PSN Europe 90 October 2019

October 2019

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Welcome to Iceland Exploring one of the most unique recording destinations on Earth

Live depends on us “Rivage is dependable, flexible, powerful and sounds amazing!”

Terry ‘TJ’ Jackson - FOH Engineer, Earth, Wind & Fire

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Perfecting The Art of Live Sound #43006 - PM Terry TJ Jackson strip ad.indd 1

16/09/2019 13:37

P3 OCTOBER 2019 www.psneurope.com • Twitter.com/PSNEurope • Facebook.com/ProSoundNewsEurope • Instagram.com/PSNEurope EDITORIAL Editor: Daniel Gumble daniel.gumble@futurenet.com • +44 (0)203 871 7371 Staff Writer: Fiona Hope McDowall fiona.hopedowall@futurenet.com • +44 (0)798 3168221

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DANIEL GUMBLE

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T

he month of September has traditionally been one of the busier months in the year here at PSNEurope, but the past few weeks feel like they’ve been a little more frenetic than usual.

We’ve had the annual IBC and PLASA shows, as well as - on the night before going to press, no less - one of the most exciting Mercury Prize ceremonies of all time. Each of these events are comprehensively covered over the course of this issue. We have Kevin Hilton’s IBC report from the Amsterdam exhibition floor on p11, while in our back page interview, PLASA managing director Peter Heath reveals why he believes this year’s outing was the best of his tenure so far.

Plus, producer extraordinaire Fraser T Smith has penned an exclusive piece for PSNEurope on the recording and production processes that saw grime star Dave scoop the coveted 2019 Mercury Prize with his outstanding debut album Psychodrama.

We also have an interview with the wonderful Anna Calvi about the making of her third album Hunter, for which she too received a Mercury nomination.

Then, there is the small matter of our trip to

Iceland. Despite its rugged landscape and a population of less than 350,000, the country is home to some of the most impressive recording studios you’ll find on the planet, combining breathtaking vistas with world class facilities.

Many of these I was able - and grateful - to see and experience for myself, and it’s easy to see why those at the heart of Iceland’s music industry are keen to overhaul its image as a hidden gem to that of a major recording destination. You can read our full report on p21.

Elsewhere, I caught up with the founders of Women In Live Music (WILM) about the amazing work they are doing to make the live audio industry a better and more inclusive place, while Fiona Hope gets the lowdown from Genelec on the latest additions to their hugely successful The Ones monitor series.

On top of that, we have a detailed report on the sound at this year’s Proms, Phil Ward catches up with Martin Audio’s Dom Harter, mastering engineer Katie Tavini speaks to producer Romesh Dodangoda about the importance of community in pro audio, plus a whole lot more to boot.

See you in November. n

Chief executive Zillah Byng-Thorne Non-executive chairman Richard Huntingford Chief financial officer Penny Ladkin-Brand Tel +44 (0)1225 442 244

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the dialogue noise suppressor that anyone can use CINEMA AUDIO SOCIETY

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P4 OCTOBER 2019

In this issue...

People P9

Movers and Shakers Find out who the newest members of the pro audio industry are

P31 No Man’s Land Singer/songwriter Frank Turner and producer Catherine Marks discuss the sonic journey of Turner’s latest album, No Man’s Land P46 Change of pace We catch up with Metropolis Studios’ new studio manager, Emma Townsend, about her career to date and the future of Metropolis

P17 INSIDE THE 2019 PROMS AUDIO SPECIALISTS GIVE INSIGHT INTO THE CLASSICAL FESTIVAL

Report P11 New at IBC Kevin Hilton reports back from this year’s IBC show on the major product launches to take the show floor P41 Meet The Ones PSNEuope attends Genelec’s highly-anticipated ‘The Ones’ launch, coming face to face with the new members of the family

P21 RECORD IN ICELAND WITNESS THE WEALTH OF ICELAND’S RECORDING OPPORTUNITIES IN THIS PSNEUROPE EXCLUSIVE

Interviews P36 Anna Calvi

Daniel Gumble hears from Calvi about the production of her emphatic Mercury prize-nominated album Hunter P48 Dan Cox

Phil Ward chats to producer, mixer and engineer Cox about his commercial studios, Urchin Studios

P38 PSYCHODRAMA PRODUCER FRASER T SMITH TALKS THE MAKING OF DAVE’S MERCURY PRIZE-NOMINATED ALBUM PSYCHODRAMA

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xxxxxx n wwwww

State of independence Phil Ward catches up with Martin Audio managing director Dominic Harter, who tells us why business is booming a year on from the company’s 2018 management buyout by LDC…

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I

n March 2016, Dominic Harter became managing director of Martin Audio, one of the UK’s most historic pro audio brands and one that figures alongside Soundcraft and Turbosound in all of those potted timelines that show long-haired pioneers in some corner of a field that is forever Glastonbury. Later on, the timelines reveal a lot of corporate acquisition and consolidation, but now? Things are changing.

In fact, Harter has worked for all three of those legacy-drenched brands, and came to Martin Audio with considerable experience in the effects on brand equity, one way or another, of corporate ownership. A management buyout from Loud Audio followed two years later, heralding a return to what could be seen as the founding spirit of the marque that launched a thousand guitar solos.

“It was pretty much on the agenda from the start,” he says. “In fairness to the management at Loud, they knew Martin Audio needed fixing and that it probably couldn’t be done from 5,000 miles away. They were very fond of it, but Loud was very centralised and there was competition in house. I much prefer the structure we have now.”

Martin’s bank That structure places Martin Audio under the complete control of Harter and his management team, given that this now includes two investment directors from Lloyd’s Development Capital (LDC), the private equity arm of Lloyds Banking Group that backed the buyout to the tune of £12m. The results are in.

“We grew over 20 per cent last year and we should do the same this year,” states Harter, “and we can thank

P00 P7 MONTH OCTOBER 2019 2019

Martin Audio's open day in full swing

our new City of London partners in large measure for that burst of energy. Over the last four years the company has turned what, frankly, was a decline into very healthy growth, and on a personal level I’m proud of that because there isn’t a great deal of pro loudspeaker manufacturing left in the UK. Even 10 years ago the landscape was rather different and, with all the turbulent press around at the moment, to have a British export business doing so well is quite good news.”

For mature global businesses, the more insightful economic correspondents say, it’s the uncertainty rather than the final consequences of a deal, no deal or even no Brexit that are doing the most long-term harm.

Individual crises and changes can be ridden out, but the kind of prevarication that the UK has seen for over three years simply prevents constructive planning and demands interim and fire-fighting contingencies instead.

As such a global business, especially one with fresh investment and a nice blue sky to think against, Martin Audio knows this only too well.

“It’s true, from our point of view,” says Harter. “To give you an idea: in the run up to March 29, we’d bought a huge number of speaker drivers we didn’t need yet; we’d arranged a third-party warehouse in Belgium, and we didn’t ship anything to it. Now, we’re doing the same thing: we’ve bought an awful lot of stuff just in case and it may turn out that we didn’t need to. It’s an annoyance that just adds to the upheaval of leaving the world of Loud, ironically: this place was owned by them for a decade, so we’ve had a massively transitional year-anda-half anyway.”

But the original business plan instigated by Harter remains more or less as it was in 2016. “The basic

principles are the same,” he reveals. “What LDC did was allow us the bandwidth to get on with it but also to make a clean break from the Loud infrastructure – by which I mean expensive processes like getting all the computer systems off the Loud ERP software and setting up new accounts. We were the London office of an American company, but we were able to show LDC that we were putting the brand back together and the business was doing the numbers.”

The cornerstone of that business plan, according to Harter, is “running Martin Audio for Martin Audio”. The quoted turnover is now around £20m, not including the North American business, and the staff figure 80, so with the company’s flagship Multicellular Loudspeaker Array (MLA) system winning admirers around the world it would seem that the engine room was always perfectly well stoked. It just needed new hands on the wheel.

“MLA is a powered loudspeaker solution, which is great for touring,” Harter expands. “But the market for fixed installation needs passive speakers, so we developed Wavefront Precision using MLA technology so both touring and install get the full benefits of the optimisation. That’s easier said than done, of course, but it’s where the growth is. Our analysis of the brand revealed that it has swung between the two, from the big touring rigs of Dave Martin’s day to the install focus of David Bissett-Powell, and then back to touring with MLA. What it hasn’t done before is fairly weigh up which markets it wants to be in; which ones people expect us to be in; and our product life cycles in those markets. We can, in fact, adapt this amazing technology to all of these sectors and satisfy everybody – and it boils down to the level of granularity needed: a DSP per driver; per box; or

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per two to three boxes. The automation involved makes it an attractive proposition for busy AV technicians.”

Spatial arrangements Speaking of granularity, Martin Audio’s strategy regarding immersive audio, so far, has been to become one of potentially several partners of Dutch pioneer Astro Spatial Audio in some groundbreaking projects.

It’s the economical way, it’s on the right scale, and it exploits MLA’s a priori fitness for processing. “Bjorn [van Munster, Astro founder] is a great guy to work with,” Harter observes, “and there are 26 patents in there, so we need him! We’ve focused on improving our optimisation technology, without any further distractions.

But immersive audio is going to require more sources, and that’s of interest to us – although it may not be loudspeaker manufacturing, or even live sound, that pushes this forward. I think the console brands and the playback-orientated installation sector are both going to have a big say.”

Meanwhile, Martin Audio’s factory open days have become important fixtures on the calendar, reflecting the renewed focus on the brand, its heritage and its identity.

“We make things out of wood that are big and heavy, and if you can’t listen to them it kind of defeats the object. We do them twice a year in the UK and the US, and it’s in the factory so our visitors can meet the staff and watch the processes that go into the whole range.

“Brands have a soul and a culture. If you wipe enough of that out you’re just left with a name. It’s not all about consolidating around the largest businesses. The professional sound system market is about solutions and relationships – always was, and always will be.” n

P9 OCTOBER 2019

Movers and shakers Stay in the loop with the latest job appointments and movements in the professional audio industry...

MODE Audio appoints Mike Enoch as VP of international business development In this role, Enoch will be responsible for increasing global sales efforts with a focus on building distributor and dealer networks worldwide. An industry veteran, Enoch has had roles in venue management, event promotion, production, and talent buying for such companies as AEG and Live Nation. He has managed several large facilities including the Mercedes Benz Arena, Amway Center, the Thomas & Mack Center, and the Coors Amphitheater.

Enoch described his new position as a challenge

and a career-defining opportunity. “This company presents me with many unique opportunities including developing new product offerings and expanding our distribution network. My experience has shown me that it’s not just about hearing the music at a given production, it’s how patrons’ expectations can be realised and then exceeded. My background with venues gives me a unique perspective which I intend to leverage toward the continued success of MODE Audio products.”

MY EXPERIENCE HAS SHOWN ME THAT IT'S NOT JUST ABOUT HEARING THE MUSIC AT A PRODUCTION, IT'S ABOUT HOW PATRONS' EXPECTATIONS CAN BE REALISED

MIKE ENOCH

d&b makes Anna Kovyza

Wisebuddah hires Adam

Audio evolution recruits

country manager for Russia

Mart as managing director

Peter Russell as audio

of studio operations

project manager

Kovyza’s appointment marks the first step towards d&b opening a new office in Russia before the end of the year. Kovyza will be based in Moscow and will focus on developing d&b sales in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). She will work closely with Aris Pro, the Russian distributor of the d&b range, to increase brand awareness and demand both in mobile and installation segments.

“The Eastern European region and in particular Russia are important markets for d&b audiotechnik. With Anna Kovyza we are preparing for the next phase of growth in these markets,” said d&b’s CEO Amnon Harman. “Anna’s appointment is part of our strategic growth plan to build strong teams across the globe and being close to our partners and customers with sales and service expertise by d&b.”

Adam Mart has joined Wisebuddah – an award-winning content production company – from the BBC, where he was senior technical producer, BBC Network Radio.

Mart has been involved in managing the operational and technical aspects of business critical studio services and environments for companies such as BBC local and network radio since 2001.

Adam Mart said: “After having spent nearly 20 years working amongst some of the world’s best creative and technical minds in audio, it’s an honour to join Wisebuddah Studios and to help develop their consistent reputation for delivering high-productionvalue, world-class content.

Global clients trust the talent at Wisebuddah Studios to help them unite the voices of storytellers with audiences everywhere. I’m excited to get started.”

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Audio evolution, global audio specialists for the corporate and special events sectors and recently launched sistercompany to pixl evolution, has appointed the experienced Peter Russell to the position of audio project manager.

During a 20 year career with another major supplier, Russell worked on a host of musical theatre tours, as well as project managing events for blue-chip global clients across the UK, European and US markets.

Russell said: “I was looking for a new challenge and to take a fresh look at audio, so this chance to get involved in boutique, high-end corporate provision was perfectly timed.

Everything is quality driven, attention to detail is paramount and the sheer variety of projects coming into audio evolution is very exciting. I’m looking forward to helping establish the company as a major player in the sector.”

P11 OCTOBER 2019

IP, AI and ML: Initials abound at IBC 2019 New technologies are demanding new approaches from audio manufacturers. With a lot to see in a short space of time, Kevin Hilton dashed round the Amsterdam RAI and highlights some of the major launches in the areas of audio over IP, mixing and microphones...

T

here was a time when, somewhat bizarrely given their interdependence from TV and film, audio and video were almost represented separately at the International Broadcasting Convention (IBC). That situation has changed considerably in recent years and while most sound-oriented companies are still concentrated in Hall 8, the two disciplines are now either sharing more core technologies - IP and IT connectivity - or are providing features for burgeoning areas such as 4k, 8k, immersive production, voice control and virtual and augmented realities (VR/AR).

The big buzz words at this year's show were artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). These two were on banners outside the halls and at the heart of a lot of technology to be found on stands inside. Much of this was on the visuals side; although AL/ML has been used to create new audio processing algorithms for repair programmes and voice and instrument isolation features for mixing software, many of the key companies are targeting the music sector and were not at IBC. A company that has been using AI/ML since 2012 and did make it to Amsterdam was CEDAR Audio. The company's DNS 8D Live multi-channel and DNS 2 portable dialogue noise suppressors both feature ML in how they deal with removing extraneous noises from recordings. CEDAR Audio's big launch for IBC 2019 was the DNS 8, which the company was at pains to point out was not just another version of the original DNS 8 Live with modified ins and outs but a new product offering specific functionality for broadcasters, as well as other audio professionals.

In designing the new product, CEDAR says it has combined the key parts of the ML and audio processing used in the DNS 8D Live and DNS 2. While CEDAR initially downplayed its use of ML, partly because in its early days the technology was more associated with audio finger printing, it is heavily promoting the fact that the eight-channel DNS 8 is its first Dante product. The new unit incorporates an interface for the audio over

Ethernet/IP format, together with an AES3 port. Dante on the DNS 8 can be used in redundant mode for crucial connection, while AES3 also has an audio by-pass setting for fail-safe operation.

CEDAR describes Dante as the 'de facto' networking system for Ethernet and audio over IP (AoIP) connections. While there is also the RAVENNA AoIP format, designed more specifically for the broadcast market, and the AES67 interconnectivity standard, it seems Dante is being increasingly adopted for broadcasting as well as the live applications it was aimed at initially.

Sonifex went with RAVENNA/AES67 for its first range of AoIP mix monitors, mix engine interfaces and intercom boxes. Managing director Marcus Brooke

said during the show that while the company will keep going with RAVENNA/AES67, its R&D focus will be more on Dante in the future, including for replacing the established Redbox range. The first units in the new Dante line include the AVN-CU2-DANTE commentary units for two commentators and the AVN-CU4-DANTE for four commentators. These feature both AoIP and four-wire connectivity and a mix engine that overlays the Dante Controller. Also new is the DIO range of audiophile interfaces, so named because they are D(ante) IOs but also because Brooke is a fan of the late heavy metal singer Ronnie James Dio. A manufacturer of similarly useful interface, commentary and intercom boxes is Glensound, which opted for Dante from the start of its AoIP development.

IBC 2019 in its Amsterdam setting

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P13 OCTOBER 2019

The company has made something of a departure with its big introduction, the Divine IP monitor loudspeaker.

Shown in prototype form last year, this is intended as an alternative to the near-standard Fostex small speaker found in rack rooms, OB trucks and studios.

This can take four inputs over a single cable from a Dante network; a small display on the back shows the various settings, including low frequency cut and priority switching. Also new are scaled down versions of existing products, including the MiniFerno single commentator unit and the Xpress IP Mini, intended as a level-entry two commentator box.

Audinate, the company behind Dante, launched a Virtual Soundcard, designed to turn any computer into a Dante endpoint for network audio. Running on any virtual Windows system using Type-1 hypervisors, it creates a WDM or ASIP audio interface that enables audio software to send and receive up to 64 channels of audio over a 1Gbps network to Dante-equipped AV endpoints. There was also an update for Dante Domain Manager, including support for SMPTE ST 2110 (the recently published standards for professional media over managed IP networks) compatible equipment, and an updater feature for Dante Controller.

Intercom developer RTS announced its compliance with ST 2110 during IBC and that its IP products are able to communicate with any IP technology formats.

The ODIN digital intercom matrix can handle a total of 128 channels of Dante/AES67 and up to 16 channels of RVON compatible AoIP, plus analogue connections. RTS products also support SMPTE 2110-30 for audio, which has its basis in AES67. The company's new KP series of keypanels is compatible with 2110, Dante and the OMNEO networking protocol.

RAVENNA announced that several manufacturers were launching new products featuring the AoIP protocol. As might be expected, Lawo was prominent on the list, introducing the PowerCore MAX AES67 mix engine. This is designed as a gateway between older audio formats and new IP media networking standards; it is housed in a 1U rack unit and features integral DSP. Lawo also introduced the AES67 Stream Monitor, additions to the A_Line range of WAN AoIP nodes and the Xtra Fader version of its mc²96 production console.

Other new RAVENNA gear included Qbit's Q880STREAM multi-channel internet radio streaming encoder, Qbit-DVB audio encoder for digital TV broadcast, which also has AES67, Dante and MADI capability and QUARION RAVENNA interface range, able to link AES3 and analogue signals to RAVENNA/AES67 networks; RTW's latest versions of its TouchMonitors, the TM7 and TM9, which join Dante-compatible models of the same units; and the DirectOut RAVENNA/AES67 OEM module, which can be built into third party products.

Mixing consoles are now increasingly either IP-based

Shure's TwinPlex on show

or IP-compatible. Stage Tec gave a wider showing to the recently launched AVATUS desk, which is able to connect to the company's NEXUS network over IP circuits.

Scene automation is now available for the console, which is seen as a particular benefit in live and theatre work. SSL moved to a modular IP infrastructure for its mixing products with the System T and at IBC gave a European showing to the smaller format version, the S500m. This comes in a flight case package for OB and flyaway system productions. Another major feature of the SSL stand during the show was demonstrations of Next Generation Audio operations, with examples of the MPEG-H 3D audio mix used for this year's Eurovision Song Contest.

The big draw on the Telos Alliance stand was the Axia Quasar desk, the sixth-generation of the company's AoIP technology. This is a large-format radio board but can also be used for TV work, offering 64 stereo input channels and loudness metering on all outputs. Like Axia, Wheatstone has its own AoIP technology and this features on the Strata live broadcast desk. This has 32 physical faders but by the implementation of a two layer configuration it can offer 64-faders. The Strata was launched at NAB and while the US is the main market initially, it is also aimed at Europe, for which a stage box has been added.

Other highlights around the show included the latest addition to Clear-Com's family of intercom systems and a variety of new microphones from some of the leading manufacturers. The Clear-Com FreeSpeak

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Edge is a wireless comms system with a new chip set and is designed for the 5GHz frequency band. Although not based on previous Clear-Com products, it is able to connect with other units in the company's ranges through a digital matrix. It also offers AoIP connectivity via AES67.

Sennheiser continued to expand its range of wireless mics with the starter level XS range. Based on 2.4GHz, this is aimed at audio for productions shot on digital SLR (single lens reflex) and DSLM (digital single lens mirrorless) cameras. Sennheiser also extended its AMBEO immersive microphone partnership for virtual reality work with portable recorder manufacturer Zoom.

After last year's big broadcast launch with the subminiature 6000 series of lavalier and head-worn mics, DPA went a bit more traditional with the 2028 vocal mic.

Aimed at the live performance sector, this is reassuringly solid in the hand mic that is priced for the working musician/band market rather than for rental companies.

Shure introduced a challenger to the 6000 series, without saying that's what it was doing. The TwinPlex range also features sub-miniature lavalier and miniboom mics. While not as small as the DPAs, they are smaller than previous Shure products and have been designed to be rugged and long-lasting. Features include hard-wearing cables that come in different colours, as do the capsules.

A quick dash through a big show with a lot to see on the audio side but that's a clear indication sound is holding its own at IBC. n

P14 OCTOBER 2019

Making Women In Live Music is an online hub providing networking and employment opportunities for women in the live music industry.

Daniel Gumble spoke to co-founders Malle Kaas and Hannah Brodrick about the impact it's having on the sector…

S

ince its formation in 2018, Women In Live Music (WILM) has been working tirelessly to make the live music business a more diverse and inclusive place for women across Europe.

The non-profit online hub has attracted around 2,500 members to date, connecting women with just about every conceivable role there is in the biz, from sound engineers, stage managers and backliners, to riggers, tour managers and lighting designers.

In addition to the networking and employment opportunities on offer, members can also capitalise on educational seminars and workshops held all over the continent, designed to equip them with the knowledge and skills required to develop in their careers. To find out more about the organisation's work so far and its hopes for the future, PSNEurope editor Daniel Gumble spoke to live sound engineers and WILM founders Malle Kaas and Hannah Brodrick…

How did you first meet? Tells us a little bit about your backgrounds.

Hannah Brodrick: We met whilst Malle was doing the Britannia Row Advanced Live Sound course in London. I had taken the course a few months earlier and was working in the warehouse.

Malle Kaas: Yes, I was already involved organising live sound workshops when we met at Brit Row in 2014, and from that day on we started to do the events together.

What led you to launch WILM? HB: Women only make up a small percentage of the music industry. Some women have never even worked with other women. So as you can imagine, meeting a female colleague would only happen on rare occasions (and still does). We wanted to create a platform where the women could find each other, network and share opportunities.

MK: By launching WILM we were able to create a platform for women working in all different parts of the live music industry, like female merch sellers, truck drivers, tour managers etc. and technicians of course. Simultaneously, we wanted to make our female co-workers more visible, so we created a Crew List on our website, where festivals, rental companies and artists can easily find qualified female crew members from all over Europe.

What is the purpose of WILM? HB: To bring together women, inspire them, and give them the confidence to succeed in the live music industry through friendship and mentorship.

MK: We can see that having a community like WILM helps to keep women in the industry for longer.

At the same time we want to give newcomers a more comfortable and secure start, which we are trying to achieve through a programme we have called ‘Safe Learning Environment”. Here, we arrange workshops, for instance Intro To Live Sound, executed by women, for women. We see a significant change in the participants when they get lectured by another woman, they are a lot more engaged and less afraid of asking questions.

How has the platform developed since its launch?

HB: We now have a very active Facebook group with nearly 2,500 members, a great working website with a merchandise shop, and are becoming widely recognised. Everyone has been so supportive and a lot of manufacturers and trade shows have taken interest and asked us to hold workshops and panel discussions.

MK: We have also been approached by a couple of festivals who want to bring in more diversity to

Malle Kaas

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changes

P15 OCTOBER 2019

their stage crew. By now we have already had some successful collaborations, and we would be happy to collaborate on more projects with the established parts of the live music industry to help increase diversity backstage.

What are the biggest challenges the industry faces in becoming more inclusive?

HB: I think the competitive nature of the industry means that people are often unwilling to help each other out. I’ve noticed with other online industry groups, people seem more eager to put each other down than share their skills and work opportunities. A lot of people are scared of someone else taking their job.

MK: The whole ‘let’s get more women in the industry’ approach can seem intimidating to our male co-workers. But WILM is not telling men to move over and give women some space. Our main focus is to provide our female co-workers with the right skills to be able to do a good job by sharing knowledge and expertise.

What are the key things you have learned since launching the platform?

HB: It varies vastly between countries. We have a lot of members from Scandinavian countries but very little from mediterranean ones. Culture plays a huge part. With our new chapter in the Balkans, we hope to make a difference in this part of Europe as well.

MK: We have learned how much it means for women to have a community to lean on in order to stay in the industry longer. It doesn’t help to get a lot of young women interested in the industry if we can’t hold on to them. We can see that initiatives like WILM really help them to stay in the industry even though it can still be tough to be the only woman in the crew over and over again. Through our community, they see hope for having other female co-workers.

What impact has WILM had since its launch? What has the feedback been like?

MK: The feedback has been tremendous. Lots of positive feedback from co-workers, unions, organisations and festivals from all over Europe. People do want to see more diversity, and you can tell that they appreciate the work we do to bring female crew members closer to the industry. I really believe that the way we run WILM has a positive impact on the industry. We insist on a nice and relaxed tone in the community, and I think this is why WILM has been as well received as it has.

What measures can be taken to make the pro audio industry a more inclusive place, from employers and professionals, to the media and education providers?

HB: Inclusive language plays an important part. It’s a minor thing but using gender neutral terms instead of ‘sound guy’ helps to shift the image of it only being men who work in audio. We can also do more to increase female visibility; women need to see other women doing these jobs.

MK: Education providers, from primary schools to universities, could definitely do a better job at showing ‘women can do this too’. As for the industry, WILM works with manufacturers like Rational Acoustics and d&b audiotechnik to encourage more women to attend technical training. We also work with Allen & Heath to help provide a group of female dLive trainers.

Have you seen any significant changes in attitudes in recent years?

HB: More people are open to having others shadow them on their gigs - I think we may have started a trend! Employers and crew bookers actively want to have women on their team too. I’ve noticed that everybody is also much less tolerant to sexist behaviour.

MK: I think it will still take a while for people to get used to seeing women on their tech teams. And it will probably take another couple of generations for people (both men and women) to understand that a woman can be in charge of sound - and that she can actually troubleshoot as well as her male co-workers. There is no need to call for assistance, just because you see a woman behind the mixing board. n https://womeninlivemusic.eu

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HannahBrodrick

PXX MONTH 2017

THE PROMS:

A TEST OF TEAMWORK

With its frenetic schedule and hugely varied ensembles, the iconic classical music festival makes seamless collaboration between the audio teams obligatory, writes David Davies‌

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P00 P18 OCTOBER MONTH 2019

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ven with such a prestigious history to reflect upon, the 2019 edition of the BBC Proms looks certain to be one to remember. Not only did it play host to a characteristically dazzling programme – from Sir Simon Rattle conducting the London Symphony Orchestra and a 300-strong choir in a performance of William Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast, to Jules Buckley and the Metropole Orkest presiding over an elaborate tribute to Nina Simone – it also marked the 150th anniversary of the birth of its inspirational founder/conductor, Sir Henry Wood.

Following the structure established many years ago, the radio audio was again overseen by BBC Radio. Audio for the 25 (out of 75) televised Proms was delivered by The Sound Alliance, whilst live sound in the primary host venue, London’s Royal Albert Hall, and elsewhere, was masterminded by DeltaLive.

Back-to-back events and a calendar densely packed with rehearsals mean that effective scheduling and cooperation are vital. Fortunately, as DeltaLive account director Stephen Hughes observes, “there is a constant dialogue between the sound teams – we all talk all of the time and attend the same meetings. Given the complexity of the Proms, it really wouldn’t work if there were any kind of ego trips involved…”

‘Bespoke television sound’ Co-owner of The Sound Alliance with Matthew Charles, Andy Payne is a stalwart of the Proms’ TV production.

Having worked on the event as a BBC employee for many years, he and Charles established The Sound Alliance in 2014 when the broadcaster decided to sell off a large chunk of its OB operations. Basing their business around a former BBC OB truck known as Master Sound, they have subsequently established a significant presence in UK music TV production, undertaking a huge amount of “BBC-centric work” including the Proms and Glastonbury, as well as projects for the likes of Sky Arts and Scottish Opera.

Payne, who estimates that he mixed TV audio for about 60 per cent of this year’s Proms, says that there are “now two key aspects to providing a bespoke television sound balance. The first of those is that the television delivery for HD is in 5.1, as opposed to regular stereo. This means that viewers with a multichannel set-up will be able to enjoy the full effect, while those with a soundbar will also have the feeling of the sound enveloping them. But whilst it’s all very well producing a lovely surround mix, delivery to the home means the 5.1 Dolby stream has to be mixed down into stereo as most consumers are still experiencing it that way. The mixdown that happens in the set-top-box or TV itself has to result in a stereo mix that has proper integrity.”

The other primary requirement is a growing recognition of the “aesthetic difference” that exists between expectations of the radio and TV sound. “To a

IT'S A HUGE LOGISTICAL EXERCISE IN TERMS OF THE EQUIPMENT, AS WELL AS CREATING AND BEING ABLE TO MANAGE THE SOUND DESIGN FOR ALL THE PROMS IN ADVANCE AND MAKING SURE YOU ARE READY EVERY TIME STEPHEN HUGHES, DELTALIVE ACCOUNT DIRECTOR

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greater extent, you need to reflect what is being seen by the cameras,” says Payne. “For example, you might have a camera close-up of an oboe solo or another individual instrument. There’s not much point doing that if the solo itself cannot be heard clearly. The sound has to sit in comfortable relation to the shot, hence the TV balance tends to be different to a regular, straight music balance.”

The current 5.1 microphone array configuration comprises Schoeps microphones and was arrived at “after a lengthy period of testing out different solutions.

The nature of the ensembles we have to deal with ranges considerably, from a huge symphony orchestra with a 300-piece choir to a small chamber group. To allow for this and the fact that it’s impractical to relocate microphones once the season is up and running, three alternative array options are rigged."

Indeed, the hugely varied nature of the Proms means that it is very difficult to talk about a ‘normal day’ in the life of the TV audio team. At the time of his conversation

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30-40 Proms each season that “require some level of amplification – be it spot amplification [for soloists] or to give certain sections a lift – is to enhance the authenticity of what is being performed on stage.”

As sound technology has evolved, so has its ability to convey the natural characteristics of acoustic instruments – and, increasingly, their spatial relationship to the room and its audience. This is revealed in the recent adoption for the Proms season of an L-Acoustics L-ISA Immersive Hyperreal Sound system, which this year comprise a flown PA system of five 15 KARA scene arrays, two 12 KARA extension arrays and four KS28 subs; flown outfills of four KARA and eight KIVA-II per side; choir fills of five KARA per side; and frontfills of four X8, 2 X12 and 4 SB18 subs.

Hughes is effusive about the L-Acoustics system, observing that it possesses a “great ability to give a very

London Contemporary Orchestra at BBC Proms

with PSNEurope, the memory of the Rattle/LSO Walton Prom was fresh in the mind. “We were looking at about 80 microphones in play, including about 20 suspended over the choir and the organ,” says Payne. But it was not the most technically demanding event of the year, with the Buckley/Metropole Orkest Nina Simone Prom – which involved numerous guest performers – requiring the team to mastermind “about 130 sources… it was a very big production”.

As well as Schoeps, DPA and Sennheiser microphones play an important role in the current Sound Alliance Proms inventory. The company can also share BBC Radio microphone feeds via MADI – “and sometimes they use our microphones too”. The TV audio is mixed on the Stagetec CANTUS console in the Master Sound mobile, although Payne anticipates that the vintage desk will be upgraded to an AURUS in the near-future.

Summing up some of the unique challenges of

working on the Proms, Payne remarks that “every event is really a production in itself. The basic outline for a concert may be there weeks or months before, but it may only come together in the days preceding the event.

It often means there are changes right up to the last minute so you have to be very responsive, but [working on the Proms] is a hugely rewarding experience.”

‘Enhancing the authenticity’ With its responsibility to deliver all of the live audio in the hall for the BBC Proms, DeltaLive has a unique and ongoing challenge to negotiate given the classical music world’s fraught relationship to amplification. “The Proms audience is very discerning and has high expectations,” says Hughes. “Also, amplification is antithetical to some concerts, while to some extent it could be said that the conductor is the sound engineer and it’s their job to know if the woodwinds are loud enough.”

Hence, the primary duty of the DeltaLive team for the

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real ‘naturalness’, which makes it ideal for classical music. In fact, we recently had a rehearsal in which a few people asked about the PA, but when it was turned off they were stunned because they had not realised anything was being amplified. One of the great benefits of the L-ISA system is that it allows you to configure the system in a way that preserves the sense of what you are hearing in the hall.”

Monitors are also drawn from the L-Acoustics range, namely X12s, X8s and 5XTs. Mix world is dominated by DiGiCo equipment, with an SD5 handling FOH and an SD5/10/7 provided for monitoring. Microphones are made up of a variety of brands such as DPA, Neumann, Schoeps, AKG and Shure, while Shure Axient is the chosen radio mic system.

Like Payne, Hughes emphasises the quick turnarounds that are part and parcel of the Proms. In the space of one afternoon it’s by no means uncommon to “be rehearsing for one Prom in RAH whilst doing an afternoon event at the [nearby] Royal College of Music, along with an educational session. It’s a huge logistical exercise in terms of the equipment, as well as creating and being able to manage the sound design for all the Proms in advance and making sure you are ready every time. And there are always last minute challenges.”

But there are also many, many moments of wonder that suggest it is one of the sweetest gigs in the music world. “The Scott Walker Prom in 2017 with Jules Buckley and the Heritage Orchestra is one that immediately springs to mind,” says Hughes. “I went into the production not really knowing Scott’s work at all, but pretty soon I had fallen in love with his music and I now regard the concert as one of the highlights of my mixing career. Hearing Susanne Sundfør perform ‘The Amorous Humphrey Plugg’ was a particular highlight, but it was phenomenal all-round. Every year there are those moments where it strikes you that this is some of the most incredible music you can find, brilliantly performed and put together.” n

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DAWN OF THE ICE AGE Despite boasting a dazzling array of world class studios, Iceland remains something of an undiscovered gem as a recording destination - a reputation the Icelandic government is trying to change via its Record In Iceland initiative, which offers artists a 25 per cent discount on the cost of recording. PSNEurope editor Daniel Gumble donned his winter jacket and flew north to find out more and visit some of the country’s finest facilities...

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Ever Green: Greenhouse Studios founder Valgeir Sigurdsson

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'm not sure he's welcome here,” laughs Sigtryggur ‘Siggi’ Baldursson, the man behind Iceland Music’s Record In Iceland campaign, minutes after PSNEurope’s arrival in Reykjavik. “I think a protest is being held later today.” Fortunately, his words are not directed at me, but Donald Trump’s right hand man Mike Pence, whose arrival in the capital just so happens to coincide with ours. A major protest in the city has indeed been coordinated, with extreme security measures meaning that several roads have been closed; the flurry of rainbow flags lining the streets crystalising much of the city's rejection of the US vice president’s far right values.

We're here for a tour of the country's leading recording studios, and our extended journey time, as we drive from the city’s central bus station to downtown Reykjavik, gives us a chance to discuss the work being done to raise awareness of Iceland's unique recording pedigree. Though its entire population totals a mere 340,000 (according to Eurostat figures), the variety of top class recording facilities in Iceland’s possession could rival that of cities and countries 10 times as densely populated - a message the nation’s Ministry of Industry and Innovation is keen to spread. In order to achieve this it has released funding for export office Iceland Music and its Record In Iceland initiative, which offers artists a 25 per cent discount on the cost of recording at any of its participating studios, many of which we’ll be visiting over the coming days.

For the past decade or so, Iceland’s studio sector has been in good health - a number of new facilities have opened up, while pre-existing studios have seen demand for their services rise. Yet there is a sense that it remains something of a hidden gem as a recording destination - a reputation that the Ministry is seeking to change. Not to dilute any of its mystical allure, but to raise its profile as a hub of musical excellence that extends beyond the likes of Björk and Sigur Rós.

Central to this mission, aside from promoting its fabulous recording services, is reframing the commonly held perception of Iceland as being too expensive a place to make music. To dig into the finer details of the initiative, the Ministry’s Erna Jónsdóttir agreed to meet us for coffee at Reykjavik’s iconic Harpa concert hall.

“The thought process behind Record In Iceland came out of lobbying from people from the music industry, especially because we have a similar system for the movie business,” she explains. “They had argued for years that something similar should be done for music.”

Essentially, the 25 per cent reimbursement is open to both domestic and international artists and can be applied to the combined costs of both studio fees and travel. According to Jónsdóttir it’s a straightforward enough process, and while the benefits for artists are substantial, the initiative also presents a lucrative prospect for the studios in question. “The application is quite simple and people need to understand that it isn’t too much work to apply, considering the money you can save,” she adds. "And it’s a business opportunity for the studios. They have advantages over a lot of other studios in the world [with the natural beauty and proximity to the city and the country]. Plus, the studio rates in Iceland are relatively low. It’s all about getting the word out.”

Jónsdóttir's point about the scheme serving as a business opportunity for studios is a pertinent one. As we discover first-hand through our conversations with some of the most influential producers and studio managers in the country, there is something of a reticence to describe their operations as businesses. For many, the mention of profits and new business generation is almost taboo. The focus is squarely on passion projects and providing everyone involved with an unforgettable and unique experience.

Without exception, the studios and studio owners we visit on our trip offer incredibly high spec services, many replete with luxurious accommodation for client residencies and

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breathtaking natural beauty unlike anything else on earth. Perhaps the Ministry would welcome a little more in the way of proactive marketing on their behalf, but to tamper with the humble, organic approach to growth that underpins so many of these spaces would be to tear the fabric that makes them so special.

WE GET PEOPLE FROM ALL OVER BECAUSE THEY ARE CURIOUS ABOUT THE COUNTRY. EVERY TIME YOU GO TO A SPECIAL PLACE YOU ARE ABLE TO ABSORB SOME OF THE CULTURE. IT FEEDS INTO WHAT YOU'RE WORKING ON VALGEIR SIGURDSSON, GREENHOUSE STUDIOS

Renaissance man: Guðmundur Kristinn Jónsson

THE GREENHOUSE The first stop on our studio tour is the Greenhouse, a beautiful residential studio located a 10 minute car ride outside of downtown Reykjavik run by composer and producer Valgeir Sigurdsson. Founded in 1997, the Greenhouse is also home to Sigurdsson's own record label Bedroom Community, which launched in 2007. The studio’s largest room, Studio A, is centred on an SSL AWS900 console, with the intimate Studio B featuring a Neve Kelso desk. The 60m2 live room doubles as its Studio C, a customisable production room built around a core system ‘with the ability to tailor the setup according to each project’s needs’.

“I founded the studio mainly as a creative space for my own projects,” the softly spoken Sigurdsson says as we settle down in Studio A. “I started looking for a more permanent place - it was just in an industrial space before - and I discovered that this area had a row of houses built as artist workshops with family living spaces. I was interested in combining the living/work spaces and to have a space that was not just one or the other. It’s constantly been changing over the last 20 years to the needs of how we work.”

According to Sigurdsson, the flexibility and open-mindedness of Iceland’s musical community makes it a perfect location for overseas artists.

“In the early days of the label there was a cross-pollination happening between genres - classical people were getting involved with indie projects and the walls were coming down in terms of styles and who you work with,” he elaborates. “I’ve always found that people in Iceland are open to anything - they might be in three or four different bands all playing different kinds of music. That’s to do with the size of the place - if you’re narrow-minded you’re going to be stuck in a corner.

“Also, Iceland is very different to most places. It’s very isolated but still close to Europe and the US. We get people from all over because they are curious about the country. Every time you go to a special place you haven’t been to before you are able to absorb some of the culture. That automatically feeds into what you’re working on.”

As for the Record In Iceland campaign, Sigurdsson is very much behind it: “It’s a super positive thing to encourage people to come here, because people have the idea that Iceland is very expensive. So if you give them a 25 per cent discount it will make them think about it. If people come here for a day, what do they notice? They might notice the price of the beer and they go home with that story and it spreads the myth that everything is very expensive. The studios are reasonably priced compared to most places, because you have the advantage of a very small community of musicians - you’re easily connected to the musical world here. You have good access to everything.”

HLJÓÐRITI STUDIOS From the Greenhouse we head to Hljóðriti Studios, one of Iceland’s oldest recording studios. Located on an industrial estate just outside of Reykjavik, its exterior offers little indication as to the treasure trove of recording gear and instruments that lie within. Designed by John Storyk, the studio pioneer behind New York’s iconic Electric Lady Studios, Hljóðriti is the closest we see to a vintage rock’n’roll studio during our stay. While most of the facilities we visit are based around a clean, homely design suggestive of understated luxury, here we find exposed brickwork, battered wooden floors, rooms spilling over with ancient looking effects boxes and corridors lined with album covers from the likes of Willy Nelson, Johnny Cash and Bruce Springsteen.

There’s a hustle and bustle in every room - a session is taking place in the main control room and an engineer is busy at work with a soldering iron in the studio's onsite repair shop.

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And the winner is... Oscar winner Markéta Irglová

“The studio still sounds like a ‘70s studio,” Guðmundur Kristinn Jónsson, the studio manager and guitarist/producer for Icelandic singer songwriter Ásgeir, tells us.

“There’s a leak between everything that I really like. I call it the glue in the mix.”

Jónsson has played a pivotal role in reversing Hljóðriti’s fortunes in recent years.

Though currently thriving, it was forced to close for business towards the end of the ‘90s, its ubiquity until that point rendering it somewhat passé amongst local artists.

The building continued to operate as a rehearsal studio, but it took some time before finding its feet again as an in-demand recording destination.

“In the ‘70s, everybody recorded here,” Jónsson explains. “But then, because every band was recording in the same studio, Icelandic musicians got tired of the Hljóðriti sound; it was the same group of musicians playing on every album. Then it closed down for 10 years and I opened it again in 2007. In 2012, when Ásgeir sold 30,000 copies of his debut album - that’s 10 per cent of the population here - we were described by Billboard as the newest sound from Iceland. Then I got all this feedback from the old guys who used to work here saying they couldn’t believe the old Hljóðriti sound would be the hippest thing again!”

So how did he manage to turn things around? He picks up the story: “I’d been running a studio in Keflavik and decided to move to Reykjavik, and needed a place to work here. This was one of my favourite studios and I heard they were thinking of closing it down and turning it into something else, so they gave me a few months to see if I could bring it back to life. I started working here and managed to work on a lot of hit albums, including with Ásgeir. And CDs were still selling then, so there was money coming in.”

As was the case when he re-opened the studio 12 years ago, Jónsson is predominantly using the studio for his own projects and only renting out its services to others when he’s out on the road with one of his many bands. That said, he does believe that the appetite for recording studios across the country is on the up, and that Record In Iceland is an ideal way of encouraging people to make the most of its considerable assets.

“It’s really important to let people know about this, because it’s so easy to record in Iceland,” he says. “I’ve recorded all over the world and the thing here is that if you need a string section or horns, everything is so close - you can get people in 10 minutes and they’ll be amazing. If I want to do a session with really good players I can do it tomorrow morning. Everyone knows everybody. And it’s the same with getting in producers and engineers.”

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Masterful: Masterkey's Mio in the Masterkey mixing room

IT SHOULD NEVER BE ABOUT THE MONEY. WE BOTH MISSED THE TIMES WHEN YOU WERE INVOLVED IN A PROJECT FROM THE BEGINNING AND BY THE END EVERYONE INVOLVED IS TRANSFORMED MARKÉTA IRGLOVÁ, MASTERKEY STUDIOS

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MASTERKEY STUDIOS If the Icelandic institution of Hljóðriti represents the weathered and wizened face of nearly four decades of rock’n’roll excess, then the next stop on our tour could be described as its younger, fresh-faced counterpart. Launched a little over 18 months ago by Czech Oscar winning composer, producer and actress Markéta Irglová (she won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for ‘Falling Slowly’ in the film Once) and her partner Mio (brother of Greenhouse founder Valgeir Siggurdson), Masterkey is one of Iceland’s newest studios. In many ways it feels more like a comfortable home than one of the nation’s premier recording locations. As you enter the front door an immaculate lounge-like space opens up immediately to the left, boasting, in addition to a gleaming Steinway & Sons grand piano, a jaw-dropping view of the ocean and the mountains beyond. It’s a grey and misty morning when we arrive, but it’s still enough to lift the hairs on the back of one’s neck. There’s plenty more to see onsite too, including a high-spec mixing room next door, a large kitchen and dining area, and downstairs a writing room, a meditation space and even a sauna - although Milo informs us that for now it’s just being used for recording booming percussive sounds, thumping the walls by way of demonstration.

Every inch of Masterkey has been designed to evoke a calm and focused state of mind. Each and every project the pair has taken on has been carefully selected, ruling out anything with which they feel unable to establish a deep emotional connection.

“We have a lot of projects that we’re working on between us; we like the idea of having it for that purpose, rather than running it as a commercial studio,” Markéta tells us as we sit at the foot of the kitchen’s long dining table. “The intention was always to run it this way. We would never accept projects we didn’t connect with or believe we can add something to. We really believe it should never be about the money. We felt like we both missed the times when you were involved in a project and got to experience it from beginning to end, where you nurture it to completion and by the end everyone involved is transformed. That’s my favourite part of the process, the feeling of your creative spirit entwining with the spirits of the people you’re working with.”

The spiritual aspect of their work is a deep and real one; when Markéta says it should never be about the money, she means it. Mio also reveals that they will not accept work they cannot bond with, even if that means turning down potentially lucrative sessions. However, while they will not open their doors for just anybody, they are both happy to be part of the Record In Iceland campaign.

“It is quite unique here,” Markéta continues. “People are a lot less career orientated and more interested in becoming really good at their craft. Iceland has so much to offer, both on a visual level and with the musical scope that exists here. The musicians are world class. All I needed to say is, I’d really like some strings here, and I’m one phone call away from getting amazing people into the studio. It’s a very culturally rich place, especially considering there are only 300,000 people here. For me that’s good; I’m not a big city person but I like having culture and music around, so Reykjavik is a great place for that.”

After Markéta departs to run an errand elsewhere, we pick up the subject of Masterkey’s passion over profit strategy with Mio. “For me, working here feels like a more personal experience,” he tells us. “Studios in London and New York are run on a profit basis, you have a very set schedule. If you go over your time you have to pay extra. We’ve never done that. Maybe we’re not business orientated enough to be able to think of our studios as a place that can also make money! I can’t speak for anyone else, but I know that we’re comfortable with having low rates and taking on projects we’re interested in doing. There are certain types of music I won’t work on because I can’t contribute to it. That helps a lot with being genuine towards people that are coming, because they know I’m not doing it for the money.”

A vital ingredient in the magic that makes Masterkey such a unique prospect is the relationship between Mio and Markéta. When Mio describes how the two met there is

crackle in the air that one can almost reach out and touch.

“It’s amazing, I feel like I’m the luckiest person in the world, getting to do what I’m doing with whom I’m doing it,” he beams. “Markéta is an incredible person in every sense. We met in the studio; she came to Iceland to work on her second solo album. I was the engineer and we really connected through music. I really wanted to create an environment where everyone felt good and could give their best performance. Once we’d finished tracking the band, they were due to leave the next day and I asked her if she wanted to stay to sing on a couple of songs I was doing with another artist. She said she’d love to have some more time here and during that time we just fell head over heels in love. It was so incredible.”

SINFONIANORD One of the most successful areas of the music industry in Iceland is orchestral music and film/TV scores, boosted in no small part by the boom in film and TV productions capitalising on its beautiful and sometimes brutal natural scenery. Based in Akureyri, Iceland’s second largest city, SinfoniaNord has been building a reputation as one of the nation’s leading facilities for scores of this kind. Launched in 2014 by revered producers and composers Þorvaldur Bjarni Þorvaldsson and Atli Örvarsson, it has worked with companies including Disney, Netflix, BBC and the History Channel.

“I tried different studios in Reykjavik, which were good but weren’t quite built for the sound you’re looking for for film scores and symphony orchestras,” says Þorvaldsson, explaining how he became involved with Sinfonia as we meet in the lobby of a Reykjavik hotel. “Then I went to Akureyri and it was incredible. Because of Atli’s connections we were able to start work right away, and our second project was a film called The Perfect Guy, which was a blockbuster in America in 2015. Because of that, other people trusted us and came to record with us, like Trevor Morris for the Vikings show and we did The Informer show, as well as some wildlife and children’s series.”

Our conversation follows a familiar path as we broach the subject of publicity and finding new business, although SinfoniaNord is starting to spread word of its services to the west coast of America. “For the first two years we didn’t advertise at all,” he states. “We serviced Atli’s projects and word of mouth started, so others came and it was only in the spring that we launched a web page. We had a PR guy in LA promote this to the industry over there. We also had a meeting in LA with the people from

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Masterful: Masterkey's Mio in the Masterkey mixing room

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Record In Iceland. There were some producers and composers who came to meet us, so I could show them the new website and we had a lot of people asking for quotes. It’s like a snowball. But also, you can’t really predict anything in this business.

Suddenly you have three films on the go and then you have two months of nothing.”

So while there are certainly big opportunities for studios like SinfoniaNord, what are the biggest challenges? “Getting the work and letting people know that this is here,” Þorvaldsson says. “If you’re a composer in the US and you’re thinking about where to go, you'll think of London, perhaps. In Iceland we have high wages compared to the rest of the world, so the service is quite expensive. So we have to find a middle ground between the cheaper Eastern European studios and places like London and LA. We seem to have found that through initiatives like Record In Iceland, because once you take that 25 per cent off you can compete.”

STUDIO SILO As with SinfoniaNord, the distance of Studio Silo from Reykjavik renders a trip to the site impossible. An eight-hour drive from the capital, its location is as spectacular as it gets, situated amidst ocean and mountains and at least a one-hour car journey from the nearest traces of civilisation. It is also (we think) the newest studio to open in Iceland. To find out more about it, we’ve arranged a phone call with its Irish studio manager and house engineer Vinny Wood.

“Studio Silo is the result of my dream since I was a teenager to build and run a professional studio,” he explains. “After five years of building, myself and my wife opened it this June. I’m very focused on analogue recording, so the studio offers a completely analogue recording process if one wishes to use that, or a mixture of digital and analogue technology. We offer a professionally designed space, which is spread across five rooms. It’s in a beautiful location, so it offers lots of nice things for people to come and see.”

On the decision to relocate from his native Ireland, Wood continues: “In 2014, me and my wife were trying to decide where we could go to build a studio. Then the opportunity arose to come here and build a studio in a space without having to pay rent. It was a very low cost option but it involved massive amounts of work - we built it ourselves without taking a huge loan or anything like that.

“We opened in June this year and the response from the Icelandic music industry has been phenomenal. There has been a lot of anticipation. We’ve been in the national news and there are very few musicians I meet who aren’t aware of the studio. We’ve had a lot of interest and we have a number of bookings coming up.”

The decision to provide analogue recording services appears to have provided Studio Silo with something of a USP. “I think I’ve coincidentally managed to fill a gap in the recording sector here," Wood adds. "Some of the studios do have analogue equipment but they aren’t focused on it and they certainly don’t encourage it. With our set up, we encourage it but we don’t push it. There are some projects where I’ve purposely not used analogue, things that require a lot of editing. But I do think it’s a big selling point because we’re the only studio that specialises in it and I have the knowledge to keep it all running.”

As for Record In Iceland, Wood believes the campaign is vital in raising the country’s musical profile on the world stage.“It’s a great opportunity for artists and studios,” he comments. “I think within a few days of spreading the word I had a number of inquiries. I was spreading the word here but also in Ireland and I already have a booking pencilled in for March next year. It’s very important for us as we’re very remote. We’re in a very picturesque part of the country. It’s peaceful, the village only has 170 people. We can offer a very special experience.”

SYRLAND STUDIO Among Iceland’s most versatile studios is Reykjavik’s Syrland Studio. Having hosted sessions from Icelandic giants Björk and Sigur Rós to Blur and Iceland’s Symphony Orchestra, it is able to cater for projects of all shapes and sizes. Indeed, it claims to

On the beat: Sigtryggur 'Siggi' Baldursson

house Iceland’s largest recording room, measuring up at L15xW12xH7 metres. In addition to music recording, it offers post production, local language dubbing, training, mobile recording and various other services.

However, Sveinn Kjartansson, owner and chief engineer at Syrland, concurs with many of his fellow studio owners that what sets Iceland’s studios apart from the rest of the world is not the equipment or the rooms, but something far less tangible.

“Iceland is very remote and peaceful and its nature is without comparison, filling artists with inspiration and allowing them to relax in a non-aggressive environment,” Kjartansson states. “Reykjavik is very much a modern city but with rustic benefits; it takes no more than 30 minutes to get from a world class restaurant in downtown Reykjavík to the peaceful nature surrounding the city. People in Iceland speak English fluently, which makes working here comfortable and easy.

“Also, Iceland has the largest number of musicians per capita in the world by far.

Music is a very integral part of Icelandic society and the need to create music and get it out there is a catalyst for people opening up recording studios.”

For Kjartansson, the Record In Iceland project is not only an effective way of cutting the cost of recording for musicians, but also provides an opportunity to showcase the country’s considerable musical prowess outside of the usual names connected to its music scene. “It's a very exciting idea to get people from all over the world to work on their music in Iceland,” he continues. “We are proud of what we do here and really love to work with people to help them realise their vision in any way we can. The project is a great stepping stone towards introducing Iceland as a great option for helping music come to life. Iceland is better known in music circles for its musical legacy with such musicians as Björk, Mezzoforte, Sigur Rós, Hildur Guðnadóttir, Jóhann Jóhannsson and more, rather than its recording studios. That makes this project even more exciting to take part in.”

On our final night in the city, Siggi treats PSNEurope to a night out at a local jazz festival. We meet several musicians and local music fans, all of whom appear to work in some form of creative capacity, whether or not it’s their main source of income.

With every subsequent bar visit after the show, it feels like everyone we encounter is either a musician, a photographer, a writer or some other form of artist.

As we stumble home it’s impossible not to feel inspired, with the message from everyone we’ve met during our stay that music here is never for money and always for love ringing loud and clear. Iceland may never be able to attract the kind of numbers that pass through LA, London and New York, but that will always be its greatest strength. n

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THROUGH THE T PRISM Long-standing digital developer Prism Sound has passed on its audio and post-production products division to Audio Squadron and formed Spectral Measurement to handle its test and measurement activities. Kevin Hilton talks to co-founder Graham Boswell about the reasons for this and how he sees the future for both sectors‌

Graham Boswell (left) and Ian Dennis (right)

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he big question that all people running small businesses have to ask themselves at some point is, "what is my exit strategy?" There is the realisation that they cannot go on running a company indefinitely as they get older and a decision has to be made regarding its future. Some are in the fortunate position of having children who are willing to take over; others do not have this option and so either have to sell the venture or shut it down.

The founders of interface, digital audio workstation (DAW) and tests and measurement (T&M) developer Prism Sound are now at the point where they have been considering this issue, one that was complicated by having several sides to the business, not all of which potential buyers might want to take on as a single entity. Which is why it was decided to split the operation in two, hiving off the music and post-production products to another company and maintaining the T&M side while at the same time pondering what to do when the time to retire finally came.

Under the new arrangement announced in May, Prism Sound's T&M division has been relaunched and renamed as Spectral Measurement. Prism's music and post production operation, which includes the SADiE DAW and full selection of interfacing and conversion products, has been bought by US company Tracktion Software Corporation. This range is now marketed under the umbrella name of Audio Squadron, although the Prism brands will still be used as part of this new grouping.

Prism Sound and SADiE products are seen as complementing Tracktion's hardware and virtual synthesisers, DAW app and A-D/D-A units and the product development experience of 2JW Design, all of which makes up Audio Squadron. James Woodburn, co-founder and chief executive of Tracktion, commented at the time of the deal that it gave "the best of both worlds for Tracktion, 2JW Design, Prism Sound and SADiE. Whilst we remain independent we can more easily work together to bring renewed focus to the delivery of the highest quality audio products."

The co-founders of Prism Sound, managing director Graham Boswell and technical director Ian Dennis, retain a financial interest in Prism/SADiE, with Dennis also continuing to be involved in some product development. Boswell and Dennis first worked together at one of the most historically important names in British mixing consoles and processing units, Neve Electronics.

When the pair met in 1981, Rupert Neve, founder of the company, was looking increasingly at digital signal processing (DSP), which was still in its early days. Boswell and Dennis worked on digital audio technology and product development, although they were not involved in the project that ultimately produced the first digital recording and mastering console on the market, the Neve DSP.

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"One of the first things I realised when I started working in this field was that all the converters and DSPs were rubbish," comments Boswell. "But Ian and I could see DSP improving rapidly, with more RAM making them faster and the converter more intractable."

In those pioneering days at Neve, Boswell and Dennis, along with their colleagues also involved in DSP development, had to build processors from the basic elements available in the computer industry because convenient, off-the-shelf chips did not exist.

After this grounding, Boswell and Dennis decided to go out on their own as digital audio consultants. In 1987 they set up Prism Sound to provide research and development support for not just the audio market but other sectors as well, including marine radar.

Sound work included early hard disk recorders, digital loudspeaker controllers for PA systems and the DEQ2400 automated four-band parametric digital EQ, used as an outboard unit for the Neve DTC-1 digital transfer desk.

Prism moved into producing its own products in 1993. This was on the back of an FFT analyser with DSP capability that Ian Dennis originally designed for the BBC. Other early items included an AES interface card and a range of A-D and D-A converters that found favour in recording and re-mastering music for compact disc.

As product development and manufacture became the core of Prism Sound's business, Boswell and Dennis realised they needed equipment that would ensure the components they were using and the devices they produced were performing to specification.

"So that's how we started out with two sides to the company," Boswell explains. "One led to the other because we saw it was necessary to have something to measure with." A particular driver in this area was the emergence of the AES/EBU digital audio interface, which made it necessary to test the digital bearer signal to check that transmission quality was acceptable. To perform this task Prism Sound produced the DAW-1 AES/EBU interface analyser; another significant T&M launch was the dScope Series III audio analyser, which appeared in 2002.

Prism Sound made its first acquisition in 2008 when it bought the British DAW manufacturer SADiE. This brand started out in the early 1990s and established itself in radio production work, although it is also used for music recording. In addition to taking over the company, Prism Sound also relocated into SADiE's building in Stretham, Cambridgeshire.

The close relationship - and interdependence - between the music, post production, converter and interface manufacturing side and the T&M side of Prism Sound always posed a problem for its owners when they pondered the idea of selling the company at some point.

"We started to think about how many more years we would be doing this," comments Boswell. "I'm going to be 62 this year and Ian and I have been thinking about retirement. But we saw that passing on a business with two disparate elements might be difficult because in the past people have been interested in either one or the other but not both."

Boswell continues that because the two divisions "grew out of the same embryo", it seemed a difficult proposition to separate them.

"We're attached to both but we knew we had to find a way ahead beyond our own retirement," he says. "The two had to be separated to hand on the two parts of the business because it makes no sense for them to continue to be joined at the hip."

The solution to this tricky problem came when Boswell and Dennis

started talking to the team that now oversees Audio Squadron. "We found them an interesting bunch of people," Boswell says. "Julian Storer [who developed the original Tracktion workstation] and the others are kindred spirits in a sense. Ian and I also have a vested interest in them being successful because we have financial interests in Audio Squadron and Ian is consulting to them as well as Spectral Measurement."

Boswell views today as "still an exciting time" for the audio and music products market. "It's a period of great change for the whole industry," he says. "More people are making music and there are more devices to reproduce it on. There have also been a lot of changes in the software business, with piracy on the one hand and on the other the whole market getting used to the subscription model of using programmes instead of paying a flat fee for each release. But the type of products Prism Sound is producing are now being appreciated by a wider audience. My daughter is an actress and uses the Lyra USB audio interface as part of a set up to record voice pieces. The people she sends the results to comment on how well done they are, which shows they care about quality."

As for T&M, Boswell says this sometimes overlooked but vital part of the audio chain follows the changes in the rest of the media product business. "We're seeing a huge explosion in the number of devices that play music or sound," he comments. "There are great challenges in the way things in the pro audio space are dealt with.

It's not about connecting boxes together as much as it used to be, although a lot of people are still using vintage equipment. But there are a lot of utility products around, such as Bluetooth loudspeakers and we are experiencing the rise of artificial intelligence and voice recognition. So there is a need to test the synthesis algorithms being used to capture voice accurately."

The recently launched Spectral Measurement has introduced a new range of PC-based measurement systems, the dScopeM1 range. The company is also representing Hill Acoustics' line of loudspeaker test enclosures, which have been designed to obviate the need for big, expensive anechoic chambers.

Boswell's specialism will continue to be T&M, which he still finds a compelling area: "Testing can be quite a technically challenging business to be in. But we've got the expertise to take it forward and it's important for me to focus on that.

Ultimately we want to see both sides [Spectral Measurement and Audio Squadron] develop their own specialist expertise in the market and the disciplines themselves so they become independent of us." n

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P00 MONTH Dynamic duo: 2019 Frank Turner and Catherine Marks at Assault & Battery Studios

HISTORY LESSONS Polarising listeners like never before, Frank Turner’s eighth album has proved to be his most divisive work to date, as he tells the stories of women he believes have been overlooked by history.

It’s also his most sonically diverse and ambitious. Daniel Gumble sat down with the artist and award-winning producer Catherine Marks for a journey into No Man’s Land...

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t’s been five days since the release of Frank Turner’s eighth album No Man’s Land when PSNEurope meets the singer/songwriter and the album’s awardwinning producer Catherine Marks (The Big Moon, The Amazons, St Vincent) at London’s Assault & Battery Studios. Run as a joint venture between studio pioneers Alan Moulder and Flood, it is one of the city’s premium facilities, a world class sonic playground for some of the biggest names in the business. Recorded here earlier this year, No Man’s Land joins a raft of acclaimed albums to come out of the studio of late, with Interpol, Royal Blood, Brandon Flowers, Foals and many others all having made use of its services.

We’re greeted by Moulder and a pair of excitable but well-behaved greyhounds upon our arrival, as Marks offers us a seat while we wait for Turner to arrive. He’s

heading straight to the studio from a delayed flight. It gives us time to have a brief solo chat with Marks about initial reactions to the record.

“It looks like it’s going to go straight into the Top 3,” she says, “but some of the reviews haven’t even mentioned the music, they’ve been really personal...”

Two days later the record does indeed debut at No.3 on the official UK albums chart, but the big talking point has been the vitriolic response from some particularly on social media - towards the album’s subject matter, or rather, Turner’s treatment of it. For the uninitiated, No Man's Land tells the stories of various women whose lives he believes have been overlooked throughout history, ranging from rock’n’roll pioneer Sister Rosetta Tharpe, to New York jazz patron Pannonica de Koenigswarter and a suspected Camden

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Town witch named Jinny Bingham, to name a few. An accompanying podcast has been released to provide additional context to the album, while Turner’s band The Sleeping Souls have been replaced by an all-female line-up of musicians. Accusations of mansplaining and condescension have been voiced by some, while others have leapt to his defence, highlighting the importance of men being able to discuss representations of women.

Still, Marks is typically bright and enthused, as is Turner when he arrives, showing little sign of fatigue despite an intensive travelling schedule. The pair’s easy rapport is immediately evident. Both are clearly proud of No Man’s Land and Turner seems amiable and happy to discuss criticism of the album, but the air bristles when he talks about some of the insults that have been thrown his way on social media.

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we learned things from the previous songs that had been recorded.”

“One of my favourite moments was on a song called ‘Perfect Wife’,” Turner elaborates, “which I was going to do just as vocals and guitar. Then Holly, who was playing drums, joined in. Catherine went nuts and essentially built a kit out of scrap, like drum cases and bits of metal, and we ended up cutting that song as a live take. It was completely different to how I thought it would sound. I’m becoming drawn to arrangements that have fewer, but stronger, elements. One of the records we talked about was Is This Desire? by PJ Harvey. There’s one bassline, one piano line, one guitar line and a vocal, and each element is individually very strong.”

“That made mixing it very easy, and it also helps that [Frank’s] a very good player,” Marks notes. “Before, if a player wasn’t necessarily that competent or fresh and we had to be quick, I’d use other instrumentation to support them. But when you have a really good player, that part can be out and proud by itself.”

Responding, Turner beams: “This is something I haven’t said to you before, but you have greatly increased my confidence as a guitar player. I’ve come out of this record thinking I’m possibly an average guitar player rather than a below average guitar player!”

“It’s what I do, mate,” she smiles back.

The role of the producer He may have eight albums to his name, but Turner has never worked with the same producer twice.

“Some bands use the same producer on every album, I’ve never used the same producer twice… yet,” he laughs. “When I made Tape Deck Heart with Rich Costey I wanted to go down the bombastic major label producer route; for Positive Songs For Negative People Butch Walker’s job was essentially to keep the record label out of the studio. In this instance, I was looking for an ally. I needed someone who had the skill set, but the personal connection was the most important part, and we had that straight away.”

Marks agrees, highlighting just how greatly the definition of the term ‘producer’ can vary from one artist to the next. “I’ve just done a record - not Frank’s - where the process was so different to anything I’ve experienced before,” she says. “I was sent a vocal and a piano part and I had to build the song around that. That’s still production, but my favourite part of the job is being in the room with the artist, creating that chemistry, being their support and facilitator. I also love eking out different sonics and reacting to what’s happening in the moment.”

Given that Marks had been working mostly with new artists, was the process of creating that artistic chemistry with a more experienced musician an easier

Frank Turner

Photo: Ben Morse

“That’s just Twitter - people taking it upon themselves to be outraged on other people’s behalves,” he says, taking a seat. “There are intelligent questions to be asked and I’m always up for a good faith debate, but Twitter is a hate factory. There’s an in-built incentive towards disconsolate rage.”

We’ll revisit the subject later. The primary reason for our visit today is to discuss the production of No Man’s Land, an album which stands musically and sonically apart from much of Turner’s previous work. In the past, he has bobbed and weaved between punk and folk.

This time, it’s the latter that features most prominently, complemented by elements of rock and jazz, making for his most melodic and musically diverse collection of songs yet. It’s an album that’s been a long time in the making, and one that Turner says has been pivotal in helping him explore new artistic ground.

“I wrote this record before [previous record] Be More Kind,” he tells us. “The previous two albums were personal, confessional records, and I wanted to try a different approach. I started writing history storytelling songs and after I had a few in the can I realised they were all about women. That seemed interesting, and there was an implicit politics in the fact that I was trying to tell stories I don’t think are told enough. I was thinking about producers, and the optics of two men sitting in a windowless room for a month recording songs about women didn’t feel smart. So I started thinking about women who produce records, and the first name that came up was Catherine Marks.”

So what did she think when she first heard about the album's concept?

“I knew Frank was interested in doing an album and building a podcast around it; I hadn’t heard any music but had heard that he was pretty awesome,” Marks adds, addressing Turner. “Everyone I spoke to said you were ridiculously talented and very prolific. I’d been working with very young artists, so was interested in working with someone who has the level of experience that I do.

Then we got on the phone and he explained in better detail what the record was about. He asked if I minded being involved in this project and I said, 'No, not at all'.

“Then I heard the demos and one of the things I was drawn to was the quality of his voice, so irrespective of what the songs were about, he had a beautiful voice that was presented in a more intimate way than I had heard in his music before.”

When Turner and Marks finally entered the studio together, the core of the album had already been written, but there was still plenty of room for collaboration in bringing the songs to life.

“There was no pre-production in the way I would usually work with a band, where we’d look at arrangements and parts,” explains Marks. “Frank had written a blueprint for the songs and had a very clear idea of the instrumentation, which directed what the aesthetic would be. But as the project moved forward

Photo Credit: Paul Harries

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Catherine Marks

or more difficult process?

“This was the easiest record I’ve ever made, because it was so enjoyable,” she says emphatically. “[Frank] has this childlike love of history; it’s like you’re driving into this Jurassic Park of history, with your hands on the window. That’s really infectious. There was so much love and joy that went into making this record.

“One of the challenges I find sometimes is getting the artist to do stuff; they just want it to be fun and to muck around, but it’s a lot of work and we have to work to time frames. With this, every day was fun and we were achieving so much so quickly.”

Another defining aspect of No Man’s Land was Turner’s decision to recruit an all-female band. “If you work with the same musicians on every record you can achieve a level of harmony or tightness which is quite hard to cheat, but you can get into musical cul-de-sacs, and a big part of the idea for this was to not work with those guys for one record,” he says. “It allowed me to be more holistic, to be in charge of everything. And it felt great. There were moments where I missed my boys, but for the most part it was refreshing and exciting.”

Marks also played a pivotal role in coaxing Turner into a position that was more vulnerable and markedly less guarded than usual in the studio. “[Catherine] was adamant I had to tell her a story

when I was doing my vocal takes,” he continues. “That’s a great example of the intangible stuff a producer does with the artist; just throwing in a suggestion like that completely reshaped the way I was performing. We started using scratch (guide) vocals as the finished takes. There was one song where she made me redo a couple of lines for the scratch vocals. I was like, 'Why do we need to do that? And suddenly I was like, I see what you’re doing!' But it worked so well, and it sounds like what it is, which is someone telling you a story in an intimate way.”

The response Inevitably, we return to the controversy surrounding the record’s release. Fans of Turner have largely stood in staunch support of the album, while some of the more negative reviews have ranged in tone from mild disapproval to personal condemnation. He’s also been the subject of some vicious trolling on social media.

None of this, he claims, has surprised him.

“It hasn’t surprised me because I’m a grown up who’s used the Internet,” he deadpans. “There are intelligent questions to be asked about this. I thought a lot about the politics of what and how I was writing, not only with regard to gender but also that these are real people. I wanted to be respectful, sensitive and intelligent, while

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also trying to find an emotional core to each song.”

“I thought a lot of the negativity was personal, not about the music,” Marks adds, before asking Turner, “Do you think if you’d released this as just a set of songs you’d have had the same reaction?"

“It’d probably have flown under that radar a lot more,” he responds. “But I’m a songwriter and it’s important that the songs survive without the podcasts and the history lessons. At the same time there is a didactic angle to this album and it is cool to talk about history and get this into the open. I didn’t want to hide what I was trying to do.

"The accusation from the ‘haters’ that winds me up most is that I didn’t think about the implications of what I was doing. I think about my songs more than anything else. I’ve been thinking about these songs for four fucking years,” his easygoing demeanour becoming spikier by the second. “Of course I've thought about it.

People might disagree with my take or think I could have done it better, and that’s legit and I’ll have that discussion, but the idea I wasn’t thoughtful going into it is insulting.”

Though the personal attacks on Twitter can be more easily dismissed, there are indeed legitimate questions to be asked about a project in which the real life stories of women are written and spoken by a man. Has Turner been been able to understand and engage with any such questions or criticisms?

“Yes, definitely,” he nods. “The first press release announcing the album could have been presented better. And one of the things I thought about a lot was that I wanted to present the record with myself being as much a student as a teacher. I didn’t want it to be me just telling people how it is. I mention in the podcast that no one has ever written a book about Dora Hand, then someone emailed me to inform me that someone has, so I shared it out. I want it to be an ongoing process.

“There are fans who have been aggressively defensive of me - which is very sweet of them - but in a very smart way,” he continues. “They've put together a blog called Tales From Wo-Fans Land, with posts about female historical figures. It’s exactly the kind of thing I was hoping might come from this; people using it as a leaping off point and taking more account of the imbalance in the way that history has been recorded.”

Whatever one’s view of No Man’s Land, it is clearly the product of a labour of love, and Marks and Turner’s pride in it is palpable. And one does sense that Turner is genuinely willing to engage with critics and participate in debate with those who find the record problematic. It’s an album that will continue to polarise, but regardless of its politics, they both ultimately want No Man’s Land to be treated first and foremost as a collection of songs. “I really pushed myself, musically and lyrically,” a defiant Turner signs off. “There is a whole load on this record I’ve never done before. To be able to say that on your eighth record is pretty cool, and I’m proud of it.” n

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Everything’s under Control

This month, mastering engineer and PSNEurope columnist Katie Tavini interviews acclaimed producer Romesh Dodangoda about the importance of community in the pro audio industry‌

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P35 OCTOBER 2019

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f you regularly read my column, you’ll have probably realised that I’m obsessed with community. As an industry made up of freelancers who quite often are surrounded by family and friends that don’t really understand what they do for a living, it can be pretty isolating. This is why I’m a huge fan of getting involved with the pro audio community - sharing ideas, meeting up for beers and just generally making friends.

When Romesh Dodangoda created a group on Facebook full of genuinely lovely audio engineers and producers, I was totally on board. And there’s no gear bragging and putting other people down like certain other online communities for audio peeps…

Romesh’s Control Room community has been growing rapidly since the beginning of the year, and it’s easy to see why. Regular question and answer sessions with people at the top of their game, mix competitions with incredible prizes, and discount codes for most brands you can think of, plus the fact that the community here is absolutely rock solid with actual genuine advice and support, makes it pretty much a pro audio worker’s dream. So, obviously I had to chat to Romesh for some more info…

Hey Romesh! Your Control Room community has grown so rapidly since you started the group. What made you start it in the first place?

I was getting lots of questions about production and mixing over various social networks and I thought there must be a better way to get people that are interested together into one place where I could help a lot of people at once. I would always get questions like "how did you get this guitar sound?” or "what was the processing on the vocal on this track?" And I thought it would be great to actually create something where everyone who was interested could get this information together.

Was starting this group something you'd been planning for a while, or was it more spur of the moment?

It is something I had thought about doing for years but I was never sure how it would take off. I'm so overwhelmed at the response and it's been amazing to have so many pros in there, so it's no longer just about me. I’m really glad we’ve turned it into a platform where there are so many top producers and mixers discussing their ways of working.

One of my favourite things about Control Room is the Q&A sessions with the pros and the amount of support and advice you get from other members. Audio forums are usually not this positive - how did you manage to create such a great vibe?

I think it’s because of the way everyone is spoken to. One thing I really can’t stand in a lot of forums is the way some people talk down to people with less experience. It really doesn’t create an encouraging environment. Even the pros in Control Room talk to people wanting to learn in a respectful way and that really makes the vibe so amazing.

I think it's incredible that you do regular mix competitions, allowing members to download stems that you've personally recorded. The last mix competition you ran was with Lower Than Atlantis, with Mike Duce as the judge. How do you even go about making that happen?

I’m constantly going through my archives of multi-tracks looking for things that I think will be interesting for people to mix and learn to get better mixes with.

I remembered the Lower Than Atlantis session and thought it would be really great because, even though it's a simple arrangement, the trick is getting the right feel on the song and not to overcook it compression wise, etc. I thought it

would be a really nice touch if the Control Room participants could actually mix the song “for the client” so I called up Mike and he agreed to pick the winner. He even filmed a video for the winner, which was so cool. The mix competitions are a nice bonus; you don’t have to do them but a lot of people enjoy it and there’s always some cool prizes up for grabs. This time, as well as the first and second prize, we also gave out some prizes for random entries so that everyone had a chance to win something.

You've very kindly arranged discounts on a whole load of studio stuff, from gear and plugins to actual computers. If you were setting up your studio from scratch now, what would your first three purchases be?

I really wanted members to be able to get some great discounts on products.

We can pretty much do discounts on anything now, which is amazing. If I was setting up from scratch, the three purchases would be the best monitors I could afford (I have been using NS10s for so many years though), a great interface, and Sonarworks. Using Sonarworks has been an insane game-changing moment for me. Even with my well-treated room, it really made a big difference to my monitoring. We have a huge discount on it in Control Room and everyone who has got it has said how much better it's made their mixes.

Quite a lot of Control Room members have met up in real life (I personally met up with Julien Kindred, Alex Rose and Dan Crook at The Great Escape over the summer). It's really great to actually hang out with other audio pros - did you intend to create such a social group?

I intended to create a welcoming and supportive community but I didn’t expect people to meet up in real life. It honestly makes me so happy seeing everyone meet up and post photos. It really shows how supportive everyone is. We are planning some events at some great studios for the future, so I’m really looking forward to that.

A lot of the emphasis in Control Room is on learning new things, no matter whether you're just starting out or doing audio professionally already. Have you found yourself learning along with the group, and if so, what's the best thing you've learnt from it so far?

Absolutely. I’ve picked up loads of amazing ideas, the members are always teaching me new tricks. I think that’s why it seems to work for both people who are learning and established professionals. There have been lots of producers who have told me they’ve picked up new ideas or ways to try things from reading Control Room posts, so I think it’s been pretty cool for everyone.

Sometimes it’s a new plugin or way of using it that sparks a new idea. I have noticed I’ve personally felt a lot more inspired to try out some new ideas after reading about how someone else does something. n

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With her Mercury Prize-shortlisted third album Hunter, Anna Calvi has produced one of the most thrilling records in recent memory, drawing exceedingly high praise from fans and critics alike. Daniel Gumble spoke to her about sonic inspiration, David Bowie, working with Nick Launay and the power of telling stories through sound...

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hen Anna Calvi’s 2018 masterpiece Hunter appeared on the 2019 Mercury Prize shortlist, she joined an elite club of artists to have amassed three nominations; a club that includes David Bowie, Coldplay, Bat For Lashes, Elbow, Florence and the Machine, Pulp, Foals, Laura Marling, Primal Scream and Dizzee Rascal. It also means she has now been shortlisted for each of her three albums to date.

Her 2011 self-titled debut placed her show-stopping combination of operatic vocals and elegantly virtuosic guitar playing front and centre, while 2013 follow up One Breath built upon its predecessor with a greater emphasis on sonic experimentation and the adoption of more complex rhythms and arrangements.

While brimming with brilliance and worthy of a place upon any Mercury Prize shortlist, each record evoked a sense of an artist in search of her sound, as Calvi pursued a variety of artistic avenues down which to drive her formidable talents.

Hunter is a different beast altogether. Thematically bound with lyrics confronting, discussing and eviscerating gender norms, it’s a record that oozes confidence and drips with defiance. Musically and sonically, it's as richly textured and precisely nuanced as any of her previous works, shot through with a prowling intensity that had been hinted at but never previously revealed. There are moments of breathless lust, such as on the thrillingly overdriven ‘Alpha’, while the album's mournful title track, ‘Swimming Pool’ and 'Eden' find Calvi at her most vulnerable.

Almost a year to the day after its release, PSNEurope editor Daniel Gumble caught up with Calvi over the

phone ahead of the 2019 Mercury Prize announcement to reflect on the making of a modern day masterpiece...

Congratulations on the Mercury Prize nomination. How does it feel not just to be nominated for Hunter, but to have had all three of your albums so far nominated?

It's great! I feel very lucky and honoured to have been nominated three times.

What did you make of the rest of the list nominees?

I think they're all really great artists. It's a really strong list. It's not just very mainstream bands. They're all such great records.

You've spoken a lot about the lyrics and the themes that are explored in the album. Did you have a similarly direct and specific idea of what you wanted sonically for the record?

I wanted it to be quite brutal sounding - for there to be moments that felt very strong and moments that felt vulnerable. And in terms of the strength, I was listening a lot to [Public Image Ltd's] Flowers Of Romance album. That's one of the reasons I asked Nick Launay to produce it, because he produced that record and I thought the sounds on that record were amazing and quite groundbreaking. He was really excited about the idea of being playful in the studio with sonics. He wanted to make a record where there was a wide spectrum of colour for the sound.

Do you think consciously about the sonics when you're writing an album?

Very much so, because I want the music and the way it sounds to really light the imagination and tell the stories as much as the lyrics. So I want the music to sound almost like you're seeing the song - like a mini film. The sonics are very important in expressing that.

Tell us about your working relationship with Nick Launay. What did he bring to the record?

It was an amazing experience because he's got such a talent for sound and he really goes that bit extra to make something stand out. He's very good at making

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the most out of happy accidents and being creative in the moment, which are often the most exciting moments.

You plan and plan before you make a record, but those moments that you didn't expect to happen are often the best moments. He was really good at harnessing that. If something went wrong but sounded really cool, he knew how to make more of that. He was just so inspiring to work with.

Do you have any examples of those happy accidents?

I remember on the song 'Indies Or Paradise' I wanted the guitar line to sound like I was crawling through a jungle.

I was playing the guitar riff and I think I said I wished it could be lower and more ominous sounding, so he got me to play it really, really fast, and then slowed it down so much that it became like a bass sound. And that wasn't an idea that I had, initially, but it actually worked really well and sounded a lot better than just the normal sound of the guitar.

Each of your records sound very unique to you, but they also have quite distinct sonic identities. How different has your approach been in the studio from album to album?

The first record was my first time properly in the studio, so it was all very new. I already had a very strong idea of what I wanted, but I was learning as I was going. And then the second one, because I’d learned a bit more, I wanted to try lots of different things. I wanted there to be a moment that felt very classical, and then a moment to be more aggressive. It was like having lots of colours to play with. With this record, I wanted to be a bit more direct with how the songs sounded and to have a stronger and more identifiable palette of sounds.

What do you look for in a producer?

Making a record is like sailing a ship to a destination. You know you want to get there, but maybe you don't know exactly what the route should be. Sometimes you get tired and you need a co-captain to come and take over when you've been out there too long and you need some space. This person also needs to completely understand what your destination is, and want to do everything they can in order to get you there. And as a solo artist, it's like

P37 PXX OCTOBER MONTH 2019 2017

NCTS having a companion who believes in your vision as much as you do.

How difficult and how important is it to get the right person on board?

I think it is quite difficult to find. It's a bit like being in a band for that time. So when you find someone that you do feel is on the same page as you it is something you have to hold on to. So I'm really happy that I got the chance to work with Nick and I would definitely like to do more with him.

Were there any other sonic influences around the making of the album?

The sounds on Iggy Pop's The Idiot - it's such an amazing sounding record. I love how loud the vocals were. That was a record that I kept coming back to.

Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) by David Bowie was another one, Flowers Of Romance... They're all records that have a very strong identity in their sound. I listened to lots of Grace Jones as well.

Can you remember the first time you began to take notice of sounds and music production?

I think I was aware of it when I bought my very first record, when I was around eight or nine years old. I bought Aladdin Sane by David Bowie and I remember really loving the sound of the piano, the way it almost sounded like water, and how weird the notes the pianist was playing were. He goes from avant garde notes into blues - I was just amazed by the sound of that record.

How much thought went into the live presentation of these songs? Your performances feel more visceral than ever before.

Because it's a more raw, visceral record than anything I'd done before, I needed to make sure that those elements were even more evident on stage. It's a very physical record. It's a record of the body, so I didn't feel that I could just stand still and perform. And the songs don't want that either, they demand more.

It has definitely helped me develop myself on stage. It's not like I'm playing a character, it's just a more extreme version of what I always was. n Photo Credit: Maisie Cousins

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OCTOBER 2019 2019

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One of the most sought after producers in the world, Fraser T Smith has been responsible for shaping some of the most influential records to come out of the UK in decades. His work with the likes of Kano, Stormzy and Dave has established him as a pioneer of grime production, with the latter’s Psychodrama emerging victorious at this year’s Mercury Prize. In a PSNEurope exclusive, Smith tells us in his own words about his working relationship with Dave and provides some unique insights into the making of one of 2019's defining albums…

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P39 OCTOBER 2019

I

’ve known Dave since he was 17. I was in the middle of working on Stormzy’s Gang Signs and Prayer album and my friends Jack Foster and Benny Scarrs who manage Dave introduced us. We immediately hit it off and put in a studio session. We wrote ‘Picture Me’ during that session and the relationship developed into us working together on Dave’s first and second EPs 6 Paths, and Game Over.

I never want to repeat myself creatively, and was wary about replicating the unique processes and dynamics which had made my working relationships with Kano and Stormzy so special, but Dave is a one off - namely because our music comes from jamming in the studio. His piano playing and musicality is phenomenal, as well as the diverse influences we both draw from, so it’s a great blend. I started off, and will always think of myself, as a musician, so we complement each other perfectly.

Dave typically creates ideas on the piano, and I’ll sometimes sit down the other end of the keyboard, adding bass notes or chords, or will grab a guitar or bass or be playing on the Akai MPC4000 or Ableton. We record everything.

He spent a long time coming up with the title and concept for the album. I could tell that once he had the concept we could really start work. Divided into three sections, Psychodrama was always going to be a very ambitious project. The first ‘act’ is ‘Environment', the second ‘Relationships’ and the third ‘Social and Moral Compass’. The overarching theme was to document Dave’s life up to this point in terms of his upbringing, his life in South London as a young black male, the struggles, the joys, the uncertainty, the ambitions, hopes and fears.

We knew from the beginning that we’d be drawing from a very wide musical palette of strings, brass, harps, and hard hitting drums and synths. I love to blend acoustic instrumentation with electronic elements. Manon Grandjean, my long standing engineer, beautifully captured Dave’s piano, guitars, drums and vocals at my studio in Fulham.

Occasionally we’d have some of Dave’s friends in the studio - it provided a welcome break from the intensity of the music and the lyrics. Dave’s an old soul - he's incredibly deep in his thought processes, but his circle of friends bring him back to the fact that he’s still just a 21-year-old kid who loves to do what other normal 21 year olds do; go out to clubs, play FIFA and have fun.

On a technical level, we had to be ready to record anything at any point, so it was important that our recording chains were optimised for this. We used my Sony C800 microphone on Dave’s vocals tracked through a UTA mic pre, summit TLA 100 compressor and then the UTA Unfairchild compressor. I love the clarity of the C800G. It doesn’t work on everyone, but for Dave it’s great. The Summit compressor is very punchy, and adds something in the high end which I love, and the

Unfairchild just smooths things out, making everything we run through it sound immediately expensive and expansive. On the piano, we’d use my Neumann KM84s - it’s a dark sounding Kawai piano, so these mics are perfect - bringing out the detail without colouring the sound the way that a pair of Coles 4038s might.

We’d often work with incredible young producers on the album. Kyle Evans, TSB, 169, Jae 5, Nana Rogues. I learned so much from working with these guys. Their immediacy, their instincts, their musicality.

We had a release date of January for the album and roughly worked for a six-month period on it. Having done the two EPs together meant we could quickly get into the swing of things, rather than going into the unknown as two strangers. The intensity ramped up towards the end of the process as Dave had a heavy commitment in filming his role in the Top Boy TV series. This took him out of the studio a lot, but I think he learned a lot from the process of acting - the discipline, the incredibly long hours. It also gave Manon and I a chance to work on the music.

It was always the plan for us to mix and master the album in-house. I mixed all of my early records and have been mentoring Manon over the past few years, and she’s progressed amazingly. I approach mixing from a musical production point of view, but know enough of the technical stuff to get by. I’m always pushing Manon and she always rises to the occasion.

We mixed Gang Signs and Prayer together but by the time Psychodrama was ready to be mixed, I knew she was ready to do this on her own. She not only mixed it, but mastered it as well. It gives me so much joy to see her succeeding as an engineer and to see her personality and confidence grow - she works so hard and is able to deliver the sonics that I demand through learning my processes, bringing her own to the table and having become familiar with all the varied pieces of equipment that have become the mainstay of my sound over the years.

There were the usual bumps in the road as we neared the completion of the record - tracks not being cleared, last minute changes, working through the night to meet deadlines, etc. But experience has shown me that it always comes together in the end. I reminded myself and Manon that if you want to make rap records, you’re going to have to get used to staying up late…

Ultimately, however, the process is secondary to the end result. I’m immensely proud of Dave for what he delivered, and of myself and Manon for giving him a safe creative space to play in. To listen back to the depth of the lyrics, the phone call with his brother Christopher from prison, his views on domestic abuse, the documentation of his life up to this point, I feel incredibly privileged to have been involved. n

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P41 OCTOBER 2019

Raising the bar Genelec expanded ‘The Ones’ family earlier this month, adding two new coaxial three-way monitors and an Adaptive Woofer System to the mix. Here, we explore the exciting features of the new products and hear from the company’s R&D director Aki Måkivirta about what the latest additions have to offer...

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SNEurope attended Genelec’s new The Ones launch at London's legendary Metropolis Studios earlier this month, where we gained in-depth insight into the new members of the family - the 8351B and 8361A .

And we had a chance to listen to them, too. We were lead into the various well-equipped listening rooms of the expansive studios, where we were able to experience the sound for ourselves and play around with volume levels and mixes.

The addition of the new 8351B and 8361A coaxial three-way monitors alongside the W371A Adaptive Woofer System – which isn’t a subwoofer, as Genelec’s R&D manager Aki Måkivirta stressed – raises The Ones family to another level, offering uncoloured and neutral reference monitoring performance, from

ultra-nearfield through to mastering-calibre and main monitor applications.

The 8361A The Ones were originally launched in 2014, and the new 8361A offers what Genelec reports is the most advanced acoustic performance of any studio monitor currently available, promising extremely high dynamic range, unrivalled directivity and imaging and a short-term SPL of 118 dB with even higher peak levels.

The 8361A has a host of new features, including two newly-designed Acoustically Concealed Woofers that generate high SPL output with extremely low distortion, and brand new MDC coaxial midrange and tweeter drivers which provide smooth directivity, low distortion, high SPL and extended frequency response up to

40 kHz. The 8361A’s Minimum Diffraction Enclosure eliminates colouration and its front baffle acts as a Directivity Control Waveguide, while its proprietary Class D amplification is complemented by advanced DSP processing, including delay equalisation and 20 precision EQs for room compensation.

The 8351B The upgraded 8351B shares much of the technology found in its siblings and benefits from recent advances in electronic, mechanical and acoustical design. Drawing inspiration from the electronic design of the 8341A and the driver technology of the 8361A, the 8351B revision has improved on the performance of its predecessor by offering increased SPL, additional room compensation EQs, equalised delay and enhanced HF response.

Aki Måkivirta

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The W371A Adaptive Woofer System is a unique concept (and not a subwoofer), designed specifically to complement the 8341, 8351 and 8361 monitors. In conjunction with these models, the woofer creates a series of full-range monitoring solutions with control over directivity and room acoustics. With this woofer, users can now experience all the benefits of a main monitor, but with the freedom to locate this freestanding system in optimal positions within the control room; even providing the option to switch between nearfield and main monitors without image-shifting.

Standing at 1,100 mm (43 1/4 inches) high and featuring dual woofers, one forward-facing and one rear-facing, the W371A introduces a variety of ways to custom-tailor system performance to the room over the critical lowest four octaves. As a result, Genelec claims that it offers a flatter and smoother in-room frequency response than a traditional subwoofer, with more coherent low-frequency imaging.

Augmenting the dual woofers of The Ones coaxial models with a complimentary W371A yields four woofers in total per channel, and these are combined using advanced acoustic measurement to reduce destructive cancellation and standing wave artefacts through crossover frequencies, polar response and directivity. As a result, the W371A removes the detrimental influences of the listening room on lowfrequency reproduction – universally recognised as a key issue in modern studios.

As part of Genelec’s Smart Active Monitoring family, all models in The Ones range integrate with Genelec’s GLM software application, which can configure, calibrate and control entire Genelec smart monitoring systems. GLM is designed to minimise the listening room’s influence on the sound, enabling the user to produce mixes that translate perfectly to other systems, regardless of whether the format is mono, stereo or high channel count immersive.

Here, PSNEurope hears from Genelec’s Aki Måkivirta to get his take on the new family members and find out what he thinks makes this launch so special...

Tell us about the new additions to The Ones.

We’ve added three new members to The Ones family – the 8351B and 8361A three-way coaxial monitors plus the W371 Adaptive Woofer System. The 8361A is now the flagship Ones monitor, and the largest member of the family. It offers very high SPL and increased LF extension, while the 8351B is a significant upgrade of our highly popular 8351A, delivering increased SPL, additional room compensation EQs, equalised delay and enhanced high resolution HF response.

The W371 is a revolutionary adaptive woofer design that we’ve introduced to complement the 8341, 8351 and

The Ones and only

8361 models, creating a full-range monitoring system that can be freely located within the room, providing powerful control of both directivity and the effects of room acoustics.

frequencies, and soon expanded to enable robust reproduction of low frequencies in acoustically challenging rooms, enabling free-standing loudspeaker placement in a radically new way.

What do these new models add to the series?

The new models expand the overall capability of the range, both in terms of maximum SPL and frequency range extension, enabling The Ones to be used in more applications across a wider range of room sizes and listening distances - from ultra-nearfield to mediumdistance monitoring. At the same time, the robust directivity control of The Ones, complemented by the active directivity capabilities of the W371, enables neutral delivery of precision audio over longer distances, even in acoustically challenging rooms.

What sets The Ones apart from other monitors on the market?

There are many things, but maybe the most important is that they deliver precise stereo imaging and uncoloured audio in all kinds of rooms and over a wide range of listening distances. They also are rather more tolerant of both loudspeaker location within the room and loudspeaker orientation, and they can be rotated to any orientation without acoustic issues. This is made possible by the intricacies of the acoustic design: constant and controlled directivity, point source radiation, coaxial structure, powerful design delivering wide dynamic range and smart room acoustic compensation via our GLM calibration software.

How long have these new additions been in development?

We learned a lot in making the 8260, our first coaxial three-way monitor which was launched back in 2009, followed by the 8351A and eventually the more compact 8341 and 8331 Ones models. Our coaxial driver design is now in its third generation, and features increased output capacity, higher linearity, improved reliability and expanded frequency range, enabling it to be used in the new high-output 8361.

The same history is also true for the development of the new woofers used in 8351B and 8361. Regarding the W371, the process started as a research initiative to enable controlled and adaptive directivity at low

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Just how significant a launch is this for Genelec?

This is very significant for us. The Ones have now stepped up not one but several notches in terms of dynamic range, maximum SPL capability and frequency extension, to cover the full acoustic range. All the family loudspeaker members are high resolution and controlled latency designs, and the W371 adaptive woofer system is a totally new acoustic concept, integrating with The Ones to create a complete Smart Adaptive Point Source system. n

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Restoration comedy

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TVBEurope's Dan Meier asks restoration colourist Jonathan Wood and sound editor André Jacquemin (knowingly) about their work on Monty Python’s 50th anniversary releases

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alf a century ago, Monty Python crashed onto British TV screens like a giant animated foot.

To celebrate 50 years since Flying Circus took off on BBC1 back in October 1969, the Pythons are launching a selection of items and events including a film season at the BFI, a commemorative “Very Silly” IPA and a world record attempt for the “largest gathering of people dressed as Gumbys.”

Closer to reality, all 45 episodes of Monty Python’s Flying Circus will be released on limited-edition Bluray and DVD, along with unseen and excised footage.

All four series are being painstakingly restored and upscaled to HD by Network Distributing, a complicated process that’s enough to make anyone’s brain hurt.

“I can see why this hasn't been done before, because it's a huge task. It's a real jigsaw puzzle mix of existing material,” explains restoration colourist Jonathan Wood. “You've got the original quad tapes, you've got 16 millimetre film, you've got neg and prints, you've got 35 millimetre, you've got some bits only available in NTSC, you've got some film recording that we're doing colour recovery on, we’ve got everything you can think of. And that's not unexpected because that is the era of the material. It just means it's a very complicated puzzle to put together.”

Network’s task involves scanning, transferring and upscaling all this footage, but not before cleaning up the SD material. “Most people have got a flat-screen TV on the wall - it's either HD, 4K, it's a big screen,” says Wood.

“These programmes are made in the era where it's a 20inch tube telly in the corner of the room. And the trouble is if you take those raw tapes and you just upscale them

and put them on one of these modern screens, you're going to see all the faults. You're going to see all the noise, the dropouts, the flashes, the field phase areas, chroma areas, all sorts of things. And that's not what it's about; this is about getting the best presentation of these episodes as possible in a high-definition format.

“When you have dealt with the faults, you've got rid of the flashes, the dropout, the dirt, you may have improved the colour, what you're left with is just the performance,” he continues. “The original video tapes and everything else is the carrier. It's just the medium by which the performance was brought to the viewer. If you can clean that up then that's what you're watching. You'll never be disturbed by, ‘Oh what was that flash there, oh look at the dirt all over that.’” He also notes the “intrinsically SD” nature of videotape, meaning the restored shows will not look as good as the latest 4K blockbusters. “But you can improve it hopefully to a degree where it's not a shocking contrast. The whole idea of this is to present the episodes in the best quality possible.”

That the complete set of tapes even still exists is “amazing” to Wood, given the BBC’s propensity to reuse tapes in the ‘60s and ‘70s, let alone the survival of unaired footage originally cut for timing or censorship reasons. “There will be quite a good amount of content that possibly most people are unfamiliar with, which have just been languishing in a can or wherever, unseen until now,” he adds.

There are also formatting issues to consider in dealing with film that’s not dead but has been resting for 50 years, as Wood explains: “We’re finding that they sometimes make use of polygon telecine which was

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a particular type around in the '60s and '70s. And the trouble with that is that often for one reason or another it wasn't fully frame locked, so you end up then having film frames smeared across different video frames. So in trying to clean up the dirt from that, if you haven't got the film and you're having to work from tape it's extremely difficult because the dirt then appears on more than one frame. So those sequences are not good to work on. If you get something like that episode it's going to take considerably longer to clean up.”

The restoration retains the original broadcast’s 4x3 aspect ratio, in “pillarbox” HD, with black masking on either side. Wood describes looking at previous restorations of the series: “Because you're dealing with analogue recordings, the line length in terms of the width of the picture changes quite considerably, sometimes between episodes, sometimes between scenes. And I think to standardise it previously they zoomed the picture and cropped to what are the standard dimensions. We decided we're not doing that, we're just filling the height of the picture so we have a clean top and bottom, but then we're leaving the width to whatever it is on the original… it was made in 4x3 and stays in 4x3.”

Wood adds that the brief from Python HQ was straightforward in terms of making the episodes as high quality as possible for 21st century viewing. “Terry Gilliam came in the other day and I'm very pleased to say he was very happy with what he was seeing,” he notes.

On the subject of Terry Gilliam, Monty Python’s sound editor of 50 years André Jacquemin is full of praise.

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“Terry is brilliant to work with,” he says, having worked on a number of the director’s feature films, most recently The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. But now Jacquemin is back in Python mode for five new Radio 4 specials, executive produced by Michael Palin, and produced by Jacquemin assisted by James Peak, again featuring unheard material from the Monty Python sound archives.

“We had to dig in and make a choice about what was available, what was left, what was unheard that was never released,” says Jacquemin. “But we thought what we'd like to do is to try and get some alternative versions of the originals, so we found a couple of those and somehow we made up the programmes. But it was certainly a bit of a research job to go back into the archive and many hours and hours of listening.

“Then everything was put through with Mike [Palin] and I finished remixing the sketches so it was in some kind of good order and sounding as fresh as the day we originally recorded them,” he continues. “And then once it went through the Mike process, we then emailed everybody in the Pythons and let them hear it and had their suggestions as well, which then had a few tweeks that the other Pythons made. So it's pretty much a Python project.”

He adds that the material “sounds like it was recorded yesterday - and the other weird thing which I felt very attached to was hearing Graham Chapman, and obviously Terry Jones has got a problem now as well, and just hearing how vibrant and how intuitive their performances were, and how brilliant they are; I miss their involvement dearly. And just the sheer quality of the stuff - not just in what they'd had written and

performed, but actually in the quality of the recording.

So in that sense, I think we did a really good job for it to stand the test of time, and actually the quality was there.”

Sound editing has obviously changed considerably since then, and Jacquemin recalls co-writing the Life of Brian title music with Dave Howman: “Terry Gilliam said ‘I think it's a bit long now so we better take a verse out.’ And we recorded the song on a 1-inch 8-track tape machine so we didn't have any backup. I said to Terry, ‘You sure you want to cut this out? We should really copy the tape and have a backup in case something goes wrong with the razor blade when we slice the tape up.’

And he goes ‘Andre I trust you, just hack away.’ So I cut the verse out and luckily it went all right, but had that gone wrong, we could have been in trouble because at least with digital, you can recall your mistakes. And on tape, if you don't have a copy of something and you crease, damage or the tape gets stretched, you've lost it.”

Jacquemin was also keen to involve Gilliam in the radio project, a format incompatible with animation. “I wanted to get him involved in the process of the radio thing and I thought, ‘Well how do we do this?’” he says.

“Without giving too many secrets away I managed to get Terry involved in the programmes, because I thought it's a very important element, him being the animator more than one of the actors. So I came up with an idea for Terry which he loved so that worked out really well.

“The thing about working with Terry is you have to get into Terry's mind and you have to kind of try and stay one step ahead, which is unbelievably difficult,” he continues.

“People do say a lot of times, ‘Oh god it must be chaos working with Terry, blah blah blah. And I actually find him

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so good, so talented, so original, and he's a pussycat really in a way. And we get on obviously very well having worked together for 50 years now. I truly believe Terry is a genius.”

He says the same of the Pythons as a group: “You have to kind of get into their heads. People say, ‘Oh Andre you must have had such a whale of a time when you were working with them and it must have been just a barrel of laughs.’ Well actually, it was a barrel of laughs, but it was quite a serious barrel of laughs.

We had to concentrate very hard that we didn't lose pace; everything was a little bit haphazard when we're working because sometimes if we didn't like a sketch or there was something we felt needed a little more work while recording, we would then jump to another sketch. But then they would say, ‘Let's have a go at that other sketch’ and then you'd have to go back to the other sketch. So it's quite a haphazard way of working and we obviously had to keep a strict list of where things are to be recalled at any moment.”

Jacquemin recalls the last time Monty Python performed live together: “We were in the dressing room and it was just amazing how when they're together, there's just something quite electric with them all.

The atmosphere goes up about 20 notches, and it gets almost electrical blue because of the energy that's in the air. It's quite fascinating just to witness that. And you just realise how clever and how brilliant they are individually, but collectively, they're an awesome force.”

A 50th anniversary statement from the group themselves reads: “Python has survived because we live in an increasingly Pythonesque world. Extreme silliness seems more relevant now than it ever was.”

It’s Jacquemin’s view that a Monty Python political party could be the solution. “They've all got their own very, very strong strengths, and I think they would have been a brilliant political party to sort our troubles out.”

Would Minister of Silly Walks John Cleese’s views on Brexit and immigration not cause a People's Front of Judea style fracture? “Well possibly, but interestingly enough I actually recorded Peter Mandelson's autobiography, and as he was reading through his book I thought a lot of the stuff that was going on in the background of the Labour Party was unbelievably familiar; how Python works.

“The difference was that with Python, there was always a result at the end of any dispute or discussion; they'd actually resolve something and they got something out of it. And that was the huge difference with Python, was that they'd always come up with a final answer to a query or a question or whatever. And that's how we ended up I think doing such great stuff in the end, because we wouldn't let anything go until we were happy with it. And I think that's a big difference in how they operate.” Fair enough - if snakes can take over Westminster, why not Pythons? n

P00 P46 OCTOBER MONTH 2019

NEW BLOOD The historic Metropolis Studios has appointed a new studio manager, Emma Townsend, who fills Fiona Hope in on her plans for the future and taking on the challenges of today's ever-changing music industry..

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mma Townsend, former studio manager of seven years at the small but mighty Strongroom, has embarked on a new venture at London's iconic Metropolis Studios. Situated in the heart of Chiswick, it is a studio steeped in history, having welcomed some of the biggest names on the planet through its doors over the years.

Townsend greets PSNEurope at her new office, accompanied by her excitable (and endearingly noisy) pug, making for an interesting backing track to our interview. The studio is incredibly busy. On the day of our visit it is hosting Genelec’s new ‘The Ones’ launch (see p.

41), leaving Townsend with her work cut out for her. Thankfully, she still has time to talk to PSNEurope’s Fiona Hope through her career to date, discuss how she landed her new gig and what the future holds for Metropolis...

How are you preparing for the future of Metropolis?

Getting back to putting the artists first. Metropolis has been through a lot of changes, and a few years ago it probably wasn't being run in the best way. The CEO has changed and is trying to change things for the better. I'm trying to rebuild the reputation of the place and look at where the studio needs some attention, love, and investment. I'm talking to lots of people at the moment, asking them: 'What is your experience of Metropolis? How do you find it here? What do you like or dislike about it?' It is a super friendly place, but perhaps the perception of the studio has been something different. The engineers and the assistants are amazing. Everyone just really cares.

In terms of projects, we’re building a studio within Metropolis for the British pop songwriter Camille Purcell, who has written for Little Mix, Mabel and Olly Murs, and is managed by Raw Kingdom. It will hopefully be her home for the foreseeable future. A lot of her clients

P47 OCTOBER 2019

'You can't deny the history': Emma Townsend

work in our bigger studios, and they'll be doing lots of their writing and preproduction in her studio.

Where does the studio need attention and investment?

The way things are done hasn't changed since the '90s, and the music industry doesn't really work in the same way anymore. In terms of investment, the equipment is amazing, but there are things that need to be bought, sold and changed. We’re refurbishing studio A and finessing the bits that are rough around the edges.

What brought you to Metropolis?

Metropolis approached me, and my ultimate decision was that I felt it was an amazing studio and that I could do some good. It was a new challenge for me. I was at Strongroom Studios for seven years, I made some changes and improvements during my time there and it felt like the right time to take a new challenge. I'm getting used to a new place and I think it’s beneficial that I've come from somewhere very different.

Tell me about your career to date.

I started as a receptionist at Strongroom, but that only lasted for a month and a half. Then the studio booker left and there was a bit of restructuring of Strongroom and Air; Air went on the market literally a week after I started.

Before, the bookings of both studios was done from Air, so it was brought back in-house. I took over as the studio booker, and combined the roles of receptionist and booker. It actually worked really well for a small studio like Strongroom, as you’re the person that's booked it in and when the clients arrive you know exactly where they're going and what time. It's a very good vantage point to make sure everything's working how you want it to. Then a few years later the studio manager left and I was offered that job and did it for four years. And I loved it, I really did. I put a lot into it. When I told people I was leaving they'd say: 'You can't leave Strongroom, you are Strongroom!'

How different is Metropolis to Strongroom?

It's definitely a lot bigger. At Strongroom the core team was seven people. It was easy to get things done from a management point of view, but harder from an operational point of view, because we just didn't have the man power.

Here it's almost the opposite. There are a few offices and we're a 24 hour reception, so there's a few receptionists.

The studio runs 24 hours?

We run three shifts - a day shift, a late shift, and a night shift. We get bookings enquiries at three in the morning. And we get a lot of sessions that run overnight. Some don't like to start until 10pm.

We have assistants on the sessions and engineers if clients aren't bringing their own. But we've had a lot of clients from Atlanta and LA who have almost been staying on that time zone. And when we get enquiries from musicians who, let's say, have just played a show and want to go into the studio, we'll get a call, because we're one of the few studios that have a 24 hour reception. You can call at 1am for a studio at 3am and you might be able to get one.

What do you think is special about Metropolis?

You can't deny the history, the calibre of artists that have recorded here over the years. That's not a chance thing, it's because the studios are arguably the last world class studios built in this country. They are absolutely fantastic, and the engineers we have now are amazing (Paul, Liam and Alex). We have

people that come back for them time and time again; people come back just for Liam's vocal sound. There aren't many studios left that have in-house engineers and assistants anymore. On this scale, it's probably only us, Air, Abbey Road and RAK. Freelancers are great, don't get me wrong, but there's also something to be said about homegrown engineers. Alex and Liam have worked here for over 10 years, so nobody knows the rooms better than they do, no one knows how to get the desired sound better than them. I don't need to improve them because they're amazing, so I'm trying to make sure we're providing friendly, helpful services.

You don't want it to be too intimidating...

No. I'm trying to bridge the gap, because we only seem to get the top end of label rosters at the moment, and it's almost like they look at us and go 'We can't afford you for anyone other than the highest people on our roster' and that’s not the case. We're trying to appeal to a more indie market as well.

What do you have to say about the diminishing number of traditional high-end recording studios? What's important about recording in a place like this?

It depends on what it is you’re recording. You can make electronic music on your laptop in your bedroom. That's fair enough, people are always going to do that. But you can't record a band, or an orchestra. There are certain things that you need these spaces for. Things like the outboard gear and mic selections, and the engineers.

There are so few of the big studios left that we all need to start supporting each other. We've lost so many amazing iconic studios over the last 10-15 years, so it's really important not to be undercutting each other and driving the rates down because damn, this industry is hard. It really is. With the expectation for quality equipment, sound etc. and the cost of maintaining that, it's not surprising that so many studios have closed. I feel like there's just enough work to go around with the few of us left.

We have been driving a tax incentive with UK Music. Richard [Connell] our CEO has been working with UK Music to get all the studios in the UK to club together and lobby the government to introduce tax incentives for the recording industry, like the film industry has. There are tax breaks for films made in th UK, which is why Air and Abbey Road make quite a lot of orchestral sessions for film, as well as the big studios like Pinewood, but we don't have it for the recording industry. There isn't an incentive.

I was at a label a few weeks ago talking about their acts and how we could work together, and they said 'we just don't need your big studios that often, because we're not really signing bands at the moment, and the few that we have are currently recording in LA'. We need to be making it appealing the other way.

What do you think makes a good studio manager?

It's really important to actually listen to what is needed and to think about how the industry is changing and how we can adapt. With people able to make music at home on their laptops, why do people need a studio anymore? Well, we have to be able to adapt in order to meet our clients’ needs. We need to be able to facilitate that creative environment.

What do you look for when you take on staff?

What I look for more than anything is a friendly, helpful attitude. The technical side of things is no doubt very important, but it can be taught. The right attitude can't be taught, and that's what I'm looking for. n

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P00 P48 OCTOBER MONTH 2019

MUSIC mischief Phil Ward meets producer, engineer and mixer Dan Cox, the man behind Urchin Studios…

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eneration gaps are tricky. Sometimes it’s a matter of making a clean break, a sweep of change, perhaps even a revolution.

Sometimes it’s just about having the respect to keep your room tidy. Whichever cycle we’re in at the moment, there’s a reassuring continuity about Dan Cox, East London-based record producer, recording engineer, mix engineer and former SAE student, and his organically farmed commercial studio Urchin.

Strokes of genius In London, Hackney is the new Soho. Studios, agencies and galleries pepper the neighbourhood alongside coffee bars, pubs and clubs, and there’s still just about enough edge to keep the tourists at bay. Many of the studios, it will not surprise you to hear, mix 3D video capture with animation and immersive audio to whip up the froth on the beards of online multimedia, but some are different. Or rather, the same as they used to be.

Cox’s own description of the concept of Urchin Studios, forged in 2007, speaks volumes, and here we are not talking about decibels: “Urchin was conceived not as a technical haven for stale recording engineers but as a place to stimulate creativity and inspire musicians.”

He also styles himself as a specialist in ‘live takes’, and it’s clear that Urchin is in touch with hundreds of musicians and combos, signed or unsigned, who probably don’t like being put in a box, mixed in a box, or in any other obvious way packaged.

His partner in the venture is drummer and producer Matt Ingram. It was when playing in a band with Ingram that they both got to know The Strokes' producer Gordon Raphael, after he had established a studio and label called The Silver Transporterraum of London in Limehouse.

When Raphael relocated to Berlin he invited Cox and Ingram to take

over that space and lease some of his equipment, helping them to establish Urchin as a going concern. In 2012 they moved to the current location in a building called The Laundry in Hackney – a typical Victorian sweatshop-turned-groovy New Elizabethan hang, with a restaurant called the Wringer & Mangle among other delights.

Cox – who sums up the roots of Urchin as “the 16-input school of recording” – has made a name for himself co-producing Laura Marling’s album Short Movie and engineering and mixing Pete Doherty’s Peter Doherty & The Puta Madres and Thurston Moore’s solo project The Best Day. Indeed, over a decade of engineering, mixing and production has seen him rubbing shoulders with Tom Odell, Florence And The Machine, Ghostpoet, Kele Okereke of Bloc Party, The Red Krayola, The Staves and many, many more. Film and TV soundtrack work includes Victoria for ITV, My Family And Other Strangers for BBC, Paddington, Under The Shadow and Jet Trash.

Twice nominated for Studio Of The Year at the MPG Awards, Urchin has established an enviable vibe. When you can, check out the duo Lewis & Leigh’s debut album Ghost, produced by Matt Ingram at Urchin and indicative of the no-frills, rootsy pureness of instruments and voices delivered whole in an atmosphere of blessing.

The ambience is key, according to Cox. “If we’ve got 16 mics we can capture the fundamentals of everything,” he says. “We go to gigs, we talk to musicians… it’s word of mouth. In the early days of Urchin I don’t know how we managed to convince people to use us before we had any track record, but somehow we did. One way or another we got through the first few sessions until we had some things recorded that we could show people.

“We definitely focused on making the environment of the studio feel good, and making sure the way we deal with people makes them feel

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P49 OCTOBER 2019 'It's word of mouth': Dan Cox

comfortable in themselves and in their music. That’s the continuing priority to this day because, when all’s said and done, you can have all the amazing gear in the world at your disposal but if someone’s in a bad mood, or cold, or thirsty – any one of the realities of surviving as a human being – it doesn’t matter. You’ll have a nice, expensive recording of people not playing very well.”

Mixing board Recognition includes MPG Breakthrough Engineer of The Year for Cox in 2014, followed by nominations for MPG Engineer of the year 2016, Pro Sound Awards Studio Engineer of the Year in 2014 and 2015, and Resolution Studio Producer/Engineer of the year in 2014. For the past four years, Cox has been on the Executive Board of the Music Producer’s Guild (MPG) and MPG Awards, where the sense of a generation gap being filled sensitively and fruitfully complements the quality of continuity needed in such a heritage-rich organisation.

Naturally there are innovations afoot, such as the recognition in the awards for unsigned artists, self-producing artists and gender balance.

There is also forward-thinking lobbying such as the campaign to include self-employed workers in the music industry in the Government’s extension of paid parental leave – and, in particular, the ability to share paid leave regardless of gender.

“In terms of gender balance, I think the MPG is now quite significantly ahead of the average,” Cox says. “The momentum is good, and we have to keep it rolling. I’d like to see more female mix engineers, but all the other roles are better represented. Mind you, fewer people do just one thing these days – I certainly combine five or six different jobs depending on what’s needed.”

Cox has also hosted discussion panels on the continuing issues of credits and rights payments in the age of the download. “It’s important, especially for newer members, to remind ourselves of the importance of credits,” he adds. “Downloading has been a reality for most of the time I’ve been working in the industry, and we’re still trying to identify how credits can be lost and how best to track them on streaming services.

The information is still patchy, although TIDAL can be commended for having fields available to enter data. Spotify has a producer field, a songwriter field… and that’s it. Although not yet integrated into streaming services, a new system called Jaxsta launched recently as a hub for credits as metadata – you can cross-reference studio and producer back catalogues as well as the artist. The exciting thing about that is that it goes beyond what a record sleeve could do, and it’s something the MPG is right behind.”

It’s part of still more modernising to be done, as the industry moves beyond Tin Pan Alley into this digital future – digital, that is, with a 16-input heart and a killer bass line. “Some areas of the industry are very out of touch with what actually goes on in the studio,” reflects Cox. “As a Board, we’re all working producers and engineers so we’re always coming up against this: the view that we just capture what the artist does and that’s it. Our engineering is not like civil engineering; the civil engineer will not rearrange the shape or colour of the architect’s bridge, like we do! It’s a tough message to get across, but most of this industry shares the same perceptions as the general public. Within the industry, we must do more to elevate this understanding and achieve greater recognition for the creativity and the craft that goes into what we do.” n

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Best of Show Awards at IBC 2019

WINNERS This year's IBC show saw a flurry of exciting products in the broadcast audio section, with some of the finest recognised in the Best of Show Awards at IBC 2019…

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SNEurope’s Best of Show Awards at IBC 2019 winners have been revealed, with products from Clear-Com, Sound Devices, Shure, Wheatstone Corporation, Genelec, DPA and Glensound Electronics all making it to the finish line.

Taking place between September 13-17 at the RAI Amsterdam, IBC once again saw an array of companies showcase their latest products and technical innovations, with the PSNEurope Best of Show Awards at IBC 2019 honouring the most groundbreaking broadcast audio products on the show floor. Factors that were taken into account by judges were: the general quality and relevance of the product; design and build quality; business/operational benefits; innovation in concept/ design/delivery; technical excellence; cost-effectiveness; and game-changing ability.

Best of Show Awards were also given out by sister publications Radio World International and TVBEurope.

So, without further ado and in no particular order, we are delighted to present this year’s winners…

1.

CLEAR-COM - FREESPEAK EDGE FreeSpeak Edge, the latest addition to the FreeSpeak digital wireless intercom family, is a digital wireless intercom system that delivers high audio quality and enhanced performance, even in the most

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complex live performance environments.

The system gives users more control and customisation options due to advanced frequency coordination capabilities and intuitive design features in the system’s transceivers and beltpacks. FreeSpeak Edge is the result of extensive feedback from existing FreeSpeak II power users, leading to an all-new 5GHz chip set that features exclusive radio stack development which has been optimised for intercom.

2.

SOUND DEVICES - SCORPIO Scorpio is a 32 channel, 36 track mixerrecorder with 16 mic/line preamplifiers, 32 channels of Dante in and out, AES in and out, 12 analogue outputs and multiple headphone outputs.

A fully-customisable routing matrix enables sound professionals to send any input to any channel, bus, or output. Due to its compact form factor, the Scorpio works over-the-shoulder or in a mobile rig.

3.

SHURE - TWINPLEX LAVALIER AND HEADSET MICROPHONES TwinPlex is Shure’s new line of premium subminiature omnidirectional lavalier and headset microphones. The dual-diaphragm, patent-pending capsule technology offers high-quality sound in a

compact and easy-to-conceal package for professional vocal performance. TwinPlex is ideal for robust theatre productions and corporate presentations, to live global television broadcasts and everything in between. The TwinPlex series consists of four lavalier microphones and one headset microphone.

4.

WHEATSTONE CORPORATION SWITCHBLADE A new component of Wheatstone’s AoIP intelligent network, Wheatstone has desribed SwitchBlade as the first product of its kind to combine the power of AoIP logic control with SIP and codec bandwidth optimisation, allowing transport of both highquality audio programming and the control logic needed for full studio operation between distant sites.

5.

GENELEC - 8361A The 8361A is the latest addition to the company’s highly successful and awarded range of products called The Ones (see p. 41). The 8361A is a compact three-way monitor with LF directivity control similar to much larger monitors, and spectacular industrial design by Harri Koskinen. It has midrange and tweeter drivers in the centre of its diffraction-free aluminium enclosure, and dual woofers hidden behind

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the waveguide.

6.

DPA MICROPHONES - 2028 VOCAL MICROPHONE The 2028 is a microphone that makes singers sound as though they are not using a microphone. Ideally suited for live stage performances, broadcast and pro AV applications, this microphone works for all musicians, from indie artists to international touring singers. On a live stage, the 2028 delivers the same sonic qualities that other DPA microphones deliver. No (or very little) EQ is required to sound just like you are standing next to the singer listening to their performance.

7.

GLENSOUND ELECTRONICS DIVINE AOIP POE POWERED MONITOR DANTE /AES67 DIECAST NETWORK AUDIO POWERED LOUDSPEAKER The DIVINE DSP controlled Powered Monitor is Glensound’s new concept in PoE powered network audio monitor speakers. Featuring up to four audio inputs, and powered by Power Over Ethernet, using just one cable for audio and power, this compact loudspeaker is designed to enhance any configuration and work seamlessly with existing equipment. n

SOUND BITES

THIS MONTH: Here, we chat with Mike Wheeler from EM Acoustics about his life in the industry, and take a look at some supportive charities within the music and audio worlds. We’ve also curated a run down of the most exciting industry events to look out for over the coming weeks and months...

60 SECONDS WITH…

MIKE WHEELER EM Acoustics Operations director and co-founder

What first sparked your interest in the industry?

I'd always been interested in the tech side of music and performance growing up, and as I started to gain a proper understanding of audio in my teens, that was what really drew me in. At the point I decided this was what I wanted to do, I didn’t really know anyone in the industry, but it just felt like something I could really spend my life doing.

What was your first job?

Outside of the industry, it was as a silver service waiter – and a very bad one at that! Inside the industry I spent many a university holiday as a general do-anything gopher at a well-known British loudspeaker manufacturer, and then two days after graduation we (myself and Ed Kinsella, director of R&D) had founded EM Acoustics and were busy putting paint on the walls of our first shoebox office.

What is an average day like at work for you?

No two days are ever really the same. There's a wide range of plates to keep spinning each day. Certain bits are consistent - catching up with Ed and the rest of our team to make sure everything is going okay in each area of the factory, and then throwing myself into whatever I am working on at that time.

It's very easy for me to get halfway through a day and feel like I haven't achieved anything, so I do try to block out time where I can if I need to focus. It's never easy, but it's hugely enjoyable...when it runs smoothly!

What has been your favourite project?

Moving into our new factory in 2014. Whilst it was of course a team effort, I had the luxury of time to put into thinking about how aspects of the factory could work nicely for us and be a bit nerdy with the infrastructure. The downside is that the moment you do something, the only thing you can be sure of is that you'll need to change it sooner or later - but each stage was a lot of fun.

What is the most ambitious project you’ve worked on?

The major product review and update we are just completing now. It's been a massive task from start to finish, and I am somewhat nerdy and obsessive over the little details so there has been a lot to keep track of. But, between Ed and I and the team here, it's

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all come together rather nicely...even if I am a little greyer than I was when we started.

How do you balance work and life?

If you asked my wife, she'd probably say "badly"... but I'm getting better. I've always been something of a workaholic, but I like to think I'm balancing things better now. Communication is key though - both at work and at home.

I'm quite lucky in some respects that my role is largely factory-based, meaning I am going home every night and I keep some sense of normality without having to travel all the time, and I can have my dogs with me at work. But just as it's important to be committed to building the business, it's also important to be committed to building your life outside of work. Times will come where you have to say, "I'm sorry, I can't" to one or the other, and that's okay as long as it's a balance.

What’s the biggest challenge of the industry?

For us, it's the brand name game - we are younger and less well known than our competitors, and that's always a challenge. But a challenge we are rising to.

What do you like most about the industry?

It's corny, but it's the people. I'm pleased to say I don't dislike anyone within the industry, and I hope that feeling is mutual. Colleagues, customers, suppliers, and of course, our competitors.

I like the fact that nobody takes this too seriously - we are all lucky enough to have a career that revolves around people's enjoyment of music, and we should all be grateful for that.

Who/what is your inspiration?

Personally, my father. A definite old-school English gent - and if I can be half as good as he is, then I'm doing well.

There are a fair few industry figures I have always admired for various reasons - but I don't want to butter them up too much.

What do you like to do outside of work?

Well, I like hanging round musicians so it fits that I'm a drummer (anyone who can email me a joke I haven't heard gets a pint!) and I also volunteer with St John Ambulance and a dog rescue charity. Outside of that I like spending time with my wife, my friends and my two pugs. n

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EVENTS SOUNDGIRLS BAY AREA CHAPTER MEETING CCSF, Broadcast Electronic Media Department, Arts Extension 165 studio October 7, 2019 SoundGirls host a Bay Area meeting on every first Monday of the month, and allows you to be there virtually by ‘ZOOMing’ in via ZOOM Meeting.

Visit the event page for information on how it all works: https://bit.ly/2lFuFaq SoundGirls gives women working in the industry an opportunity to meet and network with other industry professionals, creating a strong support network.

Membership and events are open to all genders, as long as you have a desire and drive to succeed in professional audio.

AES NEW YORK 2019 New York October 16-19, 2019 This show, the 147th Audio Engineering Society International Convention, is made for those interested in all things pro audio: Studio Recording, Home Recording, Music Production, Live Sound, Broadcast and Streaming, Networked Audio, Audio for Virtual and Augmented Reality, Game Audio, and Sound for Picture or Product Development. As well as exhibits

Find out what pro audio and tech events are happening in the coming months… and demos, there will be comprehensive papers, workshops and tutorial programmes. AES New York 2019 will be co-located with the Independent NAB Show New York, and an all access registration to ISE includes access to the NAB show as well.

LAWO PROFESSIONAL AUDIO WORKSHOPS Lawo (UK) Ltd - Bicentennial Building October 22, November 12, December 4 Located at Lawo’s UK headquarters, these workshops offer a hands-on educational opportunity to learn how to make the most out of the mc²56 mkIII audio production console. It is restricted to professional audio and sound engineers only.

Attendees will get to mix alongside experienced Lawo audio engineers; update their familiarity with earlier Lawo surfaces; explore other consoles on the market; or simply share tips and tricks.

Agenda (subject to change or alteration) • Introduction to system components • Overview of the control surface • Navigating the surface • Building a configuration • Executing common tasks Visit this URL to register: https://bit.ly/2kBw9SW

CHARITY CORNER MUSIC SUPPORT BACKS THE INDUSTRY

BACKUP PROVIDES FINANCIAL AID FOR ENTERTAINMENT TECH PROS IN NEED

Mental health charity for UK music professionals, Music Support, began in

Backup – The Technical Entertainment Charity – provides financial support to technical entertainment industry professionals working in live events, theatre, TV and film. Backup helps live entertainment professionals by providing grants for financial aid in the event of illness or suffering an accident.

Grants can cover essential living costs, medical related expenses, advice, re-training and travel. If you currently reside in the United Kingdom and have earned your living for at least five years in the entertainment technology industry, or you are an immediate family member of someone who has, including his or her spouse, domestic partner or dependent child, you are eligible for a grant.

April 2016, the founders being veterans of the music industry with personal experiences of mental health and addiction issues themselves. After witnessing the sometimes negative impact of working in the live sound industry, they realised a personal and confidential service was needed. The charity’s mission is to make sure nobody in the UK music industry is left to suffer alone. Music Support offers a 24/7 telephone helpline with peer support from volunteers with personal experience of emotional, mental and addiction issues. It also provides “Safe Hubs” backstage at UK music festivals where there is an opportunity to chat with someone. There are also supportive

You can find out more/apply for grant at www.backuptech.uk.

resources on their website, and educational events that take place.

Helpline: 08000306789 Enquiries: info@musicsupport.org To donate or volunteer and for more information, visit the website: https://www.musicsupport.org/

Backup also host a variety of charity events for entertainment tech professionals to get involved in.

Visit the website: https://www.backuptech.uk/

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‘The best yet’

PLASA's managing director Peter Heath gives his thoughts on the turnout of this year’s show, which took place at London Olympia from September 15-17 and featured an enhanced focus on pro audio...

How did PLASA 2019 rank among the shows you've presided over as MD? I can confidently say this year’s show truly was ‘the best yet’ since I have worked as managing director. I joined PLASA in 2016 – the same year we moved the show from Excel to London Olympia – and I am immensely proud of what we have achieved as a team in the last four years.

Each year we’ve seen an increase in visitors – and this year didn’t disappoint with a six per cent increase in overall attendance, welcoming over 7,500 people to the show over the three days. We have now filled the upstairs ‘Gallery Level’ of the show, welcomed more audio exhibitors with Coda Audio and Void Acoustics exhibiting for the first time, plus an increased presence from the AV sector.

What was the response like from exhibitors and visitors?

Feedback from the show floor has been fantastic, with exhibitors reporting that they met a wide range of customers, from end-users to consultants and specifiers, with some taking orders straight off the show floor. One comment we always receive from exhibitors is how strong the networking element of the show is.

Being a central London show it means this can continue late into the evenings.

From a visitor perspective, we saw a significant increase in people returning each day – many attending for all three days. That’s a good indicator to us of the

quality of the show.

Did you learn anything new about what the industry wants from PLASA? This year we doubled the number of audio demos at the show, and the industry responded well to this. Over 800 people attended the shared audio demo space with Aura Audio, LD Systems, OHM, Shermann Audio and Void Acoustics. L-Acoustics, who hosted an exclusive space, reported over 500 people attending their sessions, and we expect we’ll see the same from Sound Technology, KV2 Audio and RCF, all of whom hosted exclusive audio demo spaces.

What were your personal highlights?

Walking around the show, talking to our exhibitors and seeing business being done on the show floor is a fantastic feeling. However, as a self-proclaimed audiophile and musician, the Stage to Studio feature was a particular highlight. The sessions saw two artists, VC Pines and Effie, performing and being mixed live by renowned sound engineers Jamie McEvoy and Simon Todkill respectively. We worked with Sound on Sound, Headliner magazine and Miloco Studios to create this feature, which raised our profile in the recording and studio industries.

What are the biggest opportunities for PLASA in 2020?

With the multi-million-pound redevelopment happening

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at Olympia over the next few years, we are now moving to Olympia’s Grand Hall from 2020. This will provide us with significantly more floor space, allowing exhibitors to take larger spaces, as well as being able to welcome new exhibitors, at a time when we are looking for additional room to grow.

A new location within one of the most prestigious events centres in London ensures we have a sustainable future and a long-term home for the show. The move will also see a slight alteration of dates, back to the traditional scheduling of 6-8 September 2020. This should be an advantage to visitors and exhibitors who work in the broadcast sector as there will no longer be a direct clash with IBC. Avoiding the clash with an equally important international event will help us ensure we attract the broadest selection of visitors and exhibitors.

What are the biggest challenges for PLASA going forward?

By its very nature, the entertainment industry changes quickly and both PLASA’s events, trade association activities and skills division need to constantly adapt to support it. Over the last couple of years our focus has been on rebuilding the trust of the audio sector, which we have done to some good success now. However, our aim is always to give equal attention to each sector of the entertainment industry. Providing a platform which works for all can be challenging – but it’s a challenge we are happy to work on to ensure we can continue to support the entire industry in the long-run. n

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