Pro Sound News - April 2020

prosoun Volume 42 No. 4

www.prosoundnetwork.com

Coronavirus Halts Live Sound Industry

BY CLIVE YOUNG new york , ny —News

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mmersive audio continues to grow in popularity among content creators

and consumers, buoyed by a growing selection of devices for playback in the home or on the go. But while postproduced immersive audio

is now well supported by tools and technology, products with a full complement of features and functionality to generate live broadcast content are still relatively scarce.

To be sure, there are already examples of live broadcasts incorporating immersive audio to be found globally, particularly in sports programming. And immersive audio capabilities have been written into the next generation of television standards worldwide. What

Deadly Tornado Hits Nashville

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A deadly storm passed through middle Tennessee on March 3, causing numerous tornados, including one that tore through East Nashville, leaving a path of destruction in its wake that harmed the music community.

(continued on page 40)

Broadcasters Prep for Live Immersive Content

BY STEVE HARVEY

April 2020

BRETT CARLSEN/GETTY IMAGES

DEEP IMMERSION—Valhalla Studios New York owner Joey DeMaio, founder of metal stalwart Manowar, recently went all out to bring immersive audio capabilities to the central New York facility. Making the most of that ability now are (l-r) engineer to the stars Ronald Prent, 11-time Grammy-nominated mastering engineer Darcy Proper, recording/ mix engineer Dirk Kloiber, and composer/sound designer Luke Johnson.

Find out more about the facility on page 20.

stories last fall about the novel coronavirus in China caught the eye of some audio pros in the United States, but for many, it was a problem happening far away on the other side of the world. By February, however, there was no ignoring the virus’ coming impact.

Au stin ’s a n n ual SXSW co n f eren ce wa s cancel l ed on March 6. When the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the rapidly spreading coronavirus outbreak a pandemic, the event cancellation floodgates opened: Pearl Jam postponed its spring tour on March 9; Coachella jumped to

news

DOLBY ATMOS MOVES INTO LIVE SOUND—PAGE 32

f e at u r e s a r e e q u i p m e n t manufacturers considering to meet the challenges in the broadcast market? And when might we be able to regularly experience more live immersive broadcast content?

Wheatstone senior sales engineer Phil Owens believes that it will be some time before immersive audio is commonplace in broadcast television. “Immersive audio at the console end requires two things:

18 Keeping Le Studio’s Memory Alive

The legendary Canadian facility Le Studio Morin Heights outside Toronto recorded classic albums before it was abandoned and ultimately burned down. Now Halo, a new studio facility in Hamilton, ON, has completed a modern re-creation of Le Studio’s control room—and perhaps its magic touch.

(continued on page 41)

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soundBUSINESS Deadly Tornado Hits Nashville Venue, Studio

BY CLIVE YOUNG

API Sets 13th Walker Scholarship

T.I. Buys Atlanta’s Silent Sound Studios

n a s h v i l l e , t n —A

deadly stor m passed through middle Tennessee in the early hours of March 3, causing numerous tornadoes, including one that tore through East Nashville and left a swath of destruction in its wake.

Early reports state that 22 people are dead from the storm across the region, though that number is expected to grow; two were in East Nashville.

Likewise, Nashville Metro Police announced that at least 40 buildings collapsed in the aftermath of the tornado.

briefs Thomas Named PMC MD

jessup, md—API has opened submissions for the 13th Annual API Saul Walker Memorial Scholarship (www. apiaudio.com/scholarships.php). The program honors the late Saul Walker, API co-founder and 2019 Technical Grammy Award recipient. The scholarship application consists of a short essay and a submission of the applicant’s best audio work. Applicants must attend a higher education facility with an API console in order to qualify for the scholarship.

Last Seat in the House Released

new york, ny—Nearly a decade in the making, The Last Seat in the House: The Story of Hanley Sound (University Press of Mississippi), a new book profiling live sound pioneer Bill Hanley and the development of the live sound industry overall, has been released.

Author John Kane explores the nascent days of professional live sound as he traces Hanley’s involvement in the sound of LBJ’s inauguration, the Newport Jazz Festival, the final Beatles tour and, most famously, the 1969 Woodstock music festival.

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biggleswade, uk—PMC (www.pmcspeakers.com) founder Peter Thomas has returned to the role of managing director for the British loudspeaker manufacturing company. The move comes following Tim Ireland’s departure from the role, which he had held since November 2018. At the time, Thomas shifted to the title of company chairman—a title he retains going forward.

Nicknamed Music City, Nashville is the heart of the country music world. It has long been home to recording studios, live sound providers and career-making venues.

The Basement East, a mid-sized venue at 917 Woodland St., was literally torn apart by the tornado, though, poignantly, an Adrien Saporiti-designed mural outside the venue that reads “I believe in Nashville” is still standing. The five employees on site at the time of the tornado stayed safe by moving to the basement just before the tornado hit. The Tennessean quoted co-owner Mike Grimes as saying the building is a “total loss.”

A Live Nation venue, The Basement East opened in 2015 and was set to host The Ataris, Best Coast and other acts in the coming weeks.

Management has already announced on social media that it will try to reschedule all upcoming events elsewhere.

Meanwhile, a post on the AES Nashville chapter’s Facebook page stated that Woodland Studios was hit as well, noting “They are in salvage mode, trying to get stuff out, and need power.” While the roof was reportedly torn off, resulting in water damage, Mike Porter of Belmont University posted to the group,

A tornado tore through The Basement East in East Nashville early on March 3. Staff inside survived by taking cover in the basement.

“Someone was at the studio when it happened, so work to minimize damage started almost immediately.”

The legendary facility is currently the private workspace of musical partners singer/songwriter Gillian Welch and guitarist/producer David Rawlings, but it was opened in 1968 by audio engineer Glenn Snoddy, who died in 2018 at the age of 96.

The facility earned a reputation in the decades that followed as a goto studio for the likes of the Charlie Daniels Band, Ronnie Milsap and

Barbara Mandrell before changing hands in the early 2000s, closing to the public after years of legal wrangling due to damage from a 1998 tornado.

This is not the first time in recent years that the city has been slammed by natural disaster. In 2010, Nashville suffered massive flooding after a record 13 inches of rain fell in the first weekend of May.

Middle Tennessee Emergency Response Fund https://bit.ly/2xjR8iZ

BY CLIVE YOUNG atlanta, ga—Atlanta’s

Silent Sound Studios has been purchased by Grammy-winning rapper/entrepreneur T.I. (Clifford “Tip” Harris Jr.) and rechristened Super Sound Studios. Since opening in 1996, the facility has hosted the likes of Beyoncé, Usher, Pharrell, Whitney Houston, Indigo Girls, Bruce Springsteen, Lionel Ritchie, Justin Bieber, Elton John and its new owner, among others.

The building was a photography studio and a set of offices until producer/songwriter Daryl Simmons purchased it in 1994. Over the course of 18 months, Simmons worked with legendary acoustician Russ Berger of Russ Berger Design Group to reinvent the 6,000-square-foot facility as a recording studio.

Berger ultimately created a live room, a control room outfitted with a 64-channel SSL 4000 G console, various production suites, a central equipment room and support spaces, and left some of the existing offices as they were. The resulting facility was awarded the 1996 Texas Society of

Aiming to preserve a key part of Atlanta’s recording history, Grammy-winning rapper T.I. has purchased Silent Sound Studios.

Architects Design Award for Interior Architecture.

Simmons sold the studio in 2006 to his longtime engineer, Thom “TK” Kidd, who ran the facility until its recent sale to T.I. The rapper’s longtime engineer, Elliot Carter, is the facility’s chief engineer.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that an upstairs suite will be T.I’s primary recording space. Additionally, one production space will be reworked as a podcast studio. Carter

told the newspaper, “This was the only space that Tip wanted, with the heritage and quality and size of it.

There aren’t many of these left. The whole idea that Tip was involved in keeping the history with the studio, that’s really where I’m proud of being part of it.”

Carter added, “The quality of the room, the quality of the equipment … it’s 25 years old and sounds brand new. It’s just this space—no one builds these anymore.”

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vol. 42 no. 4

April 2020

CONTENTS SOUNDRECORDING Studio 1 LA Debuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Karma Auger and longtime collaborator Erich Gobel have teamed up to run Studio 1 LA, a new mix

DEPARTMENTS Sound Business

5

Sound People

39

facility built from the ground up to handle immer-

Classifieds 41

sive mixes in Dolby Atmos.

CHARTS

Studio Showcase: Valhalla Studios . . . . 20 Valhalla Studios owner/Manowar founder Joey DeMaio collaborated with Grammy-winning mas-

Tracks 22 Centerstage 37

tering engineer Darcy Proper and top engineer Ronald Prent to upgrade the facility’s main room to handle all immersive formats.

SOUNDPOST/BROADCAST

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Oscar-Nominated Sound Teams Speak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 The Academy Award-nominated sound teams behind Ad Astra, Joker, Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood and Ford v Ferrari share how they brought aural magic to the multiplex.

SPECIAL REPORT Immersive Audio 1, 18, 20, 28, 32

The ability to provide immersive audio is quickly moving from being an option in many fields to a necessity. Whether being applied to broadcast content, cinema, or live and concert sound, the various formats—as well as the facilities and gear that are used to mix them—are only growing in popularity.

Podcasting? Yeah, They’ve Got That . . 24 While some big-box retailers might jump on the podcasting boom by selling gear, Staples has a far bigger plan—it’s opened podcast studios in six test

You may be self-isolating at home

ated by Professional Audio Design president Dave

with your computer right now,

Malekpour and his team.

but that doesn’t mean some-

Sound Innovations: SSL System T Console . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

one can’t steal your files. Craig Anderton explores how to keep your software and songs safe.

viewfromthetop . . . . . . . 38

Thomas Jensen, vice president of technical opera-

Gordon Kapes, president of

tions for Solid State Logic’s Systems & Support

Studio Technologies, shares the

Group New York, recounts the history of the

business philosophy and insights

company’s System T broadcast console and its

that have helped the 16-employ-

ongoing refinement to benefit its users and the

ee company launch more than

marketplace.

100 products over the years.

Pro Audio Review in PSN . . . . . . . . 28, 29

music,etc. . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

DPA 4560 CORE Binaural Headset Microphone;

Multiple Dove Award-winning

PhantomFocus System Studio Monitors

musician and producer Rob

SOUNDPRODUCTS Studio Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 SR Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

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softwaretech . . . . . . . . . . 21

stores, with technical designs and acoustics cre-

SOUNDTECHNOLOGY

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COLUMNS

Graves talks about his latest collaboration with hard rockers Red and his own solo piano album, Solstice, as well as why coronavirus could have a small upside.

SOUNDREINFORCEMENT Dolby Atmos Moves into Live Sound . . 32 Immersive audio is available in cinemas and homes; now live sound is increasingly exploring

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ways to bring that element to the concert world

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with artists like Meek Mill and Santana. The live

facebook:

twitter:

sound team at Dolby Atmos shares its insights.

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Live Sound Showcase: Guster . . . . . . . 34 Alternative folk-pop mainstay Guster spent the

Pro Sound News (ISSN# 0164-6338) is published monthly by Future US, Inc., 11 West 42nd Street - 15th Fl, New York, NY 10036. Pro Sound News is available without charge in the USA to qualified professionals engaged in sound recording, broadcast, video recording, audio-visual, sound reinforcement and associated business. The publisher reserves the right to refuse applications and restrict free copies sent to a company or organization. For subscription information or to email customer service, please visit our online Subscribe Center at www.MyPSNmag.com. Reprints available upon request, call our Reprint Coordinator at Wright’s Reprints: 877-652-5295. Periodical postage paid at New York, NY and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: Pro Sound News, P.O. Box 234, Lowell, MA 01853. Please allow 6-8 weeks for address changes to take effect. © Copyright 2020 by Future US, Inc. PRINTED IN U.S.A.

start of the year on the road with a U.S. acoustic tour that not only showed off the band’s instrumental skills but also found it performing with an unlikely monitor setup.

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fromtheEDITOR

prosound

news

[8]

CLIVE YOUNG

vol. 42 no. 4 April 2020 http://www.prosoundnetwork.com FOLLOW US

clive.young@futurenet.com

Making the Most of a Rough Time

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don’t know about you, but I’m a little coronavirused out—and as I write this in mid-March, we’re only just starting this journey of uncertainty. One thing I do know, however, is that many audio pros are going to have more time on their hands than usual. Whether due to self-isolation, cancelled gigs or the potential city lockdowns that may be ahead, for many, it will be a staycation … without the ’cation part.

Making the most of this time—as much to stay occupied as to actually get things done—is crucial. For instance, plenty of audio organizations, manufacturers and online groups are offering free or heavily discounted online audio classes and more. Using online resources to come out of this with a better understanding of today’s audio technology is not a bad thing— and if you don’t make the effort, you can be certain someone else will.

It’s also a good time to catch up on that pile of books you’ve been meaning to read. If you’re looking for suggestions, try the just-published Get Tusked: The Inside Story of Fleetwood Mac’s Most Anticipated Album, which goes inside the epic yearlong recording session that spawned the band’s sprawling double-album, 1979’s Tusk. Unlike a lot of tell-alls, this one is written by folks who were there: Grammy-winning co-producer Ken Caillat and assistant engineer Hernan Rojas. It’s a fascinating read, and you don’t need to know Tusk well

(or at all) to enjoy it.

The subtitle gives it all away, calling Tusk the Mac’s most anticipated album, because you can’t call it their biggest—or anyone’s favorite, for that matter. To be fair, any album that would come after 1977’s industrychanging, 40 million-selling Rumours would face hard comparisons, but even in that charitable view, Tusk is widely seen as a misfire—but an intriguing misfire that sold two million copies. Given that they spent a year recording it, it’s not like they didn’t make an effort, so what exactly went wrong? That’s what Caillat and Rojas try to reveal.

Some of the culprits are predictable; it was the ’70s, so sex and drugs (and drugs, and then even more drugs) fueled the rock ’n’ roll created by Fleetwood Mac. To say that the participants were undisciplined is an understatement, as the book recounts endless Animal House-level food fights in their favorite restaurant, and every few pages, someone’s got a new sports car that has to be pushed to the limit.

The book also recounts guitarist/ co-producer Lindsay Buckingham trying to break the rules in other ways, aiming to defy the world’s expectations for a Rumours II. With a record company demanding more of that smooth, harmony-drenched California sound, Buckingham finds himself suddenly—and very inconveniently—enthralled by the post-punk

sounds bubbling up. Aiming to not get left behind, he spends much of the book working in self-isolation (sound familiar?), recording lo-fi tracks at home rather than use the opulent, custom-built studio at the band’s disposal. With DAWs and even Alesis ADATs still years away, the project quickly takes over Buckingham’s house. At one point, Caillat visits the rock star’s mansion for a very un-PC Halloween party, discovering mic cables everywhere and an Ampex 1-inch tape machine parked outside a reverberant tiled bathroom referred to as “Studio B.” Sandwiched between the rock star excess and the endless tug-of-war between Buckingham and the rest of the band and producers, there are tales of love (Caillat gets married, while Rojas and songstress Stevie Nicks become an item), and plenty of recording tips—how to get singers to trust a mic, analog tape-flipping tricks and more, plus a great section advising how to set up a mixing space and create a solid mix. And the part where they rent Dodger Stadium to record USC’s Trojan Marching Band, only to discover the band can’t keep time unless it’s marching? Priceless.

The coming weeks will be very hard, but that doesn’t mean you’re not allowed to have fun. Pick up this book (or Caillat’s other one, Making Rumours—you’ll never guess what it’s about) for an enjoyable way to pass the time.

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soundBUSINESS

Solotech Acquires Miami’s Pro Sound Inc. m i a m i , f l —In a move expected to significantly broaden its market presence in the United States, Canadian live production and systems integrator Solotech has acquired Miami-based Pro Sound Inc., as well as its affiliates Pro Sound CA Inc. and Show Systems Inc. Pro Sound Inc. is an audio, video, lighting and broadcast integration company with offices and warehouses in Miami, Orlando, Pensacola and Los Angeles. The deal also includes the acquisition of Pro Sound Inc.’s Stage Equipment and Lighting (SEAL) brand.

Martin Tremblay, president and CEO of Groupe Solotech Inc. (Solotech), noted, “Pro Sound Inc. and its divisions have an incredibly strong reputation in the North American marketplace. Under the leadership of Rod Sintow, CEO, who has built a well-respected management and operational team, the company has been trusted to work in some of the most renowned venues throughout the United States.

“Rod and his team share our unwavering dedication to quality work, innovative solutions and best industry operational practices,” Sintow continued. “The Pro Sound & Video, SEAL and Show Systems brands will be

BY CLIVE YOUNG

Concluding Solotech’s acquisition of Pro Sound Inc. were (l-r): Kelly Prince, Philip Giffard, David Shoemaker, Rod Sintow, Martin Tremblay and Frank Snipes.

strong additions to the Solotech family, perfectly complementing our corporate goals and propelling our systems integration capabilities as well as our footprint in the United States.”

The three acquired companies will continue to operate under their current names. Joining the senior management of Solotech, Sintow will continue as CEO of Pro Sound Inc. and will work closely with Philip Giffard, president of the Sales and Systems Integration Division at Solotech, and Mickey Curbishley, president, Live Productions, USA and UK. Giffard noted, “By acquiring Pro Sound, we will be able to offer more North American customers access

to our sales and systems integration solutions, customized to their needs.

Solotech and Pro Sound have similar philosophies of comprehensive service and support to clients, from the initial design all the way through systems commissioning and even after the project is up and running. With the combining of our two serviceoriented companies, Solotech is responding to clients’ desires to have a single-source solution with knowledgeable experts across market sectors.”

Pro Sound Inc. is not affiliated with Pro Sound News or prosoundnetwork. com.

Solotech www.solotech.com

CAS Announces New Board of Directors los angeles , ca —Cinema Audio Society president Karol Urban announced the results of the CAS board of directors election at the recent 56th Annual CAS Awards, which were held at the Intercontinental Downtown Los Angeles.

The recent CAS board election resulted in two new executives. Steve Venezia has been elected to vice president. Lee Orloff, who has been serving as treasurer pro tempore, was formally installed in the executive position of treasurer vacated by Venezia’s election to vice president.

Thus, for 2020, the executive committee will include president Karol Urban, vice president Steve Venezia, treasurer Lee Orloff and newly re-elected incumbent secretary Frank Morrone.

The CAS board of directors members (production) who were re-elected are Willie D. Burton and Stephen Tibbo. Receiving the next highest voting tally selected by membership, Peter Kurland will take the production seat vacated by Lee Orloff.

Funktion-One Co-Founder Retires

Cinema Audio Society president Karol Urban recently announced the results of the CAS board of directors election.

Incumbent board members (postproduction) who were re-elected are Tom Fleischman, Marti Humphrey and Sherry Klein. David Bondelevitch rejoins as a newly elected board member.

Continuing to ser ve out their terms in production seats are Amanda Beggs, Peter J. Devlin, Mary H. Ellis and Jeff Wexler. In the post-production seats, Onnalee Blank, Bob Bronow, Mike Minkler and Mathew

Waters continue their service.

“It fills me with pride and confidence to see the incredible selection of community leaders and sound professionals our membership has chosen as their newly elected board,” said Urban. “We are unified in our commitment to serve our community.

I am excited for the future of our organization.”

Cinema Audio Society www.cinemaaudiosociety.org

london, uk—Funktion-One cofounder John Newsham has announced his retirement from the live sound loudspeaker brand.

Newsham kicked off his pro audio career with the Steve Hillage Band in 1976, and met Tony Andrews—with whom he would later co-found both FunktionOne and Turbosound—while touring with Hillage in 1977.

The two co-founded Turbosound in 1978, focusing on loudspeaker systems that could handle audio for music festivals, including then-nascent Glastonbury.

In 1992, the pair moved on to co-found Funktion-One. Roughly eight years of R&D ensued before Funktion-One debuted its first major project—the design and installation of the sound system used for the Millennium

Capping more than 40 years in pro audio manufacturing, Funktion-One co-founder John Newsham has retired from the corporate world to return to live sound engineering.

Dome’s Central Show—and the release of its Resolution Series.

T h r o u g h o u t N e w s h a m ’s lengthy career in pro audio manufacturing, he never left live sound mixing behind; indeed, he was Underworld’s FOH engineer for more than two decades.

In his retirement, Newsham reports, he will be embarking on a motorcycle tour of the Himalayas later this year. Having more free time will also give him more time to, well, work, as he will bring his career full circle, taking on FOH engineering duties for Steve Hillage once again for Glastonbury 2020. Adding to the meta aspects of that show, Hillage will perform via a FunktionOne Vero system at The Glade.

Newsham will return to the road in the fall, touring with Hillage.

Funktion-One www.funktion-one.com

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soundBUSINESS

BY CLIVE YOUNG new york, ny—Keith Olsen, the producer/engineer who arguably defined the sound of hard rock in the late ’70s and ’80s, has died. A six-time Grammy Award winner, Olsen produced more than 120 albums over the course of his career, with 39 certified Gold, 24 Platinum and 14 multi-Platinum.

In all, more than 125 million albums sold bear his name in the credits.

Born in Sioux Falls, SD, Olsen first made his mark as the bassist of The Music Machine, best remembered for its 1966 Billboard Top 20 hit, “Talk Talk.” In the wake of that success, Olsen teamed up with fellow University of Minnesota alum Curt Boettcher and the two began producing pop hits for The Association, Tommy Roe and others. Going out on his own in the early 1970s, Olsen founded his own production company, PogoLogo Productions, and signed a fledgling duo, Buckingham Nicks, whose sole album he produced for Polydor. The record flopped, but Olsen subsequently played it for Mick Fleetwood of Fleet-

wood Mac to illustrate his production skills. Instead, the drummer was taken by the musicianship, and soon Lindsay Buckingham and Stevie Nicks were members of Fleetwood Mac and Olsen was producing the group’s breakthrough self-titled 1975 album, which proceeded to go seven times Platinum on the back of hits like “Say You Love Me” and “Rhiannon.”

Over the years that followed, Olsen would work with Foreigner, Scorpions, Whitesnake, Rick Springfield, Ozzy Osbourne, Heart, REO Speedwagon, Pat Benatar, ELP, Journey, the Grateful Dead, Sammy Hagar, Jethro Tull, Joe Walsh, Bad Company, Santana, Kim Carnes, Night Ranger, Bob Weir, Saga, Eric Burdon, Eddie Money, Sheen Easton, Steve Perry, Loverboy, Lou Gramm, The Babys, Starship, 38 Special, Kingdom Come, Magnum, Europe and many others.

Olsen’s work was also evident on the soundtracks for ’80s films such as Footloose, Vision Quest, Tron, Flashdance and Top Gun. Throughout the era, Olsen’s production style evolved with the times,

BARRY BRECHEISEN/WIREIMAGE FOR NARAS

Hard Rock Producer Keith Olsen Dead ensuring that his albums sounded current but also that they featured solid songwriting rather than letting production carry the tracks. Rick Springfield, remembering Olsen on Twitter, recounted, “He could be a bit of a pistol in the studio, but that was part of his talent. Sticking to his guns when some whiny artist (me) would say, ‘I don’t think that works.’

He didn’t produce all those hits for all those musicians for no reason.

He had a golden ear and helped so many people reach their potential. I remember playing him my demos and he picked ‘Jessie’s Girl’ out of a batch of 15 songs and said, ‘This is a hit.’ I doubted him and thought there were better songs in my demo reel. Proof right there of his gift.”

In the mid-’90s, Olsen switched focus to work on developing mixes for then-nascent surround sound technology for the Kore Group record label. In 1999, he joined Mackie Designs (now Loud Audio) and two years later was promoted to corporate director for global recording product and market development, giving

Keith Olsen at a 2009 Grammy SoundTable event, held at Shure headquarters in Niles, IL.

him responsibility over an international market development team that focused on the recording, post-production and broadcast markets. Olsen left the company in 2003, when Mackie Designs was bought out and renamed Loud Technologies.

In subsequent years, Olsen cofounded acoustic treatment manufacturer Sonitus USA with Anthony Grimani, returned to producing, and became a noted member of the Recording Academy’s Producers & Engineers Wing.

Oberlin Launches Recording Degrees use of its nine concert venues and recording studio, Oberlin College & Conservatory will start a new program in Recording Arts and Production beginning this fall. The program will offer a one-year Professional Certificate in Recording Arts and a two-year Artist Diploma that incorporates both Recording Arts and Production.

Capitalizing on Oberlin’s conservatory concert environment, the program expects to offer many opportunities for hands-on learning, with an emphasis on engineering and producing classical and jazz music.

The program will offer group and individualized instruction as students take part in recording projects across a range of musical styles and mediums, and engage with engineers and producers in residence each semester.

“Constant opportunities to apply developing skills are the cornerstone of this program,” said Paul Eachus, Oberlin’s director of Conservatory Audio Services. Eachus and Conservatory Audio Services associate director Andrew Tripp serve as codirectors and primary lecturers of the Recording Arts and Production program.

“The diversity of Oberlin’s programming requires us to be ready for everything, from chamber ensembles and electroacoustic works to big band

PETER SWENDSEN

oberlin, oh—Making

An Oberlin student scores a film in Clonick Hall.

and full symphony orchestras,” Tripp added. “With more than 400 performances each year, we’re able to transform ‘knowledge’ and ‘approach’ into practical application.”

The one-year program, consisting of two semesters of study toward a Professional Certificate in Recording Arts, provides students with understanding of the technology, systems and processes associated with recording, live sound and streaming systems as they work supporting more than 400 performances and recording sessions at the campus.

The two-year program, consisting

of four semesters of study toward an Artist Diploma in Recording Arts and Production, requires a proven level of musical literacy, according to the school. Students who show expertise in their first year then spend the second year working on producing professional recordings that serve the needs of Oberlin Conservatory’s official record label, Oberlin Music, as well as archival purposes and other essential functions.

The application deadline for the inaugural program is June 1.

Oberlin Recording Arts and Production www.oberlin.edu/recording-arts

AIMS Bows IPMX bothell, wa—The Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS) ProAV Working Group has published Internet Protocol Media Experience (IPMX), a set of open standards and specifications designed to enable carriage of compressed and uncompressed video, audio and data over IP networks.

IPMX addresses the pro AV industry’s need for a single set of common, ubiquitous, standardsbased protocols that ensure interoperability for AV over IP. In addition to simplifying implementation of SMPTE ST 2110, IPMX incorporates further features tailored to pro AV installations. These features include AMWA NMOS IS-04 and IS-05 for discovery, registration and connection management, and specifications for copy protection and security.

“IPMX implements a standards-based approach based on SMPTE ST 2110, with features and capabilities that target specific needs of the pro AV industry,” said David Chiappini, chair of the AIMS ProAV Working Group.

AIMS www.imsalliance.org

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soundBUSINESS

Tom Kobayashi, Skywalker Sound/ISDN Pioneer, Dead at 91

BY STEVE HARVEY

Wicked FOH engineer David Romich (left) and assistant sound engineer James Wilcox at the tour’s new DiGiCo Quantum 7T console.

Wicked Tour Takes Quantum Leap new york, ny—Long a mainstay on Broadway, the musical Wicked has nearly a half-dozen licensed touring productions treading the boards around the world at any given time.

The North American edition, set to hit 15 cities this year, has something new up its sleeve in the form of a DiGiCo Quantum 7T console.

Purchased through Milwaukee, WIbased Clearwing Productions, the desk is outfitted with DiGiCo’s theater software, which tackles theatrical workflows with features such as an Auto Update System, Aliases, the Players tool and a VCA programming map.

“We spent the better part of two years planning the upgrade for the touring show,” says Zach Williamson, current associate sound designer for the Broadway and touring productions of Wicked.

Both he and Wicked sound designer Tony Meola spec’d the desk for tours that have taken it from Seoul to Sao Paulo, as well as for extended “sit-down” runs in Mexico City and Tokyo.

“We like the sound of the console, and the Quantum engine gives us a lot of security, allowing us to actually eliminate the monitor console we had been using and take our monitoring feeds directly off of the front-of-house console for the Aviom monitors,” Williamson explains. “The Quantum processor can support that for our fairly high channel count, while the console’s theater software gives us features such as aliases and profiles that track individual performers. And the 7T’s flexibility of layout means we can condense the entire production to layers on two fader banks and the master section.”

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FOH engineer David Romich, who noted that the new desk “eliminated at least 1,500 pounds of console and outboard gear, with the 7T also taking on the load of on-stage and orchestra monitor mixes,” has made use of the “T” theater software, which allowed him to transpose and edit the show’s 300-plus cues from its original analog system, including MIDI commands, fader positions, and dynamic channel and routing settings.

DiGiCo www.digico.biz

bakersfield , ca —Tom Kobayashi, who held management positions at Glen Glenn Sound and Skywalker Sound and was co-founder of EDnet, died March 3 at the age of 91.

In 1985, Kobayashi had been working for over 20 years at Hollywood’s Glen Glenn Sound, where he was vice president, president and COO, when George Lucas approached him to head Lucasfilm’s new Skywalker Sound division. His first job was to oversee the construction of the Technical Building, a 153,000-square-foot complex housing scoring and dub stages, sound design and edit suites and other audio post-production facilities at Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch, located about 40 minutes north of San Francisco.

The intention was for Skywalker Studios to be for the sole use of Lucas and his friends and colleagues, but Kobayashi was soon tasked with bringing in outside projects. To that end, he also set up Skywalker Sound South, an audio post facility in Santa Monica, CA. The credit lists of films finished at both locations is prodigious, including numerous episodes in the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises.

Tom Kobayashi

To connect the north and south facilities, Kobayashi and his engineering team leveraged digital telecommunications technology and new Dolby audio compression equipment that enabled work completed at one location to be played back at the other for review. Kobayashi had the idea to sell the system to other studios, but Lucas passed on the idea.

Instead, he backed Kobayashi and his partners, Skywalker Sound chief engineer Tom Scott and executive David Gustafson, in setting up a new company, EDnet (Entertainment Digital Network), in 1992.

EDnet initially allowed high-quality audio to be sent long distances over ISDN lines. Over the years, it evolved to include video and to use fiber optic networks. Now part of Onstream Media, the San Franciscobased company is still in operation.

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soundBUSINESS

Sweetwater Opens Distribution Center

BY CLIVE YOUNG fort wayne, in—Sweetwater

opened a 480,000-square-foot distribution center on Feb. 17. The $52.5 million facility will reportedly allow the pro audio and MI internet retailer to process and ship twice as many orders per hour.

Sweetwater broke ground on the distribution center back in October 2018 at its 163-acre campus off U.S. 30 in Fort Wayne, IN. Along with providing more room for inventory, the facility features custom technology created by the company’s IT team that allows workers to process and fulfill orders more quickly.

The distr ibution center is a standalone building, and while it may be nearly the size of seven football fields, it’s been situated with an eye toward eventual expansion.

As company COO John Hopkins told local CBS affiliate WANE, adjacent land on the Sweetwater campus could be used to extend the facility, with room to add another 240,000 square feet of space to the distribution center, which would allow the company to double its newly achieved order volume capacity again.

T h e c o m p a ny ’s p r e v i o u s 80,000-square-foot distribution center, built 13 years ago, is attached to the main building on the Sweet-

Saving Music City Masters nashville, tn—In

summer of 2021. It’s a safe bet that that facility will help the company host its growing annual GearFest trade show; the 2019 edition attracted nearly 500 vendors and 17,000 attendees.

Sweetwater had its biggest year ever in 2019, hitting $805 million in sales, up 11 percent from $725 million in 2018, as it shipped 2 million orders to more than 1 million customers, according to the company.

the wake of a devastating tornado on March 3 (see story on page 5), entertainment content and asset preservation mainstay Iron Mountain Entertainment Services is offering up to 60 days of free storage at its Nashville facility for displaced studio equipment, instruments or media while tornado recovery efforts take place.

For facilities with damaged masters and other media, IMES is offering free appraisals. If the appraisals are used for insurance purposes, once the claims have been processed, IMES will help coordinate and provide remediation or restoration services.

Interested parties should contact Brian Towle (brian.towle@ ironmountain.com), IMES sales director and global head of operations.

Lance Podell, senior vice president and general manager, said, “Our goal is to help Nashville’s music community get back on its feet as quickly as possible.”

Sweetwater Sound www.sweetwater.com

Iron Mountain www.ironmountain.com

Expected to double Sweetwater’s order fulfillment capabilities, the new facility is the latest in a series of expansions underway at the pro audio retailer’s headquarters.

water campus. It is now earmarked to be renovated and converted into Class A office space, and is expected to house sales and marketing teams.

Those offices will be needed. While Sweetwater hired 159 employees last year, bringing current staffing levels to 1,700, the company projects it will employ 2,300 people by 2024.

Sweetwater will be expanding in other ways as well. The company will break ground in July on a $31 million, 70,000-square-foot conference center, expected to open in the

Abbey Road Institute Opens First U.S. Location miami, fl—Abbey Road Institute has opened its first specialist music production school in the United States.

The institute is located in Miami Art House, the studio of multiple Grammy and Latin Grammy Award winner Julio Reyes Copello in Miami.

Colombian music producer, pianist, arranger and composer Reyes Copello has worked with some of the biggest names in music, including Marc Anthony, Ricky Martin, Jennifer Lopez, Will Smith, Alejandro Sanz, Camila Cabello and Alessia Cara. With the new school opening at his existing studio complex, Reyes Copello will act as a mentor to the select group of students joining the program.

The school occupies a space within the building alongside Miami Art House’s commercial studios.

The team of bilingual music professionals working with Reyes Copello on the Abbey Road Institute educa-

The first Abbey Road Institute U.S. class will start this fall at Miami Art House in Florida.

tional programs includes engineer Maria Elisa Ayerbe, who the Latin Recording Academy recently honored as one of the “leading ladies of Latin entertainment.”

Copello said, ‘‘My goal is for aspiring producers, engineers and artists to learn by direct experience. To be thrown into actual professional recording sessions and learn by do-

ing is the most effective, honest and responsible way of acquiring the skills needed for a career in music.”

The Miami school will be enrolling its first class of students for a diploma in Music Production and Sound Engineering in the fall of 2020.

Abbey Road Institute, headed up by London-based CEO Luca Barassi, also has campuses in Berlin, Frankfurt, Paris, Amsterdam, Melbourne and Johannesburg. Isabel Garvey, managing director of Abbey Road, said, “We launched our first school in London and we’ve been watching the institute go from strength to strength ever since. The demand for the education our team has created has been an inspiration to observe, and I look forward to further growth in the U.S. in the future.”

Abbey Road Institute Miami www.abbeyroadinstitute.com/miami

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sound INTERNATIONAL DirectOut’s In with Hans Zimmer germany —On

the road in Europe since 2018, The World of Hans Zimmer: A Symphonic Celebration presents famous themes by the German film composer, arranged for orchestra and conducted by Gavin Greenaway, a longtime Zimmer collaborator. Zimmer himself serves as curator and musical director of the show, though he does not perform in it.

Audio for the entire run was provided by Soundhouse Veranstaltungstechnik under project manager Philipp Stapf. In keeping with the Germany connection, the tour makes use of two key items from German manufacturer DirectOut: Andiamo for AD/DA conversion and EXBOX. MD for uninterrupted provision of the output signal.

Coda Caps Kassel Festival kassel , germany —While Coda Audio only launched its N-Ray compact line array system officially at ISE 2020 in Februar y, Ger man events production specialist Ambion fielded the system in 2019 for the annual Kulturzelt music festival in Kassel, Germany, staged inside a circular Plexiglas venue that accommodates 900 people.

Ambion used 10 N-Ray line arrays with a pair of SCN-F bass extensions per side for the main hangs.

In addition, three hangs of three Coda Audio N-APS were used for center and side hangs. Eight SCV-F sensor-controlled subs completed the FOH setup, with eight Coda Audio Cue Four for stage monitoring.

The system was driven by a halfdozen Coda Audio Linus 14D and six Linus10c amplifiers.

Coda Audio www.codaaudio.com

EXBOX.MD handles the conversion between Dante and MADI, while DirectOut’s proprietary EARS feature (Enhanced Automatic Redundancy Switching) ensures uninterrupted playback of the MADI output. One of two Dante streams with 32 channels each is transmitted from the EXBOX.MD via MADI to the Andiamo for D-A conversion. If the trigger signal should fail in one of the two Dante streams, the audio channels of the other Dante stream are automatically switched to the MADI output. Additionally, the force function of EARS allows users

to manually select the Dante stream. By using the control software globcon, both devices can be monitored and A top touring draw in Europe, the symphonic World of controlled.

Jürgen Erhard, event Hans Zimmer carries a variety of DirectOut gear. technician of Soundhouse, noted, “It is important for us to cre- con bridge, because you don’t need ate maximum reliability with an auto- any extra connection between the matic monitoring for the production two devices. Via globcon and globcon and additionally be able to intervene bridge, we always keep the overview manually if the situation requires and have the chance to react immeit. An absolute killer feature is the diately.” control of the Andiamo via EXBOX. DirectOut MD as network interface via glob- www.directout.eu

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Rider Friendly . Affordable . Expandable Main Features: • 72 Input Channels (expandable to 96) • 36 Aux / Sub-Group Busses (expandable to 48) • 12 x 8 Full Processing Matrix • 119 Dynamic Equalisers / Multi-band Compressors • 12 Digital FX • LR/LCR Master Buss • 48/96 kHz Sample Rate

A compact, multi-application digital console benefiting from built in UB MADI, dual MADI, Optocore Option, Local I/O and dual DMI Slots, options include KLANG, Dante, Automatic Mic Mixing and Waves.

MAXIMUM CONNECTIVITY AT EXCEPTIONAL VALUE

SR provider Ambion fielded a beta system of Coda’s N-Ray line array at the Kulturzelt music festival in Kassel, Germany.

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www.digico.biz

Exclusive US distribution: Group One Ltd. Toll Free 877 292 1623 www.g1limited.com

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soundINTERNATIONAL

Audio post-production for Parasite, the first foreign language film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture, took place at South Korean film facility Live Tone Studios.

Inside the Audio Post Process of Parasite

south korea —Audio post-production for Parasite, the first foreign language film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture, took place at South Korean film facility Live Tone Studios. Its CEO, Ralph Tae-Young Choi, was the film’s sound supervisor and re-recording mixer.

Choi tackled the project using one of the facility’s two large-format AMS Neve DFC 3D film consoles, not-

ing, “The sound of Parasite was so detailed and emotional that it needed the console automation to operate very efficiently and simply. This is where the Neve DFC 3D really came into its own.”

Choi spent 12 weeks on the Parasite project: eight on sound editing and sound recording, two doing a pre-dub mix for Dolby Atmos, and two on the final mix with director

Bong Joon Ho. “I like all of the functions on the AMS Neve DFC 3D, but I especially love its filter, EQ, and compressor,” Choi said.

Although Bong kept ADR to a minimum, it was still necessary to re-record some of the dialogue for clarity. The team used Live Tone Studios’ ADR facility, which is equipped with a 48-channel Neve Genesys. “The Neve Genesys console in that studio doesn’t have a moving fader option for automation, but it does have a warm analog sound and an intuitive control interface that can quickly and accurately process ADR recording,” Choi noted. “We use it in conjunction with a Neve 1073DPA stereo preamp and a Neve 33609 stereo compressor to record the actors’ voices.”

Parasite also picked up Oscars for Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best International Film, and was honored with a Golden Reel Award in the category of Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Foreign Language Feature by the Motion Picture Sound Editors (MPSE).

AMS Neve www.ams-neve.com

Meyer Sound Lands at Helsinki Airport helsinki , finland —Conceived

in support of the idea that you only get one chance to make a good first impression, the massive immersive installation Aukio at the HelsinkiVantaa Airport offers travelers the opportunity to discover the sights and sounds of Finland. Key to this immersive experience is a massive Samsung video screen and 27 Meyer Sound self-powered loudspeakers.

According to Joni Sundelin, director of Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, Aukio is “a showcase through which millions of international passengers will receive their first contact with Finland. The experience of Finnish design, fluency and peaceful nature will leave the traveler with a long-lasting, pleasant memory.”

Aukio, Finnish for “square” or “plaza,” includes a gently undulating, two-meter high Samsung 4K video screen that wraps for 75 meters around the perimeter walls. On it is displayed the best of Finland’s outdoor scenery in a presentation that cycles through the four seasons.

Complementing the visual panorama is a multichannel soundtrack that is intended to be clearly present and fully supportive of the visuals, but never annoying or intrusive.

The audio, video and lighting technology package was designed and engineered by Studiotec Ltd. of near-

Aukio, an immersive experience at the Helsinki airport, uses Meyer Sound and Samsung equipment to provide travelers an introduction to Finland.

by Espoo, Finland, under the general direction of managing director John-Axel Stråhlman and with project management by system specialist Kai Granholm.

The complete Meyer Sound complement comprises 16 UPJunior and 10 UP-4XP loudspeakers with lowfrequency extension from a single X400C cinema subwoofer. The UP4XP loudspeakers incorporate Meyer Sound’s IntelligentDC technology, with balanced audio signals and 48V DC power for the amplifiers supplied to the loudspeakers from a remote rackmount unit over a single cable.

“The sound of the system naturally supports the effect of the wide, 360-degree panoramic view,” explained Granholm. “The design em-

phasis is on the natural beauty of Finland, including some very subtle but remarkable natural sounds. For instance, many people are surprised that the aurora borealis [northern lights] creates audible sound, usually described as crackle, sputter or hissing. The effect on all sounds is remarkable. Overall, airport management has been very pleased with the Meyer Sound system.”

In addition to the Samsung wraparound screen and Meyer Sound loudspeakers, the AVL technology package also includes nine Christie video projectors, a Christie Pandora’s Box media server and BrightSign media players.

Meyer Sound www.meyersound.com

Schawa TV Serves Up Badminton st. jakobshalle, switzerland—

German television and film production company Schawa TV put three Sonifex AVN-CU2-Dante commentator units to work at the 2019 Badminton World Cup, held in St. Jakobshalle, Switzerland.

Schawa TV helped produce the event for Japanese TV station TV Asahi, which brought its own staff and interpreter but used Schawa TV equipment and know-how to connect directly to the event network via the Dante AoIP protocol.

According to sound engineer Patrick Heidorm at Schawa TV, “The commentator systems worked flawlessly for between 12 and 14 hours a day for the whole tournament. They’re intuitive to use and work really well.”

Heidorm’s colleague, Sebastian Schmiedt, was on location at the World Cup. “We helped the TV Asahi technicians set up, connect and operate the units during the tournament broadcast,” explained Heidorm. “Connecting to the network was simple, and the units are easy to integrate and configure. You don’t have to pull a lot of cables to use these units—just one network cable is enough to connect any number of them.”

The AVN-CU2 has redundant Dante connections for up to 16 channels of networked audio, assigned via Dante Controller, as well as two four-wire RJ45 connections for analog or digital connection to legacy systems.

The Badminton World Cup tournament turned out to be a success for Japan, with the men’s singles title going to Kento Momota and the doubles title going to Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara.

Sonifex www.sonifex.co.uk

Schawa TV used Sonifex commentator units when covering the 2019 Badminton World Cup for Japanese station TV Asahi.

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soundINTERNATIONAL

Keeping the Mix Cool for Art on Ice switzerland —The

European ice skating gala Art on Ice made the rounds in February with a series of shows taking place in Switzerland’s Zurich, Lausanne, Basel and Davos. Now in its 25th season, Art on Ice combines elite ice skating with a spectacle of art, sound and light.

This year’s performances include hiphop artist Aloe Blacc, British singersongwriter Rebecca Ferguson, 2018 Olympic gold medalist ice skater Alina Zagitova, and many other singers, dancers and skaters.

Along for the ride was an Allen & Heath dLive mixing system overseen by FOH engineer Sascha Kohl.

Produced by Swiss AV production company Habegger AG (with Session Pro helping to supply gear), the full setup featured a dLive S7000 paired with a DM64 MixRack, fitted with a superMADI audio networking card for multitrack recording and a Waves V3 card for external plug-ins.

Martin Makes Mountain Club Move zaarour , lebanon —Set above the clouds in Lebanon’s Zaarour mountains, the nightclub complex that includes the Frozen Cherry bar and Dublin Room dance club attracts EDM fans from all over the world.

The location affords visitors the opportunity to enjoy sweeping, majestic views while getting down. BlacklineX loudspeakers from Martin Audio provide the soundtrack.

Frozen Cherry’s sound reinforcement system needed to be able to support the needs of live bands, DJs and background music, while the Dublin Room’s system would need to offer high power and clarity for DJs. Once they heard BlacklineX, it was quickly adopted in both Frozen Cherry and the Dublin Room. The former was equipped with Blackline X15 and two X118 subs and the latter with X15, X12, and four X118.

Design support was provided by Martin Audio product engineer Simon Purse, who was responsible for specifying both clubs.

Martin Audio www.martin-audio.com

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Kohl used the dLive to handle all sources, including musicians, vocalists, the emcee and playback.

The nature of the venues presented some challenges, he noted: “As the main part of the hall is a very large, highly reflective sheet of ice, I was never able to get into a really good listening position, which made get-

ting the mix perfect a little tricky at times. As the P.A. was set up for the crowd, having the possibility to do the VSC [virtual soundcheck] on my laptop, via dLive Director, and walk around the venue was absolutely essential.”

Allen & Heath www.allen-heath.com

European ice skating show Art on Ice toured with an Allen & Heath dLive desk this year.

Step to the of intercom technology. ™ FreeSpeak Edge works in the 5GHz bandwidth— beyond what you know about wireless intercom.

It extends the entire FreeSpeak range, giving you the freedom to think bigger.

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soundRECORDING Immersive Mix Room Studio 1 LA Debuts venice , ca —“When

we began, we didn’t know what we were getting into or what we needed, so we went one step at a time and figured it out,” says Karma Auger of Studio 1 LA, a recently completed immersive mix room located behind his home. Initially conceived as a surround mix room, Auger switched gears after longtime collaborator Erich Gobel suggested building it out specifically for Dolby Atmos work.

“I would never have attempted it without Erich. We met in 2007 and we’ve been friends and collaborators ever since,” he says. The immersive mix team is now available for work, mixing music and video post projects in Dolby Atmos.

“Erich and I are both musicians— I’ve been touring for 30 years, and Erich’s a fantastic guitar player, a Berklee graduate—so we come to this not just as engineers but first and foremost as creatives.”

Gobel, who has worked at every major studio in Los Angeles on a variety of projects over the years, also has his own facility, West Triad, just three blocks away.

“It’s a sister studio to this,” says Auger of West Triad. “We’re this

weird breed of studios and owners that exist west of Lincoln Boulevard in this cool art community. His place is a recording studio. He has a Neve desk and a ton of incredible outboard gear and a mic locker full of epic microphones. It has a great live room and a killer booth.”

Playing a track mixed in the new room, Gobel says, “That’s an example of what we’re doing here as far as creating new effects, using the 3D space to enhance dynamics and having things grow and have impact.

There are so many creative rabbit holes to go down with the effects.

And we’re not afraid to go down them.”

“Our only rule is that it has to serve the project,” says Auger.

Despite having a desk at his own place, Gobel has no problem with the lack of a control surface in the Atmos mix room. “I love working in-the-box.

I love the touchscreen and the motion sensor for panning, and we have a fader if we need to ride something.

I don’t miss it at all.”

Yet there is a learning curve when jumping into Dolby Atmos mixing, says Auger. “There’s no stereo busing or any of those tools that everybody has used forever. It’s literally like starting over and learning everything

PETER HECK

BY STEVE HARVEY

Immersive mix room Studio 1 LA is outfitted specifically for Dolby Atmos work.

from scratch.”

The inability to use bus compression when mixing in Dolby Atmos is a big issue for some, he continues.

“If you’ve become known for your sound and your chain, now take all that away and who are you? What’s your sound? That’s a huge ask. That’s a jump that I think a lot of people don’t want to make.”

That said, getting to this point has been a fun process, Auger says. “I’ve enjoyed the process as much as I enjoy the mixing.”

Part of that process was reading up on acoustic treatment, which Auger designed and built himself. The pair also consulted at great length with Dolby and with Maurice Patist and Ruairi O’Flaher ty at PMC. “They were so supportive,” he says.

“I’d mixed in a ton of studios and I was never really happy with the sound. I thought, What are the best rooms I’ve ever been in? It was always the mastering guys. So I said, I need to build a mastering room to mix in.” (continued on page 23)

New Studio Inspired by Legendary Facility

BY STEVE HARVEY hamilton, on—Almost

exactly one year after Roman Marcone had to shut down his Halo Music Studio in Hamilton, he and business partner Corey Stevens are about to relaunch at a new location. If you’re a fan of Rush, The Police or the Bee Gees, you may get a sense of déjà vu about the place—and for good reason.

Marcone’s relationship with his former landlords began to sour in early 2019 after they tried, unsuccessfully, to sell the building out from under him. Then a heavy rainstorm in April nearly turned a minor roof leak into a major disaster, damaging some of the equipment.

“People were unsure about booking us,” not knowing if Halo would remain open, says Marcone. “We said, alright, we’re out.”

He put the gear into storage and—once bitten, twice shy—went looking for a building to buy. He eventually found a single-story commercial building designed by Trevor Garwood Jones’ firm in 1972. (An

Halo’s control room is patterned after the one in the now-closed Le Studio, though updated with modern technologies.

award-winning architect, Garwood Jones designed some of the most prominent buildings in Hamilton.)

“It’s the only one on the street that’s not a Victorian home,” he says.

While finishing an album he’d started at Halo at the home of longtime friend Nick Blagona, an engineer and producer who worked

with the Moody Blues, King Crimson, The Police, Deep Purple and numerous others, they discussed the design of the new building. “He said, ‘Le Studio’s control room was awesome and there isn’t another one like it. Let’s do that.’ I’d never even thought of that,” says Marcone.

Blagona had been chief engi-

neer at Le Studio in Morin Heights, north of Montreal, and had designed the facility with owner, engineer and producer André Perry in the early 1970s. Le Studio hosted many major artists over the years, including Rush, who recorded seven albums there, and the Bee Gees, who worked on Saturday Night Fever at the studio. The Police tracked “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” there. Derelict since 2008, the studio burned down in 2011.

The idea began to make a lot of sense. “We went over his plans and photos and I made a 3D rendering and managed to make it fit exactly in our new building,” says Marcone.

As for the requisite gear, “We had the SSL that they’d had,” Marcone says, an E/G series previously owned

by Atlanta’s Doppler Studios. Halo already had a Studer A80 MkII multitrack machine, too. To complete the signal chain, he needed a pair of Urei 813c main monitors. “I did a quick search and found a pair in Toronto for sale. They’d been discount(continued on page 23)

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STUDIOshowcase Valhalla Jumps into Analog Immersive Mixing

BY STEVE HARVEY

auburn, ny—About five years ago, Joey DeMaio, founding member, bassist, composer, lyricist, engineer and producer for heavy metal stalwarts Manowar, bought a property in central New York state to house his Magic Circle Entertainment company and production facility Valhalla Studios New York.

Fast-forward a few years and the 20,000-square-foot studio facility, previously the exclusive domain of Manowar and its Magic Circle label mates, is now available commercially. It has been outfitted with the first analog console capable of mixing in all current immersive audio formats.

To help take Valhalla into the immersive era, DeMaio enlisted the expertise of Ronald Prent, a recording engineer whose credits are a veritable who’s who of global artists, and Darcy Proper, an 11-time Grammynominated mastering engineer and the first woman to win a Grammy for Best Surround Sound Album, in 2008. Prent and Proper are also a married couple. Previously working out of Wisseloord Studios in the Netherlands, and Galaxy Studios in Belgium before that, the couple relocated with their son to New York’s Finger Lakes region, which includes Auburn, in 2019.

“I’ve been working for Joey for about 30 years and have done most of the Manowar records,” says Prent. “About three years ago, he told me about The Church and said, ‘I’m putting some speakers in.

You’ve got to come here and try a mix.’”

The Church, the name by which the 2,500-square-foot flagship Studio 1 is better known, had been restored over a period of years by DeMaio and his team, who replaced the roof and repaired the all-wood interior. “It has a really interesting acoustic,” says Prent. “When you walk in, it feels great.”

DeMaio is a fan of big speakers—his touring bass rig is rated at 25 kW, offering considerable headroom. He installed a pair of PMC’s big QB1-A main monitors in the room early on in the configuration process. He invited Prent to Valhalla to experience them, and on the

The immersive mixing space in the back half of Valhalla Studios sports an analog 64-input Fix 360 immersive console, PMC QB1-A main monitors and an aluminum frame to support the PMC surround arrays and overhead speakers.

drive back to the airport, just before Christmas 2018, he made a proposal. “He said, ‘What if you and Darcy move out here, help me sort this out, and then you work from here?

We’ll build Darcy an immersive room as well and make it a business concept. We need to do this the right way, with the highest possible quality we can achieve,’” Prent recalls.

Proper has moved into a stereo room to start. “She’s working with PMC Fenestria passive analog speakers—they made a special mastering version for her with different crossovers. She’s using the new Mark Levinson monoblock amplifiers. Then she’s got the SPL console.

“Now that we’ve finished that, there’s another space close to here that we want to acquire so we can build her an immersive mastering room,” says Prent. They hope to complete that room in June. “She’ll be able to master in any immersive format and be able to hear it.

There’s a need for mastering engineers more than ever now so that when you stream, it makes sense level- and sound-wise.”

DeMaio has reportedly been a fan of immersive music since Prent mixed a Manowar album for him in Auro-3D. “He believes strongly that it’s the future of music,” he says.

But Prent had no desire to mix immersive music on a DAW or a digital desk. “Joey said, ‘Why don’t you call up Paul Wolff? That’s what you did last time.’” And Wolff, now

operating under the Fix Audio Designs moniker, came up with a version of his modular Fix Console to handle today’s immersive formats.

“I’ve got the first one here, a prototype, and it’s analog. It solves a lot of problems for people who hate mixing Dolby or Sony in-the-box— and there are many of us who don’t like that workflow,” says Prent.

In a nutshell, the 64-input Fix 360 Console supports any format from stereo through the various surround sound configurations to immersive Dolby Atmos, Sony 360RA, Auro-3D and DTS. There are panning facilities for both the lower and upper horizontal planes, as well as between those planes, plus a dedicated LFE send. There are eight object sends per channel, and the desk accommodates Sony 360RA’s two front floor speakers. A separate simultaneous stereo mix can be generated alongside any other format.

The comprehensive monitor section supports three 24-channel-wide configurations, each with trim.

“We brought the console down to the bare necessities of what you really need in the analog domain. The rest you can do other ways in today’s world,” continues Prent.

The setup includes four Antelope Audio Orion 32HD Gen 3 interfaces, an Orion Studio Synergy Core effects processor, and 10MX and Isochrone OCX clocking. “I go digital and into a recording system, and I use a DAD and Dante to hook

everything up, but the front end is analog,” he says. “You can pan anywhere you like in 7.1 on the bottom, or four or six channels above you, and you can pan between the upper and lower horizontal planes. The panners are phase linear, unlike in the digital domain.”

During several visits to Valhalla prior to relocating, Prent worked with an acoustician to iron out some of the anomalies in the room. “We got the flutter out with little acoustic panels,” he reports.

To create an immersive monitoring environment within the massive space, the team installed an aluminum frame to support the surround arrays and overhead speakers, which are all PMC models. Theater drapes help create a room within the room.

“It’s like mixing in your living room, but it’s still a control room,” he says.

The room is certified for both Dolby Atmos and Sony 360RA projects.

“I’ve done mixing and repurposing, and mixing from stems just to figure out if it all works. I started mixing and sent stuff to clients in Europe without telling them I was here. Everybody said, ‘This sounds great. Where are you?’” says Prent.

“It’s important, I think, that people can just come here and be creative. Then they will use the complicated formats—and Dolby is complicated, but it’s really good and it works.”

Valhalla Studios New York www.valhallastudiosny.com

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SOFTWAREtech Safeguarding Your Software Tools

BY CRAIG ANDERTON

C

omputers are involved in nearly every aspect of pro audio, from production to delivery, and so is the internet. What’s more, many of us have web sites for promotion, education or to connect with clients. What do these things have in common? The data we generate, which is often stored, transferred or downloaded via the internet. Unfortunately, the internet was never developed with security in mind.

The Stats Are Frightening: According to the Cisco 2017 Annual Cybersecurity Report, ransomware is growing at a yearly rate of 350 percent. More statistics: 4,000 ransomware attacks occur every day, one in every 131 emails contains malware, 81 percent of cyberattacks are based on weak or stolen passwords, and over 40 percent of cybercrime attacks target small businesses (it’s not just hospitals and local governments). Whether you know it or not, you’re in the crosshairs of at least a few cybercriminals—and they can bring your studio, post-production suite or web site to its knees with just one click.

There are two main safeguards.

The first is being able to reconstruct your system so you don’t have to pay ransom in case of an attack. The second is preventing an attack in the first place.

Safeguarding Your Data: Backing up data has always mattered because data storage devices—whether hard drives, SSDs or even online servers—can and will fail. Drive imaging programs and backup storage are an essential line of data defense.

That said, having storage on your network and backing up periodically is no longer sufficient. Today’s ransomware may be able to infect everything on your network, including backup storage devices, so that when you try to restore your data, you can’t.

Cloud storage is one solution, but be careful with storage that syncs automatically to your computer, as it may incorporate the infection in your backup as soon as it syncs. Consider cloud storage as vulnerable unless you can turn off synching, and have made sure the data you’re backing up isn’t corrupted.

With network storage, you need

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more than one backup. If you do a complete backup every week, for example, keep several weeks’ worth of backups (on different media) in case the most recent backup was compromised. Also, back up with the computer offline, and physically disconnect the network’s backup stor-

age media before going back online.

Another option is read-only optical storage media. I use Blu-ray discs for archival storage. They’re immune to tampering, more robust than DVD-ROMs, and hold lots of data (about 46 GB for dual-layer discs and over 100 GB for BDXL

discs). For static data like sample libraries, Blu-ray discs can remain connected to your network at all times, with no worries they’ll be modified.

An Ounce of Prevention: Of course, it’s best to head off attacks before they hit your computer.

You’ve heard these warnings before, but they bear repeating. (continued on page 23)

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tracks ARTIST: SWEET LIZZY PROJECT ALBUM: TECHNICOLOR LABEL: MONO MUNDO / THIRTY TIGERS PERSONNEL Produced by: Miguel Comas (primary), plus Raul Malo and Niko Bolas Engineered by: Sean Badum, John McBride, Jory Roberts, Miguel Comas, Wilfredo Gatell, Niko Bolas Mix Engineers: Miguel Comas, Sean Badum, Niko Bolas Studios: BlackBird Studios (Nashville), BandEra Studio (Havana), Skyville Live (Nashville) Mastered by: Richard Dodd at Richard Dodd Mastering EQUIPMENT NOTES: Neve 8078, ATC SCM300ASL Pro, Avid Pro Tools

ARTIST: KANDACE SPRINGS ALBUM: THE WOMEN WHO RAISED ME LABEL: BLUE NOTE PERSONNEL Produced by: Larry Klein Engineered by: Andy Taub Mix Engineer: Tim Palmer Studios: Brooklyn Recording (Brooklyn, NY), ’62 Studios (Austin, TX) Mastered by: Bernie Grundman at Bernie Grundman Mastering (Hollywood, CA) EQUIPMENT NOTES: Neve 8058, ATC SCM45 and SCM150, Avid Pro Tools

ARTIST: FRAMING HANLEY ALBUM: ENVY LABEL: THERMAL ENTERTAINMENT PERSONNEL

LOOK AT THE RECORDING SCENE

Produced by: Kenneth Nixon, Josh Baker Engineered by: Corey Callis Mix Engineer: Billy Decker Studios: Gnome Recording Studios and Burning City Sound (both Nashville, TN) Mastered by: Michael Fuller at Fullersound EQUIPMENT NOTES: Soundcraft 2400, ATC SCM45A, Mackie HR824 Mk2, Avid Pro Tools

ARTIST: DAVID “ACE” CANNON ALBUM: MAGGIE MAY DREAMS LABEL: THE PLAYROOM RECORDS PERSONNEL Produced by: Eddie Z Engineered by: Eddie Z, Mark Williams, Logan Foland (assistant) Mix Engineers: Eddie Z, Mark Williams Studio: The Vault at The Playroom (Charlotte, NC) Mastered by: Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound (Edgewater, NJ) EQUIPMENT NOTES: Neotek Elite II, Yamaha NS-10, AudioKinesis monitors, Steinberg Nuendo 5.5, MCI JH110b tape machine

ARTIST: ABBY K ALBUM: DIRTY LOVE LABEL: THE PLAYROOM RECORDS PERSONNEL Produced by: Eddie Z Engineered by: Eddie Z, Mark Williams, Logan Foland (assistant) Mix Engineer: Drew Cyphers at Outlier Studios (Charlotte, NC) Studios: The Vault at The Playroom (Charlotte, NC) Mastered by: Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound (Edgewater, NJ) EQUIPMENT NOTES:

Neotek Elite II, Yamaha NS-10, AudioKinesis monitors, Steinberg Nuendo 5.5, MCI JH110b tape machine

ARTIST: ROBERT MILLER’S PROJECT GRAND SLAM ALBUM: GRAND SLAM LABEL: CAKEWALK RECORDS PERSONNEL Produced by: Robert Miller, Lou Holtzman Engineered by: Lou Holtzman Studio: EastSide Sound (New York, NY) Mastered by: Lou Holtzman at EastSide Sound EQUIPMENT NOTES: Harrison Series 10, ADAM Audio S5H, Avid Pro Tools

ARTIST: GERRY GAREAU ALBUM: FEET OFF THE BRAKES LABEL: SELF-RELEASED PERSONNEL Produced by: Gerry Gareau, Larry Beaird Engineered by: Jim Deblanc Mix Engineer: David Buchanan, Jim Deblanc (“Every Last Minute Counts”) Studios: Beaird Studios (Nashville, TN), home studio (Montreal, QC) Mastered by: David Buchanan at Beaird Studios EQUIPMENT NOTES: Avid Digidesign C24, PhantomFocus System, Avid Pro Tools, Apple Logic

ARTIST: CHEERLEADER ALBUM: ALMOST FOREVER LABEL: BRIGHT ANTENNA RECORDS PERSONNEL

Produced by: Chris Coady Engineered by: David Tolomei, Sarah Tudzin Mix Engineer: Chris Coady Studios: Panoramic House (Marin County, CA), Sunset Sound (Hollywood, CA) Mastered by: Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound (Edgewater, NJ) EQUIPMENT NOTES: Spectra Sonics console, Shadow Hills Equinox, PMC twotwo.8, Auratone Sound Cube, Avid Pro Tools, Apple Logic Pro

ARTIST: MAYA DE VITRY ALBUM: HOW TO BREAK A FALL LABEL: MAD MAKER STUDIO PERSONNEL Produced by: Dan Knobler Engineered by: Jacob Blumberg Mix Engineer: Dan Knobler Studio: Goosehead Palace (Nashville, TN) Mastered by: Philip Shaw Bova at Bova Lab (Ottawa, ON) EQUIPMENT NOTES: Quantum Audio Labs console, Mackie HR824 Mk1, Avid Pro Tools, Ampex ATR-102

ARTIST: JARROD DICKENSON ALBUM: READY THE HORSES LABEL: SELF-RELEASED PERSONNEL Produced by: Jarrod Dickenson Engineered by: Dave Lynch Studio: Echo Zoo Studios (Eastbourne, England) Mastered by: Reuben Cohen at Lurssen Mastering (Burbank, CA) EQUIPMENT NOTES: SSL AWS 900, KRK V8 Series 2, Otari MTR-90, Studer A807

notes Wells Adapts to ITB

los angeles, ca—Adapting to an in-the-box workflow, Grammy-winning Canadian musician, songwriter and record producer Greg Wells, has adopted SSL’s (www. solidstatelogic.com) Sigma Delta summing engine, using the Bus A/B architecture and Delta control in his Los Angeles studio.

NRG Goes Big with Ocean Way

los angeles, ca—Producer, engineer and studio owner Jay Baumgardner has installed new Ocean Way Audio (www.oceanwayaudio. com) dual-subwoofer HR2EX towers, featuring 18-inch subwoofers on top and bottom, in the Moroccanthemed Studio B at his NRG Recording Studios, plus dual-horn HR 3.5 reference monitors in the Studio C mix room.

Universal Bows AllWomen Project

santa monica, ca—Universal Production Music (universalproductionmusic. com), in collaboration with Shesaid.so (www.shesaid. so), announced the digital release of 100% Her, a production music album of 10 tracks composed, mixed and mastered by women.

Pavlík Goes All-In with DPA

slovakia—Slovakian producer and record label owner Rostislav Pavlík recently recorded Slovak opera singer Gustáv Beláček at the Brno concert hall in the Czech Republic with the aid of three DPA (www. dpamicrophones.com) 4041 microphones in a Decca tree layout. Also used were a pair of DPA 4011 cardioid microphones (ORTF), plus DPA 4015 and 4023 microphones for the eight-piece string section.

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soundRECORDING (continued from page 18)

ed because they’d been on sale for a year and nobody had bought them.”

Likewise with the Studer A68 amplifiers: “They’re hard to find, but some came up on eBay from British Columbia. So it all fell into place,” he says.

But the reborn Halo is not an attempt to replicate Le Studio. “We managed to make the control room the same size and shape, but we’ve added modern principles for speaker placement and whatnot,” he says.

The live room’s shape is similar to the Morin Heights space as well, just a little smaller. Anyone who has seen a Rush video recorded at Le Studio will remember the wall of glass. Halo has that covered, too.

“The whole front of the building is glass,” says Marcone. “We’ve built a second wall, so we have an entrance foyer, then there’s a wall of windows set back from the front, so you get the light but there’s a sound buffer.”

As planning progressed, Marcone found himself working with more Le Studio alumni. “I started talking to Roger Ginsley, who has always maintained my gear. Roger was also that guy at Le Studio; I didn’t realize.”

Ginsley had been a junior engineer with Blagona in the UK and moved to Canada to replace Jean-Luc Louradour, now an electroacoustic engineer, at Le Studio.

“Roger said, ‘Talk to Jean-Luc, he knows a lot about studio design, speaker placement, room shapes and dimensions,’” says Marcone.

“They’ve all been super helpful.

Roger has helped get all the tech and gear organized. Jean-Luc designed the control room with me, helping with the principles of floating the room and the materials to use. He took the design Nick and I

Anderton (continued from page 21)

K e e p Yo u r O S a n d S e c u rity Software Updated: If you’ve patched a Windows or Mac machine lately, you’ll have noticed that many of the updates are about security.

Granted, many people believe that “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” and are reluctant to update a system that’s working. Updates can cause problems and be disruptive, but they’re not as disruptive as ransomware or viruses. Besides, you can use Time Machine on a Mac or System Re-

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had made and turned it into something a little more modern, and very accurate. Then Nick was helpful with the layout, the flow, the vibe and the considerations for artists.

And Mary Jane Russell, Nick’s 35year partner and wife, has been instrumental in helping with the decor and vibe.”

He adds, “I should mention my amazing wife, Neva, for being so wonderfully understanding and supportive in the creation process of our space. It’s half hers, in reality.”

Marcone and Stevens did the lion’s share of the general contracting work to keep the project within budget. “We’ve focused on the right things that they did back in the day,” he says. “It was still way more than I expected to spend, but I own the place, so it’s a forever studio.”

Like Le Studio, Halo’s control room walls are cedar clad. “And we’re getting a neon sign with the Halo logo,” he adds. A former board room is now a “vibe spot,” complete with a black and white checkerboard floor like the original Motown room, inspired by an eight-year-old Facebook memory posted by Blagona.

“Nick’s had a hand in a lot of this. He brought it to life for us, in a sense. It’s a shame he didn’t get a chance to see it,” says Marcone.

Blagona passed away on Jan. 4 from complications resulting from kidney, heart and lung diseases.

“Even to his last day, he was talking about how excited he was for this to exist. We’re holding Nick’s celebration of life on his 75th birthday, May 24, at Halo as our grand opening.”

On that final visit to the hospital, “He asked me to finish the records he was working on. He trusted me and my ears. As an audio engineer, that’s one of the highest compliments and honors,” he says.

“Nick meant a lot—to music, this city and me.”

Halo www.halomusic.ca

Studio 1 LA (continued from page 18)

The finished walls hide the technology behind them, explains Auger.

“All the reflective points are baffled, and everything else has a semipermeable membrane that kicks all the high frequencies above 160 Hz back into the room, so it’s not a dead room. The refractors take away the room reverb, so it’s an incredibly clear workspace. Forget that we work here—I just come in here to put records on.”

A lot of the gear was acquired through Don Polus, sales account executive at RSPE Audio Solutions.

“We knew we wanted to get a few things, but what we did was jump into our first project,” says Auger, “and then we said, ‘When we get to a point where we feel like we need something, let’s go buy it.’ So we built our toolbox as we went, according to what the projects have needed.

“As we built our toolkit, we discovered things that we love,” Auger continues. “For example, we’re monitoring directly out of the Apogee Symphony; there’s no control surface. And we’re clocking it with a Mutec MC-3+ clock. There’s something magic about the Mutec clocking the Apogee. It just widens the field a bit more.”

Monitoring is via 11 Mackie HR824 speakers plus a sub. “We’ve mixed a million records on these speakers and know them really well.

We said, ‘Let’s not go in a completely different direction that we don’t know.’ Stereo is cool, but 12 speakers is way cooler—six times cooler!”

Auger laughs.

Creative tools for mixing music in Dolby Atmos are still relatively scarce. “We invented a lot of the effects that we’re using,” says Gobel.

“There are combinations of things

You’re in the crosshairs of at least a few cybercriminals—and they can bring your studio, post-production suite or web site to its knees with one click. store on Windows to roll back any problematic updates until fixes are available. Your browser and operating system also offer various security options—use them.

Passwords Matter: Never use the same password for multiple sites because if cybercriminals can get into one site, the others become accessible. Some security experts rec-

PETER HECK

Halo

ommend “passphrases” (i.e., long phrases) instead of passwords. Update your passwords at least monthly, especially for sites that supply work-critical services such as DAW updates. If keeping track of all of those passwords is too daunting, use a password manager—there are several free, effective choices (e.g., LastPass Free).

Karma Auger (left) and Erich Gobel have collaborated since 2007.

with different delay and reverb times, and creating larger or smaller spaces, or zones. And we’ve created all different configurations of effects in our templates. The spatial effects that you can achieve with Atmos are really unlike anything that came before.”

There can also be happy accidents when folding down through the Dolby renderer from Atmos, says Gobel. “This record started in Atmos, then we downmixed to 2.0.

Some amazing things happen when you do that. There are spatial things and effects that happen in the 2.0 mix that you couldn’t imagine doing if you started in 2.0.

“Everything we like, we leave.

Everything we’re surprised by, we’re grateful for. And everything that’s not quite working, we adjust. So there’s a tweaking process, but generally the scalability is very good.

That’s very exciting.”

“Erich and I are such big fans of Atmos,” says Auger. “You have to make it available for the consumer, and that’s where Dolby is now. We feel this could be that next great evolution, like when mono went to stereo. In so many ways, I feel like this could bring value back to music in such a great way.”

“It just sounds incredible,” Gobel agrees, “and it’s so fun to mix and to hear.”

Studio 1 LA www.studio1la.com

Scrutinize Attachment Names: You probably know not to download any attachment you don’t recognize, but also don’t click on any links in emails unless you know they’re legit, and watch for fake filenames.

For example, if you’re expecting a file from CRAIG, don’t fall for one from CRAlG (lowercase L instead of capital I).

I hope you won’t be targeted with an attack, but the odds are increasing that you will be. You lock your studio’s door; lock your computer as well.

For more articles, information, and free downloads, visit www.craiganderton.org ... and yes, it’s an SSL-secured web site.

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soundPOST | BROADCAST Oscar-Nominated Sound Teams Speak n o rt h

h o l ly w o o d ,

DANNY MOLOSHOK/INVISION FOR DOLBY/AP IMAGES

BY STEVE HARVEY c a —“We’re

here to celebrate some amazing artists,” said Doug Darrow, senior vice president of Dolby’s cinema business group, introducing a panel of Academy Award nominees for sound editing and mixing at the Television Academy’s Saban Media Center a few days before the Oscars ceremony in February. Moderated by Dolby Institute director Glenn Kiser, the panel included representatives from the sound teams that worked on nominated films Ad Astra, Joker, Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood and Ford v Ferrari, which subsequently delivered the first Academy Award win for supervising sound editor Donald Sylvester.

Sylvester and the team tracked down authentic examples of the cars featured in Ford v Ferrari to replace the engine sounds of the “kit” picture cars that were filmed. “We located the remaining GT40s on the planet and no one wanted to talk to us,” he said, fearing the cars would be damaged during a film shoot. But an owner in Ohio, who had hand-built his car from original parts, acquiesced. “It

On hand for the Oscar sound panel were (l-r): Glenn Kiser, director, Dolby Institute; Donald Sylvester, Ford v Ferrari; Michael Minkler, Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood; Mark Ulano, Ad Astra, Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood; Dean Zupancic, Joker; Tom Ozanich, Joker; Alan Robert Murray, Joker.

sounds amazing,” said Sylvester.

Indeed, director James Mangold was so impressed that he wanted the 1966 Le Mans race sequence, some 40 minutes long, to feature no music—just engine sounds. “He came to his senses,” laughed Sylvester, and eventually did include music.

Detailing his use of Dolby Atmos in a scene just prior to Joaquin Phoenix’s character, Arthur Fleck, taking the stage in a comedy club, Joker re-recording mixer Dean Zupancic noted that the immersive format is not just about big, showy movements.

For example, the sound of a TV playing pans by as Fleck walks past it.

“The detail that you can get with Atmos of the movement of those things, you can’t get that anywhere else with that level of precision, and that really adds to the feeling of reality,” Zupancic said.

In the centerpiece of the film, an extended scene in the subway, “the sound effects are playing like music,” added Zupancic. The music, by Hildur Guðnadóttir, “came in way later, to let us be the score. You don’t (continued on page 26)

Podcasting? Yeah, They’ve Got That

BY STEVE HARVEY hanover , ma —Massachusetts-based

retailer Staples has teamed up with iHeartRadio and Professional Audio Design (PAD) to build podcasting studios at seven of its stores in the greater Boston area. The studio facilities are a key part of a communityfocused reimagining of some of the company’s stores, rebranded Staples Connect, which also offer coworking and event spaces.

“The mission was to have a professional-quality podcasting studio, consistent from location to location, that could be set up in a repeatable way,” says Dave Malekpour, PAD’s president. His company, based in Hanover, MA, was called in by iHeartRadio’s Boston engineering team to develop the technical design and acoustics of the new podcasting studios, which are positioned prominently in the new Staples Connect outlets.

Staples Connect has also partnered with audio technology company Voxnest, whose Spreaker platform offers podcast hosting and distribution services. The retailer additionally offers its customers discounts on

briefs Fox Nabs Bluehorn First

los angeles, ca—The renowned Newman Scoring Stage at the Fox Studio Lot in Los Angeles houses the first permanent installation of Meyer Sound’s (www.meyersound. com) Bluehorn System in any major commercial studio. Newman’s Bluehorn System has already been used for feature films The New Mutants and Call of the Wild and TV shows Family Guy and American Dad.

M3 Makes Waves in Miami

miami, fl—Music Mix Mobile (M3) lead mixer Jay Vicari captured performances at the Bud Light Super Bowl Music Fest starring DJ Khaled, Maroon 5 and DaBaby in the company’s Eclipse truck, which is now outfitted with Waves’ (www.waves. com) new SuperRack SoundGrid.

Highlights of the event aired on Fox on Feb. 1.

Collison Promoted at Alchemy

westchester, ny—Independent Foley studio Alchemy Post Sound (www.alchemypostsound.com) has elevated Emmy Award-winning Foley mixer Ryan Collison, who has been with the team for six years, to partner, joining founders Leslie Bloome and CEO Andrea Bloome.

Focusrite Launches Podcast Makeovers

Dave Malekpour, president of Professional Audio Design, and his team developed the technical design and acoustics of podcasting studios in Staples Connect stores.

partner We Edit Podcasts’ post-production services.

Staples U.S. Retail and iHeartRadio were looking for a solution as close to broadcast-quality as possible, but within a budget, says Malekpour.

PAD’s team, including system engineer John Songdahl and technical

director Eric Anderson, developed a value-engineered design that can accommodate up to four participants in a 10 x 12-foot acoustically treated and soundproofed studio.

Central to the technical design of each Staples Connect iHeartRadio (continued on page 25)

los angeles, ca—Focusrite (www. focusrite.com)—teaming with Heil Sound, ADAM Audio, Namba, Audimute, Hindenburg, Fullcast, Squadcast and Simplecast—has kicked off a competition where three winners will receive complete podcast studio makeovers valued at $2,300 in gear and services. Each winner’s prize package includes a Focusrite Scarlett 18i8 3rd Gen Audio Interface, a Heil Sound PR40 dynamic microphone and PL2T boom arm, a set of ADAM Audio SP-5 Studio Headphones, a Namba Gear Lil Namba Remix Backpack, and more. Enter at Focusrite’s website.

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soundPOST/BROADCAST

Staples Podcasting (continued from page 24)

Podcasting Studio is Røde’s RødeCaster Pro recording interface. RødeCaster Pro not only has a compact form factor, it’s also easy to use, says Malekpour.

“It’s an interface, but it also records to SD card. You can get individual tracks or a stereo mix. You can Bluetooth-in your phone as a source, or you can Skype an outsider caller in. There are eight sample pads you can load with tails and heads, or music and effects, and fire them off at the right moment in the show. Four microphones are a manageable number for a podcast. And it’s got built-in effects that help with vocal clarity and creating a broadcast-sounding vocal.”

Each of the rooms features a pair of Genelec 4010A speakers for playback on either side of a video display. Shure SRH440 professional studio headphones are also available at each seat.

PAD recommended several different microphones, and Staples had iHeartRadio’s team evaluate them for quality, Malekpour reports. In a shoot-out between a $100 mic and another costing four times that, he says, “We found that because of the way the RødeCaster is designed, the results were really close, so they didn’t need to spend the extra money.”

The selected Røde PodMic microphone offers good rejection, he says, “so even if you’re in a noisy environment, you’re going to find that you just hear the vocal, with no interference.” That performance enabled PAD’s team to value-engineer a structure that, while offering a little less isolation, provides a high level of quality while being more affordable to create, he says.

“It has double-wall construction and double-glazed laminate windows, things that we helped spec out. They used an acoustics product that is easy to install consistently and looks nice, a polyester felt board. It’s affordable, consistent and maintainable,” says Malekpour.

“The acoustics in the room are really well-balanced for vocal clarity.

They’ve even had musicians come in and record; they’re not opposed to anything.”

Beyond specifying suitable audio gear, PAD had to consider issues of ergonomics as well as wear and tear from the constant customer turnover.

“How big does the studio need to be to be effective? How do we lay it out?

Where do the cables go so they’re not in the way?” he enumerates.

“We had to think of it from a reliability standpoint, trying to make it

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“We had to think of it from a reliability standpoint, trying to make it so a user coming in couldn’t necessarily undo the installation.”

Dave Malekpour so a user coming in couldn’t necessarily undo the installation. We used mic stands with internal cable harnesses. We had to figure out cool ways to do stuff, such as mounting

hardware into the table leg. We even picked the size and shape of the table so there’s enough room to roll your chair back in a 10-by-12 room.”

The seven studios were built by

Staples’ construction division. If the test marketing pans out and the company, which has nearly 1,100 locations nationwide, opens Staples Connect stores in other markets, the design will likely be re-engineered to allow for prefabrication and easier on-site assembly, says Malekpour.

“We also built them a setup at their headquarters for testing and training. They want to become ex(continued on page 26)

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soundPOST/BROADCAST

Sound Teams (continued from page 24)

notice the hand-off; it’s seamless between music and effects. It was fun because we don’t always have the opportunity for effects to play as score would play.”

There was a similar scene in Once Upon a Time, noted Kiser, when Brad Pitt’s character visits the Spahn Ranch. “Sound effects was music,” said re-recording mixer Mike Minkler, “hundreds of little tiny pieces of sound that make this tapestry of weirdness and uncomfortableness.

What composers do, using instruments and sounds and orchestrating the feeling of the scene and the motivation, that’s what we did with sound effects.”

Recalling the shooting of the scene in Once Upon a Time in which Pitt’s character fights Bruce Lee, production mixer Mark Ulano (also nominated for Ad Astra) described it as “truly a ballet,” with director Quentin Tarantino orchestrating and coordinating the actors, cameras and sound team. “This was a real tour de force of boom operating,” said Ulano. “It was painting with microphones, in synchronization with the actors.”

“Quentin does not ever want to loop a scene or even a word. He gets

everything in the camera,” said Minkler. This was the seventh collaboration with Tarantino for Minkler, who, like Ulano, has worked with the director for more than two decades.

“So the production track is it,” said Minkler. “The dialogue is paramount, and it’s going to sound beautiful at all times, but you can add to it. And as long as [Tarantino] is laughing on the stage, we know we’re doing a good job.”

workstation with hundreds of tracks.

We’re doing so much more with fewer people.”

In the past, editors often had little idea what all the tracks sounded like together until they were played on the stage. Nowadays, Sylvester said, “We can hear the relationship between the sounds playing in our rooms.”

“In 1986, just before we went digital,” Minkler said, “Alan [Murray, supervising sound editor on Joker] had

“I remember being on crews with 30 sound editors in a three-story building.

Today, I had five people who did Ford v Ferrari—and one guy was part-time.”

Donald Sylvester Kiser took the opportunity to ask the assembled veterans for their perspectives on the ways that film sound has changed over their careers. In the early days, said Minkler, “it was a growing experience. Now it’s matured and we are able to do really extraordinary things with tremendous accuracy. The tools are there.”

Sylvester said, “I remember being on crews with 30 editors in a threestory building. Today, I had five people who did Ford v Ferrari—and one guy was part-time. Everybody has a

55 editors” on a project they worked on together. “That’s what it took.”

At the front end, said production mixer Ulano, some things have changed. “We can do a lot of simultaneous approaches in real time. I trained on a mono recorder with a limited number of inputs to achieve the same thing.”

Yet some things never change.

“The right microphone in the right place in the right way for a specific performance still is essential to whether or not we believe that char-

acter,” Ulano added.

“With Pro Tools, we can sit there and hear the dialogue,” said Zupancic. “In the case of Joker, we also had the music. We can sit in our rooms and blend and level things to work together and go to the stage more prepared. That helps our choices, and we can experiment a little more.”

“Sound effects editors would turn up [on the stage] with 500 tracks knowing that 200 were going to be thrown away,” agreed Minkler, “because they just didn’t know” how they would play.

Answering a question from the audience about their respective relationships with the nominated films’ directors, Ulano reported that, for Ad Astra, director James Gray had him play specific pieces of music in only his headphones while he was shooting the space sequences “so he had a sense of reference about the pacing of the scenes.”

Sylvester explained that Mangold shoots on location and ships the dailies back. “The picture editor and I have to make a final mix of that scene before he sees it. It’s got to have ADR, music, sound effects; it’s got to be as if it’s a finished film. We have to do this in a day. And it wasn’t unusual that some of the things that I did in an hour made it into the final.”

Dolby www.dolby.com

VOXNEST

Staples Podcasting (continued from page 25)

perts at podcasting as a company so they can learn to use that voice.”

While the Staples Connect podcasting studios, which are available for $60 an hour, can be self-operated, there is also an expert on hand to assist. “Staples has gone to various music programs around here, like Berklee [College of Music], to get graduates who are competent in the recording field,” he says.

Staples is apparently hoping to entice some customers to purchase their own podcasting setups once they’ve learned the essentials at the in-store facilities. “There’s an endcap facing the studios that has a set of podcasting equipment that they’ve packaged to sell to customers,” he reports.

When you look at the amount of content being created by companies such as iHeartRadio, Apple and Spotify, and the similarly huge consumer demand, says Malekpour, “There’s still room for a mass of exponential growth in that market. It’s a way that people can communicate their mes-

Each Staples Connect iHeartRadio Podcasting Studio features a Røde RødeCaster Pro recording interface and Røde PodMics, as well as Genelec 4010A speakers and Shure SRH440 studio headphones.

sage and receive information.”

Indeed, Malekpour has even started thinking about launching his own podcast—a PADcast, if you will.

“There’s space in the market for us to tell our story and talk about facility design, so we’re looking at it as a place where we could launch our

own podcast. Even though we have the technology, obviously, it would be cool to use our client’s facilities,” he says.

“And I love the fact that their podcast studios tie into the event spaces and the other services that they offer. It makes for a really cool

business condition, building community around their stores—which is lost in today’s point-and-click world.”

Professional Audio Design www.proaudiodesign.com iHeartRadio www.iheart.com

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soundTECHNOLOGY

innovations: the manufacturer’s view Taking an Evolutionary Approach to Broadcast SOLID STATE LOGIC SYSTEM T BROADCAST CONSOLE

BY THOMAS JENSEN

S

olid State Logic has been making consoles for 40 years, and fundamentally, our goals have not changed. Whether we are designing consoles for live sound, commercial studios or broadcast, we want to provide the best possible workflow for the audio operator. In the world of broadcast, audio operators are consistently being asked to do more with less while facing new challenges of both scale and flexibility in increasingly complex environments. This is true not only in “traditional” broadcast environments such as local news stations and large TV network facilities, but also within multinational corporate broadcast operations, streaming facilities and other venues.

In each of these scenarios, we have witnessed increasing demands on content dissemination over distributed networks. This has led to a need for more powerful audio consoles to accommodate more sources and buses—in multiple formats. The flip side of this is that broadcasters also need their operations to remain simple and scalable as technology continues to move forward. Our customers need the power and capacity to do more with less, while accessing predictable, familiar and nimble work surfaces.

SSL has been designing and manufacturing digital broadcast consoles for a long time, and each generation has pushed the boundaries of what was possible with technology at that time. Our System T, originally launched in 2017, was a significant step forward for broadcast operators.

Its namesake derives from the SSLdeveloped Tempest engine, which allows an unprecedented degree of flexibility and audio processing on a very large scale. Rather than running on dedicated fixed signal processing hardware such as DSP or FPGAbased technology, Tempest relies on SSL’s own Optimum Core Processing (OCP) software on an industrial PC platform. In a quickly evolving market, this allows SSL to update dynamic feature sets so users can adapt to new operational and workflow requirements, such as immersive audio.

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SSL shipped v2.3 Release for the System T broadcast console in January.

THE EYE OF THE STORM System T was a departure from SSL’s previous digital consoles, and it pushed our technology forward in three specific areas. First, integration of the Tempest engine meant that users now had an audio processor that could be reconfigured in between shows, or even while on the air. Adding or changing important features no longer required swapping out hardware or making complex changes. For instance, 5.1 was the native architecture when we launched, but now the system is fully immersive with 7.1.4 channels, buses and monitoring. This “future forward” capacity was available for users on the first day and presents a very nimble methodology for us to adapt to changing workflow requirements and to deliver them to users.

Second, System T is natively AoIP. Within the world of broadcast, embracing the rapid development of IP as the media transport mechanism was a logical step for our engineers while designing System T. Keeping the audio operator in the driver’s seat required not only the console’s audio I/O, but the console control software also had to connect to the IP network so audio routing could be facilitated from the console control surface, stored and recalled with the console’s show files. The System’s seamless in-

tegration with a Dante AoIP solution allows native routing control—not just between SSL devices, but among potentially thousands of Dante-enabled products on the network.

Recognizing that interoperability is a key component in the future of broadcast IP networking, we worked closely with Audinate to ensure that SMPTE 2110 is supported and that the System T infrastructure works with both Dante and open standard transport protocols at the same time.

Third, scalable control surface options, ranging from large-format surfaces to headless control, are also IP-based with remote log-in capabilities. For large entertainment shows, a production mixer and a music mixer can sit in two rooms on two surfaces mixing on the same console. In automated multi-studio facilities, A1s or broadcast engineering can change audio settings for each control room from a centralized location and shadow the productions without disruption. This affords not only the opportunity for increased quality but also an optimized workflow.

BUILDING A BRIDGE To satisfy the Tempest engine’s large I/O requirement, we needed to design a high-density connection to the audio network. This ultimately became the SSL HC card, which provided

512 bi-directional channels between the Tempest engine and the audio network on a single connection. (A Tempest engine can utilize six of these.) In the process of developing this technology, we realized that by adding sample rate converters, we would be able to solve a number of other network-related challenges— and so the HC Bridge SRC was born.

The HC Bridge SRC effectively bridges 256 channels of audio between two HC cards. With sample rate conversion, it allows two audio networks to be segmented while still sharing a large number of audio signals where required. Thus, our development of the HC card ultimately allowed us to solve multiple problems while addressing new applications for operators looking to integrate, say, mobile trucks and venues with disparate IP address schemes, clock domains or even different sample rates.

In early January, we launched v2.3 Release for System T, which included many incremental software improvements. This update took SMPTE 2110 and all of the SMPTE interoperability tools out of beta and into actual release. In the software update prior to that, we launched several new immersive sound tools that we were first to market with, one of which provided onboard A-B format conversion support for Sennheiser’s AMBEO format. This enabled operators to mix 3D audio in real time, with no rendering in post-production.

We continue to make refinements to System T for broadcast operators as production needs evolve. At SSL, we are excited about helping people migrate onto this innovative platform, while removing the obstacles they face in moving over to and ultimately mastering AoIP. Thomas Jensen is VP ,Technical Operations for Solid State Logic’s Systems & Support Group New York.

Solid State Logic www.solidstatelogic.com

Whether we are designing consoles for live sound, commercial studios or broadcast, we want to provide the best possible workflow for the audio operator.

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soundTECHNOLOGY

[realworldreviews]

DPA 4560 CORE BINAURAL HEADSET MICROPHONEPHANTOMFOCUS SYSTEM STUDIO MONITORS DPA 4560 CORE BINAURAL HEADSET MICROPHONE In 1992, Denmark’s distinguished measurement equipment manufacturer Brüel & Kjaer spun off its specialist pro audio division. At that point, the sales and service of the B&K Series 4000 microphones were outsourced to Morten Støve and Ole Brøsted Sørensen, two former employees. Shortly afterward, the pair went on to form Danish Pro Audio (DPA), which launched its first product, a series of compact cardioid and omnidirectional condenser mics, in 1994. Since then, DPA has established itself as a leading manufacturer of high-quality condenser microphones for professional applications in studio, film and video, broadcast and sound reinforcement.

My first DPA purchase was a pair of 4061 Miniature Omnidirectional Microphones that I fell in love with after reviewing them nearly 20 years ago. Since the 4060 and 4061 have identical capsules but slightly different sensitivities, I was very pleased to discover that the DPA 4560 CORE Binaural Headset Microphone (4560) is based around the current version of the 4060, now called the 4060 CORE Miniature Omnidirectional Microphone.

The 4560 is a handpicked stereo pair (sensitivity within ±1.5 dB) of 4060 CORE microphones uniquely mounted on a pair of earhooks (from DPA’s 4266 Flex headset).

The headset is ergonomically designed for easy adjustment and a comfortable fit. It is adjustable to fit any head shape and ear size, and from more than a few feet, is virtually invisible. Included with the 4560 is a pair of foam windscreens that both secure the microphone’s position in the ear and provide wind noise damping. Since the 4560 terminates in DPA MicroDot connectors, it can be easily used with DPA’s standard XLR adapters with high-end mic preamps, but it also works with the MMA-A Digital Audio Interface. This creates a compact and completely mobile binaural kit; once the 4560 CORE BHM is connected to the MMA-A’s MicroDot connectors, the MMA-A can then be connected directly to an iOS device or the USB port on a

BY RUSS LONG Nashville-based Russ Long has been producing, engineering and mixing music for three decades. He spends the bulk of his time working in his Dangerland mix room, where he also does console R&D for Yamaha Corp.

DPA 4560 CORE Binaural Headset Microphone

Windows or Mac PC. iOS operation is via the free DPA MAA-A app. The app includes gain control, HP filter activation, and the ability to store settings in one of four presets. There are three recording mode options (mono, stereo or dual), but recording binaural requires the interface to be set to stereo.

In binaural recording, microphones are placed on an artificial head or an actual human’s head so that the mics are positioned either just outside the ear canals or at the bottom of the ear canal near the eardrum. The recording technique facilitates extremely accurate sound reproduction through headphones, giving the listener the sense of actually being in the space where the recording was made. Creating binaural recordings has traditionally been quite expensive as dummy heads configured for binaural recording typically cost several thousands of dollars, and recording has to be done with expensive low-noise mic preamps and a professional recording medium. The 4560 is affordable ($1,100) and yields stunning results that rival the results from a binaural recording configuration that costs several thousand dollars.

Binaural recording captures the Head-Related Transfer Function (HRTF), which expresses how much

the influence of the head, ears and torso affect the transmission of a soundwave from a sound source to the eardrums. Ear shape and size, head shape and size, and the distance between the ears are just some of the factors that contribute to the HRTF. This means that the most accurate binaural recordings will always be made using the listener’s head, not someone else’s head or a dummy head. That said, a binaural recording will typically create a more encompassing three-dimensional listening experience for anyone, even if the HRTF used in the recording isn’t their own.

The applications for binaural recordings are endless; the list includes capturing sound effects and location ambience for theatrical podcasts; capturing sound effects and/or soundscapes for film, TV, videogames and VR; and capturing musical performances for headphone playback.

I’m a bit of an ambience fanatic, so I couldn’t wait to take the 4560 into the world to capture some audio. I found the headset a bit clumsy and slow to properly fit the first couple of times I put it on, but once I got used to the placement and fit, taking it on and off required virtually no time at all.

The majority of my 4560 record-

ing was done via the MAA-A interface and iOS app, and the setup worked like a charm. Capturing everything from the sound of traffic at a busy intersection to birds in a park to a winter thunderstorm (yeah, I live in Nashville, so it rains here even in the middle of the winter!) was flawless. I even snuck the headset into a symphony performance, where I wonderfully recorded a 62-piece orchestra at 24-bit/96 kHz. While binaural recordings are designed for headphone listening, an inverted HRTF can be used to convert the binaural recording into a stereo recording perfectly suited for loudspeaker playback. DPA recommends a simple curve (+2 dB low shelf @ 480 Hz, -11dB bell, Q=1 @ 4 kHz, +8dB, Q=2 @8 kHz) to process a binaural recording for stereo playback. Of course, every HRTF is unique, so this curve is a starting point and adjustments should be made from this point according to acoustical analysis and/or taste.

I used the 4560 to record an acoustic guitar in the studio and then applied the HRTF “decoder curve” to the recorded audio to use it in a track I was engineering, and it worked well. I should point out that those using the 4560 CORE BHM for scientific purposes will want to incorporate the DPA DWA4060 calibrator inserts so the microphones can be calibrated perfectly.

In true DPA fashion, the DPA 4560 CORE Binaural Headset Microphone is a spectacular device that is fun to use—but more importantly, it wonderfully captures audio without compromise. Anyone interested in binaural or portable high-resolution recording should give it top consideration.

DPA Microphones www.dpamics.com

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soundTECHNOLOGY

[realworldreviews]

PHANTOMFOCUS SYSTEM STUDIO MONITORS You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone more passionate about audio than Carl Tatz. Not only is he serious about it, he knows it inside out.

I got to know him before Recording Arts, his legendary Nashville studio, wound up in the hands of Sheryl Crow nearly two decades ago. Even in those days, more than anything else, Recording Ar ts was known for its exceptional monitoring. The fundamentals of the PhantomFocus System (PFS) were developed during Tatz’s Recording Arts tenure. That system has evolved into a portfolio of both physical studio designs and products that hold their ground against anything in the world today. The number of top engineers around the world who use Tatz’s talents to ensure their mixes accurately translate anywhere—be it streaming, on television or in movie theaters—continues to grow every year.

While Tatz often designs recording studios from the ground up, the PFS branding includes various pieces of hardware that are configured and “tuned” by his process, which combines physical properties, hardware design and system settings. Tatz can be hired to build a PFS studio from the ground up, but an existing studio can also bring him in to transform the facility into a PFS space through the integration of specific hardware that he configures via a combination of physics, software and his golden ears.

While the PFS process can be applied to any high-performance studio loudspeakers, Tatz had historically gravitated his clients toward the now-discontinued Dynaudio M1s because of their sound quality and their adaptability to the PFS process. The M1s were never perfect, but Tatz was convinced that they were the closest thing to perfection available on the market at the time.

Never one to settle for the status

quo, Tatz began developing his own monitors. After finessing his dream over the years, the PFM UHD-1000 and PFM HD-1000 Professional Reference Monitors and PFM ICE Cube-12 Subwoofer are finally ready for public consumption. Tatz boasts that the monitors’ accelerated response times, phase linearity and tightly controlled mid-bass response result in high confidence, better and faster mixes, and increased enjoyment. My own extensive listening supports my assertion that this isn’t hype.

Both monitor models are passive and share nearly identical 8.2 x 17.8 x 12.2-inch cabinets with a built-in custom integrated IsoAcoustics pistonic decoupling system with a studio black luster finish. The UHD version, which is designed to be biamplified and features upgraded low-frequency drivers, weighs 24.1 pounds. The HD version is offered in two configurations: the PFM HD-1000A is actively biamped, requiring two channels of amplification per monitor, and the PFM HD-1000P features an internal Straight Wire passive crossover, requiring one channel of amplification per monitor.

The PFM ICE Cube-12 subwoofer is a 15.75-inch cube weighing 55 pounds. It incorporates a 700-watt amp that provides 120 dB maximum continuous SPL. It includes typical subwoofer functions including 40–140 Hz LPF with LFE Bypass and 0–180 Phase Switch. It’s important to note that both the PFM HD-1000 and UHD1000 monitors are part of the PFS turnkey precision monitoring instrument ensemble and can only be purchased with the installation of a PhantomFocus System using the proprietary PFS tuning process.

I’ve spent a lot of time in PhantomFocus rooms around Nashville and my only complaint had been the rapid deg radation of

PFM UHD-1000 (left) and PFM HD-1000 (right) Professional Reference Monitors

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PFM ICE Cube-12 Subwoofer

sound quality as you move away from the sweet spot. When you’re in the sweet spot, you’ll likely be experiencing the best monitoring situation of your career, but once you begin sliding one direction or another, the sound quickly deteriorates. I had always attributed this to PFS processing, but after spending time listening at The Upper Deck, one of the first studios to install PFM HD-1000 monitors, my tune has changed. The sweet spot of that room is still precise, but as you move in and out of the sweet spot, the transition is smooth, natural and subtle—an entirely different experience than listening in other PFS rooms with other monitor models.

This was confirmed when I spent time listening at Doug Sarrett’s Uno Mas studio. Sarrett was an early adopter of the PhantomFocus System, and he updated the Tannoy Super Gold monitors that he’d been using for over two decades to the premium PFM UHD-1000 moni-

tors; the results were stunning. The complete system has excellent imaging, pristine depth of field and accurate, extended low-frequency response regardless of monitoring volume. As is always the case with a PFS implementation, the speakers magically disappear, leaving a detailed sonic landscape. While the difference was subtle, the upgrade to the UHD version of the PFM monitor that I auditioned at Uno Mas in comparison to the HD version that I listened to at The Upper Deck was a definite improvement in both depth and clarity.

The new PhantomFocus monitors and subwoofer elevate monitoring accuracy to yet another level.

Regardless of whether you are upgrading a current room or planning to build a space from the ground up, PFS along with PFM monitors and subwoofers should receive top consideration.

PhantomFocus www.phantomfocus.com

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soundPRODUCTS Jocavi WoodQuad Acoustic Diffuser

Portuguese acoustic treatment manufacturer Jocavi has introduced WoodQuad, a quadratic diffuser produced from self-sustainable forest pine wood with a finish of five different colors of veneer: pine, cherry, oak, sucupira, wengé and mahogany. According to the company, WoodQuad panels, produced from solid wood blocks, have an average diffusion coefficient of 0.63 per square meter. Intended for medium to large studios and control rooms, the panels were created in collaboration with studio and loudspeaker designer Dave Malekpour, from Professional Audio Design and Augspurger Monitors. The WoodQuad’s design is intended to provide a more uniform sound field through mid and high frequencies and provide hemispherical scattering for wide angles of incidence. As a result, the panel reportedly provides large spectrum bandwidth diffusion in a single integrated piece and has the uniform scattering properties of a quadratic diffuser.

Unity Audio Mini-Boulder

Unity Audio launched the Mini-Boulder 3-way active studio monitor and a variation, the MiniBoulder DSP. The Mini-Boulder, a compact version of the larger Boulder MK-III 3-way studio monitor, features one 8-inch woofer instead of two. While it is housed in a smaller cabinet and has a lower price, the Mini-Boulder 3-way active design shares the same electronics and mid/high frequency coaxial driver as the Boulder MK-III. The coaxial 5-inch ring mid-range driver features a 50 kHz folded ribbon tweeter mounted inside it. The single 8-inch woofer has a stiff aluminum cone to aid bass precision. The cone has a low loss rubber surround intended to eliminate cone edge resonance and distortion, and the woofer includes a four-layer high-temperature voice coil wound on an aluminum voice coil former. The Mini-Boulder has power delivered from a large 300W Class D amplifier running the 8-inch woofer, alongside two custom Unity Audio 100W Class A/B amplifiers for the coaxial mid-range and tweeter.

Steinberg UR24C Audio Interface

UR24C, the latest addition to Steinberg’s UR-C line of USB 3.0 interfaces, sports two balanced Neutrik combo inputs, D-PRE microphone preamps, two TRS main outputs, four RCA line outputs, MIDI in and out, and USB Type-C (USB 3.1 Gen 1 SuperSpeed) connectivity. It features 32bit/192 kHz audio resolution, MIDI, and numerous DSP effects. Intended for use by musicians, producers and DJs, the UR24C provides switchable monitor modes (DAW and DJ) for headphones. DAW mode is used for producing music with a DAW, where the signal from output 1 or output 2 is chosen as the headphone source, allowing the user to adjust the balance of the signals.

DJ mode is intended for performances with DJ software and backing tracks, where the signal is split so the mono master sound is output to the right side of the headphones and the mono cue sound to the left, letting the user adjust the balance of both signals.

Lectrosonics MTCR

The MTCR—Miniature Time Code Recorder from Lectrosonics is a small recorder intended for film/television productions. Small enough to be hidden in garments, the MTCR can be placed on a subject to capture audio, synchronized with timecode, when using a wireless mic is not practical. The unit records in 24-bit/48 kHz digital onto a microSD card in WAV format. The unit can be jammed to external timecode via the standard 5-pin Lemo connector. A headphone output jack allows for monitoring signal input or listening to previously recorded files, but it cannot be used to send live audio to another device while recording. The input connector is a TA5M jack that accepts any mic or line level signal and provides bias voltage to power electret lavalier microphones. The MTCR runs for more than six hours on a single lithium

[studio]

firstlook TASCAM USB Audio Interface Driver Update

TASCAM has updated its USB Audio Interface Drivers with the release of version 4.0 for Windows. Available now as a free download, the 4.0 driver update is said to significantly improve latency over the previous version, offering a selectable latency setting between 4 samples and 2048 samples, versus a previous default buffer size of 64 samples.

Setting an ultra-low-latency buffer size of 4 samples results in a negligible delay between the actual playing and hearing of audio during recording; alternately, setting a higher sample rate (up to 2048 samples) maximizes a computer’s processing power for optimized performance during mixing. Additionally, the new “Auto Driver Select” feature (available for US-1x2/US-2x2/US-4x4 models) enables activation/ deactivation of the default IN/OUT audio setting. Activating the Auto Driver Select feature enables the computer to automatically recognize the US-Series interface as the default for input/output, reducing recording session setup and configuration time.

The update is compatible with a range of TASCAM audio interface units, including the US-16x08, US-4x4, US-2x2, US-1x2, iXR, and Celesonic US-20x20.

AAA battery. The device comes with an M152/5P low-noise omni lav microphone, microSD memory card, belt clip and AAA lithium battery.

Røde NT-USB Mini Microphone

Røde’s NT-USB Mini is a compact USB microphone intended for recording directly to a computer or tablet. The mic is intended for podcasters, musicians, streamers, gamers and others. Built around a condenser capsule with RF shielding, the NT-USB Mini—which is 3.5 inches wide and 5.5 inches tall—sports a directional cardioid pickup pattern to reduce room sound and other extraneous noise. A built-in pop filter aids in reducing plosives. The mic also comes with a magnetic desk stand that attaches to an integrated 360-degree swing mount within the mic. Besides the NT-USB Mini’s class-compliant USB output, it also has an internal headphone amplifier with precision level control and switchable zero-latency monitoring via a 3.5mm headphone output. Built in Røde’s manufacturing facilities in Sydney, Australia, the NT-USB Mini is available now.

Heritage Audio HA-609A Compressor

Heritage Audio’s HA-609A, a tracking/mixing diode bridge compressor, is a modern take on the classic transformer-coupled diode bridge compressor/limiter design, created with the intention of better accommodating the modern workflow. While some classic iterations of this design utilized IC chips and a class A/B amplifier stage, the HA-609A features an entirely discrete, Class A design and a total of three Carnhill/St Ives transformers per channel. In an effort to provide better channel matching than earlier incarnations the HA-609A uses a proprietary system of diode bridge matching. The unit also sports rotary switches and high-quality stepped pots, aiding users when recalling settings. The addition of a fast attack mode for both the compressor and limiter section allows the HA-609A to handle individual tracks as well as groups and 2-bus program material, making it viable for both tracking and mixing.

There’s more information on all the products featured at prosoundnetwork.com/archives/apr2020.

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[sound reinforcement] DiGiCo I/O Racks

Designed for DiGiCo’s 4REA4 processing engine for networked audio in installations, DiGiCo’s new I/O racks—the A164D Wall LCD and A168D Stage—bring all the connectivity of the original A164 Wall LCD and A168 Stage, but with the additional advantage of Dante connectivity.

The A164D Wall LCD is a 16-input, 4-output I/O Expander that uses the Dante network protocol to provide fixed additional I/O anywhere on a network. Designed for wall or floor mounting, it comes with 16 mic preamps on XLR inputs with Phantom Power status LEDs and four XLR line outs with direct preamp control from the 4REA4 controller software. It can run at both 48K and 96k sample rates and is AES67 compatible.

The A168D Stage is a portable 16-input, 8-output I/O Expander, again using the Dante network protocol to provide additional I/O anywhere on a network. It comes with 16 mic preamps on XLR inputs with Phantom Power status LEDs and eight XLR line outputs with direct preamp control from the 4REA4 controller software. It runs at 48k and 96k and is AES67 compatible.

Heil Sound PR 37 Vocal Mic

Marketed to professional vocalists, Heil Sound’s PR 37 vocal microphone is said to have an upper mid-range response designed to cut through a mix.

It features a 1.5-inch diameter dynamic element, a frequency response of 50– 18,000 Hz, and output level of -51 dB @ 1,000 Hz. The company worked with several FOH mix engineers, both with the initial design and subsequent field testing of the new microphone. The PR 37 is expected to begin shipping in July.

Bose Pro, Sennheiser Team for Collaboration Bose Professional and Sennheiser partnered on the development of the Bose ES1 Ceiling Audio Solution. With the goal of avoiding having audio devices visible on walls or tabletops, the approach uses a variety of offerings from Bose and Sennheiser to create a solution that is currently undergoing the certification process for use with the Microsoft Teams unified communication platform. The approach uses three Bose products—the ControlSpace EX-440C conferencing signal processor, EdgeMax EM180 in-ceiling loudspeaker, and PowerSpace P2600A amplifier—and the Sennheiser TeamConnect Ceiling 2 (TCC2) microphone.

firstlook Meyer Sound Ultra-X20 The Ultra-X20 Compact Point Source Loudspeaker is a junior-sized version of the Ultra-X40 loudspeaker. Based on the same design principles and technologies, it employs two 5-inch cone drivers in a lighter and more compact package. There’s also a 2-inch diaphragm compression driver and a rotatable 110° x 50° horn in a coaxial configuration. Power comes from a three-channel Class D amplifier with DSP. The cabinet measures 7.5 x 19.04 x 8.6 inches (WHD) and weighs 26 pounds.

According to Meyer Sound, the Ultra-X20 has an operating frequency range of 60 Hz–18 kHz, phase response of ±45° (100 Hz–16 kHz) and linear peak SPL of 123.5 dB measured with M-Noise. Three different connector panel options are available for the X20: two AC powered versions, and a third for integration in IntelligentDC systems with a 5-pin Phoenix connector. A variety of mounting options are available.

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soundPRODUCTS punQtum Q110 Beltpack

New intercom company punQtum has unveiled its first product, the Q110 Beltpack, which is planned to be the first element of a larger networked digital intercom system.

The upcoming system will provide up to 32 partylines via standard IP networks and infrastructure. In a standalone capacity, the Q110 offers access to two channels of partyline intercom, and besides being powered via standard PoE switches, the Q110 Beltpack offers the option to daisy-chain up to eight units on a single wire. The feature set also allows for any missed comms to be replayed in a voicemail-style setup. Aiming for scalability, the Q110 is expected to adaptable for use in systems of any size, ranging from small events requiring just two beltpacks to as many as are required for large, complex systems. Using AES67 as a technology cornerstone, the punQtum Intercom system integrates with AES67-compliant networks such as Dante and RAVENNA. Furthermore, punQtum expects to shortly release a multiplatform editing software for configuration and management of systems.

Allen & Heath AHM-64

The AHM-64 is a 64x64 audio matrix processor supported by an ecosystem of scalable I/O, control and Dante solutions. Aimed predominantly at corporate, retail, leisure and education environments, the AHM-64 is designed to enable integrators to create systems that build from a single boardroom to a complete campus. The AHM-64 has 12 local inputs and 12 outputs, plus an SLink expansion port allowing plugand-play for connection to up to eight remote expanders from Allen & Heath’s Everything I/O family. An I/O port enables a 96 kHz, 64x64 Dante option card to be added for connection to equipment on a Dante network, including the wall-mount DT164-W and portable DT168 Dante expanders. Various readymade remote control options support the AHM-64, including a family of PoE remote controllers and the BYOD-friendly Custom Control app, enabling tailored user interfaces for multiple user and device types.

Coda Audio N-Ray

N-Ray is a compact three-way line array loudspeaker intended for installation in theaters, performing arts centers and corporate event spaces.

It incorporates a 6-inch double-diaphragm planar wave driver (DDP), dual 6.5-inch neodymium ultra-low distortion low-frequency cone drivers, NRay insta-fit magnetic coupler sums and Dynamic Airflow Cooling (DAC) technology, with the aim of providing high sound pressure and low power compression. N-Ray offers a phase linearity similar to AiRay, a 60 Hz–22 kHz (-6 dB) frequency range and high power handling of 1,000 W. N-Ray has a variable horizontal coverage of 90°, 120° or asymmetric 105°, variable vertical curving 0°, 1°, 2°, 3° to 12° in 1° steps, and an integrated three-point rigging system for flown or ground stacked arrays.

d&b audiotechnik System Software Update

A d&b audiotechnik update includes new CPL for the SL-Series and Temperature Humidity Control (THC) for loudspeaker arrays. According to the company, CPL allows the SL-Series line arrays to be adjusted for specific venues. Meanwhile, THC provides high-frequency compensation due to temperature/humidity as part of the d&b ArrayProcessing software. With this, fluctuations in both temperature and humidity can be addressed in real time with the R1 Remote Control software.

With the existing d&b line array CPL (Coupling) function, which is used to shape the array frequency response for rooms as well as personal preference, the system’s frequency shelving function can prevent access to the full frequency range potential of the system, meaning that the SL-Series LF headroom below 100 Hz is not fully available when CPL is engaged. The new CPL software allows SL-Series to shape LF and LoMid responses independently with individual controls for LOW and MID array response.

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soundREINFORCEMENT Dolby Atmos Moves into Live Sound

BY STEVE HARVEY the launch of Dolby Atmos with Disney/Pixar’s animated feature Brave nearly eight years ago, Dolby has expanded the application of its object-based immersive sound format to streaming content, VR, games and, most recently, music, in partnership with UMG and Warner Bros. Now the company is pushing its Dolby Atmos Music brand into live music venues.

“We’ve been working with artists, record labels, streaming services and device manufacturers to enable the Dolby Atmos Music experience as broadly as possible,” says Jed Harmsen, Dolby’s vice president of cinema and content solutions. “Our goal with the new Dolby Atmos for Live application is to provide a live out-ofhome experience that is more engaging and more immersive.”

Hitting rewind is not an option when delivering a Dolby Atmos experience in a live setting, of course, so the company has been implementing Dolby Atmos at a variety of events to fine-tune the product for live use, gathering experience, data and user feedback along the way.

Dolby’s initial public foray into using Dolby Atmos in a live application was the American Music Awards at the Microsoft Theater at L.A. Live in late 2019. Working with Dick Clark Productions, Dolby presented performances of individual songs by Dua Lipa, Lizzo and Post Malone in its

Tested Explores Hamilton’s Sound

san francisco, ca—Since

During Grammy Week in February, Dolby Atmos for Live was used for a full performance by rapper Meek Mill at NeueHouse Hollywood.

immersive format. “The response was well beyond what I expected,” says Harmsen.

During Grammy Week in February, Dolby went a step further, delivering a full performance by rapper Meek Mill at NeueHouse Hollywood, presented by Tidal. At more or less the same time, the company worked with Carlos Santana to present his residency—now in its eighth year—at House of Blues Las Vegas at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Dolby Atmos.

“We’re really focused on these fixed venues, where we provide the room design, the renderer and the tools—the user interface—to make

it work,” Harmsen explains. “The reason is twofold. One, the rooms are generally more controllable than an outdoor arena, to pick one extreme.” Secondly, he says, “We can learn more in a fixed venue, where we get to see different artists use [the system],” versus a tour by one artist in multiple venues.

That course of action also affords Dolby the additional days needed to expand a venue’s stereo sound system and optimize it for Dolby Atmos presentations. That process can certainly be challenging at a venue such as House of Blues Las Vegas, where more of the audience is in the seated (continued on page 33)

live sound engineer Brian Hendry died Feb. 14 at his home in Henderson, NV, from polycystic kidney disease, which he’d battled since 1994. Across a 40-year career, Hendry worked with the likes of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne, Van Halen, Page and Plant, Joe Walsh, The Eagles, Alanis Morissette, Lenny Kravitz, Cher, Stevie Nicks and Jennifer Hudson before his retirement in 2017. He was 67.

Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Hendry graduated from Stow College of Engineering in 1974, moved to London the following year and soon began touring with bands as an audio engineer. That job brought him to America in 1976. Hendry met Jann

Zlotkin, his wife of 32 years, at a 1987 Whitesnake/Mötley Crüe concert in Washington, DC. They were married Dec. 24, 1987, and moved to Thousand Oaks, CA. Continuing to fight polycystic kidney disease, he received a lifesaving kidney donation from friend Todd Chandler in 2001; the following year, he won a Parnelli Award for Monitor Mixer of the Year.

Brian Hendry is survived by his wife, as well as three daughters, a granddaughter, siblings Jim and Karen Hendry, and his beloved dog, Jake.

The family is asking those who wish to honor Hendry to donate to the Polycystic Kidney Disease Foundation.

A Celebration of Life event in his honor will be held at Solotech’s Las

san francisco, ca—The web series Tested, hosted by former Mythbuster Adam Savage, recently devoted an episode (https://bit.ly/2Q4Tzga) to exploring how the theatrical blockbuster Hamilton is mixed nightly.

Kevin McCoy, FOH engineer on the San Francisco touring production, shows off his DiGiCo SD7T console and explains his working script’s intricate notes for muting and un-muting mics onstage, joking, “Some people have told me it looks like I’m playing Soundboard Hero.”

QSC Opens Austria Office

wattens, austria—QSC (www.qsc. com) EMEA has opened an office in Austria to distribute its live sound and systems product portfolio in the region. The aim is to allow QSC to develop closer relationships with Austrian customers, providing training and pre- and after-sales support, as well as technical, repair and marketing support. In his role as director, Gerd Kostial will oversee the Austrian QSC office and will manage direct sales to key system integrators.

Jetwave Wireless Adds NY Office

norwood, nj—Production wireless and communications specialist Jetwave Wireless (www.jetwavewireless.com) has opened a New York City-area facility to provide equipment and support for the region’s broadcast, live events, location sound, film and entertainment industries. Located in Norwood, NJ, the 5,000-square-foot regional office houses teams for live events and rentals, as well as sales and integration.

Monitor Engineer Brian Hendry, Dead at 67 henderson, nv—Longtime

briefs

DAS Hits the Gym Brian Hendry

Vegas offices on April 5. RSVPs can be sent via Hendry’s website.

Brian Hendry www.brianhendryworld.com Polycystic Kidney Disease Foundation https://pkdcure.org/make-a-donation

miami, fl—Miami’s Anatomy Gym recently updated its sound reinforcement system with loudspeakers drawn from the E11EVEN Sound Series by DAS Audio. Working in coordination with John Fiorito, DAS Audio of America’s national installation manager, the company installed eight DAS ES26 loudspeakers and two S18 subwoofers in its second-floor midtown-Miami location.

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soundREINFORCEMENT

Memphis-based ProductionOne fielded its Alcons Audio LR18 line array for shows with bluegrass icon Alison Krauss.

Alison Krauss Rolls with ProductionOne memphis , tn —Live

sound provider ProductionOne recently hit the road with Grammy-winner Alison Krauss, fielding its recently acquired Alcons Audio LR18 compact mid-size line array for the shows.

ProductionOne was founded almost 20 years ago, working on youth

Atmos Live (continued from page 32)

mezzanine area than downstairs on the floor, and the room has an unusual shape and layout.

“How do we provide that experience both on the floor and the mezz area to give as much of the venue an optimized experience as possible, and in doing so, be cognizant of sightlines? It’s easy to solve if you hang an infinite number of speakers, but then no one gets to see the act. I think we came up with a really elegant solution to provide that coverage,” says Harmsen. Dolby worked with Sound Image to expand the venue’s sound system for the Santana residency, which currently has dates scheduled in May, September and November.

While all elements of a traditional stereo P.A. are typically timealigned, that’s not necessarily best practice with a Dolby Atmos system, he continues. “If everything is perfectly time-aligned and you pan, you’re not going to get the sensation of panning. You want to ensure the overall production is cohesive, coherent and consistent. But we want to ensure that when the creatives

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The Krauss crew’s front of house engineer Gord Reddy admitted he’d wanted the opportunity to mix on an Alcons system since hearing one on the 2018 k.d. lang tour, which was mixed by Gary Stokes. “Ever since I learned how much more enjoyable and easier it is to mix any style of music on low-distortion sound systems, I have been in the pursuit of better solutions,” says Reddy. “All the little struggles and discontent in mixes that I previously had dramatically changed for the better [with the Alcons system]. As mix engineers, we just don’t realize how much we incorrectly blame ourselves, when it is often speaker distortion that is the problem.”

Beauty is in the ear of the beholder, it seems. All involved were pleased with the audience reaction.

“We heard many audience members say they could hear each individual instrument clearly, which they had never before been able to do at a live concert,” says company owner Kiley Butler. “It felt like we were in a studio with 3,000 other people.”

and nonprofit events. The company has grown steadily into a full-service production company serving the live concert, touring and corporate markets. After hearing Alcons systems at last year’s InfoComm tradeshow, ProductionOne purchased an LR18 system with BF362 high-output sub-

woofers and a full touring package, including turnkey amp racks with Sentinel10 amplified loudspeaker controllers and flight cases with specialized I/O panels. The company also purchased a pre-owned LR16 compact line array system, again with BF362 subs, for regional events.

ProductionOne www.productionone.com

choose to pan elements or add static objects, you notice that effect and it’s not getting washed out by the time alignment.”

There is a learning curve when first mixing in Dolby Atmos, as Kevin Madigan, Santana’s FOH mixer since January 2019, observes: “You don’t have a left-right bus to send to any-

estate in a stereo mix, but Atmos enabled Madigan to widen the soundstage. “Being able to push those wide and along the side walls is a cool and unique thing,” he says.

To achieve even greater separation, he says, he could send individual elements to separate speakers. “That makes things easier to deal with in-

ence an experience a stereo rig simply can’t deliver. “Being able to do a rotation with a B2 and Leslie solo is really cool,” he reports.

Yet Madigan’s overall philosophy was to create a generally static mix.

“You could do dramatic things that were interesting for the audience, but Carlos and the band are the focus.

You don’t want to do anything that distracts from that.”

Dolby’s software panner, which is also used in post-production applications, generates the dynamic spatial positioning metadata for each object in the renderer. Looking down the road, that control, currently in “advanced beta” for live use, will likely become more tightly integrated into third-party products.

In the meantime, Dolby is learning from its interactions with mixers how best to optimize the software for live musical and theatrical performances. “We want to make sure that our solution set covers all the bases, while still being flexible and easing the creation process. We want to be able to cover all the bases with a single solution set, but make sure it’s still approachable and not too difficult to implement,” says Harmsen.

“Our goal with the new Dolby Atmos for Live application is to provide a live out-of-home experience that is more engaging and more immersive.”

Jed Harmsen more. That changes things quite a lot.”

The flipside is that assigning elements of the mix as objects offers the mixer a set of tools to be even more creative or to overcome challenges.

Madigan assigned audio groups rather than individual inputs as objects.

“The SD5’s capabilities were certainly put to work,” he says. “With everything going on, I was up to 41 stereo groups. It’s the most complicated DiGiCo session I’ve ever written.”

Santana’s percussionists at stage right and left can occupy a lot of real

stead of trying to do it with master bus compression and EQ and carving out space.” Plus, because the highfrequency content of the percussion can be easily localized by the listener, “a little movement in those elements is very obvious,” says Madigan.

Similarly, he says, he could bring guitar solos into the room. “I wasn’t doing fader pushes to bring guitar solos out. It was just a movement change that brought it forward and out of the mix.”

As for getting creative, Dolby Atmos enables a mixer to give the audi-

Alison Krauss www.alisonkrauss.com Alcons Audio www.alconsaudio.com

Dolby www.dolby.com

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LIVESOUNDshowcase

Carrying control gear from Scorpio Sound for its recent acoustic tour, alt-rock band Guster used Bose S1 Pro portable P.A. speakers as monitor wedges nightly.

Guster Gets Ultra-Portable on Acoustic Tour

BY STEVE HARVEY

boston, ma—Boston alt-rock band Guster are beloved as much for their humor as their musical prowess, which can include swapping a dizzying assortment of instruments during their shows and a drummer known for eschewing drumsticks—as well as singing off-key covers. Nevertheless, the decision to embark on an “unplugged” U.S. acoustic tour using Bose S1 Pro speakers as monitor wedges was no joke.

It might be billed as an acoustic tour, but the band’s gear complement on the current jaunt (canceled midway through due to the spread of the coronavirus) is unchanged from a regular all-electric show, according to FOH engineer and tour manager Jim Perry. “They were joking about it on stage yesterday, saying that the difference between their regular show and this show is that they’re sitting down.”

Indeed, the band brought along its usual backline gear. “They’re carrying all their Coffin cases and guitar vaults. And they have some cases for audio—we carry all their mic stands and XLR cables and stuff.”

The mic complement is a combination of the band’s collection and the package Perry takes out with his

other clients, including Nada Surf.

“It’s a mix of Sennheiser and Shure, the usual stuff,” he says.

With the band’s equipment already taking up plenty of trailer space, he continues, “I wanted my audio rig to be as tiny as possible.”

To keep things small, Perry is mixing on DiGiCo’s compact S21 digital desk, with a D2-Rack located on stage. “I’d never used the console before, but the band was working with Scorpio Sound in Bridgewater, just outside Boston—we’ve worked with them for a number of years—and the small-profile consoles they had available made the most sense. I just wanted something I could fit into the trailer and, if I needed to, squeeze into whatever weird corner I was going to be in for some of these theater

and makeshift shows,” he says. “After the first few days of learning curve, I figured it out and got comfortable with it.”

Of paramount importance is the consistency the rig affords him and the musicians. “I’m running the FOH and monitor mix off the S21, so it’s pretty much the same show every day for the guys. Aside from me, out front, where it’s P.A. du jour,” he says.

Despite the potential for a bad experience, “Most of the theaters have had decent stuff. Some of them bring in a rig from a vendor,” he says, “but it’s what I was expecting.

It’s really different every day. We’ve only had one or two shows where, when I patched in, leveled off my graph, hit play on my music and

walked around, I thought, wow, I have work to do.”

Perry spends a good portion of each day with his tour manager hat on, advancing upcoming shows, so he has to rely on house crews for setup. “Even if there’s just one person with the knowledge and fortitude to keep everyone motivated to help me, that’s all I really need. If there isn’t that one person, then I have to stay on stage and keep pointing at things.”

The decision to bring S1 Pro loudspeakers on tour for onstage monitoring came at the urging of vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Adam Gardner. “I have one at home,” Gardner says.

As it turns out, the band has had a relationship with Bose for some

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soundREINFORCEMENT

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“I knew the value of having the same equipment every day, and having a monitor package would create a sense of consistency for the guys.”

Jim Perry On any other tour, the band would be on in-ear monitors. “And sometimes, when Ryan and I sing in unison, it’s hard to tell whose voice is whose. The best way to differentiate

is to go out of tune.”

On this tour, he says, “Our unison singing has been the best it’s ever been.

Because we have our own unique mixes and it sounds very natural, we can

differentiate our voices more easily. I’m having a better time singing on this tour than I’ve ever had.”

Bose Professional Pro.bose.com

EQUIPPED

BY

time, initially using the slimline L1 portable articulated arrays at house parties and side-stage pop-up surprise performances at their own shows. Gardner first experienced the S1 Pro after securing a pair for an album release listening party on the beach at his annual On the Ocean festival in Maine.

“I loved the way it sounded,” he says. “Then I did some solo gigs with it and noticed how crazy guitar sounded through it, and how easy everything sounded. You could just plug into it and everything sounded how you wanted it to.”

Gardner brought along an S1 for a couple of recent acoustic shows.

“Jim saw me using it” and suggested it might work on the upcoming acoustic tour, Gardner says.

“I knew the value of having the same equipment every day, and having a monitor package would create a sense of consistency for the guys,” says Perry, who also works at venues including Music Hall of Williamsburg, Rough Trade BK and Brooklyn Steel when he’s home in New York City. “It also allows me to just plug them in, call up my scene [on the S21] and know that it was pretty close to yesterday. Keeping a timeline of five hours of setting up before doors, that seemed pretty valuable, even though I had only heard the box once. But I’ve been a fan of Bose my whole life.”

For this tour, Guster—Gardner on guitar, bass and vocals; vocalist and guitar/bass player Ryan Miller; and multi-instrumentalist Luke Reynolds, who’s been with the band since 2010—are supported by a cello and a violin player. The five musicians are arrayed across the stage in a semicircle, with a keyboard setup at stage right, and drummer and founding member Brian Rosenworcel at stage left, facing centerstage.

“They’re all seated,” Perry says, “so if we had different house wedges every day, their setup wouldn’t be as intimate. That wasn’t necessarily designed into the show, but it’s working out for us.”

Perry also uses an S1 at FOH as a squawk box. “Adam has a vocal line switcher so he can talk to me directly.

I can take notes from him during the show if somebody is really not happy with something, if they need more or less of something” in the monitors.

“Since there are so many of us on stage with the added string players, the size has been really important,” agrees Gardner. “It has also been great with how they throw. We’re very close to each other, but we still have enough separation in our mixes.

They’re very focused.”

[ 35 ]

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soundREINFORCEMENT

Solid State Logic Gets Cooking at Verse l o s a n g e l e s , c a —Co-owned

by Grammy Award-winning mix engineer Manny Marroquin, Michelin star chef Paul Shoemaker and hospitality veteran Rob Ciancimino, the restaurant Verse recently opened next door to Marroquin’s Larrabee Sound Studios. In keeping with the location and Marroquin’s background, the venue sports a Solid State Logic Live L300 mixing console at front of house.

“Larrabee has a rich, amazing history with Solid State Logic,” says Marroquin, a nine-time Grammy winner whose mix clients include Kanye West, Janet Jackson, John Legend, Justin Bieber and Lizzo. The multiroom Larrabee complex was the first in Los Angeles to install an SSL console, back in 1979. Larrabee is currently outfitted with three SSL XL 9000K Series and two SSL Duality desks. “We have all SSLs,” says Marroquin, “and now we have an SSL Live—and it’s an amazing console.”

Verse launched at the end of 2019 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Larrabee Sound. The 3,800-square-foot supper club, which accommodates up to 140 guests, is located close to Universal City in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Toluca Lake. Kimberly Biehl Schmidt, who designed the studios, lounges and other spaces at Larrabee, also designed Verse’s interior. A Meyer

Leave it to a Grammy-winning engineer to put an SSL console in his new restaurant. Manny Marroquin insisted on installing a Solid State Logic Live L300 mixing console in Verse, the restaurant he co-owns that opened recently next door to Larrabee Sound Studios in Toluca Lake.

Sound Constellation acoustics system and 60 loudspeakers, together with the largest installation anywhere of the manufacturer’s Libra custom acoustical panels, is also on site.

“It’s the greatest sounding restaurant in the United States,” says Steve McGuire, a 30-year live sound veteran who currently tours at FOH with The Cult. McGuire has been helping to optimize the installed sound and performance P.A. systems, which Sound Image of Escondido, CA, installed at Verse.

McGuire has configured the ceiling-mounted Meyer Sound speakers

that are managed by the Constellation system into five time-aligned stereo zones that run from the performance area to the rear of the venue.

Constellation uses a system of two dozen microphones to constantly analyze a space and, using DSP, adjust the ambience to behave like a wellcontrolled recording studio environment, a cavernous concert hall, or anything in between.

Each zone is driven by a separate stereo bus on the L300 desk, which is installed in a sound booth adjacent to the dining room. “I can put whatever I want into those stems for those

zones and change the mix from the front of the room to the back,” says McGuire. “You can send one mix to all those zones or you can split them up with different elements, whatever you want to do.”

An SSL ML32.32 analog stagebox feeds signals from the performance area to the L300. “Then, at the L300, there’s a Dante expander card that goes to a Mac mini that I use for local Avid Pro Tools recording and playback. I also use the MADI fiber effects loop to get in and out of my Universal Audio UAD-2 Live Rack, which I use for all the reverbs. I like their EMT140 and 250, and Lexicon 480 and 224,” says McGuire.

A RedNet MADI to Dante Bridge links the ML32.32 stagebox over fiber to the Larrabee studios 500 feet away. “We’re pretty much recording every performance,” Marroquin reports. In addition to tracking to the local Pro Tools setup, artists can stream their performances over the link to a hub in Larrabee’s machine room, which can feed any K Series or Duality console in the complex, according to availability. “Channels 1 through 32 come up right on the desk,” he says. Larrabee’s collection of microphones and instruments, which includes a Yamaha C7 grand piano, are also available to performers at Verse.

Solid State Logic www.solidstatelogic.com

Audio Powers Calvary Chapel’s Growth newport news , va —When Calvary Chapel revitalized a disused shopping center site into a church campus, audio was a key consideration.

During construction of the 1,400seat main sanctuary, 600-capacity fellowship hall and other facilities still in development, “the church held to a conviction that high-quality audio was something that should serve every worship space, not just the main sanctuary,” said Bart Cardea of Providential Integration Concepts, the Chesapeake, VA-based firm tasked with developing the church’s audio blueprint. “When it came to the controlling end of that equation, high channel count flexibility was a very real necessity, not just an abstract concept.”

Part of making that happen included the installation of numerous Allen & Heath components— including a dLive C3500 and multiple SQ-5 and ME-1 mixing systems—across the entire campus, fulfilling the needs of au-

dio events large and small.

The installation of the Providential Integration Concepts design was managed by Matt Stairs of Sunset Sound of Virginia Beach. Audio signals route via Dante throughout the campus. The church’s dLive C3500 control surface stands at front of house in the sanctuary, joined by a DM64 MixRack at the stage, to support the major worship artists who visit from around the country.

Meanwhile, the first of three oncampus SQ-5 mixers handles the sanctuary monitor mix, while the second and third are deployed in the fellowship hall and youth room. Eight ME-1 personal mixers on the sanctuary stage are used for both regular services and visiting performers.

“Allen & Heath has allowed us to expand at our own pace, growing into a future where we always can accommodate a larger sonic vision,” says Calvary Chapel technical director Tony Lewis. “From the speed of our

Calvary Chapel Newport News technical director Tony Lewis with the main sanctuary’s Allen & Heath DM64 MixRack. One of the church’s three SQ-5 consoles stands at the ready to the left.

workflow to our ability to configure these systems in a fashion that suits the working style of any of our own staff members and visiting engineers,

there isn’t anything within our audio chain that hasn’t improved.”

Allen & Heath www.allen-heath.com

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centerSTAGE TOP 10 TOURS OF THE MONTH ACT / STATISTICS

CREW

EQUIPMENT

1 AVENTURA | CLAIR

Franklin Spinal Rosado (he); Javier Chico Morales (me); Arnaldo Hernandez (acc/ se); Joaquin Fontana (mse/rf); Chivo Irigoin, Gracie Fischley (tech

HC: Avid Venue S6L; MC: Avid Venue S6L; HS: Clair Cohesion 12, Cohesion 10, CP218, CP6; MS: Clair Cohesion 10, 12AM, CP218; IEM: Shure PSM 1000; HA: Clair PakRack Lab.gruppen PLM20K44; MA: Clair StakRack Lab.gruppen PLM20K44; HARDWIRED MICS: sE Electronics; Radial DIs; WIRELESS MICS: sE Electronics; FOH EQUIPMENT: Rupert Neve Designs Portico 5045; Waves Plug-ins; MONITOR EQUIPMENT: Rupert Neve Designs Portico 5045

2 EAGLES | CLAIR GLOBAL

Tom Evans (he); Ricky Leon, Charlie Hernandez, Jr. (me); Jared Lawrie (cc/se); Erick Ruiz (rf/stage e); Jen Smola, Matt Patterson, Dustin Andersen (techs)

HC: SSL Live L500; MC: DiGiCo SD5; Avid S6L; HS: Clair Cohesion CO-12, CO-8, CP-6, CP-218 subs; MS: Clair Cohesion CM-22; Clair 12am, ML-18; IEM: Shure PSM 1000; HA: Lab.gruppen; MA: Lab.gruppen; HARDWIRED MICS: Shure Beta 87, Beta 57a, Beta 91a, SM58, SM58s, SM81, Beta 56, Beta 58a, SM48; Audix D6, SCX25a; AKG 451; Audio-Technica AT4050; Telefunken M80, M80SH, M81, M81SH; Sennheiser e904, e906, MD409, MD421; DPA FA4018V, 2011C; Radial JDI, J48, SW8, DM1, JX44 switcher, Tonebone Headbone VT amp switcher, North Star overdrive, AC Driver acoustic preamp; WIRELESS MICS: Shure Axient; FOH EQUIPMENT: Bricasti M7; Waves Live; MONITOR EQUIPMENT: Neve 5035

3 CELINE DION |

Denis Savage (he); Jean Sebastien Boucher (me-Dion); Martin Paré (me-band); Jonathan Trudeau (cc); Frankie Desjardins (se); Marc Theriault (rf); Adam Harris, Simon Bédard, Antoine Lebrun (techs)

HC: SSL L550+; Allen & Heath SQ5; MC: (2) SSL L550+; HS: L-Acoustics K1, K2, Kara, KS21, K1-SB, A15, X8, 5XT; IEM: Shure PSM 1000; HA: L-Acoustics LA12x, LA4X; HARDWIRED MICS: Shure; Sennheiser; Neumann; DPA; WIRELESS MICS: Shure Axient; Shure; DPA; Earthworks; Neumann; FOH EQUIPMENT: Waves Rack; TC Electronic System 6000; Bricasti M7; Eventide Eclipse; MONITOR EQUIPMENT: TC Electronic System 6000; Bricasti M7; GML 8200; SPL 2800; SSL Sigma; Bettermaker EQ 232P; KLANG FABRIK

4 ANDREA BOCELLI | PRG

Andrea Taglia (he/me/se); Francesco La Camera (orch e); Alan Henig (cc); Gabriele Turra (ae); Andre Roy, Tomasz Gajewski, Armando Montalvo, Justin Willmon, Connor Murray, Alex Rotelli, Justin Stiepleman (tech)

HC: (2) DiGiCo SD7 Quantum; HS: L-Acoustics (88) K2, (4) K1-SB, (22) KS28, (36) Kara, (8) X12, (14) X8; MS: (4) Meyer Sound UM-1P, (7) UPM-2P; IEM: Shure PSM 1000; HA: L-Acoustics LA12X; HARDWIRED MICS: Schoeps CMC 6/MK 21, CMC 6/MK 4; Shure KSM32, SM57, VP88, TL46; AKG C414; Schertler DYN-B; Electro-Voice RE20; various DIs; WIRELESS MICS: Shure UR2/KSM9, UR1 with TL46, DPA 4099; FOH EQUIPMENT: Meyer Sound Galileo; L-Acoustics P1, LA Network; Lexicon 960L; TC Electronic 6000; dbx 162SL; Tascam SS-CDR200 (SD recorder); Tascam SS-CDR200 (SD player)

5 THE LUMINEERS |

Josh Osmond (be); Brad Galvin (me); Stephen Wharton (cc); Ryan Cornelius (se); Emily Arnold, Tucker Arbuthnot (pa techs)

HC: Avid Venue S6L-32D; MC: DiGiCo SD5; HS: Meyer Sound Lyon, Leo, Leopard, 1100-LFC; IEM: JH Audio Layla; HARDWIRED MICS: Audix D6; Shure Beta 91A, KSM141, 81/C, KSM8, SM58, KSM137, Beta98; sE Electronics VR2; Neumann KMS150; Telefunken M80, M81-SH, M60 FET; Sennheiser e602; Heil PR30; DPA 4099; WIRELESS MICS: Shure Axient Digital, AXT-600; FOH EQUIPMENT: Rupert Neve Designs Portico II Master Buss Processor, 5045, 5043; API 2500; Lectrosonics TM400; MiPro ACT848; McDSP AE600, SPC2000, NR800, Ultimate Compressor; Meyer Sound Galaxy 816 AES; Apple Mac Pro; Avid Pro Tools; MONITOR EQUIPMENT: (2) Waves Extreme Server; Rupert Neve Designs 5045 Primary Source Enhancer, 5024 Quad Mic Pre; Waves C6, API 2500, PSE, CLA-2A; Wisycom MTK 952, (2) MFL, SPL2208, MPR50-IEM

6 BLAKE SHELTON | CLAIR

Jeff “Pig” Parsons (be); Brad Baisley (me); Jim “Fish” Miller (cc/se); Rachel Rozzi (mse); Melissa Terrazas, William Turner (techs)

HC: Avid Venue S6L; MC: Avid Venue S6L; HS: Clair Cohesion-12, Cohesion-10, CP-218, CP-6; MS: Clair CM-22, CM-14; IEM: Wisycom MTK952; HA: Lab.gruppen PLM 20000Q; MA: Lab.gruppen PLM 20000Q; HARDWIRED MICS: Sennheiser Evolution; Audio-Technica; Radial J48 DI, JDI, SW8, ProD1, SGI, ProRMP; WIRELESS MICS: Sennheiser 6000 with e935 capsules; FOH EQUIPMENT: Waves GEQ, FDBK, PSE; MONITOR EQUIPMENT: McDSP, AE600

7 MARC ANTHONY | PRG

Jose Rivera (he); Eric “Pyle” Ramey (me) Jorge Solorzano (stage tech/mgr); Kevin Valind (se/cc); Nikki Berna (m tech); Taylor Johannes (pa tech)

HC: Yamaha RIVAGE PM10; MC: DiGiCo SD10; HS: Meyer Sound Leo, Lyon, Leopard, 1100-LFC; MS: Meyer Sound MJF-210, Leopard; IEM: Shure PSM 1000, P9HW; HARDWIRED MICS: Shure; DPA; WIRELESS MICS: Shure Axient Digital, Beta 58

8 KISS | CLAIR GLOBAL

Adam Stuart (be); Scott Diamond (me); Don Baker (cc/se); Scott Megrath (ae); Robert Taylor III, Casey Harriman (tech)

HC: DiGiCo SD7 Quantum with SD Racks; MC: DiGiCo SD7 Quantum with SD Racks, Yamaha QL-1 (drummer); HS: Clair CO-12, CO-10, CP-6, CP-218; MS: Clair CM-22, 12AM, CP-118; IEM: Shure PSM 1000, Shure P9HW; HA: Lab.gruppen PLM 20K44; MA: Lab.gruppen PLM 20K44; HARDWIRED MICS: Shure 52a, Beta 91a, SM 57, SM 58, VP-88, KSM 137; Neumann TLM 102; Sennheiser MD-421, MKH-416, e935, e904; Audio-Technica AT 4050, AT 3031; Radial J48, JDI; WIRELESS MICS: Shure Axient AD4Q; FOH EQUIPMENT: Waves Mercury Bundle, SSL Collection 4000, TASCAM SS-CDR250N; Bricasti Design M7; Empirical Labs EL-8; API 2500

9 BILLY JOEL | CLAIR

Brian Ruggles (he); Josh Weibel (me); Rich Schoenadel (cc/se); Jay Yochem (m tech); Tom Ford, Bryan Darling (tech)

HC: DiGiCo SD5; MC: DiGiCo SD10; HS: Clair Cohesion CO-12, i-3, P-2, R4, CP-218; MS: Clair CM-22, SRM, ML-18; IEM: Sennheiser 2050; HA: Clair StakRak (Lab.gruppen); MA: Lab.gruppen; HARDWIRED MICS: Shure; AKG; Sennheiser; Audio-Technica; Radial J48, JDI, SW8, Firefly; WIRELESS MICS: Shure UR Series; FOH EQUIPMENT: Waves

10 TOOL | EIGHTH DAY

Alan “Nobby” Hopkinson (he); Beau Alexander (me); Jerod Unteid (cc/mtech); Liam Halpin (se); Dan Buckley (stage tech); Greg Vierley (pa tech); Henry Sendak (lead fx pa); Joey Armada (fx pa tech)

HC: Midas XL-4; MC: DiGiCo SD7; HS: d&b audiotechnik GSL, KSL, V, SL-Sub, B22; MS: d&b audiotechnik M2, J8, J-Subs, Y-Series, B6; IEM: JH Audio Roxanne; HA: d&b audiotechnik D80; MA: d&b audiotechnik D80; HARDWIRED MICS: DPA d:facto 2; FOH EQUIPMENT: Klark Teknik DN360/370 Graphic EQ; Smart Research C2 Compressor; Drawmer DS201 Noise Gates; dbx 160 Compressor, 120 SubHarmonic Synthesizer; Avalon vt737a Preamp/Compressor; BSS DPR-901 Mk One Dynamic EQ; Summit DCL200 Valve Compressor; Radial PhazerBank; Lexicon 480L Dual Engine Reverb; TC Electronic M2000 Reverb, 2290 Digital Delay, D-Two Digital Delay; MONITOR EQUIPMENT: Yamaha SPX 990, SPX 2000

GLOBAL

SOLOTECH

SOUND IMAGE

GLOBAL

GLOBAL

SOUND

LEGEND: (he) house engineer. (ahe) ass’t house engineer. (be) band’s house engineer. (me) monitor engineer. (ame) ass’t monitoring engineer. (bme) band’s monitor engineer. (se) systems engineer. (ae) ass’t engineer. (tech) technician. (cc) crew chief. HC: house console. MC: monitor console. HS: house speakers. PMS: personal monitor systems. MS: monitor speakers. HA: house amplifiers. MA: monitor amplifiers.

Top 10 grossing tours according to Billboard. Some tours did not report grosses for all shows; rankings may be affected as a result. Equipment and crew information are provided by the respective sound reinforcement companies.

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viewfromtheTOP Staying Interconnected, Agile and Unique GORDON KAPES, PRESIDENT, STUDIO TECHNOLOGIES

BY CLIVE YOUNG

Gordon Kapes became interested in audio when he was a kid, and it’s been a cornerstone of his life ever since. He’s spent much of that time as president of Studio Technologies, which provides high-performance video, audio and fiber optic products for the professional audio and broadcast markets.

Gordon Kapes

Kapes’ early interest in audio took root in the 1970s as he pored over Howard M. Tremaine’s Audio Cyclopedia, a tome he still regards as “the most comprehensive and authoritative reference volume on audio ever published.” Kapes’ growing technical interest led to studying electrical engineering at the University of Rochester, where he worked as chief engineer at the college’s radio station, before moving on to earn a master’s degree in management from Northwestern University.

“After college, I worked for a CBS television station in Chicago,” he recalls. “I enjoyed the job and the people, but I really wanted to go off on my own. I bought Studio Technologies from a friend in 1983 when it had one or two telecom products. My natural affinity for audio and broadcast inspired me to shift Studio Technologies’ focus, and by 2000, we were producing audio products exclusively.”

Today, the company has 16 employees, all based in the company’s suburban Chicago headquarters. “We recently bought a building and completely redesigned it as our high-tech home,” says Kapes. “It’s proven to be a great place for our staff and has encouraged our customers and vendors to visit. If you have a clean, wellorganized, well-lit environment with modern technology, process controls and security in place, it gives them confidence that you provide a quality product.”

Studio Technologies’ staff handles all aspects of design in terms of hardware, software, product documentation and support. An engineering team of four works with technical consultants as necessary to help with specialized projects, and two people are involved in design for manufacturing. While a variety of vendors and contract manufacturers create subassemblies for products, including metal fabrication and board assembly, everything is assembled and tested at the

company’s headquarters. “By keeping assembly in-house, we can easily adjust our production schedules to stay flexible and build what we need, when we need it,” says Kapes. “This allows us to be very efficient with engineering changes and firmware improvements.”

Over the years, Studio Technologies has brought more than 100 products to market, and Kapes attributes much of that success to the company’s interest in tackling new technical challenges and making the most of the R&D process. “I have always liked the creative side of product development—having an idea for a product and then being able to create it,” he says. “We’re always working on new product development. At the core, that’s what we really love to do! We have lots going on right now with both hardware and associated firmware designs. With many of our products, a download from our website and then an upload using a USB flash drive is all that’s required to perform a firmware update. One exciting thing that we’re working on is new firmware that uses programmable logic to implement an algorithm to improve partyline intercom audio performance.”

Launching more than 100 products over the years has required keeping abreast of new technologies and shifting market demands. It also means the company has learned a little about its customers—and how best to take care of them—along the way.

“Our goal is to make products that don’t need a lot of support,” says Kapes. “The best customer support is the customer support that isn’t necessary. If your metric is how quickly you handle customer service issues, you’re not driving what should be the real metric: how often do our products need that support, and can we design them so our customers don’t need it as much? When support is needed, we try to respond to all calls with personal attention and the hope that each

interaction will help us to make the products better.”

Since the company is hands-on and agile, making a product better isn’t necessarily a matter of lengthy product cycles—sometimes it’s a matter of minutes. Kapes fondly recalls, “Over the years, we’ve been very responsive to the feedback we receive from our customers in order to improve our existing products and help guide product development. Having a small team, we’ve been able to respond very quickly—in one case, we released new software in just a few hours!”

These days, most of Studio Technologies’ customers work in field sports production, live television, multimedia events, streaming, or broadcast video and radio. That said, the company is looking at how its offerings can be applied to other emerging areas, which has resulted in products for esports and aerospace applications.

The thought of a high-end broadcast manufacturer creating esports equipment might seem unlikely, but it is actually a snug fit, not only with the company’s product line but also its philosophy: “We just try to do things that are unique, and we hope to provide value for those customers who are willing to invest in our products,” says Kapes. “Our goal is that once purchased, our products will serve a customer’s needs for many years. We often get products in for repair that are 10 to 15 years old.”

Not all of Studio Technologies’ products are unique, says Kapes, and that’s sometimes by necessity. “We stay aware of what other firms are doing and offer products that both compete with and, if applicable, exceed the performance of what’s available.

Typically we’ll do our own take on what features are offered and how they are implemented. While we like to be unique, it’s important to understand the big picture, that our products may need to be compatible with gear of-

fered by other firms—more and more often, interoperability can be a key factor in being selected for an application.”

The same could be said for Studio Technologies itself—as the world becomes ever more interconnected, the company’s products are now increasingly expected to work in different environments around the globe. Kapes explains, “We do a lot of work with U.S.-based customers, but more and more it’s international. For the past 10 years, we’ve tried to design every product so that it’s applicable worldwide from the standpoint of standards compliance, mains voltage requirements, packaging for shipping and meeting a broad range of performance requirements.”

Nonetheless, Studio Technologies has been focusing on specific areas of product development in recent times: “The transition from baseband audio and video to everything being transported as IP over Ethernet has made audio over IP a big push for us. Several years ago we licensed Dante, and since then we’ve created over two dozen products in the audio and intercom area. We’ve also created products that support the emerging SMPTE 2110 suite of standards.”

As the company moves into those markets and others—Kapes teases that the company is “looking into the needs of podcasters”—a key goal across the board will be to answer customers’ needs in a clear and satisfying way. As he notes, “We hope that people have a positive experience with Studio Technologies, whether they are first learning about our products, buying them from one of our channel partners, or taking them out of their cartons and actually using them. After 30 years of following these ideals, I think our customers have that impression, too.”

Studio Technologies www.studio-tech.com

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60SECONDS John McMahon Meyer Sound Laboratories Q: What is your new position, and what does it entail?

A: My new title is senior vice president of sales and marketing, and it involves leadership of essentially all the customer-facing teams—including, of course, sales and marketing, but also our Constellation and technical services teams, as well as other groups charged with meeting customer needs.

Q: How has your background prepared you for your new role?

A: In various capacities over the years, I had been involved with marketing oversight, long before I took over leadership of marketing. Then I started working with [executive vice president] Helen Meyer more on the sales side, so I had been facilitating much of this before I came into the role formally.

Also, when I was CEO of LCS Audio, though it was a much smaller company, I had overall responsibility for all of these functions.

Q: What new marketing initiatives are we likely to see from the company?

A: We have been working on new brand guidelines and a new branding strategy that will translate into the look and feel of our products and our ad placements. We are also looking at new ways to reach people, both potential and existing customers. We expect to apply new strategies using tools like Marketing Cloud from Salesforce to build connections to our customers and create a continuing dialogue with interested parties throughout the pro audio community.

Q: What are your short- and long-term goals?

A: In the short term, our goal is to complete a restructuring that has been underway for a few months. It’s the same people plus a few new hires, but we’ve combined our design services with technical support and we’ve reorganized our sales team leadership structures both domestically and internationally. Over the long term, we’re working on a bottom-up sales strategy that engages our teams at all levels to provide accurate forecasting and new growth opportunities.

Q: What is the greatest challenge you face?

A: The recent round of tariffs certainly hasn’t helped matters, and the longterm effect of an extended coronavirus outbreak is worrisome. Beyond those immediate concerns, I would say the greatest challenge for Meyer Sound is maintaining the strong innovative and entrepreneurial mindset that has driven the company since John and Helen started it more than 40 years ago.

We’ve become a successful and substantial loudspeaker manufacturing company, but we want to remember that our complete name is still Meyer Sound Laboratories. Innovative technology is at the heart of all we do and continues to set us apart from our competition. It’s not easy to remain nimble and responsive when you are a relatively large company, but it’s a challenge we are well equipped to take on. Unlike many of our competitors, we remain an independent and privately owned enterprise, and that allows us to stay focused on our core goals of technical innovation and strong customer relationships.

Neutrik USA has appointed Brant M at h i a s o n t o the position of regional sales manager–Midwest. In this position, Mathiason will manage and develop customBrant Mathiason er relationships and activities through the introduction of Neutrik’s new and existing product offerings, with a primary focus on supporting new design opportunities. Based out of Brookings, SD, he previously spent 29 years with Daktronics, holding positions in control systems design and installation, and video products applications engineering, as well as titles including product demonstration department manager and, most recently, product manager.

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Continuing its North American expansion, d&b audiotechnik has made a number of recent staff appointments.

Christopher West has been named regional Christopher West manager for the Mid-Atlantic; Cameron Wilkison has been brought on as regional manager, Western Canada; and Matthew Rilling has taken on the role of Cameron Wilkison regional support specialist. West, based in Greensboro, NC, brings with him 17 years of experience working at SE Systems,

soundPEOPLE which provided him with a background in sales, education, design and deployment of audio systems.

Wilkison, based in Burnaby, BC, was previously at Radial EngiMatthew Rilling neering and its subsidiary Primacoustic, where he worked as a product specialist. He also has experience in the sale and rental of musical instruments and equipment, and has worked as the director of entertainment for Toy Zebra Productions. Rilling, based in Austin, TX, joins d&b from Big House Sound, where he worked as an applications engineer; he has extensive experience as a sound engineer.

Avid has appointed KathyAnne McManus to the newly created role of chief customer exp er ien ce officer, aiming to ensure Avid deKathy-Anne McManus liver s satisf action and value for customers in every interaction with the company. McManus reengineered Avid’s solutioning, services and customer care operations since joining last year as senior vice president, global customer solutions and services, reportedly boosting the company’s ability to provide support of its global customer base and subscriber base during the ramp up of Avid’s cloud and SaaS solutions.

In her expanded role, McManus will lead ideation, design and implementation of new programs, processes and systems.

Glenn Lorbecki has agreed to serve as the Audio Engineering Society’s treasurer. Lorbecki has served the AES on its Financial Planning Committee for several Glenn Lorbecki years, where he implemented numerous refinements in the organization’s financial workflow and reporting. Lorbecki will serve as treasurer through the 2020 election and a one-year term of office as treasurer-elect. An AES member since 1988, Lorbecki’s background in fiscal management stems from his 20-plus years of business experience as president of the recording/video post-production company Glenn Sound.

Riedel Communications has appointed Dave Caulwell to the newly created position of North American channel manager, a promotion from his previDave Caulwell ous role as business development manager for the Eastern United States. Caulwell has more than 20 years of experience in event technology and production, with a heavy background in video production. Prior to joining Riedel in 2016, he held both technical and managerial roles, planning and supporting live events for many highend corporate clients. He also was responsible for strategic direction and securing new business for several live event companies, including Alchemedia.

Danley Sound Labs has restructured its sales and marketing division.

Longtime Danley staff memb e r Je f f P u l liam has been Jonathan “JP” Parker named general manager, while Jonathan “JP” Parker has been promoted to director of global sales and marketing. Parker will oversee the division, including newly promoted national sales manager Skip Welch, who will manage the domestic sales team. This team will include Cooper Hedden, promoted to Southeast regional sales manager, Jay Andrews (formerly with Lienau AV), promoted to Northeast regional sales manager, and Kim Comeaux (formerly with Anderson Marketing), promoted to Western regional sales manager. Additionally, Harold Sexton has been recruited as a sports market & house of worship specialist, while Scott Howard has joined as a recording specialist.

LEA Professional has named Bradley Drummond director of application engineering and consultant relations.

Drummond will work with customers, manage Bradley Drummond customer feedback, provide application and design support, provide business development, and manage global consultant relationships.

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soundBUSINESS

Coronavirus (continued from page 1)

October the next day; and by March 12, all major professional and collegiate sports leagues had closed up, spring trade shows including NAB Show and Prolight + Sound had been cancelled, and major promoters Live Nation and AEG Presents had suspended all their tours, stating, “At this time, we collectively recommend large-scale events through the end of March be postponed.

This recommendation is specific to the U.S. and countries deemed Level 3 by the CDC.” Countries given a Level 3 Travel Health Notice from the CDC are currently experiencing widespread, ongoing transmission.

While the list includes most of Europe, the United Kingdom, Ireland, South Korea, Iran and China, it does not include the United States as of March 18.

For many pros on the road, the announcement only confirmed what they already suspected. “We had three shows left on the tour and were playing in Milwaukee at the Fiserv Forum on March 11,” said Josh Ormond, FOH engineer for The Lumineers. “Around 8:30 p.m., just as we were starting our line check during changeover for our set that night, the NBA announced it was suspending their season. We were already expecting a lot of cancellations in the future, but we were hoping to finish off this leg and then go home. As soon as we saw that, I think the writing was on the wall that this would be our last show of the tour.”

While the sweeping changes are necessary to help slow the virus’ spread, the effect on the tour and event production industry has been devastating. For many audio pros— from those supporting large-scale projects like tours, conventions and corporate meetings, down to regional and local audio providers tackling events, weddings, bars and the like— it’s nothing less than an industrywide shutdown with no solid end date in sight. “ E ve r y b o d y ’s t a l k i n g r i g h t now with a magic number of two weeks—‘When we come to April 1, we’re gonna evaluate it,’” said Jack Boessneck, executive vice president of Eighth Day Sound (Highland Heights, OH), which provides sound for arena and stadium tours by the likes of Taylor Swift, Panic! at

the Disco, Tool and others. “I don’t know what they know that I don’t, but hopefully they know something.”

With the majority of its professionals working on a freelance basis, live sound is the original “gig economy,” but many in the business also work in related, equally affected fields. An engineer who mixes shows part-time at a local club might, for example, also work as a bartender or security elsewhere, which means there’s no work to turn to when venues are shut down and music fans are self-isolating at home.

The initial reaction when SXSW was cancelled signaled the shape of things to come, if only by days. Locals created a website, www.ilostmygig. com, asking for donations to support affected Austin creatives and small businesses, and gained national headlines in the process. In the wake of the larger live entertainment industry shutdown, however, the site had to add a disclaimer: “We are receiving a large volume of requests for folks outside of Austin. Once we have everyone from our community verified and posted, we will share a list of similar resources for other communities. At this time, our priority is on supporting our local community.”

Whether a live sound professional works on the local or national level, the coming weeks will be very hard.

“Those who support the artists on stage are typically independent employees who are working check-tocheck and gig-to-gig,” said Jim Digby, founder of the Event Safety Alliance.

A touring and production manager, Digby has worked with Meghan Trainor, Linkin Park, Bon Jovi, Backstreet Boys and others across a 30year career. “Those humans still have to eat, they still have to have a heartbeat, they still have to love, they still have to provide. That’s a pressing problem right now, the issue at hand.

What does that do to mental health?

What does that do to our ability to be great family members or great friends, worrying about where the next meal comes from?” While widely signed petitions and relief effort announcements are circulating daily, at press time, no clear, sustained approach has emerged that concretely addresses the welfare of the industry’s workforce.

While the effects of government guidelines and restrictions feel severe here in the United States, live sound pros in more heavily affected countries suggest that the U.S. government’s moves may not be drastic enough. Italy declared a national

“We need to share information about measures that are best practices that can get us closer to the day we’re back to work.”

Jim Digby lockdown on March 10 as it faced 31,000 known infections and more than 2,500 deaths; those numbers have only risen since then. Speaking from Firenze, Andrea Taglia, longtime FOH engineer for international opera star Andrea Bocelli, said that he was healthy, but added, “China first and then Italy took very rigid measures to control the spread of the virus, but it does not seem that many other countries are taking it seriously…. I do feel that not only the U.S. but also several other countries did not start on time to take the necessary precautions. The point is that the later they start, the higher the price, both in human lives and in cost for the entire community, without mentioning that the later you stop activities, the later you will restart them.”

When the industry finally starts edging back to work, it may face a new paradigm, akin to how new security measures radically reshaped the concert business in the wake of 9/11.

However, what that will look like and what new processes or regulations will be in effect have yet to be determined.

A key factor will be how the different stakeholders work together to establish guidelines in the coming weeks, bringing their insights to the table and sharing them. “We collectively—the promoter, the venue, the tour, the insurer and others—need to start thinking about how we go back to work,” said Digby. “Is there a day in the future when we’re taking the steps of putting temperature sensors at the doors and monitoring our guests’ fever level? Are we sanitizing all the surfaces that many touch—bathroom doorknobs, the top of the barricade? … Can we proactively as a community start creating solutions that might put confidence back into those who are monitoring our risk of exposure?”

Some corners of the events and touring industry are already starting to explore what needs to be done to create safe environments for production personnel, artists and crowds.

Aiming to maintain confidentiality, Scott Carroll, executive vice president and program director of Take1 Insurance, shared, “I can attest through attendance that a small entertainment organization or division was whiteboarding these kinds of show-ready

responses for when things do turn around, looking at what they need to do visually, effectively and specifically to work with their equipment differently, and to work with the public differently—because obviously everybody on the events services side deals with the public in some way, shape or form, either directly or indirectly.

They’ve already been whiteboarding those things to get ready. Individual units within the entertainment sector are already doing that, and we should help that—we should help promote those discussions.”

While communicating will help get the needs and ideas of all parties considered, that process will likely have to satisfy the concerns of legislative bodies that could impose potentially less than fully informed regulations.

“It’s great that individual units are [developing guidelines], and that’s healthy for them, but I don’t believe it makes a strong enough statement to the community at large,” said Digby. “This is the time for the entertainment sector to unify and share information, much like the World Health Organization does with the disease.

We need to share information about measures that are best practices that can get us closer to the day we’re back to work, and then work together as a community through whatever outlets we deem necessary…. The planning is taking place. I know that the promoters have gotten together and are putting some guidelines in place for themselves internally. We can’t forget to think about the people who actually push the buttons and roll the cases out of the trucks, to ensure that the entire supply chain is involved in the process of mitigating this risk.”

What changes will come remain to be seen, but for now, the live sound industry can only impatiently wait to go back to work. As Eighth Day Sound’s Boessneck said, half joking and half hoping, “My biggest fear is that come April 1, everybody decides to go back out on the road, there’s a giant spike in the industry, we’re all busier than hell and there’s not enough equipment, not enough people, and we’re just back to scrambling as usual.”

“Just as we were starting our line check, the NBA announced it was suspending their season. As soon as we saw that, the writing was on the wall that this would be our last show of the tour.”

-Josh Ormond, FOH, The Lumineers

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soundBUSINESS

Broadcasters (continued from page 1)

more console bus outputs and the ability to pan in 3D. The z aspect— height—has to be added to the panning algorithms,” he says. “It’s definitely a must for the mixing of films, but I don’t think you’ll be seeing immersive audio in your 6 o’clock news anytime soon.”

Larry Schindel, senior product manager for Linear Acoustic, says that, just as 5.1 surround arrived married to HD video 20 years ago during the digital broadcast transition, immersive audio will likely be wed to 4K picture. Consequently, he says, “Products that support immersive audio will need to be prepared for not only the additional audio channels and processing, but for the greater video requirements that will come along with this.”

As the industr y transitions to media-over-IP networks, “It will be interesting to watch how quickly SMPTE ST 2110 adoption will take hold on a wide basis,” he adds, “and whether new 4K/immersive buildouts will rely on SMPTE ST 2110 infrastructure or stay with SDI.” Any new equipment will need to support the requirements of immersive audio mixers, says Mark Davies, director of products and technology, TSL Products. “With even more audio to monitor, it is important that we make life as easy as possible for operators, presenting clear and concise displays for them to confirm everything is in the right place and legal at the point of monitoring—and allowing rapid fault-finding when things do go wrong.”

Calrec Audio already offers an immersive audio solution, the ImPulse audio processing and routing engine, reports vice president of sales Dave Letson. Supporting multiple next-gen audio formats, “height and 3D pan controls are provided, and paths of all widths can coexist within a mix and be routed to/from each other with flexible panning and downmixing built in,” he says of ImPulse’s capabilities.

For the moment, broadcasters are keeping it simple, says Letson.

“One of the most common ways that broadcasters and content creators want to add an immersive component at the present is in sports productions by adding some P.A. in the height speakers to help

end of the process, where System T has native support for AMBEO and other ambisonic mic inputs, with GUI control of mic orientation and focus.”

With object-based immersive audio schemes, metadata handling will be critical, says Schindel, not least for the potential personalization features such as foreign language commentary. “While metadata will be more critical, and critical to get correct, it’s also going to be easier to author and use,” he says.

“Much of the new metadata will come down to identifying what the audio actually is—dialogue, effects, music, M&E bed mix, et cetera— and where it should be placed in the soundfield. Without this infor-

“I think in the next 12 to 24 months you will see immersive content broadcast regularly.”

Larry Schindel convey more of the atmosphere and drama of a game. Over time, immersive productions will become more ambitious, but it is understandable that currently an air of caution is predominant.”

Support of next-generation immersive audio for ATSC 3.0, Dolby Atmos and MPEG-H is at the heart of SSL’s System T console architecture, says Tom Knowles, product manager, broadcast systems, SSL UK. “System T has immersive paths up to 12 channels wide—for 7.1.4—with 3D panning from the console surface, which can be fed to the encoding system of choice. This is equally important at the front

mation, downstream encoders and decoders will not know what to do with the various audio elements.”

As with any jump from one audio format to the next, “there are other common-sense elements to consider as well,” Schindel says, “such as making sure that the mix sounds good in immersive, in 5.1 and in stereo. There will be viewers listening in all of those formats.”

Knowles agrees. Content is now watched on a wide range of devices, from TVs to handhelds. “The ability to up- or downmix content for different delivery media without additional work is a massive efficiency for operators and gives solid flexibil-

ity and futureproofing to broadcasters,” he says of System T. Exactly when the immersive content pipeline might start flowing is a chicken-and-egg situation, suggests Schindel, noting that some immersive sports programming is already available in the United States and Europe. “Broadcasters often do not want to integrate a new format until there is content to broadcast, and content creators don’t want to produce content in the new format until they know it can be delivered to the viewer. I think in the next 12 to 24 months you will see immersive content broadcast regularly,” says Schindel.

“Broadcasters have committed to launching ATSC 3.0 services in 60 markets across the U.S. during 2020, and this includes the top 40 markets. The pipeline will largely be in place then, and it’s just a matter of the content.”

Owens is less bullish. “I think we may see it in network content—entertainment shows—that local stations air. Metadata for correct panning can be inserted at the network end. For the local affiliates, it should be a pass-through, but I don’t see widespread implementation for another five years or so.”

“You need to look at different content types,” says Davies. “Movies have been produced for some time with immersive audio, and it is relatively easy to transfer this straight to TV. Live TV, especially sports, attracts the biggest audiences and hence has higher budgets. However, the production of immersive audio for live TV is a big challenge. Many leading broadcasters are still experimenting with ways to produce consistent but compelling immersive audio.”

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MUSICetc.

Creating an Atmospheric Solstice

BY STEVE HARVEY

A multi-Platinum producer, songwriter and musician, Maine native Rob Graves has racked up millions of record sales and garnered five Dove Awards and nine nominations, plus two Grammy Award nominations, working with artists at the heavier end of the rock spectrum such as Red, Starset, Halestorm and All That Remains.

Graves, who has also worked with Richard Marx, Benjamin Burnley of Breaking Benjamin and The Civil Wars’ Joy Williams, has written and produced more than 25 No. 1 songs across all Billboard formats. Combined, songs that he’s written or produced have spent 260 weeks in the active rock Top 40, including two No. 1 songs, several top five hits and multiple No. 1 rock albums.

Graves has long split his time between Maine and Nashville, while also working frequently in Los Angeles. He had a room, dubbed The Graveyard, at Fred Paragano’s Paragon Studios in Tennessee for a time.

While there, Graves signed the band Red to a production deal in the early aughts, secured a deal with Sony, and has just completed Red’s seventh— and reportedly heaviest—album, his sixth with them as producer, writer and engineer. Declaration will be independently released on April 10.

On Feb. 28, Graves released Solstice, a collection of solo improvised piano pieces that he initially uploaded to YouTube on a regular schedule as a creative exercise. Recorded at his

studio in Maine, the album comprises 16 tracks, including three orchestral arrangements, and is accompanied

by Graves’ atmospheric photos of the Icelandic landscape.

ects I produce. People responded really well, and I got requests to release it as a record. It was very organic.

ON THE PLAN BEHIND SOLSTICE

After I wrote the first song, I thought, “I need a backdrop for the screen— I’ll use the landscape photos I took in Iceland.” Every song had a different photo, so I included a digital booklet with the album.

I love nature in general, but Iceland feels like the Earth just after it was made, completely raw and primal. Not to be too pretentious, but I wanted these songs to be in that rough state, not polished, as close as they were to when I wrote and improvised them.

I didn’t have a strong plan going into it. I just wanted to write these things every week. It was an exploration of my own creativity. I’ve been a songwriter for a long time and I’ve always tried to not understand the process too much. You just like to let it happen—you don’t want to mess with it because you might mess it up.

We spend so much time thinking and planning and outlining things.

There’s something about pushing that aside and just sitting down and doing it. And it always comes, if you sit down and do it.

I decided to dive into it a bit more and push myself to show up and say, I’m going to write and release a song today. And watching the creativity respond to that.

I just thought it was a fun side thing to do for people who like piano and string stuff I do in the rock proj-

I’m an

AES

member.

Are you?

ON THE INSPIRATION BEHIND SOLSTICE

ON GRAVES’ STUDIO SETUP I have a studio at my house in southern Maine and one up in the mountains in Carrabassett Valley, a big ski resort. Bands can come up and stay.

I work a lot in the box, in Avid Pro Tools HD. I just got the new Mac Pro and I’m gradually migrating over. I use nice preamps; I have an Avalon.

When I do my rock stuff, for guitars, I pretty much do everything with Kemper. I have my go-to presets.

[Engineer] Mike Plotnikoff does all my drums. We go to L.A., to Howard Benson’s [West Valley Recording] or NRG.

ON THE JOY OF LIMITATIONS Once I had a studio and a pretty good setup, my former limitations, like trying to get studio time, went away. You notice a bit of listlessness.

You’re not sure what to work on. You have to think about it a lot more.

Those limitations were kind of good.

Solstice was a bit about that: I’m doing this and I’m releasing it today.

It’s a form of combatting having access to 1,000 tracks. I wanted to impose some limitations.

Multi-Platinum producer, songwriter and musician Rob Graves’ new album is Solstice.

Breaking Benjamin.

I spent two years making their demo and developed this whole new sound, very cinematic rock. I didn’t set out to do that; the music just started coming—this needs strings!

I spent two years making the first record, about a year making the second record and six weeks doing the current record. They had an opportunity where they needed the record done. Six weeks, are you kidding me?

But the songs just arrived. Everything worked. For all of us, it’s our favorite record we’re ever done.

I think the creativity work I did with Solstice really primed me for the Red record.

ON RED’S CREATIVE PROCESS There’s one main writer in Red, guitar player Anthony Armstrong, and we work with a couple other writers.

Anthony and I go to my studio for three or four weeks. I tend to write the lyrics and the topline melodies.

Once we get into the flow, I go hiking for the day with my laptop and headphones and find a place to set up and write. Anthony has his task list. I show him my ideas, he shows me the stuff he did, we make a new list and do it all again the next day.

ON CORONAVIRUS ON WORKING WITH RED

Join me YUANWU JIANG

www.aes.org/join

Audio Transducer Engineer AES Educational Foundation 2019 Grant Recipient

I’ve known Fred [Paragano] forever—we went to Berklee together.

Fred was a big part of my moving to Nashville originally. I had a place in his studio, and he had this intern, Jasen Rauch, who said, ‘Do you want to hear my band’s demo?’ It was Red. Jasen’s now the guitar player in

It’s almost like a once-in-a-century opportunity. It’s such a global shakeup that maybe we’ll recognize some systems that weren’t working very well and some things that needed to be fixed and come out of it a lot stronger, moving somewhere better as a culture. I hope we don’t lose this opportunity to grow.

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