 |
High
Fidelity Review Feature:
Visiting 5.1 Entertainment, West Los Angeles |
|
 |
|
|
|
| 5.1
Entertainment’s facility in West Los Angeles,
California. |
|
|
High Fidelity Review was recently given an opportunity to
tour the facilities of 5.1 Entertainment as well as meet some
of the company’s principals, including: John Trickett,
chairman and chief executive officer; Jeff Dean, president
of Silverline Records; Gary Lux, vice president of Audio Production;
Chris Haynes, chief engineer; and Jacqui Chazen, director of
publicity. Located in West Los Angeles, the almost unnoticeable
building houses 5.1 Entertainment’s four music labels:
Silverline, immergent, Electromatrix and Myutopia Recordings.
Also at the same location is the other half of the company,
5.1 Production Services, which includes two fully digital THX
certified
studios
in a dedicated 10,000-foot production facility. “We’re
a one stop shop for music production, start to finish” said
John Trickett. Indeed, services offered by the company include:
sound recording, music production, audio mixing (both traditional
stereo and 5.1), audio mastering, graphic design, video and
audio editing, DVD-Video and DVD-Audio authoring, SACD mastering,
visual production, digital audio encoding and archiving. “Though
we concentrate on CD and DVD-Audio, especially for our labels,
we’re actually format agnostic. Our stereo and 5.1 mixes
can be delivered in any format that our clients may want.”
The mixes and sonics of DVD-Audio titles from 5.1 Entertainment’s
labels have varied quite a bit, primarily due to source material. “I’m
somewhat loathe to do multi-channel mixes in situations where
we don’t have access to original multi-track sources” admitted
Trickett “but when we were first starting out we
had to deal with a lot of material that, well, wasn’t the
best.” Gary Lux explained “when we don’t
have a multi-track source, we use a variety of techniques and
tools, like TC Unwrap, to create a surround mix. Still, as
often as possible we always try to find a multi-track source
to work from.”
|
|
|
|
| John
Trickett, chairman and chief executive officer,
5.1 Entertainment. |
|
|
Lux,
who recently mixed Aaron Neville’s ‘Believe’ DVD-A
and was finishing up a multi-channel mix of the Andy Gibbs
classic ‘I Just Want To Be Your Everything’ for
the new Charlie’s Angels sequel ‘Full Throttle’,
elaborated on his mixes. “I’m not a four-corner
mixer and I don’t put all the vocals in the centre channel” he
said, separating his style from the old quad method as well
as film soundtrack mixing techniques. “Yes, surround
is a film format but we mix for a different focus. I don’t
think lead vocals sound good through only the centre; it just
doesn’t sound musical to me.” Lux demonstrated
his work by playing cuts from titles he’d recently mixed.
(Interestingly, his assistant, Ken Ramos cued up individual
tracks and navigated the various DVD-As using only the front
panel display of a standard consumer player. So much for the
myth that a television display is always needed.)
We listened in Studio A, switching between full range speakers
and a sub/sat combo. The latter gave a better idea
of the sound more likely to be heard in consumer homes. “I
don’t mix defensively” said Lux, clarifying
that he doesn't restrict his mixes based on fears that the
end consumer
might have inadequate speakers at certain locations, like the
surrounds or centre. The mixes themselves were very dynamic,
with content moving from speaker to speaker. There was nothing
fixed or predictable about the mix, the soundscape often changed
from song to song. “Each song is different” Lux
confirmed, “I approach each one emotionally, with
music dictating the mix.”
“The music definitely dictates the mix!” echoed
Chris Haynes; a mantra repeated to me even by CEO Trickett.
Haynes was finishing a 5.1 re-mix of Queensrÿche frontman
Geoff Tate’s self titled solo album that was released
last year, which Haynes called “a perfect record
for surround.” He was also excited about an upcoming
Emerson, Lake and Palmer “live” DVD-A that will
include two distinct mixes: a new 5.1 re-mix as well as the
original
quad mix reproduced in four discrete channels. Haynes also
elaborated on situations where the source material was less
than ideal, especially about trying to create a 5.1 mix when
the only thing available is a stereo or mono (ack!) original
master. “It’s tough” he admitted “Unwrap
is a starting point; once I have stuff spread out into the
other channels, I can then move things around and really start
creating a surround mix.” Like Lux, Haynes’ use
of the centre channel depends on the particular song. “I
tried a hard centre with the guitars on a Motorhead song, but
it never sounded right through one speaker.”
|
|
|
|
| Jeff
Dean, president of Silverline Records. |
|
|
Haynes
and Lux also cited technical reasons for splitting certain
instruments and vocals over multiple channels, such
as the greater dynamic range and higher volume that can be
achieved by using two or three speakers instead of one. “One
driver doesn’t have to do everything” said
Haynes. John Trickett summed up the centre channel issue as
well as
their mixing philosophy in general “we’re mixing
an album, not making a movie!” Which came through
clearly, even in the few songs that I sampled at the studio.
Aside from multi-channel mixes, 5.1 Production Services is
also responsible for many two-channel mixes; both for outside
clients as well as for CDs issued by 5.1 Entertainment’s
various labels. Readers may be wondering then why only some
of 5.1 Entertainment’s DVD-A titles include a high resolution
two-channel mix. “That’s simply a rights issue” said
Gary Lux, explaining “we often partner with another
record label, where they’ll have released the CD and we’ll
be doing the DVD-A. They usually don’t want us to release
a higher resolution version of their product, which is understandable,
so we’ll get the rights to only the 5.1 re-mix.” Naturally,
the rights issue is not a problem when it comes to artists
signed to one of 5.1 Entertainment’s music labels, allowing
those DVD-As to include a dedicated two-channel mix as well
as often allowing them to be released day-and-date with their
CD counterparts. “If we can include a stereo track,
we always try to do so” added Jacqui Chazen, “we
like to pack in as much as we can on our DVD-A titles.”
Indeed,
some of their titles have extensive bonus sections. For example,
Ziroq’s self-titled DVD-A includes enough
bonus tracks to constitute a second album. “We love
doing that” said Trickett “and we want
to do even more!” In
their attempt to discover more material to include on their
releases, Trickett and company have come up with some interesting
ideas. Jeff Dean mentioned a recent example: “We’ve
been giving small camcorders to our bands when they go on tour.
Since we have in-house video production services we can edit
the tapes and include some of that footage on our DVD-As. This
way, their fans can see what it’s like to be on the road,
through the band’s eyes.” Trickett added another
idea they’ve been interested in “I want to
try a commentary track, like on DVD movies, where the artist
can
explain all sorts of interesting things about the songs and
the album.” Both men made it clear that this wasn’t
just a case of adding filler to a release. “We originate
most of that stuff and work very hard on it” said
Trickett. Dean summed it up “whether it’s audio or video
bonus material, the most important thing is that it has to
be compelling content!”
|
|
|
|
| Gary
Lux, vice president of Audio Production, 5.1
Entertainment. |
|
|
While
their production services remain “format agnostic”,
their music
labels are clearly in the DVD-Audio camp. “Bonus material is the way
we’re
going in the future and that’s the big advantage of DVD-Audio: there’s
room for all that extra stuff. We want to give the customer as much extra
content as possible, and we’ve only begun to scratch the surface of what
is possible.” Trickett explained further that “bonus material
is
the reason why we don’t do SACDs, even though we have the SACD rights to
many of our titles. It comes down to value. We music labels have to give customers
a reason for buying the same music again, and higher resolution isn’t enough.
These decisions aren’t made in a vacuum; we went DVD-A with the knowledge
that every industry focus group had found that consumers were interest mostly
in multi-channel mixes and bonus material, with higher resolution coming in a
really distant third. We’ve done our homework about what the public wants.” Citing
the large and rapidly growing installed base of DVD-Video players, Tricket added “The
best part is that the disc upgrades with the player. You can listen to the 5.1[Dolby
Digital] track
on any DVD player, and it’s important that consumers
have access to the multi-channel mix right now. Later, when you get a DVD-A player,
you can enjoy the better sonic quality of the MLP track plus all the bonus features.”
One
of the features no longer present on 5.1 Entertaimnent’s
DVD-Audio titles is a DTS track. “We didn’t feel
the need to keep including DTS because we already had the AC-3
track, which sounded good enough that the DTS track was really
not necessary” explained Trickett. Ever the diplomat,
he quickly added “However, I think their technology
is great and I’m a big fan of some of the stuff on their
music label: the new Queen releases, for example, are fantastic.” Dean
added another reason “Including a DTS track would
sometimes mean the difference between releasing a DVD-5 versus
a DVD-9.
At the time, the cost difference between the two wasn’t
as small as it is today.” Both men also grudgingly admitted
that they were somewhat uncomfortable with DTS’s sudden
decision to market all their music discs (DVD-A or not) in
the same super-jewel cases that had now become familiar to
DVD-Audio buyers. As expected, Dean was polite about it: “As
a music label, they have to make a decision about how best
to market their products. Obviously we weren’t pleased,
because we think it will unnecessarily confuse the customer,
since we had already committed to the super-jewel case as a
way for consumers to easily recognize DVD-Audio titles.”
|
|
|
|
| Chris
Haynes, chief engineer, 5.1 Entertainment. |
|
|
Another
feature that 5.1 Entertainment has been keeping an eye on is
the long-promised hybrid CD/DVD-A discs. Tests on
dual-layer hybrids haven’t been very encouraging, and
the few dual-sided hybrid have been released ended up being
problematic. “We’re waiting for the technology
to become more stable” said Trickett, “dual-sided
seems to be the more likely of the two to emerge in the near
future, though I’d prefer dual-layer so that it wouldn’t
be a flipper and we could still have artwork on the disc. Actually,
they’re working on a way to have artwork in-between layers,
so that it could work with dual-sided discs; but that gets
even more complicated.” One example of an already
released hybrid title is ‘Book of Shadows: Blair
Witch II’ which
had the DVD movie on one side and the CD soundtrack on the
other. “The ‘Blair Witch’ disc didn’t
work well because it was too thick” explained Dean, “the
problem was usually with slot-loaded players: the disc would
go in but it wouldn’t come out! We’re hoping they
get the technology, especially the thickness issue, ironed
out because that’ll be really attractive for in-car playback.”
In-car DVD-Audio players, especially the new Alpine/Clarion
5.1-channel in-dash model, were a source of genuine excitement
for everyone I spoke with at 5.1 Entertainment. “At
the recent NARM show, the best DVD-A demos were happening in
a
pair of cars they had parked on the show floor. Everyone who
sat inside really liked what they heard” said Dean. “What’s
not to like?” added Haynes, explaining “cars
already come with multiple speakers, they’ve got the
big bass to take advantage of the .1 channel and, best of all,
a fixed
listener position. It’s a great fit. In the future, people
are going to be listening to a lot of our stuff in their cars.”
The current state and future of the DVD-Audio format was something
both Trickett and Dean wanted to address. As expected, they
remain positive about it, though without losing touch with
the reality of the situation
up to this point. “We labels have done a poor job
of educating the consumer” admitted Trickett “and
that’s something we all really have to work on.” To
that end, 5.1 Entertainment has put together a DVD-A sampler
disc containing songs from a variety of genres. Included is
a track that explains the advantages and features of the DVD-Audio
format, as well as demonstrations comparing two-channel CD
resolution against 5.1-channel DVD-A quality. “We’ve
given away 100,000 of those samplers, to be packed in with
DVD-A players, so that buyers will have something to play right
away” said Dean, adding that neither the expense
nor logistics were insignificant for his company: “Do
you know what it’s like to get eight record companies to
agree on something?” Still, Trickett continues to
point out the positive signs “Best Buy is converting prime
real estate for DVD-A; they used to be in some dark corner
but now
|
|
|
|
| Ken
Ramos (left) and Gary Lux of 5.1 Entertainment. |
|
|
they’re up front, near the CD singles section.
It’s a step in the right direction and sales are going
up.” Dean attributed some of those positive sales
figures to their sampler as well as to fourth-quarter sales
of hardware,
especially as DVD-A playback becomes a more common feature
of lower priced DVD players. “Now that SoundScan
has a DVD-A section, we’ve been able to track sales better
and do some comparisons to other media. After Christmas, CD
sales experienced the normal decline; DVD-A didn’t!”
While
the DVD-A format’s penetration into the marketplace
isn’t as exciting as Trickett and Dean would like, they
were more enthusiastic about what was coming up for 5.1 Entertainment
and 5.1 Production Services. “Alan Parsons has just
signed with the MyUtopia label” said Trickett, “plus
we’ve
signed on a bunch of new artists like Yellownote, Pop, tipper,
Josh One, Gus Black and Ils. We’re also re-launching ‘Awaken’ with
new re-mixes and added content.” Dean added to the
list of new titles coming soon “We’ve got new
Dishwala and UFO “live” albums in the works, as
well as a couple of titles from the two VanZant Brothers. And
we’re
continuing with our massive, forty-title series ‘From
the Front Row… Live’, which features Pat Benetar,
Elvin Bishop, Teddy Pendergrass, BTO and Marshall Crenshaw,
amongst many others.” I reminded Dean that using
source material from the ‘70s and ‘80s may give
critics another invitation to complain about the sonic quality
of some of their
DVD-A titles. “Sure, new recordings would have had
better fidelity, but this is an opportunity to experience these
artists
at the peak of their talent. The emotions in these performances
outweigh the technical limitations of the material” said
Dean, quickly adding “of course we’re going
to work from the highest quality, original multi-track master
we can find.”
Trickett also shared his plans for the future of his company. “We’re
expanding” he said with a big smile, “and
it will happen roughly in four phases.” The first
phase will see their current Los Angeles facilities spread
out as the
administrative and record label offices are moved into their
own building. This will free up enough space in their current
building to add a second mastering room and two to three more
studios including, possibly, an analog one. “I want
to bring in even more cutting-edge gear and triple our current
output.” Phase 2 involves opening a studio in
|
|
|
|
| Jacqui
Chazen, director of publicity, 5.1 Entertainment. |
|
|
New
York, one that will be about the size of the current Los Angeles
facilities. Phase 3 does the same in London and Phase 4 hopefully
Nashville. “They’re all going to be one-stop-shops,
from graphic design and artwork to complete audio-video production
to complete encoding and mastering in any format. Of course
the emphasis will be on multi-channel music.”
While it’s impossible to predict whether any particular
music carrier format will succeed in the marketplace, multi-channel
music seems to be guaranteed a future as long as companies
like 5.1 Entertainment continue to support it. And where is
multi-channel music headed? I’ll let Chris Haynes provide
the coda: “Some of the best and most interesting
multi-channel mixes are going to come from the next generation
of mixers.
They will have grown up in this environment, where all they’ll
have known is movies and music in surround. They won’t
have the two-channel versus multi-channel baggage we grew up
with and their approach to mixing music will be reflected by
an experience we never had: five-point-one from day-one!”
Finally, a very special thanks to Jacqui Chazen for her tireless
efforts to coordinate the tour and all the interviews.
Sanjay Durani - 01/05/2003
The
contents of this feature are exclusive to and the sole
property of High Fidelity Review, copyright
2003, all rights reserved. This feature cannot be reproduced
in whole or in part without the written permission of
High Fidelity Review. Can't see the images on this page?
Click here. |
|
| • |
High
Fidelity Review Features... |
|
|
