Fab Factory Pumps Out Steady String of Chart-Topping Hits
Pictured at The Fab Factory are (L-R) Dave Pensado, Shaun Fabos and Jared Lee Gosselin. Photo by David Goggin.
The Fab Factory was launched in late 2016 with help from Vintage King Audio providing monitors for rooms tailored to the needs of top mixers Dave Pensado and studio co-founder Shaun Fabos. Their studios are mirror images of one another, featuring hefty Augspurger monitor systems. Pensado has the big boys, Augspurger Duo 15 drivers mounted on Sub 18 monitors, while Fabos has the more compact Duo 12 drivers mounted on the same subwoofers.
Pensado, Fabos and his co-founders created a state-of-the-art acoustic environment designed like a luxury hotel, complete with custom furniture, eclectic artwork and sculptures. The studio’s all-star team of engineers, producers and mixers includes Jared Lee Gosselin (India.Arie, Keyshia Cole), Grammy Award winner Dave Pensado (Pink, Christina Aguilera, Beyoncé) and Fabos, aka D1, who has mixed for Musiq Soulchild, Raheem DeVaughn, Jamecia Bennet, Alicia Madison, Tina DeCara and others.
Fabos says about his Augspurgers, “One of the first things that surprised me was how they brought out elements in my mixes that I didn’t even know I was missing. In the mid-range, I started hearing stuff that I really hadn’t heard on any other monitors. I was so thoroughly impressed, I even went back and fine-tuned some of my previous mixes.”
“They have a real musicality, not a science project feeling,” adds Pensado. “Some speakers feel scientific and these just feel musical — they force you into making musical decisions.”
Changes in volume in the mix room often create anomalies. “When you lower the volume on a lot of monitor systems, that Fletcher-Munson curve starts shifting, but the Augspurgers stay flat. When you turn them down a little bit, they feel like near-fields. At any volume, they sound usable and flat.”
Pensado recalls, “Augspurger president Dave Malekpour told me that part of the unique sound has to do with the amplifiers. He was so adamant about having great amplifiers, he actually bought the company so they could have control of the amplifiers.”
Regarding the ability to monitor and mix a wide variety of musical genres, Fabos says, “I don’t have any issues with jumping through music from EDM to R&B to Hip Hop to even Pop — the Augspurgers stand very well throughout.”
When a mixer gets the right final mix, how does it translate when played back on other systems? Pensado explains, “Shaun and I made the conscious decision to have our rooms mirror each other, because we work a lot together and we wanted that compatibility. The amazing thing is that when a mix leaves Fab Factory, it always translates extremely well. If it doesn’t, you probably want to check your system, because it ain’t us.”
Currently housed in a 2,700 sq. ft. location, The Fab Factory will be expanding its facility to bring more rooms online. “We’re building a bona fide creative community here,” says Fabos.
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