NAMM 2018 will see Sound Performance Lab (SPL) of Germany expand its Mastering Series hardware line with three new devices, all to be demonstrated for the first time in its US distributor’s booth, Audio Plus Services.

The three new units are the updated PASSEQ, passive mastering equalizer, the DMC, stereo mastering console, and the 16-channel analog mastering monitor controller, MC16 – a first of its kind. Spring 2018 is the target release date for all three products.

The new DMC stereo mastering console is engineered from the ground-up making it not only more flexible with better specs than SPL’s previous console, but also more ergonomic and sized to fit in all types of studio furniture.

The 3RU console has 4 stereo inputs and 4 stereo sources, with 2 stereo recording outputs, as well as 3 stereo and 2 mono speaker outputs that can be expanded with the new MC16 controller (see below).

The new DMC console operates on the same unequaled 120V DC audio rail like each of the other SPL Mastering Series processors. The new DMC console is priced at half of its predecessor, and yet offers more features and improved audio performance.

Mastering engineer Michael Romanowski is using one of the first prototypes of the DMC console at his Coast Mastering studio with great results. “The new DMC is the heart of my mastering system, with all my analogue processing gear connected to it,” he said. “The most important things for me about the DMC are its transparency, its flexibility in gain structure, and its monitoring capabilities. And with emerging markets for immersive audio, its ability to expand the channel count is a necessity. Those are the biggest reasons that I choose to use the DMC.”

“The DMC is so clean sounding and open, the transparency of the sound is fantastic. I like how much headroom the audio has, that I can push it, let it breathe, or anywhere in-between — I can count on what I’m hearing to be accurate. I am not hearing anything holding it back in any way. Because I use analog outboard gear for all of my mastering work, the DMC allows me to set my gain structure correctly with the input and output trims. I can get my analogue chain to behave with exactly the right signal to noise ratio that works for my system.”

Beyond the three new products demonstrated at NAMM, its current mastering series also comprises the highly acclaimed IRON mastering compressor and the latest incarnation of the PQ mastering equalizer. All of SPL’s Mastering Series is exclusively powered by their proprietary 120V DC audio rail technology.