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ATC Monitors Mix The Ring Trilogy
US
SCM20A's handle middle earth with ease 27/11/02
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ATC SCM20s make your Hobbits sound great
John Kurlander, who signed on last year to record the score
for New Line Cinema's "Lord of the Rings" motion picture trilogy, recently
completed sessions in England for the highly anticipated second part of the
Middle-earth saga, "The Two Towers." In order to maintain the consistency of
the music score throughout the entire series, Kurlander reports that very
little was changed from the scoring sessions for the initial installment,
"The Fellowship of the Ring." That includes the choice of venues for the
orchestral recordings and the choice of audio equipment, which once again
included one of Kurlander's most prized possessions, a set of portable ATC
Loudspeaker SCM20A active nearfield monitors.
The principal recording venue this time around was once again CTS in London.
The new CTS studio, a semi-permanent set-up in Watford Town Hall in the
northwest suburbs of London, utilizes much of the company's equipment from
its now defunct Wembley location. Although the studio owns ATC monitors it
was decided to use Kurlander's personal system, not only at CTS but also on
additional scoring sessions at AIR Lyndhurst and Abbey Road. "My three
monitors traveled with us wherever we went," reports Kurlander. "I just used
the sub and surrounds of whatever room we were in."
CTS owns a 5.1 ATC monitor system that includes three SCM150s for LCR, two
SCM20s for surrounds and SCM 0.1/15 subwoofers, but for the "Two Towers"
sessions, as with last year's "Fellowship" recordings, Kurlander says, it
was decided to use his portable rig. "So many people needed to be in the
control room that to conserve space we didn't install the CTS LCR system at
all. My three monitors sat on the top of the desk: we had some special
tables made for the AMS Neve Capricorn and my 20A's matched in really well
with CTS' ATC surrounds and subs.
Kurlander began his career as an assistant engineer on the Beatles' "Abbey
Road" album and worked at Abbey Road Studios for 29 years, eventually being
appointed chief balance engineer for the legendary studio and chief
classical engineer for EMI Records. Although Abbey Road favored other
monitors, observes Kurlander, who relocated to Los Angeles eight years ago,
he is a long-time fan of ATC speakers. "We'd had some ATC speakers [at Abbey
Road] and I was quite impressed. The old CTS in Wembley had them and quite a
few of the scoring stages here - Paramount and Todd AO - had them built-in."
As a result, Kurlander says he was anxious to get his hands on the active
version of the SCM20 when it was first announced. "I remember saying to [ATC
founder] Billy Woodman, as soon as they are released I'd be interested. When
I did hear the actives I was completely sold on them. I think I probably got
three of the first ones issued."
Kurlander was also concerned that directors and producers of big action
movies like "Lord of the Rings" would demand to hear the score "very big and
loud on a heavy duty system. But that hasn't turned out to be the case.
Filmmakers realized it isn't just the theatrical experience but also DVD. If
it sounds that good on a nearfield 5.1 system, and they know it is
translating well onto the dub stage then they can relate to the music and
its vital relationship with dialog and effects."
"The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" is number nine on the
all-time domestic gross list and number five worldwide. "The Lord of the
Rings: The Two Towers," the most highly anticipated release of the coming
season, according to a Box Office Report poll, opens in theaters nationwide
December 18th.
ATC's drivers are manufactured in-house to exacting tolerances and are
legendary for their many design innovations, such as the company's renowned
Soft Dome midrange driver, which achieves exceptionally broad and even
dispersion to produce a flat response anywhere in the room. Situated in
Aston Down in rural Gloucestershire, England, ATC was established in London
in 1974 by acoustics engineer and musician Bill Woodman.
Distributed by Transamerica Audio Group