The Genelec Guide to 2020

null The Genelec Guide to 2020

The Genelec Guide to 2020

Well, what a year it’s been. We hope that you have managed to stay safe and well throughout this most extraordinary 12 months, and our thoughts go out to every one of you who has lost someone dear to them or has been adversely affected by the pandemic.

So as we look forward to a brighter and more positive future for the world, here’s a quick look back at some of the highlights of the year, and a few of the things that have helped sustain us throughout 2020.

We kicked off the year with a first for us as a company – the winning of TWO NAMM TEC awards in one year! Both the S360 high SPL monitor and our Aural ID technology for headphones were voted winners, and as this was pre-COVID we were actually able to physically collect the awards in Los Angeles in January.

When Creativity Fuels a Purposeful Human Community

Meanwhile back in Finland, we marked a new era of sustainable growth with the opening of a brand new extension to our lakeside factory in Iisalmi. The extension significantly increases the space, flexibility and efficiency of our warehousing and logistics operations, while ensuring that the entire facility is now powered exclusively by sustainable sources including solar, wind and hydroelectric energy.

Over in sunny Ibiza, we visited EDM legend David Guetta, and spent a wonderful day being guided around his private studio there. David had recently added a pair of 7380A subwoofers to his 1234A main monitoring system, and he talked to us about his career, his influences, his workflow and his monitors, which he described as his ”perfect setup.”

As the pandemic started to take hold in March, and face-to-face contact with customers became impossible, we focussed heavily on our digital channels of communication, and our series of G*Connect webinars allowed us to offer advice and guidance on a wide range of audio topics including room calibration, immersive audio, subwoofers, networked audio and much more. You can still watch these on demand by heading to genelec.com/webinars

Back in the spring we also strengthened our main monitor series by introducing the 1235A, which fuses the classic sound of the iconic 1035 with the power and flexibility of Smart Active Monitoring. The first pair of these were installed in Studio A of Metropolis Studios in London, complementing the 1236As already residing in Studio B!

In April our talented R&D Director Aki Mäkivirta was the very worthy recipient of the Finnish CTO of the Year award, while our Genelec G SongLab online learning community was launched to allow young people to collaborate and engage with others in developing their skills in songwriting and music creation. Continuing the theme of online learning, we also started our series of ’Pro at Home’ Instagram Live sessions where our own Andy Bensley offers advice and guidance for those looking to improve the sound of their home recording space. Obviously with the working-from-home culture fuelled by the pandemic, this has proved to be a very useful forum for discussing the optimisation of acoustic spaces that were not originally designed to function as recording studios!

In May we unveiled our new RAW aluminium range, and used this to help two important fundraising initiatives. By auctioning a pair of RAW G2 Home Audio speakers assembled and signed by Tarja Turunen, you helped us raise over $10,000 for the University of Helsinki's COVID-19 research project. At the same time, every sale of RAW loudspeakers is helping to fund the Audio Engineering Society’s COVID fundraiser, with the first donation of €12,000 being made by us back in September.

Genelec and Tarja Turunen join forces for RAW charity auction

Another prestigious award came our way courtesy of Mondo magazine, who judged the G Livelab live venue in Tampere to be the Best Concert Hall in their 2020 Mondo*DR awards. Run by the Finnish Musician’s Union, G Livelab is powered by a vast system of Genelec loudspeakers including the 4430 Smart IP model.

G Livelab chosen as Best Concert Hall by Mondo*DR awards

In August, our series of webinars started to focus on the forthcoming GLM 4 software launch, so we created a series of six modules that guided viewers through the whole subject of room calibration and the features and benefits of GLM 4, which at that point was in a public beta test phase. This series can now be viewed on-demand by visiting genelec.com/yoursonicreference.

Heading to the USA, September saw a TEC award nomination for our revolutionary W371A Adaptive Woofer System, followed shortly afterwards by the opening of our brand new US Experience Centre in Boston – with its hugely impressive 9.1.6 immersive audio system.

Over in the world of AV Installation, our growing profile in this important market segment was recognised during the celebrated 2020 AV Awards event. We won both the ‘Audio Technology’ and ‘Green Business’ categories, due to our Smart IP technology and our ongoing emphasis on sustainable business – where we have long valued environmental responsibility to be just as important as profitability.

As the year drew to a close, we officially stepped up our Pro at Home initiative in recognition of the increasing importance of our loudspeakers as tools for powering creativity at home. Starting with a video interview at the home of our MD Siamäk Naghian, expect to see a regular flow of content in the future that shines a spotlight on the many engineers and creatives who are relying on Genelec to deliver ‘professional sound at home’.

To cap a momentous year, we publicly unveiled our GLM 4 loudspeaker manager software via a global online launch on 16th December. Hosted by Darren Rose and Markus Kahelin, we were delighted to introduce guest contributions from GLM users Sylvia Massy, Morten Lindberg, Goh Hotoda and Nick Mac. GLM 4 is freely available at www.genelec.com/glm4, where you can still watch the launch event on demand.

So thanks for your wonderful support this year. Stay safe and we’ll see you in 2021!

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