A leader in the creative audio post-production arena, POP Sound recently installed dual Brainstorm DCD-8 Word Clock Distripalyzers with hi-resolution VSG-4 Video Sync Generators in its main Studio A, operated by renowned audio mixer and editor Ted Hall. The combination of the DCD-8 and the VSG-4 delivers a complete solution for all sync requirements in the post-production, recording and broadcast environments.

“The Brainstorm DCD-8 is now the primary word clock generator for our new AMS Neve DFC Gemini console and the video reference generator for the console-based Machine Control System,” explained POP chief engineer Nick Garside. “The secondary DCD-8 links to this and provides word clock reference to the two ProTools HD systems located in our Central Machine room.”

POP Sound offers its commercial, film, television, radio, cinema restoration and home theater clients a diverse and comprehensive range of technology and technical expertise. Eleven audio studios and an ADR stage outfitted with leading-edge digital audio equipment, handle projects for commercial post, audio for DVD, ADR, voice recording, sound design and other creative services.

In the first phase of the facility-wide Brainstorm installation, POP is progressing beyond the common use of a bank of DAs to distribute reference centrally, which is then supplied to individual systems utilizing reference patchbays. In the new POP configuration, all 11 stages will be based around the Brainstorm DCD-8 and VSG-4.

“The basic idea is to give independence and full control to the studio itself,” Garside continued. “With the VSG-4’s built-in video sync generator, we layback to multiformat HD and standard definition masters, and we want to quickly and easily move the studio between 48K, 96K and 192 K. We simply genlock the DCD-8 to house and then allow the individual studio’s staff to determine sample rates and frame rates for the video reference. The VSG-4 is fantastic for us because it gives us tremendous flexibility within the studios themselves.”

“The days of ‘studio normal’ are becoming a thing of the past,” concludes Garside. “Today’s studio needs to be flexible and do whatever it needs to do, while still genlocked to house sync. The beauty of the Brainstorm system is that it can gearbox any sample rate or frame rate from any reference input.”

POP Sound counts among its ever-expanding client list advertising agencies Goodby, Deutsch, Wieden Kennedy, Y&R. Recent credits for POP Sound include commercials for HP, Coke, GM, and Land Rover; TV shows and documentaries for NBC, Fox, HBO, and MTV; as well as re-mastering of thousands of DVD/HD & BD titles for Paramount, Dreamworks, LionsGate, The Weinstein Co, Warner Brother Records, and Magnolia Entertainment to name a few.