Dynaudio BM5A (mk II vs. III) and Oslo in the Spring

Last Spring I visited Oslo a few times, both for business and pleasure. On the groovy side, Norwegian ticket agency Bilettservice gave me a couple of tickets for Angie Stone’s tour. At the Rockefeller Music Hall in Oslo she put on an amazing night of Soul, Gospel and R’n B. Great band, amazing backing singers, and fantastic audience! Anything with Funk, Gospel or melodic Soul tends to do well in Norway.

(Angie Stone in Paris this Spring - from her Twitter)

I also had time to visit Norwegian pro audio distributor ProLyd. I used them as a supplier for education-facilities and a studio I set up in the city of Trondheim and was very happy with their services. On this visit I had the time to play around at their facilities for a few hours and had a list of speakers I wanted to do a simple comparative test on.

Dynaudio have just launched generation three of their much acclaimed BM-series and I was curious to more about the difference between the generations. Since ProLyd are huge on Dynaudio there were plenty of models to choose between. Time eventually limited my review and there is much more to be written about the new models. This blog-entry looks at the BM5A mk II & mk III. In the next post I will look at the Dynaudio BM6A mk I, the new BM12A mk III, and the Eve Audio SC408.

Introduction to the Dynaudio BM5A

The BM5A is probably one of the most popular nearfield monitors in its size, and it has been for a number of years. It is a very powerful speaker with a reasonably good sense of balance. Although it has a 7-inch woofer, the cabinet is quite small and compact for the driver-size, and there has traditionally (until the new generation) not been much bass extension to talk about. Higher bass/ low mid-range is quite abundant in the mk II though, and although it won’t let you feel the lowest lows you’ll still get a decent sense of the bass levels from the upper bass-range. For reference, the BM5A mk II frequency response goes down to 48 Hz. Though the overall balance is pretty good, in the mids they are not as revealing as for instance a pair of Adam A7X. Their strength is rather in delivering a tighter and more powerful sound. The BM5 are comfortable speakers to work with over a long period of time. Thus are my memories of working on the mk II.

For those who have read my blog before you’ll know that in my monitor-reviews I name commercial music-tracks and tell you how the monitors respond to them. From the test we’ll derive information about the relationship between the mix and its representation through the monitor. For a technical overview I encourage you to follow the links provided to the manufacturer’s web-page and read a few conventional reviews along with my own review.

Mk II vs. Mk III

BM5A mk II

BM5A mk III

Corinne BaileyRae ”I'd Like To” and ”Put Your Records On”

These mixes have plenty of lows, well-recorded instruments and beautifully layered vocals and I use them regularly as test-tracks.

To start with the mk II, I perceived it as more of a narrow and tight “radio-sound” than the mk III. The sound is more flat and less flattered than the mk III.

The mk III on the other hand sounds fuller, richer and a bit more forward. The high mids are more present and the bass extends a little deeper. The bass may be a little less defined (possibly both in level and in time), but Dynaudio’s pages say that they extend to 42 Hz, and this is a difference you clearly can hear. In spite of a fuller sound I also found the mk III a notch more fatiguing on the ear, but the difference is very subtle.

Derek Frank ”Pinball Number Count”

For this track I started with the mk III, which again gave me an impression of the ‘largest’ sound in the comparison. The track has quite a lot of horns and the mk III gave a very clear sense of both the horns and the space around them, such as the reverb. The reverbs sounded more detailed and a little less 'washy' in the mk III. I also got a good sense of what the bass was doing at any point in time.

The mk II did not appear fully as three-dimensional as the mk III. But they appeared a little more accurate all-over. Although they contain less bass extension, I felt they provided me with a little more accuracy in determining what the bass actually was doing in the mix.

Miles Davis “Freddy Freeloader”

Like I found with the previous track, the mk III has more detail in determining the impression of 'room' in the mix. Reverb comes across more clearly defined and I preferred this for listening. The mk II gave a sense of more tightness and accuracy again, which would make me prefer to mix on them in most cases.

To see if I could do anything to improve the sense of flatness and accuracy of the mk III, I turned both the high and the low eq down on the mk III’s rear dip-switches. This made them sound closer to the mk II and it also came across as less fatiguing (although it isn’t a very fatiguing speaker in the first place). After adjusting the dipswitches on the mk III, the mk II seemed like the brightest one of the two.

Martha and The Vandellas “Nowhere To Run”

This reiterated the sensation of a nice low bass extension with marginally less control over the levels in the mk III. On this track too, I'd choose mk II for mixing and mk III for listening.

Summing up:

The mk III is a bit more hi-fi like than the mk II. With the right eq-adjustments for your room, I am not sure if this would provide much difference in mix-quality at the end of the day. For recreational listening, the mk III sounds more exciting, but I found myself going back to the mk II for a slightly ‘truer’ sense of these tracks. I have always felt like I was missing some bass extension in the mk II and the mk III now provides what has previously been missing. This comes at the cost of some low-end control though. Reducing the high and low eq-shelves provide a more tidy sound from the mk III and makes it come across as more accurate and similar to the mk II. For the pure pleasure of listening this might not be the way to go.

In a radio studio or for mixing, the mk II is for me the winner, but in a scenario where the speakers are to inspire music creation (songwriting, beat-making etc.) the race is much closer. For music creation the mk III with its more impressive sound would probably be preferable to most users. For education and home-studios, both these monitors would be great tools. And finally, for the guys at the other side of the fence: home-cinema owners and hi-fi people; the mk III would be a great tool to open up and present material that is already well mixed.

Don’t get this review wrong, the differences between these speakers are not as big as it may appear. Both are very good monitors and the mk III is a solid heir to its predecessor—especially given the flexibility you get from the dipswitches and the improved extension in the low bass.

Review setup at ProLyd's listening room.

All files were played as WAV from CD, through a Lynx Hilo and an SM Pro Audio M-Patch 2.1

Big thanks to ProLyd (ProSound) in Oslo!

Three New Shouts! (pt. 2 – Music and Media)

This is thesecond round of shouts this summer. The shouts are to people I have either met, know or worked with, who are doing something in the creative industries right now worth telling the world about! Like in the last post we’ll still be talking about music, but also cover film and other media. Enjoy!

Ishani Chakravarty

 

Originally from Bangalore, India, Ishani has been flying between India, Singapore and the UK for many years. In Singapore she is one of the entrepreneurs behind high-end video-production house The SingingBush, and has been seen both in front of and behind the cameras. In London Ishani is a graduate of Music Production College Alchemea and is currently working on an EP. She just released her first music-video and the BBC Asian Network promptly named her artist of the week! In the gradual bridge-building between Eastern and Western popular music culture Ishani Chakravarty will be an artist to look out for in the time to come! Here is a recent interview with her from The Times of India, and here is the music-video:

Anaïs Mutumba

Anaïs Mutumba

Anaïs Mutumba is a freelance journalist in London. She specializes in film-reviews and has, amongst others, been writing for Showfilmfirst. The last 6 years she has been an independent film-reviewer, and regularly attends press events and viewings before new films hit the marked. Originally from Rwanda, with a strong passion for Asia, trained in Pharmaceutical Management and currently finishing her Masters in Journalism, her eclectic competence covers a wide field. She has also done training with Shine Media and Channel 4. A name to look out for in connecting viewers to films, TV-presenting and journalistic investigation. Find her at her film-blog!

Simon Strumse & Filmgrail

Simon Strumse is the head of the newly launched Norwegian company Filmgrail. I met him when he held a presentation about his company, and how to see more film online in a legal way in the future. The presentation was held at The Norwegian Industrial Property Office last spring. Filmgrail is a web-service and an app to help you search films in a brand new way. The system can be implemented in TVs and decoders, and the user-interface is remarkably simple. The search-function allows you to become acquainted with both blockbusters and less known films in a much more equal mix than usual. Filmgrail connects simple reviews to viewing-platforms to make your decision making as easy as possible when you want to see a new film. Strumse says he wants us to see more film—‘more’ refers both to variety and to quantity. The viewing-platforms Filmgrail connects you to are currently addressing mostly the Norwegian marked, but international versions are under development and can be tailored to any region. After browsing the page for only a short while I’m already a fan!

The innovative Filmgrail interface

Three Shouts! (pt. 1 - Musicians)

(Picture-source)

  

In this post I’ll give a shout out to three people I have either met or worked with recently. They are three names in the world of music well worth getting to know. The observant reader may have noticed the ‘(pt. 1)’ in the header, which indicates that there will be more of these posts coming soon!

Eddie Hick

Eddie Hick is a professional UK-based drummer. We met while visiting a small studio in Blantyre, Malawi, last December. It turned out we went to Leeds College of Music at the same time but had never met before! In a relatively short amount of time Eddie has worked with an impressive collection of well-known artists. Just to name a few, these include Mark Ronson, Alicia Keys and Tinie Tempah. Jazzwise has named him a musician to look out for and he recorded on the theme song for the London 2012 Olympics, ‘Anywhere in the World’ by Mark Ronson and Katy B. A quick browse through the long and eclectic list of artists he has played with is recommended if you are looking for a top-drawer drummer. Eddie tours, records and teaches and have worked extensively both in Europe and America. For more information or to get in touch, here is a link to his webpage.

DJ Xfuse

Last year in Malawi I programmed the music for a wedding-dinner. Making people dance is entirely another business though, since regional music scenes always have their own vibe. DJ Xfuse, who played at the late night dance, knows well what’s going on in the Malawian and regional music scenes. He and his team travel both in- and outside of Malawi to play music, and have all the necessary gear. You can find him on Facebook.

Geir Simonsen

Geir Simonsen is another top-pick drummer who has moved gradually into production. In the 90’s he was touring and recording, and in the 2000’s he led a radio station in Norway. He has collaborated with both local and international acts and has provided recording-opportunities for several up-and-coming artists. He’s been involved in the early stages for Norwegian bands like Lionheart Brothers, Silence The Foe and Marry Me Young. Over the last few years Geir has focused on developing a portfolio of local talents in his converted radio-studio. I have mentioned him in a couple of earlier post, like when I worked with him on the live-webcast for the release of singer/ songwriter An-Magritt’s album ‘Memoriam.’ This album was produced by him and has gained a fair bit of Norwegian radio-play.

Four Tube Condenser Microphones

Ever recorded a whole mix with bright condenser microphones? —and then battling treble and transients, and trying to “warm up” sounds for a week afterwards? You’re not alone!

The modern solid-state condenser’s older sibling—the tube condenser—is often associated with a smoother treble and more mid-range warmth. The number one benchmark for tube condensers have for years been the original Neumann U 47 Tube. When used up front in the mix on, lets say vocals; it tends to create a warm and pleasant nearness of the voice. When used further back in the mix on drums or layered textures it creates a less intrusive sound that fits better into the background of the mix.

In this post I’ll have a look at four tube condensers with contrasting sound. None of them will break the bank—at least not compared to a vintage Neumann!

AKG Perception 820

AKG Perception 820

€ 545 currently at thomann.de, which is below originally intended marked price.

 

A few years back AKG released the Perception series to provide a low-cost alternative to some of their pricier models. With AKG’s high build-quality and this microphone’s sensible price it has the chance to be a modern classic in the lower price-range. Sound on Sound’s Paul White compared it to a Røde K2, but with a “more assertivepresence lift.” The microphone comes complete with a shockmount and a powersupply with selectable polar patterns and switches. This would be a great all-rounder especially for vocals, acoustic guitars and percussion. If you are considering buying one of these there are some interesting media you can check out. The first one is Sound on Sound’s audio-files where you can compare the same sources recorded with both the Perception 820 and the classic AKG C12VR. The other one is the attached promo video for the Perception range. You can hear the sources in isolation and the finished track is out on iTunes together withthe rest of the album.

the t.bone SCT 2000

 

€ 279 or approx. £ 234,00 -conversion rate at the time of writing.

A brand-name that makes you think of American food? ‘the t.bone’ is German online retailer Thomann’s own range of products. This microphone also comes with a shockmount and power supply, plus a wooden box to keep it in, and a suitcase for the whole set. Ingo Vauk wrotein a review in Sound on Sound that the SCT 2000 had a clear and transparent top end and a soft mid-range “— a useful set of attributes when it came to recording a male vocal that was a little edgy in high mid-range. The sound I originally captured with a Neumann KM84 was nice enough, but needed some mid-range taken out with the EQ. When I replaced it for the SCT2000 I got the sound without the EQ, giving a more natural result.” He also mentions how double-tracking and stacking up textures worked well with this microphone.

I think we’re on the track of a poor boys’ U 47 Tube substitute here. If the characteristics Ingo Vauk describes holds true for drums it would be a very exciting microphone to use for overheads.

Pearlman TM 1

 

$ 1600 at vintageking.com

If a U 47 is what you are looking for, this is currently one of the best value-for-money options you have. The Pearlman TM1 is designed and hand-made by Dave Pearlman. Like the microphones mentioned above this one also ships with shockmount, case, power supply and all you need to get started. If you are just starting up your own home-studio, this mic probably still costs a nice little sum of money. But if the classic U 47 sound is what you are looking for, this is really the price-point where the action gets started. Here is a little more information from Tape Op Magazine and here is an interview with Dave Pearlman about the microphone.

Cathedral Pipes Regensburg Dom

$ 1800 at www.cathedralpipes.com

The New Kid on the Block! This blog post was originally going to be limited to three microphones, but I just couldn’t leave this one out! If you forgive me for getting off topic for a moment, this is probably one of the funkiest looking microphones on the marked right now.

Cathedral Pipes is quite a new brand but definitely one to be reckoned with. It is the brainchild of musician and electrical engineer Chuck Dickinson who design and manufacture these microphones in the US. The Regensburg Dom is similarly priced to the Pearlman TM 1 and is a more modern (brighter and more bite) interpretation of the classics U 47 and U 67. The Regensburg Dom also ships with shock mount, power supply, cable and case. If you are considering buying one, Cathedral Pipes have put some vocal samples on their webpage along with some impressive endorsements. In fact, if you are into classic condenser and ribbon microphones, Cathedral Pipes is a manufacturer well worth a closer look!

Here is what Tape Op Magazine wrote about the Regensburg Dom and here is an interview with Chuck Dickinson explaining the microphone range.

Epilogue

The AKG combines a classic tube-sound with a more modern presence boost. The t.bone is as classic tube sound as you’ll get on a low budget. The Peralman is a modern version of the well-proven U 47 formula at a very attractive price. Finally, the Cathedral Pipes is a mix of two historic microphones and will give you classic valve sound with modern style presence.

 

Pre-amps

When the SE Electronics 2200 Tube came out some years ago I had the chance to do a speech test through a Focusrite ISA One on it shortly after. I knew how everyone were raving on about the solid-state version of that microphone, but I never managed to fall for it. There was nothing wrong with it and I usually recorded through a Toft Audio ATB console which I quite liked, but there was never any love at first sight for me. The tube-version through the Focusrite however was a totally different story—I got the creamy Neve-ness combined with the mid-range warmth of the tube microphone. That combination was love at first sight!

If you are a project-studio owner and you have a few decent microphones but are lacking creaminess or warmth, maybe a really nice pre-amp would get you just as far as a new microphone. A good pre-amp can also add some really nice life to D.I. recordings of bass and guitar. If I plan to use a software amp-simulator I always try to record with a little extra gain through valves. You don’t need the most expensive pre-amp for D.I. recordings, but it could turn out to be the factor that takes a digital recording from flat to lifelike. For a high-quality classic valve-sound the Universal Audio 610 Solo comes well within the maximum budget of the most pricy mics above, and so does the Focusrite Isa One if you rather want to go down the solid state Neve-route. Both manufacturers offer mono, stereo and multitrack options for these pre-amps.

Another way entirely for a smooth classic sound, which I won’t be covering here, is a high-quality ribbon microphone. I have shared some thoughts on this in an earlier blog post.

A great couple of resource if you are interested in the sound of Neumann/ Telefunken U 47 are www.u47clones.com and www.u47lovers.com.

Member of the original U47 clientele.

Original U47 Tube. (Photo Credits)

Three Hot Runway Mixtapes

I just put out three runway mixtapes on Mixcloud. They were made some time back for my good friend Andreas Constantinou who is a top of the range international hair stylist. Andreas runs Zoosh International in the UK and you can check it out on this link! Andreas choreographed some amazing shows to these tapes. It was all captured on camera by the equally amazing photographer Dave Sander.


Hope these get you dancing and jumping around!

Runway Mixtape 1 (For Stylist Andreas Constantiou) - by DJ Snowdrift by Snowdrift on Mixcloud

Runway Mixtape 2 (For Stylist Andreas Constantiou) - by DJ Snowdrift by Snowdrift on Mixcloud

Runway Mixtape 3 (For Stylist Andreas Constantiou) - by DJ Snowdrift by Snowdrift on Mixcloud

Building a Studio

Last year I was commissioned to build a small educational studio for a creative arts institute in Norway. Working in an established office building and on a Spartan budget you’ll have to stretch your imagination. In this post I’ll let you in on the process, my decision-making and show you some images.

The size of the over-all space is ideal for a project-studio, song-writing suite, radio, multi-media or education-studio.

In the building where we set up the facility there were two rectangular offices available side by side. One of the ideas the building’s owner had was to use them as a live room and a control room. The idea was good enough but the long rectangular rooms would not have provided nice acoustics. Instead I chose to knock down the wall and opened up the space for two reasons: (1) to get more space around our ears when mixing, (2) and to easier accommodate a whole class for bigger projects. The separate entrance doors from the hallway to the offices proved to be sound-doors with -35 dB SPL even damping. We kept them and thus had separate entrances to the live and control rooms, but having to go through the hall outside.

After knocking down the wall we built a small live room for vocal-recording, acoustic guitars and the likes. It was constructed to be big enough to stand inside with a long scale bass guitar and still have some space between the walls. We were also looking at the idea of bringing in a vocal booth on wheels, but we didn’t have enough clearing under the roof. Another idea was to dampen down a corner of the room and use a screen around the microphones, but this obviously wouldn’t have been as effective as a separate room—albeit, it could be a good idea for a small project studio.

In the roof above the doors we had an incredibly noisy ventilation channel. To cope with the ventilation we created a small air-gap, used a thick layer of Rockwool and two layers of plaster. It was very effective in containing the noise. Since we didn’t have the space or the budget to build a room-within-the-room we insulated all the walls and covered them with plaster. The plaster that covered most of the surfaces is a perforated type. The perforations with the insulation behind helps do dampen the sound (quite similar to a Helmholtz resonator) while the plaster it self creates some reflections. This is exactly what I wanted as the room gets a nice natural sound with hardly any echoes or notable reverberation, but it doesn’t sound totally dry either. The perforated plasterboard is more costly than regular plasterboard and it had to be ordered from Denmark. But the extra cost was about the same as the extra soundproofing would have been if we were to build the walls from regular plasterboard. The sidewalls in the main studio were set up conically prevent any standing waves. They were closer together at the front than at the back, but visually it could hardly be seen. With clever design and really skilled carpenters (cred to them!) we ended up having very few parallel surfaces in the entire facility. The floors were covered with carpet tiles (on top of the existing concrete) and at the front of the studio I chose a wood floor, both to throw in some acoustic irregularity and for easier use of office chairs. Additional damping-foam was fitted only where our ears told us we needed it, which turned out to be an impressively modest sum total of 5 bass traps in the live room. The live-room walls were covered with 40 mm. tiles for suspended ceilings. We glued these on and they were acoustically very effective (and affordable). They dampen reflections but not fully as much as regular sound foam.

The doors in the original offices damped sound relatively flat at -35dB SPL. Our carpenters did three things to improve them. (1) They tightened up the locks, (2) they put in new draft-excluders and (3) they covered the inside of the door with 40 mm. tiles for suspended ceilings. The latter dampens the reflections back into the room from the door, but it did in fact help a little on the overall exclusion of sound from the hallway as well. 

In front of the workstation there were two large windows. It is off course a nice thing to get proper sunlight into the space, but I was sceptic to the prospect of having large studio monitors that close to the windows. My concern was mostly that the glass could start resonating at the low frequencies and give a false impression of bass levels in a mix. Subsequently I spent a lot of consideration whether to get monitors with front or rear bass-ports. Initially I wanted them at the front to avoid the windows, but after several rounds of good research and consultancy from the speaker distributor we ended up with a pair of speakers with rear bass-ports. The distributors monitor expert meant that since bass frequencies are not really directional, front or rear ports wouldn’t make a difference. As much as I generally agree on this I have experienced that bass ports can create “wind” quite far from the speaker cabinet at loud volumes. However, round bass ports create a sphere of air-pressure while long flat bass ports and other odd shapes spread the air-pressure out better. Since we were looking at Eve Audio’s SC 207 (flat rear ports) I was convinced enough to give it a try. Either way, the distributor said I could return the speakers if I wasn’t happy, a great offer that sealed the deal. After mounting and tuning the speakers I was more than happy with the outcome. The big windows turned out not to be a problem at all. (I have written more about the SC 207 and other Eve speakers at two other posts.)

The workstation

A normal configuration for a studio this size is often a live-end-dead-end design. In a live-end-dead-end studio it is common to have the lowest roof height and most damping at the same end of the room as where the speakers are. The studio I designed is the opposite of this for several reasons. For one I wanted the work-position to be close to the windows to get the natural lighting to flow through and we had already lowered the roof at the other end of the room due to the ventilation channel. The other reason is that I like to have some space around my ears when I mix and at the front of the room (read: where the speakers are) was really the only place left where we could have it. Due to this it was important to avoid any sharp angles at the back of the room. Where there was a difference in roof height we made a slope between the surfaces instead of a 90-degree angle (see picture below). Still, in the perforated plasterboard with Rockwool behind this didn’t really provide any undesired reflections. This way we kept the acoustics of the space very natural. The ‘strawberry on top of the cake’ was a big sofa behind the workstation. The world’s most used bass-trap! ;)
 

Odd angles and perforated plaster board.

The window to the vocal booth consists of one 6mm and one 8mm glass plate set at apart at an angle. Two different thicknesses makes it more sound-proof. The same principle goes with double walls.

If you want artists to thrive in a studio-environment you have to think about the look and feel of the space. Gear won’t be enough to make musicians feel at home. Light became a huge consideration, especially as this studio also were to double as a classroom. We had three light-sources: two big windows, two large low profile lamps in the roof above the workstation (approx. 50*50 cm.) and LED downlights at the back of the room and in the live room. For the electricians that worked on the project I had four requirements for any lights installed: (1) Lamps would have to have no acoustic noise from transformers or similar (transformers were to be placed outside the room if there were any); (2) lamps, transformers or dimmers would have to make no electronic interference (we skipped dimmers all together); (3) lamps would have to be tightly closed so no rattling noises would occur at loud bass-volumes; and (4) lamps in the tiny live-room would have to be LEDs to not fry our singers.

The entrance. The door is treated with additional 40 mm tiles for suspended ceilings. Since the shadow from the sunlight fall into the entrance space we chose to liven it up with some colour. Initially we intended photo-canvases depicting the tropics on the walls and the blue against the oak details would echo the sea and sky against sand, wood and ropework—in case you're into interior design :)

Around the workstation I had several electric circuits installed. Two of these consisted of a series of sockets with individual switches. This way the speakers could be shut down separately from other equipment. This is useful to avoid damaging speakers but it is also a pedagogical measure to teach students to avoid sending unwanted transients to the speakers. Having all the equipment powered through two switched circuits also makes it quick and easy to power up and down the studio.

Switched and separate circuits makes it easy to power up and down the studio.

Interior of the vocal booth.

Inventory list

Work Station:
iMac w extra screen
Cubase & Native Instruments Komplete
Novation Impulse 25

Steinberg MR816

(Since we built this studio the UR824 has arrived on the marked along with similar USB models for Focusrite et al.)

PreSonus Blue Tube DP V2 (set up with one channel for mic- and one for line-recording)

PreSonus Central Station PLUS
SM Pro Audio Q-Amp Headphones Amplifier

CGM Table

Monitoring:
Eve Audio SC 207
Sony Sms-1p (To provide a home stereo contrast to the SC 207s)
Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro

Instruments:

M-Audio ProKeys 88
Fender Mexican Stratocaster
Yamaha BB425X
Seagull Acoustic Guitar

A selection of microphones from AKG, Røde and Shure—covering large and small membrane condensers and dynamic microphones.

Shouts

ProLyd in Norway has been my supplier of equipment throughout the building process (which also included another studio and a class-room). I’d like to send a big shout to Cristhopher Briggs and the staff there for excellent help and advice.

I’d also like to send a shout to the guys at the contractor Primahus who actually had built a recording studio before (what are the chances!), and a shout to Rosenborg Malerteam who provided paint, flooring, colour samples and really good assistance with the look of the room. Both of these contractors went above and beyond!

A shout also goes to Audun Røstad at Ambolt Audio for letting me bounce my acoustic design ideas off of him.

Sparkling wine (non-alcoholic) for the students and staff at the official opening.