| SoundStorm | |
| Former Name: | Wallaworks, Gordon Ecker Productions |
| Type: | Private |
| Industry: | post-production, Sound effects, Sound editing and Remastering |
| Founder: | Gordon Ecker |
| Hq Location: | 639 S. Glenwood Place |
| Hq Location City: | Burbank |
| Hq Location Country: | USA |
| Area Served: | USA |
| Areas Served: | --> |
| Key People: | Rob Nokes, Bruce Stambler, John Leveque |
| Owner: | Sounddogs.com, Inc. |
SoundStorm was an independent audio post-production and sound editorial company based in Burbank, California. It provided post-production sound design, sound editing and ADR in Hollywood. The editors recorded their sound effect library from 1984 to 2004, worked on more than eighty feature films, and earned a number of awards and nominations from the Academy Awards, Emmy Awards, British Academy Film Awards and Golden Reel Awards. In 2004, the company was dissolved and sold its assets; Soundogs.com Inc. acquired the trademark and complete archive of the SoundStorm sound effects library.
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]
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.
| Year | Award | Category | Type | Title | Honorees | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Golden Reel Award | Best Sound Editing | xXx | Bruce Stambler, Richard E. Yawn, Mike Chock, Harry Cohen, Ken Fischer, Elliott Koretz Steve Mann, Steve Nelson, Michael Payne Kim Secrist, Tim Walston, Michael Dressel | ||
| 2002 | Golden Reel Award | Best Sound Editing | Alan Robert Murray, Steve Boeddeker, Bub Asman, Thomas Small, Ronald Eng, Doug Jackson Michael Jonascu, Chuck Michael, David Grimaldi | |||
| 2001 | Golden Reel Award | Best Sound Editing | Freedom Song | John Leveque, Shawn Sykora, Steve Mann, Anthony Milch | ||
| 2001 | Golden Reel Award | Best Sound Editing | Three Kings | John Leveque, Richard E. Yawn, Gary Blufer, Bruce Fortune, Shawn Sykora, Anthony Milch, Terry Rodman, Michael Dressel, Bob Beher | ||
| 2001 | Golden Reel Award | Best Sound Editing | The Fast and the Furious | Bruce Stambler, Becky Sullivan, Jay Nierenberg, Michael Dressel, Steve Mann, Glenn Hoskinson Tim Walston, Charles Deenen, Scott Curtis | ||
| 2001 | Academy Award | Best Sound Editing | Space Cowboys | Alan Robert Murray, Bub Asman | ||
| 1997 | BAFTA Award | Best Sound | L.A. Confidential | John Leveque, Terry Rodman, Roland N. Thai, Kirk Francis, Andy Nelson, Anna Behlmer | ||
| 1997 | Independent Spirit Awards | Eve's Bayou | ||||
| 1996 | Academy Award | Best Sound Editing | The Ghost and the Darkness | Bruce Stambler[25] | ||
| 1995 | Academy Award | Best Sound Editing | Batman Forever | John Leveque, Bruce Stambler[26] | ||
| 1995 | Golden Reel Award | Best Sound Editing | Clear and Present Danger | Bruce Stambler, John Leveque, Lance Brown, Jay Nierenberg, Glenn Hoskinson, Frank Howard, Steve Mann, Jeffrey L. Sandler, David E. Stone, Donald L. Warner, Pamela Bentkowski Jr. | ||
| 1994 | Academy Award | Best Sound Editing | John Leveque, Bruce Stambler | |||
| 1994 | Golden Reel Award | Best Sound Editing | Posse | Bruce Stambler, Richard E. Yawn, Lance Brown Anthony Milch, Jay Nierenberg, Shawn Sykora | ||
| 1994 | Golden Reel Award | Best Sound Editing | The Fugitive | Bruce Stambler, John Leveque, Jay Nierenberg Lance Brown, Hector C. Gika, Glenn Hoskinson Shawn Sykora, Marshall Winn, Steve Schwalbe | ||
| 1993 | BAFTA Award | Best Sound | John Leveque, Bruce Stambler, Becky Sullivan Scott Smith, Donald Mitchell, Michael Herbick, Frank Montaño | |||
| Academy Award | Best Sound Editing | John Leveque, Bruce Stambler [27] | ||||
| 1992 | Academy Award | Best Sound Editing | Under Siege | John Leveque, Bruce Stambler | ||
| Golden Reel Award | Best Sound Editing | John Leveque, Bruce Stambler, Becky Sullivan, Richard E. Yawn, Jay Nierenberg, Hector C. Gika, Donald Warner Jr., Glenn Hoskinson, Bruce Fortune | ||||
| 1986 | Emmy Award | Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series | Misfits of Science | Bruce Stambler, Kyle Wright, Bruce Bell, Barney Cabral, Phil Haberman, Mark Hollingsworth Donlee Jorgensen, Jimmy Ling, Bernard F. Pincus | ||
| 1985 | Emmy Award | Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series | Miami Vice | Bruce Stambler, Charles E. Moran, Bruce Bell, Victor Lackey, Ian MacGregor-Scott, Carl Mahakian John Oettinger, Bernard Pincus, Warren Smith |