Grand Bay Recording Studios is the newest jewel in Florida’s west coast audio-production community. The three-room, 5,700sq-ft facility occupies its own building in the Ybor City Historic District of East Tampa. Momnitoring is taken care of by Genelec 8361AP Smart Active Monitors.
Studio owner and founder Alex Romero and wife Lorena Romero, the studio’s CFO, opened Grand Bay Recording Studios after operating studios in other areas of the city since 2018. In this time, they have built up a thriving business serving the region’s music and commercial recording, mixing and mastering clients, as well as students of the Master the Bounce audio engineering course taught here.
Two of the studio rooms each use a pair of Genelec 8361AP monitors as its mains, with one of the rooms using the white-finished version, which acts as a kind of canvas for the Philips Hue colour-changing lighting in the room. In addition, a pair of Genelec 8340AP is used as a second mix-reference monitor. All of the the monitors were purchased through Magic Audio of Orlando.
Romero, who has been a Genelec fan since his first pair of 1031s a decade ago, believes the 8361A monitors to be the ultimate in monitoring accuracy: ‘I love the way they sound, and especially the fact that the 8361 has plenty of low end even without having to use a subwoofer,’ he explains. ‘We have a 7370A sub on hand, but the 8361A’s low end goes down so smoothly we don’t need it. And I’ve found that that’s a good thing for many music clients – too much low end available can get you into trouble when trying to balance a mix. The 8361A gives you everything you need for a well-balanced mix.’
Apair of 8340AP monitors is close at hand when he needs a second mix reference.
Romero – who is known by his mix handle MixedByLex on recordings such as Internet Money’s ‘Somebody’ ft Lil Tecca and A Boogie, and Iann Dior’s album Industry Plant – says that what sold him on Genelec is the GLM software. He says he was able to install and position the 8361As perfectly for the rooms’ dimensions and geometry.
‘GLM was really the main reason we went with Genelec,’ he confirms. ‘I’m not an acoustician, but I know what I want in the way a room should sound. I plug in the monitors and load the software, enter the room dimensions, and Genelec does all the work. It gives me accurate monitoring and imaging, and it’s so much easier to use than the other software out there.’
He adds, he’s integrated Genelec’s GLM and AutoCal into Grand Bay Recording’s education programme, as a way to explain acoustics, treatments, and acoustical solutions to students. ‘We plug in the monitors and the acoustic measurement microphone and watch as the Genelec software does its magic,’ he says. ‘You know those students are going to get their own Genelecs later on.’
In fact, contends Romero, no other monitor brand can do it all – recording, mixing, mastering, and teaching – like Genelec. ‘The 8361 covers all the bases and does all of it so well,’ he says. ‘We’re buying them in pairs now, aiming to create a Dolby Atmos monitoring system eventually. The 8361 is going to be the foundation for that, too.’
More: www.genelec.com
