The Juilliard School recently underwent a significant renovation as part of major upgrade in New York’s Lincoln Center and the Recording Department also benefited from the changes.
“In addition to a new orchestra rehearsal room and main control room, they also built a whole new suite of audio and video edit rooms because we needed more space,” said Bob Taibbi, Director of the Recording.
Taibbi explained that his department is tasked with “recording public performances, master classes, and other events for archival use, as well as studio recordings for faculty and students which are used for audition, competition, professional and personal use.”
Said Tabbi, “it’s really live recording if you want to be technical. We don’t teach recording here at Juilliard, although the school does offer a course in computer music editing, software and computers as part of the curriculum.”
ADAM Audio monitors are an integral component of Taibbi’s department, with ADAM P11As in the main control room and A7s in each of the edit rooms.
Tabbi recalled his first encounter with the monitors at an AES show when asked why they selected the monitors.
“I was interested in their ribbon concept and they sounded great at the show, but you can’t judge anything based on that. So I auditioned a pair because I’d been using other monitors which were good but I hadn’t found what I needed in Nearfield monitors.
“When I A/B’ed the ADAMs with the other monitors, I was immediately able to hear what I’d been missing in terms of crispness and clarity that’s in the sound yet still get the overall view of someone who’s listening to the program material in their living room.
“The ADAM monitors gave me a crisp, clear sound and the background that I wanted. When you record classical music, there’s a lot going on in terms of nuance and room sound and the timbre of the instruments, all of which is critical to the final sound. I always listen ‘beyond the music,’ to what’s behind the music.”
“And I when I played the ADAM speakers, because they’re so accurate, I’d start to hear things I hadn’t noticed before, some of which weren’t always that great sounding (laughs).”
“They’re very uncompromising and if there are problems with the mix or the recording, they will be revealed by the ADAMs. Which allowed me to correct certain things I never realized were there when I was tracking.”
“They’re unforgiving to a degree about certain elements, but that’s what you want. You don’t want to color it. When you want to get critical, you need critical speakers.”
