SBMS Studio trusts Amphion monitoring from stereo to immersive

A multi-studio facility’s need to deliver all genres – from C-POP to NEO-SOUL and HIP-HOP.

Beijing, China – The only word to describe the music industry in the Greater China region is “immense” – incorporating mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. And it is immense in all directions – production values, studio technologies, artistry, output, and sales. Amphion is fortunate to have a very proactive distributor in the region – Galyet Tech Ltd – who has an impressive network in the recording studio world. The feature story below focuses on SBMS Studio in Beijing, which has a wide array of Amphion units in two stereo studios and a dedicated spatial audio room. Whether C-Pop (and its subgenres Cantopop, Hokkien pop, or Mandopop) through to Hip-hop, this studio handles many of the mega-stars in the industry …

Impressive Atmos room equipped with Amphion’s immersive solution

1.  Can you tell us something about its history/location and the types of recording/mixing/mastering work your Studio does ? eg. music genres, film soundtracks, animation, games ? 

The music label Speedbumps Music was founded in 2018. Our main business content is the production of records, production of TV music programs, and of course, the production of some OST of movies, TV series, and commercial songs. (Including Composing, Lyrics, Arranging, Recording, Mixing, Mastering). 

2.  General overview of its various rooms, facilities and gear – including the Amphion units it is equipped with, as well as how large a staff team ? 

Our label has two recording studios on the first floor, three arrangement rooms and one mixing room on the third floor (stereo and Dolby Atoms sound mixing). We chose a pair of Amphion Two18’s and a pair of One18s for our control room. The mixing room has an Atmos system built with Amphion Two18s, One18s, One15s, and Amphion bass extension system. Our team has two senior producers, three in-house arrangers, three recording-mixing engineers, and several songwriters. Our team is able to complete the entire process from songwriting through to song production. 

Zhao Jing, Mixing engineer & Co-founder of SBMS

3.  Share with us the profile of some of the “name” artists (notable Hits recorded) who have recorded there, as well as a little on the background of the engineers. 

Artists who have cooperated with us in recording and mixing include Jackie Chan(成龙), Faye Wong(王菲), Na Ying(那英), Han Hong(韩红), Xue Zhiqian(薛之谦),Chris Lee(李宇春), Hua Chenyu(华晨宇), Hebe Tien(田馥甄), Yoga Lin(林宥嘉) and many other first-line singers or idols in the Mandarin pop music scene. Their songs have over 100 million streaming hits.

4. Workflow Approach – Is there a standard model the studio uses for working with clients ? Or is each artist or band project “unique” with its own demands ?  

In terms of workflow, we have a relatively basic process, but according to different producers and artists, there will still be slightly different settings. Because uniqueness is also important to music today. For equipment, we choose the “right” gear, not the most expensive gear. 

5. SBMS Studio + Amphions – Can they describe a recent project/s where they felt Amphion made a clear difference in the result ie. the merits and performance of the speakers ? 

In 2018, I worked with Amphion speakers for the first time. In the past few years, I have used other Finnish, German, and American speaker brands, and they all have their own characteristics. But the biggest reason why I have switched to Amphion is that it has very high clarity, and my ears don’t get tired easily. After I paired it with the BaseOne25, the low frequency dives deeper, is more relaxed. The overall sound is very musical and natural. We work in a variety of music genres, including POP, R&B, FOLKS, EDM, OST, and even NEO-SOUL and HIP-HOP, so Amphion feels like it can handle all types of music well. I can’t answer you which project reflects the advantages of Amphion. It may be that every successful project can be credited to Amphion. 

Multiple production rooms are equipped with Amphion One18 & Two18

6. Any additional comments on our gear they would like to make eg. how did they discover our brand etc ? 

I think Amphion speakers are a good product for me, and I also recommend this brand to many musicians and friends for work or listening to music. At present, the products are purely analog systems, which may require the support of more new technologies in the future. For example, Amphion may consider using digital control systems or high-fidelity wireless transmission systems, which may be very exciting. But it is already doing a great job with its current products – which the most important thing for a brand like Amphion, -and anything else would only be an additional item. 

For more information on Amphion Immersive solutions: Beautifully immersive
For more information about Galyet Tech: https://www.galyet.com