for high definition video programming.

Stewart's been at it for over 25 years. Along with first engineer David "Wookie" Myslek and support staff Suzi Alderson and Kathryn Podsiadlo, Stewart Sound juggles a variety of projects. According to Bob Stewart, it's a busy shop. "Right now, we have three rooms, and in one room we'll do four to seven different types of sessions in one day. On busy days we'll do four different TV campaigns. In one day! It's crazy. The bottom line is, there are only four of us. We can really get a lot of things done, but we still kind of like to keep it 'mom and pop' personal."

AUDIO IN HIS BLOOD

Stewart has been in and around music his entire life. He began playing piano at four, with serious lessons at seven. "My father played drums at a local playhouse that was always putting on Broadway musical shows. He'd bring me down there to record on an old reel-to-reel. I started doing that when I was eight, and I've been hooked ever since. I played keyboards for fun in high school rock bands and found work at a video studio in [his hometown] Bloomfield Hills, MI. I learned to do audio back when we were recording on one track, 1/4-inch tape."

In '85, he moved to San Diego and got a job at World Video, which had a 16-track, a two-track and a synchronizer for audio sweetening. "I did audio post on tape for several years. And then in '93 we went to [Digidesign] Pro Tools, and I've been doing Pro Tools ever since."

Over the years, Stewart has built nine different studios, each a little more sophisticated than the last. Originally based in Irvine, CA, he was searching for a more client-friendly environment to set up a new studio. He found it at the Empire Building, in downtown Santa Ana, where he leased 5,000 square feet of space with an option to buy. Exercising that option last January. The refurbishing is due to be completed by the time you read this.

THE SPACE

Describing the new environment, Stewart talks like a proud father: "We landed in a building that was built in 1927 and was pretty much run down. We've put in an elevator; and the ball-room was converted to the big studio, which is about 3,200 square feet. We have another 2,000 square feet that's dedicated for client services, with a kitchen, dining room and cigar room.

"At this point, we have the three rooms: the East and West mix rooms and the Sound Cellar; where composition and recording happens. The Sound Cellar has the same exact capabilities as the two mix suites, with the addition of a V-Drum kit, a Line 6 guitar amp, a Hammond organ, all kinds of MIDI rack gear and vintage synthesizers, plus two isolation booths. It's also getting a 60-inch screen in it with full surround sound, like the mix rooms."

Stewart continues. "I have this proprietary hourglass shape for the rooms that alleviates standing waves, and it allows you to hear very clearly sitting back at the couch, just as if you were sitting in front."

The production systems include the aforementioned 60-inch Sony WEGA, LCD work-stations monitors, Apple G5s, a Gig-Ethernet network with an Apple Xserve I TB server, Pro Tools|HD Accel systems in all three bays and THX-certified Mackie HR monitor speakers with 15-inch subs. Says Stewart, "With the Pro Tools|HD systems, we'll have 192 tracks in all three rooms." Scheduled to be added in-house early next year are two HD recording decks and Dolby E encoders/decoders to facilitate dubbing and laybacks.

THE WORK

Not just a spot shop, Stewart and company have been busy doing longform as well as other types of projects. Current production work includes a series called The Rush, and on the HD network 'Voom,' they have Last Man Standing and Drive on the air. As Stewart states, "We're doing a lot of surround sound DVD mixing right now, where we deliver the shows on AC-3 to the client over the Internet. We've completed over 10 HD full surround mix projects to date. Other projects we've done include a DVD for the Chili Peppers, one for Smashing Pumpkins, lots of stuff for Disney and many commercials. We pull from Orange County, but we also pull from Hollywood. A lot of the agencies come to us for our ISDN phone patch."

EARLY ADOPTION

Stewart closes by saying "I think that we're really pushing the edge, anticipating that the HD thing is going to start happening. It's still going to take a few years, but we're doing it now and trying to be the best at it. One guy up at Dolby told me that only five places in the LA area doing the Dolby E layback mix thing, and we're one of them."