By Steve Harvey, September 23, 2003
Efficiency is the key at Planet V, a boutique audio shop in Manhattan's burgeoning Flatiron post district that just celebrated its 7th anniversary. The lean, mean post-production machine is tailor-made to owner Frank Verderosa's requirements while offering plenty of amenities for its A-list clients.
Streamlined operation is key, says Verderosa, who has ensured that Planet V avoids the shortcomings of his previous employers. "I've worked in places that were big and wonderful and had all the latest gear but the simplest things like getting a label for your tape at the end of the session could take an hour."
Verderosa has programmed and installed his own library and labeling system, complementing an equally efficient audio setup. "The room is always in a ready-to-roll state. You can walk in a minute before a session, fire up the power switch and be ready to do a session."
The main control room looks into a voiceover booth built for four. "My rig is a wraparound workstation. In front of me is a 32-inch Sony monitor with two 21-inch video monitors for my Mac. The room is based around a G4 dual 1.25 GHz processor."
At the center of the workstation is a Mackie Control, with a Yamaha 02R providing monitoring. Amek Neve preamps, Summit tube compressors, a timecode DAT, rackmounted hard drives, samplers and keyboard modules are all located ergonomically within arm's reach.
Planet V has standardized on MOTU Digital Performer, a relative rarity these days, but longtime user Verderosa swears by it
. "I never got into Pro Tools," he reveals. "I appreciate what it is, but I've been using Performer since 1985, in my college days. It was always my sequencer, but when it became a digital tool I started applying the way that I handled post sessions using SSL Screensound to this software, and I stuck with it."
"DP" can do things that Pro Tools can't, Verderosa avers. For a recent film project, he used a combination of standard functions to record actress Parker Posey's dialog. "We whipped through and nailed the ADR using the repeat function, Digital Timepiece and the marker command."
A-list advertisers have been coming to him since Planet V was first established downtown, says Verderosa, and the move uptown after 9/11 has seen the flow grow. "In the past, we've done things for Nike, Miller Genuine Draft and Labatts, but recently we've had a great spot on the air that features my brother. It's a spot for Twix. He's an electronic drummer, and the spot is basically him triggering vocal samples and playing grooves."
After 18 months at the new location, Planet V is still growing. "We just redid our computer network," Verderosa says. "We've taken a wall of sound effects CDs and digitized them using iTunes, so we have an internal networked array of sound effects."
And the post work isn't limited to the visual medium, Verderosa points out. "We also do radio production. I consider it the forgotten child of advertising. But good radio kicks ass, and we specialize in kick-ass radio."
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