SoundStorm (company)

SoundStorm was founded in 1984 by Gordon Ecker as Walla Works Productions, a sound editorial house and post-production facility in Los Angeles for feature films and television projects. It was owned and operated by practicing sound professionals. In the 1990s the company moved to Burbank from Hollywood after several corporate transitions and name changes. Ecker who was the CEO, retired in 1998 and sold the company to six of the firm's original employees; Bruce Stambler, John Leveque, Gary Blufer, John Fanaris, Becky Sullivan, and Richard Yawn.[1] Four of the six owners were sound editors.[2] The company developed relationships with off-site editorial and mixing facilities to handle re-recording duties on SoundStorm projects. In 2002, it employed about sixty sound professionals, including ten supervising sound editors. The company also recruited Alan Robert Murray who supervised the sound on twenty-eight Clint Eastwood films.

The SoundStorm team worked on more than eighty feature films and television projects. It has contributed to the success of notable films as Under Siege (1992), The Fugitive (1993), Clear and Present Danger (1994), Batman Forever (1995), The Ghost and the Darkness (1996), L.A. Confidential (1997) and The Fast and the Furious (2001)

Besides the action-adventure work, SoundStorm provided sound editorial for independent dramas like Frailty (2001), comedies like Blast from the Past (1999), and prestigious pictures like Pleasantville (1998)

The leading supervising sound editors John Leveque and Bruce Stambler paired together on several projects and achieved a number of awards for sound designing and editing. Stambler was nominated for five in a row for the Academy Award and won with Ghost and the Darkness (1995) for Best Sound Effects Editing.[3][4][5] He also won a BAFTA for The Fugitive (1993), an Emmy Award for Miami Vice (1984) and a Golden Reel Award shared with Leveque for Under Siege (1992). John Leveque received Oscar nominations four years in a row and won two BAFTAs for L.A. Confidential (1997) and The Fugitive (1993) He was also nominated for five Golden Reel Awards.

In 2003, SoundStorm digitized its sound effects library, opened a new sound transfer room featuring Pro Tools HD systems and digital workstations replacing 35mm platforms with a view to coping with the rival firms.[6][7] In 2004, SoundStorm opened Cloud 9, a sound mixer feature equipped with two dbx Quantum II compressors, two dbx 160SL dual/mono stereo compressor/limiters and a dbx 786 mic pre unit.[8]

Rob Nokes at SoundStorm Sound Effects Library Storage

SoundStorm was one of the most recognized independent sound editorial companies in Hollywood when it filed for bankruptcy and sold its assets in 2004. Bruce Stambler, one of its co-founders, left SoundStorm for Soundelux in August 2004 with eight members of his creative team and three studio projects.[9] Stambler was CEO of SoundStorm and lead supervising sound editor at the firm before relocating to Soundelux.

In 2004, John Leveque also left SoundStorm for Soundelux and started working for Soundelux' London office.[10] Soundelux has also brought on Sound Supervisor/ADR supervisor Becky Sullivan.

In 2004 Rob Nokes of Sounddogs.com Inc. acquired the trademark and complete archive of the SoundStorm sound effects library when the company decided to dissolve its sell its assets and partnerships with other sound facilities.[11] [12]

In 2008, Stambler and Leveque left Soundelux and opened a sound editorial and mixing facility called Studio 8 Sound in Los Angeles with offices also in New York.

Former staffs

• Official website