Ministry of Sound refurbishment
Recently refurbished, the main room at the UK’s iconic Ministry of Sound is now home to a KV2 Audio sound system designed by Technical and Production Manager Oscar Zammit and integration specialist, Louis Jemmott.
Case Study: Village Studios, Guangzhou
Three years in the making, a new studio represents the future of China’s recording industry – and a bold move in a superstar’s long-term career plan.
Designed by Walters-Storyk Design Group, the Village Studios project is a good reflection of the interaction of company’s international offices. ‘It is interesting to note that neither distance nor language presented insurmountable barriers to our collaboration,’ WSDG principal John Storyk observes.
Case Study: Ohio Capital University Music Technology Area
The Audient ASP8024 mixing desk being installed at Ohio’s Capital University is the centrepiece of its Music Technology Area studio. This console was chosen to assist the teaching of signal flow to music technology students of all levels – and the route to its selection is as educational as the reasons behind it.
Chad Loughrige, Head of the Music Technology Area and specifier of the desk explains…
Sing and Dance? What Chance?
It began with a Facebook post made by a well-known (and well liked) US sound engineer/tech/commentator – the vocal feed from a Britney Spears concert originally posted on YouTube with the strap line, ‘what she REALLY sounds like!’
The vocal was everything you knew it would be. And everything you knew it wouldn’t – no further comment needed. But it did prompt a debate that’s worth exploring.
Commercial Cinema: A Falling Star?
There is something fitting about the way the glamour and magic of Hollywood is being disturbed by some dark goings-on in commercial cinema.
Like parallel storylines in a well-crafted movie, these contrasting themes are perfectly poised to converge and collide – with surprising results. I won't give the end away, but I can take you through the cast and their causes. I promise you won't be disappointed...
Interview: Streetwise Thinking on Music Production
John Leckie has produced or engineered records for everyone who’s anyone in rock’n’roll. He’s picked up countless awards and accolades along the way, and been inducted into the Record Producers Hall of Fame by Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page.
He has also been in the front line of just about every technological change to impact on the way music is recorded…
Hard Hacking: Putting Homebuild Back into Audio
Before I discovered the secret world of the recording studio, it was the mystery and promise of early commercial synthesisers that occupied the less engaging moments of my education.
That was in the day when you could build a synthesiser on a kitchen table – something with not inconsiderable appeal. And before ICs ruined everything. Now those days are poised to make a comeback...
Talking Talkies: Is Cinema Losing the Plot?
‘Old films were made to work with old media. Today’s film directors have too much confidence in the supposed compatibility between mixing rooms.’ Bold and uncompromising, this is a real challenge facing sound in the movie business.
It comes from seasoned studio designer and accomplished acoustician Philip Newell, who believes cinema design is locked in the 1970s and is no longer fit for purpose...
Tablets and Toys, Jobs for the Boys
Thursday was a good day to blog. I had an idea and a collection of notes – I wanted to take a look at the rise of the tablet PC with a nod to its uptake and use in various aspects of pro audio. The launch of the Amazon Kindle Fire, the prominence of the iPad and Steve Jobs’ recent retirement from Apple made it especially timely.
Then came news that Jobs had died…
Showdown: Getting Inside Trade Shows
Visit enough trade shows and it is easy to become blasé about close encounters with truly impressive and groundbreaking kit. Like a good number of you reading this, I have.
And as a journalist, my show goals are fundamentally different from those of a manufacturer or potential buyer. The truth is, a troubled trade show can make much better reading than a happy one. Both ways, a wake-up call is a sound thing.
Taking the Tablets
My first look at audio’s use of tablet computers was derailed by news of Steve Jobs’ death. My second has been derailed by word that the subject is to be ably addressed by Pro Sound News Europe… no point covering the same ground.
But there’s plenty to talk about beyond apps that make an iPad an essential piece of kit for live sound or broadcast. The combined ability of the internet and tablets is causing problems…
Case Study: Recording The Wall 2011
Where the original 1979 production of Pink Floyd’s The Wall cost around £1m and was so big that it was only staged in three cities, its 2011 counterpart is reckoned to have cost £37m and has been performed a total of 120 times at venues around North America and Europe.
The new version of the show is the current touring vehicle for writer and former Floyd founder/bass player Roger Waters, and draws on new 3D animation, pyrotechnics and effects.
Dead Reckoning
‘I am not frightened of dying. Any time will do: I don’t mind. Why should I be frightened of dying? There’s no reason for it ― you’ve got to go sometime.’
When you do, people will want to know, but delivering the news is unlikely to be easy. The role may fall to any one of a large number of people.
It may even fall to the pro audio press…