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www.postmagazine.com 33 POST OPEN HOUSE FEBRUARY 2017 "It's the only place that we could put it, and it's all room-within-room construc- tion," says Storyk of the mix suite. "If you look at the plan, at first glance, it doesn't even look symmetrical. [One might think], 'What an odd shape?' But then when you see how we put the internal walls inside the shell of the building, it's of course like most control rooms — sym- metrical around its longitudinal axis, etc." Special attention was paid to sound isolation within the room. "It was not to disturb anybody upstairs," notes Larregina. "[Oliver] has his own living space on the third floor." Beyond the cement foundation, the room's interior walls are sheet rock, covered in acoustic materials that help dampen the sound. The ceiling construc- tion, says Larregina, "is quite intense." There's typical construction, with wood joists and plywood, but the designers incorporated additional layers below the joists to stiffen the structure. An acoustic lid was then added on a decoupled slab, helping to solve sound infiltration to the upstairs floors. Also on the lowest level is Blue Table Post's color grading suite, which features Blackmagic Design's DaVinci Resolve and a Dolby PRM-4220 professional reference monitor. Nearby is a smaller room for color assist work. And while the studios are six-plus-feet below grade, the color suite features large sliding glass doors that open to an outdoor patio space on the same recessed level. Opaque curtains easily slide to cover the glass during sessions. The suites are all tied together via a small machine room situated under- neath a staircase. Back on ground level, Blue Table Post features two editorial suites. Lief's personal suite is configured with Avid Media Composer and Adobe Premiere Pro. Focal speakers are used for sound monitoring. A second suite is located just across the hall and is available for rent to external productions in need of editorial space. The main floor also has a reception area that receives lots of natural light, and a small kitchen, along with common workspace counters and desks for pro- ducers or assistant editors. Larregina says client Lief, was "just great to work with." "He gave us the latitude to give him a layout that works," adds Storyk. "He trusted us. He believed in our specifica- tions. He didn't flinch when we ran into problems during construction." The documentary We Will Rise was one of the first projects to be edited and mixed at the new studio. In it, former First Lady Michelle Obama, actresses Meryl Streep and Freida Pinto and CNN's Isha Sesay visit Morocco and Liberia to meet young women who are overcom- ing incredible odds to change their lives through education. According to Lief, the project was shot using a range of cameras, including Canon's 5D and C300, and Sony models. The final piece runs 50 minutes and was delivered in 1080 for broadcast purposes. Meryl Streep spent nine days at the studio, writing and recording narration for the project. Her vocal performances were among the first captured in the audio suite's isolated VO booth. Actress Meryl Streep and director Tony Gerber relax with Lief and project coordinator Maggie Graber. Owner/editor Oliver Lief