Increase Audio is a Melbourne based mastering service helmed by industry veteran John Clayton. Situated within Jack The Bear’s Deluxe Mastering facility in Brunswick, a prestigious staple of Melbourne mastering services, Increase Audio occupies a purpose-built audio mastering suite. Built from the ground up as a reflection-free chamber by internationally acclaimed acoustic designer George Augspurger of Perception Inc Los Angeles, the space is home to a pair of PSI Audio A25-M studio monitors.
Sitting upon speaker stands that John designed himself in CAD software, and then had built to his own specifications, the precision 3-way mid-field monitors cut a commanding silhouette against the studio wall. The calibrated nature of the space is further enhanced by the A25-M’s Compensated Phase Response circuitry- an analogue collection of carefully adjusted all-pass filters that compensate for phase variance and ensure perfect reproduction of transients.
Operating full-time within the workspace since June, John chose the A25-M’s to replace another high end brand that wasn’t performing as well for him against the acoustics of the room. “I tried a pair of PSI Audio monitors in here and noticed a considerable quality difference straight away. It’s then that I knew I had to own a pair for the studio”.
With a background as a session drummer and an extensive consignment at Audio and Light Services, one of Melbourne’s most distinguished audio and visual hire companies, John is no stranger to working with industry leading equipment, and says the PSI Audio monitors are no different. “They really do feel like precision tools for balancing music; the A25-M’s are a traditional speaker design done extremely well”.
Throughout John’s client repertoire, be it Rock, Pop, Jazz or even Drum and Bass, one special aspect of Increase Audio’s monitoring setup remains extremely consistent- the vocal clarity. “These PSI monitors have great midrange detail and an amazing stereo image; it feels like you can just reach out and touch the vocals”.
