CEntrance Releases HiFi-M8
Audiophile-grade headphone amplifier improves sound of smartphones, tablets and computers.
HiFi-M8 Pro with balanced XLR Outs, other output variations available
CEntrance, a leader in Digital Audio, released the HiFi-M8(r) – a battery-powered, portable D/A Converter (DAC) and Headphone Amplifier that refines the sound of the Apple iPhone(r), iPad(r), and iPod(r). Pronounced “Hi-Fi Mate,” the device streams high-resolution audio from smartphones*, tablets and laptops, creating the ultimate playback system for on-the-go listeners. HiFi-M8 is offered in several models with various audio output configurations including XLR, 1/8″, 1/4″ and SPDIF Optical connectors.
“iPhones and iPods store a lot of music in a small package, but their sound quality is not at the level many of our customers crave,” said Michael Goodman, Managing Director of CEntrance. “We listened to our customers and together created the ultimate, portable playback system. The features and specifications of HiFi-M8 were crowd-sourced from the ground up. It offers the right package of flexibility, sound quality and convenience, and our field-test models are getting great reviews from listeners.”
Read More »Mastering Engineer Nate Wood
Multi-instrumentalist on drums, bass & guitar, flies high playing live and engineering in the studio with Dangerous Music gear
Mastering Engineer Nate Wood at his NY Kerseboom Mastering Studio
The journey from being a musician to becoming a mastering engineer began with Nate Wood making his own album and preferring the approach of recording and mixing the music himself, compared to going to a studio and trying to get someone else to make his music sound the way he was hearing it. After mixing his own album and projects for friends he found a new companion career to his live performances in mastering other people’s projects. Based in New York, Wood has outfitted his studio with the Dangerous Music D-Box for monitor control, reference D/A conversion, and analog summing for his mix path, along with the Dangerous Liaison programmable analog router with parallel processing for his six key pieces of outboard gear, two compressors and four EQs. The Liaison proved to be an elegant solution to his tedious practice of hand re-patching outboard gear for mastering sessions.
Read More »Amadeus UDX Series Speakers
Amadeus, French provider of high-end audio solutions and services, re-launches the UDX Series speakers 30 years after its first edition
The new Amadeus UDX Series Speakers
Amadeus, based in France, one of the premiere manufacturers of high-end sound reinforcement systems and custom studio speakers, has announced the re-launch of its famed UDX Series passive speakers – 30 years after originally releasing their first edition. Including four different models, the UDX Series is perfectly adapted to sound reinforcement applications in concert halls, auditoriums, conference rooms, and theaters. Designed to be included within fixed or long-lasting installations, each UDX speaker system can also be used in touring applications as a stage monitor when fitted with optional accessories. The newly redesigned UDX Series are now available from licensed Amadeus distributors and dealers throughout Europe and Asia, from € 1090.00 to € 1990.00 (VAT excluded), depending on the model.
Read More »Grammy-Winner F. Reid Shippen
Nashville based engineer wins two Grammys out of his seven 2012 award nominations and adds the BAX EQ to his extensive Dangerous Music gear setup
Engineer F. Reid Shippen in his Nashville studio with the Dangerous Monitor ST remote
Dangerous Returns To The Grammys
2012 Award Nominated Projects from Top Engineers & Producers using Dangerous Music equipment
As the 56th Grammy(r) Awards show approaches, multi-award-winning hardware manufacturer Dangerous Music is offering congratulations to several of their users who have Grammy nominated projects for 2012. This year, nominated projects recorded, mixed or mastered utilizing Dangerous gear include artists such as Tom Waits recorded and mixed by Karl Derfler, Marilyn Manson co-produced by Chris Vrenna, The Roots, Lupe Fiasco, Elle Varner and John Legend with Ludacris mastered by Dave Kutch, Little Big Town, TobyMac, Matthew West, Kari Jobe, and Brit Nicole mixed by F. Reid Shippen, Kenny Garrett mixed by Todd Whitelock, and 2 Chainz mastered by Glenn Schick. The Grammy Awards are to be televised live February 10, 2013 on CBS.
Read More »Junior Sanchez Gets Dangerous
Dangerous Music 2-Bus LT and Monitor ST are key studio ingredients in renowned producer’s Electronic Dance Music projects, as well as his R&B, Rock and Pop productions
Jr Sanchez in his Dangerous Music-equipped studio
Junior Sanchez started making records when he was in high school. Now from the stage looking out over a sea of people in the dance crowd at an Ibiza island festival as a DJ – along with the Swedish House Mafia’s Steve Angello – it seems that first teenage track was quite a while ago. Sanchez has evolved from using major studios and large format consoles in New York and LA to designing and building his own high-end studio in his New York area house. To get back to the sound he had mixing on analog consoles Sanchez has chosen Dangerous Music gear for mixing and monitoring. “I have the Monitor ST, the DAC ST and the 2-Bus LT. It’s changed the whole platform of how I hear, it’s awesome,” says Sanchez. “I live my life Dangerously.”
Read More »Back in the Day: Silicon Valley & Music
As told to Linda Jacobson (lindaj@well.com)
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.
The Rhodes Chroma and Chroma Polaris
Adam Young of “Owl City”
Adam Young of “Owl City” Mixes on Focal Monitors
New chart-topping artist chooses Focal Twin6 Be monitors on breakout album ‘Ocean Eyes’
Adam Young of "Owl City" with Focal Twin 6
With a growing fan-base and a world tour that continues throughout 2010, Adam Young, the creative force behind the band “Owl City,” is taking off. His first independent release in 2008, ‘Maybe I’m Dreaming,’ received much praise and made Young into a phenomenon, with over 16 million profile views and over 80 million plays on MySpace, all stemming from posting a few songs from the year before.
That’s led to Owl City’s newest CD – ‘Ocean Eyes’ – released in 2009 by Universal Republic Records. The album has sold over 1 million copies in the U.S. alone, while the first single “Fireflies” hit #1 in 23 countries. During the making of the ‘Ocean Eyes’ album Young discovered Focal Twin6 Be monitors, then got himself a pair. “I absolutely love the Focals. I had mixed with other brands over the years, but it was always a bit deceiving. Other monitors seemed somewhat overly polished, bass heavy and even ‘clubby.’ The Focal Twin 6s are so transparent, but still easy to listen to and work with: they really help my mixes translate to anything I play them back on,” states Young.
Read More »TV Audio Engineer Chris Prinzivalli
Engineer Chris Prinzivalli on the Focal Twin6 BE Monitors for TV Production
Engineer Chris Prinzivalli with Focal Twin 6Engineer Chris Prinzivalli on the Focal Twin6 BE Monitors for TV Production
These days engineer Chris Prinzivalli and his Focal Twin6 BE monitors go everywhere together. His specialty is live music recording and mixing, and he is working on a lot of music for TV. He has mixed live music projects for TV with artists such as Cyndi Lauper, Julio Iglesias, Huey Lewis & The News and many others. When at Kaufman Astoria Studios to mix the Sesame Street Workshop music, he brings in his Twin6 monitors. Prinzivalli honed his live mixing and recording techniques from behind the desk at countless shows, festivals and television specials. Along the way he has worked with Record Plant Remote, MTV Networks and ABC Television. These days, when he gets the call to record and mix in a TV studio or remote truck, he brings along his Focal Twin6 monitors. A sound he can trust.
A friend of Prinzivalli’s and distributor for Focal Professional who always offers him new gear to try out, told him about the Twin6 BE monitors, he got to try them and liked what he heard. Remembering the first time he tried the monitors Prinzavali said, “My friend always calls me up and says ‘Hey I just got a new piece of gear, I want you to check it out, I want your opinion.’ Focal had released a new series of monitor, so I grabbed the Twin6s from him and they were absolutely fabulous. They sound great and they look great.”
Read More »Engineer Ian Boxill
Engineer Ian Boxill Mixes an Urban Sound with FOCAL Monitors
Focal Solo 6 Be Monitors are Key to Mixing in his Personal Studio
Engineer Ian Boxill with Focal Solo 6
Engineer Ian Boxill recently installed Focal Solo 6 Be monitors in his personal studio, and has begun mixing a top-secret project. With the past three Prince albums behind him, and a 2008 Grammy for “Best Male Vocal” on the Prince penned song Future Baby Mama, Boxill is primed for new and great things. Deciding to upgrade his studio with new monitors, Boxill chose Focal and is loving the sound, “Focal speakers have the rare quality of being very musical sounding, while maintaining clarity and detail. Not a very easy feat to pull off. While listening to my favorite recordings on a pair of Focal Solo 6 Be’s I heard instruments and parts that I had not heard before. Wow. Well done Focal, well done.”
Known for his deft touch with powerful R&B and Urban vocal artists such as Tupac Shakur, Janet Jackson, P. Diddy, Aaron Neville, K Ci, Jo Jo, Christina Milian, and Prince, among many others, over the past 15 years Boxill has divided his time between working in his personal studio and studios that artists choose. Now with his own personal studio upgraded with Focal monitors he’s embarked on a mixing project that will be revealed in early 2009.
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