Hollywood-style dubbing comes to St. Petersburg

Neva-1, a privately owned company specialising in all aspects of audio for film, has marked its 10th anniversary by moving into a new studio complex in St. Petersburg, Russia.
At the heart of the new facility is a THX-approved film dubbing theatre, designed to the highest specifications by UK studio design consultancy, Munro Associates. Despite having its own in-house design department, Neva-1 directors Oleg Berezin, Boris Berezin and Alexei Shulga felt it was necessary to seek advise from a specialist company to ensure that the dubbing theatre complied with THX specifications. UK studio design company Munro Associates was chosen for the task on the basis of its expertise within the film post production industry and by client recommendation.
Neva-1's Commercial director Boris Berezin said: "The market situation here obliges us to aim for the highest levels of quality, both in terms of specialist staff and technical equipment. As a private company, we have to be first class if we are to compete with the State-owned studios that have the ability to attract Government funding."
Munro Associates' managing director, Andy Munro, adds: "'We were asked to design this project because of our experience of working with major film facilities, particularly Shepperton, as well as the fact we are licensed to represent THX. Neva wanted a theatre which would satisfy the dubbing requirements of the major Hollywood studios and that is exactly what we designed. It was particularly useful having a Russian Architect, Natasha Chibireva in our company, who could liase with the technical team at Neva. The final alignment was carried out by our Dolby/THX specialist Phil Pyatt."
The new studio complex incorporates the main dubbing theatre with facilities for Dolby Digital Surround; four recording studios, including one dedicated to Dolby Surround for home video, and two editing rooms. Alongside its film post production facilities, Neva-1 also has a cinema equipment department that is responsible for designing cinema auditoria, supplying equipment to leading cinemas and assembling and servicing film projection and audio equipment.
(GB)