On the afternoon of May 8, I was sat at my laptop transcribing my latest interview with Steve Albini when I received a text message from a friend. I had almost finished the task in hand so decided to finish it off before opening it.
The interview, conducted over Zoom a few weeks earlier, was a retrospective on the Manic Street Preachers’ Journal For Plague Lovers album. Engineered by Albini, it was soon to celebrate its 15th anniversary, so we had been chatting about the recording process and the sessions that spawned it. It was a typically intriguing and enjoyable chat that had ended with us loosely arranging a catchup later in the year.
As I approached the final portion of the transcription, I decided to take a quick look at the text I’d been sent. It read simply ‘Steve Albini RIP’. The words tripped me up in my tracks; our voices were still to-ing and fro-ing in my ears as I tried to make sense of them.
After confirming the news and reading the tributes and eulogies flowing through social media, it dawned on me that the conversation we were still having in my headphones was likely his final interview. The focus of our chat
almost felt inadequate. Thoughts of how I would approach the interview had I known it was going to be his last began to percolate. Surely a final interview should be a celebration of his life’s work in its entirety, not a singular focus on one album made in 2009?
Of course, these thoughts eventually passed, replaced by a determination to do justice to the conversation we had in reality and not confect a trite tribute.
It is that interview that we present on the cover of this issue. In true form, he is insightful, playful, and self-effacing, talking at length about the record as well as the shifting paradigms of the music industry.
To know that we’ll never have the catchup we discussed still feels somewhat surreal. But to have been so fortunate as to interview him a great many times over the years is something I’ll be forever grateful for.
Dan Gumble Head of Content
62 / PHISH @ SPHERE
68 / WALKER & ROYCE
78 / L-ACOUSTICS CO-CEOS
94 / STUDIO
84 / LIVE SOUND
98 / INSTALLATION
74 / SPOTLIGHT REVIEW
88 /
102 / 50 YEARS AT CELESTION
114 / LOCATION SOUND
118 / LIGHTING
Having written an original song for the Robert De Niro-starring Ezra last year, Rae Isla turned her efforts to creating a video game built around the release of her latest single, Miles and Miles. A trailblazing singer-songwriter and Americana artist from Washington State, she identifies as a ‘traveling bard’, and rightly so, having also been based in New York City, Mexico City, and now Los Angeles. Her worldliness is perhaps a contributing factor to the manner in which she has built her career as an independent musician on her own terms, which has seen her utilize blockchain technology to sell her music and keep her going at a time when she had considered putting music on pause to go into full-time work.
Isla originally studied classical cello as a youngster, but her desire to be a musician in a more liberated sense led her to the piano and eventually to songwriting. She studied voice and business on a scholarship at the highly prestigious Berklee College of Music (where she recently returned to give a talk), before relocating from Boston to New York City. There, she worked on her first EP, while establishing herself in the city’s indie live music scene.
A natural place to start is with Ezra, the film starring Robert De Niro which Isla recently wrote the end credits song for. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last year.
“I met a girl through Twitter spaces, who is a writer, and we became friends,” Isla says via Zoom in Los Angeles. It’s 8.30am for her and she’s having a coffee. “She’d been working with this film producer for a long time, and she sent him my music. He ended up being in Miami at the same time as me during Art Basel. We met for coffee one morning around 8am. I’d been up until 5am at a party the night before. So I was just bleary-eyed, wondering ‘What is life? I’m in Miami meeting this film producer.’ But we connected and I could tell that he genuinely loves music. It must have been four or five months later that I got a call while I was on tour.
“He explained that they were due to finish editing this movie in about two
weeks, and they were trying to license a song for the end credits, but they wanted too much money, and the song didn’t work for the film. He said, ‘Why don’t you do a custom song? It’s kind of a crapshoot, it probably won’t happen, I have to convince a lot of people, but give it a try!’ I essentially had 24 hours in between tour stops, coming in from Canada, and about to fly to Nashville. I stayed up all night in Seattle with my music director, and he set up some mics in my apartment. I had put this whistle into the song, which I was a bit of a joke and as a space filler, and that ended up being the part they loved the most. It was just this surreal thing, I felt like I was in a movie myself.”
Twitter spaces make for a fantastic segway into another defining aspect of Isla’s fully independent music career; her use of web3 and blockchain in selling her music and ensuring she is remunerated fairly for her brilliant music. She is one of a tiny handful of musicians pioneering the sale of music in this manner, leading the way as one of the highest-grossing independent musicians in the space, attracting the likes of SXSW and the European Union to ask her to give talks on the subject.
She is a legitimate pioneer in doing so, as one of the highest-grossing independent artists in the space. Her greatest success so far is the release of Rae Isla’s Rocks, in which she sold
1,000 digital editions of her songs while earning a 10% royalty each time one is sold on the web3 secondary market. Besides indie artists like Isla, it’s a scene that has attracted the likes of Snoop Dogg, Grimes and Avenged Sevenfold to release music using blockchain technology.
“After I put out the first album (2021’s Another Life), I was crazy enough to go right into recording my second album,” Isla says. “I reached this point where I was so stressed about what I was going to do next. I wasn’t going to quit music, per se, but I was going to get a job and put a pause on this thing; I was looking at the numbers, and the math was not mathin’! I stumbled on this job for a music company that had blockchain in the description. I didn’t get that job, but the word blockchain was then stuck in my head.”
Isla was offered another blockchain job. “I turned down the job,” she says. “I went down the rabbit hole of building a web3 community and selling my music in this new space. It’s not all about money, but for any artist reading this thinking about taking a risk and not going the safe route: I ended up making quite a bit more in quite a bit less time than that job would have paid me in a year.”
“WE PUT TOGETHER THIS LITTLE TEAM OF FOUR QUEER WOMEN, AND WE BUILT A VIDEO GAME. THAT’S NOT USUALLY WHO YOU PICTURE SITTING IN THE BOARDROOM!”
Isla has just released Miles and Miles, perhaps her most personally meaningful song yet. An anthemic piano-led ballad, it’s a song she wrote straight after traveling home with her brother from New York City back to Washington State as the pandemic began to hit the US. It’s a 42-hour cross-country drive that takes you through some of North America’s most beautiful scenery in the Dakotas and Minnesota. Despite the fear gripping the country in the face of COVID, the song was inspired by all the kindness and camaraderie she witnessed on her epic road trip.
“The world was supposedly ending and people were really suffering. And yet, every person at a gas station would smile and wave. There were signs through all the small towns, encouraging social distancing and all these hopeful messages. I got home to Seattle after this cathartic trip, feeling so many emotions: leaving New York, and I’d just gone through a separation. And the first thing I did when I got home was I sat down at my childhood piano and immediately wrote Miles and Miles. It’s so palpable to me now, this feeling, that I could still feel the momentum of the highway as I wrote it. I recorded it in Mexico City, it was mixed in Los Angeles, mastered in New York, and now I’ve performed it all over the country and in London.”
It should be pretty clear at this point that Isla is someone who has a penchant for coming up with innovative and unusual ways to promote her music. The release of Miles and Miles was not an exception to this, as she decided to have a game, featuring her as the protagonist character, built around it, with the song playing on a loop as the soundtrack. It’s a platform game in which the Rae Isla avatar is on horseback and must jump over incoming sharp cactuses and cowboy hat-wearing cats, and ducking under approaching rainbows. It’s an addictive fare, and having the superb song playing in the background makes it tempting to eschew the to-do list and carry on playing.
“When I was a kid, me and my brother were always either out in nature or playing video games,” Isla says. “The idea for the Miles and Miles game was to make something that is just me as a child, my most pure self. I’ve learned a lot from being in these online communities, about what people value and how to deepen our digital experience. We do live in a digital world, and accepting that means trying to find a way to exist digitally on a deeper level. Not just scrolling on social media. We asked: how can we build something that’s meaningful? – because people are
going to be online anyway and the song is going to be online. So we put together this little team of four queer women, and we built a video game. That’s not usually who you picture sitting in the boardroom!”
And, finally, what does the question Play Out Loud mean to Isla? She says, “A few things came to mind when I heard that question. But the first thing that I think rings the most true is, no matter the conditions of where you’re playing, just play as loudly and as truly as you possibly can, and represent who you are, even if there’s no amplification.”
Miles and Miles is out everywhere to listen and stream now, and its accompanying game is still on Isla’s official website. The last two years have been massive in both the traditional music industry and the emerging music tech scene for Isla, and all the signs show that 2024 will be her biggest yet.
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On Wednesday May 8, Steve Albini, one of the indie and alternative rock’s most revered and beloved engineers and musicians, died after suffering a heart attack. He was 61 years old. Just a few short weeks before his passing, in what we believe to be his final interview, Albini joined Headliner for an in-depth chat about the 15th anniversary of Manic Street Preachers’ Journal For Plague Lovers record, as well as the role he played in, as he puts it, “changing the paradigm” of the music business. Here, his customary wit, humility, and boundless knowledge flows freely as ever, as he reflects on an album that remains a genuine outlier in both the Manics’ catalogue and his own towering body of work.
It’s a bright, Spring afternoon in London when the face of Steve Albini materialises on the laptop screen before Headliner. Sporting a grey beanie hat, a pair of round, darkrimmed glasses, and his trademark navy blue overalls, he cuts an unmistakable figure. Typically, when interviewing Albini via video call, he can be found in the control room of his Chicago studio, Electrical Audio. Today, he informs Headliner, he’s in the “business office” of the facility. It’s a non-descript room, save for a landline telephone beside him that he answers once or twice during our conversation, seemingly fielding calls and inquiries about studio bookings. It’s impossible to imagine other producers – a term he famously rejects – of his standing in the rock world adopting such a workmanlike approach. When phoning the studio, he’d be the one to pick up. When emailing its generic contact email address, it’d typically be Albini responding. Though strange in and of itself, it’s all rather typical of the man himself.
In almost every way, our final conversation bears every standard Albini hallmark. As expected from a man who refused a production credit and royalty payments for his work on one of the most critically and commercially successful records of the ‘90s with the biggest rock band on the planet, he is keen as ever not just to downplay but extinguish any plaudits thrown his way when discussing his role on any given record.
Unexpected, however, is the realisation just a few weeks later that this interview may well be the last he ever gave. In a career spanning over four decades, the impact he had on the lives of those he worked with was indelible. As indeed it was for those who adored the records he conjured into being. For all of his
modesty – “if you listen to the records I’m best known for and think that I’ve done a good job, what you’re hearing is what the band did. I’m not in there playing or making that music. I’m making a recording that allows you to hear that as it was,” he once told Headliner – his masterful ability to extract the essence of a band and preserve it in its purest, most pristine form is unrivalled. From alt rock giants like Nirvana, Pixies, The Breeders, PJ Harvey, Bush, and the Manics, through to the hundreds of underground punk rock bands he worked with through the years, including his own bands Shellac and Big Black, his oeuvre is not only peerless but testament to his lifelong passion for capturing bands at the peak of their powers.
It is for all of the above that the Manics saw fit to approach Albini to work on an album that would prove to be one of the most highly anticipated records of their career. Released in 2009, Journal For Plague Lovers was constructed around a boxful of unused lyrics left behind by the band’s former chief lyricist and figurehead Richey Edwards, who disappeared shortly after the release of their incendiary third album The Holy Bible (1994). Having vanished on the eve of a promo tour to the US in February 1995, Edwards has not been seen since and on November 23, 2008, was officially “presumed dead” by police.
His disappearance only added to the notoriety of the record, which was lyrically entrenched in themes of death, murder, and mutilation, while its raw, no-frills sonic blueprint pushed the Manics into musical territory not trodden by the band before or since. As such, it is often cited by fans and the band themselves as a creative high point in their career.
Unsurprisingly, when the announcement was made that Journal For Plague Lovers would be made up of Edwards’ leftover lyrics and engineered by Albini, it was quickly dubbed The Holy Bible Pt II by fans and immediately leaden with intrigue and expectation, not to mention speculation over whether the band would be able to recapture the spirit of The Holy Bible some 15 years after its release.
“As is generally the case, I just answered the phone one day,” Albini begins, describing how he first came into contact with the band. “I can’t remember if it was James or a manager who initially contacted me but they got a hold of me and said they wanted to do an album. My typical response when I’m approached about things is, if it’s a genuine inquiry where they are specifically interested in me working on their record, I try to say yes. If it’s coming through management channels and not the band themselves, like a received wisdom scenario, then it’s a lot easier for me to find other things to do with my time. I don’t want to be foisted on anybody.
“Because of some of the records I’ve been associated with, there are cultural associations with having me work on records. Sometimes management or record company people can get a bee in their bonnet about attaching those associations to the band. I’ve gotten a few weird requests where someone has inquired about me working on a record and it seems fishy, so I’ll
say, ‘OK, have the band contact me and I’ll talk with them’. If I don’t get to speak directly to the band that’s usually a red flag as it’s someone cooking up a scheme and trying to foist me on the band. That wasn’t the case here at all. They were familiar with records I had worked on, their music would be appropriate, and from speaking with them we had a lot in common and everything about it felt like a natural association.”
His opening gambit about being “foisted” on bands begs the question, is this something he’s encountered often?
“No,” he asserts with a smile. “I try to be diligent about that. But I once did a record with a band from Ireland who had supposedly spoken to their management about trying to get me to work on their record. This was in the period post the Nirvana album. In the ‘90s I worked on a Nirvana album that became notorious in record business circles,” he says, explaining the well-documented background to In Utero rather than assuming Headliner would already be familiar with the story. “The band kind of went off into the woods and made a record on their own, brought it back to the label and said, ‘this is our record’, and the record label didn’t like that procedure. So they did everything they could to tank the record. They ended up having to release it and it was a success and is now highly regarded, but at the time it was something of a paradigm shift as I was seen as a trouble maker for
the record business. I was seen as disturbing the normal flow of work where the people at the label choose the producer and attach them to a project and the band has to put up with it. My behaviour with Nirvana was seen as defeating that paradigm.
“Anyway, there was a band at the time who was signed to a big label and they said they wanted to use me for their record. I was never contacted and their manager had said to them, ‘you want to use the guy that recorded the Pixies, well we’ve got him for you’. And when the band showed up to the studio to start work, it turned out it wasn’t me but another person who had worked on a Pixies album that they wanted to hire [laughs]. That kind of behavior is much less common now. Labels are much less powerful now and bands are much more in control of their own careers.
“But getting back to the Manics, we were simpatico on a number of levels. Politically they are progressive and leftist and so am I. Their history is very much a self-made enterprise; they didn’t have a star figure the band was constructed around. They weren’t one of those British music industry sensations where a band is nominated by the press to be the next big thing. They came by their success organically and that suited me perfectly. We just got along really well.”
“THEY WANTED TO REINVIGORATE THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH THEIR DEPARTED FRIEND.”
When it came to preparing for the sessions, Albini states that his lack of awareness of The Holy Bible and its legacy enabled him to view the record from a fresh perspective. He was also immediately aware of the time and consideration the band had invested in the project.
“I wasn’t familiar with their music,” he explains. “I had to do a refresher course on that and get up to speed with what they had done. I listened to The Holy Bible , that’s as much as I can say. My appreciation of this gesture on their part came from talking to James and Nicky. They wanted to honor their friend in a way that was respectful and didn’t seem like they were grave digging. That’s a fine line to walk. You make your bones with a certain line-up and a key figure disappears, so from a cynical perspective I can see how after a few years it might seem a suspicious move to boil the bones of that soup again and see if we can make another pot of soup out of what we used to have. But it was very clear to me it was genuine on their part. They wanted to reinvigorate their relationship with their departed friend. Had Richey been there to work on the record with them they probably would have done it in pretty much the same way.”
On asking what Albini’s first impressions of The Holy Bible were on account of its abrasive intensity, he quickly responds, “we probably have different standards for intense and abrasive [laughs]. It seemed like a normal energetic rock band. It just felt like four guys banging it out”.
When it comes to the recording sessions at Wales’s legendary Rockfield Studios, Albini is eager to point out that there are significant gaps in his memory on account of personal difficulties he was experiencing at the time. He recalls that the songs were essentially complete upon arriving at the studio, requiring little in the way of tweaks or last-minute rewrites.
“There are a couple of things clouding my memory,” he says. “My wife was going through a serious health thing while I was gone. I left for Wales and a couple of days into it I got wind of this thing happening at home in Chicago with my wife’s health. And because we weren’t married, I couldn’t get any information out of her doctors and they couldn’t release any information, so I had to deputize her friends to check up on her and all this kind of stuff. It was a very stressful period. That probably made me less in the moment than I would have been otherwise.”
He continues: “I remember James sent me a few practice room demos, then more significantly there was an outline and production details that needed to be coordinated. That’s more important from a technical level than me trying to suss the vibe of a song. That’s not my department. They had written and
rehearsed the music as it was meant to be and then came in and chopped it out.”
At this point in our conversation, he recalls his initial observations on the duality that resides at the heart of the band with regard to James and Nicky’s distinct personalities.
“There is a very specific dichotomy between James and Nicky,” he says with a slight smile spreading across his face. “James was a busker, very self-sufficient, does his own gear, sets his own stuff up. Nicky admitted he’d never tuned a bass and he didn’t know the names of the notes and stuff like that. So there was a distinct difference between those two in terms of their approach to life as a musician. One lives and breathes playing music, the other plays bass now and again [laughs]. I remember Nicky was doing a video diary of the making of the record. He was posting updates and almost none of it had to do with the music. It was walking in the fields, what we had for breakfast, musings on rock music in Wales.”
As for the studio itself, Albini notes a particular fondness for Rockfield, a converted house which has been used to record some of the biggest names in music, from Queen and Oasis to Black Sabbath, Iggy Pop, and Robert Plant.
“I really liked the layout of it,” he states. “I’m fond of studios that are not built as studios, like converted houses and barns. They tend to have more interesting acoustics than places built from the ground up as a studio. They are often more comfortable as a physical setting, and a studio that is built as a studio can be uncomfortable for anything other than making a record. Now, most of the time that’s what you’re concerned with, but there are eight or 10 hours in the day where it’s nice to have a yard to go and throw a baseball around or a lounge to watch movies in or a farmhouse kitchen where you can have some toast and jam.”
Outside of the sessions, Albini recalls that one of his most vivid
memories from the period was an excursion to London to play poker. An accomplished player since his teens, he has won two highly coveted WSOP (World Series Of Poker) bracelets, cementing his reputation as a highly competitive professional.
“We had a couple of days off where James had some obligations in London, so we piggybacked off that and went to London,” he remembers. “I played cards at the Grosvenor Vic Casino and Card Club, which is one of my favorite places to play cards. Almost all card rooms have a range of games, from small stakes played by amateurs to high stakes games played by professionals where a lot of money can change hands. In a lot of card rooms there is a very strict division between these classes of games. What I love about the Vic is that at the time there would be a £1 game and one table over would be a game with all the famous UK and European poker players and celebrities, all yards away from each other. I really love the atmosphere in that card room. I happened to have a good night and made a bunch of money but that’s secondary [laughs].
As he informs Headliner that he needs to depart to start work on a session, we loosely arrange a catch-up for later in the year when he can tell us about some of the projects he has recently been working on that are yet to be released.
“Forgive me, but I’m circumspect about speaking about other people’s records; I’m very self-conscious about tarring other people with my name,” he remarks with a knowing, self-deprecating smile. “The band I’m in, Shellac, has an album that is imminent, but I don’t have an exact date for you today.”
Shellac’s new album To All Trains was released posthumously on May 17.
byCOLBY RAMSEY
Leading specialist loudspeaker manufacturer, Augspurger Monitors, has announced the appointment of Ding Dong Audio as its official distributor in China, as Headliner recently learned…
The strategic partnership is aimed at expanding Augspurger’s presence in the Chinese market, catering to a growing demand for large, high-end speaker systems among music professionals.
Ding Dong Audio, founded in 2008 and based in Shenyang, China, is one of the country’s largest pro audio distributors. With exclusive distribution rights for over 30 international brands and 16 years of experience in the industry, the company boasts an expansive 2000sq.m warehouse facility, and an impressive portfolio of services, including planning, design,
installation, and post-sales support for premier recording facilities and private clients in the region.
This new partnership aligns with Ding Dong Audio’s mission to serve the growing demand for large speaker systems in China, with Augspurger’s reputation for exceptional sound quality and incredible accuracy making it the perfect solution for the region’s thriving music and professional recording scene, particularly in the electronic and hiphop music genres.
Ding Dong Audio’s distribution strategy for Augspurger speakers will encompass targeted promotions via social media and key platforms including TikTok and WeChat, and engaging collaborations with key influencers in the recording industry, bolstering the Augspurger brand within the electronic music domain, and broadening its reach across various musical genres.
Dong Ding, CEO of Ding Dong Audio ( pictured ), expressed his enthusiasm for the new partnership.
“We are thrilled to represent Augspurger Monitors in China,”
he said. “Our aim is to forge a lasting, synergistic relationship with the brand, elevating its presence and market share in China. Our combined efforts will focus not only on boosting speaker sales, but also on promoting the brand’s cuttingedge audio technology.”
“Augspurger Monitors has always been dedicated to delivering unparalleled sound and exceptional service,” added Dave Malekpour, president of Augspurger Monitors.
“Ding Dong Audio is not just a distributor for us, but a valuable partner, with a shared vision and commitment to excellence, marking
the beginning of a new chapter for Augspurger in Asia. We look forward to seeing our speaker systems become an integral part of the music creation process in this vibrant market.”
One of the most successful British debuts of the century, Keane’s Hopes and Fears celebrates its 20th anniversary this month. To mark the occasion, the band’s chief songwriter Tim Rice-Oxley joins Headliner to reflect on how it has changed their lives, their formative years, and the role of notorious record producer and exec Jimmy Iovine in taking their music across the Atlantic.
On May 10, Keane will mark the 20th anniversary of their debut album Hopes and Fears with a special remastered version of the record, loaded with a raft of demos, outtakes, and alternate versions spread across three discs. On the same night, they headline the O2 in London, in what promises to be an emotional evening for the UK outfit, as they celebrate not only the towering success of their maiden outing, but also the fact that two decades on they are able to commemorate it together on the biggest of stages.
Almost one month to the day in advance, Headliner is granted an audience with Keane’s chief songwriter Tim Rice-Oxley during a rare moment of quiet time for a chat about all things Hopes and Fears. Joining us via Zoom, he is
currently sitting in a hotel room in Guadalajara, where the band have been performing a handful of shows in preparation for their UK run.
“We’ve just finished a little run of shows out here, which has been amazing,” he informs us. “We had a brief excursion to India and South Africa for festivals to warm us up a bit. The first proper bit of the Hopes and Fears anniversary tour has been here in Mexico, which has been insane. It’s a bit like being in The Beatles [laughs]. It’s all taking shape and we’re getting the setlist nailed down.”
The type of reaction Keane continue to receive not just in their homeland but around the world can be attributed in no small part to the legacy of their 2004 debut. Which
is not to diminish the critical and commercial heights they have scaled with their four subsequent albums. To date they have sold over 13 million records worldwide and sold out tours across the globe. With Hopes and Fears, however, they produced one of the most successful debut albums of their generation.
Topping the UK album charts upon its release, it was the second best-selling album in the country in 2004 and has since been certified nine times platinum. Worldwide it has sold some 5.8 million copies as of 2019 and ranks as the 11th best-selling album of the 2000s. It also spawned a number of huge international singles, such as Somewhere Only We Know, Everybody’s Changing, and Bedshaped
“YOU HAVE THIS MOMENT OF IMMENSE JOY AND BEWILDERMENT, BUT THEN WE WERE INTO THE PRESSURE ZONE.”
“We have a very different perspective on it now,” says RiceOxley, considering how he and his bandmates processed the transition from barely scraping double-figure audiences to becoming one of the most hyped bands of the era. “We had been doing what all bands do, playing little venues to 10 people anywhere that would take us. It was unimaginable to be talking in those kinds of numbers. We were very much assuming that we’d put out our first album, hopefully it would have some success, and we’d build from there. It sounds weird but by the time it came out we were already thinking about what we could do next. The result of that is that you don’t take the time to fully enjoy the moment as you’re thinking about moving on to the next thing.”
While they may have felt somewhat removed from all that was taking place around them, they soon became acutely aware of the mounting sense of expectation that comes with a runaway success like Hopes and Fears .
“Inevitably it creates huge pressure,” he states. “That’s what I remember, after the initial thrill of the album doing so well. We put the album out a bit naively, hoping we’d get a song on the radio. Then suddenly it’s gone platinum. It was obvious from
the day it came out it was going to be huge. That’s mind-blowing. You have this moment of immense joy and bewilderment but as soon as that’s happened it felt like we were into the pressure zone. Like, when are we going to write and record the next album?
“The schedule was insane. We were constantly writing in the back of the tour bus and every time we had a day off from touring, we were writing in different cities all over the world. It was great, but the carefree-ness of it goes. We had a lot of fun making all of our albums, even with the pressure of the second album, and I think there is an audible reaction to Hopes and Fears with that album. From that point onwards you’re responding to your previous efforts.”
As for the writing of Hopes and Fears , many of the songs can be traced way back to the teenage years of Rice-Oxley and his school friends Tom Chaplin and Richard Hughes. Over several years spent refining and fine-tuning some of the songs that would later become calling cards for the band, RiceOxley recalls the various iterations many of them took.
“We wrote hundreds of songs,” he says. “I’ve not been in any other
bands, and we’ve been friends our whole lives, so we were writing all through our teenage years. There were so many songs, and so many versions of them. We were playing in clubs trying to get them to a place where people would like them. We were playing Somewhere
Only We Know at The Water Rats to 20 people, and you never thought, ‘this is going to be a global hit’. We were just trying to stop people drifting back to the bar [laughs].”
So did he or any of the band have an inkling as to which songs might provide a significant breakthrough?
“I remember thinking Somewhere Only We Know was good,” he remembers. “I wrote it when I was living with my mum and dad and Richard came over and he loved it. Everybody’s Changing was a bit of a rogue one. I remember playing it to Caroline Elleray who signed us to Universal Publishing long before we had a record deal. It was a real basic demo with a garbled vocal that sounded like an out of tune Thom Yorke and she said ‘that one’s going to be amazing’! We were lucky we had a couple of people around us who were great sounding boards.”
One particularly notable sounding board was notorious record producer and music mogul Jimmy Iovine. As cofounder of Interscope Records he played a major role in developing the careers of Dr. Dre, U2, Nine Inch Nails, Eminem, Lady Gaga, 50 Cent and many others. As RiceOxley explains, it was Iovine’s love of Hopes and Fears that led to the album being “driven through Interscope”. He also took an active role in shaping the band’s second album Under The Iron Sea.
“I remember getting almost to the end of the second album and Jimmy rang me and was like, ‘it’s sounding great, you just need to write another five hits’. I was already on the edge of a nervous breakdown. It felt like too much time had passed since Hopes and Fears and I was completely tapped out writing-wise. You have to just push and push and you don’t always have that luxury of time and energy as the albums go by.”
On his relationship with Iovine, he continues: “We saw a lot of him. He loved the band, and he loved Hopes and Fears and he got personally behind it. I remember him flying out in his private jet to see us play this pub in San Francisco and he came sweeping in with a very
glamorous entourage. His blessing probably made our career in America.
“He was very hard to pin down because he was so busy, but when you got to talking about music and production he was incredible. I remember one fun thing we did with him was that we tried to do a mashup of Nothing In My Way, which was one of the singles off our second album, with Lose Yourself by Eminem, which was one of Interscope’s records. We spent ages working on it and it never quite worked, but it’s one of those things I always felt sad about and that was one of Jimmy’s ideas [laughs]. That’s still languishing in a vault somewhere.”
Which begs the parting question, will it ever see the light of day?
“I’d forgotten about it until you asked about Jimmy,” he chuckles. “Maybe I need to dig it out.”
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Two-time Grammy Award and seven-time Latin Grammy Award winner Gustavo Celis – a recording engineer, mixer and producer – reveals why it was challenging to engineer Shakira’s Hips Don’t Lie, and why he had to keep the wants and needs of two superstars in mind when mixing Shakira and Beyoncé’s single, Beautiful Liar.
The first thing that springs to mind for Celis when he recalls engineering Shakira’s 2006 monster hit, Hips Don’t Lie (aka, one of the best selling singles of all time), is that it was a bit of a slog.
“I gotta be honest, I did not get that feeling [that it was going to be huge],” he admits from his home in Miami, “because it was just grueling. I don’t know what it was, but it was at the end of some promotional tour. We were in London at Olympic Studios in a beautiful, gorgeous room at the top of the penthouse. It was everything, but Shakira just didn’t want to sing it. We spent a
week camped there, ready to go, and it was obviously not the session or the equipment [that was the issue] – it was just something internally in her that she wasn’t ready to sing it somehow. She was telling me, ‘This room is too small,’ because we started in a little room, and then, ‘I don’t want to wear headphones,’ so we went into a large room. The next day we set up the session, and now, ‘This room is too large,’ then, ‘Now I’m too tired,’ and this kept going for three days. Finally, on the last day, we had to go, ‘There are no more chances,’ so she finally sang it and that was just a take or two.”
“WHEN HIPS DON’T LIE BECAME THAT MASSIVE, I WASN’T SURPRISED, BUT I HAD A LITTLE BIT OF A TRAUMATIC RELATIONSHIP WITH THAT SONG BECAUSE I REMEMBER NOTHING EASY ABOUT IT.”
Challenges aside, the song struck sonic gold, its catchiness undeniable. (It’s in your head right now, isn’t it?)
Hips Don’t Lie went on to become a global quadruple platinum success, reaching number one in 17 countries, becoming Shakira’s first and only number one hit to date in the US, while breaking the record for the most radio plays in a single week, and becoming the fastest-selling digital download song in the US. “It just goes to show,” he smiles. “She was probably not ready. Who knows, maybe she was working out the lyrics and wasn’t feeling it somehow yet, but when she did, she did an amazing job, as always.”
Written by Wyclef Jean and Shakira, the song’s iconic salsa trumpet opening is sampled from Jerry Rivera’s 1992 Omar Alfanno-written song, Amores Como el Nuestro. “That horn is the call to the dance floor I guess! It’s classic and unforgettable – that opens up the song and it’s the theme of the song,” says Celis. “That sample for the horns is also a very famous song that had some success back in the ‘90s from Omar Alfanno from Panama – one of the best known writers we have – so it has a lot of roots, in a way. So when Hips Don’t Lie became that massive, I wasn’t surprised,” he concedes, “but I had a little bit of a traumatic relationship with that song because I remember nothing easy about it – it
was difficult and filled with obstacles. Somehow it just didn’t flow like other songs sometimes do. But it was worth it. I mean, especially for her, right?” he grins. “Because everybody knows her song now – everyone!”
The song has since firmly embedded itself into people’s collective subconscious – it’s likely when hearing the Colombian superstar’s name that one will, like a hard-coded reflex, involuntary think or even utter: “Shakira, Shakira”. Celis loves the way the song lives on today.
“It feels fantastic,” he smiles. “It’s a privilege because we make records every day. I mean, right now, I’m working on something. Yesterday I worked on another project, but most of these, unfortunately, won’t get to your ears. I like to think we keep getting better and are developing but those things are fortunate moments that happen every now and then –you can’t really control it. I put the same effort into Hips Don’t Lie as the song that I’m mixing today – there is no difference to me. It is not in my hands. That’s why I can’t say, ‘It feels fantastic. This is all my doing,’ – it isn’t! It’s fortunate to have the trust of artists like Shakira that they can count on you to see it through.”
Hailing from Venezuela, Celis studied music production and engineering at Berklee before landing a job
straight out of university at famed New York City recording studio, The Hit Factory. While learning the ropes as an assistant, he worked with some of the best engineers and producers in the world.
“My first day on the job, Michael Jackson had four rooms, and there was Paul Simon, Mariah Carey and Bruce Springsteen,” he recalls, shaking his head at the memory. “David Bowie would walk in with the producer. It was insane!”
Celis went on to work with artists including Celine Dion, Eric Clapton, Ricky Martin, Roger Waters, on the film adaptation of the musical Chicago (which won the Academy Award for Best Sound), and on Shakira and Beyoncé’s 2007 hit, Beautiful Liar, which he mixed.
Beautiful Liar was originally recorded by Beyoncé alone, but after wanting to collaborate with Shakira for a while, their schedules finally lined up and Shakira recorded new verses for a re-release of KnowlesCarter’s second album, B’Day Celis reflects on mixing their vocals together to strike a balance that both artists were happy with.
“It was fun, because that song is a little bit nasty, in terms of sonics – it’s aggressive, in a way,” he points out. “But at the same time, you have those wonderful voices and they’re interacting in such a fun way, so it wasn’t that difficult in a technical way, it was actually the psychology of how to end up with something that they both agree on. This was the challenge, because a lot of it has to do with giving the confidence to them that both of their performances are respected, but at the same time, really listening and executing all their suggestions and seeing them through – even though those are maybe not what’s on the final record.
“You have to take their hand and go all the way through and execute exactly what it is that they want, and then rein it in and make one mix – the mix that everybody knows,” he continues. “But I have around 100 of those mixes because of the different recalls and ideas. These are both giants of the music world and they have ideas of their own, so obviously they’re not going to coincide or match right away. So that was the challenge.”
The blending of Latin and Arabic styles with contemporary hip hop and soul music was a hit; Beautiful Liar was commercially successful – peaking at number three on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and number one in various European countries, including the UK, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Switzerland. It was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals at the 50th Grammy Awards (2007), while the Spanish version was nominated for the Latin Grammy Award for Record of the Year at the Latin Grammy Awards of 2007, and it won an Ivor Novello Awards for Best-Selling British Song in 2008. Celis expands on why he has so many versions of the track:
“I remember there were so many tweaks, but at that point, I had worked with Shakira for a long time so we already had a really shorthand way of communicating,” he shares. “By then I could predict a little bit because I had already done another duet with her that blew up called La Tortura with Alejandro Sanz, the Spanish singer. That was a massive hit. I learned a lot during that one, because I realized basic things like, ‘Why is his voice louder?’ Well,
because the lead on the harmony is on his vocal. So logic always prevails, because egos are so big – I didn’t say that to her in that way,” he adds hastily, laughing.
“It’s just finding a way to balance things and make sure the music integrity is there – and that is not arbitrary. I mean, I sometimes love arbitrary artistic decisions, but balance is balance and you have to keep some sense of harmonic context. Sometimes ego can get in the way. I’ve seen it where people will have a vocal that’s maybe 10dB above what it should be and then a master compressor is basically doing the mix at that point.”
Celis has been in Florida since 1996, and these days works out of his hybrid studio, Elastic Mix in Fort Lauderdale, where he specializes in mixing in stereo and Dolby Atmos. Nestled inside the studio is an immersive Genelec setup made up of 8050s surrounds, 8040s on the ceiling and a Genelec 7070A sub.
“It’s been a long relationship with those speakers, because I trust them,” he says. “I need a speaker to tell me the truth and that’s what those things do. When I opened my studio in Miami a long time ago – a studio called Supersonic – I did a 5.1 setup and I bought the very first 8050s. I just loved those speakers so much. I’ve taken them all over the world. They made something so good – I’ve had these speakers for years. I had one setup at Supersonic and I expanded this into Atmos by adding more speakers, because why change something that’s not broken? Eventually, I might get into a new system with The Ones, but for now it’s something that I’m so familiar with and that I know like the back of my hand. I still rely on these speakers, you can carry them all over the world. They very rarely need any maintenance – it’s like a tank. These speakers are the ideal speaker for me, just perfect,” he enthuses. “These things translate so well to iPhones, to speakers, in the car – everywhere. It’s just a pleasure. That’s one worry that I stopped having a long time ago, when I started working with Genelecs.”
Words by colby r a yesm
In this eighth LD Systems Live Sessions, powered by Headliner, Hertfordshire-based songstress Jade Morgan Kelly performed original number Stuck Between at Signal House Studios. Kelly performed through an LD Systems MAUI G3 rig and MON 15 A G3 stage monitors, and caught up with Headliner after the performance to discuss how she’s been keeping busy of late…
What have you been up to recently?
These last few months I’ve been promoting my debut EP, Guide To Letting Go , which was released back in November, and I had a headline show at Two Palms in Hackney to follow.
This year I’ve had loads of studio sessions, and I’ve got loads of singles coming for the year. I also had a support show at Colours on the 15th March that I’d been rehearsing a lot for.
How did you first get into music?
My dad would always play guitar with me - he was a bassist. When I was at school I was in the choir, the jazz band etc. and then I discovered BIMM in London, where I studied from 16 to 20. I did a diploma and degree course there, and I’ve been doing music ever since.
Can you give us some backstory to your original song, Stuck Between?
I wrote this song on the 31st January last
year. I’d just come out of a relationship; I hadn’t seen them, and I knew I was going to be seeing them at a night out, in a club. I was in this really weird phase of healing and hurting at the same time. I felt like I’d moved on from the situation, but I knew that the second I saw them it would completely disrupt that whole healing process, and that’s exactly what happened. I remember walking down the stairs to the venue and seeing them across the room, and everything that I thought I’d healed from just came back and hit me.
So Stuck Between is just about being stuck between healing and hurting; you want to call them but you know it’s not going to be worth it, so it’s about that whole process in the healing journey.
“BEING AN INDEPENDENT ARTIST IN THE INDUSTRY IS A VERY TIRING BUT EXCITING JOURNEY.”
What’s it like being an independent artist in today’s industry?
Being an independent artist in the industry is a very tiring but exciting journey. I feel like the industry has changed so much since I was younger, from CDs and seeing people on MTV. It’s really inspiring to be able to be free with what you do with your music, and who you are as an artist, and not being moulded into something that a team or a label want. I’m slowly but surely getting there, but I feel like I can be completely free in what I create, who I am, what I look like, how I perform, and who I perform with.
How did you find using the LD Systems rig today?
The LD Systems rig produced a really clear and crisp sound. With my guitarist Chico, I always find that if you’re in a session and you can’t hear yourself properly on the front monitors, then it’s not going to be an easy recording. The surround system we used today was really good and I would definitely recommend it to any artists that are going to be performing live or recording live sessions like today.
A telephone rings. You pick it up and answer: “Padam?” Just over a year ago, this would have baffled the most studious of new slangadopters, but thanks to Kylie Minogue’s hypnotic hit, Padam Padam , the word has since passed into internet folklore, powering a thousand Hunsnet memes and providing Kylie with a single catchier than 2001’s Can’t Get You Out Of My Head. Padam is a gay codeword for everything and nothing. It is a compliment, a question, an answer, a greeting, an exclamation, your password to the queer community. It is simply, Padam.
A year on from the Padamification of summer 2023, British songwriter and producer Lostboy (real name Peter Rycroft), who produced and co-wrote the hit, reflects on creating the track that gave Kylie the the hookiest hook since, ‘La la la…’.
“I’ve put my foot in it before in interviews,” Lostboy immediately warns Headliner , before promptly confessing that he is working on more material with Kylie. “Lots of stuff is coming, including new things that I don’t know if I can talk about.”
Headliner enquires if he’s allowed to mention the new Kylie material?
“Probably not,” he laughs. “But it’s fun. I think people have worked out from Instagram stories and stuff. So it’s out there,” he insists.
The relentlessly catchy hit –dubbed the song of the summer in 2023 – exploded onto the charts worldwide, reaching the top 10 in numerous European countries,
spawned thousands of TikToks and memes and introduced the Princess of Pop to a whole new generation of fans. A Padamic, if you will. One year on, and Lostboy has Padam Padam stuck in his head as much as the next person.
“SHE RECORDED IT ALL HERSELF IN A HOTEL ROOM ON HER LAPTOP, WHICH IS JUST SO ICONIC.”
Padam is in fact an onomatopoeia for a heartbeat. Ian Wroldsen and Lostboy met in a tiny London studio to write a track for pitch, with no artist or song ideas in mind. Lostboy can’t recall exactly how they landed on Padam Padam as the title, but remembers they were talking about the 1951 Édith Piaf record of the same name (also described as “maddeningly catchy”), and the idea of an onomatopoeia appealed to the duo. “We were just trying to find something that represented a heartbeat, and we were in this dark, flirty, club-land world,” he recalls. “In our heads we weren’t thinking, ‘We’re going to write a song for Kylie,’ – it was a song for who knows who. But interestingly, the day before, we’d both been talking about Kylie and Can’t Get You Out Of My Head, the repetitive nature of that and the majorminor thing that is interesting in that. I think it was more subconscious than anything, but that maybe influenced what I started playing that morning.”
The song was one of the last tracks to be added to Kylie’s 16th studio album, Tension, and became the record’s lead single. “I sent her the track with Ina’s vocal parts separated out so she could hear exactly what each part was doing,” Lostboy explains. “Then she recorded it all herself in a hotel room on her laptop, which is just so iconic. She sent me her session back and I went through it and picked my favorite bits. She’s so cool about trusting me
with decisions, vocally. It was pretty much there after the first version I did.”
Critics singled it out as a standout from Tension, and the song proved that an artist could continue to surprise and maintain commercial relevance five decades in, while reaching a new generation of younger fans thanks to the song’s rampant use on TikTok. “That’s what Kylie is known for: being brave, pushing the envelope and trying things,” nods Lostboy. “It made sense in the arc of her career.”
Already a bona fide queer icon, Kylie’s Padam Padam further cemented her status and became an anthem in the LGBTQ community. Lostboy couldn’t be prouder. “We owe a lot to the fans,” he nods. “It breathed even more life into this thing that already felt like a bit of a cultural bubble. It straddles that line of dumb and hooky in a way that is addictive,” he smiles.
Twenty-two years BP (Before Padam), Can’t Get You Out of My Head was riding high at number one in 40 countries and went on to become one of the most successful singles of the 2000s. Like Padam Padam, the secret to the song’s success seems to lie somewhere in the combination of uncomplicated, repetitive lyrics, a maddeningly infectious melody and minimalist production. Both hits were also written very quickly.
“I think the average person knows better than I do what a hit is, and that’s where I’m trying to be in my head when we’re making these songs,” says Lostboy. “It’s like, ‘How is Sandra from Essex gonna feel when she hears this in WHSmith?’. It’s that balance of perfectly dumb and perfectly smart – somewhere in the middle of that is the sweet spot. In this case, I think part of the hypnotic element is a very circular topline that resolves back where it started. That does something subconsciously where you can’t help but sing along because you know it’s coming round again.”
Despite Padam Padam’s evident popularity and the viral nature of the song, Radio 1 and Capital, which cater to younger listeners, failed to include the track on playlists. Surely the youth of today could comprehend the idea of a woman in her *clutches pearls* 50s singing about going home with a guy? The stations eventually caved after receiving backlash and included the song on their C-lists, which in itself verged on insulting, says Lostboy, who remarked that David Guetta (the same age as Kylie) would not get the same treatment.
Credit:
Photograph Ed Cooke“It was just a bit of a wake up call,” he says. “To see it happen even when the song was doing its thing naturally was pretty disappointing. I was more upset for Kylie and for the fans, to be honest, because they were all begging radio to play it. It just felt a bit too obvious: the ageism, sexism thing. It was clear as day and no one should have a problem calling that out. It’s a thing that, unfortunately, has been ingrained in society for so long. It still happens. The David Guetta example was no shade, by the way, I love David and I’ve worked with him – he’s amazing. Age has nothing to do with it for him, but if you’re a woman, suddenly it does, and that’s just not fair. There was a small victory in the end, and it was playlisted at Radio One, but it could have had much more of a life there if they’d joined the party a bit earlier. it just felt ridiculous.”
Perhaps anticipating this very issue, Lostboy shares that when Kylie committed to the track, alternative vocals were briefly considered. “There was a point where it wasn’t gonna be as sexual,” he nods. “We were maybe trying to water it down. That ageism, sexism thing, I felt even then. I was like, ‘Why can’t Kylie be hot? Why can’t she sing those things?’ There was a bit of push and pull with that, and eventually we ended up just sticking with the original.”
Once Lostboy had Kylie’s vocals back, the sleek, thumping earworm came together quickly, with the vocals forming the cornerstone of the track. “I’m obsessed with vocal production,” Lostboy stresses, pulling up the session on his laptop. “That makes much more of a difference than people realize in terms of songs connecting. It’s so interesting, because if you take all the vocals out, the track itself – the instruments and the drums – are so basic. The vocal fills up almost 50% of the song so that plays into why it’s so easy to sing along to, because so much of it is vocal. It has almost an extended mix feel,” he says, acknowledging the fade-out style end to the track. “If you’re making a song for a DJ, often you’ll do an extended mix with eight or 16 bars at the end where it’s just instrumental and drums and then it fades to just drums so that they can mix from one record into the next. Obviously, this is not some super credible underground club record, but weird little elements like that helped to add some credibility to a song that is otherwise super shiny pop.”
The song clocks in at a punchy two minutes and 46 seconds long, its hypnotic groove throbbing beneath the surface. “It all started with that main, plucky synth and we built it from there. It’s pretty basic: a hard, dark bass, a hard kick – a classic, dance pop production. Where all the fun stuff happens is in the vocal production more than anything; there’s so much automation, so many reverb swells and throws and weird little effects on the vocal that make it interesting. There’s also quite a prominent vocoder that comes in halfway through the chorus in the first chorus that adds to this weird industrial, robotic vibe that is juxtaposed to the sweetness of the vocal.”
One of Lostboy’s go-to plugins, and one which played a crucial part in the making of Padam Padam , is Waves Audio’s Doubler, which is on the lead vocal in the chorus. “Which is pretty unconventional – and probably a mix engineer’s nightmare – but that’s doing the weird, wide, robotic vibe,” he says. “It’s basically acting as a chorus; it’s pitching and delaying a vocal left and right from the lead vocal, so it’s super tight still, but there is a little bit of subtle width there. It adds to the trippy vibe and it means you can get away with just one vocal as opposed to having Kylie do doubles. This is not what I would normally do – it’s literally just shoved on before the compressor, the lead vocal, buss EQ,” he says. “It’s doing its effect, but then it’s also being slammed through a Universal Audio 1176, so the compressor’s kicking up the little delay that the doubler is making and it adds more to the width of the vocal – just at the ends of the words. It won’t be as obvious when she’s singing through a word, but just right at the end, you hear it. It’s weird to put it there before the compressor EQ and stuff,” he shrugs. “There aren’t any rules though really. I think: just muck around until it sounds cool.”
With another Kylie track in the works, is he feeling the pressure to produce another Padam Padam ? “Not until you said that,” he laughs. “I try not to think about music like that because that’s enough to drive anyone crazy. Padam was its own thing and it’s lived its own life. The new stuff is so much fun as well, in its own way. We can’t try and do Padam again, it just won’t work. I’m just excited to watch Kylie continue to be an icon.”
AREYOULOSTBOY.COM WAVES.COM
Award-winning producer Catherine Marks sits down with Headliner to reflect on a whirlwind start to 2024, the magic that went into boygenius’s the record, and how her enduring relationship with Manchester Orchestra has taught her the importance of unlocking true “emotional freedom” in the studio…
“It’s been a crazy start to the year,” Catherine Marks exhales as she joins us via Zoom from her London home on a bright, early-Spring morning in late March. “I keep thinking it’s September or something.” In reality, it’s a month to the day until the 2024 MPG Awards ceremony, which will see Marks duly scoop the coveted
Producer of the Year award for the second time. Held on April 25 at The Troxy in London, the night offered the Australian-born, London-based producer a rare moment to reflect on what has been one of the busiest and most fruitful spells of her career so far.
In the first quarter of 2024, she’s been hopping between continents to work across a number of new records, while also squeezing in a visit to the Grammys and the Resonator Awards, where her work on the widely lauded the record was deservedly recognised. At the Grammys, boygenius won Best Alternative Music Album, as well as Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song for Not Strong Enough, while the band themselves presented Marks with the Powerhouse Award at The Resonator Awards in honor of her work on the album. “I definitely felt like I was invited to the cool kids’ party by accident,” she laughs.
As those who have spent time with Marks will attest, she is excellent company. In conversation she is entertaining, thoughtful, and insightful, not to mention generous with her time, as evidenced by her almost apologetic disclaimer at the start of our conversation that she is battling through illness to talk to us. Still, she’s happy to speak at length about the year she’s had and what’s been keeping her busy in the first quarter of 2024.
“I started an album at the end of December and the day after we
finished I flew to LA, and the Resonator Awards were the day after that,” she says. “It was this intense period, and I don’t feel like I’ve really taken stock of that week in LA and meeting all those amazing people. It’s been a real whirlwind.”
The plaudits Marks has received for her work with boygenius certainly appears to have shifted the dial on her career another notch. She was already a highly sought after, multi-award-winning producer and engineer, having cut her teeth with studio icons Flood and Alan Moulder and cultivating a client list that includes, to name a few, the likes of Foals, Alanis Morissette, Wolf Alice, Frank Turner, The Big Moon, and Manchester Orchestra, with whom she has become a regular collaborator.
However, when three of indie rock’s most celebrated songwriters, Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker, and Lucy Dacus decided to join forces under the boygenius moniker, few could have predicted the extent of acclaim and success their debut album the record would achieve. Their self-titled 2018 EP was met with critical acclaim, but offered little indication that their first full-length release five years later
would go on to top multiple charts, scoop a raft of awards, and make the upper reaches of countless 2023 album of the year lists.
“They wanted me to mix their first EP, but the timings didn’t work out, as I was working with Manchester Orchestra,” Marks explains, recalling the origins of her relationship with the group. “And they reached out to me because of my work with Manchester Orchestra. There was a lot of mutual love and respect for those guys. But I had a meeting with them via Zoom and that was the first time we’d seen each other’s faces, and that was when we spoke about making an album together.”
While the ‘supergroup’ concept that shrouds the boygenius project is something that Bridgers, Baker, and Dacus were acutely aware of, Marks says that there was no discussion of the matter in the studio. As she puts it, the sessions were very much akin to recording a band, as opposed to three solo artists coming together.
“I don’t think that the ‘supergroup’ aspect was ever a real consideration, as they are all great friends and love each other very much,” Marks affirms. “As far as songwriting is concerned, they had written individually but had also gone away to work on them together before we started making the album. They treated it very much like a band where three people were bringing songs in, and they were critiquing each other’s music and lyrics. There was a lot of collaboration.”
Despite the collaborative spirit that fuelled the sessions, the task of weaving a cohesive whole from three distinct creative voices was one that hung heavily on Marks’s shoulders.
“We knew it had to be a cohesive album,” she states. “That was something that was on my mind, but I don’t think it was ever articulated. Somehow the aesthetic of the album feels really consistent, yet each of their individual identities shines through. It weighed heavily on my mind, but through the power of magic it turned out to be a cohesive record [laughs]. A lot of the other
collaborators and musicians that worked on the album also helped to create this consistent sonic thread that runs all the way through it.
“We spent the first three or four days doing pre-production and working out how we wanted everything to feel, so we were collectively conscious of making sure there was a flow to the album,” she continues, describing how they set the tone for the sessions. “We had a ‘wall of dreams’ that we would throw ideas at and we would write down particular influences and then see if there were other songs that fitted that aesthetic. There were relationships and interconnections between each song. That’s something I do on other records too. But they were so militant I don’t think they would have let anything veer off track.”
When reflecting on the most memorable moments shared between herself and the band (“there are too many to mention”), Marks is reminded of an especially poignant moment shared with Dacus when working on one of the album’s many highlights, We’re In Love
“WE WERE BOTH HOLDING BACK TEARS… IT WAS ONE OF THOSE MAGIC MOMENTS. THEY WERE THE TOUGHEST CUSTOMERS I’D WORKED WITH. I UNDERESTIMATED THE CHALLENGE.”
“Lucy and I arrived the night before everyone else to start work on the album, and she played me this song,” says Marks. “There wasn’t really a structure to it, but there was this stunning, gorgeous melody that I was so moved by. Throughout the course of the time we were at the studio she carried on working at it. I had been saying I think it absolutely needs to be on the album, but it doesn’t feel finished yet. So, she worked really hard at it and performed it for me, and I thought it was beautiful.
“Anyway, on the day that we ended up recording it, it was still light outside and it was just her and I in the studio, and she played it just on the acoustic guitar in the control room. I had a couple of mics set up, and there was this beautiful light streaming in, and you can sort of hear at the end she chokes up, as I did. We were both holding back tears… it was just one of those magic moments. It was all about the performance, not recording the guitar and then adding the vocals over the top. She just put everything into this performance, and it was magical. That’s a really strong memory. But there were so many of those moments.”
In looking back at the process of making the record and the spotlight it has drawn towards Marks and her oeuvre, our conversation gravitates toward some of the other records that have moved the needle on her career.
“Every record feels like that,” she states. “One of the most significant
moments was engineering the Foals record (Holy Fire, 2013) with Flood and Alan Moulder. I was known within the industry from assisting in studios, but the success of that record put me on a lot of people’s radars.
“And there have been moments like working on Wolf Alice’s first EP (Moaning Lisa Smile, 2014), The Big Moon’s first record (Love In The 4th Dimension, 2017). And all the work I’ve done with Manchester Orchestra. I love working with them, and it seems like every band I work with LOVES Manchester Orchestra. My relationship and work with them has allowed me to learn so much and has enabled me to work with so many other artists.”
Marks’s work with Manchester Orchestra has undoubtedly been one of the defining features of her career. After producing the US rock outfit’s fifth album A Black Mile To The Surface (2017), she has become a regular and much loved collaborator, yet the harmonious relationship that has flourished between band and producer since was initially born from more tempestuous circumstances.
“On the first record we made together we were really at loggerheads,” she reveals. “They were the toughest customers I’d ever worked with. It was their fifth record, and I thought they’ll be very well versed in the process of making an album, and it’ll just be really enjoyable and different to a lot of the first album projects I’d been working
on. But I was wrong, because they were putting so much pressure on themselves to make it the best album they’d ever made, otherwise they were going to stop what they were doing. I didn’t anticipate that. Also, they are really polite, so it took about two weeks to get to the bottom of what needed to be done, and that opened the floodgates.
“The way we communicate is so much freer now, which means it’s more about the creativity and the collaboration rather than the psychology. There are no mind games or personality challenges, we just accept each other for who we are and want to make amazing music.”
As we bid our farewells and allow Marks to return to nursing herself back to health before another imminent trip to LA to produce the new Rise Against album in April and another Manchester Orchestra record starting in May, she is keen to point out that those early moments of friction can not only yield positive results but can be essential in unlocking a project’s potential.
“I encourage that kind of discourse in the studio,” she signs off. “I want people to feel free to express themselves. There should be chemistry and conversation. And those little tussles you have can reaffirm what you believe in. Obviously, I wouldn’t encourage aggression, but frustration and anger can be a part of that, and there is something exciting about that level of emotional freedom.”
AIR Studios engineer Adam Miller opens up about his work as score engineer and mixer on one of the biggest Netflix shows of 2024 so far, One Day. The limited series that had everyone ugly crying tells the decades-spanning love story of Dex and Em as they reunite on the same day every year. Miller explains how it’s all about dynamics…
One Day received critical acclaim and was the most-watched series globally during the week of 12 February, with 9.9 million views. Did you have a feeling when you were working on it that it would be a big hit?
I hoped it would! You never really know with these things. Unless you’re sitting next to Christopher Nolan or
someone, you never know if it’s gonna be a huge smash hit or not. But the omens were good. You can tell when you’re watching something if it’s been crafted with love and care, so we were all hoping that it would land pretty positively, and it did. It’s quite gratifying when so many people see something that you’ve worked on.
“IT’S ABOUT MAKING A SYMPATHETIC SOUND WORLD THAT MATCHES WHAT’S ON SCREEN.”
Tell us about your role on One Day as score engineer and mixer. What goes into a project like this?
It’s two easy stages: there’s the recording and there’s the mix. For One Day, we recorded quite a small ensemble in AIR’s Studio One with 11 strings and one harp player that we recorded live. If you’ve watched the series, it is quite a small, intimate thing. Most of it is just the two characters on screen and their relationship to each other, so it didn’t demand huge amounts of music and this huge scale. We mixed for about a week in total – there’s a lot of music to the series. Obviously it moves through the years and there’s a lot of needle drop music that’s in there from the time period. What was particularly nice about this project is that they also used a lot of music from Jess Jones and Tim Morrish, so there are a lot of pre-existing tracks that we used quite early on in the process. The sequences were built around those, so it was quite a nice melding together of the score with these pre existing tracks that the composers had worked on and music of the period.
It’s a very emotional watch. How did you make sure the score mix was right and not encroaching on the drama on screen?
It’s dictated by what the composers [Anne Nikitin, Jess Jones and Tim Morrish] have done, but you try to be
sympathetic to what they’re doing and to what’s going on the screen. Sometimes when you record things live, there can be a bit of a disconnect between the two and it’s not until the cold light of day that you say, ‘Maybe we should have played it a bit quieter,’ or, ‘This moment should have been bigger,’ or whatever. There’s sometimes a bit of massaging where the live material and the dramatic expectations deviate a bit. It’s about making a sympathetic sound world that matches what’s on screen, so you pay attention to the dialogue. Of course, you watch it as you mix it and try to match what’s going on in the scene. It’s quite a lot of paying attention to dynamics; what passes in a piece of music as a standalone piece by itself doesn’t always play well with picture; the picture can draw your attention to things or distract you from things that you thought were very obvious in the music, or maybe things need to be buried more than if it was just a standalone piece of music, where you might have it more in the front of the mix. A lot of little small decisions like that add up and make the finished score.
What was your favorite scene in One Day in terms of use of score that you thought worked particularly well when you watched it back?
The whole thing is really well made, but it’s possibly the devastation that
I thought played best on screen. In the final episode, if you’ve listened to the soundtrack album, there are a couple of cues on there called Ghosts and As If She Was Still Here, which play over these very sad scenes, but it’s incredibly well done. In the final episode, the editing in particular was really good; I hadn’t quite appreciated how good it was until I sat down and saw it all through from start to finish. Those two cues over the final episode I thought worked particularly well. They’re really sad, but it really does the moment justice and it’s not too melodramatic, which would be quite easy to fall into. The music is very sparse and sensitive. It sounds relatively simple, but in a way that just fits perfectly.
AIR is home to various unique Neve consoles. You use the AIR Custom Neve A7971, which is the second of three custom consoles designed by Rupert Neve, George Martin and Geoff Emerick. The first console was created for AIR’s facility on the Caribbean Island of Montserrat. What is it that you like about using this legendary console and how does it enhance your workflow?
The selling point of the desk is the sound. The sound is really good. It’s incredibly clean, low distortion, and the frequency response is amazing. There’s been a few modifications and different ways of working over the years which made it more suitable for scoring work in the 21st century where you need track counts, lots of mics and you need
to be able to simultaneously generate a few different mixes as you’re recording. A lot of the time nowadays, the clients are on the end of a remote link, and you need to be able to make additional mixes for them to listen to – all of which you can do on the desk. The reason it’s still in AIR’s studio one is because it sounds amazing and it’s a great thing to work on. It is pretty simple too: you’ve got a mic, you have a channel; the mic goes in, the mic gets recorded to Pro Tools, comes back out, you listen to it, dial in a bit of reverb and dial in some headphones. The benefit of the desk is that it sounds amazing and it hasn’t really been surpassed since.
Unlike its modern counterpart, the Neve 88RS, the Air A7971 console was not specifically designed for scoring. However, modern additions such as expanding the channels from 56 to 72 made this workflow possible. How did this benefit you while working on One Day?
More is more! Sometimes you try to economize, but you always end up filling the desk with stuff, so that’s how that is possible. Another great benefit of the desk and how it’s originally designed is it has remote preamps, So the actual amplification stage is in the live room with musicians, which
has benefits in terms of noise floor and cable lengths and that kind of stuff. But it also means that we can tap straight out of the mic preamp and take that straight to Pro Tools – it doesn’t have to go via the actual desk component via the faders and everything else, so you get a really clean signal path. It’s quite an easy modification. I say ‘easy’ as someone who obviously didn’t have to do that modification and get the soldering iron out! [laughs]. That works really well and you basically free up the whole 72-channel desk just to listen to things on the way back from Pro Tools. That gives you even more flexibility in terms of number of mics and sub mixes, like reverb units and all that good stuff that makes your scoring session run a bit more smoothly. It’s an incredibly reliable thing – you can throw whatever you need to do at it, and it will handle it.
DEF LEPPARD | LEAD SINGER | 8424 CONSOLE
Our Engineer Ronan and I wanted a Neve, and we identified the 8424 - which is a magic desk. I have one in my studio here, and Ronan has one in his studio - it works really well.
Francesco Lucidi, one of Europe’s leading drummers and producers, is currently making waves in the US. Perhaps best known for touring with Italian rap-pop megastar Rkomi and singer-rapper Irama, he also showcased his skills behind the kit in 2020’s Vivaldi Metal Project, an all-star symphonic metal extravaganza conceived by Bruce Dickinson keyboardist Mistheria.
When he’s not on the road, Lucidi also operates his own recording facility, Studio 86, which is situated in the lush, picturesque region of Umbria. He also recently worked at the revered MOYSA studio in Milan with US microphone specialist AUDIX to record a new soundtrack.
For both live and studio projects, Lucidi keeps an extensive lineup of AUDIX microphones at hand, including the dynamic flagship PDX720; A231 large-diaphragm and SCX1 small-diaphragm condensers; D6, D4, and D2 for kick and toms; the workhorse i5 for snares and other instruments, and MicroD.
“I’m a rock drummer,” Lucidi tells Headliner, introducing himself before opening up on how Audix’s comprehensive product portfolio has served him as a musician and producer. “I grew up listening to lots of heavy stuff.
“My hero growing up was [Dream Theater drummer] Mike Portnoy, and my own playing certainly leans in that direction. So, my drum mics need to be able to take it without breaking up or losing any information.”
“WITH AUDIX I FEEL LIKE I’M HEARING THE ESSENCE OF THE SOURCE THE MIC IS RECORDING.”
The first AUDIX microphone Lucidi came across was one of the company’s most popular and ubiquitous, the D6, when he was attending music and audio college in London.
“You’ll find the D6 on the kick drum in almost every venue,” he explains. “I recorded a lot of drums with those mics, and when I returned to Italy, I wanted to use them in my studio.
So what captured his attention about the D6?
“The D6 has a fullness for low-end sources I haven’t heard from anything else,” he says. “Move it closer to the beater, and you’ll get that nice clicky kick attack of great metal recordings. Move the mic out, and it gets fatter.”
More recently, he has found applications for the PDX720 that range from the expected to outside the box.
“So many people talk about the PDX720 as a podcasting mic, and it’s certainly good at that, but it can also sound phenomenal on singing. Especially on the heavy rock and
metal that I like, because a lot of the lead vocalists are screamers, and they hold the mic. The PDX stands up to the sound levels they can put out. It absorbs physical shock well, too, and often I haven’t even needed a pop filter. I just used the PDX on a session with a band from Poland.
“The Polish language has a lot of sharp consonant blends, so think sibilance and plosives. A condenser would have had a hard time with that, but the PDX smoothed them out just enough without losing any of the definition.”
Whatever the mic or the source, Lucidi sums up his fondness for AUDIX mics with one word: “Clarity. If I’ve matched the right mic to the application, it’s like I’m hearing the instrument itself when I’m listening in the control room. With AUDIX, I don’t feel like I’m hearing the mic, or even my monitor speakers. I feel like I’m hearing the essence of the source the mic is recording.”
AUDIXUSA.COM
Words by COLBY RA YESM
Headliner discovers how a seasoned audio team mixed front-of-house, monitors and a live broadcast for Phish’s four-night, 68-song run at the Las Vegas Sphere – delivering an enhanced concert experience that left audiences captivated…
American rock band Phish formed in Burlington, Vermont in 1983, and are known for their musical improvisation and jams during their concert performances, as well as for their devoted fan following. The band consists of guitarist Trey Anastasio, bassist Mike Gordon, drummer Jon Fishman, and keyboardist Page McConnell, all of whom sing, with Anastasio being the lead vocalist.
Phish’s music blends elements of a wide variety of genres including funk,
reggae, progressive rock, psychedelic rock, folk, country, jazz, blues, bluegrass, electronic music, and pop. The band is part of a movement of improvisational rock groups, inspired by the format of the Grateful Dead’s live performances and colloquially known as “jam bands”, that gained considerable popularity as touring concert acts in the ‘90s.
Bringing them up to speed and delivering a show at one of the Western world’s newest, most innovative venues however would undoubtedly have its challenges. FOH engineer Garry Brown was poised and ready to use the latest AV technology to execute the show, including the venue’s comprehensive in-house audio routing and mixing system from German manufacturer Lawo and Holoplot’s revolutionary immersive speaker system.
One of the unique things about a Phish show, he tells Headliner, is that they tend to do multiple nights in certain locations, but if this means doing four nights in one building, every show is going to be different. He’s clearly the kind of engineer who likes to be kept on his toes.
“I don’t think I could go back to a pop show that was the same show every night,” he says. “Being in this world for 19 years and not having a setlist is quite unique.”
The audio team consists of four mixers: Brown takes care of front-ofhouse and there are two monitors engineers, along with broadcast engineer Vance Powell who webcasts and uploads every show from the OB truck. During the show, signals are sent from Brown’s mc² 56 FOH console to Sphere’s audio system, which is based around an extensive Holoplot speaker array.
“For Sphere, all I did – apart from the summing mixer – was duplicate my stereo bus insert,” explains Brown. “So I have eight more channels of Rupert Neve master bus processor and eight more channels of the Kush Audio Clariphonic. The mix is the same; my console, my faders - all that is the same, but how I’m driving it out of the console is now different. I basically had to direct assign from inputs to arrays. I had to sit down and decide where I’m placing these instruments and where I want each of them to have their home position; I now have the ability to take them out of that home position and put them into an object, and that object will then move it around the room.
“Sonically, the Lawo mc² 56 console is far superior than what I was on before. The workflow is amazing and I really enjoy mixing on it; finding my way around the surface is easy. I switched to Lawo because there was a noticeable improvement in the sound quality of the show. Every input opened up, it breathed, it became
natural sounding – the summing and width was great. Trey the guitarist is a perfectionist and is always pushing the boundaries to get as good as we can get; he does it with his guitar playing so I have to do the same. It’s all about sound for me, and Lawo gave us a massive step up sonically.
“Because of the sonic quality of the console, I’m not doing a lot in terms of EQ-ing, and I don’t have a lot of outboard gear,” he adds. “You’ve got to make it right at the source; the band has great instruments and plays amazing, so I’m basically just capturing what they’re doing and making it work for the room.”
Robert ‘Void’ Caprio, monitor engineer for Anastasio, says that mixing monitors for Phish and Trey’s solo band is “a moving target. There’s no setlist with the band; everything is always just ‘who knows what’? Trey will call an audible for something and a five minute song can turn into a 25, 30, maybe 40 minute jam.”
“BECAUSE OF THE SONIC QUALITY OF THE CONSOLE, I’M NOT DOING A LOT IN TERMS OF EQ-ING, AND I DON’T HAVE A LOT OF OUTBOARD GEAR.”
With the Lawo mc² 56 console, the team are able to use many of its features to overcome the challenges faced in every environment, not just at Sphere. Brown uses a mc² 56 with 48 faders at FOH; Void has a 32-fader version on monitors, while broadcast engineer Vance Powell utilizes a dual fader layout with a total of 80 faders.
“The fidelity of the console itself is the main attraction, and being able to really focus on each individual instrument to build a mix as a whole really makes a whole lot of difference,” Void remarks. “We’re able to use the flexibility of the console – the dynamics, the EQ, everything else that’s built in – to really accentuate what needs to be focused on in terms of each element of the band. They’re so dynamic, so there’s always changes, and there’s always a movement going on.”
Void goes on to highlight how Lawo consoles in particular allow the team to achieve the fidelity required to make all these individual parts speak, and poke out of the mix where they need to.
“Also, for me as a monitor engineer, width is very easy to achieve,” he continues. “The left-right balance is relatively easy to get going. For me, giving my artist the depth of their mix within their ears is paramount, and so the Lawo console in particular – mainly due to its dynamics – enables me to give that depth to the mix, and really layer things up. I can get the vocal way out front with everything else sitting in the back, with some stuff somewhere in the middle. That’s the key.
Handling the broadcast mix for the Phish show at Sphere is also no mean feat. The OB truck, housing broadcast engineer Vance Powell, sits at the end of a long piece of fiber; the signals are split so that each of the engineers has direct access to his own set of mic pre’s. I/O is based on Lawo’s Power Core with AOIX Audio I/O Extenders. The entire I/O – with a total of 480 Lawo-grade mic I/O (160 per console) – amounts to only 9RU of rackspace, a significant improvement for a touring band aside from the sonic upgrade.
“We all have control individually,” says Powell. “I need a different gain structure to Garry because I don’t have 45 or 50,000 watts of power behind me. I have little tiny speakers going out of a little tiny tube, called the Internet!
“Then I’m processing the sound with some analogue gear, and we have a Waves SoundGrid that does some of the effects. I’m basically approaching it like I’m mixing a record, a live record being played live by live people - and that’s my vibe.”
Powell has a few go-tos in terms of outboard gear, whether he’s making records, mixing records or creating a live broadcast. These include API EQs on kick and snare, a Teletronix LA-2A on the bass, and a Looptrotter Monster – a Polish-made stereo compressor that has a saturation circuit.
“It’s kind of like an 1176 with a saturation circuit, it’s really nice,” he affirms. “We’re using the API 2500 as a stereo bus compressor followed by a Kush Audio Clariphonic, which I’ve been using a little bit since Garry turned me onto it – it’s cool. And then we have an EveAnna Manley Enhanced Stereo ‘Pultec’ EQ – one of my favorite people on the planet!
“One of the interesting things about the Lawo console is that it’s unlike other digital boards where things are very much in place with a center section, a groups section, a mute section - and there’s all these different banks. The Lawo is a little more open-ended. Any fader can be anything; any fader can be a VCA; any fader can be a
group; any fader can be an input – it’s incredibly powerful. The EQ sounds great and the compressors sound great. I’m really blown away by it; I’m an analogue guy, so it’s not easy for me to say that I really love the way it sounds – but I do!”
LAWO.COM HOLOPLOT.COM
Headliner recently sat down for a chat with Sam Walker of American dance music duo Walker & Royce, who released the second part of their latest album, No Big Deal, in January this year. Walker shares his experiences on collaboration and experimentation, reveals his workflow and preferences for using soft synths, and discusses the growth of tech house across the US, highlighting the power of festivals in popularizing the genre…
Walker & Royce had just wrapped up their latest album tour as they joined Headliner over Zoom for a candid conversation about all things music back in early April. Some of the tracks on the new record have been firm favorites in their festival sets for a while now, and they’ve been releasing them gradually as singles in a bid to tease the senses of their loyal fan base. The duo have been making music together since around 2011, and by their own admittance, approach the project from very different angles.
“I went down the production route, and Gavin [Royce] went down the DJ route,” Walker begins. “He made a lot of connections over the years in New York City, whereas I’m a bit more introverted, and would rather sit in a basement for hours working on stuff. I worked at Ableton in NYC from 2007 to 2010. Gavin had been DJing for a while and people were starting to give him remix opportunities. He wasn’t really a producer then but he had a lot of cool ideas, and so when I quit Ableton he asked if I wanted to work on some music together. Things took off right from the get-go.”
The pair were surprised at their initial success before things took off, and it was a long, slow grind up until 2016, when independent
electronic music label Dirtybird Records came knocking.
“We had two or three tracks which people immediately latched onto,” Walker recalls. “One of them was a remix of SAARID called Future Lately ; he’s a friend of ours and we took it in a totally weird, techno direction. Damian Lazarus then started playing it, so that made it more popular. Then we had this track called Connected which Solomun started playing in Ibiza, and people thought it was his! Over the next few years we went over to England and Germany just trying to make something of the music we’re doing. Nothing really cut through until Justin Martin and Barclay Crenshaw noticed us, and we got signed to Dirtybird. That was when things really took off. Up to that point it was a slow burn, and definitely took a lot of patience from the girlfriends and wives!”
When Walker & Royce were creating their debut album, 2017’s Self Help, there was no pressure and expectation for the record to succeed; they had already hit the charts with nostalgic synth-laden anthem Take Me To Your Leader Crafting the sound for their latest project, No Big Deal, was an entirely different beast however.
“With this one it was a little tough, because we didn’t walk into it with a massive hit already on our hands,” says Walker. “We had just done Stop Time at the end of ‘22, and put that on Rules Don’t Apply, which is our own label. The tracks we were making felt like they were starting to coalesce, and so the idea was to just go with the vibe and let it unfold.
“When we did Self Help , we weren’t touring every single weekend, and we didn’t have the chance to test material out. Now we do. It’s funny, because the drum and bass tracks on No Big Deal were both started in the midst of COVID. We were trying to do this album three or four years ago but COVID derailed the creative process a lot. We were monkeying around in the studio, seeing what else we can make, and came up with these drum and bass tracks. Then they just sat there for a while because we didn’t finish them, but then we circled back and did just that.”
It’s evident from listening to the duo’s material, old and new, that there’s been a gradual shift to the slightly darker, harder and faster side of house music.
“SOMETIMES YOU CAN MAKE SOMETHING OFF JUST ONE ACCIDENTAL NOTE ON A KEYBOARD.”
“At the same time, like with our track Cheap Thrills, we’re still trying to put these big glaring synths in there. It’s just what we like to do!” Walker adds. “I’ll be playing around on a wide open, no filter, real razzy kind of synth. I feel like it comes back to the fact that I used to be a trombone player. Maybe that’s coming through in the music somehow. It’s a bit harder, a bit darker, and also trying to maybe step outside of house a little bit more with some drum and bass.”
When it comes to sharing the musicmaking load, Walker does most of the engineering, as well as channeling what Royce is doing – described by Walker as “almost like puppetry somehow.” Walker comes up with the initial ‘sketch’ as it were, while his counterpart acts as the first line of sounding board.
“I’ll often come up with something that I think is crap, and he will already be sending it to DJs,” Walker says with a chuckle. “He’s sort of a gatekeeper, and always has the first set of ears on
something to see how we could do it better, or differently. Production-wise, most times it’s just about throwing a bunch of stuff at the wall and seeing what sticks. Cycling through patches, recording everything and finding some interesting transition or weird sound, sampling that, bringing it back in; sometimes you can make something off just one accidental note on a keyboard.”
Walker’s production mostly takes place in the box, aside from his newly acquired Novation Summit and Bass Station, the latter of which he uses as a MIDI keyboard: “I like my desk not being cluttered with all this junk,” he says. “I’ve also got the Behringer ARP 2600, which is really cool for making this angry, distorted FM-ish kind of stuff. It’s a very specific sound.”
When it comes to plugins, Walker cites Vital, Astra and u-he Bazille as some of his key tools: “They all sound a bit different, but they’re also specific,” he adds. “See what sticks in a mix with this drum sample and with this hat or whatever; suddenly
that patch which sounded vanilla as heck sounds awesome.”
As an electronic dance music artist, especially in a demographic where the genre and their sub-genres are still relatively young compared to Europe, Walker has witnessed a number of changes take place in the industry, all of them undoubtedly for the better.
“The biggest thing is the explosion of festivals,” he muses. “It used to just be rock bands and live acts, and now it’s house music all over the place. In the past eight to 10 years, to think we’re now going to small southern US cities and towns, and having full crowds listening to house music, blows my mind. The success of Dirtybird becoming this major American record label for house music and this weird glitchy stuff. It’s really helping to spread tech house everywhere in the United States.”
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Headliner descended on HHB Communications in North London to check out Genelec’s latest - and largest - studio monitor within its 8300 range, the 8381A.
Intimidating. Imposing. Massive. Just a few of the adjectives that came to mind when I sat down at the mix position in HHB’s tidy North London demo room, casting an eye on the huge 8381As for the first time ‘in the flesh’, so to speak.
These five-way floor-standing monitors are the largest in Genelec’s 8300 series of Smart Active Monitors, and feature bespoke
coaxial HF/MF and quad 5-inch midrange drivers, along with a 15inch low midrange woofer and dual 15-inch low woofer system - resulting in a multi-speaker ‘point source’ array that produces sound from a central point in space, with each speaker array being driven by two Genelec amp modules.
They are an evolution of the freestanding monitoring concept that
the manufacturer first developed by combining The Ones and the W371A adaptive woofer system – but with even more headroom and LF extension – and on a personal level, I can’t speak highly enough about The Ones and the W371As, as they were recently deployed in Headliner’s brand new (and now certified) Dolby Atmos studio. High hopes indeed, then.
Aesthetically, you could be forgiven for thinking you’re looking at a mini PA stack - and the 8381As could certainly be used for live sound reinforcement - but after referencing some of my favourite tracks and mixes, the depth of sound, true transparency, and impressive short-term SPL of 126dB [at 1m] spoke for itself. These speakers quite simply possess next-level clarity.
What do I mean by that? In short: reverb tails seem far clearer (and longer); bass lines are rounder and certainly more definitive; and those songs with ‘present’ or ‘up front’ vocals tend to come to life in an almost impossible to describe manner - the voice is no longer in your face, it’s at the back of your throat, almost.
In terms of stereo image, the 8381As are exceptional. There is a width, height, and depth to these speakers that almost defies belief at times. Plus, there is a surprising delicacy to the sonics at low volume that is just as satisfying as blasting them for an hour without any significant fatigue. Well, almost… Because it’s when you start to really drive this system that it blows your mind: raw power, formidable lowend, and most importantly brutal accuracy. Furthermore, the lack of any kind of midrange horn also translated into a very smooth upper midrange which tempts you to keep turning it up just that little bit more. Dangerous? Maybe!
I played tracks from Jeff Buckley’s Grace album and realized not only just how spectacular the live band recording actually was, but that previously unheard
elements were now audible: prior to this playback, I had been unaware that Buckley cleared his throat between vocal lines(!), and of course the monster verb in iconic tracks like Lilac Wine and his take on Cohen’s Hallelujah was wider, fuller, and more cohesive.
I flicked through more go-to reference tracks - from Radiohead to Kanye, with a bit of Springsteen’s wonderfully engineered new record in the mix - and quite literally found myself lost in music. The analogue sound of the two bands shone bright, and the sharpness of Kanye’s unique and crystal clear production on Black Skinhead was punching me in places I didn’t know I could be punched. Play anything that isn’t well put together (there may have been a couple of temporary lapses into powder pop sobriety) and the 8381As will chew it up and spit it out, of course - and rightly so.
But how practical are they? Well, the ‘ideal’ spot for your main monitors is traditionally built into the studio walls, permanently focused at the optimum listening position. But herein lies the drawback: often fixed and in situ means there’s no way to manoeuvre or reconfigure your recording and mix environment; in other words, it is what it is, and will always be. So in today’s world of flexible multi-purpose, multi-format facilities, a moveable, fully configurable freestanding main monitor option that can be both mid and nearfield could just be the ultimate problem solver.
Calibration is performed by Genelec’s GLM 5 software, and each pair of 8381As includes a 9320A Reference Controller which is a terrific piece of kit. This setup allows users to create multiple presets which could be, for example, for different rooms should engineers request a specific set of monitors, or the same room but different configurations: you might want a stereo pair for tracking, and then perhaps a Dolby Atmos setup incorporating that stereo pair.
Engineers may even want to change the sound in subtle ways to emulate
other working environments they are more familiar with; even changing the mix environment by putting a new sofa in a control room can alter the acoustic character of the room, so the ability to measure, compare and affect changes quickly and effectively when needed is definitely a bonus in today’s fast-paced music and content creation driven world.
So yeah, I get the floor standing design - and I also love the simplicity of the angle options so the speakers can be more accurately focused at the engineer for the optimum listening position. This creates a very
impressive sweet spot which actually sounds like more of a ‘sweet area’.
This is something engineers and producers working as a team will certainly appreciate because in reality, getting up and taking a pace left or right of centre had very little effect on what is a wide and coherent stereo image, something that is not apparent in many other speaker systems.
In summary, the 8381As are seriously impressive, potent speakers that produce a really beautiful open sound. The weight and depth of the low mids and bass sound is impressive as any super high-end wall speakers I’ve heard, and the sub bass - which is normally more of a feel thing in my experience - is remarkably well-defined, making it way easier than normal to pick out individual notes within that sub-frequency range. Add to that the ability to mix quietly and accurately at such close proximity, and those all-revealing sparkling highs, then what’s not to love?
In a world exclusive interview, L-Acoustics co-CEOs Laurent Vaissié and Hervé Guillaume sit down together for their first joint interview to reflect on the company’s 40th anniversary, the art of leading the business as a duo, and the trends shaping the future of pro audio…
“It’s been quite a journey,” smiles Laurent Vaissié as he settles into a chair in his office at the L-Acoustics Los Angeles headquarters. The day is just starting, and bright sunlight is already pouring through the window behind him. He is flanked by fellow L-Acoustics co-CEO Hervé Guillaume, who has flown in from the company’s Paris HQ to join him for our conversation about, among other things, the 40th anniversary of the business. “I tried to convince him to move to Paris, but when you live
in California you don’t really want to move,” he laughs.
The pair, who are affable and possessed of a laid-back disposition not always evident in senior executive level interviews, share a unique relationship. Co-CEO is a seldom seen title in most industries – in pro audio circles it’s practically unheard of. In this case, however, it has flourished into a complementary partnership that has steered the company into an era of significant
development and expansion, which we will discuss in due course. While this duo represents the first co-CEO manifestation in the company’s history, the concept of the joint role they occupy today can be traced back to 1984 when Christian Heil founded the company. As Guillaume explains, Heil was always convinced that a collaborative approach would make for a far more compelling proposition than a solo vision of how to grow the company.
“I started in 1994 as an intern when there were less than 10 people at the company,” he says, recalling his introduction to L-Acoustics. “I was doing financial reporting and managing the company cash flow. We also set up L-Acoustics in the US that year and Christian asked if I was open to going to America to teach the one-man team there how to manufacture the V-DOSC systems. So I went down to the shop and assembled cabinets for two or three months, and then flew to America to assemble the first V-DOSC system there. I eventually joined the company after my studies as a financial manager and after a couple of years I was promoted to managing director. I worked together with Christian, sharing the same office for around 14 years. That was where the concept of working together as a duo came to life. We thought two people working together was far stronger than two individuals. Christian was more in charge of inventing new concepts, and I was in charge of making them work and developing them.”
This fusing together of skills and areas of expertise resides very much at the heart of Guillaume and Vaissié’s relationship. Each brings distinct yet complementary experience to the table. “My background is slightly different,” says Vaissié. “I joined in 2011 and my experience is in engineering. At first I was surprised when L-Acoustics reached out. They explained that they were looking
“MEETING L-ACOUSTICS CHANGED MY CAREER AND MY LIFE. I COULD FEEL THERE WAS A REAL SENSE OF INNOVATION AND COOLNESS.”
for someone who was culturally a good fit for L-Acoustics – someone who understood technology but understood business as well. I started in R&D and then moved to product management, marketing and sales. I’ve always been really passionate about music and technology, so I was intrigued. The pivotal moment for me was meeting L-Acoustics - that moment changed my career and my life. I could feel there was a real sense of innovation and coolness. Everybody was really welcoming, curious and open-minded. I joined to manage the North America team and I held this role working closely with Hervé until 2018 when Christian and Hervé asked me to take on more of a global role.”
Being based either side of the Atlantic and with clearly defined competencies, Vaissié and Guillaume inevitably have areas of the business which they can largely run in silos. But how does the relationship work
when significant, company-wide decisions need to be made?
“We both have our areas of expertise, but we really make decisions together,” Vaissié explains. “We work on big strategic topics together along with the executive committee and board of directors. But when running a company like L-Acoustics, that is experiencing rapid growth and has a global footprint, thinking that one person can do it all seems quite challenging. It makes us wonder why more companies aren’t implementing dual leadership like this.”
“Christian didn’t want to be seen as the only one to lead the company –he wanted L-Acoustics to be seen as the company that leads the market,” Guillaume adds.
Our conversation inevitably turns to the 40th anniversary of L-Acoustics: “Christian started the company in a farm in France 40 years ago,” says Vaissié. “Today we are 850 employees. Looking back, it’s been a journey of growth and innovation based on performance and focused on people. If we look at some of the key milestones from a product and innovation standpoint it’s hard to overstate the impact that V-DOSC had on the industry. The introduction of the modern line array and the approach that Christian took to create a truly full range coherent line source changed the industry forever.
“That triggered a lot of innovation at L-Acoustics, because with that technology came the need to be able to model sound propagation and sound coverage accurately, which led us to introduce Soundvision, first 3D, real-time modelling software. This, in turn, led to another major milestone: establishing the first standard system that included not just loudspeakers, but electronics as well. Today, everyone takes this for granted, but at the time it was quite an evolution and it allowed us to establish a global network of companies that met the same standard of training, equipment and technical skills. And that network today is one of our biggest strengths.”
As for more recent defining achievements, Vaissié points toward the introduction of L-ISA and the recently launched L Series. “L-ISA was a major milestone for us, as we first perfected the line source and the speaker itself, then the system configuration, and with L-ISA we connected what you hear with what you see, and connected the performers with the audience. The L Series, launched last year, is also a major milestone as it is creating the same kind of paradigm shift we saw with V-DOSC in terms of size and efficiency and ease of deployment. We are very excited about that.”
“On the operational side, we also founded L-Acoustics in Singapore in 2019 and before the end of this year we will hire our 1,000th employee,” Guillaume notes. “It really has been quite a journey!”
One of the most significant evolutions L-Acoustics has experienced on the journey of which Guillaume speaks has been its diversification from a brand that operated almost exclusively in the touring market into all manner of different sectors. “The touring market is in our DNA and remains one of our key focuses,” says Vaissié. “And over the past 10-15 years the company has gone through quite a diversification into other markets, so we went from touring representing maybe 80% of our business, to fixed installation representing as much as 50% of our business in the Americas. We see this focus continuing in the next decade. We have added some expertise in each of the key vertical markets, from house of worship to hospitality, which is an area that is growing, as there is more attention today on the quality of audio and the experience. Theaters and corporate activities are also a big focus, as well as home and yachts, which is a brand new market for us. We see a lot of potential in this vertical.”
With the increasing adoption of immersive audio technologies showing no sign of slowing, the potential for growth in this market is clear for all to see. Shows like ABBA Voyage, the London-based immersive show that features live performances from digital ABBA avatars, have struck an unprecedented chord with fans, almost
certainly paving the way for similar spectacles in the future. Meanwhile, the Sphere venue in Las Vegas has been conceived and constructed with immersive technology at its core, prompting speculation around not if, but where and when, the next Sphere is likely to appear. All of this, says Guillaume, suggests that immersive audio will no longer be an afterthought, but an essential pillar in the live experience.
“I believe that this type of complex, such as Sphere, where everything is taken into consideration from day one, before the room is built, will develop over time,” he asserts. “And the focus will be as much on audio as the visuals. There will be more and more rooms already equipped with good systems for everything as a fixed installation. This will also reduce the quantity of systems that travel all over the world for touring.”
“We have seen L-ISA adoption in the major high-profile residencies where artists want to elevate the production level as budgets are a little higher and there is time to create a bespoke show,” Vaissié adds. “We have seen audio become more of a creative tool and that represents a new era for audio where it’s not only about getting the message heard and intelligible, but the ability to give a new canvas to creators. It remains a slow adoption, but any disruptive technology is expected to take time.”
As hectic schedules draw our time together to a close, we bid our farewells and speak loosely about the 40th anniversary celebrations that await over the coming weeks and months. But before we take our leave, there’s just enough time for Vaissié to highlight one of the big opportunities he sees on the horizon. “I would just like to mention the type of services that we see as a big opportunity for us,” he signs off. “We have seen huge evolution from a software standpoint, which allows us to evolve what we do in terms of services and applications in the cloud. One example is what we are doing with our AI-powered translation services with Mixhalo, which we are starting to offer to corporate clients. This is potentially very disruptive in terms of technology combining with loudspeakers in order to provide individual experiences in different languages for different participants. That is the type of application we think will create even more opportunities for our clients.”
This disruptive approach has been largely responsible for the market-leading position L-Acoustics has enjoyed for the past 40 years. On the strength of what we’ve heard today, the next 40 look set to follow suit.
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‘THE DESK THAT CAN DO IT ALL’
Words byDAN G U ELBM
“WITH SO MANY DIFFERENT TYPES OF MUSIC AND OTHER PERFORMANCES HERE, VERSATILITY IS THE KEY, AND THE QUANTUM225 DEFINITELY HAS THAT.”
Two of Florida’s leading theater venues have selected a DiGiCo Quantum225 console to bring greater flexibility to their audio offering.
Artis—Naples is a premier destination for the visual and performing arts in Southwest Florida. They are, in their own words, “…driven to inspire, educate and entertain by presenting world-class events that enrich the diverse community.” The Kimberly K. Querrey and Louis A. Simpson Cultural Campus in Naples includes two performance halls: the Frances Pew Hayes Hall and the Myra J. Daniels Pavilion, as well as The Baker Museum and the Stabile Education building.
Most recently, the 283-seat Daniels Pavilion, whose diverse range of programs includes music, film, dance, comedy, lectures, and exhibitions
featuring internationally acclaimed artists, received an upgrade in the form of a new DiGiCo Quantum225 console, used for both FOH and monitor mixing duties, and sourced through Fort Lauderdale-based Carlton Audio Services, Inc.
“The Daniels Pavilion hosts a really wide range of performances, from lectures to chamber music to rock bands, so our console has to be as versatile as the venue,” said Ryan Young, head audio engineer at Artis—Naples for the last three years. He explained that the addition of the Quantum225 is part of a series of upgrades that will also soon see the venue’s PA system replaced, as well.
“The intent was to upgrade and modernize our sound, and we are already very much a DiGiCo campus,” he said, noting the SD12
console installed at the neighboring Frances Pew Hayes Hall and the SD9 that acts as a recording and program playback mixer there. “We also wanted to have more flexible routing, so we could, for instance, run monitors from front of house. With so many different types of music and other performances here, versatility is the key, and the Quantum225 definitely has that.”
Young noted that he and his staff, including A2 Taylor Freydberg, have just begun exploring the possibilities of the console’s Mustard and Spice Rack processing. “We immediately found that it sounds great and that it’s extremely user-friendly for venues like ours,” he added. “We’re looking forward to finding out everything that it can do that we never had the capability of before.”
“I’M THRILLED WITH WHAT DIGICO HAS ACHIEVED WITH THE QUANTUM RANGE.”
On the state’s opposite coast, The Parker, a 1,200-seat venue in Fort Lauderdale and part of that city’s live-performance legacy for nearly 60 years, recently underwent a $30-million renovation. The process was part of an even larger rebranding and repositioning of the venerable venue: for much of its existence it had been the Parker Playhouse, a theatrical venue, and an affiliated venue of The Broward Center for the Performing Arts. Now, The Parker has become a main stop for top touring music artists and shows, with a new d&b audiotechnik sound system and a very versatile DiGiCo Quantum225 console also supplied by Carlton Audio.
“Over the last several years we’ve transitioned to becoming a roadhouse venue, and one that
at 1,200 seats sits perfectly in this market,” said Anton Foresta, director of production - affiliated venues at The Parker. “We really became the perfect rock and roll venue. Still a venue for community and educational programming but with a focus on live concerts at night, and for that, we wanted a rock and roll sound system and a rock and roll console.”
Foresta has been a fan of DiGiCo desks for years, as FOH engineer for Arrival from Sweden, The Music of Abba (for which he used a Quantum338), and in his role at The Parker, where he says the vast majority of the touring riders crossing his desk are for DiGiCo consoles. “Our job is to fill that rider and give them what their first choices are, and nine times out of 10, the first choice on that rider is
DiGiCo. So rather than renting a DiGiCo, we decided to buy one.”
Originally a fan of the SD1296, Foresta was attracted to the Quantum’s slate of features, including the Mustard and Spice Rack processing. “We had thought maybe we should get an SD12 because of its 96 inputs, but I knew that the Quantum225 would eventually get the update to go up to 96 channels, and a few weeks ago they released the update. So I was right!”
He added that another selling point was the 32-bit processing for the console’s SD-Rack. “That was a gamechanger,” he said. “We really liked the preamps on that. They’re super clean and extremely fast. The other stuff that we really love about the Quantum225 is having the Mustard processing and the Spice Rack right on the console. It’s reliable, trustworthy, and sounds fantastic.”
Both Quantum225 consoles were recommended and sold through Carlton Audio Services, in Fort Lauderdale. Owner Chris Carlton, who also acts as sound designer and FOH engineer for Barbra Streisand, calls it “the desk that can do it all.”
“What really sold me on the Quantum225 is how much it offers in such a small footprint, which is perfect for smaller venues like The Parker and Artis—Naples,” he explained. “That, and its sound quality, which is tremendous.” In fact, Carlton is himself a fan and user of DiGiCo desks, relying on a Quantum338 console for his live work with Streisand. “I’m thrilled with what DiGiCo has achieved with the Quantum range,” he commented. “I’ve been telling all my clients it’s time to get onboard with it.”
DIGICO.BIZ
Words bY ALICEGUS
I’VE
South-Asian vocalist, multiinstrumentalist and composer ganavya has been hailed as “among modern music’s most compelling vocalists” by The Wall Street Journal, making a name for herself as an in-demand artist who consistently confounds expectations. Tamil Nadu-raised and New York-born,
hers is a deeply profound and – for mainstream music fans at least – a unique, ethereal voice. In this Emerging Headliner interview powered by JBL, Ganavya reflects on her spiritual upbringing and how embracing practices instilled in her as a child inspired her new album, like the sky, i’ve been too quiet.
“Among many of us in the diaspora, there’s this urge that we have to show how unique we are,” ganavya acknowledges dreamily from her home in Irvine, California. A deep thinking, spiritual wordsmith to her core, every sentence uttered sounds as if plucked from the most exquisite poetry. In her soothing, almost whispered tones, each word is weaved into an irresistible and elaborate storyteller’s tapestry. “My life is a little split right now,” she shares. “This past year has been one of living in between places. My roots have been in a cup of water instead of soil.”
Back to her mesmerizing, unique vocal prowess: ganavya’s voice conveys a myriad of emotions, hypnotically and seemingly effortlessly traversing ethereal highs to resonant lows. “Children of the diaspora have been taught that we have to be a certain amount of ‘unique’ to survive or stand out in this
world,” she explains of her nomadic upbringing, (having moved between New York, Florida and Southern India). “We have to be special. In one way, my path is unique, and in another way, it’s the same that hundreds of people have walked,” she contemplates.
Born into a family deeply rooted in the Carnatic tradition of South Indian classical music – “I do struggle with the word ‘classical’; anything that has the word ‘class’ in it is telling you there’s some kind of problem” – ganavya’s musical journey began at a young age. Immersed in the rich melodic and rhythmic tapestry of Carnatic music, as a young girl she honed her skills under the guidance of eminent gurus, mastering vocal techniques and intricate compositions.
“I trained in Carnatic music,” she nods. “I hesitate to use the word ‘virtuosity’ – because it feels a little bit like
peacocking – I’m not really interested in having to prove some kind of technical mastery to earn someone’s respect. I just mean in the simplest form: you’re a kid, you wake up every morning and you go to class. It’s just a muscle that’s practiced.”
ganavya may be reluctant to use the word unique to describe her sound or experiences, but compared to the majority of people born in New York, her childhood could not have been more different. She explains that she spent much of her youth on the pilgrimage trail in Southern India, learning the storytelling art form of harikathā and singing poetry that critiques hierarchical social structures.
“CHILDREN OF THE DIASPORA HAVE BEEN TAUGHT THAT WE HAVE TO BE A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF ‘UNIQUE’ TO SURVIVE OR STAND OUT IN THIS WORLD.”
“The sampradaya is a pilgrimage tradition where you walk for days at a time towards the temple, and you would sing,” she reflects. “You were singing with many people underneath the sky as you were walking amongst dust and tumbleweeds in the heat. You were singing, not necessarily to impress anyone, but because honestly, if you weren’t singing, it was really hard to walk. It sounds folk-like to people listening.”
Despite her musical prowess and having spent days at a time singing as a child, she shares that she actually wanted to be a dancer; a dream which came to a sudden halt after injuring herself through over-practice. “I was told my name means, ‘One who was born to spread music,’ and there really has been no life outside of this as a possibility,” she muses pensively.
Unable to see a way forward in the dance world and feeling lost, ganavya returned to the US. “I couldn’t bear the grief,” she says. “I didn’t know how to be with myself. Most of my family are artists, and my way of rebelling against my family was to say, ‘Well,
I’m not going to do music or dance, I’m going to do science or something’,” she grins, acknowledging how unusual this sounds. “Singing is what I did in the quietness of home. I was a very petulant teenager, and sometimes still am,” she laughs. “I said, ‘I understand how fickle this life of performance can be. In one day, everything can be taken away from you in one single injury; I need to do something else’. And I did. I needed to step away.”
Promising to herself that she would only return to music when she felt truly ready, ganavya shares details of her new album, like the sky, i’ve been too quiet. “The album name comes from acknowledging that I have been quiet, and now I’m no longer quiet. I am stepping forward and things are moving quickly.” The idea to work on new music again stemmed from an experience that left ganavya questioning the things humans are pressured to prioritize.
“I sang for three days, nearly nonstop,” she says. “The first track on this album happened after hours of singing. You hear me kind of cracking open,” she
points out. “I’m not trying to control anything; I am trying to let go.”
The album’s lead single, forgive me my was inspired by ganavya’s time spent living in a chapel nestled in the mountains – “and it’s as idyllic as it sounds,” she brightens. “My friend left her bass with me and I started playing bass like a child – I don’t proclaim to know what I’m doing, it just gives me strength to keep walking. I started thinking about my life. For instance, I’m queer, and it makes it hard to go back to certain places at home and the same people who raised you. I didn’t realize how much I was missing the familiar response. I would put out a call and I got many responses in my current life, but there’s a very specific groove to the old songs that I was used to singing. When she left her bass with me, however crudely, for the first time in 10 years, I was able to give those responses back to myself. It truly felt like a circuit being plugged back in. It felt like my light was turning back on after slowly dimming over the years. It made me think about the things that I used to do when I was a child that I’m not doing anymore. I’d become so dim that I wasn’t fully present. It always felt like some part of me was clocked out, and I didn’t understand why. I think it was grief. Suddenly, out of nowhere, I was practicing for six to seven hours a day again, which is something I used to do when I was a child.”
forgive me my took shape when someone sent ganavya some poignant words about a loved one who had passed away. “I heard it as a sigh,” she says, “He said, ‘Forgive me my forgetfulness, no one can forget gentleness’. It stuck with me, and when we were in this three day session I found myself – from a place of grief and joy – just suddenly sighing out the same song that I had been singing the past three years, repeating that line, ‘Forgive me my forgetfulness, no one can forget gentleness’.”
On her creative process in her home studio, ganavya admits that she has been hesitant to invest in technology in the past, but shares that she’s recently invested in an AKG P220 vocal condenser mic, K240 MKII headphones and a pair of JBL 305P MKII compact powered studio monitors. “I come from a family and maybe even culture, I think that’s fair to say, that is very skeptical of ‘the material’,” she acknowledges. “They’re always pushing us to not think of life in terms of material things or money, but what ends up happening is that you become very hesitant to spend money on things like studio monitors. It’s taken me a fair amount of time to realize that anything that helps us do our jobs better, makes our path of service easier. For years I hesitated to buy monitors, and now that I have them, my ability to do my job is so much better. I’ve often depended on studios, but there’s nothing quite like being able to get up in the middle of the night and do work in your own home, and that has been deeply helpful and transformative.”
ganavya’s AKG mic is particularly well suited for her nuanced and
dynamic vocals. “I think that finding a microphone is a little bit like, the wand chooses you,” she grins –Headliner did not have her down as a Potterhead. “AKG has been something that I can use across the board. My voice seems to have very specific profiles. I have a very thin, whispery voice that I sometimes sing from, then the volume can get quite high and there’s a lower register. There’s certain mics that work really well for any one of those aspects and AKG mics can catch all of it, which makes my job easier.”
On her professional over-ear, semiopen headphones, ganavya shares that she has benefitted from their ability to deliver a wide dynamic range, increased sensitivity and ability to withstand countless hours in the studio. On why she likes them, she blends the practical with the philosophical:
“I think the most exhausting thing about being in a studio is this impossible ask,” she muses. “On days where I’m really cranky, it feels like almost an unholy ask – to create something. If what I’m wearing and all the contraptions are on
me like a tight shirt instead of like a loose dress, I’m more aware of the fact that I’m doing something that can live much longer than me – and that’s very uncomfortable. The second you go into the studio, you feel the gaze of something watching you enter a state of ease and gentleness and to be in the moment, so everything that we’re working with should sound as close to mundane life as possible. My favorite thing about this particular set of headphones is that they’re so light, they sit on my head and I forget that they’re on, instead of something that’s very bulky or tight on your ears. These headphones are like the loose dress that I’m wearing right now,” she smiles.
Internationally acclaimed recording facility Metropolis Studios is now reaping rewards in terms of reduced power bills, more flexibility, less fan noise and improved audio quality thanks to its new Prism Sound Dream ADA-128 upgrade, as Headliner recently discovered…
With 25 Prism Sound ADA-8XR multichannel converters already in use across its five studios, the internationally acclaimed Metropolis Studios in London is no stranger to the benefits of Prism Sound technology. In order to maintain its renowned technological edge, Metropolis has now upgraded the conversion in Studio C by replacing five of its existing ADA8XRs with one Prism Sound Dream ADA-128 multichannel audio converter, which has resulted in more space in
the machine room, less money spent on electricity, less fan noise and even better audio quality.
Launched in 2023, Prism Sound’s Dream ADA-128 modular audio conversion system is designed as both a conversion system and a highperformance, networkable audio distribution and processing system. Aimed at audio professionals across many different disciplines, including music recording, post-production,
broadcast, installation, Dolby Atmos and archiving, Dream ADA-128 is designed to deliver exceptional levels of flexibility, functionality, and cost effectiveness without any compromise in sound quality.
Metropolis was quick to see the potential of this new unit, which is capable of doing everything five ADA8XR units can do, and more.
“It is clearly an improvement in terms of functionality because just one unit can deliver up to 128 channels of 32-bit A/D and D/A conversion from a single box, which only takes up 2U of rack space,” said Richard Bellingham, head of the facility’s technical department. “This technology not only future-proofs Metropolis, but also allows us to be greener by significantly reducing our electricity consumption because it is less power hungry than a rack of five ADA-8XR converters. In addition, because it runs a lot cooler, we have less fan noise and have been able to reduce the air conditioning in the machine room, which is another valuable power saving.”
Established over 30 years ago, Metropolis Studios has long been a creative hub for iconic musicians and producers such as Amy Winehouse, Adele, Queen, Kendrick Lamar, The Rolling Stones, George Michael, Elton John, John Kelly, Tim Palmer, P2J, Chris Kimsey and Travis Scott. Over the years many internationally acclaimed records have been recorded, mixed and mastered at Metropolis, which has five main studios including a Dolby Atmos mix room, and a host of production rooms to suit all requirements.
“Metropolis has always been at the forefront of technological
advancement, and we are constantly pushing the boundaries of what is possible in music production,” Bellingham added. “When we see exceptional new technology coming onto the market we are inevitably interested – and in the case of Prism Sound’s new Dream ADA-128 it wasn’t even a leap of faith because we have been relying on the company’s audio conversion products for years. The ADA-8XRs in our studios have served us well and we have never had any complaints about their sound quality or durability.”
Prism Sound’s Dream ADA-128 can be fitted with up to 16 analogue and digital IO modules (each of which nominally provides eight input or output ports, or both). There are also four Host cards offering various connection options such as Dante, DigiLink and AES. Users can mix and match these, and even route audio between them for maximum flexibility, and because the Dream ADA128 houses four internal, independent clocks, these systems can all run at different sample rates at the same time.
With an eye on the burgeoning Dolby Atmos market, Prism Sound has also optimized the Dream ADA-128 for Ginger Audio’s GroundControl Sphere, a professional multichannel audio
routing and control room software. This accepts up to 128 different inputs and outputs from mono to 9.1.6 and is the perfect solution for any surround or immersive audio setup. It can also be used to tackle speaker tuning and room correction using Sphere’s independent level adjustment and delay line - and thanks to its compatibility with AVID EUCON it can be used with any Digital Audio Workstation and AVID control surface.
Metropolis is now looking to upgrade the Prism Sound conversion in its other studios with a phased roll-out of Dream ADA-128 units planned for the future.
“We are already saving a significant amount a year on our electricity bill, and that’s just by replacing the ADA8XRs in one studio,” Bellingham said. “There are so many good reasons for this upgrade – not just power savings. Dream ADA-128 is much easier to use as it can be controlled via a very simple web interface, and once we have all studios running with this Danteenabled, networkable conversion system it will be much easier to move projects around and share resources between studios.”
CODA Audio USA supplied a “stunning audio package” for an installation at the Crown Hill Theatre in Brooklyn, as Headliner recently learned…
Crown Hill Theatre in Brooklyn, New York, officially opened its doors with a red-carpet event in early December 2023. The brainchild of entrepreneur and musician, Peter Tulloch, Crown Hill was created with a vision to enrich the cultural experience of its community through every element of the performing arts. Across its three floors, which include a main event space, studios, co-working spaces and multi-purpose rooms, this remarkable community hub not only hosts public and private events featuring innovative and indemand acts, but offers education and access to technology, helping to foster the next generation of young professionals in the worlds of entertainment, communications, film and media.
As an experienced professional and veteran of the road, Tulloch
understood that to present the venue most effectively for a wide variety of live events, it had to embrace the very best in audio technology. As his plans crystallized, he visited the NAMM show in 2019 where he was introduced to Luke Jenks, the managing director of CODA Audio USA, and felt a good connection:
“My immediate reaction to the CODA technology was just ‘woah, this sounds interesting!’ and I asked my front-of-house engineer Derek Prescod to take a listen,” he says.
“He went along to a demo and also attended the Electric Daisy Carnival where CODA had a system at work. He was just as excited as me. Back in New York, I was telling anyone who’d listen just how great this stuff wasnow they know!”
As the Crown Hill Theatre project was developing during 2022, and the public got an idea of what was coming, demand for the space increased and the scale and profile of the events quickly grew larger. It was apparent that the venue’s capabilities needed to scale with the variety and size of events. Tulloch reached out to both Eastern Stage Productions of New York (ESP), CODA’s North East US dealer, and CODA Audio USA, for their support in expanding the system for a specific run of pre-launch shows which would fully demonstrate what could be achieved in the space. As the dream of the Crown Hill Theatre Project grew, so did CODA Audio’s involvement.
“There’s a great deal of excitement surrounding the development of the Crown Hill Theatre and what it can mean for the wider community,” Jenks adds. “Through Peter’s vision and determination, this story has developed organically to the point where the venue has attracted the attention of a wide constituency of influential players, more by virtue of its authenticity than any disproportionate commercial support. In this way, it very much aligns with our own efforts to establish the CODA Audio brand in the USA. We very much see ourselves as part of an audiophile ‘community’, where we work from a base of engagement and encouragement toward the next generation of audio professionals. Crown Hill is an important space, with a unique mission, and deserves the best sound from the most versatile system possible. We are thrilled to be involved.
“ESP has an extensive inventory of CODA equipment and we worked alongside its skilled team, to design an augmented system able to support the eclectic program,” he continues. “The work carried out at Crown Hill by Bill Danilczyk’s expert team at ESP, who fully understand the quality and versatility of CODA Audio’s next generation technologies, was outstanding, with predictably excellent results that have the community talking.”
Tulloch was impressed: “The guys from ESP did an amazing job and had us ready to go in good time for what turned out to be a hugely successful run,” he remarks. “The ‘Fun With Friends’ event featuring DJ Puffy was a major success, with another date booked immediately for December, and Soul in the Horn were equally keen to return within weeks. The owner of a major festival in Florida saw and heard enough to book a show, so when the grand opening came around, we were completely confident in our capacity to deliver a stunning audio package for the artists and audience alike.”
The last night of the run marked the official opening of the Crown Hill Theatre. Tulloch reflected on a memorable occasion:
“The whole evening was a blast,” he says. “After the ribbon-cutting and the speeches, we had a full ska/jazz big band with 12 horns, DJ sets from DJ Spinna, Soul in the Horn and Frei
Speech, and a six-piece R&B band. The system was on point throughout for what was a really diverse mix of sounds. The fact that the artists who played in the run up to the opening couldn’t wait to come back, says a lot about what they think of the venue and the audio excellence we can offer. CODA Audio was the talk of a number of PA companies and engineers who visited during the last few weeks – the ESP staff seemed to be in constant conversation about the system! There’s no doubt in my mind that its quality and capability has been a significant factor in attracting a large number of amazing bookings for 2024.”
The permanent installation at Crown Hill Theatre is centered on CODA Audio’s ViRAY compact line array (12), with six SCP sensor controlled subs and two SC2 bass extensions. The system is supplemented with two HOPS12i high output point source and four HOPS8, and is driven by three LINUS14 and three LINUS12C DSP amplifiers. Four CUE TWO and four CUE FOUR compact three-way stage monitors complete the install.
No-compromise 9.1.6 immersive audio package from Merging Technologies
Provides 12 analog outputs, 3 headphone outputs, 8 AES/EBU I/O, 8 ADAT I/Oplus 2 Mic/Line inputs with control at your fingertips.
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While Celestion celebrates 100 years in business this year, the manufacturer’s longest-serving staff member also celebrates a milestone anniversary at the company. The embodiment of the brand’s perseverance in a dynamic industry, Dee Potter reflects on 50 years at Celestion.
In 1974, Potter left school at 16 to join her mother on Celestion’s production line. What began as a job turned into a passion, especially as Celestion continued its transition from home hi-fi to transducers for guitar cabinets and pro audio PA systems – what Potter lovingly refers to as “big power.”
Tell us how you got started at Celestion…
In those days, you could leave school early if you had a job. You didn’t have to sit your exams and could go out into the big wide world. On the first day, they put me in hi-fi and public address systems. That’s where I started my training. Then I got a chance to move to the power side: guitar speakers and variations of the G12 type speakers that were used for sound reinforcement then. They were starting up a small unit, a little area doing what we would call heavy power, the heavy, big woofers. I spent a day there and thought, ‘Yep, this is for me!’ It was very much in its infancy. We’d never done anything like that before. Today’s equivalent would be the 18inch (and bigger), pro audio stuff. The original PA (public address) stuff, that was very titchy, tiny stuff. I was doing Derby autos on the hi-fi line, making really tiny diaphragms. The power side was a lot heavier, more robust. I was there when they started the heavy stuff up; it started with me, really. So that was quite good! Somebody must have seen something in me; at 18 they asked me to take over the section to supervise, and I jumped at that. I stayed with that for a few years. Then they needed a supervisor for our smaller power, which was 10-inch, 12-inch, 8-inch speakers. That was around 1984. I have stayed with the power line stuff ever since.
I went to Celestion for three months to work out what I wanted to do. I’ve always joked that I’ve been there 50 years, and I haven’t worked out what I want to do yet! It’s been great. So many changes and so many people going through the company. Early on, Celestion was in a
very, very old building. I mean, the roof leaked and then the drains would leak. If we had torrential rain, we would get wet from the top and from the bottom. The floors were soaked. It wasn’t a very glamorous place to work. It was very old and quite shabby, really. We thought it was hilarious.
What kept you there?
I took over the line, the heavy power side and then I went to take over the mass-produced lines as supervisor. Before that, I used to look after the grille section; we used to cover the cabinets with grilles by hand then. I don’t know if anybody’s told you, but I have a fantastic head for figures. I can tell people which pieces and parts went into a product 20-odd years ago. Employees often come and ask me for numbers today and they’ll say I’m quicker than the computer. Nigel Wood, our managing director, recently said that I need to have my brain flushed out of all my numbers. I just love working there. I love the people I work with.
How would you describe the evolution of your work over the years?
When we began mass producing and the heavy power line in the mid1980s, we weren’t really the preferred customer, if you like – because all the emphasis at the time was on hi-fi and public address speakers. I thought,
“Well, I’m not having that!” So I made sure we always made a profit. We always did a lot of work for Marshall. If the line broke down, I’d move hell and high water to get that all fixed. I’d shout at people and tell them to get down there. I probably didn’t make myself very popular at times, but I got the job done. And then we were just getting busier and busier. I suppose my turning point, being tenacious like I am, was when Iain Elder started as a new manager in the late 1980s. He really supported me because, as I said, all the emphasis was on hi-fi and PA in those days. And power was like the poor relation. Ian supported the power side, and that gave me the drive to make sure that we succeeded. I made sure that we always got the orders out. We were always on time and all that just to try and say, “Hello, power is here!” You know, you’re not going to ignore us. So that’s basically what I carried on doing until I went part-time last November.
Did things get easier for you as business evolved?
It didn’t scare me, because I grew with it. I was there from the beginning. And the bigger that we got, the more I wanted to do. The more I wanted to succeed and make us the best. In a presentation recently, Nigel said some lovely things. He said, “If it wasn’t for what she did all those years ago… she really helped us to become the best in the world.” I was quite humbled.
“I’M LIKE A DOG WITH A BONE. IF ANYBODY WANTS TO TRY AND PUT ME DOWN, THEY’D BETTER BE DAMN WELL PERFECT.”
Did you face challenges?
Yeah. Probably in my early 20s, the local station wanted to interview me, and I will always remember the radio broadcaster said, “You’re a woman in a man’s world. You shouldn’t be doing what you’re doing.” I said, “Well, I’ll be here. So that’s what I’m going to do.” They were quite surprised, I think. I’m like a dog with a bone. If anybody wants to try and put me down, they’d better be damn well perfect. They’re going to get it back. And if I hear anybody putting somebody else down, I won’t have it. I jump in and sort that out. I’m six-foot tall, so most people sort of look up to me anyway! They go away thinking, “I’d better do what she says”. I got the job done. That’s all I was there to do.
You sound like you were born for this job!
I’ll take charge of any situation. It doesn’t matter what I’ve got to do to try and help people. The people that I’ve got working for me, I trained them myself. Two are still with me today after 20 years: Lynn Warren and Mandy Pearson. I trained Lynn and Mandy to take charge of their areas; with my impending retirement coming up I have been training Lynn for the past two years to take charge of the shop floor. She’s very much like me when I was younger. She’s doing a good job. I’ve also re-employed three
people — Berti Cook , Graham Heck, and Mark Allen — so we still have part of the old team together.
If you could go back and give the 16-year-old version of you some insider advice, what would you tell her?
I honestly don’t know. I’ve only ever looked back with fondness. I’ve had no bad experiences. I’ve probably made some bad decisions at some stage, but we all have. I honestly don’t think I would change anything because I think that’s made me, me. Do you know what I mean?
Now that you’re going to retire, what are you going to do with all this time?
I still have my mother, who is 91, and my sister. I’m sure the two of them will keep me busy. I love getting out in the garden, going on holidays, coffee mornings with the girls, ladies-wholunch type things. Give me more time to do that!
How are you going to celebrate your last day?
I’m sure I’ll be a bit sad. I’ll obviously go on that last day, but I probably won’t be there by six that morning. But I will go around and say hi and thanks to everybody, because you’re only as good as the team you have around you. As I said, I’ve always had a fantastic team, and I know they’ll carry it through.
Is there anything else you’d like to add as a parting thought to Celestion?
I’d like to thank everyone at Gold Peak, Celestion and GP Acoustics for all the support. You have made my work life the best time of my life; I’m going to miss you all, and you will always hold a special place in my heart.
With five Grammy awards to his name and client list that includes Alicia Keys, Tom Petty, The Bee Gees, Al Green, Lady Gaga, Tears For Fears, and more, Michael Romanowski is one of the world’s leading mastering engineers. Likewise, his California studio Coast Mastering is one of the industry’s most sought-after facilities. Here, he joins Headliner for a chat about his route into the industry, the rise of AI, and the true art of mastering…
Tell us about your background in music?
I was in Mexico City with Lesley-Ann Jones recently at the Soundcheck Expo playing some files and sound specs. We had just finished working on some cartoon music from early Warner Bros stuff and it sparked a memory for me, as I realized that even as a kid I was aware of the impact music and sound had on the visuals I was watching.
I got into playing music when I was young, and I joined a band in college playing bass. One day we were playing at a local club, and I noticed that there’s somebody behind a desk twisting knobs. That was the first time I realized there was somebody doing
sound for the people onstage. I would ask questions and I kept bugging the guy and eventually he’d let me take over while he was having a break. Then it became, ‘I’m taking the night off, you run it’. And after a while it became, ‘I quit, you’re the house sound man’!
Around the same time, the band was getting into recording. And I realized the recording process - the console, the listening, the miking – shared some similarities. So, I started recording the band, and then other people’s bands… it just came along in that way.
So how did you get into mastering?
I was at a point in my career where I took a little break to drive around the
country for a month on my motorcycle. One day in San Francisco, I found I had a message on my machine from a mastering facility in the Bay Area. They said they were looking for another engineer so would I send a resume? I called up and said, ‘I’m on a motorcycle by myself so I don’t have a resume, but I am in town. I could just swing by’. So, I did. But even at that point, I didn’t know what mastering was. I just knew it was something that needed to be done. Back then it was much more mysterious.
The place was called Rocket Lab, and when I got there, I met Paul Stubblebine and Ken Lee, both fantastic engineers. Paul took me
“WITH AI, WE HAVEN’T GOTTEN INTO THE MINDSET OF WHY ARE WE DOING THIS?”
under his wing and started showing me what mastering really is. I found it fascinating. I hadn’t gone seeking it, I just followed an open door. They offered me a job and now it’s been 30 years.
Is there still a sense of mystery around mastering? And does that lead to a lack of appetite for mastering engineering roles compared to recording or mix engineers?
There are a whole lot of answers, and I am going to get on my soapbox for a minute about the state of the mastering industry. When I got into it, it was definitely considered an art form. You would be an apprentice, working with someone who knew what they were doing, and you’d work with them for years. That’s how I learned. That’s how my heroes learned.
These days, there are some who want to get into it for the right reasons, but some think they just need a plugin or a program and they can become a mastering engineer. They think they can put something on the back of a mix bus and just call it mastered. That isn’t the art form of translatability. It’s not understanding the manufacturer. It’s not understanding distribution. It’s not even understanding what the artist wants.
And AI mastering is the dumbest fucking thing in the world. The whole point of AI is to take a subset or take a set, a learned model, and find an average. And the larger the model, the better the average. And if you are trying to make music average, go AI. Let AI be your mastering tool because you’re going to race to mediocrity. Music lives on the fringes. Art lives on the fringes, pushing the boundaries, trying new things.
Tell us about your approach to mastering?
The technical stuff is things like providing the right master for the right distribution. But there is also the artistic side of it; the 10,000-foot view of how is it, not what is it? And the people who are trying to put plugins on the master bus or whatever, are still thinking about what it is, not how is it. We need to be up here at the 10,000-foot view. Like, this is how this album feels. This is a body of work, not a collection of songs. This is a vibe and a feel and something that needs to get across.
Has the demand for things like AI/plugin mastering solutions been driven by tech or the lack of money being earned by artists today? Or both?
The technology has allowed more people to make records. People
curious about the technology might want to know the process and do as much of it as they can themselves. It’s not unlike cooking. I can go to a shop and buy a really nice set of pans, and I can watch videos and learn how to cook. That doesn’t mean I’m going to open a restaurant. But I can get into the details to figure out how to cook and make a good meal.
And there is the issue of artists not making enough money. Less music is being sold; streamers are paying less. And then they can’t afford to hire people like me, and being a mastering engineer, you’re at the back of the food chain.
With things like AI, what we haven’t really gotten into is the mindset of why are we doing this? If we’re using things like AI for creativity and pushing boundaries, great. Music is a way of communicating emotion from one person to another. The imperfections in that expression are the things that I gravitate toward.
Listening to The Faces, something like that from the ‘70s, there are mistakes all over it. But man, it’s fun. It rocks. They’re having a great time. It conveys something. It feels great. It doesn’t have to be perfect. If you autotune Chet Baker, he wouldn’t have been Chet Baker. I somewhat long for the days of imperfection.
Tell us about your relationship with Merging Technologies.
With early workstations there were definitive sounds. You could go, ‘that’s Nuendo, that’s Pro Tools, that’s Pyramix, that’s Sonic Solutions’. And Pyramix sounded great from early on. And it’s the same with the hardware. The converters were always really great sounding. They were the first as a system to be able to do DSD, you could edit natively without having to convert.
What we want in the mastering world is things that are as transparent as possible. I don’t need my equipment to color the sound. I want to color it myself. I don’t want the math involved in the bus structure of a workstation to affect the sound. It’s one of the things I found about Merging stuff right away. It’s super clean. What you put in is what you got out. When making these decisions about how some of these masters are going to translate, I don’t want it sugar-coated. I need it honest. And that’s what Merging always was and always is.
I’m currently using two Anubis. I have two rooms tied together and I’m using two of the Hapis with 16 channels of mic pre and D to A on each one. And then two Anubis’ are running the system. I also have one Neumann MT48. I was
really happy to see that Neumann bought Merging. Merging has a great product line, and Neumann has a great history of working with clients, and putting the two together was really great and advantageous.
So, I have the Hapi and the Anubis in both rooms, and my Pyramix system is hooked up as a source to the Anubis. It’s a good brain. It allows me to hear, especially in the immersive world, different headphone mixes, where I can listen to the binaural versus the stereo very easily. The converters sound fantastic.
And as a portable unit the Anubis is great for doing field recordings, stuff like that. You can toss it in a bag with a laptop and make some excellent recordings. So yeah, kudos to them and their hardware!
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Alex Haralson heads up Sono Locus, a leading location sound company in Knoxville, a city that looms large in cable and reality TV due in part to the legacy of Scripps, the once-parent company of such channels as HGTV, Food Network and The Travel Channel. This year, Knoxville earned sixth place in the USA on Moviemaker magazine’s list of best places to live and work in production. His recent work includes the competition series Master Distiller and films Secret City and A Hard Problem. From high-profile productions such as these to a never-ending flow of documentaries, commercial and corporate work, he explains how he has trusted his wireless needs to Lectrosonics for over 25 years.
In particular, SRc and DCR822 receivers accompanied by SMDWB and HMa transmitters, plus SMV and SMQV transmitters feeding R1b body packs for communications.
“When I rebuilt my system a few years ago, I landed on the SRc in particular because for a lot of the projects I was working on, my gear had to be compatible with other mixers’ packages and other wireless gear manufacturers,” Haralson explains. “I knew that on the road, I would run into Lectrosonics more often than not.”
Haralson’s relationship with Lectrosonics far predates the SRc, however. “When I got my first job for Gannett at the local NBC affiliate, the wireless setups in the studio were Lectrosonics,” he recalls. “For anyone who had to move around the studio, we had the UCR211 [receivers]. When I moved over to Scripps, each field package had a couple of Lectro UHF packages with an older VHF system as a backup. So yeah, I’ve been with them a while!”
Between radio carrier frequencies being directional by nature and the surprises reality TV can throw at any
“THE WHISPERS SOUNDED LIKE WHISPERS, THE SHOUTS WERE SHOUTS, AND POST WAS HAPPY WITH ALL OF IT.”
production, Haralson is grateful for Lectrosonics’ reception and range.
“I worked on a barbecue show a couple of years ago,” he says. “Sometimes we would be set up on this large field and one of the
pitmasters would be clear on the other side. We’d pop an antenna mast up and depending on how far away they were, up the transmitter to 100 milliwatts output. We got great range and coverage.”
“YOU CAN SEE THE DISTILLERS DRIPPING WITH SWEAT; THE SMWB AND SMDWB JUST KEEP ON TRUCKIN’!”
Productions don’t need to be outdoors to draw on these same strengths. “Master Distiller on Discovery is a competitive reality show, sort of like Chopped but for making spirits,” he explains.
“On Master Distiller, our bags contained the newer Lectro DCR822 receivers. We were shooting in a converted warehouse, basically a big metal box, so RF bounced around. We had two identical sets side by side as we worked on multiple shows at the same time. Range and coverage were a concern there.
“I set two of the diversity fins up – one outside each stage – and ran cables back to our mix station between the two. The farther away of those two stages involved a 75-foot cable run and inline amps. Then I had a mast we’d pop outside the back door, which also used a 75-foot run and amps –for shooting on the outdoor set.
“The studio could get hot, with southern summers and the stills
running on propane,” he points out. “We shot season 2 in a barrel house that wasn’t climate controlled, because part of the process of aging whiskey is that seasonal temperature changes draw the liquid in and out of the wood to create the flavor profile. In the summer, you can just see the distillers dripping with sweat. So, I love that the SMWB and SMDWB are well sealed against this kind of thing. They just keep on truckin’!
Meanwhile, on Secret City, a short about the Manhattan Project, the need for dynamic range in tight interiors called for nimble – meaning wireless – boom work.
“I use HMa transmitters for wireless booms,” says Haralson. “My boom operator gets very good sound this way. There were moments in Secret City with some pretty quiet lines, but with this setup, we got them perfectly cleanly — the whispers sounded like whispers, the shouts were shouts, and post was happy with all of it,” he smiles.
Dynamic response that rivals a cabled microphone is just one of the sonic virtues Haralson attributes to Lectrosonics’ across-the-board devotion to sound quality, which he sums up as follows:
“All wireless has to fit a wider dynamic range down a narrow pipeline, and in many of the cheaper systems you can hear the pumping effect of companding. Lectrosonics is transparent and frequency response is also excellent,” he adds. “The microphone itself is the most important part of any signal chain, so the idea is that wireless transmission doesn’t take away any information you started with. Lectrosonics performs very well here. Start with a good mic, and Lectro is not going to chew it up.”
Gerdon Design gave Mayday a new look with the video-capable hybrid strobe from GLP, including a premiere for the FUSION Creos, as Headliner recently discovered…
This year, Mayday – known as ‘the mother of all raves’ – once again offered around 20,000 techno enthusiasts the rare opportunity to dance for 12 hours straight in Dortmund’s Westfalenhalle, among the who’s who of the international techno scene.
The four large Mayday dancefloors have always been impressive, with their spectacular stage constructions, huge LED surfaces and lighting technology finesse. This year, the Gerdon Design team created a completely new highlight: deploying a total of 102 of the brand new videocapable JDC2 IP hybrid strobes from GLP. These characterized the look of this year’s event, which carried the slogan ‘United’.
Every year the design team, led by lighting and content designer Marek Papke from Gerdon Design, is faced with the task of giving the EDM event a new look that, on the one hand, retains familiar style elements such as the Mayday rocket, but on the other hand constantly features new lighting and video technical design ideas.
“With the JDC2 IP this year we had the opportunity to give the event a powerful and at the same time extremely versatile new look,” confirms Gerdon Design founder and managing director, Thomas Gerdon.
Papke designed 72 GLP JDC2 IP into the stage area. Behind the DJ position were six 8 x 2-meter LED strips, next to which were MLT trusses equipped with eight JDC2 IP. In this configuration, the devices expanded the video content of the LED surfaces, with content transmitted via NDI stream.
“THE DEVICES GAVE MAYDAY A NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN FUTURISTIC LOOK THAT IMPRESSED EVERYONE INVOLVED.”
In addition, another 12 JDC2 IPs were placed on a truss at the front of the stage, which were mirrored by a further 12 devices positioned at the front edge of the stage. All 72 JDC2 IP installed in the stage area were integrated into the NDIbased pixel mapping and, together with the large LED areas, formed an overwhelming overall picture whenever played out simultaneously.
“The ability to easily add video content to the new JDC2 IP via NDI is really a huge advantage,” says Papke. “NDI is now a standard format for event productions. Any media server, even a laptop, can output it. An NDI stream can be set up in just a few minutes. The advantage over previous solutions is clearly that this intuitive way allows a large system to be set up quickly, allowing for fantastic, large looks. In the case of Mayday, a media server simply outputs a full-screen image via
NDI stream, with the JDC2 IP included in the feed. In terms of workflow simplicity, this is definitely a game changer in pixel mapping approach.”
In contrast, the remaining 30 devices endemic to the floor design functioned only as strobe and washlight. This year, the trusses above the dancefloor replicated the event’s well-known rocket logo. Here the JDC2 IP provided the necessary raw power to bathe the entire dance floor in blindingly bright light or strong colors.
“The JDC2 IP’s strobe output is, as expected, heavy and powerful,” says the lighting designer. “I expected nothing less from the successor to the JDC1. In fact, the JDC2 IP kills three birds with one stone: Wash and strobe are still combined in one device, plus the pixel mapping options and the graphic effects of DigiFX, which are always cool.”
Furthermore, the programming of the new hybrid devices was also straightforward, as Papke emphasizes: “The programming team were very happy with the JDC2 IP. We worked closely with GLP product manager Michael Feldmann, who supported us well. We also played extensively with the GLP DigiFX integrated into the device and saved many effects for Mayday. This makes it very easy to generate very strong looks.
“It was a great pleasure to be able to use this new 3-in-1 fixture in large numbers for the first time, at such
a traditional event as Mayday. The JDC2 IP actually offers a number of great new possibilities for expanding fragmented content beyond the LED surfaces and thus pushing the boundaries of creative design. Not only did the devices run smoothly, they gave Mayday a never-before-seen futuristic look that impressed everyone involved, without exception.”
The new Creos from FUSION by GLP also made a strong appearance at Mayday in smaller quantities. 16 of the new LED washlights were positioned in a row behind the DJ booth. The word
‘row’ doesn’t really do justice to the FUSION Creos, because with 18 x 40W RGBL LEDs in three rows of six pixels, several devices next to each other look more like an oversized LED bar. This equipped the DJ position with ultrastrong beam looks, with light curtains of a quality that have never been seen before, providing them with a lot of visual space.
GLP.DE
