Tiretracks Blog

On the road with Watermark

Watermark Opens Nashville, TN Office

TAMPA, FL – Watermark Communications, Inc. celebrated its fifth anniversary in June of this year by announcing plans to open an office in the Nashville area in August 2003. This came as a result of the desire to better serve the national recording industry and establish a more centralized location from which to travel. Watermark was founded in 1998 in Tampa, FL which continues as the home office.

David Habegger, President and founder of the company, has been involved in production and engineering for 30 years. In the early years, he traveled internationally as a live sound engineer and studio assistant and eventually became a production coordinator and consultant. In 1993, Habegger co-founded Technical Resource Group, Inc., a pro audio, lighting and video systems dealer/contractor in the Tampa Bay area. Technical Resource Group, Inc. still serves clients in Southeast United States. Habegger is a member of the Florida Chapter of The National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (NARAS®)/Latin Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (LARAS®).

Watermark’s primary business is with a mobile recording facility which travels to sites requiring audio production for live albums and broadcast. In 1997, Habegger began preliminary design work for a mobile studio when he learned of the availability of an existing mobile unit built by Gary Hedden of Franklin, TN. In early 1998, Watermark Communications, Inc. took possession of the former GHL mobile unit and began a new chapter in its history by refitting the control room with new equipment and decor. An existing workshop space was also transformed into a sizable isolation room space with acoustic design and treatments by Acoustics First in Richmond, VA. The isolation room space was an important consideration in the original design for a mobile studio to allow overdubs on location, broadcast master control and video fly-packs.

The equipment selection includes:

– 80 input Amek Rembrandt console, 18 input Amek/TAC Bullet console
– API, Millennia, Midas mic pre’s
– Genelec®, dynaudio, Bag End monitors
– Lexicon® 480, TC Electronic®, Yamaha, UREI, dbx effects and processing
– Microphones by AKG, Neumann, Shure® and Sennheiser®

Watermark’s latest equipment acquisition is a dual 72 track Iz RADAR® system completed in 2002. It consists of six RADAR® 24 units with Nyquist 96K converters, two session controllers, TDIF interface, and archive/export media choices of IDE hard disc, CD-R, DVD-R, DVD-RAM, and external SCSI drive. The normal configuration is as two 72 track systems operating independently from a master sync and time code source; however, the system can also be configured to record 72 tracks of 96khz, 24 bit audio when needed. Watermark made the decision for RADAR® in 2001 after investigating and watching the format for three years. RADAR® has been an outstanding choice for remote recording in sound quality and reliability.

The Watermark opening in Tennessee represents a return of the former GHL mobile unit to Nashville and a great working relationship with former owner Gary Hedden. This year Watermark has served clients such as Sparrow Music Group, Integrity Music, engineers Tom Laune and Kevin McManus and producers Nathan Nockels and Israel Houghton.

Over the last five years Watermark’s credits have been strong in the Contemporary Christian and Gospel markets and also include a broadcast production for FOX television featuring Britney Spears and a multimillion-dollar six week “Good News America” event telecast live from Madison Square Garden in New York City, NY.

The Tennessee and Florida addresses are:

Watermark Communications, Inc. Watermark Communications, Inc.
2000 Mallory Lane, Suite 130-110 16057 Tampa Palms Blvd, #364
Franklin, TN 37067 Tampa, FL 33647
Phone: (615) 794-5246 Phone: (813) 986-4477
Email: info@watermarkinc.net Fax: (813) 986-0970