Jeff Rietman grew up in San Diego, and currently lives in Los Angeles, California. He briefly went to school at Cal Poly Pomona studying English, and in 2006, left to enroll at the Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences in Tempe, Arizona to study Audio Engineering. Jeff finished school there and moved to Los Angeles in 2007 and briefly worked as an audio engineer at an audio post production studio (Novastar) in Hollywood, California.
When the Writers’ Strike came around in 2007, it put a lot of engineers out of work. With a deliberate need to continue receiving income, Jeff was able to negotiate himself into a smaller role as a Vault Librarian for the audio facility’s parent company, The Post Group. Within two months of having that job, the company felt he was efficient enough to build and manage a new vault for their Digital Intermediates sister company, iO Film. He managed that vault until 2009 when The Post Group restructured itself, dissolving its sister companies shortly before ultimately closing their own doors. Having been out of the audio world for nearly two years, Jeff was able to find work as a Vault Librarian at the NFL Network (now it’s called ‘NFL Media’) in 2009. He has worked there for the past six years and continues to work there today. However, the itch to get back into a control room has always been there, and through conversations with NFL Media management, he learned that one of the highest-in-demand control room jobs is a Viz Operator. Jeff felt this was his best opportunity to get back into a control room using his technical prowess again. Jeff had also been making side money as a DJ around Los Angeles, so the idea of “performing” motion graphics to millions of homes was appealing to him.
“There is a certain rhythm to motion graphics that reminds me of being on a stage and triggering music and sounds to a crowd. The Viz University was my introduction to Viz Trio, although I was able to procure a few observational shifts at NFL Media to watch how their Viz Operators do their work. I was also able to get a few practice runs”in during those shifts. After passing my Certified Pro Viz Trio Operator exam, I am now ready to step back into a control room and resume having a technical career in the entertainment industry.”
– Jeff Rietman
