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WOLFGANG FRAISSINET OF NEUMANN INTERVIEW

WILSON’S BEGUILING SABRINA LOUDSPEAKER!

DIGITAL SPECIAL!WHY iFi, LEEMA, LAMPINZATOR AND SCHIIT WILL ALL MAKE YOUR BITS JIGGLE WITH JOY

BRISTOL AND LISBON SHOWSBESPOKE AUDIO PREAMP

GRAHAM AUDIO LS3/5 LOUDSPEAKERCARDAS A8 EARPHONES

MEZE 99 HEADPHONES

MUSIC INTERVIEW

The Neumann brand is well-known among studio engineers, because practically all studios larger than a garage have at least one – and usually several – Neumann microphones, and it’s easier to list the recordings not made with Neumann

equipment over the last 60 years - because there aren’t many. The company isn’t resting on past glories though, and its latest digital microphones are as state of the art today as the Georg Neumann’s CMV3 ‘Bottle’ was in 1928. More recently, the company has revitalised the Klein + Hummel studio monitors, redesigning and placing them under the Neumann banner.

The company is not simply a faceless pro-audio brand. Neumann’s President and Director of Audio Recording at the Sennheiser group, Wolfgang Fraissinet, is a passionate musician, recording enthusiast, and producer in his own right. Recently, he has begun work on a series of recordings designed to showcase modern audio quality for audio enthusiasts: recordings every bit as audiophile in intent as the music lovers listening to them.

We flew to Berlin to Neumann’s elegant open-plan offices to speak to Wolfgang Fraissinet about the recordings, how they came about, and just how close the hi-fi and pro audio worlds are becoming. Be warned – his enthusiasm for music and recording is deeply contagious, and you might want to know more about how to record for yourself!

AS: What was the motivation behind this recording?WF: Knowing enough about professional recording is one thing. Creating something with that knowledge – something that is different from what everyone else is doing – that was the goal. I wanted to create something that wasn’t just the next recording of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, or a jazz recording of some type. I wanted to create new recordings for people who enjoy listening to a more or less perfect sound at home. There are people who spend lots of money on their audio equipment, but they end up buying music with such a limited resolution and music they cannot use to the maximum extent. They should have a reference recording that they should use to show what their system is capable of. That is the purpose of these recordings, whether in stereo or multichannel.

Wolfgang Fraissinet, President of Neumannby Alan Sircom

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How does what you do differ from ‘audiophile’ recordings?What I’m trying to do here is use our technology in the input side with microphones from the Sennheiser group, and use my background for music and audio recording – not just as ‘Mr President of Neumann’. My company appreciates this: they say ‘do it’ – in fact, it’s the best thing you can do, as this background helps to develop new products, helps to understand our customer base, and so on.

Can do you make surround sound as engaging as stereo?Yes, but they are very different. The 5.1 surround sound mix of Beethoven is not like an algorithm where you can encode stereo into 5.1; this is a complete surround sound mix in its own right. That makes the difference. I put myself – together with my producing friend Leslie Ann Jones (Director of Music, Recording, and Scoring at Skywalker Sound) – mentally into the centre of 85 musicians in the orchestra and 200 singers in the choir, and do the same for the listeners. This gives the listeners a unique feeling of becoming a part of the musical environment. They take a bath in the music of that orchestra, rather than being in front of the music like being in a theatre!

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EQUIPMENT REVIEW / WOLFGANG FRAISSINET, PRESIDENT OF NEUMANN

This is very different from the usual ambience of stereo. How is this created?It’s one thing to create a 5.1 surround sound as I just described, but the other thing is to ask what kind of creative ideas does a producer have to add more space to the recording in the post production process when it is needed. In some cases, instruments like a harp are always a bit thin sounding when recorded. Normally, I’d get 6dB from the walls behind the harp, but because of the low sound pressure level from the instrument, which is almost inaudible. So, what do I do as a producer to add this ‘space? It’s not putting the microphone next to the instrument – that’s the easy solution. The more sophisticated solution is to take a dummy head, put it into the hall behind the orchestra (not in front and not in the centre… behind the orchestra), let the dummy head face the rear wall behind the orchestra, and listen to the reverb: only what the hall brings back after the sound bounces into the wall. Get this into the dummy head and add this to post production. This is one of the techniques I use to add to the atmosphere of the concert hall.

How did you discover these techniques? My experience and background with Neumann and as a microphone and audio gear specialist helps here, but it also has something to do with my musical background (Fraissinet initially trained as a classical pianist). And it’s based on the experience of having looked over the shoulder of so many capable people who are highly specialised recording engineers, especially in the United States. Having learned so much about recording from them, you reach a level where you trust you can do it for yourself, and that’s what I discovered about 10 years ago.

Neumann has decades of experience in traditional recording techniques. How have those techniques changed?There have been huge changes in the home environment in the last 50 years. We used to have a lot of real wood furniture, carpets, wallpaper, and soft furnishing in our rooms, which means less reverb. Today, we have flat-

pack furniture, wooden floors, painted walls, even concrete on the walls and ceilings, and much less furniture in the rooms. That means a more reverberant listening space in the home and that has an effect on the type of speakers they have at home, what they really hear at home. The recording artists needs to consider this: if we make recordings for the 1950s, they sound very different through today’s systems.

What was the motivation for producing these discs?This is now a must-do thing for me, I think! I want to give something to a larger crowd of people who love audio, and never get the chance to get something like this, unless there is someone concentrating on the audio quality. It’s creating sound for people who just want to enjoy their gear at home.

Is the CD a one-off project?No, we have several projects coming up this year. First is the new CD release, then Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony on stereo CD in May and then a 5.1 surround sound recording on Blu-ray, then a choral piece, which is again Beethoven but more about piano playing with different recording techniques and different requirements toward the post-production process.

After that, there are more projects, but you’ll just have to wait and see! I am also working on projects where we are working on music for films, and there are some live performances coming

up. What kind of derivative we make from these, in terms of data streaming, etc., is still not decided yet.

One thing is certain – I will not stop recording and producing music. It is kind

of a second path for me, alongside what I have been developing in the

Sennheiser group as the President of Neumann, but also as director of audio recording for the whole Sennheiser group.

We are proud to announce that True Classics, Wolfgang Fraissinet’s

double album of classical recordings will be available exclusively from Hi-Fi+ from next month

“I want to give something to a larger crowd of people who love audio, and never get the chance to get something like this.”

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ISSUE 134

EQUIPMENT REVIEW / WOLFGANG FRAISSINET, PRESIDENT OF NEUMANN