MIX 515 - November 2019 by Future PLC

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Larry Klein Goes Beyond Music ★ Sound Designer Bernhard Zorzi ★ Classic Track: ‘Tainted Love’ ★ Drake’s OVO Fest, Toronto November 2019 \\ mixonline.com \\ $6.99

>REVIEWED IZOTOPE OZONE 9 PLUG-IN IK MULTIMEDIA MTM MONITORS

> AUDIO EDUCATION

News & Notes From the Classroom MUSIC PRODUCTION • LIVE SOUND • SOUND FOR PICTURE

RENSSELAER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE WALTERS-STORYK DESIGN BLENDS TECHNOLOGY & CREATIVE ENVIRONMENTS

11.19 Contents

Photo Courtesy of Beyond Foundation

Volume 43, Number 11

22 FEATURES 22 Cultural Collaboration: Larry

MUSIC

TECH

16 SF Bay Area

40 New Products: Studio and Live 44 Review:

Musicians Unite on Blankets for the Homeless

Klein, Beyond Music and the Same Sky BY ROBY N FLANS

26 Bernhard Zorzi and the Reality/

BY BARBARA SCHULTZ

18 Classic Track: “Tainted Love,” by Soft Cell

Enhancement

BY ROBYN FLANS

of Documentary

48 Review: IK

Multimedia MTM Reference Monitors

50 Back Page

BY JENNIFER WALDEN

Blog: Upgrades and Caveats

AUDIO EDUCATION

BY MIKE LEVINE

BY BARRY RUDOLPH

Filmmaking

30 On the Cover: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 34 News and Notes: The Lennon Bus, Interlochen, Harlem School of the Arts

iZotpe Ozone 9 Mixing & Mastering Plug-In

BY MIKE LEVINE AND STEVE LA CERRA

DEPARTMENTS 10 From the Editor: Ed, My Friend, 20 Drake’s Tribute to Toronto: OVO Fest BY CANDACE HORGAN On the Cover: The main Audio Control Room, part of an immersive audio-visual-3D production complex that opened in the Fall of 2018 at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, N.Y., designed by the Walters-Storyk Design Group. Photo: Felixphotography ©.

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It's Hard to Say Farewell

12 Current: Tom’s Travels Through AES NYC 2019

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Vol. 43 No. 11

November 2019

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Current From the Editor

Ed, My Friend, It’s Hard to Say Farewell This wasn’t the editor’s note I planned on running when I flew into Oakland early Monday morning after a week in New York for AES. The issue had to ship to the printer on Tuesday, and there were still a few small additions to send in, some new products to add, photos to add to the Drake piece, a couple of typos to correct. My editor’s note, which had been bubbling in my head over the past week, was 90 percent done. It was about Music as the Great Uniter. I had lines about Live Aid, Farm Aid, “We Are the World,” Playing for Change, songs used in political campaigns, national anthems, fight songs at college football games. I even brought it down to the local level and mentioned church choirs and three teens sitting around a turntable. We have two stories in the issue related to the theme: Beyond Music’s mission to bridge world cultures by bringing together composers and artists for two weeks in the South of France; and a fundraising album project by San Francisco Bay Area artists to deliver food and supplies— and draw attention—to the region’s homeless population. I went to bed Monday night thinking that I would read it one more time in the morning, and maybe polish it up. Then Tuesday morning I woke up to a flurry of phone calls and texts, and I learned that award-winning engineer/producer Ed Cherney had passed away the night before, with his wife, Rose Mann Cherney, at his side. I called our production director and pulled back the Editor’s Note, asking if I could have another 24 hours. I wanted to write about my friend Ed. I never planned when I took over this space that it would sometimes turn into Travels With Tom or that I would be writing obituaries of my friends. I realize that it can appear self-indulgent, though I always try to provide context to my themes and my interactions out in the world. But sometimes I just need to indulge and play my I’m-the-Editor-of-Mix card. Forgive me. I had a sad, bad day. Ed Cherney was a giant in this industry—whether at the console or behind the scenes. He’s served the Recording Academy in many and varied positions over the years, both locally and nationally. He was a founding member of the Music Producers Guild, which would later turn into the

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Producers & Engineers Wing and grow to become the organization’s largest membership category. He was also tireless in his pursuit of a means to deliver high-quality audio to the consumer, so that everyone could hear wheat he heard in the studio. He was a founding member of the METAlliance, which attempts to bridge that gap between high-res pro audio files and low-bitrate, compressed consumer delivery. It makes sense that he was also active on the local boards and neighborhood decision-making in his adopted hometown of Venice, Calif., a long way away from his Chicago roots, though those roots remained forever strong. I first met Ed and Rose at the Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles, at the 1990 TEC Awards. Karen Dunn, who hired me long, long ago at Mix and who shed tears with me yesterday, introduced us. And then over the years I was fortunate enough to be invited into their home, to sometimes spend the night upstairs in the guest room when I came to town. I enjoyed a few holiday and family dinners surrounded by their friends, all of them most interesting and inviting. From the day I met them, I considered them the King and Queen of the Recording Industry. I still do. On days like this, I am humbled and I am reminded that the world doesn’t revolve around me. We all suffer loss, I know that, and many suffer from tragedies beyond my imagination, beyond my ability to cope. But this one is still hard for me. It’s part of being human. Ed was talented, engaging and simply one of the nicest individuals I’ve ever known. I’ll leave it to others to write the obit and list the many awards and credits and accomplishments Tonight, my writing is now done, and I’m thinking of Rose. I love you, Rose, and please know that as hard as it is to say farewell, I love the big guy more than ever.

Tom Kenny Editor, Mix

Current // news & notes

Tom’s Travels Through AES By Tom Kenny

fter 30 years of attending AES as an editor at Mix, I’ve had a front row seat at the professional audio industry’s transformation from a predominantly analog enterprise to an overwhelmingly digital universe. I’ve seen the annual AES convention balloon to two halls at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City, then shrink back down to one. I’ve seen the three days transform from an emphasis on papers and presentations to a focus on personalities and trends. But the one thing that has remained constant, for the most part, are the people I run into. Many of them have moved from Company 1 to Company 2, and sometimes back to Company 1. Others have never left the partner who brought them to the dance. Inevitably, as I board a plane bound for JFK, my thoughts drift to the people and personalities I run into. Many of them colleagues, many of them friends. All of them with at least one story to tell from the past 12 months. What follows is excerpted from what I call my “name-dropping” column in the AES Show Daily, produced by sister magazine Pro Sound News and its editors: Clive Young, David McGee, Anthony Savona, Katie Makal, and art director Nicole Cobban. They’re a fine group of folks, and I’m still amazed they are able to produce that much daily copy in between appointments and walking the aisles. So let’s get on with it. For me, the official reunions began on Wednesday night with a semiprivate dinner hosted by master studio designer and near-household-name John Storyk, and his wife and life partner, interior designer Beth Walters, in celebration of 50 years in the business. Yes, Electric Lady Studios is now 50 years old, and so is the Storyk legend. John Storyk is without doubt one of the icons of the modern recording

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industry, and not just because he helped to usher in the acoustics and design aesthetic Photos by John Staley we all take for granted today. He’s also a benefactor, an entrepreneur and a forward-thinking individual who always stayed ahead of the technology curve. He was at the forefront of the surround revolution, he maintained a client-centered focus and he expanded internationally by “partnering” with talented designers around the world rather than “hiring” an international staff. And today, as he eases out of the day-to-day operations of the WaltersStoryk Design Group, he has implemented a plan to turn over majority ownership of the company to the team. Plus, he’s a genuinely nice guy, and a dinner with him and his friends is always a treat. At the dinner, I had the pleasure of sitting next to Howard Schwartz, a post-production legend and a New Yorker to the core. He told stories going back to the early 1970s in Los Angeles—starting with Wally Heider, with Roger Nichols as his assistant, and then working two years with Crosby, Stills & Nash—which were priceless. He came back to NYC to open Howard Schwartz Recording in 1975 and the legend was born. I first met him when doing a story for Mix in 1990. Thanks for the entertainment, Howie! You’re one of a kind! But, before I even got to dinner… CAPRICORN RECORDS, DOLBY ATMOS MUSIC On a visit to Muscle Shoals a few months back, in preparation of an upcoming Mix cover story on Glenn Rosenstein and the Hall family’s

One more thing. At 8 a.m. on the first day, quite nicely in a small roll-around bag. reconditioning of FAME Studios Studio 2, they Then I stepped next door to Steinberg, where kept asking me if I had been over to Capricorn at a press conference way too early for a West Records in Macon, Ga., to see what they had Coaster, it was announced that Phil Wagner, Marcel took me through Nuage 2.1 and the after 10 years, is back at SSL, which just released coming integration with SPAT Revolution, been doing. No, I hadn’t, but… In the first 15 minutes of the show opening, the Origin analog console. Congratulations, a spatialization tool from a small company I stopped by the API booth to apologize for Phil! More on the $49,999 Origin in our Best of in France that worked with IRCAM research on a way to promote custom immersive having to miss their 11 a.m. press conference. Show column next month. configurations for live performance and fixed Dan Zimbelman said, “Hold on, have you heard installations, regardless of speaker type. It’s about what they’re doing down at Capricorn A FEW PRODUCTS, AND A ROCKIN’ PARTY Records? They’re here. They just bought the Thursday morning started off bright and early visual immersive at its finest. Along the way I ran into James McKinney, largest 2448 console we’ve ever built. That’s the with a 9 a.m. meeting with the good folks from Celestion, Bjorn Kolbrek and Mark Dodd. Leslie Ann Jones, Jimmy Douglass, Chuck Ainlay, press conference.” So I was introduced to Larry Brumley, VP of They are in town for a couple of presentations, Chris Lord-Alge, Elliot Scheiner, John McBride Mercer University, which has become a partner, including one today, on “Horn Driver DNA.” and many of the mix heroes, many of them in and informal owner, in the world-famous studio, Celestion, it turns out, is now 95 years old! And town for presentations at Mix With the Masters, and Steve Ivey, a Mercer grad who has served as Kolbrek and Thomas Dunker have written a Waves, or the AES Project/Recording Stage. studio adviser on the reconditioning. Rob Evans magnificent book entitled High Quality Horn George Massenburg stopped me in an aisle to say that the Mix Sound for Film & Television will be studio manager. Oh! And the console will Loudspeaker Systems. It’s hard to describe the breadth of research event at Sony in late September was one of his be entirely solar-powered. For real. The grand opening is December 3, and Chuck Leavell will be that went into this 1000-page tome, complete favorite gatherings of audio folks in recent years. there. Look for another Mix cover within the year! with turn-of-the century photography, early I couldn’t imagine a higher compliment. Then, Thursday night, I headed to Sony Hall After leaving the API booth, on my way to a horn illustrations, mathematical equations, meeting with Avid, I ran into John Loose, who etc. The authors started the project in 2005, on West 46th to celebrate with API as they wind runs the studio operations at Dolby. He was spending extensive time in university libraries down their own 50th anniversary celebration. API is a one-of-a-kind company, with 50 getting excited for the Wednesday night “Hold on, have you heard about what years of analog innovation in a largely party down in SoHo at the 20,000 squarefoot Dolby Experience Center, where, they’re doing down at Capricorn Records? digital world, and still going strong as ever. From the early days under Saul jointly with Avid, they’ll be celebrating 60 They’re here. They just bought the Walker, through the invention of the years of Island Records and running Dolby largest 2448 console we’ve ever built. Lunchbox, and now nearly three decades Atmos Music tracks all night long. under the stewardship of the humble yet Dolby Atmos for Music is a big deal That’s the press conference.” driven Larry Droppa, API has thrived. right now, with tracks already being A few months back, on the August cover released and a call for at least 3000 more from across Europe and the States, the AT&T archives, the Universal Music Group by the end of the Bell Labs…it’s a must-have for any engineer, of Mix, we profiled Dave Trumfio and Gold student, researcher or lay person with a bent for Diggers Studios, with the first installation of year. the API 2448 console. For the issue at the show, Speaking of which, my Avid appointment was the science. Just go to Amazon. It’s brilliant. Meanwhile, back on the floor, I ran by Mix featured Strange Weather out of Brooklyn, with Rob D’Amico, and we talked about next month’s Pro Tools 2019 update, which will allow Cranborne Audio, where Sean took me through who a few years back took delivery of the in-the-box mixing, along with multiple mixes in a the company’s USB and ADAT 500 Series chassis, first Legacy AXS console. The company is vital, single WAV file. Users can now send 130 channels with Camden inside. Figuring out the linear strong, inventive and steeped in the concept of from Pro Tools to the Dolby Atmos Renderer. It’s power on these Lunchbox-style cases is not musical electronics. And they know how to throw a party. Last time all about workflow, and the 4K video resolution simple. These ones are super-clean and designed for the project studio and traveling pro. Very cool. they did something like this, Sonny Landreth and higher-resolution frame rates. Then it was over to Yamaha and Steinberg, and Bob Weir showed up to play for a couple And in a couple of side notes, Avid has become an official member of the Netflix Post Technology where I got the rundown on the highly versatile of hours at the Roseland Ballroom. This time it Alliance, Avid Link is up to 400,000 members Nexo P12 monitor, which specs out at a whopping was Victor Wooten and band, The Fab Faux, led (adding roughly 2000 a day). And the Avid Play 140 dB SPL—not that anyone wants to go that far, by Will Lee, a guy who plays a mean stringedmusic streaming service, whereby for a small fee of but the available headroom is certainly a draw. shovel, and a guest appearance by Steve Miller. But the highlight of the night was when the $5 a track or $20 for 20 tracks, they will distribute At the other end, the company was showing to all streaming services, properly formatted, and the new STAGEPAS 1k, a stick-like sub/speaker daughters of the late Saul Walker took the stage combo for music and speech that incorporates to present the late Saul Walker’s recent Technical the artist gets 100 percent of the scrilla. Then came a Facebook Live Stream with ten 1.5-inch compression drivers in a super-slim Grammy to Droppa and his team. Again, very a look at Prodigy MP, the new Swiss Army profile, with power and coverage for everything humbly and with a hint of tears, Droppa pledged Knife multifunction processor from DirectOut from corporate events to hotel ballrooms to to “maintain his guardianship of the trophy for coffee houses and small theaters. And it packs up Saul.” Congratulations, Larry. n Technologies. It’s quite a box.

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Music “Shelter from the elements is a basic human right as far I am concerned. I am very happy to contribute. It’s a responsibility we all share.” —Grammy-winning artist Fantastic Negrito

Photo: Lyle Owerko

Blanket the Homeless San Francisco Bay Area Artists Unite to Help People on the Street By Barbara Schultz

ay Area-based musician and co-founder of the Blanket the Homeless project Ken Newman was working with artist/ producer Scott Mickelson when the idea struck to make this record. “I had been working on my album Dreaming of Guns for about a year-and-a-half,” Newman says.

“Scott had great success with a compilation called After the Fire that he produced to support the victims of the Northern California devastation. He proposed the idea of doing a similar effort to support Blanket the Homeless.” Blanket the Homeless provides care packages and distributes them on the streets of San Francisco.

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“The contents change depending on season,” Newman explains, “but basically we purchase emergency blankets, socks, gloves, winter hats, and hygiene and first-aid supplies. We also include a resource guide of free food, shelter,

Photo: Jayms Ramirez

Artist/producer Scott Mickelson recorded most of the tracks for Blanket the Homeless in his personal studio in Marin County.

child care and psychological services, and there’s a Clif Bar in each package. The Clif Bar company has been incredibly generous.” Mickelson took on the task of lining up artists for a Blanket the Homeless benefit album. “At first, I was not really getting much of a response,” he says, “but then Phil Green, who manages Fantastic Negrito, said they would love to be part of it. Fantastic Negrito couldn’t come in to record, but he would give us a track. Once Fantastic Negrito was onboard, then other artists wanted to be on it, and it came together pretty quickly.” Fantastic Negrito sent Mickelson the funk song “Working Poor” from the artist’s Grammywinning release The Last Days of Oakland. On an album that’s uncompromising in its indictment of economic injustice, “Working Poor” is one of the most brutal tracks (“sip fancy coffee/step over body…I keep on knocking but I can’t get in”). “I chose ‘Working Poor’ because it feels like this is what we are accepting,” Fantastic Negrito says. “I walk down San Pablo Avenue [in Oakland] every day from my studio to downtown. I get to witness up close the devastation of displaced people. Human beings in the greatest country in the world living under freeway overpasses, eating with rats, braving the elements. We are all one or two paychecks from joining them.” With “Working Poor” in his pocket, Mickelson contributed his own song to the album (“Odd Man Out”), as did Newman (“We Should Do This Again”) and recruited a dozen more artists, including Stone Foxes, Tim Bluhm of the Mother Hips, Con Brio, Whiskerman and others. Most artists wrote new songs for the record, and 13 of the 15 album tracks were recorded and produced by Mickelson in his Logic-based personal studio.

“It’s a hybrid setup,” Mickelson says. “I use plug-ins, but I also have a lot of 500 Series pieces, including an SSL VHD mic pre, a Rupert Neve Designs 551, Vintech X73i and Elysia 500 Series processors, and I use Lynx 16-track Thunderbolt converters.” Mickelson’s studio now includes a large live room that’s wired to his 10x10-foot control room, but when he was recording these tracks, it was just the control room and a small iso booth. Most of the artists worked side-by-side with him in the control room. One of the more complex songs to capture was Whiskerman’s rock track, “U.S.M.E.” (“United Souls of Mother Earth”). “They’re a great live band, led by a very talented guy named Graham Patzner,” Mickelson says. “But I really was not set up to record everybody live; I only had eight inputs, so Graham did a scratch guitar while the bass player was in with the drummer, and the drummer played live. That’s how we laid the basics, and everything else was added on top of that, including a very percussive violin part and keys on a Nord. We also had two different electric guitars—one with slide—so there was a lot of information. Fortunately, they were very open-minded to editing down the length of the song and simplifying the arrangement, because it started out somewhat cluttered. “One thing I had to keep in the back of my mind was, on this project, many of these people had never worked with me,” he continues. “You have to build trust and communication, so it was especially important for me to be diplomatic and not get in the way of the vibe and the flow of how the musicians were playing.” On Dan Schwartz’s drums, Mickelson used two Royer R-10s on overheads, an AKG D112 on

kick, a Shure SM57 on snare top and an AKG C414 on snare bottom, and a Rode K2 for the room. Will Lawrence’s bass was taken direct, and Charles Lloyd’s and Jeremy Lyon’s electric guitars were recorded through a ribbon and a large-condenser: “I usually combine a Royer R-10 with a 57 or SM7 and blend those, and for a room mic sometimes I use a Telefunken Copperhead. On acoustic guitars, I almost always use a Peluso 2247. I loved that Peluso for Graham’s vocals, too, into my SSL VHD pre, into the Neve Designs 551 and a Retro Instruments Doublewide.” At the opposite end of the production spectrum was Tim Bluhm’s session for the acoustic song “Clean Me Up.” “That was the most intimate song we did,” Mickelson says. “He was the only one who came in and I just set up a couple of mics in the control room—the Peluso and a small condenser, the Josephson C42—and he did a couple of takes. The Josephson is very detailed and precise, whereas the Peluso has a much bigger and warmer sound, and it adds a bit of character to the recording, as well as captures more of the room. It’s a beautiful song, a beautiful performance.” Mickelson mixed the tracks in Logic. His main reverb was Audio Ease Altiverb, and he employed the UAD Ampex ATR102 tape emulation plug-in. “I put that and an SSL K-bus compressor on the master bus,” he says. “After I get the whole mix going but before I start bouncing it down, I go out again through the Elysia Xfilter stereo 500 Series EQ and put that through a Charter Oak SCL1 stereo compressor, and that really gives the mix a bigger, warmer sound without coloring it.” “It’s a stunning piece of work,” Newman says. “Scott is an incredibly talented producer, musician and songwriter. And as talented as he is, he is equally compassionate. Even though my company covered some of the production costs, the work Scott did, in terms of acquiring artists, recording and mixing tracks, dealing with the mastering company, managing the artwork, finding a publicist, dealing with venues for the release concert… It was a Herculean task, and one that he largely did without compensation. There are few people I know who would commit that much time and effort and talent.” Newman also has some encouraging words for other artists and producers who want to make a difference: “Find something that you’re passionate about. Get together with others in your field,” he says. “Plan a breakfast meet and brainstorm. Throw out ideas. Don’t wait for the next big project to come your way; create the project.” n

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Classic Tracks “Tainted Love” Soft Cell’s Synth-Pop Dance Hit and the Emergence of Sampled Sounds By Robyn Flans

ike Thorne first heard Soft Cell’s version of the song “Tainted Love” on a demo while he was in London in 1981 working on the only film soundtrack he has ever produced—Memoirs of a Survivor. London Records called and asked if he would produce a couple of singles. Thorne says the demo he originally heard was similar to what the end product became, but absent was the hooky “bink bink” noise, as well as the transition to the Supremes’ “Where Did Our Love Go?” which ended up on the extended version. Dave Ball and Marc Almond (a.k.a. Soft Cell) had been playing the song previously recorded by Gloria Jones in 1964 and 1976 in bars. Hers had been an R&B version; theirs a re-worked synthpop version based around Ball’s inexpensive Korg. When they met with Thorne, Almond presented him with a map of the song. In Studio Two at Central London’s Advisio— with a 32-channel Quad Eight console and an MCI 24-track tape machine—Thorne set up with engineer Paul Hardiman to record the drums first. The drum machine they brought in was broken, so Thorne borrowed a Roland from singer Kit Hain, with whom he was also working at the time. “It was a little box with one output, and we recorded down to two tracks: kick and snare,” he explains. “Paul Hardiman, the engineer, simply EQ’d them so the kick had more low end on it and the snare was brought up in the midrange, which was just for our convenience in mixing so we didn’t have to fiddle around with EQ the whole time. We could just push the fader.” In retrospect, Thorne acknowledges that this pop-synth track made with just two guys and mostly sampled sounds was pretty cutting-edge for the time. After the drums were laid down, they recorded the bass with Ball’s Korg and then

Keyboard player Dave Ball (left) and singer Marc Almond

the piano sound from a New England Digital Synclavier. Thorne brought his own Synclavier into the project and set up Ball in the center of the control room, a spot that proved perfect for most of the sounds on the record, except for the bass, which Thorne says Ball’s Korg delivered effectively. Thorne’s Synclavier was in its first incarnation, which pretty much only existed in university music departments, so he was truly at the forefront of sound technology. “It was Mike Ratledge of Soft Machine who had called me up and said he had seen this on the back of the Computer Music Journal,” Thorne recalls, thinking back to 1979. “I saw it and called them, and Mike and I went over to Norwich, Vermont, and had a look at it. I just put my finger

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Photo by Fin Costello/Redferns

down on the cathedral bell preset and said, ‘Yes, please.’ It was so far ahead of its time.” Thorne actually had them make him a custom instrument, as the engineers had not quite thought about application during its initial engineering. “When I first saw the Synclavier, it had a keyboard without the control panel attached,” Thorne explains. “And the control panel was really a clunky affair. It was rectangular and the buttons faced out. You would have to hold the top of it and sort of peer down to get to the buttons. Vermont being good at carpentry, I asked if they could mount it and angle it, and that’s what happened. That design was incorporated into the Synclaviers that followed.” Without the Synclavier, Thorne and crew

Mike Thorne with the Serge Modular synth on the wall at his home. He says: “You can hear some of those sounds [on “Tainted Love”] as the longer dance portion gets under way. It’s a late-’60s design, parallel with the Moog 3C. Serge (Tcherepnin, grandson of the Russian composer) is still active and back living in the Haight again. In a small-world coincidence, my first assistant, Valerie Ghent (daughter of the pioneer Emmanuel), knew him. I have a very large system, which I think can make the best sounds in the house. I wander over there with an idea and get going. It never turns out the way I expected, but it’s always good. I’ve tried modular system plug-ins, but they never come close to the hardware Serge has.”

would not have had the sounds they had on “Tainted Love.” The overall piano sound came from the Synclavier, along with the orchestral swells and the long horn sound in the middle of the 12-inch single that leads into the transition to “Where Did Our Love Go?” After the piano sound was down, they came up with the idea for the “bink bink” sound that’s carried throughout the song, and Thorne realized it on his Synare drum, a popular drum synth of the time. “It didn’t sound particularly good, but it was something to hit,” Thorne recalls. “So we went for the snare sound, but it sounded lame to me, so I thought about putting a really fast delay on it and then I thought to feed it back. I was using a Delta Labs DL4. That piece of equipment is unique in that, if you turn the feedback all the way up, it wouldn’t spin off. It had some sort of internal limiting. I could turn it all the way up on some sort of fast delay. The overall sound would last longer, so initially it was just a single tone reflecting the repeat of the delay. So you just heard a ‘bing, bing.’ Then I screwed around with the delay change, which you could sweep, and that’s where that sort of strange metallic sound came from. It never occurred to me it would turn into a hook.”

Almond provided all the vocals, and all were recorded with a Neumann U87. The lead vocal on the record is the unbridled first take. “He didn’t know how to pace himself,” Thorne says. “That wasn’t such a bad thing because the engineer caught it. He wasn’t happy with the way the compressor was set. In the run-through, Marc just blasted away, and Paul wasn’t very happy about the settings and how the needles were going. I said, ‘No, no no, don’t touch a thing, he’s singing his heart out.’ We tried to do it again, but that’s the take we kept. He nailed it. “The choice between mics with vocals has to do with coloration, and with the 87 there’s so little coloration you can take the sound anywhere you want to and that was terrific. “I had an incident later when I was doing a Siouxsie and the Banshees single,” he continues. “We actually didn’t get along very well because I just put up my 87, also remembering that when a vocalist wants to sing, they want to sing now. I figured Siouxsie wants to sing now and she delivered, and she called me at home later on saying I hadn’t tried hard enough. We got into a bit of a set-to on that one. So we went into the studio the next morning and set up the ‘American press conference’ (mics). Guess which microphones came out the favorite?” Back to “Tainted Love.” They went straight from recording into mixing, and Thorne says the mixing process was straight-ahead but arduous, considering the 9-minute length of the song. “For the dub mix we wanted to throw in delays here, there and everywhere,” he recalls. “I remember just running from across the control room to get from one piece of equipment to another, and it was everybody’s hands on some control because you couldn’t automate those things. You can now, but then we just had to grab the knob, and it was hilarious, really, just rushing across the control room having to push somebody out of the way to get at it in time. “The equipment was really quite primitive at the time,” Thorne adds. “The one thing that record has is energy. When you’re just screaming around the place just trying to grab a knob, the adrenalin gets going. With contemporary mixing, it’s possible to just shave it carefully a bit here and a bit there; it’s all under control. There’s no danger of it collapsing or anything. And somehow you can feel that in the final product.” They finished mixing at 3 a.m. after a total of about four days. The 7-inch single runs 2:41 and the 12-inch version lasts 8:58. The 7-inch was remixed at Mediasound in New York with Harvey Goldstein engineering because Roger Ames of Polygram’s London Records thought it sounded too mono, which Thorne had done intentionally. “I thought, ‘This is a flat-out pop single,’ so I thought like an oldfashioned pop single,” Thorne says, explaining that the instruments were very focused. “Roger Ames at the record company said, ‘We would really like it more spread out’—in other words more contemporary sounding.” Thorne says the remix ends when the Supremes’ “Where Did Our Love Go?” begins, explaining, “On the dance floor, mono works pretty well.” “Tainted Love” also worked pretty well. It quickly reached Number 1 on the U.K. singles charts and became the best-selling single of 1981 there. The song experienced quite a ride on the U.S. charts. It entered Billboard’s Hot 100 on January 16, 1982, at No. 90 and seemed to peak at 64. It fell to No. 100 on February 27. After spending a second week at No. 100, it started climbing and took 19 weeks to crack the Top 40, reaching No. 8 during the summer of 1982. “Tainted Love” spent a then record-breaking 43 weeks on the Hot 100. “For some reason, we really made a mark with this one,” Thorne says. “Of course, we didn’t think it at the time.” n

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Toronto’s Favorite Son Drake Gets a Champion’s Welcome at OVO Fest 2019

he announcement came from Drake himself, delivered to an estimated crowd of over 2 million people at the Toronto Raptors’ 2019 NBA Championship parade in June: the rapper’s perennial fan-favorite OVO Fest would return for 2019. Held over two consecutive nights at Toronto’s Budweiser Stage, a lakeside outdoor amphitheater with a capacity of 16,000 in the heart of the city, OVO Fest boasted a muchhyped lineup featuring acts like B2K, Chingy, Ying Yang Twins and others on August 4, while Drake himself held down the evening of August 5 with a little help from some surprise high-profile pals, including Meek Mill, Cardi B, Offset, Chris

Brown, Megan Thee Stallion, Tyga and more. The event is Drake’s annual celebration of and thank you to his home city, and it’s especially fitting that the initial show announcement came during the Raps’ massive parade, as OVO Fest felt a lot like its second act—thanks in no small part to the massive replica of the NBA Championship trophy that was unveiled during the artist’s second-day set. Mix had a chance to catch up with Drake’s crew in the days following the homecoming bash, and FOH engineer Demetrius Moore says the long list of special guests and other surprises required a lot of improvisation on the crew’s part. “I can’t even remember how many guest

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all access

Photo: James Oliver

Live

artists we had,” says Moore. “The set list is one thing, and we kind of switch it up on-the-fly. We have our talk-backs to communicate with each other, and if a guest artist wasn’t ready, we’d discuss whether to go to the next guest artist or the next song. We never soundcheck the guest artists; they come out, and we have to make sure they hear the music and vocals on the spot.” Moore has been working in live sound since 2003, when he was on tour with Jay-Z and 50 Cent as a technician with Cleveland, OH’s Eighth Day Sound. In 2010, he got his first mixing gig when Drake’s then-FOH engineer was out on another tour. For OVO Fest and Drake’s preceding tour dates throughout 2018 and 2019, Moore has been mixing on a DiGiCo SD7 Quantum and leans heavily on an Avalon VT-737sp preamp for the rapper’s vocal, as well as a BAE 1073 pre and a suite of UAD plug-ins via Ableton Live. Drake uses a Sennheiser 9000 mic with the 5235 capsule. “My Ableton is all automated, and it’s all per song, per snapshot,” Moore continues, offering an overview of his setup. “I have reverbs like the Lexicon 224 and the AMS RMX 16 plug-in. For delays, I’m using the TC Electronic 2290 plug-in. I use a couple of Eventide special effects for a couple of songs, the UltraChannel, the Blackhole and the H3000. Every song has at least one snapshot. It’s all timecoded to the Ableton playback on stage. My console then sends MIDI out to my Ableton at FOH to change my effects.”

Photo: James Oliver

He notes that they took virtually the same show and setup down to the Rock in Rio festival in Brazil, which Drake headlined on September 27 in front of another massive crowd. The PA for OVO Fest was adapted from that used for his Aubrey & The Three Migos North American tour in 2018 and Assassination Vacation Tour of Europe in early 2019, both of which were presented in-the-round with a substantial audio system from Adamson Systems Engineering. “It was the first hip-hop show with all subs flown—no ground subs whatsoever,” Moore explains. “We had 64 in total for OVO. The first row and the last row, low-end wise, were exactly the same pressure. That was great, because, with a lot of hip-hop shows, you go sit in the front row and you’re getting pounded by bass; we wanted to make sure that wasn’t the case, but that you still got enough kick all the way at the back, so it was about great coverage and good SPLs all over.” In addition to the four hangs of 16 Adamson E119 subs—two on each side of the stage in endfire configurations—the system design for OVO Fest boasted main arrays of 24 Adamson E15 three-way, true line source enclosures per side; outfills with eight S10 over eight S10s (narrowdispersion) two-way, full-range sub-compact cabinets per side; four S7p point-source boxes for front fills; and small arrays of four S10s as stage fills for the performers on each side, all powered by Lab.gruppen PLM20K44s with Lake LM44 processing and supplied by Eighth Day Sound. Additionally, there are five delay hangs of six S10s permanently installed at the venue, which went a long way in ensuring consistent voicing throughout. As was the case on the preceding tour dates, Moore relied on Eighth Day systems tech Chris Fischer to get a peak performance from his PA. Fisher uses Smaart V7 and Adamson’s Blueprint AV design and simulation software to adjust time alignment, levels and totality while also relying on his years of touring experience. “The biggest tool I’ll use is my ears, just to make sure that the tracks that I’ve played through are sounding consistent and making sure nothing got out of whack,” he says. Mixing monitors at OVO Fest was tour veteran and first-time Drake collaborator Paul Klimson, who has previously worked with The Roots on The Tonight Show and toured with Kelly Clarkson and Justin Timberlake. Klimson, who mixed on a DiGoCo SD5, discussed the importance of Moore’s PA and mix to the stage

FOH engineer Demetrius Moore

sound. “The sound is quite full upfront. Demetrius really gets the low end right, which is huge on stage—especially for hip hop, as that’s the foundation,” says Klimson. “We also had the small S10 arrays on each side just to fill the stage with a little more direct punch instead of relying on the back of the boxes from the main PA. It was definitely in conjunction with the low end that Demetrius was providing.” Drake and the backing musicians were on Sennheiser in-ear systems, with JH Audio Roxanne IEMs. “With Timberlake, it was all instruments, mono, vocal bus and then the band stereo bus; with Drake, it’s just his vocal,” Klimson says, contrasting a pair of high-profile clients. “I route the band bus out to a Neve Portico II processor, and I use a little bit of the widening in the Q section of the band and the red ‘Silk’ to make a little more of a gap in the middle of the ear mix for the vocal. I run the vocal through a Neve Shelford Channel, with a little compression on that, a little bit of the blue ‘Silk’ channel to make it more prominent, then that went back into the console. Then on the desk, usually on my vocal bus, I’ll be a little more surgical, but the flavor definitely comes from the Neve Shelford Channel.” “A lot of the time when Drake goes out, people say, ‘Wow, you have a lot of PA!’ And yes, we do," Moore says. "We strive for quality, and have a lot of PA to make sure we are covering every section and every seat to give the maximum SPL and the best possible experience”—which was especially the case for the hometown crowd at OVO Fest 2019. n

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Cross-Cultural

Collaboration Beyond Music Taps Producer Larry Klein to Explore Unity Through Song By Robyn Flans

hen 23 musicians from 17 countries converged to create the recent Same Sky for Beyond Music, it was the precise illustration of the concept that music is the universal language. By all accounts, the project took place in complete harmony. Regula Curti and Konstanze Wiedermann created the Swiss organization Beyond Foundation in 2007 and, with the support of Tina Turner, released several albums over the ensuing years. Then a couple of years ago, the two created an offshoot—Beyondmusic.org—fully funded by the Curti family assets. The premise was to unite cultures by asking two musicians from two different countries to work together on an original piece of music, on a digital platform that they would create and at no charge to the participants. When Grammy-winning producer/songwriter/musician Larry Klein

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was approached two years ago to become the organization’s first artistic director and producer of the inaugural Beyond Music project, he was impressed by the scope of the concept. “The potential was enormous to enable people from all over to write music with people they would never come in contact with otherwise,” Klein says. “I was pretty blown away.” Submissions were accepted between November 7, 2018, and March 10, 2019. Ultimately, Klein reviewed close to 150 entries. Then, for one month, fans could vote once a day and the top three received financial awards. The compositions were to address global peace and, as President Abraham Lincoln put it, “the better angels of our nature.” But it ended up going so much further than the songs. As the participants convened, the

Photo Courtesy of Beyond Foundation

The cast of musicians on the Beyond Music Same Sky project, in Studio Fabrique, France.

Photos Courtesy of Beyond Foundation

Producer Larry Klein, artistic director on the Beyond Music Same Sky project.

Danielle Eog Makedah of Cameroon, who wrote a song for her daughter.

atmosphere reflected such a unity. The songs that won the fan vote had no bearing on the ten Klein chose for the record. The foundation also decided that there would be two additional collective collaborations done on the premises. They chose Studios La Fabrique—a residential “piece of heaven,” Klein says—in the South of France, and brought in engineer Maxime Leguil. “There was no friction between people born of cultural enmity,” Klein attests. “Not between Arabs and Israelis, Syrians and Israelis. It was really a storybook time. Everyone loved each other.” The house band—Dan Lutz on bass, Clive Deamer and Manu Katche sharing drum duties, Ed Harcourt on keyboards, and Adrian Utley and Dean Parks on guitars—were chosen for “their high level of intuition and, of course, musical ability, but openness, curiosity and adventurousness,” Klein says. Leguil tracked the songs on a Neve 88R console, supplemented by some of his vintage Neve 1084 preamps, as well, which he loves on vocals and bass. “We did EQ while tracking, using the desk and a few Pultecs, while compression was mostly handled by the classic UREI 1176s, Neve 33609, Tube Tech CL1B and EAR 660s,” Leguil explains. “The good thing was that the sources were really good because we had great musicians and great acoustics. Also, I brought quite a few vintage mics I’ve collected over the years, mainly vintage Neumann U67s, U47s, U47 FET and U87s.” Leguil describes the process as very open and like a “cool party,” where anyone who had an idea could join the band and play live. That meant he had to be ready to record at all times. He says, “Of course, then Larry would guide the process and clear out some of the parts as everybody was jamming and rehearsing, to give a shape to the arranging. Then we would record two or three takes and we’d usually be done, including vocals, which were tracked live in 90 percent of the cases.”

Quite a few mics were kept open in all the rooms, ready to capture everything at all times, though the team was careful to keep on top of the sound and not allow it to become too messy. “The great thing in terms of getting sounds when you have six to eight people playing at the same time and vocals—you have to make decisions quickly about what sounds work well together, and you don’t overthink, and once you have an overall vibe which fits the song, it’s very satisfying,” Leguil states. “In terms of vocal mics, we did not have much time to experiment with each singer, so I would usually start with a Neumann 67 because you can never go wrong.” During the recording many of the artists watched the process in the large control room, which guitarist Dean Parks says he found quite enjoyable. Other artists formed clusters of groups to work on the two collaborative pieces. “It was a hyper-creative environment,” Klein says. “I went through quite a withdrawal when it came to an end.” For Klein, being immersed in music day and night is always his preferred state of being. But he notes that this experience was different. It was lifechanging for many of the participants. Klein relays such a story about Danielle Eog Makedah from Cameroon, who wrote the lyrics to “Ma Ding Wo Avale One” (I Love You Just the Way You Are). Klein discovered that Makedah wrote the song for her daughter, who had been born with a cleft palate. She revealed to Klein that when she told her parents she wanted to be a musician, her parents were not supportive. When she got pregnant, the baby’s father disappeared and her parents wanted her to put the baby in an institution, but she refused. “In the end, she had to split from her parents,” Klein says. “They disowned her. So this song is addressed to her daughter and the song

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Photo Courtesy of Beyond Foundation

Nashville songwriter Heather Bond, left, with Elly Kellner.

itself is just great. This woman has such a strong sense of self. And then, after all this, I just heard from Regula that she knows a doctor in Zurich who has an organization that is dedicated to fixing cleft palates for underprivileged people, so Regula is going to work it out for her daughter. There were a lot of stories that were amazing. When you listen to that song knowing the background, it is a very moving piece of music.” Artist Heather Bond, who lives in Nashville, contributed to three selections and agrees that the event was transformative. “I was most surprised by the connections,” Bond explains. “I knew I was going to go to this magical place and make music with Larry and these people, and it was going to be a once-in-alifetime opportunity. But I didn’t know I would form connections with these people that feel like lasting friendships. “The whole experience feels very surreal to me,” Bond continues. “It was very overwhelming, but in a good way. I would wake up every day excited to see what was going to happen. It was different every day, and we didn’t really have a plan. We’d get to the studio and Larry would conference what he had in mind for the day. And every day was an adventure. And it was so beautiful there. It was such a magical place.” Bond, who collaborates often in Nashville, loved the opportunity to do so on a world scale. She ended up working on three tracks via the WhatsApp messenger and said the platform was easy to use as she searched for musicians in places she has always wanted to visit. “Each of the writers I worked with was so open and really good at communicating,” Bond

says. “It really felt like I was making an in-person connection even though we didn’t know each other. I got really lucky.” Once she got to France, Bond says, there was an immediate kinship and the recording was unlike any she had done in Nashville. For her, the packed control room was something she had to get used to, as well as the camera crew. Beyond Music plans to release a new project every 18 months, with each having a new artistic director for a new direction. The biggest challenge Klein found—to be rectified on the subsequent Beyond Music projects—was the mixing process. Two weeks in the studio meant only enough time for the recording. Therefore, when he returned to Los Angeles to mix with engineer Tim Palmer, they realized there was just too much to mix to reach the deadline.

“The whole experience feels very surreal to me... I would wake up every day excited to see what was going to happen.” —Heather Bond “With some of the tracks we were in a perpetual state of experimentation, so there was a lot of editing and comping and sorting to do after the fact,” Klein says. “I just didn’t have the time.” So Klein divided the work among a group of mixers: Stephen Lipson, Tchad Blake, Maxime Leguil, Adam Greenspan and Palmer.

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“That was quite complicated because everyone was in their own places,” Klein says. “I told them the next time they should make the recording period one week longer and mix everything on the premises, so as soon as they leave the place, the record is done.” For Palmer, who mixed the lion’s share of the tracks—“El Clavel del Aire,” “You Changed Me,” “Better Together,” “Different You and I,” “More of Us” and “We Are One”—it was comfortable mixing at his Austin, Texas, studio. “My setup is a hybrid concept,” Palmer explains. “I like to take the best of both the analog and digital worlds. I haven’t mustered up the courage to mix completely in the box yet. I love the convenience of plug-Ins and the whole recall aspect of digital, but I still enjoy the warmer sound of analog, so every output from my Pro Tools 192 goes directly into one of the 24 channels of my Tonelux setup. I have some EQ and compression in my Tonelux setup, too, but the donkeywork is done inside the DAW. “I sum everything back into Pro Tools, but not before it goes through an SSL compressor and a GML stereo EQ,” he continues. “I generally use a combination of Universal Audio, Waves and Sound Toys plug-ins, but I’m also loving the Fab Filter bundle and Vulf Compressors. My favorite recent reverb is the Capitol Chambers, which I love.” Participants all defined the Beyond Music experience as music without borders, without barriers, without prejudice and a way to address world crises. “The state of the world is so dreadful right now that this kind of thing is really the ideal way to push against all of this fear and nationalism and people drawing back behind their tribal and national borders,” Klein says. n For more information, visit www.beyondmusicproject.org.

Documentary Sound: Real or Re-Create? Sound Designer Bernhard Zorzi on How to Interweave Reality and Enhancement in Documentary Filmmaking By Jennifer Walden

Riots break out in San Felipe as fishermen protest the arrests of totoaba poachers.

act: What we hear in a dramatic film is not what was happening when the film was shot. The final soundtrack is a carefully crafted representation of reality. But in a documentary, is the sound we hear as it was at the time the image was captured? No. There is far less control (or even no control) over a situation or location in a documentary film than on a typical Hollywood film. There is no blocking, no run-throughs. Events unfold and the production sound mixer must catch-ascatch-can with a strong focus on dialog, as ADR on a documentary is out of the question. So how far into imagination can the sound on a documentary delve before it becomes fiction?

How much creative license does a sound designer truly have on a documentary film? What are the guiding principles for accuracy versus interesting in a nonfiction format? Sound designer/re-recording mixer Bernhard Zorzi—who worked out of Blautöne Studios in Vienna, Austria—crafted the soundtrack for director Richard Ladkani on his award-winning documentaries Sea of Shadows (2019) and The Ivory Game (2016). Both films are well-produced, visually and sonically captivating, with a compelling score and a dynamic, well-balanced mix. They are simultaneously entertaining and informative, blurring the line between dramatic and documentary film expectations, just as

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Ladkani intended. “Richard wants to reach people who don’t usually watch documentaries,” Zorzi explains. “He wants to create a movement of change, especially through engaging young people, to inspire them to take action. He wants to give them the opportunity to be absorbed by the movie, and young people are used to experiencing rich visuals and sounds, so everything has to be vivid and interesting. He wants to motivate people to watch the film, to stay on it, while also delivering an interesting investigative narrative and a thrilling effect. I’m supporting that with sound while at the same time trying to be as authentic as possible and as accurate as possible.”

Authenticity in documentary sound is a task that requires significant mining of the production tracks; the effort yielded gold on these two docs because production sound mixer Roland Winkler “somehow always had the sounds we needed in his tracks,” says Zorzi. “Richard [Ladkani] would talk about or remember something that would be perfect, and 99 percent of the time I could find it in Roland’s tracks.” Zorzi listened through every second of the location recordings, searching for necessary and useful elements, like elephant grunts and villagers yelling for The Ivory Game—pulling them from the background noise using spectral editing tools and EQ, and then layering and positioning them to create new ambient

to Zorzi, the drone explosion sound was 80 percent production, with additional sound design to enhance the impact. “We wanted to get closer to the explosion, so we added some supporting layers and a low-frequency effect. That was it,” he affirms. Zorzi also supported the scene by building layers of ambient sound to fill up the Dolby Atmos surround field, and used object panning into the front ceiling speaker to put the drone’s “explosion above the audience, to make it as immersive as possible,” he says. Sometimes Zorzi had to manipulate the production sound in order to rebuild scenes and use sound to help the director tell the story more clearly. For example, in the beginning of

The Ivory Game (now streaming on Netflix), Ladkani rides along with Elisifa Ngowi, the head of intelligence for a task force in Tanzania, whose mission is to stop the illegal killing of elephants and the selling of their ivory. They are on a nighttime sting operation to apprehend an infamous poacher named Shetani. The scene is dark; the pace is fast. There is a lot of action happening around the main characters. “It’s this compressed chase sequence,” Zorzi explains. “I can help the scene by focusing on which sounds are coming from the center speaker and which sounds are coming from everywhere else. But it was all there in the production tracks. It was provided and not made up. I’m using the real sounds recorded from the

Sea Shepherd vessels and an interceptor ship of the Mexican navy search for poaching vessels north of San Felipe, Sea of Cortez. Photos: National Geographic

tracks to fill out the surround channels. “It is a manipulation of sound because it’s not a direct path from a microphone to the final soundtrack. But it’s the sound from those locations, which provides both authenticity and support for the story at the same time,” Zorzi explains. For example, in Sea of Shadows—now playing in select theaters—a group of vigilante environmentalists called the Sea Shepherds (yes, those Sea Shepherds from Animal Planet’s Whale Wars) use drones to seek out poachers and destroy their nets, which harm all matter of sea life, including the nearly extinct Vaquita whale. During one nighttime expedition, the poachers shoot down the Sea Shepherds’ drone. According

Totoaba in a net.

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Photo Courtesy of Bernhard Zorzi

Sound designer/re-recording mixer Bernhard Zorzi mixing at Blautöne Studios, Vienna, Austria.

actual location and reworking them into a new soundscape built for cinema.” There’s another chaotic nighttime scene in The Ivory Game in which Craig Millar, head of security for Big Life Foundation in Kenya, arrives at a village where elephants are raiding crop fields. Millar and a few helpers are chasing the elephants away, using fireworks to scare the animals without hurting them. The production sound was distorted, but still provided a valuable framework for the action— as did Ladkani’s description of the situation. These guided Zorzi’s search for very specific sounds he needed to isolate in the production track. In some cases these sounds couldn’t be re-created—like the villagers yelling and the rushing, rustling sound of the dry grass they were running through. “This grass had a distinct, dry texture that we didn’t even try to remake on a Foley stage,” he says. “We wanted to use that grass from production. It was a big task.”

Other key sounds, like the elephants trumpeting in the distance, Zorzi mined from different location recordings captured for the film. In Sea of Shadows, Zorzi reconstructed the sound of a riot, in which fishermen clashed with the Mexican police. Ladkani, who was caught in the middle of it, recounted details happening off-screen, such as cars crashing into each other in an attempt to flee the scene, rioters throwing rocks and the police firing guns into the air. The fishermen’s warning siren was blaring in the background, encouraging the assault. Zorzi says, “We used the original recording to give us the timing and then supported that with other sounds, like rock impacts, to give it more direction and depth. Everything you hear was location sound, but there were enhancements necessary to spread the sound into the 7.0 ambiences we created for the Atmos mix. The siren you hear is something the fisherman used

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to alert other fishermen that the police were there. In this case, they used it as an attack siren.” Despite Zorzi’s commitment to using actual sounds from the locations, he does sometimes have to fabricate elements for scenes with no sound. In The Ivory Game, there’s a scene in which a herd of elephants interacts with an elephant skull as Millar explains the family connections that elephants have. Foley played an important role in creating the elephants’ soft foot thuds and gentle kicks at the dusty ground. Their sniffing and quiet growls came from Winkler’s other production recordings on the film. But the sound of the elephant’s foot pawing at the skull was an element that Zorzi pulled from a sound library. “It’s an important moment that needed the right sound. I started with something very strange to go there that wasn’t related to bones in any way, but it worked perfectly,” he says. “In sound design, what fascinates me is that you can find something totally out of context, something random, that has the right sound and works perfectly when put against picture. The sound I found really sounded like the elephant touching the skull with its feet. It conveyed the right feeling,” shares Zorzi. “It’s quite helpful to not define your limits rationally too much because so much happens out of intuition and experimenting and being open to trying different combinations of experimental and naturalistic sounds. That’s very important.” Another scene that required realistic design was in Sea of Shadows when the Sea Shepherds are pulling the poachers’ nets from the water and cutting the marine animals free. “We wanted to be in the perspective of an animal being caught in the net, with the very uncomfortable sounds of stretching and squeaking and pulling. That, in combination with what’s happening onboard, creates a nice fusion of horrifying and hopeful. It was tricky to find this combination of sound, pulled from production and created in Foley,” says Zorzi. In addition to sound design, Zorzi can help influence the viewers’ experience by guiding their focus via the mix. For example, in Sea of Shadows a team of conservationists attempt to rescue a Vaquita whale and raise it in captivity. The corralled animal panics, forcing the team to release it back into the open ocean. Zorzi and re-recording mixer Michael Plöderl started the scene with naturalistic sound coming from the entire Atmos surround field. As the situation intensifies, they slowly pull everything to the front until eventually it’s just sound out of

Photos: National Geographic

the center speaker. “We reduced and reduced and reduced, getting closer to the scene in which the marine veterinarian says, ‘That’s it. She’s gone.’ Then we have a shot where they’re lying on the boat and everything is silent,” Zorzi explains. “There is just the boat creaking that’s only coming from the center channel. It was an easy way to pull the focus in so that the audience is solely focused on the death of the Vaquita and the desperation of the situation.” While documentaries are essentially non fiction and deliver a truthful message, they still require a degree of manipulation in order

Above: Richard Ladkani, director and cinematographer of The Ivory Game and Sea of Shadows. Left: Behind the scenes during production of Sea of Shadows, with sound.

to tell a clear story that resonates with an audience. With directors like Ladkani at the helm, those messages are delivered with style, delicately balancing the entertaining and informative aspects, as evidenced by Sea of Shadows’ success at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. It won the Audience Award for World Cinema–Documentary and was also nominated for the Grand Jury Prize in that category. “The audience was drawn in and absorbed by the story, by the visuals and sound,” Zorzi concludes. “They liked it. Richard was so happy about that because that’s exactly what he wants to do; he wants to reach out to people, especially young people who can change the world.” n

Mix Presents Sound for Film & Television 2019 notion that the sound professional is in charge of his or her own art, while always focusing the dialog on audio’s role in storytelling. “This event has grown to exceed our wildest dreams back in 2014, and Wylie’s opening remarks were simply brilliant, and completely on point,” says Tom Kenny, editor of Mix. “The level of expertise in the each of panel rooms, along with the advanced audio technologies on display—there’s nothing like this day anywhere. And we owe it all to the experts who come out on their own free time to share their knowledge, and to our sponsors, whose continuing support makes it all possible. We had a number of new sponsors this year, including Shure, Grace Design and Genelec, and we’re already talking about next year. It seems that people still want to meet in person, network and share information. Imagine that!” The event is produced by Future US, Mix’s parent company, in association with Event Partner organizations Motion Picture Sound Editors and Cinema Audio Society.

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Photo: David Zentz

The sixth annual Mix Presents Sound for Film & Television, held September 28 at Host Partner Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, Calif., was a rousing success, with more than 600 attendees and 20-plus sponsors on hand for a day of exhibits, expert panels, in-depth looks at sound for major films and television productions, a Production Sound Pavilion, The Composers Lounge, the all-new AudioOver-IP Theater—all culminating in the popular Sound Reel Showcase, where the audience ends the day in the Dolby Atmos-equipped Cary Grant Theater, watching 8-minute reels of award-worthy films from all the major studios. The highlight of the day for many took place in that same Cary Grant Theater to kick off the event: a Keynote Speech by legendary supervising sound editor and sound designer Wylie Stateman, who put forth something of a rally cry to the industry to demand the respect of sound’s contribution and artistry in the creation of a film. His speech, entitled “The Sound DP+D (Director, Producer, Designer)” and available soon at mixonline, set the tone for the entire day, with its

Audio Education

The 1000-square-foot live room, featuring a 7-foot Steinway Grand Piano.

WALTERS-STORYK DESIGN GROUP INTEGRATES AUDIO-VIDEO-3D IN NEW HASS MEDIA CENTER One year ago, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the world’s third largest technological research university, founded in 1824, opened a new fully immersive audio/video/3D production, editing and mixing complex on its Troy, N.Y., campus. The new facility, designed by Walters-Storyk Design Group (WSDG), was conceived as an integral component to the school’s mandate of providing The Audio Control Room, featuring a degree programs in engineering, computing, business management custom-configured 16-fader Avid S6 console. and information technology for next-generation technologists. Mary Simoni, Dean of the RPI School of Humanities, Arts & Social dozen fresh eggs from his farm downstate, and then we toured these Sciences, says, “About three years ago, I learned that John Storyk would be rooms. As I anxiously awaited his assessment, he simply stated, ‘It has good visiting our campus for a guest lecture in our internationally recognized bones.’ At that moment, I knew we needed to come together to breathe architectural acoustics program. John agreed to come early, gave me a the heart and soul into these spaces by filling them with the unbridled

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Photos: Felixphotography ©

RPI Gets Immersive

AUDIO EDUCATION

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Photos: Felixphotography ©

creativity that exemplifies the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences. In short, rejuvenation!” Joshua Morris, partner/COO/project manager for WSDG, says, “RPI presented us with a series of compelling design and acoustic challenges. We worked closely with Dean Simoni, Kim Osburn, manager of operations & administrative services, and project manager for campus planning & facilities design Robert Carney to provide the optimal balance of flexibility and acoustic quality within an ergonomic and aesthetic environment that fully supports their goals.” WSDG’s assignment focused on the complete renovation of RPI’s existing 1700-square-foot space, and the design, construction supervision, and systems integration of a 1000-square-foot Audio Recording/Production Studio, a cutting-edge 300-square-foot Audio Control Room, a 100-square-foot Iso lab, a 160-squarefoot Video Control Room and a 90-square-foot AV Lab. With a 16-foot ceiling height, and sufficient space for ambitious audio and video programming creation, RPI’s Immersive Production complex provides students with a futureproof environment to create. Special attention was focused on the facility’s variable acoustic properties to compensate for the “deader” tracking environment required by immersive production techniques. “Our objective was to optimize student creativity and access to recording technology, while providing instructors with teaching spaces calculated to enrich their capacity for sharing their skills and knowledge,” Morris continues. “Judy Elliot-Brown, our longtime AV Systems designer/collaborator, Marcy Ramos, our mechanical engineer, electrical engineer Mike Meyers, of Albany’s Sage Engineering and Albany-based contractors Uwe Kiss and John Moore of Sano-Rubin met every design and construction challenge. Their contributions were invaluable to the success of this project.” Morris points to the new complex’s use of “dark” fiber optic connectivity, previously installed between RPI’s EMPAC and DCC buildings, as critical for assuring seamless audio/video connectivity. “The advantages of this technology include the ability to utilize RPI’s Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) as a sound stage with audio/ video control in the Darrin Communications Center (DCC) and, enable live performances at the DCC to be viewed on multiple EMPAC screens,” he says. “I first encountered WSDG’s expertise in designing audio/ video production facilities during my tenure at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor,” Dean Simoni concludes. “The success of that project motivated me to recommend them to RPI.” “Education remains a primary factor within the WSDG client base,” says company founder John Storyk. “Having lectured on acoustics and studio design at RPI and other colleges and universities around the country, and as a visiting professor at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, I consider teaching my avocation, and an important aspect of my own ongoing education. I often find that I learn as much from students as they get from my lectures. We are honored to have been retained by RPI to prepare their students for 21st Century audio production careers.” n

The 90-square-foot ISO booth at RPI’s new HASS Media Center

The Video/Audio Room within the 3D production complex.

Practice rooms for musicians surround the media control rooms.

AUDIO EDUCATION

The Never-Ending Tour: The John Lennon Educational Tour Bus The John Lennon Educational Tour Bus paid its first visit to the AES New York Convention, inviting attendees to tour its unique facilities, learn about its mission of inspiring creativity, and participate in the interactive tent experience featuring jam sessions using the latest gear. The John Lennon Educational Tour Bus is a state-of-the-art mobile audio and HD video recording and production facility. Now in its 22nd year, with the very latest technology and gear, the Bus continues to be dedicated to providing young people with tours of the studios, participation in free digital media production workshops, and the production of giant peace signs. Assisted by three onboard engineers, students can learn how to write, record, and produce original songs, music videos, documentaries, and live multi-camera video productions – all in one day. At AES, it was announced that the Lennon Bus has upgraded both its onboard 5.1 surround studios with Genelec 8341A SAM Studio Monitors. The Ones, as they are called, are Genelec’s newest and most advanced monitor design and offer the greatly enhanced acoustic imaging and accuracy. The Lennon Bus uses Genelec’s GLM system to autocalibrate the SAM monitors to perfectly match the Lennon Bus studios. Apple computers and devices allow everyone to create original music, videos, short films and documentaries. OWC is the official storage solution of the Lennon Bus, Yamaha Corporation of America is a Founding Sponsor and provides all keyboards, drums and guitars, Audio-Technica

provides microphones and Neutrik provides cables and connectors Prior to AES, the Bus hosted an event in New York City called “Imagine A City With No Gun Violence!,” which began on board the Lennon Bus with a roundtable discussion bringing student activists and elected officials together with the Bronx-born musicalartist Prince Royce to discuss the next steps needed toend gun violence.

AUDIO EDUCATION

Mercer University Reopens Capricorn Studios desk with Final Touch fader automation and a center-console Pro Tools monitor screen. A new mix room studio features an Avid C-24 work surface and Pro Tools. The main tracking studio and the mix/ overdub studio both feature a pair of Focal Solo Be 6.5 monitor speakers, plus Yamaha HS8 nearfields with subwoofers. Both control rooms support surround sound projects via Genelec 8020 5.1 speaker systems. Grand opening festivities for Mercer Capricorn Sound Studio A, back in the day with its thenMusic at Capricorn kick off on December current API console. The restored facility will have a new custom-built API 40-channel 2448 desk. 2 with a VIP party, including music by the Randall Bramblett Band, for donors and other Capricorn Revival concert at the Macon City Auditorium featuring former Allman Brothers invited guests. The public ceremony to formally reopen Band member—and current Rolling Stones Mercer Music at Capricorn will be on December music director—Chuck Leavell, Randall 3 at 2 p.m. The program, which is free and open Bramblett Band and a host of former Capricorn to the public, will take place on an outdoor stage artists and musicians who have been influenced by Capricorn. behind the studios. — By Steve Harvey, excerpted from The re-opening celebration will be capped Pro Sound News off on December 3 at 8 p.m. with a ticketed

Photo Courtesy of Mercer University

Mercer University has announced a series of events to celebrate the rebirth of Macon’s historic Capricorn Sound Studios as Mercer Music at Capricorn. First opened 50 years ago, the facility will host a first look at the restored studio that helped define the 1970s Southern Rock sound. Mercer Music at Capricorn is a multi-purpose, 20,000-square-foot complex designed to leverage Macon’s music heritage to create Macon’s music future, according to a Mercer University statement. The $4.3 million renovation project is being funded by historic tax credits, major grants from the Peyton Anderson Foundation and John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and gifts from businesses and individuals. The facility contains the fully restored historic Studio A plus an additional, larger Studio B suitable for orchestral recording and film scoring, as well as live performances. API consoles were central to the Capricorn sound, and the main control room continues that legacy with a new custom-built API 40-channel 2448

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Thomas Dolby is the head of the Music for New Media program. Scott Metcalfe is the director of the Recording Arts and Sciences program.

AUDIO EDUCATION

Interlochen Announces Music and Sound Production Major Beginning in the fall of 2020, Interlochen Arts Academy, Interlochen, Mich., students will be able to major in Music and Sound Production. Independent engineer, producer, arranger and vocalist Marc Lacuesta will lead the new program. The Music and Sound Production major is designed to introduce students to the artistic and technical aspects of working in a music studio. Using state-of-the-art recording facilities in the institution’s new Music Center building, students will learn the nuances of audio production and create professional-quality recordings. “Recording is universal for a musician, as is technology,” said Interlochen Center for the Arts Provost Camille Colatosti. “Whether you’re an instrumentalist recording an audition tape, a band member making a demo reel, or a performer producing an album, all musicians will find themselves in a recording studio.”

Newly appointed Director of Music and Sound Production Marc Lacuesta joined the Interlochen Arts Academy faculty in August. While the major will not formally be offered until 2020, Lacuesta began teaching production curriculum to students enrolled in other majors in the fall of 2019. Lacuesta began his career with Nashville’s legendary Quad Studios, where he orked with artists such as Kenny Rogers, Brad Paisley, and Keith Urban. Since 2003, Lacuesta has been an independent engineer, producer, arranger, and vocalist. “I look forward to working side by side with the amazing faculty and staff at Interlochen, and sharing my knowledge and experience with a highly talented and hard-working student body,” Lacuesta said. “Interlochen Arts Academy’s commitment to excellence in the arts is legendary, and I’m honored to join in that tradition.”

Harlem School of the Arts Expansion College of

As we went to press, we learned that the Herb Alpert Center has begun construction on The Renaissance Project, funded by the Herb Alpert Foudndation to include a world-class, multipurpose facility designed by Walters-Storyk Design Group.The Renaissance Project is the most substantial renovation undertaken by the organization since occupying the building, 45-years-ago. Legendary musician/ philanthropist Herb Alpert and his wife, author and Grammy Award-winning vocalist Lani Hall Alpert are funding the full project cost of $ 9.5 million, through the Herb Alpert Foundation.”We were honored to have Herb Alpert reach out to us for the HSA project,” says John Storyk. “His appreciation for the critical importance of acoustical design is soundly based on his vast experience as an incomparable musician and recording executive.“ n

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Tech RECORDING

Earthworks Expands SR314 Vocal Microphone Line Released in March of this year, the SR314 is a vocal microphone with precision-machined stainless steel chassis and retro-meets-futuristic design. It is now available in three eye-catching combinations—stainless steel, black coated stainless steel with a black windscreen, and black coated stainless steel with a stainless windscreen. Key features of the SR314 include rich open natural sound captured in a tight cardioid polar pattern that is consistent throughout the full frequency range. It states a 145 dB SPL handling and an extended 20 Hz to 30 kHz frequency response. The SR314, SR314-B, and SR314-SB ship with an MC4 microphone clip and 8.5-inch padded protective bag.

GIK Acoustics Impression, Alpha Series Acoustic Foam Leading acoustic treatment manufacturer GIK Acoustics is launching an acoustic foam option as part of the popular Impression Series and Alpha Series room treatments. The Impression and Alpha Series incorporate a front plate with designs cut into it to both absorb low-to-mid frequencies while diffusing high frequencies simultaneously. The result is even, tempered low-mid frequency control as well as improved high-frequency balance and ambience. Available in squares measuring 23.5 x 23.5 x 2.25-inches, the high-performing acoustic foam offers a lightweight, versatile, affordable and effective acoustic solution. The Impression Series is available in 12 elegant patterns—Basketweave, Braids, Palomar, Sunrise, Wavy Leaves, Bubbles, Checkerboard, Gatsby Arches, Mod Geometric, 3D Cubes, and Digiwave—while the Alpha Series is available in three mathematical patterns: 1D (1-dimensional), 2Da and 2Db (2-dimensional)

Kali Audio IN-8 Coincident Studio Monitor Kali Audio has announced the IN-8, a new threeway studio monitor with an 8-inch woofer, and concentric 4-Inch midrange and 1-inch tweeter. The IN-8 shares its port tube, woofer, tweeter and much of its amplifier with Kali’s popular LP-8 studio monitor. In place of the LP-8’s waveguide, the IN-8 has a 4-inch midrange driver, which acts as the waveguide for the tweeter. The woofer is crossed over to the midrange at 330 Hz, making the IN-8 an acoustical point source. This configuration eliminates lobing in the vertical axis, giving the IN-8 a highly detailed soundstage. The midrange is profile-optimized for its role as the tweeter’s waveguide, and peak excursion is limited to 1mm, thereby avoiding

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new products

intermodulation distortion, which can be problematic on coaxial designs. The IN-8 is powered by a 140 W Class D amp with 60 W going to the woofer and 40 W each going to the midrange and tweeter. Boundary EQ settings, like those found on Kali’s Lone Pine monitors, are accessible on the back of the speaker, along with a quick reference guide printed directly onto the speaker itself.

Manley Labs 30th Anniversary Reference Cardioid Mic In continuing the celebration of the company’s 30th anniversary, Manley Laboratories has announced a limited run of its classic Reference Cardioid tube microphone in a custom pearlescent white finish with red accents, dubbed the “Reference Cardioid XXX Anniversary Limited Edition.” The microphone will feature the MANLEY POWER Switch-Mode Power Supply, currently used in the Manley Reference Silver Microphone. Based on the same technologies already proven in the Manley CORE, FORCE, ELOP+ and Nu Mu processors, this new PSU is said to be “empirically quieter” than the microphone’s original linear PSU. The new power supply is also universal, allowing it to work anywhere in the world without a voltage changeover switch or power transformer rewiring. The Reference Cardioid XXX microphone is limited to 100 pieces worldwide and began shipping at the end of October.

Gyraf Audio Gyratec G23-S Ambler Tilt EQ One F Sound, North American distributor for Gyraf Audio, showed the full Gyraf Audio line of equipment for the very first time at the NYC AES Convention in October. Gyraf Audio, out of Denmark, manufactures boutique analog gear comprising dynamics, EQs and a mic pre—all primarily of a passive or passive and tube design. The Gyratec G23-S “Ambler” Tilt EQ with solid state option has been nominated for the January 2020 NAMM TEC Awards. One F Sound also distributes the legendary MASELEC line of processors.

MXL Microphones APS Podcasting Bundle MXL Microphones has introduced the APS Podcasting Bundle, offering three hardware components including a microphone, stand and XLR/USB adapter, specifically designed for live streamers and podcasters. The MXL BCD-1 broadcast dynamic microphone is an end-address microphone with warm, rich tones designed to make vocals stand out in any recording or broadcast. It includes a built-in shock mount and swivel mount. The BCD-Stand with articulating hinge arm allows for easy mic placement and provides a professional

look and feel for podcasters. The Mic Mate Pro is an XLR-to-USB audio interface adapter that allows podcasters and live streamers to connect their microphones directly to their computer, effectively converting any XLR microphone into a USB microphone. With 48V phantom power, gain and headphone volume control, and studio-quality preamp capabilities, the Mic Mate Pro is a versatile and compact universal interface. A built-in headphone jack allows for zero-latency direct monitoring.

Reason Studios (formerly Propellerhead) Reason 11 The highlight of the new Reason 11 is the Reason Rack Plugin, which allows engineers to open Reason’s Rack inside almost any DAW—no need to involve ReWire anymore. Initially, the Reason Rack Plugin will come only in VST3 format, but an AU version is promised before the end of the year. New processors include a pair of new modulation effects: Quartet Chorus

Ensemble, a versatile chorus effect; and Sweeper Modulation Effect, a phaser/flanger/filter. The dynamics and EQ processors from Reason’s mixer can also open in the Rack, including the Master Bus Compressor. Starting with version 11 there will be three tiers in the Reason hierarchy: Reason 11 Suite is at the top end and includes all Reason instruments, effects and Rack Extensions. Reason 11 standard version doesn’t include the Rack Extensions or Scenic Hybrid Instrument. Reason 11 Intro is an entry-level version.

Royer Labs AxeMount SM-21 Dual Microphone Clip The AxeMount SM-21 from Royer Labs is a microphone clip that holds two microphones: a Royer R-121 ribbon mic and a 57-style dynamic microphone. The combination of these two mics is a tried-and-true technique that has proved its effectiveness in the studio as well as on stage, whereby the R-121 captures a warm, full-bodied sound, while a 57-style mic is used to add the aggressive crunch. The AxeMount securely holds the two microphones on a single mic stand, with optimal positioning and correct phase alignment. An added bonus for live engineers is that both mics can be easily moved at the same time to another speaker cone, or another cabinet, without disturbing the arrangement or coherence of the two microphones.

United Plugins FireSonic FireCobra The recently launched United Plugins is a conglomerate of several different smaller European plug-in developers. The company hit the ground running with several new releases, including FireCobra, an audio enhancement plug-in from FireSonic. FireCobra offers several different algorithms that you can dial in, including Intensify, Smack and Analogize. Intensify, which the developer says includes “advanced” dynamics processing, is the default algorithm and the most impactful of the three. The Smack algorithm adds subtle harmonic distortion, and the Analogize provides some analog-like saturation. A Wet/Dry knob controls the overall effect, while each of the three processes has its own knob so that you can dial in a suitable combination. Also available are three different levels of Oversampling: 2x, 3x and 4x. This feature is designed to be used if you notice any aliasing artifacts from the processing.

Steinberg Wavelab 10 Mastering Software The highly anticipated tenth version of the WaveLab audio mastering software, available in Pro and Elements versions, now supports video playback, Reference Track, Audio Montage editing enhancements plus many other new features. New features to WaveLab Pro include Reference Track for adding a reference audio file and then toggling between the reference audio file and other tracks; an option to access and modify audio with other editors like SpectraLayers from within WaveLab; the former Effect Tool Windows has been redesigned and renamed the Montage Inspector, making it easier to use. The track list in the Audio Montage has also witnessed an overhaul, with several improvements to the user interface. Other Pro features include: Import markers from XML files; Move markers to their nearest zero cross position; Increased number of effects and playback processing slots in the Master section; option to remove all batch processor plug-ins from a chain at once; and much more. WaveLab 10 is available now.

TELEFUNKEN Alchemy Microphone Series Microphone manufacturer TELEFUNKEN Elektroakustik has introduced the new Alchemy Series of large-diaphragm tube condenser microphones, designed, hand-built and tested in Connecticut, with unique sonic profiles developed from the ground up. The voicings of the new Alchemy Series are the TF29 Copperhead, TF39 Copperhead Deluxe, TF47 and TF51 feature a combination of vintage microphone elements and modern fidelity and reliability. The TF39 Copperhead Deluxe is an evolution and expansion of the “Copperhead,” with the addition

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of a dual membrane K67-style capsule, allowing for three-pattern selection between cardioid, omnidirectional and figure-8. The cardioid-only version of the mic system is also available as the TF29 Copperhead. Sonically and component-wise, the two microphones are the same. All systems ship in a sleek, compact, protective case for easy transport and storage. Included are two mount options, microphone dust cover, high-flex 7-meter cable and an American-assembled power supply.

SOUND REINFORCEMENT Clair Brothers C10-TrueFit Line Array Loudspeaker The latest addition to the Clair Brothers C-Series Loud speakers, the C10-TrueFit is a mid-sized, passive line array element featuring a custom horizontal waveguide that is designedto-order. The C10-TrueFit employs dual 10-inch drivers and Clair’s TrueFit Technology to optimize the array for a specific venue, reducing the amount of energy wasted on spill toward walls and extending the stereo image across a larger audience area. The reduction in lateral reflections produces Prism-mixmag-Dante-ad-oct19-v2.qxp_Layout 1 22/10/2019 15:05 Page a focused sound with higher levels of intelligibility. The1 C10 can be ordered with

The heart of your

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a variety of factory horizontal waveguide patterns. The standard C10 factory waveguide pattern is 100 degrees horizontal x 15 degrees vertical, but a range of horizontal waveguides between 70 and 120 degrees are also available. As with the C12- and C8-TrueFit models, the C10-TrueFit features new transducer technology that significantly reduces weight and reduces amplifier channel requirements.

Yamaha STAGEPAS 1K Portable P.A. system The Yamaha STAGEPAS 1K is an allin-one portable P.A. system driven by a high-frequency array speaker packed with 10 small-diameter 1.5-inch drivers that provide professional-level accuracy and clarity. A 12-inch subwoofer incorporates the company’s own Twisted Flare Port technology to the subwoofer to effectively reduce wind noise in the bass reflex port. The system features a 1000 W Class-D amplifier. Unique to the STAGEPAS 1K system is a 5-channel digital mixer located in the back of the subwoofer. It features three channels of mono microphone/line inputs and stereo inputs, with two of the mono input channels fitted with Hi-Z connectivity for direct input of acousticelectric guitars and other instruments. Like its predecessors, this mixer supports 1/8-inch mini jacks and playback with Bluetooth devices, as well as a wide range of input sources from instruments to CD players, PCs and smartphones.

Tectonic Audio Labs DML500

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Tectonic Audio Labs has expanded its line of flatpanel loudspeakers with the DML500. Based upon the company’s patented Distributed Mode Loudspeaker technology, the DML500 is a point-source loudspeaker employing a carbon fiber flat-panel transducer coupled to conventional moving-coil drivers. This unique design produces audio across a broad frequency range, delivering exceptional intelligibility with an extremely wide and predominantly diffuse coverage pattern of 160 degrees in the horizontal and vertical planes. Frequency response for the DML500 is stated as 90 Hz to 20 kHz ±6 dB, with a 10 dB down point of 75 Hz. The DML500 has a nominal impedance of 8 Ohms, and an input sensitivity of 91 dB, when used with Tectonic’s recommended EQ settings. Power handling is spec’d as 300 watts program and 400 watts peak (at 8 Ohms). n

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Tech // reviews iZotope Ozone 9 Major Update Adds Even More Powerful Tools to Mastering Suite By Mike Levine

zone has always offered powerful processing and a user-friendly interface, allowing it to appeal to both experienced engineers and mastering newbies. With the release of Ozone 9, iZotope keeps that pattern going. It adds three new powerful, yet easy-to-use modules that accomplish complex mastering tasks simply, and features a new and improved Master Assistant, which analyzes your audio and suggests settings. Ozone comes in Advanced, Standard and Elements versions. When discussing new features in this review, I’ll indicate which are included in the various versions. I did my testing in Ozone Advanced 9.0.2. As with previous versions, you can run Ozone either as a standalone application or as a plug-in, which iZotope refers to as the Mothership. What’s more, in Ozone 9 Advanced, the assorted modules from the program are available as individual component plug-ins in your DAW, which can be The Master Rebalance module is one of the highlights of Ozone 9 Advanced. handy for both mastering and mixing. You can load up to 16 audio files in the standalone version. In Now there are three categories of user options presented on the addition to applying your processing chain to each one, you can “What are you going for?” page, and your choices will determine trim the beginning and end of the audio file and add fades. There’s the behavior of the Master Assistant. First, you can choose Modern or Vintage in the Modules no way to zoom in on the beginning or end to get a close-up look at what you’re trimming, however. Though not imperative, a zoom category. Because Ozone has both modern and vintage versions of control would be helpful. Playback is limited to one audio file at a most of its processors, you can choose which ones the Mastering time, so you can’t listen for spacing between songs from Ozone’s Assistant will use. Next, you have two choices to make in the Loudness and EQ GUI. section: Manual or Reference. The former lets you choose between three output target levels: Low (–14 LUFS), Medium (–12 LUFS) ASSIST ME The Master Assistant (Advanced, Standard, Elements) was added and High (–11 LUFS). Reference will use the level of a song or other in Ozone 8, and it has been improved in Ozone 9. The basic idea audio file you upload as guidance. The third category is Destination, where you can pick Streaming is that it analyzes your music and then, employing its artificial intelligence, figures out a setting for you to use as a starting point. or CD, and Ozone will automatically set the correct amount of In Ozone 8, when you clicked on the Master Assistant, it took headroom. Once you’ve made your selections, hit the Next button, you to a page entitled, “What are you going for?” which allowed you then hit Play so that Ozone can do its analysis. As the music plays, you see an onscreen checklist of actions to choose between Streaming, CD and Reference for calculating your target output level. Reference was based on a reference track starting with Analyzing Audio and Analyzing Dynamic Range, Setting Maximizer threshold and more. All told, the list has seven that you could upload and Ozone 8 would analyze. In Ozone 9, your choices have been expanded pretty significantly. items that check off in real-time as the Assistant finishes with them.

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PRODUCT SUMMARY

The new Master Assistant offers more user-selectable options.

The whole process takes maybe 10 seconds, and you’ll hear the effects of the processing as it gets near the end of the list. Then you can choose to accept it, or you can change the previous settings and re-run the Assistant. There’s no point in re-running it if you don’t change the settings because the results will be virtually the same every time, given the same song and same settings. The Master Assistant was quite a useful feature in Ozone 8; in Ozone 9 its expanded user options make the results more customized. The module choices and settings that it comes up with are always usable and often get you most of the way there. Most likely, you’ll still want to do some tweaking to match the specific attributes of your project. If all you want is a finished-sounding result for sending out a demo, you’ll probably be fine just using the modules and settings provided by the Assistant. Often, if I’m in that situation, I’ll put the Ozone 9 plug-in on my master bus, and I’ll end up with a polished result with correct levels right away.

BALANCING ACT One of the completely new modules in Ozone 9 is called Master Rebalance (Advanced only). It can take a mixed master and adjust either the vocal, drums or bass levels up or down. It can only change one level at a time. The GUI for the Master Rebalance module is simplicity itself. First, you click on a Focus instrument, either Drums, Bass or Vocals. Then move the Gain slider (±8 dB) to get it to the level that you want to hear the results in real-time. You also get a frequency display that shows the focus in blue in the foreground and the remaining signal in gray in the background. It’s useful as a visual confirmation of what you’re doing, but you really just need your ears. Master Rebalance is designed for those situations where you have a project to master and there’s an imbalance on a song, but it’s not feasible to have the mix recalled and adjusted by the mix engineer. In the past, when mastering engineers faced such a situation, it frequently required some serious processing gymnastics and often entailed a compromise because the fix

With Ozone’s Master Rebalance, it’s almost as if you’re still mixing. You move a fader, and the level of the source type you selected goes up and down in real-time, seamlessly. I tested it out both on my Mac Pro and on my much slower MacBook Pro, and performance and smooth playback of the feature was the same.

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COMPANY: iZotope PRODUCT: Ozone 9 (Advanced, Standard and Elements) WEBSITE: izotope.com PRICE: Advanced $399; Standard $199; Elements $99 PROS: Processor collection more comprehensive than ever; Music Rebalance offers impressive and time-saving results; Master Assistant now significantly more customizable; Low End Focus module helpful for shaping bass-frequency content; Match EQ available in its own, easier-to-use module; Ozone GUI can now be significantly resized; Tonal Balance 2 offers many more genre choices; vintage modules included with Standard version; standalone or plug-in operation provides flexibility; most modules offer soloing options for frequency bands or parameter types CONS: No way to create between-song spacing for CDs; no zoom controls for trim and fade operations could cause problems with other aspects of the mixed audio. iZotope has a similar feature in RX7 called Music Rebalance, which allows you to simultaneously adjust four different source types (Bass, Percussion, Vocals and “Other,” which is the remaining signal after the first three sources). Although the RX version has more range and parameter control—it also has Sensitivity sliders for each source type—I found the version in Ozone 9 to be easier to use, mainly because in RX you have to use Preview mode to hear the results, and you get a reduced-quality preview some of the time. With Ozone’s Master Rebalance, it’s almost as if you’re still mixing. You move a fader, and the level of the source type you selected goes up and down in real-time, seamlessly. I tested it out both on my Mac Pro and on my much slower MacBook Pro, and performance and smooth playback of the feature was the same. I’ve now tried it out on quite a few different recordings, and I’m really impressed. It is particularly useful on vocals or drums, but the bass setting works pretty well, too. I didn’t hear any degradation of the signal, even when employing extreme boosts or cuts. The algorithms are quite amazing. I did notice that when I significantly boosted the vocal level, it also pushed up a lead guitar solo that was panned to the center. But overall,

It’s simple to use; you just import a reference file and learn its target spectrum, which only takes a few seconds after you press the Capture button. Then you capture the spectrum for your song, and Ozone automatically replaces some or all of it with the reference. You can use the Amount and Smoothing sliders to increase or decrease the percentage of the reference frequency that gets imposed on your audio. It’s easier to apply than it was in previous versions and works well for what it is, but it’s not a panacea. Imposing the frequency profile from an amazing-sounding song doesn’t mean your song will then sound just like it. To me, it’s an effect that sometimes can be useful, and I’m certainly happy that iZotope has improved its friendliness by separating it into its own module.

The new Tonal Balance Control 2 includes many more genre choices.

Master Rebalance could be a timesaver for experienced mastering engineers and a miracle worker for those who don’t have the experience to address imbalances in a stereo file. FOCUSING ON THE BOTTOM Another addition is the Low End Focus module (Advanced only). It’s designed to make the bottom end of a song more or less punchy and to reduce muddiness. It exclusively processes a user-adjustable low-end frequency range, with a default range of 20 to 250 Hz. You get two sliders, one labeled Contrast and the other Gain. Contrast can be set to negative or positive values. The former smooths out low-end transients and the latter adds punch. Gain is a makeup gain to compensate for frequencies that are reduced by negative Contrast settings. You can also choose between two operating modes: Punchy or Smooth. As you might expect, Punchy is designed to be more aggressive and Smooth more subtle. A Listen button solos the frequency area being processed, which can help you choose the range and adjust the parameters. One of the many notable aspects of Ozone is that, in most of its modules, you have the option to solo just the frequency area or effect parameter you’re working on. To get a sense of the capabilities of Low End Focus, I recommend that you start by stepping through the included presets, which have names like Clean and Punchy, Center Focus, More Kick, and so forth. They’ll show you right away what the module is capable of. I would imagine that many experienced mastering engineers will prefer to make their own adjustments to the low frequencies using EQ and dynamics processing, but for everyone else, Low End Focus is an excellent addition for enhancing what’s going on at the bottom end of the audio. TWO ON A MATCH Previous versions of Ozone included a Match EQ function that you could access from inside the Equalizer module, but in version 9, iZotope has added a dedicated Match EQ module (Advanced and Standard). It’s designed to let you quickly capture a frequency spectrum from a reference track of your choice, and then impose that onto your audio, to a greater or lesser degree.

CHECK YOUR SPECTRUM Another useful addition in Ozone 9 is the inclusion of Tonal Balance Control 2 (Advanced only), a new version of the plug-in whose first version was released along with Ozone 8. You can open it in the Ozone module chain using the Plug-In module, which lets you insert outside plug-ins. It’s designed to let you compare the frequency balance of your audio to that of a reference track or one of the preset categories iZotope has included. There’s no processing involved. It’s just a way to check if the energy of your song in the Low, Low-Mid, High-Mid and High-Frequency categories is within a normal range for a particular musical style. It’s also beneficial at the end of the master bus when you’re mixing. The first version only had three preset categories—Bass Heavy, Modern and Orchestral—which were useful but lacking in specificity. In Tonal Balance 2, you can choose from 12 genre-related categories, which is a significant improvement. If you can’t find an exact genre match for your song, you can find something close. MORE FOR THE MONEY Users of Ozone Standard who upgrade to version 9 will be pleased to discover that iZotope has added three modules that were previously only in Ozone Advanced. These include Vintage EQ, Vintage Limiter and Vintage Tape. All three are quality effects that offer more “analog”sounding processing than their modern counterparts in the Ozone module collection. With those three Vintage plug-ins added, iZotope upped the maximum number of processors in the Ozone 9 Standard module chain to 12, so you have the capability to insert one of each module type. Another notable addition for all three Ozone versions is a resizable GUI. Just drag the right corner to make it larger. You can even fill up the whole screen with it if you want. According to iZotope, Ozone 9 offers faster performance than before. I can’t say I noticed that, but Ozone has always operated very smoothly. Also new in all the versions is support for Native Instruments NKS, allowing it to run inside an environment that supports that format. The latest incarnation of Ozone offers plenty of impressive new features, none more so than Master Rebalance, which makes you scratch your head in wonder and say, “How did they do this?” I also was quite impressed with the revisions of the Master Assistant and Tonal Balance Control. All three Ozone versions, but particularly Advanced and Standard, have been improved significantly and are well worth an upgrade or an outright purchase. If you can spring for it, go with the Advanced version, as it offers the most comprehensive processing options. n

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Tech // reviews IK Multimedia iLoud MTM Reference Monitors Excellent Bass Response, Stereo Imaging, Calibration in a Desktop Unit By Barry Rudolph

ased in Modena in Northern Italy since 1996, IK Multimedia has released the iLoud MTM reference monitors, which builds on the company’s smaller monitor system called the iLoud Micro Monitors introduced in 2016. Designed for project/home studios, the iLoud MTM reference monitors offer accuracy in a smaller footprint. The self-contained, powered iLoud MTM monitors are DSP-controlled and precision time-aligned; the advanced onboard processing is the product of more than 20 years of IK’s experience in digital signal processing systems. The iLoud MTMs use a tuned bass reflex port and are powered by two Class-D power amplifiers. There is a 70-watt (RMS) amp for the two custom-made polypropylene 3.5-inch midwoofers, while a 30-watt (RMS) amp powers the back-chambered, silk-dome tweeter. The tweeter is mounted in the exact center of the front panel with the mid-woofers mounted on either side. Crossover frequency is 3.1 kHz using a linear phase variable order filter. Frequency response is rated at 50 Hz to 24 kHz ±2 dB running under calibration (more later); they are capable of 103 dB SPL maximum sound pressure at 1 meter from 200 Hz up. The MTM’s rear-facing bass reflex ports are at the top of rear panel; it also doubles as a way to pick them up for portability. The cabinets are made from a blend of high-impact ABS and PC plastic and measure 264 mm (10.39 inches) tall, 160 mm deep (6.3 inches) by 130 mm (5.12 inches) wide. Each weighs 2.5 kg, or about 5.5 pounds. IK touts that these monitors have flat or linear phase response. They remain phase coherent within ±15 degrees measured from 200 Hz to 20 kHz. Phase integrity and precision is vital for reproducing the exact stereo imaging—panning, delays, and the placement of the instruments and vocals within the sound stage that the mixer/ producer has intended. REAR PANEL The crowded rear panel of MTM tells a lot about these monitors and contains all of its configuration controls. Starting at the top under the reflex port is a row of five push buttons with blue LED

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indicators. The last state of these buttons/settings is held even with AC power off. The LF Extension button is a highpass filter for shaping the low frequencies below 60 Hz, 50 Hz (default) or 40 Hz. The 100 Hz LF button toggles on/off a shelving EQ through three choices: Flat, +2 dB or -3 dB positions. The HF button is for selecting Flat, +2 dB or -3 dB from an 8 kHz shelving filter. All filters are second-order. A fourth button is called CAL/Preset and it’s dual-purpose. You may cycle through Flat (response), a Desk curve designed to ameliorate the acoustic boundary effects of desktop monitor placement, and CAL for setting up and activating an internally stored calibration curve. This is the same technology and microphone used in IK’s ARC 2.5 Advanced Room Control software. However, unlike the software system that stores any number of correction curves for any number of monitors, this version stores a single curve inside of each monitor. These monitors are for desktop use—up-close, nearfield placement. The Desk curve is shown in the manual; it has a -4 dB bell-shaped notch at 100 Hz and also a 1 dB boost at 1.8 kHz. If you hold down the CAL/Preset button for two seconds, the monitor enters the calibration mode using the included phantom-powered ARC MEMS measurement microphone. A special cable with an

PRODUCT SUMMARY COMPANY: IK Multimedia PRODUCT: iLoud MTM reference monitors WEBSITE: www.iloudmtm.com PRICE: $349.99 each, $699.99 MSRP pair; includes ARC MEM microphone PROS: Amazing sound in a compact form with loads of bass, if you want it CONS: You cannot use Desk mode and the calibration simultaneously

CALIBRATION After I set up the MEMS microphone as directed in the manual, I held the CAL/Preset button down for two seconds. The MTM begins the calibration procedure by sweeping a 20 Hz to 20 kHz tone. It takes about 20 seconds to run the calibration routine on each speaker separately, and I appreciated the “feedback” of blinking colored LEDs— confirmation that the sweeps were successful. Also thoughtful is that any rear-panel EQ/filter settings you (inadvertently) had set are not in play during calibration. After this process I started playing all kinds of different music sources and I was immediately impressed. They had solid bass and excellent XLR on one end and a mini TS on the other stereo imaging that seems to “point” out phase anomalies instantly— connects the microphone to the speaker such as phase issues that happen when using multiple microphones using a rear panel jack. on the same source. I heard tom-tom fill in a drum kit that came from Finally, the rear panel includes a behind me! Sensitivity button to toggle between +4 A quick comparison to my mains revealed that the MTMs are dBu and –10 dBv operating range, a volume The back of the IK Multimedia iLoud MTM Reference Monitors slightly boxy-sounding—an upper bass presence that is common in my control, XLR Combo audio input jack, on/ includes all connections and experience with small box speakers like Yamaha NS10Ms. I tried the off switch, an IEC AC power connector and a configuration controls. +2 dB setting on the HF section to try and help that, but Flat sounded USB connector for future firmware revision better. I’d like to try the calibration setting and the Desk mode at the downloads. same time, but that is not possible. The MTMs did present a more forward midrange sound, and that is what I wanted—a little more focus on those frequencies. OPTIONS AND SETUP I liked the MTMs with calibration running as it had better bass—I felt my desktop The IK Multimedia iLoud MTM Reference Monitors are sold in two ways: one monitor at a time or in pairs. Either way they vibrate and the air pumping out of the rear port! Using the Desk curve, I switched in include one ARC reference measurement MEMS microphone, the 40 Hz extension and the –3 dB LF setting. But I am still experimenting with this clip and cable. There are also two different bases included for configuration; it is an ongoing and continuing process for me, and I’m sure I’ll settle in setting the MTMs up vertically (as I preferred) or horizontally, with more listening time. My main reason for monitors this close is that, with the mix audio only about 32 if you want to place them on monitor stands or shelves. They also have a threaded adapter recessed in the bottom inches from each of my ears, the sound is very present and in my face. It is somewhat of the cabinet for mounting them directly atop a standard like wearing headphones except for the interaural mixing of the left and right monitors, which you don’t get with phones. So the MTMs are a sonic microscope for both phase microphone stand. The vertical setup of the MTM worked well on my minimal integrity and midrange that I look for in a second pair of small monitors to reference desktop space. I set them up on either side of my 29-inch to my mains. I was also impressed by the amount of bass these speakers deliver despite their DAW computer’s video monitor. The manual endorses the imaginary “Magic Equilateral Triangle” speaker positioning diminutive size. The bass is solid and not floppy, loose or indistinct. My control room is an acoustically treated space and well bass-trapped, and I am comfortable mixing in method to properly set them up. I had the two MTMs 32 inches apart on either side of my here. I’ve been looking for full-range, smaller monitors that I can put on my desktop and DAW screen. The listening position was in front of my desk, right where I always sit to mix music. I angled them up at 20 not block the sound coming from my mains behind them. The compact iLoud MTM degrees (max) and locked them in to aim them right at my ears. reference monitors are working for me with their super clear and powerful sound. I had the top woofer aimed a little over my head, as I found Highly recommended! n that was better when an artist or the producer was standing behind me and listening. I used output 2 of my Cranesong Avocet II monitor controller and switched the MTMs to +4 dBU and turned down the rear panel volume control to (more or less) match the volume level of my other studio monitors when switching between them using the Avocet. ACOUSTIC PRODUCTS I learned that IK auditioned several A/D/D/A clocking chip combinations and decided on an AKM AK4621 chip set running at 48 kHz/24-bit to convert incoming analog audio into digital for processing for the crossovers, filtering, time alignment, equalization, dynamics control and calibration. The processed digital audio is then converted back into analog for driving the two amplifiers. I experienced no problem with latency.

Classifieds

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Tech // back page blog Caveats on Software Updates and Using Recall Mike Levine: Mix Technology Editor, Studio

Steve La Cerra: Mix Technology Editor, Live

Before You Press That Upgrade Button…: Last month, Apple released Mac OS X 10.15 Catalina, and my Mac started bugging me to upgrade—and it can be annoyingly persistent. But for now I’ve dismissed those requests while waiting to let the developers of my music applications and plug-ins catch up. I have no desire to throw my DAW and plug-ins into potential turmoil just to get some new functionality from my OS. I like to wait at least a few months before updating, particularly because with OSX, once you’ve upgraded, it’s a major pain in the butt to revert to the previous version. When it comes to your studio, being an early adopter is a risky proposition. You could potentially find it difficult to load a session or have critical plug-ins that won’t work. It’s a crapshoot. Another rule I have for myself is never to update if I’m in the middle of a significant project. It’s not worth the risk. Most likely, you can live without whatever cool new capabilities are in the new OS—at least for a while. That said, I am looking forward to upgrading to Catalina at some point. I’m intrigued that I’ll be able to run iPad apps on it. More importantly, Apple has finally killed iTunes, which was initially a utilitarian music player, but in recent years has become a user-unfriendly, bloated piece of you-know-what. Considering that music production software is the priority on both my desktop and laptop computers, I have no plans to move to Catalina anytime soon. I’ll wait and let the music software companies catch up first. When it comes to updating your OS, patience and restraint are the watchwords to go by.

Back to the Future: Most audio engineers are familiar with the term snapshot memory, a method by which all (or at least most) of the settings of a digital console are recorded and stored for later recall. I witnessed the tail end of “analog snapshot memory” at one of my earliest gigs with Blue Öyster Cult, when I saw an engineer at a festival taking photos of the mixing desk with a Polaroid instant camera after soundcheck. The idea was that he’d be able to recall his settings after I mixed our set using the same desk. Quaint, right? I love digital desks for the recall-ability, and no one can debate the fact that when you’re at a festival sharing a desk with four bands and have 15 minutes for changeover, it’s a beautiful thing to be able to pop a USB drive into a [insert name of your favorite digital desk here] and recall a show. One of the caveats of doing so is whether or not the output routing can be “safed” from recall so that your scene doesn’t accidentally torpedo the entire system and require manual reset of silly stuff like the main output routing, or matrix routing for the delay towers and VIP feed (yikes). Some older digital desks don’t manage “safe” very well (or at all), and some of the newer ones do weird things if your show was written and saved on a desk with a certain version of firmware, or was tethered to a particular stage box configuration that’s different from that of the current system. The other day I was using a desk that I can run a show on, but don’t know well enough to configure system parameters, stage box ID and routing, etc. It’s a bit scary to load a show in such situations because the I/O in my files is almost always tied to the configuration of the previous house (i.e., it’s never the same). I always check with the systems tech to make sure they have a handle on such tasks. “If I mess this up, will you be able to fix it?”

Product of the Month — Arturia 3 Delays You’ll Actually Use: When it comes to Arturia software effects, good things seem to come in threes. Following on its previous bundles, 3 Preamps You’ll Actually Use, 3 Compressors You’ll Actually Use and 3 Filters You’ll Actually Use, the company recently released 3 Delays You’ll Actually Use. Each of the plug-ins in it provides a distinctive type of delay with lots of parameter control. Delay Tape-201 is modeled after a Roland RE-201 Space Echo and features a similar control set, including a Mode Selector that’s virtually identical to the one in the RE-201. Delay Memory Brigade is a bucket-brigade-style processor that appears to be modeled on the original Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man from 1980, an early analog delay pedal. The third plug-in, Delay Eternity, is an original Arturia design rather than a vintage-hardware emulation, and it allows you to create a vast range of delay effects. All the delays provide stereo, ping-pong and M/S modes on stereo instantiations.

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Product of the Month — Whirlwind Cab Driver: Here’s a really useful device from our friends at Whirlwind USA. The Cab Driver is a compact (4.75 W x 4.5 D x 2.5 H inches) device that can be used to test the operation of speaker components within a loudspeaker. An onboard pink noise generator with a small power amplifier can be routed to an assortment of speaker connectors, including Speakon NL8 and NL4, 1/4-inch TS and banana jacks. Four pushbutton switches can be used to perform a DC Ohms Test function to measure the DC resistance of the connected circuit. Three LEDs indicate approximate ranges of 4, 8 or 16 Ohms, and help identify blown drivers in cabinets where the cones cannot be readily observed or in cabinets with multiple drivers in series-parallel configurations. The Cab Driver can be run via four AA batteries or from an external 6 VDC power supply (not included). n

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