AMI December 2018

International

December 2018

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HEARING IS BELIEVING A look inside the Berlin ISM’s immersive Hexadome

GEAR OF THE YEAR AMI looks back at some of the best new audio tools from 2018

STUDIO PROFILE

WSDG on building and designing dedicated podcast facilities

CONTENTS

NEWS

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15 2018 Pro Sound Awards A round up of all the winners at the sixth annual event

FEATURES

7 Gear of the Year

AMI’s top product picks from 2018

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23 Podcast Studios WSDG on how it designed and built three major new facilities 26 Game Audio Colby Ramsey learns about the sound and music design for Shadow of the Tomb Raider 31 Immersive Audio Stephen Bennett steps inside the Berlin ISM’s Hexadome installation 36 Company Profile DiGiCo reveals how it is integrating immersive features into its products

REVIEWS

38 Sound Devices MixPre-10T

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AMI DECEMBER 2018

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CONTENT Acting Editor: Colby Ramsey colby.ramsey@futurenet.com Group Editor, Pro Audio: Daniel Gumble daniel.gumble@futurenet.com Group Content Director, B2B: James McKeown james.mckeown@futurenet.com Designer: Tom Carpenter tom.carpenter@futurenet.com Managing Design Director, B2B: Nicole Cobban nicole.cobban@futurenet.com Production Manager: Matthew Eglinton matthew.eglinton@futurenet.com

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he past month has been somewhat of a rollercoaster for the audio world. As the most destructive and deadly wildfires on record continuously raged across Northern and Southern California throughout November, tragically taking lives and destroying property over thousands of acres, many in the music community saw their homes and studios demolished.

Film composer and record producer Richard Gibbs, former keyboard player with American new wave band Oingo Boingo, lost his Malibu home to the fire. However, video shot by a friend and posted on Gibbs’ Facebook page on Saturday, November 11 showed that his famed studio, which featured in AMI sister title PSNEurope in 2016, appears to have made it through the devastation unscathed. “The Woodshed lives on,” wrote Gibbs.

Meanwhile across the Atlantic, the pro audio industry was gathering in anticipation of the 2018 Pro Sound Awards. The sixth annual event saw a whole host of new product and people-focussed awards introduced to recognise the most innovative work taking place across the industry. I think it’s fair to say however that no one was

expecting grime icon and Glastonbury 2019 headliner Stormzy to make a surprise appearance to present Fraser T Smith with the inaugural Producer of the Year award; a truly iconic moment in the event’s history. Turn to page 15 to find out who else walked away victorious on the night.

This month’s issue once again includes a number of big features from across the pro audio spectrum. You’ll find a round up of some of our top product picks that we feel have excelled in innovation, functionality, value or all of these things combined in our 2018 Gear of the Year feature, while we get the scoop on Smart Studio, a new modular approach to designing and building critical recording facilities for today’s demanding audio and video industry.

In our latest Studio Profile, WSDG tells us about a swathe of US-based dedicated podcast facilities which it recently helped design and build, and we speak to audio engineer Jera Cravo to discover how the sound and music for action-adventure video game epic Shadow of the Tomb Raider was created. There’s an insightful interview with EAW president and general manager TJ Smith on page 28, as well as a conversation with DiGiCo about its latest immersive ventures and future plans on page 36. Meanwhile, this month’s cover feature sees Stephen Bennett step inside the Hexadome, a new immersive installation at the Berlin Institute for Sound and Music.

It’s been a busy year for the business as always, so enjoy the December break and keep an eye out for the next issue of AMI in 2019.

Merry Christmas all!

Colby Ramsey Acting Editor Audio Media International

Experts in the issue

If you submit material to us, you warrant that you own the material and/or have the necessary rights/permissions to supply the material and you automatically grant Future and its licensees a licence to publish your submission in whole or in part in any/all issues and/or editions of publications, in any format published worldwide and on associated websites, social media channels and associated products. Any material you submit is sent at your own risk and, although every care is taken, neither Future nor its employees, agents, subcontractors or licensees shall be liable for loss or damage. We assume all unsolicited material is for publication unless otherwise stated, and reserve the right to edit, amend, adapt all submissions.

Brad Price Jera Cravo is the senior product manager is the technical director and at Audinate. He works with the lead audio engineer at Montrealdevelopment team to create based La Hacienda Creative. software for Dante Audio Networking.

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December 2018

Tim Sherratt is manager of customer development and application engineering EMEA at Sennheiser.

GEAR OF THE YEAR 2018 The pro audio world has once again presented the AMI team – and our lineup of expert reviewers – with a plethora of new kit to play around with this year. Here we’ve compiled some of our top product picks that we feel have excelled in functionality, innovation, value, or all of these things combined...

GEAR OF THE YEAR 2018

STUDIO MONITORS

UNITY AUDIO Boulder MKIII The Boulder MK-III 3-way active monitor is said to deliver a “faster, more accurate and detailed sound” and extended bass response with a greater SPL than its predecessor. The voice coil design of its bass drivers results in an expanded range of the respective drivers by nearly an octave, while the compact Coaxial X-JET 5” mid-range driver and 50kHz folded ribbon tweeter design is designed to ensure true point source phase accurate delivery. www.unityaudioproducts.co.uk

ADAM AUDIO T Series ADAM Audio’s latest range of 2-way nearfield monitors includes two models, the 5” woofer T5V and the 7” woofer T7V. Both models include ADAM’s High Frequency Propagation System (HPSTM) for ‘extremely consistent’ horizontal and vertical dispersion across the frequency spectrum, DSP innovations for the crossover system, and Class D amplifier systems. www.adam-audio.com

GEAR OF THE YEAR 2018 December 2018

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GEAR OF THE YEAR 2018 INTERFACES

AUDIENT iD44 Launched at NAMM this year, the English company’s “most powerful interface yet” offers four Audient Class-A console mic pres delivering 60dB of gain, new Dual Converter Technology, the option to expand up to 20 channels via ADAT/SPDIF and new mix-focussed software with performance improvements for the Windows drivers - all over USB 2.0 with USB-C connectivity. www.audient.com

UNIVERSAL AUDIO Arrow Universal Audio’s Thunderbolt 3 audio interface features two Unison mic preamps, realtime UAD plugin processing, and 24-bit/192kHz audio conversion. The portable, compact, and lightweight 2x4 bus-powered unit provides a generous collection of UAD plugins to record vocals, guitars, and more at near-zero latency. www.uaudio.com

HEADPHONES

AUDIO-TECHNICA ATH-M60x Launched at Prolight+Sound 2018, the latest addition to the company’s M-Series line is designed for studio, broadcast and mobile applications. The low-profile, on-ear professional headphone model makes use of the same proprietary 45mm large-aperture drivers found in the ATH-M50x (with rare earth magnets and copper-clad aluminium wire voice coils). www.audio-technica.com

FOCAL Clear Professional The M-profile aluminium/magnesium dome on these open-back circum-aural headphones has a new copper coil designed to provide an ‘extremely well defined and always controlled’ bass, while the new generation of perforated microfiber ear cushions provides an extremely open design. www.focal.com

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GEAR OF THE YEAR 2018 CONSOLES

ALLEN & HEATH SQ-7 The 48-channel SQ-7 console utilises the same XCVI 96kHz FPGA engine as its predecessors and adds extended control and I/O in a larger format, boasting 33 faders, 32 onboard preamps, 16 custom soft keys and eight user-definable soft rotary controls. It is fully compatible with a range of remote I/O expanders, including the portable DX168 96kHz stage boxes. www.allen-heath.com

API AUDIO 2448 Unveiled at the AES convention and intended as a middle ground between the company’s 1608 and AXS consoles, the 2448 is a compact, dual-signal path analogue recording console. Available in 24, 32 and 40 channel frame sizes, the 2448 typically sports 24 channels for multitrack recording and 56 channels for mixing. Features include dual inputs on each channel, four stereo returns and optionally, API’s new cross-platform Final Touch fader automation system. www.apiaudio.com

MICROPHONES

SENNHEISER Memory Mic Making its debut at IBC, this professional wireless microphone for mobile journalists is small, lightweight and offers broadcast-quality sound at any distance from the smartphone. Using the dedicated audio mixer of the Memory Mic App, the user is able to select the optimum balance between ambience and the audio captured with the Memory Mic at a later point in time. en-uk.sennheiser.com

DPA MICROPHONES 6066 The d:fine 6066 benefits from a completely redesigned lightweight, one size fits all headset that attaches over the ears for comfort and has a spring mechanism to help it grip below the ears and to the side of the head for added security. With a fully adjustable boom, the mic’s omnidirectional capsule – the company’s smallest ever at 3mm – has a frequency range of 20Hz-20kHz. www.dpamicrophones.com December 2018

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GEAR OF THE YEAR 2018 WIRELESS

SENNHEISER Evolution G4 The fourth generation of Sennheiser’s wireless series family includes user-inspired features such as multichannel capabilities, single click scanning and set-up, frequency agility, as well as longer range and battery life. The four product series in the range – the 100, 300, 500, and IEM series – are designed for live performances, broadcast and film, as well as business and education environments. en-uk.sennheiser.com

SOFTWARE

STEINBERG Cubase 10 In this latest Cubase release, VariAudio 3 allows for increased control of audio, with more creative tools and Smart Controls to speed workflow. MixConsole Snapshots instantly recall different project mixes and settings in order to quickly compare mixes and add mix notes, while an Audio Alignment feature lets users stack and match recordings quickly, easily synchronising them to a reference track. www.steinberg.net

AUDINATE Dante Domain Manager Announced at the ISE Show, Dante Domain Manager is Audinate’s new network management solution that brings enterprise-grade system administration to the AV world and makes audio networking more secure, scalable and manageable. The new version provides advances in diagnostics and usability, extended auto discovery for legacy devices, and increased support for larger networks. www.audinate.com December 2018

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NEWS

2018 PRO SOUND AWARDS: AND THE WINNERS ARE… Sixth annual event saw surprise guest Stormzy present Fraser T Smith with the inaugural Best Producer gong

Clockwise from upper left: Surprise guest Stormzy presenting Fraser T Smith with Producer of the Year; Lauren Deakin Davies speaks to the room after being named Breakthrough Studio Engineer; Abbey Road picks up the Best Studio award; Marta Salogni receives her award for Best Studio Engineer; Katie Tavini, Brendon Harding and Sophie Ackroyd collect the Campaign Award for Red Bull Studios’ Normal Not Novelty; Guests gather at London’s Steel Yard for networking opportunities ahead of the 2018 Pro Sound Awards

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&b audiotechnik, Sennheiser, Chris Marsh and Abbey Road were among the big winners recently at the 2018 Pro Sound Awards, on a night that also saw grime icon and Glastonbury 2019 headliner Stormzy make a surprise appearance to present Fraser T Smith with the Best Producer award.

Now in its sixth year, the 2018 Pro Sound Awards saw a full house of the industry’s finest celebrate the very best individuals, companies, products and projects from the past year in pro audio.

This year’s outing took on a very new complexion, with a raft of new product and people-focussed awards introduced to recognise the most innovative work taking place across the industry.

Taking home the inaugural Breakthrough FoH Engineer award was burgeoning theatre sound specialist Heather Knott, while rising studio star Lauren Deakin Davies took home the event’s first ever Breakthrough Studio Engineer award, having worked on numerous records with a host of acclaimed artists.

Marta Salogni received the new Best Studio Engineer award, following an impressive string of projects with several internationally revered artists, while touring veteran Chris Marsh picked up this year’s Best FoH Engineer accolade.

On the product side, d&b audiotechnik scooped the Best Live Loudspeaker award for its GSL range as well as the Best Immersive Sound Project for Starlight Express; Sennheiser emerged victorious in the Best Live Microphone category for its Digital 6000 series; and Unity Audio’s Mini Rock series won this year’s Best Studio Monitor award. Elsewhere, Abbey Road took home the Best Studio award.

A number of special achievement awards were also announced prior to the event. these included the Campaign Award, which went to Red Bull Studios’ Normal Not Novelty initiative, the Best Producer award, presented to Fraser T Smith by surprise guest Stormzy, Outstanding Contribution, received by L-Acoustics founder and line array pioneer Christian Heil, and Company of the Year, received by Genelec,

which celebrated its 40th anniversary earlier this year.

Daniel Gumble, Editor of PSNEurope said: “What an incredible evening. It was an absolute honour to have so many incredibly talented people under one roof to celebrate what has been another great year in audio.

Stormzy’s surprise appearance to present Fraser T Smith with the event’s first ever Best Producer Award was a truly iconic moment in the event’s history, and shows just how far we’ve come since it started out six years ago.

“It was also fantastic to see so many exciting producers and engineers just breaking into the industry turn out in force. These are the people shaping the future of our industry, so it’s a real honour for us to be able to celebrate with them as well as those already long-established in the business.

“Congratulations to all of this year’s winners and nominees, and thank you to everyone who came out to make this the best Pro Sound Awards to date.”

All of the 2018 Pro Sound Awards winners can be viewed at www.psneurope.com.

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NEWS

AN AUGMENTED EXPERIENCE: SENNHEISER EXPLORES IMMERSIVE AUDIO AT METROPOLIS STUDIOS Workshops are designed to open up next-gen formats and workflows to an expanded audience

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ennheiser recently hosted an AV User Group event at the eminent Metropolis Studios in west London, where attendees were treated to a showcase of some of the German audio giant’s newest 3D audio technologies, AMBEO. A daytime conference session was followed by an evening event and some accompanying entertainment. According to Sennheiser’s manager of customer development and application engineering EMEA, Tim Sherratt, it was a great opportunity for the company to expand the scope of its workshops.

“Because we were in such an iconic venue, and we were lucky enough to have Annex The Moon, a band I’ve been working with, performing, the opportunity lended itself to take the workshops one step

so we gave them a truly immersive experience,” Sherratt added. “Although it is becoming increasingly popular, this is still a new area and something many had never fully experienced before.

“Listening to a live band through headphones is a unique experience and takes away the constraints of a PA system. With headphones, it’s like delivering a post production mix to each person. You’ve got much more control over what’s being delivered and a lot more space in the mix, especially as we were using binaural techniques.”

For the headphone mix, Sherratt and the team used Sennheiser’s AMBEO Orbit binaural panning tool, which offers the ability to place live vocals in a 3D space, and then pan the mix, adding it into the effects. Attendees were also invited into the live room where the band

“There’s definitely appetite amongst consumers to engage in something new and different” further and invite an audience to listen to a live experience for the first time,” explained Sherratt.

While Sennheiser’s targeting of the AV User Group was initially motivated by its integrated systems and business communications portfolio, the evening part of the event was also used to showcase its other offerings. The company invited engineers and producers who are experimenting with immersive workflows and turned it into a bit of a party.

“Everyone we invited is interested in the topic,

were playing so they could compare the experience with a traditional PA. “It’s an augmented experience,” said Sherratt.

“My personal passion is to deliver a shared immersive experience to a wider audience. The catchphrase at the moment is ‘the audience is the future’. This is definitely true for us as we can demonstrate theories that have been around for a number of years, and deliver these soundscapes in different ways, allowing people

to get closer to the event or the artist, and to experience more of the emotion.

“We can create and distribute content via channels that previously did not exist. Listening to music on headphones isn’t new, but there’s definitely appetite amongst consumers to engage in something new and different.”

While events such as this suggest an abundance of opportunities in the immersive field, the workflows are in their gestation period and there are a number of different platforms that can be explored. Content owners and producers are willing to engage and suppliers are in the process of gaining expertise and knowledge in-house to be able to deliver the ambitions they’re being tempted with.

“There’s definitely an appetite to create this kind of immersive content and we’re seeing a lot of new facilities popping up in order to meet the trend,” Sherratt observed. “But we know there’s still an education process to go through.”

There are a number of vertical markets which Sennheiser is currently investigating and working closely with, from orchestral performances at the Liverpool Philharmonic to museum and art gallery installations – there’s lots of activity going on in the space.

Sherratt concluded: “It’s just a case of getting the workflows established, being able to deliver propositions more regularly and routinely and, most importantly, at a cost that people can afford to engage with. We believe that AMBEO meets all those needs.”

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REPORT

www.audiomediainternational.com

WORK SMART

Smart Studio is a next generation modular approach to designing and building critical recording facilities for today’s demanding audio and video industry. Colby Ramsey reports...

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n many areas of audio post production, confirmation on commissions are being delayed and the amount of time professionals have to do their post production work is being reduced. It’s clear to see that the industry is becoming pressurised, and while these trends look unlikely to be reversed anytime soon, companies 18

December 2018

need to come up with new methods of constructing and equipping studios that take into account these shorter deadlines.

Enter Smart Studio, a fusion of acoustic design and active acoustic technology with modern building techniques and materials. An extensive review by the Dublin-based team is what led directly to the

development of this flexible and radical strategy, which includes all of the key elements necessary in a professional studio environment.

The solution has primarily been developed in response to the growing level of dissatisfaction with traditional methods of designing and building critical studio facilities, as Jim Dunne, senior acoustic consultant

REPORT Flix’ new Smart Studio facility at MediaCity in Manchester

and the creator of Smart Studio, explains: “The concept comes from being very frustrated with the standard of your builder in terms of being able to convert your ideas or plans for a studio into a real world entity.

“Being based in Ireland with two huge marketplaces to our either side meant there had to be a modular element to it. We had to come up with something different, to replicate a fully professional studio but broken down into this modular format.”

A lot of advantages immediately became apparent to Dunne and co: “It’s made in a factory so it’s repeatable in terms of quality,” says Dunne. “It provides huge efficiencies because we’re able to make and quality control all the components in our own backyard and produce a lot less waste.”

The modular design of Smart Studio allows the opportunity for it to be demounted, meaning users get a residual amount of their investment back when they relocate to another site. This also means there’s no cost of dilapidations and from an environmental perspective, the facility does not need to be ripped out and completely rebuilt elsewhere.

Dunne’s career in the audio industry was pre-dated by a spell in construction working with his father. He ended up moving away from the building industry and going to college to do electronic engineering, eventually ending up working in a recording studio in Dublin. Having moved on, he had his own company supplying recording and broadcasting equipment to the local Irish marketplace. Garnering a broad range of

knowledge from being in such environments while also developing an understanding of the equipment and installation side, Dunne then became familiar with acoustics through his conventional acoustics consultancy iAcoustics.

“Luckily, we haven’t had to actively collaborate with anyone else beyond the envelope of the company, because we share such a wide range of skills between us and can do all the manufacturing ourselves,” Dunne explains. “It’s in our nature to be somewhat more self-reliant. Smart Studio is kind of a reflection of who I am as an individual, and the experiences I’ve had in my working career as such.”

Dunne goes on to explain that the target market for Smart Studio is very much the people who work in sound for film/TV and sound for corporate purposes.

The concept seems to suit post-pro professionals very well, perhaps because of the unfortunate state of the music industry, with funding hard to come by for small music producers.

While there’s still a proliferation of home studios, and there’s been a clear evolution on the electronic side, the fundamentals still exist in that audio professionals will always need an accurate monitoring environment. Dunne goes on to say that while the availability of audio DSP technology has enhanced the overall situation, and as much as a bedroom is a working environment, it is not an accurate listening environment.

Those interested in the concept can log their details on the Smart Studio website and use the online cost estimator to get a budgetary figure for

their studio build. “As we see it, there’s a number of different agendas and people who would be involved in the decision-making chain; some of them will look at it from a business perspective, some from an acoustic perspective, and some from an environmental perspective,” Dunne adds.

“We hope that Smart Studio will become one of these aspirational things that people might not be initially be able to afford, but will commit to it in the future.

“From an acoustic point of view, we really pride ourselves on the quality of the room acoustic environment that we create. The design is very robust in the sense that we really do address both the sound insulation requirement and the low frequency bass absorption requirement for a studio. I would suggest that virtually all of our rooms would be suitable for Dolby based applications and what we already know – having analysed the rooms that we’ve built so far for the likes of Manchester-based Flix – is that we can really achieve excellent levels of low frequency acoustic control.

“We also use a huge amount of diffusion in our rooms, albeit very carefully. It’s not quadratic diffusion but 2D diffusion, which means that you retain the acoustic energy in the space but its diffusely spread in the room. With this type of diffusion we end up with a very comfortable acoustic environment which people can work in for an extended period of time, and this is consistent from room to room. Our objective is not to make a room that has a sound, but to make a room that lets you hear the speakers which you’ve spent time, effort and energy researching and buying.”

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OPINION

NETWORK 2020 – AUDIO NETWORKING FOR STUDIOS AND LIVE PRODUCTION Brad Price, senior product manager at Audinate, offers his thoughts

BRAD PRICE

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udio networking has become a hot topic in recent years, with many high-profile manufacturers releasing audio over IP (AoIP) products. For some professionals, the term “networked audio” still brings memories of the spotty performance of early VoIP phone systems or poor-quality MP3 streaming. Modern audio networking however has progressed far beyond the limitations of those earlier technologies.

Today, audio networking solutions like Dante are in broad use, enabling systems that support huge channel counts of uncompressed audio with ultra-low latency, nearly nonexistent jitter and world-class reliability. Networking means no hum, no noise, no ground loops and no signal degradation over distance. Networking is not only the new and easier way to connect systems, but is also the best way to achieve maximum audio performance.

Beyond connectivity - Why transport is simply Phase 1 The most important and visible change brought by networking is the end of “point-to-point” connections.

Point-to-point means that a cable connects one device to another, defining pathways. In networks, all channels of all devices are exposed and available for instant connectivity without moving a single wire, using readily available software on a PC or Mac. This saves time in setup while delivering maximum flexibility to configure the system as needed, whenever it is needed.

Networking also means that all the audio products themselves are computing devices capable of automating

key functions. When a Dante system is powered down, packed up and then set up again, the devices all “remember” their previous connections and instantly rebuild the system.

If a clock fails, the system automatically selects a new clock with no interruption of audio. These capabilities only scratch the surface of what networking and computing bring to audio systems. Audio networking brings new power to the entire concept of connectivity.

Where to network - Studios In recording environments, networking solves clocking, connectivity and flexibility problems. Devices are no longer segregated by the type of connector they use, or the special clock they require. All connections are made using regular CAT5E Ethernet cables, and all traffic goes through standard, off-the-shelf network switches.

Clocking is handled at the network level using the IEEE1588 Precision Time Protocol, or PTP. This approach completely eliminates problems of “time smear” with old point-to-point digital systems, and allows hundreds of devices to be synchronised with accuracy of one microsecond or less.

Audio networking also removes the need for any special I/O devices for computers. Because audio networks are just computer networks, the regular Ethernet port on a PC or Mac is all that is required to make it a full participant in your system. Software, like Dante Virtual Soundcard (DVS), presents a standard sound card interface for your audio applications and supports up to 64x64 channels for recording and playout.

In a studio, networking lets you connect devices to the system wherever they need to be, without worrying about long cable runs or specific jacks. Just connect to the system from any port, and you’re ready to patch and go.

Where to network - Live Productions Networking has revolutionised live sound, enabling large systems to be more easily loaded in and loaded out. Gone are the bulky, failure-prone analogue snakes, replaced by a single lightweight Ethernet cable that can be run nearly anywhere. Secondary networks (supported on many Dante devices) provide completely redundant pathways for mission-critical devices, so even a broken cable or a failed power supply can’t knock out a show.

Audio networking keeps all signals in the digital domain, eliminating possibilities of hum, noise, clock drift and signal degradation. This makes it easy to retain the highest sound quality regardless of the physical scale of the installation.

Automatic reconnection of devices means that things don’t have to be setup “from scratch” at each show, saving time

and reducing mistakes. Networking in live productions also means that computers may be easily used as integral pieces of a show. Sound effects, cues and scores can be played out of any connected computer, and powerful applications can be harnessed to provide DSP functionality—all without requiring any additional I/O devices.

What should a network cost?

Audio networking doesn’t require special components, but as with any endeavour, quality is worth paying for. Beyond the cost of the audio equipment, the required networking equipment is broadly available at very sensible prices.

In most live and studio settings, routed networks are not needed. All that is truly required are a sufficient number of switches (this number may often be only one or two) and the associated CAT5E cabling. Almost any managed switch is sufficient, and high quality isn’t very costly: an excellent 20-port managed switch can be had for under $300 at retail.

How to secure the network In live settings, the risks of physical damage and equipment failure may be mitigated by using a redundant network, if the products support it. In a Dante system, a redundant network is a complete parallel set of switches and cables that can be used instantly and without glitches if the primary network fails for any reason.

Preventing unwanted access to an audio network can be accomplished several ways. Of course, hiring trusted people is essential, but networks can help.

Dante Domain Manager is an IT-focused server product that secures and manages Dante audio networks, allowing only authorised users to make changes while logging all activities - exactly like the tools used by IT departments to manage regular computer networks.

Conclusion In most studio and live settings, the overwhelming improvements in convenience, flexibility and sound quality are more than enough to justify a migration to audio networking. The risks are not generally greater than with analogue systems, but are of a different nature. Audio networking is a natural evolution of the digital technology that has revolutionised audio since the 1980s, bringing new possibilities to professionals and audiences alike.

Brad Price is the senior product manager at Audinate and has an extensive background in audio engineering, music performance, and software product development. He works with the development team to create software for Dante Audio Networking.

December 2018

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STUDIO PROFILE

TALKING HEADS T Colby Ramsey finds out how WSDG recently helped design and build a swathe of new dedicated podcast studios in the US

here may often be a common misconception about podcasting. While some might be quick to assume that they are made in a kitchen with some kind of rudimentary setup, there are in fact a number of big companies putting in a lot of time, dedication and money in order to research, create and distribute their high quality content.

With New York and LA playing host to some of the largest dedicated podcast studios, competition between and within these two hubs is fierce, and podcasting as a medium remains as popular as ever. WSDG Walter-Storyk Design Group recently took on the task of designing and building some of these facilities, each with their own specific requirements and individual challenges.

One of these was Gimlet Media in New York,

where many of these bespoke podcast studios are coming to life. Gimlet itself was a company that – in around a year and a half – expanded extremely rapidly and outgrew their original studio space. They went from a very small facility to a 20,000 sq ft. floor in Brooklyn, dedicating 2,700 sq ft. of this to studio space, as WSDG partner and director of production Romina Larregina explains.

“We hit it off straight away; they were very smart and extremely engaged with every process of the project,” says Larregina. “There was a lot of collaboration and a lot of listening and communicating. Fitting the entire programme into their footprint and making it work was extremely challenging."

The company required 12 podcast studios in

total plus a recording studio, each with their own specific requirements. The podcast rooms had to allow enough space for participants to have that essential face-to-face interaction, while there was a lot of discussion and layout changes based on the amount of space needed in each room. “We went to town with them to work out exactly how we would custom build each of these rooms and fit them into the designated footprint,” Larregina adds. “What was more challenging was that even though each room was a different size for a specific amount of people, they all had to behave acoustically exactly the same, and the reverberation time in each of them had to be identical.

“A half hour podcast is often edited in five to seven of these rooms over the course of a week, so the rooms have to sound the same when it December 2018

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STUDIO PROFILE

comes to mixing it all together. This was also challenging in terms of determining exactly what acoustic treatment we put in the rooms and the amount, while also trying to stay within a reasonable budget.”

The technology requirements at Gimlet Media were also rather reasonable; a collection of high quality mics and a Dante audio networking system to manage and secure all of their recording equipment and data.

The podcast studios themselves are three quarters fully isolated, with a double wall construction design and an acoustic lid on the ceiling, but no floating floor. With an effective carpeting system instead, WSDG was able to mitigate the sound leakage between each small podcast studio. The recording studios had to be 24

December 2018

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fully floated and isolated however because the team wanted to avoid podcast recordings being interrupted by music sessions.

“A common theme with many of these big companies making studios in New York is that they create their own music for their content, which is financially very efficient for them because they’re not having to pay royalties for songs,” Larregina observes. “Which is why there is a demand for these recording studios – there’s so much work and thought that goes into researching and creating this content.”

Another facility which WSDG helped build is Midroll Media, which recently merged with podcast listening service Stitcher. Here, many of their rooms are used for podcast recording as well as a lot of editing duties, so they needed to have the

exact same setup as a recording studio, as well as being acoustically identical. This particular facility also required a live room, control room and an isolation booth.

“While working on the New York facility, which we built from the ground up, we were contacted by their LA facility – which was already built and finished – to fix the current sound isolation and interior room acoustics in their rooms on the West Coast,” says Larregina. “What was interesting here was that, as we were also involved in the audio-video systems design, there was a lot of conversation with the engineers from both facilities to make sure all of their workflows and equipment were aligned and compatible.”

Perhaps the most familiar name to rely on WSDG for their podcast studio build however is

STUDIO PROFILE

Pictured left: A new podcast studio at Audible's Newark facility, and above, its new recording studio control room

Audible, the original audio book company which was acquired by Amazon in 2008. “We built a small facility for them across one floor in 2007 but after the buyout, they expanded to the other floors of their building in Newark and called us back,” Larregina reveals. “We were able to re-use the

studios. They also required a green room and lounge area for when famous faces come to the studios to do audio book readings in the celebrity booth!”

All of these rooms are 100% fully isolated with very low ceiling heights, which proved extremely

“There's a lot of companies wanting to make these kind of rooms now which is really cool” studios that we built for them before because they were prefabricated booths.

“Their requirement was also to try and maintain the same setup as previous, albeit with slightly larger control rooms and iso-booth

complex for the design and build teams. “As well as isolating all the walls, floors, and ceilings, we had to bear in mind all the requirements in terms of the conduits and how they run, HVAC placement etc. They all have implications for the way these rooms

are designed,” adds Larregina. “There was a lot of intricate designs on this side to make sure there were no stray connections between the rooms when they were fully isolated. They had to make this happen quickly though as demand was very high, and we were there every week checking the site during the construction phase.

“After all the hard work, it’s great when you do all the acoustic testing and measure the noise criteria and every room meets the spec. It’s very pleasing indeed,” Larregina concludes. “All of these projects met the client’s and our expectations in terms of isolation and how the rooms really function. There’s a lot of companies wanting to make these kind of rooms now which is really cool.” www.wsdg.com December 2018

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FEATURE: GAME AUDIO

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INTO THE WILD Colby Ramsey speaks to audio engineer Jera Cravo to discover how the sound and music for action-adventure video game epic Shadow of the Tomb Raider was created

H

ow do you come up with the most visceral, emotional and intense Tomb Raider experience to date? Well, it took a dedicated instrument hunting trip to Mexico and a deeper learning of Mayan and Aztec culture for lead composer Brian D’Oliveira to fully realise what was required when recording the score and sound effects for Shadow of the Tomb Raider, which hit shelves back in September 2018.On the creative side, it took a total of three years to turn a lot of heavy R&D into hundreds and hundreds of minutes of music for the game. During his own South American adventure, D’Oliveira filled up eight bags with curious prehispanic instruments including the death whistle, so a lot of what is heard in-game are authentic sounds plucked straight from the Amazonian jungle.

The technical side of this extensive project was equally as intriguing however, and this is where Jera Cravo, technical director and lead audio engineer at Montreal-based La Hacienda Creative, comes in. Cravo was mostly responsible for mixing and recording the music, and his team was contacted by the game’s audio director Rob Bridgett to discuss how they could deliver a truly immersive audio mix.

Despite being a three-year project, sometimes 26

December 2018

deadlines for specific pieces of music were very tight, and therefore the teams had to streamline their workflows as much as possible. “Time was usually the main concern because of the scale of the project and because most video games change a lot though their development,” says Cravo. “When there is such a high track count you need to have your workflow totally figured out. Usually, Brian and an engineer will record in the live room on a workstation, and I will be in the control room mixing the previous song he just finished. By the time I’ve mixed the previous track, he’s got another one ready for me. It’s the best way to deliver high-quality stuff quickly, and this way we were able to deliver almost the same amount of music we had two and a half years to work on, in about five months.

“We initially recorded at 96kHz-24bit so we kept working at that resolution but of course, files would get compressed afterwards right before they get “burned” into the game build,” Cravo adds. The audio and music is then implemented into the game using a software called Wwise – developed by another Canadian company called Audiokinetic – which serves as the link between the game engine that creates all the graphics, mechanics, AI, etc. and the sound teams.

In their efforts, Cravo and co experimented with a lot of different mic techniques and equipment: “We used a B Format microphone made by an American company called Josephson,” he says. “The C700S has three capsules in it, including an omni capsule, and lets you record sound in 360 degrees, so Brian was always moving around the mic to place instruments in different positions of the stereo field during the tracking session.”

A lot of times this positioning wasn’t “sharp” enough, so Cravo could focus that specific placement even more, or change it completely if he felt it didn’t blend well with the other instruments in the mix. “Because we were tracking at 96kHz24bit and each of those tracks contained three audio streams (a B Format file is just like a stereo interleaved file but with three audio streams instead of two), sessions got insanely heavy – some containing over 200 audio tracks, which meant 600 streams of 96kHz-24bit audio,” he explains. “When this technique started slowing us down too much, we decided to just use the C700S in M/S mode (recording just the omni and the 90 degrees figure 8 capsules) to try to save a bit in disk space and CPU processing (since we didn’t need to use the B Format decoding plug-in anymore).”

FEATURE: GAME AUDIO

Lara Croft returns once again in Shadow of the Tomb Raider

Cravo’s main recording rig (pictured right) was an AMS Neve 1073 into a Burl Bomber B2 A-D converter (AES or SPDIF) into a Metric Halo ULN-2. At a certain point however, the team needed to speed up the process, without of course compromising on sound quality.

“Since we owned a few Universal Audio Apollo interfaces (first gen Silver Faces, Black Faces, Twins and Twins MkII) with Unison preamps for a long time, we decided to put their Unison emulations to the test and to be honest, we couldn’t hear the difference between our Neve preamps through the Burl converter and the Neve Unisons through the Apollo converters on a 100+ tracks piece of music,” Cravo explains. “Maybe we would be able to if we did more scientific tests, with same sources, recorded at the same time with matched microphones, but in the real world, they sounded at least as good as the more expensive signal chain.”

Once the team decided to go with the Apollo setup, they had the Apollo console running two stereo inputs at all times. One input always had the Josephson C700S in M/S mode into a Neve 1073 Unison, while the second input was an U87 together with a Gefell UM930 in M/S using a different Unison preamp. “Lots of tracks used the UA610 or the Manley VoxBox or the Helios 69,” says Cravo. “The input chain choice was made in real time, playing through both sets of mics and choosing the one that fits the track.

“Brian and myself are longtime UAD users, and because their software and hardware is both bulletproof and sounds amazing, we could rely

on it to deliver the best possible quality in the shortest amount of time, every time, without cutting corners.”

D’Oliveira also chose to record with a 3Dio omnibinaural microphone which contains four sets of binaural mics. By twisting and turning this microphone when close to the source, some “wild” panning effects were achieved without any need for audio post or automation during the mixing process. To do this immersive aspect of the game justice, it was mixed in Dolby Atmos at Pinewood Studios in London by Bridgett and lead sound designer Fred Arnaud.

“Certain parts of the game – especially some of the puzzles – had musical elements panned around

the environment, coming from above the player, basically as a 360 degree mix,” explains Cravo. “And of course, they had ambiences and sound effects exploring all the possibilities that Atmos gives us, which was super cool to hear.”

With the gaming industry moving more money than Hollywood these days and their epic musical scores arguably one of the few things keeping orchestral music alive, video games as a medium are definitely not going anywhere. Cravo concludes: “It provides fantastic immersive experiences and now with the whole VR side, it’s great for us audio guys and girls because we can go crazier and experiment even more.”

December 2018

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INTERVIEW

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NEW ROADS AHEAD

The recent acquisition of iconic US loudspeaker brand EAW by the Italian RCF Group marked a major milestone in the history of the Massachusetts-based company. Now, in an exclusive interview with AMI sister title PSNEurope, president and general manager TJ Smith tells Daniel Gumble why the deal marks the start of a new era for the loudspeaker giant...

T

o say the past few months at EAW HQ have been a little busier than usual would be something of a rather large understatement. In September, the US loudspeaker manufacturer’s acquisition by Italy’s RCF Group was finally made official, bringing to an end a lengthy period of speculation about where the company’s future lied and signalling a fresh start for one of the industry’s sleeping giants.

And while talk of a new dawn may sound like the customary bluster that accompanies any transaction of this kind, few could argue that RCF’s ownership of EAW makes for an intriguing and potentially very exciting prospect. The Italian company certainly makes for a fitting home, given EAW’s recent history. Previously owned by private equity firm Transom Capital Group - parent company of LOUD Audio - and another venture capitalist group before that, EAW’s return to a revered pro audio specialist such as RCF is a welcome move for all associated with the brand, not to mention an eye-catching addition to the RCF offering.

In fact, the relationship between the two brands extends far beyond these past few months, with both brands previously owned by LOUD back in the early ‘00s, not to mention the product collaboration that saw RCF drivers incorporated within EAW’s KF850 loudspeakers.

According to EAW’s president and general manager TJ Smith, the excitement felt by everyone at the company towards the agreement has been palpable.

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December 2018

“Everybody here is ecstatic,” Smith tells us from his Massachusetts office. “There wasn’t a single individual that was nervous about this. Everybody immediately saw the potential and gravitated towards it and we’ve just been celebrating constantly ever since it happened.”

Though the ink may still be drying and the sound of popping corks still ringing out, the agreement first started to take shape back in the early part of 2018, following several overtures from RCF over the past few years. “We were approached by RCF in the spring, they were interested in purchasing the company, and that started a series of processes and meetings, in which we explained what EAW is about and what our vision for the company is,” Smith elaborates. “RCF has been interested in purchasing EAW for years. Then in the summer we finalised the deal and are now part of the RCF Group but operating as an independent company.

“LOUD was previously owned by a financial institution, who sold to another financial institution in the US called Transom. They were a great group of people and they did a great job of taking care of employees through that transition, which was very different to the previous ownership. Then, very quickly, RCF approached them with their interest in purchasing EAW.” So what was it that led the two companies to an agreement on this occasion?

“There were a lot of things about this process that really impressed me, one of them being the reason why

RCF was interested in EAW,” Smith continues. “It was obvious from the beginning that they wanted the brand and that they saw its potential. And what they were really hinging their buying decision on was what they thought of the people working at the brand - is this the group of people to take EAW to the next level? So to see them endorse the team here was really encouraging.”

On the subject of what the acquisition means for the EAW team, Smith confirms not only that the company’s staff will be unaffected by the agreement, but also that he is currently in the process of hiring a number of new operational personnel to help bolster its internal operations infrastructure.

“When we were part of LOUD there were several back office functions we shared,” he explains.

“With this new operation we are incorporated in Massachusetts; I am the president of a three-person board, I have control of HR and finance and we are hiring all those functions here.”

The internal independence of which Smith speaks is also likely to manifest itself across the business in its entirety.

Rich in prestige and heritage though it may be, EAW has been somewhat dormant in certain pockets of the market for some time, and has arguably been hampered by the trappings of previous ownership arrangements. Now, says Smith, the brand is primed to restore its reputation in some areas and reinforce its power in others.

“The key benefit that this whole thing offers us is

INTERVIEW

independence,” he states. “That allows us to address very quickly and directly the concerns and challenges facing our different customers. When you start bundling in professional customers, retail customers and different brands you create a complexity that is difficult to manage and as a result everybody suffers. Now, being independent, we can serve our customers better.

“This next phase is also about filling in the product portfolio and finding new partners. The EAW portfolio is really strong in some areas but in others there are some very obvious holes and things that haven’t been addressed in years, so our next movement is about filling those.

“The acquisition absolutely marks the start of a new era for the brand. There have been a lot of changes taking place behind the scenes that people are unaware of, but this is definitely a very strong demarcation point that we’ll be able to look back on in the future and say, ‘that was the beginning of a new era’. We’ve built a team of product people who really represent a new burst of enthusiasm for the industry and understand how to grow EAW and take it into the future, whilst retaining a respect for the past.”

In addition to these overarching declarations of independence and promises of renewed enthusiasm for the industry, Smith is also keen to identify more specifically the key areas of opportunity its new ownership will afford the business, both in terms of product expansion and in changing the market’s perception of the brand.

“There’s a great opportunity for EAW and its legacy

to grow again with regards to the production side of the business, and we’ve had a fantastic year on the integration side, with this area responsible for a lot of our growth,” he says. “We’ll continue pushing there, but we will certainly be looking to focus on the legacy part of the business, which is in production.

“I think people intuitively may have felt uncomfortable with EAW in the past because they felt it was impatient and could sense the pressure that a financial owner puts on a company,” he continues. “And the people who would have to trust us and put us on their production or their inventory were not comfortable with that. Added to that, we have this amazing product in our portfolio (Anya, Anna and Otto adaptive systems) that takes the idea of the line array, marries it with the legacy of the KF850 and combines it with new technology that I don’t think the industry fully understood. So we were asking these people to take everything they knew about the line array, throw it to the wind and accept this new thing we put in front of them, and it was a little too much. So you’re going to see us continue to talk about adapted technology, what it does for customers and help them through that process of change. If we are going to come in and ask them to change everything they know then we’re going to have to be very active participants in helping them understand exactly what we’re doing. and the new ownership provides that vehicle.”

RCF’s ownership also opens up potentially lucrative avenues into the European market for EAW - a key region

that it has failed to capitalise on in recent years. “[Europe] is a weak part of the market for us right now and we’re very aware of that,” Smith acknowledges. “The expertise of the ownership provides credibility in that part of the market and that’s something people will recognise, and as such will hopefully give us another chance. You’ll see us engage people more thoughtfully on the adapted products - pushing demonstrations and getting them into people’s hands.

On the subject of new products, he continues: “We’ve got this new Radius line, a powered line array and point source monitor, and there’s a couple of things we’re working on that we can’t talk about yet. You should expect at ISE, Frankfurt and InfoComm next year an avalanche of much-anticipated new products.”

Evidently, the next 12 months are going to be pivotal for Smith and EAW. The foundations appear to be firmly in place for a glittering return to form, and RCF’s reputation, particularly in the European market, will be key in helping establish the firm as a powerhouse player on this side of the pond. The message for the time being is very much ‘watch this space’ as Smith concludes: “This is a very empowering process for EAW that puts us back in a place where we can grow and serve our customers better than we have been able to in recent history.

“It’s a great atmosphere here and we have a great team that loves working together. It’s just a great place to be right now.”

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FEATURE: IMMERSIVE AUDIO

ENTER THE HEXADOME Stephen Bennett gets the lowdown on the Berlin ISM’s latest immersive project to see how these types of installations are transforming the way we interact with sound

December 2018

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FEATURE: IMMERSIVE AUDIO

B

erlin is often seen as a city that is supportive of innovation and creativity.

With Germany’s strong role in technical research and development, it’s not surprising that those interested in sonic experimentation are drawn to the country’s capital.

Nicholas Meehan is one of a long line of American citizens who have been attracted by the creative possibilities that Berlin offers. After graduating from Berklee College of Music and working in Boston, he’s settled in Berlin to explore immersive audio with the Institute for Sound and Music (ISM). “We’ve reached this time where the technology is there and we have the ability to communicate to the public that sound plays as much of a role in our lives as visual architecture,” says Meehan. “So, this is at the foundation of my interests and the many others who are part of the organisation today.”

Meehan had a loft space in Boston where he was running what he calls ‘DIY’ events, providing a venue for all the “nerdy kids with synthesisers and laptops,” sometimes doing ten performances in a night, each lasting twenty minutes each. “It just turned into a series that went really well,” he says. “Ableton caught wind of what we were doing because everyone we worked with was using their software. They sent a couple people over to check out the space one night 32

December 2018

and offered me a job – which was quite exciting at the time!” Meehan’s focus has always been on the relationship of the installations and performances he’s been involved in with the community aspect of the projects, but his involvement with Ableton gave him some insights into how companies see their own particular priorities. “It’s a very different thing to be on the outside of a company looking in and seeing this amazing tool they’ve created that builds communities and makes musician’s dreams come true. From the inside it’s a very different story. You realise that it is a business that needs to serve a specific purpose.”

On his arrival in Berlin, Meehan began to create similar kinds of events to those he’d worked on in the US. “It was immediately clear that there are so many innovative artists in Berlin, but while the small to medium-sized spaces were great in many ways, they lacked any focus of attention to sound and acoustics, which we felt was important.” Meehan’s first thoughts were; how does one attempt to innovate in a city of innovators? “So we went, how do you give something new to a city that has so much?

You really have to find something that is missing.

And we then thought, ‘Let’s just try to get the acoustics in the spaces we’re working the best as we possibly can and see what happens.’”

As in Boston, Meehan started attracting the local

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experimental artists to his events. “We met a lot of people creating surround sound and audio-visual works,” he says. ”Berlin has always held a fascination as a city for me and, for many years, a lot of the music and artists that I’ve been listening to had been coming from here. I imagined Berlin as a sort of mythical place where there are countless open spaces that let you be free to do what you want. I often say the American dream is alive and well in Berlin!” When Meehan arrived in the capital and began scouting for spaces for his events, a chance meeting with a small group of travelling graffiti artists was illuminating. “They were asking me what my plan was and what I was doing, so I said I’m working at this software company, but I want to create events and make music myself. One of the artists said that it doesn’t matter what your interest is, as long as you’re passionate about something, Berlin has a place for you. I can’t think of another capital city in the western world where that really resonates truer than here – maybe New York several decades ago?”

The ISM itself consists of a core administrative team of active volunteers and an extended advisory board, consisting of businesses, creatives and technologists, including Daniel Miller of Mute Records and representatives from the likes of Native Instruments, Apple and Soundcloud. “All of us share the responsibility in part for programming

FEATURE: IMMERSIVE AUDIO

The Hexadome installation at the Berlin ISM

and curation,” says Meehan. “The great thing about the administrative team is the reward – everybody has a say in the process. The extended advisory board consists of people in the community that have strengths in terms of experience in sound or music in some way or in the fields of technology. So they effectively act as ambassadors for the ISM.” Meehan sees the role of the ISM to bring together artists and technologists to create events where both innovation and sonic excellence can co-exist.

“The process often begins with having a coffee, or a beer, or a lunch or whatever with friends who are also artists,” he says. Meehan looked at various technologies the ISM might use to enable this ongoing process, including the wave field synthesis technology installed at the Technical University in Berlin. “They have an incredible system built into the walls of their auditorium,” he says. “I believe they have 700 seats and over 800 speakers there. It’s very impressive. I remember sitting there as Robert Henke (Monolake) gave a demonstration to a select audience and it was stunning how the localisation worked in this space, in this academic environment.”

However, as Meehan was attempting to create an installation that could be moved into various sympathetic spaces across the city, this approach would have proved impractical – hence the

development of the Hexadome itself. This construct is a relocatable immersive audio/video structure consisting of a six-screen, 360-degree multi-channel audio-visual system with a 54-channel speaker/sound system, all available for use for innovative multimedia artists. The Hexadome was developed by the ISM in collaboration with design studio Pfadfinderei and the ZKM | Center for Art and Media in Karlsruhe, using their Zirkonium software. Once Meehan and his team had found appropriate technologies and a partner to help with the sonics, they then had to focus on the visual aspect of the installation. “We had a number of very rough mock-ups of ideas and concepts and, at the end of the day, we ended up working with Pfadfinderei.

They’ve done some incredible work with several established artists on many commercial events.”

The initial design for the ISM Hexadome was, well, a dome – an enclosed environment where people would enter to experience the installation – but this proved problematic, as Meehan explains. “The problem with this type of installation is that, to get the best experience without distortion, you need to lie down at the very centre of the dome,” he laughs. “And that doesn’t work for anyone on the outside of the installation.” So, the closed dome became the more open six-screened Hexadome structure, allowing the performer and audience – or maybe participant

is a better term – to gain the maximum immersive experience in both sound and vision. “You are very aware of your presence in this space,” says Meehan.

“And one of the more remarkable things about this is not only this sense that you have when you’re inside of it, but it’s equally as impressive when approaching it or walking around it. It’s similar to the sense of when you’re approaching something like Stonehenge.”

One of the striking things about the ISM is their skill in getting some serious collaborators on board with the Hexadome project. “We were about two months away from when we needed to start building the Hexadome and we still didn’t have all the technology we needed sorted out,” says Meehan. “So, I went to ISE (Integrated Systems Europe) in Amsterdam. I was told that Helen and John Meyer (of Meyer Sound) were going to be there, so I bought a train ticket and went to see if I could have the chance to speak with them.” And he managed just that. “We talked about their history together – in ‘60s San Francisco and the company’s history,” he says. The conversations were obviously successful, as boxes full of speakers – the same make as those found at Disney, Skywalker Ranch and NASA – began to arrive at ISM. Meyer Sound supplied some technical support in setting up the Hexadome as well.

“Just to be in the midst of the dialogue between the experts from Meyer Sound and the experts from ZKM December 2018

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FEATURE: IMMERSIVE AUDIO

and seeing this kind of magical structure unfold was quite remarkable,” he adds.

Immersive audio is a relatively new area of sound experimentation outside academia, so standards are few and far between. This makes reproducibility between performances a problem. Meehan, alongside his colleagues at the ISM has been part of a working group, the Immersive Pipeline Workshop, at Goldsmiths University in London trying to identify common standards, so that artists in this field can have some assurance that their works can be more easily translated between installations. The ISM has managed to attract a wide range of artists to ‘perform’ in the Hexadome, including Ben Frost and MFO, Frank Bretschneider and Pierce Warnecke, Tarik Barri and Thom Yorke and, alongside his collaborator Peter Chilvers, Brian Eno. “Peter sent over some examples 34

December 2018

of his and Brian’s work together. We’d literally only just set up the Hexadome 24 hours before their arrival,” says Meehan. Eno has a track record of working in these kinds of immersive environments, such as the Bloom: Open Space installation in Amsterdam (covered by AMI in April 2018) and, of course, is no stranger to the creative and cultural attractions of the city of Berlin itself.

“To start the Hexadome events with Brian and Peter was a bit unnerving, as you can imagine!“ laughs Meehan. “We got everything set up and connected and it was an amazing moment when we turned everything on and it just worked.” Eno’s example pieces consisted of audio stems and some of the visuals from Chilvers that they could use to test the system out. “Brian and Peter arrived the next day,” explains Meehan. “They literally dropped off their bags at the hotel and went

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straight to where the Hexadome was set up in Berlin’s stunning Gropius Bau Museum. Brian was looking around and checking things out, clapping his hands and getting into a sense of the space.”

Since the ISM Hexadome installation series concluded in Berlin, the Hexadome has been selected by the Goethe Institute to tour North America throughout 2019 during the Year of GermanAmerican Friendship, before voyaging further internationally. Beyond this, what are Meehan and the ISM’s plans for the future? “We’ve started to shift our focus from the tour to the next exhibition – which will be entirely separate from the Hexadome,” he says.

“Our long-term plan takes us back to trying to answer the question posed earlier – how can we demonstrate to people that sound is as important in our lives as any visual experience?”

COMPANY PROFILE

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POWER TO

THE PEOPLE DiGiCo gives Stephen Bennett the scoop on its latest immersive ventures and plans for the future

I

t seems strange to talk of ‘old hands’ when it comes to cutting-edge digital technology, but that epithet seems appropriate for DiGiCo. One of the early adopters of Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) and Super Harvard Architecture SingleChip Computer (SHARC) programmable devices, the company have built up an enviable reputation in the live, install and broadcast world. The specifications for the company’s consoles, such as the SD7 Quantum, would have seemed unbelievable a couple of decades ago – 256 input channels, 688 dynamic equalisers, 48 digital FX systems and so on.

DiGiCo has been collaborating with various other companies to move into new areas of media production. One of the current ‘hot trends’ in this area is immersive, or ‘3D’ audio and the company have been working with L-Acoustics – amongst others – to implement this technology in their consoles.

“We just upgraded the SD7,” says James Gordon, managing director of DiGiCo. “Rather than launch a new product, we decided to upgrade the hardware and the technology, to allow our customer base to get a better return on their investment.” These upgrades are considerable, with a ‘quantum FPGA’ replacing the two existing engine drawers inside the console.

“Quantum offers more channels, more busses and all the sort of connectivity functions that you would 36

December 2018

expect on a much larger console,” says Gordon. “But it also has some fairly unique patented technology inside.” An example of this is ‘nodal processing’ which, as Gordon explains, allows an engineer to utilise a large amount of processing power on each node of the auxiliaries of the desk. “It’s a huge amount of additional horsepower in terms of processing, but will really help monitor engineers, as the expectations from the artists on stage are getting more demanding – and the sheer quantity of channels that we’re now seeing on large productions means that it’s essential.”

DiGiCo has a long-standing relationship with L-Acoustics and Gordon says that there’s a lot of crossover in the two companies’ customer bases.

“We are two high-end premium brands in our industry and L-Acoustics is, like us, a private company so we both see the benefit in doing things better together.”

DiGiCo have embedded the L-Acoustics control system so it can be used natively in their SD Series of consoles. “The L-Acoustics processor is a separate box (L-ISA) which handles the processing for their immersive audio,” says Dave Bigg, product specialist at DiGiCo. “They had their own controller already, but they were particularly interested in having hardware control over their

processor from our console. We were both using Open Sound Control (an open-source audio/data controller environment, more often known by its acronym OSC) as a method of remote control, therefore we just got together and swapped protocols.” The result of this is a small new interface on the DiGiCo console dedicated to sending out OSC commands to the L-ISA box to control the majority of the parameters of the L-Acoustic immersive sound system.

“The whole thing from an engineer’s perspective is that it seamlessly fits into the workflow, so the panning controls on the console are in the same place where the panning for L-ISA would be – it stays with the session and it stays with the snapshots,” says Roger Wood, head of software development at DiGiCo. “This has really helped engineers with their workflow as they don’t have to keep switching from one control to another.”

COMPANY PROFILE

DiGiCo’s L-ISA system on the road with Ennio Morricone

The practical upshot of this collaboration can be seen in the successful areas it’s been put to use so far, such as the BBC Proms and by Britannia row for Classical Brits at the Albert Hall. “This integration is just part of our SD software,” says Wood. “So, if anyone owns an SD console and have upgraded to our CORE 2 software, it’s part of the functionality that can just be turned on.” This focus on using OSC means that DiGiCo’s consoles can also easily talk to other company’s products, as Wood explains.

“We also have the ability to do Soundscape audio from d&b as well, which is similar in some ways to L-ISA.” Wood says that the plan is to control the d&b system directly off the console in the same way as DiGiCo Quantum engine > the L-Acoustics system.

“We think in the next 12 months there will probably be a dedicated version of Soundscape on the desk own purpose,” Wood adds. “People have used this with as well,” says Gordon. “We’re also talking to Klang QLab’s audio, video and lighting control system, for (producers of an immersive in-ear system) about example, as they also use the OSC protocol – but we using OSC to integrate their system with our consoles know there are people out there who use this feature to allow monitor engineers to control their in-ear without our knowledge at all!” mixes directly off the desk so that they can enjoy the DiGiCo are long-time users of the protocol. “We benefits of immersive in-ear mixing.“ In their latest SD implemented OSC in our consoles five or six years console release, DiGiCo have implemented a ‘Generic ago when we started developing our iPad application,” OSC control’ that is not dedicated to any specific says Bigg. “We publish a list of OSC commands, which third-party company’s products. “Any user of the means that any third party can control the mixing console can define their own OSC messages for their functions of our consoles. That’s precisely what

Qlab does with our consoles for example; OSC is a powerful tool.”

DiGiCo also has a long relationship with the likes of Optcore (provider of time critical, redundant, audio, video and control infrastructure) and Waves with their SoundGrid system. The company’s new 4REA4 installed audio solution demonstrates that they’re up to the challenge of providing solutions for the changing needs of the audio engineer. “We’re always talking to other companies about how we can make things better for the engineer,” concludes Gordon. “If we make our products easier for them to do cool things, it keeps our products relevant and they’re keen to keep on using them – and that’s really what we’re all about.”

Stephen Bennett has been involved in music production for over 30 years. Based in Norwich, he splits his time between writing books and articles on music technology, recording and touring, and lecturing at the UEA.

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PRODUCT REVIEW

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SOUND DEVICES MIXPRE-10T Stephen Bennett gets his hands on the latest addition to Sound Devices’ MixPre Series of recorders, mixers, and USB audio interfaces

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ound Devices has an enviable reputation in the field of broadcast audio. Known for their reliable nature and tough construction, their products can be found in many areas of the television and film industries. The MixPre-10T follows in the illustrious footsteps of the company’s fivetrack MixPre-3 and the eight-track MixPre-6. The MixPre-10T, as its name may suggest, is a ten-input,

‘ultra-low-noise Class-A Kashmir’ – come with analogue limiting built-in. This latter feature is extremely useful when under pressure on location and, in my opinion, preferable to the digital limiters found on some location recorders. The preamps feature a -130dBV noise floor and 32-bit A-to-D converters. It has all the usual suspect features you’d expect – recording up to 192kHz, phase controls, low cut filtering, 48v phantom power and

“Most standalone multitrack recorders are rackmountable beasts, so having a high quality portable addition to the breed is very welcome” 12 track SD card-based location recorder. Eight of these inputs are on Neutrik-style Microphone/ TRS connectors, while the extra two are via a stereo 3.5mm line input.

The preamplifiers – Sound Devices call them 38

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a MS decoder, along with some specific features aimed at film and broadcast users.

One of these features gives the device’s name the ‘T’ and is derived from the timecode and word clock facilities available on the recorder. The MixPre-10T

MIXER/RECORDER

Key Features n Eight Sound Devices Kashmir Class-A mic preamps n Accurate Timecode Generator/Reader plus Word Clock n Eight XLR/TRS combo Mic/Line level inputs n Flexible powering options RRP: £1,595 plus VAT www.sounddevices.com can generate and read timecode at all common frame rates and modes and can lock to, or output, word clock. The device itself is really small – about the size of a modest hardback book – and features a threaded stand mount. The front panel features a clear capacitive touch screen, transport control joystick and eight channel knobs with illuminated rings. These LEDs are capable of displaying various colours and form part of the metering system. For example, their brightness mirrors the signal level,

PRODUCT REVIEW

while their colour depends on signal presence, peak levels, limiting on or off, solo or sync reference. It’s a nice system that gives you a synoptic overview of the state of the unit at any given time.

The Star shortcuts hardware toggle allows the user to programme several shortcuts, such as Tone generation and the Slate Mic, making these easily accessible without recourse to the touch screen. The screen itself, though small, is lovely and clear and works very well indeed, with a logical menu system that shouldn’t pose too many problems on location.

Three modes of operation, Basic, Advanced and Customise are available – the former to help novice users or those who have predetermined uses for the MixPre-10T and the latter offering complete access to the device’s features. I can see this being very useful

the only disappointment for me – but I suspect size considerations were paramount in selecting a 3.5mm connector here.

The MixPre-10T features Bluetooth connectivity, so it can be remote-controlled from the free ‘Wingman’ iOS or Android app – and you can also use a USB keyboard to control the recorder. The app is really nice, especially on an iPad and should prove useful for fixed location use. Speaking of USB, you can also use the MixPre-10T as a 12-in, four-out audio interface as well. Metering is extensive and covers all the signal flows in and out of the device, while recordings to the SD card can be automatically copied to a USB thumb drive for backup. The MixPre-10T is designed to be used on location and under unpredictable circumstances,

in an educational setting, where basic mode could get students up and running quickly before introducing the more advanced features when required. As may be expected from the size, no side of the MixPre-10T is free of sockets or controls. The left panel features four of the XLR/TRS inputs, BNC inputs and outputs, USB A and C ports, the on/off switch and a 3.5 mm connector for the routable unbalanced auxiliary outputs. The right side of the unit features the remaining XLR/ TRS sockets, Left and Right balanced outputs, HDMI timecode input, the 3.5mm Aux/Mic input and a HP encoder to set headphone levels and various menudriven functions. The headphone socket is, perhaps,

so having a variety of ways to power the unit is essential – you don’t want to be caught short in the middle of a desert. It features a ‘Hirose’ connector that can be used to power the unit from the supplied PSU or a suitable battery pack, or you can use eight NiMH rechargeable batteries in a sled that attaches to the back of the unit. If you purchase the optional L-mount sled accessory, one or two Sony Li-Ion batteries can also be used as a power source.

I used the MixPre-10T to record a small theatre production, with inputs coming from radio microphones, fixed condenser microphones, Pressure Zone room microphones and several

channels of DI’d instruments. I only had a brief time to rehearse, but a quick scan through the manual got me up and running in no time. I own several highend preamplifiers from ‘the usual suspects’ and I’d contend that most of them have a ‘sound’ – this is often why we choose a particular make and model after all. The MixPre-10T feels different – I sense that ‘wire with gain’ (to steal a vintage advertising blurb from Quad) was the design aim for the preamplifiers and I’d say they were fairly spot on.

The MixPre-10T sounds great and was a doddle to use in practice. The headphone output was clear and loud enough to judge the quality of the inputs.

Although Sound Devices’ reputation comes from its use on set, the company are also suggesting that it’d be perfect as a secure ‘backing track’ system for live music performance and, with the Musician plug-in, is aiming the unit at more ‘music-based’ uses.

Loaded onto the MixPre-10T, the software allows for track laying without a DAW, punch in and out, offers reverb and ‘air’ effects, internal routing to tracks, a metronome and ‘easy DAW import’. Most standalone multitrack recorders are rack-mountable beasts, so having a high quality portable addition to the breed is very welcome. A ‘musician friendly’ version of the device, the MixPre-10M, is also available, but the -10T with Musician Plugin is capable of everything the -10M offers. A combined location and music recorder for the price of a single high quality, portable device isn’t something to be sniffed at and the MixPre-10T takes the best bits of the Sound Devices current range to provide an excellent and genuinely useful device at a surprisingly low price point.

The Reviewer Stephen Bennett has been involved in music production for over 30 years. Based in Norwich, he splits his time between writing books and articles on music technology, recording and touring, and lecturing at the UEA. December 2018

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PRODUCT REVIEW

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AVID SIBELIUS | FIRST James Ivey gives us a rundown of this music notation software from the creators of Pro Tools

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think it would be fair to say that if you have used a computer to create any form of what I am going to call “Standard Western Notation” and you are based in the UK, then you have probably used a version of Sibelius. From the early versions, rather oddly titled Sibelius 7 written for the Acorn computing platform, Sibelius has always allowed the user to produce perfect looking scores and parts to enable those of us with no musical engraving skills whatsoever to create something 40

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that even the most novice musician can read and play. Anyone who ever tried to read any of my handwritten parts produced while I was at university in London would agree with me.

However, the Sibelius application has grown over the years into an all-encompassing music creation tool. It is now possible to produce mixed and mastered audio files of your composition along with graphical scores, instrumental parts and educational worksheets and while this is all very useful

SOFTWARE

functionality, some users may just need to put a couple of lines of music onto a page, print them out and show them to a performer for playback advice. To this end, the Sibelius team at Avid have created a free version, called Sibelius | First.

GETTING STARTED First let’s think of the full version of the Sibelius program, which is known as Sibelius | Ultimate, as a car if you will. A very high quality car featuring top

PRODUCT REVIEW

Key Features n Easy setup and intuitive GUI n Built with the same engine as Sibelius | Ultimate n Flexi-Time engine follows as you play n Text styles including dynamics and technique tests for full score annotation RRP: FREE www.avid.com specification and all the mod cons. Now think of Sibelius | First as a car built by the same manufacturer using all the same knowledge in its production but without the every last bell and whistle feature, and then you are in the ballpark of what Sibelius | First is to the Sibelius product line. A cut down run-about that drives much the same way as it’s big brother.

Sibelius | First is a free download but you will need an Avid Application Manager account. This is again free and is the way Avid makes sure you are running the latest and greatest versions of their current software range including Pro Tools, Media Composer, and Sibelius.

YOUR FIRST SCORE The great thing about the entire Sibelius range is that it is very intuitive to use and get working with straight away as the GUI is based around something musicians and composers have been using for centuries, a piece of manuscript paper. Everything links back to how your score, and in turn the parts, look and are displayed, and that is a very important thing to remember. Sibelius treats what you are looking at as the most important thing; sound or rather playback is a little less important.

In many ways that is not really fair but Sibelius has always been about making a beautiful looking score first and worrying about playback second.

Once you have added your instruments to your score, a maximum of four in Sibelius | First, you can add the time and key signatures. Tempo as either a tempo marking or Italian tempo term, and then other information like the title of the piece, the composer and lyricist for example. Sibelius then goes away for a second and creates the perfect looking starting point. Now all we have to do is add the notation.

NOTE INPUT There are a number of ways to get notation into Sibelius | First. You can use a combination of mouse and keyboard to enter notes onto the stave. The QWERTY keys A to G directly correspond to notes A-G on the stave.

If you are using a computer with a full sized QWERTY keyboard you will notice that the Sibelius | First on-screen keypad also directly corresponds with the numeric keypad on the right hand side.

Sorry laptop users, Apple did away with a very handy feature years ago where you could convert the letter keys into number keys, which was particularly useful

for Sibelius users. Well I guess that’s progress.

The way I like to input notes into Sibelius is using what they call Flexi-time input; the rest of us would call this recording. Simply connect up a midi or USB compatible keyboard, hit the Record button (Flexi-time input) on the Transport control and after a four beat count play the music; both rhythm and pitch and Sibelius will interpret what you play into perfect notation.

The very clever Flexi-time engine is able to follow you as you play. However, we as musicians are not used to this so often what happens is you get slower and slower as you follow the click, which is in turn following you. Not a nice musical outcome. The way to get around this is to turn on the Flexi-time engine and just have a solid click at the tempo you require. This is achieved in the Flexi-time Options tab and set the “Flexibility of tempo” to “None (non-rubato)”.

MARKING UP THE SCORE Once you have your notes on the stave then you have to mark up your score. Sibelius | First offers a more than adequate number of different lines including slurs and crescendos, with text styles including dynamics and technique texts to fully annotate your score. One of the interesting things that not many people know about Sibelius is that most of the text styles will play back. For example, if you put a Pizz marking onto a Violin part, it will change the playback of the notes to a Pizzicato sound. If you want to change back to a bowed sound just type Arco.

CONCLUSION If all you want to do is create perfect looking basic scores for your string quartet, piano duo or four piece jazz band and then print out the parts, Sibelius | First is going to be great for you. You will be learning the same skills and using the same tools as if you were using the full blown Sibelius | Ultimate software just

in a much less complicated software environment with less potential rabbit holes to fall down. This is never going to be a bad thing as Sibelius is one of only a very small number of software applications that do a good job of dealing with the production of written musical notation. Some might also claim that Sibelius is the “industry standard” when it comes to score and part creation. Even if it is not the case, if you do end up in either a professional or educational musical environment then a good working knowledge of Sibelius is not going to harm you.

However, as soon as you want to add that 5th instrument to your band or you want to have a piano accompaniment with your string trio you are going to have to upgrade to a paid version of Sibelius which start at £5 per month and offer up to 16 staves of notation at a time, albeit with a restricted feature set.

When you are ready to move up to the full Sibelius | Ultimate, the monthly subscription goes up to around £19 per month, but for this you do get the full gold plated Rolls Royce version of the notation software.

Here I have really only scratched the surface of what Sibelius and Sibelius | First can do. The only real limitation is your musical vision.

The Reviewer James Ivey started off his pro audio career selling studio equipment and has worked for Avid as a tech support advisor and product demonstrator.

Since leaving the company over 10 years ago he has become technical editor for online forum Production Expert.

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BACKBEAT

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DOM MORLEY

PRO SPOTLIGHT In each issue of AMI we feature an audio professional from a range of disciplines to find out how they got started in the industry and what they’ve worked on. This month we hear from Grammy Award-winning Dom Morley.

What do you do?

I’m a producer and mix engineer, mostly working out of my own Oxfordshire studio.

How did you get into the industry?

Initially I knocked on doors of studios with the killer line “I’ll work for free and I make good tea”. This failed about 50 times in a row, but eventually someone said “OK, come back on Monday at 10am”. I got to be a runner/assistant kind of person at that studio (a small one in Birmingham, long since gone) for a few months, and made a good enough impression there that when a paid assistant job came up in a nearby studio I was offered the role.

What are some of your credits?

Amy Winehouse ‘Back To Black’ Richard Ashcroft ‘These People’ Adele ‘19’ Grinderman ‘Grinderman’ Mark Ronson ‘Version’ Lemon Jelly ‘Lost Horizons’ What is your favourite item of audio gear and why?

So many favourite tools for different jobs to be honest.

I guess to pick one thing that I think is pretty unique, it would be my VacRac TSL-3 limiter. I’ve had it for a few years now and always use it on vocals in a mix. It has this utterly magic way of holding a vocal steady without it sounding compressed at all. It saves so much time in vocal rides - it has saved me countless hours since I’ve had it!

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What are some of the challenges that you face in your job?

Like any job there are a whole bunch of unique challenges associated with producing and mixing. I think one that doesn’t get talked about enough is the isolation that can come with doing a lot of mix work. As artists hardly ever come to a mix now (and I can’t blame them - it’s not a spectator sport) I find myself spending an awful lot of my professional life in a room on my own. My studio is in the middle of nowhere, which is beautiful, but is also quite isolating. When I realised a couple of years ago that this was starting to take a toll I looked around for a way to rebalance. I took a job at Leeds College of Music tutoring their MA students in Music Production. It’s only a day a fortnight, but it’s very rewarding and injects some human interaction into my working life! I’ve now started to do some guest speaking at universities and institutions around the country as well, which is also really fun and helps the balance of solo and community work.

What was your favourite project and why?

Too tough to call! I guess in retrospect the Amy Winehouse album has been very rewarding, not just because of the Grammy etc, but because it’s a great album that really found its audience. So often in this job you work on great music that doesn’t get the break that it deserves and that’s always so disappointing.

‘Back To Black’ really got the chance to be heard by everyone who might love it, and plenty did, so that’s a great thing.

What industry professional inspired you the most to do what you do?

There was no one person really, although I guess there were signposts along the way that lead me to wanting to work in studios. The first time I heard Pink Floyd’s ‘Wish You Were Here’ completely blew my mind – it really opened a door for me and showed me what music could be and how it could make you feel – so I have Brian Humphries to thank for that. And then when I was about 14 I heard The Pixies’ ’Surfer Rosa’ and decided that I had to start a band, so I have Steve Albini to thank there. After that I was lucky enough to work with some really amazing engineers and producers as I was training who all inspired me to keep getting better and work harder!

What’s the best bit of advice that you can give anyone trying to break into the industry?

Network as much as possible, and make sure you are on top of your game at all times. Who you know can get you a gig, but then what you know keeps you on it, and gets you recommended for the next one. You never know where your breaks are going to come from so approach every opportunity that comes along as a chance to prove how good you are (even if it’s just taking a bunch of tea and coffee orders) and eventually people will notice, and trust you with more responsibility. Also, keep diverse at the beginning - this is a rapidly changing industry. Darwin never used the phrase “survival of the fittest”, he said “survival of the most adaptable to change”.

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