Giorgio Cadamuro is a producer and eclectic live artist based in East London.
Drum
& bass and hard-techno production at raves in Italy, provide the
back-drop for the progression to his two live projects (Blind Minded and Caecus
Animi) of differing and highly distinctive sound. He fuses creativity
and spontaneity to tailor dynamic performances for each audience,
with regular collaboration with live musicians for production
and performance. He also owns a Label with the Italoboyz, Superfiction
Recordings.
Giorgio
has just upgraded his studio with new Outboard plus a pair of Focal
Trio 6BE Active Monitor Speakers. In this article we discuss how he fuses
his recording hardware with his Techno production plus he blends his hardware
into his live music production.
When you were considering new speakers, what were you looking for in terms of sound from your speaker choice?
I needed something that could deliver a deep-bass-response with clarity, and without faking what most average speakers do at very low frequencies. I also wanted a pair of speakers that could handle some high volume to please clients in the studio, that want to really “feel” the music while we are producing it.
What drew you to the Focal Trio 6BE’s?
So the Trio’s weren’t actually my first choice (!!) but they were recommended to me, and considering that the price was basically half of a pair of Barefoot, which I was obsessed with at the time, I decided to give them a shot.
It took me almost a month of testing the Barefoot 35, 45,Footprint 01 & Focal SM9 and Trio’s Be 6, although at the end I decided to go for the Trio’s based on their similar quality to the Barefoot, with the gap in price between the two not justifying the similarities in sound quality.
How are you now finding the performance of the Trio’s now that you have worked with them for a while?
Apart
from getting compliments for the finish of the speakers when clients walk into
the studio (it’s a small studio and those speakers really stand out!), I
also get the different people I work with pleased with the fact that I can
really turn up the volume and the sound quality is still great.
For
some reason lots of people that come in to produce tracks love the fact that we
can boost volume and “feel the vibe” without being restricted by the
speakers going “red” or distorting. To be honest with you I don’t tend to
boost the speakers on my own now (in the early days was just about the louder
the better LOL) and this is the beauty of the Trio’s. You can mix at Low
volume and still hear if the sub is too much or where you need to tweak
something else in the mix.
For
the size and type of production that comes into my studio it was essential
to have a pair of speakers that performed well in the low frequencies without
the use of a sub, and that are good at high and low volume, and the Trio’s
just do that very very well!
How does the Midas Venice add to your mix and production and could you elaborate on how it affects the dynamic of your synths and signals going through?
I use an analogue desk mainly because of the dynamics range I need before getting into the DAW. I had 2 consoles when we took the pictures : Soundtracs MRX 32 and a Midas Venice F32. As everyone that still works with analogue would say, each console is different and has it’s pro’s and cons, but the signal path is what is important for me.
When you pass a drum sound, vocal, digital synth or analogue sounds through it , it will add something special to the recording and mixdown process. If you are looking to push the gains a little more or just get a boost with some sort of subtle distortions, an analogue desk just does it for me over digital. The only downside to working with those analogue consoles would be during the mixing process, with not having the possibility of recalling the mix again in the exact way I have done it before. This can be problematic if you are working on multiple projects at the same time.
How do you find working with Outboard brings additional creativity and sonic quality to your recordings and production?
For the reason I have mentioned before I have just sold both desks and now use 500 series preamps to get the dynamic I need before the DAW.
In my favorite pic there is the LoopTrotter SaturAmp (the old version as the new one has worse transistors for some reason) and Shadow Hills Mono Gamma.
I have recently bought a OB-6 Synth that I love because you can save pre-sets and it delivers a great amount of sounds. But I often go back to older synths like Pro 1 and Juno 6 as you can’t beat that signature sound!
I love the moog Phaser it’s on a “send pot” on my pre-set template in the DAW as it get’s used lots, and in terms of plug ins, I keep it minimal in terms of brands. I manly use Soundtoys and Waves.
I am planning to try Slate Digital because I have heard a lot about them, but still haven’t had the time to properly work with them.
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