We caught up with Grammy-winning surround producer and ELS namesake Elliot Scheiner by phone just after he returned from Acura's Marysville, OH, factory, where the RDX is built.
CA&E: How is the RDX system different from the original ELS system in the Acura TL?
Elliot Scheiner: We were able to create a surround environment for anyone sitting in the back seat. That was a critique of the TL - if you were sitting in the back you didn't have a good surround image because you couldn't hear the front all that well. But at the same time, Acura's marketing research showed that 90 percent of the time there's nobody in the back seat anyway. But with the RDX they decided they wanted to address that. We were also able to change the position of certain speakers and that helped a lot. We were able to elevate the [rear] surround speakers and direct them towards the front rather than have them reflect off the rear windshield [as in the TL]. And that was a major improvement.
CA&E: How much are you involved in the design stage, such as the placement of speakers.
Mark [Ziemba, Panasonic engineer] and I talk about it. Mark makes a lot of those decisions. He's a brilliant guy and really knows what he's doing and we have a great relationship. So I trust Mark in that area to make the right decisions, and he trusts me totally as far as the tuning goes.
CA&E: What's involved in tuning the system?
Mark and I do it together. I'll get in the car and Mark sits next to me. He has his laptop hooked up to the system and we'll make the necessary changes. Pre and post my getting in the car we'll use a mic array and determine what's not looking right. In theory, the scientists would like to think that's all that's needed, but when you get into a car those graphs don't mean crap. It really is based on how I hear music. No matter how good something looks [onscreen], it doesn't necessarily reflect the way I hear music. I've been making music for more than 35 years. I know what things are supposed to sound like. I'm very specific about EQ and always refer to specific frequencies when I'm tuning. I'll tell Mark where I want something either boosted or attenuated.
CA&E: How much on-the-road listening do you do to get the system to sound the way you want it to?
I couldn't drive the car in Japan during the first round of tuning, but the lead engineer shipped the car to Ohio on the second round so I could take the car out on the track. But normally we take the car out in Ohio; we take it out on the track.
CA&E: How much tuning do you do on the road as opposed to sitting still?
I would guess that 75 percent of the time it's sitting still and the other 25 percent is taking it out on the track.
CA&E: What music do you use to tune the system?
I usually take music that I've recorded, that I know every note intimately and I know what it sounds like. I know how it's supposed to sound and what it sounds like in my studio and other studios. I also take music that other producers have done but I'm intimately familiar with, that I've heard hundreds and hundreds of times.
CA&E: Such as?
I usually use Steely Dan's Gaucho to start off, the track "Babylon Sisters." I use R.E.M., Faith Hill, Boz Scaggs, Linda Ronstadt, Dire Straits, Bonnie Raitt, James Taylor. I use quite a bit of stuff and it's not all mine. I start with my stuff and when it gets to a point where I know it's right, then I play other guys' music to make sure it's right.
CA&E: Have any of the musicians that you've worked with heard the TL or the RDX system?
No one I work with has heard the RDX, but the TL, absolutely. Donald [Fagan] and Walter [Becker of Steely Dan] just love the system. I think for both of them it's what convinced them that surround is a good thing. Walter said it's such a compact environment for listening to surround music.
CA&E: Do you take mixes out of the car when you're working on a DVD-Audio disc?
Oh yes, absolutely. I was mixing the Foo Fighters' last record and it was a two-disc set. I was working on the acoustic disc at Capitol Records and they were working on the hard-rock disc at their studio out in the Valley somewhere. While I was working on the stereo versions it was easy to communicate with them because you just get a satellite line and send the stereo mix over and they can hear it. But their studio wasn't set up for surround. So there was no way for them to monitor it other than to drive to Capitol everyday, which was a huge inconvenience.
So I said, "How about if I bring a TL over there and you guys can listen to the mixes in there." I was totally confident about how they would sound in the car and they were totally into it. Acura drove a car up there and I sent a disc over and Dave [Grohl] and the band listened in the car and were totally blown away. They were not only blown away by the mixes but the quality of the surround in the car - so much so that a month or so later Dave bought a TL.
CA&E: What's the biggest difference between listening in the studio and listening in the car?
It's a different way of listening. Obviously I have a lot more expensive gear in my studio than what's in the car. So there's a great deal of difference there. But as far as listening for pleasure, I prefer listening in the car. It's just easier for me to enjoy music that way. It's such the perfect environment for listening to music. I've always felt that way, even in the stereo days. It's just a great way to evaluate things.
CA&E: Do you ever get to a point where it feels more like work and you don't enjoy listening to music in the car?
No, I always enjoy it. I love getting in there and listening. Just the other day, when Mark and I were working on [an upcoming new system], we were checking out the CD portion of the system and he said, "Let's put The Hunter in," which is a record I did with Jennifer Warnes in the early '90s. We'd pretty much finished for the day and just wanted to put a last check on the system. And we both just sat there listening and having a great time. I record music. That's my life. How can I not enjoy it?