Tag Archives: 2016

Tah-Tah 2016! Hello-o-o 2017!

janusAs the calendar page turns, the balls drop, and the fireworks sizzle, together with the rest of America, allow me to wrap-up the old and welcome the new from New Orleans’ Airlift Productions.

To the ancient Romans, the god Janus (from whom we get the name of the month January) represented this rather two-faced sentiment.

Looking back . Yet forward. All at the same time.

Airlift Productions & I sure have had a wild and varied ride through the fall & early winter, but that’s the way we like it.

Variety, after all, is the spice of life. And in New Orleans, we certainly like our spices. 

What a roux!

From television commercial work to web-based holiday greeting cards …  from Christmas sentiment to radio imaging, through the past couple months, Airlift & I sure have stirred the pot.

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Wendi Berman drops the mic with Airlift Mike on behalf of Right Hat & Manatt

Tasked by Chicago-based ad agency Right Hat to provide the audio for an internet law firm’s Holiday Greeting Card, I called on the talents of NOLA-based actress Wendi Berman.

Together, we recorded a rather clever “Night Before Christmas” parody involving the holiday office pressures of a harried and frustrated thirty-something office manager.

Oh, boy. Oh, joy.  Happy Holi-daze, cubicle worker bees!

Meanwhile, back at Airlift Productions, the roux thickens….

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Airlift Mike working the Children’s Hospital Telethon in NOLA on WDSU-TV

Yours truly, Airlift Mike, got behind the mic, as well as drawing-up the storyboard with all the “creative”, for the gang at Mr. Sparky.

Working with video wizard Todd Schmidt and sales point guard Nathan Ales, I helped to cook-up this entree on behalf of the electricians down at our local Mr. Sparky.

Straight-ahead. No BS. “Electrifying”, you might even say, and now energizing flat screens all across metro New Orleans.

Television spots with vision, internet-based holiday cards … yet, as they say in the advertising world, “but wait, there’s more!”

Educational software pioneer – and my own personal BFF – JOHN LEE and I have been through quite the odyssey the past quarter century.

Katherine Lee records "Daddy Lessons" at Airlift Productions NOLA
Katherine Lee records “Daddy Lessons” at Airlift Productions NOLA

Together, we’ve not only created a trail-blazing approach to teaching America’s kids how ‘to cipher’ with a program that merges math text books with the computer and the internet … we’ve also seen each other through having and raising kids!

So, I get this call from John’s daughter Katherine a couple Sundays back looking for some help in putting together a very special kind of Christmas gift for her dad.

We call it “Daddy Lessons”, and it goes like this….

Katherine brought me a karaoke track from Beyonce’ Knowles, we dropped her voice into it, then added pictures from the family album at strategic points to deliver a powerfully poignant message for her daddy.

‘Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse’… let alone a dry eye to be found around the Christmas Lee house.

Great job, Kat-gal!

Variety? Ya think?

And I haven’t even gotten into more radio imaging sessions for Mike Church and his Crusade Network or recording Hip-Hop artist Staxx (Greg Baptiste) for the Real Deal Nation label & Jason Jones.

1407-nighttime-pomonacrateLooking back, 2016 sure has been quite the year around the Airlift Productions studios … with fun & exciting projects, working for and with some wildly talented & fascinating individuals.

Let’s ‘face’ it. 2016 or 2017, whether you’re looking back – or forward – the view from Airlift on Pomona is outstanding.

Happy New Year, y’all!

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blackstoneaudiologo“I had the extreme pleasure of working with Mike of Airlift Productions for a project in 2016. He was professional, courteous and most importantly, fun to work with. Mike is patient and very thorough with his recording, making sure that what you want is done before he powers down the gear for the day. 10/10, I would work with him again.” -Jared Garcia, Sr. Recording Engineer for Blackstone Audio and Downpour.com

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Airlift Productions ~ Audio Alchemy & Digital Magic from New Orleans since 1984

Airlift Mike Closes-Out 2015 With A “Bang!”… Sort Of

Coitus not-so interruptis
Coitus not-so interruptis

Perhaps it’s because it’s what brought us all here to the planet – the “horizontal hokey-pokey”, the “old in/out, in/out”, the “mattress mambo” – that SEX hangs us all up the most.

And intrigues us the most. And sells … everything from beer to burgers, cars to movies.  Just ask E. L. James.

Yes, 2015 has been very good to old E. L. and her 50 Shades Phenomenon.  And to the gang at Airlift Productions as well.

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New Orleans Voice Talent & All-around Audio Dude Micheal Ziants, Airlift Mike

So, as we wrap-up the old and prepare to unwrap the new (year), here at the Airlift Studios we’re, ah… well, unwrapping a few things too. Metaphorically speaking of course.

I’ve had quite the reaction from this audio file through the past months from both women and men, and after many requests to re-post it, I figured what the heck – let’s exit 2015 with a “bang”! 

Or at least the prelude.

Unlike so many of Airlift’s Productions, this one is raw. Naked. No music. No sound effects. No reverberation. Nothing. Except the human voice. Softly cooing into the human ear.

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Airlift Productions Proprietor Micheal Ziants, in a photo shoot for Q-93/WQUE-FM back in the day, to promote that afternoon M&M Mike McCann

While the reaction from the movie version was mixed at best, this audio book sample has been rather warmly received. OMG. Plug in the ear buds and send the kids out of the room.

Its Airlift Mike’s rendition of a couple sassy & seductive pages from E. L. James’ “Fifty Shades of Grey”. 

 

Oh. My. 

So, as we exit the old year with a bang tonight, so to speak, and with tongue firmly in cheek, allow the Airlift krewe and me to wish you & yours a most fulfilling, scintillating, and  titillating  2016!

(did all that make it past the censors?)

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Charlyne Fabi“Micheal is an amazing talent. We were faced with several issues on a recent project and he was incredibly proactive in finding the perfect solution. He worked tirelessly and at lightning speed to create music that not only made our client happy but also garnered industry recognition.” ~ Charlyne Fabi, Creative Director, Right Hat LLC, Chicago, Illinois

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Airlift Productions ~ Telling America’s Greatest Stories from America’s Greatest City since 1984