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.

Gaetan BYK, Marketing Manager at Amadeus, stated, “The core idea behind the UDX Series was to keep the main focus on the values which have given Amadeus its reference-quality status throughout the years, both the unique acoustical characteristics of its sound systems, as well as their aesthetic integration capabilities into installed locations, allowing a real transparency, a consistency between the installation space and the speaker. We wanted to concentrate on the essentials, and go back to our roots, in terms of both sound transparency and finishes. Allowing designers to combine several standard colors of cabinet and acoustical fabric coverings on the front grill, they can put the most efficient and elegant product into a space, matching its cultural, visual and architectural context. This new product direction brings the Amadeus quality to a new customer base.”

Sold from 1980 to 1992, the first UDX speakers embodied the best technologies and innovations of the Atelier 33 Company and its electro-acoustical department, 33 Audio. Now developed under the Amadeus brand, the new UDX Series is built according to the same values of quality, passion and design, which gave them a reference quality status when originally released.

A peerless coaxial heart
The heart of every UDX Series system is its coaxial neodymium transducer, combining the features of the best cone speakers and compression drivers into a one-piece, point source solution. Each transducer is specifically designed in accordance with the highest technical standards, resulting in uniform angular coverage and high acoustical load, optimized to reduce all forms of distortion and coloration, at all input levels.

The UDX 8 and UDX 10 systems host a coaxial driver with 8-inch, or 10-inch respectively, woofer and 1-inch tweeter with compression driver. The UDX 12 and UDX 15 systems host a coaxial driver with 12-inch, or 15-inch respectively, woofer and 2-inch tweeter with compression driver. Each of the new UDX Series speakers integrates perfectly with the Amadeus ML 15 and ML 18 subwoofer systems.

Over thirty standard color combinations available
Initially available in a highly resistant black (water-soluble) paint finish, the UDX systems are also available in several different standard colors. Every UDX Series speaker can also be ordered in a “made-to-measure” finish, based on registered or non-registered colors and/or materials. To offer more possibilities, the cabinet and the acoustical fabric covering the front grill can each have a different color.

Optimized compatibility with Konig & Meyer adaptor systems
Each speaker system is equipped with two threaded inserts (M8) on its bottom side, allowing the addition of optional screw-on adapters developed by Konig & Meyer. The UDX systems can then be directly placed on a standardized speaker stand, or on a pole placed on a subwoofer, such as the Amadeus ML 15 or ML 18 subwoofer systems, which are equipped with a threaded insert (M20) on its top side.

The sides and the upper, lower and rear panels of the UDX Series systems are all equipped with M8-threaded inserts, compatible with U-Brackets developed by Amadeus, and speaker wall mounts, developed by Konig & Meyer, allowing the speakers to easily attach to a wall or a ceiling.

The best components throughout the speaker Lifetime
Amadeus believes that use of the best components doesn’t matter if their properties cannot be preserved over many years of use. So all the components used throughout the innovative, custom designed Amadeus passive filters, including air inductances, over-sized non-inductive resistors and low-loss polypropylene capacitors, are encapsulated, using unbreakable resins, specifically designed for resistance to shocks, vibrations, electromagnetic radiation and corrosive agents.

Standard presets available
Designed to compensate for the influence of  “free field” conditions when the systems are used in a standalone mode, or to compensate for the natural effects of floor loading – when the systems are used as stage monitor speakers – Amadeus offers standard presets that are compatible with all well-known digital crossovers, including XTA, Xilica, LAKE and BSS processors.

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.

Contact Amadeus at info@amadeusaudio.fr for purchasing information.

About Amadeus
Amadeus develops, manufactures and sells a wide range of high-end sound reinforcement loudspeakers, studio monitors and various signal processing interfaces that combine its own custom innovative technology with stylish design, for the professional audio industry. Created in 1992 from the collaboration between the French designer Bernard BYK and the scientist Michel DELUC, the Amadeus brand has grown to become a leading supplier of high-end audio solutions and services for theaters, opera houses, recording studios, research centers and touring concert sound rental operations. All development and product manufacturing is centralized in Atelier 33 headquarters in France, with field offices and authorized distributors located in Europe, Asia and UAE.

More information about Amadeus is available by visiting http://www.amadeusaudio.fr

About Atelier 33
Founded in 1977 by Bernard BYK, Atelier 33 pioneered reusable packaging in France, and is now the premiere French flight case maker, historically and in terms of production volume. Atelier 33 also has its own electro-acoustic research department, mainly dedicated to architectural acoustics for recording studios, theaters, opera houses and concert halls. The Atelier 33 company expanded its activities in 1992 by creating an innovative new product line including speakers, allying unique acoustical properties, a pristine sound image and very high timbral precision, sold under the Amadeus commercial brand.

More information is about Atelier 33 is available by visiting http://www.atelier33.fr

UDX and Amadeus are registered trademarks of Atelier 33, SA. All rights reserved. Patents pending. All other registered trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Mike Wells in his Dangerous Music Equipped LA Mastering Room

“Without question the centerpiece of my studio is the Dangerous ‘mastering console’ – which comprises the Dangerous Master transfer console, the Dangerous Monitor, and the Dangerous MQ for metering,” says Wells. “I bought this system right when it became available. Until that time, there wasn’t a commercial mastering console on the market, only hand-built custom-consoles. The cost of a custom console was just out of my financial reach, so when these three Dangerous Music tools were released it was fantastic. I rely on them every day.” Wells setup also features the Dangerous Liaison and BAX EQ.

Emily’s Army
“I worked with Emily’s Army on their first record,” reveals Wells. “Chris Dugan has also been involved with both records, he was the engineer/mixer on the first record and also the recording engineer on this new one. He called me up to chat about the new record and I was thrilled to be involved in the new project.”

“Chris Lord-Alge was the mixer on this record, it was a real treat to work with him,” says Wells. “All the communication for the project went through Chris Dugan. There was some back and forth up-front trying a few things out while dialing-in what the band was looking for, which is my normal process for every project. Once we had that going it was a matter of mastering the rest of the songs. Billie Joe Armstrong (Green Day) was the producer. He had some feedback throughout the project, some specific tonality stuff he was looking for, fades, and song spacing. It’s a great record, the band is starting to do well, and they have some great buzz behind them.” Emily’s Army will be on the Warped Tour in June 2013, right after their record release.

“It’s a heavy-hitting team on this record, and the mixes came in incredibly solid as you would expect from all of the talent involved.” Wells states. “They wanted balance across all the tunes, and there were some minor tweaks with EQ, but the signal path was minimal compared to some of the Indie projects I deal with. The final master had a little Dangerous BAX EQ for sweetness on the top. Compression-wise all I was doing was a touch of parallel compression using the GML 2030 via the Dangerous Liaison’s parallel processing channel, along with the GML 9500 parametric EQ when needed. It was a pretty light touch, but with a combination of those tools, it all came into place,” says Wells. The producer, engineers and the band were all happy with the sound.

Mastering the Dangerous Way
Explaining his choice in mastering gear, Wells says, “I’ve checked out the other mastering consoles that have now come onto the market and I continue to love the Dangerous gear because it’s all about transparency. I want my outboard gear giving me the color; I don’t want my console giving me color. I want my console to help me get things in and out and around, but I don’t want it messing with the sound. That’s what I love about the Dangerous Master, it’s there to do its job, and it’s not there to alter the sound at all.”

In 2010 Dangerous Music released it’s first signal processing unit, the BAX EQ, which is designed as a broad-spectrum shelving tone control. The company took inspiration from the classic ‘Baxandall’ shelving curves of the 60s and 70s (conceived of by famed inventor P. J. Baxandall), and created a high-fidelity equalizer with a 21st century mastering aesthetic. “I got a BAX EQ right after it came out and it’s taken over as my go-to EQ for blunt force shelving operations,” reveals Wells. “It’s almost always at the beginning of the chain unless I need to do something specific with it. If I make adjustments to treble, that’s going to happen right up front, if there’s rumbling down in the bottom, there’s no reason for that to be going through further analog stages, so I just get rid of it up front.”

Wells continues to explain his mastering EQ concepts, “I used to use a pair of customized API 550M EQs. But the BAX is cleaner, it’s more transparent – it has given me better results. The cutting filters are a fantastic addition on top of the cut and boost shelving filters. I use the BAX EQ every day, I can’t really say there isn’t any master that I make that doesn’t have the BAX on it now!”

Flexibility & Control
When asked about how the Dangerous Music products help him to help his clients, Wells says, “What I love about the Master is its flexibility, I have it extended out to a patchbay, and I now have the Dangerous Liaison paired with the Dangerous Master in one of the inserts. So with those two pieces I can route any of the analog outboard gear that I have in any configuration that I want. They have a Mid-Side encoder built into the Master, which I use every day for targeting my EQ choices. I can say it’s rare that I ever have that button un-pressed [Laughs], the ‘S&M’ button is pretty much always on. It’s an incredibly well implemented ‘Mid-Side’ encoder, I think Chris Muth’s implementation was the first line-level processor with an effects insert loop, and it is the best one I’ve heard yet.” The Dangerous S&M function allows an engineer to work in stereo as “center-sides,” as opposed to “left-right,” allowing one for example to affect the center-channel content like a lead vocal without touching the side information.

Another major section of the 3-part Dangerous mastering console setup is the Dangerous Monitor. “I love the Monitor tool,” states Wells. “It’s got multiple analog inputs and multiple digital inputs, you’ve got a number of ways to control how you are monitoring the signal coming out of your DAW, and you also have a DA converter built-in – a key feature for me, and one that I don’t think gets a lot of airtime.” Wells explains the Monitor’s DA is how he can hear a real comparison between his source and the final master, even comparing his final stage AD converter: “You can really dial in a true ’round-trip’ comparison of your source to your final master which considers both your DA to analog (for processing) and your AD (back to digital capture) while monitoring from another, independent DA – which is built into the Dangerous Monitor. I don’t see another box that allows you to do that. Wouldn’t you want to verify your source against what your converters are doing? – Because your converters are going to add some kind of color to the sound. This and the rest of the feature set makes it clear that it was designed by someone who actually does mastering, and that goes a long way. Don’t underestimate it.”

In conclusion, Wells explains why he feels that Dangerous Music offers mastering equipment with a heritage that sets it apart from other offerings, “One of the things that brought me to Dangerous Music was meeting product designer Chris Muth at AES San Francisco when they debuted the system back in 2004. I suggest to anyone who’s looking at purchasing mastering gear, and there is more and more stuff out there that the manufacturer claims is ‘for mastering’ – I’d ask ‘Who’s the designer? What’s the history of that designer? Is there hands-on application experience in the mastering world from that designer?’ Chris Muth has it. And Bob Muller’s experience is entrenched in recording as well. Chris understands mastering and what the gear needs to do, and how well it must do it because he is a mastering engineer himself. When I show clients the Dangerous Music equipment at my studio, and they are blown-away by it, I always comment ‘This is Chris, this is the value of this guy’s skills and his experience and there isn’t anyone else out there that brings that to the table.’ That’s why these tools from Dangerous Music are so good, they have the history, they have the design element, and they have the value that you are looking for that I don’t see in other gear today.”

Visit Mike Wells Mastering at: mikewellsmastering.com/

Check out Emily’s Army at: facebook.com/EmilysArmy

About Dangerous Music
Dangerous Music, Inc. designs and builds products that are indispensable to any DAW-based recording environment. Dangerous Music electronics designer Chris Muth has spent over 20 years working in and designing custom equipment for top recording and mastering studios. Muth and company founder Bob Muller pioneered the concept of the dedicated analog summing buss for digital audio workstations with the Dangerous 2-Bus in 2001. Today the company offers a wide range of products for recording, mastering, mixing and post-production facilities, all designed and built with mastering-quality standards and a practical aesthetic. Key products include the Dangerous 2-Bus and 2-Bus LT, Dangerous Monitor ST-SR and its Additional Switching System expansion units, Dangerous D-Box, Dangerous Master, Dangerous Liaison, Dangerous Monitor, Dangerous Source and Dangerous Bax EQ.

For more information on Dangerous Music visit www.dangerousmusic.com phone 607-965-8011 or email: info@dangerousmusic.com

All trademarks are the property of their respective holders. Description and specifications are subject to change without notice.

Engineer F. Reid Shippen in his Nashville studio with the Dangerous Monitor ST remote

Shippen’s studio setup prominently features the Dangerous 2-Bus summing amp in conjunction with his highly modified SSL 4000E/G+. “The SSL is for that classic killer sound,” relates Shippen, “but some stuff doesn’t need that, and some stuff even gets hurt by it. I use the Dangerous to blend those sounds in with the mix buss of the console.” The Dangerous Monitor ST and DAC ST and Additional Switching System are his studio’s total monitor control and listening reference, and he recently added the Dangerous BAX EQ. “The Bax EQ is an awesome piece of gear. I’ve been looking for years, maybe a decade, for an effective hi-pass filter that can take the infrasonic muck out of a mix, without destroying what’s going on in the bottom end. And the BAX EQ is the only one that I’ve ever found that can do that. Add a little bang back in, right in the kick drum area, like 74HZ, and it’s perfect. It’s killer.”

Hearing a clear picture of what his mixes sound like is everything for Shippen, “All of my monitoring goes through the Monitor ST with the Dangerous DAC, and in my opinion every studio should have one of these. It’s not an option to monitor through the SSL. I was just tracking at another studio recently and I was desperately wishing that that I could have brought my Monitor ST, because I would really prefer to listen through that than through the console. I have three sets of speakers that I rotate through,” he says referring to the ST’s ability to switch between up to three pairs of speakers.

“I tried every single summing box, and chose the Dangerous 2-Bus,” states Shippen. “It’s designed by (Dangerous Music electronics designer) Chris Muth, and I’ve always really respected his work. I know that I can walk into (Greg) Calbi’s mastering room at Sterling Sound and there would be Dangerous gear in the rack – that gives me a lot of confidence. It does what it’s supposed to do and doesn’t get in the way, which is really nice. If it’s good enough for Ted Jensen and Greg Calbi, it’s good enough for anybody.”

“The Monitor ST and DAC ST are invaluable,” adds Shippen. “Just being able to have things come back to the console so I can listen to refs, and listen to the computer playback, and have it all at my fingertips. It made setting up the studio really easy because of the separate subwoofer controls for level, for example – which is really great. The Monitor ST and DAC ST has an elegant architecture, it works, it does what it’s supposed to and it’s dead-on reliable.”

Although Shippen has both the Dangerous 2-Bus and an SSL 4000, he has specific uses for each to get the sound of the mix of tracks he wants. “The 4K that I have is really good at certain things like rock drums, and electric guitars, and basses and stuff like that.,” he explains. “When you want to impart character, color, or you want to do some damage, or if you need to do triage on tracks, the 4K has a character to it. There’s other things you don’t want to pound through the SSL, you don’t want to put low kick drums, or samples that have already been EQ’d or certain things that don’t need the processing. I also use mix buss compression on my SSL, and sometimes I want stuff to not go through the 2-mix compressor. So the Dangerous 2-Bus is basically the last step in the chain right before my converters that allows me to take a feed from the console and take a feed from Pro Tools and decide what gets treated and what doesn’t, and then the Dangerous 2-Bus sums everything together and puts it into my Lavry Gold converter. The 2-Bus is super well designed, it’s super trustworthy and it does what it’s supposed to do.”

“There are certain types of music that work better through the Dangerous 2-Bus than through a console, certain types of pop music. I don’t want character; I just want what it is. I can send that to the 2-Bus and have what I want,” concludes Shippen.

Remembering his first use of the BAX EQ, Shippen notes, “It does certain really good things to the low end that I got quickly got addicted to. I tried it on a mix and once I heard what it could do on the stereo Buss I said ‘Oh man, I need to revisit a couple of the other mixes that I’ve done and put this on all of them’ – and I actually ended up doing that! It’s been on every project since: The Afters, India.Arie, All Star Weekend and Dierks Bentley.”

Getting into more details of why he uses and loves the Monitor ST and its accompanying DAC, Shipped explains, “I’m able to have the outputs of converters, the output of my print system, the output of my computer, and an iPod doc, all available at a touch of a button on the remote.”

As an example of using the DAC ST’s multiple digital input capabilities with simple switching at the Monitor ST remote control, Shippen offers, “A client will send me a rough mix and I’ll line up the rough mix in the session so I can switch back and forth right from the ST remote between their rough mix and my playback so I can see if instruments are missing or what they intended to do on a certain section – that’s invaluable. I use that a million times a day.”

And Shippen trusts and likes the sound of the DAC ST, “I always monitor through my conversion, so having the Monitor ST with the DAC ST, means that everything that I listen to goes through the same reference DAC. It’s the baseline for any kind of playback. Everything goes through the same D-to-A. I’ve listened to a bunch of D-to-As, there aren’t any DACs out there that are any where near better than the DAC ST when you factor in the cost and the functionality.”

When asked if there’s anything else he’d like to add about Dangerous Music, Shippen says, “I think it bears mentioning that the customer service is fantastic. It’s pretty rare to have a company where you can get a hold of the principals, and they care about problem solving and they are accessible and interested.”

F. Reid Shippen is a multi-Grammy winning mixer, engineer and producer who has recorded or mixed many top artists including Jonny Lang, Death Cab for Cutie, Steven Curtis Chapman, Little Big Town, Flyleaf, MercyMe, Eric Church, Robert Randolph & the Family Band, India.Arie, tobymac, Backstreet Boys and Chaka Khan. He likes to drink espresso, loves to mix all types of music and prefers to work in his own studio. To find out more about F. Reid Shippen visit: www.robotlemon.com

Check out the Academy of Country Music Awards, (F. Reid Shippen is nominated for ‘Audio Engineer of the Year’) at: www.acmcountry.com/nominees.html

Visit the list of 2012 Grammy Winners at: www.grammy.com/nominees

About Dangerous Music
Dangerous Music, Inc. designs and builds products that are indispensable to any DAW-based recording environment. Dangerous Music electronics designer Chris Muth has spent over 20 years working in and designing custom equipment for top recording and mastering studios. Muth and company founder Bob Muller pioneered the concept of the dedicated analog summing buss for digital audio workstations with the Dangerous 2-Bus in 2001. Today the company offers a wide range of products for recording, mastering, mixing and post-production facilities, all designed and built with mastering-quality standards and a practical aesthetic. Key products include the Dangerous 2-Bus and 2-Bus LT, Dangerous Monitor ST-SR and its Additional Switching System expansion units, Dangerous D-Box, Dangerous Master, Dangerous Liaison, Dangerous Monitor, Dangerous Source and Dangerous Bax EQ.

For more information on Dangerous Music visit www.dangerousmusic.com phone 607-965-8011 or email: info@dangerousmusic.com

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.”

Relating the sound Sanchez gets from the 2-Bus analog summing amp to his early years with consoles, he explains, “The 2-Bus offers every person that’s ever wondered or dreamt about working on a large format console that advantage of actually having that sound, that headroom, that sonic mass. For me when I first mixed through the Dangerous 2-Bus, it was like a sigh of relief, ‘Finally! I can push my productions to another level.’ That’s what the user is going to have with a 2-Bus, the experience of mixing on an analog console-without having a giant console in their room.” Sanchez says he plans to add a second 2-Bus LT for 32-channels of summing.

Electronic dance music (EDM) is only one of the musical styles that Sanchez excels in. His studio chops, creative synth programming and playing, along with deep collaborative skills lead him into many hit musical genres, from producing albums and tracks for Morningwood, Bush, Ima Robot and Good Charlotte to R&B star Mya. His remixes encompass a huge range of artists inside and outside the dance music scene: Madonna, Shakira, Katy Perry, The Bravery, Daft Punk, Gorillaz, Hot Hot Heat, The Faint, New Order, Giorgio Moroder and numerous others. Sanchez is working closely with Swedish House Mafia’s Steve Angello, playing at dance festivals around the world and releasing tracks and albums on Angelo’s ‘Size’ record label including an upcoming single featuring CeCe Peniston on vocals.

Deciding to put together his own studio, Sanchez reminisces, “Before I understood about the importance of monitoring, I would monitor through whatever console I was using. If I spent a lot of time in LA I would be using consoles at the Village Recorder, or if I was in New York I was at Integrated Studios in Tribeca where they had an SSL J series.  So when I decided to build a room in my house-trying to put together a setup where I can be creative: wake up, go downstairs, write- the first system that came up when I was talking to friends about it was Dangerous Music.”

Sanchez first heard about Dangerous Music through a friend who had worked at a local music dealer. “When I decided to build my room in my house I called my friend Victor Rios, and he suggested a couple different summing devices and monitoring sections, including Dangerous Music. I decided to look into it so I did my research, talked to a couple different people, and I went online.  The rest is history. I’ve been using the Dangerous Music gear for over three years now.”

Part of Sanchez’s system that has made a huge difference in his mixing is being able to hear everything with more clarity along the way with the Dangerous Monitor ST and the integrated DAC ST for consistent digital to analog conversion, “You have so many different options for monitoring, the Monitor ST has the subwoofer section as well, which comes in super handy. I have multiple sets of speakers, Adam S3As, Barefoot MM35, a Focal Sub and a pair of Avatones. All of those are integrated into my Monitor ST. The ST remote is awesome, I think it’s kick-ass, it’s sleek and doesn’t take up a lot of real estate on your desk.”

The EDM scene is growing exponentially states Sanchez, “I’ve been in this game awhile and I’ve never seen it at this magnitude. It’s because of the culture, because of the kids now, more kids are making music in their bedrooms with laptops and software, and it’s become this phenomenon. Electronic music is blown up. Everybody thought it was huge when Madonna signed Prodigy and Moby blew up and had his ‘Area 10′ tour. That wasn’t it, right now is the time.”

Speaking of young up and coming musicians making music Sanchez adds, “I can’t personally live my life ‘In-the-Box’ – I know a lot of people do – a lot of the young kids don’t know about summing. That’s one of my goals is to get the younger generation of producers, especially the laptop generation, to understand that: ‘You can’t have everything coming out of 1 & 2′ you’ve got to break out, you’ve got to sum your tracks – and ‘Monitoring is important too.’ It’s not just for the ‘Class A’ producers; the kids need to understand this. That’s one of my missions, to teach the young kids what’s going on. It doesn’t cost a lot, it doesn’t take a ‘gajillion’ dollars for you to have a really amazing setup in your house to make great records.”

Having recorded and mixed on large format analog consoles for many years, Sanchez then moved to working with In-the-Box digital summing, but realized he had lost something in the sound he was trying to create. “I was working out of the house trying to complete an album project or a remix and I was hitting a wall. I was wondering ‘Why do I keep hitting walls?’ Everybody is talking about working ‘In-the-Box’-I hate being in a box ’cause I’m always hitting a wall! It was really annoying me until Dangerous Music came into my life, and it literally broke down those barriers, and gave me all this headroom. I was amazed that you can get this headroom in rack mount boxes, you have your Monitor ST and you have your 2-Bus, and now you can actually work without hitting a brick wall,” states Sanchez.

His clients hear the difference in the sound of his projects too. “People have been taking notice, and I’ve been preaching to a lot of my peers, whether from the electronic world or just producers in general, for example Steve Angello from the Swedish House Mafia. He comes from a really strong pedigree of DJs-Sebastian Ingrosso, DJ Axwell-Angelo is on top of the world right now. And when he moved to LA from Sweden he asked ‘I’m going to build a room in my house, what do I need?’ The first thing out of my mouth was, ‘You need a great monitor system and you need a 2-Bus.’ We went and got the Dangerous system: he realized how much better his mixes sounded, how much bigger they were. People take notice, especially in the electronic music world, because everything is so heavily scrutinized regarding how your music sounds; how big it is, how ‘impactful’ it is in a nightclub. We’re playing music for 50-to-60,000 people in a stadium-it needs to sound huge-it can’t sound tinny and small. All these ingredients that Dangerous Music gives you help with achieving that sound. It’s definitely noticeable!”

“I’m a gear-head, I live for gear,” reveals Sanchez, “but I get my work done-and then I say: ‘How can I improve my studio?’ ‘What are the tools I need to improve?’ I had my first record when I was a sophomore in high school. I didn’t understand gear-real estate! Gear is like acquiring things that last the test of time. I didn’t understand that in the beginning, now it’s a totally different ballgame. I have a slew of analog synths, Jupiter 8, Minimoog, Source Moog, Cat Octave, tons of good little toys, but I also use a lot of softsynths as well. I love Spectrasonics’ Omnisphere, the quality is amazing.”

Describing how his Dangerous Music hardware integrates with the rest of his studio Sanchez says, “I use Pro Tools, I have everything going from Pro Tools to my patchbay and to the Dangerous Music gear. I sum everything, drums, vocals, keyboards, effects, I have it all mapped out. I have a (Digidesign) Control 24 just for fader purposes, everything is monitored through the Dangerous Monitor ST. I don’t monitor through the Control 24, but I control Pro Tools from it. The outboard effects I have are an Eventide Harmonizer, EMI Curve Bender, SSL Compressor, two 1176s, LA-2A, LA-3A, and Distressors. All the outboard gear is hardwired, so I just bring up my hardware like plug-ins.”

Sanchez feels this is one of the best ways to set up a multi-track DAW with analog outboard gear and analog summing, “This is a balance, it’s the best of both worlds,” concludes Sanchez. The analog output of an insert on a track goes to one of the hardware devices, but then the analog output of that device feeds into the 2-Bus for summing in the analog domain-retaining everything the analog outboard adds.  It does not feed back to the interface. This way the signal doesn’t have to be re-digitized back into Pro Tools as a standard insert.

Speaking of the quality of Dangerous Music gear, Sanchez adds, “The components and the build of the Dangerous gear are amazing, the quality is superb. Since I’ve had my Dangerous setup there’s not been one issue at all with anything. I have the Monitor ST, the DAC ST and the 2-Bus, and a few years later it’s still chugging away, it’s working like I just took it out of the box. It’s amazing.”

Sanchez is currently working in his Dangerous Music-based studio on several new projects including a full-length album for New Orleans-based band The Vettes. He has 2 singles coming out on EMI for New Zealand artist Annabel Fay (see the video for the first single “Hold On” here: http://tinyurl.com/d7z3owg). He is also producing Christina Millian’s new album, who recently signed to Lil Wayne’s Young Money record label (Niky Minaj, Drake). “I did five songs for her album entirely on Dangerous. All my dance music, all my electronic music that I do that’s released on Steve Angello’s label is all on Dangerous. And everything that you hear that Steve Angello-from Swedish House Mafia-does is on Dangerous too, because he uses it, and it’s coming out of his room,” discloses Sanchez.

Check out Junior Sanchez’s Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/JuniorSanchezOfficial

About Dangerous Music
Dangerous Music, Inc. designs and builds products that are indispensable to any DAW-based recording environment. Dangerous Music electronics designer Chris Muth has spent over 20 years working in and designing custom equipment for top recording and mastering studios. Muth and company founder Bob Muller pioneered the concept of the dedicated analog summing buss for digital audio workstations with the Dangerous 2-Bus in 2001. Today the company offers a wide range of products for recording, mastering, mixing and post-production facilities, all designed and built with mastering-quality standards and a practical aesthetic. Key products include the Dangerous 2-Bus and 2-Bus LT, Dangerous Monitor ST-SR and its Additional Switching System expansion units, Dangerous D-Box, Dangerous Master, Dangerous Liaison, Dangerous Monitor and Dangerous Bax EQ.

For more information on Dangerous Music visit http://www.dangerousmusic.com phone 607-965-8011 or email: info@dangerousmusic.com

All trademarks are the property of their respective holders. Description and specifications are subject to change without notice.

Pete Evick wears many musical hats. He’s the guitarist in the Bret Michaels Band, as well as Michael’s songwriting partner, (plus he has his own band: Evick); but he’s also the Bret Michaels Band engineer, and records and mixes while he’s on tour with them. Evick uses the Dangerous Music D-Box and Dangerous Bax EQ as key ingredients for his hit-record success and a killer rock sound. “The last two records we made both debuted in the top 40 Billboard charts, one at number 14, so they are legitimate hit records,” says Evick, “and they were impossible to do without the D-Box. That’s the whole point.”

Bret Michaels is well known as the iconic rock singer in the multi platinum-selling rock band Poison, Michaels also fronts his own successful touring and recording band.

Describing his setup for recording on tour, Evick says, “The beauty of the Dangerous Music D-Box is that we travel and do everything on the road, so we’re never in a situation where we stop and go into a world-class studio. We record at my house or Bret’s house, or we record on Bret’s plane or on Bret’s tour bus. So the D-Box makes it completely possible to make world-class recordings without having to stop in LA, New York or Nashville. Dangerous Music allows us to make real records in strange environments.” He reveals: “The last three Bret Michaels records have been done on a MacBook Pro with Pro Tools LE, the D-Box, Bax EQ and some outboard gear.”

He uses the Dangerous Bax EQ on the road and in his home setup, on the quality of sound he gets from it, Evick says, “When mixing, I am boosting 3dB up top and bottom with the Bax EQ and it is always so smooth. Bret likes real crisp top end, but I don’t like tons of top end – I tend to like a darker mix. After all the gear I went through, it was the Bax EQ that allowed me to boost the high end as much as Bret wants it, and it’s still so smooth and silky to me, it doesn’t offend me at all. That Bax EQ has stopped fights between me and Bret!” He adds, “Sometimes I even track with the Bax EQ in mix mode so I can hear it. It’s a ‘color’ piece of gear – even if I have the Bax EQ set ‘flat’ it feels more musical to me with everything running through it! I feel more creative.”

Engineer Jeff Juliano (John Mayer, Train, Paramore) originally introduced Evick to the Dangerous Music gear. “We’d be out on the road mixing music in-the-box,” remembers Evick, “and I would send it to Jeff and say, ‘I need this mixed right now, can you just do something and help me?’ – Jeff was the one who turned me onto Dangerous Music and the D-Box and Bax EQ. I was a ‘flag-waving-in-the-box’ guy and swore that you could do it all in-the-box: I had a plug-in for every possible option in the world. But I got tired of hearing ‘That’s the best mix I ever heard in-the-box’ – Jeff said ‘The D-Box will change your life’ – now I can’t go on without it.”

“Every single part of the D-Box is essential to us,” Evick explains. “The D-Box turns any room, bus or plane into the real deal. The analog summing creates a ‘space’ that you can’t get ‘inside-the-box’ – making records with the D-Box and a laptop, you can make a real record. The analog summing and the talkback save my life over, and over – and it’s all in one box. It’s unbelievable,” Evick adds, commenting that it’s ‘like having a console in a single space rack.’

“Without a doubt the D-Box gives my mixes more depth and space,” he continues. “The D-Box is as much of a game changer as the ADAT was 20 years ago, as far as I’m concerned, for being able to make records in various types of unusual studio environments. The difference from mixing in-the-box, versus mixing with analog summing in the D-Box, is the difference not in 2D-to-3D, but 2D-to-4D! The stereo width is unbelievable, I feel like I’m surrounded by my music.”

Returning to aspects of the Bax EQ that help his mixes, Evick states, “I use low and high pass filters, especially when we are tracking on Bret’s tour bus or in other environments. I’m not always able to hear the ultra highs and lows that we’re getting. The Bax EQ’s high pass filter and low pass filter are very, very smooth and work great to help clean things up and keep it tight in those situations.”

In his studio at home Evick uses the Aurora Lynx converters with Pro Tools Native, while on the road with the Bret Michaels Band he takes the RME ‘Babyface’ audio interface/converter. He prefers the industry standard Yamaha NS-10s as his main speakers, but also listens on a set of JBL LSR series speakers, and on his KRKs in the studio and on tour.

Evick is also impressed with Dangerous Music as a company, “The other thing I would say that impresses me about Dangerous Music is the fact that Bob [Muller] takes personal time to call the people who use the Company’s products, he’s checked on me several times to make sure that the gear is doing well and that I’m happy with it. That’s the kind of product support you don’t usually get.”

For more on Pete Evick see: https://www.facebook.com/PeteEvickBMB

Visit Bret Michaels website at: http://www.bretmichaels.com/default.shtml

About Dangerous Music
Dangerous Music, Inc. designs and builds products that are indispensable to any DAW-based recording environment. Dangerous Music electronics designer Chris Muth has spent over 20 years working in and designing custom equipment for top recording and mastering studios. Muth and company founder Bob Muller pioneered the concept of the dedicated analog summing buss for digital audio workstations with the Dangerous 2-Bus in 2001. Today the company offers a wide range of products for recording, mastering, mixing and post-production facilities, all designed and built with mastering-quality standards and a practical aesthetic. Key products include the Dangerous 2-Bus and 2-Bus LT, Dangerous Monitor ST-SR and its Additional Switching System expansion units, Dangerous D-Box, Dangerous Master, Dangerous Liaison, Dangerous Monitor, Dangerous Source and Dangerous Bax EQ.

For more information on Dangerous Music visit http://www.dangerousmusic.com phone 607-965-8011 or email: info@dangerousmusic.com

All trademarks are the property of their respective holders. Description and specifications are subject to change without notice.