AudioTechnology App Issue 61

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

Regular Contributors Martin Walker Paul Tingen Brad Watts Greg Walker Andy Szikla Andrew Bencina Jason Hearn Greg Simmons Mark Woods Ewan McDonald Guy Harrison Rob Holder

Graphic Designer Daniel Howard daniel@alchemedia.com.au Advertising Philip Spencer philip@alchemedia.com.au Accounts Jaedd Asthana jaedd@alchemedia.com.au Subscriptions Sophie Spencer subscriptions@alchemedia.com.au Proofreading Andrew Bencina

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. 25/11/2019.

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COVER STORY

Analogue DAW: Analogue sensibilities in a Digital World

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ISSUE 61 CONTENTS

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Skills to Pay the Bills: Getting Your House in Order

Treat My Room: AT Reader Gets His Studio Sorted

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Zoom LiveTrak L-20 v Tascam Model 24

PMC two.two 6 Active Two-way Monitors AT 4

Inside Spectra 1964: Story Behind the Ultimate Complimiter

Shure MV88+ Video Microphone Kit

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Korg Volca Modular Synthesiser

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A V A I L A B L E

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STAGEPAS Editor App

Includes speaker cover, dolly available separately

$1,899 RRP* • Compact 12" subwoofer • 1,000W Class-D amplifier • 5-Channel Digital Mixer

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• Link two STAGEPAS 1Ks for stereo playback and set to mono-mode for a total of 6 mono inputs & 2 ST inputs • Connect your Android or iOS device via Bluetooth and playback music or mix remotely using STAGEPAS Editor

The prices set out in this advertisement are recommended retail prices (RRP) only and there is no obligation for Yamaha dealers to comply with this recommendation. *Errors and omissions excepted.

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GENERAL NEWS

LYRA: PLUG ’N’ PODCAST AKG has decided to make a move into the USB/podcast mic market with Lyra. It offers 24-bit/192k audio resolution and an innovative AKG Adaptive Capsule Array, which provides user-selectable capture modes — polar patterns to you and I. An internal self-adjusting shockmount minimises contact noise, while a built-in sound diffuser and AKG’s proprietary Internal Element Overload Prevention automatically reduces noise, eliminates pops and improves signal levels. The aforementioned ‘capture’ modes include: Front mode — for spoken word, vocals,

or close-mic’d instruments; Front & Back mode for face-toface interviews and duets; Tight Stereo mode captures audio in true stereo with discrete left and right audio, providing great separation for side-by-side interviews or panel discussions, or for recording instruments like drums or piano; while Wide Stereo mode captures audio with greater stereo separation, room ambience, and depth.

CMI: (03) 9315 2244 or www.cmi.com.au

RODE NTG5: NEXT GEN RØDE Microphones’ new NTG5 features an innovative acoustic port design that provides a superior progressive wave interference, ultra-lightweight construction, and crystal clear, broadcast-grade sound. Other key features include: Tailored frequency response and very low self-noise of 10dBA, making it well suited to location recording, professional filmmaking, and other critical recording situations. Highly directional

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supercardioid polar pattern and smooth off-axis response.

RF-bias technology and conformal coating ensure superior performance in adverse weather conditions. Comes in a complete location recording kit with windshield, pistol grip and other accessories – the NTG5 is ready to take into the field right out of the box.

MORE NEWS AT www.audiotechnology.com.au

ORIGIN IS THE NEW BLACK With SSL life-blood flowing through its signal path veins, Origin is Solid State Logic’s latest analogue console. This 32-channel beast is designed as a hybrid production studio centrepiece, the ideal analogue companion to a digital DAW workflow. With 16 buses, E Series EQ and the classic Bus Compressor, Origin breathes new life into a classic design across the whole console.

The new PureDrive mic pre inherits the clarity and purity of previous SSL Mic Pre designs, that can also switch character to a warm, harmonically rich and driven tone across mic pre gain.

The new mix bus and amp architecture delivers a very low noise floor along with heaps of headroom for a summing bus, that brings the breadth and space to mixes that engineers love from analogue summing. Balanced insert points per channel path, dedicated channel direct outputs, stem-ready 0dB fader bypass switches, and a new configurable centre section, make it perfect to adding console workflow to a modern production studio.

Amber Technology: www.ambertech.com.au

RØDE VIDEOMIC NTG The VideoMic NTG, released fresh off the back of the NTG5, is a versatile on-camera shotgun mic. Key features include: Transparent, natural and uncoloured sound. Highly directional supercardioid polar pattern and very flat frequency response.

Infinitely variable gain control, for precise output adjustment, from mic level to line level to headphone level. Auto-sensing 3.5mm output automatically switches between TRS and TRRS to accommodate both cameras (TRS) and mobile devices (TRRS) – no need for adaptor cables. USB output – turns the VideoMic NTG into a USB microphone that can record direct to a

computer, tablet, or smartphone. Headphone output – for audio monitoring (while using the USB output). Digital switching – controls high-pass filter, - 20dB pad, high frequency boost, and safety channel. dB peak warning light. Built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery provides 30+ hours of recording. Highquality Rycote Lyre shockmounting with cable management.

Lightweight (just 94g) and rugged.

Røde Microphones: info@rode.com

MORE NEWS AT www.audiotechnology.com.au

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LIVE NEWS

JBL EON ALL-IN-ONE The latest addition to the JBL Eon One range of portable PA systems, the new Eon One Compact is a highly-portable, allin-one PA system with Bluetooth that delivers high-quality sound and long battery life. Its eight-inch speaker has some of the loudest output and best bass response in its class, and the swappable, rechargeable battery lasts up to 12 hours.

Weighing around 8kg with a built-in carrying handle, the Eon One Compact is easy to take anywhere. A variety of inputs

for microphones, instruments and more, plus a four-channel mixer with onboard Lexicon effects and dbx EQ provides more flexibility. Bluetooth connectivity makes it easy to stream music and link multiple speakers, and a handy mobile app for Android and iOS provides intuitive control.

CMI: (03) 9315 2244 or www.cmi.com.au

FUTURE HERITAGE Midas and Australian distributors, NAS, used the Integrate expo in Melbourne to provide a glimpse of the highly anticipated Heritage-D digital mixer. It’s a generational step up for Midas, taking the best of today’s mixing console feature designs and adding some unique features of its own. Yes, there’s lots of processing and no shortage of I/O and bussing power — certainly way more than belies the mid-sized, 28-fader format.

Midas has spotted the big shift to outsourcing live sound effects and processing to the likes of Waves and UA, by providing a smorgasboard of desirable onboard ‘plug-ins’. There are 24

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effects slots you can fill with Midas and TC Electronic FX and processors. The UI is also innovative. The 96k desk uses machine learning to guess the instrument in each channel, and it leverages the power of the cloud to store every last skerrick of automation and show file info. Midas is keen to host all this as it will be able to collect all the mix data from every Heritage-D session — how people are using its consoles and allow that info to inform updates and future designs.

NAS: 1800 441 440 or nas.solutions

MORE NEWS AT www.audiotechnology.com.au

AUTO-TUNE SYNERGY + VOCAL FX BUNDLE

VOICES IN SYNERGY NOW WITH EVERY SYNERGY CORE INTERFACE Developed in cooperation with Antares comes the vocal effect that defined the sound of popular music forever. The Auto-Tune Synergy in combination with an additional bundle of 4 hand-picked Vocal FX (BAE 1073MP, Lang PEQ2, Opto 2A, Tubechild 670) will help you create remarkable vocal production. Modeled after their hardware originals, the Vocal FX bundle includes a legendary preamp, parametric EQ, optical compressor and a varimu compressor. For a limited time, purchase the Discrete 4 Synergy Core, Discrete 8 Synergy Core or Orion Studio Synergy Core audio interface and get Auto-Tune Synergy and the Vocal FX for FREE.

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SOFTWARE NEWS

IZOTOPE DIALOGUE MATCH iZotope’s Dialogue Match, is ‘the first tool’ to automatically learn and match the sonic character of dialogue recordings. It is also the first product to combine brand-new machine learning from iZotope with reverb technology from Exponential Audio’s product line, which was acquired by iZotope earlier this year. Rerecording mixers responsible for delivering the final sound mix for films and television programs, often need a way to quickly match dialogue from lavalier, boom mics, and ADR (Automated

Dialogue Replacement), in order to create a seamless and cohesive dialogue performance. With Dialogue Match, users can analyse audio to extract a sonic profile, then apply the profile to any other dialogue track for fast and easy environmental consistency in scene recordings, allowing them to complete the tedious process of matching production dialogue to ADR in seconds, rather than hours. Job done.

MOTU MOTU is now shipping the M2 and M4, two new USB buspowered audio interfaces for Mac, Windows and iOS offering ‘best-in-class’ audio quality, ‘best-in-class speed’ (ultra-low latency) and ‘best-in-class’ metering with a full-colour LCD. With two and four channels of audio I/O, respectively, the M2 and M4 include individual 48V phantom power on both mic

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inputs, mono and stereo hardware (direct) monitoring, MIDI I/O and ‘loopback’ driver channels for live-streaming and podcasting.

The interfaces come backed with MOTU’s Performer Lite, which itself includes over 100 virtual instruments, including acoustic and electric pianos, guitars, basses, drums, organs synths, orchestral instruments, choirs, world instruments and more.

MORE NEWS AT www.audiotechnology.com.au

UA APOLLO X4 Universal Audio’s new Apollo x4 and Twin X Thunderbolt 3 Audio Interfaces feature ‘elite-class’ A/D and D/A conversion, dual or four Unison-enabled mic preamps, and Thunderbolt 3 connectivity for Mac and Windows. Built for musical collaboration, these 10x6 or 12x18 Thunderbolt 3 desktop interfaces feature single or dual front-panel Hi-Z inputs and two or four mic preamps with 127dB dynamic range, plus Realtime UAD Processing via built-in UAD-2 QUAD Core DSP (the Twin X comes in Duo core format as well) — letting users track and

mix with the full library of UAD Powered Plug-Ins with nearzero latency. A powerful feature exclusive to UA audio interfaces, Unison technology gives the mic preamps the impedance characteristics, gain stage ‘sweet spots’, and unique circuit behaviours of the world’s most sought-after tube and solid state preamps, guitar amps, and stompboxes — including genuine emulations from API, Neve, Manley, SSL, UA and more.

CMI: cmi.com.au

OX BOX ROCKS (MORE) Universal Audio has given its Ox Amp Top Box a firmware upgrade, giving hard rockers plenty to cheer about. The v1.2 upgrade features a heavy-hitting collection of 4×12 cabs with vintage and modern 30W British speakers for hard rock and metal, new combo cabs loaded with high-headroom, extended range speakers for huge clean tones, 27 new Rig presets, and footswitch controls for fast and easy toggling of Ox’s studio-grade effects. Ox is a reactive load box and guitar recording system,

giving guitarists studio-miked amp sounds from their existing tube amp. Ox lets users play and record tube amps in their ideal sweet spots — from the edge-of-breakup to fully cranked — with perfect dynamics at any volume level, and with stunning mic, room, and speaker cabinet emulations at the turn of its Rig knob.

CMI: www.cmi.com.au

MORE NEWS AT www.audiotechnology.com.au

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FEATURE

The Suicide Swans decided to record their third album, ‘la Jungla’, differently – they used an ‘all analogue’ process but without all the analogue equipment. The album’s engineer Benjamin Lancaster tells us how they did it.

Artist: Suicide Swans Album: La Jungla

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Story: Benjamin Lancaster

Let’s back up a bit… Why bother going down the ‘all analogue’ road at all? For years I’ve been hearing comments from veteran engineers and producers saying that a major problem with the digital recording process is the inexhaustible choice it offers via virtually unlimited tracks, endlessly tweakable parameters, huge range of plug-ins, and extensive editing options.

“Why can’t these kids make a choice and stick to it?” they’d grumble, placing their coffee mugs on their $200,000 Neve consoles. Comments like this assume that without the limitations of vintage gear, all DAW-based engineers will automatically default to excessive production styles. The reality is that digital recording is the only way most of us can do our job; there isn’t another option. Most of us haven’t even been in the same room as a Studer A800, let alone operated one! After hearing this rhetoric over and over again, I resolved to record an album to DAW as if it were a completely analogue session, and mix it with the same limitations: 16 channels in, and no more than 24 tracks in the mix.

The band and I had a long discussion about our approach to this project. For a reference, we settled on Steve Albini’s stunning recording of Magnolia Electric Company’s ‘Josephine.’ This recording became our blueprint for the analogue process: live band, live vocals, 16 tracks and minimal overdubs.

We vowed to commit to decisions made on-the-fly, and to stick to our guns come hell or high water!

THE JOYS OF LIMITATIONS

Over two winter days at the USQ Artworx Theatre, Toowoomba, we recorded our album, endeavouring to capture the essence of recording in the traditional analogue way. We gave ourselves a maximum of 24 tracks. Taking the necessary time to get the mics positioned as well as possible taught me a lot about defining the final sound before it hits the… erm, ‘tape’. Knowing there would be no amp modelling and that ‘fixing it in the mix’ would be extremely difficult if we had too much bleed from the drums, we took the time to be more present in crafting the soundstage at the source – a process I will forever continue to do.

The session got off to a good start, but, as with all good stories, there had to be a complication.

Ours was the inclusion of an 18-minute song that Kyle Jenkins, the band’s front man, insisted on. We were trying to do something completely out of our realm, and there he was making it even harder!

He couldn’t be talked down, so we battled on. If one person made a mistake, the band stopped and started again. This ultimately made for better takes, as the band ‘wanted’ it more after making a few errors. Being forced to start over made for a much more engaging experience; we all felt more connected to the music as we battled through the tribulations of making mistakes together.

The core of each song was recorded to 16 tracks, and we used the remaining eight tracks for overdubs. This meant we were forced to record all vocal harmonies as a group, using the Blumlein technique. That process was the hardest but also the most rewarding when I listened back to the takes — you really start to see what all the fuss is about

Why can’t these kids make a choice and stick to it?” they’d grumble, placing their coffee mugs on their $200,000 Neve consoles

when you capture five people singing in perfect harmony with each other. The violin, slide and vocal doubles filled up the remaining tracks, and we kept one track spare in case we needed to beef up a guitar part or add some ambient effects.

DIGITAL BRAIN, ANALOGUE MIND

The ‘Analogue DAW’ (as I’ve christened it) was not much different than the average digital setup. My ‘tape machine’ consisted of two Apogee Ensembles linked together, providing 16 channels into Logic with no processing. My ‘console’ was a mixed bag of preamps including two API 512Cs, a Focusrite ISA428, a JLM NV500 and TG500, and a lunchbox of Neve 1073LBs. The onboard Apogee preamps covered the remaining channels.

I set up a 24x8 template in Logic to replicate a large format console, albeit with some custom mods. On the individual drum channels I stuck to Waves’ SSL G-Series channel strip plug-ins, and used a combination of Neve, Universal Audio, Pultec and API EQs and compressors for the rest of the tracks. For ambience I used Lexicon PCM reverbs and our lovely old Roland RE-201 Space Echo. I tried to live without Sound Toys’ Decapitator, but couldn’t — and I’m not sorry about that!

With the understanding that analogue studios don’t come with infinite outboard gear, I kept the plug-in count low and was careful not to use

multiple iterations of the same plug-in; channel strip and common console EQs were the exception.

I applied most of the compression to the auxiliary buses, and I was able to stick to only two or three ambient plug-ins plus the Space Echo per song.

All automation was done on an Avid Mix and printed to replicate the analogue process; I was lucky in this respect as the band’s ability to balance themselves as they played meant automation was minimal anyway. No time-based or pitched-based editing tools were used on any of the tracks. There really is no substitute for a good band, locked in together!

A NEW DAW-N

The ‘Analogue DAW’ process was indeed eyeopening. Making decisions on-the-fly and sticking to them is outside of our collective DAW comfort zones, but is a completely liberating experience; the mere act of trying something new moves us forward and forces us to learn and accept new ways of thinking. However, I’m adamant that the allure of using purely analogue gear is secondary to the feeling of being in the moment. Taking a risk and committing to a sound is a far more romantic concept than the equipment used. I suspect that what these analogue proponents are trying to convey when they speak so positively about analogue processes is not so much the gear itself but the joy and thrill of being decisive, critical AT 13

Analogue DAW Details Benjamin’s ‘console’ was a mixed bag of preamps, including two API 512Cs, a Focusrite ISA428, a JLM NV500 and TG500, and a lunchbox of Neve 1073LBs. The onboard Apogee preamps covered the remaining channels.

Benjamin is part of a loose collective of audio pros in the area who happily share, lend and borrow microphones. The diagram illustrates the mic and DI selection for the Suicide Swan sessions.

The sources entered Logic via Apogee Ensemble conversion. Benjamin set up the Logic session to resemble a 24-channel mixing console as much as he could, keeping software effects and processing to a minimum to replicate the working conditions within an analogue studio.

By the way, Benjamin supplied the freehand illustrations.

and ultimately satisfied with the choices you make.

It is exhilarating, and it transforms the recording process by creating high-stakes realism that you don’t get when you know you can fix it later.

I’m sure that when the analogue proponents of the world criticise the digital process, they are reacting against one of the worst of digital’s excesses — the over-production that comes with endless possibilities. If I’ve proved anything in my sessions with the Suicide Swans, it’s this: you absolutely don’t need a console and a tape-machine to experience a sense of immediacy and connection with the music you’re creating. That particular joy comes from the constraints we place on ourselves, not from the limitations of the equipment we use.

The digital recording process can lead down endless rabbit holes of options and revisions, but the solution isn’t to throw out all of digital’s advantages with its disadvantages. To do that smacks of analogue elitism. My advice? Set yourself some limitations to maintain your focus. And if you decide to use 36 CLA-1176 plug-ins on your mixes, f**k ‘em… you do you.

Benjamin Lancaster is a multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and engineer at By The Living Grace Studio in Brisbane, Queensland.

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FEATURE

In a moment of gear epiphany, Jonathan Burnside discovered Spectra 1964’s V610 Complimiter. Impressed and intrigued by how well this very old technology solved a very modern problem, he chatted with Spectra 1964’s co-owner Bill Cheney about the V610, the history of Spectra Sonics, and more.

Interview: Jonathan Burnside

Many times when mastering I’ve needed sporadic limiting to protect against the ‘overs’ caused by intersample peaking, as shown when using a true peak meter. These overs can cause distortion when codecs are applied for streaming or MP3s, but many of the digital limiters I’ve tried did not provide effective protection. I compared virtually every digital limiter on the market, and measured the true peak outputs, but wasn’t in love with the sound of any of them. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to pump up the volume of a master, with no intersample peaks, and remain completely in the analogue domain?

Researching ultra-fast analogue limiters, I learned that the Spectra Sonics 601 limiter is the fastest on the planet – even though it’s an original design from 1969. It’s a fixed-timing, fixed-threshold peak limiter circuit that operates fully within a 180 nanosecond range [0.00000018 seconds], transparently eliminating voltage transients and thereby providing more headroom for any device placed after it in the signal chain.

Many of these transients are inaudible except for how they affect the operation of analogue and digital processing downstream.

Spectra Sonics is the same company that built the desks in many of my favourite studios, including Muscle Shoals, Ardent, Stax, Advision, AT 16

Chateau d’Herouville and the Record Plant studios.

Their 101 preamp was the soul of these desks, and many of my favourite-sounding albums were done on them. In fact, their preamp and limiter modules were used to make much of the music that has influenced me. Here’s a very abbreviated list: T. Rex’s Electric Warrior, Aerosmith’s Toys in the Attic and Get Your Wings, Led Zeppelin’s III, Elton John’s Honky Chateau and Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player, Big Star’s #1 Record, most of the albums Tom Dowd recorded, all the Stax and Muscle Shoals output from the mid-sixties onwards, and more.

V610 COMPLIMITER

Intrigued by this revelation, I reached out to the affable and highly knowledgable Bill Cheney, co-owner of Spectra 1964 (makers of the Spectra Sonics analogue products, see sidebar). Bill suggested I try their flagship V610 Complimiter, which contains their 601 limiter/compression module followed by their 110 amplifier – the amplifier used for the preamps in later Spectra Sonic desks. It’s the same circuit as the 101 amplifier used in the studios mentioned above, but with more headroom, higher gain and less noise.

The V610 has indented pots throughout, as well as improved headroom and noise specs

when compared to the original 610 limiter, so it’s recommended for mastering. After waiting a couple weeks for a pair to be assembled, burnt-in on the bench and hand-matched to within 0.1dB throughout, I finally got them and put them straight to work in my mastering, mixing and tracking sessions.

AS A LIMITER

The V610 is simple to use... when you know how! The limiting threshold is fixed at a very low level of -40dB, which means operation isn’t just a matter of setting a nominal level, pulling the threshold down, pushing the ratio up and playing with the release time. Because the limiting threshold is fixed at such a low level, there is an input pad switch (with attenuation selectable in 10dB steps from 0dB to -30dB) to control how much the V610 is driven into limiting, compression or both. A large ‘bat wing’ knob follows the input pad switch; it’s labelled ‘Threshold’ but should be thought of as a finer-stepped pad switch that allows up to 11.5dB of additional attenuation to be applied in 0.5dB steps. This is important because, with a fixed threshold, finer steps than those offered by the input pad switch alone are required. On the right side another large ‘bat wing’ knob labelled ‘Output’ offers makeup gain from 0dB to 75dB. The makeup gain is provided by the 110 amplifier, and it sounds wonderful.

There is a lot of misinformation on audio forums about the 610, with some saying it’s too wild and unpredictable for tracking. I can only assume this comes from people who do not understand how it works. Finding the right amount of attenuation on the input before limiting/compression, combined with the right amount of makeup gain on the output, is the whole ballgame when it comes to getting the desired result. While it is true that a 610 is great for smashing things on a parallel bus and sounds wonderful when pushed into distortion, it is, in fact, ultra-precise in operation. (If you want to hear what it sounds like when driven hard, take a listen to the fat, present guitar tones on all the early ZZ Top albums.)

AS A MIC PREAMP

With a maximum gain of 65dB (the same as the venerable API 512), the V610 can easily be used as a preamp. It has separate balanced line and microphone inputs, and phantom power can be applied to the microphone input via a front panel switch with status LED. Using the V610 as a microphone preamplifier has been huge for me, not only because of how it sounds but because of how it’s affected my workflow. I use a mastering/mixing chain that starts with two V610s, followed by other compressors and equalisers. If I need to do overdubs for a soundtrack or band project, I can do it almost immediately without having to re-patch a thing. I keep an AEA R92 in front of a guitar amp and patched into the top V610’s mic input, which handles ribbon mics very well. Even if I’m in the middle of a mastering or mixing job, if I need to lay down a guitar track

I just switch the top V610 to microphone input, adjust the attenuation to where the signal is just kissing the limiter, dial-in the parameters on any of the other units I want to use in my chain, bypass what’s not needed, and record through the mastering converters the chain is already patched into. Then I switch back to line input, match the controls on all the top units to those of the unchanged values of the bottom units, and I’m back to mastering or mixing again. Easy recall, and switching back and forth takes about a minute.

I have recorded electric and acoustic guitars, DI bass guitars, pedal steel, vocals and percussion through the V610; it has become my favourite preamplifier as well as my favourite limiter.

Recording percussion with it was especially revealing. There was no chopping of the transients from tambourines and cowbells; the details were all present, both sat well in the mix and neither sounded dulled or icepick-like. (Finally I can put more cowbell in the mix!) When you get your hands on a V610, or any of the Spectra Sonics preamps, try this test: plug in a condenser mic and record a set of car keys jingling in front of it. Now plug the mic into any other preamp in your studio and do the same thing. Listening back, you’ll probably find the V610 recording has clear, open transients and the recordings from the other preamps sound like the transients are clipped in comparison.

BACK TO BILL

There’s a lot more to say about how these units can act as a limiter, a compressor or both, with a wide range of compression ratios (1.1:1 to 100:1) and release times (50ms to 10 seconds). As a preamp with a built-in limiter taking care of ultra-high voltage peaks, it has become the house favourite.

After 30 years of using and owning many vintage and modern high-end compressor/limiters and preamps, the V610 is my new pack leader.

The more I looked into the history of Spectra Sonics and what made the V610 tick, the more I realised the role they’d played in recording the music that influenced me the most. I had many questions for Bill Cheney, and he kindly answered them during several lengthy phone calls.

Jonathan Burnside: Do you think there’s a Spectra Sonics sound? I’ve been listening to a lot of music recorded on Spectra Sonics boards and I’m hearing a certain similarity between them. For example, ZZ Top’s Waitin’ For the Bus, Aerosmith’s Walk This Way, and Hall & Oates’ Sara Smile all have guitars and drums that are stylistically very different but share the same presence and realness.

The drums in Sara Smile are quite up in the mix but sound so musical that they still somehow fit, even in such a laid back and smooth song. And all that was used to record them was Shure SM57s, so we can’t credit the mics with that.

Bill Cheney: I think the ‘sound’ you’re hearing is that of the actual instruments as captured by the microphones. Our big deal is that we reproduce what’s on the input and try to have no signature. We don’t want to have a ‘fat low-end’ or a ‘particular midrange sound’. We’re trying to reproduce the waveform, and one of the things that

Bill Cheney

affects how accurately a waveform is reproduced is avoiding peak overload. You can only guess what happens to a signal when an amplifier overloads, in terms of harmonic distortion. It’s unpredictable.

Whereas with our preamps, which the recordings you mentioned were made on, you can run them to +18dB output and run a thousand percent worth of peaks through them and they won’t clip. What should be understood is that all of our preamps will pass the peak, not clip it. And it’s not uncommon, even on our old desks, to get 25dB of accurate peak reproduction above the RMS average. A kick or snare will create peaks of 20dB or more above RMS. Those peaks are normally lost with a conventional amplifier, but ours can reproduce them.

When you record a kick or snare and play it back but don’t really hear what you heard in the room, or don’t get that ‘presence’ and ‘realness’ you referred to, it is because of the time period a conventional amplifier takes to recover from overloading after a peak. There’s a given time base when the amplifier overloads and that time base is your harmonics.

Jonathan Burnside: And this ‘time base’ is the time it takes the amplifier to recover from the peak overload?

Bill Cheney: Yes. Let’s say we have a kick drum that’s doing 20dB peaks. The conventional amplifier won’t reproduce those peaks and you can do one of two things: you can turn it down 20dB, or you can let it clip. When it clips, the power supply cannot supply the required current so its power rail drops, or gets ‘pulled down’, for a given amount of time until it recovers. Some manufacturers get into designing very stiff power supplies – with a lot of capacitors and regulation – in an attempt to fix that problem, but there’s still a period of time when that power supply gets pulled down and the reproduced waveform is affected. When you record with our amplifiers and limiters you’ll notice a snare sounds like a snare and a kick sounds like a kick, because we don’t have the problems we’ve just talked about; our amplifier’s recovery time is less than one millionth of a second.

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THE NAME GAME In 2002, a virtual instrument software company deleted the space between the words ‘Spectra’ and ‘Sonics’, then applied for and received a US trademark for the name ‘Spectrasonics’. Instead of wasting their resources in a legal battle to use the company’s original name, Bill Cheney and Jim Romney decided they would concentrate on putting Dilley’s designs into useable modern packages with the original sound and build quality. They rebranded the company with the name Spectra 1964, chosen because 1964 was the year Spectra Sonics was formed.

In the vintage console market, the names of consoles with Spectra Sonics parts is also confusing because Auditronics built Spectra Sonics desks for awhile, as did Flickinger, and there were many custom boards built that had all Spectra Sonics parts, but were not branded as Spectra Sonics consoles.

The Spectra OG: Spectra Sonics founder, William Dilley, and his wife Jean at an audio tradeshow.

Jonathan Burnside: You used to work for

Spectra Sonics. How did that come about?

Bill Cheney: I was 22 years old and working for an audio equipment retailer in Ogden, Utah, near where Spectra Sonics was located. William Dilley, Spectra Sonics’ founder, was giving a lecture on solid-state design, so I attended. HE WAS STANDING IN FRONT OF A CHALK BOARD AND HE WROTE: “A PROPERLY DESIGNED AMPLIFIER ELIMINATES THE CAUSE, IT DOESN’T MINIMISE THE EFFECT.”

Jonathan Burnside: That reminds me of that

age-old tracking excuse that turned into a joke: “We’ll fix it in the mix.”

Bill Cheney: Yes. Eliminating problems through initial design has always been Spectra Sonics’ guiding principal. It’s why his designs don’t have these problems.

SONICS MAN: WILLIAM DILLEY Jonathan Burnside: Tell me more about Dilley.

Bill Cheney: Dilley was one of those

larger-than-life WWII guys. He’d run missile programs, written international aviation protocol, commanded fighter squadrons, been a jet test pilot and was an organising member of ‘The Minutemen’ – an air acrobatic team flying P-51s. He was at one time the holder of both US and world air speed records. He even had his fighter plane’s ass shot off in the Battle of the Bulge – the GIs found him hanging from a tree in his parachute, and the first thing he did, before they cut him down, was point to the direction of the Nazis!

Eventually he hung up his wings but continued working for the Air Force. HE OVERSAW THE

TRANSITION OF THEIR ENTIRE COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS AND PROTOCOLS FROM TUBE TO SOLID-STATE IN UNDER THREE YEARS. Considering how high and AT 18

fast radio frequencies are operating at, and how low the margin of error is, this was quite an accomplishment. Coming from that background, moving to designing solid state circuits for the lower, slower audio frequencies used in professional recording and sound reinforcement was a piece of cake for him.

Jonathan Burnside: What got him into audio design?

Bill Cheney: Dilley was always a lover of audio.

He had already designed tube audio circuits and written papers on tube technology. He was good friends with Les Paul, and he designed a lot of the equipment that was on Les Paul’s workbench. Not many people knew that, because Dilley never made a big deal about his accomplishments. THE REASON

all of our preamps will pass the peak, not clip it.

Those peaks are normally lost with a conventional amplifier, but ours can reproduce them

HE INITIALLY DESIGNED THE SPECTRA SONICS SOLID STATE MODULES WAS TO EARN ENOUGH MONEY TO BUY HIS OWN AIRPLANES; LIKE THE DE HAVILLAND VAMPIRE, A SINGLEENGINE BRITISH JET FIGHTER. He never wanted to build

consoles, just the modules inside of them. That’s why so many studios had custom consoles that were actually made from Spectra Sonics modules, like Chateau d’Herouville where Elton John did his albums. After a time, he got another manufacturer to build complete desks with our modules and specifications, but he soon got tired of fixing their shoddy workmanship! When consoles started slipping out of their backdoor, that was the final straw for Dilley. He ended the relationship and started building complete Spectra Sonics consoles.

A SOLID STATE Jonathan Burnside: So how did you start

working for Spectra Sonics?

Bill Cheney: After attending Dilley’s lecture on

solid-state design, I told my mother “I’ve just met

the most incredible man, who really knows what it’s all about”. And he did. So I started going out to Spectra Sonics every day and helping in any way I could, and I ended up with a job.

Dilley was inspiring. He came from an architectural engineering background, where things had to work perfectly on paper before you ever started building. He applied that same approach to his audio designs. He would write down all the limitations of a transistor or other electronic component first of all, and then he would design his circuits taking these limitations into account and following his own strict guidelines on peak headroom, DC stability, low distortion, low noise, the whole thing...

Jonathan Burnside: Your partner in Spectra 1964, Jim Romney, also worked at Spectra Sonics, yes?

Bill Cheney: Jim Romney and I were high

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school friends; I brought him to Spectra Sonics shortly after I began working there. It was kind of a family situation where we were as much friends of the family as we were employees of the company.

It was very much a family company. Dilley’s daughter Kay was the key part of production, and was renowned for her NASA-level soldering skills. His son Greg was the business interface and helped run the day to day operations. The planning and financial side was run by his wife, Jean – she was the perpetually friendly but always efficient ‘get things done’ side of the business. Life-long employee Randy Ward was a member of the ‘family team’. He was a wizard at metal and wood fabrication for our outboard products, as well as the numerous Spectra Sonics consoles that were built over a 10-year period.

Jonathan Burnside: It sounds like you and Jim Romney go back a long way...

Bill Cheney: We do! Jim Romney is a design genius. We’ve worked together for years in other companies we’ve started, doing things like audio, video and data integration. In 2007 we bought the Spectra Sonics company from the Dilley family.

When we first purchased the company there were only sparse notes on how components were matched and selected. Dilley’s military command background meant he was used to working in very AT 20

high-security environments where, for security reasons, as little was written down as possible.

After buying the company we were trying to build a functioning 610, but we were really struggling to get it to meet spec – until Dilley’s son called one day to say “I’ve just found Dad’s handwritten notes on the 610!” Even with the notes and a very good prior knowledge of how the unit worked, it took us two years of chalk-boarding to reverse engineer it and meet the original specification. Dilley had given us lectures every morning on theory and how it all worked, but he did not show us the actual specifics of how he put everything together, and how he selected and matched parts. His genius was both in his design approach and how he actually implemented it. WE KNEW THE ‘WHAT’ AND THE ‘WHY’, BUT THE EXACT ‘HOW’ TOOK SOME TIME TO CRACK.

I’ve been lucky to be surrounded by geniuses!

Dilley was a genius at thinking out-of-the-box.

He was technical but still very intuitive, a groundbreaker. Romney’s a genius at getting it all to fit inside the box, and to work without size being a major issue. Without Jim’s expertise and tenacity, most of the products we’ve put out as Spectra 1964 wouldn’t exist. He took the core of what Dilley designed, which was the 101 and 110 amplifiers and the 601 limiter, and he set up all the parameters so we could repackage them in a way that’s most

useful for recording these days.

Our products are still made in Ogden, Utah, to the same exacting factory specs as they originally were. There’s always a debate going on in the office about what we’re going to build next and how we would do it.

It’s fine to have great ideas and understand the technology, but it’s a totally different thing to have the skills to follow through with that and bring it into reality. During all of these processes we continually ask ourselves, “Would Bill Dilley approve of this?”, because Dilley never half-assed anything and we don’t do that either.

Jonathan Burnside is an American/Australian mastering engineer and mixer living in the San Francisco Bay Area. He can be contacted at burnsidejonathan@gmail.com

Over 30 Years in Business To find your nearest Integrator/Reseller, please visit

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TUTORIAL

In Part 1 of this two-part series, producer/engineer Nick Franklin reveals his dirty little secret: running a studio is a business. Here he explains how he stays in business thanks to the right tools.

Story: Nick Franklin

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With sole traders making up a whopping 61 percent of Australian businesses, it’s little wonder that resources, information and assistance for small enterprises are abundant. Plug ‘small business podcast’ into a search engine and you’ll be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information available to the budding entrepreneur. So why is it that when it comes to the ins and outs of running a small business, audio engineers and producers are so useless?

My theory is this: the reason you got into audio or production in the first place is the same reason you’d push your mother down the stairs to avoid looking at a profit and loss statement or, heaven forbid, your superannuation fund! Audio engineers and producers are programmed to figure it out as they go along. When a new compressor or microphone arrives we don’t start by trawling through the manual – we just plug it in and figure it out. So why would we read the manual on running a business? It sounds like a lot more fun to simply jump in and start running it. In fact, if we were to assess the notion of becoming a freelance music producer or opening a studio from a businesssavvy perspective, we’d run for the hills. It’s a terrible idea...

The reality is that musicians are some of the most broke people on the planet, and they’re the ones who are going to be paying you. Talk about drawing blood from a stone!

I doubt any of this will deter you, and I doubt you even have a choice; most who’ve embarked on this journey have the audio and production seed planted deep inside them, and helping others to create great music is part of who they are. It’s why you’ve come this far, and it’s why you haven’t given up. So if you’re in this for the long haul, the very least you can do for yourself, your future and your family is know enough about business to keep the lights on, the VU meters moving, and food on the table – even when things get tough.

I reckon I could write a book about running a small business based on the things I’ve learnt by simply doing it, but there are heaps of books like that out there and you probably wouldn’t read it anyway. Instead, what I am laying out here is the bare minimum you need to know to keep your head above water as a freelance engineer and producer, and to avoid getting yourself into sticky situations down the line. It’s the information I wish someone had told me before I started. There are plenty of traps for those starting a small business, and I fell into all of them!

TRANSITIONING

As soon as you think you m ​ ight​be able to make ends meet recording and mixing bands and nothing else, you will want to. We have a bizarre pride complex about employment in Australia, and especially in the audio industry. At dinner parties when asked what it is that we ‘do’, it’s natural to want to answer with “I’m a music producer!”, as though those words will trigger the arrival of a mariachi band, confetti cannons and pats on the back from everyone in attendance. On the other hand, if your answer was “I’m working on starting

a small business recording music but in the meantime I’m working in hospitality and teaching guitar to fill the void”, the sniggers and whispers around the dinner table would be just deafening, wouldn’t they?

When I began my freelance career as a music producer I was t​ errible​at business. The extent of my preparedness for becoming a ‘sole trader’ was that I had my enthusiasm and an ABN (Australian Business Number).

My first mistake was to recklessly quit my day job the moment I decided I had enough audio work to pay the rent for a couple of weeks. I had some annual leave and a fortnight’s pay accrued at my day job which kept me afloat for some weeks, but before long my bank account was drier than the Tanami. I wish someone had told me to stay a little longer in full-time work, or cut down to part-time or casual, and use that time to develop the business.

The reality is that the first couple of years for most small businesses are tough, and even more so in our industry. Quitting your day job on a whim and a prayer is going to be extremely challenging in even the best case scenario. Worst case? It could ruin your personal relationships and put you in a financial position you can’t get out of without going back to a day job and setting your audio career back by years. My advice is to use the time prior to leaving your day job to get all of your business ducks in a row.

COMPLIANCE

The reality of making money in Australia is that the government want their cut of it in the form of taxation, and they’ll find a way to get it from you regardless of how sneaky you are. The upside is that for sole traders, complying with your taxation and small business obligations is incredibly simple. The consequences of doing the right thing are completely manageable, but the consequences of ignoring your obligations can be financially and emotionally devastating.

I was no saint when it came to doing the right thing by the tax office. During the first three years of running my business I was earning a reasonable income but didn’t submit a single tax return or pay a cent of tax, and the reason I’ve become so in tune with the ins and outs of small business and tax is because I ​never​want to be in that position again.

A significant portion of the people reading this have probably just experienced a familiar pain in the middle of their gut associated with the guilt of having ignored their tax obligations for too long.

To those readers I say fear not: getting up to date with your income tax is not only easy, but it will lift that Steinway-sized weight off your shoulders, too. Book an appointment with an accountant, discuss your business situation with them, and follow their advice to prepare and submit your tax returns. While we’re being honest about money, I almost guarantee that one of the reasons you’ve avoided doing your tax is the fear that you’ll owe more than you have. That’s okay, too; the Australian Taxation Office (ATO)

it’s natural to want to answer with “I’m a music producer!”, as though those words will trigger the arrival of a mariachi band, confetti cannons and pats on the back from everyone in attendance

AT 23

getting up to date with your income tax is not only easy, but it will lift that Steinway-sized weight off your shoulders too

AT 24

will put you on a payment plan that you can afford. It will get them off your back, take that Steinway-sized weight off your shoulders, and ease that pain in your gut.

To those of you who have managed to stay up to date with your tax returns I say “Congratulations, but don’t tune out yet!” There are many ways you can improve how you keep your records for tax purposes and swing them to your advantage. Tax is great and important. It pays for our roads and hospitals, but I reckon freelance audio professionals working hard to j​ust​make a living should not be taxed a cent more than they have to be.

Watertight record keeping and solid systems is how you make that happen.

To start getting all of your business ducks in a row and begin your life as a freelance production guru, you’re going to need to register an ABN (if you don’t already have one) and then set up a completely separate business bank account. There are a number of banks that offer these free, so there’s no excuse for having your business money land in your personal bank account. Have all your clients pay you into that account, and use the card linked to that account only to make business related purchases. You can then pay yourself out of that account. If your business ever gets audited by the ATO, your life is going to be a lot easier if you can produce bank statements with only business-related transactions on them. The next step is to keep good records of your income and expenditure...

GOLD RECORDS

Tech savvy audio engineers and producers have never lived in a better time for keeping accurate and useful records. Really cool (come on, you know you’re a nerd just like me) bookkeeping software is abundant, cheap or even free, and it will change ​everything​about the way you see your business. It also provides a fast and convenient way of issuing invoices that make you look like a real pro. For those of you who aren’t already running your audio business, an invoice is the document you provide to a client that indicates how much they owe you and when you expect to be paid.

Prompt professional invoicing can make the difference between having the money in your bank when you need it, or endlessly chasing late payments and wasting valuable time that you could be using in your studio. If you can operate a DAW, you can operate a piece of bookkeeping software.

If you’re anything like me you probably put off all of those annoying little studio tasks, like editing and comping, for as long as you can.

I’ve never once woken up and thought “Yes! I can’t wait to get stuck into comping that terrible vocal!”, or “I’m glad I’ve got eight tracks of drums to edit today!” I avoid those types of things until they literally can’t be left any longer, at which point I’m under stress and time constraints to get them done. Likewise, if you make keeping track of your income and expenses in any way annoying or hard you w ​ ill​

put it off until the end of the financial year, at which point it’s going to be a very big and unpleasant task indeed. You can keep records in a spreadsheet, of course, but good bookkeeping software takes all the pain out of record keeping and makes you ​ want​to do it as you go. It also gives you back some of what most producers and engineers I know are desperately lacking: time! Someone should invent equivalent software for automatically editing and comping that singer you recorded last week, whose concept of timing and tuning seems to be more abstract than grounded in reality.

WORKFLOW

Here’s how I keep my records. I’m ​not​a financial advisor so take my advice with a grain of salt, but it’s worked for me so far. I use an application called ‘Rounded’ so the examples I’m about to give are based on that, but you could also use Quickbooks, Xero or any of the multitude of applications available. I’m sure they all work in similar ways, so check them out and choose one that works for you.

To invoice a client for work I’ve done for them, I simply select from my common invoicing tasks such as ‘One Day Studio Recording’ or ‘Mastering One Song’ and hit send from my phone or in the web browser. Rounded notifies me when the client has opened the email, so there’s no more “I didn’t get the invoice” excuses. If the client hasn’t paid by the due date, Rounded will automatically send reminders at an interval I specify. Keep the heat on them! When their money hits my bank account I mark the invoice as paid, and Rounded adds the payment to my income report and sends the client a receipt.

Every time I buy something for the business it takes less than 30 seconds on my mobile phone to enter the amount, date and category into Rounded.

I also snap a photo of the receipt, which is added to the record in Rounded. I never miss a single taxdeductible opportunity, and I don’t have to worry about the receipts fading away to blank paper in a shoebox under my bed!

When my BAS (Business Activity Statement) is due I tell Rounded to export my income and expenses as a spreadsheet and email it to my accountant. That’s it. Within a week (usually) my documents have been lodged and my tax obligations for the period are met.

Sounds pretty easy, right? It is. Next issue I’ll talk about the longer term benefits of using bookkeeping software, describe my three-tiered system for ensuring my business continues to grow, and how I am planning for retirement with superannuation. In the meantime, get yourself some good bookkeeping software and start using it.

Don’t wait any longer.

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TUTORIAL

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SoundAcoustics owner, James Bellew, shows us how he made over the studio of our #treatmyroom competition winner with Australian-made acoustic treatment.

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HOW MUCH DOES IT COST? Soundacoustics’ room kits range from $350 for the RK05 starter kit, up to the ‘top of the line’ RK3 complete room treatment for $1699. It’s quite affordable to elevate the sound of your room to a much better place.

You can visit soundacoustics.com.au to check out the kits, or contact James at SoundAcoustics on (03) 9410 9335 or sales@soundacoustics.com.au

AT 26

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Last year AudioTechnology ran an Instagram competition with SoundAcoustics called Treat My Room. We asked you to submit your studio in need of a little acoustic love. It didn’t matter whether it was a bedroom, garage, broom closet; we wanted to help.

After a ton of great (and varied) entries we have a winner, Brent Murphy (pictured opposite).

We spent time on the phone with Brent to learn more about his space. It turns out he’s a professional guitarist, who uses his room to record local bands and young singer-songwriters. He’s had a love affair with sound since the ’80s, when he headed on the road to make a living between his own gigs. “Back in Melbourne in the early ’80s, there were heaps of jobs doing sound,” recalled Brent. “I found myself working with Australian Crawl, John Farnham and Canned Heat. I learnt a lot from the sound guys on the road.”

Later on in the decade he built a commercial studio in New Zealand: “I didn’t know what I was doing, but we made it work. I bought an Otari tape machine, and I had a Amek/TAC Scorpion console. We were one of the first to get Fostex Synchronisers, so I got a lot of work doing sound for picture.”

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It did well, but he sold up and moved back to Melbourne where his Tascam four-track wasn’t really inspiring him to write. “It wasn’t until the late ’90s when computer audio became available that I bought one of those Bondi Blue G3 Macs and a copy of Cubase and got back into it. When the first Digidesign MBox arrived, I bought one and it changed everything. It lit the fire again, and I went on that journey of buying plug-ins and getting better monitors, microphones and some outboard.”

It was perfect timing for Brent who had just bought his house a year ago. AFTER YEARS

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manufacturer’s websites, he still wasn’t sure what kit he should get or whether they’d be any good.

After a few chats with Brent, SoundAcoustics owner, James Bellew, decided on a plan and shipped up a kit of the company’s acoustic treatment then made the trip up to the Central Coast to personally 800

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THE STUDIO

James Bellew: Brent’s home studio is a converted garage that measures 6m x 5.8m. The studio is a multi-purpose space for both recording and mixing, and nicely equipped with ADAM A7x monitors (with subwoofer) and some choice pieces of gear such as an Avalon 737 and Neve preamps, as well as an ELI Distressor.

The walls and ceiling are plasterboard and the concrete floor was partly covered with some light rugs. Although it was fairly reflective and live, Brent had plenty of bookcases and gear around the walls that help.

STEP 1 PREPPING THE SPACE

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The first task was to clear the wall space around the workstation so we had bare walls to work with.

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I marked out the midline of the studio and put some tape down at 30cm increments along this central plane. This was to simulate potential listening positions for Brent. I then performed acoustic measurements using Fuzzmeasure to look at the original frequency response and reverberation times at each of the listening positions using a mic adjusted to Brent’s typical seated listening height.

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measure and install the treatment.

James has a long history of designing and installing acoustic treatment, having worked on a lot of the major university and audio school studios around the country, a vast number of home studios, and post production facilities for clients like Fremantle Media. Needless to say, he knows exactly how to approach a studio like Brent’s. I’ll let James take over from here.

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STEP 3 ANALYSE INITIAL RESULTS At Brent’s usual monitoring position the frequency response below 100Hz was somewhat uneven, due to room resonance and phase cancellation (otherwise know as room modes).

Reverberation times are particularly useful when assessing the performance of an acoustic

MP700/40 ceiling panels (not illustrated)

HA600/75 hybrid wall panels

LF70 bass traps

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room treatment. The ‘Before’ bargraph on Page 1 demonstrates the reverberation characteristics of Brent’s room prior to applying the acoustic treatment, which show it’s a pretty live space with reverb times around half a second. A balanced acoustic treatment should be designed to reduce reverberation times evenly across the spectrum. A good target range in this space is 250–300ms.

STEP 4 FIND THE BEST MONITORING POSITION

FINDING THE SWEETSPOT James Bellew: Brent’s monitoring position suits him best from a pragmatic point of view, but it’s worth noting that it’s not the best position from an acoustic point of view. Here are two frequency plots that show the pronounced difference between the two positions. Clearly the second position avoids the worst of the room modes. In an ideal world Brent would move his workstation and

speakers to this sweet spot away from the front wall. But this would have meant less room for the multi-purpose area at the back of the room.

Acoustics is very often a compromise and working within the practical constraints of the room, particularly in home studios, which are nearly always multi-purpose creative spaces.

The frequency response at a position further into the room was somewhat flatter than Brent’s usual monitoring position and is the location that avoids the worst of the room modes. See the ‘Finding the Sweetspot’ box item for more.

STEP 5 FIGURE OUT THE BASIC PLAN A good philosophy when applying acoustic treatment is to install a moderate amount, assess the room and then apply further treatment if required. With Brent’s studio we decided to create a Live End Dead End (LEDE) acoustic treatment, which would allow him flexibility during recording, as well as concentrate the treatment around the listening position.

It’s not strictly LEDE due to the bookcases and gear at the rear of the studio. The studio space is quite large so we decided to install a SoundAcoustics RK3 room kit which consists of eight LF70 corner bass traps, 16 HA600/75 hybrid wall panels and six MP700/40 ceiling panels.

Both the LF70 bass traps and the HA600/75 wall panels feature a shallow-radius reflective insert which boosts low-end absorption and partially reflects high frequencies. This characteristic allows a room to retain a natural sense of space while dealing effectively with problematic lower frequencies.

STEP 6 INSTALL FIRST ROUND OF TREATMENT Acoustic treatment is best applied to the first reflection points. We installed four hybrid panels on the side walls, eight on the wall behind the workstation, and six panels on the ceiling above the workstation. There’s usually competing interests in most home studios, so it becomes a balance between practicality and results.

The biggest mistake people make is only putting up a whole lot of HF treatment. Psycho-acoustically it makes a huge difference in sense of space and definition in that 1–3kHz range. You can walk into a space that sounds dead, but is acoustically terrible. As well as bass trapping, the reflective inserts in the hybrid panels and bass traps help balance out the room’s treatment.

To help control the low end, we installed four LF70 bass traps in the vertical corners behind the workstation and four bass traps in the ceiling. In an ideal situation the ceiling bass traps would have been installed in a symmetrical layout — though not as important as workstation position or first reflection symmetry — but there was no ceiling corner on the left side. As a compromise the bass traps were installed above the workstation and in the ceiling corner to the right side.

SoundAcoustic panels feature a unique hidden fixing channel which allows quick and easy AT 28

installation with a staple gun. This is particularly useful when installing ceiling bass traps, as large traps are nearly impossible to install using adhesive.

STEP 7 RE-TEST THE ROOM After the installation we re-tested the room, and as the ‘After’ graphs show, the reverb times at have been reduced fairly evenly across the spectrum down to 63Hz, which is excellent. This is a good demonstration of the excellent absorption characteristics of the RK3 room kit. Above 50Hz the reverberation times are sitting nicely in the 250–300ms range, which was a good result, especially in a larger space.

Between 25 and 50Hz, you can hardly ever make headway without having a purpose-built space or putting in massive trapping. Helmholtz absorbers are relatively inefficient and would have to be quite big, so you’re talking about putting in four-foot-deep trapping across the whole back wall, which isn’t practical and is cost prohibitive.

Also, half a second reverberation time at 50Hz is not too bad, you’ll still be able to mix low end effectively. A LF reverb time of one second or more would be quite bad.

For now, Brent plans to retain his regular mix position to maximise space. In the future, he might decide to move the speakers away from the wall and set up the listening position in this optimum spot. Still, with the superior listening position marked out on the floor Brent can easily slide his chair back and fine tune the low end of a mix.

There’s a limit to what you can do in a space not purpose-built as a studio. However, even high-end mastering suites I’ve measured have been lumpy below 150Hz. As a rule of thumb, if I can get a room within ±5dB, that’s fantastic.

STEP 8 LISTEN & FINE TUNE After listening to some material he was familiar with, Brent noted that the low end was tighter and better defined. At higher volumes he felt the room still sounded a little harsh, so after the installation

we sent Brent some additional AT600/40 panels to reduce the reverb times above 1kHz a little more. Fine tuning a room is very much part of the process of applying acoustic treatment.

THE VERDICT

Brent: “It’s been a real eye-opener. The two biggest differences have been the clarity in the bottom end and reverbs. I’ve noticed my reverbs are easier to mix and translate. I’m used to them being murky while I was mixing. Then I’d take them out to my van or another stereo and realise I had too much plate on the vocal. I can make much better choices now in here.

“Another thing I really noticed is I’m not getting the sound of the room so much through the vocal mic. I’m using a Shure SM7, and I’ve also got a Neumann TLM103. When I put the TLM103 up for softer vocals I was accustomed to hearing plasterboard, even with one of those mic shields around it. Now I’m listening to it and I can’t hear the plasterboard. It’s a joy.

“I would absolutely recommend putting up treatment if you haven’t already. I thought the little installation channel at the back of the panels was really clever. You can just fold back the foam, and staple them; you don’t even need a staple gun. I just put up the extra panels he sent me with a reasonably heavy duty stapler. They’re very easy to mount and experiment with, even the bass traps. You look at those and figure they’d be too hard to hold up, but they’re just up there with a staple gun. It would be really easy for somebody to put them up and experiment with positioning at home. I put them up, then took a few down to find a happy balance of liveness when I play acoustic guitar and sing. The wood panelling on the diffusors looks great, too.

“James was great, he explained what he was doing and how he was approaching it. After the treatment went up, the change was dramatic. I couldn’t recommend SoundAcoustics more. It’s made a real difference for me.”

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REVIEW

SHURE MV88+ Video Kit

Mono to Mid-Side and everything in-between, Shure’s little phone recording kit has it all.

Review: Mark Davie

Shure’s original Motiv MV88 was a reasonably svelte iOS stereo condenser mic.

Sure, its chunky base plate gave it similar dimensions to an early Rode iXY, but it packed in the features to compensate. By opting for a Mid-Side stereo mic configuration, the MV88 allowed you to tailor your capture width in degrees from mono through to raw MS and every stereo flavour in-between.

The Motiv M88+ is a bit plus-sized when compared with the original. It has the same fingerwidth capsule head, but its rear end has some real girth. The added bulk allowed Shure to squeeze it into a standard mic clip, and stuff in a headphone amplifier for real-time monitoring. With only a few volts of power available for phone peripherals to siphon off, these sorts of headphone amps tend to be relatively weak. The MV88+ is no different here, it enhances the sensation of what you’re recording but isn’t loud enough to isolate you from the raw sound.

In the app you can slide the monitoring source between the mic and playback, but I’m not sure why as the app doesn’t have any overdubbing features, nor does the slider adjust the headphone volume from its fixed level.

APP-Y DAYS

NEED TO KNOW

There are actually two free-to-download apps you can use: Motiv Audio and Motiv Video. The audio controls are exactly the same on both, with the Video app additionally tapping into your phone camera.

At first glance, it appears to allow WAV recording in your video files. I’m unsure what internal processing this may relate to, but all the videos on my iPhone outputted with the standard AAC-encoded audio regardless of the setting I chose.

Besides that, the apps are very well-designed.

They allow up to 36dB of mic gain, which tends to be enough when paired with the sensitivity of the

PRICE Expect to pay $345 CONTACT Jands: (02) 9582 0909 or info@jands.com.au

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capsule. There’s also a switchable dual-stage high-pass filter; a limiter you can turn on or off; a compressor with three strength settings; and a five-band graphic EQ. If you manage to miss the big L and R markings on the mic barrel, there’s also a left/right swap function.

These are all user-adjustable, or you can opt for one of five preset DSP settings with icons for sources like Speech and Guitar. These tailor all the settings at once, including the stereo polar pattern.

Beyond that, the Audio app has a relatively straightforward marker and editing system. While the Video app simply sends the videos to your camera roll.

KITTED OUT

The kit comes with multiple accessories, including separate USB-C and Lightning cables for Android and iOS, and a neat roll-up neoprene carry pouch. The best accessory is not a Shure design. The Manfrotto Pixi mini tripod – which would set you back $30 outside of the kit – is sturdy, folds out quickly, and by holding down the little red Manfrotto logo you can swivel the ball head in any direction.

It’s far less

PROS Phone agnostic Change your stereo width on the fly All-in-one phone recordist kit Manfrotto Pixi is a top addition

CONS Phone holder not the smoothest Headphone amp a little underpowered

SUMMARY The Motiv MV88+ takes Shure’s flexible MV88 iOS mic design and turns it into a kit for any mobile recordist.

Whether you’re on iOS or Android, recording video or just audio, the MV88+ will do the job.

F1 FIELD RECORDER + LAVALIER MIC PROFESSIONAL AUDIO. UP CLOSE.

The Zoom F1 Field Recorder + Lavalier Mic is the perfect solution for videographers who need to capture the nuance of every word with professional quality audio.

Superior Sound: Newly engineered LMF-1 lavalier mic+ (up to) 24-bit/96kHz recording to micro SD card.

Low Profile: Attaches neatly on belts, waistbands, or slipped concealed into a pocket.

One-Touch Controls & Display: Instant access to record levels, limiter control, lo-cut filter and volume output + sunlight viewable LCD. Videographer Essentials: Record Hold function, onboard limiter, battery powered (or power adapter), transfer files via card reader or directly via USB.

annoying than untangling the legs of a Gorilla Pod. The actual phone holder design feels sub par. All the parts seem well apportioned; the rubber pads are reassuringly grippy, the knurled thumb screw doesn’t give the sense it’ll strip out in a hot minute, and the plastic is decently thick. Put it all together though, and it just doesn’t slide well or tension down on your phone without a two-handed approach. It does the job, but I’ve seen better results from those spring-tensioned jobbies you can score off eBay for a couple of bucks.

On the plus side, the cold shoe-style mic clip mount is dead easy to unscrew, so you can swivel the mic orientation between selfie mode and… the other one… in a jiffy.

If you’re not using your phone to record, you can simply abandon the phone holder and just use the tripod as a mic stand, which is great for interviews and podcasts. Alternatively, you can ditch the tripod for a handheld recording solution.

MOBILE RECORDING DECODED

The best part of the MV88+ is still what made the MV88 an appealing option; its ability to record in Mid-Side and decode it on the fly. The MV88+ kit simply decodes the remainder of the process. Pulling together all the accessories you’d be buying anyway, adding a headphone amp, and making it phone agnostic. If you’re interested in using your phone as a serious recording device, and don’t want to cobble together the necessary pieces yourself, look no further.

Proudly distributed in Australia by Dynamic Music

dynamicmusic.com.au

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REVIEW

TASCAM MODEL 24 vs ZOOM LIVETRAK L-20 Are the days of hardware recorders and portable studios behind us? Are such products only for amateurs? Tascam and Zoom say no.

Review: Preshan John

TASCAM MODEL 24

NEED TO KNOW

ZOOM LIVETRAK L-20

PRICE Zoom LiveTrak L-20 $1599 Tascam Model 24 $1999

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CONTACT Zoom LiveTrak L-20 Dynamic Music: (02) 9939 1299 or info@dynamicmusic.com.au

Tascam Model 24 CMI Music & Audio: (03) 9315 2244 or www.cmi.com.au

SUMMARY While the Zoom LiveTrak L-20 and Tascam Model 24 are very similar in I/O and recording capabilities, you may choose one over the other depending on how you’ll use it — be it mixing and recording live shows, or tracking bands in a studio environment. Either way, these units offer a level of convenience, portability and immediacy that a computer + interface rig can’t touch.

I began my foray in audio on a Boss BR-900CD recorder. It had nine faders, two inputs, a bright orange screen and a scroll wheel.

Many a memorable tune was produced on that little box, despite its limitations in comparison to what I’m now used to with a DAW-based rig.

Yes, my computer-centric setup gives me numerous channels of high-quality preamplification into pristine conversion, which the Boss did not.

With DSP on my interface I have the choice to compress, EQ and saturate incoming audio to my heart’s content. The whole thing is contained in a roadworthy 4U rack. As far as sonic quality goes, it does the job every time, and then some.

But there’s just something that little Boss unit did for me that my schmancy DAW rig can’t touch.

There’s something about not having a gazillion options that made me focus on what’s important while saving me a lot of time. Recording was often more spontaneous and less complicated. No computer restarts or software updates, no menu diving, plug-in list scrolling or I/O configuration.

Just stick in the inputs and hit record.

convenience, immediacy and portability in a computer-and-software flooded world. It’s not a throwback as much as it is a ‘throw-forward’

TURN OF THE TIDE

Since in-the-box recording became mainstream, naturally the market underwent a drought of these all-in-one recorder-type products. Until now.

You may not call it a ‘resurgence’ but the last few months have seen the release of not one but two such devices: the Tascam Model 24 and Zoom LiveTrak L-20. Both have real life faders, 16 preamps, built-in effects, and an SD Card slot for PC-less recording. Their arrival is not in a spirit of nostalgia — they’re here as standalone value propositions, offering convenience, immediacy and portability in a computer-and-software flooded world. It’s not a throwback as much as it is a throw-forward.

Of course we were curious to take the pair for a spin. Given the similarities in their specifications, we also decided to review the two models against each other. Here are our impressions.

SETUP

MIXING LiveTrak L-20 Mixing on the L-20 feels a little delicate with the small-ish faders and plastic construction. Like a digital desk workflow, EQ and effects can only be applied to a track once you select it. Effects sound great for the most part — I have heard many worse builtin reverbs and choruses.

Though you can’t write automation moves, the L-20 lets you record a mixdown live to the Master. Do this by recordarming the Master fader and pressing record from the start of the song. Channel your inner Geoff Emerick as you ‘print’ your mix in real-time.

The resulting stereo file can be played back and exported.

Another useful feature of the Zoom is the ability to store and recall fader scenes — perfect when jumping between mixing and recording levels, for example.

Model 24

TRANSPORT

LiveTrak L-20

LiveTrak L-20

The LiveTrak is very easy to nut out without a manual. First you need to select your choice of mode and sample rate with the three-way switches on the rear. I wanted it ready for PC-less tracking, so I set it to Card Reader mode at 48kHz and popped in a 32GB SD card. Then using the built-in screen and push knob scroll wheel, I created and named a new project.

The layout makes a lot of sense. Once you’ve plugged in your inputs simply record arm the correct channels (Rec/Play button), press Record, then Play/Pause. Six Monitor mixes, labelled A–F, are switchable for headphones or balanced line level monitor outs. These can be set up mix-layer style with the A–F buttons down the side of the last track fader. As the faders aren’t motorised, the LED strips indicate their positions when jumping between mixes. It’s pretty functional and doesn’t hamper your workflow all that much. What would be nice is the ability to duplicate a Monitor mix across multiple sends. The six outputs are locked

The L-20’s push-button scroll knob acts as a jog wheel when you’re on the home screen, and you can push it down to drop a marker at a certain spot (e.g. start of Verse 1). Jump between these markers with the REW and FF buttons. A slating microphone is built-in next to the screen. When the Overdub button is enabled, existing audio is overwritten on record-enabled tracks.

Model 24 The detented jog wheel just under the Model 24’s screen also acts as the main transport control.

By default it’ll jog through second by second, but pushing it down lets you fly through by minutes or hours instead. The four buttons under the screen are given useful functions according to the screen you’re on, like on-screen metering display, song repeat setting, undo, and effects mute.

When it comes to the ergonomics of mixing, the Model 24 has the upper hand. Unlike the L-20, it has proper channel strips with pan, EQ, aux and effect send knobs for every track.

It’s a joy to mix on the Tascam unit.

The refreshingly analogue workflow means the only time you really need to use the screen is to glance at the timecode or choose an effect.

Worth noting is that the Model 24’s high-pass filter is switched on and off whereas the Zoom’s filter has a cutoff range from 40 - 600Hz. The effects sound good and although there’s only one engine it’s easy to use the screen readout and quickly find something that works for the song. In a live application, the seven-band graphic EQ is useful. It can act on either the Main output or the Monitor 1 and 2 outputs.

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to A, B, C, D, E, F mixes, and there’s no easy way to have A, B, and C output the same mix without mimicking fader levels on each one. Unless of course you switch them to receive the default Master mix, which may not always be practical.

AT A GLANCE TASCAM MODEL 24

ZOOM LIVETRAK L-20

Multitrack Recording

24 channels

20 channels

Model 24

Resolution

24-bit/48k

24-bit/96k

It’s surprising how much bigger the Model 24 is compared to the Tascam given they have very similar I/O credentials. There’s no question it’s a more solid build than the Zoom, evidenced by the nearly 7kg weight premium. Long throw faders make a difference too, and they feel pro. Unlike the Zoom there’s no need for the fader-latching business as the Model 24 has its own rows of Aux knobs for both monitor mixes and the effect send.

That’s right — there’s only one effect send, whereas the Zoom has two. This will mostly affect those who intend to mix their tracks entirely in the unit (as opposed to putting the tracks into a DAW post-recording), but I still see the lack of a second effects engine as a significant omission. Having to pick a reverb or a delay is traumatic. I want both. Which the Zoom lets me have. Granted, the Tascam contains a few “reverb + delay” presets to partially fill the need.

The Model 24 has four stereo tracks while the Zoom has two. Make that five if you’re counting the 3.5mm jack input to record your phone’s output (Channel 21/22), and a sixth with the Bluetooth input. And where the Zoom’s operating mode — be it USB interface, SD recorder or live mixer — is set globally, the Model 24 allows this to be set on a track-by-track basis with the three-position slide switch under each gain knob. Setting up for a session is super easy — record-arm each channel, then press the main Record button under the screen.

USB Interface

24-in/22-out

22-in/4-out, 48k

Mic Preamps

16

16

Preamp Gain

CONCLUSION

The Tascam Model 24 is best approached as a capable analogue live mixer with no-compromise multitrack recording capabilities. The Monitor outputs, extensive routing functions and graphic EQ all indicate it’s inclined toward the live stage.

On the other hand, the Zoom LiveTrak L-20 feels more at home in a studio than on stage.

With six stereo headphone outputs and a built-in metronome, it seems the perfect tool for capturing band performances in a controlled environment.

Both will excel in either application. They’re both great live mixers in their own right. Both are very functional multitrack recorders. Both have a generous range of effects. And both can be used as USB interfaces with a computer if you so choose.

I can see myself using the Model 24 or L-20 instead of my rack rig when tracking bands live on location, then transferring the WAV files from the SD Card into a DAW in the comfort of my home studio for mixdown. Or it’d be perfect as a live mixer in a rehearsal studio, offering bands the option to easily record a jam without setting up extra recording gear. Or you can happily mix a show through it and hit record when the set begins.

The more you think about it, the more you realise — while eclipsed by the rise of DAWs and fancy interfaces, the humble mixer/recorder certainly hasn’t lost its place in modern recording.

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+50dB

+60dB

Effects

16

20

Weight

10kg

3.7kg

RECORDING & MONITORING LiveTrak L-20 To put the L-20 through its paces, I set up a mini recording sesh in my living room with a few friends: two keyboards, two vocals and an acoustic guitar. I used insert cables to connect the keyboards to the two stereo input channels (17/18 and 19/20) from the headphone outputs into the two TS line inputs on the L-20. These channels accept dual RCA inputs as well.

It’s very easy to set levels quickly on the L-20.

Pop a channel into record-arm to make use of the fader-side LED metering, which I think has been executed exceptionally well and is a much better way to see the input signal than the single signal/ clip LED above the gain pot. Scrolling the menu reveals the metronome option. Pick a tempo, set the level, and you’re off.

The preamps on the L-20 are impressive. I never struggled for gain, neither did the pres introduce much unwanted noise. They’re uncoloured and transparent, if anything slightly boring, but in this case perfectly suited to the task of quick recording sketches. We were instantly impressed with how present and detailed the vocals sounded even with our less-than-ideal recording environment.

Setting up an initial headphone monitor mix for each person was easy, although the more you jump between the Master mix and monitor mixes the more annoying it gets as you use the fader ‘latching’ system to change levels. Being able to chuck on a bit of comfort reverb for the vocalists was great, and you can set the effect return level separately in each mix with the blue faders.

The one-knob compressor isn’t too flash.

Like the pres, it too is quite transparent but in a slightly artificial and dull fashion. It also seems like the makeup gain is overcompensated as it markedly increases a track’s level. It sounds fine at moderate settings though, and I had both vocal

mics running through it for our recordings. If you’d rather not commit, the on-screen menu has an option to record your tracks post-comp in which case it acts on recorded tracks.

Model 24 A key difference with the Model 24 is it doesn’t have six independent headphone outputs like the LiveTrak L-20. I can see how to some this could easily be a dealbreaker especially if you intend on utilising the unit for live band recording. Instead it has two Monitor outputs (aux 1 and 2) and a Submix output — suggesting it’s tailored to a live environment where you’re feeding foldbacks rather than headphones. The process of setting up these mixes is super easy since the two aux sends are on the channel strip pots.

The preamps on the Model 24 sound punchy and the extra +10dB gain over the L-20 is useful.

Each channel has a switchable high pass filter and the first 12 have a dedicated one-knob compressor. Phantom power is toggled globally with a single switch next to the graphic EQ. Unfortunately the Model 24 doesn’t have a metronome onboard. The omission complicates any kind of multitracking or overdubbing application. Even something as simple as starting a new take at the right spot is needlessly difficult when you don’t have a count in. The Zoom wins out here.

However both the Model 24 and L-20 allow for punching in to record over predetermined segments of a track.

Laid out in the format of a traditional analogue console, the Model 24 has more comprehensive routing options than the L-20. You can assign each track to the Main and/or Sub mixes using the push buttons on each channel strip. The PFL has its own level control in the trio of monitoring knobs under the effects section. Dual TRS Control Room outputs complement the main XLR outs to suit your setup.

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REVIEW

NATIVE INSTRUMENTS KOMPLETE AUDIO 2 USB2 Audio Interface Review: Rob Holder

Native Instruments’ Komplete Audio 1 and 2 interfaces help to get those new to the game a super-quick foothold into the world of music production. In some ways, this page should be a review of all the software that comes with the interfaces — they’re worth more than the hardware, that’s for sure. But NI realises the importance of a hardware host for its top-shelf code.

I spent the most time with the Komplete Audio 2, a USB2 bus powered 2-in/2-out interface. It’s a sleek little box. It’s of a plastic construction, so don’t expect an object hewn from a solid block of titanium. That said, the chassis blends in nicely with your (okay, my) Space Grey MacBook or your matte black everything else. It features a pair of TS output jacks for monitoring (the little bro has RCAs) and clear LED (VU) level readouts for its two combo inputs — both preamps are equipped with ample gain. There’s a big knob on the top for tactile volume control, and a high-output headphone socket on the front.

Everything you could expect and probably need from an interface in this segment.

KA1 & KA2 SOFTWARE PACKAGE

NEED TO KNOW

Monark (MiniMoog-inspired softsynth) Replika (multi-mode delay) Phasis (phaser effect) Solid Bus Comp (mastering compressor) Maschine Essentials (groovebox) Ableton Live 10 Lite (DAW) Komplete Start (softsynth & plug-in suite) Sounds.com (two months of free samples) $39 NI Online Shop e-voucher

PRICE Komplete Audio 1: $149 Komplete Audio 2: $209 CONTACT CMI Music & Audio (03) 9315 2244 or www.cmi.com.au

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PROS Superior software package Big knob Quality preamps

LET’S PLAY

NI’s newest interface plays just as you’d expect. It’s plug ’n’ play with MacOS — something its predecessor the Komplete Audio 6 couldn’t boast of — and served as my personal bass practice DI on its first outing. Here it’s most unique feature demonstrated its worth: the ‘Input-Host’ crossfade pot – Komplete Audio 2’s take on direct monitoring. Using this pot, I could, in theory, fade in as much of the track I was rehearsing to, while simultaneously hearing enough of my bass without any DAW lag. The theory is enticing, while in practice it was sometimes difficult to find the right blend — I found adjusting Spotify’s volume helped me to arrive at the right balance a little more reliably. That said, it’s a great idea on NI’s part.

Not all interfaces allow you to overlay your direct monitoring, and yet it’s not necessarily an improvement on the switches you see on a box like the Focusrite Scarlett.

Komplete Audio 2’s preamp sounded just fine (lots of gain, and any self noise was utterly negligible), though monitoring through a channel in my DAW (Reason) did give my bass considerably more ‘oomph’ compared to piping it straight through the interface into my ears. The drivers play very nicely with my 2018 MacBook Pro, with negligible monitoring latency, something I’ve often been plagued with by my slightly anaemic dual-core CPU. Recording a groove to a drum beat felt natural and sounded pretty sweet.

CONS Plasticky feel of the construction

Native Instruments will instantly grab a chunk of the 2-in/2-out interface market. As I mentioned, don’t get stressed by the price. Yes, it’s a few bucks more than some of the competition but NI throw more than enough goodies into the package to sweeten the deal. The inclusion of a great suite of ‘everything you need to start producing tracks’ software (including the phat Moog sounds of Monark) make the Komplete Audio 2 a high-value package deal.

Komplete Audio 1 shares the same features and software package as KA2 but is different in two respects: the two inputs are 1x XLR mic (with 48V phantom power) and 1x jack input with individual gain control; while the outputs are on RCA.

SUMMARY There are plenty of 2-in/2-out interfaces to choose from, some cheaper than these. But Native Instruments’ onboard suite of (everything you need to get started) software will win many over to the Komplete Audio way of thinking. A capable USB2 ‘first interface’.

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REVIEW

KORG VOLCA MODULAR

Semi-Modular Analogue Synth Volca Modular is the world’s first battery-powered analogue semi-modular synth based on West Coast synthesis. Don’t be fooled, this is no one-trick pony nor dance muso’s bleep box but rather a playground for sonic experimentation.

Review: Jason Hearn

When I first caught wind of the Volca Modular, I couldn’t help but wonder how Korg could squeeze over 50 patch points into the tiny Volca form factor. The answer is in the miniaturised DuPont pin-point headers — the left hand side for inputs (thin outline), the right hand side for outputs (solid outline). Connections intended for audio signals are denoted by a rounded outline. A generous 20 pin-patch cables are included of various lengths to get you started.

It’s ‘Modular’ by name but semi-modular by nature… mercifully so. It means the essential signal paths of Korg’s latest Volca are normalled internally such that with no patch cables connected, it will make basic tones, which is great news for those new to modular synthesis. (Normalled connections are indicated by grey line traces on the front panel.)

Like I said, thanks goodness it’s semi modular, it means you can happily get lost down a rabbit-hole of patching, whip out all the patch wires, return to the normalled state and start making sound again.

Control voltage and audio signals throughout the unit operate within -3V to +3V for bipolar sources and 0V to +3V for unipolar sources and AT 38

thus it’s safe to experiment with interchanging audio and control signals in a creative manner.

Although the universe of Eurorack control voltages generally operate within the -5V to +5V range, a dual-channel CV input is provided on a single TRS minijack socket which allows control

via CV and gate/trigger from external sources.

Furthermore, it’s possible to cross patch between multiple Volca Modular units provided they are connected via the sync in/out connectors (providing a common ground reference) which is an exciting prospect.

SEQUENCER, SCALES & MICROTUNING Inclusion of a 16-step on-board sequencer with storage for 16 patterns adds further sophistication. Although it’s nothing to rival a dedicated sequencer or DAW, in the context of a miniature analogue modular synth, it is serviceable. An Active Step function means you can skip any of the 16 steps independently.

Perhaps inspired by Aphex Twin’s recent collaborations with Korg, a custom Microtuning function can be applied to a Sequence. Hit the Clear function and you erase your tweaks.

There are 14 scale types available. The Tonic function allows you to select the tonic of the scale, providing a down ‘n’ dirty means of

manually transposing a pattern on the fly as part of a performance. Apart from regular forward playback, sequence steps can be replayed in Bounce mode (steps play forward then backward looped) or stochastically (randomly).

Three Randomisation functions may also be applied to a sequence in real-time, serving as a great tool for improvisation during a performance: Notes, Active Step (which steps are active) and Micro-tuning.

A powerful Motion Sequencing feature is available. Parameter movements can be easily recorded by engaging Record and tweaking.

EVOLVE 50 Will it be white or black today?

127 dB MAX SPL

1000 WATT

CLASS-D

15PLYWOOD

REMOTE

3-BAND

PRESETS

APP

CONTROL

26.3 KG

Stylish & DISCRETE No matter what the application, or whether you only use one for a solo gig, or multiple systems in stereo or with delay for larger rooms, EVOLVE 50 always looks sleek and sounds stunning. Designed to deliver an uncompromising combination of light-weight portability, fast set up, low-profile looks, and superior sound quality, the EVOLVE 50 sets a new performance standard for powered column systems.

But don’t take our word for it. Listen to one or two at your nearest Electro-Voice stockist. For your nearest dealer call 1300 026 724.

Bold & POWERFUL

Ph: 1300 026 724 | Fax: (02) 8850-2230

| Email: boschcomms@au.bosch.com | www.boschcommunications.com.au AT 39

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RETURN TO THE SOURCE

The Source module contains a pair of Triangle VCOs which serve as a Carrier and Modulator respectively. With the normalled patch, only the Carrier (VCO1) is audible, however audio from the Modulator (VCO2) can be tapped from the patch header. Although it may appear a limitation to be armed with only Triangle waves, a continuous spectrum of harmonically complex waveshapes can be achieved via Wavefolding and linear Frequency Modulation. The Fold knob invokes Wavefolding on VCO1 and may be modulated externally. The Mod knob invokes Frequency Modulation between the Carrier and Modulator VCOs, the amount of which may also be modulated externally. The Ratio knob, with a range of 1:4 to 4:1, establishes the pitch offset of the Modulator wave — tweaking both Mod and Ratio knobs simultaneously reveals a wide range of tones.

Although a master tuning knob is absent, tuning is accomplished by holding down the Function button while tweaking the Ratio knob. During use I found having a dedicated tuner on hand to be essential.

FILTER & EFFECTS MODULES

In true West Coast fashion, a pair of independent Low Pass Gates (LPG) are on offer. These are similar to traditional VCFs but combine a VCA in circuit which has unique sonic characteristics (higher frequencies are enhanced with louder input). Unlike traditional VCFs, LPGs do not have resonance.

The intriguingly titled Space-Out module provides a stereo digital reverb-like effect with a simple Amount knob to control its level with an accompanying modulation input. While I found it useful for spicing up percussive sequences when firing triggers at it from the clock division outputs, you’ll probably reach for better-sounding reverb.

FUNCTION MODULES

Rather than traditional ADSR envelopes, a pair of Function generators are provided: an Attack/Hold/

CONTACT CMI Music & Audio (03) 9315 2244 or www.cmi.com.au

UTILITY MODULES

A Clock module is hard-wired to drive the sequencer with a tempo ‘narrow’ range default of between 56 and 240bpm, however a Global setting allows a ‘wide’ option range of from 10bpm to 600bpm (useful when using the sequencer for creative effects rather than melodic duties). When not driven from the Sync Input, you can modulate the clock within a ±20bpm range. Trigger outputs are provided at /4, /3, /2 beat divisions. The Pitch/ Gate and Trigger outputs are driven by the steps in the sequencer and thus the sequencer itself may serve as a modulation source.

The Split module provides a pair of passive signal splitters for creating mults of audio or control signals. When connected in reverse (inputs treated as outputs and vice versa), signals are summed, thus acting as a passive mixer.

The Woggle module provides a S&H circuit internally normalled to a Pink Noise generator which provides either stepped or slewed outputs.

The noise source itself is not available as an audio source which I felt was a missed opportunity. When clocked at audio rates, while patched to other modules you can coax a range of distorted tones.

A ‘Math’ Utility module provides three inputs: A, B and C (with input C having an attenuation knob). Two Outputs allow signals to emerge

PROS Battery-powered Built-in step sequencer with motion sequencing Connectivity with other modular equipment Unique sound Great value for money

CONS Documentation needs improvement Power supply not included No MIDI input Patch pin headers feel delicate

simultaneously as either the result of A+BxC or A-BxC. Although you’d typically feed control voltages into this module, the real magic is found by feeding audio signals into the inputs - here you’ll find means of cross modulation and ring modulation which really expands its sonic palette.

THE SOUND

This synth excels at obscure, brash, raucous and otherworldly tones and drones. Musicians preoccupied with genres that embrace experimental textures will feel right at home.

Due to its West Coast design, most notably with the absence of resonance in the filter section, the familiar sound palette typifying subtractive synths is absent from this unit, however it will lead you into new sonic territories.

MOD REAL

Volca Modular is West Coast synthesis for the masses. Essentially, it’s a stripped-down, low-cost, Buchla Music Easel to fit in your coat pocket, ready to tinker with anywhere and anytime. Although the modules within the Volca Modular are somewhat primitive just consider the package as a whole: for less than the price of many Eurorack oscillator modules, you get a useful sequencer capable of automating parameters, a pair of filters, a pair of envelopes, a passive splitter/mixer, a S&H module, math functions and basic spacial FX! For musicians (like myself) yet to plunge into the obsessive universe of modular synths, this instrument is undeniably a gateway. Its creative potential can’t be underestimated for either exotic live jam sessions or as a miniature science-lab for generating original textures to sample into your DAW. Although its sound won’t be for everyone, if you’re looking to expand your sound design vocabulary beyond traditional subtractive synths, Volca Modular is well worthy of your attention.

NEED TO KNOW

PRICE $299

Release (AHR) envelope and a Rise/Fall envelope.

Inputs are provided to modulate the Attack/Release and Shape/Time for each Functionary generator respectively and both have positive and negative modulation outputs and end-of-cycle trigger outputs. The Rise/Fall function has a trigger input thus providing an LFO when patched to the endof-cycle trigger output. While this may appear a crude means of providing an LFO, it is quite flexible since its frequency reaches into the audio frequency spectrum with tonal characteristics jointly affected by the shape and rate inputs, thus, serving as a third oscillator (with a largely sawtooth flavour).

SUMMARY It’s the craziest Volca yet, but squeezes so much sound design and noise making potential into such a small package. The semi-modular Modular will drive some wild and others wild with delight, and for around $300 it’s well worth finding out which side of the fence you might stand.

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REVIEW

PMC TWOTWO.6 Nearfield Monitors Review: Brad Watts

NEED TO KNOW

Blimey! Another pair of PMC monitors decorate my monitor bridge for the second time in 12 months. As I mentioned in my review of the Result6 monitors, I don’t see new PMC nearfield models that often, they’re simply not that prolific. The company’s sweetspot has, for many years, been in midfield and main monitors.

The kind of monitors that require a thorough installation process, soffit mounting and a crane.

Have a look at PMC’s site for the QB1 XBD-A for an idea of just how far PMC will go in terms of brute strength — at 10,425 Watts per side and weighing in at 290kg, the QB1 XBD-A will will hurl you into other side of next week should you dare run them at full mizzen. I’ll stick with the more affordable nearfields for now.

PMC’s twotwo series predates the analogueonly result.6. The twotwo lineage includes all the bells and whistles — analogue and digital inputs, along with digital equalisation options.

You can also control the monitors over RJ45 Cat cables with either PMC’s DMC controller or the twotwo specific rc1 controller. Interestingly, PMC has designed the twotwo range with specific left and right units. PMC suggest the high frequency drivers should be on the inside of your listening triangle. So if you want to lay the twotwos horizontally rather than vertically, you’ll need to swap the monitors over.

So gracing my monitor bridge are two twotwo.6 monitors — the middle child of the range. These sport a 6.5-inch low frequency driver, while the twotwo.5 offers a 5.5-inch, and the twotwo.8 housing an eight-inch driver. All are powered using Class-D amplification with 50W for the high-frequency driver and two amps bridged providing 150W to the low-end.

The high-end driver is a 27mm soft dome unit while the low-frequency unit is a doped-paper cone design. Of course, PMC’s ATL transmission line design is used in the cabinet design, with porting via the front baffle. Much was spoken about transmission line designs in my review of the Result6 from AT127. It’s certainly not a

PRICE RRP $7749 CONTACT Interdyn: (03) 9426 3600 pro@pmcspeakers.com.au www.interdyn.com.au

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PROS Superior two-way sound Excellent room matching features Great connectivity

new concept, having initially appearing back in the 1930s, yet PMC has become the foremost proponent of transmission line design to date. But in a nutshell, transmission line designs provide superior bass extension and higher SPL capability compared to the usual ported or sealed cabinet of a similar size. An additional advantage is an even frequency response across all listening levels.

WELL CONNECTED

Connectivity-wise there’s quite a lot going on out back of the twotwo monitors. Analogue connection is via either balanced XLRs or unbalanced RCA connectors, while digital connection is AES/EBU XLRs. Juggling your digital channels involves connecting the RJ45 connectors. The Thru RJ45 connection will carry digital audio to the next monitor’s RJ45 In, whether that be in a stereo setting or surround monitoring rigs. However, should there be both AES/EBU and the RJ45 connectors receiving digital audio signal the AES/EBU input will take priority. Unfortunately there’s no Dante compatibility, which is a shame.

To the top rear of the twotwo cabinets is an LCD display and four software navigation buttons.These access all settings as to input level and for the DSP-based equalisation. EQ options include high and low shelf EQs over a ±4dB range in stupendously accurate 0.125dB steps, with the high-end frequency point at 1kHz for some surgical tizz and the low shelf set at 500Hz (the smaller twotwo 5 models have a 750Hz low-end shelf). PMC advise the low-end rolloff is primarily used to counteract the effect of room boundaries, with an additional 6dB/octave highpass filter at 50, 80, 120, 150, or 200Hz to further assist close to wall setups, and in configuring surround setups. Other functions include trim, input sensitivity, input source, and dim time for the LCD backlight. The monitors will also go into standby mode, or sleep. Great for saving power, but a little disconcerting when you initially arc up a pair and one monitor comes to life before

CONS Priced out of reach to most

the other — that sent me on a troubleshooting goose-chase for a (thankfully) short while. The wake process isn’t nearly as pronounced when using the digital inputs, though.

Being DSP controlled and allowing connection of digital signals, the units obviously involve A/D and D/A conversion. Conversion is of the deltasigma variety and can accept sample rates from 32 to 192k, but output is always converted to 96k before hitting the amplifiers.

ALARMINGLY GOOD

I took PMCs advice and ran the twotwos in for the advised 20 hours. After hearing no discernible difference I assumed that being a demonstration pair they’d probably done a few miles before I clasped ears on them. That said, There wasn’t a lot I disliked about the twotwos.

The bass extension is, as always with PMC monitors, impressive, and, as so many will tell you, linear throughout whichever SPLs you care to shunt into them. The twotwo.6 units are however, quite clinical, but there’s a plethora of finessing you can employ with EQ options to get them ‘in the pocket’. However, once you’ve settled into a perfect EQ the imaging is alarmingly stable. Midrange detail is quite astounding for a two-way monitor — far superior to any in my collection of two-way systems. It’s hard to fault the twotwos. If you’ve the pockets for PMC’s flagship nearfields you’d be doing yourself a disservice not auditioning them.

HEAR THEM AT YOUR PLACE As you can tell from Brad’s review, if you’re not experienced with transmission lines, it can take a little time to adjust. To help you make a decision, PMC Australia has demo pairs of its range available to AudioTechnology readers. If you want to try them out in your own space, just give them a buzz or email on: (03) 9426 3660 or pro@pmcspeakers.com.au

SUMMARY Audio ‘beauty’ is in the ‘eye’ of the beholder at this end of the premium market. But with their superior imaging, extended bass response, connectivity, and ability to fine tune the response to your room, I rate PMC’s twotwo monitors very highly indeed.

If you love the sound but don’t need the bells and whistles, then check out PMC’s Result6 (reviewed in AT127). Give Interdyn a buzz for a test drive.

LINE ARRAY OR POINT SOURCE:

WHY NOT BOTH? Based on designs and research on a Constant-Directivity Two-Way Loudspeaker System presented at the 143rd AES Convention by Hugh Sarvis and Don Keele, the CDL12 radiates a highly-focused pattern with consistent SPL throughout the frequency response range, both onand off-axis. This is in part thanks to the CDL12’s unique array of eight 2-inch drivers mounted in front of a 12-inch woofer.

And because the CDL12’s crossover point resides at 420 Hz—well outside human vocal range—the result is clear, articulate speech intelligibility and natural music reproduction. Add the CDL18s for articulate low-end punch, and you’ll have a coherent, powerful loudspeaker system with an even response across the frequency spectrum—flown or ground-stacked.

Visit presonus.com to learn more about how line arrays are now within reach.

CDL LOUDSPEAKERS Constant Directivity Sound Reinforcement Loudspeakers

Ph: 03 8373 4817 www.linkaudio.com.au ©2018 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.

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REGULARS

LAST WORD Engineer, Update Thyself!

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.

In Issue 17 of AudioTechnology I wrote an article called ‘Engineer, Promote Thyself!’, discussing strategies for promoting your audio skills and services. For perspective, Issue 17 hit the streets in late 2000; that’s about two years after Google was unleashed as a search engine, four years before Facebook and YouTube arrived on the screen, and seven years before the first iPhone was announced — all of which have collectively defined what we now call ‘social media’.

A lot has changed since AT17. It’s a very different world that offers new ways of working while demanding new ways of thinking. You’re currently reading AT133, and it contains two articles that are worth looking at closely because they show us what is necessary and what is possible when doing audio business in 2019.

FISTS OF FURY

Nick Franklin’s article about the necessity of proper accounting [‘Skills to Pay the Bills’] shows us that mobile devices and their relation to social media can make the day-to-day running of a business easy and fun. Nick’s been in the industry for a long time; he learnt the hard way and is showing you the easy way. The fact that he was able to write an entertaining article about the boring side of business says it all. Then there’s my interview with Marcel Gnauk of Free To Use Sounds [‘Making Free Pay’]. Two years ago, with no background or experience in audio whatsoever, Marcel started recording sounds and giving them away on the internet.

He’s a savvy social media operator with a deep understanding of how it all fits together, and is a great example of what is possible in the ‘post-social media’ world. When he told me how much he earns from giving away sounds, my jaw hit the floor.

After reading those articles, I could not help but think of all the industry people I know who’d benefit from being updated on social media and understanding how it all fits together. If you’re on top of social media you don’t need to read any of this, but if you feel like the grumpy old guy stuck in the middle of the road shaking your fist at passing cars, read on...

THE LAST BIG THING

I was born in the early ‘60s and grew up in a world of fads: roller skates, dragsters, skateboards, CB radio, tropical fish, and a long list of ‘here today, gone tomorrow’ one-hit wonders. [The skateboard re-emerged decades later with improved technologies and is now a mainstay, but it was once just another fad.] Right up to the arrival of social media I watched numerous delivery formats and internet services come and go, all following the same faddish trajectory. I knew a fad when I saw one, and learnt to step back and wait; knowing that most of The Previous Big Things would soon be replaced by The Next Big Things, and those who invested too much in them would be stuck with Useless Old Big Things.

As I mentioned in the previous issue (‘Datacumulus 2019’, AT 44

AT132), I begrudgingly accepted cloud storage when Gmail was introduced because it was from Google (the search engine people), it was free, and it was better. Not to mention that it was invitation only! There was none of the faddish hype that rings my alarm bells; in fact, I’d never heard of it until the day I signed up. Then along came Myspace, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter et al. They all had three things in common: stupid names, silly words to describe how you interacted with them, and the early signs of that all-too-familiar fad trajectory. I promptly dismissed every one of them, as any sane member of my g-g-ggeneration would.

But here’s the reality: Facebook and YouTube have been with us for 15 years, Twitter has been with us for 13 years, and the relatively junior Instagram has been with us for eight years.

They’re not fads by any contemporary definition, and none of them are likely to be replaced by The Next Big Thing because they have become The Perpetual Next Big Thing — constantly evolving to keep us engaged, exploiting new technologies from our mobile devices, and quickly stitching any potential competitors into the fabric of their own social media universe.

Any new platform that aims to entice users off Facebook, YouTube, Instagram or Twitter will only succeed if it provides a way for those users to port over all of their existing content, networks, comments and reactions. All of that stuff is currency in the social media world; users have invested thousands of hours into building, maintaining and growing it, and they’re not going to walk away from it just because someone is promising something better. If they cannot transfer their existing currency into it and make a profit, they’re not interested. They might add it to their collection of platforms, but they’re not going to abandon what they’ve already established. Also, any new platform that has the potential to draw users away from an established platform is quickly acquired by that established platform: threatened by the cooler and slicker Instagram, Facebook bought it and stitched it into the fabric of their social media universe, allowing users of either platform to increase their reach and add value to their existing currency.

ROLLING ON

Social media is not a passing fad; the established platforms are here to stay, and it’s time to get updated. Stewart Brand’s famous quote, “Once a new technology rolls over you, if you’re not part of the steamroller you’re part of the road” is more apt now than ever. Realising I had become part of the road, about a year ago I stopped shaking my fist at the passing cars and started a brisk walk in pursuit of that steamroller – hitching rides along the way from the Nicks and Marcels of the world.

Next issue I’m going to write ‘Social Media for Dummies’.

Wait… Sorry, we’re not dummies! Next issue: ‘Social Media for Smarties from a Different Generation’.

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Free & Easy

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