November 2021 - 47

Back in the office
When I decided to become a proficient
in-the-box engineer, I realized that
the essential considerations for the task
are how you work (computer) and how
you listen (speakers, headphones).
My machine of choice has always
been a stable and portable Apple MacBook
Pro with lots of RAM (32GB) and
a fast SSD hard drive-it's all I've ever
needed to mix anything from a small
session to a two-hour, 120-track opera.
I can work on mixes from a plane, a coffee
shop, my apartment in New York, or
my pad in London with this computer.
I know some people might claim a
laptop may not be powerful enough to
run a ton of plugins, but I never found
that to be the case, and my philosophy
is simple: if you record something right,
you don't need that many plugins!
Hear, here
I use an assortment of speakers and
headphones in my home studio(s).
When I started this project, I had a
pair
of Focal CMS65 nearfields
with
a Focal CMS subwoofer, my Fujitsu
Ten Eclipse model TD712z coaxial
speakers, and a set of IK Multimedia iLoud
MTM monitors. At some point during
the long making of this album, I became
an Adam Audio endorser. So, I equipped
my London apartment with a pair of Adam
Audio T7 nearfields and again a couple
of IK Multimedia iLoud Micro monitors. The
idea was to have speakers similar in sound
to the Adam Audio A7X and Adam Audio
S5H I was now using in the big studio. The IK
Multimedia monitors offer a familiar sound
between my two living spaces.
On-ear
Like most music souls, I'm a night
owl, my hours are insane, and I travel
so much that I am often jetlagged and
wide awake in the middle of the night,
so I also had to equip myself with great
headphones that are 100% sonically
transparent and trustworthy. After some
research and advice from colleagues,
I chose the Ollo S4X open-back, overear
headphones for my London setup.
They are made in Slovenia and are the
most comfortable and best sounding
headphones under $500 that I have
found. On the other hand, since I spent
more time in New York City, I got my
hands on a pair of gorgeous high
fidelity Audeze LCD-4z open-back, overear
reference headphones. I carefully
chose them after trying the entire Audeze
family of products. I generally prefer to
mix on speakers, but these headphones
are so neutral and accurate that moving
between speakers and headphones is a
total breeze!
In your head
Last but not least, spending so much time
on airplanes made it mandatory that I work
well on a plane also. If I listen to music for
pleasure, I'll use my noise-canceling Sony
WH-1000xm2 headphones to tune out
engine noise and screaming children.
When I am doing critical listening, editing
or mixing, I switch to a pair of Stealth
Sonics C9 Pro (nine-driver hybrid in-ear
monitors) or Sealth Sonics C4 (the brighter
four-driver version). Both offer 26dB of
isolation from external noise with a superflat
frequency response that puts me in an
excellent position to focus on the mix and
make informed decisions.
http://www.usefulartsaudio.com
November 2021

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