jbl – Premium vinyl record cleaners

JBL 4305P

Posted on May 26, 2023 by Stefan Gawlick

JBL 4305P

So klein, so sensible und schon so blau – eine Spurensuche. Und warum diese Farbe im Fall der JBL 4305P kein falsches Zitat ist.

In aller Kürze:
Auspacken, anschließen, fertig. Es ist quick zu schön, um wahr zu sein: Die kleinen JBL 4305P spielen sich nicht nur klanglich, sondern auch durch ihre Pflegeleichtigkeit weit nach vorn.

JBLs klassische wie riesige Monitore sind mit ihren geriffelten Papiermembranen, Waveguides und – natürlich – blauen Fronten in der Studio- und HiFi-Welt nichts weniger als Ikonen. Damit hat der Hersteller etwas geschafft, wonach sich andere Manufakturen alle Finger lecken. Meine Neugierde battle entsprechend groß, als mir ein kleiner neuer Home-Studio-Monitor zum Test angeboten wurde. Die Rubrizierung der kompakten Aktiven ist zwar ein Begriffskonglomarat, das sich in sich beißt, mein Wissen um den Profihintergrund des Herstellers ließ allerdings Gutes hoffen.

Nun stehen sie hier, die erschreckend kleinen JBL 4305P, und sehen mich mit ihren kleinen Hochtonhörnchen herausfordernd an. Sie stehen für eine neue Spezies, die es vor kurzer Zeit noch gar nicht gab und die sich so schlecht in die althergebrachten HiFi-Schubladen stecken lässt: Ein kleiner Lautsprecher mit zumindest teilweise professionellem Anspruch und entsprechenden optischen Anleihen, zugleich wohnzimmertauglich, als Aktivmonitor dem highfidelen Spieltrieb trotzend und dank internem D/A-Wandler und Netzwerkkompatibilität mit wirklich allen erdenkbaren Quellen ansteuerbar. Bei dem noch halbwegs freundlichen Preis fragt man sich dann doch, ob das alles gutgehen kann.

Bei genauerer Betrachtung halten die kleinen 4305P tatsächlich, was ihre blaue Front verspricht. Ein einzölliger Druckkammertreiber lauert hinter dem klassisch geformten Hornmund, der zwangsläufig etwas kleinere Tiefmitteltöner besteht natürlich aus Papier, und die eingeprägten Ringe zur Versteifung dürfen natürlich auf nicht fehlen. So weit, so intestine. Im Innern der Box tummelt sich in hoher Packungsdichte alles an aktueller Technologie, was der Harman-Konzern zu bieten hat, und sorgt gleich zu Beginn der Durchsicht für große Freude: Oft handelt es sich bei solchen Aktivlautsprechern in Wahrheit um passive Konstruktionen, bei denen ein interner Monoverstärker eine passive Weiche ansteuert. Sieht von außen aktiv aus, ist es aber nicht. Hier hingegen kümmern sich zwei eigens konfigurierte Class-D-Verstärker um die beiden Chassis und werden von einem DSP als Weiche beschickt. Die Trennfrequenz von guten 1700 Hertz lässt neugierig werden, wie intestine die kleine JBL denn mit Stimmen umzugehen vermag.

Rückseitig unterscheiden sich die beiden Monitore deutlich, gibt es doch einen Hauptlautsprecher und einen Sklaven, der mittels eines CAT-Kabels verbunden wird. Per Funk geht es auch, allerdings sinken dann die Datenraten, und so haben wir uns entschieden, bei den Kabeln zu bleiben. Denn die JBL soll sich ja bestmöglich präsentieren können.

Wenden wir uns der Hauptbox zu, erfahren wir, was man bei JBL meint, wenn einem gesagt wird, dass dieser Lautsprecher „in sehr viele Umgebungen integrierbar“ sei. Es geht schlicht alles. Ganz konventionell können wir die 4305P analog beschicken, XLR und Klinke sind möglich. Wenn man es ganz böse treiben möchte, kann man sogar das Handy per Miniklinke anleinen, was wir allerdings nicht mehr ausprobiert haben. Es gibt Grenzen. Weiter geht es mit einem digitalen (optischen) Toslink-Eingang, über den beispielsweise ein CD-Laufwerk Anschluss findet. Daneben gibt es noch eine USB-Buchse, die Computern Zugang gewährt. Natürlich gibt es auch einen Ethernet-Zugang, WLAN und Bluetooth sind aber auch möglich. Am Ende sind wir allerdings noch nicht, denn die kleinen JBLs können auch über einen entsprechenden Ausgang Subwoofer beschicken. Man kann weiterhin den Bass mittels eines kleinen Schalters absenken, falls die Box doch einmal in einem Regal residieren sollte, und zu guter Letzt schalten, ob die Masterbox denn nun hyperlinks oder rechts stehen soll. Im Karton findet sich übrigens wirklich alles, was man benötigt, um diese Lautsprecher in Betrieb zu nehmen. Alle nötigen Kabel und eine Fernbedienung sind an Bord.

Erste Hörversuche habe ich ganz konventionell über XLR-Kabel gewagt, mein Crane-Song-Vorverstärker bildete dafür das Herz der Anlage, Signale kamen vom Mark Levinson No. 390S und einem Transrotor Apollon.

Nun ist es Zeit, die weiter oben gestellte Frage, ob das denn alles intestine gehen könne, zu beantworten. Nach wenigen Sekunden fällt die Antwort sehr leicht: Ja – ohne Wenn und Aber! Elisabeth Schwarzkopf macht den Anfang mit den Vier letzten Liedern von Richard Strauss (Angel LP 36347). Schon zu Beginn des „Frühlings“ ist alles da, Schwarzkopf beginnt leise in einer tiefen, eher unangenehmen Lage „in dämmrigen Grüften“ und schwingt sich binnen weniger Takte auf zu kristallklaren Höhen, Baumwipfeln und Vogelgesang. Diese immensen Registerwechsel sauber darzustellen und gleichzeitig die Sängerin klar vor dem dunkel timbrierten Orchester (Radiosinfonieorchester Berlin unter George Szell) zu platzieren, ist ein Kunststück, bei dem auch größere und teurere Kollegen einknicken. Die kleinen JBLs begeistern hier mit einem weiten Raum, einer ziemlich guten Einteilung der Schallereignisse und vor allem einem minutiösen Nachzeichnen der Farbwechsel in Schwarzkopfs Stimme. In den Höhen werden glücklicherweise scharfe Töne vermieden, die bei dieser Aufnahme leicht das Vergnügen beeinträchtigen können. Also erst einmal ein Einstand nach Maß. So aus dem Stand nach nur minimaler Zuwendung bei der Aufstellung gelingt das nur wenigen.

Nun gebe ich mir doch etwas Mühe und platziere nach einigen Versuchen die beiden Lautsprecher einen guten Meter von der Rückwand entfernt und gerade nicht ganz auf den Hörer eingewinkelt. Ich denke mal, 30 Grad dürften es sein. Immer noch von der genannten Anlage über Vovox-Kabel versorgt, geht jetzt so richtig die Sonne auf. Das kompakt aufgebaute Orchester bei Rossinis Reise nach Reims (Claudio Abbado, Berliner Philharmoniker, Sony-CD) wird jetzt quick millimetergenau zwischen den Boxen abgebildet, man kann jeden kleinen Einwurf der Holzbläser, jeden kurzen Wirbel der Pauken exakt zuordnen. Dabei, und jetzt fällt mir ein Stein vom Herzen, zerbricht das Gesamtbild nicht zugunsten dieser Detailliebe. Ja, der Monitor ist explizit auch für non-public Habitate gedacht, daher gönnt er jedem Signal auch eine gewisse Verbindlichkeit, die alle einzelnen Pinselstriche zu einem schlüssigen Bild zusammenführt.

Jetzt noch ein Test aus der anderen Welt. Die Masterbox hängt per CAT-Kabel am Router, auf dem Handy ist Google Home installiert, um die Böxchen mittels Chromecast in die rein digitale Welt zu führen. Die Installation ist auch ohne Bedienungsanleitung über die zwei Knöpfe an der Front des Hauptlautsprechers und wenige Schritte in der App schnell erledigt, und schon nach wenigen Momenten kann ich Musik by way of Tidal oder Qobuz (klanglich die unbedingte Empfehlung, ein kleiner Gutschein dafür liegt bei) genießen. Ich kann es kaum glauben, wie schnell und einfach das ging.

Bildergalerie

►

Jetzt führt der Weg von Dead Can Dance über Schuberts Forelle zum letzten, posthum veröffentlichten Album von Prince. Auch hier wieder das gleiche Bild. Die JBLs gehen mit Detailliebe, vor allem aber satten Farben und einem scheinbar ungezwungenen Zugang zur Musik vor. Man kann viele Details hören, muss sich aber nicht darauf konzentrieren, was ich für eine extrem gelungene Abstimmung halte. Offenbar ist die Weiche bestens konfiguriert, sind die beiden Verstärker (125 Watt für den Bass und komplett rauschfreie 25 Watt für den Hochtöner) optimum an die Chassis angepasst. Also nichts zu meckern? Okay, es wäre schön gewesen, die ganz klassische Version in Nussbaum hier zu haben. Dann hätte nämlich auch der Bespannungsstoff in edlem Blau beglückt.

Auch wenn die JBL 4305P bei mir zuerst in einem größeren Raum spielten und auch da schon überzeugten, fühlen sie sich in kleineren Zimmern hörbar wohler. Möchte man sich auf das Streaming beschränken, reichen zwei gute Ständer, zwei Netzkabel und zwei CAT-Leitungen, damit eine komplette, hochkompetente Anlage steht. Und so sorgenfrei die JBLs schon nach dem Auspacken aufspielen – gönnen Sie ihnen ein wenig Zuwendung. Jeder zusätzliche Aufwand wird klanglich reich belohnt.

Info

Aktivlautsprecher JBL 4305P

Konzept: 2-Wege-Bassreflex-Aktivmonitor mit DAC und Streamingfunktion
Eingänge digital: Ethernet, 1 x USB B (asynchron), 1 x Toslink (optisch)
Eingänge analog: ¼-Zoll-Klinke/XLR Kombi, 3,5-mm-Stereoklinke
Verbindungen drahtlos: WLAN, Bluetooth
Ausgänge: 1 x Subwoofer, „DigiLink“
Bestückung: 130-mm-Tiefmitteltöner, Hochtöner mit 25-mm-Druckkkammer-Treiber
Ausführungen: Schwarz, Nussbaum
Maße (B/H/T): 21/24/22 cm
Gewicht: 7/6 kg (Master/Slave)
Garantiezeit: 5 Jahre
Preis: um 2200 €

Kontakt

Harman Deutschland GmbH
Parkring 3
85748 Garching bei München
Telefon +49 30 22957806

de.jbl.com/premium-audio

Mitspieler

Plattenspieler: Transrotor Apollon TMD mit SME 5, SME 3012 u. a.
CD-Player: Mark Levinson No. 390S
DAC: Merging Technologies
Vorverstärker: Crane Song Avocet
Endverstärker: Digitalendstufe auf ICE Power basierend, Accuphase P-4200
Vollverstärker: Lavardin IT
Lautsprecher: Spendor Classic 3/5, Wilson Audio Sasha DAW

Der Beitrag JBL 4305P erschien zuerst auf FIDELITY on-line.

World News

Bringing The Grateful Dead’s Wall of Sound Back to Life

Posted on May 1, 2023 by Clive Young

It’s a brilliant April afternoon in Georgetown, Connecticut as I pull up outdoors the outdated stone church. The car parking zone is empty apart from a white van, out of which hops Anthony Coscia, an amiable man in a grey fleece vest and matching Grateful Dead “Stealie” ballcap. “Got a jacket with you?” he says. I nod. “You’ll need to put it on; it will get fairly chilly in there.” The former church has no warmth—or operating water, as evidenced by the transportable rest room outdoors—however it does have what some Dead followers contemplate to be The Holy Grail.

He leads me into the gloomy, dank edifice; we flip the nook into the principle room, and there it stands on the again: Coscia’s hovering, 30-foot-tall, half-scale reproduction of the Grateful Dead’s legendary Wall of Sound.

AUDIO EXCESS

The unique Wall of Sound P.A. was a profitable failure that grew to become the stuff of legend amongst Deadheads. A colossal system that was one thing of a precursor to the fashionable line array, it was envisioned in 1972 by audio engineer/prolific LSD chemist Owsley “Bear” Stanley and created with Dan Healy, Mark Rizene, Ron Wickersham, Rick Turner and John Curl. As the identify suggests, it was an precise bodily wall of audio system—a group of six separate P.A.s, ground-stacked inside scaffolding and positioned onstage behind the band to behave as a simultaneous home and monitor system. The devices had their very own devoted speaker columns throughout the wall, which resulted in low intermodulation distortion and inadvertently offered on-stage localization, as a result of every performer naturally stood in entrance of his personal column to listen to himself.

A complete of 11 channels fed the system: vocals, guitar, lead guitar, piano, three drum channels, and 4 bass channels—one for every string, separated by a quadraphonic encoder. Vocals had been summed to a mono channel, and the problems of vocal mic suggestions and stage bleed had been solved by putting two out-of-phase condenser mics at every mic place; one was sung into whereas the opposite captured stage ambiance, so summing them collectively canceled out every part however the vocal.

The Grateful Dead’s ultimate model of the system, standing roughly 98 toes throughout and 36 toes excessive, traveled in 4 semis and required 21 individuals and a whole day to load-in. A complete of 586 JBL 15-, 12- and 5-inch audio system and 54 Electro-Voice tweeters had been housed in Hard Trucker-style birch plywood cupboards, all powered by 48 McIntosh MC-2300 amplifiers for a complete of 28,800 watts.

The system’s sheer bulk was in the end why the Wall got here down for good. The band first tried to carry out by a preliminary model in February, 1973, and blew out each tweeter in the course of the first music. Undeterred, the Dead started touring with the prodigious P.A. in March, 1974, solely to retire it seven months later when manufacturing prices spiraled uncontrolled attributable to a nationwide fuel disaster. Nonetheless, the Wall of Sound was preserved for eternity when the band filmed 5 reveals with it at San Francisco’s Winterland in October, 1974; that live performance footage grew to become the guts of 1977’s The Grateful Dead Movie.

LIVING THE DREAM

Anthony Coscia by no means heard the unique Wall of Sound (he was six years outdated on the time), however that hasn’t stopped the lifelong Dead fan from constructing his personal. The ensuing behemoth towers above us as we sit on folding chairs subsequent to a propane cannon heater blasting away within the dim, freezing church. We’ll wind up speaking for greater than an hour earlier than he fires up the Wall.

For most Dead followers, rebuilding the legendary P.A. can be a enjoyable, idle daydream at finest, so what would make somebody resolve to begin “residing the dream” and truly construct it, sinking a whole bunch of hours and hundreds of {dollars} into the mission?

Well, the very first thing to know is that Coscia has constructed a couple of Walls now, and whereas that may sound like a interest that’s spiraled uncontrolled, it’s something however. Much like a Dead present, the enjoyable is within the journey, however at its coronary heart, it’s nonetheless a money-making enterprise. Coscia’s background makes him uniquely certified to rebuild the Wall, too—having beforehand labored in development, he had a stable understanding of tips on how to construct it, and as a luthier catering to the Grateful Dead musician group, he’s tapped right into a community of typically well-heeled, well-connected Deadheads that is perhaps prepared to present the system a brand new residence.

“The final 5 years, I’ve been completely making guitars, shifting from a interest perspective to an expert, full-time factor,” says Coscia. “They’re particular to the Grateful Dead universe; I don’t make clones, however I do know my musicians and what they want, and I make Hard Trucker-style speaker cupboards for them as effectively. It obtained to the purpose the place I’d have 20 or 30 full-size cupboards within the store, so it grew to become, ‘Why don’t I simply maintain going and make the Wall of Sound?’ When I did the primary Wall, it was tiny—5 toes tall, eight toes broad. The costliest speaker was $2 and the most cost effective was 28 cents. My whole finances was in all probability $1,000.”

That first Wall, a 1/6-scale working reproduction with audio system starting from 2.5-inches right down to 7/8-inch fashions utilized in cell telephones, made the entrance web page of The Wall Street Journal in 2020. The notoriety led to constructing three 1⁄4-scale variations, every standing 14-by-10-feet—one for Coscia to indicate at occasions; one for a consumer; and one which was donated to HeadCount, a voter-registration nonprofit that bought it for $100,000.

Buoyed by their success, Coscia started to assume huge—or at the least greater—and commenced constructing his half-scale Wall of Sound, partially as a result of the 1/4-scale programs may solely present a touch of what the unique appeared like.

“At the top of this half-scale, I’ll know whether or not the entire thing actually has benefit,” he says. “One million individuals inform me ‘The finest live performance I ever noticed was a Wall of Sound present,’ however I don’t imagine they had been able to essentially know. Either A, they had been dosed at a Dead present, or B, they had been impressed by what it appears like, and it’s onerous to have an opinion based mostly on something actual in the event you’re busy going ‘Wow.’”

THE WALL OF SOUND’S SOUND

Coscia begins the system, and shortly the church is stuffed with the melodic strains of Grateful Dead tribute act Half Step as a multi-track of the band performs by the Wall. The localization works like a attraction, giving one thing of an immersive impact close to every instrument’s column. Meanwhile, throughout the room on the altar, the varied programs congeal cleanly to change into a delightful full band combine. Half Step on a half-scale Wall doesn’t sound half dangerous, it seems. So are the rumors true and the Wall of Sound was truly the best live performance system ever made? No—however you possibly can see why it in all probability was in 1974.

Surprisingly, Coscia agrees with that sentiment, and it might be why he needs his multi-ton nostalgia machine to be visually similar to the unique, however not beholden to the expertise that comprised it. Rather than use two out-of-phase mics to forestall mic bleed, he employs Optogate infrared microphone gates plugged on to the ends of the vocal mics. Rather than slavishly comply with the unique console-less sign paths of instrument-preamp-amplifier-speakers, all indicators go to a Midas M32 digital digital mixer alongside the best way in order that he can reassign speaker columns with out having to rewire every part. Rather than fear about amplifier speaker hundreds, he makes use of passive Zero-Ohm Multispeaker System items to energy a given column in parallel off a single amplifier with out utilizing transformers. If he had the time, information and a vast finances, he’d leap on the likelihood to include DSP and beam-steering to additional enhance the sound. In quick, Coscia has no downside using modern-day pro-audio advances to make his Wall extra versatile, simpler to make use of, probably higher sounding and undoubtedly extra marketable to a possible purchaser.

However, whereas recreating a Nineteen Seventies sound system, Coscia confronted a really 2020s downside: provide chain points. Finding components, expertise and audio system was a problem within the wake of the pandemic, and plenty of producers had been unable to ship product. Ultimately, he went with CVR Audio amplifiers, whereas his eight-inch audio system had been produced by Spanish producer Beyma, and the three- and six-inch audio system had been Italian-made FaitalPro fashions.

When all these audio system had been put in cupboards, they needed to be modified—to not have an effect on sound high quality, however to make sure they resembled those within the Dead’s Wall. Some baffles had been sponge-painted to appear to be the cork used on the unique’s JBL audio system, whereas a couple of mud caps had been painted silver to duplicate aluminum. The unique audio system had front-facing clips in order that they may very well be yanked out and changed mid-show if wanted; Coscia ordered 1,200 custom-made clips to placed on his cupboards purely for the aesthetics, however with solely 200 delivered to this point, he hasn’t put in them but.

That’s tremendous, as he faces a far higher problem for the time being. To borrow a Grateful Dead phrase that appears notably acceptable given our environment, Anthony Coscia is searching for a miracle.

UP AGAINST THE WALL

The half-scale Wall quickly moved into the church final fall due to a Dead fan who had simply purchased the constructing. It was a fortunate break for Coscia, who wanted the room to correctly assemble and fine-tune the system. However, that point of largess is coming to an finish: The Wall of Sound has to maneuver out by mid-May in order that the constructing will be renovated to deal with a number of music charities.

“It will kill me if I’ve to place the Wall into storage,” says Coscia, not due to the trouble or value, however as a result of the Wall will likely be more durable to promote if it could possibly’t be seen and heard.

If he can’t promote it in time, Coscia’s hoping to discover a native venue to associate with—one large enough to maintain the Wall on its stage and provides visiting bands the choice to make use of it or the home system. “I’m prepared to separate revenues or no matter; we’ll make it work for everyone,” he says, including that he will get emails each day from bands asking to play by it and Deadheads who need to hear it.

Coscia is assured he can beat the clock and get the half-scale Wall out of his hair a technique or one other. He must, so as to vacate the church, keep away from renting storage lockers, recoup hundreds invested within the mission, and rather more, however there may be one cause above all why he must do it—a cause that looms as massive as the large sound system itself: The funds will assist him construct a ultimate, full-scale Wall of Sound in time for 2024—the system’s fiftieth anniversary.

World News

Inside The Sound of ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’

Posted on March 13, 2023 by Clive Young

Key members of the sound team at Signature Post Mix Stage 1 in Burbank, Calif., from left: Ian Chang, Rafiq Bhatia, Ryan Lott, James Wyatt, Daniel Kwan, Julie Diaz, Daniel Scheinert, Alexandra Fehrman, Carey Smith and Brent Kiser. PHOTO: Courtesy of Unbridled Sound. — Key members of the Everything Everywhere All At Once sound staff at Signature Post Mix Stage 1 in Burbank, Calif., from left: Ian Chang, Rafiq Bhatia, Ryan Lott, James Wyatt, Daniel Kwan, Julie Diaz, Daniel Scheinert, Alexandra Fehrman, Carey Smith and Brent Kiser. PHOTO: Courtesy of Unbridled Sound.

FROM THE JULY, 2022 ISSUE OF MIX

Award-winning administrators Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert—the Daniels— have already made their mark on filmmaking. Their feature-length directorial debut, Swiss Army Man (2016), starring Paul Dano and Daniel Radcliffe, is a life-affirming, unforgettable movie of survival, resilience, perseverance and flatulence.”

Their follow-up, Everything Everywhere All At Once, is equally distinctive, traversing topics starting from the existence of parallel universes, to tax evasion, to common consciousness, to generational trauma, to social acceptance, to dysfunctional relationships, to… It bears the Daniels’ distinct model of outré humor (suppose kung fu fights with a fanny-pack, and a actuality the place sizzling dog-fingered people play piano with their toes). Such out-there, artistic ideas name for a filmmaking staff that’s keen to get bizarre. For sound, Emmy and MPSE Award-winning supervising sound editor/re-recording mixer Brent Kiser, proprietor of Unbridled Sound in Los Angeles, match the invoice completely.

“After Swiss Army Man, the Daniels began speaking about this enjoyable new movie,” Kiser recollects. “Then in 2019, producer Jonathan Wong mentioned they’d a script and requested if I needed to see it. I mentioned, ‘Yes, however will I perceive it?’ The laborious factor about studying these scripts is that they’re so wonderful and also you’re laughing as you’re studying them, however you’re additionally pondering, ‘How is that this going to work?’”

Having sound supervised and co-mixed Swiss Army Man (with re-recording mixer Beau Borders), Kiser knew that Everything would require some artistic contortionism. He tapped MPSE Award-winning sound designer Andrew Twite, ADR supervisor Julie Diaz, re-recording mixer Alexandra Fehrman, John Sievert’s Foley crew at JRS Productions, and sound results editors Reese Richardson,” Kailand “KC” Reilly, and Jacob “Young Thor” Flack, amongst a couple of others.”

TUNING AND STATIC

“Verse leaping,” for these scenes when a personality connects with a distinct model of themself from one other actuality within the multiverse with the intention to acquire their abilities, grew to become the primary sound design activity. From a sound perspective, the staff wanted to discover a means for the verses to intermingle, to make it really feel like components from one verse are being pulled into one other. For this, Kiser and Twite (additionally a Swiss Army Man alum) developed a radio-tuning transition.

“It grew to become an ideal narrative device that added to the story, but in addition assisted us in connecting these bizarre areas and moments,” says Twite.” “They simply tossed us this primary scene and mentioned, ‘We have to really feel totally different verses coming by, and that every thing’s breaking down. Go!’”

The first style of verse leaping was an epic hallway battle wherein antagonist Jobu Topaki confronts Evelyn. Jobu has mastered verse leaping to the purpose that she’s concurrently experiencing each model of herself suddenly. Twite sometimes begins his sound design by recording, along with his most up-to-date rig together with an Audio-Technica BP4025 stereo mic feeding an Avid Omni preamp straight into Pro Tools. For the radio-tuning components, he recorded frequency sweeps, tuning and “roger” beeps from an previous two-way radio, and a small, handcranked AM/FM tenting radio, the place “I used to be typically tuning by channels, looking for these locations that trip the road between reception and static,” he says.

A tense moment from ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once.’ PHOTO: Allyson Riggs — A tense second from Everything Everywhere All At Once. PHOTO: Allyson Riggs

These recordings had been loaded into Soundminer, which encompasses a built-in DSPRack that helps each VST2.4 and AU plug-ins, permitting Twite to check out quite a few plug-ins and processing chains to find attainable textures and actions earlier than rendering into Pro Tools. “I used Kilohearts Snap Heap fairly a bit with the radio components,” he explains. “Snap Heap is a modular-based plug-in; you’ll be able to add all kinds of modules or Snap-ins to create or modify sounds. You can run the modules in parallel or in collection, and every module may be managed independently when you are tweaking your sound. I really feel like I’ve solely scratched the floor of what’s attainable.”

Twite’s favourite radio-tuning second performs throughout a battle wherein a safety guard will get pummeled by two outsized dildos. “We hit a slow-motion second, and one ‘weapon’ bends towards the digital camera,” he says. “I ran a radio frequency sweep and roger beep by Snap Heap with a Frequency Shifter, Ring Mod, Dynamics module for reinforcing particular frequencies, and a Delay, and I bought this loopy bending sound with the beep accent proper because the ‘weapon’ is bent all the way in which ahead. It’s an ideal accent for the second. I simply find it irresistible.”

One hallway scene additionally has big waves of multiverse power, which the Jobu character conjures throughout her confrontation with Evelyn. For that sound, Twite recorded a two-foot part of eight-inch ribbed tubing by inserting an A-T AT897 quick shotgun mic into the tube after which scraping the tube’s exterior with a wood dowel at totally different speeds, and with the tube bent in several instructions. He manipulated the recordings utilizing a pitch shifter earlier than operating the sounds by Ina-GRM Tools Doppler plug-in to create lengthy, textured whoosh-bys. Twite additionally created breathy vocal whooshes utilizing the Sennheiser MKH 8050 mic. Those recordings had been pitched down considerably to create ethereal whoosh components that play in tandem with the tube whooshes.

“Once we bought to the combo stage and fine-tuned the panning, you’ll be able to really feel them cross round you, particularly within the Dolby Atmos combine. They turned out to be actually efficient, albeit fairly easy,” he says.

RECORDING A MULTIVERSE

Having a bit of fun on the dub stage during a break. From left: Daniel Kwan, Brent Kiser, Alexandra Fehrman and Daniel Scheinert. PHOTOS: Allyson Riggs — Having a little bit of enjoyable on the dub stage of Everything Everywhere All At Once throughout a break. From left: Daniel Kwan, Brent Kiser, Alexandra Fehrman and Daniel Scheinert. PHOTO: Courtesy of Unbridled Sound.

‘Everything Everywhere All At Once‘ options uncommon, artistic ideas, so its sound staff needed to get equally out-there. Don’t miss Part 1!

The Daniels’ concepts of what may exist in parallel universes vary from almost regular to flat-out weird. In one verse, people have sizzling canine palms. Twite created the hand sounds by recording a group of very skinny belts pilfered from his spouse’s closet, twisting the leafy ends of leeks, drumming his fingers on his stomach, and including in a dose of cat meals squishes that the Daniels favored.”

In one other verse, a raccoon named Raccacoonie (voiced by composer Randy Newman) hides beneath the hat of a novice Hibachi chef, controlling his actions by tugging on the chef’s hair. ADR supervisor Diaz used Sounds in Sync’s EdiCue to assist cue Newman’s traces and his singing, however he additionally carried out numerous additional materials off-the-cuff, channeling the inspiration of being a raccoon that’s been picked up by animal management.

“Randy was wonderful. He was simply riffing off all these traces and we had been all laughing,” says Diaz, who handed a lot of the extra takes and improvisations over to composer Ryan Lott of Son Lux, who did the rating. “A number of the additional takes had been added to the songs within the soundtrack, as had been recordings from actress Stephanie Hsu, who performed Joy/Jobu. She was randomly singing within the ADR session, and that ended up within the soundtrack for the film.”

Diaz additionally recorded the Martial Club—a Hong Kong-style martial arts trio of brothers Andy and Brian Le and their pal Daniel Mah—who helped to coordinate the battle scenes and likewise appeared on display screen for a tussle involving a fanny pack. “We had them within the recording room, and so they’re actually combating one another so we might get life like grunts and efforts,” Diaz explains. “There is a five-minute recording of them doing flips and attempting to not kick the mic. Then, on the finish, one would say a line from the movie that goes, ‘Oh, Kevin. F**okay.’ and get hit within the face.”

The ADR battle sound classes had been necessary for constructing out the quite a few battle scenes in a visceral and brutal means. Kiser notes, “Their efforts and grunts added a complete different degree of element. The whooshes and impacts intensify the precision of the actions, however ADR efforts and grunts are what floor the fights in actuality.”

While nearly all of the movie is full-on sound, there are moments of reprieve, such because the verse that consists of nothing greater than majestic rock formations and shifting winds. Re-recording mixer Fehrman labored with director Scheinert to craft Twite’s trove of wind tracks into a fragile scene that capitalizes on the Dolby Atmos capabilities.

Fehrman says: “It began as this large atmospheric second, however we slowly boiled it down. Dan [Scheinert] was very particular. He needed us to have the ability to hint one wind that is available in from the left after which one other one which form of drifts in after that. There’s a distant wind chime. It’s a second to breathe and meditate on all that we’ve simply seen and heard within the movie. Everything may be very delicate, but immersive.”

THE EVERYTHING BAGEL

‘Everything Everywhere All At Once‘ options uncommon, artistic ideas, so its sound staff needed to get equally out-there. Don’t miss Parts 1 and 2!

Our antagonist Jobu’s omnipotence has led her to a nihilistic outlook on life. She’s taken every thing she’s ever felt, thought and skilled from all iterations of life throughout the multiverse and put it onto a bagel. This “every thing bagel” is sort of a black gap, which begs the query: What does a black-hole, every thing bagel sound like?

Twite began by recording a bagel, naturally, utilizing a Sound Devices 744t and a Sennheiser MKH 8050. He captured sounds of crushing, crumbling and tearing a toasted bagel and a bit of toast, together with the sounds of a butter knife scraping their surfaces. “I additionally deliberately burnt about six items of bread and stacked them on prime of each other and simply slowly crushed all of them without delay by placing stress on the stack with my palms,” Twite says. “Those cracks, as soon as pitched and tweaked, grew to become one of many principal textural layers of the every thing bagel. The MKH 8050 has a extremely tight polar sample, and its ultrasonic recording capabilities permit the samples to retain robust high-frequency content material, which made for some nice sounds as soon as I began doing pitching and time manipulation.”

During one of many recognizing classes, director Kwan described the every thing bagel as being like a washer or dryer with a really slow-spinning, continually transferring, elemental power. To obtain this rhythmic high quality, Twite tried a number of concepts however found the most effective supply for sound was his rowing machine, the place he was in a position to management the pace of the machine itself to get a variety of rhythmic beds.

“I recorded it straight into my Omni [preamp] utilizing an Audio-Technica BP4025 stereo mic,” he explains. “It labored out very well as a result of the sound of the machine itself is rhythmic by nature and sits at a mid/mid-low frequency vary. It additionally has this virtually whine-y moan to it that I really like as a result of it provides to the despair I related to the every thing bagel. I might stretch out the slower rows to play actually, actually gradual when the bagel is simply chilling backstage. Or, I might actually pace up the rowing, and that texture was useful for when the bagel is spinning uncontrolled and pulling every thing into itself.”

Everything Everywhere All At Oncw — PHOTO: Allyson Riggs

Re-recording mixer Fehrman (results/ backgrounds/Foley) joined Kiser for the native Dolby Atmos combine at Signature Post on Mix Stage 1 in Burbank, Calif. They combined on a dual-operator Avid S6 M40 24-9-D management floor, with monitoring by way of JBL 5732 mains, JBL 9320 surrounds, and JBL 5628 subs with JBL 7118 surrounds for low-frequency extension.

This was Fehrman’s first time working with Unbridled Sound, and coming in on the finish meant opening an unfamiliar Pro Tools template that was 300 tracks broad, determining the format, grouping and busing tracks, and listening by layers of advanced designs.

“I opened the classes forward of the combo to familiarize myself with the place every thing was, and I made a decision that I’d simply must hit the bottom operating,” she says with a slight snicker. “There was actually every thing within the session, from pure backgrounds to sci-fi components, and so many battle scenes.””

One of probably the most difficult scenes when it comes to the combo was when Jobu and Evelyn confront one another within the woods. Jobu snaps off a tree department and it transforms into a number of totally different objects earlier than turning into a sword. There is large rating and necessary dialog. “There’s all this chaos of every thing altering, and we needed to poke out little tiny moments in order that you could possibly perceive what Jobu was saying,” Fehrman explains. “In that little part, there have been such quick and small occasions; it required numerous fast fader strikes. We did attempt to put a few of the sounds in Atmos, however it’s laborious to register as a result of it’s taking place so rapidly.””

The Atmos encompass discipline labored greatest for spatially particular results, just like the overhead lights flickering within the hallway scene, and for the verse-jumping radio transitions. “In Atmos, we had been utilizing that transition together with voices that had been pulling us into totally different verses. It was very efficient,” says Fehrman.”

Everything Everywhere All At Once isn’t in regards to the every thing bagel. Nor is it in regards to the future-tech skill to leap into totally different universes. It’s much less about battle and extra about decision by acceptance and appreciation.

“This is a vital movie that shines a light-weight on the challenges we face as humanity, and all of the necessary themes within the movie had been mirrored in the way in which that the movie was made,” Kiser concludes. “The administrators are so crew-focused; we by no means felt just like the employed assist. And I’m so blessed that I’ve nice those who I may help empower to do their wonderful jobs. That’s what a supervisor ought to do. I’m grateful that I’ve been surrounded by nice folks on this movie—purchasers and staff.”

World News

JBL Eon One MK2 Portable P.A. — A Real-World Review

Posted on March 3, 2023 by Clive Young

JBL EON ONE MK2 Portable P.A. — A Real-World Review

MIX VERDICT: JBL EON ONE MK2 All-In-One Rechargable Column Speaker

THE TAKEAWAY: “The JBL EON ONE MK2 does lots of issues effectively, answering the wants of a different person base that can use it for an equally broad variety of purposes.”

COMPANY: JBL • www.jblpro.com
PRICE: $1,249
PROS:
• Solid sound with good throw; sturdy, modern design.
• Setup/tear-down is fast and easy.
• Lots of DSP settings for execs who need to get in-depth.
CONS:
• Mixer labels onerous to see in low-light conditions.
• System’s many nooks may have supplied a spot to maintain the AC twine.

Portable P.A.s must be lots of issues—highly effective sufficient for a professional, easy sufficient for a novice, sturdy sufficient to journey, and versatile sufficient to sound good in a foul room. Over the previous few months of testing, I’ve discovered that the JBL EON ONE MK2 All-In-One Rechargeable Column Speaker checks off all these containers.

TESTING THE JBL EON ONE MK2

The makes use of for a transportable P.A. are countless, as they will present reside sound in all places from occasions at homes of worship, colleges and group conferences, to musicians enjoying in a small setting like a espresso home and even busking on the road.

All Mix Real-World Reviews take a look at tools in working conditions the place it has to ship, so I used the EON ONE MK2 for 2 sorts of purposes: a number of library lectures, the place it needed to deal with spoken phrase and laptop computer audio, and extra conventional live-music use, i.e., reside and recorded music at a vacation social gathering.

Testing it in all these conditions, the system was simple to move and arrange. The EON ONE MK2 is just below 43 kilos, so it’s not light-weight, however you’re not going to throw your again out earlier than a gig both. It is sturdy and cleanly designed, too, so it slides into the again of an SUV or a automobile trunk with out snagging on something.

WHAT YOU GET WITH THE JBL EON ONE MK2

Supporting a three-part array column, the cabinet itself houses a 10-inch bass-reflex woofer, which provides low end down to 37 Hz. — Supporting a three-part array column, the cupboard itself homes a 10-inch bass-reflex woofer, which supplies low finish right down to 37 Hz.

The coronary heart of the system is the primary cupboard, which not solely serves up bass but additionally serves as a base. Supporting a three-part array column, the cupboard itself homes a 10-inch bass-reflex woofer, which supplies low finish right down to 37 Hz.

The column, in the meantime, is residence to the system’s rechargeable battery (6 hours of use from 2.5 hours of charging) and a phalanx of eight 2-inch tweeters in a c-shaped array. The tweeter association allows you to cowl a decent-sized viewers whereas providing you with some slack in relation to putting the system in a room. If you’ve got a less-than-ideal acoustic setting and have to position it off-axis to your viewers, the 140-degree horizontal dispersion is useful, whereas the 30-degree vertical dispersion ensures the EON ONE MK2 will be heard no matter whether or not it’s on the identical degree as the group, above it on a stage, or beneath it on the backside of a corridor with raked seating.

The again of the cupboard is designed to soundly maintain the tweeter column’s three segments throughout transport; when faraway from their slots, the tweeter array, a spacer and the battery slide collectively to assemble the array column, which in flip drops right into a socket on the cupboard’s prime (as a result of the spacer is hole, it could be nice if it had a small compartment to hold the P.A.’s one unfastened merchandise—the AC twine).

CONTROL OPTIONS FOR THE JBL EON ONE MK2

Removing the segments from the cupboard reveals the built-in mixer on the again, based mostly round 5 channels—three XLR-1⁄4-inch mixture connectors, a line enter and a 3.5 mm Aux In; channels 1 and a couple of provide phantom energy if wanted. There’s additionally a pair of USB slots, a vibrant, shade LCD show, and 6 multifunction knob/button encoders for quantity/menu entry, acquire, bass, mid, treble and reverb. While it’s all well-labeled and accessible, the management panel is recessed into the cupboard, which I discovered made the labels tougher to see in low-light settings. Luckily, the system can be managed remotely through Bluetooth with the free JBL Pro Connect app.

The JBL EON ONE Mk2's built-in mixer. — The JBL EON ONE Mk2’s built-in mixer.

The JBL Pro Connect app simplifies entry to the P.A.’s onboard options, which embody some simply discovered EQ presets for spoken phrase, female and male vocals, acoustic guitar and bass. For those that need to take a deep dive into the onboard DSP, accessing it through the app is the way in which to go, as it will possibly shortly get you into the customizable settings of the Lexicon results (reverb, refrain and delay), dbx Driverack choices resembling Automatic Feedback Suppression, and a Ducking by Soundcraft function. Making adjustments through Bluetooth means there’s a 2- to 3-second lag earlier than listening to the outcome, however that’s a small value to pay for having the ability to management the system remotely.

[JBL released a major update to the JBL Pro Connect app after this review went to press; the new V.11 adds BLE security, a hardware system lock and more.]

REAL-WORLD USE OF THE JBL EON ONE MK2

We tested the EON ONE Mk2 at a number of public library lectures. — We examined the EON ONE Mk2 at a lot of public library lectures.

My library lectures, delivered in a small group room, a lecture corridor and a former college gymnasium, required a wired mic on Ch 1, and sound from a laptop computer inputted by the Aux In 3.5 mm enter on Ch. 5. In every venue, the EON ONE MK2 was greater than in a position to maintain its personal, offering readability because it coated the crowds with out knocking them over. The system can dish out 123 dB peak when utilizing AC or 119 dB peak when operating on battery energy; maybe unsurprisingly, I didn’t have to get that loud within the libraries.

Audio from movie clips performed again from a laptop computer retained their energy and musicality, and utilizing the spoken-word preset gave form and definition to the talking voice, which significantly helped within the former gymnasium.

As for enjoying reside music—the EON ONE MK2’s raison d’être in any case, because it’s primarily geared toward solo performers—it made amateurs at a loud social gathering sound pretty much as good because it may, and clearly skilled musicians may actually profit from the system’s output. I plugged two vocal mics and an electrical guitar into it, and every one had an outlined relative presence within the ensuing sound. The female and male vocal presets introduced some appeal to the mics, and everybody sounded much better than they deserved (myself included). Meanwhile, trendy pop performed again through Bluetooth (Taylor Swift’s omnipresent Midnights) sounded stable and grounded with out that barely hole really feel that some audio system have when enjoying again Bluetooth materials.

FINAL THOUGHTS ON THE JBL EON ONE MK2

The JBL EON ONE MK2 does lots of issues effectively, answering the wants of a different person base that can use it for an equally broad variety of purposes. Setting up and tearing down is straightforward and fast, and the design is sturdy however nonetheless fashionable. The built-in mixer and DSP choices shall be comparatively intuitive for execs, however novices will need to dig in and get to know their new system earlier than placing it in entrance of an viewers. While utilizing the JBL Pro Connect app is non-obligatory, I’d suggest it for the straightforward entry to deep settings and the flexibility to make adjustments remotely.

The most necessary facet of a P.A., nonetheless, is its sound, and that’s the place the EON ONE MK2 shines, benefitting from JBL’s many years of expertise because it supplies clear, satisfying audio that covers an area effectively. The JBL EON line has been a favourite for musicians and professional audio specialists for many years, and the EON ONE MK2 supplies one other prime instance of why.

World News

Paul Massey Builds His Ultimate 9.1.6 Mixing Studio, Part 2

Posted on February 24, 2023 by Tom Kenny

Three-time Oscar-winning film re-recording mixer Paul Massey has just movedinto his new 9.1.6 mix studio, based around a Harrison MPC5 console and JBL/Meyer Sound monitor system, with acoustic design by Bruce Black and system integration by AID. Photo: Bruce Black. — Three-time Oscar-winning movie re-recording mixer Paul Massey has simply moved into his new 9.1.6 combine studio, primarily based round a Harrison MPC5 console and JBL/Meyer Sound monitor system, with acoustic design by Bruce Black and system integration by AID. Photo: Bruce Black.

In Mix’s February 2023 cowl story, three-time Oscar-winning movie re-recording mixer Paul Massey and acoustic designer Bruce Black focus on in-depth the creation of Massey’s dream 9.1.6. combine studio; the story concludes right here, adopted by a take a look at the precise building course of. Don’t miss Part 1!

BRING YOUR OWN GEAR

As when he constructed a mixture room in 2010, Paul Massey labored with Audio Intervisual Design of Los Angeles on system integration, this time for 9.1,.6 Dolby Atmos Cinema and seven.1.4 for Dolby Atmos Home from the identical playback system.

While the replace included new cable and wiring, a brand new Dolby RMU software program package deal, new HDX playing cards, software program updates, and reconfigured monitor management and setup, the majority of the tools package deal was introduced over from the Ojai studio, together with the JBL and BMS Screen screens, Meyer Sound subwoofers, outboard racks, Christie projector and a beloved Harrison MPC5 console.

“It’s my favourite console on the earth; I’d by no means eliminate it,” Massey says. “I do combine on totally different platforms, and I do understand I’m swimming towards the tide at this level as a result of the S6 is all over the place, and that’s fantastic. I’ve no downside with that. The Harrison is simply my private alternative. It’s the very best sounding console I’ve ever discovered.”

Massey has actually earned the precise to work the way in which he needs, together with touring with duplicate MPC5 setups in flight circumstances—one for when he travels south to L.A., the opposite which he retains in London. There’s no worksurface, however every does embody the whole Toys package deal of plug-ins, and he’s had no issues interacting with alternate workflows and platforms.

With greater than 200 movies to his credit score, together with 10 Oscar nominations for Best Sound Mixing and a win for Bohemian Rhapsody, Massey might be forgiven for kicking again a bit of and easing right into a slower-paced life in Ventura, with household. Yet, up to now 12 months alone, his work has been heard on movies as various as The Lost City, Morbius, Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, Moonage Daydream (on this 12 months’s Oscar shortlist) and Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody.

In October, he and Gary Rydstrom completed engaged on the brand new Indiana Jones movie, to be launched in June, and in December, he wrapped up Ridley Scott’s Napoleon, and he’s presently engaged on a musical model of The Color Purple. He doubts that he’ll ever really retire.

“I’ve performed three initiatives out of my new studio, and I’m simply actually proud of the way in which it’s translating and the general consequence—the dimensions of it, the texture of it,” he says. “And truthfully, it’s great to have the ability to stroll right into a room like this and know that mainly every part is strictly the way in which you left it. So sure, I’m comfortable.” Then he went again to work.

• • •

SIDEBAR: ACOUSTIC NUTS & BOLTS

In mid-2022, through the completion of Paul Massey’s combine studio, acoustic designer Bruce Black wrote an eight-part weblog for mixonline. com detailing the design and building course of. Here are just a few alternative excerpts:

The interior frame is in place as the room begins to take shape. — The inside body is in place because the room begins to take form. Photo: Bruce Black.

THE FLOATING FLOOR:

The undertaking’s structural engineer had dictated a construction, constructed by itself basis, exterior of the combination room itself, to supply help to the interior room. California is earthquake nation, in any case. This additionally offered the chance to make use of the gold commonplace of studio isolation: a floating room- within-a room design.

So blue chalk strains have been snapped onto the slab, marking the situation and width of the brand new basis, and the intrepid crew fired up the concrete noticed and commenced slicing two sq. slots within the slab, one inside the opposite, roughly 18 inches aside, and as near the unit’s partitions as potential. These kerfs marked the situation of the outer construction’s new basis. The jack hammer then broke up the concrete, and a Bobcat backhoe straddled the ditch and dug it out to roughly 4 ft deep. Then got here rebar, correctly bonded to the remaining slab, and threaded anchors to carry the outer wall’s framing in place. Finally, the ditch was stuffed with concrete, and voila! There was now a concrete slab the place as soon as there was solely…a concrete slab.

The all-important frame for the screen wall is up. — The all-important body for the display screen wall is up. Photo: Bruce Black.

THE WALLS GO UP:

I wasn’t there to witness it, however one way or the other 4 burly laborers with a 3-ton flooring jack, and sure with some hefty pry bars as effectively, obtained the 2 aspect partitions (the longest and subsequently the heaviest) in place on the anchor bolts. Add a bunch of anchor plates and hefty nuts, and the partitions are in place and locked down. A giant job requiring lots of muscle energy….

The wall on the entrance, or speaker finish of the room, is far simpler to put in. The electrical panel and sprinkler tools are in that space, with constructing codes requiring not less than three ft of clear house round them for entry. Plenty of room for our fearless tradespeople on their scaffolds to put in the outer layers on this wall.

The screen wall is up and the mounts are in place. Nearly there! — The display screen wall is up and the mounts are in place. Nearly there! Photo: Bruce Black.

NOW THE CEILING:

Layering a ceiling is at all times tough work, defying gravity with heavy, unwieldy panels. It’s not only a bunch of layers of drywall, as we so usually see in frequent studio building. My design begins with a layer of three⁄4-inch plywood, adopted by a 1-3/8-inch layer of QuietRock 545. We then put in one other layer of three⁄4-inch plywood, ending off with a layer of 5/8-inch drywall, with building adhesive between every layer. And the key ingredient? The closing layer goes on with drywall screws each 4 inches. This might sound unconventional, it might appear extravagant, nevertheless it brings an uncanny rigidity to the partitions.

World News

JBL Updates Portable PA Control with Pro Connect V.11 App

Posted on February 24, 2023 by Mix Staff

Northridge, CA (February 23, 2023)—Many of JBL’s moveable PA methods have one thing in widespread—distant, in-depth management through the corporate’s JBL Pro Connect app, which permits customers to customise mixer, DSP, and Bluetooth options in JBL PRX ONE, EON ONE MK2 and EON700 moveable PA methods. Now each the free iOS and Android editions of the app have been up to date with quite a lot of new options.

JBL Pro Connect’s interface works in each panorama or portrait viewing modes, permitting customers to remotely regulate and management options on a number of audio system from wherever within the room. The app’s options together with setting quantity ranges, adjusting EQ, activating Lexicon reverb and results and dbx Digital DriveRack sign processing, custom-made ducking, saving and recalling presets and extra.

JBL Professional EON700 Portable PA Debuts

New options and updates within the V.11 version of the app embody BLE safety for column audio system; a {hardware} system lock; handbook scanning for accessible audio system; Bluetooth connection safety enhancements; appropriate audio system itemizing; incompatible firmware notification; and stuck EQ step will increase for column audio system.

JBL Pro Control V.11 additionally sports activities quite a lot of app-exclusive options and speaker settings together with snapshots, multi-speaker grouping, faucet tempo and extra. The app additionally permits customers to activate ducking, making certain voices stand out over background music; regulate Lexicon reverb, refrain and delay results; regulate the accessible parametric EQ; and extra. A complete of eight sound presets are supplied and customers can customise their very own to style. Using the app, customers can after all regulate grasp quantity and supply ranges, in addition to set off dbx Automatic Feedback Suppression (AFS) to get rid of suggestions and apply dbx Digital DriveRack sign processing.

World News

Paul Massey Builds His Ultimate 9.1.6 Mixing Studio, Part 1

Posted on February 22, 2023 by Tom Kenny

It wasn’t the each day Los Angeles commute, the continued workflow modifications in audio post-production, and even the disruption and frustration introduced on by the COVID shutdowns that led movie mixer Paul Massey to construct a 9.1.6 studio in Ventura. It was merely that he needed to spend extra time along with his household.

It’s the identical cause as in 2010, when he constructed his first private studio—a high-end 5.1 movie combine room in Ojai, about 75 miles north of Los Angeles; he even carried ahead a lot of his sign chain, from console to displays. There is, nonetheless, one moderately massive distinction except for the change to immersive playback.

The view from behind the Harrison MPC5 console, with JBL 9320 monitors on the walls and ceiling. — The view from behind the Harrison MPC5 console, with JBL 9320 displays on the partitions and ceiling. Photo: Bruce Black.

From 2010 to 2020, he would stroll out the again door of his residence with a cup of espresso and amble down a path to a free-standing, ground-up studio he had constructed on the property on the identical time the home went up. Now he drives about 20 minutes to a transformed warehouse area in Ventura, after which drives residence by means of a stupendous, rolling panorama. He appears fairly blissful, although when requested about work-life steadiness, he chuckles softly and admits, “I’m making an attempt. It’s child steps.

“When we moved to Ojai, it was about determining find out how to get pre-dubbing and different small work in order that I may spend extra time with my household,” Massey says. “So we constructed an expert 5.1 room. But, truthfully, after I was at residence and mentioned, ‘I’m going over to the studio for an hour or two,’ I might be there all day tweaking round. I’m taking away time that I must be spending with the household.

“When we moved a few years in the past, I checked out constructing one other studio on our residence lot,” he continues. “Then someday my spouse mentioned, ‘You know, why don’t you search for area that’s not at residence?’ and it turned out to be a extremely good suggestion. It signifies that now after I go to work, I’m going there to work and I’m going there for a cause. I’m not going to waste time there and fiddle round all day lengthy. And then after I’m residence, I’m residence, which is nice. I believe it’s labored out properly.”

BUILDING A REFERENCE POINT

When we talked in early January, Massey had simply returned from a fast four-day hop to London to work on an ongoing combine and was prepared to start out a undertaking at Warner Bros. in Burbank the next week. As quickly as we completed the interview, he was again at his personal Harrison MPC5 console, cleansing up a dialog predub for an additional undertaking. Life on the high of the movie re-recording world entails lengthy, lengthy each day hours over prolonged chunks of time, usually many weeks. Massey estimates that in the course of the previous six or seven years, 75 p.c of his work has been in Los Angeles, a lot of it on the John Ford Theater on the Fox lot, with the opposite 25 p.c in London.

While having a private, skilled studio close to residence serves to steadiness the Life facet of the ledger from the Work facet, its true worth is in offering Massey with a way of consistency—an audio reference level all his personal for when he carries his predubs to the ultimate combine at Fox or Sony or Twickenham, or when he takes into consideration the multitude of streaming providers and residential playback environments. It was necessary to him that the brand new studio be licensed for each Dolby Atmos Cinema and Home out of the identical playback system. And it’s.

“Translation goes to be about 90 p.c of what all of us do,” Massey says bluntly. “If a room doesn’t translate to the place the audio goes to finally find yourself for the typical listener, then what’s the purpose? I believe it’s of the utmost significance that cinemas keep open and we nonetheless make soundtracks for theatrical launch. But the straightforward reality is that an terrible lot of the viewers now’s watching from the streaming platforms, and that has necessitated modifications in the best way we combine and modifications within the room sizes that we’re mixing in, in order that they extra precisely transition and translate into what the viewers is watching.”

The guts of the Harrison MPC5 console, Avid Pro Tools and every other device fit in three tall racks in the back of an office. — The guts of the Harrison MPC5 console, Avid Pro Tools and each different machine slot in three tall racks at the back of an workplace. Photo: Bruce Black.

AN ACOUSTIC FOUNDATION

Massey had identified Bruce Black for a few years as they each constructed careers in movie sound, with the previous usually on the console and the latter within the machine room. On the facet, over a few years, Black had turn out to be a self-educated acoustician and would sometimes have interaction in informal conversations with Massey about what he’d been studying and the way he had been forming his personal theories. When Massey was getting ready for the transfer to Ojai, he recalled these chats and introduced Black onboard for the acoustic design. He introduced him again in 2020 for the transfer to Ventura.

“I talked to a bunch of acoustic designers on the time, and a few of them made issues so sophisticated and so pointless,” Massey remembers. “Acoustically, I simply thought there’s obtained to be a greater means, a less complicated means, a less-is-more means. Then I began speaking to Bruce once more, however as an acoustic designer and about how he overcomes points. Bruce is certainly less-is-more, and he got here up with some real, distinctive methods of coping with acoustic points. He’s very, very gifted.”

Black can also be a kind of distinctive audio business characters. He’s a person of science, with a can-do angle and quirky humorousness. Now semi-retired, he’s freer to additional develop his theories and strategies, that are primarily based on direct statement and picked up information. These generally differ from widespread follow, however he sticks with what he’s realized and developed on his personal.

Isolation is paramount to Black (“you need the skin sound to remain outdoors and the within sound to remain inside”), and he considers calling it soundproofing deceptive. He additionally balks at bass traps to deal with the low finish (“It basically turns all of the lows down; as a substitute, simply give attention to the particular issues and go away all the pieces else alone”) in favor of Helmholz-style resonators, whether or not a single gap in a field for the deep lows or a number of perforations to deal with the higher lows.

Cinema Audio Society Announces Sound Mixing Nominations

He completely believes in sturdy construction (“Screws each 4 inches as a substitute of constructing code’s spec of as much as 16 inches”), and he’s chagrined when speaking concerning the preponderance of “flimsy display partitions” that he comes throughout (“Any vitality that will get into them goes to vibrate the wall, basically making it one other speaker that’s nowhere close to as excessive constancy—plus it has a time delay in it”). He leaves the applying of EQ to the very finish of the method as a result of, he says, there are numerous acoustic points that EQ can’t repair (“Response relies on the place you measure—when you EQ for the combination place, the response of the room modifications as you progress, and I’ve by no means met a mixer who stays in only one place; they’re all the time transferring round”).

All of the above approaches have been employed in a method or one other within the development of Massey’s new studio. The design, remedy and tuning—primarily based on frequency, waterfall and decay graphs—was an iterative and collaborative course of all through the 2 years of planning, four-month construct, and the primary few months after its smooth opening in July 2022.

“I construct to numbers and graphs and information like that as a result of that makes the method repeatable and quantifiable,” Black explains. “Once that’s executed, Paul does his listening take a look at and he says, ‘Well, I hear slightly one thing right here, I’m getting slightly one thing there,’ and we deal with that. Basically we’re tuning the room to his ears. Paul works in many various studios, and he must be assured that what’s on the recorded medium sounds constant between the rooms that it’s being performed in.”

Come again tomorrow for the conclusion, plus extra appears at how the power was constructed!

World News

Paul Massey Builds His Ultimate 9.1.6 Mixing Studio, Part 1

Posted on February 22, 2023 by Tom Kenny

It wasn’t the each day Los Angeles commute, the continuing workflow adjustments in audio post-production, and even the disruption and frustration introduced on by the COVID shutdowns that led movie mixer Paul Massey to construct a 9.1.6 studio in Ventura. It was merely that he wished to spend extra time along with his household.

It’s the identical purpose as in 2010, when he constructed his first private studio—a high-end 5.1 movie combine room in Ojai, about 75 miles north of Los Angeles; he even carried ahead a lot of his sign chain, from console to screens. There is, nonetheless, one slightly huge distinction apart from the swap to immersive playback.

From 2010 to 2020, he would stroll out the again door of his house with a cup of espresso and amble down a path to a free-standing, ground-up studio he had constructed on the property on the identical time the home went up. Now he drives about 20 minutes to a transformed warehouse house in Ventura, after which drives house by a gorgeous, rolling panorama. He appears fairly joyful, although when requested about work-life steadiness, he chuckles softly and admits, “I’m attempting. It’s child steps.

“When we moved to Ojai, it was about determining find out how to get pre-dubbing and different small work in order that I might spend extra time with my household,” Massey says. “So we constructed knowledgeable 5.1 room. But, actually, once I was at house and stated, ‘I’m going over to the studio for an hour or two,’ I’d be there all day tweaking round. I’m taking away time that I needs to be spending with the household.

“When we moved a few years in the past, I checked out constructing one other studio on our house lot,” he continues. “Then in the future my spouse stated, ‘You know, why don’t you search for house that’s not at house?’ and it turned out to be a very good suggestion. It implies that now once I go to work, I’m going there to work and I’m going there for a purpose. I’m not going to waste time there and fiddle round all day lengthy. And then once I’m house, I’m house, which is nice. I believe it’s labored out nicely.”

BUILDING A REFERENCE POINT

When we talked in early January, Massey had simply returned from a fast four-day hop to London to work on an ongoing combine and was prepared to start out a challenge at Warner Bros. in Burbank the next week. As quickly as we completed the interview, he was again at his personal Harrison MPC5 console, cleansing up a dialog predub for one more challenge. Life on the prime of the movie re-recording world includes lengthy, lengthy each day hours over prolonged chunks of time, typically many weeks. Massey estimates that through the previous six or seven years, 75 p.c of his work has been in Los Angeles, a lot of it on the John Ford Theater on the Fox lot, with the opposite 25 p.c in London.

While having a private, skilled studio close to house serves to steadiness the Life facet of the ledger from the Work facet, its true worth is in offering Massey with a way of consistency—an audio reference level all his personal for when he carries his predubs to the ultimate combine at Fox or Sony or Twickenham, or when he takes into consideration the multitude of streaming providers and residential playback environments. It was necessary to him that the brand new studio be licensed for each Dolby Atmos Cinema and Home out of the identical playback system. And it’s.

“Translation goes to be about 90 p.c of what all of us do,” Massey says bluntly. “If a room doesn’t translate to the place the audio goes to in the end find yourself for the typical listener, then what’s the purpose? I believe it’s of the utmost significance that cinemas keep open and we nonetheless make soundtracks for theatrical launch. But the easy fact is that an terrible lot of the viewers now’s watching from the streaming platforms, and that has necessitated adjustments in the way in which we combine and adjustments within the room sizes that we’re mixing in, in order that they extra precisely transition and translate into what the viewers is watching.”

AN ACOUSTIC FOUNDATION

Massey had recognized Bruce Black for a few years as they each constructed careers in movie sound, with the previous sometimes on the console and the latter within the machine room. On the facet, over a few years, Black had change into a self-educated acoustician and would often interact in informal conversations with Massey about what he’d been studying and the way he had been forming his personal theories. When Massey was making ready for the transfer to Ojai, he recalled these chats and introduced Black onboard for the acoustic design. He introduced him again in 2020 for the transfer to Ventura.

“I talked to a bunch of acoustic designers on the time, and a few of them made issues so sophisticated and so pointless,” Massey remembers. “Acoustically, I simply thought there’s bought to be a greater method, an easier method, a less-is-more method. Then I began speaking to Bruce once more, however as an acoustic designer and about how he overcomes points. Bruce is unquestionably less-is-more, and he got here up with some real, distinctive methods of coping with acoustic points. He’s very, very gifted.”

Black can also be a type of distinctive audio trade characters. He’s a person of science, with a can-do angle and quirky humorousness. Now semi-retired, he’s freer to additional develop his theories and methods, that are based mostly on direct commentary and picked up knowledge. These typically differ from widespread apply, however he sticks with what he’s discovered and developed on his personal.

Isolation is paramount to Black (“you need the surface sound to remain exterior and the within sound to remain inside”), and he considers calling it soundproofing deceptive. He additionally balks at bass traps to deal with the low finish (“It primarily turns all of the lows down; as an alternative, simply concentrate on the precise issues and depart all the things else alone”) in favor of Helmholz-style resonators, whether or not a single gap in a field for the deep lows or a number of perforations to deal with the higher lows.

Cinema Audio Society Announces Sound Mixing Nominations

He completely believes in sturdy construction (“Screws each 4 inches as an alternative of constructing code’s spec of as much as 16 inches”), and he’s chagrined when speaking in regards to the preponderance of “flimsy display partitions” that he comes throughout (“Any power that will get into them goes to vibrate the wall, primarily making it one other speaker that’s nowhere close to as excessive constancy—plus it has a time delay in it”). He leaves the appliance of EQ to the very finish of the method as a result of, he says, there are a whole lot of acoustic points that EQ can’t repair (“Response relies on the place you measure—for those who EQ for the combination place, the response of the room adjustments as you progress, and I’ve by no means met a mixer who stays in only one place; they’re all the time transferring round”).

All of the above approaches had been employed in a technique or one other within the development of Massey’s new studio. The design, therapy and tuning—based mostly on frequency, waterfall and decay graphs—was an iterative and collaborative course of all through the 2 years of planning, four-month construct, and the primary few months after its comfortable opening in July 2022.

“I construct to numbers and graphs and knowledge like that as a result of that makes the method repeatable and quantifiable,” Black explains. “Once that’s performed, Paul does his listening check and he says, ‘Well, I hear slightly one thing right here, I’m getting slightly one thing there,’ and we handle that. Basically we’re tuning the room to his ears. Paul works in many alternative studios, and he must be assured that what’s on the recorded medium sounds constant between the rooms that it’s being performed in.”

Come again tomorrow for the conclusion, plus further appears at how the ability was constructed!

World News

Bringing You The Music of Music’s Biggest Night

Posted on February 8, 2023 by Mix Staff

Some of the audio team members behind The 65th Annual Grammy Awards. Photograph courtesy of The Recording Academy®/Getty Images. © 2023 Photograph by Kevin Winter. — Some of the audio team members behind The 65th Annual Grammy Awards. Photograph courtesy of The Recording Academy/Getty Images. © 2023 Photograph by Kevin Winter.

Santa Monica, CA (February 7, 2023)—The annual Grammy Awards ceremony has long been known as “music’s biggest night,” but without the skills of a dedicated team of audio pros, the broadcast would just be a night. When the event returned once again to the venerable Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles this past Sunday after three years away due to COVID-related restrictions, the production also provided a brief moment for the 2023 audio crew to gather for a photo at the foot of the stage.

The 65th Annual Grammy Awards showcased numerous musical performances and tributes by and for high-profile artists, and they were delivered to millions around the globe using the latest in technology, resulting in a cutting-edge, high-definition immersive sound.

Grammy Awards’ Engineering and Production Winners Announced

Prominent members of the Recording Academy Producers & Engineers Wing were part of the audio team and included Grammy co-broadcast music mixer Eric Schilling, Grammy broadcast production mix audio advisor Mike Clink, Grammy broadcast music mix audio advisor Glenn Lorbecki, Grammy broadcast house mix audio advisor Leslie Ann Jones, and several others.

Meanwhile, live sound for the event was handled by teams from Clair Global’s ATK Audiotek and ATK Versacom, with FOH engineers Jeff Peterson, Mike Parker and Ron Reaves, and engineers Tom Pesa and Andres Arango. ATK fielded a slew of JBL Pro VTX A12 loudspeakers for the event to cover the crowd.

World News

JBL has announced both a ‘classic’ and Bluetooth turntable for 2023

Posted on February 1, 2023 by Kelly Doherty

Something for everyone.

JBL has announced two turntables–the TT350 Classic Turntable and the JBL Spinner BT.

The TT350 Classic Turntable, JBL’s first-ever turntable, features a direct drive motor, an Audio-Technica moving magnet (MM) cartridge and walnut veneered chassis and a heavy die-cast aluminium platter. Check it out below.

The TT35o retails at £925 and will be available in the second quarter of 2023.

JBL’s second turntable for 2023, the JBL Spinner BT, goes for a more modern approach providing wireless vinyl playback with aptX HD encoding.

“With Bluetooth 5.2 technology, the turntable provides listeners with an instant wireless connection to their record collections — allowing them to enjoy their albums in any way they wish without losing the signature sound of vinyl — while its sleek design makes a bold statement in any system,” explains Jim Garrett, Senior Director, Product Strategy and Planning, HARMAN Luxury Audio.

“And with its analog output and integrated phono preamplifier, the SPINNER BT is equally at home with purists who prefer a wired connection.”

The Spinner BT will retail at $399 (around £324) and is set to be available in the third quarter of 2023.

JBL 4305P

Info

Kontakt

Mitspieler

AUDIO EXCESS

LIVING THE DREAM

THE WALL OF SOUND’S SOUND

UP AGAINST THE WALL

FROM THE JULY, 2022 ISSUE OF MIX

TUNING AND STATIC

RECORDING A MULTIVERSE

THE EVERYTHING BAGEL

TESTING THE JBL EON ONE MK2

WHAT YOU GET WITH THE JBL EON ONE MK2

CONTROL OPTIONS FOR THE JBL EON ONE MK2

REAL-WORLD USE OF THE JBL EON ONE MK2

FINAL THOUGHTS ON THE JBL EON ONE MK2

BRING YOUR OWN GEAR

SIDEBAR: ACOUSTIC NUTS & BOLTS

BUILDING A REFERENCE POINT

AN ACOUSTIC FOUNDATION

Come again tomorrow for the conclusion, plus extra appears at how the power was constructed!

BUILDING A REFERENCE POINT

AN ACOUSTIC FOUNDATION

Come again tomorrow for the conclusion, plus further appears at how the ability was constructed!

Login

Register