Sound On Sound UK January 2021

“WE’RE NO LONGER IN A POSITION WHERE WE HAVE TO COMMIT TO ONLY ONE WAY OF MAKING MUSIC, OR USING A SINGLE TOOL TO DO EVERYTHING.” Back in the ’80s, tastes in music were narrow. We were passionate about music, but we were wedded to our chosen scenes. The idea that a thrash metal fan might also enjoy the Smiths was utterly alien. The only thing that bound us all together was a shared revolt against the music of the ’70s! The Internet seems to have swept all that away. Today’s teenagers see nothing odd about playlisting the Beatles and Sinatra cheek by jowl with trap-metal and drill. Music of the past is seen as a canon to be added to, not an embarrassment to be left behind. This seems to me…

Back in SOS August 2020 Ireviewed Korneff’s Talkback Limiter (www.soundonsound.com/ reviews/korneff-audio-talkback-limiter), which was a wonderfully warm and teasingly tweakable model of SSL’s Listen Mic Compressor. Korneff have taken a similar ‘tweaker’s delight’ approach to their new Pawn Shop Comp 2.0, and while this a very different compressor — this time it’s a virtual FET compressor with tube amplification stages — the interface will feel familiar to anyone who has tried the Talkback Limiter. You’re first presented with a GUI (below) that offers only the few controls you’d usually need to get the compressor doing its thing. Namely, there are Attack, Release, Threshold and Ratio knobs. There’s also an on/off button (to switch the compression in and out, but with the signal always passing through the virtual analogue circuitry) and an Auto…

French company Griffon Microphones make a range of small- and large-diaphragm mics, some based on vintage German and Austrian models, and some of their own design. The Fuzzyphone they sent me for review, however, is a little unusual, in that unlike the rest of their range, it’s intentionally designed to be bandwidth-limited, and it incorporates a variable distortion effect. The idea of lo-fi microphones isn’t new — people have been modifying old telephones and CB radio mics for years — but in the last few years, a few companies have started offering their own off-the-peg takes on the idea, notably Placid Audio with their beautiful handmade copper mics, and Wasaphone, who make a few steampunk-inspired options, as well as a pre-modded telephone handset with XLR output. Those mics mostly rely on outmoded…

Dave Stewart was hugely impressed when reviewing Spitfire Audio’s BBC Symphony Orchestra sample library in the November 2019 issue of SOS. While BBC SO offered excellent value, its price made it a substantial investment so, in what looks like a sensible — and shrewd — move, Spitfire have now rebranded the original library as the ‘Pro’ version and introduced two additional tiers, Core and Discover, with more streamlined feature sets and more accessible prices. Core is still superbly specified, but the subject of this review is the entry-level Discover edition and, while there is undoubtedly some very significant streamlining going on, it still provides what is essentially a full suite of orchestral instruments covering all orchestral sections. However, what’s perhaps most remarkable about BBC Symphony Orchestra Discover is that (a) it…

One of Eventide’s most popular algorithms, Blackhole, has been included in several of the company’s products now, including their H9 pedal, the H9000 rackmount effects unit and their Space Reverb pedal, as well as being available as a software plug-in. It’s an effect that takes reverb beyond the more familiar halls and plates to create something much larger — though it can be dialled right back to a small, resonant metal tank if you need it. In its latest incarnation, the Blackhole algorithm’s host is a sensibly compact stompbox controlled by six knobs and three illuminated buttons. Five of the knobs have a secondary ‘shift’ function, so these few controls can access all the functionality of the original algorithm. Five presets can be called up directly from the pedal, though you…

Back in 2016, Focusrite’s Pro division entered the market for high-end audio interfaces with the Red 4Pre. Not just a good-sounding Thunderbolt interface, the 4Pre was also a gateway to the wonderful world of audio over IP, providing both native systems and Pro Tools HDX rigs with the means to access up to 32 I/O streams from a Dante network. Focusrite swiftly followed up with 8Pre and 16Line variants, which retained the Dante connectivity whilst offering different complements of local I/O. Four and a half years on, the original 4Pre has hung up its spurs, to be replaced by a new junior member of the range. This new interface is so similar to its predecessor that it could have been christened the 4Pre MkII, were it not for one thing: it…