You may not have heard of Michael Mavrikios before, but millions of people around the world have heard his work as an audio engineer. Although his relatively young company just celebrated its first year anniversary, he and his crew produce all of the audio for Aigia Fuxia, which is the top-ranked television series on the ANT1 Satellite Network, with record-breaking viewership numbers. He recently landed contracts for three more television series and has long-term plans to open a new studio dedicated to movie-theater audio production to serve the film industry.

Never heard of ANT1 or Aigia Fuxia? That might be because "ANT1" is pronounced "ANT-énna" - because "énna" is "one" in Greek, which is where the show originates and where Mr. Mavrikios plies his trade on the island of Cyprus. I managed to pull his attention away from the bikini-clad Cypriot women sipping champagne at his Mediterranean yacht party a few weeks ago for an interview about his company, his work and the equipment he uses...

def: In the intro, I mentioned your company's work for Aigia Fuxia...
MVRK: My company has two contracts for the show with ANT1. We provide field recording and audio post-production services.

def: What do those contracts cover?
MVRK: Field recording means having a sound engineer/recordist on location during filming, capturing the BEST possible sound for every scene. Once the episode is complete and all scenes have been edited, it arrives at our studios for audio post-production. This is the final chapter before an episode is ready to go On-Air. Audio post-production is actually a six step process: (1) production audio processing, (2) ADR (Automated Dialog Replacement), (3) SFX editing and custom sound design, (4) Foley recording, (5) music composition and editing and (6) final mixing.

The experience is great, but 80 episodes over nine months, 17 scenes per day, four days a week of filming and two days of post can wear you out.

 -- Michael Mavrikios --

(right, pictured here with composer Achilleas Tsangarides (left))

def: Field recording sounds like a lot of hours and travel. What's the most frustrating part of the job?
MVRK: The show is filmed in a deserted village that's over 500 years old, hidden somewhere up in the mountains and forgotten by time! We travel by car on tiny mountain roads at 6AM to get there, finish a 12-14 hour day, drive back to civilization and do it all over again the next morning. The experience is great, but 80 episodes over nine months,17 scenes per day, four days a week of filming and two days of post can wear you out. What I'm happy about is that the company is growing and I have managed to streamline the whole process by assigning positions to new members of my team.

def: It's gotta be fun sometimes however...
MVRK: I had a great time interacting with actors and crew on location. One of my favorite moments has to be the yacht party we just had as a company. It signified the end of the season, we announced the release of two CD single tracks from the album and all of us just let go. I felt it was much needed, not to mention highly covered and discussed by the media.

def: Congratulations! What does the physical part of the business look like?
MVRK: Our studios and offices are located in Limassol, about an hour away for the media capital of Nicosia. Many have questioned my decision to have my offices away from the capital but my mind is set. Limassol is the center of the financial sector and the fastest growing city in Cyprus, attracting businesses from Russia, Dubai and EU. The fact that I get to see the beach everyday was also a huge factor in my decision.

def: It sounds like within just a single year you've become top dog in audio production on Cyprus. What are your plans for Michael Mavrikios Productions next year?
MVRK: Even before the season was over, the network negotiated renewal of our contracts and made offers for another thee TV series. So far, we have agreed to an album (soundtrack of the series) release, with all tracks produced by myself in collaboration with composer Achilleas Tsangarides. Our goal as a company is to quadruple revenue within the next season. We've been contacted by other networks and are lucky to say that we can now choose only the best projects to work on. Long-term plans include establishing a second location for a new studio, this time in Nicosia, with a movie theater audio design specifically for the film industry. Cyprus is a great base for our operations, since it's strategically placed between Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Our goal is to establish contracts from Dubai Studio City and be involved with most large European film production companies.

Mavrik's Weapons of Choice:

Field Recording:

• Petrol Eargonizer Bag and Over-the-Neck Harness
• Azden FMX42 – 4 Channel mixer
• Tascam HDP2 – Compact Flash Recorder w/ Time Code
• KTek Cabled Carbon Fiber Boom Pole
• Rode NTG3 Shotgun Mic
• Ktek Zeppelin Windshield
• Sony UTX BodyPack Transmitter/Receiver Set
• Countryman B6 Lav Microphones
• IDX Endura Battery Pack w/ charger
• Rip-Tie carabiners
• Senheiser HD-280pro Circum-aural headphones
• Canare XLR cables w/ Neumann Connectors
• Belt Multi tool w/ knife and pliers
• Hair pins/clips
• Band Aids
• Personal Fist Aid kit

Post-Production:

• Sonar 8 Producer Edition
• Sonar V-Studio 700 Digital Console/Recording System w/ joystick
• KORG 49 Midi Studio controller
• KRK RP5 Studio Monitors
• JBL LSR4326 5.1 Studio monitors
• Blue Baby Bottle Condenser Mic
• Waves Diamond Bundle/360 Suite
• ReWire Reason 4
• Sony Soundforge 9
• Nuendo

** MM: I also have a second suite that is built around ProTools (for compatibility reasons), but love the ease of use of the listed system, which has more features for less cost! VERY IMPORTANT!!!

References:
* http://www.michaelmavrikios.com