Calling itself the “ultimate weekend of audio recording geekery’, the 2014 PotLuckCon
Audio Conference brought recording industry professionals together for a healthy
serving of workshops, seminars, recording sessions and demos from the best and
brightest in the pro audio industry.
A key participant was the Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences (CRAS), which
hosted a demo room featuring Harman JBL’s flagship M2 Master Reference Monitor
loudspeakers. The CRAS mobile broadcast unit was also on hand, equipped with JBL
LSR6325P studio monitors and a Studer Vista 5 digital mixing console.
CRAS is a technical school providing instruction in audio recording, engineering and
production. Its two locations in Tempe and Gilbert, Arizona teach students the skills
they need to start their career in the day they graduate.
The JBL M2 Master Reference Monitor is a two-way powered large-format loudspeaker
designed to set new standards for sonic accuracy and dynamic range in professional
monitoring environments. It incorporates JBL’s newly developed D2 dual-diaphragm,
dual-voice-coil compression driver, a differential drive dual-voice-coil woofer and
JBL’s proprietary Image Control Waveguide to deliver exceptional studio monitor
performance.
When CRAS Digital Department director Robert Brock began planning the CRAS
exhibit at PotLuckCon, he realized the professionals at the convention would be the
perfect audience for the M2. “PotLuckCon draws exactly the kind of people who, like
our students, need to hear this loudspeaker.’
One of the highlights of PotLuckCon is the Casita Gear Crawl, in which the exhibit
rooms are transformed into mini-studios. CRAS’s Casita featured a pair of M2
monitors. “For most of the people who came to our room it was the first time they’d
heard the M2 and it was a big hit,’ Brock comments. “It faithfully reproduces
everything that’s on the original recording with absolutely uncompromised dynamics
and frequency extension. It’s incredibly revealing without ever sounding clinical or
harsh and its tonal balance and spatiality remain intact over a wide listening area.’
Also at PotLuckCon, Andrew Scheps, producer, mix engineer and principal of
Tonequake Records, delivered a presentation titled “Lost In Translation’, which
examined the effect of low-resolution digital delivery on the emotional impact of
recorded music. Sponsored by the Recording Academy Producers and Engineers Wing,
and with JBL M2 Master Reference Monitors as the playback system, the crowd
experienced Scheps’ dramatic A/B comparison of high and low-resolution file formats.
