The problem with control surfaces is that by the time there are enough controls on the surface to actually do the job, you've pretty much rebuilt a complete console.

Most control surfaces are simple. Too simple. You get eight motorized faders and a few knobs, a handful of paging switches, and a small, one-line LED display. With this skimpy set of widgets you are supposed to command the thousands of parameters and features embedded in your DAW. A few highly-powerful alternatives are available, most specifically for ProTools, but these devices have a significant physical - and financial - footprint.In the end, the DAW user must either settle for a small set of tactile controls or simply rely on mouse-mixing to get the job done.

At least, until now.

Enter D ... Read More »

I have a problem.  I’m a sucker for cheap gear.  I can’t resist the low-price carrot.  This makes me do silly things -- buying the Alesis 3630 comes to mind, or picking up mics sight-unseen, sound-unheard.  Usually, this does little more than clutter my tiny studio, but now and then I luck out. 

The KEL HM-1 was just such a carrot.  Sold direct by KEL in Canada at an introductory price of $69 (they're now $129, and include a shock-mount and carrying case I didn’t receive).  I sprung for two on a whim.  KEL’s money back guarantee helped fuel the decision.  A lucky pick, or more clutter?  Let’s find out.
 
My motivation ... Read More »

Just the thought of Linux conjures up many different variants of emotion. For some, there are thoughts of freedom; for others there are thoughts of horror as hours of lives have been lost trying to configure this beast. Does Linux have anything to offer the Pro Audio community? I hope to shed some light on this subject for you, as I do believe that Linux is a tremendous gift to the Pro Audio community and society as a whole.

I am not going to give you an entire history lesson about how Linus Torvalds created the first Linux kernel and so on. There are huge books and thousands of web sites on the subject. If you do want a history lesson I would suggest Wikipedia. I am going to discuss modern audio technologies, the Linux equivalents, different high end Linux audio programs, and different Linux flavors. Read More »

A few months ago a friend of mine (who has a habit of buying anything cheap just to see what it will do) purchased a pair of Cascade Fat Head II mics.  Since I had no experience with ribbon mics at the time (and he was busy recording a live show) I picked them up to see what they sounded like.

The mic comes in an aluminum case that has inside a very good universal shock-mount, cleaning cloth and a very nice wooden box for the mic. The mic itself seems to be well made (and looks good to boot) - a great package especially for two hundred dollars! Like most ribbons, the Fat Head II is bidirectional (figure 8) and should not have phantom power applied to them (although the manufacturer now claims these mics are phantom-safe).  Ribbon elements don't  like wind blasts, so use a pop screen if you record vocals with it.

Unlike mo ... Read More »

Getting a good kick drum sound often seems more like luck than skill. It's all too common: a small, thuddy kick. Poor attack. No tone, or bad tone. The kick doesn't cut through... or, if it does, it sounds so bad, you wish it didn't.

Fortunately, there's new help for your limp, flaccid kick drum. It's not a perfect science, and will require work and practice on your part. But with some effort and skill, you can get a bigger, thicker, more masculine kick drum sound. A sound you'll be proud of.  A sound you'll want to show all your friends.

OK, scratch that last part.  That was wierd.

Goals

It's important to know what kind of sound you're going for. There are a lot of "good" kick drum sounds, but of course they won't all sound good in your particular mix. Take the popular meta ... Read More »

Recording an album without a record deal is a challenge, to say the least. It can put a strain on your finances, your relationships and your sanity. I am currently trying to finish my second album, and the experience has been almost as painful as my first album. However, I have learned a lot and I hope my next one will be a breeze.

I am one of those “engineers” that doesn’t really think of himself as an engineer. I am first and foremost a songwriter. I play guitar, keyboards, bass and drums. I sing because I have never been able to find a singer that could sing my songs the way I wanted. I guess I live by the old adage “If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.”

It is easy to find talented people, but it is much more difficult to find talented people who share your taste and vision. Furthermore, even if you find people that are talented and share your vision, they rar ... Read More »

Dumbass - noun - A stupid person; these words are used to express a low opinion of someone's intelligence.

If you’re one of the many aspiring songwriters / musicians / engineers out there that is trying to record an album independently, you have two choices: Record the album yourself at home or go to a “ ... Read More »

I’ve spent most of the last decade involved in remote collaboration as a tech support engineer for ednet, whose primary business model is real-time, remote audio collaboration via ISDN & IP for the advertising, post / ADR, and music markets. It's a high-end, niche business that works very well for studios needing what we like to call "CD-quality phone calls". During this time, my project studio has also needed to collaborate with other studios over long distances. Typically, I address this by primitive (fedexing or mailing CDs/ DVDs), or mid-tech (emailing .mp3s, FTP) means.

Unfortunately, these solutions are not suited to a real-time collaborative experience. Mail and Fedex obviously won’t work. ISDN and IP come close, but coding and transmission de ... Read More »

Two questions perenially surface in the world of pro audio:

1. Why are Macs dominant in pro audio, when Windows has such overwhelming market share?

2. Should I get a Mac or PC for recording?

By now you've probably been wondering where we've been. To tell the truth, so have we.

Well, ProRec's demise is a powerful testimonial to the importance of a robust data backup strategy. After over eight years of uninterrupted service, our main web server experienced a (third) failure of its RAID array, and the entire contents of the server were utterly corrupted.

Normally, this would not have been such a disaster. Because, over the same eight years, I maintained a live mirror of the site at another location. The mirror - updated every 15 minutes - was an exact replica of the main site. In just a few hours following the complete loss of the main site, I could have the DNS redirected to the mirror server, and ProRec would magically come back online.

However, as is often the case, Murphy had other plans.

A Perfect Storm

It's really amazing how events conspired against us this time. Because, as it ... Read More »

In my last studio, I was fortunate to have a great sounding control room. I can’t take any credit for this; it was sheer luck-of-the-draw. Some interplanetary alignment of room dimensions, carpeting type, and speaker placement converged to give me a near-perfect listening environment. There was no need for any kind of special room treatment. The mids were smooth and offered precise imaging, and the bass response was very flat down to a solid 30 Hz.

I got a little spoiled.

However I got the opportunity to relocate the studio to a new location with a larger and much better sounding tracking room, and had to take the offer. In most ways the new studio is superior to the old one – all except for the control room. The new studio’s control room is a too-small 8 by 13 foot operation, with a roof that’s just a little too low, and severe bass response issues.

After a few weeks of working in ... Read More »

I’ve been a fan of Cakewalk music software ever since Greg Hendershott was the only employee. Cakewalk has always had a good combination of usability, power, and relative simplicity. When the application added audio in the mid 1990s, it wasn’t clear at first if the application would remain a “MIDI sequencer with some audio features” or if it was on a track to become an “audio multitrack with MIDI”. Many arguments have ensued about what was, and what should be the direction of the product.

When the product was renamed “SONAR” it removed any doubt: the mission was multitrack audio. And with SONAR 4, Cakewalk has reached a level of sophistication that most of us doubted for years it would ever reach. When it comes to multitrack audio recording, SONAR 4 is the best of breed, managing to somehow combine t ... Read More »

When I moved into my new facility at Pleasantry Lane studios, I made a commitment: no new rack gear, and no mixers. I am on a quest to downsize the hardware and optimize my use of a pure computer-based approach to engineering.

Of course, when swearing off mixers, one quickly bumps one’s head against the problem of monitoring. You need some kind of control over the monitors, you still need a talkback, you need a headphone mix and you need a little routing so you can play back CDs or record to a cassette deck.

What you need is for someone to take the master section from a large-footprint studio console and cook it down into a little box for DAW users.

You need a Big Knob.

Mackie’s big knob was designed with the DAW user in mind. The unit features a large, high-quality volume knob, low noise op-amps, a small but useful set of inputs and outputs, a talkback section, three headphone out ... Read More »

Blue Microphones was kind enough to send me their Kiwi mic for a test drive at the same time they sent me their new Ball mic for review. Truth be told, I love microphones. I don’t think you can have too many of them, especially if they have a distinctive sound. This would be my first opportunity to use a Blue condenser mic and I was anxious to try the Kiwi.

The Kiwi is Blue’s top of the line solid-state mic. The Kiwi is a large-diaphragm multi-pattern condenser microphone featuring discrete Class A electronics with a transformerless output. The classic “lollipop on a bottle” type design and rich green paint certainly make it a striking and handsome mic. The Kiwi also distinguishes itself by offering NINE, count ‘em, nine pickup patterns. Besides the expected cardiod, omni and figure 8 ... Read More »

The Ball from Blue Microphones is Blue’s first entry into the dynamic market after a successful string of highly regarded condenser mics. I was approached about reviewing the Ball at summer NAMM and took Blue up on the offer. I’m always up for test-driving new gear. The Ball arrived a few weeks later, along with a “Blueberry” mic cable (optional).

The Ball is quite a unique microphone. For starters, it’s a big blue ball, about the size of a softball. The Ball certainly continues Blue’s tradition of making colorful, visually striking mics with interesting names, not model numbers. The Ball comes packaged in a cardboard box with Styrofoam packing. You also get a manual/application guide that perhaps tries a little too hard to be funny. At least it’s ... Read More »

When I was building out the space for our new studio, one thing started to annoy me.

The studio was constructed as a production studio, with a separate control room and nice big tracking room. I loved the layout, but I spend a lot of time tracking... myself. In the old space, the DAW was in the primary tracking room - it was a working musician's workshop - so I could, for example, set up the drums right at the computer, and run the rig from the drum kit.

But in this space, with its dedicated control and tracking rooms, I would be forced to trek back and forth from the recorder to the instrument whenever I was recording myself. What I needed was a remote.

Back in the day, we had remote controllers for our recorders. Whether this was a simple "record" button attached to the deck by a wire, or a complete remote unit on the ADATs, you could generally remote control the recorder from anywhere in the studio, if you had enough wire. But, now that the recorder is a computer, how ... Read More »

Five years ago or so, Ocean Way opened a facility in Nashville. They bought an old stone church at 1200 17th Avenue South. They converted it into a recording studio, and took what I assume was the rectory next door, and turned it into offices.

The main room is where the pews would have been, and the stained glass windows are still in place. This lends a very nice light in the space, though everyone who looks out the windows might not approve of the religious images that they see. The woodwork is a light and airy raw sienna color, and is quite attractive.

The space that would have housed the altar and back have been converted into a control room holding a large Neve console with GML automation, a machine room, a booth holding a grand piano, and various smaller rooms.

Today, just in front of the control booth glass is a temporary stage made from risers, a center stage podium, and a table and chairs to each side. Flankin ... Read More »

Showtime!

The first thing that we should say is that the attendance was huge, breaking last years numbers. So anyone who chose not to show at the Summer NAMM definitely lost out. In fact, even Sunday was jamming. Yet Sunday is a day that is traditionally slow in the trade show market because it is the last day and a lot of attendees leave early.

The poor economy has caused an impact in almost every part of the country, and the musical instrument business is no exception. This impact has manifested itself as a move to conservatism in product and product releases as businesses try to support and expand on successful products. Though there was no shortage of new products, there were fewer wild and crazy products, and more practical and well thought-out products.

Garry and I are a particularly good fit for a show like this. I tend to run around, get an overview of the whole show, and select what I want to check out from wh ... Read More »

ATI - The guys from ATI show up with their high end products and just make me drool every show. I bought an ATI mic pre last year, but I've been hot for an API for a long time. Though the models haven't changed, they still warrant your attention. The 512 module is a classic mic preamp and daddy of the 500 series of signal processing and racking choices. The 200 series is a more affordable and smaller solution, with it's own racking options. The 7600 Input Module channel strip and the 7800 Master Control Module are single rack space pieces that can be chained to suit your needs. Of course, you can opt for the Legacy or Legacy Plus full-blown studio consoles. http://www.apiaudio.com.

Garry:Moog - Moog introduced the Piano Bar, a MIDI controller for aco ... Read More »

Audio-Toys, Inc. (ATI) made a name for itself in the past decade with its series of Paragon mixers, which have earned high marks as monitor and broadcast mixers. With the 8MX2, ATI is earning high marks for its mic preamps.

The 8MX2 was apparently designed primarily to be a front-end system to an DA-88: it has 8 mic inputs, feeding a single DB25 output jack. The 8MX2 provides limiters on every channel, making it an ideal candidate for a live remote rig. Additionally, the 8MX2 offers some limited mixer capability, rounding out its usefulness as a front-end to an 8-channel digital tape machine.

The front panel controls are fairly straightforward. Each channel has a pair of dual knobs which control input gain, limiter threshold, mix level, and mix pan. Switches are available on each channel for phase and phantom power. Another pa ... Read More »

Chick singers are a dime a dozen, expensive at that price, and mostly downright forgettable. There are a handful of female artists who can rock my world, but most are from the past or distant past. Yes, I still play the occasional Joni Mitchell CD, and even Judy Collins seminal "Who Knows Where The Time Goes" gets a spin now and then. Janice and Grace get played some, too. But Melissa Ethridge and Mary Chapin Carpenter are about the only contemporary female artists that I listen to with any regularity.

Enter Mary Fahl, definitely NOT a ‘Chick Singer". Most certainly an Artist of the finest caliber.

Live….

I have had the pleasure of reviewing several of Shure's KSM line of studio condensers, and generally speaking, I have found these microphones to be sonically accurate and all-around useful mics. The KSM line includes the KSM 27 and 32, which are side-address large diaphragm cardioid condensers, the KSM 44, a multipattern large-diaphragm condenser, the 109 and 137, which are small-diaphragm cardioid condensers, and the latest offering,