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Editor Mark Davie mark@audiotechnology.com.au Publisher Philip Spencer philip@alchemedia.com.au Editorial Director Christopher Holder chris@audiotechnology.com.au 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 2018 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. 12/02/2018.
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COVER STORY
Many Hands Make Light Work: The story behind 14 Gang of Youths’ ARIA-winning album
ISSUE 47 CONTENTS
26
Cloud Control Get in the Zone
Producer Profile: Seekae’s George Nicholas
34
Is Townsend Labs’ Sphere the Holy Grail of Mic Modelling?
Shure GLX-D Advanced Wireless System AT 6
58
The Horrors Find Sanctuary in Paul Epworth’s Church
44
RME UFX II & UFX Plus Audio Interfaces
Native Instruments Komplete Kontrol MkII Keyboards
20
52
28 48
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GENERAL NEWS
NEW ADAM NEARFIELDS The new T5V and T7V studio monitors from Adam Audio are the most affordable in the Adam family. Both are 70W, two-way models with a DSP-controlled crossover designed for nearfield use in small to medium control rooms. The T5V and T7V, with five- and seven-inch woofers, respectively, both feature the signature yellow 1.9-inch U-ART tweeter mounted behind a High Frequency Propagation (HPS) waveguide used in Adam’s flagship S-Series monitors. The waveguide provides a wide and uniform dispersion of high frequencies for spacious
sweet spot. The woofers are constru cted from polypropylene for good transient response even at higher SPLs. Rear-firing bass reflex ports can be found on both monitors, along with a duo of analogue input options (balanced XLR or unbalanced RCA). Two switches on the back let you boost or cut high and/or low frequencies by ±2dB. Federal Audio: 0404 921 781 or sales@federalaudio.com.au
ASTON AT NAMM 2018 Aston Microphones launched two new products at NAMM this year, both microphone accessories, with the option of purchasing both in a bundle. The first is the Aston Swift universal shock mount designed for speedy operation with two quick release spring clips to suit a range of mic sizes from 30-55mm diameters. Isolation is provided by a latex suspension system which Aston has dubbed ‘ShockStar’. The shock mount frame is made of hard-wearing aluminium and glass-fill nylon polymer. Second is the Aston Shield GN pop filter and gooseneck. Secured to a AT 8
mic stand with an oversized crocodile clip, the pop filter design is made of stainless steel (easily washable) with “precisely acid etched hexagonal filter holes” to transmit clear vocal performances while plundering plosives. The SwiftShield is both of the above products bundled into a single offering from Aston. Link Audio: (03) 8373 4817 or info@linkaudio.com.au
MORE NEWS AT www.audiotechnology.com.au
PRESONUS INTERFACE PAIR PreSonus announces the Studio 1810 and Studio 1824 USB 2.0 audio/MIDI interfaces. The new interfaces record at up to 24-bit/192k resolution and feature PreSonus’ XMAX Class A microphone preamps, high quality digital converters, ultra-lowjitter clocking, and MIDI I/O. All analogue inputs and the main L/R outputs have eight-LED, ladder-style level meters. The Studio 1810 records up to 18 simultaneous inputs and can output eight channels, including two headphone outs with A/B switching. The 1824 is capable of 18 simultaneous inputs and 18 outputs
which include eight channels of ADAT outs. Both interfaces offer flexible routing with zero-latency DSP-based monitor mixing and control room integration with Studio One Artist (Mac and Windows) and Presonus UC Surface for Mac, Windows, iPad, and Android. Link Audio: (03) 8373 4817 or info@linkaudio.com.au
UA ARROW & OX The latest from Universal Audio is a 2x4 Thunderbolt 3 buspowered audio interface called Arrow. Audio resolution is up to 24-bit/192k with high quality UAD conversion onboard. Working with both Mac and Windows, Arrow has two Unison mic preamps built it and comes with a generous helping of UAD plug-ins — including guitar amps from Fender, Ampeg, Marshall, plus a collection of studio compressors, EQs and reverbs from Neve, API, Manley and more — for use in both tracking and mixing. UA also released the Ox Amp Top Box, a premium reactive load box allowing guitarists to play and record
their tube amp in its ideal sweet spots — from the edge-ofbreakup to fully cranked — at any volume level. It comes with mic, room, and speaker cabinet emulations too, all available at the turn of a knob. Featuring Universal Audio’s Dynamic Speaker Modeling, UA says Ox is a speaker attenuator like no other, emulating speaker breakup and cone cry with authenticity. CMI Music & Audio: (03) 9315 2244 or www.cmi.com.au
MORE NEWS AT www.audiotechnology.com.au
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LIVE NEWS
BOSE S1 PRO & TONEMATCH MIXERS The Bose S1 Pro is a compact portable PA system designed for singer-songwriters, DJs and musicians. Drawing on technology employed in the Bose L1 and F1 portable loudspeaker systems, the S1 Pro weighs just 6.8kg and is constructed to be ultra portable. It can be used in four different positions — tilted back, mounted on a speaker stand, placed on its side, or elevated. Built-in sensors detect positional changes and trigger Auto EQ which recalibrates the system’s internal settings for each different placement/application to ensure optimised sound for
however the speaker is set up. A three channel mixer is onboard, along with reverb and tone controls. The S1 Pro features Bluetooth connectivity. At NAMM, Bose also introduced the T8S and T4S ToneMatch mixers as the ultimate companion for performing artists. The T8S has eight inputs while the T4S has four. You get built-in EQ, dynamics, and effects like a compressor, limiter, de-esser, noise gate, chorus, flanger, phaser, tremolo, delay, and reverb.
dBTECH ADDS VIO MODULE dBTechnologies released the newest member of the Vio family. Vio L208 is an active, two-way, dual eight-inch line array module with a 1.4-inch neodymium compression driver that offers lighter and faster rigging elements, unique acoustic design and a combination of long throw and detailed audio performance. The transducers are positioned behind an all-in-one panel which acts as a phase-plug and a HF horn. The module can be a compact stand-alone line array system as well as a fully compatible downfill for Vio L210 and Vio L208 hybrid systems, completed by
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Vio S active subwoofers. Each module of Vio L208 is driven by a Class D Digipro G3 900W amp module with auto-range PSU. Vio L208 features on-board presets allowing users to process the system manually. Any preset can be easily changed remotely with the new state-of-the-art Aurora Net control software from dBTechnologies. National Audio Systems: (03) 8756 2600 or sales@nationalaudio.com.au
MORE NEWS AT www.audiotechnology.com.au
RADIAL BACKTRACK The Backtrack from Radial is an ideal tool for bands running redundant backing tracks on stage, or for switching between any stereo audio sources. Connect your playback devices to the Backtrack via either dual quarter-inch TRS or 3.5mm stereo inputs. XLR outputs feed the PA system, and feature a ground lift switch and transformer isolation to prevent buzz and hum from ground loops. Quarter-inch TRS Monitor outputs are also provided for powered speakers on stage. Once connected, an A/B switch selects between inputs so the backup source can be quickly activated should the primary playback system fail. A
JR-2 remote can also be connected to the Backtrack to change the inputs remotely. When cueing up tracks for playback, a mute switch cuts the feed to the main and monitor outputs, allowing tracks to be silently monitored using a dedicated headphone output. This output features its own level control and input selector switch, so either source can be checked without disturbing the main outputs. Amber Technology: 1800 251 367 or sales@ambertech.com.au
SENNHEISER AT NAMM Sennheiser has given its flagship Evolution Wireless G4 live wireless performance system a sleek new user interface, a generously expanded switching bandwidth, higher RF output power for the 300 and 500 series, new multi-channel functionality for the 100 series, and brand-new on-camera systems. The IEM series receives similar enhancements to userfriendliness as the 500 series: a contrast-rich black and white OLED display, a convenient jog wheel, automatic dimming, blue Sync LED, red warning LED and an Escape button for quick and easy navigation. The XS Wireless 1 series expands with the
addition of a two-channel receiver, the EM-XSW 1 Dual, which features automatic frequency management with one-touch sync, antenna switching diversity, and icon-based controls. A free firmware update for all Digital 6000 EM 6000 receivers enables a Command function that lets users set up a talkback channel with suitable transmitters. In addition, the EM 6000 DANTE has been upgraded to feature a secondary Dante port. Sennheiser: (02) 9910 6700 or sales@sennheiser.com.au
MORE NEWS AT www.audiotechnology.com.au
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SOFTWARE NEWS
AVID PRO TOOLS 2018 Avid releases Pro Tools 2018 with numerous new MIDI editing enhancements and retrospective MIDI recording. The updated DAW also gives you the ability to save your favourite effects chains and instruments sounds as track presets for a faster creative workflow. Retrospective MIDI Recording lets you get ideas out of your head and captured into Pro Tools without needing to worry about being in record mode. With Track Presets you can now recall your favourite track settings so you can build sessions on the fly without wasting time setting up
sessions in a painstaking way. Enhanced Playlist Comping lets you comp together the best takes while saving screen real estate in Waveform view. An updated GUI gives you an at-a-glance view of your mix with new colour indicators and Mix window EQ Curves that display combined EQ effects on each track. Innovative Music: (03) 9540 0658 or info@innovativemusic.com.au
ABLETON LIVE 10 ADDITIONS After months in beta, Ableton Live 10 has finally dropped and it brings even tighter integrations between the software and hardware, plus loads of cool additions. Wavetable is a dual-oscillator, eight-voice wavetable synth, with 11 wavetable categories from basic to harmonic, noise, and more. Three new, very usable effects have been introduced. Echo is a full-fledged modulated stereo delay, Drum Buss is a distortion/harmonics device that puts all your drum tweaking into one plug-in, and Pedal adds a lot more distortion flavours to your Live rig.
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Capture lets you record your performance after the fact. If you’ve been jamming away, practising a part and suddenly nail. Don’t feel like you have to get it right again, Capture already has it stored away in memory. Push 2 step sequencing has improved, Max for Live is now fully integrated, you can now edit multiple MIDI clips in one window, and more. CMI Music & Audio: (03) 9315 2244 or www.cmi.com.au
MORE NEWS AT www.audiotechnology.com.au
SONNOX VOXDOUBLER Sonnox’s new VoxDoubler is comprised of two separate plug-ins called Widen and Thicken which are bespoke engineered to help with the two most common vocal doubling workflows. Widen generates two new mono voices and pans them to the left and right of the original vocal, ideal for widening a mono performance, ranging from subtle enhancement to a stack of hard-panned voices. Thicken generates a new stereo doubled voice and overlaps it with the original vocal. This works when
you want to thicken a mono performance by emulating the effect of singing the same part twice. The Humanise section lets you adjust the timing and pitch of the doubles relative to the original vocal while the Depth control pushes the new doubled voices deeper into the mix. Use the Tone control to keep sibilant doubles from becoming distracting or brightening up those that are too muddy. Track/Aux mode lets you apply the effect in place or, for more advanced control, mix it in parallel on an aux return
NEW PLUGS FROM WAVES Waves introduced the Scheps Omni Channel plugin at NAMM. Designed with Grammy-winning mixer Andrew Scheps, the flexible channel strip delivers Andrew’s own combinations of compression, EQ, saturation colours and more – all crafted to work together cohesively. Scheps Omni Channel features six modules that you can use in any order you like — the Premodule (with three types of analogue saturation, as well as filters and resonance controls); the Compression module (with three different compressors); the EQ module (with a four-band equaliser); the DS2 module (with two full-range bands and four
filter types allowing it to ‘de-anything’); and the Gate module (with all the standard controls for gating/expansion). Waves also released the PRS SuperModels plug-in that was created in collaboration with Paul Reed Smith. It models three high-end PRS guitar amps: the PRS Archon; the PRS Dallas; and the ultrarare PRS Blue Sierra/V9. Sound & Music: (03) 9555 8081 or www.sound-music.com
MORE NEWS AT www.audiotechnology.com.au
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FEATURE
Many Hands Make Light Work When Gang of Youths keyboardist Jung had just weeks left on his visa, the whole band decided to up and move to London with him. But there was the small matter of recording an album first. This is the story of how a talented team turned a last-minute session into the ARIA-winning album, Go Farther In Lightness. Story: Mark Davie Adrian Breakspear Portraits: Oscar Colman
Artist: Gang of Youths Album: Go Farther In Lightness
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The whole reason guitarist Joji Malani joined Gang of Youths was because singer Dave Le’aupepe came to him with a noble cause; to make an album, The Positions, as a monument to his then fiancé who was losing her life to cancer. “It seemed worth leaving aside other aspirations in order to pursue that,” recalled Malani. Things got complicated, and Dave credits his bandmates with helping him through the breakdown of his marriage and struggles with substance abuse. What most people don’t know is it goes both ways, said Malani, that Dave saved him too. “Being a Pacific Islander, I had other ambitions,” explained the once budding sportsman. “There was no guarantee I was going anywhere, but that was the intention. I also came from a really academic family and music wasn’t really seen as something to pursue. Then I had a life-defining injury to my knee; I pretty much couldn’t walk for two years. Dave was one of the few people that would come and visit me every day. As much as Dave says we saved him, he did the same for us; me especially.” VISA-VIS WITH DESTINY
Trials seem to be a catalyst for the band’s albummaking schedule. This time, their American keyboardist Jung was having visa issues and had to leave the country in a matter of weeks. Initially, they’d planned to head over to producer/engineer Peter Katis’ studio in Connecticut. He’d mixed The Positions and has a long history with bands like Interpol and The National. His bass and drum sounds were two big reasons Malani was interested in working more closely with him (“maybe it’s a black thing”), but it just seemed like too much pressure to move to the US. “We’d always intended to move overseas,” he explained. “But America’s a hard place to live right now, whereas London seemed right.” With less than a month to pull the session together they turned to Adrian Breakspear, a Brit engineer who followed his Aussie wife south. He’s since become the lead engineer at Sony Music’s in-house studio, and he, too, had worked on The Positions as well as the follow up EP, Let Me Be Clear, and now the 2017 ARIA Album of the Year, Go Farther In Lightness. It was an easy decision for the band to go with Breakspear. “Obviously an engineer has to be adequate at their job,” said Malani. “However, the most important thing is they’ve got to not just know the people in the band, but have a really good understanding of each person. Adrian definitely has that. He really knows how we all work and how to get the best out of all of us.” Breakspear is the perfect match for the band’s ambitious compositions, especially considering the large proportion of strings on the album scored by Le’aupepe. In the UK, Breakspear learnt over the shoulders of engineers like Mike Crossey (Arctic Monkeys, Foals), Mike Hedges (The Cure, Siouxsie & the Banshees), Chris Sheldon (who mixed The Colour & The Shape) and Marcus Dravs while working on Coldplay’s Viva La Vida. He became a pinch hitter, recording string sections, pianos, or anything acoustic that was troubling producers and
engineers who primarily worked in the pop world. Breakspear’s prowess with his toolset hasn’t gone unnoticed, earning him a nominations for ARIA Engineer of the Year in 2015 and 2017. SONY STUDIOS
The record was tracked at Sony Music’s studio in Sydney, where Breakspear is able to isolate bands without too many compromises. It allowed the band to work on tracks any way they pleased; sometimes tracking live takes, other times laying parts over existing demos, or just Le’aupepe and a piano. It suited Malani’s state of mind, who was in a bad relationship and wasn’t feeling inspired. “I was in a really weird place in life,” he said, deciding to sit back a little more and let others lead the way. “Instead of my first instinct being to go to the guitar or another instrument, I wanted to see what Dave, Jung or any of the other guys would do, even on guitar. There were four songs I didn’t play anything on.” The studio has plenty of top-notch vintage gear — three Blue Stripe 1176s, two UA 175s, an LA2A, two original Pultecs — mixed with newer pieces like Avedis MA5 preamps, Distressors and Al Smart gear. There’s a Yamaha C7 grand piano, which featured heavily on the record, and the mic collection includes a pair of Neumann U67s and a vintage U87, which paired neatly with Breakspear’s own Wagner U47 clone. (He’d managed to pick up a barely used Wagner over a year ago, and it’s become his go-to vocal mic ever since. The majority of the vocals on Go Farther In Lightness were recorded with Wagner, the rest with a Shure SM7 to let Le’aupepe loose around the studio.) VOCAL CORNERSTONE
Dave Le’aupepe’s vocals are the cornerstone of Gang of Youths. They can range from lamenting and menacing, to triumphant and passionate, and both Breakspear and mix engineer, Katis, were intent on featuring every last nuance. “There’s a clip on YouTube of a young Dave playing Overpass, just a guy playing a song on guitar in a bedroom,” said Breakspear. “You can hear the sound of his voice even back then. I thought we should put a moment like that on the album, where it’s just a bit roomy and lo-fi, and you don’t have to be posh about it. That’s where the Go Farther In Lightness interlude came from. It wasn’t even real piano, it was a Spitfire Audio sampled piano overlaid with street noise ambience. I mixed it, but Dave said, ‘turn the ambience up way louder, they’re not going to be listening to me, it’s more about the world.’” But people are listening… to every syllable, so engaging is his performance. For most of the album, his powerful, deep baritone is single tracked — a “pretty, impressive, bold move,” reckons Katis. At times it was subtly supported with unique arrangements and effects like adding an octave-down double on Do Not Let Your Spirit Wane, and a “Leonard Cohen mumble” underneath Persevere, as well as a vocoder-element using Antares’ Harmony Engine, “with all the nastiness taken out,” said Breakspear. Katis even got in on the act, occasionally “sneaking in a little Soundtoys
Alterboy to subtly add harmonic complexity with an octave up and down.” “If I’m given a bunch of vocal doubles and harmony parts I’LL LEAVE THE MAIN VOCAL DRY AND PUT REALLY TRIPPY EFFECTS ON THE BACKING VOCALS; LIKE A TREMOLO, TAPE DELAYS AND MODULATION. IT HELPS THE LEAD VOCAL STAND OUT because if you put a deep tremolo on something it makes it quieter. It gets them out of the way without literally pulling them down.” Breakspear is addicted to details and spends a lot of time cleaning up vocals and evening things out so they don’t hit the compressor too hard. Katis on the other hand recently had someone point out they’d “never seen anyone use less automation on a vocal,” he recalled. “I don’t think it’s because I’m lazy. I feel like I should be able to find the right level, the right sound, the right amount of effects and compression. And those setting should be right for the whole song. Many times that’s not the case, but a lot of times it is.” Breakspear’s prep likely helped in this instance, but Katis will do some automation. “I’ll set a fairly good level and then clip gain down the level of the verses as opposed to automating. That way it hits the compressor a little more lightly, almost like you’re singing more quietly.” IF THE VOCAL WAS EVER OVERWHELMED, KATIS WOULD DROP THE LEVEL OF THE MUSIC, NOT TURN UP THE VOCAL. EVERYTHING ABOUT THE SONG WOULD REVOLVE AROUND THE VOCAL.
DE-ESSER DANCE
Of course, there are other tools to keep vocal levels consistent. “I use a combination of compression, mostly for the sake of reducing dynamic range,” said Katis. “Then the fun part is using compressors that add colour. However, it’s always the compressors that make it sound exciting that also make high-end really problematic.” Katis hates an overly bright vocal, “but for me to push the vocal to a point that’s sonically exciting and energises the performance, sibilance becomes such an issue.” Rolling off the high end produces an unsatisfying result, so Katis solves this problem by doing “a crazy de-esser dance with multiple deessers all doing different things. There’s no magical de-esser that will fix all your problems, though I’ve been trying a new plug-in called Soothe, which is really powerful, and I love the Fabfilter de-esser. I’ll typically use really boring ones like the Waves Renaissance De-esser at the top of the chain narrowly addressing 6kHz or the frequency that’s really killing you. I take out a bunch. Then there’s usually some overdrive or an 1176-style compressor, which I’m a big fan of with all buttons in, but they definitely make things crispier. Then I’ll use the same plug-in again after the compressors, but instead of having it at 6kHz, I might have it at 4kHz. Then I’ll have it again at 2kHz, which is not really de-essing, it’s just managing the peaky midrange. At the very end of the chain I’ll use the really cheap one that comes with Pro Tools. I don’t like it, but if you set it at the lowest amount, like 0.1, and a frequency of 16kHz, it will still slam it. It’s like a catch-all, if it’s still getting hit pretty hard at the end of your chain, your vocal is still too bright.” AT 15
GUITAR GRIST Malani may have sat out the occasional song, but his contributions weave perfectly around Le’aupepe’s vocals, subconsciously infusing lessons learnt while watching church guitarists in his youth. He uses a lot of effects pedals, including a Line6 M9, that “sounds s**t, but it’s very intuitive. That’s the most important thing to me, just something that’s really easy to use.” Malani is a big fan of Adrian Belew, and his iPad app Flux:FX. “He’s got the largest collection of effects in the world,” said Malani. “His studio in Nashville has this giant walk-in wardrobe where every effect he’s ever owned is patched in to a patch bay so he can play through any sequence of effects. The app is based on all his favourite combinations. A lot of the soundscapes, or times where you need something more bassy than bass, come from there. It also has this really amazing sub synth bass that’s really interactive.” Other odd pieces include a glitch pedal from a “Croatian guy who lives in Hamburg who goes by the name Hexe Effects,” and the latest freeze pedal from Electro-Harmonix called Superego. He also uses a lot of gear he started out with, like a Line6 DL4 delay pedal modded with a light reactive Theremin-like control, and a Digitech Timebender that’s “a really under-utilised delay that’s got harmonising.” Malani’s best friend from school also happens to be a big boutique pedal builder, who goes by the name of Bondi Effects. All of the band use his overdrives and compressor. “I like to make weird sounds or nice sounds; nothing in between.” In the studio, his output would run through a BluGuitar Amp1, “which is a valve preamp in a pedal,” explained Breakspear. “And a Mesa MkIV we’ve got at the studio. In terms of miking, I like to balance a Royer ribbon with the Audix i5 or Shure SM57. I set them up at the start of the session with the capsules lined up together, then blend them to taste and bus them down to one track.”
SUM OF A DRUM
As Malani mentioned, drums were a big reason for going with Katis, and his pounding, signature toms and densely-packed snare punch are on display throughout the album. However, Katis said whenever he’d really push the drum sounds, the general feedback would be to tone it back down. “They didn’t want me to reinvent the sound they’d recorded,” he said. “Every time I mixed a heavier kick drum or fatter snare, they really just wanted it the way it was. It makes sense because it left room for the arrangement. If he was hitting the drums on the 1 and the 3, then you’ve got plenty of room, but this is pretty busy rock stuff.” Breakspear’s drum mic setup was relatively straightforward, with Coles 4038 ribbon overheads measured out from the snare, a combination of the newer AKG D12VR inside kick with a scooped setting, and a Neumann FET47 outside. He prefers an Audix i5 dynamic mic on snare top with either a Shure SM57 on bottom, or a condenser like an AKG C414 if it’s a quieter song. He puts Sennheiser AT 16
MD421s on toms, and sets up a crush mic over the kick shell rim. Because the Sony Studio’s live room doesn’t have vaulted ceilings, Breakspear prefers to capture a close ambience. He measures out double the distance of the overheads to the snare, and places his Wagner U47 there to avoid any phase issues, adding “a sense of body without slap or being a big splashy room.” From there, it went to Katis, who made a few surprising remarks about his mix. Firstly, “I’ve almost never in my life compressed a snare drum.” Which seems counterintuitive to what you’re hearing. He also swears he rarely ever uses anything besides subtractive EQ, expect for some high-end boosts. Despite the deep-sounding tones, he’s almost always cutting down low. Instead, much of his tone comes from employing an elaborate bus system and analogue summing chain. He can treat the drum bus quite aggressively. “I’ll normally use more compression or distortion to bring out the brightness of it, then clean up the low end with EQ,” he explained. “I’ll try all different things
on my drum bus, which is the joy of mixing now with computers and plug-ins. It will definitely change song to song.” A favourite is the UAD Studer A800 plug-in, playing with tape speed and biases to accentuate high end, staying wary of any excessive low end. He at one time used SSL-style bus compression, but finds it “too plasticky and toppy sounding.” He’ll try things like UAD’s Fatso, or Chandler Zener Limiter, which is “usually a mistake but sometimes it’s genius. A lot of plug-ins that add instant energy and make stuff pump, were just too messy. On that record, almost every time I’D TAKE THE AGGRESSIVE TREATMENT OFF THE DRUM BUS AND JUST PUSH UP THE OVERHEAD, LET A BIT MORE HIGH END IN AND LET IT FLY A LOT MORE NATURALLY.”
Katis’ snares always have a lot of body, but his main challenge is the same as everyone else’s. “Since the beginning of time, the trick has been to get the snare bright enough without the hi-hat being annoying,” he said. He’ll try gating it, but “when the drumming’s not straightforward or there’s a lot of ghost notes, the gating just doesn’t work.”
He also doesn’t trust gates on toms, preferring to manually clean them up. “In the old days when you were on tape, it was a real art form to get the leakage to sound musical,” said Katis. “On occasion I will still do that if I accidentally leave them on for a while and get used to it, but in general I find that IF THE TOMS ARE CLEAN YOU CAN REALLY DIAL IN THE ATTACK AND THE BOTTOM, THE LEVEL AND THE EFFECTS, AND MAKE THEM SOUND BETTER.” He’s also not afraid of
taking the low end out of toms, because he typically finds there’s way too much once they’re souped up. He also peak limits them to avoid a stray hit coming through 8dB louder. “It’s an intuitive dance,” he explained. “Then whatever ends up sounding good I should probably turn them down 4 or 5dB.” Katis tends not to parallel compress the drums these days, preferring to take Breakspear’s close ambient mic or crush mic feed and go to town on that, making it pump. He’s not afraid of using samples to add tight low end to a kick drum, but tries to avoid it. “Otherwise all your records can start sounding the same if you’re using the same samples,” he explained. “It’s definitely better if I can get the same tone with just the natural mics.”
GOLDEN CHAINS
The entire time Katis is mixing, the stems are all getting processed through his elaborate summing setup. He was a self-confessed gear freak for so many years, that when he moved to mixing in
1958
C12
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C12 A
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C414 COMB
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C414 EB
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C414 EB-P48
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C414 B-ULS
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C414 B-TLII
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C414 B-XLII C414 B-XLS
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C214
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C414 XLII C414 XLS
Mix engineer, Peter Katis, at Tarquin Studios in Connecticut. Sitting behind him is his formidable rack of mix bus quality stereo compressors from a past life as a gear nut. Now he uses them to sum stems through.
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RECORDING STRINGS Breakspear’s experience as an acoustic-recording pinch hitter in the UK came in handy when recording Go Farther In Lightness, which is full of string section interludes scored by singer Dave Le’aupepe. The grouping wasn’t typical, with two cellos and two violins, nor were they easy parts to play. “The poor viola player got locked out,” said Breakspear. “We set them up in a semi-circle, with room mics up and close mics — Neumann KM84s on the two violins and a U67 or M149 on the cellos. The main sections were recorded live. However, we recorded the ostinato cello individually for Achilles then put the other strings over the top. It was such a workout she had to take a break after playing 16 bars!” To record grand pianos, Breakspear typically uses a pair of mics on top, usually fixed cardioid condensers, and one underneath. This time around “it was a matter of what we had left in the mic cupboard,” he said. “I used a pair of Beyer M201 dynamics on top with a Neumann TLM170 underneath.” He’d then sum it to stereo either through the desk or an API 3124MB+, with the bottom mic’s polarity reversed and placed in the centre.
(left) Adrian Breakspear's drum mic setup including his crush mic and close ambient options. (this panel) A selection of the tasty outboard on offer at Sony Music's studio in Sydney, including three Blue Stripe 1176s.
the box he still had a lot of mix bus quality stereo compressors: “I can’t use them all on the mix bus so I have them on my stems.” “I come out of really nice Burl converters into a Thermionic Culture Fat Bustard analogue summing mixer,” began Katis. “Once you get to a certain range of decent quality analogue summing mixers, they all sound really good, but there’s something about this one that really stands out to me. Then I have an API 2500 on the drum bus, A SUPER EXPENSIVE EAR 660 ON THE BASS BUS. IS IT IMPORTANT? I DON’T KNOW, I HAVE IT. I KNOW FOR A FACT IT’S ADDING COLOUR. I have a Neve 33609 on the keyboard bus, and a Pendulum Audio 6386 on the guitar bus. It’s named after the tube in it, the same as the Fairchild tube.” All the compressors are preset so he can recall any mix and not have to tweak a knob. Similar to the way the Pro Tools de-esser provides a watermark for vocal brightness, the bus compressors judge whether the mix is too hot. AT 18
“They’re all set so that when whatever hits it is really cranking; it’s just tickling the compressor,” said Katis. When it comes out of the summing mixer, the stereo mix goes into a Thermionic Culture Phoenix vari-mu compressor, then into a Dramastic Audio Obsidian SSL-style compressor. From there it travels to a Studer A820 1/2-inch tape machine which he’ll sometimes print to, then through a Pendulum Audio analogue peak limiter. “Again, it’s all doing very little, but going through all those tubes and transformers does do something,” said Katis. “Take them away from me tomorrow and I would find a way around that. EVERYONE PRETENDED THE VOLUME WARS WERE GOING AWAY, BUT THEY’RE BACK AND WORSE THAN THEY’VE EVER BEEN IN THE HISTORY OF MUSIC. PEOPLE ARE SO OBSESSED WITH THE VOLUME OF THE RECORD. After it hits the AD conversion back into Pro Tools — before it hits the stereo print track — I have an aux mix where I can put some additional treatment. I will add more gain, a little compression
and tape saturation, and a little bit of EQ to clean things up. I will also add a bit of peak limiting that gets cemented into the final mix, but not a lot. It lets me run that whole analogue summing chain at an appropriate level. By adding the gain digitally, it allows me to run all the analogue levels more old school and have it sound better — less choked. Then everything I give to the band is 5dB louder than I give to the mastering engineer.” Katis doesn’t miss mixing on a console anymore: “I mean how do you mix a song for a band in Australia from the east coast of the US without recall?” In the end, the band was able to record in Sydney, and move to London while the record was mixed in the US. To make light work of the situation, their team of engineers, Breakspear and Katis were “as determined as the band to make a record that everyone’s really psyched about,” said Katis. “People were either going to be pissed off about this record or really impressed. I’m just really happy that it’s the latter.”
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FEATURE
HORRORS FIND SANCTUARY After two albums toiling away in their gloomy East London studio, UK band The Horrors renew their spirits at The Church under the counsel of Paul Epworth. Story: Mark Davie
Artist: The Horrors Album: V
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The DIY route’s appeal is in its affordability. That all goes out the window when you’re paying East London rents on a ‘home’ studio. UK goth rockers-turned-electronic post punk darlings The Horrors, had diligently plowed away in their own studio for five years, when “we had a look at the total amount of rent paid over the years and it was this huge number!” keyboardist Tom Furse explained. “It was insane.” The band had built the studio in the bones of an old loading dock with the express purpose of recording their third album themselves. Their debut, Strange House — produced and mixed by an array of UK greats including Alan Moulder and Ben Hillier — had been pretty straightforward garage rock with a goth-punk edge. At the time, Furse was almost exclusively pumping out horrormovie licks on an organ. Their next effort, the Mercury Prize-nominated Primary Colours, was mostly produced by Portishead’s Geoff Barrow. His involvement helped embellish the band’s aesthetic with more electronic instrumentation. With a bit of encouragement, the band decided to self-produce their next record, Skying, out of their own studio. It was a creative success, so they followed the same path for their fourth album, Luminous. It wasn’t a huge leap to go DIY, considering the band have dictated their sonic aesthetic from day one. Plus, Furse is an expert programmer, and guitarist Joshua Hayward is an electronics whiz who builds and mods all his own pedals. Once, when bored with standard chorus pedal options, Hayward built his own to emulate the complex wave of a warped vinyl record. Another time he taught his modular synth to react properly to a picked guitar by building a detection circuit. He also built a filter bank with Vactrol control elements… then used it for one song just to make his guitar sound like ‘people marching and shouting’. This record Furse said Hayward got “really into programming. He was letting programs extract the harmonics from sound and then move them around at different speeds. It sounded pretty great. He’s got wonderful ideas and spends a lot of time trying to realise them.” It wasn’t merely sticker shock that propelled them out of their own studio to record their fifth album, V. “We were quite keen to get out of ourselves,” said Furse. They’d laboured away in a room that was cold in the summer, mouldy, and leaky; they weren’t really enjoying the space. Heading into The Church with producer Paul Epworth would be a treat for two reasons. One, it’s an immaculately kept studio with world-class gear, additionally, they could link up with a producer who’s also a songwriter, really capable player, and has “had some serious professional-level success,” which didn’t hurt either, said Furse. “It was like having another member of the band about.” EXORCISING DEMOS
The sessions were broken up into a few chunks. At first, they bit off a couple of weeks as a trial of sorts. Boldly, Epworth suggested they ditch the demos for the meantime and use the two weeks to get creative. “We did five or six tracks in a couple of weeks, then
the rest of the tracks from the album were from ideas one of us had demoed,” said Furse. “There were no hard and fast rules.” The only real rule was to find the most inspiring parts. “Paul talked a lot about moments,” said Furse. “I’d never heard anyone use that word in that way before. We used to have quite big parties which often involved sitting around turntables listening to bits as simple as a chord change or a sample or drum break. Anything that would make you go, ‘Hey, that’s really cool!’ It could be a shit song with one moment where there was something cool about it. That’s what Paul was talking about. What are the moments in this track? What are the points where this track’s really fun?” The idea was further reinforced when Tom Rowlands from The Chemical Brothers dropped by. They were working on the intro track, Hologram, a song Furse had whipped up while reading a book about the Holographic Principle and prodding the walls of his countryside studio to check the status of his existence. Furse recalled, “Tom said, ‘It’s a really cool tune but when you’re doing groove stuff like this, you run the risk of simply falling into a groove and the track just happens. You need that point where something really fun happens, not only for the listener, but for you as well. You need to have something to look forward to.’” Finding the moment can take a while. While what appears on The Horrors’ records sounds every bit a cohesive band, the actual process of getting there is very individualistic. “We did occasionally play together but it didn’t really help,” said Furse. “It’s a totally reasonable instinct that bands playing in a room is a really good thing, but we haven’t really done that since our first album.” Rather their approach often involved recording long passes, then sifting through and sampling the best moments. 72 CHANNELS OF INSPIRATION
Matt Wiggins, who engineered and mixed the record, has been working with Epworth since they were stationed at The Pool studios. Another open plan setup, like The Church, just smaller in scale. After those first couple of weeks, the next time the band hit the studio, they took their demos into the smaller writing room in Studio 3 for a month to work with Wiggins. “Ideas weren’t really a problem,” said Wiggins. “It was how to channel those ideas into what became the record. We had a little drum kit in the booth, but mainly used a DSI Tempest drum machine to get some ideas going. Paul would pop down from time to time to listen and give guidance.” Once the songs were knocked into shape — keys locked down, different speeds explored, and arrangements set — they moved upstairs where all the instruments were permanently patched into the 72-channel EMI Neve. “We maxed out the channels on the desk,” said Wiggins. “There was no hanging around, because those guys are so quick at getting down ideas, you don’t want to get in the way of that.” Whether it was jamming over loops with modular synths and picking out the best bits, or recording loads of mics on the drums then only
He’d often play through fully wet reverbs which means somehow he was playing these really complicated parts, but a few milliseconds ahead of the beat
using two, the idea was to capture everything and decide later. Typically the choices were made soon after the fact, because “they’d always have a clear idea of the job they wanted the synth to do,” said Wiggins. “Even with the long takes, there was a clear objective in mind.” For drums, Wiggins set up “a basic set of sensible mics — condensers on the snare, toms and kick, with a kick sub mic on the kick as well. Neumann TLMs on the overheads, along with a crunchy mono dynamic mic overhead. For the rooms we had a super clean Neumann binaural head which has an amazing stereo image, a few more crunchy dynamics dotted around and some omni condensers in the back as the ambient rooms. They may never get used or only used for two lines of a drum fill, but you’ve got them there as an option. There was a snare side at one point through a Valley People Dynamite compressor, then a Ball AT 21
& Biscuit mic through distortion at one point. Throughout the album, we changed things around depending on what the song needed. “We’d also send a lot of drum sounds to the modular — sometimes a phaser or frequency shifter to add dynamics, we’d do lots of dubs using slap echoes and tape delays, and a lot of it went through the EMT plate reverb at The Church.” MODULAR MOMENTS
The Horrors are purposefully trying to not be too fashionable. “There’s an effort to not be contemporary, but also trying not to be oldfashioned,” said Furse. Modular synths play a large part in that pursuit at the moment. While the modular concept harks back to the dawn of synthesis, the latest crop of Eurorack modules are really pushing the boundaries of electronic music in ways that a preset patch doesn’t. Furse and Epworth bonded over a shared love of modular synths. Furse has a sizeable suitcase rack, while Epworth’s collection is more of a wall. “If we were a little bit stuck or we wanted to do something new, we would dive down into this huge world of modular Paul has,” said Furse.“I have a much smaller system, but I also have some samplers and drum machines — a lot of Elektron gear. That was a big part of the writing process, coming up with compelling loops by putting our systems together. AT 22
Other times it might even just be chopping up a piano and putting it in a sampler and messing with that until you have some pulse that works.” Furse’s modular journey started out relatively straightforward, collecting modules until he realised he “just had another analogue synth in a box. It was really cool and had sequencers, but it was all sounds I could do with other things.” He decided to start again and now has a modular system comprised of units like Mutable Instruments’ physical modelling synthesis modules, Rings and Elements, and Make Noise’s TelHarmonic, “which is like a digital three-voice synth.” He had sequencers, but found them a little restricting, so now “it’s more about building rhythmic elements.” Another Make Noise favourite is Erbe-Verb, a reverb module that is “almost like a synth in itself.” “A lot of Mutable Instruments stuff got me,” said Furse. “I have two Tides modules, one set up like an oscillator and the other like an LFO. It really became about the sounds that you can’t get from other synths. I have an ARP Odyssey and some old string synths and monosynths, but those sounds have a maximum of three, maybe four, waves. They do their thing beautifully but there’s this whole other world of wavetables and physical modelling you don’t really get in keyboard synthesisers in the same way you do in the modular world. That’s
what I got drawn towards; being able to access some other sounds and not have to turn towards a computer to do that.” As far as playing his modular goes he does have a small Q-bit Octone eight-step sequencer. “I find it way more playable,” explained Furse. “There’s a sequence at the end of Hologram and that was all done live, playing with the step numbers and tweaking it as I went. Sometimes I’ll plug a keyboard into it or a sequence from the Elektron. I did a jam with Damo Suzuki from Can a couple of months ago, which was the first time I’d taken the modular out into a live environment and just played it, no keyboard, trying to sync up to drummers, it was really fun. The dialogue between you and the machine is kind of unruly.” That unpredictability and Epworth’s gung-ho attitude were a welcome change for Furse. “There would be times we would be both patching on this modular system at the same time, just over and under each other,” said Furse who, though he unequivocally respects guitarist Hayward’s approach to sonic textures, finds his measured approach can lack the immediacy and randomness Furse craves. Working with Epworth “just felt like teamwork and it felt like there was someone else there I could lean on who wouldn’t get too hung up on their own preconceptions about the sound or a synth or a chord progression. Ride the wave and run with it.”
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PLAYING AHEAD OF THE CURVE
Capturing Hayward’s concoctions was relatively straightforward, said Wiggins. Once again, he took more than he needed, recording a dynamic and ribbon mic on the amp, and a room mic, as well as a clean DI and a DI signal after his pedals. “Occasionally I’d blend that post-pedal DI in with the amp sound, or just use the DI signal if he wanted something up front,” said Wiggins. “The sounds are so amazing and unique, but it all comes from him. He’s got a whole pedal board of his creations and a lot of it doesn’t have any names or markings on the controls. He knows what’s going on. It doesn’t make notes or recalls very easy, because you don’t know what’s happening, but it’s cool. He’d often play through fully wet reverbs which means somehow he was playing these really complicated parts, but a few milliseconds ahead of the beat.” This attention to detail let Wiggins craft deeply powerful mixes by keeping parts out of each other’s way. “They recorded Machine in a way they can play it live — there’s not five guitar parts happening at once so you can have the one guitar really big,” he said. “It sounds huge but it might just be a little Fender Champ with a 57 on it. On Machine there’s huge low end coming from the drum machine, so it’s just about fitting that in with Rhys’ bass and the acoustic drums as well.” AT 24
The bass would often go through a parallel distortion chain via an Elektron distortion box, as well as miking an amp and taking a DI signal. “Occasionally we swapped the Elektron out for an RCA compressor, which you can turn into one big giant distortion box,” said Wiggins. Wiggins spent a fair bit of time crafting interesting vocal effect chains for Faris to sing into, but he would usually record through one of two hardware chains. It would either feature a Neve 33609 and Maag EQ, or a Fairchild into an EAR valve EQ, for the softer vocal parts. Wiggins is a big fan of UAD plug-ins, and he spent a month shaping the tracks back in Studio 3 before bringing them back up through the Neve in the main room. “I love all the UAD preamps, they’re really good for distorting stuff,” said Wiggins. “The Neve ones are great for adding a lot of colour to sounds. There’s a lot of parallel distortion on the drums, sometimes crushing the whole thing hard and putting it underneath the song. Or if you want to crunch the kick and snare, you can send those to a more punchy compressor to get it cutting through. “I was mostly in the box downstairs with a few bits of hardware on the inserts. Then we took it upstairs and summed it through the Neve. That process meant we could recall easily and jump between tracks.”
It’s a totally reasonable instinct that bands playing in a room is a really good thing, but we haven’t really done that since our first album
Wiggins said the mix process was relatively straightforward. By then, all the decisions had been made and the sounds were clear. “It wasn’t like ideas were floating around. It was just about taking everything further in character. Also being involved in the tracking, you are there when it was recorded, so you have a headstart into the choice and purpose of the sound. That helps.” Yet again, on V, The Horrors have shown themselves to be masters of technology. While others would get tangled in the cables of a modular synth, or never finish building a pedal project, they manage to delve as deep as they like while still delivering remarkably elaborate pop music.
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FEATURE
Cloud Control decided to take the recording of Zone into their own hands. Entirely self-produced, it’s an outrageously successful ‘first effort’. We talk to frontman and producer Alister Wright and drummer Ulrich Lenffer. Story: Christopher Holder
Artist: Cloud Control Album: Zone
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“I feel like we discovered some really cheap ways of getting some pretty good sounds.” I love the understatement of this. Alister Wright is best known as Cloud Control’s sinuous frontman but he’s also the architect of the band’s first selfproduced album, Zone. Some three years in the making, Zone, is a labour of love. It’s the trophy-bride at the conclusion of a story of can-do, how-hard-can-it-be?, Aussie optimism. It’s a tale of back-yourself, do-yourhomework, single-minded prosecution of a vision. In fact, because it’s a story of ‘inspiration finding a way’, it could be your story or my story… if only we had the necessary reserves of talent and resolve to carry it off. It all started with a realistic look at the recording budget. “Recording an album in a commercial studio is expensive,” Cloud Controls’s Ulrich Lenffer reminds us as we chat about producing Zone back stage at The Croxton on the band’s Melbourne leg of its Australian tour. “If you’re in a studio and you’re stressed out and you’re not getting the sound you’re after and everyone is stressed about the clock ticking… that’s not good for anyone. Take that element out. Choose the gear you want to use and learn how to use it.” More understatement, but so true. “We wanted more control over the result,” elaborates Al. “TO GET CLOSER TO THE WAY I ALWAYS
Sounds almost easy… have a vision, then devote the time and dedication to lots of research and experimentation. I asked Alister to run me through his vocal recording and mixing to give an idea of how he went about capturing ‘the vibe’.
IMAGINED A CLOUD CONTROL ALBUM SHOULD SOUND.
BUT SOME EXTRA GAIN CAN HELP YOU HEAR WHAT’S
WITHOUT THE BIG BUDGET, THE ONLY WAY TO ACHIEVE THAT
GOING ON; HEAR THE DETAIL. THE AUDITRONICS EQ IS
LEVEL OF CONTROL WAS TO SELF PRODUCE.”
REALLY NICE AS WELL.”
VOCALS: SPIRIT OF THE DEMO
“My vocal was actually one of the easiest things to nail,” explains Al. “For starters, it’s mostly about the performance. Often we’ve wished we could capture the spirit of a demo vocal recording but it’s hard to recapture that feeling in a ‘proper’ studio vocal session. For this album I had the luxury of actually using the ‘rough recording’ that still sounded really cool, or to have the time to record endless takes and comp those together. It felt like I developed the instinct around whether a vocal performance connected or not. “Naturally we did experiment with compressors and preamps, and I felt most comfortable with a Shure SM7 dynamic microphone, or a Beta 58, into a Sebatron VMP-4000e quad pre. From there, I’d mostly go into an Auditronics channel strip (racked up by Rob Squire). Those two things working together was the sound of my vocal. “I like the gnarly touch of the Auditronics overdrive. Having that in my ears when tracking really helped me perform. COMPRESSION CAN STOP YOU FEELING LIKE YOU HAVE ANY POWER IN YOUR VOICE
SELF PRODUCING? GO SHOPPING
Okay, so there wasn’t the six-figure recording budget but it’s still a cool, yet daunting, place to be: embarking on a self-produced album. Which way would you jump with gear? Would you put all your chips on a DSP-based, in-the-box solution like Pro Tools and/or a UA Apollo rig? What mics would you go for? How would you record drums?! “I knew it was going to be a pretty tough journey,” continues Al. “But I also knew the production for this album was about capturing a vibe rather than needing a thousand tracks — the main thing was it had to feel good. “It ended up sounding way better than we all thought it would.” When I asked why, Al gave me the opening quote: “I feel like we discovered some really cheap ways of getting some pretty good sounds.”
It was the first occasion I’d taken the time to listen to the sonic characteristics of a preamp. ‘Oh that actually sounds pretty nice. Sounds noticeably better. I don’t know how, but it does
THREE-MIC DRUMS Al: We started from a low base. Recording in a room full of hard lino and concrete floor. It was pretty gnarly. Then we started hanging up some sheets and it sounded slightly better. The next place we used to record we went all-in with doonas and sleeping bags. From there, wherever we happened to be recording we were just trying to get the drum sounding as dead as possible. We bought some poles from Bunnings and built ourselves a little drum tent and then bought a whole bunch of doona covers and sheets from Dimmeys and hung that around the drum kit. Ulrich: Previously, when studio people would talk about the ‘sound of the room’ I’d nod but be unconvinced — I’ve just never had that experience. This album has totally changed my perceptions. We were in six studios by the end of the album and I can instantly pick where we recorded a certain part by the sound of the room. The first one was literally a concrete box but there’s something about that reverb that… we didn’t use. Al: Here’s another example, the sound of the Panopticon drums was this Airbnb we rented in Forster. That place was mad. It was a doubleheight space where we erected the drum tent and it was far from perfect but still super-tight. Everything else on that song was recorded in that one space. Like the backing vocals: all the falsetto stuff was shouted from the balcony with a mic on the ground floor. Ulrich: That recording we had a little Behringer mixer and I think that was mixing the kick, snare and overhead, going into the dbx 165A compressor. That was the drum sound, which is pretty nuts. I don’t think I would have done that later in the recording process! We’re talking about a little Behringer $20 mixer we bought just to get a headphone mix.
**SELF PRODUCTION PRICE BUSTER** SEBATRON VMP-4000E QUAD VALVE PREAMP PURCHASE PRICE: $1850 Al: The Sebatron Quad Pre was our first significant gear purchase in preparation for this album. A mate of ours had one and it sounded cool. I didn’t know much about preamps at the time and couldn’t pick the sound of a preamp, but this proved to be a really wise choice. It sounds sick. Ulrich: It’s got these simple EQ switches, which sounds limiting but it means you can’t overthink it and they sound good. Al: We used it on just about everything. Pretty much all the drums, synths, bass, anytime we went to DI something. It may be crazy to put everything through it
but it just sounded so warm and tape-like. We tried other preamps, we had an API for a while but it just wasn’t our flavour on drums. Too rock. The Sebatron you could get a bit drivey with it and keep it sounding cool. [Editor’s note: Sebatron is a boutique gear manufacturer based in Melbourne. Google Sebatron and talk to Seb for more… full title: Sebastian.F.Sebatron CEO, chief designer, head of security, events organiser — Sebatron Audio.] AT 27
**SELF PRODUCTION PRICE BUSTER** ROLAND CHORUS ECHO EFFECTS PURCHASE PRICE: ~$1500 (USED) Al: Roland’s Chorus Echo was really cool for us on this album. It’s like a Space Echo but has a chorus on it as well. It’s a little more hi-fi sounding than the 201. We used it not just for a tape echo effect but for a driving drums sound and other elements we wanted to push harder. The Chorus Echo has two outputs: one acts as a direct signal plus spring reverb and the other is just the tape delay. But here’s the secret sauce: the direct signal is not actually a true bypass, it has this sick, crunched-up, transistor thing that it does. It just sounds mad on drums and does like a weird, slight compression, overdrive-y thing. It makes the drum kit sounds really beatbox-y. We’d use that as a parallel compression effect.
THE GEAR: CRUCIAL CHOICES
Alister, Ulrich and Heidi were no strangers to a recording studio but none of them had years of experience comparing preamps or EQs — they had no reason to. But they had attuned ears and plenty riding on the decisions they were making. “A mate of ours in Sydney had a Sebatron quad preamp,” recalls Alister. “And it was the first occasion I’d taken the time to listen to the sonic characteristics of a preamp. I remember just running some synths through it, comparing it to whatever soundcard we had in the studio at the time. ‘Oh that actually sounds pretty nice. Sounds noticeably better. I don’t know how, but it does.’” They didn’t regret the decision. “I feel like the defining sound of this album’s production was that preamp [the Sebatron],” noted Alister. “We had an API quad pre for a while. We lived with it for quite a while before we realised it was ‘too rock’ for us. I know it’s a classic piece
of gear but then maybe I’d grown so used to the sound of the Sebatron. “The other pre we had was the UAD Twin-Finity quad,” recalls Ulrich. “It’s just so cool to have all the ins and outs and ADAT I/O. In a small studio all that stuff made a big difference.” 3 YEARS OF WORKFLOW
With some key gear decisions locked in (which you can read all about elsewhere in this story), the band made the most of the self-produced album workflow — working wherever feels comfortable and taking their time. “The approach was to track things so they sound good on the way in,” explains Al. “And that also meant committing to a sound without the luxury of recalling a bunch of settings when it came time to finish a mix. “The Roland Juno 106 synth parts, for
example: we didn’t even have the battery to save the presets, so we had to commit to the sounds on those sessions. “Same with the drum machine sequences. That was a Roland TR-8. We’d plug it into one channel on the Sebatron, run it through the dbx 165A compressor and be done.” Again, it’s the vibe. “I think it’s about not overloading your brain,” reflects Ulrich. “You just look at a session and think: ‘there’s my mono drum machine track, there’s my three-mic drum recording…’ That’s not overwhelming.” “It’s hard not to overthink something like recording your own album,” continues Al. “So minimise as much as you can.” “Right. To try and maintain the sanity of the group?” I suggest. “To mixed results!”
**SELF PRODUCTION PRICE BUSTER** VALLEY AUDIO DYNA-MITE DYNAMICS PROCESSOR PURCHASE PRICE: ~$1000 (USED) Al: Sometimes we used a Valley Audio Dyna-mite (two-channel compressor/ gate/compressor/expander). There are different versions; ours is an ’80s-era one. We used it across our drums quite a bit. The compression has a big VCA sound — in fact, it sounds a lot like a dbx — and then the gates are really awe-
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some too. The way the gates open is super hard — you can hear the gate pop open — which can sound kinda cool. It’s almost like a hip hop sound, it makes acoustic drums sound like a drum machine which was a really cool effect at times. We did that on the title song Zone.
Al: I’ll have a really loud, gnarly-sounding guitar, but then it’ll be all sidechain gated from the drums. Gates are the best. Ulrich: You’re a big gate whore.
Ulrich: Previously, when studio people would talk about the ‘sound of the room’ I’d nod but be unconvinced — I’ve just never had that experience. This album has totally changed my perceptions. We were in six studios by the end of the album and I can instantly pick where we recorded a certain part by the sound of the room.
**SELF PRODUCTION PRICE BUSTER** DBX 165A COMPRESSOR PURCHASE PRICE: ~$1100 (USED) Al: The next most important purchase after the Sebatron was a dbx 165A compressor. We knew nothing about it and had only ever used software compressors. But I’d heard it work in another studio on drums and I thought, ‘Okay I love that drum sound, and not just that drum sound, but I feel like the way that compression is working is really amazing’. It ended up being our go-to compressor on heaps of stuff. Ulrich: I remember reading an article about Dave Fridmann’s production [Flaming lips, MGMT, Neil Finn and mixed Tame Impala’s Lonerism] and the gear he was using. Then you find out his go-to compressor is US$3000-plus. We had to confront the harsh reality of not having the freedom to buy our dream compressor. But the 165? We paid something like $1100 for it!
Al: Stuff just sounds sick through it. I don’t know what it is, but I haven’t heard any VST compressors that sound as good. Maybe that Kush Audio compressor [UBK1] would come close. But the 165, it just clamps so nicely. It’s good on so many things. Vocals as well — I was using it on my vocals. We also bought a dbx 160 which is totally different. Ulrich: The 165 is so gritty, but the 160 is super clean. The peak stop on the 160 is a little bit better than the 165, in my opinion. It’s a bit crispier, but then the 165 is a little bit gnarlier. They’re really different — the 160 doesn’t have as much character but it’s still sick.
GATE WHORES Al: Gates? I love gates. In Ableton I’m constantly gating. I’ll have a really loud, gnarly-sounding guitar, but then it’ll be all sidechain gated from the drums. Gates are the best. Ulrich: You’re a big gate whore. Al: You can flip the gate in Ableton so that it ducks. It’s like a super-accurate ducker. You can decide to duck something by precisely 4dB, and it hits it every time. I’ll often use that method instead of a compressor. And if you do it on big pads with lots of treble you get that distinctive ‘Flume-y’ sound where you can hear it cutting. Not only that, you can develop something like a hierarchy of gates over the mix, with the
vocals cutting the guitar level, for example, and then the drums gating most other things. It’s a handy technique for clearing space in your mix. The Ableton gate is so good, right? It’s amazing how much you can get away with before it starts to sound weird. There’d be times where I’ve thought, “Oh you can’t be serious?!” But it still sounds cool. If you don’t want the gate to just instantly clamp, then you have good control over the ramp time. But I think a clean cut is almost more effective because your brain gets taken in by the audio equivalent of a magician’s misdirection trick: the vocal comes in and the other thing’s gone quieter, but you can’t
even remember how loud it was because it was instantaneously ducked. The Izotope Alloy plug-in is another handy tool in this respect. It’s like an old version of Neutron that has a multi-track gate feature. Multi-track gating on a drum kit is really cool because you can get rid of all the low-level crap you really don’t want, and end up making the kick really, really tight and leave the parts you want to be a bit looser. How many times have you been in the studio and thought, the drums are so cool, but what about all that rumble? Don’t worry about it, it’s gone. Mmmm, gates… AT 29
FEATURE
Showstoppers in Perth Concert Hall. KV2 Audio PA hitout. Story: Christopher Holder Photos: Drew Parsons
‘Broadway to La Scala’ hit the road again after plenty of enthusiasm in 2015 for the crowd pleasing combination of show tune hits and opera favourites. Teddy Tahu Rhodes, Greta Bradman, David Hobson, and Lisa McCune, loosen their cravats and bodices for a relaxed performance with a full orchestra. We caught up with the show on its final date at the Perth Concert Hall to check in with live sound veteran Angus Davidson (Supertramp, Crowded House, et al) about his set up. Angus’ day job is as Tech Support Director for KV2 Audio and he had a chance to fly a KV2 Audio VHD2 main PA with VHD1.0 underhang. Perth Concert Hall, is known as being problematic for amplified sound so it was going to be a test. KV2 Audio is led by speaker designer George Krampera, who’s renowned for his single-minded pursuit of audio perfection… it’s the KV2 way or the highway for George. He hates ‘common or garden’ PCM digital — reckons standard AT 30
DSP messes with your HF in horrible ways. He’s convinced line array is mostly snake oil (not actually line source at all) and his PAs are resolutely point source. In other words, there’s no mistaking a KV2 Audio PA. And if you think the KV2 market is niche or marginal then you might be interested to learn that plenty of top-shelf Broadway musicals are getting on board. Broadway theatre is a market where money and performance talk a lot louder than being ‘rider friendly’ — makes you think. The show was also a chance for Angus Davidson to unleash his extensive collection of Earthworks mics — he’s got 40-odd. Most are the SR30 small diaphragm models, which look like measurement mics, and he swears by them. At front of house Angus wheeled in an Avid Venue S6L — another favourite. I’ll let him explain his choices elsewhere in this live sound photo diary.
THE KV2 AUDIO WAY Angus Davidson: The philosophy behind KV2 Audio compared to line array is pretty simple. You might have a 20 or more line array drivers firing into a space like the Perth Concert Hall. And despite what the marketing brochure will tell you, that many adjacent speakers makes for a lot of destructive interference and a lot of wasted energy. Meanwhile I’ve used two point source boxes. Line array might have 20-odd amp channels, while we’ve used three. The sound of KV2 Audio speakers is one of extraordinary clarity.
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PIANO MIC: DON'T SPARE THE ROD Angus Davidson: The Earthworks PM40 is an extraordinary mic. The rod is part of the mic assembly. It screws together in the middle and its length is adjustable so you have the freedom to place it pretty much anywhere on the piano. You can then adjust the goose necks to fine tune the mic placement. It’s an omni capsule, so there’s a wide transparent sound with no hype.
S6L DIGITAL Angus Davidson: The Avid Venue S6L is the best digital console I’ve heard — certainly the only one on my rider. For some years I used Avid Profiles. They’re a great console to operate but lacked a little in the top of the high-end. I’d end up running a bunch of plug-ins to compensate for the sound. The S6L I run pretty much flat. I use a little bit of reverb, a multi-band compressor on the vocals and that’s it. STRINGS OF LIFE: SQUASHING BUGS Angus Davidson: I carry about 40 Earthworks microphones. The small diaphragm pencil condenser has a super-fast rise and settling time resulting in a clear and transparent mic. Most string sections are now close miked with DPA bugs. I think that sounds one-dimensional. I’ll use Earthworks SR30 mics around 600mm above the violins which I believe captures the full harmonic richness of the instruments — air, breadth and some of the ensemble sound. OPERA DYNAMICS: 20dB GAIN REDUCTION? Angus Davidson: It’s a challenge to amplify an opera singer because their dynamic range is huge. You can’t rely on mic technique because they’re using a DPA 4088 headset. So you need a way of accurately controlling level to deal with when they’re belting it out and to capture the barely audible delicate parts. I’ll use the S6L’s channel compressor to deliver as much as 20dB of gain reduction, with a little extra help from the multi-band compressor. I have never been able to do that on any other console or standalone compressor to achieve that sort of gain reduction without artifacts — it’s astonishingly good. VHD2: BACK TO THE FUTURE Angus Davidson: For those only used to line array in a concert setting the VHD2 loudspeaker looks a bit quaintly old fashioned, though it’s anything but. The HF is on a short (80° x 40°) horn. George Krampera believes that a longer horn is a defacto heater — it uses a lot of energy. Behind the HF horn is a threeinch titanium nitrate vapour deposition proprietary driver. The combination is an extremely efficient device that covers the whole auditorium. The horn-loaded mids are taken care of by 2 x 8-inch drivers with phase plugs. The drivers have a secondary coil that’s out of phase with the main coil. It sits inside the magnet so the voice coil returns after its excursion, the secondary coil pulls it back and stops it dead. Making for zero induction. This means extremely low non-harmonic distortion, dramatically increasing the systems dynamic range and clarity. Two hornloaded 12-inch LF units round out the enclosure. We had a flown under the VHD2 as underhang. AT VHD1.0 32
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FEATURE
Nicholas talks about how mixing indie electronic music is all about distinguishing the intentionally weird from the byproduct of bedroom studio screw-ups. Interview: Mark Davie
WATCH THE VIDEO George took time to sit down with AudioTechnology and walk through his mix of the Winston Surfshirt drum sound on Be About You. He gives great insight into taking a programmed drum sound to the next level.
www.youtube.com/audiotechnologymag AT 34
Photo: Kyle Ford
Tucked in behind FBI radio station, producer George Nicholas might as well have a pipeline from his studio to the airwaves. One third of electronic act Seekae and half of Cliques, he’s quickly establishing himself as a go-to producer and mixer for the rest of Australia’s electronic music scene. Lately he’s been working on a modern soul funk debut for Winston Surfshirt, and a record for their Sweat It Out label mates, Polographia. Nicholas has also had a hand in the new record Lovers by Virgin EMI-signed George Maple — who debuted with the Flume-produced hit Talk Talk in 2014 — and mixed Treetops from Cloud Control’s latest record Zone (see Issue 124 for the full story). Because he mixes a lot of programmed music, a big part of Nicholas’ approach is giving electronic sounds a sense of air and space. Winston Surfshirt is a classic example, with completely programmed drums and a generous helping of virtual instruments. Nicholas said he goes to great pains to “make songs sound less like Ableton by obscuring the source. The reality might not be as romantic as some dude sitting at a Rhodes singing his heart out in a log cabin. Oftentimes it comes from a Kontakt Rhodes preset that’s been drawn in by hand. I like to bring more life into it; the illusion of a spatial dimension that might not have existed before. Using equipment that’s not the stock Ableton gear helps.” The obvious go-to is reverb, but Nicholas also likes to add colouration with tape saturation plugins and outboard gear, as well as infusing a sense of depth with Ableton’s resonator. “I use the RE-20 Space Echo pedal, but that’s probably it as far as hardware reverbs,” said Nicholas. “I just got the modulating reverb plug-in Modnetic from Surreal Machines, and I use a lot of impulse responses. I use the Ableton resonator and a few filter banks from Native Instruments. Resonators allows you to tune the sense of space; creating a space that rings a certain amount.” AudioTechnology: What’s the hardest part about mixing electronic music? GN: Making judgement calls about the intention of the artist. I get sessions from producers who’ve carefully selected each snare drum sound. If there’s any noise in it, it’s probably supposed to be there. If these choices already exist within the session, it’s because they selected them. Because all those choices happened before you get your hands on it, it’s more important to figure out which weird and unconventional parts in the song are unintentional flaws, and which are put in there to make it sound interesting and give it a certain vibe. Sometimes they don’t know what they’re doing and screwed it up, but oftentimes they do want the kick drum to have no sub bass, or the snare to be 10dB louder than everything else. AT: Do you generally find it easier or harder to mix programmed music or music recorded with acoustic instruments? GN: Most of the time electronic or programmed music is easier to mix because they haven’t recorded some crappy drum kit with three 57s and expected you to do all the work. You don’t
I like to bring more life into it; the illusion of a spatial dimension that might not have existed before
have to spend all that time at the start getting it to a listenable level. It’s about making it a bit better and not trampling on all the hard work that’s got them to that point. A lot of times that means just extending it, bringing out things in the high frequencies and getting the low end to work better. A lot of work goes into getting the vocals to sit right, which is hard. It’s on a track by track basis. Sometimes it’s about adding loads of colour and delay throws, and other times it’s about making everything a bit clearer and leaving it at that. AT: You’re working on an upcoming Seekae record; the first was instrumental, then you surprised everyone by adding Alex’s vocals to the last, do you guys have a central vision for the new record? GN: Not really. We all live in different places — John is in the UK, Alex is in Berlin — and all listen to totally different music. Three months ago we decided to get together for a couple of weeks in the UK, because writing on the internet can only go so far. We all came with different ideas of where we wanted to take it and mushed together a hybrid of those three perspectives. Seekae is always going
to sound like at least three different things because we’re all writers for it. AT: How does the internet songwriting process work? GN: It’s very disorganised. We send MP3 links attached to emails and phone voice memos; it’s not some sophisticated cloud sharing program. We give each other feedback, but the person who wrote the track will tend to take responsibility for the production, up until the last point when we come together. AT: Do you worry about what the other guys are going to say when you send a demo through? GN: Yeah, of course. That’s the great thing about having people you write with and a community around you. It’s the pride you get in showing something they like, but mostly it’s the shame you feel if it’s not good enough and you can tell they’re not into it. Restrained positivity — a Larry David, ‘meh’ — is usually an indication it’s no good. AT: Then what happens when you get together? GN: We usually flip sessions between computers. The whole approach where everyone’s standing behind one person, looking over their shoulder and pointing at the screen telling them what to do is never really conducive for creating interesting material. You can easily get caught up in the moment, and hype each other up. Whereas you’ll exercise more of a critical ear when working by yourself. It’s a great starting point to think everything’s s**t and you’re s**t, and you’re desperate to make it better. AT: Do you work exclusively in Ableton? GN: We’re all in Ableton for Seekae, but I do all my mixing in Pro Tools, and I do a bit of production in Pro Tools as well. For writing, I do everything in Ableton, because it’s so fast. I also like to keep those two things separate. If you start mixing too much in Ableton, or start producing
Photo: Vladimir Kravchenko
AT 35
too much in Pro Tools, you get too technical when you should be writing, and too creative when you should be mixing. AT: What are some of your favourite sounds at the moment? GN: In Australia, we can’t get away from detuned saw waves and everyone’s got a DSI Prophet 8. For bass I love a warm, saturated Moog or a Fender P bass, though I wish I could play it better. I use the Arturia ARP 2600 a lot for pads. You can use the plug-in version in poly mode, and I love the way it sounds with the reverb on it. I either use that, or the Yamaha CS-80V emulation, or my Korg PolySix hardware synth. Something that warbles and sounds good, with loads of reverb. A lot of the time I don’t incorporate any dry sound. If it’s a lead, it’s probably a high complement to the bass line on the Polysix. Partly due to laziness, but you also get a nice call and response. If I’m working with a vocalist, I let that be the lead. I don’t like to put too much stuff in that range where the voice is. AT: Do you have a mile-long drum sample collection? GN: I’m a fiend, I’ve collected so many drum samples. I’ve made a conscious effort to listen through and curate the samples when I get them. I put them into Ableton drum racks, so it doesn’t become a process of finding a kick drum and scrolling through a list of a thousand options. Three hours later you forget the song you’re making, and you’ve also got the fattest, fullest kick drum that
Restrained positivity — a Larry David, ‘meh’ — is usually an indication it’s no good
Photo: Vladimir Kravchenko
drowns out the whole mix. I have a few I really know well so I can preview them in a mix and see if they work. Rather than going out into finder and finding the behemoth, which the bass never likes. LinnDrum samples are probably my thing at the moment. They’re just so thick and rich, yet short. That and the CR-78. AT: How do you approach your mixes? GN: I like to work on different projects at the same time, it helps inspire creativity and has the
side effect of letting me work at my own pace. When you’re in the same room as the client, you don’t take the same risks. You don’t listen to that piece of music you were thinking of in your head because you don’t want them to think you’re ripping off the mix from another track. Or try something that probably won’t work because you’re attempting to appear ‘professional’ and efficient. Whereas, when you’re on your own you try crazy things and take your time with it.
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REPORT
The view from inside the world’s biggest electronic music festival, the Amsterdam Dance Event. Report: Paul Tingen
In October, Amsterdam was in the thralls of the largest electronic music event in the world for five days. The Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE), started as far back as 1995 as a three-day conference, but it has since grown to something so large that one wonders how a relatively small city like Amsterdam can accommodate it all. We’re talking nearly 500 music events, over 2500 performers, plus 334 conference events, 140 venues and a whopping 400,000 attendees. This year performers ranged from David Guetta and Martin Garrix, to Underworld and even legendary minimalist composer, Philip Glass. It’s big, and can be hard to get your head around. Not least because it’s possible to spend hours on ADE’s impenetrable website and still only have a vague idea of what all the ADE-branded conference events — ADE Pro, Tech, University, Next, Beamlab and Green — mean, and how they all fit together. A visit to Google is quicker. Apparently Next amounted to a talent show, Beamlab was about integrating audio with visuals and the theatrical, and Green was concerned with minimising the environmental impact of EDM. More rummaging around cleared up that ADE Pro included a networking event where, for an entrance price of several hundred euros, aspiring professionals could try to further their careers by meeting up with representatives of record companies, publishers and so on. It also included Pro conferences, several about the state of the music industry in 2017, titled things like ‘Best And Worst of Running a Label in the 21st Century’, ‘The Acceptance of AI’ and ‘Virtual & Augmented Reality’. Spending five days rubbing shoulders with the rest of the electronic music world, it was clear that ADE was firmly looking towards the future. It wasn’t much different at ADE Tech, which included Sound Lab. The Flemish cultural center De AT 38
Brakke Grond, where Sound Lab was staged, had several rooms dedicated to stands by well-known names like Novation, Focusrite, Roland, Elektron, Pioneer, Ableton, Total Sonic, as well as some music shops and distributors showing the latest gear and software updates by the likes of Native Instruments, iZotope, Moog, Bitwig, Arturia, and more. Naturally, the focus was on gear used by DJs and EDM artists. The ADE Sound Lab also featured master classes. Presenters ranged from older generation electronic music star Gary Numan, to young EDM star Oliver Heldens, and Philip Glass. A presentation on blockchains was of particular interest to music makers. It promotes a file format that encodes all writing, musician and production credits, as well as licensing and copyright information in the .bc file itself. It’s a great idea but the technical and financial
execution of the scheme is rather challenging. There was also an intriguing segment featuring eight new and emerging instruments, including Fluid Resonance, an audio-visual synth which “renders music by conveying sound energy through fluid matter,” an “interactive audiovisual animation instrument” called a Mayhem Machine, and the Timetosser, which is billed as “a new kind of live performance tool,” that apparently requires some playing skills from DJs. ADE is an essential festival to visit for anyone that has anything to do with electronic music. Preregistration for the 2018 event has already started, but until then you can find out more at www. amsterdam-dance-event.nl It has tons of info hidden in a menu system that’s even more obscure than your average Japanese/ Mongolian fusion restaurant. Good luck!
SPINNIN’ RECORDS’ MEINDERT KENNIS ‘Crisis, What crisis?’ was the headline last September when it was announced the Warner Music Group had acquired Spinnin’ Records for a reported US$100m. Founded in 1999, the Dutch label has become the dominant player in the electronic music market in its native country, while its international reach also has been impressive. Artists like Afrojack, Nicky Romero, Oliver Heldens, Martin Garrix, Tiesto have had their music released on Spinnin’, and the label has 20 sub-labels, each hosted by a signed artist. Spinnin’ Head of Marketing and Digital Strategist Meindert Kennis, gave a keynote speech at the ADE about the challenges faced by labels and artists in the 21st century. He was also part of ‘The Acceptance of Artificial Intelligence’ panel which discussed AI software like IBM’s Watson Beat and Popgun. Kennis championed a message that may prove hard to swallow for more purist musicians: ‘Accept AI and work with it’. From Spinnin’s new offices in Hilversum, a stone’s throw from Amsterdam, Kennis elaborated a little on the ADE, his keynote speech on the future of the music industry: “The ADE is the most important yearly conference during which the entire electronic dance music industry gets together. For our entire organisation the month of October is about the ADE, and everyone is busy with all aspects of business: networking, meetings with many parties from abroad, doing deals, and so on. “At the same time there is also the musical aspect, keeping our fingers on the pulse of new trends and the tech aspect. From a technological perspective dance music is always a little bit ahead, and ADE really plugs into this, with conferences on block chain technology, AI, predictive analyses and so on. Dance music is very flexible and adapts really quickly and easily to these new developments, and we then talk about how we handle that as an industry.” Returning to the business of running labels, Kennis remarked, “If you zoom out very far and look at what happened, the music industry has gone from an ownership model to an access model. In the old days you had vinyl, and then CDs, and after that your collection of downloads, whereas now you have access to all the music in the world. This transition obviously has had growing pains, with illegal downloads, Pirate Bay, torrents, where everyone in the industry lost out. However, now with companies like Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon you see the market has grown up and is getting more healthy. I think that’s good for everybody, and you also now see great potential in the music markets in South-America and Asia. I see the future very positively.” As for the Warner take-over, Kennis only sees upsides, “We’ll continue to work as an independent unit within Warner, doing what we have always done, spot talent, for example via our Talent Pool web site, and promote their recordings the best we can. Now we can make use of the worldwide Warner network, with all the associated advantages. We’re very enthusiastic about that and suddenly having many new colleagues. It also fits in that we have never tried to be an underground label, but instead have always tried to go for the highest achievable, which is to have a worldwide radio hit.”
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REGULARS
Apple Notes Bluetooth Bondi Besties Column: Brad Watts
No doubt Apple users would recall the furore when the company omitted the ⅛-inch analogue headphone jack from the iPhone 7. Personally I didn’t see the problem as I’d been using Bluetooth headphones since I had an iPhone 4. Untethered headphones perfectly suited the job I had at the time, as I literally had hours of autonomous tasks to complete, and it gave me a chance to indulge in three or four albums up close and personal. Then, if my phone rang, I could surreptitiously take the call and still appear to be working. Wireless headphones are awesome! Why you’d use anything else for casual listening is beyond me. INFRARED VISIONS
Another brilliant use of wireless headphones I experienced years ago was when a friend and I would compose electronic music in his tiny Bondi Beach flat. The flat had paper-thin walls like Japanese shoji so we had to keep things quiet. He had two sets of wireless headphones that connected via infrared, which meant we could both work on a track without disrupting the neighbours – until sunrise – which happened often. There was plenty of sign language and head nodding and shaking, but without those cans we’d never have composed anything. Infrared has mostly evaporated from the headphone world, making way for the more prevalent and versatile Bluetooth. Invented by Ericsson in 1994, Bluetooth is known as a personal area network, or PAN, and didn’t make it to us consumers until 1998. There are multiple iterations of the protocol with varying degrees of bandwidth, range and security – important aspects with networks of any kind, be they wireless or wired. However, there’s one major disadvantage when streaming audio via Bluetooth, and that’s latency. Unlike infrared wireless, Bluetooth requires encoding by a codec at the transmission device, then decoding by the same codec at the receiving device. This processing requires time, up around the 40 millisecond mark. As we all know from
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bitter experience, 40 milliseconds latency in a DAW is a shade shy of useless. If you were attempting my Bondi-bestie’s scheme using Bluetooth you’d be screwed. And forget connecting two sets of cans.
that Qualcomm’s Snapdragon mobile phone chips, which power a range of Samsung and other Android handsets, run into conflict with Apple’s own earlier patents.
CODEC QUANDARY
PARTY OF 5?
Over time there have been various revisions of Bluetooth. Initially Bluetooth wasn’t the widest of protocols. With a 1Mbp/s transfer speed it also wasn’t an option for high quality audio streaming. It often dropped out and took ages to pair with other devices. It was suitable for what the protocol was initially designed for – phone headsets, ringtones, and the usual duties a mobile phone needs to cover. If you remember, music players were a completely seperate device to mobile phones in 1998 – we’re talking before the rise of mp3 files, iPods and iTunes (2001) – the days of Sony’s ATRAC and minidisc. So at its base, Bluetooth was designed with a standard, basic codec that all Bluetooth devices must support. SBC, or Low Complexity Subband Coding, is essentially for phone call and ringtone quality, and has its own compression algorithm. In addition to SBC there are optional codecs supported in the Bluetooth spec. These include MPEG 1 and 2 Audio (MP2 and MP3), MPEG 3 and 4 (AAC), ATRAC, and aptX. Now if both your receiving and transmitting device support the codec you’re using, there needs to be no additional compression applied to the signal. This is why Apple sticks to AAC with both iTunes files and the codec in its iPhones, iPads, Apple TVs, etc... It’s interesting to note the additional aptX codec. aptX is the property of Qualcomm these days, and the codec is purported to deliver ‘CD quality’ sound – stated to reproduce up to 20kHz with a dynamic range of 120dB. It also offers a latency of around 32ms over Bluetooth – which, is certainly not quick enough for recording. It’s doubtful we’ll see Apple supporting aptX, as Apple and Qualcomm have been in a legal shouting match over royalty payments Qualcomm is charging Apple for various technologies. Apple is alleging
So what does this mean for Apple Bluetooth? And will Bluetooth 5 make any difference to both audio quality and latency? Bandwidth is increased to 2 Mbit/s, so enough to transfer 320kbps MP3 files more than happily. Latency? We’re probably not going to see a great improvement. If you’re playing back MP3s to an Apple Airport Express or Apple TV you’re looking at mixed codecs, and the multiple crunches and compression codecs kicking in. For the fastest transfer with Apple devices you should keep everything in AAC. With the new iPhone 8 and X, Apple has introduced Bluetooth 5, and until there’s Bluetooth 5 in other Apple products it’s all a bit of an island. Bluetooth 5 devices need to take a step backwards to interface with Bluetooth 4.2 and 4 devices. What Bluetooth 5 does bring is greater distance coverage, up to around 240 metres, which makes it perfectly suited to the long fabled internetof-things. These things will include your home lighting, security monitoring, and other general domestic ’smart-home’ antics – like the bottle of laundry detergent that senses it’s close to empty and orders itself a replacement. Any good for audio? I doubt it. It appears Bluetooth won’t be bringing back the Bondi Besties routine any time soon.
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COLUMN
Gig Gains How to get 2-for-1 by recording in-studio gigs. Column: Nick Riley Nick is a professional drummer, touring nationally with Georgia Fair. He’s also an audio engineer and JMC Academy alumni, who splits time between live production work and recording for local bands and record labels.
Apply for JMC Academy’s Audio Engineering and Sound Production course, to get qualified with hands-on experience, study abroad options and internship opportunities. Intakes in February, June and September. www.jmcacademy.edu.au
Artists are always looking for speedy and affordable ways to get their music to their fans and there’s not many more ‘bang for your buck’ services an audio engineer can offer than an in-studio live recording. I often work with artists and bands to produce filmed live studio and location recordings. If you set a band up like they’re jamming at a rehearsal or an intimate live gig you can easily capture the emotions and vibe of the room — which doubles as a perfect opportunity for powerful filmmaking. With less studio time needed, less postrecording editing, and a video clip created simultaneously, it’s a great way to generate content quickly and cheaply, to distribute to fans and build a stronger social presence. Plus, you can release the audio recordings standalone on a streaming service, then distribute the video clips. It’s like getting two for the price of one. MINIMAL FUSS
For a number of reasons, minimalism is key when it comes to recording a live performance for video. One, the less gear you have to lug to a location, the better. Two, you’re going to be doing a dance to keep out of the camera crew’s way — visually and physically — so keeping a low profile helps. Thirdly, and most importantly, this is about capturing a one-off performance without complication. The less gear you have set up, the less distractions for the artist and the more chance you have of creating and capturing an important moment. There is one caveat to all of that: you need the right gear. When I recorded Meg Mac last year, Meg and her management proposed the idea of setting up in Meg’s house to capture a completely intimate performance. The plan was to record her songs along with a track-by-track commentary. We set up a few lights to raise the atmosphere, but the idea AT 42
was to draw fans into her home, not turn it into another showy gig, and the audio had to suit. Meg would mostly be performing with her upright piano, a loop pedal and her voice. With a limited track count, I opted to hire a Zoom F8 recorder, and used just four mics. The F8 was the perfect tool. It meant I didn’t have to setup a laptop and interface — or even a table — I could keep my setup streamlined and simply focus on capturing Meg. Its gain knobs allowed me to easily ride the level as she layered loops up over the course of a song, and I was able to use an output to feed her in-ear monitors for foldback. I placed an Audio-Technica AT4050 large diaphragm on the low strings of the upright, and an AKG C451 pencil condenser for the high strings. I used a Shure SM7B dynamic on her vocals and put up another AT4050 as a room mic to capture the intimate balance. While I did add some compression and effects in the mix, you generally want to lean on the room’s ambience to match the visuals. GROOVING WITH SPILL
You should always try anything to make the performer comfortable, but be prepared to make a judgement call if it’s affecting the outcome. For instance, I originally put up a monitor wedge for Meg, but it created a slapback delay that sounded foreign to the space. That’s why we opted for the in-ears. Sometimes spill can actually work in your favour. I recently recorded a live studio performance of Joe West, a soulful, bluesy rock artist. He’d done a few studio video clips before and didn’t like the way headphones detracted from the visuals. We used foldback wedges instead, which were picked up by the microphones, but it was an electric blues, Stevie Ray Vaughn-sounding track, and I was using a TC Electronic vocal pedal to distort his voice. We also had slap back delay and reverb in the mix. The spill from the wedges just added to the overall sound. Occasionally you have to take drastic measures
LINING UP VIDEO If you’re trying to do the whole job yourself, including the video recording, make sure you capture some healthy ‘scratch’ audio into your camera. Either use the onboard mic and set a gain range so it doesn’t overload or get noisy, attach a better
to cut down on spill. I recorded a live version of Luna Avenue’s song Stay. With drums, bass, keys, two electric guitars and vocals, the studio was instantly packed to the gills and the spill became very difficult to deal with. Trying to maintain camera sight lines only made it worse because I couldn’t use any baffles to help isolate instruments. To keep things under control, I used virtual instruments for the keys and amp sims for the electric guitars. It meant only the drums and vocals were miked up in the room, and by using a low sensitivity cardioid dynamic like the Shure SM7B, with the rejection zone of the mic pointed at the kit, it left room for vocal compression in the mix without bringing up the spill too much. While it’s not as ‘live’-sounding as the Joe West record, using studio tools helped deliver a clear and balanced mix while still letting them play to each other and keeping the groove intact. To add even more of the room feeling back in, afterwards I simply reamped the guitars in the same room to capture more authentic ambience. If the performer is struggling to keep time, but gets robotic when fed a click track, another trick I use is bringing along a drum machine and feeding them a beat or conga rhythm to keep the groove alive. LISTEN UP
Although you may have less control over live studio recordings compared with a layered multi-tracked approach, the result can sound and look great. You just have to be scrupulous about listening to each take. You don’t want to listen back later and find out the camera person bumped into a mic stand at the start of an epic chorus. A huge part of the sound comes down to how the band work and interact with each other, but it also comes down to how the engineer approaches the performance capture. Live studio recordings are one aspect of the industry I have grown to really love. The mix of using studio equipment and the excitement and vibe of a live performance gives me all the best bits of audio engineering, in one hit!’ on-camera mic to it, or feed it a line from your recorder. Video editing programs like Adobe After Effects can now sync video tracks to audio tracks by using the audio as a reference, or you can use a plug-in like Plural Eyes. For highest compatibility with video, record at a sample rate of 48kHz.
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REVIEW
TOWNSEND LABS SPHERE L22
Microphone Modelling System Need a vintage mic, but don’t have the money and can’t choose which one? Just get a Sphere and make your mind up later.
NEED TO KNOW
Review: Greg Walker
PRICE Expect to pay $1999 CONTACT CMI Music & Audio: (03) 9315 2244 or info@cmi.com.au
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PROS 11 mics in 1 body, & counting Post-tracking modelling mods Musical DSP features Sounds great without DSP
CONS Requires matched preamp pair Supplied cable a bit short Emulations not always spot on Too many options for some
SUMMARY The Townsend Labs Sphere L22 microphone and DSP system breaks new ground by giving users a smorgasbord of mic model, polar pattern, proximity effect and on/off-axis response options that can be adjusted post-tracking. A versatile and good sounding mic in its own right, the L22 allows users to paint with a range of tones that evoke classic microphone sounds of the past at a fraction of the cost.
What’s your dream microphone? Is it Neumann’s legendary 1950s valve U47? Perhaps it’s a vintage AKG C12 or the old Abbey Road favourite, the Coles 4038 ribbon mic. Then again you might prefer a sweet Neumann U67 for bass and guitar cabs, or an imposing U49 for silky yet powerful vocals. Hmm… this is getting tricky. It’s probably best if you procure them all, just to cover your bases. What do you mean you don’t have a lazy $70k laying around? You can only scrape together around two grand, huh? Alright no problem, I’ll get all those mics plus a few more tasty models for you, and I’ll make it so you don’t need to commit to one until after you’ve done the recording. Sound good? Read on. ONES & ZEROS
Until we’re all dreaming songs into a collective digital ether, there will likely be some analogue componentry retained in the audio signal chain for the next hundred years — even if it is just the silicon in your audio interface. Every year, as the digital domain advances, an analogue-less world becomes ever more probable. Originally, the attention of digital developers was focused on modelling or emulating signal processors. Whether it was an EQ, dynamics or effects unit, they would manipulate audio already in the system. Guitar amp emulations were similar; though they required a front end to capture the guitar signal, only a few companies were concerned with building their own hardware. More virtual instruments hit the market — whether via sophisticated sampling techniques or modelling, tape machine modelling and a keen focus on saturation. It naturally led to preamp modelling, but to model a preamp’s behaviour properly, you needed a fixed starting point. Focusrite’s Liquid Channel was a start, but it was still ‘hardware-only’, it didn’t give all the flexibility of digital. Universal Audio and Slate took on the challenge and each built their own preamp as a known baseline to layer the character of vintage preamps over. Of course, there are some functional discrepancies like max gain, but it’s more about sonic aesthetics. With those preamp foundations established, we’re moving into the last bastion of analogue acquisition; the microphone. Slate began with its Virtual Microphone System, but with just a single diaphragm it lacked the ability to more adequately model the polar patterns, off-axis response and proximity effect of various microphones. Townsend Labs has a different approach. The company was founded by Erik Papp and Chris Townsend, industry heavyweights with lots of previous hands-on experience at companies such as Avid and Summit Audio. Townsend Labs’ first product is the Sphere L22 microphone system which aims to trump previous microphone/ DSP hybrid offerings with the ability to adjust all those features lacking in Slate’s model, even after tracking. It can also leverage the UAD platform to lean on its DSP for reliable real-time performance. With two diaphragms, the Sphere can even create genuine stereo images and run in dual mono mode to create unusual hybrids (for instance using the
front capsule in U47 mode and the rear one in SM57 mode). There is a tasty collection of vintage mic emulations to choose from and more in the pipeline from Townsend Labs so let’s see how it all fits together. PAINT IT BLACK
The Sphere ships in a pro-level lockable black flight case, and inside there’s some thoughtful add-ons including a (bonus) simple swivel mount in addition to a full-blown suspension mount. There are also spare suspension elastics — always a good thing! The suspension mount does it’s job well and I had no sag issues with it during testing, though being a large mic and mount combination, there are tighter places it doesn’t want to go (just like a real U47!). The Sphere L22 is a large, hefty microphone and is actually quite traditional looking with it’s matt black cylindrical body and silver mesh capsule cage. The small decorative markings around the bottom of the capsule head are somewhat unusual and initially made me think (wrongly) that the capsule could perhaps be rotated on it’s body to achieve different polar settings. Round the back a two stage (-10dB or -20dB) attenuation toggle switch and another for placing the mic in calibration mode are the only other controls onboard. My main disappointment with the Sphere hardware was the extremely short three metre stereo microphone cable supplied. I found it a little irritating that my first experience with this modern marvel was digging out some spare (and carefully matched) XLR extension cables just so I could place the mic in the middle of my recording space. The stereo cable itself is not particularly confidence-inspiring either, being very lightweight and using inferior grade connectors. A little more money spent here would have made the whole package feel more professional but everything functioned as it should. Speaking of matched cables, the Sphere system is very carefully calibrated and requires matched preamps running at equal gain. To ensure absolute preamp matching I ran it straight into the first two (identical) mic preamps in my UA Apollo rig. When I first sent phantom power to the L22 I was somewhat taken aback to find four bright white LEDs light up in the base of the capsule. An unusual and bold aesthetic move by Townsend Labs and not really my thing, but at least I always knew when the Sphere was receiving 48 volts! My Sphere software plug-in of choice was the UAD one (it also runs on VST2, VST3, AAX and AU formats). The software was quick and easy to install and it was with some curiosity that I fired up the GUI for the first time. CHOICES, CHOICES…
There are 11 microphone models on offer, including all the mics mentioned above as well as Neumann’s U87, AKG’s C451 small diaphragm condenser, and the humble Shure SM57 dynamic. The remaining three options are based around the more unadulterated Sphere mic sound itself, including a flat frequency response ‘measurement microphone’ setting. Each mic is rendered in the
plug-in GUI for simple navigation. The main plug-in has single and dual modes, both working on stereo files. In single mic mode there’s a stepped control for selecting between nine polar patterns — from omni through to figure-8 — on all mic models. A continuously variable control allows you to back off or emphasise proximity effect, which — in combination with a three step high-pass filter and choice of microphone models — allows for some serious tone shaping. Perhaps the most innovative control parameter is the axis control which can be dialled from 0 to 180 degrees to create a sense of off-axis distance where required. Other plug-in controls can reverse the direction of the mic (making the rear capsule the front and vice versa), reverse phase and adjust rear capsule and overall output gain. A large central oval meter in the GUI shows the polar pattern response of the capsule’s signals in real time. It graphically shows how the adjustments to the controls affect their behaviours which is a nice touch. A long bar meter at the bottom helps keep tabs on overall output gain. This smorgasbord of tonal effects is, however, just a taste of what’s to come when you engage the ‘dual’ button. In this mode the GUI changes to provide two separate sets of controls for the two capsules, allowing for the selection of two different mic behaviours and more complex axis response, capsule time-alignment and proximity effect manipulation. A second plug-in option named Sphere 180 delves into the realm of true stereo recording and offers similar controls to the ‘dual’ mode with added options for stereo width and panning. Calibration is achieved via the ‘setup’ button where any simple recording will enable the Sphere software to automatically match the input levels (with the mic’s calibration switch engaged), and you can also manually trim the rear capsule output level. All plug-in modes also make use of an ‘import’ function so previous Sphere settings can be imported across sessions and between most DAW platforms — quite an important feature if you want to move your Sphere recordings between studios, given how complex individual settings can get. IN THE ROUND
I had the Sphere mic at my studio for the best part of a month, and in that time I used it on lots of different sources and in quite a few different roles. Initially I gravitated (as you do) towards the expensive large diaphragm condenser models and got some nice results on acoustic guitars, vocals and bass. The modelling of the valve condensers in particular has a midrange thickness to the sounds and interestingly, while some sounds weren’t overly convincing when soloed, they tended to work well in real-life mix situations. They certainly weren’t clinical or lacking in mojo and the variety in tonal signatures amongst the mic models delivered many useful options. The U49 emulation leant some great tones to a sparkly guitar line, the U87 gave me nice solid male vocal tones and the C12 did it’s highend sheen thing on some female BVs. On a great young R ’n’ B singer the U47 setting was absolute pop dynamite, with just the right amount of grit AT 45
and clarity. As I used the Sphere more I also found nice uses for the Coles ribbon emulation on strings and percussion (two of my favourite ribbon mic applications), as well as the occasional context for the more modest 451 and 57 tones on things like guitars and keyboards. The whole paradigm of this mic-plus-plugin system positively encourages tweaking and auditioning with its numerous parameters, so tinker I did. The proximity and filter controls really help dictate the way a sound sits in the mix and I found them very useful. The axis control was sometimes handy for pushing a sound back a little in the soundstage and getting it to find its own little corner in the mix — especially on things like backing vocals and secondary guitar lines. Exploring the choice of nine polar patterns on a U87, running a ribbon mic in omni or an SM57 in figure-of-8 mode were all new experiences too. Running the L22 in stereo mode revealed extremely realistic and useable stereo imaging and this mic could be a real secret weapon on all kinds of room and ensemble recordings. At times I doubted the authenticity of the mic modelling and felt I heard a bit of midrange murk in some of the sounds, but at other times the Sphere tones really shone. When I couldn’t quite find the sweet spot despite copious amounts of tinkering, I was often surprised to find I really liked the pure Sphere mic sound in it’s own right. Sometimes I’d even just grab the front capsule track and dispense with the plug-in altogether. The direct mic has a nice balanced tone to it and works well on a bunch of different sources, so keep that in mind if you’re looking into the Sphere as a possible studio purchase — it’s a very capable mic even without all the DSP add-ons. LINE ’EM UP
After using the Sphere L22 for a few weeks I was starting to get familiar with its strengths and weaknesses but I was still curious to see how close AT 46
the emulations were to the real thing, so I set up a couple of shoot outs with the originals to get a clearer picture. I don’t own a U47 or a U67 but do have a nice ’70s-era Neumann U87 with a clean bill of health from tech guru Rob Squire, so that was my first guinea pig. I lined up the two mics as close together as possible and, after adjusting for the L22’s far greater input sensitivity, did some strummed acoustic guitar tracks straight out front about three feet away. When listening back there was a certain similarity in the midrange sonics but also some distinct overall differences. My U87 had a more airy top end and a fuller bass register whereas the Sphere seemed to emphasise more frequencies in the low midrange and had a more closed-in sound in general. Applying a bit of third party EQ I was able to match the sounds pretty closely but it still wasn’t a perfect fit. While bearing in mind my mic is over 40 years old and no two vintage mics will ever sound the same, I nevertheless was a little disappointed the U87 emulation didn’t come a little closer to convincing me. Switching to a much more recent example of the Shure SM57, I plugged an electric guitar into an amp and placed both mics about one and a half feet out from the speaker cone. This time the similarities were much more apparent, with the Sphere’s tonal balance and flavour giving a very close resemblance to the 57’s bite and thump. In fact, I preferred the Sphere’s sound on the slightly dirty ’50s style blues guitar sound I had dialled in. The 57 sounded pretty good but the Sphere delivered some extra heft to the bottom end that worked a treat. USE YOUR ILLUSION
After lots of tracking, testing and pondering I was left with complicated feelings about the Townsend Labs’ Sphere. On the one hand there’s a lot to like about a mic that can offer so many different flavours, quite apart from the world
of post-tracking tweakage it opens up and the creative possibilities therein. There’s also the bonus that the mic sounds good in its own right when the emulations and DSP are put aside. My experiences working with the mic were mainly good and sometimes great. I tracked several pieces of music using only the L22 that I was extremely happy with. On the down side there’s a couple of slight negatives to be considered. The first is that the emulations don’t always sound as great as they could. The forward midrange quality to some of them doesn’t quite match my experiences with the originals, and my shootout at least partially confirmed this observation. Those buying the Sphere in the belief that they will effectively be buying every second great vintage mic ever made need to lower their expectations a little. While these are not precisely the sounds of complex precision-engineered microphones built 40+ years ago, the emulations are nevertheless valuable tools in the studio and the whole package offers massive bang for buck potential from one relatively modest investment. The second negative is more of a processorientated one and may not apply to everyone reading this review. Experiences in the studio over many years have taught me the value of decision making, and I’m generally looking for ways to commit to sounds and performances as early as possible in any session. Having a tool like the Sphere opens up a whole new can of worms in terms of auditioning sounds and tweaking them both before and after tracking. If a tool like this falls into the hands of someone (you know who you are) who finds it hard to make up their minds and needs to keep tweaking things ad infinitum, it could be a match made in hell. I can see scenarios where the desire to alter vocal and key instrument sounds towards the end of a long production or mixing process could have detrimental knock-on effects and potentially unravel other sounds built around them. On the other hand there are certainly situations where the mic-plus-DSP approach could be a huge help. If you only have a vocalist for an hour and don’t have time to audition half a dozen mics the Sphere could be your best friend. The software is deep and rewards lots of experimentation but this doesn’t always need to be done on the artist’s time. It can give recordists more control of sources captured in less than ideal recording spaces. The mic modelling selection is good, though hopefully we’ll soon see upgrades with more (Sony and Telefunken models are imminent and might I suggest RCA, Sennheisser and some dirty cheap ‘effects’ mics too), while on the cosmetic side you’ll either like the fairy-lightsin-the-mic look, or not. For those keen to investigate the Sphere system further I recommend checking out the Townsend Labs’ website where you can find pre-recorded files and a free software download to check it out for yourself. The Sphere L22 has certainly raised the stakes, bringing in a DSP microphone system with a raft of fresh features at a very competitive pricepoint while giving the audio industry a pointer as to what the future of microphone technology may look like.
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REVIEW
NI KOMPLETE KONTROL S49 MK 2 Keyboard Controller Native Instruments has supplemented its hugely useful Light Guide with two screens. Now you’ll never have to look away from Komplete Kontrol to make music again.
NEED TO KNOW
Review: Preshan John
PRICE KK S49 MK2: Expect to pay $899 KK S61 MK2: Expect to pay $1049
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CONTACT CMI Music & Audio: (03) 9315 2244 or sales@cmi.com.au
PROS Full-colour screens Extremely fast workflow Fatar keybed feels great
CONS No pads Limited DAW support
SUMMARY If you live in a world surrounded by NKS-ready virtual instruments a Komplete Kontrol S-keyboard is an absolute no brainer. It will supercharge your workflow like a mouse and keyboard never can.
The battle to find a free-flowing compositional experience can shift right under your feet; new software, new gear, new instruments, integrating anything new can break your flow in an instant. It was a relief to discover that rather than lobbing a grenade into my setup, Native Instruments was fighting the battle on my behalf. Having played with the Komplete Kontrol S49 Mk 2 for a few months now, I can say these are the most intuitive, unobtrusive, inspirational MIDI keyboards I’ve ever reviewed. The first round of Komplete Kontrol keyboards were an all-round hit as Native Instruments delivered a physical interface for its NKS paradigm. The most noticeable feature was the Light Guide. The key illumination feature could have looked poxy, something a beginner might need to find Middle C. However, in use it was a revelation. Breaking up instruments categorically across the keyboard — e.g. a drum machine’s individual sample notes appear in a different colour to loops. It can also light up a scale of your choosing if you forget how to play piano. The new Mk 2 models have doubled up the visual feedback with the addition of two full-colour, high resolution screens. The row of buttons above and eight touch-sensitive encoders underneath help you navigate on-screen parameters swiftly, but more on that later.
DAW session, when turned on mid-session. No complaints, no ‘please restart session’ requests, and no software dialogue boxes asking you to select your controller.
FEELING OF KONTROL
The S49 Mk 2’s Mixer view (there’s a button for it above the big knob) lays out the tracks in your DAW session across the two screens. Select a track using the button directly above it, then press Plugin to dive into Komplete Kontrol world. Now, the left screen is a rolling list of your NKSsupported instruments. Spin the touch sensitive encoders underneath to find what you’re looking for, or use an adjacent encoder to narrow down by category. Here’s the real turbo boost — when the selector box sits on any instrument on the left screen, the categories and presets for that instrument are instantly listed on the right screen, ready to be scrolled or selected using the encoders and Load button. It’s incredibly intuitive and a million times better than clicking through an instrument library with a mouse. Did I mention it’s in full-colour with graphics of each instrument displayed onscreen as you scroll. Whether it was NI’s own instruments or NKS-compatible VIs
Everyone who tried the S49 comments on its build quality. It feels solid and has reassuring weight. Matte black suits it well and the backlit rubber buttons ensure visibility on a dim stage. The Mute/ Solo and Select buttons above the screens even have multiple backlight colours. Also, the pitch/ mod controls are wheels rather than sliders, while a single touch-sensitive slider underneath gives an extra expressive option. The keybed itself is by Fatar and I love it. There’s a certain thickness about how the keys feel — a delicate balance between springy and weighty, with satisfying travel. They beg to be played. The fullsize S88 keyboard comes with weighted keys. The S49 Mk 2 runs perfectly fine off USB bus power but there’s still an on/off button at the back — no yanking the USB cable to turn it off. It powers up really fast, too. Another thing that impressed me was how quickly it settled into a
NO LOOK PASS
The best thing about the S keyboards is how ridiculously simple it is to build a track using nothing but the hardware. Firstly, the keyboard doubles as a DAW control surface, letting you commandeer the transport, track levels, solos, mutes, and more. With that taken care of your attention can turn to finding sounds, and with the built-in screens you don’t have to turn to your computer monitor to do it. Ableton Live and the KK S49 get along like a house on fire once you’ve walked through the DAW integration process on NI’s website. To get the full benefit of S49 Mk 2’s hardware control, your NKS-supported instruments have to run within the Komplete Kontrol plug-in. Within DAWs that support multiple plug-in formats (like Ableton Live), make sure all your instances of Komplete Kontrol are the same (either VST or AU) or it’ll screw things up. To make it easy, I loaded up a row of MIDI tracks in Ableton and inserted Komplete Kontrol as a VST on the lot. That was my keyboard/mouse duties completed for the day. KONTROL FREAK
like Arturia’s V Collection, Output’s classy sonic manglers, or Spitfire Audio sample packs, it all displayed like it was a native device. Once you’ve loaded up an instrument and preset, S49 will sprawl its relevant parameters across the encoders underneath the screens so you can get hands-on with the sounds right away. Buttons on the right hand side let you record takes, undo/redo them, flick the metronome on/ off, quantise your performance, change the tempo, activate the arpeggiator and more. It took me all of 30 seconds to lose myself in the fun of it all. You find yourself with an urge to make music every spare hour you get. NOT ALL DAWS OPEN
If I had to peel my gaze away and level some criticism at the Komplete Kontrol Mk2 it would be the limited DAW support (see box item) and the lack of pads. The ability to trigger clips, play samples or sequence a beat with pads would take the experience to another level, particularly for live performance. Perhaps NI sees that as trespassing into Maschine territory and has held off. Of course, you don’t need to be heavily invested in the Native Instruments paradigm to benefit from the Komplete Kontrol S49 Mk2. It functions just fine as a ‘regular’ MIDI controller with any of your virtual instruments. All MIDI parameters can be mapped to corresponding controls on the keyboard using the Komplete Kontrol software and you can save multiple configurations. But the real fun begins when you dive head first into the world of NKS-supported instruments and Komplete Kontrol integration. Making music with a Komplete Kontrol keyboard is as close to a utopian creative process as I’ve experienced.
DAW SUPPORT While there’s a huge number of NKS-compatible virtual instruments, at time of writing, Native Instruments says Komplete Kontrol supports Logic, Ableton Live, and GarageBand, with Cubase and Nuendo support on the way. I, along with many others, look forward to this list expanding to include Reason, Pro Tools, Bitwig, Studio One, Reaper, FL Studio, and more.
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REVIEW
PRESONUS STUDIOLIVE SERIES III Digital Console
Presonus finally added flying faders to its StudioLive consoles, but there’s even more under the hood, brining Presonus ever closer to delivering one box that does it all.
NEED TO KNOW
Review: Mark Woods
PRICE Consoles start at $2999 Rack mixers start at $1199 CONTACT Link Audio: (03) 8373 4817 or info@linkaudio.com.au
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PROS Motorised faders! Processing on everything Enhanced connectivity Low cost
CONS Colour overload for some
SUMMARY The StudioLive series of mixers was always missing one thing, motorised faders. Now, in version three, they’ve finally arrived, along with vintage-modelled plug-ins, more colour, and complete channel processing and recording. It’s really living up to its dual-purpose name.
Flying faders were initially the most impressive thing about digital desks. Punters gasped the first time they saw them change positions at the touch of a button and operators marvelled at all those layers of channels in a small space. Presonus does things differently and has only now included motorised faders in its new StudioLive Series III range of digital audio mixers. While their inclusion will be welcomed by fans of the brand who’ve been eyeing off the competition, flying faders are just one part of modern lit-up touch-screened digital consoles. What’s most impressive about digital mixers now is the depth of functionality, connectivity and how little they cost. The Presonus StudioLive Series III range of digital mixers comes in three console sizes with three rackmount mixer options that double as expandable I/O. Presonus’s StudioLive series has always strived to combine the functions of live sound mixing with studio recording, and this series takes another step forwards for the one-boxfor-all concept. STANDALONE OR GO BIG
The consoles are complete stand-alone mixers that can be controlled directly from the console or by devices using Presonus UC Surface software. The rackmount mixers can be used as stand-alone mixers too, remotely controlled by touchscreen computer or tablet/phone. Alternatively, the rackmount mixer can be connected via AVB to a console, either as a stagebox expansion or as a combination stagebox/monitor mixer. With a wireless router attached, Presonus Qmix-UC software can create and control personal monitor mixes either on stage or in the studio. Qmix-UC works with iOS and Android and allows up to 14 devices to remotely control the aux mixes. Its set up so it can be overseen by the console operator providing the necessary permissions to avoid confusion. All console settings, including preamp gains are recallable. Presonus UC Surface multiplatform, multi-device software is freely available and works on everything to provide wired or wireless control over the consoles or racks. Presonus claims this is the only system where, for example, you can use an iPad to walk around the room and a Windows touchscreen at the console position. BIG 16, BABY
I’ve been trying the StudioLive16, the baby of the Console range. It’s a great compact size and claims to be the most powerful in its class with 17 motorised faders, 17 recallable XMAX preamps, a new Fat-channel design with eight scribble strips and vintage-style FX. I like the rear panel with its 16 combo inputs and lots of physical outputs so you can connect it to the analog world easily. An input for a talkback mic is a nice touch. The mid-size StudioLive24 adds eight channels/faders and the big-boy of the range the StudioLive32 adds another eight for a total of 33. It’s a sea of coloured lights when it turns on but it only takes a glance to see that the things you need are close at hand. [The opposite of some Presonus products, which can be overly monochromatic.
Each to their own – Ed]. The bank, mix and FX buttons work well down the left-hand side and the illuminated buttons are clearly labelled and easy to read. The angled upper section has the Fat-channel and the seven-inch colour touch screen with a master control/utility section under the screen, again all clearly labelled with most functions only one-touch away. The Fat-channel works with the touchscreen and a controller beneath the screen, most controls can be tweaked from either, so it’s fast to get things done. The Fat-channel has been updated with what Presonus describes as a DAW-style layout. All the normal processing is there but you can also choose from a range of additional vintageemulating, character plug-ins. There are classic reverbs, tube comps and passive EQs, and each has enough of its own character to be worthwhile. It’s similar to running third-party software but I like that they’re integrated. FAT & FLEXIBLE
Setting up for a simple show is straight forward with one-to-one input patching and everything you need in an obvious place. For bigger productions, the 16 faders can control 32 inputs; 16 from recallable preamps, the other 16 from USB or AVB. For more inputs, you need the 24or 32-channel version. They all have 26 output busses in total and that’s enough to cover any situation this sort of console will encounter. The 16 general mix outs can be Flex mixes, easily configured as groups, aux sends or matrix outs; 10 on analog outputs and the other six over USB or AVB. There’s 24 DCA channels, a bank of userdefined channels and configurable workflows to assist in various applications. Even without knowing much about it, using the console is intuitive and friendly enough; although the coloured lights can be wearing. When mixing, I prefer the soft glow of the meter-bridge, but we live in multi-coloured times. Pressing select on an input channel opens a handy channel overview page, where you can touch the screen to dive into specific control sets. Each channel has a six-band fully parametric EQ, and the Main outs also get a graphic EQ that can be controlled from the faders. There are handy presets if you like that sort of thing and all settings can be stored. Fat Channel presets now include send levels and outputs, as well as processor settings. Scenes can be saved, 100 of them, and V3 includes SceneSafe that lets you choose any channels you don’t want to be changed by a different scene being selected — handy for avoiding accidental changes. StudioLive’s ability to run Fat-channel processing on all input channels and outputs simultaneously with no limits is impressive. The plastic construction is adequate; it looks professional. While it’s not made for a hard life
on the road it also only weighs 10.5kg. The faders are not very smooth and the knobs feel a little cheap but neither matters at this price. Sampling is fixed at 24-bit/48k and latency is quoted at a very commendable 1.9ms analogue in-to-analogue out, with all processing on. The preamps are clean and accurate. The high frequencies are ever so digitally grainy on close inspection but it matches other digital consoles and sounded good when I used it live, especially with a bit of processing to thicken it up. The low frequencies are nice and solid, the standard EQ/comp/gates are precise and concise. The alternate/vintage EQs and Comps are a hit. They’re almost irresistible; you want to try them to see what they do, like studio software. STUDIO LIFE VERSION 3
Controlling live sound is only a part of what these things do. Both StudioLive V3 consoles and rackmount mixers offer extensive on-board recording facilities. The consoles use Presonus Capture software, recording up to 32 tracks of 24-bit/48k uncompressed audio to an SD card. I like the track auto-arm feature that starts recording everything if you simply hit record, saving you the effort of individually arming tracks… handy when you remember you’re supposed to be recording at the last moment. Shows can be multi-tracked and then played back from the console for virtual soundchecks without needing an external computer. Recording via USB allows 38 channels each way. The consoles and/or rack mixers could easily form the basis of a recording studio, especially one that was part of a live venue. Also included with the consoles and racks is Presonus Studio One DAW software. Recordings made to the SD card can be opened in Studio One and the original channel settings, processing and fader levels from the StudioLive16 get transferred along with the audio files. Multiple consoles can be AVB networked and up to 55 channels can be streamed between them. There’s a lot of possibilities. ONE BOX TO RULE THEM ALL
The Presonus StudioLive Series III consoles are getting close to one box that does everything audio. Simply configure it as the application demands, with either real or virtual faders. Both the consoles and rack mixers can be used for simple live shows and provide all the cost and convenience benefits of digital mixing. Alternatively, they can handle the complexity of multiple operators using multiple formats and devices, while controlling large channel counts with multiple wired and wireless mixes. All of this can be applied to or combined with comprehensive internal or external recording abilities. You even get the software free. Powerful technology. Bargain functionality. AT 51
REVIEW
RME FIREFACE UFX II & UFX+ Audio Interfaces RME’s two new flagship interfaces make you draw the line between want and need. Review: Andrew Bencina
NEED TO KNOW
In the last 18 months, RME launched not one but two ‘flagship’ single rack unit audio interfaces — Fireface UFX+ and Fireface UFX II. The UFX+ was a 20th anniversary celebratory release which added the features of the MADIface USB to Fireface UFX, taking its I/O count to an impressive 94 channels at 48k (54 at 96k). The sheer number of I/O enabled by the addition of MADI necessitated both USB 3 and Thunderbolt protocols on the UFX+. With analogue I/O, AES, MADI, ADAT, USB 3 and Thunderbolt, it seemed like the most future proof interface one could buy. Hot on its heels, the Fireface UFX II followed within six months with a much smaller I/O count of 30 channels. While it shares an
PRICE Fireface UFX II $3699 Fireface UFX+ $4599 CONTACT Innovative Music: (03) 9540 0658 or info@innovativemusic.com.au
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identical front panel with the UFX+, the UFX II is quite simply a second generation UFX, with updated conversion, preamps, headphone amps and onboard direct-to-USB recording features (DURec). All features that were refreshed for the UFX+ NEEDS/WANTS
When I heard about the UFX II, I was shocked. I’ve been thinking about updating my existing RME system for a while and I couldn’t work out why anyone would want anything other than the UFX+. The truth is, however, I wasn’t placed to instantly enjoy the benefits of the more elaborate system. I don’t own any MADI converters, don’t presently have a Thunderbolt-enabled machine,
PROS Improved preamps with additional gain Low latency stability at its best USB error reporting expedites optimisation As comfortable used mobile as in studio TotalMix FX is still a beast
CONS DDS Pitch only available using Thunderbolt TotalMix apps could reward users further
and have absolutely no requirement for such a high channel count. My obsession was almost entirely driven by gear lust, coupled with a belief that USB 3 and Thunderbolt must be the only future-proof options. As it happens, greed costs. The MADI optocouplers are impossible to implement for a bargain. Subsequently, the privilege of celebrating RME’s birthday will cost you an additional $900 over the UFX II; with current street prices widening the gap even further. What’s a gear slut to do? Surely what everyone else says is true; a Thunderbolt interface promises far lower latency than ever before. RME has always retorted, ‘Tosh!’ but here’s my chance to pit my needs and wants in a battle to the death. With the
SUMMARY If you prize clinical performance, flexibility and stability above all else; and you think an interface should be able to grow with you, then these new RME flagships endure as sound additions to any wish list. Just buy what you need and don’t expect to find sparkly ribbons and bows under the tree; brown paper does the job perfectly.
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help of Park Orchards Recording’s Evan Lorden, we assembled a selection of five Windows 10 and Mac OS X (from 10.9 through to 10.12) systems, and locked ourselves in for several days of testing between RME’s two top interfaces. PORTS AIN’T PORTS
First, a community service announcement: Read your manual! You’ll find this all-important sentence in the UFX+’s spiral-bound hard copy. “It is not possible to guarantee reliable and highest performance of USB 3 operation with any computer and cable just because they claim to support USB 3. The real performance has to be evaluated on a per USB 3 port (!) and per cable basis.” Truer words have never been written. Almost every issue I experienced in testing came down to the use of dodgy USB 3 cables — one from OfficeWorks, and one 5m cable purchased online. Both were junk and resulted in anything from severe audio instability to complete inactivity and system instability, including USB mouse dropouts. Once we used only the provided 1.8m cable (a longer one would’ve been nice) everything became clear. Thankfully, RME’s USB drivers provide a realtime error diagnostic and the manual has helpful tips on debugging your system. The bottom line is: one error equals an unstable system. DEFINITELY, MAYBE
I can say one thing with reasonable certainty as far as RME devices are concerned. The type of interface connection you choose should have no impact on roundtrip latency (the delay you experience between a performance and hearing it back via software). Your OS, however, can make a difference. Talking about Mac systems only, we pulled interesting results related to the OS X version installed. On a current spec, up-to-date machine, USB and Thunderbolt results matched, while a mid-2012 iMac running OS X 10.9 returned USB results 0.5ms slower. It could be the chipset or the interaction of chipset and OS. It’s not clear. Neither is it a disaster; it simply highlights the host of factors influencing audio performance. When it came to benchmarking multichannel audio stability under CPU-load, things became less clear. On the newer of the two Windows 10 systems (a 2017 Dell Inspiron i7 Desktop – hardly an audio powerhouse) USB 2.0 outperformed USB 3 somewhat, while in the case of my ageing i7 quad-core studio workhorse (which features USB 3 ports highlighted by RME as inconsistent) results were unexpectedly reversed. The Mac results were equally jumbled. On the 2012 iMac, AT 54
both the UFX II (USB 2.0) and UFX+ (USB 3) matched the UFX+ (Thunderbolt) results; while a 2015 15-inch MacBook Pro had the Thunderbolt slightly in arrears. I’m not trying to make any sweeping statements here but these results suggest there are no guarantees USB 3 and Thunderbolt will automatically assure faster performance. The people at RME know what they speak of when they say it can be a port by port affair. On an optimised system, it may be possible to achieve increased stability under load with both USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt, but this is highly dependent on a number of things. As more and more devices (4K displays, hard drives, etc) seek to get on board the Thunderbolt train, it may be easier to find an empty space on your good old USB bus. What it made clear to me is that, at least for now, your present audio requirements should overrule all clumsy attempts at techno prophecy. With either of the UFXs in your arsenal, you should feel well-armed for the foreseeable future. HIGHLIGHTS PACKAGE
RME’s decision to implement both USB 2.0 and 3.0 modes within the UFX+ makes a significant difference to the number of systems with which near-optimal performance can be achieved. While using USB 2.0 does sacrifice the additional MADI channel count, there was not a single system or port that we failed to utilise successfully. When the going got tough, USB 2.0 got going. I was already impressed with the preamps on the Fireface 802, but the additional preamp gain is welcome and I’m increasingly confident in the ability of built-in preamps to cover many of those uncoloured, workhorse roles. Likewise, the two, new high powered, low impedance (2Ω) headphone amps performed beautifully, exposing the detailed width and depth of the converters when tested with Audio-Technica ATH-M70x and AKG K271 headphones. One note of warning: the ‘Factory’ Setup of TotalMix FX sets these outputs to -20. Based on my time reviewing freshly completed masters, -40 would be a safer starting point. Dedicated control is close to hand on the far right of the front panel, nevertheless it’s worth defining your own custom setup. TotalMix FX is not new but remains one of, if not the most flexible mixing and routing environments provided within an interface. As with RME’s driver performance, TotalMix offers benchmark low-latency monitoring with roundtrip figures of 34 samples (0.7ms at 48k and 0.35ms at 96k). TotalMix allows you to reconfigure inputs
and outputs for standalone or AD/DA converter operation — digital inputs routed to analogue outputs and vice versa — generate as many monitor mixes as you have hardware outputs, or submix multiple inputs, or software outputs, within or between applications without any need for external loopback cabling. Its EQ and Dynamics can also be printed or used only for monitoring purposes. The DURec function creates up to 60-channel recordings directly to a connected USB storage device like a thumb or hard drive, essentially turning the UFX into a multichannel master recorder you can carry with you. You can configure it from within TotalMix or via the front panel screen — the latter isn’t difficult, just fiddly. Improved in this current implementation is solidified performance and support for a wider range of devices. I had no problems enabling a selection of inputs and sub-group outputs for recording while disconnected from any computer. PICKING NITS
I make no secret of the fact that I’m a long-time RME supporter. Nevertheless, in most happy relationships there are still some sticking points. While RME has never stopped doing what it does very well, it’s been slow to capitalise on existing opportunities to add value to their devices — something that competitors are now doing at similar prices. One simple example is specific to the UFX+. As discussed earlier, the manual details potential issues associated with poorly spec’d USB 3 cables and yet the 1.8m cable supplied will, in many cases, fall short of the length required, and the replacements you purchase yourself are no guarantee to pass the test. A 3m cable would follow through on RME’s attention to detail in a way that makes a genuine difference to users. More universally, the number of slots available for custom user TotalMix Setups has remained at six for some time, just as the mixer has only ever offered a single FX bus (shared by Reverb and Delay effects, in series). The official mobile app for TotalMix FX is also still available only as a paid iOS offering. There is no shortage of third-party solutions for this, with TotalMix templates to boot; still, it’s a reflection of a fixed set of priorities that doesn’t always compare favourably with competitors (e.g. Presonus’ QMix-UC app, discussed in the StudioLine mixers review in this issue). If you choose RME, you do so for high performance and long-term support, it’s just that the occasional stocking stuffer would be a nice bonus.
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www.sounddistribution.com.au AT 55
REVIEW
MicroKorg:
15 Years Strong Review: Mark Davie
Expect to pay $549 CMI Music & Audio: (03) 9315 2244 or info@cmi.com.au
For a while there, Korg ran out of ways to wrap the company name into its model names. The ’70s kicked off with the KORGUE organ, then the miniKORG, followed by the MAXI KORG. It was a good run, but it took almost 30 years before Korg did it again. The MicroKorg is one of Korg’s best-selling synths, probably still behind the M1, but not far off. What’s remarkable about the MicroKorg is its longevity. Unlike other mini synths announced around the 2000s (like the Alesis Micron, Akai Miniak and DSI Evolver) it’s survived 15 years and is still selling strong. To celebrate its anniversary, we took a gander at the new look platinum edition to remember why this has become a mini classic. A key reason would have to be the mini-keys. Love them, hate them, indifferent, it doesn’t matter. AT 56
You’re squeezing three full octaves into a synth you can throw in your backpack, and 36 keys is way better than 25. It gives you the chance to play twohanded, or two-fingered, and not have to constantly press the octave up/down buttons. It introduced the vocoder to a new generation. Sure, it’s only eight bands, but vocoders are tough to set up for a beginner without all the right pieces. Conversely, the MicroKorg made it dead simple — the mic comes in the packaging, the built-in keys filter notes, and you can get it going with one click. It’s also digital, but models analogue, and it sounds quite good. Plus there’s enough variety in the presets to grab your interest. When you’re looking at buying a synth in a shop, having some decent patches to flip through is everything. Plus, with big knobs for cutoff, resonance, attack and
release, all the best twiddles are right there at your finger tips. It’s immediately gratifying. It also eschews the more mealy process of sequencing but includes an arpeggiator, which is arguably the more instantly fun of the two if you had to choose. The MicroKorg is also light as a feather, can be battery powered, and has faux wood endcheeks that perfectly fit the ever-growing interest in vintage synths. Importantly, it’s priced keenly; you get a touch of everything for not much. The MicroKorg was a mini revolution at a time when mini synths weren’t designed to do much, and it still does plenty today.
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REVIEW
SHURE GLX-D ADVANCED Wireless Microphone System 2.4GHz wireless with a battery of pro features. Review: Christopher Holder
NEED TO KNOW
Batteries are a big deal in the world of wireless audio. Not so long ago, big events would need an Energizer sponsorship to ensure the battery costs didn’t send them broke. Opening ceremonies would often involve hundreds of FM beltpacks that provide a click and a soundtrack to keep performers in sync. These performers might rehearse half a dozen times. The batteries would be replaced after every rehearsal. You could quickly rack up thousand upon thousands of AAs going into landfill. Pro wireless systems will give you the option of a recharging cradle, which is a great idea — charge while you stow. Lower cost systems will require you to feed the AA beast. Shure’s GLX-D, and the new Advanced version I’m reviewing, has done something very different and it’s going to change your life: The receivers have a slot-in recharging bay for the transmitter’s battery. It’s a revelation. What’s more, Shure’s lithium-ion battery will stay charged for up to 16 hours. Sixteen hours! (That’s after three hours charging.) When I was sparking up the review rig for the first time, I was a little up against the clock, so I had to pull the batteries out of their charging bays before the accompanying LED had lit green. Glancing at the transmitter display I saw 13:44. Ah crap. Thirteen minutes won’t get me through this rehearsal. Upon closer examination I could hardly PRICE $1249 w/SM58 handheld $999: Frequency manager CONTACT Jands: (02) 9582 0909 or info@jands.com.au
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believe my eyes: it wasn’t nearly 14 minutes, it was nearly 14 hours of ‘up time’! Yes, there’s a downside. You can’t pop regular AAs into the GLX-D transmitter if the Shure battery goes bad (it’s not a standard size). But the upsides are so considerable — for your productions, for your planet, for your mental health — that you’d have to say this puts GLX-D in a different league in the low-cost wireless category. ACCESSORISING
The other big deal for GLX-D Advanced are the accessories. At this end of the market, the manufacturer tends to think you’ll be buying only one or two channels and won’t bother with accessories like antenna combiners or sometimes even rack ears. Just like the standard non-rackmount GLX-D systems. Not so GLX-D Advanced. Shure reckons you can safely use up to nine receivers in the 2.4GHz band (“11 in ideal conditions”). Shure can sell you an antenna combiner/frequency manager and even pro directional antennas to achieve best results when you’re using multiple channels. Shure doesn’t try to pretend the 2.4GHz ISM band isn’t without its failings. As the manual will attest, this band is likely to be impacted by interference from competing wi-fi transmitters; doesn’t have the same range as UHF; and will normally have a slightly higher latency than a UHF system. In short, the chance of dropouts is higher
PROS 16 hours of battery life Pro accessories Integral battery charge bay
CONS 2.4GHz limitations Can’t use substitute AAs
with a 2.4GHz system. There’s plenty of salient advice in the GLX-D manual for minimising 2.4GHz snafus. Shure has also employed the latest raft of countermeasures to minimise the chance of dropouts. ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS…
The review rig comprised six racked up channels and the frequency manager. It was perfect for a Christmas production, where it proved itself to be solid in rehearsals. Frequency-wise it was not only competing with the six GLX-D channels but three other channels of 2.4GHz wireless I had in use. I placed the receiver rack on stage and plumbed the GLX-D channels straight into the stage box, which assisted with stability. The four SM58 transmitters and two lav mics all performed well. Lots of clarity; good gain. CHAMPAGNE FEATURES
Demand for wireless is going through the roof. And that demand isn’t necessarily driven by the pro end. It’s the education, church and amateur theatre market that’s hankering for more wireless channels without the huge price tag. GLX-D Advanced packs some surprising pro features. I can’t tell you how much I love the long-life batteries and charge bays, and I’m a fan of the bigsystem accessories such as the frequency manager rack. These ‘champagne’-type features on the ‘beer’ budget make GLX-D Advanced a winner.
SUMMARY Budget wireless with some surprising pro features. Battery life for days (well… most of a day at least).
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