479 NEWS
The Business of Sound
On Super Bowl Sunday, February 5th , Local 479’s Vice President and sound mixer, Whit Norris, moderated “The Business of Sound”; a day long seminar designed to explore a variety of business matters unique to the sound department. Thanks to our state’s busy production market Whit was able to reach out around Atlanta to assemble an impressive cross-section of people who work in the business of sound. His guests included award-winning veterans, reality television experts, young mixers, and local vendors. The event ran from 9am to 4pm, with more than 80 people in attendance. Lunch was provided by Jon Privett.
Marvin Bales of Fricke & Associates began the day’s events with a discussion about the formation of limited liability companies for sound mixers, which included an exploration of tax deductions and depreciation for sound equipment.
Jon Hicks of Trew Audio along with Dan Joseph from Gotham Sound discussed equipment and pricing offered by their respective businesses.
The main panel of the day featured a panel of mixers who discussed a far-ranging variety of topics, including: negotiating your deal and your crew’s deal, negotiating your sound package, script breakdowns, as well as agents and representation. Local 479’s Business Agent, Michael Akins, joined the panel to provide assistance in understanding the differences in terms and conditions between the ASA agreement and the Low Budget agreement.
Mixer Bios:
Mark Ulano, the President of IATSE 695 and the President of the Cinema Audio Society. He has more than 130 credits, including: The Hateful Eight, Django Unchained, Inglourious Basterds, Iron Man, and Iron Man 2. In 1998 he won the Academy Award for Best Sound for Titanic.
John Pritchett, a two time Oscar nominee and was honored this year at the Cinema Audio Society’s 53rd CAS Awards with a CAS Career Achievement Award for his work on films like Memoirs of a Geisha and Road to Perdition. He is known for his collaboration with Director Robert Altman on seven films including The Player, Short Cuts and Kansas City. John is currently working in Atlanta on Avengers: Infinity War.
Peter J. Devlin, has been nominated for 4 Oscars. His resume features more than 60 credits, including: Kong: Skull Island, Transformers: Age of Extinction, Star Trek Into Darkness, Iron Man 3.
Flip Borrero is an Emmy-winning sound mixer with a career spanning more than 40 years. Flip was the mixer for the original The Fast and the Furious and is currently working in Atlanta on Spider-Man: Homecoming.
Glen Trew is the owner of Trew Audio, Remote Audio, and is a production sound mixer. His credits include the television series Nashville, Blood & Oil, and Spoilers with Kevin Smith.
Carrie Gallagher has an extensive resume with mixing reality television series like The Real Housewives of Atlanta, Chrisley Knows Best, and Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta.
Nicholas Minter is in his 4th year of mixing, recently completing The Run Saga: Breathe, and The Minimalist.
Matt Aston is an Atlanta-based Sound Mixer, Boom Operator, and Sound Utility for TV and film. His resume features reality television series like The Real Housewives of Atlanta, Kim of Queens and Braxton Family Values.
