Andrew Maury on the AttackWall
When Andrew Maury set up his new studio in Greenpoint Brooklyn, he made the AttackWall its centerpiece.
There is *nothing* more exciting to me in the studio than a pair of speakers that sound right. It provides the freedom to trust creativity. I invested in an ASC AttackWall in search of this trust, and have not blinked for a second since. The AttackWall is a first class product that has transformed my studio, allowing me to deliver productions and mixes at the highest level.
This product is expensive, but for very good reason. Aside from the fact that they’re black magic, they’re undeniably well-constructed.
The results are so drastic and impressive that I am now second guessing the role of everything else in the studio. The AttackWall has shown me that there are no tools more powerful than my ears and instinct. It has proven that the first priority is monitoring.
My room had previously utilized a significant amount of thick corner traps, reflection point absorption, a ceiling cloud, etc. All of the suggested measures to create a good mix environment. But there was a haziness in the low end and image that I couldn’t quite overcome.
Adding the AttackWall erased the remaining haze. I immediately noticed:
- A tighter and extended low end.
- A separation in the low end that I had not yet witnessed, where bass notes hand off to each other seamlessly.
- A panoramic stereo image where the mix becomes visual.
- A wider and more forgiving sweet spot.
- Transient detail I had never heard before.
- Quicker tracking and mix decisions.
With the exception of those with the budget to work in world class studios, today’s recording climate is increasingly DIY. A lot of great creativity is committed to record in mediocre acoustic environments. In these scenarios, the only projects that seem to “pass the test” are the ones made by people who understand audio in a more profound way, or have outside mixers cleverly make it work at the finish line.
I believe that most musically minded people have it somewhere in them to know great sound despite the tools. Wouldn’t it be great if more self-recording musicians and budding engineers had the opportunity to witness uncompromised monitoring? Their instincts would translate with ease. The craft would begin to make sense much quicker. I firmly believe that the TubeTrap line of products is the modern answer to poor monitoring in both rogue and professional music-making environments.
“Endless configuration! There’s immeasurable value in this product, and it will travel with me forever into the future…”
This product is expensive, but for very good reason. Aside from the fact that they’re black magic, they’re undeniably well-constructed. When my tube traps arrived, I grabbed the first one out of the box and thought to myself, “okay, this is quality. This stuff is for real.” Perhaps the best part about the TubeTraps are that they are so incredibly modular. Consider what several thousand dollars gets you for a studio construction job. It’s a construction job that can’t travel with you to the next room, or the next city you move to, or into the live room to cut a vocal. Endless configuration! There’s immeasurable value in this product, and it will travel with me forever into the future working on records.
“As someone who made the jump, I can safely say its great over here. After buying the AttackWall, I became the mixer I always wanted to be — the mixer I feared I would never become. Please, join me. You will not regret it. After buying the AttackWall, I became the mixer I always wanted to be — the mixer I feared I would never become.”
Andrew immersed himself in the professional audio community and quickly garnered a reputation remixing as a member of the highly esteemed RAC (rac.fm) while also touring the United States mixing front of house live sound for bands such as Ra Ra Riot, Givers, and Delicate Steve.
Andrew’s first major studio credit was assisting producer and Death Cab For Cutie guitarist Chris Walla on Tegan & Sara’s Sainthood.
Andrew later co-produced and engineered Ra Ra Riot’s sophomore album The Orchard, and has since worked on dozens of records for both indie and major label artists such as RAC, Panama Wedding, Milagres, High Highs, Penguin Prison, The Static Jacks, Kisses, Holychild, Princeton, Paperwhite, Superhumanoids, Mathieu Santos, Hints, Aer, and Diaz.
