Manhattan-based Avatar Studios, formerly known as The Power Station, is one of New York’s legendary recording facilities. It is also home to producer / composer/ engineer David Kahne, who has a resume that reads like the music industry’s “Best of…” list.
Central to Kahne’s production efforts are studio reference monitors from Equator Audio.
For the uninitiated, David Kahne is a musician, composer, engineer, mixer, producer, A&R man, and music supervisor. In one or more of these capacities, he has worked with the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Lana del Rey, James Brown, Stevie Nicks, Cher, The Bangles, Paul McCartney, and many more artists. He also received a Grammy Award for Tony Bennett’s MTV Unplugged, which was the Album of the Year in 1994.
Kahne, already a user of Equator Audio D8 studio monitors, recently added a pair of the company’s D5 monitors.
“I have a studio at Avatar Studios,” Kahne reports. “It’s a good size room, and I also have access to the big rooms when I need a large acoustic space for recording drums, orchestra, loud guitars, etc. I’ve been using Equator Audio’s D8 monitors for roughly a year and a half at this point and have been very impressed with their performance, which is why I recently added a pair of D5s.
“I use the D8s for both mixing and recording. I do have a bigger speaker set, but I spend a lot of time on the D8s because they’re so easy to listen to. With these speakers, there’s no listening fatigue and everything I mix on them translates really well to other playback mediums.”
Kahne continued, “Currently I’m working on a project for Motown Records that requires a very different kind of listening, which is staying true to what was recorded in the 60’s. Being coaxial design monitors, the D8s are great for this project, as most studios back then had coaxial monitors.
“I’m also using the D8s in my work with the rock band Walk off the Earth, a great group out of Toronto as well as Bad Rabbits from Boston, vocalist and instrumentalist Kate Davis from NYC, and vocalist Jena Rose from Dallas.”
Kahne notes that he particularly likes the way the midrange works with the D8s. It is clear and concise, and small changes are very audible.
“I must say that the bottom is really nice, too; it’s not hyped, so I’m not able to fool myself,” he adds. “As far as fatigue goes, I mentioned earlier that it’s very easy to listen to the Equator monitors for hours and not get tired. In my opinion, this is one of the great characteristics of coaxial speakers.”
Kahne made a point to add that they are not only great speakers with a unique character of their own, but they are also affordable.
“They not only sound good, but they’re sold at a price that makes sense for any professional or aspiring audio engineer,” he concludes. “With the Equator monitors, you get Cadillac performance at a price most anyone can manage. Thanks for making them!”
