Canadian producer and composer Samuel Laflamme has invested in a pair of PMC IB2S-A for his own studio and says he loves the clarity and depth of imagery his new monitors are delivering.
“I was introduced to PMC by James Duhamel, my studio facility partner, who owns a pair of IB1 monitors,” Samuel Laflamme says. “Hearing his monitors convinced me to try PMC. Previously my main monitors were modified Altec 604s and I loved the mids I got from them, but they lacked detail. They did an awesome job for the composition part of my work but when it came to production, I needed more detail in the audio imagery and wanted to know how my ideas would translate to the real world.”
Laflamme’s PMC speakers were supplied by the company’s Canadian distributor Systemes Guinois, and now that they are installed they are enabling him to extend studio sessions because they are so non-fatiguing.
“I trust them,” he says, “and I have a lot of fun listening to them. When I produce electronic textures, it is easy to know what is and isn’t working and to understand how the timbres are blending together - or not. Everything is really clear. I love the low end and the depth of the imagery, and I also really liked the digital remote volume control. With this, I can get rid of my monitoring system because I trust the DA converter in the IB2S-A so I output directly from Pro Tools in AES-EBU digital signal, which is really convenient.”
Based in Montreal, Laflamme studied Tape Music composition at the University of Montreal, and this introduced him to electronic Avant-Garde music. While still at university, he rented a small studio in a post production facility and soon landed his first commission to score a television documentary.
“That was by far the most exciting and rewarding ‘student job’ ever,” he says. “After that, my portfolio and contact web grew and by the end of the University I was making a living from composing and producing.”
He has subsequently scored numerous television shows, documentaries, video games and ad spots across multitude genres, including the music for the critically acclaimed survival horror-games Outlast and Outlast 2.
“I’m a huge fan of soundtracks and the first Batman film released in 1989 was a call to action for me,” Laflamme explains. “I was truly inspired by Danny Elfman’s work, and then I discovered John Williams, James Horner, Hans Zimmer, James Newton Howard, Bernard Hermann and so on. I’ve always been really sensitive to the impact of music on screen and it’s a joy to complete someone else’s project by adding my musical vision to it.”
Laflamme works from a 2500 square feet facility in the Mile End district of Montreal, which he and Duhamel built in 2015. The area is popular with video games companies and musicians and the facility provides a home for composers, music producers and audio post production.
“My composing room was designed by Nicolas Grou from Grantham Acoustique and it is equipped with analogue keyboards, a bunch of Eurorack modules, a Moog and a 5u Modular,” Laflamme says. “Most of my work comes from In the Box tools, but for fun I also have some mastering equipment like my lovely Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor and Inward Connections DEQ-1.”
Samuel Laflamme is currently using his PMC system on two Canadian TV shows, and he is also working on a 10 minute “composer” cut of his Outlast soundtrack for live orchestra.
“We will celebrate Outlast’s fifth anniversary this year and Dina Gilbert, the original conductor, will perform it with full symphonic orchestra.” he says.
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