Meet Andrew Le Guier | Re-Recording Mixer & Business Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Andrew Le Guier and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Andrew, what is the most important factor behind your success?
There are quite a few factors that have and can be attributed to my success, but above all I would say one of the most important for doing well in my industry has been being honest and truthful in what my company or I am able to provide to our clients, especially when things are busy. As a small business it’s sometimes super difficult to turn down a project or campaign, and it has definitely taken some getting used to, but when you’re not able to give 100% to something because you don’t have the resources available to you in that moment (ie, extra freelance talent, mix room availability) you’re much better off politely declining rather than delivering a mediocre product that your brand will probably be remembered for. There’s a saying that you’re only as good as your last mix, and at a certain point in the day your ears won’t really be doing you any favors anyway. Another major contributing factor I’d say is staying positive and keeping a level head, especially when the workload seems a little overwhelming and you have multiple clients asking for their mixes all at the same time. My company specializes in short-form marketing & advertising content, predominately for the TV and Film industries, so there’s generally not much lead time to assemble talent like there is on a television program or feature film. Projects are very much on the fly most of the time so you just have to be as ready as you can be. It’s strange timing, but my wife and I were watching a tv show over the weekend and to paraphrase one of the characters who was quoting Donald Rumsfeld I think “..you go to war with the army you have”. I loved hearing that, as much I dislike the context of the original quote.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I’m originally from Melbourne Australia and moved to the United States about 16 years go by way of London. I currently own and run a post-production audio facility named Thunk in Santa Monica that specializes in sound mixing and editing for predominantly short-form content. We work with film studios, TV networks and advertising agencies on their trailers, tv spots and commercials and have been around for about 4 years. We’ve been very privileged to work on some quite hi profile campaigns for networks like HBO, Showtime and Amazon and have recently expanded our services to include immersive mixing with formats like Dolby Atmos which is a very exciting time in the industry. Getting to this point has been quite a long, nerve wracking and exciting journey thus far. Professionally I’m constantly trying to learn new techniques and further develop my skills when it comes to mixing, which is what I love most about this industry, and on the business side I’m really enjoying growing my company and it’s capabilities as it’s something I’d not really done before.
Like anything worth having it’s taken a lot of hard work to get to this point but given a mulligan I probably wouldn’t do things much differently. Any setbacks I’ve had haven’t been so severe that I’d consider changing careers, and I’ve been lucky enough to have met some really amazing people and creatives along the way.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
My wife and I have 2 young’uns that kinda dictate most of the outside-of-work activities so here’s a fairly kid-centric itinerary in no particular order.

Hikes & Nature

– Will Rogers State Historic Park has beautiful and easy hiking trails and plenty of space for a picturesque picnic.
– Franklin D. Murphy Sculpture Garden at UCLA Westwood. This whole campus is really lovely to walk through.
– Legacy Park at Cross Creek & Malibu Point Beach.
– The Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens near Pasadena.

Lunch Bites

– Jackson Market in Culver City
– Potato Chips Deli in Fairfax District
– Bay Cities in Santa Monica
– Loqui in Culver City

Dinner

– Bestia in Downtown LA
– Forma in Santa Monica
– Porta Via in Pacific Palisades
– Gjelina in Venice

Having a drink and watching the world go by

– Barneys Beanery in West Hollywood
– Ye Old King’s Head in Santa Monica.
– The Phoenix (patio) – near the Beverly Center
– Santa Monica Brew Works

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’d have to give a shoutout to the guy who first gave me a shot in this crazy industry, Dan Gable – who coincidently now has a company named Shoutout Social. After being a runner at a busy post production facility in the heart of London’s Soho, I was promoted to be his Jr. Assistant. I had no formal training in audio whatsoever yet he gave me a chance that I’ll always appreciate. Aside from the technical side of things, he constantly demonstrated to me how to deal with a room full of opinionated clients in a mix session and have everyone leave satisfied and feeling they’d had their needs met, a skill that is essential in any creative field, and one that I still try to emulate to this day.

Website: www.thunk.la