Amadeus: Acoustics for ‘Creative Sound’

Amadeus Design of architectural acoustics for stunning Paris cinema mix stage shows off another side of Amadeus’ business and expertise

The recent unveiling of Creative Sound showcases Amadeus’ extraordinary expertise in architectural acoustic design. Located at the heart of the 15th Arrondissement in Paris, Creative Sound is one of the largest, most versatile full-service post-production facilities in France, providing creative solutions for all cinematic and TV sound needs. Paris-based Amadeus was tasked with all of the interior acoustical and architectural design, including sound isolation, noise and vibration control engineering, and acoustic treatments for each of the ten studios. At Creative Sound, Amadeus also designed one of the first mixing studios to be fitted with the revolutionary Dolby(r) Atmos(tm) audio technology, which hosts the first ultra-large-format Harrison MPC5 digital film-mixing console manufactured by Harrison – based in Nashville.

Commenting on the genesis of Creative Sound, renowned mixing engineer and studio owner Cristinel SIRLI reveals, “In the beginning I was looking for a medium-sized building location in order to extend my first film-production suite at Le Grand Pavois in Paris, to create an ideal environment for mixing and Foley production when I stumbled upon a 1000-square meter space in the heart of the 15th arrondissement of Paris! By acquiring such an incredible place in the heart of Paris, I felt that had to build a state-of-the-art complex to provide filmmakers, mixing engineers, and recording artists the ultimate environment in which to work.”

Amadeus have designed many studios over the past 20 years using their insightful scientific knowledge, with Creative Sound being the latest and possibly the pinnacle of its acoustic architectural work. As Amadeus continues perfecting its current line of live sound reinforcement speakers, creating new products and custom studio mains speakers, the Company remains dedicated to the pursuit of the best sound in any venture they are involved with, including acoustic studio design.

“I encountered Amadeus designer Michel DELUC following the recommendation of Philippe GUERINET, Director of International Sales at Solid State Logic. Michel’s philosophy, passion and approach about sound, acquired through his work with musical and electro-acoustical fields, seduced me,” adds Cristinel.

Michel DELUC, Director of Research and Development at Amadeus and head of Amadeus Labs, the Amadeus integrated research department for architectural acoustics and electro-acoustical integration, explains “I used and enhanced many of our techniques at Creative Sound that we have experimented over the past 20 years at Amadeus Labs, especially in field of music recording, working with world-renowned artists such as Youssou N DOUR, as well as Matthieu CHEDID (M), Martin SOLVEIG, Yodelice and studios such as La Fabrique, Twin, Masterdisk Europe, Soyuz, Question de Son, Schmooze and others.”

According to Creative Sound owner Cristinel SIRLI, who was also the mix engineer for ‘4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days’ – a 2007 Romanian film written and directed by Cristian MUNGIU which won the Palme d’Or and the FIPRESCI Award at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, “Creative Sound already has a respected track record for film mixing and dubbing including ‘The King’s Speech’ directed by Tom HOOPER (4 Oscars 2011) ‘Diana’ directed by Oliver HIRSCHBIEGEL, ‘August, Osage County’ directed by John WELLS and starring Meryl STREEP, Julia ROBERTS and Ewan MCGREGOR, and ‘Homefront’, a 2013 American action thriller film directed by Gary FLEDER and produced by Sylvester STALLONE, starring Jason STATHAM and James FRANCO.”

French mix engineer Jean Pierre LAFORCE is currently working on the Foley sound for ‘Gemma Bovery’, an upcoming film drama based on the 1999 graphic novel of the same name by Posy SIMMONDS. The film will be directed by Anne FONTAINE and mixed using the Harrison technology at Creative Sound.

“We designed some specific ‘sub-areas’ in terms of acoustics for the Foley studio, allowing engineers to utilize sonic variations in recording. Each sub-area of the main Foley stage has more or less high-frequency sonic properties and works in harmony with the main stage through a natural decay of the reverb time. We created a proprietary variable-diffraction system, using a special wave-shaped ceiling, designed to neutralize the standing-waves without using supplementary absorbent material,” notes Michel DELUC.

“I wanted to bring together the best skills in terms of architectural acoustics with an extensive range of iconic recording equipment from Harrison, Solid State Logic, Dolby, Bricasti and others,” states Cristinel in describing his core technical vision for Creative Sound.

Matching Amadeus’ acoustic architectural work are the exclusive audio peripherals chosen by Creative Sound including a 72-fader C300 HD Master Studio System, a 32-fader C10 HD from Solid State Logic – first digital console from SSL used for Foley and overdubbing recording – and the very first ultra-large-format Harrison MPC5 digital film mixing console in the world. The new MPC5 is the centerpiece in a new 480-cubic meter film-mixing stage that also includes the new Dolby Atmos immersive audio technology. The console includes a 1024 input Harrison Xrange 64bit processing engine, a full suite of ‘Harrison Xtools’ film specific plug-ins, and a dual operator MPC5 control surface featuring twin master sections, 80 faders with 64 full featured input strips and the patented ESP Waveform displays. Most importantly, the MPC5/Xrange system consolidates the capabilities of multiple mix formats, and puts them under the user’s hand via motorized joysticks. Twin producer desks mounted at 10-degrees on the far left and right ends round out the “wrap-around” console surface that spans 18.5 feet (5.75m).

In their white paper, Dolby describes their Atmos system as both an advancement in control of audio elements and their placement, but also simplified distribution, “Atmos adds the flexibility and power of dynamic audio objects into traditional channel-based workflows. These audio objects allow moviemakers to control discrete sound elements irrespective of specific playback speaker configurations, including overhead speakers. Dolby Atmos also introduces new efficiencies to the postproduction process, allowing sound mixers to efficiently capture their creative intent and then, in real-time, monitor or automatically generate Dolby Surround 7.1 and 5.1 versions. Dolby Atmos simplifies distribution so that the audio essence and artistic intent is all contained in a track file within the Digital Cinema Package (DCP), which can be faithfully played back in a broad range of theatre configurations.”

Michel DELUC continues “According to the technical requirements for Creative Sound to obtain the Dolby Atmos Certification, the reference mixing position has to correspond to a position two-thirds of the distance back from the screen to the rear wall, on the center line of the screen. This different sweet spot position – compared to control rooms in the musical fields – imply to optimize the overall acoustic treatment – LCR-based – in order to minimize local effects of the diffuse-field and other reflexives problems, without influencing the rendering of the additional surround-speakers.”

“We recreated a micro-acoustical environment for each of the additional speaker sources, in order that each one would not be influenced by the main acoustic treatment, using multiple custom acoustic cells (modules). By using these techniques, we provide filmmakers and recording artists a faithful reproduction of their works, matching the Dolby Atmos criteria,” added Michel DELUC.

Bernard BYK, co-founder of Amadeus, concludes, “Our aim has always been to imagine, design and manufacture devices, equipment, speakers, and design studio spaces so that what listeners hear is perceptually indistinguishable from the original sounds. Amadeus has practical knowledge in many areas of expertise that converge to create transparent listening experiences. We love to give listeners the deep emotional impact of what music and sound can really create.”

As Creative Sound is now a certified Dolby Atmos venue, Bernard BYK adds ‘We are so pleased that the Dolby Atmos mix room at Creative Sound is getting rave reviews from customers as well as Dolby itself.”

Visit the Creative Sound website here: http://creative-sound.fr

About Amadeus
Amadeus develops, manufactures and sells a wide range of high-end sound reinforcement loudspeakers, studio monitors and various signal processing interfaces that combine its own custom innovative technology with stylish design, for the professional audio industry. Created in 1992 from the collaboration between the French designer Bernard BYK and the scientist Michel DELUC, the Amadeus brand has grown to become a leading supplier of high-end audio solutions and services for theaters, opera houses, recording studios, research centers and touring concert sound rental operations. All development and product manufacturing is centralized in Atelier 33 headquarters in France, with field offices and authorized distributors located in Europe, Asia and UAE.

Contact Amadeus at info@amadeusaudio.fr for purchasing information. Or visit http://www.amadeusaudio.fr