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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. 19/04/2018.
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COVER STORY
Steve Albini: On Tape
18
ISSUE 48 CONTENTS
30
Mix Masters: Sam Smith
Everything you need to know 24 about going back to tape
Arturia Keylab Essential 61 Controller
EV Evolve 50 Stick PA AT 6
48
On Tour with Guy Sebastian
44
Presonus Quantum Interface
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28 Zoom LiveTrak L-12 Recorder/Interface 56
DIGITAL 6000
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Others dodge problems. We prefer to solve them. Of course, you can work your way around intermodulation and do some software magic — but that is no real solution in the already congested and limited frequency spectrum. By design, Digital 6000 has no intermodulation artifacts. Our superior RF technology results in more channels and more flexibility for any production and any stage — with no trade-off in transmission power or quality. Smarter, leaner, more efficient — this is the built-in principle from user interface up to spectrum efficiency. Redundant Dante™ sockets and the command function are just two components of the recent update. More about the next step towards the future of audio: www.sennheiser.com/digital-6000
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GENERAL NEWS
ARTURIA SYNTHS & RACK Arturia’s second iteration of MiniBrute is a 25-key analogue monosynth with two oscillators and a semi-modular architecture. MiniBrute 2 comes with mixable oscillators, the acidic SteinerParker filter, and the chaotic Brute Factor — features that made its predecessor a success when it was released in 2012. MiniBrute 2 also features Arturia Link, an innovation intended to help unify and democratise your creative environment. MiniBrute 2S is a Eurorack-ready hybrid synthesizer designed from the ground up with an intuitive triple-layered step sequencer and comprehensive mod matrix patchbay. Two VCOs generate its sound and it also
features an ADSR envelope generator, Brute Factor harmonic drive control, two LFOs with multiple waveforms, and line/ headphone outputs. Bringing it together is RackBrute, a versatile, customisable, creative EcoSystem to bridge the gap between traditional synths and the world of modular through the new Arturia Link system found on both the MiniBrute 2 and MiniBrute 2S to lock in place. CMI Music & Audio: (03) 9315 2244 or www.cmi.com.au
KORG PROLOGUE Prologue is a polyphonic analogue synthesizer equipped with a full-sized keyboard and available in eight- or 16-voice models. It features a pure analogue path and the same intuitive interface as the Minilogue and Monologue. The Prologue’s newly developed multi engine is provided as VCO3, adding digital waveforms and FM. This multi engine, which is equipped with three different sound engines, can be combined with the analogue VCOs to expand Prologue’s sonic potential far beyond that of a traditional analogue synthesizer. Open source means that the Prologue’s development is ongoing. It provides 16 user oscillator slots and
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16 user effect slots, and you can use the dedicated librarian software (expected to be available for downloading sometime this year) to create your very own oscillators and effect programs, and load them into Prologue. CMI Music & Audio: (03) 9315 2244 or www.cmi.com.au
MORE NEWS AT www.audiotechnology.com.au
MOOG’S DRUMMER FROM ANOTHER MOTHER Moog’s new analogue synthesizer is called the DFAM (Drummer From Another Mother) and is the first addition to the Mother ecosystem of synthesizers. DFAM presents an expressive handson approach to percussive pattern creations. Start the beat with the analogue sequencer. The sound produced comes from a white noise generator and two wide-range analogue oscillators which transition between rhythmic pulsations, resounding bass, and resonant bells in an instant. The classic Moog Ladder filter can run in low-pass or high-pass mode. Three dedicated analogue envelopes work dynamically with the sequencer to give highly
manipulatable, breathing, dynamic tones that can be created or subdued at the turn of a knob. Each DFAM ships with a package of Moog patch cables that unlock access to the 24-point modular patchbay which you can use to create new sounds of synchronise with other DFAM or Mother-32 units. You can even integrate your analogue instruments into a modular Eurorack production environment. Innovative Music: (03) 9540 0658 or info@innovativemusic.com.au
WARM AUDIO U47 CLONE Everyone’s got a soft spot for a nice U47 clone. Warm Audio has released its stab at the venerated tube mic with its own WA-47. It utilises a custom reproduction of the vintage K47-style capsule designed and built entirely in-house with the same hole pattern as the original. Warm Audio says the basis for the WA-47’s circuit and design came from comparing and listening to two different vintage U47s with mildly different characteristics. The output transformer is a TAB-Funkenwerk (AMI) with a JJ Slovak 5751 vacuum tube sitting in the external power supply. Nine polar pattern options are selectable from the PSU. Self-noise is very
respectable at 11dBA and the WA-47 will handle a maximum SPL of 140dB to give a dynamic range of 130dB. The microphone ships in a classy wooden box with a shockmount, 5-pin XLR cable, and external power supply. Studio Connections: (03) 9416 8097 or enquiries@studioconnections.com.au
MORE NEWS AT www.audiotechnology.com.au
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LIVE NEWS
VERO GOES FULL THROTTLE Melbourne-based Full Throttle Entertainment has invested in a Vero sound system from Funktion One. According to company founder Adam Ward, the addition of the vertically arrayed loudspeaker system equips them to do bigger shows and answers the requirements of a wider range of clients. “Vero opens up a lot of different markets for us,” said Ward. “Many clients need to see speakers look a particular way and irrespective of how amazing Vero sounds, it has the look many corporate and live clients want to see.” Full Throttle Entertainment aided Funktion One in Vero’s development by deploying a beta version of the system at a
number of events before it was officially launched, meaning Ward and his team had an opportunity to work with the system and build their understanding of it. Funktion One’s Tony Andrews said, “Adam and his team have already had some fantastic results with Vero. I’m certain that there are many more to come.” Full Throttle Entertainment: 1300 233 482 or info@hearnoevil.com.au
MACKIE DEBUTS IEMs & ACCESSORIES It’s a first for Mackie — a line of in-ear monitors called the MP Series that were released at NAMM. The trio of models features single dynamic driver (MP-120), dual dynamic driver (MP-220), and dual hybrid driver (MP-240) versions. All models feature ergonomically moulded enclosures and detachable cables. Mackie introduced the HM Series headphone amplifiers at NAMM as well. The HM-4 has a single quarter-inch input and four quarter-inch outputs with individual level controls, ideal for tracking in the studio, mixing, practice spaces, or even at home. The HM-400 has a main input, aux inputs and EQ per channel,
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and a total of 12 headphone outputs. The HM-800 offers up to 10 available mixes and a total of 16 headphone outputs. Thirdly, the MDB Series DI boxes consisting of four different models — the MDB-1P passive direct box, MDB-2P stereo passive DI, MDB1A active DI, and the MDB-USB USB stereo DI. Each model features analogue circuitry. Amber Technology: 1800 251 367 or sales@ambertech.com.au
MORE NEWS AT www.audiotechnology.com.au
NEW PRESONUS STAGE OFFERINGS The new PreSonus NSB 16.8 and 8.8 AVB-networked stage boxes work with the StudioLive Series III mixers/recorders to take signals from stage to console over a Cat5e or Cat6 cable. You can remote control the NSB series’ inputs, preamps, and phantom power from a networked Series III console or from PreSonus’s free UC Surface touch-control software. The 16x8 NSB 16.8 offers 16 locking combo mic/line inputs with remote-controlled, Class A XMAX preamps. The 8x8 NSB 8.8 offers eight of these mic/line inputs. Presonus also launched the EarMix 16M 16x2 AVB-networked personal monitor mixer. EarMix 16M accepts
16 mono channels of input via AVB networking and you can network multiple units with a StudioLive Series III mixer. Channel grouping and stereo channel linking let you create custom mixes for each musician, and you can apply limiting and three-band EQ with sweepable midrange frequency to each channel as well as to the main mix. Link Audio: (03) 8373 4817 or info@linkaudio.com.au
RODE BEGINS RODETEST Rode Microphones announces a new avenue for the company with RodeTest. The acquisition of FuzzMeasure is the foundation move for RodeTest. “The scientific instruments we are developing for RodeTest are the perfect accompaniment to our monumentally successful ranges of studio, live and broadcast microphones,” says Rode Founder and Chairman, Peter Freedman. “We plan to shake the test and measurement industry up – as is the Rode way.” RodeTest microphones, interfaces, software and kits are in development now and will be released later in 2018. Meanwhile, to celebrate the launch
of RodeTest and acquisition of FuzzMeasure, Rode is reducing the price of a Personal Licence and first year subscription to a Commercial Licence by 20% and extending all existing Commercial Licence subscriptions by a complimentary 12 months. Enter discount code RODETEST20 at checkout. Rode: (02) 9648 5855 or info@rode.com
MORE NEWS AT www.audiotechnology.com.au
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SOFTWARE NEWS
ARTURIA FILTERS THE BEST Arturia is confident its new sextuplet of plug-ins are the type “you’ll actually use.” Three of them are emulations of famous preamps, while the other three are recreations of unique filters taken from classic synthesizers. Here’s the breakdown — 1973Pre is a modern take on Rupert Neve’s classic solid-state pre, complete with switchable boutique transformers; TridA-Pre is an updated preamp model of Trident’s A Range console pre; and V76-Pre models the classic Telefunken tube tone at the heart of the ‘White Album’ sound while integrating a shelf EQ for extra control. Onto the filters — SEM-Filter is recreated
from Oberheim’s self-contained analogue synth, and it’s been updated with a sequencer; Mini-Filter cracks the code of Dr Moog’s renowned ladder filter and lets you control it with a new generation of tools; and M12-Filter models Tom Oberheim’s formidable multi-mode filter found on the Matrix-12 featuring twin filters, mod oscillator and random generators, a mod matrix, and programmable envelopes. CMI Music & Audio: (03) 9315 2244 or www.cmi.com.au
AUDIOSWIFT TRACKPAD CONTROL AudioSwift is a new app for macOS that lets you use a trackpad as a control surface and MIDI controller in your DAW. AudioSwift launches as an app in the menu bar and is called up with a four-finger tap. Four controller modes are available to cover a range of parameters: Mixer (for fader/pan/solo/mute/ record controls), Trigger (which divides the trackpad into a grid so you can play samples), Scale (to play notes within a selected
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key), and XY (for modulation). The creative app runs on macOS 10.11 or newer one MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, or any Mac with a Magic Trackpad 1 or 2. On compatible trackpads, Force Touch translates to aftertouch when playing MIDI instruments. Mixer mode currently supports DAWs such as Pro Tools, Logic and Ableton Live, with more to come. The other three modes work with any DAW.
MORE NEWS AT www.audiotechnology.com.au
ANTHOLOGY XI The Roman numerals have spoken — Eventide is up to the eleventh version of its ‘everything’ bundle decoratively dubbed Anthology XI. This is no ordinary update. Of course Anthology XI includes all 17 plug-ins from Eventide’s X bundle, but it brings with it six of its latest hits to the collection — these are Blackhole, Tverb, UltraTap, MangledVerb, and 2016 Stereo Room — taking the plug-in count up to 23. Plugs like UltraChannel, EChannel, Precision Time Align, EQ45 and EQ65 are highquality utility tools. UltraReverb comes across from Anthology X
but if that didn’t suffice, there’s an extra four new reverb additions to help you craft the perfect ambience for your mix. Fission is a creative processing tool which uses Eventide’s Structural Effects method to split tracks into transient and tonal parts. Plus there’s delays, Octavox and Quadravox pitch shifters, and a number of Clockworks legacy plugs still to explore. Audio Chocolate: (03) 9813 5877 or www.audiochocolate.com.au
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. Hit up our review in this issue for the in-depth scoop. Innovative Music: (03) 9540 0658 or info@innovativemusic.com.au
MORE NEWS AT www.audiotechnology.com.au
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FEATURE
We catch Guy’s Conscious tour in Newcastle to see how Bose and Sennheiser help him go from soulful to super subby in an instant. Story: Preshan John
“Coconut Love!” It was what the people wanted, but Guy Sebastian had other things in mind. He was in Newcastle’s gorgeous Civic theatre on the second stop of his Conscious album tour, and focused on debuting his new material, not extending a Hamish & Andy joke segment. Regardless, the crowd ate up the former idol’s combination of vintage soul and modern R&B. The 1500 pax theatre, dripping with heritage figuring, was full of fans from every era; man, woman and child. AT went along to catch the show, which was exceedingly well-executed. Guy’s got some serious pipes, and throughout the whole show it’s hard to catch him let out a single bung note. He’s a showman, and as well as the vocal gymnastics also plays piano, electric guitar, and a Roland sample pad at various points during the set. He’s AT 14
not out there alone, with a talented four-piece backing band (keys, electric guitar, drums, bass) and his two backup vocalists/dancers, the dynamic set delivered everything from soulful downtempo moments to pumping, low frequency-laced R&B numbers. SHOWMATCH SHOWCASE
Making its Australian debut on the Conscious Tour was Bose’s new ShowMatch DeltaQ line array system. The Civic Theatre is split into two levels, so the PA was ground stacked to give best coverage to the entire audience. FOH engineer Anatole Day has worked with Guy for over 10 years now and as well as knowing the intricacies of Guy’s oeuvre, he’s also rolled into regional hubs like the Civic Theatre many times. He’s tried every kind of flown and groundstacked configuration here and finds
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this the best for coverage as well as reducing slap at the back of the venue. Day went with two sides of six Bose SM20 elements stacked on four Bose SMS118 18-inch subs. The top two 20-degree vertical dispersion array elements curved up to send audio into the balcony. “I’m trying to recreate what Guy is trying to express and the ShowMatch can handle all of it,” said Anatole. “The electronic material can go from super high to super low sub bass. You need to be able to translate that across the board, along with the quieter, more acoustic moments. The ShowMatch can definitely cover everything we’re throwing at it.” While ShowMatch borrows much of its inspiration from Bose’s popular RoomMatch installation-focused line array, the ShowMatch AT 16
is targeted to the rental and touring markets. Everything from bump in to rigging reflects this. “The rigging couldn’t get much more basic to operate,” Anatole observes. “One guy can move and position a box easily. Two guys could get a hang of 12 up in under 20 minutes.” GUY GOES WITH SENNHEISER
It’s been a couple of big switches for the Sebastian production crew. As well as going out with Showmatch, the Conscious Tour saw the crew switch RF audio duties over to Sennheiser’s Digital 6000 system. Reproducing Guy’s elaborate vocal chops was the D6000 handheld transmitter with a Neumann KK 205 supercardioid capsule. A SK6000 digital wireless transmitter was used for his Telecaster while he and the whole band were on Sennheiser 2000 Series IEMs.
There was lots of wired Sennheiser gear on stage too. The drums set-up included an e901 and e602 for the kick drum, e904s were used for the snare top, snare bottom and floor toms and MKH 8050s for the hi-hats. All the guitars were miked up with a combination of e903 and e906, while backing vocals were through a combination of D6000 handheld wireless mics with MD 9235 capsules and e945 wired mics. The MK4 and e914 provided live ambience to the monitor mix. “Guy loves the clean, crisp audio quality in his IEMs,” said Anatole. “I love the Sennheiser range of products because they sound great and are extremely reliable.” Bose Professional: pro.bose.com Sennheiser: (02) 9910 6700 or sales@sennheiser.com.auv
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FEATURE
STEVE ALBINI: ON TAPE Two weeks before Electrical Audio’s 20th anniversary shindig, AudioTechnology visited the Chicago studio and found out why Albini still uses tape. Story: Mark Davie
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I arrived two weeks early, it seems. 2017 marked the 20th anniversary of Steve Albini’s studio Electrical Audio, and when I caught a cab up the i90 from Downtown Chicago to spend time with Albini, the date was all set for a celebration with a bunch of bands at the Hideout… two weeks from the day. No matter, I’m there for the Fluffies and the banter. I’d have to settle for the latter, as Albini’s fellow engineer, Greg Norman, was fresh out of civet-pooped coffee. Instead I sipped on some water and listened to he and Albini argue about the price of college in the ’80s. “Northwestern, where you went, is about 30 grand a year,” said Norman. “When I was there it was almost 40 grand a year,” replied Albini. “So it’s got to be more now.” “In what, 1980? No way, I’ll bet you a hundred dollars it wasn’t.” “Okay. I’m the one who had to pay the loans.” “’80-’84? $100.” “Dig it up.” 10 minutes later… after Albini has walked me through a bleak picture of federally guaranteed loans, barber colleges that cost as much as going to Princeton, students saddled with insurmountable debt, and the impetus for Donald starting Trump University, Norman chips back in: “In 2011-12 it was $41k!” “Sounds about the same, I’m probably thinking of the total costs…” “Moving those goal posts way back.” FROM BUNGALOWS TO CONDOS
It’s classic smoko chatter. Albini even wears a daily uniform of Electrical Audio-branded coveralls, a visual reminder that his focus is on engineering recordings, not artisan-crafting them. The brown brick building Electrical Audio inhabits fits the workmanlike operation to a ‘t’. It was built at the turn of the 20th century, barely newer than the Lutheran church down the road. All of the ground floor windows and doorways have been bricked in, leaving just one solid door access. On either side of the studio are apartment buildings, but Albini said it wasn’t so well-established 20 years ago. Back in December ’95 “it was essentially a vacant, industrial neighbourhood,” recalled Steve. “Across the street was a big, empty, abandoned building that used to be The Valley Pinball Company. This building was cheap and there was room for me to build two studios in it.” Then the condos started rising out of the rubble of the industrial complex. First to go was the pinball company, then the warehouse to the west, and a printing press plate manufacturer to the east. Albini nabbed the joint for just shy of a quarter of a million back then, after a handful of highpaying jobs gave him enough capital. Albini has always been in the neighbourhood. His first studio was a bungalow a mile from Electrical Audio that he bought in ’86. He built an eight-track recording studio there, where “Big Black recorded its final recording sessions for our final album,” said Albini. He started recording friend’s bands too, and
soon enough, “I started getting engineering gigs outside my circle of friends from people I’d never met.” In the winter of ’87/’88 he was able to quit his job to become a full-time recording engineer, working mainly out of the house with occasional trips to other studios. He saved money to buy more equipment then rebuilt the studio. “I bought a larger console, a 24-track machine and a bunch of outboard equipment,” he said. “I rebuilt the studio so the entire attic was a control room, and the basement remained the playing rooms.” Demolition and construction started immediately in ’95, and it wasn’t until April ’97 when Albini recorded his first session there. After the building purchase, Albini had enough money to “finish off one studio of the two planned for the building. Then I moved the studio into the firstfloor Studio B control room, sold my house, sunk all that money into building Studio A and started making records in Studio B.” Albini’s name is linked to big-name acts like Nirvana, Pixies, Low and PJ Harvey, but his discography is packed with acts of all shapes and persuasions, many of them local to the Chicago area. He stops short of calling his work a documentarian-like effort, but he does appreciate the work and its connection to his hometown. “I’ve done a lot of Chicago bands but by no means a definitive portrait of the city,” assessed Albini. “Over the course of 20 years, a lot of people have had a chance to cycle through the studio. I’M IN FAVOUR OF STAYING IN BUSINESS. I LOVE IT THAT AS A STUDIO WE ARE A RESOURCE FOR THE LOCAL MUSIC SCENE.
It makes me feel validated in building the place in the first place. But we don’t depend on the Chicago music community for our life blood. We have an international clientele. If we had to depend purely on the local business, we would have failed a long time ago.” THROWING MUD
Albini took me on a tour of the facilities, starting with Centrefield. The roughly diamond-shaped, baseball-inspired large live room. The walls are constructed out of adobe, an unfired earth brick from the southwest of the US. Albini got the idea when he was doing a session at Mick Wordley’s studio, Mixmasters in Adelaide. At the time, Mixmasters was in Mick’s house, but he was in the throes of building a new studio out of mud brick, and invited Albini to have a look. “As soon as I saw people working with it I thought, ‘Wow, this is the perfect material to build a studio out of.’ It’s dense, it’s soft, the walls will be self-isolating — that’s really, really smart.” Back in the US, he pored over earth building journals in order to become conversant in mud technology, then bit the bullet and trucked tens of thousands of bricks up to Chicago. “The great thing about adobe is it’s an extremely forgiving material,” explained Albini. “The mud of the grout lines between the bricks becomes contiguous with the mud of the bricks themselves and acts like one solid pile of mud. The whole wall tends to settle in a way that eases its own internal
I feel like all the digital sessions don’t have that fundamental element of permanence. They drop the ball on what, to me, is the most important part of the job stresses and avoids cracking the way more rigid masonry does.” The key point, Albini stresses, is that if you were to hit a traditional brick with a hammer it would transmit the vibration of the hammer and ring like a bell, whereas adobe will absorb the energy with a thud. It’s really good at sound isolation. The result is Electrical Audio can have two studios operating on the same floor with minimal bleed. “WE CAN HAVE A ROARING HEAVY METAL BAND OPERATING HERE LATE INTO THE NIGHT AND THE PEOPLE SLEEPING IN THE APARTMENTS NEXT DOOR NEVER HEAR IT.”
Albini flew a professional adobe brick layer in from New Mexico to show some professional masons and his ragtag group of friends how to lay the brick. “Within a week, our crew of layabouts and fools — just normal, regular people who’d never laid a brick in their lives — were doing it.” You can see it in two of the opposing walls; one is professionally even and square, while the other is a lot more haphazard. That one was by the “self-taught, punk rock construction crew.” Albini himself laid no more than a dozen adobes. The remainder of the studio is comprised of another smaller live room called Kentucky, and Alcatraz, which is a prison for sound waves, designed to minimise the harm of loud guitar amps. TAPE DOWN THE HATCHES
The control room is spacious, with plenty of space to house the battery of analogue gear and two core tape machines that record everything that transpires at Electrical Audio — a Studer A820 multi-track two-inch tape machine and an Ampex ATR102 1/2-inch machine for mixdown. It’s been 20 years since Albini started the studio, and digital audio has become the predominant recording format. So, why does he continue to hold out and use tape? Albini says it’s for both practical and aesthetic reasons. Let’s take practical first. Albini explains it by using Robbie Fulks as an example. When he first recorded the singer-songwriter back in ’85, Fulks had no national profile to speak of. Last year, he was nominated for two Grammy awards. Now that Fulks has achieved significant status, “it’s not inconceivable that someone will want to do a compendium of his music,” reckons Albini. “IF I HAD RECORDED HIS SESSIONS ON THE DIGITAL FORMAT OF AT 19
THE 1/2-INCH Electrical Audio has five or six Ampex ATR102 and 104 1/2-inch machines, all of them used in stereo. Most of them had been refurbished by Mike Spitz at ATR Services Company before he passed away. ATR is still in business and will still do a complete refurbishment of any Ampex machine if Albini needs a seventh. Albini: “These machines are real workhorses. They’re very simple to use, and dead-notch reliable. When you print tones and look at it on the scope, they’re rock solid. It’s rare for the azimuth stability on a 1/2-inch machine to be as good as it is on these. There’s very little drift in the amplifiers. You have to keep your eye on the drift over time like any analogue equipment, but they’re very reliable, very stable machines.” The other quality is the bass response of the ATR102. While he says there’s an appreciable extension of the low frequency response when Norman mixes heavier material down to 15ips, he doesn’t feel like there’s a significant compromise as far as bass response is concerned on these machines when using 30ips. “I record a lot of quite heavy music and when recording at 30 inches per second with previous MCI and Studer 1/2-inch machines, you feel a slight softness in the bass energy of that kind of music,” explained Albini. “I don’t find that with these machines. I feel like the clarity you preserve by running at 30ips is a net benefit; enough for me to standardise at that speed.”
I’ve never done a record where if we had 30 more takes it would have made a difference in how the record came out
THE DAY, IT WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE TO RESURRECT THOSE SESSIONS IN ANY MEANINGFUL WAY.” Now, he can just
lace up those original tapes on the machine and mix any outtakes of interest. “I’ve already been involved in the silver anniversary editions of several records I recorded,” said Albini. “The master tapes having survived allowed them to be presented in a better listening experience than was possible when they were just being released perfunctorily in their original heyday.” He doesn’t have a crystal ball that can predict which of the dozens of bands he records each year will warrant an immaculately mastered direct-to-metal LP in the future. What he does know is he doesn’t want to be the “person that dropped the ball on history and robbed these people of the opportunity for their music to have found an audience.” It’s that respect for the archival permanence of the analogue recording medium that keeps Albini lining up azimuths and cleaning heads on a daily basis. “I feel like my fundamental obligation as a AT 20
recording engineer, is to make an historical record,” he summed up. “I feel like all the digital sessions, as powerful as they are and as impressive as they can be in terms of their capability, they don’t have that fundamental element of permanence. They drop the ball on what, to me, is the most important part of the job.” THE PERILS OF INFINITE TIME & SPACE
Albini’s secondary reason for using tape is aesthetics. Again, this is broken up into two parts. Firstly, because of the bass response and tonal stability of his specific machines [see box items], and secondly, due to the way working with analogue tape limits the scope and draws in the focus of an engineer. A lot of his clients don’t have a lot of time, so making decisions as early in the process as possible pays dividends come mix time. “Generally speaking, the final mix isn’t miles away from the first playback of the first take.” If there’s something fundamentally wrong at that point in time, you
should stop and fix it, contends Albini. That’s part of training in the analogue technique, “you don’t presume you can make something better later.” In the analogue world, ‘the next step’ isn’t any easier than the one before it. While you have a similar array of tools available to you in the digital paradigm, “they tend to be more finicky; they tend to be slightly less powerful in terms of the scope and range of things you can do to the sound,” said Albini. On the other hand, because it’s simple to “fiddle with sound in rather dramatic ways,” it’s also easy to keep moving on to ‘the next step’. But that “fiddling” ends up occupying the bulk of your time because you’ve continually moved on without getting it right. Everything is on a smaller scale, too, says Albini: “Fewer instruments, fewer sounds get processed and the processing is much more subtle, much more gentle in the analogue domain.” While a Pro Tools session can easily reach into the hundreds of tracks, you tend to reduce tracks in the analogue
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THE MULTITRACK Electrical Audio also has five Studer A820 machines, which have also become the in-house standard. It’s the top of the Studer analogue tape machine tree. “It’s a really sophisticated tape machine that has some computers in it to control audio and motor functions,” explained Albini. “It allows you to program things like the handling of the tape, calibration and alignment to your taste. You can store a bunch of presets for things like whatever your house tape alignments are.” It’s also a really versatile option, explained Albini, with the ability to swap the headstocks out between 16 and 24 tracks. As well as being powerful, it’s also gentle on the tape, which is important if you’re treating it as an archival format. If an 820 isn’t in your budget, Albini recommends the 827, which has the same audio circuits in the transport, without as much fancy computer automation. “Studer 820 and 827 are the bee’s knees,” reckons Albini. “The very best multitrack machines ever made.”
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world. “Instead of separately processing four voices recorded for a special moment, you’d bounce them to an auxiliary track, balance them and print that balance,” said Albini, leaving you with one fader to deal with instead of four. “With analogue, you have fewer things to babysit.” Those infinite choices don’t just stack up down the screen, they can also happen with every channel. Albini reckons digital systems allow “more takes than is healthy for the attention span of the average engineer or the average musician. I’ve never done a record where if we had 30 more takes it would have made a difference in how the record came out.” From there it becomes a game of microscopic edits and tiny EQ tweaks to squeeze every last ounce out of the frequency spectrum, says Albini: “You would be unlikely to do those things in the analogue domain.” “I mean, my job isn’t about the circus tricks and the magic show I can do in the control room. It’s not, ‘check out the sound stage on this drum kit.’ That’s not my job. My job is to make sure that what these people have entrusted me with survives into the distant future in the hopes that it will eventually find an audience.” AT 22
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FEATURE
One man’s journey from computer-based recording back to tape. Story: J. Walker
When I started out on my recording journey as a very green 13-year old, digital recording was barely a thing at the high-end of the recording business let alone for the home enthusiast. My first experiences of overdubbing consisted of bouncing audio between two cassette decks with horrendous amounts of noise and audio degradation. My idea of hi-fi was saving up for a chrome II tape and using the Dolby noise-reduction switches on my crappy cassette decks. Nevertheless, I was hooked very early on the possibilities of recording sound onto sound. It’s probably safe to say I experienced the very worst aspects of analogue tape recording right at the start — terrible noise and degradation issues, very limited track counts and the necessity of un-redoable submixing. CROSS TALK
As the years went by I progressed from cassettes to four-track ¼-inch, to eight-track ½-inch multi-track machines and entered the world of high-fidelity tape recording. With my all-round recording skills steadily improving, those early experiments served me well. I knew how to squeeze AT 24
the absolute maximum out of every device I had, I knew how to make on-the-fly decisions that would benefit the final outcome and how to keep things lean and mean. I loved tape and the discipline of recording to simple low track-count machines. Still, once I got my first hard drive computer recording system in the ’90s, my tape machines and analogue mixers quickly got sold off or leant out to unreliable friends, until all I had left to show for all that earlier analogue know-how were some boxes of old reelto-reel tapes. I jumped boots first into the wonderful world of digital recording and didn’t look back. I couldn’t believe the fun I was having flipping things backwards, racking up big track counts, exploring the emerging world of digital plug-ins, looping beats, cutting and pasting, totally re-arranging songs post-tracking and all the other previously impossible things the new technology allowed. I still had friends who worked with analogue tape machines and consoles, now and again — where the budget allowed for pro studio time — I did too, but mostly I stayed happily in the box until about three years ago. BACK TO THE FUTURE
I’m still not sure exactly what made me jump back into analogue again. I’d tried the summing box approach but found it wasn’t for me. Retro purists banging on about how ‘warm’ and ‘human’ analogue tape sounded didn’t persuade me either
— most audio professionals think whatever gear they’re using is the best, whatever gear that happens to be. My clients almost always required recalled and rejigged mixes (sometimes months after the initial sign-off), so I definitely wasn’t interested in a pure analogue-only approach. Nevertheless, the truth was I kept hearing sounds in my head I wasn’t able to conjure with all the plug-in compressors, tape emulators and ‘warmth’ simulators in my digital arsenal. I was also feeling a physical need to stop looking at blue lit screens so much. VU meters and spooling tape suddenly seemed much more appealing. I wasn’t expecting some kind of ‘Halleluya’ moment when I first put a guitar to tape again, but I thought if I got a decent tape machine it might be a pretty cool weapon to add to my existing gear, both as a tracking and processing tool. It would also take me down some alternative paths process-wise, and hopefully help me make some albums with a different-but-good sound to them. Having made this decision, my mission was to find a good machine with a form factor that fit my workflow. ROLL CALL
After the earlier mono and two-track machines of the ’40s and ’50s, track counts quickly expanded towards the end of the ’60s. By the mid ’70s, 16and 24-track machines were the norm, and the technology had matured in terms of stability and sonic quality. The great American tape machines
Checklist: What to Look for When Buying a Tape Machine • Unless you are a vintage electronics wiz, get a tape machine in good working condition with some history of regular maintenance — repairs and/or a rebuild can become expensive very quickly. • Look for a machine that is a reasonably common brand and model. Companies like Studer, Ampex, Otari, Sony, MCI and Tascam all pumped out large numbers of good quality machines in their heyday. Buying a more common model means parts will be easier to source and online forums will be a more useful resource for trouble-shooting. • Always check the condition of the heads and rollers for signs of wear. A good set of heads will last many years so make sure there’s some life left in yours. • It’s best if your machine can run at the standard pro tape speeds of 15 and 30 IPS. Some vintage machines can only manage 7½ IPS, meaning more noise and less headroom in your recordings. • Tape is an ongoing expense, so make sure you and/or your clients can afford the format you’re investing in. • Spare parts are an extremely handy asset when things go south as they inevitably will. Manuals, schematics and cabling are also very useful. •
Remote controls were a common feature with many pro models and are a great asset. Utilising a remote control means you can have your machine tucked away in a corner of the studio and do your recording from your desktop — very nice!
were made by Scully, Ampex and MCI. Studer and Revox were the high-end European equivalents while the Japanese chimed in with great machines by Sony, Otari, Teac, Akai and Tascam from the ’70s onwards. By the early 2000s, reel-to-reels were more or less defunct as a manufacturing concern so most machines on the market today are between 25 and 40 years old, a sobering thought when you consider these are some of the most mechanically complex recording devices ever made! I eventually settled on purchasing an early ’80s Otari MX 70 one-inch 16-track machine. Not the ducks nuts as far as brands go, but I had worked on Otaris before and knew they were nice sounding, reliable machines. I bought the Otari from a collector who was meticulous with his maintenance, meaning I knew I was getting a solid machine that had been regularly serviced and was in good condition. The seller also threw in a second identical but non-functioning machine for parts (a major bonus), along with a spare remote, take-up spools, 16 noise reduction modules and a full technical manual. I really liked the idea of
the 16-track one-inch format. It was a good fit for my digital set-up’s I/O count plus one-inch tape is a much more affordable format compared to two-inch which costs upwards of $350 per reel (not something some of my more budget-conscious clients would relish). Tape is sold in Australia via several online stores and is best bought in batches of five or 10 to get a discounted rate. $500 got me five reels of lovely brand new Quantegy 499 1-inch tape (a hi-bias format that fit the way my machine had been set up). In terms of tape formats, many would argue that the wider the tape the better the recording quality (for instance Jack White’s studio proudly records to an Ampex eight-track one-inch machine), and there is certainly some truth to this argument. Perhaps because of my indie DIY background however, I actually prefer the sound of a more slender tape width as I feel I can hear the tape sound more clearly. If I wanted clean recordings I had the digital option but for tape recordings I knew I wanted to hear as much of that ‘tapeness’ as possible.
TALE OF THE TAPE
After some tedium getting appropriate cabling and patch bays in place (another hidden cost), I was ready to hit record and see whether all this fuss had been worth it. Having braced myself to be, perhaps, a little underwhelmed, I was pleasantly surprised by how my initial electric guitar, bass and drum recordings sounded. Further experimentation and then some full band tracking got me more and more excited about the sounds coming back off tape. So what was I getting excited about exactly? Firstly, I was hearing the more obvious and much touted benefits of tape that, to some degree, I expected — natural tape compression did indeed seem to glue everything together in a noticeably pleasing manner. Drum kits and guitars benefitted from a slightly smoothed top end, transients sounded sweeter and less harsh, vocals seemed bolder in the midrange and smoothed out up top meaning less annoying mouth clicks and lip-smacks to deal with. What I wasn’t expecting were a few additional benefits that perhaps don’t AT 25
Tape Machine Tricks •
Half speed and double speed tracking allows for some special tape effects. You can do this with your DAW as well but nothing sounds quite like tape for halfspeed effects in particular.
• If your machine boasts a vari-speed control this opens up all sorts of possibilities such as tracking vocals or other instruments a semi-tone lower and then playing them back at standard speed to get some different tonalities. Speeding up or slowing down a whole track a little (Beatles-style) is also a cinch, and there’s none of the warbling artefacts that continue to dog digital pitch shifting processes. • Flip your spools backwards to get some cool reverse effects happening. Just remember that the channels will also be flipped, so on a 16-track machine track three would become track 14, etc. •
If you want to go down the analogueonly route then it’ll be handy to get your tape splicing chops going. Most pro-level machines will have a splicing block built in. Get yourself a nice sharp razorblade and some splicing tape and go nuts (the diagonal cut method is best). Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich insists tape edits sound better than digital ones so put his theory to the test. Practice on some noncritical material first till you feel confident!
get mentioned as much as they should in digital versus analogue debates. For one, there was a definite sense of midrange guts and power coming off the Otari that sometimes really blew my socks off. Some sources felt like they were on steroids compared to my usual DAW sounds. Passages that were meant to sound big, sounded big! Perhaps related to this was the extended dynamic range the tape recordings exhibited. For whatever reason, it seemed the relationship between the loudest and quietest passages simply ‘felt’ better. Certainly, this dynamic behaviour is more like my favourite old vinyl records than contemporary digital recordings, so perhaps there’s some psychological and historical elements at play there. Finally, there was the undeniable fact that when I (and the bands I worked with) listened back to bed tracks we all felt like we were listening to something that already sounded good. Often when listening back to digital beds with a band, I find I’m immediately jumping in to whack a few compressor plug-ins on to show a band how things will ‘eventually sound’. With the Otari there was no such need — the integrity, authority and overall vibe of my standard mic and instrument setups were undeniably magnified by this medium. The jury was in, tape really did sound bloody good! AT 26
HEAD BUMP
Once my inner jury was in, I started making albums predominantly on tape. I’d still run everything off to my DAW for mixing at the end but increasingly I and the artists I was working with were creating and shaping songs via the early ’80s magic of the Otari company and Quantegy one-inch tape. Layered indie folk sounded great through this machine, electro-pop with multi-tracked female vocals sounded great through it, rock ’n’ roll sounded great through it! Everything was going so well… until one fateful 40-degree summer day when my studio was hit by a multi-spike power blackout. I had no power for about 24 hours and the glorious Perch Creek, who I was recording at the time, were left high and dry. When we finally got mains power back I quickly discovered my previously quiet Otari MX-70 was a maelstrom of noise (it sounded like Bells Beach on an angry day in there), faulty circuits and dead channels. Fortunately I had the amazing Geoff Williamson to call on for in-depth technical assistance and a
whole spare machine to grab parts from, so while Geoff hauled the Otari off to his workshop up in the hills I reverted, tail-between-legs, to my previous in-the-box workflow. The repair process did in the end require a bunch of spare cards to be cleaned up, as well as new relays installed (which turned out to be the main problem) but it did take a long time to track down all the faults and get everything right again. By the time I was hitting record with the reels turning again it was several months later and, despite Geoff ’s generous rates, I was out of pocket for almost as much as I’d spent on the machines in the first place! While all my outboard and digital gear had come through the blackout totally unscathed, the tape machine had copped a terrible hiding and I now have it plugged in through several expensive power conditioners to avoid more painful downtime and expense. The big lesson here is that old gear can be a little frail, and is also not a quick fix. Oh, and you’d better have some spares handy and access to a good tech!
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ROLLING ON
A year or two have gone by since those experiences went down and the Otari has been solid as a rock ever since. I’ve tracked some beautiful records to tape for the likes of (the very patient) Perch Creek, Emma Davis, Jordan Ireland, Jen Cloher and Masco Sound System, and everyone has loved the results. The discipline of recording to tape means that everyone is very focused during the initial bed-tracking phase and it definitely encourages proper ensemble playing with the aim of getting great performances onto tape from the get-go. This process has a different flavour to digital tracking and I do find it a musically superior way to get results, especially in an ensemble situation. There’s more of a sense of occasion when the reels are spinning. Takes can always be comped together later once transferred to digital (or if you’re happy to go there, via cutting and editing the tape itself), and different techniques can bring the tape machine back into play further downstream in the album making process (see the sidebar about getting the most out of your tape machine). Mostly, it just sounds great, and it really is nice to be standing with a bunch of people looking into the space between the speakers or watching the VU meters bouncing while listening to a take, rather than watching a screen. The hybrid tape/ digital workflow has worked really well for me as my tape recording skills seem to complement my digital ones. Ultimately it’s all about personal
preferences and workflows — I’m yet to make an album straight off tape but I have loved integrating the tape machine into my recordings and feel like I’m deriving a lot more benefit from the sounds and process of tape recording than I ever thought I would going into it. If you’re reading this, have some recording chops and are thinking about taking the plunge into tape, my advice is — keep your eyes wide open and be aware of the pitfalls, but yes, absolutely do it! If you get a solid machine, you won’t regret it.
Tips on how to get the most out of tape machine recording: • Don’t make the mistake of thinking you can just run tracks through the tape machine in standby record mode and straight back out again. If you don’t record your source to tape through the record head with the tape running and capture it back out through the playback head you’re only capturing the sound of the machine’s electronics, not the sound of the tape itself. • We’ve increasingly become addicted to overdriven and harmonically saturated sounds; for very good reason given they often impart more excitement and sense of scale to a recording. While the temptation is there to run everything hot to tape, be aware that tons of level will not always get the best results, especially with very sharp transient sounds like kick drums and tambourines. Less dynamic sources like guitars, keys and room mics can benefit most from higher recording levels, where tape compression is a wonderful asset, but don’t forget that the more dynamic a sound is, the more headroom you need to allow. A big dynamic range is actually one of the most pleasing and lifelike qualities of tape recordings, so don’t be afraid to let some things breathe without squashing them and keep that dynamic range nice and wide! AT 28
• Conversely don’t set your record levels too low. This will invite the unwanted guest that is tape hiss into your recordings where it will wait for mixing and mastering to really rear its ugly head. A bit of tape hiss on a track can be cool and I’ve had artists insist on the some being left in or even exaggerated. 16 or 24 tracks of the stuff will drive you nuts though, so keep your recording levels nice and healthy with peaks making the VU needles really work and you’ll save yourself grief later. It’s pretty easy to source cheap old-school analogue noise reduction units at the moment so the more fastidious will find a ready solution there. Personally I find if I have my recording levels right using hi-bias tape (such as GP9 or 499) even at 15 IPS there’s no real noise issue to worry about. •
Maintenance is key with these devices. You’ll need to clean the heads and the tape path very regularly with cotton tips dipped in pure isopropyl alcohol, as well as practicing the arts of head demagnetizing and azimuth alignment. Regular I/O level calibration with a test tone will also help keep your recording levels predictable across all the channels of your machine.
• Dropping in is a high stakes game when the surrounding audio is mission-critical, but again, practice makes perfect and it’s kind of fun working without a safety net! • The analogue joy doesn’t have to stop when you fill up your tape machine’s tracks. You can bounce everything to digital, run off a stereo mix of all this back to two tracks and fill up the remaining tracks again. When you’re done just fly everything back into your DAW and line it up with your original stereo mix (doing small edits along the timeline of these new tracks to make up for any time lag or rushing). I find it’s best to do this extra overdubbing in the middle of the reel as the lag/ rush seems least noticeable there. • You can also record straight in and out of the tape machine with the tape rolling, and just drag the tracks back in your DAW timeline by the amount of time added between the record and playback or repro heads. Once you know what this amount is for a particular tape speed it’s a very simple operation to repeat. Of course you’ll need to monitor from the record head while doing this.
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FEATURE
Artist: Sam Smith Album: The Thrill of It All
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Not a single note of Sam Smith’s vocals has been tuned, swears producer Stephen Fitzmaurice. Well… there was one note. “It bothered Reuben James, the piano player,” explained Fitzmaurice of the solo offender. “Then Sam asked me to try it without that note tuned, and it was fine. So we ended up with no tuning whatsoever on this record.” He’s talking about The Thrill of It All, Smith’s latest album, and a continuation of his and Smith’s creative partnership that’s included mixing, engineering and co-producing uber-hit Stay With Me and the award-winning James Bond song, Writing’s On The Wall. Keeping the vocals ‘honest’ is integral for Smith, and Fitzmaurice knows it. Those marks of authenticity and vulnerability are what distinguishes him from the sugar-coated pop perfection of Katy Perry, Britney Spears and Taylor Swift, despite sharing a long list of co-writers with them. TAPE TRACKING AT RAK
Fitzmaurice is required personnel when it comes to a Sam Smith record, but not until the day comes to set up mics. The entire songwriting process of The Thrill of It All, including choosing co-writers, was masterminded by Smith, co-producer Jimmy Napes, Smith’s label, and his managers. “Sam tried lots of people,” explained Fitzmaurice, “and many songs were written, some of which ended up on the record. I didn’t play a part in any of that. I was booked in January (2017) to start recording on May 1st at RAK Studios in London, the same place where I recorded his previous album.” From his studio at Pierce Entertainment in West London, the Irish producer detailed what happened next, beginning with the broad brush strokes. “Sam was very adamant he wanted to record with the same band, so we did with the exception of a different guitar player,” he began. “Sam also wanted to record the album in the same way as last time; the band playing live in the studio with him singing at the same time. “Both Sam and Jimmy really wanted to record the new album to tape. They’d been listening to records made on tape, and done some songwriting sessions using tape, so it was possibly a romantic idea. I was the only one old enough to actually have worked with tape, and I’m aware of the pitfalls, so I told them the cons — tape hiss, you can’t do loop record, and so on. Sonically, I don’t think there’s much difference anymore with digital. I ACTUALLY PREFER TO RECORD DRUMS DIGITALLY, BECAUSE IT RETAINS THE TRANSIENTS BETTER, ESPECIALLY OF THE KICK AND SNARE. On the other hand, Sam’s voice benefitted from recording to tape, because I hit it quite hard with his vocal which smoothed out some of the hard transients.”
HANDCUFFED TO THE JOB
The RAK band sessions mostly took place in Studio 1, which sports a 48-channel API desk, and a large live room that can hold up to 35 people. “For the first month at RAK we hired the entire building,” said Fitzmaurice. “We recorded the band in studio 1, and had the guitar amp, as well as a Leslie speaker and a bass amplifier, in studio 2, so there
was no spill.” The basic tracks took shape over a two-and-a-half week period. Occasionally the demos were used as a building block, which is why additional studios are listed in the credits. Sessions would start in the morning, giving Fitzmaurice a couple of hours to work on sounds, and change drums or guitar sounds while the band rehearsed the day’s song. “Sam would come in around lunch,” said Fitzmaurice. “We’d do two or three takes after lunch time, and we’d be done. Sam would go home, we’d do a comp and some of the band members might do an overdub. The band would leave by five or six in the evening, after which engineer Darren Heelis and I would stay behind, and would do more editing and comping. I don’t like letting stuff get on top of me! By the end of each day we’d have the bones of a record.” It was all tracked to RAK’s Studer A800 Mk3 tape machine, and Fitzmaurice made the intriguing decision to forego 24-tracks for a 16-track head. “I decided that if we’re going to use tape, I wanted to use the format that imparts more analogue character, which is what Jimmy and Sam were after,” said Fitzmaurice. “What I didn’t fully think through was that I was handcuffing myself. In the end I really enjoyed the discipline of getting a live band of five people onto 16 tracks; it meant making decisions early! Everybody is using so many microphones and tracks these days and keeping all their options open, it was great to be focused like that. When the band came off the floor, the playback immediately sounded pretty good, because the tracks were already blended and bounced.” The band mostly plays to click, or occasionally elements of the songwriting demos like Timbaland’s contribution to Pray, the backing vocals from Too Good at Goodbyes, and Malay’s drum programming in Say It First. Crucial to getting that initial balance on tape was feeding the performer’s a headphone mix that would enable them to balance around Sam’s voice, said Fitzmaurice. “A singer like Sam is telling a story with each song. Everything is led by his voice; the band plays to him. EARL HARVIN, THE DRUMMER, HAS THE VOCAL REALLY LOUD IN HIS HEADPHONES, SO IF SAM GOES UP IN INTENSITY, HE CAN GO UP A LITTLE BIT AS WELL. IF SAM SINGS REALLY INTIMATELY, HE CAN PLAY MORE SOFTLY.
To capture those nuances of the drums on Too Good at Goodbyes, Fitzmaurice employed three mics on the snare alone. Above the snare he taped together a Shure SM58 and AKG 451 pencil condenser “so they were bang in phase,” said Fitzmaurice, “and the 414 was underneath. All the drums were going through Neve mic pres. I already had four of my own, then I bought another rack of 12 1081 preamps from Air Studios. “We had a really boring day listening to DIs for the bass guitar, which was a Fender Precision with flat wound strings, just like James Jamerson. We ended up choosing the Motown remake by ACME. We had both an upright and a grand piano in the studio, but the grand piano didn’t sound right for this song, so we recorded the upright with one Neumann U67, so it was mono.”
A singer like Sam is telling a story with each song. Everything is led by his voice; the band plays to him
STRINGING THINGS ALONG
Following the main tracking sessions, Fitzmaurice and Heelis split off to really get things moving. “While I did some editing and rough mixing in Studio 1, Darren would be in Studio 2 adding samples to drums, trying a loop, or chopping up something from a demo to make it fit with the live performance,” said Fitzmaurice. “We always recorded the bass DI, and Darren might try how that sounded re-amped through an Ampeg bass amp. If he liked things, he recorded them into Pro Tools, so I could listen to it. Meanwhile Jimmy might be busy comping vocals in Studio 3 or trying a different string arrangement.” As with the choir and brass, the strings were overdubbed to the band recordings. “We did the strings over two days at RAK,” said Fitzmaurice. “The biggest ensemble was 23 players, which was a bit of a squeeze, but I really like the sound of strings there. The room is a bit smaller, and has a warm, woody sound that sounds a bit closer and rawer than a bigger room. It’s less orchestral. Simon Hale, who arranged and conducted the strings, also really likes the sound of strings at RAK. I overdubbed the strings directly to Pro Tools because — in the context of the string section’s huge dynamics — I didn’t want tape hiss, or risk the tape machine or CLASP system going down with 23 string players looking at me! “The choir was recorded in one day in the big room at AIR Studios. We ended up with 16 singers and I really wanted to be in a slightly larger room so I could put up some ambient mics. Then in June, after we finished all the recordings, we moved to my studio at Pierce Entertainment, where I did the final mixes. The whole project was pretty continuous from May 1st until I delivered the last mix on July 20th.” CONSOLE ROMANCE
At Pierce, Fitzmaurice starts all his mixes on his Neve VR72, but doesn’t complete them on the desk. Instead, he prints elaborate stems and finishes each mix in-the-box. “I’ll give up the moment I have to mix entirely in the box,” commented Fitzmaurice. “One reason to use a desk used to be the sound, but HD is pretty close now, so that’s no longer a major consideration. Instead, the main reasons to mix on a desk for me are to do with ergonomics and feel. Automation on a desk is easy and intuitive, and it’s far quicker for me to get a balance than in the box. I AT 31
TOO GOOD AT GOODBYES Fitzmaurice used Endless Analogue’s CLASP system, which integrates tape recorders with a DAW. It allows the engineer to use tape as an intermediate stage, with the signal recorded into a DAW at the same time. Fitzmaurice was good enough to break down the exact mic and signal chains he used on each of the 16 tracks for Too Good at Goodbyes. 1. Hi-hat: Mercenary Audio KM69 mic into Neve 1081 pre. 2. Kick: Telefunken M82 mic into Neve 1081 pre. 3. Kick sub: NS10 speaker into Neve 1081 pre and API 560 EQ. 4. Snare: Shure SM58 (grille removed), AKG451 and AKG C414 mics into Neve 1081 pres summed to one track. 5. Floor Tom: Neumann FET 47 mic into Neve 1081 pre. 6. Contact: C-Ducer (taped to the snare shell for rim shots) into API desk pre. 7/8. Overhead Pair: 2 x Coles 4038 ribbon mics into AEA TRP mic pre then Maag EQ4 and Dramastic Audio Obsidian compressor. 9/10. Room Pair: 2 x Flea M50 mics and Neve 1081 pre and Chandler TG1 compressor. 11. Dist kit: Wunder CM7 Suprema mic into Neve 1081 pre, then ELI Distressor and Culture Vulture. 12. Bass: Acme Motown DI into Neve 1073 pre and UREI 1176 compressor. 13. Electric guitar: Mesanovic 2S mic into Neve 1066 pre and Teletronix LA2A compressor. 14. Lead vocal: Neumann U67 mic into Neve 1066 pre and UREI 1176 compressor. 15. Upright piano: Neumann U67 mics into Neve 1064 pre and UREI 1176 compressor. 16. Moog bass (overdub): Moog Voyager synth into EAR Wedgeit DI, then Neve 1073 pre and DBX 160x compressor.
HAMMERING DRUMS Fitzmaurice: “I always have three or four parallel compression channels set up, that I can send the drums to at any point. One has an 1176 which was hammering the drums quite a lot, one with a DBX 166 and one with a Standard Audio Level-Or. I have both sides of the 166 set differently, one side adds punch and the other side adds grunge. The Level-Or is a 500-series remake of the Shure Level-Loc, and adds a thick, characterful distortion texture. “The UAD Little Labs plug-in on the kick sample is for phase to make it slightly sweeter sounding, and the Sonnox Oxford EQ takes out 30Hz with a 12dB filter because the kick sample sounded too flappy. The SPL Transient Designer on the sample and live bass drum tracks is automated. The song gets a lot busier in the last chorus, so I am taking the sustain down at that point to get them to sound a bit tighter and punchier. I have the UAD DBX 160 on several of the drum tracks, each time with just a tiny bit of compression.”
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MAIN VOCALS
BASS DIMENSIONS Fitzmaurice: “The bass guitar also has the Oxford EQ, taking off some top end. I’ve never used the actual Helios 69 desk, but like the hardware version the plug-in also adds a small amount of non-specific low-end if you select 60Hz… even if you don’t actually add any gain. There’s also a send to a UAD Dimension D chorus on the bass guitar, which I’ve automated on in the pre-choruses.
PIANO PEAKS Fitzmaurice: There’s a main piano track, and a piano effects track, which is a print of RAK’s EMT 140 plate. The end piano overdub has the UAD RE-201 Space Echo, and the Empirical Labs Arousor on it, which is a plug-in similar to its Distressor. The end piano was a bit percussive, so I’m compressing the peaks a little.”
STRINGING IT OUT Fitzmaurice: “There are three different live strings tracks. Spot strings are the close mics: Schoeps CMC-5s on the violins and violas, Neumann U67s on the cellos and my Wunder CM7 Suprema on the double bass. Then there’s a room strings track, which is a Decca tree comprising three Neumann M50s. I also had an AEA R88 stereo ribbon mic right in the middle of the string section, which I used on some songs. On One Last Song and Baby You Drive Me Crazy the entire string sound is just that ribbon. It gives a slightly old-fashioned sound, because there’s not a lot of high end. It sounds smaller and more contained, less orchestral. On some songs I may have started with the ribbon, and then when the chorus comes in open up to a wide stereo with the spot mics. In this session the third string track is a print of the EMT 140 plate reverb on the strings, and I added some automated UAD Lexicon 224 reverb, because I didn’t quite have enough reverb in certain sections.”
Fitzmaurice: “We used two different mics for Sam’s voice. On some of the songs I used my own Neumann U67 which I also used on the first album, for others I used the Wunder Audio CM7 Suprema, which is basically a version of the Neumann U47. Both mics went through the Neve 1066 mic pre and a LA2A compressor. While recording I’d have a Bricasti M7 reverb on him for monitoring, because I couldn’t work with plug-ins while using the Clasp system. After we comped the vocal I’d print the Bricasti. I also use the EMT 140 plate at RAK, and my own Demeter RV-1 spring reverb. It made me realise that outboard reverbs are still way better than plug-ins. “In the mix, the main vocal track has the UAD Manley Voxbox, doing some fast compression at 0.5dB. Again, it’s one of these plug-ins that does something nice even if you don’t really engage the settings. There’s also a Massey De-esser on this track. I manually de-ess the vocals normally, but there were a couple of bits in the chorus where some frequencies were bothering me a bit. I added an eighth note delay from Soundtoys Echoboy in the choruses and some UAD Lexicon 224 reverb.”
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MASTERING THE SUBGROUPS Fitzmaurice: “All the audio tracks go to subgroup buses: beat, kick, bass, keys, guitars, strings, lead vocals, backing vocals, choir, and effects. Many of them have the Softube TubeTech CL1B, which is a default in my stem session subgroups, but often I don’t turn it on. I also didn’t use the Phoenix and Maag EQ4 on the lead vocal in this session, but if necessary the Phoenix can provide some richness and the Maag has that ‘air’ setting. “The subgroups are then routed to input channel labelled ‘I/P’, which has the UAD Shadow Hills stereo compressor doing no more than 0.5dB. After that the Dangerous Music BAX mastering EQ, which adds 0.5dB at 130Hz and 1dB at 7.1kHz, with wide shelves. Finally there’s a UAD Manley Massive Passive EQ, with a hi-pass filter at 23Hz, just in case there’s any remaining garbage I may have failed to get rid of.”
I overdubbed the strings directly to Pro Tools because… I didn’t want tape hiss, or risk the tape machine or CLASP system going down with 23 string players looking at me!
also know exactly what the sound is of me sitting in front of a desk with near fields on top of it. There’s a certain romance to working with a desk as well; it makes me feel like I’m making a record.” The romanticism ends with practicalities, explained Fitzmaurice: “In the past you’d do your board mixes with everyone in the room, and you’d get instant feedback. The problem is that now you send the mix out to people all over the world, and they may not get back to you until days later. I can’t sit around waiting for their comments. No one will pay to do recalls anymore, so I need to be able to change things at the drop of a hat, and you can only do that in the box. If I still want to use a desk, the only solution is to work with stems. I stem out many different tracks, because it gives me a lot of flexibility in the computer. You can be quite free when mixing stem sessions. Sonically everything is in good shape and the levels are set, so if you play everything back with the faders in a straight line, it sounds like a record.” Fitzmaurice usually spends about half a day mixing on the console, employing various outboard EQs and compressors: “I get a basic balance and the basic sonics, do some vocal rides, and maybe add a Bricasti reverb to the vocal, which I print,” said Fitzmaurice. Though the ratio AT 34
between time on the desk and in-the-box can vary depending on the mix. “Sometimes I start a mix on the desk and within an hour it sounds great, and it ends up being 99% a board mix. One Last Song was an example of that. I never could get the rough mix of that sounding right because we had this really loud 16th-note hi-hat from the original drum loop, which did your head in, but if you pulled it down, it lost the energy. At Pierce it immediately sounded good, so the desk mix was the final mix, though I still made stems in case people wanted tweaks.” For the stemming process it all goes into his Avid HDX rig running Pro Tools 12. “I use an Antelope Atomic Clock which gives me better phase, stereo image, tightness and bottom end,” he said. “When I stem tracks, I send them through my analogue mastering chain, which consists of an Avalon 2055 EQ, going to a Manley Vari-Mu Compressor, into a Chandler Curvebender EQ then a Chandler Zener Compressor and finally into my Crane Song HEDD A-D/D-A converter.” SUBLIMINAL SONICS
Working for years with The Buggles’ Trevor Horn — who was also a one-time frontman for Yes and produced Seal’s classic, Kiss From a Rose —
ABOUT FITZMAURICE Stephen Fitzmaurice honed his producing chops out of London in the 1980s under studio legends Trevor Horn and Julian Mendelsohn. He’s since worked with the likes of the Pet Shop Boys, Tom Jones, Tina Turner, Cher, U2, Depeche Mode, Craig David, Sting, Kate Nash, Olly Murs, Aloe Blacc, and Kylie Minogue. Over the years he’s received four Grammy Awards, including for Record Of The Year for Sam Smith’s Stay With Me, and Best Pop Album, for In The Lonely Hour.
Fitzmaurice learnt to “hate boring, un-dynamic records, both level-wise and sonically. There’s drama all the time in his productions. The second verse can never be the same as the first verse. “I struggle with the eight-bar loops in many of today’s records. I mix loads of records where the lead vocal is copied across to every chorus, the backing vocals are the same throughout much of the song and many of the instruments are as well. I never ever set a reverb on a vocal and just leave it. I’ll constantly ride it, and maybe add a little slapback delay in the verses, then an eighth note delay in the chorus. You might not notice these things consciously, but subliminally you do.”
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FEATURE
preatures escape doldrums with clearmountain Preatures guitarist and producer, Jack Moffitt, DIY records the band in their own studio, Doldrums. Flying solo can become a trap Moffitt gets caught in, but mixing with Bob Clearmountain opened his eyes to collaboration. Story: Mark Davie
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I’ve brought The Preatures’ producer/ guitarist, Jack Moffitt, to a BBQ joint… and he’s a vegan. It was a rough start, but he feigned a real interest in his bowl of house-made pickles like a true gentleman and we got stuck into the beer and conversation. Around five years ago, he and fellow Preatures, including vocalist Izzy Manfredi (who’s guested on a couple of Flume tracks, including the Holden ad-powering tune Trust), set up camp in a Surrey Hills warehouse. “It’s one of those innocuous buildings near Central Station,” said Moffitt, who explained it’s been in the hands of the Sydney music scene for some time. “It was a performance space called Doldrums [a name they’ve kept] where we used to go see bands play. It was run by a friend of ours who moved away and Seekae moved in with Ghoul. Then Izzy became friends with Alex Cameron from Seekae, who were thinking about moving on from it.” Originally it remained a collective; Seekae’s John Hassell was living there at the time, and the space was split between Seekae, The Preatures and another band called Bear Hug. When the others vacated, The Preatures took on the lease, Moffitt pooled his collection of gear and they began recording demos for their EP, Is This Is How You Feel?. Five years on, and the Preatures have turned it into their own creative hub. “Izzy has a little office as you walk in the door,” described Moffitt. “She’s a writer, and great with keeping up correspondence with other bands, the label, management. Then our bass player Tom — who’s also a photographer — has his office, which is a shit fight with cameras everywhere. Beyond that there’s a lounge, and from halfway across the room to the end is the live room with my gear, instruments, mics, pianos. It’s like Wilco’s Loft, but not nearly that much stuff.” SELF-ENGINEERING GIRLHOOD
Moffitt is a self-taught engineer, by necessity: “When I was in high school, it was a near impossible achievement to get into a studio because no kid has $500.” Starting with the school’s Yamaha eight-channel console and cassette deck, it was trial and error jamming on Hendrix songs, and he quickly gelled with the process. “It’s one of those generational things. Sometimes we think faster than we can do, so it’s better if we can just record it right there than have to remember it,” explored Moffitt. “That’s how our music comes across. It’s really architectural, polished and organised. It can be very immediate, and there are only so many layers of interpretation.” The Preatures’ latest record Girlhood is a little like that. The similarly-titled lead track is a straightforward pop song with a modern urgency that sits somewhere between the Divinyls and Arcade Fire. It samples from the last 50 years of pop, while keeping a real Australian-ness to the record. There’s an ’80s grandeur to the meter of second track The First Night. Yanada incorporates aboriginal language and has an ABBA-esque groove, but the guitars and drums sound a bit like The Church. The pop-rock sampling is all anchored by Manfredi’s stunning knack for simple
pop melodies and a confidence in delivery that makes the songs hers. “Izzy and I had been talking about the idea for ages,” said Moffitt. “This balance of harmonies and contrasts about being a woman and expressing that through her songwriting while being in a band surrounded by men supporting that intention with masculine energy. Girlhood is the sound of a group being driven by the awareness of the songwriter who happens to be female. Not to try and think like a woman, but how do we get out of the way and let that run to the front?” HARD PATCH
Moffitt has figured out his own methods of production along the way. It made the process of recording their first album Blue Planet Eyes with Spoon drummer, Jim Eno, a lesson in learning to work with others. Moffitt felt the pressure to have the rest of the album come up to the standard of their runaway success with single Is This How You Feel?, but he didn’t know how to communicate his way of doing things to Eno. To his credit, Eno “was so encouraging and gracious,” said Moffitt. “He knew what his responsibilities were but also just let me f**k up, or get out there. I’m so grateful we did that with him. I could imagine if we had done it with somebody with a difficult ego, we probably would have had a really shitty time.” At Doldrums, Moffitt has all the space and time he needs to hang himself. He likes to keep things simple; 16 tracks, six microphones on the drums, and everything hard patched. “I read an AudioTechnology interview with Philippe Zdar, and his mix setup was basically hard patched chains that he hardly ever changes,” explained Moffitt. “It relieves me of a whole bunch of crawling around on the floor, trying to connect mic eight to channel six.” The instruments are set up like a show; drums down one end near the window, bass off to the right, guitars off to the left and a PA for Izzy that he occasionally uses to reamp drums. All of it runs into a multicore to his gear at the other end of the room, ready to record. Whether it’s re-cutting a song they’ve been sitting on for two years or jamming out a new track late at night, they can always wait until the time feels right: “Your Fan was just Izzy jamming a new idea for the song, the microphones were up and I hit record.” For a long time it was all hooked up into an eight-track machine, but it “wasn’t going to be enough tracks,” said Moffitt. “I ran out of tape and didn’t have any money to pay for more, so it was all back into Logic and the computer.” Then when Burke Reid came by to help on the sessions, he challenged Moffitt to learn Pro Tools. “His reasoning was spot on,” said Moffitt. “He said, ‘You’re really good at this and you obviously want to keep doing it, so why hamstring yourself by not knowing the universal software language of all studios? Just figure it out. It’s a computer game.’” After a couple of weeks of hitting dodgy keyboard shortcuts and destroying sessions, he quickly got the hang of it. He did eventually get the eight-track going again, and still uses it to record drums. He loves the sound of it, but the loss
of “modern immediacy” with tape compression is a trade off for Moffitt, who dreams of one day making “an album that sounds like Crazy, Sexy, Cool by TLC.”
There was a week where I told everyone to stay away while I was trying to crack this guitar sound. People kept coming in and I was like, ‘Thank god!’ Because I was like losing my mind playing with sounds
MIC UP THE DOLDRUMS
Moffitt uses a Neumann U57 as a mono drum mic; sometimes overhead, sometimes where Izzy left it after a vocal take: “There’s a great node in the room where it sounded really awesome.” On rare occasions a couple of Coles 4038 ribbons would back up the mono mic with a stereo spread. A Shure SM57 was on snare, sometimes a Neumann KM84 for more snap, “but you can’t really go ballistic, because it’s gentle and would start to sound a bit shitty.” He had Sennheiser 421s on toms or occasionally a “weird little Telefunken TD200 that looks like a shaver.” He’d also place a Geffell omni dynamic mic on the kick batter head. “Wayne Connolly showed me that technique. It gets kick batter and snare unders, so if you stomp on it hard enough with a compressor you get this great picture of the kit, but it moves outwards instead of forwards.” He would supplement that with a Telefunken M82 “no frills” dynamic mic and a Rode Classic on the outer. Sometimes he’d add a hat mic if required, usually an SM58 because it was all he had left. A lot of the mics are hard patched directly into API 312 preamps. Izzy would sing guide vocals into a Shure SM7, leaving the guys to nail it after a couple of takes. From there it just became another room mic option. “Almost the whole drum sound of Lip Balm is the SM7,” said Moffitt. “That ganky, shittysounding, compressed room mic. It’s not new but it sounds awesome.” Moffitt recorded the album on a 16-channel Lynx Aurora converter. Halfway through he got an Apogee Symphony I/O, but kept it out of the loop to keep consistency. He keeps a couple of channels spare for overdubs; two Neve 1073 preamps, one that goes into a Retro 176, and the other into an AT 37
Izzy Manfredi looking down the barrel at The Preatures studio, Doldrums.
ELI Distressor. “You don’t really need anything else after that point,” said Moffitt. Moffitt thought the guitars on the last record sounded like they “smeared around the drum kit.” This time he wanted them to be large, “voltagewise”, with space around them. He ended up picking Alex Cameron’s brain from Bad Dreems about how Mark Opitz recorded their guitars (check out Issue 122 for more), using his 45-degree technique with a Neumann U87, in figure eight, and an Sennheiser MD421. “I blended them together with this little AWA line amp and printed them onto a single track,” said Moffitt. “The AWA has four inputs, but it only comes out in mono, which is awesome.” He likes the sound of the U87 in figure of eight, because it also picks up the drums in the room, and when the band are laying down rhythm tracks together, the 421 on the floor tom also cops a little bit of the guitar. “It can be quite fun if you balance all your phase really well,” said Moffitt. “You do make some sacrifices but it feels cooler.” When he wanted to keep things sounding upfront, he went direct in via a DI, then would run it back out into the room through a PA or guitar pedals. “I got some advice once to get everything out of the machine,” explained Moffitt. “I love that idea, so anything DI’d was running back out to something. Sometimes it was painful for the rest of the band. At the beginning I told them, ‘I’m going AT 38
to go very deep. Sometimes I’m going to need you to stop me, other times I need you to leave me alone. I don’t know when that will be.’” Moffitt gets caught up in sounds easily, deep diving into tonal inspiration from Radiohead’s Bodysnatchers, or Ryan Adams new record, anything British from the ’60s. “There was a week where I told everyone to stay away while I was trying to crack this guitar sound. People kept coming in and I was like, ‘Thank god!’ Because I was like losing my mind playing with sounds. It’s a definite trap.”
He goes through mixes like a play, and finds the characters
CLEAR AS A BELL
They band ended up needing to find a mixer in short order, having delayed the decision until the end of the album recording. Coming up short against other people’s schedules, it all fell into place
pretty serendipitously. “We were listening to the radio in Perth and Let’s Dance came on, then Born in the USA came on, and then something else, and it was all Bob Clearmountain’s mixes,” said Moffitt. “They defined a couple of decades of music. Then Bryan Ferry came on and Izzy asked, ‘Who mixed this?’ I said, ‘Bob Clearmountain, he actually mixed the last three songs.’ “We both messaged our manager Andy, and he thought it was a great idea. The next day, Bob’s manager replied saying he was free to do it.” The two of them went over to sit in the sessions with Clearmountain, and he was more than obliging. “He’s working on a G-series SSL, the same one he’s been using for the last 20 years,” said Moffitt. “It’s apparently the first 72-channel board SSL built, and they made it for him. He’s modified it a lot with different EQs, and a side-chain detector circuit in the comp which he’s modified to run in 5.1. He doesn’t have loads of outboard: a stack of 1178s, about six Distressors, a couple of Yamaha processors, and some other reverbs and delays including a Lexicon PCM80. “He goes through mixes like a play, and finds the characters. It’s never in any particular sequence. He moves through the mix until he gets it to a place where he spins around in his chair and asks, ‘Well, how’s that?’ That’s the invitation for Izzy or I to go sit with him at the VCAs automating and changing sounds.
He never did anything wrong. He’s very responsive to personal energy. After we got over our sort of awkward ‘getting to know you’ phase, he was really sensitive to our ears by the end.” YOUNG & ANACHRONISTIC
Mixing the record in the States with Bob was an eye-opening experience for Moffitt in more ways than one. While he was there, he was able to tour the Apogee facility, meeting Apogee CEO, Betty Bennett, who also happens to be Clearmountain’s wife. He got a sense of a unique balance of masculine and feminine energy under Betty’s leadership with Bob’s input into the technological development, drawing parallels between himself and Izzy. The notion of the idea being king whether it comes from inside or outside the company also struck Moffitt. After being heavily DIY for so long, “those kinds of ideas are exciting Izzy and I a lot more,” he said. “Having more people involved, and the right people involved at the right time. It’d be nice to trust some people for their abilities. Maybe I could be a musician for a while.” He referenced Making Rumours — engineer Ken Caillat’s memoire about the classic Fleetwood Mac album — and the conundrum of trying to be both a musician and producer. “He was just an engineer brought on to do the gig, and the band started asking him for his opinion,” recalled Moffitt. “He asked them if they wanted to come in and listen.
I think Christine said, ‘I don’t want to have to f**king come in and listen. I want you to tell me how it is because I’m out here trying to do the music and you’re supposed to help me not have to lose my vibe.’” Moffitt feels pretty positive about that gap reducing between being a musician and a producer. “There are so many little barriers and little frustrating hurdles in producing music which are gradually being removed by technology,” said Moffitt. “Speaking to people like Bob and Betty,
there’s always a place for where we came from and what we did, but there’s also a greater world out there of people who don’t want to be prohibited from being creative. “We’re going through a boom where consumer electronics are crazy tech. I’m the oldest of four and my youngest sister is 14 growing up with all this shit. I genuinely feel like I’m an anachronistic pivot point from a generation where comprehension was built around a certain method. These kids will undoubtedly grow up to do some crazy stuff.” AT 39
REGULARS
PC Audio Imagine a world when our computers updated themselves automatically, so they could always offer us peak performance. What? They do, and it isn’t working? Column: Martin Walker
I’ve just spent the last couple of hours trawling through various Windows Music forums, and the saddest thing I spotted were the doggedly ongoing discussions of how to effectively disable Windows 10 Auto Updates. This is rather ironic, especially since my chosen topic for PC Audio in AT123 was ‘There’s a new audio application update available. Should you install it immediately or wait a while?’ My advice there was to regularly use an ‘imaging’ utility to back up your entire Windows installation, so that in the hopefully unlikely event an update (whether Windows-based or specifically audio) causes you any problems, you can roll back to your most recent image file, and that advice stands. However, Microsoft is still making things difficult for us musicians, by systematically removing any means to bypass its automatic updates. Windows 10 Pro owners can still delay updates, but Windows 10 Home users can no longer disable the Windows Update service since the ‘Fall Creators Update’ (Windows 10 1073). We wouldn’t mind if these automatic updates left our music software/hardware alone, but I’ve lost count of the number of musicians who have fallen foul of this, either due to subsequent problems with hardware, including eLicensers, audio interfaces, DVD drives and printers not being recognised after the update, or audio software that previously worked perfectly now crashing at random. One user who had followed my backup advice managed to roll-back to his previous Windows 10 version and cure his update problems, but was then left wondering just when Windows 10 would decide to have another go at silently updating his machine and re-introducing the problem. TO INFINITY & BEYOND
Contrary to the old computer advice of “if it’s working, well, leave it alone”, that worked so well for many years with audio PCs, some issues after W10 updates now tend to be related to incompatibilities between older hardware drivers and older hardware. So, it now seems to pay to keep your hardware drivers as up-to-date as possible AT 40
before Microsoft rolls out a major W10 patch. On the other hand, if you have experienced any of the problems mentioned above after a major update, roll back to your most recent backup, then update all your drivers, unplug non-essential hardware and let W10 try the update again. As usual, a raft of industry experts pitch in to find longer-term solutions to these various problems. One useful source is the Knowledge Base at Driver Easy (www.drivereasy.com/ knowledge), which fixes the DVD drive problem along with many others. For specific audio hardware/software issues the best sources are manufacturer/developer-dedicated forums, where if a problem occurs you can be assured of a host of grumbling musicians detailing their problems and (hopefully) a few who have found solutions, whether they be reinstalling or updating drivers (don’t forget those for your various eLicenser and iLok dongles!), or even temporarily uninstalling specific audio items that result in crashes until updated drivers can be released. DENYING PERMISSION
However, the last great hope for mankind seems to be Martin Brinkmann at ghacks.net, who just two days before I wrote this column has posted a way to change the permissions of the Windows 10 task that is responsible for the update checks. It’s somewhat convoluted and involves typing in command prompts, but there are detailed step-bystep instructions (www.ghacks.net/2017/12/03/ allow-only-manual-updates-on-windows-10), and even a reset command that will restore the permissions to the automatic mode if required. Your Windows Defender signature updates will still get updated (good news for security), and although automatic checks for updates will subsequently be thwarted, you can still perform manual checks for updates as and when the various music software forums declare them safe for the musician. It’s getting increasingly common for major developers such as Steinberg to recommend avoiding major operating system updates until they have been thoroughly tested by them post-release for unforeseen problems.
WOE IS ME
It does sometimes seem rather mad that so many of us seem to go through the same old problems on each Windows 10 update, but the fact remains that while the majority of business and home users sail through incremental changes regardless, largely because they opt for highly popular mainstream computers and peripherals, we musicians — who rely on relatively boutique audio interfaces, dongles and the like — end up with operating system support that lags behind Microsoft’s latest software incarnations. Some blame the audio manufacturers/developers themselves for not keeping up, or for not taking advantage of prerelease OS versions on which to test their wares. Still, the fact remains that we only find out which audio interface, DAW, dongle and peripheral combos will survive the update lottery once the new operating system is actually released into the big, wide world. To reiterate, you can possibly save yourself a lot of stress by trying to keep abreast of driver revisions for your audio hardware, and making sure these are implemented before the next operating system update. Part of the problem is that Microsoft is pressured by market forces to include lots of new features in each update, as an enticement to stay ahead. In the old days we could decide whether or not we musicians would actually benefit from them in practice, and in many cases that answer was no, but nowadays that decision has been largely taken away from us. I know plenty of musicians who have hung on with Windows 7 to escape the W10 auto-update carnage. Despite the huge number of us around the world involved in computer-based music-making, we are still very small fish in the grand scheme of things, and I don’t see that situation likely to change in the near future. Game players have more clout, which is why graphic performance has been given such emphasis over the last 10 years; clobbering the real-time performance of audio computers, resulting in clicks, pops and waveform glitches. Sometimes it’s good to have a moan though, isn’t it?
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COLUMN
Carving Your Own Course Lachlan ‘Magoo’ Goold is the new Head of Audio at JMC’s Brisbane campus. With a storied career including two ARIA wins, Magoo reflects on how he got into the industry and what he hopes to pass on to the next generation of producers and engineers. Column: Lachlan ‘Magoo’ Goold Photo: Music Industry Inside Out
My passion for recording started with dubbing mix tapes for my high school friends. I appropriated my father’s hi-fi gear which had a cassette deck with adjustable recording volumes. This allowed me to master the compilation cassettes, and my mix tapes would circulate around the school. I learnt valuable lessons; how to record to tape, and that people like things loud. In high school I had a passion for music, but didn’t know specifically where it lay yet. Guitar lessons revealed I wasn’t very good. Instead, I roadied for my friends’ bands. After high school, I followed the path my father wanted and studied Mechanical Engineering at QUT. I still hung out with my muso friends, a few of whom were in a band called The Lost Boys. When they went into a studio to record a single, I was fascinated with the process and the ability to manipulate sound. That’s when I knew what I wanted to do. GETTING ON COURSE
During my third year of engineering I did a short course in audio engineering — 20 weeks for three hours a week. It gave me the confidence to start mixing Front of House for my friends’ live bands on the weekends even though we hadn’t covered live sound in the course. It became my part-time job during uni and I stopped pushing trollies at Woollies. I finished my engineering degree in 1990, right at the time of Keating’s ‘recession we needed to have’. I got a job attending to five rehearsal rooms at Red Zeds, which also happened to have a recording studio where I hung out endlessly with my good friend and in-house engineer, Jeff Lovejoy. I used my job at Red Zeds to get more FOH mixing work, which is still a great way to get started in the industry. I toured nationally with a band called the Dream Killers for two and a half years, then mixed Powderfinger for 12 months — before they were huge. I got my first job in the AT 42
studio by offering my services as the first prize for a battle of the bands competition (in which I also mixed FOH and was one of the judges). I convinced Joe — the owner of Red Zeds — to give me a little studio time in exchange for advertising. The session came off and was the start of a long career in the studio. OWNER OPERATOR, PLEASE
I’ve managed to maintain a career in the audio industry for 25 years, which is no easy feat. In that time, I’ve owned and run multiple studios. The first was a partnership with Jeff Lovejoy called The Blackbox. Initially, the studio was completely mobile, but we grew tired of lugging the gear around. We found a cottage in Newstead that was converted into offices we could use as isolation rooms. We barely touched it with acoustic treatment. We were mainly recording indie rock bands so isolation seemed like a waste of money. The odd passing truck outside would struggle to outshine a snare drum at 130dB. Plus, you can’t take the walls of a rented studio with you, whereas keeping overheads down enabled us to work longer on recordings. Time is a major asset in the studio. I was part of the studio from 2000-2010, but in 2007 I opened Applewood Lane Recording Studios with my wife. It was my dream studio; in a church, the bands could stay in the house, and it had two kitchens — one for the family and another for the bands. We lived there for five years, but the studio wasn’t soundproofed and even though my wife is a musician, it was difficult to deal with. I worked there for another three years, until 2014, but work/life balance was difficult after we’d moved our family out. In 1998, I won both the ARIA for Best Engineer for working with Midnight Oil, Regurgitator, and Skunkhour, and Best Producer for Regurgitator’s Unit. The whole experience was very surreal. You
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don’t get into the audio industry to win awards, but being nominated for 10 ARIA awards over my career shows I’ve maintained some consistency. It was nice to be recognised for all the work I had done, but at the time I felt uneasy. I was a little immature and didn’t recognise how rare and fortunate I was to receive both awards in the one year. Even 20 years later, I still have ‘ARIA awardwinning producer’ as the prefix to my name. DEGREES OF SEPARATION
I’d been teaching music production as a sessional lecturer at QUT for the past six years and really enjoyed it. Being able to pass on the knowledge I’ve learned — along with the great staff — will really enable JMC students to fast-track their own careers. I see tertiary education as a way to condense knowledge acquisition into a two or three year practise, as opposed to being an assistant for five years or more, where the brief is to learn by osmosis. The courses prepare you for all facets of the industry — there’s film and television, acoustic design, electronic music, electronic design and soldering. These days you have to have your toes dipped in a lot of different water to make an income. The key bit of wisdom I’d like anyone to walk away with is just get out there with the gear you have and do it. Creativity is what will set you apart in this industry, not vintage Neumann microphones or Neve preamps (though that gear is nice). I got my first job at Red Zeds in the studio based on the four-track cassette demos I was recording. Regurgitator’s Unit was recorded on prosumer gear — ADATs and a Mackie console — and it’s still the highest selling album I’ve made. It’s the people, the songs, and the message you’re trying to convey, rather than the equipment that’s the most important. Although getting to work on JMC’s three SSL Dualities is a plus.”
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REVIEW
ARTURIA KEYLAB ESSENTIAL Keyboard Controller We take the ‘essentials’ version of Arturia’s Keylab on the road to see if it can handle the pressure. Review: Preshan John
NEED TO KNOW
Don’t get me wrong, I dig Arturia’s stuff. However, with so many MIDI controllers already in its catalogue, I often wonder if this exercise in minute differentiation is necessary. When the new KeyLab Essential 61 keyboard controller showed up, I really wasn’t sure why I’d need an ‘essential’ version of the existing Keylab 61. Turns out Arturia has managed to give me exactly what I need, for less. Arturia’s V Collection 5 would have to be my favourite software synth package, because you can pull up just about any classic keyboard
PRICE Expect to pay $349 (Keylab Essential 49: $299) CONTACT CMI Music & Audio: (03) 9315 2244 or info@cmi.com.au
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sound — from a Minimoog bass to a flanged Rhodes tone — with minimal hassle. Amongst all the razzle-dazzle is Analog Lab 2 — Arturia’s live performance-optimised application that acts as a central hub for all V Collection sounds. Here’s where the plot thickens — KeyLab Essential’s strength (besides being a perfectly capable universal MIDI controller) is super tight integration with Analog Lab 2. I had a keys gig coming up requiring multiple patch and scene changes. A perfect opportunity to test how effective this KeyLab Essential/
PROS Super tight integration with Analog Lab 2 Heaps of MIDI CC controls for 3rd party VIs Very portable, great for gigs
CONS No aftertouch
Analog Lab 2 marriage really is. The pairing should, in theory, cover all bases from prepping patches to playing them live. PLAN AHEAD
Time for pre-production. I was tasked with providing all the lead lines for the songs in our four sets. Each song has distinct synth sounds and I wanted to match them as best I could with my Analog Lab/KeyLab combo. I chucked on some headphones and started messing with Analog Lab 2’s 5000+ presets.
SUMMARY Anyone who owns a virtual instrument will enjoy KeyLab Essential’s extraordinary bang for buck, but to really see it shine, pair it up with Analog Lab 2.
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Thankfully there are four levels of categorisation — Type, Banks, Characteristics, and Instruments — to drill down to a relevant sound via a process of elimination. First off the bat was a short, sharp and bright lead tone to carry the first verse. I went for Lead and Percussive, with Bright and Short characteristics and soon found one that fit the bill. Because I have the full V Collection installed, I could tweak the Prophet emulation further. After a few adjustments the patch was perfected. Curating your own preset palette is easy, too. Saved patches show up in the User Bank, just create a playlist and drag them in until all your juicy tones are lined up in order, ready for a gig. I found the whole process thoroughly enjoyable. One of KeyLab Essential’s hidden powers is the ability to remap the MIDI controls (pads included) eight different ways — one for Analog Lab, one for DAW control, and six User configurations. Since I wasn’t using the pads to play samples or drum sounds, I wanted to repurpose them as patch selector buttons. Diving into Arturia’s MIDI Control Center lets you deeply configure KeyLab Essential’s MIDI EMA_AT111_[Print].pdf
1
28/07/2015
communication. I’m least fond of this painstaking, left brain aspect of computer music, but after a little trial and error I had each pad assigned to patches 1-8 in the Playlist and saved it to the User 1 MIDI map. The result conveniently allowed mouse-less patch changes on stage. SHOW TIME
With my confidence boosted by the refreshed tone library, I walked into the first rehearsal armed with the KeyLab Essential 49 and a MacBook Pro. A few rules of thumb when entrusting a computer with musical instrument duties on stage. Firstly, keep just the instrument application open. You want all your CPU juice concentrated on one task. Secondly, go into your energy saver settings and set your sleep timer to Never. Third, use gaffer tape to secure all cable connections to and from your laptop. Now’s not the time for a clumsy footfall to curb your show. Fourth, try to get the best signal out of your laptop possible — don’t use the headphones output if you can help it. I hooked up a Focusrite Forte to handle D-to-A conversion, with the stereo outputs DI’d into the PA. Finally, 9:37 am
choose a buffer size that responds fast but doesn’t excessively tax your processor resulting in snaps, crackles and pops. 64 samples was just right on my machine and interface combination. Using the KeyLab Essential at the gig went as well as I could’ve hoped. The Analog Lab 2/ KeyLab Essential duo formed a truly coherent experience that wasn’t dissimilar from playing a regular hardware keyboard. I developed a new appreciation for the pre-production effort that goes into preparing sounds for the stage while sitting in a home studio. I saw Arturia’s MIDI controllers in a whole new light given the live possibilities. LIGHTEN THE LOAD
Sure, MIDI controllers have their place in a studio during the songwriting or production workflow. But in a world where an artist’s signature sounds are more often built in laptops than on 50kg modular analogue synths, there’s a need for products that lend a physical embodiment to their software instruments counterparts. Arturia’s KeyLab Essential does it easily and affordably, without you breaking a sweat to pick it up.
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REVIEW
EV EVOLVE 50
Column Loudspeaker For when a stick PA is too ‘slim’ for your tastes. Review: Mark Davie
NEED TO KNOW
Six seconds. That’s how long the EV rep reckoned it would take to get the Evolve 50 set up. Challenge accepted. By the time we got the column bits unzipped and stacked, then found a spot to plug in the power cord, it was more like 60 seconds. Six, or 60, who cares — that’s quick, very quick! Quicker than any column speaker we’ve set up in the past. No cables, no shims; nothing but a magnetic pole to slip in between your speaker column and sub. A minute later, we were all staring at the Evolve 50, and while it took the form of a stick PA, it was immediately obvious there were some ideological differences to Bose’s original ‘one-PA-for-every performer’ paradigm. For starters, it has a built-in J-curve, the sort of curved bottom system techs will induce into a concert line array to cover the floor while still projecting into the stands. Great when the rig is flown four storeys into the air, but when the whole thing stands barely over two metres tall, that bottom lip is just pointing straight at your feet. EV says its for when you have the PA up on a stage, with a shorter pole coming to compensate. It still doesn’t account for the 90% of the time the thing sits on the floor. Thankfully it didn’t adversely affect the PA’s definition, and the curve does form a nice bow shape, with a large carry handle rather like a string connecting two ends of a stave. EV is serious about the Evolve 50 breaking away from the mono nature of stick PAs and turning out in stereo too. You can easily hook up two of these systems to flank either side of a stage. It’s as simple as setting the Mix Out option in the DSP to ‘R’ — for right channel — running an XLR cable across to input one of the other speaker, and it will automatically split the stereo RCA/minijack/Bluetooth input across the two speakers. The other two input channels remain in mono. If you want to mix more inputs in stereo, you’ll have to bring your own mixer.
PRICE $2499 CONTACT Bosch: 1300 026 724 or www.boschsecurity.com.au
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PROS Powerful Simple setup Bluetooth control & streaming Easy stereo configuration
CONS +15V phantom only
SUMMARY EV’s Evolve 50 is more flexible than a typical stick PA. It’ll simply pair with another unit for powerful stereo operation, while still having enough onboard channels and control to happily sit standalone.
SKINNY BUT LOUD
Thankfully, EV hasn’t just gone for the directionality and stereo utility of a ‘proper’ PA, it sounds like one too. Evolve 50 is one of the more potent stick PAs we’ve tested. It’ll blow your socks off if you let it. It’s loud, registering 127dB SPL at one metre. It’s also not laid back like the Bose L1’s natural-sounding delivery. It has punch, enough to handle rock ’n’ roll duties. It has a peak around 10kHz, and most of the DSP modes (other than the scooped Music setting) have a presence bump at 2kHz which makes it a little bitier than other stick PAs. I generally had it on the flatter Live setting, with the treble turned down one or two dB. Of all the stick PAs we’ve tested, the Bose shined for its natural reproduction, the JBL Eon One was an all-round great sounding system that proved a dark horse for its price, and the HK Elements system had a clarity and threedimensionality to the vocals that was unparalleled. The EV Evolve 50 is more aggressive than any of those. It’s powerful and suited to anyone looking into the stick PA format who doesn’t want to stray too far away from the sound and ‘balls’ of a typical top box and sub combination.
The mono inputs have an interesting design. It didn’t appear to matter whether you plugged a mic or line source into either jack or XLR inputs, the volume control still exhibited the same range. There was plenty of level for any source and plugging a line input into the XLR didn’t send it off. No mic/line switches; it just worked. It seems a relatively foolproof design that adapts to the user. Nice. On the downside, there’s no dedicated instrument/DI input. Initially, I didn’t think that would be a problem for me, as I carry my own LR Baggs Para DI with my acoustic. However, when I plugged it in and turned phantom power on, it didn’t work. On further investigation I found out the phantom power only ran +15V, not the +48V I needed to run that particular device. It was probably unfortunate the first thing I plugged in was too power hungry; reviewer’s luck, I guess. EV says the reduced phantom power is designed for the lower power requirements of condenser microphones. For the DI, it was just a matter of breaking out a 9V battery. Rounding out the input section, the screen defaults to show input meters for all three channels. It’s a nice touch to see whether you’re peaking.
STEREO STICKS
TEETH TO IT
The Evolve 50 can happily live in both worlds: while it will work as a bonafide stereo rock PA, it still holds the single stick pose well. When it comes down to it, a portable column speaker needs to do a few things well: it has to be easy to set up, have a wide horizontal spread, high feedback rejection, and have enough inputs on the back to cater for most gigs. Evolve 50 goes up quickly, covers 120 degrees in the horizontal plane, and you can stand in front of it with a mic without any issues. So let’s look at those inputs. The onboard mixer has three channels; two mic/line inputs on combo jacks, and a stereo input that can be fed via a minijack, RCA, or a Bluetooth stream.
EV has gone heavy into Bluetooth on Evolve 50. You can use Bluetooth to both control the device via the EV Quicksmart mobile app — available for iOS and Android devices — as well as stream music directly to channel three of the onboard mixer. To stream you just have to scroll to the Bluetooth menu and click on ‘Streaming’ to start the pairing process. No codes required and I had music playing off my iPhone 6 in a jiffy. In the same Bluetooth menu on the speaker you also have the option to turn on Control App, which opens up a dialogue with the EV Quicksmart app. I had both Bluetooth streams running simultaneously without any problems. Quicksmart is a simple app that gives you immediate access to master mute and volume. It
also gives you control over the three-band EQ, with a range of -12 to +6dB in 1dB steps. There is a selectable mid frequency that can range from 200Hz to 12kHz, but you can only access that control via the touch ’n’ turn knob on the mixer unit. It would have been nice if this was included in the app, too. There are also four overall modes; Club, Music, Live and Speech. They range from bass-heavy to bass cut, with Live being the flattest of the bunch. They’re all well designed presets that don’t go too hard either way. The EQ and presets are available via the DSP menu on the mixer, but it’s orders of magnitude easier to use the app than a push button scroll wheel. Other onboard functions include fine control of sub level between -80dB to +10dB, or the option to mute it. You can also send a pre-fader signal to a different speaker via the Thru output. If you’re using the pre-or post fader output, you can also set it up with the delay setting that reads simultaneously in meters and feet. It can go up to 100m in increments of 10cm. The rest of the menu includes controls for LED on or off, display brightness and contrast settings, as well as the ability to store and recall up to five system settings. STICK EVOLUTION
It’s obvious that EV intends for the Evolve 50 to be more than just a stick shadowing a performer. It breaks from the ideologies of its predecessors, but it’s better for it. Rather than being a me-too product, EV has taken a step towards fulfilling the true potential of stick PAs; an easy-to-use PA, for any occasion. With the ability to simply set it up as a stereo PA, and its powerful rock ’n’ roll capable voicing, you won’t have to worry about it not playing its role.
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REVIEW
PRESONUS QUANTUM Thunderbolt Interface Want to leave latency in your dust? Quantum will take you on a very quick roundtrip.
NEED TO KNOW
Review: Brad Watts
As I always state when reviewing Presonus gear, I’m a bonafide fan of the company’s products. Since 1995 the company has established itself as an innovative player in the semi-pro audio recording and production arena. To be honest, Presonus kicked off with some pretty chunky audio interfaces. Initial Presonus interfaces, inevitably named ‘Fire something-or-other’, had front panels milled from blocks of aluminium. They felt like you could have thrown them down a staircase and they’d bounce back to work like Lee Majors (’80s TV reference for all you youngsters). First generation Presonus interfaces are difficult to come across these days. While they worked, and connected to a computer with a Firewire cable, they didn’t use the standard Firewire protocol. Instead, Presonus utilised
Yamaha’s luckless mLan protocol (see sidebar). mLan was clever in that it could transport audio, MIDI data, and wordclock over a single Firewire cable, but in true Yamaha fashion the driver and patching software was archaic and clunky. Like the rest of the industry, Presonus moved on to the more reliable Firewire protocol, while updating its manufacturing processes to deal with a great numbers of devices. This is also when the company moved away from the chunky aluminium front panels in favour of the silver and blue plastic front panels. Still, Firewire has its limitations. Firstly, there’s a limit to its bandwidth, and secondly, Firewire ports are becoming scarce. Sure you can use adaptors, but then you’re hobbling the potential speed of the Thunderbolt port to three Gigabits
PRICE Expect to pay $1499
CONS No internal DSP No direct monitoring
CONTACT Link Audio: (03) 8373 4817 or info@linkaudio.com.au
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PROS Turn on a dime latency Exceptional audio quality MIDI & CV capable Affordable Ample I/O It’s black
per second (FW400) and 6 Gb/s (FW800) — even USB 3 and 3.1 will outstrip Firewire. Thunderbolt 1 and Thunderbolt 2 speeds are rated at 10 and 20Gb/s respectively. That’s about 2.5 gigabytes per second; it’s fast. When it comes to audio interfaces not only does this mean more channels, it also results in much better latency results. This is precisely the point with Presonus’s latest interfaces. QUANTIFYING SPEED
The Presonus Quantum and Quantum 2 both take advantage of Thunderbolt 2 for data transport. They’re a vastly quicker machine than the previous USB 3.0 Studio 192. Both models are ‘stackable’ in that additional Quantum interfaces can be daisy-chained via
SUMMARY Presonus has nixed internal DSP on the Quantum to keep latency at ridiculously low levels. Get eight of Presonus’ XMAX preamps, and the most out of Thunderbolt’s blazing speed, without breaking the bank.
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Thunderbolt for up to 80 or 96 channels over four units, something Firewire promised but never really delivered. The Quantum 2 is the fledgeling of the family, with four mic/line inputs and four TRS outputs — additional I/O must be attained via ADAT-based expanders. The bigger brother Quantum offers eight mic/line inputs and eight line TRS outputs, again with expansion via ADAT optical. Dual SMUX is supported with both for 96k recording across all available inputs — 16 ADAT channels at 44.1/48k, and eight at 88.2/96k. The Quantum units also represent Presonus’s first shift away from its signature design and blue/silver colour scheme — the Quantum units are black; how very rock. I’m all for black on black, it’s flattering I’m told, however, the new skin is no doubt to differentiate the Quantum Thunderbolt 2 services from Presonus’s Studio 192 and Studio 192 Mobile. To be frank, there’s no huge physical difference between the Studio and Quantum designs. The only real change appears to be the addition of five-pin MIDI ports on the Quantums, which makes you wonder why MIDI wasn’t included on the Studio 192 models. MIDI uses next-to-no bandwidth, and a single input and output is plenty nowadays with many users using virtual instruments. We can’t change history, so I’ll simply point out the MIDI ports as a damn good call. BIGGER THAN 192
So apart from MIDI ports and a flashy black finish, are there any real advances with the Quantum interfaces, or are they simply revamped Studio 192 units with Thunderbolt 2 ports? Let’s look inside. We’ll initially have a quick look around the ports and operational procedures with the flagship Quantum model I’ve been sent. The rear of the single rackmount unit presents six XLR/TRS combo inputs and eight TRS ¼-inch outputs. These are flanked by TRS ¼-inch main outputs followed by S/PDIF coaxial in and out and wordclock in and out. Next up are two sets of ADAT optical I/O for either 16 or eight additional sets of I/O — SMUX compatible as mentioned. Above these are two Thunderbolt 2 ports, so the same connector as a Mini DisplayPort. The first for connection to the computer, the second for chaining additional Quantum units or Thunderbolt devices. Beyond that, there’s the MIDI I/O and a power connection for the wall-wart power supply. Out front are two additional combo connectors that can accept high impedance signals from guitars. As for the sound of the XMAX pres, as I mentioned in my review of the Studio 192, I have a set of these these Class-A units myself — I like them. They distort guitars quite well. All eight mic inputs have individual 48V power. Closely mimicking the Studio 192, the Quantum includes control room features, with the idea that AT 52
additional monitors connect via any pair of the eight TRS output jacks. The front panel has a large main output level control pot, and a single gain level control flanked by left/right buttons. The left/ right buttons scroll through the eight preamp input gains, and while you’re set to control the gain of a particular preamp you can also hit the 48V button to send phantom power to the selected pre. A ninth ‘c’ setting adjusts gain for the built-in talkback mic. Unlike the Studio 192 the built-in talkback is your only option — you can’t use an external mic connected to one of the preamps. The preamp levels, and individual 48V power for each mic pre can be set from within your DAW using MIDI controller information, and you can snapshot your preamp levels between projects, just like the Studio 192. An inclusion unique to the Quantum is how the eight line outs and main outs are DC coupled. This allows triggering and control voltage (CV) signals to be sent out to analogue gear like synths and sequencers — a lovely touch — much like the MIDI inclusion. DONE WITH DSP
As with most audio interfaces, Presonus supplies a free app for settings such as monitor paths, headphone routing and ancillary options such as how talkback systems operate. Presonus’s solution for the Quantum devices is Universal Control, which looks a lot prettier since I last ran a Presonus interface application. Universal Control primarily gives you software control over the preamps, setting headphone output sources, and S/PDIF behaviour, along with metering and a very nice spectrum analyser. Here’s where I noticed a major difference between the Studio 192 devices and the Quantums — there’s no onboard DSP, and no internal mixing. I initially expected Presonus to have included its ‘Fat Channel’ signal processing — the same group of DSP tools the company has used throughout its StudioLive console and rack mixers, and the Studio 192 interfaces. This omission may steer potential buyers away from the Quantum, especially if they’re hoping to use the Quantum in live recording situations, it may not. It would depend greatly upon whether the host computer can supply enough processing via the DAW in use. It’s horses for courses, but without an internal mixer and mixer software you’ve got to use a DAW to alter bussing, inputs and outputs. Notwithstanding, there’s a very good reason Presonus has given DSP the boot with the Quantum, and that is to keep the processing path between analogue input to analogue or digital output as sleek and as fast as possible. Being the Thunderbolt device that it is, the Quantum’s emphasis is on super low latency, and super low it is. At 96k and with a buffer setting of 32 in Logic Pro X the resulting roundtrip latency is a meagre
one millisecond. With a quick playback and recording of a spike at these settings the latency came out at around 1.38ms. That’s extremely low, and virtually undetectable in a live monitoring situation. Bump things down to 44.1k and the roundtrip comes in at two milliseconds. Again, exemplary latency in live situations. If we want to get silly about this, at 192k we’re seeing roundtrip latency of 0.8 milliseconds. These speeds are up there with the best, from Apogee through to Universal Audio’s Thunderbolt interfaces. A LOT FOR A LITTLE
Presonus hasn’t only provided impressive latency in the Quantum units, the company has also improved marginally on some audio specifications over last year’s Studio 192. The incumbent X-MAX mic preamps offer EIN of <131dBu over <128dBu, yet frequency response is 20Hz to 40kHz as opposed to the Studio 192’s 10Hz to 40kHz. Dynamic range of the instrument inputs is >106dB (A-weighted) compared with the Studio 192 at >110 dB, with the line inputs greatly improved at >118dB (A-weighted) compared with >114dB. Main monitoring and line outputs also see a marked improvement. Dynamic range is >118dB as opposed to the Studio 192 at >112dB and the total harmonic distortion is reduced from 0.005% to 0.0035%. ADC and DAC dynamic range is 120dB, above that of the Studio 192’s 118dB. The resulting audio quality is impressive, and goes to show there are always improvements in audio quality making their way into more affordable interfaces. Speaking of audio quality, there’s nothing to dislike with the Presonus Quantum. In fact, there was little to dislike with the Studio 192 models. Presonus hasn’t rested on its laurels and has come up with an extremely competent interface. Going back even as little as five years would have seen you paying upwards of $5k for similar specifications. So who’s going to find the Quantum the ideal interface solution? I’d imagine those looking for stellar quality I/O and needing an all-inone solution. Super-low latency, MIDI, DAW programmable and saveable preamp gains, macOS and Windows compatibility. Throw in the ability to trigger CV-based analogue instruments, and this could be the ideal interface for the analogue synth brigade. Those needing internal mixing and direct monitoring may not find the Quantum to be their cup of tea, but with such low latency I can’t imagine this to be an issue. At a paltry $1500 you’re getting a lot of functionality: superb recording and monitoring conversion, with a control room system and talkback. It really deserves a place alongside far more expensive devices. The Studio 192 was great, but the Quantum is so much more.
AT 53
REVIEW
SEBATRON VMP QUAD PLUS 4-Channel Microphone Preamp This valve beast is the perfect character to add to your cast of preamps. Review: Mark Davie
NEED TO KNOW
If ever there was a preamp to suit the modern recordist, the Australian-made Sebatron VMP Quad Plus could be it. Let’s face it, these days even the IC-based preamps onboard audio interfaces can sound quite good. Everyone with an audio interface has at least two clean, relatively flexible preamps at their fingertips. What they don’t have is character. Sebatron’s latest four-channel tube microphone preamp ticks a lot of boxes. It’s affordable, built like a tank, and sonically versatile. It can go from crystal clear class A tube gain to coloured with harmonic distortion. The preamp runs the tube with a proper High Tension voltage, so the tube isn’t starved for power to achieve artificial breakup. Instead, you get all
PRICE $2000 CONTACT Sebatron: (03) 9484 3789 or www.sebatron.com
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PROS Versatile sound – clean to coloured Loads of gain, low noise All necessary preamp features Well built
the clean headroom you can get from a 12AT7. While it’s very low noise, this isn’t the ‘absolute’ cleanest preamp — at the clean end of the scale it can induce 0.05% total harmonic distortion, all the way up to 1% when fully driven — but it’s also no fuzz box. Rather, what you get is tonal versatility without ever destroying your sound. SOLID TUBE LEGACY
The VMP Quad Plus is built upon the legacy of Sebatron’s VMP4000e quad-channel preamp. Sebatron says the majority of the circuit is almost identical. With the new model you get a wider frequency response, a couple more dB of gain, and a ‘lower reaching bottom end’; but they’re all relatively imperceptible, says Sebatron. One
CONS No stepped attenuators
isn’t ‘better’ than the other, it’s more about the control interface. On the VMP4000e, most of the control is switch-based. With those switches you can pad the input to varying degrees, add brightness as well as ‘air’, and a Deep circuit which boosts sub frequencies to go along with the low cut option. The Bright and Deep circuits are omitted on the VMP Quad Plus, and the switchable pad is replaced with a rotary pad/gain pot. It also adds the ability to toggle between Normal mode — which uses negative feedback to keep the preamp behaviour predictable and clean while sacrificing a little gain — and Open Loop, which is more coloured and adds 12dB of gain. It means you can really drive the unit by
SUMMARY Sebatron’s Australian-made VMP Quad Plus is the antidote to character-lacking audio interface preamps. It can take your mic, line or DI signal from beautifully clean to harmonically rich, with loads of variation in-between. It’s an affordable workhorse that will give a big boost to your front end.
boosting the gain in Open Loop mode, then wind back the output with the main level control. Alternatively, you can keep it clean by keeping the gain at 0dB in Normal mode and adjusting the output to suit. I haven’t used the VMP4000e; though I’ve seen it in lots of racks. I’m sure its Bright and Deep circuits are very handy for simple tone shaping on the way in, though the Air and low cut on the Quad Plus provide plenty of adjustment. After using the VMP Quad Plus on a range of material, I’m hooked on the flexible harmonic drive characteristics of this version.
It was a smart move for Sebatron to spinoff a unit dedicated to micromanaging the level of tube flavour imparted on sounds
OPEN UP THE VALVES
Sebatron use handpicked modern JJ’s valves to keep quality predictable and high. You can, of course, swap the 12AT7s out for a different brand, or dig into some NOS Mullards to vary the tonal signature of the preamps. It’s as easy as popping the hood and wriggling the tube out of its socket. If you want any kind of similarities across your channels though, you’re going to want to buy some matched stock. The 12AT7 has a gain factor of around 60, compared to the 12AX7’s gain factor of 100. Every tube circuit is built around the tube it’s designed for, but a 12AT7 will usually sacrifice gain for a smoother response. It’s still able to add harmonics to the sound when in open loop mode, but it typically won’t crunch and compress like a driven 12AX7. Definitely don’t swap in a 12AX7 for the existing tube. The unit does get quite warm, so it’s best to give it breathing space. I didn’t notice any adverse effects on the cleanliness of the preamp with it running for full days of tracking. It’s a well-built device, though Sebatron has moved away from a completely screen printed front panel, to a screwed on version. It doesn’t look quite as nice, but I still like the cream look. As well as the EQ and gain circuitry it’s got all the bits you need in a workhorse preamp; switchable +48V phantom power, phase flip, and a signal indicator LED. There’s no other metering, but it has loads of head room so you won’t overload the input. Anyway, driving the unit is a big part of the charm. As far as connections go, Sebatron has gone out of its way to make things easy. There are four balanced mic inputs on the rear via XLR, and a 1/4-inch DI input for each channel on the front panel. This goes directly to the plate of the valve, so while you can use either input to process line level signals, Sebatron recommends plugging in via the DI socket. On the output side, you can come out at line level via the XLR sockets or separate 1/4-inch outputs, which can handle either balanced TRS or unbalanced cables. Very handy if you’re lugging the unit around and don’t have the right cables. SPECTRUM OF SOUND
I’ve been eager to get my hands on one of these units for a while. It’s Australian-designed and made, and I’ve only heard good things. It hasn’t disappointed, the VMP Quad Plus is
very clean when operating in Normal mode, with a solid representation of every source. Like any preamp, it’s a matter of suiting the source, but there’s a lot of sources it does suit. On vocals, the slight bit of compression from adding harmonics helps them both come forward into focus while immediately bedding them into the track. It helped the vocals feel like they belonged. I did a few recordings where I passively split the output of a Shure SM7 into the VMP Quad Plus and the preamps on a Focusrite Red 8Pre. It’s Focusrite’s flagship interface and no slouch when it comes to the analogue input side. In this mode, the vocal compression was less pronounced than when comparing the recordings made with a condenser. Probably because the less sensitive SM7 does a bit of levelling out itself. I slapped it up on drums in the classic crush mic position above the kick. It’s a great spot to get a quick balanced mono kit sound. In this instance I was recording a pretty dry drum sound, with a heavily dampened snare in that ’70s close-sound vein. Without the heavy compression I’d usually employ, the Focusrite had slightly more presence to the snare sound, which came across a little cardboard-y in this instance. The Sebatron, on the other hand, contained the snare a bit more while bringing out the woody body of the close sound. It sounded a bit spongier and perfect for the overall drum sound. While just right for that sound, I’d prefer something a tad more snappy for ‘big’ rock drums. While there are caveats for using the preamps to record a stereo configuration — lack of linearity in open loop mode, and non-repeatable controls — in practise it works fine for non-critical applications. The controls have enough markings around them to get you in the ballpark, and with a critical ear to your centre position, it’s fine. It’s still best to keep it in the normal position to avoid any drift in amplitude and non-linearities; all the things negative feedback keeps under control. I did, however, use it to amplify the signal of a stereo passive ribbon in a Blumlein configuration, and had to use it in Open Loop mode. In that mode I found it harder to keep the mic’s stereo centre pointed at the vocal than it was to line up the two preamp gains. When using the preamps to add
character to a line level source you’ll have to line up the two channels with some pink noise. In this case, stepped controls would have been indispensable so you don’t have to constantly recalibrate whenever you make a change to the gain structure. The variation in colour between the two extremes of clean and full harmonic colouration is relatively dramatic. Recording two passes of an acoustic guitar — one in normal negative feedback mode with gain control set to 0dB and the output control adjusted to match, the other in open loop with the gain all the way up and output control managing the level into my DAW — gave me two quite distinct sounds. The clean tone was everything I usually hear from the guitar, plenty of low end from the dreadnaught shape, but a bit flat overall. The gained up version added a lot more excitement to the mid range of the sound. All in all, it was a much better rendition of the strummed guitar without getting boxy. The DI input is another very flexible tonal tool. I initially tracked some bass through both the Focusrite and Sebatron and was surprised to hear how similar there reproduced the low end. They both sounded full and tight. After a bit more experimenting with some guitar tracks into some plug-in amp simulation I soon realised the Focusrite sounds slightly saturated, which was a nice touch for an interface DI. The Sebatron could easily match that tone, or drive much harder for a very forward sound, which added some very usable twang and presence. On the other end, in Normal mode, the input was wide-ranging and glassy. SEBATRON SPINOFF
I really dig what Sebatron is doing. The VMP Quad Plus is not only a great idea, but it’s well executed. Character is everything in music making today, so it was a smart move for Sebatron to spinoff a unit dedicated to micro-managing the level of tube flavour imparted on sounds. All of the things a lot of manufacturers miss, like phase flip, or robust connections, are all the things that makes the VMP Quad Plus even easier to recommend. Whether you don’t have any outboard preamps or have an entire rack of them, there’s a spot in there for the sort of versatile tube character the VMP Quad Plus can impart. AT 55
REVIEW
ZOOM LIVETRAK L-12
Portable Multi-track Recorder Zoom has brought the portastudio form factor back from being an anachronism by turning it into ‘all the things’. Review: Mark Davie
As soon as the LiveTrak L-12 was shelled from its packaging, the office immediately transitioned into a battle over portastudio pasts. Age is the real winner in this game, distinguished by the format you first started recording on — whether rolls of tapes, cassettes, ZIP disks or SD cards — but somewhere along the way most recordists have touched some device with a portastudio form factor. If you haven’t, Zoom now has you covered. FIVE IN ONE
NEED TO KNOW
While a hard disk portastudio isn’t exactly top of my wishlist when it comes to review gear, having just struggled through a firmware update
PRICE Expect to pay $999 CONTACT Dynamic Music: (02) 9939 1299 or info@dynamicmusic.com.au
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on a $4000 audio interface, the little selfcontained Zoom was suddenly looking a whole lot more attractive. You really have to dig deep to understand the LiveTrak; while it looks like a ‘portastudio’, it’s actually a ‘five-in-one’ contraption. Firstly, there’s the portastudio bit. Record 12 channels (eight mono, two stereo) direct to an onboard SD card. Great. Then there’s mode two; you can use it as a live console. The third approach is to combine those two functions to record a live show or rehearsal. There’s also the option to use it as a straight up audio interface for your computer. Lastly, it has a class compliant mode so you can use it as an interface for your iOS device.
PROS Five-in-one live/recording interface Record to SD card, computer & iOS Simple EQ & compression controls
CONS Scene/fader recall a bit clumsy 96k operation limited
Technically, there’s a sixth function, which is as a huge SD card reader, but let’s not dwell on that. While it’s called LiveTrak, it feels like the opposite of the current crop of digital live mixers with recording functionality added on top. Rather, it feels like a portastudio you can take on the road. Getting around all these features isn’t difficult. Switching between some modes requires a reboot, but that’s typically only to shift between recording platforms; SD card, USB drive or computer. At the centre of it all is Zoom’s classic single push-knob menu system. If you’ve ever used any Zoom device from the H4 onwards, there’s not
SUMMARY Zoom’s LiveTrak L-12 brings the portastudio format back from condemned status and reboots it into a swiss army audio tool. It doubles as a mini digital live mixer, triples as a live recording device, add a computer and you’ve got an audio interface, or connect it to your iOS device. It’s typical Zoom value.
much that won’t be familiar. It’s still a right pain in the butt to rename anything, but all else is easily manageable. There’s enough inputs for a simple band setup. There are eight mic/line preamps across the top, the first two are also switchable to Hi-Z via a selector switch, which is used as a pad on the other six channels. Phantom power is switchable in groups of four. There’s 60dB of gain on each mic preamp, and the remaining two stereo channels are fixed gain line inputs. Those last two also double as stereo audio returns when in audio interface mode. ONE, TWO, ZOOM
Getting going is pretty straightforward. You just cycle each channel’s record/play arm button until it lights red, toggle the big record button, then hit play. Once you’re done, cycle each channel’s record/ play button again to light up green for playback. If you want to overdub anything or record on a vacant channel in that project, make sure you hit the overdub button first. Simply hitting the main record button again will start a fresh project. Zoom says these preamps are its best yet, better than the F4 and F8 field recorders, which Greg Simmons raved about in his review. Having followed the trajectory of Zoom’s preamps, I’ve been very impressed with the later models and found these very capable, too. Each channel has a simple one-knob compressor, which both compresses and ramps up the makeup gain. When used moderately, its slower attack is widely useable. A little bit on most tracks helped the sound come together. There’s also a central channel strip control section, which allows you to dial in tones with a mid-sweepable, three-band EQ, a high pass filter, a send for the effects engine, and pan. All of the controls have an LED ring around them, storing and recalling each channel’s setting automatically. I would have liked to see a phase flip
switch added to the EQ section. Especially given you can mix down to stereo on the unit. The effects engine has a total of 13 reverbs and three delays, with two controls that manage either time or tone, and decay or feedback. All of it is really useful; the effects engine is a lot better than something you’d find on a cheap Mackie, and the EQ cuts some nice broad shapes. SETTING THE SCENE
Back at the beginning, when I was prying open the packaging, there was the unreal promise I had a mind-bending bargain in my hands. Specifically due to the six fader banks and a scene recall feature. I plugged it in and held my breath. Could there possibly be flying faders in a humble portastudio? Would they snap into life? … Nope. Sure, it’s got LEDs down the side that let you know your last fader setting, but it’s one of those situations where you have to manually recall your last position before moving forward with your mix. It was definitely too much to ask of a $1000 device. It’s the bit I don’t love about the LiveTrak, and it’s really due to Zoom trying to pack in too much stuff, not what it’s left out. In the centre section there are two sets of buttons; one for switching fader banks, and another for scene recalls. I would rather have forgone the second of these and added one more LED-rimmed encoder for each channel. Let me explain. The LiveTrak is a small-format mixer. It won’t be used to mix the sort of gig requiring loads of pre-production and different settings for each song. Some fader rides, EQ nudges, FX send changes, and slight compression adjustments; that’s it. Also, without flying faders, scene recall is essentially useless for dialling in changes on the fly. You may as well make it another item in your menu, which it could have been. It almost makes a simple device too confusing for its intended use.
The other part, fader recall, is designed to give you discrete monitor mixes for each of the five onboard headphone amps, as well as your master mix. The problem is that while the whole LED indicator/manual pickup system works, it’s clunky, easy to get lost, and not very fast to operate. What would have been better is one more LED-rimmed encoder per channel that let you flip between monitor sends, keeping your last settings intact. It’s a workflow issue, but at least Zoom has given you the five headphone amps to begin with. It means Zoom’s version of the portastudio can cover your Nebraska-esque demos or a full ensemble live recording. While the LiveTrak is able to record in 96k, it’s limited to recording onto SD cards. It will also disable send FX, EQs and overdubbing capabilities. You have all the functions available to you when working 24-bit/48k. You can mix down your session to the stereo master, and export your session to a USB drive, too. It also seemed that the only way I could bounce a project and continue to work on it was to export the bounced file to USB, then reimport it onto a stereo channel in a new project. There didn’t seem to be a way to do it internally, though this workaround takes less than a minute. Way quicker and simpler than lining up tape machines. UNDER THE FACE OF IT
With the LiveTrak, Zoom is yet again pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in a given format for a price. If you’re in the market for a sub-$1000, multi-channel audio interface, you’re also buying a mini live mixer and a standalone recorder. Any musician/recordist is going to get lots of use out of it, and it will perfectly suit those looking to branch out into podcasting, or livestreaming to YouTube.
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REVIEW
GOOSE & MOOSE Microphone Booster & FX Loop Pedals
Whether you just want to turn it up, or put some crazy effects on your microphone, these are the gadgets for you. Review: Mark Davie
NEED TO KNOW
Aussie inventor, John Sansom, has built a gadget that can either be the joy or bane of a sound guy. His device puts volume control in the hands, or at the feet, of the musician. Specifically anyone performing into a mic — singers, saxophonists, brass players, violinists, John is looking out for you. The phantom-powered Goose (opposite of duck… audio joke) is a little box with one simple job. Step on the switch and it will ‘goose’ your signal by 5dB for solos. For sound engineers worried about the ramifications of giving performers access to a boost button, John has built in a couple of failsafes to keep the mix under control. Firstly, the Goose’s switch is momentary, not latching. In the same way a talkback switch keeps backseat criticism out of the headphone mix, a performer has to be standing on the switch for the boost to stay in effect. Secondly, it’s only 5dB. It’s a nice middle ground between giving it a bump without taking over. While the Goose is a one trick bird, Samson has a bigger brute in the stable, the Moose. With the simple addition of an effects loop designed to integrate pedals into your signal, the Moose is a pretty flexible animal.
PRICE Goose: $209 Moose: $249 CONTACT www.hearmysolo.com
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PROS Problem solver Moose is a very flexible signal router Low current draw, for lots of channels
The Moose uses a TL072 JFET-input op amp as a low noise means of boosting the signal that also won’t draw much current. There are also two transformers — one for input and the other for the output — in mu-metal cans and wrapped in blankets to stop them rattling around inside the chassis. In all, there’s about 25dB of gain available on the control to help match your source. Running a sensitive condenser through it will only require minimum gain, while dynamic mics will typically require more, depending on the source. On the other hand, you can drive the gain to hit the output transformer and saturate the signal. It can get pretty overdriven, which can be a handy effect if you just want a little overdrive box for microphones in your studio. On the other hand, it would be nice to have an indication of when the signal is clean and when it’s overdriven. There’s a whole host of ways you can use the effects loop to your advantage. When simply hooking up pedals into the send/return loop, they’re wired in series, the result is a fully wet signal — unless you have a dry/wet mix control on your pedal. Hooking up my Boss RE-20 and Line6 DL4 to add delay to vocals was a pretty neat
CONS No signal 'over' indicator
trick. It’s a great way for performers to control their delay throws and reverb effects live. It doesn’t stop there, you can add any overdrive, fuzz or distortion pedals, or loop in some modulation, the range of sonic possibilities is as big as your pedal collection. Because the send output is continuously sending, you can also use it to send to a parallel processing chain (without returning to the Moose) while maintaining a clean signal through the main XLR output. You can also use the send to feed a monitor speaker while the main output goes to FOH, or even link a Y-splitter into your FX loop to send an effected signal to your monitors. Lastly, you can simply use the Moose as a DI for active instruments, keyboards, or passive guitars and basses with pedals before the Moose to lower the impedance. While the Goose is really a live animal, the Moose would live happily on stage or in the studio. For not much money you’re opening up a whole slew of sonic possibilities your microphones were never privy to. You can stop guitars hogging all the cool sounds on your pedal board; grab a Moose and get way more out of those pedals than ever before.
SUMMARY While the Goose is a one-trick bird, the Moose will not only boost your signal for solos, but incorporates a pedal-friendly FX loop into the mix. Now you can put effects on your vocals with ease. Plus, its gain control means you can saturate the output transformer to add an ‘animal’ edge to your sound
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REVIEW
TASCAM DR-10L Portable Recorder Review: Preshan John
Sometimes the tiniest gear has the biggest weight on its shoulders. Like capturing a bride’s speech, or the sound of a car blowing up for a movie. Tascam knows it, and has built the tiny DR-10L beltpack recorder to happily record high-quality audio all day as an unflappable failsafe. Constructed out of durable plastic, the DR-10L weighs just 63g. Its single-line screen is tiny yet sufficiently visible in bright light. Here, you can access all menu functions using four buttons. Most of its 19 menu items are one ‘layer’ deep to avoid clicking endlessly through a labyrinth of options. Easily access functions like a low cut filter, five-step mic gain (auto level option too), limiter, file type, power saver, etc. When not in a menu the Up and Down buttons cycle through your list of recordings and Enter becomes the Play/Pause button. The DRAT 60
10L is the type of device that a four-year-old could figure out. The screw-down 3.5mm input socket suits Sennheiser’s lavalier mic line-up but the included clip-on lapel model is very respectable, soundwise. A stereo 3.5mm output lets you monitor the source signal using headphones; with volume controlled by +/- buttons on the side. The sidemounted sliding switch goes one direction to power on/off and the other to initiate or stop recording. Audio is recorded at resolutions up to 24-bit/48k in WAV format and the USB B port makes for easy file transferring. The DR-10L finds its niche as an audio insurance device. Clip it to an actor or presenter during a shoot as the ultimate backup to your wireless audio system or main mics. The same goes for wedding
cinematographers who could easily hide the small recorder in the groom’s jacket pocket and leave it recording all day. 10 hours battery life on a single AAA battery isn’t shabby and the microSD slot leaves you free to insert one as large as you like, ensuring worry-free extended recording. Tascam has thrown in handy features to bolster the DR-10L’s reliability. One such feature saves files before the battery runs out. A level limiter gives you a little peace of mind against an unexpected surge of audio. The dual recording feature retains a lower gain version of your recording as a safety net for sudden blasts of SPL. The Tascam DR-10L is a perfect companion for mobile journalists and filmmakers, if not as your main mic, certainly as a backup.
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LAST WORD with
Herve Le Guil
Herve Le Guil owns and manages La Fabrique, an amazing residential recording studio located in the south of France. La Fabrique plays host to the renowned Mixing With The Masters program. Herve was interviewed by Allon Silove.
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I studied audio in the late ’70s before working in a Paris recording studio headed by a famous French producer, Dominique Blanc-Francard — give him a song and he’d make it a hit! After my experience with Dominique I started my own studio in a big old cinema on the outskirts of Paris. It was a beautiful place that I mostly renovated myself. Acoustically it sounded amazing and it helped me record hundreds of jazz albums. I did that up until 1999, when I had the invitation to take over what is now Studio La Fabrique. La Fabrique looks like a chateau but it was built as a textiles factory — hence the name. Generations of people lived here as workers. It has an amazing history. It’s a big place. The building alone is 3500sqm. I became aware of the property because a famous music critic lived here (Armand Panigel) and had amassed an enormous collection of classical music, films and books. After his passing in the mid ’90s it became clear that someone needed to adopt the collection and save it from destruction. I moved my family from Paris to the south of France to save the collection and the building. This was while I still had the Paris recording studio. As anyone who’s run a studio knows, it’s hard enough to run one when you live in it, let alone when you live in another part of the country! I began to renovate the place. It was a huge, huge undertaking. All the while I was thinking about turning it into a recording studio. At the time I was also the French distributor of a number of audio equipment brands, including Tube-Tech, Microtech Gefell, Grace Design and Blue Sky studio monitors. It got to a point, with all my stock of audio equipment, that I had most of the pieces to fit out a recording studio. All I needed was a mixing console. Luck and serendipity brought the Neve 88R and I together. It’s a large console. We didn’t know if it would be too large. And we didn’t know how suitable it would be for the space. The music collection space is large — it’s 100sqm and full of records and books. It’s such an unusual space that it was really tough to predict how suitable it would be as a control room. Finally we took the plunge. My son, Maxime and I, installed the console in the middle of the collection. Turned out to be the best thing we could have done. The acoustics are fantastic. Normally it shouldn’t be possible to work in this size of a control room but it’s great to work in. I don’t do a lot of engineering and mixing now but working on the most recent Gypsy Kings album, this room constantly amazed me — it’s so good and so reliable… mixes translate so well.
In my opinion the Neve 88R is one of the best console ever made. It’s a much better console for tracking than an SSL. While in Paris I was the first studio to install an SSL G+, so I know that console well. I’m a huge fan of the SSL preamp, but it’s not the same as the Neve. The Neve 88R preamp’s headroom is just incredible. Overload it 20dB or more and it still sounds really good. We run the Mixing With The Masters program from La Fabrique. It’s grown to become very successful. It was actually the idea of my son Maxime and his business associate Victor, both are top class audio engineers. After Maxime finished his studies in 2009, he sought out an internship somewhere. He wrote many letters, including one to Michael Brauer. Michael, loved the letter and after meeting Maxime offered him an internship at Electric Lady studios. Michael was impressed with Maxime and offered to assist him with securing paid work. Maxime returned to La Fabrique first and an idea came to him, which was effectively the model of Mixing With The Masters [MWTM], where working studio engineers and producers have the opportunity to spend time with studio professionals such as Michael Brauer, who are at the top of their game. La Fabrique has 20 bedrooms, so we can accommodate some 12 to 14 ‘students’ at a time and they can immerse themselves in the week-long program. MWTM was immediately a big hit, not a bad accomplishment for a couple of young guys in their mid twenties. Since the first sessions with Michael Brauer we’ve had the likes of Chris and Tom Lord-Alge, Andrew Scheps, Joe Chiccarelli, Jacquire King and many others through the doors. What does the future hold for La Fabrique? I just want to welcome as many people from the world of music creation as we can — writing, composing, playing, recording and producing. It’s a magical place and artists just seem to love it. We had one artist who returned after two years to book La Fabrique for his wedding! It’s that kind of place.
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