Great City Post Names Steve Simons Managing Director, Upgrades Facility
Chelsea-based Great City Post – which was previously known as Great City Productions — has been a beehive of activity lately, making a significant personnel move as well as upgrades to their audio post facilities.
Steve Simons (left) joins Britt Myers’ evolving audio post operation at Great City Post.
On the staffing side, Great City Post (GCP) founder Britt Myers has named Steve Simons as Managing Director. Simons comes to GCP from Postworks, where he served as Executive Director of the audio department, and subsequently was Managing Director of Postworks’ satellite location in Midtown Manhattan. Prior to Postworks, Simons rose to re-recording mixer during 17 years at NYC’s Sound One Studios, where he mixed films including The Royal Tenenbaums, Super Troopers and Before Night Falls.
Simons joins GCP during a period of intensive activity, which sees the facility working on a steady stream of TV promos, commercials, TV series, and independent features. GCP recently completed mixing the Comedy Central show “Inside Amy Schumer,” as well as MTV’s new series, “Hey Girl,” and the promos for the 2013 MTV’s Video Music Awards and Movie Awards.
Upcoming in 2013, GCP will also sound design and mix a documentary called I Am Big Bird, and The Skeleton Twins, an indie film starring Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader. With video editing services also on-site, GCP is also expanding its reality show clientele.
“Great City Post appealed to me because it’s a true boutique facility with a family atmosphere,” said Simons. “It’s a small staff, but everybody is helpful, wears many hats, and goes the extra mile to do what needs to be done.”
While Simons acknowledges the increased level of competition in New York City’s audio post scene, he also sees increased opportunity. “Audio post is probably more competitive now than it’s ever been,” he says. “However, production companies are popping up left and right, and there a lot of cable channels that need content — there’s enough to go around. And we’re in a great neighborhood that seems to be at the center of a lot of that activity, both in terms of editorial and sound.”
On the audio side, Simons will be overseeing three studios at GCP. Notably, Studio A no longer hosts an SSL Duality console, but has shifted to a 32-fader Avid Icon D control work surface. The studio’s new centerpiece is part of a refocusing on audio post at GCP, and a simultaneous deemphasizing music production at the facility, which has long been a cornerstone of Myers’ diverse skill set. As a result, GCP will now be able to take full advantage of its existing infrastructure for the more profitable endeavors inherent in audio post.
“One of our best assets is our live room,” Simons says. “Now it serves as a premier ADR room, because it will easily hold a 10-person loop group. It can be used for DVD commentary and accommodate from 5 to 10 people to do that. It’s got an isolation booth as well, so we can have different actors interact with one another and still keep them isolated. The space is also equipped with Foley pits.
“The film community hasn’t really seen this room yet, because it’s always been a live room for music production up to this point. So I’ve been reaching out to the ADR editors and postproduction supervisors, and letting them know that they should come and visit.”
With all the enhancements in GCP, Steve Simons hopes that the value proposition in working with a world-class post facility will remain clear to an expanding client base.
“It’s about keeping the ‘professional’ in audio,” he explains. “In other words, proving to clients that being in an acoustically accurate studio and being able to review things properly is the way to go, rather than shipping it off to someone in a basement for a quarter of the price. The quality control that we as a facility can offer is much better.”
— David Weiss