AudioTechnology Issue #90 - iPad Edition

CMI & Linn The original sampler reborn & godfather of the drum machine

MiX-off Linkin Park Shops Album to World’s Best Solid Gold London Olympics Ceremony Sound MY O MEYER !

Hamer Hall Refit

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90

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REGULARS

ED SPACE AM I MEANT TO LAMENT? Text: Mark Davie

We lament a lot of things, mostly things we deem important that have been relegated to the waste basket of society: Sizzler cheese bread, drivein movies, Hawaiian shirts... anyone?

I’ve heard old geezers lament, “There’s no good music anymore.” And then they go on to wonder why there’s systematic ageism in Australia. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.

And if an icon like Mark Moffatt takes off to Nashville because he’s read the writing on the wall as a producer here in Oz, it’s a loss for the next generation — and a big one at that. Lest we forget... he produced The Saints’ (I’m) Stranded! If ever there was a relevant producer for right now — with everyone obsessed with scungy, distorted sounds — wouldn’t it be Mark? I lament that.

Then there’s the ‘lament of technological progress’, the march towards ‘smaller, more efficient, less cost’ that sidelined the tube and tape industries. The trade-off is almost universal access to recording — fair?

Of course, we can’t forget to lament the rise of the ‘audio degree’ to complement this onset of bedroom recordists. Doesn’t anyone drink tea anymore? Or perhaps it’s because they’ve nowhere to serve it?

Though probably the most consistently wept over lament is digital compression. Not the digital recreation sort, but the digital delivery sort.

Engineers have faced no greater evil than an MP3, or one of it’s evolved cousins, hanging about in people’s eardrums. The only solution would be to somehow get the general population hooked on listening to 24-bit/96k-resolution masters. Then

everything would be A-Ok! But why the conniptions over one delivery method?

Engineers still do radio edits, whether it’s cutting a single to size, or making sure it slips by the station’s limiters unscathed. For years, the Auratone has substituted for mono radio, the NS10 stood in for home stereos, and what record hasn’t had at least a cursory play on the car stereo? We’ve been obsessed with ‘mastering’ the last line of listening, except when it comes to that cursed MP3.

Maybe we’re missing the point. We’ve got them right where we want them, buds stuffed in their ears, or Apple’s new ‘pods’. Either way, that drug of music is pumping directly down their canals, straight at those drums (hearing damage notwithstanding, and another column altogether). Somehow society has been trained to choose the path of least resistance, and the shortest path from audio to ear. If you ever wanted to get ‘in the ear’ of someone, you can.

Whether it’s streaming off a server or out of an iPhone playlist, nothing can penetrate that closed loop, and it’s a beautiful thing. Finally, you can have a mobile listening experience without looking like a dill that has a ghetto-blaster-sized tumour on your shoulder, or carrying around a satchel of CDs. We listen to music everywhere; in lounge rooms, out of studio speakers, in our cars, at FOH, or monitors, at the supermarket, on stage, on systems ranging from mega-thousand-Watt PAs, to the flattest, loudest studio main monitoring, to the crappiest flush-mount toilet speakers. But the most engaging listening experiences are the ones you can take with you.

Sauntering down the street in slow motion to the beat of When The Levee Breaks, or watching the scenery whoosh by your train window lost completely in a trance listening to Massive Attack’s Teardrop. It’s what music is supposed to do, draw out emotion and paint it across whatever you’re experiencing.

Let’s not kid ourselves either. An average four-minute song at ‘CD-quality’ will occupy about 40MB, multiply that out by 12 tracks, and you’ve got almost half a gigabyte just for one album. With the top iPhone maxing out at 64GB, you’ve only got space for less than 128 albums. And once you minus a slab of memory for apps, videos, and photos of your dog or baby, you wouldn’t even be able to sneak Slim Dusty’s back catalogue on there. Shouldn’t we be able to soundtrack our lives at our discretion? For a model of convenience, not having every song you own on hand is unacceptable.

We’re already in the next stage anyway, and it only gets worse. Streaming services are literally a dime a dozen. And the price people pay to listen to a track is not even pennies, it’s a percentage of. Plus, the quality is even lower. So once again, the creative community gets screwed by consumption practises, but shouldn’t we be used to it by now?

So, while it’s well and good to rail against the establishment and petition for higher quality tunes, for now, we still have to deal with what we’ve got and wait for things to catch up to our ambitions, for flash memory to get cheaper, and streaming to get quicker.

Or should we lament that technological progress too?

Editor Mark Davie mark@audiotechnology.com.au Publisher Philip Spencer philip@alchemedia.com.au Editorial Director Christopher Holder chris@audiotechnology.com.au Graphic Designer Leigh Ericksen leigh@alchemedia.com.au Toby De Blank Art Director Dominic Carey dominic@alchemedia.com.au Advertising Paul Cunningham paul@alchemedia.com.au Accounts JenTemm jen@alchemedia.com.au Subscriptions Miriam Mulcahy mim@alchemedia.com.au Proofreading Cal Orr

Regular Contributors Martin Walker Michael Stavrou Anthony Garvin Paul Tingen Graeme Hague Guy Harrison Greg Walker James Roche Greg Simmons Tom Flint Robin Gist Blair Joscelyne Mark Woods Andrew Bencina Jason Fernandez Brent Heber Distribution by: Network Distribution Company.

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.

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All material in this magazine is copyright Š 2012 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. 24/09/2012.

What Could You Do with Pro Tools|HD Native?

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CONTENTS90 30 Rebirth of the first sampling

keyboard, the CMI & we talk to the godfather of drum machines, Roger Linn

FEATURES OLYMPIC EFFORT

London 2012 Audio Director Scott Wilsallen talks successful ceremonies and how Aussies help make it gold.

56

42 Hall Or Nothing: Hamer Hall Refurb & Philip Glass 48 Mixing Master Manny Marroquin On Linkin Park 64 Loopy Live Tips 76 Home Grown: For 100 Years

REGULARS 12 66 72 74 98

MIDAS PRO 1

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80

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What’s On Stav’s Word, High Stakes ’80s Mac Notes PC Audio Last Word, Don Bartley

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REGULARS

YOUR WORD Readers’ Letters

By now you’ll all know that Australia Music Group, which comprises almost 30 merged Allans Billy Hyde retail stores, Musiclink distributor, and Intermusic, has gone into receivership. With no buyer tabling an offer, things are wrapping up for the Aussie icon, with over 600 employees either already made redundant, or facing the inevitable. It’s a sad day when such a large wave of unemployment hits the industry like this, and our thoughts are with those that are now looking for new work.

When the information started trickling in about Allans Billy Hyde going belly up, the response to the news was varied. Here’s what some had to say on the AT Facebook page.

I think this will be happening to more retail stores as online sales eat into their bottom line. Retail has to do more and do it on reduced profit margins. Not a good time to get in to retail, unless you have something unique. Even a music store can be unique.

Were they?

— Paul Abrahams

Retailers like this need to promote the fact that they can offer something that eBay etc can't. Their expertise and advice.

— James Watson

@James, the sad fact is people will go into stores and try stuff, ask for advice, then still expect them to match the eBay price... I sell pro audio gear through my production business and I get that all the time (I don't have to carry the tens of thousands of dollars of stock that BH held, or pay the staff or rents, so I can deal with it easier than they could).

— Adam Biggs

I've bought three things from them in my life.

The first two were overpriced and came with free shitty service.

However I just bought two kick drum spurs for an old Pearl kit from their Flemington store which NO other music or drum store in Melbourne had in stock. (And believe me I tried ALL of them before resorting to BH!) Not only did they have them, but the sales guy opened the box and pulled apart the mechanisms to make sure they were exactly what I needed while lamenting the fact that most shops don't stock these kind of spares anymore. And as Tool Man says, we really need to keep these try before you buy type stores in existence. Even if they are overpriced...

— Sensitive Stew's Music Blog

They had a bit too much of the market share for my liking anyway, this just shows how hard retailers are doing it — Lee Marchant

Shame about Billy Hyde. I assume the job I applied for the other week doesn't exist any more?

— Lloyd Barrett

They should never have merged in the first place, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to realise that Allans customers never shopped at Hydes and vice versa. A few greedy people thought they could tell the music product industry how it’s going to be in the future? It appears not...!!! I feel terrible for the 500ish musicians that were employed by Allans/Hydes who will soon have no income.

That's less money to spend on everyone else's music, gigs, merchandise and equipment. You

can't blame the people instore for not being up to the task, you have to blame the people who employed them in the first place. Mostly there was some really great musicians and sales people who now don't know where their next dollar is coming from. Everyone else should be humbled by this development.

— Ray Kimber

Absolutely criminal markups is how they shot themselves in the foot. Same as the record companies living in denial that the game has changed. They should just change to an on-line store and drop ship from US or Europe.

— Guru Buzz

More unemployment? People it seems are not buying as much as they used to with things the way they are and poor service.

— Mark Killey

Hopefully independent music shops will be able to survive now the business will hopefully go to them and not just online

match or better their competitors. I have spent thousands over the years with them and will be very sad to see such an icon that has been around for over 150 years, go!

— Bruce Penta

@Bruce — it's not even a matter for debate that Allans was always more expensive than the majority of equipment retailers. I'd love to know how you got price matching with other stores (or lower)!

It's always sad when jobs go in the music sector (or anywhere, really) but Allans had issues. I recall going to one of their stores to buy some effects and standing at a counter with no other customers around; the two sales guys there behind the counter continued to chat about their respective bands to each other and ignored their customer. In the end, I just put my prospective purchases down and left the store. Bought the equipment elsewhere, and for about 30% less.

Not all retailers are created equal...

— Mike Evans

— Paul Dawkins

I can gladly say I have only bought one thing from overseas (Logic Pro 9). Everything I own has been bought from australian sources, even australian made if I can get my hands on it (Beez Nees for one).

It’s a sad day. Allan’s supported many musos, not to mention supplied many of them with day jobs.

— Fronz Arp

— Luke Shreddar

Hmmm.. I had $3200 cash in my pocket to pay for a Kurzweil PC3x that retailed for $4500... I went to the sales guy at Billy Hydes Blackburn and asked for the best price. They came in at $3800. I told the guy that I had gotten a price from Turramurra Music for $3200 delivered, he could check online and I had the cash on me to take it from him. I was given the reply 'sorry mate, we don't play that game'! So I was left standing there wanting to give the guy $3200 which I'm sure is still 15-20pts above their buy price... I only wonder if they would have taken my money and many more deals like mine they wouldn't be in the position they’re in now. It is sad for the workers, back to gigging I guess!

— Brendan Marolla

Allans has always been great and I have always found they will give a great price and will

Everyone who contributed to this conversation gets a 2GB MicroKorg USB key. Just email us your address at mark@audiotechnology.com.au and we'll pop one in the post.

REGULARS

WHAT’S ON All the latest from around the studio traps.

Darren Jenkins at Jenk Music Productions has just completed mixing an album for alternative/ metal band Dead Deities at The Grove Studios.

Sydney hard rock band Shinobi have finally released their debut album Against The Brave, which was produced and mixed by Jenk at The Grove. The single (also titled Against The Brave) has been in high rotation on Triple M and the accompanying music video has been featured on Channel V and Rage. Channel Nine has also been playing tracks from the album over highlights packages on Wide World Of Sports, Friday Night Footy and the Olympic Games.

Late September sees Jenk recording and mixing Wollongong-based acoustic/rock outfit The Jolene Theory at Main Street Studios.

WHAT’S HAPPENING? Got any news about the happenings in your studio or venue? Be sure to let us know at whatson@audiotechnology.com.au

Phil Threlfall has recently finished the mixing of both Seth Sentry's first full length album This Was Tomorrow at The Base. With the tracks on the album coming from three different producers — Styalz, Matik and Funkoars — it was an interesting challenge to get the different styles to work together. He also mixed Diafrix's latest release Pocket Full of Dreams featuring vocal performances from Stan Walker, 360, Jason Heerah, and Nfa. With barely a pause, Phil has dived straight back into the studio to track, co-produce, and eventually mix another album from Compliments of Gus, as well as a three-track EP from Duncan Phillips. As if that wasn't enough, Phil is also working with The Twoks, with Mark (drums and percussion) and Xani (violin, loops and vocals) recording in an underground concrete car park, a theatre space, and a big two-storey tin shed. Phil's approach has been to capture as much natural reverb and character of the spaces as possible along with the more direct signal on his portable rig, before running it up the Amek console at The Base. Phil has also installed a new ELI Fatso, and is looking forward to receiving a pair of original LA4s.

At Toyland Recording Studio in Northcote, Geoff Achison and Chris Wilson have been in with Rodger Mclachlan and Gerry Pantazis tracking their upcoming album with Adam Cal. Producer Trent Schnider has brought in a home recorded album for mixing and mastering. Joe Mandica and Martin Penrose have been recording and mixing a Roy Orbison inspired original album. Animaux, who recorded two songs at Toyland with Adam Cal, have brought them back for mastering after mixing at Sing Sing. Singer Melissa James is working on an original song with Adam Cal, and Falloe continue work on their third Album.

301 PRODUCTION STUDIOS

Recently, Rancom Street Studios had a great session with Don Walker (Cold Chisel) and band, with everything recorded live, including Don's vocals. Ted Howard recorded the session to tape running at 30ips, he said it was “nice to have that computer switched off for a change — no eyes, all ears.” Paul McKercher has also been busy at Rancom recording an album with a ‘mystery’ band to be revealed.

For D4 Studio, Matt Dever recorded three stages at Village Festival up north in Yeppoon, with Katie Noonan headlining. He also lent a hand to Airlock Studios to record the Red Deer Festival in Samford (near Brisbane), which is a fantastic young festival focused on keeping everything relaxed, while still supplying some top class artists. Red Deer was his first time using the new 32-channel support over Firewire in ProTools 10 (from a Venue SC48), and he’s loving the extra channels! Now Matt is preparing for BigSound Live, where he’ll record at six separate stages, onto a mixture of 24-channel hard disk recorders, and ProTools systems via Venue SC48 and Profile consoles.

He might need to borrow a few extra hard drives! In his spare time Matt’s starting to build a new PC to house a PCI-x based ProTools HD rig to try and squeeze a few more years out of the old cards.

Plenty of sonic salads getting tossed around in at Mixosmosis. Sydney producer Nick Howard has been in tracking some vocals with Andy Beck engineering.

Mixing has wrapped up for Sydney outfit The Drawing Class' new EP. Citizen Dog’s next album is finished and has left the studio fold for mastering with King Willy Bowden. Owner Nathan Johnson’s new baby is the Shadow Hills Dual Vandergraph. It’s barely two months old and has already been used on just about everything from tracking to mixing! The short film Marla by

Studios 301 has finally finished off the first of its six new production studios in Sydney, of which there are still three spots left up for grabs. Each studio comprises a 24sqm control room and a 4sqm recording booth. They are isolated and ‘expertly treated for a flat and natural response’.

Though we recommend checking them out for your needs. The recording booths are intentionally dead, primarily for vocal work. Occupants will gain 24/7 access to the shared lounges, kitchen, bathrooms and reception, as well as discounted studio and mastering rates. Rent is $2200+GST per month, with leases from six months upwards. You can also sign up for a premium lease that will cover options like attended phones, servicing of meals, access to technical services and use of the on-site accommodation.

Contact Anthony Garvin: (02) 8396 7266 or anthony@studios301.com

Sydney director Nick King, which was mixed

by Nathan, is being screened in the Venice film festival. He’s also been mixing dozens of episodes of children's television series Toybox, which is helping Nathan with his ABC’s. New audio goodies are a Retro Sta-Level Gold Edition tube compressor and another EL8x Distressor (that's three now). They’re almost out of rack room, again!

Blair Joscelyne from Nylon Studios has been busy composing music for Mazda, Toyota and Lexus. In fact he has been working on so many car commercials that he became a recent feature story in Top Gear Magazine who described him as ‘The Clarkson of Car Music’ — though not sure what that means. He's also been busy with his YouTube series (mightycarmods.com), the latest episode of which sees him converting an old grandpas car with a twin turbo engine from Japan and then dressing as an old man while he races confused looking commodore and Falcon drivers at Western Sydney International Dragway. Now that sounds like Clarkson!

At Damien Gerard Studios Andrew Beck has been tweaking the 1985 Soundcraft 2400 console in between tag-teaming sessions with Russell Pilling for young Sydney bands Van Horne, Lepers and Crooks and Kill Appeal, as well as some vocal work for Marvin Priest and Cam Nacson. Kamahl was also in redoing some old tunes — which was more rock ‘n’ roll than anyone expected! Other sessions have included Alannah Russack (ex Hummingbirds) working on her solo project with Russell, Beyond Blue (EP) and Major and The Fire (EP). Halfway Homebuoy has finished vocals and is up to the mixing stage with the first single The Cross hitting iTunes this month.

Incubator Recording and Mastering studio has been recording a very diverse range of sounds lately. Cathy Freeman recorded some ‘gold’ voiceovers for the Australian Bureau of Statistics. And Kim Salmon and Spencer P. Jones are finishing their new project. Eddie Fury from psychobilly band Fireballs has become the resident drum session player at Incubator, performing on John McCulloch's

solo project and Sam Burys ‘trip hop’ retro piece. Acoustic duo Slim Dime has been going old school — no drop-ins, no edits, just live recording. And Darkness Visible have finished their new ballad off with some nice keyboard work by Kent Ross from now defunct Melbourne band Catwich. New/old gear added to the studio is an early Neumann KM74.

At Deluxe Mastering Tony ‘Jack the Bear’ Mantz has had a solid month mastering projects for Minor Elite, System Segue, Davey Lane, Destroy She Said, All Eyes Dark, Kristina Miltiadou, Goodwill, Atluc, Tim Guy, Sodomy Club (Norway), A Sleepless Winter, D-Cup, Yellowbird, Alternative 4, The Hiding, Ishu, The Moderns, Madison, Marni & The Rissoles, Fight The Avalanche, and Prequel. Following on from Seth Sentry's debut album Adam Dempsey has remastered it from scratch (no pun intended) for 12-inch vinyl. Other projects include a split 7-inch for Jen Cloher with Courtney Barnett, The Perfections for a set of 7-inch singles, Thomas Strode & The Tour Guides (mixed

by Myles Mumford), Big Winter and Simon Hudson (both mixed by Dave McLuney at Atlantis Sound), Playwrite, Halcyon Drive, Catch Release, The Scrimshaw Four, Taxidermy Hall, Beloved Elk, OSH10, Catch The Fly (NT), Benjamin James Eastwood, The Wanderings, The Weeping Willows, Wildcat General Strike, and a solo electric bass EP for Sean Conolly!

As part of a highly anticipated Splendour in the Grass festival tour, Lana Del Rey graced our shores and spent some time in Studios 301 with in-house engineer Michael Morgan. Canadian indie darlings Metric were also in the studio with Michael recording an exclusive acoustic session for Spotify, which was mastered by Andrew Edgson. Also wandering the 301 corridors were Kenny Rogers, Matt Corby and Delta Goodrem (Simon Todkill), Foxground (Art Vs Science side project), Urthboy, DZ Deathrays and Tim & Jean (Tim Carr), along with the 2012 X-Factor finalists (also Simon Todkill). In Byron Bay, Angus Stone has been in the studio recording with Jordan Power. Over in the Mastering Suites, Leon Zervos has been

working on tracks for Clare Bowditch, Delta Goodrem (with Steve Smart), Guy Sebastian, Flight of the Conchords, Owl Eyes, Jess Mauboy, Angus Stone, Tim & Jean, Damien Leith, Justice Crew, Timomatic and Johnny Ruffo to name a few. Steve Smart has been busy mastering British India, Tim Rogers, Midnight Oil, Hungry Kids of Hungry, Lisa Mitchell, Tigertown, New Gods (Little Red side project) and Alpine. Andrew Edgson has worked on songs for Bloods, Dappled Cities, The Griswolds, and Glass Towers, as well as Amy Meredith, Brian McFadden, Jimmy Barnes, Something For Kate and Katie Noonan. Also, Sameer Sengupta has been mastering tracks for the new 360 album as well as Ruby Rose and Clubfeet.

As per usual, it’s been crazy at Spacejunk for the timEbandit. The new single for Benjalu is about to assault the airwaves while the new single for The Khanz is already doing radio battle. Remixes are also currently underway for Nashville's post-rock-ambience experts Hammock. Dave Trumpmanis is in tweaking with the bandit for the DVD full length version of The Church live at Sydney Opera House with Orchestra. Teddy Howard, aka ‘RideFinger’ has been tag team mixing with timEbandit since the pair perfected the system on the aboutto-be released, timEbandit-produced Regular John album Strange Flowers. Nearly all the sessions have seen crazy drum concoctions including Sacko from Benjalu attacking the drums hanging behind his head while singing on the Mojave MA200 condenser, which can be heard on their Way to the Coast single. Current favourite plug-in — sourced and purchased to handle the Nashville string section mix duties on the Hammock double album — is Softubes’ TSAR-1 reverb. Apparently the 224 vintage patches are ‘simply brilliant’. Favourite mic for any place where the unexpected is required is the sE 4400. And vying for ‘smallest guitar sound ever recorded’ is an ’80s Boss Mascot headphone amp inside a timbale captured by an NT3 condenser. You can hear it on the middle eight of Green — a track on Regular John’s new album out in October.

GENERAL NEWS

Mark Moffatt (left) and Travis Caudle get started early on the Nashville Songwriter Residency.

ROAD TRIP TO NASHVILLE It’s nice to hear from readers when they get a kick out of something in the magazine, but when an article inspires not one, but two songwriting residency grants, talk about gobsmacked! Last year, in Issue 82 of AudioTechnology, we ran an interview Peter Moses did with Mark Moffatt over in Nashville. Mark is one of our most celebrated ex-pat producer/engineers — to give you an idea, in 1996, seven of the 15 ARIA awards went to artists produced by Mark. According to him, “Growing up in Australia, broadly speaking, Mark Opitz was the band guy, and I was the solo guy.

And I really enjoyed that.”

Moffatt has all the hallmarks of a great developer of talent, having played a role in Keith Urban’s success among countless others. For him, it’s part of what a producer does, and makes him the perfect fit for the program.

“We at the Australia Council for the Arts had been looking at what songwriting residency opportunities we could do,” said Director of Music, Paul Mason.

“We’d identified Nashville as a place of particular interest, but you can’t just

send someone blindly over to Nashville.”

So when Andy Ratzen, from the Music Board of the Australia Council, saw the article and Mark’s call to action that Nashville is the place to base yourself in America, it prompted him “to propose to our Music Board a Nashville songwriter residency under Mark’s mentorship.”

With a bit of help along the way from AudioTechnology contributor Brad Watts and some pointing in the right direction, the Nashville Songwriting Residency was created.

When they contacted Mark, he was “thrilled that someone had picked up on the pertinent point. Because very few people in Australia are aware of Nashville’s benefits, and to their detriment.”

ROUNDING UP THE COMPETITION The remit for the selection committee was to find songwriters, trying to be agnostic about whether the applicant was a performing artist or not.

Paul Mason: “We put out a call for applications, to tell us about the work they’ve been doing, and what they would do with the opportunity to be in Nashville. We thought maybe we’d get

20 or 25 applications, and we ended up with 90! We realised we might have tapped into something, and the quality of application was incredibly high.”

LIGHTWEIGHT EFFICIENT INTELLIGENT

Initially they’d intended to only offer one residency, but the quality of the applicants meant they had to at least make two available.

“There could easily have been many more,” said Mason. “Such was the quality of the submissions.”

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NOT TAKEN FOR GRANTED The two recipients of the inaugural three monthlong Nashville Songwriter Residency grants of $15,000 were Chris Altmann and Travis Caudle.

Chris is a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who records and performs solo and with his group The Vandas. Travis is a singer/songwriter and member of Perth band The Woodenelves, and has supported Jimmy Barnes, Kasey Chambers, and The Black Crowes.

The residency has a lot of aspects, but according to Mason, why the Board is excited about Nashville, and why it’s sending the recipients there is so “the artist can spend time on their work, and collaborate with other artists, as well as have a professional business development opportunity.” But while they’re there, they can embark on anything that will further their career.

Moffatt: “As it happens, both Chris and Travis have aspirations to get some songs cut by other performers. And I know that Travis definitely wants to cut some tracks, I’m not sure about Chris and where he is in the recording cycle.

Though it’s such an experience in that town, he’d almost be crazy not to. They’re really interested in drawing up the creative community. And from my point of view, what’s changed about Nashville, other than newcomers like Jack White and The Black Keys, is that it has become a real ‘van and trailer band’ town. Because of the geography you can get to all these places and back overnight, which you can’t from LA and New York. That part of it really interests these two guys as well — a radius to work within.

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“It’s an opportunity to establish a foothold there.

They’ve both been working pretty hard over there already. It’s really hard for Australians who haven’t done that to understand how dense the market is in the US. “I get the sense that they’re both lifers, which I find really important. A lot of people are just in love with the idea of it. Whereas these guys have both feet on the road.”

We’ll be keeping you up-to-date with the boys’ progress when they hit Nashville early next year.

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GENERAL NEWS IN THE OFFICE

SHURE SRH1840 HEADPHONES Back in AT87 I couldn’t get enough of Shure’s new reference headphones — the SRH1440s. I liked them so much I secured a pair and I’ve absolutely no regrets… they’re delightful.

More recently, the 1440’s pricier sibling, the SRH1840s, have been in the AT office. I’m not sure if I’ve become so accustomed to the 1440s that I’m utterly in their thrall… but after side-by-side comparisons I’ve gotta say I slightly prefer the cheaper alternatives.

Admittedly, the SRH1840s are lighter weight and with its matte black steel frame, more streamlined, which is great for those on the go. But if your critical listening is mostly studio/desk bound then you may well prefer the cushier fit of the 1440s — if the 1840 is a Herman Miller Aeron, then the 1440 is a La-Z-Boy recliner.

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The 1840’s output isn’t as great as the 1440s (the 65Ω-impedance SRH1840’s sensitivity specs out at 96dB SPL/mW at 1kHz, versus the 37Ω/101dB of the 1440s) and, in my view, the tone not as revealing. This tends to make listening to some playback less fatiguing and more forgiving, but mostly I prefer the 1440 tone.

That said, the 1840s still have some of the best stereo imaging around, with a crystal clear sound stage. The lows are tight and superbly represented, and the overall tonal signature remains very smooth and un-hyped.

Like the 1440s the 1840s ship with a durable (Kevlarreinforced) detachable cable and a smart looking vinyl protective carry case, which houses another set of velour ear pads, and a replacement cable. I should add, yes, the 1840s are an open back design like the 1440s and, as such, offer zero isolation.

Don’t get me wrong, the SRH1840s are lovely headphones, and they look amazing. But you’d be mad not to line them up against the little brother, the SRH1440 ($495), and determine which you prefer.

Either way, if you’ve not heard what Shure has been up to with these new SRH headphones, then you owe it to yourself to take a test drive. Price: $795 — CH. Jands: (02) 9582 0909 or info@jands.com.au

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LIVE NEWS EAR MONITORS AUSTRALIA Generic In-Ears & True Live-Sound EQ I’m a bad test case for in-ears. My ears are particularly difficult. While most friends can whack a full ‘foamie’ in their canals, I usually have a terrible time, which was part of the reason I invested in custom-moulded earplugs a long time ago. So I was a bit surprised when these generic in-ear monitors (IEM) from Ear Monitors Australia fit at all, and for the most part, stayed in place.

I’ve tried other generic in-ears, with no luck, but these come with four different interchangeable silicon plugs, the dualbarbed versions doing the trick for me.

The over-ear, wire former helps them stay in place, but my low-cut ears ended just about the same spot the wire former started. So, for me, while these would be a suitable acoustic, singer/songwritertype solution, head-banging (re: drums) was off the cards.

As generic in-ears go, these EMA drivers sound neat. The dual driver versions definitely pip the single drivers for detail and volume, but both are very pleasing, relatively flat and respond well to transients. The single drivers are just a little more lumpy in the middle than the dual drivers. Of course, any in-ears worth their salt need to create a good seal.

A good driver can sound superlative, but be useless if you can’t get a tight seal. You’ll get dinky bass response, competitive bleed that will have you pumping more decibels than you should into your precious canals, not to mention having to stop what you’re doing to jam them back in.

They aren’t as easy to install as custom moulded pieces, which rotate and lock into place. Nor are they the same driver technology that you’ll find in EMA’s custom range. But with the Semi-Pro Dual custom IEMs starting at $990, and the Dual Lite HD (full frequency range) models coming in at $1990, the generics are a great entry point into in-ears. And EMA offer an upgrade system, so you can purchase the single driver ($150) or dual driver ($199) generics, and then if you decided you like the sound but

want a custom fit, you can fit a custom moulded tip for an extra $175, or a full custom mould with your choice of colours for $265 — sounds good.

Unlike most generics, EMA’s versions aren’t throw-away items. You can buy a replacement cable with over-ear former for $20, and they come with six months warranty, including cover for accidental damage.

One of the main differences between these generics and EMA’s custom inears, is level. While a lot of performers will run their in-ears at an ear-splitting 100-110dBA, the generics won’t handle that kind of level — which is probably a good thing. Technically you shouldn’t be listening at those volumes anyway.

When testing the dual drivers out while playing drums, they did lose clarity when pumped to a competitive level over the acoustic source. But they were still very usable. You can actually buy a 10cm inline limiter cable, which prevents the IEMs from reaching over 88dB for $35 from EMA. Which is not a bad decision to make for your long-term health.

EMA also has an inline mini-EQ (True Live-Sound) for $88. There are 15 steps for bass and treble manipulation. When you reach either end of the cut and boost spectrum, a blue LED flashes. Straight out of the box, the mixer seemed to be boosting at maximum on both bands, and a flatter starting point was in the middle of the range. It was a bit of a shame the LED didn’t blink when clicking past the mid-point as that would be a handy reference. There’s also volume buttons, on/off and a belt clip. It’s a handy way of giving performers control over the ‘vibe’ they want in their ears, whether it be crisp presence for more clarity, or a boomier low end. — Mark Davie Ear Monitors Australia: (03) 9844 2524 hearlab1@pacific.net.au www.earmonitorsaustralia.com

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REVIEW

DIGICO UB MADI A little box that converts MADI to USB. Problem solved.

Review: Mark Davie

LITTLE PROBLEM SOLVER Two BNC sockets at one end for MADI in and out, and at the other a USB-B socket to hook up to virtually any computer. The BNC inputs will cope with 24-bit 48k AES-10 MADI or AES-3 audio. And for syncing audio playback with a video source, you can also hook up 48k word clock to the BNC input.

Digico’s UB MADI is a pretty unassuming device — it converts 48 channels of 24-bit audio from any device using the MADI protocol to USB2.0 and back again. But for a lot of engineers, it’s a giant slayer.

96k sample rates, but stability within the confines of USB 2.0 was more important than bleeding edge performance for Digico. At 48k you have access to 48 channels full-duplex, so simultaneous streams in and out.

It’s the first device to make MADI conversion so accessible. While the protocol has enjoyed plenty of use in the live sphere, transferring high channel counts to and from stage racks, or between consoles, previously MADI devices could only be used for recording to computers via PCI cards and slots — which are cumbersome, and going the way of the dodo — or standalone recorders. So for those with MADI-equipped consoles, being able to record 48 channels of audio to any laptop over USB is a bit of a no brainer.

MADI is capable of up to 64 channels at

Of course, one of the main proponents of MADI on its consoles is Digico, and there’s a bit of Digico prowess involved here. An FPGA chip derived from the flagship SD7 console, as well as on-board 500MHz dual core CPU provide the grunt. UB MADI has its own internal clock, which it uses to clock the MADI output when there’s no MADI input present. It’s bus-powered, and hot pluggable, so if someone whips out your connection, you can be back online within four seconds, plus a bit of fumbling around time. The diminutive device is intended to be portable. It’s

have additional control over the send levels. But the benefit of mirroring the I/O assignments to MADI is the ‘listen to copied audio’ function on the Digico consoles that reroutes the console’s inputs to the MADI output from your computer, making the flip between virtual sound checks and your stage inputs a breeze.

barely a lump in a cable run, and designed to be slipped in a laptop bag, not racked up with a console.

NEED TO KNOW

Hooking it up to a Digico SD9, I was able to record 40 channels straight into ProTools 10 on a 2012 Mountain Lion-equipped Macbook Pro’s internal 7200rpm drive for almost two hours.

I could only test at 48k, as that’s the native sample rate of the SD9, though we’ll be putting it through its paces on 96k desks soon. Set up is a breeze. It comes with a tiny USB stick for driver installation, and once the device was selected for input, output, or both in the Mac’s audio setup, UB MADI’s 48 inputs appeared in ProTools. A simple matter of mirroring the audio I/O from the Digirack to the MADI I/O, and you’re away. Alternatively, you can ripple assign the direct outs of each channel to MADI on the console and PRICE

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PROS

It performed without a hitch; no drop outs, no glitches, just a blinking blue LED to let you know its working. Safe to say, that this is one solid little box.

At $1695, the price may seem a little steep for the size of the unit. But it’s got a big heart, and cheaper than similar MADI-based products. Needless to say, if live work on Digico’s and other MADI-equipped desks is your bread and butter, it will pay for itself. And the way these puppies have been selling, it’s definitely fulfilling a need.

MADI to USB problem solved Full-duplex 48 channels at 48k Record on any computer Solid performer 1/12/05

1:47 PM

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If you’ve already got a MADI-equipped digital console and want to record live shows, there’s really nothing else as simple and flexible out there.

Page 1

“My EMA in-ear monitors are really good when it comes to pitching my vocal. And the vocal sounds great – it’s right up close. My in-ears let me go anywhere on stage and I get the same result.”

Jimmy Barnes

custom moulded and generic fit in-ear monitors

Ear Monitors Australia ® 38 Hall Road, South Warrandyte VIC 3134 T: 03 9844 2524 W: www.earmonitorsaustralia.com Ear Monitors Australia and the EMA logo are registered Trade marks of Australian Hearing Laboratories Pty Ltd.

Roger Linn hasn’t lost an ounce of passion when it comes to shaping the way musicians interact with machines. According to him, there’s more life in them yet. All that’s needed is that human touch.

Interview: Ross Bencina Photos: Daniel Sievert

Roger Linn began his musical life as part of the vibrant West Coast scene in the late 1970s. A jack of all trades he was living most people’s rock and roll fantasy; even co-writing a hit for Eric Clapton. But as often happens, fate had other plans.

Roger Linn: “After high school, I was immediately out on the road playing guitar with various bands. And when I was 22, I started working on the prototype of my first drum machine idea — just for myself.

Suddenly musicians and major artists were calling me to say, “Can I have one of your drum machines?” I said, “No, you don’t understand, I’m a guitar player, producer, songwriter. This is just for me at this stage.”

But they still wanted to buy one anyway. I recognised that as a guitar player, I was one of many. But as a designer of musical products I had more to offer. So I just rode the horse in the direction it was going.”

And the horse bolted with Roger on it.

Roger’s creations have gone on to appear on countless hit songs and provided a foundation for whole musical genres. His first drum machine, the LM-1, was released in 1980. At a time when drum machines used analogue sound synthesis, the LM-1 was the first to use sampled drum sounds stored on computer chips. The only other sampling-based musical instrument on the market at the time was Australia’s own Fairlight CMI. The drum machines created in the early 1980s

by Linn Electronics Inc. became staples of the ’80s synth pop sound. Roger then went on to join forces with Akai to produce the MPC60 ROGER LINN’S DESIGNS

— an all-in-one sampling and sequencing workstation that became the tool of choice for hip hop producers.

Roger was visiting Sydney recently to present masterclasses on his most recent creation: Tempest — a hybrid analogue-digital performance drum machine created in collaboration with Dave Smith Instruments.

Roger took some time out from signing gear and delivering master classes at Sound Devices to pop into the studio there and talk about his past work, the Tempest, the future of electronic musical instruments, and his current project, the LinnStrument.

EARLY DAYS

Ross Bencina: What brought about the genesis of your first drum machine?

RL: I was thinking about how to get the drums into my recordings without actually having to call a drummer to come in. I liked being able to play along with a drumbeat while jamming or writing, and drummers usually didn’t like that very much.

Funny story: Giorgio Moroder, a disco producer in the ’70s who produced Donna Summer and the Flashdance soundtrack, told me that when he was younger in Germany, he would ask his drummer to record 20 minutes of a simple beat, which he would later use as a background for writing and recording. He said it was very frustrating for the drummer, so he really enjoyed my machines because he didn’t have to feel bad about the drummer suffering through that mechanical process.

Roger Linn: “A lot of people say Roger Linn invented the drum machine. I didn’t invent the drum machine. I just added a few things that made it a little bit better.”

20?? LinnStrument (forthcoming)

2011 Dave Smith Instruments Tempest

2007 AdrenaLinn III

2005 M-Audio Black Box

2003 AdrenaLinn II

2001 AdrenaLinn

1998 Akai MPC60 and ASQ10

1994 Akai MPC3000

1984 Linn 9000

1982 LinnDrum

1979 LM-1

RB: When you originally had the idea, did you have repetitive dance beats in mind or more articulated, expressive drumming?

RL: I basically wanted the ability to create any beat with arrangement elements like intros, fills, endings, etc. But it was also important that it be able to produce high quality sound and for the beats you created to have a natural and human feel. That’s why I included things like multiple dynamic levels and swing timing. I recognised that a machine couldn’t replace a human drummer’s ability to listen to the other musicians and respond to them with creative and appropriate musical parts, but I at least wanted the grooves to have a great sound and feel.

The funny thing is that today, I listen to almost no drum machine music. I usually like to listen to music that has rubato timing. I don’t like the constant beat all the time. I like to hear things that are expressive, where the tempo changes or the percussion goes away for a bit and comes back, and it’s a creation made not just by the composer, but by the magic that happens when you get good musicians performing together in a room.

UNDER THE INFLUENCE RB: Your machines have become key ingredients in whole new genres of music. In a way the machines have become part of the music that’s made with them. How do you feel about that? Can you relate to it, and does that factor in to your design process?

RL: It feels great to know that a product I made has had an influence on music, because I love music. But I’m often surprised by the music made on my products, and it certainly is true that the capabilities and limitations of the machines affect the type of music that people create on them.

For example, it’s easy to make music in perfect time on a drum machine or sequencer, so a lot of the first records in the ’80s that used drum machines or sequencers tended to sound very rigid and robotic, which actually became a style. I didn’t like that because I had worked very hard to put features like multiple dynamic levels, swing and drumbeat arrangements in the original LM-1 so that it could sound more human and natural. But most of the early popular recordings made with

THE TEMPEST Roger Linn: “With Tempest I wanted to make something that gave these electronic performers an instrument they could really perform with.”

the LM-1 didn’t use any note dynamics, swing or arrangements.

I remember the first hit made with the LM-1, which was The Human League’s Don’t You Want Me Baby. It began with a constant sixteenth-note synthesiser sound with all notes at one volume. I thought, “Couldn’t they have put some dynamic variation in there to make it sound more human?”

It never occurred to me that in many cases they didn’t want it to sound more human. In fact, the nature of much of this new electronic style was to make it sound as inhuman and rigid as possible.

Though at the same time there were guys like the drummer of Toto, Jeff Porcaro, who used the LM-1 on a song for Elton John called Nobody Wins, and programmed it superbly to sound like there was a real drummer on the track.

Peripheral to this is the subject of technology influencing art. The example I love to use is the effect of the invention of the camera on painting.

Once the camera was invented, there was less need for portrait painters and some say this helped spawn the Expressionist movement in art, because the human painter had to do something that the camera couldn’t. The same thing happened when ARP’s String Ensemble came out in the ’70s. Many string players who would come in to a session and receive union scale for holding one note over Hey

Jude, simply didn’t have quite the same popularity.

The technology influenced how the music was made. So the bad news is that some musicians weren’t being hired, but the goods news is that these machines democratised music-making for many musicians, allowing them to record the music they heard in their heads, even if they didn’t have the money to hire other musicians.

EXPRESS YOURSELF RB: Why do your designs skew towards dance music creation, despite the genre not being a personal preference?

RL: I tend to enjoy softer music or even silence much of the time. However, my job isn’t to make music but rather to make the machines that make the music. And to do that, it’s my job to try to spot long-term trends in the way people are making music.

One of those trends is the real-time integration of composition, recording, editing and performance into one seamless experience. The traditional model is for a musician to first write a song, then record it, then edit and mix it, then perform it live. However, some of the most compelling performances I’ve seen recently involved one musician creating an entire piece of music from scratch using looping and sequencing, layering the composition part by part, then arranging the parts and sonically manipulating it, all as a real-time performance and without stopping. Like watching a painter create a painting, the journey becomes the reward.

This was a primary design criterion for our new Tempest drum machine. Because its job is to make rhythmic music, we designed it so you can do almost everything without ever stopping the beat.

For example, you can create a beat, then while it plays you can tweak and refine the individual sounds, and without stopping, copy it and enhance the copy, make another copy and manipulate it, then arrange these three beats in real time, adding a variety of sonic performance manipulations. That’s all in real time without stopping.

RB: Was this the main design goal of the Tempest?

RL: Capturing performance gestures was certainly a major design goal. To my thinking,

beat-oriented electronic music performance has become somewhat static. If you go to a club where someone’s DJing with a computer, you’ll often see someone with a pale, screen-lit face, moving his fingers around a trackpad in a performance that resembles checking email. Even if using physical controllers, the UI usually consists of data-input elements like knobs, sliders, buttons and a trackpad. There’s not much to capture subtle human gestures, like vibrato in a violin, string bends on a guitar, or breath expression on a reed instrument.

The decline of human gesture capture in the user interfaces of electronic music machines is a negative trend. The drum machine has evolved into its own musical instrument, not unlike a guitar, keyboard or violin. And talented musicians have developed complex and virtuosic finger gestures using the pads and controls. However, these user interface elements don’t permit the capture of subtle human gestures found on acoustic musical instruments. In Tempest, we tried to solve this problem by incorporating — in addition to the 16 pressure- and velocity-sensitive pads — two linear touch strips that are sensitive to both position and pressure. For example, you can use one of these touch strips to filter a beat’s playback, with filter frequency controlled by position, and resonance controlled by pressure.

And the other touch strip can use position to affect the pitch of the beat’s playback while pressure modulates the attack or decay time of all the sounds simultaneously. With Tempest I wanted to make something that gave these electronic performers an instrument they could really perform with.

I was very pleased to see that when we first released Tempest, the first user videos we received were not about solitary offline production but rather about performance, using the machine as a realtime musical instrument. And the gestures were wonderful to watch, with musicians moving their fingers in ways not unlike the performance gestures you’d see from players of acoustic instruments.

The UI inspired them to practice and perform new performance gestures in order to create more interesting music.

ALTERNATE CONTROLLERS

THE LINNSTRUMENT For basketball fans, Linsanity was all the rage in the NBA, and just like this Linnterview, there’s no shortage of catchy plays on the Linn name. Roger isn’t shy of indulging in a bit of wordplay himself: There was the LinnDrum, the AdrenaLinn, and his next product takes it one step further, the LinnStrument. It’s a pressure sensitive multi-touch surface that lets you play expressive music.

Roger Linn: “Each finger’s movement is captured in three dimensions — pressure for expression, left/right for pitch and forward/backward for timbre, and all fingers are captured simultaneously and independently in high resolution.

There are little ridges between the notes on the playing surface, so you can feel your way around without looking, yet low enough so you can slide between notes as on a violin. Regardless of what instrument sound you’re trying to create, this high-resolution capture of three dimensions per finger does a very good job of inputting the needed performance gestures.”

In Roger’s alternate controller workshops he has also featured the Eigenlabs Eigenharp and the Haken Continuum, and he’s also developed interest in a new one, the Soundplane from Randy Jones’ Madrona Labs.

RL: “Together, these are the instruments I appreciate most because they’re designed for highly expressive performance of individual notes, and all have this same simultaneous capture of three dimensions per finger, polyphonically. Eigenharp does it with their individual 3D keys, Continuum does it by its continuous mousepad-like surface and hall effect sensors, Sound Plane does it with a capacitive sensing surface, and I’m doing it in LinnStrument with a resistive sensor. It’s a wonderful variety of implementations with roughly similar goals. We all believe that a rising tide floats all boats, which is why I included Continuum and Eigenharp in the presentations I did, and promote them and others on my web site. We’re all helping each other and staying in touch. It’s a great community.

“I think that once these instruments and others evolve and gain better public acceptance, it will be the next revolution in musical creativity. Right now there are still many people saying, ‘Oh those are just obscure and weird instruments, and a true musical instrument must make sound acoustically with wood and brass and strings and wind.’ But I think a tipping point will arrive that will see these new instruments gaining general public acceptance, and I’m trying my best to tip it.”

Madrona Labs Soundplane Soundplane has a walnut playing surface that can be configured as either a 150-note keyboard with position and pressure sensing on each key, or as one continuous multi-touch surface. www.madronalabs.com

Haken Continuum The Continuum fingerboard senses finger pressure and position on its continuous rubber surface allowing expressive timbre control and seamless polyphonic glissandi. www.hakenaudio.com

Eigenlabs Eigenharp The Eigenharp has 120 highly sensitive keys, two strip controllers and an optional breath pipe. Each key is like a tiny joystick allowing subtle note expression in three dimensions. www.eigenlabs.com

COLLABORATING WITH DAVE SMITH INSTRUMENTS RB: You worked on the Tempest in collaboration with Dave Smith. What was the nature of the collaboration?

RL: One way to look at it is that I started from the outside in and Dave started from the inside out. Dave is excellent at designing the circuit boards and software, and his superb analogue voice circuits are great examples of that.

By comparison, I like to start from the musician’s perspective, beginning with a product concept, then visualising it in a 3D model and renderings, gradually creating and fine-tuning the feature descriptions, user interface, display screens and industrial design. Then I drill down into the

“

People are thinking about the human computer interface much more than they ever have, so maybe the time for new human interfaces in music has come

”

details, like creating a drumbeat data structure optimised for non-stop recording, editing and performance; and designing the custom drum pads and touch strips. I gradually fill in the details of the 3D model until it contains details like the circuit boards, controls, metalwork and graphics.

But I didn’t do this alone. Dave’s employees were very helpful in the design because they are more knowledgeable about current music than I, and were passionate about the great ideas they came up with.

That said, there was as lot of overlap between Dave and I. Dave contributed greatly to the selection and arrangement of the synth controls, an area that he knows very well. Also, it was important for Dave to keep it small and portable, something that could fit in a backpack. And although I don’t have Dave’s circuit design skills, I had some ideas that affected the analogue

circuits. For example, I pushed for adding distortion and compression to the stereo output, which had to be analogue in order to keep the signal path fully analogue. But I felt that the distortion should have more of a guitar amp sound, and because of my experience making guitar amp models for my AdrenaLinn guitar processor, I knew that a simple distortion wouldn’t cut it. It needed a highpass filter before the distortion to remove bass mud, and a lowpass filter after the distortion to mimic the highfrequency rolloff of guitar amp speakers. The design of the compressor was a similar process. I wanted it to have the sort of pumping sound that compressors can create. We ended up using a compressor chip from THAT Corporation, the same chip used in some of dbx’s compression products.

RB: And what about the overall sound of the machine, did you try many different circuits?

RL: Well, Dave’s been refining his analogue voice for 35 years, so that’s really his domain. Analogue sounds are at the heart of Tempest and a big reason for its sound quality. Unlike a sample-centric drum machine, we wanted a machine with the sonic malleability of synthesis — as opposed to the static ‘snapshot’ nature of sampling — but also with the warmth and quality of Dave’s analogue synthesis. At the same time, we realised that analogue synthesis can’t make all types of drum sounds, so we decided to add sampled sound sources. While Tempest isn’t a sampler, we included a large library of highquality drum, percussion, noise and effects samples.

What’s important is that the analogue low pass filter, high pass filter, VCA, feedback and modulations all come after the sample, giving you the accuracy

of samples with the malleability and sonic quality of analogue synthesis. And the sounds people are creating with Tempest are surprisingly unique and compelling.

FROM PRESSING PLAY TO PAGANINI RB: Do you see today’s market as different when compared to the market for your early drum machines?

RL: One thing that’s changed is that the line between artist and listener is blurring. I see it as a continuum. At one end you’ve got the passive listener, somebody who just slips in a different song into their iPhone and plays it, which is not a creative process. If you move about an inch towards centre, you get a DJ who’s skilfully selecting entire songs to match the event, and if you move about another couple of inches in toward the centre you’ve got a guy manipulating pre-made loops, beats and sequences in a creative way — something I call ‘Object Oriented Composition’. He’s being more creative but he’s not really creating the individual elements of the music. At the other end of the continuum, you’ve got virtuoso violinists, saxophonists, guitarists, etc., who create all the notes and the subtle nuances that make each note beautiful. These days the technology allows people to place themselves anywhere on this continuum, so they are. You can pretty much choose what you want to do.

One of the negative aspects of this trend is that a lot of young people want to be able to perform music but don’t want to have to learn how to play those pesky notes. They can get themselves a computer

and some loop programs, and are content to simply to manipulate and combine loops and beats created by others. Some would say that’s not as creative as creating all the notes themselves, and I think that’s probably an accurate statement, but then again what they create is often pretty amazing.

For example, with a fairly low amount of practice they can create a very exciting performance that excites an entire group of people in a dance club.

By comparison, a beginning violinist can take a few years before she’s able to make pleasing tones, and must meet with a few friends if she wants to make a chord. Both paths have their merits but I must admit that I sometimes lament the loss of the note as a focus of musical creativity. I sometimes say that I’m on a one-man quest to save the note from extinction.

INSTRUMENT EVOLUTION RB: Are next generation music controllers like the LinnStrument still your focus?

RL: The most exciting thing for me now is to finish the development of LinnStrument. It’s the product that I’m most excited about, and it’s probably the product that will sell the least. This general field of instruments is called alternate controllers, and what I like to say is that the road to alternate controllers is paved with the bodies of those who have tried and died. Most have been financial failures. But then again the zeitgeist today is about human interface, with multi-touch on phones and tablets, and innovative human/computer interfaces like Kinnect or the forthcoming Leap controller.

People are thinking about the human computer

interface much more than they ever have, so maybe the time for new human interfaces in music has come.

Not too many people are studying orchestral instruments any more. In the Darwinism of musical instruments, what’s survived these days is primarily keyboard and guitar, and guitar is often used for old-fashioned music. In contemporary popular music, I hear some wonderful singers with their vocal gymnastics but not much in the way of a truly expressive solo instrument voice. I think this is because a MIDI keyboard is the main input device for synthesis, which isn’t very good at capturing expressive performance because it’s little more than an array of velocity-sensitive switches.

If you’ve ever tried to perform a convincing solo violin, sax, cello or guitar on a MIDI keyboard, even with the most advanced synthesis, you’ll know that it’s very difficult.

The truth is that there’s a wonderful array of expressive software synthesis out there, fromanalogue, to physical modelling, to FM, to waveguide, to additive and more, but a MIDI keyboard isn’t very good at unlocking their tremendous expressive capabilities. What I’m trying to do with LinnStrument is provide a truly expressive input surface for synthesis, in order to unlock that expressive potential.

Thanks to Sound Devices for graciously hosting the interview at its Sydney studio, and for Daniel from Sound Devices for providing some great images of Roger and the master class event. www.sounddevices.com.au

FEATURE

THE CMI!

Fairlight founder Peter Vogel and Graeme Renaud talk about why the CMI is the thinking musician’s Harley Davidson, and why they brought it back.

Story: David Corazza

History is littered with electronic instruments that have come and gone. A few have profoundly influenced the way in which music is made and recorded. The Fairlight CMI (Computer Musical Instrument) sampling keyboard can rightfully claim to be such an instrument. I recently spoke with Peter Vogel (the father of the Fairlight CMI, and its 30th anniversary variant — the CMI-30A), and Graeme Renaud of Peter Vogel Instruments.

“

The modern philosophy is that you should be able to turn on your software, and never look at a manual; but with the 30A you actually have to understand its architecture and how it works

”

If you haven’t heard, The CMI-30A is a ‘modernised’ reissue of the fabled Fairlight CMI. For most of the ’80s, the CMI defined the sound of contemporary music. With prices north of $30,000 and sometimes over $100k, it wasn’t for everyone; still, over 300 units were sold during its time. The new CMI-30A costs $20,000, expensive some might say, but much cheaper and more flexible than the original. And only 100 will be made to boot (literally).

AUSSIE INVENTION

A bit of historical context is in order to understand where the CMI-30A came from and why it is so different from everything else today. Back in the late 1970s, electronic instruments were hardly prolific, nor were they extensively used by mainstream musicians. Primarily the province of experimental types, academics, and a few notable musical exceptions (Kraftwerk, Giorgio Moroder, Tangerine Dream et al.), the synthesiser was this amazing device where the user could determine timbre and dynamic behaviour. The act of generating wildly new and interesting musical voices was starting to catch on, and Moog, Korg and Roland thought this was a mighty good thing.

Then, in 1979, two Sydney boys unveiled a machine that forever changed the way music was created.

The Fairlight CMI was simply unlike anything that had gone before, it allowed musicians to see their work. Waveforms, fourier transforms, filters, keymaps, etc, all displayed on the CMI’s green CRT screen. For the first time ever, a ‘synthesiser’ seemed friendly.

The CMI introduced two other things; the world’s first on screen sequencer (Page R), and a little process called sampling! Though not fully

forebears of this machine are over three decades old, come on now, surely we have all collectively moved on. Right? Maybe not.

The 30A is an extremely focused machine that eschews the ‘everything but the kitchen sink’ approach to workstations and software. It is made for making music.

For decades, second hand CMIs have been few and far between thanks to their extremely limited production runs (just over 300 in all its years of production — rarer than a Linn LM1). As a consequence, they have commanded high prices, they are rarely seen second hand, and owners are reluctant to sell them because they do what nothing else does. When buying used CMIs, they’re always rated by what celebrity samples come with the machine. I recall a few years ago, looking at a magnificent CMI Series III in Sydney, the seller calmly stated that there were samples from JJ Jeczalic (The Art Of Noise), Pet Shop Boys, and Peter Gabriel, amongst other ’80s icons. So, can owners of the new 30A expect such celebrity sonic goodness? appreciated at the time, their historical impact is undeniable.

Yes, for the first time ever this massive box with two 8-inch floppy drives and a light pen, allowed users to digitally record and manipulate any audio for musical good and evil in glorious 8-bit fidelity. Eight voice polyphony, and 16kB RAM per voice, (no, that’s not a typo), all yours for north of $30,000. Which in 1979 would have easily bought a house in certain parts of Australia.

MUSIC MACHINE

So, with that very brief recap of what the old CMI was, it’s important to understand what the CMI-30A is not! It has no plug-in architecture, it doesn’t record digital multitrack, and it’s not terribly expandable.

It is a self contained sampling and sequencing instrument — just like its predecessors.

Many in the music and recording world have scratched their collective heads and wondered why the hell this thing was ever brought to market. Is it purely an exercise in obsolescence and vanity? The

“We just brought back Thomas Dolby’s machine for exactly that purpose,” said Peter Vogel. “He had it in a shed for years, and the shed had no floor, so the grass had grown up into the series III and we had to machete it out.” Perhaps not surprisingly, given the mythology of the CMI for being over engineered, built like tanks, and built to last, the darn thing worked!

EXISTENTIAL CRISIS

But these days every producer and his dog has a sample library for sale, so the question remains, ‘why does the 30A exist?’ Well, for a number of excellent reasons. Niche demand is one. Many buyers are folk who couldn’t afford a CMI the first time around, and now, the opportunity presents itself to do so at a fraction of the price. Peter has taken advantage of newer, more reliable technology.

The processing power in the 30A is vast and its peripherals modern (when was the last time you tried to source new SCSI drives, to say nothing of 8-inch floppies). And it does all this whilst remaining true to the original CMI ethos of being fast, focused and unique. The fact that only 100 will ever be made will be enough for collectors.

Cosmetically, it looks stunning, almost identical to its forebears. There are subtle reminders that this is a contemporary variant of the family tree; the flat LCD screen, the configurable touchpad controller on the keyboard, and the MADI interface all speak of the ‘now’. Other than that though, if you were to walk into a room, glance at the CMI30A, you would be forgiven for thinking it was a CMI series I or II. Right down to the angle of bevel on the keyboard edges, even the light-pen had an unmistakable weight to it. It’s proudly retro.

Peter: “When we launched it at the NAMM show last year, many people actually got the point of the machine, and some actually shed a tear and cried out, ‘It’s a CMI! Can I actually touch it?’ Then as they played it, they would start to recount stories of how back in the ’80s they fell in love with it and how it changed their musical lives.” It seems to be similar to the effect that the CMI app is having on users.

It has sold over 20,000 units now, and although it contains hundreds of classic CMI II and III sounds, the user experience with the 30A is another thing altogether.“Every week or so I get an email from somebody who has rediscovered the memories from their formative years as a band-member or engineer, thanks to the app,” said Peter. Which vindicates the idea of recreating the CMI in full pomp, you just can’t get the same feeling from an application.

Unlike software that sits on a computer, the CMI isn’t fighting for the users’ attention. It doesn’t compete with pop-up update reminders, email chimes, or any of the unwelcome interruptions typical of a general purpose computer. Its beauty is its focus and simplicity. No distractions, clear

limitations and boundaries. It compels the user to get down to the business of actually making music.

“It’s about that visceral feeling of sitting down with something substantial,” said Peter. “That’s the experience we’re re-creating with the 30A.” “It’s about an experience that’s becoming harder and harder to find these days as everything

shrinks,” added Graeme. “The limitations actually make you be creative, and its something that many people have lost”.

A ‘Fairlight tragic’ (his words, not mine) Peter encountered in Silicon Valley summed it up this way: “When I sit down in front of my Mac, it feels like I’m sitting down in front of a computer, but when I sit down in front of my CMI, I feel like I’m sitting in front of an instrument.”

SOUND OF THE ’80s

And it’s not just a nostalgia for the CMI’s workflow, the sound is undeniably rooted in the ’80s, or perhaps its the other way round.

Graeme: “One of our guys from Italy sent me a composition, and as soon as I started listening to it, I thought — you couldn’t have made that with anything else. Everything that comes out of the CMI has a particular sound: as soon as you hear it, you know. It’s quite remarkable. Everything has a vaguely ’80s pop feel.”

excitement of practitioners such as Trevor Horn and Art Of Noise are conspicuous by their absence.

I suggest that really interesting and innovative production has generally taken a backseat.

“I agree with you whole heartedly,” trumpeted Graeme. “I think it had something to do with the fact that new ground had been broken; people were actively exploring — it was exciting! And we don’t have that today.”

These days the popular conception of sampling is about emulating existing instruments. But for Peter, “It’s not what sampling is about, it’s about doing things that you couldn’t do before.” History has shown that samplers morphed into ROMplers (playback-only samplers), and now software playback sample libraries are trending into the gigabyte realm. It’s all so beige. Where is the next Tom Ellard dropping mics inside watermelons from his upstairs window?

“But it’s logical,” said Peter. “Because it made ’80s pop what it is, not the other way around.”

The buyers so far are predominantly folk who have never had a CMI before. A 50/50 split of amateurs and pros; many are fans who have admired traditional CMI users such as Peter Gabriel, or Kate Bush, and can now indulge themselves.

Overwhelmingly, the professionals who have bought the 30A have done so as a point of differentiation from the mass of computer-based software tools out there. They want to look and sound different from their peers and associates and I cannot think of a more profound way to do this right now. The sounds have always been in demand, and the instrument is one of the rarest ever made. It has presence and gravitas in spades, and make no mistake, it has a tactile authority that few electronic instruments possess.

A SAMPLE OF WHAT’S TO COME

As these things do, the conversation turned to music, and particularly what we feel about music today.

Trying hard not to come off like a deleted episode of Grumpy Old Men, I politely offer that I feel there are things missing and that the sheer creativity and

PAGE TURN R Page R is a good example of something peculiar to the CMI, and was one of the most requested features for the new machine. Page R is essentially a step sequencer that is renowned for its particular feel and groove, or lack of!

It is something in the CMI DNA that gives this instrument its distinctive sonic signature. The relevance of the CMI’s particular working methods was recently underscored when Peter visited the studio of Hans Zimmer. The famous film composer has rooms of kit, and almost everything ever made.

When Peter asked Zimmer, “What’s the one thing that you would like that you haven’t got?” Zimmer’s answer: “Page R. Because nothing I’ve seen since is as quick to use.”

Graeme: “We’ve completely lost the art of sampling.

Nobody is pushing the boundaries. Unfortunately, that’s what happens with technology. A particular technology follows a developmental curve, it’s new, exciting, and lots of people get involved and start to push the boundaries. Then it begins to mature, mainstream applications begin to appear, and people lose interest. It just becomes commonplace; and all of that early excitement and originality disappears.

I believe that sampling deserves a renaissance, it wasn’t in the limelight long enough. It’s what’s lacking in everyday life now — everything’s quick, everything’s instantaneous, everything’s achievable.

Do you actually have to put effort into something?

This is what makes the CMI worth appreciating.”

“It’s not at all intuitive,” added Peter. “It goes against the grain. The modern philosophy is that you should be able to turn on your software, and never look at a manual; but with the 30A you actually have to understand its architecture and how it works. And

once you do, your results may surprise you.” For an instrument of its fame and rarity, the manual for the 30A is refreshingly clear and concise; a mere 61 pages including contents, body, FAQs, and epilogue — “Thank you for RTFM.” “The CMI experience is about a level of integration that you rarely get elsewhere these days,” said Graeme. “Nowadays you have to cobble together bits and pieces of hardware and software, but it never feels like a proper system. There has been very few machines that have ever displayed this sort of integration.” And Graeme should know, he worked for NED, the company behind the iconic and breathtakingly expensive Synclavier.

“It’s designed to be a system,” Peter continued, “with certain capabilities, it’s not designed to be expandable. What you see is what you get, and you get it all the time. It doesn’t demand constant coddling and attention to get it to work. It’s easy to use but hard to break.”

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It’s all about recreating the original Fairlight experience, which means nothing without the sound. Graeme proceeds to play an ethereal note or seven, and sonically it actually sounds like a classic CMI, no mistaking it.

There are hundreds of sounds bundled in the new library, including classics from the series IIx and III, very nice indeed. Most of the classic CMI control pages are there as well, though MCL (Musical Composition Language) has gone the way of the dodo it seems; but folk who have ever used these beasts will feel right at home with the 30A. It made ’80s pop what Customisation abounds with userit is, not the other way drawable velocity response curves, around harmonic manipulation and much, much more. Yes, I know that there are scores of software packages out there that can do sophisticated sound design, but none of them have the immediacy of the CMI. There is an intangible frisson of delight when you use this machine. This is more than nostalgia on my behalf, it is an understanding born of over three decades of using hardware and software.

It is an intimate experience with an instrument that is wildly fun to use.

“ ”

To those of us who ‘get it’ no explanation will be necessary; to those of you who don’t, no explanation will be sufficient.

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FEATURE

hall or

noth i ng

$136m is a lot to throw at a refurb, but Hamer Hall’s technical department isn’t complaining.

Story: Christopher Holder

When concert halls have a major overhaul, often times the architect is given a blank cheque and the technical departments have to squabble over loose change like seagulls after a dropped souvlaki.

The Victorian Arts Centre’s Hamer Hall refurb was different.

Yes, there are a couple of new restaurants and bars, and there’s now access to the Yarra River walk. But mostly the overhaul was all about the auditorium itself — the acoustics, and the technical capabilities.

And it was very much required.

Since Hamer Hall’s opening in 1982, ‘concert halls’ have become multipurpose and multifunctional. Concert halls need more than an announcer’s tannoy, they need full-blown concert PA systems and a room that can handle high SPL. Hamer Hall for some years now has been doing its darnedest to move with the times. In fact, prior

to it closing down for renovations, there were actually more amplified gigs than there were Melbourne Symphony Orchestra concerts [the MSO being the principal ‘tenant’].

The $136m overhaul is a triumph for the technical team. Led by Head of Production, Frank Ward, the tech team’s initial ‘blue sky’ brainstorming has been rewarded with a world-leading performing arts centre.

But first, the acoustics.

THE ACOUSTIC PROBLEM

The Hamer Hall upgrade recognised the fact the auditorium itself needed urgent attention. The sound of the hall was seriously lacking. What could only be described as an acoustics dream team was engaged. Marshall Day and Kirkegaard Associates tagteamed on the acoustics, while Schuler Shook undertook the theatre consultancy duties.

Identifying the problems wasn’t difficult. The MSO complained

Hitting the Roof: Don’t be fooled by the understated architectural appearance, Hamer Hall’s variable acoustic reflector is a total monster. Each of the five panels tilt on four axes to fine tune the reflected sound, it allows for flybars and mic reelers to drop up and down, and can be folded away for an amplified gig — all in a matter of seconds.

they couldn’t hear each other or the room/audience — there was a serious disconnect. This unfortunate acoustic quirk of the room meant the stalls area nearest the stage (for the people in the expensive seats) was less than immersive. In fact, committed MSO patrons would often plumb for the cheap $25 tickets in the dress circle because it provided a better sonic experience.

SCAN ME!

Superficially, since the refurb, the hall doesn’t look transformed. The differences may appear subtle but they are profound. Acute angles in the stage surrounds have been softened. The upper balcony ‘arms’ and walls near the stage have been

Reflector Action See the variable acoustic reflector in action on the AudioTechnology YouTube channel.

removed, allowing a more pleasing reverberation to develop in the room. The floor area of the stalls has been narrowed by three metres and in so doing has decreased the overhang from the circle above — which has made the room more acoustically ‘intimate’, providing for a greater sense of envelopment. Good envelopment brings patrons psychoacoustically closer to the orchestra and comes as a result of hearing diverse sources of reflections — not just the wall next to you.

Lastly, as a couple of acoustic glacé cherries, a flocked paint has been applied to the rear walls to reduce some of the HF zing for people nearest the boundaries, and deployable acoustic drapes are available to dampen down the room further if required.

Oh, and then there’s the ‘variable acoustical reflector’. If the special paint and drapes are the ‘glacé cherries’ then the reflector must be the gold foil… or the shavings of

Wayback Rack: 1 x TX-816 rack, 2 x TX-802s, 2 x Oberheim Matrix 6Rs, 5 x Matrix 1000s, and a PC hosting Synthogy Ivory for piano sounds, all fed into a ProTools 5 system running on a Mac G4 four-slot computer housing 2 x ProTools cards, 2 x SampleCell II cards, and an instance of Soft SampleCell. The ProTools rig is just for mixing (no sequences or other virtual instruments or audio playback), with the hardware fed into 3 x 888 interfaces and the SampleCells fed directly into the TDM bus and showing up as inputs (cards) or ReWire instruments (Soft SampleCell) in ProTools.

priceless truffles. This thing is something to behold.

REFLECTOR REFLECTIONS

Any acoustical performance on stage with sky-high ceilings is going to need a reflector overhead of some sort in order to take the sound and bounce it back to the musicians so they can hear themselves playing and also to reflect it out into the audience. Building such a reflector permanently into the architecture isn’t such a big deal, but when you’ve got a rock band with thousands of watts of foldback going full throttle, these reflectors become a total sonic liability.

Previously, Hamer Hall had the traditional ’80s acoustic dishes suspended above the stage but they provided patchy assistance at best. What’s more, the area above the stage was a mess. The acoustic dishes weren’t as ugly as they could have been thanks to the even-uglier PA rigging and lighting bars concealing them from full view.

So the trick for Hamer Hall was to design an elegant system that could be flown in and out, and, what’s more, not interfere with the operation of fly bars and winches. As far as the team was concerned, such a system didn’t currently exist anywhere, so it needed designing from scratch. Bob Shook, principal of USheadquartered theatre consultants, Schuler Shook, picks up the story:

“We wanted to ensure the hall had a new degree of technical sophistication in order to keep to a schedule: the Melbourne Symphony on Wednesday night, Tina Arena on Thursday night and Circus Oz on Friday night. And the people that do that want the minimum of labour and time spent going from one setup to another.

“Schuler Shook introduced the idea of the ‘Technical Zone’ over the stage. It’s an insertion into the auditorium. Its primary purpose is to contain a sophisticated degree of mechanical and automated rigging. It allows stage lighting, stage scenery and stage effects to be raised above the stage with a minimum of person-power. And it also supports the new acoustical reflector.”

Ah, yes, the pièce de résistance, the acoustical reflector…

Bob Shook: “The new acoustical reflector is the result of a collaboration between the acousticians, Kirkegaard Associates and Marshall Day, Ashton Raggatt McDougall (ARM) as architects, and Schuler Shook as theatre consultants. An acoustical reflector has to fulfil so many different roles: It has to first and foremost work for the orchestra, and for other different types of acoustic music performed in Hamer Hall. It also has to look like it belongs in the space. That was ARM’s task. Schuler Shook’s role

was to design something that could be there when necessary and not be there when it wasn’t, and to be there in different configurations depending on the type of event.

“The reflector itself weighs about 12 tonnes and can be reset into a number of different configurations [i.e. it’s not just either up or down; it can be reshaped] and minimised when it’s not needed for non-symphonic events — all in less than a minute.”

The design was handed to Jands which engineered the five panels, and according to all sources did so ‘magnificently’. It fulfils quite a formidable brief: the assembly of each of the five panels tilts on four axes;

the panels house the orchestra lighting; the panels contain penetrations for the microphone reelers and pin spots to drop through; there are slots for the flybars and some lighting rig to fly under the reflectors; each panel is three metres wide but is only 0.8 metres when folded away; one of the panels has a middle section that lifts independently to allow passage for the centre speaker cluster…

We’ve put a short video of the panels in action on our website. Have a look and I’m sure you’ll agree that these panels are as beautiful as they are ingenious.

GLASS CASE: NAQOYQATSI LIVE AT HAMER HALL Keen to hear the PA in action and (perhaps unfairly) blanching at the prospect of a night with Tina Arena, I secured a berth at one of the Philip Glass Qatsi concerts.

For those who weren’t earnest young students in the ’90s, the Qatsi trilogy sees Philip Glass’s music set to film. The music is mesmerising and so are the visuals.

The Hamer Hall’s new Meyer rig barely raised a sweat during the performance — actually, it barely got up out of the couch.

In fact, eight rows into the auditorium there were occasions when I was hearing the sound of the saxophonist keying up and down his horn… acoustically… over the sound of the PA. Saying that, the PA sounded very, very sweet. The principal instrumentalist, the cello, had an AKG C414 set a foot in front of it and it was gorgeous.

FOH engineer, Dan Dryden, has been with Philip Glass for about 25 years. He keeps a database of all the venues he’s played and could tell you when he was last at the Arts Centre and on how many occasions.

“You just don’t want to make it about the sound system. I mean the sound system is there to serve the music and the performance. It’s not there to be the focus. And it [the new Meyer rig] seems to do that just fine.”

The Philip Glass ensemble is a peculiar beast. Apart from a smattering of instrumentals and a percussionist there are eight keyboardists (including

Glass himself, who doesn’t conduct the ensemble). To say the keyboards aren’t anything special would be an understatement — they’re a Peavey model from way-back-who-knows-when.

The keyboards send MIDI to a venerable ProTools rig and an even older rack of ’80s synth modules [more detail later].

Although the ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ ethos is admirable, there comes a time when if it does break, you can’t fix it. And this is now proving to be the problem with the ageing Yamaha FM synth hardware, where the TX816 remains a permanent fixture on the eBay watch list of Philip Glass’s long-time (he joined the ensemble in 1974) musical director, Michael Riesman. As it happens Michael is well on the way to modernising the keyboard rig, having already had a hit out with the new setup, using host software Plogue Bidule.

Michael Riesman: “The new rig consists of 7 x Mac Mini servers, each connected to an M-Audio ProFire 610 interface for MIDI and audio. Each player in the ensemble has his own dedicated computer. I chose this Mini model because it has a quad-core processor and dual 500GB internal hard drives. I’m not using any server functions on it. The second internal drive is a clone of the first, maintained by Carbon Copy Cloner — whenever the machine boots up, the clone is updated and older files archived.

All computers are run headless via Ethernet from a MacBook. All machines have identical software loads, except for

their manual IP addresses and desktop pictures which have the computer name embedded in them so I can tell which one I’m looking at. I have written a number of custom Applescript applications to manage sync between machines.

“What I like most about the new rig is how compact and simple it is. We are going to be saving a lot on shipping.

For redundancy, because all units are essentially identical, we will carry only one spare Mini and one spare ProFire 610. All seven of the Minis and the spare fit into a single vertical-mount 4U rack shelf unit. Additionally we have 2 x eight-port Gigabit switches on another shelf (two because we actually need nine ports, counting the controlling machine, but if one of those should fail we could still function). An interconnect panel for audio and MIDI on the back of the rack finishes out the hardware.”

As for a preferred soft-piano, Michael has been using the Synthogy Ivory grand piano emulation, specifically the New York, Berlin and Vienna Grand, each handling part of the register. “It’s good. But Synthogy has switched from challenge-response authorisation to i-Loks. It’s one more thing to worry about. No i-Lok, no show. I won’t do it.

Everything has to be pre-authorised.

Forget any dongles. So that’s why I’m not using the Ivory yet on the laptop.”

Thanks to www.plogue.com for some of this info.

DREAM PA

Filling the acoustically-transformed auditorium with amplified sound is a new Meyer Sound PA. It replaces the old Meyer MSL4-based system and was selected as a result of a rigorous appraisal process.

With Meyer’s D-Mitri acting as the digital matrix backbone, 12 system inputs feed a whopping 102 outputs. From input stage, there are three Digico stage racks (two on stage and one upstairs for the flown orchestral mics) addressed by the two Digico SD7 consoles via an Optocore fibre-based network loop. The audio travels out of the Digico systems via AES digital into D-Mitri, with D-Mitri going about its business in AVB (Audio Video Bridging protocol) via a dual-redundant Cat-6A network.

Nick Caroll, Head of Sound: “We have two DCM [D-Mitri Core Matrix] units. One’s a redundant unit. Then from three DCPs [D-Mitri Core Processing units] — one of them is a spare — we run AVB [a new audiovisual transmission standard] to all the output/input boxes and two AVB streams on different switches to get to the different nodes.”

With 102 outputs you’d think perhaps that every speaker in the house is individually addressable.

Erm… not quite.

The main L/R Milo arrays (nine elements per side) are complemented by four Melodie delay hangs (six per side with an HP500 flown sub). A lowprofile centre cluster of eight Minas takes care of conductor announcements. UPM-1P speakers are used for under-balcony fill to refresh the highend deeper into the room. Two lines of front fill speakers are installed, depending on whether the orchestra pit is being used or not. Additional, high-powered front fill can be brought in to line the front of stage for high-SPL shows.

If seating is occupying the orchestra pit floor space, the main PA hangs can track back, downstage, by 2.5 metres to ensure those front rows don’t have sound directly overhead.

The system design allows for a ‘clean stage’ configuration — for dance events, AGMs, smaller amplified shows and the like — where two layers of recessed Mina arrays in the stage surrounds take care of infill duties. These arrays sit behind perforated panels and are all-but invisible. For acts that require a greater level of amplification and have on-stage monitoring, the technical team can bring out ground-stacks on stage — each comprises

five Meyer Melodie mid/high units and two 700HP subs.

In its acoustic configuration, doors close over the ‘invisible’ in-fill arrays, ensuring the room gets the full benefit of those crucial first reflections from stage. Saying that, two slots remain either side of stage for Meyer’s brand new CAL steerable array to ‘poke’ through. CAL is being used for emergency announcements and in conjunction with the Mina centre cluster when the conductor has something to say. It’s the first installation of CAL worldwide.

How’s it sound? Probably the best person to answer that question would be Head of Sound, Nick Caroll, who can’t wipe the smile off his face.

Nick Caroll: “We had [legendary system optimisation engineer] Bob McCarthy in to align the PA and like us he was amazed by how even the sound pressure levels are in this room. Front to back he couldn’t remember a more even room.”

ALL IN THE EXECUTION

In extensive, expensive and complicated renovation jobs such as this, rarely does the operator, the engineer, or the resident ensemble really get what they want. Everyone goes in with the best intentions but budgets and technical compromises more often than not blunt the scope and execution.

Occasionally we hear about good news stories, and Hamer Hall looks to be one of them. From the outset, Head of Production Frank Ward sat his team down and asked them to forget about budgets for a minute and simply dream — what would their ideal setup look like?

‘Sure, sure…’ you can sense the scepticism that must have been in the room even now. But according to Frank, 36 of the 40 points on the wish list have been realised. And in my book, I give that an ‘A’.

FEATURE

MOST IMPORTANT LINKIN THE CHAIN? High profile mix engineers like Manny Marroquin are employed for their magic touch, but does it stand up in a blind listening test? Linkin Park put it to the test for their latest record Living Things with a good old fashioned mix shootout.

Story: Paul Tingen

At the start of this year Manny Marroquin received an unusual request. Would he be prepared to mix two tracks for a forthcoming Linkin Park album in a mix-off against other top mixers? The band, producer Rick Rubin, and Warner Brothers chairman Rob Cavallo were to listen to these mixes blind on CDs simply marked A, B, C, etc. The winner would take home the job of mixing the rest of the album, and those that lost would get, well, nothing. It may sound like a straightforward case of ‘may the best mixer win,’ but the fact of the matter was that all the approached mixers were the best in their field, had nothing to prove, and not a day to lose in their already jam-packed schedules.

Nonetheless, 10 mixers took on the challenge.

Marroquin was the eventual winner, which is arguably an unexpected result. He’s more known for pop and hip-hop/R&B mixes than for working with heavy walls of electric guitars. Marroquin’s credits include Alicia Keys, Bruno Mars, Lana Del Rey, Usher, Cee Lo, Pitbull, Rihanna, Flo Rida, Justin Bieber, Kanye West, Christina Aguilera, and many others.

You get the idea.

“In recent years I’ve actually mixed music from more and more genres — from rock, to folk, and even country. And the music on [the album] Living Things is very diverse, incorporating anything from indie punk, alternative rock, hip-hop, and electronica, to country,” said Marroquin. “The two songs we all mixed during the shoot-out were Burn It Down and Lost In The Echo, which became the first two singles. I’m sure that what the other guys did was great, but they may have been more focused on one genre, whereas I felt I

was able to work with and combine all the different influences. Luckily I got the call to do the album, which turned out to be a great experience. They’re really cool guys that know what they want, and they gave me space to do my own thing as well, which was really refreshing.”

THE TALE OF TWO MIXES

The tale behind Living Things reflects many of the issues that affect the music industry in 2012. The overriding concern is, of course, the continuing downward sales spiral. A quick check of the album sales of virtually every major act that’s been around for a while shows a steady and sometimes dramatic decline. Linkin Park is typical: according to Wikipedia the band’s debut album Hybrid Theory (2000) sold 24 million worldwide; the follow-up Meteora (2003) sold 16 million (even though it reached higher up the charts than its predecessor); next up was Minutes to Midnight (2007) with 8 million sales, again despite it reaching No. 1 virtually everywhere; and the fourth album, A Thousand Suns (2010), sold ‘only’ 1.7 million, while enjoying No. 1 spots in the US, Australia, Germany, Japan, the UK and elsewhere.

These figures are staggering and, given they’re pretty universal, are a clear indication of the crisis that’s engulfed the music industry, rather than a sign of decreasing popularity of Linkin Park. With a relatively throwaway consumer approach to music that’s focused on trillions of single tracks available at the click of a button, parking at the top spot is harder than ever. One of the silver linings behind this huge dark cloud is that what technology taketh away, it also giveth, and the arrival of the DAW

has made it possible to record music at a fraction of what it cost in the past. While this sadly has decimated the studio industry, it also continues to be a godsend for those recording on a budget, which is virtually everyone these days. In this scenario, the role of the mixer has become increasingly important, to the point that the music industry now has a number of star mixers with clout and a reputation that’s akin to that of big-name producers. When attempting to make records that stick out from the crowd, the fairy dust that mixers can sprinkle over music is increasingly highly valued — hence the mix shootout for Living Things.

IN DEMAND

But with this elevated importance, comes a natural supply and demand conundrum. The Marroquin's recall notes for Burn It Down

Grammy-winning engineer arrived as one of the US’s top mixers in 2000, following his work on the debut albums by Pink (Can’t Take Me Home) and particularly Alicia Keys (the best-selling Songs In A Minor).

He’s since gone from strength to strength and in recent years the demand for his services has risen to a staggering degree, putting him in a position where he often works six days a week, for 16 hours a day or more. As a result, the interview from which this article is culled was conducted in several shorts sessions of 15 to 30 minutes each, whenever he managed to find breaks during his mix sessions — sometimes at 3am!

Even amongst the mix shootouts and long working days, dealing with high profile artists can still carry some surprisingly odd additional baggage. Regular Lil

Wayne mixer Fabian Marasciullo once told this writer how, when mixing the rapper’s Tha Carter IV in 2011, he was carrying the hard drives with him all the time, as well as a gun whenever he went out on the Miami streets! When Marroquin began mixing Living Things, he was suddenly faced with similar security concerns.

“Things got off to a shaky start,” he said. “Security guards brought the drive each morning, insisted on being present in my mix room for the day, and took the drives with them again in the evening.

I don’t like people who I don’t know being in my studio, so I nearly pulled out because of this.

However, the security guys turned out to be cool and really ‘got’ what I was doing, so there soon was a good atmosphere. Eventually they waited in the lounge at Larrabee [studio] rather than being in the room with me all the time.”

day, and the next day it could be Justin Bieber,” said Marroquin.

Marroquin is a creature of “So I pay more attention to the expensive habit. After 14 years style of music that I mix, the vibe at Larrabee Studio 2, he still of each song, and what kind of works with the same analogueaudience it will appeal to. If it’s a digital hybrid that he’s always John Mayer project that doesn’t favoured. His choice pieces have to be super-limited and radio of hardware continue to be a friendly, I’ll use more outboard huge, 80-input SSL XL ‘K’ 9000 and get more of a sense of width, series Super Analogue console, depth and warmth. If a very and compressors by API, dbx, Drawmer, Empirical Labs, Manley, pop-sounding mix is required, I may not want to warm it up and Neve, Teletronix, TubeTech and squeeze it some more, using more Urei; EQs by API, Avalon, GML, plug-ins and a limiter like the Millennia, Motown and Pultec; Waves L1. Digital brings its own and reverbs by AMS, Eventide, excitement. Sometimes pop mixes Lexicon and TC Electronic. He require an in-your-face crunched prides himself in combining sound rather than a lot of depth. these old-fashioned goodies with But I will never mix something the best that ProTools has to completely in the box. offer. It’s an approach that allows Marroquin to work with a wide “When I first started working variety of artists and musical in this room, there was an SSL styles.

G-series, and then we had a J, and seven years ago we moved to “In the past I was more geared the K. It sounds great, with a nice towards mixing pop, but now I punch, and it’s very versatile. After may be mixing John Mayer one SUPER ANALOGUE

20 years in the business, 90 percent of the time I still monitor through my Yamaha NS10s with Bryston amplifiers. I also have Augspurger main monitors, and once in a while I listen to my KRK E8s, which are like desktop speakers. The SSL is my main mix tool. Every single thing I do goes through the desk. I may be old school in that I prefer to mix on a desk, but I also use a hybrid of analogue outboard and digital software. This means that about half of my effects come from software and the other half from hardware. Although plug-ins have become better over the last three years, I still find the sound lacks depth when it remains in the box.

So I continue laying things out on my SSL, which has wonderfully smooth top end and an amazing low end.

DEFINING A SOUND

Marroquin mixed the entire Linkin Park project at his room in Larrabee Studios, including the two songs that he mixed for the shootout. “My approach was pretty much to imagine how I, as a music fan, would like to hear Linkin Park in 2012,” he recalled. “I can’t reinvent them or give them a different sound, but I felt that in 2012 they needed an aggressive sound with balls, with a very modern-sounding rhythm section. I didn’t want it to be a hip-hop rhythm section, but I also didn’t want it to sound like straight-up rock. There had to be aggression in the drums, bass and vocal, and presence in the overall sound image. I always put a lot of emphasis on the vocals, in this case Chester [Bennington] and Mike [Shinoda]. It was always about them, the rhythm section and the wall of guitars.

“I wasn’t given any brief for the shoot-out, but afterwards I met the guys, and we spent some more time on Burn It Down, because it was going to be the single. They’d also made small changes to the arrangement after I first mixed it. My initial mix had taken a couple of days, and I recalled it and did some revisions. I had the band, Rick Rubin and Rob Cavallo — all pretty strong personalities — in the room at the same time. If I’d really thought about it, it would have been a little intimidating! Doing that song took the longest, as we all wanted to make sure it was radio-friendly, and that the sound and vibe were right. That was a collective effort, and the aim was to mix it with big choruses, and bring out the rhythm section, which almost has a dance feel to it.

One thing that we also worked on together were the dynamics, making sure the choruses jumped out at you when they came in.

“In some ways this song provided a blueprint for the album, but at the same time the approach was for every song to have its own identity. There’s a song called Victimise, which is really raw and hard, a song called Powerless that’s almost like a power ballad, and a song called Castle Of Glass that has a folk melody. The idea was to give each song its own space, and then the challenge was to connect all the dots and make sure the album as a whole was cohesive, because it’s easy to mix 10 completely differentsounding songs.”

WHERE TO BEGIN

Moving on to the specifics of his approach to mixing in general and his mix of Burn It Down in particular, Marroquin explains, “I always start a mix by working on the drums, even if there are no drums in the session. What I mean is that I always start with getting the groove right. Once I have the groove, everything else becomes a little easier. Then I’ll bring in the bass, which in this song is a synth bass. Once I’m happy with the groove, I’ll bring in the vocals to make sure they feel good against the drums. I may not EQ the vocals or look in great detail at them, but I’ll make sure the vibe is the way I like it. After that I’ll add the guitars and then the keyboards, and once I have them sorted, I bring the vocals back in. At this point I focus on the choruses, I really want them to explode. I loop the choruses and make sure they feel

as big as possible, using EQ, compression, levels, and so on. After that I work on the verses as well, and make sure they sit in the right place relative to the choruses.

“I always listen to a rough mix when I start work on a session, preferably right before I begin mixing a song. This usually gives me a pretty good idea of where the artist and producer want to go. The session will normally sound more or less like the rough mix, with levels and plug-ins that were used in place, and I’ll first play with the levels and plug-ins that I’ve been given. I listen for things I want to change and I start tweaking. Everybody has the same plug-ins, so they are of good enough quality sonically, and if somebody adds EQ or an effect I take that as part of the production. In short, I start with what I’m given, and then build from there. I’ll generally tweak every single plug-in that was already on the session, and add others that I think are necessary, and I’ll then move on to the outboard. I’m super fast with my outboard because it’s hardwired into my desk, in fact, faster than with plug-ins. If I want to apply outboard reverb, I know where it is and only have to press one button to activate it. Opening a plug-in and waiting for it to load and then applying it to a track and varying its parameters often takes longer!

DRUMS & BASS

“The drums on Burn It Down consist of three loops, two kicks, a snare, three hi-hats, overheads and five crash tracks. There are many instances of the Digidesign EQ [EQ1B, EQ4B, etc], which Mike Shinoda put there — he loves the Digi EQ. There’s also the Avid Focusrite D3 compressor/limiter on Loop 1, kik2, and the snare that were already on the session. Mike also put the Lo-Fi on the snare — he loves that too. The snare was the most challenging aspect of the drums to mix. It was a very interesting snare sound, but it had to sound dirtier, hence the Lo-Fi. Two of the crash tracks have the Waves PS22 widener on them and there’s also a Waves L2 on one to add some rock crunch. The outboard was an Avalon 2044 compressor going into a Neve 1073 EQ on the kick and the snare, which came up on Channels 4, 5, & 6 on the board. I also added parallel compression on all the drums, using the Neve 33690 compressor and the Pultec EPQ-1A, to

MARROQUIN MASTERCLASS Given that Marroquin is one of the world’s top mixers, it’s not surprising he has featured in the Mix With The Masters project, a series of masterclasses that take place in a large residential studio in the south of France.

It also features other star mixers like Al Schmitt, Tchad Blake, Tony Maserati, Chris Lord-Alge, Tom Elmhirst, and Joe Chiccarelli. Marroquin was over in France last July for two one-week masterclasses and elaborated on some of the main issues that he addressed.

“For the first day of each week we didn’t go into the studio, but instead I took the guys outside and told them that to become a successful engineer or mixer or producer, one’s mind has to be right. It has nothing to do with the equipment we’re using, it is in your mind. There’s simple stuff, like having a good attitude. A lot of these younger guys have been sitting alone at home with a DAW for years and never talk to anybody. They have no idea that there is a whole protocol that comes with being successful and dealing with artists and the business in general. There’s a studio etiquette and you need people skills.

There’s an art to being able to deal with artists’ egos and sensitive issues.

“The guys, and they were all guys, that came to these seminars were good, but they hit a brick wall and they were really searching for what they could do to improve. They often think it’s about techniques, but it’s about much more than that. All the guys had started playing music, so that’s their initial love. But if you decide to become an engineer you are obviously, as the word suggests, going into a technical field.

Now, engineers normally are left-brain thinkers, meaning they’re technical people. In order to be an engineer you have to have that. But for me, as a mixer, that side is also my worst enemy. You have to train yourself to be able to think 50% left brain and 50% right brain. If

you have more of one or the other you won’t be successful, because you have to have a perfect balance. Many engineers forget the right side, they forget that it’s about the emotion. Because we are engineers we tend to think that it’s about the equipment, but you have to change that idea: it’s about how you use the equipment. And you may not even use it.

“The job of a mixer is to find the essence of a song and bring that out. Whatever tools we use, and we all use the same tools, it’s all about finding the true, pure essence of a song and bring it to a new level. You have to ask yourself how a song makes you feel and why does it make you feel in a certain way. With every change you make you have to ask: does it make me feel better, or not? If you add 400Hz to the kick drum, or if you add a delay, what emotion does it give? You need to train your ears and your heart to be able to identify that. It’s important to do a lot of ear training as a mixer. We would sit for at least half an hour every day and listen to mixes, other people’s mixes, my mixes, their mixes, and analysed how things were done, how each mix felt.

That’s part of mix practice.

“Imagine 10 guitar players all playing the same model guitar, why will they all sound different and why will one sound so much better than the other nine? It obviously comes from his mind and heart and the way he technically plays that guitar. The guitar is the least important ingredient.

It’s the same for a mixer and his gear.

We had a beautiful Neve 88R there, and I have my SSL, but I told them that my philosophy is to take a 24-channel Mackie and one compressor and a pair of NS10s, and let’s create an incredible mix.

It’s not the equipment but what you do with it that makes you. Your job is to find an emotional connection with the song, and trust your own feelings, and when you do, chances are that other people will get it too.”

SOUND SOLUTIONS

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add more punch. The [Thermionic] Culture Vulture was automated to become active in the choruses on all the drums and the bass. In the section where Mike raps, the rhythm section completely changes. It goes to an entirely different loop and I again wanted to make sure that the rhythm was tight and secure. One of the biggest challenges was making sure these different sections all tie together. As for the bass, an [Access] Indigo synth provides the bass track, and it has a Sansamp plug-in and a Digi EQ, plus the 33690/Pultec chain I mentioned above.”

GUITARS & KEYBOARDS

A BLURRY MIX “Engineering, mixing and mastering are overlapping more and more. Engineers now have all the mix tools, so the tracks I get are kind of premixed, and because mixers now also have access to mastering tools, as a mixer today you are kind of pre-mastering. The lines have become blurred. The loudness wars do bother me though, and often make my job much more difficult. It’s a challenge for professional mixers, because many of the rough mixes come in incredibly loud, and you have to compete with that, no matter what we think of it. You can’t come in with a mix that’s 5dB less loud because people automatically assume it’s less good. If you play someone the same mix twice, and the second time it’s 1dB louder, he’ll think that the second mix is better, even though it’s the same mix! So your volume can’t be lower than that of the rough mix. But that makes it really hard to create a true high fidelity mix. It’s a Catch-22. You have to be like a chemist, add a little bit of this and a little bit of that, and still make sure you have that ‘bang!’ effect without killing the dynamics of the song. It’s not easy to do.

“Of course, people have always tried to make their mixes as loud as possible.

I heard an interview with [mastering engineer] Bernie Grundman recently, and he said that when he was mastering Michael Jackson’s Thriller in 1982, they

were doing everything they could to make it as loud as possible. The problem is that nowadays everyone uses DAWs with limiting plug-ins, and is trying to make things as loud as possible, and doing it incorrectly. It takes just a tiny slide on the fader of a plug-in to make things loud, and destroy the dynamics of the music. Because of MP3 and downloading there are many people in the industry who don’t seem to care about the sonics anymore. But I prefer to consider the glass half full, because music is inspiring and people want that listening experience of hearing high quality music, and when they do get it, it’s like a drug: you want to keep duplicating that experience. There are still enough people who know that if they get it right and deliver a high quality song that is well recorded and well mixed, kids are going to be really inspired and connect with an artist on a much deeper level, rather than it just being throwaway cheap bubble-gum stuff. The increases in broadband speeds and hard disk space mean that higher resolutions are commercially feasible, and so there is a lot of talk now at the labels of fidelity getting better again. I think that they’re right.

From here the quality of audio will only improve.”

“The guitars and keyboards were more or less treated as one unit. There was no great distinction in working with them. Several of the tracks were sent to the same outboard to provide a bit of glue. A Roland Gaia [‘2.02.1’ on the Mixer view] is the hook synth you hear right at the beginning. I call that a focal point, and for me these are easy to mix in. Once the rhythm is perfect, you can always add focal points, because their character will shine through.

Rob Cavallo in particular wanted to make sure this synth hook sounded right, and we ended up adding some distortion to it, to make sure it had more of a progressive dance rock flavour. I used only outboard on it, in particular the Fairchild compressor, and a bit of reverb, as well as my Strymon Brigadier delay pedal, which is really cool. The main synths are all going to the Fairchild, and the Gaia synths had parallel compression from the Retro Sta-Level. There’s also an API 2500 compressor on the heavy guitars.

Most synth and guitar tracks also had SSL desk compression and EQ. “On the plug-in front there are, again, several instances of the Digi EQ, plus the DVerb on the second Gaia synth

[Gaia 02.1 on the Mixer view], the MetaFlanger and Focusrite D2 on the electric piano, a D-Verb on one electric guitar and there were delays from the EchoFarm on two of the synth sounds. There are also three noise loops, that all came up on Channels 41&42 on the board; but you can barely hear them in the track. One of them has the Lo-Fi, two of them have the Digi EQ and all three have the PS22 Widener. Finally, there are the Hook Key Stabs, which came up on Channels 43&44, that had the Focusrite D3 plug-in and a Digi EQ plus a reverb, and five

“

Digital brings its own excitement. Sometimes pop mixes require an in-your-face crunched sound rather than a lot of depth. But I will never mix something completely in the box.

”

Sound FX tracks, which had quite a few plug-ins on them. It’s all just vibey stuff that in general needed lots of delays and reverbs, coming from the MetaFlanger, Air Reverb, SansAmp, EchoFarm and D-Verb.

All sound effects channels came up on Channels 45&46 on the board.”

DRAWING OUT CHESTER’S VOCALS

“There are two leads vocals, Chester’s, which consisted of two ProTools tracks that both came up on desk Channel 27, and Mike’s, which was on one ProTools track that came up on Channel 28.

Chester’s backing vocals were on 31-34 and Mike’s doubles at 29&30. Chester’s vocals have the Digi EQ and Medium Delay, as well as the Waves R Compressor.

On the board my signal chain on his voice was the TubeTech CL1B EQ going into the Avalon 2055 compressor and then the dbx 902 de-esser. I also applied a lot of parallel compression with the Distressor on the vocals, sometimes using a Urei 1176.

There were similar effects on Mike’s vocals. I also printed Chester’s lead vocals to an Ampex ATR-102 with one-inch tape for

a tape delay effect, and brought it back into the session, which is why it has the Time Delay plug-in on it. In addition, I have the Brigadier pedal on some backing vocals, and I set up a reverb and two delay effect tracks in ProTools, using the Reverb One and Waves Super Tap delay. I had these effects mainly on the vocals.

“The rest was SSL EQ and compression, and also the AMS DMX15-80S as a harmoniser and the AMS RMX16 and Lexicon 480L for reverb, plus the Lexicon PCM42 for delays. By the way, I

ALSO USED AN SSL SIDE-CHAIN AS A DE-ESSER. THE DBX 902 IS GREAT, BUT IT ONLY TAKES AWAY ONE FREQUENCY. ON THE BOARD I CAN CREATE A SIDE-CHAIN THAT ALSO GRABS OTHER FREQUENCIES. IT’S THE BEST-SOUNDING DE-ESSING PROCESS I KNOW OF AND IT’S BASED ON AN OLD TRICK THAT I PICKED UP FROM ENGINEER BARNEY PERKINS. I route

the vocal signal to two separate channels on the SSL right next to each other. The first channel is my side-chain and the second channel is my actual vocal channel.

On Channel 1 I’ll set the SSL compressor to a fast attack and I’ll

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also engage a high-pass filter and do extreme EQ-ing of whatever frequencies I want to remove.

But I don’t cut these frequencies, instead I boost them +12dB with a very narrow bandwidth. They are most often around 6-7kHz, where most of the ‘esses’ happen.

So Channel 1 accentuates what I’m trying to take away! I take this channel off the stereo bus, so you won’t hear it in the mix.

to remove your ‘esses’ you’d take all the life and presence out of the vocal. But de-essing with this technique retains the personality of the singer. Finally, I put an Avid Impact limiter on the stereo mix, I used the SSL compressor on the board, and also had the Hybrid Brainworx was my EQ on the stereo bus.”

“I then press the Link button to link channel one to Channel 2 and I engage the compressor on Channel 2. What happens is that the more I’m bringing up Channel 1, the more the compressor on Channel 2 ducks the frequencies I don’t want on that channel.

My Channel 1 fader is in effect my threshold. This is why I’ve taken out the bass frequencies on Channel 1, because I don’t want them to disappear in Channel 2. But with side-chaining, the frequencies you’re accentuating in your side-chain are ducked in the other channel. People find this technique hard to understand; even the people at SSL don’t quite understand why it works! But it does. If you’d try to simply EQ

Whether the mix shoot-out and the added value from Marroquin’s mix work and ‘bang!’ effect will translate into significantly increased commercial success for Living Things remains to be seen, but so far the signs are good, with the album having reached the top spot in well over a dozen countries, including the US, the UK, New Zealand and Germany, and a No. 2 placing in another dozen nations, amongst them Australia, France, and Japan.

QUALITY WINS OUT IN THE END?

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Stav’s shortcuts to great sounds “ Each Chapter is worth the price of the whole book.”

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FEATURE

OLYMPIC EFFORT The London Olympics wasn’t the most successful for our Aussie athletes but a contingent of Aussie audio specialists put in a solid gold effort to get the ceremonies over the finish line.

Story: Mark Davie Photos: Scott Willsallen

There’s a relatively small pool of talent from which to draw a team that can successfully pull off events like the London 2012 Olympic Ceremonies. And most of them roll from job to job. Australian Scott Willsallen is one of those select few with enough big event experience to even be considered for the job. But it doesn’t necessarily make it any easier to secure that position.

Scott Willsallen was full-time in London for three and half months, but he’s been on the ball since a couple of years ago in Doha.

At the time, Scott was Audio Director for the 2010 Commonwealth Games, and the common practise at these major games is for the closing ceremony to double as the handover to the host of the next event. As it happened, Catherine Ugwu and Piers Shepperd, respectively London 2012 Executive Producer of Production and Technical Director, were also on the production team for the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

It’s truly a small world at the top. For Scott, “It was a good way to start being able to talk about London without sounding like a sleazy sales guy. I had known both of them from a previous project. Piers had worked on Athens and Doha, Catherine on Doha and Vancouver, so I knew both of them reasonably well and they were quite pleased with how the handover sounded, which made it easy to talk about.”

Talking about it, and actually securing the gig were two very different things, and by the

“

I ’ve never put that much power into the air with a sound system before

”

time Scott met with them again in London at the end of 2010, the list had grown to half a dozen candidates — five of them from the UK, and him. They were keen to whittle it down to a team of two, and in the end decided on an arranged marriage between Scott and theatre guru Bobby Aitken. But with such a high priority gig, it’s the unknowns that are killer, and Bobby had already started putting the feelers out amongst the people he was familiar with. But when a mutual friend invited them both to an awards night in London the two began to talk, and a few months later a two-week trial of their working relationship blossomed into 18 months of work on the project. The job split was Bobby was the sound and audio designer, while Scott took care of the audio system design. “He dealt with the art and I dealt with the systems side,” said Scott.

“He was very familiar with all the ceremony directors and I brought the experience of having done lots of ceremonies in the past.

Whereas he hadn’t ever done one.”

THE NON-DELIVERABLES

By the time Scott and Bobby were full-time on the production, the shows for both the Olympic and Paralympic Opening and Closing ceremonies were pretty well developed. While they had regular fortnightly meetings over the year prior, it wasn’t really a side-by-side effort, which meant there were a few kinks in the plan that had to be ironed out from a technical standpoint.

There were some interesting differences between filmmaker Danny Boyle’s vision for the opening ceremony — whose working world is contained within the viewing angles of a cinema or TV screen — and the comparatively ‘micro’ world of thousands of people watching the live spectacle within the stadium.

Scott: “There was a bit between the Green and Pleasant Lands segment and the transition into Industrial Revolution where

there was a troupe of about five different musical performance groups working their way around the road wrapping around the stage and centre — we called it the M25 [the London ring road].

“The original idea was that each of those groups would have their own sound source. So for instance, one was a carousel, and they wanted it to sound like a carousel. If you’re thinking about it from a film point of view, when you’re switching between cameras, the sound that belongs with that camera shot opens up with the vision from that camera and goes away again when the shot switches. We could do that for the audience on the television, but it doesn’t really work for the audience in the stadium. You can’t guide their eyes and equally guide their ears.

“It took quite a few crazy conversations just trying to get everyone to understand the

BEST FOOT FORWARD On top of all the contracted expertise, it seems that all the pro audio manufacturers were putting their best foot forward to ensure The Games went off without a hitch.

Scott: “All of the support that we got from the various manufacturers was amazing.

Digico supplied three people for every show — one at every console position.

And they weren’t the guys that pack up the consoles for freight, but the guys that write the code or designed the hardware — really clever people. We also had a Shure representative there on every show day and at any critical time we thought we might want someone around. Sennheiser was equally helpful. The guys from Merging, who create Pyramix, were pretty helpful.

And Optocore provided us with a few spare bits and pieces that really helped us out.

L-Acoustics was amazingly helpful. We were the first user of their updated LA Manager software, and I really didn’t want to be the first user to try 223 amplifiers on one network. They said, “Fair enough. What if we were to plug 223 amplifiers together and test it for a month?” And they did! They used exactly the same IP address that we’d already planned to use and tested it for a month. It was amazing. That level of support is pretty incredible."

audience experience of having a carousel travel past you at walking speed for three minutes.

Whereas in Danny’s mind the camera would snap to it for five seconds, then switch away again.

The learning curve for Danny — having no experience in the live stadium environment — was to grapple with the challenges of speed of sound and not being able to direct the audiences eye as you can with a camera.”

THE TENDER SPEC

The ceremonies were conducted in the round, in London’s newbuild Olympic Stadium. But as far as Scott was concerned the system design was just like any other — it’s simply all about coverage. “The great thing about loudspeaker system design is that it has nothing at all to do with the staging of the show, it’s based around the geometry of the building,” said Scott. “I did the designs in June 2011, and at

that point the shows weren’t fully developed, but it didn’t really matter because the seating areas were known, the stadium was already built and the drawings were accurate. So it was really easy to build a system design that covered the venue well, and it just meant either muting a little bit here or adding some fill boxes here and there.

“The only real interaction is the gear that gets stacked on the floor. It has to be in an area that is far enough off the field that there is no performance passing between the loudspeakers and the audience, but also not so close that you can’t get the appropriate coverage out of it.”

When Scott and Bobby put out an invite for tenders to supply the event, they wanted the vendors to respond to an actual equipment list, rather than asking companies to respond to an indicative design. As well as the L-Acoustics

THE RIG The entire flown rig of 220 x L-Acoustics V-DOSC was suspended on a custom tension ring made especially for the event. It was made to place the audio exactly where it needed to be. The only limitation was that it had to be a multiple of the existing geometry, resulting in 22 arrays, while the next possible number of arrays was 28, the budget wouldn’t allow it.

The system was treated as an installation, given that it was in for almost five months, no chain motors, just direct suspension to the rigging points.

Scott: “Brilliant Stages designed the rigging system that held the V-DOSC to the tension ring. There were some very clever people involved in making sure this thing didn’t fall down! The idea was that the complicated work would be done beforehand, so that when the contractor came into the venue to hang 220 V-DOSC, from their point of view, it was like a regular rock ’n’ roll install — because they only had three days to do it.”

The system was a simple alternating left-right configuration, with 10 V-DOSC in each array.

On the ground, there were stacks of four Kudo, with two SB28 subs placed on each side.

Scott: “It had a very wide footprint, there were about 2.5m of sub bass either side of the Kudo. The reason for that is to maintain some pattern control in the sub bass so that you’re not hearing omni-directional imagery from all the different bass arrays scattered around the field. You’re really only on-axis of the couple nearest to you.”

V-DOSC and Kudo combo, the other options were d&b J in the air and on the floor, Meyer Milo in the air and Mica on the ground, a Martin Audio spec, and a Clair Brothers design based on the i5 and i3 products. Applicants were shortlisted to two by a weighted scoring system individually assessed by everyone involved, then awarded to the favoured one, with final negotiations on price at the very end. The contract was won by the UK-based Delta Sound, who had formed a joint venture with Norwest Productions here in Australia, as well as Autograph and Britannia Row in the UK. Scott: “Britannia Row didn’t really supply a lot of gear because they were pretty well hammered with

all the other events going on.

Autograph provided the consoles and a little bit of the smarts.

Norwest provided about 20% of the PA and all of the clever stuff — the replay system, the Optocore network, all of the analogue distribution and electronics, half the wireless kit, and all the customised kit.

And Scott wasn’t the only talented Aussie that made the trip. “Trevor

Beck was engaged by London 2012 direct as the replay operator,” said Scott. “From Norwest, Justin Arthur was the senior systems engineer, and Matt Whitehead was the senior field systems man.

Justin was looking after the main Optocore control and patching, and Matt was looking after the field equipment side. If ever there was a problem with network, between Matt and Justin they’d solve the issue. Steve Caldwell, also from Norwest, is the RF guru, and Rachel, Steve’s wife, was the in-ear equipment manager. Also, Andrew Marsh was engaged by Norwest as the project manager to make it all happen — organise, coordinate with Delta Sound and all the freight logistics to get everything over from Australia.

of the Paralympics. Steve Watson (Glastonbury) handed monitors for all four ceremonies, and Andy Rose supervised the broadcast audio — one operator’s role was entirely taken up mixing the dozens of channels of crowd atmosphere and camera mics — with Bobby and Scott providing general oversight.

ONE SHOW, MANY CONSOLES

SEAMLESSLY MADE REDUNDANT

During the ceremonies, neither Bobby or Scott mixed. The team of mixers at Front of House included Richard Sharratt (Peter Gabriel Live), who mixed the opening for both the Olympics and the Paralympics; Gary Bradshaw (George Michael Live) mixed the closing of the Olympics; and Simon Honeywell (Glastonbury) mixed the closing

While the operators only see 170 channels of audio, altogether there were about 800 channels flying around the stadium-wide, 24-node Optocore network. On top of the two MADI streams, there were the returns from both FOH and monitor consoles, including paging ins and outs, 70-odd channels of crowd mics, and comms lines.

There were six Digico SD7 digital consoles all up, one each on the optical network, and mirrored consoles on the analogue network for FOH, monitors, and broadcast.

The engineers were seeing 170 inputs at the console from three full MADI streams — two from the optical network, and the other from the replay system.

There were also about 30 Dolby Lake processors scattered throughout the system. And in addition to the Optocore fibre network, there was also an entire, completely independent, analogue network running in parallel as a backup signal feed in case anything went down.

“The consoles were mirrored,” said Scott. “So at any point, if we switched from analogue to digital, the operator wouldn’t necessarily need to be aware of it.

It sounded the same, the levels were matched, the EQs were constant across the two. The switch would happen automatically if a network node broke or the Dolby Lake processor lost sync.

“There was also a pair of Pyramix 56-track replay systems with ISIS controllers, tons of Shure Axient wireless microphones, and various inputs for lecterns and live components. Timecode distribution was taken care of by 24 timecode readers scattered around the building and a similar number of data feeds for lighting consoles, projection systems, and so the pyrotechnics fire at the right time. That was all dual redundant as well.

“There were levels of redundancy throughout and switchover mechanisms that don’t involve human intervention, but can if need be. It’s a very specific set of requirements that most projects don’t need, but that’s why it’s rehearsed and thought about for two years prior. You only get one shot to put that three hours to air, so making sure nothing can fail is the priority.”

COUNT IN TIME

To ensure the big pyro explosions happened during guitar solos and not over the Queen’s address, the entire event was synced to timecode. There was a lot resting on those timecode cues — automation, lighting, video, pyro — and many are programmed to music. Which means that everything, including the live performances was to a click.

Scott: “We had a recording on the playback machines of everything you heard go to air as a fallback in case of catastrophic failure. The Arctic Monkeys played live at the opening ceremony, but it was to a click.

Once they recorded the track, we gave them back a copy of that recording with a click inserted against it that followed their natural rhythm, rather than being

a fixed click. That meant there was an audio click they could follow that was based on their original performance, so it wasn’t intrusive.”

A surprising number of performers played live at the event. Though sometimes it didn’t all go according to plan. Sir Paul McCartney’s TV broadcast went a bit awry because of a simple mistake — counting in one bar instead of two. “In the house we were taking him live for the whole piece,” said Scott. “we just had the clicks in there for synchronising fireworks and the like. But in broadcast, they decided to take the prerecorded first verse then they would go live, which worked fine in practise.

“The problem was that there were two bars of click before the start, not one. So when Hey Jude started, in the stadium we heard McCartney performing live, and at home you heard that early intro come through via the ambient mics. But then a bar later you could hear the direct clean sound come in from the replay over the top of that ambient sound. Because we weren’t using the replay in the house, it sounded fine.

But in broadcast they were hearing the early atmos and the late McCartney till they switched to the live

MIKING THE BELL

“It’s bloody loud inside that bell!” said Scott. “We tried lots of different microphones and most of them didn’t cope with the SPLs. So we abandoned the microphone inside the bell and went with a pair of microphones spaced vertically against the wall about six metres south of the bell. One was placed at the half way mark of the bell and the second was just above the rim of the bell.

So they were the same distance from the bell, and maybe three and a half metres vertically apart.”

The mics had to be dynamic, and hardy, because there was a lot of moisture around, and the positioning made them pretty inaccessible. And the mic that won the shootout to broadcast the most extravagant, expensive bell around? The humble Shure SM57, and its brother, the Beta 57!

feed. They were tearing their hair out! We did manage to tidy that up prior to it going to air on the US west coast.”

While you can’t account for every human error, a lot of Scott’s job was spent ironing out any points of failure within the system, solving them before they ever saw the light of day. Like Brian May’s wireless rig. “Brian May’s guitar system is quite complex,” said Scott. “He’s a real single point of failure in that if he breaks a string, he needs to swap guitars.

From our point of view, all we wanted was the left-centreright microphones on the guitar cabinets, but they were in a great big stadium and we were in a much better place to provide them with robust wireless audio between the guitar and the stage where their switch input was. So that needs four or eight channels of audio on its own. We still had to deliver those channels to the console, because it was a macro on the console that was doing the routing. The simple act of Brain May walking from the north to the centre stage is not a big deal.

But the reality is that it’s 120m in a very tricky RF environment. To

make that work, and be robust, we ended up using a hell of a lot of resources. But we make it as simple as we can from a user point of view so it’s only one button on the FOH board, and one for the guitar tech.”

THE QUEEN’S SPEECH

While during the Closing Ceremony, there was live music act after live music act — the Spice Girls zooming around on top of cabs, Annie Lennox doing a Winslet on Captain Jack’s boat etc — the most difficult moment was a simple, small voice.

Scott: “Music is a lot easier than speech, especially in a stadium.

With speech you have the disadvantage of the gaps between different syllables. The reverberant energy of one syllable can mask the next syllable. Whereas with music there’s a solid underscore that provides good masking for most of the reverberant energy.

“It’s tricky, but the direct-toreverberant ratio is what it’s all about of course. How do we make that good? A really good start is to fill the place with people, which puts you in much better shape

than when it’s empty. If you test gain before feedback, and tune the microphone with the stadium empty, you’re always going to be in better shape when the stadium is full.

“The microphones on the field, which are usually lecterns, were fine. Each of the flown line arrays were 10 elements high — providing a very good vertical pattern. The ground-stacked arrays were only four high but by stacking them on the ground it gave an effective line length of eight high, which again gave pretty good vertical pattern control.

So we didn’t really have a gainbefore-feedback problem with the lectern. It was more about getting the signal to broadcast as clean as possible, and our audience provided exactly what we needed there.

“There was one microphone that is actually in the bowl, the one the Queen used to declare The Games open. In this case that microphone was about 30 metres from both the ground stack and the arrays, and under a balcony. It was a really crappy acoustic situation to be in.

Luckily she only needed to say, “I

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now declare The Games open!”

And everyone had the manners to shut up when she did it. So for us it was a case of identifying which parts of the PA were going to cause us problems and either mute or attenuate them to get away with that 10 seconds of speech before opening them up again.”

FAVOURITE MOMENT

All up, the ceremonies were a raging success. Creative, engaging, and sublime. For Scott, there was one moment in particular that left him breathless.

Scott: “My favourite moment, during the opening ceremony was the Pandemonium segment (the part where all the chimneys started lifting out of the stage floor, the grass was getting ripped up, and the Industrial Revolution was taking over). There was seven or eight minutes of very big, techno, drum-based music.

I’d heard it countless times in the stadium, but I had a friend of mine come see the show. He’s a technical director for these kinds of ceremonies, and has worked in a sound company for many years — and he was speechless.

He couldn’t describe the amount of energy that was in the air.

“I’ve never put that much power into the air with a sound system before. But the content didn’t have a lot of high frequency in it at all.

It was all lows and impact, and at high level it sounded just amazing.

It was probably the biggest impact I’ve been able to deliver to an audience with a sound system.”

IN EARS There was a ‘stupid’ amount of in-ear monitoring, according to Scott. Just for starters, there were 16 transmitters and 40 receivers for the headline talent, add 300 receivers on top of that for the larger professional cast groups, and finally, four transmitters and up to 12,500 receivers for the mass cast. Basically everyone that’s part of the show on the field has a set of earphones and some kind of receiver so they can hear the program and be paged from the comms panel.

Scott: “When you see 4-500 athlete marshals do the same thing at the same time, it’s not rehearsed within an inch of its life, they’re just being cued and talked through it by Steve Boyd who’s the mass cast choreographer.”

Obviously, getting all those wireless channels working isn’t as simple as scanning for free air just before the show.

There was another Aussie behind the scenes. “Steve Caldwell from Norwest, is maybe one of two people in the world operating at his level with regard to understanding and engineering RF,” said Scott. “The Shure Axient product is very well behaved in terms of RF performance,

and Steve has a good relationship with Ofcom, the local regulatory authority.

We had been speaking with them for quite some time prior to the gig. All the frequencies were licensed, and they do the calculations to ensure compatibility between the different user groups.

It put us in a great place to not only get the frequencies we needed, but if interference did pop up they would find the user and either move them to a different frequency or just shut it down.

There’s no doubt it’s complex, but there are also plenty of people with very large brains thinking about it for a long time before hand.

“It’s the result of having done 10 to 12 years of this type of event where nothing can fail. An in-use transmitter antenna is a single point of failure, so there was dual redundancy within Steve’s custom-built amplifier system, and the antennas themselves were dual redundant — a pair that can each take each other’s inputs.”

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Gary Dryza shows how to loop properly in Live, and turns his folk guitar ditty into an atmospheric journey with the help of a handy envelope trick.

Tutorial: Gary Dryza

RECORD THE LOOP We’re now ready to record our first loop. Turn on the metronome by clicking the button with two circles next to the time signature, and set the tempo by clicking the ‘TAP’ button at the top left of the Live window, then practice what you’re going to play a few times. Ensure the ‘Record Enable’ button is engaged on the channel, and the Monitor button is set to Auto (this will let you hear the guitar if there’s no clip playing on the channel, and will automatically stop monitoring the guitar if a clip is playing). When you’re confident and ready to record, press the circle clip record button on the channel, and when you’re done, press stop.

I started with a two chord finger picking progression, repeated twice over eight bars.

Click on the small waveform display at the bottom to see the waveform you’ve just recorded, and to the left of the waveform you can see the Clip box and the Sample box (and buttons to enable the Envelopes and Launch boxes at the bottom left of these).

WHERE TO START To begin, setup a project with one audio channel, and ensure the inputs and outputs are those that you will be using.

We’re now going to setup an effects chain on the channel with some of my favourite processors. Open the effects browser by clicking the triangle button in the top left, then clicking the button below it to reveal Live’s included effects processors.

To add an effect to the channel, simply click, drag and drop it on the channel. I’ve gone with an EQ Eight, Overdrive, Phaser, Flanger, Erosion and a Redux. Turn each of the devices off by pressing the on/off button in the top left of each device’s window, and minimise the devices by double clicking on the yellow bar at the top of it. Duplicate the channel by pressing ‘cmd/ctrl+D’ a few times so you have them ready for later.

In addition to the effects chain on the actual channel, we’ll also add a Reverb to the A Return, and a Filter Delay to the B Return to save a bit of processing power.

LOOP TRIM Since I left some space at the start and end of my loop, I’ll need to trim the waveform so that it loops nicely. This is done by grabbing the handles at the top left and right of the waveform, and moving them to the appropriate start and end points. You’ll also notice the yellow ‘warp markers’; these can be added by double clicking on the point you want to move, then dragging it into place.

In this instance, I’ve grabbed the start

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of each bar and moved it exactly to the start of each bar on the grid. If you notice the audio glitching or wobbling, this is probably to do with the Warp Mode that is being used. Live’s default is set to use the ‘Beats’ Warp Mode. Experiment with the different settings to find the most suitable for what you’ve played.

Once you’ve done this, you should be able to press play and hear your guitar looping nicely.

AUDIO SAMPLES

To follow along with Gary.

Go to audiotechnology.com.au to download the clip he’s playing with.

www.tinyurl.com/ct8t53r

GET CREATIVE Now you have your loop trimmed and warped nicely, you’re free to get creative on it. You can make the loop shorter by moving the handles again, change where the loop starts and ends by moving the play marker, or reverse, transpose, adjust volume by using the parameters in the Sample box. Plus of course, you can get into the effects that we added at the start.

After adding reverb, delay, EQ, Erosion, Phasing, Flanging and a touch of Redux, I ended up with a metallic sounding rhythmic loop that really no longer resembles a guitar, but certainly has a lot of character and atmosphere.

Moving on to the second channel, let’s record a lead line with some long notes to add to the atmospheric nature of what we already have.

AMBIENCE This time, my performance wasn’t so messy so there was no need to add any warp markers, but the start and end points were adjusted to fit the loop. Let’s add some ambience and space to a couple of notes we just played. Click on the E button to reveal the Envelopes box, then click on the B send knob on the second channel, and turn it to all the way up.

FINE TUNE DELAY You’ll now see the waveform covered with a pink overlay.

This represents the second channel being sent to the delay at 100%. Adjusting how much is being sent to the delay and when, is done by double clicking and dragging on the solid pink line. You should end up with something like this.

GETTING TWEAKY Only the parts that are pink are being sent to the delay. Now you’ve got that down, you can apply this process to any effect parameter. Perhaps a gradual increase of the Redux or phase effect, turning an effect on or off, or panning, volume, reverb…anything! Just click on the parameter, either in the effects chain, in the Sample box, or on the channel, then go back to the waveform and the envelope you see will be the one you just clicked on.

REVIEW

AVID ARTIST MC CONTROL V2 EUCON is allowed in the same stable as ICON, now that Avid owns Euphonix. And with over 500 new features, it makes the Artist Control a savvy option for all DAW users not just ProTools incumbents.

Review: Brent Heber

Euphonix released the Artist Control a few years ago.

At the time it was well received but had one major flaw — the EUCON protocol it used for more advanced operation was seen as competition with Digidesign’s ICON products, so ProTools didn’t support it. So what use is a lovely controller if it’s ‘crippled’ in the DAW adopted by a majority of professionals? It struck me as a bit of an orphan as it seemed designed from the Euphonix ‘postcentric’ point of view, but worked at its best in things like Logic. Yes, Nuendo was around and Euphonix partnered up with Steinberg to get that working well but let’s face it, Nuendo doesn’t quite have the market share in this neck of the woods.

So when Avid bought Euphonix and their EUCON protocol things started looking up for these little boards. ProTools 9 was the first release to include any EUCON support and PT10, with the latest EUCON drivers, brought over 500 new features to EUCON, supercharging the Artist series as much as it benefited their high-end System 5 professional consoles (mainly used in film and TV mixing) which also communicate over EUCON. REPLACING AN ICON

The thing is, I bought an ICON D Command. I spent big money on a big console for my studio and now this little upstart comes along, for under two grand, and they’ve retro-fitted a massive chunk of

what was once uniquely ICON territory into it! I mean, how dare they! So I bought one for home and I’m only just scratching the surface of what this thing can do.

Think of a menu item in your favourite DAW that you use all the time — would you like to put it on a button? Simple. The touch panel on the Artist Control comes up with banks of buttons. There are over 100 pages of functions taken from the software and put onto clearly legible buttons preorganised for you with room for you to add your own favourites into ‘user screens’. Mine filled up with automation functions from my ICON so they are right next to the faders for mixing, making me feel right at home.

Not only can you arrange your favourite controls onto user pages on the touch screen, the EUCON software also allows you to add macros. A macro is like a recipe for repetitive tasks. If you work in promos or bounce down lots of grabs within a session it can be laborious to double click on them all and label them all, so I programmed a little macro to go to and select the next region and open the rename function. This keeps my fingers on the keyboard and controller and away from the mouse, unless it’s absolutely necessary.

OUT OF LINE

The Artist Control is up to Revision 2, which most folks put down as a cosmetic refresh, to rebrand it under the Avid monicker. However, on comparing the earlier unit with the current one, the touch panel seems easier to read with a higher contrast and the faders feel a little bit nicer.

Of course, no product is without its problems. The one that has bugged me from the first moment I laid eyes on the Artist series was why the faders on the mix unit don’t line up with the faders on the control unit. A solution is to put the mix expansion on the right hand side of the control unit and the (debatable) design flaw is less obvious to you and your clients.

you select in ProTools will automatically popup on that fader. The flaw in the Layouts function is that it seems to reside somewhere in the ProTools session document that you can’t get to — in that layouts can’t be imported or exported between sessions or most critically saved into templates. Hopefully this oversight will be fixed up by Avid soon.

The other issue I had was getting the darn thing to work reliably. Although all the documentation says ‘plug and play with DHCP networking’, I had to assign a static IP to my laptop to finally get the unit to work consistently, without dropouts. Now, fingers crossed, it seems rock solid.

EUCON IN TOUCH

Of course, being the big ProTools geek that I am, I was testing this unit in that context with all the new EUCON features, however the Artist series is supported with lots of other DAWs and the touch panel will even let you program single button macros for things like your Finder/Explorer which could be extremely handy.

If you are a ProTools user and didn’t pay much attention to the Artist Control when it was first released, they are now definitely worth a look. The You may wonder why you’d want to separate out four massive integration upgrade between ProTools and faders? Another powerful feature of the system is its EUCON has really turned what was once a crippled ‘Layouts’ ability. You can select faders on the controller HUI device into a budget ICON controller. Couple and then choose any fader from your ProTools mix that with Avid bringing the price down close to half and hard assign it, or lock it in place on the controller. what it used to be locally and I’m gobsmacked more This is particularly handy with things like sub masters people aren’t snatching these things up for every edit or VCAs. You can also assign a fader as a type of suite. ‘focus fader’ like on an ICON, where any channel PROS Extremely versatile CONTACT controller with macros Avid: and custom layouts www.avid.com Wide DAW compatibility

CONS Layouts can’t be saved with templates or exchanged between sessions Can be a bit flakey to get networked reliably Faders on the Control and Mix don’t line up

SUMMARY ProTools users will be discovering Avid Artist Control’s EUCON flexibility for the first time, though other DAWs have already been entertaining some of the benefits. But with over 500 new features in EUCON, there’s something new for everyone.

NEED TO KNOW

PRICE $1799.95

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MAC NOTES Mastering iTunes Column: Anthony Garvin

Earlier this year, Apple announced their ‘Mastered For iTunes’ (MFiT) initiative, along with releasing accompanying Apple Audio Mastering Tools. In brief, Apple is now accepting higher resolution (up to 24-bit/96k) masters for upload/ conversion to the iTunes Store. These files are kept in their original format on the Apple servers, and from these the Variable Bit Rate 256kbps AAC’s which go on sale are created. As well as “keeping the highest quality masters available in our systems [that] allows for full advantage of future improvements to your music,” Apple claims, “You can achieve dynamic range that’s superior to red book audio and a final product that’s virtually indistinguishable from the original recording” by submitting higher than CD resolution WAV’s for conversion to iTunes Plus format.

to a 32-bit floating point Core Audio Format (CAF) file whilst adding iTunes sound check metadata to the file and, if necessary, doing a sample-rate conversion. The CAF file is then compressed into an AAC file.

This MFiT concept has generated a fair amount of online chatter with many opinions around the claim of higher quality , so instead of re-hashing this, I wanted to take a look at the tools that Apple are providing to support the initiative. Regardless of opinion, iTunes has a dominant market share in digital music sales, and as the most likely source that music will be sold from, perhaps the tools can be of some benefit in quality controlling and A/B’ing masters before they go to the iTunes Store for sale.

The AURoundTripAAC Audio Unit is a plugin for comparing iTunes Plus compression to the uncompressed audio in real time. Via the Audition tab, you can switch the monitor path between ‘source’ and ‘encoded’ to compare before and after the codec on the fly. There is also a clip indicator, which goes into more detail by displaying the peak value, and tallying each sample and inter-sample that clips, both before and after encoding. Interestingly, a full resolution file with a peak at 0dBfs, but no clips, produces clipping in the AAC version, as well as more frequent inter-sample peaks (which are peaks that lie between samples, that can become apparent in the up-sampling process of DACs).

The Audio Mastering Tools are available as a free of charge download on the Apple website, and are comprised of five parts: afconvert, Master For iTunes droplet, AURoundTripAAC, afclip and Audio to Wave droplet.

Afconvert is a command line utility that is part of the Mac OS Core Audio framework, which converts WAV or AIFF files to iTunes Plus (256kbps VBR AAC) files. The conversion is done in two steps: First

The Master For iTunes droplet is an easier to use drag-and-drop application, utilising afconvert.

Remembering that Apple accepts full resolution WAV files to ingest into the iTunes Store, and not AAC conversions, I was curious to know if this conversion process was any different to the ‘storebought’ conversion. After blind testing mastering engineer Leon Zervos with a song bought from the store, and the original master converted with the droplet, he found that there was a subtle difference, but not enough to be a concern from a mastering perspective.

Moving over to the Listening Test tab in the AU is where things get entertaining. The plug-in presents ‘Source’ and randomly selected ‘A’ and ‘B’ paths — one being the unadulterated source, and the other being the compressed codec signal. Below these

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buttons, selection is required by the user to determine whether ‘A is Source’ or ‘B is Source’ (known as an A-B-X test).

After 20 selections, you are prompted with your test results. Do it, test yourself!

At first, I found myself having to listen with much more concentration than I expected, and even then my results were a little embarrassing. After further listening, and demonstrating this to Leon, the differences became more apparent — particularly in the transient on the snare drum in our test track.

Moving on through the tools, afclip is a command line utility for checking various audio files for clipping. Once a file is run through afclip, a readout is presented to show where clipping samples are present

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in the file (similar to the detailed clip indicator in the AURoundTripAAC plugin).

Lastly, and the simplest of the Apple Audio Mastering Tools, the Audio to Wave Droplet also utilises afconvert and will convert any Mac OS X natively recognised audio format to a WAV file. Presumably this is to aid in the comparison of various formats and/ or codecs, and to appease my curiosity, I compared various AAC to WAV conversions in Logic to those done via the droplet. There was absolutely no difference (determined via a null-test).

As a separate download, Apple also offers AU Lab, which is a stand alone Audio Unit host. If you don’t run Logic, this is an option for setting up real-time AAC auditioning using the AURoundTripAAC plugin. With most Macs equipped with optical input and outputs, this could be an easy way to use the RoundTripAAC plugin on a spare mac as a digital insert, to test the results of iTunes Plus compression. However, within the delicate constraints of mastering, the opinions given to me by engineers advise not to use this as a black and white test. Optical connections are more prone to jitter and other digital side effects, meaning the sound is coloured simply by passing through the optical I/O, irrespective of any extra processing.

As a final note, and a complete aside to this use, AU Lab is a simple, low overhead AU host that loads AU effects, instruments and generators with flexible routing and preset management — I’m sure it has a few uses in some setups where extra effects or instruments are needed!

Mastered for iTunes documentation, the Apple Audio Mastering Tools and AU Lab are available at: www.apple.com/itunes/ mastered-for-itunes.

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PC AUDIO Microsoft’s Windows 8 is imminent. Should you break open the piggy bank or carry on regardless?

Column: Martin Walker

Within a few weeks of reading this column you’ll be able to buy the final release version of Windows 8. Various rough edges have been smoothed off since the preview version, as well as significant streamlining and performance improvements and more refined graphics, and I can see lots of musicians being tempted to upgrade.

However, it always pays to look before you leap, so here are some pros and cons that will hopefully help you make up your mind.

First of all, remember that if you spend the vast majority of your computing time in your sequencer or audio editor, upgrading the underlying operating system will make very little difference to that experience. You’re highly unlikely to find yourself able to run more audio tracks or plug-ins, and may even run into the odd compatibility problem that could slow you down. Moreover, since the safest way to ensure tip-top performance with any operating system is to install it from scratch, it could take many hours to reinstall your existing applications, plug-ins and so on. Thankfully, most Windows 7 hardware device drivers should also work fine with Windows 8, and hopefully audio interface manufacturers have had sufficient time and beta versions of Windows 8 to have resolved any obscure teething troubles.

SECURE IN YOUR CHOICE

Having got all those caveats out of the way, let’s be more positive and look at the new

features and how they relate to the musician.

First up, you shouldn’t need to upgrade your PC to run Windows 8, since it still has a modest minimum spec requirement of a 1GHz or faster processor, 1GB RAM (2GB for 64-bit systems) and 20GB of hard drive space. One very welcome improvement for those who save the planet by powering down their PCs rather than leaving them on 24/7 is that Windows 8 boots up in typically half the time of Windows 7. For all of us whose computers are permanently on-line (and it’s getting increasingly difficult to keep abreast with product updates nowadays without an internet connection), there are some non-exciting yet nevertheless very welcome improvements across various aspects of online security.

Unfortunately, one Windows 8 security concern has already surfaced — the new SmartScreen feature (enabled by default) screens every application you try to install from the internet, to determine whether or not it’s safe for your PC, and to do this it gathers information about the application including its filename, sends this data to Microsoft, and then a message stating ‘Windows protected your PC’ pops up if the app isn’t on Microsoft’s constantly updated ‘safe’ list. Unfortunately, this mechanism also means that Microsoft has the capability to retain details of every Internet-sourced application that any of us ever install, although they have been quick

to assure the industry that this personal data will be periodically deleted. However, if you’re concerned about such privacy aspects then disable SmartScreen.

STICKING WITH NEW GUI

The most significant new feature of Windows 8 is the Metro graphic interface, which still divides opinion (and is possibly why Microsoft have latterly abandoned the word Metro, replacing it with ‘Windows 8’ in their marketing material). Personally I like its slick and simplified look and feel, which to my eyes is a distinct improvement over the shadow and transparency distractions of the Aero interface.

However, initial frustration with the GUI’s new commands and options still seems quite common, and you really do have to work with Windows 8 for an hour to two to get used to its different approach before throwing up your hands in horror.

The big difference between previous versions and Windows 8 is the move to a single operating system for traditional desktop/laptop PCs, the new Windows-based tablets, and even mobile phones. It’s inevitable that touchscreen gestures will play a big part in this interface, especially in 2013 and beyond. Moreover, most PC users haven’t got a touchscreen as yet and are likely to carry on using keyboard/mouse communication for the time being, so there’s bound to be an awkward transition. You can’t boot to the desktop any more, instead arriving at the new, colourful and highly tweakable Start screen, but you can revert to the traditional desktop at any time if you don’t like the new GUI yet still want to benefit from the other OS improvements. In the longer term I can see a smallish multi-touch screen as a wonderful interface for hands-on MIDI and audio control, yet I can’t see it being that popular for a large DAW mixing environment unless the screen

can be placed almost horizontally on a desk (like a traditional mixing desk) so that you avoid aching arms. I suspect many of us will end up running at least two very different screen displays.

PENNIES FOR PROGRESS

Overall, Windows 7 has been proven as a stable, reliable platform for audio, and since Windows 8 is described by Microsoft as ‘Windows reimagined and reinvented from a solid core of Windows 7 speed and reliability’ the only two OS choices for the musician must now be Windows 7 or Windows 8. I fully expect Windows 8 to be a popular if not essential upgrade for the PC musician, but the clincher for many will be the extremely low price of the upgrade to Windows 8 Professional from XP, Vista or 7, which is just US$39.99 until the end of January 2013.

If you’re one of the musicians still running an ageing installation of Windows XP, this is definitely the time to take the plunge, especially now that more and more audio developers are abandoning support for Windows XP. Only those whose favourite audio hardware is still without Windows 7/8 drivers should hang on, although I suspect you’re prolonging the inevitable. Even if you’ve recently moved to Windows 7 there’s still a tempting offer. Anyone who bought Windows 7 or a new PC with it pre-installed more recently than June 2012 can upgrade to Windows 8 for an amazing $14.99, once again until the end of January 2013 (the same deal as the US). With such a tempting offer I suspect few impoverished musicians will be able to resist.

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HOMEGROWN BASSLING: FOR 100 YEARS

If you ever see Jason Richardson tapping, singing into, or bowing a playground slide, he’s not crazy, he’s just making music.

Story: Mark Davie

Jason Richardson in his 'playground', and a polystyrene block wedged between The Wires really helps them 'sing'.

Futurism, I can see the appeal. Scrap the poetry, misogyny and a knack for dying at war, and you’ve basically got yourself a car club — obsessed with speed and the sound of industry. It’s for people that like listening to V8s plough around Bathurst, love the peaky exhaust notes of the Moto GP at Phillip Island, or find the highpitched whine of F1 and Indy exhilarating. Thinking of it, based on this audible predilection for mechanical noise at high velocity, it’s a wonder industrial speed metal isn’t topping the charts.

Though to many of us, noise is the enemy. We curse that passing truck that slams on the air brakes a cat’s whisker from the end of a vocal take. Or the low-end rumble from the passing train you didn’t hear until three days later in the mix. Or the fan noise that’s slowly driving you crazy despite wrapping your computer in three duvets and shoving it in the broom cupboard. There’s plenty, the clicks, thunder, hiss, scratches, all of it. Enough to send any engineer batty.

THE ART IN NOISE

But some really dig noise. Some, like Jason Richardson, even deign to make music from it. The idea to use noise as the basis of composition really came from the aforementioned Futurists, who waged war on a number of cultural fronts. Everything in the past was seen as deadweight, including the ideals of traditional orchestrated music. To them, this gentle arrangement of chordal structures and harmony was old hat. Kind of like the car club on a night out at the opera — dead

bored, and fast asleep. To the Futurists, the only way forward was to find an entirely different musical language, made up of sounds that titillated their sensibilities. In Futurist painter and composer Luigi Russolo’s letter entitled Art of Noises, he classified ‘noise-sound’ into six groups: 1. Roars, Thunderings, Explosions, Hissing roars, Bangs, Booms 2. Whistling, Hissing, Puffing 3. Whispers, Murmurs, Mumbling, Muttering, Gurgling 4. Screeching, Creaking, Rustling, Buzzing, Crackling, Scraping 5. Noises obtained by beating on metals, woods, skins, stones, pottery, etc.

6. Voices of animals and people, Shouts, Screams, Shrieks, Wails, Hoots, Howls, Death Rattles, Sobs Jason Richardson has taken this idea and run with it on his EDM (Electronic Dance Music)sounding album For 100 Years under the pseudonym Bassling.

For 100 Years is Richardson’s way of celebrating the centenary of Leeton, a town purpose-built

by Walter Burley Griffin in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area. Richardson decided to use playgrounds as his sonic ‘playground’ because even though a century seems like a long time, Leeton is still a relatively young town — it’s more of a first birthday celebration as towns go. Also,

being self-funded, self-directed, and non-professional, getting access to factories would have required navigating substantially more red tape than necessary. So he rode around to different parks, tapping slides, and attaching piezo pickups to swing sets, thankfully without drawing the ire of locals concerned about certain types of ’philes other than audiophiles.

THE WIRES

Richardson’s interest in this kind of work really kicked off when Alan Lamb starting stringing wire up in his backyard. Lamb arrived in Wagga Wagga in 2004 for the Unsound4 Festival, and with the help of one of Richardson’s friends, Scott Baker (who goes by the title Abre Ojos), built an Aeolian harp on the property Richardson was living on. For the uninitiated, an Aeolian harp is basically an instrument that can be played by the wind. In Lamb’s case, he’s strung up several of these installations, collectively called The Wires across various rural locations, made of kilometres of fencing wire and anywhere up to 300m long spans. With the help of nature’s breath, the wires will harmonically ‘sing’, vibrate and roar, allowing Lamb — and anyone else that wants to make the trek out to one of the installations — to record the results with piezo contact mics.

Often a block of polystyrene foam is wedged between the wires to give them something to sing into.

He adopted Lamb’s piezo technique, using small piezo sensors and Fishman transducers into his trusty Zoom H4 recorder

as the core recording system for his project.

Jason Richardson: “When I started I was using cheap piezo mics that clamp onto an instrument. It was really convenient but even with my Fishman transducer they seemed a bit dull so I started experimenting as I went along.

There’s another sort of piezo instrument mic that’s also cheap which was okay but didn’t last longer than one park. Then I remembered I still had some piezos like the sort Alan Lamb had introduced me to but they were fiddly to set up so there wasn’t hiss or hum. Often I had to hold the connectors to earth them but they captured the top end better. They also created some wild feedback sounds when I crossed the wires!”

WHAT HE’S LISTENING FOR

Microphone placement in the studio and live is not much different to the way Richardson goes about it. He still uses his ears, but rather than hunting down the right piece of air, he’s looking for the most resonant area . “I find it’s useful to tap around the equipment and find the parts that resonate loudest and put the contact microphones there,” said Richardson.

“Sometimes you can feel where the equipment is resonating with touch, other times you’ve got to move your ear over the surface to find a sweet spot.

“I read a piece on the Wired website earlier this year about how the main harmonic overtone heard (other than the octave above) when striking a physical object is a fifth to

the fundamental tone. But the resonance of different structures varies greatly, particularly large metal objects like slippery slides.

I’ve been amazed at how much variety you get tapping different parts of a slide and I was really looking forward to recording this large slide that was at Graham Park, only to find it had been removed when I got around to recording it.

“Bowing was another idea that Alan Lamb introduced me to. I strung a line on the slippery slide at Waipukurau Park and bowed it, I adjusted the tension on the line to find the most resonant response and adjusted the pitch with my foot to get a bend effect happening.

“One of the really surprising sounds was an aluminium fence that’s adjacent to Waipukurau Park. The fence resonated beautifully with the sound of leaves brushing against it and creaking in the wind. I mentioned this to the director of the Leeton Childcare Centre and she asked me to come in and share it with the kids, who seemed more interested once I encouraged them to bang on it and we pretended to be rain-dancing.”

RINGING CLEAR

According to Richardson, what he’s listening for is, “a good clear note. Anything interesting that I can re-pitch or manipulate once I load it into Ableton Live. Once it’s in Live there are so many ways to mutate it into a rhythm, bass line, or make a melody. Taking it up or down four octaves, resonators, reverb, gating, filters, etc.

“When I first started I was trying

to respond to the environment and play the equipment but as time passed I focused on making sure I got at least one good tone.

And as I visited different parks

“

I’ve read that 96k captures information beyond what we can hear but since I was dropping these sounds an octave or two, then I figured I would start to encounter that detail sooner or later

”

I fell into a process. The seats of swings would give a good kick drum sound when tapped or a higher pitch when flicked, more like a bongo than a snare though.

The metal parts would resonate better for a sustained note, which I could pitch down for a bassline

RIPPLE EFFECT Jason Richardson: “I don’t know much about physics but working with the wires was an excellent way to see sound. For example, if you give one of the wires a yank you see the ripple roll down to the end. As it rolls back onto itself, the ripple doubles and this creates the first harmonic. When the ripple crashes into itself a second time it creates the second harmonic, and so on. The waveforms in the screenshots attached show a similar process with the sound waves resonating in the large metal poles used to support swings, but I guess it could be a filtering process too.”

or pitch up for a chime. There’s a lot of plastic gear that’s installed in playgrounds these days and it was better for percussive sorts of sounds and sometimes things that moved would be good for a shaker sound when pitched up. Was it James Brown who said everything should sound like a drum?”

Although, originally he started responding to a structure and tapping out rhythms, these days Richardson focuses mostly on capturing straight notes that he later edits into music. “I found that I’d settle into the same rhythms unless I concentrated on coming up with a part,” said Richardson. “When I started making EDM tracks on my computer, if I didn’t have a particular sort of tune I was aiming to write then I’d end up making something generic.

There must be a couple of albums worth of ordinary tracks I’ve written in the default setting of 120bpm.

“Sometimes I’d wish I’d counted to five before hitting something a second or third time. Other times listening on my monitors at home would reveal something that I wished I’d noticed, like the time a lawnmower passed the metal pole I was recording. I gave the operator a greasy look because I thought he was ruining my take but when I got home and heard how lovely the lawnmower sound resonated in that picnic shelter structure, I wondered if I shouldn’t contact council’s Parks & Gardens crew to find out when they would be back to mow again!

“Which reminds me, I read a response from Steve Albini recently where someone asked him why a band that worked with him had observed that he didn’t seem to pay attention while recording and he explained that he reads dry operating manuals to distract him from adjusting settings during recording!”

But while the process does stop him from developing generic patterns out in the field, it’s not necessarily a strict regime. “Going forward I plan to perform more in my tracks rather than relying on remixing.

Remixing is a great approach but there’s too much of a safety net and I think that sense of hearing things unfold in real time is becoming something of a premium in contemporary recordings because everyone has the access to DAWs to edit and quantise material.”

Some of the processing Richardson uses in Ableton Live to turn his contact mic recordings into songs. Including George Yohng’s Y1 Limiter, which is a free clone of the Waves L1 Limiter that he used on almost every channel, VST effects from Ohmforce and Audio Damage used to chop, phase and mangle the percussive hits and hums, and UAD's SPL Transient Designer that he used to ease the attack of the eardrum-punding pickups.

THE AIR OUT THERE

One of the challenges Richardson faced was introducing that sense of space you just don’t get when you record with contact microphones. There’s no air molecules being moved between the source and the pickup, so introducing ‘air’ into the mix, is a difficult task.

“I wish I’d recorded more using my Rode VideoMic,” he said. “Because there’s a lot to be gained by sandwiching together sounds from a condenser and a piezo once you load the sounds into a computer and can match up the waveforms and EQ them to sit on top of each other without phase issues. The cheap clamp-on piezo can be great for avoiding wind sounds, so you roll off the lower frequencies on the condenser and combine the two. The homemade

piezo would often get wind sound but you can usually position these on the playground equipment in a way that’s out of the breeze.

“My Rode NT-4 got some use too but it would have been good to get more ambient noise because it can add colour higher in the spectrum, although a lot of it seems to be the sound of passing cars. The stereo relationship from this mic is great for depth and it really is a very versatile mic.”

There was also an interesting side effect of replaying extreme close miked percussive sounds. Richardson explains: “I hadn’t tried transient designers before I started listening back to my songs on headphones and realised that the contact mics meant I was basically recreating the experience of hitting the equipment inside my head. It was like I was hitting on my eardrums! I bought the UAD version of SPL’s Transient Designer and was able to ease the attack. There’s a good VST called Transient Monster

by Stillwell, which kindly lets you download an evaluation copy from their website. While it pales next to UAD’s plug-in, it’s a great opportunity for people to hear how they work.

“Another good VST is George Yohng’s Y1 Limiter, which is a clone of the Waves L1 Limiter but free.

I think I used that on every channel. And George Yohng also provided the program which split my mastered .wav file back into individual tracks, which isn’t easy to accomplish on a Mac. “When I stated the project I recorded at 48k/16-bit because that’s what the audio in the video uses but soon I switched to 96k/24-bit because I figured the extra information helps when you’re manipulating samples. After all, 96k sampling captures information beyond what we can hear but since I was dropping these sounds an octave or two, then I figured I would start to encounter that detail sooner or later.”

THE WORLD IS OUR PLAYGROUND

While Richardson doesn’t claim to be a professional in his field, nor does he chase the grants that most artists in his field feel they must to accomplish or justify their work. He’s just happy to be another

musician challenging our sense of what an instrument can be, and having fun doing it. “There’s a recipe for happiness that’s attributed to the Chinese that says everyone needs someone to love, something to do and something to look forward to,” said Richardon. “Developing skills like producing music can contribute to the majority of these! While I’ve made playgrounds into ensembles, there are opportunities for producers to make the world their studio and/or their instrument. The world is our playground!”

Check out Jason’s album at bassling.bandcamp.com and blog at bassling.com

MONKEYING AROUND Singing a melody isn’t enough for Jason, he had to hoist himself up and kiss the monkey bars at Mountford Park to get the sound he wanted.

“I put my mouth against the equipment, which was recorded with a clamp-style piezo microphone on the grey platform at the end of the balancing beam in the background.

The harmonics of the equipment are a lot like those of a guitar in that the loudest is halfway along. So the 12 o’clock position on the monkey bars is like the 12th fret of a guitar. And I placed the microphone on the platform halfway along the folded edge. Similarly you can see the video (youtu.be/8lcOfOR2cpE) of me bowing a slide at Waipukurau Park with a piezo clamped on halfway along.

While the singing in the track Mountford Park is pitched up, it’s still fairly intelligible. This was another idea gained from experimenting with ‘the wires’, where I would put a tin between the wires at one end and record via a polystyrene box wedged at the other end.”

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REVIEW

MIDAS PRO 1

SMALL FORMAT DIGITAL LIVE CONSOLE Midas has the golden analogue touch, and has brought a forward thinking approach to digital live consoles. But will it shine when shrunk down to something you can stick in a rack?

NEED TO KNOW

Review: Guy Harrison

PRICE

$13,750 $14,250 (with roadcase)

CONTACT

National Audio Systems (03) 9761 5577 sales@nationalaudio. com.au

PROS

Outstanding Navigation Midas Mic Pre’s Versatility The sound!

Daylight-viewable screen

CONS

Lots of capabilities means start-fromscratch routing Infinity to 1 compressor ratio starting point

SUMMARY

The Midas Pro 1 is an absolute powerhouse in a tiny frame, it oozes quality. Midas’s clever VCA implementation means you never feel short on faders. This console has to be heard to be believed. Highly rated!

Midas has never been a company to rush things. Many considered their entrance into the digital console market to be tardy at best. But the 2006 release of the XL8 ultimately proved to be a revelation. Demonstrating that Midas was not content to simply release a carbon copy of other digital consoles in the market at the time, but had listened to engineers and re-thought how to access a digital console more efficiently.

Midas did more than just introduce new buttons, they brought colour to the workspace and a new approach to grouping and redundancy that continues throughout the Midas digital console product line today.

THE BABY ARRIVES

Smaller consoles inevitably followed the XL8 with the Midas Pro range delivering the Pro 9, 6, 3, and 2 (not in order of debut), until eventually the baby of the family arrived — the Pro 1.

The Midas Pro 1 is housed in an aluminium frame. 24 mic inputs with renowned Midas mic preamps are supplied along with 16 XLR bus outputs plus Left, Right, Mono, and Control Room A and B outputs. Internal processing allows for access to 40 inputs and eight return buses all of which have four-band parametric EQ and inserts.

These additional input channels can be accessed utilising the rear AES 50 ports

over Cat 5 cable connected to one of Midas’s optional stage boxes. This makes for a great ‘buy-now/expand-later’ option.

The display is daylight viewable and, according to Midas, for the same reason it’s also not a touchscreen, as apparently you can’t have both. But it does mean you can use the console without having to be under a canopy at an outdoor show, or shading the screen while trying to operate single-handedly. Instead of accessing a touchscreen, navigation is controlled by a trackball and various buttons.

To put the Pro 1 through its paces I decided to put it to use on a music TV show The Music Café where I would be mixing live for a studio audience, multitrack recording the show and providing a mix for cameras. Oh yeah, there would also be three bands with varied line ups appearing on the day. It’s fair to say that it would be a routing challenge.

Considering I’d only had limited time on Midas digital consoles I decided it prudent to do the Midas training course. An added advantage of doing the training course was having the very helpful Midas rep on hand to help me build my show file.

STARTING FROM SCRATCH

As Midas audio is a network system, routing is always the first job to be done on a new console or for a new show.

Out of the box, the Pro 1’s I/O is going

nowhere. This is a point of difference over most other small format digital consoles but it does allow for great flexibility when connected to one or more of the Midas stage boxes. Thankfully Midas has made the routing a fairly quick process with some clever modes that allow you to do things like route consecutive inputs to buses with a few button presses. As we were multitrack recording the show, the local inputs on the rear of the Pro 1 were to be routed to the stereo bus, and we would be connecting the AES 50 ports to the Midasrecommended Klark Teknik DN9696 recorder that CPC Production Services graciously supplied for the gig (thanks CPC).

Next step is to choose how you will allocate your DSP processing between effects and graphic EQs. There is plenty of processing available on the Pro 1. You can choose combinations between six effects and eight graphic EQs, through to one effect and 28 graphic EQs. As I would be providing six sends of foldback I went with the first combination, using a graphic EQ for each of my six foldback sends, leaving two spare for FOH duties. After routing Buses 1-6 to the physical XLR outputs on the rear of the Pro 1, I then assigned the Graphic EQs to those buses, set them to pre-fade and was done.

At first I must admit I found starting from scratch with the routing on the Pro 1 a bit of a chore, and thought to myself, ‘What’s the point?’ But then I got to thinking, there’s a lot packed into this small console. It’s not just a one-trick pony that would warrant being pre-set. The Pro 1 can access up to 100 inputs, 102 outputs, and process 40 input channels and eight returns with full EQ and dynamics processing, as well as provide mixes to 27 buses. Effectively, the Pro 1 with two Midas stage boxes could handle FOH duties on a dual stage festival setup with 40 input channels per stage and still allow for instant changeovers by simply recalling the next scene. Try that on another 19-inch rack-mountable mixer!

GETTING TO THE MIX

But how could you possibly control those 40 inputs effectively on the 16 faders supplied on the Pro 1? Well, Midas has given that some thought too. While most digital desks use a layers system to get at all the input channels, Midas has a different approach. The faders on the Pro 1 are split into two groups of eight with

BIG TIME RECORDER The Klark Teknik DN9696 is a standalone recording system and as the name would suggest is capable of a massive 96 channels at 96k/24-bit. It is designed for use with Midas consoles so uses the AES 50 protocol. It comes equipped with two internal drives for up to nine hours of recording and is controlled buy a combination of mouse, keyboard and front panel controls.

Klark Teknik’s design brief was to create a simple to use standalone recorder that could withstand the rigours of touring. Standing at 5U high it imposes a hefty footprint.

Front panel space is mostly dominated by four rows of 24 LED ladders for metering. Large backlit transport controls for Stop, Record and Play, plus locate marker controls and some monitoring options round out the front panel. At the rear there is the AES 50 I/O plus all the connections you would expect to find on a computer including Firewire and E-sata drives.

The Klark Teknik GUI is simplicity itself. Everything is very cleanly presented and visible from the one screen.

Channels are viewable in banks of 24 that can be switched via the mouse or front panel buttons situated beside the LED ladder rows. Some Midas thinking is visible on the GUI too, with POP groups and colouring available. In operation, the KT9696 was flawless and rock solid.

Files are recorded as broadcast wav and all in one folder for easy transport to an external drive. With my measly 24 tracks it didn’t even bother to write to its second internal drive! This would be an ideal device for virtual sound checking. In fact at the end of the Music Café TV recording I ticked two preference boxes on the Midas Pro 1, pressed play on the KT9696, and played the last band’s set back through the Pro 1 processing. Very cool indeed! Price: $18,999.

National Audio Systems (03) 9761 5577 or sales@nationalaudio.com.au

the left most fader group designed to be used for channels, and the right, VCA groups. Page buttons are provided beside the left fader group to allow you to access the channels beyond the first eight. Also an Extend button will make the right VCA faders into channel faders if this is your preference. Holding down a VCA Group on the right and selecting channels from the left fader group assigns them to that VCA master, which you can separate be name and colour.

In my case, the most complex band I worked on was a five-piece pop/rock band, so as well as having the usual VCA groups of Guitars, Keys, Vocals, etc, I also set up an effects return on a VCA too. Nothing groundbreaking so far, but here’s the twist; now that I’d assigned all the channels to VCAs, when I selected any VCA it brought only its channel members to the left fader group. So when I selected the Vocal VCA group, my left bank of eight faders only show my six radio mics on inputs 19-24 and all a pretty blue — genius! This is a far cleverer way to access channels than searching down through the main channel faders to find them. And if that’s not enough there are six POP (Population) groups available, which are similar to a VCA’s grouping, just without a fader.

Pressing any of the 16 bus buttons brings them to the faders and a similar function called Collapsed Flip is available so only channels contributing to the selected bus appear on the left faders. There are also eight rotary encoders and eight buttons above the left fader bank which vary in use depending on where you are on the screen. These can also be custom programmed to be whatever you like when in the home screen.

WINDING UP THAT SOUND

I was fortunate in that we had the venue for a full day previous to the show and a common backline between bands. This meant I had the full day to bump in and pull sounds without the pressure of an anxious band and TV producer breathing down my neck. And I must say, it was a pleasure. From the beginning of soundcheck I was impressed. The builtin Klark Teknik DN370 graphic EQs sound great and did an admirable job of sorting out the room resonances.

The Midas mic preamps carry a lot of hype and deservedly so — on drums they absolutely sing. It’s

“

You can wind up the analogue gain for some pleasant harmonic saturation, and then use the digital trim to set your gain structure. Ah, makes me forget I’m on a digital console!

”

the oldest trick in the book for Midas engineers to run the mic pres hot to really hoe into their pleasing saturation. But on a typical digital console it’s not easy to push the mic pre into saturation as gain structures will generally digitally clip the input before the mic pre saturates — they are in effect hard wired and factory set. Midas gets around this limitation by providing both analogue and digital gain stages.

These are available on the same knob with a ‘swap’ button to switch between them. You can wind up the analogue gain for some pleasant harmonic saturation, and then use the digital trim to set your gain structure. Ah, makes me forget I’m on a digital console!

DYNAMIC IN THE DETAIL

As you would expect, the Pro 1 is feature laden but it’s the small details that make all the difference.

EQ-wise — high- and low-pass filters are available with switchable slopes plus a four-band parametric EQ with a choice of four different filter types for the high and low bands. Some of these EQ shapes are derived from past Midas analogue consoles in case

you’re feeling nostalgic. The dynamics section is equal to any task with four different styles of compression available. Gating is as you would expect. All sections contain a button that when pressed brings it to the screen, with well thought out visual representations, the gate graphic in particular makes setting it a doddle. Copy and paste is also well implemented, taking in whatever is currently on screen. If you want to copy one vocal EQ to another channel, press the button in the EQ section to bring it to the screen, press Copy, select the channel you want to paste it to and hit Paste. Being in the channel overview screen means all settings can be copied. ‘Group’ and ‘All’ are available options for pasting to multiple channels.

The effects on the Pro 1 are also outstanding.

The Midas and Klark Teknik link is apparent with a few KT classics featured, such as the DN 780 multi-effects unit and the more recent SQ1 dynamics processor. There are also the usual suspects from delays and choruses, to pitch shifters, reverbs and multi-band compressors.

And the version two software update adds even more. All effects can be used ‘send and return’ style or inserted on channels.

LITTLE GUY, BIG SOUND

Which brings me to the sound. Quite simply, brilliant! You will be hard pressed to find a better sounding console at any price point. Everything about this console oozes quality. From the moment you pull your first kick drum sound everything just feels right. Sure it’s a digital console and there is a learning curve but with your hands on the controls it feels very analogue.

As you sweep a parametric EQ the image is rock solid stable. It never sounds like something is stepped or shifting — no matter what you do. This is in part due to Midas’s 96k internal processing and delay compensation management that keeps everything travelling through the console sample and phase accurate.

I will admit to being a little apprehensive about

doing such a high pressure gig on so few faders but the way the Pro 1 VCAs function makes navigation easy. After working this way I wished all digital consoles did. My only minor gripe?

When I reach for a compressor I would prefer the default setting not to be infinity to 1! And whilst I’m at it, the EQ default Q of .27 is a little sharp for me. Of course if I owned the console I would just change these defaults to what ever I wanted and save a new show file. That’s part of the beauty of the Pro 1 too. It’s incredibly versatile. It’s crazy to think this little rack-mountable mixer can be a 27-send monitor console. If you’re in the market for a high-end console and are not scared by a small footprint, the Pro 1 is a no brainer — two thumbs up!

Racks of onboard gear from sister company Klark Teknik, as well as easy to interpret GUIs make operating the Pro 1 a doddle.

REVIEW

TANNOY VX/VXP SERIES SPEAKERS

Tannoy has paired its Dual Concentric driver design with amplification powerhouse Lab.gruppen, giving a fresh boost to a household name in PA. Review: Mark Woods

Tannoy has a long history that speaks for itself. The name itself outgrew the brand as early as World War II when public address systems colloquially became ‘tannoys’ even though the name is actually an abbreviation of the Tantalum-lead alloy company founder Guy Fountain invented and used to make a solid-state rectifier. Tannoy has done a lot since its inception in 1926, including the long-term development of speakers using the trademarked Dual Concentric driver.

In 2002 Tannoy became part of the TC Group of companies that includes TC Electronic and Swedish amplifier manufacturer Lab.gruppen. A lot of companies are buying up brands to create natural synergies, and with plenty of competing products powered by Lab.gruppen, it makes sense to combine the Swedish company’s amplification dominance with Tannoy’s household name status in PA. Hence the development of the VX/VXP range of professional loudspeakers designed for live sound or installations.

TWO WAYS ABOUT IT

Two-way speaker systems work by allowing the low and high frequencies to be reproduced by drivers that are optimised for the different ends of the frequency spectrum. Woofers move lots of air at relatively low frequencies so they need to be a fair size. Tweeters move less air but they work at higher frequencies where speed and accuracy are more important, so they can be smaller. In most conventional speaker designs the tweeter is placed above or beside the woofer leading to the sound from the two different drivers to arrive at the listener at slightly different times (a distributed source). This produces timesmear where frequencies overlap each other with different amounts of addition and cancellation depending on where the listener is in relation to the drivers. Nasty. The Dual Concentric design sees the tweeter on the back of the woofer with the high frequencies emanating from the centre of the woofer. This solves the time alignment problem by providing a point source that delivers a spherical wavefront that is consistent across the listening area.

Simple and effective. Tannoy has a patent over the Dual Concentric design, but other manufacturers use somewhat similar co-axial designs and I’m surprised this concept is not used more widely.

The VX Series has evolved from the companies now 10-year-old V Series speakers and it’s aimed at the professional portable/installation market. The range consists of 10 passive speakers, with Dual Concentric drivers, ranging from five-inch through to 15-inch. Three models (VX5.2, VX8.2, VX12.2) incorporate an extra driver for added low frequency performance. Three models (VX12Q, VX12.2Q, VX15Q) have Tannoy’s new Q-Centric Waveguide that acts like a horn flare and changes the usual conical dispersion pattern to a 75° x 40° pattern.

The Q-Centric Waveguide can be rotated for either vertical or horizontal orientation.

The VXP Series is aimed more specifically at small to medium sound-reinforcement applications and consists of nine models, ranging from six-inch through to 15-inch. The VXP8.2 and VXP12.2Q get an extra driver while the VXP12.2Q and VXP15Q have the Q-Centric Waveguide. The VXP12HP and VXP15HP models have extended power handling abilities. All speakers in the VXP range contain an in-built IDEEA (IntelliDrive Energy Efficient Amplifier) amplifier supplied by Lab.gruppen. These amps feature universal voltage, regulated switchmode power supply, Class D output stage, protective DSP and claim near 90% efficiency.

I’ve been trying the VX12.2Q from the VX series and the VXP8 and VXP12 from the powered VXP series. Manufactured in the UK, both series feature enclosures made from 15mm birch plywood finished in textured black or white paint, with custom colours available on request. This is a good feature, not only could Pink have pink speakers, but clubs could order colours to match their décor, or installations in churches, galleries etc, could get colours that blend in with the surrounds. Black boxes are practical and unobtrusive in night-time venues but, like some middle-aged performers I know, they can be pretty ugly in the harsh light of day.

VXP8

Starting with the smallest speaker I got to try, the VXP8 presents as a conveniently-sized (388x280x275mm), conventionally-shaped cabinet with a rounded, perforated steel grille, with Airnet cloth behind it for protection from flying drinks.

At 10kg it’s not heavy but without any handles whatsoever it’s still a two-handed exercise to pick it

up. The rear of the cabinet has 30° angled panels and if another VXP8 is placed so the angled panels are touching it creates an array with minimal overlap between speakers — handy if you’re using the speakers in an array but it means the speaker can’t be used as a floor monitor (unless the performers are far enough away for the 30° angle to work). Most portable speakers have a 40-45° angle on at least one side for floor use. So it makes the VXP8 a speaker that is either polemounted or mounted using the four M10 yoke bracket inserts, and that restricts it to small FOH duties, possibly sidefills, or installations.

Connections are made towards the bottom of the non-recessed rear panel and the plugs do stick out, inviting accidental damage in some situations. In keeping with its professional focus there is only one line-level XLR input socket, an XLR link socket, a level pot, and a 90Hz HPF for situations where a sub is being used.

LEDs indicate power, signal present and limit/protect. Operating power is supplied via a PowerCon lead and while these make good lockable connections, you’re in trouble if you don’t have one or leave it behind… there’s something to be said for good old IEC kettle leads, and they can be lockable. A handy feature is the universal power supply that will operate with power between 70-250V, 50/60Hz. Beside the power on switch there’s a choice between manual and auto power modes. In the power-saving auto mode the speaker switches itself to standby mode after 20 minutes of no signal.

The sound is the important thing though, and when you fire the VXP8 up you very soon forget that it’s got no handles. The voicing is great; warm and inviting with a surprisingly generous low mid-range for an eight-inch woofer. The specs claim -3dB points at 80Hz and a dog-calling 35kHz. The mids are smooth, detailed and

pleasantly subdued between 2-4kHz, so SM58s don’t bite too much. Compared to the high-mids, the high frequencies are relatively forward and the overall result is a speaker that is firm and crisp on vocals, without harshness. Music playback sounds full-bodied and clear. The VXP8 is also very resistant to feedback; a testament to its smooth frequency response, especially off-axis. I liked the amp too; it’s quiet at idle, delivers plenty of clean power and even at high levels it sounds like it’s operating well within its limits. Interestingly, no figures are quoted for amplifier power for any active speakers in the range, which reminds me of how Rolls Royce used to respond to questions about how much power their

engines developed: “sufficient”.

A lot of the credit for the sound of these speakers goes to the dual-concentric horn, and in many ways it defines the sound of the whole VX/VXP range. The point-source driver delivers a sound that is natural and coherent, with excellent intelligibility. The conical 90° dispersion pattern ensures a listening area that is wide and even through both vertical and horizontal planes. Even the off-axis response is well-controlled and they sound okay right around the cabinet; unlike some powered boxes of this size that want to take off in the low-mids if you walk around the back of the cabinet with a live mic in hand.

VXP12

Next up is the VXP12 and the good vibes continue with a speaker that shares much with its little brother but is bigger and louder. Physically it’s about twice as big (486 x 370 x 360mm) and almost twice as heavy at 19kg. Most of the cabinet is made from the same 15mm birch plywood but the front panel has been strengthened with 18mm plywood. It’s almost the same shape as the VXP8 but with two important improvements: it’s got a handle on the top of the rear panel and a 40° angled panel on one side so it can be used as a wedge. The handle is comfortable and makes it quite easy to carry the speaker in one hand, despite its weight. The angled panel and size of the speaker make it a natural for a foldback wedge. Looking from FOH it’s not as low profile as some wedges but appears just right from the performer’s side, and because of the dual-concentric horn you don’t have to worry about which side the horn is on when you place it on stage. A pole mount is provided for FOH or club use, as are eight M10 flying inserts and eight M10 yoke brackets inserts. The rear panel offers the same controls and connections as the VXP8 but this time they are half recessed.

The VXP12 voicing is similar to the VXP8 with the difference being a little more bite to the horn and low-end that reaches further down, with -3dB for the low end quoted at 70Hz. It’s about 6dB louder too and combined with the floor wedge angle it’s more versatile. I used it as the centre wedge at a medium-level show featuring local performers John Trager and Chooka Parker (of AGT fame) and found it to be clean and stable, even with condenser mics for vocals, and I was able to get good levels without any external EQ. At higher levels it seemed to get unstable right in the middle slightly more readily then the VXP8, and for full rock some external EQ might be needed to extract maximum level. Again it was impressive how the dual concentric design created an even listening area. Moving around in front of the speaker the sound was very consistent; most speakers are beamier on-axis with a noticeable change to the sound when you move slightly off-axis.

The next weekend it was treated to a drive in the country, all the way to Beechworth for the annual Kelly Country Pick, where I used it as a delay speaker for the Friday and Saturday night concerts. These acoustic music events demand nothing but pure vocal/instrumental sounds and the VXP12’s warmth, accurate detail and even coverage was ideal for the event. The VXP12 could be confidently used as a FOH speaker in small venues or as part of a high-powered music playback system in clubs, cinemas or other installs.

VX12.2Q

The VX12.2Q is a big, heavy speaker at 370 x 780 x 360mm and 33.5kg with an internal volume of 59 litres. Inside there are two 12-inch woofers, the top one has the dualconcentric horn, the bottom one is crossed over at 300Hz to provide extra punch in the low end. The VX12.2Q is supplied as a passive speaker with an internal crossover and recommended amp power of 1kW

program. If greater headroom is required it can be re-wired for bi-amped operation. For greater control, or use with sub speakers, the optional Tannoy TX1/ TDX2 controller/crossovers provide high-pass filtering, parametric EQ and a sub-crossover. The TDX2 also includes limiting and delay.

“

The size and weight of the VX12.2Q means some planning is required to move it around. There are handles on the top and bottom of the rear of the cabinet and they’re well placed for a dead lift and carry. For short distances it can be picked up by the top handle and shuffled along. Construction is the same as the powered speakers from the VXP line but I suspect it has more internal bracing as its feels dense and resonance free. On the rear there’s a recessed panel housing two Speakon NL4MP sockets and a barrier strip for connecting the speaker lead.

Designed as either a FOH or foldback speaker the VX12.2Q has a 40° angled panel for wedge use, as well as a pole-mount, eight M10 flying points and eight M10 yoke bracket inserts. It’s too heavy to put on a crappy speaker stand, and I’d hate to drop one of these on a punter, but the larger, heavy-duty stands should be safe enough. I think these are really too big and heavy to be considered for portable, speakers-on-sticks systems and they’re better suited to equipment-supply professionals or permanent installations. The VX12.2Q is fitted with the Tannoy’s newly developed Q-Centric waveguide that gives a dispersion pattern of 75° x 40°. By removing the front grille and loosening the bolts the whole speaker can be rotated so the 75° x 40° pattern is either in the horizontal or vertical plane.

NEED TO KNOW

In use, the VX12.2Q is loud and powerful.

The voicing is similar to the powered versions; surprisingly so considering the powered speakers in the range have in-built amps and DSP. The Q-Centric PRICE VXP8: $2199; VXP12: $2999; VX12.2Q: $3599 CONTACT Audio Products Group 1300 134 400 www.audioproducts.com.au

PROS Sound quality (they’re very good) Quiet operation Rugged build Wide range of shapes and sizes

The Dual Concentric driver design is a winner and differentiates these speakers from the competition

”

waveguide effectively controls the dispersion pattern without noticeably changing the sound quality and the smoothness across the listening area remains.

The bass response is strong and even, though it’s -3dB point is listed at 70Hz (the same as the VXP12) it sounds like there’s more low-end grunt at higher levels. It also responds well to added low frequency EQ, eliminating the need for a sub-woofer in many situations. I used the VX12.2Q as a floor wedge for Renee Geyer at the Castlemaine Theatre Royal recently and combined it with an Audio-Technica AE5400 handheld condenser microphone. Renee wasn’t at the soundcheck, and she has a reputation for being demanding, so I set it up to my ear and hoped she would like it. Before the show we worked

CONS Limited inputs No mic inputs Not cheap

SUMMARY Tannoy’s Dual Concentric driver design is still kicking goals, and is superbly effective for monitor duties, especially with the rotatable Q-Centric waveguide. The pairing with Lab.gruppen makes for some highly flexible active models, though the passive models are still voiced superbly.

out hand signals for more or less volume and more or less reverb in the wedge. The show started and she was singing as if she liked the sound. No signals were received through the first song and none at the end either, so I was hopeful it was good for her. Half-way through the second song I got a smile, the thumbs-up and a mouthed, “Don’t change it.” Chalk one up to the Tannoy VX12.2Q, another happy customer.

CONCENTRIC COOL

There are more speakers from the series that I didn’t try but hearing these three models left me confident the sound quality would be consistent across the range. The Dual Concentric driver design is a winner and differentiates these speakers from the competition. The Lab.gruppen amps in the active models provide plenty of clean power, and because the rear panel acts as a heat disperser, they don’t have cooling fans. So at idle they are quiet both electrically and physically.

The cooling seems effective, in normal use they only get warm to the touch, but I didn’t have them sitting outside all day in the full Australian sunshine. The VX/VXP series are not designed for performers supplying their own sound reinforcement at shows; it’s hard to imagine anyone not enjoying the fidelity but they are probably too expensive (except for cover bands, who always seem to have expensive gear), too heavy and they don’t even have mic level inputs or RCA sockets for iPods etc. They are designed for professional users and installations and for these purposes they will deliver very high-quality sound in demanding situations. Though with the custom finish choices, an all-weather spec available, and five year warranty, many bases are well and truly covered. The frequency response and ‘British’ voicing will ensure great results for live music, voice amplification and music playback without the necessity of extra EQ or processing. Nice one, Mr Tannoy.

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REVIEW

CINEMATIC STRINGS 2.0 STRING LIBRARY

The best tool in the box is the one you have, and Cinematic Strings 2.0 is a jack of all trades for string arrangements, just don’t expect it to filigree.

NEED TO KNOW

Review: Blair Joscelyne

PRICE $492.50 CONTACT Cinematic Strings www.cinematicstrings.com

PROS Quality sounds Well priced Ease of use Can turn off unused articulations

CONS Install required tech support Can’t directly load all strings across keyboard

SUMMARY For a no-nonsense string package that won’t date and sounds great, Cinematic Strings 2.0 is the package for you. If wild percussive and harmonic effects are your bag, you might need to go elsewhere.

Unlike the latest ‘wobble-wobble, yah-yah’ supersaw, a good set of concert hall strings is like a good set of screwdrivers. You can hopefully buy a set that will serve you for many years.

And just like screwdrivers, they shouldn’t date. In fact you would want to be able to rely on them year in, year out as a go-to sonic tool for your more epic works. In a market full of massively adjustable and adaptable soft instruments, today we look at the super simple Cinematic Strings 2.0.

There are no bells and whistles here, just lots of strings. The main question is just how many bells and whistles you need when you’re looking for a string library and does Cinematic Strings 2.0 make the cut? Let’s get Cinematic.

MAKING KONTAKT

Given I’d just been briefed for a TV gig, I decided to put CS2 through its paces on a real composing job. First step was to get the software onto my computer. Cinematic Strings is provided as a direct download that comes in a number of packets. It did take a number of days to download so this is something that potential buyers should keep in mind if they are hoping to buy to use before a deadline. I started downloading on a Thursday and by the following Monday it was still going. I did have a few issues installing the software but tech support got back to me quickly for each issue and eventually with some updated patch files marked ‘Beta’ I had the software loaded into Kontakt and working.

Cinematic Strings 2.0 is a completely re-designed and updated version of the original Cine matic Strings. The library is now directly compatible with Kontakt.

It simply appears as a module with your other Kontakt libraries like Massive and

FM8. This makes it quick, and reliably easy to get to, which is going to be a game changer for a lot of people who are comfortable within the Native Instruments environment. For those that don’t use Kontakt, it is also compatible with the free Kontakt 5 Player available directly from Native Instruments.

ARTICULATING THE KEY

When you open CS2, you are greeted with a good looking, and simple GUI. The interface is super intuitive and about as easy as it gets to navigate. No manuals are necessary here as everything is well laid out and easy to understand. String sections include 1st Violins, 2nd Violins, Violas, Cellos and Basses. When you load a string part, it defaults to the Arco setting with seven additional articulations listed underneath in a stack. The articulations include Arco, Tremolo, Half Trill, Whole Trill, Run Mode, Staccato, Marcato and Pizzicato. Next to each articulation is a key switch for triggering different articulations. There is also a note value inside each key switch icon that denotes

which key on your controller will switch to each articulation. These can be modified to suit your own practice.

Next to the key switch is one of my favourite functions of the GUI — a simple toggle switch that allows you to instantly click off any articulations that you are not using to free up RAM. Only the very hardcore among us would be using all eight articulations at once so this provides a really quick way of getting rid of the ones you don’t need. There are four different mix sliders that provide close, stage, room or a mix. Additionally you can unload individual microphone positions to save additional memory if you are not using them. The string sections play as solo parts with some realistic legato, which can be switched off for polyphonic playing of each part. The biggest knob on the screen is the Hall Reverb which adjusts the mix of how much reverb you want of that part. The reverb sounds rich and warm. And dare I say it; it sounds expensive. There are no other effects or EQ settings but I don’t think they are needed.

SOUND SYDNEY STRINGS

If you are looking for big concert hall strings then Cinematic Strings 2.0 is probably all you will ever need for the most part.

Straight out of the box, they quite simply sound amazing.

Recorded in Sydney with a selection of world class players there are ample mix opportunities within the interface to create a huge range of sounds. If you are looking for some intimate, right in your face solo instruments though, then this is not for you.

There are no solo instruments, and no glissandi, no harmonics, or string effects like extended techniques, string breaks or percussive effects. While this may sound like a huge chunk is missing compared to some other more comprehensive string libraries, the question you need to ask yourself is how often you would use this extended palette?

While these more esoteric sounds do make up a larger picture of what strings are capable of, they probably don’t often find

“

If you are looking for big concert hall strings then Cinematic Strings 2.0 is probably all you will ever need

”

their way onto TV scores and computer games enough to warrant the price of a much more expensive package. For the purpose of this review I used Cinematic Strings 2.0 to compose a piece of broadcast music for Foxtel and I did not find myself at any time wishing that there were extra sections included.

One thing that I did wish for was a patch that played ‘All Strings’. I found myself one day with a client on my couch asking for some ideas to be fleshed out in real time and I realised that I would need to load all of the parts, set all of their MIDI input channels to the same input, and then create

a MIDI channel to trigger them all. With the limited time I had I went to Vienna Symphonic Library instead because I knew I could play the strings across the whole range. Purists of course will be happy that each section needs to be played and controlled by its own MIDI track but an option to play a whole section across the controller would be really handy.

END GAME

If you are working in the tight turnaround side of the industry on music for TV, advertising or computer games and you need some good quality concert hall strings then for the money you should definitely check out CS2.

If you want to be able to access a huge array of string articulations, reverbs and effects then you may be better off looking at one of the bigger (read: more expensive) libraries. But how often will you use a patch called ‘Violin String Breaks next to Viola’? And do you want to spend 30 minutes tweaking an EQ and endlessly modifying CC data?

There really are no bells and whistles in Cinematic Strings 2.0 — just beautiful sounding strings in a simple GUI at a great price point that works directly within the Kontakt environment.

And let’s just be very clear again, the library sounds stunning. I do think that the lack of some extended features will scare off the composers who feel that they want every single possible variation, but just like psychopaths they only make up 3% of the market. As a full time working composer myself, I just want great sounding strings that are easy to use, and reliable. And

that’s exactly what Cinematic Strings 2.0 does best.

REVIEW

RETRO INSTRUMENTS DOUBLEWIDE 500 SERIES COMPRESSOR The Doublewide brings Retro vari-mu tube compression to the 500 series format, and finally, within reach.

NEED TO KNOW

Review: Greg Walker PRICE $1416 CONTACT Mixmasters: (08) 8211 6211 www.mixmasters.com.au

PROS Great smoothing results on vocals, guitars and bass.

Single/Double switch provides more compression options Stable tone even at extreme settings Tubes can be swapped out for different tones CONS Fast settings a bit too ‘grabby’ for many applications Snare, drum and mix bus don’t seem to translate well No control over compression ratio

SUMMARY A classy vari-mu tube compressor that excels on vocals, guitars and bass, the Doublewide does its best work at medium to slow attack settings and is very transparent in operation. This comp is easy to use and lends subtle power to the lower midrange while delivering bucketloads of smooth control.

OPEN WIDE

Once I started using the Doublewide in earnest I quickly discovered that it has an interesting set of strengths and weaknesses. My main conclusion about this compressor is that it excels at many tasks involving slower and medium time settings but is not so flattering on quicker ones. The good news is that on vocals the Doublewide does pretty much the same magic trick that its much more expensive brethren in the Retro stable do. That trick is a smooth, buttery compression that subtly enhances the lower midrange while retaining clarity and articulation, making the vocal simultaneously shine and nestle comfortably into a mix. In Single or Double mode with the attack and release settings

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Being a variable-mu compressor, the Doublewide topology borrows elements from the company’s Sta-level and 176 designs while not being exactly like either. In particular, the single and double modes behave in a similar way, with single mode utilising fixed ratio characteristics and double mode providing dynamic program-controlled attack and recovery. While Retro encourages swapping out the tubes to achieve various tonal behaviours, the Doublewide ships standard with four self-biased NOS (new old stock) 6BJ6 pentode tubes in its gain stages, fully floating Cinemag transformer input and output circuits and the usual Retro attention to detail with hardwire bypass, meter-zero adjustment and safe power-up circuitry to avoid excess current inrush. Speaking of current, those concerned about the tubes eating into valuable 500 series power headroom need not worry. The Doublewide requires 180mA (6W), well within the two-slot power allowance.

‘NOW YOU CAN COMPARE APPLES WITH APPLES’

Another piece of quality Retro gear has hit the desk, and I’m already rueing the day I have to send it back. The first thing I notice when I went to screw the Retro Instrument’s Doublewide 500 series tube compressor into the rack — other than it taking up two 500 series slots — was that it had its own spring-loaded screws built into the faceplate. It’s a thoughtful innovation that saves rummaging in studio drawers for the appropriate screws and also means the little buggers can’t get lost in transit. Just the kind of throwback build quality Retro is known for.

w

around the medium zone it is possible to compress the vocals by as much as 10dB without encountering anything ugly at all in terms of artifacts — quite a trick, as the signal remains musical, detailed and sweet.

This same trick also works very well on bass and electric guitars where the subtle extra weight and tonal smoothing makes good guitar sounds noticeably better and bad ones more likeable. Ditto for acoustic guitars where I was able to get some very musical pumping happening that reminded me of the good old days of tape compression. The bad news is that on transient-heavy signals like drums and percussion, the Doublewide struggles to deliver the useful results I expected it to. On snare it seemed to emphasise some of the less pleasing harmonics of the attack and body of the drum, while when dealing with drum bus duties it was hard to come up with a setting where the energy and tone of the drums was enhanced meaningfully except at very mild settings where the benefits were extremely subtle. Anything more tended to sound grabby at the faster settings and a bit billowy on the slower times. The Doublewide is definitely not a compressor designed for mashing up drums and/ or program material at fast, high settings. It does not break up easily and when its hand is forced the results are nowhere near as pleasing as something like a JLM or API module. The one exception here is kick drum where a reasonably fast setting did enhance the whallop and punch of the drum without introducing too much edginess or grab.

DOUBLE VISION

While the top-end retro compressors are more capable of aggressive compression effects, the more affordable Doublewide does its best work as a relatively transparent dynamics controller. Its tonal shaping abilities are subtle but nevertheless very sweet, particularly on guitars and bass. Its other great strength is as a centre-stage vocal compressor where the results can be truly compelling while not messing up the original signal’s tone. Phil Moore and the crew at Retro have played to the traditional strengths of tube gear here with the emphasis on power, clarity and high headroom. And while the Doublewide is not the mojo box I had thought it might be, it does deliver smooth, classy results unlike any other 500 series compressor I’ve heard. Well worth a look if your setup needs some polish and transparent control on key elements during tracking or in the mix.

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REVIEW

LINE AUDIO CM3

SMALL DIAPHRAGM CONDENSER MICROPHONE A truly small diaphragm condenser that will fit anywhere, even the tiniest of budgets.

Review: Brad Watts

CONDENSED VERSION

NEED TO KNOW

Physically, the CM3 is scarcely larger than an XLR plug, measuring a mere 77mm in length and 20mm in diameter. The size, combined with a waspish 30g weight lets the microphone be easily placed, and it’s virtually invisible in live use due to the anodised black finish. Disassembly involves unscrewing the screw holding the XLR connector in position and gently pulling the entire assembly (circuit board, capsule and XLR connector) out of the microphone sleeve. It’s a reasonably foolproof design — simple and effective.

PRICE $199 ($249 with shockmount) CONTACT Professional Audio Services (02) 6059 1652 www.paservices.com

PROS Cheap!

Neutral, uncoloured sound Not made in China CONS At this price there are none

SUSPEND BELIEF

Supplied with the two mics for review were a pair of Line Audio’s ‘CMEH’ (I’m guessing ‘condenser microphone elastic holder?’) microphone suspension mounts. These are Line Audio’s design and do a pretty good job of isolating the microphones from their respective microphone stands and Earth.

Designed for the CM3, they will of course accept any 20mm diameter microphones, although larger circumference mics will fit if you remove the inner plastic spacer.

SUMMARY A great sounding small diaphragm condenser that has carved out a place in a packed field. It’s perhaps the tiniest of them all, with the tiniest price. And made in Sweden, not China.

Small diaphragm condenser mics are a standard requirement in anybody’s recording arsenal. Be it for recording acoustic guitar and a multitude of other stringed instruments, the bottom of a snare drum, hi-hats, a ride cymbal, overheads, or stereo micing anything at all — the small diaphragm condenser is a prudent choice. But which ‘SDC’ do you buy? Like most audio wares, there are dozens of choices out there these days.

Do you shell out a few week’s wages for Neumann KM184s, or do you spend less after wading through the sea of SDCs from Rode, AKG, Sennheiser, and countless Chinese rebrands. Personally, I’ve had a lot of success with the venerable Octava MK102 and keep a number of modified units on hand for anything from drum overheads through to acoustic guitar. But there’s been plenty of times I’ve needed a less ‘pretty’ microphone for acoustic guitar and have reverted to a KM184 — a far more ‘neutral’ sounding microphone and certainly one of the best SDC mics available (pending the depth of your pockets of course).

For those on a budget it’s worth investigating a newcomer to the field from Swedish manufacturer, Line Audio. The CM3 is a minuscule small diaphragm condenser microphone with an equally minuscule price tag. You could own a pair of these and still have rent and food money for the week.

Spec-wise the CM3 presents a typical cardioid polar pattern with a frequency response from 20Hz through to 20kHz — the frequency plot is flat between 100Hz and 16kHz (±1dB). The diaphragm will withstand up to 135dB SPL using a full 48V phantom power (clipping at 140dB), reducing to 120dB SPL with only 12V of phantom power (phantom voltage accepted runs from 12 to 52V).

An older iteration of the CM3, manufactured from 2005 until November 2011 could only operate at voltages down to 24V, and also exhibited a boost in the top end starting from about 7kHz. As mentioned, the revised CM3 is virtually flat, and sounds like it too, but we’ll get to that in a moment.

There are no pad or high pass filtering features — what the mic ‘sees’ is what you get. Line Audio have kept to the K.I.S.S. design ethos (keep it simple, stupid)…

A FINE LINE

So how do they sound? As far as sources were concerned all I had the opportunity to record with the CM3s was acoustic guitar and one track of drum overheads. In both situations the mics stood their ground admirably. What’s impressive is the incredibly flat, neutral response from the CM3s — they sound alarmingly natural. What’s more alarming is how these mics perform in comparison with their price. Quite astounding really. For a bit of an ad-hoc shootout I put the CM3, an Octava MC-012 and a Neumann KM184 in front of an acoustic guitar — standard ‘point it at the 12th fret’ mic setup. Often I find the Octavas are too ‘pretty’ for good sounding guitars, but with a slightly lacklustre instrument they can be just right. With better instruments the KM184 will give the best representation of the guitar.

In this situation I used my late ’70s Sigma (read: Japanese Martin). The incredibly flat response of the CM3 actually did a better job of capturing this guitar than the KM184, although the Neumann did have that certain ‘authoritative’ presence about it that only a Neumann can provide (the KM184 does have a slight rise around the 8kHz mark). However, the startlingly neutral CM3 won the day — honest, neutral, real: incredible for a microphone in this price range. Drum overheads did sound great via the CM3s but I went with the Octava MC-012 track as I like what they do to cymbals. But for all intents there was nothing wrong with the CM3 take. In fact, the imaging seemed far superior to the Octava version.

At this price you’d be daft not to add a pair of CM3s to your recording toolbox — regardless of which prestige mics reside in your studio. And for those on a shoestring budget, the CM3 should be your first investment in a versatile, balanced, honest to goodness pair of small diaphragm condenser mics — an utter bargain.

REVIEW

BIGGER BOTTOMS The woofer in the DBM50 has been custom designed. A 180mm moulded aluminium frame houses the 75mm pure aluminium wire voice coil on kapton former driving a single piece thermo-formed MSP cone. A 20 percent increase in the size of the membrane, as compared to the BM5AMkII, seeks to significantly increase bass output.

DYNAUDIO DBM50 NEARFIELD MONITORS

For recordists tied to their tables there’s been a new addition to a famous Danish family; so listen up!

NEED TO KNOW

Review: Andrew Bencina PRICE $1695/pair RRP Expect to pay $1250 Optional remote $125 CONTACT Amber Technology 1800 251 367 sales@ambertech.com.au

PROS Directs sound to ears while maintaining a stable base.

Impressive bass extension for their size Power saving Sleep mode Useful filter settings CONS Prescribed position may not always be perfect for you Tailored design reduces flexibility within evolving environments No front power indicator will see them left on

SUMMARY Dynaudio’s DBM50 may not provide the scale and clarity of vision of larger and pricier models but their fresh approach directly faces up to the needs of the desk top producer. The combination of in-house driver design and cabinet innovation delivers surprising low end to complement the trademark tonal neutrality and fatiguefree experience of which Dynaudio users have grown accustomed.

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PERFECTLY ANGLED? UP TO A POINT This scale example, depicting one of my work environments, shows how the ‘perfect’ angling of the DBM50 strongly suggests its ideal positioning. When you factor in the impact of popular recoil

When you’re blessed with a new arrival from a company that has been designing and manufacturing speakers for as long as you’ve been alive, it’s only natural for expectations to be high. Dynaudio Professional’s DBM50 is the latest addition to its BM series of monitors, a family of studio stalwarts that has taken pride of place on meterbridges for over 15 years.

LEANING TOWER OF POWER

On first glance, the DBM50 appears to be a close cousin to the BM5A MkII, differentiated by one obvious innovation: it leans backwards. The new twoway active monitor is, by Dynaudio’s definition, a ‘desktop’ nearfield. The design of the skewed 18mm MDF cabinet almost entirely eschews right angles in preference for a front-plate that reclines away from the perpendicular by 19 degrees. While the unusual shape reduces internal standing waves, its main advantage is that it focuses the monitor’s projection towards the ears of the listener when placed on any level table surface.

You could be forgiven for assuming this is the only difference between the two smallest members of the BM series. Both are rear ported bass reflex designs bi-

stabilisation platforms, the available desk depth, height and indeed your own dimensions; ‘conveniently’ angled would perhaps be more precise.

amped by 50W RMS amplifiers, feature identically-sized drivers and even share a price point. Yet these similarities belie some significant variations. They do share the 28mm D-281 soft dome tweeter enhanced by a smooth high frequency waveguide aimed at optimising the nearfield sweetspot. However, the woofer in the DBM50 has been custom designed.

A 180mm moulded aluminium frame houses the 75mm pure aluminium wire voice coil on kapton former driving a single piece thermo-formed MSP cone.

A 20 percent increase in the size of the membrane, as compared to the BM5A MkII, seeks to significantly increase bass output. Again while both monitors share a crossover point at 1500Hz, the DBM50 has a much steeper crossover slope at 12dB/octave, and with the 54% increase in cabinet volume the resonant frequency is also a lower 39Hz, as compared to 55Hz. Even with this increase in size the DBM50 is surprisingly light at 7.2kg (a 21% reduction).

REAR VIEW

From behind, the weight loss becomes more easily understood. Unlike all other members of the BM family, there is no rear mounted heatsink. The amplifier’s thermal protection circuit remains although there

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is no longer a light to indicate its engagement.

You’ll obviously hear when it shuts down but it’s worth noting Dynaudio recommends allowing decent ventilation to avoid overheating. If your 27-inch iMac is going to share the desk with these monitors in the corner of a small hot box of a room, you may have issues. The rear panel features both balanced XLR and unbalanced RCA inputs, power switch and an input for a figure-8 mains power cable. Three input sensitivity calibrations are provided and while labelled with names more generally associated with standard audio levels, they are best understood as High (-10), Medium (0) and Low (+4) inputs — don’t get me started! Two power modes are also available for selection via a rear panel switch. ‘On’ is an always on mode, while ‘On/Sleep’ activates a power saving mode which places the unit in standby when no signal has been present for 20 minutes. A wake up lag of around two seconds is present when you restart. This fantastic feature came in handy as with no power LED on the front of the monitors I neglected to turn them off on more than one occasion.

The other main rear-facing feature is a series of filter switches with varying functions. A two position high-pass filter can be engaged when pairing the monitors with one of Dynaudio’s active subwoofers. A low shelf compensates for the effect of placement close to boundaries while

a mid-range notch is intended to minimise the bump created by reflections from a desk. A high shelf is provided for taste and to compensate for ears in different states of ageing. While there’s no question the EQ is a welcome inclusion, its location can be inconvenient when light and space is at a premium. The rear line-up is rounded out with an input for the optional remote ($125 extra).

The single digital control can attenuate a pair of monitors with great precision, maintaining the stereo image in a way that cheaper volume controls cannot. While the remote was not available at the time of this review it’s expected to be available by the time of publication.

WHAT DID YOU HEAR?

After running in the monitors for the best part of a week (apologies to the neighbours) I was struck by two things. Firstly, they sounded like Dynaudios.

Not all that surprising, I grant you, but when you’re more familiar with the larger and more expensive members of the family (BM15A) it’s comforting to recognise a familiar voice. My previous experience has always been of a very neutral sound with little midrange or high end emphasis and the DBM50s were no exception. The second more surprising impression was how much low end these relatively compact nearfields were generating. In some cases they were out-subbing much larger and more expensive rivals. The frequency response suggests that they’ll start to drop away by about -3dB at 46Hz but some experiments with tone generators

suggested that even at normal listening levels they’ll trigger room resonances and rattly windows well below 40Hz, completely dropping away below 30Hz. Now bass is not always a good thing and while I felt confident mixing vocals and tuning spaces within the mix, with some material I found the generous bottom a little much, especially when working on less than solid surfaces. Ultimately I settled in to their sound with the low frequency shelf in the -2 position and was far happier. I tested the DBM50s in their suggested realm on a few different tables as well as on stands and in the alternately suggested horizontal configuration. On really shallow surfaces I couldn’t quite get far enough from the monitors and felt like my head was moving out of the sweet-spot. When you’ve got things right you can move up and down ±10cm and still feel like you’re hearing much the same thing. When on their sides this leeway is significantly reduced. Like all nearfields when you get close and have them angled in towards you the sweet lateral zone can get very narrow.

With their deeper voicing my preference was to employ recoil stabilisers to isolate the monitors from the table surface and tighten up the imaging. With their fixed recline this height adjustment will also impact on how far away you place them.

DON’T TAKE MY WORD FOR IT

When it comes to choosing your next nearfields, the best review will always be your own. Take the time to visit your friendly local pro audio emporium, where I’m

“

They sounded like Dynaudios. When you’re more familiar with the larger and more expensive members of the family (BM15A) it’s comforting to recognise a familiar voice

”

sure they’ve gone to great length to run in all their demonstration units ready for comparison. Bring along a selection of reference tracks that reflect your style of music or production and when you get down to your final choices ask to hear them in a setting that matches home. If you’re working at a desk with a laptop or screen in between the monitors set things up that way at the store’s DAW workstation. After all if you work at a small desk there’s no point just listening on stands at a distance more befitting a midfield selection.

In a flooded nearfield market, Dynaudio keeps its head above the surge by paying close attention to the changing direction of music making. The DBM50 does not so much fill a niche as directly service a demographic that must now constitute the majority of our community. Of course, it’s not a perfect monitor, and for the price it’s unreasonable to hold such expectations, but it will be a perfect fit for many with limited space and no budget for the cost creep of custom furniture, and stands.

REGULARS

LAST WORD with

Don Bartley is Australia’s most experienced mastering engineer.

In his 40+ year career he’s worked on an enormously diverse range of music. Don owns Benchmark Mastering which he now operates from his home base in the Blue Mountains.

Pictured is Don in the early ’80s when the main mastering room at EMI was fully analogue and used for vinyl cutting. Don can be seen pushing the ‘Spiral’ button that resulted in the spaces between the tracks on the vinyl. The console is an EMI-built TG unit as used at Abbey Road. Also pictured, a Neumann lathe remote as well as the Urei 1176 compressors and four Dolby 361s used for noise reduction on ¼-inch masters.

DON BARTLEY

In 1971 I started at the CBS record plant in Artarmon [Sydney]. I joined as a technician but as soon as I saw the wonderful machinery they used for cutting records — the beautiful quarter-inch Ampex tape machines, Neumann and Westrex cutter heads, Neumann lathes, the big beautiful Altec speakers — I said to my boss “can I do that?” I’ve been mastering records ever since.

CBS was pressing overseas product for release in Australia, from labels such as CBS, Warner Bros, Electra, Atlantic, Polydor, Mercury… We would take delivery of a clone of the master quarter-inch tape, transfer it onto the master disc, which was then sent to the galvanic section to be plated with silver and nickel, and made into a stamper to press the vinyl records.

We weren’t allowed to touch the masters. We had no EQ or compressors.

The objective was to get the loudest and safest level onto the record.

Quite often a test or final pressing would be shipped in with the master tape. It was a reference to make sure we were in the ballpark. Quite often we weren’t anywhere near what they were achieving overseas. It turned out we were hearing early mastering/post production EQ and compression and

the results were much nicer sounding than the cloned quarter-inch master.

One day Robie Porter walked into the CBS plant. He’d just finished producing Daddy Cool’s first album and he wanted us to transfer it to vinyl. But he asked for the EQ to be adjusted. And we didn’t have any. My boss um’ed and ah’ed, saying, “we don’t really do that.”

But Robie put his foot down, saying the rest of the world did it. So we grabbed a graphic EQ from the back room.

That’s the first time I tweaked a mix in mastering.

In 1975 RCA was enjoying huge success with ABBA and they installed a brand new Neumann mastering system, including a console, into their record plant in North Ryde. They needed a mastering engineer, and I got the job.

It was a beautiful console with EQ and compression, all in a purposebuilt room with brand new Altec 604 monitors.

ABBA fans were difficult because their home ‘hi-fi’ would be cheap and they’d have a worn stylus. So we had quite a few returns, from jumping needles thanks to too much level. It was a challenge to strike the right balance.

In 1980 EMI took over RCA’s record production and I made the shift to

EMI’s studios in Castlereagh Street.

It wasn’t long after that we heard our first CD. Some Japanese execs came over and we all piled into EMI’s main control room for a listen.

The sound was ‘spectacular’. The noise floor was phenomenally low and the dynamic range was amazing. Then they put on an orchestral recording and I cringed — the strings didn’t sound the way I’d like to have heard them.

In the early ’80s they had to send the master tapes overseas to be digitally transferred to U-matic 1610.

And there was no thought given to the sound. CDs were coming back sounding pretty average compared to the vinyl version. They were using the wrong EQ curve and the CD version was sounding small and lifeless.

In the ’90s I recall remastering Cold Chisel’s first album. I lined up the tape and just played it flat straight off the tape machine. “Wow Don, what have you done? That sounds amazing!” I hadn’t done anything but compared to the original CD release it sounded incredible. Chalk and cheese.

The U-matic was an interesting medium. It was 3/4inch, NTSC, black and white video tape, but the only format at the time that could handle the amount of data required for a CD. When I moved to EMI I had a purpose-built mastering room with a live end/dead end acoustic design — so dead that it was sucking the inside of my head out. By the mid ’80s we had two of the Abbey Road TG consoles. They introduced sum and difference into the patchbay. It wasn’t designed to be used as an effect but when I saw I could EQ the sides or compress the vocal in the centre separately, I loved it. As well as the TG EQ we had Massenburg EQs and a couple of Neve units.

Mastering in a record plant was all about producing enough ‘sides’ to keep the factory running. But EMI understood that client contact was good for business.

Under various owners and managers I maintained

my room at Castlereagh St for 32 years — until Easter this year, when I relocated the studio to my home in the Blue Mountains.

I really want to help people achieve their goals. I’ll ask people to send me a sample of their mix before they master. If there are any issues, I can say, ‘I think you’ve got it close but if you send me the vocals or the bass drum as a separate stem I can sort the issues out I’m hearing’. There’s no point bouncing it back to them to fix — they’re mixing at home or through headphones and their setup won’t allow them to hear the problem. I’ll rebalance it.

The way I work is to pull everything into my system (Sequoia) and upsample if necessary to 88.2kHz/24bit. Then I’ll use all my analogue processing, including my half-inch tape machine. I monitor using my trusty Duntech Sovereigns.

Mastering has gone very heavily online. There’s now competition from people calling themselves mastering engineers, charging $10 a track and doing shocking work, destroying people’s art.

Some people say, “Don’t worry about it Don, it’s only the Australian market.” I do worry. Australian music, to survive, has to compete.

A&R managers and record companies aren’t the gatekeepers anymore, the radio programmers are. If they hear something and it doesn’t hit them between the eyes, they won’t schedule it. That’s death. But if they hear a song and it jumps out and it’s cool, then they will. Very important.

My closing tip? If you’re going to use a professional mastering engineer, don’t use mix bus compression.

Leave it to us, we’ll make your mix ‘loud’ but we have some tricks to retain some life.

SUBSCRIBE & WIN THE SONIC FROG BUNDLE Sonic Frog has put up a whopping, tasty prize for the next couple of issues. It’s a three-part ensemble. First off is a pair of Sonodyne SM100AK two-way active nearfield studio monitors. You may not know this name, but Sonodyne is an Indian-based company that has been manufacturing audio equipment for over 30 years, moving into pro audio in the ’90s. The 6.5-inch Kevlar cone LF woofer, and 26mm silk dome tweeter with integral waveguide have a range from 60Hz-22kHz (±2dB). A perfect fit for studio work, the pair retail for $1399.

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The German-made Palmer DREI is a tone force and perfect for any studio or live situation gagging for flexibility.

Palmer is perhaps better known for its speaker simulators, a bunch of which can be seen driving The Black Keys’ live setup. The DREI is a triple single-ended, Class A amplifier. Basically, it takes those practise amp designs that are perfect for

recording — like the Fender Champ and Vox AC4 — and combines them into a single powerful package. Inside there are three 12AX7 preamp valves, and three output valves — EL84 (Eins), 6V6 (Zwei) and 6L6 (Drei) — that are configured as separate, parallel, single-ended Class A power amps, that you can mix in from the front panel. Suffice it to say, it’s enough tone for any application, you just have to get the hang of German to operate it. The Palmer DREI is valued at $1699.

Finally, Sonic Frog has also thrown in a Palmer AHMCT XL cable tester valued at $89. It tests 4- and 8-pole Speakon, XLR, jack/TRS, cinch and MIDI/DIN cables, as well as RJ45 and USB data cables.

It’s something no engineer should be without. All up that’s a prize pool valued at $3187.

To be in the running to win, subscribe to AudioTechnology magazine and answer the following question.

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