Recording and mixing engineer Alek Edmonds has added a pair of KK Audio Labs DS-8 eight-inch, two-way powered audio monitors to his studio, located within the IQ Beats music production house in Seattle, Washington.
Edmonds, a longtime fan of studio monitor designs by KK audio labs founder Keith R. Klawitter, is a former staff engineer at Paramount Studios and recently relocated from Los Angeles.
“Compared to the other monitors that I tested they delivered a more natural sound,” says Edmonds of the KK audio labs DS-8 monitors.
“These speakers combine the best elements of Klawitter’s previous designs. Once I started mixing on them, everything that came back was true,” he added.
Edmonds says that he typically alternates between two pairs of monitors while working. “The DS-8s are not fatiguing, so I can mix on them for a long time.”
“I can mix on them for eight hours and my ears aren’t as beat up as when I use other speakers.”
He also notes that the KK audio labs monitors are consistently accurate regardless of volume levels. “I’ve noticed that with some powered monitors, at low levels they don’t really hold up.”
“You have to get them in that middle level range before you hear them do their thing. But I like the DS-8s, because you can still mix at a low level—and if you turn them up they’re still true.”
Edmonds was previously a staff engineer at Paramount Recording in Los Angeles for five years, where he worked with a broad spectrum of artists, including Lil John, Sean Kingston, Ludacris, Snoop Dog, Mary J. Blige, Avril Lavigne, Grace Potter, the Steve Miller Band, RZA, Swizz Beats, Devo, Cobra Starship, and Grammy-nominated Ryan Leslie, to name a few.
Since relocating to Seattle in August 2010 his focus has been mainly rock bands, and he has started working with up and coming bands such as Tomten, Slender Means and the Small Hours.
