The Hula Post team gave an inside look into the Hula Post Burbank faculties, including recently upgraded audio and finishing suites, installed and designed by the Key Code Media team.
“For 25 years, Hula Post has provided exceptional equipment rental services to the post production and broadcast communities We offer a huge rental inventory of editorial and finishing systems, storage solutions and support gear. We also have creative facilities available in Burbank and West LA – providing production teams spacious rooms, turnkey editorial suites, kitchen, and meeting spaces. All supported by the Hula Post 24/7 technical team,” commented Hula Post CEO, Denine Nio.
Denine Nio gave us a tour of both Burbank creative campuses, just a short drive from each other. Both offices contained long decorated hallways, full of meeting spaces, audio edit suites, and video edit suites. Whiteboards on the wall were filled with television production notes and deadlines, used to keep the current production team using the space- on track with their episode deadlines and promo schedule.
Hula Post is most known for its traditional rental business, they have recently experienced a large demand in all three creative space locations. While the spaces can be completely customized for each production, the typical creative space includes a computer (with pre-installed editing software), audio mixer, speakers, and furniture. Shared storage is also available for productions that require collaborative non-linear editorial.
Denine then handed us over to Michael Moncreiff, SVP Business Development, to give us an inside look at their latest flagship rooms- a Dolby Atmos-ready audio suite and HDR-ready finishing suite.
HDR-Ready Color Finishing Suite
The new Hula Post color suite was built with streaming platform requirements in mind. Colorists have the tools ready to master, package, and deliver in Dolby Vision, HDR10, and SDR formats required by major streaming platforms. The suite is highly appointed with new equipment, workstations, and monitors- giving colorists a DaVinci Resolve 4K system with a 5.1 Audio experience.
“The new color suite is designed for all 4K, SDR or HDR Color Correction deliverables. We primarily use Resolve as a conforming tool, but the system is also setup to run both Avid and Adobe as well. For a typical customer, we’re taking the finished sequence from Resolve and dropping the timeline into Avid symphony for graphics, titling and effects work” mentioned Hula Post SVP Business Development, Michael Moncreiff
Under the curtain of the custom, Argosy Studio console is a powerful HP Z8 Workstation with a PNY Quadro M6000 Graphic Card. A mounted LG 65” OLED 4K HDR TV is set up as a client reference monitor, while a calibrated Sony BVM and HP DreamColor Z32x are used by the colorist for finishing. On the desk, a Wacom Tablet and Color panel gives the colorist the tactile tools necessary.
The entire room was finished off with sound treatment and a 5.1 Genelec speaker system, controlled by a tableside mixer. The suite, just like many other suites in the facility, was designed, qualified, and installed by the Key Code Media engineering team.
Sound Finishing Suite
The new Hula Post sound finishing suite didn’t cut any corners, installing a Pro Tools HDX 5.1 system- that can quickly upgrade to Dolby Atmos, when the next project requires it. An Avid S6 Modular Control Surface installed in a custom Argosy console serves as the heart and brains of the room. This is one of two audio suites Hula Post offers at their Burbank location.
“Our latest audio suite is a lot larger than the other rooms in our facility. We designed it to not only accommodate the episodic customers that use our facility, but also for creators working on feature films. With the larger room, we went with a larger Avid S6 mix board- this opens the doors to 5.1, 7.1 and eventually Dolby Atmos projects. We’re ready for the future demand being pushed by some of the larger streaming providers!” Michael commented with a wink and nod.
The Key Code Media engineering team, led by Robert Van Kuran and Christel Velasco, connected, installed, labeled, and tested all audio and video systems throughout the room. The system included a half-rack quiet blower, which housed a racked Mac Pro, Avid HD I/O, and Furman Power Conditioner. Genelec 5.1 Audio Monitors surround the room, giving both the audio engineer and clients, sitting at the nearby leather coach, the tools they need to get the perfect mix.
A Warehouse of Equipment
While the primary focus of the tour was to see the new creative spaces, the Hula team had us make one last stop at their bread-and-butter warehouse. The warehouse is used to bench and prep video and audio suite equipment before it is delivered to customers’ locations.
Episodic television, unscripted/reality shows, and feature film productions require the flexibility to scale up and down depending on the size or stage of any given project. The Hula team has a fleet of editorial and finishing HP Workstations and Apple Mac Pros ready at any time for productions located throughout California and anywhere in the country. Each system is connected with the necessary reference monitors, speakers, mixers, and furniture- customized based on the production’s needs.
Summary
The Hula Post and Key Code Media team complement each other well. For the past 19 years, Key Code Media has considered Hula Post a great customer and partner in the industry.
Recently, as part of strategic expansion in building creative facilities for productions, Hula Post turned to Key Code Media to provide equipment, wiring, and installation for a Da Vinci Resolve 4K Finishing Suite with 5.1 monitoring, and a Pro Tools HDX with 6.1 monitoring audio suite. The integration included over 50-line items of products and services, including Avid Pro Tools, and Avid S6 Console, HP-Workstations, Apple Mac Pros, Argosy furniture, Genelec monitors, Blackmagic Resolve, and a variety of converters and cables that connected it all together.
