Famed PBS Kids TV Show Remade for the 21st Century
New York, NY - May 7, 2009 - Beatstreet Productions has finished audio post-production for 35 episodes of a new version of the classic children's TV series, "The Electric Company" for PBS. The series combines a 15-minute narrative storyline that is interspersed with segments that include curricular clusters of music videos, sketch comedy, animation and short films. It features special guests including Whoopi Goldberg, Tiki Barber, Jack McBrayer, Wyclef Jean and original songs from Ne-Yo.
"Recording Ne-Yo was a real treat," explains Beatstreet engineer Jeff Malinowski. "Often, tracking high-profile talent can be hit or miss but he was a true professional and was genuinely excited about the project."
Beatstreet's Matt Longoria handled Sound Design and Mixing for the series. "The show's polished camera work, slick graphics, and beautiful animations demanded a compelling soundscape, which we were happy to provide. I am especially proud of the transition segments. They feature cool grooves, beats, and fun sound effects that mesh with the animations perfectly to segue the show between segments. The transitions, and many other segments in the show heavily utilize Spectrasonics Instruments Plug-ins: Stylus RMX, and Omnisphere. I have found them to be indispensable tools for composition and sound design. We made the sound design as rich as possible, while at the same time using sound effects to focus kids attention on the lesson at hand. An indispensable item is our Digidesign Icon D-Control. The D-Control has many useful and intuitive features that allow me to mix quickly and efficiently."
Matt continues "We also had great collaboration amongst the production, and post production crews. Production Sound Mixer Dan Johnson provided us with great dialog from the set. We worked closely with the Graphics Department in designing the superpower sounds. The graphics guys gave very specific physical properties to the super powers, which we sought to reflect in the sound design. Post Production Producer Ryan Cunningham was instrumental in keeping everything moving. We had 35 episodes to mix in short time and show lock was still months down the road. Ryan kept us working piecemeal, premixing segments as soon as they were shot and edited. When the full episodes were locked we were able to assemble the shows from our premixed stems."
Beatstreet's Director of Audio Post, Joe Franco adds, "We're really proud to have worked on this series. It takes the essence of the original show and really connects with today's kids with lot's of singing, dancing and super powers- kind of like High School Musical meets Harry Potter. It's an inspiring series to work on, as it looks amazing!
With Season One under their belts, Beatstreet will start Season Two this summer. Besides "The Electric Company," Beatstreet is involved with several series dedicated to advancing the idea that "Reading is Cool." Beatstreet mixes the PBS series "Word World" and has started the 10th season of music and post for "Between the Lions." Beatstreet also contributes to the daddy of all children's series "Sesame Street," doing music and audio post for "Bert and Ernie's Great Adventures."
Visit Beatstreet at their website: www.beatstreetnyc.com
