Equator Audio Research Technical Advisory Committee Member Chris Bellman and the New Equator D5 Reference Studio Monitor
Top Recording Professional Aids D5 Development
San Diego, California July, 2011.. Equator Audio Research, recognized globally as a leading manufacturer of highly accurate studio reference monitors for mission critical recording applications, is pleased to announce that acclaimed Mastering Engineer Chris Bellman has joined the Equator Technical Advisory Committee.
Chris joins the Equator Technical Advisory Committee having mastered a long list of successful Music, Film and TV projects. His list of credits is quite extensive having mastered hits from Grammy winners Black Eyed Peas, Alanis Morrisette and so much more: Chris Bellman credits:
www.allmusic.com/artist/chris-bellman-p201019/credits/date-asc/
Chris is one of the hardest working mastering engineers in our
industry and has been recognized as having some of the industrys best ears. He can be found doing his mastering work at Bernie Grundman Mastering in Hollywood.
www.berniegrundmanmastering.com/engineers/bellman.html
It was at this facility, almost two years ago, that Q8s were brought in for Chris to evaluate. He was quite impressed by the extensive voicing capabilities of the Q8s and suggested that Equator develop a much smaller system: one that would fit more comfortably on his console bridge. Shortly after that, D5 development began.
We caught up with Chris once again at his Bernie Grundman Mastering Suite in late June for a D5 voicing session. With the D5 in its final voicing stage, we looked to Chris for detailed evaluation and adjustments of its frequency response curves. We referenced music from his long list of mastered projects as serious voicing adjustments were considered. Understanding that a mastering engineers voicing goal is sometimes different from a Mix engineers, Chris was quite pleased with the result and soon proclaimed: “The D5 will be able to do the job.” The adjustments were made with the use of the D5 development software. This allowed for an outboard computer, during these special voicing sessions, to access and control the D5s internal DSP with 10 full parametric equalizers, multiple shelving equalizers, separate volume controls for the woofer and the tweeter as well as multiple crossover configurations and store the curve results within the D5 itself, all with the ability to A/B while adjusting.
Most moderately priced monitors are voiced strictly for consumer excitement. The low end is extremely boosted and the high-end is extremely boosted, resulting in a smiley face frequency curve that leaves a hole in the mid-range. Manufactures have done this because it is fairly easy to accomplish and, conveniently, in a store demo situation the speakers cut through. During the recording process, however, the mid range is the most critical area. If the monitors lack mid-range detail the resulting mix will not translate appropriately and may allow a mistake or rub to make its way unnoticed to master.
To achieve extensive mid-range detail the D5 shares much of the acclaimed Equator Q Series technology. Like all Equator 2-way active monitoring systems, the D5 employs a Zero-Point Reference coaxial design with internal DSP handling numerous tasks, including matching the Digitally-Controlled Transducers output and the ability to apply pin-point accurate voicing. With highly successful professionals like Chris Bellman aiding in the development, we are confident that the D5 will provide appropriate/accurate monitoring.
The new D5 (Direct 5) studio monitors are geared for the recording professional in need of a small (9.75″ x 7″ x 8.5″), affordable, accurate, well-voiced, reference studio monitor solution. It features a coaxially designed 5.25″ woofer and center mounted 1″ silk tweeter in an all wood cabinet. The newly designed digital amplifier boasts extremely low distortion specs and delivers 2 x 50w RMS. SPL is rated at 103 dB combined @ 1m. Frequency reponse is 53Hz-20kHz.
The D5 incorporates the highest quality components.
The introductory price for the D5 is under $300 per pair, Equator has developed an online store to sell them directly to users throughout the Americas and is offering a 60 day money back guarantee. Shipping is to begin July 2011.
About Equator Audio Research
Equator Audio Research is committed to delivering studio reference monitor solutions that overcome the myriad of challenges faced in todays production environment. From our phase and time accurate coaxial designs to our matched transducer manufacturing to our sophisticated Q Series Room Analysis and compensation software; our products meticulously provide solutions to existing sonic obstacles. Equator products are used daily in mission-critical applications at many of the worlds finest recording studios. For additional information on all Equator Audio products, visit the company online at www.equatoraudio.com.
