sunnuntai 23. heinäkuuta 2017 17.41.38 UTC+3 Brian Gaff kirjoitti:
If you can get speakers are there any phones that fit the bill for studios?


I started a thread here a few months ago about a classical music engineer, who, upon being made redundant by a major Scandinavian broadcaster, decided to start his own niche-market studio specialising in baroque music, in a deconsecrated Lutheran stone-built village church.

Many classical conductors and players find it difficult to perform in an acoustic with which they not familiar. They find it even more difficult to listen to a playback of their performance in an unfamiliar control room on unfamiliar monitor speakers. So he did something rather unconventional, and decided to use headphones for monitoring (and foldback when required) He chose the Sennheiser RS 1200 series. He then spent a great deal of time listening to recordings that he new intimately. This conformed his choice and he bought 2 dozen pairs with transmitter stations. The headphones can be tuned to one of three frequencies, and so can be switched between say main monitor, dry monitor, or foldback.

Getting the studio up and running was interesting. As he had no monitor speakers, he did not need a control room as such, and even more important no control room window which separates the two creative teams, musicians and producer/engineer. So he built a large octagonal control platform on wheels which can be easily manoevred to any position within the recording space. The whole thing was simple but impressive- a state of the art digital console, and a single rack of outboard equipment. At the edge of the dias were two cable snakes laid out to terminate at the foot of the conductor's rostrum.

He had been recording in ORTF format for many years. I suggested that as he was making such a radical change, he might like to try a Decca tree. Together, we set up both systems to record simultaneously.

To attract potential clients, he offered pilot sessions in which conductors, players and record labels, could evaluate the facility for three days, after which if they decided not to continue they would not be invoiced. If they continued, the three days would be charged at half rate.
Many were sold on the idea, simply by playing music in the excellent acoustic. The next hurdle was to sell the idea of headphone monitoring. It was easier than he thought.

The use of wireless headphones brought a new kind of freedom. I gave my services on the first sessions. While the orchestra was rehearsing, we could move freely in the recording space, and make small changes in the microphone positions etc, and with the headphones on, hear immediately the effect of what we were doing without speaking a word and disturbing the rehearsal. Each music stand had hooks which supported two pairs of headphones switched off. When the first take was completed, the producer, who, with his headphones on was sitting at he side of the conductor's rostrum, asked everyone to take a pair of headphones, switch them on (switch on left earpiece) and listen. No one had to put down their instrument, or jostle for a good listening position in the control room. They simply sat in their own seat and listened. It was a great success.

The first project went without a hitch, was completed ahead of schedule, and under budget. The client booked a second project.

But the headphone monitoring idea was a potential stumbling block, so he decided that when a project booking looked likely, he would lend a set of headphones to producer, conductor and anyone else who might need them, for a couple of weeks to allow them to “acclimatise”.

The studio has been in regular use, and promises to be a financial success also. My idea to try the Decca tree with two outriggers proved a good one, and the ORTF mics have been taken down. When time permits, the tree mics will he slung on a proper trapeze so that the main boom can be removed. The outriggers need to be on stands and easily adjusted.

Iain