Nugen Audio Powers Michael Phillips Keeley's Multi-Faceted Workflow

With more than 30 years of experience behind him, acclaimed Re-recording Mixer and Composer Michael Philips Keeley has gained immense knowledge and expertise in the industry. He has mixed thousands of TV episodes, films, video games and documentaries, and composed music for hundreds of TV shows, including several current theme songs. For his diverse needs, Keeley has made NUGEN Audio plug-ins a staple in his immersive, post-production and composition workflows.

Most recently, Keeley mixed the "Pacific Standard Universe" immersive installation in Dolby Atmos in the Leonard Nimoy Theater at The Griffith Observatory, for which he previously mixed the Samuel Oschin planetarium show "Signs of Life" in an immersive 28.1 format. "Pacific Standard Universe" is a free, public immersive sound experience and explores global cultural perspectives on the universe. As the show is presented in Dolby Atmos, Keeley relied heavily on NUGEN's Halo Upmix, Halo Vision, Stereoizer, ISL and Paragon plug-ins.

"These solutions were a huge contributor in building spatial clarity and ensuring technical compliance," he says. "Halo Upmix was useful for placing audiences in certain ambiances, such as inside cityscapes or cosmic environments. The transparency of the upmix truly helped me immerse people in both the natural and imagined worlds. Halo Vision was instrumental in my ability to see and monitor the sound spread across the room."

As for the other NUGEN solutions deployed for this project, Keeley notes: "I used Stereoizer to enhance mono elements and widen stereo fields, ISL for True Peak limiting and Paragon came into play a bit when adding reverb tails for the musical transitions. Each of these tools were invaluable."

In addition to his work at the Griffith Observatory, Keeley also recently implemented NUGEN to mix extra behind-the-scenes content from Season 3 of "Squid Games," as well as several theatrical trailers for films such as, "Man in the White Van," "Pony Boi" and "The Actor." "These trailers go direct to the theater, meaning they need to pass TASA," he says. "LM-Correct was great for that. I also used ISL for True Peak, of course, and Halo Upmix was exactly what I needed for upmixing stereo music and SFX to 7.1."

Currently scoring and mixing an unnamed horror film, Keeley details how NUGEN has even played an essential role in his composition work. His studio setup includes many vintage hardware synths routed through Avalon preamps and sends to Lexicon reverbs, which are processed via NUGEN's Halo Upmix and Stereoizer plug-ins within a Dante-enabled system. "I'm composing directly in Dolby Atmos from the outset, which ends up being super convenient in the long run," he explains. "I'm able to route my synths through the NUGEN plug-ins in my session, which helps create these dynamic, enveloping textures right at the source."

For Keeley, NUGEN Audio has become more than just a set of tools — they're an integral part of his varying workflows. "NUGEN plug-ins are embedded into both my composing and re-recording templates," he says. "They give me creative flexibility and technical certainty, whether I'm working on a show, trailer or full-length film score."

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