Jeremy Reid and Erik Virtanen
By Rebecca West
Creative Mornings Montreal wouldn’t be possible without our vast team of dedicated volunteers. Each month we focus not only on producing a great event, but on capturing that experience so that we can share it with a wider audience online. Erik Virtanen and Jeremy Reid of Calibre Audio have been helping out with the post-production of our videos for the last six months or so. We wanted to get to know them a little better and find out why they got involved with Creative Mornings - see their answers below!
Between the two of you, you have diverse backgrounds in music, writing and sound design, how did you come to co-found Calibre Audio together last year?
It was pretty organic despite coming from different backgrounds. We met while working on a bunch of TV series, commercials, and documentaries together, where I (Erik) was Project Manager and Jeremy was the Re-recording Mixer or Supervising Sound Editor. It was a great team dynamic - along the way we worked with some extremely talented sound designers and music composers. Soon it felt like we had access to a deep talent pool and the right expertise for people to entrust us with their audio post-production.
What is Calibre Audio specialized in?
We take care of everything to do with sound after filming (or after visuals are produced, if animation or interactive media). We edit actors’ dialogue and the location sound, and then pad that with additional sounds to make it feel full and alive, or give it the creative spin the producer/director wants. To do that, we use sound design and Foley (recreating sounds in a studio, like the classic smashing a watermelon for a murder scene). We also bring in actors to record in any narration if needed. We hire composers to score the project or sometimes the producer/director already has music and we edit that in. Finally, we do a final sound mix and make sure it’s ready for broadcast television, web, or the theatre.
Calibre Audio worked on the show “Bite This with Nadia G” - airing now on the US Cooking Channel
You have both moved to Montreal within the last decade from Toronto and Vancouver respectively, what do you find unique about Montreal’s creative community?
We were both drawn to Montreal’s creative spirit. It’s an artistic test-lab of sorts, with visual artists, musicians, writers, designers, and technical innovators getting together and creating amazing things for the rest of the world to appropriate. And there’s a down-to-earth attitude about it all, which is extremely unique and special.
When did you get involved with Creative Mornings and what inspired you to join our team?
I met Steve Bissonnette at a Social Media Breakfast Montreal event. He suggested that I come check out a Creative Mornings talk. The worldwide concept and the energy at the events was really something. We saw that they were filming the talks and offered to help out in any way we could. Creative communities have always been essential to our careers, so we wanted to get involved and help foster that.
Calibre Audio also worked on the documentary “Shuckers” premiering this November at the food film festival Devour!
Are there any other projects, either professionally or personally that you’re working on at the moment that you’re excited about?
Outside Calibre Audio, Jeremy masters music and produces electronic tracks as Wrong Jeremy. He recently released a 12” on UK’s Freelance and a single with a remix EP on My Favorite Robot Records which is currently in the Beatport Deep House Top 10 charts.
As for me (Erik), I’m also a screenwriter and currently have a feature film and two TV shows optioned, so I’m working on various drafts of those. And my wife and I are recording an indie-acoustic album with producer Joseph Donovan (Sam Roberts, The Dears).
For more about Calibre Audio, check out their website, Twitter and look out Erik and Jeremy at our upcoming events!
