Microsoft Studios offers advanced audio and video services that match any facility this side of Hollywood. An anniversary celebration is a chance for employees to see how it can fulfill their presentation needs.
By Laurie Rowell

In its 10 years as the headquarters for Microsoft Studios, Building 127 on the Redmond campus has hosted historic events such as Bill Gates retirement announcement, and a talk-show host known for his suspenders and his one-on-one interviewing format.

Back during the Y2K scare, “Larry King wanted to talk to Bill Gates on January 1,” explained Bob Palmer, group manager of Studios. “Larry does his show out of Chicago, so when he gave Bill the dates, Bill said, ‘No, we can’t do that.’” Instead, Bill proposed an alternative that unnerved the King contingent: that they do the show from Redmond. When the show’s producers came out from Chicago to see the setup in Building 127, however, they quickly arranged to broadcast the program from Microsoft Studios.

“At the end of the show, their staffers asked, ‘Can we just do the show here all the time? It goes smoother and we don’t have any issues, and it’s a lot nicer than what we’re used to back in Chicago,’” Palmer said.

Over the years, Microsoft Studios has become a leader in broadcast technology. “We were one of the first production facilities to be primarily digital,” Palmer said. “Even the TV stations at the time weren’t.” Similarly, the Studios team has been using high-definition technology for the past five or six years, and it is gearing up now to become a key user of Microsoft’s new Silverlight technology.

Microsoft Studios is celebrating its tenth anniversary at Building 127 on Thursday with an open house. Employees are invited to sign up to visit the facility from 3 to 6 p.m. to get a look at “one of the most sophisticated television and broadcast facilities on the West Coast,” according to General Manager Jeff Singsaas.

Visitors will be able to check out the four soundstages, see the sets from where executives make major announcements, test green screen special effects, squint at the teleprompter, and join a VIP photo op. You can use equipment in the audio rooms to build customized sound sequences – perhaps a personal ring tone or a new startup voice sequence for your computer. At the film noir set, you can mentally add your own jazz background and imagine how you might use it in your next training video. Information boards at each location will explain the equipment and the process.

Best of all, at each stop you will have the opportunity to talk with staff members whose background in broadcasting is unmatched in a corporate environment. “A number of the staff are national Emmy award winners,” Singsaas said. Visitors are encouraged to ask questions about how the facility might be used to produce their own video or broadcast projects. “It’s unusual to have that kind of treasure trove of talent available to you to figure out how to communicate and how to produce,” Singsaas said.Most days, the facility is at the disposal of Microsoft teams that want outstanding production work that will fit within their budgets. Studios offers support for audio/visual needs for training, corporate outreach, entertainment, and marketing.

“The biggest thing that has changed is delivery method,” said Brian Honey, group manager. “So, our first question always is ‘How are you going to deliver this? Is it going to be a mobile phone, the Xbox, the Zune? Is it going to be at a large event? Will you display it on a 60-foot screen?’”

Honey says anyone who brings a project to Studios can count on a solution for delivery or any other aspect of their effort. “If it’s something we don’t provide today, we’re in the business of building and creating a solution for your need, whether it’s internal or external, using third-party vendors,” he said.

Entertainment Media Services (EMS) provides a number of services for Xbox, Zune, and other products, including movies and other videos sold on Xbox Live Video Marketplace. The team acquires source video from big studios and TV networks (Warner Brothers, Paramount, CBS), “ingests” it (a multi-step process that includes encoding), and ensures final quality before publishing for download.

“We have a unique relationship with Studios,” said Eric Hanson, group manager in charge of video ingestion services at EMS. To do its work, the team required an MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America)-approved facility. And that was just the start. “The network backbone and infrastructure that we need is very substantial,” Hanson said. “A source file for a movie can be 200 gigabytes. Storing and moving these kinds of files around requires a very specialized network and storage infrastructure. Without that, it’s super hard to get much done in a reasonable amount of time. Studios had that architecture and a lot of that infrastructure in place already. Working with Studios really made sense. This facility is really one of a kind outside of Hollywood.”

The state-of-the-art capabilities might have some groups fearing sticker shock when considering Studios for production work. Singsaas, however, thinks people will be pleasantly surprised. “We are able to produce for virtually any budget. We’re easy to work with,” he said. “We really want people to give us a call and talk with us about what they need to do.” He added that Studios works with vendors to scale capabilities, so clients can be assured of the best production value for media project.