You seem to be hearing it all the time lately…everyone is talking about it…the sound-system that’s been rocking everyone’s world at all the outdoor, and indoor parties of late in Cape Town and Johannesburg, and of course, around the globe – the Funktion-One Sound System.
Look, I can’t argue with you when you say the sound “should” be good because the promoter will be setting up the F-1. Yes, that would most probably excite me as well; it’s all in the setup, though. And a man who can’t know any more about the F-1 Sound System is Tony Andrews; sound-system designer and the owner and founder of Funktion-One.
Tony Andrews (Owner & Founbder of Funktion-One)
For the most part, because it’s just that good, many are going the Funktion-One route for their clubs. Clubbers and djs will know Funktion-One best for the enormous stacks in some of the world’s top clubs, and not for nothing, to name a few Space Ibiza, Berghain, Output and Trouw. All of which understand that audio quality is of utmost importance. Obviously.
Tony went through to the Brighton Music Conference to discuss the Importance of Audio Quality which was to be the U.K’s first-annual-dance-music business conference, but before that he sat with Dj TechTools and spoke about how bass excites humans, how to set up a pair of bedroom speakers, and one hugely simple mistake djs can avoid, yet somehow don’t manage.
(The legendary Berghain in Berlin)
He explains how he goes about tuning the sound-system, the process he goes through to get the system humming at full-potential. Tony goes on further to explain “The first thing I do is look at the midrange. Is it all there? The best way to discover that is through a known human voice."
He continues to say that when testing systems, he maintains to use the same tracks time and time again, understandably because you will need some sort of a bench-mark to measure it against. Diana Krall’s “Let’s Face The Music And Dance” and nothing like a bit of George Benson’s “Nature Boy” to test the mid-ranges, is Tony’s choice.
Having setup the mids, Tony looks to tweaking the high-end. He says “I start bringing in high frequencies until they are all there, but ensure that they don’t swamp the mids or vice versa.” To any sound engineer this is all too easy, yet somehow, many are getting it wrong.
An interesting statement he made was that he never tests with electronic dance music until he has completely sorted out the frequencies across the board. Once that point has been reached, it’s Gat Décor’s “Passion” that comes out to test the overall bass response. Thought we’d add it in here for you, below:
Here’s a thing…an ongoing feud between djs, sound engineers and club owners - the issue of playing in the red. If you’re a dj, you know exactly what that means, if not, I’ll tell you. It means when dj’s are playing and they push the volume knob up so much so, that eventually your eardrums pop as well as the speaker cones and everything else plugged in around you. I might have exaggerated somewhat, but also, not really. Tony Andrews in interview said something I really enjoyed reading that went to the tune of:
“All you are really doing when you push a mixer into red is distorting the music and insulting the people who give us a living — the clubbers.” – Tony Andrews.
I know this is a big topic between the said parties above, and it really does need some attention paid-forward in its direction because let’s be honest, a lot of djs out there are red-lining the hell out of the systems, over periods of time ruining them, and our ears. It’s not necessary. Take it from Tony Andrews, he knows what he’s talking about.
[Courtesy of www.djtechtools.com]