MIX 534 - June 2021

Composer Lili Haydn ★ Sound On Set: Radios and Comms ★ Rhiannon Giddens’ ‘Calling Me Home’ June 2021 \\ mixonline.com \\ $6.99

>REVIEWED WSDG NIRO SMALL ROOM ACOUSTIC SOFTWARE RADIAL EXTC STEREO REAMP MUSIC PRODUCTION • LIVE SOUND • SOUND FOR PICTURE

Frank London’s

‘Ghetto Songs’

Class Of

2021

21 Stellar Spaces From the World’s Top Studio Designers

06.21 Contents Volume 45, Number 6

8 MUSIC

TECHNOLOGY

8 Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco

33 Tech Spotlight:

Turrisi: ‘They’re Calling Me Home’

BY BARBARA SCHULTZ

12 Frank London’s

‘Ghetto Songs’: Meaning in Music

BY ROBYN FLANS

SPEICAL SECTION 14 Emmy Awards Season 2021: (Presented by Apple TV+)

• Sound for ‘Ted Lasso’: The Roar of the Crowd

• The Anxious, Uneasy Sound of ‘Servant’

DEPARTMENTS 6 From the Editor: Designing for the Future

FEATURES

Acoustic Materials

BY THE MIX EDITORS

34 New Products:

Studio and Live Sound

BY THE MIX EDITORS

36 Review:

REDIacoustics NIRO SmallRoom Acoustic Software

BY BARRY RUDOLPH

40 Review:

Radial Engineering EXTC Stereo Reamp

BY MIKE LEVINE

42 Back Page Blog: A Path Back to

Analog; Please Check Your Kicks

BY MIKE LEVINE AND STEVE LA CERRA

On the Cover: Round Table Recording Company, in the Broad Ripple section of Indianapolis, Ind., was launched this past year by partners Tim Walker and Travis Moore, and chief engineer Corey Miller, and was designed by Jeff Hedback of HD Acoustics.

Photo: B.J. Jensen

16 On the Cover: Class of 2021: The Best New Studios From the World’s Top Studio Designers

BY THE MIX STAFF / BARBARA SCHULTZ

28 ComposerArtist Lili Haydn Finds Her Space

BY LILY MOAYERI

30 Communication on the Set: Zoned Production and Flexible Audio Distribution

BY JENNIFER WALDEN

Mix, Volume 45, Number 6 (ISSN 0164-9957) is published monthly by Future US, Inc., 11 West 42nd Street, 15th Floor, New York, NY 10036. Periodical Postage Paid at New York, NY, and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Mix, PO Box 8518, Lowell, MA 01853. One-year (12 issues) subscription is $35. Canada is $40. All other international is $50. Printed in the USA. Canadian Post Publications Mail agreement No. 40612608. Canada return address: BleuChip International, P.O. Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2.

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Vol. 45 Number 6

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Current From the Editor

Designing for the Future Studio designers have been busy this past year, some of them crazy busy, and I don’t think many expected to be. Last year at this time, when putting together the Class of 2020 issue, we had a wealth of submissions and showcased a wide range of facilities. It was a typical year, even a good year for studio design and build, both commercial and private. But it was also about six weeks into the global shutdown, and the near future looked rather bleak regarding “new studios.”

For studio clients and studio designers alike, uncertainty instantly became part of the daily wakeup call, as projects were immediately put on hold, protocols were put in place, states adopted different rules leading to aggravating red tape, supply chains were interrupted, budgets froze, and warehouses around the world had either been emptied out or were stuck with excess inventory.

Nobody was thinking about new construction, at least not that first month or two. Most people were still learning the intricacies of Zoom vs. Teams vs.

Meet and wondering whether they would need a better camera for the home office, along with a decent set of headphones and maybe a microphone. A larger monitor, too. And definitely premium Wi-Fi. Have to have solid Wi-Fi. Apply for the PPP loan to keep things going. Now try to figure out how this is going to work. How quickly we forget that first month or two.

Then there was an abrupt turn, and while the rest of the workforce was settling in at home, architects, acousticians, contractors, systems integrators, network techs, electricians and all the associated trades were inundated with jobs. Reports started coming out in late Spring that large-scale public and civic projects that had been put on hold—from educational institutions to municipal buildings—were back on. With the public out of the way, it seems, timetables could be accelerated and projects could be fast-tracked. Mix sister publications Sound & Video Contractor and Systems Contractor News have been charting the boom all year long. It doesn’t seem to be slowing down.

At the same time, another of the Future publications, Residential Systems, which covers audio/video integration in the luxury and smart home markets, experienced the same “first-month lull followed by yearlong boom” as its commercial counterpart. The biggest problem right now for audio/video integrators in the high-end home market, it seems, is that they are woefully lacking seasoned techs on the job site.

The surge in demand for connected technologies across audio, video, lighting, home cinema, security, distributed media, even curtains and drapes, is so high right now that it’s the Wild West, with new products and new approaches to existing product integration appearing with nearly every new

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project. There have been boom and bust cycles before in commercial and residential design, but none like this. The synergies between the workplace, wherever that might be, and the home are more intertwined than ever before.

Of course, this interplay between the home (the listening experience) and the office (the studio), has been a part of professional audio for decades, since before Rudy Van Gelder first set up in his garage and invited Les Paul over. Way before the ADAT and the first DAWs. This time, however, the technologies are coming from tech, video, data networking, and all kinds of different directions—then blending in all kinds of ways, and the designs of the future are taking shape right in front of us, in real time, with remote collaboration as part of the equation.

Hidden inside this month’s story with the talented composer Lili Haydn is the fact that she had just moved into a new house when the shutdown hit, so she and her partner quickly put in a Dante network to take full advantage of the whole-house environment. Rob Jaczko, chair of the Music Production & Engineering Department at Berklee College of Music, suddenly found himself without access to the school’s studios and quickly turned to new small-room-acoustics software from REDIacoustics to bring the necessary level of professionalism home. Clear-Com looked at the challenges faced by film and television productions during the pandemic, and introduced protocol guides and AoIP communications technologies simultaneously. Each of these moves, brought on by the pandemic, is now part of Lili’s, Rob’s and Clear-Com’s design for the future.

And please take the time to look over our annual photo feature of new studios, the Class of 2021. We have 21 amazing new rooms from the world’s top studio designers, and there were a whole lot more that were on the verge of completion but had been held up for various reasons. That’s good news for the professional audio industry, as a wise man once told me, “If you want to look ahead to the next five years of recording, talk to the studio designers.”

With the anxieties and uncertainties starting to peel back just a bit, it’s important that we all make sure that we’re designing for the future.

Tom Kenny Editor

Music

Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi Quarantine in Ireland Inspires Emotional They’re Calling Me Home

By Barbara Schultz

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PHOTO: Karen Cox

T

hey’re Calling Me Home, the new release from former Carolina Chocolate Drops frontwoman Rhiannon Giddens and her partner, musician Francesco Turrisi, packs a soulful punch. Recorded while the couple were quarantining—actually stuck—in Dublin, Ireland, during the pandemic, the record echoes the artists’ childhood memories of Americana and Italian music, as well as the traditional tunes of their temporary home.

It is a raw but sublimely rich album, and for most of the recording process, the couple hunkered down in the studio with engineer Ben Rawlins, who had met Turrisi about 10 years ago and has worked with him frequently since.

“I met Francesco, a former student at the Royal Conservatory of the Hague, when he was in an early music group called the Gregory Walkers,” recalls Rawlins. “We started working together, and then he would get me in to record his various solo projects because I had a good feel for acoustic music and classical music.

“There was an idea for Francesco and Rhiannon to record an album of baroque musicians with me in April of last year,” he adds.

“But some of those musicians were from Italy and Spain, and those places were absolutely having a terrible time with Covid. So that record got canceled. They also had plans to make a record in California, and that got canceled. But then they ended up stranded in Ireland last summer, and they contacted me to talk about laying down some folk songs that they had been playing to keep themselves from going crazy.

“Rhiannon was doing a lot of folk songs about North Carolina. Francesco was playing Italian lullabies. These were songs that reminded each of them of their homeland. Then we found this beautiful studio called Hellfire, on a working

“The idea was to have all of these very resonant instruments, as opposed to bright, steel-string banjos and bright fiddles. They wanted a darker tone. So I also brought along my own collection of microphones…”

—Ben Rawlins

PHOTO: Karen Cox

Music // news & notes

Rawlins (left) works in the control room with Turrisi.

“She started off sort of humming—this low, percussive vocal—and then she wanted to do this other wailing vocal sound. It was so strong, I decided to take her off the microphone and have her just sing into the room and let the DPA 4006 room mics pick her up. I had to keep riding the fader with my finger because there’s so much power coming from her voice.” farm up in the mountains. It’s in a small, old stone barn, and we got lucky: We happened to go in there for six days during one week when there was no lockdown.”

Giddens and Turrisi had developed an album’s worth of beautiful, simple arrangements, playing every instrument themselves, so they arrived with every tool they might need.

“It was kind of hilarious because it took ages to load in,” Rawlins says. “It was instrument after instrument.”

FACE TO FACE IN THE STUDIO In the studio, Rawlins set the pair so that they faced each other, with their instruments placed around them on the floor. Each needed several choices at hand so that they could switch easily.

“Rhiannon had her fretless banjo, her gourd

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banjo, as well as her fiddle, and she had gotten an octave viola made for her; it’s a big instrument— really rich-sounding, like a cello,” Rawlins explains.

“Francesco had all his drums; he was also using a banjo that belonged to Mike Seeger—a cello-banjo that is about 100 years old.

“The idea was to have all of these very resonant instruments, as opposed to bright, steel-string banjos and bright fiddles. They wanted a darker tone. So I also brought along my own collection of microphones, which basically consists of a whole lot of tube microphones and a whole lot of ribbon microphones.

“There was no plan,” Rawlins explains further.

“I wasn’t given a list of songs. It was often like they were just chatting, and then all of a sudden they’d just start playing an old song. I just had to put mics around them that would allow me to

capture whatever they were playing. So I put a couple of omnidirectional mics over them—DPA 4006s, which are my favorite omni mics. I use them for a lot of classical work because they’re very transparent and they act like my ears in the room.

The rest were tube and ribbon mics—a small array, but enough to cover anything we needed to pick up at any one time. Then I just let them at it.”

ROOM FOR DYNAMICS The album’s title track, “Calling Me Home,” was recorded on the afternoon of Giddens’ and Turrisi’s first day in Hellfire. Turrisi played a deep drone on the accordion, captured with a Neumann TLM170 situated behind him and a Neumann M149 out in front, while Giddens sang into Rawlins’ Flea C12, as well as an AudioTechnica 4080 ribbon.

PHOTO: Karen Cox

Giddens looks on during playback, with Rawlins at the board at Hellfire Studios.

overdubs, the album was tracked live, including a couple of guests: Niwel Tsumbu plays nylon string guitar on three tracks. Emer Mayock played Irish flute on two songs, plus uilleann pipes on the concluding track, a new arrangement of “Amazing Grace.”

Rawlins’ favorite vocal track on the album, however, is a powerful blues version of the traditional folk song ‘O Death.’

“Everyone knows it from Ralph Stanley singing it in the movie O Engineer Ben Rawlins Brother, Where Art Thou? But she in Hellfire Studios. did a blues version of it, with her singing over the frame drum,” he says. “She started off sort of humming—this low, would get the songs almost ready to go while we percussive vocal—and then she wanted to do were recording them. We didn’t intend to do any this other wailing vocal sound. It was so strong, major overdubs or spend too much time mixing I decided to take her off the microphone and afterward.”

Recording was completed in six days in have her just sing into the room and let the DPA 4006 room mics pick her up. I had to keep riding October 2020, and then Rawlins took the files the fader with my finger because there’s so much to mix on his own Pro Tools rig, in his personal studio. He spent a couple of months alone with power coming from her voice. those songs.

“My studio is called Jericho Mile, and it’s at the BACK HOME TO MIX “It was a very intimate kind of record, and we felt back of my garden,” Rawlins says. “Obviously, I as if we were doing something that was going have never used it as much as I’ve used it in the to appeal to people who are going through this last year, but it was an absolute lifesaver for me to dreadful pandemic,” Rawlins says. “At the same have the studio here, to be able to mix the entire time, we were so all over the place ourselves, record at home in the box. I would just go out emotionally, we didn’t exactly know whether we there with a cup of tea, and I mixed the album could trust our own instincts. But it felt like a over the winter—if you can imagine mixing this record that needed to come out sooner than kind of a magical album in the winter. It really later, so we were recording with the idea that we got me through” ■ PHOTO: Karen Cox

“The ribbon captured a more mellow kind of feel to her voice,” Rawlins says. “She sang it once and she came into the control room and said, ‘That’s it. I’ll never sing it better.’ And the rest of the record was like that. I had to be ready to hit Record quickly, because if she felt the take was right, that was it.”

Rawlins used another ribbon, an AEA NUVO, to capture Giddens’ fiddle and octave viola.

“It has a dark sound, and it’s one of those ribbons that you can use from a distance, so I had it high up in the air to capture all the resonance of the instruments,” he says. “Ribbon mics work really well on strings because they take off some of the harshness of the instrument. For Francesco’s banjo, I put a Neumann 149 tube microphone in front of him, and right beside that I had another NUVO—a bright-sounding mic and a dark-sounding mic— and I would balance the faders between the two to see which sounded better.”

Rawlins didn’t use any compression or EQ during recording, but he did make use of the mic preamps in the studio’s vintage Neve 6604 console; everything went straight from the console into Pro Tools.

“With the huge dynamic range Rhiannon has in her voice, I didn’t want to go near a compressor with her,” Rawlins says. “She can go from a really low register in one line, like the beginning of ‘Calling Me Home,’ where she’s singing quite low and then she does this lovely jump up. I didn’t want to get in the way of that, and I’m used to doing classical recordings that way: you pick the right placement for the microphone and capture a very natural sound.”

With the exception of a couple of vocal

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Music // news & notes

Frank London’s “Ghetto Songs” Meaning in Music, From the 1600s to the 1970s

By Robyn Flans

H

PHOTO: Adrian Buckmaster

ere’s something to contemplate: Ask people of different generations, ethnicities and locales to define “ghetto,” and the answers will differ remarkably.

Frank London addresses this complex association in his latest release, Ghetto Songs, which includes music that spans centuries, from the 1600s to the 1970s.

The seeds of the project began five years ago when London was invited to Venice by Beit Venizia, a group wishing to shine light on the 500th anniversary of the first ghetto in Italy, established in 1516. London notes that in this circumstance,

the ghetto was a positive development for members of the Jewish faith, who previously had not been allowed to live inside the city limits.

“Jews were working in Venice but not allowed to spend the night there,” London explains. “They were forced to be commuters, and if you’ve ever been to Venice, you know commuting is hard because you have to cross this huge water.”

Trumpeter-composer London, cofounder of the Grammy Award-winning Klezmatics, has worked with artists as wide-ranging as Itzhak Perlman, Pink Floyd, LL Cool J, Mel Tormé, Lester Bowie, They Might Be Giants, David Byrne, Jane Siberry and Ben Folds Five over the years.

He first performed Ghetto Songs live in Europe and was planning to record the studio album in much the same manner.

But by the time a grant came through to cover the costs, the pandemic was in full swing and Brooklynbased London was back home. He had to replace all the musicians, except for vocalist Sveta Kundish,

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who recorded in Berlin. The album was recorded to Pro Tools at EastSide Sound in New York City, which has six iso booths surrounding a main live room. “[The layout] gave us the freedom to isolate most of the musicians,” explains engineer Marc Urselli. “This was exponentially important during the Covid-19 pandemic because it allowed everyone to be in separate spaces but have a direct line of sight with each other for optimal and organic performance.”

The collection includes 17th century music and poetry from the Venice ghetto (works from Solomone Rossi, Benedetto Marcello, and Sara Coppia Sulam); a piyyut (Jewish liturgical poem) from Morocco’s mellah, the Jewish quarter; kwela (pennywhistle-based street music with jazzy underpinnings and a skiffle-like beat) from South Africa’s townships; the music of Cantor Gershon Sirota, who lived and died in the Warsaw ghetto; and War’s 1970s anthem “The World Is a Ghetto.” Where there were only lyrics or poetry, London would write the music, as he did for “Tahi Taha” in an effort to preserve the Judeo-Venetian language.

“I love every song in this album, and I love working with these musicians who can come together and traverse all these borders,” London says. “There’s a joy to playing this music together.

I think Karim [Sulayman] singing ‘La Barcheta’ is the most beautiful thing. I still want to cry.

“I love each singer, too!” he adds. “First Karim comes out, then Sveta comes out, and then they do a duet. I think [Yaakov] ‘Yanky’ Lemmer is the greatest of the living Ashkenazic cantors”— London gushes about his performance on ‘Oseh Shalom’ and then on ‘Retsei” which he describes as ‘deep’—“And Brandon Ross, the guitarist on the whole record, is not really known as a singer, but he stands up right next to the other three

PHOTO: Daniel Dittus PHOTO: Chuck Fishman

Before recording the album during the pandemic, London, far left, performed Ghetto Songs live in Europe.

amazing singers on ‘The World Is a Ghetto.’”

Urselli used a Braingasm Labs large-diaphragm condenser microphone through a Focusrite ISA428 preamp to capture nearly all of the vocals. “Because this album had different singers, I wanted clarity, versatility and transparency for the vocals, and I wanted a microphone and a preamp that would work well regardless of the singer,” he says.

TRACKING AT EASTSIDE SOUND “I think Frank was able to masterfully weave between folk, opera, klezmer, and jazz in a way few others can,” Urselli says. “I insisted that we had to record it properly, in a studio that allowed for certain liberties and had certain features. I came up with a plan for which instruments I wanted to isolate in which rooms so that I would have the ability to blend things together with maximum control. The lack of bleed and leakage allowed me to crossover different sections of the ensemble the way we would have performed a diagonal soft cut when splicing analog tape. But Frank’s ensemble is so on top of it that we barely had to do any such edits. Once I came up with the plan for recording, my second engineer, Duff Harris, set it up.”

Urselli put the drums and the vibraphone

in the largest of the iso booths, the bass in the second largest, and the guitar amp in the smallest. He put the guitar player in the live room with the piano and the accordion. He used the most centrally located booth for London and his trumpet so that London could see everyone and conduct. Two more booths were used for vocals and cello.

“I recorded drums using a combination of Lewitt mics on the kick, Shure mics on the snare, Sennheiser MD-421s on toms, a Microtech Gefell M940 on the hi-hat, and an Ehrlund EHR-T stereo condenser microphone on overheads,” Urselli notes. “All preamps were Harrison and API. “For the vibraphone, I used Ehrlund EHR-D through a very transparent Japanese microphone preamp called Sym Proceed,” he continues.

“On upright bass, I used a KM184 and another BrainGasm Labs microphone, both through Vintech X73s. The guitar was tracked through a [Shure] 57 and a dynamic Aston Stealth mic through vintage Altec preamps. I put the piano through an Ehrlund EHR-M and the accordion through an EHR-M1, all going through API preamps. The trumpet mic was a Coles 4038 and the cello was another KM184, and they were going through Focusrite preamps.”

BIGGER THAN MUSIC Although compositions are in Judeo-Venetian, Yiddish, Hebrew, Italian and English, for those musicians or singers who didn’t speak a particular language, London made sure to impart the meaning and emotion behind the words so that it could be conveyed in the performance.

“Any time I have the opportunity to make art or music that talks to some political issue and gets people thinking, then I feel like I’m doing something in music bigger than the music itself,” London says. “The dialog about ghetto is really important because everyone has misconceptions about ghettos. Everyone thinks of the ghetto of their experience, and they don’t see that there are all these other ghettos.

“You talk to someone in their 20s in America and you say ghetto music, and you know they’re not thinking about Yiddish songs in Poland,” he continues. “If you’re in Germany and you say ghetto, they’re thinking of these sad songs and people dying or fighting against it. In Brazil you are going to talk about the favelas. Not all ghettos are the same. I love that we can enter into a dialog through the project.” ■

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For Your Consideration // Emmy Awards 2021

Servant S2, Ep 204, “2:00” Buzzing, Anxious, Uneasiness, Based on Organic Sounds M. Night Shyamalan is known for keeping his productions local to the rumbling and settling, and distressed baby sounds that are pitched down Philadelphia area. Last October, while filming for the second season of his and reverberated into the ether. We manipulated those sounds to create this Apple TV+ series Servant, he covered sections of Spruce Street in snow. uneasy feeling that is subliminal but very effective,” Garnhart says.

Each occurrence of the 2 AM ambient sound is slightly different, a Seeing is believing, they say, and fake snow sold that Christmas-y feel for variation on the theme. On the dub stage, Garnhart blended their sound the episode. design with composer Trevor Gureckis’s score so that the two Part of Shyamalan’s filmmaking charm comes from felt indistinguishable. “The marriage of the two creates this his organic approach. He once said in an interview with awesome world of sonic, subconscious anxiety and foreboding,” Entertainment Weekly, “It has to be organic and has to come he says. from the right place—otherwise it’ll smell of artificiality.”

Leanne is locked in the attic, so to build tension in this space Although he was talking about developing the story for an Garnhart added the sounds of creatures and critters running Unbreakable sequel at the time, that “organic” base resonates across the ceiling, which he created by recording a stick dragging through all facets of his filmmaking approach.It’s especially along his roof. He pitched-down a variety of wind elements and evident in the subtle use of sound on Servant. soaked them in massive reverb that “washes away the reality of “We start with organic sounds, which Night loves,” says any recognizable wind while creating a tonal uneasiness,” he Emmy- and Golden Reel Award- winning supervising sound Supervising sound says. Christmas lights adorn the attic, buzzing with a rough, saweditor/re-recording mixer Sean Garnhart at WB Sound in New editor Sean Garnhart toothed sound that’s anything but cheery and festive.

York City. “My sound design starts with organic sounds as “I wanted very much for the Christmas lights to be a tension-creating opposed to sounds made by a synthesizer; working with something real is instrument,” Garnhart concludes. “Mark [Filip] used a really obscure more tangible and easier for the viewer to relate to.”

For the MPSE-winning and Emmy-eligible episode “2:00,” Garnhart and analog tube distortion device on the sound of the lights. I added some sound effects editor Mark Filip created creepy, ambient sound design to contact recordings of neon lights, and then married the two. It gave this signify the malevolent mood of Dorothy Turner, who wakes every night at tension to the attic. When the camera sweeps by them, you hear them go 2 A.M. to terrorize and interrogate her captive (their former nanny, Leanne) up and over you. They eventually take a back seat in the mix, but they’re there, buzzing like a gnat in your ear.” on the whereabouts of her missing son, Jericho.

—Jennifer Walden “We used a lot of winds, human whispers, sounds of very large buildings

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Ted Lasso, Ep 110, “The Hope That Kills You” Creating the Roar of a Crowd, When You Have No Crowd

Using production tracks of the small stadium group and the pub patrons Hope is a funny thing—as the creators of the Apple TV+ comedy series Ted Lasso well know. In the season finale, “The Hope That Kills You,” the series’ singing to create a framework, they layered on loop group and generic soccer team, AFC Richmond, finds themselves championship-bound, crowd chanting manipulated with Cargo Cult’s Envy, which “allows me to whether they win their match or simply tie. All they have to do is tie… is impose the characteristics of one sound onto another sound,” says Findley.

Also, the stadium crowd chant was much slower than the pub crowd that too much to hope?!

The sound of the stadium crowd builds an infectious atmosphere of chant, and cutting back and forth repeatedly revealed a startling contrast in the tempo. “To make it feel like all fans everywhere were excitement and anticipation during the match. Supervising chanting in unison, we increased the tempo of the stadium sound editor Brent Findley, MPSE, says, “The fun that we had crowd a bit and slowed down the pub crowd a bit to get them in mixing the story of a pivotal stadium sporting event in Dolby to match more closely from cut to cut.”

Atmos can not be overstated. The immersion is exciting—being On the WB Sound dub stage, re-recording mixers Ryan down on the field and feeling the immensity of the crowd with Kennedy and Sean Byrne had to keep the crowd energy going the height speakers all around and above is energizing.” during perspective changes. Byrne says, “Kip [Smedley] is very Funny thing is, that stadium was nearly empty during the shoot. good about giving me the same locations and angles on the The 20,000-plus crowd was created in post, visually and sonically.

Supervising sound same tracks. So, once I establish levels/verb/slap for an angle, I “There were maybe a couple hundred people waving about and editor Brett Findley can simply copy/paste all automation for the next time we are reacting, following the director’s requests,” reveals Findley. there. With so many complex perspectives, it helps to simplify It was up to him and his sound editing team to fill the stands as much as possible, establish an atmosphere, and then add and cover all the crowd perspectives appropriately, from the wide detail to the moment.” stadium shots to sell the scale of the crowd to inside the locker When mixing crowds, Kennedy keeps up the energy by room where the deep crowd roar carries through the structure, to letting specific elements poke through. For instance, Kennedy inside the packed local pub, and everything in between. pushed individual reactions in the bar scene to hit where “Every one of those perspectives is crafted deliberately,” the eye was drawn at that moment. “Also, letting the loop Findley explains. “Bernard Weiser, MPSE (Dialog Editor), Kip group percolate throughout helps sell the realism. Add to that Smedley (FX Editor), Nancy Snow (Loop Group Leader), and Re-recording mixer sneaking in a bit of the crowd from the television and you are Sanaa Kelley, MPSE (Lead Foley Artist) provided me with Ryan Kennedy able to maintain the excitement of the game,” he says. enough material to fill over 600 tracks in the final episode.

Selling the reality of the crowd was key to making the Of those, over a hundred are dedicated to crowd sounds. We match feel exciting. “Viewers NEED Ted Lasso to sound real, have layers upon layers of densities and textures, from deep concludes Byrne. “Real soccer games, real stadiums, real howling masses to specific individual voices for prominent fans emotions. If it sounded anything less than real and authentic, on camera.” it would rip you out of the story. Since the stadium doesn’t No soccer match is complete without a crowd chant. So how exist on set, and neither does the game for that matter, we did Findley get 20,000 fans to sing the “Roy Kent” chant? He had to build an idea in your ears that you were actually there, says, “With no way to put together a crowd of people big enough in a real stadium.” to cleanly record the song [because of COVID restrictions], we Re-recording mixer — Jennifer Walden really had to get creative.”

Sean Byrne

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on the cover

Round Table Recording Company Indianapolis, Ind.

Class of 2021 The Best New Studios From the World’s Top Designers

By Barbara Schultz

PHOTO: B.J. Jensen

Mix magazine’s annual design feature includes 22 wonderful studio projects from an impressive roster of designers and acousticians. While pandemic-related closures delayed the completion of a few projects, studio construction actually boomed during the past year, whether in home environments or commercial spaces.

This year’s “Class” is also notable because it includes posthumous projects from two designers that we lost recently. Geodesic Sound was started by Mark Genfan before he passed away in 2018, and was later completed by Jeff Hedback of HDAcoustics, the designer of our cover studio. We’ve also included two projects by Francis Manzella, whose firm FM Design carries on, having recently completed studios that Manzella designed before his passing in 2020. It’s an honor for Mix to showcase all of these creative spaces.

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More than a studio facility, Round Table Recording Company is a multifaceted business that encompasses music recording and mixing, production, artist representation, and audio education. Partners Tim Walker and Travis Moore, and chief engineer Corey Miller, developed the model with the idea of supporting Indianapolis’ homegrown talent on both sides of the glass.

“We went through several building sites before we found the right one,” recalls Jeff Hedback, whose firm HDAcoustics designed the studios. “One day they called about this building in the Broad Ripple section of Indianapolis, which is an arts district with clubs and other creative businesses. The building was interesting because half of it was built in the ’50s with a barrel vault ceiling, and the other half was added about nine years ago. We did a full demo of the new portion and worked from the existing walls in the original part of the building to create the studios and classrooms.

Engineer Miller, meanwhile, reached out to local engineers and producers for feedback.

“Most people are doing projects at home, so I wanted to know what would warrant them or their clients paying an hourly rate for a bigger facility. It came up again and again that they wanted at least one of the studios to have a large-format console with multiple channels and built-in preamps. Then some people said they wanted a more sleek, modern setup.”

Miller’s informal survey helped the partners settle on an Audient Heritage Edition Console and Ocean Way HR 3.5 main monitors in Studio A, to go with the B room’s Slate Raven system.

The studio’s Yamaha C7 was also a common request—a piece of equipment that often does not fit into a home recordist’s space or budget.

Equipment choices in turn helped Hedback arrive at a layout that would fit all of the puzzle pieces together cleanly. “That’s how I ended up with the side address—the main control room with the front that looks into a vocal overdub space,” Hedback explains. “I did a lot of acoustical modeling and low-frequency sound pressure mapping for the response of the room’s irregular shape and where the drivers are. That led to designing multiple custom-tuned Helmholtz absorbers across the rear. They wanted a lot of glass to view the live room, so I angled that

window strategically.”

The space comprises three studios, plus a conference room, lounge and student studio within the 5,000-square-foot building. The 1,200-square-foot Studio A features the Audient console and Ocean Way mains fitted into a multilayered absorption system, custom-tuned low-frequency control devices and custom acoustical scattering panels. The elongated live room connects to the piano/writing room, which can function as a booth or be run independently.

Studio B offers dual Slate Raven digital control surfaces and ADAM A7X near-fields. Designed for music production, Studio C is loaded with virtual instruments and effects. The student studio is outfitted with a full rig that features the Slate Raven MTZ and an ID44 Audient interface.

Moore, Walker and Miller call their business Round Table Recording Company to emphasize the idea of collaboration. “Everybody has a seat at the round table,” Moore says. “Everyone revolves around the hub, the center. And everybody comes here to be in this creative space.”

The spirit of creativity, and the mid-century

PHOTO: B.J. Jensen PHOTO: B.J. Jensen

style of the original part of the building, also inspired the colorful finishes that ornament the studios acoustical panels, walls and flooring.

Diamond shapes, stripes, and abstract florals were all chosen by Moore. He also scoured the Internet for unique furniture pieces that suit the décor.

“At one point, Jeff sent over renderings to us,” Walker recalls. “He said, ‘We’re at a point where we’ve got to start fleshing this stuff out. What’s everything going to look like?’ So Travis started adding colors and paints and fabrics. He sent over revised renderings, and my jaw just fell! I had chills. All this time, we’d been saying that it’s got to be a place where artists and engineers feel equally creative, and all their inhibitions are gone—where they can be vulnerable, where they can enjoy the space and have fun. I saw those renderings, and I thought, ‘I understand the vision.’ It made us want to keep building on those ideas even more.”

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Considered Nashville’s first home studio, this facility dates back to the mid-1970s when engineer/ producer Cowboy Jack Clement was working with artists such as Johnny Cash, Charley Pride, Townes Van Zandt, and many others.

In 2011, a fire broke out in the house, burning down the legendary engineer/producer’s clubhouse for singer/songwriters. The following year, Mark Howard redesigned and rebuilt the studio, enlarging the cutting room, and then in 2018 Cousin Bob Clement purchased the studio. Engineer Cameron Davidson and studio designer Steven Durr helped bring the studio back to its original glory, upgrading the acoustics while retaining its classic gear and homey vibe. Selected equipment includes a Trident 80B console, MCI 2-inch 24-track tape machine, Lawson plate reverb, and UREI 811 main monitors.

Sony Music Studios/5020 Studios Miami, Fla.

Horacio Malvicino and Fabiola Mena of the Malvicino Design Group provided the acoustical design, installation and integration for this 15,000-square-foot, two-story facility: the new creative hub for Sony Music Latin in Miami. The project encompasses three studios, two writing rooms, the first 360RA mixing studio in Miami, a 4k screening room, and a performance area, as well as lounges, a conference room, and multipurpose offices for podcasting and other content creation.

All of the rooms are connected via a primary and secondary Dante network. The studios’ extensive equipment list includes a 32-channel AMS Neve BCM10 MkII console, Ocean Way HR2 and HR3.5 monitors, a 64-channel Waves LV1 system, and outboard gear from Shure, Waves, KRK, IK Multimedia and Focusrite.

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PHOTOS: The Latin Rat Pack, Miami

PHOTOS: Amanda Pirtle, Showcase Photographers

The Cowboy Arms Hotel and Recording Spa Nashville

The Record Co. Boston, Mass.

PHOTOS: Jenny Bergman

This 12,500 square foot complex is a 501(c)3 nonprofit, community-focused workspace housing four studios and 15 rehearsal spaces. The complex was designed by architects Silverman Trykowski Associates and acoustician Lou Clark of Sonic-Space, and built by City Wide Contracting. Spaces offer a range of acoustic signatures, from Studio A, which has an 850-square-foot live room with 12-foot ceilings, to 95-squarefoot dead booths in Studios C and D. Isolation between studios exceeds STC75; this is accomplished with concrete block walls, 25 floating concrete floor slabs, and multiple layers of drywall.

A combination of custom acoustic treatments from Soundwall Construction and prefabricated acoustic treatments from Acoustimac were installed in all rooms.

Control rooms feature 2-foot-deep front absorption walls with speakers mounted on concrete blocks. All four studios feature audio design and integration by Audire Design and are equipped with Avid S1 control surfaces, Focusrite Red16 and A16R interfaces, and Grace m905 monitor controllers with Symetrix DSP. Monitoring includes Focal Trio 6be, Avantone CLA10 and MixCube, Hearback and Redco Cue systems. The entire facility is connected via Dante. Completed in January 2021, The Record Co. has already hosted 700-plus recording and rehearsal sessions.

Opening Fall 2021

We're honored to be a part of The Church Studio as the acoustical consultants and studio architects. Bringing the studio back to Leon's original vision has been an enormous challenge and truly an incredible experience. Keep an eye and ear out for the opening, we're very much looking forward to having the Church making records again!

Leon Russell, purchases the church and converts it to a recording studio and office to Shelter Records.

Grace M.E Church built for the people, by the people

1915 1953 1953

Recording Studio Audio Engineering School Historic Tours Archive and Exhibits

1953

1972

Permastone placed on the exterior facade as the Church continues to serve the people

Steven Durr Designs brought on board in conjuction with Chad Hailey to help historically restore the property to its 1970 significance.

2016

Property listed on the National Register of Historic Places

2017

2021

The Church Studio grand opening

www.thechurchstudio.com

June Audio This multiroom studio facility was designed from the ground up by Wes Lachot Design Group to serve top music clients, such as John Legend, The Killers, Warner Brothers TV, Blizzard Entertainment and Disney. Studios 1 and 2 feature Reflection Free Zone design and Brett Acoustics Slatffusors. The large Studio 1 tracking room has adjustable acoustics for variable decay times. Tracking room clouds are absorptive at low frequencies and diffusive at mid and high frequencies, creating a nice ambience for drums and acoustic instruments. Acoustical installation was performed by Brett Acoustics. June Audio’s equipment includes an API 2448 32-channel console in Studio 1, a Daking 32-channel board in Studio 2, ATC main monitors and a Pro Tools rig with Burl Mothership converters.

FAMA Studios Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Designed by WSDG’s Sergio Molho, FAMA Studios is built into the expansive three-story luxury home in Santo Domingo’s historic Colonial District.

WSDG also provided systems integration for all of the rooms. Studio A, on the first floor features spacious control and live rooms, an iso booth, sound lock and an outdoor patio for client breaks. The A room is equipped with a 32-channel Rupert Neve Designs Portico 5088 console and ADAM SD3 stereo monitoring. The second floor is home to control rooms B and C, a shared live room, iso booth and machine room. Control B offers an SSL Duality 48 console along with ADAM and Focal speakers, while the C room is an Avid Pro Tools-based project studio with Neumann speakers. The third floor features an apartment-like living room/kitchen/ dining room, client lounge with a panoramic view, an expansive terrace, and a shallow ornamental pool.

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PHOTOS: Courtesy of FAMA Studios

PHOTOS: Wes Lachot

Provo, Utah

The Scoring Lab/ Mix Lab Santa Monica, Calif.

PHOTOS: Taiyo Watanabe

Benjamin Wallfisch’s new tworoom facility has allowed the composer to take control of his creative process, from initial composition to the mix. Designed

by Peter Grueneisen of nonzero\architecture, the studio includes a writing room; the Dolby Atmos-certified Mix Lab; and an ADR/ overdub booth that is accessible from both rooms. In his design, Grueneisen took advantage of the existing building’s classic bow-truss warehouse space, which was built out to combine an industrial feel with a more refined European style. Essential studio gear includes an Avid S6 64-fader dual-operator console; an extensive Avid Pro Tools setup that includes three HDX3 systems, and multiple MTRX units with AES, Dante, MADI, Digilink and Pristine cards; and The Mix Lab’s ATC monitors in a Dolby Atmos configuration.

Magnolia Hill Studio Nashville

NOW AVAILABLE IN BOOKSTORES AND ONLINE:

Steven Durr Designs LLC provided the design of Ronnie Millsap’s personal studio, Magnolia Hill, which has been installed in an existing pool house on the artist’s property. SDD worked closely with his client to create a studio with uncompromised acoustics and audio quality in this unique workspace. Equipment includes a Neve 5088 Shelford 24-channel console, RADAR II recording system, ATC 150 main monitors, Bag End dual-12 ELF subwoofer, Lexicon 224 and Bricasti M7 reverbs, LA2A limiter, EL8 Distressors, and a selection of microphones.

THE MIX LAB - THE SCORING LAB SANTA MONICA, CA

This Francis Manzella-designed studio is a private work environment that opened in February 2021.

Wiring consultation was provided by Matt Marinelli of Coral Sound, while fabric and cloud installation was by Kenneth Capton at Solar 2 Studios. The studio is a companion to Billy Jay Stein’s larger commercial studio, located in the Flatiron district of Manhattan. An 800-squarefoot basement space was converted into a state-of-the-art home recording and mixing environment for Stein’s work on TV projects, albums and soundtracks. Besides a selection of Stein’s vintage and modern keyboards, audio equipment includes Pro Tools HD, Logic Pro, Ableton Live, Bitwig, and Strange Cranium MainBrain Show Control software. The studio also incorporates a hybrid analog/digital system with Dangerous and Neve summing, and monitoring with ATC mains and Griffin subwoofers.

PHOTOS: Solomon Davis, Showcase Photographers

PHOTO: Mark Loper

Strange Cranium/ Strike Audio Satellite Studio Madison, Conn.

www.nonzeroarch.com - www.bauton.com mixonline.com | J U N E 2 0 2 1 | M I X

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PHOTOS: Mathias Haskell

Brett Ensley Studios Greer, S.C. Studio owner Brett Ensley worked with Gavin Haverstick of Haverstick Designs to design his Mix Room back in 2016, and again recently to add this 700-square-foot live room in a converted, detached garage. The studio, which came online in March 2021, is in a residential area, so isolation was important. Conduits were run from the house where the Mix Room is located. The interior acoustical design incorporated a combination of custom and stock treatments.

Custom soffit bass traps, vertical corner traps, ceiling clouds and wall panels were constructed on-site. The Flex-48 Adaptive Treatment System from Acoustical Fulfillment allows engineers to make the room more dead or live to suit their projects.

Studio equipment includes the Orion 32HD Antelope interface, Dangerous D-Box, Neve 10-space 500 Series rack, and a 1969 7-foot Steinway grand piano.

Geodesic Sound Houston, Texas Mark Genfan designed the layout of this 1,200-square-foot studio in April of 2018. Following Genfan’s passing in December of that year, owner Alvaro Rodriguez contacted Jeff Hedback to complete the project; Hedback retained that layout and completed the acoustics, lighting, mechanicals and other elements to accomplish the client’s goals. Geodesic Sound features a 300-square-foot control room, a large live room, and a booth on each side of the control room. Built by The Pillar Group, the finished studio includes a combination of commercial and custom-built treatments.

Major equipment includes an Interphase Audio custom 16-channel Ark console, Focal Shape Twin monitors, Antelope Orion 32 interface, and Steamboat Classic 50 and Classic 18 Amps.

T-One Studios was designed by Sergio and Silvia Molho of WSDG and is set within a 2,150-square-foot duplex space in an elegant residential building. The ground-floor 237-square-foot control room is linked to a basementlevel iso and live room built with full room-within-a-room construction. The studio is used to record a wide range of musical styles, from traditional Mongolian, folk and classical music to pop, rock, jazz and R&B. The brainchild of successful Chinese recording engineer Qiwu Tan and his producer/business partner Yi He, this facility was completed in less than a year despite pandemic restrictions. Featured equipment includes an Avid S1 control surface, Rupert Neve Shelford Channel and 5024, Barefoot MM12 main monitors, and a range of new and vintage preamps and microphones.

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PHOTOS: Alvaro Rodriguez and Erikk D. Lee

PHOTOS: Courtesy of T-One Studios

T-One Studios Inner Mongolia, China

Barton Building Studio

PHOTO: Jennifer Bradley

Hamilton, Ontario

Lou Clark of SonicSpace designed this studio suite comprising a control room, live room and full client lounge. The control room design has a concrete floating floor with box-in-a-box isolation from an art gallery below, as well as custom diffusors and more than two feet of absorption on the front and rear walls. Speakers are mounted on concrete blocks, and side walls have custom wood slat construction. The live room was built with double walls and soundproof doors and glass to isolate the studio from the street; poly-cylindrical diffusors were also incorporated. The studio features an SSL XL console, monitoring from Neumann, Spiral Groove, Genelec and Auratone, as well as dozens of synthesizers and keyboards.

Adrian Biddle Theatre/ Pinewood Post Production

PHOTO: Courtesy of Munro Acoustics

Shepperton, Surrey, UK

Munro Acoustics redesigned the former Preview Theatre, which was renamed in 2015 in memory of director of photography Adrian Biddle, BSC. The latest incarnation opened in January 2021, and features a fully floated room design. The theater is capable of accommodating 7.1 surround as well as 5.1 Theatrical P-Mix, final mixing and mastering, near-field mixing for film and television, and ADR recording. The room is designed to be upgradable to Dolby ATMOS in the future. Featured equipment includes a single-operator, 24-fader Avid M40 S6 control surface, Pro Tools HDX system, Dynaudio MDF/M15M surround monitoring, JBL 4645C LFE speakers, and Crown amps.

PHOTO: Wes Lachot

Anjuna Recording Studio Portland, Ore. Hand-built by owner Slater Swan in his backyard, detached garage, Anjuna’s control room is a true Reflection Free Zone design, employing RPG Modffractal diffusors and a custom rear-wall bass-trapping system. The live room offers lots of vintage instruments, natural light and a great vibe. Architect Barbara Richter worked with studio designer/acoustician Wes Lachot on this project, while Tony Brett of Brett Acoustics provided consultation on the build-out. Anjuna is outfitted with a Dangerous Music D-Box console; AMS Neve, API, Avalon and Daking mic pre’s; ATC SCM100 ASLR main monitors with ATC discrete power amps and crossovers; Pro Tools 12 and Ableton Live recording/mixing platforms; and much more.

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Precision Sound is situated in the heart of New York City’s Upper West Side neighborhood. The studio offers a spacious control room, live room with separate isolation booth, and a lounge. A 48-channel SSL Duality console is the centerpiece of the control room, along with ATC SCM110 main monitors, and outboard equipment from Rupert Neve Designs, Manley, Maselec, Retro, UA, Chandler, Bricasti, Eventide, and more. The design team developed Precision Sound under the direction of the studio’s founder and chief engineer, Alex Sterling.

Acoustics, the decoupling system and patchbays were all designed

by Horacio Malvicino and Fabiola Mena of Malvicino Design Group. Architecture and interior design were by Steve Marchetti and Angelo Caranese of Studio Marchetti. Technical systems design and installation were by Crossley Acoustics led by Matthew Schaefer.

PHOTO: Alex Sterling

Precision Sound New York City

Active loudspeaker manufacturer Genelec’s Immersive Experience Center is a total rebuild of a former surround sound demo studio that was designed in-house in 2004.

Francis Manzella of FM Design created a new aesthetic and acoustical treatments for the renovated space, which serves as a mix room, theater, and research and test center for new software and other Genelec products. The studio also facilitates the creation of webinars and other marketing content. In addition to a full range of Genelec Smart Active Monitoring products (three 8351Bs installed for L-C-R; four 8341As at left and right side and rear channels; six more 8341As overhead for front, mid and rear height channels; a 7370 and 7380 subwoofers; two W371A Smart Active Woofer Systems left and right) the facility includes an Avid S6 with Pro Tools routed through a Dante network.

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PHOTO: Will Eggleston

Genelec Immersive Experience Center Natick, Mass.

Sonic Conscious

PHOTOS: Jason Wagner

Denver, Colo.

Sam Berkow of SIA Acoustics designed this studio for client Jason Wagner, who says his goal was to have the capabilities to record full bands live with “lots of beautiful mic bleed,” overdub using a variety of approaches, and mix in a control room that is “a joy to work in with incredible and accurate monitoring.” The 480-square-foot live room has sloping ceilings (17 to 15 feet) and no parallel walls, while the 220-square-foot control room has an asymmetrical design (for low-frequency control) with the ceiling sloping from 10 in the front to 12 feet in the back. Also included are a 50-square-foot vestibule and 300-square-foot lounge/hallway. Sonic Conscious is equipped with Pro Tools HDX, Barefoot MM27 monitors, Apogee Symphony conversion, and 40 channels of class A preamps from Phoenix Audio, Focusrite, Rupert Neve Designs, Shadow Hills, Blue and Avalon.

Acoustic Design for professionals and serious audio enthusiasts around the world

High Level Entertainment

PHOTO: Gerard Victor

South River, N.J.

Dave Malekpour worked with lead architect Michael Bashkhangy of Malekpour Design Partners on this production/ mixing facility, which went online in February 2020. The studio is equipped with an Avid Pro Tools HDX Ultimate rig and ICON control surface, Augspurger Duo 12V-SUB 18 monitoring system, AMS Neve DPX1073 mic pre/EQ, Tube-Tech CL-1B, and Apogee Symphony MkII interface. A custom MDG Starlight ceiling and embedded LED lighting complement the custom fixtures, which were designed and produced through a collaboration between MDP and Zaor Studio Furniture.

PHOTO: Michele Battaglia

Satellite J Siracusa, Sicily, Italy This private studio was designed by Gavin Haverstick of Haverstick Designs for producer/ engineer Jeffrey Jey, frontman for Eiffel 65. Acoustical treatments include a variety of products from Vicoustics—such as the Cinema Round Premium, VicPattern Ultra Wavewood and Super Bass Extreme Ultra—giving the room a futuristic appearance. The treatments are spaced away from the wall with wood blocking and back-filled with insulation to improve lowfrequency response and provide space for LED lighting. Jey is a Studio DMI engineer, and the studio is an official Studio DMI satellite studio that is outfitted for mixing and mastering with an iMac Pro, Focal Shape 65 monitors, RME Fireface UFX+, Neve 1073N preamp, Neumann mics, Mogami cabling and more.

Mix Class of 2021 Cover Studio Round Table Recording Company REMOTE STUDIO DESIGN SPECIALISTS + Design and Model + Analyze + Document and Detail + Support

www.HdAcoustics.net mixonline.com | J U N E 2 0 2 1 | M I X

Beagle Studios Carl Yanchar of the Yanchar Design and Consulting Group designed this personal facility for Emmet Sargeant.

Beagle is a 900-square-foot music recording studio, constructed in a former barn in a small town just south of Santa Barbara, and it comprises a control room, main tracking room, piano isolation room, vocal booth and lounge. Equipment includes a Pro Tools HDX 12.7 rig, Winn Labs SM/8 studio monitors, Grace m905 monitor controller and m801 preamp, 7th Circle Audio, Neve and API channels, and an array of musical instruments, such as ’34 and ’70 Martin guitars, Boston grand piano, and a Yamaha Birch Custom Absolute drum kit.

Garibay Center Studio C Hidden Hills, L.A. County

TRUST YOUR ROOM

June Audio - Provo UT

Studio C of the Garibay Center was designed by Pilchner Schoustal International and built by contractor Rob Rettberg as the personal production studio for Fernando Garibay. Behind the minimal appearance are acoustic design elements tailored to provide smooth and uniform listening response from the custom-designed Augspurger monitors designed

by Dave Malekpour of Malekpour Design Partners.

Great effort was made to achieve extremely high sound isolation, given the size and capability of the monitoring system. Additional equipment includes furniture by Studio Desk, vintage processing gear (Neve 1073, 1176, LA2A, etc.), a vintage AKG C12, and converters and plug-in DSP by UAD.

PHOTO: Gayle Dickie

PHOTOS: Merie Weismiller Wallace

Carpinteria, Calif.

Lili Haydn Finds Her Space Composer-Artist on Violin, Voice and the Interplay of Sound as Music

By Lily Moayeri

Composer-artist Lili Haydn in her new home, which includes a Dante network that allows her to record in any room at any time.

PHOTO: Steve Appleford

I

t’s next to impossible to avoid Lili Haydn’s music on streaming services. The violinist and composer has scored the Starz documentary Ruth: Justice Ginsburg In Her Own Words. She also has scored the empowering documentary on pole dancing, Strip Down, Rise Up, out on Netflix, as well as the streaming giant’s popular series Ginny & Georgia. Head over to Spotify, or any DSP, and you’ll find Haydn’s latest artist album, More Love.

These projects have kept Haydn studio-bound for the past year and more, first in a room at a composers’ studio complex where she worked on Ruth and, in part, Ginny & Georgia, then in mid-2020 from her own new home, which she shares with her musician husband, Itai Disraeli.

They live in one of those studio homes where every room functions as a recording space. Here, she completed Ginny & Georgia and Strip Down, Rise Up in quick succession during the pandemic.

“We wired the whole house with the Dante network,” says Haydn from what would be considered the “control room” of her Los Angeles

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home studio, where she has a vocal booth, a machine room and is set up with a big screen, monitors, and both Pro Tools Ultimate HD and Ableton Live. “My husband took the second floor of the house for his studio, and I took the garage.

We’re connected so we can share files, and I can record his room. We can record the piano in the living room. I’ve got a little drum room above, as well. We can record everything from everywhere.”

FROM FEATURES TO EPISODIC While all three of Haydn’s recent screen projects are female-forward, they are very different in character. Ruth is dignified, classical and, to some degree, operatic. Strip Down, Rise Up has changeable moods—most of which are not meant to be directly reflected in the music—and many song replacements. The pop-filled Ginny & Georgia has a number of reference points, including the UK version of Skins, Desperate Housewives, Gilmore Girls and, most interestingly, Dexter, which Haydn determined on her own without the input of the show’s creator. All of the shows have an

inordinately large amount of music.

Haydn previously scored Anita: Speaking Truth to Power for writer/director Freida Lee Mock, so tapping her for Ruth was a no-brainer. Conscious to create a score that was distinct from RBG, the 2018 Ruth Bader Ginsburg documentary, Haydn focused on the emotional narrative of Ruth and the triumphant nature of the film. She cites her cue for the closing scene, which supports the complete and utter devotion of its subject, as “stately and intimate,” and one of her best pieces of work.

In contrast, Michèle Ohayan, writer/director of Strip Down, Rise Up, who brought Haydn on after hearing her score for the documentary Feminists What Were They Thinking?, was looking for a fierce and passionate score. In fact, Strip Down, Rise Up had Haydn’s previous score cues as its temp music.

“Temp love can be murderous, even if it’s your own,” Haydn says. “I can’t do better than what I already did. It was about accessing the passion but not being too on-the-nose. Not crying when

Haydn in her control room, with violin atop her workstation.

the women are crying, not being redundant, not stepping on the emotion but supporting it. That takes a lot of trial and error. I did nine versions of some of the big cues.

Composer Ben Bromfield brought Haydn in as his collaborator for Ginny & Georgia, which after scoring 18 features, is her first series. Show creator Sarah Lampert is said to be hands-on in all aspects of Ginny & Georgia, including the music, which Haydn says can sometimes be hard to pinpoint.

“The tone of Ginny & Georgia is so complicated,” she explains. “It’s not pure comedy, not pure drama, not totally creepy, not really EDM, but it has elements. It had to have this dance between levity and gravitas. Plus, it had all these pop songs, and I wanted the score to be able to move seamlessly between song and score. “[Bromfield] and I played with a lot of different sounds. We worked with a sound library called Splice—which I cut up quite a bit—for the contemporary pop music element. But we also have acoustic drums and acoustic guitar. I take some of those acoustic sounds and process them so it blurs the line between electronic and acoustic. It’s never just one thing. Even on the more acoustic cues there’s a bunch of processing of sounds with delays and distortion.”

VIOLIN, VOICE AND BLURRING THE LINES While the violin has been Haydn’s signature instrument since she was in single digits, it is not her only source for ideas and sounds. Piano and vocals are part of the process, too, with Haydn using her voice as the fifth string of her violin.

“I love to sing and play my violin in unison.,” she says, noting that she uses the same microphone and signal chain for her violin as her voice: a Bock Audio 251 into a Brent Averill Electronics 1272 preamp, then into the UA Apollo x8. “While I’m playing, I’m singing the same note. The blend of my voice with the violin is a strange hybrid I really

mi x o n l i n e.co m | J U N E 2 0 2 1 | M I X

Courtesy of Lili Haydn

Courtesy of Lili Haydn

like that I apply quite a lot in my sound for a cacophony that made for one of Haydn’s favorite moments on the album. scoring.

Plug-ins are Haydn’s playground for sound “I sometimes sing through my violin,” she continues. “The design. Some of her preferred choices include: F-holes are little chambers. On Output Portal for its granular synth sound; the single ‘More Love,’ there’s FabFilter Volcano, which she uses to bring sounds a section like a Sgt. Pepper in and out of focus in the mix; and UAD Fatso, Beatles-y ascending string line. Distressor, and Ampex ATR-102 mastering tape I’m running my violin through a recorder for character, to go with the Lexicon vintage DigiTech Space Station. 224 Atmosphere preset that puts Brian Eno-ish I’m doing the glissando up the “glue” around everything. She also makes use fingerboard with no fret but of the SSL bus compressor and U-he Zebra. All in two different tracks that are of this is to be able to create sounds without naturally chorused. It has this strange ‘pull your necessarily identifying the sound source.

“With more contemporary picture, you don’t guts out of your mouth’ feel to it. As I’m doing that, I’m also singing through the violin, which want to know what the sound source is,” says I did for ‘Sayonara Pt. 2 (Prayer for Peace)’ on Haydn. “I’ll sing something and I’ll put it through the Faraway preset on Volcano, plus a delay, and my album.”

When she does use her violin, it’s not always it will sound like a woman crying on a distant recognizable with the processing and effects mountaintop in the hills of Morocco. That’s she employs. “I have to be very conservative what I want. I don’t want to know what it is, I about how much I use my violin, because it’s just want to feel a little bit of pain.”

The work Haydn has done for screen has a such a noticeable sound,” she says. “In Ginny & Georgia, my violin is disguised and not preset as symbiotic dynamic with her artist albums, making a solo voice, except in two episodes. I have to be them “much more graceful in their ability to play with space and non-space,” she says. “I never had careful, otherwise it draws attention to itself.

“I struggled my entire life trying to make the the confidence to let something unfold slowly and violin sound rich and brilliant without hurting organically. [Now] I feel like I’m trusting there is your ears,” she continues. “There’s a frequency magic that will keep the listener engaged, whereas that’s like daggers to the eardrums. I used to roll before I felt like I had to throw something in there off most of the high end in order to not have it to make sure you didn’t lose interest. Part of the shrill, but then it would sound a little too honky skill of composing for film and TV is learning how or wolf-y. After 20 years I figured out what that to keep the viewer interested without stepping on frequency is and am able to notch it out at a anything.

“The scores I’ve done have come from people narrow spike at 3470 (Hz) and then boost around 2k. It makes the violin sound brilliant without liking my albums,” she adds in summary. “The attention I’ve gotten for my albums and the sounding painful.”

There are a number of amps, pedals and plug- licenses from my songs have come from the ins Haydn uses on her violin. The Fender Blues scores that I’ve done. They’re very much linked. I Junior is a favorite, a wah-wah pedal that gives the wanted to create an album that sounded like me violin a guitar solo sound or, if she opens the filter and sounded like the films I wanted to score.” ■ a bit, provides a rounder sound Haydn in front of one of the that’s easier to blend to create countless sound sources in a mystical atmosphere. It’s not her Los Angeles home. just the violin that gets treated, but all the instruments.

For example, the chime-y sound on “Sayonara” on More Love is Disraeli’s bass run through a DigiTech whammy pedal. Also on “Sayonara” is Woody Aplanalp’s guitar through a Chaos pedal, distorted with the violin

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Communication on the Set Zoned Media Production and Flexible Audio Distribution

By Jennifer Walden

P

IATSE Local 52 members, who that have been set up for that mainly specialize in commercial production. “I can make partylines production. “We sketched out what for particular departments. And a commercial set might look like, if I wanted to talk to people on at what technology can be applied. walkie-talkies through my system, Naturally, we came to a wireless I can patch them in. You can PL (partyline intercom) system as a have many people on it at the solution,” he says. same time. I can show up to set One main focus was figuring with a bunch of AfterShokz noise out logical partyline assignments— canceling headsets or AirPods and thinking about the responsibilities everyone can communicate as if of the key people on set and who it was a normal phone call,” says Peter Schneider, VP of they regularly talk to. Schneider Borrison, who’s been an advocate Gotham Sound, NYC says, “I credit Peter Erskine, an for improved on-set comms well before COVID-19 required production events and broadcast communications expert teams to figure out an effective new solution in NYC, for saying, ‘You only give people what in accordance with strict protocols for social- they need.’ So we asked, ‘Who needs to talk distancing, zoning, and multiple layers of PPE to who?’ and then diagrammed channels on a whiteboard, giving only the people that need that make it difficult to communicate. those channels access to those channels.”

As with Borrison, Schneider also saw the OFF-SET, REMOTE HOOKUPS When shutdowns forced productions to go on need for production solutions that allowed for hiatus, Peter Schneider, VP of NYC’s Gotham remote participation. Early on, they realized that Sound, started working on a comms plan with travel was being severely restricted. So having a director or agency people fly in to shoot a commercial wasn’t going to happen.

“How can we have those distant creative people be part of the conversation? How can we be part of the communication solution?” he asks. “Clear-Com’s Agent-IC mobile app provides remote intercom access over the Internet and it integrates perfectly with several of their wireless PL systems. We’ve also incorporated Peplink’s Pepwave cellular routers that have integrated VPNs. Part of shooting is about keeping it secret, and soundstages typically don’t have good Internet infrastructure.

Pepwave allows for incredibly flexible connectivity options on set, and it allows us to remotely Right after the pandemic hit in Spring 2020, Clear-Com issued this Zoned Media Production chart offering guidance troubleshoot gear that we send

GRAPHIC: Courtesy of Clear-Com

honing it in is the way of the future for film productions. Clear-Com has created a way for producers and directors to use their phones like walkie-talkies to communicate with various departments on production sets—meaning they don’t have to show up physically to get to work.

Award-winning cinematographer Vinit Borrison used Clear-Com’s LQ-4WG2 IPbased comms system in combination with the company’s Agent-IC mobile app to allow a director in NYC to remotely direct a shoot happening in Toronto, where two crews were simultaneously shooting in two different locations. Borrison says, “It was amazing. We were all in communication. This could never happen with walkie-talkies, which have a range of three miles… maybe. But this is worldwide.

You can talk to anyone, any place, any time they jump onto our system.”

The Clear-Com LQ Series is audio-over-IP, so dispersed team members (or the crew on set) can log in with the Agent-IC app and have access to the different comms channels

for the set.

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Clear-Com Agent-IC mobile app, used in conjunction with the company’s LQ-4WG2 IP-based comms system.

Clear-Com DX410UP base station with headset.

that I got at the end of the shoot was from one of the camera operators who said to me, ‘That was better communication than when we did the shoot in the past and the directors were upstairs.’ That’s awesome,” Schneider says.

Comms tech Patrick Farrell in front of his rig housing his Clear-Com FreeSpeak Edge system on the set of The Gilded Age.

PHOTO: Courtesy of Patrick Farrell

out, or change settings, all without having to dispatch a technician.”

COVID may have instigated the need for remote participation on productions, but Schneider sees this as a continuing trend.

“People now realize that traveling is an option,” he explains. “A director might say, ‘I want to be near my home’ and rather than fly across the country—thanks to technology and the technicians that run it—that can happen seamlessly. It has happened.”

Schneider was contacted by Kat Farm Productions owner and DP Daniel Farmer, who had an upcoming shoot in New York but the directors were in California. Gotham Sound engineered an equipment package that let the directors see extremely low-latency video in their homes and enabled communication with the camera team on set. “The greatest compliment

KEEPING MOBILE, ON SET Not all productions require remote intercom access but still need high-fidelity, wireless communication that isn’t hindered by PPE. Walkie-talkies are bad enough as it is, and using a walkie-talkie with a face mask and a face shield isn’t practical or effective.

Also, walkie-talkies are one-way communication, “so only one person can talk at a time; you’re limited in how you can communicate,” says comms tech Patrick Farrell, who was tasked with helping the production team on HBO’s upcoming series The Gilded Age set up a wireless PL system.

“I’m operating a Clear-Com FreeSpeak system that enables my users to have multiple channels that they’re listening to, and with a partyline there’s multiple people speaking at the same time. You can have a normal, natural conversation,” he says.

“I also have a few Motorola base stations in my setup. I take the four wire outputs from my ClearCom and go into the Motorola so I can assign a channel on someone’s FreeSpeak beltpack to be able to talk to other people with walkie-talkies.

So we’re utilizing that established walkie-talkie infrastructure and expanding on that.”

Farrell observes that this system was never designed to be a mobile station, and since “a film production is nomadic, moving from location to location at a moment’s notice, I built my FreeSpeak base station into a Magliner cart that’s fully DC-powered with a battery backup so I can just push it around wherever I need to go on set. The challenge is being able to remote my antennas (the transceivers) so that I get full coverage for all the users that I have, which can wind up being on opposite sides of a building.”

Award-winning “A” camera operator Geoffrey Haley—who won the Society of Camera Operators Camera Operator of the Year Award in 2020 for his work on Joker and has been the A camera operator on massive Marvel films like Captain Marvel and Avengers: Endgame—says the need for production crews to communicate with each other quietly using a wireless communication system isn’t truly a result of the pandemic. “COVID has certainly propelled us more in that direction, but filmmaking advancements actually propelled the need for wireless communication,” he says.

For instance, wireless lighting systems and wireless production sound systems have cleared a path, literally, for greater camera mobility. “On the large-budget action/adventure movies that I do, we’re using tools like a steadicam, or a crane with a telescoping arm, or a gimbal that has the ability to move fairly fluidly and flexibly, as opposed to a traditional dolly track,” he explains. “The tools allow us to be much more improvisational, which means that there is an immediacy to what we do. That immediacy requires an ability to communicate with each other.”

For years, Haley has been using Clear-Com’s HME DX Series base station (like the DX340ES) with WH340 headsets on films when operating a Technocrane. Since it’s a carefully choreographed and executed shot, Haley says, “The person doing the telescoping, the person that’s on the bucket, the grips moving the chassis up and down a track—we all have to communicate with each other while the shot is happening, and the HMEs are perfect for that. The WH340 is an allin-one headset (two-way receiver/transmitter) that connects to a central base station. There are no wires or a beltpack to get in our way.”

Technocrane shots were Haley’s primary use of the WH340 headsets, but now he uses them “constantly to speak with the director of photography, to my First AC, and to the dolly grip who is literally four feet away but because of the PPE, we don’t want to speak so loudly that, during the middle of a shot, we would interfere with the soundtrack. So we’ll be whispering to each other using the Clear-Com system,” he says. “The HME is very much a part of my life ever since COVID. I put that thing on at the beginning of every day and I don’t take it off until we’re leaving.” ■

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What’s It Like?

Film Production in the Time of COVID

By Jennifer Walden

O

ne might imagine that at the height of the pandemic film crews were scaled back. But that wasn’t the case, according to production sound mixer Richard Lightstone, CAS, who was working on a production set last August. A typical three- or four-person team (a sound mixer, a boom op or two, and sound utility) expanded to include one more— an assistant to sanitize the equipment every night. “The fear was that they would try to minimize those on-set, but then it turned out that we needed more personnel to make things happen,” he says.

Lightstone is a former board member of IATSE Local 695 and co-editor of the 695 Quarterly magazine, is on the Cinema Audio Society board of directors and served as their President between 2003-2006. He notes that “nothing really changed in the way we made a project, except there was an added level of scrutiny, a level of complexity that slowed down production. But the COVID safety protocols— social-distancing, working in pods, wearing masks and face shields (even actors wore masks during rehearsals and walk-throughs), cleaning the equipment, and staggering the setup so the lighting crew would go on a set and do the work, and then the grips would come in, and then camera department, and so on—were smart in terms of protecting the investment that these studios and producers made in each of these projects.”

Four-time Oscar nominated production sound mixer Tod A. Maitland elaborates on that complexity in his return to the set of director Lin Manuel Miranda’s debut musical feature film Tick Tick Boom. Pre-production in October involved a round of COVID testing, a multitude of online COVID educational videos, and 15 pages of protocol documents. Also, he notes that 30 new people were added to the call sheet in brand new job categories,

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like COVID safety officer. He says, “We were one of the first films to resume, and Netflix put a ton of money into bringing us back safely. It wasn’t going to be easy but we all appreciated it.”

According to Maitland, the first few weeks of production were restricted to studio shooting only, as location work was still not allowed. Each morning after testing, Maitland would head to his assigned taped-off area, where he and his sound cart spend most of the day. The stage floor was laid out in a checkerboard of taped-off departmental blocks, allowing a 6-foot-by-6-foot space for each person. His block was sized to allow three from his team, and his Pro Tools playback operator, Derek, was in the six-by-six block next door. Each person was given a colored badge—orange for crew who needed to be on set, and red for the crew to be on set when actors were present. Each person was also assigned to a pod (basically, who they spent the most time next to).

The restrictions started Boom operator Jerry Yuen dressed for a live singing scene outside the set of Tick first thing each day with the Tick Boom. morning blocking rehearsals.

“There was fewer crew allowed to watch and it loosened up a little and I was able to do the be on the set. We were required to wear our final lav placement.”

He notes that since Tick Tick Boom is a colored badge, mask, glasses, and face shields,” Maitland says. “Wiring actors changed radically musical with live singing, COVID protocols also, especially in the first few weeks after called for all crew members (and actors) to be coming back. The new protocol was that I would 12 feet away from live singers to avoid contact meet with wardrobe to check out the actors’ with any droplets propelled out of a live singer’s costumes and work out a plan. Then my crew— mouth. When booming a scene, that meant a Jerry Yuen and Terence McCormack—would 12-foot pole was mandatory.

Also for live singing, the crew had to wear sanitize a transmitter and lav mic, seal it in a sandwich bag and send it to the actor with the face shields, gloves and medical smocks in appropriate mic rig for their wardrobe. Many addition to the normal mask and goggles. “This times the actor would put on their own mic; definitely put a damper on the whole process of this had varying results, as you could imagine, live singing,” Maitland says. “On the set, I joked depending on the actor. Wardrobe helped out that it looked like doctors making movies; every a lot here also. For those first few weeks, no crew member on stage was dressed as if it were one touched anyone. After about three weeks, an operating room.” ■

Tech

spotlight

Acoustic Materials

GIK Acoustics VISO Booth GIK Acoustics released the newest addition to its line of acoustic treatment products in 2020, the VISO (Vocal ISOlation) Booth.

Designed for singers, songwriters, voiceover artists and podcasters looking to improve the quality of their recordings, the L-shaped VISO Booth is constructed from two 16.5 x 11.5 x 1.5 (inches) panels meeting at a 90-degree angle and provides 162 cubic inches of isolation area. The design is said to ensure a large enough absorption area around the microphone to effectively eliminate room tone and other room noise. The VISO Booth can be set up on a desktop or on any microphone stand with a standard 5/8-inch thread (not included), and a pre-positioned microphone mount eliminates any guesswork regarding mic placement. The VISO Booth is manufactured using the same isolation material employed in all of GIK’s professional treatment products (Knauf Insulation Earthwool Insulation Board with ECOSE Technology). The portable design and light weight (10 pounds) enable it to be easily transported and set up by a single person, and it can be used alone or as part of an overall room treatment plan.

Auralex Streamer Starter Kit Streaming was huge over the past year, whether on Twitch, a vlog, or live on Facebook, but to deliver good audio and a good experience, you need a great-sounding room. The Streamer Starter Kit provides quick and aesthetically pleasing sonic control to a creative space by reducing reverberation and echoes while improving speech clarity. The kit includes (10) DST-112 panels (charcoal), (10) DST-114 panels (charcoal/purple/burgundy), and (40) EZ-Stick Pro Tabs, for an effective coverage of up to 20 square feet. Installation is simple: The EZ-Stick Pro Tabs require a clean, flat surface for installation, and once pressure is applied, EZ-Stick Pro Tabs are a permanent installation.

architect or interior designer. Only 1.6 mm thick, ZR QuanTex is concealed invisibly within the fabric, similar to the internal membrane widely used in waterproof jackets and clothing.

IsoAcoustics zaZen I, zaZen II IsoAcoustics has introduced yet another “must-have” in its awardwinning family of isolation products: zaZen. Taking its name from the Zen Buddhist reference to “sitting in peaceful meditation,” zaZen is. geared primarily toward the audiophile market but equally at home in a multitude of pro studio and home recording situations, providing a sleek, stable isolation platform with a low noise floor, suitable for turntables and other critical analog components. The new zaZen models feature an elegant medium-gloss black finish over a dense fiber construction, with the company’s patented isolation technology integrated into zaZen along with its industry-leading isolators recessed in the platform’s bottom corners. ■

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Delta H Design ZR QuanTex Thin as velvet and elegant as Victorian drapes, custom ZR Fabrics from Delta H Design are imbued with the ability to make sound vanish, according to company founder Hanson Hsu. The latest evolution in Hsu’s ZR Quantum Acoustics is concealed within any drape, curtain or textile specified by an

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GET HELP WITH ROOM SETUP

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“The wide selection of colours, sizes and modularity of their panels were a major factor in our decision to use GIK products.”

LUCA BARASSI, ABBEY ROAD INSTITUTE

(404) 492-8364 GIKACOUSTICS.COM

Tech // new products MOTU UltraLite-mk5 Audio Interface Taking advantage of the latest ESS Sabre32 DAC technology, the MOTU UltraLite-Mk5 multichannel USB audio interface is capable of delivering a dynamic range of 125 dB and THD+N rated at -114.

The UltraLite-Mk5 supports 40 simultaneous channels of audio I/O (18x22), including 2 front-panel mic/line/instrument inputs, 6 rear-panel balanced TRS inputs,10 rear-panel balanced TRS outputs, ADAT (8-channel) or TOSLink (2-channel) optical I/O, SPDIF I/O and a stereo headphone output. The front-panel mic inputs provide up to 74 dB of gain and feature individual switches for 48-volt phantom power and 20dB pad. A high-res OLED display on the front panel allows precision metering for all analog I/O. The UltraLite-mk5 operates at sample rates ranging from 44.1 to 192 kHz, and utilizes drivers optimized to deliver extremely lowlatency. The unit includes onboard DSP, mixing and effects, and can be controlled with MOTU’s CueMix 5 app. Each analog input to CueMix 5 can be processed with a 4-band parametric EQ, gate and compressor, while output buses feature a 3-band parametric EQ. Six independent stereo mixes can be created in CueMix 5, enabling the UltraLite-Mk5 to generate independent mixes for monitors and headphone cues.

Antelope Audio Axino Modeling Microphone Antelope Audio’s new Axino Synergy Core is a USB cardioid condenser modeling microphone/interface based around the company’s Modeling Engine, proprietary Synergy Core effects platform, and 24bit/192 kHz AD/DA conversion. The Axino Synergy Core offers a large, gold-spluttered diaphragm with a cardioid pickup pattern and a built-in preamp, and it comes with USB cable, shock-mount and stand. The Axino Synergy Core’s Modeling Engine includes 18 mic emulations, ranging from dynamic designs to rare tube and FET large-diaphragm condenser classics. Emulations can be used in realtime while recording/monitoring, or later when mixing in a DAW in order to provide flexibility after the fact. Physical controls on the mic itself include volume and headphone volume controls, as well as a -10dB pad switch and a highpass filter switch. The Axino Synergy Core also comes with various Synergy Core effects; processing during post-production and live streaming is also possible by making use of the included loopback functionality.

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Audix A127 Omnidirectional Metal Film Condenser Mic Audix has released the new A127 Omnidirectional Metal Film Condenser Microphone, intended for use in professional studio recording, broadcast, film and sound design. The A127 ws designed around a reference-grade capsule (Type 1 IEC 61094-4 compliant) with a precision-tensioned, ultrathin, 3-micron metal film diaphragm that is a half-inch in size. With its omnidirectional polar pattern, the A127 can be used as a room mic or incorporated into a variety of stereo miking techniques. The mic is spec’d with a frequency response of 10 Hz – 20 kHz, a dynamic range of 133 dB and a self-noise of 7 dBA. A series of driven shields protects the microphone from external interference and capacitive coupling; the internal circuitry and mechanical components, including the gold-plated shield and precision-machined, corrosion-resistant housing, are designed and machined by Audix in its U.S. facility.

Avantone Pro Gauss 7 Studio Monitors Avantone Pro has launched Gauss 7, an active, full-range, two-way reference monitor that aims to evoke a vintage sound with the addition of modern technologies. The 2.5-inch GAU-AMT tweeter (60 W) has a 65mm PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) film-folded membrane, with an aluminum-etched PET film, folded. The cone for the 7-inch Ferrite Motor low-frequency driver (120W) is a pressed design, fabricated from the same proprietary blend of wood pulp and glass fiber found in the company’s CLA-10 Series AV10-MLF woofer, but with increased low end. Specs include 103 dB (Peak) SPL; and 0.5% THD delivered from an enclosure measuring 15 x 9.25 x 8.35 inches, and each monitor weighs 18 pounds. Connections include balanced XLR and 1⁄4-inch TRS inputs, plus a three-position Acoustic Placement switch, a three-position High Trim switch and a Gain control.

Celestion TFX0515 Small-Format Coaxial Driver Celestion’s TFX0515 Small-Format Coaxial Driver is a 5-inch, ferritemagnet, coaxial speaker with a 1.5-inch diameter polyimide low-frequency voice coil. High-frequency reproduction is handled by a high-sensitivity, 1-inch, silk-dome tweeter driven by a compact neodymium magnet motor. The use of

neodymium yields a significant reduction in size of the HF structure, enabling it to be positioned at the acoustic center of the LF driver’s voice coil, ensuring that the drivers are time-aligned. The cone of the LF driver is made from Kevlar-loaded paper and employs an elastomer surround for durability. Recommended crossover frequency is 2,000 Hz. Frequency range is stated as 80 Hz to 20 kHz, with an overall sensitivity rating of 89 dB (1 watt @ 1 meter). Nominal power handling is 150 watts, while continuous power is rated as 300 watts. Impedance is spec’d as 8 Ohms.

The TFX0515 mounts in a 4.6-inch cutout and weighs in at 3.5 pounds.

Zeppelin Cortado MkIII Contact Microphone Zeppelin Design Labs, Chicago, has released the Cortado MkII, a rugged, versatile, easyto-use contact mic that is equally useful for sound design, music recording, and venue sound reinforcement. The sensor head attaches easily to most surfaces with clamp, tape or putty, and is tethered to the preamp chassis with a 6-foot (2m) shielded cable. Features include: sensitive piezo sensor; rugged steel enclosures; balanced and buffered signal for wide bandwidth and low noise floor; phantompowered preamp circuit; built-in -10dB pad; and Bass Boost for extended low-end response. The available accessory kit includes a variety of clamps and adhesives to easily attach the Cortado, temporarily or permanently, to nearly any object or surface.

Cranborne Audio N22H Headphone Amplifier The Cranborne Audio N22H Reference-Grade Headphone Amplifier was designed for tracking, mixing or mastering, with a robust steel enclosure that can be positioned just about anywhere. The flat frequency response and ultra-low distortion was derived from the technologies in the company’s 500R8 interface, ensuring clean, transparent power.

Users can switch from tracking with high-impedance, over-ear headphones or low-impedance, in-ear monitors with the flick of a switch between high and low power modes.

A custom, logarithmic level control allows performers to control the headphone output without major increases in volume. The N22H can be powered by the included 9V DC power supply, any guitar pedal power supply, pedalboard power supplies, or a 9V battery that provides up to 10 hours of operation. It can also be positioned anywhere within 330 feet using a single, shielded Cat 5e, Cat 6, or Cat 7 cable and the Cranborne Audio C.A.S.T. system.

Lawo 48-Fader mc²36 Console Lawo’s “second-generation” mc²36 audio production console is based around a dual-fader operating bay featuring 48 faders in the same space as a 32-fader board, making it ideal for theater, houses of worship, corporate, live and broadcast audio applications. Available DSP has more than doubled due to the built-in A__UHD Core functionality. It now offers 256 processing channels, available at both 48 and 96 kHz,

and natively supports ST2110, AES67, RAVENNA, and Ember+.

It provides an I/O capacity of 864 channels, with local connections that include three redundant IP network interfaces, 16 Lawo-grade mic/line inputs, 16 line outputs, eight AES3 inputs and outputs, eight GPIO connections, and an SFP MADI port. Other features include Button-Glow and touch-sensitive rotary controls, color TFT fader-strip displays, LiveView video thumbnails, and 21.5-inch full HD touchscreen controls. Its built-in full loudness control is compliant with the ITU 1770 (EBU/R128 or ATSC/A85) standard.

PreSonus MicroStation BT Monitor Controller PreSonus has released the new MicroStation BT Bluetooth 5.0 stereo monitor controller, which can receive audio from a phone, tablet or other Bluetooth source and feed it to powered speakers. The MicroStation BT also can be hardwired to a powered subwoofer to create a 2.1 listening environment.

A stereo ¹⁄8-inch input is also provided; a Bluetooth On/Off button toggles between Bluetooth and analog sources. Other onboard inputs include balanced left and right ¼-inch TRS inputs, which can route audio from pro-audio hardware to speakers, while the balanced ¼-inch TRS or unbalanced RCA Subwoofer outputs can send audio to a sub. An ¹⁄8-inch stereo headphone/aux output lets users connect headphones or send stereo audio for streaming, recording and more. The main control is a large, ergonomic Volume knob for the overall level of connected speakers and subwoofer. A Sub Bypass button mutes the subwoofer feed, while a main Mute button silences speakers or headphones as needed.

Sonible Smart:EQ 3 Plug-ins based on artificial intelligence are getting more powerful, and Sonible is one of the most experienced developers in that area. Its newest release, Smart:EQ 3 analyzes a section of the source you insert it on, and its AI engine creates a custom Smart Filter (EQ curve) to get rid of unwanted resonances and notches and provide a spectrally balanced result. Profiles are included for common instruments that “prime” Smart:EQ 3 to get the best results. You can also create your own Profiles and store them. Sonible redesigned the GUI in version 3 and added some new features, most notably Group view. You can add up to six instances of Smart:EQ 3 to a group and designate a hierarchy between them. The plug-in uses “intelligent cross-channel processing” to make adjustments to reduce masking between tracks. The Dynamic Adaptation option is also new. Turn it on and the instance of Smart:EQ 3 in use will adapt itself to changes in the music in real time. ■

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PHOTO: Courtesy of Rob Jaczko

Tech // reviews

The finished Abbott Road Studio, with treatments in place.

NIRO (Non-Cuboid Iterative Room Optimization ) Rob Jaczko Transforms Space Via Small-Room Acoustics Software

By Barry Rudolph [Editor’s Note: This is not a typical product review. As Mix has learned over the years, certain new technologies demand more than opening a box or downloading software to accurately evaluate. To accurately assess NIRO, the new small-room acoustics software from WSDG and REDIacoustics, we needed to find an engineer who was going through the process. Mix reviewer Barry Rudolph found an excellent source in Rob Jaczko, who continued his 20-year relationship with John Storyk, co-founder of WSDG and REDIacoustics, when he employed NIRO in creating his home-based Abbott Road Studio.]

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ob Jaczko is Chair of the Music Production and Engineering Department at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Mass.

In addition to overseeing the program’s faculty and all the

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studios at Berklee, he now operates his own personal, professional studio at his residence just outside of Boston.

Abbott Road Studio is an “all-in-one,” 600-square-foot room measuring 19 feet wide by 32 feet long, with a 14-foot, A-frame ceiling. The all-in-one approach for a personal studio has become popular for two primary reasons.

First when built within an already existing structure, it usually means there will be no major remodeling or new construction required. Secondly, with music written, composed, produced and performed in a single room, the ability to reconfigure a space for nearly any use, from recording drum kits to big guitar amps to vocals, is attractive.

“Presently, I have a drum-set, piano, synths, keyboards and amps

all in the room,” Jaczko says. “I like the open, ‘black box’ nature of being able to reconfigure the setup given the circumstances.”

Jaczko’s loft-like studio has an open-air feel and is located above a large garage that is detached from the main house; there are no particular requirements for acoustic isolation, either from sound exiting or entering the studio.

That was a boon, as incorporating effective sound isolation can easily double or triple construction costs.

“This house and property has been in my wife’s family for nearly 120 years; my family has lived here for the last 17 years after we moved back from L.A.,” Jaczko explains. “This room has always been an open music and hangout space for my kids, but over the last six years, it has evolved into my personal studio.”

The room was never intended to be an actual, viable recording studio capable of producing consistent professional results. It included plenty of hard, reflective surfaces, causing excessive decay times that made critical listening impossible. With access to more than 20 pro studios at the Berklee campus, Jaczko had found little reason or need to invest in a home studio.

All that changed in early 2020 with the appearance of COVID-19. The lockdown put the brakes on all normal collaborative processes, and finding an open commercial studio became difficult at best. For Jaczko, and so many other audio professionals, the pandemic brought to light the realization that having control over access to a recording studio/space is a necessity— even if only for editing and mixing.

Upgrading his room with balanced monitoring and acoustics would allow Jaczko the ability to continue recording and mixing music for film, jingles and TV projects. In addition, the larger footprint of his room meant he could accommodate tracking three- or four-piece ensembles, small string and/or brass sections, or record vocal groups.

WORKING WITH EXISTING SPACES Converting existing residential spaces—spare bedrooms, garages, etc.—into DIY recording studios is generally viewed as specialized homeremodeling projects with minimal thought and knowledge of acoustic science and the way sound behaves in small rooms.

In acoustically untreated rooms, there are typical endemic problems that have to be addressed in order to create a “clean acoustical

NIRO and REDIacoustics NIRO, or Non-Cuboid Iterative Room Optimization, is a modern, professional design process created by the REDIacoustics, LLC. founded by John Storyk, Dr. Peter D’Antonio and PK Pandey, and used by the Walters-Storyk Design Group.

“The NIRO program mathematically optimizes an untreated room’s geometry, i.e. the shape of the wall and ceiling simultaneously with the positions of the listeners and monitor speaker/subwoofers/and midfields,” D’Antonio says.

The NIRO software builds a threedimensional wire-frame visualization (mesh) of the room’s shape. The wave-based Boundary Element Method program evaluates hundreds of possibilities for the geometry and positions

of speakers/subs and listeners, as well as the type of low-frequency treatment and their precise locations. The program then outputs the flattest modal response and uniform temporal decay, within the constraints of the architecture, which can be compared with insitu measurements.

NIRO is the culmination of WSDG’s practical experience in architectural acoustics and a twoyear research program of REDIacoustics, led

by Storyk, D’Antonio and Rinaldi Petrolli. NIRO unites acoustic room analysis/measurement, architecture and aesthetic preferences in the design of a room for the best possible acoustics—given the physical constraints.

This process is effective for existing rooms or for ground-up new studio builds.

The iterative NIRO process.

palette with minimal sonic distortion.” Ideally, instead of employing DSP to electronically tune monitor speakers to “correct” the peculiar issues of the space (modal buildups/cancellations), it would be better if the room’s mix position from the get-go had as close to a flat frequency response and uniform temporal decay as possible.

One of the current DIY trends for converting existing spaces into studios is to apply commercial, premade acoustic materials— various cloth-covered absorptive or diffusive panels (or sections of sculpted polyurethane foam) onto the walls and ceilings, with the goal of reducing or controlling unwanted sound reflections between these surfaces in a meaningful way.

But without accurate measurements of the room’s physical dimensions and acoustical

response to determine its actual problems, the application of these treatment panels is often, at best, scatter-shot. Off-the-shelf acoustic treatment products are not necessarily bandwidth-specific, and if they are placed incorrectly, they can be detrimental by being either overly absorptive in the wrong frequencies or not enough in others.

The initial design/acoustic goal in any personal studio is a flat frequency response and minimal sound reflections at the listening position— where critical judgments and decisions are made about the sound. It is very expensive (and nearly impossible) to obtain flat response throughout an existing residential room not originally built for it.

Jaczko’s room suffered from an excessive RT60 measurement, exhibiting reflections and decays

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Tech // reviews

PHOTO: Courtesy of Rob Jaczko

that made accurate listening impossible. He knew from the beginning that he would have problems with low-end reproduction.

Sound reflections in rooms come in many insidious forms. There are distractive room (modal) resonances that occur in certain locations in a space based on its physical dimensions, and there are Speaker Boundary Interference Response problems that have to be flattened or averaged.

The NIRO-WSDG team in the finished Abbott Road Studio.

Standing, from left: PK Pandey, Partner REDIacoustics; Optimizing the room’s geometry, as well Will Brown, Project Manager/Engineer WSDG; Andy as introducing an organized distribution of Swerdlow, Senior Acoustician, WSDG. Seated: Rob Jaczko. frequency-dependent dampers, can lead to minimized and uniform decay times in the low frequencies required for “tight” bass, and most important for company, REDIacoustics, has released NIRO, a new analysis tool based on Non-Cuboid Iterative Room Optimization. mixing and/mastering music.

Clients begin the NIRO process by outlining the studio’s It is perhaps most important to reduce the early reflections that occur between the direct sound coming from the speakers and architecture, along with a discussion of the goal for the room the side and rear walls, as well as certain furniture and equipment based upon the cubic volume, shape, vertical size, speaker range (soffit-mounted or nearfield), subwoofer(s) and equipment list, and elements.

Abbott Road studio is 32-feet long, giving it a bit of an advantage whether there is to be space for a console.

Preliminary drawings are made; these can be either for an with respect to control of rear-wall reflections. Organizing these early reflections while at the same time avoiding making the room all-new room or overlaid over an existing room’s plans. Jaczko too dead was certainly a design consideration. Many engineers find supplied the blueprints from the room’s original construction. With that overly dead rooms exhibit a very narrow sweet spot around the accurate room blueprints, the next step is the collection of acoustic listening position and are not always comfortable to work in over measurements—more specifically, mix position impulse response information. many hours.

Measurement of the room’s acoustic signatures can be handled

by REDIacoustics or WSDG personnel onsite, or the data can be THE NIRO PROCESS “I have an over 20-year relationship with John Storyk and the supplied by the client as long as it meets the specifications needed.

Walters-Storyk Design Group team,” Jaczsko explains. “Recently, In this case, Jaczko gathered the data, with a little guidance from I had been aware of their ambition to develop a new analysis tool the WSDG team, using Room EQ Wizard analysis software and a specifically targeting low-frequency issues in non-cuboid spaces. calibrated measurement microphone.

“Since this project began during COVID lockdown in 2020, My room is decidedly non-cuboid, with a high-pitched ceiling I made the measurements by myself while receiving direction forming a trapezoidal cross section.”

After two years of development, WSDG’s newly formed research on a Zoom call with Andy Swerdlow, a senior engineer at

At left, the frequency-response graph, Before and After the NIRO process; at right, the RT60 measurements, Before and After.

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then positioned exactly to treat the problematic frequencies.”

Implementation depends on client preference to either build their own acoustic treatments or order from a list of certified manufacturers.

Typical lead times are six to eight weeks. Most of the specified NIRO-designed APEQs are installed directly on walls and ceilings (at the room’s highest pressure locations), allowing for much more architectural and ergonomic flexibility.

PHOTO: Courtesy of RPG Acoustical Systems

WSDG,” Jaczko explains. “The REW software generates a number of frequency sweeps for recording at various locations in the room. This process is repeated numerous times to obtain separate measurements for only the left and right speakers, and with and without my two subwoofers engaged. It was not hard work to do the measurements, especially with Andy’s help.”

For Jaczko’s studio, the NIRO process, including the initial analysis, computations and 40-page report was completed in a week.

“The NIRO process pinpoints optimized geometry as well as specific frequency-dependent damper locations,” says John Storyk, founder of WSDG. “It rarely specifies large, broadband bass traps that require quarter wavelength–deep cavities filled with hanging Fiberglas/wood/ Fiberglas panels. Today’s studios are relatively

PHOTO: Courtesy of Rob Jaczko

The Acoustical Parametric EQualizers (APEQ), shown here being custom-assembled, are less than 6-inches thick and built specifically to treat the problematic frequencies at a specific room position.

The mic-dodecahedron speaker rig used to measure RT60, set up in Abbott Road Studio.

small and require especially designed thin low-frequency control panels. Our Acoustical Parametric EQualizers (APEQ) are less than 6-inches thick, custom-designed, and built and

NIRO FOR NEW STUDIOS For new studio builds, the architectural design process of the room begins with the determination of the client’s aesthetic preference—the look, the vibe, the shape of the room, the room’s future purpose, and any constraints that may affect these preferences. Here, the actual locations of the monitor speakers and listening coverage area(s) are included in the preliminary drawings, along with details such as subwoofer(s), listening position, and the size and frequency range of the monitors. (continued on page 41)

Widen your Creativity with Stereo Reamping

EXTC-Stereo

Stereo Guitar Effects Interface & Reamper The EXTC-Stereo allows you to connect guitar effects pedals to the inputs and outputs of pro audio equipment such as recording interfaces and mixing consoles, so you can incorporate stereo pedals into your recordings and explore new creative possibilities.

Complete your studio at:

www.radialeng.com/reamp

Tech // reviews Radial EXTC Stereo Reamp Double Your Sonic Pleasure With Pedals or Amps

By Mike Levine

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adial Engineering’s EXTC Stereo Reamp is the latest model in the company’s EXTC (“ex-tee-cee”) line of reamping devices. Previously introduced models include the EXTC SA, a mono unit with two switchable effects loops, and the EXTC 500 Series.

The new unit gives users the capability to reamp their DAW tracks with stereo effects pedals, mono effects pedals or even two amplifiers.

Like all of Radial’s pedals, the orange-and-black EXTC Stereo Reamp is built like a tank. I know to expect that from Radial products, but it still impresses me every time I get my hands on one. At 5.84 x 4.81 x 1.98 inches, the unit is similar in size to a large stompbox and the same size as the EXTC SA. It comes with a 15 VDC power adapter and features a power status LED on the lower left of the front panel. There’s no on/off switch.

TWO REAMPS IN ONE The front panel’s left side includes large Send and Receive knobs, which allow you to tailor the levels in and out of any connected devices to maximize gain staging. You also get a Blend knob, which controls the ratio of wet to dry coming out of the attached effects pedal(s).

Radial equipped the EXTC Stereo Reamp with an Invert Phase switch, which has become necessary because some pedals,

particularly older ones, may have reversed polarity. And we all know that it’s possible to use an XLR cable that is incorrectly wired.

If the output of the EXTC sounds thin, it could be from phase cancellation, which you can alleviate or reduce by reversing the polarity. Having the switch on the front panel makes it easy to compare both polarity settings. Also on the front is the EFX Loop switch, another control that’s useful for comparisons.

It lets you bypass the effects from the connected pedals.

Unlike the EXTC SA, which has all of its I/O on the rear panel, the EXTC Stereo Reamp’s effects loop connections are on the front. If you’re tight on desktop space in your studio, having cables protruding from both sides of the unit could make it hard to find a convenient spot to place it. That said, the EXTC Stereo Reamp features twice as many jacks and comes in the identically sized chassis to its mono sibling, so putting the send/receive jacks on the front was probably impossible to avoid.

The effects loop I/O includes Hi-Z left and right ¼-inch Send and Receive jacks for connecting to and returning from pedals and connecting to amps.

All the back panel I/O is balanced and line-level. From there, you connect the inputs and outputs to your audio interface. The EXTC’s inputs are both on XLR/1/4-inch combo jacks; the outputs are two stereo pairs—one on ¼-inch TRS jacks and the other on XLR connectors.

On the far left is the power input, and above that is a Cable Clamp, which makes it possible to tuck the power cable under it so it won’t get accidentally pulled out.

PRODUCT SUMMARY Above: The EXTC Stereo Reamp makes it easy to reamp stereo or two mono tracks through pedals or amps.

Above: The unit includes balanced XLR and ¼-inch I/O for connecting to your audio interface.

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COMPANY: Radial Engineering PRODUCT: EXTC Stereo Reamp WEBSITE: www.radialeng.com PRICE: $349.99 PROS: Reamp with pedals or amps. Send and Receive knobs for adjusting effects loop levels.

Blend knob dry/wet control. Invert Phase and effects loop bypass switches on front. Solid build quality.

CONS: Jacks on front and back could make it challenging to fit on a desktop.

WHAT TO DO With two channels of inputs and outputs, the EXTC Stereo Reamp offers plenty of potential connection scenarios. The most basic is if you have a stereo track in your session that you want to reamp through a pedal.

Connect two of your interface’s line outputs to the line inputs of the EXTC Stereo Reamp, then plug the outputs of your pedal into a pair of Hi-Z inputs on your interface.

As you play back the track, you can record it into a new stereo track or two new mono tracks in your DAW. In addition to the original stereo track, your session would then contain a stereo or dual mono track processed through the pedal.

While I don’t have any true stereo effects pedals, I do have a mono-tostereo Electro-Harmonix Lester G rotary speaker pedal that I tried with the EXTC, using one send and the stereo returns. I also connected a single mono pedal to process a mono track.

For another test, I connected a mono pedal to the left side of the EXTC and a different one to on the right, and each processed a separate mono track. The only limitation with that configuration is that the Send, Receive, Phase, and Blend knobs work globally, so their settings affect both the left and right sides.

If you have a stereo track in your session that you want to reamp through a pedal. Connect two of your interface’s line outputs to the line inputs of the EXTC Stereo Reamp, then plug the outputs of your pedal into a pair of Hi-Z inputs on your interface.

Because the EXTC Stereo Reamp has two Hi-Z Send outputs, you can also use it to reamp in the original sense of the word, with an amplifier.

In that scenario, you’d connect the output from your DAW the same way, but then just use one send on the Radial unit to route the signal to a miked amp. You could then reamp with two amps. You would need to duplicate the DI track you’re reamping and patch the original and the copy through the left and right channels of the EXTC’s effects loop, then route each to a separate amp.

As in any reamping situation, you have to contend with latency delay on the reamped track, particularly if you have a big session and a high buffer setting. One way to go is to slide the reamped track back in time to match the timing (and phase) of the original. Alternatively, you could freeze some of your other tracks temporarily so you could lower the buffer setting before reamping, thus reducing the latency.

NO AGONY WITH THE EXTC Being able to reamp DAW tracks with guitar effects opens a world of sonic possibilities for production and mixing. The EXTC Stereo Reamp makes that process easy, flexible and stereo-capable. It’s yet another practical, well-built, easy-to-use and excellent-sounding device from a company that just keeps turning them out. ■

NIRO (continued from page 39) A room optimization algorithm, the heart of the NIRO software, cycles through all possible room shapes and dimensions—the L, W, and H only constrained by the outer shell’s maximum allowable size. Both the loudspeaker positions and range of listening positions are also cycled through. This data is fed back to architectural design for modification, if required, and then sent to a damper specification module that dictates the best locations for the APEQs, as well as integration into other large, physical room components, such as HVAC vents, doors, lighting, etc.

Once the optimized and coordinated locations of these elements are determined, the specular reflection module is used for specifying the layout and locations of the specially designed midand high-frequency absorption and diffusion treatment elements.

Customized panels are made for each NIRO-designed studio to very carefully control midrange and high frequencies—both for nearfield reflections at the listening position as well as the rest of the space in the diffuse field.

The NIRO report demonstrates the room’s behavior with and without treatments. Color-coded pressure maps are produced for both the main speakers as well as the subwoofers with special focus on the listening position.

Depending on the particular studio and based on the 3D visualization, acoustical treatment panels are placed and their expected behavior assessed.

For Jaczko’s studio, MBI Products provided the custom fabricated 2-inch thick broadband absorption panels, while RPG Acoustical Systems manufactured the low-frequency Helmholtz resonator dampers and Expo panels.

The NIRO process normally ends with issuing a final report. In this case, for the Mix review, REDIacoustics and WSDG personnel returned after workers had installed the treatments and measured the room’s acoustics to verify the original 3D visualizations and acoustic expectations. REDI can also recommend a measurement service to a client.

“This process is the final ‘A’ of the ‘three A approach’—Acoustics, Architecture, Audio—and that has been WSDG’s path for years,” Storyk says in summation.

THE FINISHED WONDER ROOM “Having completed the commissioning process with WSDG and REDIacoustics team, I’m beginning to understand the monitoring in the room. My initial impressions once the treatments were installed were extremely positive. The reverb time (RT60) of the room is now halved, and the tonality of the space is now musically balanced. Seasoned engineers and professional musicians alike know immediately if they ‘understand’ the acoustic signature of a space. I feel extremely comfortable listening to the monitors, playing drums, or simply speaking in the room now.

“What I found the most remarkable was how close the projected speaker placements and frequency response matched the in-situ final measurements,” he adds. “The architecture of the space was potentially challenging, yet I feel that the results are a complete home run. Bravo!” ■

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Tech // back page blog A Path Back to Analog; Please Check Your Kicks Mike Levine: Mix Technology Editor, Studio

Steve La Cerra: Mix Technology Editor, Live

Digging the 500 Series: I’m old enough to remember the analog days, when recall sheets were necessary for reopening a mix. They were a total pain to use, and the recalled mixes never seemed to be quite the same as the originals. So for many years, I’ve been a huge fan and advocate of in-the-box mixing.

But over the past couple of years, I’ve had a change of heart. While I still do a lot of mixing in the box, I am now much more open to adding hardware. The impetus for my change was the emergence of 500 Series processors.

It started after I reviewed a Cranborne Audio 500R8, an audio interface and 8-space 500 Series rack that’s also a summing mixer and monitor controller. I liked it so much I purchased it. I also bought two of the company’s Camden preamps and subsequently picked up preamps from a couple of other manufacturers, too.

Granted, I mainly used the preamps for tracking, and my mixes were still mainly in the box, but the ice had been broken. I now owned some preamps with character rather than the more generic types typically found in interfaces. A few months later, I bought a rackmount stereo compressor when a good deal came my way.

The 500 Series format makes it possible to populate a chassis with the gear of your choice. You can go all-in with one manufacturer or opt for a diverse selection of brands and sonic flavors. There’s almost a collectible aspect to it. Sure, there was a time early in the life of 500 Series equipment when there were technical issues due to the sharing of the chassis’ power between processors on down the line. But contemporary designs provide enough power to make that a non-issue.

I still mix plenty in the box, but no longer exclusively. I decide on a project-by-project basis. I may have lost some convenience when it comes to recalls, but I’m loving the sound and the vibe of my analog gear.

The Ten-Foot Kick: Last month, I came across an interesting post on a forum that caters to drummers and drumming. Someone started a thread about excessive volume levels at live shows, and the trend of engineers pushing low end to a point where the kick drum is overthe-top. Too often they’re right.

It irks me, and I hear it all the time: engineers mixing to get the pants legs flapping while ignoring the fact that maybe the audience might want to hear, say, the lead vocal or a guitar solo.

Some folks posted responses ranging from “How loud is too loud?” to “I always carry ear plugs when I go to a show” to “Live sound has been ruined because engineers insist on pumping massive amounts of low end into the room.”

A few members who perform live said they don’t like it when an engineer tries to make their kick drum sound like it’s 10 feet in diameter. One snarky dude boasted that his crappy P.A. could sonically beat a pro with $50K worth of gear (I’ll see that and raise you $10K, smarty-pants). One person speculated that perhaps the general public has been conditioned to accept crappy sound.

The thing that really got me was the flurry of posts from various members that went something like this: …The bass sounded like a low drone, and I couldn’t really pick out individual notes. I would have had no idea that I was hearing an upright bass unless I was looking at the stage. …It’s a real drag to buy an expensive ticket, expect something great, and then see a performance ruined by headache-inducing audio. …Paying a lot of cash for lousy sound really sucks.

If this is what our patrons are saying, then maybe we’d better listen.

There’s no question that loud sound can impact an audience in an emotional way, but volume for its own sake, at the expense of clarity and intelligibility, sends people running for the doors—and we can’t let that happen.

Product of the Month: Arturia Pigments 3 Arturia Pigments 3, described as a “Polychrome Software Synthesizer,” comes in plug-in and standalone formats and offers a robust feature set and a variety of synth engines to mix and match. Two new synthesis engines—Harmonic Engine and Utility Engine—augment Wavetable, Sample and Granular, and Virtual Analog, all carried over from Pigments 2. The Harmonic Engine is additive synthesis–based; the Utility Engine includes an additional oscillator and noise sample layers. Arturia also beefed up the Wavetable Engine with 64 new wavetables. A new Low Pass filter allows users to route filters to the various effects buses. ■

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Product of the Month: Celestion TFX0515 Celestion’s TFX0515 Small-Format Coaxial Driver is a 5-inch, ferrite-magnet, coaxial speaker with a 1.5-inch diameter polyimide low-frequency voice coil. High-frequency reproduction is handled by a high-sensitivity, 1-inch, silk-dome tweeter driven by a compact neodymium magnet motor.

Recommended crossover frequency is 2,000 Hz. Frequency range is stated as 80 Hz to 20 kHz, with an overall sensitivity rating of 89 dB (1 watt @ 1 meter).

Nominal power handling is 150 watts; continuous power is rated as 300 watts. The TFX0515 mounts in a 4.6-inch cutout and weighs in at 3.5 pounds. ■

9000