Audio Media May 2014

No. 282 z May 2014

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In the Studio With Steve Levine Inside the Brit and Grammy award-winning producer’s new Liverpool lair p22

IN THIS ISSUE NOAH

Geoff Foster on the first Dolby Atmosspecific music mix

LIVE

p10

POWERPLAY

SOUND

Behind the scenes on the latest Broken Bells tour

p20

What’s new at the recently refurbished Swiss studio

TECH

p28

FOCUS

A look at the current studio microphone offering

p32

WELCOME

Meet the team Editor – Jory MacKay jory.mackay@intentmedia.co.uk

“Ten months ago when I joined Audio Media I spoke about refurbishment and refreshment, and since then we have striven to do just that with every issue.”

Deputy Editor – Jake Young jake.young@intentmedia.co.uk Managing Editor – Jo Ruddock jo.ruddock@intentmedia.co.uk Commercial Director – Darrell Carter darrell.carter@intentmedia.co.uk Group Head of Design & Production – Adam Butler adam.butler@intentmedia.co.uk Production Executive – Jason Dowie jason.dowie@intentmedia.co.uk Designer – Jat Garcha jat.garcha@intentmedia.co.uk Managing Director – Mark Burton Press releases to: pressreleases@intentmedia.co.uk

© Intent Media 2014. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without prior permission of the copyright owners.

Audio Media is published by Intent Media London, 1st Floor, Suncourt House, 18-26 Essex Road, London N1 8LN, England.

Editorial tel: +44 (0)20 7354 6002 Sales tel: +44 (0)20 7354 6000 Audio Media ISSN number: ISSN 0960-7471 (Print) Circulation & Subscription enquiries Tel: +44 (0)20 7354 6001 email: audiomedia.subscriptions@c-cms.com Printed by Stephen & George, Wales

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S

ince moving to London almost two years ago there are a few things about English culture that have slowly seeped into my life: I can now drink a pint of warm, flat ale without spitting it all over the place, I’ve come to terms with the fact that a ‘pie’ does not necessarily have to be a sweet pastry filled with some type of fruit, and I now bring up the weather at every available opportunity.

With those confessions out of the way, let’s talk about the weather (it is Spring, after all).

Over the past few months the temperature has slowly crept higher, the sun has begun to peak through the grey canopy of clouds that seems to always hang over the UK’s capital, and signs of Spring and maybe even Summer are starting to make themselves known. It’s a time of change and rebirth.

Ten months ago when I joined Audio Media I spoke about refurbishment and refreshment, and since then we have striven to do just that with every issue, finessing the editorial focus of the magazine while constantly working to make it easier, more informative, and more enjoyable to read. I’ve never been one to relax in contentment and this month is no different.

Beyond the immediately apparent change in design we’ve included a number of great features this month focusing on the varied sectors of pro audio:

On the topic of refreshment, we sat down with renowned producer Steve Levine to talk about moving his studio to Liverpool, the importance of industry groups like the MPG, and, of course, his work with Culture Club. Steve has constantly been at the forefront of recording technology, embracing the latest and greatest kit as it comes out, and I’m incredibly pleased to be able to feature him this month.

In the broadcast sector, video is going through a major change with the adoption of 4K, but what about audio? We talked to BBC R&D media technologist Tony Churnside to find out what might be next for broadcast audio (in case you’re wondering, no, it isn’t Dolby Atmos in your living room).

We also spoke with the people behind the newly refurbished Powerplay Studios in Switzerland and picked the brain of chief engineer Reto Muggli about working with Wu-Tang Clan, Xzibit, and Prince. This month we even got a few minutes with one man who is constantly trying to redefine and refresh the pro-audio sector – Steven Slate.

All in all it has been one hell of a month and I hope you enjoy reading this issue as much as we enjoyed putting it together.

Jory MacKay, Editor

May 2014 03

CONTENTS TECHNOLOGY NEWS

FEATURE

Consoles from Fairlight, SSL, DiGiCo ........... 6 Cedar Audio reveals Studio 6 .......................8 Sennheiser supports Dante ..........................9

Jake Young explores the recently reinvigorated Powerplay Studios near Zurich p28

INDUSTRY NEWS Geoff Foster on mixing music in Dolby Atmos ..................................................... 10 BMC Show review ........................................12 MPG introduces BWAV initiative ................13

FEATURES Live and Loud ............................................... 20 Jory MacKay speaks with veteran FOH engineer Dave McDonald during his recent tour with Broken Bells Steve Levine .................................................. 22 Thirty years since his work with Culture Club put him on the map Jim Evans sits down with the producer and MPG boss Bioshock Infinite .......................................... 26 John Broomhall speaks with the BAFTA-winning sound and music teams behind the latest Bioshock title In the Studio with Reto Muggli ................ 30 Powerplay’s chief engineer runs us through his studio tricks and techniques

TECHNOLOGY

32 Pa ge

Pa ge

REVIEWS: Featured: Prism Sound Lyra 2 & Titan ..... 38 Schoeps V4 ....................................................40 Genelec 8010 ................................................ 42 Moog Analog Delay and Ladder ...............44 Exponential Audio R2 and PhoneixVerb ................................................. 45

22

FOCUS: Studio Microphones .................................... 32

ALSO INSIDE SHOW REVIEWS: NAB & PLASA Focus ..... 14 GEO FOCUS: France..................................... 16 BROADCAST FOCUS: Next-gen audio .... 18 INTERVIEW: Steven Slate ...........................46

ADVERTISERSINDEX Audio-Technica Blue Microphones DiGiCo DPA Microphones Dynaudio Professional Earthworks Genelec IBC 04 May 2014

35 48 2 25 19 24 5 43

IT Broadcast Workflow Mogami Presonus Prism Sound Pro Sound Awards Radial Engineering Richmond Film Services RØDE Microphones

33 8 27 9 41 47 39 37

Sennheiser Stagetec Studioking TC Electronic Universal Audio Zaxcom

7 11 21 3 13 29

www.audiomedia.com

NEW

TECHNOLOGY NEWS

AT N A

Fairlight Launches EVO.Live

Sound Devices Introduces the 970

At NAB 2014, Fairlight introduced its latest console, EVO.Live – a new generation digital audio mixing system for on-air and live productions.

The mixing console’s compact, modular design is said to be ideal for OB trucks, performing arts venues, house of worship, and broadcast facilities. It is available in different chassis or table-mount configurations from 12 to 60 faders. The ergonomic control surface design with touch TFT monitors offers immediate access to all critical live functions with detailed visualisation. The system maintains full redundancy with automatic takeover on any component failure.

Fairlight’s interactive control surface includes Picture Keys, which self-label instantly for each task performed, displaying the right commands and functions at the right time. In addition,

Making its debut at this year’s NAB Show was Sound Devices’ 970, the company’s first audio-only rackmountable recorder boasting 64 channels of Dante and MADI. The half-rack, 2U device is designed to simplify applications requiring highquality, high-track count audio recording, such as drama and reality production, and live concert recording.

The 970 records 64 channels of monophonic or polyphonic 24-bit WAV files from any of its 144 inputs. Inputs available include 64 channels of Ethernet-based Dante, 64 channels of optical or coaxial MADI, eight channels of line-level analogue, and eight channels of AES digital. Any input can be assigned to any track. In addition, 32-track recording at 96kHz is supported. www.sounddevices.com

Fairlight’s new iCan (Integrated Control Across Network) technology provides the operator with an easy-to-use editor to design fully customised layouts.

The console incorporates complete DualOperator functionality allowing each audio engineer to independently access their own set of faders, solos, channel selections, and monitoring controls.

Audio processing takes place in Fairlight’s FPGA-based Crystal Core audio engine ensuring very high channel and bus counts. www.fairlight.com.au

New RTW Masterclass Plug-ins

Riedel Enhances MediorNet Riedel Communications showcased the new functionality enabled by its MediorNet 2.0 update at the 2014 NAB Show. Benefits include full video router functionality, interoperability with Studer consoles, EMBER+ implementation, and extended integration of the ProBel protocol.

“MediorNet 2.0 gives MediorNet users a flexible, easy-to-operate alternative to conventional video routers,” said Karsten Schragmann, product manager at Riedel Communications. “By incorporating tremendous routing capabilities right into the MediorNet frame, this firmware update enables users to lower their operations costs while reducing the volume and complexity of cabling required for audio and video signal transport.”

The MediorNet 2.0 update includes video router functionality with switching delays of less than 40 milliseconds, as well as highspeed rerouting that allows as many as 1,000

connections to be rerouted in less than a second. The firmware update also supports more than 65,000 ProBel crosspoints.

MediorNet 2.0 introduces Studer A-Link compatibility, which enables the MediorNet Modular frame to act as a decentralised audio router with a matrix size larger than 25,000² and fully redundant interfaces. At the same time, MediorNet fully supports EMBER+ for integration with other common control systems, such as VSM and KSC Commander. www.riedel.net

Debuted at the NAB Show in Las Vegas was RTW’s new Masterclass Plug-in series, which provides the company’s metering tools in standard formats for Windows and Mac OS. Scheduled for availability in May, the RTW Loudness Tools will be the first of the company’s monitoring products available as part of the range.

Each RTW Loudness Tools Masterclass plugin visually depicts audio with all relevant level and loudness values as specified by international standards.

It conforms to the EBU R128 loudness standard, as well as

SPL, ITU-R BS.17703/1771-1, ATSC A/85, ARIB, and custom (to set OP-59, AGCOM)).

The RTW Loudness Tools support all standard sampling rates up to 96kHz and offer plug-in operation in mono, stereo, and surround formats (eight channels maximum). The plug-in includes RTW’s Peak Program Meter, TruePeak, and Spot Correlator instruments. www.rtw.com

Trio of Loudness Meter Plug-ins from TC TC Electronic announced three new loudness meter plug-ins for audio and video editing systems at NAB. The LM2n and LM6n meters offer new features plus Radar View, while the LM1n plug-in provides the basics in loudness metering while only creating a small footprint on the screen.

06 May 2014

All three support the major plug-in formats, including AAX, VST, and Audio Units, and offer faster than real time off-line measuring in Pro Tools.

They comply with all major broadcast standards, including BS.1770, A/85, R128, TR-B32, and OP-59, and will remain compliant via updates whenever

revisions of these standards are released.

For large facilities, TC Electronic offers LM1n, LM2n, and LM6n in a bulk version that allows installation of a large number of meters on Macs and PCs, with no need for iLok USB keys or licences stored on individual computers. www.tcelectronic.com www.audiomedia.com

B

New

TECHNOLOGY NEWS

Cedar Audio Launches Studio 6 Cedar Audio has announced Studio 6, which is both AAX Native and VST compatible and includes a number of new processes for improving sound quality.

New for Studio 6 is Auto Dehiss, an advanced algorithm that enables the software to determine the broadband noise content and remove it without the introduction of unwanted side-effects or artefacts. A manual mode is also offered

for fine-tuning results.

Also new is Declick, an impulsive noise detection and interpolator, as well as Decrackle. The latter is

based on the technology that underpinned the Cedar CR-1 and is able to dig into a damaged signal to identify and remove ground-in and grungy crackle without damaging the wanted audio.

It also removes many forms of buzz and some amplitude distortions from material as diverse as cylinder recordings and current broadcasts contaminated with lighting buzz. www.cedaraudio.com

Hapi on the Merging Stand The Hapi small-format networked audio interface, Merging Technologies’ latest product, was demonstrated at NAB. Hapi provides the same Ravenna/AES67 connectivity as Horus, and can act as the perfect primary interface for smaller systems as well as an accessary for a system using

08 May 2014

Horus where control room I/O is required. www.merging.com

at N A

New SSL Broadcast Consoles Solid State Logic launched its C100 HD PLUS and C10 HD PLUS digital broadcast consoles in Las Vegas. The new PLUS versions of the C100 and C10 consoles bring together new features and SSL Production Assistant software to offer users a powerful and flexible system.

The C100 HD PLUS large-format console is designed to offer a complete production solution for news and sports in a single standard high-power configuration. The new standard processing configuration at the heart of the console delivers more processing than ever before in an SSL broadcast console. Redundant Blackrock processor cards in a compact 2U rack process 588 audio mix paths, with 256 channels of six-band EQ, and 284 channels of dynamics with 512 channels of integrated MADI I/O. With frame sizes from 16 to 48 faders, the self-contained fan-less C10 HD PLUS console can be built into vans for ENG operations, specified for network scale sports productions, or is said to be ideal for all-round production demands in mid-scale broadcast facilities. www.solidstatelogic.com

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B

NEW

B A N AT

TECHNOLOGY NEWS

Sennheiser Supports Dante

Sennheiser has announced support of the Dante networking standard.

“By joining this standard, we will be able to optimally cater to our customers in the broadcasting and live sound worlds,” said Claus Menke, head of portfolio management pro for Sennheiser’s Professional Division (pictured).

“We see the digital distribution of audio and control signals becoming more and more widespread in all areas of production.”

The first product to make use of the networking technology will be the company’s Digital 9000

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wireless mic system, with a Dante-enabled expansion card for the receiver launching in summer 2014.

Lee Ellison, CEO of Audinate, said: “The Sennheiser Digital 9000 microphone receiver combined with Dante networking further enriches the suite of Dante products available for audio over IP networks in broadcast, live sound, theatre, and professional audio markets.”

Sennheiser signed the Dante License Agreement at the end of March. In 2013, it signed the Ravenna Partnership Agreement with ALC NetworX. The company has also been a member of the AVnu Alliance since 2010. www.sennheiser.com www.audinate.com

Digital Secure Wireless from Lectrosonics

Lectrosonics has introduced the new Digital Secure Wireless system, which features AES-256-CTR (Advanced Encryption Standard) encryption technology for use in environments where privacy is paramount, such as in theatres, touring, and film making.

The system consists of the DR digital wireless receiver frame, the individual DRM digital receiver modules, and the DB digital wireless beltpack transmitter.

The system is slated to be available in Q3 2014. www.lectrosonics.com

DiGiCo Adds Broadcast-specific Features to SD Consoles

At last year’s NAB, DiGiCo revealed its broadcast-specific SD9B console and building on that momentum has continued to push into the broadcast market. Recently, companies such as NEP and Sure Shot have relied on DiGiCo’s products for events including the Winter Olympics in Sochi.

At this year’s show, DiGiCo presented more broadcast-specific features for its SD range. This includes eight additional Flexi busses for the SD9 and eight Flexi channels for the SD11i and SD11B; support for Optocore DD2, DD4, and X6 R-series

interfaces; Post Fade insert for support of the new Waves Dugan plug-in; the ability to bring AES output into the matrix; and the availability of aux sends on sub-groups on live software.

On show were the top-ofthe-line SD7B; the SD10B (featuring multichannel ‘folding’ under a single fader, among other features); the new SD9B, which adds surround capabilities to the standard SD9 ‘live’ system; the compact and powerful SD11B; and the newest addition to the range, the SD5B. www.digico.biz

May 2014 09

INDUSTRY NEWS

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POST PRODUCTION

EVENT

Dolby Atmos for Noah Music Mix

InstallAwards Finalists named

We

y

Grammy award-winning engineer Geoff Foster recently completed the first-ever Dolby Atmos-specific music mix for Darren Aronofsky’s biblical epic Noah with the mix of the 60-piece triple tracked orchestra taking place at the Manhattan Music Centre’s Log Cabin studio. Audio Media chatted with the man himself about the challenges and rewards of bringing Atmos to the world of film music.

First off, tell me how you got involved in the project.

Clint Mansell [composer for Noah] and I have worked together for a good 10 years now and we’ve done most of Aronofsky’s films together, so when this one came up I got the call.

What were the main challenges of doing a music mix in Atmos?

The most obvious thing is that there’s not yet an established ‘here’s how you do it’ kind of thing. Because Atmos can be up to 60-odd speakers, we had to find a way to hang a meaningful number of speakers above the console.

I had the guys from Dolby come in and I’ve been to see a few Atmos demos in London and New York with a view to working out what it might entail and how the algorithm works.

Having established a mechanism for hanging the speakers above the console, it was then a matter of voicing them to make sure they were at a suitable volume and would translate to an Atmos system.

What did you end up using for your monitoring system?

I ended up getting some Unity Audio Rocks and suspending them because they are self-powered, I like the way 10 May 2014

they sound, and they’re relatively small and light so it wasn’t a huge drama coming up with a way to actually hang them above me.

So how did you end up utilising Atmos during the actual mix process?

One of the things that I was very aware of was that a lot of theatres don’t yet have Dolby Atmos so we had to come up with a way of either folding it down into a 5.1 in a way that didn’t upset the balance too much, or making sure anything that went up into Atmos was not crucial if it did get lost when it was folded down. We spent a couple of days just mucking about with volumes and trying different levels and listening to it in surround and then stereo and just generally trying to find a relationship between the Atmos and what I was doing that made a valid working compromise between all the working formats. We settled on basically a 10dB fold down front back and into the surrounds which actually worked really well so the material that went up there was generally more ambience and then we did a few special effects for special moments.

Were there any concerns with ďŹ tting the music with sound effects or dialogue?

After the first few mixes I went down to the dubbing stage, which had been specifically constructed for this project at Deluxe in New York, to listen with the music mixer Skip [Livesay].

We mucked around with positioning and what sounded closest to what I thought it should sound like. Having done that they were then able to weave

that into the sound effects.

One of the things about Atmos is that it assumes each element can be panned around and that panning information is included in the Atmos metadata whereas what I actually did was I said ‘right, that front left Atmos will always be front left Atmos’, so any clever panning I did, as you would in a stereo environment, within my four Atmos channels. With Dolby Atmos itself, in theory, the sound effects move in their own right and the software pans them when you get to the theatre.

I said ‘you know what, let’s assume my speakers are fixed and there will always be at least four and we will work a relationship around that’ and that worked very well.

I think music and sound effects are very different in that sound effects tend to be very short term – they are very see-it-hear-it. You rarely get a sound effect that lasts 4:30, but you do quite often get music that lasts that long.

That difference makes sense to me to just say pan it here and leave it here.

Were there any other special considerations you had to address?

[During recording] we hung specific mics way, way above the orchestra, far higher than one would normally hang them with the sole purpose of them being atmosphere mics. Darren had said from the start that he wanted this to be an Atmos music mix.

I wanted to present something to the dubbing stage that I felt was another notch up from what most other scores are and I think we did a fantastic job. Certainly when I heard the score in Atmos it sounded very special.

Audio companies are well represented across all six categories at the inaugural InstallAwards, to be held on 12 June at the Hilton London Wembley.

Meyer Sound and RenkusHeinz are both up for best project in the Sports/ Performing Arts category, for the The Golden Hall, Musikverein and De Grote Post, respectively, while Sennheiser is the sole representative in the Public Display/Retail section for its involvement in the David Bowie Is exhibition at London’s V&A. Meyer Sound is shortlisted once again in the Education category for its work on The Louisiana Digital Media Center at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. The manufacturer is up against Stage Electrics’ Guildhall School of Music & Drama project and Biamp’s Purdue University installation, among others.

Lawo’s involvement in the National Public Radio’s new production centre in Washington, DC has been shortlisted for Best Project in the Corporate/Industrial sector, while Stealth Acoustics and Waterfall are up for the Star Product Award in the Residential category. www.installawards.com Tickets for the awards are available, priced £199 (or £1,795 for a table of 10). The ticket price includes pre-dinner drinks reception, entry to the awards, a three-course meal, entry to the afterparty, and much more.

Contact sara.mather@ intentmedia.co.uk for more details www.audiomedia.com

INDUSTRY NEWS RECORDING

EVENT

Heard Around Town

Develop Conference Announces Audio Track

In a new monthly column we run through some of the latest happenings from studios around the world. Want your studio featured? Send your news to jory.mackay@ intentmedia.co.uk.

It’s been a busy start to the year at London’s Snap Studios with clients including Rich Cooper producing and mixing Lucy Rose’s new album, Jerry Boys producing tracks with Boris Grebenschikov, and Twilight Circus mixing with Arcade Fire, Jimmy Somerville, and producer Andy Green.

On the equipment front, Marco Pasquariello, studio manager, said: “We’ve got a lovely new (old) VF14 Telefunken U47 – as once used to record the great Miles Davis, a BBC/Marconi AXBT 1940’s ribbon mic, original Mellotron, Yamaha CS80, and a pair of original Decca limiters. There’s also a beautiful Studer A827 multi-track tape recorder with 24 or 16 track heads – a gem!”

“The most exciting session I’ve had recently has been one with the Swedish progressive rock band The Flower Kings,” reported Sweden-based Fenix Recording owner/producer Lars Hallback.

“They are extremely talented musicians and they rented the studio for nine days without any pre-written material bar a few ‘sketches’. And when they were finished they had enough recorded material to release a double CD. “We added the B&W 800 monitors, some new instruments, the Tama Japanese handmade Star kit, and changed our Grand Piano to the new Yamaha C7x, with Disklavier so we can, for example, record fusion or jazz bands when everyone is in the same room without leakage.”

The score to Respawn Entertainment’s Titanfall was composed by Stephen Barton and recorded by Abbey Road’s Jonathan Allen in Studio One and Studio Two. In the game players choose between two factions; this was reflected in the recording process, as Barton explains: “Studio One lent its warmth, richness and larger-than-life sound to the music for the Interstellar Mining Corporation, and the unmistakable clarity and depth of Studio Two brings a grittier, organic texture to the Militia sound.”

Jimi Wheelwright is now looking after the recording studios at Brighton Electric and reports: “We had The Cure in the studio in preparation for their Teenage Cancer Trust show at the Royal Albert Hall and over the last month we have had some other fantastic clients – Royal Blood, The Acid, and Marika Hackman to name a few.”

“Gear-wise, our engineers trialled a couple of new Shoeps V4 microphones recently, which sounded very nice. We have also restored our 3314a desk compressors and re-valved our LA2A, other than that we are rocking the usual gear.”

Eastlake Audio MD David Hawkins reported: “The two recent projects which have kept us busy were in the first case, helping Andreas Georgallis the Cypriot musician and songwriter move his formerly Cyprus-based recording and dubbing complex City Studios to a new Athens location which retains the same City Studios trading name.

“Eastlake has completed designs for an independent FM radio station and music recording facility in one of the (few) Gulf states that the studio designer and constructor has – until now – not yet worked in. Construction is planned to commence in late May for inauguration in late August.”

The Develop conference returns to Brighton on 8-10 July, providing a forum for the exposition and discussion of all matters relating to the development of videogames – from creative and technical issues through to business affairs; more than 1,600 developers are expected to attend.

Featuring key industry figures, Develop stages dozens of conference sessions via a series of themed ‘tracks’ including the one-day audio track on 10 July, which will appeal to anyone interested in the music, sound, dialogue and audio technology of videogames.

Hosted by regular Audio Media contributor and Bafta awards chair John Broomhall, this year’s audio offering will cover a wide range of content from console game production and indie game development to mobile/tablet audio.

www.audiomedia.com

Sessions include ‘Tearaway: Penny Drops and Paper Cuts’, ‘Total Immersion: Music and Sound in The Chinese Room’, and ‘AAA Audio Attitude for Tablet and Mobile’.

Event director, Andy Lane, told Audio Media: “The sound and music components of today’s videogames are a vitally important part of the entertainment experience. Our delegates can expect to sit back and absorb the collective wisdom of a diverse range of top game audio talent once again this year – as well as enjoy networking with the industry at large, right beside the seaside in buzzing Brighton.” www.developconference.com

May 2014 11

INDUSTRY NEWS POST PRODUCTION

From the Cutting Room In a new monthly column we run down the latest work, appointments, and upgrades in the world of audio post production. Want your news featured here? Send any relevant information to jory.mackay@intentmedia.co.uk.

Scotland-based Savalas Sound recently completed the final mix and Foley for the second series of BBC Scotland/ ITV Studios’ crime drama Shetland, which involved six days touring the remote islands recording environment and the local dialect.

In New York, Oscar-winner Skip Livesay and Craig Henighan completed the mixing of Darren Aronofsky’s epic feature Noah, taking advantage of Deluxe’s new Dolby Atmos stage at 435 Hudson Street. The film also included the first Dolby Atmos-specific music mix by Geoff Foster at the Manhattan Music Centre’s Log Cabin Studio.

On the other coast, Todd-Soundelux has been keeping busy and has added to its creative team. The company has just announced the appointment of supervising sound editor/re-recording mixer Joe Dzuban and supervising sound editor/designer Darren ‘Sunny’ Warkentin. Recent work includes TV shows such as AMC’s Turn and Halt and Catch Fire, TNT’s Murder in the First, and Starz’ new series Black Sails (produced by Michael Bay).

In London it has been a busy month for award-winning sound design studio Jungle. Chris Turner completed the mix on the new L’Oréal Paris Feria campaign featuring Cheryl Cole; Culum Simpson worked on a viral spot for sustainable childrenswear brand The Fableist; and the team mixed audio for the CollectPlus ad created by the newly formed agency Dawson Pickering.

Pinewood Studios Group has recently upgraded all its Avid Pro Tools systems to the new HDX Platform. All post-production facilities at both Pinewood and Shepperton Studios are now fully equipped for HDX including both of the Dolby Atmos mixing theatres. The Powell and Korda theatres are currently the only Atmos mixing theatres in the UK, and were recently used for BBC Earth Film’s up and coming Enchanted Kingdom.

Speaking of Atmos, Elstree-based Point1Post is getting ready to unveil its new Dolby Atmos mixing stage this month. Watch this space for more information.

EVENT

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EVENT

Industry Supports Inaugural Brighton Music Conference

The first ever Brighton Music Conference (BMC) took place last month drawing more than 5,000 visitors to the Brighton Dome and various venues around the city. Hailed as ‘the UK’s answer to the Miami Winter Music Conference’, the two-day event featured an expo, masterclasses, Q&As, and a conference focusing on the business of the music industry.

“The show was pretty good and had impressive attendance considering it was a brand new event,” commented Polar Audio marketing manager Max Shuter. “It seemed to be very well received by both punters and exhibitors so we were glad to be a part of it.”

A few manufacturers used the show as an opportunity to debut products to the UK audience with Funktion One demoing the new PSM318 DJ monitor and Roland showing off its entire AIRA line including the new System 1. Other exhibitors included Ableton, PMC Speakers, and SCV Distribution.

During the show a number of masterclasses and Q&As took place on the exhibition floor

UMG Demos HD Audio at Metropolis At an event held at London’s Metropolis Studios Universal Music Group (UMG) showcased its new physical HD Blu-ray audio format, High Fidelity Pure Audio.

UMG chose Elton John’s Yellow Brick Road to show off the technology, inviting a select group of listeners to experience the brand new remaster delivered in stereo and 5.1. Other playbacks also included classic tracks from The Rolling Stones, Sam Cooke, and more.

During the event, Metropolis mastering engineer Mazen Murad (pictured) also gave technical insight into the functionality

12 May 2014

including a talk from Funktion One founder Tony Andrews titled ‘The Importance of Audio Quality’. During the talk, Andrews argued that the general quality of audio, from live to in the studio, has decreased in the past decade with the biggest culprits including digital standards such as AES and overreliance on EQ and effects.

“It’s not about how many effects, it’s about fundamentals,” he said. “The rule for good audio has always been to have a minimum [amount of effects] as possible. Less is definitely more. Audio is a very fragile thing and every time you put it through a process, unless those processes are of incredibly high quality, every single one of them brings it down [in quality].

“When audio quality is where it should be there’s just more to it than the noise, it’s a whole dimension. It’s the difference between looking at a picture that is just two dimensional and being actually in the scene itself.” www.brightonmusicconference.co.uk

of High Fidelity Pure Audio and the importance of audio quality.

“We have been thrilled with the buzz generated among consumers and retailers worldwide following our Pure Audio releases,” said High Fidelity Pure Audio group head chairman Oliver Robert-Murphy.

“I’m seeing first-hand the excitement created across the whole music industry sectors as well as among those involved in Blu-ray.

Companies are now recognising the format’s potential and the opportunity this represents.” www.universalmusic.com www.audiomedia.com

INDUSTRY NEWS Barry Grint at London’s Hospital Club

MASTERING

MPG Introduces BWAV Format to Mastering Community At an event at London’s Hospital Club, which was also streamed online, the Music Producer’s Guild put forth its initiative to replace the standard WAV format with the Broadcast WAV (BWAV) format.

Hosted by Barry Grint from Alchemy Mastering and supported by some of the top mastering DAW manufacturers including Magix (Sequioa), Merging Technologies (Pyramix), and Prism Sound (SADiE), the event was an opportunity for mastering engineers to get a firsthand look at how to implement the BWAV file format into their workflow.

“The start of this [initiative] was borne out of working as a mastering engineer and having to do projects more than once because I’d been supplied with the wrong mix,”

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commented Grint.

“You know how it is, sometimes there’s a clean version and an explicit version – same artist, same title, same duration – and they’ve sent you the wrong one and the only way you really get to know is by looking at the label copy and checking the ISRC that’s put on it. If you could only see that in the track they’ve sent you, you’d know straight away whether you’ve got the right version or not.

“It was from that that it occurred to me that broadcast WAV uses this and they carry lots of other information so why not carry a unique identifier?”

The BWAV format was developed by the European Broadcast Union (EBU) and offers the opportunity to embed ISRC information – a unique code that is allocated to each track and then registered with royalty

payment agencies ensuring that recording artists and copyright holders are properly remunerated when their work is played on radio or TV. While the implementation of the BWAV format in modern DAWs is relatively straightforward (along with the presenting companies Grint stated that it is available in Steniberg’s WaveLab as well as Sonic Studio), the ability to enter and, more importantly, change existing ISRC information raises a few ethical concerns. Because ISRC codes directly affect royalty payments, there is the opportunity to change the information for personal gains.

Despite the concerns, Grint and the

MPG are confident that BWAV is the right choice moving forward and have already received support from the BPI and AIM. “There are many more stages we need to go through before this is anywhere near a complete project.

But we need your support and the software manufacturers need your feedback,” said Grint.

“The next stage is to let all of you, mastering engineers, know about it and how it effects your workflow every day so that when the record companies start asking about an ISRC in a Broadcast WAV you know how to deliver it to them.” www.mpg.org.uk

May 2014 13

SHOW NEWS

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NAB Show Shoots for 100k The 2014 NAB Show in Las Vegas hit another milestone this year as total registered attendance came in at 98,015, an uptick of more than four percent from 2013 and another sign of the continuing growth and strength of the broadcast sector. Exhibit space was also up more than seven percent from the previous year, with the event comprising 1,746 exhibiting companies spanning 945,000 net square feet of exhibit space.

“NAB Show continues to reign supreme as the leading global showcase for cutting-edge technologies covering all stages of media and entertainment production,” said NAB executive vice president of communications Dennis Wharton.

“We are elated that so many communications and entertainment professionals from around the world have made NAB Show their yearly destination to grow their talents and operations.”

Although the majority of the show’s focus was on new ultra-HD video formats like 4K, there was still a strong showing of pro-audio companies and products. Once again,

Audio Media’s sister titles in the US, Pro Sound News and Pro Audio Review, hit the show floor to hand out their own Best of Show awards.

Among the winners were Cedar Audio for its newly launched Studio 6 Suite, which is now available as a range of AAX and VST plug-ins for Mac and PC; DPA Microphones’ d:screet necklace microphone; the new Masterclass Plug-in series from RTW; and Sennheiser’s MK 8 multi-pattern condenser microphone.

Showing the continued interest in AOIP and networked audio, awards were also given to Linear Acoustic’s AERO.x IP-audio interface and Merging Technologies Hapi smallformat networked audio interface, while Lectrosonics’ Digital Secure Wireless System won a Best of Show, illustrating broadcasters’ need for safe and secure wireless transmissions.

Console manufacturers were also out in full force with the new Fairlight EVO.Live mixing system, Solid State Logic’s C10 HD PLUS Compact digital broadcast console, Souncraft’s Vi3000 digital live sound console, and the Yamaha QL Series digital consoles

all picking up awards as well.

The 2014 NAB Show also coincided with the inaugural Avid Customer Association event, Avid Connect, where the company revealed details of its much-anticipated Avid Everywhere strategic plan. The event was attended by over 1,000 broadcast, pro-audio, and video professionals from 43 countries around the world, who eagerly awaited the future plans of one of the most important media technology companies.

In a nutshell, Avid Everywhere is

a content sharing and distribution platform that centres on the Avid MediaCentral Platform, previously known as Interplay Central, which Avid CEO Louis Hernandez Jr describes as “the foundation that enables our customers to streamline their entire media workflow, from creation to monetisation, with greater flexibility and the utmost security and protection”.

For full details from the launch visit www.audiomedia.com www.nabshow.com

In Focus in Leeds PLASA’s series of regional gatherings and events continued last month with PLASA Focus: Leeds 2014, which attracted a healthy attendance both for the exhibition and for the education programme.

Chris Toulmin, director of PLASA Events, commented: “As well as the extensive seminar programme, the show is known for its vibrant atmosphere and with such a strong line-up of exhibitors, showcasing so many innovative products, we’re certain that legacy will continue.”

With the show landing in the month after Prolight + Sound in Frankfurt, PLASA Focus: Leeds was witness to a host of UK debuts and product launches. d&b audiotechnik showcased the next generation of its ‘system reality’, including an update to the d&b ArrayCalc simulation software. The show also saw the first public outing in the UK for the D80 amplifier, plus 14 May 2014

an addition to the d&b product range in the xC-Series column speakers.

Roland Systems Group exhibited the VR-3EX AV mixer, the M-480 and M-200i digital mixing consoles, the VR-50HD high-definition AV mixer, V-800HD live video switcher and S-2416 digital snake.

As Meyer Sound’s official partner for the north of England, the

centrepiece of the Pro Audio Systems (PAS) stand was the manufacturer’s latest loudspeaker technology – the MJF-210 stage monitor.

Highlite UK unveiled a new era of products from DAP Audio. The CX range of amplifiers will add “affordability and reliability to the company’s catalogue”.

Orbital Sound featured

its portfolio of sound and communication systems. Among the ‘firsts’ on show were Flare Audio’s SM15 Stage Monitor and X5 Vertical Point Source Array system.

RCF introduced a number of products to the UK market for the first time, including the compact HDL10-A, as well as the ART 745 – an active two-way speaker.

Liverpool-based Adlib Audio exhibited at PLASA Focus: Leeds, fresh from being appointed as a UK distributor for Coda Audio’s ViRAY and TiRAY product ranges. Its stand was dedicated to ViRAY. In response to growing industry demand, PLASA Events has announced that two new PLASA Focus events will take place in Europe during 2014. PLASA Focus: Brussels will take place on 1-2 July, while a new event will be held in Scotland towards the end of 2014. www.plasafocus.com www.audiomedia.com

OPINION

In the Summertime & In the Classroom Audio Media consulting editor Jim Evans rounds up the events that have caught his eye this month

Stevie Wonder will head to Montreux for the 48th annual Jazz Festival later this year

the response”. The Before the Dawn concerts, which take place this August and September, mark the singer’s first return to the stage since The Tour Of Life in 1979. Demand was so high that the singer’s own website, as well as some ticket-selling sites, crashed as people tried to log on.

LIVE ON THE LAKE – AT A PRICE The live sound sector is gearing up for a full programme of summer festivals.

Among the longer established is the Montreux Jazz Festival, which has reinvented itself a number of times since its inception in 1967 and now features a diversified programme covering a broad spectrum of musical genres.

Stevie Wonder will be joined by Pharrell Williams and Damon Albarn when he headlines the 48th Montreux Jazz Festival later this year. The full line-up for the 4-19 July festival includes Van Morrison, Massive Attack, Outkast, and Jamie Cullum.

Wonder’s appearance fulfils a longheld wish of the festival’s late founder Claude Nobs, who died in 2013. “We tried to get Stevie many times,” said festival director Mathieu Jaton. The veteran star will play at the Swiss resort’s Stravinsky Auditorium on 16 July, with seats priced at 450 Swiss francs (£304). Plus one on the door?

LIVE AND KICKING Tickets for Kate Bush’s first live shows in 35 years sold out in less than 15 minutes. The singer said she was “completely overwhelmed by www.audiomedia.com

TRAINING AND EDUCATION As the number of university/college courses covering recording and associated technologies continues to proliferate, the debate as to their true worth and validity in the real world remains very much alive. It’s always going to be a thorny topic.

Those looking to sign up for a course should check out The 2013-14 Music Education Directory which tracks over 1,200 courses throughout the UK and Ireland. The data is divided by geographical region and then by level of qualification to make course hunting more straightforward. The compilers recommend that once you have identified possible courses you contact the establishments directly to ask the most relevant questions.

Training ‘on the job’ is held by many – both from the old guard and the new – to be the best way to learn in this business. Sadly, there aren’t that many openings for the would-be George Martins and Bob Clearmountains of tomorrow.

Warmly welcomed therefore is London’s Strongroom Studios’ inaugural intake of the new Sound Recording, Engineering, and Studio

Facilities Apprenticeship. Launched at Metropolis last summer by JAMES and in collaboration with Creative & Cultural Skills and City & Guilds, the apprenticeship scheme has been set up to offer young people wishing to enter the UK recording sector a viable alternative to expensive degree courses and private colleges, with a greater focus on industry connections, and consequently improved chances of gaining relevant employment.

Strongroom commented: “Our first apprentice is 17-year-old David Jones; he has some experience within other reputable London studios under his belt, as well as a stint with songwriter Steve Robson. David is a dedicated and passionate music fan with a great attitude, and we’re delighted to welcome him to the team!”

And as an increasing number of facilities host ‘masterclasses’, a mention for The Premises in east London which next month (June) hosts its four-day Songwriting and Recording Workshop which promises ‘a packed timetable of workshops, recording sessions with a pro band, and masterclasses from some of the most experienced people in the music industry. Whether you need advice on shaping your lyrics, structuring your songs, enhancing your melodies, are excited by the prospect of making a recording with a professional band, or simply want to join a group of songwriters focused on creating a strong personal songwriting identity, this course offers a variety of

techniques to enable you to achieve your personal best as a songwriter.”

DIGITAL MEDIA INITIATIVE The BBC was ‘far too complacent’ in its handling of a failed IT project that cost licence fee payers £98.4 million. The Digital Media Initiative (DMI) was intended to move the BBC away from using and storing videotape, but it was scrapped, with almost no results, after five years of development. After investigating the demise of the project, the Public Accounts Committee has branded the programme ‘a complete failure’.

The BBC originally approved DMI in 2006. It was supposed to produce new editing tools, an online archive of the BBC’s programmes, and a new database. Siemens was hired to develop the project in February 2008, and it was expected to be completed the following year. However, after a series of delays, the project was brought in-house. There it floundered until last May when the BBC’s incoming director general, Tony Hall, admitted it had “wasted a huge amount of licence fee payers’ money”.

The BBC’s technology chief, John Linwood, was sacked in July 2013 over the project’s demise.

Meanwhile, the Gravy Train is stocking up the buffet car and is about to leave for Rio and the FIFA World Cup. Taking their seats on the trip are no fewer than 280 BBC operatives, commentators and pundits. All aboard!

May 2014 15

GEO FOCUS FRANCE

Exceptional Culture Policies protecting against an influx of foreign film and television have helped France maintain its identity and remain one of the most celebrated cultural capitals of the world.

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t’s hard not to talk about a country like France without mentioning its long cultural history. Renowned around the world for its contribution to the arts, France has shaped the way we think about everything from art, architecture, food, and literature, to fashion, music, and cinema.

From the classic music revival of the 19th and 20th century, French music has remained firmly in the international spotlight with contemporary artists such as Serge Gainsbourg leading the way for pop acts like Phoenix, and, more recently, electronic superstars Air, Justice, David Guetta, and Daft Punk.

Within the country, however, French pop music (or chanson française) has remained popular with the most successful French recording artist of all time, Mylène Farmer, maintaining some seriously reputable stats – 30 million records sold and 13 number one hits, eight of which were consecutive. This trend seems to be

continuing as 17 of the top 20 selling albums of 2013 were local repertoire.

Looking at the recording industry as a whole, it seems to slowly be bouncing back with a 2.3% rise in recorded music revenues last year to €603.2 million. Digital revenues rose by just 0.6% with physical sales up 1%. Following the trend worldwide, streaming has become increasingly popular, claiming 43% of the digital market with revenues up 4% last year.

Streaming has become the preferred method of delivery for digital music with Paris-based streaming service Deezer leading the way within the country and now boasting 12 million monthly active users and 5 million paid subscribers. According to the IFPI’s latest Digital Music Report, France is behind only Sweden for percentage of internet users with music subscription services at 36%.

Looking at the film sector reveals a similarly strong industry with a respected history. Two Frenchmen,

Auguste and Louis Lumière (known as the Lumière brothers), are widely recognised at having created cinema with their first film, Sortie de l’usine Lumière de Lyon, shot in 1894, considered the first real motion picture. Since those early days France has remained a leader in filmmaking, and as of 2006, produces more films than any other European country (not to mention hosting respected industry events such as the annual Cannes Festival).

While the domestic film market is dominated by Hollywood, France is the only nation in the world where American films make up the smallest share of total film revenues, at 50%, compared with 77% in Germany, and 69% in Japan. Similar to the success of local music, French films also account for 35% of the total film revenue in the country, which is the highest percentage of national film revenues in the developed world outside of the United States.

Much of this is thanks to the country’s advocacy of ‘cultural exception’, which allows the government to maintain quotas and subsidies to protect its cultural market from other nations’ cultural products, especially those from America. The French government has implemented various measures aimed at helping to support local film production, such as levying taxes on movies and TV channels for use as production subsidies along with tax breaks.

These strong cultural institutions have helped support the market for high-quality studios and postproduction facilities within the country. Recording studios such as Studios de la Chine (read more below), Question de Son, and Studios La Fabrique regularly host major artists, while the new Creative Sound post-production facility recently became the first mixing studio in the country to be fitted with Dolby Atmos technology.

Word on the Street - The Studio Situation Head of Amadeus Labs Michel Deluc and Studios de la Chine owner Hubert Montoya discuss the state of studios in France.

MICHEL DELUC, director of research and development at Amadeus Labs: The recording world in France is really changing, evolving towards very ‘premium’ home studios, sometimes directly concurrent to professional recording studios.

We are more and more led to design extremely complex and highquality solutions for professional 16 May 2014

musicians, producers, and artists who want to find at home the same working conditions as in the best professional recording studios.

HUBERT MONTOYA, owner and co-founder of Studios de la Chine, Paris: Everyone has seen how deep the recording and production world has evolved in the last few years. Home

studios appeared in the 90s, focusing on computer-assisted music, and these production techniques deeply changed the way music is created.

Obviously, this evolution brought and favoured a creative renewal for many musical styles, but too often, the technology became the main focus, in my opinion detracting from a real sound signature. Now we are at a turning point. www.audiomedia.com

GEO FOCUS FRANCE MANUFACTURER

Amadeus Audio – Made in France

Launched in 1992 as the commercial arm of Atelier 33, Amadeus Audio was borne out of collaboration between company founder and CEO Bernard Byk (pictured)and acoustician and musician Michel Deluc. The company is now recognised worldwide for its specialisation in sound architecture, which ties architectural fundamentals to acoustic research to offer products and installations perfectly adapted to the spaces they’re in.

What is the core ethos of Amadeus Audio?

The Amadeus brand was initially thought of as an alternative to the so-called ‘sound reinforcement’ products. Willing to think about the sound differently, rather than just achieving the loudest sound pressure level, Amadeus focused on developing architectural, musical, and technological dimensions in its products to offer better sound quality and more functional installation capabilities.

How has your personal background shaped the company?

I have been trained as an architect, and this training strongly influences

We welcome more and more customers who wish to come back to the essential, to work in spaces specifically designed in accordance with their expectations, offering exceptional tools and unique production opportunities. Our desire has always been to serve the music.

The philosophy of Studios de www.audiomedia.com

both the products we develop and the projects we work on.

I think that for an architect, the starting point is to decrypt the space and to think of the way to put one’s work in a cultural, social or environmental context. That’s the way we design our sound systems.

We think about their integration in different places, and we supervise this integration.

Each space has its own acoustical characteristics and above all its own architectural properties. Our work is to take these phenomena into account to increase the transparency of our sound systems.

In such a crowded market what makes an Amadeus product special?

Willing to preserve the quality of our products, many parts of our products are built and finished entirely by hand, thanks to the savoir-faire of our cabinet makers, joiners and finishers, according to proprietary processes, some of which are patented, which guarantee the optimum quality required to market any products claiming to be highend and ‘Made in France’.

We are also the sole French manufacturer able to offer unique and optional finishes for most of our sound systems, varnish polyester, titanium coatings, bronze or gold stitched leather, and others.

We take great pride in using the finest materials and components throughout every loudspeaker we build, including air inductances, oversized non-inductive resistors, low-loss polypropylene capacitors, to bring out the finest timbral nuances and the subtlest tonal distinctions.

la Chine was largely inspired by Chinese philosophy. It is based on this concept, unique to the Oriental way of thinking, that tends to consider duality as complementary.

It is this particular idea we wanted to express in an essentially ‘mixed creation’ space, reflecting a perfect balance between the best aspects of two worlds: analogue and digital.

Tell me about your working relationship with Michel Deluc.

The Amadeus brand cannot be separated from Michel Deluc, from his knowledge, his history, his experiences and his skills, which are part of the Amadeus brand.

As a director of research and technical development at Amadeus, Michel was trained as an acoustical engineer. He is above all a fantastic musician who learned upright bass and electric bass during many years with Jean-François Jenny-Clark, a French double bass player who was one of the most important bass players of European jazz.

This is also part of the reason why Amadeus speakers catch people’s attention. Every nuance, dynamic, even the tiniest details of a piece are reproduced without any colouration, embellishment, or bias, because they are co-developed by a musician, not ‘simply’ a scientist.

You recently completed an Atmos room for Creative Sound in Paris. Can you tell me a bit more about this project?

We used and enhanced many of our techniques at Creative Sound that we have experimented with over the past 20 years, especially in the field of music recording, working with world-renowned studios such as La Fabrique, Twin, Masterdisk Europe, Soyuz, Question de Son, Schmooze, and others.

According to the technical requirements for Creative Sound to obtain the Dolby Atmos Certification, the reference mixing position has to correspond to a position two-thirds of the distance

Studios de la Chine is built around three main components.

The unique acoustical properties of the spaces, notably the 46sqm control room. The famous SSL 9072 J mixing console, which is the only one in France, and last but most importantly, the Amadeus monitoring system, that was custom-made for the Studios.

back from the screen to the rear wall, on the centre line of the screen.

This different sweet spot position – compared to control rooms in the musical fields – imply the need to optimise the overall acoustic treatment – LCR-based – in order to minimise local effects of the diffuse-field and other reflexives problems, without influencing the rendering of the additional surround-speakers.

We recreated a micro-acoustical environment for each of the additional speaker sources, in order that each one would not be influenced by the main acoustic treatment, using multiple custom acoustic cells (modules). By using these techniques, we provide filmmakers and recording artists with a faithful reproduction of their works, matching the Dolby Atmos criteria.

Do you have any upcoming projects or product releases you can tell us about?

We are bullish about the future. Our overseas expansion debuted recently and the market’s responses are more than hopeful. Some wonderful things are happening in China, Brazil, and Korea.

We are in the process of installing a huge speaker system in a world famous museum in Paris, and just finished designing and equipping another ‘premium’ home studio for French artist Yodelice.

At the recent Prolight + Sound event we released the smallest of our PMX Series speakers, the PMX 4, and the ML 8 compact 8in subwoofer, both designed for the installation market. www.amadeus-audio.com

Studios de la Chine

May 2014 17

BROADCAST FOCUS

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Audio: The Next Generation In an object-based world, television sound will not only be more immersive it could also become personalised and interactive, as Will Strauss discovers.

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hile I am sure that I am preaching to the choir when I say this, great pictures are nothing without great sound. And never has that been more apparent than with the current move in the direction of Ultra High Definition.

With picture resolution quadrupling in size, viewers will benefit from greater image detail than they have ever had before while producers will potentially be offered further creative choices (plus the odd logistical headache). But unless the quality of the audio experience matches it, they might as well not bother.

“It is very challenging to unpick the visual experience from the audio,” details Tony Churnside, media technologist at BBC Research and Development (R&D). “One thing depends on the other. If you make the sound worse, it has a negative impact on people’s perception of the picture.

In terms of the audience experience the two things should be tied up.”

So, in this next audio step change, what will sound, well, sound like?

In an effort to be more immersive, will it be an extension of the familiar channel-based approach that requires complicated speaker configurations in 5.1, 7.2, or even 22.2 that make the listener’s living room look like the bridge of the Starship Enterprise?

With TV now increasingly being consumed across multiple platforms and devices, this seems unlikely.

“Realistically not all of the audience can, or wants to experience TV sound that way,” says Churnside. “It’s no longer right to see this as one-sizefits-all. Now, we are looking at the development of a system agnostic environment or format that is object based.”

How does that work then? Well, rather than broadcasting the stereo

18 May 2014

loudspeaker signals and their premixed combination of dialogue, narration, sound effects, music, and background atmospheres, each of those sounds is sent as a separate audio object with associated metadata.

The viewing device or system at the other end then reassembles the objects into an output that can be slightly different for each listener by locally changing the metadata.

BUILDING BLOCKS It works in a similar way to responsive website design, where a set of associated style parameters control how the content should look depending on the size, shape, and type of browser it is being viewed on. Churnside has a better analogy though: “When you buy a Lego set it comes with a load of bricks and instructions for how you can assemble those bricks,” he explains. “Sometimes those instructions can provide for the creation for more than one thing.

That is what we’re doing with TV or radio programmes.”

Whether you prefer the responsive design comparison, or the Lego one, the key is that this agnostic approach means the listener gets the best possible audio experience for the situation they are in whether that is sat at home in front of a big plasma TV or watching on the move via their tablet computer.

BBC R&D carried out a test to this effect last year. A radio drama, Pinocchio, was able to be rendered in stereo for Radio 4 listeners but in surround sound for those listening online: and it was done so via a single production process.

Object-based audio can go further than simply adapting to the end-user device. Using what is termed ‘perceptive media’, where

the programme knows something about its audience, content can be tailored to, say, a geographical location. A TV drama, for example, could have different, automated, dialogue feeds depending on the city that it is being viewed in.

It can afford elements of personalisation and interactivity too. Because an object can be any bit of audio in a programme, the listeners could be given the choice to reduce or increase the levels of the commentary or the crowd noise during coverage of a football match, or even choose which set of supporters they hear.

A BBC R&D test with BBC Radio 5 Live at Wembley Stadium last year, where the audio was streamed as a set of objects, allowed listeners to effectively ‘change where they sat in the ground’, an experience that Churnside’s research suggested gave the audience an experience that was ‘more like being there’.

It’s certainly an exciting development, but is it realistic, affordable and practical?

“We’re not there yet, other industries are moving in this direction,” says Churnside, citing the emergence of

TV sound could take a building block approach to create a more personalised experience for the viewer

Dolby Atmos in the feature film market, but “there are challenges to be solved in design, production, and distribution, particularly what sits on your settop-box at home”.

There is already support for object-based audio though.

At this year’s NAB Dolby demonstrated a prototype of its object-based multichannelmixing approach, while DTS, Fraunhofer, Fairlight, Calrec, and more all unveiled or discussed developments in this field. The EBU is also looking at incorporating object-based representations into the burgeoning BWAV format.

Clearly, further research is required before we can fully understand the impact that object-based sound would have on production, post production, and broadcast and what benefit it would provide for the audience. But if BBC R&D has anything to do with it, it will be mere child’s play.

“We don’t want to double the cost of production, the aim is to be able to create the audio bricks once,” says Churnside. “You don’t have to buy a new Lego set if you want to build a new thing. You just re-use the existing bricks to do it. That is what we’re trying to emulate.”

For regular updates on the broadcast audio industry sign up for Audio Media’s Broadcast Audio Newsletter at www.audiomedia.com/newslettersignup

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FEATURE LIVE SOUND

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Ring the Bells Jory MacKay catches up with front of house veteran Dave McDonald to talk kit and technique during his latest run with American indie rock group Broken Bells.

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omprised of former The Shin’s frontman, James Mercer, and producer-of-the-moment Brian Burton (better known by his moniker Danger Mouse), Broken Bells first came to attention in 2010 after the release of their self-titled debut album. With the release of their second studio album, After the Disco, earlier in the year, the duo hit the road accompanied by Dan Elkan (guitars/ keys/backing vocals) and Jon Sortland (drums/bass/backing vocals).

Beginning in North America, with shows from Montreal through to Louisiana, the band’s sole UK appearance on this world tour took place in west London at the O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire with veteran live sound engineer Dave McDonald manning the helm at FOH. After an introduction to the world of sound through a governmentsponsored theatre company (“something to keep you off the street so you wouldn’t cause any trouble”, he recalls) McDonald cut his teeth touring with Portishead, moving onto acts such as Air, Sigur Rós, Florence and the Machine, and most recently, breakthrough American singersongwriter and rapper Frank Ocean.

At FOH, next to the formidable Midas PRO6 house board, sits McDonald’s relatively compact Allen & Heath iLive 112, which has been

20 May 2014

a staple for the veteran engineer for a number of years. McDonald is running 42 channels through the desk on the night, complemented by an iDR-48 MixRack.

“All the rental stuff like the stageboxes run into our split onstage and from there they run into my Allen & Heath rack and over to Steve [Versaw, monitor engineer] with one section left over for if there are any broadcasters or anything like that. It means it’s easy for me; it’s just one Cat5 cable in. The amount of stuff you can put through that thing is incredible.”

The night of the show, McDonald is running into the house system, an EAW set-up comprised of 14 KF850s, eight SB850s, four SB1000s, two JF560s, four JF260s, with three UB42s for rear stall delays, and four JF260s for top balcony delays, all powered by Lab.gruppen amps.

ON STAGE The band’s two-hour set kicks off with the song Perfect World, highlighting the dual nature of the band by showcasing Mercer’s somewhat delicate vocals over electronic drums and massive layered synth lines.

McDonald describes the tour’s stage set-up as similarly two-sided: there’s the bare-bones microphone set-up including mics from Sennheiser and Shure (with a few Neumann

Dave McDonald condensers “for a little bit of sparkle on the overhead”) matched with an elaborate stage set-up including four customised keyboard rigs.

“We’re running Ableton on stage,” explains McDonald. “It’s locked to a grid so we’ve got four keyboard stations on stage and the drummer has a selector, so as he selects a song it sets all the different keyboard sounds for each station.

“Not only that, but because it’s all locked in, when it gets to a certain part of a song it will change the sound for just say a verse or a chorus. They’re all playing but they don’t have to do any fiddling about with presets, which is great, but it also can be a real recipe for things to go wrong. It really has to behave itself.”

Like any good production, however, they’ve planned for the worst, with a dual MacBook set-up with two Universal Audio Apollo I/Os kept in check by engineer and Ableton specialist Omar Kamran.

“It’s an expensive bit of kit but it’s worth it,” expresses McDonald.

With any major production, staying as self-sustainable as possible is key to ensuring a smooth transition from venue to venue and this is reflected in the set-up at monitor world.

“We got rid of wedges very early on, which I’m happy about,” explains McDonald. “You never know what you’re going to get building-tobuilding so it’s key to keep the stage volume down.”

Monitor engineer Steve Versaw opted to go strictly in-ears for the tour with four band mixes and three tech mixes running out of an Avid Profile desk.

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER “There are two very different kinds of engineers – there’s the technical engineers and there’s the more artistic engineers,” explains McDonald.

“Technically I’m dead in the water but when it comes to the more artistic side, that’s where I get excited.”

A big part of McDonald’s creativity comes through the use of his iLive 112, which he describes as being the closest thing to the feel and flow of an analogue desk.

McDonald: “It’s all about mix speed for me. When it comes to mixing artistically it’s the speed of being able to think of something you want to try and just being able to do it. I’m using it as a mixing desk with effects. I’m not doing anything fancy. What goes into patch one comes up on [channel] one on the desk. It’s traditional.”

“What’s in this box is very powerful,” he adds when asked about his decision to forgo any outboard gear. “You can tailor some of these old classic chorus effects, which do sound like the old choruses, or things like automatic double-tracking in stereo, which we’re running on some of these old disco-y tracks.”

Along with the chorus and ADT Doubler, McDonald is utilising the iLive’s EMT plate and slapback effects.

“People ask if we can do a gig on another board and I don’t think I could. I’ve got everything here.

You’d have to have racks and racks of outboard to get the same sound.” www.allen-heath.com www.audiomedia.com

Feature Recording

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Steve Levine in his new studio space at Liverpool’s Baltic Creative CIC

In the Studio:

Steve Levine

Thirty years since his work on Culture Club’s Colour by Numbers record garnered him the Music Week Top Singles Producer award, producer and songwriter Steve Levine talks to Jim Evans about his near 40-year career, moving his studio to Liverpool, and what’s next on his plate.

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he old cliché of having many strings to the proverbial bow is regularly overused, whoever the subject, but in Steve Levine’s case it’s most appropriate. From his early days as a tape op at CBS Studios (now sadly an office block) and at Red Bus Studios, through his own various studio projects and a spell working out of Los Angeles, he has forged a successful career as record producer, songwriter, radio show presenter, and industry agent provocateur. Levine is a director of PRS for music and a member of the MU executive committee. He also happens to be chairman of The Music Producers Guild.

“As a producer, I’m as busy now as at any time over the past 30 years,” says Levine, whose past credits include the Beach Boys, Motörhead, and China Crisis – and of course, three multi-platinum albums for Culture Club. “With the changing market, so many bands want several things from a producer now. In some instances,

22 May 2014

they want 25 years of experience shoehorned into a single session. They want the Sam Philips approach. He was record producer, studio owner, record company boss, mentor, and in many ways an innovator. The role of the record producer has gone absolutely full-circle.”

His broadcasting career took off with the Radio 2 series The Record Producers, while his company also produced the Stephen Fry-narrated Third Reich & Roll for Radio 2, which looked at how Hitler’s Germany pioneered many – if not most – of the recording techniques that made later music possible.

And then there are the industry associations: “Working at the audio coalface, I believe I have much to bring to the table,” he says. “I think there’s going to be a tremendous amount of overlapping, which can only be of benefit to all.”

One of Levine’s key reasons for being involved with so many industry organisations is to get the voice of

“For too long the music industry has been the poor cousin. We need to elevate our position.”

Steve Levine the producer heard, to shout the producer’s corner in an ever-changing music and entertainment industry.

“We are all involved in the same business of making and selling music.

The various organisations all have their corners to fight, but generally everyone now appreciates that from the inception of the song through to the finished record quite a lot of people are involved in the chain. And it’s only right and proper that all those people are compensated. It’s the same in the film world, but for too long the music industry has been the poor cousin. We need to elevate our position.”

As well as increasing the MPG’s

membership and profile, Levine wants the organisation to encourage excellence and lobby for the industry at the highest levels. “The rise of Swedish pop in the 90s was due primarily to the Swedish government allowing Pro Tools systems and other equipment to be tax deductable and you got all these fantastically equipped studios. We need a government that understands the hardware costs.

Maybe there needs to be some form of different business rate for something that is a creative space – theatres, studios, rehearsal rooms – just so there’s a chance of survival for the creative community.”

Levine has little time for some of the executives within the major record companies and how they land the jobs they get. “Many of them seem to have no passion, love, or understanding of music, or even the creative process,” he suggests: “Perhaps we need to get back to the era when the person in charge of a record company was a passionate music maker, like Chris www.audiomedia.com

FEATURE RECORDING Blackwell at Island Records or Ahmet Ertegun at Atlantic. And Berry Gordy at Motown – he might have been a money man, but alongside his shrewd business sense he had soul and a passion for music.

LEVELLING OFF “The UK has a proud music tradition – and music has never been more popular than it is today – yet we don’t have enough proper outlets. On the main TV channels everyone is scrambling for the occasional spot on the Jools Holland show. There’s little else. Somehow we’ve got to make the playing field a little bit more level.”

Aside from a period working out of California, Levine has spent the majority of his career living and working out of London. He has had a number of his own studios, which were noted for embracing new technologies, most notably the latest digital developments, equipment, and working methods. Now, he has upped sticks and moved lock stock and studio to Liverpool, where his new space is based in the Baltic Creative CIC, a rapidly expanding media and arts centre. So why did he make the move north?

“I’ve been going to Liverpool for well over 10 years, initially as part of the Yamaha Make It Break It competition which was hosted up there, then I was made a LIPA companion, essentially working with Jon Thornton. I found myself travelling up and down to Liverpool more and more frequently and eventually my wife and I thought there were so many things we loved up here, we should move.

“Another factor was the BBC moving many of its operations to Salford; a lot of our BBC friends had moved up here, so all in all it was an easy decision. I got rid of the studio in west London, took the equipment up the motorway, and here we are. Now I have a lovely new studio, which I really think is the best studio I’ve had to date – a hybrid of all the studios I’ve ever owned.

“My first studio in Farm Lane [Fulham], if truth be told, was probably too far ahead of its time – it was so technically advanced. I loved it, and wouldn’t have got my Grammy if I hadn’t been there. But it didn’t have a proper recording room. Then I moved to California and set the studio up there. It was only really a shared facility and for various reasons didn’t work out. www.audiomedia.com

“It came to a head when working with Carl Wilson and Carl was outside tuning up one of my guitars and one day my then business partner had these advertising clients come in and asked ‘that guitarist’ to tune up elsewhere as his client wasn’t very happy. That was the final straw. How dare they. There were other factors involved which contributed to my returning to the UK and setting up the studio in Fulham which worked out really well. It represented – in terms of work – the best bang for buck I’ve had to date. Though to the casual observer it was just a glorified garden shed, it had a brilliant vibe and worked well. We did many albums and radio shows there.”

Once Levine had decided to move north, he began the search for suitable studio premises. “We looked at various potential sites before we met the people at Baltic Creative. It’s an area similar to what Shoreditch was before it became trendy. Once an industrial wasteland, it’s now home to many new businesses, the majority of which are media based. I’m the only recording studio so far, but in our little area at the end of the road is Elevator Studios, which is like Nomis once was – full of creative spaces and rehearsal studios. The vibe is wonderful on so many levels. It’s like Los Angeles once was – and Nashville probably still is.

You have access to everything you need on your doorstep.”

COMMUNITY SPIRIT The studio is now up and running and Levine has already recorded a number of bands and conducted masterclasses in conjunction with LIPA. He’s currently working with around six acts including The Lottery Winners for whom he has great expectations. He’s also working, in association with the Mayor of Liverpool, on projects with disadvantaged and underprivileged youngsters: “They’re all as keen as mustard,” he adds. “They’re dead keen to get a hands-on feel of a studio and learn. It’s the community spirit I love.”

With regard to the studio itself, its shell is constructed largely of OSB board, which the Baltic Creative architects used for much of the centre’s inner construction.

“It works surprisingly well,” says Levine. “It turns out to be one of the best materials I’ve experienced in terms of studio builds. All the musicians who have been here so far have commented on how live it

Culture Club In the UK, Culture Club amassed 12 Top 40 hit singles between 1982 and 1999, including the number ones Do You Really Want To Hurt Me and Karma Chameleon, the latter being the biggest selling single of 1983, and topped the US Billboard Hot 100 in 1984. Ten of their singles reached the US Top 40, where they are associated with the Second British Invasion of British new wave groups that became popular in the United States due to the cable music channel MTV. How does Levine account for the band’s success? “Great songs that still stand the test of time. I think because we pushed the technology at the time our records have a certain quality. I heard Do You Really Want To Hurt Me on the radio the other day and it stands alone in that it could have been recorded last week. It does sound timeless. The production and quality of that song is quite unusual.

“As it does with Duran Duran, and Spandau Ballet. With any of those bands of the 80s you know exactly what it is and where you were when you first heard it. Of all those groups George was by head and shoulders the star of the day,

loved by all ages and demographics.

Although he had a terrible fall from grace everybody still loved him. He’s in a really good place at the moment, healthy and happy in his work and his personal life.”

As to recording the band in the 1980s, Levine recalls: “We had a great work method. The Linn [drum machine] formed the backbone of a lot of the tracks. Today, a lot of bands now record a take then spend ages overdubbing, trying to sort the arrangements out, whereas one of the good things about the older way of working with the Linn was that it forced you to really concentrate on the arrangement, not like working with a computer where you cut and paste.”

May 2014 23

FEATURE RECORDING

In The Studio & On The Radio

Starting as a trainee tape-op at CBS studios in 1975, Steve Levine progressed to in-house engineer and worked with many now classic new wave and punk acts such as The Clash, The Jags, The Vibrators, and XTC, as well as many of CBS records’ pop acts, including Sailor.

Beach Boy, Bruce Johnson was to play an important part in Levine’s early career, culminating with Levine producing an album for the Beach Boys several years later. Levine produced all of Culture Club’s classic hits and the band’s three multiplatinum albums.

Since then he has worked with a wide spectrum of artists and composed a number of film scores.

Artist collaborations include Honeyz, China Crisis, Gary Moore, Ziggy Marley, Louise, The Creatures, Lemmy & Motörhead, David Grant, Westworld, Mis-teeq, Alsou, 911, and Grief Never Grows Old (the

24 May 2014

official DEC Tsunami record).

Levine’s radio production company Magnum Opus Broadcasting produces several shows for the BBC; in particular, The Record Producers – a radio documentary series for BBC Radio 2. This acclaimed series focuses on the art of record production from the producer’s perspective. Shows aired so far have featured producers Trevor Horn, Arif Mardin, Nile Rodgers, Bob Clearmountain & Tony Visconti, and Hugh Padgham.

As a direct result of the success of this initial series, the BBC commissioned a second series, Production Teams; Swain & Jolley, Langer & Winstanley, Holland Dozier & Holland, Gamble & Huff, Stock, Aitken & Waterman, and Jam & Lewis were featured in this series.

A third series included Mick Jones, Brian Wilson, Roy Wood, and 10cc.

More are on the way.

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sounds. Somewhere between the old Townhouse and a 1970s Westlake room. I guess it’s to do with the way the board is put together; it breathes a bit and gives a crisp, punchy drum sound.”

KIT LIST The studio is home to Levine’s considerable collection of microphones old and new which get used regularly. “It’s good to show young bands alternative ways of mic’ing,” he adds. The desk is a Yamaha DM 2000 – “It more than suits my need at present, though I might upgrade to a larger format console in the future.”

Levine records ‘almost exclusively’ into Logic. “I have Pro Tools and have also recently been using Ableton.

There’s quite a nice electronic scene up here and lots of those artists use Live. You have to have Pro Tools as it is pretty much a universal standard.

When it comes to the mixing end, you need the touch and feel of oldschool mixing. The fact you’re working in a digital environment is almost irrelevant as long as it feels creative. I wouldn’t change that way of mixing.

With the occasional exception, I don’t like mixing in the box with mice and faders.”

And so to the inevitable question: Is there going to be a new Culture Club album and will Levine be involved? “I’ve always had a close relationship with George. We’ve done some songwriting together and there’s a lot of love between all of us. George has his solo career, which is doing

very well – and currently getting amazing reviews. There’s a lot of will to do another record, how far I will be involved is uncertain, maybe just a couple of tracks. I am doing some separate things with George anyway.

I’m doing a really big thing with George in August, it’s a big deal, but the paperwork is not signed yet...

“If the band want to do studio recordings I’d love to be involved.

There are various possibilities in the pipeline. What’s good now is that Jazz Summers is managing them. I have met with Jazz a couple of times.

There’s a lot of good will and we all get on well, but if they want another producer that’s fine. It has to be the right producer to work with them.

There’s only a few that probably could stand it, because it’s not quite a normal session. I’d be happy to do one track or no tracks, whatever.

There were no hard feelings. When they were recording with Arif in Switzerland, I was working with Quarterflash at Miravel Studios in Provence. Whatever happens, it’s all going to be down to having the right material.

“George’s voice is much deeper and richer now. And he could always sing in tune. Look at all that X Factor stuff.

None of them have got the presence of a proper artist. George is one of a handful of artists that has that level of showmanship backed up with quality performance. If something does come off it will be amazing, after all it is our anniversary year – 20 years ago we all got our Brits.” www.stevelevine.co.uk

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FEATURE GAME AUDIO

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BioShock Tactics IRRATIONAL GAMES John Broomhall talks to audio director Patrick Balthrop and composer Garry Schyman about their multi-award winning sound and music work for Irrational Games’ latest title in the iconic BioShock series.

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atrick Balthrop and Garry Schyman are in a good place.

As Balthrop starts a new journey, launching his company Interactive Sound & Fury, and Schyman continues scoring apace on his current gig for a title TBA, they can both reflect on a great job, well done.

Amid the critical acclaim their sound and music has received, came a double whammy at this year’s Game Baftas with BioShock Infinite winning both a nomination for Audio Accomplishment, and taking home the coveted mask for Original Music.

Balthrop, who was on the original BioShock in-house audio team covering sound design and VO editing duties, talks about his role this time out: “I was audio director with a six-strong team in Boston, as well as the numerous audio scripters implementing VO, so if you can hear it, I was responsible for it! I had to concept characters, audio direct sound designers, concept systems, sound design many of the assets in the game build, collaborate interdepartmentally. At all times, I had to maintain the creative quality of the latest game build. Fortunately, I had a very strong team supporting me.

“BioShock Infinite’s audio direction evolved as we continued to ship demos

26 May 2014

and hit milestones. We went down the wrong path a couple of times but had the experience to pull back quickly and iterate until we knew we were on the right one. From selling ‘time period’ by designing authentic-sounding Foley (using a 1912 Edison gramophone I bought especially) to creating a highly immersive ambient world – the audio direction really unlocked when we began to support the story in every decision we made. Everything you hear is coloured by the emotional perspective of the characters that drive the narrative – we were helping tell the story Ken Levine [creative director and writer] was creating.”

CHARACTER LED For Los Angeles-based composer, Garry Schyman, the crystallisation of the game’s musical signature can be pin-pointed quite clearly, as he explains: “It was interesting – originally, the Elizabeth character was not nearly as significant. At E3, when they were showing some early in-game stuff, there was so much reaction to this character that it began affecting how things were structured – a moving target from the composer’s standpoint – because things did change significantly.

This was a seminal moment in how the

Audio director Patrick Balthrop score evolved. I remember realising, okay, Elizabeth is very significant and I said to music director, Jim Bonney, I have an idea for a theme for her and I think it’s important. I want to record it with live musicians before I present it. I knew that Ken Levine really responded to live players and the emotion they brought to the table, so I didn’t want to use samples, especially as it involved solo instruments. I also knew there wasn’t any budget for this ‘experiment’ so I said, you know what?

I don’t care. I’m just going to pay for it myself. (Along with most of the score, this was recorded at Martin Sound in LA.) When Ken heard it, he was very moved and it affected his view of how the music would work and how crucial it would be. The simplicity of that raw emotional music led us to realise

that small string ensembles would be the direction for the score. They did reimburse me, by the way!”

Meanwhile, at the implementation coalface, Balthrop and his team looked to Audiokinetic’s Wwise as their audio middleware solution. Balthrop: “I find technology simultaneously constraining and inspiring. We always want more streams, more memory, more CPU, and more space on the disc to realise our audio ambitions, but on the other hand, sometimes having restraints can focus your creative pursuits. Numerous times on the project Ken would say to me, ‘Audio is at least half of the experience – audio can really manipulate the audience to feel or colour a scene in a powerful way’.”

AUTHENTIC AUDIO One particularly delightful aspect of the game’s soundtrack is the inclusion of ‘licensed music tracks’, lyrically meaningful to the game narrative which have been lovingly re-recorded in music styles from the game’s time period. The results are testament to the passion and authenticity that pervades BioShock’s sound and music.

Reflecting on the game’s strong showing at the Baftas, Balthrop comments: “The overall creative vibrancy of the game is really due to every member of the team that tested it, created assets for it, designed, animated, modelled, concepted, programmed, wrote, acted, and directed it. It was a large, talented team working hard for a long time to bring the world to life… On a personal note, I’m very grateful for the attention the audio has received.

It was a long, hard development cycle with passionate professionals working their hardest to create this amazing work that speaks for itself.”

Schyman adds: “In general, the most creative music I’ve ever been asked to write has been on videogames and I think what people like about this score is that it’s different from typical game music – and that’s not just about the composing, it’s also the fact that BioShock Infinite is such an unusual game. It’s also down to the fantastic creative partnerships I have with Ken Levine, Jim Bonney, and Patrick Balthrop. They generated an amazingly interesting and bizarre, crazy, supercreative world and then asked me to do very unusual stuff. I was moved and it moved other people – and that’s very satisfying.” www.irrationalgames.com www.audiomedia.com

FEATURE STUDIO PROFILE

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The 130sqm Studio A was remodelled in 2008

POWERPLAY STUDIOS

Back to the Beginning Jake Young looks into an 80s facility that has undergone refurbishment and reinvention to bring its facilities up to scratch for modern users.

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ocated in Maur, Switzerland, Powerplay Studios reinvented itself last summer after 30 years as one of the country’s top recording facilities. The studio has been in operation since 1983, but it had been operating on a small level and without all the residential services in recent years. A decision was made that all the rooms were needed to return the facility to its heyday of the 1980s.

Powerplay now has four studios, between five and seven beds to offer, a lounge with a new pool table, and a totally new kitchen.

In January the refurbishment of the MCI JH-500 Series desk in Studio B was finished. Replacing it with an API console was a possibility, however the facility stuck to the concept of the house.

“Everybody has an API console, but keeping this MCI console is quite interesting,” says Christian Müller, studio manager, who joined Powerplay in 1997 as a runner,

28 May 2014

grew as an engineer, quit in 2000 to study jazz piano, and came back last summer. “We have an MCI console and an SSL console. We stick to that because that’s what the house is, that’s what we are, and that’s what we learned here.”

Also new to the facilities, Studio D is a mastering, pre-production, vocal, post-production, radio, and mixing suite. Christian Beusch, the co-founder of audio post facility Magnetix Studio, designed it. Studio C is kept by mastering engineer Ursli Weber, who is also Powerplay’s analogue technician. The studio is used for digitisation most of the time.

“Studio C looks a bit trashy,” says Müller. “But it sounds great so at the end of the day that doesn’t matter.”

Powerplay is owned by Jurghe Peterhans who, together with UK guitarist Jim Duncombe, launched the whole facility in 1983 after the duo had outgrown their previous MCI-equipped studio in Horgen,

Switzerland. The situation now is that Müller and Reto Muggli, the studio’s chief engineer, are running the facility in the name of the Powerplay Music & Studios association.

“Jurghe had acquired a parcel of land in Maur, an attractive lakeside (Lake Greifensee) then-rural location outside Zurich and he wanted to build – from the ground-up – a combined multi-room studio facility as well as an apartment for himself,” says David Hawkins of Eastlake Audio, who designed and built Powerplay.

“The Maur location’s only drawback was its proximity to a Swiss air force base from which appallingly noisy F15 or similar jets overflew frequently on exercises. The construction of the new Powerplay building shell therefore required much more built-in isolation than would have been the case in another location. Ironically, as the city of Zurich’s boundaries have marched outwards over the years since Powerplay’s construction, the air force

base has had to cease to operate its noisy planes around Maur. Eastlake’s involvement was principally with the two main recording rooms A and B. The construction material for the fitout of the two studios was sent from the UK by road together with the four-man Eastlake expat crew who completed the construction on-site well within the allocated timeframe.”

RAISING THE ROOF Eastlake refurbished Studio A in 2008, lifting the ceiling and removing the windows between the live room and the dry room. The live room is now one big space, but drums can still be moved for wet or dry sounds.

It has a rig with lights and a PA system where live sessions can be recorded.

“Following Jurghe’s recent (and quite inspired) idea to make the Studio A space a combined live performance/recording facility, Eastlake returned two operatives to www.audiomedia.com

FEATURE STUDIO PROFILE site to open out the studio space and slightly increase the RT60 (reverberation time),” says Hawkins. “Once again, the work went ahead without any problems. As well as the opening out of Studio A, in both A and B, acoustically transparent fabrics were replaced, as these needed refreshing.”

Studio A has a Steinway & Sons B-211 grand piano, a Fender Rhodes, and a Hammond B3 organ with a Leslie 251. In the control room is a Studer A800 DASH machine and a recently maintained Solid State Logic SL 4000 E desk with computer, which has Studer preamps.

Most of Powerplay’s clients like to mix in the box here, however in-house engineers try to work with outboard gear.

Recently Tommy Henriksen, guitarist for Alice Cooper, mixed a band in the box but with the desk.

The control room of Studio B is almost the same size, but the live room is smaller. Studio B has an additional Studer A800, and Pro Tools rigs can be found in every studio. The facility can mixdown to 0.5in tape for a compression feeling, and is trying to bring back a live concept. “If I’m listening to recordings today I really feel if the band is playing live or not,” says Müller.

“That stands out in all the productions we have. We really fight for this old sound. An R&B production from the States can afford a good production by editing and composing in the box without a band. If you don’t have this money, spend [what you have] on a real musician and you’re going to stand out too.

With no digital development in the 90s it was quite difficult to run the studio for all the people here.

Studio D is small and intimate with acoustics designed by Christian Beusch

“A lot of people in Switzerland have a tape machine, a good analogue desk, or both, but they’re not running a studio with a daily service.”

Christian Müller “A lot of people in Switzerland have a tape machine, a good analogue desk, or both, but they’re not running a studio with a daily service.”

Powerplay is offering a lot of new services including online mastering; a sample of string recordings; 5.1 mixing for small films; and Powerplay Academy, which comprises numerous educational concepts: “We want to have young producers back in the studio to teach them how to work on an inline desk,” says Müller.

The facility is also setting up a small label: “We’re not waiting for a lot of demos, if they come, they come. We’re going to have a really small catalogue of one or two productions a year,” he adds.

According to Müller, Muggli is up for working with clients all night long. “That’s why we are sharing this job,” he laughs.

“You need a man who likes to talk and likes to sell and you need a guy who’s working continuously at the desk and has an ear for it. There’s always someone around who can help you out in the studio. Even if you’re just renting the studio without an engineer we’re going to provide you with permanent assistance all day long and all night long.”

Müller and Muggli just had B-Real (Cypress Hill) and Xzibit in the studio and Wu-Tang Clan last summer. “It happens quite a lot that a big selling artist is joining in because they are touring in Europe,” says Müller. “If they are in Switzerland and they need a studio to continue working we can provide the services, the studios, and the workflow. www.powerplaystudio.ch www.audiomedia.com

May 2014 29

FEATURE STUDIO

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In the Power Seat Moving through the ranks from studio runner to engineer, Powerplay Studio’s chief engineer Reto Muggli runs us through his day-to-day of capturing the sounds of some of the world’s biggest musicians.

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s the ‘technical brain’ of Switzerland-based Powerplay Studios (read our full studio review on page 28), Reto Muggli is responsible for being the go-to man on almost all of the studio’s sessions, which in the last few years has included artists ranging from Prince to Wu-Tang Clan.

Reto began his career at Powerplay in 1988 and in 2004 branched out into the world of live sound by working on shows at a club in Zurich. In 2007 he moved to LA and worked on tracks for Frank Ocean, Matt Goss, Coolio, Claire Fisher, and Ya Boy. A year later he was back at Powerplay, taking over studios A, C, and D, with a partner. In 2013, along with now studio manager Christian Müller, they began to restore the studio to its former glory.

Now, with the studio back in full swing, Reto gives us insight into his process and techniques…

You’ve had quite the range of artists through the doors at Powerplay in the last few years, where do you start when you’re working with an artist?

First of all, I try to make the artist feel like they’re at home in the studio. This is half of the business. Then we talk a lot about the sound and feeling and try to figure out their/our common goal, asking where could the journey end? I never push an artist or give them a feeling of hurry. If something doesn’t work, we’ll skip it for tomorrow. The artist defines the speed of the session – I just help to keep the time frame (the budget) in mind.

What’s the first step when you’re setting up your vocal chain?

I start by placing about six different mics that I think might fit the artist’s style. Then we test the mics with the same chorus part making sure to maintain the same energy before doing a blind test.

After a decision has been made for one or sometimes two mics, I’ll get the artist to also sing some verses while 30 May 2014

Reto Muggli (left) with studio manager Christian Müller

we try some compressors – outboard ones, no plug-ins. The ones we like, we choose. I always use a pure channel, however, without EQ or any effects for sure.

Do you have an ideal gear setup for recording vocals?

My personal favourite set-up would have to be a U47 feti through the Studer preamps in our customised SSL board (on channels 1–39), and a Tube Tech compressor CL1A direct to either tape or Pro Tools.

You’ve worked with a number of rap artists from Wu-Tang Clan to most recently, Xzibit and B Real, what are some of the technical considerations when recording a rapper?

Normally I’ll start with a U47 feti because we don’t have any time to play around with the setup (it has to work right away for sure!). Such sessions are always busy because of the crowd they bring in so it is important to have a relaxed and smooth environment going on in the session. The artists normally don’t like to talk about technical issues – they just want to flow.

For gear, I use just the SSL internal compressor to have control about the peaks. Sometimes they want to have a bit of delay and reverb – mostly slap-delay – and I prefer to use the

EMT140 plate (the real ones not the plug-in version).

How is that different to when you’re working with a more traditional singer?

First, you have to move the mic stand quite a lot – up and down – because of the different rappers. Writing and recording often takes place at the same time so there is a longer writing period and then the recording is done quite fast. Melody- and harmony-wise a rapper has a lot more freedom than a traditional singer so as the engineer you have to listen deeper into timing and flow (because the melody is so personal and not related to chords and tuning like with a traditional singer).

Let’s talk about your session with the Wu-Tang Clan, what project were they working on?

We were doing pre-production for the 20th Anniversary album during their tour in Europe. They always came in around 8pm and left the studio at 10am.

What was the vocal chain setup? Did it vary from member to member? Were there any challenges or special technical skills you had to rely on during the sessions?

It was pretty much the same set-up as I described above. When you are

dealing with six to eight rappers in the same session you have to be safe with the set-up – no technical problems are welcome at all.

When I mix I prefer to mix down to 0.5in tape to get some ‘bum’ in the low end and to have a real compact sound instead of using just the master compressor.

What was the atmosphere like during the sessions?

When we started the session RZA said to me ‘Please, stop working so fast!’

After that we all settled down and had some relaxed hours together. Wu-Tang is one of my favourite crews and I was so pleased to work with them.

Lastly, do you have any studio techniques that are unique or personal to you?

I think I’m not the only one, but I love to use the old Dolby 361 as an effect on snare or HH, which gives a nice colour in the high frequencies. I also use Space Echo on every song.

Drum recording is my passion and I definitely use more then eight tracks. I could go up to 32, which has been my limit so far (I’ll try to break it next time). If the song calls for stereo mic’ing I love to do so as well.

Acoustic guitar is always mic’ed with a Neumann SM69, 90º stereo, 40cm from the body. www.audiomedia.com

TECHNOLOGY FOCUS STUDIO MICROPHONES

Expert Witness TheMicStore’s Matt Lawless discusses the importance of studio microphones and takes a look at some of the most compelling options on the market today.

W

e all knew it would happen; it was just a matter of when.

Growing up through the 80s and salivating over a Neumann U87 or AKG C414 to record with, these industry heavyweights stood out like a shining beacon in an industry dominated by just a handful of post-Cold War era microphone manufacturers.

Fast-forward 30 years and the landscape looks very different. Yes, those same standard-bearers remain, but lower manufacturing costs have shaken things up never to go back.

Yet, in an audio world dominated by LEDs and plug-ins, with microphones, craft wins over newness. Microphone choice remains a deeply personal thing, and rightly so: without them, unless you are producing the next Jean Michel Jarre protégé, everything starts with a microphone. Get this choice wrong and you can forget the rest.

So let’s start by isolating some of the different types available and a few options of each.

The vast majority of studio microphones are known as condenser microphones. These mics have a diaphragm (think of this as the equivalent of your ear) that is made from a very thin layer of metal, which picks up sound waves hitting the surface. It is this lightweight diaphragm that makes a condenser mic able to capture nuances when recording.

We further break down condenser mics into three areas: large-diaphragm condensers (or LDCs) primarily used for solo voice and instruments; smalldiaphragm condensers (or SDCs) for general instrumental recording; and tube condensers, which use a valve within their construction.

Large-diaphragm condenser microphones are usually addressed from the side, and represent the iconic studio-recording mic. They are mostly used for vocal recordings, but not exclusively. Owing to a phenomenon known as proximity effect, which causes lower frequencies to be accentuated as the sound source gets closer, LDCs can appear to colour

32 May 2014

Matt Lawless the sound. This is why they are used mostly on solo vocals and instruments that need to cut through the mix.

With so many models on the market, it can be daunting to choose the right one. Here’s some you may want to consider…

The MXL 2003A is an excellent entry-level vocal option but is slightly noisy owing to its lower-grade components. Next up is the AudioTechnica AT4040SM. This model is an excellent all-rounder although its accuracy can feel slightly clinical at times. For greater accuracy and versatility, the 9-pattern AKG C414B XLS is hard to beat for instrumental use. Vocalists may prefer the XLII version, however, due to its built-in presence lift. Arguably the best vocal mic on the market is the Neumann U 87 Ai. Its noticeable presence lift leads to an iconic sound response favoured by many engineers.

Small-diaphragm condenser microphones by comparison, are usually end-addressed. Their diaphragm is normally less than 0.5in in diameter and importantly does not suffer from proximity issues.

This makes SDCs perfect for general instrumental recordings as they will more faithfully reproduce the sound of the subject. These mics are also regularly used as a stereo pair for ensemble recordings. Here are some models to consider...

The Sontronics STC1 is a stunning example of British design, offering unbelievable quality at a level of affordability thanks to low-cost Chinese manufacturing, while the

RØDE NT55 has a lower noise floor through higher-quality manufacturing.

Both offer the advantage of interchangeable capsules.

With its low noise and near-perfect pickup characteristics, the Earthworks SR25 is highly accurate and built to last. Top of the tree is DPA’s 4006A. It’s the most accurate SDC we’ve come across with an unmatched level of detail and accuracy.

Tube condenser microphones arguably fit within the two above categories, given that the only change is a valve placed within the signal chain. You should be aware however that this will add three things: warmth to the tonal response; noise to the signal path; and cost! Most engineers would consider these optional rather than your main recording mic.

For buyers looking to add warmth to their recordings on a budget, the RØDE K2 is the least noisy of the entry-level models. Stepping up a level you can get the Lewitt LCT940. It’s the newest tube mic in this category but is already winning awards for its capability, sound quality, and versatility.

US manufacturer Blue offers the Blue Bottle – a personal favourite – providing the option to change capsules for different applications. It’s the ultimate valve workhorse. But if you just need the best-quality valve mic, the Brauner VMA manages to retain low-noise and accuracy. Beware though this does come at a price!

No discussion on studio microphones would be complete without at least mentioning the two other primary mic types: dynamic and ribbon.

Dynamic microphones are most often associated with on-stage use due to their rugged build quality. This does not, however, prevent them from

being used in the studio. Guitar cabs, percussion, brass/wind, and even vocals can benefit from using a dynamic mic. While they are less sensitive, sometimes the sense of urgency a dynamic can capture is just what is required. Models worthy of note here include the Sennheiser MD441, Electrovoice RE20, or Shure SM7B. Ribbon microphones have a unique construction type resulting in a smoothness unparalleled by any other type. Think luscious 1950s Hollywood strings, or crooning vocals. Here are a few of our favourites.

The Avantone CR14 must be the best budget ribbon mic, period. It manages to include a very usable shockmount and carry case, but you may need a preamp to amplify the output. Next up is the Audio-Technica AT4080. It’s a high-quality ribbon mic with active circuitry, which helps to reduce noise and provide a higher output. If you’re after clear results and an open, detailed sound, the Sontronics Sigma is hard to beat. Its unique design looks great and sounds amazing on brass and strings. Our premium choice here though, almost in a category of its own, is the sE Electronics RNR1. It is unusually accurate for a ribbon mic while retaining smooth characteristics. It really is the best on the market.

Finally, I should mention a couple of models that don’t neatly fall into any of the above categories: DPA miniatures such as the IMK4060 kit can solve a wealth of problems getting a mic in exactly the right spot, and don’t forget a boundary mic for ambience recording such as the AKG CBL99. As with any of the above, your own experimentation will ultimately guide you.

Expert witness Matt Lawless is co-owner at TheMicStore, a specialist UK retailer of microphone solutions. Offering a consultative approach, they work with professional end-users on projects as varied as school performance areas, audio for video, broadcasting, and voting systems for council chambers. www.themicstore.co.uk

www.audiomedia.com

TECHNOLOGY FOCUS

Studio Microphones Cardioid condenser, ribbon, or large diaphragm? These are just some of the considerations when looking for the perfect studio mic. We take a look at the speciďŹ c qualities of the market’s latest offerings.

AUDIO-TECHNICA

BLUE MICROPHONES

AT4060A

Audio-Technica’s AT4060a is a tube-powered cardioid condenser mic (originally released in the late 1990s and now back by popular demand) with a warm, round vintage tone. Coupled to its high SPL capabilities, it is capable of capturing everything from the subtlest nuances of vocal and instrumental performances to high-powered guitar cabinets. The new version of the mic also beneďŹ ts from a newly designed power supply unit (AT8560), engineered for improved performance and lower noise.

BOTTLE ROCKET STAGE ONE

Bottle Rocket Stage One is Blue’s versatile solid-state studio microphone in the Interchangeable Capsule Series.

Featuring a transformer-less Class A discrete ampliďŹ er circuit, Bottle Rocket Stage One ensures crystal clear sound quality and excellent detail for a wide range of recording applications.

The Stage One ships with the versatile B8 capsule, but features a bayonet-mount design for use with any of Blue’s nine interchangeable capsules.

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AUDIX SCX25A

The Audix SCX25A is a studio condenser microphone with an elegant design and a capsule suspension system. Shock-mounted in a machined brass ring, the capsule is completely isolated from the mic body and electronics. By minimising acoustic reections and diffractions, the SCX25A delivers a pure, open-air sound with detail and realism. Ŕ 1SFNJVN MBSHF EJBQISBHN TUVEJP NJDSPQIPOF GPS TUVEJP BOE MJWF TPVOE Ŕ %FMJWFST QVSF PQFO BJS SFTQPOTF BOE TPVOE RVBMJUZ Ŕ 6TFE GPS PWFSIFBET QJBOP WPDBMT BOE BDPVTUJD JOTUSVNFOUT Ŕ 4IPDL NPVOUFE DBQTVMF TVTQFOTJPO TZTUFN Ŕ "WBJMBCMF BT TJOHMF NBUDIFE QBJS BOE QJBOP NJDJOH TZTUFN www.audixusa.com

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DPA MICROPHONES

4006A OMNI

EARTHWORKS

QTC40

There’s no plug-in for clean sound, so start with the right tool in your arsenal that gives you ultimate control over sculpting your recording. With its 9Hz-40kHz at frequency response, near-perfect polar response, and ultra-fast impulse response, the Earthworks QTC40 provides a true representation of sonic events as they happen in the air. Ŕ &YUFOEFE MJOFBS GSFF ţ FME GSFRVFODZ SFTQPOTF GSPN )[ UP L)[ Ŕ /FBS QFSGFDU PNOJ EJSFDUJPOBM QPMBS SFTQPOTF Ŕ )BOEMFT TPVOE MFWFMT VQ UP E# XJUI OP QSPYJNJUZ FŢ FDU Ŕ *NQVMTF HPFT GSPN [FSP UP GVMM TJHOBM BOE CBDL UP SFTUJOH TUBUF JO NJDSPTFDPOET Ŕ $BQUVSFT TJHOBM SJDI JO USBOTJFOU QFBLT XJUIPVU OPJTF EVF UP EJTUPSUJPO Ŕ 1IBTF BOE UJNF DPIFSFOU www.earthworksaudio.com 34 May 2014

The d:dicate 4006A Omni is one of the most versatile microphones in the company’s d:dicate recording microphone range. The 4006A Omni is able to pick up detail and depth of sound across a wide range of instruments.

Said to be ideal for A-B stereo pairs for symphonic concert hall recordings, the 4006A also excels on vocals and close mic’ing situations, especially when recording grand piano, guitar, double bass, and percussion. Ŕ 0NOJ EJSFDUJPOBM BOE XJUI B QSF QPMBSJTFE DPOEFOTFS Ŕ $MFBO OBUVSBM BOE QSFDJTF TPVOE SFQSPEVDUJPO Ŕ " GSFRVFODZ SBOHF PG )[ UP L)[ m E# Ŕ "WBJMBCMF XJUI B SBOHF PG BDDFTTPSJFT JODMVEJOH OPTF DPOFT BOE HSJET Ŕ $BO CF TVQQMJFE BT B NBUDIFE TUFSFP QBJS BOE TVSSPVOE LJU www.dpamicrophones.com

www.audiomedia.com

TECHNOLOGY FOCUS

MANLEY

LEWITT

REFERENCE GOLD

LCT 550

Thanks to its 0dB-A self-noise caused by electronics and circuitry (3dB-A according to IEC 60268-1 due to Brownian motion) the LCT 550 large-diaphragm studio microphone is able to capture even extremely weak signals with precision and detail. Manufacturing tolerances have been minimised thanks to highly precise calibration of the capsule and the electronics – which means that any two LCT 550s will always form a matched pair at +/-0dB.

Both artists and engineers around the world have acclaimed Manley Labs’ Reference Gold multi-pattern microphone. High build quality with many proprietary components has resulted in a mic with superb natural sounding characteristics. One of the ‘go-to’ mics when getting the vocal just right is critical.

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www.audiomedia.com

NEUMANN

TLM 107

Multi-faceted versatility, no-compromise sound, and innovative operation: with ďŹ ve directional characteristics and a novel operating concept, the TLM 107 provides sound without any coloration. Ĺ” .VMUJ QBUUFSO MBSHF EJBQISBHN NJDSPQIPOF Ĺ” 'JWF QPMBS QBUUFSOT Ĺ” /BWJHBUJPO TXJUDI XJUI -&%T QPMBS QBUUFSO 1"% MPX DVU

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May 2014 35

TECHNOLOGY FOCUS

RĂ˜DE MICROPHONES SE ELECTRONICS

NT1

SE X1 USB

With a 24-bit, 192kHz performance in a USB mic, the sE Electronics X1 USB combines the sound, performance, and handcrafted quality of the sE X1 model with the convenience and portability of ultra-high-quality USB technology. The result? A professional studio condenser microphone that you can use almost anywhere and achieve professional results. Optional accessories for the X1 USB include the new Isolation Pack custom shock-mount and pop-shield set as well as the sE Reexion Filter range.

The NT1 is a new vintage-voiced cardioid studio microphone made in Sydney by Australian microphone designer and manufacturer RĂ˜DE. Similar only in shape to the company’s NT1-A, it features lower-noise electronics and is the ďŹ rst outing of its smooth, classic sounding new HF6 capsule.

The NT1 is supplied with a dust cover, available either as a kit with a new SMR Rycote shockmount, or with RM2 clip.

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www.rodemic.com

SHURE

KSM44A

SENNHEISER

The Shure KSM44A is a new version of the KSM44 microphone, and includes Prethos Advanced PreamplďŹ er Technology for a threshold minimum of self-noise (with just 4dB of self-noise). As a multi-pattern condenser microphone, it is designed for a wide variety of applications.

MK 8

The MK 8 is a reďŹ ned tool for the recording engineer seeking added control options. The true condenser, double-diaphragm MK 8 features ďŹ ve selectable polar patterns (omni-directional, wide cardioid, cardioid, super-cardioid, ďŹ gure-of-eight) to optimally adapt to the recording situation at hand, and is ďŹ tted with a low cut/roll-off ďŹ lter and pad switch. The MK 8 comes complete with a microphone clip and a protective pouch.

Optional accessories include an elastic suspension, a foam windshield, a popshield and a hardcase. The microphone will be available from late summer. Ŕ JO EJBQISBHNT TQBUUFSFE XJUI DBSBU HPME Ŕ &MBTUJDBMMZ NPVOUFE DBQTVMF UP SFEVDF TUSVDUVSF CPSOF OPJTF Ŕ 5ISFF QPTJUJPO TXJUDIBCMF ţ MUFS Ŕ 4XJUDIBCMF QBE PŢ E# E#

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36 May 2014

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SONTRONICS

ARIA

This cardioid condenser with a hand-picked European 12AX7 vacuum tube has been developed with the help of several Abbey Road engineers, and is already being compared to vintage valve mics costing many times more. ARIA is designed to give silky smooth results on sung and spoken vocals, as well as on piano and cello.

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www.audiomedia.com

TECHNOLOGY FOCUS

SCHOEPS

TELEFUNKEN

V4

ELA M 250/251

The V4 is the studio vocal mic by Schoeps, which unites the technical characteristics typical of the manufacturer with a classic design. The look of the V4 is based on the Schoeps CM 51/3 from 1951 but the V4 is a thoroughly modern studio microphone. Its capsule, circuitry, and mechanical construction are the result of extensive new development. ล 4UVEJP WPDBM NJDSPQIPOF ล /FX TNBMM EJBQISBHN

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www.audiomedia.com

Vintage ELA M 250/251 [both โ Eโ and โ non Eโ ] microphones have become rare and highly sought after, commanding tens of thousands of dollars on the vintage market.

The manufacturer says the Telefunken Elektroakustik recreations exemplify the best qualities of the best examples of these legendary beasts, and while more expensive than most modern microphones, they are true to the heritage of their 40+ year-old brethren. ล 5FMFGVOLFO / 0 4 "$ UVCF ล 5FMFGVOLFO $, JO EVBM TJEFE HPME TQVUUFSFE NFNCSBOF ล $BSEJPJE PNOJ ลฃHVSF FJHIU QPMBS QBUUFSOT ล $PNQMFUF XJUI MPDLJOH TVJUDBTF TXJWFM NPVOU WJOUBHF TQFD QPXFS TVQQMZ BOE XPPEFO NJDSPQIPOF DBTF www.telefunken-elektroakustik.com

May 2014 37

TECHNOLOGY REVIEW

Prism Sound Titan and Lyra 2 USB AUDIO INTERFACES

Simon Allen tests two of Prism Sound’s latest releases and finds them powerful, clean, and futureproof.

W

henever Prism Sound releases a new product it’s taken very seriously and recently, the company has launched a trio of interfaces to expand the well-known Orpheus family.

I was given the opportunity to try out two of these new interfaces – Lyra 2 and Titan – and having used an Orpheus before, I was keen to see how these units compared.

OVERVIEW Lyra is the smallest unit Prism offers and has exactly the same look and feel as the Orpheus. Like Orpheus, it is 1U in height, but is only just over half a rack-slot in width. Even though it has optional ears for rack mounting it is clearly intended for desktop use in smaller facilities. Using the same front panel controls, alongside the colourful metering display and nameplate, Lyra looks like a shrunken Orpheus.

There are actually two versions of Lyra available, imaginatively named Lyra 1 and Lyra 2. Both use exactly the same converters, preamps, and clocking as their wellrespected big brother, Orpheus.

The primary goal with Lyra’s release is to provide the same high level of A-D/D-A conversion and clean Prism mic preamps in a more affordable and accessible unit.

The most significant change, opening up new markets for Lyra, is the USB interface.

This can be connected to either a USB 2.0 socket, or USB 3.0. Neither Lyra 1 nor 2 can be bus powered however, and both contain their own power supply.

The differences between Lyra 1 and Lyra 2 are simply

38 May 2014

their I/O capabilities and consequently their pricing points. Lyra 1 appropriately offers one electronically controlled mic preamp with XLR phantom mic connectivity or jack instrument input, one stereo pair line inputs and one stereo pair line outputs. Lyra 2, however, gives you two mic preamps with two instrument inputs, a stereo pair of line inputs and two stereo pairs of line outputs.

Both versions also have digital connectivity with an optical TOSLINK stereo connection. Lyra 2 takes this one step further with the optical port also capable of ADAT. Additionally there are SPDIF connections, which give you AES connectivity via a supplied XLR converter.

Lyra 2 also comes equipped

done away with the combined XLR and TRS connections so that you are able to have multiple devices connected permanently to your interface, which then just electronically switch, rather than always messing around with cables.

Titan, which is in many respects an updated Orpheus, is the first interface to receive a facelift. Still retaining the classic format and layout of Orpheus, the new lacquer finish on Titan is simply stunning. You get an instant impression that this is a refinement of Orpheus the moment you look at it with its sparkly champagne finish.

Titan is also the same size as Orpheus taking up just 1U in a 19in rack.

Titan’s I/O is very similar to Orpheus, offering eight analogue line inputs and

DEVELOPMENTS So I’ve mentioned that Lyra units have USB connectivity, but this is the new selling point for Titan too, as it is now also hooked-up via USB. It has been possible for Prism to move away from the security of FireWire as used on Orpheus thanks to its new ARM processor core.

This is a huge development, as the market is now much wider with USB being both more readily available and hopefully futureproof. Couple this with the control software able to run on both Windows and Mac across a huge range of operating systems and not many of us will find it hard to get set-up. I certainly didn’t, in fact I can’t report any running or set-up issues, provided I was using a computer with the correct specification.

The next most significant development with Titan is its new MDIO expansion slot.

The L y ra is

with an AVB Ethernet port, which is unavailable via the current version of software but clearly Prism has developments in progress. The only other connections, found only on Lyra 2, are wordclock BNC connections for external syncing and making best usage of the famous CleverClox DPLL clock, lifted straight from Orpheus.

A slight change to the physical layout of the inputs on Lyra compared to Orpheus however, is that they have

outputs with four of the inputs doubling up with Prism’s excellent mic pres. Two of the inputs also offer separate instrument inputs accessed from the front panel. Full digital I/O is available as found on Lyra 2 including that interesting AVB port for future firmware developments.

the sm

offer only a Pro Tools HDX expansion card or eight-way AES card. This is a really neat way for Pro Tools users to incorporate the Prism interface on the host side, within the DAW. Prism has also responded to feedback regarding the Orpheus product on a few notable points, which apply to both Lyra and Titan.

Firstly, there is now a -20dB pad on the mic preamps, as users of Orpheus found the mic pres to be very sensitive and therefore it was difficult when working with loud sources. The headphone output amplifiers have been given some more power to boost performance. The main volume encoder knob, which can be programmed to control any of the outputs, now supports the push switch movement to activate the relative output mute.

The control software, which accesses its own internal digital low-latency mixer, now allest

unit o

ffered

by Pr is

m So

Here, users can optionally specify an expansion card, of which, I believe, we could see many more variants available, but currently they www.audiomedia.com

und

TECHNOLOGY REVIEW includes the ADAT channels in the mixers capabilities. As with Orpheus, in addition to configuration settings and gain control of mic preamps via the control software, users can also create separate mixes from any of the inputs (including the DAW) to any output (including the headphones), for low-latency tracking and overdubbing.

PRECISION AUDIO Let’s be clear: these are two great new solutions for interfacing, with some refinement upon what is already a highly respected product. But why buy Prism when, let’s be honest, there are so many others to choose from and these carry a heavy price tag? The answer is audible.

Any DAW or system will only ever be as good as its clock source and then consequently its A-D/D-A converters. These are the two primary considerations that make up the backbone of quality in any modern studio. Prism built its name with, what many consider to be, unsurpassed clocking and A-D/D-A converters, which the Orpheus reputation carries. Lyra and Titan have exactly the same clocks and converters and you can hear it. I carried out a listening test against my preferred mixing facility, Woodbury Studios’ Lynx I/O, which I rate highly.

I was not surprised when I enjoyed the result, as they were very close and if there was any difference, the Prism interfaces were just slightly less coloured and more natural. Importantly,

Titan feat

ures a new

MDIO ex

pansion sl

ot

“[Lyra and Titan are] easy to set up and conďŹ gure, and will reliably keep your audio locked and synced.â€?

Simon Allen I could not tell any difference between Titan and its little brother, Lyra.

The Prism interfaces carry other digital benefits, which shouldn’t be overlooked in any professional environment.

Prism has some of the best results when it comes to sampling and interface jitter.

These interfaces can even handle external jittery clocks with ultra-fast lock-up and regeneration clocking. Other powerful uses are sample rate conversion and noise shaping on any digital output.

Therefore, within a 96kHz session, for example, you can provide a 44.1kHz output with high-quality bit depth reductions. All this, and the latency for these interfaces is remarkably low.

and clock source should never be overlooked as we all strive for transparent, true representation. Prism’s tried and tested pedigree converters are now here, beautifully managed, from within these more accessible solutions.

I also believe that interfaces should be something that once in place, should never interfere with workflow and

both the Lyra and Titan do exactly that. They’re easy to set up and will reliably keep your audio locked and synced.

I love Prism’s ‘no fuss’ attitude,

and praise these fan-less audio ‘rocks’ which are fit for any professional, but don’t expect to pick up these Rolls-Royce’s of interfaces for a bargain. „

The Reviewer Simon Allen is a full-time sound engineer and record producer.

After a stint as senior engineer at City Studios in Cyprus where he headed up the new music studio, he can now mostly be found at Woodbury Studios in Hertfordshire.

CONCLUSION Sound is a journey. Each step in an analogue chain for example, has an impact on the sound and this is also the case when entering and leaving the digital domain. Therefore, your choice of converters

INFORMATION Feature Set Lyra 2 Ĺ” 5XP IJHI FOE JOUFHSBUFE NJD QSFBNQT Ĺ” 4BNF BOBMPHVF GSPOU BOE CBDL FOET BT 0SQIFVT Ĺ” 331 b FY 7"5

5JUBO Ĺ” &JHIU BOBMPHVF BOE VQ UP EJHJUBM JOQVU DIBOOFMT Ĺ” .VMUJDIBOOFM %JHJUBM * 0 .%*0 FYQBOTJPO QPSU Ĺ” 331 b FY 7"5

www.prismsound.com

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May 2014 39

TECHNOLOGY REVIEW

Schoeps V4 CARDIOID VOCAL MIC

The V4 is a secret weapon in any good engineer’s arsenal of microphones, writes Andrew Graeme.

I

have always taken the view that good microphones are an engineer’s secret weapons. If that is true, then the V4 from Schoeps is a very effective weapon indeed!

The V4 is based around a Schoeps design from the early 50s and a valve/tube mic called the CM51. Back then it was considered to be modern and daring – today, I suppose you would have to call it retro!

Despite looking like a LDC, it stays true to the Schoeps tradition of using a small diaphragm but set in a larger internal 33mm housing to give it a warm proximity effect.

This is a new development by Schoeps to combine this effect with the advantages of a small diaphragm.

The microphone is beautifully finished and comes in a wooden box; it is available with an optional made-to-measure cradle from Rycote as part of its USM series. The top capsule is not removable, but can be tilted back and forth by 20°.

FOUR YEARS OF DEVELOPMENT According to Schoeps, the V4 is the result of four years of R&D, not only into the new capsule, but also the internal transformer-less electronics, including an 18dB/octave HP filter below 40Hz to prevent pops and other low-frequency nastiness.

Schoeps is particularly proud of the precisely matched and balanced electronics. I can remember speaking to company founder Dr Karl Schoeps back in the 80s and even then he stressed the importance of perfectly balanced electronics for distortion-free reproduction.

40 May 2014

AT THE ROCK-FACE The V4 is advertised as a cardioid vocal mic, so the first thing I tried it on was drums and then later on acoustic guitar and piano. As an overhead it sounded smooth and even. Placed on high-hat it had a surprisingly silky sound that allowed for plenty of EQ on mix-down without the edgy sound one can get from some SDCs. But it was on acoustic guitar and piano that it really came into its own. On both, it sounded rich and full with a pleasingly complex top end with plenty of overtones.

For vocals and drums the V4 did not get a nosebleed with extremely loud noises. It was quite happy to be placed at snare-top, or to be screamed into by the local rock ’n’ roll wannabees, or yodelled at by a classical soprano going at full welly!

On vocals the sound had a certain hi-fi quality that gave one the impression that the voice was closer than the speakers. The proximity effect was smooth and even. If the singer moved off base there was no discernible change in characteristic, and on mixdown we could not tell if the singer had shifted to the side.

In the vocal booth turning the mic to face the other way gave an overall drop in level of -18dB. On vocals, we set up the V4 together with an AKG C414 BTLII and a Neumann M149 and I would place the overall sound at somewhere between these two. It was not as open and sensitive to room sound as the valve mic, but nowhere nearly as tight and dry as the 414. It was also noticeably less prone to sibilance problems, though, like the M149 and

the U87, it does not like being blown or ‘popped’ at and a pop-filter has to be used.

IN THE LAB The frequency response of this microphone is very linear!

Between 100Hz and 4.5kHz I measured just 0.5dB deviation – which could just as easily come from measurement error than the mic itself. There is a slight presence peak of a couple of dB at around 5kHz and it is pretty much linear up to 22kHz. The frequency response drops off smoothly after that and I was still able to measure useful response up to 30kHz. When testing some mics and LDCs in particular, I usually find that, although they can have useful response up to 25kHz and higher, the drop-off does not come smoothly. There are, so to speak, ‘holes’ in the response that can lead to a lack of transparency for some instruments. Even some of the more expensive microphones can have certain frequencies in the mid-range where distortion or dampening sets in. These aberrations lead to what some might call character and make other users hate them. No such holes or distortions exist with the V4. As the sig-gen climbed, the oscilloscope showed a constant sine wave that dropped evenly and smoothly between 20kHz and 30kHz. There was no sign of the microphone doing anything other than faithfully reproducing all sounds coming its way.

One of the more startling aspects of the V4 is the off-axis response. At a 90°

angle it is a few decibels down, but is, within a decibel or two, almost as linear as the on-axis response, which explained why we did not hear any difference when a singer moved to one side.

CONCLUSIONS Dr Karl would have been proud! The V4 proves that there is place for new ideas in the SDC market. The concept of a SDC mic for vocals, but with a smooth and warm proximity effect, combined with the extreme fidelity of a Schoeps small diaphragm capsule that can also take on most other tasks in the studio, I find most appealing.

The price of the V4 places it eyeball-to-eyeball with a whole range of first-class mics from the likes of Neumann, Brauner, and many others.

The V4 is different, in that

it has a small diaphragm and that brings with it the advantages of low distortion, lack of coloration, and smooth off-axis frequency response.

The full bottom end also shows that SDCs are perfectly capable of reproducing low-frequency sounds without difficulty.

With everybody and their mothers-in-law crowding into the LDC market (some with rather doubtful products) it is refreshing to see a company with Schoeps’ pedigree producing an SDC mic that is not only of such absolute quality, but is also just that little important bit different that could make it one of your secret weapons! „

The Reviewer Andrew Graeme has been in the audio business since he was 16. He began his ďŹ rst studio, music shop, and PA company in Germany in 1979 and continues to have business interests in Germany while running The Byre recording studio in the Scottish Highlands.

INFORMATION Feature Set Ŕ /FX TNBMM EJBQISBHN DBQTVMF BSDIJUFDUVSF XJUI beveled collar for controlling the polar response Ŕ 0QUJNBM PO BYJT GSFRVFODZ SFTQPOTF Ŕ 8BSN DMFBS TPOJD DIBSBDUFS XJUI TNPPUIMZ SPMMFE PŢ EJŢVTF ţFME SFTQPOTF Ŕ )[ L)[ GSFRVFODZ SBOHF Ŕ 'SPN Ś www.schoeps.de

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TECHNOLOGY REVIEW

Genelec 8010 STUDIO MONITORS

Jerry Ibbotson tests the latest offering from Genelec and ďŹ nds that sometimes big sound can come from a small package.

I

t’s not every day I start a review by mentioning waxy deposits but the day the Genelec 8010s arrived at my door I’d gone temporarily deaf in one ear. Not the best start to a test of some new monitors, especially ones as small and neat as these.

They’re among the smallest speakers in the Genelec stable and, in keeping with the horsey metaphor, are like Shetland ponies to the stallions further up the range.

You get a clue to their diminutive stature when you unpack them, an experience that combines pass the parcel with playing with Russian stacking dolls. From courier crate to main box to individual packaging, they just get smaller and smaller.

What you end up with are two speakers that each fit in the palm of one hand.

They have the same solid construction that goes with all Genelec speakers but are an awful lot smaller. I’ve owned a set of 8020s for years and love them to bits but even they look big compared to the newcomers.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS The 8010s are capable of pumping out 96dB and have a 25W 3in woofer and 25W 0.75in tweeter. The overall frequency response is 74Hz to 20kHz and each speaker has an XLR input. Oh, and they weigh 1.5kg.

The front fascia of each unit is devoid of controls.

The on/off button is round the back and there’s no volume dial – that job is left to the input device. There is Intelligent Signal Sensing (ISS), which puts the speakers into sleep mode if an audio 42 May 2014

signal is missing for a while (automatically powering the 8010s back up when a fresh signal is received).

Around the back is a set of dipswitches, accessible with a jewellers’ screwdriver or similar. These control disabling the ISS, dipping the output volume by 10dB, a -2dB and -4dB bass tilt, and a Desktop Control. The latter compensates for the monitors being put on a desk by attenuating bass frequencies by 4dB at 200Hz. Finally, on the base of each 8010 are Genelec’s Iso-Pod adjustable rubber feet.

Technical blurb can only tell you so much with speakers of this size. The laws of physics dictate that they should be embarrassed by bigger monitors. But is that the case in practice?

IN USE I unplugged my 8020s and dropped the 8010s into place, hooked up to my Focusrite Scarlett audio device and a Windows laptop. To me, this would be a typical set up for the baby ‘Gennies’ – compact and capable of being stuffed in a bag.

Thankfully a visit to a nurse with a clever aural-jetwashing-machine had cured my ear blockage and I started by playing a bit of music I often use for a test of this kind. I know these aren’t hi-fi speakers but I like to have a benchmark and in this case it’s a bit of old school metal: AC/DC’s Back in Black.

Pardon me for a moment while I stoop to retrieve my jaw from the floor. The sound coming out of the 8010s was‌ wrong. In the sense that speakers this small

should not be pouring out a wave of music this rich and deep. It should be small and poorly defined. It should sound slightly ‘mushy’ in places. It should not sound sharp and detailed and easy to listen to for long periods.

I should not be transported back to the earlier 80s when my big brother first bought the album from Knights record store in Reading.

You get the idea. The 8010s produce sound way beyond their size.

I then moved onto something approaching work: playing back some interview audio that I was editing. I’d been part way through when I’d switched speakers so I already had one experience of what the interviewee sounded like. Once again, the 8010s did not disappoint. I can’t say they didn’t sound ‘different’ to the bigger 8020s but that’s not a criticism. They still reproduced the voice perfectly, down to each breath and swallow.

They even caught perfectly the background noise, which I’d been working on removing through noise reduction.

This was, believe it or not, the subtle trickling of an oxygen tank feeding air to the interviewee (for health reasons). It had seemed rude to ask them to turn it off, so I’d been working on removing it from the recording. The Genelecs reproduced the sound accurately, enabling me to run it through Audition’s Noise Reduction process.

This is the kind of scenario where you’d rather spend more money on speakers than cut corners and be left with something that simply doesn’t let you do the job. I think

the phrase is ‘buy cheap, buy twice’. If you’re going to have small speakers that can fit in your luggage, they still need to be up to the task at hand and, believe me, the 8010s were right on the ball.

CONCLUSION Okay, so these are small speakers. I once tested a pair of Genelec’s brilliant 8250s.

These are true behemoths that wouldn’t even fit on my studio speaker stands. They left me gawping in amazement

at their massive but subtle power and pin-sharp level of details. The 8010s could never compete with them nor are they meant to. But in a small set up, in a confined space, or on the road they are mind blowing. I’ve been to radio stations that use bigger Genelecs virtually everywhere.

They should try a pair of these instead. They are beautifully made and feel like they will last a lifetime. I have to confess I am more than a little bit in love with the 8010s. „

The Reviewer Jerry Ibbotson has worked in pro audio for more than 20 years, ďŹ rst as a BBC radio journalist and then as a sound designer in the games industry. He’s now a freelance audio producer and writer.

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TECHNOLOGY REVIEW

Moog Analog Delay and Moog Ladder 500 SERIES MODULES

Russ Long explores Moog’s foray into the world of 500 series.

I

interact with dozens of pro-audio businesses in my endeavours, and it’s always refreshing when I encounter a company that consistently does things right. Moog is one of those companies.

Both the Analog Delay and the Ladder are beautifully designed, blending a modern look with a classy Moog vibe.

The modules accept signals ranging from -10 to +4dB, making them easy to interface with both pro and consumer gear; a pair of either model can be stereo linked using the included jumper cable.

For this review, I had a pair of each model and, having utilised them both in stereo, I highly recommend getting a pair as their stereo integration adds a whole new layer of sonic manipulability. Both models are equipped with a relay-based and hardwired true bypass. Most importantly, both the Analog Delay and the Ladder have the uncanny ability to infuse life into even the deadest sound.

THE ANALOG DELAY As a standalone unit, the Analog Delay is impressive, though not a jaw dropper.

However, once you implement the plug-in or standalone editor and begin to utilise the additional features it provides, its true power rapidly becomes apparent.

As the name suggests, the Moog 500 Series Analog Delay is a delay with a fully analogue signal path.

It provides up to 800ms of smooth, natural, and warm delay, adding an entirely new musical dimension 44 May 2014

to recording and mixing.

The ability to control the device with Tap Tempo, CV, or MIDI gives the user significant control possibilities and the software editor plug-in provides the same recall and automation flexibility typically only found in plug-ins.

The plug-in provides a selection of various LFO wave shapes including Sine, Triangle, Square, Ramp, Sawtooth, Sample, and Hold, plus Smooth Sample and Hold modulations. There is control over the LFO rate as well as the amount the LFO modulates the delay line.

Tempo sync is added as well as increased control of the modulation settings and delay time. There is even a Slew Rate control that determines the transition time from one delay setting to another and a pull-down menu that selects the behaviour of the CV/Tap input.

Initially, I thought, ‘Why do I need an outboard delay when I mix?’ I have several delay plug-ins that I love and some of them give me an abundance of convincing analogue tonality. Yet after spending time with the Moog I realised that it offers much more than any plug-in can.

It’s both a delay and tonal shaping tool. Using it along with its plug-in provides all of the recallability and automation functionality that’s available in the box but with a true analogue device that can’t be equalled by a digital algorithm.

Over the past three months I’ve run lots of sound sources

through the module and had wonderful results. As is the case with even the best plug-ins, sometimes the module isn’t the right choice; and unlike a plugin, when the Analog Delay works, there’s nothing else that can even come close.

Just using the box to subtly overdrive a lead vocal can be amazing and automating the Drive control for more aggressiveness in the chorus is a wonderful thing. I found the module can translate thin, sterile synth pads into massive sounds that I’d swear were analogue; it can even work wonders on electric guitar and bass.

THE MOOG LADDER The Ladder is based on the classic ladder filter design on which Bob Moog filed a US patent in 1966. It’s arguably the backbone to the classic Moog sound. This Dynamic Transistor Ladder Filter packs the sonic bliss of the original ladder filter into a 500 series module.

As with the Analog Delay, the Ladder can work its magic on virtually any sound source. I’ve implemented it on the same standard audio fare as the Analog Delay and had fabulous results.

After spending so much time utilising the MIDI controls on the Analog Delay, I wish the Ladder had the same MIDI implementation. Since there is no way to automate parameter adjustment, I typically route my source sound through the Ladder onto another track so I can record my performance.

Besides capturing the sound

of the Ladder, it eliminates the need to document any of my settings for recall.

When working with drums, I insert a stereo pair of Ladders into a parallel drum bus and push the Resonance control slightly beyond the point of self-oscillation which adds a powerful dimension to the sound. The module easily transforms a flat, dull bass into the punchiest bass I’ve ever heard and it works

wonders on synths and electric guitar. To convert a mono keyboard into stereo, I’ve had great results multing the mono signal into two stereo-linked Ladders each with slightly different Resonance settings. The resulting stereo image is huge.

Unfortunately, the Ladder is void of CV/gate connectivity; beyond this (and its lack of MIDI), it’s a near perfect device. „

The Reviewer Russ Long is a native of Boulder, Colorado. His credits include the hit singles Kiss Me and There She Goes by Sixpence None The Richer alongside albums by Wilco, Newsboys, Dolly Parton, and Jim Brickman.

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TECHNOLOGY REVIEW

Exponential Audio R2 and PhoenixVerb SURROUND REVERB PLUG-INS

It may be new in the plug-in market but Exponential Audio’s reverbs are already making a name for themselves, writes Mike Aiton.

T

hese two surround reverbs plug-ins (also available in stereo-only versions) are from a brand new company, founded by audio legend Michael Carnes, the man who programmed Lexicon Reverbs from the PCM 90 upwards.

I grew up with a Lexicon 300 and loved its lush sound and post-friendly small room presets, so when I heard these plugs were in development my ears pricked up.

Both reverbs are available in a multiple of flavours, as Mac format (AU, VST, RTAS, and AAX Native) and as Windows 7 upwards (VST, RTAS, and AAX Native).

Both 32- and 64-bit versions are supported using iLok2 authorisation. Sample rates up to 352.8kHz (DSD) can be enjoyed and a plethora of DAWs are supported too.

Best of all, each plug-in is available not only as a big fat juicy surround version with support of all formats up to 7.1, but also as a stereoonly version. The surround versions not only have more channels, but much more extensive control of early reflections and different ways of distributing them, which are vital in post.

SPECIFICATIONS R2 and PhoenixVerb are very different souls. Phoenix is very transparent and naturally vanilla in its character and can suit applications such as classical music or jazz; whereas R2 is more ‘Lexicon like’ with a deliberate character, and can feature a gate (driven by the reverb input) and pitch modulation on its tails, to give a more pronounced flavour.

These reverbs have been designed with a very smart www.audiomedia.com

interface and operational features that make them a total joy.

The CPU efficiency is very impressive and even further helped by its own custom user-controllable dynamic processing where they will shut themselves off to conserve CPU cycles if nothing is happening below a certain user controllable threshold. When presented with a new input signal, they will start up again without missing a sample.

Careful consideration has been given to presets and their use. The surround versions for instance have over 900 presets each (and growing), so Exponential has wisely chosen to bypass the Pro Tools preset user interface and use its own preset manager.

Hardware reverbs have banks, so in the old days you had to remember or randomly find the bank that a preset lived in, but Exponential presets have keywords. A preset can live in many different keywords, so you can find it in multiple ways.

If you get into editing presets you can create your own preset and your own keywords. Grab a hall, edit it, and when you save your new preset you can assign it to various keywords such as Music, Interior, Halls, My Best Kept Secret Reverbs, etc.

One of my favourite features is that auditioning presets is so easy. Clicking anywhere on the plug-in preset manager will make it active, and then pressing the up or down arrow will change the keyword. Once you are in the right keyword area, pressing the left or right arrow will scroll through the presets. How easy is that?

The GUI has also been carefully thought out, and all of the most often used controls such as Mix, Pre Delay, Reverb Time, Early Reflection Level, and their EQ controls are at the front of the GUI. Deep editing is available for other parameters in another panel. It is very clear, logical, and fast to use.

For plug-in control, Eucon is fully supported and for me, as a disciple of the Slate Raven, I am in plug-in heaven, as there is a ‘+’ button that zooms the plug-in GUI to twice normal size (if your display is big enough to allow it). This makes touch control a total joy as my Raven MTi 27in touchscreen is totally filled by the reverb GUI! Another nifty touch is that should you have a problem or need the manual (really?), just click the Exponential icon and you get a new page where you can open the manual, link to the website, or email support. The email will rather handily include a log of the plug-in’s recent activity and version numbers and all the techie stuff (other developers please take note!).

IN USE The use of early reflections in the surround version really shows how much homework has been done by Exponential within the post and surround community. It’s what really separates the wheat from the chaff ! Early reflections can be controlled with the ‘early distribution’ knob and be made to appear in many different planes or locations: 1) In MONO – i.e the same location as the original source, which is great for dialogue and centre channel stuff.

2) In WIDE MONO – the reflections come from the

adjacent channels too. i.e if the origin is in the C channel, the early reflections will also come out from the L and R.

“These reverbs, to my ears, demonstrate their designer’s pedigree and are the best that I have ever heard.�

Mike Aiton 3) In LR – i.e. if the origin is in the C channel, the early reflections will come out of LR front plane.

4) In FB – if the origin is for example in the L channel, the early reflections will come out of L and L’s front to back plane.

5) Full Surround – the early

reflections will come out of all speakers and be much denser. Great for music.

This control applies to the early reflections only and the reverb always comes from all speakers in totally full and natural surround.

CONCLUSION The final analysis for any audio product, and where the final buck stops, is with its sound, so let me start by concluding that these reverbs, to my ears, demonstrate their designer’s pedigree and are the best that I have ever heard. Even better, they have the unique combination of the efficiency, reliability, ease, and depth of sophistication and capability that make them the new gold reference standard for reverberation – in surround or in stereo. „

The Reviewer Mike Aiton was weaned at the BBC. But after breaking free nearly 20 years ago and becoming one of London’s busiest freelance dubbing mixers, he can mostly be found in his Twickenham dubbing suite, mikerophonics. In his spare time he takes therapy for his poor jazz guitar playing and his addiction to skiing and Nikon lenses.

INFORMATION Feature Set Ĺ” %FWFMPQFE CZ .JDIBFM $BSOFT UIF NBO CFIJOE TPNF PG -FYJDPOĹ?T DMBTTJD SFWFSCT Ĺ” *NQSFTTJWF $16 FĹĽDJFODZ XJUI DVTUPN VTFS DPOUSPMBCMF EZOBNJD QSPDFTTJOH Ĺ” 4VSSPVOE BOE 4UFSFP PQUJPOT BWBJMBCMF Ĺ” $MFBO BOE JOUVJUJWF (6* EFTJHO Ĺ” .431 1IPFOJY7FSC Ĺš Ĺš 4UFSFP 4VSSPVOE

3 Ĺš Ĺš 4UFSFP 4VSSPVOE

www.exponentialaudio.com May 2014 45

INTERVIEW

Sign up for your digital AM at www.audiomedia.com

Mr Disruption From humble beginnings as a studio coffee boy to the face and name of one of pro audio’s most pioneering brands, Steven Slate tells Jory MacKay about his life in audio.

I’ve read a few things about how you got started in the industry – playing live and doing session work as well as interning in a studio – but what is the definitive Steven Slate origin story?

I began as a musician who started writing songs and simply needed to record them. My first studio was a cassette four track and an SM57.

When I was closer to 15, I took the train into Manhattan and tracked down some studios and became a coffee boy. I later became an assistant engineer at various studios on the east coast before starting my own studio in a warehouse in Roxbury, Mass.

I became pretty obsessed with recreating the drum sound from Nirvana’s Nevermind album so I studied drums quite extensively and began recording drum samples to a 2in MCI JH-24 Machine. When I moved to Los Angeles in the early 2000s, I handed out the drum samples to famous mixers and producers in the hope that the attention would lead to me getting a job as a protégé. This strategy failed, as they simply demanded that I make them more drum samples and none were interested in me assisting them.

So from there, where did the idea for Slate Pro Audio and Slate Digital come from?

They always start from me being in the studio and saying to myself ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if….’ So in the case of the [Slate Pro Audio] Raven it was: ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if there was a way to increase the efficiency of using the DAW?’ With Slate Digital it was: ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if I could get the sound of a vintage console or tape machine in a plug-in?’ Then once the idea is there, the end game is set, and thus starts the complex cycle of development.

Let’s talk about the Virtual Microphone System – is this product a direct response to the recording industry moving more into the home studio?

46 May 2014

now, in fact. We’ve done blind A/Bs of our plug-ins vs hardware in front of major engineers who have not been able to hear the difference. There is still some nostalgia and glamour connected to hardware but the appeal diminishes when you experience the modern workflow that can be had with virtual processors. In an industry that is seeing the increasing need for speed, cost, collaboration, and recall, it’s a no brainer.

“I like to disrupt, I’m very proud to disrupt but only if how I’m doing it makes people feel better about creating.”

There were a few things that defined the decision, one was simply having access to these microphones and being in the scenario where I can listen to all these great microphones and understand their character and their beauty, but also the lack of a product that can represent those mics now.

Why shouldn’t everyone be allowed to have the sound of these amazing mics?

The other thing that really spurred the decision was I was doing a mic shoot out and I was singing through an [AKG] C12 and then through a [Neumann] U47. What I noticed was that even though I sang the same line through each microphone when I got on the C12 I sang it really smooth and silky and sexy but when I sang through the U47 that brought out all the midrange rasp in my voice – the guts and the balls – and I sung it much more aggressively. I listened and said ‘my god, there’s such a different influence from these two things’, but imagine all the people who don’t get to experience the differences between microphones and the different performances that come out?

The response to the launch seems to be quite two-sided with a lot of people critical that it can accurately model classic mics and pres. Are those valid concerns or just traditionalist prattle?

If you asked me what I thought of the Pyramids in Egypt, I couldn’t tell you. The reason is simple. I’ve never been to Egypt and I’ve not seen the pyramids in person. And the same can be said for the VMS. You can’t judge whether it is an effective tool unless you try it.

The pros that we have demo’d it for, including some of the top engineers at Abbey Road, have been extremely impressed. The technology works and I am certain it will be a massive success that will help many engineers in their creation process.

You said in another interview that people still don’t totally trust plug-ins. Is this something you think will change some day?

Absolutely. We see it happening right

It seems like you’re more than happy to disrupt the current market for studio gear.

You know, disrupt is my favourite word because I want things to be the best for the consumer, for the customer, and if that means disrupting how things usually happen, that’s a good thing. You know, disrupting is what makes the world better.

Everything is improved because of disruption. So yeah, I like to disrupt, I’m very proud to disrupt, but only if how I’m doing it makes people feel better about creating. That to me is my goal.

You’re really good at responding personally to people in online forums. How important is it to be the name and face of the company?

It’s essential. I am extremely fortunate that our industry thrives on communicating on online forums where I can interact with customers and potential customers. Most often I am learning from them. I find it very useful to be able to have that type of communication, and it has greatly aided in our development and growth.

Lastly, anything in the pipeline you can talk about?

We’ve got so many cool things in development that will help people create in new and innovative ways.

The goal is always to help people make art in the most fun and efficient way possible. So that’s a long winded way of saying… no I can’t talk about anything just yet! www.slatedigital.com www.audiomedia.com

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