Spike Stent Buys PMC twotwo Monitors
The internationally sought-after British mix engineer Mark 'Spike' Stent, famous for his work with three decades of stars from Depeche Mode to Rudimental via Madonna, Massive Attack, Muse and Beyoncé, has bought a pair of PMC's new twotwo compact nearfield monitors. The twotwo.6s were installed as part of a refurbishment of Stent's impressive home mix suite in southern England, supervised by his long-term studio manager and 'right-hand man' Chris Binns.
Stent currently divides his time between the UK and LA, and continues to be involved with some of the biggest names in the music business internationally, as well as rising talent. Since his UK studio rebuild was completed early in 2013, he has mixed recent albums by Moby, Rudimental and Hurts, as well as forthcoming releases by White Lies and Beady Eye, with many more projects that are, as always, in the pipeline.
The active twotwo range is PMC's new three-strong family of two-way reference-grade monitors, combining the company's low-distortion ATL™ bass-loading technology, digital inputs and signal processing, together with Class-D amplification.
Renowned for using the same two pairs of loudspeakers to mix for over a decade, Stent was persuaded to listen to the twotwo.6s, the middle member of the twotwo range, by a close friend and colleague in LA. "For me to even entertain using something new is unusual," he admits from behind the custom vintage SSL desk in his new studio. "I have been using the same speakers for years, and haven't changed anything for a long time. The twotwos sound fantastic in here: the imaging, the depth, and the punch. I'm very happy with them."
With the rebuild of Stent's studio now complete and the loudspeakers run in, Chris Binns, himself a respected audiophile journalist and designer of monitors and amplifiers, also declares himself impressed by the twotwos.
"The transmission line loading makes PMC's designs very predictable in terms of the way they interface with the room. They have a very even bass response whether you put them near a wall or mount them freestanding, even in difficult rooms with an unpredictable bottom end. They don't flatter, but they're always engaging and musical."
Binns admits that monitors have come and gone at Spike's studio, and that it's quite rare for newcomers to stay in use for any length of time. "We have tried a lot of speakers, and they fall into three categories. The first don't make the grade and are swiftly out again. The second hang around on the mixing desk for a while, but given time I notice Spike isn't really using them and they're removed. And the remaining few amount to a very small, rarified category — the monitors he actually likes and uses."
"I've flirted with others, and they haven't made it," agrees Stent. "The twotwos are here to stay!"