Blue Bell, PA (November 19, 2021)—At Montgomery County Community College, the Sound Recording and Music Technology (SRT) program has added immersive audio capabilities, including Genelec monitoring, to the Walters-Storyk Design Group-designed studio on its campus in Blue Bell, PA.
The facility’s Dolby Atmos immersive sound system, installed by David Ivory, director of the SRT program and a producer and Grammy-nominated engineer, and Vinson Tomas, studio engineer/tech services, includes an all-Genelec 7.1.4 monitoring setup. The horizontal array comprises seven Genelec 8351 Smart Active Monitors for LCR and surrounds, with LFE from a 7380A Smart Active Subwoofer. There are four 8340A monitors in the overhead array, with a separate 7370A subwoofer providing LFE. The speakers were purchased through Sweetwater.
“I love Genelec, and always have,” says Ivory. “They’re not merely speakers — they’re true monitors, for you to monitor the sound in a specific and literal way. I’ve always been a fan and wherever I’ve worked, I’ve used Genelecs.”
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Ivory’s work includes stints as an independent producer and engineer at Philadelphia’s famed Sigma Sound, where he worked with artists including The Roots, Erykah Badu and Patti LaBelle. At Montgomery County Community College’s SRT, he has overseen both the program’s curriculum and the technology complement for the Blue Bell campus’ Advanced Technology Center (ATC), which also features electronic music and computer labs, all equipped with Genelec 8350A speakers in a white finish.
Ivory noted he favors the Genelec Loudspeaker Manager (GLM) system, a software platform coupled with Genelec’s AutoCal calibration algorithm. The GLM software lets users manage levels, distance delays and frequency balances of more than 80 networked speakers.
“For an immersive monitoring environment, GLM is invaluable,” he says. “The system can EQ itself and adjust volume automatically. To do that manually would require an additional card and lot of time and effort, which the GLM saves us, not to mention cost. To me, Genelec is the only way to do immersive sound — and the only way to teach it.”
