PMC Gives Jun Inoue His Silky Voice

PMC

Responsible for the meteoric success of Japanese super groups Arashi and KAT-TUN, producer Jun Inoue, aka Silky Voice, recently completed construction of his home studio, which includes PMC’s flagship BB5 XBD-A monitoring system.

Although he is one of Japan’s premier producers, artists and writers, Jun Inoue is also highly unusual because very few producers – even ones of his standing – set up their own home studios. The nature of the Japanese music industry is such that most productions are completed in commercial facilities, but as Jun knows these are not always suitable for everyone’s style of production.

“Most of these studios do not have good speakers that generate powerful and quality middle-low frequencies," he explains. "The audio may not be centred or balanced according to the structure of the room. I also worried about the time and cost of renting these studios,  so I decided to build a home studio just like Motown's "Hitsville U.S.A", where I could invite my friends at any time and be able to work in a friendly environment.”

Jun started work on his own studio in Tokyo Shibuya-ku, close to Meiji Shrine. With his natural ear for quality and his desire to achieve the same audio excellence as his peers, Jun did not hesitate when it came to investing in a fully active, full range BB5 XBD-A speaker system.

“I chose PMC BB5-XBD-A speakers because my favourite musicians such as Stevie Wonder, Prince and Afrojack, and many other respectable artists who make wonderful dance songs, were using them,” he says. “I also wanted a speaker that could generate rich, mid & low frequencies. I have spent many hours in Japanese studios but the only studios that satisfied me were the Victor Studio 202 and LAB Recorders B-Studio. (Both PMC Clients). This is why, when I decided to build my private studio, PMC's BB5-XBD-A speaker came to mind first – because it has beautiful mid & low range.”

Born into an environment where music always mattered, Jun Inoue was destined to succeed from a very young age.

“Ever since I was a little kid there was a lot of musical and recording equipment in the house because my father was a musician," he explains. "These ranged from drums, guitars, bass, organs, percussion and synthesizers to an AKAI open reel tape recorder and Hammond Leslie speakers. I remember connecting instruments to the mixer while randomly pressing buttons on the equalizer. I also remember taking off the cover of a Roland Space Echo and cutting the analogue tape inside to change its reverb sound.”

After several years working as an assistant for artist management production group Johnny Company, Jun worked his way up to become the company's producer and director. It was at this time that Jun was tasked with managing the unknown boy band KAT-TUN.

“When I first met KAT-TUN, they were just a young boy band without a name. When they debuted in Japan, they instantly achieved a million hits. KAT-TUN performed continuous live shows in the Tokyo Dome for eight days straight, which became a new record in Japan.”

Jun’s success and hard work did not go unnoticed and he was immediately assigned to manage Arashi, another relatively unknown group at the time.

“After the success of KAT-TUN, I was told to manage ARASHI who were struggling," he says. " They had had a rough start for about three years before coming out with a song called Love So Sweet, which became their new hit single. This changed the direction of the group and they are now seen as the leading boy band in Japan.”

Since establishing his own studio and installing the PMC BB5 XBD-A speakers, Jun has been working on projects for Yasuha Kominami and HaKU, as well as overseeing the production of all Japanese artists' content for Tokyo Tunes, a site created to promote new Japanese artists and songs through their YouTube channels and iOS app.

With so many projects on the go at any one time it is easy to forget Jun is also a solo artist in his own right. Going under the name of Silky Voice, his debut album ‘Crystal’ will be available on the iTunes Music Store on 25th December 2015 on Jazzy Beat Records.

Find more information on Silky Voice and Tokyo Tunes, please visit: http://www.tokyo-tunes.com/