Table of contents for AudioTechnology Issue 118 in AudioTechnology

While we’re more likely to get excited about the latest digital live consoles with virtually endless input counts and inexhaustible DSP, we’ve still got a soft spot for cute and functional mini-mixers. Most of these mini-beauts are analogue, but Mackie has expanded its digital console line down to the baseline with the ProDX series. So far, the series comprises an odd-looking duo with a look more closely aligned with a bedside alarm clock than anything common to pro audio. Spare them some attention, though. The ProDX mixers are so practical that I’ve wound up wanting one. The ProDX4 has two mic preamps onboard, stereo master outputs, and an aux output. The ProDX8 has six mic preamps, two aux outputs, and stereo master outs. Both models have a 3.5mm TRS aux…

SAMPLE A BECHSTEIN GRAND   www.bechstein-digital.com Who better to create a sampled piano than piano manufacturers themselves? The idea made sense to C. Bechstein, German-based deluxe piano makers. Feeling the need to fix the gap left by the lack of a sampled C. Bechstein piano, the company chose to create a virtual instrument of its own baby. The acoustic piano of choice was a carefully selected C. Bechstein D282 concert grand, known for its harmonic richness and powerful tone. Recordings were made in Berlin’s Teldex Recording studio over three weeks, where each note was recorded with multiple variations and articulations, resulting in over 10,000 sample zones voiced individually. Mid-side and a close stereo pair form part of the soundscape options you get from the five microphones, which fed into Merging…

Hailing from the tiny town of Marlinja, Northern Territory, indigenous father/ daughter duo, Rayella, has regularly performed its distinctive, haunting flavour of acoustic music in the region for the past three years. Last year the pair, Ray and Eleanor Dixon, jammed with a select picking of Opera Australia chamber orchestra members at the Desert Harmony Festival. Its success birthed the concept for a more formal recording collaboration. With funding secured, orchestral arrangements written and recording sessions scheduled, Opera Australia flew the six orchestra members from Melbourne to Tennant Creek for a four-day stint with Rayella. Kicking off on a Monday, the two groups rehearsed together until the ‘official’ recording date of Thursday, giving audio engineer Tim Webb plenty of time to fill his hard drives with backup material. “We only…

“We take beautiful aural photographs of musicians playing together in a real space” Artist: Macy Gray Album: Stripped True to its name, Macy Gray’s ninth studio album, Stripped, is a minimalist affair. The mainstream music press reported it as a revival of the simpler days — recorded in a church, over two days, with a single microphone and no overdubs. It matched the picture of a singer going back to basics to record a selection of older songs, some new ones and the occasional cover with only a small jazz combo as accompaniment. Unsurprisingly, that revivalist image only told half the story. For starters, Stripped was not recorded by only one mic, but by two. Specifically, it was recorded with a B&K 4100 D Binaural ‘head’, which has a…

“As soon as music started to play it was like, ‘What is this stuff doing in my world?” Set in the future, Robinson features a 12-year old survivor of a crash landing, whose space colony ship Esmerelda has experienced a catastrophic disaster. Robin starts exploring his new planet and finds a remarkable environment populated with incredible flora and fauna… and dinosaurs. He must maintain his healthy survival, learn why the disaster struck and possibly contact other survivors. STRONGLY—CONNECTED MUSIC MATTERS Robinson features a unique music score provided by composer ace, Jesper Kyd, but figuring out the right overall music design approach was not without its challenges. Simon Pressey (Audio Director): “I was very concerned about music potentially bumping us out of the experience. Our early experiments in VR proved how…

As many would be aware, Apple has released yet another chapter in the evolution of OS X, now known as ‘macOS’, no doubt to consolidate the blurring between desktop and iPhone/Pad operating systems. This further amalgamation of macOS and iOS is fantastic, with features such as auto-unlocking your desktop Mac as you wander within range wearing your Apple Watch, and the stupendous addition of Siri, the artificial personal assistant that’s been gaining intelligence since late 2011. With Sierra, you can ask Siri to call someone, or check the weather, find a file, basically ask your Mac to do stuff without typing a word. If only there was an option to change Siri’s name to something like ‘Computer’. Does it feel silly to anyone else that we’re all pestering the same…

There is no greater example of ‘getting what you pay for’ than microphone stands. To a fault, I have never found a ‘cheap’ stand worth paying any money for. Let me list the faults, and you can all cringe along with me. Culprit number one: cheap plastic tensioning knobs. The outside of them can last an age, but a cheap plastic knob will have its guts milled out in one fell turn by the very screw it’s attempting to drive into a locking position. Forever more they will only lightly grip the screw and turn it until its ‘kind of’ tight, but not tight enough. The result: everything slips. Whether it’s a microphone head rotating like König & Meyer turning in their graves; the bottom of your stand bumping into…

Native Instruments isn’t the only provider of software instruments, effects or samples, but it does the kitchen sink better than anyone. Native Instruments’ all-inclusive Komplete Ultimate collection includes every single one of its products: synths of almost any kind — even sample-based semi granular ones, drum samples and drum machines, orchestral samples and players, vintage-inspired effects, random performance tools… you name it, it’s got something that will fit the bill. Every time Native Instruments goes up a digit — we’re up to 11 now — it herds the six to eight products it’s dreamed up since the last round number and corrals them into the new upgrade. Interestingly, the new additions seem to show that Native Instruments really does have all its bases covered. With the exception of Tim Exile’s…

CRSYTAL MASTERING 1 The crew at Crystal Mastering have been hard at it, with a handful of releases nominated in this year’s ARIA awards. Among them, Papercuts (Illy) — Apple Music’s Song of the Year. Recent works at Crystal Mastering include the new album for King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard Flying Microtonal Banana, as well as Bliss n Eso’s new single Dopamine. Other sessions included mastering for Last Leaves, Marcus Cooper, Anna O, Rat Columns, The Pin Heads, Richard Perso and Steve Lane’s new album engineered by Dave Carr at Rangemaster Studios. SALT STUDIOS Salt Studios owner Peter Frawley and manager Dylan Boyd have just completed a complete facelift on the facility as well as the complete restoration of the Amek Hendrix console channels strips, which sits at the…

MARTIN BLACKLINEX   www.martin-audio.com The original Blackline series of passive loudspeakers, launched in 1999, was a hit with live music venues, clubs, and installations. Now, with the new BlacklineX series, Martin Audio hopes to preserve much of the signature sound of warmth and clarity but at a lower price point. The BlacklineX family comprises four two-way systems from the X8 to the X15, and three subwoofers including an unobtrusive slimline model. Each enclosure features a user-rotatable horn for horizontal or vertical mounting, and handles at the rear for easy moving. All BlacklineX enclosures are made of plywood and finished with a durable textured black coating. White and custom RAL colour options are also available. Dom Harter, MD of Martin Audio: “With BlacklineX we now have a classic, stylish, professional yet…

GET READY Paul Petersen: Priority number one: be rehearsed and tight, and everything that’s good will follow. On tour you’ve got to have the right personnel. My motto: no drama. That’s not what I’m out here for. At age 52, I don’t want the drama. Preproduction for this tour has been easy. We worked through our set list, making it flow, and I’ve worked up some ‘tracks’ for the songs that had string parts, for example. It was a case of making sure the stems are all at the same level so we don’t throw the sound guy a curve ball or get crazy level changes in our monitors. We haven’t taken any in-ear monitors out on this tour — it’s all wedges. LOOK AFTER YOUR VOICE Here’s a tip…

The ABC is not your average broadcaster; being resourceful is a useful skill — scratch that, it’s a required one. You have to build the systems the corporation wants with what it has available. If you’re lucky, you might be able to wangle a few extra bits of kit out of the coffers. At the Rio Olympics, the ABC wanted to program both Local and Digital radio, with different content every so often, and occasionally from the same studio. They wanted to have ‘off tube’ (see box item) calling capability at as many sites as possible, with most of it happening in Australia to cut down on travel and accommodation costs in Rio. But importantly, the broadcast had to sound as if the ABC had a full presence in Rio.…

Among the myriad reasons Universal Music built their own studio, was “the depressing news that Alberts closed as a studio, Sing Sing’s up on the block, and Studios 301 is soon to finish up where it is,” explained Managing Director Michael Taylor. “It felt like, ‘S**t, we still make records, we still need a place to do it!’” Studio designer, Michael Fronzek, takes his hat off to them. “When was the last time you saw a record company build a recording studio in this country?” he asked. “I think it was 30 years ago. I’ve always thought the first thing a record company should do is build a studio. It’s intrinsic to what they do.” Of all the record companies, Universal Music Group is probably the most active of studio…

“You need to understand the nature of the experience you’re trying to create for” Land’s End is a VR adventure from the creators of Monument Valley. Set against spectacular landscapes, the player is tasked with awakening an ancient civilisation using the powers of their mind. Land’s End combines Ustwo Games’ award-winning approach to interactive storytelling with Samsung Gear VR, creating a virtual reality experience you can take anywhere. HEADS UP WITH THE DISPLAY Todd Baker (Audio/Music Artist): “It’s really important to have access to VR headset tech early on in the game’s development. You need to understand the nature of the experience you’re trying to bring to life with audio. The sooner you get the headset on, the better. While not a world apart, if you’ve worked on a 3D…

“Actually, mixing and placement are kind of interchangeable going forward” The Assembly is an intriguing first-person interactive drama in which players investigate a shadowy organisation that’s been conducting secret experiments, their astonishing breakthroughs only made possible by operating outside government scrutiny and society’s morals. But what is it hiding and how far will it go to keep its existence buried? MY FIRST VR PROJECT Matt Simmonds (Audio Director): “If you’re approaching your first VR project, my advice would be to think carefully about dialogue recording. It’s a difficult thing to manage but in a narrative game I think a larger sense of the scene’s environment comes into play. The player’s viewpoint eschews old concepts of a ‘game camera’ plus omitting ducking and sound focus removes the notion of the player’s…

Steven Slate has a big, L.A.-sized ego. Unlike other musicians who gravitate to a more behind-the-scenes role in engineering, Slate lives vicariously through the ‘wow factor’ of his products — championing them with a combination of salesman-like exuberance and frontman confidence that’s rare in the tech industry. He’s long worked to be in the lime-light, and since declaring Slate Trigger and Steven Slate Drums to be the best drum replacement solution on the market, hasn’t backed down one bit when it comes to flogging the superiority of his products with straight-faced braggadocio. He’s not without cause. After Steven Slate Drums, he teamed up with Fabrice Gabriel, of Eiosis, to form Slate Digital, and together they announced a string of hardware emulating plug-ins, eventually packaging them up into a monthly subscription…

Last issue we put the new dbx 580 mic pre through its paces and liked what we heard. There were a few loose ends to tie up, namely the other four 500 series modules alongside it, so we’ll be dining out of the dbx lunchbox and digesting the very affordable 510 Subharmonic Synth, 520 De-Esser, 530 Parametric EQ and 560A Compressor Limiter. 1 TAKE IT TO THE LIMIT The 560A Compressor Limiter is unashamedly based on the design of the evergreen 160A rack unit model, a mainstay of live and studio racks just about everywhere for the last 20 years or so. The 560A is a simple three knob affair with continuously variable compression threshold, ratio and output gain controls and very detailed I/O level and gain reduction LED metering…

Paul Petersen was discovered at 17 by Prince, and hand picked to appear in his 1984 Grammy-winning film Purple Rain as the new keys player (replacing Jimmy Jam) in the funk group The Time. Dubbed ‘St Paul’ by Prince, Petersen fronted follow-up Prince project, The Family. Petersen released two solo St Paul albums and has produced, written and appeared on countless others. Hit him up on www.paulpeterson.com I grew up in Minneapolis in a musical family. My Mum and Dad were great session musicians of their time. My Mum played all the way up until the day she died, aged 92 — she was a renowned jazz keys player. My brothers and sisters all played for a living. There were always instruments left around the house. We all played something…

Rode is best known for democratising audio products. Rode is arguably the first name in home studio condenser mics (although Audio-Technica can make a strong case), and has become undeniably the first name in on-camera mics in recent years after inventing/defining the market. With the Rode Lav/SmartLav, we saw Rode move into micro mics. The HS1 lightweight headset mic applied the micro capsule technology to the presentation market. The HS2 supersedes the HS1 with a range of improvements to the build and ergonomics. The ear strips are the headliners; they’re now more flexible and easier to slip on and stay on without discomfort over long periods. There’s also improvements to how the boom arm functions and there’s a new strain relief system at the back. The whole mechanism now has…

If analogue synths are up your alley, do yourself a favour and visit Analog Cabin’s website. The immersive 3D-camera studio tour has gotta be the most fun I’ve had on a homepage. It’s a drool fest that must be clocking up some lengthy page views for owner Felix Warmuth. Analog Cabin is a synth-loaded studio and production space in Ultimo, NSW. It’s located inside the Fishburners complex; a fast-growing not-for-profit charity for scalable tech startups. The cabin has serviced a bunch of its neighbour’s corporate needs, from voiceovers to podcasts, but the Cabin’s bread and butter is all manner of electronic music. Felix caught the pro audio bug a while ago. Scoring a job at pro audio retailer Sound Devices in 2000 helped him cut his teeth, and gain an…

“I realised I had to actually stop looking at instruments or I wasn’t going to get any work done” Artist: Paul Dempsey Album: Strange Loop When Paul Dempsey packed his suitcase for a three-week stint at Wilco’s The Loft studio in Chicago, he couldn’t help himself. From the first time he’d Skyped producer Tom Schick, Paul had been assured Wilco’s inventory of gear would cover his every want and need. Paul said Tom would assure him, ‘Trust me, they acquire things faster than anyone could keep a list.’ Still, he had to throw something in that represented his own musical taste and peculiarities. He grabbed the smallest things he could find, his cherished JHS Colour Box and MI Audio custom stomp boxes, and stuffed them between some shirts… And…

“Yes, there’s a lot of distortion” Artist: Twenty One Pilots Album: Heathens Melancholy, minor-key, mid-tempo electropop appears to be all the rage these days. The Chainsmokers’ Closer, Major Lazer’s Cold Water, Seeb’s I Took A Pill In Ibiza, DJ Snake’s Let Me Love You and Twenty One Pilots’ Heathens are just a few of the songs in that musical vein which have been slugging it out at the top of the hit parades all over the planet. Heathens was the lead single of the Suicide Squad movie soundtrack, and has been one of the big success stories of 2016. The song was also the third big hit for Twenty One Pilots, a duo that broke through last year with the megahit Stressed Out, followed by the more moderately successful…

Producer Pascal Gabriel’s style is literally miles away from the typical commercial recording approach. His home studio (if you can reduce it to that) is in an antiquated castle with fortified walls located somewhere in southern France. To maintain radio silence and lack of distraction when recording, the nameless studio’s coordinates will only be disclosed if you’ve booked in with him. Bass traps are replaced with sofas, instead of treated walls you’ll find windows looking out over picturesque French views, and the main studio throne looks like a horse saddle stuck on a pipe. Pascal’s wife’s catering is part of the experience with all meals provided, and accommodation too. As it turns out, this extremely laid back recording treatment was precisely what Aussie artist Emma Louise needed. After a rough…

“Choosing your moments is key to the emotional curve” Strap yourself in for the most disturbing rollercoaster ride you’ll ever take. From the warped minds of the team behind PS4 horror classic Until Dawn, comes Until Dawn: Rush of Blood — a virtual reality experience to strike fear into the hearts of every trigger happy arcade shooter fan. PULLING FOCUS Barney Pratt (Audio Director): “The way sounds are attenuated over distance has to sound more realistic than in a filmic experience, which creates challenges at long distance with sounds you want to prioritise. Early on, we realised that when characters or objects are very close to the player, we can really invade their personal space, creating audio events people feel they can literally reach out and touch. It can add…

During my regular forays during the last 20 years onto Internet forums intended for the PC musician, there's one audio problem that has popped up with alarming regularity, never seems to get any easier to solve, and still results in lots of confusion and frustration. I refer to the humble ground loop, which since the onset of digital technology has moved on from infesting our audio with low-level background hums, to creating a raft of ticks, clicks, scratchy burbles, high-pitched whistles and various other digitised noises that often resemble covert conversations between various forms of robotic lifeforms. Some people simply assume the culprit is their audio interface and attempt to ignore such background noises, but the truth is that even the cheapest audio interfaces should nowadays be capable of very…

My general philosophy flows over to the way I approach mixing: have fun and make life easy. Whilst software mixing has certainly made life easier, it hasn’t made it more fun. Control surfaces exist to help smooth over the gap between software mixing and hardware tactility to make the whole process more enjoyable. Who doesn’t like twiddling knobs and moving faders? The best ones will get your hands off the mouse and keyboard without you even realising it. When Avid announced the Pro Tools Dock over a year ago, I was so interested to see how far it could blur those lines that I put my hand up for the review way back then. It seemed that by combining the well-established EuCon protocol and a wealth of inherited Euphonix hardware…

I’ve always thought of Electro-Voice as the ‘other’ American mic manufacturer. It’s probably been more successful in the broadcasting world but has its fans on live stages too. Released in the mid ’80s, the original N/DYM Series was a worthy contender to the leading brand with some sonic advantages. EV likes to boast these were the first mics to use the now near-universal neodymium magnets that help produce a flatter frequency response, with improved transients and signal-to-noise ratio. At the time they were released the vocal mics in the N/DYM range were seen to have a smoother sound that some singers preferred and I remember them as being especially good for taming strident female voices. The swivel-headed instrument mics were also popular. Funny looking things but they were easy to…