Producer & Remixer Ian Wallman Chooses PMC

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Producer & Remixer Ian Wallman Chooses PMC For Project Studio Multi-talented Composer/Educator Buys TB2S-A & IB1S Speakers

Producer, engineer, recording artist, remixer and music educator Ian Wallman has bought two sets of PMC monitors for his project studio, based in Birmingham in the UK. A pair of TB2S-A nearfields came first, and Wallman later bought a pair of IB1S speakers following a visit he made to the PMC factory in his capacity as Audio Production degree coordinator at the world headquarters of the SAE Insitute in Oxford, and tutor at the Birmingham Conservatoire — just two of the many hats he wears in his everyday work.

Indeed, Wallman´s CV provides a compelling example of how to make a multifaceted career in the modern music industry, and reveals him to be the perfect choice for an experienced music educator who can tell students from personal experience what to avoid in record industry deals, or what to expect from industry management. At various times over the last 15 years, he´s been a successful engineer, songwriter, recording artist and producer, and currently makes a diverse living (under the name Output Production) as an in-demand remixer for the likes of Shakira, Beyoncé and Lady Gaga, a composer of music for opening ceremonies for events such as the Indoor Athletics and the Wheelchair Basketball Championships, and as an industry consultant on new distribution strategies for music in the file-sharing age — in addition to lecturing for SAE and many other activities. "People say the music industry is in decline, but I actually think it´s easier than ever to make a living from music," he comments. "I can be doing composition one day, remixing the next, production the one after that… and there are so many ways to get music out there now. The record business may not be doing quite as well as it was, but there´s so much more to the music industry than that…"

As you´d expect from a busy remixer and producer, Ian´s Birmingham product studio contains a lot of speakers — he likes to check his mixes on a lot of different sources. His two sets of PMC speakers, however, now have pride of place. "Monitoring is really important to me, and I´m always trying different things out. I kept hearing really good things about PMCs — when I used to work as a post-production broadcast engineer at the BBC Mailbox in Birmingham, they had PMCs there, which sounded great — so last year, I thought I´d try the little TB2S-A nearfields. They just blew me away.

"From the start, they were really helpful as a company. With my first set of TB2S-As, I managed to damage one of the cabinets, and they offered to repair them. I can´t think of anyone else who would do that. After that, one of my students at SAE was doing his course project on speaker design, so I contacted PMC to see if they could help him. They invited us down for a factory visit and were absolutely brilliant — in fact he´s working full-time for them now. While I was down there I had a listen to their IB1S speakers and I had to get a pair.

"The PMCs have really changed my opinion of what makes a good monitor. You can hear it in isolation, but when you try them in a room you know well… you really notice the difference. My clients have all remarked on how good they are, so PMC have subsequently sold quite a few sets to people I know, and I´ve put the word around at SAE, too. Basically, the detail and accuracy they offer is incredible, and I love their approach to design — their Advanced Transmission Line technology makes for a really well-controlled, accurate bass. Ported monitors have been hyped a great deal over the past few years, but they don´t sound very accurate.

"In short, I´ve been really impressed with them — the monitors and also the company. They´re small enough to have that personal touch, and that also means they´re passionate about what they do."