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
Dangerous Music Rocks The Grammys
Dangerous Music is extending congratulations to several of their users who have Grammy(r) nominated projects for 2011. All the clients have great praise for the Dangerous Music gear they used in their productions, from the Foo Fighters, with mastering engineers Emily Lazar and Joe LaPorta, the Kings of Leon with co-producer and engineer Jacquire King, Glenn Schick mastering for Canton Jones, and Nashville’s producer and engineer John Schirmer for Keb Mo, to the engineers and producers at New York’s Stadium Red studios who turned out a host of nominations for projects from artists J. Cole, Chris Brown, Marsha Ambrosius, and classical composer Steven Mackey.
Rock royalty Foo Fighters and platinum favorites Kings of Leon share Rock Grammy accolades with Best Rock Album nominations, while the album and songs from the Foo Fighters “Wasted Light” also have nominations for Album of the Year, Best Rock Performance, Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance, Best Rock Song and Best Long Form Music Video. The Foo Fighters album, (produced by Butch Vig who’s up for Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical), was mastered by Emily Lazar and Joe LaPorta at The Lodge Mastering in NY, using Dangerous Music equipment. While the Kings of Leon release “Come Around Sundown” was co-produced and mixed by Jacquire King using Dangerous Music gear extensively throughout the production process.
Read More »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 »Mix Engineer Jeff Juliano
Mixer Jeff Juliano Chooses FOCAL Monitors
Twin 6 Be Powered Monitors with Sub6 are now his Main Measure of a Mix
Mix engineer Jeff Juliano and Focal Twin 6
Mixer Jeff Juliano has used a lot of different speakers, and in the past 10 years he’s relied on the supposed ‘industry standard’ Yamaha NS10. But no more. Juliano recently tried the Focal Twin 6 Be powered monitors at his Delaware mixing studio and has now made them his number one choice. Having mixed a host of platinum-selling albums for artists such as Jason Mraz, Josh Kelly and Lifehouse, as well as John Mayer, who won a 2003 Grammy for his album “Room for Squares” which he mixed, Juliano has a great ear for sound, but was ready for the change.
“I’ve been going through so many speakers in my time mixing, I was an NS10 guy for so many years, and started to believe that was the only speaker in the world that mattered. The Focal Twin 6 Be monitors are the best that I’ve used in terms of studio-to-consumer listening translation for car stereos, clock radios — iPod ear buds, you name it. They really translate: what I hear in the studio is what the outside world hears, in my experience. When I go to the car and check a mix, it’s what I hear in the studio. That’s the end-all, that’s what matters,” stated Juliano.
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.”
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