The thrill of winning an Emmy award is a lifetime dream few will ever accomplish. Many make it to the ceremonies in the form of a nomination after years of work in various aspects of the film industry. Jake Allston, the 23-year-old grandson of Marilyn and the late Bob Barker of Cherokee Village, is one of those distinguished enough to have received an Emmy Award at the Daytime Entertainment Emmy Creative Arts Awards in Los Angeles Aug. 29.
Allston is a young man that would make any grandmother proud, with a long list of achievements in his rather short career. Allston, said, “I grew up all over the United States, but I really call Chicago my home base.” He has lived everywhere from New York to the midwest in Kansas to West Virginia, New Jersey, Maine, Nebraska, Chicago, Orlando and currently, in California.
Allston received the Emmy Award for creative arts for his work as a supervising sound editor on the Nickelodeon series “Tak and the Power of Juju.” The series is an all computer generated imagery (CGI) based animated television series that premiered on Nickelodeon and the Nicktoons Network in 2007. The series is based on the video game of the same name. It is Nickelodeon’s first all-CGI series that was totally produced in house.
The coveted Emmy Awards are dedicated to the advancement of the arts and sciences of television and the promotion of creative leadership for artistic, educational and technical achievements within the television industry, according to the Emmy Award Web site. These awards are very sought after and, “Allston’s achievement at such a young age is remarkable,” according to a representative of the National Academy of Television Art’s and Sciences in New York.
Allston graduated from Full Sail University, an award winning entertainment media college near Orlando, Fla., but has been living in Los Angeles for about three years where he is employed as a sound editor.
He was still excited, months later when talking with the Villager Journal about winning the prestigious award. Allston said, although it is currently displayed in the center of his mantle at home, for weeks he carried it with him and laughingly said, “I took it to the store with me.” He won the award in front of 2-4 million viewers as it was broadcast in August from the prestigious Westin Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles.
Allston currently works for Advantage Audio. As a sound editor, he said a typical day involves getting an episode for editing. He said when he receives the video, there is no sound. Placing the sound within the video file is his specialty, from sounds of horns, or any other noise one can possibly imagine, Allston is the man who inserts these into the video and then, “cleans it up,” as he says. He creates these sounds with a computer software program. It then goes to the mix stage where sound, foley, music and dialog are added to make the video more like the final result that is viewed on television. He said the fall months are much slower than in the spring, but during the spring months Allston works at two jobs a day.
Allston began playing with the popular audio editing software ProTools while he was still in junior high school and eventually fell back on his love for editing and sound design as a career.
His huge list of accomplishments includes work on such well known documentary style films such as “Ice Road Truckers” and “Deadliest Catch: Crab Fishing in Alaska”. Allston also has a lengthy list under his young belt of notable credits in animation including many well known children’s favorites such as “The Care Bears Movie,” “My Friends Tigger and Pooh,” “Angelina Ballerina,” “The Christmas Carol,” “My Little Pony Storybook,” “Sugarfoot” and numerous others.
Allston said he was privileged to recently be asked to speak at his Alma Mater, Full Sail and also at Columbia University in Chicago, while there, Allston will also attempt to inspire students from his old high school in Chicago by speaking to them about his career.
Not only does Allston love working with sound and animation, he has also developed and patented a microphone unlike any on the market today. His design includes buttons on a microphone that are the actual user interface, eliminating the need for bulky equipment for multiple sound effects and also the need for a separate software.
This busy young man somehow finds time to create things that will help pave the future of sound design and post production editing tools. He is currently in the process of seeking a manufacturer for his microphone.
It is no wonder his grandmother is so amazed at his accomplishments in his short 23 year life. She said with obvious pride, “There isn’t anything that young man can’t do.”
When asked about his proud grandmother, Allston said he has visited her in the Sharp County area, but it has been a while, he normally spends time with her over vacations where they meet at various locations. He said he looks forward to meeting with his grandmother in Florida later in the year and seemed to be very humbled by the huge amount of pride she displays when talking about his accomplishments.