Launched over 15 years ago, Audio Militia has established itself as one of the leading specialists in post-production sound in South Africa. More recently though these veterans have seriously been shaking things up at company HQ. We spoke to Co-Founder and CEO Nick Argyros and newly promoted Executive Producer Catherine Grenfell about their new and incredibly cool centralised studios and a recently developed division that offers easy translation and dubbing services to expand projects into broader African markets.

New Centralised Studios

Audio Militia is comprised of a highly skilled and specialised team including strategists, music psychologists, composers, sound designers, final mix engineers and technologists. They offer full-service audio post solutions, from start to finish and as if that’s not enough, their new centralised studio space and office is…chef’s kiss!

Remember Audio militia used to have a few offices spread throughout Joburg, well, after viewing 45 buildings in the city, Nick and his team finally found the perfect location to call home.

With over 14 years of studio building under their belt, Co-founders & Executive Creative Directors Craig Hawkins and Paul Norwood took on their most ambitious and complex builds yet. Using acoustic design, research and technology and working within the confines of an already-built ‘house’ structure, they achieved extremely high standards in acoustic response and bespoke design. With everything specially designed and built in-house at Audio Militia, their five; state-of-the-art studios portray a futuristic, beautiful and relaxed environment nestled on the 2nd floor. Not to sound like an episode of Selling Sunset, but it’s here, up among the trees, with extra large windows where this building truly shows off. The space is kitted out with many highly sought-after vintage and modern equipment from around the world, not to mention being fully ATMOS-ready baby.

In between our squealing and woohoo-noises we saw a Visi cover-worthy mix of modern design and heritage situated in the heart of Rosebank. The force behind Audio Militia has created a hub that any influencer would be proud to do a TikTok dance in, and so should you.

New Translation Division

Audio Militia has recently supersized their offering by launching a translation and dubbing division. This division will provide technical translation, transcription, dubbing and localisation of audio, video, texts and other media.

Their team of translators and voice artists are native speakers to many regions in Africa and their extensive and diverse understanding of the language ensures a quality finished product. They also offer translation of music which is accompanied by music direction, offering a full musical experience in which they reproduce rhyme and rhythm to preserve the original melody.

Nick says: ‘This new offering will ensure that the culture of each region across Africa is embodied in our clients’ final product without compromising the quality of the content. It gives our clients the opportunity to share their content with other markets authentically and without language and cultural barriers.’

New Executive Producer Catherine Grenfell

Audio heavyweight Catherine Grenfell has recently been promoted as the company’s Executive Producer #StandingAndClapping Catherine comes with decades of audio experience, and yes, that’s the same Catherine who was Producer and Presenter on 5fm for 15 years #TalentCrush Since joining Audio Militia, she has led the charge in implementing internship and mentorship programmes, with special focus on creating viable pathways into the industry for Black female engineers. Catherine is highly experienced, a passionate supporter of local artists and a damn delight!

Nick says of Catherine’s promotion: ‘I don’t think we could have found anyone better in terms of expertise, network, knowledge around music and personality. I have never seen anyone fight for the artists as much as Cat does. Almost our entire production team now is all female and that’s largely thanks to her leading the charge in transformation here.’

Catherine adds: ‘My goal at Audio Militia is to ensure that we make a Producer’s life easier by helping them with anything audio related, from all music (composition, licensing, sync, library music), to sorting translation, VO artists, language supervision, podcasting, final mix sound design.’

Since joining Audio Militia, Catherine and the team have joined in leading the charge with the Copywriter Coalition of SA who are fighting the good fight to ensure that musical artists get paid their dues.

Wanna (s)talk some more? Audio Militia Company Website.

Audio Militia is a proudly 51% Black owned and Level 2 BBBEE company.