User:Clairetastic/LevelsSandbox

Brian Riordan (1974) is an audio mixer, Re-recording mixer, sound engineer, musician, and founder and president of Levels Audio located in the heart of Hollywood, CA. Riordan has received 8 Primetime Emmy Nominations for his work on American Idol, and Emmy Nominations for both the 76th and 81st Annual Academy Awards as well as HBO’s Flight of The Conchords. Brian currently resides in the Hollywood Hills with wife, Marrin, his high school sweetheart since age 15, and his three year old daughter Reyanne.

Early career
Brian has always had a passion for music. At age five he began playing piano, then guitar at age ten. After playing in several rock/pop bands in grade school and high school, he attended Berklee College of Music in Boston where he studied Jazz Composition, Songwriting and Arranging. While at school, he produced and engineered various local music artists.

In 1995, after graduating from Berklee, Brian moved from Boston to Los Angeles and began working as an engineer at several audio facilities. He began working on a wide variety of projects including records, commercials, television shows and films including many Disney and Pixar animated features such as Toy Story, Toy Story 2, A Bugs Life, Dinosaur, Hercules and Tarzan.

1998 - 2005
In 1998, Brian decided to break out on his own and opened Levels Audio, an audio post facility located in Hollywood. He wanted to build a creative boutique dedicated to audio post production and did so with just one modest studio room and two employees.

In 2003, Brian began working on American Idol which remains one Levels Audio’s most active clients to date. After the first season of American Idol, Brian realized he needed to expand the facility, so he bought out his business partner and became the sole proprietor. Brian and his team worked out of the original location for another two years as he planned out his vision and built his clientele.

2005 - Present
In the fall of 2005, Brian acquired the famous site of the Birns & Sawyer Camera Sales and Rental Company in Hollywood, CA. He interviewed close to a dozen architects and eventually hired well known studio designer/architect Peter Grueniesen of Studio Bauton. Most of 2006 was spent designing a completely new 13,000 square foot post production facility specializing in 5.1 sound work, with five Digidesign ICON integrated console environments. The studio provides 5.1 audio post production, music production, and sound design services to a wide range of clients.

Levels Audio features five ICON–equipped 5.1 audio dub stages along with an ADR/Foley stage, three audio editorial suites, five HD offline/online bays, and two visual effects suites, and a central machine room.

Within a year Brian and his team grew to become a state-of-the-art audio post facility and works on projects such as American Idol, Flight of The Conchords, So You Think You Can Dance, The Academy Awards, MTV Video Music Awards, MTV Movie Awards, and the 2009 Grammy Award Winning documentary film Tom Petty: Runnin' Down a Dream (film), directed by Peter Bogdanovich.

In June 2009 Levels Audio completed their work on Expedition Africa, Mark Burnett’s latest production for the History Channel as well as Season 8 of American Idol. Brian and his team are currently working on various projects for FOX, ABC, NBC, CBS, MTV, VH1, HBO, Comedy Central and The Disney Channel.

Awards
Riordan has ten Primetime Emmy Nominations, three TEC Award nominations and one C.A.S. Award nomination.

Emmy Nominations

 * American Idol (2003) Outstanding Sound Mixing For Nonfiction Programming (Single Or Multi-Camera): Re-Recording Mixer
 * The 76th Annual Academy Awards (2004) Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Variety Or Music Series Or Special: Re-Recording Mixer
 * American Idol (2005) Outstanding Sound Mixing For Nonfiction Programming (single Or Multi-camera): Post-Sound mixer
 * American Idol Finale (2005) Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Variety Or Music Series Or Special Or Animation: Re-Recording Mixer
 * American Idol (2006) Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Variety Or Music Series Or Special Or Animation: Re-Recording Mixer
 * American Idol Finale (2008) Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Variety Or Music Series Or Special: Pre-Production Packages Mixer
 * American Idol (2009) Outstanding Sound Mixing For Nonfiction Programming: Re-Recording Mixer
 * 81st Annual Academy Awards (2009) Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Variety Or Music Series Or Special: Pre-Production Packages Mixer
 * American Idol Finale (2009) Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Variety Or Music Series Or Special: Pre-Production Packages Mixer
 * Flight of The Conchords (2009) Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Comedy Or Drama Series (Half-Hour) And Animation: Re-Recording Mixer

Technical Excellence and Creativity Award Nominations

 * American Idol (2007) Outstanding Creative Achievement in Television Sound Production: Supervising Sound Editor and Re-Recording Mixer
 * (2007) Outstanding Creative Achievement in Studio Design Project: Levels Audio, Studio Owner
 * American Idol (2006) Outstanding Creative Achievement in Television Sound Production: Supervising Sound Editor and Re-Recording Mixer

Cinema Audio Society Award Nomination

 * American Idol: Season 7 Finale (2009) Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for 2008: Television - Non-Fiction, Variety or Music Series or Specials: Pre-Production Packages Mixer

Gopo Awards

 * The Rest is Silence (2009) (Best sound in a film)