Abbey Road Studios is of course the most famous recording studios in the world and has developed into one of the world’s premiere locations for movie scoring.
Bowers & Wilkins have had a long and illustrious relationship with Abbey Road. Indeed most of the greatest soundtracks ever produced have been within those hallowed walls. Most recently Les Misérables, The Hobbit and Iron Man 3 but also as far back as Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Arc and The Dead Zone.
Speaking of the association long standing engineer Jonathan Allan told Music-News.com "it seems to be a match made in heaven. We work together to find the perfect balance, it's an ongoing experiment as the technology barriers are continually broken."
Music-News.com was given a private tour of Studio One where most orchestras are recorded to see just how this process comes together.There can be up to 130 members of an orchestra present and in any particular recording session and for Duel Of Fate the gathered musicians numbered 185 (90 choir - 95 orchestra) making the recording process complex to say the least. The standing mics pick up the sound as heard exactly by the incumbent conductor of each individual project. As a rule for every 3 hours spent playing only 12/14 minutes of the final product is recorded, and with extremely tight schedules time is literally money. The director is always on hand and when they slip into the studio the mix of the orchestration is finally delivered.
Here the B&W speakers come into their own helping the engineer to make those subtle changes that dramatically effect the audiences interpretation of the final scene.
Abbey Road currently use B&W 800Ds, its an association that has blossomed over 25 years.
The clarity and sound definition is unsurpassed. Looking at the sound desk leaves a novice such as myself bemused to say the least and sitting in front of this sound desk could be akin to sitting at the helm if the Starship Enterprise, and possibly even more daunting.
If your looking for a piece of the magic then many soundtrack albums and the B&W speakers are available as Jonathan Allan commented " Bowers & Wilkins tools are an essential part of the creative mix for producing the perfect film soundtrack. If it was recorded at Abbey Road, it was mastered on Bowers & Wilkins loud speakers. "
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