Pittsboro, N.C. (Top40 Charts) Manifold Recording, a state-of-the-art recording studio and post-production facility, has helped propel a critically acclaimed documentary to award-winning success.
The documentary, "Dear Governor Cuomo" highlights a grassroots coalition in New York that opposes hydraulic-fracturing, known as "fracking". The film took top prize from among more than 300 entries for best film on climate change at the 11th Annual Wild & Scenic Film Festival earlier this month. Considered one of the nation's premiere environmental and adventure film festivals, the Wild & Scenic Film Festival draws top filmmakers, celebrities, leading activists, social innovators and well-known adventurers from around the world.
"Dear Governor Cuomo" focuses on a rainy night in May, when a coalition of musicians, scientists and activists gathered in Albany on the governor's door step, calling for a ban on fracking. Under the musical direction of Natalie Merchant, the event was filmed by Academy Award-winning documentarian Alex Gibney. The film features actors Mark Ruffalo and Melissa Leo, environmental biologist Sandra Steingraber and musicians ranging from Joan Osborne and Citizen Cope to Medeski Martin and Wood and The Felice Brothers. The film was written and directed by Jon Bowermaster.
"The crew at Manifold helped give this film the soundtrack it deserved," said Bowermaster. "The music was crucial to conveying the emotion and power of the story, and Manifold helped us achieve what we had been hoping for - a carefully balanced sonic progression, from the first shot to the end credits."
Ironically, the film that took top prize for the treatment of this year's theme - climate change - was delivered to the studio by Hurricane Sandy.
Last October, dialog and re-recording engineer Jacques Boulanger was attending a documentary film event in Chapel Hill when he met Amy Tiemann, co-owner of Manifold Recording along with her husband, Michael Tiemann. As Boulanger recalls, "Amy told me about this wonderful recording studio for music with audio and video post capabilities. By the time I got back to New York, the whole city had been shut down due to the hurricane. Once it was time to master the mix, I couldn't get to my own studio in Manhattan."
Needing to move the project and still meet the film's screening deadlines, Boulanger turned to Manifold Recording and booked the first flight out of LaGuardia.
"It was a pivotal decision that ultimately helped to make Dear Governor Cuomo the best it could be," said Boulanger. "The quality of the equipment and acoustics in the facility are simply unbelievable. The more work I did getting the dialog and the other sounds right, the more it became clear that the music needed its own first class treatment. It needed to be mixed like a record, which is a special skill that few of us in the audio post world possess. That¹s when we decided to hire Manifold Recording's Grammy®-nominated Chief Engineer, Ian Schreier to do that work. When he sent the tracks back to us, we were all blown away."
With "Dear Governor Cuomo," Manifold is now breaking into digital video post-production.
"We spent our first year really focused on getting our reputation established for audio recording and mixing, and we've done that," said Michael Tiemann, Manifold's co-owner and general manager. Our very first project, 'The Spanish Masters,' hit the top 10 on Amazon.com's Classical Recordings list after being featured on NPR. Guitar legend Jimmy Herring used Manifold Recording as the launch pad for his 2012 national tour. Grammy® award-winning artist Béla Fleck came to finish his up-coming CD with Brooklyn Rider. And acclaimed classical pianist Frederic Chiu is also in the process of releasing a CD recorded here."
Rachel Raney, executive director of the Southern Documentary Fund, says Manifold Recording is a welcome addition to the Triangle region's post production landscape. "It's a beautiful facility with top notch engineers and equipment, and owners Amy and Michael Tiemann are committed to independent media and the arts. We have many talented filmmakers and producers in our backyard, a studio like Manifold provides yet one more reason for them to finish their projects close to home."
