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UR-Series
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UR22 2x D-PRE mic preamps, 2 line outputs
UR44 4x D-PRE mic preamps, 4 line outputs, DSP effects processing
UR824 8x D-PRE mic preamps, 8 line outputs and ADAT digital i/o, DSP effects processing
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EVENTS AND PROMOTIONS yamahabackstage.com.au
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Editor Mark Davie mark@audiotechnology.com.au Publisher Philip Spencer philip@alchemedia.com.au Editorial Director Christopher Holder chris@audiotechnology.com.au Publication Director Stewart Woodhill stewart@alchemedia.com.au Art Direction & Design Dominic Carey dominic@alchemedia.com.au Additional Design Daniel Howard daniel@alchemedia.com.au Advertising Philip Spencer philip@alchemedia.com.au Accounts Jaedd Asthana jaedd@alchemedia.com.au Subscriptions Miriam Mulcahy mim@alchemedia.com.au
Regular Contributors Martin Walker Robert Clark Anthony Garvin Paul Tingen Graeme Hague Guy Harrison Greg Walker James Roche Greg Simmons Tom Flint Brad Watts Blair Joscelyne Mark Woods Andrew Bencina Jason Fernandez Brent Heber AudioTechnology magazine (ISSN 1440-2432) is published by Alchemedia Publishing Pty Ltd (ABN 34 074 431 628). Contact (Advertising, Subscriptions) T: +61 2 9986 1188 PO Box 6216, Frenchs Forest NSW 2086, Australia. Contact (Editorial) T: +61 3 5331 4949 PO Box 295, Ballarat VIC 3353, Australia.
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All material in this magazine is copyright Š 2014 Alchemedia Publishing Pty Ltd. Apart from any fair dealing permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process with out written permission. The publishers believe all information supplied in this magazine to be correct at the time of publication. They are not in a position to make a guarantee to this effect and accept no liability in the event of any information proving inaccurate. After investigation and to the best of our knowledge and belief, prices, addresses and phone numbers were up to date at the time of publication. It is not possible for the publishers to ensure that advertisements appearing in this publication comply with the Trade Practices Act, 1974. The responsibility is on the person, company or advertising agency submitting or directing the advertisement for publication. The publishers cannot be held responsible for any errors or omissions, although every endeavour has been made to ensure complete accuracy. 27/06/2014.
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COVER STORY
Native Instruments’ Maschine Studio & Maschine 2
40
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Opera Flies Outdoors: Sydney Opera House’s Madama Butterfly
Womadelaide Photo Diary
24
Bitwig Studio: A New Contender in Live’s Space
Sony UWP-D Portable Wireless Systems
46
Apple Notes
Last Word: Gotye & Franc Tetaz
John Congleton Makes Sure St Vincent isn’t Perfect
34
Korg DSD DACs
Studio Focus: Wisseloord
28
18
44
14
32
50 AT 5
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GENERAL NEWS
AWESOME COMPRESSION How can you not be interested in audio gear made by a company called the Awesome Transistor Amplifier Company? Otherwise known as AwTAC, based in New York City the company goes by the mantra, “designed by ear, manufactured by hand”. Hard to argue with that philosophy. AwTAC’s latest offering is the 500 Series Channel Compressor, a versatile, classic-sounding compressor with simple to use controls designed to stack well in a mix while
GOT IT ANY WHITER? Audio-Technica has announced a limited edition white version of its successful AT2020. Originally launched in 2005 the AT2020 has become a staple of small and project studios, representing great value for money for a high-quality, largediaphragm, side-addressed condenser microphone. White or black the AT2020 features a customengineered low-mass diaphragm manufactured in Audio-Technica’s hi-tech Tokyo ‘clean-room’ factory. Designed to comfortably handle extended 20–20,000Hz frequencies and extremely high SPLs — up to 144dB — the AT2020 is built to capture audio with uncoloured precision. Its fixed format cardioid polar pattern is very effective in isolating the sound source and delivering a smooth, natural, accurate sound. Solidly build with a cast aluminium shell and a firmly held capsule, attached at top and bottom, the AT2020 leads something of a double life. As well as its key role in the recording studio it can also handle the rough and tumble of life on the road, finding plenty of useful work in positions like drum overheads, guitar cabinet and acoustic instruments. Price: $149. Technical Audio Group: (02) 9519 0900 or info@tag.com.au
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providing everything from “just a little” to “suck all the air out of the room” amounts of compression. Of particular note is the compressor’s Blend Control which, rather than provide a wet-to-dry mix kind of parameter, adds in level of the original signal to the compressed output thus emulating true parallel processing. Federal Audio: www.federalaudio.com.au
APOGEE BREAKOUT PACKAGE Apogee Electronics has released a rather nifty bundle featuring its Duet audio interface and Breakout Box, for a package price of US$695. Apogee Duet for iPad and Mac is touted as the ‘first professional stereo audio interface, headphone amp and MIDI interface for iOS devices and Mac’. Featuring two channels of Apogee’s industry-leading AD/DA conversion, dynamically optimised mic preamps and an acclaimed user interface, Duet is the best and simplest way
to capture your music in all of its dimension and detail. The Duet Breakout Box is a durable, aluminium enclosure with two 1/4-inch inputs, two XLR inputs and two balanced XLR outputs. The Duet Breakout Box features studio-quality I/O connectors and includes a 2m cable allowing you to extend your connections and minimise cable clutter. Sound Distribution: (02) 8007 3327 or www.sounddistribution.com.au
SMARTLAV NOW SMARTER Røde Microphones has updated its lavalier offering. The smartLav was released last year and its ability to connect to any mobile device, including phones and tablets (iOS or Android) was well received. Now with the smartLav+ the audio quality has been improved further with an update to the capsule to improve sensitivity and lower self-noise (27dBA), along with a Kevlar reinforced cable, to ensure the cable cannot stretch or snap the microphone. The mic comes with a foam windshield and clip, along with a storage pouch that’s small enough to keep it in a pocket, bag or kit. For iOS platforms Røde offers the Røde Rec field recording app (free version Røde Rec LE), which allows the user to perform a range of recording functions including one-touch export to Dropbox and SoundCloud — although the mic can be used with any sound recording app. Finally, Røde has recently released the SC3 adaptor, which allows the TRS jack of the smartLav+ to be adapted to suit standard TRS devices, such as a DSLR camera or personal recorder like the Zoom H1. Røde Microphones smartLav: www.smartlav.com
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SOFTWARE NEWS
ARP WITH PLUCK We’ll assume that Sample Logic thought long and hard about calling its latest virtual instrument Arpology since it is only a single, unfortunate letterdrop away from being a rather sorry name for a plug-in. Beyond this, the news is good for musicians who like arpeggiated and sequenced patches in their synthesisers — taking the art of arpeggiation to the next level with a GUI and workflow that will give users access to complex rhythms, but with a simplified interface. The not-so-secret weapon behind all this is a new invention called Step
Animation with its entirely different approach to sequencing. Arpology comes with 550 instruments spanning all genres, plus 150 Step Animation presets to get you started. In a market saturated with the latest, greatest virtual instruments, kudos to Sample Logic for its outside-of-the-square thinking. Arpeggiated rhythms are cool, but time consuming to create from scratch. Sample Logic: www.samplelogic.com
PURE REFINEMENT In the never-ending battle to bring ‘warmth’ and analogue-like quality to digital recordings Plugin Alliance has released a new weapon, the bx_ refinement plug-in from Brainworx. Bx_refinement is designed to ‘remove harshness’, which developer Gebre Waddell of Stonebridge mastering believes has become increasingly prevalent in mixdowns thanks to the digital environment and our habit of over-compressing our masters. As you can tell from the controls and parameters on offer, bx_refinement takes an entirely different approach to the problem.
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Plugin Alliance has also released an update to its bx_saturator plug-in, now called the bx_saturator V2. While retaining all of the key features of the original, including M/S processing, the ability to add saturation or distortion to targeted frequencies, and increase perceived volume without clipping, bx_ saturator V2 promises improved smoothness of the sound and the anti-aliasing, while reducing the CPU requirements significantly. Price US$199 apiece. Plugin Alliance: www.plugin-alliance.com
SSL NATIVE SHIFTS TO ILOK Solid State Logic has a trio of new plug-ins for its Duende Native range. X-Saturator and X-ValveComp bring some analogue saturation and distortion emulation, and X-Phase delivers high precision frequency specific phase correction. To coincide with the new plug-in release SSL has announced migration of the entire Duende Native plug-in collection to the iLok copy protection system. Existing Duende Native and Legacy DSP hardware
owners will be offered a free cross grade to iLok. While owners of Codemeter hardware dongles will be offered a 50% discount on iLok purchases from SSL’s online store and a free X-Saturator or X-ValveComp plug-in. Amber Technology: 1800 251 367 or www.ambertech.com.au
JAMUP EXPANDS Last October the release of the JamUp Pro app from Positive Grid impressed. In a crowded market of music apps, JamUp Pro stood out as a great-sounding guitar amp sampler with plenty to offer, before you need bother with any in-app extra purchases. So we’re interested in the latest update just released, which includes three new Expansion Packs: Vintage Effects, Acoustic Pro, and Gurus Amps. You get built-in BIAS integration with free factory amp, a redesigned graphic interface with a comprehensive preset manager, plus buying those extra goodies has been made easier with a new JamUp Store. Worth noting is the acoustic imaging technology – the Acoustic
Expansion Pack that promises to restore a studiomiked sound to an undersaddle or sound-hole pickup, and has an Acoustic Simulator that turns any electric guitar into realistic acoustic tone. The update is for both JamUp XT (the free version) and JamUp Pro XT (around $20) and they’re available for immediate download on the iTunes App Store. The new expansion packs are $12.99 each. Both apps offer the same sound engine and work with most iOS guitar audio interfaces. Positive Grid: www.positivegrid.com
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LIVE NEWS
A&H QU-32 EXTENDS FAMILY Allen & Heath has another arrow in its wildly popular Qu quiver. Qu-32 is a 32-fader, 38 in/28 out digital mixer packing Qu features such as total recall of settings (including faders and digitally controlled preamps), Qu-Drive integrated multi-track recorder, dSnake for remote I/O and personal monitoring, multi-channel USB streaming, Qu-Pad control app, and the renowned iLive FX Library to deliver class-leading audio quality. It comes with a larger, seven-inch touchscreen and 33 motorised faders. Qu-Drive, the mixer’s integrated 18-channel USB
recorder, can record and playback multi-track and stereo audio .wav files to a USB drive. The USB interface can also be used to store scene and library data for archiving and later recall. Qu-32 doubles up as a well-equipped studio mixer thanks to its 32x32 audio interface for streaming to/from a Mac or PC, and MIDI strips dedicated to control of DAW track levels, selection, mutes and solos. Technical Audio Group: (02) 9519 0900 or www.tag.com.au
CROWN XLC TAKES DRIVECORE Crown Audio’s new XLC Series comprises two costeffective two-channel models that offer a bunch of useful features for installed sound applications. The XLC2800 and XLC2500 can operate into impedances from 8 ohms to 2 ohms using stereo, parallel or bridged mono outputs. Although extremely powerful at 775W and 500W per channel respectively (at 4 ohms; 2400W and 1550W into 4 ohms in bridged mode), both amplifiers are lightweight and measure only 2U rack spaces high. Both models feature Harman’s proprietary DriveCore amplifier IC chip, which combines the amplifier driver stage into the power output stage along with additional audio-signal functions – yet is about the size of a postage stamp. DriveCore and
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other exclusive Crown Class D amplifier topologies significantly reduce the amplifiers’ size/weight and power consumption requirements while yielding much more energy-efficient operation. Designed for easy installation, the XLC2800 and XLC2500 feature Power, Signal, Clip and Fault indicators and limited front panel control. The XLC series is contractor friendly with input/output connectors, and supports parallel connections to multiple speakers, an advantage in applications where available amplifier channels are limited. XLC Series amplifiers also feature rear-panel volume controls for each channel. Jands: (02) 9582 0909 or www.jands.com.au
DANTE VIA: NO EXTRA HARDWARE The new Dante software allows you to build a complete, standalone audio system of networked PCs without the need for any dedicated Danteenabled hardware to be present on the network. Any computer instantly becomes a networked audio I/O device. It will also remove the need for short reach point-to-point analogue and USB cables by allowing you to create a flexible audio bridge for your computer to connect with legacy USB, Firewire and Thunderbolt audio interfaces and turn them into networked devices. Best of all you won’t need additional hardware, as the software transmits and receives audio via your Ethernet port, allowing you to easily connect to the Dante network. Speaking at the AV Networking World conference, on the eve
of InfoComm, Aidan Williams, the company’s CIO, explained: “[You could have] a USB microphone connected to a computer running Dante Via, then a signal can go into the computer via USB, into the Dante network, across to another computer, and then get played out again, using the built-in soundcard, through a set of speakers. So with this we can make a Dante network out a set of computers and their associated soundcards.” With Dante Via you can easily distribute or loopback audio via the network from any application such as Cubase, Pro Tools, Nuendo, Logic, Reaper or even Skype. Audinate: www.audinate.com
SOUNDCRAFT PLUGS UAD Avid has its ProTools plugs, and Digico is getting cosier with Waves, now Soundcraft has UAD in its arsenal. Soundcraft Realtime Rack is a library of over 70 UAD plug-ins from Universal Audio and is compatible with all Soundcraft Vi Series digital consoles. The Realtime Rack is a 1U (one rack unit) enclosure capable of processing up to 16 channels of a MADI stream, while additional units can be added for 32, 48 or 64 channels. There are two versions of the Realtime Rack: the Core comes preloaded with 14 classic Harman and UAD plug-ins, while the Ultimate comes fully loaded with 72 plug-ins including emulations of legendary analogue hardware from industry-leading brands such as Studer, Lexicon,
dbx, Neve, Manley and more. The Realtime Rack software runs on a Mac providing all the control needed to insert UAD plug-ins on individual channels, auxiliary channels, and master buses as easily as real hardware. A comprehensive snapshot system allows total recall of all plug-ins and their settings. Tight network integration with Vi Series consoles ensures that all settings of the plug-ins are stored inside a Soundcraft Vi console. One Realtime Rack can run 16 channel strips each with up to eight plug-ins inserted. Realtime Racks can also be daisy-chained to up to four units processing 64 channels simultaneously. Jands: (02) 9582 0909 or www.jands.com.au
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STUDIO FOCUS:
WISSELOORD STUDIOS
Aussie Producer Stephen Bartlett recently pulled up stumps from his Brisbane studio Docking Station, sold off his gear, signed over a lease to Tristan Hoogland’s Hunting Grounds Studio, and moved over to the Netherlands to start working out of the recently rejuvenated Wisseloord Studios.
and a 12-channel ’60s EMI console, which was apparently used to record The Beatles’ Abbey Road demos. But which ’60s EMI console didn’t have the Fab Four’s grubby prints all over it? Being the Vintage Room, as well as ProTools, you have the option to track to 16- or 8-track tape machines.
Built in 1978, over the years Wisseloord has hosted Mick Jagger, Elton John, The Police and a host of other legendary artists. Under new ownership, the studios have been overhauled and expanded, adding a new mastering suite featuring an SPL console and manned by Dutch mastering savant Sander van der Heide and Pier-Durk Hogenterp. Also new to Wisseloord is the Studio 4 ‘Vintage Room’, which is a one-room concept styled like a living room. The homely space has a Neve 8014 desk with 1073 preamps
In just a year of working at Wisseloord, Bartlett has chocked up plenty of accolades. “I’ve had four Top 10 records, at least one platinum certification, and some Top 10 singles,” said Bartlett. “I’ve been exposed to more surround mixing than I could have believed — up to 10.1 surround, which changes how you hear music. And I’ve been fortunate to work with some simply amazing musicians, and producers like Pat Leonard. The culture of Europe is amazing, we have people coming in from around Europe
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and America and you get exposed to such different ways of thinking about and approaching music. But the most amazing part is how similar it all is!” Bartlett says working in a studio with the history of Wisseloord definitely adds a pep to the step when you get to work in the morning, or are burning the candle at both ends. “It adds hugely,” said Bartlett. “The first time I walked into the studio, I was greeted by a picture of Mick Jagger sitting at a console in Wisseloord. The halls are lined with gold and platinum records. The mics and gear I get to use are often the same pieces used on records I listen to. Having Ronald [Prent] around who was there for so many of those records also means I get to hear some amazing stories. I don’t think I’ll ever reach the end of those stories.”
(clockwise from top) Stephen Bartlett beavering away at his new post in Wisseloord; Mastering engineers Hogenterp (left) and van der Heide in the new room; the view to the back of the mastering room, that’s a lot of space; and the ‘Vintage Room’ puts a Neve 8014 in the living room.
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In their third time round together, St Vincent’s Annie Clark and producer John Congleton commit early to make a perfectly quirky album. Story: Paul Tingen
Artist: St Vincent Album: St Vincent AT 18
“When you make a record with me, it’s all about instinct and vibe, and capturing something special and unique. It’s definitely not about perfection or endlessly pontificating, that’s just not what I’m into,” said John Congleton, clearly doing his best to hold out against the digital siren call of bloated, pitch perfect productions cut to a grid. “We live in a world where people are constantly layering things and trying to get everything to sound perfect, and are never going for bold performances anymore. To me that is really depressing. Perfection has nothing to do with making good music. What matters to me is character and things sounding confident and assured.” To counterbalance the tide of perfectly manufactured but soulless music, the producer has contributed to a genuine avalanche of weird and wonderful, left-field, alternative music. His nearly 400 credits include a host of unknowns interspersed with well-known names like his own band The Paper Chase, Modest Mouse, David Byrne, Erykah Badu, The Roots, Marilyn Manson, Bono, The New Pornographers, Explosions In The Sky, Amanda Palmer, Murder By Death, Antony and the Johnsons, Ana Calvi, and St Vincent. St Vincent, aka Annie Clark, is an artist with whom Congleton has built a particularly strong musical relationship, having engineered, mixed, and produced three of her four solo albums to date: Actor (2009), Strange Mercy (2011), and most recently the eponymously-titled St Vincent. In addition, Clark also collaborated with David Byrne on the album Love This Giant (2012), which was co-produced by Congleton, Byrne, Clark and mixer Patrick Dillett. St Vincent is Clark’s most critically, commercially and artistically successful album to date. The album expresses a singular artistic vision full of distortion and abrasiveness — though it also contains some gorgeously lush ballads — propelled by in-your-face drums, a Minimoog bass and Clark’s crunching guitar and expressive, often distorted vocals. Clark herself has amusingly, and aptly, described her album as “a party record you could play at a funeral.” COMMITTING FOR GOOD
Aside from the music of the now defunct The Paper Chase, the collaboration with St Vincent arguably most directly reflects Congleton’s aesthetic and working methods. In interviews Clark regularly sings Congleton’s praises (“I hope this whole interview just reads as a love letter to John. He is just one of my favourite people”), and the producer also seems to regard her as his musical-soul-mate-in-chief, regularly referring to “Annie and I” and describing the duo’s corresponding visions.
Their most recent joint effort, St Vincent, was recorded and mixed by Congleton at his home base, Elmwood Recording in Dallas, Texas. The studio sports a 36-input Neve 53-series, custom built for the BBC, Otari MTR90 24-track and Ampex 102 2-track tape recorders, and an extraordinary collection of outboard including 40-odd compressors and limiters, plus over 70 microphones, and all manner of musical instruments. Somewhere in this wealth of hardware there’s also a ProTools HD3 rig with, as it says on Congleton’s web site, a “bunch of boring plug-ins, UAD, Waves, Soundtoys.” “I used and use digital all the time,” comments Congleton. “Because it’s impossible not to if you want to work as an engineer, but I was never particularly sold on it before HD came round. I’m fine using digital HD, but for me mixing in-the-box still does not sound interesting. I am aware people do amazing things with it, but it prevents me from doing a job that’s satisfactory. Discussions today about the sound of tape versus digital are not interesting to me anymore. I don’t care. But what does matter to me is there’s a certain way of working that comes with tape. I think everybody knows deep when something is good, or not, and I feel there are many records today that don’t sound confident and big. They are theoretically big-sounding, but not particularly impressive in reality. “By contrast, one of the reasons why The Beatles sound so great and confident is they worked on 4-track and had to commit to the ideas they recorded. It’s far easier to make four, or eight tracks of instruments sound huge than 80 tracks of instruments. That is why people still talk about The Beatles, or Led Zeppelin, because what they did was undeniably good, and recorded on just a few tracks. You end up not fixing things unnecessarily when working on tape, and because you don’t have so many tracks, you need to make decisions early. This is why I still like working with it, and also stick to hardware and real gear as much as possible. It just gives me better results.”
To me that is really depressing. Perfection has nothing to do with making good music
FLYING THE COLOURS
Congleton clearly isn’t afraid of nailing his colours to the mast, also the case when he discusses his work on the St Vincent album. “We tried very hard to cultivate the sound as much as possible while we were recording, so we had a committed approach,” Congleton explained. “Annie really likes to establish the sounds as we go, and I am a big believer in that as well. Most of the sounds on the album, including the more radical ones, were recorded to 24-track tape exactly as you hear them on the CD.” Despite his well-developed sense of aesthetic and strong gear preferences Congleton is, in fact, a reluctant producer. As a teenager growing up in Dallas he developed, “a strong interest in becoming an engineer. Becoming a producer was not my goal. I was fascinated by the way records sound, and by the art of capturing sounds and playing them back. So I made it a goal to learn to record and see whether I could make a living recording people. All I wanted was to have good engineering chops so I could record things properly.” Congleton did, however, have a parallel ambition, which was to become a good musician, and spent two years at the University of North Texas studying jazz composition. Soon afterwards, around 1997, he moved to Chicago: “I was 21 and spent some time with Steve Albini, who is a brilliant engineer. He was very helpful to me. After my time in Chicago I returned to Dallas and became a staff engineer at Dallas Soundlab, the biggest studio in Texas at the time, and worked there for two to three years. It was around the time that studios were closing, and that studio also eventually did, so I went freelance. For several years I struggled, recording anything I could, and worked my way up. I bought Elmwood Recording seven years ago.
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“The way I got into producing was by starting to push boundaries and experimenting with sound, and it gradually became clear that people were not satisfied when I just recorded them. Every time I suggested an idea there was a positive response to it, so little by little I thought: ‘Maybe I should get more involved.’ Then people began explicitly asking me to produce them, tell them what to do and give them feedback. From my end, this gave me a satisfaction I didn’t get from just engineering. When I started producing as well as engineering, my career really caught fire.” Congleton’s great leap forward into producing took place in 2002, the year The Paper Chase released Hide The Kitchen Knives, their second album and still widely regarded as their magnum opus. Congleton wrote all the material, and also had credits for engineering and mixing, as well as guitar, keyboards, sampling, sequencing and vocals. The combination of noise and chaos, great rhythms and a pop sensibility (and some King Crimson references thrown in for good measure) earned The Paper Chase and Congleton widespread acclaim. His experiences in writing and arranging his own music naturally informed his production efforts, though the man himself holds, “I produced The Paper Chase myself because I could not afford a real producer!” DEMO DESIGNS
Annie Clark can afford a producer, and when she and Congleton started work on St Vincent they were aware that, being their fourth album together, there was a risk of falling into a routine. A possibility she and Congleton — kindred spirits when it comes to experimenting and trying new things — were totally averse to. Congleton has the lowdown on how the duo managed to build on their past achievements and reinvent themselves at the same time: “For the previous album, Strange Mercy, she came in with raw ideas, like riffs and melodies, which we then put together in my studio. For the new record we thought it would be best if we didn’t do that, and for her to come into the studio with more complete songs. She wrote a lot of the material while she was on tour with David Byrne, and during a writing vacation in Austin. And, for this reason, we did a lot of pre-production over the phone and Internet; discussing her song ideas, what songs we wanted to work on, what songs we didn’t want to work on, and how the songs we decided to work on could be improved. She recorded the songs very simply; her singing just with an acoustic guitar or a keyboard, and occasionally a drum machine. Basic was the way I wanted it. It was a more traditional preproduction approach. AT 20
“Once we felt we had a good batch of songs to work on, Annie came to the studio in two chunks of time, first for three weeks in the spring of 2013, and later, another three weeks after going on tour with David Byrne. We also mixed the album during that last period. The way we worked was for her to record some very basic guitar/vocal demos, and we then had a rhythm section jam over them. “The rhythm section, which consisted of one of two drummers, Homer Steinweiss or McKenzie Smith, and Bobby Sparks, who played all the bass parts on a Minimoog, would play around with the songs, and Annie and I commented on the things we liked and disliked. We always recorded the drums and bass together, so in effect the rhythm section was recorded live. I recorded a bunch of takes to analogue 24-track tape at 15ips. We then transferred everything to ProTools, because I wanted to be able to easily comp things together until Annie and I had results we were satisfied with. After that, Bobby and the other musicians — keyboardists Daniel Mintseris and Adam Pickrell, and horn player Ralph Carney — overdubbed their parts. Finally, Annie would replace her guitar and her vocals, and after that we mixed everything.” FROM GOOD STOCK
Almost all the musicians that played on St Vincent have a distinguished pedigree. Homer Steinweiss is the drummer of The Dap Kings, McKenzie Smith the drummer of the band Midlake, Bobby Sparks a Grammy Awardwinning jazz keyboardist and producer, Ralph Carney has a long-standing working relationship with Tom Waits, Daniel Mintseris, who is now the nucleus of Clark’s live band, has played with Marianne Faithfull, Peter Cincotti, and Martha Wainwright, only Adam Pickrell is a relative unknown. Congleton went into more detail on what each of them contributed, and how he recorded them: “The drum recordings were kind of disparate, meaning we didn’t record all the drums at once. There never was the same drum kit and never the same recording set-up. But in general I recorded all the drums very minimally, with as few microphones as possible, because we wanted the drums to sound kind of old, and yet modern at the same time. The main drums for the song Huey Newton, played by Homer, were recorded with just one microphone, an RCA 44 ribbon microphone, placed in front of the drums, not in a special place, just pointed at the drums. Towards the end another completely different drum performance comes in. I wanted that song to sound like a Can song, so I recorded it the way I imagined Can would have recorded it. “In other cases I would have had three or four mics on the drums. I like using an Electro-Voice 868 on the bass drum, which has a lot of low end, and the Beyerdynamic 380 was another bass drum mic I remember using for this record. I would have had an Altec 195 on the snare or a
Shure KSM141, while I had an Electro-Voice RE20 on the snare for the song Birth In Reverse. For the toms I sometimes used an AKG 414 — I like large diaphragm mics on the toms. You’re going to get a lot of cymbal bleed through a mic like that, but I think that actually improves the sound. Beyond that I would occasionally have one mic for the rest of the drums. “I used the desk mic pres for the drums, and a lot of times I’ll push them to get it to sound dirty, or I run the drums through some insane effect. It could be anything, but it usually was distortion, as you can hear. A lot of stuff on the album is just one microphone that was heavily effected, which always leads to cool results in my opinion. We always printed it like that and didn’t keep the effected and clean sounds separate. As I said, I believe in making decisions. If it sounds good now, it will sound good tomorrow, and if it doesn’t sound good now, then start over.” STICKING WITH THE NEVE
The mic pres of Congleton’s Neve desk were used on many occasions. The Texan is very content with it, saying, “The desk was built for the BBC, and there’s only one other like it. It was never used by the BBC, instead it ended up in New York, where it was used for Saturday Night Live during the Belushi era [late ’70s]. I’m not clear on where it went before it got to me, but it’s definitely one of my favourite consoles. I don’t like it quite as much as the 80-series, but there’s a price tag for that! My Neve has 33114 preamps, and some 31102s and 31154s. The preamps are very smooth-sounding and have great distortion. The desk sounds really great on guitars. It is also really easy to use, even though there are many things you can’t do with it. For example it has no automation and the bussing is extremely minimal. But none of these things matter because I love the way it sounds.”
Bobby Sparks’ Minimoog served up bass for the album, which Congleton was perfectly happy with: “Those old Minimoogs are incredible and the synth sounds that Bobby came up with usually sounded amazing right away. They are like the Rolls Royces of the Moogs. I have one, and Bobby owns five. Sometimes he’d play it through a pedal to spice up the sound, but for a lot of the time it was simply the Moog. There wasn’t a lot we needed to do to make it sound great. Sometimes it was DI’d, going directly into the desk, sometimes we ran it through an Ampeg B15, in front of which I put a Neumann U47. “Daniel [Mintseris] came in for a few days, and laid down quite a few ideas. He’s more of a soft synth guy, and he had zillions of sounds and made suggestions. Annie and I picked the sounds we liked, and then I’d manipulate them quite a bit. The soft synth sounds were often kind of cold and sterile, so I’d warm them up as much as I could, usually by putting them through a Thermionic Culture Vulture, which is one of my favourite pieces of gear. I also often ran Daniel’s sounds through an old Electro-Harmonix Memory Man. There is a lot of Memory Man on the St Vincent record! Adam [Pickrell] came in towards the end of the recording process and played a number of keyboard parts that we treated in similar ways to Daniel’s.” WINDING DOWN WITH VOCALS
The final part of the recording process involved tracking Clark’s vocals and guitars. Clark’s uncle is Tuck Andress, one of the world’s premier finger-style guitarists, who performs with his wife Patti Cathcart, an extraordinarily accomplished singer. Clark has gone on tour with the duo, eventually opening for them, and strangely, according to Congleton, it wasn’t Andress’ chops that were intimidating for Clark, but instead she developed a degree of self-consciousness and insecurity around her voice.
(top left): Congleton's Neve desk was originally built for the BBC, but never saw the light of day at the British institution. Instead, it was first used on Saturday Night Live during the Belushi era. Sitting on the console are his Focal Twin6 BE monitors he relies on almost exclusively. (Strip) The live room at Elmwood Studios has plenty of neat instruments, and there's plenty of colour in Congleton's rack including: a Thermionic Culture Vulture to warm up soft synth sounds, and old RCA and Collins limiters.
“When we first met, I said I thought her first record, Marry Me (2007), was really cool,” said Congleton. “But that she sounded really wound up about her vocals. She said she was petrified of doing vocals. She was so concerned about singing perfectly in pitch that she would lose a lot of other things. I think she has a great voice and from the beginning I tried to bring out something more soulful and looser in the way she sang. With each record we’ve done together you can hear that progression to a point where now she is sounding great and really connecting. AT 21
“Doing vocals for this album was a matter of being spontaneous and moving very quickly. We didn’t do any mic or signal chain shootouts. She hates that; it would drive her crazy. So for most of the songs I simply put a Lomo 19A13 tube condenser mic in front of her, which is a mic she likes a lot. For the more rocking songs we used a Shure SM7, which is one of my favourite mics. It’s not fussy. You put it in front of someone and they sound great. I usually used the Neve board mic pres. The distorted vocal sound in Rattlesnake is a special story, because she didn’t really know how to sing that song. She was maybe a bit insecure about it, so I just gave her an SM57, and she sang right into it, holding the mic very close to her mouth. The distortion is from her cupping the microphone and stressing the capsule. It sounds really shitty and was perfect for the song. “For her guitars we used mostly small cabinets, and I would throw whatever mic I had at hand in front of that, and that then went through the Ampex 351 Tube mic pre, or my StrombergCarlson Tube pre/EQ, which was modified by Skip Simmons and has great distortion. Sometimes she’d plug her guitar into a distortion box and that would go straight into the desk, Jimmy Page or Hüsker Dü style. The song Birth in Reverse is almost all DI’d guitar. In general tracking the guitar was a lot of fun, because we were trying to find great guitar tones all the time. She’s an excellent guitar player, and she has so many great ideas that all you have to do is pay attention and look for the stuff that’s great. Again, when we hit on a sound we liked, we would believe in it immediately and just record it.” GOT THE MIX DOWN
Unsurprisingly, given Congleton and Clark’s predilection for instant commitment and creating final sounds during recording, mixdown of the St Vincent album was for the most part a balancing act. “None of the songs took a left turn during the mix,” said Congleton. “We were already committed to what they were. The only AT 22
real exception was Digital Witness, which went through a few different versions. We had a more synth-driven version, but we ultimately went with the horn-driven version. It was a very easy record to mix. We knocked all the songs out in just over a week, mixing two songs a day. “I don’t really have a process when I mix. I don’t start with the bass drum, and then the snare drum, and so on. I can’t do that. Instead I just push all the faders up on the Neve and I work on everything at the same time. I’ll solve problems I hear, and make sure the vocals are sounding right and work everything around them. But I immediately try to make sense of the whole picture. Most of the outboard I used for the St Vincent mixes were simple nuts and bolts things, nothing particularly tricky or fancy. I don’t have compressors on my desk, so I plugged in the GML 8900 on the drum bus, and the RCA BA6 on the Minimoog bass, and my old Collins 26U-1 limiter on Annie’s vocals. I didn’t do much to the guitars. We already had this totally distorted sound, and if I was to EQ or compress that it would have started to sound too harsh. I did use a few plug-ins during the mix, mostly for delays, like the Echofarm. But that was more or less it.
“I’ll mix listening to my Focal Twin6 BE monitors almost exclusively, pretty much around 80-85dB, keeping it low and bringing the mix up now and then to check the low end. While mixing I try not to get too excited by turning things up! Before I used my B&W Matrix 805 speakers, which I still really like, but the Focals are more versatile. I also have some KRK speakers in the lobby next to my studio, and what I do quite a lot is play the mix back via them and listen from my studio. It’s the way many people listen to music, more or less in mono. If it sounds impressive coming from the other room, it gives you a good perception of how somebody else might be hearing it. I’m not a big believer in listening to things on a zillion different stereo systems, though, because it will sound different each time, and I’ll just get more
The distortion is from her cupping the microphone and stressing the capsule. It sounds really shitty and was perfect for the song
insecure and the mix will get worse. Making the mixes consistent between stereo systems is the job for the mastering engineer.” St Vincent was mastered by Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound in New York, and unusually, for Congleton, he asked for it to be mastered louder. “In general, records are too fucking loud. It’s ridiculous, and it’s stupid. There’s no integrity to bottom end on a lot of today’s records. A lot of hip-hop records are completely distorted. I don’t understand why people feel so insecure about their material that they feel being loud is all that matters. I think the overly loud records of today are like gated reverb in the 1980s. It doesn’t bode well for things standing the test of time. It will sound ridiculous later on and we’re doing music a great disservice by dating these records like that. I’m not working on top 40 records, so luckily I don’t get into these loudness arguments very much, but having said all that, we felt the first master of St Vincent was actually too quiet. It was at the same level as Strange Mercy, and we all agreed that for the tone of the record and what it is trying to accomplish it could be a little brighter and louder. This was one rare instance of louder being better!”
Photo Diary Story & Photos: Nick Harrison
This year for the 22nd annual WOMADelaide global music festival I tagged along with veteran ABC sound engineers Steve Fieldhouse and Tom Henry as they produced recordings for Radio National’s The Live Set (formally Music Deli). The South Australian ABC OB Truck was rolled in to record the three main stages, with feeds from SSL MORSE stage boxes running back to the onboard SSL C200 console. Additionally, a swag of Sound Devices 788 and 702 field recorders were set up on the smaller stages to capture artist talks, forums and performances. Around 90,000 people passed through the gates in 2014, helped along by the great weather. Some of the music highlights this year included: Femi Kuti, Airileke, Carminho, Arrested Development, Roberto Fonseca, Ngaiire, Jon Cleary and the Absolute Monster Gentlemen and Asif Ali Khan.
Ngaiire letting loose on some electro synthdriven future soul.
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At front of house on the main stage, Chris Braun works a Midas Heritage console. Nick Filsell (Production and Site Manager) discussed some production info: “WOMADelaide is held together by approximately 65 AV techs. It takes about eight days to build the site from when we paint lines on the ground and tweak the layout to when we open the gates. Then about four and a half days to pack it all out. Novatech supply the audio visual equipment for WOMADelaide and everything on site is L-Acoustics Kudo.”
On the Saturday morning the ABC engineers also worked on a two-hour live Radio National broadcast of The Music Show, hosted by Andrew Ford. Steve points out that it can be a fast-paced event for operators behind the scenes though everything should appear in cruise mode up on stage and to the listeners back home. This year, the broadcast featured performances and interviews from four different WOMAD artists in front of a festival audience. Steve: “We build a temporary broadcast studio side of stage in the park. Prior to the broadcast, the pressure is on a bit given this broadcast follows several days of rigging on different stages. The day kicks off with sleepy musicians commencing sound checks from around 7.30am in the morning. Each sound check is pretty quick with changeovers performed during news, CD playback or interviews. The whole event goes out from the park to the world via ISDN.”
Steve Fieldhouse patching feeds to an SSL MORSE stage box, connected via MADI over fibreoptics to the SSL C200 console back in the ABC OB truck. Depending on the needs, each stage box can be configured to offer up to 56 I/O using SSLadapted MADI. The ABC’s stage boxes are set up next to the monitor positions, enabling an operator in the OB truck to quickly switch between the three main stages. Steve: “We also take camera feeds from each stage back to the truck to keep a visual on the stage so if instruments are being used and we’re not getting matching audio we can dash back to the stage to troubleshoot.”
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Back in the OB Truck with Steve Fieldhouse (left) and Tom Henry (right) and the signals are coming through nice and clear. According to Tom, when he first started recording the festival in the late ’90s, the ABC used several 70kg drums of copper-based Burndy multicores. At the time, the OB truck housed an old analogue MCI console and a 2-inch Otari analogue multi-track recorder.
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Steve: “A few years ago we couldn’t get the OB Truck here so we put together a portable recording system. It comprised five synced Sound Devices 788T field recorders strapped to a makeshift trolley, giving us a portable 40-channel recorder that worked surprisingly well… Sound Devices said it was the first time they’d heard of that many 788T units being synced for a recording.”
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71 Newman Street Thornbury, Victoria, 3071 Ph: +61 3 9416 8097 E: enquiries@studioconnections.com.au W: studioconnections.com.au AT 27
OPERA FLIES OUTDOORS Opera Australia’s Madama Butterfly on Sydney Harbour requires plenty of audio innovation to stay afloat. Story: Robert Clark Photos: James Morgan
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Since the Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour (HOSH) series began four years ago, Opera Australia’s lavish outdoor productions have created complex live sound scenarios for Sound Designer, Tony David Cray. Not to mention the wind, rain and occasional out-of-tune ferry horn. This year’s production of Madama Butterfly was certainly no exception, and once again it took some real ingenuity to pull it off. VOICING CONCERNS
From the beginning, questions around how to amplify the voice in such an environment were the most important for Cray and the team of engineers from Norwest Productions who are engaged specifically for these productions. “An operatic voice is one of the most powerful instruments,” says Cray. “So we had to ask: what technology do we use? What mics do we use? What transmitters do we use in that chain to try and capture the nature of the voice and share it with the audience out here?” Headsets with in-ear monitoring were really the only option, and Cray admits that this is actually a pretty “radical” thing in opera; not just due to the vocal amplification aspect, but because wearing in-ears creates unique problems for operatic performers: “A couple of singers found that their closed aspect was very isolating. The way an opera singer will create the node, there’s a lot of resonances; it’s a very physical process generating that sound. Having the ears blocked creates an inward pressure and it’s very disorientating. It would reinforce certain frequencies, too.” For many of the singers, having time to rehearse with the in-ear monitoring systems — a combination of Sennheiser G2s, Shure PSM200s and UR4Ds using Shure UR1M transmitters — was enough to overcome the discomfort, but for others who still experienced difficulties, a creative solution was available thanks to one of the more experienced singers. As Cray explains, “Jonathan Summers came up with this idea of using the generic in-ears, taking the foam cover off and just getting the transducer taped in his ear. So he had a little piece of spaghetti going into his ear, but he could still hear acoustic sound. It gave him enough present sound of the orchestra to time and to pitch to, but it was open.” This technique is now lovingly referred to as the ‘Jonathan Summers Method’, and some singers opt for this, while the majority persevere and wear the headsets as is. OUTTA SPACE
Handling the audio feed from all these headsets, in what could only be described as a ‘guerrilla encampment’ under the stage, is Norwest’s John Watterson. His role as monitoring engineer also includes piping audio from the orchestra, which is enclosed in a sealed-off pit behind him. There is more room than in previous years, but once performances begin there is still no chance of any technicians squeezing in to make adjustments. Thinking about ways to minimise the likelihood of that scenario, Cray and the Norwest team
installed Aviom A16-II Personal Mixers on the musicians’ stands, and a lot of groundwork was laid to coach the players to be responsible for their own microphones. The string and brass players all have DPA 4099s clamped to their instruments, while other members of the orchestra have a combination of Schoeps CMC 6-MKs, Neumann TLM 103s and Royer 122 ribbon microphones. Cray describes the scenario as “like a close mic studio gig”, which is not just because of limited space. His experience in previous years has shown that such a boxed-in environment typically creates a build-up of lowto-mid frequencies that can be tricky to eliminate down the signal path. Better to mic close and add space later (with the help of an Altiverb reverb Cray modelled on the Opera House Concert Hall years ago).
The operatic voice is a fearsome instrument; it’s quite a challenge to deal with
In contrast to the pit, the immense size and odd shape of the outdoor space created tricky coverage and delay issues for Cray and his team. The performance area consists of a wide, rectangular stage anchored in the harbour, with tiered seating installed on the bank amidst the Botanical Gardens. Due to the dimensions of the stage, the whole venue is far wider than it is deep, which is the opposite concern for most live performances. This meant the task of finding a stereo centre was quite a challenge. They ultimately took a predominantly front-fill approach, with seven speakers embedded into the front of the stage at a very shallow angle; the driver of each pointing “to about 60 per cent up the auditorium”. The flown array of Adamson Y18s, in concert with left and right stacks at stage level, provide extra coverage on the sides and rear of the auditorium. EXPECT DELAYS
The expansive stage means the amount of delay is considerable. “If I’m standing down the front of the stage” says Cray, “my voice is going to take 12 milliseconds to get to the first row, but if I’m standing towards the back it’s going to take 45.” The solution was to calibrate the throw of each speaker to an artificial “time zero” point about 4.5m back from the front of the stage, which is where most of the cast act. The delay from one side of the stage to the other isn’t exactly minimal, either. Cray estimates the acoustic delay between singers on either side of the stage is “60 to 100 milliseconds”, which he points out “at some tempos is a sixteenth.” Foldback for the singers is provided via a combination of EAW JF-80 and Adamson M15 low-profile wedges installed above the speakers at the front of the stage. This helps singers who aren’t relying on in-ears for timing and, as Cray puts it, adds a level of “energy” to the performance space. All in all it is a complex audio environment for singers to navigate, as mezzosoprano Anna Yun — who plays Suzuki in the opera — tells: “We can hear the front-of-house speakers and there is a fraction of delay there, which is unavoidable. At times, depending on
Using in-ear monitors was a necessity, but one the opera singers really had to get used to.
HOSH Series Crew Tony David Cray: Sound Designer & FOH Mix Engineer — Opera Australia/Sydney Opera House Adrian Riddell: Project Account Manager/Head of Sound — Norwest Productions/Onset Audio Matt Whitehead: Systems Engineer — Norwest Productions John Watterson: Monitor Engineer — Norwest Productions Steve Caldwell: RF Engineer — Norwest Productions Dane Cook: Stage Technician — Norwest Productions Alison Bremner: Radio Mic Fitter — Message Stick Productions Roy Jones: Radio Mic Fitter — Norwest Productions Brittany Wright: Secondment Queensland University of Technology AT 29
(clockwise from top left) The massive custom stage on Sydney Harbour with Norwest's Adamson rig flown, and monitoring neatly grafted into the hillside. Tony David Cray rigged up a handy Ableton Live setup to link with the Digico SD7 and give him a little more flexibility in plug-in choice. With Lemur on an iPad and a small Akai LPD8 controller, he was able to grab four bands of Fabfilter's ProQ. The makeshift orchestra pit was cosy, but Cray used an Altiverb model he'd taken of the Opera House to bring back the space. A real violin and the makeshift gong app, devised so the orchestra wouldn't get blown away every time Madama Butterfly took flight.
the position on the stage, we can also pick up the sound coming out of the orchestra pit in real time (usually brass instruments), so there can be three different timings for the same phrase [including that of the in-ears].” Yun insists that these issues were not insurmountable, however, and that allowing for the delay became “second nature” by the end of the rehearsal period. THERE’S AN APP FOR THAT
One thing pit musicians can never simply adjust to is loud percussion reverberating in a closed, tight space. This problem is especially acute in an opera like Butterfly, where a famously loud gong is an essential part of the score. “It would just cane the rest of the pit,” says Cray. “So I suggested to them that we record it and play it back, and they were open to that idea.” As time was running out to figure out how best to achieve this, he sat down one night and “made a little app on the iPhone as a joke.” This turned out to be just the right tool for the job, though, and after creating an interface with a gong that is simply tapped on cue, it was mounted on a stand and routed into the signal path via the Aviom system for any musicians wishing to hear it. It’s otherwise totally silent in the pit and, being pre-recorded, perfectly balanced in the front-of-house mix every time. “I think this is a good example of how we can just do things slightly differently to achieve a good outcome,” says Cray. AT 30
AND FOR THAT…
It’s also a good example of the kind of creative thinking behind his decision to “outsource” the show’s DSP to some unconventional platforms. “Primarily for the audiophile aspect,” says Cray. “The EQ and the compression algorithms on the [show’s Digico SD7] console are good, but they really get exposed when dealing with orchestral music and opera. The operatic voice is a fearsome instrument; it’s quite a challenge to deal with.” He decided to start “farming out” the DSP using his own plug-ins of choice, particularly FabFilter’s Pro Q, but then came across the problem of how to tie them all in to an interface he could easily use on the fly during performances. Eventually the highly customisable Lemur platform was chosen, which allowed him to create a “quick drag-and-drop graphical environment” on an iPad and map it into Ableton Live. Incidentally, this is a workstation he’d never considered for live opera before, but after seeing colleague Bob Scott using it effectively and appreciating its stability and native MIDI support, he took the leap and hasn’t looked back. WIND INSTRUMENT
The key parameters on the Lemur interface were determined by the EQ and filters Cray uses most on his recording studio console at the Opera House, which is a Euphonix System 5 that gets plenty of work handling orchestras and vocalists. This constrained the number of filters in the
Pro Q plug-in to four; crucially streamlining his process. In further service of creating an intuitive and efficient DSP environment, Cray added an Akai LPD8 hardware controller within easy reach in the control room, with dedicated EQ just for the orchestra. Cray recalls a night where the wind was particularly bad, and having such easily accessible and carefully chosen controls enabled him to respond quickly to a potentially ugly scenario. “I was dreading the notion of the geishas coming on,” he says. “Because I knew it would result in a wild flapping wind sound when I suddenly open 24 mics. But I was able to, in a
moment, look at my little hardware controller and quickly assign a filter into the chorus bus. So as they came on stage I could instantly initiate a steep high-pass filter and roll it up to a point where I almost lost them but got rid of all of the wind. And that was during the show — seeing a massive problem and actually implementing a change that just required one little turn of a knob. It’s fantastic.”
SAVING FOR A RAINY DAY
Of course, filtering on the fly is one thing, but troubleshooting during a performance is another altogether. With wet weather an unavoidable reality, redundancy was essential. The Digico SD7 console in the site control room (situated in a tower halfway up the auditorium) was designed by Norwest head of sound, Adrian Riddell, to run two simultaneous 64-channel drive chains
Are your wireless mics ready for the Digital Dividend ?
OURS ARE ! divided into ‘Engine A’ and ‘Engine B’, which can be manually switched via a MADI bridge system in the event of a failure. And if the digital network goes down, they also have the option of switching to the console’s analogue outputs, which are fed into Dolby Lake DLP Processors that handle both digital and analogue inputs. There is also comprehensive DSP redundancy, with two individual instances of Ableton Live (each with a full suite of plug-ins) running simultaneously off networked Mac Minis with RME cards.
By the end of 2014, all analogue TV transmitters will be turned off and all digital TV transmitters will have changed frequency.
Of course, such a long and complex processing chain comes at the expense of latency. Cray says the “round trip” takes 12 milliseconds, but “on this crazy site,” he adds, “the vocal stems themselves need to be delayed at least 15 milliseconds, so I was in a window that allowed me to do that. Which is just as well, because it’s pretty scary when you take it out of line and listen to what’s going on.”
operate between 520 MHz and 694 MHz before the end of 2014.
THE SHOW WILL GO ON
The technical experience of Cray and his Norwest team certainly comes to the fore in these large-scale scenarios, but refreshingly, his emphasis is always on the ‘big picture’ elements of his job. The extensive research into third-party apps and plug-ins, the programming, the sophisticated redundancy, the intricate DSP; all of this serves ultimately to simplify his role to the point where detail fades into the background. “The main focus,” he says, “is to try and bring opera to a broader audience, and at the same time, to always remain as true as possible to the art form.” With the HOSH series recently confirmed for another three years, it’s good to know Cray and Co. will have more opportunities to refine and innovate in this genre.
The band between 694 MHz and 820 MHz will be cleared of all users so it can be used for mobile data services. Check your wireless microphone systems now ! If they operate between 694 MHz and 820 MHz you need to start planning to
Make certain your systems are ready! visit
digitaldividend.com.au for more information
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REGULARS
APPLE NOTES Where could all that Mac Pro power go? Column: Anthony Garvin
I’ve had more of a run with the ol’ Trashcan since last issue, and have found it less intrusive than a well-placed waste paper basket. But before I get into the on-going review, and other useful direct comparisons, I’ve been pondering a question… Could GPU be CPU? If you have kept an eye on the new Mac Pro then you’ve probably noticed the graphics processing is quite impressive — a minimum spec machine consists of two AMD FirePro300 graphics processors, each with 2GB RAM. This extra power certainly helps Final Cut Pro users, with the demos I’ve seen resulting in over a dozen 4k video streams, many with real-time processing, playing back without a hitch. But, as audio-centric users we don’t really need excessive graphics horsepower… Or do we? Going back to 2009 a company called Liquidsonics launched Reverberate, a reverb plug-in that could harness (on PC only) the power of NVidia’s Graphic Processing Units (GPUs). For a moment there, it seemed like a new world of common and affordable DSP had opened up to us. We all had reasonable graphics cards in our DAWs that were, for the most part, under-utilised. Fast forward to 2014 and not much has happened in this realm, particularly for Mac users (the only software I recall that can harness the GPU on a Mac are some reverbs in Acustica’s Nebula — though I haven’t used them myself). But when I witnessed just how powerful the GPUs in the new Mac Pro are, it got me thinking — is it foreseeable that our plug-ins might be ‘GPUcompatible’ someday soon? Well, after some searching and posing the question to developers, I’ve discovered that it’s a bit harder than it looks. GPUs have indeed become very powerful processors, but they’re designed to process chunks of data in one go (like to display a 3D image on a screen), rather than in a stream (like to process audio samples one after the other). As a result it seems that it is either very difficult, or impractical, to code audio plugins to make use of a GPU. AT 32
But perhaps now that we have all this extra power on the Mac Pro GPUs, someone may get creative and find a way to harness this for audio purposes (drop us a line if you know or hear anything). MIXING ON THE MAC PRO
The Mac Pro I’ve been running is a middle of the line model, an 8-core 3GHz processor with 32GB RAM (though it is priced at over A$8000). I previously mentioned how fast the machine appeared to be, and that statement still holds true. Whilst not the most demanding project, I was easily able to complete a mixdown of a 30 (mostly stereo) track song in Logic, using all the plug-ins I needed/wanted — all the while at a buffer of 64 samples. In this instance, my project was at 44.1k, so I decided to push the machine a bit more by changing Channel EQs to Linear Phase EQs, activating FAT (up-sampling) on Vintagewarmers, etc. And it still worked quite fine at a buffer of 64 samples (see CPU meter screenshot).
but I deliberately chose CLA vocals as according to Waves, it’s currently at the upper end of CPU demands. By way of a comparison, my early 2013 13-inch Macbook Pro Retina (3GHz i7, 8GB RAM), with the same plug-in, in the same project, at the same settings can run a whopping seven instances! That’s almost eight times the processing power for those keeping score. Low-Noise or No-Noise?
Having now used the machine for a good length of time, it appears that Apple’s engineering efforts to reduce the cooling down to just one fan (from dozens in the previous generation) have not been in vain. For most of my use, I’ve had the machine set up right beside me on the bench next to my keyboard and mouse without it causing too much noise pollution. If I were setting up the Mac Pro permanently I’d probably move it into a rack or on the floor, as there is a slightly audible whir — though you would have to be in an incredibly quiet room (like a recording studio) to hear it. Having said that, after using the Mac Pro for a couple of hours I did notice that it became noticeably ‘warm’ (approaching hot). This didn’t seem to have any impact on the performance, though I do wonder, in warmer areas without air conditioning, will this be a problem? By the next issue of Apple Notes I’m hoping to have tried the new Mac Pro with a ProTools HDX/ Thunderbolt chassis system. Watch this space for more tests.
As a result, my feeling is that for the everyday DAW user, the idea of a low buffer setting for recording, then high buffer setting for mixing is completely unnecessary at this level. So, having passed my first real-life test easily, I decided to throw a bit more at the machine by way of a more ‘academic’ test. Using Waves CLA Vocals, I found that at 96k, with a 64-sample buffer, I could reliably run 54 instances of the plug-in — I call it the ‘Choir of Soloists’ test. 54 plug-ins instances might not sound like much,
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REVIEW
BITWIG STUDIO When you're shopping for a new DAW it's best to pick one that fits the space you're trying to fill before you get too caught up in the details. Story: Andrew Bencina
NEED TO KNOW
For anyone with their ear to the audio technology train tracks, Bitwig Studio has been generating a dull rumble for more than two years. Two months ago, the public release finally invited new users on board. Considering the duration and sustained fervour of the hype, you'd have thought we'd all been wasting away on DAW rations. The reality is, we've never had more options and depending on your musical appetite you could have turned your nose up at the meat and three veg of ProTools, Logic Pro, Cubase and Reason long ago. In my opinion what's really been driving the unresolved
PRICE $499 AUD (Retail Box) $399 USD (Download) CONTACT Innovative Music: (03) 9540 0658 or info@innovativemusic.com.au
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PROS Integrated linear/non-linear environment fosters play Extensive & flexible internal modulation system Open JavaScript API for custom controller configurations Cross-platform support for Windows, OS X and Linux
sonic tension is our lust for a bit of good old-fashioned scandal and competition. For those of you who've been living in a cave lately, Bitwig Studio is the first product released by a small team of Berlin-based developers and support staff, many of whom formally served at the pleasure of Ableton. APPLES & ORANGES
Consequently their newborn has been heralded as the first full-featured multitrack performance and production workstation to genuinely challenge the virtual monopoly enjoyed by Live over its sector of the market. Which brings us
CONS Teething problems a fact of life Lacks audio take management or layered comping Most exciting features still to come
SUMMARY For now, Bitwig Studio is best suited to those sequencing and chopping their music to the clock. Yet it still has as much potential to influence its competitors as to become truly great in its own right — and that should excite us all. A powerful modulation system will keep EDM producers side-chained to their desks for days while a still hidden modular core promises infinite adaptation. Early adoption would seem an investment in the future‌ but the rewards may be just around the corner.
to that virtual line in the sand. Bitwig Studio is a music creation and sound sculpting environment with a significant focus on performance workflows and a fairly heavy leaning towards sequenced genres. I'm not saying you should stop reading if you've just spent the day tracking 24-channel live band recordings and intend to spend the next week comping, but the truth is Bitwig Studio presently includes no integrated audio take management and lacks finesse in its audio region layering and fade options. In my eyes this effectively ends any reasonable comparison with other studio workhorses and places the new kids on the block in a stoush primarily with their old bosses and a few other performance-based platforms — for now! At an opening download price of US$399 (A$499 for the Australian retail box) Bitwig Studio only slightly undercuts the current Live 9 Standard version ($449) but is significantly cheaper than Live Suite, which incorporates Max for Live ($749). The relevance of this significant differential is something I'll expand upon later. While the current installer (we're already up to version 1.0.8) is a fairly slender 122MB, Studio provides a healthy 4.5GB of content which can be downloaded using the Package Manager, accessible via the File menu. Similar to Native Instruments' Service Center, this simple dialogue allows for the selective installation of a range of sample sets to your choice of location. Unlike some competitors, you’re not furnished with every sound bank you could ever need but there's certainly enough to get rolling. Installation and authorisation is as straight-forward as we've all come to expect, and mercifully dongle free. You're welcome to join in no matter what your operating system: Windows (7 or later), OS X (10.7 or later) or Linux (Ubuntu 12.04 or later). The 64-bit application is essentially the same on all platforms and both licenses and project files will move freely between systems. Despite speculation to the contrary, Bitwig’s audio engine is not coded in Java, although the user interface is, and while the Windows installer somewhat confusingly defaults to the x86 directory you can rest assured that Studio is making full use of your 64-bit processor and memory allowances. If you don't believe me, you're free to try out the full demo for yourself; with only save and export functions disabled. OPEN FOR BUSINESS
On the surface, Bitwig Studio presents like most other current DAWs. The inclusion of non-linear Clip Launching and a horizontal scrolling Device strip draw obvious comparisons with Live but the UI borrows just as heavily from other programs. An all-in-one screen approach provides access to most settings across four panes. Real estate is dominated by a main central window displaying either the Arrange, Mix or Edit pages. To the left you'll find a track/clip inspector containing all of the configuration and mixing options for the currently selected channel or clip. On the right is
(above) Bitwig showing off its small screen chops. (below) Bitwig’s horizontal lauch controls in the Arrange pane.
the searchable Browser, providing drag and drop access to all Bitwig Devices, third-party plug-ins, content libraries, and project files. This pane can alternatively be used to display Project metadata and detail like used files and plug-ins, or a Studio I/O panel with quick access to some simple monitoring options, including mono. The final pane runs below the main window and again can switch between audio, MIDI and automation edit views, the active track's device/plug-in chain, and a simplified mixer view when in the Arrange page. All three peripheral panes can be hidden entirely and some resizing options are available depending on the view. While the individual windows are not floatable, a number of tailored display profiles are provided for single, dual and triple screen installations. Along the top right of the screen tabbed project pages facilitate quick switching between multiple open documents and the free movement of clips and devices between them. Handy and logical keyboard shortcuts have been provided for most of the view options and these can be accessed from the Help menu Commander. No custom shortcut configuration is presently available and
while this may be completely reasonable for those who plan to commit to Bitwig full-time, for a studio engineer, who plans only to use Bitwig now and then, it might be nice if they'd incorporated some provision for existing habits. The Mixer view will feel familiar to any Live user, with its signature columns of Clip Launcher slots above the channel strips, however Bitwig takes things a step further, including horizontal rows of launch controls along-side Arrange page channels. This means that whether you're performing a live set or tracking a band you'll be free to seamlessly move between non-linear improvisation and sequenced composition. While the Arrange Launcher certainly makes it easier to copy and paste sequences and edits back and forth between clip and arrangement I found myself yearning for additional switching options between the two. Perhaps a ‘Resume at Previous Clock Position’ option or timeline Launch Markers with the ability to return global playback to the arrangement at a defined position. One unexpected benefit of this parallel linear/nonlinear workflow (if that's geometrically possible) is that I was able to use Scenes as I would have AT 35
The Bitwig polysynth when accessed via the soon-to-be unlocked modular core.
“
We really are talking about a sequencing beast
”
previously used markers. When immersed in the Mix window there's no longer any need to return to the Arrange page, simply trigger the scene or clip you want to focus on and keep mixing. Just be careful not to add automation to the active clip instead of the main timeline. UNDER THE BONNET
Many of Bitwig's innovations are less obvious. Perhaps most importantly, all of the Bitwig Devices packaged with Studio (including familiar Audio FX, Instruments, Generators and Modulators and more unique Containers) have been created using the same Unified Modular Device Creation environment. As I mentioned earlier, Live 9 Suite does include Max for Live for advanced user customisations but this is for the creation of additional devices and environments. What Bitwig promises is user access to and modification of all of its existing devices as well as the ability to create and share your own. AT 36
While the engine is in place they’re yet to pop the bonnet for public tinkering so it's hard to get too excited. But I have seen a preview copy and suspect those who enjoy hacking circuits as much as tweaking knobs and mashing buttons will be delirious when it's unlocked… in the near future if I'm reliably informed. The key issue of flattening the learning curve is still to be negotiated however and this has long scared many from seriously tackling Max. What the system will hopefully do is ensure a constant supply of user-created devices, independent of the host’s development priorities — a godsend to all who struggle to afford new plug-ins or upgrades. I'm particularly interested in the possibilities for custom Containers. These are device or plug-in holders which facilitate new performance gestures and sonic possibilities. Currently supplied Containers include: FX Layer (devices/plug-ins can be loaded in blend-able layers to concurrently process the signal rather than being chained) and XY Effect (one device/ plug-in is placed on each corner of an XY surface allowing morphing between all four). In addition to its solid collection of effects, synths and sequencing tools Bitwig currently supports only VST plug-ins, with a native bit bridge for 32-bit instances. For Mac users who've spent recent years updating their plug-in library to Audio Units, the lack of any AU support will be frustrating to say the least. However, the Bitwig approach to plug-in hosting does take a very interesting spin on the norm and this may be in some way responsible for the present VST focus. Rather than running third-party plug-ins
within the main application's process, Bitwig sandboxes them. If one crashes, instead of the whole system hanging or glitching, only that plug-in will be disabled; effectively bypassing it. Plug-in management preferences allow all the plug-ins to play in one communal sandbox or for each to have their own processes. This feature also empowers 32-bit plug-ins to access increased memory allocations when run in their own process and that will certainly come in handy. VST plug-ins are assigned a generic user interface within the Device panel, with a knob representing each parameter. Plug-in UIs can still be revealed in all their glory with a single click but for those with a large custom interface this plain wrapper can be a real space saver. A parameter search text box helps to bring any knob straight to the top of the list, which is really smart… although at least one of my installed plug-in suites demonstrated some incompatibility. EVERYTHING'S UNDER CONTROL
When it comes to options for parameter modulation and automation Bitwig Studio is positively bursting at the seams. From the eight optional macro knobs grouped with every device, to the packaged Modulation Devices; including configurable LFOs, audio envelope follower and Step modulator. I could easily write another piece solely focused on the use of the modulation framework: So if your production style relies heavily on side-chaining, ducking, complex multi-parameter morphs and clock-synchronised effect triggering you’ll be well pleased. Add polyphonic per note MIDI automation options,
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(above) Polyphonic per-note MIDI automation options and novel parameter histograms are just some of the interesting bits beneath the ’Wig. (below) The turquoise-coloured controls in the device pane show parameters modulated by the LFO.
novel parameter histograms and a well-equipped transient detection, time stretching and sample slicing system and we really are talking about a sequencing beast. For those of you who like to get handsy, Bitwig has delivered an Open Javascript API for the creation of custom controller profiles. If you've always wanted to get that dormant Korg PadKontrol to integrate with your host like a Launchpad or Maschine, now is your chance. In fact, you'll already find a pretty useful profile included. Whether you're chasing step sequencer LED feedback or just to have parameter names reflected on a controller's display, there are lots of options to explore. Profiles for Ableton's Push controller and various Maschine controllers have already popped up on the forum. If you're looking for genuine inspiration, check out the NAMM controller integration videos featuring the Nektar Panorama keyboards, reviewed last issue. HEARTS & MINDS
It's impossible for any significant new audio application to launch entirely free of bugs, especially when operating across three very different platforms. Happily, however, my own test period has been relatively free of stability issues. Updates have been released at a rate of about one per week thus far, which at least indicates the company's desire to respond to issues ASAP. Still, I'm not convinced Bitwig has made all the right moves to win over new recruits. While the team is highly active on the KVR Audio-hosted official forum, the forum itself lacks a useful structure of grouped threads
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and as I scanned for answers and insights I very quickly lost the will to live — a psychological condition common to many audio forums I'll grant you. Definitely learn all you can from the user manual and Community portal of Bitwig.com first. While not wanting to come off as a naysayer, this experience, grouped with Bitwig's decisions not to support Audio Units, user-defined keyboard shortcuts, OSC or any form of universal import format, would impact on my decision to buy-in straightaway. Even a sluggish download server plays its part. From its modular core, Bitwig Studio encourages direct user engagement and has the potential to inspire more of an open and interactive community than any DAW I'm currently using. By taking a non-denominational approach to OS religiosity, it reaches out to everyone. Its Open Controller API is a major selling point to those who've gazed covetously at the softwarehardware integration experienced by others. The promise of being able to modify, create and share infinite and useful variations of Bitwig devices via the still-locked modular system screams with potential. And the ability to interact with performers across the room or globe using the promised network sync and online collaboration functions is equally energising. But… we're still waiting for these, and Bitwig's competitors won't be resting on their laurels. Just this week my inbox has received invitations to experience the new modular synthesis engine of Arturia Spark 2 and an expanded library of Reaktor devices and tutorials from Native Instruments. Regardless, if the budding Bitwig Studio bears fruit the DAW market will be all the healthier for it.
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REVIEW
MASCHINE STUDIO &
MASCHINE 2 SOFTWARE Native Instruments wants your eyes firmly focused on its Maschine Studio flagship controller. With two onboard screens, a lot more controls, and deep integration with Maschine 2 software, there are fewer and fewer reasons to resist.
NEED TO KNOW
Review: Josh Needham
PRICE Maschine Studio (expect to pay): $1399 Maschine 2 Software Upgrade: $99 CONTACT CMI Music & Audio: (03) 9315 2244 or sales@cmi.com.au
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PROS Maschine 2 upgrade worth every cent Studio’s two little screens can supplant one big one NI hasn’t forsaken its previous users
CONS Importing old projects & groups not always smooth
SUMMARY Native Instruments’ Maschine Studio is worth a serious look for Maschine users wanting the deepest of interaction and uninterrupted workflow. And Maschine 2 software is worth the $99 for the drum synths alone, not to mention the simpler, cleaner workflow.
The whole reason I got into Native Instruments’ Maschine was because of performance. One in particular. I was at a music conference watching an artist build songs completely on-the-fly, pure improvisation but with any sound at his fingertips. The buffering, the sounds, the ability to adjust entire sections without ever slowing down or having to stare at a screen seemed liberating for someone who’d always played traditional instruments. I was hooked; it was a ‘next step’ moment for me. I’ve had a Maschine MkII for a few years now, mostly using it to produce tracks and complement my Logic workflow. But recently I’ve been trying to work out how to integrate it into my band’s live show: a combination of Maschine, Ableton Live and a full band. It’s funny though, because while I’ve been focusing on the live side of Maschine, I’ve also had the pleasure of playing around with the new Maschine Studio controller — which, as the name says, is leaning in the opposite direction. STUDIO SAVVY
The Studio looks pretty impressive. It’s not as portable as my Maschine MkII, coming in at an extra 60% in total size, and an extra 50% heavier. You could definitely schlep it around, but not being able to shove it in a laptop bag makes it feel like it’s meant to stay put. What do you get with that additional real estate? 19 extra buttons, a jog wheel, level meter and master control section, and two high-resolution full-colour displays. When you put it in a sentence like that, it doesn’t sound revolutionary, but controllers are all about workflow, and the Studio amps-up tactile interaction with Maschine
more than you can tell by looking at pictures of knobs. On the back you also get three MIDI outputs and one MIDI input as well as two footswitch connections. Which makes me wish my MkII had more than just the 1-in/1-out MIDI interface. Those connections would be killer additions in a live setting — say, playing guitar and starting and stopping backing tracks with my foot — which is not what the Studio was designed for. Back to the surface, and the first thing you notice — also the fundamental difference between the older units and Studio — are the upgraded screens. While not quite Retina-level resolution, it’s like staring at a pair of smartphone screens. And this is where Native Instruments is hanging its hat; these two little screens are supposed to supplant your computer’s. If you run into anyone giving you a Maschine Studio demo, at some point in the spiel, they’ll close the lid on their laptop and keep playing along like it’s a no-look pass. In use, it’s a lot more friendly then it might appear. NI has set up the dual screens to constantly work in tandem. This is most noticeable when working with the arrange panes. While the right-hand screen takes you deeper and deeper into your workflow, the left-hand screen tags along one step behind, always making sure you’ve got a look at the bigger picture. So on one side you might have your scene pattern, and the piano roll or pad layout on the right. You can also zoom horizontally and vertically on both screens with the twist of a knob, which alone is an improvement over mouse and key combinations.
Mean Maschine 2: With a revitalised audio engine, there's a lot to like about Maschine 2. Tag-based browsing and being able to set loop ranges independently of scene start and end points are just two of the many highlights. Oh, and unlimited groups, so Maschine is now more powerful than ever.
WHAT IS MASCHINE? You might have shoehorned some samples into Kontakt Free; bought Komplete for the banks and banks of quality sound; you could have even used the Massive synth before; but perhaps you’re not intimately acquainted with Maschine. Maschine is a controller/software hybrid — can’t get one without the other. There are now three Maschine controller flavours: the Mikro, the standard version we refer to as the MkII, and the Studio. At its core, Maschine is a groove production system, with 16 pads, and varying degrees of tactile control depending on how high up the hierarchy you go. No matter what controller you opt for, you get the full Maschine 2 software to go with it — including over 8GB of sounds, drum synths, effects and instruments. You can also load all your Komplete 9 sounds straight into Maschine, which makes it the unofficial hub of Native Instruments’ product lineup. So if you’re at all interested in making beats and want an integrated controller/ software system, Maschine is pretty compelling. Plus, the ability to auto-integrate your existing NI purchases makes it more than just a one-trick pony — it’s a serious composition platform.
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(left) Maschine 2 now features cut-down GUIs of your favourite synths, so your workspace isn't dominated by massive amounts of knobs. Just expand the GUI to go deeper. You can also now pin effects, which makes creating effects chains a doddle. (above) One of the best new features in Maschine 2 is built-in side-chaining. A super powerful tool, built right into the interface.
You can go really deep into editing on the device. Now when you nudge and adjust notes using Maschine, you can see what you’re doing on the unit. Hit ‘Events’, then select the instrument you want to edit by hitting the pad for that instrument, and you’re in. Once you’ve selected the note with the page left and right buttons, you can adjust Position, Length, Pitch and Velocity with the knobs. It’s all things you could do prior to Maschine Studio. But you had to look at your computer screen and switch to a mouse and keyboard to edit the take you just laid down. Now, there’s no interruption. You simply transition from pads to buttons and knobs, without ever taking your hands off the device. Though even with the builtin stand angling the screens toward you, you’ll need to resist the urge to constantly hunch over the unit. THE VISUAL MIX
Another great bit of visual feedback is the mixer. With the Maschine 2 software, you can have an unlimited number of groups, and you can also stack different sounds into the same bank. But keeping track of unlimited options is difficult. While the Maschine MkII has a simple mixer with levels associated to pads, the Maschine Studio mixer features full colour-coded metering of eight channels at a time. But best of all, it includes the name of each sound associated with the pad, making it a great instant visual reference for live performance. There are a few caveats which will have you looking up from the unit from time to time. Firstly, you scroll through your instruments and sounds using the right-hand screen. NI has split the screen in half, one half featuring the instrument logo or name, and the other half
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scrolls through all the different patches. While it looks great and is nice to know you’re in Abbey Road ’60s Drummer, not stuck in the ’50s, it also limits what you can see of the kit name. It truncates the name, so often you’ll be left with something like ‘Abbey Ro....y kit’, which isn’t that helpful. Secondly, if you have a long plug-in chain, the knobs are usually assigned to the macros, so you’ll have to set up your own macros or adjust deeper parameters onscreen. The second one isn’t a flow breaker, but it would be nice to see NI reconfigure the browsing visibility. Sampling has also been reinvigorated in Maschine 2, the two screens on Studio really give you more confidence in your slices. And now your sample can be as long as you like, dependent on your RAM settings. It’s also much more accurate, with eight-point sample interpolation and four modes of detection. You can also slip the ends of sample regions without it affecting the next slice, and the parameters are all ganged below the waveform view in the software, so you don’t have to go hunting for them. CUE THE METERS
Other than the onscreen, per-channel metering, Studio also has a central 16-segment LED bargraph meter, on which you can monitor and adjust the Master, Group, Send, Instrument or Cue. It’s a really handy touch and another big contributor to keeping you locked into the hardware. The Cue send is new to the Maschine 2 software, which is a huge deal. Now you can audition sounds on-the-fly, you just have to set up your audio interface’s headphone output as the Cue bus. The jog wheel is also a nice addition. Maschine 2 alone comes with 8627 samples, which is a lot to sort through. Having a jog wheel cuts down on
potential RSI, and makes scrolling quicker too. Most of the new buttons on Maschine Studio give direct access to options available on the MkII (but would have probably required a shift key to access) — with the exception of the dedicated Arrange, Mix, Channel and Plug-in buttons that are suited specifically to the Studio’s screen options. And this is the truly great, but odd, thing about Native Instruments and Maschine. There’s nothing you can’t do with a Maschine MkII controller and Maschine 2 software that you can with the Maschine Studio and software. The functions are identical. Any other company would hold something back from ‘lower-level’ users as an incentive to upgrade. NI just sees its alternative offerings as different strokes for different, or even potentially the same, folks. But here’s the thing: the Maschine system is all about hardware and software interaction, and knowing how to whizz around the surface without stopping for a quarter note beat. But with the addition of these new buttons there is a bit of a learning curve when it comes to transitioning between the Maschine MkII and Studio control surfaces. I was playing around on it at a friend’s studio. He has Komplete, but has never laid his hands on a Maschine controller. Often times he was able to intuitively figure out a key command for a function I was stumped on precisely because he hadn’t used a Maschine MkII. That said, it didn’t take too long to adjust, it just might trip you up if swapping between controllers irregularly for live and studio use. MASCHINE 2 DEJA VU
The Maschine 2 software is the other half of the bargain. Apparently Native Instruments spent four years deep in redevelopment. A whole new
sound engine was top of the list, and with that comes one of the more interesting developments — the drum synths. Now that it’s arrived, it almost feels like déjà vu; as if Maschine was always destined to have a drum synth at its core. When you think about it, while you can play notes and chords with the 16 pads on Maschine, they’re still pads. They’re meant to be tapped, flammed and bashed into submission. So turning Maschine into a drum machine makes a lot of sense. There are five synthesisers onboard: Kick, Snare, Hi-hat, Tom and Percussion, each with a number of ‘engines’ to use as a base point. For instance, the Kick synth has eight engines, giving you 808, 909, and other dance and acoustic-style starting points. There’s a whole raft of Snare starting points, from vintage, metal drum sounds, to hand claps, and the Percussion engine covers most everything else. With the release of 2.1 software NI added a new Kick engine called Grit, so expect to see more engines, as requests for different sounds filter in (2.1 also added some more expressive performance modes to the shaker, so this is definitely not a one-and-done effort from NI). The new drum engine points to a couple of developments. Firstly, that NI seems to be leaning towards Maschine being its hub. Not only has it added drum synths, you now also get the Massive synth as part of the Maschine 2 software package, as well as the Scarbee Mark 1 electric piano, Reaktor Prism and the Solid Bus Comp. Hopefully we’ll see more packs migrate towards Maschine. Secondly, while you can import V1.8 projects into Maschine 2, new packs won’t be backwards compatible, and we’ll start to see NI use its drum synth engines more liberally. After all, NI spent a lot of time developing the new audio engine to make use of multiple cores, so there’s a lot more scope for powerful developments and new engines with Maschine 2. A MASCHINE FUTURE
There are a huge amount of developments that NI has debuted with Maschine 2 software, and hard to list them all here. Some of the highlights are: built-in sidechaining; the ability to set a loop range independently of scene start and end points (great if you’re doing a roll); tag-based browsing; new cut-down GUIs of plug-ins and instruments like Massive that are expandable when required; a gate function that lets you adjust the length of note repeats; pinnable effects so you can set up master chains; and a new plate reverb and feedback compressor (the kind of design you’ll find in most vintage compressors). For $99, it’s a no-brainer upgrade: You get tons of new functionality; a better-sounding, more competent engine; new sounds and instruments; and a whole drum synth thrown in.
(above) The new sampling engine lets you have as long a sample as you like, dependent on your RAM settings. It’s also much more accurate, with eight-point sample interpolation and four modes of detection. You can also slip the ends of sample regions without it affecting the next slice, and the parameters are all ganged below the waveform view in the software, so you don’t have to go hunting for them. (left) There are five new drum synths included in Maschine 2 with a host of engine options; everything from 808 and 909-style sounds, to acoustic starting points, hand claps and percussion.
Just be prepared to go through the pain of transitioning your 1.8 groups and projects across. There are a few ways to do this, and I can’t say I had the easiest time. I had to resort to manually filtering them in. But there seems to be varying levels of success with using the ‘Import Maschine 1.x Format’ command, which is the cleanest path if you can get it to work. The key here is to make sure you update everything before trying to import, and be prepared for a slow transition. Don’t expect to jump straight into Maschine 2 overnight and resume your projects. If it does happen for you, that’s great. Once everything’s running, you’ll be happy as Larry and ready to go. After a bit of teething, my Maschine 1.8 projects now load perfectly fine. Once I unlearned a few key commands from the MkII, my general impression has been that Maschine 2 is overall much simpler to use. Which is the hallmark of a good upgrade — that it doesn’t descend into bloatware. Indeed, because of the drum synths and what NI seems to be planning for the future, if you want to keep playing along with Maschine you’re going to have to upgrade at some point. You may as well get it over and done with. And by the end of the process, you’ll at least be intimately acquainted with every Maschine folder on your computer.
BRINGING MASCHINE TO LIVE
Back to the task at hand: getting Maschine tempo and MIDI-synced with Ableton Live for live performance. I’d updated everything and used NI’s Controller Editor to set up my Maschine MkII as a Live controller. But attempting to use Maschine and Live side-by-side wasn’t really working out. I couldn’t get the Maschine software to sync to Live’s grid. After a bit of a dalliance with using Maschine’s sampling features to trigger tracks, I had an epiphany — I needed to use Maschine as a VST plug-in within Ableton. A simple answer really. With the Controller template for Live installed I can now use the Shift-Control command on the Maschine MkII to flip between controlling Maschine 2 software and a large number of commands on Live: adjusting tempo, which tracks to play, mixing, and even effects. So far, so good. I’ve been able to set up, trigger and mix custom scenes in Live, sync up backing tracks with my drummer’s in-ears, and implement fully-functional, tempo-synced Machine drum programming and effects on the fly. It’s a really exciting addition to our live performance, and takes me back to when I first saw Maschine in action.
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REVIEW
KORG DS-DAC-100 & DS-DAC-100M 1-BIT DSD DA CONVERTORS Korg has been miniaturising its analogue gear. Now its digital devices are getting the downsizing treatment.
NEED TO KNOW
Review: Brad Watts
PRICE DS-DAC100: Expect to pay $649 DS-DAC100m: Expect to pay $379 CONTACT CMI Music & Audio: (03) 9315 2244 or sales@cmi.com.au
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PROS Inexpensive Sublime playback DSD on a budget
CONS I so wish for front panel main output attenuation
SUMMARY In a utopian world we’d all be listening to 5.6448MHz DSD, but it ain’t happening. Korg brings us a couple of steps closer with these affordable DACs. A no-brainer for Pyramix users wanting a longer leash.
Welcome to an audio can of worms: DSD audio. A number of years ago I reviewed Korg’s MR-1000 recorder, giving me the opportunity to make a dual recording; one to the MR-1000 and the other via a Digidesign 192I/O at 192k, and make a subjective judgement on each. The DSD recording was indeed ‘better’ to my ears, with less harsh high frequencies, more depth, and an (overall) more ‘relaxing’ experience than the high resolution PCM-based recording. But before we bandy subjective appraisals about, it’s worth reading the box on what DSD actually is — and isn’t. So where and when does DSD become a useful medium? Recording units are touted as being the highest resolution available for two-track recording, and I’m inclined to agree, having heard the difference. DSD presents as an ideal archival format as it offers super high fidelity in an economically viable data platform, i.e. the files take up way less drive space than a 24-bit/384k PCM file. The other, perhaps more prevalent advantage is it sounds better. Really. It does. Audio encoded via DSD seems more natural, more stable and detailed. It’s smoother, richer, and more hospitable to the ear than PCM encoding. I find it far more inviting, almost addictive as you listen to any recording rendered to hard drive over standard PCM encoding. Even to the point where 24-bit/44.1k recordings sound ‘better’ when converted to DSD. I know this may seem like audiophile bunk and verging on the superstitious, but it seems that by pushing quantization noise out of the audible spectrum and adding a little distortion in the conversion, PCM-to-DSD upconversions can be more pleasing to listen to. Which is where Korg’s latest DSD devices come into play. 1 BIT AT A TIME
Interestingly, Korg’s most recent DSD offerings are straight DA units — they’re simply for monitoring. Sitting on my bench are the DSDAC-100 and the miniature (read: portable) DS-DAC-100m. Both units are USB devices
and are powered via the USB bus. I’ll focus initially on the ‘Area 51’-style DAC-100, which is an elliptical shaped unit of black anodised aluminium with three brass pinpoint feet. It even comes with brass seats for the three feet for even extra audiophile-ness. I’ll admit to being sceptical of this type of thing and after listening to the unit with and without the brass seats I remain so. Still, they’d look the shiz in any setting. The rear of the DAC-100 is quite spartan with a USB port, left and right outputs as balanced XLR and unbalanced gold-plated RCA connectors. It doesn’t get much simpler. On the near-side are eight blue LEDs to signify the sample rate in use, all the way up to 5.6MHz, a 1/4-inch headphone output and a large volume knob for the headphone level. This is very smooth in operation and seems to be a DSP-assisted affair judging by the lack of ‘lean’ in stereo balance as you raise the headphone level from zero. Inside is Cirrus Logic’s top CS4398 DAC chip, used in the likes of Prism Sound’s Orpheus, the Universal Audio Apollo, and Korg’s own MR-1000. Korg seems to be positioning the unit as a kind of transitional device between both audiophiles and the recording fraternity, hence both XLR and RCA outputs, and it’s because of this I wish the headphone level control could be switched to provide attenuation over the rear outputs rather than the headphone output only. Considering the units both offer a CPU-based control panel I feel Korg has missed a trick here — especially if it’s attempting to endear themselves to recordists and high-definition obsessed engineers. For now, you’ll require an attenuating device between the output and your monitors, adding further connectors and components before the final sound output.
control over the front panel headphone out is via a pair of ± buttons. At 92 x 129 x 20mm it’s about the size of a ‘phablet’-style smartphone, so you’ll throw it in your every daily carry kit without a hassle. Sound quality-wise it’s identical to the DSDAC-100 according to spec, and indeed, I sensed no difference between the units sonically. DOES IT WORK?
Hell, yes! Recordings made in DSD and played back via appropriate (DSD) converters are inspiring, to say the least. In order to audition these units I rummaged around various contacts and was supplied a number of recordings made primarily with Merging Technology Pyramix systems. Listening via this medium is, as I previously espoused, more organic, with far greater depth, detail, and ‘quality’ than one could expect from PCM-based mediums. Even the indulgence of converting 24-bit WAV PCM files to DSD resulted in audio quality I found to be almost addictive in nature. I simply wanted more and more. You can use Korg’s Audiogate software to do it in real-time, up to 5.6448MHz. Though it uses computer juice, and the conversion can’t be flown-in between DAW software outputs and the device’s driver. No doubt these units will be indispensable for Pyramix users as a quick access point for monitoring DSD projects. And for a travelling DAC/headphone amp, to get you away from your laptop output, look no further than the mini version. Again, anyone seeking state-ofthe-art audio playback owes it to themselves to take a listen to either of the Korg units.
The DS-DAC-100m is tiny by comparison, and uses a single 1/8-inch stereo output connector, and 1/8-inch headphone output connector. USB connection is also of the mini variety. Volume
WHAT IS DSD? DSD, or Direct Streaming Digital, when compared to Pulse Code Modulation (PCM), is a completely different method of encoding analogue audio into digital data. Instead of registering the amplitude within the bitresolution of 16-bit for example, and sampling that amplitude a number of times per second according to the sample rate (in the case of CD that’s 44,100 times per second or 44.1kHz), DSD samples at an extremely high number of cycles per second — 2.8224MHz or 2,822,400 times per second (5.6448MHz is also possible but most DSD recordings you’ll come across will be 2.8224MHz). It also uses only a single data bit and instead of measuring the amplitude from zero each time DSD measures the change in amplitude from the previous sample. If the amplitude is greater than the last sample then
a 1-bit is registered, less than the previous sample and a 0-bit is registered. Consequently a rising portion of a waveform would consist of many consecutive 1-bits, a falling waveform would consist of many consecutive 0-bits and a flat section of waveform would register as alternating 0 and 1-bits. It’s a form of quantum measurement, and therefore relies on ‘knowing’ where the previous point exists before the next point can be stipulated — each point is measured from the previous, with all points relying on the others (alternate universe anyone?). The advantages of the concept are a high sample-rate representation of the waveform without requiring scads of drive space — 2.8224MHz DSD uses about four times the storage as 16-bit/44.1k data, and only about 20% more than 24-bit/96k. Equally
advantageous is the fact the 1-bit sampling conversion used for DSD doesn’t require the use of digital filters. In a PCM-based system there’s some sophisticated filtering going on, both on input and output. This can mess with the audio quality greatly and is a prime attraction for proponents of the DSD format. However, the primary disadvantage with DSD is the waveform can’t be edited like PCM data. As soon as you ‘cut’ the waveform the system no longer knows where zero amplitude is, and the waveform ceases to exist as it was originally captured. 1-bit data is also a complex proposition when it comes to digital signal processing, consequently it’s going to be quite a wait before DSD finds its way into your garden variety DAW.
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REVIEW
SONY UWP-D PORTABLE WIRELESS SYSTEM Sony has updated its UWP series with digital conversion, and added a bunch of professional features while it was at it.
NEED TO KNOW
Review: Mark Davie
PRICE Receiver + Bodypack & Plugon Transmitters: $1249 Receiver + Single Transmitter Combo: $899 Single Transmitters (bodypack, handheld or plug-on): $539
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CONTACT Sony Australia: 1300 137 669 or proaudio.au@ap.sony.com
PROS Wide switching bandwidth Infrared sync and multi-mode setup Digital clarity Professional features like locking connectors
CONS Aerials not removable/easily replaceable
SUMMARY There’s a lot to like about Sony’s UWP-D series, and it’s not just the conversion to digital or the price. A wide switching bandwidth, easy professional sync options, and all-metal construction make this wireless system well worth looking into.
Sony’s UWP line of camera-top wireless audio products has gone partly digital, with the UWP-D series, and it’s a good move. Sony’s UWP-D series strikes a middle ground: It converts signal to a digital stream, but transmits analogue, before converting it back to digital, then outputting analogue again at the end of the line. Confused yet? While it takes a few processes, it’s a good way of getting around the limitations of purely analogue transmission that lower cost systems generally struggle with. Other higher-end systems have been using this hybrid system for a while, with good results, and Sony has decided to add it to the quiver. THE KEY TO CLARITY
The ‘keys test’ (yes, jangling keys in front of a wireless mic) has been a good assessment of how well, or just how badly, analogue wireless systems handle compressing and then expanding a signal, which they have to do because of a limited dynamic range. Usually, they suck at it. Something about this gnarly mix of jangling metal on metal completely undoes analogue compansion. Whether it’s the barrage of transients, the jumble of high frequency noise, or the supersonic 30kHz fundamentals, analogue systems hear key chains coming a mile away and got to pieces. The racket that comes out the other end sounds like an analogue translator nervously rustling a packet of chips. Only the very best seem to survive the test, whether by dual-band companding or with variable ratio companding, but that’s changing with digital. If you turn something into 1s and 0s, technically, you can keep as much dynamic range as you can sample. So while on one hand digital TV conversion is completely wreaking havoc on the wireless spectrum, digital audio conversion is the biggest progress leap in the wireless world. The UWP-D system uses Sony’s digital audio codec and samples audio at 24-bit/48k quality. I have considerable experience with Sennheiser G3, and currently get around the traps with Shure UR gear, which is a great analogue UHF-R system. I’ve never had them fall over, and they don’t have any breathing issues or fail the key test, but they’re also between two and three grand a set. Sony UWP-D systems with a single receiver and transmitter come in under a grand, while the dual transmitter UWP-D16 set (bodypack and plug-on transmitters) is $1249 — which is the pack I had on review. So, the question is, how good are they? THE BUILD UP
Build quality is a big part of a wireless system’s longevity. They get mistreated, sweated on, and dropped more than any other piece of audio gear — except perhaps a pub SM58. The UWP-D units’ all-metal construction is reassuring, the only plastic bits are the removable battery caddy, which securely fastens into the side of the units. I don’t mind this configuration, as opposed to a battery door, because the batteries are easier to change when you don’t have to fiddle with the unit while it’s attached to a camera. All of the units can be powered by USB too, if you use an on-camera supply or a phone supply handy. No mention of waterproofing, but I wouldn’t expect it at this level. Both units also have screw-in, locking input/output connectors, which is a necessary professional touch. As well as a balanced output — with included 3.5mm jack and XLR adaptors — the receiver also has a 10mW headphone output. It’s great if you’re just using a single cameratop wireless system on a DSLR and don’t have any monitoring. The screens are also a little bigger than the previous series, easily reproducing three lines of information; you can always see transmission/reception level and health, battery life, group, channel and frequency settings at a glance. They’re also bright with a range of contrast settings easily viewable in daylight. Both units have LEDs to show power, while the receiver has a second displaying RF strength: Green means you’ve got 25dBu or more input level, but if you see red, you’ve dropped below that mark. The red
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indicator gives you a bit of leeway before your signal drops below 15dBu and off the planet, but in daylight the LEDs aren’t that bright, so you’ll want to keep a close eye on that one. RECEIVED WELL
The Sony receiver has two antennas for space diversity. And because the unit can be mounted on top of a camera with the provided cold shoe adaptor, both antennas are completely posable (to get them out of the way) and flexible. The bodypack transmitter has a single flexible antenna with good cable relief. Though neither are removable/easily replaceable, both antenna types seem flexible enough to avoid damage. On the transmitter, an LED shows signal presence to help reduce the amount of time tail-chasing when you’re not getting signal. In a long walk test, both the Shure and Sony started dropping out at around the same time, which was well down the street. I never really had a problem with the Sony’s reception, its tone squelch circuitry and true diversity systems seemed to keep it on track. The Sony wind muff clips neatly over the head of the supplied lavalier, but it was a little underdone out in the elements. The Shure was superior in light to moderate wind, but also much larger and took a little top end off the mic. But I’d rather have usable audio that was a bit dull, than blustery takes. I’d keep a few different socks on hand if you were heading outdoors with the Sony. SWITCH IT UP
The best and most useful feature that seems certain to turn heads is UWP-D’s wide switching bandwidth. For a lower cost system, it far outdoes the 24MHz bandwidth of the older UWP-V series and other similarly priced offerings. Depending on the country you’re buying in, you can have access to up to four carrier frequency zones. In Australia you have the option of two: a 64MHz zone from 566.025-629.875MHz, or 56MHz in the upper area of 638.025-694MHz. Either way, that’s enough to get you around all the major capital centres in Australia, with only Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast presenting a problem for the top zone. It’s a lot of bandwidth for a portable system, and great for news crews travelling the country. Also at a professional level are the five ways you can set your desired frequency. After setting the desired operating band (a subset of your available frequency range), the most accurate but tedious method is to scroll through each channel by degrees of 25kHz until you land on your pre-coordinated frequency. The tightness of channels (up from 125kHz in the UWP-V series) is helped along by a crystal-controlled Phase Locked Loop synthesiser, which keeps the user-selectable frequencies stable. The second method is to make use of one of seven preselected groups in each band. Pre-selected groups allow you to set up multiple transmitter/ receiver combinations (up to 16 in some groups) without any intermodulation problems. Thirdly, if you’re struggling to find a place to park, you AT 48
can do a Clear Channel scan which lets you riffle through the spectrum to find clear air. Active Channel Scan does the opposite, searching for channels showing activity within a band, letting you pick up on the available transmitter feeds in the area — hopefully one of them is yours. The most obvious and quickest method, Auto Set, picks the closest available channel and starts a sync with your transmitter. The modes cover every option, and the extra bandwidth for finding clean air is great, because hybrid systems tend to require more signal above undesired RF. Once you’ve arrived at the desired frequency, Sony has added infrared to sync units in a flash. SOUND TRANSMISSION
This Sony system reproduced voice very well, and was especially good in the mid range. Sometimes I find wireless lavaliers sound a little more barky than the natural voice, but didn’t have that impression with the Sony. It wasn’t flawless — the Shure still seemed to handle the keys test a bit better despite being analogue — but the Sony held its own in normal use. Hybrid digital/ analogue systems have four conversions stages to go through before they hit your camera/recorder, which is where the difference in quality can lie. You can also step up in performance by grabbing a higher-end lav from Sony. The Sony’s default level settings were similar to the Shure, which I find to be a good average speech level. You also have output level adjustments between -12dB to +12dB in 3dB steps, so there’s plenty of range to hit your preamps with good level. With lower end digital systems, the tradeoff is usually they operate up in the 2.4GHz band, and have to use a lot more error checking techniques to avoid getting caught out by someone’s wi-fi signal. The cost of that vigilance is time (latency), and that can cause problems, especially for anyone listening to their feed on in-ears. Amazingly, Sony’s quoted delay for its multi-stage conversion is a mere 0.7ms. That’s astounding, and in use, I couldn’t detect an audible delay. So that’s a big tick. Another handy feature is the system’s backwards compatibility. Because the UWP-D uses a hybrid system, as well as using the standard digital compander you can also choose compander settings compatible with analogue UWP and W800 series transmitters. It’s great in a pinch if you’ve got older Sony transmitters around. Battery life is also good, with eight hours on the bodypack transmitter with a couple of AA alkaline batteries, and six hours on the receiver. You can also use rechargeable batteries. The Sony UWP-D series is great value for money, and has enough features to keep professionals happy. Also of note is the recently announced adaptor for Sony’s Multi-Interface shoe which pumps audio straight into Sony’s new camcorders and grabs power from the camcorder battery. Worth buying into if you’re starting out, or grabbing as a backup for existing units.
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REGULARS
LAST WORD with
Wally De Backer & Franc Tetaz: Dosh, Shania, Sampling & J-pop Photo: Hugh Hamilton
The Grammy-winning Wally De Backer (AKA Gotye) life turned upside down with the global success of Someone That I Used to Know. He now has time to work on new music from the studio he’s completing on his parents’ property in southern coastal Victoria. His coconspirator, producer Franc Tetaz, rode the success of Someone to move home to L.A. where he works as a freelance producer. He maintains Moose Mastering in Melbourne. Last Word will play host to Wally and Franc’s ramblings about the future of audio for the next few issues.
Wally: I can tell when someone is looking at me thinking, “Oh you had the biggest song in the world recently, you must be a gazillionaire”. Some have even tried to do the APRA/PPCA calculations on royalty splits etc, and have got it completely wrong. Or, indeed, how much I’ve been paying for use of a sample. Wrong again.
to contain and package a particular idea very coherently and very precisely to potentially lots of people. That perfect package can be the catalyst for a deep conversation; it can reveal something about what it is to be alive. And perfect pop transcends language and borders. Wal, tell the story about your backpacking mate…
You have to work out your own ‘success yardstick’. Whether it’s selling a T-shirt at a gig, asking people to pay money to see you perform, charging for your time to mix or produce tracks, you’ll have an expectation. Same goes with selling tracks online. What do you expect back when you release a track? What sort of cut can you reasonably expect?
Wally: … in Nepal! He took a guitar, and was going to give a couple of monks guitar lessons. When he entered the temple, the two monks had their guitars and were trying to teach each other Somebody That I Used to Know!
It’s not an easy question to answer and your expectations will probably be wrong. It hasn’t got any easier with streaming services such as Spotify based on a micro-payment model spanning many years versus the dominant ‘99 cents per song’, pay-once iTunes model. Franc: It’s a case of swings and roundabouts. My feeling is the technology changes but the issues are the same now as when the LP came out. “Shit we’ve got to make an album?! We’re not just going to make singles? What the hell am I going to put on it?” And there was a panic when The Beatles started to really make albums, and it became a requirement. Wally: A lot of questionable albums were made as a result. Franc: Billions, and it’s going on today. My favourite Bill Drummond [KLF bloke who put one million pounds on a bonfire] quote is: “Unwrap pop’s layers and what we are left with is the same old plate of meat and two veg that has kept generations of pop pickers well satisfied. The emotional appetite that chart pop satisfies is constant. The hunger is forever. What does change is the technology; this is always on the march. At some point in the future science will develop a commodity that will satisfy this emotional need in a more efficient way.” In other words, there is a formula to pop. When I’m working on a song structure I quite often use Shania Twain. Mutt Lang [Producer, and Shania’s hubby] packages ideas terrifically well. Here’s the thing: no on wants to rip off Shania Twain because no one wants to sound like her. So you can quite safely use Shania as an example of great pop song structure. Want proof? It’s amazing to watch a pub full of people scream ‘Man I Feel Like a Woman’. Wally: Especially the men! I think about that when I come up against hipster preciousness — those who are self-consciously anti-pop, and yet they want to be pop: there’s a negative vibe about something so big or so popular — it can’t possibly be cool. But it’s obviously communicating to lots of people. Franc: I work in pop music because it’s a way of being able
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Franc: So whether it’s hedonistic and celebratory or whether it’s deep and emotional, or whether it’s completely throwaway… pop is a really interesting artform. Wally: The notion that ‘sampling is stealing’ still exists in places. Some people still have very strong investment in the idea of originality; that a purer sense of originality is possible. No, it’s not interesting to get a song that’s really good and put something (subjective as it is) shit on top of it and ride the coat tails. Even if you’re scrupulously legal about the sample use, it’s just not an interesting decision. Franc: Eminem’s a great example of someone who appropriates samples on a deep level — he’s really inventive. Wally: Take musical parody as another example. We now find ’80s hair metal amusing. Steel Panther are great because what they do is really well observed, and done knowingly. But go to Central Asia, say, and you might find that Hair Metal speaks in a direct and powerful way like it did to middle America in the ’80s. Franc: I’m into K-pop and J-pop for a similar reason. I love how a K-pop track will be a direct rip-mimic of a Western hit with lashings of “ooh baby” or “I reary like ja” Engrish. I’ve got a new favourite J-pop band as of last week. All the guitars are done by Megadeth’s Marty Friedman. Then you have five girls riding interstellar bikes with lasers. It’s very, very good. Wally: I spent a night watching SBS Pop Asia — it was an eye-opener. K-pop and J-pop may well be the future. Well, J-pop holograms at least. But I guess Michael Jackson’s world hologram tour must come first — if Tupac can share a stage with Snoop and Dre… Surely it’s planned. Franc: I met Tupac’s brother the other day. Wally: Has he written a book? Franc: No, but he has written music, well, because “he wrote the music”… Wally: Nelly Furtado’s sister wrote a book. She’s credited on the inside cover as “Lisa, sister of Nelly Furtado”. I somehow ended up with that book.
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