A brand new, state of the art music studio complex has been opened in Beijing by Modern Sky Entertainment – and the independent company has partnered with Stephen Budd Music to bring talented British producers to China.

The new Modern Sky Studio complex is located in the company’s Beijing headquarters and includes four recording rooms and three control rooms with a total area of nearly 1,000 square metres.The new studio is packed with high-end hardware including the first AMS Neve 88RS mixing console to be used in China.

The facility uses many of the same systems as some of the world’s most famous studios including Abbey Road, AIR and Capitol Studios.

The company will cooperate with Stephen Budd Music to give domestic Chinese artists the opportunity to work with international producers.Stephen Budd Music represents some of the most successful and influential producers, songwriters, mixers, engineers, remixers and programmers from Europe and the USA, alongside a selection of the best up-and-coming creative studio and writing talent.

Among the management firm’s roster are Mike Hedges (U2, Dido, Manic Street Preachers), Colin Elliot (Kylie Minogue, Richard Hawley, Paul Weller), James Lewis (Arctic Monkeys, Duffy, Wonderland), Tomasso Colliva (Muse, Franz Ferdinand), Rick Nowels (Madonna, Lana Del Rey, Ellie Goulding), Hugo Nicholson (Radiohead, Bjork, Beck) and many more.British producers from Stephen Budd Music will join Modern Sky Studio’s experienced recording team consisting of Chen Dong, Wang Haichen and Zang Lu.

Founded by Lihui Shen in 1997, Modern Sky Entertainment is a multi-faceted entertainment company, operating across records, publishing, live and video. It is the largest independent record label in China as well as being promoter of the largest music festivals in the territory under the banner of Strawberry Festivals.

As well as its Beijing headquarters, Modern Sky Entertainment has offices in New York and Liverpool in the UK.Modern Sky UK is headed by Sound City founder Dave Pichilingi.

Stephen Budd said: “We are delighted to be cooperating with an innovative music company like Modern Sky.They have an important influence in China and the international market. I am looking forward to the next step of my work career."

Dave Pichilingi added: “The UK has some of the best music producers in the world, and this partnership between Modern Sky and Stephen Budd Music is the latest example of Modern Sky combining its reputation and influence in China with talent from leading western markets. The collaboration, alongside its label branches in the UK and US, bolsters Modern Sky’s truly international outlook.”

Commenting on the new Modern Sky Studio, Lihui Shen said: “If you look at the studio from a static point, this may not seem like a rational investment. But, looking to the future, we see this as the most fundamental aspect of the modern entertainment industry. As our lives get faster, it’s important that we remember to slow down and return to the content itself to ensure its quality.”

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UK-based trip-hop producer Andy Barlow has added Genelec 1238 main monitors to his home studio alongside a complementary set of 8331 coaxial 3-way monitors from The Ones range, which will form his mobile system for mixing on the road.

Barlow has owned and used Genelec monitors for more than 20 years, in a career that has combined critical and commercial success with vocalist Lou Rhodes – his partner in renowned electronic duo Lamb – along with production and remix credits for works by artists such as David Gray, Elbow, Placebo and, most recently, U2.

Andy Bensley of Genelec distributor Source Distribution set up the new 1238s in the Brighton studio. “It’s where I do pretty much all of my mixing, from U2 to David Gray and Lamb in just the past year,” explained Barlow.

Meanwhile, the 8331s were immediately packed for a three month winter sojourn in Goa, where Barlow will be preparing tracks with Lou Rhodes for the next Lamb album. Both the 1238 and 8331 use Genelec’s SAM technology, which allows Barlow to use GLM calibration software to optimise each monitor’s performance for his own personal acoustic environment.

Barlow’s latest investment in Genelec monitoring comes on the back of several months co-producing U2’s new album Songs Of Experience, already a Number One hit in 20 countries. “We used the big 1238CF monitors in a makeshift studio inside the Canadian Embassy in Dublin,” Barlow revealed. “It was opposite Bono’s house, in a huge room that needed all the acoustic help it could get. The 1238s and the use of GLM software were a huge bonus in that respect. The album was mostly made in places like that – mansions, hotels, venues. The only purpose-built studio we used was Rick Rubin’s place, the Shangri-La in Malibu, where I had a pair of 8050s. The band members really like Genelec too.”

"I’m going through all the tracks I’ve produced and finding new sounds and touches that I’ve not heard before.

– Andy Barlow

Of his new 8331s, he added: “I’ve been putting them through their paces in my Goa studio these past couple of weeks, and I could honestly rave about them all day. The definition is second to none. The room is far from perfect with little in the way of acoustic treatment, but with GLM weaving its magic, the 8331s fill the room in an amazing way.

“Also, for such a small speaker with no sub, the bottom end is physics defying. The top end is refined and smooth, and the stereo sweet spot seems much bigger than any other speaker I’ve used. I’m going through all the tracks I’ve produced and finding new sounds and touches that I’ve not heard before.”

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Jolyon Thomas has praised U2 for their studio knowledge, after working with them on their 14th studio album Songs Of Experience, set for release on Friday, 1 December.

"They know what they are doing in the studio," he said during an interview for the December issue of the magazine. "They’ve obviously made a shit load of hit records and they know what they are talking about."

Thomas, who has been nominated for the 2018 MPG Awards Breakthrough Producer of The Year Award is also the producer behind Brighton duo Royal Blood’s No.1 second album How Did We Get So Dark? and Slaves’ acclaimed album Are You Satisfied?

"They are just really nice people and really cool," he continued. "They are also quite sharp witted. So you can give a lot and they give a lot back."

In spite of the band’s extensive experience in the studio, Thomas insists that they have still retained a "punk aesthetic".

"All the vocals are done with an [Shure] SM58 in a room," he explained. "For The Edge’s guitar sound, you stick a mic on the cab and you hit record.

"There’s nothing fancy. You just come in the room, stick a mic on it and get on with it. So if any engineer asks, How did you get that sound, you just stick an SM58 in front of the source. There is no other answer."

Read the full interview with Jolyon Thomas online here.

Read the digital edition of the Decmber issue here.

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"I came into this through a completely musical point of view,” says Jolyon Thomas, when I ask him how he became a producer.

“I was a drummer originally and then I just met a lot of musicians and started working with people and got into loads of different types of music. I did a lot of things before anyone called me a producer.”

Thomas studied classical music at college, and his musical knowledge and experience of playing in bands has helped inform his hands-on approach to producing, which often sees him playing various instruments on sessions or co-writing.

“I’m musically aware,” he says, which is clear from his co-writing credits with the likes of Slaves, and guitar and keyboard credits on U2’s new single featuring Kendrick Lamar.

“I wasn’t so in tune with studio stuff at first,” he continues. “That happened later. But then it became immediately exciting. I started recording people off the back of my band, because people just heard that and were like, it sounds wicked, will you do our demo? Then suddenly I was a producer, to cut a long story short.

“Luckily I’m in the position where I now choose [what to work on] and I’ve had a couple of good bits here and there. I’ve had a really good run.”

A good run is probably a bit of an understatement. Thomas has producer, co-writer, mixer and engineer credits on Slaves’ acclaimed, Mercury Prize-nominated 2015 album Are You Satisifed? And in June this year, Royal Blood’s second album How Did We Get So Dark? – which he produced at Belgiums’ ICP studios, hit No.1 in the UK.

December 1st sees the release of U2’s fourteenth studio album Songs Of Experience, which Thomas helped to produce alongside Jacknife Lee, Ryan Tedder, as well as Steve Lillywhite and Andy Barlow.

Here, Thomas tells Audio Media International how to produce a hit record…

Does being a good producer and a good musician go hand in hand?
For me it does, but there are different kinds. You’ve got musical producers, like myself, people who are very musical, who can play and understand. If you play a chord progression, I could tell you what it is. I could say, Oh why don’t you move the third or the fifth? I could speak in that lexicon. Then you get producers who are non-musical producers, who are much more engineer producers. For me it is really important, because most of the time I am pretty musically involved. If I’m not playing on it, I am potentially writing.

How do you choose the projects you work on?
If I start talking to someone, or someone comes my way through whatever avenue, I first of all ask, Can I benefit this music? Can I bring something to the table? Sometimes you think, No, I don’t really think I can. It’s not that I don’t like it. There are many reasons why. I don’t ever assume that I know what the artist wants. You have so many experiences with people in the studio and some of them aren’t always positive for many reasons. So, I hope that when I come to it, I come to it with a positive energy and I don’t assume anything.

I’ve just heard U2’s new song, Get Out of Your Own Way… can you talk about that?
That was one of the first songs I worked on with the band. Bono and I did a demo of it first. It’s actually produced by myself and Ryan Tedder and I think some other people might have some credits on there, but essentially it’s me and Ryan Tedder. I’m also credited with playing guitar on the track because that melody in the chorus was something that Bono and I came up with quite early on. That really stuck, even though this track has gone through a few different versions as it always does with U2 and a few different versions is an understatement. That’s kind of how they work, always trying different ideas out.

They might go off at a tangent and go, Let’s make it acoustic or let’s make it electronic, or let’s make it half time. It gets quite experimental. That’s what’s fascinating about working with them. They are really into production and they are really into producers. They always credit producers for having a big input in their songs, which after doing it, I’ve experienced. All the U2 albums are made over about two years, so I would dip in and out. That was one of the very first one I worked on at the very beginning when I first met them. It was probably two years ago when I did the first version. All I remember is coming up with that melody with Bono. It was just me and him. I was playing guitar, he was singing. The first version of it I played every instrument on it. Just writing and demoing around the vocal he had.

Bono just rang me up on my phone, like, Hey, do you want to come in and work on the album?

Jolyon Thomas

How did you end up working with them?
Like I said, they are really interested in production and producers. They know who has done what. So if they hear a record that they really like, they will know who has produced it. They’re not stupid. They know the amount of input producers have on a record. They get it. They know what they are doing. I heard a rumour that U2 had brought me up in a conversation. I was like, Amazing, that’s a really good compliment. A week later, Bono rang me up on my phone, like, Hey, it’s Bono. I was like, alright mate? And he just said, Do you want to come in and work on the album? They really liked stuff I had worked on, like Slaves for example and the rawness of that. They thought it was recorded in a cool way. There are different producers on the album, as I mentioned, so I think I bring a lot more of the youthful energy and…

Punk rock?
A little bit of that, yeah. They mentioned that before, like Jolyon is more on the rock side. Ironically, of the songs that they ended up using on the album, my ones have a lot of Euphoric feeling about them. The opening of (Get Out Of Your Own Way) I made on my iPad. It’s all just my voice that I sampled. I made this sort of euphoric, reverb sound and some of the other tracks on the album have this sort of euphoric kind of situation going on. So I don’t know if my songs are that punk rock, but the energy of them may be, I hope. And also this song and another song both have Kendrick Lamar on them.

What is it like working with Bono and The Edge?
Fun. They are just really nice people and really cool. They are also quite sharp witted. So you can give a lot and they give a lot back. And of course, they know what they are doing in the studio. They’ve obviously made a shit load of hit records and they know what they are talking about. So you can be very open, because if you come up with any ideas, or play a guitar part, they will be open to the idea. They will listen and give it a try. So from that perspective it really gives you freedom to express yourself. They are a great band, which goes without saying. And going back to the boundaries thing, they don’t have any. 

Of course they have a good budget, so there is no boundary there, but that of course brings the problem that you can end up making a record forever, which is something they have battled with. There have been numerous times where they say it’s being released, then it’s delayed another year or something, but ultimately the freedom means that you can be experimental and have a laugh and try things and do stuff that you couldn’t necessarily do if you had three days in the studio. And also, through all of that, they still have the punk aesthetic. All the vocals are done with an SM58 in a room. For The Edge’s guitar sound, you stick a mic on the cab and you hit record. There’s nothing fancy. You just come in the room, stick a mic on it and get on with it. So if any engineer asks, How did you get that sound, you just stick an SM58 in front of the source. There is no other answer.

What about outboard?
Minimal. You’re writing a song as you’re going along, so there’s no time for that stuff, really. Of course there’s little pieces I had going on, but nothing really worth mentioning. Most of the sound came from the Edge and out of his amp. I did lots of stuff with my synths and pedals and all of that, but nothing that ‘engineer-nerdy’ I’m afraid. There was no time. You’d literally walk in the room and be like, We’re recording a guitar, OK fine, SM58, let’s go. That’s it. DI, go. Mic, in hand. There’s not a mic stand around so chuck it on the sofa, and Bono pick it up. I think that’s still cool that they are doing that stuff now. It gives quite a fresh approach. We weren’t recording things in a sterile way. That’s not the sound ultimately.

You worked with Royal Blood on their second album. How did it feel when It went to No.1?
Amazing. It’s definitely good to get that under your belt. It’s a nice feeling. I was just happy to be honest. They had a successful first album, so there was definitely a lot of pressure to deliver.

How do you normally start an album project?
I’d normally start by hearing [a band] play, whether that’s pre production or a gig, or both. I might go see them live to understand how they play together, because often a band is the sum of it’s parts, which is obvious to say, but it’s quite easy to extrapolate it. For example, if you were to multi-track a band, like do the drums first, then the bass next and so on, it’s a completely different experience from them playing together. So many people are used to doing it that way, but you can actually destroy some elements of the music in the context of a band. So I’d identify those things, like, How does this song sound live and how do they play together?
can you talk us through the recording process?

With Royal Blood it was a lot of arrangement, so again musically going through things. What’s the chorus saying and what’s the riff saying? As soon as they add something there is no going back. If you add that extra note in the riff, you’ve filled up that space. You can’t undo it. So you really have to work on the arrangements. Then recording, gear wise with Royal Blood there are lots of tonal things going on. There are shit loads of different sends and effects, although it sounds really simple. There are pretty much no overdubs on the record, as in the guitar. It’s just one bass the whole time, which people don’t believe, but it’s true. We wanted it to be just that riff, or that part. Like, that is the part, commit to it.

But in doing that, we had multiple amps. I also had DIs set up. I had a clean DI, a dirty DI. I had a smashed through the desk DI, like a mic amp distorting. I think by the end of it we had about seven DIs for the guitar which all did different things. Like the verse would have one sort of sound and the chorus another and so on. It wasn’t all DI, there are amps as well. There were two guitar amps and two bass amps, so four amps and seven DIs and a couple of room mics. So, I wouldn’t necessarily be EQing very much. It would be more colour coming in, so we would be using the amps, DIs, effects etc. as colour. So if there’s a bright guitar, it’s not been EQd that way, that’s just the way it is pretty much. When it came to the mix, it was the same as the tracking.

What is your own studio set up like?
I have two studios now. One in Wandsworth and it’s just a mix room – a production room essentially. It’s just one room with a booth. It has an amp in it. It’s more for like mixing and writing sessions and listening, or whatever. there are so many things you need to do before and after the production that it all adds up. I’ve got a fair amount of gear in there considering. I’ve got a Pro Tools HD rig, I’ve got an Avid interface, the new one. I’ve got a couple of channel strips, an Avalon VT-737 SP, I’ve got a Universal Audio 6 176. I quite like valve stuff and ribbons and dynamics. I gravitate to them quite a lot. I’ve got an SSL G bus. I’ve got a couple of Chandler mic amps, which are really good on guitars. I’ve got a Shadow Hills Equinox. I’ve got various speakers, but the ones I’ve got set up are NS10s (Yamaha) and The Rocks from Unity Audio. I’ve done a lot of mixing and I’ve moved towards those because of mixing really. I wouldn’t say they’re like vibe speakers but they are amazing for accuracy. In my line of work, you need good monitors.

My studio in Margate is where I live and I have a completely different set up here. I’ve basically got two floating rigs, which can move. So I’ve got Pro Tools HD set up in London and then I’ve got a Universal Audio Apollo set up as well, as a kind of B rig. But I have plugins everywhere so I can move between studios really easily. I also have a lot of things like synths and guitars.,not just mic amps. I’ve got something to put in them. I’ve got a bunch of nice guitars and pedals and synths. I guess that’s more the creative stuff, which is where I’m coming from.

The post Jolyon Thomas on producing records for U2, Royal Blood and Slaves appeared first on Audio Media International.

The December issue of Audio Media International is available to read online now.

In our final issue of the year, Gordon Raphael, the producer behind The Strokes’ iconic debut album Is This It tells us about the gear and recording techniques used to capture that seminal album.

Murray Stassen also chats with 2018 MPG Awards Breakthrough Producer of The Year Jolyon Thomas, who has worked with the likes of Royal Blood and Slaves, and has just helped produce U2’s latest album, Songs of Experience, out on Friday, 1 December.

Meanwhile, Colby Ramsey hears from Grammy award-winning Darrell Thorp, who recently helped record the Foo Fighters’ No.1 album Concrete and Gold.

As part of this special immersive audio issue, Stephen Bennett reports on the latest advancements in spatial audio technology and the methods in which it is being implemented, while we take a look at a selection of the most innovative products currently offered for the immersive audio market.

Also inside, we review Audio-Technica’s new AT5047 condenser microphone following its high-profile launch at Real World Studios, while Prism Sound takes some time to reflect as the company celebrates its 30th anniversary. And don’t forget to check out our top product picks of 2017 in our annual Gear of the Year roundup!

Click here to read the latest edition of AMI.

The post Read the December 2017 issue of AMI online now appeared first on Audio Media International.

Kingston Uni’s partnership with a certain star producer turned a few heads recently, including the one belonging to Adam Savage, who went along to see the finished result of the new Visconti Studio.

Having been one not so long ago myself, I know how difficult it can be to keep students motivated. Inspiring a room full of people who would rather be downing jägerbombs than sitting through another lecture must be a tough thing to have to do every day, but somehow I think the new visiting professor at London’s Kingston University isn’t going to struggle to get his students’ attention. That’s because in this case it’s legendary – and this time we do mean legendary – producer Tony Visconti.

That’s right, after spending the past five decades working with some of the biggest names in rock and pop such as U2, Morrissey, Marc Bolan and of course David Bowie, Visconti has come on board for a new research and teaching project at the University, ‘The Heritage and Future of Analogue Recording’. The role will see him recording with students and staff, as well as invited guest artists, in a newly upgraded studio facility on the Kingston Hill Campus now known as Visconti Studio. The partnership also involves the British Library and Science Museum.

Based around an unusual 300sqm octagonal live room – one of the largest in the country – and stocked with a varied selection of analogue and digital recording equipment as well as a unique collection of instruments including a Hammond organ, Steinway grand piano and best of all a Mellotron – famously used by Sir Paul McCartney to produce the flute-like sound in the introduction to Strawberry Fields Forever – the studio represents a chance for Visconti to pass on his vast knowledge of recording with analogue equipment and help keep these methods alive.

“I’m interested in giving the students a flavour of what the real world is like in a recording studio,” says Visconti. “I came from an education where you started as the person who made the tea and worked your way up the ranks and that system doesn’t exist anymore. I’d like to impart that experience while I’m with the students. Kingston University wanted a state-of-the-art analogue studio and I feel I have to do this – I must be with the student body and show them the traditional ways of recording music.”

Although it’s clear that Visconti’s preferred approach is to do things the old way – and I’m certainly not going to disagree with him on anything to do with recording – a quick glance at the gear list (see below) shows there are plenty of digital options available in the new-look control room too.

Striking a balance

Ebby Acquah, technology officer for the Visconti Studio and former in-house engineer at Mute Studios, where he rubbed shoulders with producers such as Flood, Ben Hillier and Gareth Jones, explains how it was vital to provide a variety of options even if the facility is being hailed more for its analogue offering.

“Going in there you can have digital recording with state-of-the-art plug-ins, full analogue path recording – so you can track on analogue tape and master on analogue tape – or you can have a hybrid of the two,” reveals Acquah. “A good workflow would be to track to analogue tape and maybe put it on to a computer for editing and then bounce it back down to analogue tape for your mastering. There are so many combinations of ways that you can work in that studio.”

The building has been used for recording for many years, but several enhancements have been made not just in the control room – which has been heavily upgraded – but the live space as well.

“It’s always been a studio and live room and we’ve improved the inside in terms of we’ve installed a drum isolation booth, which is linked to the control room. We’re going to build another one [iso booth] as soon as budget permits and we’ve also got some Abbey Road-spec gobos from the ‘60s, which we had manufactured so we’re able to isolate sound in the room,” notes Acquah.

“ADG [Acoustics Design Group] designed the control room, which has totally changed. They completely redesigned the space. It was very difficult to focus on frequencies before because it was almost like it was constantly changing and so John Flynn [ADG owner], who’s a top studio designer, came in and we’re over the moon with the result.”

The lucky few

Undergrads and postgrads as well as masters and doctoral research students will have access to the Visconti Studio, and there are also plans in place to make it available for commercial hire. Taking around a year to complete from the initial conversations to the finished result, the space is a worthy flagship when lined up alongside the University’s other audio facilities, which are pretty well equipped too.

“That control room is for use by Level 6 and 7 students, so third year undergraduates and postgraduates, and we’ve also got three smaller project studios for Levels 4 and 5 (first and second year undergrads), one of which has just been installed with an SSL XL Super Analogue desk,” Acquah continues. “So there are a few facilities here but we’re just looking to build them up and improve them at all levels. We’ve also got a 24-seat computer suite and an MA surround sound editing suite.”

There’s also a d&b audiotechnik loudspeaker system in the octagonal room comprising Ci7 tops and C7 subs for when the Visconti Studio team want to turn it into a performance space. “It’s a really top PA and we had it installed two years ago. We’re running an Allen & Heath GLD-80 desk in there and HK monitor wedges so it’s a good system,” Acquah says.

Its effectiveness as a place for small concerts was demonstrated at the official launch on 19 September, where singer-songwriter Mary Epworth – and sister of Paul, in case you’re wondering – performed a couple of tracks to bring the event to a close. Visconti was also officially made an Honorary Doctor of Arts in a ceremony – complete with gowns and silly hats all round – on the night. Earlier in the evening though, visitors were played new material for Epworth produced by students under the guidance of Visconti, and were also introduced to the rest of the studio team, which includes director Isabella Van Elferen, project leader Leah Kardos, education officer Alex Evans and enterprise officer Philip Chambon.

The demonstration marked only the start of the upcoming opportunities for students to work closely with the producer – for example, the Visconti Studio Winter School will take place in the week commencing 13 February 2017. The five-day intensive programme led by Visconti will see participants record a track with an invited artist while engaging in activities such as operating and maintaining tape machines, analogue multi-track recording/mixing and microphone techniques, with a particular focus on recording in the octagonal live room.

“This is a fantastic, unique opportunity for me as I barely made it out of high school and my university education was 50 years in the recording studio. Working here with students at the Visconti Studio – which has the potential to be a first class facility – is going to be a magical time for me,” states Visconti. “I say to the students here at Kingston University, go out and make analogue recordings. It’s the way music should be heard and it’s a beautiful thing.”

Equipment List

Console
Audient ASP8024

Recording and Software
Apogee Symphony I/O
Pro Tools HD3
Logic Pro X
Sibelius 7
Waves and Sony Oxford plug-in bundles
Studer A827 2in 24-track tape machine
Studer A80 0.25in two-track tape machine
Tascam DA-30mkII DAT
MOTU MIDI Express

Monitoring
ATC SCM25A PR
Yamaha NS10M
Digital Audio Labs Livemix Analog Bundle
10x Beyerdynamic DT150 and 4x beyerdynamic DT102 headphones

Processing
Drawmer DS201 dual gate
Drawmer DL241 compressor
Universal Audio 2-610 tube preamp
Neve 1073DPA preamp
Neve 1073 Mono Module – Mic Pre, 3 Band EQ
Avalon VT737 preamp
Joe Meek Twin Q preamp
API 3124 preamp
Neve 1073/1084
2x Empirical Labs Distressor
2x UA 1176LN limiting amplifier

Effects
Lexicon PCM70
Eventide H3000SE Ultra Harmoniser
Roland RE201 tape echo
EMT 140/240 Plate Reverb
Yamaha SPX2000

Microphones
ACMH String mic set (quartet)
AKG C214 stereo pair
4x AKG C414
AKG D12
AKG D12VR
AKG D112
Audix drum mic set
2x AKG C1000
2x B&K 4006
beyerdynamic Opus drum mic sets
DPA SMK4061
2x EV RE20
2x Neumann KMC104
4x Neumann U87
2x Neumann KM184 stereo pair
Rode NT1 stereo pair
2x Rode NT5 stereo pair
Rode NTG2 shotgun
2x Royer R-122 ribbon
Royer SF-12 stereo ribbon
SE Electronics Titan
2x SE Electronics SE2200A
4x Sennheiser MD421
2x Sennheiser MKH40
12x Shure SM57

http://www.visconti-studio.co.uk

The post Inside the Visconti Studio at London’s Kingston University appeared first on Audio Media International.

There is now just a few weeks to go until the 2016 Pro Sound Awards at London’s Ministry of Sound.

Upon receiving excellent submissions from all areas of the trade for the Rising Stars Award, we recently revealed the shortlist of nominees and spoke to all of them about their Pro Audio journeys so far. Now it is finalist Jack McKenna’s turn to tell us why he deserves to be recognised as the industry’s most promising young professional.

After racking up a number of assistant credits at Artillery Studios, McKenna took over the engineering position for Last.fm’s Lightship95 sessions and has had some of his proudest works released this year including albums with Melt Yourself Down, Teeth of The Sea and Eden Royals.

How did you start out and where did you study?

I began recording bands about a decade ago, when I was 15 or 16. Growing up in South Bucks, I was blessed by a thriving local music scene, which seemed to be a bit of an anomaly – although I didn’t know that at the time.

I used to play drums for a local band, and when it came time to recording some demos, the most affordable option was to try DIY. I remember we tracked drums using an electric kit, guitars and bass using a Line 6 Pod, and vocals with a very basic condenser. It might not sound glamorous but it did the job, and soon enough other local bands wanted to use my setup for the same purposes. Every penny earned would be reinvested into more gear.

I was lucky that my school tried out a Music Technology course the same year I was do A-Levels, and then I continued onto Leeds College of Music to study Music Production.

Where are you based?

I’ve spent the last three and half years working out of Lightship95 in East London. It’s predominantly a tracking facility with an impressive back line and decent sized live room. I’m the in-house engineer here, but regularly take on the role of assistant when visiting engineers are in.

When did you get into the industry?

My first real studio job was Artillery Studios in Spitalfields. That was only a few months after I graduated, so would have been the end of 2011.

I was really lucky to start my career by learning whilst assisting on records by the likes of U2, Jessie Ware, and Little Comets.

Who are your biggest influences?

I think it’d be unfair to name anyone other than my current and past mentors as the largest influences on my recording career. The reason I record the way I do now is down to Ben Phillips, producer and owner of Lightship95. Whilst I do absorb techniques and philosophies from other producers in the public eye, I do owe credit to Ben for developing my skills to where they are now.

Before joining the Lightship, I worked alongside Donald Clark of Artillery Studios. Not only did Donald show me the ins and outs of operating and repairing an SSL G+ console, he taught me how important it is to have a persevering work ethic: A valuable asset for anyone looking to have a career with longevity in this industry.

Can you tell us about any recent projects, or what you are working on currently?

I recently recorded and mixed a live session for NTS radio and Ninja Tune. Sarathy Korwar, Hieroglyphic Being, and Shabaka Hutchings all set up together to perform a live improvisation session. Unlike anything I normally do in the studio, I had to mix on the fly for an hour and a half as it was all live broadcast. It was more like being a FOH and monitor engineer, only in a studio environment whilst hundreds of people would tune in and out at any given moment.

Aside from that, a handful of albums that I’ve engineered have been released this year including Teeth of The Sea’s fourth studio album ‘Highly Deadly Black Tarantula’, and ‘Last Evenings on Earth’ by Melt Yourself Down.

Can you tell us about some of your favourite gear? What do you find yourself relying on for projects?

Since I find myself tracking most of the time, I have a lot of go-to microphones such as Beyer M201 on the snare, or M160 on the guitar cab, but nothing stands out to me as totally irreplaceable. In fact, I relish a challenge and often seek to change things up a bit. It’s always nice to assist another producer or engineer in the studio to see how they like to approach things.

If there was one thing that I do find unique; it’s the Valhalla Vintage Verb plugin. No two reverbs ever sound the same, and often they can be trying to do too much, but I always know what I’m getting with this reverb and it always sounds great.

If you could work with one figure in the industry, who would it be and why?

I’d love to be on a session with Steve Albini. The way he records and mixes an album with such speed implies to me that he must be very decisive and immediate with everything he does, which is something I strive to do whenever appropriate.

Where do you want to be in ten years?

I’ll feel absolutely blessed if in ten years I am still able to work with amazing musicians on great records. I will always prefer to work on anything a bit left-field, especially if it calls for me to record it in a new approach, but as long as I’m able to enjoy myself making music, I’ll be happy.

The Pro Sound Awards will be held at London’s Ministry of Sound on 22 September. Tickets are now available for just £55 at http://www.prosoundawards.com/buy-tickets/ or contact jreay@nbmedia.com

http://www.prosoundawards.com/

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Waves Audio is preparing a series of small-group master classes on mixing, recording, production and other music and sound topics hosted by several well-known ‘audio visionaries’.

Set to take place at a luxurious estate in Franklin, Tennessee, near Nashville, Wavesland will see musicians, producers and engineers spend a weekend with leading professional in the field, immersing themselves in a collaborative educational environment complete with high-end studio and premium recording and mixing gear.

Each Wavesland master class is limited to 13 participants, allowing for an intimate, hands-on encounter with some of the industry’s biggest hit-makers.

Those taking part will benefit from privileged personal access to the professional secrets of the audio masterminds behind Bruce Springsteen, Beyoncé, U2, Adele, Led Zeppelin, Lady Gaga, Foo Fighters, Coldplay and many more, learning firsthand from the master instructor of their choice in a luxury environment with VIP accommodations.

The first Wavesland master class, now open for registration, will be led by Grammy-winning mix engineer Chris Lord-Alge (Bruce Springsteen, Green Day) from 22-23 October 2016.

Other upcoming master classes include:

• Kevin Madigan: “The Art of Live Sound Maintenance” – 29-30 October
• Jack Joseph Puig: “The Art of Record Making” – 4-6 November
• Dave Audé: “Remixing vs. Producing” – 12-13 November
• Greg Wells: “Make Your Mix Come Alive” – 19-20 November
• Michael Brauer: “Making Your Mix More Emotional” – 3-4 December
• Greg Price and Brad Madix: “From the Stage to the Studio” – 10-11 December
• Eddie Kramer: “Mixing in the Modern World from a Vintage Guy’s Point of View” – 17-18 December

For more information on Wavesland, visit www.waves.com/wavesland.

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Set amongst 400 acres of stunning countryside in an area of outstanding natural beauty, Monnow Valley Studios is the subject of our next Studio Spotlight, in association with AllStudios.

Since opening its doors in 1975, this heritage studio in South Wales – less than three miles away from the idyllic market town of Monmouth – has been one of the UK’s leading residential facilities, playing host to artists including Black Sabbath, Oasis, Robert Plant, Simple Minds and Biffy Clyro.

Producer/mixer Andrew Scheps (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Michael Jackson, Justin Timberlake, U2), who first worked there in 2007, returned on numerous occasions in the interim years and has now relocated his vintage Neve studio from Los Angeles, California to Monnow Valley. “I fell in love with the rooms at Monnow Valley,” he explained, “and immediately knew the Neve would sound amazing there. When my move to the UK became concrete, I called Jo [Riou, studio owner] and we struck the deal. It’s great to finally see it sitting next to one of my favourite live rooms.”

Scheps has spent the last 20 years putting his studio together, rescuing gear from studios forced to shut their doors such as Sound City, Ocean Way Recording and Signet Soundelux. The centrepiece of his collection is a 64-channel Neve 8068 Mk II complete with Flying Faders. Scheps has also brought a selection of vintage gear including Pultec and Lang EQs, Urei and RCA limiters, as well as valve classics from Neumann and AKG to sit alongside it.

Additional equipment includes a Neve BCM-10 with 10x 1073 modules, a pair of RCA Ku3’s and an array of boutique mics, compressors and EQs. Full equipment list and studio spec can be found here.

The install was overseen by studio co-manager Tom Manning alongside technician Richard Griffiths (ex-Olympic Studios) and engineers Matt Glasbey, Curtis Elvidge, Liam Ross and Beau Blaise.

Manning and Scheps designed the new layout, installing Pro Tools HDX2 with 64 I/O. New solid oak flooring has been laid in the control room complementing the unique organic design which flows through the studio. The enormous trademark cartwheel doors remain and can be closed to partition off the 1,200 sqft live area, enabling variable acoustics between areas.

The cartwheel doors have been retained, and measure 15ft (H) x 17ft (W)

While Scheps will certainly be booking the room to produce and record (if it’s available), the studio is 100% open for business. “I suppose, in a way, I’m hoping the room will be too busy for me to get into,” he says.

“While many studios are having to diversify or close completely, I am delighted that Monnow Valley will not only continue to provide our clients with a wonderful space to create, but that we have also been able to expand into a place which now surpasses all our expectations” Riou adds. “Andrew has brought something very special to this small corner of Wales and our vision is for it to continue for years to come."

The residential accommodation has also been upgraded but still retains its country house appeal. “Our clients love the home from home vibe at Monnow Valley,” states studio co-manager Megan Griffiths. “We have seven lovely bedrooms, a spacious lounge and dining room, a gym, plus three acres of gardens and the beautiful River Monnow (including a mile of game fishing) on our doorstep."

Clients also have the option of sampling bespoke menus created by an in-house chef, or for those on a budget the studio continues to offer comprehensive self catering facilities.

For more information on the studio, including contact details, click here.

http://www.allstudios.co.uk
http://www.monnowvalleystudio.com

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The age of the large-scale recording studio is slowly becoming a distant memory as headlines in the pro-audio industry seem saturated with reports of yet another significant closure. But despite the increasingly hostile climate, after what is now a quarter of a century, not only is London’s Metropolis Studios surviving; it’s thriving. Claiming to service on average 50% of the UK Top 40, the facility is enjoying a particularly strong position in the market.

But the team at the Chiswick complex aren’t content with resting on their successes, as Audio Media International discovered when it paid them a visit recently.

The studio’s rich history goes back even further than when it first opened its doors as a recording facility. Originally built in 1901, the Grade II-listed structure acted as a power station for the trams of West London, and Metropolis proudly embraces this preceding phase of its existence. ‘The Power House’ also wears its Victorian identity on its sleeve, with the interior today boasting a unique fusion of traditional architecture and contemporary design.

A New Beginning

Since its original opening, the studio itself has provided recording and mixing services to legendary artists such as Queen, Black Sabbath, U2, Michael Jackson and The Who over the years. But Metropolis’ position hadn’t always been so favourable. After the turn of the millennium, the studio slipped from glory into a bit of a slump. Threatened by the stormy waters of the industry, the turning point came in 2008 with the arrival of current CEO Ian Brenchley.

“At the end of 2007 you had the economic crash. You had the collapse of Woolworths and all of those distributors in the UK literally the month I joined. It was a perfect storm of shit we had to contend with,” he tells us. “You couldn’t have had more challenges to face in updating a business. It hadn’t had any investment for five years in equipment, in staff, in anything, so it was very underfinanced. It was on its knees financially in terms of turnover; it was a third of what it had previously been. So there was a bigger job to do from day one and a lot for me to learn very quickly.”

Coming from a background in major labels including Universal and Virgin EMI, Brenchley found himself facing unfamiliar challenges with the odds stacked against him and his team. But, with what he describes as a ‘superhuman amount of effort’, they rose to the challenge and Metropolis fought its way back to the prominence it had experienced years before.

“In eighteen months, we doubled the turnover which was just from sales and outreach,” he continues. “It was a very old-fashioned business that wasn’t going to update itself. Everybody worked very linearly; you had to re-educate everybody to start thinking differently and get more proactive.

“The thing that makes the difference is staff knowing the direct correlation between what they do and how that benefits us financially, because when you’re in a major record label, you’re so removed from the actual cash transaction coming in the door. Here, everybody understands what it takes to make this business work.”

Studio A’s live room can accommodate up to 26 performers.

Cottage Industry

Metropolis has not been exempt from the growing presence of ‘cottage industry’ that has hit the recording business in recent years. With the rise of technology, it is now easier than ever for producers to build home studios, reducing the demand for traditional facilities.

“We’re in an environment where everybody is their own producer, mixer – everyone has Pro Tools, everyone has their home studios these days,” notes PR and communications director Emma Bartholomew. “So competing with that in 2015 is probably one of our biggest challenges.”

But Brenchley believes his studio still has a great deal of relevance despite the changing climate and its strong service offering is more than enough to keep clients coming through the doors.

“You and I can go and buy a Mac laptop and have Pro Tools on it, but you can’t download 25 years of experience. For rock music people still want big rooms, nice microphones and in some cases analogue tapes, but you also need very good engineers to get the best out of that and I don’t think you can substitute that.

“You’re seeing this sea change of big facilities going down and little one-man bands popping up in sheds and bedrooms, but that’s OK because there’s lots of different clients who want different things and they want the choice; Metropolis doesn’t suit everybody, but we try and cater to as many different people as we can with our unsigned services to our indie services, through to our major label services.”

Top Gear

A recurring theme in the brand’s philosophy and a cornerstone which its strength in the industry hinges upon is sonic excellence, and this is drawn to a large extent from the array of high-end gear across the facility’s four main suites, including 9000 J, 4000 G and XL 9000 K Series consoles from SSL and a VR-72 from Neve, with main monitoring courtesy of Genelec and PMC.

And in control of all this kit is a team of seasoned and up-and-coming engineers including names such as Tony Cousins, Stuart Hawkes, John Davis and Tim Young who help drive the facility’s commitment to quality.

The comfort of clients is another prime concern

But hand in hand with this commitment is a dedication to top-class service. Studio manager Saima Bakhtiar spearheads the brand’s pledge in ensuring all clients have everything they may want or need while working at the facility.

“We provide a really good service here – even if it’s after-hours,” she tells us. “Last year U2 held their international press event here for two days, which was a big success, and they had a particular rider list which we sorted out. Snoop Dogg wanted everything American! I found out he was a big football fan and got Chelsea and Fulham shirts with his name on them and presented them to him. It’s that kind of personal touch. I think it’s really important for an artist to come in and feel comfortable.”

“These are human beings who have come in to do their job in a very pressured, stressful situation,” Bartholomew agrees. “They’ve got deadlines and budgets to stick to. But at the end of the day, the most important thing is ‘does my material sound good once it’s been serviced?’”

For Metropolis’ clients, the answer, it seems, is always yes.

“We’ve never had a complaint. Never ever,” Bakhtiar continues. “People walk out of here 100% happy with the sound of their recording,” while Bartholomew adds: “If the core of what you do is offering a good service in a world-class facility and you’re genuinely passionate about it, it speaks for itself.”

No Time for Rest

But just because the Metropolis brand has managed to re-establish itself as a world-class studio service doesn’t mean there isn’t more work to be done.

“We don’t sit here and relax and feel smug about it,” says Bartholomew. “It’s about always looking to the next thing.”

And the studio has made good on this pro-active approach with a full calendar of supplementary industry events and complimentary ventures. The venue recently played host to live cut-to-vinyl shows with artists including Public Enemy, Kelis, Soul 2 Soul and George Clinton, with the performances later released in a limited capacity to vinyl and CD, in addition to regular monthly live music nights, masterclasses from industry greats like Eddie Kramer, and even a live jazz and eight-course dinner event in association with champagne house Krug.

Also in the pipeline is a new Channel 4 TV show, a partnership with Shazam and forays into the budding app market through a partnership with talent scouting app ‘Feels’ and the studio’s own vinyl player app.

To ever push the quality and breadth of service it presents, Metropolis also offers iMixing and iMastering services, which allow clients to place their work in the hands of its skilled engineers remotely, as well as VIP packages, with the firm handling an artist’s entire studio experience from recording to marketing. The brand also shares an educational partnership with the Academy of Contemporary Music, providing its high-end facilities to students who wish to pursue a career in music production or songwriting.

The brand’s ambitions even extend beyond the facility itself. While Metropolis sees itself as ‘Europe’s best recording and mastering studios’, the group has plans to make its mark on the Middle East too. Launching next year, Katara Studios in Qatar will expand the company’s global foothold and sphere of excellence with an institution that it’s confident will be ‘the world’s most technically equipped audio visual facility’.

“We are positioning the facility in Qatar as the world’s best orchestral, film and TV studio, whereas we [at Metropolis] are constantly striving to be the world’s best rock and pop studio,” Brenchley explains. “Dovetailed together we’ll have a global footprint and there won’t be any genre that we can’t excel in from a production standpoint.”

And the list of reasons to get excited about the new facility isn’t a short one.

“That place has so many USPs it’s embarrassing,” Brenchley continues. “It has the second-biggest mic collection in the world, we have fantastic engineers there, we have an in-house orchestra, we have an amphitheatre, a private beach, seven-star residential accommodation and, I would argue, one of the best Dolby Atmos rooms on the face of the earth.”

Even as the company seeks to diversify itself and explore new avenues of business, the fundamental values of sonic excellence and service remain key, as Brenchley notes:

“We’re branching off in lots of different complimentary areas. Everything that we do has to be core to music, core to sonic excellence. We want to be known for producing absolutely world-class label releases, be it physical box sets, be it digital releases, be it a piece of vinyl, be it an app.”

Metropolis’ Studio E

Breaking the Cycle

The brand’s unfaltering dedication to this level of quality across all bases has helped elevate it into a relatively safe space in an unpredictable market. The team at Metropolis pair this with a positive and pro-active outlook; Brenchley believes that while many are bemoaning the industry through rose-tinted glasses, there is no better time to strike than now. This also sheds light on another core tenet of Metropolis’ work: its drive to innovate.

“In my whole career at major record labels, the music industry has been in decline. I’ve never known an industry that’s been growing,” he recalls. “All I have ever heard at major record labels is moaning about how rubbish it is and how it used to be good in the good old days, and I think it’s the opposite: there has never been as many opportunities in this industry as there are now; you just have to be a bit creative in how you monetise them.”

The key to survival, according to Brenchley, is to always seek to innovate, and failure to do this is largely to blame for the grim state of the current studio sector.

“I would say most studios die from complacency because they’re so used to doing things in a certain way and when it changed and they didn’t change with it, they died,” he explains. “You’ve got to break the cycle, and people have been so nervous about breaking it historically that they just don’t do it because they’re worried about upsetting the artist or recording company. For us, it’s about trying to break those stigmas by working closely with them.”

The Path Forward

Brenchley admits that there is a great deal of uncertainty when it comes to the future of traditional studios, but that’s no reason to just give up striving to be the best. And it’s this drive, encompassing its commitment to excellence in sound, service and innovation that has ensured the company’s survival.

“I’d like to think ahead of the market in some instances because nobody knows if there’s a place for something like Metropolis anymore in the music industry or whether there’s going to be, so we’re ensuring that there is by trying to be dynamic and trying to come up with different ways of monetisation,” he concludes. “In the simplest terms, records don’t sell like they used to sell. We have to take control and forge our own path forward to make a difference.”

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