Hello eveyone,
I'm Yaron, the guy who designed the mixer, together with Igor the technician.
I wanted to post pics and tell the whole story on this board, but I wanted to do it when the mixer is finished and it isn't just yet. But I guess you can't really keep a secret in these days of the internet, which is a great thing actually, cause that's also the reason that I was able to design this mixer.
Anyhow, like I said, the mixer is not finished just yet. It is working already and sounds absolutly incredible and we've been using it in the club for about a month now. But there are a few options, modules, that are not operational yet and the main meter display is not there yet. It will take a few more weeks to be finished.
I did a 3 years research before opening the club, building the sound system and the heart of it - the mixer.
I did fly to NYC and met people like David Mancuso, Gary Stewart, Alan Feirstein and more.. All were very helpful and kind and gave me a lot of advice. I did speak to Shorty and did consider hiring him or Gary to do the job. But after a while I came to a conclusion that I will get the best results by doing it myself, with the help and advice of the people I mentioned above. I actually never met Scott in person but I have to say that he was the most helpful from all, and we did speak alot on msn and e-mail and I bother him all the time with questions
Thank you Scott for writing what you wrote here, especially for describing me as a "young man" (I'm actually 38 years old.. but I do behave much below my age ). But what I thank you most is for giving me the confidence to try something risky, "double or nothing" like you wrote.
You see, I have tons of respect for mixers like Urei and Bozak etc. And to try and design a mixer myself seemed to me almost like a desecration of something holy. But after years of research and experiments, I came to a conclusion that all DJ equipment that I tried (and I did try almost everything), is actually on either "amature" or maximum "semi-proffesional" standards, when you compare it to mastering quality standards. Most people believe that audio mastering quality equipment does not belong in a night club. I thought different. Only after I tried so many mixers, seperate EQs, pre-amps etc., I realised that the only way to reach the sound that I dream of is to custom build it, becuase all proffesional audio equipment is made for recording and mastering studios and not for DJ use. So it had to be built from scratch, using the parts of the highest quality audio equipment but with an interface that will suit the use of DJs.
After I tried many technicians who could not deliver, I found Igor. From the first phone call, I felt that he was my man. At first he didn't want the job. He only builds stuff for mastering and proffesional recording studios. He builds stuff for mastering engineers all around the world. But eventudally I did manage to convince him.
At first I thought I only want some EQ modules to work with my Urei mixer, but after a few meetings with Igor, we both realised that a whole new mixer would be the best way to reach my goals.
This is when I had a big dillema. The cost was huge. Many times higher than any DJ mixer in production nowadays, and for good reason - the parts used were of the highest quality and much more expansive than the parts used in any other DJ equipment. And I knew that sound is a tricky thing. There are so many parameters and it's not like math. So it was a really big risk to spend all this money and invent something new that will be the heart of the system, which is in itself the heart of the whole club.
It was then that I turned again to Scott and asked him for advice. I said to him that I believe that the Urei is distorting the sound, less than most other DJ mixers, but still much more than mastering grade audio equipment. And to my surprise, Scott completely backed me up on this. He said to me that he thinks I'm on the right direction and that I should trust what my ears are telling me.
So I did. And it worked!!! I'm still amazed that it did. It made the system sound like a completely new system. I know it will sound very pretentious, but I'm only saying what I believe in: This mixer destroys, crashes, eliminates, any other DJ mixer that I heard, also after many A/B testings at home and in the club. And I've tried them all - Urei, Bozak, Allen & Heath, Formula Sound, Rane. No contest. The sound is huge, majestic, lush, amazing definition and resolution and punch and magic. When you look at the parts used, it shouldn't be a surprise actually.
Not only that it worked and the system sounds out of this world, but the crowd actually notices it not only in a sub-concious level. Everybody knows about it, everybody noticed the change in the sound, everybody is talking about it and the DJs are ecstatic to use it.
I would love to explain more about it (I don't believe in secrets about sound, I like to share) but I have to go now. If anybody is interested, I will post more pictures and explain more when it's completely finished.
And BTW, I do not use the Thrive isolator. It is in the pictures because I did buy it and I do have it in the booth, but only for looks. I do appreciate the Thrive for what it does good, but it's not the direction I chose to go with my system.
Also, I should say that this forum, which I've found a little over 3 years ago, was the first place where I started learning important things about club sound and it was also one of the reasons that I chose to open my club.
Yaron
