Audio Post Transitions: Why Mixer/Sound Designer JD McMillin Made the Switch to Nutmeg Post
MIDTOWN, MANHATTAN: The New York City-based mixer and sound designer JD McMillin recently made a move, taking over Studio F at midtown heavyweight facility Nutmeg Post.
JD McMillin thought out his professional path to Nutmeg Post's Studio F.
Working with clients including Nickelodeon, Food Network, AMC and Oxygen, McMillin has joined a golden-ears team at Nutmeg. After a five-year stint at Bionic, McMillin is moving the faders with a talented group that includes Tim Altman, Jonathan Bloom, Frank Cabanach, Roger Licari, Kevin McElligott, Steve Perski, Dan Stevens and Frank Verderosa.
With audio post often being a fluid situation, personnel-wise, SonicScoop took the opportunity to ask about the factors that lead an in-demand mixer to switch facilities. Here’s three quick questions on the topic with JD McMillin:
What was the big draw for you at Nutmeg?
The people. When I was first offered the job, I was a bit apprehensive about making a change but as I spent more time with them, I realized I wanted to work with this crew. I also had the luxury of working with a few of the editors on various projects, and they all had great things to say about Nutmeg.
The owner, Tony Spaneo is awesome. Our managing director, Jon Adelman and Executive Producer, Laura Vick handle the behind-the-scenes business so I can focus purely on mixing and the client – they’re available for guidance but they leave us to do what we do best. So the support staff and tech departments are second to none.
The combination of excellent management and killer support makes it not only easy to do my job, but I WANT to do my job. It instills great confidence knowing that the team is servicing the client and turning out great work.
What else made you feel right about moving to a new facility at this stage in your career?
Beside the obvious – which are the rooms – it’s the team. We work as a team, picking up sessions for each other and offering input. If you’re not comfortable with the people you work with, it’s impossible to do your job. I never have to worry if I’m going to hand off a project for another mixer to finish.
There are nine mixers here, and I can’t say enough about them. It’s hard to get nine guys to work well together. I was fortunate enough to be part of a well-oiled, three-man machine at Bionic, so I know what that feels like. It’s great.
You mentioned the room. What do you like about Studio F?
I love my new room. It’s a very large, great-sounding 5.1 room that took very little time to get used to. I have a slew of virtual instruments that provides plenty of versatility for composing music and sound design. The room also has a rack of Avalon pre-amps and access to a great array of mics, so everything I record sounds great. Lastly, there’s plenty of space to fit up to eight people comfortably – that’s ideal for agency work.
— David Weiss
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