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MARK NEEDHAM LOOKS TO LAVRY ENGINEERING CONVERTERS TO PROVIDE MUSICAL MIXES FOR CHRIS ISAAK, THE 88
Optimum Transparency of Gold AD122-96MKIII and LavryBlue LE 4496 Gives Hit Mixer Pure Path to Visionary Results
Los Angeles, CA: Mark Needham knows how to make mixes that get noticed. Working out of his analog-minded Los Angeles headquarters known as The Ballroom Studios, his distinctly musical touch is in high demand as he finishes off mixing new albums for Chris Isaak and Island recording artists The 88.
Every song that Needham mixes passes through a signal path that relies on the extreme transparency of Lavry Engineering converters. At The Ballroom, the Lavry Gold AD122-96MKIII and LavryBlue LE 4496 modular AD/DA conversion system are integral to a system that has gained him fame mixing for the likes of Bloc Party, Cake, Robert Cray, Fleetwood Mac, Bruce Hornsby, The Killers and dozens more.
"Lavry Engineering's vision makes my sound work," Needham says. "At The Ballroom, we're summing in the analog main buss, so we need an excellent A/D transfer back into Pro Tools. When you're working like that, you can really sink or swim on your converter - pick the wrong one, and things sound dark. I've tried pretty much every converter available, and the Lavry is the best I've used."
For the upcoming albums for Chris Isaak and The 88, as well as all of his projects, Needham's 32-channel analog summing setup uses two AD122-96MKIII's. One of the units is set at an elevated level for creating reference CDs for his clients, with the other set at a zero level for the actual files sent to mastering. Featuring a -127dB dynamic range, 0.00005% total harmonic distortion + noise, built-in
"The main thing that I hear with my Lavry converters is real clarity in the top end," says Needham. "The increase in stereo width is also noticeable. I don't hear my stereo field collapsing, which I do with a lot of other converters. With the AD122-96MKIII I know what I'm monitoring on the input will sound exactly the same on the output."
Needham taps the power of the LavryBlue LE 4496 modular AD/DA conversion system for his monitoring chain. The LavryBlue's A/D cards allow the selection of various word lengths, Analog or Digital soft saturation, and dither with
"I love having the Lavry converters for my D/A as well," Needham explains. "We're listening directly out of Digidesign Pro Tools to the LavryBlue, and it makes a significant difference in the stereo field. We also have never had any trouble with our units: These Lavry's are on 15 hours a day, six days a week with zero problems."
As one of LA's top mixers, Mark Needham can be selective about what converters he applies to the elite artists he works with, and the innovation of founder Dan Lavry has made a lasting impression on his ears. "I think he's bringing an extremely high-quality A/D and DA solution to the industry," Needham states. "The Lavry Engineering gear makes me happy -- it's by far the most transparent converter that I've used."
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All referenced product names are trademarks of their respective owners.
About Mark Needham:
For more information, please visit www.markneedham.com.
