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May 2009
The Best Education I've received is from my Genelecs
Genelec monitors have changed my life, to put it mildly. I have been a musician since I was nine years old, starting on drums and adding guitar, bass, keys along the way. Unlike actors who wait at tables, I was lucky enough to start mixing live sound at the age of 19. Mixing house for Public Enemy and Wynton Marsalis by the age of 20 and moving to New York (with Wynton's sage advice) at the age of 21. As he said: "You may think LA is where all the bands get signed, but the checks are still signed in New York."
From mixing live, to studio and TV work, to building recording studios and broadcast facilities, a solid reference point was the easiest way to guaranty success. Mixing live music, especially monitors, was a great education. Working in the studio and losing track of the time, the days, the seasons, etc. was also an amazing learning experience. Being around the best musicians in the world was an even better education. But, at the end of the day, the best education I've received was from my Genelecs.
When I first heard Genelecs at Sony Music Studios, a friend was playing a Thin Lizzy CD and they sounded like crap. I, therefore, thought the Genelecs sounded like crap. This made sense.
What I didn't understand, until listening to many better recordings on the same speakers, was that it ‘was the CD that sounded like crap!’ The Genelecs had shown the true quality of the recordings with their flat transparency and accuracy. But, how could I get my own?
Boy, for a struggling musician, they were a huge chunk of change. But I knew myself, if I didn't start my studio with Genelecs, I would never buy them. I'd buy another mic, or keyboard, or guitar, but never save up enough again to get the Genelecs.
I had to get them first. So I bit the bullet, saved more money than I ever had in my life up until that point, and bought my pair of 1031's. Well… The clouds parted. I could see, and, more importantly, hear the promised land. Since I could not afford a tape machine, mics, or a console, I had some time on my hands. . . but, that was OK.
You see, every CD I owned was new again. I could hear things I never heard before. I could hear edit points. I could tell what the guitar-amp-mic-pre combination probably was. I could hear the delay techniques and other effects. In short, with these amazing speakers, I could reverse engineer all of the greatest recordings of all time.
That effect I could never figure out before, well it was the same reverb recorded onto the tape going forward - and - flipped over going backwards. Damn. They must have had a lot of time on their hands - and - the A&R guy was surely sharing the drugs with the band.
There are musicians the world over. Many are good, quite a few are great. But, there are a very chosen few that can "take you there". It's that place where music becomes a magical place. It's where you get the goose bumps and the shivers down your back - the hairs on your neck stand up and you are filled with life.
I would like to thank Genelec, because with their speakers I have visited that place countless times and have enjoyed my short life all that much more because of their amazing speakers.
I would like to thank everyone at Genelec for doing amazing work. You should all be very proud of what you have brought into the world and the good things that have resulted because of the effort. Peace be with all of you.
Equipment:
Genelec 1031A (pair), every other component in my studio has changed over the last decade, except for my dear beloved Genelecs. Went from SM57's to VP88's and many other esoteric mics. From a Mackie 16-oh-whatever to an 02R and Apogees and from an ADAT to two ADATs and a BRC through three different Macs (and from 8Mbs of RAM to 2Gbs of RAM). From Logic Audio v2.46 on 3.5" floppies to the current Apple Logic Studio 8.
From mixing live, to studio and TV work, to building recording studios and broadcast facilities, a solid reference point was the easiest way to guaranty success. Mixing live music, especially monitors, was a great education. Working in the studio and losing track of the time, the days, the seasons, etc. was also an amazing learning experience. Being around the best musicians in the world was an even better education. But, at the end of the day, the best education I've received was from my Genelecs.
When I first heard Genelecs at Sony Music Studios, a friend was playing a Thin Lizzy CD and they sounded like crap. I, therefore, thought the Genelecs sounded like crap. This made sense.
What I didn't understand, until listening to many better recordings on the same speakers, was that it ‘was the CD that sounded like crap!’ The Genelecs had shown the true quality of the recordings with their flat transparency and accuracy. But, how could I get my own?
Boy, for a struggling musician, they were a huge chunk of change. But I knew myself, if I didn't start my studio with Genelecs, I would never buy them. I'd buy another mic, or keyboard, or guitar, but never save up enough again to get the Genelecs.
I had to get them first. So I bit the bullet, saved more money than I ever had in my life up until that point, and bought my pair of 1031's. Well… The clouds parted. I could see, and, more importantly, hear the promised land. Since I could not afford a tape machine, mics, or a console, I had some time on my hands. . . but, that was OK.
You see, every CD I owned was new again. I could hear things I never heard before. I could hear edit points. I could tell what the guitar-amp-mic-pre combination probably was. I could hear the delay techniques and other effects. In short, with these amazing speakers, I could reverse engineer all of the greatest recordings of all time.
That effect I could never figure out before, well it was the same reverb recorded onto the tape going forward - and - flipped over going backwards. Damn. They must have had a lot of time on their hands - and - the A&R guy was surely sharing the drugs with the band.
There are musicians the world over. Many are good, quite a few are great. But, there are a very chosen few that can "take you there". It's that place where music becomes a magical place. It's where you get the goose bumps and the shivers down your back - the hairs on your neck stand up and you are filled with life.
I would like to thank Genelec, because with their speakers I have visited that place countless times and have enjoyed my short life all that much more because of their amazing speakers.
I would like to thank everyone at Genelec for doing amazing work. You should all be very proud of what you have brought into the world and the good things that have resulted because of the effort. Peace be with all of you.
Equipment:
Genelec 1031A (pair), every other component in my studio has changed over the last decade, except for my dear beloved Genelecs. Went from SM57's to VP88's and many other esoteric mics. From a Mackie 16-oh-whatever to an 02R and Apogees and from an ADAT to two ADATs and a BRC through three different Macs (and from 8Mbs of RAM to 2Gbs of RAM). From Logic Audio v2.46 on 3.5" floppies to the current Apple Logic Studio 8.