Pro Sound News reviewer and noted TV music composer Rich Tozzoli recently held his annual private St. John Recording Retreat with friends and colleagues, and used the opportunity to review gear in paradise—like this:
The 8320A and 7350A three-piece monitoring systems are part of the Genelec Smart Active Monitoring, or SAM, portfolio and were the perfect size for our villa-based recording setup. The 8320A is a two-way, Class-D amplified speaker with a 4-inch woofer inside a compact Minimum Diffraction Enclosure, featuring a frequency response of 55 Hz–23 kHz. The 7350A powered subwoofer has Genelec’s Laminar Spiral Enclosure design and features a frequency response from 22 Hz–120 Hz. Included in the package is a network adapter, volume controller and a GLM 2.0 measurement microphone and holder. The SAM system works along with GLM (Genelec Loudspeaker Manager) 2.0 software, allowing calibration of the listening environment. Intended to calibrate “level, timing and equalization of room response anomalies,” Genelec reports, the hardware and software package is actually quite easy to set up.
Engineer Mike Dwyer unboxed them and ran the included Cat 5 cables for the control network into each speaker’s RJ45 input (daisy-chained) and then to the sub and adapter, which connects via USB to the computer along with the heavy-duty system volume controller. Placing the GLM microphone on a stand in mix position, we opened the GLM 2.0 software and dragged/dropped the associated loudspeaker icons on their approximate position in the grid. Once underway, a sine wave swept the room, showing us an onscreen calculation in red. Then the corrected room response was displayed in green, with EQ settings in blue. Since we had the sub connected, the next software step was to make sure it was in phase with the connected monitors. And that was all there was to it.
With the GLM 2.0 software and a few minutes of work, our speakers were on a table, the sub was in the corner and our monitoring system in an island house was “tuned.” Bypassing the system’s software revealed a bass-heavy mess—it was truly working! It’s nice that the 8320As are connected to an Iso-Pod mounting stand, which helped decouple them from the table they were on.
We’ve used a variety of monitors on this trip over the years and these were undoubtedly our favorite. Not only are they compact, clean and punchy, Genelec’s GLM software helps turn any space into a fully useful working production environment. There’s no question that the system calibration made for a better sonic experience, both in terms of composing and mixing. For those content creators on the go who often do mobile sessions, the small footprint, big sound and ‘tunable’ nature of this Genelec system make them a must-consider monitoring rig.
Genelec • www.genelec.com
