With a highly experienced team of sound designers, composers and re-recording mixers on the team, Thierry De Vries’ A Sound, is a big player in Belgium’s audio postproduction scene. Part of the company’s daily operation, Nugen Audio’s Halo Upmix, VisLM and LM-Correct plug-ins help save time and reduce cost, as well as contributing to the creative process.

De Vries is a long-time Nugen Audio user, and was one of the first to test the Halo Upmix plug-in: ‘We already had some of Nugen’s measurement plug-ins and, in speaking with the team at various conventions, I became interested in testing out Halo,’ he says. ‘When I tested Halo Upmix, I was really impressed with the quality of its algorithm, and have continually implemented it in my mixes since that time.

‘When you are working on a project mixing for 5.1 surround or higher, you often start with elements that are sent in stereo,’ he continues. ‘Halo Upmix allows you to upmix the material from stereo to the higher format of 5.1. We also work with Dolby Atmos and being able to do the height up mixing with Halo is great. With Halo Upmix, we can go to 5.1 and also 7.1.4 with height channels. We can steer things to the ceiling, choosing what processes to use and what files we have in the various channels. We’re also able to manipulate the surround in such a way that it’s still compatible with the stereo version.’

In addition to Halo Upmix, De Vries also incorporates VisLM and LM-Correct loudness compliance plug-ins into his daily workflow. ‘At some point, the whole world started adapting to the R128 measurement system and Nugen was one of the original companies to make plug-ins for compliance,’ he says. ‘In testing, it was clear that Nugen’s was heads and tails above the rest. Nugen’s implementation and VisLM loudness measurement system is great. The idea is to have less distortion, less overly compressed mixes and more dynamics, especially on television programmes, and VisLM works flawlessly. In addition, LM-Correct has more capabilities than its competitors. Nugen does a great job with these measurement plug-ins.’

A 25-year industry expert, De Vries has worked on many features, shorts and television programmes including Torpedo, Gangsta, D’Ardennen, Het Eiland and Professor T. Most recently he has worked on the television series Fair Trade and Spanish feature film, Libertad. De Vries has also worked on commercials and museum projects.

More: www.nugenaudio.com