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Belmont University, Nashville


The Challenge:

Belmont University’s Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business (CEMB) runs four professional-quality recording studios on campus. The school needed state-of-the-art monitors for the recently renovated Columbia Studio A, a studio that has hosted Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Simon and Garfunkel, George Jones and many more. After being converted into office space, Columbia Studio A now operates as a musical multipurpose space for classes in recording studio engineering and sound reinforcement.

Michael Janas, Belmont’s instructor of audio engineering technology and director of recording studio operations, wanted to let his students experience the evolutionary roots and historical and technical context of multi-track recording studio technology as we know it today. According to Janas, in order for the students and faculty to best hear and understand the aural characteristics of this wide range of equipment, it was important to choose a modern monitoring system that would best reproduce the sound of the source audio in the new “old” studio.

The Solution:

In consultation with Dave Rochester of Lebanon, Tennessee’s Technical Audio Services, Janas and his team ultimately chose a pair of JBL M2 Master Reference Monitors and a Crown I-Tech HD Series 4×3500HD amplifier to power them. The Crown amp provides four channels of amplification for the pair of bi-amplified M2s, and its internal DSP provides the crossover and also room EQ to optimize the M2 system performance in any room. In addition to its unparalleled sonic accuracy and dynamic range, the M2 provides not only a wide stereo sound field, but also depth and height.

The Impact:

“The M2 turned out to be absolutely perfect for our application. It enables students and staff to hear everything that’s going on in the studio with exacting detail. It reveals the sonic characteristics of every piece of gear we add or take out of the recording chain, whether a microphone, reverb unit, EQ or other link in the recording chain. In fact, it showed us that some of that vintage gear is a lot better than anyone realized.” – Michael Janas, Belmont University

HARMAN Products:

Loudspeaker

  • JBL M2 Master Reference Monitor

Amplifier

  • Crown I-Tech HD Series 4×3500HD

Belmont University