Augspurger Meets PhantomFocus™ at South By Sea

Nashville’s South By Sea Studios chooses the Carl Tatz Design PhantomFocus™ System to enhance their new Studio B mix room Augspurger Duo 8 MiniMain Monitors

Why This Matters: There are many great monitors available to choose from including the new nXp Series PhantomFocus™ Monitors from Carl Tatz Design. However, those who have experienced the PhantomFocus System paired with their existing monitors of choice know that regardless of their excellence, there is a quantum step-up to be realized in making the investment in the same PhantomFocus System used in Carl Tatz Design’s TEC Award-Winning PhantomFocus MixRoom™.

Nashville, TN: Carl Tatz Design (CTD) has recently implemented another one of its acclaimed PhantomFocus™ Systems (PFS™), this time with a pair of Augspurger Duo 8 MiniMonitors in the new Studio B mix room at Nashville’s South By Sea (South x Sea) Studios responding to the request of Brandon Metcalf, engineer/producer/songwriter and South By Sea owner.
This is Metcalf’s second studio and second PhantomFocus System in Nashville after moving his company from Seattle, WA, in 2012 into a temporary leased space in the old Sound Shop complex on Nashville’s famed Music Row, naming it Destiny-Nashville.

The spacious new South By Sea Studios complex is located in a 15000-sq.-ft. restored pair of WWII-era warehouses in East Nashville, TN. Metcalf explains, “Our last studio fell victim to apartment development on Music Row, which presented both a challenge and an opportunity. In renovating this old warehouse building, we got to start from scratch as we designed and built the studio space as we had imagined. Building a space on a budget means lots of cutting corners, however one area where we absolutely could not cut corners was to install the PhantomFocus System. Because I had gotten accustomed to working on a PFS in my last studio, I simply couldn’t go back.” He continues, “The PhantomFocus™ System™ paired with the already stellar Augspurger monitors, greatly enhances tracking and mixing decisions, making them far more accurate, easier, faster and just plain more fun.”

As a producer, Brandon has worked with artists spanning multiple genres, including: Jewel, Blues Traveler, Augustana front man, Dan Layus, The Ready Set, Secondhand Serenade, and many more. Additionally, South x Sea as a company has been involved in developing act such as FRANKIE, Ofelia K, Cheat Codes, The Ready Set, and Nashville-based artists Kaptan, Cappa, Jeffrey James, Chancellor Warhol, and BIYO.

Metcalf comments, “I’m just sitting here in the mix room feeling extra thankful for the PhantomFocus System. I sit in the amazing PhantomFocus eChair™ to work every day, and production/programming are more inspiring, and critical mix decisions happen more naturally. And once in a while we creators get to pause on “work” for a little while and just enjoy listening to music for no reason other than pleasure… and the PFS makes those moments jaw-dropping experiences. Thank you Carl for making it possible for me to hear music like I’ve never heard it before.”