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Editor Mark Davie mark@audiotechnology.com.au Publisher Philip Spencer philip@alchemedia.com.au Editorial Director Christopher Holder chris@audiotechnology.com.au Publication Director Stewart Woodhill stewart@alchemedia.com.au Art Direction & Design Dominic Carey dominic@alchemedia.com.au Additional Design Daniel Howard daniel@alchemedia.com.au Advertising Philip Spencer philip@alchemedia.com.au Accounts Jaedd Asthana jaedd@alchemedia.com.au Subscriptions Miriam Mulcahy mim@alchemedia.com.au
Regular Contributors Martin Walker Robert Clark Anthony Garvin Paul Tingen Graeme Hague Guy Harrison Greg Walker James Roche Greg Simmons Tom Flint Brad Watts Blair Joscelyne Mark Woods Andrew Bencina Jason Fernandez Brent Heber AudioTechnology magazine (ISSN 1440-2432) is published by Alchemedia Publishing Pty Ltd (ABN 34 074 431 628). Contact (Advertising, Subscriptions) T: +61 2 9986 1188 PO Box 6216, Frenchs Forest NSW 2086, Australia. Contact (Editorial) T: +61 3 5331 4949 PO Box 295, Ballarat VIC 3353, Australia.
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All material in this magazine is copyright Š 2014 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. 20/01/2014.
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REGULARS
ED SPACE Text: Mark Davie
After years of being told we don’t really need pots and faders, we’re starting to see the advantages of something to hold on to. Just don’t tell Steven Slate — he’ll go Raven mad. This year at NAMM, Behringer has released the X-Touch control surface, which borrows heavily from the look of the X-32, Allen & Heath has forged ahead by expanding its QU line of consoles to 24 channels with 24 faders and Midas has gone super luxe by giving Bentley the keys to its industrial design. Is the M32 the first carbon fibre live mixing console? Load-in times are going to drop by milliseconds! Speaking of Slate, his latest crusade has been to resurrect the oft-derided notion of mic modelling. His version is perhaps given at least a fighting chance by shipping with two ‘neutral’ microphones as a starting base. Though how Slate manages to mimic a Royer 121 figureeight ribbon using a cardioid-pattern dynamic microphone is beyond me — and perhaps beyond science. We’ll have to try that one out. Oh, and you get preamp modelling thrown in too. Throw out those dusty U47s and 1073s now! (Just let me know which Salvo bin you’re dropping them in.) Universal Audio is also promising some preamp emulation magic with the debut of its desktop Apollo — the twin. You can now virtually track through its UA-610 tube preamp emulation, which seems a little odd given UA still sells that particularly piece of hardware. But they’ll be dipping into other manufacturer’s backyards soon with more preamp spectres to appear this year.
Korg continues its renaissance of the MS20, this time with a full-size version in kit form. It will sell for roughly US$1200, you just have to supply the elbow grease. Not to worry, it’s essentially a flatpack, with all the soldering done for you. It’s a limited edition, includes MIDI, and is switchable between the more-strident filters of the original and the ‘smoother’ ones of the later version. Also relying on heritage, Tannoy continues to build on its Reveal range of monitors, JBL has a new Eon, Korg has re-animated the keytar, and Roland is channelling its TR-808 to produce the AIRA. Interesting times. You can get all the NAMM news by keeping an eye on www.audiotechnology.com.au
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COVER STORY
Wise Up: Elvis Gets Back With The Roots
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Nexo STM: Out With Jessica Mauboy
ADK Thor Condenser Microphone
Tonmeister Breaks Tradition, ARIA Engineer Of The Year
Universal Audio Apollo 16 Interface
Mackie MR Mk3 Monitors & Sub
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FEATURE
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Steven Mandel managed to make a practise room at 30 Rock sound like a million dollar studio. It just so happened to house Elvis Costello, ?uestlove and The Roots at the time.
SCAN ME!
Listen to Wise Up Ghosts & Other Songs tinyurl.com/q69yk3n
Story: Paul Tingen 30 Rock Photos: Steve Weinik
These are dark days for lovers of hi-fi audio; over-compressed and over-bright productions are only on the increase. But occasionally, through the pumped-up digital grey, you get an album that caresses the ears, rather than assaults them. Two recent pop albums up for consideration are Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories and Elvis Costello & The Roots’ Wise Up Ghost and Other Songs. Random Access Memories became instantly celebrated for its audiophile approach; helped by a million US dollar recording budget and pre-release mini-movies describing the lengths the French duo went to ensure the album wore analogue 1970s aesthetics on its sleeve. It was an open invitation to return to the expensive, laborious, big studio approach of the pre-digital Golden Age of record production. Topped off with resurrected disco-era icons. Wise Up Ghost and Other Songs, meanwhile, sounds almost as good, with a non-fatiguing natural spaciousness to the sound and arrangements; a gentle, silken high end; a huge yet tight low end; and impressive dynamic range. Its admirable sonic qualities hint at similar working methods and budgets to the Daft Punk epic. It turns out, however, that nothing could be further from the truth. The man in the know is Wise Up Ghost’s engineer and mixer, Steven Mandel, who proudly proclaims that he “grew up as an analogue person who loved tape”. Despite his love affair, he explains, Wise Up Ghost was “made without a budget, before a record deal was in place, in a rehearsal room, and entirely in the box, in ProTools at 24-bit/48k. It’s not something I’m trying to promote, but I guess the record does have a warm sound, and a sense of expansiveness.” As Mandel relates the full story of the album’s gestation, it gradually becomes clear that circumstances conspired to create something unusual, including the fact that it was made without a budget, and bizarrely, recorded and mixed for the most part in a tiny dressing roomcum-rehearsal space. It could nonetheless have turned out a mess, and this is the story of how, and why, it didn’t. CROSSOVER PATHS
When news broke of the Wise Up Ghost
collaboration there was widespread concern that Costello, a British singer-songwriter emerging from the 1970s New Wave movement, was jumping on the latest bandwagon, and that the world was going to witness a Costellogone-hip hop car crash. In this day and age of extensive genre crossovers, the eyebrow-raising is surprising. Especially given Costello’s long reputation for eclectic collaborations, including with classical music acts like The Brodsky Quartet, all the way to Burt Bacharach, and Paul McCartney. And this could be one of his best. Costello’s intense, hoarse vocals fit seamlessly with The Root’s relaxed but deep muscular grooves. If anything, both Costello and The Roots sound revitalised, demonstrating a connection that usually takes decades to foster. Though, in truth, it did take a couple of years. The collaboration originated when the two parties met at Late Night With Jimmy Fallon. The Roots, led by drummer Ahmir ‘?uestlove’ Thompson, have been the Jimmy Fallon show house band since the beginning of 2009, and later that year backed Costello on a version of the song High Fidelity, chosen by Mandel. Another year went by, and Costello was back on the show to promote his album National Ransom, playing an album track with the Roots and guitarist John McLaughlin. The stirring combination of wordy song and ballsy funk grooves was an indication of things to come. And it just kept happening. Next up, Mandel recorded Costello and The Roots playing the Squeeze song Someone Else’s Heart, for a Squeeze tribute album. Everyone was vibed on the result, and the idea first emerged of Costello and The Roots doing an album together. Costello visited the Fallon show yet again in February 2012 to play some Springsteen songs, with The Roots backing him once more. By then, the collaboration was merely a matter of timing. The first steps involved a typical 21st century long-distance approach, with Costello cooking up ideas at his home studio in Vancouver, called Hookery-Crookery West, and uploading them so ?uestlove and Mandel could create their own takes in New York and fling them back Costello’s way. Once the songs were fleshed out, a batch of recording sessions followed in New York, Vancouver, and Philadelphia.
“It was an untraditional way of making a record,” remarks Mandel. “Because there was no record deal, there also was no deadline. So we were doing this at our leisure, when we were inspired. We would send things to and fro, and then haphazardly recorded the album in three cities. Three songs ended up being recorded live in the studio: The Puppet Has Cut His Strings, If I Could Believe, and Sugar Won’t Work, mainly with Ahmir, Elvis, bassist Pino Palladino and keyboardist Ray Angry, but the other songs were mostly recorded one musician at a time. “In general, we were building things up piece by piece and working with a cut and paste montagetype approach to producing. It was somewhat new for Elvis, but for Ahmir and I, it’s second nature. Maybe we were trying to prove a point by throwing paint on a wall and then removing things. Elvis called it collage. You have these splatters of paint on the canvas, and pick and choose which you find the most interesting in a long process of arranging and editing, muting and un-muting, and decision-making. Even friends of mine who know a lot about how records are made don’t realise how the people that make them listen to it. The lead single Walk Us Uptown is 202 seconds long, and we carefully considered what happens in each and every moment. I mean, 202 seconds is a short time, but when you are creating something, it’s much longer. “We were shooting for the space, air and feel of the John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band album from 1970. We intended to make the songs very sparse, with just drums, bass, piano, guitar and vocals. A lot of the greatest stuff happens in the silence. Having said that, we ultimately ended up filling more space than we intended, because it’s a constant battle to try to keep things sparse, and yet do the songs justice. If we felt a song needed horns, we’d add them, but tried to keep them as sparse as possible.” NO LOSS FOR WORDS
Mandel not only engineered the album, but also co-produced and co-wrote it, with Costello, and ?uestlove. And in manning the DAW, Mandel played a crucial role in the creation of the album’s apparent analogue aesthetic. Mandel’s own analogue roots can be credited to the 1970s and ’80s music he listened to as a kid — with AT 13
Wise Up Ghost was made without a budget, before a record deal was in place, in a rehearsal room, and entirely in the box, in Pro Tools at 24-bit/48k
a particular interest in Elvis Costello — and to his time as an intern at Electric Lady Studios in New York, where he began working in 1996. Fate met him quickly, because in 1998, when Mandel had graduated to assistant engineer, neo-soul singer D’Angelo came to record his second album Voodoo at Electric Lady. ?uestlove was one of the producers, Mandel and he hit it off, and not long after the D’Angelo sessions Mandel found himself in Philadelphia as The Roots’ main engineer. He has since worked almost exclusively with The Roots, and also engineers and mixes many of ?uestlove’s productions. He’s led a charmed life, but this particular collaboration was perhaps Mandel’s most fateful coincidence. Unlike many of his studio colleagues, Mandel wasn’t a closet musician, but
instead, he recalls: “The thing that got me into music and then engineering was lyric writing. I’m not a drummer or a guitar player, but a lyricist, and Elvis was a big influence on my lyric writing. From there I started looking into how to record. So in the first part of my life I’d been listening to Elvis’ music, and the second part has been working with ?uest and The Roots, so I guess I was qualified to work on this collaboration! I was in a unique situation in that I know Elvis’ back catalogue inside out, and am intimately familiar with the way The Roots and ?uestlove work. The challenge was to turn the idea of them working together into a true collaboration, rather than The Roots just being Elvis’ backing band or him singing over beats. For me it was obviously a lot of fun to meet Elvis. If he’d asked me to engineer an album for him I probably would have been too intimidated to even attempt it, but I somehow knew how to make the combination of him and The Roots work. If I had contributed to the making of some kind of failed Elvis Costello record, I would have never forgiven myself.” THE PATCHWORKER
Mandel was the unsung hero at the centre of the entire process, and he worked endless hours piecing different elements together, constructing and deconstructing the tracks, suggesting and working on arrangements and getting the sonics right, in a process that mirrored the manner in which The Roots and he had been working for many years. In addition, Mandel put his encyclopaedic knowledge of Costello’s previous work to good use. He ended up with a co-writing AT 14
credit on 13 of the 15 songs on the deluxe version of the album. For Mandel, as a Costello fan, this was a dream come true. “Elvis wrote all the lyrics for the album,” explained Mandel. “And Ahmir and Elvis cowrote the music, and I provided the initial ideas for some of the songs. For example, Wise Up Ghost is based on a loop of Elvis’s song Can You Be True from his album North (2003). Similarly, the song Tripwire is based on a loop of the intro of the song Satellite from Spike (1989), which I had processed to the point where even Elvis didn’t recognise where it came from. Many of the loops that provided the start-off point for the songs were based on samples taken from when Elvis played with The Roots on the Fallon show. They played six songs together over three visits by Elvis, and we were able to cull a bunch of the songs from that. Everybody has been focussing on Elvis re-using some of his lyrics, but it’s also really interesting where the music for these songs came from. “The making of this album was incredibly collaborative. As an engineer you can suggest things without saying anything, just by selecting what you play to people, or editing or processing things, and people will react to that. And, of course, you spend many hours on your own with the session, working on the sounds and changing things around and so on. After having recorded or been given many ideas and parts of songs, I was left by myself for much of the time to make many of the writing and editing decisions, and trying to make everything work.” UP TOP AT 30 ROCK
While many of the origins for the songs on Wise Up Ghost came from individuals working things out by themselves on a computer — whether that be Mandel sampling Elvis songs or Elvis laying down his ideas in Garageband — the team were eager for the album to sound as live as possible, and not entirely like a hip hop cut-and-paste affair. For this reason, Mandel recorded live playing as early as possible, usually going for whole takes. Amazingly, the vast majority of the recordings were done at The Roots’ tiny rehearsal room at the NBC building in the Rockefeller Center. The famous address — 30 Rockefeller Plaza in downtown Manhattan — is why they tend to refer to the studio as 30 Rock, even though its official name is Feliz Habitat Studios. Mandel clearly took pride in the fact it’s a very unlikely place to make high-end recordings. He sees it as another illustration of great recordings being about the music and the people, and not about the gear or the studio. Mandel: “30 Rock is the most ridiculous studio in the world. It’s not really a studio. We have nothing in it, no outboard, and very few plug-ins. It’s the place where The Roots rehearse every day, and it’s set up so I can record what they are doing. It’s part of my job on the show. The equipment we have at 30 Rock is so minimal, it’s a joke. It’s just a computer, a few microphones and a Digidesign Control 24. The studio is very small, about the size of a New York apartment kitchen. We have
a main room, and a room for the drum kit, and a lounge at the back. The two keyboard players, the percussionist, the bass player, the guitar player and I all fit in the main space, and Ahmir is in the room next to us. The main door leading into the hallway is soundproofed, as is Ahmir’s space, not for acoustic reasons but to make sure we’re not bothering people outside! We are really minimalist, almost to a fault. In fact, we prefer this kind of uncomfortable setting, because it means that you do what you have to do and then you get the hell of the room! It’s a kind of guerrilla approach to recording. “Insofar as the sound is concerned, I think it boils down to there being a very short signal path between the source and the hard drive, and not using many plug-ins. I always try to keep my eyes on the main prize, which is that I had Elvis Costello and ?uestlove in the room, so how many plug-ins would I need to cover up what these guys were doing? They are virtuosos. Even if the pizza boy were to stick some horrible microphones in front of them, they would still sound good. The whole point of ?uestlove is the power and drama and clarity of the sound of his kit, which is completely unprocessed. I was taught to record things as truthfully as possible, trying to record the actual sound you want down to tape, and I still follow that advice. When I hear that overblown high-end digital stuff, I’ll change it, or I won’t use it. At the same time, I’ve given up on trying to make things sound analogue or digital, or being attached to using certain gear. It’s not about the equipment. “30 Rock provides us with a very close, direct sound, which is what Ahmir and I prefer. It was the same thing with Elvis. When I recorded him in Vancouver, my only intention was to close-mic the f**k out of him. On all my favourite albums by him, he’s right in your face. So we close mic, and then have a signal chain that’s as short as possible. When Paul McCartney recorded his first solo album, he just plugged the mic directly into the back of the tape machine. That makes the most sense to me. The job of an engineer is for the most part to replicate what is being played in front of him for the eventual listener, who will be sitting in front of a left and a right speaker, experiencing what it sounds like if he or she was actually there. Close miking makes a lot of sense, but, depending on what you’re going for, so does more distant miking. Ahmir and I have found over the years that you get a more accurate drum sound by not having a snare mic right next to the snare, but a few feet away. We’ve been experimenting with having more space between the mics and the drums, though in 30 Rock I can’t achieve much of that. And in the end I’m usually simply thankful that the mics are working at all, so whether or not they’re three feet away is not my main concern.” WHAT MATTERS
In keeping with his ‘gear and recording space don’t matter’ ethos, Mandel was reluctant to divulge too much about his signal chains, but after some gentle coaxing he relented, and AT 15
WALK US UPTOWN Mandel: “A song like Walk Us Uptown is very processed, but a lot of the processing was done during tracking, and mixing was just a matter of dotting the ‘i’s. The sound of the drums, which is really crunchy and distorting, was the result of a happy mistake. I was tracking the horns in Philly, and I had the drums grouped and wanted to make them louder. My hand slipped and the drums went way too loud, but it was the sound I was looking for. It was technically wrong, but sounded right, so I recorded a pass of the drums with the faders maxed out like that to a stereo track, and worked with that stereo track in the session after that. All the individual drum tracks had plug-ins on them, but because I had the sound I was after, there are no further plug-ins on the stereo track. You can see these drums in the session edit window, in red, called New Drums. “The session has a vocal delay aux track at the top, then Elvis’ vocals, then his and [guitarist] Kirk Douglas’ backing vocals, the sample, a track called iTunes which is a melodica that Elvis played right at the beginning and sent to us as an MP3, followed by several organ tracks, bass, guitar, more organ and piano tracks and the horns at the bottom. The AT 16
plug-ins in the session are marked in the Mix window as C1c, which is the basic Avid compressor, Med which is the Avid MediumLong Delay, Shrt is the Avid ShortDelay, Amp is AmpFarm, DVerb is the Waves reverb, and then there are some instances of the Waves API 550 EQ, Waves RBass (on the bass), MetaFlanger and the GT2 which is the Stomp guitar effect plug-in, which I used on two organ tracks. DVerb was my main reverb, so I was just using basic crap! Elvis’ lead vocals had the Avid compressor, AmpFarm and DVerb on them, with Ampfarm giving his vocals some bite. The Shortdelay is a kind of slap, and I used it on Kirk and Elvis’ backing vocals because I was trying to replicate the slap that was used on Lennon’s vocals, and Nick Lowe also used it on the drums and vocals on Elvis’ early records. I was shooting for an old-school Elvis Costello backing vocal texture on this song, because that was always my favourite part of his music. On many of his songs the backing vocals are ridiculously cool. I put this short delay and the AmpFarm on his vocals when we were in Vancouver, and Elvis said: ‘How did you do that? That sounds like my old vocals!’ I was just improvising to see if I could get
that Armed Forces kind of background, and he was pretty impressed by that. “This was not a natural-sounding song in the context of this album. It was pretty effected, with loads of things going on. At the same time, you can see that I use relatively few different plug-ins, and instead work with many instances of the same few plug-ins. Everybody keeps telling me about this or that new plug-in, but I don’t think the secret of getting a great-sounding mix is in using many different plug-ins. For your basic EQ, compression and reverb anything will do, really. I don’t like to waste time experimenting with plug-ins or be busy a whole night trying to find the perfect EQ for a vocal. I honestly don’t want to spend my time doing that. When I want to pull up an EQ plug-in, there are a hundred to choose from, and it would take me hours to listen to all of them. You could spend your whole day on this, and forget about what your goal is for the day. I mean, are you there to experiment with plug-ins or to get some work done and finish mixing a song?”
provided some details, also of the sessions in Vancouver and Philadelphia. Mandel: “There are many Shure microphones at 30 Rock, perhaps because of some kind of sponsorship deal, so that’s mainly what I used. Everything went through Avid mic pres. I had a couple of mics on the kick drum, Shure Beta 52A on the front, and the other being a AKG D112, placed where the pedal hits the skin so you get a combination of the kick and the snare. This has long been one of our favourite mics to use for hip hop, because it gives you a really crisp sound. It’s one of our secret weapons. Then I had Shure KSM137 condenser mics on the top and bottom of the snare, a couple of Shure KSM313 ribbon overhead mics, and Beta 98s on the floor and rack toms, plus I put a Shure SM57 behind ?uest for a real garbage-like room sound. There’s no space to put a mic in front of him! “For the bass and the guitar I used mostly Shure SM78 mics on the cabinets, though I recorded DI as well. The keyboard sounds came mostly from the Yamaha Motif XF8, recorded with a DI box, and then treated with Line 6’s AmpFarm, which is our favourite plug-in. That incredible piano sound on Puppet, for example, I could lie and tell you we recorded it in a church, but it was the Motif, recorded via a DI! I went to Vancouver to record Elvis at a studio there called Crew, where I tried several different mics on him, and ended up using a prototype CM12SE from Advanced Audio. In Vancouver, Elvis played real Wurlitzer and real Fender Rhodes. When Elvis came
We prefer this kind of uncomfortable setting, because it means that you do what you have to do and then you get the hell of the room!
later to record in 30 Rock I tried the CM12SE on him again, because I paid 700 bucks for it, and I was ‘going to use it!’ But it didn’t have the same magic as when we used it in Vancouver, probably because the mic was too bright for the room in 30 Rock. So I switched to one of our regular Shure mics, the KSM9, and it sounded more natural. Finally, I recorded the horns in ?uestlove’s Philly studio, using Neumann U87 mics going through Focusrite mic pres. The strings were arranged by Brent Fischer and recorded by Rafa Sardina at Conway Studios in Los Angeles. “Of course, you can use exactly the same gear that I used, but you won’t get the same sound, because you need Elvis, ?uest, and The Roots for that. Gear is important, and there’s an art or science to using it, but I am not a gear head, and I never was. I am more a musicologist than a technician. For me other things are more interesting, like how to conduct a session, how to handle players, how to get good arrangements, and so on. The reason I do this for a living is because I love listening to music and listening to records. The technical side is something you have to do, but making music is something you want to do. Of course, I prefer great microphones to bad ones, but you don’t always have great microphones around, and it’s more expensive to rent a real piano than to use a sample. Remember, we had no budget. So you learn to work with what you have.
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DRUM SECRETS ?uestlove watches re-runs of Soul Train during every practise. It gets him in the groove, and provides a little company in his iso-booth. While he was or wasn’t watching, this is what Mandel snuck around his kit. Mandel: “I had a couple of mics on the kick drum, Shure Beta 52A on the front, and the other being a AKG D112, placed where the pedal hits the skin so you get a combination of the kick and the snare. This has long been one of our favourite mics to use for hip hop, because it gives you a really crisp sound. It’s one of our secret weapons. Then I had Shure KSM137 condenser mics on the top and bottom of the snare, a couple of Shure KSM313 ribbon overhead mics, and Beta 98s on the floor and rack toms, plus I put a Shure SM57 behind ?uest for a real garbage-like room sound. There’s no space to put a mic in front of him!”
“In terms of conducting a session, even though we have the technology to loop everything and applied a lot of the cut and paste hip-hop aesthetic, I would still ask the musicians to play full takes. Sometimes someone would say, ‘I’ve just played this part for two minutes, can’t you sample eight bars and loop me?’ And my response always was, ‘No, I need a full take, because it allows for small variations to happen, or even for mistakes to occur, which can give us new ideas. One of our main principles is that many of the greatest things happen when you make mistakes. Playing full takes really helps to thwart that ‘digital thing’. Ahmir is the one to credit for that. He’d been making straight hip-hop in Philly for years, and even then he was playing full takes. It’s part of what makes him unique.” GUERILLA MIX
After several months of recording and editing and cutting and pasting and rearranging and trying things out during the end of 2012 and the beginning of 2013, Mandel set about mixing the album. In keeping with his and The Root’s wilfully irreverent minimalist attitude to gear and studios, he mixed almost the entire project at 30 Rock, on a pair of old JBL monitors, and after he blew those out, on some Genelec 1032A monitors. In keeping with the modern DAW approach, Mandel already mixed the album “from day one; the moment we put down the first couple of notes I tried to figure out how loud they should be.” But nonetheless, a final mix stage involved Mandel locking himself in the 30 Rock rehearsal room during down time for many hundreds, if not thousands, of hours. AT 18
Mandel: “The process depended very much on the song. Mixing The Puppet Has Cut His Strings, for example, was very quick because there literally are no effects on that. Elvis recorded the vocals on his computer, which created the compressed vocal sound, and the music is just drums, bass, and piano — I added no plug-ins at all. To me, it’s one of the best-sounding songs on the album, with all the space and depth we were after. That’s when you realise it’s just ?uestlove, Elvis, and the other players; not me. But other songs have tons of plug-ins, mostly EQs and compressors. We were trying to keep things as organic as possible and only use effects for a reason. Like on Tripwire, I put some heavy delays on Elvis’ vocal, because it made it blend in better with whatever else was on that track. I was also trying to craft the sounds based on what he was singing about. The effects are supposed to complement and augment the song, and not attract attention to themselves.” While Mandel gives off an air of indifference to what gear he uses, or where he records, he clearly agonises extensively over the end result. He was outed recently by ?uestlove who was browsing the Fallon show iTunes library, cruising for songs to play during commercial breaks. Mandel: “While doing this he comes across mix after mix after mix of the songs of the album we did with Elvis. There were like 100 versions of Walk Us Uptown, and 150 versions of Come The Meantime, and he came up to me and asked, ‘Steven, what the f**k is going on?’ So I tried to explain my process to him.
“Once I have the sounds to a decent standard and a balance that I like, I’ll print the mix, because it makes it more real to me. It puts a sort of pressure on me, and it allows me to gauge the mix as a whole, and also whether there are details that need correcting that I may not have heard or have not allowed myself to become aware of. My other trick is to print a cappella, instrumental and TV mixes before I print the main mix. These allow me to hear things I can’t hear in the full mixes. My main criterion is whether I think I can live with a mix for the rest of my life.” Judging by the reception to Wise Up Ghost, Mandel has no reason to worry or to forgive himself. The album has all the signs of going down to posterity as a masterpiece.
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FEATURE
TRADITION
AT 20
ABC Classics in-house tonmeister of all trades, Virginia Read, is this year’s ARIA Engineer of the Year. It’s high time we got to know the first female in ARIA history to take out the award. Story: Michael Smith Photos: Daniel Sievert
On a sunny mid-October Tuesday morning at the Art Gallery of NSW, the winner of the 2013 ARIA Engineer of the Year was announced and an obviously completely nonplussed Virginia Read made her way up to the podium to accept her award. Not because she was unworthy, by any stretch. Virginia has seen 21 of her productions nominated over the past decade; seven of those nominations even going on to win Classical Album of the Year. But individual recognition? Bupkis. Virginia was getting used to being overlooked for the gong, and to suggest this win was any less unexpected is an understatement. As per usual, she was up against far more high profile nominees drawn from the commercial pop, rock and electronica worlds — Dann Hume for his work on the Alpine album, Seeing Red, Peter Mase for his on Empire Of The Sun’s Ice On The Dune, Nicky Bomba and Robyn Mao for their work on the eponymous album by the Melbourne Ska Orchestra, and Kevin Parker for engineering his band Tame Impala’s album, Lonerism [featured in Issue 91]. What hope could she hold for her work on an album of solo contemporary classical piano pieces, All Imperfect Things: Solo Piano Music of Michael Nyman, by Sydney-based pianist and composer Sally Whitwell? Even though Whitwell had previously taken out the 2011 ARIA Award for Best Classical Album, Mad Rush (Solo Piano Music of Philip Glass), it was yet another one of those times Read was overlooked — despite engineering, producing, editing and mastering the award-winning album. But finally, this year, one of Australia’s foremost classical music producers and engineers got the recognition she deserved. Further adding to the landmark occasion is that Read has become the first female Engineer Of The Year in the ARIA
Virginia Read at the SSL C200
Awards’ 27-year history. Read didn’t have it all her way though, missing out on Producer of the Year, for which she was also nominated. It went to Harley Streten, who you might know better by his stage name, Flume. BEHIND THE TONMEISTER
In a career that has spanned more than 30 years, Read has engineered, produced, edited and/or mastered albums by everyone from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir to Teddy Tahu Rhodes, the Elektra String Quartet to the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra. Read’s most recent projects include engineering, editing, producing and mastering Andrew Ford’s album, Learning To Howl, editing and mastering Antony Gray’s Bach Piano Transcriptions, and recording, mixing and mastering saxophonist Amy Dickson’s album, Catch Me If You Can. Working in the field of classical music recording, Read has the advantage of a solid background not only in sound recording but also in music theory and practice. “I did a music degree when I finished school,” she explains. “I actually studied composition and piano, but I was a very bad performer — I just suffered too badly from performance anxiety! And I wasn’t good enough to be a real professional musician. Through my composition studies I had got quite into electronic music, and from there much more into the recording of sound. This was in the ’80s and I must admit I was quite frustrated with the technology back then. Nonetheless, I found I enjoyed the technical side of it and was really interested in pursuing it more. But you couldn’t really study just classical music recording in Australia, so I found a place in Montreal where I went to study.” It was at the Schulich School of Music at McGill University in Montreal, which offers the only program in North America for both a Master’s and PhD degree that, “follows the European
Tonmeister tradition of training musicians to become sound engineers,” according to Read. The program was originally developed in 1979 in Germany by Professor Wieslaw Woszczyk for professional musicians like Read who wanted to develop the skills required in the recording and media industries. “The Tonmeister degree is about really learning the technique of recording music,” said Read. “But always with more of the sense of a producer’s side to it as well, so that you’re recording music but with a real knowledge of the music. You had to have a music degree to get into the course. So I went off and did their prerequisite year because they only took about four or five people a year.” CLASSIC SOUNDS
On gaining her degree, Read went to work at Classic Sounds in New York City from 1996 to 1999, which was set up by engineers Tom Lazarus and Tim Martyn. A multi-Grammy Award-winning recording engineer, Lazarus has recorded, mixed and mastered recordings for artists and ensembles as diverse as Ray Charles and Björk, Yo-Yo Ma and Ornette Coleman, the Vienna Philharmonic and Ravi Shankar. Martyn is also a two-time Grammy Award recipient for his recordings with Sharon Isbin and Evgeny Kissin. Not bad company to begin with. “The studio employed three engineers,” Read remembers. “And I was working mostly in the post-production/editing side of things, as well as some recording. Sometimes I was on my own but a lot of the time I was the assistant engineer and tape op for Tom, back in the days when everything went to Tascam DA-88 [digital eight-track tape recorders],” she chuckles. “24bit recordings were the top of the line. They were using 16-bit DA-88s fed by Prism Sound converters. They had a unit that allowed you AT 21
The positioning of the overhead Schoeps pair and spaced pair of DPA 4006 omni microphones at the ABC’s Eugene Goossens Hall.
to bit split and record four channels of audio at 24-bit using the eight tracks on those Sony Hi-8 tapes. Then we’d bring it all back to the studio and load it onto their Sonic Solutions DAW, using what today are laughably small hard drives. “And that was also in the day when classical music was almost always mixed live. Very rarely would you have the luxury or the facilities to multi-track, especially as a lot of classical music happens at concert halls or churches. So it was all location recordings — there are a few venues in New York City where we’d record, but once I even drove the entire kit all the way to Toronto for a recording, on my own! The ORTF pair of Schoeps MK21 cardioid condensers placed above Sally’s head and pointing at the hammers captured the piano from her perspective, and helped create the award-winning sonic signature of the album.
“Recording digitally is so much more creative and it does allow you to get even more out of a recording session, knowing what you can do with editing. When multi-tracking became a more realistic thing, it meant you could focus even more on producing at a recording session, rather than always having to be thinking of the balance and following the score. “For classical music, I really love the dynamic range, the frequency range, that cleanness of digital recording; the mixes I’m doing now just have a lot of impact. When someone listens to my CDs, I want them to feel really involved with the musician, as though they’re right there with them, immediately engaged with what they’re hearing. I still love the sound of acoustics; I love the sense of having instruments in a space you can hear, but in a way that sounds as if you’re there with them.”
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MERGING TO PYRAMIX
Today, as ABC Classical’s in-house engineer/ producer, Read uses a Merging Technologies Pyramix system, which combined with the MassCore Engine and Horus interface, is currently one of the most powerful, best sounding and flexible audio production systems on the market. A single Pyramix MassCore system is capable of recording up to 384 discrete audio channels simultaneously. As it happens, Read’s experience with Classic Sound’s Sonic Solutions system has proven invaluable. “The ABC did have a Sonic Solutions system, but I remember, even in 1999, Sonic was starting to be a bit frustrating for users, and each time they released a new version, it would be worse,” Read recalls with a laugh. “It was funny, all these big studios just weren’t upgrading because no one dared to. The system in the ABC was limping along, but it came to a point where I needed to upgrade. It was when Pyramix really started to take off and it was clear that all the people who had liked and used Sonic were all shifting to Pyramix. So I ended up making that choice as well. “Now with drives being as huge as they are and the fact the speed is so reliable, you can multi-track record into the system. And Pyramix sounds really good, its data-handling is superb, and its editing capabilities come from the philosophy of what Sonic did, but dramatically improved.” And unlike the Sonic system, Read isn’t at all worried about upgrading the Pyramix, having just taken her facility from trusty version 6.0 to 8.1.
Read’s move from just being a recording engineer to also taking up the producer’s reins was prompted by her experience at Classic Sound. Homesick, she returned to Australia in 2000, and kept finding herself “a bit frustrated with the producers!” she said. “I had worked with some really wonderful producers in The States, so I knew what you could get out of a musician and a recording session. Rather than just documenting the performance, I was much more interested in making really wonderful recordings. So through necessity and frustration, I decided I had to produce as well as engineer. “There was a period where I was either an engineer or a producer and I would often get frustrated as a producer, ‘I wish the engineer would do this…’ And as an engineer, ‘Ah, the producer just missed that!’ or ‘No, you should make them do it again.’ You can really thank the technology that you can engineer and produce even really complicated stuff now.
Virgina Read’s Pyramix system and Grover Notting amplifiers that power her CODE 101 monitor speakers.
For classical music, I really love the dynamic range, the frequency range, that cleanness of digital recording
“With classical music, even though I’m multitracking I’m still thinking about getting that really good mix live in the studio then and there. So once we’ve settled on a sound, I can sit down with the score in front of me and I’m producing, and it’s all about getting a wonderful performance out of them from that point onwards. I’m always thinking with my ears trying to make sure that it’s all happening technically, but once you know all your gear so well and you’re happy that everything is set up properly, you can relax and just think about the performance and the music. That’s so much fun! And I try to make it as much like a live performance as I can. That’s what I’m aiming for as an engineer and as a producer.” IMPERFECT RECORDINGS
All Imperfect Things: Solo Piano Music of Michael Nyman was recorded over four days in the Eugene Goossens Hall within the ABC’s Ultimo Centre headquarters in Sydney, a 400sqm performance and recording theatre that has its own control room and an SSL C200 mixing console. Read: “My editing studio is a little room that’s next to the control room for Goossens Hall. I use my own Grace mic preamps and Grace D/A converter, straight into the Pyramix system. It’s a tidy little self-contained rig! Mostly I record in Goossens but sometimes I go further afield because you still need to go to the right venue for the music. I was at a church in Glebe in the freezing cold a little while ago recording a Gregorian chant CD, so it is mobile. “I’ve been using little Genelec 1031A monitors for a long time, but I’ve just upgraded to these Grover Notting [Mastering Series] Code 101s. It’s a new range that Frank Hinton, down in Melbourne, has got. They’re really very nice, and he’d lent me a pair for a couple of weeks. As it happens, just I was editing and mixing Sally Whitwell’s CD.” With regards to her approach to recording All Imperfect Things, Whitwell had a very specific sound in mind that required Read to approach the project a little differently. Read: “This one was interesting in that Sally really likes an intimate sound — she really wants
to capture the pianist’s perspective of the sound. She understands that the way you mic something actually has an influence on the expression of the CD. Invariably, all the other piano CDs I’ve recorded have been a more distant sound; I use fewer mics and the music is filling the space a bit more. This particular recording though, has a narrower dynamic range, so you can get in closer. If you’ve got really extreme louds and softs, it’s hard to get too close. “So I had a pair of DPA 4006 omnis in a ‘spaced pair’ configuration out in the hall to pick up the piano in a more traditional way, but put an ORTF pair of Schoeps MK21 microphones, literally above Sally’s head, so they were looking down onto the hammers. You’re still getting the sense of a piano in a space, and you do hear the sound reaching out into the room, but it is also very much what Sally is hearing while she’s playing, with all that ‘oomph’, and it’s nice for people to hear that. Those low notes on the piano are fabulous! If you’re going for a more traditional distant sound, you can lose that real grunt in the piano, but we were able to capture that with this particular repertoire. So it was quite different to how I normally record a piano.” When it comes to mastering, even with her experience in that area at Classic Sounds in the US, Read admits these days she only really masters recordings she’s undertaken herself. Though she will occasionally work on projects she’s been involved in, but have been produced by someone else, if it’s an ABC release. “There’s a certain degree of necessity involved,” she admits. “The turnaround time tends to be quite short. But as we’ve moved from mixing things live — where more was needed out of the mastering stage in a classical recording — I’m finding, now I can multi-track, that I’m able to be much more careful with the mix and really refine it. Which means in mastering I’m not altering the sound much, or if I am, it will be to deal with some issue that wasn’t particularly solvable during recording — it’ll be something I know about before I even get to post-production. It’s better of course to solve a problem then and there, at the recording session, though some things are better dealt with at mastering. “Lately, I’ve been doing a lot of recording involving singers and I find I’m really happy with the balance I get at the mixing stage. In many ways, during the mixing process, I’m employing mastering techniques to ensure my mix is sounding as good I can, so at mastering I find I have no desire to do any more to the sound. “But I do definitely restrict myself to mastering classical music,” she admits with a self-deprecating laugh. “I wouldn’t dare presume to do any other genre of music. I stick to the acoustic world.” Again, Read utilises the mastering options available in the Pyramix system but also uses a TC Electronic M6000 Mastering Processor and a Prism converter. Having until recently mastered in the main to 16-bit/44.1k, she is now accredited for Mastering in iTunes and mastering two versions of all forthcoming ABC Classical recordings. AT 23
FEATURE
Out with Jessica Mauboy Monitor City’s STM rig gets a good nationwide hit-out with Darwin’s pop/R&B darling, Ms Mauboy. Story: Christopher Holder
I know, it’s almost impossible to avoid vehicle metaphors when talking about PAs, so why fight it? Consider the Nexo STM as somewhat like a tricked up, finely tuned street car — say a Subaru WRX. Much like a WRX you can drive it to work, you can bomb up the Hume Highway, you can leave it with valet parking at a fancy hotel, you can take the kids to school in it… it’s a sexy, versatile daily drive. Crucially, if you need to win a race, you’ve more than likely got the measure of just about anything else on the road. Does your STM ‘WRX’ have superior performance to a V10 Dodge Viper? Depends on what measure, but who’s gonna leave a Viper in the Coles carpark? Will the STM WRX go toe-to-toe with Mark Webber’s F1 car? Not in a straight line, but depends on where you put it. One thing’s for sure, you’re not going to order drive-through in the Red Bull car. “The great thing about this system is its versatility — you’re not locked into any one configuration. At Newcastle Entertainment Centre we flew some of the elements in its double configuration [1 x Main module and 1 x Bass AT 24
module flown side by side] with the S118 subs up top, and then we split one of the four-deep stacks and ground-stacked them left and right as single arrays for outfill. As it happened, on that show they opened up a bunch of seats we hadn’t planned for, and didn’t necessarily have the PA for. In other words, with an upper level now open, the outfill was asked to do a fair bit more than we initially envisaged. Regardless, it was too late to make any drastic changes, we just changed the angles on the outfill and it stood up well — we were able to cover the extra space more than adequately, despite it being a stretch. I can’t see how we would have pulled that off as elegantly with another system.” That was FOH engineer Chris Braun, who’s out with Jessica Mauboy. It’s one of the first full-blown Australian tours using STM and we thought we’d tag along. Jessica Mauboy kicked off her tour in Adelaide mid November, and is covering every capital city and major regional centre over two months. It’s Monitor City’s STM rig, and Mark Bollenberger is taking care of the system design.
(left) The Melbourne gig at The Plenary, with STM flown six deep with two of the S118 subs flown on top. A further eight S118 subs were ground stacked on three amp channels spaced at half a wavelength of 63Hz. In this configuration the subs could be electronically steered in, in a cardioid pattern.
GETTING ACROSS STM
AT first caught up with the tour on the second date in Melbourne at the Plenary Theatre (MCEC). For that gig (addressing the centre section of the Plenary) Mark hung STM six deep with a pair of the new S118 subs up top. A further eight S118 were ground stacked, spaced across the front of the stage. That’s about as conventional as the rig would get. AT caught up with Chris Braun deep into the regional Queensland leg to hear how else STM was being deployed. Chris Braun: We’ve just come from Bundaberg Entertainment Centre where we ground stacked the STM, four aside, with six of the S118s across the front over three amp channels. We electronically steered the LF in and it was absolutely monstrous. These are the first S118s we’ve seen touring in Australia so we’re playing with what they’re truly capable of — from a system design point of view as well as what I can do from the mixing console. For example, I put some 30Hz into the PA last night and the subs took it without blinking, remaining punchy and tight, without getting loose. Stunning. “Mixing on STM is fun. One aspect I love is there isn’t some kind of sweetspot where you have to push the PA for it to perform optimally. We run our STM anywhere from 93dBA in certain rooms through to 101dBA in others to achieve the same kind of intensity. But the results coming out of the PA don’t change and given our audience range is around 5 to 65, it’s perfect to be able to run the PA a couple dB quieter than normal for some of these rooms but still have the PA voicing. “It’s an extremely clean PA — pristine even. More recently I’ve started playing with the Waves NLS channel and bus summing mixer. I’ve got the NLS Channel on all my group outputs.
USING WAVES NLS & C6 LIVE
Everything on the mixer is grouped to a bus output with NLS over it, then I’ve got NLS Bus over the master L/R output [read more about NLS in the box item]. What amazed me was how easily I could hear the differences between the three NLS modes. This PA doesn’t hide anything. Of course, the flipside of that is if you make a mistake, the PA will tell you — if haven’t got a gate set just correctly, for example, you’ll hear it.” VOCALS RIDING HIGH
AT: One thing I noticed at the Melbourne gig was the PA’s vocal clarity. Chris Braun: It’s my job to help Jess manage her vocal and not burn her out. Jess is working her arse off on this tour. She’s dancing and singing, doing back-to-back gigs, with the occasion press event in the morning where she’ll sing a 45-minute set on show day after a show the previous night. That’s a massive ask. Jess has an amazing voice with enormous volume, but I noticed after a few weeks that as the signs of fatigue began to show, she would overcompensate. So I had a chat to her about needing to pace herself and how I’d look after her vocal from the mixing console. I use Waves Max Volume II to help squeeze a little more out of her vocal towards the end of the night. So despite a little bit of fatigue creeping in, her vocal is still sitting right over the top of the mix.
sound is a more difficult. While talking to Chris Braun — who’s had plenty of experience mixing on a whole variety of PAs, particularly with L-Acoustics V-DOSC and d&b J, we mused on how everything in the signal path — the wireless, the desk, the Nexo 4x4 amps — is getting cleaner and more efficient. So perhaps one way of explaining the sound of STM is to say, there is no sound — simply a louder representation of what you’re feeding it. Chris Braun: “[Monitor City’s] Ade came up to me laughing after the Melbourne gig. Apparently he was watching the power meters during the encore — when my level goes up a couple of dB, and we’re pulling the most juice — and he reckoned audio was pulling only 12A per phase tops! Which is absolutely nothing. The efficiency of this gear compared to, say, when V-DOSC was first released 20-odd years ago, is just incredible. AT: But is the PA choice now a matter of ‘horses for courses’, rather than there being a winner?
The only other vocal mic on stage is an AudioTechnica AE6100 — a hypercardioid dynamic. It’s been my go-to wired vocal mic for a few years ago — I’ve stopped searching... for now.
CB: V-DOSC, J-Series, Adamson, they’ve all got their own tone, in the same way that Genelec, ADAM and Dynaudio have their own characteristics in studio land. Some people get stuck: ‘I’m only ever going to use this PA’. Well, great, great but one PA may not work as well for a band as the next so i think there is still a decision that needs to be made on matching the PA to the band and the type of tour you’re doing, be it an arena tour, a theatre tour or anything in-between. PA’s are becoming more and transparent though, with the introduction of the Meyer Leo and now the STM and K1, you really are just getting a much closer picture of what you put in, you get out, it’s really cool. if you’re at that level in the game where you can afford to say, ‘I’m only taking Milo, or I’m only using DOSC’… great. The other side of the coin is, maybe that PA doesn’t work best for that band in the type of venue you’re gigging in.
STM SOUND
AT: Where does STM fit it in?
I’m using a Shure UHFR wireless setup with the KSM9 capsule. The KSM is working well. Jess’s vocal is loud and the capsule handles it well and the mic’s response seems to complement her voice well — there’s an airy 10-12k on her vocal that suits, especially in the quieter more acoustic parts of the set.
The sound of the Nexo STM couldn’t be mistaken for another PA. Just how you describe the
Waves NLS is a software summing package (hosted via the Waves Multirack) designed to model the sound of three classic studio mixing consoles. Chris Braun has been experimenting with NLS on the Jessica Mauboy FOH mix: “Every input on the console is routed to a group output. I use a NLS ‘Channel’ over my groups and then an NLS ‘Group’ over my L/R bus. The first thing I noticed about mixing with this console and this PA is that I could instantly hear the difference between the three settings — much like I was sitting between two studio monitors. The mids in the Mark ‘Spike’ Stent SSL setting are a little too prominent for me over the mix bus. While the Mike Hedges EMI model is super-creamy and warm — a little too warm for my purposes. I found the Yoad Nevo model [a custom Neve 5116] sat happily in between the other two settings. The beauty of NLS is you can have any combination of the three models on the Channel plugs and the Group plug. For example, my Drum Crush group uses the SSL setting — the
CB: We were only just looking at some pics of one of the big Country artists in the US using
extra mids work well for the heavily compressed drum sound. It really is a case of applying the plug, clicking the setting and without reaching for another EQ or compressor you can hear NLS working — at least you can with STM.” Chris also has a Waves C6 multiband compressor over each output of the console. Excessive? Not when you hear why: Chris Braun: “I use the C6s more as a room compensation device. If I go into a room and the bass guitar is a bit woolly in that room because of the acoustics, I can tame it using a C6. It’s about knowing that the input is right and not changing things at the source when the room is what’s different. The C6 has been a massive tool to help clean something up for just that night. Then I can start again tomorrow in another room with a clean slate.”
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(left) According to System Engineer Mark Bollenberger, Nexo’s NS1 prediction software gets him at least 95% there. If the room measurements are accurate then the system will perform as predicted.
(above) Monitor City supplied the entire audio rig. Digico SD8s for FOH and monitors, Lake LM26 speaker controllers and a few tasty outboard morsels, such as the Smart compressor, Lexicon PCM81 reverb and the evergreen Eventide Harmonizer. The Rivera amp faces backwards to save on a bit of level out front. The guitarist still feels some power on the back of his legs to complement what’s coming through the in-ear monitors. Most of the show relies of the Sennheiser e906 mic placed just off centre. A couple of tracks uses both the 906 and the Shure KSM32 panned hard L/R for “a bit more power”.
EMA_AT94_HR.pdf
1
10/04/13
10:46 AM
"Going with EMA was one of the best career moves i made for my live shows! I should have done it much sooner, they are unbelievable!” - Mr Wilson, DJ
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Kick drum: Beyerdynamic M88/plate mic combo: “There’s a lot of sub coming from drum playback so the M88 suited more so than, say, an Audix D6 which has captures more low end. The M88 has a got a lot more front than any other drum mic. if you want big bottom end you can go grab it, but separating the acoustic kick from the programmed kick so they’re both heard; both have their own space.” Elsewhere it’s mostly an Audix affair, with M44B clip-ons for toms, and SCX25 lollypop mics for overheads. A Roland SPD-S drum pad triggers claps, tambourines and subby explosions. The drummer is on in-ear monitors with a buttkicker — no subs.
STM 24 deep with 24 subs aside. Nuts. Would love to hear that in action. We’ve been getting great results with six or eight deep with 12 S118 subs. Great results in arenas — the volume, coverage, tone… it’s all staggering. STM is a different beast to a lot of it’s competitors because of it’s scalability. One night, you can be running three wide and pinning people to the back wall (if that’s your thing) in an arena while the next night you could be doing a single stack per side in a much smaller venue with just an acoustic guitar, it all depends on what you choose to deploy and how. It helps to have someone of Mark’s calibre, who’s mapped the rooms prior and system tech’ing. And again, I’m constantly being amazed with how versatile this rig is and the results that Mark is able to achieve with what we have with us. One night in Bundaberg we had the system ground stacked and during the support act everyone got out of their seats and, as a result, all the high end
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disappeared. Mark and I just looked at each other and without saying a word it was like: ‘okay, so this is how it’s going to be’. But what do we do? He pulled out his laptop while I kept mixing the support act (where I was effectively doing a sitdown mix and a stand-up mix depending on the song). Anyway, he put a new room model in, changed a couple of angles, hit ‘Create’, and it spat out a new coverage pattern. He showed it to me; we agreed on it; then, literally, during the support set, changed the angle on the boxes (we were ground stacked, so it was possible). The difference in splay angles? Half a degree. But as soon as he moved it, the top end went ‘hello, here I am’. It’s a testament to Mark and the rig and what it can achieve: one man; click, click, click [with the rigging] done. Try doing that with another PA: Let’s do it during changeover. Let’s get a couple of guys. You hold that. Don’t jam my finger!
AUDIO CREW LIST
FOH: Chris Braun System Tech: Mark ‘The Dr’ Bollenberg Production Manager: Ade Barnard Monitor Engineer: Ivan Ordenes Monitor Rigger: Gina Hanlon Guitar Tech: Pat Meyer Drum/Keys Tech: Christian Walsh
MORE ON STM Type in ‘Nexo STM’ into the AudioTechnology website and have a look at the full background story from Issue 91,
Introducing the new M5 Matched pair of 1/2” Cardioid Condenser Microphones Watch and hear the M5 matched pair!
ORTF
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SPACED
X-Y
Given their attractive price, the level of performance and that enticingly long warranty, there’s little not to like about the M5s. Paul White, Sound on Sound
*Stereo bar not included. Available from early 2014.
”
www.rodemic.com
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REVIEW
Arturia iSEM Get back in touch with Oberheim’s classics. Review: Brad Watts
Available for iPad 2 and above on the App Store for $9.99.
Oberheim came up with some ripper synths in its day; the Expander module was brilliant, and the OB-8 was incredible — as long as you could keep one running — it wasn’t until the Matrix 6, with it’s DCOs that Oberheim synths became reliable. The Matrix 1000 rack unit was possibly the company’s last real Oberheim, released when founder, Tom Oberheim, relinquished ownership of the company while remaining a creative force. Not long after, Tom left the company to form Marion Systems.
of sawtooth and variable pulse-width waves, a sine wave LFO, two envelope generators, and a 12dB/octave filter capable of low-, high-, band-pass and notch filtering — not bad for a machine of this vintage. The software incarnation adds a bunch of contemporary features such as greater polyphony, more LFO options, sub oscillator, portamento and an arpeggiator, along with delay and chorus effects. I’m in two minds when it comes to the additional features, given the architectural restrictions of the original would have created particular sounds.
Deeper in Oberheim’s past was a lesser known synth, the 4-Voice (or 4V), manufactured during the mid 1970s, and one of Oberheim’s first. This was accompanied by an identically configured (and optional) four-voice expansion module dubbed the SEM (Synthesizer Expansion Module). As it transpires, Tom Oberheim has a hardware remake of the synth slated for imminent release.
The iPad-specific additions however, are entirely welcome: WIST sync, MIDI mapping of all controls, performance controller setups, an eight-way mod matrix, along with Audiobus and Apple’s Inter-App audio pipeline compatibility to latch the iSEM in with GarageBand. In other words, the iSEM will work with all the current iOS interoperability standards. Cheerfully cheap and sounds fab.
The iSEM, by Arturia, is an iPad recreation of the 4V, and a twin of Arturia’s DAW based SEM-V — you can even swap patches between each. The synth features two oscillators capable AT 30
UR-Series
USB audio interfaces for any application Class-A Mic Preamps
24-bit, 192kHz Audio Fidelity +48V Phantom Power MIDI In & Out Includes Cubase AI Rugged Metal Chassis USB2.0 Buss Powered
UR22 2x D-PRE mic preamps, 2 line outputs
UR44 4x D-PRE mic preamps, 4 line outputs, DSP effects processing
UR824 8x D-PRE mic preamps, 8 line outputs and ADAT digital i/o, DSP effects processing
EVENTS AND PROMOTIONS yamahabackstage.com.au
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FIND A DEALER au.yamaha.com AT 31
REVIEW
ADK THOR
LARGE DIAPHRAGM CONDENSER MICROPHONE ADK hammers out a truly versatile LDC with Thor.
NEED TO KNOW
Review: Brad Watts
PRICE Thor – $448 each (pairs matched free of charge) Odin (fixed cardioid version) – $328 each CONTACT Professional Audio Services: (02) 6059 1652 or www.paservcies.com
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PROS Wildly versatile Well built Honest response Very affordable
CONS Shock-mount optional
SUMMARY ADK hasn’t made its mark in this country but Thor should certainly hammer the manufacturer on the map down-under. Incredibly versatile and truly a mic for all seasons.
Thor; the Norse dude with the hammer. Not the first moniker that springs to mind if you’d been asked to name a microphone. Who knows what’s going on there, apart from it seems ADK microphones enjoys running with names and themes for its mic ranges, rather than some string of numerals. The manufacturer’s latest additions are large diaphragm condenser mics: Odin – a cardioid LDC design, and Thor – a multi-pattern LDC. Perhaps the names will serve you best when returning from the mic cupboard claiming you’re either of the Norse deities in a silly Norwegian voice — always handy in a slow session. Anyway, parked in my recording garage are two ADK Thor model microphones. If for reference you prefer a more microphone-centric model number — the T-7 is the more official moniker for Thor. They’re versatile mics — and resoundingly cheap considering the multitude of recording tasks one could use them for. According to internet folk-lore, ADK has a reputation for quality mics at affordable prices — and the brand appears to have a loyal following in the United States, where the mics are designed and the company based. Australia is yet to latch on, but should Aussies decide to take up the ADK mics I’m sure they’ll be pleased with the outcomes. These mics are very well made in ADK’s Chinese factory, use decent quality components, and most importantly (at least in the case of the Thor as it’s the only model I’ve auditioned) sound very good. Apparently the T-7 is an evolution from previous ADK large diaphragm models. Reportedly, users were asking after brighter and darker voicings of ADK’s S-7 model large diaphragm condenser. The mic was consequently released in a darker voiced design, dubbed the S-7B for brass instrument sources, and the S-7C for a crisper response with dull instrument sources. All very well but you need to own the three S-7 models for the range of voicings, so here’s where the T-7 concept steps up to the plate. Why not incorporate all these voicings into the one microphone! Brilliant! This is the ingenuity behind the T-7. It includes easy switch adjustment for light, dark, and neutral voicing alterations, alongside the more typical options for a multi-pattern LDC mic. So, without further adieu, let’s have a look, and then a listen to the ADK T-7. HARD AS NAILS
As I mentioned briefly, the T-7 is of very acceptable build quality. You can take the barrel sleeve off the microphone easily, and all the threads and fittings mate correctly upon reassembly — unlike countless wannabe mics in this price range. Upon inspecting the innards I also noticed a very tidy mini-connector between the main circuit board and the XLR connector — very thoughtful should maintenance be required down the track. I will say I was a little sceptical of some of the solder joints on the three circuit boards. The barrel is heavily engraved, including
individual serial numbering, then filled clearly with white enamel — there’s no confusion with the switching. The remainder of the casing is finished in a matte-black. All four of the threeposition switches click to their relegated positions unambiguously with a perfectly solid click. It’s a sturdily designed microphone that should have no trouble performing either on-stage or in the studio. The supplied microphone mount is a simple solid screw attachment — a shock mount for the mic is an option, though if Professional Audio Services get enough orders they might be able to throw the shockmounts in. When it’s time for the T-7 to take a nap, ADK ship the mic in a presentation quality wooden box sporting a decent catch and lined with blue pseudo-velvety stuff — included is the usual complimentary satchel of silica-gel.
“
With so many possibilities I’m putting the T-7 into the ‘musthave’ category
”
Toward the business end of the T-7 is a dual layer mesh grille protecting the one-inch dual diaphragm transducer capsule. The grille is quite open, with no extra foam or material obstruction between the grille and the capsule. You can even see the conical riser below the capsule to help aid diffraction within the capsule space. Between the grille and body section are the four three-position switches. At the near-side (i.e. the address side when using the mic in cardioid mode) are the filter and attenuation switches. The filtering offers either flat, or two flavours of high-pass at 100 and 150Hz. Both filter settings don’t seem to distract from the mic’s response, doing just as they should — keeping out low-end and retaining tops as succinctly as when the filter is set flat. Attenuation offers three settings: 0dB, -8dB, and -18dB. This feature in itself lends the T-7 to a wide range of applications. A mighty maximum SPL handling of 148dB means you could safely use the T-7 for anything on a drum-kit: kick or snare, through to large guitar amplifiers, then back down to acoustic guitar and AT 33
strings, and of course, voice. While we’re kicking numbers about, I’ll mention the very healthy 14mv/Pa sensitivity, 80dBA signal to noise ratio, and 150Ω impedance. All these specifications will give your Neumann mics a very good run for their money (then do the fiscal appraisals and decide how many ADK mics you could own instead). Heading to the far side of the T-7 you’ll find a three position switch for swapping the polar pattern of the capsule between cardioid, figure-eight and omni. The cardioid setup is very pleasing indeed, with a smooth, even response that initially had me thinking this mic was somewhat uninspiring. In reality the ‘straight’ cardioid setting is remarkably neutral, and therefore extremely useful and ‘honest’, if you will. Finding microphones at this price point to return such results is no easy task believe me. If M-S recording is your game, the figureeight setting is going to be welcome, and for wide open neutrality and relatively no proximity effect, the omni setting shines. Surprisingly open and detailed after acclimatising to the cardioid setting. 48 SHADES OF THOR
subdued setting, perhaps the one you’d use on brass instruments, tops are cleared out beyond 12kHz, the next setting adds some very pleasing shine to the top-end, which I found gave acoustic guitar some wonderful twinkle indeed. This would be useful with strings also. On vocals I was also impressed, however anything but the flat setting wasn’t applicable to my voice — of course, mileages will vary dependent upon source. All that said, with so many possibilities I’m putting the T-7 into the ‘must-have’ category, with the deciding factor being the price. For this dollar why wouldn’t you own one? To round things up, I can’t fault the T-7 at all. In its standard setup the mic sounds solid, real, and to return to a previously ‘hammered’ adjective, honest. When you start mucking about with the filtering you’ve got a vast palette of voicings and consequently an extraordinarily versatile microphone. Add a useful selection of polar patterns and it becomes one of those mics everyone should own. And, like all mics of this ilk, you should have two. If it’s good, have a couple for stereo and overheads. At this price, why wouldn’t you?
Where the T-7 gets really interesting is when combining filtering, attenuation, and the three voicing positions. To reiterate, the T-7 can be set at its neutral or flat state for a starting point. As always with recording, start flat and work from there as you could end up chasing your tail, especially with a mic offering so many sonic permutations. Set flat, the T-7 is clear and strong. An even, unadulterated and honest response. Set to the more
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REVIEW
POWER TO THE FRONT
The power switch is thankfully located on the front panel where a backlit UA logo keeps you informed of the unit’s power status, while other LED indicators help you keep track of sample rate, word clock and host status.
METER READER
Round the front things are very streamlined with 16+2 10-segment, LED meters, and a switch to toggle between metering the 16 inputs or outputs. A single rotary encoder takes care of monitor output level adjustments with push-to-mute. Alternatively, you can digitally control everything within UA’s Console software, including using the Console Recall plug-in in your DAW (ProTools 11 users will have to wait for the impending free AAX update though).
UNIVERSAL AUDIO
APOLLO 16 INTERFACE Apollo launched to plenty of fanfare, but Apollo 16 has arrived quietly to get the job done.
NEED TO KNOW
Review: Greg Walker
PRICE Expect to pay $3999 CONTACT CMI Music & Audio: (03) 9315 2244 or sales@cmi.com.au
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PROS 16 channel conversion & UAD-2 in 1RU Clear imaging and sound 4 stereo cue mixes & 2 auxiliaries for tracking Track with plug-ins in realtime
CONS No headphone outputs Wall wart power supply
SUMMARY Apollo 16 is exactly what the professional UAD-2 user missed in the original Apollo. Professional connectivity, more conversion in a smaller space, and added juice. Now you can have an end-to-end Universal Audio studio, just like Bill.
Universal Audio’s original Apollo interface [reviewed in Issue 88] combined UA’s expertise in both the analogue and digital domains into one compact and efficient package. It felt like the culmination of what UA had been building up to with UAD-2. It was timely, and consequently, a very well-received piece of recording technology. While the original unit pleased a variety of users with its four preamps, ADAT and Firewire ports, and 1/4-inch TRS connectivity, the new Apollo 16 shows UA’s initial launch was merely an exploratory mission and now has its sights set higher up the market. The first thing to note is the Apollo 16 doubles the overall converter count to (surprise, surprise) 16 channels of AD/DA conversion supplied on two sets of dual DB25 connectors. The inputs can be globally set to +4dBu or -10dBV reference levels, while the outputs can be configured in adjacent pairs, which is handy for matching outboard. Gone are the onboard preamps, ADAT ports and rows of TRS sockets. The Apollo 16 is really designed to be used alongside a rack of outboard pres and, ideally, a patchbay. HEALTHIER BITE
The Apollo 16 carries the same DSP firepower as the original with four SHARC processors handling all digital routing and processing duties including those of the onboard UAD-2 plug-in architecture. The most notable enhancement here is the expansion of the Console super-lowlatency monitoring software. Console now offers four independent monitor mix buses as well as two effects auxiliaries — finally you can appease the nervy drummer, the passive-aggressive bassist, the monomaniacal singer and the lead guitarist, all with sub 2ms latency! And, of course, you can add real-time UAD plug-ins to any source, though you’ll have to pay extra for all but the included Analogue Classics bundle. The Apollo 16 will run at any sample rate from 44.1-
192k at 24 bits per sample, so the combination of high sample rate conversion and Thunderbolt connectivity should see Mac owners futureproofed for some time to come. There’s always some lively online debate about the quality of this-versus-that digital conversion, and the Universal Audio converters have a few doubters amongst the scores of enthusiasts. Personally, I thought the Apollo sounded great and the Apollo 16 sounds great too. There’s a couple of dB improvement in signal-to-noise ratio on the inputs, now at 119.25dBA, as well as a better THD+N figure of -112dB. Without having both units side by side I can’t comment on the subtle changes between these two iterations of the UA approach but the sound I hear is clear and detailed without being clinical, and performs similarly to other converters of this ilk. Mixes present a satisfyingly wide and open soundstage with panning points well-represented and depth of image definitely a cut above the previous generation of interfaces on the market. The ability to split a mix into 16 channels for routing to a console while using the internal UAD-2 plug-ins presents undeniable advantages in terms of overall flexibility. The extreme low latency monitor mix functions of Console are also a very valuable tool for tracking. Once again it’s hard to fault UA on a new piece of kit. The Apollo 16 has been well thought out, well implemented and sounds great. My only quibbles would be the lack of a dedicated headphone output and the wall wart power supply. But the unit is only 1U with a locking power connector, does just about everything else and won’t eat up room in your rack where you could be putting other tasty outboard. Not one for the mobile recordist, but a quality piece of gear that will enhance many medium to high-end rooms without altogether breaking the bank.
“
A satisfyingly wide and open soundstage… definitely a cut above the previous generation of interfaces on the market
”
CONNECT ALL
Monitoring is via two XLR outputs and there is no separate headphone access. You have the option of hooking up to your computer via the supplied pair of Firewire 800 ports or by the optional, userinstallable Thunderbolt card.
THE NEW DIGITAL
While ADAT I/O has been sent packing, new recruits are a stereo AES/EBU digital I/O with optional sample rate conversion on the inputs, and optical MADI for cascading two Apollo 16s to double the total I/O count (though a bridging Firewire 800 cable has to be used in conjunction with MADI when daisychaining units). BNC wordclock I/O rounds out the professional connectivity with a pushbutton for 75Ω termination if the Apollo is at the end of the chain.
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REVIEW
G-TECHNOLOGY G-DOCK EV Thunderbolt External HDD Grab-n-Go Thunderbolt option lets you take your studio sessions on the road with ease. Review: Anthony Garvin
SPEED TESTS As mirrored RAID: Around 121MB/s write, around 125MB/s read A striped RAID (256K block size): Around 244MB/s write, around 247MB/s read No RAID (Thunderbolt dock): Around 124MB/s write, 126MB/s read As USB 3.0 About the same as Thunderbolt dock LaCie Rugged USB 3.0 HD: Around 51MB/s write and read
With Thunderbolt now outpacing internal SATA, and all new Macs shipping with the connector, it’s time to get serious about peripherals for the bolt. G-Technology is owned by Western Digital, but tends to focus on developing storage options for creative professionals. The G-Dock EV is one of three Thunderbolt options G-Technology currently offers. It’s a Thunderbolt-equipped dock, with two bays containing removable 1TB G-Drive EVs — essentially a 72000RPM 2.5-inch hard drive in an aluminium housing. Also available is the G-Drive EV PLUS, which nearly doubles the individual data read and write rates (though the review unit was equipped with the standard EV drive). Probably the most significant, and useful, feature of the G-Drives is that they can be used either inside the dock — over Thunderbolt — or can be pulled out and used individually via a USB 3.0 port on the rear of each individual drive. Using Mac OS’ Disk Utility the two G-Drives can be configured in the Dock as Raid O (extra performance) or Raid 1 (more protected data
CONTACT www.g-technology.com
PROS Well-built Use drives in dock or on-the-go
As someone who is constantly working between the studio and god-knows-where on my laptop, I like the idea of having the dock in the studio, containing ‘working’ and ‘backup’ drives, and then quickly being able to take the ‘working’ drive home with my laptop to continue on projects without requiring extra backups or unnecessary/confusing copies floating around. Another appealing scenario for the G-Dock is when working with multiple clients across a variety of projects, each client could have their own G-Drive, which is worked on in the studio via the Thunderbolt dock, but then taken away and used over USB on their computers. In day-to-day use with Logic Pro X and Ableton 9, I had no problems using the drives — either in the dock via Thunderbolt, or individually via the
CONS Limited to 7200RPM 1TB drives at the moment
USB 3.0 directly on the G-Drive. It also survived some torture tests with ease. A 100 audio track 24-bit/96k project (with numerous edits on each track) played back fine in Logic Pro X — even while Quick Punch recording another 10 audio tracks at the same time. It passed this test satisfactorily on both the Thunderbolt-docked, and direct USB 3.0 connections! I then ran up BlackMagic’s free Disk Speed test and found the G-Dock achieved, on average, about 124MB/s write and 126 MB/s read rates — both in the dock, and via USB 3.0 (i.e. the speed is limited by the 7200RPM drive rather than the bandwidth of the data path). Using the G-Dock with both drives setup as a mirrored raid, the performance jumped up to approximately 244 MB/s write and 247 MB/s read. Overall, the G-Dock is an excellent, reliable Thunderbolt-equipped storage solution, with the added bonus of removable portability via USB 3.0. However, at 1TB per drive (2TB per G-Dock), it won’t suit those with larger storage requirements.
SUMMARY G-Technology’s G-Dock EV and G-Drive EV combo gives you Thunderbolt RAID power in the studio and USB 3.0 if you want to take a drive with you.
NEED TO KNOW
PRICE $899.95
mirroring). The drives are hot-swappable in the dock, and the included G-Technology assistant application helps to monitor the drives — including an option for monitoring drive status and health using various LEDs on the hardware — green = safe to remove, red = issue with raid, etc.
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REVIEW
MACKIE MR6 MK3
NEARFIELD MONITORS Mackie takes affordable monitoring to Mk3.
NEED TO KNOW
Review: Brad Watts
PRICE MR6 Mk3 – $379 each MR10S Mk3 – $679 each CONTACT CMI: (03) 9315 2244 or sales@cmi.com.au
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PROS Affordable. Great stereo imaging. Translate acceptably. Versatile connection setup.
CONS Midrange may be subjectively too pronounced.
SUMMARY At this price point there are dozens of designs to pick from. The MR6 Mk3 is possibly one of the better choices due to Mackie’s experience in the field. As always, trust your ears.
The planet is awash with nearfield studio monitors. When I first waded into these muddied waters there were but a few near fields to choose between. JBL, Tannoy, and the Yamaha NS10 and its variants. My first set of nearfields were JBLs with metal dome tweeters — a decision I regret to this day (I’m strictly a soft-dome tweeter guy these days). I recall them costing about $900 — unpowered. Since then my monitor collection has encapsulated all of the above designs and manufacturers, to the point where I now own what works for me, and I’ll be damned if I buy further pairs of monitors, unless of course, something so good comes along I simply must have it.
you’ll add a sub for another five hundred. But here’s the thing (and the point I assure you I’m getting to). In this price bracket, there’s a common design thread to nearfields. They’re a two-way design with soft-dome tweeters and a crossover at about 2.6kHz, they’re powered, they’re ported — either from the front or the rear, they offer a few EQ curve choices, an MDF cabinet and waveguide-style front baffle with radiused edges, and a choice of colours as long as it’s matte-charcoal. It’s a predictable formula, but the recipe tends to work. Consequently manufacturers churn them out by the containerload. It’s no wonder this style of monitor is cheap and bountiful.
But for those first venturing into the ‘professional monitor’ market today, the choices are paralysing. Every audio manufacturer, whether a specialist in speaker design or not, has a pair of ‘affordable’ nearfield monitors on parade. M-Audio, KRK, Tannoy, Yamaha, Event, JBL, Alesis, Behringer, Genelec, Yorkville, Neumann, PMC, Quested, Adam, Mackie, Dynaudio, Emes, Presonus. That’s a list just off the top of my head and there are dozens more. Deciding on a pair of nearfields has never been more difficult.
Mackie are one of the manufacturers involved in the nearfield game. During the ’90s the company had quite a success with the HR824 becoming the nearfield monitor du jour. It was a relatively unflattering nearfield that translated well into the real world, and put the company on the map for studio monitor design. Unusually, the design incorporated a passive radiator rather than porting to extend the low end frequency response of the cabinet (both designs offer similar lowend response). It’s this heritage that keeps the company in good stead with a range of more affordable (ported) monitors since. Most recently the company released the MR6 Mk3, and despite my apprehensions regarding this particular price range of the nearfield market, I feel Mackie’s experience has lent plenty to the MR range. Let’s inspect more closely.
Inevitably, many people’s first monitor purchase will be made on price, and in that regard things have never been better. Nowadays you can kit yourself up with some reasonably good sounding monitors for five or six hundred bucks — and that’ll be powered — no need for an amp. Hell,
SIX SHOOTER
Unlike the previous MR Mk2 range, the MR Mk3 features a six-inch model alongside the eight- and five-inch designs, and these are the monitors sitting in front of me now — the MR6 Mk3. A 165mm (6.5-inch) polypropylene curved-cone driver takes care of the lows, and the top-end comes courtesy of a 25mm (one-inch) silk dome tweeter. These are surrounded by a plastic front waveguide incorporating radiused edges for minimising diffraction — behind the waveguide is 25mm thick MDF. The rest of the cabinet uses a 12mm MDF construction with all access to the drivers and amplification via the rear. Typically there’s a port at the rear, and this time Mackie has gone for a circular port rather than the rectangular, narrow porting seen on the previous Mk2 range. This shouldn’t be of great concern, as either porting method would require correct tuning to suit each cabinet. Speaking of tuning, the rear of the cabinets offers a couple of three-position equalisation switches. A shelving low EQ switch 0dB/+2dB/+4dB at 100Hz, and a shelving high EQ of ±2dB at 3.25kHz. These low EQ adjustments could come into play if you’re forced to stand the monitors very close to a rear wall, or wedged into a corner — not ideal but in smaller spaces this becomes a necessity. They may also be pulled into service when matching the monitors with a sub such as the matching 10-inch MR10S Mk3 (which we’ll get to shortly). For level matching there’s a mini-pot for gain/attenuation which is detented at its nominal level. Cabinet size comes to 323H x 222W x 305Dmm. They’re not huge boxes — and will happily fit into most average-sized rooms. The frequency response is reported as 46Hz to 20kHz at the -3dB point — not bad at all for a cabinet of this volume.
SUB SIMPLY DONE Also sent to my digs was the MR10S Mk3 sub unit. The sub uses a 10-inch glass-composite driver, driven by a 120W Class AB amp. Connection to the unit is via XLR and TRS, then TRS outputs to go to the satellite monitors — a very simple cabling and setup procedure regardless of the satellite monitors used. It’s a shelf-ported cabinet, implying the port design runs for the entire width of the cabinet before venting to the great outdoors and does a nice job of augmenting the already considerable bottom end from the MR6 Mk3 monitors. Control over the unit’s output includes 180° phase switching, level, and a crossover adjustment from 40Hz through to 180Hz.
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Analogue I/O is comprehensive, with balanced XLR and TRS inputs, and unbalanced RCA inputs — all bases are covered. Power is via IEC connector and the power switch is alongside (so it’s a grab to the rear to power cycle the units). The front waveguide panels include a backlit Mackie ‘stick-figure’ dude to let you know the monitors are on. The built-in amplification is Class AB and based on a monolithic IC (everything on a chip), with 40W into 4Ω for the low driver, and 25W into 8Ω for the top-end. Peak wattage ratings are double the stated spec for each amp. DA SOUND (& DA VERDICT)
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Interestingly, the crossover is set at 3.25kHz, which would account for the rather abrupt midrange produced by these monitors. This lends itself to some very nice imaging but I couldn’t help feeling too much of the mids were being taken care of by the low range ‘hyperbolic curved cone’ woofer (concave bowl-shaped centre to the driver cone). This style of low-end driver is almost the exclusive bastion of Mackie monitors, and there’s dispute as to the validity of the design. Regardless, while remaining dubious of the midrange representation of the MR6 Mk3, I found the monitors translated pretty well to other monitors. Personally, I found the best reproduction for translation to be knocking back both the topand bottom-ends switches — they just sounded hyped at the ‘flat’ settings. I’d skip the sub initially if you were on an extreme budget. I think it’s best to realise at this price range, and with so many monitors available within this price range, that there are a set of parameters most manufacturers have settled upon. It’s not rocket science or voodoo to create a decent monitor based on this design: the MDF cabinet, ported (front or rear — it doesn’t make a huge difference), two-way drivers and A/B amplification, a waveguideassisted front baffle and Bob’s yer uncle. I believe you’re fairly assured of pleasant monitoring for writing and composition, accurate editing, and general audio playback goodness. If your forté is electronica and synthetically produced sound then by all means add the sub unit — the beauty of this ubiquitous design is these monitors are incredibly inexpensive. Sure we have Chinese manufacturing to thank for a lot of this affordability, but also the fact this design is probably about as far as this monitor design can go — the research has been done and the results are available quite readily. We’re seeing (and hearing) the epitome of ‘two-way studio monitoring’ nowadays — and the MR6 Mk3 is a textbook example of such. In many ways you can’t go wrong with such a design, and being so cheap, when you move on to something more upmarket for mastering, or even simply for an additional reference (something all audio folk should have in their toolbox), the MR6 Mk3 units are still going to be pulling their weight. An enjoyable listen, non-fatiguing, great imaging, usable translation, and most encouraging, utterly affordable. As always, check them out with material you know — decide accordingly.
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REGULARS
LAST WORD with Charles Fisher
I had recording on my radar from the age of 15. We had a sound-on-sound tape recorder and I would write and record songs. I went to a pretty rough school but still managed to get a scholarship to study law at Sydney University. Charles Fisher is a pioneer of the Australian recording scene. He co-established Trafalgar Recording Studios in Sydney and was pivotal in a golden period of independent Australian recorded pop music. He’s best known for producing Savage Garden’s first album, which was a worldwide smash hit and landed him a Producer of the Year ARIA in 1997. Charles is pictured (seated) at Trafalgar in the early ’80s.
I mainly enrolled to avoid going to the Vietnam war. When Gough Whitlam was voted in, I dropped out. It coincided with the day Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs came and played at the campus. I was good friends with those guys and after chatting with bass player Paul Wheeler that night, I decided I wouldn’t go back. My life has been about music ever since. I got together with a couple of friends, John Zuliaka and John Sayers, and we started building a studio in Sydney called Trafalgar Studios. We started building in ’74. Took us about a year. No one knew what they were doing but we ended up building a really good studio. Really solid room. Lobby Loyde and the Coloured Balls did our sound check for us. We had the council guy out the front of the building with his meter, but we really soundproofed it. The entire building was double lead-lined. In those days lead was really cheap so we’d buy sheet lead and roll it out and glue it against the Gyprock. Wouldn’t be so great these days for mobile phone coverage! We opened the studio with a four-track TEAC reel-to-reel, doing demos. We realised that wasn’t going to cut it. One of us went to the US and came by a 16-track Ampex MM1000 the Beach Boys were selling. And we bought an MCI console. The control room was tiny and the only way we could do bass trapping was through the floor. So we raised the floor and the underfloor became this huge bass trap. For years we were the rock ’n’ roll studio of Sydney. In the ’70s we had the likes of Ol’ 55, Marcia Hines, Skyhooks, Sherbert, Radio Birdman, Midnight Oil and Air Supply all record. We were booked solid five days a week, fifty-two weeks a year. It was a really successful studio. In 1976 Glen Baker came to the studio. He had an idea for Ol’ 55 and he wanted to make a record on spec. He asked John Sayers whether he would produce the band and John said, “No, I’m not interested. Why don’t you ask Charles?” And I remember Glen turned to me, “What have you produced before?” And I said, “Nothing.” “Okay, let’s have a go!”
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That was my first production job and that album went through the roof. After that people just rang. My biggest successes from there on were bands that I did on spec. 1927 was on spec, Radio Birdman was on spec and Savage Garden was on spec. I wasn’t an engineer — throughout my 20 years at Trafalgar I never touched the MCI console. In fact, my first engineering job was Savage Garden in 1997. I recorded Savage Garden in my house in Sydney. I had one compressor and one microphone. Because I didn’t have ProTools I’d go out of the mic preamp and straight into the back of my 24-track tape recorder. I spent most of my time on my hands and knees crawling around plugging things in. We had no money for mixing. We tried two or three mixers in Australia and I hated the results of all of them. That’s when I met Chris Lord-Alge. He mixed the whole album in five days. In the end we got a record deal with Village Roadshow. In fact, they closed shop two weeks after we released the first single. Turns out that Village opened their doors again and hired people because all this money was just pouring in. I mean, we sold 800,000 albums in Australia alone! Worldwide, we did 18 million albums. Rivers of gold were coming from recording. After that success I had the best 10 years of my life. I was flying all over the world first class. I did a record in Sweden and I went to the record boss to get paid: “How do you want me to pay you?” And I jokingly said, “Give me cash.” He opened his suitcase and gave me $40,000 in cash. I flew to New York with 40 grand in a brown paper bag! I’m not sure it was creatively my best period, but spiritually it was. The two biggest things I did at that time was a record with Ace of Base and a Canadian band called Soul Decision. I’m back in Australia after 10 years in LA, and still always looking for things to work on that I feel good about. I just mixed a record for a girl called Jessica Paige which I’m going to put out on my own. She’s a busker. I love it. If it’s something I love, I’ll do it. Stay tuned in a later issue for the full Charles Fisher story.
INTRODUCING 10 NEW
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MG12XU shown
MG06 MG06X
MG10 MG12 MG16 MG20 MG10XU MG12XU MG16XU MG20XU
DIGITAL MULTI EFFECT PROCSSOR
Studio-grade Class-A discrete microphone preamps
Great-sounding, simple to use onboard compression*
Built-in industrystandard SPX digital effects processing*
MG mixers are built to last in any application
24-bit/192khz USB audio interface*
Includes Cubase AI DAW software*
*One Knob Compression not included on MG06 and MG06X. SPX digital effects included on “X” models only. USB and Cubase AI included on “U” models only.
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