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www.postmagazine.com 26 POST SEPTEMBER 2017 AUDIO FOR COMMERCIALS BEN FREER ENJOYS TEN WITH ELEVEN With almost two decades of audio post production under its belt, boutique studio Eleven (www.elevensound.com) has made its mark as an industry leader in sound mixing for commercials and other media. A plethora of factors contributed to its success, but the most significant are its people — among them, mixer Ben Freer (photo, bottom left) who celebrates a milestone 10 th anniversary with Eleven this year. A Manchester-native with a California upbringing, Freer occupies a space between artist and scientist, using his skill to asses the harmonic structure of sound to enable them to fashion highly complex projects. Freer was inspired by all things sound from a very young age, ranging from the intricate threads woven into house/electronic music to Police Academy films, featuring a character with the ability to create any sound effect and a penchant for beat box. Music and radio production classes were the foundation to learn the craft of producing original beats. While at university, he worked at a local rock station, eventually hosting a weekend show and nurturing his mixing skills by cutting various station commercials. Freer was first introduced to Eleven as an intern in 2007, quickly climbing the ranks and becoming an official staff member the same year. Mentored by Eleven founder/mixer Jeff Payne, Freer consistently demonstrated his unique ear for audio mixing with each new oppor- tunity and diversifying his output with commercials, music videos and various documentaries. "When I first met Ben 10 years ago, I got a sense of his strong charac- ter right away," recalls Payne. "From the beginning, he showed talent and dedication in learning the craft. Time and time again, he has revealed his passion for mixing and for creating a great experience for all who enter his studio." Eleven's executive producer Melissa Elston echoes these sentiments, affirming that Freer's mixes, much like his witty personality, are razor sharp. She esteems Freer as a perpetual learner, bringing a nuanced approach to audio with every project. Elston also recognizes Freer's decade run as both a professional and personal accomplishment that attests to his character, strength and determination. Freer's decade with Eleven has strongly contributed to the culture, intimate vibe and commitment to creativity that the studio has become revered for. Freer has mixed for renowned clients in the advertising and multimedia industries, including Toyota, GMC, T-Mobile, Nike, H&R Block, The Weeknd and Lorde. "When I started at Eleven, I didn't know much about audio mixing, I just knew that I wanted to immerse myself in it," says Freer. "Working with the industry's best and eventually getting my own mix room has been an incredibly humbling experience. I feel so lucky to have been able to culti- vate my career at one of the top LA studios for so long!" played the double bass, which he recorded using a Neumann U87 paired with a Universal Audio SOLO/610 pre-amp. He also performed the whistling melody and captured it using the same setup. Additionally, the clarinets, flutes, saxo- phones and strings were recorded at Soundtree using live players. Those performances were en- gineered by Hartman and Luis Almau. They used a combination of the Neumann M149, a Coles 4038 ribbon mic and a pair of AKG 414 room mics going into either a Focusrite Red 1 Quad or a Universal Audio M610 pre-amp. Hartman says, "As I approached this composi- tion differently to how I normally would, I faced some new challenges. But I really loved the or- chestration process and the opportunity to bring as much authenticity and realism to the piece as possible. At one point, we had a musical saw playing the melody. It was a first for me to record a live saw player, but it had a slightly sad quality to it, so we settled on the whistling." When it comes to creating a custom score, Hartman's main focus is on the story of the spot. An original composition can help the story by cap- turing the right mood and emotion. Tempo, keys, time signature and instrumentation can all be ex- plored and adapted to fit a changing edit or changed to better reflect the story's emotion. "These are all things which are difficult to do with 'stock' music. Creating a custom score allows the flexibility to cre- ate the right piece of music," says Hartman. He concludes, "Composing for Lumière was such a pleasure from start to finish. It was a real team effort, with great direction from Danilo Boer and Marcos Kolthar at BBDO New York. Also, everyone at Soundtree played a huge part in getting it to the finish line, in particular Jay James, Peter Raeburn and Luis Almau. Luis oversaw the whole process and leant his invalu- able ears to the final mixes. For me, having the chance to write in a classic style to such beauti- ful imagery was a real joy."