Nashville, TN: Recently, students of Nashville's prestigious Blackbird Academy (along with Instructor and Co-Director of Education Mark Rubel) attended an exclusive event at Blue Grotto Sound focusing on studio monitoring hosted by Carl Tatz of Carl Tatz Design LLC, the TEC Award-winning studio designer and monitoring visionary and creator of the acclaimed PhantomFocus™ System (PFS™).
The event was split into two segments, the first being a lecture demonstrating little known problems and solutions of studio near-field monitoring, and the second for the attendees to personally experience Carl Tatz Design's PhantomFocus System in the Blue Grotto control room.
The two segments were carefully coordinated into multiple small groups so that each of the students would have an ample amount of time to be exposed to the PhantomFocus System. Rubel comments, "Carl gave an interesting and in-depth presentation on a variety of acoustical design topics relative to studio monitoring, followed by the opportunity for the students to bask in the brilliant sound of the PhantomFocus System in the Blue Grotto control room. They talked about it for days after. Thank you Carl!"
"It's very gratifying to be able to share this unique experienced-based knowledge with the students who can put some of its elements to use, with or without the PFS," comments Tatz. "Mark Rubel is a born teacher, and his knowledge of music, paired with his recording chops and overall passion for his job, makes him the type of instructor that can change a receptive student's life. He knew instantly upon hearing the PFS that the Blackbird Academy students needed to experience this unprecedented mix tool for themselves in person, because words in a classroom could never begin to give the full picture."
States Blackbird Academy student Brandon Schnierer, "Carl's brilliantly simple explanation of his PhantomFocus System makes sense on paper, but the proof is in your ears: articulate, extended and balanced. The PhantomFocus System is like prescription lenses for your ears."
As well, artist/producer and engineering student Jeff Todd (who also performs as rock artist Meadows Fortune) explains, "The PhantomFocus System is easily the best listening experience that I have had in any control room. The stereo imaging is phenomenal, and it honestly feels like a live band is at your fingertips! It brings music back to life."
Photo File 1: BlackbirdAcademy_Photo1.JPG
Photo Caption 1: A Blackbird Academy student experiences the PhantomFocus™ System (PFS) while instructor Mark Rubel explains PFS frequency graphs to the other students waiting for their turns in the PFS sweet spot in the Blue Grotto control room.
Photo File 2: BlackbirdAcademy_Photo2.JPG
Photo Caption 2: Carl Tatz (to right of projection screen) reviews his previously designed control rooms to the Blackbird Academy students with Co-Director of Education and Instructor Mark Rubel (against wall) looking on in the Blue Grotto's tracking room, enhanced with Carl Tatz Signature Series™ acoustic modules by Auralex®.
Photo File 3: BlackbirdAcademy_Photo3.JPG
Photo Caption 3: Pictured L-R: Blackbird Academy co-director and instructor Mark Rubel, studio designer Carl Tatz, and engineers/producers and Blue Grotto owners Sean and Anelda Spence, in front of the control room's custom CTD Acoustic Lens™.
Photo File 4: BlackbirdAcademy_Photo4.JPG
Photo Caption 4: Carl Tatz demonstrates the monitor floor bounce effect to Blackbird Academy students in the Blue Grotto's tracking room, enhanced with Carl Tatz Signature Series™ acoustic modules by Auralex®.
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Photo Caption 5: Carl Tatz fields Blackbird Academy students’ questions during an event in the Blue Grotto's award-winning tracking room, featuring the Carl Tatz Signature Series™ acoustics modules by Auralex®.
Photo File 6: PhantomFocus_Brochure.PDF
About Carl Tatz Design
Carl Tatz Design (CTD) is an award winning studio design firm offering design and consulting services to homeowners and entertainment industry professionals in areas of: Recording Studios, Monitor Systems, Home Screening Rooms, Dedicated Listening Rooms, Acoustic Analysis, Tuning, and Sound Isolation. Carl Tatz is also the inventor of the industry acclaimed proprietary PhantomFocus™ System (PFS™) monitor tuning protocol. CTD’s many resources combine knowledge, experience and expertise in sound, picture and design to serve its clients worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.carltatzdesign.com.
About the PhantomFocus™ System
Carl Tatz Design’s proprietary PhantomFocus™ System monitor tuning protocol offers clients a unique opportunity to have a truly world-class monitoring experience in their room, no matter how modest. All speakers interact with the room they’re in, and the PhantomFocus System allows any monitors to perform at maximum accuracy - in any room - with a full 20Hz-to-20KHz frequency response and pinpoint imaging in what some owners have described as a “holographic sweet spot.” It is a new level of sonic accuracy that engenders easier, better and faster mixing that translates well in any environment.
There are approximately fifty steps in the proprietary PhantomFocus System implementation protocol, including phase alignment, system damping, speaker decoupling and isolation mounting, careful assessment of engineer/speaker placement relative to primary axial room modes, proprietary laser-calibrated speaker distancing and angle alignments, digitally-controlled crossover points and slopes for pass filtering, and, proprietary, multiband parametric equalization.
Hardware solutions can include monitor stands, concrete, Sorbothane™ and other isolation and damping materials, custom floating plenum mounts, subwoofer systems and custom digital processors. The PhantomFocus System evaluation and implementation is a full two-day process and can be applied to near-fields, mid-fields, and large soffit mounted monitors, regardless of manufacturer.
Carl Tatz Design installs the PhantomFocus System in existing control rooms and in all studios that are designed and built from the ground up by CTD. The result is like the aural equivalent of HD TV. Once you experience a PhantomFocus System, you can’t go back.
About the Carl Tatz Signature Series™ by Auralex
The Carl Tatz Signature Series™ by Auralex® family of control room acoustic modules (now featured in a dedicated section on the Auralex website), emulates the look and acoustics of Carl Tatz's custom designs at a fraction of the cost.
When paired with the acclaimed PhantomFocus System, it becomes the CTD MixRoom™, the sonic performance of which is unrivaled anywhere, defining a new standard for the audio professional. The MixRoom can quickly and affordably transform a simple rectangular room into a world-class mixing environment without peer.
"We're honored to work with Carl Tatz, one of the top studio designers in the industry, on this exciting new Auralex offering. This new series makes Carl's signature style easy and affordable enough for any serious studio owner. Now virtually any room can benefit from the same aesthetic and sound control enjoyed by top hitmakers like Rascal Flatts and others," says Eric Smith, founder and president of Auralex Acoustics.
For more information about the PhantomFocus Monitor System, please contact Carl Tatz Design, 6666 Brookmont Terrace, Suite #1109, Nashville, TN 37205 Office: 615.354.6242, Direct: 615.400.5479 Email: carl@carltatzdesign.com Web: www.carltatzdesign.com |