Working out of his studio, Sherman Sound Suite, located within the Orange County Production Studios production/post-production complex in Irvine, California, Emmy-nominated composer and audio engineer Rick Sherman has been providing specialized music and audio services for video and film, multimedia, radio, independent directors/producers, advertising agencies, and independent recording artists since 1983.
These services include:
- Original music composition and recording
- “Library music” selection, placement, and editing
- Sound effects and sound design
- Audio sweetening
- Noise reduction
- Voice-over recording and editing
- ADR (automated dialog replacement)
Sherman’s specialty is scoring original music synced to video and film, where the goal of the music is to heighten the drama, humor, suspense, etc., of a particular scene within a movie or commercial. When a client’s budget does not allow for a completely original score, Sherman is a skilled veteran at taking library/needledrop music, and through the use of careful editing, as well as supplementing cues with additional instruments and “hits”, creating the impression of custom-scored original musical compositions.
Sherman’s client roster includes scoring music for Disneyland, Universal Studios, Century 21, Mattel Toys, Isuzu, Hooked On Phonics, The Vons Companies, Allstate Insurance, Sea World, Toshiba, Toyota/Lexus, Taco Bell, Ditech.com (the national TV spots for 7 consecutive years), Mazda, Subaru, Carl’s Jr., Tarbell Realty, and the list goes on. Up until December of 2013, Rick’s music was heard for over 16 years every weeknight on PBS SoCaL (KOCE-TV) with his theme song for “Real Orange”, a news/magazine show about Orange County.
In 2010, Sherman received an Emmy nomination in the “Audio” category for his work on “Voices of a Never Ending Dawn”, a World War I feature-length documentary broadcast nationally on PBS stations. This work included virtually all of the various “job tasks” performed at his studio: music composing, music editing, sound effects editing, voiceover recording and editing, ADR (Automated Dialog Replacement), noise reduction, and audio sweetening. Sherman has also received numerous awards from the International Television and Video Association and the Association of Visual Communicators for his musical compositions.
The voiceover/audio isolation booth at Sherman Sound Suite is gaining a reputation as one of the quietest and most comfortable in Orange County. Through careful and deliberate design and construction, this booth is “truly cool”, with silent air conditioning, allowing voice-over artists, vocalists, and musicians to remain very comfortable, even while recording.
Whether you look at Sherman as an audio engineer with musical skills and capabilities, or as a composer and musician who is also able to address audio concerns, being able to do both is a winning combination. With the proliferation of digital audio workstations (digital audio hardware and software), even a child can easily perform seamless audio edits in five seconds that would have taken hours of detailed work back in the days of analog recording tape. The power of this computer-driven technology, and its ease of use, can give anyone a false sense of instantly being a music editor or audio engineer. However, for example, to create a seamless custom segue between one piece of 4/4 music in G and a second piece of 3/4 music in E-flat minor requires experienced musical skills as well as the audio technical capabilities required to pull this off. Rick Sherman provides this unbeatable combination of abilities.
Orange County Production Studios (formerly known as South Coast Media Center) is not only home to Sherman Sound Suite, but is also home to Orange County Sound Stage, the largest digital green-screen sound stage in OC, as well as 2 additional production sound stages, and the capability to broadcast live to ESPN, CNN, CNBC, FNC, etc., and Orange County Production Studios has added a large and flexible Podcasting room.
Rick is a proud composer and publisher member of ASCAP, one of the primary U.S. music licensing/performing rights organizations. Rick Sherman has served on the Board of Directors for 17 years (including over 4 years as President) of the Media Alliance of Orange County, an organization dedicated to elevating the awareness and image of the film and video production/post-production media industry in Orange County. Sherman was Executive Producer of the 2005 and 2006 Newport Beach Film Festival Awards Ceremonies.