Headliner Magazine Issue 37

ISSUE 37 / MAY 2021 SUPPORTING THE CREATIVE COMMUNITY

MAGAZINE / 37

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HOT PROPERTY

PAUL WOOLFORD IMELDA MAY

ON REVEALING HER MOST AUTHENTIC SELF

RAMI YACOUB

THE MAN BEHIND ICONIC POP HITS

TYLA

SOUTH AFRICAN SUPERSTAR IN THE MAKING

soothe harshness so your EQ doesn’t have to

read more at oeksound.com

“Lose your dreams and you might lose your mind.”

— Mick Jagger

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SUP P

IV E C EAT O CR

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37 UK dance music producer and DJ Paul Woolford has been busy building himself a legacy. After taking 2020 by storm with his Diplo and Kareen Lomax collaboration Looking For Me, he recently brought the same energy on soaring summer anthem HEAT, teaming up with singersongwriter Amber Mark on a pulsating track that perfectly embodies his trademark sound. In this issue, we chat to Woolford about how the track came together, his rugged new Special Request project, and why his long-running residency at Space in Ibiza was a life-changing experience.

We catch up with Swedish record producer and songwriter, Rami Yacoub, about his extensive contributions to some of pop’s biggest hits, and discover how Imelda May went back to her Irish roots for sixth studio album, 11 Past The Hour, while asking the big question: what is love?

Meanwhile, emerging South African starlet Tyla opens up about her huge debut single, the Amapiano genre sweeping the continent, and the big dreams she holds for her career.

Songwriter and producer Leroy Clampitt reveals how he got his first big break co-writing for Justin Bieber, piano-rock band Fuzz Skyler discuss their epic debut, Recall, and awardwinning recording engineer Manon Grandjean reflects on achieving global recognition for her work with Stormzy.

On the studio side, we discover why clients keep returning to Grouse Lodge, a world-class residential facility

Colby Ramsey Group Editor, Headliner

in rural Ireland with a Neve VR60 desk, and go behind the scenes at Assault & Battery 1, Flood and Alan Moulder’s legendary mix room which Miloco is now offering out commercially to artists and producers. Across the pond, producer and engineer Garth Richardson talks us through his recent studio upgrade courtesy of Focusrite’s Dante-networked RedNet range.

In this month’s bumper Spotlight section, we bring you an exclusive review of L-Acoustics’ brand new immersive mix system, L-ISA Studio, dive into iZotope’s Music Production Suite with RX Pro For Music, and check out Sonarworks’ SoundID Reference headphone calibration tool.

Our reviewers also give their verdicts on NUGEN Audio’s Stereoizer Elements plugin, Hear Technologies’ Hear Back PRO personal mixing system, and UDO’s inspiring Super 6 polysynth.

Enjoy the issue!

Cover photo: Steve Gullick

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20 / TYLA 14/ IMELDA MAY 08 / FUZZ SKYLER

36 / STARR PARODI

24 / LEROY CLAMPITT

28/ PAUL WOOLFORD 40 / ASSAULT & BATTERY

46 / EDUCATION

48 / D&B SOLUTIONS

52 / ROBIN REUMERS

50 / STE£AN

54 / GROUSE LODGE STUDIOS

64 / LUCY SPRAGGAN 60 / RAMI YACOUB

76 / GARTH RICHARDSON

68 / CJ BLAIR

72 / MANON GRANDJEAN 80 / THE AMERICANS

86 / TIBASKO

90 / LIAM MOUR

96 / SPOTLIGHT REVIEWS

136 / HOUSE OF WORSHIP 126/ DOMINIK SCHERRER

138 / SHY MARTIN 132/ BRUZA

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FUZZ SKYLER

Road To Recall

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Road To Recall

FUZZ SKYLER Representatives from five nations are called to address one pressing matter. No, this is not the UN. This is Fuzz Skyler. Their mission? To breathe new life into the world of rock music. Any band that describes themselves as such will not fail to capture the imagination of the music industry, which is exactly what Fuzz Skyler have done with their epically theatrical debut single, Recall. And wait till you hear them live…They may have launched their music during a worldwide lockdown, but this is a formidable musical force that, given the chance, could fill out stadiums.

For now, like everyone else, they find themselves mostly confined to the house, where four of the five band members live together in London.

Making up Fuzz Skyler are BritishIranian lead singer and keys player, Fuzz, drummer Mark (who lives nearby with his wife), Portuguese and Greek guitarists Dan and Kostas, and Lithuanian bassist Arnie.

“I read a really interesting quote by Henry Rollins, the punk singer, the other day. It was, ‘you spend half your life messing up and the other half dealing with it’. That’s exactly what we’ve been doing for the last three

years!” begins frontman Fuzz (who I can’t help but notice has the winning combination of the speaking voice of Stephen Merchant and a singing voice not too dissimilar to Freddie Mercury).

“Funny you should say that, as one or two years ago when I was working at Waitrose at Christmas I was on the tills and Stephen Merchant actually showed up... he seemed absolutely miserable! So, Merry Christmas!” he laughs. “Maybe it’s the tone of his voice, or maybe it’s just the misery of the lockdown!”

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FUZZ SKYLER

Road To Recall

The group came together under Fuzz who headhunted drummer, Mark, at a David Bowie tribute act.

“I got a call that someone was looking for people to make up a David Bowie tribute band, so I said I played the drums,” says Mark. “I got there and Fuzz was the Bowie, so to speak.

He asked me to join his band. The lightning bolt was the real clincher for me, just scrolled across the face…”

They then auditioned guitarists Dan and Kostas, who insisted they came as a pair. Bassist Arnie was the final piece to the puzzle, and Fuzz Skyler was born. Inspired by David Bowie, Muse, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and – yes – Queen, Fuzz Skyler interweave piano, densely textured guitars and blistering drums, and are dead set on ushering in a new wave of anthemic rock. On being compared to Freddie Mercury, Fuzz says he gets that a lot: “When I was about 19 years old, somebody told me that I sound a little bit like Freddie Mercury, and then I started listening to Queen and I kind of saw the resemblance. That obviously influenced my songwriting a lot as well. But it’s just evolved. I listen to a lot of hip-hop, I listen to a lot of soul, a lot of Motown and a lot of Persian music – because my parents are Iranian, so there’s a lot of Iranian influence in my music as well. It doesn’t always show in the rock songs, but it’s definitely there. Being compared to Freddie is definitely not a bad thing – I can’t help the shape of my vocal cords. But it’s definitely not the worst person to be compared to!”

RECALL The band’s debut single Recall is the first of a four-track EP, recorded with award-winning producer Andrew Hunt. The song is ultimately an exercise in finding a voice and then letting it be heard.

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“We felt that Recall would be the perfect song to introduce us as a band and to represent our musical identity,” says Fuzz. “We hope that this track will uplift people and act as a rallying cry to all who share our love of rock music, and to all who are trying to find their own voice.”

“We’re not that at all. I think Recall is more of a statement. That’s probably the best way to describe it.”

Fuzz shares that he wrote the song during a period when he was feeling particularly frustrated after hearing people complain about chart music becoming monotone.

“Exactly!” says Fuzz, “the whole band listens to a lot of new alternative music, and the direction that we’re going into is going to be very, very different…”

“I took out my frustrations on this song. The song is about not being heard. It’s about the music industry doing its own thing, and I thought it was a really good way to get our sound out there and to vent our frustrations, as it were. I wrote the song when I was listening to a lot of ‘70s rock songs, and I realised that there’s a sense of quality in the older songs, especially from around the ‘60s all the way to the ‘90s.

Actually, there’s a quality that we’ve been missing for the last 10 years or so. The more I listened, the more it inspired me to create something of the same quality.”

On working with Hunt on their upcoming EP, they’re careful not to reveal too much:

Fuzz notes that they don’t consider themselves to be a ‘classic’ rock band.

“We’re the spirit of a hard rock band wrapped up in a modern one,” offers Mark.

“It’s a four track EP, and we’re very much treating each of these songs as singles in their own right,” shares Mark. “So they will all have their own campaigns around the individual songs. Which is partly to make sure that we’re doing right by each of those tracks individually, and also it’s typically the way the industry seems to be going at the moment as well.”

“The third single is going to be about London, and I think as London opens up during the summertime, it might not be a bad idea to drop the track then,” teases Fuzz.

ASPIRING HEADLINER

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“WE HOPE THAT THIS TRACK WILL UPLIFT PEOPLE AND ACT AS A RALLYING CRY TO ALL WHO SHARE OUR LOVE OF ROCK MUSIC, AND TO ALL WHO ARE TRYING TO FIND THEIR OWN VOICE.”

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FUZZ SKYLER

Road To Recall

COME BACK BIGGER Fuzz Skyler recently put two QSC K12.2 active loudspeakers and one QSC KS212C subwoofer through their paces as part of Headliner and QSC’s Come Back Bigger: Try This At Home campaign – going on to win the system for their efforts.

They share that they’ve just recently had the system delivered, and are itching to play live again: “We’ve done a few live streams from home, but it’s just not the same,” says Fuzz. “You realise how important live music is – you can’t replace it. We’re a very energetic band, and when we play live, there’s a lot of energy, and we feed off the audience’s energy as well.

And when we don’t have that, it’s just not the same.”

Prior to using the QSC PA, the band were using the ones supplied by venues, which aren’t always up to par.

“Having this now, in future if we put on our own shows, we’ve got a lot more flexibility in terms of where we might want to play because we can provide a full backline HEADLINER MAGAZINE

now,” enthuses Mark. “Now we can rock up anywhere and provide everything ourselves. I’m quite excited about the prospect of playing in some less obvious spaces – that could be quite interesting.”

“Before the lockdown, we were invited to two small festivals, and both festivals actually asked us to bring our PA system,” remembers Fuzz. “So we were planning on hiring a PA system for the day, but now we will just show up with one of the best PA systems! I’ve really been tempted to unpack the PA, put it in the living room, turn it all the way up and just listen to music for a day…”

“I’d forgotten how loud my drums and cymbals were!” interjects Mark.

“We can hear every note or sound – it’s fantastic having that clarity and that clear-cut sound. It was really, really easy and intuitive to set up, too.”

Fuzz Skyler are independent, which they say has been a good learning curve, while also allowing them to find out who they are as a band:

“We consider ourselves quite lucky because we’ve been building the foundations of our band,” concludes Fuzz. “If we weren’t independent, during the last two, three years, the things we’ve learnt would have been done by somebody else as it would have been handled elsewhere. But since we’re doing it ourselves, it really gives us an insight into how this whole thing works. It can be quite intense, but it’s always 100% worth it.”

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IMELDA MAY

Made To Love

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IMELDA MAY Imelda May has always done things her own way, and has followed her nose since she was 16 when it comes to her music. With her sixth studio album, 11 Past The Hour, May reveals her most authentic self, diving deep into her Irish roots while asking the big question: what is love?

Marker pen in mouth, Imelda May joins the Zoom call in the middle of signing a mountain of CDs. “I’m in a secret hideout,” she says cryptically, while continuing to sign away methodically.

May is clearly used to multitasking, and confirms that she’s currently juggling writing a poetry book, working on various artwork and videos, another mysterious project that she can’t discuss yet, has recently finished an EP release – oh, and she’s just completed her brand new album, 11 Past The Hour.

“I’ve been crazy busy! While I’m talking to you, I’m unpacking around 2,000 CDs that I’m supposed to be signing by the end of today, which I will do, and I still haven’t. I do too much, but I have to say, I thoroughly enjoy what I do. I love it. I find it exciting and fun. If I wake up and it excites me, that’s why I do it. I’m like

a child that way; I like to keep the childlike curiosity in what I do.”

Born and raised in The Liberties area of Dublin, May has become one of Ireland’s most famed female artists.

Discovered by Jools Holland who asked her to go on tour with him, May has gone on to perform duets with artists including U2, Lou Reed, Sinead O’Connor, Robert Plant, Van Morrison, Jack Savoretti and Elvis Costello, and has featured on recent albums and live tours with Jeff Beck, Jeff Goldblum and Ronnie Wood – the latter who joins her on 11 Past The Hour.

staying overnight with some friends around the corner. I remember it was during a massive storm where there were warnings to stay indoors – the bus was shaking all over the road. I thought it was gonna blow over and I was more terrified of being caught than I was about being killed!” she laughs. “I did something similar to see Guns N’ Roses, as well. I hitchhiked all the way to Slane Castle, then got stranded and had to sleep in a field.

I only told my parents about that a little while ago – they were horrified!

But it was totally worth it.”

May shares that she’s always been headstrong and music-mad, and suddenly recalls the time she snuck off to her first ever gig: “I was 15 and I told my parents I was staying at a friend’s house. I got a coach and went on a five hour journey, and I told my parents I was HEADLINERMAGAZINE.NET

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IMELDA MAY

Made To Love

Fast forward to present day, and May is in the middle of promoting her sixth studio album – a record that brims with sensuality, emotional intelligence, spirituality and intuition, marking a new chapter for the singer-songwriter and showcasing her at her most authentic. Which is not to say she’s not been authentic before: “I’ve always been true to myself,” she points out. “When songwriting, I’ll think, ‘people are listening to this’, and I have found it quite daunting.

Obviously, I was delighted that people listened to my music, but during the writing process, I kind of found a way of being honest, but hiding it so that only I would really know the depth of what I was saying. You could write a sad song behind a happy melody, but I got fed up with that. I just wanted HEADLINER MAGAZINE

to write my diary again, the way I did in the beginning, and just say what I wanted to say and have the freedom to do that – and have the guts to go with that. And so that’s what I did. I’m just going to lay it all out there – it’s a kind of honesty with yourself, which is often the hardest one of all.”

What’s immediately evident when discussing her early start in music and resulting career is that May has never sold out to ‘play the game’.

For her, it’s simple: “Music was my focus, not fame. I was 16, singing the blues in Dublin.

That’s when I met Ronnie Wood.

He says he discovered me, but I always say to him, ‘but you never told anyone about me!’ We were 16 when we had a jam session, and then I started to get record

company interest, but they wanted to change me to be more pop, so I turned them down. I knew that’s not what I wanted, even when I was 16.”

May’s second studio album, Love Tattoo, is a result of her sheer determination and hard graft. She shares that she funded the entire project herself, working double shifts in a nursing home and in restaurants just to hire a studio and pay her band.

“I’d try and get punters in,” she remembers. “I was making flyers, photocopying them and cutting them out, and trying to advertise them. I did all that myself, and I’m really glad I did it that way.”

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IMELDA MAY

Made To Love

“I DECIDED TO WRITE EVERYTHING FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF LOVE, AND I THINK THAT’S REALLY THE POINT OF LIFE.”

11 PAST THE HOUR Taken from 11 Past The Hour, recent single Made To Love is an energetic, celebratory song about love in all its shapes, sizes and guises. Recorded with Wood on guitars and featuring on vocals, the song was written with co-producer Tim Bran (London Grammar, Primal Scream) and string arranger Davide Rossi (Coldplay, U2, Goldfrapp), who kicked off the process by playing May a few pieces of music to see what she responded to.

“Whichever one would move me, I’d immediately go to the corner and start writing. Normally my hand can’t keep up with my head – it’s like I’m possessed. I like to get the initial bones of the song, but when something is ignited in me, I can’t stop it. They played the intro to Made To Love, and I just wrote that from the point of view of love as a living being.

I was thinking, ‘What is love?’ Love is in us all, so if it’s in us, then we are love, you know? So what if it’s this being that kind of hops from one to the other, and it’s looking at us and seeing how we’re behaving. It must be highly disappointing at times, and extremely beautiful at other times.”

The song name checks Martin Luther King and Marielle Franco and John Lennon – “all these people who fought and died for love,” she points out.

“It really is worth fighting for. We really owe it to these wonderful souls who’ve given so much and we all benefit from what they’ve done – they’re all wonderful activists. So I decided to write everything from the perspective of love, and I think that’s really the point of life. It’s not always the easiest way, but it’s definitely the right way.”

May concludes by saying that 11 Past The Hour is her truth, and the reason she has always written is to share her

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experiences and connect with her fans, who have been unwaveringly loyal throughout her career.

“I always write with meaning and from my heart as that’s the reason I write, to connect with my own story at each particular moment and I hope therefore I connect with others during theirs. I’d like to think I can put into words and music what we all feel sometimes. We all laugh, sing, love, cry, dance, kiss, care. We all experience lust, anger, joy, worry, sorrow and hope. Sometimes we stay silent and hold it all in and sometimes we dance and throw it all to the wind with abandon, but one thing is for sure is we are in this life together. Each song is a moment in my life. Each life is a moment in time. Every minute counts.”

With that, May pops the end of the marker pen back in her mouth to tackle the remaining CDs. “I have to sign them and then I have a very difficult task of going and getting fish and chips for my daughter. It should be fine as long as I do it the right way around. Otherwise everybody’s gonna get greasy-fingered CDs!” IMELDAMAY.CO.UK

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Visit the Focusrite Pro website to read the case study.

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TYLA

No Gravity

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A 19-year-old South African superstar in the making, Johannesburg’s Tyla is fresh from the release of her huge debut single, Getting Late. It comes with a jaw-dropping music video — which looks like it cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to make but is actually the result of Tyla and her closely-knit team hustling to get it made. Tyla opens up about the song, the unique beats and dance moves of the Amapiano genre sweeping across Africa, and the dreams she holds for her career.

Speaking with the ultra-talented youngster, who is in her home city, which is “locked down still, but not too hectic”, I confide that I can’t quite believe Getting Late is her first official release as an artist. Belonging to the Amapiano genre, it’s a dangerously addictive song, with its nocturnal bass, Tyla’s Mariah Carey-meets-Ariana Grande vocal refrains, and all-around excellent production from the track’s featured artist and up-and-coming producer, Kooldrink.

was the first time I’ve ever recorded in general. And it was with Kooldrink, actually. So late that year, we came across Getting Late. We knew it was a song we wanted to debut with, and the whole process was very natural.

We had no expectations, but it ended up being crazy. My manager actually directed and shot the music video – we did it as a small team. I’m super excited that everyone’s receiving it how we would like them to, and we’re excited for the future.”

“In high school, which was 2019, I was discovered by my manager,” Tyla says.

“And that year, we were just recording and exploring my sound because it

Tyla is very much part of the generation who is able to gain massive traction via TikTok, an app that was of course huge before Covid,

which Tyla points out has become even bigger during lockdown.

She’s certainly not someone who has to force herself to post on social media; she tells me she loves posting videos of her sharing dance moves that originate in South Africa, and took the opportunity to encourage her 842k followers on the app to post their own videos dancing to Getting Late.

“It just blew up,” Tyla says. “I never decided to get on TikTok just to promote my music. I enjoy making videos, it’s something that I genuinely like doing. And the fact that I was able to broaden my audience through that HEADLINERMAGAZINE.NET

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TYLA

No Gravity

“WE KNEW WE WANTED IT TO BE AS BIG AS POSSIBLE FOR IT TO BE THE BEST MUSIC VIDEO COMING OUT OF SOUTH AFRICA, EVEN AFRICA!”

and create a challenge that a lot of people are doing, it just took things to the next level. It helped me connect with my supporters from all over the world. So it definitely did play a huge part in the success.”

I ask Tyla if she could introduce listeners to the fascinating world of Amapiano, a genre that has HEADLINER MAGAZINE

taken hold of South Africa since its emergence in 2012, characterised by synths, airy pads and wide and percussive basslines.

Tyla tells me “it’s a genre that I really love. And I never thought I would actually make an Amapiano song because it’s not as poppy as my style is. So we decided to make it pop,

you know? The music stems from a lot of African music, like Kwaito – it has some jazz elements and house elements. It’s definitely the biggest sound right now in South Africa and has been for a little while. I recommend people check it out!” And of course, Spotify has you covered with dedicated playlists for the sound.

EMERGING HEADLINER

When you listen to Getting Late, you may notice the sound of a soft drink can opening, sprinkled throughout the song. It’s the sound that signifies the production work of Kooldrink, who is also featured as an artist on the song (and can be seen in the video being a cheeky chappy).

Kooldrink running an ATM scam to get some extra cash to dance with, excellent dance choreography, culminating in an epic sports stadium scene. I tell Tyla it looks like it all cost hundreds of thousands to make, but it turns out that they actually had no budget:

“When I was introduced to my manager, I was introduced to Kooldrink at the same time,” Tyla says. “He was the first producer I ever recorded with and he taught me the basics of mostly everything that I know about music. I came from just singing in my room to now recording – he introduced me to that whole process. We formed a relationship through that, and Getting Late was something that just drew us closer and is something that we both are very excited about because of the success that it’s had thus far.”

“My manager directs music videos for other artists, so the money he would get would be put straight into this project. We received a lot of favours.

I performed for free to get the stadium location! So much of it was us hustling.

The music video really is quite something, as we see Tyla gazing across the city from a balcony,

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fairytale idea. I’m super excited because it turned out way better than expected.”

With lots more music to come, and presumably more unbelievable visuals, now is the best possible time to start listening to Tyla to boast that you were there before she inevitably becomes an international star. Don’t be late!

INSTA: @TYLA

“A huge thing that we wanted to do was showcase South Africa – with all the dance moves, for example. We knew we wanted it to be as big as possible for it to be the best music video coming out of South Africa, even Africa! Which is for other people to decide of course! Garth [Tyla’s manager and video director] and my best friend Tato sat down and we just came up with this amazing African HEADLINERMAGAZINE.NET

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LEROY CLAMPITT

Soothing Strings

SOOTHING STRINGS

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New Zealand-born producer, singersongwriter and multi-instrumentalist Leroy Clampitt — otherwise known as Big Taste or Taste Nasa — got his first big break co-writing for Justin Bieber during his initial one-year visa in the US. Here he tells Headliner about his process when using oeksound’s soothe2 on strings and vocals, and some of the exciting new pop artists he’s been in the studio with recently.

Clampitt believes the situation he finds himself in has been a long time coming. Having already gone through the motions of taking on any project he possibly could, he’s now finding it easier to narrowly focus his energy on the things he really loves.

Originally from Pirongia, New Zealand, Clampitt started out writing songs for and playing in bands, teaching guitar and writing jingles.

“It’s like a different world over there,” he begins. “A band that I work with just played a 50,000 seat concert a week ago, which is quite hard to fathom!”

Clampitt has co-written and produced songs for artists including Justin Bieber, Madison Beer, Sage The Gemini, Adam Lambert, Lennon Stella and many more. It was towards the end of his first one-year visa in the US that he ended up landing a small record deal with an indie label in L.A., followed by a publishing deal songwriting for other artists after he’d built up some chops.

“While I was waiting in New Zealand for that second visa to come through, the opportunity to work on a song for Bieber came up,” he recalls. “Me and my friend James spent an afternoon in Auckland City just working on that brief, which was ‘just make it cool’. And so we just did what we felt like doing, sent it off, and then we had a single on the Bieber album. It was definitely a very good stepping stone.

just came out with Ashe [an emerging US-based singer-songwriter], I knew I wanted to go really big on string arrangements, because it’s a real passion of mine. I do a lot of work on my Mellotron; it’s one of my main little arranging devices, and I love the sound of that thing.”

“The last couple of records I’ve done with Madison, and with this one that

Clampitt has had his studio in L.A. for nearly three years, and he’s grateful

that he’s able to work out of such a nicely-sized room: “I have a baby grand piano in here and a full drum kit, and just everything I could possibly need to make good records without any excuses,” he adds.

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LEROY CLAMPITT

Soothing Strings

CLEANING UP The conversation turns to oeksound’s soothe2 plugin, which Clampitt explains he uses in pretty broad strokes, mostly with presets across his vocal and string busses.

and gives me a lot of opportunity to experiment.”

“It’s been especially helpful during the pandemic when I haven’t been able to get a cellist, for example, into my studio, which is a nice-sounding room,” he shares. “So they’re usually recording in their studio apartments or whatever, which can sound good, but when you’re layering up 17 of those, there can be some little harsh frequencies and I don’t necessarily have the attention span to go in and finesse each part.

But being able to put something like soothe on on top of everything to just clean it up a bit is very handy,

“The sick thing about soothe is, whatever instrument you chuck it on, there’s a preset for it and it’s a great starting point,” he affirms. “I’m just trying to get the song sounding amazing with the fewest steps possible.

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Clampitt is not afraid to admit that he’s a big preset guy:

“With the album I just did with Ashe, the whole record is full of strings. Usually before I run it through the tape, I have all the strings going to separate buses, and take a bit of a blanket approach.

But because we wrote a lot of this record in isolation from each other,

with her recording remotely on a lesser quality mic, I was able to use soothe to notch out some of those harsh frequencies on the backing vocal bus really quickly, and it was super helpful.”

As much as he’s a producer, Clampitt really considers himself more of a songwriter - the songwriting element often being the part of the process he cares most about: “I’m just trying to do what needs to be done for people to be able to hear the lyrics and the melody,” he concludes.

“I really make my best music when I’m making an artist happy.”

INSTA: @LEROYCLAMPITT OEKSOUND.COM

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British dance music producer and DJ Paul Woolford has been raising the bar in more ways than one lately. Having scored a hit single in 2020 with Diplo and Kareen Lomax collaboration Looking For Me, Woolford has followed up with a soaring anthem that perfectly embodies his trademark sound. HEAT echoes a sense of yearning for those long summer days, combining rousing piano chords and strings with the soul-drenched vocals of Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Amber Mark. Here, Woolford provides Headliner with a candid insight into how the track came together, his rugged new Special Request project, and why he wrestled with his own creativity for a number of years.

Growing up in Leeds, Yorkshire, Woolford in his early days was inspired by the club night Back to Basics, and eventually established a seven-year residency there. The experience was a pivotal one, enabling him to develop his DJing techniques and shape his sound: “Most people buy dance music after hearing it in a club context first, but for me it was completely the other way around,” begins Woolford. “I was going there every week for years before I was a resident, and it was a labour of love. I have wild memories of that club burned into my synapses forever.

“I learnt how to properly open a room and make it feel welcoming; I

learnt how to jump on and perform properly when somebody does not turn up; I learnt through making every mistake in the book how to DJ properly in all contexts.”

This then overlapped for a year or two with his weekly residency at We Love Space, a long-running Sunday party at Space in Ibiza which he started playing in 2008. Touring the world simultaneously, Woolford soon learnt even more about performing to a very different audience. It was during this time that he developed and refined his re-editing skills into its own area completely, playing sets alongside everyone from Jeff Mills and Carl Craig, to David Guetta and Aphex Twin.

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“The sheer variety of different sounds there made me see the bigger picture constantly, going from a local scene with the same regulars every week to an iconic global destination with thousands of punters,” he recalls fondly. “That whole time was a unique moment, never to be repeated again and life-changing for pretty much everyone involved. In total I played about 96 gigs at Space, and that experience stays with you.”

he reveals. “I think the entire music industry needed to take a step back to actually take stock of what we are dealing with, and observe where we can all do better. For me, the time has been spent focusing on all facets of creativity. I’ve never made as much music as I am doing now, and we are at the point where I need more channels for it, so I am building multiple contexts for things to be released into the public sphere.”

Like many, the last year during the pandemic has been a strange, and sometimes intense experience for Woolford. That being said, when the UK went into the first lockdown, his thoughts were, “I can catch up on years of missed sleep here”. And once he had caught up on some shut-eye, he got stuck into creating:

Woolford adds that his time is now carefully mapped out to a fine degree, where previously it could be bordering on the chaotic side:

“Pressing stop on the gigs enabled me to assess my longer term goals,”

Woolford’s 2020 Diplo and Kareen Lomax collaboration Looking For Me, which was received particularly well in the UK and was certified platinum in January, was just one of his recent stepping stones on the road to global dance music domination, and as he puts it, “one of those situations where we all brought out the best in each other.”

“I am building a legacy and there is simply not enough time in the day to do things that don’t fold into that in some way. The choices are about shaping things and taking steps into different audiences; the bigger picture is way beyond what you can see currently.”

“I am building a legacy and there is simply not enough time in the day to do things that don’t fold into that in some way.”

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BRINGING THE HEAT More recently, Woolford joined forces with Grammy-nominated singersongwriter Amber Mark on HEAT, released via Ministry Of Sound. The song exudes alchemy and was also co-written by Celeste, forming a powerhouse combination of talent, and marks Woolford’s first single release of 2021 following his recent reworks for Dua Lipa, New Order and multi-disciplinary designer/artist Virgil Abloh.

“The main body of HEAT was done last summer, and then it took a while to complete the details; there were so many versions!” shares Woolford.

“Amber Mark really brought the right feeling to it and I love what she did.

I can become quite obsessed with songs – feeling like I’m existing inside them, which is a surreal feeling.

My intention with all my songs is to make the most direct version of the

idea. There’s no toning them down or making them anything other than fusions of dance records and pop music. There is no pretense with them whatsoever.

“Each song has a life outside of the most visible context as well. They work as proper club records both in the remixes, and with my re-edits, and there’s also versions built purely for festivals and bigger stages, for down the line.”

Woolford’s creative approach has become pretty fluid overall, and he has certain ways of working that have expanded over the years, viewing them as a set of different processes that combine in alternate formations depending on the project. The goal, he explains, is to find the natural flow of creation that the song gives off, and latch onto that. And while

modern technology has removed the limitations of logistics to a large degree, Woolford believes that “there will never be a substitution for creators sitting together with absolute chemistry.”

So to what extent does he feel like he’s developed his creative process to embrace bolder sounds, and develop his artistry?

“It’s down to the mindset,” he affirms. “For years I wrestled with my creativity, because I allowed myself to be a follower of the media, rather than a creator following my own true path. I woke up to this properly around 2010-11 and that was during my work with Carl Craig in Detroit, and the evolution of my second project, called Special Request.”

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Woolford’s Special Request project takes its inspiration from a whole range of other influences like pirate radio, modern and classical art movements, clothing, film, literature and more. Once he’d freed himself from the shackles of paying too much attention to outside factors, he felt reinvigorated: “I immediately had a bolt of energy that was guiding me forwards,” he adds. “I realised that the worst thing any artist can do is to censor your taste to fit into any outside perception. Take control of the design, take control of the aesthetics, take control of your ideas and build an internal world from them. People will look in and really believe in it when you are yourself 100%.”

CREATIVE CLOUT Woolford tells me that his starting point when it comes to songwriting always involves him sitting at the keys in his writing room, which is stacked wall-to-wall with audio gear. Some of said gear is wired together in unorthodox ways, as some of what he does is completely outside the dance music realm, and therefore requires a different set of tools.

“Generally I write and arrange in there and then mix at Real World Studios (if it’s a PW record) with Oli Jacobs,” he explains. “The whole process of being in a different environment has enabled me to be more objective about what I’m hearing. The Special Request project is way more open-ended in that I can start something from any sound; there’s zero limitation to it. That means that I’m permanently looking at equipment of all types from the typical studio staples, to more obscure sound analysis tools, modular gear, whatever. It’s a world unto itself.

“My favourites include the Manley Massive Passive EQ, Maselec MLA-3 Triband compressor, SSL Fusion,

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Hammond SKX, Yamaha DX100, EMU E4XT Ultra samplers, all the Eventide stuff, and I adore loads of old cheap drum machines, particularly the Casio RZ1. I built a modular system to make an album with a couple of years back that has its own spannered psychedelic sound; it’s a never-ending quest. It’s easy to slip into obsession with equipment, and this is where I try to use everything as a tool, rather than just hoarding it. I want to make use of the things around me and if they stay unused for too long I’ll lend them out or give them away. Life is too short to see dusty racks doing nothing.”

There were a number of key moments that served as breakthroughs for Woolford before he hit the big time, one of which being his signing to Arista in 2000 with his close friend Mat Playford.

“We were just kids running a record shop and messing about,” he remembers. “We did this white label and took it to the Miami Winter Music Conference and had a really wild time... During that trip, I saw truly where music can take you. It was vital to my belief that making something in your bedroom for fun can change your life. The following weekend, Mat called me at 5pm on the Saturday and Danny Rampling was playing the track on BBC Radio 1.

We signed to the legendary Arista records courtesy of Mr Richard Thomas, who is still a good friend today, and manages Kano. The label gave us a decent advance, and even more incredible considering the track was made on an Akai S2000, sequenced by a Korg M1 and entirely made from samples.

“I could say things like platinum records and all of those things, which are always nice, but ultimately the true breakthrough comes from your mindset rather than external validation. The real breakthrough is in the mind.”

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“ULTIMATELY THE TRUE BREAKTHROUGH COMES FROM YOUR MINDSET RATHER THAN EXTERNAL VALIDATION. THE REAL BREAKTHROUGH IS IN THE MIND.”

MOMENTS OF MAGIC When it comes to his sets, Woolford likes to crank up the energy, and re-editing has become entirely intrinsic to all of his live performances: “You can apply more detail to a seven to eight hour set than a one hour festival smasher, although they are both as satisfying as each other in completely different ways when the planets are aligned. The overall thing is really feeling alive in the present moment. I’m itching to get back to it and it’s looking like we’ll get a taste of it again soon. It feels like it’s become a cliché to say it, but it will be unbelievably electric when the button gets pushed.

“I’m doing a handful of free shows for the small clubs that I’ve been connected to for many years to help them along the way, and then the touring will begin again. I would urge any of my peers who are in a position to help to do the same and contribute to their local scenes in some way. Small

clubs have been the incubation zones for so much talent and as such, we need to support them.”

I proceed to ask Woolford if he’s got any particularly memorable moments from over the years: “Remixing Whitney Houston and Kygo’s Higher Love was mind-blowing,” he replies. “I obviously thought such an endeavour could never happen, and then I had the request while I was waiting for a flight to take off from Ibiza — waiting to land to find out if it was confirmed seemed to take ages.

The mix had to be approved by the estate of Whitney, which was another excruciating wait!”

Considering Woolford’s prowess as a DJ, producer and songwriter, it’s safe to say that he’s seen the dance music genre evolve rather dramatically over the last two decades.

“Between 2004-2011 or so the dance music media was focusing on quite a narrow subset of things, and it felt like

so many styles of music were being overlooked. It needed to change and it eventually was blown apart completely as new generations of talent broke through and disregarded the old ways.

“It’s a fact that the media is always owned and steered by vested interests and this is even more prevalent today.

Artists need to be aware of these connections in order to know not to take lack of coverage personally. The media used to make or break scenes, but these days the power has moved back to the artists, who, because of social media, can tell their own story in exactly the way they feel is the most (or least!) authentic way.”

From the perspective of someone who is constantly digging for new music, Woolford says he has definitely seen the quality of material increase, especially in house music. He also sees modern jazz having a moment of influence once more – its legacy emerging from a new generation that he believes will thrive when bands can play together again.

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“House music will further become an intrinsic part of pop music globally; you could say it has already, but I think we’ll see this happen fully in the US with the Billboard chart as time goes by,” he says.

I close the conversation with a fairly loaded question, yet it’s one that Woolford answers with an unabashed honesty. What kind of advice would he impart to aspiring and emerging producers and artists?

“Learn about being in the present.

Learn how to be aware of your train of thought, observe it and allow it to pass,” he shares. “Decide exactly what you want from your creations.

Visualise it. Think about how you would feel when you achieve your goals and immerse yourself in that feeling.

Do not compare yourself to anyone

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else, be they peers or heroes. You are a 100% original, one-of-one edition, irreplaceable, impossible to replicate artist.”

So what’s in the pipeline for the ubiquitous dance music favourite?

“More collaboration in all its forms.

More context,” Woolford teases.

“There’s something coming with a New York legend of the culture that I cannot say anything else about just yet. That’s been a long time coming.

Basically, more, more, more!”

INSTA: @S_P_E_C_I_A_L_R_E_Q_U_E_S_T

Music Production Suite Pro $24.99/month

CLICK HERE

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Starr Power

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Headliner catches up with multiaward-winning, musician, arranger and former president of the Alliance for Women Film Composers, Starr Parodi, as she discusses her path into music and the Steinberg gear she cannot do without…

From composing music for some of the biggest titles in film and TV over the past 30 years, to playing in the Arsenio Hall house band, Starr Parodi has notched up a sparkling array of credits. From James Bond and Harry Potter, to Transformers and a wide range of network TV hits, her work can be heard in some of Hollywood’s biggest productions. She is also an active campaigner for gender diversity across the industry, currently sitting on the board of the Alliance for Women Film Composers, where she also served as president for two years.

Here, she sits down for a Zoom call with Headliner to discuss her incredible career to date..

AG: Did you always know that you wanted to get involved in film scores? How did you make your start in the composing world?

SP: I started playing piano when I was really young, and when I was about 14 I got hooked on music and I just knew that that was going to be my path.

AG: What was your big break?

SP: I was working as a pianist and synth player and was writing some demos for scoring. I sent a cassette to one of the busiest TV writers at the time and he hired me at a really young age. He had an orchestra and he hired me to write for him and do some orchestration. He started me with very hybrid cues and then one week there was this massive orchestral piece for a network show, and I was like, ‘are you sure you want me to do this one’? And he said, ‘well, if you’ve got any balls you’ll do it’! It was a big

challenge. I went back to my bedroom studio, figured it out and it turned out okay. It gave me a lot of confidence – it lit a flame in me.

Another break came as a player. I was in the Arsenio Hall Show house band, playing five days a week and I had a computer running sequencing software and synths. We actually ran the theme of the show every night from my computer. I did that for six years and I got to play with all of my heroes growing up. You never knew what would happen from one night to the next. One night we had Stevie Wonder and Whitney Houston in the wings, and I started playing Superstition and they just came out, started singing and we had this spontaneous jam. It was a real pinch yourself moment!

AG: Tell us about the production and arrangement for the James Bond trailer you worked on?

SP: When the franchise was coming back with Pierce Brosnan, MGM said they wanted us [Parodi and her husband/musical partner Jeff Eden Fair] to take a crack at doing something new with it. We had a layered, textured beginning, which was all guitar loops – that was a time when guitar loops weren’t something people were doing very much. We wanted it to have a trip hop feel at the beginning, then we went into the theme in a more rock way. It turned into a really popular theme and they used it in four of their trailers and advertising for Goldeneye, Die Another Day, The World Is Not Enough, Tomorrow Never Dies and a ton of other projects as well.

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AG: You served as president of the Alliance for Women Film Composers for two years, and remain on the board. What did you do in that role and why is that work so important?

SP: The Alliance has been in existence from 2014. There were just 10 of us at the first meeting. A study had just come out that found that women scored 2% of the top 250 top grossing films. All of us had been working in our studios and having successful careers and we just thought, ‘how can this be’? So, it was thought that having a directory where women could sign up and show their credits might be a way to get women in one place, so if someone was looking for a composer they could look there. None of us thought of ourselves as ‘women composers’, we are just composers.

But there is this disparity and we wanted to change that.

AG: Tell us about your tech set up?

We understand you’ve been using Steinberg’s Cubase from as far back as the ‘90s?

SP: I’ve been using it for so long I think of it as an extension of me. It’s like I download my brain into it! It’s a very intuitive programme. I love the tempo mapping feature, where I can just edit what I do together and then tempo map it. That makes the music HEADLINER MAGAZINE

breathe more. Often, I will just put it in record and play on the piano and cut those together. That’s my basic workflow. Being able to record MIDI performances after you’ve played them is also really fantastic. I also love how Cubase sounds and I feel like it’s really developed into a very stable and mature programme.

One of the many things I love about it is the Render In Place feature, because rather than having to load up and figure out what sound palette I’m going to use, everything is loaded up as instrument tracks and then they are disabled and hidden, and then I can just search for them and put a palette together.

I’ve never used another DAW. I love the way it sounds; it has an air or a breath to it, and when putting

organic instruments in it I feel like it really captures the essence of them.

There are so many cool things you can do with it, but the sound of it and the intuitive workflow are my favourite things. It allows you to do the impossible.

You can listen to our full podcast interview with Starr Parodi at Headliner Radio.

STARRPARODI.COM STEINBERG.NET

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A Lasting Legacy

ASSAULT & BATTERY Having officially taken over the lease of the famous Battery complex in Willesden Green, North West London which contains the legendary mix room Assault & Battery 1, global recording studio directory Miloco is now poised and ready to offer the room out to artists and producers commercially, as Headliner recently discovered…

Miloco established a formal relationship with the iconic facility after taking over the management of Alan Moulder and Flood’s worldclass tracking room, Assault & Battery 2, in 2008. Since taking over Studio 1 a month or so ago, Miloco has completely renovated the space, and has some exciting plans in the works to expand the studios further. Custom tailored to the highest tracking and mixing needs by Alan and Flood, you get a sense of the passion and expertise these studios were built on the moment you step inside.

equipped with Flood and Alan’s gear, providing users the freedom to immerse themselves in two incredible producers’ creative spaces.

It was back in 1975 when billionaire record executive, businessman and co-founder of the Zomba Group, Clive Calder, bought the building and turned it into Battery Studios.

Battery Studios offers a unique opportunity for Miloco and its clients - especially given the fact that both studios will remain fully HEADLINERMAGAZINE.NET

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Throughout the ‘80s, the facility welcomed the likes of Martin Birch, who produced a number of classic Iron Maiden Albums including Killers there, Robert ‘Mutt’ Lange, who produced The Cars’ multi platinum selling album Heartbeat City, including the hit single Drive, and John Leckie, who produced The Stone Roses’ eponymous debut album following their signing by Silvertone Records. A number of years later, Sylvia Massey produced Skunk Anansie’s hit debut album Paranoid and Sunburnt at the studios, before BMG bought out Zomba and sold Battery to Sony/BMG executive Martin Dodds and All Saints manager Steve Finan in 2003.

In 2005, Flood and Alan Moulder took over the then Studio 4 (now Assault & Battery 1), which was soon followed by their takeover of Studio 3 (Assault & Battery 2) in conjunction with Miloco.

drawn to its unique sound. The console is complemented by a huge range of outboard, including many rare and esoteric compressors, mic pres and reverbs.

More than just a mix room, Assault & Battery 1 is a truly unique, intimate, and outstandingly accurate mix environment, with an exceptional spec that has been compiled by Alan and Flood over the course of their illustrious careers. Just a handful of Alan’s recent projects to have been mixed there include Royal Blood’s Royal Blood, Interpol’s El Pintor, La Roux’s Trouble In Paradise, Foals’ Holy Fire and Led Zeppelin’s Celebration Day.

Combined with an impressive selection of nearfield monitors and the superbly accurate acoustic qualities of the room, producers and engineers will no doubt enjoy using this great desk to its full potential.

A year later, Criterion Studios run by Barney Herbert and producer Mark Williams leased Studio 3, ushering in a new era of recording prowess. During this period, recordings were made

by Simply Red, Placebo, KT Tunstall, The Killers, Ocean Colour Scene, Tom MCrae, and Fightstar amongst others, working with producers including Steve Osbourne, Dimitri Tikovoi, Andy Wright, Steve Lyon, and Flood.

At the heart of the control room is a pristine SSL G+ SL4000 72 channel console with full automation once owned by Trent Reznor, and regarded

by Alan as his very first-choice of board to mix on.

The desk was previously based in a New Orleans studio where Alan used it to produce numerous albums for Nine Inch Nails, and where he became

“I love the sound of it, so we bought that off him [Reznor] and set up the room, which is the room we’ve been in for about 15 years now. And that was the start,” says Alan. “Then a few years later, the recording room upstairs became available [Assault & Battery 2], and we decided to take that on. So we’ve kind of got a little community in here.”

The choice of digital equipment is highlighted by an unimaginable choice of plugins loaded on a Pro Tools HD rig. Alan’s backline collection includes some exquisite guitars, amps and microphones, along with his huge personal collection of pedals, which includes models from the likes of Death By Audio, Electro Harmonix, Lovetone, Providence and other manufacturers. Many of these unique items are available for hire to clients using the room.

The studio also comprises a generous overdub booth measuring 15 square meters – perfect for recording guitars and vocals – however it is also popularly used as a ‘B Studio’ for editing (and even a chill-out lounge), made especially effective by its inspiring interior style. The booth continues the interior theme of the control room, dominated by warm and atmospheric Hue lighting, decoration and furniture, as well as platinum discs lining the walls, chronicling Alan and Flood’s achievements over their years in the industry.

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With a vibe that makes you feel instantly at home, A&B 1 is bursting with individuality and an unparalleled dedication to technical precision and accuracy. Alan Moulder himself is the studio’s biggest fan, and mixes the majority of his projects in there.

Today, Moulder is still one of the world’s most sought-after mix engineers and producers. It all started in the ‘80s at Trident Studios in London, where he worked with influential producers like Jean Michel Jarre, and met Flood for the first time.

“When I decided to make my mix room available commercially, I didn’t have to think about who was going to take care of it. We’ve had a long relationship in the building with Miloco; they’ve run our tracking room, A&B 2 from the beginning,” says Moulder. “I’ve always been very impressed with the way they run studios and have a great personal relationship with all the people there.

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“IT FEELS TIME FOR OTHERS TO ENJOY THE EXPERIENCE OF WORKING IN THIS ROOM AND I’M SURE THE AMOUNT OF GREAT RECORDS MADE THERE WILL INCREASE MANY FOLD.”

~ ALAN MOULDER

“This is probably my favourite mix room in the world,” he continues. “I think it sounds completely true and has a great feel. I’ve mixed so many great records in there including The Killers, Nine Inch Nails, Suede, White Lies, Black Honey and Editors. It feels time for others to enjoy the experience of working in this room and I’m sure the amount of great records made there will increase many fold. I hope people love it as much as I do.”

It’s not only Alan that has experienced the magic of A&B 1. Record producer Robert “Mutt” Lange described it as his favourite mix room, having mixed The Car’s seminal hit Drive, as well as AC/ DC, and Bryan Adams’ (Everything I Do) I Do It For You there. Add Robbie Williams’ Angels to the list and it’s clear to see why people are already queueing up to work in these rooms.

To add to the versatility of the complex and to complete the overall recording experience, A&B 1 clients may sometimes be given access to the impressive spec found upstairs in Alan and Flood’s tracking studio, Assault & Battery 2, which has been a joint venture between Miloco and the two producers since 2008.

Described by Alan as “tracking heaven”, one of Studio 2’s most notable features is its expansive live room, which since 2011 has contained a previously Abbey Road-owned Grotrian Steinweg Concert Grand Piano, opening up the studio’s appeal to classical and jazz musicians. Upon stepping into the live room, preconceptions of studios having HEADLINER MAGAZINE

to be dark and dingy environments are quickly blown away by a vast high ceiling and day-lit area that will cater for both large bands and even small orchestras.

To one side of the live room are two large isolation booths: a bright room that is ideal for producing colourful drum sounds; and a secondary dead booth that in Flood’s own words must never be touched because “it sounds perfect!”

The control room, now complete with a fresh new carpet, is centred around a classic Cadac G-Series console formerly owned by Radiohead, along with a pair of Quested 412 monitors. A series of historic records were recorded through the Cadac at Wessex Studios with Bill Price at the controls, including Never Mind The Bollocks by Sex Pistols, London Calling by The Clash, Queen’s Sheer Heart Attack, Murder Ballards by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Motorhead’s Overkill, and Pete Townsend’s Empty Glass.

As with the newly renovated Studio 1, a fantastic range of vintage microphones, mic amps and outboard are on hand for clients to make the most of.

Miloco’s Operations Manager, Pete Hofmann, comments: “We are so excited to be fully taking over the Battery Studio complex. 20 years ago we made it our company ethos to keep studios open in what was a tricky climate, and we continue to build on that. We have already started with

renovations to Studio 1 now complete, and have some exciting plans to expand the facilities.

“The provenance of these studios is phenomenal and has always been kept fairly private. Now there’s an opportunity for more people to work in Alan’s superb mix room and discover some of the magic that’s led to so many hit records.”

The catalogue of names that have passed through Assault & Battery’s doors over the years is impressive as it is varied. Recently, the studios have welcomed artists including Charlie XCX, London Grammar, Duran Duran, Kylie Minogue, Gary Barlow, Celeste, Tion Wayne, Sam Smith, Suede, and the Mercury Prize-winning Michael Kiwanuka.

With the studio’s irresistible combination of spacious, versatile recording rooms and unmatched equipment selections, Miloco is armed and ready to welcome music professionals to this magnificent facility, preserving its remarkable heritage that has been masterminded by two of the world’s most respected and distinguished producers.

With some big plans in store for the studios, Miloco is looking forward to embarking on the next chapter in Assault & Battery’s incredible history.

Enquiries can be made via: bookings@miloco.co.uk MILOCOSTUDIOS.COM

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“All Waves educational materials have been extremely popular, and now, even more,” he says. “With the ability to work in the box, and the increasing trend of musicians and producers working in ‘bedroom’ or project studios - not to mention the effect of Covid, where the majority of people have been in lockdown and adhering to social distancing) - many musicians and producers have been forced to forgo working in professional studios.

Not having a professional studio or engineer at hand has encouraged users to learn and excel in DIY recording and mixing.

With the recent launch of a new certified audio training programme powered by its own plugins, Waves Audio is looking to provide the next generation with a game-changing brand of education. And according to the firm’s EVP of sales and marketing, Mick Olesh, its new range of courses will serve as an invaluable tool in the education of DIY producers and creators.

Last month, Waves revealed details of a new audio training programme centred around video tutorials and the brand’s own plugins. Dubbed the Waves Audio Essentials Courses, they cover eight different subjects, which users can be certified for upon completion by Waves.

Six of the courses are based on mixing, with the remaining two delving into audio for content creators and sound design for video. All eight courses feature video tutorials, multi-track sessions files and exams.

“The last few years have opened a vast user base for music production, a new breed that are mainly musicians and audio creators, not necessarily engineers per se,” Olesh explains.

“These users are creative and passionate about sound and music.

With the change in the production style, there has become a need to provide a new type of education, that relates

to the opportunity the tools provide beyond utilising the vast preset options.

Each production type has associated requirements with different tools and techniques and this is where the Waves Audio Essential Courses come to play.”

While Waves has offered audio training programmes for producers and engineers of all skill levels for many years, Olesh believes that the new Essentials Courses are likely to be among the most in-demand the company has made available to date.

“These courses cater to beginners and middle-tier users, or anyone who wishes to learn the basics or hone their skills via a hands-on and reputable learning process,” Olesh concludes.

“They instil the systematic audio foundations one needs for creating pro-sounding, audience-ready music and audio content.

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“ALL WAVES EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS HAVE BEEN EXTREMELY POPULAR, AND NOW, EVEN MORE.”

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It’s been an eventful year so far for German pro audio giant d&b audiotechnik. In February, the company announced that it was launching a new e-commerce platform under the banner d&b Direct - a move designed to offer venues and entertainers a no-fee consultancy service and direct access to the company’s industry-leading audio packages to buy online, as well as a raft of other services. Now, the d&b Group has added yet another arm to the business in the form of d&b solutions, a new business entity that will offer end-to-end expertise across project development, manufacturing, system planning, installation and maintenance.

As part of the new business, d&b audiotechnik has acquired UK integration and multidisciplinary AV specialist SFL Group, with the entire SFL team joining d&b solutions.

“We are constantly analysing market changes and trends to assess their implications for the d&b business,” said d&b CEO Amnon Harman. “Over the last few years we have observed small but significant movements alongside well-documented global mega trends that we were certain would affect the way that we do business. The most notable shift that we observed is a higher demand for full AVL solutions and post-installation services - coming from a consolidating end-customer market. Changing buying behaviours and a faster trend to green venues and productions are completing the picture for us.

“During the pandemic the momentum behind these shifts in the market has built and, fortunately, we’ve been preparing for them for some time.

The evolution of d&b from an audio technology manufacturing company into an entertainment technology business that incorporates a service and solutions offering, empowers us to meet users’ needs and the growing demands from the market head on.”

production solutions to customers’. It will operate completely independently from d&b audiotechnik, with the two operating in separate business structures and reporting up to the d&b Group.

The new business will be headed up by managing directors Amnon Harman (d&b Group CEO), Jens Nilsson (d&b Group CFO) and Michael Aldinger (d&b solutions director of finance and operations). And according to Harman, it positions the d&b Group ideally to meet the various changes and challenges facing the pro audio market over the coming years.

“The d&b solutions business will allow us to deepen our knowledge of real-world production applications, user requirements and customer needs,” he concluded. “It will enable us to continue to deliver technologies, solutions and ideas beyond what is currently possible; and bring to life extraordinary experiences – some that are just emerging and we probably can’t even imagine right now!”

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d&b solutions promises to deliver ‘a higher level of service and integration, and end-to-end installation and HEADLINERMAGAZINE.NET

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STE£AN

Sterling Sounds

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That aforementioned parody and television series are both the efforts of The Midnight Beast, Abingdon’s musical comedy troupe, completed by close friends Andrew Wakely and Ashley Horne. Following the success of the TikTok parody, the trio released a string of singles including Booty Call and Just Another Boyband that would see them touring the UK HEADLINER MAGAZINE

and eventually putting pen to paper with Channel 4.

“I tried to make the simplest way to live stream every Thursday,” he says on using Twitch. “I think I’ve probably done nearly 50 in a row every single Thursday since I started. I’ve been creating songs from scratch with a live audience

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After being one of social media’s earliest (and unexpected) viral sensations with a cover of Kesha’s TikTok, somehow leading to Channel 4 commissioning a series, Southwest London’s Stefan Abingdon now finds himself writing songs by sampling his Domino’s orders. This might sound like some sharp fall from grace, but it’s quite the opposite. Working under the solo artist/producer name St£fan, Abingdon has utilised the extended indoors time to conquer the live-streaming platform Twitch, and expand his songwriting work.

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watching. The original ideas would be, ‘can I order a pizza and make a beat with the conversation between me and the pizza guy?’ Or can me and my wife write a song about garlic bread while she’s cooking it? Now it feels like every Thursday we’ve got this little clubhouse of music creatives hanging out and

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seeing what I’m gonna do next and it’s been so nice.”

Much earlier in his career, thanks to The Midnight Beast taking up a decent chunk of space on the internet, his music was discovered by a certain Selena Gomez, who needed a songwriter and producer to collaborate with on her song When The Sun Goes Down. Hence why you can see Gomez and Abingdon dancing around together for The Midnight Beast video for Just Another Boyband.

“I was taking Selena to go and watch Bo Burnham and she said, ‘would you mind if my boyfriend came along?

Could you let security know?’ So I had

to say to them, ‘Justin Bieber’s gonna be coming with us too’. But little did I know that Bo Burnham had a song called Repeat Stuff which slagged off pop stars, and he actually started talking about Bieber! But luckily, it was cool. Justin ended up driving me home, which was incredible! I got back to the hotel and all of my mates back home were in bed, and I’m thinking ‘what just happened?’”

I then ask Abingdon how his minimothership of a studio is looking nowadays, which he’s packed a pair of Genelec 8020s into.

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getting the correct stands for them so that they could point upwards at my ears. I think it’s very easy to think you can just get some speakers and chuck them on a piece of foam and that’ll be fine. But very rarely do producers have them pointed at their ears, which is actually so important. I sent a picture of my desk set up to a friend and he said, ‘I know you’re gonna hate me for it because they’re expensive, but get some good speaker stands because it will change everything’. And he was so right. It’s such a game changer!”

THEMIDNIGHTBEAST.COM

“They’ve been great, I’ve had them for a good few years now. What was a real game-changer for me was

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ROBIN REUMERS

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ENGINEER

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“I GET TO WORK WITH STUDENTS EVERY DAY, LISTEN TO THEIR WORK AND HELP THEM. OUR ROLE AS EDUCATORS IS REALLY POWERFUL.”

As co-founder of plugin specialist Leapwing Audio, director of education at Miami’s Abbey Road Institute and an award-winning mix engineer, Robin Reumers is one of the busiest men in audio. His company’s plugins provide a diverse array of solutions for everything from rock and electronic music to film scoring, while his commitment to education is helping shape the future of some of the industry’s brightest new talent. So what was it that led him to embark on his own career in audio?

“Around 15 years ago, after studying at audio college I left Europe and moved to the US to train with [mastering engineer] Bob Katz,” he explains. “After that I returned to Europe and started working in post-production house Galaxy Studio in Belgium. I got there at the right time, immersive audio was very new and Galaxy was at the forefront of it. It was then I really got into the mindset that I wanted to make plugins. Everything evolved in a very natural way – three of us co-founded Leapwing and we all met at Galaxy.”

The company launched with its DynOne plugin, a product that would

lay the groundwork for all that would follow.

“DynOne took a long time because we had to develop filters and learn a lot of different things,” he says. “It took about a year and a half to get everything in order. It was a complex product to make but we wanted it to have a very simple and intuitive interface. With all the plugins we create we want to solve a problem that we or other engineers face.

“We want to target people that have creative mindsets and help them create. CenterOne is a spatial plugin, so it allows you not just to do MS processing, but treat left, centre and right individually, so you have way more control. That led us to release StageOne, which is all about width and depth. And this year we released our Signature Series - the first plugin was with the late Al Schmitt. That’s a new range for us, trying to capture the sound of an important engineer in a plugin that is really unique.”

“I started working on this around 2016,” he reveals. “Back then I was in Amsterdam. I really wanted to build my own studio so I partnered with two other people there and we were talking to the Abbey Road team in London, as they wanted to set up a new school in Amsterdam. I’d known the people running the Abbey Road Institute for years so it felt like a nice way to make it happen. So, we started in Amsterdam, then in March last year I moved to Miami to set up the institute here.”

Unsurprisingly, it’s a role he is relishing. “It is something I really wanted to do,” he concludes. “I get to work with students every day, listen to their work and help them. Our role as educators is really powerful.”

LEAPWINGAUDIO.COM ROBINREUMERS.COM

As for Reumers’s role with the Miami Abbey Road Institute, it is one that has been in the making for the past five years.

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GROUSE LODGE STUDIOS Located near the picturesque village of Rosemount in County Westmeath, Ireland, and steeped in old world charm, Grouse Lodge is a world class residential studio that has welcomed the likes of Michael Jackson, REM, Snow Patrol, Tom Jones and many more through its doors over the years. Headliner caught up with resident producer and mix engineer Alex Borwick, along with studio manager Eavan Crowe, to learn more about their recent upgrade – a Neve VR60 desk – and why clients keep coming back.

As soon as I jump on a Zoom call with Borwick and Crowe, I immediately get a very easy-going, down to earth vibe from the pair, most likely due to the fact that they’re lucky enough to work in such a friendly, relaxed environment.

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Home From Home

Originally a working farm, Grouse Lodge officially opened in 2002, and incorporates studios designed by Andy Munro of Munro Associates, along with nine double bedrooms in three separate renovated stone outhouses. The main studio is purpose built integrating the existing 275 year old stone structure, and features a large 900sq.ft control room with lots of natural daylight along with two large live rooms with superior acoustics. The extensive use of local cut stone gives the space a unique feel and sound.

Crowe begins by giving me a brief history of the facility. I’m told that the owners of the studios, Paddy and Claire Dunning, had always wanted to get out of the city, as Paddy already ran a couple of studios and rehearsal spaces in Dublin before acquiring Grouse Lodge.

“People thought he was crazy, but it worked out really well,” says Crowe.

“Being in the middle of nowhere is great for productivity, and having everything on site makes it even better.

If you want a pint, we’ve got a pub here; if you want a swim, we have a pool. There’s so much more to this place than just being another studio. A lot of the food we serve clients is grown on site – Claire is the cook, and it’s just such a lovely family run business.”

Being an environment where artists and producers can work in true isolation if they wish, the pandemic has been somewhat of a blessing in disguise for the studio.

Something that has been incredibly helpful, as resident mix engineer Alex Borwick describes, is Audiomovers, a plugin that enables creatives to work remotely and stream high quality audio to anywhere in the world.

“We can send the output of the Neve here straight to somebody’s Mac, and that audio is virtually latency free,” HEADLINER MAGAZINE

shares Borwick. “We managed to finish off the last bits of the installation in November 2020; we bought a brand new Mac Pro totally specced out to the nines, and we upgraded our interfaces as well to Antelope Audio Orion 32 HDs. “We also took the opportunity to upgrade to Pro Tools Ultimate.

Essentially it’s the computation and digital side of things which have been totally revamped. You can have endless, impressive analogue equipment, but at the end of the day, everything is being used on a computer, and so we wanted to make sure that it could cope with all the CPU heavy plugins we’re using.”

Previously, the studios were limited by the interfaces to 40 inputs and 48 outputs, but with the new Orion interfaces, Borwick and co can use the entire Neve desk to its full potential with 64 I/O. “It’s totally opened things up,” he says.

“After the upgrade in November, the first session we had in here was with

Sam Fender and his band for seven weeks. We were literally using every last inch of the studio, and I think we had 56 inputs going into Pro Tools. We couldn’t have asked for a better session to run the new upgrade through its paces.

It was flawless; the client was totally thrilled and delighted with it, and when the time came, they didn’t actually want to leave the studio!”

The studio has the capability to track a six piece band live, with each member having their own headphone mix with amps in separate booths.

“When Sam Fender was here, we did a lot of reamping in the swimming pool room,” Borwick adds. “We took a B-rig over there and played back some of the stuff we recorded in the studio like saxophones and vocals into the swimming pool, and re-recorded them in there which was fun.”

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“IT’S ALWAYS A LITTLE BIT LIKE CHRISTMAS FOR BANDS WHEN YOU SHOW THEM THE FLYING FADERS WITH EVERYTHING MOVING!”

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GROUSE LODGE STUDIOS

Home From Home

The Main event The control room at Grouse Lodge houses a Neve VR60 console with full automation and flying faders, and has seen its fair share of action; Michael Jackson recorded on it for six months, which clearly speaks volumes in itself...

“When Paddy opened the studio, it was in partnership with a guy called Ivan O’Shea, who owned a studio in Dublin,” reveals Borwick. “Ivan had the Neve there in the early 2000s, so when the pair went into business, that’s when Ivan brought the desk out here from his studio, along with all his equipment.

“It’s become an integral part of the sound here. People who have recorded here in the past tend to come back, because the live room has just got such an exceptional sound, and that’s coupled with the fantastic, classic sound of the Neve - they complement each other really well. The EQ on the VR series is just to die for. It’s one of the incredible things about the console – it’s just so musical. And it’s always a little bit like Christmas for bands when you show them the flying faders with everything moving!”

Having used the desk to its full potential, Borwick is also a big fan of its flexibility when it comes to routing, and can always find a workaround if something doesn’t work. Being an inline console, and because of how the patch bay is set up, the VR60 has a channel path and monitor path on every module, and allows signals to be sent from anywhere in the chain to anywhere else in the facility, with all the analogue equipment going into Pro Tools.

“It’s a great place for live bands who want to track rock and metal, but we also get a lot of acoustic acts and traditional Irish musicians,” explains Borwick. “But it’s so varied; if a couple of pop producers want to HEADLINER MAGAZINE

sit on their laptops with an artist and write and produce songs, then the environment and the atmosphere totally lends itself to that as well.

Equally, we can fit a whole orchestra in the live room to do things like film scores.”

Crowe goes on to mention how supportive the Irish government have been, releasing funds for the arts at the end of 2020, and providing grants to musicians so they can get into the studio to write and record.

“When these grants came out last year, they didn’t just give them to the up-and-coming artists, but also to the bigger guys as well,” says Crowe.

“So we’ve got a lot of bigger names from the Irish music industry coming in soon as well, which is something we’re really looking forward to.”

There really are no airs or graces about Grouse Lodge, and it’s safe to say that upon entering the studios and beautifully characteristic outbuildings, one would automatically feel at home.

“Everybody is treated the same here; it doesn’t matter if you’re Robert Plant, or if you’re the 14 year old who’s saved money to come here just for a day,” Crowe concludes.

“We want people to come here for

different reasons, and now that we have this upgrade, I feel like we want to shout it from the roof!”

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RAMI YACOUB

The Hit Maker

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RAMI YACOUB Swedish record producer and songwriter Rami Yacoub hit the ground running with his first collaboration with Max Martin in 1998 by producing an unknown artist named Britney Spears’ debut single, ...Baby One More Time. In an instant, the slickly executed tune launched Spears’ career, became a cornerstone of pop music, and is ranked one of the best-selling singles of all time, with over 10 million copies sold. Yacoub never looked back, going on to work with Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, Westlife, Celine Dion, Madonna, Bon Jovi, One Direction, Enrique Iglesias, Nicki Minaj, Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande, Demi Lovato, and many, many more. So I’m surprised to learn that for a man who has clearly cracked the coveted code of how to write and produce guaranteed hit records, he has never paid much attention to the charts.

“We never looked at charts,” he insists.

“To this day, I don’t look at charts or where my songs are at, because once I’ve done a song, I have done the best I can; it’s not up to me how it goes. With ...Baby One More Time, just to show you how much we didn’t care, we were working on a Backstreet Boys song, and Max walks into the studio and goes, ‘Oh, by the way, we’re number one’. I remember being like, ‘Where? When did this happen?’ And he said, ‘Well, in the

US; it was about three weeks ago, I just forgot to tell you’. We just loved what we did.”

The song had originally been called Hit Me Baby (One More Time), which raised a few eyebrows and was enough to concern the label. Turns out, the ‘hit me’ reference could be attributed to nothing more than a misunderstanding by the Swedish writers.

“This is very true,” he smiles. “If I recall correctly it was supposed to be, ‘hit me up, baby one more time,’ – we know ‘hit me up’ means call me back.

But it didn’t fit the syllable; it didn’t sound good. We thought ‘hit me baby one more time’ must mean the same thing. But obviously it didn’t,” he laughs. “We were very, very anal about our cadence and our syllables, so we wouldn’t change that. So we just cut the ‘up’ out.”

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RAMI YACOUB

The Hit Maker

“IT’S IN MY DNA. WHEN I HEAR A SONG, I HEAR RIGHT AWAY IF THERE’S SOMETHING I CAN DO TO IT.”

IT’S GONNA BE ME Martin, Andreas Carlsson, and Yacoub are the songwriters behind NSYNC’s 2000 single, It’s Gonna Be Me – which was also produced by Yacoub. While in Key West, Yacoub recalls the three of them working on another NSYNC song together, which wasn’t going to plan: “We just hit a wall. It didn’t sound good at all, and we all got frustrated. I stepped into the kitchen and was making a coffee, and I started humming: [he hums the melody that would go on to become the lyrics, ‘every little thing I do, never seems enough for you’], and Max was like, ‘What was that? Hum it again. That’s a great chorus!’ So that became the chorus and then we just did the song from that.”

I know what you’re thinking: yes, he’s seen the memes. It turns out that they intentionally asked the boyband to over-pronounce the lyrics.

“The whole ‘may’ thing; I know it’s a bit overboard, but we did that on all our songs. We were making the artists over-pronounce stuff because we wanted it to be super clear what they were singing. With HEADLINER MAGAZINE

...Baby One More Time, we got Britney to sing, ‘My lone-li-ness, is killing me’ – everything is very over-pronounced. It’s Gonna Be Me was the title of the song and we just wanted it to stick out. At that time we didn’t think it was gonna

become a thing you know? But I would say it did become a thing,” he laughs. “I think [the memes] are beautiful. It’s kind of fun. It lives on forever. I hope Justin appreciates it as much as we do…”

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working in. The space’s design doesn’t matter; its construction doesn’t matter,” he points out. “The software compensates for the nuances of each studio so that, as a producer, I hear that true, faithful sound I’m trying to achieve.”

DIRAC Between 2007 and 2017 Yacoub spent his time at Kinglet Studios, which operated out of L.A and Stockholm.

He is now back with Martin, his Swedish team in L.A, as well as his partner in crime, Ilya Salmanzadeh.

He’s travelled between L.A. and Stockholm for 12 years, laptop in tow, and recently integrated Dirac’s Live room correction software into his studio setup, which he describes as a “game-changer” for creating more faithful, higher-quality mixes and edits.

“When you run Dirac Live, it doesn’t really matter what studio you’re

Before he used Dirac, Yacoub considered using eight large bass traps that he describes as being the size of a refrigerator each.

“Dirac Live eliminated the bass imperfections and inconsistencies without requiring us to sit on top of a ‘refrigerator’ as we produced.

With the room correction software, wherever we were in the studio, we all heard the same thing.

“I was blown away. It simulates you sitting in a perfect studio, which helps the mixing process because it makes you hear things more clearly by removing any colorisation from the room, and it delivers a true

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representation of what’s going down.

It really improves the studio acoustics and the sound accuracy, and it just makes you get a true, honest sound.

It’s pretty unbelievable how it works. A perfect studio would be you standing in each corner, and everything sounds the same, which is almost impossible to get. And that’s what Dirac does; it’s a great tool for that.”

Yacoub calls himself a ‘song-fixer,’ recently adding his magic touch to Lady Gaga’s (he calls her L.G) recent Grammy award-winning song, Rain On Me – writing Ariana Grande’s part.

“It’s in my spine,” he shrugs. “It’s in my DNA. When I hear a song, I hear right away if there’s something I can do to it. I love fixing songs. It just comes easy for me, don’t ask me why,” he grins.

INSTA: @THERAMIYACOUB DIRAC.COM

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LUCY SPRAGGAN

HEADLINER MAGAZINE

Life Choices

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LUCY SPRAGGAN It’s been a tumultuous 18 months for Lucy Spraggan. Of course, that’s a statement that could apply to virtually anyone in light of the pandemic, but in her case, the upheaval she has experienced in both her personal and professional life extends far beyond lockdown and the implications of Covid. She’s endured a divorce, given up alcohol, taken up running, lost six figures sums in lost touring earnings, started writing a memoir and, perhaps most pertinently, written Choices, an intensely intimate record that explores every sliver of light and shade that has entered her life over the past year-and-a-half.

“I like to find the positive in most things,” she says. “Undeniably, there have been catastrophic consequences for my business, financially. Not in a career sense, but financially it’s catastrophic – my house is on the market, I’ve sold my motor bike and camper van. But on the flipside, I’ve been offered this view of minimalism in my life that has made me focus on the things I

enjoy. It has offered a time for me to be more inward and focus on my wellbeing more than I have in my entire life. Before lockdown I spent my whole life literally surrounded by hundreds of thousands of people and felt really alone, but now I’ve been isolated it’s probably the least lonely I’ve ever been.”

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LUCY SPRAGGAN

Life Choices

“I REALISED LAST YEAR I WAS BASING MY SUCCESS ON WHAT OTHER PEOPLE HAVE ACHIEVED. DOING THAT IN ANY WALK OF LIFE, YOU ARE SETTING YOURSELF UP TO FAIL.”

Since her show-stopping audition on The X Factor in 2012, Spraggan has enjoyed a more consistently successful career than some may realise, landing a string of Top 30 albums, two of which broke into the Top 10. And with Choices, she achieved her highest charting album yet, peaking at No.5 on the Official Albums Chart. So what’s been the key to her enduring appeal?

“Perseverance,” she states. “I’ve also been writing about success and how we measure it. I realised last year I was basing my success on what other people have achieved. Doing that in any walk of life, you are setting yourself up to fail. There will always be people who play bigger shows than me and make more money than me. On paper if we base our success on what anyone else has got it’s very difficult to be successful. I was like, hang on a minute, I do really well. I have the career that I always wanted.”

For Spraggan, it was vital that the lifealtering events of the past 18 months

were documented unflinchingly and without filter on Choices. While she has always written about her personal experiences, her records have always been peppered with tales told from the perspective of different characters. This time, however, a different approach was required.

“I wanted it to be an evolution,” she continues. “I took a different route – rather than reappearing as a different entity I’m still the same, but I made a few choices.”

Does that mean that she hasn’t necessarily been her true self on previous records?

“I didn’t know who I was,” she says.

“Not that I wasn’t myself, it’s that I was several different personalities depending on who I was with or what I was trying to do. This is the first record I’ve written in a decade just because I wanted to write some songs, not because I was following an order from some dickhead A&R at a label or trying

to fill a gap in the market. I know who I am now, and I just wanted to write songs that are true.”

In many ways, Choices enabled Spraggan to explore some of the darker events that have shaped her life since she last released a record. Songs such as Sober not only helped her address her battles with addiction, but offered her a view on how she could change her life for the better.

“Sober was pretty hard because I hadn’t actually sat down to write down all the reasons I hated myself and needed to change, so I went into a room and did that and was like, ‘wow, I really have fucked up a lot here’.

Songwriting is funny, especially when you’re writing for cathartic reasons. You end up writing things you don’t even know that you feel and go, ‘God, that’s true!’ It’s hard.”

With the world finally starting to emerge meaningfully from lockdown, does Spraggan have any plans to perform live any time soon?

“We’ve got some festival stuff being looked at,” she concludes, “but the most important thing is that Covid is gone. We can’t just jump back in and start trying to make cash - we’ll end up in another lockdown. I’d rather we wait and get it right. I’ve been playing live since I was 12, so this is a new way of life for me. I can’t wait, but please be smart!”

Here’s hoping we’re not waiting too long.

LUCYSPRAGGAN.COM

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CJ BLAIR

Balancing Act

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CJ BLAIR Like most touring professionals, CJ Blair has had a little more time on his hands than he’s used to over the past 12 months or so. As the production manager and front of house engineer for US singer-songwriter Khalid, his workload tends to be busier than most, serving a dual role that eats up the down time most live sound engineers treasure when traversing the globe and plying their trade at sell out arena shows. And while he can’t wait to get back out on the road, he has maintained a positive attitude, he tells us when we reach him via Zoom at his home in North Hollywood, California.

“Overall, my fiancé and I have been doing pretty well during the pandemic,” he says. “Obviously there have been some low points, just like for everybody. It’s hard and disorientating when you’re used to being on the road all the time and then it suddenly comes to a screeching halt - sometimes you don’t know what to do with yourself. But we’re doing the best we can. We did a little road trip to Detroit to see her family and camped along the way. That was a lot of fun.

And with us being in LA, all these live stream shoots have picked up, so there’s been enough work to keep us busy… just enough to keep us from going crazy! It seems like things in the last month here are slowly ramping up. It’s exciting.”

He may now be well established as a multi-talented, much sought after touring engineer, but Blair’s career in sound began not in the field, but in the studio.

“I was a studio engineer for years,” he explains. “But I went on tour with a couple of Warp Tour bands and I started doing backline for a band called Haim - I was doing stage managing with them for a couple of years. I knew the fundamentals of audio and how it behaves, how to manipulate it and all that stuff, but I’d never really done any live sound on a large scale. So it was a little intimidating. The FOH engineer, who is one of my big mentors and still works for Haim, Scott Adamson, gave me the confidence to throw myself into the fire and do it. So I did and I’ve been doing it ever since for the past seven or eight years.”

After stepping out of the studio and making the permanent move into live sound, Blair gained experience in a multitude of disciplines, from production and stage management, to front of house and monitor mixing.

This, he explains, is often par for the

course in the formative years of a touring professional.

“From early gigs and smaller tours, it’s usually a dual role, whether you’re the tour manager and FOH engineer, production manager and FOH, or all three. So, I’ve had that skillset with me and levelled up all the way to worldwide arena tours doing both jobs, which is a gnarly experience.

But I love doing both, it satisfies both parts of my brain - the logistical and factual side of production and being able to have that two hours to mix every night and let that creative part come out. And it’s nice to stay busy, instead of having just a mixing position. Sometimes you have a lot of down time during the day, so it keeps me busy the whole day. It’s a good balance.”

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CJ BLAIR

Balancing Act

For the past five years, Blair has been the front of house engineer for US artist Khalid, a role that has seen him mix audio in some of the world’s biggest and most iconic venues. So how did the gig come about?

“When I first moved to L.A in 2016 I got a random call saying, ‘There is this brand new artist who has a show in Long Beach, are you available to do it?’ I’d never heard of him. So I was like, ‘okay cool’. I did a day’s rehearsal, did the show, didn’t think much of it, and then I got a call back to do his first tour, and saw how much energy people were putting into him.

I’ve been with him ever since and it’s been non-stop for about four years.”

One of the key technical shifts Blair has seen during his time as a live sound engineer is the move away from wedges and the rise of in-ear HEADLINER MAGAZINE

monitors, something he has come to rely on increasingly in recent years.

“I’ve been using JH Audio in-ear monitors [JH 16s] for the past couple of years,” he says. “They are the best, especially when amplified speakers have gone by the wayside. The mid-range detail is second to none, it’s amazing. During this pandemic, since nobody has been turning on PA systems, I’ve been doing more monitor gigs [for live streams] and I use them to mix broadcast stuff on the road. They really tell you the truth and I love them.

“The low-end is extremely tight and very usable with them,” he continues. “I use the low end mostly when I’m doing broadcast mixes on an aeroplane or something like that. But the mid-range is definitely what I rely on.”

For now, Blair is steadily adding more commitments to his diary and generally keeping himself as busy as possible until live music returns in earnest.

“As of right now, things are getting a little busier,” he concludes. “Stuff has been popping up and I’ve been running monitors for some live streams. And I might be doing a Vegas residency. All positive things!”

INSTA: @CJBLAIR_ JHAUDIO.COM

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10 years of work, and it was such a beautiful acknowledgement of that. I met Stormzy through Fraser because he went to him to produce his first album. I was Fraser’s engineer, so I was there for a lot of the writing sessions and was engineering those. Stormzy loved what we’d done so much in terms of reference mixes because we always push to get reference mixes really, really good. He’s like, ‘I love the sound of this, so why don’t you guys mix the record?’ So that’s what happened in the end and we ended up mixing the whole thing. That album won so many awards, it was insane thinking that we had a big part of that.

Award winning recording engineer Manon Grandjean reflects on her start in the industry and achieving global recognition for her work with Stormzy.

She delves into recent projects with Nao, and shares how she’s kept up her workflow at home during the pandemic thanks to her brand new Genelec monitors.

were unknown,” she recalls. “I’d been assisting in the studio for about two or three years by then, so I knew the studio really well, so it was decided that I was perfectly capable of engineering the sessions. So that was the first album project that I engineered, and that was the first time that people were acknowledging my work.”

“It still feels like Groundhog Day most days,” begins award winning recording engineer Manon Grandjean (who is also a mix and mastering engineer) from her makeshift home studio in the UK. “The days are so similar, but I find that I get a lot done from home without having to commute, and I’m really comfortable mixing at home as well. Plus it’s nice to work in your PJs,” she laughs, quickly noting that she did indeed get dressed for our Zoom interview.

Another pivotal moment came when Grandjean met Grammy awardwinning writer/producer Fraser T. Smith (Adele, Sam Smith, James Morrison), who she engineers for to this day.

Grandjean is from a musical family, (“I used to go to the opera with my mum when I was a teenager, which is unusual!) and first became interested in the technical aspect of music around the age of 18. Moving to the UK, she started out as a runner at Livingston Studios in North London, and remembers the day things changed for her when she was working at State Of The Ark studios: “We had this band called London Grammar in, and at the time they

“That was the moment in my career when I went from being half assistanthalf engineer, to full time engineering, because he wanted to have an engineer full time, working on projects from the beginning until the end.

Working with Stormzy was another one!”

Grandjean received the award for Breakthrough Engineer Of The Year at the MPG awards in 2017, then received the award for Engineer Of The Year the following year, and counts working on Stormzy’s number 1 album, Gang Signs & Prayer, and Heavy Is The Head as personal highlights.

“I know it was based on that particular Stormzy album for engineer of the year, but that was recognition for

“With Stormzy we’ve built a really strong working relationship,” she adds.

“When he worked on the second album he asked me to engineer some of the songs for him in Metropolis. He’s so precise and likes to go back and correct little bits. Because we worked on the first album together for so long, the more you know someone, the more you know how they like to work. So for him, I think it was a bit of a comfort blanket to have me there. I know that I can deliver it in a certain way and I think that that shows how he values my work, which is really important for me.”

Grandjean strikes me as a perfectionist in the studio; how does she know when a track is finished?

“I think it’s really difficult to know when it’s done… I could make something forever!” she admits. “I always think that it can be better, and the more time I have, the better it can be. But I don’t think that’s necessarily true. I have found that it’s really good to have deadlines. If I didn’t have deadlines, I probably would tweak mixes forever!

At some point, you have to let it go and say you’re happy with it. I have noticed that the mixes that are received the best by the artists are the ones that I spend less time on. Sometimes it’s because I’m hearing it fresh and I’m making decisions fairly quickly. I think the longer I leave it, I lose that freshness in that perspective.”

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“FOR ME, IT DOESN’T MATTER THE SIZE OF THE SPEAKER, BUT THEY HAVE TO BE DETAILED. I CAN’T WORK WITH A DULL SPEAKER.”

BUCKET LIST Recent projects include working with one of Grandjean’s bucket list artists, Nao, by mixing her single, Antidote, as well as the singer’s duet with Lianne La Havas on Woman.

“I have never met Nao or Lianne as an engineer or anything, so I was really excited,” she enthuses. “I was like, okay, I need to really, really make this work because there’s something called spec mixes, when someone approaches you and says, ‘I would like you to mix one of my songs, but because we’ve never worked together, I don’t really know how it’s going to be…’ So you do a spec mix, which means you mix it basically for free, and if they end up using the mix, they will pay you a fee, but they can also say, ‘well, this is not really working for us, so we’re gonna go with somebody else’.

I really didn’t want that to happen, so I worked really hard on that mix. They liked it, so after that I had a few more tracks from Nao, like Antidote. Nao really seems to like the mixes, so I’m so happy!”

Grandjean invested in a pair of Genelec 8040Bs at the beginning of the lockdown to allow her to continue working from home, after first using them in her early days working in studios.

“When I was working with Fraser he had 8040s which I mixed a lot on, and he had a big pair of 1035s in the wall – they were massive!” she remembers. “They were the ‘vibe’ speakers for when artists were coming in and we wanted to blast it. I worked with those speakers every day for five years.”

Grandjean set up a home studio in her spare room last year, and knew that the 8040Bs were the perfect choice: “I know them really well and I’ve mixed a lot on them, so when I looked to get some for home, this was a no brainer. I know that everything’s going to translate HEADLINER MAGAZINE

well. For me, it doesn’t matter the size of the speaker, but they have to be detailed. I can’t work with a dull speaker. I think most ribbon tweeters sound smooth, but they’re not precise enough. That’s what I’m looking for: clarity and detail, and you can’t say that Genelecs are not detailed! They have a great top end, although I don’t need something to go super loud. I just want precision, clarity and detail.”

With neighbours to consider and not wanting to damage her ears, Grandjean shares that it actually suits her to mix at lower volumes.

“My spare room is not as well treated as a studio, but I knew that they would sound good in there, and at low volume as well. They’re so precise that you can play at a low volume and it still sounds good, and you still get that detail. I’ve got neighbours so I can’t really blast it that much, even though they go freaky loud!

I think mixing at a low level is really good anyway because you protect your ears. I’ve used the 8040Bs on everything I’ve worked on in the last year; a lot of mixing decisions have been made on those!

“Making sure that your monitoring is the best it can be in the room you’re in means you have already won half of the battle because you’re going to make decisions so quickly and you won’t have to second guess things,” she considers. “A monitor speaker comes down to personal taste, so it’s just finding what speakers work and resonate with you. And Genelecs seem to resonate with a lot of people!”

MANONGRANDJEAN.COM GENELEC.COM

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GARTH RICHARDSON

Whenever, Wherever

WHENEVER, WHEREVER

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When the Coronavirus pandemic became all too apparent in March last year, Richardson decided it was the perfect time to completely rebuild the control room and live room in his studio, a beautifully unique facility on a sprawling, wooded estate just north of Vancouver which he has called home since 2002.

“This is actually what I call my version 8.0 of the studio,” he begins

EY

Grammy nominated and Juno Award-winning producer and engineer Garth “GGGarth” Richardson recently gave the setup at his Farm Studios a complete overhaul, courtesy of Focusrite’s RedNet range of Dante-networked audio converters and interfaces.

Headliner caught up with Richardson to learn how they’ve provided him with the freedom to record literally anywhere on his property...

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with a smile. “I didn’t want that typical bunker studio where you go in the front door and then the room gets locked up and you never see the light of day. Here I have tonnes of windows, lots of scenery and some amazing views where you can watch the day come and go.”

After spending a lot of time trying out different recording consoles in his control room, Richardson eventually settled on SSL’s AWS

PRODUCER

Delta Analogue console, and upon discovering an entirely new workflow at his fingertips, he set about fully modernising the space.

Endless Possibilities In addition to the cosmetic and acoustical upgrades that he’s made to his control room, Richardson has installed a Dante-networked system comprising three RedNet A16R 16-channel analogue I/O interfaces, two RedNet HD32R 32-channel HD Dante network bridges, a RedNet MP8R eight-channel mic pre and A/D converter, a RedNet X2P 2x2 Dante

audio interface and two compact RedNet AM2 stereo audio monitoring units.

Aside from giving him an abundance of inputs into Pro Tools, the rig enables him to record musicians anywhere on his property, including the main house, separate recording studio building, band house and crew cabin.

“I was the old analogue guy, and after I worked with a Dutch rock band called Kensington, who were very sharp and very smart, I decided that I had to get the room up to scratch,” he recalls. “I now have extra Dante lines

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to all three houses, as well as to my living room so I can record my grand piano, and in my laundry room so I can do guitars while doing chores!”

Being a massive fan of Led Zeppelin’s Black Country Woman, which was recorded in the garden at Mick Jagger’s Stargroves estate, Richardson has always dreamed of being able to record outside, and his new Focusrite system has enabled him to realise that dream.

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“For recording I have the MP8R mic pres coming directly into Pro Tools, or I can choose to have them coming out of a pre and into some outboard gear, because sometimes I still like to do things the old school way,” he shares.

“Previously, if I wanted to do drums outside, I would have to run 10 to 12 mic cables from the mic panel, depending on how far I wanted to go. Now I can do 300 feet with one cable; I just patch in the mic pres and go.

“I feel like Focusrite always tends to be on the cusp of some new technology.

The gear sounds great, and to be honest it just works. I’ve had zero problems with it, so I’m thrilled. Recently I’ve been working with a fantastic guitarist called Devin Townsend, and we did a live stream that was cast from my deck. He was playing from there with the whole RedNet system up and running, and it just turned out great. I’m also doing his record; he’s scheduled to play at London’s Royal Albert Hall so it’s all systems go at the moment to get it finished before then!”

I suggest that working in such a unique environment must work wonders for Richardson when it comes to getting the best out of a band or artist, and for allowing the creative juices to flow: “I find it really inspires people that come here,” he answers. “Everybody usually goes into a big cinderblock room, but when they come here, they can see bears, cougars, elk, deer, raccoons, skunks etc, just outside the window. So you never know what you’re gonna see.”

BORN TO DO IT Richardson’s love for making records undoubtedly runs in his blood, and he was hanging out in recording studios from a young age. Throughout the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s, his father Jack produced some of the biggest selling records of the era, including The Guess Who’s American Woman and These Eyes, Alice Cooper’s Love It To Death, and Bob Seger’s Night Moves, HEADLINER MAGAZINE

“I FEEL LIKE FOCUSRITE ALWAYS TENDS TO BE ON THE CUSP OF SOME NEW TECHNOLOGY. THE GEAR SOUNDS GREAT, AND TO BE HONEST IT JUST WORKS.”

the latter of which also happened to be Garth’s first ‘second engineer’ gig at just age 15.

“When I first told my dad that I wanted to follow his footsteps in the music business, he simply put his hand on my shoulder and said, ‘Garth, good songs sell, bad songs don’t’. So everywhere I go I’ve always stressed that you really have to focus on the song, and the story that it’s telling. It’s about making sure the band understands that each player’s role is to enhance the vocal.

Nobody that you see at a concert is ever playing the air flute or air bass; everyone is always singing the song, right? The biggest ego in the room should always be the song.”

Richardson rounds up the conversation with an amusing anecdote over which we share a laugh: “Basically, a long time ago I had a band here, and they tended to party a lot. One night they were up until five in the morning, just yelling and

screaming and partying. So the next morning, I got up early and went over to the band’s house where they were sleeping; I took a big piece of wood with me, opened up a chainsaw and started going at this lump of wood.

There were wood chips going into everyone’s bed, and they of course woke up wondering what the hell was going on. I had to get them back for keeping me up, but then it meant we lost that whole day because they were so pissed off! You’ve gotta have a good time though, right?”

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THE AMERICANS

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Lectrosonics Goes Undercover

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THE AMERICANS In US hit show The Americans, two Russian spies pose as Americans during the Cold War while residing in Washington D.C. in order to spy on the US government. After working on Gossip Girl for years, sound mixer Paul Pouthier was more than ready to take on this new project.

“I was coming off six years of Gossip Girl and any dialogue that didn’t involve privileged Upper East Siders was very welcomed!” he admits.

“Seriously, I was blessed to get The Americans, thanks to the late Allan Byer and UPM Steve Rose. The immediate yes came out of the desire to be in the mix position full time, but I was very pleased to learn it would be a show not only about spy action, but about family as well.”

Music has always been in Pouthier’s bones, from listening to his mother’s record collection at eight years old, to teaching himself guitar at 50. Audio engineering was a natural path for

him to follow, which eventually led to sound mixer credits including Suits, New Amsterdam and Orange Is the New Black.

Pouthier recorded nearly all of The Americans’ dialogue with a portable bag system packed exclusively with Lectrosonics wireless. Transmitters included four SMDWBs, two HMa plug-ons, and a mix of original SM, SMa and SMV packs. Receivers comprised four UCR411a plus two Dual SR units, the predecessor to today’s SRc. Set comms were handled by IFB-T4 and UM400a transmitters paired with R1a receivers.

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“After experiencing Lectrosonics for myself, I knew I would never go back to anything else,” he states. “On set, the range issue is paramount, and I learned how much stronger Lectrosonics were in that area than the set-up from another manufacturer I was using for one of my first indie projects. My rig was struggling – not being diverse – and the camera op had a Lectro set-up he sometimes used that he let me borrow. I set my lead actor up on that and breathed a sigh of relief, confident that I wasn’t going to lose signal on the meat of the dialogue.

Upon entering the big leagues it seemed everyone was using Lectrosonics. My mentor, Allan Byer used them exclusively after Micron stopped developing their tiny TX option.”

Pouthier credits one particular day on location with this wireless epiphany: “We were doing a night shoot in Brooklyn,” he recalls. “We had finished the major dialogue scene and were about to film a stunt. It was late and I was starving. Down the block, I see a pizza place that’s open. I asked my boom operator how much time we had. He said, ‘I think you have time.

Where are you going to leave the bag in case we start rolling?’ I said, ‘I’m taking it with me. I’ll turn around if you tell me to or if I hear any dropouts’.”

While Pouthier expected to return with time to spare, that turned out not to be the case: “Sure enough, I’m standing in line for pizza with my headphones on and they start getting ready for the shot right away. My boom guy asks where I am and I said, ‘Um, the pizza shop down the street’. He says, ‘Okay, you sound solid, so I hope you’re receiving just fine’, and I reply that I am. I hit the record button on the Sound Devices 633 just as it’s my turn to order. The HEADLINER MAGAZINE

pizza guy sees all the gear and asks, ‘What the heck are you doing?’ I said, ‘I’m mixing a TV show, like, right now!’

“The sound for the take got recorded with no problems whatsoever and I got my pizza. Plus, this was all just on the little whip antennas! I have the ALP650 and SNA600a on my main cart now, but again, this was just using the bag rig.”

CAR TALK Lectrosonics’ simplicity of setup was a key player in many in-car dialogue scenes.

“In vehicles, the director was fond of French overs,” Pouthier explains. “Those are shots where you’re looking from the back seat at two people talking in the front, and there’s no typical profile or straight-on stuff. Most of the time, I just had to drop the bag in the car and hope for the best. The cars from the early ’80s had a lot less soundproofing, so planting a couple of Sanken CUB mics in the headliner through SM-series transmitters always got the perfect ambience. I had this one scene with three actors – Keri, Matt, and Margo Martindale – and the result sounded like you were sitting in the car with them.”

When watching the finished episodes, these are the scenes that make Pouthier the most proud: “The driving/sitting in a car talking scenes are my favourite. Those older cars are more lively, acoustically, and I was able to use plant mics with great success capturing those scenes. It sounds like you’re in the car, not listening to a wired actor.”

“I had (and still have) three of the original Dual SR receivers in my bag rig,” he continues. “I used the bag rig A LOT on The Americans and those Dual SRs proved invaluable through and through. Car-tocar transmission was solid, as we did free-drive (no process trailer) for most of our driving scenes. And I was only using a whip antenna on the receivers!

That’s impressive to me.”

Pouthier adds that they shot through NYC winters, “so capturing the dialogue before it froze in mid-air was the trick,” he jokes. “No, the biggest challenge was the locations. We had to move from vehicle to rooftop, to a sub-basement, to a hotel room – all in one day’s shooting sometimes, and having a powerful, yet light

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and compact rig to work with was essential. Also, the locations often put us near the airports, making the need to change frequencies a common occurrence.”

Lectrosonics wireless products are known for being wideband, durable, user-friendly, and easy to troubleshoot – characteristics which are key for Pouthier.

“Concern for the needs of the sound department can often fall secondfiddle,” he discloses. “They’ll wait all day to light a scene, but if there is a sound-related delay, the audible sighs can be heard as we move swiftly to correct any issues. Lectro’s products allow for swift action under scrutiny and help make us look good as the various sound problems that can unfold are fixed. And the only time I have dropouts is when they drive the actors too far away from my antenna. Recently, that proved to have to be over a quarter of a mile and out of line of sight!”

Pouthier’s second secret weapon for frequency management is Lectrosonics’ Wireless Designer software.

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“When I’m working in L.A, I find the RF spectrum is just crazy busy,” he says.

“You go to the frequency coordinator at the beginning of the day, but by the time you get going, some of what they’ve told you is available turns into junk. I have [a laptop with] Wireless Designer interfaced to my original Venue receivers – I have a wideband plus a narrowband – and I can always find frequencies that work in the moment and get a detailed spectrum analysis as a bonus.”

It wouldn’t be film and TV production without some indelicate handling of equipment, which is why Pouthier heaps his final praise on Lectrosonics’ signature ruggedness: “Let me tell you about durability,” he grins. “My bag rig has fallen off rolling carts several times, and nothing in it has ever broken. I had an SM transmitter go for a skim and a skip across a pavement when it fell

off an actor riding a bicycle. I’ve had the same happen to IFBs when the boom guy chases after a walk-andtalk that turned into a run-and-talk.

The units would get maybe a ding or two in the casing, but they’re all still working to this day!”

LECTROSONICS.COM

Softube & Empirical Labs.

A partnership made in analog heaven.

Empirical Labs is on a mission to make innovative, long-lasting equipment that’s a riot to use. With platinum-level hits like Fatso, DerrEsser, and Distressor it’s safe to say they’re killing it. That success is due to ELI’s conviction to go past good enough. It’s an ethos that Softube shares.

Softube believes that with truly excellent music technology, it’s not sufficient to just approximate the sound and function in software form. You have to go deeper. This dogged pursuit of high-quality sonic innovation is what bonds Softube and Empirical Labs, and what makes this partnership such a thrill.

After fifteen years of friendship and fun, we’re putting our hearts on our sleeve. Together. We proudly present the new products from Softube + Empirical Labs: Mike-E, Lil FrEQ, Trak Pak For Console 1, and the Empirical Labs Complete Collection.

TIBASKO

Keeping Lockdown Spicy

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Despite hailing from Welwyn Garden City, where the most famous landmark is arguably John Lewis, young production duo Tibasko are rapidly gaining substantial hype with love being shown from Annie Mac and The Blessed Madonna. Headliner caught up with Andy Bowden and Ken Petalcorin about making bangers, what they did in lieu of a 2020 festival season, and innovating their live dance sets with their instruments.

Tibasko recently unveiled their double single, Only You / Galaha, followed by Take Me Down – proof that it’s very nearly as fun to dance like a nutter to huge dance tunes when you’re staying at home as it is surrounded by hundreds of fellow revellers in a venue. Only You, is as anthemic a dance tune as we are going to get during these times, with its cutting snare, nocturnal synths and bass and ethereal vocals weaving in and out of the music.

Bowden and Petalcorin filmed a live set of these new tunes to support the vital work of #WeMakeEvents, a charity supporting the live music sector and its many professionals who have suffered quite a bit with live events out of the picture.

“It started for me when one of my friends Chris was DJing at 16th birthday parties,” Bowden says of his entry point for electronic music. “And he had the whole sound, the CDJs, the really old-school ones with his laptop and everything. I was intrigued by it. So I asked, ‘can I just come along with you and have a little play with it myself?’ And he said ‘go for it mate’. I went along a few times and I absolutely loved it. And I then got a real itch for wanting to play music out to people live.”

Meanwhile, for the Philippines-born Petalcorin, “my dad was a musician when I was growing up, so I’ve always been surrounded by music.

The electronic side didn’t come until university. I used to be part of this indie rock band, where I’d sing and play guitar, which obviously failed, because of my awful singing voice!”

Petalcorin explains to me the amazing synergy between this pairing in their relatively short timespan making music together.

“I prefer making music with Andy than just myself,” he says. “It’s weird because when I make music with Andy, he’s got a different perspective to the way I see music. And just

“HAVING SOMEONE I VIBE WITH TO BOUNCE IDEAS OFF HAS DEFINITELY HELPED THE CREATIVE PROCESS; WE’VE COME UP WITH THE BEST WORKS THAT WE’VE EVER DONE.”

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having someone I vibe with to bounce ideas off, it’s definitely helped the creative process. We’ve come up with the best works that we’ve ever done. I do struggle to produce by myself sometimes. And it’s also nice that he taught me to DJ and I taught him to produce.”

As Tibasko had their festival and live schedule wiped out in 2020, it’s been wonderful to see them partner with #WeMakeEvents. Petalcorin talks me through the live set they filmed in support of the charity: “We did it at the local theatre in our town, which is the Barn Theatre.

It’s derelict at the moment and hasn’t been open since March. We reached out to #WeMakeEvents and they loved the idea and helped us with getting the video out there and promoted. The premise of #WeMakeEvents is essentially a charity supporting those in the music industry and theatre industry, like the crew members, the artists, DJs, who have been struggling due to the pandemic.”

And while the songs of the Only You EP are certified bangers, Bowden explains that they weren’t intended to be “club centred. We weren’t like, ‘this is gonna sound so cool on a dance floor’. I think it is transferable to the club. But I think we had at the forefront of our minds that it was a track that you could listen to out on a dog walk, or when you’re at home with your headphones on.

“You could just be showing your mate or out in the car while you’re driving.

But there are definitely times when we’re in the studio and we go ‘okay, let’s make a club track; let’s make a track that’s going to absolutely transcend someone on the dance floor’. Even venues specifically like, ‘how cool would this track sound at Printworks and its huge sound system? That’s what we tend to go for, rather than saying it’s specifically for the club.”

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As the conversation goes down the studio route, Petalcorin tells me they’ve got a Korg Minilogue and Novation Peak, which they sometimes use to make their synths.

“We tend to actually make a lot of synths on software. So we use VSTs like u-he Diva, and Repro 1 and 5. Arturia’s collection is amazing. I really like Valhalla Room for reverbs, you can get some really cool sounds out of that. Also the whole Soundtoys collection — Echoboy is really good.

Crystallizer is great if you’re looking for a good saturator; I love their Decapitator as well. FabFilter Saturn is another really good one!”

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“I’ve been loving the Roland 909 drum machine,” Bowden adds. “It’s really, really cool. It’s got a tiny little speaker as well. If you wanted to, you could put a battery pack in it and take it onto a train and just have a play of it. It basically fits into your back pocket. It’s awesome.”

With tunes hotter than tabasco sauce, what better time than now to discover the music of these up and coming likely lads — you can’t go out, but you can get your head bopping to the beats of Tibasko.

INSTA: @ TIBASKOMUSIC

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LIAM MOUR

Bauhaus Beats

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Bauhaus Beats

LIAM MOUR Meeting Brad Pitt while on tour with Nils Frahm, becoming a resident at Berlin’s legendary architectural landmark Funkhaus Studios, and releasing his second EP; it’s been an eventful few years for Liam Mour, who is a very exciting addition to the electronic music scene. Headliner caught up with the Berlin-based producer and composer about life in the German capital, the incredible community at Funkhaus, and his gorgeous new collection of songs, Dreaming Of A Better Place.

“I was born in Asia in Kyrgyzstan,” Mour says. “It has the Tian Shan mountain range and it’s just next to China. Then my family came to Germany when I was six to a city near Cologne. Then I moved to Berlin about 11 years ago.”

His German accent evidences his many years in the country, and his analogue-based electronic music with its subdued beats fits the Berlin aesthetic wonderfully — although one could perhaps argue it’s still lovely and melodic despite coming out of the city of techno. His songs range from beguiling ambience to very danceable and uplifting. Plus the odd curveball, such as the title-track of Dreaming Of A Better Place – a trip-hop masterpiece with live drums, strings and vocals.

“I’ve been making music since I was a kid,” Mour says. “And I really got into electronic music when I was 16. I was listening to some music from Warp Records; we would play them when we were skating. When I moved to Berlin, it was quite easy to get into the electronic music scene, because Berlin is – I think – one of the most exciting cities for the scene worldwide.”

Mour has been a resident at Funkhaus for many years now. The GDR built Funkhaus in 1951 after they lost access to radios in West Germany. Its jaw-dropping design is by the famed Bauhaus architect Franz Ehrilich, and it’s been known for its excellent acoustics ever since.

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“It’s a stunning place,” Mour says. “It has a lot of studios; many of them have been refurbished during the last couple of years. I’m really happy to own one of them. I first came here to record nine years ago. It became really famous worldwide because of all the artists who are working there. And because of the concerts, we had the album release of Depeche Mode, and there have been many big concerts like Aphex Twin. So I would definitely recommend everyone visiting when they’re in Berlin – there’s a tour, and you can grab a coffee or lunch.”

Through his residency at Funkhaus, Mour has struck up a friendship with luminary composer and artist Nils Frahm, with some even describing Mour as a protégé of Frahm’s. The Saal 3 studio can be seen in the cover art for Frahm’s album All Melody, the space he currently owns. He gave us a lockdown treat recently: the live concert film Tripping With Nils Frahm, produced by one Brad Pitt. Perhaps you’re wondering how this involves Mour...

“Nils asked me to join that tour as a friend and as a merch guy. So I was selling merch, and made drinks for everyone, making everyone happy.

It was super exciting because I don’t know how many months we were away for. I got to say hello to Brad Pitt! He won’t remember me. We were sitting in the same row and I had my fan moment. It was at a church in L.A where Sister Act was filmed, and James Blake had played the night before.”

Mour’s second EP – which landed this year – Dreaming Of A Better Place, has such a cinematic scope to it. There’s the ambient soundscapes of opener When I Look Into Your Eyes, the headnodding, uplifting dance of Nineteen Ninety, ranging all the way to the epic and orchestral title track which closes the collection.

I mention that the title track, which with its strings, live drums and vocal samples gives off very strong Massive Attack vibes.

“I was listening to them when I was younger, also Boards of Canada,” he points out. “I just started with a guitar riff last year and wanted to end the EP with an ambient track. I had in mind putting live drums on it, and the string quartet and vocals. I also asked some really talented people to help me with that because I did the whole string

section with the Spitfire BBC library but I wanted to record real strings. So I asked Funkhaus if I could have Saal 1 to record in. Jonathan Dreyfuss, who is a really nice composer from Australia, helped me arrange the string quartet, and Antonio Pulli was the engineer. He works with many artists like Nils, with Ólafur (Arnalds), Hauschka. He was the main engineer on the Joker soundtrack too.”

When I ask Mour about his geargoodness at his studio, he tells me more about his use of Spitfire Audio’s orchestral libraries.

“I’m mainly using the BBC Orchestra stuff,” he says. “I really like it, the woodwinds are amazing and I’ve been using it for around two years now since it came out. I’m really impressed with their stuff. I replaced them with the real string quartet, but there are some geniuses who are able to do a full orchestra arrangement just with Spitfire and it sounds amazing, so why not?

“From Waves, I use the Channel Strip and the CLA compressors. I’ve had Waves for a long time, since forever.

As long as I’ve had Cubase! I can totally recommend them, and also Soundtoys. I’m working on an RME for my soundcard. It’s super stable, and it always works, so I love to work with it. I have an older one, the ADI-8. I have a few of them, actually!”

This budding producer and artist recently filmed a live video on a gorgeous rooftop location in Berlin, in which he’s surrounded by his curated army of analogue synths. Among his favourites are the (Roland) Junos.

“I love all of them. The 106, the Juno 60. I’m working a lot with the Elektron Analog RYTM – I love it; super nice workflow.

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“I GOT TO SAY HELLO TO BRAD PITT! HE WON’T REMEMBER ME. WE WERE SITTING IN THE SAME ROW AND I HAD MY FAN MOMENT.”

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Bauhaus Beats

I’m not using so many different drum machines actually, I’m trying to do everything on one or maybe two drum machines, or maybe a module system.”

Here is your call to action: listen to the Dreaming Of A Better Place EP as soon as you can, go to YouTube for the mini-documentary about the recording of its title track in Funkhaus, and then his rooftop live set while you’re there. With a first full-length album in production and Mour keen to get back to playing live for us as soon as is allowed, there’s plenty to get excited about for the brilliant prospect that is Liam Mour.

INSTA: @LIAMMOUR_

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L-ISA STUDIO We bring you an exclusive review of L-Acoustics brand new L-ISA Studio – the French manufacturer’s immersive mix system which allows for up to 7.1.4 mixing on any set of headphones using only a laptop. And you don’t even need an audio interface.

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SPOTLIGHT

L-Acoustics is, of course, most recognised for its work within the live sound sector; a leading manufacturer of loudspeakers with a product range that suits pretty much any audio application: touring of all levels, events, install, AV, house of worship – the list is long.

The company has also earned the reputation as one of only a handful of brands to really ‘crack’ an immersive audio experience at a live show via its L-ISA technology (which stands for Immersive Sound Art). Used by a bunch of international touring artists including Mercury Prize-winners, alt-J and US rock band, Soundgarden, L-ISA’s multidimensional capabilities allow creatives to literally shape their own sound at live shows – so what you hear is quite literally what you see.

And it’s not only the huge acts and full-size venues that are benefitting from L-ISA. Headliner contributor, Adam Protz, experienced this firsthand at a Samuel Kerridge show at EartH Hackney back in 2019 - a great

little venue fitted out with a full 360° L-ISA setup. He wrote at the time: “I’m pretty sure my soul has been astral-projected into the next dimension; L-Acoustics 360° technology ensures that every audio vibration pervades the being of the audience from every direction; it’s a trippy experience.”

Recently I was invited to the L-Acoustics Creations headquarters in Highgate to check out the manufacturer’s highly impressive immersive showroom. To cut a long story short, standing in the sweet spot in the centre of the room, and with all speakers engaged (there are many configurations available), I was able to listen to an immersive mix of Radiohead’s Paranoid Android taken from a live show, and my jaw hit the floor. Wherever I looked in the room, I heard – like Adam said about the show at EartH, and like alt-J’s manager told me when he was first introduced to L-ISA.

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I was taken into the adjacent room - a recording studio, boasting a 23.1 L-ISA setup. In here, I was to witness L-ISA Studio for the first time. Set up with Reaper (my choice of DAW, so further excitement there right away), a full immersive mix project was laid out and ready to demo, and it had been mixed using L-ISA Studio.

Before questions could be asked about the product, I was offered a seat, and shortly after, the dulcet guitar tones of Mark Knopfler were flying from the speakers (quite literally). I sat and listened, turning to face various different speakers as the track played, and the best way I can describe it is that it felt like I was on the stage with the band.

Everywhere I turned – you guessed it – I heard.

But then came the really interesting part.

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[L-ISA] Studio Vibes One week later, I was sat in my mix room with the following in front of me: a copy of [at the time unreleased] L-ISA Studio; a head tracker; and a set of Contour XO inear monitors, an industry-first L-Acoustics collaboration with IEM giant, JH Audio. This trio of tools would be the fuel to get me to my first ever immersive mix.

quality audio interface is imperative. Not here, however.

The idea of L-ISA Studio is to enable the user to monitor and mix immersive content accurately anywhere, with great audio – so my IEMs are connected direct into my laptop, and the head tracker is connected via one of the USB ports.

Just to reiterate, I am essentially remixing an existing project that I have already got into a decent place in the stereo world in my mix room, using L-ISA Studio and Contour XO – so I won’t be able to ‘check’ the mix against my original outside of my in-ear mix. I plan on doing so in part two of this review when I return to L-Acoustics Creations to hear my mix in all its glory (I hope!) which will be the real litmus test.

L-ISA Studio has an almost daunting amount of control and flexibility: Binaural Engine, Room Engine, Scale Simulation, a plethora of L-Acoustics’ finest reverb algorithms all right there at your fingertips, and that’s just to name a few of its USPs. But for the purpose of this review, I’ve tried to think as any producer and mix engineer brand new to immersive would and should: get the track into the 360° headspace. Perhaps the truly advanced stuff – no doubt targeted at the FOH engineers and sound designers looking to map out their venues and prepare or tweak their next show – I can dive into at a later date.

Assigning each of my tracks within Reaper to L-ISA Studio takes less than 10 minutes, then within the beautifully laidout L-ISA Controller I was able to quickly set up my head tracker via a Binaural Engine to track my own head’s movement. To keep the tracker in place – as IEMs don’t have a headband – I cunningly donned my Stetson flat cap. Other brands are also available, of course...

As I moved my head from side to side, up and down, it tracked the movement remarkably accurately – and if the head tracker slips, you can reset at the click of a button.

Then came L-ISA’s rather magical Audio Bridge – I say this because even with headphone monitoring, using a HEADLINER MAGAZINE

For now, it’s 40 channels of audio – a full-band track ready to find an immersive home.

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Immersive Headspace

IN THE MIX As I began to ‘move’ tracks within L-ISA Studio’s visually beautiful ‘Soundscape’ I was immediately drawn to the audio quality coming from my laptop. It sounded fantastic.

The interface allows for several viewpoints including a full-screen Soundscape mode which, when I started playing with the track and getting to grips with just how wide and far and high you can send audio, I found the most enthralling.

After a while I was even comfortable minimising the DAW screen and getting right into the mix using only L-ISA Studio – it felt fresh and exciting.

This song, by the way, has a piano running through it and features a handful of stems created using the Auras sound library by Slate + Ash and Sensel Morph, a highly advanced MIDI controller complete with MPE (Midi Polyphonic Expression) capabilities. Why am I telling you this? Because the sounds within Auras can be manipulated using MPE to change the timbre, pitch, amplitude, and more of each note – so even before they hit the immersive sound field, they were already weirder, wider, and more edgy than most.

Using L-ISA Studio I was able to bring the piano forward, and move each of the Auras stems wide across the soundscape. It immediately offered a filmic quality I hadn’t

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been able to achieve in stereo.

At one point, in fact, I physically turned around in my chair (about 140 degrees) to my left and found myself face to face with one of these Auras stems in a way I have never experienced. It was an ‘is this happening?’ moment for me.

But it was. And on that note, a shout-out to Contour XO – it’s an excellent full-range IEM. I did switch to regular headphones for a short period during this mix, but went back quickly such was the difference in stereo (or should that be immersive) width, overall depth of sound, and in particular the midrange really impressed me. The track had more guts when I was mixing with Contour than without, that’s for sure.

right up front, hitting hard with the kick and driving the piano, which by this stage I’d widened slightly so it was kind of ‘hugging’ the rest of the band.

This song also has six guitar parts – and again, in the immersive headspace, I was able to break them up a bit, bring them in at what felt like different points in the song, where in fact in some cases that wasn’t even the case - they were just positioned with more intent.

So six hours in, I flipped back to my stereo mix, and then back to my immersive – and what a pleasant surprise. In the way that many producers and mix engineers are afraid of sub (I was until I got one), I had always been a little afraid of surround mixing. I wasn’t sure how to go about it – until I spent the day with L-ISA Studio. Now I want to turn my room into 5.1 at minimum! So for me, a keen producer and mixer with a passion for audio, brand new to immersive mixing, this was quite the revelation.

For my drums, I kept the kick and snare as central as possible with overheads out wide as standard, though some of the additional percussive samples that were centred in stereo world found themselves out pretty wide, pretty quickly – this immersive thing is addictive once you get the hang of it! The bass – again, I brought it

And for vocals, my favourite part of the mix process, I was able to bring the lead even further up front and centre, allowing the several layers of BVs to fill the soundscape. At this point I was desperate to dive into the L-ISA Studio FX, but that’s for next time – what I did find myself doing was going back into the DAW occasionally to extend a reverb tail or big up a delay here and there.

So I can only imagine what is truly achievable using the entirety of this system.

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102 IZOTOPE

Music Production Suite Pro / Part 1

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IZOTOPE For those familiar with iZotope’s vast range of mix, mastering and repair tools but have either not been sure about the investment required or the time and learning curves involved - or, if as a creator, you believed that mixing, mastering and track level audio repairs are way beyond your skill set - then read on.

iZotope has put all the latest Pro versions of its top mixing software (Neutron Pro, Ozone Pro and RX Pro For Music) in one suite. These are accompanied by an astounding set of additional software collections like Insight Pro, its award-winning metering and analysis package, Neoverb, which is simple to use and produces some of the best and

instantly usable reverb effects I’ve heard, Nectar Pro, VocalSynth Pro, and Melodyne 5 Essentials - all of which are some of the best vocal production, manipulation, synthesis and time/pitch correction software plugins available.

Also included is Tonal Balance Control Pro, which is designed to

learn from the music you love or the genre you’re working in to achieve better, more consistent mixing and mastering results.

What’s more, you can now get all of this and more for a yearly subscription of £176.62 VAT excluded.

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RX PRO FOR MUSIC Apart from being a powerful collection of plugins, RX Pro For Music is a standalone application in its own right, providing a flexible platform for cleaning up stems before exporting them to your DAW, preparing soundtracks, podcasts, interviews etc.

The way that many work today means there’s a lot more collaboration, with files and stems being created and Dropbox’d between musicians and producers.

This can throw up some interesting challenges that need to be

addressed. The same is true for vocal breaths, lip and tongue clicks and fidgeting noises, footsteps and headphone click track bleed, as well as wonderful MacBook fan noise. All these eventualities are catered for.

I’ll start with something that I wanted a solution to, and what originally sparked my interest in iZotope RX the demo that has no stems. I’ve had a few of these, mainly song ideas and writing sessions from the past. When you find something that inspires you, speed is of the essence, and the

desire to lift the vocal and use it as a guide for alternative arrangements, rather than waiting for stems to ping backward and forward, is immense.

It was this that led me to RX’s ‘Music Rebalance’ and then ‘De-reverb’.

With these two modules loaded into RX’s standalone app, I was able to strip out a bunch of ideas that had been originally recorded on a Boss digital 8-track and Akai DR16, as well as some that had been created in GarageBand but where the stems had since been lost or mislaid.

THE BIGGER PICTURE The RX standalone interface includes both a waveform and spectrogram view of the audio file on the same timeline, and there’s a slider that allows you to favour one over the other. It’s advantageous to see both, as it can help you make decisions on what processing to apply. While both run from left to right - the waveform only indicating amplitude - the spectrogram shows amplitude by depth of colour from bottom to top depending on frequency. This is a great way to see, as well as hear what the tools you apply do to the audio.

The right column has a handy search feature, which narrows down the available options depending on the type of work you’re doing. If you select ‘All’ then all options available

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are listed. Below that is the ‘Module Chain’, in which you can customise a string of processes to achieve the result you’re after.

Next is the Repair section, which hosts 16 modules, the majority of which are also available from within your DAW as plugins. Then there are the 14 ‘Utilities’ which are exclusive to the RX app and feature a range of tools, from EQ to loudness.

If your work revolves around recurring issues, such as a guitarist’s playing style or a singer’s natural voice, consider using or creating presets as soon as possible. The module chain is a handy way to create and save a preset, while the Repair Assistant is another useful tool.

A number of modules also feature a

learn button, which helps you find a set of very workable parameters and save you time.

Before you start any processing in RX Pro, it’s important to give your source audio a thorough listen and make a clear plan as to what it is you want to achieve. Before you start to process anything, save it as a project in the same way you save your DAW projects. Use the Preview button and the Compare button to check your changes, and don’t lose sight of what it was that you wanted to repair the track for. And finally, make a copy of your original file or alter the copy’s name slightly, so that you don’t do what I did the first time I used RX and overwrite the original!

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DIFFERENT LEAGUE For those who have never used iZotope’s RX, let’s have a quick glance through the De-modules. All are optimised to recognise and remove specific types of unwanted noise, usually caused in the general process of music making and performance.

These include De-bleed, which learns from the track that is the source of the bleed and uses that knowledge to remove the offending bleed. Declick and De-crackle use a number of algorithms to remove short burst amplitude irregularities and smooth them out.

De-Clip is one of my go-tos, as I find a couple of people I work with tend to underestimate how their voices improve and how much louder they

can get after they’ve been recording for a while. The tendency is to be over critical of their own pitch and delivery and lose sight of the technical basics and often the performance. Deess uses a choice of two different algorithms for identifying and reducing those annoying sibilances.

overlooked by those who like the warm, close sound. Guitar De-noise, Mouth De-click, Spectral De-noise and Voice De-noise all learn from the audio you select in the interface and apply their magic to the track.

De-hum picks a frequency and its relative harmonics. In the case of mains and earth loops, it’s likely to be 50Hz and the octaves off. This can impact on your audio and make your bass and low-mids sound larger than life and incredibly muddy. De-plosive is another frequently used plugin of mine. This is also something that is more common from home studios than you might think, and is often

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Music Production Suite Pro / Part 1

CONCLUSION I’ve only lightly scratched the surface of what iZotope’s RX Pro For Music can do and I’m still learning and finding out new uses. So far, RX has completely changed what I thought was possible when it comes to music and audio repairs and problem solving.

As a guitarist I’ve found it useful, rather than top and tailing like I used to. I now confidently leave the noise on the take in between passages, so RX Guitar De-noise has a good chunk of sound to analyse. That way RX can remove the noise from behind the guitar work, not just between passages. But most importantly, it puts your focus back on making music, trying ideas and not on attempting to make everything technically

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perfect as you go. Every tool in RX works better for its intended task than anything I have ever used.

There is still so much to look at in this suite of apps, so keep an eye out for future installments and head over to the Headliner website for some video tutorials. Could I find anything negative about this suite of software? Well, if you exclude the fact that its seven-day free trial isn’t nearly enough time to try out all of the powerful features and options available in this outstanding package, then no!

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SoundID Reference

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SONARWORKS Sonarworks certainly hit the nail on the head when they released their incredibly easy to use and very popular Reference 4 software. This useful tool took the guesswork out of your recording and mixing by correcting the sonic response of your speakers in relation to the room characteristics and any other anomalies within your working studio environment.

The aim, to produce a flat response at the listening position, thereby facilitating professional sounding mixes that translate to all the output mediums associated with modern music making.

I’m sure we’ve all at some point in our pasts, after several hours of painstaking work, been horrified to discover that what sounded stunning in our studio sounds awful in the car!

Not to restrict your workflow in any way, Sonarworks also incorporates a headphone module that comes with a HEADLINER MAGAZINE

range of preset corrections for all the popular models of studio headphones.

And should you wish for a more accurate correction, you can send them your actual headphones for analysis.

This year has seen a massive change in the way music creatives work, with many moving their studio setups into their home. For those of you who have never heard of or used Sonarworks Reference software before, you’re going to find the prospect of no longer second guessing yourself very

tempting. If you’ve recently moved from a studio you know and love to a garage, spare room or bedroom, could there potentially be a way of transferring a little of that magic sound from one studio to another?

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SETTING UP Firstly, I’d recommend checking to see if your particular model is on the list of available headphone profiles, as this is the quickest way to check out SoundID for yourself.

When I first opened SoundID it asked me for permission to access core audio, which you must allow. The front panel of SoundID Reference prompts you to enter your interface; in this case I’m using the Antelope Audio ZenGo Synergy Core USB interface which the system immediately saw.

I selected it, and was then prompted to ‘Add a new headphone profile’, ‘Create a new speaker profile’ or ‘Open an existing profile’. I selected my Sennheiser HD600s from the vast list of profiles available. The whole process,

including download time and opening the account for my free 21-day trial, took around 15 minutes.

I love the HD600s, and I’ve had them for around 20 years. This, it is suggested, is one of the reasons for sending your headphones back to Sonarworks and having them calibrated. Let’s face it - everything changes with age.

The profile seemed to suggest a bit of bass roll off from 90Hz falling more significantly from around 60Hz. This was something I was aware of, but I was not aware of a number of other areas in the high mids like -3db between 2 and 3kHz or the spikes at 5kHz and 8.5kHz. Ironically, while none of these alterations are major, save for

the bass, when I first started listening to tracks I knew well, there was a much better bass response and a well balanced sound.

After living with SoundID on my system for a week now, I would feel slightly hesitant at the prospect of mixing without the headphone profile loaded.

Come to think of it, I don’t want to listen to anything without it loaded, even with or without the audio interface.

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SoundID Reference

CREATING YOUR UNIQUE SPEAKER PROFILE When the idea of trying out Sonarworks SoundID Reference came about, I first needed to order and get hold of a SoundID Reference Mic - available on Sonarworks’ website for a very modest €69, about £65 with shipping.

Creating your own speaker profiles requires a little more time than simply picking a preset, but is a whole lot of fun. So much so that I did it several times, partly because I have every intention of making a video to show the process from start to finish, but mainly because I like unusual tones and noises. It was also a fascinating experiment into how objects within your studio space can acoustically impact your listening position and working environment.

Simply plug in the Reference mic and select ‘Create a new speaker profile’ from the drop down menu. I found it easier to put the Reference mic on a stand and then take it off to do the speaker distance measurement, but leaving the mic stand in position just helped me keep a more accurate listening height when moving the mic to the requested positions. All-in-all, the first speaker profile probably took about 25 minutes, but subsequent measurements took about half that time.

Now you’re able to create a number of profiles with a number of variables to see what produces the least acoustically hazardous environment for your listening

position, and where possible, to keep both speakers as matched as possible. You might think that sounds a bit crazy, but even at less than a meter away, my ADAM A7 monitors sounded different from left to right!

This is of course a common issue when it comes to home studios, and particularly those of us with dual purpose spaces. One of the other great benefits of running SoundID is a more consistent sound from one environment to another. It makes working on elements of the same projects in different facilities even easier.

IT’S ALL ABOUT THAT BASS SoundID features Custom Target; the ability to create EQ tweaks - something that could be very useful if you’re trying to build a profile that more closely matches the sound of a specific mix room.

We work in an industry that thrives on its love of particular musicians, outboard, instruments, toys, vintage equipment etc. because of their unique colouration and specific sound. Maybe then this is not such a strange feature to find on speaker and headphone correction software.

As with your measurements, custom targets can also be saved as user presets and recalled as and when required.

Also new to SoundID is Translation Check, a very useful set of presets that lets you emulate a range of alternative output sources from Auratones to AirPods and car stereos to iPhones.

Again, a useful tool that saves you

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additional speaker space and particularly useful if you’re working without an interface, stuck in a hotel or on a train or plane somewhere. With 20 presets covering end user devices, it’s just so easy to audition mixes on those limited range devices. As most pros will tell you, it’s the midrange where all the magic and emotion is captured, not the bass!

The interface has had a facelift as well; the prompts are just so helpful and make everything so easy to use without having to refer to the manual. SoundID is available as a core audio device which then picks up your interface or computer outputs, or as a plugin for your DAW output bus. Pricing is very attractive, and Sonarworks also offers pre calibrated headphones at standard selling prices from the likes of Sennheiser and Beyerdynamic, as well as their excellent Reference mic.

The question I keep asking myself is why didn’t I try Sonarworks Reference 4 when I first heard about it? I’m actually feeling a little guilty that I maybe didn’t know my speakers or more accurately assess what was going on in my little home studio.

On the flip side, it’s now possible to make the most of whatever you have available with the help of SoundID, and I’m looking forward to the prospect of mixing with my much improved ADAM A7s together with the equally improved trusty old Sennheiser HD600s.

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NUGEN AUDIO

Stereoizer Elements

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NUGEN AUDIO Bizarrely, this product could have been made with me in mind. I remember many years ago looking at NUGEN Audio’s very excellent Stereoizer, from which Stereoizer Elements takes its inspiration, if not its algorithms. Again, some time back, I recall being impressed by the equally brilliant Stereoplacer together with Monofilter – a plugin no dance producer, in fact any producer, should be without. At the time, the three were offered together, and I’m pleased to say they still are – as the Focus Bundle.

I have most definitely tried these impressive plugins, including – more recently – their amazing Paragon reverb. I know this because I have a NUGEN account and they offer a really useful ‘try before you buy’ option, which begs the question: why hadn’t I bought any sooner? In my defence, when I first came across Stereoizer 10 years ago I was out on tour a lot more and I wouldn’t have considered spending money on what was then more of a hobby than a profession – a wise investment.

How that has changed over the last year... But if like me, you are conscious of making your investment

go further and getting real value for your hard earned cash, read on.

MISAPPREHENSION When I was invited to review Stereoizer Elements, I made a couple of calls, just to see how many of my home and small studio-owning friends used imaging plugins, and if so, what it was they used. Surprisingly, there was one who came out with much negativity on the subject. I heard talk of phasing issues, difficulty in setting up, results not worth the time and effort, too expensive for something that works properly, etc. None of this aimed at Stereoizer, I might add.

I’ve got an inkling as to why this particular person clearly wasn’t a fan of this kind of plugin. Most stock plugins for imaging and stereo enhancement or stereo widening are not good. From personal experience, I’ve attempted to get to grips with the two which come with Logic Pro X. For example, Directional mixer is a slightly over sophisticated pan pot that is very difficult to find a sweet setting that actually preserves the quality and integrity of the original audio while doing its placing.

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and has a tendency to sound suspiciously like a tight reflective room reverb – almost like a standing wave tells you where you are in a space. Either way, nothing with the sort of musicality that makes you glad you didn’t have to part with any hard earned cash.

On a positive note, NUGEN Audio’s Focus Bundle did get a huge thumbs up from one mate who uses all three plugins on a regular basis for his cinematic work. He also confirmed the two things that I thought about the original Stereoizer: it was both easy to use and sounded excellent.

CHIP OFF THE OLD BLOCK Stereoizer Elements does exactly what the original Stereoizer does: it increases the stereo spread of mono and stereo signals. The original Stereoizer features three algorithms: Linear width, Interaural Intensity Difference and Interaural Time Difference, plus a number of other movable points on the display to manipulate one, the other, or both algorithms at the same time. The results are a feeling of natural space with no unusual digital artefacts – the result of which could also be seen on a screen which showed the frequency range on the vertical axis and a representation of width/ space/time on the horizontal axis.

(Although the screen is slightly more akin to a radar scope.)

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and replace it with a one metrestyle slider that follows the curve of a very similar screen, giving you the same visual representation of the algorithms doing their thing.

The widening of the image via this single control is smooth, natural and incredibly musical – it sounds as good as the best of the original. Only now it’s just so incredibly easy to use. To the left is a Trim control that allows you to adjust, as increasing the width by definition will give you the perception of increased level.

To the right is the Mono button, but if you’re like me you’ll simply go to your DAW’s master output bus and click the mono/stereo toggle so you can check that the claims of a completely mono compatible stereo image are indeed true. I know it’s true, but I keep on doing it!

There’s a handy A/B button as well as a preset box and the usual Undo, Redo buttons – depending on your DAW. I had a little chuckle to myself when I saw the 45 available user presets, as with only one real control fader to manipulate I thought it overkill, but if you’re revisiting projects regularly, then maybe.

CONCLUSION The NUGEN Audio Stereoizer Elements has to be the biggest range of completely usable effects from a single control I can remember hearing in a plugin. Moreover, it has all the quality and transparency you’d expect to hear in a product more than twice its price, which at £84, is a great value product.

I also heard a whisper that NUGEN Audio are about to release an Elements version of Monofilter, which may suggest Stereoplacer could follow – so keep your eyes peeled for those possibilities.

For anyone who is looking for a great plugin to add to their arsenal of mixing and production tools,

head over to NUGEN Audio, look for Stereoizer Elements and hit the Buy Now or the Try button, and get ready to give your mixes those polished, professional touches.

Whether you need to enhance a vocal, bring forth that guitar solo, create a huge sound for the dance floor but don’t want to lose that sound in the club/bar, the shopping centre, or the fitting room at Superdry – £34 is a very small price to pay for the second best stereo image enhancer available.

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Super 6

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UDO AUDIO Is it analogue? Digital? Modular? A bird or a plane? Well, this Spotlight review certainly incorporates a few of those things. Fresh-faced in the synthesizer game since founding in 2018 in Bristol, UK, the UDO Super 6 is both their first product and synthesizer (that’s right, please take note that this instrument is the first thing they’ve released). And they have truly birthed a beast. Join Headliner as we delve into why the Super 6 polysynth deserves your attention at the very least.

UDO delivers us a fantastic mixture of presets but, crucially, the opportunity to manipulate sound on top. So often, synths are either all presets, or the opposite extreme: 100% customisation. With the Super 6, you really do get the best of both worlds.

Its tagline is ‘inspired by the classics,

built for today’. In the case of this product, these are not empty words.

That said, the presets sound excellent if you quickly need a great sound to work with off the bat. Huge leads, the more cutesy square sounds are offered, FM-style bell sounds,

ambient pads and plenty more.

Speaking of ambience, the built in delay buttons really do the business.

And if you really want to go fullblown ambient, adding reverb via a pedal or a plugin sounds stunning on this thing.

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“IF YOU REALLY WANT TO GO FULL-BLOWN AMBIENT, ADDING REVERB VIA A PEDAL OR A PLUGIN SOUNDS STUNNING ON THIS THING.”

The sounds on offer give the opportunity to opt for retro sounds from the ‘80s onwards, or you can keep it more contemporary. This is in part thanks to UDO’s hybrid technology that brings together the powers of both digital and analogue.

The analogue side gives you that unmistakable warmth and organic feel you just can’t get from a virtual synth in your DAW or a purely digital synthesizer. Plus, there’s that charm in the touch of wonkiness (much more subtle than if you bought a really old synth) that synth-heads are renowned for loving and seeking out so much. Speaking of adding plugins, I had the Super 6 plugged in via a UAD x4 Thunderbolt, and the two sounded quite unbelievable together.

It’s a great build — not too large and unwieldy, but doesn’t come HEADLINER MAGAZINE

close to being so small that it limits the functionality of the synth. Too often, modern synths have tiny keys that feel a bit too plastic and too light to the touch. The weight on these keys feels just right. All 49 of them! A great number, as it means you don’t have to reach for the octave button constantly. It’s definitely a performance instrument that’s for proper keyboardists as well as producers and electronic experimentalists.

Modern synths often boast a central display with a screen as the centrepiece, but UDO’s designer felt these are sometimes unnecessary and distracting from the music and sound designing process. Hence the Super 6’s common sense design; all the buttons and faders are single purpose. Single purpose features

are increasingly rare on the newer synths of the world, but this decision makes everything wonderfully user friendly and enjoyable. And of course, it’s great to have an instrument that gives us some respite from screen time.

The Super 6 boasts its own USB port.

You’ll still need a guitar cable to plug it into your DAW via a soundcard (again, I used the UAD Thunderbolt).

But UDO has plans to start posting additional waves for this bit of kit, and via USB you will be able to load them straight onto the Super 6.

The LFO 1 control is where some of the real fun begins, as you can really start toying around with the pitch and wave modulation. And if you’re in stereo, you can enjoy the full binaural potential of this thing, as the detuning

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shifts in and out of tune. A fantastic feature with no need for additional effects or pedals to achieve.

The Super 6’s main filter is an analogue 4-pole, 24 dB per octave, resonant lowpass filter using a classic polysynth filter design from Sound Semiconductor (SSI). Similarly to the LFO control, it’s one of those classic features that makes a physical synthesizer such a fun way to lose all track of time, something you just can’t replicate in a virtual synthesizer. It’s also where the modulatory features come into play, with its own dedicated faders and LFO modulation.

And just as an aside, there are two colour options, a sleek and subtle grey, or baby blue for those wanting a bigger splash of colour at home or on stage.

The onboard arpeggiator and sequencer are also classic touches on the Super 6. The former has the all-important hold button, as seen on some of the best instruments from the ‘80s. Whereas you occasionally see performers using recent keyboards having to place an object on the key when this feature is not available. The sequencer allows 64-step patterns, which you can save to your computer

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with USB if you run out of the 64 slots within the synth.

It’s quite easy to see why UDO’s Super 6 has caught such a buzz of hype around it, as the amount of boxes ticked makes it a stunning allrounder. If you are in the market for a premium synthesizer, newcomers UDO absolutely deserve a look. If you do invest in one, make sure to clear some space in your diary.

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HEAR TECHNOLOGIES When I heard that I’d been invited to review the Hear Back PRO system from American company Hear Technologies, the early days of Aviom, another American company which kind of kick started the fashion for personal monitor mixing, sprung to mind. Of course, things have moved on since then and nearly every desk manufacturer has its own brand of personal mixing system, all designed to put control back in the hands of the musician and negate the need for a dedicated monitor board and monitor engineer.

In reality there is often a learning curve involved with such systems and as the FOH engineer, I have spent far more time on stage or in the pit than I wanted showing musicians how to customise and set up their mixes, as well as saving and recalling, not to mention labelling channels, routing specific FX etc.

Cat6 cabling, all in a very tidy black canvas carry case with a bunch of adjustable padded dividers to keep everything pristine.

So SCV, Hear Technologies’ UK distributor, shipped me a kit which included the Hear Back PRO Hub, 4 x 16 channel Hear Back PRO Mixers, the power supply and associated HEADLINERMAGAZINE.NET

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Hear Back PRO

STRAIGHT FROM THE HEART At the heart of the system is the Hear Back PRO Hub. I was asked in advance which input interface would suit the setup I have at home for review purposes, and I plumped for a Dante card. However I could’ve picked between analogue with Tascam style D-subs, Waves, ADAT and AES as well as Dante. I have Dante Virtual Soundcard and Dante controller installed on both my Macs as well as a couple of live desks with Dante interfaces and a number of other Dante enabled devices, so it made logical sense to go down this route rather than Waves SoundGrid

or analogue cards and D-sub snakes from my Apollo x8p.

I have a couple of shows in Q-Lab on my MacBook Pro, one being a show where the songs have multiple stems assigned to 16 tracks; some in stereo pairs and others as single mono tracks for easy mixing at the FOH desk.

After a straightforward one-to-one assignment of the 16 channels from Q-Lab to the Hear Back PRO Hub by means of the Dante Controller software, I plugged in one of the four

Hear Back PRO Mixers to the Hub via a cat6 cable; it immediately sprung to life with a rather impressive light show. Now all that was required was for me to plug in a set of Jerry Harvey Audio JH16s, turn a few of the blue lit rotary pots and voila: instant audio!

I think the first thing I was aware of, however, was not how unbelievably quick and simple this system is to use, but how good it sounds – and boy, does it sound good! I haven’t yet delved deeply into this fully featured system and already I’m in love with it.

THE HUB The Hear Back PRO Hub comes fitted as standard with a network card and dual power supply. This serves as both a redundant power supply system or additional power should you be using your Hub with more than one 8-port Mixer network card. Clock speeds of 44.1kHz to 192kHz are supported and should your studio be running a master clock, there is a separate Word Clock Card available.

A really useful feature and one touched on earlier when I mentioned the light show upon powering up the PRO Mixer, is the same multi-coloured LEDs also HEADLINER MAGAZINE

indicate the status of the Hub in the Hear icon on the left of the front panel, glowing red if there’s a status or sample rate mismatch. The same colour scheme is used on each channel to indicate those receiving audio, and glow from a healthy blue through amber to red when high signal levels are received.

The front panel features an A/B/Hbus switch which lets you select between different input card formats or from the Hub’s network card, should your input cards be on a second Hub. To accept straight analogue audio via a balanced line XLR or TRS jack, you’ll need to have

a pair of analogue input cards as each only supports one D-sub (D88 wiring) 8 channel input.

Lastly but by no means least I must mention the Virtual Mixer Card. This is a Hear Back PRO Mixer on a card and is designed primarily to provide a stereo pair of balanced line outputs for your mix in the rack, where it’s likely your IEM transmitters also reside. This removes another pair of balanced line cables which would otherwise need to run back to your IEM radio rack for use by the more mobile members of your band or show.

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MIXING IT UP Now the Hear Back PRO Mixer is a light but strong, compact ABS unit with rubber feet and a mic stand mount underneath, which impressed me immensely from the moment I plugged in its network cable. It runs a boot and power up sequence which scrolls through the LEDs, checks the status of the mixer, and lights the Hear icon blue, or if a fault is found, red. The front panel sports four rows of four pots numbered one to 16; each pot has an arc of seven LEDs across the top which indicate the level of the pot, but double up as illumination for the scribble strips. At the bottom of the front facia are two buttons, Pan and Aux, followed by a large master pot, and two more buttons for Preset and Intercom.

By default the Mixer’s LEDs are deep blue, and if you leave the mixer in any other mode it will eventually, after 30 seconds or so, return to this dark blue state. While in this state, the rotary pots are volume controls for each channel. When you press the Pan button all the LEDs turn green and the rotaries for each channel become pan pot. Now if you press and hold the Pan button for three seconds the LEDs flash green. In this mode you can link corresponding channels together to make a stereo channel.

Now, onto a couple of features which I have seen on other personal monitor systems but which I can’t remember being so easy to use or so well laid out: next to the Pan

button is an Aux button which routes the aux input by means of the master pot to your headphones. Technically, this makes the system an 18 track personal mixer but of course that aux input is exclusive to your mixer - very handy if you want to refer to an arrangement during a rehearsal or take a phone call without taking out your IEMs. Also extremely useful if you’re a drummer who likes to refer to a metronome at the start of songs without taking up valuable tracks on the system, or without any audible indication of what you’re up to.

However, if your aux selector switch is selecting your XLR input, which has phantom power I might add, you can use it as a local ambient mic or as a means of increasing the instrumentation in your own personal space or to help communication with other band members. Which leads me nicely onto the Intercom button.

This takes the XLR input regardless of whether it’s routed to the aux or not and sends it to all users on the system.

Very useful for the conductor, control room engineer, musical director, etc. Only individuals with an attached mic can talk on the system and in any event, only a maximum of four intercoms can transmit on the system at any one time.

MIXING IT UP The Hear Back PRO system is quite simply amazing, and sounds stunning. The quality and headroom from the headphone amplifier is clean, transparent and loud.

When using my good old Sennheiser HD600s I was driving the master volume pot around the two o’clock LED; for IEMs like the JH16 I was only halfway up the 12 o’clock LED. The system really sounded its best with the individual channels driven to around the sixth LED.

without doubt the best personal monitor mixer and system I have heard, and I was able to get it up and running without any manuals in a matter of minutes. Would I use the Hear Back PRO system in a studio or take it out on the road and leave on stage in the hands of a band of musicians I’d only just met? Absolutely! And I’m hoping as we start to resume live events, I can keep this system long enough to do just that.

I’ve so often found desks and interfaces that provide great quality outputs but seem to have compromised on their onboard headphone amplifiers. Not so here. This is

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Scoring The Serpent

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SCORING THE SERPENT

DOMINIK SCHERRER The story of Charles Sobhraj, a Eurasian serial killer who would drug and rob travellers – particularly young, hippie backpackers in Thailand – required a particular calibre of musical score. The BBC and Netflix’s hit show The Serpent enlisted veteran composer Dominik Scherrer to provide the music for this harrowing mid-’70s tale. Having scored many popular shows such as The Missing and Ripper Street, the Swiss-born artist opens up about scoring a serial killer with musical subtlety.

Based in Shoreditch, East London, Scherrer is explaining how breaking into the world of film music is often a steady climb, rather than a sudden breakthrough moment.

had the first feature film, it was called Appetite. It was an arthouse film and I had the budget for an orchestra on that one. And then things gradually grew.”

“It was a gradual thing,” he says. “Also, you kind of learn as you go along as well. I was scoring a lot of short films, and then they just got longer and bigger. Initially, it was string quartet scores, and then I could record orchestra for some of them. Then I

Knowing Scherrer has composed for BBC programmes quite a few times, I ask how it feels to have worked for such an institution on several occasions.

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“I guess if you’re doing those kind of high-end drama productions like I do, it’s basically either BBC or ITV,” he explains. “Or now Netflix or Amazon Studios, and often, it is a combination of them. For a long time I did ITV as well, Miss Marple and things like that.

And then something like The Serpent is actually made by Mammoth Screen that is owned by ITV and was produced for the BBC and Netflix. So it all often hangs together anyway.”

Looking across Scherrer’s lengthy CV, we talk about the wonderful breadth of his work: “When you do one thing and people know it well, then people do start to typecast you a little bit. Sometimes it can be hard to cross borders. For example, I haven’t actually scored comedy in a while. I was thinking that

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would be quite fun again because I tend to do quite serious stuff now.

People have almost forgotten that I can be quite fun as well!”

I’m keen to know how Scherrer landed the gig for The Serpent, which stars Jenna Coleman (Dr. Who, Victoria) and Tahar Rahim (A Prophet, The Mauritanian).

“I’d worked with Tom Shanklin, the lead director, before on several shows.

He was lead director on Ripper Street and The Missing. So he already told me about this idea years ago because it was a story that had been going around his head. He was keen to find a way to adapt it to the screen. Which meant I was on board with this project early and I could start writing themes before they even started shooting.”

Being given the time and space to do the preliminary musical work for the series wasn’t the only benefit from Scherrer’s long-term working relationship with director Tom Shanklin – it also comes down to the mutual trust and respect they’ve earned from each other.

Which saved Scherrer from what is often the bane of film composer’s lives: the dreaded temp-track. It’s the scenario in which a director places a temporary piece of music over a scene until the composer replaces it. But often the director becomes so attached to the temp-track (more often than not a well-known piece by a famous composer such as Hans Zimmer) that they more or less ask the composer they are working with to essentially copy and paste the temporary music.

“When I have some sketches down I can send those to the cutting room,” he explains. “Then they can use some of my music while they’re putting together the cut, and they don’t have to use other music. But it’s true, temp love is a big thing! I’ve had times where the temp-music is actually my own earlier music, and they almost want you to imitate yourself – but an imitation can only ever be slightly worse, or a lot worse! Often when I hear new film music I can actually hear what the temp-track was, because I’ll have had the same one myself. I heard that for a while; my soundtrack to The Missing had apparently become the kind of temp du jour in L.A. And I have seen some shows where I thought, ‘God, this is like my track. That’s strange!’”

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“BECAUSE HE WAS KNOWN AS ‘THE SERPENT’ AND WITH THAT BEING THE NAME OF THE SHOW, I WANTED TO GIVE A LOT OF THE MUSIC THIS SLITHERY, SNAKELIKE QUALITY.”

Scherrer didn’t feel musical themes for the different characters would work for The Serpent. This is because he feels this can make them start to feel like theme park characters.

“It often doesn’t work, because sooner or later those characters are going to meet, and what are you going to do then? It’s more the story strands that I want to score.

Because this show is so much about Charles, you couldn’t just have one theme, but it’s certain aspects of his psyche that have the themes. Because he was known as ‘The Serpent’ at the time and with that being the name of the show, I wanted to give a lot of the music this slithery, snakelike quality also.”

I ask Scherrer about what can be found at his studio, currently located at the Old Truman Brewery in London’s Brick Lane.

“I work in Logic, although I often run Pro Tools at the same time, which is quite common in film music,” he says. “I’m using Spitfire as my main orchestral library, particularly Spitfire Chamber Strings. I use a lot of VSL Vienna for mock-ups as well. I do sometimes leave some of those sounds in there, maybe a little quieter and have the live recordings more in the foreground. They can be really helpful if you need an extra bit of weight from the samples.

“I always prefer a smaller ensemble and the precision they have, so Spitfire Chamber Strings is great for me. I was actually involved in creating it! Paul Thompson (one of Spitfire Audio’s founders) and I were working together, and he said, ‘I’m just putting together my first sample library’. I think it was 12 of us who put some money into it, and they recorded the first library at AIR Studios with the

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players that we knew quite well. So it was immediately a library I could use really well because it sounded very much like the sort of ensembles I was recording anyway.”

And when it comes to sound cards, Scherrer is an avid RME user.

“I have the UFX One and Two. And also the Babyface Pro. They sound extremely good. And they are very fast as well, you can get very low latency with them. And I’m now planning a new studio in Shoreditch with a much bigger space where we’re going to use networked audio, and RME are sorted for this now. So I think I’ll be going down that route with RME for the bigger setup as well.”

The Serpent OST is available to buy and stream now, combining East-Asian instrumentation, orchestral elements and synths that sound authentically seventies – so get listening for that music of a snakelike quality. And then there’s Scherrer’s back catalogue too, including his much-imitated music for The Missing. But here’s hoping his wish to score a fun comedy is granted soon.

DOMINIKSCHERRER.COM

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Picking Up The Pen

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PICKING UP THE PEN

BRUZA “Life’s good, man. I give thanks and I’m gracious. Really gracious.” So starts my interview with grime music legend Bruza on a very positive note.

Besides his general gratitude, Bruza – real name Shaun Barker – has good reason to be upbeat as he has just marked his return to the mic, almost two decades since he first touched down in the early 2000s.

His first singles Get Me and Doin Me were enormously popular, but then Bruza disappeared without trace.

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in the Lord Of The Mics clash scene — Bruza vs Crazy Titch is the stuff of legend from those very early days in grime’s decorated history. Hence why so many followers of the scene were sad to no longer receive any output from the Hackney-born rapper. But that all changes this year; and what better way to return than with an infectious and in-your-face single, the fittingly titled Pick It Up. Having lived in various parts of London including Hackney and Walthamstow (he’s noted for his very cockney style), Bruza tells me he’s living in an area where, “I take one

step and I’m in Essex, and another step I’m in London.”

He reacts with modesty when I say he is one of the true original grime artists: “To be fair, there was a wave before me. So that was Pay As U Go Cartel and Heartless Crew. I wasn’t taking emceeing too seriously when it was the likes of Dizzee Rascal, Nasty Crew, Sharkey Major. But you could say I was on the second wave because I went on their (pirate radio) shows to make a name for myself.”

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Prior to this, Bruza had been appearing at the odd drum and bass rave to rap over 160-180 beats per minute tracks (great preparation for the grime beats he would later become involved with) but says as garage transitioned into grime, his interest grew as the sounds became increasingly darker. To make that crossover, he explains how he had to studiously listen to his peers.

“I’ve always been a student of music, so whether we’re talking about grime or hip hop and rap, even dancehall, I’ve always taken an interest in the way that they rhyme and rap. So I would listen to sets on the radio with Nasty Crew for example, D Double E, all that lot. I’d be listening to them and seeing how they would formulate their rhymes and how they’d be performing together.

Learning about 16 bars, 32 bars, how to drop on, and how to do it like Wiley and Roll Deep.”

Catchy yet hard hitting, and unapologetically laced with Bruza’s cockney character, Bruza’s comeback track Pick It Up sees him linking up with legendary grime producer Silencer.

Also known as Teddy Music, the beatmaker has produced some of the genre’s best-known backings for the likes of Skepta, Lethal Bizzle, D Double E and more. And if you scroll through the YouTube comments of Pick It Up’s highly entertaining music video, you get the sense that Bruza never left in the first place.

“Oh mate, I’m so pleased that it’s been received so well,” Bruza says. “I feel honestly blessed because like I said, it’s been ages. And I feel that right now I’ve set a benchmark, and I’m gonna give them more, and just bigger and better – and try to make up for lost time. But I’d like to thank everyone for supporting and showing love and appreciation.

I really do appreciate everyone supporting and getting behind it.”

The Pick It Up music video was achieved quite serendipitously; Bruza met the BMX riders seen in the videos

“I FEEL HONESTLY BLESSED BECAUSE IT’S BEEN AGES. I’VE SET A BENCHMARK, AND I’M GONNA GIVE THEM MORE, AND JUST BIGGER AND BETTER – AND TRY TO MAKE UP FOR LOST TIME.” while out biking during lockdown. At one point, we see one of the bikers doing a wheelie with his front wheel missing – Bruza hands him the wheel, the rider pops it back in and lands as if it’s an everyday occurrence. We also see Bruza enjoying a burger and chips and reading the news in a cockney cafe, and then the absolute highlight of the video: throughout, Bruza is seen

in a red London phone box, and on the other end is a mysterious hooded figure. At the end, the man taking his hood down turns out to be a posh, hipster-type with a twirly moustache, saying, “this chap must have the wrong number! Is it slang?”

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Picking Up The Pen

Once Bruza confirms that the very exciting snippet at the end of the video is from his next single, which sounds like the emcee rapping over a ska-influenced beat, I ask what we can expect from him in the coming months. The final answer I get is a pragmatic one: “I’m sure shows will happen again, but like I said, I don’t know what Boris is going to say, so let’s just deal with today for now. In the pipeline for myself I’m just in studios giving

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them some music, man. I’m just looking to connect with everyone; everyone needs to stay tuned if you want to know what Bruza is up to. And then we’ll just keep it moving, man.”

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OPTOCORE

Core Values

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Denton Bible Church, located in Dallas, Texas, recently underwent a major audio overhaul, featuring an automated network courtesy of Optocore’s AutoRouter. Here, Headliner explores the venue’s new cutting edge facilities...

A versatile, easy to use system was very much the order of the day when Denton Bible Church (DBC), a 3,500seat house of worship located in Dallas, Texas, took stock of its new state-ofthe-art audio infrastructure. Operated entirely by volunteers, the church’s sound system required a specification that delivered high quality and low maintenance for its users, and as such required a smart and efficient design.

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“The church relies on volunteers to run their system, and having AutoRouter as the virtual tech to maintain the network is fantastic for them,” explains Lance Eddlemen, audio sales manager at Digital Resources, the company that installed the system. “No one has to go to the equipment room, struggle with jumper cables or patch panels or remember which connections are in use or which ports go to what remote locations.”

The church’s new set up saw the arrival of a new DiGiCo Quantum338 console for both front-of-house and monitor mixing, as well as a new DiGiCo SD12 as its new broadcast audio console.

The sanctuary features an Optocore Digital Fiber network, centred around one of Optocore’s new AutoRouters.

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“IN THE FUTURE AS THE CHURCH GROWS ITS AUDIO SYSTEM WE CAN EXPAND THE PORTS TO ALLOW FOR ADDITIONAL REMOTE POINTS AND EQUIPMENT.”

The network was installed and set up

by Digital Resources, with Eddlemen personally implementing the Optocore AutoRouter. He also worked closely with Optocore North America’s Brandon Coons and Group1 Ltd to make sure that the AutoRouter would be the perfect fit for the church.

ports then detect when devices are connected at remote patch points and reconfigures the active connections to maintain redundant fibre tunnels to each location.

AutoRouter automatically adds devices to the network loop as it is powered up.

“Installation of the AutoRouter was easy. We just connected the fibre runs to the corresponding sockets and it discovered the network,” Eddleman continues. “In the future as the Church grows its audio system we can expand the ports to allow for additional remote points and equipment.”

Then, when a mobile device is disconnected or powered down, the AutoRouter closes the loop to the remaining devices to maintain a redundant architecture without any user action.

The AutoRouter serves as a central patch bay and replaces the usual redundant ring topology of an Optocore network and transforms it into a redundant star network.

AutoRouter’s advanced transceiver

Meanwhile, transceivers in the unit allow for a signal refresh to provide longer cabling runs. What’s more, the unit can act as a media converter and can be mixed with Multimode and Singlemode TRX to support different fibre runs within the facility or between multiple buildings. AutoRouter is completely

interoperable with new and existing Optocore and DiGiCo fibre networks.

Also, because the routers’ capabilities are format independent, it can also be used for Yamaha TwinLANe and AVID AVB networks.”

“Since its release, many of the industry’s top integrators and cutting-edge facilities have put in place AutoRouters,” Coons concluded. “We are seeing them put into performing arts centres, sports arenas and especially churches because of the power and flexibility they give the system.”

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Starting From Scratch

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STARTING FROM SCRATCH

SHY MARTIN Sara Hjellströ, aka, SHY Martin, has undergone something of an artistic rebirth during the pandemic. She has severed ties with her previous record company and management to start her own label, SHY Recordings, from which

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she has just released her latest single Break With Me. Here, the acclaimed artist and composer discusses her new direction and how she came to write hits for the likes of Chainsmokers, Ellie Goulding and Bebe Rexha.

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CR: How have you been coping with the pandemic?

SM: I was in New Zealand on a writing camp when the first case happened in Sweden. When I got home there was no food in the grocery stores, it was crazy. I was supposed to be touring the whole of last year and doing a lot of writing trips, so I’m very used to travelling. Within a week everything was cancelled. When I got home my schedule was empty and I’m not used to that. So in the beginning it was hard for me to adjust and feel motivated. I felt super uninspired.

CR: It sounds like lately you have been more productive. Was Break With Me written during lockdown?

“I HAD TO PROVE TO MYSELF I COULD DO IT. I’D REGRET IT FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE IF I JUST QUIT.”

SM: I had the song from before lockdown, actually. I wrote it a couple of years ago with my boyfriend, my big brother and my best friend.

That song has been a voice memo for the past two years. During the past year I stopped working with my previous label and quit working with my management and publisher.

For a while I felt completely lost and burned out.

CR: Is that what made you go fully independent?

SM: Yes. I know the process and have been very involved in all of my releases and the business side of things. I was listening to some old songs and I found Break With Me and thought maybe I could release it myself.

CR: What first inspired you to become a songwriter in the first place?

SM: My parents always played music. I grew up listening to whatever they listened to – ABBA, Jimi Hendrix, Linkin Park, Roxette, U2. It was various genres. My dad mostly listened to Swedish punk and rock, and my mum listened to more emotional, soulful music. When I

started to grow up, I listened to a lot of emo, rock and punk.

CR: Tell us about your approach to songwriting?

SM: I usually start with a guitar or piano; if you are able to play a song on a guitar or piano and it sounds good, then it’s a good song.

I always start with the melody. I think that’s because English is my second language, so when I grew up listening to English music I listened to the melody first as I didn’t understand the language. That’s how I’ve always written, but I love lyrics. I love playing with words and finding new ways to say something.

CR: You’ve written songs for some big artists – Chainsmokers, Bebe Rexa, Ellie Goulding – how did those jobs come up?

SM: It’s only now I’m realising what I’ve been doing, because I haven’t thought about it much. I wrote the Chainsmokers song (All We Know) with my boyfriend at music school. We didn’t have a publisher or management or anything, and we were just very naïve. We were just googling Chainsmokers’ email address! Back then it felt like everything was possible, so we googled their email, sent them the song and said we thought they would sound awesome on it.

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I remember receiving the reply and just crying because we couldn’t believe it. It was such a special moment, trusting our gut, sending it out and getting a reply. Then it got released! We recorded it in my wardrobe and wrote it on my couch, we were nobodies!

CR: Tell us about SHY Recordings.

What was your aim when launching the label and what do you hope to achieve?

SM: It was important for me to prove to myself that I could do it. I felt like it was something I had to do as I would regret it for the rest of my life if I’d just quit. My goal with my label

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is to release as much music as I want and just focus on the music. I don’t think I will sign other artists, it’s more a way for me to release the music I want to release and have control over it. I love the whole process, making the visuals with my brother and being a part of everything. It just feels like something I had to do.

CR: What are your plans for the rest of the year?

I have lots of music that I’m going to release. Now with my own label I plan ahead, so my goal is to release an album this year. I’m working on finishing it up, writing more songs, and now I have the opportunity

to just focus on the music without being distracted. I can’t do shows or travel for a while so I’m taking the opportunity to write as much as I can. Lots of music!

INSTA: @SHY.MARTIN

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