slices - tech talk - funktion one (full length)

[reellol]

Top bloke, really really boring subject, but made really interesting because he articulates himself so well. There are other systems that are sim, he is selling Function one after all!

[carcomp101]

Its like listening to Steve Jobs talk about his products

[MrElitesense]

Funktion one speakers sound fucking INCREDIBLE as long as the audio chain is set up right.

yet I disagree about his source quality requirements.

As long as the audio is originally mastered in high quality and sourced out as WAV to a direct constant bit rate 320 mp3... its fucking FINE.

Much respect to the speakers though, if you live in LA you probably know about funktion wednesdays dnb club funktion because of having the system. love.

[Wahnsinnsr1nd]

someone tell me the SONGNAME please at 0:09 ! ! !

[MANGSCHEUONiCS]

this guy starts to hardcore bullshit at the end... creepy smile confirms

[Josh94001]

He's talking about some deep shit.

[MrKeeponrolin]

What a fantastic voice!

[thephaseshifter]

Why people always talk so easy about getting quallity stuff.. :S .. I mean, its hard to give a party these days.Nobody makes enough money to pay a guy like this for some good sound. These days its hard to be a artist. .I can say about the artist from now, BIG UP.. Because i wonder how many artist from the past complaining now because it dont make money annymore..

[DAUBERMIN]

Fucking Bawsss

[phatjbl]

Great explanation of the whole degredation of sonic standards in the live nightclub world and the hi-fi world.

These speakers would sound simply incredible(the 5 way dance stack). I have heard the 2 way Funktion One speakers coupled with their 12 inch subs and it was super clean without the sting and harshness of similar products.

What is the house/trance track on the intro-I cannot get it out of my head? I have directed others to this as it is very informative.Thanks Tony.

[sassangorillaz]

I'd hate to have to DJ in front of this guy

[pauldailey09]

He is correct...but that ship has sailed. No one is going back to analog - forget it. So he has to learn to compensate for crappy sound, or perish. Sorry.

[djaddictmusicaddict]

Tony Andrews!! This interview changed my life! ahhh "don't be so dramatic right?" The simple fact in knowing that There are humans/1 out there that have a Conceptually pure outlook & factual Philosophy of sound on this level honestly blew me away.I thought I would never Hear anything remotely close to What Tony has said so clearly mp3's + Wav..DJs...etc. Thank you for diving deep & wrapping it up.I am proud to say that his intrv was a absolute inspiration to me in all ways universally+soulfully

[yuryno1]

WHere to buy?

[boogiesob]

did a rock band on res 4 some time ago... yummiiieeeee!

tony is the man!

[TimMer1981]

I'd really like to sit down with this guy some time and have a beer; he's totally right about everything and he seems to be a nice, relaxed type. :)

[TimMer1981]

Funny fact: watch the bit from 6:29 and then look at the bitrate of this movie. ;)

[lucid484]

I agree WAV is better than MP3 but .....I listen to music on my USB headphones, old technics speakers on my stereo and stock speakers in my car.....I have never been able to tell much of a difference if I downloaded a WAV vs MP3 track of beatport for mixing with.....AND when I'm dancing in a club with all the horrible room shapes, people screaming etc. etc. etc. you will never be able to tell or prolly not care about the difference...especially if your drinking and just having fun.............

[crazydafy]

@lucid484 I have to disagree I hear the difference. 

[sobriquet1000]

@lucid484 The better the speakers, the easier you can tell the difference.

[lucid484]

@sobriquet1000 Maybe in teh case on organic instruments...but in a night club setting where most of the instruments are digital and much of the source material itself is 44/16 then there wont be much of a difference...of all my many years nightclubbing when i was a little younger the last thing on my mind was audio quality..it was how hard was the bass hitting , how fast the drinks were flowing and how hot the girls were!

[omarfrancis]

I played on a funktion one system at a night in London Bridge a while back. That didn't stop the promoters having shocking gear to dj with. The guy on here does make some good points as the UK is absolutely shocking when it comes to sound systems. I wish someone could make a nightclub that sounded like a Mcintosh presentation room.

[FattMattVideos]

I listened to a funktion one system for the first time yesterday.... insane! they absolutely live up to their reputation!

[FattMattVideos]

@FattMattVideos ... and everything this guy says in the video! so powerful and clean but effortless to listen to :-)

[Kidturbo1]

Beta in Denver has this sound system and after hearing it and than going to the other clubs...hands down blows them away. These speakers are a beast!

[CENHproductions]

what song at 2:44?! plz help!

[vitanovision]

@CENHproductions speedy j-something for your mind

[CENHproductions]

@vitanovision i dont think so. its some remix of that though. any help on finding that? lol stupid shazam wont work.

[lostgirlproductions]

@CENHproductions

It's probably just a DJ mix of the original and some breaks track.

[Aofex]

Not "most" classical instruments are made of wood. The strings on a Piano are made of metal. And he forgot that there is a whole section of a classical orchestra that features brass instruments.

Also, I don't understand what has the material of classical instruments have anything to do with loudspeaker material. French Horns are made from metal and sound great.

[mikotondria]

@Aofex Ah but there isn't an interface that the pressure wave travels across from metal to air. It's the air that vibrates from the lips, round the exponential curve of the instrument which flattens the wave front and projects it from the mouth. It's never travelling from inside the metal only into the air and becoming backed up and distorting itself. HTH

[DonegalRaymie201]

@Aofex

Yes, but the steel strings of a guitar or piano are naturally ampilfied by the wooden bodies of the guitar or piano! Can you imagine what a metal piano would sound like?

Remember, speakers are meant to REPRODUCE recorded sound, not create it in the 1st place like a musical instrument: a French horn can only ever sound like a French horn, never a Spanish guitar for example. Speakers have to sound like ANY instrument, so have to be neutral & acoustically "dead"!

[Aofex]

I agree partially to what he says, we need good technology (and music) so the listening experience can be enjoyed at its fullest.

What I don't get is why this guy is designing speakers for clubs?!? I mean, clubs are not the staple of good music (probably the contrary), so why isn't he designing hi-fi speakers for classical music listening or something like that?

[mjar69]

@Aofex

It depends on the clubs you are going to, but would you rather listen to music on shitty speakers or great speakers? The answer will always be great speakers...

[Aofex]

@mjar69 I would rather not listen to shitty music.

[digitalmonkeynuts]

Okay I want a set living room size? Would love to buy a set for the home?!!

[missraver1]

passionate ......: D

[BravoCharlieTV]

Heard gigs up and down Australia, from clubs to car parks to fields to massive outdoor bush doofs.. Funktion One is the absolute best.. far and away.. nothing compares standing one to two kilometres from a speaker stack and hearing the high end so clearly it sounds like someone is singing near your shoulder.. pure class.

[JimmmyP69]

I can just imagine this guy driving round blasting everyone with 100 pure watts of sound laughing while he wears some head muffs

[shamuscoghlan]

But the question remains what do we do to the people who have their heads up their ass who do not want to hear, even when it is noticeable.

The reason (807) Recordings presses to vinyl, with much of the sources coming directly off analog tape and cut to vinyl with no limiters or compression is because of these types of systems. Any surprise even at clubs like the Berghain when our records are played they sound vastly fuller, richer, and hit the person in a full physical presence.

[GOGOGOMER420KUSHHED]

what makes a speaker/monitor flat?

[RenePatrique]

@GOGOGOMER420KUSHHED they mean the "frequency response" of the speaker - not the speaker itself !! ;o))

[digitalmonkeynuts]

@GOGOGOMER420KUSHHED Flat as in no manipulation EQ wise to try to make it sound better, it already does sound good.

[MrGabbawocky]

he bangs on about natural materials, yet loves using moulded horns?

[Duantuideguaiwu]

This guy just complains about everything. Everyone sucks except him I guess.

[crabqwert]

Track at 1 :24 ?

[fknchino]

is that a fucking ponytail?

[tajanaz07]

sbs shorty > funktion one

[Roemming]

I just painted our Funktion one today <3 The Resolution 5 Touring and F221, uhh, love them :D

[ned900]

does anyone know what the intro track is? for that matter both the intro tracks

[ABOlsen69666]

Spoke with him back in 2006 in Frankfurt. He's a really cool and bright guy. But christ, what a hippie lol.

[pasodiufwen]

funny.

[cutterschoicenotmine]

Some good bits in here but I hate it when people moan and bitched about 320 kbps MP3s vs WAVs. Compared on a big system there is nothing between them, and vinyl is miles apart. This guy is one of those 'I paid 3,000 for a pair of cables' type, its acceptable on this occasion, he is the don of Funktion One.

[Elnufo]

A really cool man, telling the truth! I've heard those Speakers and i must say: they are outstanding!

[Stefan2SERB]

function one systems are excellent, but as the man says, the venue and crappy levels often ruin sound, with certain frequencies being over amplified and blanketing over others, killing the depth... also some music will never sound good on any sound system no matter how great.... big up the brosteppas and other musically limited mandem

[c0ryispimp1]

lol he should have just said i miss the old days and u kids are fucking it all up

[ShaynAlmeida]

Funktion One is IT!!! ~ Thank You Tony Andrews!!!

[RaivaParada]

douchebag.

[tjhookerdj]

I wonder what the other "one or two" manufactures are he respects are?

[ABOlsen69666]

@tjhookerdj One is L'acoustics and the other is Meyer Sound. They are as nerdy as him.

[neuronautvideos]

24bit, 96k check!

[thefishdog]

no format is better than any other if the original music source is poorly produced and mastered, The download sites need quality control as we will end up paying more money for crappy quality wavs. as it is the likes of beatport are full of crappy generic music that has not been mastered correctly, some of the music on there when played on a loud sound system is a hazard to peoples hearing and dangerous.

[DonegalRaymie201]

@thefishdog

Yes, but his point is, that we've all gotten so used to listening to crap tracks on crap systems, that we don't know or expect better! Kids listen to MP3s on their phones, and think that's how music should sound FFS.

Once upon a time, recordings cost small fortunes to make on scarily expensive INDUSTRY STANDARD 2" analogue master tape; that's why 60's recordings still sound so fresh & hi-fi today!

We really have gone backwards.

[theUnlimited1]

@thefishdog: to be fair though, some formats are still better / worse than others. Even with a poor original, a high-res. digital file won't sound as bad as a low-res. file like an mp3, in which the (already low-fi) original file is further degraded when it is compressed as per the (lossy) mp3 format.

Your points about club systems sounding like shit / bad mastering are well taken. But that doesn't necessarily justify using a low-quality format like mp3. two wrongs don't make a right.

[langishere69]

What's the track at 2:45 ?

[omnislade]

@langishere69 that's what I want to know!

[colouredbloodred]

This stuff sounds absolutely awful no matter what ou do to it (bar setting it on fire).

It's about as smooth and flat as the Himafuckinglayas.

The sooner people realise this the better, then maybe we can all listen to nice soundsystems that don't have to have their manufacturers come on here and reel off excuses.

[vitanovision]

@SlicesMag aspect ratio, fixed :)

[stevendelacrem]

Nice listening to someone who is bother passionate and knowledgeable but he's a bit of an audio Nazi.

I doubt the average Saturday nigh 5am raver spends any time "unscrambling" the sound waves. Wine bars aren't there for people to listen to the acoustics but to have a drink and talk. He should also remember that great acoustic design and treatment of a space costs money, as do vinyls and top notch equipment.

[StuballScramble]

@stevendelacrem His point about "unscrambling" is that the brain does this automatically without us realising. He means that your ears get tired listening to horrible environments and horrible music.

[2ManyNoobs]

people might say that he's kind of talking elitist or even pretencious, but he's 100% percent right.

People (most of em) care more about the money in the bank in stead of the actual art and the love, passion for what they do..

please, wake up from this! noise destroys your ears and only gives you a short rush! Open the eyes (or ears) and learn how you can perceive a lot more than you ever imagined you could!

[zeltonIII]

he's just incredibly passionate about high quality audio reproduction, and it is clearly this passion that drives funktion one to create that standard of product that they do...

[lewigimole]

i like his products. most of what he says is true and common with people who have as much experience as he does, but some of the elitist tripe he comes out with annoys me.

[303bij]

I agree 100% with Tony!

[katankat]

Ah now I get it! Look down, you will see any negative comments are either removed or voted off, by themselves no doubt! This guy is an arrogant controlling idiot. Dont be fooled, use your own ears and eyes! For this to have 34 likes and 5 disslikes says it all! What an unpopular man!

[poperock7]

I agree with marxman and fofofik. I was at Boom festival in the summer and every stage/tent had an F1 system running. In the main dance tent you could stand within a metre of a stack and hold a normal level conversation......the sound was clear and unforced. Even the soundstaging was exceptional....one example being that I thought I once heard someone singing behind me and realised it was coming from the F1 in front of me....this in an open tent!! (and I was straight at the time!)

[marxman00]

So many techy snobs around that have done NOTHING for audio. Tony Andrews has consistently given brilliant and innovative designs, He's the real deal, show some respect FFS!

[fofofik]

Funktion one sounds like a big hi-fi system.At the moment its nothing close to it.

[poperock7]

@fofofik sorry didn't mean to thumbs down......that was for the muppet below!

[katankat]

This guy is an arrogant idiot that took way too much acid in the 60's and now believes he is a god...

[descendantdan]

I'm sorry to say I like neither your products or your attitude Mr Andrews.

[mykeydread2000]

......."dustbins and oil drums are not a great sound!"

well one holds oil, and the other rubbish...

....and I take it he has never been to Nottinghill carnival then

[chinesedude]

bullshit after bullshit

[a2dds]

@chinesedude how can you say that? when you are listening to one of the main reasons funktion-one are so impressive, this bloke knows these speakers inside out, partly coz he was a designer of them, nothing he says about them isnt bullshit. him out of all people should how they work and why they sound so god dam good! :)

[DogBoots77]

Everything was better in the old days...gawd, I hate that sentiment. Ever since I heard the Resolution 1 box, I've learned to take Tony's rantings with a grain of salt. How anyone can present that box and say "Look, we don't need regular HF-drivers!" is beyond me. Sounds like a speaker with a built-in blanket. Also, it seems Tony hasn't heard of Danley Sound Labs. They also produce speakers that don't require any processing. And Tom has figured it out - Synergy Horn is just the RIGHT way.

[a2dds]

@DogBoots77 thats odd because i found the res 1 was a really impressive cabinet.

But each to their own i guess.

[djnfinity]

by the end it gets better-

why is bassheavy music so great? because you can feel it- make speakers to make me feel audio not just hear it.

paper? organic blah, bla bla- sell product!- this will change soon.

[bwaarp]

play nicely timmy.

[Bespokeaudiohire]

''ask your djs to play WAV files only'' PMSL never going to happen

[dkleitsch]

If the HF is flat without EQ, then it has no pattern control.

Film is only 24 frames per second.

[Bespokeaudiohire]

Bet you love d&b then ;) & i think your find d&b are more efficient :)

[1SNIPERWOLF1]

@Bespokeaudiohire , idiot

[LSD2600]

gWAN tONY...INSPIRING WORDS AND MY SENTIMENTS EXACTLY....KEEP THE FAITH.X

[Parkinson9999]

Very interesting interview. That man truly loves what he is doing.

[mrenoc1]

Very interesting.

[ianbrucepa]

This man is why the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra only uses Funktion-One!!!