Measurements of Kinoshita monitoring system at BOP studios

Micron

I thought some here might be interested in seeing this, so here goes:

The session happened mid 2015.

I have quoted the text here from my post on another forum, so the dates referred to will not be accurate in all instances, and I will refer to some members names op people that are not present on this forum.

Here goes:

I was at BOP studios this past weekend with some friends, Ghostinthemachine being one of them, to record music. While there I measured the Kinoshita monitoring system in studio one control room where we were recording.

Here is the first of a few graphs and photographs I will post. I will also make the REW files available.

I will post some more graphs and photos later.

Micron

No smoothing is applied to any of these graphs btw.

Here follows more of the measurements (also includes the first one I posted to make it easier for the reader).

The below graph displays the distortion plot for the right speaker taken from one meter on axis with the tweeter. Please note that the percentages in the legend below the graph displays the distortion for the frequency at which I have rested the cursor (blue vertical and horizontal lines). I chose to rest the cursor on the frequency with the highest distortion in the entire measured bandwidth. The frequency with the highest distortion for the right speaker being 34.9Hz with a THD of 2.6%. I didn't include the individual x'th order harmonic distortion traces but rather only the THD. Those whom wish to see the other traces, etc can do so when they open the file in REW on their own machines.

Now we switch to the left speaker.
On the graph below the red trace is the right speaker and the purple one is the left speaker. One can see their frequency response differs slightly. Some of the variance might also be due to the microphone not being the exact same distance and angle from the speakers for both measurements respectively.

The below graph displays the distortion plot for the left speaker taken from one meter on axis with the tweeter. Please note that the percentages in the legend below the graph displays the distortion for the frequency at which I have rested the cursor (blue vertical and horizontal lines). I chose to rest the cursor on the frequency with the highest distortion in the entire measured bandwidth. The frequency with the highest distortion for the left speaker being 34.4Hz with a THD of 4.18%. According to my measurements the distortion of the left and right speaker differ. I didn't include the individual x'th order harmonic distortion traces but rather only the THD. Those whom wish to see the other traces, etc can do so when they open the file in REW on their own machines.

The left speaker's RT60 differs quite significantly from the right's.

Mix position measurements coming soon.

Micron

Just some bonus random photographs I have from the day there.

The live room.

I used this FM Acoustics amp for all the measurements.

Power supplies for the Focusrite console. (Biggest one of only eight Focusrite consoles in the world is in BOP studio 1).

The Pro Tools rig.

The signal chain used to make the measurements are Macbook > Focusrite Scarlet 2i2 > Behringer ECM8000. I don't have a cal file for the ECM8000 so the measurements might be out buy a dB or two here and there, though measurement mics of different brands across a wide spectrum of prices have been proven to perform very similarly here (http://realtraps.com/art_microphones.htm)

Micron

Here is the frequency response from mix position.

Distortion vs frequency at mix position. 36.4Hz is the frequency with the highest THD in the entire measured bandwidth with 7.87 % THD.

A great performer and the best loudspeaker system I have experienced thus far.

If you have any questions feel free to ask.
This studio is in SA btw. Literally a world class facility (but a little run down at the moment).

TokyoP0P

I don't even want to think about how much all of that equipment is worth.

Micron

Now imagine a grand heist performed at the very studio in which some of the most amazing gear gets robbed. Then realise it's a reality.

Check this thread (https://www.gearslutz.com/board/so-much-gear-so-little-time/477731-stolen-gear-bop-rec-studios.html) for a list of items stolen in the robbery.

The robbery occurred a few years before our session ever took place, so basically all that remains are rooms with monitoring systems. One has to come with your own mics and DAW if you want to record there.

A mate of mine (Dewald Visser) use to be the in house repair tech, so that's how we got access to the studio to do some sessions.

I did another session there late 2015 with Dewald.

We helped to record an acoustic guitar album for good friend Herman Bergman.

You can listen to some of the tracks of the album here if you like:
http://hermanbergman.com/album/mahai-guitar-compositions/

The CD launch for that album is actually happening this weekend at the Brooklyn theatre.
More info on that here (http://hermanbergman.com/event/mahai-cd-launch-matinee/#events)

Here is a photo from the acoustic guitar album session:

All guitars ther are handmade in SA. We also used boutique made in SA mic pre's and some made in SA mics too.

Norman86

BOP is well known, but not well known enough unfortunately.
The way it was built is amazing. It's sad that it's been allowed to waste away.

Micron

Yeah Tom Hidley is a genius.

His control room and live room certainly are the best I've had the privilege to record in.

Ibanezsoul

Hey Micron, you had a MDAT File of the Measurements at BOP Studios. Can you reupload it again? Would be great, thank you!