Feature: One step ahead

It didn’t take long for audio engineer Zhu Chiao Chen to realise where his passion lay. Having worked in the music industry for eight years as a live and studio sound engineer, producer and festival director, variously, Chen decided to open a professional studio in Taipei in 2019, offering recording, mixing and mastering facilities. And in a recent development, he has upgraded J.studio by installing a Neve 8424 console.

“I would say I’m primarily self-taught,” Chen reflects. “Taiwan doesn’t have a dedicated school that I was particularly interested in attending. I initially recorded bands in my simple home setup and worked in studios around the city. I learned a lot just by asking other engineers for advice. As I got more and more opportunities to work with artists, I rented a small studio space to accommodate my needs, which eventually evolved to the point where I required a commercial studio.”

Chen identified a gap in the market for a certain type of facility in the Taiwanese capital, which he describes as the biggest musical hub in the country. “A lot of musicians and producers have their own home studios nowadays, resulting in commercial studios being less sought after. However, there’s still a lot of opportunities for these sorts of studios to thrive here. As the role of the record label has also started to dwindle over the past few years, we’re also looking for talent ourselves, to work with artists we want to see succeed, helping them produce and market their work.”

Having said that, the stakes when opening a professional studio are inevitably high, and J.studio was no exception to this rule. Well-established facilities are available in Taipei, and the city commands high rents. Chen aims to diversify by providing peripheral services such as shooting music videos, directing live shows, hosting DJ events and parties and renting out equipment, rather than relying solely on recording, mixing and mastering services to stay afloat.

The Neve 8424 has added another string to the studio’s bow. “We’re very happy to have had more foreign clients who have approached us for our services due to the Neve,” he says. “We’ve received a lot of mixing work because of the recent upgrade, and local producers and sound engineers have contacted us to check out the Neve console as well.”

Chen also invested in Neve 500 Series compressors and EQs and a Heritage Audio MCM20.4 summing mixer, which provides the Neve 8424’s 48 channels with not only levels and pans, but also aux sends and inserts. “We wanted the space to be compact but still allow us to deliver the best quality possible for our clients. Having all of our outboard gear ergonomically positioned and within arm’s reach allows us to work more efficiently without having to move away from our optimal mixing position.”

Chen’s main reason for choosing the Neve 8424 was to provide the routing flexibility, modularity and freedom to combine a modern, digital workflow with his extensive collection of analogue outboard equipment. “Our approach is to bridge old school gear and apply modern techniques to achieve sonically unique results. The studio is equipped with Urei 813C main monitors and we love collecting all types of vintage audio gear. The 8424 console is what connects everything together. It was an affordable option in this market segment, and it allows us to seamlessly use the gear we want to use alongside it. Plus, we are big fans of the iconic Neve sound.”

Chen believes that a hybrid workflow delivers the best of both worlds. “Another benefit of the 8424 is that it retains an analogue signal path but allows digital control. This means we can preserve a vintage tone while still benefiting from modern workflow enhancements.

“I initially assign all my channels, groups and sums to the console,” he continues. “We have six Switchcraft 9625 patchbays that are connected to a lot of 500 Series gear. This allows us to maximise the space we have in our studio and create a more ergonomic environment to work in. I’ll use a combination of outboard gear and software plugins to achieve my mix.”

The vintage Urei 813C monitors were purchased from another studio that was getting rid of them. “The Urei’s Altec speakers have exceptional-sounding woofers, and the vintage magnets provide outstanding dynamic range, accurate imaging and very natural sub bass. These monitors are connected to a Grace Design m905 monitor controller; this has the ability to solo the sub, which has proven to be extremely useful for our mixing and mastering.”

Additional monitoring includes a pair of Genelec 1031A monitors and a Genelec 7060B subwoofer. “These are very easy to listen to, making long mixing and mastering sessions less fatiguing,” he says. “We also have a mastering setup that is equipped with the Maselec MTC-1X mastering console, and our Urei 813Cs are positioned with the speakers directed towards our mastering console. We also have Avantone MixCube speakers situated at our mastering desk.”

The 89m² studio, comprising of a control room, a live room and recording booth, occupies the top floor of a four-storey condo, away from road noise. It was designed and constructed together with acousticians and studio designers from local Taiwanese company, Moof. “The place was empty when we rented it, so we had a clean slate to work with, and rebuilt from the ground up. One of our biggest challenges was having the Urei monitors work well in our small space. We installed lots of bass traps to control the low end as much as possible. We believe we’ve managed to strike a balance between controlling the acoustics of the space, yet still sound natural, lively, and exciting.” The space has been designed with live recording in mind, with windows between all three spaces that allow performers to see each other.

J.studio has had to come to terms with the impact the global Covid-19 pandemic has had on the music industry, especially the live sector. Determined to be part of the solution, Chen took the innovative step of hosting the Travel By Music live jazz show that was broadcast from the studio to Japan.

“Originally, the Taiwanese musicians were supposed to fly over to Japan for the gig, but of course this wasn’t possible due to the Covid-19 pandemic,” explains Chen. “The show was performed by Taiwanese musicians playing in our studio, and broadcast via the internet to another jazz band in Japan. They performed the show in real time before a live audience, together with the Taiwanese musicians. Being able to connect musicians from two different countries and have them play as if they were in the same space was a very humbling experience, and it was a huge honour to be involved in this project.”

To ensure that the show was able to run as smoothly as possible, Chen upgraded to fibre optic internet, with 500mpbs download and upload speeds. He also used Yamaha’s SyncRoom software, which allowed very low latency audio streaming over the internet. “After lots and lots of preliminary testing, we were able to guarantee that the show would run perfectly, and there was no perceptible latency from either end,” he says. The show was livestreamed to an audience in Japan, in a venue with an audience capacity of 3,000 people. “Although these technologies have actually existed for some time, the music industry has only just now started to leverage them. With that being said, we’re very excited about what’s to come in the future after using these tools and understanding what is possible now.”

The studio is also producing rock outfit Unknown Band composed of indigenous Taiwanese musicians who play a mixture of contemporary and traditional Taiwanese instruments, an ongoing project Chen describes as “a ton of fun.”

“It’s been an unprecedentedly difficult time for musicians,” Chen reflects. “Even though Taiwan’s Covid situation has settled down considerably, lots of people have taken advantage of this downtime to record new music. We haven’t taken for granted how fortunate we’ve been to continue operations during the pandemic, and we truly hope that the world returns to some sort of normal as soon as possible.”

Having not only survived but adapted and thrived in its first complete year in business, the future for J.studio looks promising indeed.

This feature appears in the May–June edition of Pro AVL Asia. Subscribe at www.proavl-central.com/subscribe/asia