Audio Media April 2014

No. 281 April 2014

www.audiomedia.com

Audio on the Go A guide to high-quality audio for DSLR film production p24 IN THIS ISSUE SHOW REVIEW All the big releases from this year’s Prolight + Sound

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LOUDNESS An update on the current state of broadcast audio loudness worldwide p28

TILEYARD A look inside one of the most exciting studio complexes in London p32

TECH FOCUS Audio Recorders

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WELCOME

April 2014 Issue 281 MEET THE TEAM Editor – Jory MacKay jory.mackay@intentmedia.co.uk Deputy Editor – Jake Young jake.young@intentmedia.co.uk Managing Editor – Jo Ruddock jo.ruddock@intentmedia.co.uk Sales Manager – Graham Kirk graham@gkirkmedia.com Group Head of Design & Production – Adam Butler adam.butler@intentmedia.co.uk Production Executive – Jason Dowie jason.dowie@intentmedia.co.uk Designer – Jat Garcha jat.garcha@intentmedia.co.uk Publisher – Steve Connolly steve.connolly@intentmedia.co.uk Managing Director – Mark Burton mark.burton@intentmedia.co.uk Press releases to: pressreleases@intentmedia.co.uk © Intent Media 2014. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without prior permission of the copyright owners.

Audio Media is published by Intent Media London, 1st Floor, Suncourt House, 18-26 Essex Road, London N1 8LN, England.

Editorial tel +44 (0)20 7354 6002 Sales tel +44 (0)20 7354 6000 Audio Media ISSN number: ISSN 0960-7471 (Print) Circulation & Subscription enquiries Tel: +44 (0)20 7354 6001 email: audiomedia.subscriptions@c-cms.com Printed by Stephen & George, Wales

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I HAD an argument recently with a friend of mine over the quality and merits of a certain film. While I commented on the plot and characterisation, his responses were either “Well [insert review aggregator site name] only gave it 56%”, or “[insert semi-famous film critic] said that the ending wasn’t believable”.

These types of arguments seem to be happening more and more where our own criticisms become just a mere regurgitation of someone else’s thoughts, or worse, facts and figures from review aggregator sites.

It seems to boil down to two fundamental issues. Firstly, a lack of confidence in our own opinions, and secondly, forgetting about the importance of the subjective experience. While the first point is better suited to the realm of psychiatry (and I promise you, I’m no psychiatrist), this second point is one that rears its ugly head over and over in the world of sound. Whenever a new piece of kit is released we argue and

“As a magazine, we regularly have to walk that fine line between being strictly factual and being opinionated and subjective.”

fight online and in person, looking at facts and charts and sound bites from [insert famous producer] who only uses it in his/her studio instead of relying on our ears and deciding subjectively whether or not we personally like it.

Just the other day I had the chance to sit down with Steven Slate, founder of Slate Digital and Slate Pro Audio, among other companies. His products continually put pressure on the status quo of the recording gear community and I asked him about the negative responses he receives after every product launch. He admitted that they don’t bother him as his main goal is to create tools that foster creativity while adding to the democratisation of the recording industry by bringing those tools to people at all levels. For Steven, it seems that the worth of the kit comes down to each individual’s subjective experience and what they are able to create with it – “If they can make better music with it, I’m happy”.

As a magazine, we regularly have to walk that fine line between being strictly factual and being opinionated and subjective. There’s a responsibility to not only report accurately on the facts and figures, but also to show how gear is being used in real life, because in the end that’s when these things truly shine.

With the massive amounts of releases each month it’s sometimes hard to remember that every product has been made to address a certain issue we might face on a daily basis, not just to add to the coffers of manufacturers.

While we are here as a resource and a knowledge base, it still has to be about your own subjective experience. So get out there and get your hands on some kit.

Jory MacKay, Editor

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CONTENTS

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COV ER

Jerry ways Ibbotson to ex video match hi plores ghw highi qualitth equally res DSLR y cameaudio for ras p 24

>ALSO INSIDE

TECHNOLOGY – NEW AT PL+S ......6 Yamaha reveals the QL Series Midas launches the Pro X console

Show News: NAB............................................................................14

Six new products from Dynaudio

Geo Focus: India....................................................................20 Interview: Red Bull Studio’s Brendon Harding .............50

INDUSTRY NEWS.............................10 Dolby and Avid team up for awards Jungle bolsters staff Game Music Connect returns

>FEATURES Location Recording Masterclass ...22 Will Strauss speaks with several location recordists about capturing sound for TV dramas

Loudness Update .............................28 Kevin Hilton finds out the current state of loudness standards around the globe

Tileyard Studios................................32 Jake Young visits an exciting studio complex in London housing 72 rooms

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>TECHNOLOGY FOCUS: Audio Recorders...............................34 REVIEWS: Featured: Waves: Abbey Road J37 Tape ............................................40 Softube Console 1............................42 RME MADIface XT ............................44

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Sennheiser HDM Pro HD 25 ...........46 Neumann KH 310 A .........................48

ADVERTISERINDEX >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 2014 NAB Show .......................................49 Audio Engineering Society .....................31 Calrec .........................................................15 DiGiCo..........................................................2 Dynaudio Professional.............................17 Genelec .................................................5, 29 IBC ..............................................................47 JoeCo...........................................................8 Lawo .............................................................7

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Mogami ......................................................23 Nugen Audio ...............................................9 Orban ..........................................................11 PMC ............................................................25 Prism Sound ..............................................13 Radial ..........................................................51 Richmond Film Services..........................37 Riedel .........................................................43 RME .............................................................19

RØDE Microphones .................................12 Sony ............................................................27 Stagetec.....................................................39 Studer.........................................................52 Studioking .................................................45 Tascam .......................................................35 TC Electronic ..............................................3 Universal Audio ........................................38

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TECHNOLOGY NEWS

Cadac Launches Two New Hardware Products

CADAC USED Frankfurt to introduce a new version of its CDC four compact digital console – the CDC four, featuring a 6 x 4 matrix – and the M16, a 3U 16-channel mic pre/MADI box.

The 6 x 4 matrix in the new CDC four includes 31-band graphic EQ, compressor/ limiter and delay on all four channels, and 31-band graphic EQ on all aux sends.

The compact digital console has 16 motorised channel faders, high-resolution TFT colour display, and recallable scene memory. Other features include ultra-low distortion EQ filters, analogue sounding compressors, 96kHz 24-bit Delta Sigma A-D/D-A converters, and fourth generation 32/40-bit floating point SHARC processors. It also has the advantage of

being rack-mountable making it suitable for situations requiring up to 56 channels in 14U of rack space.

The CDC four is also designed for recording applications as well as live sound situations.

With 16 Cadac microphone amplifiers in a 19in 3U package, the M16 has a threeway active split per channel with a combined MADI port.

This combination makes the unit suitable for live, broadcast, recording, and more; the integrated MADI interface means that third-party digital consoles can upgrade their inputs with the Cadac preamp.

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Midas Announces 271-channel PRO X

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MIDAS REVEALED the new PRO X, which the company claims is the world’s most powerful live mixing console. The Neutron engine is capable of up to 800 audio channels, which can be routed on a point-to-point basis, with the ability to change the routing even on individual automation scenes.

On its own, the PRO X provides 168 inputs and 99 mix or 103 output channels simultaneously on a control surface that measures less than 60in wide. AES50 digital audio connectivity allows scalability for up to 288 network inputs and 294 network outputs.

Integration comes via IP-compliant third-party audio networks, such as Audinate Dante and Cirrus Logic CobraNet, using the Klark Teknik DN9650 Network Bridge.

PRO X features 99 mix busses that can be simultaneously displayed as 24 mono or stereo mixes on the console surface. Each of the displayed mixes has its own LCD select switch with RGB colour coding and scribble strips – plus 11-segment LED bargraph metering.

The powerhouse behind the PRO X system is the new Neutron Audio System Engine. FPGA and MIMD (Multiple Instruction, Multiple Data) architecture delivers more than 100 gigaflops of realtime audio processing, translating into 271 simultaneous processing channels at 96kHz and 40-bit floating-point operation.

Visiting engineers can prepare shows in advance of their arrival, either using another Midas console or the Apple Mac OS X Offline Editor software. Show files are forward and backward compatible, so shows created on the user’s Midas PRO Series console work exactly the same on any other Midas PRO console.

The Midas PRO X will be available before the end of 2014. www.midasconsoles.com

www.cadac-sound.com www.soundking.com

Audient Unveils Mic Pre AUDIENT SHOWCASED ASP880, an eightchannel microphone preamplifier and ADC. ASP880 features eight of Audient’s console mic pres, two JFET DI instrument inputs, converter technology, variable impedance, and variable high pass filters in a 1U rack mount unit.

Each channel has a balanced insert with direct access to the converter so it can be used as an eight-channel mic pre and a standalone converter.

Much of Audient’s product range was on show too, including the audio interface iD22. www.audient.com

Yamaha Presents QL Series Consoles DURING A packed press event, Yamaha launched a range of digital mixing consoles, delivering the audio quality, processing power, and flexibility of the CL Series, in a smaller size and with local I/O facilities aimed at smaller scale productions.

The QL Series comprises two models: the QL1 and QL5. The QL1 features 16 inputs and eight outputs in a 468mm-wide chassis, with the QL5 32 ins/16 outs, measuring 828.4mm wide. The QL1 has 32 mono and eight stereo input channels, while the QL5 has 64 mono and eight stereo.

Onboard Dante networking allows QL consoles to be integrated into bigger systems 6 April 2014

with Yamaha’s R-series I/O units and CL Series consoles.

A QL console can simultaneously control up to eight R-series units, offering as many as 256 input sources.

A new port-to-port facility gives CL Series consoles access to the onboard connections of QL consoles, allowing them to be used as external I/O. Auto gain compensation can be applied to the QL Series head amps as well as R-series I/O units, allowing two or more

QL and CL Series consoles to share inputs without unexpected level changes.

Dan Dugan’s auto-mixing is provided onboard the QL Series, while audio processing includes the QL Effects Rack and the Premium Rack. Two Mini-YGDAI expansion slots also allow QL Series consoles to add further (external) processing, additional local I/O, and interface with other audio networking formats. www.yamahaproaudio.com

V2 Software For SSL Live Released SOLID STATE Logic made several product announcements in Frankfurt. The company announced the release of V2 software for the SSL Live console, which includes enhancements to the output matrix, effects rack, user interface, routing, solo system, and focus channel, as well as an offline setup application.

SSL also presented a trio of developments for its Duende Native range of plug-ins. The three new plug-ins complement the existing range, with two plug-ins (X-Saturator and XValveComp) designed to bring some analogue saturation and distortion emulation to a digital

DAW and the third (X-Phase) delivering frequency specific phase correction.

Lastly, the company announced its first update for Sigma, SSL’s remote-controlled analogue summing unit. The new software will be a free upgrade and enables all features of Sigma to be controlled from an iPad or iPhone via Open Sound Control (OSC), a protocol that allows communication among devices. www.solid-state-logic.com

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TECHNOLOGY NEWS

New Wireless System from AKG AKG INTRODUCED the DMSTetrad digital wireless microphone system. This licence-free system features an integrated four-channel mixer and an antenna front mount kit.

With 24-bit, 48kHz audio coding, it provides uncompressed transmission and a linear frequency response

for vocal and instrumental performances. The DMSTetrad’s 128-bit AES standard encryption prevents tapping of the audio signal.

The entire DMSTetrad system features the DSRTetrad digital stationary receiver, the DPTTetrad digital pocket transmitter, and the DHTTetrad digital

handheld transmitter, available with AKG’s D5 acoustics or as DHTTetrad P5 with standard dynamic capsule. Two sets are available, the DMSTetrad Vocal Set including the DHTTetrad P5, and the DMSTetrad Performer Set including the DPTTetrad together with a C111 L earhook microphone and the

Powersoft Offers X Series THE POWERSOFT X Series amplifier integrates a system of channel routing, a universal mono, bi, and three-phase balancing power supply, and a fully featured DSP. The X Series consists of two models. The X8 is the largest

8 April 2014

amplifier in the range, boasting eight channels in a 2U chassis, while the X4 features four channels in a single rack unit.

Both models share the same power density, being capable of delivering up to 5,200W at 2 ohms per channel.

The X Series natively supports AES3, two redundant Dante by Audinate digital streams, and analogue inputs, providing up to four different selectable input sources per channel.

The X8 and X4 are suitable for both low and high impedance applications. The modular construction permits the rear input/output connections to feature either XLR/speakON or Phoenix connectors. www.powersoft-audio.com

MKG L instrument cable.

The DSRTetrad receiver can work with up to four channels of audio in parallel which can be mixed down directly to its balanced XLR sum output. The dynamic

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frequency selection (DFS) ensures that only the cleanest frequency bands are selected for the connection between receivers and transmitters automatically. www.akg.com

DiGiCo D2-Rack PROLIGHT + SOUND saw DiGiCo launch its new D2Rack. Designed to support and expand the higher sample rate I/O solutions of DiGiCo’s SD Range, the D2-Rack comes with either BNC or Cat5 MADI connections, allowing it to be used with a number of DiGiCo consoles.

By using the latest convertors found in DiGiCo’s SD Racks, the D2-Rack offers connection at either 48kHz or 96kHz with no I/O reduction.

The D2 Rack is currently available for use with SD8 and SD9 systems. www.digico.biz

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TECHNOLOGY

Six Additions to Dynaudio Family

DYNAUDIO PROFESSIONAL introduced four near-field monitors, mounting solutions, and two subwoofers in Frankfurt. The near-field monitors are the BM Compact mkIII, BM5 mkIII, BM6 mkIII, and BM12 mkIII (pictured); the new subs are the BM9S II and BM14S II. The smaller BM Compact mkIII and BM5 mkIII models feature expanded frequency response and SPL thanks to a combination of improvements including driver design and Class D amplifiers. Each includes an auto standby mode as well as both XLR and RCA input connectors.

The BM6 mkIII and BM12 mkIII have been revoiced and now include Dynaudio’s wave-guide.

Both of the BMS II subwoofers have also been further optimised. www.dynaudioprofessional.com

Trio of Releases from Radial

THE LATEST generation of the Radial JDI Duplex, a two-channel direct box designed for professional touring and studio recording, took centre stage on the manufacturer’s booth.

According to Radial senior engineer Dan Fraser: “The Duplex has gained international stature as the unchallenged champion of the stereo direct box world. So before making any changes, we wanted to make sure that we would retain the flexibility, ease of use, build quality, and of course amazing

sound. We focused on making it smaller for easy handling, incorporating a rack-mount option, and adding a 3.5mm TRS connector for greater flexibility when being used with laptops and tablets.”

The Space Heater, a combination tube drive and summing mixer, and the StageBug SB-7 EarMuff headphone mute was also at Frankfurt.

According to Radial president Peter Janis: “The Space Heater is an eight-channel 12 AX7 tube line amplifier with big fat Eclipse transformers. These combine to produce a huge bottom end. We then added a three-position switch that lets the user select the applied voltage on the tube so that it can be lo-fi, mid-fi, or hi-fidelity, depending on the need.” www.radialeng.com

WaveLab 8.5 Revealed STEINBERG announced a point update to its WaveLab audio editing and mastering software. WaveLab 8.5 includes new file conversion and batch processing, A/B comparison between encoding formats, and implementation of an AAC encoder.

The new automated Watch Folder rendering feature

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applies processing to all audio files dragged into designated folders.

Users can assign tasks, such as dithering and audio file format conversion, to any

number of Watch Folders without having WaveLab open.

WaveLab 8.5 sports the new Encoder Checker plug-in for real-time comparison of codecs and settings along with the introduction of new multi-format rendering capabilities facilitating exporting files to various formats simultaneously. www.steinberg.net

NEWS >>> POST PRODUCTION

Dolby and Avid Join Forces With NFTS DOLBY AND Avid have teamed up to celebrate excellence in sound post production and sound design in student films.

Dolby is launching a new Dolby Award for Best Sound with the National Film and Television School (NFTS) to recognise excellence in sound mixing, sound editing, and sound design in a student short film.

The winner will have the opportunity to present their next feature film at Dolby’s Atmos screening room in Soho where many established filmmakers showcase their movies.

The competition is open to NFTS Sound Design students graduating in 2014, whose short films will be judged by a jury of Dolby’s own sound consultants. All of the entered films will be showcased to industry sound professionals at the state-of-the-art Dolby Atmos screening room in Soho, London, on 9 April where the winner will be announced.

Avid will also use the event to announce the winner of the new Avid Award for Excellence in Sound Design 2014. The winner will receive an Avid Artist Mix, MBox Pro, and Pro Tools 11 along with a pro plug-in activation voucher for their choice of Avid AAX plug-in. This bundle represents over £2,000 of Avid software and hardware.

“This collaboration with NFTS and Avid celebrates new and exciting

talent across the film industry. We hope that the Dolby Award for Best Sound will showcase how innovative sound mixers and editors are using sound to transform the art of storytelling to create the best possible entertainment experience,” said Andy Dowell, Dolby regional director, northern Europe.

Simon Caton, Avid UK professional audio manager, said: “Avid is delighted to support the National Film and Television School and the Sound Design for Film and TV course. We have a long-standing relationship with the NFTS and their alumni and are proud to play our part in the success of their students past and present. Through the sponsorship of this award we look to recognise the achievements of the NFTS and to assist one of their highest achieving graduates in their transition to the professional world of film and television.”

The announcement comes hot on the heels of NFTS sound graduates winning their 12th Motion Picture Sound Editors (MPSE) Golden Reel Award. The Verna Fields Award for Sound Editing in a Student Film was presented to sound designer Ting Li Lim for her graduation animation Robomax (directed by Moayad Fahmi). In addition, alumnus Simon Chase was the supervising ADR editor on Captain Phillips, which won

>>> RECORDING

Neil Young Announces PonoMusic SINGER-SONGWRITER Neil Young released new details of his portable high-resolution audio player PonoMusic at this year’s SXSW conference, which also coincided with the launch of a Kickstarter campaign.

PonoMusic encompasses both an online music store (ponomusic.com) and a playback device (PonoPlayer). The PonoPlayer offers what the company claims is “the finest quality, highest-resolution digital music”, while PonoMusic allows customers to download, manage, and sync their music to PonoPlayer and other high-resolution digital music devices.

The audio technology in the PonoPlayer was developed in conjunction with the engineering team at Ayre Acoustics, who describe their contribution to the PonoPlayer design as including a digital filter with minimal phase (to combat ‘unnatural’, or digital sounding, pre-ringing); zero-feedback circuitry; a highquality DAC chip; and a fully discrete output buffer used to drive the headphones, providing a flat frequency response and wide volume range using ‘virtually any set of headphones’.

“PonoMusic and Ayre have collaborated to achieve a lofty goal – to make the power and majesty of music available to everybody. We are absolutely thrilled to be a part of this project and will always be grateful to Neil Young for changing the landscape of recorded music.” said Charlie Hansen, CEO of Ayre Acoustics. www.ponomusic.com www.neilyoung.com

10 April 2014

The Dolby dubbing studio at the NFTS

the award for Sound Editing in a Feature Film.

NFTS head of sound Chris Pow said: “We are thrilled to win our 12th Golden Reel student award; the NFTS sound courses are now undeniably the best in the world. The school has had long-standing associations with Dolby

and Avid whose systems and software our students use regularly. We are delighted that our students’ talent is being recognised with these new awards, which will help launch their careers.” www.avid.com www.nfts.co.uk

>>> RECORDING

Management Company Launched in Partnership With Miloco PIECES OF 8 Music is a boutique producer and engineer management roster set up by James Morgan to represent the next generation of producers, engineers, and mixers, as part of a new joint venture with Miloco.

With many years’ experience working in A&R, Morgan is said to be well placed to nurture and develop the studio talent that is coming through from the Miloco group. The first four additions to the roster are Darren Lawson, Mark Allaway, Matt Lawrence, and Mo Hausler.

“I’m thrilled to be working with Miloco on this venture as they are such a well-respected and established brand with an unrivalled network of studios,” said Morgan. “As a consequence they consistently attract and produce some of the best engineers breaking through in the industry, which makes them the perfect partner for Pieces of 8. With the support of the Miloco team, I’m confident that it will not only be a successful partnership but will also provide many opportunities for growth and development in the long-term.”

“Pieces of 8 is a great new venture for Miloco to be involved in,” added Nick Young, managing director of Miloco. “As the Miloco family grows we are constantly looking to help further the careers of engineers and producers who come through our studios by offering them further avenues of work.

With the experience James has gained at Universal he is perfectly positioned to help Pieces of 8 succeed.” www.piecesof8music.com

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NEWS >>> EVENT

>>> POST PRODUCTION

Jungle Ramps Up Sound Design Team

SOHO-BASED postproduction facility Jungle has promoted three members of its team, extending the number of engineers at the company to 14.

Lawrence Kendrick, Alex Wilson-Thame, and Culum Simpson (pictured, left to right) will all be taking on the role of sound design engineer, where they will work across a range of broadcast and advertising clients.

All three have worked with

12 April 2014

Jungle since leaving college.

Kendrick and Simpson previously worked as tracklay and assistant engineers while Wilson-Thame has been promoted from an account handling role.

Graham Ebbs, managing director, Jungle, said: “Jungle has long been acknowledged as having the most thoroughly trained engineers in the industry. We are committed to providing opportunities for hard-

working staff and take pride in the fact that not only do we have the best possible team at Jungle, but that our ex-employees now head up the audio departments at some of the UK’s leading post houses and agencies.”

Jungle has also recently appointed Athene Parker as new business consultant.

Parker has over 17 years’ experience in the industry and has had both exec producing and new business roles in the areas of production, music, post, and audio post. She said: “The level of talent and expertise under Jungle’s roof, along with the company ethos and the way they encourage their staff made it a no brainer when they approached me for the role.” www.junglestudios.co.uk

Game Music Connect Announces First Speakers FOLLOWING THE inaugural Game Music Connect conference in 2013, the event returns to the Purcell Room at Southbank Centre, London on 24 September 2014.

The first announced speakers for the 2014 edition include Steve Schnur, worldwide executive of music, Electronic Arts, and composers Garry Schyman, Jessica Curry, and Olivier Derivière.

Co-founder John Broomhall reprises his role as host, while composers Jason Graves and Richard Jacques, and co-founder and composer James Hannigan will return to discuss upcoming projects and participate in presentations.

Hannigan said: “It’s a huge thrill to be back for 2014 and a great honour to have such wonderfully talented, diverse, and influential guests join us for the day. As promised last year, we will be covering the innovative indie game music scene this time around, as well as continuing our focus on blockbusters and the challenges of interactive music.”

Watch this space for more announcements about this year’s Game Music Connect conference. www.gamemusicconnect.com

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NEWS >>> ACOUSTICS

Duke University Builds Acoustic Cloaking Device Research scientist Bogdan Popa worked on Steven Cummer’s team building the acoustic cloak

ENGINEERS AT North Carolina’s Duke University have built the world’s first 3D acoustic cloaking device.

Designed using perforated sheets of plastic the device re-routes sound waves to create the impression that both the cloak and anything beneath it are not there.

“The trick we’re performing is hiding an object from sound waves,” said Steven Cummer, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Duke. “By placing this cloak around an object, the sound waves behave like there is nothing more than a flat surface in their path.”

The technology revolves around the field of ‘metamaterials’ – the combination of natural materials in repeating patterns to achieve unnatural properties.

The device looks like several plastic plates with a repeating pattern of holes stacked on top of one another in the form of a pyramid but has the ability to alter sound waves’ trajectories to match what they would look like if they had reflected off a flat surface.

Because the sound is not reaching the surface

beneath, it is travelling a shorter distance and its speed must be slowed to compensate.

The device works in all three dimensions, no matter which direction the sound is coming from or where the observer is located. While the technology was developed with support from the US Army and Navy, Cummer believes there are further applications for the cloak.

“There’s also the design of auditoriums or concert halls – any space where you need to control the acoustics. If you had to put a beam somewhere for structural reasons that was going to mess up the sound, perhaps you could fix the acoustics by cloaking it.” www.pratt.duke.edu

>>> POST PRODUCTION

Storm HD Invests in Nugen Audio LONDON-BASED postproduction house Storm HD has invested in Nugen Audio’s VisLM and LMCorrect plug-ins.

“Since we manage projects for major broadcasters around the world, delivering loudness-

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compliant audio is a critical success factor,” said Storm HD senior dubbing mixer, Tim Wheeler. “Storm HD provides LKFS, LUFS, and LU loudness metering on its menu of audio services, facilitated by Nugen Audio’s VisLM and

LM-Correct plug-ins.

Working in conjunction with Pro Tools, VisLM, and LMCorrect provide loudnessnormalised audio that seamlessly integrates into our audio production workflow.”

“We use the Nugen Audio

plug-ins as our main mix metering tools in all of our suites, and will continue to do

so for the foreseeable future.” www.nugenaudio.com www.stormhd.tv

April 2014 13

SHOW PREVIEW

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WHAT?

2014 NAB Show WHERE?

Las Vegas Convention Center Las Vegas, Nevada, USA WHEN?

5-10 April 2014 9am-6pm www.nabshow.com

NAB Bets on Pro Audio We cover some of the developments in broadcast sound that you can expect to see when the world’s largest electronic media show hits Las Vegas.

WITH MORE than 93,000 attendees from 156 countries and 1,550+ exhibitors, the 2014 NAB Show will welcome a host of pro-audio technologies through dedicated conference programming and exhibitors. The convention takes place 5-10 April in Las Vegas, Nevada.

NAB will hold the US launch of Merging Technologies’ new Hapi small-format networked audio interface, as well as the the first showing of Pyramix 9, Ovation 5, VCube 5, and the final release version of the CoreAudio Driver for Horus and Hapi.

“As for looking forward to it, I do in a masochistic way,” says Merging’s Chris Hollebone. “Apart from the product launches, there are always a bunch of US friends to catch up with, there will be some cool stuff on the GoPro stand (apart from the cameras), and usually a few parties.

Usual Vegas craziness and typically good weather all help.

“I also expect that AES67 will have a positive effect on the acceptance of Ravenna at NAB, and there might be some more manufacturers joining, which would be nice.”

Studer will be premiering Vista X and Infinity Core for the first major public show in the US. Similarly the manufacturer will be hosting the first US showing of the Soundcraft Vi3000 with Realtime Rack.

At NAB, Fairlight will introduce EVO.Live, a new generation digital 14 April 2014

audio mixing system for on-air and live productions. Jean-Claude Kathriner, CEO of Fairlight, comments: “EVO.Live includes an array of innovations that will benefit customers in terms of productivity gains, reliability, and especially value for money. The intuitive level of customisation of the user interface and its ability to switch between live and post modes will change audio production forever.” iZotope will be presenting its Insight essential metering suite, Nectar 2 production suite, and RX 3 and RX 3 Advanced, which remedy noise, clipping, hum, buzz, crackles, and more.

Fresh from opening its first North American office earlier this year, Nugen Audio will showcase its complete line of solutions for loudness compliance, the new MultiMonitor software for loudness and true-peak monitoring, and a new MXF filehandling option for LMB that allows direct analysis of audio within the MXF container.

Wohler Technologies will feature version 8.3 of its RadiantGrid Intelligent Media Transformation Platform. Version 8.3 enables OTT offerings for formats including MPEG-DASH, HLS, and Microsoft Smooth Streaming, and aids content

producers in meeting the array of target bit rates, resolutions, and frame rates necessary for today’s content delivery.

Other key NAB exhibitors from the pro-audio community include AudioTechnica, Calrec, Cedar Audio, DiGiCo, DiGiGrid, Dolby, DPA Microphones, Dynaudio Professional, Focusrite, Genelec, Jünger Audio, Lawo, Roland Systems Group, RTW, Sennheiser, Shure, Solid State Logic, Sony, Sound Devices, Stagetec, TC Electronic, TSL, Waves, Yamaha, and Zaxcom.

CONFERENCES The six-day Broadcast Engineering Conference features technical papers addressing developments in audio including: ‘AOIP in the Broadcast Plant’, ‘AES67-2013: AES Standard of Audio Applications of Networks: High Performance Streaming Audio-OverIP Interoperability’, ‘AoIP and Undiscovered Country: The Audio is the Easy Part’, ‘Introducing Ethernet AVB Technology in Live Production Environments’, ‘Beyond Basic Broadcast Loudness Compliance’, ‘CALM Compliance Issues’, ‘Loudness Management Is Settled…What’s Next?’, and ‘Loudness vs Speech Normalization in Broadcast’, among others.

The Creative Master Series, which runs from 7-9 April, includes a talk titled ‘In Heroes, We Trust: Building the Soundscape for Captain America: The Winter Soldier’, featuring supervising sound editor Daniel Laurie, sound designer Shannon J Mills, and Marvel Studios’ SVP feature post production Bruce Markoe.

For a full list of NAB conferences visit: www.nabshow.com/2014/sessions/ conferences

AVID EVERYWHERE Prior to NAB, Avid will host Avid Connect, the inaugural event of the Avid Customer Association, a comprehensive initiative designed to provide essential strategic management to the media industry, which was announced at last year’s IBC show in Amsterdam. At the three-day event, which takes place on 4-6 April in Las Vegas, Avid will introduce what it claims is the industry’s most open, integrated, and flexible media production and distribution environment, all guided by Avid Everywhere.

“Avid Everywhere addresses the unprecedented challenges that media professionals are facing, including: the accelerated digitisation of media assets; consumerisation of content creation and distribution; and relentless pressure for operational efficiency,” said Jeff Rosica, senior vice president of worldwide field operations at Avid. “To make Avid Everywhere a reality, we are developing the most fluid end-to-end, distributed

media production environment in the industry, a comprehensive ecosystem that encompasses every aspect of the new digital media value chain.” www.avid.com

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SHOW REVIEW

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The Sennheiser stand featured both a live stage and a recording studio where attendees could try out the new MK 8 recording microphone

Solid State Logic moved from hall 5.1 to hall 8.0 and brought along five of its new Live consoles

Bringing out the Quality Products, press events, and parties – check out some of our highlights from this year’s Prolight + Sound show in Frankfurt.

THE ECONOMIC climate has some in the industry wondering about the future of bigger pro-audio trade shows and this year’s Prolight + Sound brought many of those bedroom critics back out into the open.

Yet if there is a phrase that would describe the general sentiment of most of the manufacturers I spoke with during this year’s show in Frankfurt it would have to be something along the lines of ‘guarded optimism’.

As many of ‘those critics’ noted, Frankfurt is starting to feel the pressure that the rest of the industry is experiencing.

The halls are all still bustling, albeit slightly less busy than in past years (except for on the consistently chaotic public day). This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, however. Audio Media’s diary was filled with back-to-back meetings and the press events all seemed well attended. Smaller crowds don’t necessarily mean a show is losing its appeal, but perhaps instead that the crowd is becoming more refined.

Prolight + Sound as well as Musikmesse are some of, if not the, most important shows for many of the pro-audio manufacturers in Europe. The international press was out in full force and most people I spoke with said that with a few 16 April 2014

less punters wandering from stand to stand they were able to get down to proper business.

The show’s big product releases have been covered

elsewhere in the magazine (check them out on pages 6-9) but here are a few of the key moments from our time in Frankfurt...

AKG Acoustic’s Walter Rühig with the newly launched DMSTetrad digital wireless microphone system Salzbrenner Stagetec Mediagroup held a press conference to announce the arrival of its new digital mixing console, the Polaris Evolution The newly launched Soundcraft Vi3000 made its European debut on the Harman stand

The crowds turned out for Yamaha’s launch of its QL series of digital mixing consoles

DPA Microphones CEO Christian Poulsen demonstrated a number of the company’s products

Dynaudio global business manager Fred Speckeen announced six new products including four near-field monitors and two new subs

>

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OPINION

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Taking it to the Regions Audio Media consulting editor Jim Evans rounds up the international headlines that caught his attention this month.

GOOD NEWS FROM WALES The Pinewood Studios organisation is to set up a new facility in Cardiff. Pinewood Studios Wales will be based at the former Energy Centre building in Wentloog and will form part of the company’s global network. The Welsh government hopes the 180,000sqft complex will generate an estimated £90 million for the economy.

First Minister Carwyn Jones states: “Attracting such an iconic global brand as Pinewood is wonderful news for Wales. This high-profile investment is of significant economic value to Wales while the partnership between the Welsh government and Pinewood offers a priceless opportunity to promote Wales as a world-class location for film and TV production.”

Pinewood and Shepperton Studios have created more than 1,500 films in more than 75 years, including the James Bond franchise and the Carry On series. Wales has already established a name for itself in television and drama production since the official 18 April 2014

opening of BBC Cymru Wales’ Roath Lock studios in Cardiff Bay in 2012.

Programmes such as Casualty, the Welsh-language drama Pobol y Cwm and children’s drama Wizards vs Aliens are made there.

Pinewood will lease the Cardiff building for a minimum of five years from the Welsh government.

However, it is not the first attempt to create a movie studio complex in Wales. In 2008, the multi-million pound Dragon International Studios in Rhondda Cynon Taf – nicknamed Valleywood – was partly mothballed after promising to put Wales at the heart of the UK film industry.

Only one film, Ironclad, was shot at the site. Let’s hope the Pinewood project prospers.

PLASA HEADS FOR BRUSSELS & SCOTLAND PLASA Events has announced that two new PLASA Focus events will take place in Europe during 2014.

The first of these – and the first PLASA Focus to be staged in mainland Europe – will take place this summer, when PLASA Focus: Brussels open its doors in the heart of Belgium’s capital city on 1-2 July.

Having introduced the successful PLASA Focus event model in Leeds, UK, in 2009 and subsequently in various cities across North America, PLASA has long

been aware of the market’s desire for more of this type of event in Europe. The Benelux region was one of the first to be considered for a regional market focus.

Christopher Toulmin, director of PLASA Events, comments: “We have proved over recent years not only that our Focus model really works, but that there is a great desire among the industry for access to more of these affordable, intimate, educational events which allow exhibitors a chance to really engage with a regional market, in a very accessible way.”

The Focus event in Brussels marks the start of a three-year initiative to expand the reach of the PLASA Focus brand in Europe, creating more opportunities for the PLASA community to meet regional audiences, in particular those customers that do not otherwise visit major international trade shows. The second launch event will take place in Scotland towards the end of 2014. We will be there.

IN THE BEST POSSIBLE TASTE We’ve all been either the perpetrator or victim of music snobbery, but new research has shown that it’s not all about taste – in fact, some people are biologically incapable of registering any emotional response to music. A global research team, headed up by scientists at the University of

Barcelona, has found that between one and five percent of people experience “specific musical anhedonia”.

Thousands of university students in Spain completed a questionnaire, indicating how strongly they agreed or disagreed with various statements, such as “when I share music with someone I feel a special connection with that person”, and “I can’t help humming or singing along to music that I like”.

Thirty participants identified as having low, medium, or high sensitivity to music were then selected to listen to a range of music chosen by their peers – from Vivaldi to Simon & Garfunkel – while researchers recorded their reactions using physiological indicators of emotion: heart rate and sweating. Music-lovers showed an increase in both heart rate and skin conductance, the “anhedonic group” had no such response.

Josep Marco-Pollarés, author of the study, says: “It would not be surprising to find people who respond to one genre and not to another – we all have the experience of people who love opera and hate hip hop – but the study reveals that there are people that do not respond to any music.

“All the participants in the three groups had the same sensitivity to reward for other kinds of stimuli – food, sex,

money – and none of them suffered from amusia [a disorder affecting musical perception and recognition].”

WELCOME BACK Woodworm Studios in rural Oxfordshire has refurbished and reopened for business.

The original creative home to Fairport Convention, Jethro Tull, and an early incarnation of Radiohead, among others, Woodworm Studios is under new management, which has upgraded the entire equipment collection and technical installation for the two-building facility. We wish them well.

FINAL WORDS The recent Prolight + Sound extravaganza in Frankfurt was – as reported elsewhere in Audio Media – witness to a mega load of new product releases. And these were accompanied by the usual PR blurbs and releases. Certainly, there were some interesting new products on show, but perhaps the PR people err on the over-kill. Iconic, unique, ideal, award-winning, gamechanging, next generation are just a few of the regular adjectives and descriptions of new bits of kit. But what took this year’s proverbial biscuit has to be the loudspeaker that, according to the PR, is “soon to be legendary”. Thanks for the advance news – we wait with baited breath. www.audiomedia.com

GEO FOCUS INDIA

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To the Beat of Bollywood India’s pro-audio industry continues to thrive thanks to the popularity of locally produced film, TV, and, increasingly, music.

THE SECOND most-populous country in the world, India, produces some of the most consumed content from films to music. While most people outside of the country are well aware of the phenomenon of Bollywood (and Indian cinema in general), the country’s music industry is also starting to grow independently and is dominated by locally produced content both for physical and digital sales.

According to the IFPI’s latest report, India is nearing an all time high with industry analysts believing the country could become a top 10 global market within the next few years.

“The Indian music scene has traditionally been driven by Bollywood, but changing demographics, massive internet exposure to global music trends, and a progressive youth culture are leading to evolving tastes and this

growing market is set to be much more diverse in the future,” commented Mandar Thakur, chief operating officer, Times Music.

One of the biggest drivers for India’s music industry has been the huge uptake in mobile phone subscribers, which now totals more than 900 million. Since 2006, a number of streaming services such as Gaana and Saavn, as well as independent download stores have begun to emerge. Yet, like in most other countries around the globe, piracy is still a big issue with an estimated 54% of internet users accessing unlicensed services on a monthly basis.

In February of this year one of the top-funded music startups, streaming service Dhingana, reportedly shut down due to ‘industry challenges’ including piracy that reportedly costs the industry nearly £2.5 billion every year.

Despite this, India has a long history of protecting its content producers. The Indian Music Industry (formerly the Indian Phonographic Industry) was established in 1936 and is the second-oldest music companies’ association in the world engaged in defending, preserving, and developing the rights of phonogram producers while actively promoting and encouraging advancement of creativity and culture through sound recordings.

The IMI includes members ranging from Saregama India and Universal Music India, to other prominent national and regional labels that represent over 75% on the output of recordings.

As part of its mission to protect the rights of music producers, the IMI has been actively seeking ways to curb music piracy and in the last few years has obtained court orders

directing all internet service providers in the country to block more than 250 illegal music sharing sites.

In the country’s thriving film market, 2013 marked 100 years of Indian cinema and saw the release of multiple big-budget productions.

Three films from 2013, including two sequels (Dhoom 3 and Krrish 3) and one original (Chennai Express) became the highest grossing Bollywood films of all time.

The constant output of both film and, growingly, television, means that there is steady business for audio post-production facilities.

Global post-production powerhouse Prime Focus first started in Mumbai more than 16 years ago and now boasts facilities in London, LA, Vancouver, New York, and Beijing, while independent post houses such as TeamWork Studio continue to expand.

>>> STUDIO DESIGN

Munro India: Meeting Challenges After opening an office in Mumbai seven years ago, Munro India continues to build some of the country’s top recording and post-production studios. We talk to studio designer and acoustic and electroacoustic consultant Kapil Thirwani.

I’ve heard from other sources that no real largeformat recording studios have been built in India in the better part of a decade. How do you feel about the current market for recording studios?

The large-format recording studios are not really coming up because of real estate prices here. If they move out to the outskirts they will be out of business because no one would travel that far thanks to the traffic problems in this country.

The last big format facility we did was last year.

It was for a big corporate group in the jewellery business called Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri who forayed into entertainment. The studio is called ENZY studios (pictured).

Before this was a studio for another corporate – the Sahara Group. The studio is called Studio Nysa and has M4 large-format monitoring and an SSL 9000 K. The corporates started shying away from [building studios] as the engineers and musicians are driving

20 April 2014

the industry and they build their own studios so all the work is done in their facility. Now if they have to record strings or a big band then they will hire these big studios for a week max to get their work done.

The final mix for movies is done in certified Dolby Mix rooms, which only now are being designed properly as Dolby is active in the country and have their checks in place. Before this ‘engineers’ had lovely internet designs that would then be built into horrible sounding rooms by carpenters.

What about post-production facilities?

The big names are Prime Focus and Famous but a lot of Bollywood post production is done in cheap facilities and along very fast timelines.

Television on the other hand I find is more professional and organised. It’s a big market out here for TV. In the 80s we had only two channels and now I would say there are 200 or more. Then there are language versions for the south, west,

north, and east of the country. This country has over 30 languages and they dub for all of them.

Are there any design requests you’ve received that might be unique to the Indian film/music industries?

They pretty much follow the studio design internationally but the Indians listen to their music/mixing loud. The musician/programmer/ music director wants to work on big monitoring so that the producer feels the ‘effect’.

All the mastering is done in the UK or US and these mastering engineers are always complaining about the material levels that they receive.

For television, big, spacious rooms are the norm (heights we get are a maximum of 3m) so we go as big as the room ratios allow. The engineers sit in the sweet spot, the musicians sit directly behind him, and the production house people are all over the studio. www.munro.co.uk

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GEO FOCUS INDIA

POPULATION: 1.2 BILLION

£2.5 billion Cost of internet piracy to the Indian music industry every year

>>> DISTRIBUTOR

Word on the Street Based in the heart of India’s film and music capital, Mumbai, Sound Team has been supplying the country’s pro-audio industry for over 15 years. We talk to company partner Shiv Sood about the current state of the market.

First off, tell me a bit about yourself and your background in the pro-audio industry.

As a youngster I used to visit the music-recording studio my father Daman Sood used to work in and was intrigued by the audio recording process and all the fancy equipment. It was also around that time when the audio industry was moving from analogue tape recorders to DAWs. In 1994, Daman decided to start an audio consultancy and distribution company. I subsequently did a course in audio engineering and decided to get involved in the business of audio distribution. Today we distribute brands like Genelec, SSL, DPA Microphones, Manley Labs, Chandler, Brauner Microphones, Bricasti, Cranesong, Grace Design, Thermionic Culture, and Prism Sound in India.

India is recognised worldwide as a huge producer of everything from films to music. Has this large amount of content production created a healthy market for pro-audio equipment?

The Indian music industry is largely based around music for films and there are very few artists who have successfully launched their own private albums.

But we are seeing a trend over the past two or three years where independent artist and bands are producing music not related to films. I think it’s largely due to better market exposure and good audio gear being easily accessible. Today it really does not cost much to buy your own recording gear and make music. Overall I would say the market has a lot of growth potential going forward.

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Have you seen any trends in technology purchasing in the past few years? Is there anything that could be unique to India?

A lot of our customers are actually investing in analogue gear. Our customers realise that you can get only that far with audio plug-ins. They are looking at high-resolution convertors, summing boxes, bus compressors, etc. Customers today actually want to develop a unique sound of their own by hand picking the pieces of gear in their signal chain that define their sound; and this is not only the big audio studios but even music producers working out of their bedrooms.

In many other countries large-format recording studios are closing as people move to smaller facilities or mobile set-ups. What is the current state of the music recording industry in India?

Large-format studios that have been around for the last seven to ten years are still actually in the market.

We have not seen any of them shut down. But there are no new large-format studios being built. One of the problems has been that the music and film hubs are within the main city and with sky rocketing real estate costs it’s really making them unviable to build any longer. We are seeing a lot of music producers/ mix engineers actually set up their own studio. The situation where you earlier would have a studio owner (investor) and then have sound engineers run the place is literally disappearing. Today the engineers and music producers are investing in setting up their own space.

What about audio post-production?

Audio post-production studios have been doing well as it still demands a facility to be run out of a proper commercial space. Over the past few years we have seen more quality post-production studios being built than music studios. Also there is a fair amount of competition to have the most current production platforms and invest in regular studio upgrades.

Are there any other sections of the market that are experiencing growth right now?

The sound reinforcement market, audio postproduction studios, film mix facilities upgrading to Dolby Atmos or Auro-3D. Cable television has begun to move to HD transmission and have seen some interest in studios and broadcast facilities upgrading to 5.1.

Have there been any significant changes to legislations, regulations, or laws that have affected the industry?

Taxation in India is quite high, which is a dampener to growth. Import duties are around 30% and then you have VAT charged between 12% and 15% across different states. When you consider the Indian rupee has devalued by over 20% against major global currencies over the course of last year and with the addition to these duties and taxes it is making things a bit difficult.

The government needs to rationalise these duties and taxes to help things improve. www.soundteam.in

April 2014 21

BROADCAST FOCUS

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Location, Location, Location Will Strauss speaks to three location sound recordists/ mixers to find out what it takes to make it in the world of TV drama production.

ADRIAN BELL Selected TV drama credits: Merlin, The Seventh Hour Kit: Zaxcom, Lectrosonics, DPA, Schoeps As the production sound mixer on all five series of the BBC’s Merlin, Adrian Bell knows how important audio is to a TV drama, and the magic it can add.

“Sometimes sound is overlooked in the way it can change the way a scene plays out,” he says. “I like to be able to contribute to a project in many ways, not just recording the dialogue and effects, but also coming up with ideas for how a scene can be put together.”

And that doesn’t have to mean adding sound. In fact, less can be more. “Gravity has a really exciting use of just silence,” adds the RTS Award nominee.

A former documentary sound recordist, Bell has now moved into drama and features, working on, among other things, Stephen Poliakoff ’s The Seventh Hour for BBC2 and, most recently, Everest, the Working Title movie about a 1996 climbing tragedy.

He says that he tries to bring a bit of his factual filmmaking experience to the TV drama world: being mobile, using a small sound 22 April 2014

recording kit, and working quickly.

“I can use it [to adopt] a very instinctive way of recording,” he says. “I will always look at a script or a scene and plan it as effectively as possible but generally shots will be created on the hoof and a scene will play out very differently to how it was planned. ” Bell’s kit list is made up of a Zaxcom Deva 16-track recorder and Mix-12 mixer plus Lectrosonics radio mics and DPA personal microphones. His boom mics are Schoeps CMITs with Schoeps CCM 41 small cardioid mics used for planting onto the film set.

To come up with the perfect blend of kit “has taken quite a few years”, he says, not least because manufacturers are constantly improving their products but also because of the increasing numbers of recorded tracks needed these days.

When it comes to dealing with background noise, like all recordists, Bell has his own methods.

“On a lot of TV drama there seems to be a great move away from sound stages and studios,” he explains. “So a lot of our work involves minimising background noise, location atmospheres, and filming between aircraft passes and sirens.”

Dealing with harsh environments, as he did during the Everest shoot, is another challenge, he says. “In Nepal and Italy, where we worked at 10,000ft with an ambient daytime temperature of -20, to keep the kit working correctly, without holding up production, was a huge effort. The trick was to keep the sound rig as lightweight and small as possible.”

BARRY O’SULLIVAN Selected TV drama credits: Foyles War, Kidnap and Ransom, Primeval Kit: Fostex, Sennheiser, Lectrosonics, Sanken, Da-Cappo, Voice Technology With a CV that includes Foyle’s War, Kidnap and Ransom, and Primeval – not to mention the movie remake of The Man From U.N.C.L.E – production sound mixer Barry O’Sullivan knows a thing or two about recoding audio on location.

Starting out as a humble cable man before becoming a boom op and then a production sound mixer he has experienced most drama scenarios and is well placed to pass on the secrets of his craft.

“Patience and perseverance are important,” he says when asked what it takes to excel in this field. “Often we come against a general air of ‘we’ll have to loop this’ from other members of the crew or cast but often problems can be solved and difficult situations overcome with a bit of thought and hard work.”

“Sound is a collaborative thing,” he explains. “I will always communicate with the director during a shoot, and with my team.

We always discuss scenes and the best way to cover them and there

has been more than one occasion when one of my guys will point out something that I haven’t spotted.”

O’Sullivan’s current location setup is based around Fostex recorders with Sennheiser mics on booms, and then Lectrosonics radio mics with a combination of lavalier microphones from Sanken, Da-Cappo, and Voice Technology.

“All of this equipment sounds good, which is the most important thing, and has also proved to be very reliable,” he explains.

When working on a TV drama O’Sullivan is very aware of his place in the team dynamic. As such he makes it his business to speak with the sound editor in advance of the shoot – if time permits – and during post production and constantly observe where the story is going.

“I am always aware of what the shot is and what lens is being used,” he says. “The sound needs to match the picture, or should that be the other way around? Also, knowing what is happening visually means that you can be prepared in case [you suddenly] need a second boom or require a microphone to be planted on the set.”

In an ever-busier world, it will come as no surprise to learn that background noise is the biggest challenge for a production sound mixer. But it can be overcome.

“Physics is a hard thing to beat,” he says. “In interior locations it might mean making sure doors and windows are closed. Or, if they need to be open when we shoot, for cable access, we will block up as much of the gap as possible.” www.audiomedia.com

BROADCAST FOCUS

GRANT BRIDGEMAN Selected TV drama credits: Mr Selfridge, Bert and Dickie, The Accused Kit: Sound Devices, Sennheiser, Schoeps, Sanken, Lectrosonics For BAFTA-nominated sound recordist Grant Bridgeman, there is one defining factor when it comes to location audio.

“Primarily it is about getting clean dialogue,” he says. “Trying to get other sounds can become a distraction. In my opinion it is far better to spend that time stopping a chair squeaking, quieting a door, or perfecting wireless reception.”

It is a manifesto that has served

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him well on TV dramas such as Mr Selfridge, Bert and Dickie, and The Accused (series 2) for which he was up for a sound BAFTA. When it comes to additional audio, there is some creative collaboration, he says, but it’s often down to the sound crew.

“The director may ask for specific wildtracks,” says Bridgeman “But more often it is left to the sound recordist. We will try to get specific things on location that may be hard to replicate in post production such as period cars or atmospheres in characteristic locations. We try to get room tones to help with dialogue editing too but getting the actor’s dialogue is of primary importance.”

As far as kit is concerned, Bridgeman is a Sound Devices man, using a 788T recorder with the CL8 fader panel and CL9 controller. His mic manufacturer of choice is Sennheiser with the MKH60 being used for exteriors and the MKH50 for interiors “purely because of their robust nature”.

A Schoeps CCM41 is also called upon for interior scenes while a Sanken CUB-01 boundary layer mic is “one of the most invaluable microphones” for on-location work.

His radio mics are from Lectrosonics.

When it comes to being a great recordist though, you need more than great kit.

“Clearly you have to be focused on the audio elements of every shot,” he suggests. “But often the bigger role is that of being a diplomat and negotiator. Working with the other departments is absolutely crucial: everyone from locations, through costume to the camera team. All of them can help you if you ask in the right way and at the right time.”

Does it matter to the sound crew how many cameras there are?

Absolutely, says Bridgeman.

“Multiple camera shoots completely change the way you work,” he stresses. ‘‘Two cameras on extremely different lenses – for example, a wide and a tight shot –

mean that it’s not possible to get the tight sound on a boom mic without compromising the wide shot. I always request that we don’t shoot wide and tight at the same time, but that we shoot similar frame sizes. That means we can get the same sound perspective for each image and hopefully get it on the boom mics.”

Preparation can be key, he says, which is why it is important to be involved in recces, but his biggest piece of advice, aimed squarely at the next generation of sound recordists, is “don’t work for free”.

“When starting out, you may feel that a lack of experience means that you can offer a production very little but this is rarely the case,” he says passionately. “Value your worth and all things you bring to the production. [Working for free] doesn’t just undercut more experienced recordists, you undercut yourself because in a few years time when people ask you to do it again, they will want you to do it again for free.”

April 2014 23

FEATURE PRODUCTION

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The Shure VP83F Lenshopper has a headphone output and its own built-in recorder that captures audio at 48kHz/24bit to a micro SD card

Out of the Shadows Audio has always been a secondary consideration behind video for DSLR manufacturers. But is it possible to produce pro-quality audio recordings using a camera? Jerry Ibbotson finds out.

PITY POOR sound. Too often treated like the ugly stepchild of production. While it’s now easier than ever to shoot stunningly good video, with a breath-taking range of hardware, audio still lags behind.

Here’s one example: I recently saw some short documentaries made by local film school students. While these were well shot, perfectly framed and beautifully lit, the audio on some of them was nothing short of shocking. And the common denominator was that the crews were using DSLRs to shoot on.

There’s no question that the development of DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) cameras has been a shot in the arm for video making.

Their great optics and image processing, coupled with their relatively low cost, have brought broadcast- (or cinema-) quality filmmaking to the masses.

But look at the body of a modern, video-equipped DSLR. See that tiny pin-hole just above the lens mount?

That’s the inbuilt microphone. Behind a hole in the body. Okay, so you can open a flap to reveal a mini-jack input for an external mic but where’s the preamp and the AD convertor?

Tucked away inside, in whatever space is left after the designers have finished sorting everything else.

24 April 2014

Hence the students whose films I watched had struggled to get decent sound. They’d either used cameramounted mics that were too far away from the subject or… well I’m not entirely sure what but it sounded bad.

“The problem, in pretty much all instances, is that a camera’s mic preamp is very poor quality,” says John McCombie, a location sound recordist and owner of Pinknoise Systems. This Gloucestershire-based retailer specialises in audio for video and sells a dizzying range of gear aimed at DSLR users. He evangelises about the subject.

“There is always a disparity for customers, as the images are amazing but the audio is less so, particularly when they sit in the edit and have to start to ‘sort’ the issues out with the sound that’s been recorded.

“If the camera is enabled with manual audio record settings the more you wind up the record level, the more the noise floor is exposed and of course you hear the hiss.”

COPING WITH COMPROMISE A lot of these issues stem from the inherent compromises thrown up by hardware that was originally designed for stills photography, with video being a bonus.

“DSLR is a messy proposition. It

“The problem, in pretty much all instances, is that a camera’s mic preamp is very poor quality” John McCombie always has been. You get great quality images and great affordability but the audio suffers. At the end of the day it’s a stills camera with video capability and not a pro video camera with viewfinders and proper audio inputs with phantom power.”

Talking to John sent me on a virtual shopping trip (my favourite kind, as it costs me nothing).

Without going to the expense and complexity of a full-on location recording kit, I wanted to find a range of gear that would raise the bar in DSLR sound.

The first is something I own myself: a RØDE VideoMic. This is a compact condenser mic with an integrated shock mount or Lyre, designed by Rycote. It’s an all-in-one unit that sits on the camera’s hotshoe and makes the crucial leap from using the built-in microphone. It carries its own battery power-supply and has a

super-cardioid pattern to make it relatively directional. There’s an 80Hz high pass filter and a two stage pad (-10dB and -20dB). In use it does make a marked difference compared to the camera’s own microphone/hole in the case but frankly, that’s hardly difficult. But if you want to start with something simple and are on the move, it’s a good option.

Another interesting take on the hotshoe mic is the Shure VP83F Lenshopper. This is a small shotgun microphone with a shock mount that sends a feed down to the camera. But it has a major trick up its sleeve.

Well, a couple actually. Firstly, it has a headphone output. And more importantly, it has its own built-in recorder that captures audio at 48kHz/24bit to a micro SD card. It has manual record level, an LCD menu screen, and a range of user controls that are accessed via a small joystick. This means users can bypass the camera’s dodgy audio circuitry for a main recording and leave it just to capture a synch track.

But if the subject matter (acting talent, interviewee or presenter) is more than a few feet away, they’re not going to sound that great with any kind of camera-mounted microphone. This is the trap that many new filmmakers fall into: www.audiomedia.com

FEATURE PRODUCTION

The R26 portable field recorder from Roland

assuming microphones double as miracle workers. Even alleged pros do it – a number of product review-type videos on YouTube are testament to this. They often sound like they’ve been shot down a well.

McCombie agrees: “Sometimes expectations are overly enthusiastic for the results that can and will be achieved on location. Having a small mic plonked on the camera hotshoe with a presenter talking 15ft away – and sometimes on a main road – well it’s hardly surprising that the results are going to be disappointing.

Another one we often get is customers thinking that a directional mic will miraculously cut out any background noise so they hear nothing but the dialogue. It’s never going to happen.”

Clearly, getting the microphone away from the camera and towards the subject is the first big step to seriously improving audio, along with some way to monitor the sound in headphones (a lot of DSLRs have no headphone jack). You also want the ability to use a range of microphones on a proper ‘pro’ connection.

A quick solution is to use a small recorder with XLR inputs to act as a mixer/recorder. Something like the Roland R26 springs to mind. This could record the audio while feeding a signal from the Line Out or Headphone output to the camera as a guide track.

The problem is most DSLRs only have Mic inputs under their little rubber flap. Plug a Line Level 26 April 2014

connection into there and you’re looking at some very fried recordings.

As it happens, Pinknoise has already thought this through and has produced a cable that attenuates the signal by -25dB. That’s enough for the camera to be able to take it safely, provided you keep the camera’s record level fairly low (which, given the amount of noise in the preamps, is a bonus).

The company produces various versions, including one that splits the output so users can still plug in headphones, so it can offer a quick and cheap solution for those who already own a recorder.

DEDICATED DEVICES How about a dedicated recorder/ mixer, without breaking the bank?

And preferably something that can fit in with the compact DSLR way of working? There are a number on the market, including the excellent Zoom H6 and Fostex DC-R302. These are clearly aimed smack bang at DSLR users – the Zoom has a hotshoe mount while the Fostex fixes to the belly of a camera on its tripod thread. The latter has three inputs feeding to two channels of recording. In overall looks and design it seems very much like certain ‘full size’ mixer/recorders on the market; like a professional bit of kit rather than a consumer-based machine that’s been scaled up. It can even remotely control the SLR (with

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compatible cameras) so recordings are truly in sync.

One other recorder that caught my eye is the Tascam DR-60D. This neat, box-shaped machine has two XLR inputs plus a separate stereo 3.5mm mic/line connection, giving it true four-channel capability. It has HDDA preamps and high-quality A-D converters. On the rear of the case there’s an LCD display, separate gain dials, input selectors, and a range of other controls.

As well as recording to SD card, the DR-60D has a dedicated mini jack Camera Out connection as well as a Line Out with adjustable level.

Both of these mean it is possible to hook up to a DSLR’s Mic Input without frazzling your audio. It even has a dual record Safety Track Mode that records two versions of the audio at different levels and the ability to fire a burst of 1kHz tone at the start and end of every recording, to make syncing with the camera audio track a lot easier. Plus, if the camera does have a headphone output, it is possible to feed that to the Tascam and switch between monitoring what the DR-60 is hearing and what the SLR is.

If you want to leave the audio recording to the camera (and not have to sync up in post) then there are a number of different minimixers designed for DSLRs. Names like Sound Devices and Beachtek sit alongside less familiar brands such as Juiced. The latter makes hardware ranging from a basic preamp box with no phantom power to the fullblown RA-333 Riggy Assist. This American-made rugged metal case,

which screws to the base of the camera, contains three XLR inputs with 48/12V phantom power and low noise preamps. There are proper gain controls, LED level meters, and a headphone connection.

The feed out to the camera is, as you’d expect by now, at Mic Level but the RA-333 goes one step further and is capable of Audio Output Bracketing. This sums the microphone signals to the left channel. The right channel then copies this but at a lower level (around -16dB) so that users have a back-up if the camera overloads the main audio.

Perhaps, as excellent as it is, all this gear is nothing more than a stop gap. Maybe in a few years’ time DSLR camera firms like Canon and Nikon will have upped their game on audio. McCombie isn’t holding his breath.

“Education is the big thing, not only for customers but also with manufacturers. They just don’t understand how sound works and what the expectations of users in the field are. Camera designers don't necessarily need to make the product that different just make what they have better.”

In the meantime, audio equipment designers have already woken up to this gap in the market and a steady stream of new gear is appearing all the time. Of course, there’s no guarantee that those shooting DSLR video will necessarily give audio its proper position in the grand scheme of things. But that’s a whole other story… www.pinknoise-systems.co.uk

The Tascam DR-60D has two XLR inputs plus a separate stereo 3.5mm mic/line connection, giving it true four-channel capability

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Logging Loudness Around the World From occasionally shaky beginnings, the monitoring and control of loudness in television, and now radio, is starting to make itself felt in international broadcasting.

Kevin Hilton rounds up the present situation.

TECHNICAL standards can take some time to come into force and often rely on the will of regulators or even governments, as well as the users, to implement them.

Some countries are more enthusiastic adopters than others, while a few might take advantage of options in the specifications to delay full deployment. The introduction of loudness controls has certainly been staggered around the world, with a global recommendation by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), introduced as BS 1770 in 2006, adapted into more localised standards in different countries and regions.

Europe is covered by R128, developed by the EBU (European Broadcasting Union). While other states in Europe – notably France and Germany – set a date and introduced regulations for all broadcasters from that point (2011 and 2012 respectively), others have taken more time to work out exactly what needs to be done.

The UK is one country where the approach has been more gradual. Not that the subject of loudness has not been taken seriously; BBC R&D was looking into monitoring and controlling discrepancies in perceived volume between different types 28 April 2014

of TV broadcast programming as far back as the 1950s; and in the late 1990s and early 2000s algorithms were developed for the first meters aimed at dealing with the problem.

In 2008 the Broadcast Committee on Advertising Practice (BCAP), part of commercials regulator the Advertising Standards Authority, introduced recommendations for loudness on television advertisements.

While the preferred approach was for facilities to use loudness meters working to 1770, there was also the option for material mixed on peak meters to PPM6.

More recently the Digital Production Partnership (DPP) drew up specifications for programme delivery to the main UK broadcasters, including the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Sky, and BT Sport. R128 was the choice for loudness from the start and while some broadcasters, notably Sky and BT Sport, are using it now, R128 is not yet mandatory. The aim is for that to happen in October this year when broadcasters move fully to file-based operations, or, in the case of the BBC, begin the transition.

“R128 has made a difference but we’re not expecting it all to happen immediately, people need time to move across,” said Kevin

Burrows, chair of the DPP technical standards committee and controller of technical broadcast and distribution at C4, following the publication of version 4 of the specs last September. “Part of the problem is that we’re working with new commissions, which conform to R128, and old or archive programmes, which don’t. The problem will reduce over time and R128 will minimise it but there will always be an issue with not knowing what commercial might follow a drama with a wide dynamic range.”

GETTING THE MESSAGE ACROSS The number of complaints about loudness problems to UK broadcast regulator Ofcom is reported to have fallen considerably, even though not all broadcasters are working to R128. The situation with commercials, once the main cause of anguish for viewers, appears to have changed considerably to the slightly ironic point where some ads have been quieter than the programmes.

There is still some progress to be made in this sector, though. Owen Griffiths, chief engineer at the Jungle group of post-production facilities, who says loudness has been a subject close to his heart since about 2006, acknowledges that

UK post houses producing commercials are still mixing to PPM6. “Video post facilities require that because it’s what the companies distributing the commercials want,” he explains.

Despite this Jungle is equipped with loudness meters; the primary units are from Nugen, while other devices, such as Chromatec and DK, are available to meet specific requests from broadcasters. “At the moment, because there is a fairly nonstandard approach to dealing with loudness for commercials, people have taken their own route so they don’t get reported by Ofcom.”

There is hope that the BCAP regulations will be updated to either come into line with the DPP/R128 regulations or be changed completely to R128. In answer to questions from Audio Media, BCAP’s policy department stated: “Advertising Code 4.7 (Harm and Offence) of the Broadcast Code still applies in relation to noise levels on TV. We’re aware of, and welcome, the DPP’s work in this area and we’re having discussions with them, which might result in the changes to the Code.”

R128 itself is due for an update, which will include the incorporation of further loudness and peak parameters

Florian Camerer, chairman, P/LOUD group

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FEATURE PRODUCTION

into the basic specification.

Florian Camerer, chairman of the P/LOUD group that developed the standard, comments that this process was due to happen “within a month or so” following two meetings in Vienna during early March. The supporting technical documents – 3341, defining Loudness Metering; 3342, covering Loudness Range and loudness normalisation; 3343, describing Production and Implementation; and 3344 for Distribution of Programmes – will be updated after this.

In terms of adoption of R128 for TV, Camerer says “the deployment is still moving fast”. Finland began using the standard last autumn, while this year saw two TV stations in Slovakia and broadcasters in Catalonia following suit.

According to Camerer, Norway is on the way to full take-up, with the television sector set to begin gradual R128 operations before the summer. Among the countries he describes as “gearing up” is Poland, with, he adds, the UK “more and more normalised” due to the DPP specs.

Outside Europe, South Africa started to use the full R128 spec from late July last year, beginning with commercials. “This will be spreading and eventually everything will be R128 in South Africa within a few years,” Camerer notes.

“Hopefully that spreads over the continent.” He has also given training sessions in Venezuela and Colombia, where he says interest was “very high”.

In the US, Congress passed the CALM (Commercial Advertisement Loudness

DK-Technologies’ 7in T7 meter

30 April 2014

Mitigation) Act into law in December 2010 but the power of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to fine broadcasters for loudness transgressions did not come into force until 2012. The technical aspects of the CALM Act are based on ATSC (Advanced Television Systems Committee) A/85, which, like R128, was derived from 1770 but works to the target of -24 LUFS (Loudness unit relative to Full Scale), rather than -23.

Tim Carroll, president of loudness system manufacturer Linear Acoustic, has been a keen proponent of regulation and control. He comments that CALM is “now going about as well as can be expected”. He explains that the initial version had the unintended consequence of sometimes causing more audio processing in the name of compliance. “The newer version largely remedied that by reiterating that there is a +/-1 or 2dB tolerance and that measurements are average and should in fact move around a bit,” he says.

What the legislation in the US did do, Carroll observes, is bring the general topics of loudness and audio quality into the consciousness of those producing sound. “Broadcasters often had limited power to require changes to content and so they ended up heavily relying upon ‘automated’ means to deliver compliance. A machine can make a meter happy but perhaps not the audience. A trained audio mixer can do both,” he adds.

Carroll concludes that people are still learning and getting their footing: “We are making sure to describe that

Tim Carroll, Linear Acoustic

“A machine can make a meter happy but perhaps not the audience.

A trained audio mixer can do both” Tim Carroll, Linear Acoustics loudness is a process and that you cannot just rely on a single device to correct upstream errors and expect the highest quality. There are tools for every step in the chain, and the better it is at each stage, the higher the quality and more natural the compliance.”

During IBC 2013 Linear Acoustic showed its AERO.lite SDI loudness controller, while other leading manufacturers in the field also introduced new products or updated existing ranges. RTW launched a firmware update for the SurroundControl 31900 and 31960 series and is due to unveil a new product during this year’s NAB. New from DK-Technologies was the 7in T7 meter, while Jünger Audio announced it was to develop hardware platforms onto which specific firmware for applications such as loudness can be loaded.

RADIO RAGE As loudness monitoring and control in television becomes more established, attention is starting to move to other areas where inconsistent sound levels have also been a problem. Radio has been a cause for concern in this regard for some time. Not only are there inconsistencies between speech, music, commercials, and jingles, particularly as many stations

now do not have engineers or technical operators running audio desks to correct any lapses on the part of DJs and presenters, but there are the additional problems of output compression and the amount of coding used in digital transmission. Add to this modern commercial music recordings that have little or no dynamic range – the cause of the dreaded ‘loudness sausage’ – and the task of bringing some normalisation to the airwaves looks to be even bigger than what happened in TV. Some pioneering steps have been taken in Norway, where the three DAB digital radio operators, public broadcaster NRK and its commercial counterparts P4 group and SBS, agreed in February 2012 to monitor and report their own and each other’s output for loudness compliance.

This mutual agreement does not involve any regulatory bodies and is based on R128, although working to -15 LUFS rather than -23.

Speaking at last year’s Radio Academy TechCon in Salford, Bjorn Aarseth, a senior engineer with NRK, explained that although R128 clearly specifies -23, radio content is very different from that of TV sound. He added that radio listeners might also need a lower dynamic range. Aarseth observed that radio normalisation was cheap and easy to achieve; under the agreement the three broadcasters monitor each other and, if necessary, complain about something outside the target, which is then corrected by the party concerned. He said this was keeping the listeners happy, at least in meaning there were no complaints about loudness.

Florian Camerer hopes that when Norway moves to full DAB+ transmission and switches off its FM networks the target level will be reduced to -23. He adds that field tests will take place in Sweden this autumn, with all stations – both public and commercial – evaluating R128 for “a few weeks”. He hopes that if that is successful, it might act as a role model for other countries.

Some countries are already

beginning to use loudness normalisation in production during this year, among them France and Germany, while in the UK BBC R&D has been testing loudness monitoring to -23 on the Radio 4 network.

It took some time for broadcasters to get to grips with loudness but now momentum is gathering in radio as well as TV, but there is still a way to go until complete compliance and the point where the home volume control has very little to do. As one industry insider has said, this is the end of the beginning rather than the beginning of the end.

LOUDNESS: THE GLOBAL SITUATION EUROPE

The EBU R128 developed by the European Broadcasting Union has been adopted across the continent with early adopters introducing regulations as early as 2011.

Works towards -23 LUFS. AFRICA

Full R128 spec adoption in South Africa from July 2013 with hope it will spread across the continent.

US

The CALM Act, based on ATSC A/85, was passed into law in December 2010 with FCC enforcement beginning 13 December 2012. Works towards -24 LUFS (rather than -23 LUFS in Europe).

AUSTRALIA

Full compliance of the FreeTV OP-59 standard (derived from ITU BS 1770) was implemented on 1 January 2013. OP-59 recommends a speechbased as well as a universal approach to audio normalisation.

JAPAN

The TR-B32 standard builds on ITU BS.1770-2, which means a relative gate is employed. Target level is -24 LUFS as opposed to -23 LUFS of the EBU R128 standard.

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72 and Counting…

Tileyard Studios

Chase and Status’ MTA Records has made its home at Tileyard

Jake Young gets together with Nick Keynes and Chris Walls to take a look at the ever-growing Tileyard complex.

“HILARIOUSLY I am an ex-creative,” laughs Nick Keynes, who runs Tileyard Studios, a creative hub in London’s Kings Cross. “I used to argue I was ahead of the curve because I had a totally minimalist setup, all in the box.” Opposed to its manager’s former modesty Tileyard Studios has a selection of 72 standard and large-sized studios, hosting the likes of Chase and Status/MTA Records, Gearbox Records, Mark Ronson, Spitfire Audio, and The Temper Trap.

The story of Tileyard is fantastically brief. Off the back of being in late 90s band Ultra, Keynes set up a music production company called Goldust with band mates Michael Harwood and Jon O'Mahony (which still exists today albeit under in-house music company Tileyard Music). O’Mahony has since moved on from the business 32 April 2014

and is now the owner of LA Sound Studios in west London, but three years ago Keynes and Harwood relocated to Tileyard after starting a partnership with property developer Paul Kempe, with the idea to build

a creative community out of an unassuming brick business park.

Tileyard started with 10 rooms and a one-page business plan, and bespoke offerings for clients became very much the blueprint of

the complex. “It wasn’t a getrich-quick scheme but it just about stacked up,” says Keynes, whose job it was to fill the empty space with companies and individuals.

“To this day we’ve never yet built a space, whether it be an

Spitfire Audio founders Paul Thomson and Christian Henson have studios in the complex

office space or a studio space, speculatively.”

Keynes used Studio People to design and build phase one, then brought in Chris Walls (then of Munro Acoustics) as design consultant for the next stage of development, which happened to be an entire floor for British electronic dance music twosome Basement Jaxx. Built by Davies Design & Construction, Walls has since carried out all of the design, acoustics, drawing, project management, and monitoring set-up for every studio at Tileyard and since leaving Munro Acoustics in late 2013, has continued to work with Keynes on studios at Tileyard under the Level Acoustic Design banner. “A lot of acousticians are almost a different species but Chris was like a normal human being,” says Keynes. “From Basement Jaxx onwards Chris www.audiomedia.com

FEATURE STUDIO PROFILE

has designed every single space, and we have really raised the bar.”

Since the not-so-early days (the first 10 studios were built in 2011) the complex has moved onwards and upwards and is currently in phase 15, with every studio still bespoke to its client. The momentum and energy is apparent as soon as you step foot on the property and is now attracting more and more high-profile clients.

According to Keynes, when musician-cumGrammy Award-winning producer Mark Ronson came to him looking for a new space, he wanted to create an environment that felt like it had been at Tileyard forever.

Co-designed by Nashvillebased acoustic engineer Steve Durr, the studio definitely delivered on Ronson’s brief.

Behind the brick wall and plain steel door, the studio’s

black and white checkered tile floors and walls covered in gold and platinum records feel in line with any studio that lived through the golden era of the 60s and 70s.

CONTROL ROOM Ronson’s control room feels equally ‘worked in’, and features an MCI-500, UREI 813 and ATC SCM25ASL Pro monitors, and an impressive offering of outboard including a stereo Fairchild compressor. EMT 140 and 240 plate reverbs are supplemented with stereo reverb sends to the toilet for a ‘toilet reverb’ (which Walls claims gives the classic plate reverbs a run for their money).

A machine room off the back of the control room houses a Studer A800 2in and a Scully eight-track tape machine while the large live room, which is easily viewed

though a massive window in front of the console, contains a serious amount of vintage kit from drums and guitars to amps as well as a separate booth for cabinets, drums, or any other isolation needs.

“The thing that we need to be sure about is that it’s built and designed properly. It’s all about creating a space that you feel good in. This was a really interesting one. It took a while – it was a slower process – but Mark loves what he’s got and hopefully he’ll make some really important records in here.”

Behind another similarly unassuming steel door and up a flight of stairs is the home of MTA Records, the label formed in 2008 by electronic music duo Chase and Status.

Inside is a far cry from Ronson’s vintage-inspired room where a Pro Tools system plays out into a pair of

“We thought that there might have been a saturation point but actually the more you build the more people want to be here. It just feeds itself. It’s a monster.”

Nick Keynes massive, soffit-mounted Genelec 1034As acquired from their previous studio at County Hall when it closed last year.

Traversing the car park and heading up another flight of stairs you’ll find the personal studios of film, TV, and games composers Paul Thomson and Christian Henson, the founders of high-end sample library company Spitfire Audio. If the entirely custom nature of

Tileyard wasn’t already apparent, walking into the Spitfire studios makes it perfectly clear. The two rooms feel more in line with a Soho post-production suite rather than a business park in King’s Cross, with spacious rooms in a red colour scheme and a wild variety of synths, keyboards, and outboard kit sitting on furniture made from reclaimed wood and metal.

The complex has got 10,000ft coming back this year and 30 people on the waiting list. “It shows you there is an audience and I think the more you build the more compelling being here becomes,” says Keynes. “We thought that there might have been a saturation point but actually the more you build the more people want to be here. It just feeds itself.

It’s a monster.” www.tileyard.co.uk

MEET THE DESIGNER Credit: Alicia Light Photography

Chris Walls is an acoustician specialising in the design of music and post-production studios.

How were you retained as a consultant?

Nick approached me in 2011, while I was working at Munro Acoustics to appraise the first few studios that had been built. I was instantly sold on the Tileyard concept and Nick and I ended up discussing how I could get involved in the design and build process. The first studio I designed at Tileyard was for Basement Jaxx at the tail end of 2011 and I haven’t stopped since.

Was the design and layout of the studios based on a template?

Yes and no… Certain aspects of the design have become standardised. For example the isolation shell

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to choose their flooring, fabrics, paint etc, so they can really get involved in giving the studios the look and feel they want. I spend time with each of the clients to try to understand how they work so that I can make sure that the studios work ergonomically.

And a lot of it is down to the room acoustics – these guys will regularly spend 12 hours or more in the studio so they need to be natural-sounding spaces, not oppressive dungeons!

construction I designed for Basement Jaxx worked really well acoustically and was cost-effective, so that has been implemented on the vast majority of studios. But no two studios are the same – they are all different sizes and shapes, and the acoustic requirements change depending on what the studio is used for, so I still start with a blank piece of paper for each studio.

What was it like working with Davies Design & Construction?

It has been really good. I think the first studio was a steep learning curve as they hadn’t done anything quite like it before, but they grasped the concept quickly and have consistently impressed. The site foreman, Justin Martin, has been a phenomenal asset to the project.

Did anyone make requests for tweaks or additions?

A few people have asked for flushmounted speakers, timber panelling, an acoustic enclosure for a projector, things like that. But what is supplied as standard is more than enough for most of the clients.

What was the biggest challenge about the build?

It’s got to be isolation. We’ve got more than 60 rooms in a concentrated area and making sure that they can all operate without disruption from one another is key to the success of the complex. In the most recent phase we built Chase and Status’ and Nero’s studios between Mark Ronson’s live room (below) and The Temper Trap live room (above). It’s not an ideal

How did you create comfortable surroundings?

The guys moving into the studios get

situation and Nick and I discussed it at some length, but I did a lot of testing and a lot of calculations and came up with a solution that works.

You’re now designing under the Level Acoustic Design banner?

Yes, I left Munro Acoustics at the end of last year to start my own company.

I first started at Munro in 2003 as a summer student and worked my way up to principal acoustician, with overall responsibility for acoustic design. I’m immensely proud of the projects I worked on there and it was a very tough decision to leave.

I want Level to be able to provide clients with studios that enable them to thrive in an industry that has changed drastically in the last 10 years. Increasingly that means small yet perfectly formed! I’ve been refining techniques for designing smaller studios for a while now and the studios at Tileyard are testament to what can be achieved.

What projects are you currently working on away from Tileyard?

A lot of my projects are covered by NDAs unfortunately, but it’s quite an exciting portfolio; there is a mixture of private and commercial, music and post production. Hopefully I’ll be able to tell you more once they’re complete! www.levelacousticdesign.com

April 2014 33

TECHNOLOGY FOCUS AUDIO RECORDERS

Expert Witness Development of digital solid state sound recorders may have been slow to get off the mark, but the choices are now numerous across all levels of the market, writes Solid State Sound’s Rodney Wayman.

Rodney Wayman (right) with broadcaster Johnnie Walker, and an Olympus LS-100 Credit: www.jamesmcmillan.co.uk

PORTABLE AUDIO recorders, eh?

Back in the day there was little need for your gym membership because recording on the hoof was combined with weight lifting. Those shouldernumbing mechanical monsters from Nagra and Uher were just so damned heavy. And, boy, did you need the money you saved on that gym subscription – buying a portable recorder in those days was literally an arm and a leg.

That was in the 1980s when/before you were a nipper, and tape and razor blades were king. It’s hard to believe we had to wait until 1994 for the world’s first commercially available digital solid state sound (SSS) recorder to arrive. Developed by pioneering Dutch electronics outfit Maycom, it was quite aptly named The Easycorder.

This comparable lightweight came with 128Mb of internal memory (expandable to 2Gb) and even had a slot to take a 2Gb Compact Flash card. Audio formats were wav, BWF, AIFF, and MPEG II. You could edit on-board and there was even an ISDN option so you could get your recordings where they needed to go.

All in all The Easycorder proved to be quite a compelling wave goodbye to magnetic tape and all its weight and disadvantages.

34 April 2014

But despite this it wasn’t until the early noughties that portable SSS recording really got going. Maycom had followed up by then with its little HandHeld model, on whose design I was a consultant, and pretty well every single national broadcaster in Europe (and beyond) invested in it.

Meanwhile, the then best-known manufacturer of portable cassette tape recorders, Marantz, had not been idle.

The company soon responded with two wav/MP3 devices that became the first ones really to get SSS recorders noticed by the wider marketplace. Its big brand marketing clout made the shoulder-carried PMD670 and handheld PMD660 the industry standards for quite a long while, well into the later noughties – especially the more affordable PMD660, or ‘The Recording Brick’, as it became known.

Pretty well every broadcast journalist and features producer hankered after it.

Since then, of course, the SSS recorder market has developed and matured, and those early portables have now been joined by their rackmounting colleagues. We now enjoy a much wider choice of affordable offerings from many leading manufacturers including: Fostex, Marantz, Olympus, Nagra, Roland, Sony, Sound Devices, Tascam, Yamaha,

and Zoom. And if it’s a field recorder you need, then instead of just the classic over-the-shoulder portable of old, we now have several different form factors to suit varying applications.

Here are just a few: Budget Notebooks are at the entrylevel end of the spectrum – Tascam’s DR-05 and DR-07 Mk2, for instance.

All-in-one handhelds take things a stage further with better build quality and more attention to the quality of the sound of the mic preamps and mic capsules – Sony’s PCM-M10 and new PCM-D100 are leaders here. Then there are XLR handhelds for those who need to use external pro mics – Marantz’s PMD661 Mk2 is just one contender. DSLR recorders like Fostex’s DC-R302 are available for videographers who use digital SLR cameras but need a more capable audio recorder to complement their HD videos. Multichannel options include Roland’s R-44 and R-88; for multitrack there is the Olympus LS-100.

At Solid State Sound we constantly advise on matching the right recording tools to numerous applications. This can range from basic meetings recording in a corporate environment, through one-to-one or one-to-multiple interview situations (like oral history recording and broadcast features production), to courtroom recording, or covert and non-covert recording undertaking by military and security organisations, as well as music recording in education, and a whole host of other types of speech and music recording activities. We are fortunate in being able to offer so many solutions, each of them with their own strengths and at differing price points, but I’d like to focus on a handful, if I may, because right now these are the most interesting options.

If you need a really competent do-itall portable handheld recorder then the Zoom H6 is outstanding. It is primarily marketed as a DSLR audio recorder but it is actually a really

versatile general-purpose recorder. It comes complete with two microphone modules, an X/Y and an MS stereo (you can also add the optional shotgun module if you so wish) plus four XLR inputs (expandable to six) so you can connect your external mics. Moreover, it can record up to six tracks simultaneously. You can even use it as an audio interface with a PC or Mac. Now the H6 sounds fine but what should you get if your principal requirement is audiophile performance combined with an all-in-one form factor? Enter the new high-resolution Sony PCM-D100. Combining stunning on-board microphones adjustable for A/B or X/Y stereo, classleading mic preamps and not only up to 192kHz/24-bit recording formats but also DSD (or 1-bit) format. The PCM-D100 is one for the aficionados, certainly, but there are many recordists with no tolerance for compromise and £700 or so to spend.

But what if you need both a recorder and a mixer in one convenient, light, easy-to-carry form? Well, Roland has two of them: the R-88 eight-channel mixer/recorder/audio interface with up to 192kHz/24-bit capability and the similar but four-channel R-44 that can be built into an eight-channel solution later, if need be.

As you can see, portable sound recording has come far since the days of sore shoulders and spooling tape all over the floor. But what of the future?

Well, SSS recorders can only get better, lighter, more convenient, and even less expensive. Even more features, perhaps, too? If there is one feature that we’d like to see sooner rather than later, it is WiFi onboard.

Then you could stream your recordings straight to your computer without a USB lead. You could squirt it up to Dropbox, say, or your radio station’s Cloud.

It’s already happening in the digital camera market so why not in solid state sound? Come on!

Expert Witness Rodney Wayman is MD of Solid State Sound, which specialises in portable and installation solid state recording systems. For further information and insight into the world of solid state audio, visit the Solid State Sound website at www.solidstatesound.co.uk or call +44 (0)747 830670. www.audiomedia.com

TECHNOLOGY FOCUS

Audio Recorders Considering a purchase of an audio recorder? This month we take a look at a selection of portable and installation devices.

NAGRA AUDIO

AATON

SEVEN

CANTAR-X3

The Nagra Seven is the successor to the Nagra LB, ARES-C, and the ARESBB+ recorders. It can be adapted to a multitude of specific applications depending on the internal options installed. Identical in size to the LB, the Seven offers a selection of internal optional circuit cards to allow it to be adapted according to requirements.

• Two channels, 24-bit, 192kHz A-D/D-A • CompactFlash and 16GB internal micro SD memory • USB 2.0 and Ethernet communication ports • Optional MPEG-1 Layer II audio compression • Optional onboard graphic audio editor • Optional SMPTE/EBU time code or ISDN www.nagraaudio.com

AETA AUDIO SYSTEMS

The same team that created the 10-year-old Aaton Cantar-X2 has designed its successor. The Aaton Cantar-X3 combines the ergonomics of the X2 and its microphone preamplifiers, redesigned to improve filtering and noise level, adding new functionalities. Pre-order sales will start after the 2014 NAB Show for delivery later this year. Aaton claims this machine will be scalable for the next 20 years.

• Optional Audinate Dante IP networking • Machined aluminium casing • Water and dust proof • Faders, knobs, and switches www.aaton.com

4MINX With its scalable and upgradable design and flexible monitoring and routing capabilities, the 4MinX mixer-recorder is described as ideal for almost any situation from TV/film location sound recording to music recording. It is suitable for all types of sound production from standard mono through stereo (X/Y or fully featured M/S) to surround (A or B formats from AETA Audio Systems’ SoundField partnership or double M/S).

SOUND DEVICES 633 The 633 is a six-input mixer (three mic/line XLR inputs and three linelevel TA3 inputs) with integrated 10-track recorder (24-bit, up to 192kHz uncompressed polyphonic or monophonic broadcast .wav file recording, or timecode stamped MP3 recording to CompactFlash and/or SD cards).

Inputs can be individually recorded and assigned any of six output buses, including recordable busses left/right and aux 1/2.

• Two card slots • Sound Devices’ PowerSafe technology • Four-way power supply • Ambient-based timecode generator/reader • All common production timecode rates and modes available www.sounddevices.com

• Six hour operation • Onboard battery • Preamplifiers from AETA Audio Systems • Stainless steel chassis • Carbon fibre polymer casing www.aeta-audio.com

36 April 2014

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TECHNOLOGY FOCUS

ALLEN & HEATH ICE-16D The ICE-16D is capable of the interfacing, converting, and bidirectional streaming of 16 channels over USB or FireWire at 24-bit, 96kHz resolution.

Alternatively, 16 channels can be simultaneously recorded straight to a USB hard drive or memory stick at up to 24-bit 48kHz resolution as a .wav file. Additionally, the ICE-16D has balanced I/O, designed for those using the unit in a studio environment or requiring fully balanced inputs and outputs on AES59 standard D Sub connectors.

• 16 analogue inputs, 16 analogue outputs • Up to six hours of 16 channel audio • Signal present and peak LED metering on each channel • Mono headphone bus for input or output monitoring • Daisy chain multiple units over FireWire www.allen-heath.com

TASCAM DA-3000

FOSTEX DC-R302 The DC-R302 stereo recorder has an onboard three-channel microphone preamp/line mixer designed for use with video-capable DSLRs. Recording stereo audio direct to SD cards, the DC-R302 allows DSLRs to be easily used in field production applications and simplifies the capturing process allowing the camera operator to operate the recorder and camera at the same time.

• Compatible with an off-the-shelf wired remote-control • Three XLR inputs with limiter and high pass filter • 48V phantom power for use with condenser microphones • Microphone out in addition to line out • Headphone monitoring of left/stereo/right/return • Auto slate tone (1kHz/sine wave) function www.scvdistribution.co.uk

Designed for studio mastering and compatible with various choices of recording media (SD/SDHC/CF), the DA-3000 features an A-D/D-A converter and supports sampling rates up to 192kHz (PCM) and 5.6MHz (DSD). The DA3000’s digital circuit features a clock accuracy of 1ppm and low jitter. Tascam has also paid attention to the analogue stages with resistors, a transformer, and an op-amp.

• Burr-Brown converters • Separate transformer coils for digital and analogue circuits • Remote control with computer keyboard or keypad via USB port • Multiple units can be cascaded www.tascam.com

ROLAND SYSTEMS GROUP AR-3000SD The AR-3000SD, the latest addition to the recorder/players portfolio from Roland Systems Group, offers expanded compatibility that includes programmable timers, improved network efficiency, and support for multiple playback and control formats. The AR-3000SD features AES/EBU and supports a variety of audio formats for recording and playback.

• 24-bit recording and playback at 96kHz • SD or CompactFlash memory cards can be used • Optional 4GB SD/SDHC memory card • External control www.rolandsystemsgroup.co.uk

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April 2014 37

TECHNOLOGY FOCUS

JOECO BLACKBOX BBR1MP

JoeCo’s upcoming BlackBox BBR1MP is a 24-channel recorder with 24 mic preamps integrated into its 1U housing. Offering 24bit/96kHz quality and a range of connection options, the recorder is designed for broadcast and location sound recording or for direct, live multichannel performance capture.

Audio is recorded to a USB2 drive in BWAV format for instant repurposing.

• Microphone connection via standard snake or optional 2U breakout panel • Runs off 12V power source • Simultaneous stereo mixdown during recording • Various synchronisation options • Remote set-up, control, and monitoring via JoeCoRemote for iPad www.joeco.co.uk

MARANTZ PMD620 MKII The Marantz PMD620 MKII records to SD/SDHC flashcard media in either PCM (.wav) or MP3 audio formats. The lightweight compact form (62 x 102 x 25mm), ergonomic design, and ease of operation makes it useful for journalists, reporters, programme makers, podcasters, musicians, and sound engineers.

• Built-in stereo condenser microphone array • High contrast, low power draw organic LED (OLED) screen • Selectable recording settings • Retake feature • Passcode protect feature www.marantz.co.uk

ZAXCOM NOMAD Nomad includes 10 analogue inputs with six mic preamps featuring NeverClip inputs. NeverClip is a dual A-D converter design that extends the dynamic range of the Nomad input to 137dB. Nomad contains an integrated Zaxnet transceiver. Via Zaxnet, an IFB audio channel can be transmitted to multiple Zaxcom ERX2TCD audio monitor receivers.

38 April 2014

• Mixer, recorder, IFB transmitter, and time code distribution system • Designed specifically for sound bag use • Three pairs of AES digital inputs with sample rate conversion www.zaxcom.net

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TECHNOLOGY FOCUS

SONY

YELLOWTEC

PCM-D100

IXM MICROPHONE

Sony’s PCM-D100 is a portable linear PCM recorder with 32GB of built-in flash memory.

The recorder operates for approximately six hours 35 minutes when recording in Linear PCM (192kHz/24-bit), or around 10 hours 50 minutes in DSD (2.8MHz/1-bit).

The Yellowtec iXm digital recording microphone is an intuitive, all-in-one tool for reporters in the field. The microphone’s capsule has been designed for high speech intelligibility and low handling noise sensitivity, while an LEA engine provides audio levelling for any recorded source. The iXm’s capsules are twist-off-twist-on exchangeable and offered in cardioid, super-cardioid, or omnidirectional polar patterns to suit varying recording environments.

It records to a built-in SD/SDHC memory card slot as .wav, BWF, or MP2 files.

• Built-in, rechargeable li-ion battery and redundant battery compartment • Total operation time of 16 hours • USB 2.0 port • Record ready – recording, battery, and memory status indicators www.hhb.co.uk

• Compatible with 2.8MHz/1-bit direct stream digital DSD • Record and playback in 192kHz/24-bit linear PCM High Resolution audio • Playback frequency band exceeding 20Hz-25kHz audible band • Includes directional microphone • Recording functionality expresses frequency properties up to 40kHz www.sony.co.uk

OLYMPUS LS-14 Olympus’ LS music range capture and playback better-than-CD quality sound via linear PCM recording. The Olympus LS-14 features overdubbing capabilities, playback speed control that can be set anywhere from 50% to 300%, a metronome to keep flawless time, and chromatic tuner for each musical instrument selected.

•

Dial for fast access to tuner, manual, quick, and smart • ‘TRESMIC’ increases the frequency response range to 20Hz-20kHz • Handles sound pressure levels up to 130dB • New amplifier circuitry to minimise sound degradation • Memory of up to 32GB on SD card or 4GB internal memory www.olympus.co.uk

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April 2014 39

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Waves: Abbey Road J37 Tape

TAPE SATURATION PLUG-IN

Stephen Bennett takes a look at Waves’ recent offering to see how close it comes to recreating the vibe of Abbey Road in the 60s, and what it can offer to today’s productions.

I SPENT most of my early recording life wrestling with tape and tape machines, whether it was expensive reels of 2in Ampex tape – often erasing another band’s precious recordings in the process – or trying to come to terms with the black art of alignment on Fostex’s range of low-cost multi-track recorders. Even when I worked in professional studios, the personal peccadillos of engineers often meant that different set-up procedures or noise reduction systems made moving from studio to studio a sonic nightmare. But when it worked, how it worked! The sound created by the distortion and non-linearities generated when pushing the input levels onto the right kind of tape running through a high-quality machine has been, until recently, unmatched in the digital world.

As computer-processing power has increased though, the eye of audio programmers has swung mercilessly round to shine on that holy of holies – the analogue tape machine.

Israeli company Waves Inc already has a tape emulator on its roster of plug-ins – the excellent Kramer Master Tap. So what does the new boy on the (editing) block, the Abbey Road Studios J37, bring to the world of virtual tape machines?

Anything with the words ‘Abbey Road’ in its name is bound to bring up an image of The Beatles (a quite well known pop combo from the 40 April 2014

60s and 70s) to mind and the J37 under review is based on the Studer multi-track machine of the same model number which was used in the recording of their influential Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album, among others. As you can imagine, the J37 was heavily modified by the engineers at Abbey Road to extend its range of experimental possibilities – it could be made to run at non-standard speeds, in reverse, and could utilise a range of EQ curves.

Waves’ emulation of the J37 features many of these innovations, though it sadly lacks the wheels that made the original tape machine effectively portable!

Installation and authorisation via the Waves licence centre was simple and painless and creates a stereo and mono version – Waves calls them ‘components’ – of the plug-in. The J37 is available in Native versions (AU, VST, and RTAS) and AAX for Avid’s Pro Tools for Windows and OSX. IN USE If you’re a long-time Waves user, you’ll be familiar with the strip of controls that lie at the top of the plug-in screen.

These consist of undo and redo, a button to allow you to swap between two loaded presets (setup A and B,) next and previous preset arrows, a button for copying from slots A to B, a load and save area, and a useful help section.

Below this, you’re presented with a visual representation of

the tape machine itself that I feel takes up rather too much of the plug-in’s user interface – though thankfully you can stop the virtual spools spinning with a click of the mouse. The input and output levels are optimised for the digital recording environment and the manual contains some useful tips on how to use the various parameters in real-world situations.

Emulations of each of the three classic tape formulations that were commonly used with the J37 are available, namely the EMI TAPE 888 from the early 60s, the 811 from the mid- to late-60s, and the 815 from the early 70s. These three choices give you quite a range of tonal colours in themselves and

they all respond differently to the settings of the input level control (you can set the output level to keep the overall gain constant, which is essential for auditioning the effect of overloading the virtual tape machine’s input).

Two virtual tape speeds are available, 7 and 15ips, with the latter setting offering a wider frequency response and lower distortion. The Bias can be set to Nominal or +3dB and +5dB Over Bias – each setting changes the overall tonality and clarity of the processed signal. The modelled track’s settings are used to modify the stereo image of the processed audio and there are informative VU-type meters that provide input and output level

information. So far, so interesting, but the J37 has another trick up its sleeve – it can act as a virtual tape delay.

While I was working recently with guitarist Adrian Lee on a composition by Goldfrapp’s Will Gregory using two valve tape machines, I was reminded how lovely ‘proper’ valvebased tape delay can sound.

The J37 doesn’t disappoint in this respect as it nicely recreates that ‘feedback into noise’ effect that tape is so good at.

It may seem strange to first create an emulation of a highquality tape machine and then add controls to mess up the sound, but when it comes to using the J37 as a tape delay, the Wow and Flutter www.audiomedia.com

TECHNOLOGY REVIEW

Audio Media editor Jory MacKay talks with Waves’ product manager Mike Fradis about modelling such a classic piece of kit.

Those who know their recording history will know the significance of the tape deck emulated in the J37 plug-in, but for those who aren’t sure, what is the importance of this particular unit?

This particular unit is a 1in four-track machine, probably the highest resolution per track you can get in tape machines till this day. It’s the first machine to have both sync head output amps as well as repro head output amps, which enabled the invention of the ADT effect. It is considered to this day to be one of the best sounding machines as it is extremely flat (0.5dB at 20kHz is an astonishing frequency response for tape machines). Lots of the Abbey Road recordings, including Beatles albums, were recorded on this machine.

As for the unique EMI formulas, these are extremely rare and modelling them is probably one of the best legacies Waves can leave behind, as there are virtually no more formulas like these one.

What were your main concerns when designing the plug-in?

A tape machine is a beast with so many sonic variables. I think the main concern was to get it properly calibrated each time you take a measurement to make sure the results are consistent. Also, we took great care in getting the unique harmonic distortion structure.

What are some of the specific sonic characteristics you were trying to capture?

rate and depth controls can add character to the sound – though you can also use these parameters along with Noise (hiss and intermodulation distortion) and Sat (a different effect compared to just increasing the input level) when processing in ‘normal’ tape emulation mode.

The delay can be set to create various types of echo – Slap(back,) FDBK (feedback), and a stereo PingPong – and features linkable stereo level/feedback settings, high pass and low pass equalisation, feedback delay time (up to two seconds), and a button to synchronise the delay to the tempo of your DAW. THE SOUND It would be an almost impossible task to hear how the J37 stands up to the original hardware – unless it was the actual model that Waves had access to of www.audiomedia.com

We recorded test signals we can measure on one, and on the other one we recorded music to make sure what we measure and calibrate in the plug-in results in correct sonic characteristic.

Measurements will get you 80% there, but the last 20%, which are the hardest ones to do, are done by ear – listening and matching.

Well the frequency response is probably the most important aspect of modelling. The frequency response varies according to how hard you hit the machine, and these dynamic changes are hard to model. We also wanted to get the silky high frequencies as well as make sure that the variations in bias change the sonic character of the machine correctly.

How did you go about developing the different tape formulas?

Each of the formulas has a different dynamic range, frequency response, and harmonic distortion it creates. We did the 815 first as this was the flattest formula we had, and once we had modelled it to our satisfaction, we moved onto modelling the 811 and the 888, which is the oldest one.

Getting some clean tape formulas was the key.

“The effect of the J37 is often subtle, but instancing a few of these on several tracks of multitracked drums, does indeed ‘glue’ the instruments together in a way that’s difficult to achieve using other processors.”

Stephen Bennett course! These machines are now ancient and, even if in perfect working order, the combination of changing tape formulations and physical modifications would make any direct comparison fruitless – as would trying to compare the plug-in directly to other makes of vintage reel-to-reel machines. In spite of this, I powered up

my Ferrograph Series 6 and Studer A800 stereo tape recorders and ran some tracks through them alongside the J37 – after I’d spent a few hours cleaning and demagnetising heads and performing alignment, that is. I was pleasantly surprised by what the J37 had to offer – you can make it hiss and wobble like a broken tape machine if you like (instant Frank Zappa!), but you can also dial in something of the ‘warmth’ and compression and other audio artefacts that, ironically, people often used to try to avoid when using tape.

The effect of the J37 is often subtle, but instancing a few of these on several tracks of multi-tracked drums, does indeed ‘glue’ the instruments together in a way that’s difficult to achieve using other processors – apart from using analogue tape, of course!

Lastly, can you tell me about your partnership with Abbey Road Studios?

Abbey Road is a very good partner for our modelling line as they probably have some of the most exotic hardware available, all with a history beyond compare. They help us to make sure each piece of gear we model is maintained properly and they still have one of the original engineers working for them and maintaining the gear in the old, ‘proper’ way. They also help us with quality assurance of the sound aspect and make sure to point out the working methods used with the specific devices we model as well as helping us to acquire all the required measurements.

To me they don’t act only as a partner but also as beta testers of the highest degree. Can you imagine having the option to throw something at 15 top-notch engineers for immediate feedback? It really helps the development process. To sum it all up, Abbey Road is not just a marketing brand partner, but they take a major part in the development and that is the key the great products we create together.

CONCLUSION The J37 brings a set of audio processing options to the table that are not covered by other tape emulators such as Waves’ own Kramer plug-in and the Universal Audio Studer A800. The sound it imparts is more ‘vintage,’ for want of a better word, and the delay section turns it into something rather special. If your musical head is firmly set in the 60s, the J37 should help you some way to creating the vibe of the technology of that era. For the rest of us, the tone shaping on offer and,

especially, the tape delay, will be eminently useful in modern productions. All Waves needs to do now is emulate the smell generated by 52 vacuum tubes heating up and I’ll be on Amazon ordering a pair of loons before I know it!

THE REVIEWER STEPHEN BENNETT has been involved in music production for over 30 years. Based in Norwich he splits his time between writing books and articles on music technology, recording and touring, and lecturing at the University of East Anglia.

INFORMATION Feature set • Created in association with Abbey Road Studios • Includes models of three tape formulas developed

by EMI • Controls for bias, wow, flutter, tape speed, and more • Tape Delay including three different delay types, sync, and LP and HP filter controls www.waves.com April 2014 41

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Softube Console 1

NEXT-GENERATION AUDIO MIXER

Almost a year after it was first announced, ‘the ‘next-generation mixer’ is finally available. Alan Branch finds out if it was worth the wait.

THE SOFTUBE Console 1 is finally here! Launched at the 2013 Musikmesse show its concept of console hardware mixing for DAWs was an instant hit. The Console 1 is labelled as ‘The Next Generation Mixer’, an answer for those missing the hands-on workflow and analogue sound since moving from a traditional large console to mixing in the box (ITB).

The idea behind it is to emulate a single SSL channel strip by providing both the physical knobs of an analogue console as well as its sound all for your DAW. The Console 1 is not limited to the SSL, however, as it can also load other Softube plug-ins for each of the three main Shape, EQ, and Compressor sections.

The Console 1 hardware is a 427 x 186 x 52mm heavy, wellbuilt metal unit, wedge shaped so the top surface slopes towards you as a desk would. It has 26 smooth endless rotary encoders (pots), and 39 momentary button switches.

These are supported by LEDs under the surface, arranged across five sections: Input, Shape, Equalizer, Compressor, and Output. (While slightly irrelevant, personally I find it a shame that a British SSL emulation has Equaliser spelt with a ‘z’). These sections correspond to a fabulous large on-screen display that is linked to the Console 1 plug-in DAW software. This includes Softube’s SSL 4000 E channel strip emulation with a few innovative enhancements called Drive and Shape control (the SSL channel is the first in a row of channel strips that will be available for the Console 1).

OVERVIEW The Console 1 supports VST2, VST3, AAX, and Audio Unit formats. After running the latest Softube 42 April 2014

installer, which covers all of its plug-ins, connecting the unit is simply a case of plugging in a USB lead. Like other console emulations there is the tricky case of adding the Console 1 plug-in to the first slot on each channel in your DAW, then every channel gets the same analogue ‘glue’ sound. It’s easier to start with a preset template as adding them to an existing project can be time consuming.

Operating the Console 1 hardware is now linked to your DAW channels, with track selection along the top of the unit for quick recall of any track. There are 20 momentary track selection switches labelled 1-20 and 21-40 switched via two page up and down switches (although there is no limit to the amount of tracks).

Display switches on the Console 1 bring up a large onscreen floating display, showing all of the different section

“The only way to really see the power of the Console 1 is in a full mix and this is where the whole concept shines.”

Alan Branch parameters and levels, and a well laid out meter bridge. This is then linked to the DAW plug-in. Applying adjustments in any of the five sections show up beautifully – adjusting a gate, applying EQ, or pushing some dynamics with the compressor is really well displayed but operation is done solely from the hardware. It is difficult at first to not reach for the mouse but you soon learn to operate more on the physical knobs and the sound itself as you would a normal console.

The Console 1 plug-in

window displays the track name and number option but can also show a small ‘Knobs only’ display for mouse control – this is designed for laptop operation when the hardware isn’t available. My review version unfortunately had a problem with automatic track numbers and track names from a DAW and manufacturers will need to add support for the Console 1 to make this automatic (until then you have to manually add the names). Hopefully this will be sorted by the time this review is published, as it’s quite tedious to do. Henrik from Softube assured me it’s relatively simple and is already done by PreSonus for Studio One with other DAW developers expected to follow shortly.

On my current album project I have been using the excellent Steven Slate VCC plug-in to emulate a slightly driven Neve console, so it was perfect to see the Console 1 in action giving an SSL touch to a track. Once the Console 1 plug-ins were in place it was quite a change to the workflow when using normal plug-in operation. There is an auto timer for the Console 1 display but I felt it easier to leave it open on a second monitor and work through my mix, as normal.

Using just the SSL for all general EQ, gate, and compressor operations via the Console 1 felt very good, but the added Shape function of the Transient Shaper really opens up some new thinking when sculpting your sounds – it’s so easy to add a little extra punch or sustain to a note.

Extra harmonic enhancement via Drive and Character meant I could add everything from warmth to extreme fuzz.

I may have SSL emulation plug-ins already, but the

combination of them via hardware does bring a real console-like workflow.

There is a switchable ability to re-order the Shape, EQ, and Compressor in case you need to EQ before shaping. You can also save and recall presets for the three main sections as well as the complete channel strip, and if you need something different to the SSL process, alternative Softube plug-ins can be loaded into a section.

For example, I loaded an old favourite, the Tube Tech PE 1C, for a bass line.

SUMMARY The only way to really see the power of the Console 1 is in a full mix and this is where the whole concept shines. I think finally console emulations are worth the time and trouble to use; the addition of harmonic distortion, non-linearities, crosstalk, etc… does add something unique to certain material, but what the Console 1 adds is a workflow

and sound quality that very closely resembles mixing on a traditional console.

Softube’s genius addition of the Transient Shaper really does complement the SSL style of gate/expansion, EQ, and compression and it was a pleasure to go through track by track sculpting the sounds, finding problem frequencies, cleaning up with a soft gate, and adding punch and extra dynamics with the compressor and shape controls (adding extra Drive and Character to enhance the sound even subtly was also excellent).

Once the auto track naming/numbering is fixed I’d say the Console 1 is the mixing ITB game changer I thought it would be.

THE REVIEWER ALAN BRANCH is a freelance engineer/ producer and ex-member of the On U Sound Crew. His list of credits include Jamiroquai, Beverley Knight, M People, Simply Red, Depeche Mode, Shed 7, Sinead O’Connor, Bjork, and Sade. www.alanbranch.com

INFORMATION Feature set • • • •

Tightly integrated hardware/software system Solid State Logic SL 4000 E model included Use with any major DAW Parametric equaliser, compressor, gate, transient shaper, high/low cut filters, and harmonics/distortion • Customise the channel by adding any Softube equaliser or dynamics plug-in www.softube.com

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RME MADIface XT

USB 3.0 AUDIO INTERFACE

Simon Tillbrook walks us through RME’s new powerful, yet unassuming audio interface.

I HAVE come to rely on RME over a good period of time now, and have always been impressed by its offerings, so my expectations are always high when something from its stable arrives for me to take a look at.

Over the past few days I have been making use of a new unit from RME audio that on first glance would give you no indication of the power and versatility it offers.

The MADIface XT appears to be a simple, half-rack USB interface box, but a good look around the back tells you the real story (and you don’t have to look far into the existing RME range to see where this development has come from).

The RME HDSPe MADI card is a PCI Express card using the Hammerfall DSP technology and RME’s TotalMix FX software to produce an incredibly powerful MADI audio distribution set-up. This, of course, relies on using a desktop computer to house and run the system, but RME has now developed portable computer interfacing to allow this powerful routing package to be truly portable.

FEATURES The MADIface XT is an audio interface that provides 196 inputs and 198 outputs with computer connection options for PCI Express and USB 3.0. I will run through the connections in detail in a moment, but it is worth pointing out that RME has developed the first real USB 3.0 interface here.

The front panel of the RME MADIface XT has two Neutrik combination sockets providing two balanced analogue inputs, each with three LEDs to indicate the presence of phantom power, audio signal, and audio 44 April 2014

clipping (there are corresponding balanced XLR analogue outputs on the rear).

There’s also a headphone amplifier output that can be used as unbalanced analogue outputs three and four. The headphone socket sits beside a full-colour display with four function selection buttons and two rotary encoders with push button functionality (more on these later).

It is the rear of the MADIface XT where things start to get interesting.

Alongside the two analogue outputs are word clock BNC input and output, a mini-DIN connector for external remote, and an AES/MIDI D-Sub connector that delivers through the supplied breakout cable via XLR and 5-pin DIN connections.

Below these are the series of sockets that will be the reason the RME MADIface XT will be of interest to potential users.

There are three sets of MADI input and output sockets.

Numbers 1 and 2 deliver via optical MADI ports, and number 3 via standard MADI coaxial connector ports.

Each is capable of delivering 64 channels both in and out, giving a total of 192 bidirectional digital channels.

To be able to achieve this you need connection to your computer with significant bandwidth, so next to the MADI ports is the USB 3.0 socket (which is USB 2.0 compatible, but significantly reduces the channel count) and does not support bus power. As well as USB 3.0 there is a PCI Express connection compatible with Molex E-PCIe cables. It is also possible to use a PCIeto-Thunderbolt converter box too (not supplied).

PCIe and the bespoke USB 3.0 chipset deliver the best possible latency and CPU loading figures with the stability we have come to expect with the desktop set-up.

The MADIface XT supports sample rates from 32kHz to 192kHz/24bit, and eight latency/buffer settings.

These are 0.7, 1.5, 3, 6, 12, 23, 46 and 93ms.

The four function selection buttons along with the rotary encoders allow for total standalone operation without any need for a host computer.

The colour display is wonderfully clear and displays selected functions with a great deal of detail.

The functions selections that are available start at the top with Mic/Gain. Here we can use the rotary encoders to adjust and, when pushed, select the options for the two inputs.

The Meters show the mix screen where you can adjust the routing and the mixing between channels of audio. If you are connected to a host computer those routing/mixing functions will only be available to you through the connected computer.

Channel gives you access to all the inputs and outputs using rotary encoder 1 for input, and 2 for output. You can change settings, low cut, parametric EQ, compressor/ expander, and auto level.

Finally, setup/reverb allows for adjustment of a comprehensive set of parameters for the in-built reverb/echo processor.

IN USE RME has chosen to focus on quality of interfacing here.

TOTALMIX FX The RME MADIface XT really can be used standalone

“The MADIface XT appears to be a simple, half-rack USB interface box, but a good look around the back tells you the real story.”

Simon Tillbrook with such a great display and function set, but when connected to a host computer and utilising RME’s TotalMix FX software, you really can get incredible visual feedback on the settings and configurations you have put in place.

With the Matrix view in TotalMix FX I could easily create multiple independent MADI monitoring streams for the same input source, all independently controllable. I created a series of submixes (you can create up to 99) for different monitoring purposes, and I had no issues with

latency in any of the configurations I tried.

CONCLUSION The RME MADIface XT is quite a package. This small innocent looking box hides the most comprehensive MADI routing/mixing system in a completely portable solution.

Standalone you can get everything you need from the RME MADIface XT, but combined with the TotalMix FX software you can quickly and independently create and store complex configurations effortlessly. This is not a cheap portable MADI routing system; RME has taken the route of producing a quality option, and the MADIface XT is all the better for it.

THE REVIEWER Simon Tilbrook is a freelance sound designer/ engineer, and training designer working principally with US clients on music, movies, and games.

INFORMATION Feature set • •

World’s first USB 3.0 audio interface Powerful MADI routing supporting 196 input and 198 output channels • Two analogue mic/line preamp inputs (XLR/TRS) with four analogue outputs • TotalMix software offering more in-depth visual feedback www.rme-audio.de

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Sennheiser HDM Pro HD 25 Can Sennheiser’s new collaboration with LimitEar really provide a safer headphone solution while maintaining sound quality? Alistair McGhee finds out.

‘IF IT’S too loud, you’re too old’ – I think I first saw this rock and roll wisdom attributed to Ted Nugent.

And with the passing of the years it now seems Ted was exactly wrong (and in so many ways). It turns out if it’s too quiet when you’re old, that’s because you listened too loud when you were young (life is nothing if not ironic).

Safe but useful levels it turns out are a particular problem for headphone listening. Now I’m not saying back in Ted’s day that radio DJs wore (and indeed demanded) Pioneer eightohm headphones driven by 50W PA amps. (Well, actually I am saying that). And that was neither safe nor useful. If the cans slipped a millimetre your show was going to howl round magnificently.

CHASING SAFETY One approach is to fit all headphones with limiters. This makes everything safe but it isn’t as useful as it might be.

Why? Because it ignores the time dimension of loudness.

Safe listening levels integrate loudness over a period of time, which means you can safely increase your listening volume provided you shorten the exposure. This flexibility isn’t available with the simple catchall level limiter. I’m sure Glensound has done quite a lot of work on this problem in the past, but now another UK company, LimitEar, has a solution that is available for a range of manufacturer’s products. For professional users this is the HDM Pro. I tested some Sennheiser HD 25s fitted with the HDM Pro ‘Hearing Dose Management’ system. The system is the brainchild of LimitEar and I guess in theory can be added to any of Sennheiser’s headphones as it is contained in the lead. The clever stuff is packed into a 46 April 2014

lightweight plastic lozenge about the size of a standard USB stick. I took the cans out on a long day’s shoot and was not bothered by the weight and had no real issues with cable flexibility or the device catching on bags, straps, and cables.

There’s a multi-layer challenge when producing a system like this. Will the product still do the job of professional headphones?

How transparent will it be in use? What about charging and usage times and how will it fit into your workflow?

IN USE One of the main questions is what is the HDM Pro actually doing? Well, in the same way that we have been growing increasingly used to metering loudness levels using timebased averaging the LimitEar product is working on average levels calculated from the signal we stuff up our headphone leads. The sums are done on a 24-hour rolling average basis.

In action the technology works on three levels. First, all peaks are limited to 118dB (sorry Ted) then audio levels above 100dB but below 118dB are managed down to 100dB and your daily (24 hours) dose is controlled to comply with the 2005 Noise at Work Regulations.

How do they sound? Well that’s a tricky question to answer in any sort of meaningful A/B test. I certainly didn’t notice any obvious artefacts or gain limiting effects. I have a pair of ordinary 60-ohm HD 25s (the HDMs are 70 ohm) and using a multiple output Sound Devices HX-3 headphone amp and a Castle sound level meter did my best to match levels. Feeding the system from a Marenius DAC-S2 and swapping cans over I wasn’t confident I could pick out which was which at

“In the same way that we have been growing increasingly used to metering loudness levels using timebased averaging the LimitEar product is working on average levels calculated from the signal we stuff up our headphone leads.”

Alistair McGhee ordinary listening levels. The HDM system introduces a 3dB insertion loss and once the system starts working at higher sound levels then level matching becomes a moot point.

As we all know you get nothing for nothing and indeed the LimitEar technology uses active electronics that require powering. The system is rechargeable from a standard micro USB charger or PC USB port and a full charge should run the headphones for seven days with the LEDs warning you when you run down to one day’s charge.

When the battery is exhausted the system applies a 14dB pad and waits for you to charge it.

Displays of any sort would presumably eat too many electrons so the LimitEar system makes do with flashing LEDs – one green and one red.

Working out what the levels are and what the circuitry is doing is a matter of decoding flashes spaced by different amounts and in different ratios. Being a simple man I found I had to constantly refer to the operating guide and this is probably the weakest point of the system.

The system is clever but it does help to engage your brain.

Using the indicators you should be able to set the right levels for the duration of your listening session. And you should take steps to bank your loudness – unplug your cans for 20 minutes while playing the

extended 12in version of Bohemian Rhapsody. Why? So you will have saved up some audio exposure brownie points.

So when you play the 13in extended version of Ace of Spades you can turn it up to 11.

CONCLUSION Hearing damage is a serious issue and I’m willing to bet virtually every one of us knows someone who has had their hearing damaged in a business

where almost inevitably we are exposed to high audio levels over extended periods. Besides the legal and financial issues of getting sued none of us wants a future with significant hearing loss. Yes, if you buy into the HDM Pro solution you need to manage the charging issue, and yes you need to decode the flashing LEDs and act accordingly but that’s a small price to pay against your future hearing.

THE REVIEWER ALISTAIR McGHEE began audio life in Hi-Fi before joining the BBC as an audio engineer. After 10 years in radio and TV, he moved to production. Most recently, Alistair was assistant editor, BBC Radio Wales and has been helping the UN with broadcast operations in Juba.

INFORMATION Feature set • Analogue signal path to ensure high-quality audio • Instantaneous clipping of extreme impulse signals • Rapid management of signals using Rapid Overload Response • Long-term hearing dose management based on 24-hour assessment • LED indication of monitoring activity, high dose, and battery level en-uk.sennheiser.com

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TECHNOLOGY REVIEW

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Neumann KH 310 A

ACTIVE STUDIO MONITOR

Rob Tavaglione investigates whether Neumann’s typical high quality translates from the beginning to the end of the signal chain.

UPON REVIEW back in 2011, I found Neumann’s KH 120 monitors to be effective, well designed, and pricey.

Having recently spent months getting to know the KH 310 A three-way, tri-amplified monitor, I must say I feel the same way about them – along with the increased performance expectations that naturally accompany a pair of £3,000+ near/mid-field studio monitors.

FEATURES The KH 310 A packs a lot of features into a relatively small footprint (for a three-way speaker). Drivers include a 7.25in woofer, a 3.5in dome mid range and a 1in soft dome tweeter. The enclosure is not ported – it is an acoustic reflex design – and includes both rear and side panel mounting brackets.

This, along with the absence of a rear port, makes the speaker a fine choice for broadcast truck control rooms and other tight spaces, and Neumann offers a number of mounting brackets and plates.

The controls on the KH 310 A include three bands of EQ control (stepped low cut, low-mid cut, and high-end boost or cut); an input sensitivity control; four output levels; and a display brightness control for the illuminated Neumann logo (this LED also flashes red for protection indication and lights solid red for the overtemp attenuated output condition).

The KH 310 A can reach output levels of 113dB short term (99dB long term, average) via three Class A/B power amps with 150W to the woofer, 70W to the mid range, and 70W to the tweeter. Crossover points are at 650Hz and 2kHz, each 48 April 2014

fourth order with a steep 24dB/octave.

Thermo limiters are present for all three drivers along with woofer soft clip and excursion limiter and an infrasonic 15Hz HPF. IN USE Initially mounted along my crowded meter bridge, I began utilising the KH 310 A pair and enjoyed them immediately.

Positioned only 3.5ft apart, I found them quite useful for dialogue/vocal editing as I sat very close them. It quickly became clear to me that the KH 310 A has extremely effective crossovers: virtually undetectable, with seamless transitions between all the drivers. Used without a subwoofer, I was pleasantly surprised by the KH 310 A’s bass response smoothness. It reproduced lows quite faithfully and as low as they could, with nary a chubby peak or hollow valley.

Upon inviting four audio friends over to aid in evaluation, we removed items from my meter bridge, giving the pair room to breathe, and placed them on Primacoustic Recoil Stabilizers too. With my comparable Blue Sky SAT8 monitors (three-way speakers with the same driver configuration) and video monitor removed, the KH 310 A pair opened up to reveal a sonic nirvana. It is not hype to say that these monitors sound fantastic. The

“It is not hype to say that these monitors sound fantastic.”

Rob Tavaglione sealed cab design provides tight, punchy, well-damped and accurate bass; midrange frequencies are translated in incredible detail and with uncolored, life-like clarity in vocals, instruments, and even percussion; and high frequencies are detailed, crisp without crispiness, and bright without harshness.

In listening, we bounced between folk, pop, EDM, and nu-metal; the KH 310 A pair delivered consistently in each and every genre. Even as I connected my sub to the KH 310 A pair, they exceeded my expectations. They actually ‘melded’ with my powered Blue Sky sub very nicely, with increased extension, if at the expense of accuracy.

SUMMARY Short of monitors I’d normally only find in a

world-class mastering room, this KH 310 A pair is the sweetest I’ve heard to date. I can say that I absolutely love them.

One of my colleagues said

they are slightly forward with high-mids. He may be right, though if he is, it’s the only criticism I can imagine – other than the hefty £3,000+/pair price.

THE REVIEWER Rob Tavaglione has owned and operated Catalyst Recording in Charlotte, North Carolina since 1995. An early adopter of the project studio concept, Rob has recorded nearly 600 music projects since Catalyst’s inception. Rob has also dabbled in nearly all forms of pro audio work including mixing live and taped TV broadcasts (winning two regional Emmy Awards); mixing concert and club sound; mixing and music supervising for indie films; mixing webinars and webcasts; mixing live sports; and composing and scoring for film/TV and various artists. www.catalystrecording.com.

INFORMATION Feature set • • • • •

Compact sealed three-way cabinet design Powerful analogue Class A/B amplifiers with large headroom Independent thermo limiters for woofer, midrange dome, and tweeter to protect the voice coils Four-position bass, low-mid, and treble acoustical controls Elliptical Mathematically Modeled Dispersion (MMD) waveguide, with wide horizontal and narrow vertical dispersion

www.neumann.com

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INTERVIEW

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Finding Your Wings Jory MacKay sits down with Red Bull Studios London's head engineer Brendon Harding to talk gear, fostering up-and-coming artists, and working for an international energy drink manufacturer-cum-lifestyle brand.

RED BULL studio manager and head engineer Brendon Harding is a bit of an anomaly in the world of recording studios. Starting his path into the industry during secondary school by working on the first versions of Cubase (“when it was in black and white”, he notes) he moved onto SAE in London before joining Soho Recording Studios as an assistant. Two years later he was referred to acclaimed English record producer Adrian Sherwood, who he worked with for three years on projects ranging from Lee Scratch Perry to Primal Scream. Another chance meeting brought him to the attention of Red Bull’s studio builder Erik Breuer, and in 2010 he took up his post as head engineer at the brand’s studio in London Bridge.

It’s rare to hear of such a straightforward path into the music industry.

Yes, I like to think that I’ve worked hard enough to make my own luck so that I’ve been in the right place at the right time for those links to have happened.

Red Bull Studios definitely takes a different approach to how a recording studio should operate. Can you tell me a bit 50 April 2014

about the ethos of the space?

For starters we are not a commercial studio. We don’t charge for the studio, we never have and it’s not something we’re even entertaining. We’ve been able to make sessions happen that wouldn’t have happened anywhere else and we’re just really pleased to be able to be positioned with the networks we have. People can say ‘I want to do this project with this person, can we do it at your studio?’ and by and large we can say yes.

So what kind of people are you working with in the studio?

People use the studio in different ways. We do a lot of podcasts and voice-over sessions all the way up to the full album projects with Ghostpoet and Jessie [Ware] and artists like that. So it’s quite a versatile space and what happens in the studio on a daily basis changes greatly.

That’s part of the reason why we wanted to expand and create Studio B and the Artist in Residence room. Studios these days are quite isolated – it’s a producer in a room that could be completely apart from everything else that’s going on.

Back in the day you would have four, five, six studios in a complex and you’d get those great little moments where a

producer would come out of a room and get talking to a band and they’d go off and make their next album together. We wanted to create the kind of environment where you get those happy little accidents.

What’s the biggest project you’ve worked on in the studio since you started?

I suppose the biggest project that we’ve done is Jessie Ware’s first album. She had two weeks in the studio, which for us was relatively unheard of as we’d been doing only one-, two-, or three-day sessions. For me, I was so used to dealing with a new set of people each and every day, that it was quite refreshing and slightly odd to see the same two faces [ Jessie and producer Dave Okumu] for two weeks. We got this really great bond working together.

What was your set-up like working with Jessie?

The set-up was pretty simple, actually. We used a Flea 47, which I love. Straight away it sounds great, which is always a good place to start. She then goes through a Neve 1073 and then an 1176. There’s no great feat of rocket science in what we’re doing – you take a great singer and a great mic, a great pre and a great compressor – if

you can’t get a great sound out of that then the engineer is doing something wrong at that point. For me, a lot of the time when you have a great source it’s about not fucking it up rather than having to be creative and turn nothing into something.

What about the rest of the studio? What sort of kit are you working with?

The core of the studio is the desk. We’ve got a 1993 SSL G series, 48 channels. We got it from a place called Studio Delphine in Paris. It was 56 mono + 8 stereo originally so we had to chop it down largely just to fit it in the room. I don’t think we would have been able to fit any people in there if we got the whole desk in. Everything else is set up so we can cover pretty much all genres and styles of music. There’s a backline that’s quite versatile and flexible and we’ve also got synths and toys: a Novation Bass Station 2, Jupiter 80, some old Rolands like an SH-3a and an RS-202.

Outboard-wise we’re set up more as a tracking and writing facility rather than a mix space. Although we’ve got the SSL, we haven’t got a great deal in terms of external EQs and processing. I’ve got an

1176, an LA2A, a Distressor, and a DBX 160X. But four compressors doesn’t get you very far in modern productions – four mono compressors at that. Most of everything else we’ve got is external pres. When we started we had a different desk – a DDA AMR 24. The pres were nice, it was just about having some external options available. So we’ve got a 1073 and a 1066 in a Vintage King rackmount, a Focusrite ISA828 eightchannel, four API 512c’s, three Great River MP-500NV, a pair of Chandler TG2s, a twochannel tubetech MP1A. So there’s a lot more on the front end then on the mix process.

We run Pro Tools, Logic, Ableton, and Reason – we like to think most bases are covered.

Lastly, what’s the best part of working with a company like Red Bull?

As a company we like to try to help people from the beginning. Jessie’s the best point for that. She hadn’t really released anything on her own before she came in here.

She’d done some features with SBTRKT and Jokers, but this is where she became a solo artist. www.redbullstudios.com www.audiomedia.com