AudioTechnology App Issue 26

AT 1

Introducing the new NTR active ribbon microphone from RĂ˜DE The finest ribbon microphone ever made.

Hear it for yourself at rode.com/ntr

AT 2

Editor Mark Davie mark@audiotechnology.com.au Publisher Philip Spencer philip@alchemedia.com.au Editorial Director Christopher Holder chris@audiotechnology.com.au Editorial Assistant Preshan John preshan@alchemedia.com.au Art Director Dominic Carey dominic@alchemedia.com.au

Regular Contributors Martin Walker Paul Tingen Guy Harrison Greg Walker Greg Simmons Blair Joscelyne Mark Woods Chris Braun Robert Clark Andrew Bencina Brent Heber Anthony Garvin Ewan McDonald

Graphic Designer 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 E: info@alchemedia.com.au W: www.audiotechnology.com.au

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.

All material in this magazine is copyright Š 2015 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. 16/12/2015.

AT 3

AUSTRALIA’S LEADING SUPPLIERS OF PROFESSIONAL AUDIO EQUIPMENT SINCE 1976 BEST PRICES • BEST SERVICE • BEST ADVICE • LARGEST STOCK • NATIONAL DELIVERY EDUCATION SPECIALISTS – TERTIARY, SECONDARY & STUDENT PRICING AVAILABLE ONLINE STORE www.turramusic.com.au/shop

PRO TOOLS HD: Full range of high quality Avid HD interfaces available – enquire now for expert advice on you Pro Tools set up

Software

PC OR MAC NOW AVAILABLE: Steinberg Cubase version 8, Cubase Artist version 8, Steinberg Nuendo, NEW Wavelab 8.5, Cubase Elements 6, Propellerhead Reason, Ableton Live 9, Digital Performer (mac only) and NEW Avid Pro tools Upgrade your old pro tools now at new low pricing and get the free Avid support plan for 12 months.

Virtual Synth Heaven

Audio Interfaces & Control Surfaces

NOW authorised Australian Dealer for East West - US pricing for most titles. Best Service

THE MOST POWERFUL AUDIO COMPUTER INTERFACES ON THE MARKET ANTELOPE / APOGEE / AUDIENT / AVID / METRIC HALO / M-AUDIO / MOTU / PRESONUS / ROLAND / RME / TC / YAMAHA

ARTURIA / BEST SERVICE / BFD / EAST WEST / FL STUDIO / MOOG / MOTU / NATIVE INSTRUMENTS INCLUDING NEW KOMPLETE 10 & KOMPLETE 10 ULTIMATE / SPECTRASONICS /STEINBERG / TOONTRACK / UVI / VIENNA INSTRUMENTS / AND MANY MORE…

FOCUSRITE SAFFIRE AND SCARLETT INTERFACES AVAILABLE

NEW Avid S3 – Compact, 16-Fader, EUCON-enabled, ergonomic desktop control surface that offers a streamlined yet versatile mixing solution.

HDX – when only the best will do.

Unrivalled DSP power

AUDIENT ASP880

AUDIENT ID14

RME FIREFACE UCX

KOMPLETE 10 AND KOMPLETE 10 ULTIMATE

SPECTRASONICS OMNISPHERE

NEW

Plug-ins NEW

APOLLO THUNDERBOLT BLACKFACE

AVID / CELEMONY MELODYNE / IZOTOPE / LEXICON / MCDSP / METRIC HALO / SOFTUBE / SONNOX / SOUND TOYS / TC ELECTRONIC / WAVES & MORE… SOFTUBE CONSOLE 1

Thunderbolt HD native available enquire now

PCIe and Thunderbolt versions available with choice of high quality Avid professional interface

THE COMPLETE PRO TOOLS PROFESSIONAL STUDIO

Bundle includes: C24 console, 8x8x8, AD8, HDX card and all cables. Requires qualified computer for operation.

Contact Ron for details.

ANTELOPE ORION 32 (ZEN ALSO AVAILABLE)

DSP Power UAD Satellite now available with Thunderbolt

LYNX AURORA 16 WITH THUNDERBOLT

HOT STEINBERG UR44

NEW UAD-2 OCTO CARD More DSP power and Includes Analogue Classic Bundle

ALSO AVAILABLE IS THE LATEST VERSION OF PRO TOOLS. Including Education licensing for Institutions, Students and teachers.

This includes Perpetual licensing, which means you retain ownership of the software, and still includes 12 months upgrades and support, as opposed to subscription which runs out in 12 months.

APOGEE SYMPHONY

Studio Microphones SSL ALPHA AX

MACKIE MCU-PRO 9 Alps touch-sensitive faders, a full-sized backlit LCD and V-Pots for fast tweaking – the ultimate in hands-on command.

AT 4

AEA / AKG / AUDIO-TECHNICA / BEYER / BEESNEEZ / BLUE / DPA / EARTHWORKS / MOJAVE / NEUMANN / RØDE / ROYER RIBBON / SENNHEISER / SHURE / TELEFUNKEN & MORE

NEW Neumann U87

RODE NTR RIBBON MICROPHONE Rode’s long-awaited ribbon mic, the NTR features a high output, low noise, low impedance transformer and a laser-cut aluminium ribbon element only 1.8 microns thick.

TURRAMURRA PROFESSIONAL STUDIO DIVISION 1263 PACIFIC HIGHWAY, TURRAMURRA, NSW. TEL: (02) 9449 8487 FAX: (02) 9449 3293 WEB: www.turramusic.com.au EMAIL: hitech_sales@turramusic.com.au

Keyboards & Sound Modules AUSTRALIA’S LARGEST STOCKIST OF KEYBOARDS ACCESS VIRUS, AKAI PRO, ALESIS, CME, DAVE SMITH INSTRUMENTS, EDIROL, KORG, KURZWEIL, M-AUDIO, MOOG, NORD, NOVATION, ROLAND, WALDORF, YAMAHA NEW

STUDIO LOGIC – SLEDGE

Studio Outboard Processors & Effects WE NOW STOCK THE BEST OF THE BEST ART / AVALON / BEHRINGER / DRAWMER / DBX / EMPERICAL LABS / FOCUSRITE / JOE MEEK / KUSH / LEXICON / MANLEY / NEVE / PRESONUS / SMART RESEARCH / SSL / TC ELECTRONICS / UNIVERSAL AUDIO / TOFT / GRACE DESIGNS / DANGEROUS / RUPERT NEVE PORTICO / PLUS MANY MORE!

NEW

KORG KRONOS 2

EMPIRICAL LABS EL8X DISTRESSOR

Studio Monitors

FULL RANGE OF 500 SERIES STUDIO PROCESSORS AVAILABLE YAMAHA MX49 & MX61

Studio Monitoring & Summing ANTELOPE AUDIO PURE2

ANTELOPE AUDIO SATORI

High end monitoring controller.

True analog monitoring and summing system.

NEW

YAMAHA MOXF8

HUGE RANGE IN STOCK AND ON SHOW! GENELEC / FOCAL / DYNAUDIO / MACKIE / M AUDIO/ TANNOY / ADAM / YAMAHA / FOSTEX / ATC / EVENT / ALESIS / BEHRINGER /

Mastering-grade 24-bit/192k 2-channel converter and master clock with relay-controlled volume attenuator.

GENELEC M030 ACTIVE MONITORS

DANGEROUS MUSIC MONITOR ST

DANGEROUS MUSIC D-BOX Analog Summing, monitor control, on-board D/A conversion, talkback, headphone cue, simultaneous input monitoring.

The ultimate DAW companion with remote-control accessed switcher.

EVENT OPAL

Analogue & Digital Mixers AIRA range MX1: PERFORMANCE MIXER

FULL RANGE OF MACKIE MIXERS / ALLEN & HEATH / SOUNDCRAFT / TASCAM / MIDAS YAMAHA DIGITAL 01V96i, 02R96, DM1000 & DM2000, LS9, M7CL, MPG / BEHRINGER / TOFT ATB24 WE CARRY A RANGE OF USB + FIREWIRE MIXERS THAT INTERFACE DIRECTLY TO YOUR COMPUTER. YAMAHA QL MIXERS

Flagship CL features in a smaller

package. QL5 (64 mono + stereo) and QL1 (32 mono + 8 stereo) both pack 16 mix and 8 matrix output busses plus local rack I/O.

YAMAHA MGP16X Also avaliable: MGP12X, MGP24X & MGP32X

8

NEW

YAMAHA HS5,HS7, H8 & H8S

Digital Media Recorders

ZOOM H1, H2N, H4N, H5, H6, Q2HD & Q4 / MARANTZ PMDs / FOSTEX FR2LE / ROLAND R-05 / BOSS MICRO BR / YAMAHA PR7 / TASCAM. MANY MORE, ALL AT NEW LOWER PRICES. COMPACT FLASH RANGE + MANY MORE.

YAMAHA TF SERIES AFFORDABLE QUALITY

AVAILABLE NOW SYSTEM-1: PLUG-OUT SYNTHESIZER

The SYSTEM-1 breaks new ground with remarkable flexibility and access to a vast palette of tones with bold, unmistakable character.

FOSTEX FR 2LE SPECIAL PRICING NORMALLY $899, NOW $549

PROPHET 6 COME IN AND SEE ONE IN STORE AVAILABLE NOW

TB-3: TOUCH BASSLINE

The TB-3 Touch Bassline is a performance-ready bass synthesizer with authentic sound and intuitive controls engineered to play.

ZOOM H6

POCKETRAK PR7

TR-8: RHYTHM PERFORMER

The TR-8 is a performance rhythm machine that melds the legendary sound and vibe of the TR-808 and TR-909 with features and functions for the modern age.

NEW

NORD ELECTRO 5D

VT-3: VOICE TRANSFORMER

With the VT-3, you can smoothly alter pitch and formant in real time to introduce heavily processed vocal sounds into your studio tracks and stage performances.

AT 5

COVER STORY

How To: Bang-On Retro Drums

Wham, Bam, Thank You Schram! ex-Triple J Alum Mixes Voltaire Twins

32

Decoding Eno’s Discreet 26 Music on its 40th Anniversary

20

Chandler Recreates The Beatles’ REDD.47 Mic Preamp

Audio-Technica System 10 70 Camera-top Wireless Setup AT 6

38

ISSUE 26 CONTENTS

Summing Up: Rich Costey Dumps His SSL for Of Monsters & Men

Yamaha TF1 Digital Live Console

54

MunroSonic EGG 150 Monitors

64 28

60

AT 7

GENERAL NEWS

ASTON MICROPHONES: UK-BORN MIC BRAND We’ve always got room for another mic or two, so any news of a startup microphone company is exciting. Introducing Aston Microphones, a British condenser microphone and accessory brand.

Conceived, designed, and yes, manufactured all in the UK. Set to hit the Aussie market in December 2015 with two custom crafted condenser microphones, Origin and Spirit, the Aston team have been determined to prove that a British team can both design and build some exceptional quality products in the audio industry. Aston is also passionate about designing reflection-filter

products, which will soon be added to its lineup. To add to the good news, Aston’s retail price points are competitive when up against any Chinesemade brand, and notably less expensive than many of its European and American counterparts.

Look out for AT’s review of the Aston Origin microphone in an upcoming issue and head to the /audiotechnologymag YouTube channel to hear it in action.

Link Audio: (03) 8373 4817 or info@linkaudio.com.au

FOCUSRITE REDNET AM2 The RedNet AM2 from Focusrite is a Dantecompatible stereo audio monitoring unit, offering headphone and line outputs for flexible monitoring of signals from the Dante network. There’s a 1/4inch headphone output on the front panel and a pair of balanced XLR line outputs on the rear, which can be used to control loudspeakers. Two large knobs on the top control headphone and line output levels, with the latter having a mute button and associated LED. The headphone output is supposed to deliver enough juice to drive even high-impedance

headphones at substantial levels. The table-top unit will sit comfortably on a flat surface, or it can be mounted on top of a mic stand using a standard threaded bush in the base. The AM2 can be powered via PoE (Power over Ethernet) or via the 12-volt DC input barrel connector. Dual etherCON connectors are provided for daisy-chaining with other network devices. The AM2 will be available from early 2016.

Electric Factory: (03) 9474 1000 or www.elfa.com.au

GO UNDERCOVER WITH D:SCREET SLIM DPA Microphones announced its new d:screet Slim Microphone at AES 2015. Designed to meet the needs of film makers wanting a near-invisible body-worn mic, d:screet Slim features the DPA’s omnidirectional capsule element in a flat head, a slender cable and a new button-hole mount accessory. This creative mounting option comes as an enclosed accessory, providing a 90-degree sound input angle, so the cable can lay flat against a surface rather than sticking straight out. It is also designed to fit into a space as small as 2mm. The combination of the size and available accessories

increases the number of mounting solutions. The d:screet Slim can be placed virtually anywhere without being seen. A refinement of DPAs currently available concealer solution is also being unveiled and featuring a separable construction; meaning that the concealer top can be divided from the concealer base, allowing the base to remain fixed to clothing while the top can be removed independently.

Amber Technology: 1800 251 367 or sales@ambertech.com.au

HEADPHONES THAT HEAR Mic W’s i3DMic Pro750 headphones are better described as a stereo pair of microphones that come in the form of cans. The two omnidirectional back-electret condenser mics are set just above each earcup and positioned to provide lifelike binaural recordings, with the convenience of wearing it on your head — replacing bulkier setups like the dummy head. It’s still a high-quality headphone though, so you can monitor what you’re recording in realtime while the closed-back design helps keep spill to a minimum. The Pro750 introduces a whole new way of capturing 3D audio,

especially for field recordists and filmmakers.

Simply connect the 3.5mm stereo output cable to your camera or recorder’s audio input and wear the headphones while shooting — perfect for when a GoPro is strapped to your forehead. The result will be super-realistic spatial audio and an immersive playback experience. Leveraging Ultrasone’s headphone manufacturing, the i3D Pro750 comes in a sturdy zip-up carry case and all necessary cables to get sound in and out of the headphones.

CDA Pro Audio: (02) 9330 1750 or info@cda-proaudio.com AT 9

LIVE NEWS

ANNA JOINS EAW ADAPTIVE SYSTEMS FAMILY Eastern Acoustic Works (EAW) expands the Adaptive Systems family with the introduction of Anna, a loudspeaker designed for the touring, regional sound and permanent installation markets. While it can also function as a standalone PA, columns of Anna modules interlock sideby-side with columns of EAW’s Anya modules for supplemental fill or to horizontally expand Anyabased systems for outfill. Both Anya and Anna pair up with the Otto Adaptive subwoofer to form a full range solution for varied applications. Each Anna module includes 14 highly customised transducers

and built-in amplifier and processing channels, providing independent power and control of each loudspeaker component. Resolution 2 software controls the processing of each acoustic cell individually to generate the ideal coverage pattern for the venue while minimising the impact of the room’s acoustics. Anna modules are sold in groups of 24 or 12 enclosures with power and data distribution, dollies, covers, flybars and cabling included.

PAVT: (03) 9264 8000 or sales@productionaudio.com.au

MACKIE REACH: ALL-IN-ONE PA Mackie has announced its new Mackie Reach Professional PA System — designed to be an all-in-one PA solution. The system features Bluetooth music streaming, a six-channel digital mixer, and a control app for iOS and Android. The ARC (Amplified Radial Curve) high frequency array technology in Reach utilises three horizontally angled high-frequency drivers paired with dual vertically spaced high-output low-frequency drivers, providing 150° of coverage for optimal sound quality, even for audiences spread over a wide or deep area. Mackie Connect is an app for iOS AT 10

and Android devices that gives you wireless control over levels, EQ, 16 vocal/instrument effects, even feedback suppression tools. The EarShot personal monitoring system is pretty unique — a built-in full-range driver sits on either side of the PA to provide performers with clear stage monitoring, without the requirement of additional speakers.

It’s flexible too, with volume control and selectable configuration. The Mackie Reach Professional PA System will be available from December 2015.

CMI Music & Audio: (03) 9315 2244 or info@cmi.com.au

A&H ZED SERIES BABIES Allen & Heath has launched three new mini mixers from its ZED analogue console range — ZED-6, ZED-6FX and ZEDi-8. All the new models feature two mono channels with separate XLR and TRS jack sockets and two stereo channels. The mono channels include DI high impedance circuitry for the jack sockets, for direct connection of guitars and other instruments. Additionally, the ZED-6FX includes a new in-house designed FX system which encompasses multi-FX models, combining reverbs, delays, doublers, chorusing, and other modulators to create a varied sound effects suite. The first-

of-its-kind ZEDi-8 doubles as a 24 bit/96kHz 2x2 USB interface, providing recording and playback to a Mac, PC or to an iOS device (using a Camera Connection Kit), with flexible source routing options. ZEDi-8 is bundled with Cubase LE music production software and the Cubasis LE mobile app. All of the new mixers have the new GSPre preamp design and feature two-band EQ, 60mm smooth master mix faders, channel monitoring and 48V phantom power.

Technical Audio Group: (03) 9519 0900 or info@tag.com.au

PRESONUS AI/RM MIXERS NOW DANTE-COMPATIBLE Presonus StudioLive AI-series consoles and StudioLive RM-series Active Integration mixers can now be upgraded to support the Dante audio networking protocol, thanks to the Presonus SLDante-MIX option card. Dante-enabled StudioLive Active Integration mixers allow users to create a networked audio system with any Dante-enabled audio device; using a standard 1GB Ethernet switch and Audinate’s Dante digital-media networking technology — which also includes Dante Virtual Sound Card for Mac and Windows computers. With the addition of Dante support to StudioLive AI

mixers, customers can also now build complete, all-Presonus, networked live-sound solutions that feature StudioLive AI-series loudspeakers or WorxAudio TrueLine powered line arrays. The SL-Dante-SPK option card for Presonus StudioLive AI-series loudspeakers began shipping in October 2014 and a Dante option will be available in December 2015 for the WorxAudio TrueLine powered line arrays and WaveSeries loudspeakers, with PDA1000 and PDA2000 amplifiers.

Link Audio: (03) 8373 4817 or info@linkaudio.com.au AT 11

SOFTWARE NEWS

IK MULTIMEDIA’S ‘RE-MIKING’ TOOL In a similar vein to Slate’s Virtual Microphone System announced recently, IK Multimedia has released T-Racks Mic Room — a microphonemodelling module designed to emulate a collection of over 20 different microphones including various condensers, dynamics and ribbons. IK states that each of Mic Room’s microphone models has been meticulously crafted to provide accuracy and detail, recreating each microphone’s frequency response and sonic character. Mic Room functions as a stand-

alone plug-in for Mac or PC, or it can be used as a module within T-Racks in your DAW of choice. It allows the users to select the microphone actually used for the original recording, then choose a new microphone to alter the character of the track — in effect ‘re-miking’ the source. Extra tone control features allow further sound-shaping.

Sound & Music: (03) 9555 8081 or www.sound-music.com

AMPLITUBE 4 OUT NOW IK Multimedia has released AmpliTube 4, the major upgrade of its popular guitar and bass tonecrafting software. It comes with nine amplifiers, 10 stompboxes, 10 cabinets, 29 vintage and modern speaker models, three microphones, two rack effects and two tuners. Players can restore all of their previously purchased gear models using the ‘restore my gear’ feature in the AmpliTube Custom Shop. AmpliTube 4 Deluxe kicks it up a notch from the standard version with over 100 pieces of additional gear including amplifiers, stompboxes, cabs and more. AmpliTube Custom Shop is the

AT 12

free version of AmpliTube — a great way to test the waters if you’re new to the software. A few of AmpliTube 4’s new additions are Acoustic Sim, a pedal that emulates an acoustic guitar tone from an electric guitar; a new precise digital tuner called UltraTuner; and a four-track recorder/looper called Looper. AmpliTube 4 now also includes an eighttrack DAW with full per-track EQ, pan, level, mute and solo functions.

Sound & Music: (03) 9555 8081 or www.sound-music.com

iSEM FRIENDS WITH iPAD Arturia’s iSEM app is a software recreation of the trailblazing ’70s vintage Oberheim synthesizer expander module for iPad. Now, thanks to Apple’s Audio Units Extensions technology, the iSEM app brings all the functionality of AU plug-ins to both OS X and iOS. That means iSEM can now run within an app like GarageBand for iPad, similar to how you would run a plug-in within a DAW on a computerbased setup. So you have all the features and sound

of iSEM accessible from within the host app, and can also run multiple instances. iSEM development partner Rolf Wöhrmann said, “By using Audio Unit Extensions-compatible apps like iSEM, GarageBand users can extend its sonic capabilities above and beyond those of the built-in instruments into the wonderful world of Arturia.”

CMI Sound & Music: (03) 9315 2244 or info@cmi.com.au

MARSHALL LEGENDS FOR APOLLO Softube has come up with what it calls ‘the loudest UAD bundle ever’. Marshall Legends features three guitar amplifier emulations — the Bluesbreaker 1962, the Silver Jubilee 2555 and the Plexi Super Lead 1959. Each are unique specimens from Marshall’s own collection, kept in top shape for decades and now captured in digital form by Softube’s algorithm team. The amplifier plug-ins feature Universal Audio’s Unison technology, which configures the UAD Apollo physical circuitry

to give the same interaction between guitar and audio interface as between guitar and amplifier for maximum analogue realism. The multiple microphone choices have been chosen by Tony Platt, someone who goes way back with the Marshall sound. Marshall Legends is exclusively available for Universal Audio’s UAD-2/Apollo platform.

CMI Music & Audio: (03) 9315 2244 or info@cmi.com.au

AT 13

Sales 03 9482 1744 • www.hitekav.com.au

For Product Information & Technical Enquires Call 0401 649 201 Monday to Friday 1–6pm

UNIQUE With over 20 years of experience, we pride ourselves on expertise, product knowledge and support.

Our professional team will provide a tailored solution that’s unique to your project and budget.

With a number of in-house tutorials, for the novice through to the professional, we invite you to experience the Hitek service that you deserve.

BOUTIQUE Here at Hitek Audio Video we understand that Boutique has many definitions-The one we adhere to is: Boutique: Products designed by fastidious Designers with a nocompromise philosophy achieving excellence at the highest degree possible.

There is a certain way this culture interacts with the obsessed

professional. A lot of time is spent on getting these products to this professional user, alongside patience the relationship between the re-seller, Designer, Distributor and Manufacturer has to be excellent. This is the only way the fastidious boutique designer can achieve their objective. Hitek Audio Video is a part of this culture... ensuring you have access to audio tools that will last longer then a life time.

~Sebatron~ made in Australia

THE USUAL SUSPECTS

Fostex has been manufacturing speakers for a long time. They also provide a variety of speaker parts for many speaker manufacturers.

With monitoring Speakers such as the PX-6’s and variety of High End monitoring Head Phones -Hitek and Fostex have your transducer imaging needs covered. Flat and accurate performance with a price tag for the project studio arena. Come into HiTek and listen to the difference flat and accurate makes to your mix. Let us show you how with the FOSTEX PX series today.

AT 14

$949 Pro Tools | Mbox Pro with current full version of Pro Tools

$524

$2330

MORE INFO

Pro Tools | Fast Track Solo Save up to $700 on Pro Tools 12 ios iPad Compliant

MORE INFO *This is a limited offer whilst stock’s last

$274 AVID Annual Upgrade and Support Plan

Avid Artist Mix and Pro Tools | Mbox Pro with current full version of Pro Tools

MORE INFO

MORE INFO

Pro Tools | First To celebrate Pro Tools I First we will give you the same tutorial, tech support and education available below for normally bundled Pro Tools offers. All you have to do is call us and purchase your new sound card from us to qualify.

Then you can download your free version of Pro Tools I First and have the the same support, and education available as customers that have purchased full versions or bundled versions of Pro Tools. Yes we are unique in this venture so what are you waiting for ?? ...call now for a list of Sound card/Audio Interfaces available. 0401 649 201 Bundled Pro Tools Packages includes: 2-hour group tutorial x 4, covering Pro Tools basics (held every Wednesday 1:00pm - 3:00pm and 4:00pm - 6:00pm) These free tutorials must be completed within a 3 month period from the initial purchase date.

Two support and education options are available at a heavily reduced price:

OPTION 1

OPTION 2

$100 subscription equating to 10 hours of tech support or education via phone.

$150 equating to a 3 Hour Block for on location tech support or education.

*Conditions apply (0401 649 201)

*Conditions apply (0401 649 201)

Audio Solutions ART is a company comprised of musicians, engineers and recording enthusiasts. Since its inception in 1984, they have been striving to redefine the performance versus price barrier with a series of innovative new audio products Hitek is proud to represent the ART brand of audio solutions and we are confident there is a quality solution, at a price point to suit your project, and your budget.

$699

$209

$149

$899 AT 15

The

QUICK MIX

with

Ian Laughton Interview: Neil Gray Who are you currently touring with/mixing?

Most memorable gig or career highlight?

Hanni el Khatib and Florence & the Machine.

Probably some of the Verve shows, oh, and the three nights I did with Florence at Ally Pally in London.

What are some other bands you’ve worked with?

Swervedriver, Supergrass, Ash, The Verve and Razorlight.

Any tips/words of wisdom for someone starting out?

How long have you been doing live sound?

Describe your mixing setup now, compared to what it was in 1998.

I have been doing live sound for 22 years now, I got started working for a supply company called Star Hire Sound.

What is your favourite console and why?

My favourite analogue console would be the Midas XL200, and for digital I’d stick with Midas and say the Pro9; it sounds great and is intuitive.

Favourite microphone or any other piece of kit?

The Shure KSM32 would be a favourite microphone, and the Avalon 737 is a great piece of outboard.

AT 16

Don’t be afraid to try something out.

It’s switched from analogue to digital — no more racks upon racks, and cables.

What are three mixing techniques you regularly employ that you’ve learnt in the last 15 years?

Valve compressors on drums, using quality reverbs, and lots of analogue delays.

Three game changing pieces of gear from the last 15 years?

Avalon outboard gear, Sennheiser clip mics and Midas digital consoles.

AX-SERIES „One of the best compact monitors.“ Professional Audio on A3X „Excellent performance across the entire audio spectrum.“ Sound on Sound on A7X „An outstanding monitoring solution.“ Audio Technology Magazine on TEC-Award-Winner A77X

A7X SOS Award Winner 2011 & 2012

A77X TEC Award Winner 2013

For dealer listing, please visit www.federalaudio.com.au/dealers AT 17

STUDIO FOCUS:

STUDIO 52

Studio 52 has undergone some updates recently, with major improvements to Studio C. The studio has been extended with a new drum room, vocal isolation booth and amp isolation room.

Previously, Studio C was mainly for soloists and electronic production, but now the studio can handle whole bands just like Studio A and B. The new drum booth has a very modern, bright sound, complementing the palette of unique sounds offered by each drum booth in Studio 52. Studio 52 uses a combination of SE, Audio-Technica and Sennheiser microphones along with TLA valve mic preamps for drum recordings.

Anna Mannering recorded her song Son Of Korah at Studio 52 late last year and recorded a music video with Brendan O’Shea. She has just been announced as a finalist in the US-based Unsigned Only 2015 song competition.

This is the 19th year of the Kool Skools Project for Studio 52 and Music Feeds in Sydney has again been hired to deliver the NSW recordings with around 40 albums between them. Over 700 albums have been recorded as part of the project since 1997. Some of the artists who have come through the project include Missy Higgins, Cat Empire, Delta Goodrem, Jordie Lane, Kelebek, Axle Whitehead, Dean Geyer, Marc Collis and Natasha Duarté to name just a few.

New to the mic locker at Studio 52 are a pair of 4400As and a T2 from sE — and they’re loving them. The 4400s are being used as drum overheads in the new Studio C drum room and the T2 is on bass instruments and guitar cabs, even lead vocals. www.studio52.com.au

AT 18

BE D1 TO COME TO TOWN

BE D1 TO BURN IT DOWN Take your band to the next stage . With evolution wireless D1 – the easiest and most reliable digital system. Featuring adaptive high-power transmission, superior live sound and exceptional ease of use. Be D1 to have it.

D1 BE ON LY AND

D1

www.sennheiser-D1.com AT 19

FEATURE

After shootouts from the US to Iceland, Rich Costey decided the Shadow Hills Equinox summing mixer eclipsed his SSL console. But his downsizing hasn’t reduced the sound of cinematic Icelandic folksters, Of Monsters and Men, one bit.

Story: Paul Tingen

Artist: Of Monsters and Men Album: Beneath the Skin AT 20

Last year, Rich Costey had one of the biggest ‘Eureka!’ moments of his career. It resulted in him radically changing his mix method, and replacing it with a brand new approach, which is, in essence… erm, more or less the same as before.

Confused? Read on.

For Costey, long one of the world’s most prominent and dedicated out-of-the-box mixers, it was a watershed event. The ‘more or less the same’ bit consisted of Costey finding an alternative way of laying out his mix in a similar way as he had done on his beloved SSL K series at El Dorado in LA, with the same audio-, effects- and VCA-channel layout, and maintaining his previous outboard signal chains and general workflow.

From El Dorado, he explained how and why he squared this particular circle that put his beloved console largely out of action: “I’ve always mixed on analogue consoles, and have used and even owned nearly every kind imaginable, having occasional romances with vintage Neves, modern Neves, SSL J, SSL G, SSL E, you name it. Each desk offered something special but also brought a certain set of sonic issues that I eventually found myself battling with. I have heard plenty of in-the-box mixes that I like, but whenever I had a go, I was inevitably disappointed by the shallow depth of field, narrowing of the stereo space, and a kind of hollow bottom end.

“Last year I was looking for a summing mixer for my B room and auditioned quite a few. OUR PROCESS FOR AUDITIONING SUMMING MIXERS AND EVEN CONSOLES IS TO PULL UP A SESSION THAT IS LEVEL BALANCED IN THE BOX BUT IS ROUTED OUT OF SEPARATE OUTPUTS. I’VE BEEN USING A WEEZER TRACK THAT I MIXED CALLED TROUBLEMAKER TO DO THIS FOR A NUMBER OF YEARS. It’s not a large session so it’s easy to route

the entire multi-out of 30 outputs. We align the D/A converter, put all the faders at zero, adjust the panning and hit play, making a straight bounce into my stereo A/D. Frustratingly, none of the summing mixers we auditioned had the punch of a real console except for one, the Shadow Hills Equinox, which sounded amazingly good. It sounded very similar to a Neve 8058. I had problems believing it, so I did more and more tests and started doing stem recalls and radio mixes through it. They all sounded great.

“My next project was the Death Cab For Cutie record, Kintsugi (2015), which I produced and mixed. I started mixing that on the K, but for whatever reason, I felt the mixes could hit a bit harder, and tried to mix them via the Equinox. I ended up mixing most of the songs twice, and in every case we ended up using the Equinox mixes.

I have developed a fairly complex routing system in my studio for the SSL, and because I have been mixing on analogue consoles all my life, I have become accustomed to grouping things to certain outputs, and having a certain layout for the session.

This way no matter what song I mixed, the layout of my SSL was more or less the same. When I started mixing via the Equinox, I still wanted to have all those elements in place.

“For example, when people use four mics on the bass drum, they often put them on separate tracks

rather than combining them, which means you end up EQ’ing each track separately. That’s fine but I also like to have a more holistic approach, combining the bass drum mics into a single place where I can adjust the overall sound. I do that with everything. I have an aux track for the kick, for the snare, for the toms, and so on, which allows for a slightly more macro approach to treating each of these elements and also for running parallel compression on them.

“To copy this approach over to the Equinox we developed a Pro Tools session layout with the recorded tracks at the bottom of the session and built a parallel of my SSL at the top of the session.

This parallel consists of about 60 tracks, with audio aux tracks at the top, followed by outboard aux effects tracks, and below them VCA tracks, which mimic the VCA tracks in the middle of the desk. They are then routed to the 30 inputs of the Equinox with a healthy chunk of effects and outboard still going to the SSL K.” NORTHERN LIGHTS

Costey’s next project after Death Cab For Cutie was producing (with the band), engineering, and mixing, the second album of the Icelandic indie pop/folk band Of Monsters and Men. The album mix allowed him to refine his new mix approach, while his mix of the album’s lead single, Crystals, provides a perfect illustration of exactly how he goes about it.

Of Monsters and Men was one of the world’s biggest breakout acts of 2011. Their impressive debut album My Head Is An Animal went platinum and to No. 1 in Australia, while lead single Little Talks was five times platinum. What is it with all these Icelandic artists hitting it big globally?

Add together Björk, Sigur Rós, Ásgeir, Emilíana Torrini, GusGus and Sólstafir, and on a pro rata population basis that would equal an improbable 500 Australian acts with global reach.

Of Monsters and Men’s first album came into being very organically and without any expectations, but the pressure was on with the follow-up. OMAM sought the services of Costey as a sympathetic big name producer, who could help them build on their previous success and expand their sound into a slightly more earthy, rock-like direction. The band surely had a good look at, and listen to, Costey’s impressive credits, which include Fiona Apple, Foo Fighters, Arctic Monkeys, New Order, Bruce Springsteen, Pink, Chvrches (see AT Issue 109), and Muse.

Costey: “I think they were trying to find a collaborator who could help them on their path, rather than tell them what their path was supposed to be. Most Icelandic people I’ve worked with tend to be fairly hard-headed and are very secure in their intuition [perhaps explains their worldwide success? – Ed]. There were some areas I could help them and other areas where they knew exactly what they wanted to do. The final result is in part to do with my style and the way I like to hear things. I like things that are cinematic and have a more direct, natural humanity in the sound. There was, of course, talk of how the band likes things to

sound — which in general is big and lush — and also that they wanted to make a more honestsounding album. They had grown as players, and given their first album had been made quickly, this was a chance to showcase what they sound like as a band. I think it’s easier to pick them out as individual players on their second album than on their first.

One of the handy things about being a mixer and a producer is that the producing process spills over into the mixing. You can completely re-arrange everything at the last moment if you choose to

“We started September 2014, doing about three weeks of pre-production at their rehearsal studio and recording fairly concise demos into their Pro Tools rig. Some of the songs were fairly well-formed, and some changed quite a bit during that process. Crystals was one of the songs that changed considerably. It was a much slower song initially, with only the chorus being up-tempo. I felt that it might be exciting for the song to take off right from the beginning, so we took that path. The driving toms during the verses are key to the song’s propulsion and were worked out in rehearsal. Arnar [Rósenkranz Hilmarssonis] a fantastic drummer with a very creative approach, and he’s also seriously loud. We approached the arrangements from different angles and gradually the best ones stood out. That way when we got to the actual recording sessions — which took place at Sundlaugin Studios in Reykjavik during October, November and December — there weren’t too many surprises and it was just a matter of trying to get the best performances. In general, when working with a band, you want them to feel comfortable during recording, and not to sit there thinking and trying to get their parts right.

“We had a pretty complete collection of demo recordings with rough mixes by the time we entered Sundlaugin. Before we began tracking a song we would typically reference these demos for tempo and feel, then go ahead and cut the song. Sometimes with a click but most often AT 21

CRYSTALS MIX The Crystals Pro Tools session is a whopping 197 tracks; a combination of Costey’s new SSL-equivalent mix setup at the top of the session and the recorded tracks beneath. The 39 aux tracks relate to the audio tracks in the lower part of the session, and are equivalent to the audio channels on the SSL. Below that are 14 VCA tracks; consisting of drums, toms, percussion, bass, guitar, lead vocal, Pro Tools effects, loops, synths (x3), brass, intro, and All VCAs. Eight outboard aux tracks sit below those, acting as an equivalent to effect returns on the desk, connected to a Bricasti reverb, AMS DMX effects unit, GML 8900 EQ, Hughes SRS sound retrieval system, Neve 33609/Millenia chain, Prism EQ/RCA BA6A compressor chain, and a Standard Audio Stretch compressor.

13 mix prints sit in the middle of the session, and tracks 77-197 are the actual recording session. Beginning with the impressive amount of drum tracks — 44 in total — followed by bass, Moog bass, guitars (24 tracks), vocals (12 tracks), keyboards and finally brass and French horns. It’s a big session, even by today’s standards, but there are few plug-ins apart from on the drums and vocals aux tracks in the top third of the session.

Costey lifted the lid on what’s going on: “The reason for the lack of plug-ins is that I simply like to get the sound I want on the way in. If necessary, I’ll treat things quite heavily while recording. The idea of waiting to make things sound good in post-production doesn’t get me too excited, unless the goal is to transform and challenge the existing material. Also, I use a native Pro Tools system instead of HDX, which means that latency can be an issue when you’re using tons of plugins while tracking. The band were onboard with the notion of treating sounds on the way in. To be honest, even during the mix the band was more interested in trying out different arrangement ideas until the very last second, rather than getting involved in the sonics.

Of course they care about reverb treatments and delays and whatnot, but most of the mixing process was about getting them to sound big and great, and then tweak some arrangements here and there.

“Having said all that, I used quite a lot of outboard during mixing. Of the outboard aux tracks I used the AMS DMX for some delay and chorusing effects, and the GML 8900 compressor was used on the drums. I use the Hughes SRS daily for widening the stereo image, and in this session it was largely deployed for ambient keyboard sounds and in some cases backing vocals and guitars. The 33609 compressor to Millenia EQ was a parallel on the lead and backing vocals, and the Prism EQ to RCA BA6A was a parallel on the kick and snare. The RCA BA6A parks just about anything, and is great on the kick and snare.

“At the top of the session are kick and snare trigger aux tracks. Native Instruments’ Battery and Addictive Drums are in my mix template by default, just in case I need them. In this session I added some Battery snare samples, and some claps, stomps and synthetic drums in the choruses. My Battery sample library has thousands of sounds I’ve collected over the years. The 3-4 sends on several of the drums aux tracks go to the GML8900, and the 27 send goes to the Prism to RCA AT 22

chain. Bus 59 is a UAD AMS RMX18 plug-in for drum reverb. The toms have a Decapitator plug-in, which gets turned on in the choruses. The toms and acoustic guitar really propel this song, and it was important they worked well together.

“The bass aux has an Oxford plug-in EQ rolling off the subs, and the Brainworx bx-digital V2 to reduce some of the typical resonant notes one deals with on a bass guitar recording with passive pick-ups. The track is also volume automated to further even out any resonances. The acoustic guitar aux also has the Oxford EQ, again to take out some of the bottom end that I didn’t need. It also went to the Hughes SRS to widen them up a bit and a UAD EMT 140 reverb.

“I tried mixing Nanna [Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir]’s and Raggi’s [Þórhallsson] vocals a couple of different ways.

The actual lead vocal aux has a Renaissance De-

esser on it, going into a UAD 1073 plug-in, which is fantastic, a UAD dbx160 compressor and the Decapitator to add some edge. 28 goes to the Standard Audio Stretch, which adds a bit of top end to the vocals. The Stretch mimics the breathy, steamy high end that you could get from old modified Dolby units, of which I have many. Nanna and Raggi’s lead vocals blend really well together naturally, so I treated them very similarly. You want to put them in a similar space.

“The session was at 24-bit/96k. For the final mix print I went via Esoteric Audio Research 660s to GML EQ mix chain and printed back into the session using a separate Pro Tools rig with a JCF Latte stereo A/D converter. I sent 96k files to Bob Ludwig for mastering. I also print to a Soundblade rig, running at 16-bit/44.1k for references.”

I’ve always mixed on analogue consoles, and have used and even owned nearly every kind imaginable

without as they tended to sound better that way.

After comping takes, we began the process of overdubbing and often completely replacing elements of the basic tracking. Part of their process includes doing a lot of drum overdubs, with toms and snares, percussion and stomps and handclaps, and all kinds of madness.

“As far as studio gear is concerned, I brought over a lot of gear from El Dorado, because even though Sundlaugin is pretty loaded, particularly in the microphone department, I wanted to remain familiar with the signal paths. The most essential piece of kit I brought were my Neve BCM10, which has 10 vintage 1073s, along with some vintage Universal Audio 1108s. The rest was the usual stuff in my rack, like UREI 1176s, Neve 33609, Roger Mayer RM58, Esoteric Audio 660s, Distressors, Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor, The Equinox, plus a bunch of my modular synths. I also brought my Burl Mothership converters, as they are the only multitrack A/D that I can really get behind.”

AT 23

SHADOWING THE SSL

Mid-January 2015, a month after the recordings at Sundlaugin were completed, OMAM and Costey reconvened at El Dorado for, “more overdubs, mostly vocals, a bit of programming, and working with David Campbell on horn and string arrangements. We did split things out over my SSL K for this, because it’s easier to have lots of inputs coming into the console at the same time, ready to go. After that we began the mixing process. I’D BEEN LISTENING TO THE EQUINOX ALL THE TIME WHEN WE WERE IN ICELAND, AND HAD BECOME ACCUSTOMED TO THE SOUND, BUT I STILL DID A MIX OF CRYSTALS ON THE SSL, AND ANOTHER USING THE EQUINOX, AND AGAIN I DECIDED TO GO WITH THE LATTER. To be perfectly honest

though, I don’t think the band cared either way.

“We had already created the template, with the 60 tracks at the top mimicking my SSL layout, and the typical mix process was for my assistant Mario to load our recording session into the mix template session and set it up. I would then reference the latest rough mix for balance and get the tracks knocked into shape from that perspective. Once that sounded good I would have a look through the individual audio tracks, combining different groups of instruments to check relationships. The drum/acoustic guitar relationship was very important; the acoustics really were an extension of the drums and percussion. The toms in particular had a lot of overtones in the low mids, and I had to tame these to maintain some amount of clarity. To be honest, that was a bit of a challenge. The solution was mostly reductive EQ and careful monitoring of room mics.

“The main room at Sundlaugin, which used to be a swimming pool, sounded so good that the temptation was to crank it up on everything, but you obviously can’t do that. I tended to have the room sound on the kit. Then I backed off with overdubs and used artificial reverb if necessary.

I mixed Crystals a number of times, and each time we were looking to refine the arrangements of the guitar melodies. One of the handy things about being a mixer and a producer is that the producing process spills over into the mixing. You can completely re-arrange everything at the last moment if you choose to.”

“I’m very proud of this album and I know the band is as well. Crystals did quite well on the radio but I don’t expect this album will duplicate the sales figures of the first album; no one expected that. The band were pushing back a bit against the sound that defined them on their debut and we were all working to establish something that feels perhaps more lasting and emotional. You don’t want to live or die by your radio hits. The album reached No. 3 in the US which is the highest US chart position for any Icelandic album, No. 4 in Australia, and the response to the album is still growing. I think the band are in it for the long road. They are massively gifted people.”

AT 24

I ended up mixing most of the songs twice, and in every case we ended up using the Equinox mixes

BLUETOOTH CONTROL PURPOSEFUL DESIGN FLEXIBLE BACK PANEL

More than just another great JBL sound system, the new EON615 is a true step forward in technology developed specifically to deliver the best sound possible regardless of its application. Completely rethinking how truly good an affordable self-contained, portable PA system can be, JBL engineers purposely designed and built the EON615 from the ground up featuring JBL’s advanced waveguide technology, JBL designed and manufactured transducers, and convenient, wireless remote control of its onboard DSP EQ parameters via Bluetooth. This total redesign of the EON platform leverages the latest technologies in cabinet materials, acoustic science, transducer design and user friendliness that delivers the extraordinary quality of a high-end studio monitor in a fully professional, highly flexible, easy to use, portable system for today’s working musicians and sound providers.

Distributed by

40 Kent Road • Mascot NSW 2020 Ph: (02) 9582 0909 • Fax: (02) 9582 0999 www.jands.com.au • info@jands.com.au

FEATURE

DISCREETLY DECODING ENO’S MUSIC On its 40th anniversary, Discreet Music was decoded and reconstructed using Eno’s Oblique Strategies for a one-off performance to cardcarrying members of the Brian Eno fan club.

Story: Mark Davie

AT 26

Trying to be Brian Eno isn’t easy. Just ask Brian Eno. In 1995, when he was attempting to recreate Discreet Music using his Koan generative music system, the maestro himself found it impossible. In his diary A Year with Swollen Appendices, Eno wrote: “I am trying to replicate Discreet Music as accurately as possible.

This is actually very hard — trying to duplicate the complicated ana­logue conditions of the original: a synth that never stayed properly in tune, variable waveform mixes and pulse-widths, variable filter frequency and Q, plus probably something like 30 audible generations of long-delay repeat, with all the interesting sonic degradation that introduced.

“My attempts to replicate Discreet Music result in interesting failure after interesting failure.”

Comforting words, I’m sure, for Matthew Brown when he got the call up to do exactly what Eno couldn’t, recreate Discreet Music live onstage in front of thousands. It wasn’t just him up there, but he had to figure out the bit with the out-oftune endlessly matrix-able vintage synth and reels of tape degradation.

I recently headed along to the State Theatre at Melbourne’s Art Centre to witness the event, titled Discreet + Oblique. The conceit was to take the themes from Eno’s Discreet Music, on its 40th anniversary, and apply his Oblique Strategies cards to it in a live setting.

Onstage with Brown were Australian experimental trio, The Necks — Chris Abrahams (piano), Tony Buck (drums), and Lloyd Swanton (bass) — on one side. Flanking the other side of the stage were Golden Fur members Samuel Dunscombe (clarinet), Judith Hamann (violoncello), and James Rushford (viola).

Behind Brown on two risers were the two Eno acolytes who co-produced the show, Leo Abrahams on electric guitar, and David Coulter on vibes and saw.

The whole performance wasn’t just a celebration of Discreet Music’s 40th anniversary, it was a mashup tribute to Eno as well. Towards the back of the stage sat a four-poster hospital bed; a ‘joke’ reference to the conception of the whole ambient music genre. The story goes that when Eno’s friend put on a record in his hospital room they left the volume so low Eno couldn’t hear it properly. Too sick to get out of bed and turn it up, he lay there noticing how the sounds were subsumed into the environment, beautifying it, rather than being a focal point. Whoosh, the dawn of ambient music.

Likewise, Eno’s video art Mistaken Memories of Mediaeval Manhattan — projected from a TV on its side onto the big screen between Oblique Strategy cards — came after Discreet Music and isn’t technically supposed to be projected at all. “Bringing that TV into the hospital room doesn’t make much conceptual sense really,” said Abrahams. “But it’s a celebration and an anniversary so it’s a bit of a mashup.”

I guess performing music — through a giant Meyer Sound system — that was founded upon the sensation of not being able to properly hear it is, technically-speaking, not strictly ambient either.

CARDS OUT FOR ALL TO SEE

During the performance, Abrahams would randomly flip Oblique Strategies cards from a deck, and slide them under a document projector.

If you’re not familiar with the concept, the cards are intended to trigger a fresh thought process that might get you out of the creative doldrums. They read things like, ‘Repetition is a form of change’, ‘What is the reality of the situation?’ ‘(Organic) machinery’ and ‘Remember those quiet evenings’.

Some were obvious influencers. When ‘Fill every beat with something’ came up, it was as if someone had called Tony Buck’s number at the butchers.

Others like ‘Intentions, credibility of, nobility of ’ felt a bit like trying to read 10 minds at once.

Brian is someone who hates looking back and talking about the past.

I really respect that because he’s honestly one of the most forward-looking and unencumbered people

making,” reminded Abrahams. “Or the musician’s relationship.” For an audience of thousands who may have never used the cards, the show was a chance for them to get in on the act. To experience first hand the effect the cards can have.

“The cards serve a function, but essentially I see it as a theatrical device,” said Abrahams. “The whole event is supposed to be a celebration of the anniversary of this piece and also a celebration of Brian’s work. The cards — their language, humour, gentleness as well as their depth — is a really big part of what he’s like as an artist, but also what he’s like as a person. Although he’s frequently seen as a very serious theorist, which he is in some ways, he’s also extremely good fun!”

The show was comprised of about two hour-long pieces with a break inbetween. Essentially riffing on sides A and B of Discreet Music. But Abrahams said they never made it to an hour in rehearsal. He’d worked with all the musicians before but “I didn’t really know what kind of contribution they were going to make because their repertoire is so diverse in terms of what atmospheres they create,” he said.

“Strangely, after the first couple of run-throughs, I felt I could predict the energy of it. But I certainly couldn’t predict how amazingly they would have dealt with the Discreet Music motifs. I think we were all holding something back at the rehearsals.

We never got to the end of Discreet Music in rehearsal; we would come in at 20 minutes, which is way too short. We needed the tension of an audience to actually do the piece properly.”

FLIP ON FRIPPERTRONICS

Abrahams was coy about the ratio of improvisation to structured arrangements.

He didn’t want to give the whole game away; concerned that punters experiencing the show at the Barbican in London in a couple of months would be cheated of the guessing game if the veneer was stripped away. “Part of the interesting thing about it is that it’s not certain how much is planned and how much isn’t,” he offered. “There’s a framework in which improvisation happens, but it’s quite a tight framework in terms of what happens at what time.” There’s still scope for the pieces to be longer or shorter, and have different textures or energy, but it’s still going to be roughly the same pieces. After all, that’s the whole conceit — Discreet plus Oblique. It’s still got to be Discreet Music, “recognisable,” said Abrahams. “Without it being a boring retread of the existing music.”

Whether or not the pieces are fully improvised or entirely structured is somewhat beside the point. Everyone that turns up to a Brian Eno tribute concert is probably somewhat familiar with his first major ambient work, whether it’s clogged in every-greyer grey matter or freshly imprinted. The point is that using the Oblique Strategies cards is supposed to fun, not didactic.

You don’t have to follow them to the letter. “The purpose of the Oblique Strategies is to reframe the producer’s relationship to the music they’re

Discreet Music begins with the slow entrance of the main motif, a confluence of EMS Synthi lines looped on a Frippertronics system. As Eno’s diary alludes, there’s a bit more to it than that. In the album liner notes, there’s a basic diagram of the Frippertronics system that plots the basic points: synthesiser to graphic EQ to echo unit, then into the tape delay system comprising looping back from the playback head of one onto the record of another. For Brown, that was like looking at a tourist snap of a building; he needed the schematics, which no one had.

He started by decoding the loops. Brown: “The two repeated phrases have such slow attacks, it’s really hard to work out the loop size. I could hear there were two delays happening; a short one made on the Echoplex, and the longer one, which I think went for 66 seconds. I CHOPPED ALL THE LONG LOOPS UP, MEASURED THE SAMPLE SIZES AND AVERAGED THEM TO GET THE MOST ACCURATE IDEA OF THEIR LENGTH. I looked

at the spectrograph of the sound and saw it wasn’t going above 3kHz. I realised it must be slowed down. I suspect Brian Eno made it, then slowed it down on the tape machine to 3.75ips from 7.5ips.

It was quite hard to reproduce, because I think he did one take, and mixed it down onto one track, then did a second take with a second melody and mixed that down onto the other half of the 1/4-inch tape, which the diagram on the back of the record doesn’t mention.”

For the Frippertronics system, Brown used a pair of Revox B77 MkII two-track tape machines, AT 27

MUSICAL MIX

Byron Scullin is active in essentially every part of the audio industry; from producing, engineering and mastering to composition and sound design. It’s his musical sensibilities as well as his experience with the avant garde that make him a top choice to mix FOH for left-of-field performances like Discreet + Oblique.

AT: What affect did the cards have over how you mixed the show?

Byron Scullin: Not much, because they’re so ambiguous and open-ended. I just noted them to be aware that certain things might be taking place, or they might be transferring to other instruments.

AT: How do you set yourself up to be able to handle the diversity of sound coming at you?

BS: I was mixing the show on the Digico SD8. In rehearsals I accounted for all the instrumentation and organised the session to enable a response to what was happening. Coming up with control groups where I could have the entire band’s 28 inputs across 12 faders, with enough specificity to bring people in and out or mute as needed.

The electronic effects processing was split across separate groups as well; as their own instruments on faders for riding those shapes. For an artist like Brian Eno, effects aren’t really effects, they’re other instruments; reverb’s not used to give spatial context to a certain sound, like it’s playing in a hall or a bathroom.

AT 28

The effects units are used to extremes where they often become textural devices.

I was using some effects in the traditional way. For example, a bit of long-tailed reverb to help what was a relatively small string and clarinet ensemble have a slightly larger sound. Then also bringing in heavilyprocessed effects in Ableton Live at various points based on what cards may or may not show up and what the musicians are doing.

AT: What effects were you using in Ableton Live?

BS: I built a set of very long delays using Max for Live, inserting the stock Ableton reverb to add a little bit of softness to the delay chain by smearing the attack and release of the envelopes. They become more textural and less punctuated as they begin to feedback.

There was one playback element at the start of Discreet Music, and a context reverb using Exponential Audio’s R2 plug-in. Rhythmic-based reverbs are my flavour of the month; it’s a counterpoint to impulse response reverbs whose tails can sometimes drop away a little quickly or be a little bit peculiar.

AT: The Hamer Hall Meyer Sound PA is quite epic.

Was it easy to mix on?

BS: I left the system design to Norwest, and it was really well tuned. On a well-tuned system with a lot of overhead, if you get your gain structures right at the console you’re just using EQ to solve problems not to build much tone.

The most stressful part was there was no sound check. We had rehearsals in the room then an hour-

and-a-half turnaround before the gig. I was only able to bring up all the instruments and make sure the tone was sitting okay, check my gain structure and feel the faders out. Then we launched in and did the show.

I production managed the new music sound art festival, Liquid Architecture, for 12 years, so I’ve done a lot of avant-garde and experimental work.

Often you don’t really know what the performers are going to play.

It requires you to come from an extremely sympathetic place musically, sometimes to the detriment of ‘good sound’, because the artists want to make terrible sound, crazy sound, a weird sound, or sometimes no sound at all.

AT: The Necks drummer (Tony Buck) never really seemed to be using the kit in a traditional way, did that require a particular miking regime?

BS: It’s about keeping most of it to overhead microphones, with standard kick, snare and hats. They gave me an AKG D112 for the kick, but there’s no hole in the jazz kick drum so that microphone wasn’t so great for that context. I had to use quite severe EQ to tone down the bottom end, because it has a bump and a sealed kick drum with no damping inside has such a massive low end resonance anyway.

The way Tony plays drums, the toms act more like resonant membranes for the things he’s got on top of them. It’s like he has a trestle table in front of him with a bunch of instruments, the trestle table just happens to be made of toms! Sometimes he’ll pull

straddling the ends of a long trestle, with a length of tape running over the top of his EMS Synthi.

Brown: “You have the tape running past the heads from the left hand one, then past the heads onto the takeup reel on the right hand one. The sound gets recorded on the left hand one, and goes past the playback head of the right hand machine, which is plugged into the record head of the left hand one. It makes a copy of a copy of a copy. So the sound breaks down and you get that wonderful tape delay sound.

“The delay time is relative to the speed the tape is moving and the distance between them. I divided the length by four, because the original length was about 6.4m, which was too big for the stage. WE TALKED ABOUT HAVING A ZIG ZAG ARRAY INBETWEEN THE TWO MACHINES, WHICH WOULD HAVE BEEN A NIGHTMARE — BITS OF COAT HANGERS FAILING MISERABLY.

“I suspect Brian Eno had it shorter and slowed the tape down to get the final result. If you do the maths, you can probably guess the size of his living room from the maximum length of time he could get out of them. A bit of acoustic archaeology.”

The initial Synthi patch had Brown a bit bemused: “The more I looked into it, the less it sounded like the EMS synthesizer and more like the high notes of an oboe, or clarinet. When he was in Roxy Music, Andy McKay — who was also very experimental and avant garde — played those instruments. I started suspecting it could possibly be a loop of McKay playing, and feeding into the system rather than the synthesizer. Maybe I’ve been staring at it too long.

“The wonderful thing about the EMS Synthi

is it uses a matrix. You can do all these ‘illegal’ things like tell the sound that’s coming out of the synthesiser to modulate the tuning knob, so you’re doing FM synthesis. The audio and control information is one.”

In the second piece, one of the highlights was the merging of Brown’s Synthi solo into an energetic clarinet part, highlighting how alike the two could sound. “For my solo, I took a few cues from when Brian played in Roxy Music,” said Brown. “The solos he did were a bit like that; crazy bombastic things that wobbled all over the place. With the patch, I had the LFO controlling the wet/dry mix rate of the spring reverb. And the ring modulation was coming in and out. There was a lot of stuff that sounded like ring modulation but was actually frequency modulation.”

The other module on Brian Eno’s diagram was the graphic equaliser, which Brown set to “shift so it goes through the EQ. There are certain frequency patterns the magnetic tape picks up; it will feed back and get sweet spots. But if you change the EQ all the time, it will allow different parts of the sound to get through and feedback more so than others.”

DIAL IN THE RADIO

While Discreet Music was just a synthesiser and delays, and the other side of the record primarily a string orchestra, Abrahams did some decoding too and noticed some cumulative effects he could emulate on guitar. Abrahams: “There seem to be some keyboard overdubs, and once the tape delays get really thick in the first piece, it gives the

them off and start playing drums normally, so you have to be prepared for that. He also has a lot instruments he agitates with his feet, so I have a ground mic down on the floor next to the hi-hat.

Neumann KM184s over the vibraphone.

AT: With so many different timbres coming out of each instrument, do you EQ much at all?

BS: I preset a bunch of compression settings, mostly just to deal with loud attacks. On drums they’re all really fast attacks, as fast as it will go.

I’ll set higher ratios, like 3:1, but have them dialled out and switched on. I can dial them in if I need to bring them down. I used a little on the vibraphone because it was jumping out a bit, and a little touch on the kick drum at points.

I used a multiband compressor across the piano group, adjusting the settings so it’s taking care of the critical bands, between about 6kHz at the top and 500Hz at the bottom. It’s very wide in the middle, with a really slow attack time because I want to let all the attacks of the piano through. I just want the compressor to ease in and hold the mid-range down when it gets very hectic. Not muffling it too much to destroy the sound of the piano but enough to contain it a little bit. Fairly long release times there as well, so it’s very easy on/easy off compression with a low ratio of 2:1 or maybe less.

Then lots of riding. My philosophy is that no one particular instrument should dominate over anything else. In an ambient music context, all the sounds should sit evenly together. If you listen to a lot of Eno’s ambient music records that really bears true.

Nothing ever gets particularly loud, it all just sits and

BS: I keep it super straight and very practical, lots of filtering just to deal with the fact the monitoring is sitting on deck with the band, so addressing low end feedback. Then I just EQ to taste. On consoles like the Digico or Avid you can do specific things like insert a graphic on an overhead to deal with a bit of feedback or tone.

AT: The mic selection must play a big part in getting great tones then?

BS: I treat it like a studio and go for fairly neutral characters. I had AKG 414s as overheads. They’re not particularly glamorous, but are a real Swiss Army knife. I also had 414s inside the piano set to a figure eight to use the side-pattern rejection for the PA on stage. It was a huge Steinway concert grand so the possibility of feedback is strong. Chris can turn the piano almost into a spectral synthesiser where he rapidly plays shimmering chords, then it resolves back to becoming a piano again.

I had a DPA mic on the double bass, as well as a DI signal and a Beyer M88 on his cabinet. I also put DPAs all over Golden Fur. DPAs are such a godsend for getting great sounds out of acoustic instruments.

I had Sennheiser, e609, I think on the guitar cabinets.

AT: Are you setting up compressors to help handle the shows’ dynamics, or are you just riding the faders all night?

It’s like he has a trestle table in front of him with a bunch of instruments, the trestle table just happens to be made of toms!

illusion of there being other instruments. I used the guitar to try and fill in the gaps beyond what the other musicians were doing.

“In the first half I was trying to blend with the vibes and the tapes, because the frequency range of the guitar isn’t dissimilar to the range of the EMS. In the second half I drowned out the space with an organ-ish sound.

“From there, it was a case of being very selective about when the sounds have attack. For most of the show the sounds were a combination of a slow attack delay, a quiet context, and high-pass filter reverb with a long pre-delay. Normally when I perform, I’ll have hundreds of sounds in a show.

But this time I only wanted to have one or two so

hangs together as a whole; a single texture.

I was trying to allow as much interplay as I could — the shimmering sound of the vibraphone leading into the piano and strings — so it becomes very hard to tell where one instrument begins and another one lets off.

The musicians are doing that, it’s not a happy accident. It’s where the action is. I’m trying to maintain that balance, then if the energy goes higher, I’m riding it with them, increasing and decreasing.

I mix on the faders all the time. I DON’T KNOW WHAT ENGINEERS ARE DOING WHEN I GO TO GIGS AND SEE THEM KICKING BACK AND NOT ON THE FADERS.

In some music contexts I guess that works, but we have enough over-compressed, limited music in pop music production music now that when you go to see a live show you really want to get that dynamism.

When I’m mixing live, I’ve got to work with the band and perform alongside them to make sure their performance comes across to the audience. The energy rises and falls in the room as the band rises and falls in the room as well.

That’s something I learnt when I was starting out and working on musicals. There’s so much fader-riding in big budget musicals. Hearing that and understanding what a difference it made. Being musically sympathetic is a driving force with me, rather than technique and equipment. I meet a lot of people that are into the tools, but I’m a bit ambivalent about tools at the best of times.

AT 29

Matthew Brown’s EMS Synthi dopesheet for his solo: “With the patch, I had the LFO controlling the wet/dry mix rate of the spring reverb. And the ring modulation was coming in and out. There was a lot of stuff that sounded like ring modulation but was actually frequency modulation.”

The purpose of the Oblique Strategies is to reframe the producer’s relationship to the music they’re making

it’d feel like a chamber ensemble.

One of the more recognisable sounds was a broken up radio effect that Abrahams summoned from his pedal chain of an Eventide Pitch Factor, a Strymon Timeline and a Strymon Big Sky. “There’s a really nice lo-fi module in the Timeline pedal,” said Abrahams. “THE RADIO SOUND WAS THAT GOING INTO THE BIG SKY. IT’S NOT ENOUGH TO JUST DIAL UP THE RADIO SOUND, YOU HAVE TO PLAY IN A VERY BROKEN WAY TO MAKE IT CONVINCING. AT 30

“I like sounds which are simple but give a lot back, so you feel like you’re collaborating with the sounds in a way. It gets really expressive with very little movement on your part. There was one part where the bass of the EMS needed a bit of a backup, so I had a four-octave down pitch shift on the Eventide going into a high-pass filtered reverb — it made a 63Hz throb.”

THE GHOST OF ENO PAST

Leo Abrahams has been working on and off with Brian Eno for 14 years now. In that time he can only ever remember the Oblique Strategies cards coming once; relatively recently actually, on the High Life record.

As far as Abrahams is concerned, the cards are just a manifestation of Eno’s way of working that the man himself doesn’t actually require the use of them. “The feeling the cards give you — that lateral thinking about music — is very familiar to me having worked with him,” said Abrahams.

“It’s like the cards are a manifestation of one of his philosophies of work. I don’t think he’s had to resort to using them because he does things like

that just by being who he is.”

It was the first time Abrahams had performed a tribute to one of Eno’s works without him being there and he was a bit worried about it. “In a way it feels a bit creepy!” He said. “I thought if you’re going to do a tribute then you ought to not know them. Also, Brian is someone who hates looking back and talking about the past. I really respect that because he’s honestly one of the most forward-looking and unencumbered people, and I didn’t want to stalk him to look at it. But as it turned out he was really generous and supportive with the project.

“I didn’t talk to him much about the nuts and bolts of it but he wrote the very generous program notes and let me come over and scan the original cards he made by hand in 1973, which appeared in the second half. I did say to him, ‘I’m sorry if this is awkward for you because I know you don’t like looking back.’ His reply was, ‘This is so long ago it almost seems like someone else’s life!’”

AT 31

FEATURE

WHAM! BAM! THANK YOU SCHRAM Hockey masks, megaphones, and a distaste for boring arrangements; Triple J alumnus Steven Schram cures The Voltaire Twins of any lingering demo-itis.

Story: Mark Davie

AT 32

“Take a week to let them settle in,” was the advice the Voltaire Twins’ remember their producer Anna Laverty giving. “Because the first time you hear them, you’re going to get upset.”

She was laying familiar groundwork, preparing them to hear the album mixes due back from Steven Schram any day. The first song he sent back, they loved. “It was so much better,” said the male Voltaire, Jaymes, brother of Tegan. “It was this feeling of, ‘Well, I didn’t do that, but it’s so much better.’” The second song was a bit of a shock though. “He’d completely changed the genre and sawn a minute off,” said Jaymes. They eventually asked Schram to change it back, citing it was intended to be more of an ‘album track’, which he did.

Schram knows this pattern all too well, “that’s why I get fired all the time.” He’s lost count of how many times. Frankly, he’d be “disappointed” if he didn’t.

“I’m going for something,” he explains. “I’m not trying to play it safe. I’m trying to make your song feel like it’s going to jump out of the bushes and rip your face off.”

Sometimes he does the dirty work himself. He just fired himself from a job a week earlier: “There was 160 stereo channels. I’m not sifting through that amount of shit. IF YOU CAN’T MAKE A POP SONG WITH 48 TRACKS AT THE MOST, THEN THERE’S SOMETHING FUNDAMENTALLY WRONG WITH YOUR ARRANGEMENT OR YOUR TECHNIQUE.”

It’s not that he doesn’t want the work. He wants loads of it; he’s got mouths to feed and rent to pay — stuff you can’t cash in an ARIA award for. But for him, being successful also means enjoying the process. If that requires driving a few people away in order to stick to his guns, so be it. The work speaks for itself; maybe the next artist will have more balls.

NOTHING’S CLEARER THAN A CUT

Schram’s liberal attitude towards arrangements is partly because he doesn’t see any clear definitions between engineering, producing and mixing, “it’s all one big continuum for me.” He’d like to think he’s staying true to the band’s vision. But if he feels like it needs to be faster… he’ll speed it up.

If he thinks the chorus should be in a different spot… he’ll move it. And at the end of the day, if it doesn’t work, “I’ve got a copy of it, so I can always put it back.”

It can be a bit confronting for some, especially when the only communication with Schram has been via email and their arrangements come back hacked to bits. Let’s just say, there’s no point hiring him if you have a case of demo-itis. On the other hand, for people that know what they’re getting into, Schram is a mix weapon who’s unafraid to slam convention up the wazoo. His studio is called Bangkok Ninja Academy for goodness sake!

The Twins are no strangers to production, and know all too well the dangers of demo-itis — something they’ve learnt to deal with by being on the other side of the glass. “On previous records where we’ve demoed the songs heavily, I’ve definitely had fights with producers,” said Jaymes.

“But then I co-produced another band who were

exactly how I used to be.” Just like Schram, he remembers getting stuck into their arrangements and the penny dropping, “I told them, ‘It doesn’t need all of that, cut this and get to the chorus quicker.’ You know when you realise you’re talking like your mum? It felt like that. I could see me in them. I had to realise none of my opinions were correct.”

Jaymes still has doubts about that second song.

Every now and again, he thinks it would have been nice to keep it. Even to use as a remix; it was that different. Meanwhile, Schram has cursed, kicked the wall and moved on: “If the client’s happy, I’m happy. The next day you’re on a completely different band, in a completely different genre, with a completely different mindset.” Let someone else agonise over the ‘should haves’.

TRIPLE J IN THE HOUSE

Schram was an in-house engineer at Triple J for years. But the experience didn’t leave him with some secret Triple J sauce to apply to every mix, it taught him the importance of performance. Every Wednesday, he used to record, mix and master a three-song live set to be played on Home & Hosed that night. And every Wednesday it would be different. “Sometimes it sounded excellent and sometimes it sounded like shit,” he recalled.

“You’d scratch your head going, ‘What is it?’ It was the same room, same pres, same mics, same everything. The only variable was the band. THE ONES THAT HAD A GOOD TIME, PLAYED REAL WELL, AND HAD GOOD SONGS, THEY SOUNDED GREAT. IT WAS A REAL STRUGGLE FOR THE ONES THAT DIDN’T. As soon as I

started getting everyone to play their little hearts out, the records sounded better.”

Soundpark Studios in Northcote, where he often records, has a megaphone and glow-in-the-dark Friday the 13th mask on hand. Schram reckons when you’re screaming at someone through the glass with a hockey mask on, people tend to do what they’re asked. “And as much as I can get down live in one take, the better things work out,” he reckons. “If there’s not a lot of magic to work with, I don’t think you can overdub your way out of trouble.”

The importance of performance is one of the things he passed onto Laverty… before he fired her too. Laverty started her sound career in London in 2003. She was 19 and had just graduated from a sound course at WAPA. She didn’t know anything, other than that it was a perfect time to get work experience. She applied for a two-week internship with the Miloco group; cleaning toilets, washing tea towels and making tea — classic assistant grunt work. On her last day, as reward for brewing a decent cuppa, she was asked to help Ben Hillier pack up his studio; he was off to America to record Depeche Mode. After two days of labelling gear and doing an inventory, he asked her to look after his studio while he was away and assist anyone that needed it. Since then, she’s worked with Hillier, producer Paul Epworth and his engineer Mark Rankin, and Nick Launay. The best studio asset she learnt from them all was patience, “they’re such humble servants to the music.”

I’m not trying to play it safe. I’m trying to make your song feel like it’s going to jump out of the bushes and rip your face off

When she moved to Melbourne, she started assisting Schram. Then he fired her. Laverty: “He eventually said to me, ‘I’m not booking you anymore. You need to go get your own gigs because you’re way too good to be assisting!’

He really kicked me up the butt, because my confidence wasn’t great. Now I track a lot of stuff and he mixes it, or we work together, and I mix out at his place too.”

OUT WEST TO SING SING SOUTH

The Twins initially approached Schram to produce their debut disco-influenced album Milky Waves, but he didn’t think he had, “the precision they were requiring.” So he took the mix and passed on the producing job to Laverty, “because she does.”

Anna has a different style of production to Schram, the Twins describe it as crafty and chilled.

No hockey masks, just a lot of effort into preparing for a take so the artist is ready. “You always get the feeling she’s got one hand on the wheel,” said Tegan. “You’re halfway through a conversation and you realise she’s been marking the desk and your guitar’s already on.”

Before the Twins ever made it into Sing Sing South to record with Anna, they had a long way to travel. The band started out seven years ago, and have since transplanted across the Nullarbor from Perth to Melbourne, and traded up from a couple of Microkorgs to a battery of vintage synthesisers, including a home-made Moog-style modular synth.

They had released three EPs in Perth, but made the move after a San Cisco tour support almost bankrupted them — figuring they needed to be on the East Coast, where flights were cheaper and they didn’t have to work full-time just to pay rent. The trickle down effect of too much mining money in Perth was severely eating into their songwriting time.

Back before the EPs, when Jaymes was in a punk band and Tegan a goth, the kickstarter for their electronic music bug was an $800 Korg Microkorg, “which anyone who knew about electronic music wouldn’t have bought.” said Jaymes. “The guy at the shop told me it could literally do any sound. I was naming all these songs, and he’d say, ‘You’ll get that out of it.’ I said, ‘Sweet, would you take $795?’ I ended up swapping it for a pushbike.”

AT 33

MODULAR Jaymes and Tegan’s boyfriend, Jack Stirling, put together the modular synth mostly with modules from Synthesiser.com, with an Odyssey of Sound one, and a “Sea Devils filter, which is like an EMS Synthi filter.” The walnut cabinet is classic old man, without the woodworking finesse.

JUNO 106 James: “I wanted to learn a lot more about how synthesisers work, something like a Juno teaches you everything.

That’s why I got the modular as well, you feel like you graduate.”

Tegan: “He’s wide and woolly, because of the chorus.” Apparently all the synths are masculine, and the guitars are “feminino, because they have the swan-like neck of a ballerina and curvaceous body of a goddess,” according to Jaymes.

ROLAND SH-5 Jaymes: “SH-5 leads are pretty special. Every time you plug it in, you think, ‘why do I keep this around?’

But when you start messing with it, having the filter section, and then the additional band pass over the top — a dual band-pass mode — has a really interesting vowelly sound to it.”

KORG POLYSIX Jaymes: “The Polysix is the most amazing, but also the most limited. It does sparkly sounds better than anything, for really loose, sharp Italo lead sounds.

The ensemble chorus in the Polysix sounds so good, it’s like a three-chip chorus — chorus on chorus on chorus. It sounds so big, wide and detuned, but mannered.”

AT 34

SCHRAM’S RIG When I talked to Schram, he was right in the middle of migrating his system from an eight-core Mac Pro tower to a Macbook Pro, before heading out to produce a band in a house down the Victorian coast.

He used one of the band member’s mobile setups to record San Cisco’s album and saw the future in a laptop, UAD Apollo, some mics and a talented band. It’s a kick his on at the moment. “I’d like to jump on Airbnb and find giant, weird houses and setup in there. The band comes in and all their accommodation’s taken care of. It’s fun. You go through phases; big studios, then houses, then back to studios again. You start using the same tricks, and have to shake it up again.”

reach out and punch keys on Batch Commander, and it does 10 keystrokes in a row for you. That, a trackball, a pair of speakers, and Bob’s your live-in lover!”

He listens to Yamaha NS10s for the most part, “because they sound great. I don’t care what anyone says, with the right amp they sound magnificent.”

He used to have Dynaudio BM15As as a second pair, but has put up a friend’s three-way Genelecs for something different. “They’re from the early ’90s and have ribbon tweeters. They’re actually the monitors I learnt on. It feels a bit weird but comfortable, like going back to your home town.”

Schram mixes 99% in-the-box. The last one percent is guitar pedals and a Korg Kaoss Pad. he doesn’t think he’ll ever mix on a large format console again, except for a hoot. “If the record company rings up and says the marketing department wants more guitars, you need to be able to change stuff as quick as you can,” he says. “And everyone’s doing it you know? Who am I to fly in the face of convention?”

He’s been through a number of controllers over the years. He used to use Avid’s MC controllers, then gave the Slate Raven a go. He sold that and bought an off-the-shelf Acer touchscreen, whacked on some drivers from Touchbase in the UK, and hooked it up to his DAW with Slate’s Batch Commander. “It’s like a giant iPad, you get all the gestures on the screen,” described Schram. “You can two-finger swipe from your drums all the way down to your mix bus. You can just

After that, it was a Moog Little Phatty, a Juno 106, then a Korg Polysix and a Roland SH-5. The Frostwave MS-20 filter clone pedals came a little later, and Jaymes and Tegan’s boyfriend, Jack, built the modular synth when they arrived in Melbourne.

Tegan: “We inherited a couple of synths on an extended loan from a guy who wasn’t using them. We took in one that wasn’t working, and the tech said, ‘I love these, they’re so underrated.

They can make the most beautiful water drop sound.’ We’re like, ‘okay, we were hoping to make music with them.’”

The Twins have their own studio setup in Richmond; a room in a room that houses all their synths in shelving, their live setup on a riser for rehearsal, and a couple of Yamaha NS10s in a treated corner of the room, with a laptop running Ableton Live.

The pair use Ableton mostly as a tracking DAW with a few plug-ins, no internal synths. They’re conscious of not using the same Arturia softsynths everyone else. They’re even reconsidering their plug-ins choices, because they’re becoming a bit too popular. “We only really use the Soundtoys plug-ins and Valhalla Shimmer other than what’s outside of the box,” said Jaymes. “Echoboy and Decapitator ended up on just about every channel.”

THREE SYNTH RULE

When the pair want to write, they only pull a maximum of three synths down from the rack and put a few constraints on their use. “‘Today, that one is the monosynth, this one is the polysynth, and

the modular is a wildcard,’ and not touch anything else,” explained Jaymes. “If you want a sound, you’re going to have to find out how to make it. We work so much faster, and playing it in live gives you more of those moments.”

Those moments are captured in that session and that session only; no photos of knobs or noting down patches, “because you can never remember which photo was which anyway,” said Jaymes. “All it means is that at the end of the song, we’ll have to redo the bass, because if that’s different, then it matters.”

The synths are all plumbed into the left side of an eight-channel line mixer, so they’re all ready to be captured at any time through the Apogee Duet. “We’ll use the FMR Audio RNC to compress the dynamics of some of the wilder synths,” said Jaymes. “And sometimes we’ll use the Frostwave, Moogerfooger or an old Boss Chorus pedal, which I’VE BEEN USING MORE AS THE JUNO CHORUS GETS SICKER. IT GETS NOISY AND CAN SOUND LIKE THE OCEAN, WHICH WE HAVE USED BEFORE. IT’D WORK WELL WITH THE WATER DROP SOUND TO CREATE OUR AMBIENT MASSAGE SOUND.”

DRUM DIAL

The recording process at Sing Sing South was mostly about capturing and adding the live elements to the arrangements Anna and the Twins had fleshed out in their rehearsal space. Anna likes to give Schram a lot to play with. So for the drums, she used a Beyer M88 on the kick in, and Neumann U47 FET out. “The two kick mics have to be completely different otherwise there’s no point. The

M88 gets the sound of the beater hitting the skin and sounds pretty shitty on its own. Then the 47 FET captures the bottom end and also sounds pretty shitty on its own. But when you blend them and put them both through an 1176, it sounds killer.”

Her go-to snare combo is a Shure SM7 on the snare top and SM57 on the bottom. “I’ve always liked the SM7 for snare top because it’s very directional, much more than an SM57. I don’t really like hi-hats and I’ve always had a problem with them bleeding into my snare mic. YOU CAN ANGLE THE SM7 RIGHT TOWARDS THE TONE OF THE SNARE THAT YOU WANT, THEN USE YOUR OVERHEADS TO GET THE SOUND OF THE ACTUAL DRUM.”

On toms were standard Sennheiser 421s, Coles 4038 ribbons in a spaced pair configuration as overheads, and a Neumann KM84 on the hats.

Which she normally wouldn’t use, but despite her dislike, “the hats were pretty important on this record.

“I put up a few additional dirt and vibe mics as well. I placed a Sennheiser 441 halfway between the kick and snare under, and then slammed it through a Neve 3315 preamp and Distressor. Then put a pair of Neumann U89s in a big slate room behind the drum kit, about a foot off the floor facing the corners. You just get all this awesome slapback.”

ONE MIC NINJA SLASH

Of course, when this all arrives at Bangkok Ninja Academy, there’s high chance it’ll all end up on the cutting room floor, including most of those exquisitely recorded drum multi-tracks. “ I use AT 35

If there’s not a lot of magic to work with, I don’t think you can overdub your way out of trouble

the least amount of stuff I can get away with,” said Schram. “I might just use a kick mic and a snare bottom insanely smashed with 100Hz cranked by 16dB just to get a weird, big, fat, bright snare thing.

YOU MIGHT BE ABLE TO GET THE WHOLE DRUM SOUND JUST FROM THE RACK TOM MIC WITH A BIT OF NASTY EQ AND COMPRESSION. OR I’LL USE OVERHEADS ON ONE SIDE AND ROOMS ON THE OTHER. I GOT NO IDEA WHAT I’M DOING!”

On some songs he’s just used one mic and samples. Often he’ll use mono drums for a verse and widen to stereo in the chorus. There are no rules for a mix ninja. But one thing’s for sure, he’s going to “distort and compress the shit out of them!

Idle hands. Don’t leave me alone in a room with your song and some compressors because it’s just gonna get worse!”

Schram doesn’t listen to much music anymore, other than what’s in front of him 10 hours a day. He loads up 15-20 second snippets into his project to help reset his brain and stop him from mixing too harsh or dull, but doesn’t have any solid references that he keeps coming back to. In some ways, that sort of familiarity defeats the purpose of resetting your brain anyway. He usually starts with the best sounding one or two drum mics, then applies some Fatso, Devil-Loc, and over-the-top EQ. He doesn’t know where he’ll end up. He could mess with two mics for six hours, then start again, or hit shuffle on Spotify and hear an Isaac Hayes track that will inspire him. “Mixes are a whole bunch of tiny coincidences and tiny decisions you make based on taste,” he said. “How you react to those coincidences dictates the outcome. Hopefully you go from one good thing to another and chase it down the rabbit hole.

“It never turns out like the picture you paint in your mind before you start. That’s just setting yourself up for disappointment. If you go in with really open ears and mind, and react to the little AT 36

flickers of inspiration, then you’ll get to somewhere really exciting and you’ll generally be more pleased with the outcome.

“I don’t know how other people approach it, but I do know that a lot of stuff sounds really safe.

Maybe that’s a result of chasing something so hard that you neglect all the cool shit that could potentially happen and run with that?”

It’s the madness behind the method. He’s trying to “create mistakes”. By moving a chunk of backing vocals randomly along the timeline, or dumping percussion into another part of the song, you can’t plan what might happen.

“There’s no set thing, you just react to what’s going on. OBVIOUSLY I DON’T PUT 15 SNARE DRUMS THROUGH 2000 MARSHALL AMPS ON A PAUL KELLY RECORD. I’D TRY IT BUT HE WOULDN’T LIKE IT, ‘I don’t think that’s appropriate Stephen.’”

His secret to getting those crunched, one-mic drum sounds right is adding good bottom end. “I’ll often fire off a sub, something really, really low. It sounds like the drum sound you get in a nice shop.”

Aka, a ‘bought one’.

“I don’t use reverb on drums,” he continues. “The Voltaire’s might have had some tom-tom overdubs with reverb on them. But on the rare occasion I use an effect, it will be a delay. When you compress overheads really hard, that becomes your room sound. Anna doesn’t do that dumb thing a lot of people do where they filter all the bottom out of the overheads. You definitely won’t need your tom mics if you’ve got full range, well-balanced overheads.”

TUNE UP: COMPRESSION & OIL

Schram’s four favourite compressors at the moment are the Eventide Omnipressor, Soundtoys DevilLoc, and ELI Fatso and Decapitator. “I try to be disciplined,” said Schram in a moment of reflection.

“Monitor quietly, and try to not compress and

distort everything.” He’ll often parallel compress a lot of elements as a failsafe to make sure there’s still life and punch in the mix. He also uses a lot of EQ to compensate for the effects of compression.

“WHEN YOU COMPRESS SUPER HARD YOU EITHER GET A LOT OF TREBLE HAPPENING OR ACCENTUATE A FLUFFY NOTE THAT YOU MIGHT NEED TO SCOOP OUT,” he explains. “I have band-pass filters everywhere, they’re like little focus knobs; to get stuff up, or out of the way of something else, or as an effect.”

On the effects side, Schram loves modulation. “I like things underwater and wobbly. I love oil can echoes — I’ve got the rotating sound synthesiser, oil-can jobby from Morley here — so one of my favourite plug-ins is the Tel-Ray plug-in.

“I love Echoboy, of course, I use it on everything.

I also have some Lexicon impulse responses that got corrupted in the download. I didn’t realise at the time. It sounds like a giant serpent coming out from the depths to attack you. That’s my favourite effect, and it’s all mine thanks to my dodgy internet connection.”

AGE OLD PRACTICE

It’s obvious that Schram loves mixing. Eventually he’d like to give up the recording game and just mix, where it’s obvious he can have just as much influence as any recording engineer or producer on the process.

“You get too old and cranky to chase kids around studios with a megaphone and a stick,” said Schram. “I’ve got four year-old twin girls at home.

They’re sane compared to most of the bands. A lot of the time making a record is like running a crèche. I would love to finish up just mixing at the end of my years. Everyone who seems to be at the top of their game with mixing is in their mid-‘50s.

I really think it takes that long to get that good at it.

I’m 38, so I’ve got a few years of practicing to go.”

AT 37

TUTORIAL

How to: Bang-on Retro Drums Tired of drums sounding big, wide and boring.

Turn back the clock with us as we re-create drum sounds from the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s.

Tutorial: Michael Carpenter

DRUM SAMPLES To hear the results of Michael’s retro drums approaches, head to tinyurl.com/retro-drums to stream or download some examples.

AT 38

STEP 1: THE RIGHT KIT The most important parts of achieving any of these drum sounds are right at the source. The drum kit needs to be setup and tuned for the style, and the player needs to understand the concept of playing to the mics. For anyone trying to get in the ballpark for the first time, it’s worth spending time looking at images on the web of drummers (and their kits) of the era you’re interested in.

For sounds up to the late ’60s, it was at most a simple four-piece kit, usually with two full heads on the bass drum and almost no dampening, except some felt strips. The snares were almost always five-inches deep, and there were usually only two large crash/ride cymbals that weren’t hit very hard. If you’re using a kit with a big fat deep snare, a bass drum with a big pillow on it, five toms and six cymbals, you’re making your job a lot more difficult. And if your drummer is a basher, smashing

The diversity of our auditory preferences always amazes me. Sometimes we want to hear the highest of high-fidelity sounds. Hairs standing on end, ‘voice of the gods’ sort of stuff. So sonically pure that our brains immediately start humming in tune with the sensation of ‘good sound’. Then there’ll be other times, when we hear a sound that is ‘effective’, but hardly what you would call hi-fi. It just sounds cool.

Often we hear old records and intuitively pick up on the ‘retro’ vibe. A big part of that is the way sounds were coloured — whether on purpose or not — by the recording process. Yet artists are often really thinking about drum sounds when they come into my studio requesting a retro approach. So let’s get retrospective and see if we can deconstruct, reconstruct and bring out the colour of drum sounds from bygone eras.

out quarter notes on the hi-hats, with a weak snare backbeat and a zillion drum fills, you’re going to struggle to get an authentic Motown sound.

The point is that appropriateness will yield plenty of sonic options from any mic combination you use.

And don’t be scared of how odd your drums might sound in the room. We have a bunch of drums that we keep tuned a particular way (including a kid’s toy kit) because we know under a certain combination of mics, they’ll sound a particular shade of incredible.

Throughout this article, there are some specific modifications to both the kit and to the drummer’s approach that will guide you towards the right combinations of approaches. Still, your best asset will always be your ears. Learn to listen through those old records for your best chance of figuring out why they’ve become so iconic.

The more I know about the original approaches, the more authentic my results are when emulating them in a contemporary setting

RETRO PERSPECTIVE

We’ve become so used to big, glossy contemporary drum production, that we tend to define ‘retro’ drums as being the antithesis to that; unpolished, or raw. Certainly, compared to the massaged, layered and controlled techniques of state-ofthe-art modern records, this would be true. But when people come into the studio asking for a vintage approach, what they’re really asking for is something beyond simply lo-fi; they’re looking for character. It’s the same with photography. The first thing we do after snapping an image on our phones is apply a filter to it. The quality of the original image is usually good enough in itself, but a filter ‘colours’ that moment. Whether we fade it a tad, or add a vignette, it says something about us.

In a musical sense, the artist or producer is asserting a sense of personality on their production, because it says something more definitive about their creation than just a ‘nice’ sound.

As much as we’d all like to just fast forward to the

bit where I tell you how to get that magical Mick Fleetwood sound. For us to approach this effectively we need some basic info on how the originals were recorded and what we’re listening for.

As a producer who is also a drummer, I’ve been a long-time student of drum sounds and record production. I’ve found that the more I know about the original approaches, the more authentic my results are when emulating them in a contemporary setting. It’s beyond the scope of this article to give you a complete history of Western Pop recording techniques, but I will break it down into a few very general time frames and fill in a few gaps about the general recording approaches for each era.

The first stop in our way-back machine is just prior AT 39

THE EARLY ROCK ’N’ ROLL ERA KEY LISTENING TRACKS: My Baby Left Me – Elvis Presley Lucille – Little Richard Shake – Sam Cooke Twist & Shout – The Beatles It’s good to listen to the stereo version of Twist & Shout first, because one channel is actually the close mics, and the other channel is just the vocal spill. Only then listen to the mono version, and you’ll hear how much excitement is coming from the sound of the spill into the vocal mics.

this point, so players were balancing their performances purely by the sound in the recording space. Crucially, the drummer had to learn to play to what the microphones were hearing — all of them, not just those over the drums. Whether that meant playing quietly, putting a wallet on the snare, or not hitting the crash cymbals. It was a case of deferring to the engineer’s instruction, which the good musicians quickly adapted to. The engineer would say something to the effect of, ‘if you play too hard, and hit the ride cymbal in the chorus, you’ll ruin the whole mix.’ CRITICAL POINT NUMBER ONE: PLAY TO THE MICS.

to 1960. Looking around the studio at that time, the first thing you would have noticed is that all the musicians were in the live room. No one was lounging in the control room with a DI’d guitar or MIDI keyboard. The complete ensemble was picked up live off the studio floor, balanced in the control room and printed to tape (usually single track, rarely two- or three-track multitrack) as one performance — no overdubs. There may have been only one mic on the whole kit, possibly two.

A BIG CONTRIBUTOR TO THE DRUM SOUND ON BIG BAND, JAZZ, AND EARLY ROCK ’N’ ROLL RECORDS, WAS SPILL. A

lot of what you’re hearing is the band bleeding into each other’s mics, particularly into the vocalist’s.

Of course, there were no headphones at AT 40

The next thing to remember, is that because of spill, room sound was inescapable in these early recordings. Mics were pointed in all sorts of directions around these reasonably large rooms.

So drums were bleeding into the piano mics at the other end of the room, the upright bass mic, the vocalist, the string and horn sections. I’ve read accounts from engineers at the time where they didn’t use the mic that was on the drums because the drums were loud enough in every other mic when balancing down to mono.

Finally, it’s important to take into account the quality of the recording equipment at the time. It’s sometimes difficult to get contemporary recordists to comprehend that, once upon a time, recording engineers had very little equipment. And what they had wasn’t always particularly versatile.

[top left & above] In the ’50s, the idea was to position the single overhead mic so it captured the whole kit. [bottom left] Equally important in the ’50s is spill. In the distance, about eight metres away from this drummer’s view, you can catch one of the room mics that’s emulating the spill from a trumpeter, vocalist, you name it.

In the ’50s, they were dealing with lovely new Neumanns (regularly the valve varieties), reasonably recent ribbon mics (15-20 years in use), and the introduction of dynamic mics. But the consoles were often purpose-built four or eight channel valve consoles, with either no EQ, or very simple bass and treble controls. More advanced EQ functions, like a sweepable mid frequency, were outboard pieces that were patched in when needed, and there were only a few modified radio-style compressors used to keep volume levels in check going to tape. Engineers were also at the mercy of all of the analogue tape process’s artefacts; alignment issues, tape hiss, as well as overloading the tape machine’s circuitry and the tape itself.

The expectation was that the sounds would be right in the room, then the mics would pick the sound up and send it through the console as transparently as all those highly-coloured components would allow. The hope was that at the end of the day, playback off the tape would resemble something close to the event.

In a nutshell, nothing near the fidelity of a contemporary recording system.

Here’s another ‘single mic-only’ drum position, effective for that ‘Motown’ sound…

…and one more mono position — from the top this time — with that floppy wallet snare dampening.

HOW TO GET THAT LATE ’50s SOUND: Apart from making sure we use the absolute right kit, see sidebar Step 1: The Right Kit, some techniques to get close to this sound would include: • Don’t use many mics on the drums themselves, perhaps only one over the whole kit.

• Remember, at this early stage of drum recording, no one considered the drums as individual elements — kick, snare, toms, etc. One mic was placed in a central position to pick up the sound of the whole kit. Ribbon mics were great for this, as the weight from the bottom end of the kit was emphasised, and the duller top end helped tame the cymbals. Listen for a mic position that gives you a balance of the whole kit.

• Then scatter a number of mics of different varieties around the room, pointed in different directions; away from the kit at a distance, into a corner, aimed at the glass on your window, or pointing down at the floor. Imagine there’s an ensemble coming into your room, and you’re putting one mic up for each instrument. You may use a ribbon mic for where the horns would be.

A condenser for the rear of the upright piano. Maybe a dynamic where the singer would be.

• The idea here is to simulate spill — open mics around the room picking up the sound of the room, but not in a ‘drum-conscious’ way. So experiment with these and see which ones give you the greatest sense of ‘drums in a room’.

• Get the drummer to play at the volume he’d need to play if he had a live singer in the room with no foldback. Tell him to back off on the fills and the cymbals, and make it all about the groove.

• When listening back to the various mics, only listen in mono, perhaps putting a high-pass filter at 100Hz and a low pass at 8-10kHz on every mic.

Don’t be scared to submix all the tracks to a mono auxiliary and treat the sound with light compression or even a saturation/distortion type plug in. Balance all the mics up until you get a sound that can be described as ‘character-filled’.

EARLY ’60s INITIAL DAYS OF MULTITRACK KEY LISTENING TRACKS: My Generation – The Who Uptight – Stevie Wonder I Want To Hold Your Hand – The Beatles Mr Tambourine Man – The Byrds Heatwave – Martha and The Vandelles

If your drummer is a basher, smashing out quarter notes on the hi-hats, with a weak snare backbeat and a zillion drum fills, you’re going to struggle to get an authentic Motown sound

The ’60s ushered in some pretty significant changes. Though Les Paul and others experimented with sound-on-sound recording in the early ’50s (essentially, playing one mono tape into a mixer, and recording another part at the same time to another mono machine), true overdubbing facilities only started to appear on three-track machines in the very late ’50s. The initial benefit was that orchestras could be overdubbed. Tracking sessions soon involved having the ensemble balanced onto one track while the singer, also performing live, was recorded to a second track.

The orchestra would then be overdubbed onto the third track — a massive change at the time.

As the first four-track machines started to hit in the early ’60s, this practice remained intact.

Ensembles, including singers, still performed live in one space, and occasionally the additional tracks were used for ‘sweetening’ — adding horns, strings or backing vocals. The pre-’60s practice of selfbalancing remained.

The first major change ushered in by the rock ’n’ roll era was that singers could monitor themselves through ‘monitor speakers’ to compete with the louder guitar amps that had also popped up. DRUMMERS STARTED TO PLAY HARDER AND USED MORE CYMBALS TO MIRROR THE LIVE EXPERIENCE, PROMPTING ENGINEERS TO BEGIN LOOKING AT NEW WAYS TO CONVEY THIS LIVE EXPERIENCE TO TAPE.

AT 42

The early ’60s added another dynamic kick mic to go with the overhead mic position for a bit more bottom end. It was a closer sound than the previous era, but as you can see here, not too close.

Basically, everyone got louder.

This manifested in some small but important changes. Large diaphragm condenser mics were replaced as the main ‘drum kit’ mic with either a ribbon mic to tame the cymbals, or a dynamic mic to protect the more fragile/expensive mics from flailing drum sticks. A kick drum mic became compulsory too. Though in this early stage the front head was still on the drum, and engineers, concerned with the amount of air pumped out of this bigger drum, placed the mic no closer than a metre from the head.

In the control room, things changed as well.

The valve consoles had to be upgraded to handle the four-track recorder functionality. In many situations, a compressor was placed between the bussed output of the console and the tape machine, to protect the tape from overloading. It meant the live tracks were submixed down to one channel, sent through a compressor and then to one track of the tape, embedding those sounds and balance into the mix forever. So a lot of time was taken to get the balances and interaction between the elements and the compressor right before they hit tape.

PRECISION ENGINEERING HIGH PERFORMANCE NO COMPROMISE

SRX800 H

i

g

h

-

P

o

w

e

r

e

d

SOUND REINFORCEMENT JBL Professional has made a name for itself by producing great sounding, long lasting portable PA systems. With the introduction of the SRX800 line of powered portable PA loudspeakers, JBL has set the standard for what a fully professional powered PA system

HOW TO GET THAT EARLY ’60s SOUND • Let the drums ring; take out or reduce the dampening in the kick drum, and use a full head on the front of the drum. Tune the drums up a bit higher than you’d expect, particularly the toms. Open up the hi-hats a bit more.

• Play a bit harder.

• Use two dynamic mics for the kit — one out the front of the kick and one at cymbal height pointing towards the centre of the kit, so that the cymbals are pointing at the side of the mic. Move your cymbal setup around so you only have a crash and a ride.

• With this setup, you are again listening for drum kit coverage. By this point, engineers were looking for a little more ‘focus’ out of the mics, hence the addition of a dedicated kick mic. With these two mics, you’re getting a better representation of the close quality of the drums.

• Place another mic or two — condensers or ribbons — a few metres back from the kit, and point them in the opposite direction.

• With these mics, you’re strictly imitating the sound of open vocal mics. Pointed away from the drum kit, they’ll pick up drum spill and ambience. By themselves they should sound unfocused and ambient.

Mixed in with the above close mics, you get that authentic crunch.

• Do the high/low-pass trick mentioned above. Submix all the channels into a single auxiliary through a compressor with a moderate attack, release and threshold so the kit glues together rather than pumps. Readjust the balance once you hear the effects of the compressor, as this process will (and should) change your balance.

should be. SRX800 breaks new ground, bringing together JBL’s premium transducers and enclosures, Crown’s Proprietary FrontEnd DriveCore Technology, user-configurable DSP, and full HiQnet Network control compatible with a variety of platforms. Integrating industry-leading levels of sound quality, power, control, and durability, SRX800 is a perfect all in one solution wherever high performance, comprehensive control, and pristine sound are required. Each component in the SRX800 Series was purposefully designed and thought through to deliver a perfectly tuned system that is powerful, easy to use, and rugged enough for the most demanding applications.

PREMIUM JBL TRANSDUCERS The transducers used in the SRX800 represent the latest technology from JBL Professional. Each component was specifically developed and built by JBL for optimum performance within this system. Both the high frequency and low frequency transducers feature 3” voice coils; the high frequency compression driver makes use of a neodymium magnet while the low frequency woofer uses JBL’s patented Differential Drive technology. All of this comes together to ensure that the SRX800 is capable of delivering extremely high SPL across its frequency range with minimal distortion and incredible clarity.

PRECISION

PURPOSEFUL

2000 WATTS

+

CONTROL

DESIGN

OF POWER

-

Distributed by

40 Kent Road • Mascot NSW 2020 Ph: (02) 9582 0909 • Fax: (02) 9582 0999 www.jands.com.au • info@jands.com.au

AT 43

MID ’60s TO EARLY ’70s IT’S ALL ABOUT COVERAGE KEY LISTENING TRACKS:

records just started to sound better. THEY BECAME

Respect – Aretha Franklin Honky Tonk Women – The Rolling Stones Hello Goodbye – The Beatles California Dreaming – The Mamas & the Papas

OF THE CLOSE MICS RATHER THAN THE AMBIENCE OF

As pop music was taking over the world in the mid ’60s, there were also massive changes in recording technology. For one, by the end of the decade, stereo pipped mono for pop’s preferred format. As pop records and productions grew in creativity, so did the compulsion to innovate.

Producers started to use the extra room on four-track machines for more content. As they discovered reduction mixes (bouncing down a mix of four tracks to another four-track machine to free up more tracks for overdubbing) there became more demand for a clearer focus on the drums.

Also, vocalists didn’t necessarily track live with the ensemble anymore, which reduced or almost completely eradicated the ambience and spill which had been such a big part of a record’s sound up to that point.

Combined with slightly more detailed EQ on consoles, more input channels and routing options, different compressor choices (the earliest 1176 incarnations arrived around this point, as well as The Beatles’ heavy use of Fairchild compression), and advances in tape formulations and machines, AT 44

MUCH MORE TONALLY FOCUSED, WITH A GREATER SENSE SINGLE-TRACK ENSEMBLE RECORDING. Later, eight-track

recording unshackled the engineers, often resulting in a whole tape track set aside for drums!

Engineers still shied away from moving the mics as close as we do today — there were all sorts of concerns about overloading mics and consoles by getting too close to the drums. But they did start adding additional mics. Initially it was to represent the kit more faithfully, but became more creative as the decade rolled on. For example, engineers started to put mics somewhere in the vicinity of the toms. Often underneath the rack tom, and another somewhere vaguely over the floor tom. If they felt they weren’t getting the presence of the snare, they’d put a mic underneath the snare and add treble to increase the snap of the drum as it headed into its submix, before compression and prior to hitting tape.

Engineers blatantly broke the previous generation’s rules of miking up, and just put mics in key places, leading to plenty of experimentation with positioning. Remember, there was possibly a condenser on the overhead and snare bottom, but in every other position a standard dynamic mic was typically used.

As things developed, there were inevitably questions about drum setups and parts. Engineers were always looking for ways to get the maximum sound with the smallest amount of mics, which

meant positioning became critical. Engineers experimented with pointing mics at the fulcrum of the kit between the snare and the kick drum, or at the side of the snare underneath the hi-hat, or indeed, a single mic on the floor pointing vaguely at the kick drum and bottom of the snare, often requiring the rack tom and all cymbals be removed.

Drummers were starting to control their drums a lot more — taking the front head off the bass drum and putting a pillow or blanket against the single head for a more focused sound. Placing a wallet or something heavy on the snare to reduce the ringing of the drum. In the latter part of the ’60s they even muffled the drums with tea towels or rags to totally control the sound.

In this vital and influential era, it was all about experimenting with both the drums and the techniques used to capture them. Yet undeniably, focus was in, and ambience was most definitely out.

Create your sound. Any place, any time.

Analog modelling synth: simple control, complex sound, endless possibilities

FM synth: from nostalgia to trendsetter with modern control

The 8-note polyphonic Virtual Analog reface CS’ five unique oscillator modules create an incredible variety of sounds from analog to digital.

reface DX goes retro ‘80s to cutting edge modern at the flick of a switch. Multi-touch controls let you access FM synthesis with your fingertips.

Electric piano: retro control, classic sound and incredible response

Combo organ: a ton of vintage sound & control that weighs less than a small dog!

reface CP features iconic ‘70s stage keyboards and vintage effects in a retro-styled package with great sound, playability and polyphony.

reface YC has the unique expression of drawbars, rotary speaker, percussion and effects for a complete organ experience.

Internal speakers • Battery operation • MIDI input/output

Available

now!

$699.99 RRP

FIND A DEALER au.yamaha.com

reface Mobile Mini Keyboards are reimagined interfaces of classic Yamaha keyboards. *The prices set out in this advertisement are recommended retail prices (RRP) only and there is no obligation for Yamaha dealers to comply with this recommendation. Errors and omissions excepted.

EVENTS & PROMOTIONS yamahabackstage.com.au

LIKE US ON FACEBOOK facebook.com/yamahabackstagepass AT 45

Add a few more mics for that late ’60s sound, and chuck a wallet full of cash on the snare for dampening.

HOW TO GET THAT MID TO LATE ’60s DRUM SOUND: • Start using more mics closer to the kit, but not as close as you would for a contemporary kit. Think more about ‘coverage’ of the drum sounds. Possibly start with a kick mic (dynamic, right in the drum) a snare bottom mic quite close to the bottom snares (a dynamic or pencil condenser) and a condenser as an overhead.

Place dynamic mics underneath the rack tom by about 30cm, and above the floor tom by about the same distance and pointed more towards the snare.

• Take off the front head of the bass drum and deaden the sound. Drop the tuning of the snare a little more, but deaden the snare with a wallet or a folded up cloth. Tighten up the AT 46

snares underneath, and possibly use masking tape (don’t use gaffer tape, it’ll tear the bottom head) on them to make the sound of the drum resonance free, with a short sharp snap to it.

Tune the toms a little deeper, with maximum resonance. Use smaller, more ‘standard’ cymbal sizes.

• Get your drummer to play at a moderate to quiet volume, laying off on the cymbals. For that Motown/Stax sound, don’t be scared to remove all toms and crash/ride cymbals, and just focus on the groove, using only one or two mics in unusual places to capture the whole kit.

• Avoid ambience mics completely, and focus more on the closer mics, even keeping the

overhead mic moderately low in the overall mix.

• Submix all tracks to a mono auxiliary. Insert a compressor plug-in with a faster attack and release, and higher ratio. Adjust the release so the kick drum is pumping against the cymbals.

Rebalance the close mics so the kick and snare are upfront and clear and a little crunchy. Add an EQ after the compressor to accentuate the low bottom end, and possibly highlight the high mids (around 4-6kHz) while low pass filtering around 10kHz. Don’t be scared to experiment with saturation/distortion plug-ins. Distortion and overdriving equipment was par for the course at this point, and is a key part of the sound of this era.

AT 47

THE ’70s & BEYOND 24 TRACKS & TOTAL CONTROL By the time we hit the ’70s, very quickly 16-track, then 24-track became the norm. Recording as an ensemble was no longer needed, as each instrument had its own tracks. The drums were spread out over four to six tracks, allowing for more control in the mixing process. Compressing to tape became less critical. Studios that were once big, open recording spaces started to be partitioned off for a more controlled sound, allowing for increased creative options at mix time. Valve consoles were replaced with transistor-based versions, with greater EQ and routing flexibility, allowing the drums to be sculpted tonally. DRUMS WERE MADE TONALLY DEAD, WITH BOTTOM HEADS STARTING TO BE TAKEN OFF TOMS AND MICS PUT INSIDE THE DRUMS, OR GATED HEAVILY FOR GREATER SEPARATION. Drummers devised all kinds of

ways to muffle, mute and control every ambience and resonance from the kit, including copious amounts of gaffer tape, or pieces of felt that flopped up as the drum was struck and rested back on the head. Drums were tuned deeper for a fatter tone.

Small diaphragm condensers became the norm for overheads and hi hats, and producers were looking for a more hi-fi approach to drum recording. It was all about a controlled, focused, deep, percussive tone that screamed ‘high quality’. Ambience was generally a thing of the past.

AT 48

Mic positions for that tight close mic sound positioning, with kit dampeners in place.

KEY LISTENING TRACKS: Key listening tracks: Rhiannon – Fleetwood Mac Hotel California – The Eagles Young Americans – David Bowie Jive Talking – The Bee Gees Close To You – The Carpenters

HOW TO GET THAT ’70s CLASSIC ROCK SOUND • The deader you can tune and mute your drums, the better. Use much smaller cymbals for punctuation rather than explosive accents. Even put some light tape on the ride cymbal to make it a nice dry percussive hit without much wash.

Don’t be scared to extend the hi-hat stand to its maximum height and drop the height of the snare to get as much separation as possible — or even move the hi-hat a bit further away from the snare. It may be less comfortable for the drummer, but will make the snare sound purer, and make it easier to work with.

• Think massive drum kits — four or more toms were the rule rather than the exception.

It wasn’t unusual to see four mics close to the cymbals, submixed to a stereo pair; a mic on each tom, submixed to a stereo pair; plus a kick and snare track, sometimes with two mics on each submixed.

• It’s all about the close mics.

• Once again, tell your drummer to play to the

mics, which often means playing a bit quieter than normal. There are stories of legendary studio drummers who rarely played loudly, instead focusing on consistency of drum hits.

Any sort of rimshots on the snare should be avoided — it’s all about consistent hits in the centre of the head. The whole effect is a drier, completely focused and controllable tone at all times.

• When mixing the sounds, it’s all about clarity.

Gate the snare and mute the silences on the toms. Sculpt the sounds of the kick and snare.

Add high mids to the toms for extra definition.

High-pass filter the cymbals and hi-hats aggressively, and keep them reasonably low in the mix. Insert a compressor on the kick and snare, and place one on a drum submix too, but with a low ratio and moderate attack/release.

You’re just using it to tighten up things rather than change the tone.

POST PRODUCTION Occasionally you’ll want to give contemporarysounding kits or loops a retro overhaul. Here are a few simple tips to unsterilise your sounds and make them a bit more fun. When dealing with a kit’s individual tracks, start by submixing them into a stereo or preferably mono submix and treating the drums as one instrument.

One of the first, most simple tools is EQ. A lot of vintage gear was relatively lo-fi in comparison to today’s tools, so a few basic EQ tweaks can overhaul sounds completely. High- and low-pass filtering immediately reduces the fidelity. Finding the right gnarly frequency in the midrange, with a fairly wide Q, can give your tracks a certain ‘honk’ synonymous with vintage tone. Experiment and play around, keeping in mind that a lot of these sounds weren’t hi-fi to start with.

Next, apply compression. There were so many different levels of compression happening throughout the process. Preamps being pushed beyond their design. Compressors inserted into busses pre-tape. Tape compression itself was a big factor too, often squishing off the transients as records were tracked further into the red. So it’s worth experimenting with lots of different ratios and attack/release times, as well as both compression and limiting. For the earlier stuff,

you’ll be looking at lower ratios, and longer attack and release times — you could use presets in your compressors similar to those you would use on a master bus.

For a mid ’60s flavour, set much more aggressive attack and release times to pump the cymbals.

This works a treat, especially in combination with a reasonably aggressive limiter to squish the transients. You’ll hear a dramatic change to the sound of your tracks, but that’s the idea.

For late ’60s and ’70s, return to more transparent compression to glue the tracks together. Lower ratios and moderate-fast attack and release settings will tighten things up without squishing the sound too much. A little limiting to flatten out the transients will be handy too.

Last but not least is distortion. Everything from tape saturation, to overdriving compressors, to vinyl plug-ins, to distortion pedals. There’s a lot of distortion on these pre-’70s records, everything was being pushed too hard — mics, consoles and tape machines. If you listen to Motown records, for example, they’re sublimely overdriven. Having a blend control can be handy to dial in just the right amount of grit. But don’t be shy about it.

This can be crucial for getting your grooves sounding spot on.

Critical point number one: play to the mics

THE EXCEPTIONS

Of course, there are always exceptions to every genre. In the early ’60s, Phil Spector took to drum recording with a ’50s approach. In the ’70s, drummers like John Bonham and Roger Taylor tuned their kits to sound like Big Band drummers of the ’40s and ’50s. Nevertheless this should give you a general guideline to the way engineers captured the drums over a critical period in pop history.

Essentially, when approaching retro drums, you have to break down your own preconceived ideas of how drums should be played and recorded.

Once you do that, you can get really creative with the way your drum sounds present in your records. It may just be the thing that separates you from everyone else.

AT 49

REGULARS

Apple Notes Clean up your mac and backup your backups with these favourite Mac tools Column: Anthony Garvin

A couple of issues ago, I took a closer look at how to harness some of Mac OS X’s built-in tools to improve performance and workflow on your DAW-equipped Mac. Now I’m going to introduce you to a few of my favourite third party tools that will help keep your Mac humming.

Onyx www.titanium.free.fr/onyx Free

Onyx is a very useful free utility that serves as a one-stop shop for both general system clean-ups and tweaks to Mac OS X. The Automation feature is the simplest way to use Onyx, as it combines both of the utility’s Maintenance and Cleaning steps into one simple operation. With these userselectable Automation options, Onyx will execute a thorough list of processes that verify the structure of your startup volume, repair disk permissions, run maintenance scripts, clean caches, delete temp files and other operations that help with a general system tidy-up.

For most users, the default options in the Automation window will be fine. In more recent versions of Onyx it doesn’t clean System Caches by default. Unless you are deliberately using a third party utility called Trim Enabler, I recommend checking this, as it will remove potential gremlins born from crashes, corruptions or other hiccups during day-to-day operation.

Onyx also allows you to dig deeper with the settings and customisation of OS X. If you are interested in digging deeper with Finder options — tweaking the way the Dock behaves, changing the background picture of your login screen, and plenty more — this is where you can do it.

OmniDiskSweeper www.omnigroup.com/more Free

AT 50

OmniDiskSweeper is a simple utility that analyses any given drive and displays which folders are taking up the most space on it (and with the cost of SSD drives still being quite high, wasted space can be an expensive problem). Ordering the folders from largest to smallest, it allows you to drill down into each folder, where it continues to display everything in order of largest to smallest file size, so you can decide what you might want to delete or move elsewhere. A word of warning; OmniDiskSweeper will display all the files and folders on your disk, hidden by the system or otherwise. If you aren’t sure what something is, don’t delete or move it!

Carbon Copy Cloner bombich.com $53.99

Carbon Copy Cloner, simply put, is the most useful third-party back-up and drive cloning tool.

It’s hard to look past Time Machine for day-to-day backups, but compared with what CCC can do, it’s Apples to apple pie. At its most basic, CCC can take an exact ‘image’ of a drive partition and make a bootable duplicate of it on another partition, or copy the data into a disk image file for restoration via CCC at a later date. This becomes invaluable when upgrading your boot drive (simply clone the old drive to the new one and then swap them over), or if you’re tempted to try a new OS or major DAW update, you can make a clone of your system drive prior, and if it all goes wrong, you can simply restore an exact image of your system drive, like it was before the updates.

Exploring this feature laterally, it becomes extremely useful for a studio operator who has any number of clients coming into operate their studio DAW on a day-to-day basis. We all know everyone has their favourite plug-ins, preferences, tweaks and quirks. More often than not, it can be a frustrating task operating a system after someone else has had their way with it.

I am a firm believer that the less software you have installed on a computer, the less that can go wrong, and hence the more reliable it will be. So if a client wants to install their plug-ins and change your DAW preference, let them. Just restore your ‘master’ CCC image once they are done to return to your preferred and reliable setup.

If you work in a large facility or computer lab, ask your IT people about DeployStudio. It takes this concept further by allowing images to be restored quickly over a network, and to multiple machines if required.

Beyond straightforward clones, recent versions of CCC have added Scheduling and SafetyNet features that allow it to become a very useful backup tool. If, for example, you want to do a daily backup of your audio drive to another drive separate to Time Machine, then CCC can be setup to do this; all at a pre-determined time that won’t risk the performance of your Mac during sessions. Plus, if you use the SafetyNet feature it won’t delete old versions of files. Each backup process will move these files into a dated SafetyNet folder on the backup drive. If you want to keep a bootable backup of you system drive, you can use the scheduling feature to backup your boot drive periodically. Should the worst happen and your boot drive fail, you can simply re-boot off the backup and keep working.

www.gibsonami.com www.krksys.com AT 51

The

QUICK MIX

with

Tim Millikan Interview: Neil Gray Who have you been touring with lately?

Gurrumul, and I’ve been busy with Rockwiz.

Who have you worked with in the past?

Midnight Oil, INXS, The Cruel Sea, Paul Kelly, Crowded House, Neil Finn, The Divinyls.

How long have you been doing live sound?

I got started mixing my brother’s bands 35 years ago.

You favourite console?

It would be the Midas XL4 for sheer sonic quality.

Favourite piece of kit?

The Lexicon 480L is the best reverb in the world. It sounds great on everything.

Most memorable gig?

I’ve been lucky to see and mix so many amazing artists over the years, but had the perfect show with Midnight Oil one night at Irvine Meadows in California. Everything fell into place straight out of the blocks; huge crowd, band absolutely fired — was just one of those MORE NEWS AT www.audiotechnology.com.au special nights.

How has your mixing setup changed in the last 15 years?

Probably having the freedom to finesse things a little more with the introduction of digital consoles. I’m not sure if I’ve actually changed the way I do things, its more the layout of my console that’s changed.

When digital came in and people discovered plug-ins, everyone wanted to use everything; your entire night was spent chasing your tail trying to keep everything under control. I use very few plug-ins these days, but being able to run a chain of plug-ins is extremely handy when required. For example, I like using a Waves C4 Multiband compressor along with a VEQ4 and then into a Fairchild on my main vocal, I just seem to get the clarity and warmth I’m after with that combination.

What’s been game-changing over the last 15 years?

I’m not sure if there has been any one feature or piece of gear that’s made a discernible difference for me. Maybe having versatility within speaker manufacturer’s lines. For instance, L-Acoustics and d&b both have small-, medium- and large-size cabinets. Being able to use say d&b Q series in theatres and still have the same voicing as the J-line means my mixes are more consistent from theatres to arenas and festivals.

How have your working methods changed?

They haven’t — it must be the highest quality audio I can produce from the first bar of the first song. We have the tools to do this now; audio should not be hit or miss.

Any tips or words of wisdom for someone starting out?

It’s all about the vocal, that’s where the information of a song is; the vocal must be pristine. It’s no good having the greatest kick drum sound if the vocal is buried.

Volume does not equal talent. Use your ears, not the screen. If it sounds wrong, it is wrong. Trust your ears, it’s the one thing we all have in common, whether you’re an engineer or not, people all hear through the same interface.

AT 52

AT 53

REVIEW

YAMAHA TF1

Digital Live Mixer TouchFlow digital mixers are an analogue die-hard’s best friend.

ANGLING FOR ATTENTION — The console is an attractive workplace with its modern, angular looks and spacious layout. The front section with the faders is nearly flat, the middle section with the occasional buttons and signal meters angles up. The top section with the screen and often-used controls angles up more steeply again, but it’s slightly recessed to keep the controls within easy reach.

Review: Mark Woods

SCREENING IT — Everything is well lit, different sections are separately dimmable and the screen is good outdoors.

NEED TO KNOW

SHOWS ITS STRIPES — I liked the way the even number channels are painted a different shade of grey, it’s distinctive and helps identify the channels at a glance.

PRICE TF1: $3999 TF3: $4999 TF5: $5999

AT 54

CONTACT Yamaha Music Australia: (03) 9693 5111 or au.yamaha.com

PROS Intuitive layout Fluid operation Multi-touch screen Manufacturer endorsed presets

CONS Flashing tap button

SUMMARY The TF makes getting around a digital console easy. You don’t have to deal with layers if you don’t want to, and a combination of touchscreen and Touch & Turn operation makes operation easy. 1-knob EQ and Comp, and official microphone manufacturer presets, only further the simplicity.

It’s the friendliest digital mixer I’ve tried so far and cleverly designed for the mix of pro and casual users who will get their fingers on the faders

They must live for excitement at Yamaha. You can’t help but like a company that makes mixing consoles and motorbikes. I’ve long thought that sense of adventure goes some way to explaining why its serious products combine highperformance, bold design and bullet-proof packaging. Motorbike or a mixing console, you want it to work when it counts and you don’t want it to crash. It’s about the thrill of movement, and the TF series of digital mixers have been purposefully designed for fluid operation. Under the banner of TouchFlow Operation are several concepts that start by making it easy to get going, and finish with a console that is fun to drive at showtime.

Made specifically for live sound, the TF Series is Yamaha’s entry-level digital mixer and it’s aimed squarely at the highly competitive 16-32 channel professional mixer market. It will be used in venues and churches, and by production suppliers and DIY bands. It’s the friendliest digital mixer I’ve tried so far and cleverly designed for the mix of pro and casual users who will get their fingers on the faders.

MAKING GOOD GAINS

The TF1 boots up like an analogue desk with 16 combi XLR inputs on the back panel, two big FX returns and 1:1 routing. You can do all sorts of patching with the Auxes, DCAs and Custom channels… but not with the input channels. Makes sense to me, you may lose a little flexibility but it makes for straight-forward setups and reduces the chance of confusion in situations where there are multiple users.

There are several ways to set up channels.

It’s easy to start from flat and build up your own settings the old-fashioned way. There are, however, interesting alternatives. GainFinder is a cute program that sets the input gain of any given channel; make the sound, get the light in the middle and it will be good to go. Like a guitar tuner you don’t have to understand what you’re

doing, just watch the display. It’s fast, safe and could be genuinely helpful in some applications. Best of all, its optional. Input levels can also be set by the Touch & Turn knob or by dragging on the screen.

The more interesting alternative is to use the QuickPro Presets, available on both inputs and outputs. When setting up input channels a handy library lists instrument-specific settings as well as settings for particular microphone models.

Yamaha has drummed this feature up in cahoots with a handful of well-known mic manufacturers that so far includes Shure, Sennheiser and AudioTechnica. Choose the mic, choose the instrument and you get specific factory-approved Gain, EQ and Comp settings, including phantom power and instrument name on the channel strip — in your choice of colour. If you’re familiar with the particular mics it’s interesting to see what the makers have recommended. If you’re not, it’s a safe option. It’s also a fast way of working as it puts a lot of common processing choices into action at once and I found the settings to be close to what I might do anyway.

Output channels get their own library of generic presets designed for different physical locations, including settings for running IEMs from the stereo aux sends. In a similar manner to the inputs you get EQ and compressor settings that have been well chosen to get you going quickly without doing anything crazy to the sound. The output presets extend to specific settings for Yamaha DXR speakers in different environments, but third-party speaker manufacturers will no doubt be added over time.

TF FOR TOUCHFLOW

In use the TF mixers live up to the TouchFlow promise; the layout gives you instant access to the things you really need, use all the time or you want to access quickly. Focus on the multi-touch screen means less thinking about which button to press, or knob to turn, and more listening. The console

can be operated very simply but it’s rewarding to explore the depth of control that is available and it’s hard to get confused or lost.

Most users will be familiar with the Overview/ Selected Channel layout common to most digital mixers. Here eight channels are displayed on the Overview screen at one time, but rather than buttons to scroll to the rest, you swipe. Touch a parameter on a channel and the channel is selected, touch again and the parameter details are displayed. After that you may only need to touch and use pinch/drag gestures on the screen to get the sound where you want it. The on-screen parameter controls have got nice big buttons that you touch to activate and drag to adjust. Pinch gestures change the EQ width and everything you do is accompanied by clear visual feedback.

Apart from being pleasing to use in the modern mobile phone manner, it means you don’t need the common hardware knobs used to adjust the selected parameters.

Knobs have their uses and after the multi-touch screen the next feature aimed at making life easier is the Touch & Turn knob. Well-placed for easy reach, the Touch & Turn knob is a multi-function device that’s assigned by touching parameters onscreen. Touch Input on the Overview screen and it provides instant access to the input gain of any displayed channel. It’s the same routine for grabbing control of selected EQ parameters, HPF, gate/comp thresholds or FX levels. Touch the parameter again and you get to the detailed controls where it adjusts the selected parameter as an alternative to dragging on the screen.

1-KNOB TO TWEAK THEM

You may not need to use the detailed parameter controls at all if you use Yamaha’s new 1-knob EQ and 1-knob Comp functions, both controlled by the Touch & Turn knob. These are activated by the user when you’re setting up a channel, or AT 55

DOUBLE HANDLE — Angled cut-outs on the sides double as visual enhancements and handles.

FAMILY LINE

The TF series is available in three sizes. The baby TF1 has 16 XLR mic inputs, 17 motorised faders and can be rack-mounted. The TF3 and TF5 have 24 and 32 input channels/faders respectively. All models also have two stereo inputs, 16 XLR omni outputs and two stereo returns, 20 aux buses (eight mono, six stereo), eight DCA groups, eight FX plus 10 GEQs, and 34 tracks of both recording and playback.

Internal audio processing is 48k and the mics plug into Yamaha’s recallable D-Pre preamps.

automatically as part of the QuickPro Presets.

Designed again for either speedy operation or users who don’t fully understand the meaning of the parameter values, these effectively give you more when turned up. More what? More everything.

On input channels the 1-knob EQ has two modes, Vocal and Intensity. If you have selected a particular microphone model from the QuickPro Presets, then Vocal mode will probably give you a HPF, some low-mid cut and some highmid boost. Winding up the Touch & Turn knob simultaneously delivers more HPF, more low-mid cut and more presence boost. Or less if you turn it down. You can also draw your own curve and have it exaggerated or understated. It’s clever stuff and very easy to use. Intensity mode is similar but aimed more at instruments. 1-knob EQ also works on the Main and Aux outputs with the Vocal mode being replaced by a Loudness mode that progressively boosts low and high frequencies while cutting some low-mids.

The 1-knob Comp does the same for channel dynamics. The basic settings are established by the preset; turn it up with the Touch & Turn knob and you get more threshold, more ratio and more makeup gain. The potential for over-processed channels is the risk when a single knob controls several parameters at once but the settings are all valid and there are sensible limits on the amount of boost on hand. Any setting can be changed or removed with a touch on the screen if it’s not to your liking. I didn’t get any nasty surprises when operating.

AT 56

EFFECTS WITHIN REACH

On-board effects are based on Yamaha’s SPX range and while there are eight FX processors available, the input channels can only directly access two of them at a time. These get dedicated returns on the surface, the rest are accessed via the stereo aux groups. At first this seems a curious setup in the digital age. It’s reminiscent of old analogue desks where you would set up a reverb and a delay from the two available sends, and if you wanted more FX you inserted them across channels or groups.

There are six stereo aux sends in the TF mixers, each with a processor attached. These sends would often be used as part of a monitor setup, particularly for IEMs with, for instance, a multiband compressor across the send. The stereo aux sends can also be used as subgroups and sent to the Master Out, with your choice of effects, or they can be used as purely stereo FX send/returns.

The two main FX returns are kept within hand’s reach, which keeps the focus on the console surface. A big FX Mute button just above the returns is great for muting your FX between songs.

If you know what you’re doing, there’s plenty of opportunity to tweak just below the surface, but it’s certainly convenient to be able to control the most commonly used effects without changing layers. A Tap button in the bottom corner of the console is in a handy place but I would have liked to be able to stop it flashing the whole time, I’d prefer if it stopped after a few flashes and then started again when you tapped it the next time you needed it.

Proudly distributing Tannoy, Lab.gruppen, Lake, Turbosound and Behringer in Australia Great range now on hand CALL OUR PROFESSIONAL TEAM NOW!

Everything from installed sound to portable PA to wide open throttle touring systems, Turbosound is your sound.

Everything from installed sound to portable PA to wide openthrottle touring systems,

Turbosound is your sound.

www.turbosound.com

www.turbosound.com Unit 10, 163-173 McEvoy St, Alexandria NSW 2015 P (02) 9698 4444 E proaudio@australismusic.com.au W australismusic.com.au AT 57

What impressed me was the way I could confidently move around the console, listening and adjusting without wearing the brain out by having to think about it too much

MONITOR PERFORMANCE

The TF1 is an excellent monitor board, the larger models equally so if you need more input channels.

The eight mono aux sends have a compressor plus parametric and graphic EQs in place. I half expected the graphic EQ’s 31 bands to be thrown across the faders but they come up on the screen where you drag the virtual faders to adjust the tone.

It’s much simpler to follow and the virtual faders readily return to zero.

The mono aux sends would normally be used to drive stage speakers and they don’t have access to any FX. Good. The six stereo aux sends, complete with FX, should be enough for the IEM or other stereo send requirements of most bands.

The first time I used the TF1 live was doing monitors for Tim Rogers & The Bamboos at the Theatre Royal in Castlemaine and I had a ball.

Great band — which always helps the sound — plus Tim’s style and energy made for a pumpedup show. We had seven sends working; the band knew what they wanted, and I found I was able to respond to their requests as fast as they could fire them at me. The Sends On Faders buttons are right at hand, the colour-coded, illuminated channel strip helps you find particular channels quickly, and individual EQ/Comps are always at the ready.

For bands willing to forgo the personal touch of a helpful monitor engineer, the TF Monitor mix iOS app allows them to wirelessly control their own levels from a iPhone or iPad. FRONT OF BRAIN

As a front-of-house console, the TF mixers offer an engaging and rewarding experience. I thought the sound quality was great; the recallable D-Pres are AT 58

transparent, the processing does what you expect and the FX are customary Yamaha quality. What impressed me was the way I could confidently move around the console, listening and adjusting without wearing my brain out by having to think about it too much. The EQ and dynamics processors are so easy to use — from wherever you are on the console — that they allow you to make tweaks instinctively and quickly. The Touch & Turn knob was usually already assigned to the right parameter. I found it made for very active operation. There are several fader banks, as well as all the aux sends on faders, but not once did I get confused about which layer I was on.

With the FX returns on the topmost layer, most FOH mixing will be done without any layer changing. Both the 1-knob EQ and 1-knob Comp multi-functionality grew on me, particularly on vocals where the 1-knob control of HPF, low-mid EQ and a touch of presence gave good control of the proximity effect, body and bite in one action.

The TF mixers are live boards and their record/ playback capabilities are designed with live recording in mind. A USB socket allows for stereo playback (.wav and .mp3) or direct stereo recording from any output bus. Another USB port connects to a computer, and with the included Cubase AI software installed it’s possible to record/playback up to 16 channels of 24-bit/48k audio. Up to 34 channels can be accessed via most other DAWs. Recorded shows or rehearsals can be played back in a different location and channels can be freely switched between live and playback for virtual sound checks. The TF StageMix iPad app allows for wireless control of the mixer enabling remote mixing or monitor setup.

MORE LAYERS TO COME

The TF series is brand new and some pieces are still falling into place. At the time of writing the second fader layer is not being fully utilised.

With some soon-to-be-released add-ons and revised firmware it will be possible to use the NY64-D expansion card in conjunction with the Tio1608-D Dante-equipped 16-in/8-out stage rack.

Connection is via a convenient Cat5e LAN cable.

The preamps in the Tio 1608-D can be remotely controlled from the TF mixer and up to three of these can be connected at the same time to create a 48-in/24-out system. Software updates will include more settings from microphone manufacturers.

Speakers can especially benefit from specific settings for different uses/placements and this is another area that will grow.

Yamaha continues to chase quality and push design boundaries with enthusiasm. Designed to provide a rewarding experience to a wide range of users, the TF Series sets a high standard for an entry-level pro mixer with technology that’s right up to date. TouchFlow operation facilitates engaged, active mixing with a sense of playing, or driving, the console. The multi-touch screen is command central and the first in this price range to use one. I grew up on early Yamaha analogue consoles and have several of them in my shed. I bet they still work too. It’s an open question as to whether the current breed of digital consoles will still be working in 35 years but if any will, they’ll be the Yamahas. Where the development of digital audio technology will lead over that time is less certain… a USB socket in the back of the head perhaps, so we can simply think the sound. But for right now the TF series will do nicely.

Dante Interface Products

by Studio Technologies TM

DanteTM-enabled Audio-over-Ethernet Products

Model 5204 Dual Line Input to Dante Interface

ST410-515

Model 5202 Dante to Phones and Line Output Interface

Model 5330 Flex-Use Analogue Audio/Dante Interface Model 214 Announcer’s Console TM

DanteTM-enabled products for broadcast, production and systems-integration applications All feature excellent audio quality, simple installation and easy-to-use controls and interfaces. These join Studio Technologies’ line of superior Dante™-enabled units to create powerful, easy-to-use solutions.

Contact us on 1800 00 77 80 or email av@madisontech.com.au AT 59

REVIEW LAB-COAT CHIC — The Redd.47’s build quality is excellent. Its light grey faceplate gives the unit a subtle ’60s lab-coat vibe, further accentuated by black chicken-head knobs and semirecessed silver toggle switches. There’s something about the look of these chicken-head knobs that doesn’t quite do it for me unfortunately. Despite being supremely functional and doing a good ergonomic job, their matte finish feels a little cheap — bakelite would have really nailed the look.

VALVE DI — The 1/4-inch DI circuit utilises all the goodness of the unit’s EF86 and E88CC valve topology. The custom wound transformer-balanced I/O means there are some good creative options available here too.

RUMBLE IN THE — The special sauce feature on the Redd.47 is the inductorbased ‘rumble filter’ control which has stepped low frequency roll-off curves at 30, 60, 70, 90, 110, 130 and 180Hz. The curves are smooth to the point where tracking sources with maximum filtration engaged can be a valid creative option.

STEP UP — Getting the job done is a fairly straight forward affair; two large stepped knobs take care of coarse and fine gain control (at 6dB and 1dB resolutions respectively), while a smaller continuously variable knob controls output level.

CHANDLER LIMITED REDD.47 Valve Preamplifier Chandler has retraced the Beatles’ steps back even further in time to the Abbey Road/EMI designs of the ’60s.

NEED TO KNOW

Review: Greg Walker

PRICE $3709 CONTACT Mixmasters: (08) 8278 8506 or sales@mixmasters.com.au

AT 60

PROS Great tonal balance & character Sweet distortion is highly useful Rumble filter more flexible than most high pass circuits DI sounds really good

CONS Expensive Low output hampers recording of quiet sources

SUMMARY A great sounding valve design that ticks all the boxes for vintage vibe, sonic quality and versatility that you would hope for with a unit of this kind of pedigree. Clean and dirty tones are equally great and the rumble filter is a nice additional creative option.

It’s one of the sweetest sounding preamp saturations to ever land on my studio bench top

PRE-LIGHT CHECKS — The red backlit light indicates power status while phantom power, 20dB pad and polarity are dispersed across smaller toggle switches. These features are engaged in the downward position and bypassed when up which sounds straight-forward but felt confusing in use for some reason. Until I got really familiar with the unit I had to triple check the settings before plugging in my ribbon mics.

With the stamp of approval from Abbey Road studios/EMI, Wade Goeke and his team at Chandler Limited have been riding the wave of audio nostalgia as well as anyone over the last decade. Up until now, Chandler’s focus has been the solid state and earlier germanium circuits that provide the tone and rich harmonic characteristics so many of us are looking for from the ’70s. Now that Chandler has expanded its range to include earlier Abbey Road/EMI 1960s valve designs, it’s a wonder why the company hadn’t delved into that particular treasure trove earlier.

The Redd.47 preamp conjures up the ghosts of the famous and famously rare Redd consoles used on the Beatles albums of the mid to late sixties. The price of admission here is steep and puts this Chandler model under a harsher than normal spotlight when it comes to a review.

Personally, I’m not parting with over $3k on a mono preamp unless it will take me into a pretty spectacular earth orbit and let me explore some new audio landscapes along the way. With that

thought in mind, let’s hop in the Chandler wayback machine.

QUIET ACHIEVER

My first experiences with the Redd.47 were in the middle of a hectic week of screen composition work for a TV show. I was almost exclusively using ribbon mics to get a warm ‘old worlde’ sound. Switching from an API 512B to the Redd.47 was a bit of an eye-opener, especially in terms of output levels. The Chandler is one of the quieter microphone preamps I’ve used in a while with its maximum +57dB of input gain. I was initially worried about high noise floors using passive ribbon mics, but my fears were misplaced.

When quieter sources like soft violins were gained up in Pro Tools, the signals were nicely intact and the noise floor no worse than the API. The acoustic instruments I recorded (strings, clarinets, double bass, percussion and piano) had a nice velvety quality to them and sat well together in the mix. When I switched to a Zigma Lol-47 condenser for further piano recording

I began to see another side of the Chandler. It delivered great clarity and depth on my studio’s ‘character’ piano and there was a subtle harmonic enhancement that I couldn’t quite put my finger on but really liked.

A few days later this same setup got a real workout on a Tim Guy album overdub where the song needed some strong rhythm piano work (a la a certain fab four). No surprise then that these recordings came out spectacularly well. The part nestled straight into the heart of an already wellestablished mix without requiring any EQ and I was starting to see how recordings made with the Redd.47 could become very addictive indeed.

REDD ROVER

Next up the Redd.47 got a full workout tracking an entire song from scratch and the pleasant surprises kept coming. Acoustic guitar came out sweet and smooth with a really great tonal balance I hadn’t quite heard out of my battered old Tama before. Even better on electrics where the bite of a Fender amp was more than matched AT 61

by the Redd.47, delivering a sense of focused aggression using condensers and dynamics. With the right guitar and amp setup I can see Beatles tragics banging out Revolver-esque biting lead breaks through this thing ad infinitum. Once you get a hotter input signal going into the Redd.47 there is plenty of harmonic saturation on tap, and by riding the gain structure you can tune things up for just a little or a lot. On drum overheads and room mics this became a real asset of the Redd.47. I was able to get a beautiful vibey breakup happening on heavy crashes and other louder passages while still retaining plenty of detail and quality in softer sections. Redd.47 owners will definitely keep coming back for more; it’s one of the sweetest sounding preamp saturations to ever land on my studio bench top.

If you want outright fuzz, there is the option of gaining up a DI’d guitar or other source through a preamp and feeding it into the Redd.47’s mic input for your fill of the famous Revolution sound.

The technique, pioneered by Geoff Emerick (against Abbey Road regulations), involved daisychaining multiple Redd console channels together to push signals into overdrive. The Redd.47 works a treat in this role as a tracking and mix distortion generator. On vocals the Chandler was both smooth and bold and carried my voice in a musically satisfying way. Going straight into the DI delivered a nice balance of body and bite on various bass and electric sources.

RUMBLE IN THE JUNGLE

Having gotten used to working with the Redd.47 at my place, I took it on a three-day location recording job in deepest darkest Brunswick. Sophie Koh had a full-size grand piano on loan in her lounge room and we were starting work on her new album which centres around her beautiful piano playing. The Yamaha C7 is a pro-studio workhorse and while I’ve never rated them as highly as some do, this one did sound great in the room with Sophie driving it.

Miking it up with a range of close and distant stereo mic combinations we found tons of tone but it was hard to get a really sharp focus on the upper mid-range attack of the instrument in the sea of overtones and harmonics. Having tried and abandoned a few extra close miking ideas I settled on a Charter Oak valve condenser about four feet away from the opened top facing the inward curve of the instrument. Plugging this into the Redd.47 and ramping the rumble filter right up to 180Hz I was able to extract a little extra mono focus on the percussive attack of the notes. It put the sonic icing on the cake for what turned out to be a great day of piano tracking.

Late that night we decided to do some rough guide vocals so I plugged a Beyer M88 into the Chandler and we bashed our way through the songs. It was only the next morning I realised I’d left the filter on the whole time and the resulting vocal sounds were actually pretty great. Sophie’s

voice did lack a bit of body but the airy tone suited her voice surprisingly well and was a great effect.

The filter is very natural sounding even at high settings which makes it far more useable than the more extreme daisy cutter ones I’m used to hearing on preamps. The next two days were taken up with cello and viola overdubs and I used the Redd.47 on both these instruments via the Charter Oak and a Sennheiser MD441 with great results.

REDDY TO ROCK

Despite using it in a wide variety of applications with a wide range of mics I couldn’t find a chink in the armour of the Redd.47 apart from the minor issue of its comparatively low output levels. All in all I found the Chandler to be extremely musical, versatile and sonically pleasing as well as having a few great creative tricks up its sleeve. For those who can afford the asking price, the Redd.47 is going to be a sweet investment in tone and vibe that will keep you smiling for many years to come.

Outstanding Opportunity to purchase recording studio in trendy Newstead 83 Doggett Street, Newstead ► Located within walking distance to the thriving Gasworks entertainment precinct, Teneriffe CityCat Terminal, Emporium, James Street Precinct and Commercial Road precinct ► 3 Studios, each with adjoining mixing rooms ► The 368m2 building is currently occupied by Queensland University of Technology (QUT) Creative Industries Faculty, as a recording studio for teaching and learning purposes ► Potential vacant possession in early 2016 or purchase now with leaseback to QUT

AT 62

tive only.

Outline Indica

For Sale

Closing Date for Offers 4pm, Wednesday 16 September 2015

Gregory Woods

0409 305 224 07 3002 8825 gwoods@savills.com.au

Musos Corner PRO AUDIO

We Make Audio Beautiful AVID

Studio Microphones - HDX Systems - S3 Consoles - Pro Tools - Artist Series

Outboard Equipment - Chandler - Neve - Focusrite - Universal Audio

Audio Interfaces - Steinberg - AVID - Focusrite - Universal Audio

- Neumann - AKG - Royer - Audio Technica

Studio Monitors - Neumann - Genelec - Dynaudio - Yamaha

Analogue Consoles - SSL - API - Neve - Allen & Heath

Advice. Price. Nice.

Musos Corner 1 National Park St Newcastle West NSW 2302 PH: 02 4929 2829 www.musoscorner.com.au AT 63

REVIEW

MUNROSONIC EGG 150 Studio Monitor System Lay off the wisecracks, these EGG monitors are no joke.

NEED TO KNOW

Review: Brad Watts

PRICE $3799 CONTACT Sound & Music: (03) 9555 8081 or www.sound-music.com

AT 64

PROS Exhilarating stereo imaging Balanced, well controlled listening experience Superb, non-fatiguing detail Exemplary headphone amp Attainable price point

CONS Intentionally left blank

SUMMARY MunroSonic’s new EGG 150 monitor speakers keep the sE version’s recognisable shape and all the benefits of a curvy physique. But production has shifted to the UK, and no detail is missed.

I’m not afraid to try new things, apart from icky stuff. Like eating deep fried tarantulas on a stick… and sky-diving. Jumping out of a plane toward earth at 9.8m/s2 is not a pastime I’m keen to indulge. Fortunately these ‘new-things’ on my monitor stands aren’t nearly as extreme, and don’t exacerbate my arachno and aeroacrophobia.

Relatively speaking however, compared with most typical nearfield monitors, the MunroSonic EGG 150 monitors are a decidedly extreme departure.

I’ll not delay the obvious any further; the MunroSonic EGG 150 monitors are shaped like eggs. Huge eggs from some giant prehistoric bird or reptile, or an instalment of the Alien movies, but eggs nonetheless. Weird? Yes. A mere gimmick? I think not.

STUDYING THOSE CURVES

Most would recall science classes during their school years where a science teacher enthusiastically compressed a chicken egg between their hands. The initial presumption was the egg would explode, leaving the good humoured educator in a mess. The preemptive sniggers died down when the egg didn’t break, because the pressure had been applied to the ends of the egg rather than the sides. It’s this intrinsic strength that is one reason behind building an egg-shaped monitor cabinet. Monitors perform better when the cabinets are rigid and unperturbed by the sound waves bouncing around inside.

However, there’s other more important reasons behind repurposing the egg design. The internal surfaces suppress internal standing waves and reflections. Because the inside surface is curved, at constantly varied angles (unlike a sphere for example), standing waves don’t have a chance of reproducing. That said, this issue can usually be addressed satisfactorily with traditional cabinet designs. More importantly, on the external side of things, the radically curved shape reduces the side effects of diffraction, namely reflections, considerably more than a square cabinet. With the egg shape, these reflections are virtually eliminated.

Remarkably, there’s a lot going for the humble egg when it comes to sound reproduction.

POWER OF CONTROL

Unlike most monitors swamping the nearfield market, the EGG 150 system utilises a passive unpowered monitor design. Amplification is supplied via an entirely analogue bespoke unit featuring some interesting equalisation options; which, I’ll cover in more detail shortly. The amp itself is part of the package, and provides biamplification to the EGG 150’s 25mm silk-dome high frequency drivers and 165mm low frequency drivers. MunroSonic makes connection between the amp and monitors foolproof with supplied 3m-long cables utilising Speakon connectors. The amp provides 50W to each of the four drivers, and includes a completely separate headphone amplifier. Plugging headphones into the front mounted headphone jack immediately mutes the main speaker outputs. Useful for some, but perhaps annoying to others. If I’m forced to use headphones

I like to bring the main monitors up a touch so I can ‘feel’ some of the bottom end in concert with the headphones. I’m told the headphone amp is MunroSonic’s own design, and uses traditional Class A topology, with power limiting via a feedback loop at 1kHz. Andy Munro, the EGG designer, tells me the headphone amp distortion is unmeasurable. Suffice to say, it sounds superb.

The amplifier also acts as a control unit, with large continuously variable volume attenuators; one for the main input source, and a secondary attenuator for an auxiliary input. These pots are smooth as silk by the way, and tactile testament to the quality of the unit. A smaller knob switches between the two input sources. Connection to the main input is via rear-mounted balanced XLRs and the auxiliary input is via RCA connections. There’s no expense spared with the amplifier design.

From the dual linear power supplies, through to the high headroom 35V rails and capacitors, and the beautifully milled (in Italy no less) 10mmthick brushed aluminium fascia, this amp exudes precision and quality.

candy. The LED has an extremely narrow beam width. When the LEDs show at their brightest at your mix position while aligning the monitors, the time alignment is considered to be optimal.

Once done, the LEDs can be turned off via a switch on the rear of the amplifier. I must admit to being a little sceptical of this, but a short burst of experimental positioning did bring better imaging results using this method. Once positioned, turn those LEDs off – the fewer little blue lights in my life the better.

The monitors themselves stand approximately 460mm high, with the internal capacity at around 14 litres. While not exceedingly large, they pack a punch comparable to much larger monitors.

To keep the EGGs upright and stable, a stand is integrated into the design. The stand also allows the monitors to be tilted forward should they be sitting too high. The front ports are situated beneath the low end driver, and are tuned to 50Hz. Crossover point is 2kHz and the high-end drivers are protected via a thermal cut-out and reset system.

EQ’ING FOR EDGE

What’s also interesting is MunroSonic’s inclusion of equalisation in the amplifier. A fourth threeway switch on the amp’s front panel alternates between three midrange EQ settings. The middle setting is a ‘neutral’ or ‘reference’ setting, and is where you’d normally have the amp set, of course.

Flicking the switch to the minus setting reduces 2kHz by 1.5dB, and is referred to as a ‘Hi-Fi’ setting. Useful, I presume, for auditioning material as it would be played via a ‘scooped’ domestic listening environment. The plus setting I found more useful. Switching this setting into action raises 2kHz by 1.5dB, and is intended to mimic the enhanced midrange found in studio monitors such as Yamaha NS-10s and the like. MunroSonic refer to this setting as being a magnifying glass on your mix, and I solidly concur. Although subtle, the added 2kHz hit enhances midrange just enough to give you a surgical representation of midrange information, such as vocals, effects trails, hi-hats and the like. Incredibly handy for adjusting the critical ‘edges’ within a mix, then slipping quickly back to a neutral EQ curve once you’re done. I very quickly became extremely fond of this feature.

Andy Munro informed me the +1.5dB boosted setting is actually closer to ‘flat’ technically, citing this as the preferred setting for pulling a mix into balance.

Equalisation options don’t end there. Out the back of the amp are further EQ options for tailoring the monitors to suit particular environments. The high frequency trimpots will adjust +1/-5dB at 10kHz, with a 0.5dB amount for each 45° turn, while the low-frequency trim can pull a maximum cut of 10dB at 63Hz. This is adjustable for both left and right channels. Of course you should have a solid handle on what you’re doing when adjusting these to suit particular rooms and positioning.

When it does come to positioning the monitors, a unique feature is the blue LED situated above each high frequency driver. This isn’t simply eye-

There’s a lot going for the humble egg when it comes to sound reproduction

SMOOTH DETAIL

Oh the detail! I’ve not heard such a consolidated stereo image from monitors in this price range (or from many more expensive models for that matter).

They really are astonishing. The image honestly ‘hangs’ in space, with flipping to mono smacking the image straight to dead centre. The image is very much like that experienced with a soffit-mounted system. Such systems theoretically eliminate the effects of diffraction by creating a linear surface where waves produced by the drivers don’t meet a sharp edge and cause reflections. The EGG design, similarly aids diffraction, allowing sound waves to leave the driver surface unhindered, thus reducing reflection anomalies considerably. Top-end reproduction is extremely smooth courtesy of the soft dome divers and the low-end drive combined with front faced porting provide a very solid, yet refreshingly under-hyped low end. These aspects produce an extremely coherent stereo image with depth you can dive into. The EGGs are ultimately an extraordinary revealing monitor, yet they are satisfyingly pleasant to listen to for hours on end.

Recommended positioning is to place the monitors one to 1.5 metres apart, with a typical equilateral triangle point as listening position, and it’s in this configuration the monitors truly shine. I found the EGGs to function well both on my monitor bridge, and placed closer on my AT 65

acoustically-treated work desktop. The front porting is also a plus point. I’m not a great fan of rear porting as I’m not convinced of the validity of turning your studio walls into resonators. Front porting helps with this.

HISTORY GOES ROUND

Andy Munro has a long and meritorious career in monitor design. He’s responsible for the design of many monitors from the Dynaudio stable, and is a revered acoustician throughout Europe. His clients include the BBC, Air Studios, Coldplay, U2, and Massive Attack, amongst many others; along with countless clients in broadcast, post production, and cinema. I should note the EGG 150 system is the evolution of a similar system designed by Andy as a joint venture between Munro and microphone manufacturer, SE Electronics. I can’t make comparisons with the SE monitors as I’ve never heard a set. I can, however, infer the EGG 150 system to be a superior arrangement simply because of its evolutionary status. Plus, what I hear from the EGG 150 system doesn’t leave me wishing for a prequel design. Unlike the SE Electronics foray, the EGG 150 systems are now manufactured in the UK, which leaves me feeling more confident of the quality.

Refreshingly, the EGG 150 system isn’t prohibitively expensive. With the inclusion of amplification and the sublime imaging properties, I was expecting the system to be priced well into the

‘pro’ arena. This is not the case. At around $3799 Australian, this level of reproduction is relatively inexpensive. Equated with the US pricing of $3499 I’m sensing quite a bargain in this country. One could spend (and I have) much more money for far lesser results. Bear in mind, a smaller system is in the works, the EGG 100 system, to be available soon at $2799 AUD. I’m led to believe a surround solution is also on the drawing board. With luck I can relate my experience with the smaller system sooner rather than later. As far as the EGG 150 rig

Evolve

Created by KORG to satisfy today’s most demanding, accomplished performers and producers.

Multi-track audio and MIDI recording deliver efficient studio operations in a mobile platform. Hands-on hardware includes an assignable control surface, dual joysticks, ribbon controller, top-of-the line keyboard action and KORG’s revolutionary tap-anddrag colour TouchView™.

Experience the evolution of Kronos at your KORG dealer today!

For more info visit: www.korg.com |

AT 66

www.facebook.com/korgaus

is concerned, I for one am undeniably impressed with such an extreme departure from traditional monitor designs. The results are fantastic.

So before I sign off, I should point out that no ‘egg’ puns, quips, witticisms, or entendres were used (or harmed) in the making of this review. Not only did I decide the limitless opportunity of doing so somewhat insulting to you, dear reader, I also considered it a discredit to a monitoring system that, while funny looking, is certainly no joke.

Audition the EGG 150s immediately.

A V A I L A B L E

N O W !

A ground-breaking approach to compact live sound Yamaha TF Series digital mixing consoles take live sound reinforcement to a new level of refinement.

TouchFlow Operation™ makes it easy to achieve a perfect mix, while recallable D-PRE™ microphone preamps contribute to superior sound. Advanced processing, live recording capability, and operation with high-performance I/O racks makes them an outstanding choice for a wide range of applications.

Touchflow Operation™ intuitive user interface optimised for touch panel control

Applications for iOS/Mac/Win that work seamlessly with the console

FIND A DEALER au.yamaha.com

EVENTS AND PROMOTIONS yamahabackstage.com.au

LIKE US ON FACEBOOK facebook.com/yamahabackstagepass AT 67

REVIEW

ARTURIA BEATSTEP PRO Sequencer & Controller The Beatstep Pro adds everything you may have missed from the smaller Beatstep, including tap tempo.

NEED TO KNOW

Review: Brad Watts

Arturia has moved from strength to strength over the years. Kicking off as a software instrument manufacturer with its sturdy recreations of not-so-sturdy vintage analogue synthesisers, the company soon moved into the realm of hardware with the Origin keyboard. Since that time there’s been a procession of hardware controllers and synths, all of which borrow heavily from the analogue ethos; lots of tactile control.

Last year, Arturia released the Beatstep portable controller and step sequencer. Come 2015 and the ante has moved well and truly upward with the Beatstep Pro. The new design offers a stunning array of connectivity – enough to make the unit a serious contender for the

keystone of a live performance rig. But more on this shortly.

PRICE Expect to pay $399

CONS None

CONTACT CMI Music & Audio: (03) 9315 2244 or sales@cmi.com.au

AT 68

PROS Three sequencers onboard Tap tempo Simultaneously sync and trigger anything

GATES OPEN

Like all Arturia hardware, the Beatstep Pro is solidly constructed. It sits firmly on your desktop ready to withstand years of percussive bashing. The unit incorporates an assignable MIDI controller, two analogue-style sequencers, and a drum programmer/sequencer. The same 16 velocity sensitive and backlit trigger pads and 16 MIDI controller pots found on the original Beatstep are present. However, the Pro adds 16 step programming buttons, offers an additional section on the left of the unit for access to sequencer functions, tap tempo button and

tempo value LED (a feature sorely missing from the first Beatstep), transport controls, along with pots for control over swing and randomisation of sequences and other parameters. There’s also a ribbon controller which will re-trigger the pad your hitting at 1/4, 1/8, 1/16 and 1/32 bar timings. In sequence mode the ribbon controller will loop the sequences according to the time division selected.

Perhaps most invigorating is the unit’s capability to simultaneously sync and trigger via USB, MIDI and CV/Gate. This opens a universe of possibilities. You could control external analogue devices via the two CV/ Gate sections, even controlling those devices via your DAW, control external MIDI devices

SUMMARY Arturia has taken its hybrid CV/Gate/MIDI Beatstep sequencer concept and beefed up the control side considerably on the Beatstep Pro. Its added two more sequencers with simultaneous outputs from each to let you control pretty much any style of electronic instrument.

and clock older external hardware with DIN sync — standard 24ppqn or 48ppqn, or even a single pulse per step. V- and S-trigger gate options are supported, as are 1V/octave and Hertz per Volt control voltages. Start/stop control is also supported. Connection for these sync, pitch and trigger sources is via 3.5mm jacks, and Arturia provide the relevant breakout cables.

The eight drum gate outputs correlate with the first eight trigger pads, with the first eight control pots providing adjustment over gating length. And you can record patterns directly into the sequencer.

As mentioned, this sets the scene for the Beatstep Pro to act as the main conductor and sequencer for a formidable live performance system. Should you opt to use the Beatstep Pro standalone, without the aid of a computer, power can be supplied via a normal USB phone charger.

STEPPING UP

When it comes to step sequencing, there are 16 ‘Project’ memory positions, within which can be stored 16 sequences for each of the two step

sequencers and the drum programmer. That’s plenty of slots for either compiling entire tracks, or for a comprehensive array of motifs for mixing and matching. When run in conjunction with a DAW you can also trigger clips within the DAW. When ‘stepping in’ those events to either sequencer section, you can work to pitch templates such as chromatic, major, minor, dorian, mixolydian, harmonic minor, blues, leave the scaling completely open or an additional ‘user’ template.

Each sequencer can contain up to 64 steps.

Arturia supplies editing software for the Beatstep Pro whereby you can edit the controller attributes of each control pot, each pad, and even the step buttons. These controls can all be edited to control the entire gamut of MIDI information, with the exception of the pots affecting MIDI note information and the step buttons not sending velocity information. There are scads of options in controller mode. The software doesn’t stop at controller mapping, however. You can also program the two sequencer sections and the drum section via a typical matrix-style editing window. This

‘MIDI Control Center’ application also controls Arturia’s other control surfaces such as the Spark and Spark LE units, the previous Beatstep and the Keylab range. So, if you’re racking up an assortment of Arturia devices you can flip between them using the same app. Very tidy indeed.

JUST ADD DEVICES

For such a tiny controller, the Beatstep Pro offers an incredible range of functionality. With such an array of options, from the multiple sync sources through to the comprehensive control voltage and gating, through to drum triggering and more contemporary MIDI and DAW control, the Beatstep Pro really is only limited by your imagination and whatever machinery you can get your hands on to integrate with it.

Now with over $1,000 Extra Value

Pro Tools | Duet Pro Tools | Quartet Mac & PC

Available at the following resellers NSW Guitar Factory 02 9635 5552 Mall Music 02 9905 6966 Sounds Easy 02 8213 0202 Store DJ 02 9993 0758 Turramurra Music 02 9449 8487

Sound-Distributions_AVID_AT110.indd 1

QLD Gallins 1800 425 5467 Store DJ 07 3099 6916 Bris Sound 07 3257 1040 ACT Better Music 02 6282 3199

distributed by

VIC Allans Billy Hyde 1300 255 267 Factory Sound 03 9690 8344 Mannys 03 9486 8555 Soundcorp 03 9694 2600 Store DJ 03 9912 2858

WA Concept Music 08 9381 2277 Store DJ 08 6454 6199 SA Derringers Music 08 8371 1884

www.sounddistribution.com.au

14/07/15 2:38 ATPM 69

REVIEW

AUDIO-TECHNICA SYSTEM 10

Portable Camera-Mount Wireless System It’s a hot market for hot-shoe mounted microphones and Audio-Technica has miniaturised its System 10 wireless series to fit the mould.

NEED TO KNOW

Review: Preshan John

Ah, the DSLR, our least favourite of audio-capable contraption. So good at video, so lousy at audio. Thankfully, there’s loads and loads of audio manufacturers willing to help out. Case in point, AudioTechnica, which has released a hot-shoe connecting ENG-style wireless system that won’t break the bank. Of course, it’ll fit more sophisticated cameras too, but we all want that nice bokeh on the cheap.

Audio-Technica has placed the same 2.4GHz technology as its desktop System 10 receiver into a portable camera-mount body.

Notably, the bodypack and handheld transmitters are the same. The system on review comprised a bodypack transmitter, camera-top receiver and lapel microphone.

screwdriver. The sound quality itself is pretty good and held its own up against a pricier counterpart by Shure, albeit with less finesse in the highs.

It certainly does the trick for spoken word applications or wherever else you’d use a lapel mic; recording a live speaker or presenter, for example.

Recorded voice was reproduced with clarity and a pleasant midrange when we recently took it out for a spin on a tradeshow floor.

On the odd occasion you’re channeling your inner La Blogotheque and using it on anything other than vocals, a test recording with an acoustic guitar and vocal revealed better-than-expected results. Securing the microphone in a useful spot without some kind of rigging contraption is the hard part.

PUNCHING ABOVE ITS WEIGHT

WELCOME RECEPTION

Lifting the units out of the box, the lightweight transmitter and receiver didn’t quite feel like they’re built for a strenuous lifetime of performing field-recording duties. Nonetheless the plastic construction is neat, compact and ergonomic. The light weight of the receiver actually works in its favour. The last thing you want sitting on top of a heavy DSLR is another heavy chunk of metal — especially if you’re shooting hand-held.

Although light, there is a certain chunkiness to the system. The transmitter is about double the size of the top of the line Shure miniatures. The lapel microphone is similarly large. No amount of sewing it into clothes will disguise this ‘loud and proud’ lapel.

The initial set-up of the mic/receiver was simple. The receiver charged up in a couple of hours via micro-USB cable and the transmitter was ready to go with two new AA batteries. The internal rechargeable battery is a neat touch, but if you’ve forgotten to charge it there’s no recourse to switch to a standard alkaline. Simultaneously powering on both units saw them connect immediately and autonomously but there is a Pairing button on the receiver as well.

The System 10 provides a very healthy output level, and there is a level control on the bodypack that can be adjusted with an included mini

In operation, the System 10 is very stable. The dual antenna diversity transmission/reception keeps the audio stream clear and uncorrupted.

I didn’t experience any dropouts or loss of connection, even with two rooms and three walls between the receiver and mic. The receiver features Peak and Pair indicator lights, and there’s an LCD with readouts of the RF signal level, receiver and transmitter battery level, and System ID. There’s also a 3.5mm monitor output with level control — very useful when you need to check that the mic is hearing what it’s supposed to.

There are two stages of attenuation available on the receiver (-10dB , -20dB), and a switch for either a balanced or unbalanced (dual mono) output. Unfortunately there is no high-pass filter option and this really limits its outdoor applications, as the mic is quite prone to wind noise, plosives, and any kind of rumble in general.

At $599, the System 10 is on the cheaper end of the scale for wireless video microphones, but you do get pretty good bang for your buck.

If your interest in video recording has grown to where you crave an improvement over your camera’s internal microphone quality, the AudioTechnica System 10 is certainly worth considering.

PRICE $599 CONTACT Technical Audio Group: (02) 9519 0900 or info@tag.com.au

AT 70

PROS Easy to set up Good sound quality Lightweight

CONS No high-pass filter A little chunky

SUMMARY While there are higher quality alternatives, the System 10’s price point and ease of use make it a good choice as a wireless recording option for video, whether it be your first wireless mic product, or as a backup to your current system.

See us at D-42

MORE connectivity MORE flexibility MORE MEDIORNET MEDIORNET MICRON MICRON slips into any role you want: STAND-ALONE as a 12x12 router with MEDIORNET processing features POINT-TO-POINT supporting 24 SDI video signals / 2 MADIs / ETH (1Gbit) ROUTER as a central video matrix for up to 192x192 HD-SDI signals MESHED 2 as decentralized video routing application

Professional A/V interface for Skype STX-200 for Skype Licensed by Microsoft, the STX-200 is a stand-alone, studio-grade solution that leverages Skype to bring live content directly from reporters to the on-air production. The Riedel unit offers broadcast-quality HD-SDI and balanced XLR audio I/Os and is packaged with professional Microsoft Skype TX software, available exclusively with the STX-200.

www.riedel.net AT 71

REGULARS

LAST WORD with

David Dearden

David is a founder of Audient and before that DDA. He learnt his craft in a time when a studio had to build its own mixing console. He’s taken that ‘can do’ attitude with him throughout his career.

Pictured above is David with a DDA Forum Stage Monitor board in the early ‘90s.

AT 72

My father had a wunderlust. I must have attended more than 10 schools in five different countries across Africa and even Australia for a while, before dropping out as a teenager and moving to Zambia.

By that point I knew I wanted to be involved in recording.

My father had purchased a lot of old equipment from the South African Broadcasting Corporation. We had a good collection of old ribbon mics — RCAs, BBC Marconi Type AXBTs — and an old disc cutter that was in pieces. At the age of 15 I put that back together and made it work. That stimulated my interest in all things recording.

Zambia didn’t have a recording industry, so I considered my options, made my way to Johannesburg and knocked on the door of the largest studio in town and asked for a job. They said ‘okay’.

The studio was owned by David Manley [Founder of Manley Labs] and was huge, it occupied six floors of a city building with a different discipline on every level. As part of my apprenticeship I went through each floor.

As was common back in the late ’60s, the studio was building its own recording console — prior to the era of standardised equipment. This console was based entirely on V72 valves. I could handle a soldering iron, so I was roped into building the console.

I went to London in 1970. London was the centre of the recording industry and it was my plan to work there. That’s as far as my ‘plan’ went. I flew out of a Rhodesia in the throes of its (white) Unilateral Declaration of independence, when its currency wasn’t valid and you couldn’t take money out of South Africa either. So I landed at Heathrow with five pounds in my pocket.

I knocked on the door of a studio called Advision in London and asked for a job. They said ‘yes’. Actually they offered me the choice of being a tape op or a junior tech. I asked which paid more — tape op got 12 pounds a week and the tech job attracted 15 pounds a week — so I took the tech job. Turns out the senior tech Eddie Veal had recently resigned. I was thrown in the deep end.

Fortunately, Eddie returned on a contract basis when he was engaged to upgrade the recording console. The console was designed by Dag Fellner and was one of the first transistorised multitrack recording consoles of the time. It had 20 inputs and eight group outputs and Eddie was upgrading the monitoring section to work with our new 16-track Scully tape machine.

As the studio tech, it was my job to assist, which was a great experience.

Eddie went on to do a lot of studio design. One of the first he did was John Lennon’s private studio in 1971 to record the Imagine album and he asked me to assist.

It was probably one of the very first private studios in the world — it’s not like there were many commercial studios in London at the time — and a big departure from the Abbey Road atmosphere where even then men in lab coats stalked the building ensuring you didn’t over-modulate this or use the

wrong mic on that.

During the recording of the album I would go to John Lennon’s house and stay overnight just in case there were any technical problems that might arise. I sometimes wish I’d picked up the odd scrap of paper with lyrics scribbled on them for my retirement.

From 1975 I worked full time with Eddie Veal building consoles and studios, including a studio for George Harrison at his home and another for Ringo who moved into John’s house when he and Yoko moved to New York.

In the late ’70s I spent time with MCI and then Soundcraft.

Soundcraft was going through a rough patch financially, so myself and Gareth Davis would contemplate what our next move might be if Soundcraft went belly up. We decided to start our own company, DDA. By 1982 we’d gone full-time producing a small mixing console first spec’ed for high-profile classical recording engineer Tony Faulkner.

DDA became quite successful in a short time. Within four years we had introduced a big split-design recording console called the AMR24 which hit the right part of the market at the right time.

The first time we exhibited that console in 1985 I recall the people from Soundcraft dropping by to comment that “the world doesn’t need another multitrack recording console. You’ll never sell any of these.” We couldn’t make them fast enough.

With the success of the AMR24, I got a call from Phil Clarke wondering if we’d be prepared to sell DDA. Klark Teknik had just gone public, the Clarke brothers had a war chest of money and were determined to grow quickly. I told Phil we didn’t want to sell. We didn’t think anyone would be willing to pay what we thought DDA was worth, given where we were taking it. Turns out they were willing to pay what we thought it would be worth and we became part of the Klark Teknik empire. That was then absorbed by Mark IV Audio Group. We’d never intended to be part of a big corporate machine but we were. That’s where we stayed until 1997 when we escaped and started Audient.

The late ’90s wasn’t the right time to be launching an analogue console but we didn’t know how to do a digital one. People thought we were crazy, but we had enough feedback from studio people to suggest there was a market and the ASP 8024 was born. The console was designed for cost-effective manufacture largely by the use of parallel mounted, multi channel printed circuit boards and ribbon cabling, rather than traditional modules and hand wiring. It’s proven to be a good design, in fact, it’s still a strong seller today.

Audient is best known in the UK. When I’m in the US I still have people talking about their DDA console, and I’ll encourage them to retire it — you’ve had your money’s worth out of it!

I’ve never considered myself to be an audio design guru, just a cluey tech, so to be still deeply involved in designing is as satisfying as it is surprising. Maybe it’s that Antipodean thing we share — an attitude of just getting on with it.

AT 73

Free & Easy

AUDIOTECHNOLOGY APP ISSUE 26

Lower latency, cheaper and more in tune ...but with all the soul of the original The AudioTechnology App is made just for tablets. All the latest news, reviews, features, columns and tutorials every month for next to nothing. Stay tuned for more news at audiotechnology.com.au or like us on Facebook.

GET IT NOW AT 74