Genelec Monitors Help XM Productions/Effanel Music Honor Americas Heroes
(GENELEC | Posted 2007-05-08)
When John Mellancamp and his band performed for a gathering of U.S. servicemen and women at Walter Reed Army Medical Center on April 27, 2007, the 5.1 surround broadcast of the event on high-definition network HDNet let America be right there with them. And to insure the highest quality audio, renowned remote recording specialists XM Productions/Effanel Music chose Genelec DSP Series Active Monitors with AutoCal. The Genelec DSP models chosen for the OSR high-end audio recording truck were three 8250A speakers for the L-C-R array, a pair of 8240A speakers for the left and right surrounds, and the 7260A subwoofer for LFE and bass management reproduction, providing the broadcast event with an incredibly accurate surround sound field.
The event, held before an intimate assembly of about 200 U.S. service personnel and their families, was broadcast completely in high-definition audio and video. The audio was mixed by GRAMMY® Award winning veteran 5.1 music mixers John Harris and Joel Singer. A digitally controlled 64-channel output preamp converted signal at the stage was sent as MADI via fiber-optic snake to the OSR truck, where it was distributed to the digital mixing console and to two Digidesign Pro Tools® systems, one for primary recording, the second for back-up. From there it went to the HDNet truck for uplink where the high-resolution signal remained completely digital. Engineers agreed it takes a very special monitoring system to be able to accurately portray a discrete surround soundscape of such a pristine signal, and only the Genelec 8200 Series was up to it. "Other systems on the market contend they have adaptive DSP calibration capability that can adjust to various listening environments, but compared to the Genelec 8200 Series, they simply fail," says Joel Singer, Lead Engineer on the project. "Other systems will look for a room node and then adjust the entire system for it; the Genelec 8200 Series speakers and the 7200 series subwoofers have four notch filters on each speaker that can look across the bands, find the nuances in each aspect of the spectrum, and adapt each speaker individually. That is the definition of a highly adaptive system."
The Genelec 8200 Series Bi-Amplified Monitors employ the company's proprietary DSP (Digital Signal Processing), GLMTM (Genelec Loudspeaker Manager software) and AutoCalTM (Automated Calibration software) technologies, which together create a self-calibrating monitoring solution that both guarantees accurate audio and ensures a steady-paced workflow. Long-time Genelec users XM Productions/Effanel Music experienced the Genelec 8200 Series DSP monitoring system when they used it on the surround of the 49th Annual GRAMMY Awards telecast earlier this year, where it performed in stellar fashion. "We found the Genelec 8200 Series system to be a brilliant system that could adapt itself between various environments on the GRAMMY broadcast," says Singer. "Genelec delivered for us then and it delivered for us yet again at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center event. With the ability to utilize DSP to adapt the surround speaker field you feel comfortable knowing your monitoring is spot on."
