September 2014
WELCOME
September 2014 Editor’s Note: Immersive Sound in All Forms
Sep 1, 2014 9:00 AM, Mix, By Tom Kenny
For the past few months at Mix, we have been completely immersed in Immersive Sound. If you haven’t been out to a high-end, refurbished theater lately to see a big film, Immersive Sound is the blanket term for “surround on steroids,” a more spherical approach to mix and playback that includes height channels, five across the screen, ceiling speakers, object-based audio, zones and beds and metadata, and seemingly unlimited creative possibilities….
ON THE COVER
William Holden Theatre: Sony Pictures Post Production, Culver City, Calif.
Sep 1, 2014 9:00 AM, Mix, By Tom Kenny
The emergence of Immersive Sound formats in the past few years represents an enormous leap in motion picture playback, one not seen since the early 1990s and the advent of discrete surrounds and 5.1 digital sound….
FEATURES
Immersive Sound for Cinema
Sep 1, 2014 9:00 AM, Mix, By Larry Blake
The introduction in 2005 of the Digital Cinema Initiatives standard brought with it the largest wholesale change in motion picture presentation since the arrival of widescreen cinema and stereophonic sound in 1953. It differed greatly from the past because picture and sound specifications had already been carefully vetted by committees with an eye toward scalability of the DCPs (Digital Cinema Packages) that are sent to theaters….
Carole King Is Beautiful on Broadway
Sep 1, 2014 9:00 AM, Mix, By Eric Rudolph
Carole King burst onto the music world from nowhere in 1971 with her huge-selling album, Tapestry…
Dennis Sands’ Sound Waves SB: A Private Dolby Atmos Mix Retreat
Sep 1, 2014 9:00 AM, Mix, By Barry M Rivman
Four-time Oscar-nominated music mixer Dennis S. Sands has taken his extensive experience and expertise in orchestral recording and film score mixing and brought it all to bear in the creation of his magnificent home-based facility, Sound Waves SB, the first private mix facility we know of to be equipped with the Dolby Atmos system….
Field Recorders: Audio Options for Film and Video Production
Sep 1, 2014 9:00 AM, Mix, By Matt Gallagher
Location recorders have long been a staple of the film industry, all the way back to Stefan Kudelski’s introduction of the Nagra portable tape recorder in 1951—providing a compact, straightforward solution for capturing high-quality audio in the moment with the ability to interface with other essential audio and video devices….
CRAS Rolls Out Broadcast Audio Curriculum
Sep 1, 2014 9:00 AM, Mix, By Tom Kenny
Over the past 10 years, with the decline in the number and staffs of commercial studios nationwide, recording schools have added to their curricula and students have found new opportunities in audio—videogame sound, house of worship sound, corporate sound, film sound, etc. But there has been very little attention to broadcast sound, by any of the leading schools, which seems a bit odd when you look at the size of the broadcast landscape….
LIVE
Passenger in the U.S.
Sep 1, 2014 9:00 AM, Mix, By Matt Gallagher
Singer/songwriter Passenger (aka Mike Rosenberg from Brighton, UK) is touring North America along with Canadian trio The Once and Stu Larsen in support of his latest release, Whispers. After this leg concludes on September 14 in San Diego, Passenger will head to Europe in October. …
Palais en Jazz Festival
Sep 1, 2014 9:00 AM, Mix
On June 28 and 29, Palais de Compiègne, a royal palace in northern France built in the 18th century for Louis XV and later the residence of Napoleon I and Napoleon III, provided the setting for the third annual outdoor event Palais en Jazz. …
Clair Bros. Introduces Clair Solutions
Sep 1, 2014 9:00 AM, Mix
On August 1, Clair Bros. Audio Systems Inc. in Manheim, Penn., announced a new trade name and logo for its audio, video and lighting integration division: Clair Solutions, which now serves as the company’s sole representation in the A/V/L integration industry. Clair Brothers manufacturing will continue to concentrate on sales and distribution of professional loudspeaker systems both domestically and worldwide….
All Access: Arcade Fire
Sep 1, 2014 9:00 AM, Photos and Text By Steve Jennings
Mix caught Arcade Fire—Win Butler, Regine Chassagne, Will Butler, Richard Reed Parry, Tim Kingsbury, Jeremy Gara and Sarah Neufeld—last month when they performed at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif….
Mix magazine Arcade Fire 2014 Tour Gallery
Sep 1, 2014 9:00 AM
Mix magazine presents Steve Jennings’ exclusive photo gallery of Arcade Fire’s performance at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif., in 2014….
COLUMNS
TechTalk: My Little Helpers
Sep 1, 2014 9:00 AM, By Kevin Becka
I remember the first time I heard the term “mobile apps.” It was 2005, in the pre-smartphone era when Mix editor Tom Kenny asked me to hunt down some candidates for a feature. After much searching, and trying to imagine the potential for portable audio companion apps that in large part hadn’t yet been defined, I found there wasn’t much that was useful or mobile. Now, I don’t go a day without using one or more as a helpmate for engineering, writing, teaching or just living life….
Robair Report: The Future Is Now
Sep 1, 2014 9:00 AM, Mix, By Gino Robair
We sacrifice a lot to be in the entertainment industry. At some point, most of us have weathered strained relationships with friends and lovers, gone for long periods of time with irregular sleep, and missed entire weeks of sunlight as if we were living at McMurdo Station in June….
TECH REVIEWS
Analogue Tube AT-1 Compressor: New/Old School Fairchild-Style Limiter
Sep 1, 2014 9:00 AM, Mix, By Wes Maebe
I first bumped into Simon Saywood at an AES in San Francisco when he was showing off his then-brand-new Fairchild 670 copy, the AT-101. It became instantly clear that Simon was not into this just to make yet another copy of a classic. …
Three Condensers to Grow With: Schoeps V4U, Neumann TLM 107, Myrinx Mods
Sep 1, 2014 9:00 AM, Mix, By Kevin Becka
While great ribbon mics are my favorites for unique flavor, they don’t always fit into every application—that’s where condenser mics shine. For vocals, over a drum kit, as room mics, close up on an acoustic guitar, piano or Leslie cabinet, they expertly cover the gamut. When contemplating a new mic purchase, you always want something you can grow with, meaning it will not only retain its value but its sonic character will stand the test of time. …
Native Instruments Rise & Hit: Explosive Cinematic Sound Library and Virtual Instrument
Sep 1, 2014 9:00 AM, Mix, By Michael Cooper
Every fan of thrillers, action films, and horror and sci-fi flicks has experienced the emotional impact of a deftly executed riser and hit in a cinematic score. But all you have to do is listen to the grand finale for the Beatles’ “A Day In The Life” to realize how electrifying the technique can be for popular music, too….
Samson Resolv RXA5 and RXA6 Monitors: Ribbon Tweeter, Rear Port, HF/LF Controls
Sep 1, 2014 9:00 AM, Mix, By Brandon T. Hickey
It seems that every month a new studio monitor hits stores. Companies with many years in the game, like JBL, Tannoy and Genelec, are constantly facing competition from new upstarts. So how can any product cut through the competition and allow itself to be heard?…
Thermionic Culture Phoenix HG15: Classic Valve Compressor
Sep 1, 2014 9:00 AM, Mix, By Chris Grainger
Thermionic Culture is known for producing high-quality pro audio pieces that offer atypical sonic qualities. My first experience in using its gear amazed me at how much I could alter the sound of the source with one device. …
MUSIC
Benjamin Booker: Explosive Debut for a Newcomer With an Old Soul
Sep 1, 2014 9:00 AM, Mix, By Barbara Schultz
Blues rocker Benjamin Booker is on the road spreading the word about his eponymous debut—sometimes playing his own club dates, other times serving as Jack White’s opening act, even joining a few summer festivals, as well. …
Double-Dose of Lucinda Williams: ‘Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone’
Sep 1, 2014 9:00 AM, Mix, By Barbara Schultz
Lucinda Williams first visited David Bianco’s North Hollywood Studio, Dave’s Room, in December 2012. Bianco had agreed to donate studio time for a benefit album to assist Replacements guitarist Slim Dunlap, who had suffered a stroke earlier that year. …
Classic Tracks: “I Scare Myself,” Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks
Sep 1, 2014 9:00 AM, Mix, By Blair Jackson
One of the most interesting and engaging groups to burst onto the pop music scene in the early 1970s was a San Francisco Bay Area outfit known as Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks, who fashioned an eclectic amalgam of retro music styles into something quite fresh and original….
Dom Flemons, After the Chocolate Drops
Sep 1, 2014 9:00 AM, Mix, By Barbara Schultz
A founding member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, Dom Flemons plays guitar, banjo, jug, and an assortment of reed and percussion instruments, in old-time string-band style. …
A Year at Panoramic House
Sep 1, 2014 9:00 AM, Mix
Panoramic House is a personal recording studio and vacation home owned by John Baccigaluppi and Bobby Lurie, located on the western Marin County coastline north of San Francisco. …
Cool Spin: Sinead O’Connor, ‘I’m Not Bossy, I’m the Boss’ (Nettwerk)
Sep 1, 2014 9:00 AM, Mix, By Barbara Schultz
Hardly anyone writes about Sinead O’Connor and doesn’t mention some personal or political controversy, but her music is so worthy of unqualified praise….
REGIONAL: MIAMI
Miami News & Notes 2014
Sep 1, 2014 9:00 AM, Mix, By The Mix Editors
n Studio A at Miami’s Hit Factory Criteria, multiplatinum hitmaker Timbaland continued production on the soundtrack for the new drama series Empire, from Imagine Television in association with 20th Century Fox Television….
Miami Session News 2014
Sep 1, 2014 9:00 AM, Mix, By The Mix Editors
Gospel singer/contestant on The Voice Donna Allen worked on new material with producers Jeffrey Davis and Jody Hill (Allen also produced) and engineer Fredric Freeman…
Marcella Araica: Making Waves in Miami Recording
Sep 1, 2014 9:00 AM, Mix, By Blair Jackson
Even as women continue to make great strides in areas from politics to corporate boardrooms, they are still rare in the recording business outside of studio manager and clerical positions. …
