NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE: Twenty years ago, "Brothers In Arms" by Dire Straits quickly proved to be a seminal rock album, not only for its unique artistic vision, but also, because it contributed mightily in launching the compact disc (CD) format to mainstream audiences. That milestone endeavor is still having significant impact, with noted recording engineer, Chuck Ainlay recently receiving a 48th Annual Grammy Award for "Best Surround Sound Album" for his remix work on "Brothers In Arms - 20th Anniversary Edition." Ainlay was also co-producer of the album with Dire Straits leader, Mark Knopfler, while Bob Ludwig provided mastering engineering. Monitors from ATC Loudspeakers played a key role in the project, according to Ainlay. The high-resolution surround sound engineering work, using original engineer, Neil Dorfsman's tracks, was painstakingly done at Knopfler's new British Grove Studios in London, that is equipped with ATC monitors in a 5.1 configuration. Specifically, the full-range models are ATC SCM300ASL (300A) mounted in standard left-center-right configuration, with two more 300As on a unique track system for surround. Dual ATC SCM0.1/15ASL PRO (Sub 1/15) subwoofers alongside the left and right mains provide the LFE monitoring. Ainlay utilizes ATC 300A's at his own BackStage Studios at Soundstage in Nashville, where he regularly does critically acclaimed engineering work for a host of artists. Knopfler had been impressed with the ATC sound quality at Backstage, and after evaluating the monitors further at the studio of David Gilmore (Pink Floyd), he chose them for British Grove. "It's a total showcase studio, probably the best I've ever worked in," Ainlay says of British Grove. "And the ATCs are absolutely fabulous there. When we went to master, Bob (Ludwig) told me, 'that room must be just right,' because there wasn't a lot to adjust in the mastering process. The obvious conclusion is that the reference provided by the room and monitors is correct." The innovative idea to track-mount rear surround 300As came after a discussion between Knopfler and Ainlay about lack of a real standard for their location in the horizontal plane. Film mix engineers tend to prefer them at 100 or so degrees, while many recording mix engineers tend to want them far wider, up to 135 degrees or so from center. "We thought there ought to be a way to offer a flexible solution, where every engineer who uses the room can set the rear monitors wherever they prefer," Ainlay said. "The result was to mount them on a track that allows them to be easily moved wider or narrower, from about 100 degrees to 145 degrees, with basically a push of a finger, letting the engineer put them exactly where they want without changing the distance to the listening location. It's really cool." The 300A is a three-way, self-powered tri-amplified system with dual custom SL 15-inch cone woofers, a single 3-inch custom SL dome that is wave guide loaded, and a 1.3-inch dome tweeter that's also wave guide loaded. The Sub1/15 self-powered subwoofer includes the largest of the SL driver options (15 inches). "A reference loudspeaker is supposed to allow the engineer to make accurate judgment calls and not get in the way, and the 300As do that very, very well," Ainlay says. "The resolution is super high, and there are no horns involved so there is virtually no distortion. The response is so flat that they don't require EQ. Put them in a good room, mount them properly, and nothing else needs to be done. "They're also accurate throughout the frequency spectrum, especially in the mid-range," he continues. "This is crucial because it's where most of an engineer's determinations about gain are made. And, the most important element in any pop record is the vocal, putting extra focus on the need for a highly accurate mid-range. "The other thing is that these loudspeakers work very well at low to moderate levels, but if you need to turn them up for things like 'hyping the client,' they'll go as loud as you want them to without any characteristics changing." Ainlay has served as the engineer on several of Knopfler's solo projects, as well as the more recent albums by Dire Straits. For "Brothers In Arms - 20th Anniversary Edition," remixed for both DVD-Audio and SACD formats, he started with Dorfsman's original master tapes, which were recorded on a Sony 332416-bit DASH machine, the first iteration of Sony digital multi-track that only supported 24 tracks. "Some of the original recordings were spread over a bunch of different tapes that we first had to locate," he explains. "We transferred up to 120 tracks per song from the master multi-tracks, slave multi-tracks and even some of the 'safeties,' to arrive at all the assets necessary to mix the album." In a nutshell on this project, Ainlay used the latest model Sony DASH unit, the 3348HR, as well as a Studer 800 analog machine to feed discrete multi-track outputs to transfer into the digital audio workstation, using AMD dual Opteron processors and Apogee 16x A-Ds for the converters. Everything was saved to hard disc using the latest version of Steinberg Nuendo software at 96kHz, 24-bit. Mixing was done on a Neve 88R console, with tracks individually bused from Nuendo directly to the console. In addition, a five-channel surround effects mix in Nuendo was also brought into the console and an SSL compressor was put across the mix bus for overall compression. From there, Ainlay plied his talents to transform the tracks into a stunning surround presentation before handing them off to Ludwig for final mastering. "I was extremely happy to have the ATC loudspeakers at the head of all of this great studio technology," Ainlay concludes. "They really make a difference, no matter what format you're working with." Note that "Brothers In Arms - 20th Anniversary Edition" is available in the U.S from Warner Brothers, and throughout the world on Mercury Records. ATC Loudspeakers were also used on other 48th Annual Grammy Award-winning projects, including: BEST HISTORICAL ALBUM: "The Complete Library Of Congress Recordings By Alan Lomax" Jeffrey Greenberg & Anna Lomax Wood, compilation producers; Adam Ayan & Steve Rosenthal, mastering engineers (Jelly Roll Morton) LABEL: Rounder Records (ATC SCM20ASL PRO and SCM200ASL) BEST CLASSICAL ALBUM, BEST CHORAL PERFORMANCE, AND BEST CLASSICAL CONTEMPORARY COMPOSITION: "Bolcom: Songs Of Innocence And Of Experience" William Bolcom (Leonard Slatkin) LABEL: Naxos (ATC SCM50ASL, SCM100ASL and SCM20ASL) BEST CLASSICAL CROSSOVER ALBUM: "4 + Four" Turtle Island String Quartet & Ying Quartet LABEL: Telarc (ATC SCM20ASL, SCM150ASL) |
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