Audio Post to Expand in Brooklyn: Brooklyn Sound Society Acquires New Building
The art of audio post is poised to get a major buildout in Brooklyn. Led by founder Neil Benezra, Brooklyn Sound Society (BSS) has announced the purchase of a three-story building in the Bedford Stuyvesant neighborhood.
Brooklyn Sound Society will be turning this Bedford-Stuyvesant building into a new audio post center for the borough.
With the acquisition, Benezra will be dedicating up to 3,600 sq. ft. to film and multimedia audio post, for a wide variety of clients. The current outlook is that the top two floors of the building will house a theatrical mix room; a multipurpose room for ADR, Foley, VO and Music recording; one or two small edit rooms/office, and one common area/lounge.
The facility will also house Karen Kelly’s not-for-profit art book publishing company, Dancing Foxes Press. A café/screening room is also a possibility on the premises, but has not been finalized.
Founded by Benezra in 2005, BSS has flourished as a specialist in audio post, original music and sound design for dramatic films, shorts, documentaries, animation, web projects, as well as museum and gallery sound design, and installation and consultation.
Recent BSS projects include James Franco’s adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s “Child of God”; music and sound design for the feature Mom by Cavazos Films; the Abel Ferrara-directed 4:44 Last Day On Earth starring Willem Dafoe; and the James Franco-directed Sal and The Broken Tower. In addition, BSS recently completed curating and restoring the “Rare Animals” SFX Library for Pro Sound Effects.
”It’s a huge renovation, so it might take a while,” Benezra says. “But in the end I hope it will give me the ability to continue to approach the work more individually and creatively with each filmmaker rather than someone who has to compete with ‘facilities’ and take on work which might not be as gratifying and get into that day-to-day grind.
“Working from home for all of these years has given me a lot of flexibility and that is what I’m hoping to be able to achieve with the move,” he continues. “I’m getting more and more film work that might have gone to the bigger Manhattan post facilities in the past, and I think that will continue as the scene shifts to Brooklyn and attitudes change. People are working in different ways then a few years ago, and I am able to commit more time to a project and connect on a different level with filmmakers by working the way that I have so far — basically becoming part of the creative team.”
— David Weiss