Focal Announces New “Lensys Professional” Closed-Back Headphones
The Focal Professional headphone line expands to three models with a new closed-back headphone that ‘delivers an accurate, linear response while providing incredible comfort and isolation’
Focal Naim America today announced a new headphone model in the Focal Professional line designed for producers, sound engineers, musicians, beatmakers, and composers: Lensys Professional. Crafted in the French audio brand’s workshops, the new addition is a high-resolution tool for in-studio production or creating music on the move. The closed-back design, meticulous ergonomics, and exclusive aluminum/magnesium drivers make Lensys Pro the perfect headphones for working on music and audio anywhere. They join the Clear Mg Professional ($1499.) and Listen Professional ($299.) in the Focal Professional headphones collection. Lensys Professional has a US-suggested retail price of $699. and are available to order at retailers in the US and Canada starting October 8th. In North America, Focal products are distributed exclusively by Focal Naim America.
Focal Naim America Releases New Immersive Playlists: “Mixed on Focal” & “Mastered with Focal”
Two new immersive music streaming playlists feature songs mixed or mastered on Focal Speakers
Focal Naim America, a leading North American importer and distributor of premium consumer and professional electronics brands, has released two new immersive HD audio playlists, with songs “Mixed on Focal” pro monitors and some mastered with Focal Utopia Hi-Fi speakers. With the advent of Dolby® Atmos™ and Sony 360 Reality Audio™ sound formats, listeners can enjoy the ‘spatial experience’ of immersive music on their mobile devices and other playback systems. The playlists are available to Focal Hi-Fi and Pro Audio dealers, the Press Corps, and current and prospective customers.
Read More »Focal to Present Panel Discussions at May 11th “Immersive Music Production II” Event
At the May 11th Mix & Pro Sound News event, Focal will feature a 9.1.4 immersive music monitoring system and presentations from top mix and mastering engineers
Curb Studios, Nashville, TN (click to zoom)
Focal Professional will feature a 9.1.4 immersive music system with all-Focal studio monitors at Curb Studios for the May 11th Immersive Music Production II event in Nashville, TN produced by Mix & Pro Sound News. The three Focal/Universal Audio presentations at Curb Studios will spotlight engineers Nick “Squids” Squillante, Jeff Balding, and Michael Romanowski in discussion panels on immersive music.
Read More »Montreal’s “Le Lab” Goes Atmos with All-Focal Mastering Room
Legendary Montreal mastering studio adds Atmos mastering to its world-renowned stereo, vinyl mastering, and lacquer-cutting offerings
Legendary Montreal studio Le Lab Mastering has built an all-Focal Dolby® Atmos™ room, adding Atmos mastering to its offerings on top of fully analog stereo, vinyl mastering, and lacquer cutting. The 7.1.4 Atmos studio features an all-Focal powered monitor configuration with Trio11, Trio6, Solo6, and Sub6. The room has a unique layout with dual Sub6 subwoofers stacked under the left and right Trio11 monitors – four subwoofers total. This unique subwoofer configuration gives Le Lab’s Atmos room the ability to offer mastering for movie soundtracks and other formats that would need extended low-end response; It also offers a symmetrical low-frequency coverage in a smaller footprint. Trio6 monitors fill out the center and rear channels, while Solo6 are on the sides. Le Lab has already mastered a lot of legacy recordings remixed for Atmos, including Celine Dion, Sia, Whitney Houston, Usher, Yo-Yo Ma, and Eric Clapton, among many others.
Focal Naim America Releases Five New “Mixed on Focal” Playlists
New streaming playlists for R&B, EDM, Hip Hop/Rap, and Rock include music from twenty engineers using Focal Pro monitor
Focal Naim America, a leading North American importer and distributor of premium consumer and professional electronics brands, has released five new genre-specific HD audio playlists for R&B, Hip Hop/Rap, EDM, and Rock. The playlists are available to Focal HI-FI and Pro Audio dealers, the Press Corps, and current and prospective customers. Whether in a Focal dealer demonstration or listening in a home or a pro recording studio using Focal speakers, the music will sound as the artist intended since each song was mixed on Focal.
This new HD Audio streaming playlists feature music mixes from twenty engineers. All five “Mixed on Focal” playlists are available today for Apple Music, Qobuz, Tidal, and Amazon Music HD.
Engineer Nick “Squids” Squillante Upgrades to an All-Focal Immersive 9.1.4 Mix Room
Upgraded immersive mix room features Focal Alpha 50 Evo monitors and Sub One subwoofers
Brooklyn-based, independent mixing and mastering engineer Nick “Squids” Squillante has expanded his mix room for Dolby® Atmos™ 9.1.4 immersive music. The studio features an all-Focal lineup of Alpha 50 Evo monitors for LCR, surround, and height speakers along with dual Focal Sub One subwoofers. Recent immersive mixes include “Rescue Me” by Dirty Heads, which went to Number 1 on the Billboard Alternative charts, “Psycho” by Asking Alexandria, which also scored a spot at Number 1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock charts along with other immersive mixes for artists such as Tommy Lee, Papa Roach and Bad Wolves to name a few.
Amadeus Unveils New C3 and C4 Miniature Speakers at JTSE Show
Amadeus completes its range of shallow-depth point source speakers for performing arts venues with two incredibly compact models
Amadeus has unveiled their new shallow-depth point source miniature speakers at JTSE. The C Series was created in 2018 through a specific custom development, carried out in coordination with the technical sound team from the Paris-based Chaillot National Theater. The new C3 and C4 miniature speaker models are available now for ordering from Amadeus and can be used for many applications.
CEntrance Ships “The English Channel” Portable Channel Strip
The compact analog audio processor records to SD card and streams online via a smartphone
CEntrance is now shipping The English Channel™, a portable, analog channel strip for recording on the road that features a mic pre with dynamics, a parametric EQ, and an audio interface with unique online streaming capabilities. Since 2009, Centrance has enabled artists to deliver projects at such high quality that their clients couldn’t tell they weren’t recorded in a pro studio. The Company’s new “English Channel” continues that tradition, delivering an audio recorder and a portable streaming studio for podcasters, musicians, journalists, and YouTubers. The new analog production tool is a set of three, premium-quality, signal-processing devices made of tough, lightweight aluminum—to help survive the stress of the road. The product includes a high-gain mic preamp, an analog dynamics processor, an analog parametric EQ, and an audio interface, all housed inside a small desktop cradle no larger than a book. The compact audio processor connects to laptops, phones, and tablets, and allows content creators to record on the spot, or instantly go live, anywhere in the world. Plus, the built-in 24-bit 48K SD card recorder works without a computer. The CEntrance English Channel is powered by USB and comes with a lightweight carry case. It all fits in a backpack, perfect for broadcasting from remote scenic locations. The English Channel retails for $1,599. USD, and is available now.
Interview with Paul de Benedictis – As told to Linda Jacobson
Interview with Paul de Benedictis – As told to Linda Jacobson
LJ: Paul, what were you doing in 1984 — the year before you became a founding staff member of Opcode Systems? How would you describe the “work lifestyle,” routine, and group dynamic behind-the-scenes in your world then? Was the SF Bay Area audio industry back then influenced more by the cultures of the computer industry and Silicon Valley, music industry, San Francisco scene, and/or film industry and Hollywood?
PdB: In 1982 I had purchased a Rhodes Chroma synth and in 1983 created one of the first computer-based electronic music “home” studios in the San Francisco Bay Area around that instrument. I had added the Apple II computer and the sequencing and editing software from Fender along with the SIMPLE System synchronizer for video and audio and the requisite mixers, mics, speakers, 2-channel and multitrack tape decks. I was composing music for film and television and through my friend Doug McKechnie’s connection at Lucas Film I even had a chance to write a demo cue for the final Ewok scene in the latest Star Wars: Return of the Jedi movie, apparently Lucas wanted to hear some other ideas than what John Williams had come up with. Three of us in the San Francisco Synthesizer Ensemble got to write a sketch for the cue. It was exciting to see part of the movie before it came out. [Full Interview HERE ]
Read More »Grammy-winning Engineer Bobby Campbell Opens “Denver Atmos”
New Dolby Atmos mix room features Focal Trio11 Be, Solo6, and dual Sub12 subwoofers
Focal is proud to be part of the new all-Focal immersive studio in Colorado named “Denver Atmos” designed for Grammy®-winning engineer Bobby Campbell as his personal mix room. The new 7.1.4 Dolby® Atmos™ studio features three of Focal’s top-of-the-line Trio11 Be monitors, eight of the Solo6 ST6, and two of the Focal Sub12 subwoofers. The new mix room is already busy and Campbell has mixed several projects in stereo and Dolby Atmos including Logic, John Legend, Lil Durk, Rod Wave, Wam SpinThaBin, and DD Osama, and has a backlog of legacy albums set for remixing in Atmos format as well.