Studio Mixing Robot Chicken, Titan Maximum, Metalocalypse and Other Series for Cartoon Network's Adult Swim

Although not much has changed about its physical appearance, Margarita Mix, Hollywood, has undergone a complete Hollywood-style makeover. Once one of the West Coast’s hottest spots for mixing television commercials, the facility has over the past several years seen a lot of that work migrate to its sister facility in Santa Monica, due to its closer proximity to Southern California ad agencies, editorial houses and production companies. As a result, the Hollywood location found itself needing to reinvent itself and find new outlets for its four state-of-the-art mixing suites and team of world-class mixers.
Although advertising production was localized on the Westside, a lot of other kinds of work were still being generated in Hollywood and its environs. Margarita Mix was within easy reach of most of the big movie and television studios as well as many independent producers. “We started by knocking on our neighbors’ doors,” recalls Veneta Butler, General Manager of Margarita Mix, Hollywood. “Our theory was that once we got them in here, they would never want to leave.”

That theory quickly proved correct. The facility soon made inroads into the DVD market, landing work recording commentary for DVD titles. It then parlayed that into mixing for both bonus material and DVD packages.

While profitable and creatively challenging, DVD work was seasonal and subject to fluctuating studio budgets. So the facility sought out further avenues for its talents and it wasn’t long before it discovered an even bigger opportunity through a boom in animated television production. “Once we began focusing on animation, it quickly exploded,” notes Senior Re-Recording Mixer Konrad Pià±on. “Animation production is a small community and because people liked the quality of our work and the types of packages we could offer word quickly got around.”

One of the first animated shows posted at Margarita Mix was Robot Chicken, a stop-motion comedy executive-produced by Seth Green and Matthew Senreich through their company ShadowMachine Films. The show, which airs on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim block, became immensely popular and set the standard for a new wave in adult-oriented animation. A Star Wars spoof based on the show earned an Emmy nomination and an Annie Award last year.

Margarita Mix developed an excellent rapport with ShadowMachine and that led to work on several more series. They included another stop motion series, Titan Maximum, that debuted last fall. “It is completely different in format, look and content,” says Pià±on. “Because ShadowMachine Films was behind it, expectations from fans were very high.”

“We had a lot of discussions with the producers about how to make the audio unique,” Pià±on adds. “The signature sound we developed is loud, cinematic and not at all cartoony. We went for a lot of realism. There are five main characters that together make up Titan Maximum and we gave each one its own sound.”

Margarita Mix had to make a number of technical and infrastructure changes to accommodate its animated series, all of which are now mixed in multi-channel high definition. Upgrades reaching into six figures include a latest generation Sony HD tape recorder, an improved signal path, and new mixing hardware, software and controllers.

Margarita Mix is currently working on three new animated series that will have their premieres this year. And even as its docket of animation projects continues to grow, the door to another market has suddenly opened up. The facility has recently been contracted to handle much of the sound work for a massive MMO videogame title. With more than 100,000 lines of dialogue, it could turn out to be one of the largest projects it has ever handled.

“Our strength is adaptability,” insists Butler. “When new opportunities arise, our philosophy has always been to give it a try and each time we’ve taken a leap, we’ve been successful.”