We Add High Fidelity to High Definition

We don’t record music. Our audio specialty is recording audio for radio, television, film, multimedia and the Internet. On the leading edge of technology, we were among the first ProTools equipped studios in the world back in 1990. Now, generations later, that platform is the standard of the recording and post production industry. Our typical recording sessions include voiceovers, commercials, narrations, podcasts, audio books and ADR for film.

Our Tampa Bay production facility has two voiceover booths and a central Foley stage studio serving all three of our edit suites. Out-of-town clients typically do phone patch sessions. Talent is monitored and directed remotely while we record here. Then the full-fidelity session files are delivered using our FTP site or DigiDesign's DigiDelivery service. We’ve originated sessions for numerous national advertising agencies as well as Disney, Universal Studios, Sony Motion Pictures, Warner Brothers, The BBC, National Geographic, Discovery, A&E, Nickelodeon, Turner and Fox.

In addition to audio support for our video productions, we do location and conference recording for clients nationwide.

Your Project In 5.1

Audio post-production is the process of creating the final soundtrack for a film or video. Poor audio can ruin great video and we pay special attention to the mix of your project. We began 22 years ago as an audio facility, so we have always paid particular attention to this crucial element of every production by sweetening and optimizing the track as part of our workflow.

We start by capturing the best possible raw audio on our productions, but many times we’ve also been hired by producers to do the final audio on projects or fix problematic soundtracks. We record narrations, customize music tracks, do dialogue replacement, add ambient and Foley sound effects, equalization, noise reduction and final mixing.

To hear examples of our work, view any of the entries in our portfolio. Also included are some excerpts from "Descansos" - a feature film that hired CMR Studios to do extensive audio post production work.

ADR - Dialogue Replacement

Even under the best conditions, sometimes the dialogue recorded for a film or TV spot isn't quite right. Levels may be bad, noise on the set covers a line, actors talk over each other, or the director wants different emphasis on the read. Sometimes a different voice entirely is used to replace an actor. Whatever the reason, the solution is ADR - Automated Dialogue Replacement. This film sound technique is the re-recording of dialogue after photography.

In an ADR session, an actor, usually the original actor on set, wears headphones and is shown the line of the film that must be replaced and the actor performs the line while watching the image on the screen. Several takes are made, and based on the quality of the performance and sync, one is selected and edited for use in the film. Our ProTools based ADR provides frame accurate synchronization during recording, multiple take storage and naming, and then the flexibility to slide the audio for a precise match. Final touches include equalization to match the original production sound as well as ambience and sound design to complement the scene and action.

When we did the post production on the film "Descansos" some scenes required a complete replacement of the dialogue and location sound. It was like starting with a silent film. Look for the scene in our portfolio.

John Travolta, "Macho Man" Randy Savage, Jenna Elfman, and Demi Lovato are among the many actors we've worked with on Tampa film productions.

Create Your Perfect Soundtrack

Sound design takes the audio post process to a more creative level. Where the former is done to make a project technically and aesthetically correct, in sound design we are given the creative freedom to invent what a scene might sound like. It's like comparing fighter planes in "Pearl Harbor" and tie-fighters in "Star Wars". Though they both had great sound, the mythical tie-fighters required more creativity.

The ProTools systems we use give us all the tools we need to make the sound we capture fit a scene exactly as we imagine it, from bending and blending sound effects to perfecting the dialogue and music tracks.

In a scene from "Descansos" featuring Charles Durning we had to eliminate the roaring sound of air conditioners in an old hotel lobby while retaining the dialogue (Mr. Durning wasn't available for ADR).
View this scene, and others, in our portfolio.

Old Recordings Can be Saved & Converted to CD

The audio on legacy formats like records and tapes is far from permanent. Heat, humidity and chemical reactions are all working to make priceless memories fade away. Technology is also working against you. Record players are difficult to find as are reel to reel decks. Even relatively recent DAT machines are more uncommon.

We can convert about every format of audio to CD. (Sorry, we don't have a wire-recorder or an 8 track deck.) We save those personal recordings that can't be replaced. Among the valuable archives we've been entrusted to covert to CD include the personal record collection of President Kennedy for the Florida International Museum, Vietnam era letter tapes for the Smithsonian, cassettes, personal 78rpm records, garage band recordings from the 60s and 70s, and reel to reel tapes from as far back as 1949.

It's always interesting work that takes expertise and digital processing to make voices from the past heard again.