International TECHNOLOGY AND TRENDS FOR THE PRO-AUDIO PROFESSIONAL www.audiomediainternational.com
June 2015
ALL THE RIGHT NOISES How new technology is helping audio suppliers and organisers tackle the modern music festival’s many challenges p18
GEO FOCUS
Why business is booming in Belgium at present p14
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HOW TO
Vlado Meller offers his top mastering tips p22
REVIEW
We put Pioneer’s HRM-7 headphones to the test p46
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WELCOME
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EDITOR Adam Savage asavage@nbmedia.com
Experts in the issue
A CAUSE FOR CELEBRATION
MANAGING EDITOR Jo Ruddock jruddock@nbmedia.com STAFF WRITER Matt Fellows mfellows@nbmedia.com ADVERTISING MANAGER Ryan O’Donnell rodonnell@nbmedia.com COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR Darrell Carter dcarter@nbmedia.com ACCOUNT MANAGER Rian Zoll-Khan rzoll-kahn@nbmedia.com HEAD OF DESIGN Jat Garcha jgarcha@nbmedia.com PRODUCTION EXECUTIVE Warren Kelly wkelly@nbmedia.com Press releases to: ukpressreleases@nbmedia.com © NewBay Media 2015. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without prior permission of the copyright owners. Audio Media International is published by NewBay Media, 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 International ISSN number: ISSN 2057-5165 (Print) Circulation & Subscription enquiries Tel: +44 (0)1580 883848 email: audiomedia. subscriptions@c-cms.com Printed by Pensord Press Ltd 1 Color - 100 White
Front Cover: Martin Audio
David Davies has been writing about professional AV and broadcast for 15 years. He is currently managing editor of Sports Video Group Europe and has been a member of the ISE Daily, IBC Daily and AES Daily teams. Vlado Meller began his career as a studio engineer at CBS Records before moving into mastering. Now based in South Carolina, he has worked with a diverse range of artists, including Pink Floyd, Kanye West and Barbara Streisand. Gregory Ovenden is an audio engineer, working in outside broadcast, and an award-winning wildlife sound recordist. He has worked on various feature films and animation and TV programmes in location and post-production sound. Ed Walker has over 10 years experience of working on triple A gaming franchises such as Forza Horizon, F1, GRID and DiRT. He built Sounding Sweet, an industry standard audio production facility from scratch just over 12 months ago.
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’ve never been one to make a big deal about my birthday. I’ve never hired out an entire nightclub and invited everyone I’ve ever met, six months in advance, like some people do. In fact, I completely forgot that my 27th year was approaching until about a week before. I guess I was just so engrossed in my role on this magazine that it completely slipped my mind. Something like that. It’s perhaps unsurprising, then, that I recently found myself unaware of another upcoming anniversary that I probably should have had in the diary already. This issue comes exactly 25 years after the first issue of Audio Media was published. Yep, that’s right, two and a half decades since the debut edition, when one of the big questions was “Is your business prepared for 1992 and the Single European Market” and features included an article on how to choose a tapeless recording system, as well as reviews of the Soundcraft 6000 console and Fostex D20 DAT recorder.
I may not be able to remember those days at all clearly, let alone the audio equipment that was around at the time – I had just learnt to walk and talk when Audio Media #1 came out, if I recall correctly – but it was still an immense pleasure to have a flick through and marvel at how things have changed since those days. If it weren’t for Mr Stephen Tayler this whole anniversary thing would’ve probably passed me by. Stephen was an interviewee in that inaugural issue, and I was delighted when he got in touch, suggesting we met up for a discussion on how the industry has changed, and a look back at the project he was interviewed for – Kevin Godley’s ‘musical chain tape’ One World One Voice (OWOV). We’re also pleased to be able to offer the thoughts of another man who has witnessed a great deal since June 1990 – and even way before then. Having begun his career at CBS Records in 1969, there are few out there with as much mastering experience as Vlado Meller, who remains one of the most in-demand engineers in the business, operating from his new studio in Charleston, South Carolina. So here’s to 25 years since it all began for us. There are many more out there who will have their opinions on how the industry has evolved since the early ’90s – some say for the better, others for worse – but one thing’s for sure, I can’t wait to see what the next 25 bring.
Adam Savage Editor Audio Media International
June 2015
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CONTENTS
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PRODUCT NEWS
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PreSonus unveils Studio One 3
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Genelec strengthens SAM series
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QSC reveals rental programme
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PEOPLE
Ed Walker on how developers are starting to see the benefit of good game audio
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INTERVIEW Steinberg MD Andreas Stelling talks to AMI
ALSO INSIDE 9
SHOW NEWS: Mel Lambert rounds up all the highlights from AES Warsaw, and we look at what’s on offer at the Develop Conference in Brighton
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GEO FOCUS: BELGIUM Despite its small size, there’s much for the Belgian pro-audio industry to shout about
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RECORDING FOCUS: Exactly 25 years since the first issue of Audio Media went to press, Adam Savage catches up with Stephen Tayler – featured in that debut edition – to discuss how the industry has changed
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David Davies looks at how the latest audio tech is enhancing the festival experience
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TECHNOLOGY
HOW TO Mastering engineer Vlado Meller shares his tips for succeeding in the industry
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EXPERT WITNESS Gregory Ovenden highlights the recording equipment that has helped him in his role as an audio engineer and wildlife sound recordist
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AMI RECOMMENDED Digital recorders
OPINION Erica Basnicki reports back from the recent BBC Sound: Now and Next event
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FEATURES
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REVIEWS
Radial JDI Stereo Crane Song Insigna Pioneer HRM-7 Amphion One18 Manley Force
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PRODUCT NEWS
SOUNDCRAFT INTRODUCES SI IMPACT Soundcraft has revealed its new Si Impact digital mixing console. Designed to be as simple as an analogue mixer, the Si Impact features workflow enhancements and DSP power for the stage and studio. The 40-input console offers live sound digital mixing with ViSi iPad control and built-in Stagebox connectivity for I/O expansion. In addition to its live sound components, the Si Impact has a 32-in/32-out USB recording and playback interface that provides multitrack recording and playback directly from a DAW. A free download of Ableton Live 9 Lite is included. The console’s fully motorised faders come equipped with Soundcraft FaderGlow illumination technology and LCD channel displays or ‘scribble strips’ for visual feedback and operation. The Si Impact provides 32 mic/line inputs, 40 DSP input channels (32 mono inputs and four stereo channels/returns) and 31 output busses (all with full DSP processing and GEQ) with 20 sub-group aux busses and four mono/stereo matrix busses. Eight XLR/0.25in combi-jacks are available for line inputs and instruments,
while a four-band fully parametric EQ is included for each channel and bus on the console. The new Si Impact also offers studio-grade effects and dynamics from Soundcraft’s sister companies BSS, Lexicon and dbx. The Si Impact supports up to eight VCA masters and eight Mute groups, plus 26 motorised input faders and LR/ Mono (fully motorised with four fully customisable fader layers). The console features a 5in colour touchscreen display for access to show setup, patching, FX and security. “The Si Impact is the first of its kind in that it truly combines analogue workflow with digital flexibility at a lower price than ever before,” said Sean Karpowicz, product manager at Soundcraft. www.soundcraft.com
AKG ANNOUNCES DMS800 SYSTEM The new DMS800 reference digital wireless microphone system from AKG is now available. According to the brand’s UK distributor Sound Technology, it offers everything that made its predecessor, the DMS700 V2, an ‘outstanding performer’, while adding features that provide extra versatility. The DMS800 features two digital audio outputs for Dante and AES EBU, along with improved design and mechanics for the DHT800 handheld transmitter, plus interchangeable microphone heads. In addition to the DHT800 transmitter, the DMS800 system includes the DSR800 stationary receiver and DPT800 wireless body pack transmitter. The system offers two balanced XLR and two unbalanced jack connectors, as well as digital wireless audio transmission with low-cut filter, three-band equaliser, dbx compressor and dbx limiter. The DMS800
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allows users to choose from a variety of premium dynamic and condenser vocal microphones, including the D5 WL1, D7 WL1 and C5 WL1. Up to 40 channels are available with the DMS800, which can be used simultaneously. High-end antenna system and multichannel accessories are available to suit the system to individual needs. Built-in Harman HiQnet network remote control and monitoring can be done from a PC via HiQnet Audio Architect software, Apple iPhone/iPad/iPod or Soundcraft Vi Series consoles. www.akg.com
www.audiomediainternational.com
PRESONUS UNVEILS STUDIO ONE 3 PreSonus has announced that Studio One 3, a significant update to its digital audio workstation, is now shipping. Available in Artist and Professional editions, v3 introduces new options for song arranging and experimentation, as well as new ways to craft ‘unique and evocative’ sounds. In addition, Studio One 3 enables new methods of controlling and mixing within the application, features a configurable UI for high-resolution displays and is the first DAW to offer a dual platform (Mac and Windows) multitouch interface, according to the manufacturer. Studio One 3 Professional introduces the Arranger Track, which makes it easy to build and rearrange songs, letting the user copy or move entire song sections via simple drag-and-drop. It has its own Track Inspector that shows all sections of the song, which also doubles as a quick navigation tool. Extended FX Chains – new in the Pro version – provide new ways to
build complex, multi-dimensional sounds by chaining and combining effects plug-ins in serial, in parallel by channel, or by frequency with up to five splits. Multi Instruments allow the user to combine multiple instruments as layers or splits in a single Instrument Track, and play them like one instrument. Further dimensions can be added to a sound by using Note FX on individual Instruments layers within a Multi Instruments. In total, there are over 70 new features and updates included in the Studio One version 3 upgrade, which is available – as both upgrades and full programs – at music retailers worldwide and direct from PreSonus. www.presonus.com
NEW NADAC FROM MERGING Derived from its Horus and Hapi family of Ravenna-enabled interfaces, Merging Technologies has branched into the consumer market with its latest D/A converter. NADAC (Network Attached Digital to Analog Converter) is available in two versions – stereo or 8-channel – and is the first device to bring Ravenna networking into the home. “The modern world has become increasingly dependent on networks, both at home and in our professional environments. As network capacities have increased, more people are turning to IT networks for carrying both audio and video,” Merging’s Chris Hollebone explained. “Gigabit Ethernet clearly had sufficient capacity for high-quality audio, but still was far from ideal without an additional protocol to add
the required precision and management. We looked at alternatives that could offer sufficient accuracy and reliability with high channel counts and Hi-Res Audio data-rates. The only choice that made sense to us was Ravenna.” Initially developed to meet the requirements of national broadcasters, Ravenna – an open technology standard with no proprietary licensing – was designed to provide accurate clocking, high resistance to packet loss and low latency. It is now the first and only Layer 3-based IP audio protocol to offer full support for high channelcount DXD and DSD signals. It is also fully AES67-compatible. According to Merging, Ravenna “remains the only logical choice for the professional and the audiophile”, and is now available in NADAC. www.merging.com
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PRODUCT NEWS
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PIONEER PRESENTS SE-MASTER1
BLUE BOLSTERS MIC LINE-UP Blue Microphones has announced the availability of the Hummingbird Class A smalldiaphragm microphone. With a ‘precisely tuned’ diaphragm based on Blue’s B1 capsule, Hummingbird is designed to be ultra-responsive and deliver extended frequency response, suitable for studio and stage use on drum overheads, acoustic guitar, strings, harp, or any other instrument with fast transients and rich overtones. Hummingbird also features an adjustable pivoting head that allows for 180° of rotation. www.bluemic.com
Made in Denmark
Pioneer and Onkyo Europe have introduced the SE-MASTER1 flagship headphones, suitable for recording, mixing and mastering in professional studio environments. The core of the SE-MASTER1 is its 50mm driver units with 25µm aluminium diaphragm, which is finished with PCC (Parker Ceramic Coating) – a treatment that pushes the performance of the aluminium diaphragms, which is especially advantageous for high frequencies. The SEMASTER1 is the first headphone in the world to get the PCC treatment. In addition, a PEEK (Poly-Ether-EtherKetone) compounding material is used to reduce distortion and achieve a smoother sound quality. The magnetic forces offer ‘excellent transient characteristics’, Pioneer says, and the headphones are capable of reproducing audio of up to 85,000Hz. It also features the industry’s first detachable lateral pressure rods, which enable the user to choose their preferred headband tension for ‘superb’ sound isolation and comfort over long listening periods. www.pioneer.eu
GENELEC STRENGTHENS SAM SERIES
Meet us at Broadcast Asia 2015, booth no. 5A8-04
Genelec has launched its 1234 Smart Active Monitoring (SAM) system, designed to achieve accurate and powerful sound reproduction in demanding recording and mixing environments. The 1234 promises well-controlled directivity and neutral sound reproduction. Supplied complete with a RAM XL (Remote Amplifier Module), the solution represents ‘the best in modern, high performance, large main monitoring systems’, according to the manufacturer. The speaker offers a system frequency response from 29Hz to 21kHz and is capable of delivering 125dB SPL at one metre through a combination of Genelec-designed Class D amplifiers providing 2 x 750W, 400W and 250W of short-term power for the woofers, midrange and tweeter channels, respectively. The system’s 160-litre enclosure features two 12in drivers and a Genelec proprietary 5in midrange driver, along with a 1in treble driver mounted in a large Directivity Control Waveguide (DCW). The dual woofer design extends the control of the directivity to low frequencies, and the Intelligent Signal Sensing (ISS) circuitry saves energy by automatically putting the monitor to sleep when the audio signal has been absent for a period of time. www.genelec.com
GET CLOSER TO YOUR TRUE VOICE d:facto™ Vocal Micophones capture the entire dynamic range of your voice while effortlessly rejecting ambient stage noise. And our ingenious adapter system protects your investment in fantastic sound for years to come. Wired. Wireless. Wherever.
dpamicrophones.com
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• Perfectly linear off-axis response • Best-in-class noise rejection • 160 db SPL threshold • Adapters for all major wireless systems
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PRODUCT NEWS
D.A.S. LAUNCHES SOUND FORCE SERIES D.A.S. Audio has released the Sound Force Series of club systems designed for today’s dance venues where ‘exceptional sound, imposing power and impressive looks’ are key requisites. The new range presently offers four models comprising mid-high, mid bass, and subwoofer options. The SF-112 is a mid-high three-way cabinet, which allows for passive or biamp operation. The mid-range is handled by the D.A.S. 12HQ loudspeaker. High frequency reproduction is trusted to the D.A.S. M-75N neodymium compression driver used by the manufacturer on a number of its systems. The SF-215 is a bass system comprising two D.A.S. 15in loudspeakers in a fourth order bass-reflex configuration. The bass cabinets can either be stacked or flown on both sides of the SF-112 to form a four-way array. Two subwoofer options are available in the Sound Force series: the SF-221,
a double 21in subwoofer comprising twin 21LXN4 loudspeakers in V loaded configuration and the SF-30A, a powered ultra-low system. The SF30A employs a 30in push-pull moving magnet transducer powered by a Class D amplifier, offering 7,500W continuous power for low frequency reproduction. www.dasaudio.com
STEINBERG CERTIFICATION FOR XI-MACHINES German manufacturer X-Machines has been given official certification from Steinberg for its new Recorder.1 live recording system. X-Machines sees Steinberg’s Patrick Strenge Nuendo Live software as the ideal (left) with Steinberg complement to Recorder.1 – labelled managing director as the world’s first 1U recorder to Andreas Stelling offer up to 194 input channels and recording in a EBU-compliant allow simultaneous use of up to 390 RIFF64 format. I/O channels. It’s also designed to be easy to use, Recorder.1 was designed for and promises ‘rock solid’ reliability, professional use with MADI or Dante even under extreme recording audio networks. Record-ready in 33 conditions. seconds, the 19in rack-mountable www.steinberg.net device enables 24-plus hours MAY15-v2_Layout of JOECOAM200mmx65mmAD 1 26/05/2015 16:48 Page 1
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WAVES H-REVERB NOW SHIPPING Waves Audio has begun shipping the Waves H-Reverb plug-in, new software based on algorithmic FIR (Finite Impulse Response) reverberation technology designed to deliver ‘richer, deeper reverb tails’. The FIR engine that powers H-Reverb enables customisation of the reverb decay envelope beyond the standard linear forms. H-Reverb also incorporates Waves’ analogue modelling along with a drive control. This design also enables input drive. H-Reverb includes a library of artist presets from mixing engineers including Toni Maserati, Brad Divens, Daniel Green, Dave Darlington, Yoad Nevo and more. Impulse-variable resonant filtering is featured for creating unfamiliar and
advanced reverb effects, in addition to an EQ and dynamics module for compression, ducking and de-essing. The plug-in also features full build-up timing and shaping and support for full 5.1-channel surround setups. Mick Olesh, Waves’ EVP of sales and marketing, stated: “We went to great lengths to make this the most comprehensive and best-sounding reverb plug-in possible, incorporating invaluable input from industry-leading mixing engineers.” www.waves.com
QSC REVEALS RENTAL PROGRAMME QSC has rolled out its Rent It Now programme, a tool designed to connect customers with participating QSC rental companies. The programme allows visitors to QSC.com to find participating dealer rental locations that rent QSC products for various portable live sound applications. A ‘Rent It Now’ button now appears on portable live sound product pages (mixers, loudspeakers and amps) and when clicked, lists rental locations by geographic proximity to the user. The programme is the third component
(along with Hear It Now and Buy It Today) of a direct referral partnership between QSC and the company’s resellers and rental channel partners. Rent It Now has been initially released in the US, and will be deployed worldwide in the coming months. www.qsc.com
THE PROFESSIONAL CHOICE 24 TRACKS • 24 INTEGRATED MIC PREAMPS • 1 RACK UNIT • • • • • •
Live 24bit/96kHz audio acquisition – no computer required Records to USB2/3 drive for instant ingest into post production Remote control via iPad with JoeCoRemote Runs off 12V power source for location use Optional MADI or Dante interfaces Optional 2U XLR breakout panel
BLACKBOX BBR1MP RECORDER www.joeco.co.uk
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JoeCo Limited Tel: +44 (0)1954 250 300 Email: info@joeco.co.uk
June 2015
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SHOW NEWS: AES/DEVELOP CONFERENCE
POLE POSITION
Mel Lambert provides a summary of the main highlights from the 138th AES Convention – the first to take place in Poland.
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ith a reported attendance of close to 1,600 registrants – slightly more that the total from last year’s gathering in Berlin – together with some 70-plus brands on show during the companion exhibition, the 138th AES Convention can be considered a major success for the 14,000-member society. Convention co-chairs Bozena Kostek and Umberto Zanghieri, together with their team of able volunteers, organised a rich and varied programme of technical papers, workshops, tutorials and related events that provided a wide variety of thought-provoking sessions covering just about everything from converter design through to PA systems and immersive playback via headphones. From an opening-day session on ‘Subjective Loudness of 22.2 Multichannel Programs’, which described Japanese state broadcaster NHK’s plans for 8K images with multichannel sound and investigations into suitable
loudness measurements techniques based on the current ITU R BS.1770 standard, through to ‘MPEG D Spatial Audio Object Coding for Dialogue Enhancement’ for hearing-impaired and normal-hearing audiences, attendees were treated to presentations from talented academics and researchers at the top of their respective games. During a well-attended workshop session on film sound developments, the co-owners of Dreamsound Studios – Warsaw’s first Dolby Atmos-certified re-recording stage – presented the results of a fascinating study into the correlation between Atmos panning and the localisation of phantom sound sources. Using various samples of filtered pink noise being directed at experienced listeners from nine targeted locations around a central seating area, Kacper Habisiak and Marcin Kasinski determined that such individuals could more easily identify sound coming from the front quadrant and rear corners, and less easily from
GAME TIME
The 10th edition of the Develop Conference for game audio pros promises another cracking line-up for 2015. Here’s a rundown of this year’s schedule.
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he Develop Conference is described as Europe’s premier forum for the exposition and discussion of all matters relating to the development of video games – from creative and technical issues through to business affairs – and with over 1,600 developers attending, it’s also an excellent networking opportunity. Featuring the game industry’s leading visionaries and best-of-breed practitioners, Develop comprises dozens of conference sessions via a series of themed ‘tracks’, including the ever-popular one-day audio track.
This year’s audio offering will cover a wide range of content from console game production and indie game development to mobile and tablet audio, led by such multi-award winning music and audio developers as ex-Rockstar Games alumni Will Morton and Craig Conner, who have worked extensively on the acclaimed Grand Theft Auto series, and Playdead’s audio director and creator of Limbo’s awardwinning sound, Martin Stig Andersen. In a session titled ‘The Big Bang: Navigating Explosive Change in the World of Freelance Audio’, Hornet Sound’s Ciaran Walsh and guests will
the sides; the implications for immersive sound mixing are obvious, with enhanced localisation of height information at high rather than lower frequencies. Ilpo Martikainen, founder and chairman of Genelec, delivered the 32nd Richard C Heyser Memorial Lecture on the subject of ‘Monitoring Loudspeakers – Can They Be Truthful Quality Control Tools?’ With close to 40 years of experience designing reference monitors, Martikainen concluded that improvements in directivity control and room-response functionality can be considered successful innovations, but that the role of the room in which the systems are located is still underestimated. “As much as possible, monitors should be immune to the room,” he stated, “and easily adaptable to a variety of environments. There are
discuss how changes in the way games are made is affecting the game audio freelancer. Meanwhile, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe’s Simon Gumbleton and Nick Ward-Foxton will examine audio for virtual reality experiences in ‘VR Audio Bootcamp: Exploring the new Technical and Creative Frontiers for Sound Design in Virtual Reality Experiences’. Curator and host John Broomhall commented: “This year promises both in-houser and freelancer alike a smorgasbord of varied, exciting sessions with a stellar speaker line-up. Their discussions will cover the future of freelancing, planning massive triple A audio productions, sound and music for VR, dialogue best practice, melding audio into game play and game mechanics, and producing world-class Foley.”
more than 300 different models designs available”, he concluded, encouraging the audience to make their own critical choices. The popular Project Studio Expo, which has become a regular feature at recent AES Conventions, included a number of sessions on such topics as ‘Plug-ins Considerations’, presented by Maciej Polanski from Musoneo.pl, Warsaw, ‘Tracking in the Box’ by sound engineer Sebastian Witkowski and ‘Mixing in the Box’ from music producer/ engineer Jaroslaw Yaro Plocica. www.aes.org
Information What? Develop Conference Where? Hilton Brighton Metropole When? 14-16 July Andy Lane, director at organiser Tandem Events told AMI: “The sound and music components of today’s video games are a vitally important part of the entertainment experience. Our delegates can expect to sit back and absorb the collective wisdom of a diverse range of top game audio talent once again this year – as well as enjoy networking with the industry at large, right beside the seaside in buzzing Brighton.” www.developconference.com
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OPINION
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SOUND COMES OF AGE
The days of audio taking a back seat appear to be over, writes Erica Basnicki, following an immersive experience at the BBC Sound: Now and Next event in London last month.
ERICA BASNICKI
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t was an absolute privilege to be able to mingle among audio’s brightest creative minds, discuss future sound technology and share ideas and inspiration at BBC R&D’s recent Sound: Now and Next conference. For two days the BBC Radio Theatre at Broadcasting House in London was packed with over 200 sound geeks/ gods of various stripes. My own personal geek-o-meter was in the red the entire time as the creative possibilities of sound were explored through talks from the likes of sound recordist Chris Watson, re-recording mixer Martyn Harries and electronic musician/inventor Tim Exile. Most importantly, it was an excellent opportunity to get hands-on with the astonishing research advances in psychoacoustic engineering, audio for virtual reality and immersive sound on display at the Technology Fair. Among them was the Moodplay interactive experience, which put DJ duties in the hands of listeners via an app. Rather than pick a song, participants chose where they were at emotionally (quirky, brutal, pathetic, dreamy etc) and Moodplay responded with mostly appropriate musical suggestions. BBC R&D also demonstrated how the Web Audio API can take into account a listener’s individual listening environment using their device’s microphone, and apply personalised compression in real-time to maximise audio quality. Anyone who has 10
ever blasted their eardrums pressing ‘Play’ on their device after last listening to it in a noisy environment can appreciate how useful personalised compression can be. Dolby and the Fraunhofer Institute had their versions of personalised audio for broadcast, which will change how we consume televised content by giving viewers the power to mute certain audio content (so long, uninteresting announcer) or tune in to non-traditional audio sources (i.e. the conversation between an F1 driver and the pit crew). There was more. Plenty more. But the bottom line is that sound is getting more personal, more immersive, more responsive... more exciting.
On the down side... Despite this, there was a bit of a grumble that some key BBC staff were missing from the conference, specifically, commissioning editors and content producers. The people who can actually give the green light to experiment with these wonderful new technologies and introduce them to a massive audience. It’s an understandable sentiment. For the most part, sound is only important to people who either work in sound or have a natural inclination to appreciate it. Hearing is an under appreciated sense and those of us who care passionately about what we listen to – and how we listen to it – are in the minority. As the conference drew to a close, there was a
sense that it will remain that way until the almighty commissioning editors and content producers wave their magic wands, and bestow onto the public a keen appreciation for aural entertainment. Here’s why that’s total nonsense: Isabel Platthaus and Achim Fell of Germany’s WDR – two speakers at the conference – worked long and hard on 39; a radio drama that extended beyond traditional radio broadcast into a gaming app. Not only was 39 well received by critics, but iTunes named it a Best New App, which drew in thousands of new users. Recho – the ‘Foursquare of sounds’ – has caught the eye (ears?) of online publications like PSFK and Vice’s The Creators Project. It’s also a joy to use: log in and find geo-located sound messages near you. The recordings could be a tip, a story, a spur-of-the moment rant or part of a game... but it’s treasure hunting at its finest and a modern day version of what draws people to amateur radio. And wouldn’t you know it, even the BBC is unleashing its sonic experiments onto the public. Currently, the BBC Taster page allows users to select radio programmes based on a topic of their choice via the BBC Radio Explorer page. Previously, users were given the chance to experiment with responsive radio, choosing a desired length for a documentary on British author Derek Tangye (‘The Cornish Gardener’). Yes, historically, sound has never been front and centre. Film came first, then we
added sound to it. Radio was dandy until television came along. But these are all ideas and impressions of the past. There was a key moment in which host extraordinaire LJ Rich asked delegates who among them were musicians. Nearly every hand shot up in the air, followed by a shy but audible titter – almost like a revelation to be among such a large group of people who share a common passion for sound, via music.
Community spirit There isn’t a person on the planet who needs to explain their love of music. Is it really such a stretch to extend that love of music to a love of sound, or to think that people outside the audio industry would make that same leap? Is it a stretch to think that listeners are ready for new experiences in broadcast audio? Cinematic audio? Portable sound? If the Sound: Now and Next event was any indication, there is much to look forward in the audio world, and it’s happening with or without anyone’s external validation. The technology is there, the will to make it happen is there, but most of all the audience is there, and they are listening. Erica Basnicki is a freelance writer for the professional audio/music technology industries and an occasional sound designer.
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OPINION
www.audiomediainternational.com
APPRECIATING GOOD GAME AUDIO
Ed Walker, owner of recording studio Sounding Sweet, offers his thoughts on why sound is becoming a more crucial factor for video game developers, and his predictions on the future of the sector.
ED WALKER
A
s an audio professional with over 10 years experience in the creation and production of sound for video games and visual media, I have always pushed myself to improve my skills, but I have also evangelised the value of good quality audio to the producers and directors of the games I have worked on. The word ‘value’ has several meanings – it is not the digits surrounding our equipment controls that I wish to consider, the moral rights or ethics of audio, or in fact budgets and monetary value, but rather the importance or worth of audio when compared to its visual counterpart. At the beginning of my game audio career I frequently felt that audio didn’t command the same attention or respect as the visuals. We often seemed to be on the back foot and at the mercy of the ever-changing game development goal posts – very much reactive rather than pro-active. When compared to our film, television or music production brothers we had seemingly limited resources. We didn’t have the necessary equipment, facilities and support to create the audio experience we wanted to. Over time I started to feel very differently about the game audio work I was doing; I was actually part of something that was developing and gaining respect in a more rapid way than in many other areas of game development. The game design department began 12
asking about how sound and music could be used to support their gameplay concepts, and as game audio guys we started to be included in more meetings about the ideas and features that we would ultimately have to support from an audio point of view. As surround sound became more commonplace and the technology became capable of reproducing highfidelity positional sound at runtime, audio was embraced as a way of adding to the overall game production values, but also as a way of making the experience more immersive. This ‘inclusion’ of audio has brought the audio quality bar up to meet that of the high visual standards that current generation consoles are capable of reproducing. The value of audio is arguably more difficult to define than that of its visual sister. It is often the case in audio that ‘less is more’ and for creative reasons, adding value might even be creating space for silence. When one looks at a short section of film or visual media, it is often very clear that a lot of effort has gone into creating a visual feast of perhaps fast cars, explosions, helicopter shots and complex visual effects. Even when
the visuals have been created rather than recorded there seems to be something infinitely more tangible about the visual experience as opposed to the audio mix.
Interaction When developing a game there is a third dimension, which depending on the game genre could be more important than either the visuals or audio production values, and this third dimension is gameplay. Not only does the modern cinematic game audio mix have to support the next generation graphics, but also more importantly it needs to do this while supporting the gameplay and being tied to the input from the gamer. Interacting with a game is often quite literally tangible and therefore perhaps the most valuable aspect of all. Audio in games has become more valuable; it is no longer possible to hide behind the limited channel counts, lowresolution playback and file compression, as these limitations are no longer a valid excuse. Many game development studios and audio outsource companies have invested heavily in their audio production facilities over recent years, and this has helped raise the audio quality bar and add value to game audio in general.
So what is next for game audio, assuming that I am correct in my theory that audio has now largely met the cinematic high fidelity quality bar of films? I believe that the value of game audio will continue to be embraced not only by the big triple A console game developers, but also by the smaller independent mobile developers that are looking to add value to their gaming experiences. Perhaps binaural audio for mobile gaming will become more commonplace, and with the audio expectations of the new virtual reality technology, developers are looking to their audio departments and outsource partners to not only support that highly immersive experience, but to build on the technology and techniques that have been developed over the last 10 years as the value of audio appreciates. Ed Walker has over 10 years of experience working on triple A gaming franchises such as Forza Horizon, F1, GRID and DiRT. Having built his audio production facility Sounding Sweet from scratch just over 12 months ago, Walker now finds the studio a finalist at this year’s Develop Awards.
June 2015
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02/06/2015 12:44:08
GEO FOCUS: BELGIUM
BUSTLING BRUSSELS While diminutive in landmass, there is nothing small about the European powerhouse’s role in the pro-audio industry. Matt Fellows examines the country’s growth and finds that spirits are high, unlike many of its neighbours.
F
amous for its characteristic culture and enticing cuisine, Belgium continues to make a name for itself in the proaudio industry. The home of the European Union has appeared to buck the trend and pull ahead of the pack as much of the rest of the continent battles against austerity measures and residual economic recession. “Despite the global/European economic situation where the tendency is that most markets tend to slowly recover from the financial crisis, over here in Belgium there is some interesting room for optimism,” explains Pedro Van der Eecken, associate/mixer at film and TV specialist The Image & Sound Factory. “As we see a steady increase in international productions
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that come to Belgium, we can conclude that currently our country and its companies can be seen as an extremely interesting partner for various kinds of audiovisual projects.” The market is proving its ability to excel where others are lagging behind, and this may stem from a unique positioning and economic approach. “The Belgian market is a small but relatively busy market,” says Paul Van Hees, MD at Apex Audio. “Besides the local public and private players, there are also the European institutions in Brussels that account for a significant part of the business. It’s a small market but most players are not only focusing on the Belgian market; most Belgian companies also address other European markets like France and Holland.”
strength in numbers Of particular note is Belgium’s recording sector, which enjoys a lucrative climate thanks to the government’s generous stance towards the country’s many studios and post houses, as Van der Eecken explains: “The Belgian government provides us with valued incentives with regards to production companies that want to produce film, TV and game projects in the country, ranging from subsidies to tax-shelter initiatives that make some reasonable budgets available. Due to a more specific regulation, most partners/clients have a high, let’s call it an ‘international’, level of professionalism on the financial as well as the technical side. “Belgium always tended to target high-level expertise, especially on the
Population: 11 million
technical side with a lot of well-educated professionals. There is a good amount of work available and we have a few very advanced studios and companies that can compete easily with the big names on the other side the pond.” And this culture enables the cultivation of the international business which Van Hees notes is so key to Belgium’s success. “These incentives mean that we have seen an increase in international projects as well as the amount of local productions,” Van der Eecken continues. “More productions mean more jobs, more facilities and far more know-how. We are located in the centre of Europe, easily reachable by many means of transport. We have a lot of know-how, state-of-the-art equipment, we speak a
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GEO FOCUS: BELGIUM
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lot of languages and the food and beers are just great.” Aside from economic benefits, technical expertise and good beer, Fredo Gevaert, owner of Temple of Tune studio, believes that the national character has been paramount to the country’s success: “Commitment, professional pride, self-critique and devotion to the job is what I think sets us apart from many other countries. It’s not always the lack of money that is the problem, more often it only takes a bit more effort. And we Belgians do that very well.” Delving deeper into Belgium’s recording sector, Gevaert sheds some light on the current shape of things for post houses and studios in the country: “In Belgium we are producing a lot of TV series and movies for a very small market – 6 million inhabitants, excluding the French-speaking part,” he explains. “So we learned to make the best out of the small budgets we dispose of. This has resulted in great craftsmanship and efficiency of a few people/companies. We have really excellent field recordists and audio post companies. “As for the French-speaking part, where there is not so much local production, they have developed a fantastic and highly skilled dubbing community, which provides a substantial part of all the dubbings for France.” “We are doing very well. 2014 was our best year ever, and it looks like 2015 will even surpass that,” Gevaert reveals.
“The reason is that we have been in the business for over 25 years, which has enabled us to build a tight connection with our clients.” Van der Eecken has enjoyed similar successes with many international partners from around Europe: “For all of them it is the combination of reachability on the international scale, competitive pricing and the high level standards that we keep that makes Belgium a valuable option for their productions. And not forgetting the various state incentives that make Belgium financially a very interesting place to come over to and work on their projects.”
and the bad news... Of course, however promising the outlook may be at present, it couldn’t be without its grey clouds. As Van Hees puts it: “Budgets have decreased over the last few years. Customers want the same functionality or service for less money.” Gevaert elaborates: “The market has definitely become more sensitive regarding spending. Clients want better quality, better service and faster turnaround for less money. This means that we have to deal with more complex client relationships. We need to make quotes for easy, mostly basic jobs, which in the end turn out to be complex and time consuming. So we often end up in endless discussions where ‘the weakest link’ needs to give in. Most often this is not the client.
How would you say the Belgian pro-audio market is currently faring?
n n
“Thanks to many incentives like tax shelters we can say that the pro-audio market we are in is booming” “Quite difficult for the independent engineer”
“This is, of course, the result of ever-shrinking budgets, and middlemen who eat a substantial part of the budget just because they can – tax shelters, consultants, fund raisers, etc. That being said, we do see a smaller part of our clientele which has become more loyal, who don’t go shopping for the lowest quote. In other words, the gap – the split between ‘cheaper’ and ‘high-end’ – is becoming wider, thereby putting pressure on the ‘value for money’ business.”
where next? With promising successes at its back and its feet planted firmly on the ground, Belgium looks optimistically ahead to even more lucrative times in the future. Though perennially difficult to predict, our industry professionals weighed in on their forecasts for the future. “For the next years to come, we foresee more integration of functionalities and more compact products for the market,” says Van Hees. “Budgets are still tight so our business needs to deliver more for less money.” For Van der Eecken, the prevalent theme of international work will continue to be one of the biggest factors: “We have seen a shift to more than 50% of our work coming from abroad and we expect that this number will still rise in the years to come.” However, for Gevaert things do not look so optimistic as he anticipates issues which may prove to complicate
Have there been any significant changes to legislation, regulations or laws that have affected the industry in recent years?
n n
“Maximum SPL at concerts limited to 95dB(A) LAeq, 15min” “Decibel restrictions on live/broadcast events”
work in the sector: ”We think that the gap between cheap, fast, tryto-squeeze-the-last-drop-out-ofeverything-and-everybody facilities and the hottest-place-to-be-facilities will only become wider. The market of ‘value for money’ is under big stress, and only a few old-timers (like ourselves) can survive due to the loyal clientele. But I see little or no new blood in this mid-section of the business.” But as good as things may be going now, it takes more than a favourable climate to uphold success. Belgian pro-audio companies must seize the platform presented by the upturned market, and there is much debate about exactly how to do that. For Van Hees, it is simply about building upon their product offering: “For the years to come, we will focus on the expansion of our existing product lines, both for professional audio and AV.” For Van der Eecken, the focus is on achieving and maintaining high-quality output to secure business. “We have to keep up with the high-quality production standards that we hold, and therefore we keep investing in the latest technology in combination with the training and development of our engineers and staff,” he asserts. “Professionalism with deep technical skills in combination with a friendly atmosphere is the key to what we are achieving on an international scale and is – as far as I’m concerned – the way to continue.”
How do you expect your sector to perform in 2015 compared with 2014 Better
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RECORDING FOCUS
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A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE
June 2015 represents 25 years since the birth of Audio Media and Kevin Godley’s highly ambitious musical project One World One Voice. To mark both anniversaries, Adam Savage caught up with engineer Stephen Tayler – interviewed in the first ever issue – to discuss, among other things, how technology has moved on since the early ’90s.
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e’ve been so busy trying to keep up with the multitude of manufacturers celebrating important anniversaries this year that we almost forgot about a milestone of our own. That’s right, 25 years ago this month, the debut issue of Audio Media was published. Now, I know we’ve moved on from the days of the old AM, but it would be wrong not to mark the occasion in some way, surely? And what better way to do this than catch up with engineer and producer Stephen Tayler, who was interviewed in that very first edition in June 1990 about One World One Voice (OWOV), an ambitious project masterminded by Kevin Godley that saw Tayler and fellow producer Rupert Hine record hundreds of musicians in a variety of locations all over the world for a ‘musical chain tape’. The idea was that each new musician met on the journey would have to either come up with something that would follow on from the previous artist’s contribution, or add to what was already there, with Sting, Lou Reed, Dave Stewart, Joe Strummer and Eddy Grant all taking part along the way. And so, to recognise a quarter of a century since OWOV and the birth of our beloved magazine, we took a trip down to Real World Studios, where Tayler operates out of one of the longterm spaces, to test his memory of the 16
recording process and get his thoughts on the impact of technology on his profession. Nowadays, a portable equipment list for a job like this would be fairly brief, and made up of gear designed to fit into a rucksack, but that wasn’t the case back in the early ’90s.
On the Move “It was like ‘we think we’re going to go somewhere and we might need to record in a beautiful recording facility, a hotel room or on the street’. We needed elements for recording, microphones, playback systems, but how can we do that and make it portable?” recalls Tayler, whose other notable achievements include mixing the last two Kate Bush albums, and fulfilling an unusual vocal engineer role for her recent sold-out live shows at Hammersmith Apollo in London. “These days you could have an audio interface, a laptop, a bundle of microphones, headphones, maybe a playback speaker and there’s your system. Back then, a small portable multitrack recording device really didn’t exist, so I opted to get two portable Sony TCD-D10 Pro DAT machines – one for playback, one for recording – and this was the basic idea, but thinking about redundancy I thought we’d go for four of those. “We were offered another fairly compact solution – an eight-track cassette machine from Tascam. The idea
for that was that it would be something I could compile onto when we were on the move. It ended up being incredibly useful for recording bands. “ One of the many changes Tayler has noticed is the ease with which engineers can now record on the move, and the fact that many jobs in 1990 that had to be done ‘on the fly’ can now be pushed back, and revisited later on. “We had to think ahead and be decisive,” explains Tayler. “Today, you’d probably say ‘I don’t need to make that decision now, I could leave it openended’. The ability now to be able to defer decisions has had a profound effect on the final result.”
For Better or Worse? So are we really better off with all this seemingly helpful technology, or has the ever-increasing practicality of audio equipment made things too easy? Does Tayler prefer the days when his role was more complicated, but perhaps required more skill, or has he become a fan of modern methods? “There is room for both approaches. I really appreciate the fact that I had to learn under those circumstances and I’ve seen things change. There are times where I love to leave things open-ended but also I like the discipline of having to make a decision and see what happens next. It would be a good thing for younger engineers to try out some of the original techniques.
“It also depends on the project you’re doing, but judging by some of the tracks I’m sent to remix and I see the level and depth of processing and treatments that they have gone through, I’m led to believe that they have been worked on and worked on continuously. Sometimes I find that if I remove all the in-line processing I go ‘Ah! There’s the sound!’ I think it’s easy to go round in a vicious circle and keep adding to it. When you don’t have that, it makes you a lot more disciplined about what you’re doing.” It’s clear that he believes those coming through at the moment could do with learning a few of the classic techniques, but what about the way the tech itself has evolved? “I do think it is better in every way. We still have everything that we had before, but it’s opened up the world of recording and audio to lots more people, although there might not be so many specialists as there were before,” reveals Tayler. “With the kind of processing that’s available in programs such as Logic, or any kind of DAW, it can lead people in similar directions, and people do start emulating other people’s work. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I’d like to see people having to work a little bit harder to be more individual. There are a lot of people like that, but it worries me that the preset psychology is leading to a lot of homogenisation. “I want to encourage people to step outside the boundaries.”
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ADVERTORIAL
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What’s New at PLASA 2015 What is changing at PLASA Show London for 2015? Building on PLASA’s successful ‘Focus’ model, PLASA will host the 5 sector specific areas replicating the highly valued networking atmosphere which has proved so popular at the Focus shows. The five sectors are audio, lighting, AV, staging and, new for 2015, broadcast. With seminar theatres and networking areas in each zone it enables the visitors to easily locate the products, brands and companies and facilitates business opportunities.
What can visitors expect from this year’s show? From the exhibitor viewpoint, PLASA is a truly international event, with a fifth of its visitors travelling from 74 overseas countries; 44% of visitors
haven’t visited any other show, either domestic or international in the past year, and 55% are final decision makers – that means more than 5000 key buyers. As a visitor, you can expect to see some of the world’s top brands using the show as the launch pad for new and innovative products, including live demos. Many of these will be seen in the everimpressive line up of entries into the annual PLASA Innovation Awards. What does PLASA consider to be the hot topics for the industry today? There are several important issues, we believe one of biggest is education. As part of our free to attend educational programme, we will be featuring aspirational sessions from world-class
World renowned business event for the Live Entertainment Technology industry Featuring a brand new format with sector focused hubs for AV, lighting, audio, staging and broadcast; live demonstration zones, new exhibitors and new feature products. All backed up by PLASA’s renowned Professional Development Programme hosting five seminar streams with 150+ industry leading speakers.
Register today at www.plasashow.com /PlasaShow
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Lighting Designers, audio, video and set-design specialists; panel sessions discussing topics such as the 4K content revolution, digital console architecture, noise issues, ethernet for live sound and lighting, traditional light sources to LED and the future of stage technology; training sessions from industry experts on live sound, projection mapping and lighting in film and television. Additionally the programme will cover general industry issues ranging from the development of apprenticeships for live event technicians and freelancers’ rates of pay, to the impact of arts funding cuts and updates on current legislation such as CDM 2015, as well as sessions from a wide cross-section of industry organisations including BECTU, ASD, ISCE, IPS, Soulsound, ALD, STLD, PSA, ABTT and The Theatres Trust.
What else will visitors get from a content point of view? PLASA’s renowned seminar programme will, as always, cover a broad range of subjects and is completely free to attend. The knowledge that can be gained is considered by many to be an invaluable tool as they progress through their careers.
What other networking opportunities will there be this year? PLASA Show prides itself on being an important business event in the international calendar and to facilitate more networking opportunities we have extended our opening hours to 8pm on Monday 5th October as well as bringing back features like the show bar. Other events include Knights of Illumination on Sunday 4th October, and The Innovation Awards on Monday 4th October.
55%
specify or are final decision makers, that is more than 5,000 key buyers
86%
of visitors use exhibitions as a key source to find product/service information
44%
of visitors haven’t visited any other show in the past year
02/06/2015 10:57
FEATURE: FESTIVAL SOUND L-Acoustics K Systems in action at Tomorrowland in Belgium
FESTIVAL BLUES?
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// The frenetic festival circuit remains a vital revenue generator for many audio suppliers – but with often stringent noise limits and other specific environmental considerations, it is hardly free of challenges. David Davies looks at some of the latest solutions helping PA companies to optimise the festival audio experience.
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ncredibly, it’s that time of year again. If you were one of the 175,000 people fortunate enough to secure a Glastonbury ticket, the chances are that the spectre of this event – still the largest greenfield festival in the world – is dominating your summer plans. For everyone else, there is an ever-growing abundance of other festivals to contemplate, ranging from the mainstream mainstays like V and Reading/Leeds, to more ‘boutique’ events such as Green Man in south Wales and Weekend at the Edge of the Lake in Switzerland – many of them held in picturesque surroundings. But while the artist roster and format of festivals now varies more widely than ever before, the issues facing PA companies remain relatively unchanged. Ensuring accurate and consistent coverage in climactically challenging conditions is likely to be at the top of the list; similarly, much thought must be given to optimising audio for individual 18
stages and minimising spillage between them and beyond the site perimeter. Then there is the perpetual need for audio systems to be quick to set-up and configure, and sufficiently spacesensitive to cope with what may be cramped operating conditions. In terms of audio delivery itself, these events are often taking place within an increasingly restrictive regulatory environment. Limits of 65dB (generally measured at the perimeter of the festival or the nearest residence) are increasingly ubiquitous, while other regulations – not least the UK’s Control of Noise Regulations, which specify an absolute maximum exposure for staff (inclusive of hearing protection) of 87dB – also need to be taken into account. The lot of the festival sound supplier may be a rewarding one, then, but it’s hardly wall-to-wall happiness. In which context it seems reasonable to ask what steps manufacturers have been taking to help provide more festival friendly-
audio solutions – and in the context of a schedule that often requires sleepdepriving turnarounds, what other tools are being developed that promise to make PA suppliers’ lives that little bit easier.
Sound affects
“Getting great festival sound is a complicated algorithm that needs to take into account not just the size and configuration of the audience, but the various possible interactions such as festival décor, the number and placement of other stages and the proximity of neighbours as well as zoning restrictions.”
The fact that noise problems relating to festivals are now frequently Florent Bernard, L-Acoustics the stuff of non-trade news headlines underlines the extent to which this remains (no pun intended) a live issue. with wry understatement. “It is less of Just look at the lengthy saga of the Hyde a problem in the United States where Park Festival, where multiple annual you have such huge open spaces to work events have brought complaints from with, and there are fewer people around nearby residents that shows were too to be bothered. loud – and concertgoers that they were “There is a window where it has to nowhere near loud enough. be loud enough to be exciting and not “The noise issue is a worry,” says too much to crush people, and a good Funktion-One founder Tony Andrews engineer will have a well-developed
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sense of that. But although with US events you can pretty much go as loud as you want, the reality is that in the UK and [mainland] Europe the limits imposed mean it can be difficult to achieve a satisfying sound.” Andrews’ well-documented disenchantment with the more traditional festival circuit has increasingly led him towards a cultivation of the dance world, which he deems to have a “less conservative, more open-minded” approach to audio specification. Nonetheless, he is hoping for a broad festival audience for Funktion-One’s forthcoming loudspeaker system, Vero. Previewed in March’s AMI and expected to ship later this year, Vero is a “complete touring system”, comprising Vero speakers, flying system, amplification, and a bespoke design and prediction software package that allows users to optimise array designs for smooth audience coverage and impact. One specific feature, Geometric Energy Summation (GES), looks set to have a particular resonance with festival sound suppliers. By eliminating the need for “inconvenient and expensive” delay positions up to distances of 1,000ft or more, GES allows “natural tailoring of coverage patterns and sound pressure levels to keep sound focused on the audience, controlling the off-site environmental impact”. Not surprisingly, many other loudspeaker developers have been dedicating significant amounts of R&D time to keeping more noise on the site, on the audience… in other words precisely where it is needed and nowhere else. Ruediger Nuernberg is a freelance sound engineer for Electro-Voice and Dynacord, among others. “I think the best PA manufacturers provide a product portfolio, which – thanks to consistent sound and variable dispersion angles – always guarantees homogenous coverage without having too many individual systems within one product range,” says Nuernberg. In terms of practicalities on-site, “you cannot compensate the extremely important physical distance”, continues Nuernberg. “Of course, you can influence the dispersion in the lows with the according array arrangement. In reality, this will be where the greatest
Compact concert capture For many PA companies these days, one central component of making life easier is a dependable and easy-toconfigure recording solution. Be it for quick turnaround or more delayed release, a huge number of acts are now keen to have a permanent record of their festival appearances. Founded by audio industry stalwart Joe Bull, JoeCo has become a perennial choice for live performance capture. “Many PA companies are now looking for a reliable recording solution that takes up minimal rack space, requires little monitoring, and can operate reliably for hours at a time, even in high temperatures,” says Bull. “For these reasons, JoeCo digital and analogue recorders have become a first choice, as primary or backup systems, for recording entire festivals lasting over several days, because they deliver on all counts. Hard drives can simply be changed at the end of each day and material is ready for instant influence will be. With regards to the tops, this however is limited. Towards the rear of the system, you can certainly minimise the sound through appropriate structural measures. But apart from careful planning of the angles of the arrays, you quickly run out of options.” In terms of specific EV products, the X-Line Advance continues to resonate with festival sound providers, indicates Helmut Seidl from parent company Bosch Communications Systems: “An X-Line Advance system always consists of components like system controllers, DSPs and amping, which are perfectly matching the line array. By using the same core elements the sound engineer has a familiar sound environment he can trust and knows also how the system reacts in different situations, which makes it easier to control.” Alongside skilled ears, prediction software and highly directive audio tend to make a vital difference to securing satisfying results, according to L-Acoustics’ director of touring, application, Florent Bernard. “Getting great festival sound is a complicated algorithm that needs to take into account not just the size
repurposing for broadcast, ‘Live from…’ albums or other applications.” Specific products to have resonated on the festival circuit include the 64-channel BBR64-MADI recorder. “Compatible with all professional MADI-equipped consoles, it provides a straightforward, compact, single-cable ‘plug-in’ solution for capturing sets, without the need to have a computer (with all its associated interfaces and operating system quirks) at FOH. Using an external hard drive – which can be formatted on the BBR itself – also enables bands and production teams to source recording media while on tour if necessary.” The company has also registered festival outings (with acts including Two Door Cinema Club and Natalie Imbruglia) for its BlackBox Player solution for live performance playback. “BlackBox Player technology has also enabled artists and bands to easily incorporate their backing tracks
into their roll-on/roll-off festival performances, triggered either from FOH, or more often from a band member on-stage. JoeCo Players are available with a range of analogue and digital interfaces and can be remotely controlled via iPad, or footswitch,” says Bull. In terms of live performance capture, the changing economics of the music industry mean that this trend is only bound to intensify. Live recording, notes Bull, is “no longer the preserve of a few mega bands who can afford to take articulated OB trucks to capture their festival performances – it’s important for all performers to be able to offer the live experience to as many fans as possible after the event. Supplementing the DVD or Blu-ray release of a festival performance with well-recorded and professionally remixed sound is good for the bands and good for the professionals operating the PA companies.”
Power-to-size ratio was a key consideration in the development of Powersoft’s X8 and configuration of the audience, but the various possible interactions such as festival décor, the number and placement of other stages, and the proximity of neighbours as well as zoning restrictions,” says Bernard. “The challenge demands not just a great system, but a system engineer who knows how to use planning software like [L-Acoustics’] Soundvision in order to design a festival set-up that will walk the fine line between giving strong, quality sound to festival goers, while avoiding polluting other stages or neighbours.”
Extensive directivity control is vital, he says, alluding to the ability of L-Acoustics’ K1 and K2 systems to offer directivity control in both the vertical and horizontal planes. “This finesse is crucial when you need to avoid sending sound to a neighbouring stage or a nearby penthouse apartment,” says Bernard, adding that rental companies who acquire K1 and K2 systems are trained by L-Acoustics on how to configure the systems. In terms of specific festivals, Bernard points to a number of recent success June 2015
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Martin Audio’s MLA system was something of a ‘game-changer’ in the festival market
stories, including the Calling Festival concerts in Clapham, London, in 2014: “This was a festival where many in the industry doubted the event could be successful without breaching the stringent sound restrictions. Another sound provider even pulled out of the event as they felt unable to guarantee meeting the regulations. SSE stepped in and, with solid design and full use of the L-Acoustics K System features, especially an ingenious subwoofer configuration, they were able to deliver 100dBA at FOH while maintaining all off-site levels at regulation, measured by Vanguardia Consulting throughout the event.”
Glasto glory The general opinion among many in the industry is that Martin Audio’s MLA (Multi-cellular Loudspeaker Array) system is something of a ‘gamechanger’, not least with regard to its directive abilities. James King, director of marketing at Martin Audio, steps forward to explain some of the core design principles: “Acoustic cells housed within each cabinet are independently controlled by their own amplifier and DSP channel, a total of six in each MLA. The user specifies the required sound levels to occur at various points within the venue and beyond the perimeter, and then intelligent software automatically determines the speaker configuration and individual speaker cells within to produce that result.” The technique has achieved some notable successes, not least at last year’s Glastonbury Festival. “This control allowed system engineer Mark Edwards to specify and execute a 6dB drop off over the 300m-long audience area, with 20
incredibly even frequency response,” says King. “As a result, headliners including Arcade Fire and Metallica could play at 104-105dBA – the first time such high levels had been achieved in the history of Glastonbury as noise limits are really strict.” As for the aforementioned Hyde Park events, the MLA system is generally felt to have brought about a dramatic improvement. To which end, Jim King from promoter AEG remarked: “Headliners at Hyde Park are now performing at levels well in excess of 100dB, which was unthinkable only two years ago. This has been achieved while maintaining even better control at off-site monitoring location and with consistently lower number of complaints from the community.”
Not just about noise… But specifying audio for festival applications has plenty of other considerations, not least optimising setup time and the need to accommodate multiple artists, genres and performance styles. Although we have undoubtedly witnessed a certain atomisation of the market lately into genre-specific events, the world’s attention still tends to revolve around the major multi-artist festivals where each new day is just as likely to bring a performance by Adele as one from AC/DC. “For a PA company looking at the programme of each festival, the greatest issue is to deliver into the setup a system able to reproduce with the same level of quality all kinds of music – from acoustic to electronic music,” says Grégory Dapsanse, executive vice president – R&D, innovation and marketing at APG France.
Ease of configuration and reconfiguration are therefore crucial – factors addressed by APG’s ‘highly modular’ Uniline family, which comprises a high-powered sub, a bass cabinet capable of being flown, a full-range loudspeaker and a dedicated downfill speaker. “This means it is very easy to ‘take out’ a certain element if it is not required for a type of performance, for example, you are unlikely to want the high-powered sub for acoustic-only music like a small jazz group.” Luigi Chelli, sound engineer at Powersoft, neatly encapsulates some of the priorities from an amplification perspective: “Today, more than ever, tight scheduling is unfortunately the way to go. Far-from-optimal sounding venues and/or reduced set-up time can kill your end-results. In order to gain the most from the time left ‘optimisation’ must be the word: optimisation of the load in/ load out times, of mains wiring/patching, of PA rigging and tuning.” Good power-to-size ratio is another must, and in this regard Chelli points to Powersoft’s X8, which “condenses in 2RU a three-phase power distro with auto load-balancing, a fully configurable input/output non-boolean matrix with state of the art DSP, a ‘patch-bay’ made of 16 Dante I/O, 8 AES3 inputs and eight analogue XLR inputs”, as well as an output stage of 8 x 5,200W. X Series products also acknowledge the burgeoning trend in favour of increasing the granularity of the PA – in other words, separating the stacks of loudspeakers in individually-controllable sub-sections. “Granularity means more discrete amplifier channels, and lots of traditional rack amplifiers would just cause logistical and set-up
troubles,” says Chelli. “With multichannel rack devices such as the X Series we overcome these problems: one 4U prepatched fight-case can drive 16 channels with authority. DSP power with FIR and raised-cosine/asymmetric filtering, controllable in groups and sections, match to drive the system with ease and a high degree of precision.”
More regulations ahead? With noise regulations already having a serious impact on festival audio configurations, the years ahead could bring additional measures – particularly in terms of working time conditions. “Here in Germany it is interesting to see how the regulations might affect working hours in the next years,” comments Nuernberg. “I expect there will be significant changes, which will strongly affect festivals. In the end, there will be two possible scenarios: either there will be multiple-shift operations throughout the whole festival, or the festival opening hours will be shortened so multiple-shift operation won’t be needed.” Keeping an eye on the changing landscape will therefore continue to be vital for festival organisers and their contractors. In the meantime, it is clear that the latest generation of audio solutions are making it easier to achieve results that satisfy performers, attendees and nearby residents. www.apg.tm.fr www.electrovoice.com www.funktion-one.com www.joeco.co.uk www.l-acoustics.com www.martin-audio.com www.powersoft-audio.com
June 2015
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SUCCEEDING IN MASTERING
Mastering has become almost unrecognisable from how it was in the 1960s, but according to Vlado Meller, it’s never been more important. The mastering master shares his views on the industry and the tips that got him to the top.
W
hen I began my career in the music business in 1969, things could not have been more different than they are today. I landed a job with a major label – CBS Records – which was an incredible opportunity for me to get introduced to the music business, especially for an immigrant looking for any job they can get. And, aside from great pay, my first role as a studio technician allowed me to witness firsthand the biggest artists of the period, such as Simon & Garfunkel, Johnny Cash, Barbara Streisand and countless others coming in and out of the studio. After a year as a CBS Records studio technician, I wanted to get in to a more challenging job at the studio, so I jumped at the first opening the mastering department had, despite mixing being regarded as more glamorous. The job came with full salary and benefits, with complete training by seasoned CBS Records mastering engineers. That kind of opportunity just does not exist in today’s world. Today it’s all on the internet, and a lot of the instructions are shallow, flimsy and not created by mastering engineers. Even in today’s best music schools, mastering is only an afterthought in their curriculum. Since the labels and studios are now all separate entities, there are different producers and mixing engineers for each project, making it much harder for mastering engineers to compete in an industry that is so enormous and diverse. Today, experience and your discography are more important than ever. Additionally, home production has become much more prevalent, and the quality of those recordings can fall anywhere on the spectrum from tremendous to mediocre. It’s crucial for mastering engineers to be completely objective and have a wealth of experience to rely on so the clients can go back and mix or record their songs differently, so they are ultimately happy. 22
Technically speaking, the changes between the 1960s and today have been enormous. The early days were all about razor blade editing and analogue. Two-track masters were delivered to mastering engineers and their job was to cut the best sounding vinyl for a client. The physical limitations of vinyl, tape, analogue EQs, processing and razor editing were very challenging. Recording, mixing, editing and mastering are now mostly done digitally, and it’s opened a new world of creative possibilities for everyone involved. Given the way people consume their music these days, we now prepare the files for every different format: CD, iTunes, HD tracks, DVD surround, TV broadcast, etc. Depending on to whom the final files will be delivered, we master in high-res 96kHz/24-bit and even higher when required. Consumers are now able to purchase and download full high-res albums – the way it was recorded, without the need for additional data compression like AAC or MP3, which wasn’t possible several years ago. With
all of this, today’s mastering engineers face a constant and steep learning curve because of the always-evolving technologies being used and built upon.
CHANGES FOR THE BETTER? Regardless of how up-to-date an engineer is on the latest technologies, there are some ways in which the industry today is unequivocally much easier to be involved in. For example, in the 1960s I never could’ve dreamed of working on records by the biggest artists of the day from somewhere like Charleston, South Carolina, where I now live and work. The old studio system, in which the labels and studios were all intertwined in a central location, has completely gone out the window, and my partners and I realised several years ago that there was nothing keeping us attached to New York City or any other major metropolitan area for that matter. Everything is sent electronically, from demos to mixes to masters, so we could be set up literally anywhere (and frankly a whole lot of
money has been saved by getting out of New York). What I’m especially proud of in Charleston are the three-day workshops geared towards audio engineering professionals that I’ve been hosting for the last several years. There is absolutely nothing more valuable than first-person experience passed on from others, and after decades of successful experience in this industry, I’m more concerned about the next generation of mastering engineers, because this is something you can’t learn from a book – you need to have a kind of apprenticeship to develop your ear and learn about the techniques, hardware, software, plug-ins and approach to master whatever genre of music comes your way. No book, manual or YouTube video will teach you that. The workshops are small and personal with students from all over the world, and working with them has been one of the true highlights of my career. Outside of all of the technical aspects we cover in my workshop, the best advice I could give to young mastering engineers is to take on any type of project, whether it’s classical or rock or pop or hip-hop, and take on as many as possible. After more than 40 years of this, I know that you will not get anywhere if you are afraid of tackling certain genres and sounds, and it’s why I’m proud to have ongoing experience working with everyone from Pink Floyd, Lil Wayne and Barbara Streisand to Metallica, Michael Jackson and Kanye West. Mastering is more important than ever, because of the way the albums are recorded and mixed these days. Every artist wants the best possible sound for their album and they are the ultimate judge of mastering engineers’ work. I’m proud to say I’ve delivered exactly what they want, year after year – there is nothing better than to see a happy client coming back for more. Looking back on that early crossroads I faced decided between mixing and mastering, I couldn’t be happier with the path I took. www.vladomastering.com
June 2015
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CONTENTS
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Welcome to the latest Audio Media International Buyer’s Guide, focusing on the ever-evolving DAWs and Plug-ins market.
Front Cover: The Avid S6 in Silverglade Post Production’s dubbing theatre
CONTENTS 28 Opinion – The Innovation Game 30 Feature – Soft Spots 32 Steinberg
Although the majority of pro-audio manufacturers will regularly find themselves under pressure to deliver new products on a regular basis – especially with there being so many trade shows these days, where visitors always expect something new – you could argue that the companies behind the many Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs) out there have it harder than most. It’s not enough to simply release some new software and move on to the next project; the launch of a new version is only the beginning. Further updates, tweaks and improvements will need to follow, and you can be sure that your customers will require a helping hand getting their heads around the new changes. Therefore, the world or DAWs and Plug-ins can be a challenging one for both creators and users. And with there being so many options available – some of them offering more than just a few similarities, too – it can be tricky to make the correct decision. In our previous Guide, on Microphones, our experts recommended trying out as many models and brands as possible; when it comes to selecting a DAW, you’ll probably want to try and get it right first time, as mastering your chosen workstation can be a time-consuming process. To help with this, we’ve once again asked our software specialist Stephen Bennett to give us an in-depth rundown of the current state of play in this sector (Page 28), and this year we’ve enlisted the help of four experienced producers and engineers – Ian Palmer, Romesh Dodangoda, Katie Tavini and Ryan McCambridge – who were more than happy to explain their personal preferences, and offer a few words of advice. So if you’re still unsure where your loyalty lies, or you’re just curious to see what’s new, I recommend flicking through the next few pages, where you will also find promotional articles from manufacturers and a full directory of companies in this particular field. Also, make sure you look out for the two other Guides in our annual series coming later this year, on Monitors and Headphones, and Consoles. Adam Savage, Audio Media International www.audiomediainternational.com
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The contents of this publication are subject to worldwide copyright protection and reproduction in whole or in part, whether mechanical or electronic, is expressly forbidden without the prior written consent of the Publishers. Great care is taken to ensure accuracy in the preparation of this publication but neither NewBay Media nor the Editor can be held responsible for its contents or any omissions. The views expressed are those of the contributors and not necessarily those of the Publishers or Editor. The Publishers accept no responsibility for the return of unsolicited manuscripts, photographs, or artwork. © 2015 NewBay Media. All rights reserved.
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OPINION
The Innovation Game Some would argue that modern Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs) are in danger of becoming too ‘samey’, so how are manufacturers continuing to carve a niche for themselves in this increasingly competitive market? Here’s Stephen Bennett with an in-depth overview. Have you ever wondered why so many animals and plants sport similar features even though they are spread many miles apart and have never met socially? Biologists call this tendency of organisms to demonstrate a consistency of adaptation to comparable ecological niches ‘convergent evolution’. A similar trait is clearly apparent in the mature world of Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs), with most of the main players’ products looking more and more alike, featurewise, with each iteration, although some software does diverge from the paradigm laid out by the DAW’s common ancestor, Steinberg’s Cubase. Cubase set the general pattern of DAW workflow early on and most of the software on the market today still conforms to many of the original design concepts featured in the first version for the Atari ST. Cubase featured – and still features – a central arrange page where recordings can be captured in a similar fashion to the way engineers worked with multitrack tape machines in the past. The DAW is a flexible beast and most companies create their software from the ground up to be used for multiple tasks such as recording, editing, mixing, effects processing and the playing of virtual instruments (VIs) – which leaves software designers plenty of scope for innovation. Some DAWs, such as Cubase and Apple’s Logic Pro, have evolved from their MIDI-only ancestors and tend to be full of features that composers may value, while others were designed primarily as audio recorders – for example, Avid’s Pro Tools and Merging Technologies’ Pyramix. Some DAWs eschew the traditional ‘tape recorder’ paradigm and focus on looping and arrangement. The best-known software of this type is Ableton Live, which is, to continue the biological analogy, a duck-billed platypus among DAWs. Bitwig Studio, a relatively new DAW for Linux, Windows and OSX, is one of the few to follow in Live’s musical footsteps, but E-Magic’s (the original developer of Logic) first forays into the DAW world were with the Notator and Creator software for the Atari ST, both of which were built around similar concepts. Ableton Live allows the user to perform real-time pitch and tempo manipulation and has therefore become as much of a performance tool 28 June 2015
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as a recording system. Its close integration with MAX for Live (a DSP processing environment) means that users can get right in there and code their own audio processing tools. A programme that could arguably be said to be Live’s spiritual ancestor, the MIDI-only algorithmic composition software ‘M’ (originally released by Intelligent Music in the 1980s) has been resurrected, Jurassic Parklike, for the Macintosh by Cycling 74, the creators of Max/ MSP. Whether Pyramix from Merging Technologies is used for post-production TV and film, music this software will production, CD/SACD mastering and many more audio-related industries bite someone’s way – depending on the chosen ‘style’ of the head off on the toilet remains to be seen. virtual drummer. For demos, Drummer is perfect, Steinberg’s Nuendo, with its ADR taker but expect to hear the fruits of its self-generated system and sophisticated video synchronisation paradiddles on a hit near you very soon. tools, is designed from the ground up for audio post, while Cubase’s VST expression TOOLS OF THE TRADE feature is designed to breath life into orchestral The latest version of Avid’s Pro Tools now library programming and is squarely aimed at features an embedded cloud computing-based the composer. There is a trend for innovative collaboration system that allows composers and features from a particular DAW to eventually engineers to work on projects wherever they appear in other companies’ products, so DAW are in the world – and, if singing astronauts are manufacturers go to great lengths to attempt to anything to go by, off it as well. stay one step ahead of the competition. One of Pro Tools’ upcoming new features, Apple’s Logic Pro X features ‘Drummer’, the Marketplace, is a place to publish session which allows the composer to create authentic files, stems and mixes directly from the DAW. percussion tracks that vary – in a very human The International Guide To Plug-ins and DAWs 2015
01/06/2015 16:29
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Whether this new ecosystem will help to sell more product remains to be seen, but as many of the most profitable audio projects are completed within Pro Tools, Avid is probably the bestplaced manufacturer to have success in this area. Merging’s Pyramix can capture audio on up to four separate drives simultaneously and the takes can be edited before all the recording has been completed, while the latest iteration of Cubase features some innovative compositional tools, such as Chord Track, Chord Assistant and Chord Pads. With the introduction of 64-bit processing, VCA mixers, pitch and tempo correction software, the bouncing of regions directly to disk and export of tracks as audio files, automation and efficient CPU processing, one may be tempted to think that most of the currently available DAWs have reached some kind of common evolutionary feature climax. However, all of the available software differs in the way they look, the Operating System and platforms they run on, and the sonic nature and type of their included plug-in instruments and effects. Workflow is a very personal thing; the choice of a DAW will often be based on personal familiarity with a particular product or based on the type of software that their collaborators may be using, rather than a focus on raw features. Those clever people at Steinberg were also the progenitors – in 1996 – of that most useful innovation, the audio plug-in, with their Virtual Studio Technology (VST) protocol. While many companies have since developed their own proprietary plug-in formats, such as Audio Units (AU) from Apple and Avid’s Audio eXtension (AAX), these mostly perform in the same fashion as Steinberg’s protocol. Because each manufacturer makes its Software Development Kits (SDK) open to all, it allows the big fish in the DAW world to take advantage of plug-ins created by smaller fry. This enables innovations
Chord Pads are one new feature of Cubase Pro 8
in plug-in design to move at a greater pace than is possible in the behemoth DAW itself, as the resources required to move from a great idea to a downloadable product are easily within the grasp of most programmers.
THIRD-PARTY PLAYERS In reality, the addition of third-party plug-ins, such as Synchro Arts’ Vocalign for ADR, which is often found in Pro Tools-based post facilities or Pyramix’s optional ADR package, can take up the slack where the DAW itself is lacking and many DAWs bundle third-party plug-ins to enhance the basic features of the software. Quite a few of the ‘standard’ features in modern DAWs, such as drum replacement and pitch and tempo correction, first appeared as separate plug-ins whose conceptual ideas – and sometimes code – have since been subsumed into the DAW. Major names in hardware processing and electronic musical instruments have also entered the plug-in market, with virtual versions of their classic equipment. This obviously makes a lot of sense where the original was a digital design, such as Eventide’s H3000 plug-in – an emulation of their vintage pitch shifting hardware – but there are many examples of recreations of analogue gear. While several companies have resurrected other manufacturers’ classic designs, such as the Xils lab emulations of the EMS VCS3 and Vocoder, UVI’s Emulator II and GForce’s Oddity and MTron Pro, some of the original manufacturers are also getting in on the digital act. The UAD platform is proving popular with those companies keen on creating emulations of iZotope’s Ozone 6 offers a complete mastering platform their own hardware, as the www.audiomediainternational.com
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OPINION
DSP card effectively acts as a ‘dongle’, making the software almost impossible to crack and the Universal Audio format currently sports plug-ins from most of the top manufacturers of hardware, such as Lexicon, Neve, API, Manley, Marshall, Tube Tech and Valley People. While some may feel this slavish emulation of older hardware demonstrates a lack of innovation, releasing the engineer from the limitations of using one or two instances of a piece of hardware opens up new creative possibilities for everyone. In any case, in tandem to these recreations, there are plenty of examples of exciting and innovative plug-ins being developed, such as Izotope’s Ozone mastering plug-in and the company’s ‘Swiss army knife’ audio restoration suite, RX. Innovation can come in many guises and even in the field of the now almost traditional orchestral library, East West is pushing the boundaries of what is possible – and available – with its Composer Cloud, a subscriber-based system that offers instant access to over 9,000 of its high-quality instruments. The composer and engineer now have available a wide range of recording platforms and processing tools. Though it may seem that the development of the DAW has converged to such an extent that there is little to choose between the competitors’ products, the very different workflows and focus on where the software is likely to be used means that there is still real choices to be made. The tsunami of plug-in innovation appears to show no signs of abating however, and the next few years of development will bring tools that are unheard of in our philosophy. The next stage in evolution of digital tools should further enhance the creative possibilities in audio production. 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. June 2015 29
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FEATURE
Soft spots With digital audio workstation and plug-in preferences a regular topic of debate among users, we invited four experienced audio professionals to explain their software choices.
Universal Audio has “really cornered the market on emulations”, according to Ryan McCambridge
The DAW market has arguably reached saturation point as competitors desperately try to outmuscle each other and stake their claim as the industry standard. As this struggle pushes software to become more and more homogenous, it can be difficult to find the right package. We have assembled four experts to help guide your choice; Ian Palmer, sound designer and dubbing mixer at Gorilla Group TV; Ryan McCambridge, audio engineer, producer and programmer; Romesh Dodangoda, producer/mixer at Long Wave Recording and Katie Tavini, producer and mixing/ mastering engineer. What do you look for in a DAW? Ian: As I have been a sound editor and dubbing mixer over the years, I look for a DAW that is good at both. I need something that will be quick and efficient. It means I only need one piece of software to be able to work. Ryan: I have been using a digital audio workstation professionally for over 15 years. The most important thing for me is reliability, as a lack of reliability costs money and time, which for me is non-negotiable. I also appreciate a DAW with a logical and efficient workflow, because that ultimately allows me to work faster and more efficiently. Katie: I mainly look for stability in a DAW. Having a system that runs smoothly with your DAW is a must too, as there’s nothing worse than losing work because of crashing, or a DAW running slowly when you’re in the middle of a session with loads of cool ideas to try out. Which DAW(s) do you rely on most? Ian: I use Pro Tools. I think it’s very good at both editing and mixing; it’s not perfect but it has been a great tool over the years. I also use it 30 June 2015
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as it’s the industry standard. The ability for me to edit dialogue and send that session to be mixed is invaluable. That also enables me to work in any company without having to learn any new software. Ryan: I primarily use Pro Tools 11; I find it to be the most logical for those of us who came from linear formats. It can do almost anything you need it to but it doesn’t ever ‘auto-magically’ do it for you. I want flexibility but I want absolute control over that flexibility. The moment a DAW starts making assumptions for me, I have a problem with it. On bigger sessions, Pro Tools HD is a must. I use native Pro Tools a lot but I wouldn’t want to track a band live off the floor without HD; it’s the only platform that I know of that can get you there with the necessary stability. I’m enjoying Logic for MIDI-based projects. It generally seems to handle virtual instruments better than Pro Tools. Romesh: I use Steinberg Nuendo V6. As work got more hectic, I had to find a system that I could comfortably mix in the box; I needed to be able to do recalls fast and open multiple projects quickly. I have everything set up in a way that I can spend less time looking at the DAW and more time focusing on the music. Katie: For recording projects, I mostly use Pro Tools and Cubase. I have two different versions of Cubase – version 1.1 and version 5. I think for any audio engineer it’s important to know Pro Tools as it’s completely industry standard. The main reason I still use Cubase 1.1 is because, for MIDI, it’s solid as a rock. How would you describe the rate at which DAWs have been improving over the past few years?
Ryan McCambridge
Ian: I actually think sometimes DAWs don’t progress quickly enough. The addition of Clip Gain to Pro Tools has speeded up my workflow greatly. Why did such a simple feature that has been requested for years take so long to arrive? I do think that with hardware improvements, DAWs have continuously got better. I personally find new features easy to use as they are built into a pre-existing GUI and workflow that is solidly established. Romesh: The demand on the DAW has increased as more people rely on it now, so I think it’s important that there are improvements made. The DAW has become the centre of a lot of people’s workflow. Katie: Pro Tools 11 and Cubase 5 are my go-to DAWs for audio. Cubase 7 has a lot of really useful updates, and it’s a lot more user friendly than Cubase 5, but I have found it to be less reliable, which is why I’m happy staying slightly old school. Are there now too many updates? Do you find it hard to keep up with them all? The International Guide To Plug-ins and DAWs 2015
02/06/2015 10:07
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Katie Tavini
where things are and what they are labelled, new icons, etc. But the basic structure of a “I actually think sometimes DAW is standard DAWs don’t progress quickly just like a mixing enough.” desk is. A bus might Ian Palmer be called an Aux or a Group track but they perform the same job. Ryan: To me, great tools are the ones that empower you, which usually is a product of your connection to them. Most DAWs have the same features and do the same things but each of them feels a bit different. I Ian: I find updates a little frustrating. Not in think people should use whichever DAW makes themselves, but when you have to organise lots the most sense to them and the way they think. of different software to do one little upgrade. The Ultimately, someone’s comfort with a DAW will combination of OSX, Waves and Pro Tools has far outweigh the advantages of the very minor been a fairly precarious path to upgrade on nuances between the different platforms. at times. Romesh: I think a lot of the DAWs out there Romesh: If my system is stable, then I usually have applications that they are really good for won’t update it for a while as I don’t have a lot and that make them stand out. Nuendo for me of time to be troubleshooting if I have a lot of is great because it is great all round for tracking, sessions I need to work on. If it starts altering the mixing and also working with video. It’s great way you work and it means you have to adjust to that there is choice out there so users can find fit the DAW, then it can become a problem. something that suits their workflow and what Katie: As long as a DAW does the job you they are looking to do with it. need it to, there’s not really much point in Katie: I think manufacturers are trying to go upgrading. There doesn’t seem much point in for an all-in-one package. It’s more noticeable upgrading each year just for one or two extra with things like PreSonus Studio One’s ability features which you might spend a couple of days to generate DDP files. It’s basically a DAW that learning and then never use. you can record, mix and then master in. Home studios are everywhere, and I think companies are Do you agree that some DAWs are trying to use that to their advantage. becoming too similar to one another? Should companies be doing more to set Are you a big plug-in user? Do you have themselves apart? any favourites? Ian: I guess that a combination of the two Ian: I love plug-ins and couldn’t live with out is a good balance. If I went into the Nuendo them. I use them extensively when I edit and environment, for example, I would have to learn Ian Palmer
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FEATURE
Romesh Dodangoda
mix. My favourite editing plug-in has to be iZotope’s RX4. It’s just so powerful for cleaning up production sound. I really like the addition of the Dialogue DeNoiser component – useful if you cannot find some suitable noise for the DeNoiser to Learn. For mixing I love the Renaissance plug-ins by Waves. The UI is simple and easy to use, plus they sound good. I use the REQ and RComp on all my dialogue tracks as my go to plug-ins for television mixing. Ryan: Universal Audio has really cornered the market on emulations. Every one of its plug-ins has a distinct flavour, which often isn’t the case with plug-ins. The AMS RMX16 has a sound that was so prevalent in the ’80s and it’s incredible when a plug-in can emulate the hardware so accurately that you’re instantly able to recreate that era. Their entire plug-in line is incredible. For me, McDSP is my go-to for everything else. They are incredibly forward-thinking with their plug-ins. They make them so featurerich that they’re unparalleled in the amount of control that they offer. Also, often the problem with plug-ins is that they fall apart if pushed too hard, but McDSP are musical even at extremes. CompressorBank, FilterBank, and the NF575 Noise Filter make it into every mix that I do. Romesh: I tend to use a lot of analogue equipment for tracking so when the audio hits the DAW, there is not a lot I need to do to the sound. However, if I do go to plug-ins, I’m a big fan of Universal Audio. They sound great! Katie: I’m not a heavy plug-in user, but my go-tos are Sonnox EQ, dynamics and limiter, and the Brainworx Digital V2. I love how transparent and natural sounding Sonnox plug-ins are, and I love the M/S processing on the BXV2. June 2015 31
02/06/2015 10:08
STEINBERG MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES GMBH
Nuendo 7: Steinberg’s Audio Post-Production System Gets Major Update Steinberg first showcased the upcoming release of Nuendo 7 at the 2015 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco in March. Since then the next iteration of Steinberg’s award-winning digital audio workstation has been making appearances at trade shows all over the world, highlighting new and enhanced tools and functionality around audio post-production and game audio. Nuendo 7 is scheduled to finally be shipping at the end of this month. 15 years ago, the Nuendo digital audio workstation first enriched the pro-audio market by introducing a new paradigm: to unite completely native technologies with peerless audio and surround features. Today, Nuendo has staked out an industry openness that empowers audio professionals to higher levels of productivity, and this is why so many post-production editors, film mixers and recording engineers are more than happy to rely on the advantages that this unprecedented flexibility brings. Tailored to the needs and requirements of film and TV post-production companies, Nuendo provides extensive surround mixing with one of the world’s most flexible mixing consoles. Keeping things simple, especially when working on massive post-production projects, Nuendo 32 June 2015
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lets you manage channel visibility by dynamically displaying only the tracks you actually want to see, as well as offering an array of channel search functions. With IOSONO’s Anymix Pro plug-in for advanced surround panning and upmixing alongside the all-inclusive ADR taker system with enhancements for voice and foley recording, major enhancements in loudness processing and proven editing tools, Nuendo boasts a feature set dedicated to audio post-production. With Nuendo 7, Steinberg have now extended Nuendo’s core competency by one: game audio. In previous years game sound designers have increasingly turned to Nuendo to appreciate its highly configurable program structure and the many sophisticated tools for creating and manipulating audio. Adding Game
Audio Connect, which allows easy transfer of audio assets to the Wwise audio middleware solution by Audiokinetic, has acknowledged this development. Other useful tools for sound designers and those dealing with a large number of audio files are the new Render Export feature that exports a free selection of audio files to a specified disk destination, and Render In Place for direct rendering within the project. Nuendo 7 has much more in stock for editors and engineers. One of the highlights of this iteration is the new ReConforming feature. Its re-conforming algorithm detects picture changes and automatically re-edits the audio projects accordingly. Also new in Nuendo, VCA faders assist in creating complex mixes for film and TV projects, allowing for advanced automation The International Guide To Plug-ins and DAWs 2015
02/06/2015 15:06
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STEINBERG MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES GMBH
workflows by merging the automation curve of a VCA fader with the automation curve of a controlled fader or fader groups. Editing enhancements include frame rate support of 50 FPS and a new timecode entering scheme and automation curves, which follow the trimming of events. The redesigned Track List and Inspector allows for better readability, while the new VST Rack Zone offers a dedicated space for MediaBay and the VST Instrument Rack within the project window. Steinberg are hosting a number of Nuendo 7 demonstrations around the globe in the forthcoming months, making stops in over 20 countries. For a detailed schedule visit http://www.steinberg.net/nuendo7worldtour.
INFORMATION
(Manufacturer’s HQ) Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH Frankenstr. 18b 20097 Hamburg Germany W: www.steinberg.net (US distributor) Yamaha Corporation of America 6600 Orangethorpe Ave CA-90620 Buena Park USA
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02/06/2015 15:06
MERGING TECHNOLOGIES SA
Pyramix 10 |3D Toolkit for AV/Post/Music/Mastering A redesigned mix engine brings with it the possibility of building mixes into three dimensions… in a huge way. From all the 2D and 3D standards to immersive configurations of well over 200 speakers Pyramix 10 has become the immersive workstation.
Working with audio in more-than-stereo situations has been developing ever since Walt Disney tried out something new with Fantasia in 1940. Since that point, more speakers, better panning and more advanced workflows have been attempting to continue with what is the truly the ultimate goal of all recorded sound… to make the listener believe that they are listening to the “real thing”. Complete immersion has always been the holy grail of any entertainment technology. Pyramix 10 is a gift to those content developers who want to create with the intention of getting as close to this as possible. And as Merging Technologies don’t seem to ever do anything in half measures, Pyramix 10 has a new bus layout which can work for any job from mono…. up to 256 speakers in a single array. PANNING IN THE BOX The idea came from a development meeting where a number of new speaker layouts had been requested by users and Merging were figuring out how to implement them. The product manager asked the question “isn’t there a way in which we can implement something that will avoid us having this discussion again?”, and from that a seed was planted which would inevitably grow into the new panning engine of Pyramix 10. The idea was to allow the user to position sound sources in a “room” without any need to specify the amount and the position of the speakers. Once the position is described on each strip, the user can then apply that position to a summing bus, aux send or subgroups. This means that any combination of speaker arrays in the same project become incredibly simply to manage. Stereo Reverb sends, LCR stems and 11.1 final mix busses can all work in 34 June 2015
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SELECTION OF SPEAKER PRESETS • Stereo • Quad • 5.1 / 7.1 • Dolby Atmos 9.1 • Auro3D 9.1/11.1/13.1 • DTS Neo:X 11.1 • NHK 22.2 • La Totale 30.2 unison without any thought or care from the user. In terms of layouts available, Pyramix has covered all the bases. Considering the pace at which these new standards have been released and adopted in various audio markets, this was a massive job in itself. And the coolest thing about using these presets is that you can change the layout of any of your busses whenever you want. Start in stereo and move to 9.1 without losing any automation or plugins in your mix. This means movement of current projects to new rooms and updates of old projects has now become infinitely simple to do. The Panner is also prepared for two very different types of content creation workflows. Most music, TV and cinema is created by panning sounds into various speakers using a method where a percentage of the total sound level is added into two or more speakers to give it a feeling of “location” in the soundscape. This works very well for these industries as it does not require the replay environment to have
MULTICHANNEL ROTATIONAL PANNING Users can also create mixer strips of any size, so being able to control and pan multichannel sources is incredibly important. The Source Size and Rotation controls give simple access to controlling immersive sound files and mix them with ease.
defined sizes. This basically means that a mix that works on speakers in your living room will also work on headphones. And, this is the default The International Guide To Daws & Plug-ins 2015
02/06/2015 15:58
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manner in which the new Pyramix panner works. However, there are other audio industry sectors where content must be developed for rooms where the speakers’ positions are very well defined and where having a different, more “real” way of panning is already starting to create some major waves. Live events, museums, theme parks and other immersive spaces built with artistic intent, are all limited in how they can bring sound to a space, as they have limited to this “normal” panning concept. Switching a bus to Sized Room mode and entering the radius of a room/space allows the user to then determine a physical distance between each speaker. Then, rather than “pan” between speakers, the sound source is instead distance measured to every speaker in the virtual room. Essentially what this is doing is using the speakers as samplers in the “room” within the panner. The result is that you get a much more “natural” sounding placement in any room where you are able to place and measure your speakers. Merging has also added functionality allowing Pyramix to be simply and easily used for Dolby Atmos workflows. For those in the know, telling you that it is possible to create an “Object Bus” directly in the mixer, which automatically removes the sound source(s) from the channel mixes and adds them exclusively to a free object track will hopefully be raising a couple of interested eyebrows. Designed to work seamlessly with industry-standard cinema mixing techniques using large format consoles, Pyramix has already been employed on a respectable number of Dolby Atmos releases. GO LIVE WITH OVATION Introducing 3D workflows, and especially when talking about our Sized Room Panning Algorithm, it wouldn’t be right if the Ovation Audio & Event Sequencer, also from Merging Technologies, wasn’t mentioned. Sporting the
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MERGING TECHNOLOGIES SA
VIRTUAL VS. SIZED ROOM PANNING Virtual Room: Uses normal panning concept where a sound’s “location” in between speakers is a result of adding a percentage of the sound to each of the speakers. This is normally used as the resultant mix could be listened to in any room as there is no need to have the speakers at a specific distance from one another. Sized Room: Defines the location of the speakers with a physical distance between each other. Once the distance is known, then a panning algorithm, which calculates the movement of sound through free space, is used (-6dB / distance2). This is a very interesting way to pan when the user knows the location of the speakers their mix will be played through.
OVATION AUDIO & EVENT SEQUENCER A media player used heavily in live and events industries ranging from theatre, concerts and touring to installed AV, theme parks, cruise ships, museums and commercial spaces.
same MassCore VS3 engine of Pyramix fame, Ovation is a hugely popular audio server, mix engine and show control tool used by some of the largest live entertainment spaces in the world. Whether at the Imperial War Museum in London, UK, Orlando’s Universal Theme Park, or if you were one of the lucky few to get to a Kate Bush concert at London’s Hammersmith Apollo, Ovation has been helping to create some of the most powerful soundscapes ever. With this new panning engine, Pyramix is able to create the perfect content for use in this live application system. And, since Ovation shares the same mix engine, the special bonus of this entire venture is that the whole panning paradigm made by the Merging team can be used in either post, or in real-time, critical live environments!
Merging Technologies have seen the future, and it is all 3D!
INFORMATION
Worldwide Headquarters Merging Technologies SA Le Verney 4, CH-1070 Puidoux, Switzerland W: www.merging.com E: info@merging.com Merging UK Offices Emerging UK ltd. 23 Easter Park,Benyon Road, Silchester, Reading RG7 2PQ, United Kingdom T: +44 (0) 118 402 5090 E: sales@emerginguk.com Merging USA Offices Independent Audio Inc. 43 Deerfield Road, Portland, ME 04101 T: +1 (207) 773 2424 E: info@independentaudio.com
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02/06/2015 15:58
SOURCE ELEMENTS
Game-changing remote recording, monitoring and file transfer Source Elements lets audio professionals work with clients and talent from all over the world in real time. Source-Connect offers high-resolution IP audio straight into your timeline. With Source-Live, broadcast your mix to anyone, anywhere and transfer quickly with Source-Zip.
Your professional, home, or portable studio can affordably record, collaborate, or monitor sessions anywhere in the world. Record with Source-Connect Source-Connect® enables worldwide real-time audio connections up to 7.1 channels with no per-minute charges, subscriptions, or line fees. Experience flawless direct-to-the-timeline recordings with uncompromising audio quality, using the highest quality low-delay AAC codec available. With Restore and Replace you have automatic replacement of your streamed audio with the original uncompressed PCM audio directly in your timeline’s existing edits. Remote Transport Sync brings you lock-to-picture for easy ADR and overdubbing. Source-Connect integrates with Pro Tools, Logic, Nuendo and more, and the portable, automatic configuration works with most networks. With ISDN bridging partners you are no longer trapped with running expensive lines - you can do an ISDN session from anywhere and any time. And Source Elements’ industry-first Surround-capable software opens your world to so many possibilities. Got questions or need help? With an industryrecognised incredible ‘above-and-beyond’ support offering, Source is available by phone and directly over Source-Connect to troubleshoot on demand. 36 June 2015
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Monitor with Source-Live Video Source-Live® with Video gives your clients instant world-wide access to your studio – an insanely useful tool you’ll find yourself using more and more. Send your live mix directly to your clients: email them your Live link, and they can log on to your Source-Live Gateway and listen immediately in sync with your HD video stream from any web browser or with our free iOS app. Transfer with Source-Zip A self-extracting session archiver that speeds up internet transfers up to 10 times, Source-Zip® solves a specific problem: you need to send your audio session to another location, but don’t have the time or bandwidth it takes to send a large file. Use Source-Zip to compress your session by half (Lossless) or by as much as 10 times (lossy) and your metadata information stays intact. Also great for storing session archives using Lossless technology to halve the required disk space.
Notable sessions and clients: • The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Alex Heffes and Park Road Post conducted sessions between Los Angeles and NZ: Using Source-Connect allowed Alex to have additional support without the added expense of having that person flown to New Zealand. • James Lugo: “Source-Live has made my dream of being an international mixer a reality. Incredible software” • For Santisound, Source-Zip delivers mixes on a tight schedule for projects ranging from Avatar to HBO sessions. • Ben Patrick Johnson, one of America’s Top 5 voice over recording artists: “Source-Connect is proving to be an invaluable mobility solution for me”
INFORMATION
Download a free trial at http://source-elements.com/ trial or give Source Elements a call to discuss your unique needs. Source Elements LLC Address T: +1 312 706 5555 (US) T: +44 20 3519 2554 (UK) W: http://source-elements.com
The International Guide To Daws & Plug-ins 2015
02/06/2015 17:04
DIRECTORY
Sign up for your digital AMI at www.audiomediainternational.com
ABBEY ROAD STUDIOS www.abbeyroad.com
FXPANSION www.fxpansion.com
SOLID STATE LOGIC www.solid-state-logic.com
ADOBE www.adobe.com
HARRISON CONSOLES www.harrisonconsoles.com
SONIC CORE www.sonic-core.net
ABLETON www.ableton.com
ALGORITHMIX www.algorithmix.com AMS NEVE www.ams-neve.com
ANTARES www.antarestech.com
APOGEE www.apogeedigital.com APPLE www.apple.com
ART www.artproaudio.com ARTURIA www.arturia.com ARX www.arx.com.au
AUDIOEASE www.audioease.com
AUDIOFILE ENGINEERING www.audiofile-engineering.com AVID www.avid.com
BORIS FX www.borisfx.com
BRAINWORX GERMANY www.brainworx-music.de CAKEWALK www.cakewalk.com
CEDAR AUDIO www.cedar-audio.com CELEMONY www.celemony.com
CENTRANCE www.centrance.com
CHANDLER www.chandlerlimited.com CYCLING 74 www.cycling74.com DALET www.dalet.com
DANGEROUS MUSIC www.dangerousmusic.com DB-AUDIOWARE www.db-audioware.com DIGIGRAM www.digigram.com
ECHO www.echoaudio.com EVENTIDE www.eventide.com
FAIRLIGHT www.fairlightau.com FLUX www.fluxhome.com FOCUSRITE www.focusrite.com
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GRM TOOLS www.inagrm.com
IK MULTIMEDIA www.ikmultimedia.com IZOTOPE www.izotope.com
LEXICON www.lexiconpro.com
LYNX STUDIO TECHNOLOGY www.lynxstudio.com MAGIX www.magix.com
MCDSP www.mcdsp.com
MERGING TECHNOLOGIES www.merging.com METRIC HALO www.mhlabs.com
MINNETONKA AUDIO www.minnetonkaaudio.com MOTU www.motu.com
MSOFT INC www.msoftinc.net
MS PINKY www.mspinky.com
NATIVE INSTRUMENTS www.native-instruments.com NEYRINCK www.neyrinck.com
NOMAD FACTORY www.nomadfactory.com
NOVATION MUSIC www.novationmusic.com OVERLOUD www.overloud.com
PRESONUS www.presonus.com
PRISM SOUND www.prismsound.com
PROPELLERHEAD www.propellerheads.se RME www.rme-audio.com ROB PAPEN www.robpapen.com
ROLAND SYSTEMS GROUP www.rolandsystemsgroup.co.uk SADIE www.sadie.com
SERATO www.serato.com
SLATE DIGITAL www.slatedigital.com
SLATE PRO AUDIO www.slateproaudio.com SOFTUBE www.softube.se
SONALKSIS www.sonalksis.com
SONIC STUDIO LLC www.sonicstudio.com
SONNOX www.sonnoxplugins.com
SONY CREATIVE SOFTWARE www.sonycreativesoftware.com SOUNDNESS www.soundness-llc.com SOUND TOYS www.soundtoys.com
SOURCE ELEMENTS www.source-elements.com SPECTRASONICS www.spectrasonics.net
SPL www.soundperformancelab.com STEVEN SLATE DRUMS www.stevenslatedrums.com STEINBERG www.steinberg.net
SYNCHRO ARTS www.synchroarts.com
TC ELECTRONIC www.tcelectronic.com TC HELICON www.tc-helicon.com
THE TELOS ALLIANCE www.telosalliance.com/axia THE SOUND GUY www.sfxmachine.com
TRILLIUM LANE LABS www.avid.com UNIVERSAL AUDIO www.uaudio.com VIRTUAL KATY www.virtualkaty.com
VIRTUASONIC www.virtuasonic.com V-PLUGS www.v-plugs.com
WAVE ARTS www.wavearts.com WAVES www.waves.com
WHOLEGRAIN DIGITAL SYSTEMS www.wholegrain-ds.com XILS-LAB www.xils-lab.com
YAMAHA www.yamahaproaudio.com YELLOWTEC www.yellowtec.com ZOOM www.zoom.co.jp ZPLANE www.zplane.de
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02/06/2015 12:15
DIGITAL RECORDERS
Expert Witness
A
s a field and wildlife recordist, I consider several factors when choosing a portable recorder. Preamp quality is probably the most important consideration as I am often required to record quiet sounds. Having noisy preamps while capturing low-level sound leads to unwanted hiss spoiling the recording. Of course, microphone specifications such as signal-to-noise ratio do factor in, but decent preamps help. This does affect the cost of the recorder. As a rule, the more you pay, the better the amps. Portability is very important. Lugging cumbersome equipment can be a hindrance, especially if you’re constantly on the move. My first recorder was a Zoom H4N; although it did have a hand strap, it was still a nightmare having to operate a boom, press record and monitor levels. These days I go for recorders with shoulder straps, which are far more practical. Battery life should be considered before purchasing a portable recorder. Batteries are costly, and have the habit of running dry at inconvenient times. I find AA battery-powered recorders don’t last long enough when phantom power is switched on. Most of the recorders I use these days are powered by heavy-duty batteries, lasting up to eight hours. Sample rates and microphone powering options (Phantom, Plug-inpower) are other factors I look at. In some situations I like to record above the standard 48k 24-bit sample rate to allow more flexibility in post-production. Fortunately, most recorders go beyond this. Plug-in power (PIP) for microphones that only require 3-5V to operate is a feature not all recorders have. I have a pair of Microphone Madness omni-mics that only run with PIP. Of the three recorders in my inventory – an Olympus LS5, Fostex FR2 LE and Sound Devices 744T – only one of them has this feature.
Recommendations A recorder I cannot recommend enough 38
is the Olympus LS5. It’s lightweight, fits nicely in my pocket and can be thrown about a bit. It has a plug-in-power facility and good quality built-in stereo mics for recording ambiences. It doesn’t have phantom power, however, so I combine it with a Sound Devices MixPre-D via the unbalanced mini XLR connector on the mixer to Line-In on the recorder, creating the perfect lightweight and easy-topack recording setup. I use it as a backup recorder, carry it around everywhere I go and if I need to use phantom power with it, I can connect it up to the mixer. Line-In sockets are typically 3.5mm stereo inputs and can be found on pretty much all handheld recorders. It’s a really useful feature and definitely one to check for. When out recording wildlife, I often leave a microphone recording up a tree somewhere to capture a close recording of birdsong. Invariably I’d use the LS5 as a recorder with the MixPre to power a microphone. It’s a small and inconspicuous set up and can be hidden well. I can then wander off with a parabolic reflector connected to a recorder I’m less comfortable leaving laying about. Not a handheld recorder, but definitely worth considering, is the Fostex FR2 LE. Costing around the £500 mark, it is excellent for wildlife sound recording. It has two clean, quiet preamps, phantom power, a shoulder strap and easily visible metering. The two XLR inputs have independent gain and trim controls and although it has a plastic casing, it’s a sturdy piece of kit. Battery life is excellent, particularly if using remote control car battery packs – they last a good six to eight hours with continuous use. At the top end of the price scale and for situations where two channels of recording aren’t quite enough, the Sound Devices 744T recorder fits the bill. It has the ability to record four channels of audio, an M/S decoder for mid/side stereo recording, several high pass filter options and a whole host of
Wildlife sound specialist and audio engineer Gregory Ovenden offers his advice and recommendations on selecting quality portable, handheld and field recording equipment.
other features. Its 10-second pre-record function has been a lifesaver on many occasions, the preamps are top notch as well and seem to do wonders with even the cheapest microphones, and the recorder is built to last. The metering is easy to read with adjustable light brightness for low and high level light situations. The only thing it doesn’t have is built-in microphones.
Developments As with all digital technology, there’s always something new on the market. Pocket recorders seem to come in all shapes and sizes these days but all in all, they have pretty similar features. Preamp quality probably differentiates them the most. I recently tried Zoom’s new H6 modular six-channel recorder. You can change the built-in microphones to the setup of your choice, and have up to six XLR inputs. This would be perfect for me when I want to record with lots of microphones but I can’t see the battery life lasting very long at all without keeping it plugged in to a power supply.
This is definitely an issue for recording in the field. I imagine it’d be perfect for recording a band or orchestra in a concert hall with electricity, but not out in woodland somewhere. More portable recorders are being produced featuring multiple built-in microphone capsules with switchable pickup patterns and stereo recording facilities too – for example the Zoom H2N and Tascam DR100. This is particularly exciting for those who wish to record bands/orchestras or wildlife ambiences outdoors in glorious surround sound.
Expert Witness Gregory Ovenden is an audio engineer, working in outside broadcast, and an award-winning wildlife sound recordist. He has worked on various feature films and animation and TV programmes in location and post-production sound.
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01/06/2015 16:27
139
TH
AUDIO ENGINEERING SOCIETY INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK J ACOB J AVITS C ENTER CONFERENCE: OCT 29 – NOV 1, 2015 EXHIBITS: OCT 30 – NOV 1, 2015
If It’s About LIVE SOUND, It’s At AES139! LIVE SOUND EXPO comes to New York City this fall at the 139th AES Convention. Whether you are in the hot seat as FOH engineer mixing to a crowd of thousands, in an intimate local club mixing your favorite band, or handling the audio for a house-of-worship facility, the upcoming AES139 Convention in New York City is your one source for all things audio. With three days of exhibits, the Live Sound Track, and the Live Sound Expo, plus four days of workshops, technical papers and program content tailored to the current audio and communications landscape, once again, the AES Convention will be THE audio event of the year and cannot be missed. Our Live Sound Expo at the 139th Convention offers expert advice for the broad spectrum of live sound engineers (some 25% of Convention attendees) with an emphasis on the practical, bringing professionals with decades of experience to the stage to inspire and educate attendees.
AES139 Live Sound Expo itinerary and areas of focus:
• Friday, October 30 – Broadway/Theater • Saturday, October 31 – Worship & Install • Sunday, November 1 – Touring Admission to the Live Sound Expo is included with your FREE Exhibits-Plus advance registration. The Live Sound Expo sponsors are:
For AES sponsor opportunities contact Graham Kirk: graham.kirk@aes.org
If It’s About AUDIO, It’s At AES! For more information visit our website at:
www.aesconvention.com/139
Photo courtesy of Christian Heilman
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International
DIGITAL RECORDERS
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JOECO
BLACKBOX BBR1MP RECORDER 24 channels, 24 integrated mic preamps, one rack unit.
J
oeCo’s BlackBox BBR1MP Recorder is the latest addition to the UK manufacturer’s award-winning multichannel recorder series. Designed as a stand-alone system for location recording, or live sessions where space is limited, the BBR1MP uniquely features 24 high-quality, microphone preamps, operating at up to 24-bit/96kHz, which are integrated into the recorder’s tiny 1U housing. Adding a USB hard drive and microphones turns the system into a full multichannel recording solution that quite literally fits into a backpack or hand luggage. The BBR1MP Recorder offers a range of connection options including individually switchable mic/line inputs, balanced outputs, video sync, time code and word clock inputs, plus optional user-installable MADI or Dante interfaces. Microphones can be directly connected to the unit via tails, or via an optional 2U breakout panel with XLR connectors. The recorder is controlled via JoeCoRemote for iPad, enabling the set up of each mic pre channel – level, mic/line, phantom power, hi-pass filter, soft limiter and phase reverse. A JoeCoRemote hardware interface is supplied with the system. Levels are displayed on high-resolution meters and a monitor mix can be created and adjusted using expandable channel strips with graphic faders, pan, solo, mute and other parameter controls. A stereo mixdown can also be created while recording, which has several advantages on location. Two independent headphone sockets 40
FACTS & FIGURES 24-channel record or playback at up to 24-bit/96kHz 24 high-quality integrated mic preamps (24-bit/96kHz operation) Microphone connection via tails or optional 2U breakout panel with XLR connectors Remote set-up, control and monitoring via JoeCoRemote for iPad Multiple connection options: switchable mic/line inputs, balanced outputs Optional, user installable cards for 24 channels of Dante or MADI I/O
normally renting two standard JoeCos as a 48-track recorder along with six 8-channel mic pres,” says Audio Rents’ Bob Burton. “The BBR1MPs are small, lightweight, easy to carry to the location, and occupy a small footprint when they arrive. The guys at the first venue were impressed by their performance and ease of use – and they sound great.” Like all BlackBox Recorders, the BBR1MP records audio direct to external USB2.0/3.0 drive in Broadcast WAV format for instant archiving or repurposing. Full support for iXML data is also provided on the iPad for film and broadcast applications. The BBR1MP will run off any 12V power source. Unused channels and features can be disabled in order to preserve battery life on location.
CONTACTS
Records standard broadcast WAV files to an external USB2.0/3.0 drive Simultaneous stereo mixdown during recording
provide simultaneous monitoring for both engineer and producer. Audio Rents Inc of California was the BBR1MP’s first US customer, purchasing two systems directly after the product’s release in 2014. “They provided an easy, compact solution for our customers who were
Address: 135 Histon Road, Cottenham, Cambridge CB24 8UQ, UK Email: info@joeco.co.uk Web: www.joeco.co.uk
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International
DIGITAL RECORDERS
www.audiomediainternational.com
ROLAND
R-05
Affordable pocket recorder with advanced features.
T
he compact R-05 is easy to use, affordable and packed with big-ticket features that raise the bar in its price class. Users will be able to experience clear 24/96 capture, enhanced recording and editing features, and extended battery life (over 16 hours per charge). The R-05 provides uncompressed stereo recording directly to SD card – up to 24-bit/96kHz resolution. Whether recording directly with the built-in stereo mic or capturing sounds from an externally connected microphone or stereo line input, the R-05 offers detail and clarity. And for worry-free recording, the convenient Rehearsal mode ensures that the input won’t be overloaded. Even though the R-05 integrates fluidly with computers via USB 2.0, this new-generation recorder doesn’t require a PC for editing. For speed and convenience, users can trim, divide and combine within the R-05. And for those who’d like to apply a high-gloss finish to their recordings, the R-05 is equipped with built-in reverb. In a rehearsal studio, it is possible to make clear recordings of a band, even at high volume levels. The R-05 can automatically set the optimum recording level, and can split the songs automatically. It’s also possible to simultaneously record a high-quality WAV file for CD production and an MP3 file for file sharing. The Roland recorder can help when practicing instrument or vocals. Users can repeatedly loop a specified region of audio, or change the playback speed without changing the pitch. It is also possible to play back a difficult phrase slowly or play back at high speed to grasp the overall structure of a song in a short time. Musicians will naturally gravitate towards the R-05, but this portable recorder is suitable for many non-musical applications as well, such as recording lectures, speeches and meetings. The high-sensitivity built-in microphone will clearly capture all of the voices in a room. The included windscreen and tripod mount enhance optimal placement and cleaner recordings as well.
FACTS & FIGURES High-quality stereo recording (24-bit/96kHz) with the built-in stereo mic or external input Records directly to SD card with extended battery life (over 30 hours continuous playback, over 16 hours continuous recording)
CONTACTS
Record 16-bit WAV and MP3 files simultaneously Strong, attractive metallic exterior Onboard editing functions; built-in reverb Music-practice features (change tempo without changing pitch, loop playback, etc)
Tel: +44 (0) 1792 702701 Web: www.roland.co.uk
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TECHNOLOGY REVIEW
RADIAL JDI STEREO
PASSIVE DIRECT BOX
I
liked the transformers so much, I bought the company” – what Victor Kiam might have said had he been in pro-audio instead of personal grooming. And if, of course, he had bought Jensen transformers instead of Remington shavers, Jensen transformers being just about the biggest name in audio iron. Of course, Victor was a man who loved the bright lights and probably didn’t care much for the nitty gritty of winding proaudio gold, but he always, always looked fine in that suit on camera. Though I must confess I’ve always been a Philishave kind of guy myself. But in any case if you were thinking of doing a Victor on Jensen then I’m afraid you’ve missed the boat, because Radial Engineering, one of Jensen’s major customers, liked the 42
It’s been nearly two decades since the release of the original JDI, and now Radial has introduced a Stereo version to its offering. Alistair McGhee quite literally lifts the lid on the new addition to see what it has in store for users. transformers so much, they have bought the California-based company to cement what has already been a very successful partnership. And to celebrate I’ve got the new Radial JDI Stereo passive DI to review. A significant clue to the purchase of Jensen can be found in the promotional material for the JDI – “The magic comes from the amazing Jensen transformers inside”. And we’d all agree that without first-class transformers your DI is going to struggle for magic. But does the stereo JDI have twice as much magic as the well-established JDI mono? Or does is lose 6dB of magic when mono summed? I began by taking the lid off the JDI Stereo to compare innards with my standard JDI and true enough both
Radials feature exactly the same Jensen JT-DB-EPC transformers, the only difference being the stereo model has two of them. Last time I looked at DIs I got some fantastic feedback from Bill Whitlock of Jensen and there’s no doubt that the Jensen product is carefully designed and engineered to be at the top of the transformer tree. So you might think ‘an open and shut case I should buy the stereo model and get two JDIs in one box, cheaper than buying separate and saving on space and weight.’ However, there are some trivial and none trivial differences between the stereo model and the older mono JDI. A trivial but interesting difference is that an internal case redesign means my old JDI single channel is heavier than the new JDI Stereo – the internal case of the
Key Features n Compact stereo format for “twice the performance” n Input and thru-put 0.25in connectors n -15dB input pad on each channel n 14-gauge steel I-beam inner frame and book-end outer shell n “Ruler flat” from 10Hz to 40kHz RRP: $299 www.radialeng.com JDI Stereo being trimmed back slightly. Having said that, in a pro-audio bar room brawl I still reckon a JDI and an SM58 will be all you need to fight your way out. The “book” format of Radial’s products offers superb mechanical strength and
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TECHNOLOGY REVIEW protection for your connectors and switches.
Old versus new Which brings me to some of the nontrivial differences between the old and the new. On the Stereo you get a ground lift that applies to both channels and -15dB pads on each individual channel. The sharp-eyed will have noticed that on the single-channel version of the JDI you get a bit more switchery. First, a phase reverse – now of course you have one of those on the desk but it’s still handy to have the option right to hand. Secondly, the JDI classic has a Merge function, which is pretty cool. Using Merge turns the JDI’s “Thru” connector into another input and the DI then merges the two inputs into a mono output at the XLR. Tidy, as we say. And finally a “Speaker” option that allows you to take a feed to the DI from a speaker cabinet. Careful with that one! A final consideration is that the JDI Stereo, unlike the JDI Duplex, has both circuits mounted on a common PCB. Sharing earths in this context means you will not get quite the isolation from crosstalk that is achievable with completely separate circuitry. I can’t see any info on the Radial site but shoving a bit of 1k tone into the left input and using the back of a fag packet, I reckon you see a smidgen of 1k on the right output, about 72dB down. The phase performance of Radial DIs has always
Peter Janis, president and CEO of Radial Engineering, explains some of the decisions behind the creation of the JDI Stereo. What made you decide to introduce a Stereo version of the classic JDI? Size was probably the most important driver. Today, so many bands are travelling as light as possible and with the ever-increasing costs of airfare, we wanted to bring the size down. In what ways does the JDI Stereo differ from the standard model? It is the same, only a few less features that are not required such as stereoto-mono merge and high-output guitar amp pad. How important was input from technicians when it came to designing the product?
been notable but it never hurts to be reminded of that. Using Visual Analyzer I measured just over two degrees of shift at 20Hz. Outstanding phase linearity. The engineering quality is borne out in the listening. I’ve seen it said that the Radials ‘warm up’ the sound – I’ve always found accuracy to be their strongest suit. The frequency response is ruler flat and as we’ve seen the phase performance exemplary. And you can hear that side by side with lesser products. In these days
We have been building the Radial JDI since 1996. So for almost 20 years, we have gained a very good insight and a pretty good feel as to the feature set and of course what pros expect. Ultimately, they want quality sound, durability and in this case, plug-andplay simplicity. You’ve already made a few key JDI Stereo sales, with the first delivery going to the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver, Canada. What sort of feedback have you had from your customers so far then? No feedback whatsoever. Folks have been using the JDI for nearly 20 years and have a built-in expectation from
of higher outputs on active instruments the huge headroom of transformers in passive DIs is also a plus. I’ve been using Radial DIs for quite a few years now and never have I ever thought I was getting anything less than the best from a Radial DI. And it is with some satisfaction that I’ve seen not a few of my former BBC colleagues become fans of the Canadian company’s gear. Quite simply, Radial DIs and Jensen transformers are DIs done right.
Radial. I would only expect to hear from folks if there was a problem. Are you planning any more additions to the JDI range in the near future? We always have tons of irons in the works, but on the passive DI side of things, I think we have it covered.
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. When BBC Choice started, he pioneered personal digital production in television. Most recently, Alistair was assistant editor, BBC Radio Wales and has been helping the UN with broadcast operations in Juba.
June 2015
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TECHNOLOGY REVIEW
CRANE SONG INSIGNA 500-SERIES TUBE EQUALISER
W
e are constantly inundated with new ‘Lunchbox’ unit releases and most manufacturers seem to have jumped on the bandwagon as it seems to be a pretty surefire way of shifting boxes. But when a top designer like Crane Song’s Dave Hill decides to release a 500-series valve EQ, us engineers get excited.
The 500-series craze has been underway for a while now. Wes Maebe looks at the latest EQ offering from Crane Song.
3.2kHz to 20kHz (3.2 - 5 - 8 - 10 - 12.5 - 15 - 20) with the addition of an ultra-high AIR band centred between 40kHz. On the other side of the spectrum, the LF band shelves from an extremely low 10Hz up to 200Hz. Straddling the middle, the MID peaking band deals with anything from 150Hz to 7.2kHz and is centred around a proportional Q (bandwidth). All three bands give you +/-12dB boost and cut.
The Unit The Insigna is based around a dual triode circuit with a 12AX7 valve, featuring two shelving EQs, a parametric mid band (gyrator) and a low and high pass filter set. The filters are both 24dB/Octave with seven frequencies each. The high and low frequency shelving bands and the mid frequency peak band all feature eight frequencies. All three bands employ buffered RC circuitry in the negative feedback path around the valve amps. The output stage sports a shielded Lundahl high-level line output transformer to combat any noise generated by potentially inferior 500-series rack PSUs. All the stepped frequency pots are high-quality Grayhill series 56 Rotary Switches and we have continuous Bourns pots for the gain controls, while A/B-ing between flat and what you’re tweaking has been made easy with a front panel hard bypass switch.
The Frequencies The frequency set is a pretty extensive 37. The high pass filter ranges from 25Hz to 150Hz (25 - 40 - 50 - 60 - 90 - 120 - 150) and the low pass filter from 6kHz to 20kHz (6 - 7.5 - 9 - 10.5 - 12 - 15 - 20). The filters will give you enough power to clean up low rumble, tidy up the low end on LF-centric instruments and control harshness at the top, like guitars for example. The HF shelf gently ranges from 44
In The Studio and On Location I brought one of the first units back with me from the AES Convention in LA and have been using it on a wide variety of material. Obviously I’m throwing whatever I possibly can at this unit to see what it can do and I started using it in the mix for two songs from Italian rock star Gloria Nuti. The multi-tracks would arrive, recorded in various studios across Italy, and I’d generally sling the Insigna across the vocals to introduce some analogue warmth and valve bite. It became clear quickly that you can push this EQ quite aggressively without it ever sounding harsh. So, for review purposes, I decided to do something I generally don’t do and that is to track with the EQ in the chain. It turns out that this beast is an extremely useful tool when you’re recording in less than optimum environments. I’ve recently started producing an EP for country rock singer Georgia Nevada. While still in preproduction, we got into the swing of things, which led to us record a Mo Michael song he’d written for Georgia. We didn’t have time to go into a recording studio, so I quickly slung up a couple of mics in my mix room to lay down the acoustic and electric guitars, lead vocals and BVs. The Insigna instantly became part of the recording path to clean up the top end and low mush with the filters and to create
Key Features n Three-band equaliser that brings old-school tube EQ tone to the 500-series format n Negative-feedback-based tube amplifiers produce warm, fat and rich sound n High and low bands are both shelving, and the middle band is a resonant peak EQ n Onboard 24dB highpass and lowpass filters offer seven different frequency settings RRP: £1,079 www.cranesong.com different colours for layered parts, using the three frequency bands. Since that session, it’s been a permanent fixture in my Lunchbox. After its shining performance on vocals and guitars, I took it into an Elliott Randall session. We’re working on a very cool project that we’ve rescued from a reel of 2in recorded in New York in 1980. There are a few parts that we can’t replace as the performers have sadly left us, but we felt that the rhythm track could’ve been a stronger performance. Line up the drummer and the double bass player and an old school attitude – let’s record these guys live, with a couple of mics, in a high-ceiling room. In addition to some creative mic placement, I needed a bit of EQ to shape the sound we were after and the Insigna did just that. It took care of some of the drum spill on the double bass mic and when it came to mixing, it proved to be the perfect EQ to bring some extra snap and bottom end punch out of the snare.
Rack ‘em Up Clocking in at around £1,000 the Insigna sits in the higher price bracket of 500-series EQs and is worth every penny. It is extremely well built as we’ve come to expect from Crane Song gear. This EQ is going to give you serious corrective power, character, clarity and it just sounds so fat and musical.
The Insigna is one of those modern EQs that harks back to the good old days, where you can go a little mad, push it to the limit and pull some very exciting sounds out of the valve circuitry. All that’s left to say is get in touch with your local dealer, test drive it and fall in love with it.
The Reviewer Wes Maebe is a UK-based recording, mixing, mastering and live sound engineer. www.wesonator.com
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TECHNOLOGY REVIEW
PIONEER HRM-7 HEADPHONES
I
t’s not often I find myself distracted from the serious business of writing a review for Audio Media International by the very thing I’m supposed to be writing about. But as my fingers hit the keys on my laptop I’m wearing a pair of Pioneer HRM-7 headphones and Spotify is filling my head. Here comes Darius Rucker with Johnny Cash in hot pursuit. Passenger is limbering up in the wings. I know professional headphones are all about listening to material in a technical environmental but hey – they’re still headphones. And if we look around us, on-ear cans are definitely enjoying something of a renaissance among consumers and that has a knock-on effect for audio pros. Half the occupants of my bus to work are regularly plugged into their phones (in both senses of the word). There’s a danger that any material, from music to audio books, that is mixed purely on mahoosive studio monitors might be out of place when it’s listened to on the number 12. So yeah, decent headphones are probably more important than ever. Pioneer certainly thinks so: launching a new range of ‘Professional Reference Monitor Headphones’. They’re described as being “for producers”, which seems to be a tad prescriptive but I didn’t let it put me off. These are closed-back dynamic headphones with a frequency response from 5Hz to 40kHz – from skull rumbling to something only a squirrel will hear. They have 40mm apertures and a maximum SPL of 97dB (enough to make me very deaf indeed). They’re fairly lightweight at 330g – you can bounce them in the palm of one hand – but are solidly built from a mix of highgrade composite material and metal. First impressions are of a quality product: for a start they come with not one but two leads. There’s a straight three-metre cable and a coiled 1.2 metre version included. Both end in a minijack, with a threaded 0.25in adaptor included. 46
These new models from the Japanese firm promise clean sound reproduction and ultimate comfort for producers, but what does Jerry Ibbotson think? Even the ribbed insulating material around the leads is pleasing to the touch. It’s nice to see that aesthetics, while not a factor in overall audio quality, are still taken seriously. I get the impression that they’re built to last and won’t fall apart if I dare to take them out on the road. Oh, and a spare pair of ear pads is included in the box. They’re a comfortable fit, even covering my larger-than average ears (I resemble the FA Cup from certain angles). It’s especially nice to see a warning in the included documentation that the adjustable parts may pinch my hair. Thanks for that.
“Brian Johnson’s croak was not playing in my right ear or my left. The Geordie was singing in the centre of my head, smack bang in the middle of my grey matter.” Jerry Ibbotson
Enough of the chatter about build quality and the like – as important as it may be, this is starting to sound like an episode of Top Gear from 1983. It’s all about the sound…
in use I have my own benchmark for testing headphones. It makes me sound like someone’s dad (which I am x3) but it’s AC/DC’s Back in Black. It’s just an album I know very well and is one way to gauge how something reproduces audio. The HRM-7s were hooked up to the Focusrite Scarlett audio I/O on my laptop and I slipped them on. Oh my word. I’d previously been using a pair of large studio headphones for audio work and general listening (after previously testing them for Audio Media) and was pleased with their
reproduction. But the Pioneers take things up another level. Or seven. What hit me was not just the clarity of sound or their ability to reproduce separate frequencies without things ‘mushing’ together. It was the incredible stereo field and balance. Brian Johnson’s croak was not playing in my right ear or my left. The Geordie was singing in the centre of my head, smack bang in the middle of my grey matter. Running through a range of music, the results are equally impressive. Instruments stand out from the crowd and voices are clear. And the stereo mix is fantastic. I switched to some audio I’d been working on. Not being of a musical bent this was a project involving a series of interviews recorded in four different locations. The recordings had already been done and I was familiar with the material. But switching to the HRM-7s brought up a new level of detail. Importantly, one recording had been made in a house in Cambridge with a small amount of traffic outside. I’d been aware of it at the time but there was nothing to be done to get round the issue, apart from close-mic and pause whenever something particularly heavy went by. I’d determined, as one does, to fix it later. The Pioneers gifted me with a new level of accuracy as I wielded the powerful noise reduction tools in Adobe Audition, sampling a bit of raw noise and running the process over chunks of speech. Normally I’d do this on speakers but I work from home and the rest of the family were asleep so I’d switched to cans. The HRM-7s were not only easy to listen to for a sustained period but reproduced the audio in an accurate and unflattering manner. I wanted it warts
Key Features n 40mm HD driver unit reproduces frequencies up to 40kHz n Fully enclosed housing n Enhanced bass response n Memory foam ear pads n Detachable 1.2m (coiled) and 3m (straight) cables RRP: €199 www.pioneerproaudio.com and all and I got it. It may have ‘only’ been voice material but every little breath and woosh of a muffled passing car was there. It’s important with any noise reduction work not to overcook it and end up with ‘Space Monkey’ sounds. The HRM-7s were a definitely boost in this. Well made. Nicely designed. Comfortable and great sounding with an amazing stereo balance. Highly recommended.
The Reviewer Jerry Ibbotson has worked in pro audio for more than 20 years, first as a BBC radio journalist and then as a sound designer in the games industry. He’s now a freelance audio producer and writer.
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TECHNOLOGY REVIEW
AMPHION ONE18 STUDIO MONITORS
I
t’s a bit of a rarity to come across passive monitors these days. In a world where convenience is king, every new studio monitor design has an amplifier jammed into the design specification. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot going for amplifier integration with monitor cabinets: besides the convenience you know the amp is designed specifically for the drivers, and you know powered monitors will sound the same should you need to jump to the same monitor in another studio. Plus, you’re not sullying your signal path with inferior and extended length speaker cable – there’s a line level signal straight from your DAW or console to the monitors. However, there are issues with the powered monitor concept. Perhaps most apparent is the precious cabinet capacity being impinged upon by the addition of amplifier components, along with the associated and somewhat spacehungry heat-syncs and power supplies. There’s also inevitable compromises required when designing an amplifier to fit within the confines of a nearfield monitor cabinet. In order to meet these constraints many manufacturers use Class D amplifiers. While far superior to the Class D designs of yore, this style of amp is still not regarded as the ultimate choice for monitoring. On the plus side, a Class D amp makes it very easy to introduce a digital input to the monitor. That said, you may prefer a different amplifier topology, but with a powered monitor you’re stuck with the manufacturer’s choice of amp. Then there’s the issue of the vibrations from the drivers gradually shaking each and every solder joint and component in the amplifiers to pieces. Or, if one amp decides to pack it in, your monitors are rendered useless until they’re shipped out to the repairers – there’s zero chance of switching out the amplifier with a spare to get you through the mix. It’s clear there are both disadvantages and 48
Brad Watts gets his hands on these pleasant-looking passive models from a certain Finnish monitor manufacturer – but not the one you might think.
advantages with each style of monitor design, but if a passive monitor is required a new monitor range from the far-flung Republic of Finland is filling a section of this gap. Amphion has been in the audiophile market for some years now, with an established range of speakers for the audio aficionado and those looking for quality surround and theatre systems. The Amphion monitor range includes no fewer than five quite distinct models – the One12, One15 and One18, along with the larger Two15 and Two18. The One series utilises 4.5, 5.25 and 6.5in low-end drivers respectively, with the Two range providing dual low-end 5.25 and 6.5in drivers in a D’Apolito format. While the dual designs will certainly require larger spaces, it’s the One18 that will no doubt be the initial source of reference for potential buyers of the Amphion monitors. It’s this model I was given the opportunity to audition recently, along with Amphion’s 100W-per-side amplifier. So let’s have a look at the specs of the One18s more thoroughly. The One18 uses a 6.5in Seas aluminium bass driver and 1in titanium high-end driver. At first I’d imagined the driver choice to be somewhat overbearing for my tastes, however the One18s didn’t seem to ‘wear’ my listening stamina like titanium endowed monitors I’ve used in the past. According to Amphion’s founder Anssi Hyvönen, the philosophy behind the One and Two series designs is to have every possible physical attribute of the monitor as close to optimal as possible. These tolerances primarily take into account alignment of upper and lower drivers. Apart from the large waveguide, the other interesting aspect behind the One18 sound is the use of a passive radiator on the rear of the cabinet. This is basically a speaker cone without a transducer. As the ‘active’ low-end driver pushes and pulls, the radiator reacts in sympathy. It’s almost like having two low-
Key Features n n n n n
Two-way passive operation 6.5in aluminium low-end drivers 1in titanium high-end drivers 45-20,000Hz frequency response +/-3dB Weight: 12kg
RRP: €1,350 www.amphion.fi
end drivers, but this concept provides a far more controlled bass response, without relying on porting. That’s right; these cabinets are sealed.
In Use The sound is not hyped in either low or high end; in fact at first they can seem a little flat – even bland. That said, after settling in to the One18 sound I did warm to these monitors. There’s a lot of focus on midrange, and with our predominantly midrange listening range, this makes a lot of sense. It also makes sense considering the raft of midrange-centric playback mediums one must mix for these days. It didn’t take long to become impressed with the accuracy, and what’s more, they kept this level of accuracy even at low volumes, which is where I prefer my master volume knob set. With this in mind, I couldn’t help but imagine these monitors could be the next [Yamaha] NS10. It’s perhaps ironic that the One18 looks similar to the aforementioned workhorse monitor. Not that these sound like NS10s – perish that thought entirely – but the midrange
accuracy and flat response tends to put these speakers into that same workhorse category. For a bit of a giggle I went so far as to place the One18s on their sides, NS10 style, and was even more encouraged as to the NS10 comparison. Yes I know, horizontal alignment of two drivers is a no-no, but it did reinforce my opinion. These monitors would easily replicate what you may love about your ageing Yamaha stalwarts, albeit with terrific bottom end. I could go further into specifics and specs, but to get a solid handle on how beautifully honest the One18 is, you must audition a pair. Put them with your favourite amplifier, or avail yourself of Amphion’s ‘Amp100’ bespoke design, which I’ll add, is a Class D design – an approach Amphion feels is where further accuracy lies. I did try the One18s with my modded Quad 405 and my favourite Rotel, but returned to the Amphion amp pretty quickly. So save your pennies, and I assure you your mixes will translate.
The Reviewer Brad Watts has been a freelance writer for numerous audio mags, has mastered and mixed various bands, and was deputy editor of AudioTechnology in Australia. He is now digital content manager for Content and Technology.
June 2015
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TECHNOLOGY REVIEW
MANLEY FORCE MICROPHONE PREAMP
O
n the heels of Manley Labs’ successful launch of its Core input channel, the company delivers another anticipated success, the Force four-channel microphone preamplifier. And no surprises here – this preamp is a winner.
Features Not unlike the Core, Manley’s Force relies on the company’s usual Class A topologies, tubes and transformers for tone. Design highlights include an all-new power supply, 300 VDC rails, dual-triode 12AX7 tubes, the exact same DI utilised in the Core, and Manley custom-wound transformers.
In Use Upon powering up, the Force clicks a few relays and goes into 30 seconds of slow warm-up. Once its blue light completes its flashing sequence, it’s ready for business. The HPF, phantom power and gain range switches are relay-switched and nicely illuminated. As a fond user of the Manley TNT mic amp (featuring both solid-state and tube channels), I can say that the Force has its own signature sound rather similar to my TNT’s tube side, yet actually closer to
Borrowing a number of features from the firm’s popular Core channel strip and presenting them in a more affordable package, does the new Manley Force mic pre deliver the goods? Rob Tavaglione takes a look.
the Core in overall tone. The Force is the opposite of soft, slow, gritty and/or dark; it is notably fast, crisp, dynamic and high fidelity. Its tube and transformers do not impart so much colour or grit as they do smoothness, grace and euphony. For best results, I found that using the low-gain range cranked up sounded cleaner and most desirable; if users need more than 50dB of gain there are internal jumpers to reach 60dB. I ran the Force wide open at +50dB for some mandolin and guitar overdubs and it actually sounded nice – there was no top-of-range noise or nastiness. On vocals I found the Force’s response to be right on point, producing an overall sound that was mostly linear, but bathed in a certain ‘hi-fi’ sparkle that, for lack of a better description, sounds ‘expensive’. Long story short, results were very similar with all the sources I amped via the Force – always clean, pretty and never the slightest bit veiled, slow or murky. Compared to the Core, the DI sounds identical but the Core has an overall more plump, velvety and ‘cushion-y’ sound that I believe to be colour from the optical compressor. The Force’s DI input sounds really nice, with definite midrange emphasis, and non-linear,
in a good way. With it, my Telecaster sounded okay; my passive bass sounded very warm, all punchy and classy; and my active Kubicki bass sounded absolutely killer, as if it had been gently processed into ideal musicality. With drums – kick, snare and stereo overheads – I found that tube overdrive really wasn’t a possibility, but who cares? The Force’s excellent imaging, silky smooth sparkle, open dynamics and ability to grab some low frequency kick drum decay (even from an itty-bitty 16in diameter kick) earned praise from both guest drummer Stacy Huggins and myself. Stacy called the Force “faithful”, and I concur.
Summary Fear not the Force’s comparable affordability, as $2,500 does not represent a compromised Manley product, rather the efficiencies of smart, modern production. Hand-built in California with notable local sourcing, the Force is a guilt-free purchase for the consumer with a conscience. Manley brags that this high-operating voltage design offers performance that’s simply not possible in 500 Series designs. I agree. It seems that such a full-scale design encourages longevity and, at
Key Features n n n n
Class A vacuum tube gain stage Dual-triode 12AX7 tubes Manley Iron mic input transformers Hand-built in California
MSRP: $2,500 www.manley.com
only approximately $625 per channel, the cost is comparable to not only 500 series preamps but to “budget gear” in general.
The Reviewer Rob Tavaglione has owned and operated Catalyst Recording in Charlotte, North Carolina since 1995. Rob has also dabbled in nearly all forms of pro-audio work, including mixing live and taped broadcasts (winning two regional Emmy Awards); mixing concert and club sound. He is a regular contributor to Pro Audio Review. www.prosoundnetwork.com
June 2015
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INTERVIEW
www.audiomediainternational.com
STELLING POWER
A decade after the brand became part of Yamaha, now seemed the ideal time to get an update from Steinberg MD Andreas Stelling about the long-term results of the partnership, and how the firm is starting to gain serious ground in the hardware market. level hobbyists to professionals who rely on our products in their daily business. Our information is collated and assessed from a wide variety of sources – we host online surveys, monitor forums and turn straight to producers and musicians for ideas and inspiration. In what ways have you been working to improve ‘behind the scenes’ since the acquisition? For example, I understand you’ve been working on enhancing your sales and distribution operations? Distribution changed drastically after the acquisition – while most distributors outside Europe belong to the Yamaha Corporation, we chose to supply countries directly within the EU. It’s now been 10 years since the Yamaha Corporation acquired Steinberg. How would you describe the progress that has been made by the company over the past decade? Over the past 10 years, we have released several highly successful versions of our music production software, Cubase; we have effectively invigorated the segment of VST instruments and effects; and we have launched new and enhanced existing Steinberg technologies. Furthermore, we introduced WaveLab to the OS X community, increased Nuendo’s extensive feature list and offered apps to mobile devices. Clearly the progress that we’ve made over the past decade has been exhilarating and, yes, a portion of the successful development is owed to our colleagues at Yamaha. We have a great relationship with our parent company, and this relationship has been beneficial to both Steinberg and Yamaha. As well as obvious financial benefits, the partnership has resulted in several product collaborations, such as the Nuage system, which you must be pleased with? Seeing that joint efforts between Steinberg and Yamaha have noticeably 50
come to fruition is really positive and exciting for us. The Nuage system is a good example, but also Steinbergbranded controllers and audio interfaces have been very well received, and profitable projects of the past do make way for collaborations in the future. You seem to be pushing your new hardware products, such as the UR range of USB audio interfaces, a lot at the moment. Would this be another growing area of business for you currently then? You have realised this correctly. Our UR interfaces are very well received in the market, especially the UR22 audio interface, which has been able to stake out a clear position for itself. The fact that its feature set, build quality and price point are perfectly balanced have made the UR22 our most popular USB audio interface. For example, at one of the largest worldwide online MI retailers, Thomann, the UR22 has been the best-selling audio interface over the past 18 months. More generally speaking, Steinbergbranded hardware is now an important part of our product portfolio. For many of our customers it’s central to be able to rely on a complete system solution
comprising both software and hardware, and that’s what we can offer them. Cubase is one of the longest-running DAWs out there, but there is a lot more competition around now than when it was first released. How have you ensured that it continues to hold such a strong position in the market after all this time? One way to safeguard the strong position of Cubase in a rapidly changing market and the strong competition is Steinberg’s ambition to offer major updates regularly. Our customer base values the reliability/predictability with which we manage to achieve equilibrium between new features and fixes, creative tools and workflow improvements, and we do that time and again. Another aspect that needs to be mentioned here is our genuine interest in customer needs and requirements. It must be a challenge to keep up with the ever-changing demands of your customers. How do you stay on top of it all? It certainly is a challenge, especially since individual demands constantly change, but it is also due to the spread of customers ranging from the many entry-
What would you say the main strengths of the company are? German thoroughness will never be a cliché not worth mentioning, but it’s certainly the ambition of our engineers and of all the other great people working at Steinberg to provide customers with the best products and service possible. Have you got any future plans for the business that you’d like to share with us? I would like to mention two business matters for now. First, online collaboration definitely gets people buzzing these days, and rightly so. It’s a great way to bring musicians and producers together, and while we already offer the VST (Virtual Studio Technology) Connect technology one can expect more to come in the future. Secondly, we are currently working on a new scoring application that will add to our existing line of professional products. This new software application will allow us to enter a new market segment currently dominated by two competitors, however, we know that many users are still looking for the right fit and we are confident that we can deliver just this. www.steinberg.net
June 2015
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