Event Opal monitors review by Freemasons – part two
| Posted in Music Technology
How do Event Opal active studio monitors sound to one of the UK’s most renowned producers? James Wiltshire of Freemasons give us his opinion in part two of his exclusive review.
I’m not even going to get deep into the technicalities of these speakers – this is well documented all over the internet, on Event’s site and in various reviews. Instead, I’m writing this review as a direct insight into the experience of receiving the monitors and working on them over the last few weeks. But so we all know what we’re dealing with here, Event Opals are two-way active, mid to high end studio monitors. They’re not cheap either, sitting in the same price range as the industry’s big players such as Genlec, PMC, and KRK.
The packaging was my first indication that these were quite serious monitors. They really are beautifully presented and even come with a rubber under-mount to help reduce speaker-to-surface transmission. On the front, hidden under a small flap, are the crossover controls along with a few pots to allow you to tailor the bass response to your environment. Back connections are dead simple with a standard (earth-free) power socket and dual XLR/jack inputs. It took me all of 10 very excited minutes to set the Event Opals up and get sound out of them.
There is always a moment of blind panic when you change monitors, whether you are working in an unfamiliar studio or like me changing your familiar working environment drastically. My experience as I set up the Opals was no exception – suddenly our little room was flooded with frequencies that I’d not heard in there before. However, I dug in and referenced some mastered and well-mixed material from across the board (and here’s a tip: don’t use iTunes-purchased or converted tracks for reference as the bass end will have been blasted to pieces). Soon, a rather large smile settled on my face. These speakers simply sound amazing.
For me the beauty spot is the mid range upwards. It is crystal clear without any of the harshness I’ve noticed on many other high brand monitors connected to purely digital sources, and incredibly easy on the ears. However, don’t mistake this clarity and ease of listening with the rose-tinted experience that some speakers offer you. Even on the first day of using the Event Opals, I found myself tutting constantly while listening back to recently mixed material only to hear glaring and simple mistakes that I’d made in the past month.
But the tracks that I’d gotten right sounded wonderful. In my opinion, vocals and drum sounds particularly benefit, which made me excited about future mixes. The fight between snare/clap and vocal level is normally one of a mix’s bloodiest battlefields, especially now that American urban producers have hijacked 4/4 and upped the game. I was also surprised by the stereo image. I’m no expert in this field, but my first impressions were that some records sounded wide and deep, whereas others were surprisingly flat and one dimensional in comparison.
As for the bass, well I couldn’t immediately test it, as we have standing wave problems in our room so it initially felt like sitting in a pool of bass-jelly. But one quick re-calibration of the KRK Ergo box that we use and it all started coming back into focus. In fact, my first port of call was the sub end of things. This is the reason we changed the speakers, and I needed the bass to actually be present this time – in the past I’ve had to guess what was going on.
I wasn’t disappointed. To test our new improved low-end, I started throwing up current work and having a play with it. I got a real shock. To say some that of our tracks were messy down there is an understatement.
Tomorrow, read part three of James Wiltshire’s exclusive review of Event Opal active studio monitors.
About Barney Jameson
A contributor, editor and in some cases creator of more music and pro audio magazines than he cares to remember, Barney Jameson is a veteran of writing about gear, and a pretty keen singer songwriter to boot.
Having started his musical education reading old copies of the Melody Maker while riding the tube to University in the mid-nineties, Barney once sang in a band called Sugarstone, troubling record company chequebooks not quite enough to make it a career option. Instead, he achieved his goal of starting a music magazine of his own when he founded Playmusic in the early noughties. Later on, having exploited VIP access to as many festivals as possible, he wrote about the pro audio industry throughout Europe and the Middle East, travelling to far-flung destinations such as Dubai, Doha and Muscat (nice mountains).
As the latest addition to the DV247 team, Barney has big plans. But when he’s not plotting online domination of the musical instrument world, he keeps himself busy writing songs on a battered old acoustic guitar and playing them to audiences in his home town.
Tags: freemasons, James Wiltshire, recording studio monitors