THE ACADEMY OF LOWER THIRDS
Proud Member of NGLCCNY.org • Certified LGBTBE® #11931
As a cooperative network of broadcast professionals, we form "ad hoc" teams, with the members best suited to each individual project. Every strategic partner contracts and subcontracts with and to the others, forming the most dynamic, capable, end-to-end creative services team in broadcast graphics and data integration.
J. Marty Dormany
Managing Director, Trainer, Designer
"JMD" began his television career as a Production Technician at WFLA-TV (NBC) in Tampa, FL, in 1995. His introduction there to the Chyron™ iNFiNiT! was “love at first sight.” Over the course of the following seven years, he advanced through the ranks as a research assistant, floor director, camera operator, Chyron operator, and technical director.
After a year as Technical Director for “SUNSHINE NETWORK LIVE!” (now FOX Sports Florida), Marty accepted a position as On-Air Graphics Supervisor at WUSF-TV16 (PBS), where he directed, as well as trained communication students in studio and control room operation.
Never forgetting his Chyron roots, Marty joined the team at Chyron Corporation in 2002, where in 10 years he served as Product Specialist, Design & Integration Specialist, and Director of Training & Freelance Relations, providing training and support for some of the most-watched broadcast events in the world.
In 2012, Marty founded The Academy of Lower Thirds, Inc., and remains dedicated to bringing his experience and expertise to AcademyL3's clients. Marty is a 3x Emmy® winner and active member of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (New York Chapter).
Marty is a graduate of Hillsborough Community College-Brandon and the Florida State University, from which he holds degrees in Liberal Arts and Communication/Media Production, as well as a minor in Russian language. He served as president of ΔΣΦ and remains active with his chapter. In his dubious freetime, Marty works as an executive producer (and objectively terrible actor) in the indie film/horror genre; despite his best efforts, his projects have received multiple film festival awards.
Dave Bachman
Senior Graphics Designer, Sports
DAVE BACHMAN with extensive experience as a graphics operator, designer, and associate producer for Fox Sports and ESPN, Dave's designs are lauded in the production community for showing deep knowledge of the graphics needs of both arena & broadcast and for being operator-friendly. Design clients include the NBA, NHL, NCAA Schools, Spectrum Regional Sports Networks, Minor League Baseball, and many others. His proficiencies include Chyron Lyric Pro & LyricX, Ross XPression, Vizrt (Designer & Trio), and Adobe Photoshop & After Effects. A graduate of Kent State University, Dave resides in Columbus, Ohio.
Over the last three years I have had the pleasure of working with Dave Bachman as he has designed and installed the Columbus Blue Jackets Chyron graphics package. I consider Dave’s work to be of the highest quality, and would certainly put our graphics package up against any other in arena show in the country. His designs are excellent, but he also is very good at criticism however large or small and implementing new ideas into his work. He has been reliable to assist when we have had questions, and will quickly modify or create a graphic if we have a need for something new in a pinch. I would strongly recommend Dave for anyone in need of this particular type of work. I have little doubt he would meet or exceed their expectations.
Jeff Coltoniak, Senior Production Manager
Columbus Blue Jackets - Columbus, OH
David Bachman has partnered with Hite Media Services since 2010. Since we first met David, he has helped us with our Chyron and graphics implementation at Missouri State University and at Hammons Field, home of the St. Louis Cardinals baseball affiliate - The Springfield Cardinals. David was crucial to our learning process of graphics implementation for our sports venues. He has created our stunning graphics packages from the ground up for football, basketball, & baseball. Because of David we have received many nods from the heads of The Missouri Valley Conference on the look and feel of our sporting events. Not only has David surpassed our expectations through graphics creation, he has propelled us with technical workflow to make our shows easier to run and better to look at. David is truly a professional at his craft.
Brandon Hite
Hite Media - Springfield, MO
I would highly recommend Dave Bachman to anyone seeking help with designing and building a Lyric graphics package for Duet. Dave stepped up to the plate and bailed out a client by designing a graphics look the client was thrilled with and then building a versatile complete package that included animations and transitions found only in advanced network broadcast packages. Of particular importance, Dave built the package on-time and on-budget. Some of the advanced animations he built are rarely found in a Duet graphics package. This provided the client with animations features usually only found in a Viz graphics package but with the reliability, flexibility and functionality of a Duet package.
Karl Kronenberger, Graphics freelancer
FOX Sports Ohio, TNT, TBS, United States Figure Skating, IceNetwork
Bianca Beck-Swaab
Project Manager & Graphics Designer, News
BIANCA BECK thrives on learning and understanding her customers’ technical and design workflows and offering them compelling solutions to their workflow issues. Bianca has worked in the Broadcast industry for over 22 years, which includes 12 years working for Chyron both in the UK and the USA. Whilst at Chyron she held positions as Trainer and Product Specialist, and then Product Manager. Those who know her, know her as an expert of newsroom workflow – or more simply the CAMIO Queen.
Bianca now works as a freelance Workflow Consultant and Lyric PRO/X, ChannelBox and Ross XPression Designer.
Rob Dalton
Software Developer & Rage Coder
ROB DALTON is a 20-year veteran of the television industry with experience as a build operator, control room operator, template designer and automation specialist and having mastered several different CG platforms, including: Avid Deko, Chyron iNFiNiT!, Chyron Lyric PRO & LyricX, Chyron Prime (Blackbelt), and Vizrt. As a designer and programmer, Rob has created, integrated, and maintained hundreds of graphics templates for automated newsroom workflows for multiple networks. Rob is a specialist in data-integration & visualization with expertise in macro languages (VBS & LEIF), as well as proprietary data providers, including NFL GSIS.
Patrick Machado
XPression Developer, Chyron Prime Operator
PATRICK MACHADO Patrick Machado has worked in broadcasting for 7+ years in various roles, 5 of which have been behind the scenes in live sports. Following his love of hockey he started as a play-by-play commentator at his alma mater SUNY Oswego. Through exploring ways to enhance the visual experience for the viewers, away from the headset, Patrick was exposed to the possibilities Ross Video XPression, inspiring a love for broadcast graphics.
For the last 3 years, he has specialized in XPression as an Operator with clients including the NBA, CBS, and smaller-level productions on ESPN’s College Basketball & Diamond Sports packages. As a designer and integrator he was in charge of upkeep on Oswego’s hockey package. Patrick's first project with AcademyL3 was a XPression refresh for the New York Islanders/UBS Arena in 2022.
With his control room technician approach to design, his ultimate goal is to provide impressive scenes while keeping it simple for operators to execute when every second matters. Outside of graphics, Patrick has experience on the front bench as a Technical Director on the Ross Video Carbonite and Snell Kahuna (yes, they still exist!).