GR Homelessness: Dégagé Video

We've created a series of videos for Heartside non-profit Dégagé, which provides help and hope to many of our homeless people downtown. To find out more about Dégagé, you can visit them online at www.degageministries.org. Here's the "About Dégagé" video.

Social Media Story

In the dust of ArtPrize, Twitter (www.twitter.com/aaron_creo) notified us that our Vimeo video of Rob Bliss' Airplane event made it onto the French site Fubiz, which serves up "a daily dose of inspiration."

Within hours, the video had 2,000 views.

The next day it had 5,000.

Within three days it had 16,000.

Now, these aren't the type of numbers that'll turn heads around the globe, but it's an example of how quickly videos get passed on today, how far video can travel, and who it may inspire.

*An interesting side note. Our Vimeo site is more of a digital portfolio for our work. Rob's video had already made it's rounds on YouTube (and now has around 45,000 views).

ArtPrize Video: Sigur Rós Site, Freep.com

Sigur Rós Website

Detroit Free Press

MLive.com

Official Video: Rob Bliss ArtPrize

Our official Rob Bliss ArtPrize video is live on YouTube:



Thanks to our crew (13 cameras) for a great shoot. Enjoy ArtPrize.

Visit ArtPrize Haiku*

breathtaking ArtPrize
buzzing, vibrant city streets
our village alive

*Visit ArtPrize. You can follow our journey on Twitter:

www.twitter.com/aaron_creo
www.twitter.com/andrew_creo

Breathtaking Video: Planet Earth

This video floored me at a retreat this weekend. It's video clips from the BBC's Planet Earth series, set to the sounds of Sigur Ros's "Hoppipolla." Wow. If you haven't seen it, please watch.

Money. Made in Michigan.

Here's our second video edit for Chemical Bank and Gravity Six Alliance...enjoy!

DWM Whirlpool Video

Last night, Design West Michigan and AIGA featured "a Dialogue About National Design Policy Initiatives." For designers, these excellent organizations are helping further your cause.

We've also produced "A Case for Good Design" for DWM, a video case study examining the creation of Whirlpool's Duet washer/dryer system, and how design impacts its business.

ActiveSite, ArtPrize, GR

Grand Rapids is buzzing with ArtPrize. 

Click to read a profile on ActiveSite and the relationship between architecture and art. They also give a quick mention of the 38 short film we created alongside Brian Kelly. 

Our ArtPrize is two-fold. We're hosting artist Kelsey Carriere in our space with "A minor fantasy." We'll also be producing the video documentary for Rob Bliss' event with 100,000 paper airplanes and Sigur Ros.

New Video: Have You Seen the Billboard...?

Check out the new video for Chemical Bank and the billboard installation. The creative was done by Gravity Six, and we shot and edited the video. Kudos to Chemical Bank for supporting Michigan...

New Video: The Inklings of Oxford

Check out the animated video we created for Zondervan for The Inklings of Oxford. Intrigued by reading the book and creating the video, I read Tolkien's The Hobbit on the honeymoon in Mexico. Enjoy... 

Thank You: Two Cents on Three Years

Today is our third anniversary at Creo Productions.

We started as two young entrepreneurs working out of a room inside a rented house, touting around two portfolio pieces, video gear, an Internet connection, a few computers and phones.

In the beginning, each project saved the company.

They always seemed to arrive just in time.

Three years later, we find ourselves working in an up-and-coming neighborhood we love in downtown Grand Rapids, with a growing portfolio of clients and projects and relationships we’re proud to call our own.

It’s been a wild journey, one that has brought with it great highs and lows, joys and sorrows, laughter and tears, accomplishments and failures, new lessons and affirmation of age-old truths.

And we recognize that Creo is not an island.

We’re part of many communities, made up of specific groups of people—companies, non-profits, creatives, artists, organizations—who have partnered with us in the common vision of storytelling and communication.

We’re fortunate to be alive and growing, and know we don’t take that for granted.

Thank you, to our wives, family, friends and supporters, for exactly that: your support, affirmation and encouragement along the way.

Thank you, to our clients, who believe in the work they do, and entrust us to show the world.

Thank you, Grand Rapids and West Michigan, for embracing us.

Thank you, to everyone who has made the beginning stages of this journey possible, who have helped us catch the vision for what’s next. The list of the people who have been good to us is too long to list, and has come in many ways and forms, often when we need it most.

We hope to pay-it-all-forward in the future.

ArtPrize Entry

Interesting development this morning for Grand Rapids and Artprize.

We'll be shooting and coordinating a team of documentary videographers to shoot Rob Bliss' Artprize entry, titled, "The 100,000 Paper Planes and Melodies Over Monroe Project."

Click to read the story and the growing comments...

Or follow us on Twitter.

Non-Profits in Today's Economy

We must continue to support non-profits in difficult economic times. We've been talking with the people at Aqua Clara in Holland, a group that's doing innovative work for clean water around the globe.

"Aqua Clara International exists to aid in the establishment of sustainable locally owned businesses that provide cheap, clean water for children and families worldwide."

You can check them out at AquaClara.org to get involved.

GRBJ Story on Creo/1041

Jake Himmelspach (http://twitter.com/jhimmelspach) from The Grand Rapids Business Journal wrote a story on two GR video production companies, 1041 and Creo.

Click to subscribe to GRBJ for the whole story. Here's a couple clips:

Across town at 40 S. Division Ave., Creo Productions is a full-service media company specializing in writing and video production. Creo, led by Aaron Carriere, creative director, and Andrew Tingley, chief cinematographer, editor and animator, will celebrate its third anniversary in August.

In that time span, Carriere has seen a rise in the amount of videos that businesses are using, especially for their Web sites.

"It gives voice to small and medium-sized businesses that couldn't afford to do advertising before. It allows those types of business to engage with their customers," said Carriere.

"So much commerce is done on the Web now. I think it's an added tool."

The advancement of 2-D and 3-D animation along with using cinematic techniques has been part of Creo's success. The company uses storytelling to bring a company to life and pass on its message.

"People remember stories. People have communicated through stories for a long time. If you can draw a narrative out of a business, it helps define who they are, and it also engages the viewer to say, 'I'm going to remember something about what I just saw,'" said Carriere.

"I've always said when people watch something we've created, let's give them something — not just try to sell them something. Let's give them a story or some kind of information. Then, if they want more, they can make their purchase."

Aaron on the Radio

Aaron was interviewed on WGVU by Shelley Irwin and Spearia's Danny Becket on entrepreneurship yesterday morning.  

You can listen to the interview online on WGVU's website. 

You can also follow us on Twitter: 

Aaron

Andrew

Matthew

An Award to Remember

Baudville's employees were ecstatic about helping out on the shoot, and worked for pizza as extras. The crowd is all Baudville. "Todd" and the unnamed manager are both actors.

Baudville #3: Motivational Manager

A last second gasp for this manager. We used a 10-foot jib to capture the fluid shot.

Priceless Presentation

This is a risk worth taking. Here's Baudville's second short film, "A Priceless Presentation." On the technical side, notice the whole spot was done in one fluid shot using a track and dolly.

Video Series: Baudville #1

Grand Rapids recognition gifts and custom awards company Baudville approached us about doing a series of creative commercials for its new website and trade shows.

It's been a great experience working with their creative team, bouncing ideas back and forth. I'm impressed with Baudville's willingness to innovate, stand out and take chances. Over the next few days, I'll be embedding the four videos. We shot "Sincere Service" last month.

Motocross Video: Watch Andrew's Bailout!

Counting Crows + Creo?

Last night, I (Aaron) saw the Counting Crows perform in Muskegon.

The music was amazing, but Adam Duritz said something that really stood out when we reflect about the purpose behind our recent expansion. It sounded something like this:

"There's so many great songs out there that come and go," Adam said, musing on unknown musicians and the multiple bands the Crows were in before August and Everything After. "Thousands of songs. Some don't even get recorded. It's a shame."

Well put, Adam. I've often wrestled with similar thoughts. So many songs are written, sitting dormant on computers or in the bottom of guitar cases, trapped in the fingers and throats of musicians, yet few will ever hear their art, and if no record is made, they'll disappear.

One of our goals with the audio studio is to help musicians make high quality, affordable records, so everyone with a voice has the opportunity to be heard. We're running a summer studio special to do exactly that.

We're living in a digital age where we can literally record one minute, and send the art around the world the next. What a weighty honor. What potential. How exciting.

summer studio special (!)

Great Story on Spearia

Check out the Rapid Growth story of Spearia and founder Danny Beckett. Spearia's designing our new website, and we're doing some video/audio work for them. Andrew and Matt were shooting video of Danny on the motocross track...then Andrew decided to try. 

He failed. 

He flipped over the handlebars into the dirt.

Thankfully, Andrew's fine, and Brian Kelly captured video for future laughs.

Video: The Chaos Scenario

Watch the video we created for the launch of Bob Garfield's new book (and movement) called The Chaos Scenario. 

Among other pursuits, Bob's a columnist for Advertising Age magazine and co-host of NPR's On the Radio. The Chaos Scenario talks about the collapse of mass media and marketing, and more importantly, what's next. Much more to come on this project later...

Click to join the "Chaotics" online and pre-order the book.

Listen: New Music

Below is our updated audio player, including new music recorded in our studio by The Fainting Generals and The Candles.

Immersive Labs Video: Future of Advertising

Check out the video we shot with Jason Sosa of Immersive Labs in our space. We did the lighting, camera work ; Jason completed the editing and post-production.

The Yesterdog Documentary

The Yesterdog Documentary will be shown at the Grand Rapids Art Museum (GRAM) as part of the FILM competition for the GR Festival of the Arts.

It will be showing at the GRAM auditorium on Sunday, June 7 at 1 p.m. If you don't have a chance to check out our documentary, make sure to support the Festival!

Our New Facebook

We just launched a new Facebook page! Connect below: 

Creo Productions's Facebook Page | Promote Your Page Too

Creative Living

Click to read a cool story on the "social experiment" of the live/work spaces we live in on Division Ave. downtown, including some excellent photography of Verne Berry Place and our new neighbors. 

The story is also a profile of our great landlord, Dwelling Place. 

Interact: What's Your Story?

It's that simple: you have a story to tell. It may be about commerce or innovation or perseverance. It may be personal, historical, musical or emotional. But it's unique to you.

Simply put, that's our question to you in these times. We're advocates for storytelling, and believe there's more out there than nightly newscasts on recessions and job cuts and pending doom.

I've heard over-and-over from people I trust that the resilient will make it, that hard times bring forth the greatest innovations. This is not time to sit back, it's time to act.

To go against the grain of the nightly news, I'm making myself available free-of-charge to listen to your story, to talk about ways our media (video/audio/creative) can help bring your story to life.

This blog is our story. Contact Aaron at aaron at creoproductions.com or 616.233.9539 to set up a time to talk about your story.

Feature Story: Creo, Courier and GR Studios

Kelly Quintanillia from Rapid Growth wrote a nice feature story about local audio studios, including our studio at Creo Productions and our band Courier. Make sure to click here for the story, featuring photos of our studio and session with Brian Vander Ark. 

Making Waves in Sound

By: Kelly Quintanilla

When the local band Courier decided it was time to record an album of its original music, band members lugged recording equipment and instruments to the far reaches of metro Grand Rapids: to the home of guitarist Aaron Carriere, the band room of lead singer Dan Kilpala's high school, even the foyer of Kentwood Community Church. 



But now when Courier records music, it does so in the confines of the cozy recording studio owned by Carriere and business partner Andrew Tingley along the Avenue for the Arts, part of a small but increasingly important local recording industry made possible by the plummeting cost of electronics and software and entrepreneurs with dreams.



Better places, better spaces

Solo musicians and area bands are now emerging from gasoline-laced garages and dank basements to record their artistry at studios because the cost of that work has dropped from tens of thousands of dollars to produce an album to hourly rates of $50 to $200 an hour.  The cost to use a recording studio has reached the point where a struggling band can risk recouping its investment through sales of compact discs and extended play songs sold online.


And the beauty of local recording services is the most important quality of all: sound.

 Just ask musician David John, who released his second album “Looking For Opal” in April that he recorded at Sound Post studio with the help of owner Stuart Poltrock.
 
“Stuart and I wanted the record to sound like it could have come from anywhere,”  John says. “We wanted it to have really solid production values.”



After four years of fine-tuning in the studio, John says of his album: “Whether you like the music or not, you’d have to agree that it has world-class production values.” 



Wonders of digital recording

Time was when only well established bands bankrolled by the major record labels could afford to record albums that were pressed into vinyl or later burned on CDs. The recording process was tedious and expensive: endless hours spent by audio engineers literally cutting magnetic tape with razors and splicing it back together.

But now that sound can be isolated, edited and mixed digitally for a fraction of the cost and time by anyone willing to invest in electronics and master the use of software programs.



“You can go to Guitar Center and buy Pro Tools and invest in microphones, maybe spend $10,000 and really do something amazing,” John says. “There’s been a dramatic shift in the ability to get recorded and do it in a professional way.” 



Poltrock says that the widespread use of digital recording combined with the rock-bottom price point to enter the business has led to more local audio studios cropping up to help musicians and companies record professional audio. “There are many, many more small business and home recording setups, now more than ever,” he says. “They are capable of doing what only a large commercial studio could do a few years ago.”


Another local studio, Acoustic Arts Custom Music Production, was started a decade ago when Roger and Megan MacNaughton decided to turn their expertise and passion for music and recording into a business of their own.
 

Acoustic Arts carved its niche as a music project recording studio, instead of also delving into corporate voiceover work. When working with companies or nonprofit organizations, Acoustic Arts focuses solely on the music, whether it's underscoring a documentary or writing a children’s rap song, as they were recently tapped to do for Kids Food Basket.

With more than 25 years of experience as a recording studio creative director, Roger grew up working with analog recordings. “When everything was done in analog, only studios with large budgets could afford to record,” says Megan. “Now that everything is digital, the costs have come down incredibly.” 



Create music or recordings?


But Poltrock cautions that while it may be financially feasible for musicians to record themselves, that doesn’t necessarily translate to the most efficient process.

“Some bands and musicians can pull off a great project and recording by doing it all themselves, but most get stuck somewhere in the process,” he says. “Having a producer to envision the project, design the way to completion and see that it gets done makes a lot of sense. This lets everyone focus their time and talents.”

While the cost to record in a professional studio might serve as a barrier for musicians operating on a shoestring budget, it can actually save money and frustration in the long run, as trained professionals are able to make edits more quickly. Studios typically charge either by the project or at an hourly rate. This can be a more viable option for musicians and businesses that don’t have the funds, expertise or desire to purchase their own recording equipment.

“Technology has helped a lot of people enter the field and has made it more accessible, but it’s still an investment,” says Carriere of Creo Productions, the three-man studio located at S. Division and Weston. 

“We invested in the room and the equipment and put in a lot of sweat equity to get where we are now and to set us apart from the basement studios.”
Creo Productions began as a video production company in 2006, before adding an audio studio in December and then bringing Korn onboard full-time as an audio engineer.

For their first major audio project, they recorded musician Brian Vander Ark to provide the audio for the Celebrate Heartside video. 



“There’s a lot of crossover between audio and video,” says Carriere. “We can offer our clients a better product, and there’s more consistency because it’s all done in one place rather than as a collaboration between a few different studios.”



Carriere and Korn now use Courier as the studio’s in-house band, providing original music for their corporate clients. They’ve found that their experience as a performer can provide an advantage when recording other musicians.
 


“We have a soundproof studio and great sound equipment, but Matt has the ear for adding effects and other things that most people wouldn’t pick up on,” Carriere says.
 


Megan of Acoustic Arts agrees that having help from someone with a background as a performing musician can lead to a better finished product than a musician might get if recording on his own. “It’s nerve-wracking to perform, and Roger knows how it feels,” she says. “Because he has been on both sides of the microphone, he can get better results because he gets the best out of people.”

And with the quality of work being produced by an increasing number of local studios, there’s no need to travel to a larger city to produce a professional recording. “Musicians can stay local and get an excellent product,” says Megan. “There are a number of good studios around here, you just have to interview the studios and listen to samples to find your fit.”

That’s a welcome development for musicians who want to get their music heard, but don’t want to uproot their lives to move to a larger city.  “Twenty-five years ago when everything was run by the big record companies, musicians had to go to Los Angeles, Chicago or New York City to get attention,” says John. “Due to the success of independents, now you can release a record from anywhere, whether it’s Lowell or Chicago.” 


Kelly Quintanilla is a freelance writer born, raised and living in West Michigan. She is also the marketing director at Ada-based CUSO Development Company.

New Gear, People, Opportunities

Two new arrivals in the last two days (and one in the last month). 

Yesterday, we welcomed an upright baby grand Grinnell Bros. piano, manufactured in Detroit. It's going to take some skills to get it downstairs to the studio, but it'll be well worth the effort. 

And today, our Letus Elite film lens adapter arrived in the mail. 

The Letus allows us to shoot with interchangeable prime lenses on our HDV camera, capturing a more cinematic look and numerous depth of field options to our videos. It's really an amazing piece of equipment. We're ready to start using it and showing our clients. 

(Seated is Matthew Korn, our audio engineer, who started full-time last month. He's the guy who can capture that vintage piano sound).

Creo Lands WMFVA Web Video Endorsement

The West Michigan Film and Video Alliance (WMFVA) has awarded Creo Productions the highest level 4 STARMAP rating in the "Video for Web" category.

The rating is on a four-point scale, with a category 4 recognized as an “Established top service provider in the region,” based on a committee of industry peers. STARMAP is a searchable database for assembling production teams. 

We’re thrilled WMFVA recognized our work. 

Watch and Listen: Short Film

Here's the soundtrack for our short film, as well as the launch of the website for The King of SPAM. All the music was written, composed, performed and mixed within 24 hours in our audio studio. A special thanks to Courier for helping out.

ArtPrize

The world's largest art prize in coming to Grand Rapids. The Creo team went down to see the unveiling this morning. Here's the idea:

Artists will display work all over downtown Grand Rapids from September 23-October 10.

The public votes on the best artwork. First place is $250k, second is $100k, third is $50k, and fourth through tenth are $7k each.

ArtPrize is the brainchild of Rick DeVos. Here's a couple quotes from the press release:

“It’s time to reboot the conversation between artists and the public. ArtPrize will be a celebration of art, design, and innovation that will bring artists and the public together like never before,” said ArtPrize creator Rick DeVos.

“I’m astounded by the potential for social networking, community involvement, and the expanded view of the role of art,” said Grand Rapids Mayor George Heartwell. “ArtPrize will excite the world, and the world will look at our city differently because of it.”

It's a great idea to bring people together. As the presenters said this morning, the brilliance lies in the conversations bound to happen, the stage it's happening on (our city), the quality expectations increasing, as well as the openness of the competition to multiple art forms.

We're looking forward to it!

Here's a Rapid Growth interview with Rick DeVos:

Premier: 24 Film Festival Tonight

Join us tonight at 8 p.m. for the Compass Academy 24 Hour Film Festival Screening. 

Tickets are $8 at the door, and they suggest coming early to get tickets. 

Celebration! North

2121 Celebration Dr. NE

Grand Rapids, MI 49525

P.S. Our film is titled, "The King of SPAM."

The 24 Hour Blog: Recap

Note: I’ve collected all the posts from the 24 Hour Film Festival and condensed them into the following timeline. Here’s our posts, from beginning to end.

The Assignment

Here's the specs for the film:

Theme: Two Can Play This Game

Prop: Thermos

Line: "We're paying you to sing, not share your thoughts on life." 

Location: Under a Table 

We've got 10 people around the table thinking of ideas. 

Will keep you posted, literally. 

The Plot Thickens

It's 2:13 a.m. on Saturday morning. 

After 5 hours and 13 minutes of debate, we're on the same page. 

It's a bit wild. It's time to take the ideas and make a script. 

The crew is setting up gear, nobody's asleep. 

Tears of Laughter

Welcome to 3:39 a.m. 

Derek just had us in tears with his voiceover on the line. 

Tears of laughter.

Hopefully it's still funny (later today). 

5:43 a.m.

The script is finished. The story is put together. We've spent over a third of our time developing the idea behind the piece. We feel peace. We're loopy. Actors will arrive at 7 a.m. for an 8 a.m. shoot.

The Morning Sun

Both our main actor and actress arrived at 7 a.m. Dax came in from Lansing, and Jill is with us from GVSU. 

It's a quarter after nine, everyone is wide-eyed and ready for the day. 

We're into shooting the second scene, a voiceover was completed in the studio, and I'm working with the musicians downstairs. Graphic designers are plugging away. Photos have been taken. 

It's a beautiful day. 

Sound and San Chez

The shoot is going well. The video team is headed around the corner to San Chez for a new scene. The band and I've been busy in the studio writing a couple new tracks for the film, including the jazz-influenced, "My Inbox is Full."

Our lead female Jill says, "Estoy muy bien." 

Si.

Chaos

It's been awhile since the last post. It's 5:33 p.m. 

Three and a half more hours.

Controlled chaos. All around. 

But it's the best. We love it. 

Now, all we have to do is shoot the final scenes and edit...and deliver... 

Miracle on Division St.

It’s 11 p.m. At 8:20 p.m., we were starting to get a bit nervous. 

We'd captured the majority of our ambitious story plan, developed two fantastic characters and scored four all-original songs in the audio studio. Two on the crew chose to remain sleepless, while the rest of us took an hour or two here and there. 

And we pressed the buttons to compress the video for the proper format.

The clock begins ticking. And the file is taking forever. 

Thoughts start entering your our minds about the last twenty-four hours, and how difficult it would be to put this much work in and fall one second short. After abandoning any hope of an in-person delivery, by some sort of miracle, we delivered "The King of SPAM" via an FTP site at 8:57 p.m. 

We're in. 

As soon as it went through (it looked to be two-thirds completed before it finished decoding at 8:57), we cheered, and I quickly ordered video and still cameras to take a snapshot of the feat, yelling, "Where's time.gov?" 

Needless to say, it was intense. On the quiet drive over to Compass, I reflected on what our team had accomplished, and I'm proud of our work, whether we'd been able to have the judges gauge or work or not. 

It's been an interesting and amazing 24 hours, thanks for following along. 

A big thanks to our excellent actors and crew, who worked tirelessly for some pizza: Dex, Jill, Andrew, Matthew, Dustin, Dominic, Ella, Anna and Robert. A huge thanks to Matthew for composing and running the audio studio for hours on end, and Courier members Matthew, Dan, Andrew and Katie for developing an really impressive score, and San Chez for allowing us to film on location. 

Can't wait for you to see it...

Follow Us for 24 Hours

At 9 p.m. tonight, The Compass Academy 24 Hour Film Festival begins.

We'll have 24 hours to write, shoot, edit and score a 5-minute film, using four elements drawn from a hat: prop, line, location and theme. Everything's original, turned in by Saturday at 9 p.m.

I'm blogging the process throughout the weekend, not only for my own sleep-deprived sanity, but also for the enjoyment of others. We've got great people lined up, including a talented crew, a full band, fresh actors (and a lot of coffee).

If you can't follow along live, check the blog next week to see how it went, or attend the top ten showing next Thursday, April 23rd at 8 p.m. at Celebration North.

It's going to be fun.

P.S. Watch Spish, our top ten entry from 2008.


Spish from Creo Productions on Vimeo.

Media: Our Video Case Study of Whirlpool

We're proud to announce that we're working with Design West Michigan to develop a video case study of Whirlpool's Duet Series. Read the Rapid Growth story below or click here:

April 9, 2009

Video case study to demonstrate economic benefit of design

By: Deborah Johnson Wood

Design West Michigan and Creo Productions have teamed up to create what they believe is the first-ever video case study highlighting the economic value of design. The study will follow the design and development of Whirlpool’s innovative Duet Series washers and dryers.

“Good design, classic design and economically valuable design starts with design at the beginning of the process,” says John Berry, Design West Michigan director. “Part of the issue of understanding design is the difficulty in defining design, and the all too often assumption that design is styling done at the end of some process.”

Berry says design is actually problem solving. Everything gets designed, and constraints like time, money and production capability are problems to be solved. Good design considers all the factors up front to help manufacturers determine how and where to cut costs.

Creo Productions will produce a 10-minute video that highlights the ethnographic research that identified the need for modern efficiencies in laundry appliances. That research resulted in the Whirlpool Duet series, which revolutionized the industry, Berry says. Some of the conveniences consumers wanted include faster drying time, side-by-side appliances, water conservation, wrinkle prevention, variable heights to reduce bending and stooping, and reduced noise.

The video will highlight interviews with Whirlpool researchers and designers, the ethnographic research, the incorporation of drawings and prototype concepts, and a visual timeline.

Berry will make the video available to individual businesses and online.

“The goal of Design West Michigan is to use design to help grow the economy of the region,” Berry says. “The case study will educate non-designers on the value of design where design has the ability to enhance their profits and markets. We hope to produce several case studies representing different design disciplines, such as graphic design, architectural design, digital interactive media design, et cetera."

Media Story: Creo's Audio Growth

Rapid Growth ran a story today about the expansion of the audio studio and hiring Matthew as our full-time audio engineer. Read it below or click for the link:

April 2, 2009

Young Grand Rapids A/V studio adds audio engineer, recording capabilities

By: Deborah Johnson Wood

Creo Productions has taken a big step in its plans to offer sophisticated audio recording services with the hire of its first full-time position, an audio engineer to run the firm's new recording studio.

Last year, the company moved from 200 square feet in owner Aaron Carriere’s Eastown home to 1,425 square feet at 40 S. Division, Grand Rapids. Some 475 square feet of the lower level is dedicated to the audio studio completed in December, dubbed 40 South.

Carriere, 26, and business partner Andrew Tingley, 27, moved downtown with the intention of eventually adding the audio studio for recording musicians.

“With the growth of the video business we decided to make the jump to add a full-time audio engineer,” says Carriere. “We’re primed to grow very quickly with this move.”

The audio studio consists of a soundproof recording room, mixing room and post-production area. Musicians, voice overs, sound effects and more are recorded directly into the mixing room computer system where the audio engineer controls the sound quality, special effects and track layering.

Carriere says there is “tons of collaboration” between the video studio upstairs and the audio studio downstairs. One advantage is that Creo draws upon a network of local musicians, including Carriere and Matthew Korn, to write custom music for any video the company produces. Korn is the new audio engineer.

“Original music increases the value of your video production,” Carriere says, “and you can fit the music to the video.”

Creo Productions’ produced the audio and video for a new short film, Celebrate Heartside, which debuted last month as part of an initiative to bring projected art to downtown Grand Rapids.