Bad Animals is an American audio post-production, voice casting and recording studio headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1979 by radio personality Steve Lawson under the initial name Lawson Productions, and renamed to its current name in 1990.
History
Bad Animals was founded in 1979 by a local radio personality Steve Lawson under the initial name Lawson Productions. Lawson’s expanded to music recording and re-named the company Bad Animals in 1990 when Seattle natives Ann and Nancy Wilson of the band Heart joined in ownership.
Lawson and Heart built the internationally respected recording studio, Studio X, in the Bad Animals building to commemorate the new expanded business. Heart, R.E.M., Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Alice in Chains were a few of the A-list 90s bands recorded at Bad Animals.
By 1997, Lawson split off and sold Studio X in effort to return to audio production and audio post production. Bad Animals was eventually purchased in 1999 by the company’s Emmy award-winning sound team known for their audio design work demonstrated in Bill Nye, the Science Guy.
The Emmy winners Mike McAuliffe, Tom McGurk, Dave Howe along with Pacific Northwest entrepreneur Charlie Nordstrom re-committed to strengthening the core business of voice recording, sound design, original music and sound mixing for films, tv, radio, high-corporate events and video games. Ownership paired down to Mike McAuliffe and Tom McGurk in 2018 when the company moved their studios to the Victory Studios Production Building where the company presently resides.
It’s been nearly 30 years now and the team at Bad Animals® has built a success story in the Pacific Northwest. A bevy of awards and accolades have been added to the shelves in the lobby, clients continue to bring dynamic projects into the studios and the phones continue to ring with local talent checking to see what’s happening here.
Yet, the team is always looking forward to seeing what they can do better, what envelopes they can push and how they can add to the vision of creatives from around the world.
Projects
- Bill Nye, the Science Guy
- The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars (1998) (in collaboration with Horta Editorial & Sound)
- The Brave Little Toaster to the Rescue (1999) (in collaboration with Horta Editorial & Sound)
- The Book of Stars (1999)
- Pajama Sam 3: You Are What You Eat from Your Head to Your Feet (dialogue recording only)
- Get Carter (2000) (the producers wish to thank: for their assistance)
- Putt-Putt's One-Stop Fun Shop (audio recording only)
- Trailer: The Movie! (2001)
- Pajama Sam: Games to Play on Any Day (dialogue recording only)
- The Business of Fancydancing (2002)
- Farewell to Harry (2002)
- The Flats (2002)
- dot.CON (2003)
- Snow Day, Bloody Snow Day (2005)
- Turnaround (2005)
- The Heart of the Game (2005)
- Full Disclosure (2005)
- Braincandy: See My World (2006) (Videos)
- Iraq in Fragments (2006)
- Maura's War (2006)
- The Delivery (2006)
- Sari's Mother (2006)
- Outsourced (2006)
- Professor Layton and the Curious Village (English casting and voice recording)
- Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box (English casting and voice recording)
- Biz Kid$
- End Zone (2008)
- Humpday (2009)
- The Velveteen Rabbit (2009) (ADR recording only)
- SIFF 35th Anniversary Tribute (2009)
- Crimes of the Past (2009)
- Given to Walk (2009)
- Babysitters Beware (2009)
- Rhythm Heaven Fever
- Your Sister's Sister (2011)
- Fetch (2011)
- Laggies (2014)
- Fire Emblem Fates (English casting and voice recording)
- Disney Infinity 3.0 (dialogue recording only)
- Bill Nye: Science Guy (2017) (Special Thanks)
- The Invisible Father (2020)
- Stardust (2020) (ADR engineering only)
- The Jinkx and DeLa Holiday Special (2020) (in collaboration with Monkeyland Audio)
- I'll Show You Mine (2022)
- Super Mario Bros. Wonder (English casting and voice recording)
- Bippy the Little Robot (2024)
- Thin Places (2025)