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September 2010
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March 3rd 2010
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| Hit Productions is Hiring |
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(Posted by Vic)
Hit Productions, Inc., the country's leading supplier of sound and
music for advertising, is looking to fill key positions within its
production team. For immediate hiring.
Company Background:
Hit Productions has won the 4A's Audio Production House of the Year
award 9 times in the last 12 years, and is the first back to back
recipient of the Ad Congress Araw Production House of the Year award,
given to the country's top advertising supplier in any medium. Hit
Productions also helped produce the Philippines' two Cannes Radio
Lions Award winners, a Gold in 2007 for JWT and a Bronze in 2006 for
BBDO. The company was established in 1991 and currently employs 45
people.
We are looking for:
STUDIO PRODUCTION COORDINATOR
- assists the music department in scheduling talents, coordinating
sessions and reporting project updates
- assists producers and voice casters with contracts, packages, client coordination and other department needs
- has production foresight
- is organized, focused and results oriented
VOICE TALENT CASTER
- screens and auditions prospective new talent
- selects and recommends suitable talent for recording
- helps supervise and direct dialogue and voiceover recordings
- coordinates with translators and dialogue coaches
- helps develop and maintain Hit Productions' voice talent library
- coordinates talent schedules, contracts, and paperwork
- preferably with experience/connections in broadcast, theater or advertising
Please send resumes, references and any samples or demo reels to jobs@hitproductions.net.
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| February 8th 2010
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| December 30th 2009
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| November 22nd 2009
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| Back to Back! |
| | (Posted by Vic)
Hit Productions wins its second consecutive Araw Production House Award at the 21st Philippine Advertising Congress! Aside from being recognized as the country's top advertising supplier in any medium, Hit Productions also received the following awards:
Gold for Best Sound for "The Stagehand" TVC 60s / 21st Phil Ad Congress
Silver for Best Sound for "Stalker" RC45s / iProtect
Silver for Best Music "Sikip" TVC30s / Camella Homes
Bronze for Best Vocal Performance for "Parallel Universe" RC30s / Coffee Dream
Bronze for Best Music for "Triomphe" TVC 60s / Nescafe Iced Coffee
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| September 3rd 2009
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| NUMBER NINE! |
| | (Posted by Vic)
We couldn't have done it without you. Thank you for our 9th Audio Production House of the Year award!
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| April 20th 2009
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| September 1st 2008
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| July 1st 2008
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| The Hit Party 2008: Legendary! |
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(Originally posted on www.adobomagazine.com)
One hour before the much-hyped thanksgiving bash of Hit Productions, the Philippines’ biggest audio post house, the police came and padlocked the Embassy Superclub. Panic and much gnashing of teeth ensued. As the celebrity blogger Perez Hilton might say, “Oh, the dramz!”
And it turned out to be the best party of the year.
For those of you who missed the party (or those of you who came but, to this day, are still hung over), here’s the long story, short.
Embassy, the metropolis’s poshest party venue, experienced a rash of altercations—a brawl here, a gunfight there. After the most recent fracas landed a guest in the ICU, the Mayor’s Office decided that enough was enough. Hence, the padlocks.
Negotiating with the police produced nothing; they remained as immovable as the stone heads on Easter Island, so Hit’s CFO Salito Malca and President Vic Icasas took their case to City Hall. After much begging and more gnashing of teeth, they finally convinced the Mayor to let them hold the party in the parking lot and the small dining wing of Embassy.
Then it was Dennis Cham’s and Brian Cua’s turn to do some gnashing. With only a half hour to go, they brought out the buffet, the stage, the lights, audio equipment and the pole dancers through the fire exits (although we’re sure the dancers walked part of the way).
But it was all for the best. The change in venue brought some welcome variety to the entertainment and allowed the 650 or more ad people to mingle in ways they would never have done inside the Superclub. When they weren’t getting their groove on with the pole dancers, they were banging their heads to Joey Pepe Smith, Rizal Underground, Razorback, Brownbeat All-stars, Skarlet, Overtone and Urbandub. The drinks ran freely and the food multiplied like the proverbial six loaves of bread.
By all accounts, Hit’s party was the stuff of legend, and if we may veer away from our PG-rated English, it was fan-effing-tastic party.
Indeed, there’s nothing like the threat of bondage to make the industry bond in high spirits!
Click here to view the complete gallery of party photos as shot by Eddie Boy Escudero. |
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| June 11th 2008
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| Studio H - ow many? |
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(Originally printed in Adobo Magazine May/June 2008 - Written by Cynthia Dayco)
As if Hit Productions didn't have enough studios, the partners have gone off and built another. To be completed by June 2008, it is their most impressive one yet and is dubbed "Studio H".
Dennis Cham, the group's technical expert, explains: "Many artists work with corporate sponsors like Coke, Unilever and Nestle to market their music through non-traditional channels. While local music studios can do regular record label work, most are not built to service the unique demands of the ad industry. So we felt that it was time to build a high-quality music room that meets the evolving needs of the music-for-advertising market."
Designed by American acoustician Rod Gervais, the new room was inspired by the design of New York's legendary Power Station Studios (birthplace of landmark albums by Chic, David Bowie, Bon Jovi, Bruce Springsteen, Norah Jones, John Mayer, Herbie Hancock, and countless others).
It will allow the recording of anything from a five-piece rock band to a live string and horn section. Yes, agencies will once again enjoy the luxury of soundtracks recorded by a group of musicians playing together, not programmed in a computer.
On the equipment side, the studio will have the largest Pro Tools HD workstation in the country and include a 24-fader ICON D-Command mixing surface. Technically, this room will be at par with any top ad music house in the US or Europe, and exceed many in Asia.
This being Hit Productions, Dennis has not forgotten the "extras" that are important to its agency client base.
"In addition to an accessible Makati location, we also took extra measures to ensure the confidentiality for high-profile work. This studio is in a totally separate unit, with its own secured entry. Included with the studio is a private client lounge with its own kitchen, rest room, dining, and conference areas - the same comforts and services as any world class music house in NY, Chicago, or London."
Despite being only 90 percent finished (as of press time), Studio H is already booked solid by a production company from Munich, and several producers are eagerly waiting to do projects in the new space.
Looks like the H in Studio H stands for instant Hit.
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| June 8th 2008
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| December 10th 2007
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| Hit Productions dominates 2007 Ad Congress! |
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(Posted by Vic)
This was truly a memorable year for Hit Productions.
Earlier this year we helped win the country's first ever Cannes Gold Lion for Radio. We also took home our seventh 4A's Audio Production House of the Year trophy in the last 10 years.
Most recently, at the Subic Convention Center we won 1 Bronze, 3 Silver, and 1 Gold Araw Award trophies at the 20th Philippine Ad Congress.
 
But most importantly, we are also the first recipient of the newly established Araw Award for Advertising Production House of the Year! This means Hit Productions is not only the top music/audio post house in the country, we are now recognized as the Philippines' best advertising supplier in any medium (print, outdoor, TV, or radio).
What a great year it's been =)
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| December 1st 2007
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| Hit Productions at DLSU! |
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(Posted by Vic)
Hit Productions was recently invited to participate in De La Salle University's week-long AdFest. Several members of the Hit staff (Bon, RJ, Eric and King) set up a portable version of our ProTools recording studios and spent an enjoyable afternoon auditioning voice talents.
A long line of La Sallians snaked all the way around the Central Plaza, with students eager and excited to hear their voices inserted into popular ads from some of our most famous clients. Quite a few decent voice talents over there at Taft!
If you'd be interested in having Hit do a seminar or activity for your company, organization, or school, feel free to contact vic@hitproductions.net.
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| August 31st 2007
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| Hit Productions: 2006 Audio Production House of the Year |
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(Posted by Vic)
Yes, for some weird reason, the 4A's gives out the 2006 awards in August of 2007.
Our deepest thanks to all our friends from the ad industry - the producers, agencies, creatives, talents, and everyone else that helped make Hit the most awarded audio post production house in the Philippines.
We're constantly striving to give you the best possible sound and music and we hope we can go for 8 in 2008!
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| July 15th 2007
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| We Hit Gold |
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(Posted by Vic)
Hit Productions had an extremely good run at the recently concluded 2007 Cannes Lions Awards, with a total of 5 radio spots making it to the shortlist (4 for JWT and 1 for BBDO). But the best part was that our work for JWT's Lotus Spa radio campaign landed the Philippines' first ever Cannes Gold Lion for Radio!
Check out the winning radio campaign at the Cannes Lions website.
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| March 1st 2007
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| The Hitmen: Then and Now |
| | (Posted by Vic)
Thanks to Maika Zialcita of JWT for digging up a photo of the boys from way back when... hmmm, looks like around six to eight years ago!
I think we look a lot better now, but it could just be the dramatic lighting.
THEN
NOW
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| August 15th 2006
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| Just Ad Music |
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(Posted by Vic)
Recently, the composers' department of Hit Productions conducted a successful and entertaining half-day music seminar for our clients Just Add Water, a team of independent broadcast producers headed by Chona Bustamante.
The featured lecturers during the event were Hit partner and executive creative director Brian Cua, who gave a very detailed and very informative look into the various styles of electronica music; Arnold Buena, who delivered a quick primer on the basics of music and a demonstration of the various instruments that make up a symphony orchestra; and Mike Villegas, who spoke at length on the various elements that go into an effective preproduction/briefing meeting.
For more information on future seminar schedules, please email Vic Icasas.
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| July 12th 2006
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| Hit and BBDO win Bronze Lion at Cannes |
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(Posted by Vic)
The Philippines received its first ever Radio Lion at the recently concluded 53rd Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, for the FedEx radio spot "The Delivery".
We're proud to have worked with BBDO on this ad, and we extend our congratulations to David Guerrero and his team!
Head on over to David's blog to read about his experiences as a Cannes International Radio Awards judge, and check out the FedEx ad here.
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| April 24th 2006
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| Hit Teams Up with Apple for Logic Demo |
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(Posted by Vic / Photos by Anj Villegas)
Apple (quite obviously our favorite computer company) recently held a roadshow/workshop at the Conservatory of the Manila Peninsula to launch the latest version of their Logic music sequencing and audio production software.
The seminar was conducted by Henrik Ahlgren, an accomplished song writer and music producer from Sweden currently working out of Hong Kong. He spoke to a gathering of local music professionals, composers, studio owners and enthusiasts about the features of the new software.
Towards the end of Henrik's presentation, he brought Hit Productions' very own in-house composers Mike Villegas and Allan Feliciano on stage to talk about how they use the program in their workflows, to share some tips and tricks, and to show off some of the recent projects that they completed using Logic.
And now here's some exciting news: coming soon to the Apple Asia website: an in-depth feature on Mike, Allan, and the rest of Hit Productions!
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| March 6th 2006
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| Producers with PowerBooks! |
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(Posted by Vic)
Over a dozen freelance and agency broadcast producers toted their beloved PowerBooks and iBooks to the second floor lounge of HIT Productions today to attend an exclusive seminar that taught them all about the basics of Macintosh usage.
The class was led by Elbert Cuenca, professional Apple tutor and chairman of the Philippine Macintosh Users Group. He had the producers giggling in delight as they learned one neat Mac trick after another, and even after almost four hours of nonstop tutelage, the assembled group had only scratched the surface of what is possible with a Macintosh!
Congratulations go to all the "graduates", but most especially to raffle winners Chona Bustamante, now the owner of a MacAlly USB microphone, and Leo Mercado, lucky winner of a MacAlly graphics tablet and pen! Many thanks go to Patrick Yeung of Senco for generously supporting the event with raffle prizes, to Elbert of PhilMUG for the highly informative lecture (heck, even I learned a few new things today, and I've been using Macs for fifteen years!), and of course to all our friends and clients who came to participate in the event.
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| March 3rd 2006
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| Mac Seminar |
| | (Posted by Vic) On Monday, March 6, at 130pm, we are happy to present a free seminar for all our clients that use Macintosh portable and desktop computers. The seminar will cover basic Macintosh features and productivity, such as the Finder, iTunes, iCal, Address Book, iLife and iWork, as well as integration with iPods and Bluetooth devices such as PDAs and cellphones. There will also be a segment on working with audio and video files on the Internet thru FTP, iDisk, BEAM.TV, and other file transfer methods.
Featured speakers are Elbert Cuenca (chairman of PhilMUG, the Philippine Macintosh User Group), Dennis Cham (Chairman/Technology Director, Hit Productions) and Vic Icasas (CEO, Hit Productions and former director of PhilMUG).
If you are interested in attending, please RSVP thru seminars@hitproductions.net with your contact info. See you there!
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| January 22nd 2006
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| New Tech for HIT at NAMM '06 |
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(Posted by Dennis) HIT Creative Director Brian Cua travelled to Los Angeles, California last January to attend the 2006 convention of the National Association of Music Merchants. NAMM is the largest music trade show in the US with hundreds of musical instrument manufacturers showing off their latest products on thousands of square feet of exhibit space at the Anaheim Convention Center. 79,000 music industry professionals attended the show this year alone.
One of Brian's first stops was to check out the Digidesign booth. HIT is one of the largest Digidesign users in the Philippines. This year, Digi demoed the latest version of ProTools 7 as well as their new softsynth division named AIR (Advanced Instrument Research) which featured several impressive music plugins.
At another part of the Digidesign booth was the ICON D-Command mixing control surface. Something definitely on the HIT wishlist.
MOTU showed off Version 5 of Digital Performer, their Mac based sequencer which is used by Brian and other HIT composers to score their music. While visiting MOTU, Brian auditioned and purchased a copy of the MOTU Symphonic Instrument sample playback plug-in and has already put it into good use in a couple of commercials.
Not to be outdone, Apple showed off version 7.2 of Logic Pro. Logic is the other music seqencing package used by half of HIT's composers who switched over from packages like Sonar on the PC and Digital Performer on the Mac.
Besides getting to see the latest advancements in music technolgy, NAMM was full of workshops and seminars sponsored by music industry heavyweights. Among the events Brian attended was a DJ / Remixer forum sponsored by M Audio and a workshop with electronica legend BT.
 
NAMM also had its share of celebrity endorsees like George Benson who signed autographs for Ibanez, and Bootsy Collins and Buckethead who signed away for Mackie.
 
The best part of NAMM is checking out all the new technolgy to bring fresh sounds to keep HIT's composers current and innovative. Brian returned from Los Angeles with over 30 new sound libraries for our writing suites. Listen for them in your next commercial!
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| January 19th 2006
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| Arnold Scores in Budapest |
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(Posted by Dennis) At HIT we have been often asked about the possiblity of recording a full orchestra for TV commercials. Admittedly there are no "real" Philippine facilities capable of recording a full 80 to 100 piece orchestra against picture. To learn more, we sent one of our composers Arnold Buena to Budapest, Hungary to observe an live orchestral session of 16 Hollywood trailer scores with German music producer Gerhart Frei for Sonoton Music.
Arnold arrived in Budapest on Januaury 12th, getting his first taste of the sub zero Hungarian winter. Once in the studio he was put under the eye of Hollywood film composer Gregor Narholz (SpongeBob the Movie, the X Men Legends II video game), who gave Arnold valuable tips on writing large scale orchestral music to picture. In the 10 production days which followed, Arnold participated in all aspects of the project from checking the scores to logging takes. He was even invited to conduct the 80 piece Hungarian Radio Orchestra as part of his training under Narholz. Arnold was impressed by the speed, discipline and professionalism of the whole team, the musicians, technicians and support staff. "It was hard to believe that 16 difficult orchestral scores could be recorded within 10 days, but they were!", observed Arnold.
Sound engineer David Santiago (giving Arnold the thumbs up) and soundtrack producer Gerhart Frei at the console listening to playback. Both Frei and Santiago have worked with HIT composers for the past 8 years and are very impressed with the quality of work coming out of the Philippines.
Another view of the large room used to record the 80 piece orchestra. Surprisingly this was just a mid sized room according to Arnold who said that the facility had even a bigger room to accomodate a full 100 piece orchestra and choir.
For the technical geeks, a photo of Gerhart's SPL 5.1 microphone array for picking up the overall orchestra in a surround sound format. This mic captures the overall "big picture", while 40 spot microphones (pictured below) are used to record specific orchestral sections which need to be highlighted in the mix.
Gerhart relaxes with composer Gregor Narholz (below) at the end of the project. Sonoton Music produces over 80 library music CDs a year and are one of the biggest suppliers of library music in the world.
Arnold has returned renewed and excited about the possiblities of writing for orchestras in the Philippines. Back to his job as one of the busiest TV commercial composers in the country, he has dusted off his orchestration books and has begun putting what he has learned to good use!
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| January 9th 2006
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| MacWorld '06- Show Impressions |
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(Posted by Dennis) Macs have always had a special place at HIT, from my first Mac Classic 128 in 1985 to the Mac II FX (which started HIT) in 1991, to our multi proc G5s in 2006. At HIT we use Macs everywhere from our studios to our casting department to our gigabit Ethernet server. We also have a ton of G4 Powerbooks and iPods owned by employees and clients, which can be found scattered around our lounges and studios.
Visiting my family in the San Francisco Bay Area every holiday season, I have tried to attend the SF MacWorld Conference as often as I can. MacWorld has always been a time to catch up with old friends in the Mac community as well as to ogle and hunt for new toys to keep HIT at the bleeding edge.
For those who have never been to a MacWorld Conference, here are a few pics and impressions of the show from an audio professional's POV.
The huge streamer above Apple's massive booth pretty much says it all, new Intel powered iMacs and Powerbooks running under OSX. While a lot of pro software still will have to be ported over to the new OS some of the big boys like Microsoft were running their apps on the new systems. IMO, this is probably the reason Apple is holding back releasing the new desktop systems.
The other big announcements were the 06 versions of iLife and iWork. Introduced with iLife was the new iWeb application which allows you do personal websites, weblogs and more, all tightly integrated with all the other iApps.
 
Throngs of people check out the Intel Dual Core powered 17" and 20" iMacs and new MacBook Pro. At first glance it was hard to tell the difference between the new computers and the older models. New on the MacBook was the built in iSight camera. Again, nothing ground breaking (Sony has had webcams on their VAIO laptops for some time), but still Apple seems to have done it with style.
Obviously Apple's big hit has been the iPod. So a good number of exhibitors had accesories for the iPod, from cool looking cases to docks with speakers to radio transmitters and car interfaces installed in some really hot looking rides.
 
On the software side of things, the one thing which really impressed me was the new version of Sorenson Squeeze (v4.3) which is the software we use to encode most of the video for our website and clients. The latest version now includes a Flash player, so you can now preview your encodes without having to run Flash to preview your .flv files.
Hardware-wise, what really caught my eye were the new colorful hard drives by LaCie which were elegant in design and priced right, and a device called the iSee, a dockable device which looks very similar to a Sony PSP which converts your iPod (even non video models) into a portable video recorder.
 
Well enough for now. Looking forward to MacWorld '07 and the new Intel based desktops!
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