— Genelec’s remarkable DSP capability allows studio Owner Doug McBride and his clients “to hear the truth� —
Gravity Mastering, a six-year-old facility that is part of Chicago’s successful Gravity Studios complex, has installed Genelec’s award-winning 8250A Bi-Amplified DSP Monitoring System and a Genelec 7270A Active DSP Subwoofer in its mastering room. Gravity has mastered recordings for projects including the 2008 Van’s Warped Tour compilation, hard-rockers Aiden and American Idol Season 9 winner Lee DeWyze, and studio Owner and Chief Mastering Engineer Doug McBride says that only Genelec monitors offer him the absolute monitoring accuracy that he and his clients demand. The Genelec 8250A monitors were purchased through pro audio dealer T.C. Furlong & Associates of Lake Forest, Illinois.
“The sole goal was accuracy,� states McBride, who opened Gravity Studios in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood 18 years ago. “I
needed a monitoring system that would allow me to hear the truth, no matter how nasty! I’ve got a home system whose sonic signature can give me a back rub, but at work I have to have the truth.â€?
McBride says there are two ways to achieve the truth: build a mastering control room from the ground up, designed around a specific monitoring system, or find the world’s most powerful and advanced DSP to correct for time alignment and for room modes. But building from scratch, especially in a dense urban environment like Chicago, is expensive, and even then anomalies can affect the sound of the room. “Despite the wide variety of studios and mixes, I nonetheless found myself boosting and cutting certain familiar frequencies on most projects – that was the telltale sign,� he recalls. “Those were the frequencies where my room was lying to me.�
Exhaustive research on all forms of loudspeaker/monitor technology over the course of five years eventually led McBride to Genelec’s DSP series. Instead of an expensive overhaul of the room, which would have been cost-prohibitive, Genelec’s DSP solution proved to be nothing short of astounding. “This DSP has flattened my response to within 0.5 dB from 20Hz to 20kHz, which is amazing,� he says. “The first album I mastered with the new system was a complete epiphany. I was able to use 60 percent less EQ and could hear every detail with great clarity. My client, a producer/engineer with his own studio, was so happy he wrote me a long email thanking me, and his comments aligned perfectly with my own impressions. Moreover, from listening in his variety of trusted systems, like the car, on the computer, on his home stereo and his control room, he was hearing exactly what I was hearing on my collection of systems. I have achieved translation! Thank you, Genelec!�
The Genelec 8250A builds on the rock-solid technology of the highly-acclaimed 8050A, featuring an ingenious, flow optimized, reflex port that provides solid, clear and articulated low frequencies without compression, distortion or port noises. Combined with the advanced Genelec Directivity Control Waveguideâ„¢ (DCWâ„¢) and the rounded edges and gently curved front and sides of the MDEâ„¢ (Minimum Diffraction Enclosureâ„¢) enclosure, the result is an astoundingly flat frequency response both on and off axis. Other benefits include superb imaging precision and minimum listening fatigue.
Carefully designed DSP crossover filters with extremely steep roll-off characteristics feed dedicated power amplifiers for each of the low distortion drivers. The 8250A features magnetic shielding, overload protection circuitry and versatile room response controls as standard. The Genelec Loudspeaker Managerâ„¢ (GLMâ„¢) control network and software enhances further the performance of the 8250A: it features adjustment of levels, distance delays and flexible room response improvement equalization with the reliable and robust AutoCalâ„¢ automated calibration system via the GLM control network. The 8250A has both analog and AES digital inputs in combination with a digital thru connection.
For more information, please visit www.genelecusa.com and www.gravitymastering.com.
