Hewlett-Packard and Monster Beats™ by Dre recently unveiled the HP ENVY 14 Beats™ Edition, the first laptop that finally brings the authentic studio sound where ever you go. The ENVY 14 Beats™ Edition is a second-generation product, built from the ground up and has all the tools to make the PC a more formidable foe for the MAC. For years, producers and artists alike have complained about the tremendous drop off in audio quality once their music exits the studio. It’s almost as if the music flatlines the moment it reaches an MP3 player. With the HP ENVY 14, your favorite music is taken off the respirator, and given a life unseen to the average music lover. HP Vice President, Carlos Montalvo, sat down with AllHipHop.com and gave us the exclusive opportunity to demo their product. And from the moment he turned on the reference track, it was clear what would be trending in the near future. There was no need to interview Carlos. He was so excited about talking about the new ENVY, I gave him the stage. Here is your exclusive look into the inception of “Beats™ Audio” on the HP ENVY 14 Beats™ Edition. Hewlett-Packard Company Carlos Montalvo, Vice President Innovation Program Office Jimmy (Iovine) was looking a the paradox in the music industry; producers and artists spent so much time creating the perfect sound in the studio, as soon as it left the studio to an MP3 device, it’s not just the audio that was gone, the emotion was gone. You lose the essence of what the artist was trying to do. So Jimmy is looking out into the consumer space, at the same time we looked at the PC space and recognized that more people were turning their laptops into their stereo system. We’re looking at data that you’re average 18-34 year old is spending between three to four hours a day listening to music on their PC, at a time when PC’s were still looked at as productivity devices, internet devices, etc. So it was really a melding of the minds, that we have an opportunity to take the PC and turn into the main media dashboard for a whole new generation of consumers; most of which have never heard good sound. To make great sound, we had to completely remaster the PC from the ground up. This was like going to a racecar owner and asking him what makes his car go fast; it’s not just the engine, the wheels, the suspension or the gearbox alone. You have to look at everything from the helmet, to the visor. If you step into the car and realize that there is something wrong with the suspension, you have to completely retune the entire car. So we started with a blank sheet of paper and looked at the entire audio pad from the source to the output and said, “If we were to turn PC design into an audiocentric delivery vehicle, what would we do different?” And from what we’ve found out, we had to do everything different. So the first thing we did was looking around the market for a programmable DSP (Digital Signal Processor). Because we knew that the way Dr. Dre gets his sound and how other great producers get their sound is by doing a mix, and doing another one, then another mix. So the thought of us getting to the sound the first time, and then shipping the product wasn’t going to happen. We came up with a technology and a toolset to allow our engineers to sit side by side with Dre, Will, and Jimmy. We used ‘In Da Club’ by 50 Cent as our reference track and over the next four months, we programmed the DSP to capture Dr. Dre’s unique audio signature. So “Beats™ Audio” is Jimmy and Dre tuning sound across the entire frequency spectrum, to produce the sound the way you were intended to hear it audio. We completely reengineered the audio pad in every computer that comes with “Beats™ Audio”. What you have hear with the Envy Beats™ Edition 6 ½ hours of battery life with the battery that comes with it; with the additional battery, 13 hours. You get big power, big sound with lean use of battery power. We decided to have a Beats™ on/off interface. When you turn Beats™ off, in essence the sound goes into flat; the same way if you walk into an untouched studio with default settings. Let me be clear, even the off setting on Envy sounds better than any product without Beats™. This isn’t about just tuning Hip-Hop or Pop music. HP Envy Beats™ Edition is about listening to all your favorite music for the first time.
