Although originally founded as an audio post production facility for advertising and corporate clients, Kansas City-based CR Sound now has an enviable reputation as a film post facility having mixed seven feature films in the last decade.
Located in the beautiful Country Club Plaza, CR Sound is headed by Craig Rettmer, formerly manager of Soundtrek Plaza which he bought from his partners five years ago. Alongside CR Sound’s audio room, the building also houses a video editing facility, a film production group and a PR firm.
In recent months Rettmer and his team have upgraded the equipment in the main studio to incorporate a new Fairlight Constellation XCS console featuring a Xynergi centre panel and running on Fairlight’s latest Crystal Core (CC-1) engine. This replaces the Fairlight MFX3 Plus that Rettmer inherited with the business.
“We have been using Fairlight equipment since 2000 and I’ve always been a fan of its editing capabilities,” Craig Rettmer says. “By upgrading to a Fairlight Constellation with Xynergi workstation, we can now accept more work from outside sources because the system’s file exchange capability makes file sharing much easier than our previous set-up.”
Rettmer adds that he particularly likes Fairlight’s integrated mixer/editor concept, which has been taken to a new level with the Constellation XCS. The addition of HD video in the timeline, flexible file importing and exporting and VST plug ins is helping CR Sound speed up workflow and get projects completed much more quickly.
“Alongside this, we also appreciate the legendary sound quality of Fairlight, which is makes this new system a winner on all counts,” Rettner says.
Since installing its new Fairlight Constellation XCS, CR Sound has used it to tackle a number of projects including Hallmark Cards Centennial Film, a short version of which was for the general public while a longer version was prepared for Hallmark's corporate employees. The Fairlight Constellation has also been used on projects for Farmer's Insurance in Los Angles and the College Basketball Hall of Fame. It is now being put through its paces on a film about the slave trade in Missouri in the 1800's.
Rettmer adds: “We are very happy with the way the new equipment has performed and our clients are also delighted because it has made the audio post production process much more efficient.”
-ends-
About Fairlight:
Headquartered in Sydney, Australia Fairlight designs and manufactures media production systems powered by the company’s groundbreaking CC-1 FPGA digital processing engine. The Fairlight product range includes Constellation, Xynergi and the new Pyxis MT, all of which feature in the world’s leading broadcasters, commercial post facilities, music studios and film production studios. Fairlight has a rich tradition of innovation and development and is at the forefront of green computing technology.
