Immediate Release September 27, 2007: Carmen Rizzo‘s a busy man. In addition to a growing and increasingly eclectic mix of studio projects, he‘s co-written and played on a wide variety of influential artists albums and has a burgeoning solo career himself. Recently, he‘s also put some time into remixing a Dave Stewart song, written for Greenpeace and featuring the likes of Sarah McLaughlin, Annie Lennox, and Imogen Heap.
Rizzo added an electro world beat flavour to the track‘s multi-artist “We are the World” vibe by calling in favours from various friends and colleagues: Toumany Kouyate (Senegal), Kate Havnevik (Norway), Joanna Stevens (UK), Dimitris Mahlis (Greece), Satnam Ramgotra (India/Canada) and others to represent Greenpeace‘s worldwide reach.
It‘s also the first project he‘d used his new Tannoy Precision 6iDP’s and TS112 iDP sub on. The first of many, he says.
Obviously, he‘s had experience with Tannoy‘s quality before, referencing an older pair Pete Townshend had used during a session they‘d done together, but he had yet to try more recent Tannoy products. “On the first listen I was, literally, so impressed I couldn‘t‘ believe it. I tend to go through speakers often,” he admits. “But these are staying here for a long time. I had two sets of monitors, a large near field and a small near field. When I got these they left. For me, to get rid of two pairs of monitors and go to one, is saying something.”
The appeal is multi-faceted, he explains; the ability and ease of control when it comes to adjusting speaker parameters, the simple setup – one Ethernet cable between the TS112 and 6iDP‘s, the degree of control, and above all, the fact that they‘re a lot of speaker in a compact package, and consistently accurate at any volume.
With more people making records in their bedrooms, it‘s key to be able to achieve consistency in any room – familiar or unfamiliar, well designed or less than ideal. “I don‘t think anyone has a perfect listening environment, especially in the climate that we‘re in – these speakers, you can tweak to your needs.”
Equally important, Tannoy‘s flexibility and compact design suits his process; start to finish, wherever it takes him. “I‘m mixing as I go, always. From Bar 1, I‘m thinking all the way to the finish, from creation to recording to mixing.” Without interrupting the flow, Tannoy‘s optional dedicated remote unit, provides global volume control, multiple system and reference level presets, and individual Mute/solo buttons for each channel of a 5.1 system. “This thing‘s brilliant,” says Rizzo.
All the work he‘s used his Tannoy speakers on so far has been close to home; his upcoming solo record, an exclusive remix of a Gem co-write for the Barnes and Noble compilation This Sunday, featuring Chris Martin, Nora Jones, Jeff Buckley, and Peter Gabriel, and a variety of other projects. Having said that, he‘s not taking the chance of missing out on the flexibility and power his Tannoy speakers when he moves to other rooms. Then it‘s even more important to match his listening environment closely. “I‘m already a step ahead of that game – I‘ve had road cases built for them.”
