Meet Eric Marks, the visionary founder, and CEO of Transported Audio, a leading post-production audio company that has made waves in the industry since its inception in 2016. Starting as a small in-home studio, Transported Audio has grown exponentially, becoming a one-stop shop for all post-production audio needs. Eric's journey in the field of sound editing and mixing has been nothing short of remarkable. With over twelve years of experience, he has honed his skills, specializing in crafting rich and dramatic mixes for esteemed clients like Netflix, Amazon and Disney. As a Supervising Sound Editor, Eric's keen ear and attention to detail have earned him five MPSE Golden Reel Award nominations, cementing his reputation as a master of his craft. Join us as we explore the fascinating journey of Transported Audio and gain valuable insights from Eric Marks on his approach to post-production sound and his exciting plans for the future.
Can you tell us more about the journey of Transported Audio, from its beginnings as a small in-home studio to its current status as a prominent post-production audio company?
When I started Transported Audio in early 2016, a variety of trailers, TV pilots, commercials, and short films were coming in from contacts I'd made at EA as well as fellow USC alumni. Fortunately, clients seemed to be happy with our work, and they kept coming back with more projects and recommended their friends too.
Within a year, we moved into a facility and shortly after that, I hired our very first employee, Austin Chase, who has grown to become our lead re-recording mixer! He truly embodied my ideals for our company culture and has been a consistent source of inspiration and light as our company has grown over the years.
About three years ago, we moved into our current Burbank space, and we've been expanding there ever since. We are now able to offer new services like ADR recording, Foley, and Dolby Atmos mixes, all of which I never could have dreamed of back in 2016. We truly love what we do, and I hope that continues to show in our work.
What led you to expand your services beyond game trailer sound design and mixing into areas such as live-action feature films, episodic content, and in-game work?
I've always loved games, but what drove me to this industry is storytelling in any format. Trailers and commercials are amazing in that you get to work on lots of different projects, and each day is fresh. But in feature films, the canvas is so large, and we get to broaden our storytelling scope through the use of sound.
I love sitting with directors and producers on films to discover how sound can help elevate their stories. On films and episodic content, there's usually time to have spotting sessions together, and in those, we are able to take a bird's eye view and creatively strategize together. Our team enjoys feature films and episodic content as they offer the opportunity to help one another and collaborate within our team – one person can cut dialogue, another can record Foley, someone can create sound effects, etc. It's a true opportunity for flexing our team's muscles, and we get to all work together towards a unified goal.
With that being said, we still work on game trailers all the time and enjoy them every bit as much as my first day at EA back in 2011 when I was working on Dragon Age trailers!
How does Transported Audio approach the creative process when working with clients like Prime Video, Netflix, Disney, Lucasfilm, NFL Network, EA, and PlayStation?
Each client is different, and our process is to have deep conversations with each client prior to opening up Pro Tools. This helps us gain a complete understanding of the goals and needs of our work. We keep detailed notes on what each of our clients like because we want to build a foundation of trust and creative shorthand with whomever we collaborate with.
When we start on a project, we always ask for a spec sheet, and a schedule and aim to have a spotting session as well. We love soaking up knowledge and using all of it as our north star as we work.
We've been incredibly fortunate to work with so many high-profile clients, and our goal is always to support their specific needs as best we can and make their jobs easier.
As a Supervising Sound Editor, what are some key principles or techniques you follow in crafting rich and dramatic mixes for projects?
The first key to being a supervisor is being a great listener of people. What have the clients enjoyed on their past projects? What were they hoping for but couldn't quite achieve, and why? What are some projects that have inspired their work? If you ask enough questions, lots of valuable information will arise, and it's our responsibility to not only listen but read between the lines for what a client truly needs.
In terms of the work, we treat dialogue as the anchor for our mixes. Writers, directors, and actors put so much time and energy into creating a story, so it's crucial that the dialogue is clear and intelligible, whether it's in a quiet room or on an airport runway. Dialogue is what most people are paying attention to, so we prioritize making it sound clear, balanced, and natural.
Another important principle in our work is creating dynamics within moments, scenes, and even overall mixes. Loud moments can only be perceived as loud if there's contrast beforehand. We love quiet scenes just as much as loud ones, and knowingly or not, audiences often pay the most attention to the subtle moments to make sure they don't miss any details. All of this is ripe territory for creative choices by our team, which we cherish.
How do you balance the technical aspects of audio production with the creative storytelling elements when working on commercials, branded content videos, network TV shows, films, and video game trailers?
The technical aspects are always essential, and need to be principles we understand so well that we're not consciously thinking about them. We know that mixes will ultimately need to hit a certain loudness spec, and we keep this information at hand when we begin on any project. But our goal is always to spend as much time on the creative aspects of a project to maximize the quality of our work. We find that we're usually brought on for our ideas and taste, and no matter how tight of a schedule we're on, we want to maximize our creative choices to ensure a project sounds as great as possible. The technical aspects are more like homework that we do in our spare time to ensure our files will be created exactly as needed.
What have been some notable projects or collaborations that you have worked on, and how have they helped shape your approach to post-production sound?
One project we loved being a part of is Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road. It's a feature documentary all about the life of Brian Wilson from The Beach Boys. The story was so extraordinary, and the director was incredibly open to ideas, which gave us the freedom to explore and paint with sound. We live for opportunities like that! I learned that collaborating with such a trusting director, it freed our minds to reach higher heights because the responsibility was on us to explore as deeply as we wanted to go and make the best choices possible. And the music in the film just was out of this world. The film went on to premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival and was received well.
Another project we loved working on was Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical. It's a new game where we were brought aboard to record all of the dialogue and singing, which was completely unique for a game! This project allowed us to push our ADR stage to its limits, and we learned some new workflows for recording dialogue and singing for games. It was an incredible collaboration with some insanely talented people in the games industry, including my good friend Austin Wintory, who I have been lucky to know for over 15 years.
Looking ahead, what are some goals or aspirations you have for Transported Audio? Are there any exciting projects or developments on the horizon that you can share?
We hope to work on more in-game content such as dialogue as well as cinematics! We've recently worked on some very exciting projects in this space and deeply enjoy it. It's interesting how our company has come full circle back to game work, but completely outside of marketing and now on the games themselves.
We also have been rapidly expanding our music division, which has been incredibly exciting. We wrote and composed all the music for an NFL documentary called "The Indelible Legacy of Jimmy Raye", which won a Sports Emmy! And our music library, Transported Tracks, has gotten tracks placed in trailers for Amazon Games and Bethesda. We're excited to see how this grows in the months and years to come.
With our ability to provide both sound and music, we hope to support more ad agencies on commercials. We sound-edited and mixed a Jack Ryan Super Bowl spot for Amazon a few years back and truly loved it. We enjoy working on spots of all types, and would love the opportunity to help on more of them!
For more information on Marks and Transported Audio, look up their Instagram, Twitter, and website.
