March 2012

J. Peter Robinson Makes His Greatest “Catch” with Genelec 5.1 Active Monitoring

— Composer chooses a surround monitoring system consisting of three Genelec 8250A Bi-Amplified DSP Monitors for the L-C-R array, a pair of 8240A Bi-Amplified DSP Monitors for the left and right rear surrounds, and a 7260A Active DSP Subwoofer for projects including feature films, reality television, video games and more—

NATICK, MA, February 23, 2012 — You could say J. Peter Robinson has been around the block a few times. In fact, you could say he’s been around the world more than once, too, both the real world and the world of entertainment media. Classically trained at the Royal Academy of music in his native London, Robinson moved easily between the worlds of theater, where he was the pianist for Andrew Lloyd Weber and Tim Rice on the original production of “Jesus Christ Superstar,” and rock, as a member of bands fronted by artists including Eric Clapton, David Bowie and Phil Collins. He was equally adept at the transition to media composing, creating music for television series including Charmed and five-time EMMY Award® winner Deadliest Catch, and feature films including Wayne’s World, Encino Man, Highlander: The Final Dimension and the soon-to-be-released Nicolas Cage film Seeking Justice. In fact, it was exactly that wide-ranging eclecticism that led Robinson to choose Genelec Active Monitors for the first 5.1 surround monitoring system in his personal recording and mix studio in Los Angeles.

After carefully vetting a wide range of speakers, Robinson decided upon three Genelec 8250A Bi-Amplified DSP Monitors for the L-C-R array, a pair of Genelec 8240A Bi-Amplified DSP Monitors for the left and right rear surrounds, and a Genelec 7260A Active DSP Subwoofer. The system was purchased from West L.A. Music and installed late last year.

“I had been spending a lot of time and money in other facilities to do my 5.1 surround monitoring and mixing, and it was time that I got my own set up, but it had to be able to handle all of the kinds of media that I work in,” says Robinson, who, in addition to his TV and film credits, has just finished work on his first video game, scoring a title based on the popular Highlander franchise. “It had to be a system that could cover all of these types of media.”

Robinson auditioned numerous monitors but kept coming back to the Genelecs as his favorites. “I listened to a lot of great-sounding speakers, but the Genelecs were the only ones where I heard only the music, not the speaker,” he explains. “All I heard from them was the material, and that’s critical.”

Also important was the fact that Genelec’s AutoCal™ automatic calibration system allowed Robinson to plug the monitors in and let them optimize themselves to his environment. “The Genelecs basically made friends with the room,” he says. “What they give me is the confidence that I’m always hearing what I recorded, as I recorded it. That’s invaluable.”

photo:
Composer J. Peter Robinson, in his control room featuring a Genelec 5.1 Active Monitoring system that includes three Genelec 8250A Bi-Amplified DSP Monitors for the L-C-R array (pictured). Not pictured: a pair of Genelec 8240A Bi-Amplified DSP Monitors for the left and right rear surrounds, and a Genelec 7260A Active DSP Subwoofer.