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THE AL L NE W
PERFORMER KIT
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DIGITAL WIRELESS AUDIO SYSTEM Includes TX-M2 Microphone • RX-DESK Receiver • LB-1 Lithium-Ion Rechargeable Battery
PERFECT FOR LIVE PERFORMANCE PRESENTATIONS • WEDDINGS HOUSES OF WORSHIP • CLUBS SCHOOLS • GIGS & MORE
IT'S ALL FOR AT 2
Editor Mark Davie mark@audiotechnology.com.au Publisher Philip Spencer philip@alchemedia.com.au Editorial Director Christopher Holder chris@audiotechnology.com.au Assistant Editor Preshan John preshan@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 Ewan McDonald
Art Direction Dominic Carey dominic@alchemedia.com.au 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
info@alchemedia.com.au www.audiotechnology.com.au
AudioTechnology magazine (ISSN 1440-2432) is published by Alchemedia Publishing Pty Ltd (ABN 34 074 431 628). Contact T: +61 3 5331 4949 E: info@alchemedia.com.au W: www.audiotechnology.com.au (Advertising, Subscriptions) PO Box 6216, Frenchs Forest NSW 2086, Australia.
(Editorial) PO Box 295, Ballarat VIC 3353, Australia.
All material in this magazine is copyright Š 2017 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. 15/11/2017.
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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
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COVER STORY
M Allen Parker Helps Dan Auerbach Find His Song
26
ISSUE 43 CONTENTS
20
Studio Focus: BMG SoundLabs
Shipping a Studio Interstate with The Waifs
32
Mark Opitz Makes Bad Dreems Come True
Output Analog Strings Virtual Instrument AT 6
60
Matt Redlich Gets the Most Out of Husky’s Kit
22
ADAM S Series Powered Monitors
UA Apollo Twin Mk II vs Arturia Audiofuse
36
52
28 46
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GENERAL NEWS
TWO STUDIO SUBS FROM DYNAUDIO Two new subwoofers have been released by Dynaudio. The 9S and 18S both have 9.45-inch woofers designed to be equally efficient for stereo and surround monitoring applications; handling a frequency range from 16Hz to 175Hz. The 9S has a single driver, whereas the 18S has one on either end acting as a push-push opposing design. A 300W Class D amp powers the 9S sub to deliver what Dynaudio says is significantly better performance than the BM 9S II it replaces. Rune Holst Jacobsen, Dynaudio VP of Sales, said, ‘The 9S is just as compact as our BM
9S II sub, yet with a performance that is comparable to the larger BM 14S II sub.’ The 18S is powered by a 500W amp with a builtin DSP engine providing time alignment options, three-band EQ, and presets for Dynaudio monitors. The subs come with double front baffles, adjustable low-pass filters, and signal-sensing circuits for auto power up/power down. Amber Technology: 1800 251 367 or sales@ambertech.com.au
EVENTIDE REFRESHES H9000 Hardware effects processing is familiar territory for Eventide but the company’s new H9000 unit blows every previous offering out of the water. The H9000 is a 16-DSP, network-ready, multichannel rackmount processor which offers eight times the processing power of the current-generation H8000 unit — eight times! Four quad core ARM processors serve as the 16 DSP engines. Eight channels of analogue I/O is accompanied by AES/ EBU, ADAT, 16 USB audio channels, and the option to connect to standard audio networks like MADI, Dante, Ravenna, and more. Multichannel processing means the H9000 is comfortable
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in post production and surround sound applications. In addition, the H9000 is capable of running effects chains which let you connect any set of four effects together with flexible routing. A remote control application called Emote is available as a standalone app or plug-in for in-the-box users. Emote can also be used over an audio network. Audio Chocolate: (03) 9813 5877 or www.audiochocolate.com.au
MORE NEWS AT www.audiotechnology.com.au
DIGITAL CONSOLES and RACK-MOUNTED MIXERS / STAGE BOXES
StudioLive 16
StudioLive 24 StudioLive 32
StudioLive 32R
StudioLive 24R
StudioLive 16R Connect a Series III rack mixer to a Series III front-of-house console with one lightweight CAT5e or CAT6 Ethernet cable via AVB, and you've got either a simple stage box or a combination stage box and monitor mixer.
The StudioLive Series III mixers from PreSonus are available in 16, 24, and 32-channel configurations—now in rack and console formats. While varying in I/O and channel counts, these mixers share nearly identical tech and workflow. The console mixers include touch-sensitive, motorized faders, recallable channel presets, and a gorgeous 7-inch TFT touchscreen Recording? Leave your laptop at home and use the onboard SD recorder. Expanded connectivity supported by Series III includes AVB, Ethernet, Ethercon, and USB. There’s a StudioLive Series III right for your project. Visit presonus.com to learn more.
Onboard Capture™ SD Card recording without a computer —multitrack on consoles, stereo on rack mixers.
Totally re-designed Fat Channel with State Space Modeling now has vintage EQs and compressors in an all-new UI.
100mm touch-sensitive motorized faders offer intuitive 1:1 fader-per-channel workflow or classic split console mode.
Includes new versions of Studio One® DAW, Capture™, QMix® UC, and UC 2.0 —all with groundbreaking integration.
Ph: 03 8373 4817 www.linkaudio.com.au AT 9
MACKIE ONYX USB INTERFACES Mackie deepens its influence in the studio with two new USB audio interfaces that sit under the Onyx umbrella. Designed for home studios, singer/songwriters and the like, the little boxes take the form factor of other portable interfaces like the Presonus AudioBox and Focusrite Scarlett baby models. Both Artist 1.2 and Producer 2.2 can be USB bus-powered and have 24-bit/192k recording, direct monitoring, 48V phantom power, 1/4-inch monitor outputs, and headphone outputs. The 1.2 has a single
Onyx preamp and a dedicated Hi-Z input, while the dual combo inputs on the 2.2 give it two of each. Included with Onyx USB interfaces is a full license for the Tracktion T7 DAW along with the DAW Essentials Collection, which includes 16 plug-ins. CMI Music & Audio: (03) 9315 2244 or www.cmi.com.au
SONY’S HI-FIDO MIC Sony’s C800G has been a favourite with rap ‘dawgs’, but its new ‘hi-res’ microphone could be hit with… dogs. The new sideaddress C-100 is optimised for vocal use and has a dual-capsule design — a 25mm diaphragm to cover 20Hz-25kHz, and a 17mm diaphragm to handle 25kHz-50kHz. The C-100 has selectable pickup patterns of omni, cardioid and figure-eight. A two-part metallic body structure from the C-800G microphone prevents acoustic vibration resulting in low noise and clear sound. The mic also has a low-cut filter and -10dB pad. The two
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smaller pencil condensers (ECM-100U and ECM-100N) are ideal for instruments and have the same 17mm capsule as in the C-100, only they run in full range to pick up from 20Hz-50kHz. The ECM-100N has a fixed omnidirectional polar pattern while the EM-100C is fixed cardioid. Sony: pro.sony.com.au
MORE NEWS AT www.audiotechnology.com.au
NEW
Grandstage STAGE PIANO - Available in 73 & 88 Key Models • Includes stand, damper pedal and music rest. • Seven sound engines: the SGX-2 with six acclaimed acoustic pianos, the EP-1, CX-3, VOX, Compact, AL-1, and HD-1. • A user interface designed for playability on stage. • Easy to control reverb & delay • Dynamics knob lets you instantly control the sound’s crispness and expressivity.
• Favourite buttons let you instantly recall yours sounds. • Smooth sound transition creates a natural-feeling change when you switch sounds. • Three-band equalizer lets you shape your sound. • Layer/split capability lets you easily combine sounds. • Panel lock prevents unintended operation.
PROMOTION NOW ON Deals across the range of KORG Digital Pianos, find your participating dealer at cmi.com.au/korgdealers
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LIVE NEWS
FBT VENTIS RANGE EXPANDS Joining FBT’s Ventis loudspeaker family are the 12-inch and 15-inch 112MA and 115MA multipurpose pole-mountable wedges, plus the full range eight-inch Ventis 108A, all available in both passive and active configurations. The Ventis 108A is ideal for applications where space is limited but audio quality is non-negotiable. With 700W + 200W Class D bi-amplification, the compact speaker pumps out 131dB SPL over a frequency response of 65Hz to 20kHz. The constant directivity, rotatable horn provides a coverage of 80° x 50°. The passive version, the
Ventis 108, delivers 250W into 8Ω for 126dB SPL and features a built-in passive crossover with soft-trip protection for the LF and HF, plus Speakon NL-4 In and Link Out connectors, and four M5 rigging points for installation. Meanwhile, the 112MA and 115MA can be deployed either for 90° floor monitoring or as a pole-mounted main PA. Audio Brands Australia: (02) 9659 7711 or sales@audiobrands.com.au
NEXO AMPS UP NXAMP RANGE Nexo’s new NXAMP4x1 Mk2 and 4x2 Mk2 models are a step up from the original NXAMP range. Available as four-channel 1000W and four-channel 2000W 2U rack units, the Class D amps weigh in at 16kg and 16.6kg, respectively. They feature 32-bit/96k converters and 64-bit signal processing. A large LCD colour touch-screen on the front panel enables faster and easier navigation, giving direct access to all essential parameters including array EQ, mute and meters, EQ detail, inputs, load monitoring, scene, setup, system headroom, volume, gain and delays. A native dual Ethernet port offers seamless integration
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with Nexo’s proprietary NeMo system management software. Besides the four analogue inputs each amp has four digital inputs — AES/EBU, EtherSound, Dante, or AES67. The NXAMP4x2 MK2 is a new design in the range that’s ideal for Nexo’s Geo Series of compact line array systems, and for the PS Series cabinets. It replaces the NXAMP4x1 model, which Nexo will continue to support as a legacy product. Group Technologies: (03) 9354 9133 or sales@grouptechnologies.com.au
MORE NEWS AT www.audiotechnology.com.au
HUNTER CAMPUS TAFE NSW INSTALLATION BY MUSOS CORNER
Musos Corner We recently completed the design and installation of the new post-production audio facility at TAFE NSW Hunter Campus - the first Avid S6 Dolby Atmos training facility in Australia. Featuring Pro Tools HD (with Dolby Atmos), Avid S6 and MTRX, Focusrite Rednet, Focusrite ISA, Neve, SSL, AML, Yamaha - all with full Dante implementation - Argosy, Sterling Modular, and custom built furniture.
New stock landing:
Musos Corner
Showroom Open 7 Days. 1 National Park St Newcastle West NSW 2302. PH: 02 4929 2829 www.musoscorner.com.au Flexible payment options available. Ask in-store for detail. AT 13
PRESONUS SL SERIES III RACK MIXERS Presonus has trimmed the fat with Series III of the StudioLive rackable mixers. The 16R now squeezes into a single rack unit, while the 24R and 32R fit all that I/O into 2RU. A judicious helping of TRS outputs help save space, but the functionality hasn’t taken any hits. They can serve as AVB stage boxes, combination stage boxes and monitor mixers, or standalone mixers. Remote-controlled XMAX preamps and full recall on all models make the Series III rack mixers ideal as a stage-located I/O box when paired with control via a StudioLive desk. The two larger models each have 26 mix buses, including 16 FlexMixes,
four dedicated subgroups, four internal effects buses/processors, and the stereo main mix bus. The StudioLive 16R has six FlexMixes, two effects buses, and the stereo main bus for a total of 10 mix buses. Each of the mixers now comes equipped with an onboard SD card recorder, allowing you to record your L/R mix directly within the unit. Alternatively, you can multitrack the inputs via USB. Link Audio: (03) 8373 4817 or info@linkaudio.com.au
SHURE ENHANCES ASSETS Shure has improved its SystemOn audio asset management software. It lets you monitor all your Shure devices without constant babying. It even alerts users through SMS and email when batteries are running low or a device goes missing. New enhancements for Shure Microflex Wireless include remote microphone transmitter linking that lets you automatically link a mic to an access point in a room from a remote location like a help desk. New features for Microflex Wireless, ULX-D Digital Wireless, and the SCM820 automatic mixer include a comprehensive inventory dashboard that displays all devices
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in one simplified homepage, and provides an all-inclusive hardware status view. SystemOn lets you control these devices from a central location, and provide SMS and email notifications for a 360° view of a room’s system, capabilities, and acute needs. SystemOn remotely monitors battery life, product inventory, audio levels, and RF spectrum status for different Shure hardware devices. Jands: (02) 9582 0909 or www.jands.com.au
MORE NEWS AT www.audiotechnology.com.au
D E S I G N
M E E T S
I N T U I T I O N
V3.5 WARE FIRM W WITH NO UGAN DAN DMIXER! AUTO
1000
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TRADE-IN ANY MIXER AND RECEIVE
OFF* *$1,000 trade-in value is off the RRP (Recommended Retail Price).
ANY YAMAHA TF5/3/1 MIXER MODEL
TF5-MIXER
TF3-MIXER
TF1-MIXER
RRP
$5,999
$4,999
$3,999
PROMO RRP
$4,999
$3,999
$2,999
TERMS & CONDITIONS • *$1,000 trade-in value is off the RRP Recommended Retail Price. • Included TF Series models are TF1-MIXER, TF3-MIXER, and TF5-MIXER. • Promotional offer is part of a national sales program conducted by the distributor, Yamaha Music Australia Pty Ltd and is valid from 1 July 2017 at participating TF Series dealers. The promotion will end on 31 August 2017. • Final purchase price is determined by the participating dealer. • Offer is limited to one TF Series mixer per customer. • The promotional reduced RRP price applies only to included TF Series models when providing your exchange mixer to the participating dealer at the time of purchase.
MORE INFORMATION & PARTICIPATING DEALERS yamahabackstage.com.au/promotions
• Any fully functioning audio mixer is eligible for trade-in to qualify for the promotional price. • At the time of purchase, the participating dealer will take ownership of your exchange mixer and will be responsible for any associated requirements as pursuant to The Second-Hand Dealers and Pawnbrokers Act 1989. • The Authorised Yamaha Dealer participating in this promotion may not have sold one of the included TF Series models in the past and where it has sold them, they may have sold them at less than RRP.
LIKE US ON FACEBOOK facebook.com/yamahabackstagepass
WATCH US ON YOUTUBE youtube.com/yamahaaustralia AT 15
SOFTWARE NEWS
ABLETON LIVE 10 Ableton Live 10 is here, and there’s plenty to get excited about! The new Capture features lets you jam away on a MIDI track while it’s armed, then recall the last idea you played after the fact. Or use it to add new parts or overdub MIDI into existing clips. Live 10 also has the ability to edit multiple MIDI clips in the same MIDI window — different instruments are colour coded. The Arrangement View has been optimised for quick editing and more efficient song creation. Other workflow enhancements include nesting groups within groups, better browser organisation, note chasing to trigger MIDI notes
even when playback begins in the middle of one, and easier I/O renaming. New devices include Wavetable (which uses wavetables from analogue synths and other instruments and sounds), Echo (based on analogue and digital hardware delays), Drum Buss (a distortion/dynamics/transient-shaping/ bass sculpting workstation for crafting drums) and Pedal (stompboxes with overdrive, distortion, and fuzz). CMI Music & Audio: (03) 9315 2244 or www.cmi.com.au
CAKEWALK BUILDS MOMENTUM There’s a new recording platform on the block and it’s called Momentum. Developed by Cakewalk, the software isn’t trying to be a DAW (Sonar is for that) — it’s more about recording song ideas, lyrics, melodies via any Mac, Windows, iOS, or Android device. Once recorded, your ideas can be synced via the cloud and backed up automatically. You can even send songs from your DAW back into Momentum for more in-depth development of a concept. Your software or app is available through a subscription-type payment system. The Basic Plan is US$2.99/ AT 16
month and allows for an unlimited number of ideas, while the Pro Plan ($9.99/month) extends the maximum length to 60 minutes per idea and supports lossless FLAC or WAV encoding. The Free version of Momentum allows a limited number of ideas (projects) encoded in MP3 format, each with a maximum length of five minutes. Gibson AMI: (03) 8696 4600 or www.gibsonami.com
MORE NEWS AT www.audiotechnology.com.au
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CUBASE & WAVELAB 9.5 Cubase 9.5 now features a 64-bit floating point mixing engine which performs each task with more detail, dynamics, and transparency. Also new is an enhanced zone concept with the File Browser, Metering Section, and the Control Room in one place. Precise automation curves help you create and edit smooth transitions and musical build-ups. You get 16 insert slots for VST effects on each track plus freely adjustable pre/post fader separators. There’s a refined metronome which now has a click pattern editor and assignable patterns for the signature track. Steinberg also released version 9.5 of Wavelab. The audio
editing software now has a spectrum editor with new tools and editing functions for the new spectrogram and wavelet displays. RestoreRig is a new plug-in suite with a DeClicker, DeBuzzer, DePopper, DeNoiser, and DeCrackler. Both Cubase and Wavelab 9.5 are available as fully-fledged Pro versions, or more affordable Elements and Artist versions. Yamaha Music: (03) 9693 5111 or www.yamahamusic.com.au
iLOK CLOUD Users tend to hate iLoks, but plug-in manufacturers dig their security. Pace, the creator of iLok, has come up with a compromise — software licensing via the cloud. iLok Cloud allows software publishers to offer their users quick and easy access to licenses from any computer with an Internet connection. Pace says it has the same level of security as the current iLok USB smart key which will remain an option along
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with machine-based licenses. How does iLok Cloud work? You punch in a username and password whenever you launch a protected piece of software from an online computer. The new licensing system is already available to software publishers and end users can start using it in early 2018. It’s sure to be handy when that elusive iLok dongle isn’t in reach.
MORE NEWS AT www.audiotechnology.com.au
PROFESSIONAL
ShowMatch™ DeltaQ™ loudspeakers provide better coverage for outstanding vocal clarity. With DeltaQ technology, new ShowMatch array loudspeakers more ©2017 Bose Corporation.
precisely direct sound to the audience in both installed and portable applications. Each array module offers field-changeable waveguides that can vary coverage and even create asymmetrical patterns. The result is unmatched sound quality and vocal clarity for every seat in the house. Learn more at SHOWMATCH.BOSE.COM
NEXT-GENERATION ARRAY TECHNOLOGY
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REGULARS
It's all about making songwriting easy at BMG's SoundLabs. Just plug in your laptop, use the UAD plug-ins, sing through the Manley Reference Cardioid mic and Voxbox chain, automate your session with the Slate Raven touch screen and get creative with ROLI's Seaboard MPE controller, the Kemper Profiling Amp and Studiologic Sledge synth.
STUDIO FOCUS:
BMG WRITING ROOMS You’ve heard the term ‘content is king.’ BMG has a slightly adapted philosophy better described as ‘content creation is king.’ The global record label isn’t your average hit-churning machine, although it certainly churns out hits. BMG Australia recently completed the fitout of its new SoundLabs ‘writing rooms’ in its Surry Hills offices. They’re like ridiculously over-spec’d home studios, but in an office building. Apart from the enviable recording gear, SoundLabs aren’t your run-of-the-mill studio spaces. They’re all about content creation; rooms designed as songwriting ovens set to the perfect temperature to bake new music to perfection. Dubbed Black room and White room according to their aesthetics, both creative incubators feature a Slate Raven touch-screen controller, Waldorf keyboards, and a handful of mics. A Yamaha baby grand sits in the reception between the two rooms, appropriately named ‘the grey area’. Each SoundLab isn’t trying to be a world-class recording studio. As you can imagine, BMG’s Sydney headquarters are frequented by international artists, producers, and musicians. Some of them are well-versed in handling the technical aspects of a recording studio. Others make their music on a laptop and not much else. The idea with SoundLabs is you walk in, flick a couple of power switches to bring the gear to life, hook up your own laptop via USB or Thunderbolt, launch your latest DAW session, and start jamming. No patch cables, console normalisation, or tape head calibration involved. How exactly do you go about creating an optimal songwriting atmosphere? Heath Johns, AT 20
managing director of BMG, insists natural light is a crucial ingredient. Both rooms have large windows that look out over Sydney city. Heath Johns: “With the BMG SoundLabs we were hyper-conscious of allowing that connection to the outside world. When people are sitting there for hours on end looking to create and not just record, a little outside stimulus is a really positive, productive thing. “Having the external vista change throughout the day tends to correlate with the evolution of a song. People might come in it at 10AM with the sunlight streaming through. As the day progresses the lighting in the rooms change, you start to see the city lights turn on in the background. It kind of matches the progress of the song. It’s quite interesting — on a dreary day you often get a slightly more introspective arty track, but on a vibrant summer day you get a few more party bangers written in the room.” KEEN AS KENNY
BMG’s SoundLabs are partly Mitch Kenny’s brainchild. Mitch is a world-class mixing engineer who’s worked with artists like Beyonce, Elton John, Snoop Dogg, Nicole Scherzinger, and Boyz II Men. You can read all about Mitch’s mix of the ARIAnominated Hermitude album Dark Night Sweet Light in Issue 113. Heath brought Mitch in to select the audio gear for the SoundLabs… and when Mitch specs a studio, it’s the kind of place where you’d happily pitch tent and hang out like a hermit for the next few years. “Artists and creative people spend their whole lives away from being in offices, then they go to meet their label and it’s like walking into a bank,”
Story: Preshan John
Mitch says. “This doesn’t feel like that at all. From the baby grand in the lounge to the pick ’n’ mix lolly bar mounted on the wall, it’s a fun place to be.” The writing rooms were built with zero commercial intent. Heath says they exist simply to make artists feel welcome and to foster a collaborative, creative environment at BMG’s Aussie HQ. The company has run songwriting camps, also called SoundLabs, in similar rooms abroad. Heath said a number of the songs on Rihanna’s Anti album were formed in sessions like these. Inviting global artists to collaborate on music is a primary purpose for the two new rooms. The 46-inch Slate Digital Raven touch-screens underpin the user-friendly design philosophy. Mitch is a Pro Tools keyboard shortcut ninja and was surprised to find himself gravitating toward the touchy-feely Raven interface. “I didn’t know anything about the Ravens before I used them here but can totally see their benefits now,” Mitch says. “It does require time to learn all the gestures and things like that but I’m finding I’m starting to touch the screen more.” The easel-style workflow adds to the vibe of collaboration and participation in the SoundLabs. Plus, it’s fun to look at. The extremely capable UAD Apollo 8s cover interface duties in both rooms, adding a little colour via its DSP-powered effects and Unison preamps without involving a rack of outboard pres and a patchbay. Vocal tracks recorded in the writing rooms are the most likely to be carried through to the final mix. As such, the vocal chain is far beyond ‘demo quality’ — a Manley Gold Reference cardioid microphone running into a Manley VoxBox
channel strip. If the Manley gear doesn’t float your boat, Mitch threw in a Shure SM7 and Slate Virtual Microphone System as well. Like the Apollo DSP, Slate VMS allows for some wiggle room in sonics without requiring multiple physical preamps and hardware processing units. It’s all part of the ‘writing room’ M.O. — keep it minimal, keep it simple, keep it functional, and let the focus be on inspiring creativity. UNITY IN THE ROOM
While Mitch spec’d the gear for the two rooms, Heath handled the design and acoustics aspects. Tonnes of mass were put into the rooms for isolation. Acoustic treatment was imported from FeltTouch in Turkey. The bold and colourful magnetic panels contribute to both the interior design and room acoustics in equal measure. Monitoring in both rooms is via Unity Audio Rock monitors. Unity also hooked Heath’s own office up with the three-way Boulder and B.A.B.E. system. Needless to say, he’s chuffed: “It’s been an absolute pleasure working with the Unity Products. There is zero fatigue, even the Boulder and B.A.B.E. system is really easy to listen to. They’re not just a party speaker, they’re also very clean and accurate. That’s been one of the revelations from this project — just how good the Unity products are.” Both are absolutely stoked with how the SoundLabs shaped up. “I’m tickled pink,” says Mitch. “There’s something about the rooms that’s really, really cool. They’re comfortable to work in and mixes are translating really well.” www.bmg.com
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FEATURE
OPITZ MAKES BAD DREEMS COME TRUE Mark Opitz’s production techniques are simple, effective and all about clarity. Perfect for letting the political rage of Bad Dreems shine through on Gutful. Story: Mark Davie
Artist: Bad Dreems Album: Gutful
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When Bad Dreems were putting together a list of producers they’d like to work with ‘dead or alive’, they started by dreaming big, writing down names like Martin Hannett — the Factory Records partner who well and truly passed away in 1991. Then Mark Opitz came up. They weren’t sure which side of the mortal coil he resided on, but put him down anyway. “Around that time I was reading the book he had out,” said guitarist Alex Cameron, talking about Opitz’s ‘bi-epic’ Sophisto-Punk. “We were like, ‘We think he’s still alive but haven’t really heard anything he’s done lately.’” Opitz is, in fact, well and truly alive, and still actively producing and engineering — mostly out of Colin Wynne’s Thirty Mill Studios in Melbourne. He also recently signed on for a visiting fellowship with the Australian National University. The band excavated his details from the internet and sent him an email. “He liked the music and that was it, basically,” said Cameron. The band has recorded two albums now with Opitz, the first was Dogs at Bay, which followed on the heels of their succession of singles getting Triple J airplay. The second is Gutful, another powerhouse Aussie release in the pub rock/garage tradition with boatloads of killer melodies. WALKING IN WALKER’S SHOES
Despite being a pillar of the Australian music scene, the pub rock playing field is surrounded by stigma, something the band was aware of when they worked with a guy famous for recording bands like AC/DC, Cold Chisel and The Angels. “I didn’t realise how much of a role he’d played in the lineage of Australian rock,” said Cameron, who dug up Opitz’s diverse range of credits in his research, which includes pop bands like The Reels. “I read how The Triffid’s Wide Open Road was his favourite Australian song. What came out of all that for us is how he was really into song craft. We’re a band based around songwriting so we thought he’d be a good fit. There’s a stigma attached to those iconoclastic bands like Cold Chisel. Nevertheless, Don Walker’s songwriting and the musicianship in that band is superlative. Once we talked to him we realised he wasn’t just some old rocker whose palette didn’t stretch beyond that stuff.” Opitz happily places Cameron in a similar league to Walker. “He’s one of the smartest songwriters I’ve met,” said Opitz, who’s not going to wax on about just anyone. “You meet a lot of good songwriters in your career. I worked with Don Walker early on, and Dave Faulkner from the Gurus — even though we’ve never been the best of mates and we fought all the way through the album we did together, he’s a great writer. “Bad Dreems is the first time I’ve worked with an Australian band with an Australian accent where I’ve thought, ‘this is not cringe worthy’, said Opitz, pointing out most classic Aussie bands didn’t feature that drawl. “Crocodile Dundee, that’s cringe worthy! BELIEVING IN THE DREEMS
Escaping cultural cringe is all about authenticity. In music these days, proponents of Aussie accents
can be as about as subtle as walking around New York wearing an Akubra with a Bowie knife strapped to your waist. Opitz says there’s only one way to avoid cultural cringe. “I always give singers a simple piece of advice: ‘All I’ve got to do is believe what you say.’ Don’t worry about trying to sound like Aretha or be like someone else, just make me believe what you’re saying. The simpler you can be in the studio with advice and approaching problems, the better it is.” As you might expect, Opitz doesn’t have a rule book. While that ‘ignore all influences’ advice might work for one performer, the opposite might be true for another. When he told the story about getting Jimmy Barnes in the right frame of mind for a vocal on Flame Trees, he used Aretha as a guide. “He played me the middle bit where he talks, ‘Who needs that sentimental bullshit, anyway? It takes more than just a memory to make me cry.’ He said, ‘I’m not too happy with that, I don’t know what to do with it.’ I said to him, ‘What would Aretha do?’ Two seconds later he was in the studio in front of that mic and we had the take like that.” Production requires as much application of psychology as it does song craft, and Opitz is a master — even when he doesn’t look like he’s doing much. “There’s a quote about people who are masters of something, how they seem to do nothing at all,” said Cameron. “Colin does a lot of hands-on stuff, touching the computer. Opitz sits back and is about getting the vibe and feel right. He’s definitely not an overbearing hands-on kind of guy. He sits back and makes sure the whole thing is heading in the right direction.” Occasionally that chilled approach would get to Cameron: “He has this little laptop setup to the side of the main mixing desk. He’s into photography, so he was putting on this slideshow of his own photographs and he put on this AC/DC track from one of the early albums. It’s not a good track, I don’t like it at all. But he just kept playing it on repeat after repeat just sitting there looking at all these photos. “We were asking stuff about the parts and he was just vibing out to his own photos for hours. Anyway, we finished tracking and they finished mixing the song and sent it to us the next day. We said, ‘Oh this is awesome I love how it sounds kinda ’70s rather than the songs we’ve done prior which sounded a bit more heavy.’ And he’s like, ‘Yeah that’s why I was playing that song just to get everyone in the right vibe.’” Opitz showed me the photos. He didn’t put those on intentionally, they’re just a slideshow of his iPhoto library that happens to be worth watching because he’s an enthusiast photographer who’s spent his life travelling the globe. The AC/ DC track? Now that was absolutely purposeful. “I just started playing it in the background every day to start the recording of the album,” said Opitz. “I was playing it to surreptitiously get a vibe going. I found that funny because he said to me on the phone, ‘Hey guess what? Someone actually believes you played that in there just to vibe us up.’ I said, ‘You f**kin’ idiot, that’s exactly what I was doing!’”
The first thing I explain to the band is that I want them to be a band. That means you play as a band. Laying down parts separately to a click track is not being a band! RECORDING HATS ON
Thirty Mill Studios is in a single-storey Brunswick house. Separation is just a matter of spreading instruments out over the various rooms; control room in the front bedroom, the lounge room is the live room with a vocal booth built into the corner, and amps are spread out over the other bedrooms. “It feels halfway between being in a studio and DIY recording at home,” said Cameron. “We slept in the house and used the kitchen during the four sessions, it was a cool middle ground.” All the action happens in the lounge room with everyone standing around the kit and Ben Marwe singing and playing guitar in the vocal booth while looking through the window. “The first thing I explain to the band is that I want them to be a band,” said Opitz. “That means you play as a band. Laying down parts separately to a click track is not being a band! Once we’ve talked about what song we’re going to do, and go through any areas I’m not happy with, then I’ll get everyone to play a set. Six, seven songs, whatever. Doesn’t matter. Whack them down and hit record. I’ll make a cup of tea, they get their headphones sorted out. More importantly, I’m using it to get them warmed up and in a natural position to record. We record everything from the first warm-ups. BECAUSE WE DON’T RECORD DEMOS, WE DON’T RECORD SINGLES, WE DON’T RECORD ALBUMS… WE RECORD. That way you don’t come into the studio thinking, ‘I must wear my recording hat, or my single hat today.’ I want you to come in with your band hat and be a band.”
OPITZ THE GUITAR TZAR
Having that time to get headphone sends just right was a big part of the vibe for Cameron: “The thing that seems to stuff up recording sessions is if you don’t have very good feeds. Some people plug your guitar straight into the desk or amp sims. The way Colin and Mark set it up, it feels almost as good as the amp being in the room with you.” Tracing the signal path back to the source, it all starts with the amp. Ever since Opitz went through AC/DC’s entire Marshall backline matching heads to cabs for Vanda & Young, he’s developed a knack for choosing amps and getting the most out of them. Cameron mostly uses a custom shop ’63 Fender Stratocaster, as well as a 1977 Gibson 335, while a Gretsch White Falcon was occasionally AT 23
(clockwise from top) Tracking drums in the lounge room of Thirty Mill Studios; Ben Marwe's view from the vocal booth — Shure SM7 and a bunch of lyrics; when Marwe's tracking with the band he can take down the lyrics and look out the window; Mark Opitz in full svengali mode.
dug up for a few clean licks. They had a ’65 Fender Twin Reverb in the studio, but mostly used a ’70s Marshall JMP through a 1960 quad box. “When I first had a Stratocaster I didn’t really know what I was doing,” said Cameron. “I was trying to get it to sound like a Jazzmaster or Telecaster — thinner and brighter. Over time my sound developed and I’ve always kept the Stratocaster. I’ve always shied away from Marshalls before, but playing the Stratocaster through it was revealing. With this type of music we wanted to avoid any guitar effects, just plug a guitar into a good amp and rely on your playing to get the nuances across.” Opitz has his guitar miking technique locked down, but it must be applied exactly right, which is why he still takes care of miking amps even when Colin’s engineering. “I use my tried and true method, which combines a Shure SM57 and AKG C414,” said Opitz. “A dynamic to capture the peak heavy mid range and a condenser for the low and high end. I take my torch in and spend a lot of time in front of the cab. I set them up directly in front of the speaker with the capsules exactly in phase and angled in 45 degrees from the centre line. They’re aimed exactly halfway between the centre and the edge of the speaker. Keeping them at 45 degrees tells me how far out I’ve got to be. I’m still getting that treble powering right in from the middle, it’s just coming in off-axis. I’m also getting every bit of bottom end that thing can give me because I’m looking straight at the deepest edge of the cardboard cone.” Cameron found out the hard way how exacting that positioning has to be. “I went in there to AT 24
change the amp settings and obviously knocked the mic when I was doing it,” he recalled. “WHEN HE STARTED PLAYING THE TAPE HE’S LIKE, ‘SOMETHING’S NOT RIGHT!’ THEN HE WENT IN THERE AND SAW THE MIC AND WENT ABSOLUTELY TROPPO!”
“With my method, the one thing it guarantees, is the sound you produce is the sound you’re going to get,” said Opitz. “Good, bad, indifferent — don’t give a s**t, that’s the sound it’s going to be.” It hasn’t always been a 414; he came across that combination by accident. He used a Neumann 47 FET on AC/DC’s Powerage, because the valve in a U47 would get microphonic. Then he switched to the 414 after using its predecessor, a C12A, to record the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. “I had a stereo pair maybe 15 feet above the floor,” explained Opitz. “ONE DROPPED AND HIT THE FLOOR. I PUT IT BACK UP, TURNED IT BACK ON AND IT WORKED LIKE A F**KING CHARM. I THOUGHT, ‘THAT HAS GOT TO BE THE F**KING TOUGHEST MICROPHONE IN THE WORLD, AND THAT’S WHY I CHOSE IT.”
Once he’s got both mics set up, he puts it through the hybrid 1073/1081 channel strips on the Custom Series 75 Neve-powered console, leaving the EQ flat and adjusting the levels to match so he can flip the phase of one to check it’s in alignment. If it mostly disappears, he’ll flip the phase back and balance the sound he wants with the mic preamps and print both mics to one track, keeping the separate mic tracks just in case. PHASES OF RECORDING
“Phase relationships are massive, just as big as music notation to me,” said Opitz. “Say we recorded
the bass onto two tracks through a DI and a mic. First thing we do is isolate and listen to those tracks then drag the one that’s behind to meet the one in front. Sometimes it’s very minor, but the difference it makes in the sound is major. “There’s two other things you’ve got to watch when you record. One is making sure the resolution is strong enough and you get enough of it in there. The other is watching out for extra bottom end. You can’t hear it but the tape recorder or hard drive can hear it. It takes up space and affects any compression you’re going to be using. You can’t hear it, but the compressor doesn’t know that. Once it’s affecting the stereo bus compressor, it’s affecting everything.” It’s the same principle with the drums — no EQ on the way in, just phase checked and low end rolled off where it’s not required. The drums usually sit at one end of the lounge room, at the centre of an arc formed by the foam-filled bay window. “We know what works on most kits,” said Opitz. “A couple of 57s on snare, probably out of phase. Sennheiser MD421s on the toms, maybe a condenser on a bigger floor tom. I put it off the rim to keep it out of the way of the drummer, because it’s about the performance. I also put it on a shallow angle, because if you get the centre you’re going to get the impact but not the resonance. THE MICROPHONE IS GOING TO HEAR THE STICK HITTING THE BLOODY DRUM BUT WHAT YOU REALLY WANT TO HEAR IS THE EFFECT IT’S HAVING ON THE DRUM. So rather than coming in at a higher angle and getting a sharper sound, I’d rather get a longer sound at a narrower angle. If we got a
That’s why I say to people don’t say you’re digital or analogue. Be thankful both exist because they have such strong values
FET condenser that doesn’t break up, we might put it on the kick drum. There’s no EQ done at all, except for maybe roll-off going to tape. I know I’m not gonna need 80 cycles and under on the hi-hat for a start!”
James Bartold dropping in the odd bassline fix with engineer Colin Wynne at the helm of the Custom Series 75 console.
OVERDUBS: LET IT BLEED
When the band hits a take everyone’s happy with, the overdubbing process happens fairly quickly. It begins with James Bartold dropping in the odd bass fix with Colin, while everyone grabs a drink. Then Cameron will have a crack at a solo. “He’ll play shit solo after shit solo after shit solo,” said Opitz. “Then we’ll talk about it and he just pulls this part out of nowhere that’s genius. He knows when to write and also knows when to not write any more and be ‘stream of consciousness’. It’s quite amazing to watch. ” For vocals, Opitz will let Marwe out of the vocal booth sweat box and set the SM7 up at the same foam-backed point where the drums usually sit. “Out there he can have a bit more room at the table,” explained Opitz. “I actually prefer singers in the sweat box a lot of the time because they get into their own world as well as get really hot. You’ve just got to be careful because your use-up factor timer is on.” Right at the beginning of the album, on Johnny Irony there’s the sound of someone screaming ‘Just do it live!’ That wasn’t Opitz blowing a fuse, it was Cameron… in his underpants. “There’s that Bill O’Reilly clip from ages ago,” he explained, referencing the ex-Fox News anchor. “Something’s f**king up with his autocue. He gets more and more angry, and screams, ‘F**k it, I’ll just do it live!’ It’s something we always say to each other. Ben was doing the vocals for it and he wasn’t really getting it, so I was trying to get him fired up. It was an overdub and he wasn’t in his little vocal booth, he was standing in the middle of that room by himself. I went out of the control room, waited till he was about to start doing a take and stripped all my clothes off and ran in there and started dancing around! Somehow during that process I gave myself a blood nose so that’s why you hear him say, ‘Are you bleeding?!’” CLEAR ABOUT CLARITY
Opitz’s restricted use of EQ and compression on the way in is part of his renewed approach to maintain clarity. He’s always been intent on using the right gear at the right time; whether it’s analogue or
digital, yesteryear or yesterday’s technology. Lately, Opitz feels we’ve been missing the point of digital recording formats. “I’m trying to get technique back to as simple as possible because now we’ve got a clarity in digital we’ve never had before,” explained Opitz. “In my mind, the best way to use that clarity is as clarity, not to try and reinvent it. When we had analogue, of course, we had albums like Sgt. Pepper’s and tried to make noises no-one had ever heard before because we’d done all the rest. We couldn’t go anywhere else. That’s all the medium would allow us to do. “Now we’ve got a recording medium that allows us to get equal value from analogue and digital. That’s why I say to people, don’t say you’re digital or analogue, be thankful both exist because they each have such strong values.” Next to the console in the control room sit racks of outboard that includes ELI Distressors — “pound for pound, they gotta be the best compressors you can get. They have to be. They’re so transparent, yet so effective. You can make things sound fat with them without having them go small.” An Al Smart C1 compressor — “I’ve made a fortune off that f**king company. It’s been on my life’s work and makes anything sound good.” Manley VoxBox, UA 1176s and hardware SPL Transient Designers — “If I ever use them, it’s on weak drummers. Mainly on the tom hits; I don’t want to replace it if I can work around it.” He’s also got a Neve stereo compressor, which was a present from Tom Misner, and a Bricasti M7 — “THROUGHOUT MY RECORDING LIFE, EVERY NOW AND AGAIN I CAN POINT TO A PIECE OF GEAR AND PUT A TICK ON IT. THAT’S ONE OF THEM. I ONLY USE ONE SOUND; NONLIN B. It’s better than the original version, the AMS RMX16 — another bit of gear I made a lot of money on. The Bricasti is a lot more subtle. You can’t tell it’s a reverb. It does what I always wanted the other one to do; it lengthens the note. Its latency is not so bad that you can mix it into the snare and it sounds totally natural — like there’s no reverb on it at all. The note just got fatter and bigger.”
WHEN TO ANALOGUE
Opitz loves the broad tone shaping of analogue gear, lauding the ability of a piece of kit like the Custom Series 75 console or a Fairchild compressor to impart a sound. “The whole point of using a Fairchild is to put a signal through it so it goes through all the old valves and wiring,” said Opitz. “Half the time it’ll warm the sound up in bypass.” He also loves the flexibility and forensic-level control digital tools provide. “The beauty of being able to record digitally allows me to change arrangements right up to last mix,” said Opitz. “These days you can go in with a seven-minute song and cut a single out of it. You can see what cutting the solo in half sound like, or nix a double chorus.” He does all his mix preparation in the digital realm. First, there was checking the phase relationships, the nailing the arrangement, and lastly, using digital EQ to get rid of any rogue frequencies. “We don’t listen to the songs at this point, we listen to every single instrument,” explained Opitz. “Okay, what’s going on with the hi-hat? Wind that out to 150 cycles. Then we can throw on a plug-in EQ to have a look for rogue frequencies. We could never do that before on the console, push up a frequency with a small Q, then notch it out. Rogue frequencies are very obvious, but you could never get rid of them before because the equipment wasn’t there. I’m pointing out that there’s a great place for the digital age, and space for what you can do on the analogue side of things as well.” Opitz is a master at making technology work for him so he can focus on producing the song and the performance. “That’s what makes someone like him,” reckons Cameron. “The small things that push the band in the right direction and headspace, rather than trying to do too much. Another thing he always said was production is about finding the essence of the band and letting that shine through. You can’t really do that if you’re controlling everything.” “You’ve got to remember,” said Opitz. “In the end, everything comes down to the performance.” AT 25
FEATURE
With over 100 songs written and recorded during the making of the Black Keys frontman’s latest solo album, M Allen Parker developed a system to get the most out of Easy Eye Sound’s vintage gear. Story: Paul Tingen Photos: Alysse Gafkjen M Allen Parker in front of the Altec 9300 console at Easy Eye Sound Studios. The large monitors are Equators, and the smaller pair were made for Dan Auerbach by Norman Druce of Atomic Instruments.
Artist: Dan Auerbach Album: Waiting on a Song
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Clearly the wait wasn’t long when working on Dan Auerbach’s Waiting on a Song. In all, 100 songs were written and recorded for the Black Keys frontman’s second solo album before being whittled down to the final 10. “Dan used to write songs as part of the recording process,” elaborated co-producer and engineer M Allen Parker about the Black Keys’ process. “Pat [Carney] and he were writing the songs in the studio while they were making the record. However, in Nashville there’s a long tradition of guys going into a room with just an acoustic guitar and a little later coming out with the better part of a finished song. Dan wanted to write more in that traditional Nashville way, which he had never done before.” He assembled a team of co-writers that included Nashville legends like John Prine, Pat McLaughlin, and David Ferguson at his Easy Eye Studios in Nashville and got into a rhythm of “he and some others writing songs on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday,” explained Parker. “Then Thursday, Friday and Saturday we’d be recording and overdubbing. It would not be uncommon for us to track five or six songs on Thursday and Friday and then do overdubs on those songs on Saturday. The next Monday, we’d start again. By the time the album came out we had recorded over 100 songs, with most of them fully produced with backing vocals and a pretty good mix!” The musical direction of his new album has a lot to do with Auerbach moving from Akron to Nashville in 2010, where he set up his own studio, Easy Eye Sound. Waiting On A Song is a celebration of Nashville-inspired country and 1970s soft rock, so he gathered the old guard of Nashville to help deliver on the premise. The all-star cast included famous guitarists Mark Knopfler, Duane Eddy, and Jerry Douglas, as well as older session musicians with impressive track records such as keyboardist Bobby Wood (Elvis, Garth Brooks), bassist Dave Roe (Johnny Cash), guitarist Russ Pahl (Don Williams), drummer Gene Chrisman (Elvis, Bobby Womack, Aretha Franklin), and many others. They all would have felt right at home within the walls of Easy Eye Sound Studio, which is stuffed to the rafters with vintage studio gear, instruments and amps. However, even a jack of all trades and master of many like Auerbach — who’s also an active producer as well as a songwriter and musician — can’t do everything, so he’s long worked with a regular engineer at Easy Eye. In January 2016, Auerbach found his latest partner in crime: engineer and mixer M Allen Parker, who has a background in the very music that informs Waiting On A Song. “Ocean Way Nashville is where I came up,” said Parker, who was a staff engineer there before going freelance in 2008 and has a credit list including Merle Haggard, Jerry Douglas, Sheryl Crow, Joe Walsh, Indigo Girls and Keith Urban. “I obviously did plenty of country sessions there, but working at a studio of that calibre exposed me to all kinds of sessions, engineers, and producers. “A really great engineer named Collin Dupuis moved down here with Dan and helped him build
his studio, as well as engineering many of the records Dan did here. When Collin became less available I connected with Dan and we sort of hit it off. After working together for six months or so he asked me to become chief engineer and studio manager. Dan has worked a lot with driven rock styles on all The Black Keys records, and I came up doing country music and styles centred around vocals and natural acoustic instruments. That combination really lent itself to what Dan wanted to do with his new record.” EASY EYE SOUND
All sessions took place at Easy Eye, with Parker making good use of the classic gear there. “The main desk here is an old Spectrasonics which is from around 1972. We mix through that desk. There’s also an Altec 9300 console from the early ’70s, which has great mic pres. We used that a lot for recording. The big monitors here are Equators, which have DSP in them. I’m not usually a fan of DSP but the room is funky in shape — long and narrow — so it allows us to get the monitors working in this room. The smaller, mid-sized monitors were made for Dan years ago by Norman Druce of Atomic Instruments. “The studio has a fairly large live room, about 30 by 45 feet with a ceiling about 12 feet high. The space is pretty dead, and there’s a Studio B, which now functions like a booth. We record vocals, acoustic guitar and acoustic bass in there, but for the rest it’s pretty much everyone on the floor. We’ll put some baffles around the drums, but THERE WILL ALWAYS BE SOME BLEED. THAT DOESN’T REALLY MATTER TO US, BECAUSE IT’S LIKE THOSE CLASSIC RECORDS FROM THE 1970S WHERE BLEED IS WHAT GLUES THEM TOGETHER.
“The design of the studio is pretty unique among modern studios, and reminiscent of studios like Hitsville in Detroit or Sam Phillips Recording in Memphis, in that it has a certain sound and there’s an established way of doing things that allows us to work really quickly. Even when we’re mixing, if Dan decides he wants an additional drum part in the bridge, we’re ready to track drums, or any other instrument, in three or four minutes. The studio is designed with production in mind and to make it easy to get ideas down as they happen.” DYNAMIC ENSEMBLE
Different sets of musicians would come in during the sessions, but there were a number of mainstays who played and/or sang on most songs: bassist David Roe and steel guitarist Russ Pahl played on all the tracks. Matt Combs played live strings, while Bobby Woods played keyboards. Jeffrey Clemens played drums and percussion on most tracks, but the throne was occasionally kept warm by Kenny Malone or Gene Chrisman. A few less typical instruments populate the list: glockenspiel, chimes, mandola, flute, vibraphone, marimba and sitar, mostly played by one of the aforementioned. Plus there are horns, and several backing singers. In true polymath fashion, Auerbach sings, and plays electric and acoustic guitar, bass, mellotron, baritone guitar, and percussion, and also produced and mixed alongside Parker.
By the time the album came out we had recorded over 100 songs, with most of them fully produced with backing vocals and a pretty good mix!
It’s a rich palette of musicians and instruments, and M Allen Parker recorded them with an unusual reliance on vintage dynamic mics. “For the recordings of the basic tracks we had everyone in the room at the same time, and for most of the time this was electric bass, keyboards (either a piano or a Wurlitzer), drums, electric guitar, and two acoustic guitars isolated in the other rooms. I often recorded Dan’s voice as he played acoustic, usually with a vintage (ie. American-made) Shure SM7 going into the Altec console, and using an Empirical Labs DerrEsser and Universal Audio 176 compressor, before going to Pro Tools. The SM7 sounds amazingly good, and has good separation from the guitar. The UA 176 is one of the greatest compressors ever, especially on vocals. We also have the Retro 176, which I use quite a bit, but there’s nothing like the old 176. Sometimes I also used a Chandler EQ on the way in, to take out some bottom end and do a high pass before it hit the compressor. DYNAMIC: MIKING GUITARS
“I also mostly used a dynamic on his acoustic guitar. It depended on the day, but it tended to be something old like the AKG D19C or a Sennheiser MD408 or an EV RE15. Those are not thought of as being acoustic guitar mics, but they get me a really focused sound. They don’t have the super top end of tube and condenser mics, and they also don’t pick up too much bottom, something which you would take out with big strumming guitar anyway. Instead they give you a mid-range excitement which is really helpful in a track. Overall THESE MICS DO A LOT OF WORK FOR YOU BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT CRAZILY RESPONSIVE SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO COMPRESS THEM MUCH, if at all. They also add character, which is why I use different mics for different flavours. “I put an RCA KU-3A on Jerry Douglas’ Dobro because it tames some of the aggressiveness. It has a little honk to it, but I liked that for the tracks we were cutting. I used a Neumann KM54 on some of the shinier acoustics, because they have a bit more fidelity and are very open sounding. The electric guitars were all recorded from real amplifiers using old dynamic mics like the Shure SM56 or EV-666. I will often listen to two options on an amp and pick the one that seems to works the best. The electric bass went through an old passive DI with a big UTC transformer, and some compression
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SHINE ON ME Parker: “You can see how we recorded an entire half-hour session and then decided the last take was the best, and overdubbed to that. The nuts and bolts of all the tracks are live. The Pro Tools session gets bigger during the mix, because I add aux tracks. The tracks are colour coded, with drums in dark red, percussion in blue, bass in a darker blue, vocals are bright blue, acoustic guitars are brown, electric guitars green, and so on.” “The groove is so important with Shine on Me, so I would have started looking at the drums during the mix. With an acoustic song like Wildest Dreams it’s all about the vocal, so I would have
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started there. All the drum tracks have a Metric Halo Channel Strip inserted. It’s not that I’m particularly a fan of that plug-in, but it is easy and effective to have it on lots of tracks while I’m tracking, and so it tends to remain in the session during mixing. It has a little bit of everything and is really versatile. The Avid EQ-7 is also on most, often just used as a hi-pass filter. There are also tons of sends (1-2-1-1) on many tracks, and they all go to the dark green aux tracks lower down in the session, which connect with outboard: two Roland Space Echoes via the Radial Engineering EXTC interface, as well as the the BX10, the Echoplates, and the Ampex tape slap.”
Living’ In Sin is also an example of drums with a great thump and kick, that are more the result of him interacting with the compressor than beating the heck out of the drums
NEVER IN MY WILDEST DREAMS Never In My Wildest Dreams is Parker’s favourite song on the album. It’s acoustic and has has far fewer tracks, but the takes they used start at 817 bars in. Zooming in on Auerbach’s main parts, Parker notes, “Dan’s vocal has the Metric Halo Channel Strip, UAD 1176, Waves Renaissance Deesser, and a UAD Fairchild 660 on it. There’s a reverb on his vocal which comes from the UAD EMT 140 Plate.”
We use the Pro-L only for reference when I’m exporting an MP3 for playback in cars and so on. I don’t print with it. We print the final mix through an Al Smart C2 compressor, but other than that we don’t have a complex mix chain. I print through a Burl AD converter. I’m not sure how they did it, but you can hit it pretty hard and it does not distort or break up.”
Parker pointed out the mix print in the 24-bit/48k session “has two plug-ins on it; the UAD Curve Bender and FabFilter Pro-L Limiter.
from a Vari-Mu-style compressor. I also have a mic on the bass amp, and on that I have the Highland Dynamic BG2, which is another compressor I love. I had the BG2 on Pat McLaughlin’s acoustic guitar or mandolin. By the way, Mark Knopfler’s electric guitar was recorded in London at his own studio. We sent him the song, Shine On Me, and he came up with the perfect rhythm part. KEEP IT SIMPLE: MIKING DRUMS
“The drums are recorded in a really simple way. I often just use two or three mics, the AKG D36 on the kick, a Sony C37a or an SM7 as a mono kit mic, and a mono overhead, usually a Coles ribbon. I’ll also put a Shure SM57 on the snare top, and the toms will have an EV RE15 or SM57, and the same with the hi-hat. Really simple mics. I place the mono kit mic somewhere between the kick and the ride cymbal, and tweak it from song to song. We used a lot of the same drums and a lot of the same microphones, but the kit sounds different almost every day, so I am always moving
the kit mic a foot here or six inches there, to see if I can pick up certain parts of the drums better, in a way that’s the most appropriate for the song. In Never In My Wildest Dreams I only used that kit mic! On the way in I used a vintage Altec 436 modded like the EMI Altec 61010B compressor, the one that Chandler now has as a preset on its RS124 compressor. “We usually recorded the drums with the other musicians in the room. Jeffrey Clemens is from New Orleans, and doesn’t really play that hard, which allows me to over-compress him. A lot of that I did on the way in, so he can hear it in his headphones and play into that, helping him not to overplay. Cherrybomb is a good example. The drums have a lot of power, but he’s not playing them all that hard. I really hit it hard with the Altec compressor, which is kind of slow, and that’s most of the drum sound. That worked for maybe half the songs. Living’ In Sin is also an example of drums with a great thump and kick, that are more the result of him interacting with the compressor than
beating the heck out of the drums. Jeffrey playing the drums not too hard also enabled us to keep the bleed at reasonable levels. BOLD BRASS: THE OVERDUBS
“For overdubs, I recorded Pat McLaughlin’s backing vocals with an SM7, sometimes an RE15, and then went through the Altec console and a Retro Instruments 176. The three girls, Ashley Wilcoxson, Heather Rigdon, and Leisa Hans usually sang on a Neumann U67, all together and going through a UA176. I also used the U67 on the melodic percussion, fairly indirectly because glockenspiel and vibes and chimes can get aggressive-sounding if you have the mic right up on them. To me, they sit better in the mix when they are recorded from 10 or 12 feet away. The sitar was an electric sitar, so it was run through an amp and recorded like an electric guitar. The horns on Wildest Dreams were recorded at Electric Lady in New York, but the rest of the horns we recorded in Nashville were picked up with dynamic mics like AT 29
Dan Auerbach recording at his own Easy Eye Sound Studio. "I often recorded Dan’s voice as he played acoustic," said Parker. "Usually with a vintage (ie. American-made) Shure SM7 going into the Altec console, and using an Empirical Labs DerrEsser and Universal Audio 176 compressor, before going to Pro Tools. The SM7 sounds amazingly good, and has good separation from the guitar."
Shure SM7 and SM56 on trumpets and trombones, and the EV-667 on baritone sax. Occasionally I’d use an RCA KU3A. Everything went through the Altec 9300 console, and I’d tap the horns a little with a Calrec AM6/17A compressor.” SPECTRASONICS MIX GLUE
Throughout the recording process for Waiting On A Song, Parker was continually rough mixing the songs in the box, sometimes with help from Auerbach, until the moment came to whittle the 100+ songs down to something more manageable. Parker: “Dan is the producer, and when he makes decisions he liaises with some people he really trusts, and some of the older songwriters that were around. We got the 100 songs down to 30 pretty easily, and once we got it down to 15-18 songs, we started mixing them properly. “I probably carried the mixing from a technical standpoint, but mixing is a balance of technical and creative skillsets. As an engineer/mixer you can sometimes get too focused on making sure everything sounds ‘right’ and forget that little creative touches are often what make a mix really stand out. Sometimes I’d get in the weeds with stuff that may or may not matter in the end, but Dan always seems to know what’s important and make sure we don’t lose sight of that. I’ve never worked with someone who has that much creativity during a mix, it’s incredible. He’s happy AT 30
for me to try something if I have an idea I want to chase, so there’s give and take between us. It’s a good balance.” Parker and Auerbach had a template for the mixes, which included laying the sessions out a certain way, and sending 12 outputs from Pro Tools through the Spectrasonics desk. Parker: “I use 12 inputs on the console and then other outputs to feed analogue reverbs and delays, which would come back into the console as well. These are all effects that added a classic tonality that was in harmony with the general direction of the album. We have some old plates, like the Echoplate 1 and 2, EMT 140, as well as an AKG BX10 spring reverb, Roland RE-150 Space Echo, and AN AMPEX 350 TAPE RECORDER FOR TAPE SLAP, WHICH SEEMS OUTRAGEOUS BUT SOUNDS REALLY GREAT. The template was more about the workflow than the sounds. We didn’t pull in loads of plug-in presets. We always started from the same place and then started shaping sounds for each song. “I also did all the volume rides in Pro Tools, and got pretty involved with that, making sure all the details can be heard, without them taking over. Country-influenced music is always about the vocal, and I think this record is also about the lyrics and the melody, so I spent a lot of time riding vocals and making sure they were right. We weren’t really moving faders a lot on the Spectrasonics console, it functioned more like a summing box.
We used a little of the EQ and the amps sound so good that if you hit it hard, it glues everything together in a special way. It definitely has some compression when you drive it just right, though you don’t want to beat it up, because if you’re not paying attention your mix will sound smaller.” MASTERING THAT ’70s SOUND
“Richard Dodd mastered this album,” said Parker. “He did a really great job getting it really loud and still making sure it sounds musical. It feels like a better version of our mixes, which is what you always hope will happen. The mix of Wildest Dreams is probably more dynamic than most songs on the record. If you look at some of the other songs, the waveform ends up being pretty black by the time Richard gets it! But if it sounds good then who cares? “We simply wanted it to sound great, and the whole ’70s feel and vibe of the album emerged organically, and was not by design. We occasionally referenced stuff from the ’70s, but we were not AB-ing things. If Dan said: ‘Man, would it be cool if this sounds a bit more like The Band,’ I knew what he meant. I didn’t have to go back and play something by The Band. Moreover, because we had all these great musicians come in, many of whom played on these old records, it was always quite naturally going to sound like that, even when we brought our modern approach to it.”
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FEATURE
James Newhouse shipped half his Reel2Real Studios coast to coast to record The Waifs in a half-finished house. Story: Graeme Hague
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James Newhouse's Reel2Real Studios control room in WA before he packed it up and shipped most of it across the Nullarbor.
Some bands seem to come and go in the blink of an iTunes download, others — like The Stones — appear immortal and hang around forever. Then there are bands that quietly carry on making good music for a dedicated fan base — and before you know it you’re asking, “Seriously? They’ve been together that long?” In 2017 The Waifs celebrate 25 years in the music business. In that time they’ve produced just eight albums, which isn’t a lot, but The Waifs’ early years involved a lot of promotional touring, including a support gig for Bob Dylan in the US. Lately, it’s been more of a logistics issue. The band’s three members — Joshua Cunningham, Vikki Thorn and Donna Simpson (Vikki and Donna are sisters) — are spread across the globe; a very long way from their roots in Albany, Western Australia. It took almost two years of planning to reunite everyone at Joshua’s half-finished house near Bateman’s Bay on the NSW coast for their latest album, Ironbark. With the group’s 25th anniversary in mind, on the to-do list was a solid month of writing and recording the album. Ah... half-finished house. Surely, we’re talking about some cool, near-complete uber project studio with state-of-the-art equipment? Nope, Joshua has spent 12 years building a new home from recycled and eco-friendly material, and while the open spaces of an empty house (it didn’t even have a proper kitchen yet) allowed for some creative acoustic treatment, it’s hardly Abbey Road Studios. Not only was the band — along with long-time collaborators David MacDonald (drums and percussion) and Ben Franz (double bass, pedal steel) — travelling from all corners of the planet, they were meeting at a place without a stick of proper recording equipment or someone to operate anything should they get some. Joshua’s home is big on solitude, peace, inspiration and a great vibe, and has over the years become a spiritual home for The Waifs, but the nearest thing he owns to a Pro Tools rig is a four-slice toaster. TEA-ING UP THE GIG
Obviously, one of the first problems to solve was how to record the music and who can run the
gear? James Newhouse first met The Waifs in 2015 when he mixed FOH for part of a regional tour because their regular technician had other commitments. James is also the owner and operator of Reel2Real Studios, which he’s recently relocated from the Big Smoke of Perth to a rural property 200km south (Margaret River wine region is almost a gargle and spit down the road). As the studio name implies, James is a fan of tape machines and all things analogue. One day, during another WA tour, Joshua Cunningham dropped by for a cuppa and kind of mentioned The Waifs were planning a new album. James kind of mentioned he’d be interested in being involved. Six months later The Waifs’ management got in touch and James got the gig of recording the band’s new album. Maybe he put something in the tea? Some gig. A recording session in the bush, five hours from Sydney, without a skerrick of recording equipment in sight. James spent about a week investigating the possibilities of hiring or buying all the necessary equipment — just about everything, remember — to convert the house into a viable recording facility. However, the long distance from any production hire companies, the projected four-week time span of the sessions, and the sheer bits-and-pieces list of stuff required, all combined to make renting uneconomical when compared with the cheaper, but daunting prospect of freighting a large lump of Reel2Real across the country. Aside from Joshua sourcing bog-standard things like microphone stands and cables, ultimately James had to lick enough postage stamps and buy enough bubble wrap to transport 350kg of gear across the Nullarbor. It wasn’t absolutely everything from Reel2Real, and choosing what to take and what to leave behind revealed a hidden benefit. For instance, with the recording space being largely untreated and without a familiar, accurate monitoring space, James decided there was little point in including boutique equalisers and compressors. The circumstances forced more of a bare-bones approach to the recording process, which in turn
provided system stability and any silly, “too much to choose from” delays. At the signal end of everything was James’ own Mac-based Pro Tools DAW. Preamps amounted to a combination of 80 Series Heritage Audio 1073s, some classic APIs, Rupert Neve and Midas pres. For most of the project (some sparse overdubs were done later) each song was kept under 16 channels. Many of them required a lot less with James aiming for limited microphone placements to avoid spill, and only pursuing natural tones. This was in keeping with the band’s intention, as always, to record the majority of the tunes live. The Waifs are well-known for their intimate, folk music style, a sound they’ve often created by gathering in a single room and playing together, including tracking final vocals — but that’s easy for them to want, right? NEWHOUSE PLAN
While the band workshopped songs, James spent the first week examining the house’s various spaces, unpacking his gear and experimenting with different setups. While the house’s large, open-plan design offered plenty of room, and the 10m-high ceilings provided an almost church-like ambience, the best recording space happened to be what will one day be the kitchen, albeit with some interesting reverb issues. Heavy theatre drapes were hung from a balcony, and some second-hand office partitions were strategically placed around the room. Spill was always going to be a problem whenever the full band was in swing, so James shuffled The Waifs’ members about and pointed them in different directions, and microphones were tweaked and swapped until the best possible result was found. Building beds in isolation wasn’t even considered. The magic of The Waifs is very much about the band interacting with each other. While the days started at 10am and went late into the night, most of the songs were actually recorded on the third or fourth take. A lot of time was devoted to meeting the challenge each session presented when tracking different combinations of acoustic instruments. The worst-case scenarios (for want of a better AT 33
term) were songs with the full band; drums, double bass, two acoustic guitars, and three vocals. Makeshift baffles were placed around David MacDonald and Ben Franz, and thankfully neither was averse to any kinds of drastic measures to reduce spill. David even agreed to the ol’ “teatowel on the cymbals” trick to keep noise levels down. Microphone choice, polarity patterns and placement became critical. Sometimes getting the rejection side of an instrument microphone pointing in the right direction was more important than the live side. HARMONIOUS BLEND OF MICS
The Waif ’s three distinctive vocals creates their unique blend of harmonies. The right microphone selection was essential and fortunately James packed a ‘passable’ box of goodies. Joshua used a Bock 251, Donna a vintage Neumann U67, and Vikki sang into a Pearlman TM1. Calrec pencil microphones turned out to be the workhorse around the snare, tom drums and guitars, with a ribbon mic placed at a distance from the kick drum — which in many songs was an old suitcase. Calrec overheads on the drum kit came into greater use when David took on more of a percussionist role, playing with his hands, using shakers, and the like. The double bass had an EV 635 wedged in a piece of foam and jammed under the bridge so Ben could move around, and an Oktava pencil condenser lurking nearby to catch some right-hand finger-click. What’s missing here is any form of DI box or wired pickup. Every channel was serviced by a microphone. One of the reasons for that, apart from the vital Waifs live vibe that James was determined to translate into the recordings, is that Joshua makes his own acoustic guitars and they have a wonderful sound that only a microphone will reproduce.
Towards the end of the recording sessions the band moved upstairs to an even more live room and tracked some of their stripped-back, acoustic songs with only a mid/side microphone configuration, using the vintage U67 (mid) in tandem with the Bock 251 (sides). Everyone gathered around, including the double-bass and some percussion and balanced themselves through the microphones. One of the things that didn’t make the trip over from Western Australia was any kind of studio monitoring system. Joshua had some no-name speakers for the band to hear playback, but the only critical monitoring gear was James’ trusty Sennheisser HD600 headphones — which may seem a trifle risky with all the effort put into deciding microphone choices and positions — but James was confident about his familiarity with the HD600s and felt sure he could hear the slightest variations. There was no time spent on creating any kinds of mixdowns — that was scheduled for later, back at Reel2Real home base. Also, it would have eaten seriously into recording time; this was all about getting tracks down. BACK OUT WEST
Finally, James packed up his gear, stuffed three hard drives of audio data into his back pocket and flew back to WA. The Waifs scattered around the planet again. In the four weeks they had recorded 31 songs, which were culled back to 25. From the beginning, there was no real plan as to how much material would be created, just a rough concept of “12 or 13” songs that grew into a double CD. By the way, don’t be fooled by the ‘25th Anniversary’ timeline. Ironbark isn’t a collection of re-recorded best-of tunes; every song is a new composition. From his home base, James started distributing
Looking down from the second-storey at the temporary studio set up in guitarist Joshua Cunningham's unfinished house.
James had to lick enough postage stamps and buy enough bubble wrap to transport 350kg of gear across the Nullarbor rough mixes to the band for feedback. James made the decision to record at 24-bit/96k some time back and he said it made a real difference to The Waifs’ recordings. With the very live, open microphone approach to the sessions and the considerable space in the recordings, the higher sample rate was significant in capturing the scope of sound. Another deliberate departure from his past workflow was the use of UAD plug-ins to simulate tape instead of the tape machines sitting in the corner of Reel2Real’s control room. Of course, it would have been totally impossible to ship the tape recorders across the country anyway, but regardless James has finally succumbed to admitting the impracticalities of using tape — not to mention maintaining the machines — when quality plug-ins come so close to reproducing the same sound, plus you get the speed of staying in the digital domain. It’s a choice that had no bearing on James being asked to record Ironbark (and also score production credits), just don’t tell anyone so he can keep the studio name. Joshua travelled to WA to have input in the final mixdowns, and took the opportunity to sneak in a few overdubs — James had presciently grabbed a convolution of the recording space to ensure nothing sounded out of place. However, overall the songs stayed the live, raw productions the band always wanted with minimal effects. Once the mixes were locked down, they were sent away to William Bowden for mastering. HOUSE BUILT ON HARD YARDS
For a lot of musicians this story must sound a lot like living the dream. A grand house (albeit without any proper furniture) in the countryside, hi-tech recording equipment on call 24/7, a whole month to polish and record your latest songs, nobody but the band and the sound engineer living there... what’s not to like? You have to acknowledge the many years of hard work The Waifs have put in that’s brought them to this point in the band’s career. Four years of touring in a Kombi van for starters — it’s surprising they didn’t kill each other during the 1990s. Even when success began knocking at the door, The Waifs still did a million kilometres and played countless stages. They’ve done more than their fair share of hard yards. So how long does it take, before any band can enjoy a four-week escape to the countryside and record a new album? About 25 years. AT 34
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FEATURE
GETTING THE MOST OUT OF YOUR KIT Husky punch up their demos from Berlin, and producer Matt Redlich shares his tips on getting three sounds out of one small room drum recording and double dipping with analogue gear. Story: Mark Davie Photos: Ben Majdlik
Artist: Husky Album: Punchbuzz AT 36
“We were in the thick of things, all day and all night,” said Husky Gawenda. “The best time to get a bit of sleep in Berlin is during the day.” He and Gideon Preiss, Gawenda’s cousin and the other core member of the group Husky, were based in Berlin for eight months in 2015, using its proximity to the rest of Europe to hack the economics of touring the world as an Australian band. “We had six European tours, and two to three weeks between each tour,” explained Husky. “To keep coming back to Melbourne wasn’t financially viable.” Berlin felt like home for the Melbourne-based pair. “A lot of people say Berlin is quite similar to Melbourne,” said Preiss. “Just a turbo-charged version.” It felt even more like home after one of the band’s first shows. “We met this guy at the show, Oliver,” explained Gawenda. Oliver was a fan of the band and they got talking about how they were staying in Berlin and needed a place to write. Turns out Oliver is a lawyer with a vintage guitar habit and a studio in the basement of his family home. The next day they were riding their bikes over from Kreuzberg to dig a bit deeper. “He showed us the gear — a kit, bunch of keyboards, amps and vintage guitars — then said, ‘I’m trusting you with these keys. Come whenever you want,” recalled Gawenda. “So we did. We’d ride there and just jam for days. It was pretty lucky.” GETTING A BUZZ ON
It was the beginning of Husky’s latest album, Punchbuzz, a more diverse and electric collection than the acoustic folk-focused Ruckers Hill. The pair struggle to write while touring, so the output from Oliver’s studio was less about fleshing out songs than jumping on instruments and jamming ideas into iPhone voice memos. “A lot of those recordings are shocking, but the vibe is there,” said Preiss. “You capture the spirit with a little jam or idea, and that’s all you need to begin with.” When they arrived home, Gawenda moved into a share house in an old mansion dubbed The Hotel, and the album really started taking shape. “It’s a place a lot of people were moving through, a very artistic community,” said Gawenda. “Block parties, mini festivals, things like that. I had a bedroom in that place, set up a desk, and started writing. It was a great place to dream up an album, and we demoed a lot of it there.” Their gear consisted of an Apogee Duet with two lines into Pro Tools, and they used an AKG C414 and a Shure SM57 on almost everything. They worked with sampled drums for the demos, either programmed directly into Pro Tools or recorded using bass player, Jules Pascoe’s Akai MPC. Later on, drummer Aaron Light overdubbed the drums, which is where producer Matt Redlich came in. As well as producing, Redlich plays in the band Holy Holy, and the original members are old friends of Husky. The demos had taken shape in a completely different order to the band’s normal process; guitar riffs, then drums and bass before any melody or lyrics were written. In the past, the songs would often begin with chords and melody, in a traditional folk method. “It was new for us and
produced different results,” said Gawenda. Redlich was the right producer to push them further along that experimental line. “He was always up for going down the rabbit hole, which was liberating for us,” continued Gawenda. “We could explore sounds and rhythms we wouldn’t normally. We could explain things in wild ways and he’d often find it or something that represented that feeling.” PARKING SPACE
It took a while to build that trust though, and the first sessions didn’t exactly go to plan. The first two songs were tracked at a local Melbourne studio, and they were stress-filled days for a couple reasons. Firstly, Redlich chose to transport and set up all his outboard gear at the studio for a two-day session. Granted, his gear is all in rack cases and technically mobile, but “loading in one morning and loading out the next night, with 12 hours of recording per day in-between was stupid,” he admitted. “Trying to make good decisions was hard.” There were other problems like sound from a nearby rehearsal room bleeding into the space. “It wasn’t causing ‘actual’ trouble,” said Redlich. “It was just killing the vibe because you could hear it.” The stress only enhanced the stakes of what was essentially a trial period. For Husky it was about getting a feel for working with Redlich, while he was figuring out what shape the project was going to take and what happened when he pushed them to play in different ways. They both immediately went away on tour after the two days, giving them time to assess the situation. When they got back, their fresh ears were happy with the results. The silver lining of the Sound Park trial was the realisation they didn’t need to go to a studio to track live instruments. Matt was sharing studio space at The Aviary in Richmond so they decided to try recording drums in his small room. It wasn’t going to cost them anything more than a session fee to find out if it would work. If it did, the cost-saving was going to be helpful. “As crazy as it is sitting in front of a drum kit, then turning around and listening to speakers in the same room, it’s also amazing for communication,” said Redlich. “YOU’RE METRES AWAY
When I put it back in the computer, it had this analogue ‘thing’ that just won’t go away, dammit! As much as I hate to admit it
and a ‘kick in’ and ‘kick out’ setup to capture a ‘clickety-clackety’ drum sound, muting all the other channels. He reluctantly calls the placement of his two large diaphragm Neumann condensers — a CMV-551 and U47 — overhead, because they’re usually quite close to the kit and sometimes not over head at all. “I almost never do true stereo overheads,” he said. “It’s essentially that Glyn Johns setup. If you record drums, you’ll end up at that point some time as a good way to capture drums. In a room like this there’s no point having high overheads. If you had a very high ceiling it might be different. Up high you’re essentially miking the ceiling even if you point them at the kit.” On the kick, he often places a Bock iFET on the resonant head: “It’s the perfect fader for low end sustain.” He then places a Shure Beta 52 inside the kick for click and attack. “Increasingly these days I’ll put it right inside, close to where the beater is,” explained Redlich. “I often find it sounds good if you angle it randomly as if it wasn’t set up properly.”
FROM THE MUSICIAN AND GETTING VIBES STRAIGHT FROM THEM AS WELL AS SEEING EXACTLY WHAT THEY’RE DOING. WE DID THREE SONGS THAT FIRST NIGHT, AND WE THOUGHT IT SOUNDED BETTER, ALL IN ALL. MOST IMPORTANTLY, IT FELT REALLY GOOD.” They had been angling for a small
REINING IN A KICK
DRUM MIKING TRIPLE THREAT
While the iFET on the resonant head delivers an almighty thud and sustain that sounded glorious when the kit was solo’d, Redlich was finding the tail carried on for too long in the mix. He’s developed a technique to help rein it in without changing any of his balance or tone.
They recorded drums for three songs that first night, and only had to come back once more for another three. Between the two sessions, Redlich says things would have changed with the tuning, dampening and miking. However, he’s found some sweet spots for drum mics. He walked through the song Cracks in the Pavement, which has three completely different drum sounds derived from the same setup. In the verse, he mostly used two ‘overheads’
“I’m using the Fabfilter Pro-MB multi-band compressor plug-in to almost gate the low end of that drum pretty quickly after it drops below the threshold,” explained Redlich. “On its own it sounds nicer without the gate, but in the mix, it sounds a bit cleaner. It still gives the impression of the thud, but gets out of the way. It’s one of those fairly subtle things that if you pay attention to, you buy yourself that extra bit of real estate.”
room, dead drum sound anyway when recording in the drum room at Sound Park. Redlich said he wouldn’t have even considered the idea if they were going for a big room sound.
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Husky Gawenda playing guitar at Matt Redlich's studio in the Aviary complex. Behind him is just some of the outboard gear Redlich trasported to Soundpark for a two-day session.
Later on in the arrangement he introduced the other elements of his drum sound, which included a snare mic and his kit mic. The kit mic is more often the centrepiece of his sound than the overheads, but in this case he saved it for the chorus. “I’ll often put two totally different kit mics right above the bass drum,” he said. “If there’s two, one will be pointing more at the snare, and the other at the low tom or down at the kick. Usually it’s a U47 and a Beyer or Royer 121 ribbon mic. In this case, it was just a 121, quite close to the kit. It’s compressed — for a good time — and EQ’d to taste — sometimes to extreme — on the way in. They’re like the vibe mics, you should be able to solo them and have a drum sound. Ideally, you want the phase relationship of that mic to work with the close bass drum mic and the close snare mic, but sometimes it doesn’t and you can’t get it to gel properly while you’re tracking. There are all sorts of things you can do later to figure it out. Usually it’s out of phase with the fundamental of the drum but in phase at high frequencies, or partly out of phase with the kick, but mostly in phase with the snare. YOU END UP WITH A WEIRD MATRIX OF POSSIBILITIES THAT YOU CAN CHANGE WITH EQ. IF YOU CUT OR BOOST A BAND, IT WILL CHANGE THE PHASE OF THAT BAND. Ideally, it just works, then you can use the close mics to add a bit of extra definition, punch or crack in the snare, or focused low end in the kick.” The other positive side effect of using less mics to make up your main image of the drums is the onus it puts on the drummer to balance the kit. “You can’t hide from it,” said Redlich. “If he’s hitting the hi hat too hard, or the low tom is ringing out too long — which is pretty much always the case with both of those things — then you’re going to have to deal with it.” AT 38
PASSIVE AGGRESSIVE MIX
The third drum sound in the track happens towards the end of the track and was a hybrid of the in-the-box drum mix and a parallel passive analogue mix Redlich had been playing around with. He has a passive four-into-one mixer wired into the back of his patch bay, and one day when he was having trouble getting a mix right he decided to break out of the box and see what he could come up with when he had his hands on some real knobs. “THE MIXER ITSELF IS VIRTUALLY FREE; YOU CAN MAKE IT WITH FIVE DOLLARS OF PARTS,” said Redlich. “Then you can use the gear you’re already using in the recording chain. It’s a great trick for getting double value out of your gear.”
DIY PASSIVE MIXER Passive mixers are relatively easy to DIY. You can even solder an eight-into-two stereo version inside a Tascam DB25 connector housing using JLM Audio’s Micro Passive Mixer PCB. Or simply use the board to wire up the back of a patch bay. www.jlmaudio.com/shop/micro-passive-mixer-pcb
He broke out the kick, snare, kit mic and tom through different hardware compressors, EQs and channel strips he has in his rack, including Universal Audio and Hairball 1176s, UBK Tweakers, a Distressor, various JLM Audio gear, and an Undertone Audio MPEQ1 channel strip. He couldn’t do true stereo, so he would process it in mono and do one pass with the high tom on the left, then switch the track feeding the stereo input and record a pass with the low tom on the right. “Then you’d have a stereo field — unlinked, but
He showed us the gear, then said, ‘I’m trusting you with these keys. Come whenever you want whatever,” explained Redlich. “It only took half an hour to do, but as soon as I plugged it in it sounded and felt really good. Plus, it was really fun. When I put it back in the computer, it had this analogue ‘thing’ that just won’t go away, dammit! As much as I hate to admit it. “The truth is, on some songs the computer was better. THE SETUPS THAT WORKED IN THE COMPUTER WERE THE ONES THAT HAD TAKEN AGES TO GET BALANCED AND WERE MORE COMPLICATED OR SUBTLE IN THE WAY THEY WORKED. Whereas, the analogue ones were more straight up, bigger and bombastic. There might be something to that. Also, I was having a good time, which introduced a positive energy and momentum into the whole process.”
APOLLO MISSION
Redlich used to be a die-hard analogue-only engineer. Up in Brisbane, his studio was based around a 16-track analogue tape machine, but he moved to mixing in the box “around the time plug-ins started sounding a lot better.” These days he’s heavily invested in Universal Audio’s UAD platform, with a mix of Apollo interfaces and UAD Satellites giving him a total of 24 DSP cores.
On the hardware side, he’s got enough high end preamps, dynamics and EQ processors to cover his tracking channel count, as well as a handful of outboard effects units. His requirements for real-time DSP are a lot lower than most entering the UAD game, so for Redlich it’s all about the sound of UA’s plug-ins. While he has the real gear to compare the plug-ins too, Redlich reckons it’s almost impossible to do an accurate comparison; whether because of internal gain structures, accurately analysing output levels or matching the true levels represented on controls. Although he’s technically minded, he mainly relies on using plug-ins a lot and asking the question, “Does that plug-in make me feel good and reach for it again, or skip past it on the list? I don’t think any 1176 plug-in I tried up until that point made me feel good or not forget about it. A lot of UA plug-ins have captured enough of the mojo of the original gear that I wouldn’t be upset if I had to use that. It’s past the threshold. However, I still feel there’s something the computer doesn’t have yet, especially when set at extremes.” Redlich also loves the UA Console software and the ability to easily copy plug-in settings across to your DAW. “It’s like they use their own gear,” he said, noting that he’s also had no problems with updates breaking his system. “In pretty much every way, they are the gold standard of audio companies,” said Redlich, except for one point… not giving exact setting values. “Especially on the tape machine adjustments, which are some of the most important ones. You almost can’t tell if it’s moved. I guess their argument would be that you should listen like it’s a real piece of gear, but it’s not a real piece of gear and never will be. By that argument you should only be able to run
one instance of the plug-in as well, so give us the features. They allow it on the Softube UA ones, because they program them differently. It’s so much better because you can note that you are at ‘2.81’, then try something else, but be able to return to that setting.” He rarely prints plug-ins on the way in, except when he’s cranking a compressor for effect, or using an effect as part of a sound. “The sound at the beginning of Cracks in the Pavement is a synth through a Space Echo, printed and then reversed,” explained Redlich. “There’s no reason not to do that. Think of it like putting a pedal through an amp. You’re not going to record a clean amp signal then effect it later.” PHASE RELATIONSHIPS
Redlich isn’t afraid of printing effects live. For Cut The Air, an acoustic number reminiscent of Jose Gonzalez’s finger-picking style with an ambient bed, Redlich and Preiss manipulated two phaser effects pedals in realtime as Gawenda played the electric guitar part. “We split the guitar with a Little Labs STD, one of the best things I own,” said Redlich. “IT’S LIKE A CABLE EXTENDER, BUT IT HAS AN ACTIVE FET PART INSIDE THE JACK END YOU PLUG INTO THE GUITAR. YOU CAN PLUG IT INTO AN XLR LEAD THAT CAN BE 100M LONG AND JUST USE A SHORT JACK LEAD INTO THE AMP. IT CAN ALSO BE USED AS A SPLITTER. So we split it into Mutron and Ibanez phasers, then into my Goldentone and Dr Z amps. Gids and I were on the phaser rate knobs doing what a Leslie does, emphasising different parts. We were listening to him play and as we felt it performed the speed control. There wasn’t a rationale, we’d just swell parts in and out. It was lots of fun.” It was one of the last songs they recorded, and
POLISHING OFF AN EQ STACK Redlich: “You do a lot of top end boosting to make things sound normal in a recording. When I was younger, I always wondered why that was. Then I realised it was because we all almost always use directional mics to record things, and they all have a massive artificial low end boost caused by the proximity effect. Also, recording in small rooms, there’s a lot of low mid and low end boost you’re not always aware of. If you were recording with omni mics, I’m sure you wouldn’t be boosting the top end as much. “I also find stacking up multiple levels of processing makes something sound more finished. Sometimes it ruins it, but more often than not, a little bit of compression on the way in and a bit of EQ helps. Sometimes you even counter that EQ later. We’re used to hearing music from the past cut to tape and on record. There would be massive amounts of EQ to counter the intrinsic EQ of other parts of the chain. It contributes to what we’re used to hearing. There’s something to that. Often with analogue drums, I’ll print those stereo drums and put more plug-ins on it. If I had it a bit too bright, I’d put a Pultec on it to bring it down. Having that double reverse processing on it is a factor.”
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the only one without a fully fledged demo. “We ended up using drums I’d recorded years ago on my tape machine at my parent’s house,” said Redlich. “Ryan Strathie — the drummer from Holy Holy who used to be in Hungry Kids of Hungary — played all sorts of beats. I’ve got them in the computer, and every now and again I pull bits out and insert them as guide drums. They ended up sounding so good the whole song became built around them and there was no way we were going to replace them. It was also good having drums on a stereo track, because they’re done, you can make them brighter a bit, or not, and that’s it.” DEMO DEMOLITION
For the most part, the process of recording Punchbuzz involved plugging the demos into Redlich’s Pro Tools session as a guide, using some of the original tracks — Gawenda: “Matt did some magic on them” — then re-recording parts over the top. At a minimum, it would become a base for them to lay some finishing touches on. On Spaces Between Heartbeats, they threw out the demo altogether. “I had this instinct that the song could work in a totally different way,” said Redlich. “The demo was great, but I thought it was a little straight down the line and not as interesting as the other songs. We took a risk.” Preiss was concerned that whatever path the song took, it must be definitive and not a remix of an idea. Redlich’s example was Grizzly Bear, who often “write a simple, catchy song then arrange it in a way that hides what the song was. You can do great things with that methodology or rationale. But you might not want to obscure the song like that. I didn’t want it to sound like it was obscuring the actual idea of the song. I wanted to make it more distilled, more obvious, and less distracting.” Instead of building it completely from scratch, Gawenda recorded his vocals — in one of his and Preiss’ late-night stints — over the original version. Then they muted all the other parts and started again. “I put Gids on the Prophet 6 synth then used a bunch of UA effects live — Moog filter and delay — and did one take of it with the effects printed,” said Redlich. Next, he went against his own advice to print effects that make up a sound, taking them down the exact rabbit hole he was warning of earlier. “I said, ‘Now we’ve got to record it dry so I can put the effects on it later,” recalled Redlich. “It became a nightmare with me trying to replicate a sound we’d already done spontaneously.” In the end, “we just used the whole original take.” “Matt said he wanted it to sound like you were floating in space or drifting on an endless ocean,” said Gawenda. “He went on to make it feel exactly like that.” “Matt was great in that you could talk in very abstract terms,” agreed Preiss. “The process was liberating, exactly because you could explain songs in wild ways to him, and he was up for finding it or something different that still captured the spirit.” AT 40
Gideon Preiss vibing out on one of the mainstay synths on the record, a DSI Prophet 08. It became the foundation of the song Spaces Between Heartbeats, tracked live with loads of UA effects.
“You could say, I want it to sound like ‘early morning dew,’ and he would make it sound like that,” said Gawenda. Redlich said it wasn’t just Preiss who was hesitant about ditching the demo. When they decided to try a different path with the song, they all weren’t sure if it was the right approach. How could they be? While Gawenda was convinced as soon as he heard the first synth pass, it took Preiss another couple of months to sign off on it. “I loved
the demo,” he admitted. “The thing with Matt is he’s completely willing to stumble upon things,” said Gawenda. “So many sounds and ideas on the album happened that way. There was no fear.” “Well, I was scared,” said Preiss. “But he wasn’t,” continued Gawenda. “If something felt good, just follow it without thinking about the consequences. You’re going with what feels good, not what you think it should be.”
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QUICK MIX
The
with
Brad Parker
Who are you currently mixing? I’m on the road mixing Daryl Braithwaite and Taxiride on the Red Hot Summer Tour, which also features John Farnham, Icehouse, and James Reyne. My main gig for the past ten years has been Daryl Braithwaite, whom I first worked in 1998. We average two to three shows a week doing everything from festivals and corporate shows to pubs and clubs; Daryl is pretty much a full time job. Name some other bands you’ve worked with? Russell Morris, Mike Brady, as well as filling in on shows with Diesel, Ross Wilson and many others. Last year I looked after FOH for the APIA Good Times Tour for the second time, featuring Daryl Braithwaite, Jon Stevens, Kate Cebrano and John Paul Young. I had the pleasure of mixing a gig at Michael Gudinski’s house with loads of different acts including John Farnham, Jimmy Barnes and Diesel singing together. Those three voices together are unforgettable. When did you get your start in live sound? I started out as a 17-year old, lifting heavy old gear for bands my older brothers were in. They are all very good musicians and I was lucky enough to get to work with David Briggs, who became a mentor and friend, and has taught me an amazing amount about music and audio; as did my brother Marshall Parker. What is your favourite console and why? The Avid Profile because of its reliability and ease of use. I use minimal plug-ins, apart from a Waves L2 over the main vocal and mix bus. It’s a less is more, old school analogue-style approach where I spend my time mixing the band instead of playing with software. Favourite microphone or any other piece of kit? I love the Sennheiser 901/902 combination on kick drums and AKG C214s on guitar cabs, held firmly in place by Warwicke Newman’s Tone Revival guitar miking systems. I always use Shure Beta 57s on vocals and my ‘secret weapon’ is a Superlux HI-10 on hats.
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What are three mixing techniques you regularly employ? Firstly, gain structure. Second, learn the band and their songs so you become part of the performance. Thirdly, use your ears to put everything in its place as the song was originally recorded and the audience expect to hear it. If it didn’t have the kick drum sound and volume of a high energy dance track on the record it doesn’t need one now! What do you like about your job?
Most memorable gig or career highlight?
I feel lucky to work with some of Australia’s best artists and musicians, and get to see parts of this country and the rest of the world you wouldn’t normally get to visit. Oh, and not to mention all the great food, and red wine after the show!
That would be Daryl and John Farnham at the Sydney Entertainment Centre, back in 2016 just before it closed. Everything came together perfectly. I always enjoy the A Day on the Green and Red Hot Summer shows as they are well organised and run.
Look and learn from experienced people as you never stop learning; once you already know everything you can’t learn anything anymore.
Any tips/words of wisdom for someone starting out?
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REGULARS
Apple Notes iMac Pro — Trashcan or Treasure? Column: Brad Watts
It was all the way back in 2013 when we witnessed the debut of the last Mac Pro — unaffectionately dubbed the ‘trashcan’. Apple wrongly assumed the professional market would befriend Thunderbolt connection of countless peripherals: hard drives, monitors, and indeed, audio interfaces. There’s little you can improve upon when you own the 2013 Mac Pro. You can’t replace the GPUs, and additional storage has to remain external. They’re a closed system. Consequently, disenfranchised Mac professionals devised cunning upgrades for the previous aluminium bodied Mac Pros — for machines from as far back as 2009. Unlike the 2013 trashcan model, these machines can accept faster processors, more powerful graphics cards, additional internal drives, USB 3.0 cards, and can be coerced into running Apple’s latest operating system — macOS Sierra. In short; they’re upgradable. Apple’s blindness to the professional market has seen the Mac losing ground to Windows for the last few years. To make up some ground Apple has announced that 2018 will see the release of a new Mac Pro. Also showing a recommitment to professionals, Apple announced an all-new iMac Pro will be available in December. It’s still a six-month wait, and with a new Mac Pro on it’s way, is it wise to jump on this new all-in-one bandwagon? WILL IT HACK?
There’s no denying the iMac Pro’s specification is like no iMac ever before. In fact, it should be the most powerful Apple Pro computer ever. So far, we know the iMac Pro will use Xeon processors — like all Mac Pros thus far. Rumours suggest processors will be server-class LGA3647 socket processors. These will offer eight, 10, and 18-core processing. Speaking of processors, there’s rumours of an additional ARM processor enabling higher security and Apple’s Touch I.D. system — as in the recent Touch Bar MacBook Pros. It’s worth noting that an ARM processor could appear in many future Macs as developer/beta versions of macOS High Sierra include support for an ARM processor codenamed ‘Hurricane’. Like many, I’m speculating, but AT 44
if next-generation macOS versions require an ARM processor alongside the main Intel i5/i7/Xeon processor, we could see the obsolescence of the Hackintosh concept. Enough speculation, back to the iMac Pro. Standard configuration will include 32GB of 2666MHz DDR4 ECC memory. This RAM is fast, and employs error correction code (ECC). ECC RAM will detect and repair single-bit errors without stopping the OS — it’s used for mission critical server installations. You can opt to order your iMac Pro with up to 128GB of ECC RAM, but it’s going to cost. Considering the price of an 8GB ECC RAM module is around AU$120, it quickly gets close to $2000 Aussie. We know Apple adds a good markup to standard component prices, so it’ll be at least $2500. Standard storage is a 1TB SSD, with the option to configure it with a 2 or 4TB SSD. Notice we’re getting up there in cost? A 2TB SSD will cost the best part of a grand, with a 4TB hovering around US$1600. Add the Apple markup? I’d envisage the 4TB SSD costing at least $2000 — and very likely much more. Graphics processing has to be great for the fastest Mac ever made. The standard issue GPU is an AMD Radeon Pro Vega with 8GB of RAM. This is AMD’s latest graphics architecture offering 9677 Gigaflops (floating point operations per second). Compare this with the standard iMac with an AMD Radeon Pro 555 at 1305.6 Gigaflops, and we’re talking serious graphics rendering. You can configure a 16GB Pro Vega GPU to take those floating point calculations up to 11,059 Gigaflops. Just add another $2000. XEON INTO THE FUTURE
So back to the business end, what’s an 18-core Xeon processor weigh in at? Bear in mind the proposed CPU will run at 4.5GHz in Turbo speed, much faster than currently available Xeons. A current 18-core Xeon running at 2.3GHz with Turbo of 3.6GHz is around AU$3600. I can imagine Apple charging at least $4500. Cooling this 18core monster has required a redesign. Apple has employed a dual centrifugal fan system — let’s hope it’s quiet when you hit 4.5GHz.
Standard features include four Thunderbolt 3 ports, four USB 3 ports, SDXC card slot, 27-inch 5K 500-nit brightness screen and support for up to four 3840 x 2160 (4K UHD) external displays, Magic keyboard, Magic mouse and Magic trackpad (with Touch ID?), 1080p FaceTime camera, 1Gb, 2.5Gb, 5Gb and 10Gb ethernet, and it’s Space Gray — which is brilliant — if you’ve got an iMac Pro you’ll want everyone to be able to differentiate it from its non-Pro siblings. The big question is: Is the iMac Pro destined for the recording studio? Yes and no. Sure, it’s the fastest ever Mac, with bulletproof processing RAM, and the propensity to natively process any plugins you care to throw at it. However I don’t think anyone using PCIe-based audio cards will find the iMac Pro a compelling proposition. Obviously the iMac Pro cannot use these cards without the added expense of a Thunderbolt expansion chassis. Equally unattractive is having a computer running fans at full tilt when the processing gets tough. Plus, if you’re really in it for the computing power, why rush into an iMac Pro in December 2017 when Apple has promised a new Mac Pro during 2018? Then there’s the cost. Once we add up the optional add-ons, such as 128GB of RAM and an 18-core processor we’re looking at a $12,000+ Aussie computer. It simply doesn’t make sense. As far as I can see the iMac Pro is a promise of what’s to come. Roll on 2018.
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Designed to deliver an uncompromising combination of light weight, low-profile looks, and superior audio quality, the EVOLVE 50 sets a new performance standard for powered column systems.
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QuickSmartDSP provides best-in-class processing via EV’s signature single-knob user interface with LCD
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| Email: boschcomms@au.bosch.com | www.boschcommunications.com.au • AT 45
REVIEW
UA APOLLO TWIN MK II vs ARTURIA AUDIOFUSE Let’s play ‘Would you rather?’ A luscious DSP-laden twin or a leather-bound fusion of knobs and sockets? Review: Mark Davie
NEED TO KNOW
NEED TO KNOW
•AUDIOFUSE• PRICE Expect to pay $999
CONTACT CMI Music & Audio: (03) 9315 2244 of sales@cmi.com.au
PRICE Expect to pay Solo: $1149 Duo: $1499 Quad: $1999
CONTACT CMI Music & Audio: (03) 9315 2244 of sales@cmi.com.au
PROS Loads of I/O Great preamps Bus-powered
CONS Miniature power input
PROS Real-time DSP processing Great-sounding UAD plug-ins Unison preamp technology
CONS Limited DSP count
SUMMARY Audiofuse literally has it all, even two quality mic preamps, a rarity on two-channel desktop interfaces. Hook up your entire studio to this little hub, even when you’re on the go.
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•APOLLO TWIN•
SUMMARY If you want a desktop interface with built-in DSP, look no further than the Twin Mk II. It hosts some of the best plug-ins currently available and gives you that Unison touch on its preamps. Did someone say Neve 1073 into UA LA2A vocal chain?
Most desktop interfaces don’t offer much. You can reel the features off without even glancing at the back panels. Let’s see: USB connection (sometimes Thunderbolt, which can be a pain because you rarely get the $50 cable thrown in); two combo mic/line/instrument inputs; one pair of monitor outputs, and a second set of line outputs if you’re lucky; one headphone jack; ADAT for expansion — again, if you’re lucky; and one big knob to control it all. The downsides can often be a proprietary breakout cable, and MIDI usually goes by the wayside. BETTER-LOOKING TWIN
The original Universal Audio Apollo Twin was refreshingly different. Its hardware feature set didn’t break the mould — two combo mic/line inputs, one instrument DI, one headphone jack, four line outputs, single-port ADAT input, and a big old knob on the top. Where it diverged from the herd was the inclusion of built-in DSP, making it an affordable entry point into the UAD universe. This shouldn’t be understated. If you wanted real-time processing on your inputs but only wanted to shell out for a couple of them, there was nothing else in the running. There still isn’t; if you don’t count Antelope’s altogether different, altogether more expensive Zen Tour desktop interface. The latest iteration, Apollo Twin MkII doesn’t deviate a whole lot from the original. On the face of it, barely at all. It can now be spec’d with Quad core UAD processing, up from Duo. It has some slightly improved specs, with better THD + Noise on almost all inputs and outputs, and 3dB better dynamic range improvement on the line outputs, though not the monitor outputs. Plus, it’s dark grey instead of silver. Other than that, the form factor is exactly the same. Basically, all the other Apollos got a blackface update, so the Twin needed to keep pace. One thing that still bugs me a little is that UA didn’t, or couldn’t, improve on the monitor outputs. Especially now that you can use the Twin as a desktop monitor solution for a larger Apollo system, it’s a little disappointing its outputs aren’t up to the same spec as the rack units. On the other hand, for anyone simply comparing desktop interfaces without Apollo rack baggage, the Twin’s outputs aren’t shabby at all.
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AUDIOFUSE: I/O HI-HO, OFF TO WORK
While UA broke the mould for little guys everywhere by adding DSP, what we haven’t seen is a manufacturer going the other way; adding more hardware to a tiny form factor. Now we’ve got the Arturia Audiofuse, which was originally announced prior to NAMM 2015. More than two years ago. That’s how long it’s taken for Arturia to get Audiofuse right. Apparently adding every conceivable I/O into a square the size of a CD cover, plus the knobs to control it, is a lofty goal. Anyone with a passing knowledge of electronics would appreciate the amount of stuffing in this bird. Let’s run through our checklist again and see what’s been added. We’ll start with the inputs. Inputs one and two are still taken care of by the same pair of combo mic/line/ instrument inputs you’d expect, but it’s inputs three and four where things get interesting. For one, you don’t often get a second pair of analogue inputs without jumping up in form factor, but secondly, they’re also very flexible. They can be fed by the ¼-inch line input jacks — nothing new here — or input three can be converted into a Hi-Z instrument input using Audiofuse’s Control Centre software — attention peaked — or you can plug a turntable into the RIAA stereo phono preamp — that’s a pretty handy 3-in-1. Arturia has also gone limbo flexible on the output side.
Zoom TAC-2 Thunderbolt Interface
ZoomAustralia
dynamicmusic.com.au
AT 47
At the top of its gain range, the UA definitely got a little thinner overall and lost some of the nuance, while the Audiofuse kept trucking along
There are two sets of monitor line outputs on ¼-inch jacks. Cool, one pair more than standard. But using the software you can switch the left channel of Output B into a reamp output! Even crazier, there are two fully-featured headphone amps on the unit, and you never have to worry about having the right adaptor again, each amp has both ¼-inch and 3.5mm sockets. There are also separate ¼-inch inserts for adding additional hardware to inputs 1 and 2 prior to conversion. We’re not done yet, we haven’t even touched the digital side; this swiss cheese backplate couldn’t have more holes in it. It’s so jam packed, the DC power input is as miniature as they come, 5-pin DIN MIDI connectors are accessed via included 3.5mm conversion cables, and the computer USB output is reduced to it’s minimum size — a Micro-B connector. What does all this space-saving make way for? A three-port USB 2.0 hub for connecting your iLok, mouse, controller or keyboard when working on a laptop; Word clock and S/PDIF over RCA; and ADAT in and out for eight channels at 48k or four at 96k. That’s the max clock speed over ADAT, but (like the Twin) you can set the internal sampling rate up to 192k if that floats your boat.
external preamp and the multiple headphone amps. Even when recording a vocal and guitar at the same time, sometimes two mics doesn’t cut it. Plus, now you can record drums in a pinch. Having two headphone amps is also very handy when you’re recording two performers at once, and even when you’re on your own. Let me explain. When I’m recording myself I usually set up a pair of headphones on an extension lead at that ‘station’, whether it’s drums, a piano or near a guitar amp. Having two sets of headphones means I can keep one set at the desk for checking takes, and pick up the other one to track. Obviously you could split the feed, but you’re working the usually low-level headphone amp harder, and you can’t easily mute one set while you’re tracking with the other pair on the other side of the room. Anyway, it works great for me. The obvious benefit is having two completely different cue mixes. The dual headphone connections don’t cancel each other out either so you can actually hook up four headphones at once if you really need to. Plugging in two sets to one side barely affects the output of a low impedance headphone like Audio-Technica’s ATHM50, while it sucks a fair bit of juice away from a high impedance set like Beyer-Dynamic DT1990s. On their own, the headphone amps handled both sets of high impedance headphones I have with ease. The Twin has about a 20-30% advantage in level over the Audiofuse, though it was all unusably ear-bleeding and introduced enough distortion to make it undesirable for critical listening. Let’s recap the I/O stakes:
you don’t jack up an already loud source while your headphones are on. You also get a solid knob to set gain for each. A real departure from the ‘one-knob to control them all’ concept common to desktop interfaces. The three monitoring control sections — one main, two headphone outputs — have similar controls. They also each have a dedicated knob, a mono switch and the ability to select between two cue sources defined in software or your main output feed. The main output adds a Dim function (software selectable between -10, -20 and -30dB), Mute, and the ability to switch between both sets of speakers. In software, you can also set whether you want to control the levels of each speaker pair separately or link them. When linked you can set a ±12dB trim amount for Speaker B relative to Speaker A. The Audiofuse also has a built-in talkback mic which automatically dims the speaker outputs when its button is pressed. It doesn’t latch like the Twin’s can, but it does have a dedicated button. In all there are five knobs, a side dial, 19 buttons, four large meters and 15 indicator LEDs. That’s a lot of physical feedback for a wee device. Let’s not count the Apollo Twin Mk II out of this button race yet. It too has dedicated buttons for input selection, pad, phantom, and phase invert. It even adds a high-pass filter (not available on Audiofuse) and a mic input gain link, which is unavailable on the Audiofuse precisely because it doesn’t have a digitally-controlled preamp. You can link the Audiofuse’s stereo line inputs via software though. On the output side, the Twin also lets you choose between two sets of speakers; dim, mute and mono them; and latch or hold a built-in talkback mic (which also auto dims the outputs). It’s a pretty full feature set. While I appreciate the multiple knob approach of the Audiofuse, it didn’t feel like the single knob approach was a stumbling block when setting input gains. The only time I get wary of one-knob operation is not having a dedicated headphone control, or having to hit two buttons to mute monitor outputs. It’s an occasional issue, but one that will have you cursing at the time.
Apollo Twin
Audiofuse
Mic inputs
2
2
Instrument inputs
1
3
Line inputs
2
4
Headphones
1
4
Monitor/Line Outputs
4
4
Inserts
DSP
2
PHONE IT IN
ADAT
In
In/Out
I really like Arturia’s approach to the Audiofuse. For one, it looks amazing with its different leather wrap colourways, silver knobs and handy metal lid. Every port makes for a handy inclusion, it’s not inflated for the sake of a feature list. The USB hub is an instant problem solver. I only have two USB ports on my 2015 Macbook Pro, and I need one of them to run USB 3.0 external drives. That means I need a hub if I want to plug in a keyboard controller and my iLok at the very least. Not to mention an interface. Now I can still keep my drive directly connected to the computer, but attach everything else to Audiofuse’s hub. On a personal note, my phono preamp died last year, leaving my turntable dormant. It’s nice to chuck on a record again and grab a sample. Plus, five-pin DIN MIDI means I can hook up one of my synths to the back without using up a USB port, and reamping is a feature I should probably use more than I do. The two big things for me are; having an extra set of line inputs to hook up an
MIDI
No
In/Out
Word Clock/S/PDIF
No
In/Out
POWER MODES
Phono preamp
No
Yes
USB Hub
No
Yes
Audiofuse has multiple power modes available to get as much use out of it as possible, even when bus-powered. In full, DC-powered mode, you get everything as well as the most headroom (+24dBu max input and output levels), and +48V phantom power. When in the bus-powered, laptop-battery saving ‘Green’ mode, you can still use all the inputs and outputs, it just limits the headroom to +18dBu. There’s a two-pronged USB cable that ships with the Audiofuse for getting the most out of the bus-powered mode. Not all computers will require both USB tails to be plugged into their computer, my Macbook Pro worked fine with just one. For the moment, you can’t use the USB hub in this configuration, so once again I was left with nowhere to plug an iLok once my external hard drive was sorted. Arturia plans an update that
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ONE KNOB RULED BY MORE
The other side of Audiofuse that’s peculiar for a small interface is the sheer quantity of knobs and buttons. Most of it is pretty straightforward — phantom power, phase invert, pad, and an instrument/line selector for each input. What’s uncommon — other than getting dedicated buttons — is the three-way pad selection. While off, the button remains unlit, then it turns red on first click and boosts the signal, a second click turns the button white and instantiates a -20dB pad. It’s a useful feature, but it would have made more sense to place the pad before the boost, so
MINI UAD PLUGS SSL Bus Compressor - ~19% DSP of one core. UAD’s version of the SSL G Bus compressor has been a long time coming. I have SSL’s Duende Native plug-in to compare it with. Right off the bat, the threshold on the Duende is 5dB wider at both ends, and the makeup gain can go into negative territory. It’s also nice that you get a precise dB readout in a dialogue box on the Duende, though not something you ever had on the hardware. The UAD version has a really handy side chain filter, and the inclusion of a mix control is handy, but I tend not to use the Bus compressor for parallel compression. If I did, it would typically be on a bus. I put it up against Duende version as well as Cytomic’s The Glue compressor. I would say they all provide glue, in different ways. The Duende version is a hair tamer than the other two but had a little more body. The punch of the kick was brought out, but the snaps and snare cracks weren’t as prominent. The Glue compressor was all about the punch and excitement, while the UAD has a similar punch to the Glue compressor, but with more harmonic content that made the low end fuller and the top end sparkle more than the others. Overall, they all did what they are intended to do, bringing that glue and punch to a mix. However, the UAD was the most exciting to work with. Which is a shame, because I don’t own that one. UAD PURE PLATE ~19% DSP of one core. It sounds to me that the Pure Plate plug-in gives you access to one of the three plates in the EMT140 plug-in — which I’m pinning as Plate B. Plate A is brighter, Plate C has a longer decay, while Plate B is right down the middle. It’s a lush plate reverb that isn’t too bright and hangs around just long enough like a good party guest. It sounds spectacular on any source, particularly vocals with a bit of pre-delay, and drums. You do get some basic tone controls, just not the selectable frequencies of the EMT140. You also get a pan and dry/wet mix control, but you don’t get the width control to centre it up a little, or the modulation control. All that said, you can dial in similar setups to the A and B plates by winding in some high end or extending the reverb time. It won’t exactly line up, but it will give you the effect you need. Best of all, it sounds great; you’re not going to struggle to get this to sound great. AT 49
All of the knobs and I/O on Arturia's Audiofuse. There are also a load of hidden options. For instance, Input 3 can also function as an instrument input, and the left channel of the Speaker B output can be operated as a reamp output.
will open up access to the hub in bus-powered mode, but with some power limitations. Expect to be able to plug in an iLok, not a drive. There are two more bus-powered modes; Mixdown keeps your headroom intact but kills the inputs, while Mixdown Green is once again outputs only, but with the Green mode’s reduced headroom. The Apollo Twin Mk II doesn’t have a buspowered mode, you always have to have the wall wart plugged in. However, it is a nicer locking connector than the tiny Audiofuse one, which did come out on me once while I was trying to yank a stick out of the USB hub. HEAD TO HEAD SOUND OFF
I’ve been using both units for a couple of weeks and enjoyed recording a variety of material with them. They both pass the real test of whether or not they’re enjoyable to work with. I also made a few head to head comparisons. Recording the same song twice with both interfaces. It’s impossible to get everything exactly the same, but it does give some overall insights once you record a variety of instruments and stack up tracks. Arturia has really gone to town bigging up its DiscretePro preamp design. I couldn’t get a look at the circuit board because the screws were hidden behind a rubber base layer, so I can’t verify how ‘discrete’ the components are. Arturia has put a lot of effort into making it a very low noise design, with great dynamic range and a flat, extended frequency response. Going for audio purity, not distortion. As it happens, that’s exactly the same outcome the preamp chip used in the Twin is aiming for — clean gain, no frills. AT 50
Both provided exactly that, up to a point. Where they diverge is in tonality, level and how they handle different loads. When up close and personal on sources the Audiofuse presents seemingly very flat while the UA preamp has a bit more high mid presence. It’s not nasty, and as is the case with most recordings captured with unidirectional mics, you’ll be winding top end in anyway; more top end in the case of the Audiofuse. Both preamps easily handled getting enough level out of a standard vocal when using the gainhungry Shure SM7B, though once again, it seemed the Audiofuse was able to drive the dynamic a little better to get more solid bottom end out of it. Throughout all of this, both gave very usable results. Where the Audiofuse put its nose in front was when using a passive Blumlein ribbon to record a natural acoustic and vocal performance from three feet away. It’s a stretch for any preamp, but at the top of its gain range, the UA definitely got a little thinner overall and lost some of the nuance, while the Audiofuse kept trucking along. Both had noise, the Audiofuse slightly less, but it was the far more pleasing result. I did however find some discrepancy between the gain settings of both preamps on the Audiofuse. With the Twin, when I linked both preamps, the levels from both sides of the ribbon came through almost dead equal. Whereas I had to ever so slightly stagger the gain pots on the Audiofuse. The loss in definition at the top of the Twin’s gain range was most interesting to me, because while UAD’s Unison processing can very closely emulate über expensive preamps, it can’t physically emulate all of their capabilities. Obviously, you can’t eke 70dB of gain out of a 55dB preamp. Likewise you
can’t expect to get the same noise performance at the extreme end. Where the Apollo Twin does shine is in realtime processing. The roundtrip latency is 1.1ms at 96k. Completely unnoticeable. You can slap on a Neve 1073 Unison preamp and control the plug-in’s gain from the hardware, or load up any of the supremely well-modelled guitar amps for some instant tone. It’s really remarkable how it can change the way you feel about a performance having those tools inserted into your chain. Of course, you can choose to record the results into your DAW or just monitor via the plug-ins and copy and paste settings later. The Audiofuse’s roundtrip latency was quoted at a very respectable 3ms. In practise, you could detect a slight delay when singing through DAW-based effects, but it didn’t prohibit me from using NI’s Guitar Rig to record some direct guitar lines. To solve any latency issues, you do have the option to premix direct monitor mixes using the Audiofuse Control Centre and dial in the balance of Direct and Computer sound. DSP AT A COST
Once I had recorded the songs I also mixed them, and this is where the Twin is supposed to come into its own. Indeed, the UAD plug-ins are excellent quality. There is no doubt UAD plug-ins manage to capture mojo many others don’t, but with most plug-ins at around $299 a pop, you’re really committing to the process. The other downside of the UAD path is it’s DSP reliant. In the case of the Duo core Twin I had on review, that didn’t stretch very far. I wasn’t aiming to choose DSP heavy plug-ins (though a couple I used are), but after instantiating just six plug-ins — Chandler Curve
Where the Apollo Twin does shine is in realtime processing… slap on a Neve 1073 Unison preamp or load up any of the supremely well-modelled guitar amps for some instant tone
Free & Easy
The UA Apollo Twin Mk II hardware is much simpler than Audiofuse, it's the DSP inside that counts.
Bender, UA LA3A, Neve 1081, Marshall Plexi Super Lead and two instances of the API 550A EQ — I was at 92% of DSP on both cores. The problem was, I wasn’t quite finished mixing it yet. If you’re buying a Twin for the excellent Console application and real-time processing when you’re recording, it makes perfect sense. If you’re thinking it’s going to give you loads of UAD plugs to mix with, think again. You will have to shell out for more UAD devices to up your core count. As a guide, earlier in this edition, Matt Redlich produces and engineers full bands and exclusively uses UAD processing. He’s purchased 24 cores to be able to wrangle any session thrown at him. WOULD YOU RATHER?
So, which would you rather? They’re both great-sounding, easy to use units that serve completely different users. While one relies on DSP to recreate old gear, the other goes the old-fashioned route of building its own preamps, and loading up on knobs and buttons. Just be aware that while the Audiofuse literally comes with everything, there is no doubt you will be shelling out for UAD plug-ins once you buy an Apollo Twin. The decision comes down to who you are. Choose the Twin if: you’re already an Apollo user looking for a carry-on travel interface; want to process inputs in real time; or are enticed by UAD’s great-sounding software. On the other hand, go for the Audiofuse if: you need a bus-powered solution; you already have lots of great gear lying around you’ve been wanting to integrate into you setup; own a couple of nice preamps and want two quality interface preamps to pair them with; produce more electronic than acoustic music; are tracking multiple performers at once; or looking for a studio hub. Either way, you won’t be disappointed.
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AT 51
REVIEW
ADAM S3H
Mid Field Monitors ADAM isn’t just about ribbons, it’s reinvented all of its drivers in the new S series.
NEED TO KNOW
Review: Brad Watts
PRICE S3H: $9999/pair S3V: $8299/pair S2V: $5999/pair S5V: $22,999/pair S5H: $26,999/pair
AT 52
CONTACT Federal Audio: 0404 921 781 or cris@federalaudio.com.au
PROS Detailed & un-fatiguing top end Solid & articulate bass Stunning stereo image Malleable DSP Forthcoming control software AES67 smarts down the line
CONS Paying them off Keeping a room large enough
SUMMARY ADAM has enhanced its winning ribbon technology, and developed proprietary low and mid range drivers to match. It’s all about sending good vibrations where they’re supposed to go, including isolating drivers within the cabinet and damping internal cabling. You get what you pay for, including an incredibly malleable DSP and room for more digital smarts in the future.
Just as impressive are the two low-end driver compartments — in essence, they’re two completely separate cabinet. ADAM has reassuringly gone to town and back with the engineering
I can’t say I’ve auditioned any ADAM monitors before. At least never in any official review capacity. However, I’ve experienced the ADAM designs a handful of times in various spaces — primarily in rooms where electronica, sorry, EDM, is the order of business. Most often this would be the now discontinued A7 model from 2006 — a monitor that broke cost versus performance ratios and wedged ADAM’s technology into the prosumer and budget markets. The A7 became a minor classic, predominantly due to its detailed and un-fatiguing high frequency performance. This is possibly why the EDM crew latched onto the ADAM A7 and the following A7X monitors like ducks to water. The S3A also made countless friends. HIGH END ACCORDIONS
Responsible for the detailed high-end reproduction is ADAM’s tweeter designs. Often referred to as ‘ribbon’ tweeters, the configuration is more correctly known as an air motion transformer. The concept was invented by Dr Oskar Heil, and patented by Oskar in 1973, so this isn’t new technology. Air motion transformers, or AMTs, use a material such as polyethylene, polyester or mylar, folded into an accordion-like profile. This is bonded with aluminium strips and held within a strong magnetic field. Once the audio signal is applied to the aluminium the accordion structure expands and contracts, expelling air forward from between the folded layers. The advantages are twofold: the surface area of the accordion structure is around the same area as a six to eight-inch driver, so a large amount of air can be moved. Plus, the speed at which the structure moves is extremely fast, around five times that of a conventional cone driver. Consequently reproduction of very high frequencies is possible using this type of driver. The design also reduces distortion, breakup of the signal and any resulting dynamic limiting. The outcome is a clearer signal with a marked increase in transient response. ADAM has taken the concept and applied its own research and variations, coming up with
various iterations using the ‘Accelerating Ribbon Technology’ moniker. This has led to the X-ART series of tweeters (the ‘X’ denoting an ‘extended’ application of ART), and has been the company’s mainstay for high frequency drivers since inception. Earlier this year ADAM announced the ‘S’ series monitors, comprising five near- to mid-field designs, four three-way models and a solitary two-way design. For appraisal I’ve been bestowed the S3H which incorporates two seven-inch woofers, a four-inch dome/cone hybrid mid-range driver, and ADAM’s latest S-ART high-frequency driver. ADAM says this newer driver designation is courtesy of greater precision manufacturing and more rigorous quality control and testing. However, the S-ART tweeter isn’t the only advance from previous ADAM designs, as the company has cherry-picked and integrated a raft of technologies into the S series. Let’s see what’s involved with the S3H. TWO IS DEEPER THAN ONE
The S3H holds the ‘H’ title as it’s designed to sit horizontally — other models in the range sporting a single woofer take the ‘V’ designation and sit vertically. Based on the Joseph D’Appolito design, the S3H uses two low frequency seven-inch drivers with the midrange and tweeter set between the two. While not strictly ‘D’Appolito’ (Joseph D’Appolito’s design designates two mid-range drivers with a tweeter between in a vertical configuration), the horizontal woofer system has been appropriated for many studio monitor designs throughout the years to exemplary effect. With dual bass drivers you gain a lot of surface area using smaller, more efficient and precise drivers. For example, two seven-inch drivers provide 76.8 square inches of surface area, whereas you’d need a single 10-inch driver to surpass that at 78.5 square inches. An eight-inch driver will glean a mere 50 square inches and won’t sound as ‘tight’ as a six or seven-inch driver. The amount of bass frequencies produced is relative to the surface area, combined with the excursion the driver can provide. With two smaller drivers you
also gain more precise reproduction and imaging than with a single, larger driver. In essence, the two act as a single, precision radiator. Cone composition of the seven-inchers is proprietary, and designed for extended excursion and low weight, constructed using a honeycomb ‘HexaCone’ material. The results are impressive, with the S3H delivering clear, punchy and alarmingly precise low-end. The 100mm mid-range unit is also proprietary. Here, ADAM has come up with a part cone/part dome configuration, offering the linear frequency response of a dome driver with the extended excursion of a cone driver. The single piece cone/ dome is manufactured with a laminated carboncomposite material that reportedly eliminates driver wobble and will reproduce frequencies down to 200Hz. We’ve investigated the high frequency driver composition, but the other crucial part is the waveguide it’s mounted within. This is milled from a good ol’ block of aluminium (nothing plastic around here sir) and is designed to achieve a broad horizontal axis yet tightly-focused vertical plane. Placed directly above the mid-driver (which also resides in an aluminium waveguide), I can attest to the fact that these two work together achieving a gorgeously solid stereo image. Crossover points come in at 250Hz and 3kHz — quite unlike ADAM’s S3X-H which shared frequencies between each of its 7.5-inch woofers. Overall frequency reproduction from the S3H starts at 32Hz and winds out to 50kHz — such are the highs possible from S-ART tweeters. Moving up the range to the S5V and S5H will garner lows of 26Hz and 24Hz respectively. Impressive figures, yet I’ve found no data on frequency rolloff. WRAPPING UP INSIDE
Cabinet-wise, the S3H uses the tried and true bass-reflex design, with two ports emanating from the front baffle beneath the two low-end drivers — soffit mounting is therefore an option. As per established science the corners are AT 53
A look at the DSP on the back of an ADAM S Series speaker, this one being the smaller S2V model. (right) ADAM hasn't just redesigned its tweeter, it's also rebuilt its woofers with a proprietary 'HexaCone' material.
radiused to avoid edge-diffraction anomalies. Construction is medium or high density fibreboard, judging by the 26.6kg weight I’d assume the latter, with the cabinet and front baffle being 32mm in thickness. I had a peek inside the S3H cabinet and can tell you these are a work of art. All the internal surfaces are finished and sealed, with the rear of the porting curved to avoid internal port turbulence. All cables are covered with transit blanket to avoid rattles. Then there’s pyramid style audio foam throughout for damping. Just as impressive is how the two low-end driver compartments are sealed from each other with fibreboard and damping — in essence, they’re two completely separate cabinets. ADAM has reassuringly gone to town and back with the engineering. While we’re here, let’s look at amplification. There’s an assortment of amplification systems throughout the S series. The low and midrange drivers are powered by Class D amps which offer low heat output and are light weight. The low-end drivers are individually amplified with efficient 500W amps (yes, that’s one 500W amp per driver), with the midrange driver using a 300W amp. When it comes to the S-ART tweeter ADAM has used a 50W Class AB design for its lower distortion and linear response up to 300kHz. So add it up; that’s 1350W per monitor spewing a staggering 126dB from a pair at one metre. DSP DOES IT ALL
Like many of the new breed of studio monitors, ADAM’s S-series utilises DSP to look after crossover duties, equalisation, and connecting digital AES/EBU signals. Digital connection has been an optional expense with previous ADAM designs, and an expensive option at that. Digital connection is a matter of connecting AES/EBU to the first monitor, daisy-chaining to the next monitor and setting each monitor to reproduce left or right stereo signals. How’s the selection happen? AT 54
Well, on the rear of an S-series monitor is a small OLED display with a variable potentiometer combined with a pushbutton. Apart from digital setup and editing of delay times, this also provides access to input level adjustments and various EQ settings. EQ-wise there are a couple of presets: ‘Pure’ for straight-up flat response, and ADAM’s own ‘UDR’ curve (Uniform Natural Response). After that there are two parametric shelving filters (one for low-end and the other for highs) as well as a further six fully-parametric EQs. Any alterations you decide upon can be stored into any of three user memories. You can even select an additional preset EQ curve designed to emulate the sold-bythe-truckload ADAM S3A. Personally I stuck to the ‘Pure’ flat response in my room, but if you or your room are so inclined there’s oodles of scope for customisation. BACK TO FRONT
You’ll recall my mentioning of soffit mounting the S3H monitors, along with the fact all adjustment to the monitor’s DSP is accessed via the rear of the unit. There are logistical issues accessing these controls if the monitors find themselves soffit mounted, or even issues accessing the rear due to the sheer weight of the S3H. Legacy ADAM designs have often housed adjustment controls on the monitor’s front, which is obviously great for making adjustments from somewhere close to your listening position. The S-series intends to do away with this dilemma by way of software. The rear of all S-series monitors houses a USB-B port which is slated to enable both software upgrades to the DSP, and the ability to adjust EQ and recall presets via your computer. Quite the boon I say, yet the software is so far unavailable. Requests to the ADAM mothership via the Australian distributor returned the hopeful response of “soon”. Equally as vaporous is the ‘Network’ slot on the rear of the units. It’s marked as being ‘optional’ with ‘in’ and ‘out’ legends. The manual states the
Network slot “...will hold two RJ45 connectors for future expansion...”. Two things spring to mind: will the network card cost as much as previous digital cards, and will it possess AES67 smarts? With AES67 capability you could route digital 96k audio straight from your computer — all without the need for an interface. Two $10 ethernet cables will get the job done, unless of course you find some audiophile-grade ethernet cables. Trust me. They’re out there. Alongside the magic crystals and beans. NOT PULLING PUNCHES
So what’s to dislike about the ADAM S3H? Nothing, I’m convinced. ADAM hasn’t pulled any punches with the S-series (save the control software and the networking card). The stereo imaging is simply immaculate, the three-way model seamlessly transitions between frequencies, and low-end is tight, predictable, and detailed. What’s more, I’d gladly sit in front of these for the day — as opposed to anything with a metal dome tweeter. Transients are impeccably reproduced without bashing your ears within an inch of their usable timeframe. I’m no fan of metal tweeters. Sure they have their place, like finessing infinitesimal effect details (at a huge distance away from me), but the S-ART high-end drivers are by far a best-of-bothworlds option; un-fatiguing, yet detailed. In all honesty, I did the ‘listen to all my favourites’ thing with the S3H monitors, literally hearing nuances I’d not experienced before. And hey, they’ll impress the clients no end with their authoritative bottom end and sheer output. Still, the S3H isn’t for the faint of pocket. At around $10k Aussie they’re a huge step for most. Yet, in an age where audio production requires translation to umpteen different streaming formats, iTunes, YouTube, gaming consoles, virtual and augmented reality platforms, vinyl and good ol’ garden variety compact disc, you could advocate this figure to be a prudent expenditure. Laptop, software, monitors. Go!
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Up to 10 beltpacks per antenna 100 antenna, 100 beltpack system capacity Best-in-class voice clarity “Touch&Go” beltpack registration 6-channel beltpack plus dedicated REPLY button Built-in microphone and speaker for Walkie-Talkie mode Smartphone integration via Bluetooth Ergonomic, robust beltpack design Sunlight-readable display with Gorilla Glass™ Decentralized AES67 IP networked antennas Seamless integration into RIEDEL‘S ARTIST intercom matrix
www.riedel.net AT 55
REVIEW
ARTURIA MATRIXBRUTE Analogue Synthesizer The all-new, dancing, step-sequencing MiniBrute. Let’s enter the matrix. Review: Jason Hearn
NEED TO KNOW
I’ve enjoyed an extended love affair over several years with Arturia’s MiniBrute. It remains a staple in my rig for deep growling basses, searing leads and intricate arpeggiator mayhem. While it’s a substantial synthesizer for the money, this particular fan-boy dreamt of a grander affair — a grown-up iteration of the MiniBrute with more keys, patch memories, external MIDI control of all parameters, a second LFO, extended modulation matrix, and effects. Rolling forth to 2017, it would appear Arturia not only read my mind but expanded my dream ’Brute by including a step sequencer, classier cosmetics,
PRICE Expect to pay $2999 CONTACT CMI Music & Audio: (03) 9315 2244 or info@cmi.com.au
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PROS Versatile modulation matrix Assignable paraphonic VCO High build quality Extremely flexible internal routing Loads of I/O
solid build quality, an ergonomic tilting front panel, a third envelope, a third LFO, and paraphonic VCO assignment. FIRST IMPRESSIONS
To say this synth blew me away is an understatement! This is one seriously heavy and beautifully built hardware synth. When MatrixBrute’s tilting front panel is in its upright position it demands prime time attention. Its look and the sheer number of controls on its front panel makes my prized Moog Voyager look a touch vanilla, by comparison. Metal Pitch and Mod wheels are adjacent
CONS Needs computer to setup global MIDI controls Effects can get a bit grainy
to the key bed and feel great to tweak. The potentiometers have the familiar knob-caps inherited from other Arturia products, but in this case are solidly chassis-mounted. My only misgivings on the build quality front would be the sliders used for the envelopes. These exhibit reasonable lateral play and should be tweaked with a gentle hand. The on-board displays are rather curious. Although dedicated multi-segment LED displays are provided for both the Preset and Sequencer sections, a miniature Kindle paper-like display provides the only text-based feedback for the user. It’s used purely for displaying patch names and
SUMMARY Arturia’s MiniBrute has become a favourite for growling basses and searing leads. MatrixBrute unleashes more of everything — two more LFOs, a third envelope, paraphonic VCO assignment, and a modulation matrix to boot. The result is an incredibly versatile synth that elevates the Brutish character of its predecessor to another level.
ANALOGUE EFFECTS Since MatrixBrute has an end-to-end analogue signal path, inclusion of an analogue effects unit makes sense. However, all that is on offer here are those effects you can build with a network of bucket-brigade delays. Stereo delay, mono delay, chorus, flanger and reverb are available, however — with the exception of the delay effects — they have a tendency to sound metallic, grimy and a touch primitive. Thankfully, the parameters of these effects can be modulated via the modulation matrix offering some fun possibilities in tandem with the step sequencer. I suspect most musicians will call upon their own toolbox of digital effects.
indicating which parameters have been mapped to the four user-definable modulation destination slots. That’s it — no other menus! While novel in presentation, its refresh is slow and it lacks a backlight. A regular LCD or OLED display would better suit dimly-lit studios and stages. The 16x16 button matrix provides three key functions, selectable with three oversized round buttons: PRESET to select one of its 256 patch memories; SEQ to access the step-sequencer; MOD to access the modulation matrix. If you are somewhat ‘fat fingered’ you may have difficulty pressing the little matrix buttons without mashing their neighbours. This is most evident when selecting and saving patches. Since there is no second level ‘are you sure?’-style confirmation, while saving a patch my finger slipped and I knocked out an adjacent patch. First world problems, perhaps? While it has a 100% analogue signal path and effects, the front panel controls are digital. Stepless 14-bit encoders (16,384 discrete values) give resolution to the parameters that need it, and seven-bit resolution is reserved for controls where high resolution isn’t vital. LET’S HEAR THOSE VOICES
In essence, VCO 1 and 2 are two MiniBrutes, layered. These voices feature waveform mixing: providing a blend of Sawtooth (with Ultrasaw function), Pulse (with PWM ‘zero through’ sweet spot) and Triangle (with Metalizer wave modulation) waves. VCO 1 and 2 provide independent Sub oscillators with continuous adjustment between Sine and Pulse, however, unlike the MiniBrute, these are fixed to -1 octave. The tuning of VCO 1 and 2 is scaled exponentially and has a touch of drift. Thankfully, an auto-tune function is provided (press Panel and Kbd Track buttons together). The more stable linear VCO 3 serves dualpurposes as either an audible VCO or as a third LFO. Waveform mixing and wave shaping options are absent, yet is does provide a sine wave, expanding upon the waveform selections found in VCO 1 and 2. VCO 3 also sports Clock divide settings and keyboard tracking of the pitch can be disabled. Unusually, a noise source is provided with not just White noise, but also Pink, Red and Blue
Its look and the sheer number of controls on its front panel makes my prized Moog Voyager look a touch vanilla, by comparison
modes (each indicated with an appropriately coloured LED). The Voice Modulation section of the synth is where you can achieve various FM, hard sync and audio-rate cross modulations between the oscillators with no less than four areas to explore. The first unipolar control adjusts VCO 1 modulation of VCO 2, the next three parameters are bipolar. VCO 1 or VCO 2 can be modulated by VCO 3. Exotically, VCF 1 or VCF 2 can also be modulated by VCO 3. Lastly, the noise source can modulate VCO 1 or VCF 1. A VCO Sync button provides hard sync of VCO 2 to VCO 1. With a bit of exploration, the sounds here cover everything from traditional hard sync sounds and basic FM tones through to chaotic noise and crunch. With extreme settings, you’ll coax random, mangled sounds more typical of modular synths. The source mixer combines the VCOs, Noise and the External Audio input (available on the back panel) and controls how each source is routed to the VCF section. Each source can independently feed either the Ladder filter or Steiner-Parker filter or both filter types simultaneously. It’s at this point seasoned analogue synth heads will be salivating at the possibilities all this afffords… which leads me to the filter section. FILTER MY ENTHUSIASM
MatrixBrute sports both a Steiner filter and a Moog-inspired Ladder filter, configured either in parallel or series. Each provides controls for Drive, Cutoff, Resonance, Brute Factor (like the MiniBrute — effectively a variable feedback circuit), Envelope Mod amount and Output level. Both filters are multimode, with independent slopes (24dB or 12dB/octave), offering either Low Pass, Band Pass or High Pass modes. The Steiner filter also offers a Notch mode. Unique to any non-modular analogue synth I’ve played is the ability to tweak two different filter cutoffs in an offset fashion via a dedicated endless encoder. This proved handy for discovering new sound textures by engaging different filter types, and routing different oscillators to the filters with independent drive and feedback stages. It’s interesting to note the filter resonances take on a varying character based on how much you drive the feeds from the mixer section — for more delicate tones, back off the levels in the mixer.
While on the topic of gain, it’s worth noting that there are four gain staging possibilities within MatrixBrute. Firstly, within the oscillators themselves (via adjustment of the waveform mixer), then the VCO mixer levels, the Drive and Brute Factor amount within the filters, and lastly, the Filters have independently adjustable output levels. ASSIGN ME UP
Because this mono synth has a paraphonic VCO assign mode, it’s possible to play the three individual VCOs on different notes. That is, threenote chords on a mono synth. While not a unique concept, it’s implemented on the MatrixBrute in a clever and useful way. In particular, a variation on the paraphonic mode comes in the form of Duo Split mode — the pair of Brute VCOs are routed through the Steiner filter from the ‘upper’ part of the keyboard split while a simple ‘lower’ patch is provided by routing VCO 3 through the Ladder filter. Usefully, if the arpeggiator is activated in this voice mode, only the lower sound is affected. MODULATION SOURCES
MatrixBrute has three envelopes with a set of sliders dedicated to each. The first is hardwired to the VCFs, the second is hardwired to the VCA, while the third is freely assignable. ENV 1 and 2 have a slider adjacent governing how much note velocity will effect either the VCF or VCA, while ENV 3 has means to delay the onset of its attack stage. Good things come in threes, and MatrixBrute also has a trifecta of LFOs. LFO 1 and 2 are fully-featured with seven wave shapes, syncable to clock, and have various retrigger modes. The phase of LFO 1 and the delay of onset of LFO 2 can be tweaked. While LFO rates can be increased to audio-rate frequencies, they don’t reach speeds as high as I’d hoped for. LFO 3 is provided via the ancillary function of VCO 3, covered earlier. Adjacent to the Mod/Pitch wheels, you’ll find four white Macro Knobs. The mapping of each Macro Knob is defined within the modulation matrix, allowing each to modulate up to 16 destinations in either positive or negative amounts. While a preset designer offers ‘serving suggestion’ parameters to tweak for each patch, the Macro knobs put the means to create complex patch morphs within easy reach of the keyboard. AT 57
CONNECTIVITY A-PLENTY There’s a ton of connectivity here; obviously intended for integration with a modular synth. In addition to traditional MIDI and audio connections, you’ll find inputs and outputs for sync and gate and an audio input for bringing external sources into the synth, pre-VCF (with provision for low and high impedance sources). On an array of mini-jack sockets you’ll find outputs and inputs corresponding with the 12 hard-wired destinations found in the modulation matrix.
INTO THE MATRIX
Aside from its sound, the greatest highlight of MatrixBrute is the flexibility of its digital modulation matrix. Mod sources are listed on the left of the matrix as rows — these 16 sources are hard-wired. Mod destinations are presented in columns — the first 12 destinations are hard-wired while the last four are freely assignable to any knob-based parameter on the front panel. These last four assignable destination slots offer plenty of scope for creativity Making an assignment is as simple as locating the appropriate button in the matrix and then specifying an amount with the Mod Amount encoder. Modulation sources can effect up to 16 destinations simultaneously (with independent amounts and polarity). Furthermore, the assignable destination slots can be used to scale one modulation assignment against another modulation source. For example, the amount of LFO modulation assigned to a filter cut-off can be modulated by one of the envelopes. GLOBAL COMPUTER CONTROL
Since the MatrixBrute’s keyboard action is superior to its range of budget controllers, for the duration of the review I made it the master controller in my DAW rig. Naturally, this sent me on the hunt for the MIDI local on/off setting, which I couldn’t find on the front panel. After a little research I discovered it’s necessary to install Arturia’s MIDI Control Centre tool. Once installed, it recognised the synth via USB connection and traditional global settings such as MIDI local on/off, MIDI RX/TX channels and clock source were revealed. Library functions such as backing up the synth memories, naming patches and applying attribute tags are also found here. The software is also the only means of naming patches. It’s apparent that Arturia is banking on musicians having a computer on hand which might raise an eyebrow amongst the ‘hardware synth only’ brigade. After power cycling, the MIDI local setting AT 58
At the most basic level, you could use one of the VCO pitch outputs to drive an oscillator in your modular and bring it back into the synth to add further oscillators into a patch, or wire in favourite exotic LFO generators to modulate the pulse wave. You’ll also find a TRS Insert connector allowing insertion of guitar stomp boxes, compressors and what not. The signal comes back into the signal path post VCF/VCA and into the analogue effects section.
reverts back to Local On by default. This behaviour is by design, according to Arturia, however, having to set this parameter every time is an annoyance. A shortcut function to change this setting from the hardware is planned at some stage, however, I’d rather the choice be preserved in perpetuity. STEPPING UP
The Step Sequencer provides 64 steps — each step having a note, accent, slide and modulation track. The output of the modulation track feeds the Seq Mod source in the modulation matrix (and thus can be assigned to up to 16 simultaneous destinations). Up to 256 sequences can be stored independently or attached to Preset memories using the Link function. Creating a new step sequence is a simple matter. Press the Record button and start entering the notes in the order you wish them to play. To insert a rest, press the Tap tempo button. Press the Record button again once complete. If you wish to over-ride the number of steps in the sequence, press and hold the Seq Length button and press the appropriate step column in the grid. By hitting the Play button, the sequence will play at a static pitch. If you wish to transpose the step sequence up and down the keyboard in real time, simply play the keyboard. To edit the notes while playback has stopped, use the arrow keys. Editing notes while playback is engaged is achieve by ‘punching in’ using the Record and playing keys, however, I found the process to be quite imprecise. While it’s exciting to have an integrated step sequencer I feel the physical user interface here could have offered a better means to edit sequences. Considering the vast grid of buttons on the unit, an Ableton Push-style presentation of steps would perhaps be superior, thanks to its generous array of 256 buttons (superior even to Push’s implementation with 64 buttons). I also find having only a single modulation track per sequence to be a puzzling limitation, especially considering the modulation matrix is digital. Furthermore, it would have been
great to be able to set an independent length for the modulation track. Perhaps, these aspects could be addressed in future firmware updates. HALLMARKS OF A HALL OF FAMER
The hallmarks of a great synthesizer are the degree of animation and spectral change you can get happening in the oscillator and filter sections, the versatility of the modulation matrix and the opportunities to create audio rate modulations. The sound of this synthesizer is definitely going to appeal to those working in genres of electronica where a darker vibe is the order of the day. Paraphonic pads have a deliciously sour nature and due to having shared VCF/VCA stages, provide unusual articulations which inspire new ways of playing chord parts. With so many opportunities to introduce gain throughout the signal path, coaxing harder-edged sounds is a breeze, so much so, that finding the more delicate tone palette of this synth can be a touch challenging. Its dual-VCF structure is going to win over many musicians seeking a synth with powerful tone-shaping capabilities. If you’re seeking a synth capable of off-the-wall, raucous and rude tones, you’re going to love Matrix Brute. With the proliferation of polyphonic analogue synths for around the same money or less than MatrixBrute (most notably, Novation’s Peak), expectations for a mono synth at this price point are high. This is where Arturia sets itself apart from the pack. MatrixBrute is an excellent synthesiser with plenty of hands-on control and is destined to be a highly sought after modern day classic.
IN ACTION To hear what the Arturia Matrixbrute can do, head over to AT’s Soundcloud page and let Jason take you through a brutal demo. soundcloud.com/audiotechnology/arturiamatrixbrute-demo-sounds
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REVIEW
OUTPUT ANALOG STRINGS Virtual Instrument The name Analog Strings sounds like it should be for purists, however, the sound it outputs is anything but. Review: Preshan John
Everyone’s got strings samples, but I bet you don’t have anything like Output Analog Strings. It’s about the furthest deviation from natural orchestral strings sounds you can get while still managing to sound like strings. Analog Strings is weird to describe. It’s a sample-based instrument for Native Instruments Kontakt, and a large one at that — around 39GB (compressed into a 20GB download). The samples consist of actual stringed instrument recordings along with synthesised strings. Each patch mashes both sound sources and provides a host of ways to further punish their purity with tools like distortion, arpeggiation, modulation, loopers, and effects. It’s quirky, and I love it.
PRICE US$199 CONTACT Output: www.output.com PROS Incredibly broad range of sounds Generous amount of effects
FIND A PRESET
Reaching a desirable preset destination can be terribly hit-and-miss with instruments capable of an expansive range of tones. Thankfully Output’s reductive preset menu system is a pleasure to use. Pick the adjectives which best describe the sound you’re chasing and the relevant preset list narrows down on the right. Well done to Output for executing this extremely well, with enough subcategories to be able to accurately zone into the preset ballpark, but not so many that the selection process becomes a chore in itself. Once you’ve arrived at your destination preset, you’ve got a huge amount of tweakable parameters to further alter it. Visually, the most striking of these parameters are the four ‘macro’ sliders which affect the sound’s overall texture. Depending on the source patch these will be a choice of Pitch, Pulse, Dirt, Tone, Wet, Delay, Shape, Filter, Spread, Reverb, Motion, Vibrato, Talk, Attack, Noise, Rhythm, FX, Glide, and my personal favourite, More. TWISTED PAIR
Each Analog Strings patch is made up of two sound sources, visible as sample waveforms underneath the macro sliders. You can toggle through a variety of options for either in the Source Menu, all of which sit in one of three categories — Orchestral, Synths, or Creative. These are further broken down by envelope type; One Shot, Pad, or Tape. Offset the sample’s start by sliding the playhead across the waveform. You can even reverse the sample or loop it. AT 60
SUMMARY Output has taken a benign sonic building block and turned it into a monstrous tonewarping machine, presented in a user-friendly interface. Analog Strings is a strings experience like no other.
CONS None
Building on the base tone of two combined sounds, Analog Strings offers heaps of other processing and effects options accessible via the tabs at the top of the GUI labelled Edit, FX, Rhythm, and Arp. It’s laid out logically and is easy to navigate. The Edit tab lets you dive into the sample’s envelope, pitch, flutter, and stereo position/spread. FX is broken into two sub-tabs; Layer FX to treat the two samples individually, and Global FX which affects the entire sound. Options include a filter, EQ, distortion, compressor, delay, chorus, phaser, and reverb. The Arp tab contains two arpeggiator engines, each capable of up to 16 reps and 32 steps. You can draw in custom patterns or choose from a bunch of presets including both chords and single notes. THE ADVENTURE
Every patch is an adventure with Analog Strings. There’s even a preset called ‘Unusable but Funny’ that you really have to hear for yourself. Texturally there’s everything you can imagine: smooth, pretty pads that’ll make you feel nostalgic after one chord; spine-chilling Oriental plucked sounds; foreboding and bassy cello tones with loops sprinkled on top; tension-building looped staccato pitch glides; and painfully harsh ‘I’m-getting-violin-lessons’ sounds that make you angry for no reason. But the really fun part is when you take a preset and
play around with it. Start out by shifting the four macro sliders around, reverse the second sample or loop just a portion of it. You can turn a pad into an arpeggiated stutter or add a stupid amount of reverb. Basically, it lets you break all the rules. To be honest, I’ve barely had enough self control when messing with Analog Strings to make a sound I’d actually use in a song — everything about the instrument invites overkill and irresponsibility. Saying that, there’s nothing stopping you from using a thunderous double bass patch that resembles the footfalls of a dozen elephants in your band’s new demo recording. Notwithstanding, if you like making tame music, Analog Strings is perfectly capable of pulling off normal stuff too, just don’t expect a pristine orchestral recreation, and be willing to show restraint with all those knobs and buttons. Analog Strings isn’t a utilitarian tool, but it isn’t trying to be. Rather than going to an instrument knowing what sound to expect, musicians using Analog Strings will find themselves inspired by sounds they’d never envisioned in the first place. Electronic music producers can find all the quirkiest synth and string arpeggios in a single interface. Film composers and game music writers will love this thing to bits. Coming from a guy who’s more into sample libraries that strive for unadulterated purity, I’ll still say Analog Strings is my latest favourite software instrument.
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KC Porter, Part II
JMC Academy recently brought multi Grammy-winning producer KC Porter out to Australia on a masterclass tour. This issue we look at how he transformed Ricky Martin from a career in boy bands and the theatre to a global superstar. As well as finding a spiritual connection with Carlos Santana to capture that storied guitar sound. For more information on JMC's Audio Engineering & Sound Production Course, go to www.jmcacademy.edu.au
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I was producing this one well-known artist in Puerto Rico, and her manager also managed Ricky Martin. He said, ‘I’d like you to work with this guy.’ I was reluctant at first because Ricky came from a boy band and I considered myself to be more of a producer of real, lead singers. Ricky is more of a package artist. He’s a great performer. He has amazing stage presence, is a great dancer, and is a great interpreter of music — he can bare his soul musically — but I wasn’t so much about performers as I was singers like Toni Braxton or Boyz II Men, Chaka Kahn or Brian McKnight. I get frustrated too, producing singers that aren’t really singers, it’s a lot of work. Working with Ricky was a wonderful experience. We were able to do whatever we wanted. The label didn’t get it, they wanted him to be the next Julio Iglesias. They thought he was a crooner in the making. The breakout single was Maria, which the label didn’t even want on the record. I left it on the record anyway, and the rest is history. Ricky was very busy at the time, we’d always get artists after a tour when they’re exhausted. They were pulling him everywhere — he was in a soap opera and had just done Les Miserables on Broadway. We had to boost his energy and take out the Ethel Merman factor that happens on Broadway; make him a cooler, smokey, rock/pop guy. It was a challenge to take some of the bubblegum out of his image. Santana was the next project. He told us that when he was praying about the album the message he’d received was that he needed to step back and trust in his producers. He had been burned so many times by trusting bad producers and management. He’d taken control of his career, but when he met Clive Davis he decided to let Clive and myself take control. Our side was about honouring Carlos’ vibe. We had a great working relationship and connected on a spiritual level. A friend of mine and guitar player, J. B. Eckl, was a hardcore Santana fan. When they asked me to meet Santana in the studio, I called J. B. down. The first thing Carlos does is pull out all these posters of paintings. We’re looking at all the colourful, crazy paintings and he said, ‘that’s what I want my music to sound like.’ We were realising that Carlos wasn’t your average artist. He was living, breathing and speaking on a different frequency. If we wanted to honour what he was looking for we had to get on that frequency. He would say something like, ‘we need to connect the molecules and the light.’ He would use a lot of
terminology like that and we’d panic. Then we’d figure he was trying to bring some light into the darkness, or combine the material and the spiritual. He didn’t ask whether things could be pink or purple until about the third album down the way. Then he said, ‘it feels a little blue, could you make it a little more red?’ I looked at J. B. — ‘it had to come!’ He would put his thumb in front of his face, with his pinkie pointing away so you don’t see the palm of his hand. Then he’d line his right hand up behind it so you could barely see that either. He would say, ‘my guitar sounds like this right now, and I want it to sound like this.’ Then he would fan his hands open so you could see the palms and fingers. He wanted his guitar to sound fuller, warmer, bigger. He didn’t want it to sound transistory, or thin. It’s all about the size of the sound. Carlos was very pleased with what we were doing, but it took some trial and error. At the end of the day, recording his guitar boiled down to capturing not just the speaker, but the phenomenon produced in the room. Carlos would walk out into the tracking room and hear his guitar cranked. Then he’d go back into the control room where it was coming out of the big speakers, but it wouldn’t give that same effect. We needed to figure out how to capture the balance of the speaker and room with the right preamps. We probably used an SM57, we weren’t using ribbon mics. We’d move things around, and try to work out the best positioning for the amp. The speaker we used was a little Boogie cab. It wasn’t a massive 4 x 12 cabinet. The Dumble amp was also the magic. I wish it was easier to get a Dumble amp, but they’re very cost prohibitive. We ended up using the class AB Neve 1081s, which is not the same as class A, but they were beautiful. That signal chain we landed on at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley was magic. It ended up being where he would record from that point on. People would say the tones we were getting on his guitar were the best they’d ever heard from him. I had a Neve 8036 in my studio, and everything was done in analogue. It was the last thing I did completely in analogue on 499 Ampex tape, and a Studer A37. There was nothing like the sound of that Neve, I wish I could still have it, but it’s just not practical. If you listen to Primevera it’s indicative of a mix on that console. It sounds smoother than smooth. Every time we’d see Carlos after the album came out, he’d just look at us and say, ‘Primavera!’’
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AUDIOTECHNOLOGY: DIGITAL EDITION
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