- Hi, I'm Ashley Shepherd with Dynaudio and we're here at NAMM 2018 talking with Carl Tatz. So, Carl, how are you? - Fine, thank you. - I hear you're trying to walk every aisle in the whole show. How are you going to do that? - I don't know if it's going to be successful. I've never had a problem in any other show, but it's so massive this year. Like I said, it's not like a city. It's a country. It's that big now. - Yeah. - I'll give it my best. - Well, good. So what have you been up to lately? What's the latest thing? - We just finished. We had a really busy second half of the year. We did a beautiful studio for our Baltimore Oriole slugger, Mark Trumbo. - Okay. - We built a studio, there will be a press release. You'll see it here pretty soon. Just amazing tracking room. Eighteen foot ceilings. What we did is we opened up, it's in his home, so we took out the rafters and, you know, the roof, we just followed the roof line. It's got five dormers in it. - Wow, so that's going to create some interesting textures. - Oh it's really amazing. People think I'm a genius, but all I did was put drywall on it. - You're like "Hey, looks good." - Sure, I did a few things. It's got a great control room and a Phantom Focus system of course. We just finished up our eight Phantom Focus system at MTSU in their studio. A dual system. It had some old boxers, in wall boxers and they used some they used some opal speakers that they use throughout the whole campus. - Okay, sure. - Everybody is very happy with that. And then... We did a really nice mix room up in Connecticut for Ed Boyer A Cappella. He's an Acapella guru. - I think I remember you talking about him before. - Oh really? - Yeah, I think you mentioned him. - That's great. You may have seen the press release on that. You get press release stuff. - Oh yeah, of course. - Good. That's it. We've got Phantom Focus systems going down in Alabama and New Jersey. - For those viewers out there that aren't familiar with your Phantom Focus system, can you give sort of a description? A little bullet point of it? - Yeah, it's a tuning protocol that we use. - For control rooms. - For monitor systems. We've done a lot of Dynaudio monitors, which is a favorite of mine and it's a two day process where we come in, we use what we call a quad laser system and set the speakers up perfectly. It's something very repeatable. When I first started doing this, the first couple of years or so, it was like reinventing the wheel every time. - New room, new system. - Yeah, like "Well, let's make this sound." "Well, that sounds good, whatever." Then, I had an A-ha moment. It was actually in a bedroom. There was some crappy insulation around and all of a sudden it's like "This is amazing." - You've landed on something. - Right. Wouldn't it be great if we could repeat this over and over again with the same results? So we did "Okay, if we do this, this, this and this, Then, we can get this." So we need a name for this. We decided to call it the Phantom Focus system. It's a two day procedure, but it enables us to just hit it out of the park 100% every time in any room. - Well, I can attest to that because I've been to your room Blue. - Blue Grotto. - Blue Grotto and it was the best listening experience of my life. It blew my mind. We were listening to those tracks and right in that sweet spot, man! I felt like I was making out with Nora Jones. She was right there. It was awesome. - She was very happy about that. - I'm glad. Hey Nora, give me a call. - We need to get one up there at your place. - Yeah, well you know. - First the chair. - First the chair. I know, I need to get a chair. Once I get my console laid out because I'm an ergonomic freak. I'm a left handed person, so I have a couple of mice and I'm very sensitive to left-right positioning and how I'm at the console. - What do you use for a monitor controller? Or do you have the Nuage. - Nuage with this new Windows. It's a software based control system. You can put plugins in there and do EQ and do tuning if you want as a part of the control room, which is nice. But yeah, when I redo my desk to get everything situated, I'm very concerned about the chair. I'm interested in, do you call it the Carl Tatz chair? - Phantom Focus E-chair. - E-chair. - E for engineers chair. - The one interesting thing that I've seen about this is that when you go forward, it goes with you, right? - Yeah. - That's kind of one of the ideas of it? - What I tell people is the designer did a video for me. - Which I've seen that video. - I recommend people look at it. Basically the key is to have it on a forward tilt, that way it makes your back straight. - Proper posture. - You can't slouch. Then, it's your choice. You can either adjust it so that the lumbar goes with you as move back and forth, or you can just make it fixed. I kind of like it fixed because it's much stronger. It just stays there. It depends. I don't work like you do. You might like the other one better. - It depends on the day, too. I try to mix it up, stand up for awhile, sit down. Yeah, it's an important thing. What does the future hold? Is there something new coming down the pike? Are you just going to continue on with studio designs? - Yeah, I've got the studio designs. I have my own monitor that I'm working on, and of course we've been talking with Dynaudio to do something special. - With the 48's I think is what you were telling me? - Actually I have something new. - Oh something new? - Yeah, actually I have something custom made, with a custom shop. We've been talking with Andy Monroe, who designed the M Series. - He's done a lot of custom work with Dynaudio. - Nothings in stone yet, but we're talking about maybe having him do it. - That would be fabulous. - We'll just see. It's interesting because I talked to him several years ago about doing that, but he was working on the Egg at the time. - I remember that. They're 2A, small, egg shaped. - Yeah, I think there were two sizes, but you know, that was for, I'm trying to think of the name of the company. They're here. I don't even know if they make those any more. I think somebody picked them up, but anyway. That's on the horizon. I'm trying to think of what else is on the horizon. I don't know. That's enough. - That will keep you busy. - Yeah, we've got a lot of stuff going on. - That's good. - It's interesting the one I'm doing in New Jersey, it's Steve Jankowski, great horn player. He's played with Blood Sweat and Tears in Chicago, he's playing with Chic now. - Well, Don Belluce was one of my teachers at Berkeley who did all the Chicago records way back in the day. - They probably know each other, I'm sure. Anyway, so he bought an E-Chair and I helped him out with it. Then he says "Well, I'm coming to town. Chic is opening for Earth, Wind, and Fire. I'll come and I'll get you a couple of tickets to go back stage." I said "Oh, that's great." I figured he was just saying that, but he actually remembered me. He called me from the car on the way down. It was an amazing show. Chic is great and I'm a huge Earth, Wind and Fire fan. It's unbelievable. It was crazy. - They do a great show. - I have seen them two times before, but this was the best. Anyway, when he was in town I said, "Well great. Let me take you over to one of my studios and hear our Phantom Focus systems." I took him over to one of my studios in East Nashville and he just completely lost it. - It's an incredible experience. I'll say it again. He says "I've got to have this." So I'm helping him set up his room. He doesn't really have a budget for a Phantom Focus mix room, for me to come in. I saw the pictures and said "Let's nuke it." He's not on that budget thing. We can get a Phantom Focus system in there, but we've got to do this, this, this and this. He had bicycles in the control room. Things like that. Bicycles have got to go. - Acoustic anomaly. - I think that's going to happen next month or March, I think in the beginning of March he's got to go some place with Chic. Australia or Japan. I can't remember where. Hopefully it will happen in February. He's a great guy. Great guy to work with. - Cool. That's fine. You get to meet a lot of interesting people. - He did an album with Joe Pesci. - With Joe Pesci? - Yeah. I can't tell you on camera what happened, but Joe Pesci was kind of uptight because he's working with. I mean he has guys, amazing players come in. Just the best of the best. He was kind of intimidated. He's an actor, but he's not a musician per se. It all loosened up when they kind of like enacted a "Goodfellas" routine. - Broke the ice. - Broke the ice and then everyone says "Relax. F you" "F you? F me" kind of thing Then everyone was cool. It's a great story. - Yeah. Well, something that might be interesting for viewers out there. What kind of reference tracks? I know I heard some of the tracks that you like to play on these systems. Can you suggest to people to listen to for certain key things in their system? To know whether there's deficiencies or what's sounding good? - Yeah, the Nora Jones one is great for demonstrating really upfront vocal. - It's huge. - There's practically no compression on that record. That's a really loud record. Another one of my clients said, who does award winning mixes, Richard Firch, who I think I'm going to have dinner with at Musso's next week in LA. He said that's the loudest record he knows of. - Interesting. - And it's not slammed. - And he does Urban stuff, so that's really good for if you're, what's on my disc of Phantom Focus references is that's a really upfront vocal, then I've got Diana Kroll, it's kind of medium. It's called "Only Trust your Heart." It's on her first American album. - It's a real sensitive track. I remember that one. It's her heir. It's great for - The acoustic, yeah. Then, a good all around cut is James Taylor's from Hourglass, what is it? Line 'em up. - Okay, sure. - It's very standard. - Elliot Shiner, right? - No, Frank Filipetti. - Oh, Frank Filipetti. I get those confused. Sorry. - Then Elliot Shiner did the, there's a Donald Fagan cut that I use called "Mary shut the Garden door." I'm trying to think of what album it is. Not Nightfly. It's Morph the cat. - Okay. - That's like perfect. I save that to the end because it sounds good on an iPhone. - What was the one? - I've got a new cut, a new favorite cut just for overall impact. It's the new Bruno Mars album called Chunky. - Chunky? - Chunky, yeah. It's amazing. - I'll have to check that out. I haven't heard it. - I understand this guy, I can't think of his name, but he also mixed the new, who's the country girl? The young blond. - Shelby Lynn? - Taylor Swift. - Oh, okay. - He mixed that. I haven't heard that. - I'd go pop with Taylor Swift. Country? I don't know. - No, you're totally right. She started that way. But yeah, I highly recommend that cut. - Okay, cool. I remember one that I particularly liked. It was the Paula Cole cut. - Oh yeah, Sex. It was called Sex. The name of the cut is Sex. - I guess I had a very sensual experience with that. - Yeah, well you have to. - That was a cool record. It was really interesting. - I get a lot of, yeah, that was I'm trying to remember an engineer in New York who owns an E-chair. - Yeah, we were talking about him. I wasn't familiar with his work. - Oh, really? Well he's great. Darn it. It will come to me. - Do you know the album in case we're trying to find it? - I don't even know the name of the album - Paula Cole's Sex. - It's called Sex. It's the name of the cut. - It's hard to forget, yeah. - Yeah when I first, my client in Aspen turned me onto it. I wasn't even listening to the lyrics. I was just listening to the way it sounded, you know? If you listen to the lyrics, it's a dirty song. That's why when I play it for somebody I say, "By the way, this is a dirty song." - Preface. - Yeah, right. - Disclaimer. It's for the sound, really. - In case they think I'm a total creep. In case they find out, you know. - Right, ba-dum-tss. Well cool. - It's so much air and he's panning her breath. - Doing some interesting stuff As percussion. But there's some weight in that. The drums and the bass. - Well yeah when the bass comes in, it's got to be. - It's got that finger touch. - I think it's a synth bass, because it's too low to be a bass I think. - Oh, that part. Yeah. I've got to re-listen to that track again and make sure I know what I'm talking about. - Foundational. It's one of my favorites. - Down to the floor. Cool. I appreciate you taking the time. - The pleasure. Pleasure. Hopefully we can do stuff together in the future. - I look forward to it. I only got to hear the system once. - Next time you're in Nashville just look me up. - Of course, of course. We will. - I'll bring you up to the latest. I'll take you up to some of those rooms I was talking about. - I would love to. Again, it's always a pleasure. - Cool. - Hey, we're here at the NAMM show 2018 with Carl Tatz. I'm Ashley from Dynaudio. Thanks for watching!