Table of contents for AudioTechnology Issue 119 in AudioTechnology

If you thought Autotune was the death of music, you probably want to look away now. Adobe, the maker of Photoshop (aka the Autotune of photography), has teamed up with Princeton University on Project VoCo. Adobe developer Zeyu Jin debuted the technology at Adobe’s Max conference during the Sneak Peeks segment. He performed a simple yet effective trick on co-host Jordan Peele (one half of comedic duo Key & Peele) by transforming a snippet of conversation between he and Michael Key. While Jin said the program needs about 20 minutes of speech on which to learn a voice, he focused on one particular line during the demo about Key kissing his dogs and wife. He dismantled the sentence with surgical precision — literally cutting the phrase with a scissor tool.…

Shure has released a smart stereo condenser mic that plugs straight into the Lightning port of your (compatible) iPod/iPhone/iPad — the Motiv MV88. The stereo mic capsule pivots 90° and rotates to optimise your stereo image (there’s also a left/right flip you can perform in software). It looks very professional and feels secure when plugged into the device. I was immediately attracted to the MV88 for a trip I was taking to Indonesia where I would be doing interviews and shooting video. I was planning on taking a Zoom recorder but I liked the idea of the MV88 for stereo recordings because I knew I’d always have my phone with me and the Shure solution represents minimal additional packing; doesn’t require batteries and the file management all resides on my…

I’ve been taking some kinda baby-mixer challenge for a while now. My rationale is every sound guy or gal should have a mini mixer in their kit bag. It can potentially get you out of all sorts of problems; problems that, in and of themselves, may well be trivial, but 30 minutes prior to go-time can disproportionately occupy your mind or even scuttle an otherwise great gig. A mini mixer can act as a stand in sex changer on a lead, or provide a quick extra monitor send, or be a defacto signal splitter etc, etc. So we’re agreed then: a micro mixer is a good thing to have in your back pocket. Fortunately there’s no end of choice and the options are good. Generally these mini mixers will all…

Chris Brownbill has so helplessly succumbed to the audio bug that he’s now working three jobs to lease a space near central Brisbane, just because it’s a great room for tracking drums. Growing up in Brisbane, Chris ran a DIY community recording space for a few years. After it was shut down by the council, he freelanced for a while with his eyes peeled (ears, actually) for a spot that would produce a magical drum sound. Brisbane doesn’t have a shortage of commercial recording spaces, but they can often fall out of the average indie artist’s reach. Especially if their music appeals to a very narrow audience — precisely the type of artists Chris works with. One day he lugged his gear into a small space near central Brisbane to…

Microsoft’s Windows 10 Anniversary Update (aka Version 1607) has been getting a mixed reception over the last few months after it rolled out automatically to users. New features included a smarter Cortana assistant, a redesigned Start Menu, more desktop Apps and Games to choose from in the Windows Store, more theme options, Microsoft’s Edge browser finally supports extensions like most others, and of course there were a host of other smaller updates, bugfixes and enhancements. Nevertheless, many musicians decided this update largely consisted of unwanted bells, whistles, and baubles, when what they really want is a trimmed down and utterly reliable machine for their working environment. Some users are still attempting to pick and choose their W10 updates, by setting their systems to a ‘metered connection’ or the Deferred upgrade…

MATCHING EARS — While none of the knobs on any of the units are continuous encoders there’s not a knob indicator dot or line in sight. Though the LEDs provide robust metering, the lack of position indication will relegate the level matching of stereo mic configurations to your ears. SELECT SOURCE — With a press of its knob, [Q] allows selection between four headphone input sources including the SoundGrid network, AES/EBU, unbalanced analogue and Bluetooth. If only it stopped the Bluetooth lights flashing, too. POWER ON LOCK — All the devices feature a nifty locking DC power connector while remaining compatible with standard plugs. Simple, clever and long overdue. [Image: S Back] REACH ANYWHERE — With DiGiGrid [S] delivering Power over Ethernet to all three audio interfaces with a maximum…

Being the control freak I am, when algorithmic plug-in wannabes try to take the reins of my mix with their so-called ‘intelligence’, I typically bow out with a polite, ‘thanks, but no thanks.’ When iZotope debuted Neutron with the bold claim it would be your ‘personal mixing assistant’ I was naturally skeptical. After using the plug-in for a few weeks now, let me say upfront: Neutron won’t mix your song for you… and that’s a good thing. iZotope’s marketing may allude to the auto-mixing paradigm, but the real purpose behind Neutron’s artificial intelligence is to simply ‘assist’ by alerting you of potential pitfalls in your mix’s frequency balance and optimising each track to make it more mixable. While that sounds more tolerable than a plug-in getting its digital mitts all…

DELUXE MASTERING Congratulations to Peter Knight and Way Out West on their win for Best Jazz Album at The Age Music Victoria Awards in November, engineered by Robin Gray at Allan Eatons and mixed by Myles Mumford. Adam has been mastering EPs for Napier, Simon Imrei, The Sugarcanes, an album for Hejduk (pronounced ‘Heydook’), and others. Andrei Eremin has been mastering new releases for Thrupence, Asta, Tora, Willow Beats, Fractures, Anatole, as well as a string of singles for local artists Woodes, Elkkle, Austen, ESESE, Annie Bass, and more. He's also recently finished up his next original release; an instrumental hip-hop project due out in February. His new assistant Becki is slowly being brought onto the music scene with releases for Yon Yonson, Wondercore Island, Sandy Hsu, and her own…

Unfortunately, Julius Chan, a well-respected sound engineer in the motion picture industry and much loved employee of Amber Technology passed away recently. In the wake of this difficult news, Amber Technology released this statement highlighting just some of Julius’ achievements. It is with tremendous sadness that Amber Technology advises one of its long serving employees, Julius Chan, recently passed away. Julius joined Amber Technology in May 2004 as a sales engineer specialist for the audio products, broadcast and professional segment. He was responsible for sales and customer support for major broadcasters, high-end-post production facilities and music studio customer base. Amber Technology managing director, Peter Amos, commented: “We are all shocked and saddened by this news. Julius was a much-loved member of the Amber Technology team, and he will be sadly…

Many pundits speculate Apple has again fallen into the rut of offering too many computer designs. On one hand Apple is heralding the demise of the traditional desktop and laptop, with the future touted as being tablet based. Yet on the other hand is continuing to pump resources into MacBook and iMac designs. All the while there are dozens of ‘two-in-one’ designs from the likes of Microsoft, Lenovo, Dell, HP, and Asus which integrate tablet and laptop functionality into a single unit. It’s befuddling why Apple hasn’t gone in this direction. Apple has the touchscreen capability from its iPhone and iPad technology, yet is apparently reluctant to integrate a touchscreen into a laptop. It feels a little like 20 years ago when Steve Jobs regained control of Apple, immediately setting…

1 17 PURE ANALOG DRUM SOUNDS All analog, all the time. Two flavors of kick drums, wide-ranging snare and clap settings, two hi-hats with separate tone and decay controls, and more. The DrumBrute offers a wider sound palette than any other analog drum machine on the market. 2 64 PATTERNS WITH UP TO 64 STEPS Easily create your own patterns by using the STEP and ACCENT buttons or play them in real-time from the pads. The looper lets you instantly modify your beat and create real-time pattern effects, making this the perfect performance drum machine. 3 16 SONGS Make your own song by chaining up to sixteen patterns. 4 SWING Swing can be global or per drum. This gives your music a feel and groove that will light up the…

When Maschine was originally released back in 2008, it was a game changer without peer; the first virtual instrument to successfully integrate a dedicated control surface while retaining the benefit of using your computer as its ‘brain’. Thanks to its 4x4 grid of super-sensitive drum-pads and built-in graphic displays, it offered the same hands-on approach to composition and performance enjoyed by Akai MPC users without being shackled to a preset amount of hardware processing power. Maschine Jam (I’ll refer to it as ‘Jam’ henceforth) is the newest iteration of this lineage, and it addresses an alternative approach to the original MPC-inspired Maschine concept, one which will be familiar to users of Push/APC/Launchpad with Ableton’s Live. CLICK TOGETHER With Jam, Maschine users now have an 8x8 grid of ‘click pads’ for…

ANOTHER TWO OCTOPRES & iOS APP From $759 | www.focusrite.com Not long after releasing the Clarett OctoPres, Focusrite has added two new Scarlett OctoPres to its stable. Each expansion unit has the same preamps found on the standard Scarlett, with up to 192k A-to-D conversion at its ADAT outputs. The Scarlett OctoPre Dynamic version adds one-knob analogue compression on each channel, too. Signal from the ADAT inputs can be direct-fed out the eight line outputs — great for feeding a live console or external recorder. You get 48V phantom power, pads, and five segment metering on each channel. Focusrite has also released a new app, iOS Control, that lets you take control of your Clarett, Red, or Scarlett (2nd generation and up) interface from your Apple smartphone. iOS Control is…

When is an ARP Odyssey not an ARP Odyssey? It’s a reasonable question, as there’s now a number of ways to measure this conundrum. Before 2015 there was only one ARP Odyssey; the one originally built during the early 1970s — early days for a production run synth. As of 2015, Korg revived the ARP Odyssey as one of its exemplary mini-key recreations. It was, and remains the only way to own an ARP Odyssey without spending two months’ wages and a raft of repair costs. In fact, at the time of writing there are only a handful of ‘real’ ARP Odysseys available planet-wide, ranging from $3000 through to almost $8k. The revamped Korg version is the sensible choice, both fiscally and maintenance-wise. You can pick one up for less…

Richard Lush was a Stones fan. Everyone else at his school were “Beatle-people”, but a bunch of Liverpudlians in twee jackets flipping their mop tops wasn’t doing it for the self-described rebel; he liked the rawness of the Stones and Mick Jagger’s attitude. Then he heard Twist & Shout, a feistier cut which tipped him towards The Beatles before he had any idea his career would forever be linked with the band. Maybe he would have turned sooner if he’d met Jagger as a school kid instead of later in life. “He came in on a Beatles session once wearing a white suit and I couldn’t believe how tiny he was,” remembered Richard, demolishing the giant stature he’d cultivated of the singer. Richard’s musical journey started at 14, when his…

It’s not often our industry births something that’s genuinely new. Most ‘new’ gear is often just a reworked rendition of an old idea; iteration over innovation. Alternatively designs harken back to something familiar. Sure, traces of piano DNA are obviously interwoven into Roli’s Seaboard. Nevertheless, any vestiges of its ancestry have been so heavily mutated that the descendant bears little resemblance to, and feels unlike, anything we’ve seen before. Maybe that’s why this ‘keyboard controller’ has caused such a ruckus. Product reviews typically have an element of ‘compare and contrast’ woven into them. Finding a similar product as a touchstone for the Roli Seaboard was tough. It’s truly one-of-a-kind. The Seaboard could be the beginning of a whole new paradigm of music creation. Good music producers are all about expression.…

Yamaha Corporation — makers of motorcycles, jet-skis, sporting goods, grand pianos, speakers, and mixing consoles. Oh, and those horrid plastic woodwind things school kids are given as their first musical instrument. Yamaha also makes electronic instruments; home keyboards and synthesizers. The company actually started as a piano and reed keyboard manufacturer in 1897, so instruments are in its blood. In fact, you’d be hard pressed to think of an instrument Yamaha hasn’t manufactured. In more recent decades Yamaha moved into the electronic instrument game — with the behemoth CS-80 in 1976 becoming a venerable classic, along with the wildly popular DX7 in 1983. Fast forward to the current century and Yamaha is still creating keyboards for all levels of musicianship. At the more professional niche are Yamaha’s synthesizers, with a…

As Røde Microphones’ founding parent company Freedman Electronics heads into its 50th year, we revisit our interview with Røde boss Peter Freedman from Issue 33 (2004) where he recounts Røde’s rise from the ashes of his father’s nightclub installation business, to the path of the international success story it is today. Pictured is Russell Palmer, Frank Kelly (Event Electronics), Peter Freedman, Ted Keffalo (Event) and Colin Hill from NAMM 96. My father’s greatest love was always audio electronics. My mother was Swedish and they moved from London to Stockholm before I was born. He was chief engineer for an electronics/telecommunications company in Sweden for a number of years before being offered the opportunity to take on the distribution of Dynacord products in Australia. So in the mid ’60s we emigrated…