Alongside its renowned Tonmeister course – possibly the most prestigious audio engineering course in the UK – the University of Surrey runs the innovative Creative Music Technology course. The most recent creative studio listening set-up saw Music Technology Programme Director Dr Tom Hall choose PSI Audio loudspeakers for a large and immensely versatile array.
The UK is blessed with a wide range of audio education options, with the University of Surrey ranking high among them – its graduates regularly win awards and work at top of the industry.
The blend of musical study, electronic music performance, audio engineering and recording practice prepares them for pretty much any job in the industry, from music production to broadcast to R&D. The department’s hallways showcase some of the graduates’ achievements.
The facilities encompass multiple high-end recording studios as well as actual broadcasting studios. In accordance with current developments, immersive audio plays a significant role as well.
‘We have one NHK-like room for research,’ Senior Lecturer Alan Haigh explains. ‘There is a research project that uses the 22.2 set-up to explore how you can generate immersive audio with all sorts of different speakers. Say you have a stereo system and other devices like phones, tablets or Bluetooth speakers in the room – can you connect them and make them create appropriate audio? That kind of research is going on there.’
‘We also have a Dolby Atmos room planned with a 9.4.4 set-up,’ Hall adds. And then there is the recently equipped room with the PSI Audio speakers.
The new Creative Music Technology Studio features a total of 23 PSI Audio loudspeakers: a ring of eight A23-M at ear level, four A23-M as floor speakers, four A23-M as ceiling speakers, one A23-M as central ceiling speaker (Voice of God), two A25-M for the left and right channels and four Sub A225-M subwoofers.
‘I spent most of my time with channel mappings,’ hall says. ‘That is a lot of work, especially if you are switching between different configurations.’
With their dynamic and natural transients, linearity in frequency and phase and sonic coherence across models, PSI Audio loudspeakers excel in this field. The result is a room for a number of applications – it is a compositional space for immersive music; a small performance space and, of course, a teaching space with a serious monitoring set-up. ‘It’s just lovely to be in here,’ Hall reports. ‘The students all love it. I really look forward to exploring the sonic possibilities of this new space.’
An ambitious project like this is never quite finished, though, and there are plans to further elaborate on the potential of the studio. Some more acoustic treatment is in the works. Different stands for the floor speakers to optimise their angle are also on the cards. ‘And a rug wouldn’t go amiss,’ Hall says.
But despite this possibility for further improvement, the professors are enthusiastic about the sound, and how little digital correction it required. ‘We did a little EQ,’ Haigh says. ‘I haven’t touched the top end, just a few little bass things, very minimal.’
Apart from the sound, the fully analogue design of the PSI Audio speakers appealed to Hall. ‘There’s a trend to replace analogue circuitry with digital tech,’ he says. ‘But analogue, you know – it’s just what it is and doesn’t try to be anything else. That was attractive to me.’
More: www.psiaudio.swiss
