Kenny “Mixx” Daniels Builds Urban Masters Around Millennia Media’s Twin Topology



Atlanta, GA June 2012 - Kenny “Mixx” Daniels’ urban hit factory at Patchwerk Studios features Millennia Media’s NSEQ-2 stereo parametric equalizer and TCL-2 two channel opto-compressor.

Mastering engineer Kenny “Mixx” Daniels has compiled a strong urban discography, including chart-topping artists like T.I., Lil Wayne, Pitbull, R. Kelly, Kanye West, Prince and Rick Ross. Daniels’ mastering suite is part of Atlanta’s Patchwerk Studios, which has been tracking and mastering urban hits since 1995, producing more than 60 gold and platinum albums in the process.

Millennia Media Twin Topology™ gear is central to Daniels’ “pure music, no hype” approach to mastering. “I’ve used the NSEQ-2 stereo parametric equalizer for years,” he says. “It’s one of my go-to equalizers. Larry Anthony introduced me to the NSEQ-2 while I was his assistant at COS Mastering. When I got my own room, I had to have one.” Like all of Millennia Media’s Twin Topology designs, the NSEQ-2 lets Kenny Daniels choose an all-triode tube or an all-discrete J-FET solid state signal path at any time. Both are entirely transformerless, high voltage, pure Class A topologies with only one active stage in the audio path.

Twin Topology is also a hallmark of Millennia Media’s TCL-2 two channel opto-compressor, a more recent addition to Daniels’ mastering signal chain. “When I tried it, I just fell in love with it,” says Daniels. “A lot of the people who come in here ask me for another popular compressor. My answer is to A/B that one against the TCL-2. Of course, both of them sound great. But when we switch to the Millennia, the soundstage just opens up. It’s so transparent and the center channel is not phased out, so the TCL-2 controls the dynamics without shrinking the soundstage.”

125 Millennia HV-3 Preamps Bring Oscars’ live to 39 million

Hollywood, CA, February 2012 - Millennia HV-3 preamps were chosen once again for the live broadcast of the 84rd annual Academy Awards.  Unlike other “live” shows, this one isn’t delayed to other time zones.  The world is hearing the same audio. No second chance to fix something in the delayed broadcast.

Almost every instrument you heard on the show went through a Millennia preamp; HV-3Rs or HV-3Ds. When you have only one chance to capture it live, you want accuracy and dependability.

David Hewett (multiple TEC, Grammy, Emmy and CAS award winner) commented, “We had about 125 channels of Millennia Preamps to send line level over hundreds of feet of cable to the Remote Recording Truck. The clarity of audio along with their high voltage rails and huge dynamic range make them ideal for this work.” 

Tommy Vicari (multi award winning score and music mixer, Grammys and Emmys) added "There is not one recording session I do without Millennia Preamps! All their products are essential for the highest quality recording, day in day out.”

“Millennia is also there when I need them. Any problems, I can count on them for support. I don't work without them!”

The remote audio team was headed up by Tommy Vicari and David Hewitt (these guys have enough awards between them to hold their own show) They handled the immense task of bringing a constantly changing live event to the world.

First Millennia HV-35 Preamp Owner is All Smiles

(Malibu, CA, May 2011)  Millennia’s HV-35 500 Series preamp module starting shipping the second week of May.  The first unit found its way to the Lunchbox of Donal Hodgson, multi award-winning engineer/producer, currently working with Sting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“For me it was a no brainer when I heard that Millennia were releasing a 500 series mic amp.”

Millennia Keeps True Grit Clean with Michael Farrow and 32 channels of HV-3R and HV-3D

32 channels of  Millennia HV-3R and HV-3D preamps captured the sound of Carter Burwell’s music with Michael Farrow’s engineering.  This multi award-winning team has worked together for many top movies including the Coen Brothers’ Fargo and Big Labowski.

For True Grit’s score, recorded in New York’s Manhattan Center,  Michael choose Millennia  to get the sound. 

“I wanted to use the HV3's because of the incredible transparency, plus the endless headroom.  I know I can count on them to deliver the clearest, cleanest most transparent sound possible from my microphones. Very classy sounding mic pre's.”

Michael used two HV-3Rs and two HV-3Ds as the front end of his recording chain.  The results can be heard at a theater near you and the soundtrack CD on the Nonesuch label.

Millennia preamps have been the choice of the motion picture industry for over a decade.  You can hear Millennia on almost every acoustic score and animated feature film voice.

 

METAlliance Certifies

Millennia HV-3R Mic Pre

Features Eight-Channel

Remote-Control

 

 

 

Pictured (L-R) are METAlliance co-founder George Massenburg, Millennia President/Founder John La Grou, Phil Ramone, Frank Filipetti, Millennia Managing Director Joel Silverman, Ed Cherney, and Chuck Ainlay.  Photo by David Goggin.

Placerville, CA, January, 2010 -  Millennia Music & Media Systems, manufacturer of highly acclaimed audio recording products, has had its new HV-3R eight-channel microphone preamplifier certified by the Music Engineering and Technical Alliance (METAlliance). The HV-3R employs the same HV-3 mic preamp circuit found in their popular HV-3C and HV-3D units, while gain control is achieved via ultra-quiet, proprietary techniques. MIDI and Ethernet are the HV-3R’s primary remote protocols and MIDI interface allows plug-and-play compatibility with Pro Tools systems. 

John La Grou, Millennia founder and president, remarked, “It was critical that the remote control of our HV-3 preamp did not compromise our signature sound in any way.  After several years of experimenting with different circuit designs and hundreds of critical listening sessions, we came up with the proprietary method used in our HV-3R.  I’m glad that the ears of the METAlliance agree with ours.”

METAlliance co-founder and Grammy Award-winning engineer Ed Cherney commented, “My Millennia mic pre's go with me everywhere, and I especially rely on them for live recording.  I've used them exclusively for dozens of Rolling Stones recordings and live broadcasts I have done, and they have all of the headroom and gain I ever need. It's difficult to get them to distort and typically all I have to do is adjust the gain and record.  When recording live, there are long cable runs and when I place the Millennia racks on stage there are never issues when I have to send audio down a few hundred feet of wire. The audio is robust and the transients are always fast and accurate, with an incredible signal-to-noise ratio. I can’t imagine going into a live recording without them.”

METAlliance co-founder George Massenburg remarked, “For a long time there’s been a slot in my rack allocated to Millennia.  The HV-3R is a terrific high-performance front-end, and fits right into my high-resolution setup.” 

Frank Filipetti added, “A remotely operated mic pre is one of the most valuable and underused elements in the studio.  The Millennia software worked right out of the box and they have added tremendous capability to an already excellent mic pre.”

 "I’m very impressed with the sonic and build quality of the Millennia mic pre,” said Chuck Ainlay. "In a live recording or large, multi-room facility situation, the remote capability makes this pre-amp a first choice.” 

Al Schmitt concluded, “We are very impressed with the Millennia preamps and highly recommend them."

...more

 Millennia Jazzes Yoshi’s Steinway

(San Francisco CA,) Millennia’s HV-3C microphone preamplifier allows the Steinway’s tone and nuances to be heard at the world-class Yoshi’s Jazz Club in San Francisco.

“When it came to choosing a mic pre for our new Steinway piano, the Millennia was the obvious choice. The sonic detail this unit captures from acoustic instruments is stunning,” said Keith Yansurak, Yoshi’s audio engineer. 

“The HV3C makes the Yoshi's mic collection come alive. It opens up a microphone in such a way that you hear the true sound of the instrument.

 One will hear qualities from the instrument such as attack, tone, and dynamic range, things you would normally reach for your EQ knob or volume fader in the live sound environment. This box allows me to mix in a more organic manner and the musicians that play Yoshi's really appreciate this.”

Keith Yansurak is a San Francisco-based Live/Studio Audio Engineer. He has worked with all the greats at Yoshi’s, not to mention Broun Fellinis, Shawn Colvin and many more.

Millennia's first digital product nominated for TEC award

(Walnut Creek, CA) Millennia Media AD-D96/AD-R96 have been nominated for a 2009 Technical Excellence & Creativity Award in the category of Outstanding Technical Achievement, Digital Converter Technology.

The nominations are made by a panel of more than 100 audio industry professionals. Members of professional audio and sound production organizations, including the Audio Engineering Society (AES, the Producers/Engineers Wing of the Recording Academy, SPARS and the Game Audio Network Guild (G.A.N.G.) will determine the winners via online balloting beginning August 10th.

Millennia does Digital

(Placerville CA,) Millennia AD-D96 and AD-R96 eight channel analog to digital converter options for the HV-3D and HV-3R are making a noticeable improvement in the sound quality of the San Francisco Symphony’s recordings.

Jack Vad, award winning producer/engineer for the San Francisco Symphony recently upgraded his recording/broadcast chain at Davies Symphony Hall.

"I had Millennia install the AD-D96 analog to digital converter in our HV-3D. I was using some excellent high-end converters before", Jack said. "When I changed over to the AD-D96 there was a very noticeable improvement in clarity. So much so that both my staff and musicians noticed the improvement"

The TEC award nominated A/D converter is Millennia’s first digital audio product.  Its audiophile-quality proprietary converter design, tightly coupled to the HV-3 preamp, removes many stages of potential distortion.

The Millennia converters are 24-bit 96 kHz eight-channel AES format with Internal/External Clocking with AES or Wordclock in/out on BNC connectors.

The AES output is on a DB25 connector that conforms to the Tascam wiring standard. 

All HV-3D and HV-3R units can have the option installed.

Millennia AD-D96 and AD-R96 analog to digital converter options for the HV-3D and HV-3R are $1,500 MSRP. They are available now.

Millennia’s HV3-R remote pre-amp on stage with the Tokyo String Quartet

(New York City) Grammy award winning recording engineer, Brad Michel relied on the HV3-R for the Harmonia Mundi complete Beethoven String Quartets recording with the Tokyo String Quartet at the American Academy of Arts and Letters in New York City.

“It’s been a long time since I was this excited about an audio product,” Michel said. “If it isn’t already, the HV3-R will be on everyone’s wish list soon. The features are comprehensive, offering many more options than we’ve had on previous outboard microphone pre’s, and as I mentioned to Joel Silverman (Millennia’s Managing Director) the interface is extremely intuitive. And, of course, the realistic sound is what we have learned to expect from Millennia.”

The Tokyo String Quartet performs on "The Paganini Quartet," a group of renowned Stradivarius instruments named for legendary virtuoso Niccolò Paganini, who acquired and played them during the 19th century.

On loan since 1995, the Tokyo String Quartet has had the great pleasure of recording with these special instruments. Their new Beethoven cycle on Harmonia Mundi is one of the few recordings where all four instruments have been featured together.

Millennia on tour with the Police

Donal Hodgson -  NIGEL JOPSON talks to him about The Police reunion, Sting's
 own studio Steerpike, and an SSL that folds into a suitcase.

When Resolution spoke to Donal, he was busy setting up recording systems for The Police's reunion tour.

Give us an overview of the rig being used to record The Police live. 

Originally we had Pro Tools HD fed with Yamaha AD8HRs [8-channel mic preamps which output an AES-EBU signal]; we took the digital output straight into three Digidesign 192s. This gave us broadcast quality, but it wasn't anything to write home about.

I decided that if we were going to record every show, we should really up our game a bit, so I swapped the converters for Apogees and installed Millennia mic amps. Now we're using six Millennia HV-3D-8s for 48 channels, the quality is fantastic. ....more plus photos

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