Hatsune is a product of Japan’s popular Vocaloid software scene in which fans can create their own songs for fictional characters to sing. The twist here is that Crypton took things to the next level by making the character into a hologram and actually putting their avatar on tour, playing to huge enthusiastic audiences. The spectacle of a hologram performing on stage, with a live backing band in front of thousands of screaming fans is pure science fiction brought to real life. To really process exactly how amazing (and hauntingly creepy) the Hatsune Miku music tour is, take a look at the HD video below.

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Brent Williams – Producer/Engineer/Artist

It’s the people.

The buttons on the user interface switch between the different “profiles” you pick in the “preferences” window.  So what is a “profile”?  A DPS profile is definitely not your everyday “rock” or “jazz” or “hall” eq effect preset!  Those presets-of-old tried to tailor the device to suit what you might want the music to sound like.  Once you found the preset you liked on your old boombox it pretty much stayed that way, right?  That ubiquitous smiley face eq curve.  Or maybe you did it Twisted Sister style and slammed all those little eq sliders all the way up!  \^^/,

Well, the DPS Profile is a whole new animal.  The DPS technology is a powerful and adaptive tool that Bongiovi Acoustics audio engineers can use to optimize the audio for any device.  And it is all done by hand.

Hence the people.

So a real live person (like Tony B, Phil or myself) sits down with the proper tools and “tunes” that audio device with the DPS technology to perform as close to an ideal as possible.  The ideal we hold is the sound of music being played back in our studio control room.  The control room is an  acoustically accurate environment in which we have chosen speakers and amplifiers that match that space so we have the tools to create music that sounds great everywhere.  The sound in our control room just reaches out and grabs you.  And it also tells us what is right and wrong about the sound!  So, short story long, the DPS technology optimizes an audio signal to be most efficient for a specific device.  And that only happens after a Bongiovi Acoustics engineer has laid their hands on the thing.

You might ask another question… What gives you guys the right to muck about with my audio signal, buddy?  The answer is a whole lot of years of making music come out of speakers!  Tony got his start at Motown records in Detroit as an engineer when he was just 17 years old and has had the privilege of working with Jimi Hendrix, The Ramones, Ozzy Osbourne and many other music greats.  Any of the other engineers that tune devices for the DPS technology have a minimum 15 years of experience behind a recording console.  (Check out Power Station Studios )  Let us do the hard work so you don’t have to! 

Tony actually invented the DPS technology as a solution to listening to music in his airplane.  He has a small twin engine Comanche that has two propellers whirring right next to your ears.  It is LOUD in the cabin.  Any time he would play music over the stereo in the plane, it would be totally distorted and awful sounding by the time it was loud enough to be heard.  After years of experimentation, eureka!  The Digital Power Station was born; a device that creates a highly efficient audio signal that the speakers and amplifiers can easily reproduce.  Music can be crystal clear in acoustically hostile environment and at low levels all while compensating for differences in volume between songs and restoring previously inaudible frequency content.  Nifty!

So we are continually creating new custom profiles for all kinds of popular audio devices.  The Windows version of the DPS technology is also right around the corner which vastly opens up the range of devices that can benefit from DPS.  We want to be sure profiles are available to those of you who own these devices so let us know what you are using!  It’s all about big sound from small packages.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7KcOSAVF6s

Joe Butera here.  I’m jumping on this post to talk a little about Bongiovi Acoustics’ contribution to being Earth-Friendly.  I know it always sounds like hype when a company talks about green-ness but it is worth mentioning that the DPS Technology does contribute to less waste.  For instance, in car audio applications, by installing our technology instead of a conventional audio upgrade (new speakers, amps etc.) you are keeping the weight of your vehicle down (better fuel economy) AND not throwing away your old, but perfectly good, speakers.  The DPS technology also allows for the use of lighter or unconventional materials for audio reproduction.  By eliminating more raw materials from any system waste is reduced, efficiency can be gained and our environmental impact can diminish…even if it is just a little.  If everyone is able to reduce/reuse/recycle just a bit, a huge effect can be felt.

Recording Mark and his group in the studio makes me realize how folks like him became music icons: Every note that comes out of his body is pure rock and roll dynamite! Energy, optimism and professionalism are ever present during the sessions, and that has translated into a truly great recording!

The band played live in the studio with Mark playing a 1960′s era Hammond B3 with the Leslie tone cabinet in the vocal booth. I recorded it with two Shure Beta 56′s at 90 degrees for the top rotor and a AKG D12 for the bottom speaker. The two top microphones went through our new Amek Recall’s preamps while the D12 went through our DW Fern mic pre and a Motown eq for a huge tone.
The guitarist, Jimi Fiano, recorded through our souped up 50 watt Marshall JCM 800 with the cabinet (4×12 vintage greenback speakers) in an isolation booth. The cabinet was recorded with a Shure SM57 through a Neve 1085 preamp/eq module.
The bass player, Steve Argy, recorded direct through our Avalon direct box directly into ProTools (we use Apogee DA/AD 16Xs for our TDM system).
The drummer, Jimmyjack, brought in his beautiful maple DW kit that we set up in our big live room. I used the AKG D112 he had mounted inside his bass drum for the close sound (through the Fern and Motown eq) and a Blue Dragonfly for the far mic (console). His Ludwig snare was recorded with a Shure SM7 through another Neve 1085 module. For the toms I chose Shure Beta 56′s (the hyper cardioid pattern works well with our room) with a AKG D112 for the floor tom. The cymbals were captured with a pair of AKG 414′s (silver face) and the room with our AEA stereo ribbon mic.

These recordings will be part of the soundtrack for a new documentary called Rockin’ the Wall by writer Larry Schweikart and producer Marc Lief.  Check it out.