An Academy Award wining Sound Engineer’s opinion

We'd like to thank Damien Quintard for taking the time out of his extremely busy schedule to share his thoughts about his Audio Note (UK) equipment in the piece below: -

Academy Award winner Damien Quintard, the french Producer and Sound engineer, is well known for his work with Maestro Teodor Currentzis. At 25, he’s already worked on major recordings like the acclaimed Mozart Opera “Don Giovanni”, ‘The sound of Light” of Rameau and even the 2015 European Olympic Games Opening Ceremony.

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Damien Quintard, when not shaking the world with his band Dot Legacy, has been producing more truly phenomenal recordings for Teodor Currentzis. The latest album from Teodor and MusicAeterna is a recording of Tchaikovsky's Symphony 6 'Pathétique', released on Sony Classical. Not surprisingly, it is being lavished with praise for its vision and the performance, and also for the sound quality.

James Longstaffe at Presto Classical had this to say about the release: "it must certainly be one of the most tumultuous, breathtaking, and electrifying recordings of this piece that I have heard in quite some time, and I would recommend it very highly”. 

Damien mixed the album in his personal studio, using Audio Note (UK) amplification, cables and loudspeakers. We met him in Paris, where he has established his new studio, to ask his opinion about his Audio Note (UK) system.

“After looking for years for the system that would let me edit, mix and master with complete confidence in the sound, I must say that Audio Note (UK) came as a blessing. The system that I use in my studio is the MEISHU integrated amplifier and the AN-E/SPe HEs Speakers.

The speakers are the most precise beasts I’ve ever listened to. To put it simply, imagine you are in front of the musician, period. They also are unforgiving; if the recording is bad, it is going to sound bad. They have no mercy for mediocrity and these speakers push me every day to get better and better. All the frequencies are represented with the fidelity of a true Hi-fi system but with absolutely no colours added. With good convertors, the transition is seamless and I can work with classical music, rock, electro, you name it.

I was surprised when I saw the small speakers and couldn’t possibly imagine that they could beat a three way speaker system. It’s rare when it feels so good to be so wrong.

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Now the fact that the speakers are neutral and transparent might scare some. Don’t be. When combined with the MEISHU, the tube warmth makes a beautiful mixture of power, precision, and fidelity.

While editing, the rate at which we have to play sounds is extremely high. I couldn’t believe that a tube based amplifier could be so responsive. The transients are perfect and after extensive testing and mixing I can guarantee this machine could be used as the main power source for the next Missions to Mars. It really is hard to describe a system that sounds musical and neutral at the same time. I had worked previously with neutral systems or musical systems. It is a truly remarkable achievement to combine both.

Last but not least, the cables. I recently got an upgrade from the Lexus copper speaker and interconnect cables to the silver versions. The first cables were really beautiful, the sound was peaceful, organic but when I upgraded the cables I couldn’t understand what was happening. It was like discovering a whole new way of thinking and viewing the sound. The precision expanded and the system got way more demanding in term of quality! Now I have to work even harder to get a perfect mix.

For me, taking the time to understand the sound and the artists vision is paramount. The MEISHU amplifier and the AN-E/SPe HEs Speakers are the perfect tools for that. At very low volume I can still hear every single detail and it helps when you have 14 hours long sessions to be able to rely on a solid sound and rest your ears while working”.

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Damien Quintard

Producer | Sound Engineer

For reference, Damien uses the following equipment; MEISHU Special integrated amplifier, equipped with transformer coupled balanced / XLR inputs, a pair of AN-E/SPe HE loudspeakers, SOOTTO interconnect cables (balanced / XLR) and SOGON LX 96 bi-wired loudspeaker cables.