Cutting-edge Distillery II studio goes spacey with Martin Audio

Designed for artists, creators and production teams, the new space Distiller Music dispone de los equipos CDD-Live 8 of Martin Audio, that complement the Torus PA equipment providing a mix of immersive playback.

Since moving his high-tech studio in Bath, closer to bristol, Distiller Music has taken the opportunity to develop a spatial environment with the legacy of the Martin Audio speakers. The former Distillery I space has given way to the new and improved Distillery II, offering a fully equipped and adaptable testing environment, recording, acting and production. Y, To provide this avant-garde environment, it has been equipped with the equipment CDD-Live 8 by Martin Audio, who join the existing PA team in the first studio, Torus, processed through a spatial system Airsound.

In its last 'incarnation', the studio has chosen to make the facility commercially available for use by recording producers, movies, music videos and content, having previously been for private recording use only, no live installations.

Those responsible for the project have been Sam Cunningham y Dave Roden, also long-time Stereophonics monitor and front-of-house engineers, and therefore, They have already invested heavily in Martin Audio technology, whose equipment has been provided Solotech.

They were the ones who originally specified Torus several years ago - with four boxes Torus T1215 (15°) for each wing of the stage-, along with four subwoofers cardioides SXC118 and four XE300 wedge monitors. And iKON process control amplifier rack -three iK42 and one iK81- recently updated with Dante cards.

However, once in contact with Airsound, Cunningham set up a live room demo, using existing CDD10s that were built into their meeting rooms, along with some CDD8, using Airsound Dipole technology in the back of the room, to evaluate the impact of an immersive object-based environment.

“We added these speakers to the room, on high and low structures, to create an immersive system that respected the main L/R distribution of the existing Torus system in the room”, explica Cunningham. “The Airsound software takes a Atmos mix and allows you to determine the location of the speakers”.

After being impressed with Torus' constant curvature technology and value engineering, which according to Cunningham was perfect for a room of just under 20 meters deep, they knew that the CDD-LIVE 8 would be the most appropriate complement.

The team already knew the qualities of CDD-LIVE 8, since Roden uses it as live near field monitors.

Once the proof of concept is established, Six of these powered speakers were purchased to create a system that works with the Dante network. “There are network connections throughout the room, so it was clear to me that a Dante solution was the ideal solution”, afirma Cunningham.

A single CDD-LIVE 8 It is mounted towards the front on each side of the room, junto al sistema principal Torus izquierdo/derecho. En la parte trasera de la sala, sobre la estructura de media altura, se encuentran tres CDD-LIVE 8 further (uno central y dos laterales), que utilizan el dipolo para dirigir y crear la imagen trasera. Latest, situado en la parte superior, gestiona el elemento de altura trasero.

“El funcionamiento de la decodificación por software permite colocarlos en cualquier lugar”, points out Phil Parsons, ingeniero de estudio de Distillery II con amplia experiencia.

Al explicar la ciencia, Sam Cunningham afirma: “El software Airsound básicamente toma una mezcla Atmos y le permite determinar la ubicación de los altavoces, haciéndote creer que estás escuchando un sistema Atmos. Transforms an already awesome-sounding left/right system into something completely different. In fact, “Everything works surprisingly well”.

After specifying all elements of the live system, Cunningham y Roden, in collaboration with Phil Parsons, installed a comprehensive backbone network that included network, optics and power to make it a very diverse space, with a large concert hall. In live mode, a modular scenario can be incorporated 1,2 metros, while the portable sound system can be relocated from the rear wall to 6 m inside the room.

“Due to their remote location I was unable to connect them to the speakers, but I have a network everywhere, so for me it was obvious to use active speakers that can be easily moved and, therefore, use for anything”, concludes Cunningham.

Summarizing the configuration, Phil Parsons adds: “It really exceeded expectations.”. People used to mixing in Atmos came and were amazed. It immerses us in an immersive listening experience and is incredibly impressive. There are few places like this, and definitely none that incorporates Airsound, so having it in a system of this scale is something unique”.