It's not hard to discover the MO for survival behind Manhattan's newest post/audio facility powerhouse, Audio Engine. It's all in the names on the door.

Industry veterans Tom Goldblatt and Bob Giamarco had been mixing at East Side and Lower East Side Audio, Joe Vagnoni at Mixed Nuts, and Bryan Wick and Rex Recker at Photomag. In the last year all four found themselves at Photomag. Says managing director and partner number six, Michael Porte: "I've known all these guys for a long time [and they've] always wanted to do their own companies."

That opportunity finally came thanks to some ill fortune - for another company. "The demise of CCA [corporate holding company Creative Content Artists] made the assets of Lower East Side Audio available," recalls Porte. "They were going to sell them at auction so we made them an offer."

And how do regular working guys afford to buy an audio studio? "We mortgaged our houses. We emptied our bank accounts and maxed our credit cards," says Porte, who also called upon previous banking relationships to round out the financing.

He says the combination of team and facility does not guarantee the company is economy-proof, but asserts: "I've been around the business for 20 years and in the slow times the companies with talent always survive." Porte is aware that there are other good facilities in town, like Sound Lounge and Howard Schwartz, but says of the top 10 mixers in New York, Audio Engine boasts four.

The reputations of the Audio Engine talent and their built-in client base minimized the need for marketing, but Porte kept a PR firm (Hype) and is working on a marketing and advertising rollout.

Porte, who is from California and has started companies on both coasts, chose New York even though the space and talent is more expensive. "I love New York. My family loves New York. And there is a lot of business here right now."