"An Indispensable Tool for Live Sound" - Doug McKendrick shares his thoughts on the CEDAR DNS 8D
Massey Hall's Deane Cameron Recording Studio
Massey Hall, Canada's premier venue for concerts and lectures, has long attracted renowned celebrities and top-tier talent from around the world including the likes of Justin Bieber, Bob Marley, Harry Styles, Jerry Seinfeld and even Sir Winston Churchill.
Opened in 1894, it was refurbished in 2022 with the addition of an 8-story tower, the Allied Music Centre. Included in the new tower are a number of new venues and the Deane Cameron Recording Studio, a sophisticated recording facility on the 7th floor, which is connected to all of the venues in the facility. We recently discovered that a CEDAR DNS 8D is now being used at Massey Hall to control noise and bleed in live performances so we reached out to Doug McKendrick, Vice President of Production and Technology, to learn more about how they use the DNS 8D to achieve pristine audio quality.
The Challenge
In the live concert business, sound engineers face various challenges including high latency, synchronisation issues, acoustic variability, and balancing levels. So Doug and his team needed a reliable solution to deliver the best for their audiences. When asked about the challenges they face, he explained, "It's the classic problem that everyone in live sound, broadcast, and recording faces when using vocal mics - keeping the vocals loud and present while ducking things such as hi-hats, cymbals, and other bleeds. We often have to cope with shows that are recorded or broadcast live without rehearsal, so our engineers are mixing on the fly, where we don't necessarily know who does what or when."
The Solution
We asked him how he'd heard about the DNS 8D. He said, "There are other tools out there to deal with these problems, but the CEDAR DNS 8D is on a whole other level. I heard about it from an amazing engineer that we work with, Mark Vreeken, who had been using it with an artist he was touring with. Following that, Dave Dysart from YSL Pro and Tim Condon at Long & McQuade were raving about it as well, so I was very intrigued. We tested a demo unit and promptly purchased it." He continued, "Our studio is based around Dante, so we were up and running almost instantly. We insert it onto channels of our SSL System T for live work (primarily on live vocals to get rid of bleed and clean up mixes) or directly into our DAW if we are using it in post".
"Sometimes you wonder if it's doing anything because it's so transparent"
Doug also highlighted the DNS 8D's user-friendly design and quick setup as some of its standout features. "It's super simple to use and it just works. It's generally a set-and-forget situation. We can get engineers up and running on it very quickly, and it cleans things up on the live, broadcast, or streaming side very efficiently. When we use it in post, again, it speeds up the process significantly and requires virtually zero learning curve. The hardest part for me was finding a free power outlet in our rack. With its integrated Dante interface, we were up and running right away. It couldn't have been easier."
The highlight of the interview was when Doug expressed his desire to have the DNS 8D available for every job he works on. "Sometimes you wonder if it's doing anything because it's so transparent. But if you punch it out, it becomes extremely obvious that it's doing a tremendous amount. It is one of those tools that I really miss when I'm somewhere else. It really is night and day."
Final words
When asked to describe the CEDAR DNS 8D in one word, Doug chose "magic."
"We are thrilled with the DNS 8D. It's a tool with endless applications and has significantly improved the quality of our mixes and the work coming out of our studio. Once you've tried it, it's hard to live without. It's as close to magic as I have experienced."
About the CEDAR DNS 8D dialogue noise suppressor
The DNS 8D offers eight channels of noise suppression. With near-zero latency and high-resolution processing, it's the product of choice when sound engineers need to reduce background noise, reduce bleed and suppress excess reverb in live performances or live studio broadcasts.
More information Contact your local dealer News
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t: +44 1223 881771
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