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9000
 Peter Smith Trio Goes Atmos ★ Designing a New Speaker ★ Sound for ‘Severance’ ★ Anderton on Destruction

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MUSIC PRODUCTION • LIVE SOUND • SOUND FOR PICTURE

REVIEWED
• Crane Song Interstellar
• UAD Spark
• Flare Calmer
Earplugs

CLASS OF
18 TOP STUDIOS FROM THE WORLD’S TOP STUDIO DESIGNERS
2022
 FEATURES

06.22
Contents Volume 46, Number 6 26 Class of 2022: 18
of the Year’s Top
New Studios
BY MIX STAFF /
BARBARA SCHULTZ

36 A Chat With
Studio Designer
Russ Berger
BY BARBARA SCHULTZ

38 Tension in the
Track: The
Quiet Sound of
‘Severance’
BY TOM KENNY

40 Designing a New
Loudspeaker:
Lots More Power,

18 Much Less Weight

BY TOM KENNY

DEPARTMENTS TECHNOLOGY LIVE SOUND PRESENTED BY

8 From the Editor: They’re 42 New Products: Studio 18 Umphrey’s McGee Rocks Reykjavik
Baaaaaaaaaack! and Live Sound BY CLIVE YOUNG
10 Innovations: oeksound 44 Review: Crane Song 22 Air: Experiential Audio 91 Floors Above NYC
Soothe Live Plug-In Interstellar Quantum BY CLIVE YOUNG
BY VEERA VALLINKOSKI A/D Converter 24 News & Notes: Baptist Church Audio Update;
11 Current: Whitney’s Home BY BARRY RUDOLPH
Miami’s Ultra Music Festival Returns
Studio Hits Market
50 Open Channel: In
Praise of Things That
Destroy Music
BY CRAIG ANDERTON

MUSIC
12 Peter Smith Jazz Trio: 46 Review: Universal
Capturing Intimate
Audio Spark With
Sound for Atmos
Native UAD Plug-ins
BY STEVE HARVEY

24
BY MIKE LEVINE
16 Matt Wallace Goes 48 Mini-Reviews: Flare
Immersive at
Calmer Earplugs;
Studio Delux
SSL The Bus+
BY STEVE HARVEY
Mix, Volume 46, Number 6 (ISSN 0164-9957) is published monthly by Future US, Inc., 130 West 42nd Street, 7th Floor,
On the Cover: Musician/songwriter Matt Boggs called on Russ Berger, founder of Russ New York, NY 10036. Periodical Postage Paid at New York, NY, and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send
address changes to Mix, PO Box 8518, Lowell, MA 01853. One-year (12 issues) subscription is $35. Canada is $40.
Berger Design Group, to design a flexible, inspiring and acoustically true studio space off of All other international is $50. Printed in the USA. Canadian Post Publications Mail agreement No. 40612608. Canada
his new Parker, Texas home. Photo: Erick Anderson. return address: BleuChip International, P.O. Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2.

4 M I X | J U N E 2 0 2 2 | mi x o n l i n e.co m
 MIX SMARTBRIEF Vol. 46 Number 6 June 2022

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Current
From the Editor
They’re Baaaaaaack!
Late on the Tuesday afternoon in mid-May that I planned to write this note,
I had every intention of saying something about studio design. We, meaning
my co-editor Clive Young and I, were in the final two days of shipping the June
issue, proofreading pages and sending in last-minute copy and photographs to
the art directors, Will Shum in England and Lisa McIntosh in Virginia.
As is my pattern, I save the Editor’s Note to the end, even though I’ve been
thinking about it for weeks, tossing ideas around to myself and coming up with
a statement, or at least something to say. My mother, a writer, accountant, expert
knitter, world traveler and so much more, whose motto is “Never open your
mail twice,” says that she can’t believe she raised a procrastinator, especially one
who’s a journalist. I say, “Mom, I’m a journalist with a monthly deadline. I’m still
gathering information. I’ve been writing it in my head for weeks. I’m already
halfway done.” She doesn’t buy it.
So, anyway… I’m about to sit down to write the note. It’s Mix June, our annual
studio design issue, and I figure that I have a few good points to make. Studio
designers, acousticians and integrators have been busy, busy, busy these past two
years, many of them seeing a significant boost in business during the pandemic.
Meanwhile, what had seemed to be a slow and cautious introduction of
Dolby Atmos Music and Apple Spatial had been picking up steam throughout
2021 and into 2022, and everywhere you turned, a top producer or engineer was
buying more speakers and modifying their room acoustics, figuring out a new
way to create and listen to music while keeping one foot in the left-right world.
Isn’t that what studio design is all about?
Plus, June includes our annual Vanity Fair–style, photo-based feature, “Class of
2022,” showcasing the top studios of the year from some of the world’s top studio
designers. Longtime Mix editor and contributor Barbara Schultz lovingly puts
together all the elements each year, and on page 26, she writes, “This year’s ‘Class’
of new or redesigned studios includes everything from beautifully realized personal
studios (like the one on the cover) to audio education institutions, sound-for-picture
facilities, commercial complexes and mastering rooms.” Everybody is building!
Plus, we have an interview with the legendary Russ Berger, who designed
Rambling Rose, the studio on this month’s cover. There is a rich recording
history in Russ’ studio design work, going back 40 years or so. When we selected
the cover shot from the 18 amazing facilities in this year’s Class, it felt a bit like
watching Phil Mickelson strolling up to the 18th green for last year’s comeback
win at the PGA Championship.
Plus, I planned to talk about a new blog we will be introducing June 1 with
studio designer Bruce Black. Plus…
Then, at about 2 in the afternoon, I got an email from Apogee inviting me
8 M I X | J U N E 2 0 2 2 | mi x o n l i n e.co m
to a Friday morning press conference at NAMM, where they’d be launching a
product or two. I quickly RSVP’d and quickly clicked back to work, thinking,
“Excellent. My first appointment to pencil in. And Apogee is always fun. Betty
and Bob will probably be there.”
A few minutes later, something flared up in my head and I thought, “Wait, what
was the…?” I clicked back on the invitation, and there it was: June 3. “WTF?!?!?!” I
screamed to myself. “That’s in a couple weeks! I thought it was at the end of the
month! After Infocomm! Yikes! I gotta get busy! I gotta get a plane and hotel!”
Now, please understand, this is entirely my fault. The notifications were all
there. The timing had been brought up in the group editorial meetings here at
Future. Dan Zimbelman, formerly of API and now at PMC, texted last week to
ask, “Dinner at NAMM? Pick a night.”
My best guess is that for the past 30-plus years, my mind, body and soul have
adapted to some type of pro audio clock. Every day, there are Web posts and a
newsletter; every week, we meet on Monday morning; and every month, we
ship an issue to the printer on or around the 20th.
Every January, I’m in Anaheim for NAMM, while in February, it’s downtown
Los Angeles for the Grammys. April is NAB in Las Vegas, and June brings
Infocomm in either Orlando or Vegas. Our own Sound for Film & Television
event takes place at Sony Pictures in Culver City on the last Saturday in
September. And I sure do look forward to October, when AES is in New York.
By hook or by crook, for better or worse, pro audio has taken on kick-drum
importance in the rhythm of my life. Today, for a couple hours, it felt like I broke
a snare head.
But I’m back! And I’m excited! I like trade shows, I genuinely do, and no matter
how much I might sometimes complain of long days, sore feet and sensory overload,
I am sure looking forward to being in Anaheim the first of June. Then Infocomm a
few days later. Then Sound for Film. Then AES. I think we all are.
Now I just have to figure out how to explain to my mother that this isn’t
about procrastination; it’s about faulty recognition of pattern change. I doubt
she’ll buy it.
Tom Kenny
Co-Editor
Current // Innovations
oeksound Soothe Live Plug-In
By Veera Vallinkoski, product specialist and live sound engineer, oeksound

L
ive audio engineering is fast-paced extreme ones. The plug-in also takes advantage fast,” and work the math and mappings around
and challenging, facing a multitude of of the touch screen: Multiple gestures have been that. Small details, like the order of operations,
common problems: tonal imbalances implemented to speed up the setup process. required several rewrites of the algorithm. The
caused by sound sources, microphones, speakers, Many of our developers are live sound engineers, framework of the DSP techniques only offers
venue design, resonances and feedback. Audio and we put a lot of effort into testing to make a starting point, and all of our algorithms have
engineers have always sought out tools to tackle sure the user experience is intuitive. Creating a been tuned by ear. The end product is made
them quickly and effectively. fast workflow without compromising versatility by carefully fine-tuning a number of internal
oeksound recently announced its Soothe Live was an essential challenge. coefficients and mappings against test signals
plug-in, an automatic resonance suppressor The idea of Soothe Live started before the and real audio.
optimized for live audio. It’s available on Avid studio versions of Soothe. Live audio has specific It was a conscious decision on our part to
Venue S6L systems, and can also be used with limitations that need to be considered. Latency invest a lot of time into R&D—a challenging
Pro Tools HDX systems. While context that has given us a
oeksound is well-known for its great framework to work
innovative studio plug-ins, our in. The techniques and
ambition is to create relevant, technology used in Soothe
modern tools for both live and Live will find their way into
studio mixing. the upcoming plug-ins we’re
Soothe Live is based on currently working on.
the technology behind the We initially examined the
award-winning studio plug-in possibility of introducing
Soothe2. It analyzes the audio Soothe Live as rack-
signal for resonances and mountable hardware. Our
automatically applies matching strengths, however, are
reduction. Soothe Live has been not in hardware design but
designed from scratch, focusing rather in software. If we
on optimizing the processing delved into the territory of
and user experience for live hardware design, we would
sound. have a whole new world to
We like to think of Soothe explore that we don’t have
Live as a Swiss Army knife of Oeksound’s new Soothe Live plug-in is an automatic any current expertise in. It
resonance suppressor optimized for live audio.
live sound, with a wide range was a conscious decision on
of applications, from softening our part to release Soothe
overly bright instruments to dealing with the in studio mixing is often a non-issue, but in live Live as a stand-alone live plug-in. After careful
proximity effect in vocals. It’s great for subtle mixing, every sample counts. The first Soothe investigation, we decided that the Avid HDX
tonal shaping on busses and master channels, or Live iterations were made in 2017, and in 2019, platform was best suited for our needs.
for more complex problem-solving, like feedback a working prototype was made. The latency was At the beginning of 2022, the prototype was
control. reduced to a mere 64 samples or 0.6 ms—but deployed to several bands and high-profile tours,
While the user interface and parameters are this came at the expense of the CPU load. The and the response has been very positive. The
similar to Soothe2’s, a lot of work was put into algorithm was heavy to run and wasn’t a viable feedback we have received is that Soothe Live
optimizing them for live sound. Each parameter solution yet. has eliminated the need to use an EQ to notch
has been mapped individually for useful settings It was time to go back to the drawing board. out unwanted frequencies, sped up the mixing
and likely use-cases. Soothe Live is more level- Making the CPU load low enough depended process, and opened up new possibilities for
dependent by design, so it can be used both as a on multiple minor breakthroughs in maths and feedback control. We’re excited to bring modern
multiband compressor-type tool in more lenient optimization. The algorithm design had to be solutions to live mixing and expand the toolkit
settings and a problem-solving tool in more approached from the perspective of “what is of audio engineers. ■

10 M I X | J U N E 2 0 2 2 | mi x o n l i n e.co m
 Current // news & notes
Whitney Houston’s Home Studio Hits Market
By Clive Young.

Mendham, NJ—Whitney Houston had a voice Texas Society of Architects award for Interior Located 30 miles from Newark Airport and
like no other, and a home studio to match. Now Architecture. These days, the live room is used an hour’s drive from midtown Manhattan, the
now her former three-bedroom/four-bathroom primarily as a gym and the former piano room house is listed with Liane Dobson of Kienlen
guest house, complete with a massive, award- is a home office. Lattmann Sotheby’s International Realty. ■
winning Russ Berger-designed home studio,
is on the market for $1.6 million in Mendham,
New Jersey.
Originally built in 1973, the single-family,
ranch-style home sits on a wooded, five-acre lot
that was sold to the current owners in 2010, two
years before Houston’s untimely death in 2012.
While some of the house has been updated,
the current owners didn’t alter the recording
studio. Originally built for Houston in the early
1990s, the facility was designed to sport gear
and acoustics that rivaled any major New York
recording site of the era.
Today, little has changed other than the removal
of recording equipment and some acoustical
diffusion panels. Studio doors, airlocks, high-
placed soffits, wall plates (and presumably cabling),
ventilation systems and more remain as they were
when the house was sold. Even the walls of the
former control room—now used as a family media
room—are still as purple as the day Berger finished
it in the early 1990s.
The project ultimately won Berger the 1995
Photo: Carmen Natale, Rivers Gate Productions.

The control room of Whitney Houston’s Russ

Berger-designed home studio has remained
unaltered since it was sold in 2010.

m i x o n l i n e.co m | J U N E 2 0 2 2 | M I X
Music
Intimate Jazz Trio Blown Up for Atmos
Peter Smith, Studio1LA Set Up 40-Mic Plan at United
By Steve Harvey
I
n the ongoing introduction of Dolby Atmos
Music to consumers, much of the focus,
understandably, has been on the wow factor
of showy catalog tracks like “Rocket Man” and
“Bohemian Rhapsody.” But for the immersive
format to enjoy any sort of long-term success,
artists must start producing music conceived
and recorded for Dolby Atmos release from the
get-go, not just as an afterthought.
Helping to build a catalog of made-for-
immersive music, Karma Auger and Erich Gobel,
12 M I X | J U N E 2 0 2 2 | mi x o n l i n e.co m
production and mixing partners at Studio1LA,
recently visited United Recording in Hollywood,
Calif., to track Peter Smith’s jazz piano trio
for Dolby Atmos and stereo release. The pair
had initially invited Smith to their mix room
for a demo; Studio1LA, located behind Auger’s
home in Venice, Calif., had been upgraded for
immersive work in early 2020.
“We didn’t tell him, but we had done a test mix
of a song he performed, arranged and produced,”
Auger recalls. “It was the first thing he’d heard in
Peter Smith at the piano
in United Studio A
PHOTO: Courtesy of Studio1LA
Atmos; he was quite taken by it.” So when Smith’s
latest piano trio project was ready to track, he
contacted Auger and Gobel, and they booked
time in United’s Studio A, a 1,500-plus-square-
foot space with a 23-foot ceiling that has hosted
artists from Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole
to Josh Groban and Green Day. Conveniently,
United also boasts an impressive microphone
collection, originally amassed by former owner
Allen Sides when the facility was Ocean Way.
“Eric was the mastermind and came in with
the mic choices and everything,”
Auger reports. That 40-mic

PHOTO: Courtesy of Studio1LA

plan included eight of United’s
Neumann U 67s and a pair of
U 87s, all in cardioid mode,
to capture a 6.0 bed with four
overheads, mimicking an Atmos Erich Gobel, left, and Karma
speaker layout minus the center Auger of Studio1LA in front of
United Studios in Hollywood.
channel. “We used between
a quarter and a half a million
dollars’ worth of microphones,” “At first, we had all the mics at the very back
Up close on the
Auger adds. of the room,” he recalls, “but the concept was piano were pairs
There were three layers of room mics, Gobel more of a jazz club feel. We realized the room of AKG C12 and
elaborates. “There was also a Decca tree, which was too big, so we moved the Atmos mics in and Neumann M49
large-diaphragm
is a little unusual for this application,” he says. created a smaller space.” With the boundaries condensers.
Additionally, four Sanken condensers served as of the space established, Auger says, they could
close room mics on the three players, with the then position the close room and instrument
drums captured in stereo. mics, including pairs of AKG C12 and Neumann This was the first commercial Dolby Atmos
“The concept was, ‘Let’s pick the right room, M49 large-diaphragm condensers on the piano. recording session at United, as far as Johnny
the right mics, the right setup, then create the “We also realized that it would be easy to Morgan, the studio’s session coordinator, is
space for real. Then use as much of that as make the room a little bigger when we mixed,” aware. Morgan, who has worked at United
we possibly can, and the choices within those Gobel adds, using the spatial toolbox they have for seven years, was impressed with the
layers, to create the sound that we want,’” Auger developed during their two and a half years of performance of the Sanken CO-100K mics used
explains, conceding that, in practice, the plan immersive mixing experience. “But you can’t on the close room positions. With the session
needed some adjustments. make the room smaller.” recorded into Pro Tools at 192 kHz, the mics’
 Dolby Atmos supports projects at either 48
kHz or 96 kHz. “We got our stereo mixes with
minimal compression, minimal EQ and minimal
rides, converted the 192 to 96, and built the
Atmos session with all the stereo features built
in,” Gobel says. “They translated really well.”
They had planned to also present the audience
perspective of the stereo versions in Atmos, but
with a technological twist. “We wanted it to be
wanted to be piano everywhere in the room, so
we split the close mics up front, then there’s also
the outside mics for the piano in back.”
“When we went into AirPods to check, it was
much better with the piano all around you,”
Auger confirms. “As you turn around, you feel
like you’re facing the back of the room, and it’s
more ambient; the drums are behind you and the
bass is over to your left, but the piano is still in

PHOTO: Courtesy of Studio1LA

totally amazing with head-tracking,” Auger says, your face and present.”
“so you could turn your head and look at each “It has a lot of impact, and you hear so much
individual instrument.” detail,” Gobel says of the Atmos presentation.
But as they mixed, Gobel discovered, “It really “It’s really powerful.” n

frequency response—20 Hz to 100 kHz—really

shone through. “When you get past 96 k, they’re
great mics, if you place them in a crafty way, like
they did,” he says. “The one on the upright bass
captured the whole bass sound.”
Studio A’s control room, housing a rare
Focusrite 72-input desk, is not outfitted with an
immersive monitoring system. “You’re going on
best instincts and experience,” Gobel says.
“At one point, we looked at each other during
the tracking and said, ‘Are we EQing enough?’
Because we really haven’t done a whole lot. I’m
in front of this enormous console—I should
be doing something!” Gobel laughs. “We had
minimal EQ and minimal compression during
tracking. I think the piano close mics were just
kissing a Fairchild, and the bass mic just kissed
the LA-2.”
“We really just went old-school, straight out
of the Al Schmitt playbook,” Auger agrees. “Get it
done right in the beginning, and there’s just not
a lot to do on the back end.”
Taking the tracks back to Studio1LA, Gobel
says, “We started with the stereo mixes. That
took a minute, because we had so many room
mics to choose from and so many different
records that we could have made. Ultimately, the
songs told us what they wanted to be. Then it’s
going to unfold into a bigger Atmos version of
that. But we found out pretty quickly that they
wanted to be a little bit different records.”
“The stereo mixes told us that they wanted to
be more like a modern Blue Note record,” Auger
explains, “and the Atmos versions wanted to be
slightly more modern, in the way that it unpacks,
and the clarity and the dynamics. The dynamic
range is the big thing in Atmos.”

m i x o n l i n e.co m | J U N E 2 0 2 2 | M I X
Music // news & notes
Matt Wallace Will Kennedy, left and Matt
Wallace in Studio Delux.

Takes Studio
Delux Atmos
Engineer Will Kennedy
Specs Slate Raven, Kali
Monitoring
By Steve Harvey

A
s the momentum behind Dolby Atmos
for Music continues to build in the
wake of the launch of Apple Music’s

PHOTO: MEH Photography

Spatial Audio platform in May 2021, producer,
mixer and engineer Matt Wallace has unveiled
an immersive audio upgrade at his Los Angeles-
based Studio Delux.
Wallace, whose 30 years of credits include
Faith No More, The Replacements, O.A.R.,
Maroon 5 and others, opened his 1,000-square-
foot facility in 2005 in the Sound City Studios
complex in Van Nuys, Calif. There, Wallace has
worked with his engineer, Will Kennedy, a mixer
and fellow producer, for the past 15 years.
“Will had the vision of what kind of
equipment to use, how to set the room up,
all the calculations,” Wallace says of the mix
room upgrade. “Will knows all the rules for the
deliverables, and I tend to be Mr. Mix-With-
Your-Elbows and go for the vibe. So it’s a nice
symbiotic relationship.”
They were spending their own money,
Kennedy says, so “I gave myself the task of
finding every potential option for every piece
of equipment we needed, and figuring out what
we could do that was going to serve our needs
for the least amount of money, but still be
professional.” For the biggest expense, he says,
“I looked at what low-cost speakers punch above
their weight, and, ultimately, we ended up with
Kali Audio speakers.”
For one thing, Kennedy says, “They sound
better than anything else at their price point; in
fact, they sound better than things above their
price point. It also seemed like a good idea to
partner with a company that was local, and Kali
is in Burbank,” a 20-minute drive away.
Studio Delux’s mix room now sports an LCR
trio of Kali Audio IN-8s, four LP-6 surrounds and
four overhead IN-5s, with two WS-12 subwoofers,
one for LFE and one for bass management. “We
didn’t want to have one subwoofer attempting to
do two different jobs at the same time,” Kennedy
explains.
A JBL Intonato 24 DSP box provides tuning,
control and management. “The software is very
straight-ahead; it’s been a really solid platform
for us,” he says.
“Matt said, ‘Let’s go modern and sleek with
everything,’ so we also got a Slate Raven for
when we want to put hands on faders,” Kennedy
continues, “and we have a big LG display so we
can have multiple things up at the same time.”
Following Kennedy’s careful calculations,
Wallace anchored the overhead speakers in the
concrete above the ceiling cloud. Overall, Wallace
says, “When Dolby came to tune our room, they
found we were only off by half a millisecond.
Because the speakers are freestanding, there’s
no coupling with the room, so our room is
incredibly accurate.”
How they approach an Atmos mix varies
depending upon whether they have stems or
the multitrack. Mixing Faith No More’s “Epic,”
from 1990, they found Wallace had tracked four
rhythm guitars. “Now, instead of having four
guitars in the front, there’s two in the front and
two in the back, and it sounds huge,” Kennedy
says.
They mixed the B-52’s “Love Shack” (they also
mixed “Roam”) from the multitrack, too. “We
had to create the stereo mix first,” Kennedy says,
“and, by the way, match all their sounds,” to pass
muster with the fans familiar with every nuance
of the 1989 original. “Matt said, ‘It doesn’t sound
quite right.’ Come to find out, it wasn’t the right
speed compared to the master that was released
to the public. And it did affect the timbre of the
track.”
“We always put ourselves in the mindset of
the artist, the producer, the mixing engineer.
What would they do if they had Atmos?” Wallace
says. “We want to make everything fit and feel
like super-stereo. We want to serve the song—
that’s the biggest thing.” n

16 M I X | J U N E 2 0 2 2 | mi x o n l i n e.co m
Live
The veteran jamband sold out
three nights at the 1,800-seat
Eldborg Concert Hall in Iceland.
Umphrey’s McGee: Rocking in Reykjavik
By Clive Young
M
any bands hit the road early this
year to make up for lost time, but
for Umphrey’s McGee, that meant
hitting the ice—or more specifically, Iceland.
Back in 2019, the veteran jamband announced
“Röckjavik,” a special three-night run at the
1,800-seat Eldborg Concert Hall in Reykjavik,
Iceland. Scheduled for March, 2020, the event
sold out in three hours, but Covid put everything
on the backburner until the concerts finally took
place this spring, making for a string of shows
that were worth the wait.
“Being a jamband with a large instrumentation,
we rarely go over to Europe, just because the
expenses are high, but this was a destination
event and it’s pretty neat to experience a
different country’s way of handling things,” said
Chris Mitchell, the band’s FOH engineer since
18 M I X | J U N E 2 0 2 2 | mi x o n l i n e.co m
PRESENTED BY
2011. “The concert hall is a state-sponsored
institution and almost no expense was spared
in the preparation of the building. It was insane,
from the design of the exterior, which is unique,
to the way they do sound treatment using the
architectural acoustics of the building. They
went way over the top in designing it, so it was
really nice to go into a place like that. There’s
a great Meyer line array, they’re sponsored by
DPA Microphones and they had the same Midas
Pro X consoles that we carry on tour, so it was
really the best of all possible situations for us to
fly into.”
The band and its team arrived fresh
from a three-night stand in Aspen, Colo.,
and immediately made the most of their
surroundings. “We all flew in a day early to
adjust to the time difference and went directly to
PHOTO: Tara Gracer.
the Blue Lagoon—because you have to. We spent
the day exploring Reykjavik and then the next
morning, it was a comfortable 10am load-in. We
weren’t able to carry anything over but guitars, a
few keyboards and microphones—no amplifiers
and the drum kit was rented locally. Once we got
past that first day of doing soundcheck, it was so
easy. Our next two days were ‘show up at five in
the evening and do a line check.’”
The band typically plays 90 to 105 shows a
year, so Umphrey’s McGee owns its FOH and
monitor desks, having purchased Midas Pro
desks nine years ago. “When the Midas Pro series
came out, I was able to hear a few on tour,” said
Mitchell. “I think [FOH engineer] Garry Brown
from Phish had the first Pro 9 that I heard, and
I was just blown away with the tonality of the
console. It was like a 144-channel version of a

Heritage 3000—how could you go wrong with
that? I talked the band into buying them, and
they have been paid off for a long time. They’re
the core part of my sound, and I’m really happy
with what they’ve done for us.”
Given that Eldborg Concert Hall had the
same desks in-house, prepping was just a
matter of Mitchell and Robert Ston, the band’s
monitor engineer since 2000, loading their usual
show files. The six-member band—drummer,
percussionist, two guitarists, bass player and
a keyboard player—generates 64 inputs, with
Ston and Mitchell each grabbing what they
need. At stageside, Ston oversees his own Midas
Pro console, sending mixes to the group’s
Sensaphonics 3DME in-ear monitors and a lone
sub for the drummer.
To capture all those inputs, Mitchell
made a point of bringing along a passel of
microphones—a move that ironically brought
the rhetorical question of “what microphones
would you bring to a desert island” into the real
world. The answer: “As many Earthworks as I
could fit in my Pelican case. Everything I put
them on, I get an exact representation tonally
and impulse response-wise. Just the immediacy
of the tone and the in-your-face closeness that I
can get out of them, I can’t get out of other mics.
So, my desert island microphone? Earthworks
SR25. If you want to make a list, I’d just go down
their product list.”
Mix-wise, Mitchell goes light on effects; while
his outboard rack sports three TC Electonic
mainstays—a D-Two, Fireworx and Helicon
vocal processor—and an Eventide Eclipse,
they’re on-hand solely to replicate effects on
familiar tracks or to beef up backing vocals.
20 M I X | J U N E 2 0 2 2 | mi x o n l i n e.co m
PHOTO: Tara Gracer.
Umphrey’s McGee, seen
here at soundcheck, was
captured with a plethora
of Earthworks and DPA
microphones.
On paper, the dimensions of the opulent
Eldborg Concert Hall look like a space that would
cause issues with delays and reverberation, but
that wasn’t the case, said Mitchell: “It’s been
awhile since I’ve mixed a rectangular room
with that much height—the ceiling was 110 feet
off the stage—but the way the acoustics were
designed and treated, it was like standing inside
of a reverb algorithm on a TC 6000. When he hit
the snare drum, that decay was perfect.”
Some of that was due to the venue’s system of
adaptable physical acoustics, which adjusts hall
reverberation using hidden chambers, overhead
canopies and movable soft goods, but the in-
house Meyer Sound P.A. and Galileo loudspeaker
management system was hard at work, too. The
main left and right hangs each have 10 Mica
line array loudspeakers backed by five 600-HP
subwoofers, while a center hang sports eight Mica
loudspeakers. Placed on the same frame as that
center hang are 10 point-source loudspeakers of
CQ-1s, CQ-2s and UPA-1Ps, all arrayed beside,
below and behind the Micas for side fill, down
fill, and rear choir fill. Elsewhere, four UPJunior
VariO loudspeakers handle balcony fill, while 14
more UPJunior loudspeakers provide front fill
and two CQ-2 loudspeakers handle corner fill.
All that coverage meant that Mitchell spent
little time dealing with the P.A.: “I pulled up
Smaart and ran a curve trace on it, pulled 3 dB at
160 and then forgot about the P.A. completely; it
just disappeared like it wasn’t even in the room.
It took me almost an hour, but I walked every
balcony, and the coverage is smooth, tonally
correct and spread perfectly on everywhere you
could put a seat.”
While 1,800 fans made it to Iceland, thousands
more have heard the shows performed there
thanks to the band’s habit of recording every
show and posting it to audio subscription service
nugs.net. “I take the left-right off the console,
add audience mics to it, pass it through a limiter
and that’s the recording,” said Mitchell. “There
is no multitrack mixdown afterward; I don’t
even go back and tonally adjust things. Part
of that is because the mix is kind of down and
sounds really good, but the other part is that if
we get it up quickly, a lot of fans will pay the $10
to download it, so we turn the shows around
very quickly. Last night, the show ended at two
and the recording was up by four, so on the way
home from the hotel, you can relive the moment
that you just had, and if you didn’t make it
to the show, you can immediately hear what
happened. Since January 31, 2011, I personally
have published over 1,000 shows—so all my
work is out there for review and critique.”
The Icelandic shows went well, and now
Umphrey’s McGee returns to the road this month
with a steady string of shows through October.
“And it’s filling up, even into the breaks in between,”
said Mitchell. “Now that COVID has eased up, all
the festivals and venues that we have played before
are calling us back—we’re going to be pretty busy
from this point forward!” ■
PHOTO: Tara Gracer.
Eldborg Concert Hall’s
house system consists of
a Midas Pro X console and
Meyer Sound P.A.
Live // news & notes
An Air of
Sophistication
By Clive Young

N
ew York City’s Grand Central Station is
iconic, and its new next-door neighbor
isn’t too shabby either. One Vanderbilt on Air, an immersive art experience at the top of
One Vanderbilt in New York City, uses mirrors
42nd Street is one of the 30 tallest buildings in the and sound design to evoke endless expanses.
world, spiking 1,401 feet into the clouds. At the top,
Photo: Summit One Vanderbilt
starting on the 91st floor, is Summit One Vanderbilt, a
three-floor immersive art space that essentially makes visitors one with the a variety of glass instruments: “I was intent on making a minimalist, simple
skyline—a sensation that is augmented through the judicious use of sound. sound palette, and within that, for each tone to specifically have a meaning
The immersive experience itself, called Air, was designed by artist Kenzo behind it.” With that in mind, he commissioned a crystal flute that played
Digital, and is based around a series of fully mirrored spaces that reflect the Solfeggio frequencies—special tones believed to promote physical and
breathtaking views of Manhattan as seen through floor-to-ceiling windows. mental healing—that was recorded for the project.
The result is that the outdoors is brought indoors and then fragmented in The glass instruments were captured with Neumann KMR 81 shotgun
every direction through infinite reflections. Visitors enter into the lower-level and RSM 191 stereo shotgun mics, and then combined with other sounds,
of the main room, called Transcendence, where they first encounter Air’s including high winds that Fraioli recorded 10 years ago during Hurricane
sensory overload, before moving on to Affinity, which evolves the experience, Sandy, which ravaged the New York area: “At the time, I went out into the
adding hundreds of mirrored balloons. Next comes Transcendence 2—the storm and captured these winds, but there was all this devastation for our
first space, experienced from its second-level balcony—then Levitation, where community, so I never used them in anything because it felt wrong. In
people can step on to glass ledges suspended 1,063 feet above Madison Avenue. this context, however, using them provided a way to show the resilience
The experience concludes with Unity, which adds a floor-to-ceiling LED of New York.”
screen with a few twists up its sleeve. Sound design and editorial work were tackled in Avid Pro Tools. “I got the
While Air is visually spectacular, to simply perceive it as an oversized cleanest recordings possible of these different glass sounds,” he said, “used a
kaleidoscope, or even as the special effects of Inception brought to life, little bit of reverb from the Eventide H8000, and mix and matched with them
is to miss the point. The ever-changing weather and skyline provide an with a Soundwell Dek, a controller that allows me to map sounds all over the
opportunity for visitors to get internally reflective. “We’re talking about place. I used it to experiment with combining frequencies, because they’re
storytelling and physical space,” says Digital. “This is a story, you’re the meant to have different effects in terms of how they resonate with your body
protagonist and it’s about your relationship with time, with New York City, and mind, and how those healing effects can happen.”
with nature and with yourself. For example, you can watch a storm system Fraioli produced rough mixes in his Dolby-tuned room, getting a
coming from the west, and meanwhile everyone below in Manhattan is basic sense of placement through his M&K MPS 2520 monitors on the
going about their day. From your perch above, you see the storm blow in, LCR and 2510s on surrounds, all bolstered by two MX350 subwoofers.
and the cars change how they drive because rain on the street, umbrellas Then stems were sent to Digital in New York, who directed an on-site
pop up, and you see the city as an organism react to nature.” mix team as it inputted everything into a sprawling Meyer Sound Galaxy
Underlining that experience is a soundscape created by sound designer system with a Compass interface inside Air and nailed down the final mix.
Joseph Fraioli of Jafbox Sound in Los Angeles (Tenet, Tales from the Loop) Accessing more than 100 Meyer MM-4 speakers within the installation,
and directed onsite by Digital. Using ambient tones, sounds and more, the team mixed the audio to help guide visitors along, move wind sounds
the underlying audio is meant to be welcoming, soothing and, ultimately, throughout the space and more.
healing. “There are many layers, components, chapters—it’s not a linear Despite all the mirrored hard surfaces and lack of soundproofing, Air
show with a beginning, middle and end,” said Fraioli. “The set piece of isn’t particularly loud, even when loaded with hundreds of noisy visitors.
Transcendence, in particular, is about an hour long, and it has a very Buoyed by the underlying warmth of the soundscape, the result is an active,
particular, organic flow.” sometimes moving experience—which is just what Digital intended: “We
As part of a permanent installation, the audio needed to have a simplicity give you a pure kind of sound experience. When you’re there, it is full-
that would not become dated, so technological sounds were eschewed. on—it is powerful, it is intense and it feels alive. The visual illusion of Air
Instead, in a nod to the surroundings, Fraioli used resonances generated by is infinite expanse, so the sonic illusion there is infinite expanse as well.” ■

22 M I X | J U N E 2 0 2 2 | mi x o n l i n e.co m
Live // news & notes // presented by
Pink Palace Media’s Wilkins
Blaine with the Allen & Heath

Istrouma Baptist Gets

dLive S7000 at Istrouma
Baptist’s FOH position.

Audio Update
Baton Rouge, LA—Some 4,500 members across two campuses
come together every Sunday at Baton Rouge’s Istrouma
Baptist Church, and ensuring everyone can hear what’s
happening, production design company Pink Palace Media
recently upgraded the church’s audio system.
Central to the upgrade is a new digital front-end
incorporating an Allen & Heath dLive S7000, which joins a
legacy EAW-based L-C-R system serving the main campus’
1,600 seat sanctuary. To better support the church’s live
streaming needs, a dLive C3500 additionally made its way
into the broadcast control room. Bringing further form
and function to the blueprint—which was penned by PPM founder and their own 24-channel mixes, complete with EQ, compression and reverb.
principal Blaine Wilkins—is the addition of Allen & Heath dLive DM64 “As things went together, the DM0 became a super-unique piece in
and S Class DM0 MixRacks. Helping to integrate the dLive components the whole puzzle,” PPM’s Wilkins explains. “It acts as the central hub for
into a much wider range of live and broadcast scenarios, 128 x 128 gigaAce all the networking components, housing Dante, gigaAce, and Waves V3
and Dante cards provide a number of networking options, while remote cards, plus expansion slots, all of which can be utilized across the entire
I/O capabilities were enhanced with the help of a pair of DX168 expanders. dLive platform. The DM0 resides under the stage, along with the DM64
Monitoring wasn’t overlooked in the systems refresh either: With a and Livemix MIX-32 hub, which also speaks Dante. One of the DX168
Livemix MIX-32 hub from Digital Audio Labs working in conjunction with expanders is at the FOH mix position driving wireless mic operations; the
16 Livemix CS-DUO personal mixers, performers onstage can now develop other is at hand as a backup for when the need arises to expand onstage.” ■

Miami’s Ultra Music Festival Returns

Miami, FL—Miami’s Ultra Music Festival has long been a pilgrimage for with no delays, no problem; it performed extremely well, and all of the
EDM artists and their fans. This year’s edition in March found Unreal- artists were super happy.”
Systems/AgorÀ USA tackling the main stage with an L-Acoustics rig for the Tackling monitoring for all the acts onstage, a total of 10 X15 HiQ stage
first time, putting a massive K1-based system to work, keeping the nightly monitors lined the stage lip, accompanied by left and right side-fills of four
crowd of 55,000 dancing. Kara over two SB28 subs each. In the DJ performance spaces, two left/right
Hosting performances by Afrojack, Armin Van Buuren, David Guetta, DJ pairs of “Texas headphones”—each comprising four Kara over two SB18
Snake, Illenium, Kygo, Marin Garrix and Tiësto, the Main Stage sported main subs—were provided.
arrays of 16 K1 enclosures over four K2 downs, each backed by eight flown K1- Despite all that firepower, the festival had to ensure that it met new,
SB subs, and adjacent out-fill arrays comprised a dozen K2 per side. Anchoring tighter restrictions regarding audio levels. Unreal-Systems/AgorÀ USA
the low end was a line of 48 KS28 “Captain” Andre Serafini noted,
subs spanning the face of the stage, Unreal-Systems/AgorÀ USA deployed more “With Ultra back in downtown
than 300 L-Acoustics loudspeakers at
while four additional K2 spaced out on Miami’s recent Ultra Music Festival, including Miami again, after two years off
top of the subs delivered front-fill. All K1/K2 arrays on the Main Stage. for Covid and two years at Virginia
that was powered by LA12X amplified Key, the city was cracking down on
controllers in LA-RAK II racks. noise bleed this year. The festival’s
FOH and monitor mixes were promoters hired a sound mitigation
provided on respective DiGiCo company—there were sensors all
Quantum338 and SD10 consoles. over the Main Stage site—but the
This year, Joe Williams served as L-Acoustics system just performed
the FOH systems tech on the Main beautifully, even under the new,
Stage: “The system threw 180 meters much stricter guidelines.” ■

24 M I X | J U N E 2 0 2 2 | mi x o n l i n e.co m
on the cover

The Class
of 2022
Best New Studios From the
Top Studio Designers
By Barbara Schultz

M
ix is proud to showcase 18 exciting new
creative spaces from some of the best
studio designers and acousticians in the
business. This year’s “Class” of new or redesigned
studios includes everything from beautifully realized
personal studios (like the one on this month’s cover)
to audio education institutions, sound-for-picture
facilities, commercial complexes and mastering
rooms. Most importantly, each of the studios is
uniquely matched to the needs of its owner, realized
with the help of a professional design team.

PHOTOS: Erick Anderson

26 M I X | J U N E 2 0 2 2 | mi x o n l i n e.co m
Rambling Rose
Parker, Texas
Russ Berger Design Group
When musician/songwriter Matt Boggs was
getting ready to build a brand-new family home,
he decided to make a new studio part of the
design process. The artist wanted to create a
space where he could write and his touring
band, Prophets and Outlaws, could rehearse
and record. At the same time, he wanted to
maximize at-home time with his growing family.
He sought out Russ Berger’s firm, RBDG, to
design a flexible studio.
“Russ got to know me and how I would use
the space,” Boggs recalls. “Sometimes I was just
going to be a writer in the studio, but there’s five
of us in our band, and when we rehearse, we like
to all play at the same time, and that was going
to require a certain amount of square footage.”
Berger came up with a plan that included a
control room and tracking room that are
separated by a folding glass wall. Boggs can make
use of two separate rooms, or he can open the
panels and enjoy a single 900-square-foot space.
“That arrangement was a factor in terms of
how we treated each area,” Berger says. “When
you open the panels and it becomes a coupled
space, you’re borrowing volume from one space
into the other, and it affects the character of the
sound—the low-frequency energy that might
build up. And you must remember, you’re talking
about a whole band playing all at once in a room,
and in a small, confined space, levels can become
almost dangerous without proper treatment.
So, in the tracking area, we aimed for a neutral
environment, something that still has a nice
natural character in the room. but it’s a little
more on the dry side so that it would work well
for rehearsal.”
Adding to the flexibility of the recording space
is the implementation of Berger’s proprietary
pArtScience SpaceInerator, an electronic system
that can transform the room’s acoustics.
“It allows you to go into this dry space, punch
a button, and make it sound like a small club.
Punch another button and make it sound like a
concert hall, or a cathedral, or a small church—
almost any kind of environment you can think
of,” Berger says. “It’s electronic architecture.
You’re able to control the ambient character of
the space in real time. It can be as if the ceiling
were raised 20 feet, the side wall was moved
out 30 feet, and the back wall was moved out
40 feet.”
Berger also paid special attention to isolation,
as the studio is connected to Boggs’ family home.
“It has a stone masonry exterior and layers
of engineered drywall on the inside—it’s a
completely contained envelope. So, you can
be wailing away in there and you don’t hear
anything outside at all,” Berger observes.
“When I first met Russ, I think we had one
baby on the way, and now we have three kids,”
Boggs says. “So we made sure the studio is
also tucked into the side of the property. The
structures share a roof, but there’s a breezeway
in between; you have to go outside to get into
the studio, and then through a heavy sound-
rated door with a security code. So, I’m close
to home, which is great, but a studio isn’t a safe
environment for small children, and that was
one of the important considerations.”
Berger also helped Boggs settle on his
complement of studio equipment: a Rupert
Neve Designs 5088 Shelford console, ATC
SCM45A 2.1 monitors, Pro Tools HD Native
system with Focusrite RedNet converters, and
an array of instruments, outboard equipment,
mics, and amps.
“I had a lot of fun working with Russ, and
I learned a lot,” Boggs says. “It became an
important part of my musical journey. There
were so many aspects of the process that I never
would have considered without Russ’ help. I
came up on the musician side rather than the
engineering or producing side, but the studio
has been open seven months now, and I’ve
already made big strides.
“The first thing we did here was to record a
song I got to write with Paul Overstreet when I
went on a songwriter trip with him a few years
ago,” Boggs continues. “We’ve also recorded our
band’s newest single, ‘Cowboys and Dreamers,’
which will be coming out soon. I’ve also had
buddies over to do songwriting sessions; we’ll
track songs and just jam. I’ve realized that one
of the coolest things is that people can come
over, and we can sit down and immediately start
working. I’m always set up and ready to go.”
mixonline.com | J U N E 2 0 2 2 | M I X 27
 PHOTOS: Wes Lachot

Fallen Trees Studio

Mt. Airy, N.C.
Wes Lachot Design Group

This ground-up facility was designed by Wes

Lachot and acoustician Aaron Kelley to offer a
controlled yet lively ambience, including a live
front end in the control room that maintains
the accuracy of the facility’s Guzauski-Swist
GS3-B monitors by using reflection-free-
zone principles. Sightlines between all spaces
ensure the beautiful forests of Mt. Airy are
visible throughout the studio, which adds
atmosphere whether the rooms are being
used by owner Chad Barnard or by visiting
professionals. Specialty acoustic treatments
and installation were provided by Brett
Acoustics, while cabling consulting was by
Canova Audio. Howard Hoyt of Pro Audio
Engineering was the electrical engineering
consultant on this project. The studio is
equipped with an API 1608-II console with
API preamps and EQs, as well as a Pro Tools
rig with 32 channels of UA Apollo converters.

MTSU Murfreesboro, Tenn. Atrium Audio Lititz, Pa.

nonzero\architecture HDAcoustics
Designed by Peter Grueneisen of nonzero\architecture, with assistance Atrium Audio was designed by
from local architect of record Steve White of Bullock, Smith and Partners, Jeff Hedback of HDAcoustics for
this new studio is one of the latest additions to Middle Tennessee State Grammy-nominated producers
University’s acclaimed Music and Recording Industry program. It is part Carson Slovak and Grant McFarland.
of a new, nearly 5,000-square-foot complex that includes two identical The project comprises a 3,500-square-
control rooms and a variety of live rooms and booths. Pictured are the foot facility, where control rooms A,
live room of Studio D and Control Room E, which are under a tall roof B and C all have direct sightlines to
that allows for 17-foot ceilings in the tracking rooms. Studio D is the the large live room. The mirrored
larger of the two studios, featuring a 22x27-foot main room, large and control rooms A and B both have
small isolation booths, and an amp closet. Studio E has a more modest dedicated overdub booths. The fourth control room is 7.1.4 Dolby
16x20 main studio, one iso booth and an amp closet. With system design Atmos Music-certified. Room modeling and shape optimization
by MTSU, Mike Rhodes and SkinnyFish Audio, both studios feature studies were performed using the acoustical software from Olive Tree
SSL AWS924 consoles, Avid Pro Tools DAWs, and audio monitoring by Labs and CATT-Acoustics. Control rooms A and B feature all custom
ADAM Audio and Phantom Focus, tuned by Carl Tatz. Also on-hand acoustic treatments, while other spaces have some custom treatments,
is a selection of outboard gear from API, Bricasti, Chandler Limited, as well as products from GIK Acoustics, Primacoustic and Acoustimac.
Universal Audio and others. Specialty fabrication/construction was performed by Jerod Ecenrode,
while Zack Fagan provided technical wiring consultation and design.
Selected equipment includes an SSL Origin console; Focal, Genelec,
and JBL monitors; and a large
collection of outboard gear and
PHOTOS: J. Intintoli

microphones from Neve, Grace

Design, UA, TubeTech, Manley,
Neumann, Shure and others.

PHOTOS: Eric Forberger

28 M I X | J U N E 2 0 2 2 | mi x o n l i n e.co m
 The Church Tulsa, Okla.

PHOTO: Duncan Randall

Steven Durr Designs

Steven Durr Designs exercised great care to restore The Church

studio, honoring its historical significance as it is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places. Such a prized designation came
with specific challenges due to stringent requirements to maintain
the more than 100-year-old building’s design intent and 1970s studio
Studio DMI Las Vegas
PHOTOS: Frank Manno

aesthetics, while renovating and updating the facility to be relevant

for today’s recording standards. Collaborating with Chad Hailey
Research and Lilly Architect, SDD helped facilitate an extensive
remodel that merges modern technologies with the original vibe/
intention of the late Leon Russell when he converted the old church
into a recording studio and
office for Shelter Records
in 1972. In addition, the
tracking room doubles
as a performance venue
and has hosted intimate
concerts by legacy artists
such as Kenny Loggins,
George Thorogood and
Ann Wilson.
Haverstick Designs
Grammy-nominated engineer Luca Pretolesi’s 4,000-square-foot
Studio DMI complex in Las Vegas includes four studios powered
by Focal monitors, a production/recording room, artist lounge,
conference room, and office space. Haverstick Designs redesigned
Studio D (pictured), which is now a Spatial Audio/Dolby Atmos mix
studio featuring custom bass trapping that integrates the existing
treatment from Vicoustic to improve the low-frequency performance
of the room. Additional elements were added to position the 7.1.4
Focal speaker system properly. Studio D also contains a Pro Tools
MTRX Studio system. The renovation, implemented by contractor
Paolo Dechierico, was completed in March 2022, with system design
by Pretolesi and Joshua Estock from Focal.
 PHOTOS: Aubrey Young
Warm Studios Austin, Texas
Otto System Works
The 3,550-square-foot Warm Studios facility features two recording spaces: Studio A with a large
1,065-square-foot tracking room with vaulted ceilings, two iso rooms and spacious 702-square-foot
control room; and the more intimate Studio B, consisting of a 212-square-foot mixing/control space
and a dedicated iso room. Both studios were designed by Alex Otto of Otto System Works, and center
around ATC monitoring and SSL AWS948 Delta consoles. Each studio was built using room-within-
a-room construction, providing isolation from the rest of the building. Opened in March 2022, the
studio also features a nice selection of instruments and a full lineup of Warm Audio’s outboard gear
reproductions, such as the WA76, WA-2A and WA-73 family of products.

Legacy Studios Henderson, Nev.

SIA Acoustics
To create a place where artists can express their creative ideas, and allow the Legacy Records
team to work with its artists, this studio was designed by Sam Berkow and Tyler Cottrell of SIA
Acoustics, a division of RDA. The studio includes a control room, a live room, an iso booth and
lounge. All spaces feature high-end acoustical treatments, including several types of diffusors
and low-frequency absorbers from RealAcoustix, including 2-inch-thick Gud Panels, staggered
FlutterX strip arrays and a custom version of the RealQuad studio diffusor. Bass absorbers are
Bassmod4848s tuned to three different frequencies. All soffits and clouds are custom-designed
by SIA. Owner Keishia McLeod’s equipment, selected by Zoe Thrall and Brent Spear, includes
an SSL Origin console and ATC monitors.

PHOTO: Sam Berkowc

M I X | J U N E 2 0 2 2 | mixonline.com
 Plaid Dog Recording Waltham, Mass.
Sonic Space

Plaid Dog Recording opened its doors in 2013 in a rented space.

The studio relocated after owner Mike Davidson purchased a
condominium space, and Lou Clark of Sonic Space designed the new
facility to take advantage of existing acoustical materials that were
moved over from the rented studio. The control room diffusors, all
PHOTO: Tim Gaudreau

the live room and piano room poly-diffusors, studio doors, furniture
and insulation were repurposed. The new Plaid Dog facility has
two control rooms, a live room with 16-foot ceilings, an isolation
booth with room-in-room construction and supporting lounges/
office space. Both control rooms feature flush-mounted UREI 809
speakers. The ceiling is a 26-inch-
deep bass absorber behind a black
suspended ceiling grid, and the
rear wall of each control room
incorporates a custom “open
diffusor” made of framing lumber
flush-mounted in front of a
24-inch deep bass absorber. One
of the control rooms has a Toft
ATB32 console, while the other is
an in-the-box mixing space.

Spotify At Mateo Los Angeles

WSDG

Spotify’s new content-creation campus came online in December 2021.

This complex was designed by RIOS design collective, with studio design,
electroacoustics, A/V system design, and production lighting by WSDG,
PHOTOS: Sean Michon

and A/V integration by ProCraft, SPL and ASG. It serves as the streaming
company’s flagship studio facility, hosting music and podcast production
sessions, live performances, video and post-production work. Studio A
features a 48-channel Rupert Neve Designs Shelford 5088 console, as well
as ATC mains and Subwoofer Pro monitoring, while Studio B offers an Avid
S4 24-fader control surface and Dolby Atmos
mixing via ATC mains and PMC surrounds. In
the Studio A live room, hinged acoustic panels
allow for variable acoustics, complemented by a
standalone echo chamber.

mi x o n l i n e.co m | J U N E 2 0 2 2 | M I X
 Expanding
Sky Studio
Brunswick, Maine
FM Design, Ltd.
Greg Morris of Francis Manzella
Design Ltd. designed this new
PHOTO: Mark Loper
studio, which was built into a 1688 building that was originally
developed as Fort Andross, a garrison and fur trading post. The
studio occupies 1,700 square feet of a much larger structure and
shares space with commercial businesses, so FM Design utilized
floating construction on a Kinetics RIM system to achieve sound
isolation. System design for the project was done by Paul Savasta
and Mike Gage of Odyssey Pro. Monitoring is via a pair of flush-
mounted Quested Q212d three-way active main monitors and two
Quested QSB118 Soffit Studio subwoofers, as well as a pair of ATC
SCM25a midfields, and a pair of Focal Solo B6 near-fields. Owner
Michael O’Connell uses an Audient ASP8024 Heritage Edition
console and Apogee Symphony MkII with 32 channels of I/O,
as well as a Symphony MkII with eight preamps. Outboard gear
includes two Empirical Labs Distressors, Bricasti M7, Lexicon PCM
91, ADesigns Hammer and Nail, Eventide H7600, and a 500 Series
lunchbox with Neve, Pultec and Mercury units.
M I X | J U N E 2 0 2 2 | mixonline.com
Hermes
Sound Atlanta
Carl Tatz Design
Built from the ground up,
audio engineer and sound
designer Troy Hermes’
new mixing studio was
designed by Carl Tatz
Design LLC. The studio
opened in December
2021 and is equipped
with a Carl Tatz Edition
PHOTO: Lou Johnson
Argosy Dual-15 Wide
workstation, PhantomFocus Porcelain eChair, and Tatz’s proprietary
PhantomFocus Immersive MixRoom monitoring system (prewired
for Dolby Atmos), as well as PFM ICE Cube-12 subwoofers, PF
monitor stands by Sound Anchor, and the PhantomFocus processor
by Ashly. Tatz Design’s Acoustic Lens diffusors by Auralex, which
line the window and mirrored side of the room, are designed to
virtually enlarge the acoustic volume of the room. An iso booth
and client lounge are located on the second story, with glass walls
overlooking the property.
Cinematic Media
Mexico City
Malvicino Design Group
Cinematic Media is a full-service post-production
complex focused on episodic television and film.
Horacio Malvicino, principal of the Malvicino Design
Group, handled the acoustic and technical design of
six new Dolby Atmos-certified mix stages and sound
editorial rooms, with help from architect/general
contractor TADI Mexico. Two-time Oscar-nominated
supervising sound editor and mixer Martin Hernández
heads up sound services at Cinematic Media, which
is led by managing director Arturo Sedano. Each of
the studios utilizes a pair of Focusrite RedNet HD32R
32-channel HD Dante network bridges and Red 4Pre
58-in/64-out Thunderbolt 2 and Pro Tools | HD-
compatible audio interfaces. RedNet AM2 stereo audio
monitoring units and RedNet X2P 2×2 Dante audio
interfaces are also available on the stages. Each room
also includes four Avid Pro Tools systems, for dialog,
music and effects, and recording. Two rooms have Avid
S6 control surfaces, while the other four offer S3s. Every
room also includes JBL loudspeakers: four rooms are
arranged in a 7.4.2 configuration, and the remaining
two are in a 7.2 setup. All rooms are connected through
Dante.
 Spatial Mix Room
at Metropolis
Studios
London
Munro Acoustics

Metropolis Studios went online

with this 3D audio mixing facility
in July 2021, making this studio
the highest Dolby resolution in the
UK at 11.1.8. Designed by Munro
Acoustics, the control room follows
a flexible “hub studio” approach
with a custom-designed console
that can be moved anywhere in the
room to accommodate a variety of
workflows. The mix room is also
connected to Studios A and B,
PHOTO: James Cumsty

enabling live broadcast in immersive

formats. With the loudspeakers arrayed at 30 degrees of separation, the Neumann monitors, DAD monitor operating module and converters,
audio monitoring is designed to accommodate all surround formats, Dolby Atmos Mastering Suite RMU, Pro Tools Ultimate and Reaper, and
including Dolby Atmos and Sony 360RA. Selected equipment includes a wide variety of plug-ins.
PHOTOS: Aquiles Vera

m i x o n l i n e.co m | J U N E 2 0 2 2 | M I X
 PHOTOS: Carter Brice

Reverb and Echo

Hugo, Minn.
HD Acoustics

Reverb and Echo, located just outside of

Minneapolis, is a new studio designed by
Jeff Hedback of HDAcoustics. The facility
was completed in January 2022 within a new
purpose-constructed building that serves as
the shop for Zod Audio, as well as Reverb
and Echo. Hedback describes the design as a
“mash-up of post-modern lines and textures
with rustic wood tones.” There is a large
control room surrounded by a 700-square-
foot live room, large booth and smaller vocal
booth. Acoustic interiors feature a variety
of tuned devices, such as custom acoustical
scattering pieces, broadband absorbers and
wood pallets. The studio was built by general
contractor Jason Jahnke and Dan Duerloo,
and features a rare Neve Broadcast console,
ProAC and Tannoy monitors, Soundcraft
Delta DLX, Pro Tools HD 2018 Native, Logic
9, and a wide array of instruments, processors,
plug-ins and mics.

ACE Studios
Guangzhou, China
WSDG

A growing need for studios capable of hosting

classical, popular and traditional music artists led
a select group of professors, artists and recording
engineers at the Xinghai Conservatory of Music to
engage WSDG (Walters-Storyk Design Group) to
develop this new studio in the Haihu Bay Art Park
Building. ACE Studios features a 1,345-square-
foot live room designed to provide an appropriate
acoustical environment for the studio’s “crown
jewel,” a brand-new, 9-foot Steinway D-274 grand
piano. Acoustical treatments in the live room
include ceiling clouds fashioned from ribbed
wooden slats set into a raised rectangular
cavity, crafted to enhance the piano’s
acoustic resonance. The 240-square-foot
control room has fabric-covered wall
panels and a large window to provide clear
sightlines into the live room. Equipment
includes an Avid C24 control surface, DPA
mics and a host of outboard equipment.
PHOTOS: Is That Real Visuals

34 M I X | J U N E 2 0 2 2 | mi x o n l i n e.co m
PHOTO: Chase Pierson
The Woods Glenford, N.Y.
SIA Acoustics
Located in a meadow outside of Woodstock, N.Y., on an old
campground site, The Woods studio provides a countryside feel with
lots of natural light and views of the adjacent pond. The room was
designed for owner/engineer Todd Adelman to record live bands,
with a 600-square-foot live room, two iso booths, a lounge and a
large control room equipped with API 1604 and Trident 80 consoles,
Neve 1073 preamps, Pultec EQP-1A3 equalizers, Ampex and ATR
tape machines, and a wide variety of vintage and state-of-the-art
processors.
Cucamonga
Sound Studio
Upland, Calif.
Haverstick Designs
Engineer Robert Armatas worked
with studio designer Gavin
Haverstick of Haverstick Designs,
audio consultant Brian Gross of
Vintage King, and contractor/
builder AIC Interior to create
this personal studio within his
PHOTO: Corcino Productions/Kyle Smith Studios
home. A main bedroom and closet were transformed into a control
room and iso booth to facilitate Armatas’ post-production work.
Haverstick designed custom diffusors and ceiling cloud treatments,
along with various stone and wood aesthetic elements to create a
warm environment. A Flex-48 Adaptive Treatment System from
Acoustical Fulfillment gives the control room low-frequency control
and the ability to change the liveliness during tracking in the rear
of the room. Equipment includes Barefoot Mini Main 12 monitors,
Trinnov ST2, Burl B80 Mothership, Manley Massive Passive and a
Rupert Neve Designs 5059 summing mixer.
A Chat With Russ Berger
Four decades on, the designer and acoustician is still reshaping his business
By Barbara Schultz
Russ Berger, Mark Hornsby and
Matt Boggs in Boggs’ new control

W
room at Rambling Rose, this
hen we spoke with Russ Berger for month’s cover studio.
this month’s cover story, he was
quick to point out that the Russ
Berger Design Group has grown since Matt
Boggs’ Rambling Rose studio, pictured on this
month’s cover, came online in late 2021.
“Matt’s project was finished before Mark
Hornsby joined us,” Berger says. “Most people
know Mark’s work as a producer and engineer.
He also ran the studios at Sweetwater for many
years. He has so many great ideas—he’s already
making us rethink some of our methods. You
PHOTO: Erick Anderson

know, there are time-honored ways to do things,

but it’s always important to reassess.”

At this stage, some people might be scaling back…

We’re scaling up! We also have a new architect
who joined us recently, Michael Kapinus, who
is also a talented musician and acoustician. We
have been overwhelmed with work, but bringing
these people in means I can push off stuff that’s
not in my wheelhouse and do more of what I
love: working with our clients on imagining their
spaces. If there’s one skill I have, it’s innovating
acoustical ideas and creatively coming up with
spaces that fit what the client is doing.
Years ago, you said something that really stuck
with me, that you try never to take on a client
if you don’t think their business idea is viable.
It comes down to treating people the way you’d
want to be treated. Our clients aren’t just building
a physical space, they’re starting a business, and
often it’s part of their home. They’re probably
risking everything to make their dream happen,
so when they entrust you with their project,
there’s a lot of responsibility there.
We know how to make great-sounding rooms,
but there’s more. That’s why when we’re talking
to someone like Matt Boggs, we always want to
know about the family and the neighborhood,
and what the person’s long-term goals are for the
house. Is this someone’s forever home? Are they
nearing retirement or in a growth part of their
career? How will what we’re doing affect resale
value? You have to understand all of this to know
you’re making the right recommendations.
Recently, I had a client come back to me after
12 years. The last time I worked with him, he
wanted to build a large studio in a commercial
building, and I had to say it was not a good
idea: “Please don’t do this. You don’t have the
money. If you get financing for this, you’re going
to put good money after bad into a leasehold
improvement. You could kill your business.”
He took that to heart, did something much
more moderate, and now we’re building him a
multimillion-dollar studio. He said, “I wouldn’t
talk to anybody else because you were honest
with me in the beginning instead of just trying
to take my money.”
Are there any developments in acoustical
products that you’re excited about?
We’re pretty agnostic when it comes to products;
we’re always just trying to find the right thing
for the right application. What we have done
is build our own diffusors, SpaceArrays and
SpaceCouplers, under the brand pArtScience,
which give us a really wonderful way of solving
certain acoustical problems. They’re made of
solid wood from sustainable sources, with inner
internal damping behind them.
The diffusion pattern is carefully crafted;
they provide the diffusion that we require off
the panel in a hemispherical pattern, but visually
the diffusor looks like a texture more than an
ugly, repeating diffusing pattern. Aesthetics are
important. I don’t remember who first said it,
but a good-looking room always sounds a little
better.
Can you explain a little more about RBDG’s
commitment to sustainability?
All of our pArtScience products are manufactured
in the U.S. from sustainable materials. I don’t
go around waving that flag, but regardless of
whether the client is going for any kind of
green-building certification, it’s just the right
thing to do.
As far as I know, for many years we were
the only ones that had done any LEED-
certified broadcast facilities; we had five or
six within the first few years that they came
out with the certification process. Also, we
worked with Chuck [Surack] at Sweetwater
when he built his [LEED Platinum-certified]
headquarters, including the Sweetwater Studios
and the 250-seat performance venue. He led the
charge in his state of Indiana toward sustainable
architecture, and we are proud to be part of
that. n

36 M I X | J U N E 2 0 2 2 | mi x o n l i n e.co m
T
he opening frame of Severance, episode
1 season 1, stays in black as a dry,
disembodied voice, futzed to sound as
Tension in
if it is coming out of a phone or some kind of
ceiling speaker, asks, “Who are you?” Long pause.
“Who are you?” Nothing. Then, a quick cut to an
overhead shot of a young woman lying face down
the Track
on a conference room table, alone. She wakes, the
The Quiet, Rich
camera drops down into the room as she eases Sound of ‘Severance’
off the table to check the doors, and you can see
loneliness, confusion, anxiety, disorientation and By Tom Kenny
panic in her face, all at the same time, as the voice
asks again, ”Who are you?”
From that point on, through the ensuing
nine episodes of the Ben Stiller–produced (he
also directed six episodes), Apple TV+ show, the
visual and sonic sense inspire each other in near-
perfect harmony, building from the stark, spare,
quiet introduction to the, well… stark, spare and
slightly louder crescendo at season’s end.
Courtesy of Apple TV+

Along the way, we learn about the controversial

severance procedure, which essentially splits an
individual’s memories in two—a working life, in
this case at the sinister tech company Lumon,
and a daily life outside in the world. Neither
version of the individual knows of the other’s
existence. Not quite dystopian, not quite sci-fi.
Just quietly creepy.
Severance, sound supervised by Jacob Ribicoff
and mixed in Atmos by Ribicoff (effects, BGs)
and Bob Chefalas (dialog/music/Foley) on a two-
position Avid S6 console at Goldcrest Post in New
York, provides a stellar example of how a quiet,
subtle, appropriate, yet detailed soundtrack can
have every bit as much impact as a Marvel movie
filled with weapons, vehicles, fights and explosions.
And they are often more challenging to mix, as
every sound, every note, is exposed.
SETTING THE TONE
Severance was six weeks away from principal
production when the Covid shutdowns hit in
March 2020. It picked up again in January 2021,
under protocols, and the sound team came
aboard full time in August 2021, though Ribicoff
had read scripts long before and was involved in
the early picture edits. The show premiered in
mid-February 2022,
“We had a period at the beginning where I
was able to try out all kinds of different ideas
and play them for Ben and Geoffrey [Richman,
supervising picture editor],” says Ribicoff.“ I
started playing things and the first thing they
said was that everything is too loud. [laughs]
Then they said that there were some interesting
ideas here, but that we can’t use them in the first
episode, or even the second episode. We had to
start sneaking some of these sounds in as the
show goes deeper and things get stranger.”
Much of the action takes place in a subterranean
office complex, and most of that in the endless
bright-white corridors or in the Macro Data
Refining office, which is overly large in volume for
the four cubicle-style desks clustered in the center
of the room. With no birds, insects, winds, traffic
or typical urban sounds to fill the backgrounds—
only office walla, and stark, lonely walla in this
case—the challenge becomes how to keep the track
moving over the course of 50 minutes.
“I started thinking early on that Lumon is
like this giant host, and the people working
inside seem almost biologically connected to
it,” Ribicoff recalls. “So I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it
be amazing if there were some way, some not
obvious but subtle way, to give the entire facility
some kind of breathing, heart-beating feeling?’ can I do to change it up?” he continues. “So for the
If that was even possible? So I had this idea to corridors, which don’t seem very normal to begin
make the room tones out of human breathing, with, I started experimenting with pitching the
and we experimented with that and came up tones differently, using these breath-based tones.
with some tones. You’ll notice that sometimes when they turn a
“With each episode, I would sit down and say, corner and the camera pans, there’s a low-end
‘I can’t just do what I did the last episode, so what rumble slipped in, which, if I’m doing my job right,

38 M I X | J U N E 2 0 2 2 | mi x o n l i n e.co m

The sense of isolation in the soundtrack is
driven by the wonderfully stark visuals.
Courtesy of Apple TV+
The hallways of Lumon play a significant
role in the soundtrack. Here, a rare meeting
of MDR and Optics & Design.
feels like a brief wave of anxiety that passes through
you. That lurch in your gut.
“Then for MDR, the main room, we built out
old CPUs, some 8-bit computer and videogame
type sounds from the ’90s, adding the occasional
hard drive lurching and going through its paces.
Occasionally there’s a beep, or something that
Supervising sound editor/re-recording mixer Jacob Ribicoff, left,
and re-recording mixer Bob Chefalas at the two-position Avid S6
in Stage A at Goldcrest Post, NYC, where Severance was mixed.
would just kind of hover at the lowest possible
level, such that there were then little events
within the room that could poke out.”
FOLEY MEETS DIALOG
Not every director, especially in the fast-paced
world of episodics, is enamored of using Foley
effects. Thankfully, Ribicoff says, Stiller, Richman
and the rest of the team appreciate what the
specifics and detail of well-done Foley can add
to a final mix,especially a low-level, uncluttered
one. On Severance, Foley was performed by New
York’s A-Team of Margo Costanzo and George
Lara, working out of C5.
“Nobody was happy with the footsteps in
the corridors,” Ribicoff explains, noting that it
was due to the resonance and reverb produced
by the materials on set and not the fault of
the production mixer. “We experimented
with all sorts of methods, and decided to re-
record all the footsteps as dryly as possible.
Nowadays, everyone wants the Foley to sound
like production, to sound live and real and all
that. That wasn’t what we did, even though
sometimes it can be hard to work with Foley that
dry—it can sound a little weird, or too close to
you. But basically for all of the scenes in Lumon,
and especially in MDR, that big room with very
tight carpeting, we made the Foley dry. That was
a key component.”
As with Foley, editing and mixing dialog for a
quiet and subtle soundtrack can be enormously
challenging. Every line is the focus of the scene, so
it’s even more critical that the tonality, character
and depth of each line, from every actor, ring true
for whatever space they occupy at the time.
“The direction was that it had to sound quiet,
not big and echo-y,” says Chefalas. “Even though
PHOTO: Bob Chefalas
that room, MDR, is big, we didn’t want it to feel
big. We wanted to have them sound isolated.
When I listened to the production dialog, from
both the live mics and the booms, the boom
mics had a lot of room on them. So the trick was
getting a balance between what’s live in the room
and then using reverb to take some of the room
out. That way I can still keep the movement and
make it sound more isolated.
“Then before we started mixing, I had
mentioned to Jacob that maybe I should handle
the Foley, because the Foley and the production
tracks were going to be so tight,” adds Chefalas,
who typically mixes music and dialog only.
“As soon as I started premixing the dialog, I
recognized areas where footsteps were going
to be a problem. I took them out, then once we
had the right type of sounds from Foley, I would
add the same reverbs that I was using on the
dialog side—the same settings to follow because
everything is in my session.
“I’m constantly changing reverbs on the Foley
depending on what room they are in,” he adds.
”For the big MDR room, I was using a reverb called
Airless Room, or something like that. It’s for Dolby
Atmos, and it’s a really big reverb, but it’s very
tight. It adds dimension without having it sound
like they’re in this big room. That’s for the dialog,
then again for Foley so that they matched. When
they went into a hallway, there’s a whole different
reverb. In the elevator, coming out of the elevator,
the reverbs were constantly changing,.”
That sense of change plays a big part in filling out
and driving the pace of a rich, tension-filled sound
in an otherwise quiet track. And we haven’t even
talked about Ted Shapiro’s sometimes traditional,
sometimes quirky, jazzy score. It’s not a surprise
Apple TV+ has re-upped the show for a Season 2. n
mixonline.com | J U N E 2 0 2 2 | M I X 39
Designing an All-
New Loudspeaker
How Meyer Sound Added Power and cut
the Weight With PANTHER By Tom Kenny
T
here’s nothing like a hard deadline—a
true, fixed-in-stone, has-to-be-on-the-
truck deadline—to inspire reinvention.
As we sit down in the Don Pearson Theater at the
Berkeley, Calif., offices of Meyer Sound to talk
about Panther, the company’s new flagship line
array loudspeaker, company founder John Meyer
starts out with a story about an engineering
company that was looking to earn a contract
with NASA on the Mars helicopter.
The bid was in the neighborhood of $85
million and proposed that the project be done
in three years. NASA said that they could have
the $85 million but that they had two years to
complete it. When they asked why only two
years, they were told, “Because that’s when the
rocket takes off.” They took the job.
After quickly interjecting that he in no way
means to compare building a rocket to building
a new speaker, Meyer begins recounting the
past year inside the company, where all other
projects were put on hold and all departments
began working in unison under the deadline
pressure of having Panther built, tested and
To solve the challenge with the depth of the horn in the cabinet, Panther units bevel
out from the sides and protrude slightly in the center of the front grille.
40 M I X | J U N E 2 0 2 2 | mi x o n l i n e.co m
John Meyer Katie Murphy Tim Boot
ready for opening night of Ed Sheeran’s hugely
anticipated, 65-show, worldwide stadium/arena
tour, to begin in Dublin on April 23 and end more
than a year later in Perth, Australia.
In late-March, flanked by Katie Murphy,
engineering director, acoustical and mechanical,
and Tim Boot, director of global marketing,
Meyer seemed relaxed and confident. Panther
was ready ahead of schedule.
The impetus for Panther came out of a regular
chat with Lars Brogaard at production house
Major Tom in England, audio providers for the
Sheeran tour and longtime Meyer partner. They
were looking at busting out of the pandemic
with a major show to support Sheeran, and
hinted that if Meyer were ever interested in
building a new speaker, one with the power
of Leo in the footprint and lower weight of
Lyon, they would have an eager customer in 10
months, when Sheeran was scheduled to go into
rehearsal.
Hearing this, and knowing that Leo was
approaching its 10th anniversary, the company
immediately began setting design goals for
what became Panther, calling for a powerful,
lightweight, energy-efficient, Milan-connected
box. In practical terms, that meant an all-new
amplifier, a new horn with 80-degree, long-
throw coverage, and new, sustainable materials
throughout.
All Meyer Sound speakers, studio and
live, are self-powered, with nearly every
line incorporating some form of Class AB
amplification. To meet the weight goal of 150
pounds (Leo weighs 265 pounds, Lyon 199), they
knew they would need to make the jump and
develop a digital amp—not some variation on a
hybrid system—for Panther.
“We had to pull the weight from everywhere,
but you start with the amp,” says Murphy, who
was first tasked with developing the new horn
but soon became the equivalent of a project
manager, funneling and correlating all updates
from all departments. “Going fully digital gives
you the opportunity to get rid of a lot of those
individual pieces in the chassis that weigh a lot of
pounds. Then all of a sudden, the internal pieces
of wood that make up the box are shallower, and
you can maybe get rid of a rib that was supporting
the driver. Then you find better materials for
heat sinks, work on the power supply and power
correction. Every department
was on the same page, pulling
weight from wherever they could.
By establishing the goal early,
we got everyone involved, and I
think that made all the difference.
Today, Panther has a 4-channel,
Class D chassis that weighs less
than the transformer in Leo.”
Perhaps the most significant
advance in Panther was the new
horn. It had to feature long-
excursion and tight coverage,
with the three models in the
line ranging from 110-degrees
horizontal coverage (W), to 95
degrees (M) down to Panther-L’s
80-degree pattern. A variable horn
was never in the plans.
 musicality, the response…it fits Maximum peak output comes in comfortably at
right into the Meyer family, and more than 150 dB.
that’s important. We want to be With all these physical, electrical and
flexible and consistent up and mechanical advances, Panther still had
down the product line, while to connect with the outside world. While
ensuring that all models work continuing to incorporate analog I/O, which
The rear panel includes full AVB networking and legacy analog inputs seamlessly together. That’s built remains always-on and seamlessly kicks in if
via new Neutrik weatherproof connectors.
into the company’s founding there is a problem, Panther also becomes the
“We had the horns for 110 and 95 degrees from commitment to linearity, and it shows in first line array loudspeaker to add Milan/AVB
Lyon and we knew they worked,” Murphy says. advancements like this new horn.” connectivity.
“Bob McCarthy here at Meyer had been talking In feedback from clients over the past few “This is big for us,” Boot says. “We are finishing
about this 80-degree horn for a while, so we years, which John Meyer calls “data gathering,” the path to becoming fully digital, and there are
knew we wanted this long-throw version that it was clear that rising expenses and new power many pathways. The AVB open standard is
rolled off at -3 and -6 and was super-smooth and requirements around the world were leading to important for us. The precision of the signal is
all that. We also knew that internally, we needed high demand for more energy-efficient products critical in a line array, and if there is any shift
the W and M horns from the Lyon to be able to moving forward. Plus, the company has long of the signal on the way to the driver, bad stuff
fit. It’s the same horn, and it needs to have the supported sustainable materials and sustainable can happen. AVB is the only digital signal carrier
same meetup point for the drivers, the panels, touring. On release, Panther measures 20 that can guarantee the timing, along with the
the manifold and everything else. That’s why percent more energy-efficient than Lyon, with bandwidth reservation on the network, to make
it has a new look—the front had to protrude less heat overall. sure the signal gets to the speaker precisely when
because the meetup point had to be the same, Dealing with power turned out to be one it needs to.”
and we couldn’t move it further back in the box.” of the bigger challenges and occupied much Panther made its public debut on April 23 with
“When you listen to that horn, you realize of the development. Suffice to say that major the launch of the Ed Sheeran tour, and it will be
that it’s just a beautiful piece of engineering,” strides were made, particularly in higher-voltage making its indutrywide debut at Infocomm in
Boot interjects. “And it looks cool! But the rails and advanced power factor correction. Las Vegas the second week of June. n
Tech
JH Audio Sharona IEM
JH Audio has introduced its new flagship in-ear
monitor, the Sharona. The 16-driver IEM with
four-way crossover was developed using new RAU
Quad Supertweeter balanced armatures from
microacoustics company Knowles Corp. Equipped
with JH Audio’s patented Freqphase Technology
and Acoustic Sound Chamber, Sharona sports four
Supertweeters, four woofers, four midranges and
four tweeters. The Knowles Supertweeter features
a patented coil design with reduced inductance,
paired with a specially constructed, high-stiffness,
low-mass reed. Designed with the aim of providing
output and treble frequency extension without
requiring an amplifier or transformer, the
Supertweeter reportedly produces an extended
treble response starting where most balanced
armature drivers roll off (12 kHz) and pushes out
to 25 kHz, making it appropriate for delivering
lossless and high-resolution audio in premium
True Wireless Stereo (TWS) earphones.
Nugen Audio Halo Vision Plug-In
Nugen Audio has unveiled its new Halo Vision
plug-in, a customizable, real-time visual analysis
suite operating in up to 7.1.2 channels, available
in AAX, VST3 and AU formats. Halo Vision
features a variety of modules designed for 3D,
surround and immersive audio workflows,
with tools including a Correlation Matrix,
Correlation Web and Spectrum, as well as
expanded versions of Nugen’s Frequency Haze
and Location Haze functions, and a True Peak
meter for each channel. Designed to display
color-coded phase relationships between every
channel, the Correlation Matrix also features a
larger arched meter for more detailed analysis
and anti-correlation alerts at a user-defined
42 M I X | J U N E 2 0 2 2 | mi x o n l i n e.co m
threshold. The Correlation Web module shows
a network of channels with an interconnecting
line between each pair, which light up when the
phase relationship between the two channels
becomes anti-correlated. With low frequencies
at the center and high frequencies on the outer
edge, the circular Frequency Haze displays
frequency content across the surround field,
with channel labels in typical speaker positions.
SSL DeEss Plug-in
SSL has introduced its new DeEss plug-in, with
workflow tools that include automatic auditioning
and a built-in control for rejuvenating de-essed
signals that need brightening. A relative threshold
algorithm allows the user to change the input
level of a signal without a destructive effect on the
response of the de-esser. Users can target either
the mid or side components of a signal, or toggle in
automatic oversampling and look-ahead options.
Split and Broadband processing modes allow a
variety of filtering options for frequency-specific
de-essing, and users can Blend between them for
a desired balance. The filters can be switched out
independently, so users can audition either shelf or
bandpass options, depending on what is required.
new products
United Studio Technologies
UT Twin87 Mic
The UT Twin87, which aims to emulate the
sound of both vintage and modern “87-style”
mics, duplicates both circuits and allows users
to toggle between two discrete circuit topologies
on the fly. The mic features a UT-K87 capsule,
a custom-made K87-style, dual-diaphragm/
dual-backplate capsule precision milled from
brass, skinned with 6 µm (micron) Japanese
Mylar and a 24k gold-sputtered membrane.
In Vintage mode, the UT Twin87 polarizes
its capsule directly by normal (+48V, optimal)
phantom power voltages. Switching the UT
Twin87 into Modern mode polarizes its capsule
at a higher voltage using a FET oscillator circuit,
making for higher sensitivity that feeds a hotter
signal into the amplifier circuitry. The result
is said to deliver a louder, slightly brighter and
more articulate response, with an extended
top-end reach and more up-front character.
When switching the UT Twin87’s polar pattern
to cardioid, it disengages the pattern select
circuitry and decouples from the rear diaphragm
of the capsule with the aim of providing a
cardioid function that is slightly hotter with a
better signal-to-noise ratio.
Fulcrum Acoustic AHC2
High-Output Coaxial Horn
Fulcrum Acoustic has released the AHC2 High
Output Coaxial Horn, an updated variation
on the AH model. AHC2 products retain the
compact enclosures and associated features of
the original AH, while incorporating upgraded
drivers able to provide higher output. AHC2
products are available in multiple horn patterns
and have two high-power 10-inch woofers and
one coaxial mid/high compression driver. They
utilize Fulcrum Acoustic’s Compression Head
 horn architecture and
Oculus Phase Plugs with
the aim of extending
the length of the low-
frequency horn while
minimizing cabinet depth.
The AHC2 models provide broadband pattern
control to below 400 Hz and low-frequency
extension to below 80 Hz. AHC2 models include
the AHC295 (90° x 45°), AH C296 (90° x 60°),
AHC265 (60° x 45°), and AHC266 (60° x 60°).
Holophonix Immersive Sound
Processor—macOS Edition
Optimized specifically for macOS 10.15 (and
subsequent versions) and Intel 64/ARM processors,
the Holophonix Native software includes all the
spatialization techniques available within the
original Holophonix 128 processor, including High-
Order Ambisonics (2D, 3D) Vector-Base Intensity
Panning (2D, 3D), Vector-Base Amplitude Panning
(2D, 3D), Layer-Base Amplitude Panning, Wave Field
Synthesis, Angular 2D, k-Nearest Neighbor, Stereo
Panning, Stereo AB, Stereo XY, Native A-Format
Ambisonics, Native-B Format Ambisonics, Binaural
and Transaural. The software can reportedly handle
a nearly unlimited number of spatialization buses
and virtual sources, and offers up to 16 physical
output channels. Every parameter of the Holophonix
processor can be controlled via the Open Sound
Control (OSC) protocol.
Lectrosonics DSR,
DSR4 Digital Slot Receivers
Lectrosonics debuted its new DSR and DSR5P
dual-channel and DSR4 quad-channel digital slot
receivers, offering feature sets and capabilities in
the Unislot/Superslot form factor for ENG, field
and location production.
Both receivers are offered
in several tuning ranges,
including A1B1 (470-
614 MHz), B1C1 (537-
692 MHz), 941 (941-960
MHz for use in North America) and 961 (961-
1,015 MHz for use in the UK). Settings can
be made from the front-panel, high-resolution
display, making them appropriate for portable
bag systems, mounted in or on cameras, and
on sound carts. An RF spectrum analyzer and
SmartTune are built into the receivers to deal
with interference problems, and 2-way IR sync
aids setting up matching transmitters. The new
receivers include a USB jack and data connection
through the SuperSlot interface for compatibility
with Lectrosonics Wireless Designer frequency
coordination and system management software.
OWC Mercury Pro LTO-9
OWC has introduced its new Mercury Pro LTO-
9, a tape backup and archiving solution that can
be accessed by familiar drag-and-drop operation
and is said to offer better economies of scale
than disk-based storage. Small and rugged, with
a built-in handle, the unit can go on-set or move
among studio, department or office computers
for a shared data protection solution. The unit
is configurable by adding up to a 16 TB SSD in
the universal 2.5/3.5-inch drive expansion bay;
it’s likewise expandable through the second
Thunderbolt 3 port. The unit can store up to 12
TB native and up to 30 TB1 compressed storage
capacity per tape cartridge; it typically uses 12
TB per LTO-8 tape. Its built-in IBM-LTO-8 drive
reads and writes LTO-8 and LTO-7 tapes, and
supports AES 256-bit encryption for sensitive
data. The unit also supports WORM cartridges,
required by legal and regulatory record keeping,
and offers transfer rates of up to 300MB/s native
and up to 750MB/s1 compressed.
Austrian Audio Wireless Mic Capsules
Austrian Audio has introduced the OD505 WL1
and OC707 WL1 Wireless Microphone Capsules,
created for use with Shure wireless systems. Making
use of the company’s Open Acoustic Design, both
capsules reportedly have a reduced susceptibility to
pop noise, due to the pop noise diffuser, and don’t
change in sound and in feedback behavior when the
microphone head grille is gripped by the performer.
The OC707 WL1 reportedly provides considerable
volume and captures detail in the vocals, with a
proximity effect optimized to retain the character
of a voice at various distances and with changes in
mic technique. The supercardioid OD505 WL1 is
appropriate for lead or backing vocals, with a focus on
avoiding ambient noise and emphasizing the voice.
Clear Tune Monitors CE110
Clear Tune Monitors has
added the CE110 to its line
of monitors. Designed as
an entry-level IEM, the
universal-fit, single-driver
monitor features a single
10mm Titanium-Coated
PEEK driver, supported by
CTM’s Wave Integrating
Sonic Element technology,
which reportedly delivers an
immersive and consistent
reference audio experience. The ergonomic design,
based on the average shape of more than 20,000
ear impressions, aims to provide stability, comfort
and isolation. The CE110 comes with a standard
0.78mm, 2-pin detachable cable for replacement.
Genelec RAW Series 8331 & 8341
Genelec has taken its 8331 and 8341 three-way
coaxial studio monitors and added them to its
RAW Series of aluminum models. Unveiled in
2020, the distinctive RAW finish is available
on a selection of models in Genelec’s Studio,
AV and Home Audio ranges. All RAW models
feature the Minimum Diffraction Enclosure
(MDE) design, developed by Genelec in close
collaboration with industrial designer Harri
Koskinen. By eliminating edge diffractions, the
MDE is said to provide notably flat frequency
response, imaging and acoustical performance.
Throughout 2022, a percentage of RAW 8331
and 8341 sales will be given to the AES—a move
that stems from Genelec’s long-standing role as
a Sustaining Member of the Society. ■
mixonline.com | J U N E 2 0 2 2 | M I X 43
Tech // reviews
Crane Song Interstellar
Quantum A/D Converter
By Barry Rudolph
S
etting aside musical tastes, recording engineering and
production skills for the moment, the most important
element in achieving the best possible digital recording is
the crucial step of analog-to-digital conversion. That initial A/D
process and everything about it defines how “true to the source” the
digitized audio can be. A stable word clock with minimal jitter and
low phase noise, the choice of sample rate and the analog-to-digital
chipset will ensure the best possible sonic outcome.
Designer Dave Hill’s new Crane Song Interstellar is the analog-
to-digital converter half of the Crane Song HEDD Quantum
A/D/D/A converter. It uses the same AKM chipset and the same
Quantum word clock technology, with clock signal jitter measuring
less than 1-picosecond (10-12 seconds; i.e., the clock varies only
about 1 trillionth of a second, near the measurement limit of
modern equipment).
In digital audio, fluctuation and instability of the clock
signal timing (time domain) and the exact frequency (frequency
domain) that causes phase noise is collectively called jitter. Low
jitter is important for accurate, true-to-the-source A/D and D/A
conversions, but jitter is easily compromised in digital systems.
Jitter in digital audio—which can be caused by inferior master
clock design or the improper transmission of the clock signal to
equipment throughout the studio—is heard as an increased noise
floor, muddiness, lack of or rounded-off transients, harsh high
frequencies, and blurred stereo imaging. High amounts of jitter can
cause momentary, small pitch changes.
FRONT AND BACK
The 1U Interstellar has a front panel with an on/off toggle power
switch and five continuous rotary controllers labeled Function,
Sample Rate, Triode, Pentode and Tape. A small color LCD screen
mounted in the center of the panel monitors and enables control
44 M I X | J U N E 2 0 2 2 | mi x o n l i n e.co m
and setting parameters.
The unit’s Function control rotates between USB off/on, DSP
on/off and Setup modes, where either Filter 1 or 2 can be selected.
Filter 1 and 2 are choices within the AKM A/D conversion processor
chips. The (default) Filter 1 allows for accurate transients and
sounds more dynamic and three-dimensional. Filter 2 is flatter-
sounding and brighter.
In Setup, you can select either 24-bit (without dither) or dithered
16-bit. In 16-bit dither mode, Dave Hill adds a proprietary pre-
dither analog process before the A/D converter.
The Sample Rate controller knob cycles through sample rates of
44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4 and 192 kHz. You can change the rate at any
time, and you don’t have to be in Setup mode.
The next three rotary controllers are separate controls for the
Triode, Pentode and Tape processors. Their values are indicated in
the LCD window and retained when the unit is powered off.
Connections on the Interstellar’s rear panel include an AES/
EBU XLR digital output, as well as S/PDIF RCA and Optical
TOSLINK output jacks. All outputs are always active and available
for connection to digital inputs on your audio interface.
Interstellar expands its utility over the full Crane Song HEDD
Quantum A/D/D/A with the addition of a rear-panel USB port as
a direct interface to any DAW computer. In USB mode, the sample
rate is dictated by the DAW session, and you may simultaneously
record the same audio into two different systems at the same time
if the sample rates all match.
Finally, there is a pair of XLR sockets for balanced stereo line
level audio input. They come factory-set for +20 dBu analog input,
but you may recalibrate them using the recessed trim pots.
The rear panel has eight Word Clock BNC outputs (two more
than the HEDD Quantum), and that is more than enough for a Star
configuration. Star is a method of sending individual Word Clock
signals around the studio—aka, “house sync”—
that originated in video/film post houses to
assure all digital devices (tape decks, switchers,
etc.) were locked together using SMPTE code
and/or WC.
BUILD QUALITY—A LOOK INSIDE
Interstellar is future-proof, with a layout
of modular sub-assemblies that plug into a
motherboard that uses surface-mount
technology throughout. If a new, improved
A/D converter becomes available, only that sub-
assembly is changed.
A small switch-mode power supply feeds a total
of 18 separate voltage regulators to generate as
pure as possible the DC voltages required for all the
electronics—especially the sensitive clock boards.
There is only one ribbon cable to connect
the front-panel controls to the motherboard,
and the entire rear panel and connectors attach
directly to the motherboard itself. Notably, the
eight BNC Word Clock connectors are each on
their own board if one should fail.
The ADC board uses an AKM chipset and
plugs into the motherboard. Interstellar has
two, baseband master crystal oscillator boards
encased in shielded modules. For 44.1, 88.2
and 176.4 kHz clock rates, there is an oscillator
running at 22.5792 MHz. For 48, 96 and 192 kHz
rates, there is a second oscillator board running
at 24.576 MHz. Deriving clock frequencies in this
way is said to produce much less phase noise and
(therefore) lower jitter than using a Rubidium-
based, aka atomic, clock.
At Crane Song, the two oscillator boards are
extensively tested and burned in running inside
the unit, as well as separately outside of it. In my
outboard rack, Interstellar runs slightly warm by
design and requires about 20 minutes warmup
time to achieve optimum stability.
TRIODE, PENTODE AND TAPE
Triode, Pentode and Tape add analog amplifier-
like harmonic richness to the A/D conversion.
They are controlled using three separate
continuous encoders, with their (0 to 99)
numeric values indicated on the LCD screen.
They are connected in series, beginning with
Triode, and interact with each other.
The Triode function offers triode tube even-
ordered harmonics. Of the three, Triode is the
subtlest effect, but you will notice (depending
on the source) that the low frequencies become
fatter and denser with increasing amounts of
Triode. I liked it on pianos and some synths—it
adds a sweet, unique sound.
Pentode generates mostly third-order and
higher odd harmonics. I noticed a brighter sound,
with detail and transients more “hearable” and a
slight compression effect. I found Pentode great
for vocals, percussion (drums) and full mixes.
Tape emulates a tape deck, with odd
harmonics starting with third and fifth, plus
adds the effect of a tape recorder’s Record
and Playback electronics. Completely level-
dependent and just like with analog tape, you
can hear compression of the high frequencies
before the low frequencies. I noticed signal peaks
started to flatten out for a higher average level.
Cranking up Pentode and Tape does increase
overall level, and I found using these new tools
to be secret weapons when recording specific
instruments and vocals.
IN THE STUDIO
I run a two-card Pro Tools Ultimate HDX system
with five I/O boxes, including an Eventide
H9000R with its Pro Tools interface card
connected to my second HDX card. That is a
total of 96 channels of I/O, including 32 analog
channels, feeding an SSL Sigma summing box.
When mixing, using the Interstellar ADC with
its Word Clock clocking all interfaces, I record
the Sigma’s stereo analog output back into Pro
Tools in real time for archival and editing—mix
iterations are playlisted. When overdubbing, I
can route a stereo analog recording chain (mic
pre, EQ, compressor) to the Interstellar’s input
using a SSL X-Patch 16x16 Matrix Patch Bay.
I ran five separate 75-ohm (RG-59U) WC BNC
clock cables coming from Interstellar to each
one of the Avid I/O boxes and my H9000R. I
use 75-ohm termination resistors at the end of
each of the clock cables—the H9K has its own
termination built-in. For stereo playback, I’m
connecting the XLR AES/EBU digital output
(Enclosure) from my last I/O box to my Crane
Song Avocet IIA monitor controller with its
PRODUCT SUMMARY
COMPANY: Crane Song Ltd.
WEB: www.cranesong.com/interstellar.html
PRODUCT: Interstellar Quantum A/D Converter
PRICE: $3,099 MSRP
PROS: Super-low-jitter clock with distribution;
HEDD Processing
CONS: None
built-in 32-bit DAC. The Interstellar’s AES/EBU
XLR digital output connects to the same I/O box
as a stereo digital input.
NO COMPARISON
I am thrilled with both the change to a Star
configuration from Avid’s Loop Sync clocking
and the sound of Interstellar’s A/D conversion.
Those two changes breathed new life into my
Pro Tools system and upped the quality of my
mix work and all future recordings. Multitrack
mix sessions sound amazingly open, with
clarified stereo width and a solid sound stage;
panned positioning locked in as compared to
playing those same sessions using the old Loop
Sync setup.
Recording new audio with Interstellar is
marvelous. The small VU meters in the LCD
display immediately show peaks, and now I can
add a certain “je ne sais quoi” analog color to the
recording as I see fit. I’m still getting used to the
world of HEDD processing, but when unsure, I
can always just bypass it and deal with it later.
I started with recording a bass guitar and using
the Tape processor set to 60. I was at 48 kHz using
Filter 1 and noticed some compression—I liked
that I got the sound of hitting analog tape hot and
hearing the change right away; without having to
actually play back a tape recorder! I used a Retro
Instruments Revolver Dual compressor with one
channel on the direct signal and the other on the
microphone on the amp.
I recorded vocals using the Pentode processor,
and it worked great to brighten and slightly
compress my singer, who has a dark quality
and sings quietly. The Pentode’s brightness is
different from equalization and, in this case, was
a big winner!
When mixing using the Sigma and Interstellar’s
ADC and clock, balances come together much
faster and easier. The bottom end of the mix—bass
instrument, kicks, low strings—is much clearer
and more defined. It was one of the first things I
noticed when switching to Star clocking.
INTERSTELLAR SUPERNOVA
Interstellar is irresistible to me! It immediately
improves the sound of any digital recording
studio in two significant ways: The super-
low-jitter clock and built-in sonic choices of
analog processing from a multi-functional A/D
converter. This winner is now at the top of my
outboard rack! If you can, you should try one
out. Highly recommended. ■
mixonline.com | J U N E 2 0 2 2 | M I X 45
Tech // reviews
Universal
Audio Spark
New Subscription
Program Featuring
Native UAD Plug-ins
By Mike Levine

U
niversal Audio is the latest music A Spark subscription includes 17 plug-ins in native UADx format.
software developer to jump into
the subscription market. Its new Spark plan includes 17 One of the categories is Compressors, and you get several. That’s
plug-ins, of which 13 are processors, including three variations not surprising, as Universal Audio is known for its emulations of
each of the Teletronix LA-2A and UREI 1176 compressors. You also vintage compressors. The subscription includes the Teletronix
get four instruments, and all but one of the included plug-ins are LA-2A Collection, which features three variations of the classic
versions of existing UAD products. Teletronix Leveling Amplifier, the LA-2, LA-2A Gray and LA-2A
What makes Spark newsworthy is that the plug-ins are the Silver. For controlling dynamics and adding a little tube warmth,
company’s first 100 percent native offerings. Right now, Spark is these authentic-sounding LA-2A plug-ins are excellent.
only for Mac, but Universal Audio says a Windows version is in the Also included is the UADx version of the UA 1176 Collection,
pipeline for this Fall. which features three variations of the classic 1176 FET compressor:
Spark offers an opportunity to access UAD plug-ins for a much the 1176 Rev A, 1176AE and 1176LN Rev E. You also get UADx API
lower upfront cost than ever. Previously, any UAD system required 2500 Bus Compressor plug-in. Not to take anything away from that
one of the company’s interfaces or accelerator units. Then you’d plug-in, but I would have preferred the SSL G Bus Compressor,
need to buy plug-ins if you wanted a similar variety to what comes which is another UAD staple.
in Spark (UAD does include a small plug-in bundle with hardware
purchases). All told, the system would cost several thousand dollars, SPACE IS THE PLACE
depending on the interface or accelerator you chose. The Reverbs and Delays category of Spark features three excellent
But a Spark subscription costs less than $20 per month and plug-ins. The Lexicon 224 is an awesome-sounding digital reverb
requires no hardware purchase—you bring your own interface. that includes a range of algorithms, including halls, plates and
Such is the appeal of the subscription model: You get more for your chambers, and offers real adjustability. Another, Pure Plate Reverb,
money, albeit without ownership. combines a simple user interface with up to 5.5 seconds of lush
The release of Spark also means that users can buy one of plate reverb.
UAD’s new Volt interfaces—which don’t support UAD’s hardware- For delay, Spark offers the Galaxy Tape Echo, an emulation of the
accelerated offerings—and still be able to access at least a subset of Roland RE-201 Space Echo. It provides both tape delay and spring
the company’s plug-ins. reverb emulations. It’s an excellent plug-in, but if I were choosing a
According to Universal Audio, Spark is “an evolving collection” delay plug-in from the UAD catalog to include with Spark, I would
with an “ever-expanding library.” I asked the company to provide have picked the UAD EP-34 (an EchoPlex emulation).
more specifics about how many plug-ins it would add in the coming
year and which ones. They couldn’t offer specifics but certainly BEFORE AND AFTER
reiterated that the collection will continue to expand. The Preamps, EQ and Tape category includes three plug-ins. One
Let’s look at the current lineup that you get with a Spark is the classic Neve 1073, which contains a preamp and three-band
subscription. active EQ. Another is the API Vision Channel Strip Plus, which
UAD modeled from the 200 and 500 Series modules used in the
THE BIG SQUEEZE channel strips of the API Vision console. These include the 212L
On the Spark page of its website, Universal Audio breaks down the Microphone Preamp, 215L High/Low Sweep Filters, the 225L
Spark plug-ins (which have a UADx prefix to distinguish them from Compressor Limiter, 235L Gate/Expander and 550L Four-Band
the hardware-accelerated UAD plug-ins) into four categories. Equalizer, which you can swap with the 560L Ten-Band Graphic

46 M I X | J U N E 2 0 2 2 | mi x o n l i n e.co m
Equalizer.
Also included is the Studer A800 Tape
Machine, which allows you to apply tape-like
tone and saturation to sources.
PLAYING IT RIGHT
Of the four virtual instrument plug-ins in Spark,
three were initially developed by Universal Audio
for its Luna DAW. Of those, one is a replication of
the Moog Minimoog Model D that sounds as good
or better than any virtual Minimoog I’ve ever used.
The analog modeling in it is exceptional.
You also get the Waterfall B3, a gorgeous-
sounding emulation of a Hammond B3 and a
Leslie rotating speaker in one plug-in. UAD
meticulously replicated the B3 and even included
virtual bass pedals accessible from your controller
on a separate MIDI channel. The Leslie features
speed and overdrive controls, along with
adjustable mic positions and switchable virtual
models for stereo mics on the Horn and a mono
mic on the Drum.
The Ravel Grand Piano is a sweet-sounding
modeled Steinway Model B grand piano that
gives you virtual close mics and room mics. It has
a simple user interface that allows for changing
the balance between the two mic types, adjusting
dynamics and tone, and even choosing reverse
piano samples.
A SYNTH GEM
The last of the four instruments, the Opal
Morphing Synthesizer, is original for UADx and
only available for Spark subscribers. UA refers to
it as an “analog-meets-wavetable” synth because
you can set each of its three oscillators to use
modeled analog or wavetable sound sources (it
also offers a Noise Generator).
Each oscillator has a Morphing Dial that
lets you adjust its waveshape. If you set an
oscillator to Analog, you can morph it between
all the available analog waveforms, including
sine, triangle, sawtooth and square.
If you choose Wavetable, you first select from
an extensive list of wavetables in five categories:
Digital, Synth, Complex, Vocal/Vowel and
Instrument. You can then morph it between
different waveforms in the selected wavetable.
The ability to morph oscillator waveshapes adds
tons of creative possibilities with the instrument.
The output of the oscillators and noise
generator goes through a mixer, after which
you can apply filters and various types of
modulation. At the output stage, you can add
The new Opal Morphing Synthesizer is exclusive to Spark.
two additional effects from a list that includes
Reverb, Delay, Harmonic (distortion and
overdrive), Modulation and EQ/compression.
Of course, if you’re not into programming or
tweaking, the instrument features a generous
selection of presets that you can search by Genre,
Type or Description.
It’s quite a versatile synth overall. Whether
you’ve dialed up a patch with analog or digital
waveforms (or a combination), it sounds rich and
authentic and should be handy for any musical
style that uses synths.
PRESS AND GO
Once you’ve subscribed to Spark, downloading
and installing the plug-ins requires a different
process than with standard UAD plug-ins. You
begin by downloading an installer application
called UA Connect. Once open, you see
screenshots of all the Spark plug-ins, each with
an Install button.
The UADx plug-ins look almost identical to
their UAD counterparts, except they include
PRODUCT SUMMARY
COMPANY: Universal Audio
PRODUCT: Spark
WEBSITE: spark.uaudio.com
PRICE: $599
PROS: Native UADx plug-ins. UADx
performance. Excellent value. Low price.
Redesigned preset browsers. Four excellent
instruments. New and exclusive Opal Morphing
Synthesizer.
CONS: Three versions each of LA-2A and 1176
redundant in a small collection. No specifics on
future expansion.
a new design and placement for the preset
management features, which are located on
the top of the GUI rather than the bottom.
The way UADx handles presets is efficient and
reminiscent of the browsers in Luna. They not
only include search functions but the ability to
mark a preset as a “Favorite.”
When I put corresponding UAD and UADx
plug-ins side by side, they mostly looked alike
(other than the preset handling differences), but
the graphics were sharper in some of the UADx
plug-ins, such as the Lexicon 224 and the Studer
A800. I also noticed that the UADx Studer A800
didn’t include the Gang feature from the UAD
version, which lets you apply settings on one
instance across any other open instances.
Universal Audio told me that the specs are the
same between corresponding UAD and UADx
plug-ins. When I compared them to each other,
I couldn’t hear any difference.
WHAT TO THINK?
I’m quite impressed with Spark overall. My only
criticism of any substance is about the decision
to include all three variations each of the 1176
and the LA-2A. To me, that seems redundant.
For variety, I would have preferred only one 1176
and one LA-2A and some different processors in
place of the alternate versions.
That said, my guess is that Spark will be
quite popular and very competitive with other
subscription programs. It may not offer the
number of plug-ins you can get elsewhere, but
the ones it does provide are revered among
professionals and come from the higher end of
the market in both price and quality.
Software subscriptions are all about value,
and Spark delivers it big time. ■
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Tech // review shorts
Flare Calmer Earplugs
MOST You’ve got your headphones, your IEMs, your
wired earbuds, your wireless earbuds, your
IMPRESSIVE
general earplugs, your concert earplugs … and
FEATURE
now add one more ear accoutrement: sound-
Comfortable
and mild sound softening semi-earplugs, the Flare Calmer.
attenuation Calmers are soft silicone (latex-free)
earplugs, available in four colors, with a
tiny handle and a large hole in the middle to allow sound pressure
waves through. With just the right aperture and just the right
material, the resulting sound is just slightly mid- and high-
frequency attenuated, less resonant and slightly “cushiony,” with
less pronounced transients.
Frankly, my first thought was: “My earplugs offer enough
attenuation, and I can still understand speech.” Then I tried the
Calmers and realized that this was a much more subtle proposition
and function. The Calmers are so small, light and comfortable
that you forget they’re in after only a couple of minutes. Likewise,
you forget about the subtle softening attenuation. The result is
seemingly less disturbing auditory input, less focus on listening,
and a bit more subconscious relaxing. Calmers reportedly can help
with hyper sound sensitivity related to autism and other disorders.
I’m using them after long mixing sessions to speed up the
normalization of my ears, which seems to add to my mental re-
focusing, as well. Loud coffeehouses, restaurants and retail are
also good places to soften the chatter without hampering speech.
I often write my reviews wearing Calmers, as they help me to look
inward and ignore the outside world. I’ve even found Calmers help
make the TV-sound irrelevant when I’m trying to read and my wife
is watching “The Voice.”
Conversely, I have found that the Calmers are not good choices
for earplugs. They don’t attenuate enough to block out the loud
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stuff, and their subtle treatment seems insignificant against serious
SPL. They’re a little helpful for softening road noise during car trips,
although I’d be curious to see if they help during air travel.
At $28, Flare’s Calmers (or Calmer Minis, Kids, Night or
aluminum-lined Pros) are a small investment if you find yourself
with lingering post-session fatigue, that time when some softer
sounds, your favorite beverage and an easy chair might just get you
feeling refreshed lots quicker than you thought you could.
—Rob Tavaglione
SSL The Bus+ Compressor
[Editor’s Note: The following is not a “review”; it is a sneak peek at
features of a highly anticipated product. A comprehensive review
will appear in an upcoming issue of Mix.]
SSL’s The Bus+, a new, deluxe version of the company’s iconic
hardware bus compressor, maintains the circuitry and controls that
have made previous versions of the product so influential, popular
and often imitated, while adding modern features and more control.
For example, although the signal path is all-analog, the Bus+’s
knobs are digitally controlled. Each knob is stepped, and a micro-
controller monitors its position. Another new feature is D-EQ, an
analog dynamic equalizer with low- and high-frequency bands and
compression and expansion modes for each channel. You can also
toggle the EQ between pre and post-compressor in the signal chain.
Unlike its predecessors, The Bus+ offers four different working
modes, giving the unit the flexibility customarily found only on
plug-in emulations. In Classic Stereo mode, you get control over
both channels from one set of knobs. The ∑ S/C Stereo (Sigma
Sidechain mode) works the same as Classic Stereo, except it sums
the sidechain channels. Dual Mono mode allows you to control
each channel independently. Finally, Mid-Side mode lets you
separately adjust the center and side channels.
SSL also added additional ratios and release times. For the
former, new settings include ratios of 1.3:1 and 1.5:1 for mastering
and -2.5:1, -1.5:1 and -0.5:1 for dialing in creative pumping effects.
The unit offers a total of 11 release time options, which is almost
double what it offered in previous hardware bus compressors.
—Mike Levine
Open Channel
In Praise of Things That Destroy Music

T
here were opinion pieces in the ’50s about how running the hard disk recording session, not the tools.
equalization and reverb were destroying music.
Seriously! EQ was blamed for deceiving the PITCH CORRECTION DESTROYED MUSIC!
public by being able to give teenage idols, who were Pitch correction is also charged with contributing to The End of Music As We
chosen solely for their looks, more vocal gravitas. And Know It, because it sucks all the life out of vocals. Well, assuming any pitch
reverb was about papering over flaws. Apparently, they flattening is not intended as an effect, it does kind of break the mood when
By Craig didn’t realize reverb could reproduce the psychoacoustic that mechanical voice sound taints a vocal. But does it really suck the life out
Anderton effects of ambience. of music? As I alluded to in my first Open Channel, no—and here’s why.
These days, I don’t think very many audio engineers are Full disclosure: I use pitch correction (as well as EQ and reverb, so
tormented by shame and guilt as they add a little high-frequency shelving, sue me) because it adds life to my music. I can sing with more freedom,
or fire up a convolution reverb. Clearly, EQ and reverb didn’t destroy music. knowing that if a part were far better than other takes but there’s one bad
But now we have a new collection of things that some firmly believe note, pitch correction can fix it. It’s not necessary to re-record or punch,
have destroyed, or at least are busy destroying, music as we know it. Are and potentially lose what made that take my favorite.
these concerns valid? Well… What’s more, you won’t hear where I fixed it, because it’s possible
to do pitch correction with a light touch. And maybe that’s why pitch
PRO TOOLS DESTROYED MUSIC! correction gets such a bad rap: When it’s used transparently, it doesn’t
This is usually said by people who don’t realize that “Pro Tools” is not a get props because you can’t tell it’s being used. But when someone gets
generic term, nor is it the only recording software in the universe—if they lazy and applies it indiscriminately, all of a sudden that’s the fault of pitch
knew better, they’d say hard disk recording destroyed music. They cite correction. I don’t think so.
the endless edits, copying and pasting
entire sections instead of recording Reality check: You can run a hard disk QUANTIZATION
new parts, comping vocals almost
word-by-word, and the like.
session just like you run tape. You can DESTROYED MUSIC!
And, of course, quantization destroyed
Well, they do have a point. I’m still punch instead of comp. You don’t have music, too. To be fair, some music is
emotionally scarred by the time that meant to be quantized—think Kraftwerk.
to copy and paste. You can bounce
Pro Tools sauntered menacingly up But if the music sounds quantized, that’s
to me, held a knife to my throat and tracks to mix them down if you want not the fault of quantization. It’s the fault
hissed, “If you know what’s good for of the person who selected a bunch of
you, boy, you’re gonna comp that vocal.” I meekly acceded—after all, what notes and quantized them.
else could I do? I’m not ashamed to say I use quantization, but like pitch correction, it’s
Oh, wait…that didn’t actually happen. Ooops. I admit it, I’m the one selective.
who decided to comp the vocal. But I felt such guilt and shame that I In drum parts, I typically quantize the kick and let the other drums fall
blamed the software instead. where they may. If anything, the timing differences between the perfect
Reality check: You can run a hard disk session just like you run tape. kick and the other drums enhances the natural “feel” of the drums that lead
You can punch instead of comp. You don’t have to copy and paste. You can or lag the beat on purpose. You don’t have to follow a click track, either,
bounce tracks to mix them down if you want. even if you depend on tempo-synched effects; there are several possible
My favorite complaint about hard disk recording is the person who said ways to create subtle timing variations.
that the time spent rewinding tape was a welcome break because it allowed
him to gather his thoughts before recording another take. That seemed SO HERE’S WHAT DOES DESTROY MUSIC
like an intractable problem, until I came up with an absolutely brilliant, Laziness, arrogance, fear that creative experiments will end up as epic fails,
patent-pending solution: “Hey, you could wait a few seconds before hitting and making excuses about what’s destroying music rather than learning
Record again!” how to use new tools in the most appropriate and creative ways.
People not taking responsibility for their actions is currently a hot topic, As the bumper stickers say, “Machines don’t kill music…people kill
as some folks try to contort anything into being someone else’s fault. But music.” Now, excuse me while I go add some EQ and reverb to a guitar
if hard disk recording is indeed destroying music, that’s on the people part. I have no shame. ■

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9000