Blackmagic Design today announced that Option Media, a Belgian audio and video post production facility, has adopted DaVinci Resolve Studio’s Fairlight for audio post production in a recent overhaul of its legacy systems.
Option Media now relies on DaVinci Resolve Studio for both audio post production and picture finishing. Its facilities now boast seven studios including a dedicated foley stage and 5.1 and Dolby Atmos mix rooms, as well as two remotely accessible audio suites.
“Fairlight is far and away one of the best tools for audio post available today. Its ability to easily import or borrow media from other timelines or projects is unmatched. No other audio post software offers this level of flexibility,” begins Bart Vanvoorden, senior audio engineer at Option Media.
Frank van Caesbroeck, chief production officer at Option Media, comments on the transition to DaVinci Resolve Studio and the integration of its audio workflow: “We’ve always found the Fairlight approach more logical than that of its competitors,” he notes.
He also highlights the strength of DaVinci Resolve Studio's integrated workflow, particularly its versatility with different file formats. “The ability to search and audition different takes, and the simplified process of rendering files for evaluation due to our integrated audio and video workflows, is a significant advantage,” notes van Caesbroeck.
With the facilities’ connectivity remaining largely unchanged, the upgrade to DaVinci Resolve Studio’s Fairlight workflow was a smooth one. All of the new systems run on Windows 11 PCs, featuring DeckLink 4K Extreme 12G capture and playback cards, Fairlight Audio Accelerator PCIe cards and Fairlight Audio Interfaces.
Blackmagic Design’s Fairlight Desktop Audio Editor, Fairlight Console Channel Faders and Fairlight Console Channel Control panel play a pivotal role in the facility. With all systems tied to a central media server, Option Media relies on a network project server.
“For larger projects, the time saved in transferring work between departments is significant. There’s almost no need for exporting or importing via intermediate formats,” explains van Caesbroeck. “For smaller, fast turnaround projects, we can now manage everything within DaVinci Resolve, from ingest to final delivery.”
When the need arose for the team to adapt to a more flexible working arrangement, Option Media established two remote sites to accommodate various team members.
“In the beginning, we utilized standard file transfer tools like WeTransfer for moving our projects,” notes van Caesbroeck. “However, we now host any project media that needs sharing with remote locations directly on the Blackmagic Cloud Store 20TB, with Dropbox syncing in the background.”
“Any new audio captured or rendered is then automatically synced across all our locations. With the integration of Blackmagic Cloud and the network attached storage, we can now edit, pre mix and complete the final mix in a studio at Option Media, without the need to physically move media or projects,” explains van Caesbroeck.
Notable projects using the integrated workflows of DaVinci Resolve Studio and Fairlight include nature documentary series "Our Nature," animated series “Interstellar Ella” and television series including “Geldwolven” and “F>* You Very, Very Much” (seasons one and two).
