What mixing and mastering engineers really do is serve music !
Whether Stereo or Atmos setups, Amphion provides a natural, musical, accurate sounding picture
Beijing, China – China – one of the world’s largest music industries – is now the second-largest digital market. It’s music market is also the single-fastest growing market in the world re: sales and recording. Output from the nation’s stereo, surround, broadcast, and now spatial audio studios is enormous. Feature-report is on the multi-room facility 2496 Studio, which is positioned in the cultural centre of the country (Beijing), delivering across many production formats in addition to tracking, mixing, and mastering work. Catering for small to very large ensembles across its 12 rooms on 3 floors, it’s a most impressive operation. Our distributor, Galyet Tech Ltd, provided this special bilingual report for us …
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 ?
Our studio — 2496 Top Music — was founded in 2015 by Mr. Wang Luyao (王路遙), who also is the head engineer. After the fourth moved in July last year, the studios now are sitting in just outside of Eastern 5th Ring Road of Beijing, China, surrounded by beautiful parks which provided a good vibe of music production works every day. Being the one of the busiest commercial studios in China, apart from music recording, mixing and mastering, basically we have involved with all type of projects which comes with audio. Such as live sound, live stream (concert), sound design, film mixing, TV series, commercial ads, composing, arranging, etc. With all high-end microphones, pre-amps, converters, mixers, outboard gears, speakers along with well-treated room acoustics, we are aiming to provide the best result and the best experience for the clients in any case.
我们的录⾳棚——2496 Top Music由王路遙先⽣于2015年成⽴，他也是录⾳棚的⾸席⼯程师。经过去年七⽉份的第四次搬家，现在录⾳棚位于中国北京东五环外，四周被公园环绕以提供每⽇⾳乐制作⼯作舒适的环境。作为中国最繁忙的商业录⾳棚之⼀，除了⾳乐录⾳、混⾳、母带，基本上我们参与了所有有关⾳频的项⽬，例如现场、直播（⾳乐会）、声⾳设计、电影混录、电视剧、⼴告、作曲、编曲等等。拥有⾼端的话筒、话放、转换器、调⾳台、周边设备、喇叭和优良设计的声学环境，是我们为了提供最好的作品和消费体验给到客户。
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 ?
There are 12 rooms in this three-floor facility. On first floor, the largest live room we have (Live A) is normally used for strings, band recording, and live-stream concert, along with a control/mixing room (Control A); On the second floor, two medium-sized live rooms (Live B & C), two various-size control rooms (Control B & C), and a makeup room for artists; On the third floor, there is a small live room (vocal booth), one music production suite, one large mixing room (Mix A), a small mixing room (Mix B), and an office. For high-end quality and convenience, all studios are equipped one or more Ravenna/AES67 based interface so that each studio can easily exchange audio information via AOIP to each other, as well as follow one grand master clock (GMC) via PTP – and also, it’s easy to record different rooms simultaneously.
We have different setups for Amphion units in our two major mixing room, Control A and Mix A. We mainly use wall-mounted mid-field monitors as main speakers — PMC MB2S and Reflexion Arts RA239 with custom subwoofer respectively. As for Amphion, we’ve built a Dolby Atmos system with Amphion speakers in Mix A, and a pair of One18 sits in Control A as the near-field monitor. We now have 11 people in our team – 6 of them are regular engineers. Most of the engineers are capable of not only studio recording, but also other job types in live sound, music production, and post-production.
在这座三层楼的设施拥有12间房间。在⼀楼，由通常作为录弦乐和乐队或直播的最⼤录⾳室（Live A），配备⼀间控制/混⾳室（Control A）；在⼆楼，由两间中型录⾳室（Live B & C）和两间不同规格的控制室（Control B & C）组成，同时⼀间提供给艺⼈化妆和休息的化妆间；在三楼，拥有⼀间⼩的录⾳室（Vocal Booth）、⼀间编曲室、 ⼀间⼤混⾳室（Mix A）、⼀间⼩混⾳室（Mix B）和办公室。为了保证⾼质量⾳质和便捷性，所有棚均配有⼀台或多台具有Ravenna/AES67协议的声卡，以便于每间室都可以通过AOIP进⾏信号交互，通过PTP轻⽽易举地追⼀个Grand Master Clock（GMC）时钟，同时便于多棚同期录 ⾳。我们在两个主要的混⾳室（Mix A和Control A）均配有Amphion设备作不同使⽤。我们使⽤的主监听⾳箱均为中场嵌⼊式⾳箱，分别为PMC MB2S（Control A）和Reflexion Arts RA239+定制低⾳喇叭（Mix A）。⽽Amphion，我们在Mix A使⽤Amphion喇叭建⽴的Dolby Atmos监听系统，在Control A则使⽤⼀对One18作为近场监听。
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 we’ve worked with: Jackie Chan (成龙), Buyi Mao (⽑不易), Steve Chou (周传雄), Angela Chang (张韶涵), Kim Ji-Mun (⾦志⽂), Na Ying (那英), Charlie Zhou (周深), Huang Xiaoming (黄晓明), Jeff Chang Shin-Che (张信哲), Cannon Hu (胡海泉), Sitar Tan (谭维维), Layre Shang (尚雯婕), Escape Plan (逃跑计划), etc. As mentioned before, the founder, boss, and head engineer, Luyer Wang Luyao (王路遙) has been working in the music industry for over 20 years – making him a well-known audio engineer in China. He mainly focuses on mixing and mastering C-pop music.
如前⽂提及，2496创始⼈、⽼板、⾸席⼯程师王路遙从事⾳乐⾏业15余年，成为国内知名⾳频⼯程师。他主要⼯ 作为华语流⾏⾳乐混⾳和母带制作。
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 ?
There is difference among the clients – many variables. Our common approach, after receiving the stems, is to listen to the them and comprehend thoroughly what the producer wants to express. In our experience, a misunderstanding could lead the mix into a total different direction. Plus, the pace of the record industry is incredible fast these days. We might mix two or more songs in a day so mastering is usually done in the very first mix. Like we said, if we misjudge the song, that would impact our mixing as well as mastering. So we consider that understanding the song and producer is the most important thing.
众多客户各有不同，所以要视情况⽽论。通常，在收到分轨后，我们会仔细听和全⾯分析制作⼈/编曲想表达什么。在我们的经验⾥，⼀个理解的错误会导致混⾳⾛向⼀条完全不同的路径。加上，现在唱⽚⾏业的⼯作节奏⾮常之快。我们可能会⼀天内混两只三⾸歌曲，所以从⼀般混⾳就把母带都做了。如我们所说，如果我们判断错误的话，会影响整⾸歌的混⾳和母带。所以我们认为理解⼀⾸歌和制作⼈意图是最重要的。
5. 2496 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 ?
What mixing and mastering engineers really do is to serve music. In order to do so, we would need an acoustically well-treated room and a good monitor system. Amphion speakers do the job well. No matter our near-field or atmos setups, both provide a natural, musical, accurate sounding picture so that we could mix client’s music in a creative way. Especially for immersive mixing, Amphion is the right choice because we can hear more subtle details which always bring more audible stimulation to the listeners.
混⾳师和母带师的⼯作是服务⾳乐。为了如此，我们需要⼀间声学优良的房间和优秀的监听系统。Amphion做到了。⽆论是我们的近场监听还是全景声，都提供了⾃然带有⾳乐性的声⾳和准确的声场，以⾄于我们可以更有创作性地混⾳。特别是全景声混⾳，Amphion是正确的选择。因为我们可以听到更多微⼩的细节，⽽这些细节往往带给听众更多的听感刺激。
For more information on Immersive Audio: Beautifully immersive | Amphion
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