Forrester Media's Atlanta Video Production Blog

The need for quiet studio space

A quiet, controllable environment. That's what a studio provides. A studio eliminates all the noises associated with shooting in an office or conference room or even worse, an area open to the public.

Most offices are quite noisy, no matter what room. Take this test. Turn off the noises you control, perhaps a radio, tv or printer and get your area as quiet as possible. Now what do you hear? The person in the office next to you, the air-conditioning, a clock on the wall, a truck driving past? How about the lawn mower, leaf blower or plane flying past outside your office?

We've shot more than our share of videos at client facilities and my list above includes all too common noises that sometimes can be controlled, but often cannot. That's why it makes sense to use a studio - at least a sound-proof studio.

I located some photos of the construction of our studio, which show several measures we took to create a space that is virtually free of outside noises. In the photo below, you can see the early stages of construction in the studio. If you look at the top of the photo, you can see the 6 inches of yellow foam insulation that was blown onto the roof of the studio. You will also see that all of the walls of the studio extend from floor to ceiling making our studio a box within a box.

In the photo below, you can see the middle ceiling in place. It rests about 18 inches beneath the yellow foam insulation and is attached to the truss work seen in the photo above. The hanging steel wires were placed prior to installation to secure the lighting grid from the ceiling.

Lastly, the HVAC was installed (all the ductwork featured interior insulation to reduce the noise of the air flow) and yet another ceiling, this one using standard office acoustical tiles, was installed with 9" of R30 fiberglass insulation directly above it.

 
 
In total, there are three ceilings with more than 15" of insulation and two air gaps. By the way, air gaps are important to reduce transmission of vibrations though solid surfaces.

All of the studio walls were double-furred to create an air gap and a space for additional insulation. The doors all feature extra trim, including a retractable spacer on the bottom edge to reduce noise directly outside the studio. The result is a very quiet studio.

If you are looking for studio space in Atlanta, I encourage you to visit other facilities first, then visit us last. When you make your visits, note their location in relation to railroad tracks, highways and other factors that are uncontrollable sources of noise.

By the way, we're a few miles from Dobbins Air Reserve base, so that's one reason we went to such lengths in our sound-proofing. We wanted to make sure those F-22 Raptors didn't interrupt work in the studio and in the three years since we built the studio, we have yet to encounter a delay related to ANY airplane passing overhead.

If you are needing studio space for an interview, webcast, green screen video, media training session or even an exercise video, give us a call. You'll see why we work hard toward the goal of being 'the best studio in Atlanta.'

We fix bad videos

In this economy, people understandably look at pricing closely when considering a purchase, whether it be a video or a haircut. This Office Depot commercial takes a clever look at how one business deals with the 'undercutter' that moves in across the street.

I think we've all had times that price was the deciding factor in a purchase, including myself. I also know that we've had clients come to us when the vendor they chose, well, couldn't do the job they were hired to do! So yes, we fix bad videos!

'Wyatt Earp' to premiere on PBS series 'American Experience'

Every once in a while, we receive a heads-up from a client that a program we worked on is about to premiere. This morning, I received an e-mail from a producer at Apograph Productions that 'Wyatt Earp' is going to air next week.

Several months ago, the fine folks at Apograph visited Forrester Media for two days to conduct some interviews in our studio for the program. We were one of six locations around the country used by the production team.

'The one-hour film features interviews with some of the best-known biographers and historians of the American West to present a fresh take on an old legend' notes Apograph.

The HD production will premiere at 9:00PM Eastern on Monday, January 25, 2010 on PBS stations around the country (check your local listings to confirm times).

It's great to have so many different clients use our studio. Sometimes we just provide our studio facilities, other times we provide studio and crew and then there are times we also edit the video we shoot.

No matter our degree of involvement, each client receives the same personal attention and 'we can do that' attitude.

Every day we work toward the goal of being the best studio in Atlanta and even incorporate that goal in our tagline 'A Higher Definition of Video.'

We'll all be watching 'Wyatt Earp' next Monday night. I hope you do, too!

Whale sharks and manta rays, oh my!

I had the opportunity to spend yesterday at the world's largest aquarium - the Georgia Aquarium. Many people are surprised to learn that a landlocked city like Atlanta has an aquarium, let alone the largest in the world.

The aquarium has been open for about 5 years and so far more than 11 million people have visited making it the most visited aquarium in the country and rightfully so. It's an impressive facility and has sea life that you cannot see elsewhere. The massive whale sharks and large manta rays that swim in the main 6.3 million gallon tank are simply impressive.

We were at the aquarium shooting a story for BBC World's 'Fast Track' travel program that features destinations around the world. The reporter was even lucky enough to get to swim with the whale sharks, known as the gentle giants, for about 15 minutes!

We spent some time at the top of the main tank and watch as the manta rays and whale sharks were fed. All four whale sharks are fed at the same time by caretakers in small rafts pulling themselves along a rope. They hold a pole with small feeding bucket at the end which the whale sharks closely follow to receive their meal. Quite a site to see the ballet of man and shark.

We have had the pleasure of taping shows at the aquarium several times and I am always impressed with their operation. This visit, however, probably ranks as best as it was the first time I had the chance to see some of the behind-the-scenes operations in the main tank.

Watch for the Georgia Aquarium episode on BBC World later this year.