Macias Group (also known by its Spanish name, Grupo Macias) is a dubbing, audio post-production, and dialogue translation company originally founded in Mexico by Julio Macias in 1968. Its headquarters are currently located in Miami, Florida, and it has two recording studios in Mexico City. It also has locations in São Paulo, Brazil.
Over the years, two more generations of the Macias family have taken over the family business, first with Arturo Macias until 2016, and currently with his daughter Valeria.
History[]
Julio Macias originally founded Sono-Mex in 1968 in partnership with Enrique Rodríguez Ruelas and Enrique Rodríguez López-Montoya, occupying the facilities of the defunct Estudios Sonoros Mexicanos company, located at 2817 División del Norte Avenue, Mexico City. In 1979, Macias broke off his partnership with the Rodríguez brothers and kept the Sono-Mex name. Macias assigned this name to his new dubbing facility, located at 224 América Street in the Parque San Andrés neighborhood of Coyoacán, south of Mexico City.
Already working independently, Macias began a plan to expand the company, opening Roman Sound International in Los Angeles years later, naming it after one of his sons. This company would produce some dubbing projects with Mexican actors who traveled there and other actors who were already living in the country, at a time when Spanish-language dubbing was emerging in Los Angeles. Years later, Roman Sound would be relocated to Mexico and renamed Macias TV, while the L.A. headquarters would remain the company's main headquarters.
In 1994, Art Sound México was founded, and with three studios operating simultaneously, the idea of a conglomerate of dubbing companies known commercially as The Macias Group, or Grupo Macias in Spanish, was already established. It was during the 1990s that Julio Macias gradually stepped back from the management of his companies until he passed control to his son, Arturo Macias, who took over as CEO and had the vision to continue expanding the group. Likewise, collaboration was sought from dubbing studios and other external entities to increase work capacity. This is the case with the dubbing of Remi, where Macias rented the Track 3 advertising studio to create the best possible audio. The same was true for the dubbing of Barney & Friends, which was done at Ki Audio, owned by Eduardo Tejedo. In the late 1990s, they ventured into Portuguese dubbing, starting with Le Sound-Sonomex in São Paulo, Brazil. Years later, it was renamed Art Sound Brasil and is currently known as Macias Audiovisuais.
In the early 2000s, the Macias group began producing original productions, starting with the children's series Max and Friends, partly filmed at the facilities of their first company, Sonomex. The recording studio would move years later to a new building next to their new dubbing company, Sebastians, where the series Skimo would be recorded.
At the same time, they acquired the Brazilian production company Globo as an exclusive client, after years of working in Venezuela. Due to the special care their dubbing received, the projects would later receive their own recording booths. In May 2001, Art Sound Miami was founded, which would be used for trafficking, dubbing, and other services related to their craft. It was originally located in the southwest of the city near Tamiami Airport. This establishment would become the group's headquarters after the final closure of Roman Sound in Los Angeles. Many years later, two recording studios were opened to explore English dubbing.
In 2006, Macias secured the American network CBS as an exclusive client after the channel's separation from its parent company, Viacom, and the closure of the dubbing company, Intersound. From that moment on, they were responsible for dubbing all of their series and films in both Spanish and Portuguese.
After filming a pilot for an adult series in Buenos Aires, Argentina, called "The Other Side of Tango," in 2006, the group planned to expand into that country and partnered with the Buenos Aires-based audiovisual production company, Efellco Producciones, with the intention of opening a studio called Art Sound-Efellco. However, the partnership did not prosper after completing a few projects.
In 2012, Julio Arturo Macias, son of Arturo Macias, opened his own production company in Los Angeles called Blank Films, specializing in image projects such as feature films and music videos. The company was later renamed "By Macias Group," although it is not related to the dubbing industry.
In 2016, Arturo Macias handed over the position of COO to his daughter Valeria Macias, who studied business administration in Orlando, Florida. Thus, the third generation of the Macias family has taken the reins of the group to this day. That same year, IDF, the studio founded by the group in 2014, was chosen to concentrate most of the dubbing work and end the relationship the conglomerate had had since its inception with the National Screen Actors Guild, which also led to the resignation of many actors and directors who had collaborated with the companies for many years.
Since March 2019, the group has been part of the Council of Mexican Companies in the Dubbing Industry (CEMID), along with Caaliope and Labo. In 2020, IDF and Sebastians obtained certificates of approval from the Trusted Partner Network (TPN).
At the end of 2021, a reorganization of the Sebastians and Globo facilities began, refreshing information and incorporating Famasound and Produbb into the Macías group, with new ways of innovating its work. The following year, IDF changed its name to Macías Next Generation, known commercially simply as MCS.
In 2025, a further restructuring of the group would take place, this time with the intention of having the Macías studios operate under a single legal identity, thus strengthening the company's global identity. As part of this plan, Famasound ceased collaborating with the group, and its headquarters were reclaimed by Sebastians. The three companies in Mexico now operate under the legal identity of MCS: Next Generation.
Dubs[]
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Anime[]
Series[]
- Case Closed (1996-present) (eps. 965-1014)
- Gintama (2006-2010) (Seasons 2-3)
- Onihei (2017)
- Gintama: Mr. Ginpachi's Zany Class (2025)
Films[]
- Anpanman: The Adventure of Happie (2005)
- Anpanman: Star-Spirited Dollie (2006)
- Anpanman: Purun, the Soap Bubble (2007)
- Anpanman: The Secret of Fairy Rin-Rin (2008)
- Anpanman: Blacknose and the Magical Song (2010)
- Anpanman: Revive Banana Island (2012)
- Anpanman: Apple Boy and Everyone's Hope (2014)
- Anpanman: Nanda and Runda from the Star of Toys (2016)
- Anpanman: Shine! Kulun And The Stars Of Life (2018)
- Anpanman: Twinkle! Princess Vanilla of Ice Cream Land (2019)
- Eternal 831 (2022)
Talent Pool[]
Voice Actors
Guest ActorsVoice actors from outside the Macias Group talent pool that have made guest appearances in their dubs.
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Translators and Adapters[]
- Paula Barros
- Oscar Cheda
- Cindy Eliz
- Christina Groom
- Valeria Macias-Flores
- Travis Roig
- Rie Suzuki
Directors[]
- Hernán Chavarro
- Oscar Cheda
- Christopher Flores
- Crystal Lopez
Clients[]
External Links[]
- Macias Group on the Anime News Network's encyclopedia.
- Macias Group on Behind The Voice Actors.