Above: Andy Bensley of Genelec and Andy Jones discuss the 8381As at HHB London.

What is it?
Adaptive Point Source main studio monitors with the advantages of huge dynamic range, power and directivity, but also with the ability to be transported and used in a variety of locations thanks to a free-standing design and cutting-edge GLM and SAM technology.

What’s great?
The soundstage is extraordinary and combined with the dynamic range, will let you place track elements with ridiculous accuracy. The sound is also honest, open, huge and addictive. The relative mobility thanks to their free-standing design is also a win.

What’s not?
Only bigger budgets and rooms need apply.

The bottom line:
Genelec has transferred some of its best technologies into a set of main room monitors that deliver the best of all worlds and an immersive experience that will give you an almost arrogant level of mixing confidence. Of course they are top level speakers, but you can pay a lot more for permanently fixed solutions and the inflexibility that often goes with them.

Price: Price: £59,999 per pair, US $64,000

Where to buy: Genelec

Genelec’s 8381A studios monitors have the full-range power and frequency response of main studio monitors, but also a lot of the advantages of smaller speakers in terms of cutting-edge room correction technology and (relative) mobility. In fact they pack in a lot of the features and some design elements of their smaller siblings, The Ones, and while they are not officially part of that Genelec speaker range, they are known as ‘The Main Ones’.

There’s no getting away from the fact that these are speaker solutions for big budget operations and medium to large sized rooms. They stand tall – around 145cm x 50cm x 70cm – and have a free-standing design that includes a five-way speaker set-up, with no less than three sets of mid- range drivers, and a large Double Low Woofer System on which the top half of each cabinet is mounted, with three possible angled positions.

Genelec says the idea is that they deliver everything that you would expect from studio speakers installed within larger studios – think those that are built into the walls of studios A and B at Metropolis. They can be transported to projects for a semi-permanent set-up giving them and users much more flexibility – and the 8381s can be located freely within a room to create less impact on studio infrastructure.

This is backed up by the fact that the 8381As use Genelec’s ground-breaking but now widely imitated GLM (Genelec Loudspeaker Manager) software combined with the company’s Smart Active Monitor (SAM) technology. These mean the speakers can self-adjust according to a new room environment, moving crossover frequencies and attenuating frequency responses according to data fed in via a reference microphone system. The setup is quick, the results usually stunning, so you effectively end up with a set of high-end main room monitors that can be used in /many/ main rooms, not just a permanent and expensive fixture in one location.

The Main Point
The 8381A’s key technology is called Point Source Continued Directivity (PCD), and a first for the speakers. It essentially means that the main frequencies are coming from a single point source so are in perfect time and space for a highly accurate and wide soundstage. And PCD covers /all/ key frequencies thanks to more Genelec technologies focussed on each part of the range.

Firstly, GLM and SAM are not the only technologies shared with The Ones. The 8381As also share a Minimum Diffraction Coaxial (MDC) coaxial design where a 25mm tweeter sits in the centre of the first 127mm mid-range driver, a single-point source part of the design that results in an accurate image. That is your high and hi-mid frequencies taken care of.

Next up, this coaxial designed tweeter and mid driver setup is surrounded with a Quad Midrange System (QMS), four further 127mm mid-range speakers. Like The Ones – the 8341s, for example – these separate drivers almost join forces, in this case also helping to produce an ultra-precise mid- range imaging within the soundstage.

Mounted at the front of each speaker below the QMS array is a front 381mm driver called a woofer, but acting more like a low-mid speaker. Finally the whole enclosure sits on top of a second cabinet with a ‘Double Low Woofer’ (DLW) system, two 381mm drivers that deliver the sub frequencies and the low end part of the PCD system.

It’s a fairly complex five-way system, then, but all of its component parts combine to provide the highly-directional PCD system, and headline specs that include 5926 watts of power over a vast 20Hz to 35kHz (+/-1.5dB) frequency range. The max short term SPL hits 129db per pair too. It’s also worth noting that the 9320A Reference Controller is included with each pair.

But the even bigger headline is the resulting sound. After a number of listening tests we travelled through several opinions and emotions, all of them ranging from impressed to actually slightly overwhelmed. With the right mix, the stereo imaging was extraordinary, almost to the point that we thought some detail was around us. But the biggest takeaway was not just the horizontal soundstage, but the vertical height and the depth of the field.

No doubt helped by the physical size of the speaker – they are the optimal level (or can be adjusted using an incliner) for listening – and also that 5-way driver system, you get an extraordinary ‘height’ in the listening experience. It’s almost like you are presented with a much more accurate, high resolution grid of your mix moving left/right and up/down so you can place everything with extraordinary detail.

I expected to hear more in the mix – as you so often can when going from consumer to studio monitors – but with the 8381s it wasn’t so much that, but becoming more immersed within all three dimensions: left/right, up/down and partially ‘within’ the mix. We noticed the sweet spot was wide, but there was definitely a position where it was best enjoyed.

Another interesting test was when the SAM/GLM system was switched back to revert to a non adjusted set-up. The non room calibrated mix was noticeably less buoyant and lively, unusually flatter and less absorbing. As we have always found in previous reviews, Genelec’s GLM system really does work and is a lot simpler to employ than you might think.

We’re obviously not going to pretend these speakers are in any way for everyone, but the extraordinary detail in playback has already won them places in regular audiophile set-ups as well as the more studio orientated projects for which they were designed. Genelec has filled a gap in the market we hadn’t considered – main room monitors you can take anywhere and ones that will adjust to wherever you go. If you want to get to an (almost!) arrogant level of confidence with your mixing – and doing it anywhere you like – the 8381As are demanding to be heard.

Q/A with Andy Bensley, regional business development manager, Genelec.

So last year was our 45th anniversary. We wanted to do something special and thought, essentially, what could we do? And the 8381A is kind of an evolution on from The Ones.

What if we could do that on a main monitor scale, offer precision, accuracy as well as high performance high SPL, and the flexibility to place these things anywhere within the room?

If we look at what we’ve done in the past with our in-wall systems, there was a lot of work that would need to be physically done to the studio space to accommodate these larger monitors. So it would require a monitor wall, and a lot of work with acousticians. A lot of factors would have to be known ahead of time – what console is going to be in there, what’s going to be happening with the furniture in the room, where is the listening position because the monitor focusing will be dictated by that listening position.

What we’ve seen over the years is people moving into different rooms on shorter leases, for example. And if the monitoring set up comes with the facility, they’re not really in a position to redesign the room. Working within the space that they’ve got seems to be the order of the day. So that’s where we’ve seen these adaptive technologies, specifically with our GLM calibration software, where you can freely place these systems and get excellent results.

In a similar vein to The Ones and the W371A adaptive woofer system, everything is modular. Each element is calibrated individually with crossovers assigned based on the acoustic properties of the room. So the combination of the system and GLM will then decide which woofer is going to play up to which frequency. And the idea is to give you a frequency response that’s complete, so that we are reducing the influences of the room due to placement . But also, we’re able to control the directivity as well. So we’re able to deliver as much direct sound in the listening position as possible.

These are the two main goals of this system. And then finally, a huge amount of dynamic range in it as well – we’ve got something like a total of six kilowatts of power driving each 8381A.

That adds up to 129 dB of short term SPL per pair. So we’ve got systems that are very capable, with a huge amount of dynamic range, a huge amount of information that can be presented.

But the killer thing with this, because it’s a point source system – with the combined tweeter/midrange and the four midrange drivers – it adds up to an acoustically coaxial system.

Yes, you can listen at less than a meter, or 10 meters. So these are super flexible in terms of where you place these within the room, as well as the point source design, you’ve got so much flexibility. In this room, with a traditional three way design, the usual listening position would always be further back in the room, where each individual driver comes into focus together.

But equally, you could tuck these in even further and listen at the best position as well. You’ll be able to hear how firm that phantom center sounds as you start to move.

One approach that we could have taken would be to just put another 12 inch woofer in the top section along with the tweeter in the mid range driver – like a traditional coax – but then you get the issues of interference with the mid range and the tweeter, with modulation and discontinuity in the frequency response. It’s very difficult to predict what the response is going to be from that kind of design.

So because we’ve got such a large area on the front, we were able to space those five inch mid range drivers in a position where acoustically they essentially sum up to one driver. So you get this acoustic coaxial performance, but it doesn’t interfere with the dedicated mid range/tweeter coax in the center. There’s no interaction between them and the sound just adds up and comes at you from one place.

And this is the idea of the system, because none of those component parts operate on their own. A lot of what is happening under the hood of GLM is being informed by the 8381A system, compared to a third party calibration system working with a third party speaker system – where neither of them know what’s happening. In that situation, the calibration can be asking certain things of the driver makeup that they’re not necessarily capable of delivering. Because we know the capabilities of each of the driver crossover regions etc, GLM will never ask the system to do something that it’s not capable of. So we’re able to guarantee a level of performance not only in terms of SPL, but in terms of the frequency response and the quality of the audio, because we know all of the different component parts.

And we know how the DSP is going to manage and drive the system as well. So that’s a big part of the design process, as well, knowing how we can get the best out of each of these elements. With this project, there were a number of different iterations of the mid range system – whether it was going to have a dome design, or a traditional kind of recessed concave driver, and seeing the measurements from the impulse responses of how the intermodulation was being affected.

And all these kinds of artifacts we were seeing from having the concave design, that’s what led us to the dome design of the QMS mid range drivers. It’s given us a huge amount of control in terms of the design and the predictability of what the final product is going to be. And again, that’s part of the work that was done with The Ones, because no one was making that kind of coax element.

The target customers for the 8381A will be those that are recording, mixing and mastering music, along with post houses. They’re super capable, regardless of the genre. So whether you want something that’s incredibly loud and impactful – to provide a vibe for composition and writing – or you want something that’s super accurate for mixing, they can wear many hats. Plus you’ve got all this performance and exceptional imaging, which isn’t necessarily the case with a lot of larger systems.

For those customers wanting to know whether the 8381As are suitable for their room, we receive this kind of request from customers all the time, asking ‘I’ve got this room with this design, what would you recommend?’ We’ve got a team of nine or 10 people, probably more worldwide that are out there visiting rooms all the time.

So we have a huge amount of experience between us in terms of how our systems perform in the real world, what rooms, what they’re suitable for, how the system scales, in terms of whether being a stereo or an immersive system, and what would work in each scenario etc. But we’ve also got a massive amount of information that we’ve received from customers that are calibrating their systems via GLM’s cloud services. We’ve got access to around 10,000 measurements of people’s rooms, so we’re able to see what the common trends are and where people are typically seeing cancellations in their response. From that we’re able to see our customers’ issues with cancellations, and work out how to solve that with a new product design.

That was origin of the W371A woofer system, and now the 8381A, where rather than trying to fix acoustical issues within the room with EQ alone, we’re able to do it by assigning different drivers to fill in the frequency response. If you do it that way, you are optimizing for a larger area rather than just one specific spot. Otherwise, if you fix one area with EQ, as soon as you move out of that area, you’re into another null where there’s a difficulty – and so you’ll have a reluctance to leave that sweet spot.

Interview: Aki Mäkivirta, Genelec R & D Director

The post Review: Genelec 8381A appeared first on Audio Media International.

Yasmine Riechers is to become the new CEO of Georg Neumann GmbH, a subsidiary of the Sennheiser Group. She takes over from Ralf Oehl with immediate effect, and will be responsible for further expanding Georg Neumann’s global business and driving forward the company’s strategic direction. Yasmine Riechers was previously Head of the Corporate Development Office of the Sennheiser Group.

“We are very pleased that Yasmine is taking over the management of Georg Neumann GmbH with immediate effect. Together with the Neumann management team, Yasmine will be responsible for the focus and further strategic direction of Neumann,” says Andreas Sennheiser, Co-CEO of Sennheiser.

“Yasmine brings a strong combination of strategic thinking and international experience that will help Neumann continue to grow and strengthen the global footprint of the world-renowned brand,” adds Daniel Sennheiser, Co-CEO of Sennheiser.

Most recently, as part of the Extended Executive Management Board of the Sennheiser Group, Riechers headed the family-owned company’s Corporate Development Office. Prior to that, she worked at Sennheiser Greater China as Director of Operations and subsequently as Country Manager. She started her career in Human Resources at Sennheiser in 2008, before laaving the company for other roles, and then returning to the Sennheiser Group in 2015.“Neumann has an excellent reputation in the professional audio industry. I am proud to lead a company with such an impressive history into the future,” emphasises Yasmine Riechers. “I am very much looking forward to my new role – especially to working with the entire Neumann team and our customers around the world.”

She had already participated in developing the further strategic direction of Neumann with her predecessor Ralf Oehl; in particular, both of them jointly drove the integration of Merging Technologies. “Developing Neumann towards a leading provider across the entire audio value chain, was an exciting task for me,” says Ralf Oehl. “The support of the Sennheiser family, the dedication of our employees, and the legendary Neumann community have brought great success to the company and many special moments to me over the past four years. I am very grateful to everyone involved and will keep Neumann close to my heart. I’m now looking forward to Yasmine taking over from here to build on this.”

The name Neumann is associated with over 90 years of success: the Berlin-based company, which is part of the Sennheiser Group, is regarded as a leading manufacturer of studio microphones. In addition to the multiple sound engineers who use Neumann microphones in their studio productions, its products are also used by world-famous musicians. In 2010, Neumann launched the first studio monitor and in 2019, the company expanded its range to include studio headphones. Since 2023, Neumann has also been developing audio interfaces together with the Sennheiser subsidiary, Merging Technologies, to support reference quality recording workflows.

The post Yasmine Riechers takes over as CEO of Georg Neumann GmbH appeared first on Audio Media International.

The London-based members’ studio has chosen result6 nearfield monitors because they deliver exceptional power and accuracy from a very small footprint. 

Qube, the world’s first members’ studio for musicians, podcasters and content creators, has invested in PMC result6 nearfield monitors for four of its production studios in London.

With over 60 purpose-built studios, Qube is designed to be an inspirational sanctuary for a new generation of content creators. It opened its first studios in Park Royal in 2020 and in 2023 it added Qube East (Canary Wharf) and Qube Hackney to its roster.  Members share access to studios and co working areas that support a variety of disciplines, from music production through to podcasting, photography, film and video.

Qube’s PMC result6 monitors are installed in the newest locations with three pairs going to Qube East and a fourth pair to Qube Hackney.

“We solicit regular feedback from our community to ensure we’re providing the best member experience and creative environment,” says Marta Zemljic, Qube’s Head of Marketing. “Many mixing engineers are members at Qube and their overwhelming feedback was that PMC result6’s are precise and perfect for mixing.”

PMC’s result6 monitors are two-way active loudspeakers that offer high resolution, detail, accurate and extended bass, consistent tonal balance on all levels, wide dispersion and sweet spot – all at a very affordable price point. Their compact size and exceptional power make them ideally suited to production and writing rooms, and since their launch in 2017 many top artists and producers have installed them in their project studios.

“Our members appreciate result6’s accurate representation that allows them to make mixing decisions with confidence, knowing how their tracks will translate,” Zemljic adds. “Our ongoing partnership with PMC as we scale is invaluable. Given the enthusiastic feedback so far, we will likely include PMC products as we continue expanding and equipping our studios. With additional locations planned, we expect to partner further with PMC to create an optimal creative environment for our members.”

Qube’s world-class studios attract many multi-award winning artists and producers such as Tems, Lewis Capaldi, Raye, Joey Bada$$, Andy Wright, Guilty Beatz, PRGRSHN, and Mabel.

The post Qube Installs PMC Monitors In Four Of Its Production Rooms appeared first on Audio Media International.

The launch of Binaural Renderer for Apple Music*, working with Puffy and the future of Atmos on the agenda at Republic Studios

Ariel Borujow (above, left) joined Igor Maxymenko (above, right) at Audiomovers for a very special launch demo of Audiomovers at Republic Studios in New York.

Ariel on the future of immersive:

“You know what, I think 99% of the people don’t have Dolby Atmos rooms at home. So what are they consuming it on? Headphones. So I’m going to mix it on headphones and in my head it was like, this is stereo. Atmos shouldn’t sound like this on headphones. It should sound better, right? So I started doing that. But I switched to Logic, because I said I need to do this, I need to mix it where I can hear it and just keep going from there”.

“And then Igor at Audiomovers reached out to me and said ‘I have this plugin that is going to change everything’. We’re going to be able to do it in Pro Tools. And that kind of changes things. I’ve been using Pro Tools since 1997. One of the first albums was when I was an assistant was Puffy’s second album. I used to work at his studio and we actually used Pro Tools to track and we used tape to backup at the end of the night. Which was hell let me tell you!”

“You have to align a tape machine and then you’re spending $200 on a tape for backup, which only was 15 minutes long, right? Now, I’ve been mixing on headphones, every so often, I’ll pop in to Republic Studios with an ADM file. I say Hey, Joe (Grasso), can you load this up and let’s hear what it sounds like in the room and listen and he would give me pointers. My job is always is make it sound as great on headphones as it is in the room”.

Using Binaural Renderer for Apple Music*

“So I’ve been using Binaural Renderer for a couple of weeks. I’ve done two mixes now for an artist on RCA that I’m working on because it’s just so easy, like the label wants really at this point. You know, at least for my work, I always get asked, ‘hey can you also make that Atmos too?’. I’m like sure, I’ll do it. It’s easier for me now because then I can decide whether I’m going to print stems to do this. Or if it’s not such a huge session, I can decide within the session like, okay, I can just switch this over to Atmos and flip it and maybe mix it that way”.

“I do believe that Atmos is the future once they figure it out. I don’t know if headphone technology is as exciting to me as speakers just yet. I’m not sure we’re there yet. However, once they get Atmos into the consumer cars, like Toyota is doing with the Corolla, that’s going to be when it changes that market. We used to do car tests, you know, because that’s where you’re consuming music and I think it’ll get better. But I do believe that Atmos will be the new stereo and stereo will be the new mono and I think mono will be obsolete”.

The creative benefits of checking the mix in real time

“Being able to share what we’re doing in real time is amazing. But having the ability to just check the Apple mix real fast and say yes, rather than testing it, the MP4 and the phone and then checking the Binaural Render versus the MP4 and hearing the room it’s eliminating a lot of steps.

I think for a lot of the artists right now there still is a big mystery about Atmos. So getting them excited about it and to care about it as much as stereo is different. They know they can check stereo in the car and they know what to expect everywhere. I think ,right now, really getting them to be comfortable with what’s on Apple Music is key. So I think doing this with he bigger artists who you know, mostly would say ‘I don’t care, I don’t care’. It’s not only helping speed up the approval process, but it’s actually helping us get approvals that we wouldn’t have otherwise gotten or would have gone to A&R rather than artist so that connection with the artist is great”.

Joe Grasso (Multi-Platinum Engineer) on the current state of Atmos mixing and artists

“I mixed over 1000 tracks in Dolby Atmos. So I’ll give you a best case and worst case scenario. Best case scenario. We mix something in the room, the artist comes in the room, they hear it and they approve it, and they go home and if they want to hear a copy at home, we render out an MP4 and send it to them.

And they hear and they can approve it in headphones if they want. And it sounds just like what they heard and it goes on Apple Music and everything is great.

That’s best case scenario, and it was never happening.

Well what ended up happening is, artists would have these ‘oh shit’ moments on Friday morning. When it does get released on Apple Music, they don’t like what they hearing, ​ we’re going backwards because what they heard in the room didn’t match experience on the headphones.

Joe Grasso on Audiomovers in the mix

I think what this solution (Binaural Renderer For Apple Music) kind of solves now is we can mix something and I could send it to an artist whevener they are, to their headphones, they can now actually know exactly what they’re getting on Friday morning. So I think that’s really where this is going to be huge.

And the other thing too is the MP4 process is really cumbersome for an artist and we lose artists in that process. You know, if it’s the Jonas Brothers and they’re on board and they’re really busy, we send them an MP4 file and tell them to save it to a file folder and you gotta go to your files and then drag down and make sure it’s ready. But if it doesn’t work, you gotta restart your phone. And you know, they’re like, ‘We don’t care anymore’. We lose artists in that MP4 approval process. And this (Binaural Renderer for Apple Music and combination of Listento Pro) is now like a real time. It’s a really seamless process.”

Exclusive: Max Richter interview – inspiration, AI, cinema and subsonics

Exclusive: Genelec 8381A interview with Aki Mäkivirta at RAK studios

Interview: Jesper Kyd on making his Warhammer 40,000: Darktide score

The post Ariel Borujow and Joe Grasso in conversation with Audiomovers founder Igor Maxymenko in NYC appeared first on Audio Media International.

We’ve all heard Scott Storch’s work — that hypnotizing piano melody that opens Dr. Dre’s “Still D.R.E.” is instantly recognizable to any music lover. What you may not know, however, is what goes into a Scott Storch track. For years, listeners have been captivated by his work with artists such as Beyoncé, 50 Cent, and Megan Thee Stallion. But what are the secret ingredients that help the GRAMMY^® Award-nominated producer craft hit after hit?

Storch’s innovation and daring attitude in the studio are part of the equation, but the producer has shared more with us about what other factors go into the process. From his must-have tools and ideal studio set-up to the advice and lessons you just can’t ignore, Storch dives deep into his work and personal preferences when creating hip-hop masterpieces.

Do you have an ideal studio setup, or do you like to work across studios and discover talents?

I have my own studio that I love to work in at my house in Miami. I’ve spent years building it up exactly as I want it; it is the ultimate creative space for my personal work.

I love a sleek, streamlined vibe, which is why I chose to design the KRK Scott Storch CLASSIC 8ss monitors as I did. The colors of these monitors are very neutral, which I’m really into. It’s the same vibe I go for in my own studio.

While I consider my studio to be home base, I love collaborating with others. I’ve worked with a lot of artists over the years, and each brings something different to the table. If a certain artist is looking to do different types of sessions or wants to work in a new environment, I’m down to explore those, whether it be in a major studio or not. It’s always interesting to learn something new from collaborators.

How did you first start using KRK, and what attracted you to the speakers initially?

I fell in love with KRK from the moment I started using them. I love the sound, especially the midrange; it’s crucial for me. The bass response is also insane, even without a sub. I know I can depend on them to provide an accurate representation of my tracks, even if I’m not in the best working environment. My tracks always end up sounding the same if I listen on my phone or in the car, so I know the monitors are precise.

I’m also kind of old school, so when I like something, I’m going to stick with it. I stay loyal to the products I love. That’s how it is with KRK. Being able to now collab with the brand…it’s super cool. Since KRK is my speaker of choice, I’m just ecstatic to have this opportunity. I was immediately down when I was first asked.

What studio rules do you have, if any?

To be honest, I don’t have any studio rules in my space. Personally, I like to start my sessions by cooking up some ideas before the artist comes in. Once they arrive, I play through everything I’ve thought up. This way, we can see what style we each vibe with; they can let me know if they like any of my ideas, and we build off that. If nothing is clicking right away and we want to go in a different direction, then I’ll listen to what ideas the artist has, and we go from there.

Even though I do have a bit of a system and schedule, I still love to work with other producers. I never prohibit different working styles when I’m collaborating. I definitely used to be more controlling when I was in the studio and needed to do things on my own, but I’ve learned a lot from my past collaborations, and now I think they’re a fun time.

When in the studio, what hours are you most likely to be active, and why?

I’m definitely a night owl when it comes to work. Usually, I wake up later in the morning, and that’s when I get all my personal stuff done ― like going through my emails, texts, and social media, checking in with my kids, and having my coffee. Then my sessions will normally start around two or three in the afternoon.

How late I go depends on how inspired I am. Sometimes I’m out before 11 p.m., but when I’m really in the zone, I won’t leave until after midnight. If something is vibing with me, I end up working really fast―but that doesn’t mean the track will wrap up quickly. So much goes into a single song. Despite all the work, it’s easy to lose track of time when you’re super invested in the final product. The late nights don’t bother me, though, I love music, and I believe that’s what I was put on this earth to do.

What are you working on at the moment?

Right now, I’m focused on telling my life story. We have a movie in development that covers my whole life. It’s definitely a long process and just in the beginning stages, but I’m very excited to share that. It’ll follow my journey as a producer, my work, and the relationships I developed with different artists in the industry ― and all the crazy stuff in between.

Of course, I’m also always still in the studio. I was just working on a record with a new artist, Fresco Trey, who has a cool Afrobeats style. My son, Jaden, has also been a true inspiration to me. I look forward to continuing to work with him and developing a sound together. I’ll never fall out of love with music, so I’ll forever be creating and doing groundbreaking stuff.

Your KRK signature series makes a great studio centrepiece ― what do you have in your studio that you can’t work without, audio gear or otherwise?

My main thing is making sure I have a great speaker. You don’t want something that will blow out when you’re pushing a lot of bass. For me, that’s the KRKs. It might be an obvious answer, but it’s the truth. KRKs have been my ride-or-die monitors for years. They can handle signals and hip hop production amazingly, especially with a sub; they’re killing it.

Other than that, I can’t work without my Akai keyboards, especially the MPC61. These are crucial for me because I’m huge on melodies. That’s my thing in the studio. I love to apply my melody sensibility to new tempos and new styles whenever I can. Everything that I compose will have a completely different identity with the right sound, and the Akai keyboards help me get there.

What would you say to DIY artists and producers starting out and trying to stand out from the crowd online?

It’s definitely tough out there. Having a big online following is beneficial, but it also makes it hard to differentiate yourself. My biggest advice would be to stay true to what you love. Be yourself and create your own unique sound. People notice when you’ve got a personality and sound that’s never been seen or heard before.

The second part of this would be to work hard and have some patience. I know that might be even more difficult than the first half of my advice, but nothing is instantaneous. If you keep pushing and creating, your time will come. Every creative has ups and downs, but staying motivated and working hard is the best way to get out of those slumps.

What studio lessons would you teach your younger self, given a time machine?

I’m very proud of everything I’ve created, even from a young age, but I would probably reiterate something that I’ve stuck by recently: stay locked in with changes in the industry. I’ve never been a producer who gets stuck in one way of thinking about music. In fact, I think that’s what can kill your career. If you’re not open-minded to the shifts within our industry, you won’t stay relevant.

So, staying up to date on everything―from the new versions of sounds to what the current generations listen to―would probably be my biggest lesson or piece of advice. My son Jaden really helps me out with this; he keeps me on my toes and pushes me in the right direction. He knows what’s hot, and I trust him because he’s got a great ear. If he says something sounds good, then I believe it’s going to be a hit.

What are you listening to at the moment?

I listen to all types of musical genres for the most part, except for country. I consider myself a music connoisseur, so I try to listen to a range of genres and music from different regions. The easiest way for me to do this is to go through Spotify playlists and check out what’s the hottest thing at the moment. Whether it be songs that are charting or those recommended to me by the streaming algorithms, I try to give it all a listen.

Listening to everything helps me get better at stuff I might be struggling with, too. When I’m not great at something, I really want to work and learn how to get better. I’m down to work on anything, but first I need to listen to everything to help me get there. I actually just did a project with Bad Gyal, which was new for me, and I got a triple platinum plaque for it. So, I know I’m doing good on my promise to have a wide listening scope and learning from this new music.

In the studio with Steve Aoki “I don’t want any clocks in the room. Like Vegas”

Exclusive: Max Richter interview – inspiration, AI, cinema and subsonics

MPG Producer of the year Marta Salogni on Tape, Black Midi’s Hellfire, and Choice Plugins

The post The Big Interview: Scott Storch on studio life, making it in the industry and his studio gear appeared first on Audio Media International.

The award-winning neo classical composer was inspired by Disney’s Fantasia and is a fan of The Clash, but says the jury’s still out when it comes to AI. Steve May reports

“I’m the sort of person, who when they first look at a property, is thinking ‘where do the speakers go?’ That’s literally the first thing I’m thinking about.”

Max Richter is speaking with us in New York. The composer is talking about his influences and inspirations, the way he likes to listen to music.

Richter’s compositions have been heard in films as diverse as Ad Astra and Mary Queen of Scots. He composed the soundtrack for the HBO series The Leftovers, while ‘On the Nature of Daylight,’ from his second album The Blue Notebooks, featured prominently in the hit Sci-Fi film Arrival.

In addition to his work for stage and screen, he has recorded eight solo albums. His reinterpretation of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons (Recomposed by Max Richter: Vivaldi, The Four Seasons) is a contemporary twist on the popular classic.

It’s a diverse catalogue.

“I’m wide open to all types of music – utility music, dance music,” he says, as long as he can listen on really big stereo speakers.

“For me it’s really important to be able to experience the full dimensionality of music. I also listen in the car, but it’s not the same. I do listen on headphones, but I feel that there’s an element of being disembodied with headphones. When you’re mixing or mastering, headphones can be really useful, because of their incredible forensic detail – but basically I’m always trying to listen to speakers.”

Richter’s album work is eclectic and challenging. His eight-and-a-half hour concept album, Sleep, is based around the neuroscience of snoozing.

Richter says Sleep is as much an artwork as a musical composition.

“It’s intended to be slept through,” he says. “It’s using all sorts of things from neuroscience inside a composition. It’s about fostering slow wave sleep; it’s a pause, for getting back to fundamentals and origins. The piece is modelled on the sonic spectrum that the unborn child hears inside the mother. There’s no high frequencies, but a lot of sub-sonics, low frequency pieces at 2 – 30Hz. You need enormous loudspeakers to hear it properly. They work on you by a process called rhythmic entrainment; you get your brain waves in tune with the pulses of music. At 40 BPM, the piece is really slow. Dance music is 150 BPM.”

When it comes to influences, he cites Kraftwerk’s Autobahn, Bach’s Double Violin Concerto, and The Clash’s London Calling.

“For me, punk came along at just the right moment. I really appreciated the experimentalism of punk, the idea that music could act as a social critique, that it could be a way to comment on the world. I was in my early teens, living in the UK. It was a call to arms, a scratchy, inspirational, lo-fi resistance movement and for me it made sense to get behind that.”

Richter is agnostic when it comes to playback technologies. When asked what can be done to stop kids using TikTok as their musical source, the composer merely shrugs, and says he’s fine with all types of music discovery.

He certainly approves of vinyl. “It’s important to make time, to give music your attention. You discover more in it. The ritual of listening (to records) puts you in that receptive state.”

“We had a record player when I was a kid, but it was one of those suitcase players with a speaker on the front. That was what I thought recorded music sounded like. Then this enormous box arrived, with cables and flashing lights, which I just found l exciting. My chosen career path at that time was astronaut! But when I kind of started to hear music coming out of this thing, it was utterly transformative.”

He says the creative floodgates opened after seeing Disney’s Fantasia in the cinema for the first time. “Just hearing The Rites of Spring blew my mind.” As soon as young Max left the theatre, he demanded that he be taken straight back for the next showing.

“My family were not musicians. They were playing The Beatles, Beach Boys, that kind of thing. The greatest hits of Beethoven. Fairly mainstream.”

Bach was another early inspiration. “Hearing Bach’s Double Violin Concerto on that little record player was an incredible, multidimensional experience. I had an intuition that there was a grammar governing the music, and I wanted to discover what that was. The music is so incredibly well constructed. That’s what gives it power.”

The composer says hearing electronic music for the first time was a light bulb moment.

“I first heard Kraftwerk in my early teens. I heard this sound coming from the radio but I didn’t know what instrument was making the sound. So I wrote a letter to the BBC and asked what it was.”

Six weeks later he received a reply and promptly bought the vinyl. “It was like being struck by lightning,” he recalls.

We ask Richter about his approach to cinema, and what persuades him to take on a project.

“I do projects that I just kind of fall in love with really,” he says. “The creative process is collaborative. Discovering the material and discovering the language, the music, that feels like it’s inherent in the world of the film in some way, so that it feels like it’s part of that universe, and then trying to find ways that the music can bring qualities that the other elements are not doing. Say you need to change your point of view, to move from inside one person to inside another. That’s the kind of thing that music can do in a way which the audience won’t even know is happening. That puzzle-solving aspect of working in cinema is fun.”

On the contentious subject of artificial intelligence, he says the jury’s still out.

“I don’t have a single position on that. I think it depends on how it is used. I’m interested in applications of AI which do not simulate what humans do.”  If you’re simulating what humans do, then that’s misunderstanding the creative process, he reasons.

“For me creativity is about encountering how another mind experiences being alive. When a composer writes a piece of music, or a singer is singing, they are telling you how it is to be them, as a person. AI can simulate that, but it is not a person. So for me, that’s not interesting. However there are all kinds of computer systems that can generate material in a way that a person could not do, and that might be interesting…

“Ultimately, all of us working within classical music are looking for ways to dissolve boundaries. If you put a bunch of kids in a room with an orchestra it blows their minds. It’s an incredible thing. A human, physical thing.”

Interview: Bernard Butler on Recording at Abbey Road in the new look Studio 3

Interview: Grace Davidson on new album and her work with Max Richter, Julie Cooper and Harry Gregson Williams

Welcome to issue 7 of Audio Media International

MPG Producer of the year Marta Salogni on Tape, Black Midi’s Hellfire, and Choice Plugins

The post Exclusive: Max Richter interview – inspiration, AI, cinema and subsonics appeared first on Audio Media International.

Sphere Entertainment today unveiled Sphere Immersive Sound, powered by HOLOPLOT, the world’s most advanced audio system, which provides crystal-clear, individualized sound to every seat in Sphere, a next generation entertainment medium opening in Las Vegas this fall. Sphere Studios, which develops groundbreaking technologies and content, partnered with HOLOPLOT, a global leader in 3D audio technology, to create Sphere Immersive Sound – the world’s largest, fully integrated concert-grade audio system that revolutionizes immersive audio experiences.

U2’s The Edge said, “The beauty of Sphere is not only the ground-breaking technology that will make it so unique, with the world’s most advanced audio system integrated into a structure which is designed with sound quality as a priority; it’s also the possibilities around immersive experiences in real and imaginary landscapes. In short, it’s a canvas of an unparalleled scale and image resolution, and a once-in-a-generation opportunity. We all thought about it and decided we’d be mad not to accept the invitation.”

“Sphere Immersive Sound is a cornerstone of the custom-designed technology that will make Sphere unlike any venue, anywhere in the world, providing audio with unmatched clarity and precision to every guest, no matter where they are seated,” said David Dibble, CEO, MSG Ventures, a division of Sphere Entertainment. “Creating this experience required us to go far beyond existing audio technology, and in HOLOPLOT we found a partner at the forefront of innovation to help achieve our vision and truly transform what is possible with audio.”

“From the beginning, HOLOPLOT has been focused on radically transforming audio technology, rethinking the underlying physics of sound reproduction as we know it,” said Roman Sick, CEO, HOLOPLOT. “Working alongside Sphere Studios on Sphere Immersive Sound has been a truly thrilling opportunity for our team – challenging us to extend the boundaries of our technology at an unparalleled scale and create a revolutionary listening experience.”

Sphere Immersive Sound is the world’s largest concert-grade audio system and was specifically developed for Sphere’s unique curved interior. The system consists of approximately 1,600 permanently installed and 300 mobile HOLOPLOT X1 Matrix Array loudspeaker modules and includes a total of 167,000 individually amplified loudspeaker drivers. The system utilizes HOLOPLOT’s next-generation 3D Audio-Beamforming and Wave Field Synthesis technology to transform how audio is delivered in large-scale venues. This results in controlled, consistent, and crystal-clear concert-grade audio for audiences of up to 20,000 people, providing each audience member with a truly exceptional and personalized listening experience. The entire sound system is completely hidden behind Sphere’s 160,000 square foot interior LED display plane. Any audio transmission losses are fully compensated for by HOLOPLOT’s algorithms in the optimization engine, resulting in clear, full-range sound with virtually no coloration and a completely unobstructed visual LED surface – which wraps up, over and around the audience and combines with Sphere Immersive Sound to create a fully immersive environment.

Traditional loudspeaker technology in large-scale venues can result in audio quality that diminishes as distance from the speakers increases, due to the uncontrolled nature of sound wave propagation. HOLOPLOT’s patented 3D Audio-Beamforming technology uses intelligent software algorithms to create unique, highly controlled, and more efficient soundwaves than conventional speakers, ensuring that levels and quality remain consistent from point of origin to destination – even over large distances. HOLOPLOT’s propriety beamforming technology can also simultaneously send unique audio content to specific locations in the venue, creating the possibility for different sections to hear completely different content – such as languages, music, or sound effects – offering limitless opportunities for truly customized and immersive audio experiences.

Sphere Immersive Sound will additionally utilize HOLOPLOT’s unique Wave Field Synthesis capabilities, a spatial audio rendering technique that leverages virtual acoustic environments. With conventional audio technology, the perceived origin of a sound has traditionally been the location of the loudspeaker. Using Wave Field Synthesis, sound designers can create a virtual point of origin, which can then be placed in a precise spatial location. This enables audio to be directed to the listener so that it sounds close, even though the source is far away – for example, an audience member could hear a whisper that sounds like someone is talking directly in their ear.

Since its founding in 2011, Berlin-based HOLOPLOT has been at the forefront of audio innovation, using 3D Audio Beamforming and Wave Field Synthesis technology to develop groundbreaking audio systems. The multi-award-winning company has received global recognition for its patented technology, and with its unique 3D sound capabilities drew the attention of MSG Ventures – which is responsible for developing the advanced technologies used to create immersive experiences for Sphere.

Sphere Immersive Sound, powered by HOLOPLOT, was first introduced last summer at the Beacon Theatre in New York ahead of being further customized and scaled for Sphere – which leverages the full capabilities of the cutting-edge technology. The introduction of this audio innovation at The Beacon brought a nearly 100-year-old venue into the next generation, setting a new standard for sound quality in performance venues. Since its debut at the Beacon Theatre, Sphere Immersive Sound has offered artists and audiences a glimpse of what the system is capable of delivering, before Sphere opens this fall.

Sphere Immersive Sound is just one aspect of the 22^nd century technologies that will work together in Sphere to create extraordinary immersive experiences that activate the senses. In addition to Sphere Immersive Sound and the interior LED display plane, Sphere also features patented 4D technologies such as infrasound haptic seating, and various atmospheric and environmental effects, such as warm breezes, evocative scents and changing temperatures, to create multi-sensory experiences that take storytelling to an entirely new level.

Sphere will open its doors on September 29 with the first of U2’s 25 performances of “U2:UV Achtung Baby Live At Sphere,” and the Darren Aronofsky-directed Sphere Experience, Postcard from Earth, will debut on October 6.

Tickets are currently on sale at thespherevegas.com.

Photo credits: Sphere Entertainment, Holoplot

Advertise With Us

The post U2’s The EDGE on the Sphere, Las Vegas: “It’s a canvas of an unparalleled scale” appeared first on Audio Media International.

Matthew Halsall is about to release his 9th album An Ever Changing View ahead of his headline show at the Royal Albert Hall on September 21st. Ahead of the September 8th album launch, we caught up with Matthew to talk studio life, jazz trends and what it means to run a influential label (Gondwana) that has hosted releases from Gogo Penguin to Portico Quartet.

Talk us through your studio set up, workflow and general vibe?

So my home studio is set up in a way where I can pretty much record in any room of my house, and I’ve managed to record my 7 piece band plus many other artist’s music with really good isolation at a super high quality in this way. When purchasing studio equipment, I always try to think about how expansive it can be, whether I can travel with it and use it on things like location recording sessions or live shows. So, I bought 3 of the UAD Apollo 8p audio interfaces to allow me to record anything between 8-24 channels of audio and send out 4 headphone mixes to 8 musicians at any point, and this set up has worked really well for me over the years. I also have a decent collection of UAD plugins such as the EMT140 and 250 reverbs, the Fairchild compressor collection, and the Pultec Passive EQ Collection.

Software-wise, I record pretty much everything in Pro Tools, but I compose a lot of my music in Logic beforehand as I really like how the midi / sample libraries flow in Logic and I like the midi score stuff although it’s not the best. I love using a lot of sample libraries like Kontakt Komplete and Spitfire Audio when I’m composing to sketch out ideas quickly and play around with unusual instrumentation.

With regards to my microphone collection, I tend to use a lot of super close DPA 4099 mics both live and in the studio. These are amazing for harp, piano, double bass, strings, congas, rack and floor toms, sax and trumpet. I tend to use a lot of Oktava MK-012 pairs as overheads on drums and percussion, but they also sound great on the harp and piano.

On double bass I tend to use a Blue Baby Bottle mic which works well with other strings and as a close mic on percussion and vocals. I love to spend a lot of time experimenting with drum mics / sounds and I’m currently feeling a combination of the Aston Spirit and Sennheiser e902, as well as recently enjoying the sound of the Beyerdynamic 201s on snare and hats. For lead instruments like flute, sax and vocals I tend to use either a SM7B or a Neumann U87.

In terms of monitors, amps and headphones I absolutely love the sound of my Tannoy Little Red Speakers combined with my Quad 44 pre amp + 405 power amp. I also like to listen to everything on my Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro headphones and when I’m recording I always us the Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro headphones as they’re super comfy and have very little spill.

How do you juggle the production work alongside live and album work?

On a day-to-day basis I tend to do all my instrumental practice in the morning to get it out of the way, and then in the afternoons I’ll work on creative things such as writing, recording, editing and producing.

Over the course of the year, I block off certain periods for touring or writing retreats, and this year I’m going on a UK / European tour from September to November, where I won’t do anything other than focus on my live performances.

Running a label is an important way of defining new music in 2023 it seems – how hard is it to run a label in the present day?

I’ve always really enjoyed running my own record label and love the creative freedom I have as an artist. I’m super proud of everything the label has achieved and feel very fortunate to have met so many great people whilst on this journey. We now have an amazing team who support all our artists on each release and that has definitely made life a lot easier.

I also think I was lucky that when I started the company in 2008. The industry was changing with lots of new digital platforms appearing such as Bandcamp, iTunes, Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon, and YouTube. That said, the support we have had from independent record stores has also been incredible and is something I’m very proud of.

The UK jazz scene has exploded in recent years – what’s the main driving force behind this?

I feel like jazz has evolved a lot over the years due to the way we listen to music. You can now access so many amazing albums and genres at the click of a button and people are listening to much more eclectic playlists.

I also think that things like the sample culture of the 90s through to the present has had a huge impact on the feel of contemporary jazz. Artists are listening to and being influenced by a lot of hip-hop, breakbeat, broken beat, dub, and drum and bass records, which are often littered with jazz samples and as a result you have this kind of more accessible new jazz sound which works in night clubs, at festivals, but also in a seated concert.

What are you currently listening to?

I listen to all types of music and always have. I love a lot of the deep spiritual jazz from the 60s / 70s such as Alice Coltrane, Pharaoh Sanders, Yusef Lateef and Don Cherry. But I also listen to artists like The Cinematic Orchestra, Bonobo, DJ Cam, Madlib and Makaya McCraven and I’m super into a lot of electronic music including Boards of Canada, Aphex Twin, Plaid and Autechre.

What’s your must have piece of gear in the studio?

I guess my laptop, UAD Apollo 8p interfaces and a couple of nice mics are the most essential bits. Plus all my instruments of course.

If you had to pick one studio to work in for the rest of your life, which one would it be?

My dream is to build my own recording studio ideally on the Isle of Anglesey in North Wales. I love the beautiful panoramic views of the countryside and nature but failing that I guess somewhere similar such as the Ocean Sound studio in Norway.

Tell us about the inspiration for the new album

All of the music on my new album was composed in beautiful locations with views of mountains, trees and seas and I like to think that when you listen to the music on this record you feel like you’ve escaped and are on holiday enjoying the sea views and stunning landscapes that inspired me.

With regards to the instrumentation, I had a lot of fun playing around with lots of percussive instruments such as: chimes, seeds, shakers, bells, log drums, kalimbas, celestes, glockenspiels and other amazing custom-made things I’ve commissioned people to make.

Whilst I experimented with these lush rhythmic and textural sounds, I began to create the foundations of the new album, and then I added further layers for my band to perform over which worked really well.

Throughout the creative process I wanted to free myself from any rules and formulas and just have a lot of fun. I took a lot of inspiration from one of my favourite Picasso quotes “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up” so I got all my musical toys out and just followed my instincts and I’m super happy with the results.

Immersive music – for or against and why?

I already feel a lot of music is super immersive if it’s well mixed, regardless of whether it’s in surround sound or not. However, of the few immersive experiences I have had, I really enjoyed The Beatles’ ‘Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band’ Dolby Atmos version that Giles Martin created from the original tapes, which was showcased at the Royal Albert Docks in Liverpool.

You can find Matthew on his UK tour on the following dates…

17/06               Glasgow                     St Lukes – SOLD OUT

13/09               Newcastle                                 Wylam Brewery

14/09               Leeds                                         Belgrave Music Hall

15/09               Nottingham                              Metronome

16/09               Manchester                              New Century Hall

21/09               London                                      Royal Albert Hall

22/09               Norwich                                    Norwich Arts Centre

23/09               Sheffield                                    Upper Chapel

30/09               Huddersfield                            The Parish

05/10               Birmingham                             Hare & Hounds

06/10               Stroud                                       The Goods Shed

07/10               Shrewsbury                              Theatre Severn

09/10               Exeter                                        Exeter Phoenix

10/10               Bristol                                        St George’s Bristol

12/10               Southampton                           Turner Sims

13/10               Cardiff                                       RWCMD

The post Interview: Producer, DJ And Trumpeter Matthew Halsall on studio life and new album appeared first on Audio Media International.

As the first Genelec 8381As hit the UK at RAK Studios, we sat down with R&D director Aki Mäkivirta to have a listen and chat about the flagship monitors in detail.

What type of studios do you see using these initially?

The immediate traditional thought is that these would go to stereo orientated studios that are looking at high SPL and high dynamic range access, maybe working in hip hop, this kind of modern style. But there is absolutely no reason why this would be the main application as they are equally compatible with immersive applications as well. They can be combined with any of our 30 SAM monitors and this gives you a great degree of freedom because, depending on the room layout, some of the monitors, particularly if you try to transition from a traditional stereo layout to creating immersive content then you introduce new loudspeakers into the space and the distance from some of these speakers might be radically different. As long as you can sort the angles that you need, the SAM system will take care of aligning the levels, delay and frequency response.

Talk us through the design and how that came together

If we look at the design, we have a coaxial system in the middle, this is handling the very high SPL levels. You can also see that we have a steeper angle of the directivity control and this is necessary to constrain the radiation angle a bit more than what we have traditionally done. This means we can achieve longer listening distances and keep the stereo image clear and crisp. We had to splice the frequency band more than we usually do – we have actually divided the mid-range into two different sections, one is a coaxial driver and the other is the quad dome mid-range system that takes care of the frequencies which extend down to around 200hz.

The transition point as you go from this acoustic coaxial system to any one of these woofers is adaptive and we actually make the decision depending on the measurements that we take with the GLM system. We have an adaptive crossover point from the coaxial system to the 15 inch driver then between the front 15 inch and the double 15 inch system at the bottom. The cabinet enables us to produce very clean frequencies.

How long have they been in development and what challenges did you face?

Many, many years. There’s many kind of overlaid developments here. The first section which we started on was the creation of the high SPL coaxial concept, we looked at reproducing, very cleanly, the mid and high frequencies in the angles that is suitable for this type of product. All of these aspects are new here. We found out very quickly that we couldn’t use any of the existing coaxial driver designs that we have been using in the One series.

We really had to create something entirely new. The tweeter had to change, we are using a compression tweeter and to go through the design cycle of how you would create this kind of driver, we wanted to create something that didn’t sound like a typical compression system. It sounds like a very high-end, professional monitor. The other development that we had to do was the creation of the dome mid-range because all of these drivers are not available from anywhere so we had to create them. The point of this is that it can serve multiple purposes. One of the problems is that we can’t extend this coaxial driver to go down to 200hhz so with these low frequencies, it’s not really feasible any more. We couldn’t go directly to this kind of woofer so we had to invent something in between and because we wanted to be acoustically coaxial, it has to be located around the coaxial driver so we can achieve the source of the audio remaining in the same position all the time.

We had to choose the distance between the drivers because these drivers are not being supported by the DCW in the sense of constraining the radiation angle of the audio. So once we select the critical distance for these kind of frequencies then we can maintain the directivity and this is something you can easily see in our direction graphs. The problem is that if you start sticking some drivers into the DCW then you get diffractions, you start spoiling things so it becomes critical to understand how you can acoustically hide this at higher frequences so the DCW seems to be smooth. It’s a balancing act!

In some of your initital statements, you mentioned ‘audiophile’ – do you see the 8381A sitting in a home stereo system also?

I would expect that to happen but maybe this is not something that everyone would buy. Obviously if you’re looking for the highest quality audio reproduction at home, this is suitable for that purpose. I think it’s a certain breed of people that are looking for this reproduction because then you’re going beyond what people are asking for and this offers the kind of dynamic range that you wouldn’t usually use at home. Once people realise what they can achieve with this sound, it kind of sticks in your mind.

Was the genesis of the speakers based on your own research or studio demand?

Aki: I think we could pull it off, that was probably the motivating factor here. Before that, the Ones had happened so the coaxial driver success was clear – people really liked the resolution that you could access with that system. We wanted to achieve high SPL without comprising quality.

Siamak: I think there’s two parts. One is the evolution of technology and what we have been doing on that side. The other part relates to what we have been doing for the last 10 years with low frequencies and how to deal with that. And then we have these interesting combinations of technology but, at the same time, it’s very interesting to see that we have those main monitors for a very long time that they put on the wall but now it’s changing. It has to change.

Aki: Especially with immersive, you just can’t do that kind of mounting any more.

Siamak: I think people now have possibilities – you can say that these speakers are huge but compared to what people have done traditionally, this is actually portable. You are not limited by space. You can deal with the space. I think we are responding to the trend in music production and we believe there’s a need there.

Aki: Many times people ask ‘can I use sub woofers?’ but with these speakers you don’t need to because all the frequencies, including the low ones are coming from the same direction – they are integrated so that’s the best possible way of reproducing audio.

Welcome to issue 7 of Audio Media International

The post Exclusive: Genelec 8381A interview with Aki Mäkivirta at RAK studios appeared first on Audio Media International.

Issue 7 features an exclusive chat with Genelec, YolanDa Brown on studio and live and a trip to Abbey Road for their Equalise day. We also speak with Universal Audio about 60 years in the business and listen to country/rap sensation Breland as he catches up with us at Koko London. Finally, we have a great conversation about studio life with the legendary Paul Womack.

You can read below or download. You can also pick up a print copy at NAMM or read via the NAMM app – we’ll also be at the NAMM TEC EXPERIENCE.

We hope you enjoy the issue and any questions or comments, please email richard@audiomediainternational.com.

To receive free print copies for you or your business, please contact rosie@audiomediainternational.com

Our cover star this month is Leslie Gaston-Bird, President Elect of the Audio Engineering society (AES). Leslie talks about the challenges of increasing diversity in the audio industry. We look at the success of Martin Audio’s Wavefront Precision line array, hear from AMS Neve about the story of the recording console and wrap up ISE 2023. We speak to Flare Audio about their headphone technology and interview musician Charlie Cunningham. Our “Out Of The Box” feature looks at the benefits of computer free music making. Finally, our gear reviews inc a look at the SSL 12 and a deep dive on the new Apple HomePod.

You can browse or download your free copy here.

Welcome to issue 5 of Audio Media International

To receive free print copies for you or your business, please contact rosie@audiomediainternational.com

This issue is an immersive audio special. Our Nashville cover star Jeff Balding explains why he’s embraced immersive work and explains his process in detail. We also look at new Atmos studios: Gatwick Production Studio, the rooms at the dBs Institute and TYX at Tileyard London. We speak to master mixer Noah Glassman AKA MIXGIANT about his work and take a look at the latest KRK monitors for on-the-go listening. We hope you enjoy the free issue.

You can browse or download your free copy here.

Welcome to issue 4 of Audio Media International

To receive free print copies for you or your business, please contact rosie@audiomediainternational.com

Our cover exclusive is an interview with the sound designers of recent IMAX breakthrough Bowie film Moonage Daydream.

AMS Neve share their thoughts on home recording, we chat with Steven Wilson about his future work and Jesper Kyd about his gaming scores.

Finally, we take a final look at Tileyard North in part 3 of our exclusive look at the landmark creative community set to change how Britain makes music forever…

Reviews include the Neve 88m and Chord Mojo 2.

You can browse or download your free copy here.

Welcome to issue 3 of Audio Media International

To receive free print copies for you or your business, please contact rosie@audiomediainternational.com

Our Studio Special is out now. Our cover exclusive is an interview with Larkin Poe, followed by chats with PMC and MPG Producer of The Year Marta Salogni.

We’ve also named the 10 most innovative studios in the world and taken a closer look at Black Rock and Grouse Lodge.

Mark Sutherland shares his thoughts from the ABBA Voyage premiere and we review new arrivals from Audient, Arturia and Rode.

You can browse or download your free copy below.

Welcome to issue 2 of Audio Media International, August 2022

To receive free print copies for you or your business, please contact rosie@audiomediainternational.com

Kicking off the live music special is a look at Hyde Park and the role Martin Audio has played in delivery best in class sound for the recent Stones and Adele shows.

We then interview the CEO of London’s biggest venue renovation project – KOKO – and ask how live moves forward before looking at the venues arriving this year and next.

Tom Gray from Gomez talks music streaming, Tom Furse of The Horrors talks AI in music and we are the first people inside Tileyard X, the revolutionary studio concept that will change the way you think about studios and workflow in 2022.

Welcome to the NAMM relaunch issue of Audio Media International

Beck, Joe Lamond and Rockfield Studios! Welcome to the first print issue of Audio Media International in years! We’re back with the support of the industry and launched at NAMM 2022 in print so you may have a copy already or have had one delivered to you.

If not, go full screen below and read the full issue. You can sign up for the next issue by joining our newsletter here.

The post Welcome to issue 7 of Audio Media International appeared first on Audio Media International.