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The RØDECaster Pro is designed to simplify podcast production whilst delivering superb audio quality. It supports up to four presenters/guests, as well as offering easy connection to phone, USB and Bluetooth™ sources. Eight programmable pads offer instant playback of sound effects and jingles. Podcasts can be recorded directly to microSD™ card, or to a computer via USB. Ease of use is assured, with intuitive controls and large full-colour touchscreen.
The Cho oice off Toda ay’s Crea ative Ge ene erattion.™ AT 2
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AudioTechnology magazine (ISSN 1440-2432) is published by Alchemedia Publishing Pty Ltd (ABN 34 074 431 628). Contact +61 3 5331 4949 info@alchemedia.com.au www.audiotechnology.com PO Box 295, Ballarat VIC 3353, Australia.
All material in this magazine is copyright Š 2019 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. 25/06/2019.
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COVER STORY
Ocean Alley: Engineer Callum Howell Interview
18
ISSUE 59 CONTENTS
14
Studio Focus, Red Moon Studios
4 Shows, 4000 Miles — Keeping Consistency
26
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Zoom F8n Field Recorder AT 6
Budget Spatial Audio Yamaha Shows You How
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antelopeaudio.com AT 7
GENERAL NEWS
DPA’S SWAN SONG Previewed at Infocomm, DPA announces the 4097 CORE Supercardioid Choir Microphone. Ideal for house of worship and choir applications, the 4097 provides the same sonic qualities as the brand’s d:vote CORE 4099 Instrument Microphone but was designed specifically to capture dynamic choir sound, with both wireless or wired configurations. This has all the standard DPA trappings, their flat off-axis supercardioid pattern, a natural frequency response and very high-gain-before-feedback. These features hope to make choirs sound natural from all angles, and allows engineers to use multiple mics and mix and
blend different parts of the group without fighting artifacts created by uneven mic pattern pick-up. Configured with a MicroDot connector and a DPA adapter for wired or wireless, the 4097 allows the user to go wireless and be super flexible in mic placement, and the CORE by DPA amplifier tech lowers distortion and expands dynamic range. Three different shock mounts are included to minimise stage rumble. Australian Distributor: www.ambertech.com.au
WTF-5!?!? Teaming up with legendary classical sound engineer Tony Faulkner, Røde have developed the TF-5, a matched pair that’s they say sets a new standard in small diaphragm condenser microphones. The TF-5 is designed for maximum airiness and clarity, while retaining a warmth that makes it uniquely versatile. The sonic matching and tone of the TF-5 makes it perfect for recording detailed and natural-sounding performances when used as a stereo pair, or for capturing the nuances of a soloist
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when used as a spot mic. The pair feature a brand new capsule, precision-engineered to sub-micron tolerances, a very low noise floor of 14dbA, and a high-quality stereo bar for easy rigging.“The TF-5 is designed to be no-compromise,” says Mr. Faulkner, “very very low noise, very broad bandwidth, very clean. Something which can be modified if you choose, but if you leave it, it sounds natural and clean and musical.”
MORE NEWS AT www.audiotechnology.com.au
Wired or Wireless
Superior audio performance with best-in-class wireless flexibility & ease of use Premium Dynamics & Premium Condensers Electro-Voice ND (76, 86, 96) premium dynamic and the new RE (420, 520) premium condenser handheld microphones are available in wired or wireless models. So whether you like the freedom of a wireless mic, or prefer a cabled version, we can provide the consistent sound you like, no matter the stage size. In addition to the new complete RE3 Wireless Systems, transmitters and wireless heads are available as separate items. A bodypack system and several capsule options for instrument and lavalier/headworn mic applications are also part of the new RE3 range.
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MORE NEWS AT www.audiotechnology.com.au
The RE3 has just landed. Dare to compare the price & sound quality!
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LIVE NEWS
AUGMENTING REALITY The all new A-Series from d&b audiotechnik introduces the augmented array: a fresh loudspeaker design concept which combines variable splay angles, two approaches to acoustic optimisation, and advanced waveguide design, to provide a system with the adaptability of a point source cluster as well as the control options of a line array. The system comprises the AL60 and AL90 loudspeakers, with ALi60 and ALi90 offering cabinets designed specifically for permanent installation. Up to four AL60/AL90 and ALi60/ALi90 loudspeakers can be flown
either in vertical or horizontal arrays and variable splay angles between adjacent cabinets can be set in five degree increments from -10-degree to +10-degrees. In addition, Midrange Directivity Control gets mids distributed evenly regardless of splay angle. All boxes share a passive 2-way design with 1.4-inch HF unit with a 3-inch diaphragm mounted to a wave shaping device, and two 10-inch neodymium LF drivers. Australian Distributor: www.nationalaudio.com.au
MFX MULTI-FUNCTION MONITOR MADNESS Infocomm saw Electro-Voice launch two new passive coaxial monitors, the MFX-12MC and MFX-15MC, both designed to give rentals companies maximum bang-for-their-buck. These 12- and 15-inch multi-function monitors can be both lowprofile stage wedges or portable short-throw FOH full-range boxes. They feature high-output coaxially aligned HF and LF transducers matched with a new Constant-Directivity waveguide and crossover design. Coverage in monitor orientation is 40-degrees horizontal x 60-degrees vertical, giving a stable sound
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image to performers when off-axis, while also keeping a low profile for audience sight lines and stage clutter. Power wise, the 12-inch model can handle 400 W continuous, and the 15-inch 500 W. When put up on tripods or subwoofer poles using the integrated pole cup, the units can be used for main/full-range sound reinforcement, with accessories available for temporary or permanent installation using the four M10 suspension points. Australian Distributor: www.jands.com.au
MORE NEWS AT www.audiotechnology.com.au
MORE NEWS AT www.audiotechnology.com.au
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SOFTWARE NEWS
SYNERGY CORE ANYTHING BUT DISCRETE Put Antelope Audio’s pristine AD/DA conversion and massive effects processing power on your desktop with the Discrete 4 Synergy Core audio interface. A hot-rodded upgrade to Antelope’s popular Discrete 4 audio interface, the Discrete 4 Synergy Core gives you dual DSP chips plus an FPGA processor working in harmony to run Antelope’s expansive library of effects, as well as 3rd-party effects joining the Synergy Core platform. These beefy chips free up your CPU’s grunt to run big synths and samplers. The Antelope Audio Discrete 4 Synergy Core interface offers 4
console-grade discrete mic preamps, 14 total inputs and 16 outputs, including 4 headphone outs, renowned Antelope digital clocking, and both Thunderbolt and USB connectivity for your Mac or PC. Best of all, the Discrete 4 Synergy Core comes with $3,000+ of Antelope’s top effects plug-ins included free, so you can record, monitor, mix, and master your projects with world-class sound from start to finish. Australian Distributor: www.turramusic.com.au
NEW MAC PRO Apple’s new cheesegrater, sorry, Mac Pro, has been big news this month, with the silver tower raising eyebrows from punters and cheddars alike. Coming as a big surprise to no-one, this box comes with specs augmenting the price from exorbitantly pricey through to daylight robbery, with it starting at $6000 USD for a measly sounding 8-core Intel Xeon W, 32GB of memory and just 256GB of SSD storage. These specs don’t scream 128-track Pro Tools sessions, but sounds more than
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capable for most audio workflows (with a heap of extra hard drive space of course). If you are planning to go big on your track count, the Mac Pro can be specced up with a whopping 1.5TB of superfast ECC RAM, and comes packing 8 PCIe slots for HDX cards and the like, 10Gb ethernet, and a passive cooling solution which would be super quiet for studio use. Sound Gouda-nough for you? We’ll find out later this year.
MORE NEWS AT www.audiotechnology.com.au
MORE NEWS AT www.audiotechnology.com.au
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At Red Moon Studios, every day is different. Hip hop with Illy, tracking a record live with The Cat Empire or John Butler, or composing an award-winning TV series, it’s no different for multi-talented Jan Skubiszewski. Story: Mark Davie
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Peter Weir’s film Picnic at Hanging Rock is one of those monolithic, unimpeachable icons of Australian creativity. Whether you like it or not, it doesn’t matter. It’s become so legendary that like the rock itself, it’s unmovable, fixed into the landscape of Australian art. So what do you do when you’re asked to mess with the untouchable? When Jan Skubiszewski was commissioned to compose the music for a Foxtel series of the same name, he was wondering a similar thing. The pan pipes theme of the original were ringing crystal clear in his mind. They were as integral to Weir’s chilling weirdness as the dubbed voices and soft focus of the wedding veil draped over the camera lens. But… don’t tell anyone… he never really liked the score. Naturally, he was relieved when a single stipulation came through from the producers: steer clear of pan pipes. BETWEEN A ROCK & A GORGEOUS PLACE
Jan Skubiszewski is pretty familiar with the actual Hanging Rock. It’s close enough to his home at the doorstep of the Macedon Ranges that his young family goes on the odd walk there. He’s also familiar with well-known Australian scores. His father, Cezary, has been composing for decades, writing scores for films like Red Dog, The Sapphires, and Two Hands (which he co-wrote with Jan). He and Jan collaborated on the score for Picnic at Hanging Rock, too. Jan’s route to Hanging Rock, both physically and musically, has not been without its serendipitous moments. Growing up in the Otways, he always had a desire to see his kids experience the beauty of nature, but it was always going to take the right place. Then a couple of years ago he was invited to attend an APRA SongHubs session at Jon Hume’s studio in South Gisborne. Originally a horse stable, the Hume brothers, who played together in Evermore, had converted it into a studio and residence. Jon had since bought the others out to use it as his personal space. Jan didn’t get to experience the full beauty of the property because, “it was the middle of winter” and during the SongHubs sessions he was working flat out in the studio control room. Still, it was enough of a taste of the country life for him: “I said, ‘if you ever want to sell, let me know.’ Six months later they did, so my wife and I bought it off them.” It’s now called Red Moon Studios. FINE ART OF MUSIC
Now 37, despite his father’s influence, Jan wasn’t always convinced his path would take him in a musical direction. At 19, he was actually studying Fine Arts at the VCA where he found himself gravitating towards the jazz musicians because he “thought they were a lot more fun.” Jan had learnt the craft in his father’s converted garage studio. It centred around Logic with a 32-track system. The interface was connected by SCSI leads, which would fray over time. When it was only good for eight channels, Cezary kicked it Jan’s way. Playing in bands with the VCA crowd meant he started working with producers, including Andy Baldwin, a popular producer who worked on lots of Australian records as well as for internationals
like Björk. “Andy called me once during the school holidays in about 2001 and told me. ‘I’m going up to Byron Bay to record a band. It’s going to be about three months, they’re called The Cat Empire. It’s going to be their debut record.’ We went up onto this old macadamia farm and converted a farmhouse into a studio. We recorded the record, and it went double platinum.”
after our interview, Jan was due to start a session with Illy and songwriter, Cam Bluff. “I’m writing pretty much every day at the moment,” said Jan. “Something my dad really drilled into me is to get into your creative space every day. Even if it’s just for an hour. If you get in there and scribble something, there’ll be a lot of days you don’t create great content, but it means the ONE LITTLE IDEA OR MELODY YOU CAME
HOOKED
Things will come together, but it only happens if you continually make yourself available to it. That’s just the discipline.”
On the drive home Baldwin let Jan know about an independent record label owner who was looking for an in-house songwriter/producer. It was a place called Marlin Records, owned by a Sri-Lankan born businessman, Marlon Goonawardana. “I worked a lot with Daniel Merriweather, during that time,” said Jan. “He was the same age as me. He later worked a lot with Mark Ronson, and had his own record that went to No.2 in the UK. He and I, and another friend Phrase, who was a rapper, we all just lived in the studio for a couple of years and got completely absorbed with how it all came together.” Despite telling Marlon he knew how to work the studio, Jan had no idea when he first started. “It was a Friday and I was supposed to start on Monday,” Jan recalled. “I asked if I could grab the keys over the weekend to check the lay of the land. I spent the next 48 hours with every manual open of every piece of gear, which I had no idea how to use. I didn’t know how to use a patch bay, so I was manually patching things, and calling my mentors, like Andy and Adam Rhodes, who guided me through it. By the time Monday morning came, I had the Akai MPC coming through and recording to Pro Tools, and I had a vocal chain. From there it was a case of ‘fake it until you make it’, and I got away with it. “I really thank Marlon, who bankrolled this hopeless bunch of kids and gave us the keys to a very expensive, well-kitted out studio on Greville St in Prahran, and told us to go for it.” After Marlin, Jan bought a studio in Hawthorn East off Barry Palmer from the Hunters & Collectors called Way of the Eagle Studios. As part of the sale he also bought some of the gear, including a TL Audio Tubetracker and Neve preamps. “I was there for seven or eight years in a dark cave,” Jan said. “It was an awesome studio, but there was no natural light. I’d get there in the morning, leave at night, and it would be dark and rainy. I’d feel like I wasn’t part of this world.” He had partnered up with Chris Scallan, who took over the whole studio when Jan left, turning it into more of a post-production/film house. HATS OFF
Over the years, Jan has kept his hand in a number of areas. On any given day he can draw on all facets of his production and composition background. There’s the film and television work, and he continues to play live, these days as a keys player for Dan Sultan; though along the way he started a band with Harry, from the Cat Empire, called Jackson Jackson. On the record production side he still works with The Cat Empire, and lately he’s been producing albums for John Butler, as well as an Alabama Shakes-esque soulful record for Karise Eden. Following on from his largely hip hop and pop work at Marlin, directly
UP WITH THAT WAS GOOD WILL EVENTUALLY FIND A HOME.
He bankrolled this hopeless bunch of kids and gave us the keys to a very expensive, wellkitted out studio, and told us to go for it
SCORING IN BUNCHES
Jan doesn’t draw too much of a distinction between his different jobs. “In a way, film and television composition is similar to record production,” he explained. “You’ve really got to listen to what the director’s vision is then apply your aesthetic to that. Rather than slapping your aesthetic on it and saying, ‘IT’S GOTTA BE TRAP BEATS THE WHOLE WAY!’ YOU WON’T GET VERY FAR DOING THAT. I’M PRETTY SURE YOU’LL JUST GET FIRED.”
Jan explained his process, which usually starts with a script or the first cut: “With something like Picnic at Hanging Rock, there wasn’t that much dialogue, especially in some of the earlier episodes. It’s built around this mood, and a sense of space, and mystery. Without the music or any sound designing it just looks like a bunch of girls wandering around in the bush. Often they give you a direction to steer — like ‘sad, but tense’ — then you’ll trial something. People often need to hear something to realise what they do or don’t like. It’s pretty rare they’ll write the draft off. Usually they’ll use it as a springboard to discuss the dramatic pulse or beats they want to hear. “When you all work together and get it right in the end, it’s pretty cool. The only thing we were told was to steer away from the original music, because it had this very iconic pan pipe theme. They didn’t want to just rehash that, which was good, because I wasn’t in love with the original music.” ENGINEERING BLISS
While he got into record production early on, the engineering side of the job never appealed much to Jan, “until I REALISED ENGINEERING WASN’T JUST A MEANS TO AN END, BUT WAS A COMPLETE PALETTE OF COLOUR YOU COULD INJECT INTO YOUR RECORDINGS. THEN I STARTED BLISSING OUT. I realised it was a really creative
way to make music and enhance the production.”
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Jan in his studio, and [below left] tracking John Butler in Red Moon Studios.
controller, to being an analogue console, with the flick of a button. That hybrid between analogue and digital is the perfect way for me to work.” He’s got some great gear around the room, including a collection of guitars that aren’t all his. “It’s the cool thing about owning a studio, it becomes a dumping ground for all your mates’ bits of gear their wives don’t want in their houses,” laughed Jan. “Three of these guitars are Dan Sultan’s, he used to keep a lot of his guitars here because he thought it was safer.” Some of the tasty bits include a Neumann U87, which he sends into a Neve 1073, and a mono side of the Shadow Hills Compressor for Illy’s vocals. “I used to always use the 1176 or the Retro, but then I started using the Shadow Hills and I can’t go past it,” explained Jan. “Someone can slam into it and it still sounds musical. You don’t lose all your gain. It has a great way of grabbing dynamic vocals that’s really cool.” DRUMMING UP THE COURAGE
These days Red Moon Studios is Jan’s playground. He’s often working by himself, but doesn’t resort to working in the box. It’s one of the reasons he still prefers to use Pro Tools, “because it’s more of a tape machine to me. You have to create a great sound into it”. While he’s not adverse to digital — using NI’s Session Strings and Embertone’s Intimate Strings among others — he tries to incorporate as much analogue gear and physical playing as possible. “I really love things that have elements of human calamity in them. That’s why I love my studio,” said Jan. “The SSL AWS console flips from being a DAW AT 16
When Jan found that engineering bliss later in life, he immediately started tackling his biggest fear. He’d long felt insecure about recording drums, so would farm them out to another engineer. Coming up through the hip hop beat-making scene at Marlin — where he exclusively focused on soul breaks and drum samples for years — he never quite felt other engineers delivered the colour he was after. These days it’s turned into one of his biggest engineering pursuits. “Marlin gave me an intense love of drums that weren’t clinical, generic or hi-fi sounding,” said Jan. “It was really only when I started recording them myself that I worked out how to do it with different mic techniques and different rooms. It was
the hardest thing to learn, but easily the most fun aspect to get right. “How I approach it depends on what I’m going for. Sometimes I just really like a mono overhead and often don’t mic the toms. I’ve got this old AKG D1200, it’s kind of a 57-ish mic that’s brighter. I often use it on the snare taped with an AKG C451 condenser. Then just add a kick, a mono room, and mic up the bathroom next door and I’ll just try and get a huge vibe out of that. “On the flip side, there were a couple of songs on the John Butler record where I was running out of mic stands. We were just trying everything — mics up in the ceiling, multiple overheads, all of that. In the end, the drum sound is so huge, but it’s not hifi. We were really wanting that Bonham vibe where it still feels really tough, not clinical. “Once you learn a few different setups, you can start applying them to the music you’re making. For the Karise Eden soul sound, I used a really minimal setup; mono overhead, no toms, kick, snare — a 57 through a Neve 1073 and Distressor — and some rooms. Then I’ll just really spank it with compression and get a lot of the colour from the booth. “I usually put a mic behind the drummer’s arse, or behind their head from their perspective. Because their body usually kills a bit of the sharp tops of the cymbals, you can get the snare quite explosive without having too much wash at the top end. “On previous Cat Empire records I’d done, I like the way the drums sounded, but sometimes too compressed. This time, I wanted to make them breathe, because I knew a lot of the other elements would be quite treated. In that way, it was creating a natural sound, which made way for other things to be more out there. You’ve just got to adapt to what things need.”
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FEATURE
OCEAN ALLEY Artist: Ocean Alley Album: Confidence AT 18
Baden Donegal (vocals, guitar)
Mitch Galbraith (guitar)
Angus Goodwin (lead guitar)
Nic Blom (bass)
Lach Galbraith (keyboard, vocals)
Tom O’Brien (drums)
Does anyone else think it’s strange that over two million Aussie kids voted up a song that’s not only by a ‘real’ band, but also smoulders with sleazy ’70s vibe? Confidence, by Ocean Alley, pinches wah out of the Marvin Gaye Let’s Get It On playbook and smacks of Lionel Richie/Commodore’s Easy, yet took out the number one spot on this year’s Triple J Hottest 100 countdown (along with three other Ocean Alley songs in the top 100). I guess it is all about confidence… baby! Great musicians, tracking live, minimal editing, nailing it within a few takes… it’s not what you’d expect, but isn’t it great that something funky and weird has come out on top this year. “It’s nice to see the band thing coming back,” agreed Ocean Alley’s engineer, Callum Howell. “It’s also nice, because we don’t have an overproduced sound. Don’t get me wrong, I love that when it’s done right, like Sticky Fingers’ Land of Pleasure, which is one of my favourite records, but Ocean Alley sounds very much like a band.”
because there was so much added in post. They’re adamantly against playing with tracks or a click. I’m sure they could do it, but it would suck the fun out of it for them.” CONFIDENCE START
Confidence arrived in the same way a lot of Ocean Alley songs do, said Howell. “It was just a live jam, at about 10 o’clock at night. Lach started playing that wah-y keys sound, which is just a patch he found on the Korg SV-1. Everyone was asking, ‘What’s that?’ Then Baden came in with the line ‘It’s all about confidence baby!’ We looked at each other and knew we were onto something. Then everyone had it stuck in their heads for about two weeks, which is how we knew it was going to be catchy.” After toying around with adding other sections to the basic tune, they decided to let it ride on the strength of the hook loop. While the song comes off as heavily ’70s-inspired, Howell says it’s mostly because of Terry’s drumming style. Aesthetically, they don’t
HOWELL LONG
Howell has been a long-time associate of Ocean Alley, and is now both their recording and mixing engineer, as well as their FOH engineer when they’re on the road. If you’ve heard Ocean Alley since their In Purple EP in 2015, then it’s been filtered through the ears and fingers of Howell. Howell went to uni at JMC and started handling the in-house sound component of a music school in Crows Nest as a 19-year old. He worked around a bunch of studios, even doing tape transfers at 301, met the guys from Ocean Alley and eventually recorded that second EP at the now defunct Palmgrove Studios. “Everyone’s been learning together as we’ve gone,” said Howell. They’ve now recorded an EP and two albums together — including their latest, Chiaroscuro — and when I catch up with Howell, he’s just back from six days at Rockinghorse Studios in Byron with the band. Originally, the focus was on recording everything live as a band, explained Howell. “But the way they work, where half of the songs are written on a Tuesday and recorded on a Wednesday, means tracking everything live isn’t practical because we end up changing parts.” So while everything is set up and ready to go in a recording session, it’s more to jam out the ideas, before laying down beds and layering it up as they go. The reason it still sounds so live, is simple, said Callum, “They’re great musicians, because they came up as a live band. You can’t really pay for that experience. You tend to have the take within three or four attempts, and there’s minimal editing.” Because they come from a live background, overdubs are kept to a minimum. “When we’re working in the studio, we’re considering if it’s possible to translate it live,” said Howell. “If they can’t do it live, they don’t want to do it. I’m with them on that, it’s important to be able to bring a song into the world as it was heard on the record. It’s always disappointing when it doesn’t match up
They’re great musicians, because they came up as a live band. You tend to have the take within three or four attempts, and there’s minimal editing
TAKING IT LIVE Callum Howell: “We tour a Digico SD11 at the moment. I have a Waves server as well, all controlled off a laptop. I bring my little pedalboard (Boss RE-20 sandwiched between a reamp device and a DI). I used to be on larger format consoles — SD8 and SD10s. Then we did a European run where I was on an SD11 the whole time and that allowed me to get my whole show down to one page. “It’s nice to have everything within arm’s reach. My delays are off by my right foot, there’s 12 faders on the surface and my laptop is right next to it. We’ve got a great stage crew, too, so our show is super consistent. We’ve finally managed to get it to the point where we can do a festival and I’m not pulling my hair out for the first 30 minutes. “I’ve got a combo page with my drum group, bass group, the individual keyboards, three guitar groups (we dual mic all the guitar amps), then the vocals, and backing vocal group. I typically do the vocal processing on the groups so I can take the show into smaller venues without worrying about having heaps of compression in a wedge if I’m mixing monitors as well. Lastly, I have a tap delay fader control so I can pull it down if it gets wild, and a master fader. I can basically stay on that page the entire gig.” AT 19
If they can’t do it live, they don’t want to do it
get too heavy into mimicking the sounds of the era. “We’re aware of them and it occasionally gets spoken about, but we’re not shooting for a throwback ’70s sound,” said Howell. “We try not to think about anything else other than what suits the song.” Because they’re writing and recording almost simultaneously, Howell spends a lot of time getting the tone right to begin with, “moving mics around until it can fit in the mix without me having to do too much to it. It’s a better way to work for all of us, because we have a better idea of how it’s going to come out while tracking.” For Confidence, that meant asking Nic to play a Jazz bass instead of his usual P Bass. “He hates his Jazz bass, because he thinks it’s too clicky,” said Howell. “But we needed some grit, sizzle and finger noise on that tone. As for miking it, it was a Neumann U87 on the amp, and a DI.” Keeping with his philosophy of not chasing a particular aesthetic, rather than relying on a single ribbon mic for a crushed tone for the drums, a la Daptones, Howell employs a fairly standard multimic drum setup: Coles ribbons on overheads, Shure SM57s on snare, Josephson E22s on toms, an AKG D12 on kick in, a Rode K2 on kick out and some room mics. His concession to a more vintage tone is “we mainly try and get something going in the
room sounds to glue the tracks/drums together. It probably lends itself to that ’70s aesthetic. Otherwise, it’s just heaps of delay on the vocals… all the time.” BOSS OF DELAY
He uses a bunch of reverb and delays: typically a gated Waves RVerb for drums — H-Verb and RVerb are his go-tos, and there’s plenty of UAD’s EMT plate on the record as well as a touch of the Bricasti M7 for vocals. The guitar reverb usually comes off a pedal or amp spring reverb. “Then I might add a little short room reverb around it to put it in a space,” said Howell. “The only things that get serious delay or reverb treatment are drums and vocals. There’s a lot of ambience on the vocals.” His go-to delay is a physical Boss RE-20 pedal — which emulates a Roland Space Echo tape delay. “I have it in a pedal setup with a reamp box and a DI that I use for live and in the studio. Often it’s just to get the ideas down, and then half the time, they end up staying there. “I like to get things off the surface and within arm’s reach. Things that keep the ideas going, that you can grab quickly during a moment of inspiration is super important. There’s nothing worse than having an idea then having to wait while you patch something in.” That goes for live as well, explained Howell. “I like to always have the feedback knob available. Especially for the overseas tours — when we’re walking into different venues with different consoles — it allows that extra bit of consistency to get it right wherever we go. As you can imagine, a set without delays in it is pretty dry.”
HOTTEST 100 VOTING STATS 2,758,584 votes Most common age: 18 60% aged 24 and under 80% aged under 30 AT 20
Back in the studio, in a similar way to how delays become their own character in dub, the RE-20 acts as a link between lead singer, Baden, and Howell. “We’ll typically have it on while tracking,” said Howell. “A lot of time it’s just something quick and fluttery on the pedal. I’ll often be tapping along, speeding it up and slowing it down for certain sections. We play off each other in that sense. He’ll hear something and work with it, or I’ll change the delay to match where he’s going. In terms of the big throws, that’s typically something I work out in my own time.” AUTOMATED SUCCESS
With most of the sounds locked in during tracking, it frees up Howell to put lots of movement into the mix — with level and space — just like he does live. “In a lot of songs, their parts will take on very different roles throughout the song. At the start they might be in a lead role, then they might drop back to an ambient swell for much of the song, before coming up for another bit,” he said. “So I use a lot of automation in Pro Tools — especially with delay times, cutting things off and the occasional cheeky incidental reverb.” Taking out top spot on Triple J’s Hottest 100 put Ocean Alley in the same company as Kendrick Lamar and Flume. It’s a big deal in Australian music, but for Howell it was just great to get recognition for the years of work they’ve put in together. “It was amazing for everyone, because this was the first time we’d all been really happy with something we’d done together — both the engineering and musicality. Having that validated was really special for everyone.”
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FEATURE
Yamaha Australia wanted to prove the average venue can get into spatial audio for the price of a conventional PA. So it built a system to prove it. Story: Mark Davie
It wasn’t perfect conditions; outdoors on a sweltering 40-degree day, with the slatted roof of Melbourne’s M Pavilion the only respite. Nevertheless, it’s the proving ground for Yamaha’s cobbled together object-based spatial audio system and their claims that it’s possible to build one anywhere — even in punishing conditions — for the price of a conventional PA system, and with readily available parts. “It’s the next thing,” was Simon Tait’s matter-offact summarisation of why he, Mick Hughes and the rest of Yamaha Australia’s pro audio division decided to try the DIY approach. “Stereo is a format that has served us well since the ’60s, but as a presentation canvas, it’s 60 f**king years old! It’s been done.” OBJECT OF THE EXERCISE
Yamaha isn’t new to the spatial audio game. Its assisted reverb product, called AFC (Active Field Control), has been around since 1985. It’s similar to Meyer Sound’s Constellation in that it can AT 22
artificially change the acoustics of a room with lots of hardware and processing grunt. Lately, the focus for spatial audio has shifted to incorporating object-based positioning. Whether it’s flying sounds overhead or simply positioning them relative to where they are onstage, it’s become the next problem to solve. With a few projected AFC installs on the cards, the conversation at Yamaha Australia naturally turned to how the team could implement real-time live rendering of object-based sources in those venues as well. There are a few speaker-agnostic options, like Barco’s Iosono and Astro Spatial Audio, which still operate on a hardware rendering engine. Flux::’s SPAT Revolution requires the least overhead, as a software-specific solution. Still, the Yamaha crew wanted to go as low-cost as possible. Not as a diss, but to make the point that it’s an approachable topic for the average venue who might have previously thought it to be out of reach. “We know it can be done at the
budget level a normal venue operates at. We built one, it was really simple and it cost way south of $50,000,” explained Tait. “You’re using lower wattage transducers, just more of them. “We thought it would be an interesting project to do for the audio community, but there was a huge vacuum of information and working systems out there. We went looking around for open source equivalents and found Sound Scape Renderer, then built a prototype system in the office meeting room and it worked really well. We could place guitar amps and other sources wherever we wanted. It was a revelation, because we’d heard spatial systems before that hadn’t been very convincing. They just sounded like multi-channel surround.” With a proof of concept, the team thought they should put on a show. It is, after all, about providing a new way of experiencing music. “The artists are the ones who put food on the table, so we thought let’s put on a show with the widest variety of artists we can. Then put them in a rehearsal room for two weeks and see what they come up with.”
WAVEFIELD SYNTHESIS
To make sense of the spatial system, you have to get a handle on what the end result will achieve. For this particular show, there was no overhead fandanglery, or even surround elements. The setup of MPavilion just wouldn’t allow it. Instead, the focus was on building an immersive Wavefield Synthesis rig that could give the illusion that the sound of the PA was matching up perfectly with the position of the musician. Why not just pan it, you ask? Well, stereo panning doesn’t work like that. The image might be maintained for one specific point in the audience, but you can never maintain that perspective across all punters. Wavefield Synthesis is different, it helps your ears locate an object to that spot no matter where you’re standing. The rub is that if everything goes according to plan, you shouldn’t notice it’s working. It should just sound incredibly natural; like the PA isn’t even working at all. That was exactly the impression I got when sitting there waiting for New Palm Court Orchestra to start. Tait was quickly sound checking the chamber ensemble, and as each instrument went from acoustic to amplified, the only difference was in level. There was no sensation of the sound coming from a speaker, let alone being farmed out to the left and right. Big success! 3 KEY VARIABLES
There are three key variables to think about when designing a Wavefield Synthesis rig: The size of the area you’re trying to cover, the number of speakers you have at your disposal, and the distance the listener is going to be from the array. The rule of thumb is is that the minimum distance between the punter and the closest speaker should be no less than the distance between two adjacent speakers. The closer the speakers are together, the higher the frequency you can render objects at. In a situation where the audience member might be a metre from the closest loudspeaker, you need to therefore make the interval between speakers less than a metre. In an arena, they can be spaced further apart because the audience is likewise further away. The speaker arrays can simply be arranged in a line across a stage, or completely surrounding the audience for a fully immersive experience. In this case, Yamaha set up a relaxed L-shape with the apex at the centre of stage. Tait used the Yamaha emblem to space each speaker 600mm apart. The reason for the tight spacing was that the array was doubling as foldback for the artists, and some were right up against it. At that proximity, objects were being rendered accurately up to around 1.2kHz. “As you walk back, two things happen,” explained Tait, digging into the science of perception. “The ability for you to perceive frequencies higher than that increases, but the vector-based panning element becomes the localisation. At 4kHz, you’ve got all these speakers producing 4kHz, but your ears perceive the front of the speaker that hits you first with that sound because the other ones are lesser in amplitude. “It turns out your ears are quite forgiving of that phenomenon. If you can properly render a
it. It depends on the size of your stage — an arena stage might have the guitar amps eight metres from the drum kit, accumulating 20ms in time of flight — but here, anything above 8-10ms would have started to be noticeable. We got the entire roundtrip system latency down to 6ms in the end, and with audio stability.”
wavefront within those critical speech frequencies, like 1kHz, then beyond that your ears perceive the wavefront at that frequency but also an amplituderelated directionality from that sound source. The associated delays are also in-phase, so your ear forgives it and locates the sound. “Overall, with more loudspeakers, you’ll get a stronger image, but there comes a point where it kind of doesn’t matter.” What Tait it saying is that he could have used far less speakers if the double bass player wasn’t literally standing a metre from the array.
MORE OBJECTS, LESS SPACE
The PC was running Soundscape Renderer, open source software from GitHub. “It allowed us to automate the movements of objects over time. We synced up timecode with the performers’ kit over MIDI, then used a VST plug-in written for Soundscape Renderer inside Nuendo to read the timecode and run automation in time with it.” While it’s tempting to turn every possible source into an object, Tait said it becomes pretty obvious that’s a bad idea. “The number of sound objects is limited to how cluttered the GUI gets,” he explained. “You could conceivably get 32 objects out of the CL1; 24 mixes and another eight matrixes. Early on, I loaded up every instance of a 32-channel live recording I had as objects. It becomes unmanageable. Especially if you want to move and place things. “You’re better off busing the drums and everything that has a built-in spatial element to stereo. A guitar amp should be a single object. A larger instrument like a grand piano should be two objects at the most, spaced by a small amount. Backing vocals, stereo at most. “The renderer we were using has an Android app, so if you want, you can bring a tablet around
THE SYSTEM: LATENCY AS RELIGION
You can follow along in Figure 1, for a break down of the system in a conceptual manner, and compare it with the actual system in Figure 2. All the analogue inputs were routed into the Yamaha CL1 via the Rio racks, while any digital signals from the artist’s DAW were tapped using Dante Virtual Soundcard. Tait mixed on the CL1 in a similar way to a monitor console, creating 18 mixes that were then sent to a PC via Dante. They used a PC tower because the entire ‘religion’ with this system was latency. While Dante PCIe-R card drivers are available for Windows and Mac, PCIe slots aren’t a feature of Macs any longer. “DVS imposes a latency of 4ms, whereas the PCIe card allows you to get the latency down to 0.25ms,” explained Tait as to why the PCIe pathway was important. “The whole roundtrip latency had to be low because artists were performing live with
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CONCEPTUAL SIGNAL FLOW — YAMAHA/MPAVILION ‘Space & Sometimes Movement’ spatial rig
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into the WiFi zone, and touch and move objects around. In much the same way the VST plug-in tells objects to move over TCP. SPEAKS DANTE
Out of Soundscape Renderer, the final step was a Yamaha MRX7-D (a 64 x 64 Dante matrix) as master EQ, gain and limiting for overall system management. The outputs were sent back out to the 24 Yamaha DZR10 top boxes via the same Rio racks via analogue. Tait also stacked a pair of DXS18XLF subs at the array apex to provide the bottom octave below 50Hz. Ideally, they would have used all Dante-equipped versions of the speaker, but the Dante versions are only a few months old and Yamaha only had a dozen that weren’t already sold off. “Rather than mix analogue and Dante top boxes — the small difference in conversion might affect the rendering,” figured Tait, “it had to be either all analogue, or all Dante. So we ran into the analogue inputs of the Dante-equipped boxes.” SPACE VS MOVEMENT
Yamaha specifically chose a variety of artists for the show — starting with the drum, bass and guitar avant-garde of Turret Truck, followed by the New Palm Court Orchestra acoustic chamber ensemble. OK EG’s electronic set and LAPKAT’s art DJ-ing opened up the mix for plenty of movement, Cookin’ on 3 Burners mixed robust live performance with pre-recorded stems, and the event was capped off by a bit of Spoonbill eccentricity. Throughout the show, artists used the system to varying effect. Some kept it simply as a localisation tool, others went wild auto-panning objects throughout the field. “What we found in this whole discourse is that space is more important than movement,” said Tait. “The most important achievement these types of Wavefield Synthesis rigs gives us is not the ability to swing the hi-hat around at a million miles an hour. That overuse does no service to the artistic intent. The more important element is localisation. You have an amplified product a large audience can experience, but not restricted to hearing it through a left/right window. It’s a more aesthetically believable and comfortable listening experience.” AT 24
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THE GLUE
Another tip Tait had was to create a ‘Glue’ stem; basically ‘everything everywhere’. “Spoonbill [the last performer] was throwing stereo stems hard left and hard right, and it worked a treat. Balancing it all, he had his groove stems like kicks and bass running through the ‘Glue’ stem. “You had to have some things everywhere. Otherwise you get a bass groove coming from an object. Time alignment is so important to groove. If that object is physically displaced from other things, for some audience members it’s going to be ahead, for others, it’s going to be behind. With that established, then the ornaments become the objects.” TIMING ISSUES & PHANTOM SOURCES
As a system engineer, designing a spatial audio system presents a new set of challenges. The first is changing the way you think about sub timing. In short, says Tait, “there’s literally no point in timing your subs. It’s not unimportant, it’s just impossible. What are you going to time them to? You’re moving sources around in space, so the alignment with the sub becomes irrelevant. “The answer to that is using top boxes with the lowest possible crossover point. If you can use top boxes that are good down to about 50 or 60Hz, that’s your best bet. We were crossing over those subs at 50Hz, because the DZR10s were pretty good down to there.” Tait says that while you can do a simple frontal system, it’s preferential to have the array wrap around the audience, and even better if it remains as one unbroken ring. Tait: “You need to render the side, just to try and complete the wavefield synthesis wave formation. When you break the array — either to the extreme left or right — you introduce artefacts, which is just inescapable physics. The reason is, if you want to synthesise a wave coming from a point just to the left of the end of the array. Some loudspeakers within the array have to fire first, then the ones at the very end of the array fire a little bit later. If you’re standing inside the array, instead of perceiving the properly synthesised wave, your ears might localise the speaker that fires first.”
UPSIDES TO BE GAINED
On the upside, there’s generally more gain before feedback available in a system like this explained Tait: “It becomes a totally different formula, evidenced by the fact that for Cookin’ on 3 Burners we had a full band with drum kit, guitar amps, and a screaming Leslie cabinet, and a singer who could hear herself perfectly. And that was all running through the PA coming from behind them. “If you have a gain before feedback issue, it’s just a matter of moving the object a little bit away, so you’ve still got the same SPL reaching the audience, and the performer still gets everything they need.” AT A VENUE NEAR YOU
Tait says the learning curve shouldn’t be a turn off: “I’ve immersed myself in it for a few months so I’ve become familiar with it; but the amount of skill required is akin to setting up a Q-Sys, or Crestron, or big concert PA. Anyone that can do that, can do this. The time has come where the cost of everything is low enough where you should be able to get someone clue-y to get the software working and get a proper spatial system.” With readily available tools, Yamaha proved it doesn’t take a team of acoustical engineers and software programmers to build a spatial audio system; and that it doesn’t have to be bankrolled by an arena tour budget. “We want to see venues and rehearsal studios that are putting a left/right line array — that probably shouldn’t anyway — cost up a spatial system,” said Tait. “It’s going to use many more, but less expensive drivers and amp channels. You can do a lot more with it, and even simulate a stereo PA system… if you want to.”
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COLUMN
4 Days, 4 Shows, 4000 Miles Liam Clifford, JMC alumnus and boss of Howlaround Entertainment, tells how to maintain consistency across crazy fly dates. Column: Liam Clifford
I always open tour-routing emails with a mixture of trepidation and excitement. This December when I got the dates for Elle King’s string of back-to-back Christmas radio shows, I immediately went into attack mode. Getting consistency across this crazy schedule was going to take some figuring out. First, we were heading 1000 miles west from the Great Lakes to the middle of the country, then scooting down south to Florida, before returning to pretty much where we came from for a final date in Chicago. Meanwhile, the four dates would include three of the main touring food groups — large clubs, an arena and an openair amphitheatre. Keeping consistency on and off stage with varying gear, an ever-changing venue type and size, with little to no sound checks is always going to be a challenge. Adding a rather intense travel schedule of late nights and early mornings, plus the looming threat of winter storms across the USA, and this run was looking tough. Thankfully, the travel gods smiled on us; we managed to avoid any major delay and the airlines didn’t lose any of our fly kit. SWAT-STYLE FLY KIT
In the grand scheme of touring, our fly kit isn’t enormous. We only carried 23 pieces on this leg, with most of it being backline items. I’m a firm believer in making sure it’s right on stage before putting a microphone in front of it. The number one priority is making sure the band has everything they need to feel comfortable. We travelled with all of our guitars, pedal boards, snares, cymbals, as well as tech and production work cases for on-theroad repairs. We would then advance local backline and production to spec, or as close as we could get. We’re able to keep the backline consistent
every day with the exception of the drum kit which flip flopped between a C&C or a vintage Ludwig. The most variability tends to occur in the quality of the guitar amps, Leslie cabinets and Wurlitzers. Thankfully, our amazing backline tech ensured all the local gear was up to spec and sounding spot on before we put it on stage. On the production side, we aimed to maintain consistency across mic choices, IEM units and consoles. Unfortunately, it’s not always possible to keep gear the same every day. We opted for fairly generic mic choices, like Shure SM57s on guitars, a Beta98AMP for the Leslie, and SM58s for vocals, with the exception of Elle’s vocal, for which we carried our own wired Shure KSM8.
in and sound check schedule of our regular tour. The audio vendor for this show was Clearwing Productions and we were able to get everything to our spec. Console choices were Digico front and back, with an SD10 handling FOH and an SD5 at the monitor position; with a rack of Shure PSM1000 IEM systems working flawlessly. We had just come off a tour performing in large clubs and small theatres using Digico SD9 consoles, so my monitor show file transferred over nicely. We really didn’t have to change too much from the tour mixes.
SHOW
SHOW
THE RAVE HALL — MILWAUKEE, WI
1ST BANK CENTRE — DENVER, CO
Day one for us was a headline radio show. It was the perfect kick off, allowing us to make sure we were set up for the tour. We were able to treat it as a standard headline show, implementing the load
Denver was a fresh challenge. Not only were we swapping our theatre show for an arena radio show, we also had to swap our comfy Digico SD files for Avid Profile files. Thankfully, we were
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MIX TIPS When faced with these kinds of fly dates these are some tips and rules I try to follow: • Keep mic choice simple or carry your own mic kit. If you’re using local microphones each day try and keep your choices to something that the majority of audio companies will carry. • Get it right at the source. If something isn’t sounding right when you bring your gain up, check the source. Move the microphone around, tune the drum kit or have the guitarist adjust their tone. • Keep your mix simple. Once your sound source is right you should only need to high pass filter, use some light compression and then balance faders. Diving into a mess of bussing, plug-ins and effects can only complicate your mix, especially in monitor world. When you have limited time stick to the basics. • When mixing monitors remember you’re mixing for the performers not yourself. Even if it sounds weird to you, if they’re happy on stage you should be happy.
able to keep all the microphone choices relatively consistent with the previous night. It kept some level of consistency when mixing on the different sounding consoles. Our greatest challenge on this show was purely time and space. Being a larger radio show our build and sound check times were short, and we were sharing the stage deck with quite a number of other bands. To keep our changeovers tight we would delegate our roles; our FOH engineer dealt with the stage patch, which I would jump onto once I had finished setting risers and musician positioning.
To help keep today running smoothly I had completed a relatively in-depth backline advance so that a local tech from the backline vendor could pre-set and build on our risers. We were also back to our trusty SD5s, and thankfully, with this being another large radio show I was the only engineer on the house console. We were able to mic up in the loading dock and run out our multi-pins prior to changeover. This allowed us a rather lengthy line check from the load dock without disrupting what was happening on the stage with the other artists.
SHOW
SHOW
MIDFLORIDA CREDIT UNION AMPITHEATRE — TAMPA, FL
ARAGON BALLROOM — CHICAGO, IL
Today was going to be the long haul of these four days, with an early lobby call of 4am to make our flight. We had a very limited window to get out of Denver, land in Tampa and then get to site to build and line check. AT 28
Today we were back up north in an amazing large theatre. Aragon ballroom has an incredible history and packs in 5000 punters. This was a smaller radio show with only three artists on the bill, and Elle King as direct support. Today’s unique challenge was not being able to
pre-set risers and wheel them on stage. The way the venue and backstage is laid made it impossible. Our crew had to go back to grass roots and build backline, mic and patch at the same time on stage. With the assistance of some great local crew this was relatively painless. Nevertheless, we did come across a grounding or power loading issue with the local backline. After a few well-placed ground lifts and moving some circuits around we were able to eliminate it from the show. We found ourselves back on Avid Profiles and with a rack of PSM1000s were sounding nice and consistent from the previous couple of shows.
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REVIEW
NATIVE INSTRUMENTS S88 Mk II
Hammer-Action MIDI Controller Review: Preshan John
PRICE $1399 CONTACT CMI Music & Audio: (03) 9315 2244 or www.cmi.com.au
For anyone who’s invested in the Native Instruments ecosystem, the king of keyboards is undoubtedly the new S88 MkII. It’s NI’s answer to many a musician’s demand for a full-sized hammer-action keyboard controller that plays like a grown-up piano. Like its smaller unweighted synth action siblings, the S88 MkII is a purpose-built dashboard for driving NKS-compatible instruments via the Komplete Kontrol platform. You’ll see from our review of the S49 MkII in Issue 125 that the S Series boards are a dream to use thanks to the blazingly fast workflow and those beautiful colour screens. Deep DAW control is available for Maschine, Logic ProX, Ableton Live, GarageBand and more. AT 30
The primary point of difference on the S88 MkII is the weighted Fatar keybed which promises an improvement over the S88 MkI. It certainly feels ‘posh’ with a soft, weighty and refined touch. Key travel is noticeably shallow and the action is firm but smooth. Firing up The Gentleman in Komplete Kontrol (a delightful Native Instruments upright piano) I had my first proper bash at the S88 MkII. The sensation is entirely different when you’re hearing what your fingers are doing. The degree of responsiveness and delicacy in each key strike makes up for the relatively short travel and the resistance of each key is very natural. In fact, through headphones or nice monitors, the combination didn’t fall
much short of delivering all the tactile nuances of playing a real piano. Of course, while the action is fantastic for piano instruments, it’s not the best for others. Playing Hammond organ slides or technical lead lines feels a bit wrong, for no other reason than it’s designed to work best for piano. Weighing up the options, it seems to me that the S88 MkII is near on the perfect controller if you’re seeking a piano-like experience above all else. You’re also getting loads of NKS control and a comprehensive Komplete 12 Select software bundle with 14 instruments — including The Gentleman, to get instant enjoyment out of those keys.
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REVIEW
WARM AUDIO WA273-EQ Dual Channel Strip Does the Warm Audio 1073 clone sound like the original? We put it up against a pair of vintage Neves to find out. Review: Mark Davie
NEED TO KNOW
Every time you see a review comparing a Neve clone to a vintage 1073, the reviewers typically give a similar disclaimer. It goes something along the lines of having used, hired, borrowed, or stolen a number of vintage 1073s over the years, and no two sounding the same. To try and dodge that issue, we hired a pair of vintage 1073s from Kaj Dalstrom at Sing Sing. Sure, these two came from the same generation, but having survived almost 50 years, they undoubtedly have a completely different service history. Nonetheless, these were a pair of well-preserved, studio-bound, looked-after vintage 1073s. And they proved themselves to be fairly well matched. In the other corner we had the Warm Audio WA273-EQ. It’s basically two channels of 1073 clone stacked into a 2U housing.
PRICE $2210 CONTACT Studio Connections: (03) 9416 8097 or enquiries@studioconnections.com.au
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HONING THE CLONE
Warm Audio makes a lot of claims regarding the authenticity of its reproduction. Firstly, that it has commissioned custom transformers from Carnhill that are supposedly faithful reproductions of the early transformers (presumably the first Marinair 10468 input transformers). Your level of care probably depends on how much of the folklore surrounding these transformers you’ve engaged with and whether you believe Carnhill’s VTB9045 (the model number they moved to) continues to test the same as the originals. Some say not, including AMS Neve, which moved away from Carnhill some years ago, for its 1073. It’s necessary for Warm (or any clone manufacturer for that matter) to claim exactness here, because in many people’s minds the
PROS Fully discrete 1073 circuit Affordable dual channel strip More flexibility than original 1073
CONS Front panel legending can be awkward Feel of pots hit ’n’ miss
transformers are where the magic happens. On the build side, these aren’t replicas of a 1073 down to the trace level. While they still use discrete components, unlike AMS’ newer surface-mount 1073DPX models, the boards are not copies of the originals. I asked Joe Malone — who has worked on countless Neves and makes his own JLM Audio Neve-like preamps — to take a cursory glance at the guts of the 273-EQ to tell me what he could see. Joe was on the fence about the transformers; while his tests of the Carnhills have never lined up with the original Marinairs, he hadn’t had a go at these specific ones, so couldn’t give a verdict. Either way, they’d be a far cry closer than some of the Chinese transformers you can find some clones.
SUMMARY The Warm Audio 73EQ doesn’t sound exactly like a vintage Neve, but it shouldn’t have to match up perfectly with a 50-year old unit. This is a new, wellmade clone of the famed circuit, and it gives you much more than the vintage design ever did.
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Speaking of Chinese, the units are hand wired, but likely in a Chinese factory; which is not necessarily a bad thing. Inside, there’s a bunch of PCBs interconnected by ribbon cabling. On the one hand, multiple boards does make serviceability easier, like the original. The downside is it’s easier to make wiring mistakes when you don’t have a full PCB, or when they don’t slot in like the pinned cards of the original. At the end of the day, if all functions test fine, it should be fine, but you have to know it’s desired behaviour in the first place. Other than potential solder and connector issues, one future issue Joe did touch on was the small size of the heatsinks attached to the 24V regulator, and their potential for long-term failure. It would have been better for them to be bolted to the case. Other than that though, “not a bad attempt at a Neve channel,” he said.
six EQ knobs, some had a quality feel with decent resistance, others felt a little elastic, while one was very loose. They were not a match for the original knobs. Likewise, the click of the main switches felt more clingy and the reissue Marconi knobs don’t feel like the real thing. Still, they do a good job at their function, it’s just hard to imagine them holding the same level of quality in 50 years time when they start out inferior. One cost-cutting measure common to clones is to label the chassis instead of the face of the button. It’s understandable, but is a little problematic on the 273-EQ. There are six buttons for each channel, in two rows of three. For some reason Warm printed the legending for the top row above the buttons, and the rest below the second row. If you stick it in a rack, you have to bend right over below the buttons to read the bottom set of labels. If they’d simply printed the labels above both rows of buttons, it would be far less of an issue.
It was hard to fault the solo vocal through the 273-EQ, which had more presence and air than the vintage Neve
WARMING IT UP
Over the last couple of months of use, the Warm Audio 273-EQ has been faultless. The internal power supply doesn’t induce any noticeable noise, and makes it simple to rack. All the buttons have a nice deep travel, and all the dual concentric switch pots are from Blore Edwards, a UK manufacturer that makes Neve-specific switches and pots. The switches all felt good, but the pots were inconsistent. Even over a small sample size of AT 34
JUST ONE TRANSFORMER
Insofar as similarities go, the Warm Audio 273-EQ has every single feature of the original. The only major circuit difference is the inclusion of only one mic input transformer — not separate stages for mic and line, with separate transformers to match. Instead, the signal is simply padded by up
Angus Legg is a super talented soulful, singersongwriter; think Ed Sheeran, Jason Mark, John Mayer. He’s an absolute professional, and a privilege to work with. You can follow him most places @angusleggmusic
to -20dB for line level inputs. It does alter the gain staging and switch labelling a bit. Traditionally, the line level section would travel from -20dB to +10dB. It then has an off switch, so you don’t get a thump when switching between the two sources. Likewise, there’s another off position above +50dB to stop another thump occurring when the third amplifier is switched into the path. Like most clones, the Warm Audio saves a bit of dosh by ditching the separate line input stage and simply switching in a pad. In this case, a rotary pad that extends past the 0 setting on the switch. I doubt most people looking at buying the 273 EQ are going to miss the separate stage. Especially considering everything else is there: A full 80dB of gain for mic inputs, high pass filter with four selectable frequencies, three band switchable EQ, and a phase flip. FREQUENT FIXTURES
There are plenty of features you don’t get on a vintage 80 series 1073 module that you do on the Warm Audio 273-EQ. On the 1073 EQ, the low band has switchable frequencies of 35, 60, 110 and 220Hz, while the mid band switches between 360 and 700Hz, and 1.6, 3.2, 4.8 and 7.2kHz. The high band is typically set at a fixed frequency of 12kHz. The Warm Audio EQ adds some extra choice up here,
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BE YOUR OWN JUDGE You can listen to the unmixed 96k recordings on our Soundcloud account. There is just some mild compression on the mix bus to bring up the level of both recordings. Go to: soundcloud.com/audiotechnology/sets/warmaudio-273-eq-vs-vintage-neve-1073 to compare.
allowing you to switch between 10, 12 and 16kHz. While the original only gave you buttons for phase flip and switching the EQ in and out of the circuit, the Warm Audio version also allows you to instantiate an insert, switch a DI into the circuit and change the turns ratio on the transformer, which adjusts the input impedance. This function is marked as Tone. With the switch out, microphones will see an impedance of 1200Ω, for a more natural open sound. Pressing in Tone changes that impedance to 300Ω, which can sound thicker and punchier with dynamic and ribbon mics. Condenser microphones could care less. The DI is a great advantage. It makes the 273EQ a really well-rounded channel strip. Especially for those looking to make a leap in quality from the front end of their audio interface. HOW DOES IT SOUND?
We set up both the Neve 1073s and the Warm 273-EQ in a side-by-side test, and asked talented singer-songwriter Angus Legg to come down and play a tune. Preamp shootouts are always tough. Unlike converter tests, it’s incredibly hard to conduct them exactly. Split the signal and there’s always a tradeoff; transformers added, loss of level, or even frying an input with phantom power. Rather than trying to make it overly scientific, we like to test preamps by taking a song and layering a bunch of tracks up so AT 36
the character of the gear starts to shine through. We did this with Angus — recording his acoustic guitar and vocals, then layering a bunch of harmonies, shaker, and trying to play around the out-of-tune octaves of an upright piano to get a stereo track. We had both channels of each preamp ready to go into the line inputs of an Antelope Audio interface. After each take, we’d simply swap the mic leads over and go again. The gain matching between both was pretty spot on with the Warm at full fader. COMPARE THE PAIRS
With everything tracked, Preshan did a rough mix and copied the processing between the tracks. He then did the rounds with a couple of unnamed stereo tracks to see what we all liked better. Unlike a high-end converter comparison, where the devil is in the infinitesimal, largely indistinguishable detail. The differences were darn obvious. It simply came down to a matter of, which would I choose? On first listen, one was very forward. It had a lot more presence to it, and just generally sounded more punchy. The other undoubtedly felt more glued together, but the acoustic had a boominess I felt was distracting You can probably tell where this is going. After a couple of listens I went with the first one, which turned out to be the Warm Audio 273-EQ. Quelle horreur! While I couldn’t get the acoustic boom out of my head, others were far more entranced by the glue of the Neve and picked that. Comparisons are not without perils, and mixing one side first was probably an unfair play. There’s just no way to mix one and translate it to the other. EQ to compensate for a lack of body in one, would only accentuate the boominess in another recording. Listening back to the original recordings, that acoustic boominess in the Neve mix translated to body that just wasn’t there in the Warm Audio
tracks. In particular, when Angus occasionally plucked the lowest string on his guitar, it resonated satisfyingly deep and long in the Neve recording. On the Warm Audio recording, it didn’t have that resounding low end. The resonance of the low string matched the length of other strings, giving it a more compressed, controlled sound. In a mix, that can really help, but it also paints you into a bit more of a corner. On the vocal side. It was hard to fault the solo vocal through the 273-EQ, which had more presence and air than the vintage Neve. It sounded pre-polished. However, when pushed, that presence could get a bit much and started to tax a little after layering three backing vocals. The Neve sounded more laid back on the solo vocal, and never felt overbearing when stacked. RING TO IT
This is where the clone wars get interesting. Unlike the vintage Neve, the 273-EQ just sounds more modern. It was as if the harmonics were more obvious in the upper ranges than in the low end. Overall, it came across more modern mix ready, at the expense of extended low end and a darker tonality that can help to glue a track together. Functionally, the 273-EQ far exceeds the vintage Neve. For one, you don’t have to carry it around in an 80 series rack. Everything you need for high quality stereo recording is in the one box. If you’re desperate for the Warm Audio 273-EQ to be a dead ringer for a vintage Neve… well, it’s not. That’s not a bad thing. It’s just different; it’s a very capable, great-sounding preamp, that’s wellbuilt, has a gorgeous EQ on it, the convenience of a built-in DI and 80dB of clean gain. All for a very keen price. If you’re looking for a different, Neve-ish sound to add to your arsenal, then this is a solid bet. If you’re low on quality channel strips and were looking around for a classic design to kick off your setup, then this is a great place to start.
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REVIEW
ZOOM F8N
Location Sound Recorder Zoom’s run of releasing tasty ‘n’-spec updates of its products doesn’t disappoint with its top field recorder. Review: Stephan Schütze
NEED TO KNOW
I want to start this review by responding to some statements I have heard about Zoom devices. They often get labelled as ‘cheap’ alternatives, or only suitable for amateurs, with critics citing various issues from noisy preamps to build quality and just a general feeling that Zoom products are not suitable for professionals. I have been recording sound for 20 years, my libraries are used by many of the biggest producers in the world and yes, a significant number of those sounds were captured on Zoom devices. I am not going to claim that a $1000 Zoom recorder is in the same league as a $6000 Nagra or Sound Devices machine, but if you are obsessing about the ticket price of equipment then I would suggest you are focusing on the wrong thing. When I recorded a series of rare aircraft, including a Spitfire, Kittyhawk and oddities
PRICE $1799 CONTACT Dynamic Music: (02) 9939 1299 or info@dynamicmusic.com.au
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such as the Australian-designed Boomerang and Wirraway, I was able to record the interior of these planes for one reason only; because a Zoom H1 was small enough for a pilot to safely and happily carry it in a leg pocket while flying. The ‘best’ piece of equipment for any job is the one that lets you get the job done. I have strapped a Zoom H4n onto the bottom of a skateboard, I have attached various Zoom devices to cars and motorbikes, and there is a Zoom H2n which fell off a boat and found its final resting place at the bottom of a lake in Melbourne. I prize the quality of a recording very highly and so I am of course very interested in how the preamps on the F8n perform; but I place a high value on the ability to capture the sounds needed, and that often demands a variety of devices for a host of situations. For over 10 years I have found many reasons to use Zoom devices.
PROS Advanced look-ahead limiters Able to noiselessly capture superquiet sources Built-in dual-channel ’safety’ recording Automix function makes podcasting a breeze
CONS Input layout in ‘opposite’ direction
SIZE WISE
Before I even switched the device on, I was impressed by its size. I pulled out my H4 to compare. It was the first Zoom device I purchased — over 10 years ago — and frankly, there’s not a huge difference in size between the two. Remarkable, considering the significant difference in capabilities. For the Zoom F8n I did something I rarely do; I started by reading the manual. Usually I prefer to learn by doing, but I wanted to be thorough with this device and make sure I understood what it was capable of and how the manufacturer thinks it should be used. It revealed a solution to a problem I’d been manually solving for 20 years. Back then, when I hired my first portable recorder (a portable DAT) the very helpful woman providing the
SUMMARY The F8n adds automixing, look-ahead limiting, better clocking and more to an already feature- and value-packed recorder. Its functionality makes it more than just a field recorder, but a recorder for almost any application.
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gear showed me a useful trick. By using a Y splitter cable, I could take a mono mic signal and split it into two channels with different input levels so if a sudden loud sound occurred, I would have a second ‘safety’ copy of the sound at a lower level to avoid peaking. The F8n has this functionality built-in. A single mic can have its signal duplicated onto a second channel at a lower input level. This is bloody brilliant and would save me a fortune in splitter cables and messing around with extra gear. The more time I spent with the Zoom F8n the more its available functions and their accessibility, became its strongest feature. It has a clear, easy-touse interface; one of the best I’ve used on a device of this type. The colour display makes discerning information at a glance much easier and the simple rotary dial with built-in push button makes backand-forth navigation quick and intuitive. Obviously recording quality is critical, but as a tool to be used the F8n appears flexible and reliable. BACKWARDS LAYOUT
There is one thing that bugged me about the F8n: The layout of the mic inputs is ‘wrong’. While it might seem like a small thing, for me, it’s a design flaw that could have been easily avoided. At one point during testing I could not figure out why I was getting no signal. Everything was on, all the routing was correct, phantom power was activated, yet still no sound. I finally tracked down the problem. I had plugged my mic into Input 4 instead of Input 1. Huh? Why would I do that, and why does it matter to this review? The F8n has four inputs on each side, 1-4 on the left and 5-8 on the right. The issue is how Zoom has arranged these inputs. On every device I have used if you turn the device so you are looking directly at the left-hand side, they read 1, 2, 3, 4 from left to right. The F8n has reversed this. To me, this is a little like a car manufacturer flipping the brake and accelerator pedals around, you just don’t do it. There is a long-term established layout that everyone else seems to follow, so why change it? My Sound Devices 788 follows left to right, Nagra do, Tascam do, etc. Much of my work over the years has been opportunistic. Oftentimes I’m driving or walking, sometimes not prepared for recording at all, when an event happens that I want to record. Manufacturers include pre-record buffers for exactly this type of scenario. In those instances, I have to respond quickly in order to capture the sound, reverting to habits built up over time. The reverse numbering scheme could make me miss a take. While in some ways this is trivial, it would also have been trivial for Zoom to have gotten it right in the first place. AUTOMIX UPS THE FUNCTIONS
The F8n was preceded by the F8. You can read Greg Simmons review online for a comprehensive look at the clocking and sound of the original device. The clocking tested very well then, but Zoom claims to have improved accuracy in the timecode when the F8n is powered off. Working in nonAT 40
linear audio for most of my career I have seldom used timecode functions, but it will be a welcome upgrade for many users. In the time since the original landed, Zoom updated the design a little, but most of the work was done inside the box. With a host of new features. The Automix function is one of those. It’s incredibly useful for podcast producers or anyone using multiple microphones for different sources. With Automix on, the F8n detects signal input from each channel and attenuates unused mic channels. This reduces unwanted noise as well as reducing the chances of feedback. The real benefit is in the time saved during post-production. I could unload all my channels and clean them up for my podcast, but the Automix feature does this at recording time and cuts the time required to get your content out to your audience. It’s significant because the sound quality gap for hardware is continually decreasing, and users are looking at what other advantages their equipment offers. Professionals in audio production are always burning the candle at both ends, so features that save us time start to look like real game changers. Other improvements on its predecessor include: a new Fader Mode view, instead of the knobs on the home screen; Digital Boost for the headphone output (up to +24dB); selectable volume curves for headphone output (I really like this one); and a maximum fader level increased from +12db to +24dB. Thankfully, with all these being software updates, they’re now available to F8 users, too. NOT A LIMITING FACTOR
A big addition to the F8n is a new set of advanced limiters. Zoom claims these provide protection against incoming signals peaking, and it seems to work as advertised. The ‘look-ahead’ limiters take advantage of the F8n’s digital architecture. By delaying the signal a few milliseconds, it can take the content directly through the mic, assess it, process it and then pass it on through the rest of the signal chain uncorrupted. Obviously, this cannot compensate for a signal too loud for your mic diaphragm to handle, but beyond that it works well. I would have loved to test it with something like gunfire sounds as the very quick changes and huge output levels would really show the effectiveness of the advanced limiters, but I spent a while whispering and then suddenly shouting into the mics and the final recordings went from very distorted with the limiter off, to strong but clear with the limiter on. This works for me. CLOCKING THE NOISE
At the other end of the spectrum was my ‘quiet place’ test — an old wind up clock miked with a Sanken CS1e in a dead quiet space. I’m always more interested in how these devices handle the softest of sounds, which the F8n did quite well. The Zoom F8n has an input gain with a range from +10dB to +75dB which is a broad range. The clock came through nice and clear, and there was still almost no unwanted noise when boosted up to 60dB. Above 65dB the noise was at a level I wouldn’t desire, and the range from 70-75dB was unusable.
Stephan Schütze has been a location recordist and sound designer for nearly 20 years. His sound libraries are used by many of the top production companies in the world and in 2018 he released the first book on audio production for new reality formats.
However, that’s less than 10% at the top end where bad noise was introduced; comparable with devices that are much more expensive than the H8n. ADDED EXTRAS
This device uses eight AA batteries, and when using alkaline batteries that is going to get pricey pretty fast. Rechargeable batteries are the way to go, and Zoom gives you the option to attach an external battery back via a Hirose connector. Having both AA and an external rechargeable battery maximises my options, especially if I’m on a remote location where a faulty built-in battery would kill the entire job. The various functions for routing allow for a variety of input setups, like the previously mentioned mono signal split into two channels. It also supports ambisonic input and even converts A-format mic signals to B-format within the device. The F8n also supports a range of recording formats, sample and bit rates up to 24-bit/192k. When I first started recording, I kept wondering why everything was distorting. Turns out the default routing is post-fader, which was simple to change when I figured it out and returned to my habit of monitoring pre-fader. You can control the F8n remotely via your mobile phone, which sounded like a brilliant idea until I read it was iOS only. It’s a pity considering the prevalence of the Android operating system. I hope those lucky iOS users are taking advantage of how useful this could be. Finally, the F8n includes a built-in slate microphone, which I think is a cool idea as it allows you to add notes while recording even when your mics might be at a distance from the recorder. This is another function I would have used over the years if I’d had it. ZOOM, ZOOM
While some manufacturers desperately flog useless features to sell a sequel product, this update to the F8 is a pleasant antidote. It’s a solid recording device with nice, quiet preamps, and the range of functionality gives it a broad user base. It can comfortably capture live musicians or concerts, record in remote places, cover jobs that need SMPTE for linear sync, or it can simply be a convenient device to use in the studio for foley or voice recording. Zoom has always crammed as much as it possibly could into its devices. Within its price point — probably even up to twice what you would pay for the F8n — I would be confident selecting this device over other available choices to get the job done.
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REVIEW
EXPRESSIVE E TOUCHÉ Creative MIDI Controller If you like to get hand-on with your sounds, then you need to take Touché’s hand surfboard out for a spin. Review: Preshan John PRICE Touché: $799 Touché SE: $499 CONTACT Expressive E: www.expressivee.com
MIDI controllers come in all shapes and sizes but I reckon you’ve never seen one like the Touché. It’s not often we get to review something that doesn’t quite fit the mould of an established product category — the last thing that came close would be ROLI’s unique family of keyboards — but it’s always fun when we get our hands on something truly fresh; like the Touché. VERY TOUCHÉ
There are two sides to getting the most from a virtual instrument. The first, of course, is the input of MIDI notes to play the instrument. The second is the input of control information to manipulate the instrument using the various MIDI CC parameters available to you. Most off-the-shelf MIDI keyboards offer control over two such parameters by way of the pitch and mod wheels. Two, however, is often insufficient for the numerous expressive controls found on today’s virtual instruments. If you can tweak more of these controls in realtime, it makes for a more articulate and colourful performance. The Touché is a solution that offers expressive control in a unique format. It makes a departure from more common ergonomics like faders, ribbon sliders or wheels. Instead, Touché is built around a single contact surface with both directional information and pressure sensitivity. The ovalshaped mahogany wooden pad forms the primary medium of expressive input and is slightly shorter than the length of my hand. The pad is sprung from underneath and rocks backward and forward, as well as sliding from left to right, each with a few centimetres of travel. Touché has a USB connection for use with a computer along with four CV outputs to hook it up to your analogue synths or modular setup. There are MIDI in and out ports, too. Expressive E’s budget version, Touché SE, comes with just a USB connection. AT 42
LIÉ
Lié is Expressive E’s control software which partners with Touché. Once installed, it’ll let you know if the connected Touché has the latest firmware and download it if not. Lié scans your drives for all of your virtual instruments and can host them individually within the software, a bit like how Kontakt hosts sample libraries. The left/right buttons at the bottom of Touché let you move through presets. With Lié you can also configure Touché’s CV and MIDI outputs and a number of mapping presets come included for various hardware synths. ARCHÉ
Early this year, Expressive E released Arché, a suite of three stringed instruments (violin, viola, cello) designed specifically for use with the Touché controller. When you load up any of the three instruments in Lié, you can assign Arché-specific control options to Touché’s physical movements — things like Bow, Vibrato Gain, Vibrato Frequency. I found Arché a great primer to get comfortable using the Touché as a performance controller. Assigning the Bow control to the Touché heel while twiddling vibrato with left/right movement
lets you rest one hand on the Touché and another on a keyboard, offering an enormous amount of dynamic expression in quite a natural-feeling manner. Tapping the surface mimics a bow striking the strings, or you can emulate long legato bowed notes by pumping the surface like it’s the bellows of an accordion. Keyswitching and button pushing becomes largely unnecessary when you have this much tonal control under your palm. The whole experience is both fun and functional. TOUCHING
Yes, Touché is unique. But how much value does it have once the novelty wears off? A lot, I say. Especially for people who care about getting the most from their virtual instruments; either on stage or in the studio. If you’re the type who’d rather input some notes with a keyboard and then draw in MIDI control automation in a more surgical manner, after the fact, Touché probably isn’t for you. On the other hand if you care about having more control options at your disposal while performing or recording — perhaps you compose for film or TV or produce music on a regular basis — then Touché offers you an extra set of tools to lay down the perfect take first go.
Introducing the
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StudioLive 32SX
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STUDIOLIVE SERIES III S MIXERS ®
©2019 All Rights Reserved, PreSonus Audio Electronics. PreSonus is a registered trademark of PreSonus Audio Electronics, Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.
StudioLive 32SC
40 mixing chanels, 26 buses, 17 faders
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REGULARS
LAST WORD The Internet is Fast Enough, Dude. Column: Greg Simmons
Greg Simmons is a writer, educator and sound recordist with a passion for travelling. He was the Founding Editor of AudioTechnology magazine, and currently enjoys exploring the many possibilities the internet and social media have to offer the audio industry. He’s also fond of writing about himself in the third person.
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April 1st 2005, 11am. I’m pushing bacon around my plate with a disinterested fork. I’d just lost years of emails, followed by my appetite. “They must be on my hard disk somewhere,” I pleaded, hoping it was a date prank. “Yes and no,” my IT buddy replied, sipping his third short black. “That’s what happens when Outlook crashes — they’re there, but they’re irretrievable. You eating that bacon?” “Nah...” It vanished in a blur of cutlery, caffeine and disgruntled seagulls. “It’s 2005, dude. The internet is fast enough. You should be on webmail...” Back at the IT workshop, I’m expressing my disdain at the clutter and clunkiness of Hotmail and Yahoo. Webmail? Urgh. “Have you heard of Gmail?” he asked. “It’s coded to be fast and light, with none of the ‘bloat’ of those others. It does this cool thing that keeps all related messages together as a conversation, and super fast searching because it’s from Google — the search engine guys. Plus they give you 1GB of free storage that’s going to get bigger over time, so you’ll never have to delete things to make room for new messages. It’s invitation only for now. Interested?” I wasn’t comfortable with the idea of storing my emails outside my computer, and yet I’d just lost them all because they were stored inside my computer. “Sure, invite me...” A moment ago I searched Gmail for my oldest message: April 1st 2005, 1:06pm. It’s from ‘Gmail Team’ and the subject line opens with “Gmail is different...” Fourteen years, six computers and 11GBs of emails later, Gmail has not lost a single message. I found the oldest one in seconds with three taps and a swipe, and I could do that from any computer anywhere in the world — as long as it’s connected to the internet and I can authenticate my identity. Welcome to cloud storage. You’ve probably been using it for years, whether you realised it or not. Last November I wrote about my transition from laptop to iPad [‘On The Go’, AT130]. This excerpt from the closing paragraph reflects the last traces of my ‘pre-cloud’ thinking: “My transition from OS X to iOS has been so successful that my Macbook Pro and hard disks now live in a storage locker in Bangkok, coming out once a month to archive recent recordings and videos.” There’s something falsely reassuring about having everything stored in tangible little boxes. I’ve got 5TB of content spread redundantly over three spinning drives. To satisfy my pedantry for collections, they’re all Seagate ‘Backup Plus’ 4TB drives with anodised aluminium finishes — one black, one red and one blue.
I’ve named them simply Black, Red and Blue, and changed their on-screen icons to represent their colours — anyone who works with multiple drives will appreciate that. After each expedition I spend ages shuffling things between them so that every audio and video file is stored on at least two of the three drives. If any one of those drives crashes I won’t lose anything, except perhaps the drive itself. When finished, each drive gets enveloped in bubblewrap and placed in a zip-up hard shell along with its USB3 cable and a bag of silica gel. I probably should use Pelican cases, but that’s another matter. Whenever I take the drives out of their storage locker I handle them like eggs, and I panic whenever I hear of floods, earthquakes or hotel fires because it reminds me that I’ve got all my eggs in one basket. Meanwhile there’s my iPad Pro; a post-‘social media’ design that is all about wireless connections, cloud storage and automatic backup. I take it with me everywhere. I’ve got 2TB on Apple’s iCloud, 1TB on Microsoft’s OneDrive and 100GB on Google Drive. That’s 3.1TB of distributed cloud storage at my fingertips as long as I’ve got a Wi-Fi connection — which is everywhere I go because the iPad Pro has a data SIM. I never worry about losing my iPad data because it’s safe and sound in huge distributed storage systems belonging to some of the Top 10 richest corporations in the world, whose wealth has been built on storing, analysing and exploiting everybody else’s data. Any event big enough to cause those corporations to lose my data, without advanced warning, will probably be so catastrophic that losing my data will be the least of my worries. Nuclear war, alien invasion, zombie apocalypse, the closing scene of Fight Club. Get the idea? I’ve got expeditions coming up that will push my total content beyond 6TB, at which point my hard disk system will need another drive to maintain its redundancy. I’m not going to buy it, because the notion of a personal hard disk archive is as dated as the word ‘dude’. The new stuff is going straight to the cloud. I’ll eventually migrate the older stuff over as well, because there’s no way that a set of mollycoddled hard disks in a storage locker can beat the reliability and global accessibility of the mass storage systems belonging to the richest corporations in the world, whose very existence relies on storing my data. It’s 2019, dude. The internet is fast enough. You should be on the cloud...
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