SOUNDMASTER GROUP is the developer of the ION Studio Operating Environment. ION seamlessly integrates the diverse technology used in sound post production via a single, powerful user interface.
The principals of Soundmaster Group are honored to be the recipients of Scientific and Engineering Academy Awards for the design and implementation of Soundmaster ION. The awards were presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills, California on February 27, 1999. For more information about the award, click on the photo at right.
We are also thrilled to have received 2000 Prime Time Emmy Plaques recognizing Outstanding Engineering for Soundmaster ION. These awards were presented by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in Hollywood, California on July 11, 2000. For more information about the award, click on the photo at right.
Never thought you could afford the prestige of Soundmaster ION? Introducing ATOM LV™ Soundmaster ION now integrates seamlessly with Avid Satellite Link! See below for more information. You can now wirelessly control ION using your iPad®*(or other tablets) and iPhone®*(or other smart phones)! Please contact us for further details. *Registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Soundmaster Group's wearable, wireless remote, Digimote™, helped the final mix of Toy Story 3 and The Social Network go smoother at Skywalker Sound. The feedback we received was "I loved it!!! It worked great." Digimote was also used to mix Germany's first 3D live action feature film Wickie and the Treasure of the Gods at Arri in Munich. It's gone on to be used by a number of facilities worldwide including Fox. Soundmaster launched SMART SLIP, its revolutionary track slipping functionality, at Tonmeistertagung 2008 in Leipzig, Germany. In 2012, we unveiled our exclusive ION View audience response system technology, tailored for test screenings, at Tonmeistertagung in Cologne. We were privileged to participate in the 9th Grand Masters event in Beijing, China, and are honoured to welcome Beijing Film Academy as the first Soundmaster ION installation in China. A must read for anyone considering joining the Soundmaster family and a testament to those who are already members, RTL Germany talks at length about their long term experience with Soundmaster ION. This quote from Hans Biermann speaks volumes about the philosophy behind our operating environment and why RTL chose it: "One's method of operation should not have to adapt to the tools available, it should be the other way around." HD/SD interformat video editing made simple Soundmaster's exciting virtual keypad, VIRPAD™ is a big hit! We also combine our VIRPAD and Touch Screen technologies into a single unit called VIRTOUCH™ Policy Statement Regarding The Purchase of Soundmaster ION Systems from Third Parties Policy Statement Regarding ION Compatibility The Soundmaster ION Network Interface expands our control capabilities to ethernet devices and can be added to all existing installations without hardware modification. One of the key features bundled within the Network Interface is our exclusive Avid Satellite Link integration (including current versions of Pro Tools) that seamlessly integrates Avid S6 controllers with consoles such as Harrison MPC and AMS/Neve DFC. A transport command issued from an ION user interface (such as Virpad or Virtouch), or even an Avid System 5 console, is treated the same as one from Pro Tools. The result is consistent lock times of approximately 1/4 second and value added features such as the ability to loop without the Pro Tools recorder(s) or console automation participating. ARRI in Munich was the first to deploy this. Please contact us for more information.
Blockbuster feature films count on the power and reliability of Soundmaster ION for their important soundtracks, including the mix and Doc Kane's ADR for Disney's "Deadpool & Wolverine", "Avatar: The Way of Water" dubbed at Park Road Post Production, the mix of the Netflix production of "Don't Look Up" at Skywalker Sound, ADR for "Spider-Man : No Way Home" by Doc Kane at The Walt Disney Studios, "The Beatles: Get Back" the Disney+ documentary series mixed at Peter Jackson's Park Road Post Production, "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker" dubbed by Andy Nelson in the Howard Hawks stage at Fox, "The Lion King" dubbed at Sony Pictures Studios utilizing Soundmaster ION's exclusive Avid Satellite Link integration, "Avengers: Endgame" which earned over $1Billion the first weekend of release, dubbed by Skywalker Sound at Disney Stage A, "Incredibles 2" and "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" dubbed at Skywalker Sound, "The Fate of the Furious" dubbed at NBCUniversal, winner of the best sound mixing Oscar "Hacksaw Ridge" dubbed at Sony Pictures Studios (congratulations Kevin O'Connell!), "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" dubbed at Skywalker Sound, as was "Moana" with original dialog recorded by Doc Kane using ION at Disney and the record breaking "Finding Dory", also dubbed at Skywalker Sound, with original dialog recorded by Doc Kane at Disney, "Star Wars: The Force Awakens", dubbed at 20th Century Fox with predubs at Skywalker Sound, shattering box office records worldwide, "Independence Day:Resurgence" and "Ghostbusters" dubbed at Sony Pictures Studios,"Deadpool" dubbed at 20th Century Fox, "Spectre" dubbed by Technicolor Hollywood mixers using their own VIRPAD template (an exclusive feature of Soundmaster ION) at WB Delane Lea (that has nearly 10 VIRPAD templates available for international mixers), "Jurassic World", the second highest global opening of all time, dubbed at Skywalker Sound, "Furious 7" dubbed at NBCUniversal, "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies" dubbed at Peter Jackson's Park Road Post Production in New Zealand, "Frozen" dubbed at Disney, "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" dubbed in Dolby Atmos at Sony Pictures Studios, the Best Picture Oscar-winning "12 Years a Slave" dubbed at Wildfire Post-Production Studios, "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" dubbed at Park Road Post Production in New Zealand, "Gravity" dubbed at Warner Bros. De Lane Lea, "Despicable Me 2" dubbed at Skywalker Sound, "Fast & Furious 6" dubbed at NBCUniversal, "Man of Steel" dubbed at Warner Bros., "Iron Man 3" dubbed at Todd-AO West, "Star Trek Into Darkness" dubbed at 20th Century Fox, "Les Miserables" mixed at Halo Post in London and winner of the BAFTA and Oscar sound awards, the latest James Bond spectacular "Skyfall" dubbed at De Lane Lea, "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" dubbed at Peter Jackson's Park Road Post Production in New Zealand in Dolby's new Atmos format, as was "Life of Pi" dubbed at 20th Century Fox and Pixar's "Brave" dubbed at Skywalker Sound, "The Avengers" and "The Hunger Games" dubbed at Todd-AO, "Dr. Seuss' The Lorax" dubbed at Skywalker Sound, 2012 Oscar for Best Sound Mixing to Tom Fleischman and John Midgley at Soundtrack NY for "Hugo", record shattering "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" dubbed at De Lane Lea, "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" dubbed at Sony Pictures, "Toy Story 3" and "Tron", dubbed at Skywalker Sound, James Cameron's 3D highest grossing "Avatar" dubbed and scored at 20th Century Fox, 3D record setter "Alice in Wonderland", "Angels and Demons" and "Transformers 2" dubbed at Sony Pictures, "Star Trek" dubbed at 20th Century Fox, "Fast and Furious" dubbed at NBC Universal and scored at 20th Century Fox, "Monsters vs. Aliens" and "Public Enemies" dubbed at 20th Century Fox, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" and "Quantum of Solace" dubbed at De Lane Lea, "The Dark Knight" dubbed at Warner Bros and the epic "Australia" dubbed at Atlab in Sydney. "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" employed ION from the beginning to the end of the post production process. Since this picture was edited using traditional sprocket techniques, NBC Universal's Bluwave facility used ION to automate the production of an EDL of the 35mm mag dialogue cut for later import into Pro Tools for autoconforming of original scenes sound. Skywalker Sound's multiple VIRPAD-equipped Foley stage was employed as was its dub stages for pre-dubs. Sony Pictures Studios used ION to record the John Williams' score and ION was the central control system for the final dub at 20th Century Fox. "Iron Man" and "Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!" were dubbed with ION at Skywalker Sound with the score for the latter at 20th Century Fox. Congratulations to Scott Millan and David Parker for winning the Oscar for Sound Mixing for "The Bourne Ultimatum", dubbed at Todd-AO West with Soundmaster ION. "Spider-Man 3" was dubbed at Sony Pictures by Kevin O'Connell with Soundmaster ION as was "Transformers". Sony also dubbed "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" with ION while 20th Century Fox recorded the score. "Shrek the Third" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" were dubbed at 20th Century Fox using ION. Soundmaster ION's pioneering ability to flawlessly synchronize HD and SD elements facilitated a smooth dub of "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" at De Lane Lea in London. Congratulations to Bob Predovich's former dubbing colleague Paul Massey who was nominated for the hugely successful "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" which was dubbed at Fox with ION. Wildfire Post joined the Soundmaster network with Kevin O'Connell's Academy Award-nominated dub of Mel Gibson's "Apocolypto". Reputedly the most expensive German film ever made, "Perfume: The Story of a Murderer" was the inaugural dub using the new ION system installed at Bavaria Bild & Ton in Munich. Skywalker Sound dubbed Pixar's "Cars" while Pixar used their own ION system to facilitate remote screening between Skywalker and Pixar during the mix. 20th Century Fox dubbed "X-Men:The Last Stand" while Sony Pictures Studios dubbed "The Da Vinci Code" using ION's exclusive HD integration technologies. Warner Bros. used newly installed Soundmaster ION systems to dub "Poseidon" and "Superman Returns". "Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith" was dubbed at Skywalker Sound using exclusive ION features not available in any other system. At De Lane Lea Post Production Studios in London, Soundmaster ION was used for the final dub of "Casino Royale", "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire", Tim Burton's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", Oliver Stone's "Alexander" and foreign versions of "King Kong". Celine Dion's Las Vegas spectacular "A New Day" used ION to synchronize High Definition video elements for the massive LED screen on stage. Many leading television programs also utilize ION. "Spiderman II","Memories of a Geisha", "The Day After Tomorrow", "Shrek 2", "Chicago", "Black Hawk Down" "The Matrix" "The Matrix Revolutions","The Matrix Reloaded", "Munich","War of the Worlds", "The Phantom of the Opera", "Shark Tale", "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle" "Finding Neverland", "The Hulk" "Jarhead", "Cinderella Man", "The Missing", "Finding Nemo", "Van Helsing", "Kill Bill Volumes 1 and 2", "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" "Daredevil", "Catch Me If You Can", "Minority Report", "Gangs of New York", "Men in Black II", "Austin Powers in Goldmember", "A Beautiful Mind", "Moulin Rouge", "Pearl Harbor", "Planet of the Apes", "The Mummy Returns", "The Grinch", "Mission: Impossible 2 and III", "Tarzan", and "Lost in Space" all utilized ION in various sound post production applications.
20TH CENTURY FOX, SONY PICTURES STUDIOS, WALT DISNEY CO., NBCUNIVERSAL STUDIOS, WARNER BROS., SKYWALKER SOUND, TECHNICOLOR and PARK ROAD POST ARE PART OF AN INTERNATIONAL NETWORK OF VERY SATISFIED ION USERS. PICTURED HERE IS A RACK OF 7 OF THE 30 SOUNDMASTER ION SYSTEMS PURCHASED BY NBC UNIVERSAL STUDIOS. WHY SHOULD YOU JOIN THIS EXCLUSIVE GROUP? HERE ARE TEN GOOD REASONS.

Client Comments
"There is nothing like it on the market. We are very satisfied with our ION/ATOM and happy about the great support."
Thomas Schwenke, ARRI Sound, Munich, Germany
"Soundmaster has made a strong impression on me. It is so powerful that nothing is impossible when it is rolling. Soundmaster provides a very stable working environment and fast, accurate synchronisation, and this allows me to focus completely on sound mixing."
Shen Jianqin, mixing at Beijing Film Academy, Beijing, China
"One staple of my ADR career has been the Soundmaster ADR control system. I call it an "old-school tool", probably 25 years old at this point, but I haven't found anything faster for recording ADR and it is the best for me. It's hard to argue with my results. It's not a case of "if it's not broke then don't fix it" but rather a case of "don't mess with perfection"."
Bobby Johanson, ADR Mixer, Harbor Picture Company, New York, New York
"The quality and speed of your support astounds us all. If I were the giver of customer service awards, you would, hands-down, be the best of all time!"
Curt A. Cash, Warner Bros. Idea Place, Burbank, California
"Your brilliance and client support is simply the best."
Michael Morongell, NBC Universal, Universal City, California
"Soundmaster ION has extremely improved our workflow, especially the quick remote access to the record machines which allows us to switch between the mastering and predubbing process very easily. It took minutes before we had Soundmaster. Now it's done with a fingertip!" Photos of installation
Stefan Ruedel, interaudio Tonstudio, Berlin, Germany
"Soundmaster's industry standard products are both powerful and invaluable tools at Skywalker Sound. Their motion-control and synchronization technology have become an integral part of our workflow." Photos of installation
Rollin Field, Skywalker Sound, San Rafael, California
"The system is brilliant and limitless."
Michael Kranz, Bavaria Bild & Ton, Munich, Germany
"Thank you for all your support. Our new Re-Recording Stage has surpassed our expectations on so many levels, including the Soundmaster ION/ATOM, chugging along, whatever the reference, whatever the interface, summing all those parts into a magnificent whole."
Angus Robertson, Deluxe StageOne Sound, Sydney, Australia
"I just wanted to send a note of thanks for the EDL cue-pop generator you made happen for us. We are currently using it for Transformers 2 in both the Cary Grant Theater and the Burt Lancaster Theater and it is making us engineers HEROES to the mixers. Again, THANK YOU for a brilliant product and even more brilliant service!"
Mark Onks, Sony Pictures Studios, Culver City, California
"Why can't other companies be like Soundmaster?"
Tom Amelotte, Sound Services Inc., Hollywood, California
"Purchasing Soundmaster ION is the best decision we've ever made. Not only has ION greatly enhanced our workflow, it also enabled us to pioneer HD mixing in Europe!"
Gerry Teague, De Lane Lea Post Production, London, England
"The session has gone flawlessly! Not one hitch! I haven't received a single call for engineering support. That has to be a first for a room upgrade of this extreme nature. We are all extremely impressed with your product. It's incredibly powerful and yet very easy to use. During my many years in the pro-audio industry, I have never experienced the level of support you provided us during the installation phase of this project."
Brian Bair, Technicolor Creative Services, Hollywood, California
"Soundmaster ION improved our workflow tremendously. As the first customer to use ION integrated into a Studer Vista 7 console, we are very happy about our decision, especially the touch screen integration. Another big point for Soundmaster is the great support. Whenever you need help, it's like having them next door." Photos of installation
Gernot Brantner, RTL Television, Cologne, Germany
"We very much believe in Soundmaster ION/ATOM and are very happy to be using it. It provides us a high level of comfort for our dubbing system, with efficient synchronization, smooth control over our film projector, a software-assignable "master" machine, and the ability to quickly confirm the status of our many playback and record units. We also like how Soundmaster can quickly update software and integrate new machines." Photos of installation
Masashi Tara, Toho Studios (famous for Godzilla), Tokyo, Japan
"Everyone loves the system. I think you have a great item, or a potentially phenomenal item!"
Gary Fradkin, Sound Services Inc., Hollywood, California
"Soundmaster's ION/ATOM has saved us on many occasions. By taking advantage of the unique Sequence Key capabilities that are an integral part of the system, we were able to preprogram all the different setups that were required to solve the most complicated session. No other synchronization system offers such flexibility. What's more, tech support is excellent. Every time we needed help we were able to get an immediate answer, and when we came across a situation that required a special routine or parameters adjustment, we were able to do it using one of the most innovative features that this system has, the on-line support."
Avi Laniado, Sound One, New York, New York
"We have been extremely pleased with Soundmaster and its products. The power, flexibility and reliability of the system have been important in all of our applications including our digital dubbing stages, and most certainly in our Newman Scoring Stage where we really exploit its capability to quickly reconfigure. I would also have to compliment ION for how "invisible" it is to those who use it. Yet one of the most innovative features might be Soundmaster's ability to remote control the system from its office, providing us with fast diagnostic and technical support, and comfort."
John Brunnick, 20th Century Fox, Los Angeles, California
"Being an independent sound post production facility, Todd-AO Hollywood must be able to quickly accommodate every client's needs. The Soundmaster system has never failed to be able to control any transport that has been requested, plus it works with all console controls perfectly. It is our number one safety net."
Todd-AO Hollywood, Hollywood, California
"We have had 100% up-time with no glitches, hiccups or burps in operation since we hit the 'ON' button!"
John Rotondi, Los Angeles, California

Integrated Operations Nucleus - ION®

ION contains a proprietary "simultaneous universal translation" engine that allows integrated technology to communicate together, even if the respective devices speak different "languages".

Learn more about the concept behind ION!
ION/RADAR	ION/MIDI
ION/88	ION/Martinsound Flying Faders

Integrated Operations Nucleus--ION is a registered trademark and ATOM, PHOTON and VIRPAD are trademarks of Soundmaster Group, Toronto, Canada

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