SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – DECEMBER 2008 Rather than walk the fine line between art and commerce, or plunge whole-hog to one side or the other, Zack Smith is one of those rare individuals who seemingly erases the line with undeniable authority and inspired authenticity. For those in the industry, his name precedes him. For those requiring some proof, a wall loaded with Clio and Addy awards and Platinum records should suffice. Smith started his career as the founder of the 1980s band Scandal (fronted by Patty Smyth) and wrote most of the band’s hits (most notably, “Goodbye To You”). He earned an Emmy for NBC’s “Henson Rain Forest” special and is the creator of Cotton’s “Fabric of Our Lives,” ASCAP’s most-played advertising theme.
Clearly, he’s got the chops, he’s got the intuition, and he’s even got the gear. A walk through his San Francisco studio, ironically named “Dustpan,” would stir feelings of envy and, possibly, jealousy in many pro audio geeks. But surprisingly, it was only recently that he gained full confidence in the translation of his mixes and freed his workflow from the logistical constraints of hired engineers. In the end, proper acoustic treatment and a pair of active ATC SCM 20 ASL loudspeakers made all the difference.
“Over the past 20 years, I’ve always had fairly ambient control rooms in my New York and San Francisco studios,” said Smith. “But several months ago I spent three weeks listening to my mixes at Skywalker and various other high-end studios around California. I didn’t like what I was hearing. There were things happening with ambiences, EQ, and especially bass that were completely hidden at my studio and more than a little disappointing. I realized a radical change was in order.”
Smith hired friend and renowned acoustician Manny Lacarruba – a partner at Sausalito Audio and the moving force behind the original design of The Plant
– to reinvent the control room at Dustpan. The two made a plan and then proceeded to gut the existing 24′ x 20′ x 9′ structure. They did everything right. They reframed a double wall, floated speaker towers on shock absorbers, and basically decoupled everything from everything else. They added absorption to the walls and ceiling where appropriate and installed refractors elsewhere. Bass traps removed dominant room modes. The result was a vast improvement.
But why stop there? Smith made a short-lived hobby out of listening to all the top names in near-field monitors. “True, I came out of the NS-10 school, and I wanted something on that order,” he said. “But I also wanted something that was much more honest; something that didn’t have the high-end and fatigue issues associated with NS-10s.” Of course, among those top names in near-field monitors was ATC. He kept coming back to the SCM 20 ASLs. He liked what he heard.
“The ATCs really tell a story,” he explained. “Many times I have wondered how I could be a better mix engineer…call me naive, but suddenly the answers were right in front of me…and they were obvious. It is far simpler to address audio clutter, to bring out definition and punchiness, when you hear your work on this system.” In addition, the SCM 20 ASLs seemed to provide a much broader sweet spot than any of the other alternatives. “With clients in the room, it’s great to have monitors that perform well over a twelve-foot swath… instead of just the width of my chair!”
With the ATC SCM 20 ASLs in the near-field position, Smith bumped his existing Dynaudio BM15s with twelve-inch sub to mid-field position. Although he considered getting a subwoofer for the near-fields as well, the crossover gradient on the ATCs allowed him to generate ample and appropriate bass without it. In the first month with everything up and running, Smith has turned to the mid-fields mainly for drum tracking and for situations where sheer volume is all that’s needed.
“When I need something more ‘hype-y’ or when I’m need to blow people’s hair back, I use the mid-fields,” he explained. “But I don’t consider them nearly as accurate as the ATCs. The mid-fields are basically for entertainment. The ATCs are for serious mixing.” As an aside, Smith admitted that he has yet to clip the ATCs. “They push much, much harder than anything their size and are fatigue-free even after marathon, sixteen-hour sessions!”
The whole experience of treating his control room and getting the very best near-fields he could find has been something of a revelation for Smith. “I’ve been in this business for a long time,” he says, “and I’ve always wondered how all these really world-class mix guys do it. How do they build such consistently awesome mixes that sound amazing no matter what system they’re played on? It seemed like magic. But now I’m learning that the truth lies, to a large degree, in great speakers and great rooms. The key is simply having a system that lets you hear it.”
Smith now trusts his mixes where he didn’t completely trust them before. “With the ATCs, I’m not mentally compensating for what I think the speakers are doing to the mix,” he said. “I’m just mixing.” Recent spots completed for Honda and Barbie’s 50th Birthday were done on the ATCs and have sounded right on all the other system he’s heard them on. “You do, after all, want to trust your ears…so it’s critical that nothing impede your ability to really hear what’s going on in the music.”