Javier Fracchia’s studio in Buenos Aires has become the first mastering facility in Argentina to feature Genelec 8361A studio monitors, the flagship of “The Ones” range of coaxial three-way point source models.
When Fracchia was looking to move away from his previous 2.1 system at his mastering studio to full-range monitors, Genelec was not originally a brand he had considered. However, having researched the technology behind The Ones and then hearing the monitors in action for himself, he was convinced that these would provide the perfect solution to meet his needs.
“My background is in live sound, so I know the advantage that coaxial systems bring to stage monitors, and reading all the positive comments about The Ones intrigued me,” recalls Fracchia. “When I was able to hear them at the CAPER show in Buenos Aires I immediately wanted to hear more.”
Genelec’s local distributor Equaphon agreed to set up a demo of the 8351s at Fracchia’s studio so he could get a clearer picture of the capabilities of The Ones range. “Listening to the 8351s in my studio just made me smile,” says Fracchia. “The stereo image was just amazing, and I didn’t need to listen to anything else to make a decision. All the information I needed was there.”
While the 8351s were almost perfect, there was one issue. Fracchia works mostly with urban music and needed his monitors to reproduce the lowest frequencies at high levels, to remove the need for a sub. The 8351 didn’t provide quite enough low end for Fracchia both in terms of frequency range and SPL. As an alternative, the Equaphon team suggested the flagship 8361s. Having already heard the 8351s, Fracchia knew that the technical specs of the 8361s would be able to solve the minor issues he had, and agreed with Equaphon’s proposed solution, keeping the 8351s at his studio until the 8361s arrived.
The acoustic treatment that is already installed at the studio meant that Fracchia was less concerned with the calibration of the monitors. However, he has found the GLM loudspeaker management software to be a very useful tool. Since the mastering process relies on monitoring at consistent and well-defined levels, he is making use of GLM’s powerful monitor control features. “Controlling volume is an essential part of my work,” he explains. “So I connect a microphone to GLM so that I can get a real-time SPL reading of my listening level.”
Reflecting on what his new monitoring solution has brought him, Fracchia is clearly very happy with his decision to invest in the 8361s. “The extra headroom in the low frequencies, the pristine stereo image and the wider sweet spot all provide clear improvements to my mastering work,” he states. “I am now able to perceive even 1 dB of difference at any frequency, and I can now work at high levels without distortion.”
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