Scorpio Sound: their sign is creativity; this Hollywood Hills audio boutique is opening a second facility - Audio Today & Tomorrow

Post, March, 2003 by Christine Bunish

HOLLYWOOD -- Scorpio Sound, a boutique sound and music facility nestled in the Hollywood Hills, puts the emphasis on versatility and creativity. So much so that creative directors Gregory Hainer and Michael Reagan refer to the company's two technically-sophisticated main studios as "creation rooms."

"We're not a rent-a-room facility. We're a creative team," says Hainer. "The rooms are simply a catalyst for inspiration and to facilitate the creative process."

The partners opened the full-service company in 1999 after forging sometimes overlapping careers in sound effects and music for videogames and feature films. They launched Scorpio Sound (www.scorpiosound.com) to handle projects for the games market while continuing to work on motion pictures like Black Hawk Down and We Were Soldiers. Today, Scorpio Sound is expanding with a second facility. located just across the street, to accommodate a growing roster of commercial, interactive and film clients.

IN THE BEGINNING

Hainer and Reagan met at Boston's Berklee College of Music. As a student at Hamilton High School Music Academy, Reagan, a native Californian, had performed with jazz bands and Henry Mancini. His principal instrument was guitar and he taught himself drums, bass and piano. At Berklee he "wrapped [his] head around technology," built his own studio, worked on industrials and radio spots, and played Boston-area blues bars. He moved back to LA in late '93.

Following graduation from Berklee, Hainer co-owned a Boston music production company and recording studio. A couple of years later, he too headed west seeking work that combined his skills in songwriting, engineering, playing and producing.

Hainer teamed up with Reagan at Soundelux where Reagan had come on board as the division's first employee designing sound effects for video-games. Hainer remained at Soundelux for about four years before leaving in '99 to work at Disney on the sound design for the movie Last Souls while simultaneously starting Scorpio Sound. Reagan left Soundelux a few months later, did some freelance sound editing for features, then joined Hainer at Scorpio Sound.

The partners have many high-profile credits. Hainer, a member of the prestigious Motion Picture Sound Editors (M.P.S.E.), has four Golden Reel awards for Black Hawk Down, the animated The Hunchback of Note Dame and two episodes of the TV series Tales From the Crypt. Reagan wrote, produced and performed music for Oliver Stone's Any Given Sunday and for the Grammy Award-winning Elmo in Grouchland soundtrack for Sony Pictures/Jim Henson Productions.

THE STUDIOS

Hainer and Reagan have built Scorpio Sound as a multipurpose facility for music composition, voiceover/ADR recording, sound effects design and editing, and 5.1 mixing. Mesa and Amazon, the two main control rooms, have Digidesign Pro Tools Mix Plus systems with a vast array of plug-in software, Mackie Designs DBB mixing consoles, HUI controllers, HDR 24/96 hard-disk recorders and Mackie 5.1 speaker systems. Scorpio Sound has a complement of musical instruments and keyboards; custom sound effects and music sampler libraries are housed on a centralized server with Gallery's mTools software and are easily accessed in any room. Each control room has a spacious iso room, too.

"We can switch quickly between various set-ups so we can work on two or three projects at the same time," notes Hainer. "Right now we do mostly games -- voiceover, music, sound effects design and 5.1 mixing. As individuals we're open to film and TV projects, and we're starting to do more commercials, which is why we're expanding."

PROJECTS

The partners' videogame credits include MIDI music for Sony's My Street for PlayStation 2: voiceover recording for Rugrats Meet the Wild Thornberrys for the PC platform; and hard core techno rock/metal music for Battlebots for PlayStation 2.

They also did music, Foley, sound effects design and mixing -- all in 5.1 surround -- for the cinematic movies in Microsoft/Digital Anvil's new Brute Farce for XBox. "We used our movie chops on it," Hainer reports. "It was fun to write music and record it in Seattle with a 45-piece orchestra," Reagan says.

The challenge of videogame work is "to get a big sound out of little speakers." he explains. "You want everything to work together, and you don't get a linear mix that will play the same way every time. There's a lot of effort in micromanaging each sound."

With spots for Nike, NetZero and Acura under their belts, the partners decided to expand with a second Scorpio Sound facility designed for its increasing commercial, game, film and record clientele. The new facility will be tied to the original space by Internet connections, phones and audio tie lines.

"We'll have four more Pro Tools music production/sound design rooms and a giant client area:' says Reagan. They are considering making one of the new music/sound design rooms into a stage; the space is larger than each of the current main studios. The client/lounge area is designed to be "a kind of creative watering hole and meeting ground" for clients and talent.