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Studiobizz Makes a Big Step Forward with New ATC Monitor System
After working on audio monitors of a well known brand for over 12 years, Ulmt of Helios suggested to have a listen at ATC. After short deliberation the SCM45A Pro looked like the best option, so he brought a pair over to my studio. After all, it is best to check a monitor system in your own, familiar environment.
We played several CD tracks as well as some of my own recordings from a Pro Tools HD system. I “clicked” with the loudspeakers immediately, though I didn’t dare to say it out loud just yet! Ulmt suggested to keep the monitors in my studio for a while. “I’ll call you up in about a week to hear what you think of them”, he said. Two days later I made the call and told him I couldn’t do without them anymore.
Despite the fact the mixes I made on my previous monitors still hold their ground, the ATC’s give me much more detailed and accurate information, especially when it concerns layers of instruments, placement and depth of field. After experiencing this, there simply was no way back. But the most important thing for me was that, while so much more information was presented to me, the overall sound appeared more relaxing to my ears. It caused, so to say, less confusion in my head. The positive result of this is that it leaves more room for creativity in my mind. Making mix decisions is now so much easier! Music is a story to be told and when mixing, all the track information needs to be brought into balance, giving each and everything the right dynamics. The SCM45A Pro’s are a great support accomplishing this.
Peter van Tilburg, Studiobizz, Oss
ATC MONITORS DELIVER FOR TV’S PROLIFIC COMPOSER DEVIN POWERS
“I know it’s cliché to say, but it’s true. The most important piece of gear in my studio is the monitor system. My ATCs are the best overall loudspeaker that I’ve ever heard.”
Like The Beatles, Madonna, and Nirvana, you’ve undoubtedly heard the music of Devin Powers, but you probably didn’t know it. Powers is arguably the world’s most prolific recording artist turned composer for modern television. He’s written, performed, and recorded literally tens-of-thousands of songs in every genre and style imaginable for all manner of TV shows. His clients include the pioneering reality show Blind Date, The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, The Biggest Loser, The Amazing Race, and Naked & Afraid, the ground breaking #1 survival show for Discovery along with others for ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, The History Channel, MTV, A&E, and more. In fact, Powers has had music in over four hundred TV shows over the last seventeen years. He’s earned numerous awards from ASCAP, including “Most Performed Television Underscore” in 2006. The three keys to his success are a limitless wellspring of musical inspiration, the capacity to perform every aspect of his compositions, and the professional tools to nail the sound of the target genre and deliver a perfect mix on deadline. For the last two years, Powers has relied on ATC SCM25A active near-field monitors to craft those perfect mixes in an enjoyable, non-fatiguing way, day-in and day-out.
Powers didn’t start out aiming to be top dog in the world of television underscores. Instead, he was a bona fide rocker; an ace on guitar and vocals, with plenty of chops to spare on everything else. He wrote for and led the Universal Records band The Vents in the 1990s. With top-10 radio hits saturating the airwaves, The Vents toured the USA, opening up for bands like Smashmouth, Matchbox 20, Radiohead, Foo Fighters, and Wilco. Clearly, Powers had arrived. But alas, the vicissitudes of corporate mergers and steely boardroom decisions saw The Vents dropped from the label despite radio hits and an undeniably ascending trajectory.
It was a blessing in disguise. “My goal had never been to be a rock star, per se,” Powers said. “I live and breathe music. It oozes out of my pores. My goal was always to make a living making music. I started producing for younger bands when I met up with an industry friend who was looking for an authentic rock guy to write songs for a ‘reality TV show.’ This was back in 1998, and no one knew what a ‘reality TV show’ was! He explained the concept, and I thought it sounded like a fun opportunity to sit in one place and write punk, funk, rock, R&B, metal, you name it. I signed on, and it was way more rewarding in many ways than working in the rock world with no touring! In Blind Date’s first season, Powers wrote and recorded over 1,500 tracks, and at the end of five seasons, he had 7,000 tracks.
Now eighteen years later, Powers has a group of writers working under him, but his main focus is still on writing, recording, and mixing music for his biggest clients. And he has amassed the resources to be a true master of tone. He has all the guitars, amps, drums, keyboards, microphones, vintage outboard gear, and all the deep know-how to pick and choose among that massive arsenal of tools to get just the right sound for a piece. And he does it at a breakneck pace, often starting with nothing in the morning and leaving eight hours later with several completed mixes of songs he wrote and recorded that day!
“Only the biggest primetime scripted shows master or sweeten the music tracks before they’re incorporated into the show. On unscripted shows it’s on the composer to make sure everything is absolutely perfect before it goes out the door,” Powers said. “I have found that my ATC 25s reveal everything that’s going on in my mix, and they do so at any volume. Their midrange is fantastic, and overall, they have the right combination of rock, detail, and punch. And I can listen to them all day and not leave feeling fatigued.”
Powers notes that there are a few differences between mixing for traditional music outlets and for television. First, there’s no unity volume in TV, so Powers typically mixes in the green, leaving more room for dynamics than you might guess. Second, the effects of low volume on sustained sounds (e.g. synth pads) versus transients (e.g. drums) can wreak havoc with a mix. Although he doesn’t want to give away too many secrets, Powers always checks his mixes at low volume on Auratone Sound Cubes. “I listen carefully to the transients,” he said. “My mixes have to work well and translate at all volumes.”
SCM11 Reviewed By Hi-Fi Critic
Highly experienced designer and reviewer, Martin Colloms has reviewed the SCM11 in the latest edition of Hi-Fi Critic.
To save the document, download the Hi-Fi Critic SCM11 Review
Hi-Fi Critic: www.hificritic.com
ATC LOUDSPEAKERS SPONSORS LEGENDARY RECORDING ENGINEER AND PRODUCER, MICHAEL BISHOP AT AXPONA
Behind the Magic Curtain: The Making of a State of the Art Recording
In association with Lone Mountain Audio, ATC’s U.S distribution partner,we are proud to announce the sponsorship of Grammy Award winning recording engineer and producer, Michael Bishop at AXPONA 2016, Audio Expo North America.
The seminar event, “Behind the Magic Curtain: The Making of a State of the Art Recording” will be held on Saturday, April 16, 2016 at the Westin O’Hare in Rosemont, Illinois. Ever wonder about the process behind making your favorite recordings? Recording high-resolution music is as much an art as the music itself! Attendees Of Michael’s presentation will learn first hand what it takes to record and master a major orchestral, jazz, or blues recording and get peak inside the studio and see “how it’s done”. Michael will conduct demonstrations of his recordings that have won him Grammies on the same ATC monitors used to Master the recordings, right at AXPONA. Attendees of the presentation will have the rare experience of being inside the Studio with the Recording Engineer and hear how it all works. Michael will discuss the present reality of DSD downloads with additional demonstrations. Michael will also be on hand after his presentation in the Lone Mountain/ATC Room 408 to personally answer your questions.
Michael Bishop, multi-award winning Recording Engineer and Producer has received ten Grammy® Awards (2015, 2010, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2004, 2002 and 1997) including six for Best-Engineered Recording and two consecutive Grammy® Awards for best Sound Mix-Orchestral, and multiple nominations over the past years. Michaels recording credits include Bobby Womack, the Count Basie Orchestra, Ray Charles, Bonnie Raitt, Isaac Hayes, Carlos Santana, Dianna Krall, The James Gang, Ray Brown, Dizzy Gillespie and many more.
Michael Bishop co-founded Five/Four Productions, LTD., an independent full service audio production company. Michael engineers and produces renowned recording projects, maintaining the high production values set in his twenty-year career at Telarc Records.
AXPONA, Audio Expo North America will be held April 15-17, 2016 at the Westin O’Hare located at 6100 North River Road. Please visit www.axpona.com for more information on Axpona 2016.
ATC Loudspeakers / Lone Mountain Audio will be exhibiting at Axpona in room #408.
