NASHVILLE,
Tennessee — As befits its Nashville location, Belmont University has close ties
to the music industry—its Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business
(CEMB) is the world’s only AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of
Business)-accredited Music Business program as well as the first ABET
(Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology)-accredited Audio
Engineering Technology program. Among its numerous activities the school runs
four professional-quality recording studios on campus, the historic Quonset Hut
Studio, Ocean Way Nashville Studios—and now, the recently renovated Columbia
Studio A, equipped with HARMAN Professional’s JBL M2 Master Reference Monitors.
The
JBL M2 Master Reference Monitor is a 2-way powered large-format loudspeaker
that sets new standards for sonic accuracy and dynamic range in professional
monitoring environments. It incorporates JBL’s latest transducer and
acoustics technologies including the
newly developed D2 dual-diaphragm, dual-voice-coil compression driver, the
Image Control Waveguide, the 2216ND Differential Drive™ dual-voice-coil woofer
and numerous additional refinements to deliver exceptional studio monitor
performance with remarkable detail, full-range frequency response from
20Hz–40kHz, spatial accuracy and wide dynamic range free of power compression.
Opened
in the 1960s, the historic Columbia Studio A recorded many of music’s greatest
artists, including Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Simon and Garfunkel, George Jones,
and many more. However, by the early 1980s it had been converted into an office
space. Thanks to the efforts of Belmont University and a donation by the Mike
Curb Foundation, Columbia Studio A is making music again as a multi-purpose
space for classes in recording studio engineering and sound reinforcement. It
also hosts workshops and seminars for a variety of university activities and
organizations like the Audio Engineering Society (AES) and the US Copyright
Office.
“In
order to serve our academic requirements, Columbia Studio A features a wide
variety of recording equipment dating from the 1960s all the way to the
present, as evidenced by our purchase of the JBL M2 monitors,” said Michael
Janas, Instructor, Audio Engineering Technology and Director of Recording
Studio Operations at Belmont University. Studio A boasts an eye-popping
assortment of restored vintage and modern cutting-edge gear, all routed through
an API split-monitor console that once resided in the
RMU-2 mobile recording truck of recording pioneer, Walley Heider.
“In
restoring Columbia Studio A, one of the goals was to let students experience
the evolutionary roots and the historical and technical context of multi-track
recording studio technology as we know it today,” Janas stated. “In order for
the students and faculty to best hear and understand the aural characteristics
of this wide range of equipment, it was important to choose a modern monitoring
system that would best reproduce the sound of the source audio in our new ‘old’
studio.”
Janas
turned to the project’s acoustical consultant, Dave Rochester of Lebanon,
Tennessee’s Technical Audio Services, for advice. Rochester recommended Janas
consider the JBL M2. Janas and his team did their homework, ultimately
consulting with JBL Professional and the staff at Guitar Center Pro (GC Pro) in
Nashville. They liked what the saw and heard and in January 2014 finalized the
decision to purchase a pair of M2 monitors and a Crown I-Tech HD Series
4x3500HD amplifier to power them. The Crown amp provides four channels of
amplification for the pair of bi-amplified M2s and its internal DSP provides
the crossover and also room EQ to optimize the M2 system performance in any
room.
“The
JBL M2 is stunning in its ability to present fine detail,” Janas pointed out.
“The outstanding imaging of the speaker is by far one of my favorite attributes
of the system. The M2 not only provides a wide stereo sound field but also
depth and height. It’s made a significant impact on everyone who’s heard it.”
Designed specifically for the M2, JBL’s Image Control waveguide enables a seamless
crossover transition between the woofer and high-frequency driver while
delivering extraordinary imaging and rich musical detail to a broad area of the
room.
“The
M2 turned out to be absolutely perfect for our application. It enables students
and staff to hear everything that’s going on in the studio with exacting
detail. It reveals the sonic characteristics of every piece of gear we add or
take out of the recording chain, whether a microphone, reverb unit, EQ or other
link in the recording chain. In fact, it showed us that some of that vintage
gear is a lot better than anyone realized.”
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