— Composer, sound designer and producer for high-profile projects says that Genelec speakers give him the consistency and reliably great sound that lets him cut easily across media and genres —
NATICK, MA, September 28, 2009 — If a music dictionary sought to define the word “eclectic,� it would do well to simply refer to Jeffery Alan Jones. The composer, arranger, pianist, producer and sound designer has enjoyed a successful and varied career. He has been involved with music and sound for feature films, including The Gold Retrievers, featuring Billy Zane and Steve Guttenberg, Man Woman Film starring Cameron Diaz and The Seamstress, featuring Lance Henrikson. Jones has also written arrangements and orchestrations for several shows and ensembles, including the Chicago Pops Orchestra, the Hollywood Symphony and the Culver City Civic Light Opera. He was the winner of the 2002 Los Angeles Composer
Competition for his orchestral composition, Cinema Fantastique. He also performs regularly with his jazz trio. Most recently, he completed the sound design for Ghostbusters: The Video Game, which came out earlier this year and is being re-released for more platforms in time for Halloween. What ties this varied array of media and genres together for Jones are the Genelec monitors that he relies upon in his two studios, Alan Audio Works, in Hollywood and Long Beach, California. The Hollywood branch of the studio features a surround-monitoring field consisting of five Genelec 8030A Bi-Amplified Monitors and a 7060A Active Subwoofer (also known as the LSE Power Pak). The Long Beach studio utilizes Genelec 1030A monitors in a 5.1 configuration.
Genelecs’ clarity, articulateness, and smooth frequency response are unmatched; these unique traits have lent themselves to the challenges that Jones faced on each of these projects. “The amount of sound effects on Ghostbusters was insane – the track count was up to around 160 for some of the cinematic sequences in the game,� he says. “Some of the scenes are really immersive with ghosts swirling around you 360 [degrees]. Using the Genelec 8030s set up in surround, we were able to monitor the audio to perfectly track the movement of the ghost characters on screen. There are also lots of chase sequences, as well as many other opportunities for sound effects, and the Genelec surround field allowed us to keep them highly cinematic and authentic-sounding. We were able to get very aggressive in the surround mix and really able to exploit and support the amazing CGI this game has. It’s a sound designer’s dream. The Genelecs were incredibly accurate and responsive. And moving between my studios, which have different models of Genelec speakers, I could never hear any difference in detail. They are the best game audio speakers in the world.�
Reflecting Hollywood’s continuing ardor for turning games into movies, Jones also working on the sound design and ADR for director Gordon Chan’s upcoming martial-arts/action film King of Fighters, starring Maggie Q and Ray Park. “This is a movie based on a huge game series where I had to bring all dimensions in which the characters travel to life using sound,� Jones explains. “There’s a lot of surround-sound sound design that plays an integral part in the fast paced action sequences and the Genelecs always deliver with extremely accurate audio monitoring.�
“In addition to the Genelec monitors’ excellent surround-field imaging, they also provided a high level of detail and nuance which helped immensely with the ADR work on the project. It’s crucial to be able to hear the ambient sound behind the original scenes so that we can match it while redubbing dialogue,� he says. “The same goes for matching the timbre of each actor’s voice as he or she delivers his or her new lines. Although our actors covered the frequency spectrum, the Genelecs enable us to hear and match every little detail.�
For Dustin White and the Jeff Jones Trio, Jones’ acclaimed excursion into live and recorded jazz, Jones adds his piano, composition and arranging chops to the mix as well as producing and mixing their recordings. Working on the group’s latest LP, Love’s Never Been So Nice, he explains, “For jazz, you need a lot of clarity. You want to be able to make every instrument as distinct as possible. The Genelecs brought out the highs of the cymbals and the deep lows of the string bass. The guitars, piano, and horns in the midranges were also able to occupy their own distinct spaces in the mix. Everyone who has heard our LP loves it and has complemented on both the music and the great sonic beauty of the album. I have no doubt that the speakers had a lot to do with how it all turned out. I’m a Genelec fan for life. I love these monitors.�
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