Acclaimed sound designer and feature film supervising sound editor Scott Gershin recently joined Technicolor as its director of sound editorial, where he leads the company's expansion into sound design for gaming and immersive experiences and also continues to design and supervise sound for films. He relies on Nugen Audio's Loudness Toolkit 2 and Halo Upmix plug-ins.
Gershin has worked on over 100 films and received 26 industry nominations, including a BAFTA Award nomination for his work on American Beauty, Guillermo del Toro's Pacific Rim, and Dan Gilroy's Nightcrawler. He has also created the sound for blockbuster gaming titles such as Resident Evil, Gears of War, Fable, and he most recently helped out on id Software's Doom.
Gershin is using the Loudness Toolkit 2 in concert with an Avid Pro Tools | S6 control surface to produce loudness-compliant mixes on a wide range of projects. Halo Upmix gives him an efficient, reliable, and powerful means of creating a high-quality 5.1/7.1 surround upmix from stereo source materials.
"The most important consideration for audio tools and plug-ins is that they work transparently and do their job without adding coloration to the output," Gershin said. "Not only do the Nugen Audio tools make my life easier, but they deliver output that sounds as close as possible to the original source materials. Plus, the reliability and quality of the tools is fantastic."
Gershin uses the full range of plug-ins in the Loudness Toolkit 2 — including the VisLM visual loudness meter, LM-Correct loudness measurement and correction tool, and ISL real-time true-peak limiter — for loudness compliance on projects ranging from commercials and other TV content to gaming and even sound mixes for theme parks.
"The Loudness Toolkit 2 has become indispensable in my work, because I'm expected to deliver mixes that meet different loudness thresholds depending on where and how they'll be played out, including different standards for different end-user devices," Gershin said. "The toolkit gives me a full arsenal of plug-ins for metering to LKFS and LUFS targets and for creating a true-peak-compliant mix for any delivery platform. And it's remarkable how well the Nugen Audio tools complement the Avid Pro Tools paradigm."
Halo Upmix is Nugen Audio's industry-leading plug-in for high-quality upmixing of stereo audio to 5.1/7.1 surround sound. Available in Avid AAX, VST, and AU formats, Halo Upmix automates the creation of a stereo-to-surround, downmix-compatible upmix with unique center-channel management and spatial density controls.
Gershin said, "Halo Upmix is proof that sometimes the most elegant tools are also the simplest. Upmixing is a task that can be extremely time-consuming, but Halo Upmix makes it really fast and easy to generate a surround mix that sounds almost identical to the original stereo source. We're also excited that Nugen Audio has announced a brand-new 9.1 option for Halo Upmix — great timing since we're currently in the process of launching our new 9.1 studio."
Jon Schorah, founder and creative director, Nugen Audio said, "Scott is renowned for bringing theatrical sound quality standards to bear on a wide range of consumer experiences, from blockbuster movies to apps and software, including some of the industry's biggest gaming titles. He is precisely the type of customer for which we've designed our loudness and upmixing tools — someone with exacting quality standards who embraces technology for streamlining traditional tasks and freeing up time for the creative process."
Nugen Audio www.nugenaudio.com