Despite increased consolidation in Canada’s post-production industry and fluctuating North American currencies, Vancouver’s Post Modern Sound is vocally optimistic about the future.

‘The sky’s the limit,’ says Menashe Arbel, president and co-owner, standing in the back of his state-of-the-art studio watching the final mix on an episode of CBC’s forthcoming jPod, the video games-themed series based on the novel by Douglas Coupland, who also exec produces.

‘The dollar we can deal with,’ asserts Arbel, who has just returned from an industry foray to L.A.

‘We went with the message: ‘Talk to us – let’s negotiate,” he explains. ‘We delivered the message that we will work the budget with the dollar at par, so that the fluctuation of rates won’t affect their costs. It was well-received.’

Post Modern produces soundtracks for both television and film. TV credits include the series Whistler and The L Word, along with MOWs Christmas Caper and Write and Wrong. The company’s feature-length projects include Peter Greenaway’s Nightwatching, 20th Century Fox’s Dr. Dolittle 4 and 5, Everything’s Gone Green (written by Coupland), Partition by Vic Sarin and Insight Film Studios’ Blonde and Blonder.

Post Modern launched in 1973 with five employees and 1,500 square feet of space. Today it commands 25,000 square feet and has a 55-member team in trendy Kitsilano.

Now Arbel says he is looking to grow, ‘not in space, but definitely to grow into new media, animation, and more feature films. Coproductions are the name of the game.’

He is also convinced that tax credits and technology will continue to play a role in Vancouver’s place in the global post world.

‘We have the tax credits, the talent pool, the infrastructure, the experience, and with the way we do business today, technologically, it’s unbelievable,’ he explains. ‘All you need is a few hundred dollars in software, and we can connect anywhere in the world. A director or producer in New York, or London, or anywhere, can sit down, view our mix, then get in their car and drive home. They don’t have to physically shoot here or be here.’

Mark Scott, founder and SVP, has been making soundscapes for 25 years.

‘The sound world has changed drastically,’ says Scott. ‘Because of technology, the demands have gone way up.’

Part of the increased global demand comes in the form of more deliverables.

‘A big part of my job now is dealing with deliverables,’ says VP Linda McAteer. ‘As licence fees have gone down, distributors have fragmented, and delivery requirements on a single project are gargantuan. We used to spend more time on the dubbing stage. Now, we spend at least as much or more time on versioning to deliver on all kinds of formats. We had to create a separate delivery department.’

www.postmodernsound.com