18 HEADLINER

Studio Design Jan Morel

JAN MOREL: AUDIOPHILE

“Changing your life or lifestyle is a goal you have to follow with your heart, which is kind of what I’m all about,” Jan Morel tells us. And when you look at the Dutchman’s career, you’ll understand why. Morel is one of the world’s leading recording studio designers, and in the words of Sinatra (almost): he did it his way. Currently working with the biggest names in Electronic Dance Music - David Guetta, Hardwell, Nicky Romero, and Martin Garrix, to name a few – it’s been an interesting evolution. Morel started out as a classical guitarist, then ended up selling guitars, pianos, drums... and then drum machines, samplers, speakers and consoles, moving seamlessly into the pro-audio sector. Then came the studios, but this is not design in the most conventional manner. Morel’s success is down to his relationships, and common sense; a great pair of ears helps, “but that’s only after you’ve seen the problems,” he reminds us, with a smile. We flew out to see Morel ourselves at his beautiful new HQ, an hour out of Amsterdam, to find out more about the man behind the music.

19 HEADLINER

On arrival at Morel’s stunning facility - an open plan converted barn, technology oozing out of its pores - I spy an acoustic guitar on the wall, a long table full of guests and snacks, and what seems like a fully licensed bar, complete with waitress. It’s difficult not to smile. This makes sense: he’s a gent, he’s generous, perhaps a little lavish (his car has 700 horse power), and his world is about building – and keeping – relationships. Seconds later, I’m handed champagne, quickly followed by fine red wine, and I find myself sat in the corner of the property, chatting about the décor with the man himself.

“I started out playing classical guitar – that one on the wall is brand new, but just for show,” Morel smiles, explaining that he grew up in a city with his parents working in a shop. “I was connected to selling products even in school; and I ended up in a shop selling guitars and other musical instruments – everything, really. That was when I was 17, and I worked there for eight or nine years.”

Morel did consider a life of teaching, spending a year after high school in the salubrious Utrechts Conservatorium, but he soon realised it

wasn’t for him: “I discovered I didn’t want to be a teacher,

because I loved the personal relationships with people; to advise them, and to create something, was special to me, even before I did studio design,”

Morel reflects. “I started my own shop in 1985 with classical guitars, drum kits, pianos – traditional stuff – and then the switch came when [pro-audio and MI company] Roland entered my shop and asked me to sell their synthesizers and drum computers. I thought, ‘who needs a drum computer, we have drummers, idiot!’ [laughs] But I

started to sell them, at €1,000 a go, and it was very easy, I can tell you!

“Every day, we would sell a drum computer, not a drum kit, so I fell in love with them! Next to them was synthesizers, which I couldn’t demo, because I can’t play one. However, I could tell people how to use them. If you have a nice resonant sweep, and the customer can press the key and feel he is making that beautiful sound, that’s much better than the organ sellers who play all their favourite songs to you! So I would look into their eyes and say, ‘what do you think of this sound?’ It’s so much more of a personal touch.”

This was a great foundation, Morel insists, for the work to come a few years on with some of the great DJs and producers he now cites as not just colleagues, but close friends.

“You need to know the person, and what they’re all about; after all these years, you can still make the same mistake picking the wrong face, as they will give you shit and start complaining,” Morel laughs, a little tongue-in-cheek. “But for me, it’s always a challenge to be there, and to fix it, so it’s very important to work for a person you like, as you have to share a lot. That’s just personalities.”

After the Roland introduction – and Morel’s bizarre love affair with drum computers – the first set of very successful producers started walking into his life, but at the time, they only focused on equipment, not studio design. This was during the early ‘90s.

“We were selling some big stuff at this point: Soundtracs consoles, tape recorders, high-end samplers, all that kind of kit. We had Vengaboys, and we did a lot for 2 Unlimited, as well. Recording was where it was at,” Morel recalls, fondly. “It was a really nice time, because everyone was spending money on nice equipment, and all the kit was sensational. It’s funny how things change: back in the day, we’d order 10 Roland D50 synths and it wouldn’t be enough; now ordering one is more than enough.”

Morel is no doubt referring to hardware versus today’s affordable virtual instruments, plugins, and so on. So when did the transition to studio design occur, then?

“It started with DJs; they came to me and said they needed a better sound, and we were

selling very expensive equipment, but just putting carpet on walls at that time for acoustic treatment. It was, ‘oh, that will do’,” Morel smiles. “I looked around, saw brands selling foam, wooden panels, and so on, then we started with [Hard Techno DJ duo] Showtek – that was our first project, seven years ago; and from there, it’s

“At a low level, Genelecs will give you the whole sonic image, which does not

happen with many speakers.”

been a bit of a domino effect, and there is big budget for it.”Morel isn’t your textbook acoustician: his designs and audio analysis “comes

from somewhere in my head,” he explains, with a chuckle. “I really didn’t learn about acoustics, I just did what I thought was right, and kept it simple... And it works!”

Evidently so! Morel is close knit with many of the world’s top DJs, most of which want deluxe recording spaces, which Morel not only designs and builds for them, he sets up the audio feeds, too.

“It’s basically happenened through word of mouth,” Morel admits. “I remember Hardwell gave me a call, and I was sitting on a terrace with my friend. I said to him, ‘OK, I’ll call you back, I’m drinking wine right now,’ and then my kid said, ‘Hardwell? Dad that’s the number six DJ in the world!’ I was like, ‘Oh, I’d better make him number one in the world, then!’ [laughs] So I called him back... This was three or four years ago. And the rest is history.”

We should point out that Hardwell – who donned Headliner’s Issue 13 cover – did make it to the top spot, and now sits at number two, sporting a massive 8.5m Facebook likes, and 2.9m Twitter followers. Morel has designed several outstanding studios for Hardwell, and is in the process of making perhaps his most audacious yet:

“We are putting the Wooden Wing (a console designed by Morel, to avoid hard surface reflections that occur in producer rooms around the desk) into a new studio in Ibiza for Hardwell; he will be there from July to October this year,” Morel explains. “I have been out to see the studio part of it, so I will do my design. I will bring in natural wood colours for the Spanish Ibiza style, then basement diffusers with black bamboo. It’ll be fucking amazing.”

We both pause for a second, then laugh in unison. It’s a ludicrous job this man’s got, we both decide.

Conversation quickly turns back to technology: if there’s one thing Morel does know inside out, it’s audio equipment; and the starting point – once the acoustics are sorted - in making any studio facility worth its weight in gold (or bamboo) is the perfect studio monitors.

“I have a very close contact with the Genelec distributor [in Holland], and I was selling a lot of the 8000 Series Genelecs, and then I got Hardwell on the 1000 Series Genelecs, and it was the start of an explosion,” Morel enthuses. “Genelec hadn’t sold the huge 7073 subwoofer before in Holland, so that was a big thing. And those big Genelecs, I had no previous experience with at the time. So I was talking to Hardwell, and he had a deal with another leading loudspeaker brand, and could have had a set for free, but I showed him the

Genelecs, and there was no question in his or my mind; we started it rolling right there.

“It’s not only low fatigue you get with Genelecs; any Genelec monitors can go soft, but still provide you with full dynamics. At a low level, they will give you the whole sonic image, which does not happen with many speakers. And for this kind of [EDM] setup, you need the power, so that’s what we went for.”

When it comes to speccing a room, it starts with the eyes, then the voice, Morel says. What about the ears..?

“[laughs] Well, you see things first, so that’s the fastest way to work out if something might cause a problem, so you start with your eyes,” Morel explains, widening his glare at me. “So you can physically see the problems already, and then you start talking; and when you have a low voice like I do, you can demonstrate where the issues are without doing any measurements: our eyes and ears are much faster than any measurement tool, you see. So if you walk around, you do those tests, then you can do a measurement, as customers want to see a calibration microphone, but doing this in an empty room isn’t so helpful, because the program doesn’t tell you what to do about it: ‘OK, it’s shit, and if we do nothing, it’ll still be shit! So there is no ‘solution’, as such.

“So from there - and it all depends on the style of the property, too – you see what you can do that fits both the customer’s needs and the building, and then put everything together. The next step is to make simple drawings, and to make sure the contractors you use understand what you’re doing. You start with the ceiling and the inner shell, as it often needs reshaping, and then you go from there.”

Morel makes it sound pretty simple, but clearly this is a fine art. It is also evident that he’s got to where he has through sheer love and determination: eyes, voice, ears, and a lot of heart, right Jan?

“[smiles] I just do it, I guess, so yes, that is right,” he says, softly.On that note, we head to the bar – his bar – and as his guests continue

to drink wine and be merry, while occasionally changing his Spotify playlist which is blaring out of one of his pairs of Genelecs, you can only admire what this man has achieved. Be thankful, any fan of EDM music, because without Mr. Morel, the sound of those records wouldn’t be quite the same.

www.morelmuziek.nlwww.genelec.com

20 HEADLINER

Studio Design Jan Morel

MONTREUX JAZZ FESTIVAL: Stylish at 50

Whether it’s straight ahead jazz, rock and roll, electronic music, R&B, or something completely different, Montreux will deliver. And this year was particularly special: the 50th anniversary of this epic festival’s inception. Fittingly, the band that put it on the map, Deep Purple, were there to see it out. Headliner reports...

Throughout its five decades, a fusion of international megastars, underground acts, and young hopefuls have donned this salubrious festival’s [now 16] stages - and they will all tell you, there quite simply isn’t another festival like this one.

This year’s schedule included headline slots from our cover star, Jean Michel Jarre, as well as the great Neil Young (who performed for over three hours!), Lana Del Rey, and a fitting closing show from five guys who are very much a part of the Montreux furniture: Deep Purple. I wonder if they paid attention to the ‘Don’t Smoke On The Water’ signs by the lake?

“[smiles] Montreux has always had a great

significance for the band; the first album was made here, and the story of Smoke on the Water comes from the fire at the casino when they were running the festival,” explains Don Airey, Deep Purple’s keyboard player since 2002. “And to be invited to play on the last night and finish off the festival really is a great honour.”

Airey’s first time in Montreux with Purple was in 2003, and he still has a vivid memory of entering the then quaint, quiet town in the tour bus early one morning:

“It was 8am, and both Ians - Gillan and Paice - were up, and so was Roger [Glover, bassist]. They really were quite animated about talking about how Machine Head got made: the casino burning down, which was where they were due to record it; and then the Pavilion, which is where they had to move to. They told me how the police stopped them recording there because they were keeping all the residents of Montreux awake, and how they eventually found the Grand Hotel, and moved in there. I remember Roger gave me a guided tour of the Pavilion, and he showed me exactly where they recorded that one track there, which was actually called Track One, and which became Smoke on the Water. And you can even hear the police on the end of the track, banging on the door while the roadie was holding the door! It was just a great story.”

Coming back in 2016 to play out the 50th anniversary was a stand-out honour, Airey says – and a collaboration with Dweezil Zappa provided a fitting, spine-tingling finale:

“You can see how much the festival has

changed: people thronging the streets, and all that; and we had Dweezil Zappa on before us – Zappa Plays Zappa, what a wonderful band. And he sat in with us, and we played [Frank Zappa’s] Peaches en Regalia, and then he joined in with us for Smoke, and of course when Gillan sang, ‘Frank Zappa and the Mothers’, he turned round to look at Dweezil, and everybody in the building felt a chill; something quite historic had happened, and was happening; it was a great way to end the festival for us.”

Purple’s drummer, Ian Paice, concurs, adding that Montreux is one of the pivotal places in the band’s history:

“Montreux is incredibly important in my life, and the life of the band; when we [first] got there, it was virtually out of season, a sleepy little town; and that crazy song of ours sort of made the whole world aware of Montreux,” he reflects. “And at the time, the festival had only been going a few years, and it wasn’t a big thing – it was just a couple of days of jazz artists - you wouldn’t recognise it today. Now it’s one of the most major music events on the European calendar, so it is very important, we do love being there, and if you’re not working there, there’s still a load of great places to look around and eat at [smiles].”

He’s not wrong: we were quite at home in the Caviar House & Prunier while the artists did their thing on stage..! Other standout acts well worth a mention this year included the brilliant Grimes, Daughter, and former The War On Drugs frontman, Kurt Vile. What a set his was - sounded like a young, edgy Neil Young, in fact.

35 HEADLINER

“When we first got here, it was a

sleepy little town, but that crazy little song

made everyone aware of Montreux

”

/ Behind the Music /

AUDIO QUALITY is extremely crucial at Montreux: multiple venues means lots of feeds, backup, and state of the art equipment, both on and off the stage. DiGiCo has a long-standing relationship with the festival, and kits out every venue with one or more of its SD range of mixing consoles. The most impressive room is the flagship Stravinski Auditorium, which aptly houses DiGiCo’s flagship console, the SD7, at front of house. Engineers will bring their own boards in, too, of course, though the big players tend to opt for DiGiCo anyway: Alain Courieux ( Jean Michel Jarre), and Jon Lemon (Lana Del Rey), both had their own SD7s in tow.

For Courieux, riding the faders for Jean Michel Jarre is second nature; he and the electronic music pioneer go back a long way, and work together in the studio as well as out on the road. Courieux runs everything at 96kHz on his console:

“With DiGiCo, it’s the really high quality of all the effects within the console that I am such a fan of; and also the fact that it still feels like I’m using an analogue board. Jean Michel is including a lot of new material in this new live show, and the channel count is high, but I have worked on the SD7 for so long now, I know my way around it very well, and it always makes my job that little bit easier. Jean Michel has his own SD7, too, of course, so it’s no surprise that he is always happy with the sound!”

Another huge element of the audio at Montreux is down to the broadcast guys, who get in at 10am every morning, and are likely to still be doing their thing come 2am the following day. This is the fourth year that RTS have been at the helm: the Swiss broadcast experts cater for AV production, and also work closely with the guys in Voyageur 1, the main audio truck for the Stravinski Auditorium.

RTS’ Yannick Dumartineix has worked in broadcast for a long time - the firm have been a strategic partner since the beginning at Montreux. He recalls a time the late, great Claude Nobs was listening to a mix in RTS’ HD1 truck, and got them involved in his beloved Montreux Jazz Festival (MJF):

“RTS - under the name SRS and TSR - did the audio, then audio and video, between 1967

and 1974; then, between 1974 and 1986, RTS was there for video only, and in 2013, we proposed our trucks and team again, as the festival wanted to upgrade to three rooms from two. We came up with a concept for recording, offered a one-day training on our broadcast console to the engineers, and they were very happy with it; we were then trained on HD video, and here we are today. We are happy to have this back, as it’s such a massive event: 17 days of hard work, but a fantastic experience.”

Every year since, RTS has tried to come up with something a little extra to offer MJF:

“Two years ago, we introduced 4k live shooting with two cameras, and Isabel Sanchez from MJF presented that at MIP-COM 2015,” says Dumartineix. “This year, we did the Montreux Jazz Lab in 5.1; next year, I hope we can bring surround recording to the Jazz Club.”

There is a lot of high-end audio and video kit required for a job like this, and it’s pretty com-plex; with that in mind, we ask Dumartineix to take us through the process, and plead with him to treat us as broadcast laymans..!

“[smiles] Well, in HD1, we use a Merging Technologies Pyramix system, which records 128 tracks at 48kHz (or 64 at 96kHz); we also have Pro Tools, which does 128 tracks at 96kHz as we have two Avid MADI interfaces, so we can have two MADI streams. Then we have two JoeCo units for 64 tracks backup,” Dumartineix explains, as my head begins to spin on axis.

“For the Jazz Club we use our radio truck, Music+ (which houses a Studer Vista 8), and it’s all done on Pyramix; we record in PMF mode for safety reasons - we used to have trouble in that area, but not anymore. We transfer and covert to BWF (Broadcast Wave Format), and it works great.”

The Voyageur 1 truck has broadcast specialist, John Harris, at the helm. It’s kitted out with a full Genelec monitoring system - a brand Harris has a lot of time for: “Genelec are true, stable, and reliable monitors,” he tells us. “You know where you are with them at all times.”

The full Genelec inventory amounts to three 8351 (as LCR), two 8340 (as RL, RR), two 7360 subs, and a Genelec Loudspeaker Manager

system, complete with AutoCal. This impressive truck also houses a further two sizeable systems, capable of 128 tracks at 96kHz.

“We have had a very long term relationship with Merging, and we jumped onboard pretty early with Merging equipment. We’ve always been very pleased with the sonic quality and the reliability, which is why we use so much of it,” Dumartineix reveals. “And we work closely with the guys in Voyageur 1, who are also big Merging users; they’re good guys, and absolutely crucial to the workflow in the Stravinski.”

And if, in the highly unlikely event that there is ever an issue with the kit, the fact that it is Merging kit will always be an advantage:

“Although we have never had any real problems whatsoever with any Merging equipment, when there has been a very small issue – which happens with all kit, of course, especially the PSU - the recovery is there; this is why we record using PMF files.”

So in summary, at MJF, RTS provides live stems, video streams, and also stereo signal for the radio. It looks after three rooms, producing for TV and radio, and then also a stream for the MJF web server is delivered 7dB higher. Ultimately, it’s a big workflow of live streams, HD-SDI, MADI, and lots of files, then?

“Yes, it’s a big job,” smiles Dumartineix. “But we don’t stress over it, because it’s what we do best, and we have great kit for the job at hand. We are a partner to MJF, just like DiGiCo is, so we work closely with everyone. We provide John and his team on Voyageur 1 with the video, and we integrate them into our workflow. Plus, John works at a very top level, and Bertrand does the same in the Lab. Both guys listen to CDs of the groups they’re going to mix, so they can be as accurate as possible; and all the trucks have [MADI 96kHz] Waves SoundGrids too, so there is huge processing capabilities throughout. In HD1, we have 20 MADI links in total just for the 96kHz part, so it really is a huge system!”

www.merging.comwww.digico.bizwww.genelec.com

I begin by asking Mr. Neve what releases he has in the pipeline.

“I’m very proud of my new single,” he says. Conversation is fast paced, much like his music. “It’s called Interstellar, though it’s nothing to do with the movie! I have a telescope; when I want to get out of my studio and relax and chill a bit, I like to see the stars, the planets, and everything. That’s where the name of the song is coming from. The last few years, I’ve been doing more EDM and house stuff, but this is something really different. This one is more emotional.”

So it’s a case of drawing much inspiration from the night sky, then?

“Yeah, I mean, I was saying to the singer on the track how I want to talk about love being universal; I want to find a relation between love and the sky, the stars and planets,” Neve explains. “After we laid down the vocals, I had to change the whole production – at first, it was very clubby, but hearing the vocals back, I wanted to create something more emotional.”

We start talking about Neve becoming a DJ at just 14, and he fondly remembers times club staff had to find him a chair to stand on so people could actually see him behind the decks.

“It wasn’t something too serious for me. I used to follow all the DJs here in Barcelona, and I just wanted to be like them,” he admits, adding that his friends were all into pop music and guitar bands, so his love of dance was somewhat of a solo effort. “I was so impressed the first time I heard electronic music; it was Kraftwerk, the grandfathers of electronic music. My cousin had them on tape, and told me I had to hear it. I was so hypnotised by that sound.”

Neve speaks passionately about the uphill climb that was his first days in the industry:

“I had to fight against everything: the labels, not having any equipment, having to teach myself music production; but when you want to fight, when you have dreams, nothing is impossible.”

One of the hardest days of his fight was when he went to his parents to tell them he was dropping out of his IT engineering degree to concentrate on music.

“That was the saddest day of my life,” he states. But the right decision, ultimately? “It was, yes, but at that moment, I didn’t know. I was following my feelings,

56 HEADLINER

DJ Albert Neve

Albert Neve: Star GazerSince bursting on to the scene in 2006, Catalan DJ and producer, Albert Neve, quickly garnered support and acclaim from the likes of Armin van Buuren, Afrojack, and Hardwell. Beginning his music making at just 14 years old, Neve has been making waves with his hard hitting, rave worthy EDM. Headliner caught him at the end of a long studio session to talk about his career so far, and the technology that has helped him along the way.

Words Adam Protz

I couldn’t know if I would be successful or not. I can still see my parents’ faces, when they said, ‘What! After everything we have done for you?’ [smiles] But it was the right decision.”

Neve has played at the world’s biggest dance music festivals, including Creamfields, Tomorrowland, and EDC. So how many of these experiences really stand out for him?

“Well, I’ve played Tomorrowland two years in a row,” Neve remarks. “The second time was special, but the first one was incredible to me. It’s not about the music or the big name DJs, it’s about the experience of playing at such a big festival. When I finished playing, I went to the main stage in the crowd. It’s nice being behind the booth, then going backstage and enjoying the artists’ VIP area. But I also wanted to have the same experience as everyone. I’m not so famous that I can’t go in the crowd!”

I point out that it might not be long before he’s too recognisable to do that, to which Neve laughs, and utters: ‘who knows?!’ Conversation turns to his studio kit, in particular, his Genelec monitors, which have helped him considerably in his career so far.

“I have the [Genelec] 1037B speakers (which have since been replaced by the 1037C). They’re, like, 10 years old, but they rock, and work like the first day I got them. That’s the main system I have, because I love the sound of Genelec. I have some Yamaha

ones which sound crappy in comparison. In my studio, they are in the wall; this way, you get 100 percent of the power of the speakers. Speakers vibrate the air, so when they’re just mounted, normally they do that in all directions, but in the wall you can control the sound better.”

It’s ultimately that the Genelec mid and high frequencies are sweet, not harsh sounding, Neve insists:

“There’s a little studio shop here in Barcelona, and the guy there told me I had to try Genelec. He let me compare other speakers against them, and I just said, ‘shut up and take my money!’

“As well as the overall sound, also very important is the wide stereo feel – a lot of other systems sound dull, but these are so open. In electronic music, it’s so important to get the right stereo image that you are mixing in.”

Neve tells me he wants to keep exploring different realms of house and electronic music, and to really probe the euphoric potential of dance music. With new song, Interstellar, on its way, and current single, Let the Bass Be Louder, out now, have a listen for yourself; enjoy this music, inspired by the constellations themselves.

www.genelec.com

“When you want to fight, when you have dreams, nothing is impossible.”

57 HEADLINER

DJ Albert Neve