Rian Hunter Production

01/30/2025

How is it already the end of January - this picture was taken in November! 😂

The four of us have certainly chatted dozens of times via phone, email, text and have even enjoyed some in-person catch-up sessions since November - but this is the latest picture I have of Trent, me (Katie) and our glorious collaborators and friends, Brian and Heather from Parkwood Creative

Since Trent runs our brick and mortar audio post house in Virginia Beach and the rest of us are RVA-based, a photo like this is rare in itself - but what I realized is that, when we do get together, we are so engaged and locked on to our conversations, which often start with upcoming productions or current projects but end up about football and kids and exercise and LIFE…. that we forget to stop and capture the moment.

It is indeed a privilege to work AND play with your friends. These three are amongst my favorite people on the planet - and 2025 seems to be bursting with potential!

As Rian/Hunter’s 10th year in business kicks off, we are so stoked to continue our journey collaborating with all of our amazing clients, with a big shout-out to Parkwood Creative, who has been with us since the very beginning, tapping us to turn up the volume on their beautiful projects.

We’ll need to set up a Happy Hour soon! Pretty much guaranteed we won’t be prioritizing a pic ;P

parkwoodcreative.com
rianhunter.com

10/09/2024

05/02/2024

Hooray! Rian/Hunter Production is taking a moment to celebrate another coveted Bridge Award from the Richmond Show, put on every year by Advertising Club of Richmond!

The sound in this ShelfGenie spot is about 75% hand-crafted foley by Co-Founder and Senior Audio Engineer/Sound Designer, Katie Martonik - super creative sound design breathes life into the cool stop motion characters, for which Spang TV brought home a Silver Bridge as well!

Hit us up to catapult your projects into the award-winning stratosphere too :)

Post:
VO - Anne Cloud
Music - Endless Noise
VFX - Michael Lester and Evan Ryan
Post Producer - Jeff Beilat
EP - Maggie Kern Melton
Edit - David Muessig
Color - Cody Strout
Foley, Sound Design and Mix - Katie Boyle - Martonik
spangtv.com
richmondadclub.com
rianhunter.com/our-work

12/18/2023

We loved every moment 🎄❤️❄️😁

Dollywood is a theme park co-owned by Herschend Family Entertainment and country singer-songwriter Dolly Parton through her entertainment company, Dolly Parton Productions.…

10/05/2023

Making Mole Hills Out Of A Mountain

We’re in the middle of a 3-4 month long project of providing VO, sound design & mixing for forty videos for one client. Forty 5-10 minute long videos. It’s one of those jobs where I immediately go back to one of my favorite mantras: “Every huge task is nothing more than a bunch of small ones you can do one at a time.”

In the very early days of Rian/Hunter Production we had another huge job. One that also required us to provide VO, sound design & mix for 2 long training videos for a giant international company.

In 12 different languages.

And we’re talking languages like Serbian, Croatian and Czech.

We were responsible for having the scripts translated, finding and auditioning authentic native voice talent for each language, and in quite a few cases, finding recording studios with Source Connect for the talent to use in countries like the aforementioned Serbia, Croatia, and the Czech Republic. And that was before we even rolled on take 1.

It was our first huge job as a new company. We had never cast for languages like Hungarian or Japanese before. And where the heck do you find someone to translate 12 minutes of industry-specific jargon into Montenegrin?!?!

All that we knew was that we were absolutely going to get it done.

So we broke it down into individual tasks. How do you find a recording studio with Source Connect in Romania? You do what my amazing co-founder Katie did: Google recording studios in Romania and hit the Contact section on each one that showcased good work. She had 2 responses within 24 hours.

Being asked to find a recording studio in a small country where you don’t speak the language seemed daunting. The solution was simple: Google and an email. So then we just moved to the next task. Before we knew it, everything that made us say “how can we pull this off?!?” was done.

So next time that job seems too big or too intimidating, remember - you don’t have to move a whole mountain. Just that small mole hill right in front of you.

07/27/2023

How about a to when I mixed an entire series about an awesome former nanny with insanely great advice - I mixed and learned at the same time, as I usually do with this kind of content

07/14/2023

How do you conjure Creativity On Demand?

Most of the time, audio is the last stop in the video production process before delivery. And as we all know, delays can happen at any phase of production.

BUT - the deadline is the deadline.

So that gorgeous video you’ve been looking forward to sound designing since you saw the first storyboards and heard the clients’ vision… Well, it just landed on your workstation and has to be ready for air by 5pm today.

Certainly nothing new at any phase of production, really... but what if you are having one of THOSE days.

You know the kind where you got into a giant argument with your significant other on your way out the door and then a speeding ticket on your way into the studio.

Or you didn’t sleep a wink the night before because of some giant thing that you are worried about.

The kind of day when you are really just not in a creative space.

I’m (Trent) obviously biased, but I really believe that audio can help find the heart of a project. The right music track can change the entire tone of what's on the screen. Bad sound design can yank you completely out of the emotion the artist is trying to create.

But today, every music track you audition sounds like b***y. Every sound effect you audition seems like it was recorded by a toddler with a Tandy cassette deck. (Miss you, Radio Shack! ;-P)

How do you get your head into the game when 5:00 is coming at you like a freight train? How do you turn off the noise and get into that place where you can create? How do you will yourself into the zone?

I’ve been at this for over 20 years now and I’ve got a few things that often work for me.

First is to clear your head. For me that usually means getting outside and taking a 10 minute walk. I just listen to the world around me. The sounds around me.

Next I get back in the studio and look for some inspiration. Some days I’ll go through a folder on my studio computer of previous projects that I really love. Other days I’ll listen to music that helps me get in the mood I’m trying to be in for that particular project. Anything that makes you feel something can help light the spark.

And finally, I just get started. Sometimes finding that first sound effect that works just right can totally flip the switch. One thing I love about creativity for me is once it does get going, it keeps gaining momentum just like… a freight train.

Do you have anything in particular you do to try and will yourself into the zone?

06/22/2023

Amid the agency closures and layoffs of extremely talented creatives and tech wizards during a slowing of the advertising industry, surprisingly, I am still seeing full time job opportunities and offers!

I (Katie) am trying to figure out why a company, who does not specialize in production, would want to build internal teams when they can use a wide variety of established animation, production and audio post houses, or freelancers on a per project basis?

No need for healthcare, 401(k) matches, working around vacations with paid time off - just a set price based on the scope of work for each project.

I had a great conversation last week with a Chief Operating Officer for a production company, and she was very enthusiastic about working with different people who have different strengths on different projects - how people from all over the country can work together creatively, matching skills to the desired end result of the project.

She continues to build her external vendor list and calls upon them when needed, just like we do with our music composers, audio engineers and voiceover talent. We are constantly reviewing demos and adding great new collaborators to our Rian/Hunter team.

Having the ability to reach out to the exact talent that is needed per project frees your company from getting stuck in a rut or getting bored (the horror!!!) Holding a roster of talented people outside of your company also allows you that ebb and flow - so when it is slow, you can shrink - and when it is fast, you can grow.

While we all want to build lasting relationships with our clients, we also get that every project is its own baby with particular needs - having the freedom to pivot, I would think, would be key.

Feel free to pivot our way: rianhunter.com

05/05/2023

Our little write up on the show 🥰

https://preview.mailerlite.io/preview/313660/emails/87164365377111486

05/04/2023

Allow us to nerd out for a minute... 🤓😁⭐️

Hey fellow nerds: it’s Star Wars Day! Our incredibly talented friends at Titan Animations tapped us to sound design this awesome tribute to an epic story that…

04/27/2023

I (Katie) am always honored when a respected colleague reaches out and says “please oh please take something off of my overflowing audio plate” - such an occasion occurred early last fall and two PBS documentaries landed on my console!

“Life In The Heartland” is a series about rural Virginians who identify issues in their community and take it upon themselves to do something about it.

The two I sound-designed and mixed for broadcast covered recycling (or lack thereof) and how parts of rural Virginia are sometimes referred to as a “food desert” -- I quickly learned that the moniker doesn’t really accurately describe that lack of access to fresh food.

The heroes in both of these episodes really came to the table and are making a big difference in their communities.

The whole series is posted on the VPM app or you can check them out as they air:

https://www.vpm.org/heartland

Hit us up for longform mixing or, really, anything audio – we’re here for it!

rianhunter.com

04/20/2023

It’s not the what, it’s the who.

I have a friend whose son is interested in a career in audio production. They asked if I would mind speaking with him about how I got into the industry and how our company has been able to succeed. I happily agreed and we met here in our Virginia Beach studio.

He was very curious about where I learned how to do this, what platforms we used for production, and all sorts of other technical questions. If you know me, you know I could nerd out all day on that stuff, but the truth is none of those things are the real answer to:

“Why are we successful?”

So, at that point, I directed the conversation to what I believe is the real response to that question:

It’s not about what tools we use and how good we are at using them.

It’s more important who is using them.

Being good at your job has to be the bare minimum. There are many companies that do what we do, so the baseline is: know how to use your DAW and deliver a good mix. That might get you a job or hired for a gig, but it’s not what is going to get you promoted or bring a client back for more.

What is more important is that our clients like working with us.

That, I believe, is the real answer - it’s where the real success comes from.

At the end of our conversation I summed it up with this…

Have a passion for what you do. Learn how to be really good at it. But most importantly, be that someone people want to work with.