'November 1991 Recording Engineering Production $4.00 ;eir'rr _ :L i . L;<Fc - _ ,.. `.- AN INTENT-LT PUBLJCATION i. - crown mRCro -TECH zapo With the first high quality, high things. But encompassing all of Proof of Crown's guaranteed powered, solid state amplifier them is our commitment to excel- excellence is our unprecedented manufactured by Crown in 1967, lence... guaranteed excellence. 3 +3 No -Fault Extended Warranty... we began setting industry stan- It's found in the engineering details up to six years of transferable dards. Today, with a complete that go into every Crown amplifier protection for all Crown amplifiers. line of amplifiers, Crown is one of from Power Base to our acclaimed To experience Crown's tradition the most recognized names in Macro series. It's found in strin- in our full line of high quality ampli- sound amplification in the world. gent manufacturing, precision fiers, call us at 1- 800 -535 -6289. Our success can be attributed assembly and a level of support to many people and to many unmatched in the industry. ; 11 A R. A NTFFI7 FXC'FI_LF NC'F crown® Made in America Exported as Amcron P.O. Box 1000 Elkhart. Indiana 46515 -1000 Circle (1) on Rapid Facts Card British studio performance at a revolutionary American price! MEGAS Studio is the first 24 buss 40 input configurations with or The MEGAS Studio can accom- recording console to combine world without patchhay. modate a combination of mono or class British sound with a wealth of An ideal choice for today's input - stereo input modules and comes smart, practical features for today's intensive recording, the Studio has with full metering as a standard recording situations priced from an on hoard MIDI computer which feature. $17,100, can he interfaced with a sequencer MEGAS Studio. Superior sound Featuring a highly fexible split to provide automated MIDI muting. and performance at a price that'll console design, the Studio can he It also comes with an exceptionally revolutionize the way you think specified in 16 or 24 discrete buss smooth, transparent 4 -hand EQ for about British consoles. formats and is available in 24 to optimized sonic performance. MEGAS SOUNDTRACS , S U I Souudtracs distributed exclusively in the United States by: Samson Technologies Corp., P.O. Box 9068, T D O Ilicóssille, NY 11802.906P TEL (516) 932-3810 FAX (516) 9323815 Circle (3) on Rapid Fac:s Card 'Suggested retail price fin. the M.klel 2 -ií2-i Megas S1udi.) console. Other prices will vary somewhat based on specific conhgurat at and features <; 1991 SAMSON Volume 22. No 11 November 1991 14.4?) P1494(Z-42,1,. The REP Interview: Keith Cohen 26 Producer/engineer Keith Cohen on remixing pop and dance platinum. By: Brad Leigh Benjamin Balancing the World 32 Adding Analog Device's 2141 and 2142 chip set to unbalanced audio equipment. By: John La Grou Power Station 36 Covering audio for video and film. By: Mary C. Gruszka Designing the MTSU Media Complex 38 14 Providing state -of- the -art production facilities for the innovative recording industry program at Middle Tennessee State University. By: Richard Zweibel GTN: A Full -Scale Production Facility 44 Designing from the ground up: digital workstation networks, analog tape capabilities and isolation- intensive acoustic design. By: Gary Pillon Hands On: Meyer Sound Laboratories HD -1 By: Mike Joseph 56 Sowc.á Re-44outf+444 Live & Direct 48 Touring sound technology in permanent installations. By: David Scheirman Upscale Festival Sound Reinforcement 49 with high 32 A case study in landing, and keeping, long -term contracts class regional jazz, folk and classical festivals. By: Bruce Borgerson Roadwork By: Mark Herman 54 All Access By: Mark Herman 55 Delswti7+,444i From the Top 5 Letters 6 Random Access 8 Fresh Tracks 14 Sound Business 22 Digital Domain 24 First Look 63 Cutting Edge 64 Classified 66 Advertisers Index 72 Rapid Facts Card 73 Subscriber Card 75 On the Cover: The radical Studio One, The Strongroom, London, featuring a V3 with flying faders. 44 Neve 48- channel Series console REP- Recording EngineeringProductIon (ISSN 0034.1673) is published monthly by Intertec Publishing Corporation. 9221 Quivira. Overland Park. KS 66215. Subscriptions rates are $26 to qualfied readers. $311 to non- qualified readers per year in the United Slates. $50 for qualified and $6f) for non -qualified per year outside the United Slates. Optional airmail for non -qualified reader. outside the United States is also available for an additional $55 per year. Foreign subscriptions are payable in U.S. funds only by bank check or money order. Adjustments necessitated by sub.xription termination at single copy rate. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to REP: Recording EngineertngProduction PO. Box 12960. Overland Park. KS 66282. Second-class postage paid at Shawnee Mission, KS 66202 and additional mailing offices. Pho:ucnpy rights: Permission to photocopy for internal or personal use is granted by Intertec Publishing Corporation for libraries and others registered with Copyright Clearance Center (CCC). provided the bas.- lee of $2.00 per copy of article is paid directly to CCC, 21 Congress St.. Salem. MA (11970. Special requests should be addressed to Cameron Bishop. group vice president. Interim Publishing Corporation. ISSN íM134 -167:1 64.181 + $0.00 1991 by Intertec Publishing. All rights reserved. 2 R E P November 1991 We'd been working hard in the studio Spending years on end cooped up in small, dark rooms with a bunch of engineers takes certain special qualities. Durability, for one. We've always been known for that. Of course, clear, uncolored sound quality doesn't hurt, either. Or hand -assembled components, with gap precision to plus or minus one -millionth of an inch. These features got TAD speakers into studios like Record Plant, NOMIS and Masterfonics. And the same features are now getting us out of them. See, we had this funny idea that if TAD could make music sound terrific in a small room, we could make music sound terrific in a huge arena. And every outing we've had with Maryland Sound has proved us right. Not that we won't still work our woofers off in studios from L.A. to London all day. But, at night, we'd like to get out and 1 Technical r . J Audio Devices jam more often. (vi Pioneer Professional l'rurlu3 1s 11i% iviun C 1491 Pioneer Het fromr. (USAI Inc, 2265 E. 220th Street. Long Beath. CA 908'0.1213) 816 0415, Fax (21 3) 816 -5941 Circle (4) on Rapid Facts Card NEW MO SERIES. MASTER QUALITY DIC///DAT' FOR THE ULTIMATE QUALITY MASTER. DIC // /DAT introduces its new MO Series DAT tape. Master OLality media crafted with second -generation technical improvements based on extensive R &D and feedback from audio pros in the field. The one DIC ///DAT perfected for professional use. NEW MO "Formulation Finish" reduces friction and pro- NEW MO dust -busting cassette design virtually eliminates vides more efficient tape -to -head contact for superb recording errors and tape jamming due to environmental performance even in the face of high search and rewind contamination. speeds NEW MO unique window calibrations for easier reading NEW IV Q proprietary DIC MicroFinity netal particle and more accurate time judgment. technology creates a consistently high quality magnetic NEW MO extra -strong DIC // /DAT cassette shell -nade in medium for uncompromising professional DAT recording. the U.S., with new window ribs for increased stability, 100% NEW MO exclus ve DIC // /DAT tape lengths include an anti- static plastic, and the industry's only fiber -filled slider extra two minutes for tone recording, test signals and p-e- for structural integrity, stands up to the most rigorous roll identification -as well as the industry's only 15 -30 studio use. minute DAT cassettes for small programs, demos and test tapes. TM /YLI/L IN ERIES TAKING MUSIC TO THE Nth DEGREE. 222 Bridge Plaza South, Fot Lee, NI 07024 I /800- DAT -I -DIC lin NI, 201/224 -93441 L7fI 0/C Li/pfd/ Circle (S) on Rapid Facts Card Dk' 111611A1 .11TOY CORPL@ATION. IAi r ii ii i Recorc ing Engineering Production I TM cation is a standard to work toward, so too EDITOR How Much Detail Is might we all argue that too much technical at- Mike Joseph tentiveness takes a certain element of artistic SENIOR ASSOCIATE EDITOR interpretation out of the act of creating and cap- Sue Edwards Too Much? turing music. GRAPHIC DESIGNER Let me share an interesting anecdote having Liz Veternick to do with acoustics and speakers. At the AES EDITORIAL ASSISTANT show last month, I was handed a Roland RSS Joe Ramsey demonstration CD, my first "carry-it- away -for- DIRECTORY EDITOR later- listening" example of modern -day, stereo- Pat Blanton None of us wants to be caught turning out encoded spatial environment material that real- GROUP MANAGING EDITOR product that sounds "dirty;' or "distorted' or ly, truly, amazingly shows off the technology Tom Cook "muddy." And if it sounded great when we (and boy, does it work!). At shows, Roland CONSULTING EDITORS mixed it? Then there must be something go- demonstrates the process, which relies on sub- John Monforte, Technical Consultant ing on that we didn't catch, or didn't under- tle phase and signal time manipulation, on Mey- David Scheirman, Live Performance stand, or didn't hear. Was it the monitoring? er HD -Is, taking advantage of their wide polar Laurel Cash- Jones, Editorial Consultant Today's monitoring environments need to do pattern and uniform phase response. Playing Sarah Coleman, Washington Correspondent more than "cheat" the acoustics through the the disc at different manufacturers' booths and Dan Levitin, Music Production Editor listening on various monitors, it was quite Rick Schwartz, Contributing Editor trick of optimizing direct -to- reflected path Mark Herman, Contributing Editor lengths (what we do when we stick monitors amazing to note that the spatial effect varied Dan Torchia, Contributing Editor in our face, far away from the nearest large from non -existent to intense.