KRK’s V6 powered monitors bring the heat to symphonic metal band Epica.
Belgian guitarist Isaac Delahaye says that music is in his DNA, and looking back at his work history, this is undeniable. Born into a musical family, Delahaye spent his childhood and teenage years studying, teaching and performing in various hometown bands. In his 20s, he was studying at the conservatory and touring internationally, and later became the guitarist of the Dutch symphonic metal band Epica. Delahaye has been performing and mixing for bands for the past 13 years, but it was only recently that he discovered the KRK V6 studio monitor and relied on it for his home studio and studio mixing needs.
The guitarist first met KRK while visiting Gibson’s show in the Netherlands. He had heard about this brand before, he wanted to use KRK products himself, and finally chose the V series. “Compared to all other brands of monitors I’ve used, the KRK V-Series is a very smooth audio system, and the monitors don’t color the audio at all.” Delahaye shared: “It’s great, especially for metal, because the low end of the speakers is so complete, you can hear everything clearly.”
While Epica is part of the metal genre, it’s only half of what the band really includes. “Epica is a female symphonic metal band. If you take ‘she’ apart, symphonic metal has two meanings: one is symphony, which means we use all the components of a symphony orchestra, like a full choir ; the other is the metal band itself, the six members of our band.” Delahaye explained: “With this combination, we can boldly explore more types of music, which becomes very interesting. One song may be a Latin ballad with violin and piano, but the next is a death or black metal music.”
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To achieve this electronic mix of symphony and metal, Epica mostly uses background music when performing live. However, all of the band’s albums were recorded with full orchestra and choir.“The demos for Epica were recorded in my home studio with the V6, and the actual mixing of the album was done in the work studio.” Delahaye 说: “Have been using this monitor for over a year now. I’ve been looking for other options in the past, but since adding the KRK to my studio, that search has ended. Also, since the V6 is a Active monitors, it’s perfect for a small home studio like mine.”
In addition to the V6 monitors, guitars from KRK parent company Gibson can be found in Delahaye’s studio or on stage.“I played with the Epica on Gibson Les Paul Standard ’50s Tobacco Burst and Heritage Cherry Sunburst guitars.” he finally said: “I also have the KNS 6402 headphones. For me, the KRK has a similar story to the Gibson. Once you start using it, you don’t want to change anything else. That’s exactly how I felt when I started using the KRK.”
