METAlliance ON AI’S IMPLICATIONS FOR PRODUCTION MUSIC—PAGE 25 Desert Island Mics

PAGE 27 news

Volume 40 No. 10 www.prosoundnetwork.com October 2018 Recording prosoun 18 Dave Grohl’s STATE OF THE INDUSTRY Epic Play This summer, Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl released a 23-minute solo SOUND REINFORCEMENT RECORDING track, “Play,” performing all seven instruments in single, unbroken takes. BY CLIVE YOUNG BY STEVE HARVEY Engineer Darrell Thorp reveals how it all went down. ll industries are dependent on the state of the economy. ast year was the third straight year of growth for the The sound reinforcement business is no different— global record business, with music sales up from 2016 A which means it’s been going full steam ahead this year, L by over 8 percent, to $17.3 billion, according to the powered in part by low unemployment and a public in a spend- annual report released in April by IFP, which represents the thrift mood. recording industry worldwide. Streaming was at the heart of The U.S. Consumer Sentiment Index, tracked by the Uni- those figures, with digital revenues accounting for the first versity of Michigan, hit 96.2 in August, not far from the 101.4 it time for just over half of industry income around the world. reached in March—the highest point it’s hit since 2004. Despite “We’re in a renaissance now,” says Glenn Swan, man- signs of inflation starting to kick in, consumers are feeling good ager and director of music production for Premier Studios in about spending money, citing future income and job stabil- New York City. Premier, which encompasses four rooms, two ity. The university’s chief economist, Richard Curtin, observed, acquired from Quad NYC in 2010, and rents an entire floor “Consumers have not yet judged the current rate of inflation (continued on page 48) The Evil as a significant source of erosion in their living standards or as That Men 38 a cause to reduce their buying plans,” and noted that personal consumption can be expected to grow by 2.6 percent in the year Mix ahead. Rob Zombie and Marilyn Manson All of this directly affects the sound reinforcement commu- teamed this summer for the Twins of (continued on page 48) Evil tour; now Zombie’s tight-knit crew shares how they made bad sound so good.

THE SONICS OF SMITH—UK crooner Sam Smith is circling the globe behind his hit album The Thrill of It All with audio provided by UK-based Capital Sound. A massive d&b audiotechnik P.A., with multiple hangs of 20 J8s each, helps cover sold-out arenas nightly. For more on the tour, see page 36.

soundBUSINESS [ 5 ] Italy’s RCF Group Acquires EAW

BY CLIVE YOUNG ly, the deal comes some 15 years af- sold off this year, following in the ter RCF itself was divested by Loud steps of Ampeg, which was sold to Ya- WHITINSVILLE, MA—Italian pro au- Technologies, an earlier iteration of maha in mid-May, and Martin Audio, dio conglomerate RCF Group has Loud Audio, in December 2003. which was subject to a management acquired Eastern Acoustic Works EAW will remain an independent buyout in July. The remaining brands (EAW) from Loud Audio. Ironical- company, according to RCF Group under Loud Audio are Mackie, Crate, CEO Arturo Vicari. “We can look at Blackheart and Tapco. a bright future together,” he said in a Loud and Transom announced briefs statement. “Being part of our group that with the sale of EAW, they have will provide EAW with the necessary completed their planned divestitures investments and focus for a fast and of brands—a move they say will help Williams Sound, solid growth. We are very proud to the company narrow its focus to its have EAW with us.” remaining pro audio brand, Mackie. Pointmaker Now Headquartered in Reggio Emilia “While I have truly enjoyed work- Williams AV and Bologna, Italy, RCF has subsid- ing with all of the brands in the Loud minneapolis, mn—In the wake iaries in the United States and Eu- legacy, now it’s time for us to turn the of Williams Sound’s acquisition of rope, and operates under the compa- page and focus entirely on building unique partners and customers. I Pointmaker last year, the two com- nies RCF and AEB Industriale (dB the Mackie brand,” said Alex Nelson, look forward to the continued devel- panies have launched a new com- Technologies). Founded in 1949, Mackie’s president. “Our companies opment of Mackie and EAW under RCF has 500 employees and its prod- have long lived in a conglomeration new and more focused ownership.” mon brand and corporate identity as ucts are sold in more than 130 coun- of brands, and I believe going for- In a separate statement, Smith of- Williams AV (www.williamsav.com). tries around the world—an effort that ward all the brands are going to ben- fered, “For those who love EAW, it The overall organization will be called it expects to bolster on an interna- efit from newfound focus, alignment is difficult to imagine a better sce- Williams AV, while its products will tional scale with the acquisition of and investment. This last divestiture nario. From the first moment this be categorized under one of two E AW. marks a particularly exciting time for possibility started to materialize, it major product lines—appropriately, Founded in 1978, EAW was Mackie employees worldwide who has been clear that joining forces with Williams Sound or Pointmaker. The bought by Mackie Designs in Febru- are now about to embark on a jour- RCF Group is a great opportunity for rebranded company offers digital, ary 2000 to complement the latter’s ney of reinvention and revitalization.” EAW. This transaction is a true rec- FM, infrared and induction loop wire- portfolio of brands, which includ- It’s a sentiment that was echoed ognition of what the brand represents less audio, as well as video annota- ed Radio Cine Forniture (RCF) at by Dom Harter, managing director of and its potential, as well as the team tion and presentation systems. the time, acquired in 1998. In order Martin Audio, when he spoke to Pro we have built over recent years. With to differentiate between the Mackie Sound News in August about his com- gratitude to the long list of those who Hal Leonard, brand and its parent company, Mack- pany’s MBO from Loud, noting, “We built EAW over its 40-year history, we Avid Team Up ie Designs was renamed Loud Tech- can now make the decisions wholly look forward to the exciting time in burlington, ma—Avid (www.avid. nologies in 2003—the same year that for the benefit of Martin Audio rather front of us.” com) and music media publisher/ Loud divested RCF. The company than a larger multi-brand organiza- Loud Audio distributor Hal Leonard. (www.hal- was later renamed Loud Audio when tion.” www.loudaudio.com leonard.com) have entered into a Transom Capital Group purchased TJ Smith, president of EAW, five-year agreement to distribute the Loud Technologies and all its related added, “Having grown up with the EAW latter’s creative tools through the for- brands in October 2017. EAW and Mackie brands, I can truly www.EAW.com mer’s network of resellers around the In the wake of Transom’s acquisi- say that this is an exciting moment. globe. The agreement is among Avid’s tion of Loud Audio, the EAW sale Both brands are now in a significant- RCF Group largest distribution deals to date and marks the third Loud brand to be ly stronger position to support their www.rcf-group.it is said to represent a multimillion-dol- lar value to Avid annually, while pro- viding for Hal Leonard’s distribution of professional audio and video prod- ucts through authorized resellers in VER Exits Bankruptcy, Reorganizes the Americas, Australia, New Zealand LAS VEGAS, NV—VER, which provides pany, GSO Capital Partners and and selected countries in EMEA. audio gear and engineering for the PRG Management, under the new Roland Opens in music touring industry as well as corporate structure, PRG chairman equipment to the film and TV indus- and CEO Jere Harris now has roles London try, has emerged from bankruptcy for the combined company, while london, uk—Aiming to reach produc- and been reorganized. Stephan Paridaen is president and ers, engineers, instrumentalists and In April, VER entered into an COO of the combined company and music business professionals, Roland agreement to merge with Production Bob Krakauer is CEO of VER. (www.roland.com) has opened the Resource Group, bringing together As PRG already offers lighting, “We believe that this approach Roland Artist Centre London, located two of the largest event production video, media servers and staging for will bring about innovation, an excit- within Metropolis Studios in West companies in North America, but as tours, it expects to draw on VER’s ing level of service, and even more London. The center will be a hub part of the transaction, VER filed vol- tour audio gear and background in transformative collaboration with our for a variety of activities, including untary petitions for Chapter 11. order to provide complete services partners. It feels historic, not only for product support, social media initia- VER will continue to exist as a for tours, festivals and events. VER’s PRG and VER, but for the entertain- tives, interviews, sessions, streaming traditional business-to-business sub- audio division, VER Tour Sound, ment industry,” said Harris in a state- events, photo shoots, gear demos rental platform, renting to AV staging has provided audio services for such ment. and more. The move comes on the companies and industry profession- productions since it was founded in VER heels of new Roland Artist Centers als. Meanwhile, full-service solutions January 2013. Combined, VER and www.ver.com in Nashville and Los Angeles, which will transition to PRG, and the two PRG will have approximately 70 loca- opened in June and May, respectively. companies will continue to operate tions across five continents. Production Resource Group separately. Controlled by the Jordan Com- www.prg.com

[ October 2018 ] [ 6 ] CONTENTS news provol. 40 no. 10soundOctober 2018 SOUNDRECORDING DEPARTMENTS How UK Producers Created Grime..18 Sound Business 5 Grime is one of UK music’s big success stories in recent times, but despite the high accolades and Classifieds 49 equally high sales of today, it was the low-fi, DIY techniques of young producers that first generated Sound People 46 the unique sound. Advertiser Index 48 Studio Showcase: 416 Wabash ...... 20 Indianapolis’ 416 Wabash is a 7,800-square-foot flexible space that combines a well-appointed music studio with an all-purpose event facility— CHARTS and it’s a well thought-out hit. Tracks 22 SOUNDPOST/BROADCAST Centerstage 44 AI’s Implications for Production Music...... 25 Artificial intelligence software is already writing SPECIAL REPORT production music; now AI music platforms may be State of the Industry. . . . 1 [18] impacting composers and their audio partners, too. Pro Sound News’ annual compre- hensive overviews of the record- The Rules and Tools Behind the Mixes of ing and live sound industries, The Darkest Minds ...... 25 looking at how manufacturers, tour sound providers, studios and Working on The Darkest Minds, co-supervising engineers alike are reacting to sound editors Will Files and Warren Hendricks the changing trends around us. were challenged to give the characters’ mind con- trol powers individual sonic signatures with a good or evil twist. COLUMNS SOUNDTECHNOLOGY softwaretech ...... 21 Craig Anderton throws down the The METAlliance Report: Desert Island gauntlet and says, “96 kHz vs. Microphones...... 27 44.1 kHz—let’s settle this!” Multiple Grammy-winning producer/engineer Frank Filipetti pens the inaugural edition of the theahamoment ...... 45 METAlliance’s new column, discussing “desert Former Radial Engineering CEO island microphones.” Peter Janis kicks off his new busi- ness column. Sound Innovations: Meyer Sound’s Bluehorn System ...... 28 viewfromthetop...... 47 [20] Miles Rogers of Meyer Sound recounts the cumula- Jim Dugan, president of Wisycom tive development of the company’s new Bluehorn USA, discusses bringing the System studio monitor. Italian RF company’s products to the U.S. and how that completes Pro Audio Review in PSN . 30, 31, 32, 33 a worldwide picture. Mara Machines MCI JH110C 1/4” Two-Track Recorder; Lynx Aurora(n) Interface; Genelec music,etc...... 50 1032C Studio Monitors; Audio-Technica ATH-M60x Jacques Sonyieux talks with Headphones Chuck Leavell about one rockin’ night in Germany, the genius of SOUNDPRODUCTS Ray Charles and what it’s like to have Clapton and Gilmour ask Studio Products ...... 34 you to join their bands. SR Products ...... 35 SOUNDREINFORCEMENT Bringing Boutique Festivals to the Beach 36 Boutique festivals, serving smaller, niche audienc- es, are a growing trend in Europe, as evidenced by [36] Love International, an annual EDM festival in Tisno, Croatia, that puts stages on beaches, boats and more, all with DJs bringing the beats til sunrise. follow us ONLINE Live Sound Showcase: Rob Zombie..38 subscriptions: online: www.mypsnmag.com www.prosoundnews.com Rob Zombie and Marilyn Manson teamed up this facebook: twitter: summer for the Twins of Evil tour; now Zombie’s www.facebook.com/ www.twitter.com/ tight-knit crew shares how they made bad sound ProSoundNews/ ProSoundNews so good.

[ October 2018 ]

[ 8 ] prosound news fromtheEDITOR vol. 40 no. 10 October 2018 CLIVE YOUNG http://www.prosoundnetwork.com [email protected] FOLLOW US @prosoundnews

an eight-year run that had a strong facebook.com/prosoundnews Facing Festival Fatigue attendance history, selling out all 60,000 tickets just last year. CONTENT n the U.S., we love massive fes- decades. Here in the U.S., however, Why is attendance down? There’s VP/Content Creation Anthony Savona tivals, but Coachella, Bonnaroo, after nearly two decades of growth, no single answer. Music fans who Content Director Clive Young, I Outside Lands and the rest real- we’re only starting to see festivals on a attended the earliest post-2000s festi- [email protected] ly only caught on in the last two downward trend for the first time. vals are now aging out of regular con- Content Manager Katie Makal, decades. In truth, our festival history The U.S. touring industry wel- certgoing, with priorities shifting to- [email protected] pales against that of Europe and the comed the advent of festivals with ward raising families and so on. Most Senior Content Producer Steve Harvey, UK, where such annual blowouts open arms in the early 2000s. With of the biggest festivals are now owned [email protected] have been a summertime staple since the record industry in freefall at the by the same promoters, resulting in a Contributors: Craig Anderton, Russ Long, the 1970s. time, there were fewer new acts being creeping sameness to the lineups, too. Jacques Sonyieux, Rob Tavaglione, Rich Tozzoli There’s generations of music fans minted that could fill sheds and sta- Pitchfork found that Lollapalooza, Managing Design Director Nicole Cobban over there who can’t remember life diums, and the aging Baby Boomer Coachella and Bonnaroo had about Production Manager Fred Vega without festivals—take my cousin acts that were regularly among the a third of their lineups in common ADVERTISING SALES Jemima, who makes a point of hit- highest-grossing live acts every year in 2017. And then there’s the theory VP/Market Expert, AV/Consumer ting three or four a year. While one were getting on. Were live shows go- that millennials’ much-discussed fo- Electronics, Education & Pro Audio happens to be held only a few hun- ing to dry up forever? Then festivals cus on experiences may mean they’re Adam Goldstein, [email protected], dred feet from her backyard (Board- started springing up, providing win- ready to experience…something else. 212-378-0465 masters in Cornwall), Glastonbury wins for all involved—consumers got All industries experience lulls, and remains her all-time favorite, though a good ROI on a ticket, promoters then reinvention comes along. Some SUBSCRIBER CUSTOMER SERVICE she’s been known to travel halfway made money, acts at all levels got ex- suggest the U.S. should embrace the To subscribe, change your address, or check on your current account status, go to around the world to try one out: posure to huge audiences, and sound growing European trend of small, al- www.MyPSNmag.com and click on About Us, email “At Glasto, it normally rains and companies and other production ven- most artisanal festivals, like Croatia’s [email protected], call 888-266- you’re wearing wellies for seven days dors kept working. Love International, profiled on page 5828, or write P.O. Box 234, Lowell, MA 01853. straight, walking around a five-mile- Fast forward to 2018 and the top- 36. Some fests are adopting that for- big festival with blisters and mud— grossing tours are still mostly aging mat here, like Portland, OR’s Pick- ARCHIVES that’s exhausting work. Coachella was baby boomers, but now we’ve started athon, which caps tickets at 3,500 This magazine is available for research and retrieval of select archived articles from leading electronic grass and heat, so I thought I would to experience festival fatigue. Lol- daily and adds a decidedly American database and search services, including ProQuest. give it a go, plus it’s one of the big- lapalooza saw slow ticket sales this twist by turning it into a weekend- For microform availability, contact National Archive gest music festivals in America and year, according to the Chicago Tri- long live music video shoot with an Publishing Company, 800-521-0600, or search the it used to be classed as the American bune, while Bonnaroo had its worst audience on 12 heavily art-directed Serials in Microform listings at napubco.com. Glastonbury. Which it’s not. The fact and third-worst attendances ever in stages, resulting in hundreds of indi- Back issues are available. For more information, you are penned in a certain drinking 2016 and 2017, according to the Ten- vidual clips released throughout the contact www.proquest.com area and can’t drink while watching a nessean. Some long-running main- year online for an additional reve- REPRINTS/PERMISSIONS nue stream. By all reports, this year’s band or DJ or whatever? Don’t know stays like Sasquatch have gone on This magazine may not be reproduced or quoted what that’s about.” hiatus, while others like FYF Fest edition was a smashing success. For in whole or in part by printed or electronic means Since they’re such an ingrained and Lost Lake threw in the towel this years, the sound industry has crowed without written permission from Future. To obtain part of culture over there, festivals— year due to low ticket sales. In Sep- “live music will never die because you permissions, contact Wright’s Media, 877-652-5295. and all their supporting industries, in- tember, St. Louis’ LouFest cancelled can’t download an experience”—but cluding audio vendors—have weath- due to money issues just 48 hours now people want to experience the MANAGEMENT ered ups and downs throughout the before showtime, bringing to an end creation of the live music download. Managing Director/Senior Vice President Christine Shaw Chief Revenue Officer Diane Giannini Chief Content Officer Joe Territo Chief Marketing Officer Wendy Lissau Head of Production US & UK Mark Constance

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[ October 2018 ]

[ 12 ] soundBUSINESS Live (Sound) from New York, It’s AES Doug JOHNSTALEYPHOTO.COM NEW YORK, NY—The annual Audio Engineering Society Convention is MacCallum, coming up soon. Audio pros from around the industry will come to- gether at the Jacob K. Javits Conven- One Systems tion Center in New York City, Octo- ber 17–20, for four days of everything Co-Founder, audio. One of the benefits of hold- ing the show once again in the Big Apple is the opportunities it affords Dead at 62 to attend workshops and panels at NASHVILLE, TN—Douglas “Doug” which live sound pros working on MacCallum, co-founder and Broadway, live television, tours, inter- president of Nashville-based national events and more share their speaker manufacturer One Sys- insights and experiences. Last year’s AES Convention at New York’s Javits Center was packed. tems, died at his Brentwood, TN, This year’s Sound Reinforcement home in mid-September after a Track will explore dozens of live Stoffo of Radio Active Designs, the and his crew will provide insights yearlong battle with leukemia. and installed sound topics including panel will feature RF engineers and into the show’s Tony Award-winning He was 62. sound system optimization, corporate technicians, manufacturer’s prod- sound design. Born in Pitts- sound, live sound production for TV, uct specialists and government rela- Core technologies will be covered burgh, PA, in the impact of the continuing reallo- tions experts. A second Super Ses- in sessions such as “Understanding 1956 and gradu- cation of the RF spectrum, and best sion, moderated by Peter Erskine of Line Source Behavior for Better Op- ating from Bald- practices in designing wireless inter- Best Audio and discussing wireless timization” and “A Cookbook Ap- win High School com systems. intercom systems, will investigate and proach to Sound System Optimiza- in 1974, Mac- “Sound reinforcement is continu- compare the primary technologies in tion with Bob McCarthy.” “Audio Callum headed ally evolving due to new technologies use today, including associated con- Production for Corporate Events” will to Otterbein Uni- Doug and possibilities, and audience expec- trol platforms. feature a panel of experts addressing versity in Wester- MacCallum in tations. In 2018, sound reinforcement In the “Live Production in a TV topics ranging from fitting the sound ville, OH, where 2002 faces continuing regulatory, financial World” seminar, Jenny Montgom- system to the venue to RF coordina- he earned a bach- and market challenges,” said Henry ery, the lead A2 (audio assist) on tion and music and band support. elor’s degree in business admin- Cohen, AES New York 2018 Sound the recent live broadcast production AES New York Convention Sound istration. Reinforcement Track co-chair. “With of Jesus Christ Superstar, and other Reinforcement Track events, avail- MacCallum began his ca- these challenges come opportunities, members of the production team will able with All-Access registration, reer in 1978 as sales manager of and the AES New York Convention discuss handling the challenges of a run in complement to exhibit floor Cambridge Marketing Group, presents the next chapter in audio one-off live event where there’s no and demo room events including the a manufacturers’ rep firm, fol- engineering evolution.” option but to get it right the first Broadcast Audio Expo, Broadway lowed by a 14-year run of sales AES New York’s “RF Super Ses- time. Getting it right every night is Sound Expo and Live Production management and executive posi- sion” will address attendees’ con- the challenge on Broadway, as will Stage, and the AoIP Technology Pa- tions with Electro-Voice and its cerns about the new RF landscape, be illustrated in the session “Design- vilion. parent company, the Mark IV identify specific issues and offer real- ing for Broadway: The Band’s Visit,” AES Convention Audio Group (the former parent world solutions. Moderated by James where sound designer Kai Harada www.aesshow.com company of EV, Altec Lansing, University Sound, Cetec Vega, Klark Teknik, DDA and Midas). He ended his Mark IV Audio Audio Precision Co-Founder Bob tenure serving as vice president from 1994-96. From there he went on to join Harman-owned Metzler, Dead at 84 AKG as vice president and gen- eral manager of U.S. operations, BEAVERTON, OR—Audio Preci- calling for extensive interna- a position he held for a decade. sion co-founder and former tional travel. It wasn’t uncom- At that time the microphone and president Bob Metzler died mon for him to be gone for headphone manufacturer was at home on August 11, 2018. weeks at a time, visiting numer- based in Nashville. Along with Dr. Richard Cabot, ous countries, and customers, In 2007, MacCallum co- Bruce Hofer and Robert in a single trip. He became the founded loudspeaker manu- Wright, Metzler founded Audio face of AP during those early facturer One Systems, which is Precision in 1984 and served years, engaging thousands of also the United States distribu- as the organization’s president customers across the globe. tion partner for P.Audio’s line until his retirement in 1999. During his time at AP, Met- of sound reinforcement systems. He was 84. zler wrote numerous magazine He served as president of the Born in Plymouth, IN, in articles and application notes, company until his death. 1934, Metzler went to study Bob Metzler edited AP’s newsletter, Audio. MacCallum is survived by his at Manchester College in Indi- TST, and, in 1993, authored the wife Jeanette, stepchildren Chris- ana, where he met his wife, Violet, OR, in the early 1970s to work at Audio Measurement Handbook. tina and Jacob, brother Bob, sis- in 1953; they married in 1954. After Tektronix. Later he gained an MBA He is survived by his wife Violet; ters Heather, Laurie and Tracy, working for various radio stations as degree at the University of Portland. sister Helen; children Mark, Den- and many nephews, nieces, and a DJ/chief engineer, he finished his During his time at AP, in addition nis, Lucinda and Christopher; and 11 great-nephews and nieces. physics degree at the University of to his role as president, Metzler’s grandchildren. One Systems Louisville and worked for General responsibilities included marketing Audio Precision www.onesystems.com Electric before moving to Portland, and sales, with those duties often www.ap.com

[ October 2018 ]

[ 14 ] soundBUSINESS Audio on IP Networks: AES67 and Audinate’s Dante

BY EKIN BINAL routes in the Dante software solutions that provides the with the business. When purchasing matrix. user with the ability to control, mon- a Dante-enabled product, you are as- Networking is a key com- AES67 is an open itor, discover and transport many sured that all components will work ponent of pro audio these standard developed by audio channels between any com- together seamlessly. days, and much as all the Audio Engineer- pliant audio devices. AES67 cannot As for sound quality, Dante offers professionals have a few ing Society. This suite currently control or monitor assign- user-selectable ranges with capability favorite pieces of gear, of IP-based audio net- ments, and it doesn’t currently have ranging from 48 kHz to 96 kHz and they also have preferences working standards fo- Dante’s ability to allow its users the all the way up to 192 kHz. AES67 about networking solu- cuses on interoperabil- control and management of audio- has currently adopted a media clock tions. AES67 and Audi- ity with standards like over-IP traffic. rate of 48 kHz, technically making it nate’s Dante protocol are Dante or Q-LAN, for Dante has added an additional lower fidelity, but this is still a high among the most popular instance. With AES67 layer of security with Dante Domain sampling rate, especially when you offerings, though they ul- configuration, users are Manager, which provides assigned take into account the fact that it is timately are intended to [opinion] able to make different users with different levels of access. 24-bit and can be up to 32-bit. The accomplish different goals. audio-over-IP plat- Profiles with higher-level access can difference between the sampling rates Here, Ekin Binal, audio solutions tech- forms talk to each other on a net- determine where audio can be sent would not be noticeable to most us- nology manager at Crestron Electronics, work. AES67 ties together different and received. A user must have ad- ers, and 48 kHz has been accepted shares his opinions on the two protocols, networks by allowing a user to send ministrator rights to set and break the across the pro AV industry as a com- exploring considerations such as security, audio from, say, a Dante-enabled audio routes. Without this security, pliant rate. For reference, CD quality cost, sound quality and future-proofing. piece of hardware to a Ravenna-en- someone could enter somebody else’s is 44.1 kHz/16-bit. abled piece of hardware when both network, plug in and route micro- With future-proofing in mind, ante and AES67 are two of the devices are in AES67 mode. phone channels from a conference many manufacturers have waited to most popular ways of trans- While comparing two very preva- room to listen in on a conversation or see whether Dante or AES67 would D mitting audio over IP. Dante lent solutions, it is imperative to dive project. While this is a benefit of the emerge as the dominant audio-over- is a license-based media networking deeper into the conversation and note Dante solution, this type of security IP solution. Dante adoption has technology developed by Audinate, that Dante and AES67 provide enter- is not currently part of the AES67 grown at a rapid pace. Customers a publicly traded Australian com- prise-grade solutions. standard. are becoming more comfortable with pany. With over 300 brands and more A common misconception is With AES67 being an open stan- Dante as it has AES67 built into it, than 1,500 products on the market that AES67 and Dante are compet- dard without licensing costs, there is which provides flexibility to the user. designed to support the Dante audio ing standards. AES67 was created to no upfront cost; rather, it is a com- Meanwhile, if two years from now networking protocol, the company serve as an interoperability solution plete specification that any manu- Dante becomes something else or an- has developed a large presence in the between various audio-over-IP stan- facturer can follow. It defines what other competing platform emerges, industry. Audio solutions that are dards; as such, it does not offer all of developers need to implement, the users can rest assured that AES67 Dante-enabled guarantee interoper- the capabilities that Dante does. For protocols to follow and the underly- mode will maintain interoperability ability. For example, a Crestron DSP- example, Dante provides users the ing architecture. AES67 is attractive with other AES67-compliant gear. 1283 can easily connect to a Dante- functionality of controlling and moni- for manufacturers seeking audio over Dante is currently the best solution enabled Sennheiser microphone, toring audio, while AES67 does not. IP for the lowest initial cost. out there as it provides synchroni- allowing both devices to appear in It is also important to note that Audi- Although Dante is initially more zation, has a high quality of service Dante Controller. Audinate’s Dante nate has adopted AES67 compatibil- expensive, its users can feel confident built into the platform, and it en- Controller software allows the user ity mode in its most recent firmware. they are implementing future-proof sures that all of the audio partners to view all Dante transmitters and Dante is a full-suite solution and industry-supported technology that support Dante can work together receivers, and configure all of the ranging from hardware modules to that is designed to adapt and grow without question.

T-Mobile Continues 600 MHz Push Across U.S.

BY STEVE HARVEY far from the tower and are four times T-Mobile began its rapid 600 MHz better in buildings than mid-band Extended Range LTE rollout. To BELLVUE, WA—Having pushed wireless LTE, providing increased coverage accelerate the process of freeing up mic operators out of the 600 MHz and capacity. The so-called “Un-car- the spectrum for LTE, T-Mobile range, T-Mobile is continuing to lay rier” has already deployed Extended has been working with broadcast- the foundation for nationwide 5G in Range LTE to more than 80 percent ers occupying 600 MHz spectrum 2020 with 5G-ready equipment, and of Americans with 700 MHz (Band to assist them in moving to new has now lit up 600 MHz (Band 71) 12), and rapidly began deploying it frequencies. Extended Range LTE in 1,254 cities with 600 MHz (Band 71) last year to T-Mobile currently offers 14 and towns in 36 states, including the expand coverage and capacity even smartphones capable of operating in island of Puerto Rico. further. the 600 MHz band, and that number As T-Mobile rolls out its Band In April 2017, T-Mobile made continues to grow. The company has 71 infrastructure, licensed and unli- its largest network investment ever, also enabled carrier aggregation for censed wireless audio equipment op- tripling its low-band spectrum 600 MHz Extended Range LTE and erators must vacate frequency spec- holdings by purchasing spectrum mid-band LTE, so customers with trum in the 600 MHz band in the sold in the U.S. government’s 600 capable devices can access the capac- relevant regions. Failure to do so may MHz auction. Those licenses cover ity of both simultaneously, increasing result in a hefty fine. 100 percent of the United States, download speeds. T-Mobile notes that Extended including Puerto Rico. Immedi- T-Mobile T-Mobile has lit up 600 MHz Extended Range Range LTE signals travel twice as ately after receiving the licenses, www.t-mobile.com LTE in 1,254 cities and towns in 36 states.

[ October 2018 ] soundBUSINESS [ 15 ]

• RONAN HILL, CAS, Production Sound Emmy Winners Announced Mixer

BY STEVE HARVEY Best Sound Mixing (Half-Hour Best Sound Mixing (One-Hour Best Sound Mixing (Movie/Mini) Series) Series) Genius: Picasso—“Chapter One” LOSANGELES, CA—In the first of two Barry—“Chapter Seven: Loud, Fast Game of Thrones—“Beyond the Wall” • BOB BRONOW, Re-Recording 2018 Creative Arts Emmy Awards and Keep Going” • ONNALEE BLANK, CAS, Re-Re- Mixer ceremonies honoring outstanding ar- • TODD BECKETT, Re-Recording cording Mixer • MARK HENSLEY, Re-Recording tistic and technical achievement in Mixer • MATHEW WATERS, CAS, Re-Re- Mixer television, the Television Academy • ELMO PONSDOMENECH, Re- cording Mixer • TAMÁS CSABA, Production Mixer awarded many talented artists and Recording Mixer • RICHARD DYER, Production Academy of Television Arts & Sciences craftspeople, including sound mixing • BEN PATRICK, CAS, Production Mixer www.emmys.com and sound editing teams. Mixer The ceremony, which kicked off the 70th Primetime Emmy Awards, honored achievements in the catego- ries of animation and scripted pro- gramming including comedy, drama and limited series and were presented at the Microsoft Theater in Los An- geles.

Best Sound Editing (Half-Hour Series) Atlanta—“Teddy Perkins” • TREVOR GATES, Supervising Sound Editor • JASON DOTTS, Dialogue/ADR Editor • DAVID BARBEE, Sound Effects Editor • JORDAN MCCLAIN, Foley Editor • GEORDY SINCAVAGE, Foley Edi- tor • MICHAEL HEAD, Foley Editor • TARA BLUME, Foley Artist • MATT SALIB, Foley Artist

Best Sound Editing (One-Hour Series) Stranger Things—“Chapter Eight: The Mind Flayer” • BRADLEY NORTH, Sound Su- pervisor • CRAIG HENIGHAN, Sound De- signer • TIFFANY S. GRIFFITH, Dialogue Editor • JORDAN B. WILBY, Sound Effects Editor • DAVID WERNTZ, Sound Effects Editor • ANTONY ZELLER, Supervising Foley Editor • DAVID KLOTZ, Music Editor • ZANE BRUCE, Foley Artist • LINDSAY PEPPER, Foley Artist

Best Sound Editing (Movie/Mini) Black Mirror—“USS Callister” • KENNY CLARK, Sound Supervi- sor/Sound Effects Editor • MICHAEL MAROUSSAS, Dia- logue Editor • MATTHEW SKELDING, Dia- logue Editor • DILLON BENNETT, Sound Ef- fects Editor • DARIO SWADE, Foley Editor • RICKY BUTT, Foley Artist • OLIVER FERRIS, Foley Artist

[ October 2018 ] [ 16 ] sound INTERNATIONAL

that as the inner ring fired outward, Hill’s Gets Immersive with d&b it supported the Soundscape environ- ment. So if a sound object originated LISBON, PORTUGAL—When it comes in the north position, for example, to a corporate event, the production then as that sound transited the room always keeps the client at the center and the delegates, a loudspeaker of the audience’s attention. Certainly from the inner ring would pick up that was the case recently when U.S. that role, supporting the sound object pet nutrition company Hill’s held an across the 120-foot throw. in-the-round corporate presentation Koan noted, “We used QLab to in Lisbon, but event producer Har- program the sound moves. The video vest Productions aimed to go a step spit out timecode, QLab took that further by immersing the participants and output OSC into the DS100, via d&b audiotechnik’s d&b Sound- then to the matrix, so the whole pro- scape technology. cess became automatic. That func- “We have always done 360, in-the- tionality was already built into QLab. round style presentations for Hill’s,” What it meant was you just needed explained Josh Koan, Harvest’s proj- to drag the path of the audio through ect leader for this event. “And we the listening area, and QLab writes always wanted to create a totally im- the OSC code to make that happen. mersive experience for the delegates This was not a simple ‘snap to a new that places them within the context of position’ audio; this was real-world the content we have created. d&b audiotechnik’s d&b Soundscape created immersive audio for a corporate event in Lisbon. transiting through space from one “For the Hill’s event, we were in location to another, and without any a large ballroom at a hotel in Lisbon, gine, Soundscape includes two dis- south, east and west of an oval shape, need for complex programming to Portugal,” continued Koan. “A central tinct software components: En-Scene, with the loudspeakers spaced evenly achieve that effect.” stage was used for all speech-based a sound object positioning tool, and between them. d&b audiotechnik presentation. The delegates surround- En-Space, an acoustic room emula- The systems worked together so www.dbaudio.com ed the stage, and they in turn were sur- tion tool that provides room rever- rounded by a 360-video panorama.... beration signatures. We then paired that to multitrack re- The event’s system comprised cordings made at the same time so we point-source loudspeakers, mainly could paint an accurate audio portrait, Y10P with some E12-D. An inner Aurus Makes FOH Debut giving all delegates, wherever they sat, “out-firing ring” for speech-based a spatially accurate experience.” presentation from the central stage d&b Soundscape enables two dif- area used all Y10Ps. Meanwhile, there in China’s Cadillac Arena ferent, related forms of sound pro- was also an “in-firing” system of E12- cessing to produce defined enhance- D and Y10P on the video perimeter. BEIJING, CHINA—Zhang ments to the listening environment. Each screen was approximately 4 Hong Guang, one of Based on the d&b DS100 signal en- meters wide and positioned north, China’s most popular composers, filled the Cadillac Arena in Bei- jing in July when his music was performed Back to Analog for for an audience of 18,000 fans. Placed at the house mix position Polosud Records was a Stage Tec Aurus platinum desk, making A Stage Tec Aurus platinum desk mixed the music of Zhang NAPLES, ITALY—Italy’s Polosud Re- a professional studio in 1987 and a its debut as a FOH con- Hong Guang at Cadillac Arena in Beijing in July. cords has returned to analog af- focal point of the Neapolitan music sole in China. ter more than a decade of digital scene. After a “digital switchover” The Aurus platinum was RMDQ DSP units. The microphones operation with the installation of in the late 1990s, which lasted until equipped with 32 faders and inte- were converted to digital signals with- a Rupert Neve Designs 5088 mix- 2017, Pascale says, “The analog is grated into a Nexus network with out analog preamplification directly ing console. Founded in 1981 as finally back.” The 5088 was supplied six Base Devices and a STAR rout- at the Nexus’ mic inputs with 32-bit a rehearsal room and project stu- by Rupert Neve Designs’ Italian dis- er. CCTV, China’s national state resolution using the True Match pro- dio for owner Ninni Pascale’s band tributor, MidiWare. broadcaster, recorded the event, cess. A total of 16 XMIC microphone Walhalla, Polosud Records became Pascale says, “Having been a Ru- which aired on the CCTV-3 music boards with eight channels each (128 pert Neve fan for a long time and and entertainment channel. IFTT in total) were installed in the Nexus already having his equipment in was the technical service provider. Base Devices for the purpose. my studio, I had the chance to talk The 60-piece orchestra, a choir of A second performance in Shen- about the console during a MidiWare 50 singers and a band with 11 musi- zhen is already planned for the end of event—and on that occasion, it was cians, 16 soloists and two presenters the year. Zhang Hong Guang, a com- love at first sight. I have used a lot of required more than 200 mix channels poser of Chinese opera and dance consoles, but the RND 5088 is the and 80 buses, which engineers kept theater, also writes film and television ‘true’ mixer for me.” track of by using the Aurus VCA hi- scores, as well as pop and ethnic mu- Pascale’s console is configured erarchy feature, enabling instruments sic. The Cadillac Arena was opened with a 16-channel penthouse loaded to be grouped. VCAs were mixed in- in 2008 and hosted the Olympic bas- with 14 channels of Shelford 5052 stead of individual channels, com- ketball tournament in the same year. mic preamp/EQ and two Shelford bined with the Aurus spill function. It will serve as the ice hockey venue 5051 EQ/compressor modules. To accommodate the large num- during the Winter Olympics in 2022. Italy’s Polosud Records has a new Rupert Rupert Neve Designs ber of audio channels, the Aurus plat- Stage Tec Neve Designs 5088 mixing console. www.rupertneve.com inum was fully populated with seven www.stagetec.com

[ October 2018 ] soundBUSINESS [ 17 ] RG Jones Joins In at Henley Festival

HENLEY-ON-THAMES, UK—RG Jones Jones’ audio team of Steve Carr and the other three stages equipped by Sound Engineering recently provided Mark Edwards fielded Martin Au- RG Jones, which was the only onsite sound for the annual five-day Henley dio MLA Compact loudspeakers for sound contractor for the festival. Festival in the UK, as it has for the main hangs and outfills. “They more “Rita had the crowd jumping last 36 years. This year, that meant than rise to this challenge and yet and the sound system sounded in- providing audio for the likes of Rita also enable us to keep to the fairly credible—a floating fairytale on the Ora, Chic featuring Nile Rodgers, strict off-site noise limits set by the water,” reported Daria Dee, touring Grace Jones, Curtis Stigers and ENO. [city] council,” Lambert explained. production manager for Rita Ora. The event sports a number of venues, For this year’s edition, held in July, “I’ve been working with RG Jones but none as unique as the festival’s RG Jones added DD12s as arena de- for many years now and it’s always a trademark Floating Stage. lays in the grandstand to replace the relief to see their name on the sheet. Festival technical manager and previously used DD6s. Production The people behind this company are head of sound Jim Lambert said, also used MLA Mini for infill, and very passionate about what they do— “The Floating Stage has always been decided to retain the same curved they are a family-run independent a challenge in that the front-to-back MLX sub-bass arrangement that it business and it really distinguishes of the arena is only approximately 98 had introduced in 2017, resulting in a them. I’ve been to Henley Festival as The Martin Audio MLA Compact P.A. is feet but it is extremely wide, and with smoother response in the far reaches a guest and it’s a truly unique event. splayed wide at the Henley Festival’s Floating the introduction of general admission of the main stage arena, according to Working on it this year was equally Stage in order to cover the shallow but wide tickets outside the arena, we are be- Lambert. fun and refreshing; the festival team audience area. ing asked to cover a width of some- In addition to the Floating Stage, is as wonderful as they are profes- thing like 330 feet.” MLA Minis were used in the Bed- sional, and our crew were well looked Martin Audio To accomplish that goal, RG ouin Tent and Jazz Garden—two of after.” www.martin-audio.com Solotech Takes On Fame in Montreal MONTREAL, CANADA—The theme song MKE1 lavalier wireless mics with to Fame goes, “I’m gonna live forev- SK 5212 bodypack transmitters were er,” and the theatrical musical based used for the actors, resulting in 40 on the 1980 hit film might do that as wireless inputs, along with more than well. Case in point: it was recently re- 50 wired microphones for the band. vived for a run at the 2,219-seat Saint Serge Rodrigue was hired as the wire- Denis Theatre in Montreal, with au- less technician for the show to ride dio provided by Montreal-based So- herd on all its RF needs. lotech. Solotech Front of house engineer Maxime www.solotech.com Lambert oversaw a Yamaha Rivage PM7 digital audio console nightly for Tackling audio for the Fame revival were (l-r) Maxime Lambert, FOH engineer; Serge Rodrigue, Yamaha the show. “Solotech strongly suggest- wireless technician; and Colin Gagné, sound designer. www.yamahaca.com ed that we take a look at the PM7, as it fulfilled most of our requirements,” said Lambert. “After a moment of reflection, the show’s sound designer, Colin Gagné, and I decided that it could be the right fit for us. We have used many Yamaha mixers before, mostly CL5, QL5 and M7CL, and Solotech provided us a day in their warehouse for training by Yamaha systems application specialist Kevin Kimmel.” Lambert took advantage of the new desk’s multiuser interface: “Hav- ing the possibility for two operators on one control surface at the same time is really useful when you have 100-plus inputs to manage,” said Lambert. “Another great feature is to have the option of choosing the send point of each channel to any mix, which made mixing monitors from front of house a lot easier. We had the Rupert Neve Designs EQ810 and MBC4 multiband compressor on all of our mix buses and mostly used the Yamaha SPX reverb for effects. The Rupert Neve Designs 5045 also came in handy.” A full two dozen Sennheiser

[ October 2018 ] [ 18 ] soundRECORDING

leases the Foo Fighters’ music, was Capturing A Gang of Grohls for Play produced by Grohl and Therapy ROSWELL FILMS Content/Therapy Studios. It was di- rected by Grohl in collaboration with Mark Monroe. The pair previously worked together on the Grammy- winning 2013 documentary Sound City and the Emmy- and Grammy- winning HBO docuseries Sonic High- ways. Grohl’s concept was to film and record each of his parts for the piece, which he wrote in sections on his laptop while touring, in a single, continuous take; one mistake and he started over. “He came in and said, ‘I’ve never played this in its entirety before.’ First he played the drums down, humming the guitar part— and there’s no click,” says Thorp, who also engineered Foo Fighters’ latest album, Concrete and Gold. The finished piece was built on take four, says Thorp. Next came the first guitar part, bass, then two more guitars, including an acoustic. Percus- “Play,” a 23-minute track composed and performed by Foo Fighters leader Dave Grohl, was recorded in single, continuous takes as he performed all seven instruments in the piece. sion and keyboards came last. Grohl performed the drum part BY STEVE HARVEY mentary that includes a 23-minute wood over several days in March, on three kits spread across the studio, track on which he plays seven differ- with multi-Grammy Award-winning with two floor toms placed between, LOS ANGELES, CA—To help inspire new ent instruments, each recorded in a engineer, producer and mixer Darrell enabling transitions. Play was report- generations to learn and play music, single take. The instrumental piece Thorp behind the console. edly inspired by Grohl watching his Foo Fighters’ frontman Dave Grohl was filmed and recorded in Studio Play, from Roswell Films, an off- own kids, who have appeared on recently released Play, a mini-docu- One at EastWest Studios in Holly- shoot of Roswell Records, which re- (continued on page 24) Behind the Beats: How UK MARK SURRIDGE Producers Created Grime

BY EMMA FINAMORE A true DIY genre, many of to- day’s biggest MCs came up as LONDON, UK—Grime is one of UK producers: present-day household music’s big success stories. Thanks names Wiley and Skepta, for ex- to the genre, British rappers are ample, both produced tracks for now being taken seriously across the themselves and others before be- pond by the likes of Kanye West and coming better known for their skills Drake. Ticket sales for grime events on the mic. DJ Target—who helped quadrupled between 2010 and shape grime in its earliest form— 2017, while Spotify grime streams was childhood friends with Wiley, went from 89 million in 2016 to 206 and the two discovered music pro- million in 2017. Between 2016 and duction together before going on 2017, physical and digital album to found garage crew Pay As U Go sales for grime grew by 93 percent, Cartel (who had a Top 20 hit with according to Dr. Joy White in The “Champagne Dance” in 2002) DJ Plastician’s early tools included FruityLoops 2.0 and Cool Edit. Business of Grime. and the grime-establishing group Despite the high accolades and Roll Deep, who enjoyed a string ever hip-hop show, Yo! MTV Raps. Pro with a bunch of MIDI plug-ins equally high sales of today, it was of Number One singles and who “New software enabled us to work was all we needed to get the sound the low-fi, DIY techniques of young count grime stars Dizzee Rascal and entirely from laptops, or from much we wanted,” he adds. producers that first generated the Tinchy Stryder as former members. simpler studio setups, which made it FruityLoops—available on Play- unique sound that would become “I’d analyze the beat, right down possible for many more [people] to Station—was a freeware digital au- one of the UK’s biggest home- to the small sounds in the back- start making music. Even without a dio workstation released in the late grown genres. These early pioneers ground,” remembers DJ Target— laptop or a recording studio, teenag- 1990s and adopted by many bud- used the accessible tools they had— who helped shape grime in its earli- ers were using PlayStation programs ding grime producers. Created by programs found on game consoles est form—in his recently published to create beats,” says Target about Belgium-based Image-Line, which of the late 1990s, cheap technology autobiography, Grime Kids. how he and his peers started creat- specialized in games, FruityLoops plugged into their parents’ PCs—in He describes how, even as teens, ing the sound of grime around the 1.0 was developed as a MIDI-only order to reflect the sounds and at- he and Wiley were analyzing the turn of the millennium. step sequencer inspired by the Ham- mosphere of their environment, at beat of tracks while listening to their “Ninety-five percent of the beats merhead Rhythm Station, an emula- grime’s now infamous 140 bpm. Walkmans or watching MTV’s first we made were on our laptops. Logic (continued on page 23)

[ October 2018 ]

PSN478.recording.indd 18 9/19/18 6:17 PM

[ 20 ] STUDIOshowcase 416 Wabash Aims for Best of Both Worlds WAASH BY STEVE HARVEY indianapolis, in—After graduating with a bachelor’s degree from Indiana niversity, Chris Wodock decided the -to- life was not for him, so he headed to oston to study music pro- duction and engineering at erklee College of Music. After si years as a touring musician based out of Austin, T, Wodock returned to his hometown of Indianapolis in mid- and put his economics degree to work, initially building the Music arage recording and rehearsal studio and, more recently, Wabash, a music production facility and event space. “When we opened in 2004, re- G Series stereo bus compressor. For The control room for 416 Wabash centers around a SSL XL-Desk and Focal Twin6 Be hearsals were booming,” says the new facility, he purchased Lynx monitors. Wodock, who launched Music Ga- Aurora 24 HD converters for his rage with the goal of building out Pro Tools HD12 rig and a pair of multiple rehearsal rooms in addi- Focal Twin6 Be monitors. A double- tion to a recording studio. “There wide outboard rack houses API, Fo- were rehearsal spaces and studios all cusrite, Universal Audio and other over Austin, so I thought I’d model devices. “Premium converters, good off what I’d seen there. But they’re speakers, nice desk; that was our completely different music scenes, goal,” he says. so we only got to build three re- Wodock built his previous stu- hearsal rooms.” dio from Wes Lachot designs posted Over the following 12 years, he on the internet. Lachot was his first says, it became increasingly difficult choice for the new facility, but the to entice bands into the rehearsal budget wouldn’t quite stretch far rooms. The studio, on the other enough. Instead, he went with India- hand, was doing fine. “I worked with napolis-based Haverstick Designs, a Gucci Mane back in 2007; that gen- company founded by Gavin Haver- erated all kinds of buzz and I got la- stick, who previously worked for lo- beled as the place to go for hip-hop.” cal acoustics company Auralex. With 7,800 square feet to work with, 416 Wabash is both a full-fledged recording studio and When the lease came due for re- “When I saw he’d branched out event space. newal, Wodock decided it was time on his own, I thought, of course I’m for a change. “I found a couple of going to call the hometown guy,” Additionally, the event space is event space. “I can have a front-of- investors who were into my idea says Wodock. “I sat down with available for recording larger bands, house engineer and a studio engi- of creating a recording studio that Gavin and said I wanted it mod- or live performances, he notes. “We neer each doing their own things,” was more of an events/performance eled around an SSL desk and Focal put a 24-input panel with four data he says. space. Why don’t we have bands speakers, and he built exactly what I lines outside the control room facing For a P.A. system, Wodock turned come into the studio and record, asked for.” the event space. I had Jared Stansill to his local dealer. “I usually get my and then do a show to promote their Wodock and his crew con- at Pro Audio LA do all my Mogami equipment through Sweetwater be- EP? I found this space; it had been structed the production facilities to wiring.” cause they’re two hours north of us. empty for four years, so they were Haverstick’s specifications, only us- A freestanding, isolated mez- My Sweetwater sales rep, Jeff Bar- eager to rent it to us.” ing Primacoustic diffusors on the zanine structure above the control nett, recommended a PreSonus ULT 416 Wabash’s 7,800-square-foot back wall for the sake of expediency. room serves as a VIP area. “We system, two mains and two 2,000W flexible space, with a standing ca- “It was way harder than I thought,” might make it a green room,” says subs. It’s plenty loud—it’s 110 dB pacity just short of 600 people, fea- he says. “Putting real lead stone into Wodock, who is keen to keep the en- all day—and crystal clear. We’ve had tures an industrial vibe with mul- the recording booth was a two-day tire space as flexible as possible and great luck with it.” tiple mezzanine levels and VIP areas process that turned into two weeks. cater to the widest possible range of Indeed, with few other business- that can be configured for anything There were points where I’d been events. “I don’t want to be pigeon- es combining a music studio with from a wedding celebration to a cor- working for 14 hours and was ready holed; I try to do it all.” an all-purpose event space to serve porate product launch to a music to give up. Nobody tells you how But music is certainly a focus. as a template, Wodock believes luck concert. “I bought a portable stage difficult it is to hang a 5x3 piece “This weekend we have a four-band has played a part in 416 Wabash’s of 4-foot by 8-foot pieces, so we can of 1-inch glass and how incredibly bill on Friday, a three-band bill on success. “I’d had a studio business tailor the stage for a solo acoustic heavy it is. But we pushed through Saturday, then Sunday is a Latin for almost 18 years, so I had a pret- artist or we can do a 24-foot by 16- it.” dance night,” he reports. One of ty good clientele, and it was a good foot stage for a larger touring act,” Wodock chose to keep the con- Wodock’s goals is to produce a mu- time to add the event space. Now says Wodock. trol room to a workable size while sic show similar to Austin City Lim- I’m adding even more clientele who Shortly before relocating, also including an iso booth that its. “We did a test pilot in April with are interested in not only record- Wodock purchased a 24-input SSL could accommodate several musi- a film company, with seven cameras ing but also having their EP release XL-Desk, which is outfitted with a cians. “It was a fine line between and two really good regional touring here,” he says. variety of 500 Series modules, in- making the event space as usable as acts.” “But I definitely don’t think I’m cluding pairs of Lindell Audio PEX- possible and having enough space The studio control room is linked that smart. I think I just got lucky.” 500 passive EQs and Heritage Au- to make the studio as usable as pos- over Cat 5 via a Focusrite RedNet 3 416 Wabash dio ’73JR mic preamps, plus an SSL sible,” he says. box to a Midas M32 console in the www.416wabash.com

[ October 2018 ]

PSN478.recording.indd 20 9/19/18 6:17 PM SOFTWAREtech [ 21 ]

eration is that the oversampling al- 96 kHz vs. 44.1 kHz: Let’s Settle This gorithms need to work in real time, so recording at a higher “native” BY CRAIG Foldover distortion is usually an ments tend to be power-hungry any- sample rate may be better (although ANDERTON issue with older virtual instruments way, this may limit the number of whether anyone would notice is de- because newer ones often have in- real-time virtual instruments you batable). ver since we’ve ternal oversampling so they can run can run in a project. Fortunately, I’ve also found that even 96 kHz had a choice of at a higher rate than the project. oversampling is usually optional, so isn’t enough to represent some synth E sample rates, However, this, too, has limitations. you can track without it—when low waveforms accurately, and 192 kHz there’s been contro- Oversampling requires more CPU latency matters—and oversample is preferable. At this frequency, versy over whether cycles, and because virtual instru- while mixing. But another consid- (continued on page 24) higher sample rates sound better. Some claim higher sample rates add transparency to music, while others claim (with some justification) that no one can tell the difference if material recorded at 96 kHz plays back at 96 kHz or 44.1 kHz. Which reminds me of being in a studio in Chicago years ago. Two musicians were having a heated de- bate about whether cables made a difference. Musician A said that cables can make an audible, obvi- ous difference. Musician B said it’s about companies trying to sell you things you don’t need, and wire is wire. I asked musician A if he played guitar, and musician B if he played keyboards. They were shocked— how did I know? Easy: Cables can make a difference with guitars, but not so much with keyboards. For the past few years, I’ve been researching the hypothesis that both the pro and con higher-sample-rate advocates are right, because the dif- ference is situational. Although I can’t speak to all possible differenc- es, it turns out there can be a major, obvious difference when working “in-the-box” with some (but not all) virtual instruments and amp sims. Virtual instrument waveforms, like pulse waves, can have har- monics that can extend into, or above, the sample rate. When hard- ware synths feed this type of sig- nal through an audio interface, the higher frequencies aren’t an issue because the interface itself, and the A/D conversion process, filters out these harmonics. However, sounds generated inside the computer do not have these constraints. The same can be true of high-gain amp sims; with massive amounts of dis- tortion and 60 dB of gain, harmon- ics can work their way above the clock frequency. This can create foldover distor- tion—a well-recognized digital au- dio limitation that produces aliasing and a “woolly” sonic character. In workshops, I often demonstrate the sound of an amp sim recorded at 44.1 kHz, 96 kHz and 192 kHz. The difference is so obvious that a common reaction is, “Are you sure it’s not a different preset?”

[ October 2018 ]

PSN478.recording.indd 21 9/19/18 6:17 PM [ 22 ] LOOK AT THE RECORDING SCENE tracks notes

PERSONNEL: Scott Kinsey ARTIST: EORIA THE Produced by: Phony Ppl Engineered by: Scott Kinsey VINTAE YOTH RT Taps Engineered by: rother Studio: Wishbone Studio ALBUM: REMEMER RIC TASCAM Rich, Roland Cespedes, (Los Angeles, CA) LANE allen, ok—RT Valine and Elbee Thrie, Matthew yas, Mastered by: Scott Kinsey LABEL: CZZ RECORS his band, RT N’ The s, Aja rant, annon ashiwa, at Wishbone Studio PERSONNEL: described as folk noir and Andy Wright, Cole araba EQUIPMENT NOTES: Produced by: “a vintage country band with Mix Engineer: Mo Pleasure Million A -, A , True dark obsessions, started Studios: (two tracks), Ivor Crandon The Cabin at Systems P, eoff Tanner out recording on a TASCAM and eorgia Crandon (two Manhattan Center (New T, ynaudio MA (www.tascam.com) York, NY), theSpacement. monitor, MOT P, tracks) ARTIST: RETA VAN FLEET Portastudio and have since . (rooklyn, NY), Sparta Ableton Live Engineered by: Neil oody ALBUM: ANTHEM OF THE progressed through the Studios (New York, NY), The Studio: Premises Studios PEACEFL product line to the R-WL Casa (rooklyn, NY), Studio LABEL: LAVA/REPLIC (London, ) handheld digital recorder, (New York, NY), Flyin’ PERSONNEL: Mastered by: Neil oody at belying a lo-fi ethos that read Studio (Los Angeles, Produced by: Marlon Premises Studios etends to the use of instru- CA) Young, Al Sutton, Herschel EQUIPMENT NOTES: SSL ments constructed from Mastered by: Chris Athens found materials. oone AWS , ATC monitors, at Chris Athens Masters Engineered by: Al Sutton, (Austin, T) Avid Pro Tools Focusrite Is assisted by Tanner Peters EQUIPMENT NOTES: ARTIST: and Jason Mott EIE Z in the House TASCAM P-S ALBUM: TOETHER IN THE Mix Engineers: Al Sutton paling, n—aryl Hall’s Portastudio; monitors: VALT and Marlon Young at longtime audio director Focal Shape and Alpha LABEL: THE PLAYROOM Rustbelt Studios (Royal and engineer Peter Moshay , Yamaha NS and PERSONNEL: Oak, MI) has used a -channel rack HS, Reftones, Tannoy Produced by: Eddie Z Studio: lackbird Studio of Focusrite (pro.focusrite. Reveal Ableton Live . Engineered by: Eddie Z, Nashville, TN com) ISA mic preamps Mark Williams, Eddie ibbs to record every performance Mastered by: Ryan Smith at (assistant) ARTIST: MIKE FARRIS of the Live From Daryl’s Sterling Sound Studio: The Vault at The ALBUM: SILVER STONE House streaming and cable EQUIPMENT NOTES: Playroom (Charlotte, NC) LABEL: TV music show since it began -input API Legacy Plus COMPASS RECORS Mastered by: ave Harris at Hall’s home in , later mic pre’s and Flying PERSONNEL: at Studio Produced by: Garry West moving to aryl’s House Faders II automation EQUIPMENT NOTES: Restaurant Live Music Club Engineered by: Matt Coles Avid Pro Tools, Steinberg in Pawling, NY. Studio: Compass Sound ARTIST: RACHEL ECROTH Nuendo, Audioinesis Studio (Nashville, TN) ALBUM: WHEN IT FALLS monitors Putting the Mastered by: LABEL: SELFRELEASE Randy LeRoy Em in PMC PERSONNEL: at Tonal Park (Tacoma Park, london, uk—Producer Emre Produced by: Tim Lefebvre M) Ramazanoglu, known to his Engineered by: Gary EQUIPMENT NOTES: Avid friends as Em, whose client Novak, Eric Isaacson, riffin C , API and Millennia list is a who’s who of con- ARTIST: ROEN oice (vocal engineer) pre’s, Emotiva Stealth temporary music, has pur- TESTIMONY Mix Engineers: Nic Hard, monitors, Avid Pro Tools chased a pair of PMC (www. ALBUM: HOLIN ON TO Geoff Stanfield ARTIST: AVI MESSIER pmc-speakers.com) twotwo NOTHIN Studio: Kronos Recording ALBUM: TIME OM monitors for his studio at LABEL: THERMAL Studio (urbank, CA) LABEL: SAME SY Hoa H, a boutique facility ENTERTAINMENT Mastered by: Ed rooks at PROCTIONS in London’s West Hampstead PERSONNEL: Resonant Mastering PERSONNEL: that was established by Produced by: Jacob Porter EQUIPMENT NOTES: Produced by: Dave writer/producer Jimmy Engineered by: Hogarth. The PMCs sit beside Jacob Wheatstone TV Console for Madden a Pro Tools H rig and A Porter playback, ynaudio MA Engineered by: Andre ARTIST: interfaces. Studios: Illusions Studios monitors, Avid Pro Tools, Cantave EVON CHRCH (Taylor, SC) Aurora Audio TP- pre’s, Mix Engineer: Chris Shaw ALBUM: WE ARE 80-Fader Mastered by: Illusions Neve pre’s Studio: Same Sky INETRICALE Studios Productions (Austin, T) LABEL: FELTE Desk Lands EQUIPMENT NOTES: Mastered by: Piper Payne PERSONNEL: at MC34 PreSonus FP, Avid Pro at Neato Mastering Produced by: Devon ne ork, n—Manhattan Tools (Oakland, CA) Church Center (www.mc.com) EQUIPMENT NOTES: Engineered by: has renovated its Studio- enelec monitors, Mix Engineer: recording facility, equipping Avid Pro Tools the control room with new Studios: Home studio ARTISTS: JIMMY HASLIP, sound, miing and produc- (rooklyn, NY) SCOTT INSEY, ER tion systems, epanding Mastered by: Rafael Irisarri ORLAI workplaces for producers, ALBUM: ARC TRIO at lack noll Studios and installing a new -fader ARTIST: PHONY PPL LABEL: LE CANOE EQUIPMENT NOTES: IP-based mc production ALBUM: M’ZI. RECORS niversal Audio LA-, console from Lawo (www. LABEL: PERSONNEL: Yamaha HS monitors, lawo.com). ENTERTAINMENT Produced by: Jimmy Haslip, Apple Logic Pro

[ October 2018 ]

PSN478.recording.indd 22 9/19/18 6:17 PM soundRECORDING [ 23 ] TIM ORROW Grime old sound of the TS404,” he says. Rude Kid began producing grime (continued from page 18) tracks later than Plastician. Just a teenager when Wiley and DJ Target were releasing their first records, he tion of the TR-909 drum machine, started out in 2007 but quickly made and Rebirth 338. An early software waves and went on to work with synthesizer, FruityLoops was an at- much-loved independent grime label tempt at merging the two into some- No Hats No Hoods, as well as with thing new. At a time when Pro Tools some of the genre’s biggest MCs: Wi- was still seen as an industry standard ley, Skepta, Frisco and Ghetts. His DAW, along with Cubase and Logic, track “One Take”—sampling Dizzee FruityLoops turned out to be an un- Rascal, Section Boyz and Wiley—has complicated DAW for the masses— itself been reworked with freestyles perfect for young people with no pro- by grime MC legends Chip and Stor- duction experience, and an ideal tool mzy. for experimentation. “When I was still in school, I got Known today as FL Studio, the shown a music program that changed software has developed on the Win- my life. A friend of mine played a dows platform for 20 years and finally beat he made and it amazed me, so gained a Mac version this past spring, I asked how he made it,” says Rude. but back in the late 1990s, it was “A few days later, he gave me Fruity- likely FruityLoops’ origins in gaming Loops 3—that’s what it was called that made it so accessible—young at the time—but he never taught me people, accustomed to using game how to actually make beats, so I had programs, took to it intuitively. From humble audio beginnings, Rude Kid has gone on to work with some of the genre’s biggest to figure that out by myself. I used to Grime producer Darq E Freaker, MCs, including Wiley, Skepta, Frisco and Ghetts. spend hours and hours making beats for example, has said in interviews on the internet or cut off of tracks some of my tracks—not often, from morning till night, sometimes that at his school, “everyone had in my CD collection, as I was such though, as I was still trying to keep even forgetting to eat. Since then, I’ve FruityLoops on their computers at an amateur at recording I had no my foot in the grime sound as well. never looked back.” home, and making tunes was more knowledge of synthesis at all. I used That TS404 bass sound became the Accordingly, FruityLoops had just like a game.” Many producers came to trawl the internet for sample packs; most iconic dubstep bass sound from as much an impact on second-wave to the program via video games, hav- we were on such a slow connection around 2002 to 2005.” grime producers as it did the initial ing spent hours on games like Music back then, so everything was pretty Plastician’s experience and devel- pioneers, its simplicity lending itself Creation for the PlayStation in the ear- lo-fi as well.” opment as a producer demonstrates well to young, creative minds. ly 2000s. Image-Line had unwittingly “I never even touched a MIDI how grime’s sound—as well as as- Necessity is, of course, the mother created the perfect tool for a genera- controller until around 2004 when I sociated genres—was directly shaped of invention, and Rude Kid wasn’t tion of beat makers. went to college to do music technol- by the technology readily available to going to let a lack of high-end tech Grime’s instantly recognizable ogy,” says Plastician. “I literally just those making music. get in the way of creating music: “Be- “magic number” of 140 bpm finds used to place WAV samples onto the That sound’s dominance didn’t fore I even knew how to sample or its origins here, too, as the preset drum pad—which was pretty much last, however: “When FruityLoops what programs to use to sample, I tempo in FruityLoops. “Godfather of all FruityLoops was back then, bar- 2.0 upgraded to 3.56, the sound of had a £1 mic connected to my PC Grime” Wiley has said this standard ring a few basic plug-ins—and then the TS404 was completely different and I had Sound Recorder, which tempo in the program meant he cre- used to play them in on the piano and phased out of dubstep produc- came with the computer. I had a little ated most of his earliest tracks at 140 roll. I think the cleverest I would tion pretty quickly because many of CD player and some sample CDs—I bpm, and as one of the genre’s first get outside of Fruity was bouncing us started using 3.56 instead and dis- played them on the CD player, put success stories, other producers fol- loops out and opening them in Cool covered other plug-ins. I remember the mic on the CD player speaker lowed his lead. Edit to add some phase or flange Junglist being a favorite; also Albino and recorded all my stuff. It sounded DJ Plastician is one such pro- effects and then import those back [a synth with 128 waveforms] was rough, but at the time it was the only ducer, who started out making “dark into Fruity. a massive one for me from around way to get other sounds on my com- garage” beats while DJing on south “If you listen to all my old stuff, 2005 onwards. It worked perfectly puter. ‘Are You Ready’—my trade- London pirate radio in the early most of it is on the Plasticman Remas- for me as I was straddling the gap mark sound on every one of my tunes 2000s, “before grime was known as tered album, you can hear it—there’s between grime and dubstep in my till this day—was sampled like this, grime,” he says. “Then I would say hardly any chords, nothing too musi- productions and I felt that plug-in of- and I still use that very same rough around late 2001 I started trying to cal, just stabs and stuff layered on top fered some great sounds with plenty sample.” make stuff that was based around of each other. I guess that was a vibe of bass weight.” Rude still uses FruityLoops to cre- what we now recognize as the very in itself, but it really was just trial and The Junglist plug-in is known for ate beats alongside newly developed first grime records—stuff like ‘Pulse error all the way.” its waveforms with a complex, and skills in Logic, and he embraces EQ X’ and ‘Eskimo’ by Wiley.” His first Part of that trial and error was organic quality, and its low bass type plug-ins like Waves and Ozone: “Us- album, 2007’s Beg to Differ, featured swapping methods and ideas with Bass FX section that creates ultra- ing these few things made my tunes many UK rappers, including grime other DJs and producers, across low basses. The Albino plug-in (now sound much cleaner and louder.” legend Skepta. More recently he’s genres, in the south London and discontinued) was voted number 12 He insists that low-tech doesn’t have worked with East London’s new gen- Croydon area, where the dubstep in a 2011 poll about the best VST to mean low quality. “I always tell eration pirate radio MC, Jammz. scene had been born and was thriv- plug-in synths in the world. The pop- producers it’s not about what you “I was using FruityLoops 2.0 at ing. “Through hanging with Skream ular synth from Rob Papen features a have—it’s about how you use what the time,” Plastician says of his early and Benga [a dubstep DJ duo lauded whopping 128 waveforms. you have.” experiments, developing his “dark ga- by the likes of Radio 1’s Annie Mac] Despite Plastician discovering and The biggest, most important rage” sound into grime, and using the particularly, they put me onto using using new tools to develop his sound, names in grime agree. As Skepta same tools that DJ Target and Wiley the TS404 in FruityLoops to create he still returns to the program that said in 2014, “As long as there are were jamming with in East London— these weird, warping, wobbly bass anchors grime, and in particular, the 12-year-old kids turning on their which he’d read about online, on in- lines,” Plastician remembers. version of his youth. “I still have a mum’s PC with a cracked version of ternet forums. “I began writing on “When they showed me how to working copy of FruityLoops 2.0 just FruityLoops, making their own DIY that solely out of samples I’d found use that, I began bringing it into in case I ever feel like revisiting that sound, there’s grime.”

[ October 2018 ]

PSN478.recording.indd 23 9/19/18 6:17 PM [ 24 ] soundRECORDING Play (continued from page 18)

stage with Foo Fighters, learning to play music. Appropriately, the middle kit—labeled “quirky” on the mic in- put sheet, which is posted online—is a Ludwig set that he borrowed from his pre-teen daughter, Harper. The kit is so tiny that he had to sit on a milk crate to play it, Grohl comments in the video. Thorp reports, “I was 38 chan- nels wide for the drums, plus a stereo room. I was trying to not be rude and steal every microphone out of the EastWest locker, because they do have two other working rooms. Thankfully, I’m a Lauten Audio art- ist, so I brought a fair amount of Lauten mics with me.” Noting that the published mic input list is not entirely accurate, Thorp elaborates, “The Clarion is on kick, my 120s are on overheads, with that’s me just pushing the mics up. Neve, but I love the top air of an API. I was 80 percent there and thought, 220s on the toms, 120s on hi-hats, I’ve never gotten a room sound like So in certain situations—and it’s list- once Dave comes in, I’ll dial it in, ad- and an Eden mono overhead on the that before.” ed on the track sheet—I was using just some levels and we’ll be golden. ‘tight’ kit” on which Grohl starts (and Happily, with so many micro- API 550s on the kicks and snares” of Dave showed up and he didn’t come which he played with Them Crooked phones in play simultaneously, East- all three kits. in the control room, he just start- Vultures). There’s an in-house Neu- West’s Studio One houses an 80-in- “I’ll get some nice air and attack ed playing the first kit. I unmute the mann U47 FET on the kick drum put Neve 8078 that was configured out of the API. Then, for low-mid, speakers and listen and … well, I’m of the “Bonham” kit on which Grohl from two smaller consoles. “I used I can use the Neve EQ to get really done!” ends the piece, Thorp adds. “And I a big chunk of the console,” Thorp punchy and mid-y. That’s my ‘trick,’ Play was filmed in black and white had 421s on toms and 67s on over- says, although he muted almost all so to speak,” he says. by director of photography Brandon heads.” but the microphones on the specific Thorp says he developed a good Trost using 12 roving mini-cameras A pair of Cascade Fathead ribbon drum kit on which Grohl was playing. working rapport with Foo Fighters to capture Grohl performing each mics through Compex compressors “I left the two toms between open as tech Samon Rajabnik during the pro- of his parts. On the Roswell Films captured the room. “They’re on the ambience; I didn’t want that to sound duction of Concrete and Gold, which website, Grohl’s individual perfor- floor, X-Y, on a stereo bar pointed at unnatural.” was also recorded in EastWest’s Stu- mances on each instrument are avail- the Bonham kit and the Vultures kit. While every mic went through the dio One. “He would get the drums in able for viewing and separate music A friend texted me and asked how Neve, Thorp supplemented the signal this really sweet spot,” he recalls. charts may be downloaded. A plan of I got the room sound. That’s Dave, chain on certain channels. “There For the Play sessions, says Thorp, the live room details the instruments dude; he hits so hard. That is not a was a fair amount of EQ, and I love “He was out there playing the kits used and their respective positions in reverb trigger, that’s the room sound, the midrange and the low end of a while I got sounds and levels. I felt the space. The first part of the mini-doc intercuts behind-the-scenes studio has real-time upsampling options so A project with a mix of audio and footage with interviews with stu- Anderton you can compare whether a higher virtual instruments is more prob- dents from the Join the Band music (continued from page 21) sample rate improves a virtual in- lematic because you can’t arbitrarily school in L.A.’s San Fernando Val- strument’s sound. Second, there’s change a project’s sample rate. How- ley. Therapy’s Eddie Kim and Bran- an easy workaround. If a project ever, you can export the MIDI file don Kim brought together Grohl’s though, reality intrudes: Running consists solely of virtual instru- driving the instrument and save the voiceover, the student interviews projects at 192 kHz limits the num- ments, change your project’s sample preset you’re using. Then create a and the music tracks recorded and ber of audio streams, stresses out rate to 192 kHz, render the instru- new project at 192 kHz. Import the mixed by Thorp into the documen- your computer, and some plug-ins ment, and then sample-rate con- MIDI file, load the instrument and tary’s final mix. its preset, and render the track at the “It’s awesome to see these kids target sample rate (or render it at the try to figure it out. I’m still trying For the past few years, I’ve been higher sample rate before bringing to figure it out, still pushing myself, the audio into your lower-sample- looking for the next challenge, doing researching the hypothesis that both rate project—most modern DAWs something I’ve never done before,” will convert the file automatically to says Grohl’s voiceover. His frustration the pro and con higher-sample-rate the new sample rate). This way you with not being able to play a 23-min- can enjoy the benefits of high-sample- ute part without messing up is visible advocates are right. rate virtual instrument sounds in low- in the first part of the video. But at sample-rate projects. the end of the day, says Grohl, “The won’t even work at that sample rate. vert it back to a lower sample rate. Craig Anderton’s new book series, The reward is just to play.” Fortunately, there are solutions. Because the audio was rendered, Musician’s Guide to Home Recording, is Darrell Thorp First, not all plug-ins exhibit is- all audio is in the audio range, so now available from Hal Leonard in soft- www.darrellthorp.com sues. Cakewalk by BandLab (a free it won’t generate harmonics at the cover, and on www.reverb.com as a se- download from www.bandlab.com) lower sample rate. ries of ebooks. Roswell Films https://play.roswellfilms.com

[ October 2018 ]

PSN478.recording.indd 24 9/19/18 6:17 PM soundPOST | BROADCAST [ 25 ] briefs AI’s Implications for Production Music

BY STEVE HARVEY GameSoundCon LOS ANGELES, CA—Are robots coming Adds VO Track to take your job? If you’re a song- emeoo writer or a composer, they’re already www.meoco.comieo here. memicoeico- For years, many questioned whether AI, a technology that began ereceeiectoer in the 1950s, could ever crack the ioeeitier code of creativity, which might be rteriwitteetwor considered a uniquely human trait. tocretemtieiotrc But in the last several years, machine otioeerormcei learning has made significant advanc- ieomeiciiet es such that we should no longer ask ootowet if AI can make art. Rather, when pre- sented with a photograph, a painting terctieeireemet. or a piece of music, we must ask, Was Amper Music is one of a number of emerging AI-based production music services. this made by a human or a machine? CAS to Honor And the answer is not always obvious. Music?” The panel will explore the duction Music Association) board Lee Orloff As composer Andrew Gross ob- current state of AI-generated music member. “There are no laws; there ttet serves, “It’s no longer a question of for sync licensing, whether for film, are just ethical arguments and con- when AI will start generating business television, video games or other visual versations that we can all have.” wrtoeeerr and competing with human compos- media. The online AI music platforms op- ioeeteiem ers—it’s happening now.” During the But as much as the panel will fo- erate similarly. A user selects param- ioocietwww.ciemio- fifth annual PMA Production Music cus on the technologies, workflows eters such as genre, length, tempo, ociet.orwioormtie Conference, to be held September and business models, there will also instrumentation and so on, and the cemwromite 26-28 at the Loews Hotel in Hol- be some discussion around its poten- site generates a file. The method used roctioomiereero lywood, CA, Gross will moderate tial regulation. “Because there’s noth- to create the music and the assign- wititietccoete “AI-Generated Music: How Will This ing in place at the moment to stop it,” ment of the composition’s copyright Impact the Future of Production says Gross, who is also a PMA (Pro- (continued on page 26) reercieemetwr irecoitiooiworomore tetreimice. Genelec Gives The Rules and Tools Behind the Mixes Immersive Guidance of The Darkest Minds eeecree / Immersive Solutions 2018ie- BY STEVE HARVEY ooowoeromwww. CULVER CITY, CA—In The Darkest eeec.comroierctic Minds, a 20th Century Fox film di- oerieworicieormt rected by Jennifer Yuh Nelson, most teciccoiertioioe of the world’s children die, while the iimmerieioreroctio survivors are rounded up by the gov- owitrecommeeeeec ernment after they develop mind con- eertemcoirtio trol powers. The movie is based on the first in a series of young adult otwretiitiecoer novels written by Alexandra Bracken. otmoro. For co-supervising sound editors Will oterormt. Files and Warren Hendricks, the prin- cipal challenge was to give the film’s Sony Bows Post mind control powers individual sonic Rooms signatures with a good or evil twist, while also—rather more prosaically— oictre dealing with an evolving post-produc- otroctioericewww. tion schedule. In The Darkest Minds, the world’s remaining teenagers develop superpowers, so the film’s oictreot.comeie In fact, the evolving schedule was audio team had to give those powers individual sonic signatures with a good or evil twist. treeewtioiieteo what led Files and Hendricks to share oictretioerit their credits. “I came on to supervise “It was a perfect scenario in many and did the final mix, primarily with otetereieoro and I brought Warren on to help do the ways because Warren and I have very Andy Nelson.” The final mix was sound design,” Files recalls. “He did similar and overlapping skills. I felt completed on Fox Studios’ Howard eimiiwittwoi some great sound design and the cli- very confident handing the reins to Hawks Stage in Culver City, CA. cooeotmocii- ents really loved it. Then the schedule him, and the clients felt very confi- “I’ve joked a number of times over tieeterorremotei extended so far that I could no longer dent with him taking them because the years that my entire career at this eectcoorrireiew stay on the project full-time.” Fortu- he had been involved with the sound point is based on kids with super- eterwitieor nately, Hendricks was able to take over design up to that point, and he’s also powers,” laughs Hendricks, whose oei. File’s role and shepherd the project an excellent mixer. I had mixed the sound design credits include two in- through the mixing stage, he says. temp mixes, then Warren took over (continued on page 26)

[ October 2018 ] [ 26 ] soundPOST/BROADCAST

AI Amper Music is perhaps the high- ogies are useful collaborative tools. have the right to attach a name as a est profile AI music platform, but One YouTuber, Taryn Southern, add- composer and their own publishing (continued from page 25) it was not the first to market. That ed her own lyrics and vocal melodies entity, to collect royalties should it air honor appears to go to Jukedeck in to an AI-generated Amper composi- on television, in the U.S. and world- the UK, which to date has reportedly tion to create “Break Free,” a video— wide,” or monetize it on YouTube, he are two areas in which the services generated over half a million tracks which also uses AI-generated imag- says. “A CEO could say, My family tend to differ. for customers worldwide, including ery—that is approaching two million and I are the composers and we’re Amper Music offers fully cus- Coca-Cola and Google (which has views. going to start a publishing company. tomizable music. (Amper CEO and its own AI-generated music and art The most ambitious—or auda- They could register with BMI and co-founder Drew Silverstein, an research project, Magenta). cious, perhaps—example of AI-gen- ASCAP and collect royalties just like award-winning composer, producer Founded by Cambridge Univer- erated music is “Daddy’s Car.” In anyone else.” and songwriter for visual media, will sity graduates, Jukedeck is working 2016, researchers at Sony Computer Xhail takes a different approach, be on Gross’ panel.) Gross has tried toward total AI music synthesis, not Science Laboratories used the com- Gross observes. “They register those Amper’s system: “I was able to up- just machine-generated composi- pany’s Flow-Machines technology to copyrights. Xhail in effect becomes load a video, make a start point and tions, using artificial neural networks. create a pop song, in collaboration the owner and publisher of that piece an end point, and identify anything I The company’s R&D team posted with composer Benoît Carré, in the of music.” Kiely has noted in past wanted to hit, like a cut. I would say an eight-bar piano piece on its blog style of The Beatles. A more recent interviews that sync and royalty rev- it was high school-level at best, but it in late 2016, noting, “To the best of project by SKYGGE, a collective enue is shared with contributing mu- was impressive in that it had the right our knowledge, it’s the first time a of French creatives, used Flow-Ma- sicians and composers, with writers idea. It’s just that it was using sounds computer has written and produced chines as an inspirational and col- retaining 100 percent of their rights that you might find in GarageBand or a complete ‘song,’ from start to finish, laborative tool to generate sections and Xhail owning 100 percent of the Logic.” using purely machine learning-driven of songs, melodies and instrument publishing. At the other end of the spectrum, techniques.” and vocal tracks to produce an en- In much the same way as AI ser- Xhail, which will be represented on In one possible dystopian future, tire album, engineered and mixed by vices like LANDR and CloudBounce, the panel by CEO and founder Mick machines could make composers and humans, entitled Hello World. (It can and iZotope’s Ozone 8 Mastering As- Kiely, who has over 30 years of expe- songwriters redundant. But Gross be- be heard on Spotify, YouTube and sistant software might be taking busi- rience in music composition and live lieves that AI music software develop- elsewhere.) ness away from lower-cost mastering performance, creates custom AI-gen- ers view composers and musicians One gray area regarding AI music, engineers, AI music platforms may erated pieces using human-generated as future partners. “The better the says Gross, is the issue of rights and be impacting composers working on loops and stems. “I’ve heard some musicians, the better the composers publishing. Where these services offer low-budget sync licensing projects. of the results; it’s pretty impressive,” they’re able to hire to program the royalty-free music, he says, “A com- But Gross can also see an upside: “As says Gross. “They have a very tight AI, the better the AI will be able to pany can purchase this music and a composer, I can see it being a great set of specs that they send to their write and produce better-quality mu- there’s no composer attached to it. tool. You use it as inspiration. I like composers. The quality is quite good sic,” he says. They own all rights to it, both master that.” because they’re well-produced loops There is already evidence that and publishing, in perpetuity.” Production Music Association that humans created.” these AI-generated music technol- Potentially, “That company would www.pmamusic.com

underlying sound was established, he concentrated on drifting, high-speed temp mixes for early cuts and audi- Darkest Minds says, he would add elements specific bys and takeoffs—all the dangerous ence playback in 5.1. Eventually, with (continued from page 25) to the character. stuff.” the changing schedule, the budget How does a sound communicate Files and Hendricks came on- would no longer stretch to a final good or evil? “The character Clancy board as the director’s cut was being Atmos mix. stallments of the X-Men series, Dead- and the main character, Ruby, are assembled, which was fortuitous, as “After the final mix was done, the pool and Fantastic Four, among many both Oranges,” Hendricks offers as their sound design “rules” essentially next week they called and said, ‘Hey, others. In X-Men, he observes, char- examples. Each character’s sounds set the tone for the film. Those rules we want an Atmos mix,’” Hendricks acters have distinct powers with dis- were layered. “There were high were picked up by the new picture reports. “We had to reverse engineer tinctive sounds. In The Darkest Minds, tones and low tones and sounds for editor when there was a change part- it in only three days—without the cli- the kids have one of five powers, des- eyes coming on, stuff like that. We way through the project. ents.” The director, having signed off ignated by color: orange, red, yellow, built similar sounds for Clancy, as “He really got it,” says Files. “He on the final mix, and emotionally ex- blue or green. “You have people with far as pitch and rhythm, but they understood the language that we had hausted following the studio screen- the same general power, but you still were built out of things like screams created and ran with it. He took our ings, couldn’t return for the Atmos need to make them sound distinct,” or reverse metal ‘ronks,’ and when stuff and made it even cooler, be- mix, he says, “so we had to be really says Hendricks. we isolated those elements more out cause he reused it more and more conservative,” and not stray from the “All the powers need to sound dis- of the general Orange power sounds, and pushed more sound design in the 7.1 mix. tinct from each other, but even within they really felt a lot darker and more movie.” Fortuitously, Hendricks continues, the characters who have the same imposing.” Files reports that about 75 percent “The workflow that we set up, where power, they need to sound the same Any sounds that came from the of his studio movie projects are re- it’s all native, and especially now with but slightly evil, or slightly good,” editors’ respective libraries were pro- leased in Dolby Atmos, and he works Atmos functionality being built into says Files. “It was all about character- cessed specifically for this project, natively about 90 percent of the time. Pro Tools, made it all possible with a ization. We had to make the powers but there was an opportunity to grab This film was different, however; it minimal amount of prep time and a sound powerful and cool and cine- new sounds at California City Mu- was released in Dolby Atmos, but minimal amount of crew people hav- matic, adding drama to the scene, but nicipal Airport in the desert north of that was a last-minute decision. ing to deal with it. the challenge was to give them some Los Angeles, a go-to location for re- “Warren and I like to blur the “Had it been a year ago, it would real character.” cording cars. “That was our primary lines between editing and mixing. As probably have taken a couple of Hendricks set his own rules for recording for this show; we recorded soon as we start designing and ed- weeks to figure it out. But with the the characterization, he says. “They a Dodge [Challenger] Hellcat,” says iting sounds, we’re also mixing. We new [Pro Tools] functionality, it would sound ridiculous if you were to Hendricks, with Hollywood recordist try to set up our workflow in such a turned out not to be a super-painful explain them to somebody else. But John Fasal. “He has a good relation- way that we have all the mixing tools process—though I would not recom- I know that this three-frame sound ship with that airfield. [The sounds available to us from the beginning,” mend that this be the way people ap- is for a Yellow-powered person’s eyes are] meant to be over the top and he says. proach Atmos!” coming on, and this is the sound of crazy and make the character driving In that sense, they were ready to Avid a Blue using their powers.” Once the the car feel a little dangerous, so we mix in Atmos, but were delivering www.avid.com

[ October 2018 ] soundPOST/BROADCAST [ 27 ]

ereteice.e- etoeteriowitor teretcooerimoe witteroeometori The METAlliance includes (l-r) Frank Filipetti, Elliot Scheiner, Chuck Ainlay, Al Schmitt, Ed Cherney and George Massenburg. trooreioeetto ototeeteertioor THE METALLIANCE REPORT eceoeerieceowor- itoetertocoetoteio roeioemiroeio Desert Island Microphones orcoiceorteietit rwre otwre ii BY FRANK FILIPETTI not so great for others. Big, open, end response and a rising high end itotoecomiettc large capsules worked great on many beginning around 2 or 3 kHz. They oroceroctworto This is the first in what will be a month- things, but as my sessions got bigger sounded great, especially on voice, coiertio.rmiiotoro- ly series expressing the METAlliance’s and bigger, I found a new love in the but due to their capsule mass, they moteteietititert views, reviews and ideas concerning au- Schoeps CMC 5, especially on any- exhibited slow transient response; cieceorecorimic. dio, audio hardware and software, edu- thing orchestral. that mass made it difficult to start cation and more. This month’s contribu- Gradually, I began moving from and stop accurately. tion comes from founding member Frank vintage 47s, 67s and C12s to newer Along came the Small Diaphragm Elliot Scheiner says, “The sign of Filipetti. mics from companies like Audio- Condenser (SDC) mics, like the a great mic, like the 5047, is when Technica and Sanken. On Broadway KM84, the Schoeps CMC and the you record without any EQ. You get s an audio professional, how sessions, where the entire album has AKG 451. These “pencil mics” each exactly what you want from the mic many times have you been to be recorded in a single day, the had a much smaller circular capsule, without having to find out where the A asked, “If you were stranded reliability and dynamic range of these and consequently responded much mic is deficient. An even better sign on a desert island, what mic would mics allows me to get up and running quicker to voltage changes. Transients is realizing you’re still without EQ want with you?” Well, that old chest- in minutes without worrying about were great, but they just didn’t have when you’re mixing. The AT-5047 is nut keeps coming around again and crackles, distortions and clipping. the low-end warmth or extension of that mic.” again. Putting aside the fact that your From the ’90s onward, I began to the LDC. Al Schmitt has this to say: “We desert island has no electricity, or rely more on specialized new mics for Sanken and others tackled this put it on a male singer in France, storage medium, or speakers or a large sessions. I was no longer looking discrepancy by creating condenser and as soon as I pushed the fader up, dozen other importune factors. for a mic that did everything well— mics with two capsules: one large and we all were astounded at how great OK, it’s just another way of asking just something that worked for the one small. By internally crossing over it sounded. There were 16 engineers for your favorite mic, right? As if your task at hand. from the large to the small, an ef- there and they all wanted one.” life depended on it. Getting the picture? For some, their favorite mic has Or Chuck Ainlay: “I was packing remained their favorite since the day eotomicoewoeer up today from a tracking session at they blissfully discovered it. I know the studio and I grabbed my 5047 folks who, once they heard a 251 or rtwitttioeiieret. to take home with me in case I had a U47 or an M49, have never looked Frank Filipetti an overdub to do. It got me think- back. Others of a more practical na- ing—out of all the mics I have, I ture would heartily come ashore with picked this one because it’s the one an SM57. So it was with a fair amount of fective solution was reached. I have mic I really could use to record al- My first love affair was with a surprise when I first heard the Audio- a half-dozen Sanken CU-44 micro- most anything, and it would sound Neumann M 269. Technica AT5040 and subsequently phones based on this design; it was awesome.” It was the German version of a the AT5047. Could this be a mic that an elegant solution, but still based on Now that may not mean much U67, with an AC701 tube instead of was “great” on everything? standard technology. to you on a synth pad, but on a vo- the EF86. I had been recording James To my ears, I had never heard any- It would take a young designer cal … it can be something special. Taylor and decided to rent a couple thing quite like it before. There was from Audio-Technica, Shioto Okita, And believe me, I have a lot of mics of mics to test. I remember sitting in a clarity and uniformity of response to throw out the old and revolution- I love and would never part with, but the control room while James sang that seemed to make it the ideal mic ize microphone development. He this one is different. This one I would into the 269. The sound was spec- for almost anything ... anything where knew he needed a large capsule for want with me if I ever get stranded tacular. After patting myself on the you could place a rather large mi- depth and harmonic content, but he on that island. back about how good everything was crophone and shockmount, anyway. also wanted that capsule to respond tiermmwierriietti sounding, I realized that it wasn’t me (The AT5040 has, by the way, one of immediately to transients. And, oh creiticemereieic- at all. The dirty little secret I stum- the most effective and elegant shock- yes, be robust enough to handle 140 ioreierttoowt bled onto was this: Record great sing- mounts ever.) dB or more of sound pressure. oeotttoieitot ers and musicians with great mics, But what most amazed me was His solution: four small rectan- owiceoroceiic and voila, you’re a genius. what I can only describe as its ability gular capsules with low inertia, com- teeterme. I bought that mic then and there. to intensify “emotion”—so much so bined in a network to provide the eworewitctriromor It was my “James Taylor” mic, my that I call it my “emotion mic.” effective area of one large “super cap- etorrtreito “Lou Gramm” mic, my “Carly Si- How do it do what it do? sule.” The brilliance of this design oorocerecoreor mon” mic and a host of others. It re- Most professional condenser mi- became evident when he found that, miemorrimoeorei- mained my choice for vocals until my crophones are based on decades-old unlike the circular capsules, the rect- ceortootewrtcio mic collection grew from a half-dozen technology. First was the Large Dia- angular capsules no longer exhibited rottimeormom mics to well over a hundred. phragm Condenser (LDC), like the the same resonance that skewed the oter. As the collection grew, I also came CMV, U47, M49/50, C12 and so on. response of the LDC, resulting in a to realize that many of my favorite Each based on a large circular cap- smoothness in the midrange that has METAlliance mics were great for some things and sule, these mics exhibited great low- to be heard to be believed. www.metalliance.com

[ October 2018 ] [ 28 ] soundTECHNOLOGY innovations: the manufacturer’s view A Revelation in Listening: MEYER SOUND’S BLUEHORN SYSTEM

BY MILES ROGERS SOUND PHOTOS: MEYER

t’s not that often that you get to work on a project that changes the I way you look at—or in this case listen to—the world. That has been my experience working on the Meyer Sound Bluehorn System. It is a loud- speaker that builds on a tradition of innovation and brings Meyer Sound one step closer to the goal of a com- pletely transparent studio monitor. Pursuit of this elusive goal be- gan in earnest with the iconic HD-1 studio monitor, introduced in 1989 and still in the product line today. In 2000, John Meyer and his R&D team developed the X-10 monitor, which incorporated cutting-edge technology to create very low-distortion, low- frequency drivers based on aerospace Miles Rogers, business development manager, cinema and content creation markets, Meyer Sound engineering principles. In 2012, when they started working toward the next Meyer) stepped up to the plate and “live” mode with ultra-low latency. generation of critical listening moni- hit a home run by refining the phase A completely transparent loud- tors, there was a lot of feedback from correction algorithm to perform more speaker—one with flat magnitude and the front lines about the Acheron se- efficiently and run on our newly re- flat phase response across the audio ries of cinema loudspeakers—in par- leased Galaxy 816 loudspeaker pro- bandwidth—had been achieved with ticular, using the Acheron Designer cessor. With a signal-to-noise ratio the Bluehorn System. It was amazing in the midfield for mixing music. of better than 125 dB, along with to see this result in measurements, but Sparking his interest, the R&D team even faster processing, the Bluehorn what really blew us away was the au- experimented with pairing an Ache- System now had become a force to dible performance. Every time we ran Meyer Sound’s Bluehorn System ron Designer to an X-400C subwoof- reckon with in any content creation a demo, the reactions were stunned at trade shows and industry events er. Early listening tests showed that environment. astonishment, and in 2016 we had an around the world. Systems are sell- this was an extremely musical system, Due to the laws of physics, DSP ideal opportunity to put the system ing into key locations and continue to and provided the flexibility to explore phase correction from 25 Hz to 20 to the test in the field. Oscar-winning be used for film scores like Star Wars implementation of new technologies kHz takes time—about two film score mixer Shawn Murphy invited VIII: The Last Jedi, The Post, Ferdinand Meyer Sound had been developing. us to bring the system down for the and, most recently, Venom. Designing a loudspeaker from an It’s not that often last days of his sessions on the Sony Personally, I have noticed that existing platform is like perfecting Scoring Stage for the film The BFG. my aural referencing has greatly im- your favorite meal. The core ingredi- that you get to As with all system setups, my plan was proved, as I am gaining the ability ents are already there, presenting an to stick around to make sure everyone to critically listen into the time do- opportunity to refine the recipes— work on a project was happy and then head out to the main. Having a reference monitor- and there were some tasty new in- airport. When John Williams and Ste- ing system that addresses the critical gredients in development. In parallel that changes the ven Spielberg sat down at the console domain of group delay, and the non- with the Bluehorn System, we were with Shawn to listen to the first cue, linear effect this has in sound repro- developing the LEO Family line-ar- way you look at— they all turned around and looked at duction, provides a new and revela- ray products. Cross-pollination was me with big smiles. tory experience. Once you hear this taking place, with the Acheron horn or in this case listen Shortly thereafter, Shawn took the difference, it sticks with you. design influencing the LEO Fam- to—the world. system to 5 Cats Studio, owned by I look forward to demoing Blue- ily, and with new driver technology film composer John Powell and home horn System for film sound and mu- from the LEO Family extending the turf for scoring mixer John Traunwi- sic recording professionals at our up- bandwidth of the Bluehorn System. frames. This isn’t an issue on the eser. They wouldn’t give the demo coming industry events, and here at Excitement was building. Each re- scoring stage or in the mix room, but system back. It’s still there. the Meyer Sound factory in Berkeley, finement on its own was small, but what about when overdubbing in a That brings us to 2018. A few CA. If you love sound the way I do, the sum total was generating a com- recording studio with the guitarist in months ago, United States Patent Bluehorn System is an experience not pletely new paradigm. the control room? Here, low laten- 9,992,573 B1 (“Phase inversion filter to be missed. Soon the hardware components cy is critical, and this is where John for correcting low frequency phase Miles Rogers is business development were ready, but the Bluehorn System Meyer’s decision to keep processing distortion in a loudspeaker system”) manager, cinema and content creation was still a work in progress. It was external paid off. If we feed the sys- was awarded to John and Perrin Mey- markets, at Meyer Sound. built on a DSP platform that needed tem from one of the non-phase cor- er for the foundational Bluehorn Sys- to become “show ready.” That’s when rected outputs of the Bluehorn 816 tem DSP technology. We continue Meyer Sound Labs Perrin Meyer (son of John and Helen processor, we instantly switch into to get amazing feedback from demos www.meyersound.com

[ October 2018 ]

[ 30 ] soundTECHNOLOGY [review]

MARA MACHINES MCI JH110C 1/4” TWO-TRACK RECORDER LYNX AURORA(N) INTERFACEGENELEC 1032C STUDIO MONITORSAUDIO-TECHNICA ATH-M60X HEADPHONES

MARA MACHINES MCI JH110C 1/4” TWO-TRACK BY RUSS LONG Russ Long lives and works in Nashville, RECORDER engineering and producing a wide variety of music and film projects. As record-making continues to be- russlong.ws come more computerized and digital, the desire to sound more analog con- tinues to be the goal of the majority doing it more than five or six times a of music makers. Between the plug- year) and yes, it’s awesome having the ins emulating tube compressors, old- ability to play back my mixes from school consoles and tape machines, yesteryear, but I don’t think that’s everyone is trying to figure out the worth $5K. But once I figured out best way to capture the sound of ana- that I can strap the machine across log in their modern recordings. Guess my stereo bus, switch it to repro and what? I figured it out. throw it into record, I didn’t look Welcome to 1979 is Nashville’s pre- A restored Mara Machines MCI JH110 1/4” recorder includes relapped sync and erase heads back. The machine stores alignments with a new repro head, a repainted deck and XLR I/O. mier old-school studio. While of course for all speeds and makes it easy to they offer a full Pro Tools HD rig, they stunningly good!) and XLR I/O. The cedure. Chris continues, “The beauty toggle between 7.5, 15 and 30 IPS so are better known as the perfect place machine includes a six-month part of the MCI decks is that they are the user can compare the differences to go if you want to record 100 percent and 90-day labor warranty. very, very modular. Each channel is before committing to a favorite speed. analog, no converters, no formatting, The restoration process is intri- broken up into separate cards to han- All of those tape emulation plug- no sample rates, just pure analog from cate and detailed. Chris explains, “We dle the different tasks of the channel. ins—and some of them are quite im- start to finish, or any combination of achieve the same level of restoration If a problem is to occur, we can diag- pressive—can’t stand up to the real the two. Chris Mara opened the facil- for each machine by tearing the ma- nose it together by swapping cards, thing. I’ve been printing the majority ity just over a decade ago, and since chines completely down to the frame, and the problematic card can be of my mixes this way over the past then has recorded everyone from Ja- and then re-assembling as each Mo- shipped to me for repair or replace- two months and the results have been son Isbell and Pete Townshend to Bil- lex connector and other stress points ment. The same goes for the trans- outstanding. I’ve been sending clients ly Gibbons and Chris Stapleton and are resoldered. This takes place in the port and power supply. Many parts mix versions with and without tape tons more. It’s no surprise that since power supply, transport and audio are compatible between the JH110 (although I just call them A and B his studio incorporates so much ana- boards. Roughly 500 solder points and and JH24 series, making learning and versions) and they are choosing the log equipment, Chris has become an 80 IC chips are reworked, resoldered maintaining these machines very easy tape version every time without even expert in its maintenance and repair. or cleaned.” That is only the beginning and user friendly, even for people knowing what they are comparing. It was a natural progression for him and it happens before the technicians new to tape machines.” I’m loving it! to form a business, Mara Machines, even power on the machine. When Chris first spoke to me The Mara Machines MCI based on the restoration of vintage Next, every transport adjustment about reviewing a Mara Machine, JH110C 1/4” two-track is undoubt- MCI tape machines. is made, including lifters, brakes, ten- my initial thought was that there just edly the best way to incorporate the A restored Mara Machines MCI sions and more. Key capacitors (like aren’t enough people wanting to mix true sound of analog into today’s JH110 1/4” machine includes re- the one that controls the accuracy to tape to make the machine a vi- recording workflow. I can’t imagine lapped sync and erase heads with a of the counter) are replaced. Once able option to many people. Yes, I mixing without it. new repro head (a head report is in- that is complete, each machine goes would love having the option to mix Mara Machines cluded), a repainted deck (that looks through a burn-in and stress test pro- to tape (although I don’t see myself www.maramachines.com

Options rcieoeromeecioooritretorowe. erecetreeeooroieterteit/ot- tteomororeircieower tewireeremoteororeir- cieowerroiewireecotroo. The MaraTapeCal app makes it possible for a novice to successfully cirteotemcie.ewtroteciro roceetiiecteimiiteitrco.erter- itotteormoteeereereceeete tomcccteieeeeoeeeimi guesswork or the need for charts. ocomiooortetrcmcieiit/ott trormeroottwiewitceetweetetrtr- former-less audio path. The recorder stores alignments for all speeds and makes it easy to toggle between 7.5, 15 and 30 IPS so the user can compare the differences before committing to a favorite speed.

[ October 2018 ] [review] soundTECHNOLOGY [ 31 ]

LYNX AURORA(N) INTERFACE have their own analog level control and are fed from the same stereo bus, which can pick up any pair of channels from the DigiLink playback channels, the analog inputs or the SD card playback. The headphone amps are exceptionally good, provid- ing highly impressive detail and imag- ing with more than enough power to make any pair of headphones louder than I would ever expect to be neces- sary. Packing so much into a fanless 1U box results in a device that has the potential to run hot. The box is well vented and Lynx recommends leaving an open rack space above and below the box so it can be passively cooled. I always heeded this advice and I never had any issues with it get- ting too hot. The converters in the Aurora 8 and 16 are stunningly good, so I was The Aurora(n) is a pleased to find that the converters in comprehensive redesign of the original Aurora interface. the Aurora(n) sound even better. To my ears, the Aurora(n) holds its own against anything out there today, re- The Aurora(n) is the latest offering line in. The Aurora(n) packs up to 32 which might prove inconvenient if gardless of price. from Lynx Studio Technology. As a I/O into a 1U unit, which can be an you want to keep the Aurora(n) in a The big hidden gem feature of the longtime Aurora user (the Aurora 8 amazing space saver, as most manu- separate machine room. Most of the Aurora(n) is its ability to record to a has been my primary converter since facturers offer only 8 or 16 chan- things that are controllable from the micro SD card completely indepen- its release in 2006), I couldn’t wait to nels of I/O per unit (and often in a front panel are housekeeping func- dent from the computer. I do a lot of see what the next chapter of Lynx’s 2U box). The Aurora(n) Configurator tions you wouldn’t need to change location recording, where redundant legacy would reveal. tool on the Lynx website makes it very often, but not all. In particu- recording is a necessity, and having One of the benefits of the original easy to design the interface to your lar, recording to and playback from the ability to make a redundant re- Aurora was its LSlot technology— needs by allowing you to select spe- the built-in SD card reader is pos- cording without a second Pro Tools a collection of cards that provided cific configurations for line I/O, mic sible only by pressing the buttons rig is fantastic. From a live show fea- nearly every conceivable connectiv- pre’s, AES I/O and computer inter- on the unit itself. I’m told this situ- turing Jeff Coffin for an NPR Jazz ity option, including ADAT, USB, face. The tool calculates the MSRP ation will not be permanent, and Night in America program to the FireWire, Thunderbolt, AES3, ($2,099-6,599) for the selected con- that forthcoming versions of the recording of a Zach Williams pris- MADI, Dante and DigiLink. Beyond figuration. My review unit, which has firmware and software will enable on concert, the micro SD card has the sound quality, this was the pri- an MSRP of $6,099, was equipped remote control from the computer. worked flawlessly. mary reason the device wasn’t quickly with 32 channels of line I/O, along The primary focal point of the in- The micro SD card recording outdated like so many other inter- with Pro Tools connectivity. It’s im- terface’s front panel is a high-resolu- function is also a great feature in the faces that came and went during the portant to note that the per-channel tion color screen. During normal use, studio, as it allows you to continu- Aurora’s lifetime. For example, when cost of the Aurora(n) is actually less I keep the screen parked on one of ally record everything that happens Thunderbolt replaced FireWire, an than that of the original Aurora— the meter displays, which I’ve found during a session to ensure that no Aurora user simply had to update the amazing! to be quite useful. To the left of the audio magic that happens between LSlot card to remain current. My only complaint with the display are play and record buttons takes gets lost in the ether. It also The Aurora(n) is a comprehensive Aurora(n) is that, as with the origi- for controlling the built-in SD card makes sure you are covered in case redesign of the original Aurora. Still nal Aurora, only one LSlot card can recorder. Up and down arrows pro- of a computer crash. My only com- built around the LSlot technology (it be installed at a time. The perfect vide navigation between takes. An ad- plaint with the micro SD card func- is compatible with the original USB, Aurora(n) for me would be one that ditional four buttons and a rotary en- tionality is that the ability to format Thunderbolt, Dante and DigiLink I use with my Pro Tools HDX rig at coder provide the ability to configure a micro SD card isn’t built into the LSlot cards), it has better sounding the studio but pop out of my rack the Aurora(n). Pressing the encoder Aurora(n), so it’s critical that you converters, better clocking and is one and use via Thunderbolt with my lap- or hitting the function button acti- have a card reader-equipped comput- of the most flexible interfaces on the top. Switching from Pro Tools HD vates the configuration menu. Con- er with a formatting utility installed. market today. to Thunderbolt requires cards to be figuration options provide the ability (Lynx recommends SD Memory Like the Aurora, the Aurora(n) is swapped. to send test tones to any of the analog Card Formatter 5.0, which is free a 1U rackmount device. It includes a In addition to being a great na- output, to toggle the analog inputs and works flawlessly.) It’s important built-in power supply, display, opera- tive audio interface, the Aurora(n) and outputs between +4 dBu and -10 to note that the micro SD card fea- tional controls and dual headphone works equally well as a standalone dBV standards in banks of four, and ture doesn’t turn the Aurora(n) into a amplifiers. Specific configuration converter and Pro Tools HDX ex- to access the routing submenu, al- functional multitrack recorder; rather, is determined by module selection, pander. Lynx has provided com- lowing the user to select whether the it’s simply a capture device, as there with each Aurora(n) hosting up to prehensive front-panel control over analog outputs are fed from DigiLink is no individual track arming, punch- six modules. One of these must be many of its parameters with the as- playback, SD card playback, direct ing, editing and so on. an LSlot card for computer interface, sumption that there isn’t necessarily from the analog inputs or any combi- Anyone in need of a no-compro- and one must be Lynx’s word-clock going to be a computer available to nation of the three. mise interface that has a huge and module, which provides a single in- control them. In its present form, In addition to a host of buttons, growing selection of interface options put and three outputs on BNC con- though, any Aurora(n) parameter the Aurora(n)’s SD card slot, head- should give the Aurora(n) top consid- nectors. This leaves four slots for that can be adjusted from the front phone jacks and headphone volume eration, as it won’t disappoint. audio I/O modules. Options include panel can’t also be manipulated controls are also positioned on the Lynx Studio Technology line in/out, digital in/out and mic/ from the computer, and vice versa, front panel. Both headphone outputs www.lynxstudio.com

[ October 2018 ] [ 32 ] soundTECHNOLOGY [review] GENELEC 1032C STUDIO MONITORS

The recently released Genelec at 150W and 250W. With regard to 1032C is the third generation of internal filtering, the speaker has a Genelec’s legendary 1032 monitor. constant latency (group delay) down The 1032A was launched in 1992 to 300 Hz. and was then replaced by the 1032B Any fan of the previous 1032 in 2013. Besides the addition of models (I fall into this group!) will Genelec’s Smart Active Monitoring absolutely love the 1032C. These (SAM) technology, the 1032C offers monitors offer the same immaculate several improvements over its prede- imaging, impressive off-axis response cessor. and broad dynamic range as their The substantial 1032C weighs predecessors, but with an extend- 37.4 pounds and measures 19.5 x ed low frequency response (the fre- 12.63 x 11.44 inches (HWD). It quency response is 40 Hz – 20 kHz), supports input via line level analog increased SPL capacity (the maxi- or AES/EBU digital signal (32 – 192 mum SPL is 114 dB) and Genelec kHz and 16- to 24-bit). Loudspeaker Manager (GLM) com- The 1032C features an active patibility. digital crossover (with a crossover The SAM technology incorpo- frequency of 1.8 kHz and 48 dB/ rates multiple features that allow the octave slopes) that splits the sig- monitors to be tailored to a specific nal feeding the 1-inch metal dome work environment via the GLM soft- tweeter and 10-inch woofer, both ware or manually via a series of DIP of which are powered by onboard switches located on the rear panel. The Genelec 1032C features an active digital crossover that splits the signal feeding the 1-inch Class D amplifiers, thus reducing While the SAM DIP switches are metal dome tweeter and 10-inch woofer, both of which are powered by onboard Class D the weight of each speaker by more convenient if there isn’t a computer amplifiers. than 5 pounds. Compared to the available, Genelec always recom- 1032B’s 120W and 180W amplifiers, mends utilizing GLM to set up a Bass Roll Off (three variations), settings can be controlled with a the 1032C tweeter and woofer pow- SAM monitoring system. Desktop low-frequency control (at- computer or be permanently stored er amplifiers are respectively rated SAM DIP switch controls include tenuates the bass frequencies around in the monitors to make the setup 160 Hz by 4 dB, compensating for available at all times, even when a the anomalies created by the desk- computer is not in use. Regardless top), Bass Tilt Control (attenuates of the speaker model, any number frequencies below 800 Hz to com- of SAM-equipped monitors can be pensate for anomalies created when used together to create a recallable the monitors are placed near room network, from stereo to 5.1 to large boundaries), Treble Tilt Control immersive setups. (boosts or cuts frequencies above 5 I couldn’t wait to give the kHz, correcting an excessively bright 1032Cs a listen, so before messing or dull sounding system or compen- with the GLM setup, I confirmed sating for high-frequency loss if the the Store switch was not active and monitor is placed behind a screen), was set to neutral, and then I spent Intelligent Signal Sensing (ISS), some time listening to the monitors Digital (activates the monitor’s AES/ in my mix room. Straight out of the EBU digital input), Level (scales the box, they sounded amazing. The im- monitor’s output level down in 10 aging was spectacular, the top end dB steps) and Stored (switches be- was pristine and the bottom end tween the monitor’s back panel set- was full and rich, and while pos- tings or the settings stored inside the sibly slightly lacking in clarity, still monitor via the GLM system cali- impressive. bration software). When the GLM After a couple of hours, I was network is disconnected, the settings ready to give GLM a go. I used an stored utilizing the GLM software earlier version of GLM a few years can be selected for use by setting ago and was immediately surprised the Stored SAM DIP switch to the at how much easier it is to use now. ON position. Setting the switch to I have memories of having to ref- the OFF position selects the settings erence documentation multiple defined by the monitor’s own on- times to get it up and running, but board DIP switch controls. Using the current version is simple and the Stored option supersedes all ad- straightforward; I had it running in justments done with the monitor’s no time. It’s as simple as connecting built-in controls. a Cat 5 cable between each monitor Although the 1032C can be and subwoofer (my system was sim- used without the GLM software ply two 1032Cs, no sub) and then and control network, the full po- to the control network input of the tential of the monitors can only GLM Adapter device. The GLM be met when they are set up and Adapter device then connects to a calibrated with the GLM software, computer via USB. I positioned the which provides automated acoustic included mic (pointed upward) at equalization and alignment for any the listening position with the top Genelec’s SAM technology incorporates multiple features that allow the monitors to be tailored system configuration. GLM setup of the mic at the approximate height to a specific work environment via the GLM software or manually. is quick, easy and accurate. The (continued on page 33)

[ October 2018 ] [review] soundTECHNOLOGY [ 33 ]

AUDIO-TECHNICA ATH-M60X HEADPHONES ing through the headphone amp in the Grace Design m905 monitor- Despite being a lifelong Audio-Tech- ing system, the TEAC HA-P90SD nica headphone fanatic, I was still high-resolution music player and the skeptical of the $199 ATH-M60x Benchmark DAC-1. I also spent time headphones, as I’ve never been overly listening through my iPhone X and impressed by on-the-ear headphone MacBook Pro. As anticipated, higher designs. Previous experiences with quality amplifiers resulted in better other manufacturers’ on-the-ear de- sound quality. While the Grace De- signs have been so lacking in com- sign is always my first choice, every fort that I haven’t been able to focus option provided exceptional sound on the sound quality long enough to quality. know if I even like them or not. Besides utilizing the headphones The extremely comfortable ATH- while recording, editing and mixing, M60x closed-back, dynamic, on- I spent significant time auditioning the-ear headphones are beautifully the headphones while listening to designed, extremely lightweight and my staple of reference material. This sonically stunning. At the heart of the includes Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of ATH-M60x is a pair of proprietary the Moon, Elton John’s Goodbye Yellow 45 mm drivers that, with a 102 dB/ Brick Road, James Taylor’s Hourglass, mW sensitivity, provide an impressive Daft Punk’s Random Access Mem- 15 Hz – 28 kHz frequency response. ories, Adele’s 25, The Beatles’ Sgt. The 7.8 ounce headphones have an Pepper, the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds, impedance of 38 ohms with a maxi- Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, and the mum input power of 1,600 mW. Nashville Symphony Orchestra’s The headphones include three de- recording of Paulus: Three Places of tachable cables: a 3-meter (9.8-foot) Enlightenment, Veil of Tears & Grand coiled cable, a 3-meter straight cable Concerto. and a 1.2-meter (3.9-foot) straight Low frequencies are nicely ar- cable. Each one terminates in a 3.5 ticulated with a smooth clarity and mm (1/8-inch) gold-plated stereo punch; midrange response is well mini-plug. Also included is a thread- defined, upfront and undistorted; ed 6.3 mm (1/4-inch) stereo adapter and high frequencies are clean and that can be attached to either of the smooth, but never harsh or brittle. 3-meter cables, allowing the head- The headphones provide a sound- phones to be used with a 1/4-inch stage that is both deep and wide, headphone jack. with exceptional imaging and detail, Somewhat hidden on the top of and they continue to be comfortable the left earpiece is a limiter switch. after extremely long listening peri- When activated (I found that a small ods. I’ve used them for recordings screwdriver works best), it confines lasting over five hours multiple times volume peaks to 105 dB, offering a and have yet to have them become great option for ear protection. The extremely comfortable ATH-M60x closed-back, dynamic, on-the-ear headphones are uncomfortable. All in all, they pro- The ATH-M60x headphones beautifully designed, extremely lightweight and sonically stunning. vide a very enjoyable and accurate don’t collapse or have earpieces that listening experience perfectly suited swivel, so even though they are light- extremely well made, so I anticipate headphones are perfectly suited for for the professional engineer, pro- weight and somewhat small, they will they will easily hold up to the rigors mixing, tracking, referencing or recre- ducer or audiophile. still take up some room in your carry- of the road or any professional stu- ational listening. Audio Technica on bag. From what I can tell, they are dio environment, and sonically, the I did the majority of my listen- www.audio-technica.com

the GLM made to the sound of ferent studios on a regular basis and been pleased with their performance. Reviews monitors. The clarity I was missing carry your monitors with you, you The monitors are extremely flat (continued from page 32) in the bottom end was instantly re- will have to use your computer to and natural sounding, with stun- solved. The imaging was slightly bet- recall the configuration for each lo- ning imaging. They are remarkably ter, the top end felt more extended cation. I wish you could store more transparent and their extremely low of my ears, and then connected it to and the sweet spot actually felt more than a single setting in the speakers. distortion keeps them from being the GLM Adapter device. That’s it, accurate. Since the GLM software During my eight-week review fatiguing. Long days don’t result in as far as the physical setup goes. allows the GLM settings to be by- period, I’ve found that the 1032Cs fried ears, as happens with many The GLM software is a quick passed and activated at the push of a translate extremely well. It is easy monitors out there. They are loud, download from the company’s web- button, it is easy to analyze the dif- to tell when a mix is finished or if it too—really loud, perfectly suited to site, and then running the software ferences that GLM makes to the lis- needs more work, and when you get rock out and give a band the larger performs a series of tests optimizing tening experience. I’ve used a fully it out of your space, you know what than life playback experience. The the monitors to their environment calibrated system multiple times and it’s going to sound like elsewhere. clarity and precision remain intact by making adjustments for details in each instance, have found that The SAM system allows the moni- even at loud volumes, though, which such as speaker location and time of the more problematic the room, the tors to provide amazingly accurate is sadly not typical with most moni- flight irregularities to ensure the fin- more of a difference GLM makes. monitoring in virtually any room, tors out there. est possible monitoring experience While unlimited presets can be which is ideal for engineers (like The 1032C is a perfect option for within the room. The 1032C also easily saved in the computer, only most I know) who regularly work in any music production, post-produc- incorporates Video Delay Compen- one GLM configuration can be a multitude of different settings. I’ve tion or broadcast studio. sation and level calibration. stored in the monitors. This means utilized the monitors in six or seven Genelec I was stunned at the difference that if you frequent a number of dif- spaces, and in every instance have www.genelec.com

[ October 2018 ] [ 34 ] soundPRODUCTS [studio] Lectrosonics SPDR Stereo Portable Digital Recorder firstlook Lectrosonics has released the SPDR—Stereo Portable Digital Recorder—a stereo version of its PDR micro Universal Audio Apollo X Interfaces digital recorder. The unit is intended for use in news, Universal Audio has released film and video production or in situations where a wire- its new Apollo X Series of less system isn’t practical. The SPDR records to a Micro Thunderbolt 3 rackmount SDHC memory card in Broadcast Wave format (WAV audio interfaces. The family with iXML metadata) and 24-bit depth, in sample rates oorit of either 48 kHz or 96 kHz. The unit can accept inputs from analog line level meroew and AES digital sources, or from lav microphones wired for standard Lectro- features, including “elite-class” sonics 5-pin “servo bias” inputs. The SPDR can handle timecode via 5-pin //coerio LEMO connector and features a temperature-compensated time base crystal. oreroceietriiroceorreorteieiercet moreorriowereiretime.eiort Ear Trumpet Labs Dark Edwina Microphone micrewieteotertreeereo.ee- Ear Trumpet Labs has unveiled the limited- ture eight, four and two Unison-enabled mic preamps, respectively; the three units offer edition Dark Edwina microphone, created in rememtioromeeeeermoreiiotecoo. collaboration with Dobro player Josh Swift. The The units also offer selectable +24 dBu operating levels, and surround sound monitoring variation on ETL’s Edwina mic sports a black support for 5.1 and 7.1 formats, which will debut in coming months. finish, making it the company’s first single-color microphone. The Edwina’s parts got their dark ferent intensities. Also new is Music coloring via hand-processing at Cold Spring Rebalance, which uses an algorithm Enterprises, a gunsmith in Bristol, TN, using trained with machine learning to per- a technique called Cerakote that puts a thin, durable black ceramic finish on form source separation, allowing users metal. The Dark Edwina is now available for a first run of 10 units, with a limit to work with individual elements of a on 50 units. stereo audio track without multitracks. Remove/Isolate Vocals allows users to create instrumental versions of songs TASCAM Model 24 Digital by removing the vocal elements, or iso- late the vocal to prepare a remix without having access to individual tracks or Multitrack Recorder stems. RX Elements has been updated with a streamlined version of Repair TASCAM’s Model 24 offers 24 Assistant. tracks of 24-bit, 48 kHz audio capture (22 channels and a stereo main mix) and 22 playback tracks via either USB Zylia ZM-1 Microphone Array 2.0 or to the unit’s onboard SD Card re- German semiconductor manufac- corder. The SD Card recorder offers one- turer Infineon Technologies and touch recording and includes transport controls, auto and manual punch Zylia, a Poland-based developer of in/out, and overdub capability. The unit includes a 22-channel mixer with recording technologies, have intro- 100mm long-throw faders. The two monitor returns, subgroup bus and stereo duced a 19-capsule, 24-bit resolution main bus are also equipped with dedicated 100 mm faders. The Model 24 microphone array that allows users offers 12 mono channels, each with XLR mic and 1/4-inch line inputs. One- to record entire sound scenes with quarter-inch channel inputs 1 and 2 can be switched between line and instru- a single microphone. Incorporating ment level, enabling plugging in a guitar or bass, and feature a 1/4-inch TRS Infineon’s 69 dB SNR digital MEMS microphone and XENSIV silicon mi- insert point. Users also get 4 stereo channels with mono XLR mic and left and crophones, the microphone array is said to provide high-fidelity and far-field right 1/4-inch line inputs. All 16 microphone inputs sport a preamp gain con- audio recording, in addition to multiple-microphone noise-free and distortion- trol and an overload (clip) indicator for the channel’s premium TASCAM mi- free audio signals for advanced audio signal processing. As a third-order Ambi- crophone preamp. Each of the first 20 channels includes mute and PFL solo. sonics audio recorder, the ZM-1 is intended for 360-degree and virtual reality (VR) audio production. Zylia supports these workflows with its new Zylia Stu- dio PRO and Zylia Ambisonics Converter software, offering control over the Steinberg Nuendo Live 2 recording process. Steinberg has released Nuendo Live 2, the lat- est edition of its multitrack live recording system, which offers new and updated features, Yamaha Prism Sound SADiE v6.1.13 Software CL/QL console integration and more. The Me- Prism Sound has launched SADiE ter View, which allows users to oversee all of the v6.1.13 software, introducing a recording session’s levels over the entire display, number of enhancements and bug shows 32, 64, 96, 128 or 160 meters simultane- fixes to its audio recording and pro- ously. The Track View feature has been enhanced duction system. Available as a 64-bit to display the meter bridge on the bottom of the version of SADiE 6 for native op- screen, with up to 64 tracks. When more channels eration and also for the SADiE BB2 are required, the meter or track count is divided into banks that can be ac- Radio Editor system and LRX2 Flexible Location Recorder, SADiE v6.1.13 cessed by mouse click or key command. Yamaha CL/QL console integration delivers an update to the system’s core so that these tools are fully compatible allows engineers to control the software directly from the mixer’s touchscreen. with Windows 10. The SADiE system allows a choice between proprietary audio I/O and DSP processing, or standard soundcard I/O and DSP functions running on the host computer. iZotope RX 7 Standard and RX Elements iZotope has released its seventh generation of RX audio repair and enhance- ment software with RX 7 Standard and RX Elements. RX 7 Standard offers There’s more information on all the products Repair Assistant, a repair tool that analyzes audio to detect noise, clipping, featured at prosoundetwor.com/ct. clicks and more, then offers three processing suggestions at three dif-

[ October 2018 ] [sound reinforcement] soundPRODUCTS [ 35 ]

Shure P9RA+, P10R+ Bodypack Receivers risk of cable breaks. The connector is accommodated inside the ear mold, and Shure has revealed its P9RA+ and P10R+ bodypack the IEMs reportedly are able to reduce ambient sound by up to 26 dB. receivers, which are scheduled to ship later in 2018. The receivers operate with the PSM 900 and PSM 1000 IEM systems, respectively, and use an analog/ Martin Audio Adorn Loudspeaker Series digital hybrid system to reportedly improve headroom, Featuring a 4” and 5.5” driver, respec- stereo separation and audio fidelity. The P9RA+ is a tively, the two-way Adorn 40 and Adorn compact, stereo bodypack that works with the PSM 55 on-wall loudspeakers are available in 900 wireless system, and is said to provide improved black or white as standard, and can be audio quality and RF signal strength. All P9RA+ re- painted as needed to blend into their sur- ceivers are compatible with original P9T and P10T roundings. The loudspeakers have a nomi- transmitters and all Shure SE Sound Isolating Earphones. Similarly, the nal impedance of 16 ohms, enabling four P10R+ is a low-profile, twin-antenna diversity bodypack receiver that operates or more speakers to be driven in parallel with the PSM 1000 wireless system. The receiver’s features include full-band- by one amplifier channel. Their “T”-designated options are fitted with an in- width RF scan, front-end RF filtering and automatic RF gain control. ternal 70V/100V multi-tap line transformer with a switch to select the output level. Backing them up will be the newly announced SX110 subwoofer, which can extend the bandwidth of Adorn on-wall speakers. Designed for a low pro- Neutrik True Outdoor Protection Series file within a venue, its compact enclosure features a 10” (250mm) driver and Neutrik USA’s True Outdoor Protection bass-reflex porting to reduce air noise. SX110 can also be suspended by means (TOP) series comprises products from its of integral M8 threaded inserts. powerCON TRUE1, etherCON and XLR lines that have been made UV light-resistant and IP65-rated for use in conditions with Yamaha YVC-200 Portable Speakerphone heavy moisture, particulate pollution and Yamaha Unified Communications is now ship- sunlight. The new powerCON TRUE1 TOP ping the Yamaha YVC-200 portable USB + product line features all-black, high-impact, Bluetooth speakerphone. The unit is integrated UV-resistant materials. Latches are silver col- with Yamaha sound processing technologies, ored. powerCON TRUE1 TOP products of- including adaptive echo cancellation and Hu- fer the same input and output cable and chassis connectors as the standard man Voice Activity Detection, which focuses on powerCON TRUE1 series. IP65 and UV-resistant etherCON TOP products speech rather than background noise. The unit feature RJ45 cable carriers in two colors; Cat 5 chassis connectors for vertical features an intelligent microphone and provides PCB mounting, horizontal PCB mounting, and D-size feedthrough; and an duplex conversation without sound dropouts, even when multiple people are SE8FD-TOP outdoor assembly kit. The XLR TOP product line comprises 3- speaking at once. The unit works with common operating systems and remote and 5-pin male and female XLR cable connectors along with male and female conferencing services such as Skype for Business, Microsoft Teams, Cisco We- D-size chassis connectors and a UV-resistant chassis connector protection cap. bex, Zoom, Slack and more. Touch-sensor buttons provide manual control of software functions such as microphone mute and speaker volume. Available in white or black, the YVC-200 also has a headset jack for private listening. Sennheiser IE Pro In-Ear Line Sennheiser has launched a new series of professional in-ears, beginning with the IE 40 PRO entry model (shown here), which will be available this month. Audinate Dante Adapter Modules In early 2019, the IE 40 PRO will be joined by the IE Audinate has introduced a new line of pre-pro- 400 PRO and the top-of-the-range IE 500 PRO. grammed Dante Adapter Modules for use in de- Available in black and transparent versions, the signing Dante audio adapters and low-channel IE 40 PRO is built around a Sennheiser driver count audio devices. Dante Adapter Modules can reportedly offering low distortion (0.1 percent be integrated into larger host devices to provide at 1 kHz and 94 dB), and neodymium magnets Dante network support without the need for PCB helping provide an SPL of up to 115 dB. The IE design and manufacturing, component procure- 40 PRO’s mechanical design includes a patent- ment and programming. The Dante Adapter Mod- pending cable ducting that is said to reduce the ules family contains six models—single and du- al-channel analog input, single and dual-channel analog output, 2-in/2-out AES3, and 2-in/2-out USB. The modules use the same components as the Dante AVIO adapter fam- firstlook ily and are designed for over-molding, clamshell enclosures or mounting on a baseboard, enabling manufacturers to design products with their own physical Allen & Heath SLink Option Card for SQ enclosures, branding and connectors. ier Allen & Heath has introduced a new Sonifex AVN Portal Mix Engines SLink option card for its SQ digital Sonifex’s AVN Portal mieriteeoreiiit range of mix engines use /moitoritroctee AES67 AoIP to enable recording and other applications. mixing and monitoring of Providing the same functionality as AoIP streams as well as temieritiiortte having physical inputs and outputs. The AVN-PA8 Portal has eight stereo option card provides a further 128 analog line inputs and outputs on D-type sockets with AES59 analog pin- inputs and 128 outputs of digital out, paralleled with eight RJ45 connectors using StudioHub pinout. Up to audio and runs completely indepen- 16 AES67 input channels and 64 AES67 output channels can be created in et.tittimierwit each Portal, supporting the full range of AES67 packet times and channel second SLink port allows it to combine counts. The AVN-PD8 Portal has eight stereo AES3 digital line inputs and additional Allen & Heath products such as an ME personal monitoring system, DX or outputs. It has individual input sample rate conversion, input and output eeer.eicrooworirectcoectioromcooe gain adjustment and has the same streaming facilities as the AVN-PA8. tooterorietem/ortooreer. Finally, there is the AVN-PM8 Portal, which has eight mic/line inputs and eight stereo line outputs.

[ October 2018 ] [ 36 ] soundREINFORCEMENT Bringing Boutique Festivals to the Beach briefs JAE AVIS/LOVE INTERNATIONAL BY IAN MACDONALD Dashboard Digs

TISNO, CROATIA—Tisno, an idyllic DPA beach town along Croatia’s Adriatic nasille, tn—On the road this coast, enjoys a relatively quiet exis- summer, ashboard Confessional tence for nine months of the year. has been performing through However, as in many seaside locales PA mics (www.dpamicrophones. in the country, summers bring a mas- com). Monitor engineer Jamison sive influx of festivalgoers reveling utcher and FOH man Joel Livesey in the music of their favorite DJs in the brilliant sunshine on the beach surrounded the band with dfacto and at sea. Tisno’s particular appeal VL mics on all vocals, ddicate is an intimate festival site (2,500 ca- cardioids for audience mics, pacity, nearly matching the popula- dvote s on all toms and cym- tion of the town itself) comprising bals, and ddicate Cs on kick four beachside stages, two boats with and snare. stacked sound systems and a nearby after-hours club for the nocturnal- One of the more unique stages at the festival grounds is the Olive Grove. A NEO at the ly inclined. The site hosts six sum- mertime festivals, each lasting five Kim Lewis, has tackled Tisno annu- boxes you hear today are from that Opera to eight days and spanning differ- ally for the last decade. His team of very same pile, and they still sound san diego, a—San Francisco-based ent sub-genres of electronic music. nine freelance audio pros handles the pristine.” Coral Canopy provided sound Things kicked off in late June this sound reinforcement for all six festi- Lewis’ bronzed tan is a remind- design and audio production ser- year with the house- and disco-fueled vals, supported by a Funktion One- er of just how close this place is to vices for the Opera NEO Summer Love International. heavy kit list that has withstood both the sun, but there’s little wear on the Opera Festival in San iego, which Successfully executing six back-to- the elements and the test of time. Funktion One cabinets or degrada- included performances of Franz back weeklong festivals in a Mediter- “When I started doing these Croa- tion in the quality of their output, Lehr’s The Merry Widow and ranean climate (read: water, sand, tian festivals, my team inherited a and that’s no small feat in this salty, Mozart’s Idomeneo. Alan Chang, salt corrosion, dust, blistering sun) pile of gear and we were told to make dusty, UV-drenched environment. requires stamina and technical ex- do with what we were given,” says While deep-cleaning is required after principal of Coral Canopy, oversaw pertise, and the site’s sound designer, Lewis. “Some of these Funktion One (continued on page 40) an Allen Heath (www.allen- heath.com) S- digital mier at front of house nightly to mi FOH

JAMES ARER and manage stage and orchestra monitor levels for the run of the The Tour of summer festival. It All Nexo, Yamaha on the March BY STEVE HARVEY murreesboro, tn—At the rum Corps International semifinal com- LOS ANGELES, CA—Four-time Grammy petitions held at Middle Tennessee Award-winning UK singer-songwriter State niversity in July, the Carolina Sam Smith’s second studio album, Crown of Fort Mill, SC, and the The Thrill of It All, debuted at the top Cadets of Allentown, PA, each used of the UK and U.S. charts in Novem- Neo/Yamaha (www.yamahaca. ber 2017 and launched a tour that is com) systems supplied by J Sound scheduled to run through April 2019. The production design is unusual, Services (JSS) of Nashville. Though they had different configurations, with a stage that is essentially just a Sam Smith belts nightly through a Sennheiser SKM 5200-II wireless microphone with 5235 thrust that extends 107 feet into the capsule. the systems included Neo eo audience, requiring an equally un- M line array boes, NAmp usual sound design configuration to features such as the faders being in a sor choices and ended up with the Mk amplifiers, NAE AES meet the challenges it presents. single row and its accommodation of Sennheiser 5235 capsule” mounted network cards and a Yamaha L Rehearsals took place in a hotel a display screen to each side. on an SKM 5200-II transmitter, a console. ballroom in Lake Como, Switzerland, “I think they have a character on combination that the four backing says veteran front-of-house engineer the mix bus,” he adds, which was im- singers also use, Ebdon reports. Mic SEAL Acquired Jim Ebdon, whose résumé includes portant for the project, which pro- choices for the five stage musicians miami, l—Following decades of Maroon 5, Matchbox Twenty and motes an album recorded largely to were equally judicious and include collaborations, Pro Sound Video Aerosmith, among others. “We really 16-track by Irish producer and en- various AKG, Heil, Neumann, Royer, got the mix dialed in nicely and got gineer Stephen Fitzmaurice. “He’s Sennheiser and Shure models, to- (www.prosound.net) has acquired everything sitting right,” he says. a big fan of really good quality mics gether with Avalon U5 and Radial Stage Equipment and Lighting For this tour, Ebdon selected an and old outboard gear, so I thought, JDI and J48 direct boxes. (SEAL), incorporating the latter L200 desk from Solid State Logic, that’s how I’m going to approach Smith’s vocal travels via a Neve company to become a single source a brand he’s been using for a couple this,” Ebdon says. 1073 DPA preamp at the stage before for sound, video, broadcast, con- of years. “They sound like an analog The show is all about Smith’s Ebdon sends it through a Tube-Tech trol, design and lighting sales and console with a save button. I like the voice, of course. “We tried a few mic CL 1B compressor. “You might look integration. ergonomics of the layout,” he says of capsules and few different compres- (continued on page 42)

[ October 2018 ]

[ 38 ] LIVESOUNDshowcase ILLY AVIS

vinced. It sounded great.” For the Zombie summer tour, he transitioned to the PM7—essentially the same desk with fewer inputs and outputs. “Back at the beginning of the year, they asked if I would want to take the PM7 out, as they had just got a bunch in,” Woodcock ex- plained. “In the PM7, I like having the DSP in the desk and not being external; it saves on space. The PM7 does have the PM10 rack, though, so you get the Rupert Neve inputs.” On monitors for the tour was J. Summers, taking the place of long- time Zombie monitor man Steve Walsh, who was committed to a sum- mer tour with Luis Miguel. Sum- mers trained on the PM7 at Clair’s Lititz facility prior to the tour. “Steve sent me his PM5D file to convert for the Rivage,” he recalled. “We met for the first time in L.A. at rehearsals to develop the mixes that Rob and the For Rob Zombie’s half of the Twins of Evil tour, production manager/FOH engineer Mark Woodcock (front) and Norm Stallings (back) mixed band required. Steve’s trust and solid through a sizable Clair Global Cohesion line array system. foundation with these guys set me on course for a great summer, so thank you, Steve!” The Evil That Men Mix Zombie’s FOH mix was straight- forward as well. “With Zombie, there BY BILLY DAVIS are not a lot of dynamics,” said Wood- cock. “Poison has acoustic songs and antag, n—When Rob Zombie and Marilyn Manson joined forces this past summer for ballads, while Zombie is a straight a co-headlining tour, it was a good show—but it was still evil. The Twins of Evil The Second in-your-face rock show—loud and proud.” One of the key ingredients Coming Tour hit the sheds for shows in July and August, with a house system and Zombie’s every night was the artist’s signature control gear provided by Clair lobal, while Manson’s was provided by attlestar Productions. vocal sound. “Rob’s vocal is different than most acts—it’s pure effect,” he With the eception of monitor engineer Jay Summers, Zombie’s entire sound crew came noted. “There’s no dry vocal at all. directly from a run with Poison, and included production manager/front of house engineer It’s an Eventide [preset] 519 Micro- Pitch shift that he uses throughout Mark Woodcock, crew chief/assistant FOH engineer Norm Stallings and P.A. techs Nathan the whole show. It’s not an outboard Lowe and Jacob Caples. effect; it’s now part of the plug-ins on the PM desks.” Additionally, Wood- The closeness and consistency Yamaha Rivage PM10 and said, ‘It’s Pentatonix: “I liked the workflow cock made use of onboard offerings, of the team made for a steady and really worth a listen.’” After trying and how it sounded, so then I then including a Rupert Neve Designs enjoyable workflow for everyone in- it out, Woodcock immediately took tried it with a full band on a five- Portico 5043 compressor. volved, according to Woodcock. “I the PM10 out with a cappella group week tour with Bush, and I was con- (continued on page 40) left the Poison tour in Florida,” he said, “and Norm finished the last two shows as FOH while I flew VITALstats to L.A. to catch rehearsals for the Twins of Evil tour.” The rest of the Rob Zombie crew joined pre-production soon af- ter. It wasn’t Woodcock’s first run Clair lobal (Lititz, PA) with Zombie, either—he’s spent a decade as the artist’s production FOH Engineer House Speakers FOH Equipment/Plug-Ins manager and three years as the FOH Mark Woodcock Clair Cohesion CO-12, CO-10, CP-218 Neve Portico II, 5059 Satellite engineer, adding to a mix resume Monitor Engineer Monitor Speakers Summing Mixer; Magma Express Box; Yamaha NUAGE Dante Accelerator, that includes the likes of Merle Hag- J. Summers Clair Cohesion CM-22, CO-12, CP-218 gard, Bush, Babyface, Cindy Lauper RY16 ML Silk Input Card, RY16-DA and Richie Sambora, among others. Crew Chief Personal Monitors Output Card; Lake LM44; Tascam For the run, Woodcock and Norm Stallings Shure PSM 1000; Alien Ears; Ultimate SS-CDR200; Smart Research C2; Summers each used Yamaha’s new Techs Ears Empirical Labs EL 8, Fatso; API 2500 Rivage PM7 consoles, marking Nathan Lowe, Jacob Caples House Amplifiers Microphones their first times out with the desk. Lab.gruppen PLM10000Q Telefunken M82; Shure Beta 91A, “I went out to Clair in Lititz, PA, FOH Console UHFR Series; beyerdynamic Opus 87; to visit Mike Adams last year and Yamaha Rivage PM7 Monitor Amplifiers Neumann KM 187; Palmer DIs I ran into Toby Francis [FOH for Monitor Console Lab.gruppen PLM10000Q Katy Perry, Arianna Grande, Kiss]. Yamaha Rivage PM7 CSD-R7 He suggested I play around with the

[ October 2018 ]

[ 40 ] soundREINFORCEMENT ILLY AVIS Rob Zombie mix, so he followed traditional steps to ensure that didn’t happen: “What (continued from page 38) I got from Steve [Walsh] is that the mix we are creating on stage is the definition and low-mid body; the im- Onstage, what the band heard pact comes from FOH. So technical- was just as important. “Rob’s vocal ly we’re not polluting Mark’s house is purely effected returns,” Summers mix—we’re taking his energy and noted. “There is no dry ‘Rob vocal’ adding our presence to it. By working on stage—he requires two SPX pre- together, FOH can provide a cleaner sets, tailored, of course. They give mix to the audience.” him the demonic sound that he digs; Of course, a clean mix starts with it totally sets the vibe.” proper miking on stage, so the drum If Zombie’s vibe was eerie, the mics included a Telefunken M82 and crew’s vibe was efficient. Crew chief Shure Beta 91A on the kick; beyer- Norm Stallings explained, “Normal- dynamic Opus 87s to cover the snare ly our load-in starts at 8 a.m. and I and toms, along with an under-snare have the P.A. tuned by noon. Mark Neumann KM 187; and overhead is ready to do a line check, provided Neumanns as well. All the guitars backline is up and ready. In all hon- Monitor engineer J. Summers mixed on a Yamaha Rivage PM7 console for the first time during were DI’d, said Woodcock: “The bass esty, it’s pretty easy. As for the load- the tour. guitar is a straight DI; for guitars, I outs, all my stuff is in the truck in used Palmer DIs. I tried miking the about an hour-fifteen, including the hesion CP-218 sub enclosures. “The Completing the P.A. were Clair guitar amps in an isolation cabinet, motors.” subs are eight aside and I have them P2 front fills. “The P2s have been but I just didn’t like the sound. The When Pro Sound News caught up all fired forward,” said Stallings. “I’ve around a long time, but they are a Palmers were originally going to be with the tour at the Northwell Health steered them 180 degrees per array very powerful box. If you need to the backups, but I liked them enough at Jones Beach Amphitheater, how- so it gets rid of a power alley, and juice it, you can really get some SPLs to use them instead. I really like the ever, the setup was different by neces- I find there is really good sub-bass out of it,” said Stallings. sound of John 5’s guitar through it.” sity. Stallings explained, “Jones Beach coverage even up to the upper deck Behind the P.A. in monitorworld, Zombie’s heavily effected vocal was is a complete caveat to almost every- grandstands.” Summer gave the band exactly what captured nightly via a Shure UHFR thing we normally do. Everything has Additional side hangs of eight they required. “Guitarist John 5 uses Series handheld with Telefunken to enter the deck from stage right, so Cohesion CO-10s each were used wedges and sidefills and no in-ear M81 capsule. that means nothing gets flown on that nightly, aimed differently depending monitors,” he said. “Rob uses three Thanks to working together on side until the end.” on the venue, to provide complete wedge mixes around him, along with the Poison tour, Zombie’s audio team For the Zombie/Manson tour, sound coverage in wider or taller sidefills left and right. On stage right was already in sync by the time the Clair Global provided its proprietary venues. “Jones Beach is much nar- is Piggy D. on bass; he has wedges, second tour started, and they had de- Cohesion series loudspeakers—which rower and has an upper grandstand sidefills and in-ears using Alien Ears veloped a work ethic based on trust. meant the audio team used the same not typical of most venues,” Stall- IEMs with a Shure PSM 1000 wire- Stallings said, “The mutual trust is loudspeaker arrangement as it had ings remarked. “I had a rig made less pack. Ginger Fish, the drummer, killer. It makes our job easier and just weeks earlier at the same venue straightforward specifically for the has Ultimate Ears IEMs and his own makes the guys on-stage’s jobs easi- for Poison. The stage left-right hangs grandstand seats in Jones Beach; I Speck mixer, and I send him stems so er.” Woodcock echoed the sentiment: each sported a dozen CO-12s to cov- did this on the Poison tour as well. he can blend his IEM mix. I also have “There’s never any feedback from er the grandstand down to the pit, If you get in a very wide venue, like a stereo return feed from Ginger for a the artists—that tells me we must be with the bottom four boxes set at 120 Pine Knob in Detroit, we’ll swing redundant PSM 1000 wireless pack.” pushing the right buttons.” degrees and the top eight at 80 de- that CO-10 array to the side. It’s all Summers pointed out that stage Clair Global grees. All that was supported by Co- about sound coverage.” volume sometimes affects the house www.clairglobal.com

While he’s the sound designer other end of the field to the DJs and persion. If we also position the outer Love for the site, Lewis performs double- performers. But with this place, the subs on their sides, we receive com- duty as FOH engineer for the Main intimacy is significant enough that I plaints of excessive sub as it emerges International Stage, where he uses an old-school often build relationships with these straight out the side … but when up- (continued from page 36) 48-channel Midas Legend to mix artists. That’s the best part, as I get right, the vertical dispersion is per- through eight Resolution 4 and eight to hear their feedback and incre- fectly balanced,” says Lewis. That each season, the systems have sur- F218 subs, all powered by MC2 E45 mentally improve every performance careful balance keeps dancers moving vived other aspects as well. “The gear amplifiers. He selected new Midas so that when they return the next from midnight to 6 a.m. night after truck showed up this year with three MR18 tablet-controlled rackmount year, I get to ensure their wishes are night. Funktion One Resolution 4 speak- mixers for the slightly smaller Beach incorporated.” With only 10 days of build leading ers vertically ratchet-strapped to each Stage and Barbarella’s, the offsite As for the other stages, the up to nearly two straight months of other,” he recalls. “The truck parked after-hours club. The digital desks 200-capacity Argonaughty boat is performances, all outdoors and sur- on a very slight tilt, and when the were additions to the kit this year, equipped with four Funktion One rounded by every elemental severity driver undid the strap, they tumbled and Lewis points to them as a mas- F88s, Crown MacroTech amps and a FOH engineer can think of, it is not off the truck and bounced off each sive improvement over the previous two custom EV DeltaMax 218 sub- your typical American festival format. other on the way down. The wave- years’ analog desks for their ability to woofers that take advantage of the Boutique-size festivals are becoming guide on one of them was destroyed, adjust levels directly from the audi- boxes’ 90-degree dispersion to cover a global trend, however, so that influ- and the company was very expedient ence position. the open-air environment. Lewis also ence may start being felt here, too. in getting us a replacement, but after- “The biggest reason I love this deployed eight non-custom EV Delta In the meantime, Lewis and his crew ward I couldn’t help myself and test- site so much, and the festivals that Max 218s at the open-air club. will be back at it next year, when the ed all three boxes’ drivers. They all appear here for the summer, is the “We’ve placed the four subs on string of festivals returns to Tisno in worked flawlessly; none of the mag- intimacy,” says Lewis. “With other the outer ring of the club upright, but early July. nets were knocked out of alignment. big festivals around the world, I’m the four in the middle are sideways, Love International We couldn’t believe it!” front of house but just a face at the again providing that 90-degree dis- https://loveinternationalfestival.com

[ October 2018 ]

[ 42 ] soundREINFORCEMENT JAMES ARER Sam Smith you don’t want in the mics, then you can dial in how much of that process- (continued from page 36) ing you want.” System tech Liam Halpin rose to the challenges presented by the long, at it and think it’s over-compressing, narrow stage and the production de- but when that needle is slamming sign—twin IMAG screens, circular over on the left, it just sounds fantas- rear-projection screen, lighting truss- tic,” he says. es and “The Shard,” a 50-foot high, He manages Smith’s potent three-sided projection screen con- high-mid range with a Sonnox Ox- struction—with a design that encom- ford EQ plug-in and applies UA’s passes as many as 80 d&b audiotech- Tube-Tech CL 1B re-creations to the nik J8 and 32 V8 line array modules, background vocals. Vintage AMS and plus 24 J-Subs, in six blocks of four, EMT reverb plug-ins supplement all flown. Four J-Infra triple-21-inch a pair of Bricasti hardware reverb subs below the stage—two pointing boxes. The plug-ins are hosted on Audio crew on the run includes (l-r) Dan Leaver, Bhekii Phakethi, Liam Halpin, Jim Ebdon, Saul forward and one to each side—sup- a Soundcraft Realtime Rack, with a Skoutarides and Lee Fox-Furnell. plement the flown rig. A full 22 com- Waves SoundGrid server handling pact T10 two-way boxes, mounted plug-in effects such as flanging and says, “because I need the functional- sor across Smith’s mix. Everyone to the sides of the 5-foot-high stage ADT. ity of the automation. And I can build uses Sennheiser 2000 Series wire- on custom hanging shelves, provide “I live under the stage like a troll, macros to do whatever I want.” less ears with JH Audio earbuds— audience fill. as once pointed out by a friend of Using the SD7’s macros, he en- Roxanne custom models, in the case There are 34 d&b D80 amplifiers mine,” says monitor engineer Saul ables the MD and band members to of the performers and Skoutarides. per side, housed in custom carts to Skoutarides, who chose a DiGiCo talk among themselves or to Smith The tour’s RF tech, George Hogan, fit beneath the stage, says Halpin. SD7 for the tour. In addition to man- in various combinations, and for the handles the unusually long stage con- Signal cabling and power distribution aging about 80 inputs from stage, techs to converse among themselves. figuration using his custom antenna are similarly customized for quick which split to monitors and FOH via “No matter what shout mic gets talk- management system. load-in and deployment. Amp signal a rack of Midas DL431 interfaces, ed into, the crew always hear them, so Skoutarides’ secret weapon is a distribution is via a redundant Dante he controls a “shout mic” system of we can back each other up,” he says. Cedar DNS8 Live box, originally de- network and d&b DS10 network approximately two-dozen channels. Skoutarides has two four-engine signed to suppress noise between la- bridges, with overall EQ processing “Because none of us can see each TC Electronic System 6000 re- valier mics for broadcast. “It allows by Lake LM44s. There is a high level other,” he says. verbs available and puts a Crane me to filter room reverb out of the of redundancy throughout, from the Skoutarides picked the SD7, he Song STC-8 analog bus compres- microphones. You can teach it what consoles (the second desks also being

[ October 2018 ] soundREINFORCEMENT [ 43 ] available to opening acts) to the net- “we’re shooting up with the hangs, duction’s FOH position is off to one Ebdon is centrally located, he and working, which has an AES backup. which allows me to shift more of the side of the floor. Pro Tools playback maybe 10 percent of the audience ex- Capital Sound, based in London weight onto the front motor. For of additional elements and the key- perience that power alley. “I’d rather and newly integrated into the SSE some of the lower audience profiles, boards is stereo, he adds, “but none concentrate on the 90 percent,” he Group, provided the sound equip- I’ve put three or four boxes on top of of the drums are panned; they’re all says. “If I end up doing a regular end- ment. Every component of the tour the hang to act as a counterweight. straight up the middle.” on, left/right gig next year, I’m going production was shipped by container It’s a constant battle between what The off-center FOH position ne- to mix off to the side.” from the UK and will go on to Austra- makes acoustic sense and mechanical cessitated by this tour’s sound design Capital Sound lia while the tour picks up local pro- sense.” has been an education, says Ebdon. www.capital-sound.co.uk duction for its Southeast Asia shows. The stage configuration means “The interesting thing is you don’t The tour’s sound design was driv- that there is no wide stereo spread, get a power alley, which is fantastic.” d&b audiotechnik en by the need to extend coverage to Ebdon notes. Consequently, the pro- In a standard production, where www.dbaudio.com the front rows of seats that run along both sides of the stage and up to its front tip, Halpin explains. “If you want to cover the front row, you have to put a hang in line with the side of the stage. That also means you’ve got to point the bottom box down.” Halpin spent three months of full- time work on the design, he reports, inputting the CAD drawings and his own precise measurements of rep- resentative venues such as London’s O2 Arena and Manchester Arena into d&b’s ArrayCalc simulation software. He often spends hours pre-show at each venue adding measurements to improve the accuracy of the available drawings. “The consistency we’ve had from show to show has more than justified the effort.” To provide the necessary cover- age, he continues, “We ended up with a lot more cabinets than you would normally carry on an arena tour. Each J8 hang is 20 boxes deep. The last box aims 80 degrees down.” The two front and two side J8 ar- rays must be carefully aligned with each other. “The bottom box of the side hang acts as a fill underneath the main hang,” he says. “And Sam spends a lot of time on the tip of the stage, so I can’t hit that too hard.” Indeed, the acoustic center is near the downstage lift that brings Smith to the stage, from which Halpin must cover roughly 310 degrees. Viewed as a traditional end stage, the produc- tion sells each venue’s seats to 270 degrees. Providing that coverage means there’s up to 16 boxes for each V8 hang. Halpin explains, “Quite often I’m using 10 boxes even if there’s a wall. The floor seating extends to the Shard, so I need that many boxes to achieve the down-tilt to get the coverage.” The d&b ArrayProcessing software manages the wall proximity, he adds. “Rather than trying to pick a single point to align the system, I’m looking at the overall low-end re- sponse throughout the whole venue. It allows me to get the best average response for the greatest amount of the audience,” he adds. The array weight is close to the load limit of the rigging system, says Halpin. Because balcony seating ex- tends higher at many U.S. venues,

[ October 2018 ] [ 44 ] centerSTAGE TOP 10 TOURS OF THE MONTH

ACT / STATISTICS CREW EQUIPMENT

1 | Stephen Curtin (he); James Berry, James HC: iiCo S MC: iiCo S HS: db audiotechnik J Series MS: db audiotechnik IEM: Shure PSM HA: db audiotechnik EIGHTH DAY SOUND Corbin (me); Arno Vortman (se); Chris MA: db audiotechnik HARDWIRED MICS: Sennheiser Shure PA WIRELESS MICS: Sennheiser , FOH EQUIPMENT: Bellamy (ae); Greg Horning, Clinton ricasti M Yamaha SP Neve Portico Sonic Farm Creamliner MONITOR EQUIPMENT: Wes Audio lang OTHER Radial SI, Twin Reynolds, Emily Valentine, Peter Mesaros, Iso, SW Dan Buckley, Nills Knecht, Dom Thorne (techs)

2 TAYLOR SWIFT | David Payne (be); Jordan Kolenc (Swift me/ HC: iiCo S MC: () iiCo S HS: db audiotechink J Series Array Processed, J-Sub, , V front fills IEM Shure PSM , EIGHTH DAY SOUND cc); Scott Wasilk (and me); Dan Bluhm Wisycom MT HA: db audiotechnik HARDWIRED MICS: Telefunken Shure Sennheiser WIRELESS MICS: Sennheiser igital (se); Eoin Collins (mtech); Chase Usry (ae); , Shure Aient igital FOH EQUIPMENT: Neve Portico, Masterbuss Leicon PCM ricasti M Waves Soundcraft Realtime Ike Zimbel (rf coordinator); Turner Pollari Rack MONITOR EQUIPMENT: Eventide Eclipse TC Electronic System SPL T Waves Soundcraft Realtime Rack OTHER Radial JS, (rf tech); Andy Dudash (rf comms); Liam JS, J Rak , Tonebone Mi lender Von Elbe (lead pa tech); Sam Balk, Mike Vultaggio, JP Kearney (pa tech)

3 KENNY CHESNEY | Chris Rabold (be); Bryan “Opie” Baxley (me); HC: SSL L Plus MC: () Midas Pro HS: db audiotechnik SL MS: db audiotechnik M IEM: Shure PSM HARWIRE MICS MORRIS Phill “Sidephill” Robinson (me-Chesney); Shure SM, eta , SM A C Telefunken M, M-SH Sennheiser M eyerdynamic M T Royer R- Radial Chris “Sully” Sullivan (se); Rich Rossey SW, J, SI, M WIRELESS MICS Shure AT Aient, AT J Handheld, AT Aient sE Electronics V MC capsule FOH (patch); Phil Spina (cc); Carl Schmidt, Tanner EQUIPMENT: Empirical Labs EL- istressor, EL Fatso Jr Rupert Neve esigns Primary Source Enhancer Sonic Farm Creamliner Freese, Ryan Lewis, Justin Curtiss (techs); Ed Eventide H API us Compressor Tech SansAmp PSA . Overstayer M-A-S, Stereo Field Effect, Stereo Voltage Control Wannebo (pm) niversal Audio A- Live Rack Waves Etreme Server

4 PAUL SIMON | CLAIR Michael ‘Coach’ Conner (he); Kevin HC: Yamaha Rivage PM MC: Yamaha Rivage PM HS: Clair Cohesion CO-, CO-, C-, CP- Front Fill MS: Clair AM, SRM, GLOBAL Glendenning (me); Don Baker (cc/se); Erick CP- IEM: Sennheiser HA: Lab.gruppen MA: Lab.gruppen HARDWIRED MICS: Shure eta a, SM, SM, SM, eta a, eta Rodstol (stage e); Robert Taylor (tech) , SM, SM, SM, PW/PSM Sennheiser e, M , MH- A C- -LS Neumann M Audio-Technica PA Heil PR- Earthworks PM Countryman E, I Radial I WIRELESS MICS Shure Aient FOH EQUIPMENT: ricasti MAlan Smart C Summit TLA- TC Finalizer Ferrofish A niversal Apollo MONITOR EQUIPMENT: Allen Heath AH-ME OTHER Radial SI, J

5 BILLY JOEL | CLAIR Brian Ruggles (he); Josh Weibel (me); Rich HC: iiCo S MC: iiCo S HS: Clair Cohesion CO-, i-, P-, R, CP- MS: Clair CM-, SRM, ML- IEM: Sennheiser GLOBAL Schoenadel (cc/se); Jay Yochem (m tech); HA: Clair StakRak (Lab.gruppen) MA: Lab.gruppen HARDWIRED MICS: Shure A Sennheiser Audio-Technica Radial J, JI, Tom Ford, Bryan Darling (tech) SW, Firefly WIRELESS MICS: Shure R Series FOH EQUIPMENT: Waves

6 SAM SMITH | CAPITAL Jim Ebdon (he); Saul Skoutarides (be); Liam HC: SSL Live L MC: iiCo S HS: db audiotechnik J, V, T, J-Sub, J-InfraSub IEM: Sennheiser Series JH Audio SOUND Halpin (se); George Hogan (tech) Roanne HA: db audiotechnik with S network bridges HARDWIRED MICS: A C Heil PR Neumann M Royer SF- Sennheiser M Shure eta , eta , SM Avalon I Radial JI, J I WIRELESS MICS: Sennheiser SM -II with capsule FOH EQUIPMENT: ricasti Neve PA preamps Soundcraft Realtime Rack Tube-Tech CL Waves Soundrid Plug-Ins AMS reverb EMT plate reverb Sonno Oford E Tube-Tech CL various A, Waves MONITOR EQUIPMENT: Cedar NS TC Electronic System Crane Song STC-

7 ROD STEWART | MAJOR Lars Brogaard (he); Sven Jorgensen, Charlie HC: iiCo S MC: () iiCo S HS: Meyer Sound Leo IEM: Sennheiser HARDWIRED MICS: A, Neumann WIRELESS MICS: A TOM Bryson (me); David Vinnicombe (cc/se); Olly FOH EQUIPMENT: Rupert Neve MONITOR EQUIPMENT: Rupert Neve OTHER Radial J, Headbone VT, PZI, J, Twiby (ae); Juan Villa, Parker Vandenberg igShot, M (tech)

8 BRAD PAISLEY | SOUND Kevin Freeman (be); Mark Gould (me); Bill HC: Midas Heritage MC: Avid Venue -Show HS: JL VT V-II-CS, VT S, Sound Image Powerline Outfills MS: Sound IMAGE Chase (cc/se); Kyle Herbert (tech); Kyle Image MA-, JL VerTec VT, IEM: Shure PSM Westone M Sennheiser IEM Westone M HA: Crown Audio Herbert (tech); Kyle Herbert (tech) I-Tech H MA: Crown Audio I-Tech H HARDWIRED MICS: Shure eta A, SM, eta, SM HS Sennheiser e, Royer R- Audi SC WIRELESS MICS: Shure Aient igital eta FOH EQUIPMENT: ricasti M Yamaha SP, SP, Eventide Eclipse db SL TC Electronic M olby Lake Processor TC Electronic MONITOR EQUIPMENT: Waves V SSL Collection E-Channel, Renaissance Vo, C McSP Channel

9 JEFF LYNNE’S ELO | Gary Bradshaw (he); Steve Lutley (me); Liam HC: iiCo S MC: iiCo S HS: db audiotechnik SL MS: db audiotechnik M IEM: Sennheiser Series HA: db SKAN PA HIRE Tucker (cc/rf); Joachim Dewulf (se/ahe); audiotechnik MA: db audiotechnik HARDWIRED MICS: Sennheiser Shure A WIRELESS MICS: Sennheiser SM FOH Davey Williamson (ae); Onno Ooms, Finlay EQUIPMENT: Ch., Hz Reaper multi-track system Waves MONITOR EQUIPMENT: Ch., Hz Reaper multi-track system Watt (tech)

10 J. COLE | LMG Raymond Rogers (he); Brandon Henderson, HC: SSL Live L MC: SSL Live L HS: L-Acoustics / IEM Shure PSM HA: L-Acoustics Barry Hogan (me); Kevin McKenzie (cc); Bill Price (ae); Stanton Helm (tech)

LEGEND: (he) house engineer. (ahe) ass’t house engineer. (be) band’s house engineer. (me) monitor engineer. (ame) ass’t monitoring engineer. (bme) band’s monitor engineer. (se) systems engineer. (ae) ass’t engineer. (tech) technician. (cc) crew chief. HC house console. MC monitor console. HS house speakers. PMSpersonal monitor systems. MS monitor speakers. HA house amplifiers. MA monitor amplifiers. Top grossing tours according to illboard. Some tours did not report grosses for all shows rankings may be affected as a result. Equipment and crew information are provided by the respective sound reinforcement companies. soundREINFORCEMENT [ 45 ] THE AHA MOMENT Necessity Is the Mother of Invention

BY PETER JANIS mics, so why 48 channels? It dawned recorded London Symphony played on me: direct boxes. over the P.A. One of the questions most often The “Aha Moment” rang as clear This got me thinking about how posed to me over the years is this: as a bell. We were already importing more bands were traveling with back- How do you come up with so many Jensen transformers into Canada and ing tracks to lower costs and miti- product ideas? This question is often using them in our high-end Convert- gate problems associated with com- followed up with statements like, “I ible snakes. Soon after, in 1996, we puter crashes. Everyone recalls the never knew I needed such a product debuted our first Radial direct box, Milli Vanilli fiasco. I figured that if until you showed it to me.” Funny the JDI—and sent the first one to Wigwam was using such a device, so enough, the source of inspiration of- Mario. The first tour to use a JDI would others. By incorporating a sig- ten comes from simply discussing was Bruce Springsteen and our first nal gate into the SW8, a steady-state people who have to deal with the problems and solutions with custom- endorsee was bass player Mark Egan. signal could be used to activate the problems and with the ever-changing ers, or slowing down long enough to landscape of technology, so they are ponder things. a wealth of problem-solving oppor- Back around 1995, I was visiting Probably the best source for product ideas tunities. sound reinforcement company Au- has been the stage techs, not the artists. A side benefit of getting to know dio Analysts (now part of Solotech) the techs is that they migrate from in Colorado Springs, CO, and while one tour to the next and usually touring the facility, I noticed they Another product development auto-switching circuit and seamlessly bring proven solutions with them were building their own direct boxes. milestone was the Radial SW8 auto- jump from one playback system to along the way. This can sometimes I asked then-partner Mario Lecesse switcher for backing tracks. I was vis- another. The SW8 not only gained lead to endorsements—an important about it and he explained that they iting Wigwam, one of Britain’s top traction with concert touring acts like and powerful tool that is essential in liked Jensen transformer-equipped sound reinforcement companies, The Eagles and Madonna, it found creating brand awareness. Although passive direct boxes because they and while looking around the facil- a home on the Super Bowl halftime there were many direct box mak- were quiet. The guys at Audio An- ity, noticed a number of large racks show, American Idol and the Gram- ers before Radial, such as Country- alysts would use leftover pieces of that stood about 5 feet tall. Being in- mys. When I ask sound engineers man and Whirlwind, we aimed to aluminum extrusion and mount the quisitive by nature, I asked what they about the SW8, they usually respond offer the scope or selection to cre- transformers inside with 1/4” jacks were. Wigwam had built a custom with, “That thing saved me.” ate a category. Whirlwind was prob- and XLRs. Mario said they hated to backing track switcher for George Probably the best source for ably the closest before Radial came do it, but they had no other choice. Michael that enabled them to switch product ideas has been the stage along. By constantly pushing qual- At that time, we were building from a live orchestra to tracks, should techs, not the artists. Most artists are ity, we managed to create a strong large, 48-channel snake systems, and the need arise. My understanding was not technically savvy; instead, they following that continues today. one day I asked myself, why so many that they would engage the services rely on their techs to make things Peter Janis, former CEO of Radial Engineer- channels? Looking at a stage, I count- of local orchestras while on tour, and work. As such, going backstage to ing, is a -year veteran of the music in- ed 10 mics on the drums, five on if the orchestra was not up to par, chat with the techs has always been dustry. Eit-Plan, his consulting firm, assists vocals, three on guitars and bass and they would essentially “lip sync” the way more productive than chatting business owners to build their companies four on horns. This added up to 22 performance while having the pre- with the artist. The techs are the and prepare them for eventual sale. Baez Engineer Fares Well on Fare Thee Well Tour NEW YORK, NY—Joan Baez’s Fare Thee dLive fader banks and layers help Well tour is currently crossing the Raboin manage his inputs. He uses United States, with both FOH and the mixer’s internal RackExtra FX re- monitors mixed by engineer Jason verbs and delays for instruments and Raboin of Klondike Sound on an Al- vocals and dLive scenes for specific len & Heath dLive C Class C3500 moves. Raboin records each show surface with CDM48 MixRack. from a dLive Waves card and uses the “I’ve worked for Joan for 15 mixer’s Virtual Sound Check to help years—she’s an amazing performer,” set up for each venue. says Raboin. “I have 24 inputs from The tour carries its own in-ear the stage, with three in-ear mixes and and wedge monitors. Raboin adds, four wedge mixes, plus whatever is “Joan’s in-ear mix is mostly post-fad- required for the house. And ticket de- er, and I split her vocal channel so mand is so high that we’re sometimes the band hears what the audience selling seats behind the stage. That hears. The percussionist does his own results in a lot of zones to manage.” in-ear mix on an iPad with the dLive On two recent dates in France, OneMix app. That’s been great.” Raboin supplied Dante feeds to Raboin notes, “On this tour, we’ll a broadcast truck. He adds, “Also go from an outdoor shed to a sym- there’s a documentary film crew phony hall and the band plays to the that’s following us around. I give venue, so their dynamics can change them eight analog feeds from the a lot from night to night. The dLive MixRack. Having 24 analog outputs has really helped.” plus the AES feed has made this all Allen & Heath possible.” Jason Raboin mixes Joan Baez’ FOH and monitors on an Allen & Heath dLive C3500 surface. www.allen-heath.com

[ October 2018 ] [ 46 ] soundPEOPLE 60SECONDS

Kittle has experience gained both as a product manager and regional Darrell Vasquez sales manager at AKG Acoustics and as the owner of an integration com- Celestion pany. Kittle’s responsibilities will in- clude working with Eastern USA rep Q: What is your new position, and what does it firms, contacting acoustical consul- entail? tants and heading up other specialty A: My new position is business development executive for North America. This involves projects as needed. (l-r): Gabriel Medrano, Markus Jahnel, Marcel seeking new growth opportunities for the Mieger company, in particular the retail distribution channel. Since its founding in 1924, Celes- Adam Hall Group has made a num- tion has become one of the world’s largest ber of additions to its international suppliers of premium professional loudspeaker drivers, but what is perhaps less well-known is how wide a range of pro audio speakers the company of- sales team. Markus Jahnel, COO fers for sound reinforcement applications. The greater challenge for me is to and managing director, will assume grow this side of the retail business. responsibility for Adam Hall Group’s global business development. Mean- Q: How has your background prepared you for your new role? A: while, Marcel Mieger has been For the past 20 years I’ve worked in both the professional and consumer audio industries, which has given me a broader perspective about how they named sales director, Europe. A function independently and also how both worlds can overlap. I have unique member of the Adam Hall Family for Peter James Abby Kaplan experience because of my involvement in both the technical side—beta-test- 16 years, he will now look after the ing products and working directly with engineers—and the sales and market- firm’s European sales network. ing side, with event planning, networking and creating sales initiatives. With Elsewhere, Gabriel Medrano an education in recording engineering from the Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences in Arizona and through involvement in various aspects of has been named COO of the newly music production, I have learned a lot about how to listen to speakers and formed New Jersey-based Adam Hall am able to describe sounds to technical and non-technical groups. My time North America, another subsidiary in retail has given me great insight into how this sales channel works, as well and local business unit of the Adam as what customers expect from their products. Hall Group. Together with Steven Q: What are your short- and long-term goals? Savvides, president of Adam Hall A: It’s essential for us to always stay on top of industry trends by listening North America, Medrano is responsi- to feedback from our partners and consumers. The expansion into digital ble for the development of the entire José Rivas Jim Schanz downloads is a perfect example of this; we’re keeping an eye on the future business in North America. Shure has promoted four key sales and the way our customers work. That said, Celestion will always remember executives. Peter James has been its roots and will continue to offer the classic speakers that our customers expect; there will always be great guitar tone and classic guitar speakers. Just named vice president of global sales, as important to me, though, is to establish the Celestion brand and reputa- RTW has ap- pro audio; Abby Kaplan has been tion—within distribution channels—as a pro audio speaker supplier, ensuring pointed Thomas named vice president of global sales, we’ll continue to offer retailers innovative loudspeaker transducers for sound Valter, formerly retail; José Rivas has been named reinforcement, all with Celestion’s rock-solid reliability. of TC Electronic, vice president of global sales, emerg- Q: What is the greatest challenge you face? ing markets; and Jim Schanz has as the company’s A: As the Celestion brand is very well established, some customers may feel new director of been named vice president of global they already have an idea of what to expect from our products, predomi- product manage- sales, integrated systems. nantly the MI products, and are content with what the company has to of- ment and mar- James has spent 20 of his 30 years fer. But Celestion is incredibly innovative and will continue to develop new keting. Valter in the audio industry at Shure. He products, particularly in the professional audio sphere, delivering the same high quality and reliability we’re already well known for. Raising awareness has been managing director of Shure Thomas Valter served as vice of the latest innovations, while still respecting the fact that customers are president of busi- Distribution UK since 2009, and happy with classic Celestion guitar products, requires a balanced approach to ness management for the broadcast since 2015 has chaired the Global spreading the word. and production division of TC Elec- Integrated Systems Board. Kaplan tronic, and prior positions included has been with Shure since 1998 in international public relations man- various sales positions. Before Shure, corporate, dealer at JVCKenwood. Ruppert was em- ager and product manager; product she worked for two pro audio compa- and distributor ployed at JVCKenwood for over 12 manager for studio and post-pro- nies and has a long history of work- sectors for A/V, years and directly managed JVC Pro- duction; and later business manager ing with big box and independent video and dis- fessional’s key dealer accounts and for HD and computer recording, for brick-and-mortar resellers as well as play sales vertical distributors. which he defined and drove product e-commerce customers. Rivas has markets through- maps. previously served as sales and mar- out his career in Community Pro- keting director for the international the professional fessional Loud- One Systems Americas business unit and sales di- electronics indus- speakers has has announced rector of the Americas business unit, Lon Mass try. His former named Franc- the restructur- leading the Latin America go-to-mar- sales and man- esca Lynch to ing of its sales ket organization. Schanz joined Shure agement posi- the position of department and in 1998, serving in a number of sales tions have been marketing associ- the hire of Doug roles, leading to 2011, when he took with Sony Broad- ate. Prior to her Kittle as sales over leadership of Shure’s market de- cast and Profes- role at Commu- manager, Eastern velopment function. sional Products Francesca Lynch nity, Lynch was a USA. Mike Tor- Company, NEC content marketing specialist, using her Doug Kittle lone, director of Roland Professional A/V has named Display Solutions skills in advertising, integrated market- special projects Lon Mass as director of pro A/V, and most re- ing, event planning, public relations and training, is assuming the role of and Alan Ruppert as national sales Alan Ruppert cently JVC Pro- and social media management for sales manager, Western USA, and manager of pro A/V. Both Mass and fessional Video. eight years in the food and beverages Garry Templin has accepted the po- Ruppert will be based in New York. Ruppert has worked in the profes- industry. Her academic achievements sition of director of sales, worldwide. Mass is an experienced sales, mar- sional video industry for nearly 27 include a bachelor’s degree in business Jennifer Barnes is now director of keting and executive manager and years. His most recent position was from Stockton University and an MBA finance and administration. has been involved in the broadcast, the director of sales for key accounts from Georgian Court University.

[ October 2018 ] viewfromtheTOP [ 47 ]

“What that basically comes down to First Worldwide, Now Stateside is, near-instant response. In Europe, there’s a different type of business culture. People work at a slower, JIM DUGAN, PRESIDENT, WISYCOM USA calmer pace. They clock out at clos- ing time and don’t think about work BY CLIVE YOUNG again until the next morning—but Jim Dugan, President, Wisycom USA in the U.S., business rarely halts. I Every musician dreams of think that’s something to which many capturing the attention of European manufacturers have had to begin to subscribe. There’s a won- a top executive who in turn derful level of cooperation and un- gives them the chance to take derstanding from the Wisycom home team that in the U.S., response time their career to the next level. is crucial.” That’s what happened to Jim There are also a lot of customers here to respond to, as Wisycom USA Dugan—except that it hap- serves primarily three markets, the pened decades after his musi- biggest of which is location sound— cal career ended; instead, it appropriate since many of the com- pany’s new and legacy products are was his wireless gear design focused on audio mixers and opera- work that caught the eye of tors. “Location sound experts have a unique culture about them, and I Massimo Polo, owner of Italy- have been able to form deeper re- based Wisycom, and that lationships with them through our platforms,” said Dugan. “Our users eventually led to the creation are very loyal and excited about our of Wisycom USA. products. Many of the first adopt- ers of the product here in the States “Like many, I started out as a mu- consider themselves brand ambas- sician, which led to mixing bands at a launch Wisycom USA.” that are pro audio, still others that are sadors, helping to promote Wisycom small recording studio that I opened,” Creating that business presence live production and so forth,” he said. to colleagues. We often turn to that recalled Dugan. Burnt out after a de- required more than merely bring- “Jetwave serves as the broadcast deal- collective to help with beta testing cade, he closed the facility and took a ing Wisycom’s wares to the attention er, with our primary focus going to new products.” job with Systems Wireless, where he of potential U.S. customers; it also the major studios. To certify that ev- The other main markets are began learning the wireless business. had to do with the interpersonal side ery dealer has quick and easy access broadcast—for which Dugan often That led to a freelance role building of business. “The company needed to the gear, we keep a certain level of draws on his Golf Channel truck and operating trucks and widespread U.S. exposure, and someone suited stock at Wisycom USA. As categories background—and an emerging pres- wireless networks for Total RF Solu- to American culture, who knew the scale up or down, we reconfigure our ence in touring sound. “Over the past tions, usually for its client the Golf technology and could build relation- supply to meet the needs.” six months, Wisycom has gone on Channel. ships with regional customers and Dugan’s main focus at Wisycom tour with Beyoncé, Taylor Swift and Returning to Systems Wireless, dealers,” said Dugan. “Massimo USA, however, is sales/marketing Stevie Wonder, as well as with several which had been acquired by Bexel in didn’t just want an American em- and education. To support that ef- ’80s hair bands like Whitesnake,” said the intervening years, he developed ployee—he wanted a business partner fort, the company recently expanded Dugan. “Wisycom’s IEM product is more wireless products. “While at who was equally invested in the suc- its office to add a production studio, truly better than anything else on the Bexel, I designed my own gear, such cess of the company.” used to create training-style videos planet. Its sound, wideband, radios, as the distributive antenna system that That resulted in the founding of for YouTube that are each under two range…everything is better. Noth- we set up for major awards shows,” Wisycom USA earlier this year. Du- minutes. Dugan hopes to leverage ing comes close to Wisycom’s sound said Dugan. “This technology caught gan now serves as president of both the videos to provide instant prod- and quality. Live sound engineers the attention of Massimo. It was a very companies. Some employees are in- uct details to prospective clients, and and musicians are beginning to take high-level fiber networking system, volved with both entities, but sev- likewise give current users reference note.” and he was doing similar work and eral are dedicated solely to Wisycom information about best practices, al- With all that going on, it’s safe exploring services in that realm.” USA. Geoff Baynard, who provides ternative uses and more. The objec- to say that Wisycom USA has a lot Dugan ultimately decided to 24/7 service and support for all Wi- tive of the videos is to reach not only of irons in the fire, and Dugan and launch his own business, Jetwave sycom users, while Patrick “Paddy” American users but people across the his team continue to raise brand Wireless, and soon established a part- Steading was recently added to the globe, underlining the fact that Wisy- awareness in the States, spending nership with Wisycom. “Collaborat- team to head up national sales for com is everywhere. time with dealers to go over products ing and sharing ideas, we worked to- the company. TJ Miesen is based in While all product research, devel- and technology with them, produc- gether to design a lot of Wisycom’s Los Angeles and provides tech sup- opment and manufacturing for Wisy- ing YouTube videos and more. Look- current antenna products,” said Du- port and business development on com USA takes place in Italy, becom- ing ahead, Dugan is exploring having gan. In 2014, they officially teamed the West Coast, while the East Coast ing a major force in the U.S. wireless a presence at NAMM 2019, which up to build Wisycom’s brand in the sales team comprises Ian McKelty market is an important focus for the would allow the company to reach United States. “While I was cultivat- and Josh Flower, who both focus Italian company. Dugan often trav- attendees from around the world— ing my relationship with Wisycom, I on Jetwave sales at large but have “a els to Wisycom to advise on features something that would be pretty ap- was also launching Jetwave Wireless keen understanding of Wisycom-re- intended for the American market, propriate for the brand. “Wisycom is with practically zero resources. Today, lated projects.” but the growing influence of the U.S. worldwide,” said Dugan. “The U.S. we’ve grown to nearly 20 full-time Among many other responsibili- on the company runs deeper than a was the last frontier. [Creating Wi- employees and Massimo has watched ties, Dugan oversees relationships feature set. sycom USA] enables the brand to our evolution. It was through Jetwave with Wisycom’s local dealer network, “With the advent of the American connect with customers throughout that we were able to establish a busi- a group that he is selective about. office, the culture of Wisycom overall the Americas, from Canada to Chile.” ness presence for Wisycom and be- “Among the dealers, we have some has changed to meet the demands Wisycom USA gin to build a structure by which to that are systems integrators, others of this new territory,” said Dugan. www.wisycomusa.com

[ October 2018 ] [ 48 ] soundBUSINESS

SOTI: Sound be the main motor behind the profes- selves this year—staging, lighting sional loudspeaker market in coming and audio provider VER merged with advertiserINDEX years. Currently valued at $2.6 bil- competitor PRG in April, with the Reinforcement lion worldwide, it is on track to reach former entering bankruptcy proceed- ADVERTISER PAGE (continued from page 1) $3.6 billion by 2021, and the report ings, which it exited this month. (See notes, “Installed leisure and installed story on page 5.) Overseas, UK live Acoustics First 8 nity, as consumers continue to shell commercial verticals lead the way for sound powerhouse SSE Audio Group out for concert tours and goods in market development, continuing to acquired London-based SR provider Allen & Heath 52 retail settings. Pollstar reported in July post healthy growth out to 2021 and Capital Sound Hire, a move that fol- that at the 2018 mid-year point, the beyond. Although the installed leisure lowed a strategic partnership between total gross of the Top 100 tours in segment provides higher-value proj- the companies that began early in the Audix USA 13 North America this year hit a record ects, the number of opportunities in year. On our shores, Ultrasound— $164.53 million and is on track to the installed commercial segment is far longtime audio provider to the Grate- end the year breaking records again. greater.” It also posits that the Ameri- ful Dead, Dave Matthews Band and B & H 41 The average ticket price saw a 14.1 cas will be the largest market for loud- others—was acquired in June by Der- percent increase—nearly $12—to speakers throughout that time frame. ek Featherstone (then the company’s an eye-watering $96.31 in the mid- As the public’s expectations for vice president of tour & rental, now BOSE 2 year survey, causing the average show quality sound reinforcement rise, pro COO) and former VER Tour Sound gross of the top 100 tours to hit audio manufacturers are answering executive Ralph Mastrangelo. $742,500. the call at all levels, with dozens of Acquisitions on the manufactur- David Clark Company 17 The public’s current sense of pros- installation loudspeakers released in ing side have been just as common perity is also aiding the AV installa- the last few years, as well as multiple this year, as Radial Engineering was

tion sector as brick-and-mortar stores new flagship digital audio consoles, sold to Ultimate Support Systems; Full Compass 1,21 and malls retrench against the grow- and the emergence of increasingly Blue Microphones was purchased by ing presence of internet retail by ren- sophisticated audio networking of- Logitech; and Loud Audio sold off ovating and creating shopping “ex- ferings from across the industry, to three major brands, with EAW going Focusrite 29 periences” to keep consumers away name only a few examples. The eco- to RCF Group, Ampeg moving to Ya- from their screens and in shops. With nomic forces at play were underlined maha and Martin Audio undergoing consumers increasingly used to qual- by the Winter NAMM show’s mas- a management buyout. Genelec 4 ity sound found in home and personal sive expansion in January of this year, And the year’s not over yet. With electronics, retail spaces are upping when it debuted a new two-floor pro a roaring economy currently in play their game and will be for the foresee- audio wing that leaned more toward and consumer confidence still bol- KEF America 19 able future. As a result, according to live sound than studio gear. stering it for the moment, who knows a market report from Futuresource Money has also been changing what may happen before the end of Consulting, installation is expected to hands for audio companies them- 2018? Neutrik USA 43

Recording Academy 9 ket, but Oakland’s 25th Street Stu- mixing service, something more af- SOTI: Recording dios has few complaints. By focus- fordable for demos and smaller proj- (continued from page 1) ing on artists in the community, not ects,” she says. A couple of local col- Renkus-Heinz 42 just larger-label acts, “my calendar leges hold classes at CRC, and the has been booked seven days a week, Fox TV drama Empire comes by oc- to songwriter/producer Gregg Wat- all day and night, for three or four casionally: “They shoot here a couple Riedel Communications 15 tenberg of Wind-Up Records fame, years,” according to general manager of times a year,” she reports. boasts a client list of chart-toppers John Schimpf. Most artists see 25th Street’s from Beyoncé and Bieber to, well, The inundation of the Bay Area equipment and are impressed, and Shure 7 think of a popular artist. by technology companies has caused understand they are being well taken Premier’s rebirth is partly due to property values to skyrocket, forcing care of, he says, but it’s not a deal- the industry’s recent turnaround, but artists to flee, says Schimpf, who has maker. “They just want to get rolling Sweetwater Music also the loss of the city’s facilities, seen neighborhood art galleries close and get their music down, so it’s our largely to property developers. “Now and musician friends decamp for job to work quickly,” says Schimpf. Instruments & Pro Audio 10-11 that there aren’t many options for Los Angeles. “But the mayor [Libby Premier’s two large-format mixing places where people can work, we’re a Schaaf] was by our studio recently; consoles have seen plenty of action lot busier,” he says. she has hired someone specifically to over the years. “We’re considering Whirlwind 37 In the Midwest, Sarah Hamilton, make sure that artists can survive in getting rid of one of our SSL 9000 J music studio manager at Chicago Re- Oakland,” he reports. consoles,” Swan says. “It’s so old and cording Company (CRC), reports One way to boost studio reve- in such poor shape that it’s costing Yamaha Commercial Audio 3 consistent business over the past de- nues is to diversify. At Premier, says a lot to keep it going. We’re thinking cade, buoyed every summer by ma- Swan, he offers one-on-one work- about replacing it with a new SSL jor-label acts booking time while in shop sessions with working engi- Duality, or maybe a Neve Genesys, Yorkville 51 town for the Lollapalooza and Pitch- neers, producers and mixers. “We’re which is a great-sounding small-for- fork festivals. That said, the number not trying to be a school,” he stress- mat console.” Pro Sound News (ISSN# 0164-6338) is published monthly of album projects has increased, she es. “We’re giving people an oppor- Then there’s the never-ending cy- by Future US, Inc., 28 E 28th Street - 12th Fl, New York, NY 10016. Pro Sound News is available without charge in the says. “I’ve seen an uptick. We just tunity to do Q&A sessions at their cle of maintenance and upgrades that USA to qualified professionals engaged in sound recording, broadcast, video recording, audio-visual, sound reinforce- worked with the Chicago Symphony convenience,” typically in the morn- any studio faces. ment and associated business. The publisher reserves the right to refuse applications and restrict free copies sent to Orchestra, which put out three new ing hours before the studio’s clients “We’re always upgrading the a company or organization. For subscription information or albums and was here for a couple of start to roll in. rooms to the newest versions of ev- to email customer service, please visit our online Subscribe Center at www.MyPSNmag.com. Reprints available upon weeks. And we have a client, Chance CRC, founded in 1975, also has erything,” says Hamilton. “There’s request, call our Reprint Coordinator at Wright’s Reprints: 877-652-5295. Periodical postage paid at New York, NY the Rapper, who does all his albums a significant audio post-production always stuff coming out that we’re and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address out of here.” division, notes Hamilton, who is pon- trying to keep up with—but that’s changes to: Pro Sound News, P.O. Box 234, Lowell, MA 01853. Please allow 6-8 weeks for address changes to The Bay Area, in contrast, has dering a move into VR work. “And part of the fun, getting to play with take effect. © Copyright 2018 by Future US, Inc. PRINTED IN U.S.A. long been a secondary music mar- we’re looking into creating an online all the new audio toys.”

[ October 2018 ]

[ 50 ] MUSICetc. Renaissance Man BY JACQUES SONYIEUX While perhaps not a household name, Chuck Leavell’s perfor- mances are deeply woven into the musical fabric of our times. His piano and keyboard work with the Allman Brothers Band, Eric Clapton and the Rolling Stones, for whom he has also been the de facto musical director since 1982, has earned admiration from his musical peers as well as appreciative audiences around the world. His longstanding career began at the age of 13, when he experienced a concert by Ray Charles that would change him forever. His latest album, Chuck Gets Big (With the Frankfurt Radio Big Band), sees him re-creating some of the big band magic that inspired him all those years ago. Pro Sound News spoke to Chuck about what it was like to capture a performance in a German castle alongside 17 other stellar musicians. Chuck Leavell’s latest album is Chuck Gets Big (With the Frankfurt Radio Big Band).

ON JUGGLING PROJECTS the files and they were so great that band was so strong and all the play- cord Modern Sounds in Country and I have always found it fascinating that I said, “Let’s see if we can take the ers were so good. My first thought Western Music in our house, and I there is an art to time management. audience out of this. I think I would was, “Whoa, Chucky, you’ve got to had listened to it and really liked it. If you are careful and sensible, you prefer this to sound like a studio re- up your ante, you’ve got to get in this But from that moment on, Ray was can arrange time to do many differ- cord.” We did—and it worked. It took game!” It did inspire me to stay on my man. I began studying everything ent t hings, and that’s what I try to do a couple of weeks to get everything my toes and not fool around. I had to I could about him. His playing was to keep all my projects going. This mixed, but it all worked like a charm. do them proud, so to speak. It was a superb, the voicings he used on the project started seven years ago: I was I proposed the project to my label bit of a jolt once I was hearing those piano—everything was just so inspi- invited to play with the Frankfurt Ra- and they jumped right on it. charts and being in the middle of rational to me. The track on my re- dio Big Band in the Frankfurt area everyone playing that music. It was cord, “Georgia on My Mind,” was my of Germany for a special concert. I ON STEPPING UP HIS GAME just so powerful and I knew it was the small way of thanking Ray for giving accepted the invitation and chose to There were really no tricks on the opportunity of a lifetime. us all that music. play a dozen songs. When I arrived recording; it was just an incredible in Frankfurt, the band had one re- night, an incredible moment for me ON GERMAN HOSPITALITY ON GETTING THE CALL hearsal without me, one with me, and to be playing with those guys. I can During the concert itself, we had a It blows my mind when I get calls then the next day was the concert. A tell you this: When I walked into that really wonderful audience. The set- from people inviting me on their while after the performance, my engi- rehearsal that first day, the day before ting was incredible; it was in this tours. I still have the cassette from neer, Gerry Hansen, and I examined the concert, my mind was blown. The castle owned by an ancient German the answering machine where Eric family. They were gracious enough Clapton called me and he said, to let us use the facility for the per- “Hey, this is Eric Clapton, calling formance and we had a really good from Hong Kong, wanting to know if sound system. I think there were Chuck might be interested in playing I’m an probably about 600 people there, and some shows at the Royal Albert Hall.” I had this fantastic German Steinway Man, I just about fell over; I couldn’t AES piano that was a joy to put my hands make that return call fast enough. JUSTIN CHERVONY on. It was just like all the stars lined David [Gilmour], that was another member. Educator, Musician, Engineer, Artist up that night, and that’s the way to one that happened out of the blue. Are you? AES Educational Foundation Award Recipient work. I played once with him in 1984 and many years went by. I think I saw him ON RAY CHARLES a few years later socially, but that was When I was about 13, my sister had it. Well, one day my wife was checking a date to go see Ray Charles in Tus- the guest book of my website and told caloosa [Alabama], where we grew me, “There’s a guy here who says he’s up. My parents had something go- David Gilmour.” So I had a look, and ing on that night and they didn’t just the message said, “Hey Chuck, David want to leave me alone, so they sug- Gilmour here. Honest!” And he left a gested to my sister that she let me contact number. I thought, “Well, it tag along. And I was already playing might be a joke, but why not follow music, but I had never seen anything up?” Sure enough, it was him and he so powerful as that in all my life—it told me, “Man, I’ve been thinking just blew my mind. The band was about you; I want to change my band amazing. You had Billy Preston play- up some and if you are interested, ing a Hammond B3, and Ray gave come on!” So we did and I went on him a special part in the show where his tour! he sang a song and was featured. Of Jacques Sonyieux is a devout explorer of Join me course, you also had the Raelettes recording studios and the artists who oc- and Ray himself. The voice, the play- casionally inhabit them. Please send any ing—I get chills just thinking about tips or feedback to Jacques at jacquesso- it. We already had the wonderful re- [email protected]. www.aes.org/join [ October 2018 ]

9000