A short interview we filmed in LA this past April with rising star music producer and mastering/mixing engineer Lovy Longomba.
Lovy is very passionate about sound and the video shows! so we wanted to ask him about the way our ST2 Pro has changed the way he listens and works and how it has influenced his workflow for the better.
Tell us a bit about your new studio?
For years, I've had like rooms and rooms, but I wanted to make something that I can live in and really stay in if I'm inspired. I wanted it to be a hybrid because I still produce mix, and master records at the same time.I think my room was really built like a mastering room because it needed to be at the top of the food chain you know more than mixing rooms. So yes I'm very passionate about hearing and about my monitoring system because what I'm listening to determines how I react to music.
When did you start to care more about acoustics and your monitoring?
I was really into how things sound like, and started being more critical about places I would work at, when I started going to studio from studio, I also realized these rooms have big consoles and stuff, but they don't really sound that good the way you think. So I started actually doing measurements and finally put a mic in my room... I was heartbroken, devastated because I saw things that should never be seen! You know seeing these peaks and valleys was like the most traumatizing thing because obviously, you are hoping that your room will be perfect but...
What makes Trinnov and The Optimizer different from other products?
I tried different things like room correction plugins and honestly, it created more problems for me than it solved for me, I was getting more phase issues I was getting more problems all over, then a good friend of mine, who is a mastering engineer told me you know there's this thing called the Trinnov you should give it a try. I told him I was done with room correction systems, but he insisted, so I went online, and I looked at it and everybody's just going crazy, I was like man is this just another amplitude corrector?
What were your first impressions hearing the Optimizer?
The first time I pushed play I was like way, way what ??? Not only the amplitude but the phase correction I mean to be honest I called my friend and was like bro this is witchcraft! The thing that was weird for me is that it improved things, but it still felt natural, it didn't feel like it altered the sound in any way, it was like this is how I should be sounding anyway!
I started thinking is this thing just making things sound better? or is it telling you what is really happening because that became a dilemma? Okay, it is like lying to me? or just improving things because even my speakers sounded better. I was like alright the only way I will know is that I will work on a record that I mastered like a month ago, one of my clients was very happy about it, but haven't just released yet, so, I'll make another revision will sleep come back in the morning and let me tell you I did less actually, and when I sent it back to the client, they told me this was the best mastered I’ve done for them.
It was just something that really changed my approach in working because now I really could go anywhere in the world you know and all I need is that
Has it improved your workflow?
This thing is like the truth! like I've never been so confident in what I'm doing, and I'm just able to work, I used to go check mixes in my car or hear them on my little Bluetooth speaker, honestly, now I think I'm in a different rhythm and I don't do that anymore, I know whatever is here is what it is and that's what it's going to be.
I'm just a bit bummed, everybody will know my secret now!