Follow your heart and reap the reward. That’s the mantra that drove Charlie Hewitt, Founder and President of Mirror Studios, to build an award-winning team of storytellers.
Mirror Studios started as an audio post-production facility in Alaska over 25 years ago. They became the largest post house in the state and later expanded to the hustle and bustle of Los Angeles and the serene beauty of Boise, Idaho.
Mostly known as an outstanding Dolby-certified Atmos® audio post-production facility, Mirror Studios offers exceptional sound and video editing, color grading, and visual effects composition services for film, television, corporate video production, and now the new world of Immersive Audio.
The Anxiety Goes Away With EVO
Always in high demand, Hewitt and his team at Mirror Studios have a lot of projects in the works, and with that comes a ton of information to manage. This proliferation of data can add up quickly for a post-production studio, and it’s easy to get overwhelmed.
“When you’re juggling several projects with a bunch of data coming in, you need more than a spreadsheet to organize and manage it all,” asserted Hewitt.
“I have colleagues that still work with big banks of individual hard drives on their desks. They take copious notes on housekeeping, but it’s exhausting and anxiety-inducing. I tell them: ‘The anxiety goes away when you’re working with EVO.’”
EVO is the high-performance shared storage server and cloud workflow solution, purpose-built for creative media teams who want to create amazing content, faster, from anywhere. Mirror Studios experienced first-hand how EVO’s workflow tools can have a significant impact on productivity, efficiency, and creative collaboration within a production team.
Producing “Awakening Giants”
Hewitt served as Executive Producer and Post-Production Supervisor for Awakening Giants, a docu-real television series that takes viewers and participants on a journey of inspirational transformation. The episodic TV show required Mirror Studios to consolidate raw footage from all over the world and organize massive amounts of video and audio files for each episode.
From sound editing to color correction, every piece of the puzzle came together through EVO. Mirror Studios took full advantage of EVO’s built-in workflow tools, especially ShareBrowser media asset manager (MAM) and Slingshot transcoder and automation builder.
Hewitt explained his post-production process for the series: “We did all the editorial, audio, color, timing, VFX, and prep for distribution in-house for Awakening Giants. Everything goes into EVO first and foremost. Slingshot indexes and transcodes all of the footage. We catalog everything in ShareBrowser. And we get to work, faster.”
The EVO Suite
Hewitt says he loves working with EVO because it does everything his team needs. “EVO just works, and it is absolutely flawless in the way it works.”
“ShareBrowser is brilliant,” he continued with a smile. EVO’s included MAM system, ShareBrowser, makes it quick and easy to navigate your media files across EVO, Azure, Dropbox, or other local, network, and cloud storage locations. It even comes with an A.I. connector that can auto-tag media with relevant metadata.
Hewitt is also a big fan of Slingshot, EVO’s built-in transcode and automations engine. “Our media gets indexed automatically, transcoded automatically, and backed up to our cloud storage system automatically,” he said. All of these automations are scheduled in Slingshot to run seamlessly in the background, keeping his team focused on more creative tasks.
EVO also gives creative teams the freedom to work from anywhere with Nomad remote editing. All of these tools come included for unlimited users with every EVO shared storage solution on-premise or in the cloud. For more information about EVO’s built-in transcoding, MAM, remote editing, and cloud workflows, contact SNS for a demo.
Stand Out Support
While Hewitt values all the things EVO does for his team, technically speaking, he said that the next-level customer support at SNS stands out even more.
“SNS should host a master class on how to run a customer support team,” said Hewitt.
You’re making us blush, but go on…
“The entire department is outstanding with hands-on, attention-to-detail level of service. One time, I called SNS customer support for help, explained the issue, and went out to lunch. By the time I got back, the support team had already found and fixed the problem for me! I love working with the SNS team. I can always count on them.”
Love The Ones You’re With
“It’s really important to like what you do and who you do it with,” said Hewitt. “If you think post-production work is insular, just sit and watch the credits.”
Hewitt surrounds himself with talented professionals that he truly enjoys working with—from the likes of Steven Rychetnik, award-winning DP/Cinematographer with Sprocketheads, and Kevin Barnett, Composer with Lovin Dog Music, to Greg Gerlich, Post Producer at Mirror Studios. Gerlich has worked on over 200 feature films and television shows in his career and is most known for his work on blockbuster hits like Die Hard, Speed, and Species II.
In total, there are 13 collaborative sound designers, mixers, colorists, and post-production experts who work together at Mirror Studios, each fueled by unbridled passion for their work.
Hewitt, Gerlich, and the extended Mirror Studios team are currently working on several exciting projects, including The Great Soul Crossing, an exhilarating documentary that follows United States Marine veteran and entrepreneur Ashkay Nanavati on the first unsupported solo trek across Antarctica. As a long-time SNS customer, Hewitt knows that EVO has him covered for every thrilling project his team takes on next.
And he can trust SNS to continue innovating products that make the anxiety of post-production go away.
Contact SNS to learn more about EVO shared storage and cloud workflow solutions for professional audio and video production.