STAFF: Dave Nelson
Dave Nelson’s career spans over twenty years in the film/sound and recording industry.
His work involves an interesting mixture of documentaries, feature, and short films, and
albums some of which have been nominated for Academy, Emmy and Grammy Awards. It is his intuitive
and improvisational style that constantly keeps him in demand as one of the most sought-after sound designer/engineers in the industry. In 1982 in San Francisco he was instrumental in founding
a multi-media band called Autotom. This was one of the first bands of its kind using slide projection, and digitally pre-recorded samples as part of the show.
In 1985, Dave decided to build and create with producer Mitch Stein Poolside Studios. Working with sound pioneers Donny Blank and Doug Murray, Dave developed an experimental and improvisational Sound Design style and gained experience at dialog and music editing. At Poolside he developed a reputation as a fun and professional engineer.
In 1996 he realized that SOMA was the place to be, and he embarked upon an ambitious
partnership with Josh Rosen to create Outpost Film Center at 880 Folsom Street. They found a
industrial and unused building, and refurbished to meet all of their working needs. The two
story building was transformed in to spacious offices, a 25 X 15 foot ADR/Foley stage and
the largest Dolby Digital mix theater in San Francisco, and two roomy isolation booths. At
this new facility and with a new partnership Dave and Josh had many projects follow.
Including: V/O effects and final mix for the Academy Award Nominated "When Abortion was Legal"
and Sound Design for "Fun", a 1994 Sundance Film Festival Best Actress Award Winner;
Sound Effects editing, re-recording and mixing for "Dream with the Fishes" and "Cherish"
by Finn Taylor. At the same time Dave and Latin Jazz producer Greg Landau recorded a string
of Cuban and World Beat CDs, two of which with Patato Valdez were nominated for Grammies.
After weathering the dotcom-induced economic downturn that affected the Bay Area,
Dave revitalized his business and renamed it Outpost Studios. Outpost Studios
is still located at 880 Folsom and now sharing the building with Pyramind, a music and media production school.
Solely relying upon Dave's expertise, knowledge and reputation,
Outpost Studios has become the premiere inner-city audio post-production
facility in the Bay Area.
Dave has also been teaching at Pyramind since 2004. His “Sound For Picture” is the core to his digital sound for film curriculum. Concurrently he is also teaching at Cal State at Monterey Bay and San Francisco State University his curriculum, giving a variety of students a hands on approach to learning the intricacy of post- production sound, editing, and Foley.