The Magazine
March 2014
Can you trust what you're hearing? In this issue, we discuss that last critical link from your music to your ears: headphones and monitors! We provide sound strategies for using these critical tools in your studio and present reviews of over a dozen monitoring products, all in a quest to help you hear your music as it's meant to be heard.
Using monitors and headphones, choosing the best models for you, and integrating them into your studio isn't easy or straightforward if you've never done it before. In this issue, we bring you studio-tested advice on best strategies for setting up monitors, using multiple monitor systems to check your work, and getting the most out of your headphones.
We bring you reviews of nearly 20 different products for enhancing your listening pleasure. Paul Vnuk Jr. reports on his experiences with the new Genelec M030 monitors, Darwin Grosse gives us the skinny on the new JBL LSR305 speakers, and Mike Metlay tries out Fender's unique Studio Passport monitor system. We review Grace Design's magnificent m905 monitor controller, and Mike Metlay takes us through 11 reviews of headphones and in-ear monitors by AKG, Audio-Technica, RHA, Shure, Sony, Westone, and Yamaha!
And there's more! Even before you get the right monitors or phones, your room has to be right. Paul J. Stamler returns to our pages with Part 1 of a series he calls "Outside In", where advice on setting up a studio starts with the room itself before getting to the gear. We also offer a DIY article on a simple and effective bass control system for any room, reviews of products from Earthworks and Kush Audio, and much more.
If you want a better handle on what you're hearing, or if you want to improve your studio experience in lots of other ways, you can't afford to miss out on the March RECORDING!
Genelec M030 Powered Monitors
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Reviewed by
Paul Vnuk Jr.
Genelec M030 Powered Monitors |
Reviewed by
Paul Vnuk Jr.
A brand-new design combines uncompromising sound with eco-friendliness in a package suitable for any small studio.
Genelec has, for the past 35 years, been producing some of the most respected studio monitors in the world fr......Expand
A brand-new design combines uncompromising sound with eco-friendliness in a package suitable for any small studio.
Genelec has, for the past 35 years, been producing some of the most respected studio monitors in the world from its headquarters in Finland. Back when the company began, studio monitors were typically a custom affair, built on a studio-by-studio basis, and Genelec was one of the pioneers of mass-market models. You could say that Genelec literally set the tone for what we now know as the studio monitor sound, i.e. critical, unflattering monitors purposely made for mixing.
I remember that when I was getting into the game about 15 years ago, common wisdom was that "a real studio" was expected to have three things to be taken seriously: a Neumann U87 or better, Pro Tools, and Genelec speakers. On a recent trip to New York, Editor Mike Metlay and I visited a number of top-level recording studios, and along with the platinum and gold records on their walls, pretty much every studio had a pair of Genelecs of some shape and size in one if not all of their rooms.
While most of the company's line is directed at pro facilities, with price tags to match, a few years back Genelec created the 8000 series of ultra-compact, aluminum-enclosed speakers as a quality alternative to computer-based and portable desktop setups. Still missing in the Genelec line, however, was the area in between the two, the home-based or project studio. No longer.
This month we take a look at the brand-new M030, a 5" two-way active monitor that, along with the larger 8" M040, is part of the company's new Music Creation or M series. As the name suggests, these are aimed squarely at musicians and project studios. At $695 retail each, these are also Genelec's most affordable studio monitors to date -- in essence, a real honest-to-gosh Genelec for everyone who figured they could never afford a real honest-to-gosh Genelec...
Read more in the March 2014 issue of RECORDING!
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Grace Design m905 Reference Monitor Controller
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Reviewed by
Mike Metlay
Grace Design m905 Reference Monitor Controller |
Reviewed by
Mike Metlay
Could this be the best monitor control system ever made?
Grace Design builds preamps, signal processors, and monitor control solutions world-renowned for their elegance and clean, clear sound. With the m905, the brothers Gra......Expand
Could this be the best monitor control system ever made?
Grace Design builds preamps, signal processors, and monitor control solutions world-renowned for their elegance and clean, clear sound. With the m905, the brothers Grace and their team have pulled out all the stops to offer a no-holds-barred solution for monitor switching, confidence monitoring, and more. It combines the very best D/A conversion Grace can offer with a slate of input and output options that make it suitable for the very largest studios.
The m905 comes in two parts. The guts of the machine are in a 2U rackmountable mainframe, the Audio Control Unit (ACU), and the controls and readouts are on the Remote Control Unit (RCU), which connects to the ACU via a flexible Mogami cable, 25' long, with DB-15 connectors on either end.
To learn what the m905 can do (at least in part), look at the ACU's rear panel. You'll find the following...
Read more in the March 2014 issue of RECORDING!
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Ears On: AKG K612 PRO, K712 PRO, and K812 Headphones
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Reviewed by
Mike Metlay
Ears On: AKG K612 PRO, K712 PRO, and K812 Headphones |
Reviewed by
Mike Metlay
Take your choice: an affordable newcomer, a new look for a famous contender, or an astounding listening experience for those who demand the very best.
Of all the headphone reviews I'm doing for this issue, this one's the tou......Expand
Take your choice: an affordable newcomer, a new look for a famous contender, or an astounding listening experience for those who demand the very best.
Of all the headphone reviews I'm doing for this issue, this one's the toughest, because I have to balance attention to three very different new headphones from AKG. The K612 PRO brings a previously unthinkable level of listening quality to a price point that's reachable by any serious recording musician; the K712 PRO takes an existing headphone design that's already won rave reviews all over the world and makes it available to a wider audience than before; and the K812... well, let's not get ahead of ourselves, okay?
We have been reviewing the AKG K Series headphones for many years now; there are certain K models that have entered the history books. I frequently turn to AKG's closed-back K271 Studio phones for my work, and I still have and use a pair of AKG K240 M phones, a fixture in orchestral recording sessions for decades, that have been with me for a quarter century.
Some engineers prefer open-back headphones because a sealed earcup can have a strong effect on the tonality of audio heard through the headphone, especially in the bass. Open designs are considered by many to give the most accurate listening experience possible on headphones, but they're not suitable for use near open mics because there's no isolation of what the listener is hearing in the phones.
The overall experience of a good open-back headphone can be a revelation; the soundstage seems to extend well beyond the user's head, providing a virtual stereo field where individual sources tend to sit with an accurate and reproducible pan position. While my own studio space favors the use of closed-back headphones due to their isolation, I love the sound of open-back phones when I can get away with it, and I was looking forward to hearing these three new models...
Read more in the March 2014 issue of RECORDING!
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Ears On: Shure SRH1540 Headphones
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Reviewed by
Mike Metlay
Ears On: Shure SRH1540 Headphones |
Reviewed by
Mike Metlay
A new closed-back offering at the high end of Shure's SRH range offers some nice sonic surprises.
Microphones and headphones are both transducers, devices that cross between the realm of audio as air particles in motion to a......Expand
A new closed-back offering at the high end of Shure's SRH range offers some nice sonic surprises.
Microphones and headphones are both transducers, devices that cross between the realm of audio as air particles in motion to audio as electrical signals; a mic turns moving air into electricity and headphones turn electricity into moving air. So it's not completely unheard of for a company that has specialized in one sort of transduction to become interested in the other. Shure is the latest in a number of well-respected mic companies that have made significant waves with their offerings in the pro headphone world.
We've reviewed a fair number of Shure headphones in the last year or two, since the introduction of the SRH line; our most recent reviews have been of the highest-end Shure models, the open-backed SRH1440 and SRH1840, which impressed us with their immaculate sonics. Now Shure has added a closed-back phone to its top end; how does the new SRH1540 measure up?...
Read more in the March 2014 issue of RECORDING!
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Ears On: Audio-Technica ATH-M50x Headphones
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Reviewed by
Mike Metlay
Ears On: Audio-Technica ATH-M50x Headphones |
Reviewed by
Mike Metlay
We give you an exclusive first look at the updated version of a modern classic.
We reviewed the Audio-Technica ATH-M50 in our March 2008 issue, and we were very impressed with what it offered. No gimmicks, no earth-shatterin......Expand
We give you an exclusive first look at the updated version of a modern classic.
We reviewed the Audio-Technica ATH-M50 in our March 2008 issue, and we were very impressed with what it offered. No gimmicks, no earth-shattering advances... just a sound best characterized as "solid and believable". This was a headphone that you could take into the studio with confidence, rely upon for tracking and even mixing if you had to, that gave you what you needed to hear without any fuss or nonsense, and it quickly became a fixture in recording studios all over the world.
In an odd but fascinating next chapter, the ATH-M50 has made the leap to an audience outside the professional audio world. Type in the words "Audio-Technica ATH-M50" on YouTube and see what pops up... would you believe some 63,000 hits? And the top several dozen are online reviews by everyone from professional engineers to tech bloggers, gamers, and home listeners, most of which have the same theme: "I compared the ATH-M50 to [insert fashionable headphone here] and the ATH-M50 grinds it into the dirt." I have no idea how it's happened, but it's suddenly become cool to own quality headphones, and the ATH-M50 has become something of a poster child for function over fashion, sound over slickness. If it's possible for a headphone to "go viral", the ATH-M50 has.
With a reputation like that, how do you make improvements? Sensibly, we hope. And the new ATH-M50x does just that: it doesn't mess with the classic sound of the original ATH-M50, just updates it with useful tweaks that make it friendlier to the professional studio. I got one of the very first pairs of ATH-M50x phones in the country, just before its existence was formally announced at NAMM, and I had a lovely time reminding myself of why this is a truly great headphone....
Read more in the March 2014 issue of RECORDING!
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Ears On: Sony MDR-7510 and MDR-7520 Headphones
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Reviewed by
Mike Metlay
Ears On: Sony MDR-7510 and MDR-7520 Headphones |
Reviewed by
Mike Metlay
The newest additions to the famed MDR lineup offer great sound for your budget, whether you've a little or a lot to spend.
Sony has been building headphones with the MDR designation, and a world-class reputation along with t......Expand
The newest additions to the famed MDR lineup offer great sound for your budget, whether you've a little or a lot to spend.
Sony has been building headphones with the MDR designation, and a world-class reputation along with them, for a long time now. The MDR-V6, introduced nearly 30 years ago, is seen everywhere, from studios to DJ booths, and it's spawned a variety of descendants with tweaked electronics and drivers for different applications, particularly the much-loved MDR-7506 pro audio phones. But it's been several years since the last MDR phones came out, and when we learned of not one but three new MDR models, we were eager to give them a listen.
Elsewhere in this issue, you'll find a quick review of the MDR-7550, Sony's first foray into combining the MDR reputation with an in-ear monitor design. In this review, I'll take the new MDR-7510 and MDR-7520 out for a test drive....
Read more in the March 2014 issue of RECORDING!
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Ears On: Yamaha HPH-MT220 Headphones
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Reviewed by
Mike Metlay
Ears On: Yamaha HPH-MT220 Headphones |
Reviewed by
Mike Metlay
Yamaha comes out swinging with a hard-rocking closed phone for the tracking room or behind the console.
The HPH-MT220 and its little brother the HPH-MT120 aren't the first Yamaha headphones in the pro audio arena. The RH Ser......Expand
Yamaha comes out swinging with a hard-rocking closed phone for the tracking room or behind the console.
The HPH-MT220 and its little brother the HPH-MT120 aren't the first Yamaha headphones in the pro audio arena. The RH Series has been around for several years and done yeoman service for a lot of recording and gigging musicians; I have a pair of RH3C cans that have faithfully followed me into some pretty hellish tracking environments (110-degree days in the Arizona desert, anyone?) and come out singing.
But with the HPH-MT220, Yamaha is aiming high; this is a serious headphone at a price that's not pocket change, purporting to offer uncompromisingly accurate sound quality for the modern studio. Let's see what we have here....
Read more in the March 2014 issue of RECORDING!
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Ears On: Stick It In Your Ear
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Reviewed by
Mike Metlay
Ears On: Stick It In Your Ear |
Reviewed by
Mike Metlay
In-ear monitors for every taste: the RHA MA750i, Sony's new MDR-7550, and Westone UM Pro 30.
The in-ear monitor is often viewed suspiciously by recording musicians who rely on monitor speakers, or at worst headphones, to che......Expand
In-ear monitors for every taste: the RHA MA750i, Sony's new MDR-7550, and Westone UM Pro 30.
The in-ear monitor is often viewed suspiciously by recording musicians who rely on monitor speakers, or at worst headphones, to check their work during tracking and mixing. Sonic performance varies widely between in-ears, and it can take a lot of research and listening to find a set that can provide a reliable listening experience, even if they're only being used as check monitors.
But that research can pay off. A good set of in-ears can provide a detailed and trustworthy monitoring solution for situations like live recording, where good isolation from outside noise is critical to mix decisions if the recording engineer is forced to work at Front Of House rather than in a quieter location. And once you learn them, they're portable enough to accompany you pretty much anywhere, and can double as on-stage monitors if you play live.
The secret, of course, is to find a good set of in-ear monitors in the first place. Here's a quick rundown of my experiences with three of the latest and greatest...
Read more in the March 2014 issue of RECORDING!
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Earthworks ZDT 521 and QTC50
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Reviewed by
Paul Vnuk Jr.
Earthworks ZDT 521 and QTC50 |
Reviewed by
Paul Vnuk Jr.
An impeccably clean preamp in 500 Series format, and an extraordinarily clear and precise mic to go with it. How can you lose?
While best known for their line of ultra-accurate, miniature capsule omni microphones, Earthworks......Expand
An impeccably clean preamp in 500 Series format, and an extraordinarily clear and precise mic to go with it. How can you lose?
While best known for their line of ultra-accurate, miniature capsule omni microphones, Earthworks has been making mic preamps since the beginning as well, first with the LAB series reviewed back in our April 1998 issue and then the Zero Distortion Technology (ZDT) line.
We introduced readers to the ZDT line in our January 2013 review of the of the 1022 2-channel rack preamp. Earthworks also makes the 4-channel 1024 and the half-rack single-channel 1021; the latest model is the 521 ZDT, a single-channel unit in the popular API 500 Series module format...
Read more in the March 2014 issue of RECORDING!
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Fender Passport Studio
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Reviewed by
Mike Metlay
Fender Passport Studio |
Reviewed by
Mike Metlay
A pair of reference monitors, with components by Focal, that you can pack up and take with you for easy and reproducible listening!
While one could argue that there's nothing really new under the sun, Fender's new Passport S......Expand
A pair of reference monitors, with components by Focal, that you can pack up and take with you for easy and reproducible listening!
While one could argue that there's nothing really new under the sun, Fender's new Passport Studio represents a novel and well-executed solution to a common problem in the workflow of many recording engineers, and I think it's going to appeal to a lot of folks. I was sent a pair before the world even knew they officially existed, and I'm pleased and proud to bring you the first review of these fascinating monitors.
So what's the big deal? Check this out...
Read more in the March 2014 issue of RECORDING!
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Kush Audio Electra
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Reviewed by
Paul Vnuk Jr.
Kush Audio Electra |
Reviewed by
Paul Vnuk Jr.
This sweet and musical EQ can twist and tweak the heck out of your tracks, while leaving them sounding like they were recorded that way.
This month we take a look at a new piece of hardware from Kush Audio, the Electra-an El......Expand
This sweet and musical EQ can twist and tweak the heck out of your tracks, while leaving them sounding like they were recorded that way.
This month we take a look at a new piece of hardware from Kush Audio, the Electra-an Electrified Transient Equalizer. Kush Audio is run by Gregory Scott, also known by his Internet alias UBK. Kush rose to fame thanks to a modified version of Empirical Labs' EL-7 Fatso Jr, dubbed the UBK Edition (reviewed April 2011). This was followed by the Clariphonic Parallel equalizer in both hardware and plug-in form, reviewed March 2013, as well as the UBK-1 Saturation/Compressor plug-in and the Gain Train monitor controller.
What sets Gregory's products apart from the herd is that they are outside of the norm, like the concept of parallel eq, and yet they are intuitive, useful and of course great-sounding. The Electra continues the trend...
Read more in the March 2014 issue of RECORDING!
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JBL LSR305 Powered Monitors
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Reviewed by
Darwin Grosse
JBL LSR305 Powered Monitors |
Reviewed by
Darwin Grosse
A speaker you can count on at a price anyone can afford.
Monitor speaker technology continues to move ahead, much to the benefit of project studio users. Monitors are getting smaller and cheaper while simultaneously improvin......Expand
A speaker you can count on at a price anyone can afford.
Monitor speaker technology continues to move ahead, much to the benefit of project studio users. Monitors are getting smaller and cheaper while simultaneously improving in quality. The JBL LSR305 active monitor is a great example: a small-format speaker with built-in amplification at a street price well under $200. It's part of the new 3 Series from JBL, of which Peter Chaikin gave readers a sneak peek in his September 2013 interview; there's also a larger model, the LSR308, that we didn't test this time. Let's look at what's on offer from the LSR305...
Read more in the March 2014 issue of RECORDING!
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Lost (And Found) In Translation
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Written by
Paul Vnuk Jr.
Lost (And Found) In Translation |
Written by
Paul Vnuk Jr.
If your mixes aren't turning out the way you think they should, this is required reading.
One of the wisest pieces of studio advice that I've ever received was from our Senior Editor, Lorenz Rychner. As one of our first-line......Expand
If your mixes aren't turning out the way you think they should, this is required reading.
One of the wisest pieces of studio advice that I've ever received was from our Senior Editor, Lorenz Rychner. As one of our first-line monitor reviewers here at RECORDING, Lorenz has had hands-on experience with many of the brands, models and styles available over the years. Folded ribbon, inverse dome beryllium, Kevlar, 2-way, 3-way, tiny and huge... Lorenz has critically listened to more monitors in the past five years than most of us will in a lifetime.
Thinking he would clue me into the Holy Grail, I posed the question, "Which ones are your favorites?" His answer: "The best monitors out there are the ones that YOU can mix on."
Since then, I have heard from other professional engineers, who claim that they can mix on any monitor setup once they acclimate their ears to the speakers and the room. The question, rather than "What should you buy?", becomes "How do you know which monitors you can mix on?"...
Read more in the March 2014 issue of RECORDING!
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And What About Headphones?
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Written by
Mike Metlay
And What About Headphones? |
Written by
Mike Metlay
For years, headphones were the poor relation in studio work. They can't be downplayed any longer.
For decades, headphones have been the odd unit out in the world of monitoring. Some teachers in audio schools refused to even ......Expand
For years, headphones were the poor relation in studio work. They can't be downplayed any longer.
For decades, headphones have been the odd unit out in the world of monitoring. Some teachers in audio schools refused to even discuss them. A common insult for a mix with weird stereo imaging and panning/placement was, "This sounds like it was mixed on headphones!". Every studio had them -- for the tracking room, for recreational listening after hours -- but no engineer would try to work on them, right? Wrong. These days, you need headphones you can trust in the control room.
Maybe your studio is in a room with acoustical problems you can't treat (a rental, a shared space) or where you're limited on what time of day you can blast mixes over monitors. Or maybe, as is the case in a growing number of studios in today's world, you can't have speakers up at all and you have no choice but to use headphones.
Headphones are great for listening to critical details like noises and digital edits; they're a microscope that lets you home in on problems quickly and efficiently. And of course if you're tracking with open mics, they're vital.
And then there's the need for headphones as check monitors. In today's world of earbuds and fashionable DJ cans connected to smartphones and portable MP3 players, headphones are critical for checking your mixes for the real world... as important as, or maybe even (gasp!) more important than, home stereo speakers....
Read more in the March 2014 issue of RECORDING!
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Match Your Monitors To Your Music
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Written by
Eleanor Goldfield
Match Your Monitors To Your Music |
Written by
Eleanor Goldfield
All the fancy DAW gear in the world won't matter if you can't hear your music properly. A beginner's guide to getting your listening system right.
I call it "posh poverty" -- scraping money together for food and rent, but al......Expand
All the fancy DAW gear in the world won't matter if you can't hear your music properly. A beginner's guide to getting your listening system right.
I call it "posh poverty" -- scraping money together for food and rent, but always having enough for studio stuff.
Audio gear isn't cheap, and we have to prioritize. We think about our computer, DAW, interface, etc., but monitors can often get pushed down the list. But what does any of it matter if you don't have the right monitors?
Many a corner can be cut, but you can't escape the fact that sound matters. What you're listening through has to match reality (or the effect you're going for). So I suggest that those building or upgrading a studio should build backwards. By that I mean that you should deal with the most important parts of your sound -- your room and your speakers -- before you look at shiny outboard gear, mics, plug-ins, and what I like to call "accessories".
Paul J. Stamler starts a big 2-part article on this subject right in this issue, called "From The Outside In." He'll cover room design, how to prioritize gear, and lots of other stuff. For this article, I'm going to focus on your monitors.
You need to know that you can rely on what you're hearing. Speakers are the first place you judge sound and the last place sound lands before hitting your ears. Besides where you're sitting, they are the most important factor in how you experience sound. So let's choose them properly!....
Read more in the March 2014 issue of RECORDING!
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From The Outside In: A Different Approach to the Startup Studio. Part 1: Start With The Room
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Written by
Paul J. Stamler
From The Outside In: A Different Approach to the Startup Studio. Part 1: Start With The Room |
Written by
Paul J. Stamler
If you're going to build out a studio for yourself, work from the outside in and discover the benefits of having your room and speakers right before you do anything else. We show you how.
This article is aimed at beginners -......Expand
If you're going to build out a studio for yourself, work from the outside in and discover the benefits of having your room and speakers right before you do anything else. We show you how.
This article is aimed at beginners -- people new to this great adventure of home-based recording. But to the readers who have been doing this for a few years: stick with me, there's plenty here that you can use too.
Here's a bit of "inside baseball", Magazine Division. In magazines like RECORDING, a type of article which appears regularly is the "How to Set Up Your First Studio" piece. We run such an article every few years, as new readers for whom it would be relevant arrive on the scene.
Typically these articles are written from the center of the system outwards -- specifying the recording system (these days that means a DAW), then the interface (perhaps including a mic preamp), and finally the microphones. Often there's a paragraph tacked onto the end that says, "Oh yeah, you'll need some monitors and acoustic treatment too."
Not this time....
Read more in the March 2014 issue of RECORDING!
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Do It Yourself: The Secret Life Of Speaker Isolators
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Written by
Bruce Black
Do It Yourself: The Secret Life Of Speaker Isolators |
Written by
Bruce Black
There's sound science behind the practice of isolating speakers from their stands; learn it and get the best possible results from your monitor rig.
Over the time that I've been doing acoustical work, I've found that there a......Expand
There's sound science behind the practice of isolating speakers from their stands; learn it and get the best possible results from your monitor rig.
Over the time that I've been doing acoustical work, I've found that there are a number of misconceptions surrounding just what speaker isolators are, what they're supposed to give you, how they work, and why one kind works better than another. Common wisdom says you just throw a slab of rubber or foam or something under your speaker, and like Merlin waving his wand, it "makes your speakers sound better."
Wrong -- there's a lot more to it than that. By understanding what is going on, you can install speaker isolation that is truly effective, and costs the least. So let's deconstruct this....
Read more in the March 2014 issue of RECORDING!
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Do It Yourself: Build A Helmholtz Resonator-Tame Your Studio's Low End
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Written by
Bruce Black
Do It Yourself: Build A Helmholtz Resonator-Tame Your Studio's Low End |
Written by
Bruce Black
In our December 2013 issue, we explained why a Helmholtz resonator would be a simple, effective way to get your room's bass response under control. Now we teach you how to build one!
Back in our December 2013 issue, I explai......Expand
In our December 2013 issue, we explained why a Helmholtz resonator would be a simple, effective way to get your room's bass response under control. Now we teach you how to build one!
Back in our December 2013 issue, I explained the difference between bass traps and Helmholtz resonators as ways to control the bass response of a room. While bass traps have their strengths, I brought your attention to the Helmholtz resonator-a bass control device that's small, easy to design and build, can be hidden away anywhere in your room, and can be covered to match your decor without affecting its performance. Pretty neat!
I ended that article with a promise that "next time" we'd learn how to build one, and after a bit of a delay on the Editorial side [Guilty--MM], "next time" is finally here. It's time to learn just how easy it is to build a Helmholtz resonator and get your low end under control!...
Read more in the March 2014 issue of RECORDING!
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Fade Out
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Written by
Marty Peters
Fade Out |
Written by
Marty Peters
Hey, Monitors Are People Too!
Several weeks back, I had a chance to visit a friend's newly constructed home studio. Okay, when I say "constructed", I actually mean a section of his basement not dedicated to the washer/dryer,......Expand
Hey, Monitors Are People Too!
Several weeks back, I had a chance to visit a friend's newly constructed home studio. Okay, when I say "constructed", I actually mean a section of his basement not dedicated to the washer/dryer, along with a fairly vintage treadmill.
Now as weird as it might seem, this sort of thing excites me. As many of you know, I have authored NOTHING Magazine's Readers' Tapes review column for the past sixteen plus years (long enough ago for submissions to actually come in on tapes!), and home/project studios are my bag. Our Senior Editor, my dear friend Lorenz Rychner, calls me a "guerrilla" recordist, a descriptor I wear with honor. Show me a barn, converted chicken coop or mobile home (my specialty) and I'll make you a record there, with a smile on my face.
So what does all of this have to do with monitors? Well, we're gettin' there. Those of you who have followed my column have probably sussed out by now that I have several "hot button" issues with respect to submissions. Overcompression annoys me, lo-fi recordings often confuse me, but nothing, I repeat NOTHING gets me up on my soapbox faster than the lack of attention given to monitors!..
Read more in the March 2014 issue of RECORDING!
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