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Toronto AES BulletinOctober 96
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Studio manager Andrew Andronache treated the 80 AES Members and guests present to a tour of Metalworks' recent renovations. Mr. Andronache explained that the recent changes, which included aesthetic (decor) as well as functional (acoustic) improvements to the facility, came out of a need for a new mastering suite at Metalworks. We began the tour in Studio 1, with its solid oak floors and wall paneling and stylish architecture -- a marked improvement from the drab carpeting and acoustic panels of the former decor.
The project's acoustic specialist and designer Martin Pilchner of Pilchner/Schoustal Associates took the floor to explain the acoustical, structural, cost/time, building bylaw and functional tradeoffs of the project. For example: acoustic isolation for a 500 sq ft control room can add 82000 lbs of mass to the building. The single step up to the raised floor is not permitted according to the building code so special permission was required from the city. Isolation and aesthetics are generally the mos costly items when designing a studio.
Martin went on to explain in detail the reasoning behind his design for the new mastering room: mastering is the last creative step and most critical listening stage in the production process. Therefore he attempts to create "a modified living room" as close as possible to the average audiophile home listening environment (always keeping the end user in mind). To render the room acoustically neutral, heavy frontwall damping is used to control rearward bass-bounce and sidewall damping to control sidewall reflections. Ceiling and rearwall traps with a dropped front floor help to control the remaining reflections. Non-parallel walls, a sloped ceiling and correct proportions are also critical. For isolation from traffic and the adjoining rooms, the new mastering room was constructed within a larger room (a room within a room) with neoprene pads between the concrete floors and air spaces between adjoining walls. Common building materials were used, such as studs, drywall and fiberglass, but doubled up and heavier than usual.
Next Nick Blagona, chief mastering engineer at Metalworks, gave attendees an overview of his new facility and his choice of equipment. The meeting then moved to the facilities recently renovated, spacious lounge for refreshments. We broke up into small groups and took turns visiting the new mastering suite and the Metalworks' two control rooms (including the newly renovated Studio 2, which houses the largest (80 input) SSL console in Canada).
In the mastering suite Nick demonstrated his state-of-the-art equipment. The monitors are $30,000 Duntech Sovereigns driven by a Levinson 2x 900W class A amp. The tube preamp is from an old Neve console. On Nick's left sits a Macintosh Quadra 900 running Sonic Solutions CD Mastering system is used to assemble the material, perform PQ coding (place start, index, and end IDs), and deliver to the pre-master format of choice (CD-R, or exabyte DDP). On his right is a Pentium running the Penguin software control for his Daniel Weiss (harmonia mundi) digital EQ and compression. The control software is very user friendly and features a realtime graphic display of the frequency response over which an EQ curve can be drawn.
Analogue transfers to and from the Sonic are via 20 bit Apogee AD1000 and DA1000 convertors. Nick likes to use tubes to warm up the sound and his Drawmer 1961 compressor handles the job nicely. Other gear includes GML and Sontec EQ and Focusrite Red 3 Dual Mono Stereo Compressor Limiter.Functional and attractive in its earthy tones, the mastering room was fitted with solid oak and oak detail (such as the ceiling traps). Nick played a variety of music including his own ribbon mic recording of a brass ensemble. The sound was superb with an even timbre and great stereo imaging in the operators position. This set up with its flat response allows him to judge exactly when and what to add from the wide variety of outboard gear available. With this setup his only limits are time and money (i.e.: the client's budget).
A lively discussion followed on the merits of anechoic playback, "fast" amps, tubes vs solid state, and the specialization of monitoring systems for specific applications; an educational and enjoyable evening.
Special thanks to Doug McClement for organizing this event.
Review by John Fourdraine
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