Film score mixer/record producer Steve Kempster recently purchased a LCR set of ATC SCM100s and an SCM0.1/15 Pro subwoofer for his "studio on wheels." HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA: By the long list of films that scoring mixer/record producer Steve Kempster has worked on, it's clear that life is good! Recently, the ever-busy Kempster has been a big part of upcoming movies like: Miramax's "Ghost Soldiers," Morgan Creek's "Exorcist: The Beginning," and John Water's Indie film, "Dirty Shame." Currently running films Kempster has mixed include: Disney's "Brother Bear" and "The Haunted Mansion" and more recently "Mean Girls" and "New York Minute." Past movies Kempster has worked on include "Bad Boys II," "Austin Powers Goldmember," "Remember The Titans," "Maid In Manhattan," "Armageddon," and "Training Day." Kempster also recently finished producing new songs for the rock band Sky Farm. Steve Kempster's diverse work as a recording engineer, film score mixer, and record producer led him on a quest to find a great mid-field monitor system that would sound great for his film scoring dates, his commercial sessions and also for his record production work. Kempster explains: "For my work I'm a studio on wheels. My racks of gear and I are in a different room from project to project. My dream was a system that could handle a lot of gain with loads of headroom and could still survive the abuse loudspeakers take during a tracking date. I needed something that was tough and great sounding. The design and idea behind the ATCs is that they are the gold standard. I can depend on them in any situation." After many auditions, trials and extensive consultations with a number of manufacturers, he purchased an LCR set of ATC SCM100ASL Pro and an SCM0.1/15 Pro subwoofer. The proof is in the pudding goes the adage, and Kempster continues with: "I produced Sky Farm, mixed three films and a number of commercials all on the ATCs and everything has translated beautifully. So my confidence level is extremely high! With the 100s I find the imaging is breathtaking. The soundfield is so defined and exactly the way it is on the sound stage. I also find the 'sweet spot' is wide both vertically and horizontally making it great for my clients and artists to also enjoy the sound equally over a fairly wide area. These speakers somehow maintain the same relationship between low, mid and high frequencies at all volumes better than any speaker I've worked on. If I was mixing a record, the vocal sound, characteristic and position in the mix stays exactly the same - dead on from quiet to earthshaking room volumes." Another big consideration is the transition from film work to record work. There is a big jump for monitoring because most film score mixing is done through the X Curve - a deliberate roll-off of high frequencies (in the monitor path) to simulate the speaker playback systems in movie theatres. Kempster says: "What ATC is doing now is developing and building multi-stage X Curve filters for my 100s. Being able to accommodate this change for me, and build a filter to the high standards of ATC, was a significant reason for me to go with them." Kempster also served up kudos concerning ATC's subwoofer design. "Traditionally, ATC's subs had stereo inputs which didn't take into account the LCR world. So now they've modified the inputs to work both as stereo and LCR. This gives me the extension on my 100s for stereo music tracks while I use other subs for the LFE channel. I also like the new gain control on the sub. I use this to 'dial in and better couple' the sub in whatever room I happen to work in." Mixing for film, with much its bigger dynamic range, a speaker's ability to exhibit detail and resolution are tested. Kempster finds that: "In film work, what's important is the basic resolution of the speaker. How well are you hearing detail? I find the resolution of the ATCs as good as I've ever heard. I can track the detail of the foreground information and still hear the quality of the ambient decay. This is crucial to what I do, but even more important is that the ATCs are so damn much fun to listen to!" ATC hand builds one of the most accurate professional reference loudspeakers in the world. They are committed to the advantages of active loudspeaker technology in which drive units, cabinets, electronic crossovers and power amplifiers are all conceived as a complete solution to the reproduction of source material with a degree of accuracy that a "component" system can never match. |
Las Vegas Pro Audio 7340 Smoke Ranch Road Suite A Las Vegas, NV 89128 Phone: 702.307.2700 sales@lasvegasproaudio.com  |