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THE WORLDS BEST RECORDING TECHNOLOGY MAGAZINE
NOVEMBER 2016
TM
MUSIC PRODUCTION TECHNIQUES / INDEPENDENT IN-DEPTH PRODUCT TESTS / ENGINEER & PRODUCER INTERVIEWS / LIVE SOUND
VMS
VS
THE REAL THING
H O W D O S L AT E S V I RT U A L U 4 7 , U 6 7 ,
C 1 2 AN D C 8 0 0 G M E A S U R E U P ?
Bastille
Ilike the idea of aworking relationship

where you can disagree quite alot
David Reitzas: Mixing Barbra Streisand

From top-flight studio to Grannys House
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TECHNIQUE: PRO TOOLS / CUBASE / SONAR / REASON / LOGIC / LIVE / STUDIO ONE
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MY
NEW! AXIS DIGITAL MIXING SYSTEM

The all-new Mackie AXIS Digital Mixing System delivers unmatched speed,
visibility and customization for professional production and install.
With full Dante interoperability, the modular AXIS system combines the power
of the 32-channel DL32R digital mixer and innovative DC16 control surface
to deliver a live sound solution with stunning workflow efficiency.
Large high-resolution screens provide class-leading readability and the unique
SmartBridge intelligently handles up to three iPad devices. AXIS delivers
unparalleled visual feedback and customization that result in dramatically
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Complete with flexible 3232 recording and a wide selection of powerful DSP,
the AXIS system delivers a forward-thinking, modular digital mixing solution
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LEADER
COST VS VALUE
While home recording has become much
less costly in recent years, there are still
some expensive items on most peoples
wish lists. So how do you work out what
to splash out on when budget is an issue?
My approach has always been to look at
the recording chain as a whole to identify
any weak links, and that goes all the way
from the microphones and the recording
Theres no point in throwing

money at an area thats already
being let down by something
else further along the chain.
Paul White
Editor In Chief
space to the monitor speakers and the

control room acoustics. Theres no point
in throwing money at an area thats
already being let down by something
else further along the chain. We have
had cases of readers asking whether
switching from a 2000 mic preamp to
a 3000 mic preamp might reduce the
boxy overtones theyd noticed, when
the real weak link was the acoustic of the
recording space. In that instance, a couple
of duvets would probably have made a far
greaterimprovement.
Assuming that you do know what areas
need updating, how do you put a value
on things? I have a mental formula that
puts length of service on the top line
and price on the bottom, where length
of service is estimated either on the
mechanical longevity of the product or, in
the case of anything remotely connected
to computers, how long before it is
rendered obsolete by platform changes
or shifts in connectivity protocols. In most
instances, analogue devices with jack or
XLR connectivity will have the longest
projected lifespan, and those built using
discrete components that can easily be
serviced come out on top. For example,
a microphone can last for a lifetime
with little or no servicing and highquality analogue outboard can usually
November 2016 / w w w . s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
LEADER
be fixed if theres aproblem unless

it relies on very obscure valves or toxic
components that are no longer legal.
Items that use surfacemount technology
are still a reasonable bet as long as they
are modular, but budget gear that uses
this technology all mounted on one
large circuit board is a much tougher
proposition, and a repair may cost more
than the thing is worth.
Then we come to hybrid analogue/
digital products such as audio interfaces,
where theres always a risk that either
driver support will dry up or the
connection protocol that they use will
become obsolete. You can bet on a few
years of relative safety, but when it comes
to computers, the future is a very murky

place. The same applies to software,
some of which can be very expensive.
All the big names update their software
to keep pace with computer evolution,
but no company lasts forever and some
of the smaller companies inevitably fall
by the wayside. Even larger companies
occasionally withdraw support from
legacy products because it simply isnt
cost effective to keep it up. Then there
are those that charge for every update, so
that has to be factored in too.
It can sometimes be difficult to retain
perspective with studio purchases, but
ultimately you have to ask yourself, will it
really affect the sales of my music?
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ugh Robjohns
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NicoleMcCammon
ISSN 09516816
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TECHNOLOGY
Distributed in the UK & Ireland by Sound Technology Ltd | 01462 480000 | soundtech.co.uk
IN THIS ISSUE
Nove mb e r 2 0 1 6 / i s s ue 1 / volum e 32
w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d .c o m
SESSION NOTES
SLATE DIGITAL VIRTUAL MICROPHONE SYSTEM
FEATURES
Dan Smith & Mark Crew:
Producing Bastilles Wild World
Like their debut, Bastilles Wild World
was recorded in aSouth London

basement but this time around,
the band were global superstars.
Session Notes
Recording the Winchester College
Quiristers with a view to bringing

their plainsong performances to a
wider audience presented aunique
challenge!
Studio SOS
When misfortune befell one of our
contributors, we sent the Studio SOS
team around to help him get his
studio set up again!
Inside Track: David Reitzas

The making of Barbra Streisands
latest hit album offers awindow
intothe unique philosophy of
hitmaking producer and engineer
DavidReitzas.
hoosing ACompact
C
PASystem LIVE
AGNES OBEL
WIN
SOUND
Its now the norm for musicians to

provide their own sound
reinforcement for small gigs
butwhat kind of system would suit
youbest?
gnes Obel:
A
ProducingCitizenOf Glass
The challenge of creating
aglass-themed sound world for her
third album led Agnes Obel to
explore some little-used instruments
and techniques.
The Mix Review

Our mix engineer analyses tracks
byKungs Versus Cookin On 3
Burners, Major Lazer feat. Justin
Bieber, Blossoms, Beyonc and the
SexPistols.
Mix Rescue
Our engineer transports
abedroom-recorded rock song into
release-ready territory.
Notes From The Deadline

Despite great progress elsewhere in
the TV business, music for the media
is still overwhelmingly dominated
bymen. Why?
Studio File
We travel to sunny Portugal to take
atour of Lisbons state-of-the-art
Atlantico Blue Studios.
TIME+SPACE
INSTRUMENT
COLLECTION
WORTH 2200
WORKSHOPS
lex your Logic Pro X
F
muscles with half a dozen
more tips and tricks.
hings get messy as we
T
explore Lives distortion
effects.
he loudness wars might
T
be over, but watching your
peak levels in Pro Tools is
stillimportant.
Studio One has no
notation features of its own,
but it now forms aperfect
pair with PreSonus
Notionsofware.
uicken your Sonar
Q
workflow with these
toptips!
We show you how to get
SOS AWARDS
VOTE NOW FOR YOUR
GEAR OF THE YEAR!
the most from Abletons

Link technology inReason.
an you do character
C
compression with Cubases
stock plug-ins?
ON TEST
C O V E R
late Digital Virtual Microphone System

S
Microphone, Preamp & Modelling Software
Zynaptiq Adaptiverb
Resynthesizing Reverb Plug-in
Spitfire Audio Hans
ZimmerPiano
Sample Library
Soundbrenner Pulse
Multi-sensory Metronome &
AppSuite
M-Audio M-Track 2X2M & 2X2
USB Audio Interfaces
4ms Dual Looping Delay
Eurorack Delay Module
ADDAC Marble Physics
Eurorack CV Control Module
Qu-Bit Wave
Overstayer MAS Model 8101

Stereo Analogue
DistortionProcessor
UVI PX Apollo
Software Synthesizer
IK Multimedia iLoud Micro
Compact Monitors
Orchestral Tools Solo Strings
Sample Library
DACS Clarity MicAmp2
Microphone Preamplifier
J Rockett Archer &
Archer Ikon
Overdrive Pedals
Blue Lola
Eurorack Sample Player Module

Audio-Technica IEM Series LIVE
In-ear Monitors
JBL Eon One LIVE
Compact Line Array
Tascam DR-680 MkII
Multitrack Location Recorder
Audified STA Effects
Plug-in Effects Bundle
Mercuriall U530
Guitar-amp Modelling Plug-in
Waves Scheps Parallel Particles
Processing Plug-in
Sly-Fi Kaya
Distortion Plug-in
Dynaudio LYD 5 & 8
Active Nearfield Monitors
SOUND
SOUND
Headphones
Origin Effects Cali76 Compact
& Cali76 Compact Deluxe
Compressor Pedals
Electro-Harmonix 22500
Stereo Looper
Sample Libraries
Boom Library Cinematic Horror
Cinesamples Rio Grooves
Sonuscore Trinity Drums
Attack EP88 UVI Workstation
REGULARS
News
Live News
Q&A
Classifieds
Sounding Off
Red shift
Focusrite expand Red and Clarett ranges to

thepower of eight
ontinuing to make good use

of the high-speed Thunderbolt
interface standard, Focusrite
have added new models featuring eight
mic preamps to their Red and Clarett
series. The top-of-the-range Red 8Pre
features 16 analogue inputs and 18
analogue outputs from atotal track count
of 64-in/64-out, all in a1U rackmount.
With dual Thunderbolt 2, Pro Tools HD
DigiLink and Dante ports, it looks very
well-connected indeed. Meanwhile, the
newest addition to Focusrites Clarett
range of Thunderbolt-equipped recording
interfaces is not an interface itself but an
eight-channel I/O expander. The Clarett
OctoPre provides eight mic preamps and
eight line outputs, AD/DA conversion
and ADAT optical in and out. Its designed
to instantly add extra inputs and outputs
to any of the Clarett interfaces (or any
other ADAT-equipped device) or act as
astand-alone eight-channel mic pre.
Each of the Clarett OctoPres eight
mic/line preamps on board features
aswitchable Air effect said to emulate
the transformer-based sound of
Focusrites ISA preamps and an insert
point for adding external processing,
also individually switchable from the front
panel. The two combi jack inputs on
the front panel double as instrument DI
inputs, while the other six mic/line input
are located at the rear. Eight balanced
line outputs are provided on aDB25
connector, alongside the ADAT ins and
outs and wordclock connectors featuring
JetPLL jitter elimination technology. The

signal from the eight preamps passes
through the AD converters to the ADAT
outputs and can be fed directly to the
line outputs as well, to feed alive mixing
console, for example, while recording
at the same time. Alternatively, these
analogue outputs can be fed by the
ADAT inputs and DA converters to
act as an extension to your existing
recording interface. Focusrite promise
high headroom in the preamps and
precision digital conversion with awide
dynamic range. The Clarett OctoPre
will be available from November 2016,
priced at 649.99.
Meanwhile, those seeking astand-alone
Thunderbolt interface will definitely
want to take alook at the Red 8Pre.
Featuring eight of the same Air-enabled,
remotecontrollable Red Evolution
mic pres seen on the Red 4Pre, it
promises the same impressive specs
and impeccable sound quality, but with
double the number of analogue inputs.
Once again, everything is controllable
from the front panel as well as in software
via atrio of high-definition displays.
Quoted round-trip latency as low as
1.67ms opens up the possibility of
tracking with plug-ins in place, while the
ability to connect directly to Pro Tools
HDX and Dante networks also puts the
Red 8Pre in select company. Its available
now, priced 3199.99.
Focusrite +44 1494 462246
www.focusrite.com
Something old, something new
Rupert Neve Designs introduce the Shelford Channel
escribed as the definitive

evolution of Rupert Neves most
prized classic console modules,
the new Shelford Channel is acomplete
1U channel strip. While the Shelford
series name harks back to Neves garage
workshop in the village of Little Shelford,
Cambridgeshire, where he developed
some of his earliest consoles, this
new channel features Neves first new
transformer-based, Class-A mic preamp
inover 40 years.
Promising the best of old and new,
this new preamp, which features gain,
trim and high-pass filter controls, is
followed by the same inductor EQ found
in the existing Shelford 5051 and 5052
modules. Something of agreatest-hits
collection, this three-band equaliser

features elements of the classic 1064 and
1073 modules, updated with modern
components and circuit design. Finally,
the diode bridge compressor is inspired
by the vintage 2254 compressor/limiter
but with vastly expanded functionality,
including ablend control for parallel
compression. Other features include
variable transformer saturation and
anew dual-tap output transformer
with high- and low-headroom outputs.
The Shelford Channel is available now,
pricedat 3699.
Sonic Distribution
+44(0)8455002500
www.sonic-distribution.com
www.rupertneve.com
Action replay
Lewitt mic lets you switch polar

pattern post-recording
ustrian mic manufacturers Lewitt have come up

with anovel mic technology that may or may not
change the future of mic design, but can certainly
change the past. Thats because the new LCT 640 TS
multi-pattern studio condenser will let you change the
mics polar pattern even after youve recorded.
Normally, multi-pattern mics are able to offer
arange of selectable pickup patterns by combining
the outputs of two diaphragms placed back-to-back
in different ways. In Single Output mode, the LCT
640 TS works just like aconventional mic. You pick one
of the available patterns (omni, wide cardioid, cardioid,
supercardioid or figure-of-eight) and then record. In Dual Output
mode, however, the mic allows you to record the output of each
capsule independently and then change the pickup pattern after
the fact, selecting any of the above and everything in between
using the accompanying Polarizer plug-in. You can even flip the mics directivity by
180 degrees if you wish. There is an argument that present-day engineers are already
confronted with too much choice when it comes to recording, editing and processing
in the digital environment, but youd have to be acommitted Luddite not to at least
be intrigued by the possibilities of this technology, and especially the ability to adjust
the amount of room sound picked up by the mic. With two separate outputs, you can
also record in MS stereo using asingle mic, though Lewitt say that, by adjusting the
polarising voltage during manufacture to achieve the same sensitivity in every mic,
they ensure that any two LCT 640 TS mics can be used together to form amatched
stereo pair. Other features include afour-postion low-cut filter, afour-position pad and
aclip indicator that stores the fact that clipping has occurred in case you missed it at
the time. The LCT 640 TS comes in aheavy-duty hard case, complete with asecondary
output cable, shockmount, foam windscreen and adiscreet pop filter that attaches
magnetically. Its available now, priced 879.
JHS & Co Ltd +44 (0)1132 865 381
www.jhs.co.uk
www.lewitt-audio.com
Neutron bomb
iZotopes Neutron plug-in visualises frequency

collisions and suggests mix improvements
n Neutron, iZotope have designed

aplug-in that has the potential to save
you alot of time when mixing. It has
afew core functions that make it special.
tracks. Aboost on one track can be made

to cause acut at the same frequency on
another track ideal for giving clarity to
competing instruments.
The first is Track Assistant aprocess

whereby the plug-in listens to your audio
and recommends custom starting points
for your track. The analysis intelligence
within Neutron allows Track Assistant
to automatically detect instruments,
recommend the placement of EQ nodes,
and offer optimal settings for other
modules. Skynet hasnt got mixing
stitched up quite yet, though. For now,
you still maintain full control over all your
mix decisions, but the idea is that Track
Assistant gives you more time to focus
on the creative, rather than technical,
sideof mixing.
Another first is Neutrons Masking
Meter, which allows you to visually identify
and fix perceptual frequency collisions
between instruments guitars masking
lead vocals, for example, or bass sitting on
top of drums and other issues that can
cause amuddy or overly crowded mix.
Aparticularly useful feature is the ability
to link instances of the plug-in on different
Neutron can be used on every track,

offering zero-latency, CPU-efficient
performance. Other modules include
static/dynamic EQ, two multiband
compressors, amultiband transient
shaper, amultiband exciter, and atrue
peak limiter.
Two versions are available: Neutron
and Neutron Advanced. The Advanced
version adds Surround Support for audio
post professionals who need to enhance
audio for picture, as well as the option to
run Neutrons EQ, compressor, transient
shaper and exciter modules as individual
plug-ins. Both versions are available now
and will be on sale until October 31st,
but after that, Neutron will cost 229
while Neutron Advanced will be available
for 325. Neutron Advanced will also be
available as part of iZotopes new Music
Production Bundle 2.
Time & Space +44 (0)1837 55200
www.timespace.com
www.izotope.com
Ribbon revolution
Ocean Way Audio push the

envelope of ribbon-mic performance
ne of the most eye-catching products on show at the

AES show in Los Angeles was Ocean Way Audios
RM1B ribbon microphone which, they say, takes this
venerable technology to new heights. Thanks to extensive
research into magnet and polepiece design, OWA claim that
the RM1Bs long ribbon moves within amagnetic field that
is twice as strong as that of any other ribbon mic. This yields
greater sensitivity and afrequency response that apparently
extends to 25kHz. An active, phantom-powered preamp circuit ensures ahealthy output
level, and Ocean Way founder Allen Sides reports that the new mic is not only perfect
for traditional ribbon-mic duties such as horns and guitar cabinets, but that it also makes
avocal mic to rival Ocean Ways collection of vintage Neumann valve models.
Pricing and shipping dates were unavailable at the time of writing. Watch our
show-floor interview of Ocean Way Audios Allen Sides over on our YouTube channel:
http://youtube.com/soundonsoundvideo.
Ocean Way Audio +1 818 847 8757
www.oceanwayaudio.com
Groove intelligence
Accusonus Regroover lets you split and remix

groove samples
illed as the worlds first artificial intelligence beat machine, Regroover from
Accusonus is anew plug-in that promises to analyse fully mixed audio clips and
extract the individual elements within. Feed it adrum break, for example, and
Regroover will split it into individual layers kick, snare, hi-hat and so on that can
then be rebalanced, remixed and processed individually.
Regroover is based around the same patent-pending audio analysis technology that
powers Accusonus Drumatom drumleakage suppression software. While the software
promises to analyse and split sound files automatically, arange of parameters and an
annotation tool are available to manually adjust the way the algorithm operates. Whether
you want to refine the separation of the various sonic elements within the groove or
actively abuse the technology for creative effect, the means are provided, and Accusonus
say that Regroover is capable of pulling out new sounds and rhythmic patterns hidden
within the audio file. The plug-in will also warp audio to sync to the host DAW tempo,
with multiple outputs to feed back into the mix. For producers and DJs who use
sampling and beat slicing to remix and compose, this looks like the next logical step,
allowing you to manipulate not just chunks of the whole audio file but elements within
it too. Two versions are available. Regroover Essential will do all of the above and can
load expansion kits containing ready-made grooves. Regroover Pro also lets you create
and edit expansion kits of your own and adds afull drum sampler complete with mixer
and effects. Regroover Essential is out now, priced $99. Regroover Pro will be released in
November, priced $199
www.accusonus.com
API feet
TranZformers bring the API sound to your pedalboard
oull find APIs acclaimed

compressors, equalisers, preamps
and DIs in most of the worlds best
studios, and increasingly, serious guitarists
and bass players have been buying
into the companys 500-series range of
modular processors in order to always
have access to their favoured studio
signalprocessing chain. With that in mind,
API have now developed two new devices
targeted specifically at musicians, taking
the same compression and EQ from the
Lunchbox and onto the pedalboard.
The TranZformer GT (shown) and LX
both share the same physical format,
housing their electronics in alarge and
very rugged metal case. An included
18V power supply ensures plenty of
headroom for the signal processing,
which comprises an input gain control
with up to 30dB gain, followed by
acompressor based on the classic API
525 circuit, and athree-band equaliser.
Two footswitches allow the compressor
and EQ to be switched in and out of
circuitindependently.
Each unit boasts atransformer-balanced
and an unbalanced output, both with their
own polarity reversal switches.
The main difference between the two

pedals lies in the frequencies chosen for
the three EQ bands, which reflect the
intended application of the GT for guitar
and the LX for bass. APIs TranZformers
offer players of both instruments the
same sort of signal path available in the
companys large-format consoles, enabling
their studio sound to be taken anywhere.
The brand new TranZformer series pedals
should be available by the time you read
this, with a UK price of 549 for each.
Source Distribution
+44 (0)20 8962 5080
www.sourcedistribution.co.uk
www.apiaudio.com
Raising the stakes
Mackie unveil XR series high-performance studio monitors

ith the HR series, Mackie
succeeded in producing one
look of the new monitors, which feature

alogarithmic tweeter waveguide that
of the most popular active

monitors of all time, acommon sight in
both bedroom studios and professional
facilities. While the more affordable MR
range has been with us for some time
now too, Mackie have now taken abig
step in the other direction, designing
amore upmarket range aimed at more
demanding users.
The new XR series boasts two models.
Following the familiar HR-series
modelnumbering scheme, the XR824
features an eight-inch woofer while the
XR624 features asix-inch woofer. The
recesses the high-frequency driver so

that its positioned on same axis as the
woofer, is also instantly familiar, but there
are plenty of new features below the
surface. The elliptical bass reflex port at
the rear is at one end of an extra-long
tube that curves back around on itself
(imagine aletter J on its side) and
promises an extended bass response
with zero turbulence and air noise. Room
optimisation switches at the rear can be
used to select one of three acoustic space
settings plus high- and low-frequency
filters. Both models feature a160W
Class-D power amp and one-inch black
anodised aluminium tweeters. The
woofers, meanwhile, feature Kevlar cones
and are said to deliver fast recovery from
transients and accurate lowfrequency
detail while virtually eliminating
resonances. The XR Series monitors
will be available from the beginning of
November, with prices listed at 482.94
(XR824) and 385.94 (XR624) permonitor.
Polar Audio +44 (0)1444 258258
www.polaraudio.co.uk
www.mackie.com
Horn to be wild
British sampling specialists

release Spitfire Symphonic Brass
pitfire Audios epic British Modular Library sampling

project continues to bear fruit with the release of
Spitfire Symphonic Brass, anew virtual instrument
described by the makers as the definitive collection of
orchestral brass. Culled from the vast array of samples
created for the BML, the instrument contains arationalised though still very extensive
collection of components, available at amuch more approachable price.
Recorded with the utmost care at Air Studios famous Lyndhurst Hall, the virtual
instruments content includes awide selection of different brass section sizes, from solo
trumpets, horns and trombones to large groups. Bass trombones and tubas are also
well represented, alongside more esoteric elements such as contrabass trombone and
contrabass tuba. The library also features ahost of new articulations on top of those
found in the BML, covering solo, chamber, symphonic and cinematic applications. Spitfire
Symphonic Brass features achoice of three mic positions close, Decca Tree and
ambient with an add-on pack featuring additional mics and mixes promised in the
near future. Its out now, priced 499.
www.spitfireaudio.com
Acclaimed composer
and producer John Fortis
has been added to the
line-up of Pro7ect 2017,
the annual songwriters
retreat which will be held at
the rock &roll-themed
Hotel Pelirocco in Brighton
from the 12th to 17th of
March 2017. Fortis, who
has written and produced
songs for artists including
Ellie Goulding, Razorlight,
Paolo Nutini and the
Prodigy, will join producers
Youth and Andrew Levy at
the event. Pro7ect 2017 is
designed to give
songwriters and artists the
opportunity to write and
record new music. Using

four pop-up recording
studios installed at the
hotel, participants work in
producer-led teams to
write atrack aday for four
days. Last years event
produced 15 new tracks,
and songs from previous
years have gone on to be
released or optioned for
sync. Places are limited and
participants must apply to
attend. The retreat costs
between 789 and 969,
including food and
accommodation for
fivenights.
www.pro7ect.com
Sheffield was alive with
the sound of electronic
music on Saturday 1st
October, as the inaugural
SynthFest UK got
underway at the universitys
Octagon Centre.
Organised by Sound On
Sound in partnership with
the Sensoria Festival,
SynthFest UK is the first UK
festival devoted entirely
to synthesizers, and
brought together synth
manufacturers, retailers
and musicians from all
over the country. A full
programme of seminars
on synth-related subjects
was running throughout
the day and rooms were
filled by synth stalwarts
such as Korg, Yamaha and
Moog as well as boutique
makers including Modal,
Soulsby and Expert
Sleepers. Retailers did a
roaring trade and many
a happy punter was seen
leaving the building with
a new synth under their
arm. Guests themselves
were also showing off
their impressive rigs in the
Modular Meet area and
high profile guests Phil
Oakey from the Human
League and Matt Berry
were also in attendance.
Work has already begun
on organising next years
SynthFest UK so watch this
space for moreinformation.
www.synthfest.co.uk
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And on all DAW tracks on which you are using

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ON TEST
Slate Digital
Virtual
Microphone
System
Microphone,
Preamp &
Modelling
Software
Can this unique
combination of software
and hardware really
recreate the sound of
some of the most revered
microphones in the world?
We put it up against the
originals to find out!
ON TEST
S L AT E D I G I TA L V I R T U A L M I C R O P H O N E S Y S T E M
NEIL ROGERS
ost hardware components of

the traditional recording studio
are now available in digitally
modelled or virtual plugin software
versions. Pretty much every classic
compressor, EQ, analogue tape recorder
or effects unit in the history of recorded
music is now seemingly available to use
in our DAWs with the minimum of fuss.
Even astudios live room can be recreated
to some extent, thanks to increasingly
advanced roommodelling software and
convolutionbased reverb. Microphones,
however, have been among the toughest
nuts to crack. It has generally been
considered extremely difficult, if not
impossible, to truly model how different
microphones respond to any given
source, from any angle, in any space.
Its perhaps not surprising, then, that
the release of the Slate Digital Virtual
Microphone System or VMS for short
has created something of astir in the
industry. Slate Digitals CEO Steven Slate
has helped generate some of the hype,
of course, and his highly personalised,
ultraconfident marketing style has
made him something of apolarising
figure in the world of pro audio. Look
beyond the hype, however, and youll
see that many people, including me,
are regular and enthusiastic users of his
everexpanding range of mix processing
tools. Slate are also amanufacturer who
aspire to innovate: they were one of
the first plugin companies to embrace
an affordable paymonthly system for
their entire suite of plugins, and their
Raven touchscreen DAW controllers
offer anew way of working with our
Slate Digital VMS 999

PROS
Creates believable emulations of

some of the classic tube microphone
models.
Relatively affordable package.
The included microphone sounds
good on its own.
Good-quality case and shockmount.
Ability to change the microphone
model after the recording session.
CONS
Ability to change the microphone

model after the recording session!
System is dependent on adecent,
lowlatency recording setup to work in
real time.
Some minor sibilance issues on
somesingers.
SUMMARY
The VMS is abold new product that

can deliver on its promise to recreate
the sound of some of the classic
microphone models at afraction
of the price. Whilst not always being
completely indistinguishable, the results
were always to agood and usable
standard. Perhaps of more interest,
though, is its potential to change the
traditional workflow of the recording
process, in ways which could be both
good and bad!
computerbasedsetups.
The Slate Digital Virtual Microphone
System claims to precisely model many
of the classic largediaphragm valve
capacitor microphones, and some
wellknow preamps, of the last 70 years.
Is the VMS anew frontier for pro audio,
then? Or does it represent astep too far
for todays digital modelling technology?
ON TEST
When you consider the fact that the

whole system comes in at less than
1000, and that some of the microphones
in question will set you back more than
10,000 each on the secondhand market,
it is certainly not only an intriguing
proposition but abold one.
Overview
The Slate VMS comes as apackage of
both hardware and software. Included is
alargediaphragm capacitor microphone,
astandalone hardware preamp, and the
allimportant modelling software, which
is downloaded from the Slate Digital web
site. The software functions as part of
their Mix Rack package and allows you
to audition the different microphone and
preamp models, both in real time and,

significantly, post recording.
The microphone and the preamp
are designed to provide arelatively
characterless, transparent signal, which
the software can then process to add
the character of the microphones. This
included hardware is key as, unlike
apurely softwarebased system such
as the old Antares mic modelling plugin
the hardware ensures aknown neutral
source characteristic with which the
software can react.
With crude but obvious pseudonyms
for the mics in question, the software is
available initially with three microphone
options: the FG47 (Neumann U47), the
FG251 (Telefunken ELA M251) and the
ON TEST
FG800 (Sony C800g). Slate have since

released an additional expansion pack,
which adds anumber of additional tubemic options including the Neumann
U67 and the AKG C12. Once you have
auditioned and selected your mic of
choice, you have the option of increasing
the intensity of aparticular models
character: the software slider ranges from
100 to 150 percent, where 100 percent is
the closest emulation, and higher values
increase the level of modelled harmonics
and valve saturation.
Also included within the software are
two virtual preamp options, emulating
the Neve 1073 and the Telefunken
V76. As well as using these along with
the microphone models, you can also
record direct into the line input on the
Slate preamp, to use these preamp
models for akeyboard or direct bass
recording,forexample.
Model Behaviour
If the VMS does, or even comes pretty
close to doing what it claims to do, then
the system could represent excellent
value for money, and would bring the
sonic characteristics of many of the most
coveted microphones in recording history
to awhole new group of users. Perhaps
most intriguingly, it also has the potential
to remove alayer of decision-making in
the recording process and potentially add
abrandnew one to the postproduction
or mixing stage. Deciding which
microphone to use in agiven situation
is abig part of arecording session, and
the ability to audition microphones after
the event has many implications both
goodand bad.
Could this kind of technology be
another nail in the coffin for the
conventional recording studio? Most of
ON TEST
us take advantage of numerous kinds of

digital modelling software these days,
and whilst many users acknowledge that
they perhaps still dont sound quite the
same as the real thing, theyre content
that its close enough, or sounds good
in its own right, and happily embrace
the convenience and affordability that
software emulations give them.
Methodology
Rather than just trying it out on afew
sessions at my studio, the team at SOS
decided that this review would be
agreat excuse to let agroup of us out
into the wider world and pitch the VMS
against some of the actual microphones
that it claims to model. With help from
the fantastic team at FX Rentals in
London, we were able to get access to
four of the classic mics that the VMS
attempts to model: the Neumann U47
and U67, the AKG C12 and the Sony
C800g. Iagreed to host the session at
my Cambridgebased Halfton Studios,
and in addition to my own ears, those of
SOS editors Hugh Robjohns, Sam Inglis
and Chris Korff were present, as well as
regular SOS author Mike Senior.
While its difficult to get too scientific
about these things, we came up with
asimple system by which we felt
we could consistently audition the
Hear For Yourself!

All the audio files captured in this
session have been made available on
the SOS web site, so you can compare
the original microphones with the VMS
models. To download the files, head to
http://sosm.ag/nov16media.
respective microphones against their

emulations. As different mics could be
changed in the software on the Slate
VMS, we knew we could keep the Slate
microphone in afixed position in the
live room. We would then position each
of the vintage mics, in turn, with the
capsules as close as practically possible
to the Slates, and record ashort vocal
performance. We decided we needed
to test both amale and female vocal
and, while soundchecking the mic with
some spoken word, we decided that
an additional voiceoverstyle recording
would be aworthwhile addition. We
decided to focus the review very much
on the microphone side of things, but
since Ihave aNeve 1073 preamp at my
studio, we used that for all of the real
microphone recordings, and applied the
Slate 1073 emulation to all the modelled
mic recordings.
In The Box
Before beginning the session proper,
we all had agood look at and feel of
whats included in the hardware side
of the system. The microphone itself is
called the ML1; it has agood feeling
of weight and quality to it, and whilst
the allblack styling wont appeal to
everyone, it does give it aneutral feel
that is not trying to look like any other
wellknown microphone. Without knowing
any details of the ML1s manufacturing,
it looks to me very much like ageneric
largediaphragm mic that you would
perhaps expect to cost around 300 to
400. The included shockmount feels
solid and was easy to use, and the fact
it comes with adecent quality hard
caseisaplus.
ON TEST
The included preamp, the VMSOne,

was OK in terms of build quality, and
Ifound it pleasant enough to work with
during the session. Designed to sit on
adesktop, the VMSOne has all the
basic controls you might expect from
astandalone preamp: phantom power,
input pad, polarity switching, mic/line
selection and alarge gain control knob.
The system setup is designed so that
you route the ML1 microphone into
the VMSOne preamp in aconventional
manner. Your signal would then go in
to alinelevel input on your mixer or
interface and then on to your DAW of
choice. Reading, and watching, the
promotional material for the system,
it seems very much intended that you
perform through the software and
use the emulations in real time. This
concerned me ever so slightly, as while
the software itself doesnt produce any
latency, you are at the mercy of the

limitations of your particular system. In
my experience, even small amounts of
audible delay can be very distracting to
performers, and while there are many
setups these days that are capable of
operating at very low latency, Isuspect
there will be some users who will struggle
to be able to use the VMS in real time
without issues.
For Mac-based recording systems,
Slate Digital recommend using the VMS
with alowlatency Thunderbolt interface
running at 96kHz, with abuffer size
around 64 samples, to achieve alatency
lower than 2ms. For PC, they recommend
alowlatency USB interface (RME make
the best, in our opinion), or PCIe-based
options such as those made by Lynx.
In my own studio, Ihave aLynx Aurora
interface with aPC running Pro Tools 12,
at afairly low buffer size of 256 samples.
ON TEST
With conventional routing, Icould still

hear latency ay work when Iwalked
through to the live room and spoke into
the mic with the headphones on. You
could of course just monitor through
the mic and then play with the software
afterwards, but once you have found
amodel that suits your voice, this might
become frustrating.
With alot to get through on the day,
we decided for the sake of our exercise
to not monitor with the mic emulations in
real time. We were, of course, fortunate
enough to have the real microphones set
up, to both monitor with, and to feed to
the respective singers headphones.
Neumann U47
The first classic mic out of its flight case
was the legendary Neumann U47. With
the microphone safely positioned next to

the Slate ML1, the first vocalist up was
Jules Harding, who we had somehow
convinced to be our voiceover artist.
Ialways find spoken word to be an
excellent illustration of amicrophones
basic character helped greatly
of course by the fact that it stands
alone, without any music to mask the
subtlenuances.
Ive used aU47 afew times before, and
in its natural state it dont suit every voice,
by any means. When it does, though, its
rich bottom end, and general allround
smoothness, can be adream to work with.
Jules had anaturally deep and resonant
voice anyhow, so it almost felt abit too
full until we got him to back off the
mic slightly to reduce some of the U47s
generous proximity effect.
ON TEST
With ashort 30second piece captured

and with agaggle of eversoslightly
sceptical engineers hovering in the
control room we were able to make
our first comparison with the Slate Digital
VMS. Ileft the intensity control flat
for the moment and switched between
the modelled mic and the real one.
Iwould describe the first impressions
as pleasantly surprised, rather than
jawdropping, but its important to note
that no two U47s (or any other mics of
that age) are ever going to sound the
same. The term its in the ballpark was
certainly appropriate, though, and the
Virtual Microphone System was seemingly
doing apretty good job of capturing
the right flavour. Its notable that the
emulated version was alittle brighter
than our U47, and this would prove to be
arecurring theme.
Cranking up the intensity made things
more syrupy, however, and it also helped
fill out the bottom end to more closely
match the real thing. It was quite obvious
even at this early stage that there wasnt
ahuge amount of difference between
them, and that the VMS deserved to be
taken seriously. Briefly flicking between
the flat mic and the emulations, It also
seemed clear that the software was able
to produce dramatically different sounds
to the unprocessed ML1 microphone,
with barely any noticeable artifacts.
Moving onto our singers, our male
example was SOSs very own Sam
Inglis. As Sam often records his voice in
combination with him playing acoustic
guitar, we decided that this could be
auseful test of the systems ability
to model the offaxis sound of the
microphones, as benign off-axis sound
is amuchappreciated feature of many

highend microphones. Listening to the
real thing first, the U47 wasnt necessarily
anatural choice for Sams voice, as it
sounded almost too rich and full. It did
agreat job of softening any harshness
and sibilance issues, however, and Iwas
keen to see if the VMS was able to do
asimilar job. It did, up to apoint, and we
were impressed with just how close it was
coming to sounding like our particular
vintage model. Again, playing with the
intensity control in the software enabled
us to bring the bottom end more in line
with the real thing.
However, in the instrumental sections of
Sams song where only the offaxis guitar
sound was captured, there seemed much
ON TEST
more of adifference in tone between

the two mics. This does not mean the
off-axis sound was bad, just that it was
further from the real thing than the onaxissound.
For our female voice, Grace Kuhl had
very kindly agreed to be our test subject
for the afternoon and, importantly, she
would be singing over afullsounding
prerecorded backing track. Why is
this important? Well, if the VMS can
come reasonably close to accurately
modelling these mics, then maybe any
differences that might remain would
be indistinguishable in the context of
afulltrack.
Like many female singers, Grace has
avoice that suits abit of airiness, and
Ididnt think our real U47 sounded all
that great on her voice, producing a
tone that was abit dull. This could easily
be solved with alittle EQ, of course,
but in this context Ipreferred the slight
extra brightness of the VMS version.
Listening on apair of headphones, Icould
detect afew small issues with the lower
midrange balance on the VMS version,
and when Iadded some highfrequency
shelving EQ as Imight in amix the
real U47 opened up in abeautiful way
that Ifelt left the modelled version slightly
behind. We are talking small differences
Special FX
Wed like to thank the excellent
proaudio hire company FX Rentals for
the use of their classic microphones,
without which we wouldnt have
been able to perform this unique
experiment.
WW www.fxgroup.net
here, though, and the results with the

Slate model were still impressive.
AKG C12
Next up was the AKG C12, another
legendary valve heavyweight and
abeautiful mic to see and use first hand.
[It should be noted that the C12 that FX
Rentals provided us with had been fitted
with anylonrimmed capsule, rather than
the original brassringed type. These do
have significant sonic differences, but
since for many years AKG themselves
fitted C12s with the nylon variant when
carrying out repairs, the microphone
we used for the test is still arguably an
authentic C12 Ed.]
Listening to our female vocalist Grace
first this time, there seemed much more
of adifference to me with this model,
in that the VMS felt slightly wispysounding, lacking in body and prone to
some slight sibilance issues. The real mic,
however, sounded balanced and bright,
without any harshness, and acouple of
members of the SOS team were raving
about the smooth top end.
On Sams vocal, the VMS did amuch
better job, and, whilst not sounding
exactly the same, Iwould quite happily
have used either. The VMS seemed
brighter than our C12, which seemed to
suit Sams voice more in this context.
With our voiceover sample, there wasnt
ahuge amount of difference, with the
VMS doing agood job of presenting
Jules voice, with perhaps just awhisper
more sibilance than on the real thing.
Neumann U67
Turning next to the Neumann U67, its
worth starting off by saying just how
ON TEST
much we all liked the sound of the

original that FX Rentals had lent us. The
main word Ican think of to describe the
sound is balanced. The way this mic
softens the top end of asource is alovely,
lovely thing, and you could dial in plenty
of highfrequency EQ before things
started getting harsh. Could the VMS get
us there at afraction of the price? Well,
although it provided very useable results,
Ifelt that on this particular microphone
the differences were greater than with
all the others. On Grace, in particular,
the VMS 67 sounded more tizzy and
sibilant, while on Sam the real mic
sounded smoother and more whole in
the midrange area. Its important to note,
though, that we were actively looking for
these differences, as we were comparing
it directly to aseriously goodsounding
and seriously expensive
vintagemicrophone.
Sony C800g
The last microphone we auditioned was
one that Id never had the pleasure of
using before. The Sony C800g is certainly
adistinctivelooking beast, with its large
finlike heatsink protruding from the
mic body. Taking in the sound of the real
microphone first, we all liked its ability
to push the top end of avocal without
getting harsh. It surprised us especially
with its ability to offer adifferent
perspective on aperformance, and Mike
Senior, in particular, was very taken with
how it was able to seemingly change the
feel of asong.
Superlatives abound, then, but how
did the VMS compare? On our voiceover
artist, Jules, it did apretty good job:
there was adifference in the lowermid
region, but with the intensity increased in

the software, the difference was reduced.
The brightness and general characteristic
were close though. On Sams vocal, we
felt that the VMS was doing apretty
decent job of capturing the feel of the
mic, although that topend boost almost
felt abit forced at times. For what its
worth, there was anoticeable difference
in the sound of the guitar spill on this
recording again, not good or bad, just
different. For Graces voice, however,
the VMS was alittle wide of the mark
for me. As with the C12 model, the VMS
seemed alittle hollow-sounding, and that
distinctive top end was just not the same,
with asmall but clear increase in sibilance
issues and general harshness.
General Observations
Judging two sounds that are similar can
be ahighly subjective thing, of course,
and it would certainly be interesting to
compare some of the models in more
of ablind setting. Human nature being
what it is, its also true that if we look hard
enough for aproblem, we can usually find
one. We also all have different things we
look for in amicrophone, with my ears
seemingly being particularly sensitive
around the sibilant 47 kHz region. Its
also worth making the point that in all the
recordings we did, the VMS gave results
that, at the very least, we felt we could
work with.
For me, the U47 was the most accurately
modelled, and Ifelt it did agreat job
on all of the performances, but the C12
was also very well represented. Across
all the models, it was only on Graces
female voice that Ifelt the VMS was often
alittle off the mark especially on the
ON TEST
Neumann U67 and Sony C800g. The

intensity control on the VMS software was
useful, though, and there was more than
one occasion when this enabled anice
amount of control over the emulations
body or fullness.
We were concerned about the systems
ability to model amics offaxis response,
but whilst there were certainly differences
in both tone and level with all the mics, it
didnt necessarily seem like it would cause
any problems in amix. Listening closely
on headphones, there was also asmall
difference in the amount of recorded
room sound on some of the models,

which again points to differences in the
offaxis response.
Virtual Reality?
If youre amicrophone enthusiast like
me, then Im sure youll appreciate what
apleasure it is to get your hands on some
of these classic microphones. Everything
about them, from the large external
power supplies and quirky cabling, to
having to let the tubes warm up, gives
asense of gravitas to asession. Part of
this, of course, is the visual impact they
The Sony C800g

The extremely distinctive Sony C800g
valve capacitor mic was introduced 1992
and is still in production today, costing
around 7600. The design aim was to
create the definitive vocal mic with the
highest possible sound quality, and it
does have something of aunique sonic
character which us extremely open
and airy, without sounding harsh or
emphasising sibilance. The polar pattern
can be selected between omni and
cardioid via aswitch on the mic body.
The impedance conversion circuitry is
built around a6AU6A pentode valve,
and the C800g is unique in featuring
abuiltin thermoelectric cooling system,
which accounts for the large rearward
projection and heatsink! Based on the
Peltier principle, this cooling system
has no moving parts or liquid. Instead,
asemiconductor material is sandwiched
between two metal plates and, when
aDC voltage is applied across the
material, atemperature differential
builds up between the two metal plates.
One plate is connected to the external
heatsink and remains at ambient room

temperature, forcing the other plate
to get cooler, helping to reduce the
thermal noise of the electronic circuitry.
Atwopart aluminium body is designed
to minimise mechanical noise conduction
to the capsule. Hugh Robjohns
ON TEST
have in alive room and, with the older

mics in particular, there is areassuring
sense of heritage combined with
acuriosity with what that paticular mic
might have seen and heard during its
lifetime. It feels good, even inspiring,
and so long as theyre well serviced and
fully operational, they sound fantastic.
If the VMS allows awhole new group
of engineers to get close to the sound
of these vintage classics, however, then
many artists and the listener, of course
wont care how nice it was for those
involved during the recording session!
You do, of course, also have to consider
the everrising cost of these classic
mics. At least acouple of the models
we tested have gone way beyond the
realms of being practically obtainable
unless you have plenty of disposable
income, or are looking at an investment
or collectorsitem.
So does the Slate VMS system break
down some walls for analogue modelling?
For acouple of the examples from
our recording session Ifelt that the
differences were reasonably significant,
with the VMS versions of the Neumann
U67 and the Sony C800g being the ones
that Ifelt were alittle lacking. There
also seemed to be an inherent modern
characteristic that remained from the
source microphone; whilst certainly not
unpleasant, this resulted in abrighter
sound that could become sibilant. In the
vast majority of our examples, however,
the VMS did offer avery believable
flavour of the mic in question and, more
importantly, Ifelt Icould always happily
work with what it was capturing. The fact
that six engineers sat debating some of
the nuances of the various models after
the session was atestament to just how

close these comparisons became!
Stepping back for amoment, though,
Ive always felt that whilst it is areal
treat to use some of the classic mics,
the increase in perceived quality is
atextbook example of diminishing
returns. Once you get past acertain level
of microphone, the differences become
much more subtle and subjective. In my
own engineering work, for example,
whilst Ican hear, and certainly appreciate,
the subtle difference between my own old
Neumann U87 and aborrowed U67, Ive
never once felt like it was holding back
aparticular recording. However, even
theU87 is pretty expensive in its own
right now, so the biggest question should
perhaps be how the Slate VMS compares
against microphones occupying asimilar
price point. If youre looking to make
your first serious mic purchase, or to start
expanding your mic options, then it could
be avery tempting proposition. Indeed,
Mike Senior made acompelling argument
when we were discussing this issue,
pointing out that for avoiceover studio
or small vocal production setup, the VMS
could remove the need to have multiple
mics for different voices, and would
therefore represents excellent value for
money.
The VMS sounds good in its own right.
So what is of real interest with this new
technology is not so much how accurate
it is in modelling aparticular microphone,
but rather how it might change how we
work. Whilst it can be adrag auditioning
microphones sometimes, it is abig part
of the craft of studio engineering. Do you
really want to have the ability to change
the microphone during the mixing stage?
ON TEST
We have so much choice now with mixing

software that maybe one more option
might not make that much difference,
and it could even become amuch more
creative part of the process. It could also
make our lives easier regarding accurately
matching amic to avoice, meaning the
need for less consequent mix processing.
Conclusions
I suspect for many engineers, particularly
those who own some nice microphones
already, avirtual microphone will be
perceived as astep too far. Looking at
the package as awhole, though, you are
getting agoodsounding largediaphragm
capacitor microphone and preamp for your
money as well as the software, and Slate
Digital have obviously been careful to make
sure the capsule and associated electronics
are of acertain standard, or the system just
wouldnt come close toworking.
I would describe the preamp component
of the system as functional, while
the allimportant modelling software
really is quite good. Its not always
indistinguishable from the real thing, but
at times it gets you frighteningly close,
and in the context of amix, or on less
than stellar monitoring, youd be hard
pushed to tell the difference. In my own

studio, Ican imagine using the VMS in
acomplementary fashion, alongside my
other microphones, and it could open up
some creative postproduction options
with backing vocals and the like. For
some projects, you could perhaps also
use the VMS as amicmatching tool at
the preproduction or demo stage, with
aview to possibly hiring the real thing for
afew days of key vocal tracking.
These are interesting times we live
in, and the VMS certainly sounds good
enough that Id be very surprised if there
wasnt more to come from this type of
technology over the next few years.
Whether this idea is exciting or horrific
to you delete as appropriate its
going to be fascinating to see how things
develop, and whether serious numbers of
people embrace this new way of recording
and mixing. All the audio files from our
session are available on the SOS web site,
so why not have alisten for yourself and
see if you can hear thedifference?
999 including VAT.
TT SX Pro +44 (0)1462 490196
WW www.sxpro.co.uk
WW www.slatedigital.com
The Neumann U47

The U47 was the first capacitor
microphone to be launched by Neumann
following the companys relocation to
Berlin after the Second World War in
1947. As with many other Neumann
microphones, its model number derives
from the year of its conception, although
it wasnt officially launched until 1949.
Today, goodcondition U47s can change
hands for in excess of 10,000.

As the worlds first
commerciallyavailable,
switchablepattern capacitor mic, the
U47 was agroundbreaking product.
Although it originally used the same
M7 capsule that was developed for
Neumanns prewar CMV3 microphone
atwindiaphragm, centreterminated
ON TEST
design with PVC diaphragms it used

the capsule in arevolutionary new way.
Whereas the rear diaphragm was left
disconnected in the CMV3, bestowing
afixed cardioid polar pattern, aswitch
just below the grille of the U47 allowed
the rear diaphragm to be polarised
as well, enabling the user to switch
between acardioid or omnidirectional
polar pattern.
From 1956 the capsule was redesigned
to use more stable polyester diaphragms
and was consequently renamed the
K47/49, but it was still fundamentally
very similar to the original M7 capsule.
Specifically, it was aonepiece design
with ashared middle electrode an
approach which made it difficult to
match the tension of the front and
back diaphragms, and thus made the
omni pattern rather variable between
production models. Asister microphone
called the U48 was launched in the mid
1950s, offering the user adifferent
choice of polar patterns switching
between cardioid or figureofeight,
the latter achieved by subtracting the
output of the rear diaphragm from that
of the front.
The microphones impedance converter
was built around aTelefunken VF14
pentode valve operated as atriode,
but by the late 1950s Neumann were
the only remaining customers for this
particular design and so Telefunken
ceased its production. Naturally,
Neumann searched for asuitable
replacement valve and released the
U47N model in 1962, with aNuvistor
valve, but the sound character was
not the same and the U47 was finally
withdrawn in 1965 officially replaced
by the U67 model.
Throughout the 1950s the worldwide

distribution of Neumann mics was
handled by Telefunken. The company
were also allowed to rebrand the mic in
the USA as the Tele 47, and it was in
this form that the U47 quickly usurped
RCAs ribbon microphones as the
studio standard. This is why one of the
bestknown vocal artists of the period,
Frank Sinatra, often referred to singing
into his Telly mic meaning the
rebadged Neumann U47.
A solidstate version of the U47, using
exactly the same K47/49 capsule, was
introduced in 1969, called the U47
FET, but while it had many excellent
qualities and has gone on to become
an iconic microphone in its own right, it
had adifferent sound character to the
original valve U47. Hugh Robjohns
ON TEST
The AKG C12

One of the most highly regarded
microphones from Austrian
manufacturers AKG is the original C12,
introduced in 1953 and remaining in
production for adecade until 1963. Its
CK12 edgeterminated twindiaphragm
capsule is often claimed to be the finest
capacitor microphone capsule ever
designed, and it actually operates in
afundamentally different way to the
Neumann M7based design (the AKG
system relying on aresonator design
while Neumann capsules employ an
aperiodic concept). In fact, the CK12
capsule evolved quite alot over the
years, with different diaphragm materials
(styroflex or mylar) and thicknesses

(10, 9 or 6 microns), and changing
dimensions of the backplate chamber
(in an effort to increase sensitivity, but
with the sideeffect of an increased
HF response which became akey
characteristic of the C12 sound).
The microphone itself was also
constructed with different output
transformers over the years, too,
although it always employed a6072
doubletriode valve as the impedance
converter. Consequently, there
are probably more variations of
AKG C12 than any other vintage
productionmicrophone.
Nevertheless, the CK12 capsule
went on to form the basis of the
classic C414 microphone and it has
inspired the design of many of AKGs
largediaphragm capacitor capsules
ever since. An original C12 microphone
in good condition today can cost
around12,000.
One of the unique aspects of the C12
at the time was its provision of nine
switchable polar pattern options rather
than just two or three! However, the
ON TEST
pattern couldnt be selected from the

microphone itself; instead, the mic was
connected to abespoke power unit
(called an N12), and another multicore
cable ran out to adedicated remote
control box called the S12 which also
provided the audio output connection.
Ahuge rotary switch on the S12 box
selected the desired polar pattern,
allowing decisions to be made and
auditioned from the control room for
thefirst time.
AKG released areissue version of the
C12 in 1994, called the C12VR. However,
while this also employs a6072 valve
for the impedance converter, both the
capsule construction and electronic
circuitry are significantly different, and
so too, therefore, is the sound character.
Bizarrely, there is atenuous connection
between the AKG C12 and the Neumann
U47. In the late 1950s Neumann managed
the worldwide distribution of their
own microphones, leaving Telefunken
without the hugely successful U47 as

their flagship studio capacitor mic.
Consequently, Telefunken commissioned
AKG to produce abespoke version of the
C12, but with asimplified polar pattern
selector on the microphone itself.
The result was the Telefunken ELA M
250E, with cardioid and omni pattern
options, and it was built into aslightly
fatter body than the original C12 to
accommodate the extra switching and
circuitry. Inevitably, the new simplified
circuitry, different internal construction,
and different head grille shape and size
contributed to anoticeably different
sound character compared to an original
C12, but it was asuperb mic in its own
right and asubsequent variant called the
ELA M 251E, with athird figureofeight
polar pattern option, became hugely
popular and very well known in America.
Siemens marketed OEM versions of the
ELA M 250 and 251, called the SM203
and SM204, in Europe. Hugh Robjohns
The Neumann U67

When warned of the impending
obsolescence of the Telefunken VF14
valve, Neumann set about developing
anew microphone to replace the U47
and, starting from aclean sheet of
paper, the companys engineers took
the opportunity to introduce several
significant engineering improvements.
The most obvious evolution was to the
microphones shape, introducing the
iconic conical body and chiselhead grille
to appeal to afar more styleconscious
1960s market.
One of the most important changes
was to redesign the way the capsule was
constructed, building it as two separate,
selfcontained halves which could then

be bolted backtoback. This form of
assembly was not only much simpler,
but crucially it made it far easier to
match precisely the diaphragm tensions
across abatch of capsules. The resulting
twindiaphragm, centreterminated
capsule was christened the K870/67,
using polyester foil diaphragms
sputtered in gold. Apparently, this
innovative design has become the most
copied capsule in the world today!
The impedance conversion circuitry
was also substantially more advanced
than that of the U47. Based around
aTelefunken EF86 pentode, wired
ON TEST
again as atriode, atertiary winding

on the output transformer provided
negative feedback to improve distortion,
and asteep rolloff below 30Hz was
implemented in the grid circuit to help
prevent lowfrequency overloads due to
wind, pops, vibration, and so on.
Also, instead of needing separate
mics to obtain different polar patterns,
the Neumann engineers built in the
ability to select cardioid, omni, or fig8
polar patterns via aswitch just below
the grille. Two more switches enabled
a10dB pad and ahighpass filter
options made necessary by the growing
popularity of closemiking techniques,
to prevent overloads and control the
proximity effect.
Since this allnew microphone was
designed and introduced in 1960, the
first production batch was launched
as the U60. However, Neumanns US
distributors at this time, Gotham,
persuaded Neumann to change the
model name to the U67 to capitalise
on the great success and popularity
of its predecessor, the U47. The U67
microphone remained in production from
1960 through to 1971, and there was
alimitededition reissue in 1993. Original
U67 mics in top condition can change
hands today for as muchas12,000.
A solidstate replacement for the U67
was introduced in 1967 but, as the 67
model name was already taken, this new
microphone was christened the U87 and
has become arguably the best known of
all Neumann mics. In fact, the U87 was
amongst the first phantompowered
microphones introduced by Neumann,
but the relatively low operating voltage
this provided required aslightly different
capsule construction, known as the K87
However, asister microphone,

introduced the following year and called
the U77, operated on a12V ABpower
system and so needed aDCDC
converter to generate asufficiently high
capsulebiasing voltage, allowing use
of the U67s original K870/67 capsule.
When the U87 was reengineered in
1986, the internal battery section of
the original design was removed and
aDCDC converter incorporated,
allowing the U87 Ai model to revert
to using the K 870/67 capsule as well.
HughRobjohns
ON TEST
Zynaptiq Adaptiverb
Resynthesizing Reverb Plug-in
Weve come to expect the unexpected from Zynaptiq, and their

new reverb delivers just that!
PAUL WHITE
n real life, reverberation is created

when sound reflects and re-reflects
from hard surfaces in the environment.
The traditional approach to building
asynthetic reverb approximates the
way these reflections behave using
recirculating filters; also popular are
convolution reverbs, which use impulse
responses recorded in an acoustic space
to recreate that space in software.
However, anybody who knows Zynaptiq

will know that they never pitch up with
anything even vaguely normal when it
comes to plug-ins! No surprise, then, that
their Adaptiverb incorporates an entirely
new method of reverb synthesis, where
the main reverb engine is described
as reflectionless.
Unnatural Adaptations
On the face of it, Adaptiverb does
much of what youd expect areverb
ON TEST
ZYNAPTIQ ADAPTIVERB
to do, in that it adds decaying tails

to asound to give it asense of space
and depth. However, its main reverb
section does this in aprofoundly different
way from everyone elses: the reverb
tail is generated using amultitude of
oscillators that track the pitches of the
harmonics making up the original sound.
Adaptiverb does include aseparate
and more conventional all-pass-filter
reverb stage if you need it, but the main
purpose of that stage is to add diffusion
to what the main reverb engine produces.
Unlike most reverb plug-ins, though, it
has no independent section devoted to
early reflections.
Whats the advantage in doing things
this way? After all, if somebody has
already invented the wheel, do you try to
go one better by putting walking boots
on the end of aset of spokes without
good reason? The short answer is that
Adaptiverb is not about emulating real
rooms, but rather offering aflexible and
musically creative effect. At present this
comes at the cost of considerable CPU
power and latency, but even that is being
addressed: arevised version is imminent
that is more CPU-efficient and includes
Zynaptiq Adaptiverb 269

PROS
Exemplary music-production reverbs.

Wide range of abstract effects.
Sensible number of controls.
CONS
Heavy CPU overhead.

High latency.
SUMMARY
Adaptiverb is asingle tool that can

tackle both music-related reverb tasks
and sound design. Its new approach to
reverb generation makes it sound very
smooth and musical.
anew low-CPU preview mode that

sacrifices little in the way of sound quality.
Adaptiverb supports Audio Units on Mac
OS, plus VST and RTAS/AAX on both Mac
OS and Windows, and is authorised online
using an iLok account, either to aspecific
computer or asecond-generation
iLokkey.
In that it doesnt emulate specific
spaces, Adaptiverb could in some ways
be considered as amodern counterpart
to the plate reverb but Adaptiverb
The Slow Down

The minimum latency achievable with
Adaptiverb is 4096 samples, thanks
to the Bionic Sustain Synth engine,
which is always active. Youll also need
to set alarge buffer size to ensure
stable operation. Furthermore, using
aray-tracing rather than all-pass algorithm
in the Reverb section increases the latency
to 7168 samples, so worst-case scenario
is alatency of 11,264 samples or around
aquarter of asecond at 44.1kHz. While

this is not an issue when mixing, it could
be areal problem when playing live, so
Zynaptiq have added aLive mode that
reports zero latency to the host while
disabling its internal dry path delay so that
the dry path passes through latency-free.
The reverb tail will still start alittle late,
of course, but where long reverb tails are
being used, you may not notice.
ZYNAPTIQ ADAPTIVERB
also has additional controls and features

that turn it into it ahugely powerful
sound-design tool. These take it way
outside conventional reverb territory, and
had me hooked within minutes. As the
harmonic tails generated by Adaptiverbs
main reverb engine use oscillators rather
than conventional feedback loops, the
decay is free from any graininess, and
when you put your surreal hat on to
explore the sound-design possibilities,
it can be coaxed into generating
awonderful array of spectral processing
effects. Zynaptiq have also added
something they call Harmonic Contour
Filtering (HCF), which can do all manner
of tricks including preventing the tail end
of the reverb decay clashing if aradically
pitched note or chord follows.
A Freeze button acts on the source
sound to create drones, plus theres an
HCF Hold function to lock in the current
filter state so pads and drones can be
fasioned from virtually any input. You can
also shift the pitch of the harmonics in the
reverb tail or hold the harmonic content
of areverb created by one input signal
and then apply that harmonic structure
to the reverb for processing atotally
different instrument. ASimplify function
also allows the harmonic complexity of
the oscillator-generated reverb tail to
be reduced to create textural effects
something that can sound very
other-worldly and you can even invert
the HCF spectrum to have the effect
emphasise only to those parts of the
spectrum that the input signal doesnt
inhabit. Oh yes, and you can apply pitch
quantisation to the reverb tail selecting
only the scale notes you wish it to occupy.
If you think this sounds like arecipe for
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ON TEST
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ON TEST
ZYNAPTIQ ADAPTIVERB
total creative weirdness, then youre

right, but Adaptiverb can also generate
absolutely sublime normal reverb.
Unfamiliar Territory
As Adaptiverb uses an unconventional
kind of reverb-tail synthesis, it stands to
reason that it might also come with some
new and unfamiliar controls. Of course
there are presets to give you acrash
course in what is possible, but to get the
best out of this creative vehicle, you have
to learn how to drive it.
Step one in understanding Adaptiverb
is to look at the signal path from input
to output. The input stage includes

an adjustable low-cut filter, variable
pre-delay and ahigh-frequency processor
called Air, which adds akind of steamy
brightness to the top end. Next is the
Freeze section, which, as its name implies,
allows for the freezing of the source
sound but this isnt like the infinite
reverb algorithms you may be familiar
with. Instead, it freezes aslice of the dry
input feeding into the reverb engine, in
away that sounds not dissimilar from the
EHX Freeze pedal. What comes next is
the oscillator-based sustain generator
that Zynaptiq refer to as the Bionic
ON TEST
ZYNAPTIQ ADAPTIVERB
Sustain Resynthesizer. Here, short-time

fluctuations such noise and transients
are filtered out and then the steady part
of the signal is used to generate the

harmonic tails that combine to create
sustain. In essence, hundreds of separate
Bionic Sustain Resynthesis

Ill use mainly Zynaptiqs own words
to describe how the Bionic Sustain
Resynthesizer works, as Id hate
to be responsible for any technical
inaccuracies! They tell us that the design
of the oscillator network used in this
section is derived from an approach
used in bionics to teach self-driving cars
how to avoid obstacles. In Adaptiverb,
the process learns how to recreate the
most significant aspects of the input
sound. The approach is structurally
similar to how artificial neural networks

work, except that it uses anetwork
of non-linear oscillators, trained using
aHebbian learning rule, as knowledge
nodes, rather than as anetwork of
simulated neurons. In away you can
think of the process as reimagining
the input sound, with alonger sustain/
release time, intelligently stripping out
perceptually unimportant detail while
retaining important signal features. So
now you know!
ON TEST
ZYNAPTIQ ADAPTIVERB
oscillators are all made to follow the

harmonic structure and phase of the
inputsignal.
We then reach the secondary Reverb
section. As Adaptiverb doesnt set out
to generate early reflections and has
no conventional EQ, this has few of the
parameters associated with atypical
algorithmic reverb (though there are
controls for damping and reverb size).
Three algorithm choices are available:
All-pass, Ray Tracing or HD Ray Tracing.
Ican honestly say that Ive

never come across areverb
plug-in that can offer so many
different things to so many
potential users.
In the context of reverb generation,
ray tracing calculates the paths that
sound would take from source to
listening position in amodelled space.
Adaptiverbs ray-tracing model can,
were told, render the cumulative result
of 16,000 different audio paths from
two virtual speakers to the listener,
but without having to compute all the
individual reflections. This produces
avery smooth reverb tail that can go
toe-to-toe with any high-end reverb
device, especially if you enable the
HD option. Unlike atypical algorithmic
reverb, however, there is no early
reflectionssection.
The reverb tail generated by the
ray-tracing Reverb section has aflat
frequency response, as the necessary
colour comes from the post-filtering HCF
stage and the pre-filtering Sustain section.
For the same reason, the all-pass section

also generates relatively little coloration.
The signal going into the Reverb section
can be taken either from before or after
the Bionic Sustain synth section, or amix
of both can be used according to the
setting of the Reverb Source control.
The most musical conventional reverbs,
to my ears anyway, come from using
acombination of the Bionic Sustain
engine with some contribution from of
the second Reverb in ray-tracing mode,
but the all-pass filters provide auseful
alternative texture.
Finally, the Harmonic Contour Filtering
or HCF section, which processes the
reverberated signal, also hosts aHold
function to lock the current filtering state.
Asmall virtual keyboard allows the user
to set notes to force the reverb tail to
conform to aspecific set of pitches, rather
like setting the scale on apitch-correction
plug-in. At the output were back in more
familiar territory; in conjunction with the
Reverb Source and Reverb Mix controls,
the Wet/Dry Mix control provides the
necessary flexibility for combining the
contributions of the two different reverb
sections in both series and parallel
modes. Note that the apparent reverb
level can be very different on different
presets, and aseparate Wet Gain control
is available to help balance this out.
Bionic Power
The plug-in window is split horizontally
to delineate the three parameter
subsections. The controls for the Bionic
Sustain synth are on the left, while those
for the Harmonic Contour Filtering are on
the right, with an X/Y control dominating
the centre. An optional Fine Tune view
ON TEST
ZYNAPTIQ ADAPTIVERB
makes visible anumber of more subtle

controls, and you can enable tooltips
that provide you with balloon help as you
mouse over the controls. When tooltips
are active, afaint overlay marks out the
functional blocks of the GUI.
One axis of the X/Y Parameter Field
adjusts the Bionic Sustain synth reverb
decay time, while the other sets the
reverbs dry/wet mix going into the HFC
section which should not be confused
with the plug-ins overall output stage
wet/dry mix. Where the host DAW allows
MIDI to be routed directly to aprocessing
plug-in (Logic users look away now!), all
the main parameters of Adaptiverb can
be controlled this way, and aMIDI Learn
mode simplifies setting up. Conventional
parameter automation is alsosupported.
Naturally you can store your own
presets, but the manual points out
that some aspects of apreset may be
signal-dependent; for example, both the
Freeze and HCF Hold buffer contents

are stored within the presets, so may
not behave as expected when applied
to other sound sources. Indeed, some of
the factory presets create drones with no
need for an input, as they already include
afrozen sound.
In Fine-Tune mode, additional controls
for the Bionic Sustain synth include
Interval and Richness, which work
together, allowing oscillators to excite
other oscillators that are close to but not
exactly the same as the specified musical
interval pitch to create adenser, more
textural sound. Pitch Randomisation
adds random pitch modulation to the
oscillators used to create the reverb
tail, while Diffusion affects the Bionic
Sustain synths output in asubtle way by
manipulating interference between its
inputs and outputs. Sustain sets the decay
time of the oscillator tail generated by
the Bionic Sustain synth while Simplify
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ON TEST
ZYNAPTIQ ADAPTIVERB
in addition to reducing the number of

oscillators actually controls multiple
parameters behind the scenes. Note
that as Freeze captures the input to the
reverb engine, the reverb parameters for
either reverb section can be changed or
automated while the input is kept frozen.
The Freeze control can also lock the HCF
settings to produce astatic filter transfer
function if the HCF is set to Track-Linked.
In this mode, the HCF tracks the
harmonic content of the output of the
reverb, compares it with that of the input
signal, and suppresses anything that
doesnt match up. Positive values help to
avoid clashes between the dry signal and
reverb at chord or key changes; tracking
can also be set to negative values to
suppress matching frequencies, or it can
be left in neutral. As touched upon earlier,
Keyboard mode allows the effect to be
filtered by key and scale; either resonant
filtering or harmonic quantisation can be
used in the filtering process. The former
sets up abank of steep band-pass filters
at the frequencies of the harmonics
relating to the pitches set with the
keyboard, while the latter will quantise
all harmonics to the note frequencies set
on the keyboard. Keyboard settings can
be stored as up to five snapshots, which
can be called up on screen or automated
within your DAW.
To Infinity... And Beyond?

Zynaptiq have created an absolutely
huge range of factory presets, which are
split into logical categories, from music
production to sound design. Its worth
having awander through these just to
see what makes them work, and in many
cases you can change afew parameters to
Alternatives
You might get close if you buy some high
end reverb plug-ins and some spectral
effects tools, but to get all of this in one
plug-in, plus unique features such as the
ability to avoid the reverb tail clashing with
the following note or chord, is unique.
customise them to your present situation.

While the music-production reverbs
sound wondrously lush and smooth, there
are also ethereal spectral washes, spacey
sounds, drones, virtual pads, chordal
reverbs and pitch-shifted reverbs. The
ability of this plug-in to take anormal
sound and then twist it into something
entirely new is beyond impressive but
then so is its capacity to take on the more
usual reverb roles in an extremely mature
manner, where the lack of tearing cloth
early reflections actually becomes very
seductive. It does take an hour or so to
find your way around the controls, but
the journey is worth the shoe leather, and
there arent too many adjustments to deal
with in total its more about learning
how the controls interact.
On the one hand Adaptiverb is the kind
of tool sound designers dream about,
but its capacity for weirdness shouldnt
detract from the fact that it is also
afantastic studio reverb for vocal and
instrument applications, with its unique
ability to avoid pitch clashes where
appropriate. Ican honestly say that Ive
never come across areverb plug-in that
can offer so many different things to
so many potential users, and the sheer
quality of the results allows me to forgive
it for its CPU load and latency.
269 including VAT.
WW www.zynaptiq.com
w h e r e g r e at t h i n g s b e g i n
www.steinberg.net/dorico
INTERVIEW
Dan Smith&
MarkCrew:
Producing
WildWorld
Like their debut, Bastilles Wild World was recorded in aSouth London
basement but this time around, the band were global superstars.
M AT T F R O S T
uring the early months of 2013,

innovative indie-pop outfit Bastille
seemed to surge from nowhere to
take the UK, USA and the Western world
by storm. The bands catchy fourth single
Pompeii, released in February, soared to
number two on these shores and number
five across the pond, while also denting

Top 10 lists in 17 other countries. Debut
album Bad Blood, which followed in March,
likewise explored the upper echelons
of charts across the globe, helping to
establish Bastille as one of the biggest
new acts around, and the four-piece duly
claimed the British Breakthrough Act gong
at the 2014 Brit Awards.
INTERVIEW
DAN SMITH & MARK CREW BASTILLE
Since then, Bastille have hardly had

amoment to draw breath, embarking
on alife of incessant world touring and
prestigious festival slots. Even so, the band
still found time to record, mix and release
athird mash-up mixtape in 2014 as well
as their second long player Wild World,
which hit the shops justlastmonth.
Wild World is arguably amore
experimental proposition than Bad Blood,
featuring more guitar lines, film samples
and genre-hopping than its predecessor.
Like Bastilles debut, the new record was
co-produced by lead singer and songwriter
Dan Smith and his long-standing studio
collaborator, Mark Crew, who is often
referred to as Bastilles fifth member.
The success of their first album meant
Bastille could, no doubt, have worked with
anyone they wanted to this time around,
but Dan Smith emphatically rejected this
idea, preferring to keep things in-house
and organic. We never pat ourselves on
the back, ever, explains Smith. We rarely
talk about achievements or anything like
that, but Iremember there was apoint
when we were in America and one of

our songs was doing really, really well
and sitting high up in the charts, which
is aplace we never expected to be. The
single was alongside songs that we love
but which were produced by teams of
people and written by double figures
worth of people, and yet we had the
knowledge that everything weve done
so far is basically between amaximum
of five people. Theres something really
nice in that and how untampered the
process is. We dont bang on about it
but knowing ourselves that Bastille just
literally comes from ahandful of people is
quite reassuring.
Developing Relationships
Originally, Bastille was aDan Smith
solo project, both in terms of live
performance and recording, but Smith
started recruiting band members
around the same time he also met his
future co-producer and engineer, Mark
Crew, who went to college with Bastille
drummer Chris Woody Wood.
Initially, Iwas doing solo stuff and it
was me and aloop pedal live, which is
obviously quite limiting, says Dan. And
because Iused to record by myself and
play by myself, Ithink there was aslightly
pig-headed mentality of, Ican do this
on my own but then Idiscovered the
joys of collaboration, which is what most
people get pleasure out of in music. Thats
when Bastille expanded, and Imet Mark
through that process. Ihad sort of worked
with acouple of other engineers before,
but never really aproducer. Ilike the idea
of aworking relationship where you can
disagree quite alot but also agree on
alot of stuff, in order to make something
INTERVIEW
that references things that youre both

interested in while also trying to sound like
something new. When we met, Mark really
helped me, because Id always been trying
to translate what was in my head, but Iwas
not technically and musically able to.
Ever since they met, Smith and Crew
have continued to develop their tag-team
DIY partnership while recording,
producing and shaping Bastille tracks in
the studio. Ithink, in that period, there
were probably afew acts where asimilar
process became away of working, says
Mark Crew. Obviously, theres loads of
great bands that go into arehearsal room
and jam out asong and its amazing, but
theres also alot of music now that is
more of alaptop setup, where things can
be abit more experimental and you can
incorporate other influences. Its interesting
for me as well because, having recorded
alot of band setups, which Ido really

enjoy, this project in particular is areally
good balance for the way production can
be done nowadays. Its coming more from
the geek side rather than the two of us
being particularly goodmusicians.
Its good to find apartnership where all
the areas are covered between you, and
you can bounce off each other. Theres not
really any limitation on whats possible,
because we have the other guys in the
band, or we know someone who plays
aparticular instrument and we can get them
in, or its in the computer. Like Dan said,
were on enough of the same page for it to
work out. If youre working with asix-piece
band and everyones got amassively strong
opinion and theyre all pulling in different
directions, it really can slow stuff down.
Alot of people are working like this now,
and it can be really good.
INTERVIEW
Ex Nihilo
The bands different circumstances meant
that the writing and production of Wild
World didnt exactly follow the same
path as that of Bad Blood. With the first
album, alot of the ideas started with rough
demos, explains Dan Smith. Literally, it
was GarageBand and then it became Logic
and at varying points of completion
Iwould take it to Mark, whos an amazing
source of quality control. Then wed work

on ideas together, sometimes taking some
MIDI programming that Id done and
making it sound better... but, more often
than not, recently weve been alot more
collaborative on producing tracks from
scratch. And often on this album and
previously production ideas have kind
of come alongside songs before theyre
necessarily finished.
The first album was 99.9 percent song
Wild Guitars
Bastilles second album Wild World
features the guitar much more
prominently than the bands debut, with
Two Evils and Blame being particularly
guitar-oriented. With the first album,
Ican think of songs where Iguess
what would have been aguitar riff or
akeyboard riff ended being avocal
line, because not having guitars and not
leaning back on other instruments was
like amission statement for the first
album, says frontman Dan Smith. But,
this time around, we wanted to step
away from that. We wanted it to feel like
aprogression and adifferent album, and
so thats why we incorporated guitars,
which for everyone else in the world
is completely bread and butter. For
us, not having guitars last time around
meant we could allow for them this time
around, and we also wanted to make
afeature of them when they were there.
With Blame, we put the riff very front
centre, but then we also mangled the
guitar abit so it could even be asynth.
With Two Evils, Iwanted there to be
aquieter moment on the album, but
that song would have very much been
apiano on the first album because thats
the instrument Ican play. We forced

ourselves into different textures with this
album by using different instruments.
For me, doing other stuff, the easiest
way to make achorus massive can be
to have guitars in it, adds Mark Crew.
You just know how certain things work,
but my references coming from listening
to rock bands and stuff would have not
been things Dan was into at all but that
was not the aim of that first record. We
sampled alot of guitar on the mixtapes
and Ithink Dan was like, Oh, actually, if
its acool guitar and you chop this bit and
reverse it, it can work reallywell.
With the track Power, theres aguitar
riff that leads into the chorus, Dan
continues. Afew of the songs on the
album were mixed by other people
as well and Iremember amix of that
song came back and Ithink theyd just
kind of assumed, Oh, its aband, lets
make it rocky! And our comments back
to them immediately were like, No,
no, no that guitar was very much
meant to feel like we had it originally!
We wanted it to sound like it was in
ahip-hop track, where an old rock riff
has beensampled.
INTERVIEW
Photo: Wolf James
first, and then wed expand on what

might have been there, says Mark Crew.
Whereas Dan was alot busier this time,
so maybe there wasnt as much time to get
songs finished before we started working
on the production, so Iguess through
circumstance more than adecision there

was alot more messing about in the studio
than there was on the first album. Its been
adifferent approach, but then thats maybe
why its taken abit longer, too.
Like its predecessor, Wild Wood was
String Patching
A feature of Bastilles Wild World is
its impressive string arrangements,
achieved by layering just two players
violinist Gemma Sharples and celloist
Verity Evanson at Mark Crews studio.
We could have easily got abig string
section and gone into abig studio and
recorded them, but Ithink Iprefer
building things from small constituent
parts rather than going and spending
aday somewhere and youre kind of

fixed with what youve got, explains
Mark. Imean there is an element of, at
some point, youve got to man up and
decide what the parts are going to be;
but because they are mates of ours, we
know we can just hang out for acouple of
hours and then they can come back down
the line if we need them. Ithink it works
better for us to build things up that way.
INTERVIEW
mostly produced and mixed at Mark

Crews small basement facility in South
London. My studios atiny little space,
explains Mark. Its got abooth big
enough to do drums in it, but only just, and
then we also can do vocals in there. And
we just work on the computer, really. Its
literally all in the box with afew keyboards
and stuff out, but its very, very basic.
This time round, however, additional
material was brought in from acouple of
sessions at The Pool in London, as well
as various on-the-road recordings from
locales as various as Berlin, Edinburgh,
Manchester, Leipzig, Cologne and Buenos
Aires. We set up alittle studio on the bus
for about two weeks back in 2014, Ithink,
recalls Mark. They were really lucky to be
playing mostly decent-sized venues on that
tour, so we were always able to find aroom
somewhere but then, in the slightly smaller
or more remote places, there was less
promo and stuff to do so actually Dan had

loads of time to kill during the day... so we
were probably more productive in those
places than we would have been in London
where theres always stuff going on.
It was brilliant, and areally, really
creative time, adds Dan. We made Two
Evils and wrote asong called Shame,
thats on the long version of the album.
Theres abunch of writing that happened
there. And then theres asong called Four
Walls [The Ballad Of Perry Smith] on the
record and theres this sprawling guitar
solo at the end. Will, our guitarist, is like
alot of guitarists: the second he has one
in his hand, he just will not stop noodling.
At times, its just frustrating and you
just want him to shut up in the most
affectionate way Ican possibly say that!
But, Ithink wed been listening to [Frank
Oceans 2012 album] Channel Orange
quite abit, and had made this quite sort
INTERVIEW
of moody song thats essentially about

Death Row and In Cold Blood by Truman
Capote, and we wanted to have this guitar
moment so Isaid to Will, Just let rip and
go for it! And that solo literally comes
from the tour bus.
That venue was in Germany, between
some docks and agiant Primark
warehouse. Theres this huge venue hall
and asuperclub next door. It was such
amemorable day, because it was pouring
with rain and it was all grey outside, and

Im really happy that that sort of survived.
It kind of adds to the collage feel of this
record, of being able to pinpoint different
places around the world and different
times in which we recorded certain bits
and did certain things. In the same way, we
did the Lollapalooza Tour in South America
last year and spent some time in astudio
in Buenos Aires, and some of the songs,
like Snakes and Winter Of Our Youth,
Achey Tapey Heart

A significant influence on the new Bastille
album has been the almost continual
batch of so-called mixtapes that
Mark Crew and Dan Smith have been
producing since Bastilles early days. The
most well known of these are the Other
Peoples Heartache trilogy, the first two
of which were released in 2012 and the
third VS (Other Peoples Heartache,
Pt. III) in 2014, ayear after Bad Blood.
The basic gist of the series was, in Dans
words, to take other peoples songs and
other peoples relationship breakdowns
and reimagine them with our own
music, and also nodding towards our
love of film and my film geekery. Then
it became about incorporating film
soundtracks that we love, and scores,
and reinterpreting stuff.
These mixtapes can include clever
mash-ups of everything from indie
track guitar samples, classical string
steals, R&B beats and dialogue clips
from famous war movies, all aligned
with sections of Bastille songs. The
VS album also involved guest artists
and collaborations with everyone from
Haim to Skunk Anansie. The mixtapes
were definitely on our minds while
this album was happening, because

we really enjoyed making those, and
really enjoyed how they came out,
explains Mark Crew. And they kind of
got agood response and alot of those
tracks were played live and they went
down really well. So that approach
of thinking of the album as not just
individual songs, but acomplete flowing
piece of work, definitely influenced
certain decisions.
A case in point concerns the placing of
Two Evils, the tremolo-drenched bluesy
guitar ballad that is the seventh track
on Wild World. Two Evils has always
been about where it was going to fit in
and trying to use it most effectively to
bring out the most of that song, but also
what came before and after it, says
Dan Smith. Ilove the fact that the song
that comes out of that is Send Them
Off!, which has ridiculous horns at the
beginning and this quote from this old
70s sci-fi film. It was very intentional
to almost take the album to its biggest
peak and then pull it back down, to
make the most of this really quiet
moment and then cut across it and go
back out again.
INTERVIEW
actually became clearer there.

The songs breathed air, continues Mark
Crew. Theyre definitely not super-happy
songs, but you can hear the difference
between araining German car park and
apretty, sunny Argentina!
Pooling Resources
The sessions at The Pool in South-East
London again involved the other
members of Bastille: Will Farquarson
(bass, guitar, keyboards), Kyle Simmons
(keyboards) and Chris Wood (drums).
Much of what was laid down was used
further along in the mixing process,
sometimes after varying bouts of creative
tinkering and sonic manipulation.
We recorded loads of drum, organ,
piano, guitar, bass, synth and keyboard
stuff at The Pool, explains Dan Smith.
Part of our approach was we almost
wanted this album to feel like atextured,
sampled record, but with us making our

own samples in alot of ways.
Alot of those sessions were almost
performing the songs at apretty finished
level, Mark says. Alot of them werent
dissimilar to how theyve come out.
We recorded loads of live instruments,
and they had areally good selection of
synths there, and we were running guitars
through loads of fun stuff that we didnt
have at the smaller studio to get certain
sounds. When we got back, it wasnt just
acase of Well, lets just put those things
together and mix it. There was quite alot
of kind of pretending that we had found
apart on amultitrack of another song,
and then messing with it and using it as
asample. Alot of the parts were used,
but maybe it was about 50/50 of whether
it was kept as it was recorded, or whether
it ended up being quite mangled and
chopped into new patterns.
INTERVIEW
Towards the end, Ithink

Dan realised that hed also
put most of the songs in
quite ahigh key and it
wasnt going to be ideal,
but actually, it worked out
quite well, because on the
mixtapes we did alot of
pitch-shifting of old strings or
old guitars and stuff like that.
So we went back through
stuff that we recorded at
The Pool and, by the time
wed changed its key or its
tempo and messed with
it, sometimes it sounded
alot cooler than when wed
started, so nothing was
wasted in that sense.
Clean Tracking
Gear-wise, Mark Crew likes
to keep things pretty simple
during the recording process,
bearing in mind that the pure
sounds that are laid down
initially are often subjected
to radical treatments when
Crew and Smith come to mix.
When we went on the road
to record, Ithink we took
a[Shure] SM7 just to get
some vocals done, and Ithink
we had acondenser mic with
us as well for some vocals,
explains Mark. We took
apair of the smaller speakers
that Genelec make, so we
could actually plug them in
on the bus, as well, and then
we just had aMIDI keyboard
and my laptop. Nothing
INTERVIEW
fancy, but then the tour stuff was there

too so that was quite good.
At my studio, all the lead vocals would
have been aTelefunken AK47 going into
a[Universal Audio] 610. Outboard-wise,
in terms of everything weve recorded,
Ive got some Neve pres and some
Great River stuff. Weve got some nice
instruments and some nice channels to
get in, and then everything is done in the
computer. Recording-wise, its always just
acase of capturing it pretty well. There
was aperiod where we were listening to
abunch of more indie-leaning stuff. Were
both fans of the Killers and what Brandon
Flowers was doing, but every time we
tried to record the vocals with acool mic
or do something abit more interesting
with them, it just wasnt really working. So
we used the AK47 across the first album
and stuck with it for this one. We havent
tried many others.
Coming back to where we were
wanting everything to sound like asample
when we were at The Pool, we always
made sure we were recording rubbish
mic versions of stuff, and that got used
quite alot. We might have just had
something like a[Shure SM] 57 pointing
at the floor in front of the kit as well as all
the fancy expensive stuff. And then, when
we got back, we were like, Ooh, yeah,
lets just use the one trash mic! because
we would have been excited if wed heard
that and wanted to sample it. It was cool
when we went into The Pool because
it was the only time we really allowed
ourselves to play with some things. There
were some really interesting synths but,
again, it was acase of going, Oh... that
thing that we liked which we sampled
or that thing that we referenced that we
really liked they must have had this!

Lets do some stuff like that!
One particular area of experimentation
undertaken during The Pool sessions was
an unconventional approach to creating
percussive beats. In at least two beats
on the album, we used awhole load of
pint glasses and cups and mugs and stuff,
and sampled them, says Dan Smith.
We used alot of the time at The Pool
to just make our own samples and then
go back and then use them to program.
In the same way, with the first album, we
really liked making beats with like weird
leg-rubbing and trouser-rubbing. We were
just trying to get those kind of rhythmic
friction sounds. So [Wild World] is abig
traditional album, with real drum kits and
electric guitars and acoustic guitars and
the grand piano that was there, but theres
also quite afew found sounds.
Finishing Up
The final song-shaping and mixing process
for Wild World was neither the simplest
nor speediest of tasks due to the huge
number of sketches and wide range of
recording material Dan and Mark had
amassed during the course of the prior
three years, but the pair certainly enjoyed
the challenge.
The pulling together of this album in
Marks studio, and being able to be in
London for three months, was brilliant
for me, as someone whod been touring
for three years, enthuses Smith. We all
live in South London, and the studio is
in South London, so Iwas able to jump
on my bike and go in there every day, or
get the bus or whatever. We had such
awealth of stuff that wed made, and
we had to kind of self-curate it all and
INTERVIEW
go back through things and self-sample and finish stuff

off... and then realise that weve done seven versions
of aparticular song! It was areally healthy process,
and Ithink there was abatch of five songs that came
about from the writing in December that we had to
start completely afresh, as well. Then also there was this
wealth of stuff that had come from hotel rooms and tour
buses. But, also, any time that Iwas back in London over
the past few years, we were in the studio working on
things. It was avery gradual process.
Everything mix-wise is all the UAD plug-ins, says Mark.
With Dans vocals, its 1176 or Tube-Tech or Fairchild. Its
like atraditional setup brought into the box.
Eruption
As well as Bastille, Mark Crew and Dan Smith also work
together on anumber of other projects, including
producing acts for their own independent record
label, Best Laid Plans. Like all successful production
partnerships, the pair enjoy ashared, overarching
philosophy. Iguess, at the end of the day, weve got
alot of similar favourite projects or favourite albums
and stuff, says Crew. We both get really excited when
someone does something really interesting and exciting,
but its also areally great song that you can sing in
your head afterwards. Our end goal is always the same.
Were not trying to push or test people with Bastille...
but we always think how great it is when people really
like asong but dont realise that its actually quite
weirdunderneath!
And that its talking about something very obscure!,
adds Dan Smith. You know, our biggest song to date
[Pompeii] is about ashy corpses and the aftermath of
avolcano, and theres something not in amean way
but theres something quite funny about playing to
50,000 people in afield and theyre essentially singing
along to an imaginary conversation between two dead
people. Theres aslightly Trojan Horse element to
being in this band. Were drawn to big melodies and
were drawn to choruses that are memorable and all
that but, also, the songs are not about your everyday
subject matter.
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INTERVIEW
Beyond The Vocals

A feature of Wild Worlds 14 tracks
is Bastilles seemingly effortless
genre-hopping, aproduct of Dan Smith
and Mark Crews love of contemporary
hip-hop as well as their beloved film
scores. Ithink the revelation in this
record came in realising that the thing
that anchors everything and makes it our
band is my vocal and the songwriting,
explains Smith. Ifelt quite liberated
in realising that, outside of that
three-and-a-half-minute or four-minute
space weve got, we can do whatever
the fuck we want! If thats aridiculously
massive string arrangement and
ahip-hop beat, or if its something
that sounds like alive band or is alive
band, or just aguitar and vocal
that realisation was quite liberating.
And also, thinking about it, there was
areaction maybe from when we were
making our first album, when we wanted
to go off and make heavier rock stuff,
and that comes across through asong
weve got called The Draw, which
came out with our first album [All That
Bad Blood, the extended edition]. With
this album, Ithink its really obvious in
Blame and maybe acouple of others,
but that was all from one period of time.
There was also amuch darker
electronic R&B period, which would
have made for an incredibly dark
and different-sounding album, but
moments of that did come through.
There was also arenaissance in our love
for cinematic-sounding stuff and the
kind of hip-hop production that were
obsessedwith.
Talking about this album, Ihave
been referencing modern hip-hop, but
mainly because theres alot Iadmire

about something like My Beautiful Dark
Twisted Fantasy [Kanye West, 2010], in
that there are no set parts for it, and it
can go off on any tangent that it wants.
It can bring in an old rock sample or
there can be areinterpretation of this or
that and there can be loads of different
production styles involved. Obviously,
Idont want to draw any parallels
whatsoever between us artistically or in
terms of albums, but at the core, those
albums have Kanye as the overseeing
producer and the voice that runs the
whole way through. Gorillaz work in
asimilar way as well. Ilove those albums
by these artists who dont really give
afuck about particular styles or genres.
Its just about alove of influences and
alove of wanting to do your own thing
and making it your own. That was where
alot of this album came from and it was
really liberating.
Ireally hope people can hear that,
adds Mark Crew. Idont think theres
alot of repetition across the album in
terms of production ideas and, as Dan
said, we realised that the vocal needs
to be upfront, selling the song first and
foremost, and that is the key, because
it isnt an obscure project. Its not like
we set up adrum sound and thats
across the album or anything. Ithink
Will has areal distinctive way of playing
bass and the kind of melodies or riffs
that Dan goes for can be distinctive.
Theres definitely stuff that threads
it together, but theres some pretty
drastically different productions on there
and Ithink it all works. Ijust hope that
comesacross.
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textures, some beautifully distorted
filth courtesy of awellknown guitarist,
apipe organ, an ensemble of nine
harps, amarimba swarm and two major
revamps of existing orchestral brass and
chamber strings libraries. Oh, and they
also released agrandpiano.
Though asampled piano may seem
unremarkable compared to the more exotic
offerings listed above, the item in question
is notable for two reasons: first, its the
inhouse instrument of the worldfamous
ON TEST
SPITFIRE AUDIO HANS ZIMMER PIANO
AIR Studios Lyndhurst Hall, and second,

its the favourite piano and ofttime
composing tool of film composer Hans
Zimmer. Heres what Mr Zimmer has to say
about it: Whenever we finish asession at
Air, Ive come into the room and just sat
down at the piano and started playing.
Time was written here for Inception as
asort of afterthought at the end of another
movie. So Ithought long and hard about
it, that we should actually go and sample
this piano in this hall because its always
been inspiring, Imean, this is one of the
most beautiful pianos Iknow, in one of the
most beautiful halls. Thats why we did it
because it always inspired me.
Hans Zimmer Piano, henceforth known
as HZP, continues an association with
Spitfire Audio which began with Hans
Zimmer Percussion, reviewed in SOS in
March 2014. Formatted exclusively for
Kontakt, HZP runs on the free Kontakt 5
Player (supplied with the library) as well as
the full version of Kontakt 5 on Windows
7, 8 or 10 (latest Service Pack, 32/64bit)
and Mac OS 10.8, 10.9 or 10.10 (latest
update). It requires aminimum 4GB of
RAM, with 6GB recommended for the
larger patches.
This is abiggie: due to the numerous
miking options (more on which later),
the library contains awhopping 88,352
samples requiring 422.4GB of disk space
during installation, though that losslessly
compresses down to around 200GB once
installed. If youre unable or unwilling to
download that much data, you can pay extra
to have the library shipped on harddrive.
Dlightful
As youd expect from apremier
London scoring facility renowned for its
Spitfire Audio
HansZimmerPiano 358
PROS
A topoftherange Steinway D grand

piano deeply multisampled at AIR
Studios Lyndhurst Hall.
Offers alarge array of close, mid and
distant miking options.
Optional distancecompensated
patches increase punch and definition.
Special supersoft performances are
great for sensitive scores and ballads.
CONS
Not cheap, but alot more affordable

than the real thing.
No user manual.
SUMMARY
If youre in the market for aposh

piano, dont overlook this library.
Created in partnership with
amultipleOscarwinning film composer,
Hans Zimmer Piano sees Spitfire Audio
bring their considerable sampling
expertise to bear on aflagship
Steinway D grand, deeply sampled
from numerous mic positions in the
reverberant Air Lyndhurst Hall. Though
no processed material is included,
alarge selection of musical effects
provide plenty of creative options,
and the superior tone and sheer
playability of the piano, coupled with
the lush hall acoustic, is strikingly
evidentthroughout.
awardwinning movie soundtracks, iconic

classical albums and topselling pop
recordings, AIR Lyndhursts piano is no
battered pub honkytonk: its aflagship
Steinway Model D concert grand,
atopoftherange, ninefoot monster
favoured by concert pianists, leading
ON TEST
jazz players and even Presidents of the United States

(theres one in the White House). Like the unaffordable
mansions advertised in upmarket property magazines,
this impressive beast tends to list with acoy price on
application tag, but based on an eyewatering listing of
$137,400 back in 2012 its fair to assume anew Model
D would cost an arm and aleg.
Ienjoyed the immediacy of touch,

presence and subtlety of this fine, deeply
multisampled instrument and am happy
to recommend it to fellow keyboardists.
Planning for HZP began in March 2014, after which
along gestation period ensued. According to the
breathless publicity blurb, a series of impassioned
phone calls took place between Hans Zimmer
and Spitfire director Paul Thomson. Rather than an
ongoing argument over an unpaid 10 quid loan, these
discussions apparently centred around virtual pianos
that Mr Z had enjoyed playing over the years, and
more importantly, how to distil the essence of AIRs
inspirational instrument into abox that could be
takenanywhere.
Maximal Mics
In adoordie recording saga overseen by
Grammywinning sound engineer and longtime
Zimmer collaborator Geoff Foster, over 60 microphones
were trained on the piano, resulting in avast sample
set which took nearly ayear to whittle, polish and refine
into playable patches. The closeup sound of the piano,
as heard by the player and anyone who happens to be
sharing the piano stool at the time, is represented by
achoice of four stereo spot mikings: Spot Ahas the
brightest, broadest tone, Spot B sounds more intimate
and under the lid, Spot C is warmer and somewhat
more withdrawnsounding, and Spot D combines
warmth with aslight edge.
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A set of Mid mics placed about three

metres from the piano provide controlled
room ambience so you can add some air
to the close miking. As with the spots, Mid
Asounds the most full and rich, Mid B is
more intimate, while Mid C and D both
introduce apleasant, floaty natural hall
reverb. In particular, Mid Cs combination
of tonal clarity and classy concerthall
acoustic positively screams expensive
piano it might be considered too posh
by punk revivalists, but Ireckon your
average movie director or record producer
would be very happy with it.
Get Back
Distant mikings provide akind of virtual
tour of the hall: Alt Room and Tree (the
traditional Decca Tree miking used in
all of Spitfires AIR recordings) have
asetback, ambient sound, while far

mikings such as Outrigger, Surround
and Gallery add an almost cathedrallike
ambience, agreat resource for moody
film cues and tracks which require
aghostly, disembodied piano sound. For
surround mixes, routing aspot miking
to the front speakers and distant mics
to the rear instantly creates areallife
quadraphonic listening experience.
On adifferent note, should you tire of
Lyndhurst Halls expansive reverb, you
might just fancy the leftfield bottle mic
option: devised for the HZ Percussion
series, it creates asmall, attenuated,
somewhat muffled and metallic sound
completely at odds with the opulence of
the other mikings.
The idea here is that users can
experiment with different mic
ON TEST
combinations, blending together close,

room and distant signals to create an
agreeable composite. If you cant be
bothered with that, Spitfire do the
work for you by supplying aset of
micselection patches containing the
most useful combinations, presented
in Full and Bright, Light and Bright,
Warm and Rounded and Low and
Weighted categories, each with its
own distinctive timbral flavour. The first
type (my favourite) features afelicitous
combination of Spot A, Mid C, Room
and Surround mics on separate faders:
use Mid C to add adreamy ambience to
the bright, upfront sound of the spot
miking, or dial in the room or surround
mics to introduce amore distant, highly
reverberant effect.
For ease of access, individual mic
positions are presented in aseparate
folder. There are also Spots and Mids
microphoneset patches which allow you
to quickly compare and/or combine the
four different options for each. In my
review copy the Spots patch contained
some wrong samples, but the problem

was fixed by downloading an update
(thankfully, amere 14MB in size) of
the Kontakt instruments and two NKR
resource files.
Effects
Unusually for Spitfire, there are no
synthetic soundscapes or processed
sounddesign patches this collection
focuses squarely on realism, and if you
want achord, phrase or run, youll
have to play it yourself. That said, HZP
includes alarge selection of musical and
percussive pianistic effects, some of which
composers are sure to find inspirational.
On first listening Iwas inclined to
dismiss the percussive effects section
as the usual set of pointless knocks and
bonks that sample library manufacturers
feel obliged to provide. However, Iwas
pleasantly surprised to find that adding
the room mics to these noises transforms
them into the kind of massive explosive
impacts that makers of cinematic
products strive for. Rock musicians
ON TEST
could program these loud hits to create

aJohnBonhamattheTajMahalstyle
heavy metal blitzkrieg, while media
composers can use them to liven up epic
battle scenes. For horror productions, the
ambienceenhanced quieter thumps and
bassstring rumblings instantly suggest
something nasty in the attic.
The horror theme continues with
neurosisinducing string scrapes and
that old 60s suspense film standby, the
ascending zing on the open strings.
Eerie moans and groans produced by
stroking the strings with arubber ball also
sound pretty scary, if atouch overfamiliar.
Moving swiftly on, the Various FX
folder contains some excellent pitched
material: highlights include mysterious,
evocative Alien FX reminiscent of whale

calls, some delicate, zitherlike finger
plucks, staccato muted notes (good for
rhythmic ostinatos), agreat set of mallet
harmonics which yield unpredictable,
gamelanlike preparedpiano sonorities,
and soft timpanistick string hits played
by percussionist Paul Clarvis, which sound
fabulous when played in fifths in the low
bass register.
Quietude
Building on an approach instigated
in Spitfires Hans Zimmer Percussion,
much time was spent capturing very
soft pianissimo samples. Performed by
pianist Simon Chamberlain, these samples
are presented in their own Super Soft
From ADistance
As any oldschool studio engineer will
tell you, using multiple microphones
on the same sound source can create
phase problems when the mic signals are
combined. Using amixture of close and
distant mics compounds the problem.
Paul Thomson explains: When you turn
up the ambient mics, as the sound hits
the different microphones, youre feeling
and hearing the distance: theyre slightly
laggier, and if you turn off the spot mic
and just use the mids or just the rooms,
then youll find that there is adelay,
aslight lagginess to the playing.
To counteract this natural phenomenon,
Spitfire have provided aset of Distance
Compensated patches containing
distant and ambient samples trimmed
so their note fronts occur at precisely
the same time. This creates apunchier,
more immediate sound which retains the
reverberant room acoustic. In Thomsons
words, You can get exactly the amount

of spaciousness, the kind of perspective
that you want, but without sacrificing
clarity.
Apparently Deutsche Grammaphon
now employ asimilar technique on
their classical recordings, and Ive heard
producers use the same trick on drum
kit room mics to great effect. In the case
of HZP, Ican confirm that the distance
compensation has an audible benefit:
the timealigned patch combinations
do sound somewhat more focused
and subtly brighter of attack than their
uncorrected counterparts. However,
rather than making ahardandfast
policy decision on which is best, the
producers advise users to compare the
distancecompensated patches with the
noncorrected versions to see which
provides the best fit with the music
youre writing.
ON TEST
folders, spread over the whole velocity

range to create playable patches.
The resulting softtouch timbre is
attractive and engaging: shorn of its
usual bright, percussive edge, the piano
sounds calm and gentle, exuding an air
of vulnerability which would suit sensitive
drama production scores and emo pop
ballads. It sounds particularly effective
on the distant mikings, where the placid
reflections of AIRs lofty
hall resonate like an echo
of the hymns which once
swirled around this old
Victorian churchbuilding.
Velocity Curve
Whether you play an
88note master keyboard,
fiveoctave workstation
or 49note minikeyboard
controller, its worth
considering the matter
of velocity scaling when
playing this highly
dynamic piano (or indeed,
any sampled instrument
which incorporates
multiple velocity layers).
Pro keyboards often have
aVelocity Curve setting
which can be tailored
to your touch: on my
Korg Kronos, playing at
medium strength with
the velocity curve set
to its lowest setting (1)
produces MIDI notes in
the low velocity range
(130), while asimilar
performance using
the highest setting (8)
automatically lifts the velocities up into the

70100 zone. In HZP this makes adramatic
difference in sound, as higher velocity
values automatically trigger much louder,
brightersounding samples than low ones.
If your MIDI controller doesnt have
avelocity curve setting, dont despair:
HZP has abuiltin Linear Velocity feature
which enables you to scale the response
of the piano to your touch, rather than the
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ON TEST
other way round. Four preset curves are

available, with an option to create your
own by drawing it on screen though
it has to be said, you need the eyesight
of ahawk and the patience of Job to
create decentlooking curves inside the
miniature grid!
Pedalling
The piano contains no una corda (soft
pedal) samples, nor does it support
repedalling and halfpedalling. This is
not abig deal in my opinion: the latter
pair of arcane performance techniques
are irrelevant to all but atiny percentage
of potential buyers, and most would
agree that their musical effect is not
worth making afuss about. (In fact,
complaining about their absence in HZP

seems like criticising alarge forest for
the lack of some rare fungus.) On the
first point, Hans Zimmer has pointed out
that recording awhole set of una corda
samples would double the size of this
already gigantic instrument, and with so
many round robins and dynamic layers at
play, it would be nighon impossible to
exactly match each note with asoftpedal
equivalent. The compromise is asoft
pedal slider on the GUI which softens
the pianos tone by degrees. It sounds
pleasantly natural and musical, and unlike
areal soft pedal (which is either on or off),
it has the advantage of being scalable.
HZPs Steinway D contains pedalup
and pedaldown samples which respond
according to your sustain pedal
performances. The small mechanical noise
of the pedal has been faithfully captured
with an option for it to track the dynamic
Purge & Cull

No, its not the name of apopular Irish
folk duo these somewhat sinister
terms refer to procedures designed to
help you manage this exceedingly large
library. HZPs patches use five round
robins for each note, creating asevere
impact on RAM usage: the average patch
size on my system is around 450MB, and
thats with only one mic position loaded.
Happily, aGUI control allows you to
scale down the number of round robins,
thereby shrinking RAM usage by as much
as 80 percent. Amore drastic option is
the Purge feature, which analyses the
samples which occur in an arrangement
and removes any which are unused,
however, this can sometimes cause
problems with missing round robins,
which may require judicious use of the

Reset from F0 button to remedy.
The massive data size is another
potential headache. While theres
no option to download the library in
chunks, it is possible to remove certain
elements after installation. Spitfire
have issued atutorial video showing
how to cull selected samples from
your hard drive, but caution users to
make abackup copy first! By utilising
the above techniques its possible to
run ascaleddown version of HZP on
alaptop, aboon to itinerant composers
who regularly take Spitfires oftcited
redeye from LA to New York fantasy
flight or, failing that, the 8:31 from East
Croydon to Watford Junction.
ON TEST
contours of your playing: more to the

point, you can use abutton on the GUI to
turn this annoying racket off!
Conclusion
As the saying goes, one mans meat is
another mans poison (a concept to strike
fear into the hearts of Food Standards
Agency staff). There will always be debate
over what constitutes the best piano
sound, with iconic brands like Bechstein,
Bsendorfer, Blthner, Fazioli, Kawai,
Steinway and Yamaha jostling to claim
the distinction. Disagreement is rife, and
even within fans of acertain make, there
are those that argue that aNew York
Steinway sounds better than the equivalent
Hamburgmade instrument, or that the
piano in Studio Asounds better than the
exact same model in Studio B. For that
reason, and because piano timbre varies
so dramatically depending on context and
musical style, its advisable to thoroughly
check out online demos to help you decide
which sampled model best suits your needs.
For my part, Ienjoyed the immediacy
of touch, presence and subtlety of this
fine, deeply multisampled instrument
and am happy to recommend it to
fellow keyboardists. It feels like it was
programmed by musicians, with an
agreeable evenness of dynamic response
across its 88note, A0C8 range. Few things
in musical life are as tedious as having to
go through aMIDI performance editing
the velocities of notes that sound too
quiet or too loud due to sloppy sample
programming, but that isnt an issue here:
the piano maintains auniform, balanced
tone in all registers and at all dynamics,
reflecting the wellmaintained, nicelyvoiced
condition of the real instrument.
Alternatives
Other deepsampled Steinway Ds released
during this decade and currently on sale as
single instruments include Soniccoutures
The Hammersmith, VI Labs True Keys
American Grand (formerly part of apiano
bundle), Synthogys Ivory II American
Concert D, Galaxy Vintage D and Native
Instruments The Grandeur (originally
included in NIs Definitive Piano Collection).
These libraries are much smaller than
HZP, with correspondingly lower price
tags; the Galaxy Vintage D, Grandeur and
Ivory pianos were recorded from asingle
mic position, the latter in aconcert hall,
while the studiorecorded True Keys
and Hammersmith instruments have the
advantage of multiple mikings, of which the
Hammersmith library has many options.
Overall, Id characterise this Steinway

D piano as having abright, clear, open
sound which readily adapts to awarmer
tone when you load the appropriate
patches. It roars when played loud and
speaks in awhisper when caressed
lightly, and is versatile enough to have
applications for many musical styles.
When you factor in the superiority of the
instrument, the great hall reverb, the
mic perspective options, timealigned
samples and lovely softdynamic patches,
the inescapable conclusion is that this an
instrument for life, not just for Christmas.
It may take up alot of harddrive space,
but thats asmall price to pay for having
such aclassy item in your musical armoury.
If nothing else, despite the current
international tensions caused by the Brexit
referendum pantomime, it shows that
AngloGerman relations can continue to
flourish and produce great creative results.
358.80 including VAT.
WW www.spitfireaudio.com
SESSION NOTES
THE PRACTICAL CRAFT OF RECORDING
Recording the
Winchester College
Quiristers with a view to
bringing their plainsong
performances to a wider
audience presented
aunique challenge!
SESSION NOTES
THE WINCHESTER COLLEGE QUIRISTERS
DAVID LOL PERRY
oted worldwide for their

excellence, the boy Quiristers
(Qs) of Winchester College are
in high demand. They regularly perform
classical and sacred works in the UK, as
well as abroad. For example, they recently
put on high-profile performances in the
Vatican and Russia, and completed tours
of Italy, Holland, France and the USA.
The Qs regularly perform for radio and
television, too, with broadcasts including
Brittens ACeremony of Carols for BBC
Radio 4, BBC Radio 3s Choral Evensong
and Classic FMs Christmas concerts. The
Qs are Directed by organist, conductor
and composer Malcolm Archer, aformer
Director of Music at St Pauls Cathedral.
Recording the Qs at any time would be
a fascinating experience and well worth
exploring in these pages, but on this
occasion Iwant to share my experience
of aproject that was, for all concerned,
alittle out of the ordinary. During an
evening in the pub, Malcolm invited me
to add new, contemporary soundscapes
About The Author

David Lol Perry is acomposer,
musician and producer who, back
in the 80s, was the guitarist in 4AD
favourites Anna Livia. In 2013, David
left aperfectly good job in the City of
London to return to music full time,
and has since composed music for
anew play based on the life of Joseph
Merrick (the elephant man), released
an instrumental album, Han, which was
broadcast on BBC Radio 4, and won
aQuantum Music Works Signature
Licensing artist deal.
and arrangements to plainsong pieces

which are usually sung acappella that
would be sung by the Qs. The aim of the
project was to broaden the Qs audience
outside the classical and sacred music
worlds; to add something fresh to the
boys musical development. Not only
would it be the first time that their sacred
sound would be part of acontemporary
recording, but this Three Wings project,
as it became known, was uncharted
territory for all who would be involved.
Getting The Balance Right

I knew from the outset that striking the
right balance would not be plain sailing.
Pure, traditional choral recordings
mixed with electronic, sample-based
arrangements have always seemed rather
contrived to me obvious overdubs, 4/4
time, and vocals being subsumed in the
mix all contributed to that impression.
Thus, Idecided early on that Ididnt want
to dry the whole thing out with virtuosity
and decided Id look for amore personal
lo-fi feel to the end product.
Although I listened extensively to other
recordings of traditional plainsong, few
had anything more than asimple drone
accompaniment (thats something big
voices in small chapels were apparently
able to generate in a13th-Century
organ without touching it). So, while
onesimple aim was to record the Qs
performance as accurately as possible,
this other material didnt feel particularly
relevant; it all seemed too reliant on
ahuge reverberant space, and it lacked
the vocal clarity Ifelt this contemporary
variation of the genre required. Iwanted
to balance the Qs use of reverberation
with amore personal, attention-grabbing
SESSION NOTES
and engaging sound, somehow capturing

both the breathy fragility in achilds
voice and the uplifting authority of
abig acoustic. Thus, Id need to capture
both the choir and the ensembles live
sound (Iwouldnt accompany them when
recording, but would lay down my parts
later), and yet retain some control over
the acoustic at mixdown.
I began, somewhat perversely Isuppose,
by looking at dry-sounding studio spaces
that Ifelt would afford me the control Id
require. Eventually, Ifound one locally
which had sufficient space for up to 12
boys, arranged in asemi-circle and facing
Malcolm as conductor, with enough sets
of headphones and green-room space
for maybe as many parents. But Isoon
realised that if Iran the session in this
studio Id lose two critical aspects of the
Qs performance, the first being their
ability to blend as an acoustic group, and
the second the instrument the Qs usually
play the Winchester College Chapel .
In the Chapel, each Qs voice is akin
to acarefully selected pipe of an organ

(Malcolms signature instrument), rather
than an instrument in its own right;
avoice, tuned to the space, thats
complementary to every other voice in
the group. Chorister singing doesnt get
any more visceral than when Malcolm
invites the Qs to give it some welly! Its
agentle siren, warning us of the arrival
of acontrolled exodus of vibrating air,
energy and melody from the Qs, an
instrument born of his careful selection,
honed by his tutorship and amplified
by the chapel acoustic. So... Ichanged
my mind. We had to record on location,
at home in Winchester Colleges
MedievalChapel.
I demoed and prepared sheet music
for six pieces that we planned to capture
in aday-long session. If successful,
wed duplicate the process. We first
recorded in March 2015, on aday when
the College was down and its pupils
off site. Later the same year, in October,
we recorded asecond session in similar
Davids Arrangements
David aimed to create an ethereal
arrangement that added intimacy,
complementing rather than dominating
the sung melodies, but which could
be easily performed. This demanded
that the vocal tracks be upfront, so
the singers personalities werent
camouflaged by a back-of-cathedral
acoustic. The Qs sopranos range up two
octaves from middle C (C4) so, during
their parts, David concentrated sonically
and dynamically below and above that
range, as well as on percussive elements
to add structure and tempo. Rather
than use an acoustic classical chamber
orchestra, which was an option but

would add a period feel, he chose to
anonymise sample-based instruments
using outboard and plug-ins, to create
sonic backdrops and surging washes that
borrowed from arrangements of the past
and wouldnt overwhelm the Qs power.
Key to building arrangements was the
sympathetic tonality of individual blends
of voices with the Robinson Crusoe-style
harmonies David heard when jamming
along with his Garrison GE-10 electroacoustic, which often failed to make the
final mixes but gifted the instruments he
eventually used a voice.
SESSION NOTES
circumstances, although we both lost

and gained individual Qs during that
time; Senior Quirister voices change
(their voices dont break) and new Qs
join as probationers.
Church Goers
Successfully capturing the Chapels
acoustic was almost as important as
capturing the Qs themselves, and this had
a strong influence our recording setup.
Completed in 1395, Winchester Colleges
Chapel is rectangular, orientated West to
East, and is 93 feet long by 30 wide and,
internally, 57 high. Theres no transept.
In many ways, the Chapel might seem to
have been designed chiefly as aframe
for its extensive stained glass, which
extends around three sides, above the
altar and on the northern and southern
sides. Wooden panelling also extends to
aheight of 15 feet on the Northern and
Southern sides. Theres asmaller chapel
that runs parallel to the nave on the
northern elevation for approximately 60

percent of the main Chapels length, with
an open aspect.
The main interior door is accessed via
anarthex (foyer) that runs the width
of the building, and both the door and
narthex helped with exterior sound
reduction. Immediately inside the
Chapel, awooden loft is home to one of
the largest organs to be built post-War
in aschool. The gallery extends out
approximately 15 feet from the West
elevation. Above the side chapel to the
right is astone tower built in the late
15th Century at the Western end of the
south wall, home to the bells (of which
more later). We set up acontrol room in
the Sacristy, in the northern side of the
Chapel at its Eastern end, accessed via
aheavy door beside the altar.
All that now remains of the original
building is the shell, comprising the stone
walls and the fan vaulting of the timber
ceiling, together with some of the choir
SESSION NOTES
stalls. Theres certainly no absorbent

material here! The Chapels acoustic is
clear yet warm, with adistinct, clean
tail that isnt overly long. We noticed
aslight deadness under the organ loft
and obvious distancing in the sound in
the side chapel, but the relative impact of
the Qs singing could be felt in all corners
of the space, albeit with less clarity the
further you moved away from them.
Miking Up
I met with the engineers for each session
(Thom Ashworth of Opus Studios for
Session 1, and Adaq Khan for Session 2)
to discuss load-in, setup and control-room
needs well in advance of the sessions;
those throwaway questions at the end of
such chats always makes them worthwhile!
The setup for each session differed little,

and Ill detail the kit we used on Session
2, as the configuration was refined and
adistinctive mix was more apparent.
Adaq ran an Audient ASP880
eight-channel channel mic preamp
into an Antelope Audio Orion 32
audio interface. We recorded 96kHz,
32-bit PCM files in Pro Tools 10 HD on
aMacBook Air, with aJoeCo Blackbox
BBR1-B backup recorder running at
96kHz, 24-bit. Imonitored via apair
of Sennheiser HD650 heaphones, and
would find the Samson C-controls
talkback system indispensable.
The boys formed asemicircle of up to 10
Qs, with their backs to the altar there
was no formal order to them. Malcolm sat
facing them to conduct, using aclassic
SESSION NOTES
electric piano with integral speakers for

pitch referencing.
Blending the signals from astaggered
series of mic arrays was an approach
that worked well for us. We arranged
everything around acore pair of ribbons
set up close to the Qs, and all arrays were
mounted overhead and away from the
ensemble. Such positioning might deliver
less control in mixdown than close-miking
individuals, but the result would sound
more natural and the ability to alter the
blend between the arrays would, Ifelt,
give us an airy, bassier sound.
Heading East to West from the altar to
the organ, Adaq deployed aRode NT55
with cardioid capsule as amono ambience
mic. This was placed close behind the Qs,
but facing away at aheight of 10 feet,
in order to capture the reflections from
this largely stone area, which delivered

adifferent, remarkably distant and
quite metallic sound.
For the close setup, two Rode NTR
ribbon mics, spaced about 22cm apart
at azero-degree angle (ie. parallel to
each other), were placed approximately
four feet in front of the Qs and just
above head height (about six feet). This
configuration was chosen to deliver
anatural stereo image, with aclose and
detailed sound, and the ribbon choice
was to avoid any undesirable harshness
or brightness the Rodes delivered
arounded, smooth but relatively bright
sound, with areasonable amount of
natural reverb already present.
Behind Malcolm, approximately 20 feet
from the Qs, in the centre of the nave,
Adaq deployed apair of Schoeps CMC6
SESSION NOTES
microphone amplifiers (the linear variant,

which is flat to 3Hz) with MK2H capsules,
spaced 70cm apart at an angle of 45
degrees (pointing to either side of the Qs)
and at aheight of 15 feet. With their wide
spacing, they were chosen for arealistic
general representation of the Qs in the
Chapel. Here, the panelling down both
sides of the Chapel came into play.
Atraditionally mixed signal was created,
clearish and airy, bassier than the close
set and already sounding quite distant.
Blending the signals from

astaggered series of mic
arrays worked well, with
everything arranged around
acore pair of ribbons set up
close to the Qs.
A second pair of Schoeps CMC6s (MK21
capsules, 47cm apart, at 45 degrees) was
placed afurther 15 feet down the nave
at aheight of 20 feet. With anarrower
spacing than the omni mics, and being
sited both further back and higher up,
they delivered amore distant, ethereal
sound, with little vocal detail, as if the Qs
were already at the far end of the space
(which they werent, of course). When
mixing acouple of pieces, Ibrought
these stems forward to help build the
impression of arecessional.
Last but by no means least was what
turned out to be an inspired placement:
asingle Rode NT55 with cardioid capsule
was hoisted up at least 30 feet, close to
the organ-loft balustrade. (We had alot
of fun getting it up there!) Avery distant
sound was produced, which could be

used for washes of super-swirly reverb
Iknew Id want to drown the whole thing
at some point! These stems were useful
when extending solo reverb tails that had
been prematurely shortened.
Brief Briefing
I felt it important not to forget that we
were recording children, and that to some
of them we would be scary-looking adults!
With that in mind, Igathered everyone
together in the Sacristy for informal
introductions, to outline the programme
for the day, to explain the process that
the boys recordings from the sessions
would undergo, and to reiterate our
overall aim to broaden their audience.
But most importantly, I encouraged them
to have fun. We played back ademo of
Ave Marias Stella, the most up-tempo
piece in the collection, and Iwas chuffed
to see the boys nodding along to the
tribal drumming in the newly-created
middleeight!
Aside from the bells ringing, often in
time (happy accidents), there is naturally
Three Wings
Three Wings 1 & 2 by David Lol
Perry, featuring Winchester Colleges
Qs, are the first in a series of three
EPs and are already set to be
featured on BBC Radio 2. They are
available now on Neon Records
on all major platforms and direct
from www.davidlolperry.com.
A behind-the-scenes film from Session
2 can be viewed at http://bit.do/
threewingsfilm. All the tracks featured
in this article can be streamed at
www.davidlolperry.com/sosm.
SESSION NOTES
much unwanted noise in location

recording, and the Chapel was no
different: amurder of crows, apparently
seeing the elevated organ mic, decided
to have asing-off; Flybe turboprops
descending into Southampton Airport
took advantage of the prevailing wind
direction; the close mics revealed that
one Quirister likes tapping his foot

(shoes were removed!); and the turning
of songbook pages was distracting and
would be hard to isolate, so staples
were removed and single sheets
used. Ideally, the videographer and
photographer would also be absent
during takes, with so many wooden
pews and choir stalls to navigate.
Its much better to overcome such
problems before recording!
Take That
Early on, Malcolm reminded us to
Remember with this music that the
tiniest thing going slightly wrong
really shows, and he was right. There
are exceptional challenges in singing
plainsong. Although often just asingle
SESSION NOTES
treble melody part, its actually very

complicated. (Theres more to be heard
in aphrase of plainsong than in ashort
story!) Pieces metamorphose too; they
rarely have atime signature, so there are
no bars. Latin vowel sounds must always
be consistent and matched, the timing
spot on, and the words sung succinctly.
And two of the Qs in Session 2 were in
their first month...
We soon realised that recording
complex phrases one-by-one had
the potential to deliver the best
performance, but that continuous
recording would be preferable where
possible. Recording things in start-stop
fashion and occasionally changing
singers also meant tempo, articulation
and volume variances between phrases,
making it very problematic to edit
together different recordings of asingle

phrase. Furthermore, editing together
complete phrases too closely wouldnt
work for improve timing, say, or to
generate abuild, as theres anatural
moment needed to draw breath to be
able to actually continue singing, which
contributes to the live feel.
The second takes were regularly the
best. Rarely did we need athird but we
did record everything, including ambience
and alternative takes, which are often
useful. Malcolm would fine-tune his
instrument, maybe asking one boy to step
back in order to rehearse another until an
attractive blend rang out. Its one of his
skills to encourage boys to successfully
stand up or solo as soon as possible in
their Quirister development. Once each
quartet, triplet and duet were blended
SESSION NOTES
and solos were flying, care was taken

directing the occasional unison issue and
loose Latin pronunciation, but Malcolm
was always encouraging, always effective.
You can really hear the result in Puer
Natus Est Nobis and Salve Regina,
both of which Iconsider to be special
performances. The power in the last
antiphon of Nobilis Humilis has the Qs as
aforce of nature, large of welly. The solo
throughout the elaborate and rangey O
Successores, the only piece-long solo in
the collection (sung by Tomas Magnusson),
is hugely evocative and impressive.
Icouldnt see Malcolm and the Qs when
we recorded but it was tangible exactly
what the Quirister Foundation delivers and
what makes it unique; the professional and
engaging delivery of the highest-quality
chorister singing borne of world-class
support for personal musical development.
My own job in all of this was relatively

simple: capture the performance, remind
everyone when wed reached acrescendo
in apiece, encourage the best blends,
suggest the odd retake just to be on the
safe side, and protect tacit silence at the
end of phrases. But Ican offer one useful
tip, which helped me prioritise clips on
these sessions: since Pro Tools gives each
new clip aconsecutive number, Imarked
the sheet music with that number at both
the start of the bar or phrase and at the
end, using agreen pen for agood take
and ared pen for anotsogood take.
Back In The Studio

Back in the studio, Idid the editing and
mixing in Pro Tools 11. Ihad uniform
stems with anatural yet controlled reverb,
which Iused to unify and animate the
Qs Ialways used all mic stems in the
mix, but could automate the level of the
different arrays to suit the track. Iwas
chuffed that the pieces flowed easily,
with bittersweet rushes, big, blended
crescendos and brush-the-soul solos.
In the end, there werent often multiple
complete-phrase takes to choose from,
such was the strength of the performance
and that helped me keep edits
to aminimum. Preserving intakes of
breath was important, as they illustrate
energy and control. Ididnt stress about
removing the aforementioned bells,
and kept them in the outro to Alma
Redemptoris Mater.
When it came to adding my
arrangements, Ihad to desist from
over-doing things and smothering what
theyd created always go with the
performance. Id return to the riffs Id
demoed to gradually build asonic
SESSION NOTES
journey into each piece but maintain its

traditional structure and lyrical narrative.
Making Arrangements
My starting point for riffs is an early,
plastic-braced Garrison G10-E adeeply
resonating electro-acoustic guitar and, as
it turned out, the only acoustic instrument

we used on the plainsong collection.
Iused two capos, afull one and a partial
capo (the best musical purchase of my
life). Ipartnered it with the Alesis Q20
Master Effects rack, cut the dry signal
almost completely, and usually dialed in
The Winchester College Quirister Foundation

Uniquely, since Winchester Colleges
inception over 600 years ago, 16 boy
quiristers (a very old word for choristers)
have been supported to sing in its Chapel
no other senior school has done this
for anywhere as near as long. The Qs
have won the BBCs Young Chorister Of
The Year competition on three occasions,
and today include the current winner,
Angus Benton. They recently performed
at John Rutters 70th birthday concert

in London. Whilst at St Pauls Cathedral,
their current Director, Malcolm Archer,
led several State services including the
Tsunami Memorial Service, the London
Bombings Service and the 80th Birthday
Service for Her Majesty The Queen, for
which he was invited by Buckingham
Palace to compose aspecial anthem,
performed live on BBC 1.
SESSION NOTES
a245ms pre-delay, 10-second tail with

highfrequency roll-off, and 100 percent
reverberation swirl. This generated
afauxreversed string sound that reminds
me of the filigree and strained string
melody of The Adventures of Robinson
Crusoe TV theme, and film soundtracks to
Roman Empire epics of the 50s.
On afew occasions, Iturned to Pro
Tools Elastic Audio processors to
make alittle more of arhythm and to
up the journey, but the conventional
monophonic algorithm for voice puts
adamper on choirs. Itoyed with the
polyphonic option but it was creating too
many artifacts, so I ended up using the
rendered X-Form algorithm. Post-mix,
we deployed iZotopes RX5 noise-removal
software to nix the odd crow, creak or
sibilance niggle. Ifelt Id been able to
make the whole mix sound live, as if

wed all recorded at the same time, in
the same space.
Winchester Colleges Quiristers are
unique, and in plainsong they have
asound that especially resonates in us.
Iwas recently reminded that young choir
voices emerge through mimicry of the
technique of more mature voices in the
group, but also (and more often) that
of their director. It has been aparticular
honour to work with Malcolm and the
Qs to create something so fresh and
purposeful. Ive never heard these
pieces sung so well and hope you
enjoy themtoo!
All images by Hester Marriott
(www.hesterphoto.co.uk), except The
Quiristers outside Winchester College
Chapel by David Lol Perry.
ON TEST
Soundbrenner Pulse
Multi-sensory Metronome & App Suite
The worlds first wearable metronome for musicians offers an

armoury of tempo-related features to help improve your timing
and really get your groove on.
MARK GORDON
or amusician, timing is one of

the most critical elements of any
performance. The feel, groove
and tempo can often be what defines
apiece of music, and getting that right
is something we all aim for, regardless of
what instrument we play.
I am, first and foremost, adrummer, so
timing plays abig part in what Ido. Ihave
all manner of tempo apps on my phone
and iPad, from audible click tracks to
flashing lights and bpm displays. We seem
to be constantly searching for something
that will solve all our problems and
instantly make us a better player. Could
the Soundbrenner Pulse be theanswer?
Its AMetronome, But Not

AsWeKnow It
The Soundbrenner Pulse is the worlds
first wearable metronome for musicians.
As you may have gathered from the
name, the Pulse uses strong vibrations
in combination with more familiar visual
and audible cues to provide tempo
information to the wearer.
The packaging is classy. It certainly

makes you feel like youve got ahigh-end
product even before youve got your
hands on the actual device. Sliding
the box open, you find that the Pulse
itself is aneat, circular unit around
ON TEST
SOUNDBRENNER PULSE
5cm in diameter and 1.5cm thick. The

casing is made from ahard plastic, and
although its all very light it certainly feels
substantial enough.
A wheel runs around the edge of the
upper face and, when rotated, controls
tempo and acouple of other little tricks
Ill come to later. The wheel feels solid
and clicks very positively as you rotate it,
with each click representing asingledigit
change in bpm. Both the edge wheel and
the logo in the centre of the upper face
flash in various user-definable colours,
along with the beat of the metronome.
Neatly presented in the box next to
the Pulse itself is the circular magnetic
charging station, powered by the
provided micro USB cable. In addition to
the simple and very easy to understand
manual are two rubber straps, one short
and one long, that the Pulse unit fits into.
They provide options for where to wear
the Pulse; the shorter strap is suitable for
the wrist and the longer one is ideal for
the upper arm or ankle.
Sadly, my Pulse came without any
charge, but that did give me an
opportunity to try the charger. The Pulse
attaches itself to the charging station
with afirm magnet, and as its charging it
pulses orange, which changes to asolid
green when fully charged. Typically, you
should get around eight hours constant
use from asingle charge.
Soundbrenner Pulse $99

PROS
Unique and innovative.

Comprehensive app.
DAW Support.
CONS
Takes alittle getting used to.

DAW support limited to Mac OS.
SUMMARY
The Soundbrenner Pulse is an

innovative and featurepacked product
that literally brings anew dimension to
both practice and live performance with
ametronome or click track.
face starts abasic 4/4 rhythm, with

the outer bevel wheel enabling you to
increase or decrease tempo. Tapping the
front face three times or more makes the
unit adjust to your tap tempo. In itself,
its very useable, but the vast majority of
the Pulses features are accessed via the
companion app, The Metronome, which is
available for iOS and Android.
Communication between the app and
Theres An App For That

The Pulse can be used as astand-alone
metronome straight out of the box.
Touch the front face of the device with
two fingers for acouple of seconds to
activate it, and the Pulse vibrates into
action. Asimple doubletap of the front
ON TEST
SOUNDBRENNER PULSE
the Pulse is via Bluetooth, so first you

need to pair your Pulse with the app on
your phone or tablet. This is achieved via
the Add Device option. Any currently
active Soundbrenner Pulse is detected
and added to the app. Its worth
mentioning here that up to five Pulse
units can be controlled from the app. This
means that potentially every member
of aband could be wearing aPulse and
playing along to the same metronome
click. This opens up quite anumber of
interesting opportunities for bands that
dont have, or dont want to use, in-ear
monitors and aclick track.
The feel, groove and tempo

can often be what defines
apiece of music, and getting
that right is something we all
aim for, regardless of what
instrument we play.
Once the app is connected, you can
start to customise the Pulse. Up to three
different physical vibrations can be set,
typically to represent adownbeat, an
offbeat and afurther subdivision. Each
of these vibrations can be linked to
adifferent colour white, green, azure,
blue or pink or no colour, and each
vibration can have one of nine different
intensities and lengths.
The final area of the app to explain
is the Library. Here you can store and
recall any rhythms youve programmed.
Ifound this very handy for storing slightly
odd time signatures or grooves to
ON TEST
SOUNDBRENNER PULSE
practice with.
In addition to storing rhythms, the
Library area also lets you save Set Lists;
as the name suggests, these are lists of
rhythms from your Library that could
represent live set lists for your band, for
example. An infinite number of rhythms
and Set Lists can be created, all named
and easily edited into any order, making it
avery useable tool for the live player.
DAW Tools
All this talk of playing with aclick does
lead us to the question of what were
playing along to. The Metronome app
lets you create those Set Lists of songs
that will give you the tempo for each,
but what if you want to play along to
abacking track or record to aclick? Surely
you need your DAW and aclick track?
Soundbrenner have thought of that, with
aneat little app called DAW Tools.
Downloaded and installed on my Mac
Mini, the DAW Tools app opens with
asplash screen while it searches for an
available Pulse
unit. Iused the
app with MOTUs
Digital Performer
9 but it will, of
course, work
with any Mac
DAW. To enable
communication
in DP9, its simply
acase of opening
the Transmit
Sync option in
Preferences and
selecting the
Pulse. Pressing play on the DAW causes
the Soundbrenner to vibrate in perfect
sync with the MIDI Clock pulse. It really is
as simple as that. Any tempo changes in
the DAW song are followed by thePulse.
The DAW Tools app gives you areading
of bars and beats, abpm display and
alatency figure. As MIDI Clock doesnt
contain Time Signature information, you
can set adownbeat accent pulse in the
Compatibility
There are afew limitations with regard to
compatibility of both the DAW Tools and
Metronome app. These are detailed on
the Soundbrenner web site and basically
boil down to the need for the device
youre using to support Bluetooth 4.0 (also
called Bluetooth Low Energy, or Bluetooth
Smart). The iPhone 4s and onwards,
the iPad Mini and third-generation iPad
onwards are all supported, and all require
iOS 8.4 or later. Most Android devices
from 2011 onwards, running OS 4.3,
should also be supported.
Currently, the DAW Tools app is only
supported on Mac OS running 10.10 or
above. Low Energy Bluetooth support

is also required, which includes most
Macs from 2011 onwards. You can check
your Mac compatibility by looking in
the System Report in About this Mac.
If your Mac is equipped with Bluetooth
4.0, the LMP Version will say 0x6.
Anything lower than that is an older
and incompatible version of Bluetooth.
If your Mac doesnt support Bluetooth
4.0, however, it is possible to buy aUSB
Bluetooth Low Energy dongle.
As for DAW compatibility, DAW Tools
should be compatible with every Mac OS
DAW that supports MIDI Clock output.
ON TEST
SOUNDBRENNER PULSE
DAW Tools app on any beat. Typically, in

4/4 youd choose beat four, but you have
the option to select beat three for awaltz,
or seven if youre in aprog rock band.
Currently, the DAW Tools app is Mac
only (see the Compatibility box).
However, users of Ableton Live can use
the Pulse on both Mac and Windows
platforms via support for Ableton Link in
the latest version of the Metronome app.
As its working via the iOS Metronome
app, the tempo-control aspects of the
Pulse (tap tempo via the front face,
tempo control via the bevel wheel) can
even be used to control the playback
tempo of Live in real time.
In Use
The Soundbrenner Pulse is aunique
piece of equipment, and for that reason
it does, perhaps, take alittle getting
used to. The first dilemma is where to
wear it, and thats going to come down
to experimentation and what works for
you. Personally, Ifound wearing the
Pulse against my shin bone worked well,
although Ialso think, as adrummer, that
an even stronger vibration wouldnt go
Here Comes The Science Bit...

Inside the Pulse is alarge Eccentric
Rotating Mass vibration motor, or
ERM, which produces avibration 700
percent stronger than you would find
in your mobile phone. In fact, the
motor occupies almost athird of the
space inside the unit. To harness this
vibration power and give it accuracy,
the Pulse incorporates apatented
Haptic Driver, enabling the device
to produce adistinct and powerful
vibration on each beat.
amiss. For less physical instruments, the

current level should be absolutely fine.
Feeling aclick isnt something that
most of us are used to, so initially Ifound
Ihad to concentrate on the vibration
more than Iexpected in order to keep in
time. Having previously used aflashing
metronome, Ifound the combination
of the physical vibration and visual
feedback from the Pulse worked well but
this is, of course, dependent on where
you wear the pulse. As Im more used
to playing with atraditional click, Ialso
tried acombination of the Metronome
app click in my ears plus the Pulse, and
this worked really well. Iwas able to
keep the click at afar lower volume than
normal and eventually not use the click
at all. Ultimately, you have potentially
ON TEST
SOUNDBRENNER PULSE
three different types of tempo feedback

vibration, visual and audible click
so you should be able to find agood
balance that works for you.
Click tracks can be very tiring on the
ears, so the idea of no click or at
least one at avastly reduced level
is very appealing. Not only that, but
when recording quieter passages Ive
occasionally picked up bleed from aloud
click track via apair of headphones
half on. The Pulse helps to eliminate
that problem.
The ability to link multiple units is also
abig plus if youre working with aband,
live or in the studio, sending asilent click
wirelessly to every member of the band.

The Soundbrenner Pulse is certainly
something Ill be using in the future as an
alternative to an ear-damaging click track.
Ireally like the innovation and thought
that has gone into the product and, if
recent updates are anything to go by, you
certainly get the feeling Soundbrenner
are constantly looking at ways of
improving, refining and adding tothis
innovative and useful device.
$99. Discounts are available for
multiplepurchases.
WW www.soundbrenner.com
Monitors that excel at low volume precision

Great mixing at any sound level
Dedicated to the art of accuracy
Consistent non-fatiguing drivers
Still handmade in Denmark
Distribution for the UK & Europe

sales@audiodistributiongroup.com
www.dynaudio.com/professional-audio
STUDIO SOS
When misfortune befell one of our contributors, we sent the

SOSteam to help him get his studio back up and running.
STUDIO SOS
HUGH ROBJOHNS & PAUL WHITE
egular readers may recognise Eddie

Bazil as afrequent participant in
the Sound On Sound forums, and
indeed he has contributed many articles
over the years. He is also the man behind
soundware companies Stretch That Note
and Samplecraze. However, he suffered
amajor setback recently when his house was
virtually destroyed in an electrical fire and,
now that the rebuild is finally complete, he
asked SOS to help him fix up afront room
to serve as astudio space. He told us he had
aPC running Nuendo, apair of Neumann
KH120 monitors, and aFocusrite Forte
interface, as well as aNovation keyboard, so
he was able to make music again. However,
the bare, paintedbrick walls werent exactly
conducive to accurate monitoring or for
creating aspace in which to record voice or
acoustic instruments.
We were happy to accept the challenge
but didnt have much in the way of acoustic
foam in stock, so we decided to try

adifferent approach by using acombination
of acoustics products that we had recently
reviewed. The manufacturers kindly agreed
to let us reuse the review components for
aStudio SOS feature, so with my car literally
loaded up to the roof with everything
we could lay our hands on, we set off to
High Wycombe.
In The Room
Eddies front room measures roughly 3.8
metres wide by 3.3 metres deep and 2.4
metres high, with aonemetrewide chimney
breast at the rear and a2.5metrewide
doubleglazed bay window at the front.
Eddie had fitted acarpet, but other than the
desk for the computer keyboard, which was
also home to asingle Avantone speaker,
there was very little else in the room. The
two Neumann speakers were placed on
tall hollow metal stands, and avery large
flatscreen TV was mounted on awheeled
floor stand behind the desk to serve as the
STUDIO SOS
computer monitor.
After accepting coffee and an excessive
number of choc-chip HobNobs, Hugh
checked that all the settings on the rear
of the speakers were neutral, then played
his test CD through the system, focusing
on the track of lowfrequency test tones
to give us agood idea of where we might
find problems at the bass end. Given that
the room had solid walls all round, was not
particularly large, and was dangerously
close to being square, the bass end was
much better than we feared it might be,
and the main issues were pretty mild dips
rather than excessive peaks. While aflat
response is the ideal, dips are less obtrusive
than peaks, and achieving aperfectly
flat response in adomestic sized room is
abig ask. Also, those Neumann monitors
might be small but they dont lack low
end. Further up the spectrum, the room
presented anoticeably splashy quality in

the upper mid-range and the stereo imaging
wasnt as sharp and precise as it should have
been with those monitors. So, we certainly
needed to dry up the sound of the room,
and anything we could do to even out those
bass dips, even slightly, would be abenefit.
After unloading the car we had an
impressive pile of boxes comprising
an Aston Halo vocal screen, six Sound
Momentum moulded diffusor panels,
two EQ Acoustics foam gobos, two Real
Traps, two Universal Acoustics foam corner
traps, and apair of lightweight Leggero
Soundwave Squares 600 x 600mm panels.
As the room was newly painted we hoped
to fix up our treatment with the minimum
disruption to the surface, though some glue
and double-sided adhesive tape was needed
for part of the job.
Diffusing The Situation

Rather than use absorbers at the rear of
the room, our idea was to instead use
mainly diffusion. This can be problematic
sometimes if the listening position is close
to the diffusion panels, resulting in aphasey
reflected sound quality, but in this case
Eddies seat was almost two metres away,
and initial experiments suggested it would
work well. So three of the Sound Momentum
diffusor panels were fitted to the chimney
breast in astaggered pattern, with two
more on the walls on either side of the
chimney breast. These fix using aspongy
double-sided tape around the edges, and
although that probably puts up afight if you
need to take the panels down again, it is still
likely to be less disruptive to the paintwork
than afully glued foam panel.
The remaining Sound Momentum diffusor
panel was fixed to the ceiling above the
STUDIO SOS
listening position where the adhesive tape

held it very firmly to the new paintwork.
This would help break up ceiling reflections
from the monitors that might otherwise
reach the listener. Diffusion works differently
from sound absorbers as its purpose is
to randomise the reflected energy rather
than absorb it. It helps to keep the room
sounding bright and lively, but without any
discrete slap-back echos or afeeling of the
room being over-damped.
The conventional absorbers we planned to
use elsewhere would provide the necessary
drying up, starting with two 600 x 1200mm
Real Traps, which combine mineral wool
with amembrane. We ended up leaning
these across the rear corners of the room

where theyd have some useful effect on
the lower frequencies as well as the mids
and highs and without needing any glue
or fixings. Eddie could always mount these
higher on the walls later if he wanted. The
two foam corner traps we had were fixed in
the two upper rear corners though there
was no real alternative other than to use
spray adhesive to mount those.
The Soundwave Squares are 600 x 600mm
panels comprising aconcertina of felt-like
material supported in acardboard frame.
They work just like similarly sized foam
panels but are less expensive and can also
be used as free standing screens if required,
Focal Alpha
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STUDIO SOS
as they have popout cardboard stands on

the rear. In this case though we used them
as wall panels, fixing one either side of the
bay window at head height, again using
double-sided adhesive tape.
To counter reflections from the side walls,
which were probably going to be the most
significant acoustic issue in Eddies room,
we used apair of EQ Acoustics foam gobos,
but rather than glue them to the wall as
would be the usual strategy with acoustic
foam, we used them as intended, supported
horizontally on mic stands. Obviously, theres
no real weight in these foam gobos so any
low-cost mic stand will do: it doesnt need
aboom arm, doesnt need to be heavy or
strong, and around base is probably more
convenient than atripod stand.
The foam used for these gobos is alittle
firmer than that used in typical wall panels
and, as well as being nicely shaped, has
both horizontal and vertical slots cut into
the rear face that simply grip onto amic
stand allowing the panels to be positioned
anywhere in the room. Our thinking was that
we could set these up in landscape mode
around the mix position at head height and
spaced maybe 300 to 400 mm from the side
walls. This would work nicely in reducing
side-wall reflections when mixing and would
also be more efficient at lower frequencies
because of the spacing from the wall. The
rear faces of the panels would also intercept
some reflected sound, making them
rather more effective than similarly sized
wall-mounted panels.
Additionally, when recording rather
than mixing, these EQ Acoustics foam
gobos could be redeployed to create
acustomisable recording environment
around acoustic instruments or vocalists.
This reconfigurable room treatment option
was also supplemented with the Aston Halo

screen, allowing avery effective vocal booth
to be constructed quickly and easily using
the Halo behind the mic, and the two EQ
Acoustics foam gobos vertically behind and
to the sides of the vocalist.
With asatisfactory recording in the DAW,
Eddie could then quickly reposition the
foam gobos around the mix position.
Final Tweaks
With all of our room treatment in place,
the only area left untouched was the bay
window, and if left uncovered the window
glass in acurved bay can have the effect
of focusing the reflections in one spot
which in this case would have been
worryingly close to the mixing position.
Eddies pragmatic and effective solution
to this was simply to cover the windows
with screens and close the curtains when
working in the studio. Obviously the heavier
the curtains the better, but what Eddie had
worked well enough. However, to minimise
the risk slightly, we also repositioned the
monitor stands, pulling them alittle further
away from the bay window. This brought
the monitors well in front of the TV screen
(originally they were roughly level with the
front of the screen), which would hopefully
improve the stereo imaging by minimising
any acoustic diffraction and reflection from
the edge of the TV screen.
Further listening tests showed avery
marked improvement in stereo imaging,
after which we did some further tweaking
to the speaker positions, moving them even
closer to the table with the aim of reducing
the reflections from the desk surface, and
also improve the direct-to-reflected sound
ratio. We also optimised the toe-in angle
of the speakers so that the tweeters were
STUDIO SOS
Reader Reaction
Eddie had this to say about his studio
makeover: Thanks to the guys swift
work, Im now able to get back to
working on Samplecraze.com. The
importance of atreated room cant be
underestimated: Ispend long hours
creating video tutorials on all sorts of
audio subjects, and having acontrolled
space for voiceover work can make
the difference between an amateur
and aprofessional product. Im in the
process of creating some really indepth
online courses too, so this emergency
SOS visit has made amassive difference.
When youre writing on topics such
as lowend management, pinknoise
reference mixing, advanced reverb tricks
etc, you cant afford to have the room
deceiving your ears!
Initially, the room was both
imbalanced, with poor stereo imaging,
and alittle washy in terms of high- and
lowend referencing. With the Jedis
[Hugh and Paul!] available and on
hand it was but atemporary problem.
Within the blink of an eye they had
turned my room into astable working
pointing directly at the engineers head
position. Hugh noticed that although the
stands were of good quality, they werent
very stable on the carpet, despite being
spiked at the base. Hugh suggested that
Eddie invest in acouple of square concrete
slabs from the nearest garden centre to
provide afirm, level base on the carpet,
and then place the stands on those slabs. It
would also be worthwhile filling the hollow
tube sections of the stands with kiln-dried
sand or kitty-litter (unused!) to add to their
mass and improve the damping, as hollow
environment with topdrawer acoustics

(bear in mind no heavy treatment
took place) and excellent imaging and
referencing. Iwould like to take this
opportunity to thank Hugh and Paul for
helping me to find my way back into
music. Additionally, for three days Iwas
eyeing the HobNobs in the cupboard
and my missus kept reminding me that
Hugh and Paul are friends and that the
HobNobs were for them. Thankfully,
they werent too hungry that day! Life
can be good you know.
stands have atendency to ring in their
unfilled state.
Finally, Ihad in my bag of bits afoam
speaker support Id made for aprevious
job by gluing afew Auralex MoPad pieces
together, so Ileft that with Eddie to put
under his Avantone Cube speaker to
avoid unwanted vibrations through the
table top. The final listening tests were
very encouraging, with no glaring bass
problems, much improved stereo imaging
and asignificantly drier, better focused
overall sound.
AEA KU4 - supercardioid ribbon mic allows

users to close-mic with reduced bass proximity
effect. Based on the rare RCA classic. 3799
Peluso 22 251 - styled after the ELAM

251E. Gold plated mylar capsule, 6072A valve.
Classic character at an affordable price. 1299
Flea 47 - beautiful recreation of the fabled

U47 valve microphone. Rich, detailed and classy.
Hard to beat on vocal recordings. 3399
Manley Gold Reference - extremely

accurate with superb high frequency detail
and air. Multipattern valve design. 4224
Thermionic Culture The Swift - Vic

Kearys latest stereo EQ. All-valve signal path.
Hand made in the UK. Very nice! 2749
Chandler RS124 - accurate recreation

of the coveted EMI/Abbey Road RS124
Beatles valve compressor.
2899
Highland Dynamics BG2 - all-valve varimu compressor with variable impedance

and British/USA topologies. 2499
Neve 1073 DPX - enhanced dual channel

version of the most revered mic preamp/EQ in
recording history. A future classic. 3249
Amphion Two18 - 2-way passive design

with passive radiator. Effortlessly accurate
monitors with superb imaging. 4695pr
Barefoot MicroMain45 - 3-way stripped

down version of the flagship MiniMain12.
Powerful and highly defined. 5880pr
Genelec 8350 SAM - Smart Active

Monitor technology for automatic room
calibration. Plenty of low end. 2799pr
Eve Audio SC305 - versatile rear-ported

nearfields with ribbon tweeters and DSP
filter control. Crisp, tight sound. 1179pr
Slate Digital MTi2 - multi-touch 27 LED

DAW control surface. Supports Pro Tools,
Logic, Cubase, Live and more. 999
Universal Audio Apollo 16 TB - near

zero latency now allows you to track through
the excellent UAD-2 emulations! 2685
SSL AWS924 Delta - Powerful SuperAnalogue console with DAW control. Now
with d-Ctrl analogue automation. 53400
Apogee Symphony I/O MkII 16x16 next generation modular interface expandable
to 32ch inc. touch screen.
4249
Oberheim Two Voice Pro Black - Tom

Oberheims favourite synth built around 2x
SEM modules. Now in moody black! 3199
Moog Minimoog Model D - hand

built, authentic recreation of the original
Model D synth. A true legend. 3249
Tech Corner... Pultec EQs Demystified.

Pultecs are distinct from other types of equalizer in that they allow boost and
attenuation (ATTEN) of the same frequency band simultaneously - a counterintuitive feature that can mean they take some getting used to.
They are particularly good for adding a magical rich low end: set the CPS LO
FREQ to 30Hz with BANDWIDTH around 6-7 and maximum ATTEN. The low end
disappears, but as soon as you wind up the BOOST control a gorgeous big low end
is re-introduced. On the other end, the high frequency band can be used to add a
sweet airy top end into the mix. This works because the range of the ATTEN and
BOOST controls for each band are in slightly different places. Whats more, the
boost control is more powerful than the attenuation, so both used at once can
create a useful curve.
The highly musical colouration of these EQs (largely originating from the valve
make-up gain and transformers) was originally developed by Pulse Techniques
Inc. in the 1950s to add a final touch to the balance of good program material .
It may not be immediately obvious from a cursory glance at the front panel, but
spend some time playing with one and youll soon be injecting undeniable
character into your recordings.
Tom Shorter, KMR Audio Technical Manager
At KMR Audio, we are passionate about high quality

recording kit. With an unrivalled range of audiophile
equipment in stock and on demo we are always happy
to offer friendly and knowledgeable advice to help you
choose the best tools for your application.
Please contact us or visit our North London showroom
to discuss your recording needs.
email sales@kmraudio.com web www.kmraudio.com

visit us kmr audio, 1375 high road, whetstone, london N20 9LN
Meet The Maker... we talk to Cliff Mag Snr of Mag Audio

You are probably best known for introducing the Air Band
boost shelf EQ. What was the thinking that led you to this?
I wanted to get a more open air sound above the sibilance
on vocal recordings. The AIR BAND was first used in my mic
preamps to bring out the hidden high end in some dynamic
and ribbon mics, then was later incorporated into our EQs.
Your latest EQ4M mastering EQ is a lovely piece, the clarity is
just stunning. What were you trying achieve with this design?
I wanted to offer a mastering quality dual channel EQ4 in a
high powered rack mount with more accuracy, headroom and
control. We accomplished this with the EQ4M - it is by far the
most creamy EQ we have ever produced.
Tell us one of your favourite recording studio stories?
Donny Osmond needed a quiet recording space to work on his
radio show so I set him up in the Record Labs piano room with
his back to the glass door. I told him Id leave him to it and to
call if he needed anything. While he was all alone in there, I
EQ2-500
2-Band equalizer with unparalleled
transparency and presence. Includes
Maags legendary AIR BAND with
an additional 15kHz boost shelf to add
musical sparkle to any source. Lo Mid
bell boost allows you to accurately
tailor the perfect amount of warmth
and body. Detented controls for easy
recall.
660
decided to place a 3ft high Halloween manikin butler

holding a bowl full of candy on the other side of the
glass. When Donny turned around he said he almost
had a heart attack! Im still waiting for him to get
even for that one.
What makes you happiest - seeing the success of
Mag Audio, or sitting behind the mixing console at
your own Record Lab studios?
I love the music. I have been truly blessed to have
a career doing what I love. Assisting artists behind
the desk brings great satisfaction - I love the process.
Mag Audio is a byproduct of that, endlessly trying to improve the sound. That will never stop
for me. What makes me the most happy is sharing this journey with my sons, Cliff Jr and Ryan,
and our partner Travis Allen. Nothing is better than that.
Name a recording that always makes you smile?
Oh boy, this is going to date me I Get Around by the Beach Boys.
EQ4-500
Single channel 6-Band equalizer with
AIR BAND (shelf boost from 2.5 to
40kHz). Accurate and transparent
with minimal phase shift, this powerful
processor a llow u sers to dia l in
unprecedented natural top end
presence while maintaining the true
character of the source.
900
PREQ4-500
Single channel microphone pre-amp
with VARI-AIR AIR BAND shelf
boost. 65db of clean gain, phase
reverse, 70Hz HPF and -20dB pad
makes this an excellent choice when
you need a powerful, musically clean
pre-amp with tone shaping capability
during tracking.
649
EQ4M - Maags most powerful and flexible equalizer to date. Equally at home for mix buss or mastering
duties, this beautifully engineered stereo EQ provides extremely clean topography, high headroom and Maags
unique AIR BAND shelf
boost for top end clarity.
Class leading.
1899
PRO TOOLS 12.6 HD

CHOOSE YOUR WEAPON!
TANZMAUS & TANZBAR LITE DRUM MACHINES

TANZBAR LITE picks up where the cult MFB522 left off - 9 true analogue voices
paired with a 16 step sequencer (64 steps) with chaining and A/B variation.
Raw voices feel like a vintage 808 but with modern updated features.
TANZMAUS is a hybrid analogue instrument with 5 analogue and 2
sample-based voices. Both machines have 5 separate outputs and
full MIDI control. Punchy and gritty with plenty of attitude!
AV
N AIL
O A
W BL
! E
E
TH TS!
LL ER
CA XP
E
With the introduction of Pro Tools

12.6, for the first time ever users can
now purchase Pro Tools HD software
standalone with the choice of their
own favourite third party hardware,
allowing complete flexibility and
system customization. With many
years of experience supplying Pro
Tools at all levels, we will ensure
you purchase the best rig for
your needs and budget.
Call today for friendly,
expert advice...
KMR
AUDIO
Prices include 20% VAT and are correct at time of going to print. Errors and omissions excepted.
020 8445 2446
Slate VMS:
Mic Shoot-Out
Internet connection required.
o accompany this months cover feature we capture our test of Slate Digitals
Virtual Microphone System. The VMS claims to faithfully model a range of classic
microphones so we put it up against four of the originals the Sony C800g,
AKG C12 and Neumanns U47 and U67. So, how successful is it?
Hear the same performances (female pop vocal, male folk vocal and voiceover)
through the modelled and original mics. Listen carefully during the video to make up
your mind then read the print review to see if you agree with our verdict.
www.youtube.com/soundonsoundvideo
THE NEXT STEP.
MASCHINE JAM
PRODUCTION AND PERFORMANCE SYSTEM

www.native-instruments.com/maschinejam
ON TEST
MAudio MTrack
2X2M & MTrack 2X2
USB Audio Interfaces
MAudios latest interfaces offer alot of bang for relatively

littlebuck. And USB C...
B A R RY WAT S O N
he MTrack 2X2M and 2X2 are

the latest additions to MAudios
extensive array of audio
interfaces, both featuring an ergonomic
desktop monitor controller form factor.
Notably, both interfaces utilise the

upandcoming USB TypeC connector.
Whilst the inclusion of USBC is likely to
be attractive to those who own recent,
ultraportable notebook computers,
aUSBC to USBA cable is provided
in the box for anybody yet to jump on
ON TEST
M AU D I O M T R A C K 2 X 2 M & M T R A C K 2 X 2
that particular bandwagon. Well look

at the differences between the two as
we go along, but essentially the 2X2 is
acutdown version of the 2X2M, lacking
its extra input sockets and MIDI I/O. This
is reflected in their relativeprices.
First Impressions
Out of the box, ahighly attractive
metal case is revealed. The top panel is
covered in clear acrylic for aglass effect
and the overall finish suggests real
quality. Alarge main volume knob acts
as acentrepiece and, curiously, all the
other dials seem somewhat oversized
too. Whilst this would perhaps not be
to everyones taste, the controls are all
solid to the touch, with no chance of
them being knocked out of place during
arecording session. To the lefthand
side of the panel, below each gain
control, is afourstage LED meter to
indicate input level. To the right there
is adirectmonitor balance control and
aheadphone level knob. Blue LED
lighting indicates power and phantom
power status and, on the 2X2M,MIDI
in/out activity. The front panel houses
instrument jack inputs (two on the
2X2M and one on the 2X2), aphantom
power toggle switch and aheadphone
socket. Conveniently, the instrument
inputs on the 2X2M take precedence
over the mic/line sockets on the rear,
allowing users to leave microphones
plugged in around the back when
instruments are plugged into the front.
The rear panel also includes balanced
line outputs on quarterinch jacks,
MIDI sockets (on the 2X2M), aUSBC
connector and aslot for aKensington
security lock.
MAudio MTrack 2X2M &

MTrack 2X2 79 & 99
PROS
Ergonomic desktop case with solid

construction.
USBC for simple interconnection with
the most recent notebook computers.
Pleasing playback (DA) quality.
CONS
Unreported latency might present

aproblem for some users.
A mono/stereo input monitoring
function and afew monitor controller
buttons would have been welcome.
SUMMARY
Stylish and easy to use, the MTrack

2X2 interfaces represent great value
for money. Go for the 2X2M for an
additional mic input and MIDI I/O.
Installation
Getting set up is relatively
straightforward, particularly on Mac OS
where no driver software is required.
Windows drivers are available from the
support section of MAudios web site
and theres no additional configuration
software to install since operation
relies on simple, hardware controls
on the interface. Bundled software is
abundant and may be downloaded and
authenticated following registration. This
bundle includes Cubase LE and awhole
host of audio and virtual instrument
plugins from AIR Music Technology that
will be well known to users of Pro Tools.
Those who really value their hard disk
space should be warned that the Cubase
installer includes additional content
ON TEST
that will lay unused unless you either

pay to upgrade or carry out detective
work to remove the files manually;
Im perpetually frustrated by software
manufacturers adopting this approach.

Meanwhile, the bundled AIR software will
helpfully complement any of the more
modest DAW packages by adding audio
ON TEST
The two MTrack 2X2s

exhibit astyle, build and
sound quality that sets
them ahead of most of
the competition.
processing functionality and highquality
sounds from the likes of Xpand!, the Mini
Grand piano plugin and the Strike drum
plugin. Once again, plenty of disk space
is necessary, with Strike alone requiring
some 56GB.
In Use
Put to work, the interfaces are incredibly
simple to operate. Once microphones
are plugged in, the LED meters provide
ahelpful indication of levels without
having to glance back at the DAW
software, although another couple of

LEDs on the meter ladder would have
made this even better. The preamps,
although very simple, give plenty of
gain with very little unwanted noise
even at extreme settings. The mix
control for input monitoring (playback
versus input signals) makes it very
quick to set up amonitor feed for the
headphones, yet Iwould have preferred
to have abutton to toggle the input
monitoring to stereo mode ie. input
1 panned to the left ear and input 2
to the right as it makes it far easier
for musicians to make adistinction
between the two inputs. On the subject
of buttons, it would have also been nice
ON TEST
for the manufacturer to have included

afew monitor controller facilities on
the top panel eg. mono and mute
buttons under the volume knob
but at the price this is perhaps wishful
thinking on my part. (Nevertheless,
there is certainly some mileage in
MAudio releasing aslightly more
expensive pro model further down
the line that may feature some of these
buttons, asecond headphone preamp
and so on. Idbuyit!).
When using the 2X2M on projects
with virtual instruments Iwas able to
trigger and play back instruments at the
lowest buffer size of 32 samples with
no unwanted glitches or interruptions

to the audio stream; very encouraging
indeed considering my ageing computer.
However, on aloopback test to verify
that the interface was reporting the
correct latency figures to the software,
Ifound there to be an additional 160
samples of latency (some 3.6ms at
a44.1kHz sample rate) that wasnt
being reported to the DAW. Ifound the
32sample buffer size with atotal
output latency of 6.4ms to be very
responsive, with negligible latency when
playing on the keyboard. However,
such unreported latency might prove
more of aproblem to users whose very
Inspiring Every Moment

Audio-Technicas In-Ear Monitor Headphones
Bringing the worldwide critically acclaimed
sonic signature of the M-Series to an in-ear
design, the Audio-Technica in-ear monitor
headphones have been designed to fully
answer the needs of demanding sound
professionals and musicians from the studio
to the stage and the DJ Booth.
www.audio-technica.com
ATH-E70
ATH-E50
ATH-E40
ON TEST
Specifications
MTrack 2X2M
USB 2, buspowered using aUSBC
connector.
Requires Mac OS 10.8 or later;
Windows 7 or later.
24bit, 192kHz recording.
Two simultaneous inputs, featuring
two combi mic/line inputs and two
instrument inputs.
Two balanced TRS line outputs.
Quarterinch headphone output.
hectic arrangements or intensive plugin
processing might force them to work at
larger buffer sizes.
Finally, DA conversion is pleasing
for the price. Listening to some of my
goto reference CDs on headphones
Icould hear definite advantages when
compared to the onboard sound of
my MacBook Pro playing at asimilar
volume. The MTracks revealed clear
transients on snares and toms plus
aslightly richer lowfrequency response.
Alternatives
The Audient iD4, although slightly more
expensive, features awonderful (single)
mic preamp, plus instrument input. Sublime
quality of capture could be all yours for
alittle more money than the MAudio
2X2M. Check out the SOS review of its
bigger brother, the iD14, which uses the
same preamps and converters, here: www.
soundonsound.com/reviews/audientid14.
The Tascam US2x2 shares asimilar feature
set and price with the MTrack 2X2M. Its
sample rate only extends to 96kHz, but
it is iOS compatible and has slightly nicer
sounding preamps (to my ears). Further
information on the US2x2 can be found
in this review: www.soundonsound.com/
reviews/tascamus20x20.
MIDI in/out.
Supplied with two USB cables (USBA
to USBC; USBC), Cubase LE and AIR
plugin bundle (Creative FX Collection;
Xpand!; Strike; MiniGrand).
MTrack 2X2
As 2X2M above, except:
Two simultaneous inputs (one combi
mic/line input, one instrument input).
No MIDI in/out.
With so many twoinput audio interfaces
at this end of the market its often very
difficult to perceive any differences
between them, so this came as
apleasant surprise.
Conclusion
The two MTrack 2X2s exhibit astyle,
build and sound quality that sets them
ahead of most of the competition in
the evercrowded market of compact
audio interfaces. Putting aside quibbles
with unreported latency, at the time
of writing youd need to spend afair
bit more to find an audio interface
with similar specifications that would
outperform the 2X2s. At the price,
Id give the 2X2M model afirm
recommendation: the slightly higher
spend offers awise investment in regard
to dual microphone inputs and MIDI in/
out, negating the need to upgrade early
on or faff around with aUSB hub!
MTrack 2X2 79.99, MTrack 2X2M
99.99. Prices include VAT.

WW www.maudio.com
The Single Source

Pro-Audio Supplier
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Warehouse complex in NW
London with Free Car Parking
space for over 40 cars!
8000+ items in stock at our

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Our Trade Counter has now

been extended to include a
new demo area to test out
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www.studiospares.com | Tel: 020 8208 9930
ON TEST
4ms Dual Looping Delay

Eurorack Delay Module
he unambiguously named Dual

Looping Delay from 4ms consists of
two time-synced delays in asingle
20HP module. Other than acommon
clock source and some for-convenience
normalisation, the two delays (A& B) can
be treated as separate entities. Unusually,
each offers up to three minutes of delay/
loop time, although this is reduced if you
opt for 24-bit recording rather than the
default 16-bit (24-bit still gives ahealthy
88 seconds per channel). At 180mA
(+12V), the power requirements are only
atad higher than the majority of modules
Iown and still less than half the draw of,
say, aRoland Demora delay.
The impressive maximum time is the
first clue that this is no ordinary delay;
it doesnt simulate analogue tape and
change pitch when you alter the delay
time, nor does it have any built-in echo
degradation although if thats required,
youll appreciate the sends/returns for
patching in external filters or EQ. This
module is all about pristine quality, easy
synchronisation, evolving textures, long

loops and mysterious activities such
as Windowing [That was eventually
banned at my school Ed]. Although
sporting individual inputs and outputs
for each channel, those of channel
Aare normalised to B so you can hear
both in action using just asingle set of
ON TEST
MODULARMODULAR
connections. Its your choice whether to

use the sample-accurate internal clock and
tap the tempo with the Ping button, or to
pipe in an externalclock.
The DLD arrived running v3 of the
firmware and, after whetting my appetite
with cascading stereo delays for several
hours, Iattempted to install v5 (it
enables 24-bit recording, amongst other
enhancements). Unfortunately, Iwas
unable to awaken the DLDs boot loader
with my old Doepfer PSU2 power supply,
but once Iborrowed abeefier one, the
process was relatively simple. You play an
audio file into one of the inputs, it reboots
and the new features appear.
Should you wish to try 24-bit mode,
there are instructions on where and how
to attach ajumper to the main board.
Iremain dubious about its value, though,
given that 16-bit mode sounds so sweet
and clean. Amongst the other features
new in v5 are several de-jitter modes to
ensure the smoothest possible handling
of external clock but, for me, the most
important addition by far was Quantised
Change Mode. When enabled, it tames
interactions with Time, Reverse and
Infinite Hold, so when you use those
functions, they only kick in on the next
clock pulse rather than immediately. While
this is great for reining in some of the
chaos CV input can bring, it can render
manual panel operation rather sluggish
when using long Ping times.
Both delays are synchronised to
acommon Ping value, and each offers
three ranges for its Time knob, shown as
+16, = and 1/8th. At the switchs top
setting, 16 is added to every value shown,
while the lowest divides them into eighth
notes. You arent limited to the divisions
given either; by holding the Infinite Delay

button and turning Time, you slip into
Unquantised Time Mode where the knob
becomes fully variable.
Even with quantisation turned on, Ididnt
always find it easy to dial in exactly the
time division Iwanted with a17-position
knob (a value of 1.5 is slotted in for
dotted delay lovers). The smooth action
works well in Unquantised Time Mode
and further uses arise when driving the
clock input from an audio-rate source,
eg. asquare wave from aVCO. Pick an
eighthnote Time scale and the delay
itself enters the audio range, becoming
ripe for aplethora of Karplus-Strong
resonant delay effects (the Time knob
is now used for tuning). To further
enhance this function, the Time CV input
shifts its response to a1V/octave curve,
enabling you to play or sequence the
resonantdelays.
The other vital delay component,
Feedback, goes as high as 110 percent,
alevel with built-in boost to simulate
dub-style effects. At the 100 percent mark,
you enter an infinite loop in which the
delays never degrade or fade away. You
can keep adding audio to it though, either
from the regular input or the send input,
although naturally the loop will keep
getting louder (an internal soft-clipping
function prevents it getting too nasty).
On the surface, the Infinite Hold button
seems similar except that when it is
engaged, Feedback no longer works and
you cant add more to the loop. The loop
length is determined by the Time value
and heres where that Windowing function
comes in. While the loop plays, holding
the Infinite Hold button while turning
Feedback shifts the start and end points
ON TEST
MODULARMODULAR
of the loop. Further fun is had by reversing

playback or tweaking the clock source to
generate glitches and surprises galore.
To better understand where the surprises
come from, you need to appreciate that
the DLD records constantly to its memory
and that Windowing is likely to dig up
older material from beyond the initial loop
boundaries. If you apply CV to the time
or quickly toggle reverse youre in the
realm of shifted beats, ambient mulch or
even sudden silences if you havent been
recording very long.
Surely the DLDs most powerful feature
is its long recording time, and to test this
fully, youll need to set avery slow time
base. Dividing each channels maximum of
174 seconds by the greatest Time value
possible (32; ie. 16+16), youll realise
that atempo of 11 bpm is needed for
the longest single recording! Fortunately,
more practical tempi and aclock divider
work well too, so while not alooper in the
traditional sense, the DLD can produce
some spectacular looping grooves and
ambiences and of independent length
in each channel. To further exploit this,
individual clock outputs are available for
synchronisation to each loop.
It occurred to me how handy it would
be if the delays didnt have to use the
same base clock. Then Inoticed that
very feature had been added in v5 too!
Ping Lock allows you fix either channels
response to the current clock. All the
controls continue to be active, but theyre
based on the locked Ping time, rather than
the actual Ping time, which youre now
free to tweak. Its not as straightforward
as giving each channel aseparate clock
input, but its avaluable trick when you
need one channel for very short-delays
and the other for regular duties or even

long, looping soundscapes.
Despite hours of indulgent fun Ive
barely scratched the surface, yet even so,
summing up is easy. This is asuperb twin
delay module with enormous potential for
complex, evolving textures, long loops
and polyrhythmic pattern creation. It
provides multiple flavours of dualchannel
synced delay and is considerably deeper
than its friendly interface implies. Highly
recommended. Paul Nagle
359
WW www.4mspedals.com
ADDAC Marble Physics
Eurorack CV Control Module
ts always fun to discover modules

with adifferent slant on things. The
ADDAC503, or Marble Physics, is
aCV source that models the behaviour
of amarble on asquare tray. It generates
values for its X and Y coordinates and
for the marbles velocity. In addition,
atrigger is produced whenever it hits
the edge of the tray. Youre given manual
and voltage control over most aspects
of the simulation, including the speed,
tilt and the bounciness of the edges.
To discover why this could be musically
interesting, its worth starting with some
visual impressions of the motion via the
Java-based interactive guides on the
ADDAC web site. Theres no manual yet,
so this is the most direct way to get afeel
for whats going on under the covers.
Luckily, countless Friday afternoons
playing pool in my youth have given
me afair idea how spheres on aflat
surface behave. Its only asmall mental
leap to translate this motion into sound
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MODULARMODULAR
parameters or movement around

aroom. If you happen to be involved
in sound design for aquadrophonic or
5.1 system, the Marble Physics could be
instantly promoted from quirky novelty
to invaluable panning tool. Sticking with
the motion analogy amoment longer,
dynamic stereo sweeps are achievable by
temporarily locking the X axis, afeature
you can tie to incoming gate signals if
you wish. Having locked the motion,
Y-plane movements behave rather like
abouncing ball.
The marble starts to move as soon as you
tilt in any direction, but theres abump
trigger button to introduce nudges at
any time, their strength determined by
an adjacent knob. If you set knobs X and
Y in their 12 oclock positions, the tray is
totally flat and no motion is initiated, and
when elasticity is at its maximum value,
amoving marble will never stop. The only
visual feedback throughout is aseries
of red LEDs in the output section, but
these are still pretty informative, showing
bounce, velocity and so on. And if you opt
for bi-polar modulation, the LEDs offer
acue when the tipping point is reached.
By constantly tweaking the elasticity,
speed and X/Y tilts, the resulting motion
can be arapid trip to the nearest corner
or an erratic spinning orbit. And rather
than have to manually tilt and bump
to keep the ball rolling, you can let CV
do it instead. Theres aCV input for
every function, and as you patch in each
one, the relevant knob becomes an
attenuator for it.
With aspot of practice the Marble
Physics is far easier to use than to explain,
and if the effects it generates seem
nebulous, theyre also highly dependent
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MODULARMODULAR
on the modules you choose to control. As

one of my first patches, Ichanced across
amotion not unlike amanic bluebottle.
Iquickly roped in aMutable Instruments
Elements, turning the bounces into strikes,
the velocity into Brightness and the X/Y
outputs into other timbral modifiers. The
bounce action, in particular, can produce
an uncannily authentic feel for percussion
triggering, and it combines wonderfully
with velocity-driven harmonic modulation,
perhaps of plucked instruments to offer
another example.
I wont pretend Ialways guessed what
every option would produce prior to
patching, but Ireckon thats agood
thing. If ever there was amodule that
rewards experimentation, this is it! Tiny
adjustments in either tilt direction often
made ahuge difference and pretty soon
Iwas gaining fresh insights into modules
Ithought Iknew. Take the 4ms Dual
Looping Delay, as another example. It
spits out very freaky granular-type material
when its clock is driven from, say, the
bounce output and you simultaneously
modulate each delay time via the
X/Yvoltages.
As someone who failed ALevel physics
(but achieved high marks in beer and
pool), Im relieved it isnt vital to grasp the
underlying science to enjoy this module.
At its best the Marble Physics gives an
impression of being alive, which places
it in adifferent class from typical cyclic or
random sources of modulation. It supplies
movement, acceleration and dynamic
changes that somehow feel natural, even
when theyre defying gravity, flitting
around like amosquito or bouncing
eternally for no particular reason. If youre
in need of something genuinely original to
perk up your system, the ADDAC503 must

be worth alook. Paul Nagle
349
WW www.addacsystem.com
Qu-Bit Wave
Eurorack Sample Player Module
u-Bits Wave is presumably named

after the Wave (WAV) format
samples it plays up to four of
them at once. A4GB MicroSD card is
included, ready-populated with drum hits,
vocals, synths and sound effects, easily
enough to get you going. There are no
restrictions on the length of samples, only
the number: the Wave can address no
more than 64 mono samples.
This is amodule of Zen-like simplicity
and its four channels must be treated
completely separately, from their pitch
inputs to their respective audio jacks.
There isnt even amix output. And
although described as apolyphonic
sample player, the Wave lacks any built-in
voice assignment. You cant, for example,
play its channels sequentially from asingle
set of CV/Gate connections. Instead,
operation is pared down to the essentials
of sample triggering and transposition.
Spin apitch knob and the channels
sample is transposed by as much as two
octaves upwards, or down as deep as
four. At the knobs centre position, which
is easily located with anotch, playback
is without transposition. By connecting
akeyboard or sequencer, you can talk to
each channel chromatically via the V/oct
CV input (range: 0-5 V).
Whether initiated from an incoming gate
or manually via its white trigger button,
every sample is aone-shot that plays until
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MODULARMODULAR
the end. If triggered asecond time before

completion, it is restarted. It really doesnt
get much simpler than that!
After abrief peruse of the supplied
recordings, Ipopped the card out in
order to replace them with my own stuff.
Acard reader is necessary for this, of
course, but at least the required format
is straightforward: 16-bit mono, 44.1kHz
with no metadata included. Qu-Bit supply
aMac utility to perform the conversion
for you and there are options such as
Audacity for PC users. The manual lays
out the filenaming conventions and once
these were assimilated, Iset about filling
the (mostly-empty) card, beginning with
acouple of hour-long recordings, followed
by the usual percussion, synth basses and
snippets of movie dialogue. Then, out of
curiosity, Isplit acouple of finished tunes
into their left and right components and
copied them along with the rest. Triggering
this divided audio (panned appropriately)
was hugely rewarding and suggested that
the Wave could be aconvenient source of
long ambient effects or even complete
backing tracks! Prospective mimers must be
careful to hit those triggers simultaneously
and only once or the game is up!
The File knob or its CV input determines
which of the channels four samples can be
triggered. If you think four isnt very many
choices, Im inclined to agree. Even when
youve fully populated the card, you still
only have access to 16 samples at atime,
because thats the capacity of abank.
Switching banks involves holding down
acouple of buttons, waiting five seconds
then picking one of the four available. And
you can only load complete banks, which
means you must always replace the contents
of every channel. Ultimately, its aprocess
that feels rather clunky, mostly because it

forces you to decide about sample grouping
when copying to card, rather than at the
moment you want to use them.
Im in two minds about this module.
Icant deny the appeal of triggering up to
four highquality samples, playing them
chromatically and switching between them
using CV. Im seriously drawn to the idea
of loading up my meatiest hits, archive
nature recordings and specially prepared
material to feed into my modular effects
and audio processors. However, at the
price the shortcomings are hard to
dismiss. It seems ashame that sample
switching is limited to just four per
channel. Having atotal of 64 samples
on card isnt bad, but these would have
stretched so much further with user
control over the start time. Paul Nagle
419
WW www.qubitelectronix.com
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Made in Denmark
INSIDE TRACK
Secrets Of The
Mix Engineers:
David Reitzas
Photo by Damon Gramont

INSIDE TRACK
DAVID REITZAS BARBRA STREISAND
The making of Barbra Streisands latest hit album offers

awindow into the unique philosophy of hitmaking producer
and engineer David Reitzas.
PAUL TINGEN
absolutely love what Ido,

says David Reitzas. When Iam
in astudio, Im in an incredibly
beautiful environment, with great gear,
sitting in front of fantastic speakers.
Idont take working in astudio for
granted for asecond. To me the most
valuable thing is to be in astudio and use
my 30 years of experience in using every
tool that Ihave to try and help an artist
realise their vision, whether its Barbra
Streisand or Chris Cornell or the Weeknd.
Iget akick out of working with people,
and it doesnt have to be with the biggest
artist in the world, it could be anyone
who is serious about making agreat
record. Ijust really enjoy the process of
making records.
Reitzas is talking from Westlake
Studio E, where he spends alot of his
time. As one of the worlds foremost
engineers and mixers, Reitzas has alot to
be proud of. His credit list is awash with
household names, ranging from Guns
N Roses to Madonna, from Cline Dion
to Whitney Houston, and his work has
earned him four Grammy Awards and an
Emmy Award. Hes arguably best known
for his work with Barbra Streisand,
which began in 1993 when he was an
engineer on Streisands 26th studio album
BackToBroadway.
This album was produced by David
Foster and Andrew Lloyd Webber, just
two of the many legendary studio names
Reitzas has worked with; others include
Tommy LiPuma, Mutt Lange, Phil Ramone,

Arif Mardin, William Orbit and Walter
Afanasieff. His most influential mentor
was Foster, with whom he worked with
exclusively from 1987 to 1994, and on
numerous projects since, clocking up
credits like Whitney Houston, Natalie
Cole, Michael Bolton, and, of course,
Cline Dion and Barbra Streisand.
Foster: Father Figure

When ayoung David Reitzas travelled
to Los Angeles in 1984, he did not have
astudio career in mind. Reitzas grew
up in Massachusetts, where he took an
engineering class at Bristol Community
College, and studied music at the
At The Ballet
Written by Marvin Hamlisch and

Edward Kleban
Produced by Walter Afanasieff and
Barbra Streisand
INSIDE TRACK
University of Rhode Island and Bostons

Berklee School Of Music. His plan was to
blitz LA for the technical knowledge he
needed, then return to Massachusetts
and make it big as arock & roll drummer.
After arriving in LA, Reitzas worked his
way up from tape-op to assistant at
Cherokee Studios, Sound City, and finally
at Rumbo Studio, where he had the good
fortune to assist producer Mike Clink in
the making of Guns N Roses Appetite
For Destruction (1987).
Clink recommended the young
engineer to David Foster, and Reitzas has
remained in LA ever since. Reitzas went
independent in 1995, and participated
in the making of classic albums such as
Natalie Coles Unforgettable (1991), Frank
Sinatras Duets (1993), Whitney Houstons
The Bodyguard (1992), Cline Dions The
Colour Of My Love (1993), Madonnas Ray
Of Light (1996), Shakiras Laundry Service
(2001), Josh Grobans Closer (2003), Seals
Soul (2008), and the Weeknds Beauty
Behind The Madness (2015).

Theres also the small matter of Reitzas
playing acentral role in the making of an
impressive 18 Barbra Streisand albums
and all of her live recordings and mixing
since her return to the stage in 1994. This
number includes Streisands latest album,
Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway.
Her 36th studio album, Encore was
released in August and reached number
one in the US, the UK and Australia. It was
Streisands 11th number one album in the
US, putting her behind only the Beatles
and Jay-Z in the all-time list.
Point Of Departure
On her previous studio album, Partners
(2014), Streisand had partnered up with
more prototypical singers, like Michael
Bubl, Andrea Bocelli, and even Elvis
Presley (using a1956 vocal recording),
but for the mixture of dialogue and
singing on Encore, Streisand opted
to work with amore motley crew of
actors and even comedians, not all of
them known for their singing, amongst
them Anne Hathaway, Hugh Jackson,
Melissa McCarthy, Antonio Banderas,
Chris Pine and Jamie Foxx. The album
was produced by Streisand with Walter
Afanasieff, who, along with William Ross,
took care of the musical arrangements,
which feature afull orchestra and aband.
David Reitzas once again brought his
considerable experience to the recording
and mixingcontrols.
Reitzas: Walter started in the Summer
of 2015 by making instrumental demos
for anumber of the songs. He does this
at his studio, WallyWorld, which is avery
nice home studio above his garage, where
he has aPro Tools Icon, Pro Tools HD, as
INSIDE TRACK
well as Logic. My involvement started not

long afterwards with me going to Barbras
house and recording some of the dialogue
parts for anumber of the songs. That
was the early stages of creating akind
of dialogue road-map. She performed

all the parts of the female vocals, and
Walter or her husband [James Brolin] did
the male vocal parts. Barbra has her own
microphone, aBlue Neumann M49, and
Never Finished
David Reitzas constantly adjusted his
mixes in response to feedback from
Barbra Streisand, to the point where
he was even receiving mix notes from
the singer three weeks after Encores
release! Barbra is still listening to the
album alot because Sirius XM created
aBarbra Streisand channel for the month
of September. Unfortunately, Sirius
Radio sounds pretty dreadful compared
to the high-quality masters that she
worked so hard on. Shell listen to the

CD in the car and love it, then shell hear
asong on Sirius and she hates the way
it sounds. So its important for her to
let me know how shes reacting to our
work and to create areference point for
next time, when she can say, Remember
the last time how the orchestra was
too low through the satellite radio,
so this time lets raise the orchestra
tocompensate.
INSIDE TRACK
Ibring my Mag PREQ4,

Mag EQ4, aTube-Tech
CL1B compressor,
aBricasti M7 reverb, and
my laptop with Pro Tools.
Ialso brought my wireless
AudioTechnica AE5400,
so Barbra could use that
while sitting in the room
with me, Walter, Jim, and
Jay Landers, and not have
to be in front of amic
stand all the time.
At this point we were
working with Walters demos for us to
start to figure out the arrangements.
Walter did most of the demos with his
main engineer Tyler Gordon, and Bill Ross
also did some at his Momentum Studio
with Mary Webster. The process is that
Iload their demos as audio into Pro Tools.
Ispend time with these demos, making
them sound as good as Ican, so we can
keep building the songs and figuring out
the arrangement while we record vocals.
Sometimes we would build ademo
before we knew who was going to sing

on the song, so once it was decided who
was going to sing on it, we had to work
out the keys that are best for the singer
or singers, which meant that we might
have to replace awhole section in the
demo, using adifferent key and with
new transitions to get to that key. The
arrangements are constantly evolving,
and Walter and Bill later in their studios
changed the MIDI to match the changes
Imade to the audio.
INSIDE TRACK
Sing Up
The next stage in the making of Encore
was for the company to start recording
the actual vocals, both dialogue and
singing. Most of the vocal recordings took
place at Woodshed Recording in Malibu,
agorgeous studio with ahomely interior
full of wood, and spectacular views of the
surrounding hills and the Pacific. There
are many YouTube videos that show
Streisand in sessions with the various
vocal performers at this exceptionally
photogenic place, directing them,
coaxing good performances out of them,
and trying out new things.
According to Reitzas, the vocal sessions
there started on February 12th, 2016 (his
birthday), and continued off and on over
the next couple of months. The first
session was with Jamie Foxx and Barbra
singing Climb Every Mountain. Following
that we recorded At The Ballet, Loving
You, Pure Imagination, Losing My Mind

and Who Can ITurn To?, the duet with
the late Anthony Newley. Irecorded most
of the duet partners with aNeumann
U47, going through aNeve 1272, and
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INSIDE TRACK
that was it, no compression or EQ on the

way in. For Melissa McCarthy only, Iused
an Audio-Technica AT4060 with custom
tubes that Ive had fitted. Singers usually
sang using AudioTechnica ATH-M50
headphones, which Barbra and Ilike to
use, apart from Seth McFarlane who used
his iPhone earbuds. For monitoring, the
singers had control of the overall level
and talkback. We spent alot of time on
the vocals, trying them one day, picking
the best ideas, trying them again another
day, and so on, until we felt comfortable
with the most honest readings.
In between sessions Iwould not only
be reviewing vocals, but Id also be
editing Walters or Bills demos, working
on their next sets of demos, and also
rough mixing so we could keep track
of our progress. Idid most of the vocal

reviewing at Barbras place with her, and
also spent alot of time at my house,
which Icall The Chandelier Room, with
my M50 headphones or my Genelec
8320 monitors. Ibrought either the
Genelec 8351s or the 8320s with me as
my monitors throughout the record. They
have the SAM calibration system, which
made it possible to have an accurate,
consistent sound wherever Iwent. At this
point Iwas working 100 percent in the
box, and Ipurposely kept my sessions
with as few plug-ins as possible, so that
Iwould not have any problems when
Iwould go to adifferent studio. For
example, we later also recorded Alec
Baldwins and Hugh Jackmans vocals
in New York at MSR, and we monitored
Demons In The Demos

The demos that arrangers and
composers are now able to create make
our lives easier and more difficult at the
same time, opines David Reitzas. We
used to spend alot of time working
out the arrangements, the dynamics,
the speeding up and slowing down,
key changes, tempos, pauses, while
recording the orchestra. But now we
start with the demos, and then alot
of technical stuff goes into adding real
musicians to these demos, and making it
sound like everything just came together
naturally. It can become avery technical
exercise for me, but the main vision
that supersedes everything is to make it
sound beautiful and real.
Because Walters demos are so good,
Ioften end up keeping both the live
orchestra and rhythm section recordings
as well as the demo sounds in the final
mix. However, during the recordings for

Encore the players were not listening
to the demo parts. Instead Bill Ross
conducted the orchestra using movie
streamers to keep in time with the score,
rather than using aclick. This means
that Ilater have to go in and line up the
demo sounds to the real players, or vice
versa. Also, because Walters orchestral
mock-ups are so good, Barbra often asked
why we needed to replace them with
areal orchestra. Actually, on one of the
songs, Anything You Can Do, we did use
the demo as the final. We had asession
booked with real musicians, but we ended
up keeping the demo because it just
sounded so good. Idid an early rough mix
of the demo of Anything You Can Do,
with real horns arranged and played by
Chris Walden, and when Barbra and Jay
heard it, they said: Cancel the session!
INSIDE TRACK
Chris Pines vocals from Angel Studios

and Antonio Banderass vocals from
AIR Studios in London. Knowing that
throughout the project Iwould be using
various Pro Tools systems, Ididnt want
to waste any time on making each system
compatible with multiple plug-ins, or by
making my rough mixes too good and
hard to beat later on.
that Idid three weeks ago. Or shell

suddenly want to add anew interpretation
of adialogue line. Itake pride in being
able to do those things, and quickly. Ive
worked with Barbra for nearly 25 years,
and she has taught me so much about
making records. She has been singing,
acting, directing, and producing for six
decades, so there is alot to learn from her.
Almost Final
The vocal recordings had been tracked
to Afanasieffs and Rosss orchestral
mock-ups, which were continuously
adapted to the vocal recordings until
final arrangements were in place for
the live orchestra and rhythm tracking
sessions. Those took place for 10 of
the songs over three days in early April
2016 at the Barbra Streisand Scoring
Stage at Sony Pictures Studios, with
engineers Dave and Matt Ward, and for
the few remaining songs on one day in
mid May at the Newman Scoring Stage
at Fox Studios, with Dave Ward and
Armin Steiner. Reitzas explained that
during these sessions they recorded
the orchestra and the rhythm section at
the same time, through the desk, using
acombination of close and ambient
mics. Of course, it made sense to wait
until the demo arrangements were
100percent finished before embarking
on costly orchestra sessions but when
working with Streisand, you can never say
youre finished...
Everything can be turned upside down
on aBarbra record at any moment,
explained Reitzas. She will have finished
her vocal, and by the time you start or
even finish amix she might say: You
know what, Iwant to go back to aversion
David Reitzas: We could

be ready for mastering, and
Barbra might have an idea
to sing adifferent melody,
so Ineed to be able to at
any moment replace or add
avocal part that fits with the
other vocals in the box.
Many years ago Isaid to her, in a humble
sort of way that if you can imagine it, I can
do it. Knock on wood, this has worked
so far. Ithink the longevity of our working
relationship stems from the willingness to
meet her ideas head on. She has some
of the most creative, sometimes crazy
requests, and people before me would
tell her: No, you cant do that. Ilearned
very early on that you dont tell Barbra
that you cant do something, because if
she has afeeling or an idea or thinks that
something can be done in adifferent way,
then it is possible, even if it might take
alot of creative outside the box thinking
or studio magic.
For example, there were acouple of
times where she had avocal idea that she
had recorded into her iPhone. Iwould
INSIDE TRACK
put these ideas in the session as markers

so we could later record those ideas
properly on her microphone, but when
we later tried to re-record some of those
ideas, she was like: No, Ilike my reading
of what Idid on the iPhone better, so
lets just use that. So you have to make it
work. There are different techniques that
you can apply. Obviously you use things
like EQ and compression, or maybe you
put acymbal roll right before or after to
try to trick the ear into not noticing or
focusing on the sonic differences of the
part Iam trying to keep in there from the
phone recording.
Another example was dealing with the
spoken word of Bradley Cooper, who
played the part of the director in At The
Ballet. We had tried Walter and then her
husband speaking the part. Then Barbra
had agreat idea to see if Bradley Cooper
wanted to give it atry, and at the very last
minute, after Ihad practically mixed the
song, she contacted Bradley Cooper. He
recorded his voice on his iPhone and sent
that to us. The directors part in this song

has to sound as if hes speaking via aPA
from the middle of the audience seats
to the actors on stage, so actually the
low-quality iPhone recording ended up
working fine. Iended up using McDSPs
Revolver plug-in for the PA effect and
Barbra loved it. As an example of the
ever-changing arrangements, after we
had inserted Bradleys lines into the song,
Barbra felt the flow of the piece alittle
bit differently, so we had to change the
tempo of the orchestra in afew spots and
go back to one of the earlier orchestra
takes to find some chords that were
alittle bit longer to replace what was
there, to give it the feel that Barbra heard
in her head.
The Style Edit

Reitzas didnt only repeatedly edit
instrumental sections in sometimes great
detail, but also prides himself on his vocal
editing. Ihave along history of working
on vocals and helping artists deliver great
INSIDE TRACK
vocal performances. This started in the

80s on analogue tape by the side of
David Foster, and exploded in the early
90s when Ibegan using the Sony 3348
[digital 48-track tape machine], which
almost literally made my career, because
of what the built-in sampler allowed me to
do. The things David and Ihad done with
the AMS 1580 loading stuff into it from
analogue tape, treating it, and then flying
it back onto tape Icould do internally
with the 3348s on-board stereo sampler,
but much faster and with more accuracy.
Obviously, working with Pro Tools has

made these things even easier to do
for Reitzas, although he asserts that the
DAW is adouble-edged sword, enabling
an unwillingness to commit that is
characteristic of the modern recording
process. For example, in the past,
Iwould record afull, 80-piece orchestra
on 15 tracks at the most, even if Ihad
more than 50 microphones. But today
its one microphone per track. In the old
days you just kept recording until it was
right, and you didnt do as much fixing.
David Reitzas: With Barbra, from the first note we record to

the very end, Iam gathering information to help me make
decisions in the mix. Without that information Ican still mix,
but it is not as satisfying to me.
Iread the manual in every spare moment
that Ihad, and also figured out how to do
things that were not in the manual. Iwas
able to grab things with the sampler, and
fly around vocals and move them where
needed, punch them in with crossfades,
or lay back avocal 10-15ms if it felt alittle
rushed, and so on. Ieven replaced drums
with samples using an external trigger.
Icould digitally improve an artists vocals
even before they knew it could be done,
way before Pro Tools or Auto-Tune were in
the picture. Artists like Madonna, Whitney
Houston and Cline Dion were just afew
that fell in love with my abilities to do
that, and its also how Istrengthened my
relationship with Barbra. Also, working
side by side with Walter Afanasieff over
the past 20 years has taught me an
abundance of record-making knowledge.
Hesagenius!
Now you do tons of different takes,

and end up with layers and layers of
multiple takes, sometimes running into
track counts in the thousands on these
orchestral sessions. It takes alot of time
and patience these days to sort through
everything and create afinal take in
amore manageable session.
Many engineers make notes to help
keep track of whats what, but
amazingly Reitzas prefers to keep
it all in his head. Idont take tons of
notes. Instead, Iremember. Ihave an
assistant at the studio, but when Iwork
with [Streisand] at her house or when Iam
working at my house on my own, Ihave
to have agood memory. Icome from the
old school of making records on tape
where you had to visualise everything that
was recorded on the tape. No looking
at waveforms or grids. Itry to apply that
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same visualisation technique even when using aDAW.

With Encore we were in asituation where Walter was
busy at his place doing demos, Bill Ross was doing
demos at his studio, and Iwas working with Barbra, and
also coordinating the different camps. To collect all the
different changes that were emailed to us throughout
the day, every day, and keep everything organised and
maintain aclear vision in my head of what was what was
amonumental task. Icontinuously need to keep track of
all the changes that we are making with the possibility
that things might change at any moment.
Mixes: The Rough &The Smooth

Ever since the recordings started in earnest in February,
Reitzas had not only been recording, editing, comping,
and whatnot, but also making rough mixes, working
entirely in the box. At the end of May and early June,
with all the material recorded, or so he thought, Reitzas
went to his favourite hide-out, Westlake Studio E in
Hollywood, and mixed 13 songs over the course of
six days. However, these mixes were once again just
another phase in an ever-changing process, because
they were not intended as the final mixes. Reitzas had
by now whittled down all 13 sessions to approximately
192 tracks each, but needed to get these sessions
down to more concise and manageable sessions before
going out to tweak the final mixes with Streisand.
For each song, he sent the instruments in the session
through the studios 72-input SSL 9072 J Series desk to
condense them to 4050 stereo stem tracks.
Id like to stress that Idont consider myself amixer,
although Ido mix records, says Reitzas. Instead Ithink
that my greatest talent is to be arecord-maker for the
artist. Ive long had the opportunity to lock out aroom
and just become amixer, but Ihave always shied away
from that, because to me the most valuable thing is
when you sit with an artist making arecord, and you get
to see what they like and dont like. All the information
that Igather while recording helps me to mix arecord.
With Barbra, from the first note we record to the very
end, Iam gathering information to help me make
decisions in the mix. Without that information Ican
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INSIDE TRACK
still mix, but it is not as satisfying to me,

because Ilike mixing through the mind of
my artist. Once in awhile Iget lucky, like
with the song Imixed for the Weeknd,
Earned It, which was aquick one-day
mix, in which Idid not really have much
time to really think about it or spend
any time learning from the artist. It was
amatter of just doing it and making it feel
great, using gut instinct. That is something
that Ican look at and be proudof.
Another Reitzas quick mix that did
more than OK was Whitney Houstons
1992 super-hit I Will Always Love You,
which became the seventh best-selling
single of all time, selling 20 million copies
worldwide. In his autobiography, Hit Man,
David Foster describes how he asked
Reitzas to do apassable rough mix
to show the record company what they
were up to, and how, despite Fosters
protestations, Aristas Clive Davis insisted
on releasing Reitzass rough.
If one of my rough mixes ends up
being really good, it usually is when Iam
not using my brain that much, so it is all
coming from the heart and from instinct,
and Iam not thinking: Oh, this is going
to be afinal mix. Ilike to keep things
spontaneous and instinctive in general,
and for this reason Idont use templates
when Irecord or mix. When Istart up
asession, Ialways open up brand-new
plug-ins for each track depending on
what my instinct thinks could improve
the sound, including reverbs. Ill build
from zero, and similarly, although
there are some things that Igravitate
towards in mixing, Itreat every mix as
abrand-newentity.
The reason is that Iwant people to feel
something new when they are hearing
asong that Imixed. Of course Iwant to

make it sound great, but Ialso want to
almost take the listeners hand and walk
them through the mix and say: Listen
to this, and then listen to this, and then
listen to that. Iam building an emotional
path for the listener to follow. At the
same time Ialso want there to be enough
clarity in the mix for the listener to have
the luxury of listening to any other part
of the song. That is how Iapproach my
mixing, and it is universal for every genre
of music that Iwork on.
Because of my focus on feeling and
performance while mixing, Istill like
to mix on adesk. When using adesk
Iactually mix with my eyes closed 90
percent of the time, because when youre
looking at ascreen, you may get things
technically right as youre punching in
numbers, but Iprefer to have everything
at my fingertips and to play and feel the
mix to where Iwant it to be. Imay have
an idea and reach over to execute it with
one hand while Im doing something else
with my other hand. On aconsole Im
mixing in real time, with instant feedback
from my touches. Its not amatter of:
make achange, go back, listen to it, save,
listen again.
Itry to get my mixes to sound
really good on aconsole, first without
automation, and then the real magic
happens when Istart to ride the dynamics
of asong on the faders. Iuse alot of
automation: in the box before the session
hits the console, on the console, and again
with the 50-track stem session for the final
two-mix with Barbra. But Iget the most
bang-for-the-buck automation from the
console because Im touching the faders
and using the console as an instrument.
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Mixing At Grandmas
The final stemmixing process, with
Reitzas mixing these 50-odd tracks and
the vocals in the box down to stereo,
took place in arather more unusual
environment. In the case of Barbras
records, when Im working on the
console Iknow Im not doing the final
mix, because Istill have to go to her
place, which she calls Grandmas House,
and together with her Ill mix down
the vocals and the 40 or 50 stems that
Ihave printed. Ido this final mix just in
aroom at her house, without any acoustic
treatments, with one speaker half-hidden
behind apiano, so Idont really get that
sitting-between-the-speakers vibe.
As you can see in the photo, mixing
at Grandmas House takes place in an
ordinary wood-panelled sitting room,
with David Reitzas laptop sitting on alow
table on wheels, not even close to the
sweet spot between the two monitor

speakers. When mixing Partners there,
Reitzas used Streisands two white-grilled
Genelec 1031s, but for Encore he
replaced them with his own Genelec
8351s. But why make his life sodifficult?
At one stage in 2002, Iwas mixing
arecord at astudio in LA and she would
listen to my mixes in Grandmas House
in real time through EdNet [ISDN lines
to the house]. She kept saying that
there was too much reverb, and Iwas
puzzled because it sounded OK to me.
Ikept making the mix dryer and she
kept complaining about the reverb.
When Iwent to her house the next day,
Inoticed that the sound was coming
through aSony receiver that allowed
you to add your own reverb, which
someone had accidentally set to add
extra reverb. So she wasnt hearing things
accurately. Asimilar thing happened with
her listening to the small stereo in her
INSIDE TRACK
bathroom and saying that the mix had

too much bass. Again, it had accidentally
been set to boost the bass. Irealised that
Ineeded to know what she was actually
listening to, and so in 2002 Idecided to
take the plunge and mix everything down
to stems and then go to her house to
mix these stems using Pro Tools, with her
sitting by my side.
Reitzas adds that it was at the same
point that he switched from using the
3348 to Pro Tools, because it obviously
was not practical to regularly wheel
ahuge tape recorder and desk in and
out of Streisands house. When Imix
down to 50-odd stem tracks at Westlake,
Iget the mix sounding really good, in
the process using my outboard gear and
also finally adding quite afew plug-ins.
Iknow the mix has gone though agood
console, good outboard, and Ive heard it
in an acoustically treated room with good
speakers. So when Iopen up that stem
session at Barbras, Iknow that no matter
how it sounds there, it sounds right in the
studio. Even though were finalising in
anon-studio environment, Itrust that the
elements that Iam working with are right.
Also, because Barbra and Ihave been
working in that room for many years, we
know what it should sound like there.
Plus, we always make CD references to
listen to in other places and the car.
Besides just my Pro Tools setup, Ialso
take some outboard with me to Barbras,
like my Bricasti M7, Tube-Tech CL1B
compressor, my NTI EQ3s or Mag EQ4s,
and my Audio-Technica headphones. She
sits to my right, and occasionally Ill move
to the middle, where she normally sits, so
Ican get the in-between-the-speakers vibe.
Its pretty cool to work on her records in
this space, and the food is the best ever!

If you can make it sound good there, then
you can make it sound good anywhere. Its
like David Foster was saying: you have to
do the best with what you have.
Also, theres one more stage after
Barbra and Ido the final mixes at her
house, which is mastering. Idid the
mastering with Adam Ayan at Gateway
Mastering in Maine, and was there with
my laptop with the stem sessions ready
to make any necessary changes. We listen
intently, taking notes on what we think
can improve the sound of the record. If we
find that the bass levels need adjustment,
or we feel avocal needs to come up abit,
instead of EQing the stereo mix, Igo
back into the stems and bring the bass
down there or make the change to the
vocal. Im mastering at Barbras insistence,
because this is our last chance to get
everything just the way she wants.
Ballet Shoes
At The Ballet, atrack from the 1985
musical AChorus Line, is both Encores
opener and first single. At seven and a
half minutes, it is by far the longest song
on the album, and the only one that
features three vocalists: in addition to
Streisand, also Anne Hathaway and the
very British-sounding actress Daisy Ridley,
known for playing Rey in Star Wars:
TheForce Awakens.
In addition, adds Reitzas, At The
Ballet was the only song that Imixed at
Westlake and didnt tweak at Barbras
house with her, because it was released
more than two months before the album,
as ateaser track. Istill went through the
process of mixing through the console
to stems, but we communicated over the
INSIDE TRACK
phone and through email on making any

changes she wanted before signing off on
the mix. The other odd thing about that
track was that because the dialogue is
about three dancers auditioning on stage
for aBroadway play, Barbra wanted it to
sound like arehearsal band playing in an
orchestra pit. That was quite achallenge
for me, because Ihad to make it sound
as if it were performed by aBroadway
rehearsal band and not by the best
session musicians but we had Vinnie
Colaiuta on drums, Chuck Berghofer on
bass and Dean Parks on guitar, recorded
in aworld-class LA recording studio! So
in that sense, the mix was intentionally
made not to sound too polished,
and Ipurposely did much less fancy
processing on Vinnies drums than Iwould
have done on any other song.
The Condensed Version

In other respects, Reitzass mix process for
At The Ballet was pretty much the same
as that for the other songs. As described
above, he edited and condensed
thousands of recorded tracks which
included takes of the three vocalists
talking and singing, the orchestral and
band recordings and the demo recordings
to about 192 tracks, which he then
mixed to both astereo reference mix and
to his usual 50-odd track stem session.
After receiving feedback, he made his mix
tweaks using the latter.
You might ask whether using aconsole
complicates the entire mix process,
given that the mixes start and end in the
box. Using the desk is also about the
sonics, replies Reitzas, and with that
the gear that Iuse, ie. the console, and
my outboard, in particular the reverbs.
For example, my Bricasti M7 is my go-to

reverb: it is the most beautiful, most
natural reverb that Iuse. The outboard
Iused on the mix of At The Ballet
included the SPL Vitalizer, the SPL
Stereo Q, and the Spatializer Retro on
the orchestra; the NTI EQ and the dbx
160X compressor on the piano, the GML
EQ on the woodwinds, aSummit EQ on
the horns, aTube-Tech EQPE1C on the
bass, and my Mag EQ2 on the guitar.
Nothing too fancy, and very little if any
compression on most sounds, since my
dynamics come from automation. As
things go through the console and Ifeel
something needs atouch of EQ, Ijust
usethe console.
Most of my ambience comes from the
Bricasti, an AMS reverb, or my Eventide
DSP4000. Ialso have aTC M5000
that Iused alittle bit for some deeper
ambience. To bring the drums out on
other songs Iusually put them through
the SPL Transient Designer. Iprint the
stems one by one back into the same
Pro Tools session, going through my SPL
Passeq EQ and my SPL Iron Compressor.
Every stem goes through that chain.
The vocals dont go through the
console, because they can change at any
minute. We could be ready for mastering,
and Barbra might have an idea for
adifferent melody or spoken-word line,
so Ineed to be able to at any moment
replace or add avocal part that fits
with the other vocals in the box. In the
case of At The Ballet Ialso didnt steer
the drums through the desk, because
Iwanted them to sound raw. After Ive
recorded all the stems back into the
session, Iwill clean up the session, hiding
all the original tracks, spreading out my
INSIDE TRACK
stems, and Ill leave the vocals, and in

the case of At The Ballet the drums,
astheywere.
Sends & Sensibility

David Reitzass Pro Tools sessions are
clearly laid out and named. The 192 track
pre-mix session of At The Ballet has
aMaster FX track at the top, followed
by his rough stereo mix track, and
then aseries of aux tracks for strings,
woodwinds, horns, percussion, piano,

drums, more percussion, guitar and bass.
The aux tracks are, said Reitzas, to allow
him to make quick adjustments to entire
instrument tracks, instead of VCA tracks.
Below the aux tracks are the vocal tracks,
atrumpet aux, three tracks for the
orchestra tune-up and people chatting
noise at the beginning, temporary reverb
tracks from the AIR Reverb and UAD
EMT 250 reverb, and aBricasti M7 reverb
INSIDE TRACK
print track for each vocal. Below this are

all the instrumental tracks, starting with
orchestra ambient, strings, violas, celli,
basses, woodwinds, horns, percussion,
drums, piano, synth celeste, acoustic bass
and electric guitar.
The stem session is, naturally, far more
simple, and consists of, from top to
bottom: master effects, final mix, an All
Music VCA and an All Vocals VCA, aux
tracks each for Streisand, Hathaway and
Ridley, alead audio track for each of the
three singers, four background vocal
tracks, aBricasti track for each of the
singers, aBradley Cooper aux track and
three audio tracks for him. Below this
are the stem tracks: strings, woodwinds,
horns each with adouble called
Synth, from the original demo version
harp, percussion, piano, harpsichord,
acoustic bass, electric guitar, synth harp,
timpani, Walla (the ambient noises at the
beginning of the track), and then drums,
as separate tracks, and finally Reitzass
two temporary reverb tracks.
The striking thing about both the premix
and the stem session is how few plug-ins
there are. His 192-premix session for
At The Ballet has aD send on only 14
of the instruments, all coming from the
demo, which goes to an aux effects track
with the Avid AIR Reverb, while the snare
top has asend to an
aux track with the
UAD EMT 250 reverb.
Theres also aWaves
Renaissance Bass
on an insert of the
acoustic bass track,
and, er, thats it on
150-odd tracks.
The three singers are
also very minimally treated, with the Avid

EQ1 high-pass filter, Waves Renaissance
Vox and Renaissance Compressor on
each of them, and an additional EQ7 on
Streisands vocal. Bradley Coopers aux
track has the aforementioned McDSP
Revolver, as well as aWaves Renaissance
Axx. The strings, woodwinds and horns
auxes also have asend to the AIR Reverb,
and the piano, drums, and guitar auxes
have asend to the EMT effect aux.
The Master FX track has the Brainworx
BX_hybrid equaliser, and thatsit.
Fancy Trim
The stem session has alittle more
processing, but agrand total of 36
plug-ins on the inserts of a50-track
session is still pretty minimal, especially
as 15 of them are on the three vocalists.
Reitzas highlights afew of the more
important plug-ins: Although each of
the singers has the same vocal chain
McDSP FilterBank, Mag EQ4,
Waves Renaissance Vox, UAD LA2,
UAD Precision De-esser that chain
is actually unique to this session. The
McDSP FilterBank gets rid of low-end
rumble on all three vocals. On Barbras
vocals the Mag EQ4 adds some 2.5kHz
to help it cut through and 10kHz for
some air. Its my go-to EQ, as it has five
INSIDE TRACK
bands plus an air band of really musical

frequencies. Ilike using the Renaissance
Vox on vocals, but Idont normally use
the LA2. Here its doing just 1dB of
compression, which made me feel good.
The de-esser is working very subtly. These
plug-ins would have different settings on
each of the vocal tracks. The vocals also
still have the send to my temporary AIR
Reverb, and below the vocals you can
see three Bricasti M7 print tracks, one for
each vocal.
In addition, the Percussion stem
has aRenaissance Axx, which Ilike
to use if Iwant some more oomph
or more level. Iwill put the attack as
slow as it goes, and Ill then move the
threshold to get alittle bit more gain
out of something without changing
my automation. Iguess you could say
it is afancy trim knob. The acoustic
bass stem has the Waves Renaissance
Bass, and the 6 send is aMcDSP 6030
Ultimate Compressor. The harpsichord

stem has aRenaissance Axx. There are
again various D sends, once again
going to my temporary AIR reverb,
which Iprobably ended up using.
The drum aux has the UAD Studer
A800, and the 5 send again goes to
the EMT effect aux. Irolled off alittle
bit of the low-end on the kick with the
FilterBank, the snare top has the Mag
EQ4, and the hat has the Massenburg
MDWEQ5, boosting at 7kHz. Finally, my
Master FX track at the top has my stereo
chain, which consisted of the Brainworx
BX_hybrid, and iZotopes Ozone 7, and
the stereo mix gets printed on the track
below. Its nice if your record is loud and
competitive with other records, but in
general Idont like to use compression
alot. Itry to get as much level as Ican
using the dynamics in the mix, ie.
pushing faders and carefully massing
volumerides.
INSIDE TRACK
Becoming The Perfect Engineer

Ill tell you afunny story, says David
Reitzas. After Id worked on some
hit albums with David Foster, he was
in the middle of adivorce and we had
to quickly move out of the beautiful
studio in his house, which had abig
console, marble floors, acoustically
treated rooms, and so on. Instead we
moved into agarage with sheet rock and
drywall, no sound treatment, and no air
conditioning. One day the gardener was
outside with his leafblower and there
were mosquitos flying around the room.
Istarted to get bitchy and complained
to David, How are we supposed

to make agreat record in these
conditions? He looked me straight in
the eye and said: Listen, Idont need
you to complain. If you cant make the
best in any given situation, then Idont
want you here. It hit me like abrick,
and Iimmediately understood: this is
why this guy is who he is. If you cant do
the best with what you have, you wont
getanywhere.
The comment galvanised Reitzas in his
pursuit of perfection. We all strive for
perfection, but what Ive learned is that
INSIDE TRACK
from amusical perspective, perfection

does not mean things being perfect
according to agrid or afrequency. Its
about getting the perfect performance,
even if it is alittle shaky, or alittle bit
out of tune. The most important thing is
recognising when something is the best
that it can be. David [Foster] has agreat
talent for that. Somebody might sing
averse, and 95 percent of it would be
pretty bad, but if there was five percent
that was magical he recognised it right
away, and that is what he focused on,
and he would encourage the singer to
give more of that.
David has such agreat sense of music,
and personal skills, and work ethic. He
also taught me alot about timing and
pitch. Iremember amoment during
the first couple of months when we
were working together, and we were
tuning avocal with an AMS DMX 1580.
He was knocking it up afew cents
here and there, and Icouldnt hear any
difference with what he was doing.
But now, after having spent so many
years in the studio and training myself,
Ican hear how timing increments in
milliseconds and pitch increments in
cents can make aworld of difference in
how aperformance evokes adifferent
emotional response.
But once again, its not about whats
perfect from atechnical point of view,
its about what feels good. Ihave been
fortunate to work with studio royalty,
and Irecall sitting in aroom with Phil
Ramone on one side and David on the
other side, and Igot to witness how
great people can hear things completely
different. One person might say that
atake is alittle too late, and the other
might say that it felt alittle early or
rushed. Spending time with Mutt Lange

also was alesson in feel, focusing all the
time on what would bring out the most
emotion in the listener, on how to move
the listener.
While musical performances are
all about feel, from an engineering
perspective, technical perfection is
apriority. Reitzas takes a lot of pride
in not making mistakes. When Imade
amistake in my younger days, Id go
home at night and Iwould not go to
sleep until Ihad figured out why Ihad
made that mistake, what Icould have
done better, how Icould have been
more prepared, and Iwould learn my
lesson. And then Iwould make another
mistake, and Iwould do the same
thing. Istill take full responsibility for
everything that happens on my watch.
For example, when Iam printing mixes
or stems Idont turn it over to an
assistant who could overlook something,
and Imake sure everything is printed
right, labeled right, emailed properly,
and so on.
Particularly when you are mixing, you
spend all your time fixing things that
arent right. Youre improving things
that arent the way you want them to
be, trying to get closer to the vision
of the artist. You are making things
better bit by bit. All this takes alot of
patience, alot of preparation, and alot
of pride in your work. Perhaps Ihave to
add personality to that, meaning that
you have to have the right attitude.
Sometimes there are difficult moments
in the making of arecord. An artist
might get frustrated and you have to
develop athick skin and not take it
personal, so you can still focus on giving
the artist what he or she wants.
N EW S
W W W . S O U N D O N S O U N D . C O M / N E W S
Magnificent seven
Cadac launch CDC Seven digital console
onsole specialists Cadac have added anew model to their CDC series of digital
mixers. Sitting between the flagship CDC Eight and mediumformat CDC Six, the
CDC Seven features a36fader control surface and dual widescreen, highdefinition
touchsensitive displays.
The new model is essentially asupersized CDC Six, with double the number of screens,
faders and rotary encoders. While it provides the same 56 buses (48 assignable), the
number of inputs has also been expanded to 96. The new console features the same
highagility operating system as the rest of the CDC line, which uses touch and
swipe gesture controls to get maximum benefit from those large 16:9 touchscreens.
Each of the 36 motorised faders is also accompanied by astereo LED level meter and
auserdefinable colour OLED display. Other features include compatibility with Cadacs
lowlatency MegaComms digital audio network standard, 16 onboard stereo effects and
a64in/64out Waves interface for direct connection to aWaves MultiRack SoundGrid
server. The same interface also allows multitrack recording straight into alaptop. There was
no word on cost and availability when we went to press, but Cadac promise pricing will be
extremely competitive.
Cadac UK +44 (0)7868 368021
www.cadacsound.com
Professional touch
QSC add Pro model to TouchMix range
he QSC TouchMix series of

digital touchscreen mixers has
anew member. Expanding on
the capabilities of the TouchMix8 and
TouchMix16, the new TouchMix30 Pro
features amuch larger touchscreen that
supports multitouch gestures, more
channels and inputs, and arange of
profeatures.
These include antifeedback and
roomtuning setup wizards, two realtime
analysers, atouchandroute patch
matrix and eight subgroups, each with
asixband parametric EQ, high and
lowpass filters and alimiter. Despite the
Pro tag, QSC still want this mixer to
be very easy to use and have included
more than 120 instrument, mic and audio
source presets that include full channel
settings. Somewhat confusingly, the
TouchMix30 Pro is a32channel mixer,
with an impressive 24 mic/line inputs
featuring ClassA preamps and afurther
six line inputs. The extra two inputs
come via stereo USB, and there are 16
outputs featuring graphic and parametric
EQ, limiting, delay and a12band notch
filter. The mixer also allows 32channel
multitrack recording, either direct to

ahard drive or into alaptop and DAW.
Finally, there are six stereo effects
processors plus pitch correction and,
as with the existing TouchMix range,
you can download the free iOS app to
control everything remotely from an
iPad or iPhone. The TouchMix30 Pro is
available now, with an estimated street
priceof2039.
AED Distribution +44 (0)1494 370005
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Live debut
SE Electronics take the stage with first dynamic mics
he V7 and V3
are apair of new
dynamic mics from
SE Electronics. While the
companys affordable
condenser mics and
Reflexion Filter range are
amainstay of studios large
and small, cropping up on
allround dynamic mic, with

acardioid pickup pattern,
for vocals and instruments.
Both mics feature allmetal
housings, beveled steel
grilles and internal
windscreens, and they
come with apouch, stand
clip and thread adaptor.
stage from time to time, SE

have deliberately targeted
the livesound market with
these microphones for
the first time since their H1
hand-held capacitor mic.
The V7 is asupercardioid
design featuring an
aluminium voice coil thats
specifically developed
for vocals. The V3 is an
SE say that their patented

integrated capsule mount
will offer excellent reliability
while minimising handling
noise. The V7 is 84.99
while the V3 costs 59.99,
and both are available now.
Focusrite
+44(0)1494462246
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The RDE NT1-A

All Australian Made
for 20 Years
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Exclusively distributed in the UK and Ireland by Source T: 020 8962 5080 W: sourcedistribution.co.uk/rode
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TECHNIQUE
Sound Decisions
Choosing ACompact PA System

TECHNIQUE
C H O O S I N G A PA
Its now the norm for musicians to provide their own sound reinforcement
for small gigs but what kind of system would suit you best?
PAUL WHITE
o many of the gigs available to

bands, duos and solo artists are
in smaller venues such as pubs
or wine bars nowadays, and many such
spaces have no house PA. So its now up
to musicians to bring their own sound
reinforcement systems, and therefore to
choose one that fits their budget, their
sound requirements and their transport.
The days of carting around huge (and
largely unnecessary) bass bins in the back
of abeaten up van are behind us, thanks
to developments in driver technology and
ClassD amplification, which have allowed
PA systems to be made much more
portable yet still adequately powerful.
And with quick setup and tear-down times
usually being mandatory, musicians are
increasingly turning to powered speakers,
which dont require external amplifiers
and crossovers, and all the extra cabling

that those entail.
But before deciding on asystem, you
have to ask yourself what you intend to
put through the PA, how loud you need
to it be, how much bass end you need
it to handle and of course the physical
size (and weight) that your transport
(and back!) can accommodate. What is
important in an active speaker is not so
much the amplifier power, but rather the
maximum clean SPL (sound pressure level)
you can expect from the speaker.
Starting Small
If you are playing in aband with drums,
then apair of modestly sized (typically
10 or 12inch) tops capable of 125dB
or more at one metre might be enough,
provided youre handling mainly vocals
and non-bass instruments, but if you plan
to put much in the way of bass and drums
Performance Effects
Where you just need abit of reverb,
then amixer with integral effects and an
effects bypass footswitch is the simplest
option for self operation. If you are
using atablet-controlled mixer, then you
can bypass the effects from there when
chatting between songs, and even call
up different effects presets.
If youre after something
more sophisticated but still not
overcomplicated, then companies such
as TC Electronic, Digitech and Roland
offer various vocal processor options,
some in avery simple stompbox format
such as TCs Mic Mechanic, which
includes delay, reverb, tone shaping

and gentle pitch correction. Recently
weve been using the TC-Helicon
Perform-V, which clips to amic stand
and can handle reverb, delay, doubling,
pitch correction and harmony effects,
arranged as simple push-to-activate
presets. Further editing to the effects
can also be done using acomputer.
So far this has proven very convenient
as it allows the vocalist to bypass and
select effects without changing position.
It seems to offer agood compromise
between instant gratification and being
ado everything vocal processor.
TECHNIQUE
through the PA which is unnecessary

in most pubs then youll probably
need to look at adding asubwoofer. The
advantage of this modest tops plus sub
approach is that in most cases asingle
sub will suffice. Some can be quite
small (a single 12inch or two eight-inch
drivers), and if you need to extend the
systems lowend capability for larger
gigs, then you can always add asecond
sub or choose alarger one.
Using an active sub also takes some of
the load off your main speakers, as they
almost always have an inbuilt crossover
that feeds ahigh-pass filtered version of
the input to the mains, so your sound may
be noticeably cleaner than when using

the main speakers on their own. If taking
the mainsplussub route, unless the sub
comes as part of asystem, check that the
maximum SPL of the sub is approximately
the same as (or slightly greater than) that of
the main speakers you plan to use itwith.
A tip here is that if you use multiple
subs, stack them together rather than
at opposite sides of the stage, as the
close proximity improves the coupling
and makes them more efficient at low
frequencies. Also avoid putting your subs
on raised stages as the ground reflections
can cause phase cancellation problems
that result in an uneven bass. Where
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TECHNIQUE
possible put them at floor level. It doesnt

matter if they are all to one side of the
stage, as low frequencies are largely
non-directional.
Where more lowend power is
indeed necessary, one alternative to
atops-plus-sub system is to go for apair
of 15inch fullrange speakers. You still
have the option of adding one or more
subs for larger venues, but they should
be fine on their own for smaller venues
where only amodest amount of drums
and bass needs to go through the PA.
For larger venues with acapacity of,
say, 200 to 400 people, asystem that
can reach an SPL of 130dB or more is
desirable. This kind of system usually
involves two or more subs, which tend
to be an integral part of larger PAs.
Abig part of stress-free

gigging includes the
knowledge that you have
enough redundancy
in your gear to cope if
something breaks down.
Hopefully most large venues will have
their own sound system, but if you
actually need asystem of this size yourself
then youre either back to the van
scenario or sharing the PA carrying duties
between several large hatchback cars. But
were straying out of small PA territory
here, so Ill leave it at that.
Solo Time
For solo artists and duos without
drums (or maybe who use acajon for
percussion), asystem rated at 115dB or
above at one metre should be ample,
TECHNIQUE
and asub will probably be unnecessary

unless deep bass (such as DId bass guitar
or bass synth) is involved. Even PA in
asuitcase solutions can work well for
aguitarsplusvoices kind of act. Fenders
Passport system got that whole ball
rolling, but Yamaha also make arange
of Stagepas systems up to 600 Watts or
so. These systems usually include abasic
mixer, making them very convenient and
further cutting setup time and the amount
of gear you have to carry.
In the case of an acoustic guitarbased act,
if the guitar is fed into an acoustic combo
(most of which also have amic input),

simply adding asmall powered extension
speaker to the combo, fed from its link
output, may be all thats needed to give
awide coverage. Since such combo amps
are usually placed behind the performers,
this solution also provides an alternative to
conventional foldback (as long as the level
is kept low enough to avoid feedback),
and so is ideal when working in cramped
spaces. If more than one mic is needed,
asmall mixer can always be fed into the
combo. And in larger venues, two powered
speakers can be used, either fed from the
Contingency Plans
A big part of stress-free gigging includes
the knowledge that you have enough
redundancy in your gear to cope if
something breaks down because one
day it will. Recently at alocal festival,
Ilost four monitors to avoltage spike
after agenerator trip, so agood surge
suppressor will be next on my shopping
list! Fortunately we had enough spare
powered speakers to cover it, but
in asmaller setup just having one or
two powered monitors that can be
pressed into service as avocal PA may
be enough to get you out of trouble.
Many powered speakers can now take
adynamic mic to give you some basic
vocals without the need for amixer, so
that may help if the mixer breaks down
just plug the main vocal mic into one
of the speakers and its link output into
the other one.
A brokendown guitar amp is amajor
hassle, but something as simple as
asecondhand Line 6 Pod or similar,
programmed with your basic sounds,
will let you plug directly into the PA in
case your amp fries. If youre feeling

kind you could program acouple of bass
patches too just in case your bass player
comes unstuck. And if you have afancy
pedalboard, keep aseparate overdrive
pedal with agood battery in it, as that
will get you out of trouble if the board
develops aproblem that you cant
locate quickly.
A spare mic and mic clip is always
agood idea too, as Ive had two or three
apparently rugged dynamic mics just
die on me over the years, and of course
cables fail at the most inappropriate
times! Always carry spare jack, XLR
and mains cables and make sure that
you mark any faulty cables so you can
pick them out for repair when you get
home. If you need to test XLR cables for
crackles, do so with the phantom power
switched on as anything intermittent
will really make anoise as you waggle it.
Add afew basic tools, spare fuses, spare
batteries, spare strings, atorch, and
especially gaffer tape, and you should
be able to overcome most problems.
TECHNIQUE
combo again or directly from amixer if

more inputs are needed.
In my own pub trio, where the
percussion comes from acajon rather
than adrum kit, we use apair or 150Watt
Schertler powered speakers with
eightinch drivers. One of the speakers
has an integrated mixer, though we tend
to feed both from aseparate mixer as we
need more inputs and like to run the PA in
true stereo. This produces plenty of clean
level, even when fed some cajon, and the
built-in mixer means we have afallback
if our main mixer or one of the speakers
fails, we can usually get by using what is
left over. However, in very small venues
we sometimes switch to using just one of
the Schertler amps plus an acoustic guitar
combo, and forgo the luxury of stereo.
It is always agood idea to have enough
gear that you can cobble together at least
avocal PA if something should fail.
Satellite Systems
Sometimes there can still be an
advantage in using asmall system that
includes acompact sub, as it allows the
main speakers to be made even more
compact. For example, Ihave apair of
Mackie SRM350s (10inch active speakers)
that Iuse with aMackie DLM12 sub for
some pubsized venues where drums are
part of the line-up, and the sub is small
enough and light enough to still fit into
my car. This configuration is quite flexible
as Idont need to take the sub when it
isnt needed.
Then there are several dedicated
sub-plus-satellite options, such as the LD
Systems Dave range, where again the
main speakers are quite small and the
sub really handles just the lower mids and
normal bass register, rather than true

sub bass. These dedicated 2.1 systems
cant usually be split to be used without
the sub, but they are very compact, and
the smaller top speakers are less likely to
obscure the band from the audience. The
larger versions of these satellite-plus-sub
systems can work well for bands with
drums in pub-sized venues, while the
smaller ones are again ideal for guitar and
voice type ensembles.
Going Array
Recently weve seen alot of compact
line-array speakers appearing on the
TECHNIQUE
market. These will typically comprise

along, thin column housing multiple
small speakers, teamed with one or two
compact subs. Popular examples include
the HK Elements and Turbosound iP1000
and iP2000 systems. Theres also the Bose
L1 approach, which is slightly different
as the drivers are angled to produce an
even wider dispersion. The JBL Eon One,
reviewed elsewhere in this issue, is agood
example, and LD Systems also produce
affordable mini line-array systems, while
companies such as Fohhn offer extremely
elegant systems higher up the price ladder.
Line arrays have the advantage of
maximising the horizontal coverage while
directing less sound onto the floor and
ceiling, as the wavefront they project
is closer to cylindrical rather than the
spherical shape produced by asingle

driver. Their wide dispersion means they
are less likely to deafen people near
the front while still delivering plenty of
sound to the rear. Their multiple small
drivers, meanwhile, are kind to the crucial
midrange so important for vocals
while their narrow profile again bodes
well for clear sight lines. Asmall act can
get perfectly good results using just one
of these systems, while aband with drums
may choose to use apair.
I like both the sound and the portability
of these mini line arrays as they
tend to sound more hi-fi than most
conventional compact PA speakers,
but there are potential pitfalls. Firstly,
they cant be used without the sub, and
secondly, most models put all the active
TECHNIQUE
electronics in the sub, so if the sub fails in

asinglesub system, your whole system
is dead. Monitors that can double as an
emergency vocal PA may get you out
of trouble, but you should always have
abackup plan.
Self Mixing
If youre aselfmixing act, then feeding
the frontofhouse mix back to astage
monitor might be all you need, as itll
let you hear yourself as well as hearing
the same balance that the audience are
hearing. Ialso do the walk out front with
along guitar cable thing just to check
everything sounds balanced, as we dont
put the electric guitar through the PA so

its level needs to be adjusted from an
audience perspective.
We use asmall analogue mixer for
simplicity, though some of the smaller
Wi-Fi tabletcontrolled mixers are
also appealing, as they include all the
processing you need including effects,
dynamics and comprehensive EQ, and
you can make adjustments from atablet
mounted on your mic stand. You can also
take the tablet out into the audience
space during the soundcheck and make
adjustments from there.
Where you do have aseparate mixing
engineer, tablet-controlled mixers are
TECHNIQUE
No Monitors?
Another smallvenue PA option includes
speakers such as the Mackie Reach,
which has two offset tweeters and
two main drivers, plus two smaller
side-mounted speakers that can either
be used to further widen the stereo
spread or to act as monitors. This is
avery practical option for acts that
dont need to be hugely loud, as the
side-mounted monitors provide plenty
of clean foldback.
Other speakers featuring integral
monitoring include models in
Studiomasters Starlight range, which
can be used with or without asub and
have adjustable side-mounted monitors
(that can be fed from the speaker input
or an external input), with optional
even more appealing as they save alot
of setup time and avoid the need to run
multicores around the room, with all
their health and safety implications. Iuse
awireless mixer whenever Im doing the
sound for somebody else, and it makes
life so much easier.
Monitor Wizard
There are several monitoring options
these days, from floor wedges and
stand-mounted mini monitors to in-ears
or simple side-fills. For pubtype gigs
Ifavour stand-mounted mini monitors,
as they can go adequately loud and take
up little space. The reason they can go
so loud is that all the bass end is rolled
off, but you dont notice that as the low
end from the main PA fills it in for you.
Iuse aMackie SRM150 for this, which
has inbuilt gain and EQ; you can even
plug amic directly into it if you need
models also including LED lighting.

We tried these out at agig when they
first came out and found they worked
really well, especially considering
their modest cost. We didnt need any
additional monitoring and we could all
hear everything clearly. Ihope this is
atrend that continues to catch, on as it
saves further on setup time, cabling and
general clutter.
The Bose L1 system also has similar
foldback benefits, in that its very
wide dispersion means that it can be
positioned where both the audience and
the musicians can hear it, and it is also
very resistant to feedback, which means
you can turn it up surprisingly loud even
when playing very close to it.
amini PA. TCHelicon also make anice
alternative complete with built-in reverb.
My SRM150 has got me out of trouble on
more than one occasion when something
else has failed, taking over the duties of
one side of aPA. Again the bass from
the other side fills in so that the limited
bass response isnt really noticeable, and
in asmall venue you can generally get
enough clean level out of it.
For larger events such as outdoor
festivals, my Mackie SRM350s sometimes
get redeployed as wedge monitors, with
my wireless mixer, which supports up to
six separate monitor feeds, handling the
main and foldback mixes. If you tend
to play in venues that range from the
tiny to the quite large, as we do, then it
often pays to choose system components
that can be deployed in different
configurations, rather than being forced
to take the same system to every venue.
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Timeline or Take mode for recording,

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Easy to operate through illuminated,
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Timecontrolled execution of tasks like

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User interface can be remotecontrolled

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Advanced connectivity: XLR, RCA, AES/EBU,

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TEAC UK Limited
2 Huxley Road | Surrey Research Park | Guildford GU2 7RE | UK
Sales Office Tel: +44 (0) 1483 440150 | E-mail: peter@tascam.co.uk | www.tascam.co.uk
2015 TEAC Corporation. All rights reserved. All specifications are subject to change without notice.
rd i n g
F TP
NETWORK
ACCE SS
r yo u
o o ls fo
s i n ce t h e e
arly 1970s
ON TEST
Audio-Technica
IEM Series
In-ear Monitors
Whether youre on abudget

or have cash to splash,
Audio-Technicas new range
ofIEMs has something for you.
MIKE CROFTS
udioTechnicas IEM series of

in-ear headphones comprises
three models, which cover awide
price range and feature some interesting
transducer technology. The ATH E40, E50
and E70 (pictured in ascending order) are
aimed at abroad market, and will be of
interest to professional musicians looking
for live stage monitoring, as well as
people who want ahigh-quality listening
experience from their media players. All
three offer very good isolation, and are
robustly constructed using detachable
cables that incorporate amouldable

over-ear section for asecure fit.
The most affordable model is the E40,
which uses atwindriver push-pull design,
where two virtually identical drivers
are mounted facing each other, fed in
opposite polarity, and thus each driver
assists the other during every diaphragm
movement, resulting in increased
efficiency, faster attack and amore linear,
controlled response. The housing on
the E40 is somewhat larger and more
rounded than the other models, although
the cable arrangement, connectors and
earbud components seem to be all the
ON TEST
AU D I O -T E C H N I C A I E M S E R I E S
same. On the back theres aclear panel

that allows some of the inner workings
to be seen some very tidy soldering is
apparent here and Ithink the design is
both unusual and extremely neat.
Moving on to the more expensive E50,
there is amarked difference in design
both externally and internally. On the
outside, the body shape is slimmer but
still retains the little see-through panel
exposing abit of internal circuitry; the
over-ear mouldable cable is the same and
the output port that fits in the ear looks
to have the same design and therefore
hosts the same silicone eartips as the
other models.
Internally, the E50 (and the E70,
but more about that in amoment) is
very different from the E40, and the
twin-driver design makes way for asingle
balancedarmature (BA) motor. In brief
terms, abalancedarmature driver doesnt
use atraditional circular diaphragm to
produce direct pressure variations, but
incorporates amoving armature sitting
in asort of tiny rectangular enclosure,
where the magnetic field is generated
by aset of stationary coils; the armature
is connected to amoving plate in an
adjacent chamber acoustically coupled
to acarefully tuned output port.
Balancedarmature drivers are smaller,
lighter and generally more efficient
(because the coils are fixed they can be
higher mass and generate astronger
field) than moving-coil drivers, and this
is of course asignificant advantage in
designing miniature components. As
these balancedarmature drivers are so
small, its possible to use more than one
even in the tiny space associated with
in-ears, and the most advanced (and most
Audio-Technica IEM Series

PROS
Great sound, lots of presence.

Very well built.
Replaceable cables.
Good impedance and sensitivity for
awide range of sources.
CONS
Nothing comes to mind!

SUMMARY
A-Ts IEM Series of in-ears are fine

performers, featuring smart design,
auseful range of eartips and,
importantly, providing excellent sound
and isolation in particular the more
expensive E70s.
expensive) model in the range, the E70,

uses three drivers, each operating within
aspecific frequency band.
As with all transducers (microphones,
speakers and headphones), the question
of personal taste and preference plays
abig part in determining who will like
what brand and model, and the reasons
for choosing Brand Aover Brand B will
depend on many factors. Iwas mainly
interested in how the three variants
compared to each other, and Idecided to
start with the one in the middle: the E50.
On opening the box, Ifound that the
in-ears are supplied with four sets of
silicone eartips, not as spares but in
different sizes. It may seem obvious to
say that its important to use the correct
fit, but if earphones are only supplied
with one stock set of tips, then anyone
with the wrong ears will be compromising
on performance from the start. Using
the optimum size of eartip results in
ON TEST
consistent balance, especially in the

lower frequencies, agood secure fit that
should keep the things in place during
energetic performances, and of course
listener comfort. Itried all the sizes before
surprisingly finding that the largest
size was the one that worked best for me.
Ispent some time fiddling around with
the cable, and forming the mouldable
part around the top and down behind
my ears, but when it was finally done
Iwas able to remove them easily and put
them on again without having to re-form
the cable shape. After about 10 minutes
Ihad arrived at avery comfortable place
in terms of fit and sound balance, and
Ispent agood couple of hours listening
to arange of recorded music covering as
many different basic genres as possible.
Irepeated the whole process with the E40
and E70 versions, and Ithen got alocal
singer-songwriter who happened to be
rehearsing in the studio to try them all
outas well.
How Do They Sound?

First off, all three models sounded very
good. They all have anice wide frequency
response, and they are all pretty efficient
and handle loud very well. The one thing
Ifeared was that they would all sound
pretty much the same and Id have to
write at length about the differences in
shape or weight... However the E40, E50
and E70 do not sound the same and each
is likely to appeal to potential users in
different ways. The E40 is the entry-level
model in the range, being by far the most
affordable; it produced awell-balanced
and pleasing sound with plenty of bass,
and nice crisp highs which personally
Iwould want to tone down slightly for my
taste. Everything was present in detail,

and the isolation (with the correct size
eartips) was impressive. Ifed the E40s
from various sources including my live
monitor rack, the studio foldback amp,
and some portable devices including
an iPod and aphone. When used
with the live rig and studio amps they
demonstrated an ability to get very loud
without getting all blurred and smeary in
the top end, and whilst the bass is strong
at low levels it didnt get all flabby when
Iturned it up. Agood point about these
in-ears is that because their push-pull
motor is so efficient they will produce
amore than respectable listening level
from an iPod, which doesnt have the
most powerful headphone amp on
theblock.
And so on to the E50 model, which uses
asingle balanced armature and aslimmer,
more elongated housing. Iwas expecting
these to sound somehow better but
Iwasnt expecting them to sound so
much better in every respect! The bass
was lovely and tight, the top end was
just as clear and bright, but the vocals
and general midrange were much more
forward, with aremarkable degree of
clarity and warmth. Iparticularly noticed
achange in balance between the vocals
and piano chords in the first verse of an
old 70s disco classic Rock The Boat
the E40s gave me more piano above the
male vocal, whereas the E50s put the
vocal in front with nice rich backing from
the piano; others may hear it differently
but thats what jumped out at me. The E50
headphones gave me exactly the balance
Ihave always heard from all of this music
listening on decent speakers in adecent
room, or listening live and Idid include
ON TEST
orchestral (and even Black Dyke Mills

Band) material in my own listening test.
The difference Ifound when switching
to the E70 in-ears was of adifferent kind.
They exhibited the same warmth, balance
and superb clarity, but there was an
additional dimension to the sound, with
more detail apparent, especially listening
to ambient recorded sounds such as
reverb tails from both studio-generated
sources and real-world spaces fabulous
atmosphere on RoseWyndes Countess
Cathleen for example. Listening with
the E70s was about the closest thing
Ive experienced to being there in the
room with the performers, provided
that Iadjusted the volume to match
what Id expect from alive performance.
Whether the extra detail provided by the
triple-BA design is something that can
be fully appreciated in the monitor mix
on alive stage probably depends on the
material being performed, but both the
E50s and E70s provide avery real live
quality, which is so important when using
in-ear monitors that have good isolation.
Adesign as good as this might even
discourage some artists from removing
one of the earpieces so that they can
hear the stage (and then complaining
that theres no bass in the foldback...).
The feel-good factor of the IEM Series
is further enhanced by the quality of
the accessories, including agreat little
zipper case which has ample space to
hold the earphones and the spare eartips.
The silicone eartips themselves are very
effective, and the generous range of
sizes supplied should accommodate most
humans and elves. The E70s also come
with aset of Comply closed-cell foam
eartips, which Ifound best of all they
Alternatives
Most of the established headphone brands,
including Shure, Sennheiser, AKG and
others, make in-ear monitors across arange
of prices.
give excellent isolation, comfort and

sticking power; they mould easily to fit
the outer ear, and have aslightly tacky
finish that reminded me of the glaze you
get on ahot cross bun, kind of tacky but
not sticky if get my meaning. Ive certainly
never come across anything better. The
E70 has aslightly more flexible cable
which resists kinking, and all three
versions benefit from the detachable
cables because the joint can swivel and so
allow precise alignment of the earpieces,
eliminating cable strain into the bargain.
I asked the aforementioned singer to try
the IEM Series in the studio, monitoring
his vocals and guitar whilst Iplayed
abacking track over the liveroom
monitors at ahefty level. The verdict
on the E40s was very good, and on
the E50s and E70s it was unfortunately
unprintable, but wholly positive very
much in line with my opinion.
You have to try these out. Ilike the E40
headphones, they perform very nicely, are
sturdy and well made, and the replaceable
cables and swappable eartips are very
attractive features. Ilove the E50s and
would happily wear them all day long or
offer them up to ahighpaying artist either
live or in the studio. And if Id had agood
month, Id spend the extra on some of the
E70s just because theyre thebest.
ATH IEM E40 70, E50 140, E70 280.
Prices include VAT.

TT Audio-Technica +44 (0)113 277 1441
WW www.audio-technica.com
ON TEST
JBL
EonOne
Compact Line Array
JBLs Eon speakers have been
amainstay of portable PA
for years and now theyre
joined by this smart new
active column system.
MIKE CROFTS
have never found the need to invest

in one of those personal linearray
type systems, although Ihave been
impressed with those that Ive come
across at other peoples smaller live
events. Most of my live work requires
atraditional pair of front-of-house stacks,
and whenever Ineed to provide sound for
asolo performer Ijust use one or more of
my compact portable speakers on tripod
stands. But the Eon One system reviewed
here arrived just in time to go out on
arun of appropriate gigs, so Iwas keen
to find out how it would perform and how
my customers would react to it.
First, abrief account of what it is, and
what it does. For most of us, the term
line array brings to mind apicture of
large vertical arrays flown either side
of afestival stage, achieving large-area
coverage at concert levels you know
what Imean. The linearray concept
has, however, been successfully applied
to small portable systems, particularly
ON TEST
JBL EON ONE
since acertain well-known Swedish

audio company introduced their
thengroundbreaking and very popular
rig, the Bose L1, which has built up
adevoted following over the years. In
essence, aline array is exactly what its
name implies: an array of loudspeakers
mounted together in astraight, usually
vertical line, which acts as aline source
instead of apoint source and in the
case of avertical array results in
very wide, even coverage with atightly
controlled vertical pattern so that the
sound is delivered efficiently to the
audience and not into the floor, ceiling or
the rest of the Solar System.
The Eon series of self-powered speakers
has been amainstay of JBLs portable PA
line for anumber of years, and successive
new models have kept the range both
fresh and appropriate to the changing
needs of performers and sound suppliers.
The Eon One brings anew line-array
option to the range, and the designers
have tried to deliver aproduct which not
only meets the technical requirements for
PA but is highly practical and easy to use.
If you take alook at the JBL web site
theres enough technical information to
tell any prospective user what they need
to know; but Iwould say here that, having
read the specs and used the Eon One for
real, the figures really dont matter once
youve used the thing. For instance, the
quoted maximum SPL is only 118dB,
which seems, and is, alow number
compared to the figures that you see with
more traditional point-and-shoot active
speakers (typically in excess of 128dB).
But this product isnt, in my view, really
meant for going up against your normal
twin-stack PA system. It encourages
JBL Eon One 959

PROS
Well-balanced sound, great even

coverage.
Pit-stop setup speed.
Attractive design.
Bluetooth and plenty of wired
connectivityoptions.
CONS
No phantom power on the mic inputs.

SUMMARY
A classy, elegant system that not only

sounds great and provides excellent
coverage, but is ridiculously easy to
transport and to set up.
adifferent approach altogether and

is aimed at solo performers, small
ensembles, audio-visual presentations and
the like. Of much more significance is the
coverage angle 100 degrees horizontal
by 50 degrees vertical and the size and
weight of the whole package.
First Impressions
When removing the Eon One from its
retail box, it all came out in one lump,
as the array sections are stored inside
the subwoofer itself. Its not atiny thing,
but it is easy to lift and carry, and the
overall weight of 18.5kg or just over 40lb
makes it aone-person job thanks to the
large, strong and well-placed handles
on the top and bottom. The subwoofer
section contains all the electronics and
a10-inch sub driver, and the three parts
of the upper array pack neatly away inside
whennot in use.
The huge attraction of the Eon One for
me is the all-in-one-ness of the package,
ON TEST
JBL EON ONE
as the only external equipment needed

is whatever is being amplified, for
example microphones, instruments or
media players. The mixer section is built
into the top of the subwoofer unit and
is very deeply recessed and therefore
very well protected during transit and
in use. Technically its asix-input mixer,
although there are four control channels,
two being mono and two being stereo,
which is more than enough for solo/duo
type performances. The mic channels
are identical, each being provided with
acombi type XLR/jack input socket
(one of the most useful things ever
invented, right up there with the actual
wheel) and avertical strip of four rotary
controls for adjusting input level, treble,
bass and reverb send to the on-board
effects processor. Immediately below
the input control there is amic/line
sensitivity switch so any kind of balanced
audio input can be accommodated,
but no phantom power is supplied to
themicinputs.
The default line input, when used in
conjunction with direct mic or instrument
inputs, would probably be the stereo pair
of channels 3 and 4, as these dont have
EQ or reverb facilities but do have both
TRS jack and unbalanced RCA phono
connectors. Ilike portable gear which
provides RCAs because there are so, so
many times when performers or event
organisers suddenly appear brandishing
apair of these attached to an iPhone or
similar device, and if Idont happen to
have any phono-to-TS adaptors with me
then life gets unnecessarily difficult so
full marks to JBL for including these.
Channels 5/6 have no panel-mounted
controls at all, and are accessed either
via astereo 3.5mm mini jack or by using

the built-in Bluetooth facility. Idont
think Ihave ever used a3.5mm jack
input on anything and, as Imentioned,
the most common lead to find for media
player inputs is the twinphono type,
however it is yet another connection
option and further extends the flexibility
and potential get-out-of-jail capabilities
of the Eon One. The ability to use
Bluetooth-equipped devices with this PA
system is ahuge bonus and of course
completely avoids the need for any kind
of cable, let alone the correct one! Pairing
the Eon One with your device of choice is
simply amatter of pressing the Bluetooth
Pair button (what else?). The input level,
EQ and anything else must be controlled
from the source player. This Bluetooth
connectivity offers alot of performance
flexibility for acts using tracks, as
ON TEST
JBL EON ONE
complete control over playback can be

right where the artist is, providing that its
within Bluetooth range.
I really like the positioning, scale and
layout of the Eon One control panel.
In addition to the master level, which
controls the system output, theres also
aseparate control to drive apair of
unbalanced monitor outputs. Its easy to
get to, the knobs are proper-sized things
and not aset of flimsy thin wobbly things,
and theres plenty of space to actually
turn them one at atime. The other great
thing about where the panel is located is
that its protected by being very deeply
recessed, so all the knobs, and even
plugged-in connectors, are safe from
accidental knocks.
Assembly Line
The MF/HF speaker module the
linearray bit is stored neatly inside
the back of the subwoofer cabinet,

together with the two spacer sections;
the three parts just drop into place and
are kept secure by arubber bar when
the top access panel is locked into place
for carrying. To assemble the Eon One
takes, honestly, seconds anyone who
takes more than half a minute is either
utterly lacking in spatial reasoning or is
still reading the quick-start guide when
they should be just plugging stuff in.
Its slightly easier than pushing three
Lego bricks together, and it makes an
altogether better noise when itsfinished.
The choice of whether to deploy the
spacers depends on how high you want
the speakers to be when in use, and the
Eon One looks kind of right in any of the
three configurations; if the sub section is
on the floor then the obvious place for
the MF/HF speakers is as high as possible,
which in this case means using the two
spacers and sitting the live speaker part
on top, which puts it at ausable height
for most small venues.
Switching the system on produced no
nasty thumps or pops, and having taken
less than half aminute to assemble the
system, the remaining half can be used
for turning up the inputs and outputs to
achieve astarting balance. Iwill admit
to having abit of afrown when Isaw
that there was no mid EQ control, as this
would be the first or second thing Id be
turning down, however the characteristics
of the system seem to be such that the
12dB HF and LF cut/boost controls do
actually provide enough adjustment,
and there isnt any noticeable midrange
peakiness to worry about.
Ilistened to some recorded tracks
through the system with the EQ set flat
ON TEST
JBL EON ONE
and the first thought to enter my head

was giant hi-fi, as the sound was very
nicely balanced and pleasing on the ear.
As it happened, my landlord walked in
acouple of minutes later, listened to
afew seconds of music and said giant
hi-fi with adecisive nod followed by
what would that set you back, then?
which is, more or less, what most people
said when they listened to the rig.
I played about an hour of varied CD
music including some heavyweight pop
orchestra programme through the Eon
One, and the giant h-fi feeling persisted
up to the loudest volume attainable,
when the limit LED was starting to
grumble (Iassume that theres some kind

of softknee thing going on here because
the limiting sounded pretty smooth when
it happened).
With vocal mics plugged directly into
the on-board mixer it was easy to balance
live sources with abacking track running
into channels 3+4 or 5+6, and the system
certainly sounded clear and sweet. When
running at full output (just before limiting)
its not head-meltingly loud but the Eon
One has away of filling the room with
well-balanced programme material, which
remains clear over avery wide listening
area. Ifound that in asmallish space
Icould walk all the way around in acircle
HORUS
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ON TEST
JBL EON ONE
and still hear plenty of clarity even when

directly behind the array.
Of course the best effect with this type
of driver arrangement is for the listener
to be at alittle distance, and when Itook
the Eon One into arehearsal hall (about
a200-seater) the effect of filling the
whole room was just as apparent, and
especially when the system was being run
at lower volume. The material was clear
throughout the venue without having
to be pumped up too far for those at
the back. The subwoofer output is full
and deep for such asmall box, and has
asatisfying thump about it rather than
merely the suggestion of some low end
in there somewhere. In terms of power,
the system has a380W amp section (250
Watts LF, 130 Watts HF), so its not going
to dim the lights or make the toaster
slower, but for me there was more than
enough clean output for the type of
application this rig is aimed at.
A Fine Line
During my time spent in the company of
the Eon One Ihave listened to it alot in
the studio and workshop, and used it for
vocals at afull-on band rehearsal. It has
also been out on two real livesound
gigs, where it performed admirably at
awedding reception and abusiness
presentation. Iwas very happy with the
sound quality, coverage and projection
and, more importantly, so were my
customers. Apotential added bonus when
using this system is that stage monitors can
in many cases be left out of the equation,
as the performer(s) can hear the Eon One
just as well as the audience can, and the
characteristics mean that its quite usual
for the speakers to be positioned behind
Alternatives
This kind of format has become very
popular in recent years, with similar
systems including the Bose L1, LD Systems
Maui range, the DB Technologies ES
series, RCFs Evox and the HK Audio
Soundcaddy.
the artist rather than the other way round.

Given that such apiece of kit from this
stable, used in an appropriate way, should
always be capable of excellent sound
quality, the thing which really set the
Eon One apart for me was the onebox
solution, which is ridiculously easy and
quick to set up and pack away, and Ican
see acouple of these doing good dryhire
business in the coming months.
Overall Ithink this is avery practical
piece of portable PA Icould imagine
turning more and more to the Eon
One as asolution for so many sound
requirements where the rig needs to
be plug and play as opposed to plug,
plug, plug etc. and then play. And dont
underestimate the aesthetic side of
things either this rig is going to be as
perfectly at home in aposh gig as down
at the local folk club.
If you think this might be the system
for you, or your church, bar, conference
room or whatever, then have alook at
the technical info on the JBL web site,
but if you havent heard or used this type
of system before then its worth getting
ademo arranged but tell them you
want ago at setting it up yourself!
TT Sound Technology +44 (0)1462 480000
EE info@soundtech.co.uk
WW www.soundtech.co.uk
WW www.jblpro.com
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P.A. SYSTEM
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10
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BLUETOOTH
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2016 HARMAN INTERNATIONAL INDUSTRIES, INCORPORATED

The Bluetooth word mark and logos are registered trademarks owned by Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and any use of such
marks by HARMAN is under license. Other trademarks and trade names are those of their respective owners.
TECHNOLOGY
Distributed in the UK & Ireland by Sound Technology Ltd | 01462 480000 | soundtech.co.uk | info@sountech.co.uk
ON TEST
Tascam DR-680 MkII

Multi-track Location Recorder
For those wanting to record and mix multiple sound sources on

location, could the DR-680 MkII be the best tool for the job?
TOM FLINT
or recording gigs or capturing

audio for small-budget films,
ahandheld digital recorder is
sometimes all thats needed. The best
designs include XLR inputs and phantom
power, and quite anumber of them now
are capable of multitrack recording too,
but asignificant drawback of such small
devices is that they can only comfortably
accommodate afew inputs, outputs and
hardware controls. By way of example,
Zooms H6 just about qualifies as
ahandheld recorder, and it manages to
include as many as six XLRs inputs (when

an optional pair are attached in place of
microphones). But when fully connected it
becomes an unwieldy object at the centre
of amass of leads, and theres simply
no room in its casing for channel outs or
very many hardware controls. So while its
avery capable device, it probably isnt
going to be suitable for regular multitrack
location recording.
Tascams DR-680 MkII, on the other
hand, is too large to qualify as handheld.
What it loses in compact convenience
for less demanding tasks, though, it
gains in other areas: in particular, it has
ON TEST
TA S C A M D R - 6 8 0 M K I I
plenty of room to accommodate inputs,

outputs and function-specific buttons and
switches. Its still very portable, however,
and can be worn quite comfortably using
the supplied shoulder strap.
Making Contact
The DR-680 MkII sports four balanced
XLR/TRS combi sockets, plus two
quarter-inch jack sockets, all of which
are routed to dedicated recorder tracks.
Afurther two tracks provide the user with
the chance to record either astereo mix
of the six inputs, or an additional stereo
signal received by aS/PDIF or AES3
input connector. Alternatively, the digital
input can be used to run the recorder
as aslave unit, in conjunction with
acascade option, plus theres adigital
output for when it is set as master and in
control of asecond slave recorder.
In terms of outputs, there are six
phono sockets, which are quite logically
positioned on the opposite edge to the
inputs alongside aUSB socket, amemory
card slot accepting SD/SDHC/SDXC
media, plus the aforementioned digital/
sync I/O. Signals can be monitored using
aheadphone jack on the front panel, just
to the left of the small back-lit screen,
or played back through amonaural
speaker thats hidden behind agrille on
the top surface.
Near the speaker grille is an
impressive-looking mass of 15 switches:
six toggle the inputs between line and
mic level; six switch the preamps mic
gain between low and high; and the final
three turn 48V phantom power on or off
for input pairs 1+2, 3+4 and 5+6.
Fine adjustment of the input levels is
achieved by pressing aRec Trim button
Tascam DR-680 MkII 633

PROS
Very easy to use.

Lots of switches means mercifully little
menu delving.
Its agood size for aportable
recorder.
Goodquality preamps.
CONS
Some top-panel controls are hard to

see at the same time as the screen in
the shoulderworn position.
Some mix and record functions are
controlled with virtual knobs.
Tracks 7 and 8 lack analogue inputs.
Uses eight batteries!
Headphone output could be
lessnoisy.
SUMMARY
The DR-680 MkII is very easy to

use and has been given plenty of
function-specific buttons and switches
so that the user doesnt have to delve
into menu systems for everything. For
location recording it is ideal, although
its probably not suitable for use in
extreme climates.
on the front, and then adjusting aset of

on-screen virtual knobs one at atime,
using the Value/Matrix continuous
controller knob/button. The level and
pan position of the recorded tracks are
adjusted in the same way, using the same
controller, but this time in combination
with the Mix Pan and Mix Level select
buttons. Although the screen is only 45
by 25 mm, the virtual trim, pan and level
knobs are not unreasonably small, and the
universal Value/Mark knob is an effective
tool for adjusting them Tascam have
ON TEST
struck about the right balance between

dedicated switches and virtual knobs for
different functions.
Curiously, the functions of the Value/
Mark knob (which include scrolling
through menus and selecting settings)
are partly duplicated by the combined
functions of the data wheel and Enter/
Mark button, which are both found on the
top of the recorder. Its easier to look at
the screen and operate the controls on
the front than it is to see both the screen
and top-panel controls at the same time,
so Tascams logic here is abit lost on
me still, having achoice of controls is
hardly abad thing.
When the recorder is worn over the

shoulder using its strap (or is cradled in
the CS-DR680 weatherresistant padded
case accessory), the front panel faces
upwards where the incumbent engineer
can see it clearly, so this is where the
designers have quite rightly placed the
Pause and Record buttons and their
associated LEDs. Also included here is
arow of buttons relating to the channels,
which solo their feed when held down and
can also be used to arm/disarm tracks, or
gang together controls. However, the
transport buttons for playback are all on
the top panel next to the 15 switches and
data wheel, thereby making it alittle less
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ON TEST
convenient to check takes when using the

recorder in the shoulder-strap position.
Recording at 192kHz/24-bit comes at
the expense of all but two of the record
tracks, but if the sample rate is reduced
to amore-than-acceptable 96kHz you can
record to the full eight tracks, and there
are plenty of other word lengths and
sample rates to choose from.
Perhaps the most significant

update is the introduction of
anew preamp design.
To power the recorder, you can either

connect it to the mains via the supplied
adaptor, or insert eight AA batteries
in acompartment on the underside.
The review model came with acouple
of two-pin plugs which attach to the
adaptor, but as neither were compatible
with UK plug sockets and Ididnt have
asuitable adapter handy Iused Eneloop
rechargeable batteries for the review.
Rechargeables were definitely agood
idea because, very early on, Ileft the
recorder in Standby mode by accident,
and the next time Itried to do some work
Ifound that it had drained the batteries
despite lying idle!
Physically, the recorder loosely
resembles the SQN range of portable
mixers, and Id wager that this is no
coincidence for over 30 years, the
SQN-4 and its siblings have been
regarded as industry-standard location
mixers, valued by engineers for their
rugged build, flexible features and
tried, tested and refined layout. While

the DR-680 MkII looks the part, and
is certainly capable of carrying out
similar functions to the SQN family, its
not engineered to the same exacting
standards. For example, the SQN mixers
are designed to work at temperatures
of -20 to +60 degrees Celsius, whereas
Tascams design has an operating range
of 0 to +40 degrees Celsius clearly only
one of these devices is suitable for those
David Attenborough gigs in the jungle
and arctic! But for most jobs, its fair to
say that the DR-680 MkIIs limitations
in this respect wont be tested. Though
falling short of SQNs lofty standards, the
build quality is not bad, and its far more
convenient to have the Tascams preamp/
mixer, additional channels and on-board
recording facility all in the one box.
Second Coming
As its name indicates, the MkII is
amodified version of the original DR-680,
which went on sale back in 2010. visual
comparison of the two reveals hardly
any differences, though, because almost
all the alterations are to the internal
functionality. (This suggests that both the
Tascam designers and owners of the MkI
are already reasonably happy with the
ergonomic side of things.)
Perhaps the most significant update
is the introduction of anew preamp
design, featuring Tascams High Definition
Discrete Architecture (HDDA). The
release notes state that the preamps
are an improvement on the old ones
and that anew op-amp and capacitor
combination is one of the key design
modifications. Similarly, the designers
have changed the built-in clock oscillator
ON TEST
so that synchronisation with other

digital devices is improved. The ability
to record to high-capacity SDXC cards
is another addition, as is compatibility
with lithium-ion batteries (the latter
offering a150percent increase in
operating times).
The remaining changes are OS-related,
and will already be familiar to those
who have used the latest generation
of Tascams handheld recorders. One
is the introduction of dual-recording
functionality, whereby duplicate
recordings of the input can be made,
with one version 12dB quieter than
the level you set so if your recording
suffers from distortion generated by
unexpectedly loud peak signals, you
have aperfectly captured backup. The
only real downside is that the safe
quieter versions have to be stored on
the other tracks, thus reducing the
number of unique tracks. Ideally, Id like
to see analogue limiters onboard (rather
than the current post-A-D digital ones)
as an alternative means of prevention,
for those times when its desirable to

preserve the track count but no doubt
the hardware cost would greatly increase
as aconsequence.
The final improvement makes it
possible to import multitrack files for
playback. Given that the recorder has
six outputs, this makes it possible to
use the recorder as aportable playback
source of pre-prepared mixes and
sound files, perhaps as part of astage
setup or presentation.
In Use
Navigating the DR-680 MkIIs menus
is avery intuitive process and doesnt
really require help from the manual.
Admittedly, Im very familiar with the
Tascam approach, having used anumber
of their handheld recorders in recent
years. Nonetheless, one of the USPs
of the current Tascam product range
is the ease of use thats achieved via
the provision of as many dedicated
controls as possible (rather than lots
of nested menus and multi-function
ON TEST
controls) and by not including extraneous

headline-grabbing features.
Im not totally convinced that all the
controls are in the ideal location, but
the overall layout is pretty good and
to be honest, Im not sure how it could
be improved, given that certain features
have to be positioned alongside the
screen to keep them in view when the
recorders hanging from ashoulder strap.
So Ithink agood practical balance has
been struck here.
What Iwould like to see, though, is
alittle more information included on the
main record screen for example, an
indication of when atrack has alimiter or
low-cut filter applied, and also perhaps
some more detail in the level metering,
so that peaks between -16 and 0dB can
be more precisely calibrated. As it is, the
metering is no more than avery rough
guide and things like track limiters are
only shown when the Function screen
is called up. (If there are any Tascam
engineers reading this, its something
afirmware update could easily
sortout...).
I didnt have access to aMkI to enable
apreamp comparison, but Iwas pretty
impressed with the quality of those of
the MkII. Slightly disconcertingly, the
headphone preamp is alittle noisy
when turned high, but the actual
recordings Imade using a(very decent)
large-diaphragm condenser were very
crisp, detailed and not at all lacking in
bottom end, as is sometimes the case
with slightly cheaper handheld devices.
Conclusions
For me, the name Tascam is
synonymous with decent-sounding,
Alternatives
Despite the proliferation of both
lower-priced handheld recorders and
high-end professional devices, there
arent many direct competitors around the
DR-680 MkIIs price. Until recently Fostex
were asignificant competitor but at the
time of writing, their only current offering
is the DC-R302, which features just three
channels and is aimed squarely at DSLR
users. From Roland theres the R-44E,
which has only four tracks but is elegant,
compact, has built-in mics and uses just
four batteries. Otherwise theres the more
professional Roland R88, with its eight
channels,very impressive specification, and
commensurately higher price.
From Zoom there is the very affordable
F8, which is packed with features and offers
eight tracks (plus the stereo mix) and eight
XLR/TRS combi sockets. In particular,
it benefits from ahighly-detailed colour
screen and auseful remote app control.
And as we were going to press, Zoom
announced anew model, the six-input,
eight-track F4.
easy-to-use, straightforward gear, and

its aview that has only been fortified
by my time with the DR-680 MkII.
Sure Id have liked it to run on fewer
batteries, have been given acleaner
headphone amp, and to have one
or two more hardware controls, but
these are minor issues; theyre by no
means deal-breakers. Im confident
that good-quality recordings can be
made with this product, thanks in part
to the improved preamp design, and
that surely has to be the most important
factor of all. And, with astreet price just
atouch over 500, its not bad value for
money,either.
633 Including VAT
TT TEAC UK +44 (0)1483 440150
WW www.tascam.co.uk
ERIS IMAGING WAS GREAT,

THE MIDRANGE CLEAR AND WELL-FOCUSED, AND THE
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ON TEST
PLUGIN FOLDER
PLUGIN FOLDER
Audified STA
Effects
Formats: Mac OS &
Windows VST & AAX;
Mac AU
A bundle of the most

common studio effects,
specifically delay,
phasing, flanging, chorus,
enhancement and apreamp
emulation, might not seem
like abig deal. However,
Audifieds secret weapon,
present in each of these
plug-ins, is their STA
(Summing Tube Amplifier)
virtual valve circuitry,
which can be driven into
softsaturation.
The STA-processed signal
can be blended with the dry
signal, and the character

of the valve saturation
can be switched between
five modes, changing
both the saturation
characteristics and the
frequency response. Mode
one is Presence, which,
as the name suggests,
places alittle emphasis on
the highs. Vintage mode
generates smoother highs
and more in the way of
even harmonics. Brown
mode has an almost flat
response, other than some
very gentle HF roll-off, while
White gives agentle lift
to the higher frequencies,
where the contribution of
even and odd harmonics
is more equally balanced.
Finally, LoFi rolls off both
the lows and highs to give

more of amid-range focus.
Were told that theres
alittle low-frequency noise
in some valve modes,
which mimics the way
the physical valves would
behave, though Ididnt
notice any noise under
real-world conditions. All
six plug-ins support all the
common plug-in formats
for both Windows and
Mac OS X, with both 32
and 64-bit compatibility
where applicable.
The preamp plug-in is,
in essence, the same STA
section from the other
plug-ins, presented as
aseparate processor. The
modulation plug-ins have
all the expected controls,
ON TEST
PLUGIN FOLDER
plus achoice of modulation

waveforms as you can see
from the front panels, but
in most respects they are
very conventional. Sonically,
Ifound them to be smooth
and warm, with aslightly
soft-focus quality. None of
the modulation plug-ins
really does anything out
of the ordinary, and you
probably already have
something that will do
asimilar job, but you might
feel that the emulated
valve warmth justifies
adding them to your
collection, as it does add
acertain smoothness.
Enhancers often address
only the high frequencies,
but here, the lows have
acontrol of their own.
Adjusting the high control
adds harmonics to the
upper registers just as
youd expect, but theres
no detailed description of
what happens at the low
end, though it sounds not
unlike equalised parallel
compression. Whatever it
does, it is effective and fairly
natural-sounding.
For me, though, the delay
also available separately
if you dont need the
whole bundle is the
most useful of the bunch,
as the repeats seem to
drift into the background
far more musically than
they do with some of

the vintage emulation
alternatives Ive tried.
This is most obvious at
higher feedback settings,
where the choice of STA
mode and the amount of
saturation dialed in gives
various vintage echobox
flavours. Theres no control
for wow and flutter, which
Iwould have liked, though
the delays sound rich
enough without that. The
usual controls (the wet/
dry mix knob is labelled
Intensity) are augmented
by aping-pong switch
that alternates the delays
between left and right
when deployed in stereo,
avariable stereo width
control, and adjustable
high- and low-pass filters.
Theres ataptempo
button or the option to
sync to host, as well as
awet-only switch for use
as asend effect, and the
meters can be switched to
monitor the input or the
output levels.
Overall, then, these may
be bread-and-butter effects,
but all benefit from the
subtle valve-style warming,
and the delay in particular
is definitely worth acloser
look. Paul White
Bundle $129; Delay and
Preamp $49 each.
www.audified.com
Mercuriall U530
Formats: Mac OS &
Windows VST & AAX;
Mac AU
Dont be fooled by the

characteristic script font
used to pick out the name
of Russian developers
Mercuriall: this guitar-amp
modelling plug-in does
not pay homage to
awell-known British
manufacturer! Rather, it is
asouped-up recreation of
the Engl E530 rackmounting
studio preamp, a1U device
that is particularly favoured
within the seven-string,
pointy-guitar fraternity.
Mercuriall say that theyve
completely modelled
the circuit at component
level using artificial neural
networks, and to enable
their plug-in to be used
as aonestop shop for
complete guitar sounds,
it also includes modelled
poweramp and speaker/mic
stages, plus achorus effect.
Although it doesnt
present asmorgasbord
of different vintage
amp emulations, it soon
becomes clear that U530
is nevertheless apretty
versatile ampsimulator
plug-in. The clean channel
can do that icy, crystalline
thing beloved of metal
ON TEST
PLUGIN FOLDER
players in their sentimental

moments, who are
presumably also the target
market for the chorus; but
hit the Lo/Hi Gain button
and it also gives you access
to agood range of raunchy,
crunchy rhythm tones.
Switch to the lead channel,
however, and you open
the floodgates on some
serious high-gain action.
The four-band EQ and,
especially, the three-way
Contour button enable
numerous flavours of filth
to be accommodated, from
thick, mid-heavy sustain
to heavily scooped tones
ideal for palm-muted
chugging. Theres achoice
of eight different cabs, with
awide range of virtual mic
positions achievable by
moving atarget on an X/Y
display. Those of atweaky
disposition can also choose
three different emulated
types of 12AX7 preamp
valve, with subtle but
noticeable changes to the
sound resulting.
U530 still has afew rough
edges. Theres no level
metering at all, for example,
nor any factory presets,
and the operating range
of some of the controls
seems alittle extreme
turning the chorus depth up
above a10th of its range,
for example, made me feel
seasick. Given that it majors
in high-gain sounds, its
also ashame that no noise
gate is included. However,
these are minor niggles in

the scheme of things, and
especially so when you
consider the price. The
full version, which includes
all the features described
here plus oversampling,
support for high sample
rates and free updates,
is very inexpensive; but
to whet the appetite,
Mercuriall are also offering
afully functional free
version, albeit lacking
some features such as
switchable cabs and tubes.
Ithink most guitar players
will find it aworthwhile
addition to their plug-in
folders, especially if you
have any sort of bent
towards metal or hard rock.
U530 is agenuinely useful
ON TEST
PLUGIN FOLDER
emulation of ahardware
device that, as far as Iknow,
has not previously been
modelled in software, and
avery promising start for
aplug-in company Ive
not encountered before.
Sam Inglis
Full version $59.99.
www.mercuriall.com
Waves Scheps
Parallel Particles
Formats: Mac OS &
Windows VST & AAX;
Mac AU
The new Waves Scheps

Parallel Particles plug-in is
probably the closest youll
get to amore of everything
processor. It was developed
in collaboration with top
mixing engineer Andrew
Scheps, who has worked
with artists as diverse as
Adele, the Red Hot Chili
Peppers and Metallica,
and is based on some of
his personal processing
recipes. In essence,
Parallel Particles is, as its
name suggests, aparallel
processor, and it is designed
to provide independent
control over enhancement
in four key areas of the
sound spectrum. However,
theres more to it than
straightforward multiband
parallel compression.
The GUI looks like an aerial
view of aDeath Star elevator

shaft, yet sports relatively
few controls. Setting the
input level is achieved using
afader and athree-colour
LED: the aim is to have this
showing yellow most of the
time. Alink button allows
the output to be adjusted
in tandem with the input
to maintain aconstant
level when tweaking, if
required. As usual for this
type of Waves easy drive
processor, each control
adjusts multiple parameters
that the operator doesnt
need to know about
operation is designed to
be very intuitive. Andrew
Scheps says the plug-in was
designed to allow the user
to directly control attitude,
energy and emotion
without needing to be an
expert audio engineer,
and Ithink thats as good
adescription as any. Other
than setting the bass filter
frequency, adjustment is
simply amatter of dialing
in the desired amount of
enhancement in the four
frequency regions by ear.
Individual sections can be
bypassed if not in use.
ON TEST
PLUGIN FOLDER
Both the Sub and Air

controls are linked to
harmonic generators, where
the processing includes
the synthesis of resonances
not present in the source
material. The operating
range of the Sub control
can be set anywhere from
below 32Hz to below
80Hz. Air does much as its
name suggests, lifting out
high-end detail in asmooth
but positive way, rather
like apolite enhancer.
Thick addresses the lower
mid-range, adding warmth
and weight, but seemingly
without boxiness, while Bite
adds aggression to sounds
such as snare drums and
electric guitar that occupy
the upper mid-range.
The inbuilt attack and
release characteristics of
the Bite processing section
contribute to its impact.
While the plug-in can be
used to enhance acomplete
mix, it really comes into its
own when mixing, where
multiple instances can
be adjusted to meet the
needs of individual tracks
or submixes. It works on
just about anything, adding
air and attitude to vocals,
weight to basses, snap
to drums and fullness to
anything thats sounding
atouch on the thin side.
Operationally its not that
far removed from how you

might work with an EQ, so
the controls feel instantly
familiar, but the results go
far beyond what can be
achieved using EQ alone.
Because this plug-in relies
on parallel processing,
the dynamics of the
original signal are not
overwhelmed, so transients
stay sharp, yet everything
can be made to sound
much bigger or more
forward without increasing
the peak level too much.
Despite its ability to add
weight, air and aggression,
Parallel Particles sounds
alot smoother and less
fatiguing than most of the
make it bigger processors
Ive tried, and it seems to
work just as well on subtle
material as it does on heavy
rock. Achieving similar
results using conventional
plug-ins would probably be
quite challenging, requiring
considerable engineering
experience, so distilling this
level of processing down
to little more than four
knobs is pretty impressive.
Paul White
$129.
www.waves.com
Sly-Fi Kaya
Formats: Mac OS &
Windows VST & AAX;
Mac AU
Back in SOS March 2016,

engineer and producer
S Husky Hskulds talked
about his work on what
would become the last
album by jazz legend
Ornette Coleman. Central
to that work, and to many
of his mixes over the years,
was an Ampex reel-to-reel
tape recorder modified
to act as adistortion
processor; indeed, for many
years, this was the only
piece of outboard Hskulds
used, in amixing process
that was otherwise entirely
in the box. Prior to mixing
the Coleman project,
however, he lent the unit to
DSP whizz Gregory Scott,
who has created afaithful
model in plug-in form.
Named Kaya, the software
version is refreshingly
simply to operate, with
just six rotary controls
and aslider-operated
high-pass filter in Scotts
own words: Aone-trick
pony, but what atrick
it is. Nevertheless, it
does take alittle bit of
getting used to, as there
seems to be quite abit
of interaction between
the various parameters,
and no documentation
as to what some of them
actually do. Two, at least,
are self-explanatory:
Effect Blend is awet/dry
ON TEST
PLUGIN FOLDER
mix control for parallel

processing, while Out is an
output gain setting (which
affects any dry signal as well
as the effected sound).
Out is paired with
asecond small control
labelled Abuse which, as
far as Ican tell, sets the
signal level going into the
distortion process. The
character of the saturation
itself is controlled by
three parameters labelled
Movement, Breakup
and Treble. Of these,
its often only the last
one that makes aradical
difference to the sound.
At its leftmost extreme, it
makes everything sound
sludgy and dark: not the

sort of saturation that will
make alead sound stand
out in front of the mix, but
possibly ideal for sinister
backgrounds, dirty bass
tones and for warming up
brittle recordings. As you
move it further clockwise,
the sound becomes crisper
and brighter, but the
focus remains firmly on
the bottom end. If Kaya
is really aone-trick pony,
its trick lies in what it does
below 300Hz or so. At
mild settings, it introduces
arich, thick quality to
the low mids, alittle like
atape emulator with avery
pronounced head bump.
Used more aggressively,

it generates ablown-out,
broken-speaker-type
distortion in the bass
and low mids that is
nevertheless usable, without
loads of unwanted sub-bass
or noise. The action of the
Movement and Breakup
controls on the sound is
often subtle but, in general,
they make the effect more
pronounced as they are
turned clockwise.
In practice, Igot the
most use from Kaya as
awarming up processor,
used in the same contexts
where one might otherwise
employ atape emulator or
aconsole simulator. With
its tendency to inflate the
low mids and rein in other
parts of the mid-range,
its not as tonally neutral
as those devices typically
are, so its not always right
but at the same time,
the coloration it introduces
is what makes it special.
At the top end, its never
fizzy or spitty, but its real
magic lies in creating the
impression of ahuge low
end, without the negative
consequences that usually
attend bass boost. Avery
neat trick indeed, and one
well worth the modest
asking price. Sam Inglis
$79.
www.slyfidigital.com
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INTERVIEW
Producing Citizen Of Glass

The challenge of creating aglass-themed sound world for her third
album led Agnes Obel to explore some little-used instruments
and techniques.
TOM DOYLE
ince 2010 the Copenhagen-born,

Berlin-based singer/composer
Agnes Obel has honed her
atmospheric sound over three albums that
take classical influences to another, more
otherworldly place. Inspired as much
by the soundtracks to David Lynch and
Alfred Hitchcock films as the compositions

of Erik Satie and Claude Debussy, Obel
places her smokily expressive voice
and ornate piano playing into asonic
landscape of treated string instruments
and strange aural textures.
Agnes Obels individualistic approach
to her music can be traced back to
her upbringing in Denmark, and the
INTERVIEW
AGNES OBEL
influence her parents had on her musical

development. Her mother played
classical piano pieces at home, alongside
more exotic hybrids of styles. She
liked classical music that was sort of
simple and had these folk influences,
says Obel. She was taught Bartok by
aHungarian piano teacher, so she was
already in that tradition in her playing,
but she also loved Russian and Swedish
folk songs interpreted in ajazz way.
Ithink Ihave from her playing around,
Iguess, the storytelling and then this
classical sensibility.
Meanwhile, Obels father collected
unusual musical instruments, and was
interested in cutting-edge technology.
He had been aguitar player in his youth
and then he stopped, and then Ithink
he was sort of living the dream through
buying instruments, she says. So we
had abunch in the house. He was really
agear person, but also technology,
computers and big screens. We had the
first flatscreen of anybody Iknew. It was
really weird you had to sit right in front
of it, otherwise you couldnt see it.
of other music around me other than

classical. So Ive been in alot of different
constellations over the years.
At 17, under aDanish scheme where
students were given state funding to
study for three years outwith high school,
Obel chose to learn music production. It
was just analogue, recording to tape, but
Iwould sit in with some guys who made
hip-hop and did some Cubase stuff. And
then in the second half of that year Ihad
an internship in astudio with this guy who
was really aLogic guy.
As aresult of experiencing both
analogue and digital recording, Obel
quickly realised that she preferred the
latter, given its manipulation possibilities.
Iloved that Istarted with analogue,
she says, because its so simple and then
you sort of understand the digital from
that point of view. But Ihave to say, after
Ilearned to use asequencer program
it was just so nice and easy. Inever had
abudget for the analogue stuff, or room
for it, anyway.
So Iended up really loving to record
A Broad Base
This mix between the classical and the
technological would later inform Obels
creative methods. But, as ayoung girl
learning piano, she also dabbled in
different roles in bands. In the first
band Iplayed in, Iwas just singing,
she remembers, and then when Iwas
12, Ihad asecond band project where
Iplayed electric bass, but it was not
super-advanced [laughs]. The music
Ihad around me was rock and pop and
blues and in the childrens band we
played the Beatles. Ihad awhole bunch
INTERVIEW
AGNES OBEL
digitally, cause it meant Icould do it on

my own, and it also sort of affected how
Iwrite songs and how Ido everything.
The times Ive just been recording to
atape machine or been limited like that,
its like the songs become different. As
soon as you want to experiment with
strings and new instruments and sort
of play around with that while youre
still writing the song or making the
arrangement, recording digitally works
really well for me.
Complete Control
In 2006, Obel moved to Berlin with
her boyfriend, photographer and
animation artist Alex Bruel Flagstad,
who pushed her to further develop her
solo recordings. While there, she also
met abunch of electronic musicians who
inspired her, in the sense that they were
entirely in control of every aspect of the
creative process.
Ihad already started working alone
before Imoved to Berlin, she says. Ihad
alittle setup at home. But Iwas very
encouraged by my boyfriend, who said,
It sounds so much better what youre
doing on your own than the stuff youre
doing with your different band projects.
But Ihad this idea of the studio and
being dependent on an engineer and
aproducer and aband and this whole
structure. Istill had that in my mind. Then,
when Iwent to Berlin, first of all Ijust had
much more time, and Ihad my little home
studio setup there. Ijust immediately
started writing and recording much more
music because it was really liberating.
And then the friends Iended up getting
in Berlin all made electronic music, and
they were all just sitting and making
everything, even mixing and mastering

themselves. Completely their own little
universe they were building every time,
and Iloved it.
You could just really do whatever
you wanted, and it was cheap. It didnt
have to cost anything. And Ifound this
wonderful freedom in it. You can work
really intuitively and you dont have to
stop. You just continue and see where it
takes you. And so Ithink that really had
abig influence on me ending up with
making everything myself.
Flying Solo
In 2008, Obel uploaded atrack, Just
So, to MySpace and it was picked up by
T-Mobile, who used it as the soundtrack
to acommercial. Even still, it was another
two years before she managed to secure
arecord deal. Ithink Iwas sort of an
example that it doesnt always help to
have asong in acommercial, she says.
Nevertheless, signing to PIAS
Recordings, she completed work on
her first album, 2010s Philharmonics
which, boldly for adebut artist, was
self-produced. Ihad astudio out in an
old radio building where Irecorded most
of it, explains Obel. Iwas using Logic
and Ihad just aFocusrite eight-channel
soundcard and some compressors, and
this Universal Audio Solo preamp which
Iused for vocals. Ihad this really great
Neumann TLM microphone which was
actually built for this radio house and that
really amplified the highs. It doesnt work
with all voices, but with my voice it works
really well. Ithink Ibarely EQed the
vocals on the whole album.
The other main feature of the sound of
Philharmonics was the Grotrian-Steinweg
INTERVIEW
AGNES OBEL
piano that Obel bought in 2008. With

that Iused two Neumanns, which Idont
remember the names of, but they were
ones used for classical recordings. And
Ialso did something unusual:I actually
sampled the piano so Ihad it in my
keyboard and Iused it in the bass, cause
Ihad problems with recording the bass.
Istill use this sound sometimes because
Idont know how Igot it. Its really
in-your-face and its cool.
Obel admits, however, that she wasnt
entirely confident at that time about
overseeing the entire recording and
production process herself. Well, Ihave
to say Ive become really comfortable,
she reasons, because you sort of gain
confidence after doing it more and more.
But initially, Iwasnt. For Philharmonics
Irecorded everything, and then Ireally
wanted some producer friends of mine
in Denmark to go in and add some
stuff or make it more professional, and
also thought they should mix it. In my
mind, Iwanted to feel more secure. Its
sometimes just psychology. They worked
on it for aweek, and then Iheard it and
Iwas completely sad. It was so wrong and
it was completely not what Iwanted. The
mixes were way too compressed all the

choirs [of her own multitracked vocals]
were just taken away. And then Ihad this
song Riverside, and there was electric
guitar all over it.
It was just like, No no no. But maybe
it was also the wrong approach. Ishould
probably have been there with them,
you know, cause Ihad apretty specific
vision about these things that Irealised
Ihad. And because Ididnt have any
more budget left, Iended up then
mixingit myself.
Dead Strings
For her second album, 2013s Aventine,
Agnes Obel had adefinite sonic aesthetic
in mind: to close-mic and record the
various instruments featured on it
(piano, harp, guitar, cello, violin and
viola) in asmall and very dead space.
Irecorded alot of that album in alittle
drum room Ihad rented, she says.
They had abunch of microphones
Iwas trying out. Itried recording the
piano and cello with ribbon mics. Idid
abunch of different tests to find out what
worked the best. But Ithink for the song
The Curse Iended up going back to
Piano Percussion
The sparseness of Agnes Obels music
means that conventional drum sounds
tend to overwhelm the delicacy of the
other instruments. As aresult, shell
often use percussive sounds that are
more in the style of musique concrte,
particularly gentle foot stamps or
taps on parts of the piano. When
Im doing it, she says, often its just
the mic Im recording with is on, and
then Ijust sit next to it and hit stuff!

Its not direct miking. Ireally had to
develop my own percussive thing with
using the piano and stomping on the
floor. Especially the piano Ifeel is so
wonderful for arhythm because theres
metal in there and theres wood, and
theres this wonderful resonance. So its
really easy for me to use it as sort of
apercussioninstrument.
INTERVIEW
AGNES OBEL
usingtheNeumann.
On Aventine, Obel wanted the sound
to focus on the cello, played by Anne
Muller. Ihad fallen in love with the idea
of using the cello more as asort of driving
force in arrangements and songwriting,
she says. Iwanted to explore that to tell
some of the melodic stories with the cello
rather than the piano. Id just discovered
col legno where you use the bow as sort
of apercussive element but you still have
the tonal structures in there. So Iwas
trying out these things for the first time.
When it comes to string arrangements,
Obel employs two different techniques:
writing an arrangement using sampled
sounds to create afinished piece, or else

having the players perform parts which
she then re-edits and refocuses in her
home setup, which she calls Chalk Wood
Studio. On the song Aventine, she
says, Imade it all on MIDI first and then
Ire-recorded it with the cellist. That was
pretty sort of basic, and the same with
The Curse, which Ijust worked out with
apizzicato sample or string sound and
then Iremade it.
But Ialso like to have asession with
agreat cello player and we record what
Ihave and then Ijust edit so much. It can
be really fun and so time-consuming. But
Ifeel like alot of the stuff Inow know
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INTERVIEW
AGNES OBEL
about what acello and aviolin can do and

how they can be played and how different
they can sound, Ilearned that from
doing these sessions from editing and
from re-amping them and putting alot
of different weird reverbs on them and
playing around or finding out how Ican
create arhythm out of it.
Sometimes, as with the pulsing cellos
of filmic 1950s-echoing ballad Run Cried
The Crawling from Aventine, Obel had
to add delay to the parts before she
could decide if she could actually use it.
Because its not sort of anatural cello
that Ireally use, she points out. That
song is arhythm pulse created from
the delay and the loops. Theres alot of

places where its just editing different
parts together. Sometimes we re-record
it, but in my experience, Ifeel like theres
some sort of tension in these recordings
when people dont really know how its
gonna be and they dont try to make
ittoo beautiful.
The lead line in The Curse was played
as part of abig harmonic structure, just
in between alot of other lines, and then
it ended up being this solo line. And we
tried to re-record it so many times and
[Anne Muller] just kept on playing it in
such apretty way that all of the tension
and eeriness was gone. So Ifeel like
INTERVIEW
AGNES OBEL
you get alot for free from just making

the player play without trying to sound
good [laughs].
Not Too Beautiful

Agnes Obels latest record, Citizen Of
Glass, finds her creating anew sound
world to reflect the albums theme of
humans in the digital era being glass
citizens whose sense of privacy is
increasingly transparent. In this brittle
universe, Obels prepared piano
customised internally with different felts
and other materials, on or between the
strings is paired with harpsichord,
spinet and celesta.
Ifelt like this theme Ihad chosen,
and the way Iwanted the songwriting to
grow out of that image of being of glass,
it should have some sort of eeriness or
tension to it, she explains. And Ifelt
like glass as amaterial is somehow more
percussive-sounding and also higher and
sometimes even unpleasant-sounding
compared to where Inormally would go,
sound-wise. Ineeded to explore that, so
Imixed spinet and celesta. When you mix
that with prepared piano, this completely
different sound comes out. It can even
sound like amuted harp. So there were
all these combinations Iwas trying out,
just to see if Icould create the right sort
of atmosphere. Cause as soon as Ijust
did the piano, it sometimes just became
too beautiful, you know. Iwanted it to be
beautiful, but not so obvious in away.
Less obvious still is the chorus of the first
single from Citizen Of Glass, Familiar,
where Obel appears to be duetting with
amale voice which is in fact her own,
pitched down. Iwas really wanting to
hear my voice differently, she says.
Iwanted to make astatement about how

we all have different identities. And Ifeel
like, with all this new technology, its clear
that we really are more fluid and we have
different voices. Even online, you have
the online version of yourself. So Ireally
wanted to somehow get that across in the
music, and its so easy to do when you
can just change your voice:its still you,
its just sort of awarped you.
Itried to sing the song with my normal
voice and it just sounded less interesting
than with this male version of myself.
Itried the Waves [SoundShifter], but the
Pitch Shifter in Logic was the one Iliked
most. It made the voice sound really
sort of scary almost. [Laughs] Youd be
surprised how many people thought it
wasnt really me.
Cut Glass
For the making of Citizen, Obel worked
on asetup comprising Logic X running
on an iMac, with an RME soundcard
and UA Apollo. Again, though, she
decided to do the preliminary writing
and recording and eventually the
mixing in asmall deadened space at
BrandNewMusic Studios in Berlin. They
have these two acoustically perfect
rooms there, she says, which makes it
much easier to listen to things. Ilike to
work in these small boxes. Ilike to sit in
those for long periods of time, cause
you get this wonderful focus and nobody
canhear you.
At home at Chalk Wood Studio, for
additional recording and editing, Obel
switched between Genelec monitors and
Beyerdynamic DT770 headphones. Ijust
change all the time, she says. Your
ears get so tired with headphones all the
INTERVIEW
AGNES OBEL
time, but then suddenly its nice to be

in this little bubble of the headphones.
Ihave aGenelec subwoofer which Im
actually not using at the moment cause
itstoo crazy.
As with her previous albums, Obel spent
countless hours editing the performances.
Theres some songs where you just get
it the first time, she says. Thats just
amazing when that happens. Ising and
play much better when Idont know that
this is the final one, when youre not
conscious about it and youve just got
the idea. And this is something Iactually
struggle with sometimes when Iget this
semi-correct lyric in there. Iwant it to
sound like that, it has the right feeling,
and Itry to recreate it when Ihave the
lyrics and everything in place. It can take
me along time. But Iuse alot of editing
on the choirs to make them fit and Ialso
re-amp the choir using this Orange amp.
Idid that alot on Aventine and Citizen Of
Glass: choirs treated like theyre not even
avoice, and really ice-cold.
In much the same way that Obel
says her writing process is affected by
recording in the digital domain, she also
says that her performances are often
informed by the hardware she has at her
disposal. For instance, singing or playing
through her Tube-Tech compressor lends
intimacy to her recordings. Im singing
and playing to the hardware, she says.
Ireally sing differently when Ihave
acertain compressor on my voice. The
same with the piano:if you have areally
good compressor on it, you can play
really softly and play around with that.
For mixing, Obel tends to return again
and again to the same UA plug-ins within
her Apollo. Iuse the UAD EQs like the
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INTERVIEW
AGNES OBEL
Neve and the Cambridge, cause Ifeel

very safe when Ican see something, she
laughs. Ilike to use the reverbs, like the
Lexicon and Iuse some of the tape effects
sometimes, but not always. Icant always
tell if Ireally can hear the difference. Its
sort of psychological.
Aware Of The Bass

Mixing Citizen Of Glass, says Obel, was
atricky proposition, because of the
frequently elaborate arrangements. It
was adifficult album to mix, because
Im not used to having so many tracks,
she admits. Maybe not Citizen Of
Glass or some of the really more simple
songs, but Trojan Horses, Stretch Your
Eyes, Familiar, Its Happening Again;
they were all on the max of tracks and
Iwas starting to have to bounce things
down, but still kept them growing and
growing and growing. So it was very
easy to lose track at some point. It was
abig mouthful.
Even though shes mixing alone, Obel
relies on the advice of her boyfriend Alex
Bruel Flagstad and his comments on how
the tracks are shaping up. Iask him
always what he thinks, because he has
wonderful ideas and he has avery secure
or confident taste in music. Like, he listens
to alot of hip-hop, so he loves when the
mixes are really clear. Ithink its avery
good influence for me because Icould
also go in amore ethereal direction.
But hes always the one whos making
sureImnot.
Additionally, there is much
back-and-forth email activity during the
final process between Obel and mastering
engineer Martin Englert of Elektromos
Studios. Hell always tell me, Oh you
should be aware of the bass, she says.

Hes my saving-it angel or whatever
youd call it. And weve never met. Weve
only had contact over email, but he lets
me have as many corrections as Iwant
every time.
With no kick drums or traditional bass
parts in her tracks, most of the low end
is provided by piano or cello, which
sometimes presents problems in terms
of sonic range. The song Familiar,
for example, proved lacking in low
frequencies when it came to mastering,
and so Obel was forced to go back to the
file and get inventive. Igot acellist with
me in the studio again and we recorded
just some tinks on the chorus and
then Iput an octaver on it so its more
like adouble bass. Alot of places Ijust
added cello bowing with an octaver on,
just to have alittle body down there in
thelowend.
In the end, Citizen Of Glass is both
acreative and sonic triumph. Given
the intensive nature of its recording
and mixing, however, Agnes Obel isnt
quite sure at the moment how shell
approach the making of afourth album.
Yeah, Iactually worked myself alittle bit
physically down while Idid this album,
she admits. Cause Ihad adeadline and
Iwas working every day aminimum of
12 hours at the end. So Iwas alittle bit
wrecked when Ifinished Citizen Of Glass,
and Ihavent been writing at all since
Idelivered it. And thats very new for me
because Im always working alittle bit
doing something.
It took everything Ihad to make it,
she laughs. Lets see what happens.
Right now Ifeel completely like Ireally
gave it everything Ive got.
INTERVIEW
AGNES OBEL
Traut Mask Replica
For Citizen Of Glass, Agnes

Obel added ararely used
sound source to her sonic
palette: arecreation of the
1920s electronic instrument,
the Trautonium. One of my
friends whos an electronic
musician always wants to introduce
me to stuff he thinks Ishould get, she
says. And one day he showed me this
Trautonium and this [video clip of a] guy
sitting playing it. He said it would fit into
my themes of Citizen Of Glass cause it
has this eerie sound, and Hitchcock used
it on The Birds.
We ended up ordering one from
acompany down in South Germany
called Trautoniks. Its afairly uncommon
instrument, but Ican really understand
why, because its really difficult to play!

You play it on this metal wire so you
can let your fingers go up and down like
it was aglissando on astring instrument
or aslide guitar and you can also play
it like apiano, but only monophonic.
Originally Iwanted to make the whole
album on it, but it was just too difficult
for me. Irealised this instrument, for
me, at least fitted to using as sort of
like astring instrument or an effect to
amplify anatmosphere.
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ON TEST
Dynaudio Lyd 5 & 8

Active Nearfield Monitors
Dynaudios rich pedigree in speaker design makes

itself heard in these stylish new designs!
ON TEST
D Y N A U D I O LY D 5 & 8
PHIL WARD
hat is it about Scandinavia

and speakers? Maybe theres
something in the water
that steers young engineers towards
electroacoustics? You see, not long
ago within these pages, Iwrote about
the Amphion nearfield monitors from
Finland. Then theres Genelec from the
same neck of the woods, and Dynaudio,
the Danish company behind the subjects
of this review. And moving away from
the proaudio sector, but still within
the realms of serious electro-acoustics,
there are of course Bang & Olufsen
and theres even arecent book on
the subject of Danish speaker design:
www.danishsound.org/da/article/
danish-loudspeakers-100-years-0.
Scandinavian success with speakers goes
deeper than afew wellknown monitor
and hi-fi companies, however. The region
has also long been known among speaker
engineers for its specialist component
driver manufacturers Peerless, Vifa
and Scanspeak in Denmark, and SEAS
in Norway, to name the bestknown
four. The UK speaker industry would
undoubtedly have been far less able
to grow in the last decades of the
20th Century without access to those
Scandinavian drivers. So Scandinavia is
not just the home of minimalist design,
Lego, groundbreaking contemporary
jazz, innovative ways of preparing fish,
and Ikea, its also aregion of excellence
in speaker design. In contrast, therefore,
to acouple of monitors Ive reviewed
recently from young companies with
little in the way of electro-acoustic
heritage, the Dynaudio Lyd 5 and Lyd 8
Dynaudio Lyd 5
&Lyd8998/1398
PROS
Detailed and even-handed character.

Neutral tonal balance.
Great HF performance.
Versatile on-board EQ options.
Classy design and aesthetics.
CONS
Lyd 8s bass slightly soft.

Nothing else.
SUMMARY
Both the Lyd 5 and Lyd 8 are classy and

capable nearfield monitors invested
with thoughtful electro-acoustic
engineering. They look great, their
performance is up there with the best
in their class, and that theyre relatively
affordable only increases their appeal.
represent the work of an organisation

with roots right back to the early days of
nearfieldmonitors.
In The Beginning...
Dynaudio were established in 1977 by
Wilfried Ehrenholz, Gerhard Richter
and Ejvind Skaaning. The company
quickly developed areputation for
their innovative, holistic approach to
speakers and electro-acoustics an
approach that was often at odds with
the conventional thinking of the day that
majored almost exclusively on frequency
response. One example of the innovative
Dynaudio approach was an unusual
driver construction technique that is still
employed on many of the companys
monitors today. Ill describe that driver
construction alittle later, once Ive
ON TEST
introduced the Lyd 5 and Lyd 8.

The Lyd range comprises three compact
active nearfield monitors, the 5, 7 and 8.
We chose to examine the 5 and 8 partly
because it seemed to make some kind
of sense to look at the monitors at either
end of the range, and partly because
the more expensive and ambitious Lyd 8
incorporates one of those characteristic
Dynaudio-style LF/MF drivers.
The first thing to say about both the
Lyd 5 and Lyd 8 is that they look even
better in the flesh than they do in 2D
images. My 12yearold daughter, who
of course is fast becoming the arbiter of
style in this household, described them
as both cool and awesome. What
more do you need to know? Well, they
break no new ground in terms of shape or
proportion, being entirely rectilinear apart
from the trademark Dynaudio bevelled
front edges, but the sharp white of the
front panels contrasts classically with the
black of the drivers and cabinet panels
to create alook that is unmistakably
Scandinavian, and unmistakably classy. On
both monitors the reflex port is created
by an internal shelf with an aperture at
the back the cabinet. Within the aperture
are two moulded inserts that create
agenerous port flare; the inserts are
finished in the same white as the front of
the cabinet and the aesthetic effect this
creates is both novel and striking.
A second thing to say about the Lyd
range is that all three monitors are more
competitively priced than Ioriginally
imagined they would be. They are not
quite at the ultra-competitive entry-level
price points for serious nearfield
monitoring, but theyre not far off. It
was apleasant surprise also to find
that the Lyd range is predominantly

manufactured in Denmark rather than
in the Far East. Competitive pricing and
European manufacture is, Ithink, quite
an achievement and Dynaudio should be
applauded for it.
In terms of size and scale, the Lyd 5 is
agenuinely compact monitor of only 5.5L
internal volume. Its driver complement
comprises anominally 145mm
reinforcedpolymer cone LF/MF unit and
a28mm dopedfabric dome HF unit. In
traditional Dynaudio style, the un-rebated
chassis of the LF/MF unit overlaps the
front plate of the HF unit alittle. The
overlap creates an attractive, integrated
aesthetic to my eyes, and also helps get
the acoustic centres of the two drivers
just that little bit closer together. The Lyd
5 ClassD power amplification provides
50 Watts each for both the LF/MF and
HF drivers, and the crossover frequency
is set at an unusually high 5.2kHz more
about that further down the page.
The Lyd 8 is asignificantly larger
monitor than the Lyd 5 but still inhabits
the nearfield camp in terms of scale. Its
drivers comprise adome HF unit similar
to the one fitted to the Lyd 5 (the only
apparent difference is the greater front
plate diameter) and asignificantly larger
200mm reinforcedpolymer cone LF/
MF unit. The Lyd 8 enclosure internal
volume is around three times that of the
Lyd 5 and its ClassD power amplification
provides 80 Watts and 50 Watts
respectively for the LF/MF and HF drivers.
While the 3.9kHz crossover frequency of
the Lyd 8 is not quite as high as found
on the Lyd 5, it is again significantly
higher than would normally be found on
similarmonitors.
ON TEST
Cone With The Winding

As Itouched on earlier, the Lyd 8
LF/MF driver features Dynaudios
unusual construction technique. Ialso
promised adescription, so here it
is. The conventional arrangement of
driver voice coil and magnet sees
arelatively smalldiameter voice coil
wound on aformer encircling ametallic
pole piece. Circumferentially around the
voice coil, located nominally halfway
along its length, is ametallic top plate.
Adoughnutshaped magnet energises
the pole piece and top plate on opposite
poles, with the voice coil immersed in
the magnetic field in the gap between the
two. This is all illustrated in Diagram 1.
The Dynaudio external voicecoil
construction comprises amuch
largerdiameter voice coil encircling not
apole piece but the doughnut magnet
itself. An internally flanged metallic
can then encloses the entire assembly
from the bottom of the magnet, and

atop plate is mounted on top of the
magnet. The voice coil then moves in
the gap between the top plate and the
flange of the can. There is no pole piece.
Diagram 2 illustrates this external voice
coil construction.
There are of course advantages and
disadvantages with the external voice
coil. Ill cover the advantages, as Isee
them, first. To begin with, afar larger
voice coil brings significantly greater
thermal power handling and reduced
thermal compression. The larger voice coil
also means that the diaphragm is driven
not from near its apex, as is the case
with conventional drivers, but from much
further out. This can help significantly in
controlling diaphragm break-up behaviour
as frequency rises above that at which
the diaphragm is able to move as awhole
(which, as well see, probably has some
relevance to the Lyd 8 system design).
Another advantage is that the hole
Diagram 1. Traditional Moving-coil Driver Arrangement
Chassis
Diaphragm
Dust cap
Voice-coil
Top plate
Magnet
Pole-piece
ON TEST
Diagram 2. Dynaudio Moving-coil Driver
Diaphragm
(with integrated
dust cap)
Chassis
Voice-coil
Magnet
Top plate
Back plate (can)
behind the dust cap, where the pole

piece would otherwise be, allows free
passage to the air pumped backwards
and forwards by the dust cap. And
speaking of the dust cap, Dynaudio Lyd
LF/MF drivers (on the Lyd 5 as well as
the 8) are unusual in having the cone and
dust cap formed in one piece. More often
than not, in conventional drivers, the dust
cap is aseparate component stuck to the
cone by abead of glue.
And disadvantages? Well, to start with,
alarger voice-coil is also very likely to
be heavier, which means alarger and
more powerful magnet is required.
Some compensation for the extra weight
can be achieved by using copper-clad
aluminium voice-coil wire, but even so,
the large voice-coil former is still an issue.
Furthermore, despite the lack of apole
piece and consequent free passage of
air, external voice-coil construction also
tends to results in asignificant reflective
surface, namely the magnet, directly

behind the dust cap. Generally, more
of the rear side of the diaphragm is
blocked off by the chassis and magnet
than on aconventionally arranged driver.
External voice-coil construction also
makes providing sufficient diaphragm
movement, while keeping the voice-coil
former short (and therefore stiff),
more complex than in aconventionally
constructed driver. The manufacturing
process is slightly more tricky too.
Dynaudio have stuck with their external
voice-coil construction technique for
many decades now and theres little
doubt that the technique can result in
some seriously high-performance drivers
such as the Lyd 8 LF/MF driver, which
Dynaudio say is perhaps their best ever
200mm unit. Ill write about its subjective
performance alittle further down the
page but theres one aspect of the way
it works thats revealed by measuring
ON TEST
the Lyd 8 frequency response, and it

ties in with Dynaudios decision to use
an unusually high 3.9kHz crossover
frequency. Brace yourself for alittle
acoustic theory.
Theory Eyed
If you go to your bookshelf, select your
usual acoustics reference text book
(Iknow you have one) and turn to the
page where it describes the frequency
response of asimple, infinitely rigid
diaphragm, youll see that the off-axis
response will begin to decay noticeably
by the time the wavelength gets to
around the diaphragm diameter

around 2kHz for adiaphragm the size
of the Lyd 8 LF/MF driver. A30-degree
offaxis response measurement of the
Lyd 8, however, as illustrated in Diagram
3, shows that it does no such thing. The
output has only dropped by around
2dB by the 3.9kHz crossover frequency
when, in theory, it should be around 6dB
down. So what is going on? Because as
afictional Scottish engineer once (or
twice) bellowed, You cannae break the
laws of physics, Jim!
Whats going on is that at 3.9kHz,
the effective diameter of the driver is
ON TEST
no longer 200mm. There are very few

materials from which you can make
adiaphragm that is both light enough to
work in a200mm driver yet rigid enough
to still be moving as awhole at 3.9kHz.
Actually, its fewer than very few. So
at 3.9kHz, due to the flexibility of the
diaphragm material, its extremities will
have effectively stopped moving, leaving
only the central region radiating audio.
This of course is easier said than done,
and requires no little skill to engineer, but
thanks to the Dynaudio external voice-coil
construction, with its diaphragm driven
not at the apex but significantly further
out and with its integrated dust cap,
the engineering probably becomes

alittle easier. It contributes significantly,
Ithink, to making the 3.9kHz crossover
frequency feasible.
Diagram 4 shows the same response
comparison for the Lyd 5 and, again, its
30degree off-axis response is very well
behaved, despite the even higher 5.2kHz
crossover frequency. Of course that higher
crossover frequency is accompanied by
avery much smaller LF/MF driver than
that fitted to the Lyd 8, and because
its diaphragm is small, any advantage
gained by external voice-coil construction
would probably not be so significant (and
actually, the disadvantages of external
ON TEST
voice-coil construction would become

more significant). Once again though,
the integrated dust cap probably helps
control the diaphragm behaviour and
enables the LF/MF driver to keep going
almost an octave higher than such adriver
would typically be used.
So, Ive described perhaps how the
Dynaudio Lyd monitors manage their high
crossover frequencies, but not explained
why such athing might be agood idea.
Working the HF driver less hard will
benefit power handling and thermal
compression effects, and also perhaps
reduce distortion levels. However,
Dynaudio say that the primary motivation
is to get the crossover frequency, with
its potential response discontinuities
and phase changes, out of the region
where the human ear is at its most
sensitive. This is alaudable aim and Ithink
agenuinely sound principle, however
there are numerous good nearfield
monitors available that take adifferent
view on crossover frequency and place
it significantly lower (Amphion monitors
for example, and their 1.6kHz crossover),
so as ever with speakers theres no
unambiguously right answer.
Panel Show
Moving on, the Lyd range conforms
to the usual active nearfield monitor
practice of arear connection panel that
also offers arange of EQ and setup
switches. The panel and its switches
are identical on both monitors. Signal
connection options are balanced XLR
and unbalanced phono, and despite
the Lyd range having internal DSP, and
hence AD conversion, theres no digital
input option. Dynaudios justification for
the lack of adigital input is partly cost

and partly that, at the Lyd price points,
they believe relatively few customers
are likely to have aDAW interface or
monitor controller with asuitable digital
monitor output.
The Lyd DSP runs at 24bit/96kHz, so
theres an argument that, if you habitually
work at ahigher sample rate, the Lyd
It was obvious from the

first moment that this
is an extremely capable
nearfield monitor.
range is not for you. Again though,
users that fall into that category will be
few in number. Maybe of more concern
to some with the Lyds digital nature is
that the DSP will result in some in/out
latency. Dynaudio estimate the latency
to be around at 30 samples, which at
96kHz equates to around 0.3ms, but
Imeasured it using FuzzMeasure at nearer
to 1ms. Research referred to in Hugh
Robjohns feature on MQA in the August
issue (http://sosm.ag/2cVfIwE) suggests
that the ear is able to discriminate very
much shorter time delays than that,
but Ithink the Lyds latency is still very
unlikely to be an issue especially
when the fundamental electro-acoustic
lowfrequency latency is likely to be
significantly greater.
The Lyd rear panel EQ and setup
options are all selected via switches
so theres thankfully no need for my
traditional moan about variable controls
being hard to set identically on both
ON TEST
monitors. The options comprise three

lowfrequency bandwidth settings,
three tonal balance settings and awall
proximity setting. The bandwidth
settings enable the monitors
lowfrequency roll-off to be moved up or
down from 45Hz to 65Hz in 10Hz steps
on the Lyd 8 and from 50Hz to 70Hz
in 10Hz steps on the Lyd 5. Each 10Hz
step downwards also results in a5dB
reduction in each monitors potential
maximum volume level (this is because,
as lowfrequency bandwidth is extended,
the LF/MF driver diaphragm is required
to move further). The tonal balance
options also provide three settings. They
are labelled B, N and D for bright,
normal and dark, and as might be
expected they serve to brighten or
darken the overall balance. They operate
by tilting the overall response either
side of 1kHz. Readers of acertain age
will perhaps remember the similar
Quad hi-fi preamplifier tilt control.
The dark setting attenuates the level
at 20kHz by 1.5dB while simultaneously
increasing the level at 20Hz by the same
amount, and the bright setting does
the opposite. The tilt switch is asubtle
approach to monitor EQ that Ireally
like. It can usefully help to tune the
tonal balance of amonitor to the broad
properties of alistening environment
without wildly changing its character, as
some more rudimentary EQ options can
sometimes do.
The final EQ switch is labelled Wall
and Free and is designed to provide
compensation for lowfrequency gain
when the monitors are used in close
proximity to awall (Dynaudio mention
a0.5m distance). Establishing exactly
ON TEST
what this option does is not easy,

however. Dynaudio say it is not just
simple EQ but incorporates some ideas
(and presumably signal processing) that
they are unwilling to divulge thanks to
apossible patent application.
Listening In
So finally, how do the Lyd monitors
perform? Ibegan with the Lyd 8,
listening to acombination of wellknown
CDs and my own ProTools projects,
and it was obvious from the first
moment that this is an extremely
capable nearfield monitor. Adistinctly
evenhanded tonal balance and (other
than avery mild cabinet panel character)
alack of any majorly distracting
coloration through the midrange was
combined with agood level of fine
detail and awellfocused (if maybe
slightly flat) stereo image. The Lyd 8
fundamentally displays all the signs that
the electro-acoustic design is properly
sorted and that the compromises
inherent in designing speakers have
been well handled.
Ill mention the Lyd HF driver, but it
primarily demonstrates its class by not
drawing attention to itself. Theres four
decades or more of soft-dome HF driver
design experience in Denmark and the
Lyd HF driver clearly benefits. Who
needs ceramic or metaldome or ribbon
drivers, when an old-school fabric
dome can work so well? The HF driver is
delicate and detailed and seems entirely
without vice (perhaps helped by the high
crossover frequency). It would offer real
confidence for example when making
calls on vocal sibilance.
For what its worth, because rooms
ON TEST
and personal preferences obviously

differ, Isettled on the non-extended
bass setting, the dark tilt setting and
the wall proximity setting for the Lyd
8 although Im really not sure how
effective the proximity switch was
as it didnt appear to have ahugely
obvious effect in my room. If Ihave any
criticism of the Lyd 8 it was brought
about by trying the -10Hz extended LF
setting, which to my ears seemed to be
astep too far in terms of bass quality.
With the LF extended the Lyd 8 bass
seemed to take on aslightly less precise
character. Ireverted to the non-extended
option, but of course once amonitor
characteristic is heard its difficult to
un-hear it. So from that point Iwas never
entirely sure of the Lyd 8s bass. Context
is important here though and Id happily
take the Lyd 8s other fine qualities and
invest the time to understand and learn
its ways with bass.
And the Lyd 5? Well to begin with, its
obviously cut from the same clich as the
Lyd 8 the similarity of character, tonal
balance and overall feel is unmistakeable.
And, even though the Lyd 5 is the less
expensive of the two monitors, Iactually
preferred it. To my ears, its stereo
imaging was more precise and focused
than the Lyd 8 and in general terms it
seemed more coherent there was more
of asense of listening down into the
layers of amix.
The Lyd 5s lowfrequency bandwidth
was understandably less extended
than the Lyd 8, but, perhaps thanks
to being less ambitious in terms of
lowfrequency extension it lacked the
Lyd 8s occasionally unsatisfying bass
character. Perhaps the Lyd 5 reflects that
Alternatives
Theres obviously no shortage of active
nearfield monitoring options around the
price of the Lyd 8 and Lyd 5. Some of the
strongest competitors are probably the
Pioneer RM-05 and RM-07, the Focal
Alpha 50 and Alpha 80, the Genelec M030
and M040, and the Adam A7X and A8X.
old electro-acoustics design truism that

small speakers are often easier to make
work than larger ones partly because
smaller cabinets resonate less and dont
compromise dispersion quite so much,
and partly because smaller LF/MF drivers
are less compromised by the physical
limitations of diaphragm materials.
Whatever the reasons, for me, the Lyd 5 is
the star performer of the pair.
If you asked me, and Im sure you did, to
come up with one phrase to describe my
feelings about the Lyd monitors it would
be engineering integrity. There is, to
my way of thinking, something genuinely
satisfying about the way in which their
design and engineering hang together
it even extends to athoughtful and
informative user manual and really classy
packaging design. While the Lyd 5 was
my favourite of the two, both are Ithink
easily competitive with the best monitors
at the price, and when you factor in the
complete package of aesthetics, style and
general coolness, its really hard not to
like them alot.
Lyd 5 998, Lyd 8 1398. Prices are per
pair, including VAT.

TT Audio Distribution Group +45 6574 8228
EE sales@audiodistributiongroup.com
WW www.audiodistributiongroup.com
WW www.dynaudio.com
Introducing the TouchMix -30 Pro
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Large (10-inch) Multi-Touch Display Screen
Anti-Feedback Wizard
Room Tuning Wizard
Two Real-Time Analyzers (RTA)
USB interface for Mac DAW Compatibility
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MP3 Playback
Shown with optional Tablet Support Stand and iPad (not included). Mac and iPad are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. 2016 QSC, LLC. All rights reserved.
QSC, the QSC logo, TouchMix and Beyond Mixing are registered trademarks of QSC, LLC in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and other countries. Specifications subject to change without notice.
www.qsc.com/beyondmixing
ON TEST
O V E R S TAY E R M A S M O D E L 8 1 0 1
The Box
In the flesh, theres avintage vibe to
the MASs deep, 1U rackmount steel
chassis. Its beige fascia is home to
two totally separate channels, each of
which features anumber of controls:
athree-position toggle switch for input
selection, avertical bank of three EQ
buttons, asecond bank of three switches
to configure the harmonics circuitry, and
input, wet/dry mix and output pots. These
are joined by aquarter-inch instrument
input jack and afour-LED meter ladder.
Athird three-switch bank with individual
indicator LEDs switches the individual
channels in and out of circuit, and turns
the power on.
The rear panel carries afive-pin XLR
connector for the external power
supply, along with two sets of main L/R
and auxiliary balanced XLR inputs and
outputs. The latter enable you to connect
the MAS in line with two separate stereo
sources (or even four mono inputs)
and to switch between them using the
front-panel toggle switch. Although all
inputs are separate, the aux output for
each channel is aparallel of the main
output, which means you get afair
amount of flexibility in how you integrate
the MAS into your studio setup.
Lifting the lid reveals two identical
channel PCBs, which are populated
entirely by full-size components theres
nary an SMD to be seen. What can be
seen on each channel is alarge white
gobbet of what could, at first sight, be
easily mistaken for mayonnaise, but
which is in fact some kind of sealant
that conceals asection of circuitry from
prying eyes. The build quality is high,
Overstayer MAS
Model81011620
PROS
Delivers agreat old-school analogue

sound character.
High degree of control of the
harmonic profile being generated.
Transient rounding evens out signal
levels to produce aperceived increase
in volume.
Intuitive operation.
CONS
It isnt exactly cheap though thats

not to say it doesnt offer impressive
value!
SUMMARY
An intuitive, effective, stereo analogue

processor that imparts adistinctive
character to signals passing through
it by generating low-order harmonics
and rounding out transients, in ahighly
controllable manner reminiscent of
classic analogue recording chains.
with resistor ladders being used on the

mix and output potentiometers, the
latter being stepped from zero up to
an (unmarked) 11.
Operation
With the per-channel choice of either of
two balanced XLR inputs, afront-panel
unbalanced instrument jack and twin
outputs, Overstayers MAS 8101 gives you
plenty of flexibility in how you integrate
it into your setup. In aDAW environment,
the simplest approach could be to
configure the connection with the MAS
as one stereo and two mono hardware
plug-ins. That would enable you to
either patch it as needed in-line between
ON TEST
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mic pre and audio interface, or to your

interfaces plug-in I/O.
Theres awide range between where
the MAS 8101s multiple amplifier
stages begin to have an effect on the
signal and their clip point, and the LED
meter displays this range. Perhaps
reflecting the tape-like rounding-off of
transients inherent in the operation of
the MAS 8101, the meter illuminates
from the top down, so the topmost
LED indicates that low-order harmonic
coloration and transient rounding are
beginning to happen and, as the input
level increases, the lower LEDs illuminate
to indicate the rise in harmonic content
and transient rounding.
The MAS is one of those

pieces of outboard thats
bound to put asmile on
your face.
The EQ and high-pass filter (from hereon
HPF) are positioned prior to the amp
stages and therefore affect the harmonics
being generated. The HF EQ (+2dB at
12kHz) and LF band (+2dB at 100Hz) each
have afixed shelving response. The HPF
is afixed two-pole filter, with aresonant
peak at its 50Hz corner frequency.
Associated with the EQ is the Emphasis
button in the second switch bank, which,
when engaged, shifts the focus of its
channels harmonic generation up into the
middle and treble ranges, leaving bass
frequenciesunaffected.
Usefully, both the wet/dry mix and the
output controls are stepped, allowing
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ON TEST
for simple stereo matching between

channels. On the unit I was sent for
review, the input control was continuous.
Obviously, thats less great for stereo
operation (although its scale markings
are probably sufficient to balance the two
channels adequately), so thankfully theres
also a version available with a stepped
input control personally, Ithink that
thats the version Id choose.
The two switches Ive not yet
considered are Dual, which puts asecond
discrete stage in series with the first,
to increase harmonic complexity, and
Second, which increases the amount of
second-harmonic distortion.
In Use
Only your ears can tell you if the MAS
8101 is doing what you want it to.
Increasing the drive into it leads to more
second- and third-harmonic distortion
and transient rounding being produced,
giving the impression of more body and
level in the result. The profile of the
harmonic distortion can be adjusted by
using the EQ, HPF and Emphasis controls
to change the frequency makeup of the
signal being processed, and can also be
made more complex by bringing in the
additional processing stage via the Dual
function. The Second switch can also be
brought into play to increase the amount
of second-harmonic distortion, either

if you feel that the third harmonic has
become overly dominant or if you just
want more of the second.
How you configure the processing
and the sounds that you can attain are
completely dependent on the source
being processed, your personal taste
in harmonic distortion, and the amount
of subjective increase in volume that
youre looking for. Some of the greatest
drum sounds ever recorded came from
the harmonic distortion, high-frequency
roll-off and tape saturation compression
created by the tape recorders of
the day being driven into the red by
transformer-balanced consoles, and the
MAS 8101 has this kind of effect pretty
much down. Icould push the unit quite
hard with astereo sampled kit before
distortion became overly evident
and by that time transients were being
rounded off wholesale and the sound
of the kit had gained depth, body and
apparent level. This was the point at
which the mix control came into play,
enabling me just as Iwould with
parallel compression to dial back the
effected sound into ablend that kept the
dynamic feel of the original source intact
but also added real weight and substance
to the overall sound of the kit.
The Emphasis function produced the
ON TEST
expected mix of unaffected bottom end

and harmonically-enhanced mids and
above, much as youd get from putting
ahigh-pass filter in acompressors

side-chain. Idid notice that Icould
drive the analogue stages harder in this
The Nature Of Distortion

Theres little mystery in the hooking up
of the MAS and neither is there much
in its operation, or at least there isnt
once youve appreciated how to control
what it does. Before you get there, it
might be worth agentle recap of how
distortion is generated in an audio signal
as it passes through the hypothetical
analogue recording signal path of
preamplifier/EQ/channel amplifier/mix
bus/multitrack tape recorder. Theres not
the space here to explore this subject in
depth, but youll find enormous amounts
of detail on this subject online and in
various textbooks if you feel the desire
to get granular about it.
There are two kinds of distortion
created in the above signal path
linear and non-linear. Alinear distortion,
such as the phase shift in an EQ circuit,
is adistortion that increases as the
frequency rises, but that does not
result in any new frequencies being
added to the original signal. Non-linear
distortions, on the other hand, add
new frequencies to the original signal
in the form of its harmonics. Of course,
in music these non-linear harmonic
distortions are introduced deliberately
(otherwise an oboe would sound like
aflute, which would sound like apure
sine wave, and aLes Paul into aMarshall
stack would sound exactly the same).
The gain of any given device, such
as the tubes and transistors in our
hypothetical recording signal path, will
vary with the current passing through
it, the voltage across it and its internal
temperature. In our recording path,

this means that audio signals are being
amplified by devices whose gain is being
constantly changed by them with
the result that the gain in the path is
non-linear and the signals are therefore
distorted. If the source is asimple 1kHz
sine wave, the distorted output from the
signal path will contain the fundamental
1kHz frequency plus aseries of
harmonics of varying amplitudes 2kHz
(second), 3kHz (third) and so on and
its asituation that obviously increases
massively in complexity when an audio
signal containing multiple frequencies at
multiple amplitudes is being amplified.
As musicians and engineers, we like the
sound of the two low-order harmonics
and their interactions. Our preferences
are, quite naturally, entirely personal
my own take is that the presence
of second harmonics makes music feel
warmer and that third harmonics give the
music amore dynamic feel. Of course,
too much of either (or both) of these
can result in negative impacts, as does
the presence of any audible quantity of
higher-order harmonics which is why
electronic design engineers have spent
inordinate amounts of time over the
last century or so designing harmonic
distortion out of audio equipment
and why, perversely, musicians and
engineers have spent significant sums on
software and hardware putting low-order
harmonic distortion back in which
brings us neatly back to the Overstayer
MAS Model 8101!
ON TEST
mode before things started getting

over the top, so there are obviously
additional creative opportunities
available using low-passed, high-passed
and band-passed tracks to feed
the MAS 8101.
Connected abass guitar to the
instrument jack again made for
interesting experimentation, its sound
gaining weight and note-to-note
volumes being evened out without
requiring any dedicated compression
while tracking, although if Iwere to
take that result to amix Id probably
run afew decibels of light compression
across it just to tighten it up that little
bit more. The MAS 8101 also turned
out to be well suited to the more
mid-range-biased signals from an electric
guitar; its capable of avery believable,
clean-to-crunchy tube-amp sound
if need be. With vocals, this type of
processing can often be abit too much
of agood thing, but its still possible to
get some lovely effects by backing off
the wet/dry mix to the point where you
cant really hear the distortion, but you
miss it when its notthere.
Across afull mix, the MAS 8101 is
as effective as it is on individual tracks
and, as with those, the results will
depend on the source material and your
sonic desires. The transient-rounding
compression effect can certainly knit
amix together, although finding the
appropriate balance between the amount
of that apparent compression that is
needed, the level and profile of the
harmonics being generated, and the
mix with the dry track is the real trick
when you get it right, the result can
be quite stunning.
Alternatives
If youre into tube gear, the more expensive
Black Box Analog Design HG-2 might float
your boat. Overstayers own Saturator NT
02A is also aworthy alternative and, for
those of us with smaller budgets, theres
the Looptrotter Sa2Rate and Elysia
Karacter to consider. There are anumber
of analogue tape simulators too, such as
the Rupert Neve Designs Portico 5042
and Roger Mayer 456 Stereo, and for
those who can solder, DIYREs Colour
system is well worth investigating.
Verdict
The MAS is one of those pieces of
outboard thats bound to put asmile
on your face it certainly did on mine!
Its easily controllable ability to both
introduce harmonic distortion and round
off transients does add an analogue-type
character to signals passing through
it. Personally speaking, Ifelt that the
MAS was at its best with the Emphasis
function engaged, letting the low end
pass through virtually unaffected and
giving me more headroom when driving
its analogue processing stages with mid
and upper frequencies.
Although the MAS is relatively
expensive, if you want to have the effect
that it produces on your tracks Icant
think of abetter, more controllable way of
achieving it in the analogue domain. No
matter what style of music you work with,
it will give you something that you wont
find elsewhere. Ihighly recommend it
and lust after it!
1620 including VAT.
TT KMR Audio +44 (0)20 8445 2446
EE sales@kmraudio.com
WW www.kmraudio.com
WW www.overstayeraudio.com
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2016 HARMAN International Industries, Incorporated.

All rights reserved. Features, specifications and appearance
are subject to change without notice.
ON TEST
UVI PX Apollo
Software Synthesizer
UVI are offering avery
reasonably priced emulation
of aclassic Moog but which
classic Moog is it?
GORDON REID
ince Istarted playing soft synths

about 15 years ago, Ive noticed
two things happening. Firstly,
theyve become better... much better.
The imitative ones have gotten closer
to emulating the sounds and responses
of their inspirations, and the innovative
ones have incorporated more ways
to generate, twist and play sounds.
Secondly, theyve become boring. Does
the world need another Minimoog or
Hammond B3 emulation, or yet another
way to slice up waveforms, modulate
them according to the positions of the
planets on your 21st birthday, chop
the results into little pieces and then
reassemble them according to some
algorithm unknown outside the maths
departments of major universities? As
aconsequence, Ive started looking for
products that break new ground, either
in terms of recreating something rare and
unobtainable, or in terms of introducing
new but understandable and playable
methods of synthesis. The UVI PX
Apollo appears to be one of the former,
inspired by the legendary Moog Apollo
whose only outing was ELPs Brain Salad

Surgery tour of 1974. But is it?
To answer this, we need to look at the
history of the Apollo. The first instrument
to bear this name was built in 1973 as part
of the unreleased Moog Constellation
mono/poly/bass synth. The monophonic
instrument, the Lyra, was also used by ELP,
and bits of it eventually ended up in the
Micromoog and Multimoog. The bass synth
also survived in part as the Taurus pedals.
But the polyphonic bit in the middle, the
four-octave, single-oscillatorpernote
ON TEST
UVI PX APOLLO
instrument described by Moog as a true

polyphonic synth and electric piano
was never seen or heard again, although
much of its technology later appeared
in the Polymoog Keyboard, which was
releasedin1975.
The Polymoog was much enhanced
when compared with the Apollo; the
single oscillator per note had become two
oscillators per note, asustain phase had
been added to its contour generators,
and its keyboard had been extended so
that it could be played more like apiano.
Unfortunately, this made it expensive and
unreliable so, in 1978, the powers-that-be
at Norlin (who owned the Moog brand)
decided to release acheaper, simpler,
preset version that lacked its synthesis
controls. They then transferred the
name Polymoog Keyboard to the new
instrument, and rebranded the original
the Polymoog Synthesizer. To this day,
this creates confusion that could have
been avoided had they chosen anew
name for the new instrument, and it
seems that they might have done so but
it was dropped before the product was
released. If an instrument now owned by
the Moog Foundation is genuine, there
was aprototype of the 1978 Polymoog
Keyboard that, apart from the name
plate, looks all but identical to the
released product and its called the
Moog Apollo.
What makes this all the more confusing
is that both versions of the Apollo still
exist. Although no longer working, Keith
Emersons instrument can now be found
at the Audities museum in Canada, while
the later one is pretty much functional
and in 2014 was even seen on stage in
Moogs home city of Asheville, North
UVI PX Apollo 69
PROS
The Polymoog Keyboard presets are

wellsampled.
The editing system is simple and well
laidout.
The composite Polymoog/Falcon
sounds are much better than Ihad
expected.
Its easy to come up with something
unusual and musically useful.
CONS
You only run it from within aUVI host,

not as an AU, VST or AAX plug-in.
Bugs, bugs, bugs it should have
been tested more fully before release.
The manual needs updating and
proofing.
SUMMARY
PX Apollo is nearly avery nice soft

synth. Based in part upon an unusual
vintage keyboard, its spiced up with
some modern twists to generate
an unexpected range of interesting
and useable sounds. Its currently let
down by anumber of bugs, none of
which is fatal, but which are annoying
nonetheless. When these are fixed, its
going to be well worth investigating.
Carolina. So, which of these instruments

forms the basis of the UVI PX Apollo?
Despite UVIs references to the oft veiled
world of unique, fringe and unreleased
electronic and acoustic instruments and
to a larger project that was eventually
abandoned, theres no confusion. Its
preset sounds and its ability to sustain
notes reveal that this is asoft synth based
upon the Polymoog Keyboard, not the
original Apollo.
ON TEST
UVI PX APOLLO
The Soft Synth

You can access UVIs samples of the
Moogs raw sounds by selecting the
00-Init Mono preset and then stepping
through the buttons in the Master Voice
Selector. These are not always accurate in
the way that they respond when played,
but the underlying timbres are authentic
(even down to the spurious, although

not intrusive, background noises) and,
in some ways, playing them with no
modification other than perhaps atouch
of chorus and reverb is this soft synths
strongest suit. Indeed, had Idesigned
it, Imight have been tempted to leave
things at that and restrict the editing
system to those controls found on
ON TEST
UVI PX APOLLO
the original. However, the majority of

potential users will be relieved to find that
Ididnt, and that it offers far more by way
of sound generation and sculpting.
In total, it comprises three sound
generators called Bass, Osc Aand Osc
B, which can be selected individually
or in any combination. The first is an
emulation of the Polymoog Keyboards
simple bass sound, complete with its
dedicated low-pass filter and volume
control. When selected, this is shown on
the representation of the keyboard in
the GUI as extending from MIDI note E2
downward although, in fact, it extends
from Eb2 downward. This has no effect
upon the useability of the bass section,
but it strikes me as something that should
have been noticed and fixed.
Next, Osc Ais the sample replay
engine based upon the Polymoogs
presets. These have been recorded
monophonically, which means that you
cant adjust the detuning as you could
on the original synth; you have to accept
the settings used when UVI recorded
them. To its right, Osc B is acompletely
different beastie, offering 12 digitally
generated waveforms derived from UVIs
Falcon synthesis workstation. These
include analogue-style waves such as
System Re quir emen ts

Mac
Intel CPU, 4GB of RAM, 1.5GB of disk space,
Mac OS 10.7 or higher.
UVI Workstation v2.6.2 or Falcon v1.0.5 (or
later) running stand-alone or as an AU, VST or
AAX plug-in.
PC
Core Duo or faster, 4GB of RAM, 1.5GB of
disk space, Windows 7 or higher.
UVI Workstation v2.6.2 or Falcon v1.0.5 (or
later) running stand-alone or as aVST or
AAXplug-in.
triangle, saw, ramp, and three flavours of

pulse, together with asmall selection of
more complex waves. Almost all of the
PX Apollos editing capabilities can be
applied independently to Osc Aand Osc
B by depressing the large A or B buttons
that sit alongside them, which means that
(overlooking the Bass section) it includes
two independent polysynths that are
mixed at the effects/output stage.
After the master volume and pan
faders, the first group of editing controls
comprise afour-stage contour generator
applied to the audio amplifier. It isnt
faithful to the Polymoog Synthesizer,
which generated an ADSD amplitude
contour rather than the ADSR presented
Hosting PX Apollo
You cant run PX Apollo as
astraightforward AU, VST or AAX
plug-in; you have to run it within UVIs
Workstation (currently v2.6.5) or Falcon
synthesis hybrid engine (currently
v1.0.5). This shouldnt be aproblem
because the company provide the
Workstation free of charge as ahost,
and it is this that appears in your plug-in

lists. It can host numerous UVI synths
simultaneously in ahuge Multi and apply
an extensive library of effects to them
so, once you start to use it, you may find
that this is itself avaluable addition to
your software toolbox.
ON TEST
UVI PX APOLLO
here, but its close enough to allow

you to shape sounds in the same
way. The amount of contour applied
is velocity sensitive, and theres also
abutton marked Vel>A that shortens the
attack time when you hit the keys faster,
which is areal bonus when emulating
acoustic instruments. Strangely, the Vel
button in this section works backwards.
When up (off) the amplifier is velocity
sensitive; when depressed (on) its not.
This means that its working as adefeat
button, which is fine, but not in keeping
with the rest of the synth.
Much greater differences are revealed
when you turn to the resonant filter section.
Unlike any version of the Polymoog, this
offers three modes (low-pass, band-pass
and high-pass) and asecond polyphonic
ADSR contour generator. Ignoring the
Polymod cards that generated its initial
voices, there was only asingle filter and
its associated contour generator in the

Polymoog, so any sounds shaped by this
were paraphonic, and held notes were
retriggered when you played new ones.
Since the PX Apollo filter section is truly
polyphonic, each note is now shaped
correctly; this isnt authentic but its abig
improvement. However, the Vel knob
(which one would imagine would connect
velocity to the filter cutoff frequency or
the contour amount) appears to affect the
input or output level, ie. the loudness. If
theres any effect upon the cutoff frequency
or contour amount its minimal, and Icant
imagine that this is what UVI intended.
The second edit page allows you to
determine the pitches of the oscillator
sections, and offers apolyphonic
envelope that either decays from ahigh
pitch down to the normal pitch of each
note, or rises from alow pitch up to the
normal pitch of each note, with slew
ON TEST
UVI PX APOLLO
times ranging from almost instantaneous

to approximately two seconds. (In the
distant past, this was sometimes called
Slalom.) Youll also find abutton marked
Mono here, which converts PX Apollo into
amonosynth, and the Slalom effect then
becomes aconventional portamento.
The next panel allows you to double
the Polymoog sounds, either sending
alternate notes to the left and right
channels, or spreading and detuning
them to create richer timbres. When
Osc Ais selected, theres an additional
control here called Color, which UVI
explain shifts colour based on adjacent
samples. Initially Ihad no idea what this
meant, but experimentation revealed that
depending upon the position of the
fader it causes each note to be played
using pitch-shifted samples from one or
more semitones above (or below) the one
that youve played, thus creating adeeper
tone or adegree of munchkinisation. Its

an interesting enhancement, but not as
useful as you might wish because many
of the sustained samples have inherent
modulation that becomes unnaturally fast
if you raise the fader too far, while the
percussive sounds can decay too quickly.
Nonetheless, its aneat idea. If Osc B
is selected, you also have the option to
select the number of voices from one
to eight in the unison as well as the
amount of detune and spread, allowing
you to create effects ranging from awarm
chorus to the unavoidable swarm of angry
wasps at acollege garden party.
The third panel on this page determines
whether the modulation wheel affects
the independent LFOs generating pitch
modulation (vibrato) and loudness
modulation (tremolo), or the filter cutoff
frequency, or any combination of these.
Strangely, the vibrato rate is shown as
ON TEST
UVI PX APOLLO
anumber, while the tremolo rate is shown

as aMIDI Clock division, even though the
movement of the slider isnt quantised
that coarsely. Icant see why this should
be so but, whatever the reason, both
LFOs were running freely when tested.
The third page contains amore
sophisticated LFO offering sine, triangle

and square waveshapes as well as sample
and hold (S&H). This runs independently
of the LFOs on the previous page, and
you can select whether its retriggered
each time that anew note is played, and
whether the LFOs affecting each note are
Polymoog Keyboard Presets

In the main text, Iquestioned whether the second version of the Moog Apollo
is truly aPolymoog Keyboard prototype. One of my reasons for doing so is
aconsequence of the 14 preset sounds that it hosts. In part 1 of his seminal A-Z
Of Analogue Synthesizers, Peter Forrest noted that some of the earliest Polymoog
Keyboards had the presets shown in the first column below. It seems that this
configuration was short lived, and the first three presets were soon replaced with
the Vox Humana, String 1 and String 2 presets found in all subsequent instruments.
So heres the weird thing... The voices on the Moog Apollo are the same as the
second revision. If it were aprototype, why would Moogs designers change its
14 signature sounds when launching the product, only to change them back again
shortly afterward? Maybe well never know but, whatever the truth is, its good that
the PX Apollo is based upon the latter set, because the Vox Humana was for many
people the best reason to own and maintain the instrument.
Preset
number
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
Polymoog Keyboard v1 Polymoog Keyboard v2 Apollo and PX Apollo

presets
presets
presets
String Solo
Vox Humana
Vox Humana
String Chorus
String 1
String 1
String Funk
String 2
String 2
Electric Piano
Piano
Honky Tonky
Clav
Harpsi
Brass
Chorus Brass
Pipe Organ
Rock Organ
Vibes
Funk
ON TEST
UVI PX APOLLO
synchronised with one another or not. You

can direct the results to the pitches of the
notes, their loudnesses, and their individual
filter cutoff frequencies. Above this, the
upper panel allows you to craft your own
delayed LFO waveforms using 16 steps
that you can smooth (or not) as you please.
You can then direct this to the loudness
and cutoff frequency of each note.
Theres aslider in each of these LFO
panels marked Osc B PWM. This applies
something akin to pulsewidth modulation
to the Osc B waveforms but, since all the
waveforms are affected (not just pulse
waves), and the documentation describes
them as Phase Distortion waves, it might
have been more accurate to label the
sliders Osc B PD. Unfortunately, the
centre point of the modulation doesnt
seem to be in quite the right place so,
rather than asmooth up/down/up/down
sweep in the timbre, you obtain aup/
down/pause/up/down/pause... and so
on. Something else to be tweaked in an
update, Ithink.
Moving on again, we come to the FX
page. This contains an overdrive and
four additional effects: chorus, phaser,
delay, and reverb. Iwould advise caution
when using the overdrive since there is
no low-pass filter or speaker emulator
following it to soften the results, so it
can sometimes be abit bright and harsh.
The other effects do what they promise,
and although Iwould be tempted to
use external chorus and phasing effects
whether within the UVI Workstation
host (see box) or from elsewhere for
topquality results, Iwas surprised by how
useful Ifound the delay and the reverb.
Finally, on the ARP page, there is apair
of arpeggiators, one each for the Osc
Aand Osc B sections. These offer up,
down and up/down modes covering up
ON TEST
UVI PX APOLLO
to three octaves, with userdefinable

gate length, and are married to apair of
16-step sequencers that are hard-wired
to the velocities of the notes being
played. The results can be surprisingly
expressive, but Imanaged to freeze Osc
B on with its arpeggiator running on
anumber of occasions, and only removing
the soft synth from its slot within the UVI
Workstation would silence it.
In Use
I had installed PX Apollo in the hope
that, for the first time, Iwould be able
to investigate something closely related
to the original Moog Apollo from 1973.
Finding that the sampled part of its
engine is based upon the Polymoog
Keyboard from 1978 and that its editing
system is both extensive and unrelated
to either the Apollo, the Polymoog
Keyboard or the Polymoog Synthesizer
was adisappointment. Nonetheless, the

fact that Icould play the raw sounds from
the Polymoog Keyboard (albeit without
the ability to adjust the detune of its two
oscillator banks) was pleasing, especially
since Isold mine many years ago and
no longer have the stamina to own and
maintain one.
The software comes with agood
selection of factory sounds, most of which
layer the Osc Aand Osc B sections in
interesting ways. Theyve been divided
into 12 categories Voice (based upon
the Polymoog presets), Arpeggio, Bell,
Brass, Bass, Chords, Keyboard, Lead,
Pad, Pluck, Strings, and Sweeps and
its well worth stepping though these to
explore whats possible. Since Osc Aand
Osc B have such different characters,
Iwasnt certain how well they would work
with one another to create coherent
sounds, but Ineednt have worried. In
ON TEST
UVI PX APOLLO
fact, trying things such as sprinkling

arpeggiated PPG-ish fairy dust from the
digital waveforms over adeep pad from
the Polymoog sounds is really simple
and can sound gorgeous. Ifound that
Ihad to increase the buffer size from 128
to 512 samples to avoid glitching with
complex patches, but that was asmall
price to pay. However, the useful ranges
of some of the controls particularly the
modulation amounts tend to be in too
narrow aband around zero, which means
that it can be tricky to dial in just ahint of
something using your mouse or touchpad.
Since Icouldnt find afine-movement
mode (and the manual makes no
mention of one) Itaught the controls to
respond to MIDI CCs from the Arturia
master keyboard that Iwas using to play
the synth. This was also simple: Ijust
right-clicked on the desired control and
then twiddled the desired knob, fader
or switch on the Arturia, and then found
that it was much easier to dial in small
values, which improved the experience
considerably. It also meant that Icould
automate PX Apollo from any host system
capable of recording and transmitting
MIDI CCs while playing. Iwas even able
to Learn the 14 Polymoog presets and
the 12 Falcon waveforms, assigning these
to the Snapshot buttons on the master
keyboard, which was apleasant surprise.
Unfortunately, later selection of these
almost always caused PX Apollo and the
UVI Workstation host to crash, which was
not. Whats more, Icould find no way to
save the assignments in PX Apollo itself;
it was necessary to save aMulti in the UVI
Workstation to do so.
Before finishing, Ihave to comment
on the errors and omissions in the
manual. For example, it states that you

can direct the Mod page LFO to the
drive parameter, but you cant. And an
explanation such as Filter: Vel Set
the filters velocity sensitivity leads me
to ask, set the velocity to affect what
aspect of the filter? The input level, the
resonance, the cutoff frequency, the
amount of contour applied to one or all
of these...? Another sentence refers to
filter depth when its referring to the
filter cutoff frequency. The manual also
calls the Bass section asub-oscillator,
which of course its not. Arewrite and
proof read wouldnt go amiss.
Conclusions
I asked for the opportunity to review
PX Apollo because Iwas fascinated by
the possibility of playing something that
emulated the original synth from 1973
and, even after this hope was dashed,
Iwas still keen to see whether it would
replace my long-departed 1978 Polymoog
Keyboard. In truth, it did this surprisingly
well, and the additional bonuses of Osc
B, the extensive modulation capabilities
and the effects made it afar more
flexible synth that Ihad expected. But
its vital that UVI implement abetter
testing regime to iron out the bugs and
oversights; these arent arcane or difficult
to find, so Im at aloss to understand how
they have been allowed to reach the final
product. The good news is that, once
theyve been eradicated, PX Apollo has
the potential to be anice product that
offers an interesting alternative to other
soft synths.
69 including VAT.
WW www.uvi.net
ON TEST
IK Multimedia
Compact
iLoudMicro Monitors
In spite of their diminutive size, these monitors turn
inaseriously impressive performance.
PAUL WHITE
long with claims of alinear

frequency response and zero
coloration, IK Multimedia tell us that
their new iLoud Micro is the smallest active
studio reference monitor system in the
world, at just 180 x 135 x 90mm. They also
claim it is the lightest, with apair weighing
only 1.7kg. These ClassD bi-amped active
monitors are rated at atotal power 50W
RMS and are the successors to the original
iLoud, which targeted desktop studio
owners or those making music on the move.
This model is said to work well in small,
difficult rooms.
Despite their small size they have a-3dB
point at 55Hz, which is impressive given

that the woofer is only three inches in
diameter. Their three-quarter-inch silkdome,
neodymiummagnet tweeter aims to deliver
asmooth high end, while the moulded
cabinet is nicely rounded to minimise
diffraction and has aflared bass reflex port
at the front. Internally the port is curved
around in aC shape ending just behind
the tweeter. Both drivers are protected by
perforated steel grilles.
Getting accurate sound from asmall
speaker is always achallenge, and this
design uses 56-bit DSP to iron out wrinkles
in the frequency and phase responses, as
well as generating aroll-off filter below
55Hz so that the -10dB point is at 45Hz.
ON TEST
I K M U LT I M E D I A I L O U D M I C R O
The same DSP also handles protection and

crossover duties, plus useradjustable EQ
settings. These are available to tune the
HF and LF responses to the room, with
positional compensation EQ for freefield
or desktop placement. Three slide switches
on the rear panel select Flat/Desk (+3.5dB
between 1kHz and 10kHz and -1dB below
400Hz), Flat/HF (-3dB shelf at 4kHz) and
Flat/LF (-3dB shelf at 250Hz). Unusually the
maximum SPL of 107dB (100Hz to 10kHz)
is quoted for alistening distance of 50cm
rather than the standard one metre. This
means the SPL at one metre will be afew
decibels less.
An integrated isolation base helps
decouple vibrations that might otherwise
find their way into the desktop, while
apull-out-and-pivot front section allows
you to tilt the speaker upwards. Theres
even amicstand thread in the base for
stand mounting, though Id feel far more
comfortable with the speakers supported on
something more solid than amic stand.
MEET KENTONS
STAR PERFORMERS
MIDI toolkit essentials
Kenton Merge 4 MIDI Merge Box
4 opto-isolated MIDI Ins and 2 MIDI Outs.
Tough metal case, mains powered, fit and
forget. More info at kenton.co.uk/merge
THRU-5 5 way MIDI thru box
One MIDI in to five MIDI outs. Tough metal
case, mains powered, fit and forget.
More info at kenton.co.uk/thru
THRU-25 25 way MIDI thru box
One MIDI in to 25 MIDI outs. Unite all your MIDI devices and eliminate
latency issues with this rugged workhorse for the demanding professional or
enthusiastic MIDI user.
More info at kenton.co.uk/thru25
MIDI USB Host

Use USB devices with a MIDI USB
Host instead of your computer. MIDI In
& Out are provided for USB MIDI
keyboards and controllers.
MIDI data received at the MIDI In is sent to the USB device. MIDI data
received from the USB device is sent to the MIDI Out.
Includes a multi-region power supply for use in most countries.
For more info see kenton.co.uk/usbhost
LNDR - The MIDI Line Driver

LNDR is a master and slave pair
that allows MIDI to be sent
accurately in both directions across
distances of over 500 metres
(1640 feet) using standard CAT5
cable. CAT5 cable not included.
More info at kenton.co.uk/lndr
Sold as a pair
IK Multimedia
iLoud Micro308
MIDI to CV Converters
Modular Solo MIDI to CV Converter
Make your Eurorack modular system sing!
PROS
An attractively finished 10HP module with

built-in LFO, portamento, four continuously
variable auxiliary outputs, two independent
clock outs and much more.
Extraordinary sound quality for their

size and weight.
CONS
For more info go to kenton.co.uk/modsolo

PRO 2000 MKII
Not cheap.
USB Solo
SUMMARY
The phrase punch above their weight

is somewhat overused but in this
case it applies perfectly. Despite their
pintpot size, these are very capable
monitors and so are ideal for mobile
monitoring applications or for use in
crampedspaces.
Pro Solo MKII

The widely acclaimed Pro Solo and Pro 2000 converters give you versatile
control over your synths and modular systems.
The USB Solo controls your analogue synths via your computers USB port.
Choose the right converter for you at kenton.co.uk/converters
Tel: 020-8544-9200
kenton.co.uk
(Intl: +44-20-8544-9200)
Brookfarm House, 1 Station Rd,
London SW19 2LP, UK
(trademarks & tradenames acknowledged)
ON TEST
I K M U LT I M E D I A I L O U D M I C R O
All the active electronics are built into

the lefthand speakers, the right operating
as aslave via the included four-way link
cable. Note that the stated RMS amplifier
power of 50 Watts or 70 Watts peak is the
total shared between both speakers; the
woofers are driven by 18 Watts each and
the tweeters by seven Watts each.
Audio can be fed in via apair of RCA
phonos or astereo mini jack, or, as is
increasingly common, audio can also be
streamed in wirelessly from aBluetooth
device conforming to the A2DP protocol.
ABluetooth pairing button resides above
the EQ switches, close to the master volume
control. Power comes from an external
PSU and frontpanel LEDs show that the
speakers are powered up.
iListen
Having set up what look like apair of dolls
house monitors, Ididnt really know what
expect. Ipowered them up, put on some
known tracks and was genuinely surprised
by what these little speakers could do. As
you might expect from their size, they lack
adeep and visceral bass end, but kick drums
and bass guitars still come across as punchy,
with far more weight than seems possible
from such asmall speaker. Also important:
the bass end never gets flabby. Realistically
Id say the low end stands comparison with
most decent fiveinch monitors as long as
you listen at sensible levels.
However, the solidity of the low end
isnt the biggest surprise as the clarity
and imaging of the speakers right across
the spectrum is more than impressive,
offering an almost three-dimensional view
into the mix, with every detail laid bare.
Zero coloration might be one claim too
far but it is certainly very low. Idid find
Alternatives
In terms of driver arrangement, the
Genelec 8010A is probably the nearest
equivalent.
the sound more natural with the HF set to

its -3dB setting but that could just be my
room, as Ioften have to do the same when
auditioning other speakers. So, they may
look like toys but the new iLoud Micros are
very maturesounding speakers that allow
you to look into amix in almost forensic
detail. They sound uber-clean up to and
beyond sensible listening levels, as long
as you are sitting within acouple of feet of
them, and they make for avery pleasurable
listen for general music playback too.
Micro Machine
While the performance is almost impossibly
impressive given the size of these speakers,
the price isnt equally modest. The cost
comes somewhere between an entry level
monitor and the its starting to get serious
now territory inhabited by the likes of
Adam, PreSonus, Mackie, Eve and others.
Nevertheless, if you need apair of very
capable monitors for checking playback
when making live recordings or for taking
your laptop studio on holiday, they do an
unbelievably good job. They are also well
suited to the smaller home studio thats
maybe based on adesk stuck in the corner
of abedroom. If asuper compact monitor
appeals to you, then Id urge you to try to
get to listen to apair of iLouds because if
you dont, you just wont believe how good
they reallyare.
307.99 per pair, including VAT.
TT IK Multimedia +44 (0)1223 234414
WW www.ikmultimedia.com
ON TEST
Orchestral Tools
SoloStrings
Sample Library
Orchestral Tools expand their series with aquartet of solo strings

and apair of intimatelyrecorded soloists.
DAVE STEWART
ince releasing Berlin Strings in

November 2013, Orchestral Tools
have steadily augmented the
library with expansion volumes. The first
two of these (BST Expansion A& B) add
special bowings such as sul tasto legato
and col legno to the strings repertoire,
while athird expansion set provides
entertaining played effects including
clusters, effect glissandos, temposynced

measured trills, Bartok pizzicatos, etc.
Though such specialised articulations
are great for adding colour and
excitement to scores, the expansion
set liable to have the widest popular
appeal is BST Expansion D: First Chairs,
which adds solo strings to the library.
In addition to expanding the Berlin
Strings range, Orchestral Tools have also
launched aNocturne Soloists Series,
ON TEST
ORCHESTRAL TOOLS SOLO STRINGS
which so far consists of Nocturne Violin

and Nocturne Cello. In this review
well take alook at First Chairs and
both Nocturne instruments. As they
feature techniques instigated for Berlin
Strings and Metropolis Ark 1, you
may care to refer to those titles SOS
reviews, published in August 2014 and
September2016respectively.
First Chairs Violin I& II

Released in June 2016, the First Chairs
expansion set features the Berlin Strings
principal players going through their
paces in the Teldex Scoring Stage, home
of Orchestral Tools sampling projects.
Featuring alineup of two violins, viola
and cello, the library works both for
standalone string quartets, and for
layering and blending with larger string
ensembles. To that end, the players
were recorded in their natural orchestral
seating positions and multimiked in
the same way as the Berlin Strings
string ensembles. Theyre also sonically
compatible with the massive sections in
Orchestral Tools Metropolis Ark 1 library.
First Chairs solo instruments play an
identical set of articulations, including
avery effective true legato mode.
The library uses three dynamic layers
throughout, with up to six round
robins on its short notes. Sustains and
legatos are highly responsive to touch:
playing quietly produces asoft attack
and asubtle, expressive volume swell,
medium velocities trigger an immediate
attack and loud notes produce ahard
accent. In this library the vibrato is (as
they say) baked in, but theres nothing
halfbaked about the vibrato delivery: it
develops soon after the initial note front,
Orchestral Tools SoloStrings

PROS
Recorded in the Teldex Scoring Stage

from five mic positions, First Chairs is
the ideal complement to Orchestral
Tools Berlin Strings and its four
instruments work equally well solo or
in an ensemble.
Nocturne Violin is absolutely superb.
Nocturne Cello is the bees knees.
CONS
None.
SUMMARY
While it works as astandalone library,

the First Chairs string quartet is the
ideal complement to Orchestral Tools
Berlin Strings sections, and its four
instruments sound great whether
played individually or as an ensemble.
The closeup recording style and superb
tone of Nocturne Violin and Nocturne
Cello make them supremely adaptable
to different musical styles. None of
these libraries is suitable for absolute
beginners, and to get the best results
from the Nocturne instruments requires
some technical understanding; that
said, experienced orchestral sample
users will appreciate these supremely
playable and flexible instruments.
and sounds utterly natural and musical.

The violins legatos (which utilise
VSLstyle heldnote retriggering) work
very well for agile, impassioned and
romantic playing, with grace notes
sounding particularly effective. Playing
hard triggers long portamento slides,
which adds an extra layer of realism.
Violin Iand II sound less homogenous
than Iexpected: Violin IIs spiccato
deliveries are fiercer and more astringent,
ON TEST
and its short portatos are played longer

with amore pronounced vibrato.
Rather than assuming that Violin Iis
the First Violin, Iwould treat the two
instruments as equals and make apoint
of comparing them when looking for
aparticulararticulation.
First Chairs Viola,

Cello &Ensemble
Orchestral viola players used to have
areputation as timid shrinking violets,
Specifications & Mic Positions

Orchestral Tools BST Expansion D:
First Chairs, Nocturne Violin and
Nocturne Cello are formatted for
Kontakt and require the full version
of Kontakt 5.5.1 they dont work
with the free Kontakt Player. All
incorporate the companys Capsule
articulation management system, which
enables such goodies as polyphonic
keyswitching and the ability to apply
true legato transitions to any longnote
articulation. Like all the Berlin Series
expansion volumes, First Chairs works
as astandalone collection independent
of the Berlin Strings main library. All are
available as downloads, and First Chairs
may also be ordered on a250GB SSD
backup hard drive atextracost.
First Chairs microphone positions

closely match those in Berlin Strings:
Close I(mono), Tree (as in Decca Tree),
AB (more distant) and Surround (distant
and very ambient). Replacing the mono
Concertmaster spot mic used in BS is an
alternative mono Close II miking, which
sounds closer and drier than Close I.
The Nocturne Violin and Cello have
achoice of two similarsounding close
mikings, which cant be mixed together;
Close II sounds fractionally more distant
than Close I. You can add orchestral
hall reverb courtesy of aconvolution
impulse response captured in the Teldex
hall, thus sonically tying these solo
instruments in with other Orchestral
Toolslibraries.
ON TEST
but todays generation is made of sterner

stuff: these guys play their instruments
with authority, passion and commitment,
to the extent where Ionce had to ask
four viola players to play quieter as they
were drowning out asection of 14 violins.
Id guess the First Chairs viola player has
not led too sheltered amusical life, as
his intense, searing legato loud notes
and tough, inyourface portatos speak
of battling against raised decibel levels
at sweaty jazz and rock gigs. He also has
asensitive side, as demonstrated by the
violas tender and emotional quiet notes.
Those who dont listen to alot of
orchestral music may be unfamiliar with
the cellos upper range, but in the hands

of amasterful player like the one featured
here, it can be as sweet and expressive
as aviolin or viola. First Chairs solo cello
spans afull four octaves up to ahigh C,
and its excellent, soaring legatos take
full advantage of the wide compass. The
extended range of the cello also comes
in handy for composing full quartet parts.
Ifound its softattack sustains particularly
inspirational for writing.
The four instruments sound perfectly
blended when played together as an
ensemble: you can use the aggressive
hardattack sustains (which combine
astrident bow attack with an impassioned
ON TEST
vibrato) to play powerful string quartet

accents, and the lively spiccatos and
delicious portato deliveries also produce
agreat section sound, which sounds
tremendous when layered over larger
string sections, adding detail and depth
to the overall ensemble.
Nocturne Violin
For their Soloists series the producers
returned to their favourite Berlin studio,
but this time headed for one of its
smaller rooms. As well as being agood
place to hide from TV licence inspectors,
the Teldex Solo Booth has an intimate,
up close and personal acoustic which
provides agreat contrast with the

sonorous overtones of the hall.
In addition to an identical menu of single
patches, both Nocturne instruments
feature asingle multipatch containing
12 keyswitchable articulations. These
superpatches may be customised to your
hearts content: you can create your own
selection of styles, delete those you dont
need, and add legato transitions to any
longnote delivery (even dynamic swells,
trills and tremolos) simply by clicking on
asmall legato icon. Very cool.
I was taken aback by the wealth of true
legato articulations in this library: there are
14 different types, based on four different
ON TEST
legato transition lengths: 1/2 bar, 1/4

bar, 1/8 bar and Runs, each of which has
aslurred and detach option the first
features the smooth effect of notes falling
under the same bowing, while the second
provides notes played with achange of
bow direction, creating amore articulated
note front. The first two also have an
espressivo option and the 1/2 bar type
features portamento slides, all with slurred
and detach variations.
Legato patches respond to playing
speed and automatically select the
appropriate kind of transitions in real
time: slow playing triggers the 1/2 bar
samples, while rapid passages are deftly
handled by the Runs. The latter is the
most nimble and realistic emulation of
fast violin playing Ive heard in asampled
instrument; assuming you or your
sequencer can play quickly, it will output
wonderfully convincing, quicksilver volleys
of notes which Paganini himself would
have been proud of. Continuing the
different notelength theme, the violins
sustains range from 1/4 bar to looped
twobar lengths, with achoice of four

vibrato styles (which are also available
for the legatos). In addition, there are
straightforward spiccatos with 10 round
robins, staccato and marcato detach
short notes, tremolos, delicate pizzicatos,
and trills ranging from semitone to fifth
intervals. All this adds up to amassively
flexible, beautifulsounding instrument
which pushes the boundaries of
expression and playability.
Nocturne Cello
Nocturne Cello boasts the same
superabundance of note lengths and
vibrato styles as its violin companion.
Sampled over four octaves from C2 to C6,
the instruments superb, luxuriant tone
is beautifully captured by the closeup
recording. You can hear every nuance of
the bowing, to the point where it almost
feels like youre in the room with the
cellist. The performer injects great feel
and expression into his vibrato deliveries,
and the legatos soar effortlessly up into
violin territory, maintaining an admirably
ON TEST
even tone across the range. Play it fast,

play it slow it all sounds great straight
out of the box.
Though you might prefer aheavier
section sound for dramatic film cues,
the cellos light, brushed spiccato style
is nicely propulsive, and its marcato
short notes have plenty of bite. Features
shared with the violin include the Trills
Orchestrator originally developed for Berlin
Woodwinds, which automatically plays trills
of up to afifth interval when you play two
simultaneous notes. Acon sordino (muted)
tone is created by ascripted filter: purists
may complain, but this treatment produces
awarm and naturalistic mute timbre, not at
all like asynth filter cutoff control.
Surprisingly, the Nocturne instruments
use only one velocity layer, the idea being
to avoid phasing artifacts that occur
when you crossfade between different
dynamic layers. The producers left it to
the musicians to choose the best dynamic
for each of the various articulations, then
concentrated on capturing many different
types of expression; aspecially designed
filter system built into the player software
emulates the timbral variation that occurs
with dynamic changes.
If this sounds like heresy, forget the
technical facts for amoment and take
alisten to Hendrik Schwarzers online
demo for Nocturne Violin: it demonstrates
an instrument so emotive and dynamically
expressive that it brings atear to the eye,
and the composition is pretty special too.
Conclusion
I recommend these fine solo strings
libraries to all serious orchestral sample
users. If you were pondering over
which one to buy, bear in mind that the
Alternatives
Though often overlooked in older
orchestral collections (because theyre so
bloody difficult to sample), solo strings
libraries are now enjoying aperiod of
ascendancy. If you need astring quartet
along the lines of Orchestral Tools First
Chairs, European contenders include
Spitfire Audios Sacconi Strings:
Quartet, Spitfire Solo Strings and Vienna
Symphonic Librarys Solo Strings, while US
challengers Cinesamples CineStrings Solo
and Kirk Hunter Spotlight Solo Strings
also fit the bill.
Products in the same ballpark as
Orchestral Tools Nocturne Violin &
Nocturne Cello include Virharmonics
Bohemian Violin &Bohemian Cello,
EastWest/Quantum Leaps Hollywood
Solo Violin & Hollywood Solo Cello,
Spitfire Audios Artisan Violin &Artisan
Cello and Embertones Friedlander Violin
& Blakus Cello. If you dont need the cello
component, Chris Hein Solo Violin is also
well worth alisten
multimiked concert hall sound of First

Chairs, discernible even on the close mics,
gives it asomewhat classical flavour,
while the controlled, intimate, reverbfree
acoustic of the Nocturne instruments
makes them suitable for pop/rock, folk,
jazz and orchestral productions. Legato
performances are excellent in all three,
with Nocturne Violins breathtaking
legatos taking the best in show award.
If you already own Berlin Strings, First
Chairs is the ideal way of expanding
its instrumentation; if youre new to
Orchestral Tools libraries, take alisten
to Nocturne Violins online demo and
prepare to be blown away.
First Chairs 299, Nocturne Violin 249,
Nocturne Cello 249. Prices include VAT.

WW www.orchestraltools.com
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T
Worth
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instruments and effects
plugins worth over 2100. This Complete
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They dont come any better than this
said SOS reviewer Dave Stewart about
Synthogys American Concert D virtual
fretless basses. Time+Space

have also included the
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absolute triumph by SOS
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If its vocals you need, Vir2s hybrid
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Vir2s Acou6tics virtual acoustic guitars
instrument was described by John
Walden in his 2014 SOS review as hugely
impressive and here its paired with
Vir2s equally splendid Electri6ity Kontakt
Player instrument so you wont be short
of guitars.
SOS EditorinChief Paul White is ahuge
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engine is atruly modernsounding
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Rob Papen has been producing virtual
synths since the early 2000s so its safe
to call him something of asynthesis
supremo. The eXplorer bundle features
every virtual synth and effects plugin
hes released over the years (14 in total)
and version IV will feature the eagerly
awaitedPredator 2.
Finally, covering full orchestra, string,
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for your chance to win this huge prize.
Prizes kindly donated by Time+Space
TT +44 (0)1837 55200
WW www.timespace.com
TO ENTER, PLEASE VISIT:
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ON TEST
DACS Clarity MicAmp2

Microphone Preamplifier
iven the continually evolving

and demanding pressures of the
pro-audio industry, any product
which remains available and largely
unchanged for more than adecade
must have arrived at anear-perfect
combination of technical excellence,
operational usability, reliability, and
price. And one such design with which
Ive recently had chance to re-familiarise
myself is the DACS Clarity MicAmp. Ifirst
reviewed this British-made two-channel
mic preamp way back in SOS November
1997(http://sosm.ag/dacsmicamp), and
although the current version has acquired
a2 in its name the updates are minimal
and mostly cosmetic. This same basic
design has also been released in the form
of asingle-channel 500-series preamp
called, logically enough, the MicAmp500
(reviewed in July 2013: http://sosm.ag/
dacs-micamp500).
DACS Clarity MicAmp2 is adeceptively
simple but extremely high-quality and
genuinely transparent rackmounting
two-channel mic preamp. The front-panel
styling has acertain quaint British DIY
look about it, but dont let that mislead:
this is astunningly good mic preamp
which really does adhere to the mantra of

add nothing and take nothing away.
Each channel is provided with arotary
switch to set the gain (20 to 62 dB in
6dB increments), plus atiny Trim knob
providing 0-10 dB of additional gain,
giving amaximum of 72dB, which is
avery healthy range, and ideal for anyone
working with passive ribbons and distant
placements. Asecond rotary switch,
this time athree-way one, introduces
two different high-pass filter options in
addition to thedefault flat response,
while atoggle switch implements
apolarity inversion.
Signal level metering is courtesy of
atrio of LEDs in atriangular grouping,
with the green illuminating progressively
from around -30 up to 0 dBu. The yellow
then takes over and glows stronger up
to about +10dBu, when the red starts
to glow. Aseparate and extremely
large red Peak LED comes on at
+20dBu, 3dB below clipping. The unusual
trio LED grouping is derived from the
first incarnation of this preamp, which
employed an unusual integrated LED unit
shaped abit like the CND logo or, for
the more mature British reader, the tail
ON TEST
lights of aMkI Ford Cortina! Sadly, that

fabulous LED unit went out of production
but DACS have retained its essence with
discrete LEDs in the MicAmp2.
The rear-panel connections are pretty
much as youd expect, except that each
channel is provided with three XLRs, two
of which are inputs and one an output.
One of the input sockets permanently
carries 48V phantom power, while the
other is phantom-free and connects
directly to the front-end of the preamp,
completely bypassing the DC-blocking
capacitors. This latter input is intended
for dynamic or self-powered mics, such
as ribbons and valve capacitor mics, and
it avoids the inherent phase shift, LF
roll-off, and additional distortion products
associated with DC-blocking capacitors.
However, in situations where subsonic
noise might be aproblem such as from
air-con, traffic or footfall having adirect

input which is flat down to 7Hz (-3dB)
might not be very helpful, and thats
why there are those two high-pass filter
options. Both filters have gentle 6dB/
octave slopes, and the first is 3dB down
at 120Hz while the second is 3dB down
at 60Hz. The DC-blocking capacitors in
the phantom-powered signal path impose
aroll-off below 20Hz.
As with the original version, the
ON TEST
MicAmp2 features adiscrete frontend

based around astack of three Analog
Devices SSM2220 chips, which are
piggy-backed directly on top of each
other. Each chip contains asingle pair
of low-noise, precision-matched PNP
transistors, and by paralleling the
transistor pairs in this way with arelatively
high quiescent current, DACS have
managed to bestow the MicAmp2 with
astunningly low effective input noise
level, combined with abeautifully open
and neutral sound character. The rest of
the gainstage elements employ ahandful
of very high-quality Burr Brown OPA604
op-amps.
While examining the circuit board,
my eye was drawn to arather unusual

arrangement where anumber of discrete
transistors which form the metering
circuitry were installed with their legs
crossed over. Apparently, the original
devices became obsolete and the best
replacements have adifferent pin-out
configuration. Such are the frustrations of
production engineering!
The only significant difference between
the original design and the MicAmp2,
aside from the metering LEDs, are that
the circuitry for both channels is now all
on asingle PCB occupying most of the
floor-area of the chassis, and the PSU
section has been upgraded to improve
the noise performance slightly.
ON TEST
When Ireviewed the original MicAmp,

Iwas completely bowled over with how
quiet and transparent it was, even in
comparison to some serious high-end
designs. Of course, technology has
moved on quite alot since, and its
certainly true that budget mic preamps
have narrowed the gap to high-end
units quite dramatically. Nevertheless,
the Clarity MicAmp2 continues to hold
its ground as atop-class and extremely
capable mic preamp, and one which easily
matched the performance and resolution
of both my AEA TRP ribbon mic preamp

and aGML 8304.
Of course, the MicAmp2 costs alittle
more than the original design back in
1997, but it actually works out to be
about 25 percent less expensive when
inflation is taken into account! That makes
this preamp even more of abargain and
Iwholeheartedly recommend an audition
if youre in the market for aclean, neutral,
and quiet mic preamp.Hugh Robjohns
1434 including VAT
WW www.dacs-audio.com
J Rockett Archer & Archer Ikon

Overdrive Pedals
Rockett Audio Designs were set up

10 years ago by session musicians
Chris Van Tassel and Jay Rockett,
when they decided to build the products
they themselves would like to use.
The duo was joined by Ron Hahn, who

helped the company grow, and today
they build arange of highly respected
pedals that can still be bought for
non-boutiqueprices.
The New Breed

The portable Zen Tour and its mighty brother Goliath
are joining the Orion family to complete Antelope
Audios first line of professional USB & Thunderbolt
interfaces. Fitting any creative environment,
all our devices are equipped with innovative
hardware-quality FPGA FX models.
www.AntelopeAudio.com
Thunderbolt
MADI
USB
ON TEST
Perhaps their most

attention grabbing pedals
are their silver Archer and
gold Archer Ikon pedals,
both inspired by the
now out-of-production
and highly desirable
Klon Centaur, used by
David Gilmour and other
luminaries. By examining
the original circuit and
doing alot of listening
tests, the silver Archer was
developed to be as close
as possible to the original
Klon. But the sound of the
Klon Centaur apparently
had alot to do with the
specific diodes used in
the clipping circuit, and
Rockett managed to
secure aquantity of them
to use in the later metallic
gold Archer Ikon, which
costs only slightly more
than the silver Archer, and
gets much closer to the
revered Klon sound.
According to Rockett,
the Archer Ikon has avery
slightly warmer and more
compressed sound than
the silver Archer at lower
gain settings, whereas
at higher gain settings
the Ikon delivers the
type of smooth overdrive
reminiscent of the original
Klon. As with the original,
an internal charge pump
doubles the incoming
9V supply voltage to
18V to add headroom,

and theres atreble tone
control to fine-tune the
sound to suit the users
choice of amp and guitar
pickups. Other than that,
there are the familiar gain
and level controls along
with abuffered bypass
footswitch and status LED.
At very low gain
settings, Ifound that by
juggling the treble and
output controls Icould
get very close to the
sound of the pedal when
bypassed, which is always
agood sign, confirming
the pedals credentials
as atransparent
overdrive. At slightly
higher drive settings the
sound takes on abluesy
edge, with athroaty
mid-range creeping in
as more drive is added.
The first half of the drive
control accesses all
those touch-responsive,
on-the-edge blues tones,
whereas exploring the
higher reaches takes
you into Texas raunch
territory, where those
throaty mids become
more assertive and the
extreme highs are held in
check to avoid harshness.
With my amp set clean,
Igot good results from
the Archer Ikon, both
with single-coil and
ON TEST
humbucking pickups, and at higher drive

settings this pedal definitely imposes
its own distinctive mid character on the
sound. At lower gain settings, more of the
original tonal balance of the instrument
is preserved, with just anice halo of
compression and edge.
If youre after the essential character
of aKlon pedal without having to pay
afortune for asecond-hand original, the
Archer Ikon certainly delivers, though

Iwould suggest comparing it with the silver
Archer alternative, as theyre both good,
and which works best for you will ultimately
come down to personal taste rather than
absolute authenticity. Paul White
Archer 169, Archer Ikon 179.
Pricesinclude VAT.
WW www.sonic-distribution.com
WW http://rockettpedals.com
Blue Lola
Headphones
lue are well known in the studio

microphone field but theyre now
also making significant inroads into
the headphone market. Their Lola model,
reviewed here, is built around custom
50mm, fibre-reinforced, moving-coil drivers,
and the company also offer the Mo-Fi, which
is essentially an active version of the same
design, with built-in audiophile stereo
amplifiers. Blue claim that afully charged
Mo-Fi will run for around 12 hours.
Right from opening the box,
you can see that the Lolas are
solidly built and extremely stylish
phones, with an impressively
engineered, sprung, multi-jointed
headband, apparently inspired
by racing-car suspension design.
Asoft storage bag is included.
Theres generous padding on
top of the headband and deep
padded oval ear cups that
sit over rather than on the
ears, forming avery effective
seal. The closed-back design is
intended to minimise sound leakage.
Theres no need for adjustment because
the headband moves to accommodate all

head sizes, and the whole apparatus fits very
snuggly. Although Iwas conscious that the
phones felt alittle tighter over the ears and,
at 397g, heavier than the studio phones
Inormally use, theyre still quite comfortable
to wear for extended periods. Connection
is via aremovable three-metre, 3.5mm jack
cable, and an additional cable with integral
level and mute buttons is included for those
using smartphones, tablets or MP3
players. Aquarter-inch jack adaptor is
also included.
With an impedance of 42, the
phones boast a15Hz to 20kHz
frequency response and Ican
confirm that they can produce more
SPL than youll ever need. Sonically
the Lolas have asmooth, natural
sound that conveys detail
in anon-fatiguing way.
The lows extend all the
way down but without
seeming overblown,
as they can be in some
closed designs. Listening
to familiar songs often
ON TEST
reveals fine detail that you simply dont

notice on loudspeakers, which is why good
headphones are essential for checking
mixes, especially in rooms that have dubious
acoustic qualities. Theres also asense of
solidarity and focus when listening to music,
with awonderful sense of stereo width.
While the asking price isnt trivial, good
headphones cost money, and Ithink its
actually very reasonable given the build
quality and sound quality. Ihave to say that
Ive come to really like the Lolas, and while

Id normally choose open-backed phones
for mixing, Id have no qualms about using
on these. Being closed-back headphones,
they provide great isolation and can play
loudly without losing clarity, so they double
up rather nicely for tracking duties. Theyre
definitely worth checking out if you get the
chance. PaulWhite
WW www.bluemic.com
Origin Effects Cali76 Compact & Cali76 Compact Deluxe

Compressor Pedals
hen we reviewed the original

Cali76 compressor pedal in
2013, Origin Effects were
arelatively new and unknown British
company. Today, theyre lauded around
the world, with alist of celebrity users as
long as aDavid Gilmour guitar solo (yes,
hes one of them). The reason for this is
Origins pedals themselves.
In anutshell, the Cali76 and
the SlideRIG (a dual-stage
compressor designed primarily
for slide playing) put the
sound and feel of aUrei 1176
into aguitar pedal, providing
epic compression and sustain
with studio-like transparency
and low noise.
More recently, Origin have
developed arange of compact
pedals that promise to pack
the same circuit topology and
audio quality into adramatically
reduced package theyre
keen to stress that these are
not cut-down versions of the
original effects but the real deal, and this

is certainly reflected in the price, which,
while alittle lower, is still formidable
for astompbox.
There are two versions of the Cali76 in the
new range the Cali76 Compact and the
Cali76 Compact Deluxe. The former is avery
user-friendly package, with asingle control
that adjusts attack and release
times simultaneously, ahigh/low
compression-ratio switch and
input and output level controls.
For those seeking more in-depth
control, the Compact Deluxe
retains separate ratio, attack
and release knobs and adds
adry level control for parallel
compression, an intriguing
feature only previously found
on later, special-edition Cali76s.
While there clearly wasnt going
to be room for the originals
12-LED gain reduction meter,
the Cali76 Compact Deluxe
features ared/orange/yellow
jewel light to provide avisual
ON TEST
reference for the operation

of the compressor.
To cut to the chase, both
pedals sound excellent and
turn in the kind of superlative
performance that put Origin
on the map. When compared
directly with an original Cali76,
its difficult to be completely
scientific as the controls are
not 1:1, but to my ears the
differences, if any, are extremely
subtle. The character and quality
has been wholly retained,
and its once again stunning
just how good these pedals
sound. What you get is smooth,
musical compression, with no
pumping or other unpleasant artifacts, and
awide-open, undiminished frequency range.
Everything, in short, that you would want
from acompressor. When using single-coil
pickups in particular, it can feel like youre
really hearing the instrument properly for
the first time, with unprecedented fullness,
definition and power.
In use, the Cali76 Compacts single knob
works very well, smoothly traversing the
range between afast attack and slow
release at one extreme and aslow attack
and fast release at the other. The former
provides more aggressively smoothed-out
dynamics, while the latter provides more
dynamic emphasis and highlights the pick
attack. You still need to adjust the output
control to bring the overall level back
up (thats vital in getting the best out of
any compressor pedal) but gratification
is still pretty instantaneous. The high/low
ratio switch provides achoice between
conventional compression in the lower
setting and much more pronounced limiting,
and, with the input gain control

also effectively setting the
amount of compression, theres
still alot of flexibility available.
All the same, this very much
has the feel of astraightforward
make it sound better pedal
that you will set, forget and
quite possibly never want
tobewithout.
Move over to the Cali76
Deluxe and youre instantly
reminded of why Origin decided
there was room for asimplified
design. It takes alittle more
time to get to grips with the
interaction of the separate attack,
release and ratio controls (concurrent
with necessary adjustments to input and
output gain) and their effect on the overall
sound. But the reward is the opportunity
to fine-tune the action of the compressor
to achieve exactly the desired result.
Meanwhile, the dry blend control is akiller
addition, allowing you to restore natural
dynamics while adding sustain, fullness and,
if you wish, ahealthy additional level boost.
At first, Ithought the simplicity of the
Cali76 Compact had won me over, but this
added feature and the greater tweakability
of the Deluxe speak deeply to my inner
knob-twiddler. As aconfessed compressor
addict, Icould easily find room for both
pedals in my studio, budget allowing. They
may not be cheap but they ooze quality and
any guitarist with even apassing interest
in compression should make apoint of
auditioning one or both. David Greeves
Compact 199, Compact Deluxe 279.
Prices include VAT.

TT Origin Effects +44 (0)800 810 1070
WW www.origineffects.com
F E AT U R E
COMMERCIAL PRODUCTIONS ANALYSED
We examine the production of some recent

hitrecords to help you brush up your listening skills.
KUNGS VERSUS COOKIN ON 3 BURNERS
THIS GIRL
MAJOR LAZER FEAT. JUSTIN BIEBER

COLD WATER
The highlight of this rather scatter-gun

production for me is the variety of extrovert
reverb-style characters on offer, which
consistently tickle the ear with new spatial
characters: the airport terminal vibe of the
guitars diffuse echoes in the opening bars;
the verse vocals subway-tunnel ambience
at 0:08 and the sudden recirculating delay
spin on girl at 0:39; the predelayed
reverb warehouse slapback bouncing
back off the brass riff from 1:01; and the
shaky retro sustain tail on the percussion
backbeat at 1:27. Reverb and delay effects
are so often relegated to supportive
background roles in many commercial
styles, but this production reminds us how
much of an impact
they can make
as foreground
features in their
own right, once
you throw caution
to the winds and
fade them up!
MikeSenior
Ive encountered amisconception amongst

many acoustic musicians that electronic
dance music is rather simple and superficial
from aproduction perspective just slap
acouple of synth/vocal hooks over abeat,
and Bobs your uncle, if youll forgive the
caricature. Indeed, the lameness of many
awell-meaning classical/EDM crossover
project has frequently stemmed from alack
of nuance in the electronic elements, in
my opinion. Even amongst aspiring EDM
producers, however, there is adefinite
tendency to underestimate the amount of
careful background sound-design that goes
into top-level commercial releases. In this
regard, Major Lazers latest Justin Bieber
vehicle presents
an excellent
study, because its
absolutely saturated
with the kind of
production touches
Im talking about.
The first verse is
aprime example.
F E AT U R E
THE MIX REVIEW
As far as foreground musical parts go, all

you get is the lead vocal, the main guitar
loop (with its gradually opening low-pass
filter), and ahandful of rather restrained
programmed drum hits. Lurking in the
shadows, however, are all sorts of little
titbits. For a start, the gaps between vocal
phrases are reliably plugged with some kind
of subtle little fill each and every time: the
filtered melodic widdle at 0:07; the tonal
swell at 0:11; the glistening F# one-shot at
0:16; and the reverberant percussive synth
beh an octave higher at 0:21. But behind
those lies another layer of background
elements, such as the reverberant slap on
the first downbeat at 0:02, the mellow vinyl
crackle at 0:06-0:12, the slow, dark-sounding
noise swell at 0:13-0:16 (a rather clever
subliminal underpinning of the take
adeep breath lyric), and an introductory
reverse-envelope transition effect that
repeats at 0:20-0:23. Thats at least nine
supporting sound-design elements within
the space of 23 seconds. Or, to put it
another way, roughly one piece of ear-candy
every 2.5 seconds!
And the avalanche of background detail
doesnt by any means let up after that. Vocal
ad libs provide additional fill possibilities
(as at 1:21 and 1:26), as do variations in the
rhythm programming (at 0:45, 1:06, and
1:16 for instance), while ethereal transition
elements seem to be gently wafting around
the edges of perception most of the time
if you peer concertedly into the deeper
recesses of the mix. If youre having trouble
identifying the latter, try soloing the stereo
Sides signal for example, in the first hook
section at 0:46 you can thereby much more
clearly hear the filtered-noise cymbal that
arrives on the downbeat and the breathy
ambient synth layer thats most prominent
on the A at 0:57, but which meanders more

surreptitiously through C# and E amoment
or two later.
Taken together, all these ancillary
components do an enormous amount
to make the listening experience more
immersive, emotional, and atmospheric, as
well as actively re-engaging the attention of
wandering ears. Unfortunately, this kind of
work is also tremendously labour-intensive,
naturally, but the fact that top chart
producers are willing to invest so much
effort in this department indicates how
crucial they consider it to be to atunes
mainstream appeal. Mike Senior
BLOSSOMS
CHARLEMAGNE
The strong 80s flavour of this production
derives from multiple sources. Its partly the
choice of sounds the intros layering of
synth harpsichord and electric guitar, for
instance. Its partly the heavy lead-vocal
effects too. But, Ithink the approach to
vocal editing also harks back to that era.
Let me explain...
With afew notable exceptions (anything
produced by Robert Mutt Lange, say),
the timing/tuning accuracy of an 80s vocal
performance was still almost exclusively the
responsibility of the performer. Granted, the
rot was already setting in, as ambitious (or
just plain desperate!) producers used ever
more extensive
comping to buff
dodgy vocals to
agleaming brown,
but it still wasnt
apatch on the type
of post-production
carve-up meted
out to most
F E AT U R E
THE MIX REVIEW
mainstream vocals, now that powerful

DAW software is ubiquitous. The singing
in many 80s productions, therefore,
simply isnt as locked-down in the tuning/
timing department as on most records
nowadays. Whats interesting about this
Blossoms song, though, is that it bucks the
modern vocal-editing trend by retaining
plenty of raggedness, especially in the
pitch domain check out the sharpwards
drift of several of the verses hello
repetitions, for instance, or the flows in
the first chorus at 0:38. In this respect, it
creates abit of authentic, and ear-catching,
production nostalgia that few artists these
days would ever have the self-confidence
to deliver. (OMG, anotes out of tune!)
Im pretty sensitive to tuning issues
myself, but Ihonestly wouldnt fault this
particular production decision.
A few other little corners caught my ear
too. Firstly, during the breakdown (starting
at 1:25) were treated to alovely little
single-tap 16th-note delay on the guitar.
This was another well-worn trick in the 80s
(when precisely controllable digital delay
lines came of age) for adding rhythmic
complexity to pedestrian riffs. Single-tap
tempo delays like this seem to have fallen
abit out of favour in more recent times
(outside EDM circles at least), which
Ithink is ashame, because this example
shows theres clearly life in them yet. And,
secondly, isnt it great the way that outro
guitar solo slowly ambles back and forth
across the stereo panorama from about
2:20? Stereo movement like this is good for
grabbing the listeners attention, but by the
same token can easily distract from more
important musical elements. Fortunately,
its well targeted here: it combats the
psychological distancing effect of the
lead-guitars heavy ambience by focusing

your ear on the instruments stereo position,
and theres no lead vocal in the mix at that
point from which it might risk stealing the
show. Mike Senior
BEYONC
FORMATION
As with anumber
of Mrs Zs recent
releases, Icant
help feeling that
this production
is too cool for its
own good. Perhaps preoccupied with archly
juxtaposing that cartoon boing sound with
southern hip-hops flavours of the month,
the producers seem to have forgotten to
give the track any sense of musical direction.
On the one hand, Ithink this is partly alack
of restraint, because Ifeel bombarded
with ideas that could hooks, but none
of them seem spotlighted or developed
enough to really stick in my memory.
The call-and-response vocal riffing that
populates alarge portion of the track (eg.
0:47-1:42 and 2:12-3:09) doesnt help either,
causing my eyes to glaze over by eschewing
imagination for sheer weight of repetition.
And the lack of differentiation between the
song sections feels weak as well, despite
the commendably powerful basic beat. The
problem is that theres no room to create
any sense of climax when most of your song
sections are banging away at pretty much
the same subjective energy level. To quote
Syndrome from The Incredibles, When
everyones super, no-one will be.
In short, this production feels like its all
style and no content; like its piggy-backing
on the success of Beyoncs controversial
lyrics and video, without actually enhancing
F E AT U R E
THE MIX REVIEW
either substantially. Indeed, as apure

listening experience, the last half of the
song would certainly have fallen foul of my
Skip button had Inot felt duty-bound, on
journalistic grounds, to listen through to
the bitter end! Fortunate for me, then, that
easily my favourite bit of the track occurs
at 0:08: the splendidly ragged opening

vocal timbre, which is all the more arresting
because of this particular soloists reputation
for super-glossy R&B/pop virtuosity. Its
pretty slim pickings, as silver linings go, but
itll have to do.
Mike Senior
Classic Mix
THE SEX PISTOLS
GOD SAVE THE QUEEN (1977)
Compared to most rock records, this has
arather unusual stereo picture, because
the only element of the arrangement
thats actually in stereo is the drums.
Everything else that thick slab of bass,
guitars, and vocals right in the stereo
centre is effectively mono. No hardpanned guitars, no left-right spread on the
backing vocals from 2:30, and negligible
stereo ambience. Theres something
strangely schizophrenic about this for me.
On the one hand, the mono elements
present a defiantly no-frills punk aesthetic,
but on the other hand the wide (check
out the tom fill at 1:48!), full-sounding
drums attest to big-studio production
values. That said, such concessions to
establishment sonics may well have helped
the band gain such a strong foothold in the
mainstreamconsciousness.
In technical terms, the stereo treatment
creates an interesting mix-translation
situation. For a start, the mono
compatibility of the mix is great, because
so much of it is already in mono! In fact,
Id argue that the mix actually works
better in mono that it does in stereo,
because I think the stereo cymbals feel
a bit too loud and bright compared with
the guitars and

vocals. Remove
the stereo Sides
component,
and the balance feels somehow better
matched, because the drums join the
guitars on stage rather than pushing out
front and competing with the vocals.
Listening to just left or right stereo
channel on its own gives something very
similar to the mono mix as well, albeit
with a little more cymbal brightness on
account of less comb-filtering.
Another thing to notice on this record
is the tonal contour of the guitars, which
provide plenty of energy in the 500Hz
region, while sketching in the 1-4 kHz
zone comparatively lightly. Although,
subjectively, this gives them a slightly
congested sound in isolation, its avery
canny move in my opinion, because it
leaves plenty of room in the mix for
Johnny Rottens upper-midheavy vocal
posturing, without sacrificing the lower
midrange weightiness and crunch of the
riffing especially important given that
stereo separation wont unmask the vocal
spectrum at all in this case. It also helps,
of course, that Steve Jones switches from
his fullersounding riff chords to mellower
chugs for Rottens controversial verse
lyrics, in fine pop tradition... Mike Senior
XPRS SERIES
ACTIVE SPEAKERS
N ATURAL
EXPRESSION
Versatile plug-and-play system
that combines Pioneer Pro Audio
sound engineering with Powersoft
energy efciency & reliability.
Amplied by
P I O N E E R P R OA U D I O. C O M
Photo: http://www.georgeyonge.com
MIX RESCUE
Our engineer transforms

abedroom-recorded rock song
into release-ready territory.
NEIL ROGERS
Rescued This Month
was approached to mix singer/

songwriter Michael Robshaws
self-produced My Friend Called Jai.
Iliked the song, and it already sounded
pretty good, albeit unready for public
consumption the overall tonal balance
was abit off, there were issues in mono,
and the live drums sounded replaced
and boxy, but there were no obviously
insurmountable problems. Listening to
the multitracks, though, Iidentified some
serious challenges, mostly due to every
element, including alive drum kit, having
been tracked in Michaels bedroom using
an inexpensive interface and ahandful
ofaffordable mics.
Ireally only want to remix asong if
Ibelieve Ican achieve arelease-quality
Michael Robshaw is an up-and-coming

singer/songwriter based in Cambridge
and Leeds, and has been influenced
by adiverse list of artists including the
Script, Muse, Bombay Bicycle Club
and Biffy Clyro. As well as working on
his own music and playing regularly
across the UK and Europe, Michael
enjoys songwriting, collaborating,
recording and producing songs
for other artists.
WW www.michaelrobshaw.co.uk
finish, so, realising this would take time,

Icontemplated politely passing on the
opportunity. Ispoke to Michael about
my concerns and offered to try and help
steer his own mix. Michael is enthusiastic
MIX RESCUE
MICHAEL ROBSHAW
and persuasive, though, and during our

conversation Iagreed to give it ago
Iquite liked his suggested narrative
that it would be interesting to see just
how close you can get to acommercial
production when tracking aband in
asmall bedroom...
Surveying The Scene

I listened again to the multitracks to
decide what would benefit most from my
immediate attention and what would need
more detailed work, and generally to plot
apath that would allow me to mix the
track. The drums presented the biggest
obstacle to my mix convincing anyone it
was the real deal; theyd need drastic work,
as Ill explain later. Ithought the track had

agreat bass line, and Ifigured that this
could drive the track along nicely if it were
properly presented, though there was
something alittle odd about the recording.
Checking it on an EQs frequency analyser
confirmed my suspicion that, despite being
played with apick, the sound contained
almost nothing above 1.5KHz. It would
be challenging to give the instrument
enough impact in the mid-range that it
wouldnt completely disappear on smaller
speakers and mobile devices. Thankfully,
though, the lower frequencies were solid,
and it felt appropriate to have afairly
generous bottom end on aguitar-based
productionlike this.
MIX RESCUE
MICHAEL ROBSHAW
Stimulating Bass
You cant use EQ to boost
frequencies that arent
there; instead you must
find away to add new
information that relates
to what does exist. My
main tactic for the bass
was to try and isolate the
highest frequencies on
the bass (1-1.5 kHz, as it
turned out) and apply an
Aural Exciter-style process
on them. Duplicating
my bass track, and then
using high- and low-pass
filters to narrow in on the
mid-range on the copy,
Iapplied distortion and saturationtype
effects to excite the upper-mids. This
sounded promising in isolation, but didnt
help ahuge amount in the context of the
track. My next tactic, then, was to reamp
the bass track, which involves sending
the signal back out to an amp and the
re-recording it back into my DAW. You
can do this in software but Iprefer
using real amps, and have a500-series
Radial EXTC which makes this very
quickandeasy.
Ispent 10-15 minutes miking up abass
amp and playing with the settings.
Cranking the amps high-mid controls
seemed encouraging, and as well as
helping the bass cut through abit, it
also seemed to even out the bass sound
usefully. As Iwas recording the bass back
into Pro Tools, Itook the opportunity
to use aGrove Audio Liverpool valve
compressor Ihad in for review to give
it agenerous squeeze. Ialso gave the
low end alittle boost around 60Hz with

my Warm Audio Pultecstyle EQ. With
the bass back in the digital realm, the
final touch was to use amulti-band
compressor to hold down the basss low
end, without affecting my precious new
mid-range content.
Vocal Moods
The lead vocal was strong: Iliked
that Michael wasnt afraid to have it
loud and proud in his mix, and it was
complemented by some tasteful stacked
backing-vocal harmonies. Ifelt, though,
that adecision was required about how
hard-hitting the vocals (and the song in
general) wanted to be. This is aguitar
pop track at heart but, despite Michaels
measured delivery, Iwas keen to see if
Icould influence the mood at all to
give it atouch more attitude. My primary
tool for this was compression, but Ialso
wanted to use effects to build some sense
MIX RESCUE
MICHAEL ROBSHAW
of space around the vocal part of my

wider aim of giving the track extra depth
to help get it out of that bedroom!
With Michaels help, Id picked acouple
of commercial reference tracks to help me
when shaping the mix and the notion
that Imight be over-compressing the lead
vocal was dismissed when Iheard just
how pinned down the vocals were in the
uptodate references! Id hit the vocal
pretty hard with an 1176-style compressor
plug-in but Itempered this via the wet/
dry mix knob, to find abalance that
worked in the mix. Iwas pleased with how
this seemed to toughen up the vocal
alittle and, like or loathe it, the heavy
compression certainly made things sound
more contemporary. Using any amount of
aggressive gain reduction on alead vocal
can be abalancing act, as it often creates
unnatural artifacts that need controlling
with detailed automation, or ade-esser.

To be honest, Ifind presets can be an
excellent place to start with these sorts
of plug-ins, and its really then acase of
trial and error; until you find the right area
of the vocal to bring under control, and
byhow much.
Drum Talk
What about those drums, then? While
there were significant issues I had to
overcome, note that Im not being critical
of Michael most of the problems
were adirect consequence of his having
to record in abedroom environment;
his performance was great. The two
overhead mics had captured agood
sense of cymbal spread, but the level
collapsed when listening to the tracks
in mono acommon issue if you place
your overhead mics too far apart. The
MIX RESCUE
MICHAEL ROBSHAW
snare was also out of phase in relation

to the overheads, and there was alarge
amount of unpleasant, boxy, low-mid
room sound to contend with.
Itime-aligned one of the overheads
slightly in Pro-Tools and, after flipping the
polarity, the snare sounded more focused.
Then, Igot savage with an EQ on the
overheads, removing almost everything
below 500Hz to leave me with little but
the cymbals and the top end of the other
drums; Icould have quite happily gone
even higher, but the cymbals can get
very shrill sounding without at least some
low-frequency undertones to balance
things out. Ialso found that increasing
the sustain of the remaining content
with aTransient Designer plug-in helped

enhance the impression of space around
the cymbals. Id now need to put the
effort into fashioning abelievable drum
sound from the close mics...
My task was hampered in acouple of
ways. First, Michael had printed triggered
samples on the kick and tom signals, and
while its easy to trigger drum samples
nowadays, if you care about it sounding
like areal kit you have to massage them
into place very carefully. Second, while too
much hi-hat spill on asnare recording is
acommon problem, it was particularly bad
here. Id certainly need asnare sample,
but after alot of trial and error, Iwas
shocked at how much EQ and general
MIX RESCUE
MICHAEL ROBSHAW
processing Iwas able to throw at the real

thing: while Im comfortable with the
it takes what it takes approach, just to
get started on the real snare Id applied
a9dB boost at 7kHz, a6dB cut at 420Hz
and a6bB boost at 200Hz! Blended with
asample (around 60/40 in favour of the
real snare), Iapplied further amounts of
generous EQ on asnare bus channel, as
well as to the whole kit. Id also used two
layers of gating to bring the spill under
control, along with another instance of the
Transient Designer plug-in to help reduce
the roaring hi-hat spill on the snare.
I applied similar amounts of processing
to the kick and toms, and found myself
completely replacing the replaced kick
sample with one Ifelt sat better in the track.
I was pleased with where Id managed

to take things, but it had required quite
adraining amount of work. Interestingly,
though, Id found an enforced period
of headphone mixing to be quite handy
at this point in the process the extra
detail, especially in terms of the space
around an instrument, proved helpful as
Irebuilt the drum sound. The original
recordings were dryer than avery dry
bone: any space you can hear in the
examples (see box) was introduced
entirely via aroomy snare sample and
asmall amount of plate reverb.
Guitars
Had the guitars not sounded right, Id
probably not have taken on the mix, as
MIX RESCUE
MICHAEL ROBSHAW
Idont think Icould have rescued amix

of this nature without them. Thankfully,
Michael had evidently given this lots of
thought at the recording stage. There
were several guitar parts to play with,
including double- and quadruple-tracked

rhythm sections and some really nicely
played melodic parts. Theyd all been
Audio Examples
New Mix
Original Mix
Bass Raw
Main Guitars Raw
Bass Pocessed
Main Guitars Processed
Drum Overheads Raw
Lead Vox Raw
Drum Overheads
Processed
Lead Vox Processed

New Mix No Analogue
MIX RESCUE
MICHAEL ROBSHAW
recorded through areal amp, and

sounded pretty respectable so, tonally,
they required relatively little work other
than some shaping EQ and afew very
focused notch cuts to remove abit of
harshness and unwanted resonances.
That said, the distorted parts (particularly
the two main rhythm guitars) lacked depth,
which Isuspected could be due to the
amp volume being setvery low (somewhat
inevitable when recording in adomestic
setting). Worse, these two guitars almost
completely disappeared when Ilistened

in mono. Clearly, these elements would
benefit from some more involved work;
Ireally wanted them to have the feel of
being played through alarger guitar cab
that had been cranked up abit.
After experiments with EQ and
compression, Ifound something along the
lines of what Iwanted when Icombined
alittle saturation with very short delay
effects, which seemed to add low mids and
create asense of depth. When deciding
MIX RESCUE
MICHAEL ROBSHAW
where to position the guitars, Itook my

cue from Michaels mix. That may strike
you as obvious, but its easy to lose sight
of things like this when youre reworking
things so extensively; its well worth paying
attention to demo decisions when mixing
atrack for somebody else. Even if the
rough mix is poor in your opinion, theres
nearly always information in there that can
help you please yourclient.
Developing The Mix

With things broadly taking shape, Iwas
beginning to think Imight just be able to
pull this one off, and the job now was to
balance what Ifelt were the productions
sonic strengths against the needs of the
song. It can be difficult to remain truly
objective at this point, especially with mixes
that required alarge amount of restoration
work before considering the overall
balance. So, as Michael and Iwerent in any

great rush with this mix, Idecided to focus
on other projects for awhile; Id return to
the mix later with something like fresh ears!
Coming back to the project after afew
weeks, my satisfaction with all that work
on the drums was gone in aflash. They
werent bad, just not as wonderful as Id
remembered, and after few futile attempts
to improve things Iaccepted that they were
probably as good as they could be, and
so in the final mix Itucked them in alittle
more than Inormally would they were
doing what they needed to do without
drawing too much attention to themselves.
Body & Depth

Its worth mentioning some general
strategies Iused to help give the track
as awhole more body and depth,
and feel more... lets say analogue.
MIX RESCUE
MICHAEL ROBSHAW
Iexperimented in afairly heavy-handed

way with anumber of instances of Slate
Digitals Virtual Tape Machine plug-in,
putting it on nearly every channel... by
which time my computer started to wave
the white flag. This was combined with an
accumulation of subtle saturation stages
on the subgroups for all elements of the
mix, including the effects returns. Its
difficult to articulate precisely what this
type of processing contributes to amix,
but Icertainly find that such alittle but
often approach creates amore dramatic
effect on the mix as awhole. If youre
interested, have alisten: you can find
aversion of the mix with and without all
the tapestyle plug-ins on the Sound On
Sound web site.
As Imoved into the later stages of
the mix, Iwas mostly able to shake off
any misgivings about the drums, and

enjoyed ashort creative period during
which Ifine-tuned guitar and vocal
levels. Imentally disciplined myself
from touching the drums any further
and made apoint of introducing some
small amounts of automation throughout
the song, to add some movement
anddynamics.
Mono Trouble
There were afew issues Ihad to decide
if Iwas going to live with, though, with
the most pressing of these being what
happened when Ihit the mono button.
Every mix needs to work when listened
to in mono (not only does the worlds
best-selling DAB radio only have asingle
speaker, but various streaming services
deliver something very close to mono too),
MIX RESCUE
MICHAEL ROBSHAW
Home Or Pro Studio Recording?

The way some artists talk, its almost
as if they feel like they have to record
things themselves these days and
that its also relatively easy to get
professional-sounding results in
abedroom or other domestic setting,
whatever the genre. Im not saying its
impossible by any means, and Ive heard
some stunning recordings done in this
way. But for more band type projects,
Icant help thinking that some tactical
use of amore traditional studio setting
at the recording stage would both save
significant time and energy at the mix
stage, and elevate the final result.
For example, if you are working
on atrack as abudding producer,
but that doesnt necessarily mean that
the mix should sound identical in stereo
and mono. There were such differences
here the drum overheads and rhythm
guitar levels reduced quite dramatically
in mono. There are afew things you can
try to counter this checking polarity of
opposition panned parts, reducing the
width of your stereo panning, and filtering/
processing to create more of adifference
between the two stereo elements can all
help and Icertainly tried what Icould.
Ithink Istruck the right balancing here,
given the source material: because the
drum sound isnt hugely reliant on the
overheads, its still respectable enough
in mono, and theres enough else going
on that the mix holds its own when the
wide-panned rhythm guitars drop down.
Wrapping Up
I did alot of work on this mix, and could
have filled abook describing the details
in asimilar scenario as Michael, you

could hire alocal studio for ahalf-day
to record the drums for relatively little
outlay. Yes, Iknow... as astudio owner,
Iwould say that! But Im serious: as
well as helping to keep studios in work,
you should get solid recordings to
work with, and it could also make for
both an interesting and an educational
experience; you could also use the
time to pick the brain of the engineer,
get to know different mics, and maybe
also make auseful contact for mix
critique, future projects, or even abit
of work experience. Id probably place
that above adding another budget mic
tomycollection!
Ihavent even mentioned my liberal
use of multiband compression and how
much processing Ihad on the mix bus.
But before Isign off, its worth reflecting
on the process of bringing this mix to
aclose, because it was afine balancing
act. What struck me most in the later
stages of this project is that, while you can
dramatically alter the sound of recordings,
and even get surprisingly good results in
isolation, knitting together anumber of
such radically treated elements can be
areal challenge it certainly took much
longer than Id typically want to spend
on amix project. Perhaps thats acase
of getting too attached to processing
decisions, such that its harder to see the
wood for the trees? Thankfully, though,
when Ifinally saw fit to hand it over,
Michaels warm response made my efforts
feel worthwhile: wed taken agood song
and made it ready to hold its own out
there in the world.
ON TEST
Electro-Harmonix 22500
Stereo Looper
Despite keeping things simple, EHXs latest looper boasts some

useful features that others lack.
PAUL NAGLE
igging solo artists and lovers

of layered repetition have seen
the humble looper gradually
evolve since the early days of recorded
sound. The Electro-Harmonix 22500 is
adual-track stereo looper, with rather
more beneath its rugged exterior than

its CD case-sized footprint implies. You
wont get the best out of it without
spending some time with the manual
though; at the very least youll need
familiarity with the sometimes cryptic
abbreviations. Navigation through its
various modes involves an encoder of
the turnandpush variety. An
LED flashes to indicate
the current mode and,
with apush, the flashing
ceases, meaning
you can now update
the values on the
four-characterdisplay.
ON TEST
ELECTRO-HARMONIX 22500
Itmightjustbe me but this whole

flashing/non-flashing business feels the
wrong way round.
Bank selection is the first mode in the
list but if it feels inconvenient to keep
reaching down for an encoder, you might
consider shelling out for the optional
footpedal, which quickly steps through
the 100 available banks. However you
do it, each bank change stops playback,
which kills any idea of building more
elaborate structures than the two
tracks can provide.
Both of the loops in each bank are
stereo, and the left channel offers
achoice between the XLR mic input or
aregular quarter-inch jack. You could
conceivably record aguitar and vocal
part separately within the same loop, or
other combinations as required. There
are rear-mounted switches to enable
phantom power and to toggle between
microphone and instrument levels.
The main business of

making and overdubbing
loops is fast and efficient,
whether youre creating
tightly synchronised
patterns or free-running
ambient passages.
Operation is mains-only and recording
is direct to the supplied high-capacity
(8GB) card, which gives up to 12 hours
of uncompressed audio. Cards of up to
32GB are supported, and asingle loop
can be as long as six hours!
Youll also find 16 drum loops on the
Electro-Harmonix 22500 256

PROS
Fun to use.
Tape-style effects such as reverse
andtranspose.
Footswitch or threshold-based
recording.
Loops up to six hours long!
CONS
Youre going to need to read the

manual.
SUMMARY
Eschewing frills like MIDI

implementation and stereo bounce
facilities, the 22500 nonetheless
includes some neat features not found
in most loopers, and could prove
popular with guitarists in particular.
card audio recordings in several time

signatures to play along with. Although
these drop in pitch as you slow down,
at least they match the tempo smoothly
enough. However, the drums are routed
through the same stereo pair as the
recorded loops, which is either limiting
or acreative challenge depending on
your view point. For backup and restore,
the card is accessible via USB or you
can simply pop it in acard reader. Its
well worth exploring this side of things
because you can incorporate user loops
too to atotal of 100. This involves
amanual process of creating folders,
renaming WAVs and editing text files
(with information about the tempo and
beats/bar). It works but isnt exactly slick.
Fortunately, the main business that
of making and overdubbing loops
is fast and efficient, whether youre
ON TEST
ELECTRO-HARMONIX 22500
creating tightly synchronised patterns or

free-running ambient passages in which
the loop lengths bear no relationship to
each other. Each loop (Aand B) can be
started and stopped independently and
either can be aone-shot that is, fired
off manually by pressing the relevant
switch. Basic verse/chorus structures
can be created with relative ease using
sequential mode, but even in the regular
parallel operation, the undo and redo
functions smoothly ensure those two
tracks go further than you might expect.
Leaving traditional loopers in the dust,
your audio can be flipped into reverse,
transposed up or down like avirtual tape
recorder, or aged using Overdub Mode.
Setting this to avalue of less than 100
makes overdubs grow quieter on each
cycle of the loop, and with short loops
this acts much like aregular delay. Further
novel features include threshold-based
recording, which is invaluable if you
prefer to start by playing anote rather
than kicking apedal.
Verdict
For those who require more tracks, MIDI
I/O, stereo bounce-down and aseparate
metronome output, Electro-Harmonix
offer the more expensive 45000 model.
The 22500 is aimed (primarily) at guitarists
who want alittle extra adventure but
dont want to get involved with MIDI,
internal effects and too many distractions.
As such, its asolid, functional and
surprisingly versatile littlepedal.
22500 255.52, foot controller 81.46.
Prices include VAT.

WW www.ehx.com
F E AT U R E
Notes From
The Deadline
TV Music From The Inside

Despite great progress elsewhere in the
TV business, music for the media is still
overwhelmingly dominated by men. Why?
PAUL FARRER
hy arent there more women

TV and film composers?
Idoubt there are accurate
figures available, but my guess is that at
aprofessional level, the fellas outnumber
the ladies by at least 10 to one. And that
is aterrible shame.
Two of the last three Academy Awards
for best music score won by British
composers were won by women; and
at industry award nomination levels
(BAFTAs, Ivors and so on) the number
of times that womens names appear in
relation to soundtrack work is massively
out of proportion compared to the
relatively small number of professional
female composers. In other words, there
arent many women that take it up, but
those who do have often proved brilliant
at it. Why should this be?
Could it be the fact that women rule
the medium these days? The best three
TV producers Ive ever worked with are
women, and from management level
to lowly production runners, television
appears (from where Isit) to be as equal
opportunity an employer as its possible
to be. It surely cant be that women have

abetter line of communication between
client and composer, or that afemale
producer is more likely to favour aless
qualified female composer in preference
to abetter male counterpart? Of course
not. Ive got another theory.
Mistress Of The Motherboard

The nature of the business means that
if you arent hanging onto the cutting
edge of music technology, you wont
be able to turn around work to the
standard required in the time they give
you and the budget you wish they gave
you. Computers are as familiar apiece
of everyday technology as the shower
curtain, but in this game, mere familiarity
not enough. Consider how many plug-ins
you have. Consider the sheer complexity
of each one being aseparate third-party
piece of software that runs inside
aDAW that runs inside an operating
system. Every new OS update sends
us all scrambling to Facebook forums
desperate for info on which parts of our
valuable sound palette wont work yet.
Should we make the update leap? What
other things will stop working if we do?
F E AT U R E
My beloved Steinberg Virtual Guitarist

plug-in stopped being updated and
supported sometime in the last century,
and each OS update sees me wasting
hours tinkering with the Plist editor,
hacking and bodging it to try and get
it to work. Its as flaky as hell and held
together with the Apple programming
equivalent of gaffer tape and spit,
but for the moment, it just about
stillfunctions.
Geek Or Geekette?
These are deeply nerdy tactics, and of
course, none of what Im doing couldnt
just as easily be done by awoman. But
the culture of engaging women to take
up careers as engineers, scientists and
programmers has been along time
coming, and there is still avery long
way to go. My daughters are way more

tech-savvy and computer-literate than
Iwas at their age but even they view
what Iget up to in the studio as being
little more than an eccentric old man
spending hours tinkering in his shed just
to make aparticular box go bleep.
Very few girls grow up dreaming of
the day when they can successfully
manage all their iLok authorisations.
But unfortunately thats the price of
admission these days. Is this amassively
crass generalisation? Of course it is.
There are plenty of girly geeks, and there
are obviously many amazing female
composers, but the trouble is in todays
hi-tech world you need to be quite abit
of both. And unfortunately (for the time
being) it appears to be adepressingly
rare combination.
STUDIO FILE
AT L A N T I C O B L U E , L I S B O N
A Life On The Sound Wave

After almost two years of construction,
overseen by architect Marcelo Tavares,
the studio opened in early 2012 in
apurpose-built facility in Pao de Arcos,
in the West of the metropolitan area of
Lisbon. Its located not far away from the
Torre de Belm, afortified lighthouse,
which, as one of the major landmarks
of the Portuguese capital, wasnt only
part of adefence system at the mouth
of the Tagus river, but also aceremonial
gateway to Lisbon for the great sailors
and discoverers. The studio was founded
by acompany of shareholders around
amaecenas who has chosen to remain in
the background. Amusic lover, enthusiast
and composer himself, he has apparently
lived and worked in Macau, Africa, Portugal
and Brasil, and conceived the studio as
amulticultural space were people from all
over the world can feel inspired.
The studio complex is the largest of

its kind in this part of the world, and
it comprises alarge hall suitable for
orchestras, asmaller studio for bands,
and amastering studio, as well as several
production studios and ample office space.
It can thus house all aspects of music
production, from writing to management,
under one roof. Construction was based
on local materials such as granite from the
Minho region, shale from Beira and timber
from Portuguese forests as acontrast
to the equipment inside the studios, which
came from all over the world.
Around The World

Studio Aboasts the 219-square-metre
South Atlantic live room as well as the
North Atlantic control room, which is
equipped with a48-channel Neve 88RS.
Several isolation booths with different
acoustic properties add to the immense
flexibility of the space. Aunique feature
STUDIO FILE
STUDIO FILE
and U3A upright pianos, aHammond B2

with several Leslie cabinets, various Rhodes
and Wurlitzer pianos including arare 106
Student Model, and Two Rock, Matchless,
Komet and Mesa amplifiers.
Finally, the microphone collection is really
something else it would be easier to list
the types that cant be found in the vast
locker than those that are available, with
classics like the Sony C800g, Telefunken
ELA M251, and Neumann M49 and M50 all
wellrepresented.
To date, Atlantico Blues clientle has
been appropriately diverse, encompassing
large orchestras, video and audio for The X
Factor, fado artists, world music artists and
pop/rock artists from diverse nationalities
as well as the Lisbon Film Orchestra. Recent
clients include Richie Campbell, Marisa
Monte, Mariza, Matias Damsio, Anselmo
Ralph, Lisbon Orquestra, Dengaz, Damian
Marley, Cristina Branco, Cuca Roseta, Snarky
Puppy, Patrice and Kura.
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2016 PreSonus Audio Electronics, Inc. All Rights Reserved. PreSonus, StudioLive, QMix, and Capture are trademarks or registered
trademarks of PreSonus Audio Electronics, Inc. Studio One is a registered trademark of PreSonus Software Limited.
ON TEST
SAMPLE LIBRARIES
Boom Library
Cinematic Horror
WAV
In asample library
world that seems to be
dominated by collections
built on construction kitbased loops or playable
instruments built with
aKontakt (or other) frontend, its becoming abit
unusual to find aproduct
that is presented simply
as acollection of WAV
files. However, thats
what Boom Library
are providing in their
Cinematic Horror title.
In fact, the library
features three options:
construction kit, designed
and bundle (both of
the previous versions).
Ilooked at the bundle
version and, in total,
there are some 16GB
of sample materials, all
presented in 96kHz/24-bit
WAV format and spread
across approximately 370
individual files.
Not too many prizes for
guessing the nature of
the content here, and the
horror title is spot on,
although do note that the
material is perhaps aimed
more at those interested
in sound design than
more traditional musical
scoring. Ialso think the
cinematic bit is very fair:
these are big sounds, full
of character and, given the
96kHz format, sonically
they are more than up
to the mark for even
the most demanding of
audio applications.
4
Cinematic Horror
Given the nature of the

content, Im not sure the
construction kit label is
quite so apt though. This
part of the bundle is split
into five sub-folders, and
while each contains distinct
content, the WAVs are
perhaps not aconstruction
kit in the more
conventional use of the
term. OK, so Im sure you
could layer two or more
of the various drones (for
example), but candidates
for such combinations can
just as easily be picked
from any of the sub-folders.
Thats not to say there are
not some great sounds
here though, there are, and
the drones and ambient
beds which dominate
the content are
particularly good. Whats
more, many of these
run for in excess of two
minutes; if you are scoring
an extended scene, you will
have plenty of material to
work with for each of the
individual sounds.
ON TEST
The distinction between

the construction kit and
designed materials is
that, while the former offer
raw, unprocessed sounds
(perfectly usable but ready
for your own processing
preferences), the latter
have been subjected to
some processing and
are bigger and bolder
because of it. There are
some fabulous hits
amongst this section of
the library that really can
get your speaker cones
shaking; in atheatre with
adecent sound system,
this stuff could certainly
shake your audience also.
Other highlights across
the library include some
really unsettling laughs and
screams plus anumber of
distorted drones. This is
genuinely scary stuff and,
while there is perhaps
nothing drastically new in
terms of the style of the
material, the quality is most
certainly up to snuff. OK,
so this isnt the cheapest
collection of horror
sounds you could buy, but
Ican imagine lots of horror
and sci-fi composers and/
or sound designers having
ablast with Cinematic
Horrors high-quality
content. John Walden
177
www.timespace.com
Cinesamples
Rio Grooves
Kontakt Instrument
Apparently, 2016 was
the year international
sport descended on
sunny Brazil, with
acorresponding demand
for TV composers to spice
up their pitches with
choice Latin rhythms. One
collection Id have loved
six months ago is Rio
Grooves by Cinesamples.
Its carnival-like
atmosphere is atestament
to award-winning
producers Victor Pozas
and Roberto Schilling
and the talents of top local
musicians. It consists of
loops from 17 instruments
played both collectively
and individually in over
adozen styles. Each
performance has been
captured with three
microphone positions,
ranging from clean and
intimate (perfect for
adding extra treatments)
to alively, natural room
ambience.
If youre daunted by the
prospect of scoring for
Brazilian percussion, youll
be glad to learn each of
the 20 supplied Kontakt
patches contains more
than just aseries of loops
to be triggered in what
you hope are credible
combinations. Bundled
in the package too are
MIDI files you can drag
onto your DAWs arrange
window, laying out abasic
structure before you play
anote.
The graphical interface
is simple and pleasantly
educational. Imean,
its easy enough to
differentiate an atabaque
(hand drum) from an
agogo (double bell) but I,
for one, appreciated the
assistance in separating
aganza (shaker) from
axequere (shaker
gourd). The patches
are arranged into three
categories: Instrument
Groove, Song Form and
Simple-to-Complex, with
the original tempo of
Rio Grooves
ON TEST
each indicated. Youre

free to disregard this and
trust Kontakt to keep the
sync sweet, although the
further you stray the more
obvious are the effects of
time-stretching.
Song Form patches
contain intros, breaks,
main sections, fills and
endings in ensemble and
individual performances.
These are colour-coded
and spread across the
available notes, with
the breaks and endings
particularly helpful for
lending believability
to commercial tracks.
Alone amongst the
patches, Songs contain
individual hits, which
Iinitially thought Id find
ause for. However, this
view was soon shown
to be nave because, no
matter how Itried to
add asplash of manual
repinque (two-headed
tom) or caixa (alight,
fast snare), all Iachieved
was ademonstration
of my own rhythmic
inadequacies. Be in
no doubt: its the feel
and syncopation of the
performers that make this
collection what it is.
Naturally, acouple of
sambas are included,
along with an additional
preset Escola de Samba
Extras containing some

rollicking agogo (dual
bells), apito (whistle) and
cuica (someone kicking
adog). The Simple to
Complex category does
exactly what youd expect
and its simplest patterns
are sure to be the easiest
to put into general
use. Although complex
performances are often
more difficult to place,
theyre highly effective
when used sparingly.
Rio Grooves occupies
alittle over 1GB and is
an infectious blend of
authentic instruments
and human feel. None
of the performances are
overcooked, making them
adelight to blend with
other loops, arrange as
is or cherry-pick from to
breathe life wherever its
needed. Paul Nagle
154
www.timespace.com
Sonuscore
Trinity Drums
Kontakt Instrument
If you listen to almost any
major action film release
or adrenalin-filled TV
drama, somewhere along
the line you are going to
be pinned into your seat
by amega drum cue.
Whether this is orchestral
drums, electronic/
industrial sounds or
ahybrid approach, the
bottom line and it
is usually apretty big
bottom line is that the
sounds are big and bold
and pack ahefty punch.
Assuming, of course, that
the budget doesnt stretch
to putting an actual drum
troupe into arecording
studio for aday or two,
arecent addition to your
options is Sonuscores
Trinity Drums, and this
does bring an interesting
and very user-friendly
approach to creating
these kinds of cues.
In technical terms, Trinity
Drums is adownload-only
(around 5GB) sample
library for Kontakt 5 (the
full version; not the free
Player version) supplied
with adedicated Kontakt
front-end. The library is
built around 100 rhythmic
themes where each
theme is, essentially,
aset of audio loops that
form something akin
to acinematic drum
cue construction kit.
The themes are divided
into two broad groups,
Cinematic and Modern,
with the former perhaps
featuring more traditional
drum sounds and the
latter having agreater
ON TEST
emphasis on electronic
sounds, but this distinction
isnt universal.
However, the interesting
and rather clever
bit is how these loops
are presented and
accessed. In each case,
every complete drum
performance has been
split into three layers
low, mid and high and
you can trigger each
layer independently. So,
if you want to drop out
the high (think more
percussive and cymbal
elements) while keeping
the low (the really big
drums!) and mid (still
pretty big but including
snares, toms and various
electronic sounds also),
you can do just that...
or, of course, some
other combination, and
Trinity Drums
the software ensures

that everything stays
perfectlyin sync.
On top of this, within
each of the 100 themes,
you also get five
performance variations
for each of the three
layers plus some suitable
single hits. These are
all mapped across the
Kontakt keyboard in
aconsistent fashion and,
with just alittle practice,
it becomes almost
embarrassingly easy to
generate acomplete
drum-based cue with
plenty of variations. You
can tweak the sound
further as the front-end
also includes abasic mixer,
arange of effects that
can be applied to each
layer individually and
include EQ, distortion,
compression, transient
shaping, afilter and lo-fi
options, plus send-based
delay and reverb. You
can also mix and match
layers between different
themes to expand the
possibilities further.
Straight out of the box,
Trinity Drums is easy to
use and the sounds are
as big and bold as you
might ever require, but
do watch those speaker
cones! In use, my only
(minor) criticism was that
Iwould have loved to have

heard more themes built
just on acoustic drums
sounds. Maybe this is
something that Sonuscore
might offer as an update
or expansion pack for
Trinity Drums? If so, Id be
happy to join the queue.
As it is, the approach is
aclever one, the front-end
design easy to use and the
supplied sounds/loops will
undoubtedly appeal to
alot of media composers.
John Walden
155
www.bestservice.de
UVI
Attack EP88
UVI Workstation
Part of the enduring appeal
of the Clavinet, Hammond
organ and Fender Rhodes is
their strong attack, enabling
keyboardists to hold their
own against guitarists and
drummers. Back in the
day, Rhodes owners used
treble-boosting devices
such as Dyno-My-Pianos
Dyno EQ to accentuate
their instruments distinctive
ping, but now UVI have
gone astep further: their
Attack EP88 is an elaborate,
47,000-sample presentation
of avintage 88-key
Rhodes Mark Iprepared
ON TEST
with abrass tack on the

surface of each hammer,
guaranteeing aRhodes
attack like no other.
Attack EP88 (9.3GB
installed) has five discrete
signals: the main body
of the sound comes from
the Rhodes jack output,
presented in achoice
of apristine DI feed or
an equally clean, very
nice-sounding tube
channel preamp. To
capture every nuance
of the unique attack,
the instruments harp
assembly was also miked
with amono Neumann
U67 and astereo B&K
pair, and acontact mic
was attached to each
tine. The latter miking
produces akalimba-like,
tunedpercussion timbre
somewhat reminiscent of
atoy piano in the bottom
register, while the other
mics produce more of an
untuned metallic thunk.
You can dial in these
mic signals to create
colourful percussive
textures, or solo the DI or
tube channel for amore
conventional, satisfyingly
full-bodied Rhodes tone.
As well as maximising the
attack, this deep-sampled
electric piano offers
achoice of shallow (pure
overtone), ideal (more
overtone) and deep (pure

fundamental) real-life,
per-note voicings on the
DI and tube channels.
You can also micro-tune
individual notes up or
down 50 cents, though
the detune settings
are unfortunately not
displayed in numeric form.
Multisamples, including
release tails, pedal-up
and pedal-down versions,
were recorded at eight
velocities with up to seven
round robins hence the
large sample count.
A choice set of effects
includes five virtual
stompboxes, providing
distortion, chorus,
phasing, delay and
Printemps (spring
reverb, geddit?) for the
DI/tube signals, while
the miked samples
benefit from the excellent
Sparkverb reverb. There

are also classic auto-pan
and tremolo effects, and
an exquisitely lush stereo
mode featuring adjustable
sample-layer detuning.
Other goodies include
abuilt-in arpeggiator
and the fabulous wheel
strum, which creates
multi-octave arpeggios on
held chords.
Configured for the
free UVI Workstation
player and requiring
iLok authorisation, this
impressively versatile
instrument is great for
funk playing, but also
capable of producing
beautiful ethereal timbres.
Afew minor criticisms:
one of the round robins
in the DI signals D4
sample 0-75 velocity
range has lost its initial
attack, the Sparkverb hall
preset used on the miked
samples is not available
for the DI/tube channels,
and you can only save
user patches in multi
format. But in all other
respects, this asuper,
highly customisable,
great-sounding, fivestar sampled Rhodes
tailored for the needs
of pro keyboardists.
DaveStewart
149
www.uvi.net
COMPOSE
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TECHNIQUE / LOGIC
Six Pack
Flex your Logic Pro X muscles with half adozen more

tips and tricks.
DAVID RICARD
ets pick up where we left off last

month. To remind you, instead
of going indepth on techniques
related to aspecific theme, Im going
to present aselection of some of my
favourite tips covering arange of topics.
Play It Again
The more you work in Logic (or any DAW),
the more youll find yourself repeating
the same physical sequences over and
over. These are great moments to search
the Key Command list for new ways to
accomplish navigating the program.
Even simple tasks like placing the
playback head in the right spot can cost
you time over the course of aproject. Two
easy methods that Iuse can speed up
yoursessions.
Markers are one way, but Inever found
away to incorporate them into my
workflow with one exception: in all
my templates, Ihave one marker set at
one beat before bar 1. Using the Key
Command Go
To Marker 1,
Ican jump to
the beginning
of my track
easily. This
command
is normally
followed by
hitting the
spacebar to begin playback. Iplace the

marker abeat ahead of bar 1 to give the
graphics amoment to get in place and to
allow for any buffering thats needed.
Another similar playbackrelated Key
Command Iuse is Play From Previous
Bar. Ihave it set up to be engaged with
Command+Space. This function is useful
because it provides amoment before the
section is played back to give you alittle
context. It will also go back afull measure
even if the playhead is at the end of the
bar youre in.
One benefit of these commands is
that they operate independently of the
locators. Normally, if your locators are
set to cycle, hitting the spacebar brings
you to the beginning of the loop. Go To
Marker will work in this case and even
slide the locators to the marker (which
may not be agood thing in some cases),
but Play From Previous Bar ignores the
locator/cycle entirely.
Closeup
An area where Logic shines is in its ability
to keep relevant, contextual information
front and centre, at any given moment.
Early in its development, Logic employed
afeature that continues to be part of
its workflow: Screensets. Using Key
Commands, the user can arrange any
combination of various windows and
recall them instantly. Whether you are
working on asmall laptop screen or
spread out over several monitors, this
TECHNIQUE / LOGIC
RUNNINGHEAD
feature is invaluable.
Screensets cover amacro overview
method of navigating Logic, but zooming
in/out on individual windows is adifferent
story. Iuse the Command key and the
fourway arrow buttons for my zooming
needs. Conveniently, by holding down
the key combination you continue
zooming in the selected direction with
increasingspeed.
I recently incorporated saving/recalling
zoom settings into my workflow. Choose
azoom setting that you find yourself
coming back to again and again. Save
the zoom setting with the Key Command
Save as Zoom 1. You can do this for
up to three zoom levels. Now you can
recall each one with aclick combination.
Open the Key Commands dialogue to
see what the key combination is for
Recall Zoom 1. If you like to customise
your Key Commands, use acomplex
command to set the zoom, and asimple
onetorecallit.
Screensets are projectbased so you
need to save them in your templates.
Zoom settings are global, so they work
across all of your sessions.
Power Failure Part 2

Last month Idemonstrated amethod to
make your track slow down and detune
as if the power plug was pulled. The
process took advantage of several of
Logics tools: bouncing, converting audio
to sampler tracks and editing the EXS24
instrument. This month Iwant to show
you an even easier method. Ill use adrum
loop in this case but its the same process
for awhole mix (once its bounced and
importedbackin).
Select the region you want to affect.
Direct your attention to the Region

Parameter Box. Click on More to open
up additional options. Click the words
Fade In and select Slow Down instead.
Now, with the fade tool, draw in afade as
you would for volume at the point where
you want the region to begin slowing
down. You can also change Fade In to
Speed Up for more experimentation.
Pick Me Up
Nothing starts off atrack better than
alittle pickup into the first bar. Whether
its adrum fill or acrazy bass slide,
apickup is afreebie when it comes
to gaining the listeners attention. Two
potential problems come up when
dealing with pickups, however.
Lets say you have atwobeat drum fill
TECHNIQUE / LOGIC
RUNNINGHEAD
to kick things off. If you place it on beat

1, the rest of the song is offset by ahalf
measure. If you place it two beats before
beat one, the SMPTE time will be off.
That can be problematic if youre working
on acommercial or anything where your
track length needs to be accurate.
These two problems are easily fixed.
If you prefer the pickup to begin at the
very start of your tune (bar 1), simply
change the bars time signature to the
length of the fill. First move the playhead
to anywhere in the first measure. Next,
doubleclick on the top 4 of the 4/4
in the display at the top of the arrange
window. In this case, change it to a2. You
then need to change the following bar
back to 4/4 using the same procedure,
since Logic will continue any meter
changes until there is afurther change.
If you dont want to deal with meter
changes, and would rather have your
twobeat fill land where the song begins
(beat 1, bar 1), then try this. Open File/
Project Settings / Synchronization.
Change the Bar Position to the point
where your pick up starts (two beats
before bar 1) and keep the SMPTE field
at 01:00:00:00.00. Now your track will
begin before beat 1and that extra time is

represented in the SMPTE readout.
Marquee Mark
The Marquee tool is fast becoming my best
friend. Ikeep it as my secondary tool so
Ican easily access it by holding down the
Command key. By getting familiar with it,
your workflow may improve significantly.
Click anywhere with it and press the
spacebar to begin playback, regardless
of the cycle settings. Or select arange,
hit space and it will only play once
nolooping.
Quickly split aregion by clicking and
dragging. You can then mute, delete,
change gain or perform any edits to the
new section of the region.
When viewing automation lanes, use the
Marquee tool to select an area to edit.
The tool will create nodes on either side
of the selection for easy changes.
Still unsure about how to add Marquee
tool efficiency to your workflow? Get your
feet wet by selecting Marquee tool click
zones in Preferences / General / Editing.
With this option selected, the pointer
will change to the Marquee tool when its
placed in the lower part of aregion.
TECHNIQUE / LOGIC
RUNNINGHEAD
Terminal Velocity
By selecting multiple notes in the Piano Roll
editor, you can adjust their relative velocity
with the Velocity slider or Velocity tool. But
did you know that with Shift+Option held
down while performing this, the values of
all the notes will become equal?
With multiple tracks selected in the
mixer, changes like input, output, and
bus assignments will apply to all selected
tracks. But did you know that with the

Option key held down, the values will be
assigned in consecutive order? This makes
setting up the inputs for, say, alive drum
kit abreeze. Its also great for selecting
the bus inputs to agroup of aux tracks.
Logic can sometimes seem like its
moniker is apassiveaggressive joke from
the software programmers but the
more you dig into it, the more it starts to
seem... logical.
TECHNIQUE / LIVE
True Grit
Things get messy as we explore Lives distortion effects.

LEN SASSO
ive offers six audio effects designed

to wreak havoc with the harmonic
content of your audio clips and
instrument presets: Dynamic Tube, Erosion,
Overdrive, Redux, Saturator and Vinyl
Distortion. Dynamic Tube models the
saturation produced by three common
amplifier vacuum tubes. Erosion uses
filtered noise or asine wave to modulate
the time of avery short delay. Overdrive
offers band-pass filtered clipping with
built-in compression. Redux features both bit-depth
reduction and downsampling. Saturator provides
waveshaping by six preset curves as well as controls
to dial in your own waveshaping curve. Finally,
Vinyl Distortion combines even- and odd-harmonic
distortion models with aCrackle generator. These
six devices offer avariety of unusual features that
are covered in detail in the May 2011 Live column
Dishing The Dirt. This month were going to look
at how to choose among these devices, how to
combine them with other Live effects and where to
place them in the effects chain.
A Sine Of The Times

Lets start with alook at how each of
these devices affects the simplest thing
you can feed it: asine wave. This will
indicate how noisy the results can be and
how you might expect more complex
sounds to be affected. Screen 1 shows
control panel settings for each device,
along with the waveshape and frequency
spectrum of the result of using these
settings to process asine wave. The
TECHNIQUE / LIVE
DISTORTION
spectra were captured from Lives Spectrum

audio effect, which is agood tool to keep in
mind when exploring distortion plug-ins.
The prominent peak about athird of the
way through each spectrum marks the
frequency of the sine wave source, A2
(220Hz) in this case. Erosion with noise
modulation adds the most noise and the
fewest clear peaks, with Redux bit reduction
coming aclose second. Redux also
produces the most radical waveform: the
setting of 4-bits allows only 16 levels across
the full amplitude range. Noisemodulated
Erosion produces aconstantly changing
waveshape. Vinyl (in Tracing mode) and
Saturator create the clearest peaks along
with the least noise, and the corresponding
waveforms look the most natural. Dynamic
Tube and Overdrive fall somewhere in
the middle adding clear peaks along
with abit of noise and the resulting
waveforms exhibit some clipping.
Exploring Your Options

What each of these effects will do to your
source material is not at all obvious, so one
good way to choose among them is to try

them all. The easiest way to do that is to use
an Audio Effects Rack with achain for each
effect along with an empty chain that you
can select to hear the unprocessed sound.
The Rack at the bottom of Screen 2 shows
this setup with the Racks Chain Selector
mapped to the first Macro knob. Because
the seven chains do not overlap and the
Auto Select button (circled in red) is turned
on, changing effects with the knob, or
aMIDI controller mapped to it, conveniently
brings the associated effect into view.
(The Saturator control panel shown at the
right end of the bottom Rack is expanded
from the control panel shown in Screen 1,
thereby revealing Saturators six controls for
dialing in your own waveshaping waveform.)
To get to grips with using these effects on
avariety of sources, Ive created asimilar
Instrument Rack (top of Screen 2) to select
among four different Live instruments:
Operator, Electric, Simpler and Impulse.
The Operator preset uses only Oscillator
Aand is intended for auditioning the effects
applied to simple waveforms it was the
TECHNIQUE / LIVE
DISTORTION
source of the sine wave used in Screen

1. Electric lets you try various electronic
keyboards, Simpler is for triggering loops
and one-shots from your library, and
Impulse holds abasic drum kit. Here are
some things to keep in mind when using
this setup:
Each of these effects can produce radical
changes in level keep the volume down
and keep an eye on the channel level to
ensure that any distortion is really coming
from theeffect.
Dynamic Tube, Overdrive and Saturator
offer aDry/Wet control. Erosions Amount
control and Vinyls Drive knob mix the wet
signal in with the dry; when set to zero,
only the dry signal is heard. With these
effects, youll often find that amostly dry
mix does the job nicely. (Redux provides
no similar control.)
When the effect is subtle, you can
often get abetter sense of what it is
contributing by temporarily mixing in
aphase-inverted version of the source to
cancel it out. To do that, add aparallel
chain holding aUtility with its default
settings and turn on its Phz-L and Phz-R
buttons. Dont forget to mute that chain
when youre done!
Where & When

You can, of course, combine any distortion
effect with other effects processing. There
is no right choice for the order of effects
in the chain, although distortion effects are
often placed first. With EQ, for example,
deciding which effect comes first depends
on whether you want to distort the EQ
(EQ first) or EQ the distortion (EQ last).
The chain at the top of Screen 3A uses
Dynamic Tubes Warm Tube preset to
process an electric guitar loop containing

three loud peaks. The original preset has
the Bias set low with no Envelope applied.
Increasing the Bias comes close to the
sound Iwant and the negative envelope
setting partially compensates for the peaks.
Preceding Dynamic Tube with Compressors
Brick Wall preset lets me tame the peaks
further, dialing in the amount Iwant with
Compressors Dry/Wet knob. There is some
cost in brightness, however, and using EQ
Three at the end of the chain compensates
for that as well as cutting off some
unwanted low end. Any other order for the
effects does not accomplish the same thing.
Although Saturation is the go-to effect
for percussion tracks, Overdrive is an
excellent choice for processing individual
kit pieces in aDrum Rack. For one thing,
the X/Y-controlled pre-distortion band-pass
filter lets you set the frequency range to fit
the kit piece. The remaining four controls
let you then dial in the amount of distortion
(Drive), how much compression is added
with increased distortion (Dynamics),
post-distortion high-pass filtering (Tone)
and the dry/wet output mix. Inserting afew
Overdrive devices as shown in Screen
3B and dialing in their settings while
soloing the affected kit pieces is quick
and easy and can make abig difference
in your drum track. Also consider some
of the more blatant distortion effects like
Redux, Erosion and Vinyl Distortion for
Drum Rack pads holding sound effects
and less-used percussion. If need be,
you can also use Saturator to process the
whole Drum Rack. Try Saturators ABit
Warmer preset. PSP Audiowares Vintage
Warmer 2 is another popular choice for
compression with saturation; try one of its
Mix FirstAid presets.
TECHNIQUE / LIVE
DISTORTION
When youre dealing with the Master

track or asubmix of several tracks you can
often fix balance and presence problems as
well as create novelty effects by applying
different effects to the left and right
channels or to the Mid and Sides signals.
Screen 3C illustrates separate Mid and
Sides processing for aguitar, bass and drum
mix. Deriving the Mid and Sides signals is
asimple job for Lives Utility device, and
you can find the details in the November
2015 Live article Too Good To M-S or the
September 2012 Live column Tool Up.

The setup shown here applies saturation
to the Mid signal (the mono sum of the left
and right channel), which comprises most
of the bass and drums and abit of guitar.
The Sides signal (the mono sum of the left
and phase-inverted right channel) is mostly
guitar. The guitar is abit low in the original
mix, and this setup gives a6dB boost to
the Sides level before converting back to
stereo. There is no other processing of the
Sides signal.
TECHNIQUE / PRO TOOLS
Peak Practice
The loudness wars might be over, but peak levels in
Pro Tools are still important.
MIKE THORNTON
he ways in which our music is

delivered to consumers have
changed radically over the last 15
years or so. Alot of music is now being
listened to on streaming services, which
has consequences for the way in which we
mix and master our content.
Since the introduction of compact discs,
mastering and delivery has been about
getting the audio levels as close to the
digital ceiling as possible. At first, this
meant using level normalisation to get
peaks close to 0dBFS; and then, when
that wasnt enough, the loudness wars
broke out, and compression techniques
were adapted to try and make new CD
releases louder than everyoneelses.
When streaming services first came
along, they were building playlists
from different sources, and quickly

found out that the perceived volume
was going up and down from track
to track. Consumers were continually
having to adjust the volume, and
they complained.Consequently, most
streaming services have adopted some
means of ensuring that the tracks within
aplaylist are adjusted to play out at
aconsistent level which actually means
that some of the techniques were used
to employing to maximise the loudness of
our tracks have become unnecessary or
even counter-productive.
Goes To Eleven
Normally, with atrack that has been
mixed and is ready for mastering, the
peaks wont go all the way up to 0dB.
There is some headroom to play with,
as in the blue waveform in Screen 1A.

LOUDNESS METERING
Simple normalisation increases the level

so the highest peak is just under 0dBFS,
as in Screen 1B, but does not change the
shape of the waveform in any way. The
gain change in this example increases
the perceived loudness by 4.5 Loudness
Units, with 1LU equivalent to 1dB.
Peak limiting can increase the average
signal level, but changes the shape of
the waveform, reducing the relative
amplitude of the loudest peaks as in
Screen 1C. This subtle limiting increases
the loudness by afurther 2LU. The only
way we can make the track sound even
louder is to apply more drastic audio
compression techniques, which further
compromise the dynamic range in the
track: the light and shade. Screen 1D
shows avery heavily compressed version
of the same track: and you can see how
the quieter parts have been brought up in
level. This version is another 5LU louder
than the gently processed version.
Playing The Averages

Today, however, more and more music
streaming services, including iTunes Radio
and Spotify, are normalising tracks to an
average loudness figure on playback,
rather than eliminating as much headroom
as possible. This means there is no point
using compression techniques to make
atrack sound louder, if that track is to
be played back on one of these services.
Aheavily compressed track will simply get
turned down so that the average loudness
matches the target loudness. This means
that its peaks will no longer be anywhere
near digital full scale; all we end up with
is aquieter, but still heavily compressed
track with loads of wasted headroom.
The better thing to do is use the lightly
processed track, which, in this case,

actually hardly needs any adjustment to
match the -16LUFS target that alot of
music streaming services use.
Most online delivery

systems use lossy codecs
to create smaller audio
files, thus reducing the file
size or bandwidth needed.
Unfortunately, these codecs
do not handle inter-sample
peaks too well.
Numerous plug-in and hardware
manufacturers are now producing tools
aimed at music mastering using loudness
figures based on the BS1770 standard,
which is already in common usage in
broadcasting. Metering for this kind of
application and workflow needs to display
the following information.
Loudness Meter: The BS1770
worldwide standard has been developed
to produce ameter that responses like
our ears do to loudness. The standard
provides for three measurements, but
the two that are most important in
this application are Short Term, which
averages the loudness over the last three
seconds, and Integrated, which provides
asingle measurement that is the average
loudness for the whole track. There
also needs to be aReset button, so you
can restart the integrated averaging as
necessary. Best practice is to mix your
tracks to be around -16LUFS (Loudness

LOUDNESS METERING
Units Full Scale) so that the streaming

services do not have to turn it up or down
to normalise to their preferred target
loudness (usually also -16LUFS).
atrack has. Most meters change colour,

showing green for good, through amber
for OK, to red, warning that you are
probably overdoing the processing.
Peak To Loudness Ratio: This is auseful

measurement that isnt in the original
BS1770 standard but is very helpful in
mixing and mastering contexts. In effect,
it illustrates the amount of dynamic range
True Peak Meter: Atrue peak meter

measures peaks in the reconstructed
signal, making sure you are not going
over digital headroom. When we
mastered for CD manufacture, the

LOUDNESS METERING
whole delivery process was lossless,

usually 16-bit at a44.1kHz sample rate.
However, most online delivery systems
use lossy codecs (typically MP3, or AAC
for iTunes) to create smaller audio files,
thus reducing the file size or bandwidth
needed. Unfortunately, these codecs do
not handle inter-sample peaks too well,
so we need to be able to control what
is going on near 0dBFS with precision.
Otherwise your music heard by your
consumers could end up being distorted.
More and more music

streaming services, including
iTunes Radio and Spotify,
are normalising tracks
to an average loudness
figure on playback, rather
than eliminating as much
headroom as possible.
To explain, digital audio is made

up of aseries of snapshots, or
samples.Traditionally, we have measured
the peak level of the audio with adigital
peak meter that is actually reading the
samples, typically 44,100 per second, but
what this doesnt tell us is what is going
on between the snapshots or samples.
When this stream of samples is converted
back into an analogue waveform, its
possible for the signal between samples
to peak up to 6dB higher than the level
that can be measured in this way. As
we are working very close to the digital
headroom ceiling and processing audio
with codecs that are not very good at

handling audio close to 0dBFS we need
both metering and limiters that work to
something called true peak.
True peak meters will display what is
likely to happen between the samples
when the audio is converted back into
an analogue waveform, allowing us to
adjust levels so we can be confident that
we will not overload the lossy codecs
and thus end up with distorted tracks
being delivered to the consumer. This
is achieved using atechnique called
oversampling, which enables us to
measure what is going on between the
peaks, and so make sure that we do not
try and exceed digital full scale between
the samples.
As well as having ameter that can
display true peak values, it is also very
important that your mastering limiter can
work to true peaks. Most hardware and
software limters do not, so its probably
best to assume that yours doesnt unless
the manufacturer shouts its true peak
credentials from the rooftops! (Two that
do are the Avid Pro Limiter and Nugen
Audios ISL 2st.) Although there is no
reason why you shouldnt carry on using
your favourite dynamics processors in
the production process, when it comes
to the final mastering stage, areliable
and accurate true peak limiter is
essential.Before tracks are converted
using alossy codec like MP3 or AAC,
you should use atrue peak limiter to
protect the codec stage. For example,
if you know that your audio is going to
be converted to MP3 you should set the
ceiling to -3dBFS, and although you can
go higher with AAC codecs, Istill tend to
work around a-3dBFS to be safe.
AWARDS
Help us choose the best audio and music-technology
products on the market and win yourself a giveaway
prize worth thousands of pounds!
Can it really be nearly 12 months since we opened the voting for last years
SOS Awards for outstanding audio products? Apparently, it can, so once
again, were seeking your opinions to choose the winners of this years
coveted silver trophies. Voting opens on September 22nd for the seventh
annual SOS Awards and continues throughout October and November 2016
at www.sosawards.com. The results will, as usual, be announced in time for
presentation of the awards at the Winter NAMM show in January 2017.
Each category consists of a shortlist of nominations, chosen by the SOS
editorial team, and wed like you to help us identify the outstanding product
in each group. You are not required to vote in every category if you dont
have any strong opinions on some of the product groups, then theres no
need to vote for anything in those categories. Even if you only have hands-on
experience of just one of the products nominated in a category, your vote is
still valid you made a choice and backed it up with your own money, so in
a sense, that product has already won your vote!
Voting in the SOS Awards will automatically enter you into the draw to win
this years highly valuable giveaway, so cast your votes now to make sure that
youre in with a chance of winning!
THE CATEGORIES:
Audio Interface
DAW Software
Effects & Processing Hardware
Hardware Mix Controller
Hardware Performance Controller
Microphone
Mixer
Monitor
Software Plug-in
Microphone Preamp
Software Instrument
Hardware Recorder
Headphones
Keyboard/Synthesizer
Software Instrument
Drum Machine/Sampler/Sequencer
Live Sound Product
Go online to see the nominations and cast your vote!
www.sosawar ds.c om
(voting opens 22nd September)
VO TE N OW T O W I N!
Up for grabs this year will be these fantastic prizes from Universal Audio
www.uaudio.com
Apollo 8p
Audio interface with 18 x 24 simultaneous I/O channels and
powerful on-board plug-in processing.
Satellite Thunderbolt OCTO Ultimate

DSP co-processor with 8 x Analog Devices SHARC oatingpoint processors and Ultimate 4 Bundle software featuring 83
UA-developed Powered Plug-Ins.
AWARDS 2016 WINNERS

Computer Audio Interface: Universal Audio Apollo 8p
DAW Software: Apple Logic Pro 10.1
Effects & Processing Hardware:
Universal Audio Teletronix LA-2A
Software Plug-in: FabFilter Pro-Q 2
Mixing Controller: SSL Nucleus
Performance Controller:
Native Instruments Komplete Kontrol S49
Keyboard/Synth: Moog Sub 37
Hardware Drum Machine/Sampler/Sequencer: Roland TR8

Microphone: Neumann U47 FET
Mixer: Behringer X32
Studio Monitors: Adam A77X
Hardware Audio Recorder: Zoom H5
Microphone Preamp: Neve 1073DPX
Software Instrument: Native Instruments Kontakt 5
Studio Headphones: Shure SRH1840
Live Sound: Midas M32
TECHNIQUE / STUDIO ONE
Taking Notes
Studio One has no notation features of its own, but it
now forms aperfect pair with PreSonuss dedicated
Notionapplication.
LARRY THE O
ver since the release of Studio

One, PreSonus have cast it
as one component in awider
ecosystem. Hence, we have seen it
gaining integration with the companys
StudioLive mixers, control from the CS18
fader surface, and closer integration with
anew generation of audio interfaces.
The latest move in this direction sees
interoperability between version 3.3 of
Studio One and PreSonuss Notion 6
notation package.
The essence of the communication
is that audio and MIDI Note data can
be exchanged in either direction via
PreSonuss UCNET protocol, which is
also used in the companys StudioLive
and RM-series mixers, Universal Control
software, and other products. Youre
covered, whether you like to create
in aDAW and then notate what you
recorded, compose with notation and
then create afull production, or go back
and forth. In addition to file exchange,
Notion and Studio One can stream both
MIDI and audio in real time using ReWire.
The basic functions are extremely
easy to use, but there are, of course,
afew wrinkles. That comes with the
territory, given that notation and
inter-application communication are both
notoriously finicky.
UCNET & ReWire

The first, and biggest, wrinkle is that
although Notion and Studio One can
exchange data over UCNET or stream
it using ReWire, only one of these
systems can be active at atime and
switching between them is currently
amulti-stepprocess.
The switch needs to be done in Notions
Preferences dialogue, and you might
think it would be as simple as apair of
radio buttons, so that ticking the Allow
Network Discovery radio button (Allow
UCNET Discovery would be aclearer and
more accurate name) would cause the
Enable ReWire button to be unticked, or
vice versa. Alas no.
Say youve captured ideas for some

I N T E G R AT I N G W I T H N O T I O N
parts in Studio One and want to develop

them working on their notation in Notion.
With Studio One running, boot Notion
and open Preferences. Is Allow Network
Discovery ticked? If so, sending notes
or audio from Studio One is as simple
as choosing Send to Notion from the
Song menu in Studio One and specifying
whether you want notes from all tracks,
Streaming audio over

ReWire is another way to get
your high-quality sample
instruments from Notion
into Studio One while
retaining the ability to edit
the parts as notation.
notes from selected tracks, or amixdown
audio file sent to Notion. Notion
opens anew score with the designated
information and life is beautiful. In that
situation, it really is that simple.
If, however, Notion is set to Enable

ReWire, youll have to switch it to Allow
Network Discovery before you can
send your score, and thats aless than
elegant process. Start by opening Notion
Preferences. Youll find you can untick
Enable ReWire, but Allow Network
Discovery will be greyed out. You have
to close Preferences, quit and reboot
Notion, and reopen Preferences. Now
Allow Network Discovery is available and
can be ticked, but youll need to quit
and reboot yet one more time to apply
that setting. Phew! (This is as of Notion
6.0.409; Iexpect an upgrade down the
line will improve this situation.)
Using UCNET
As mentioned, sending Note data or
audio files from Studio One to Notion
can be as easy as selecting acommand,
but name Studio One tracks to match
the names of Notions bundled
instruments and, upon receiving the
score from Studio One, Notion will
instantiate the named instruments and

assign them to the appropriate staves.

One example of an application
for sending audio to Notion over
UCNET would be if you wrote asong
and wanted to add ahorn section
arrangement to it. That kind of scoring
is easily done using notation, but you
dont really need notation for your
whole rhythm section and vocal if youre
just scoring horns, so you can use
Send to Notion to bounce the rhythm
section and vocal to astereo mix that
appears in anew Notion score, along
with tempo information. You can send
any 44.1kHz/16-bit file to Notion by
right-clicking on it in the browsers Files
tab and choosing Send to Notion from
the drop-down menu that appears.
Although Notion and Studio

One can exchange data
over UCNET or stream it
using ReWire, only one of
these systems can be active
at atime and switching
between them is currently
amulti-step process.
Sending Note data from Notion to

Studio One is just as easily accomplished
by choosing Send to Studio One from the
File menu in Notion and then the Send
Notes button in the Send to Studio One
dialogue that opens. New instrument
tracks are created in Studio One for the
Note data. If you use athird-party VST
instrument in Notion, it should also be
available in Studio One, in which case

preset information is sent to Studio One,
too, and the VST instrument instantiated.
If not, you will need to assign sounds in
Studio One.
Of course, if you are using ahigh-end
sample instrument such as EWQL
Symphonic or Vienna Symphonic, you may
want simply to send the audio from these
instruments directly to Studio One. This is
done with the Send Audio button in the
Send to Studio One dialogue, which will
create anew Song document with the
audio files and acollection of metadata
such as instrument names, tempo and
time signature changes, and even
rehearsal marks.
If you have Studio One Professional,
you have afast method of transcribing
solos from audio recordings. Select
the track containing the solo you want
to transcribe and press Command+M
(Ctrl+M on Windows) to analyse it using
Melodyne Essential. (Obviously, you can
use any version of Melodyne you have
purchased, too.) Now use one of my
favorite tricks: make anew instrument
track and drag the analysed events from
the audio track to the instrument track.
Boom! You have aMIDI transcription of
the audio, which you can now send over
to Notion to get notation of your solo.
Pretty cool stuff, especially because
it is so simple and fast to do, and my
experiments turned out quite well in
terms of accuracy.
Using ReWire
Streaming audio over ReWire is another
way to get your high-quality sample
instruments from Notion into Studio One
while retaining the ability to edit the parts

as notation. Note that both applications

must run at the same audio bit depth;
either both run 32-bit or they both
run64-bit.
Things are easy on the Notion side. In
the Notion mixer, assign the faders you
want routed to Studio One to one of the
32 bus pairs in the Output drop-down
menu. Dont be confused by the fact that
the drop-down uses pair numbers such as
2L-2R, while the fader will show channel
numbers (Ch 3-4).
In Studio One, instantiate Notion on
an instrument track or in the instruments
panel. Youll see the Notion ReWire
object dialogue. Now go to the
instruments panel, expand the Notion
instrument, and make sure the channels

you just assigned in Notion are all
ticked. This gives you afader for each
Notion output pair. With Notion as
aReWire slave, starting Studio One will
play the Notion sounds.
If you want to play one of Studio Ones
instruments from Notion, you stream
MIDI over ReWire to do it. In Notion,
assign one or more staves to ReWire MIDI
instruments in Score Setup mode. With
aNotion instrument instantiated in Studio
One, Notion can be selected as the input
source for an instrument track, the output
of which is assigned to play aStudio One
instrument. Once Notion is assigned as
the input device, choose achannel of one
of the 16 available MIDI streams from
the drop-down menu. The Input Monitor
button must be selected to hear the
track played.
Poetry In Notion
The integration between Notion and
Studio One is abig step, and it works
pretty well as things stand now. PreSonus
will surely clean up whats there and
add more functionality over time. While
several DAWs have limited onboard
notation capabilities and most can do
ReWire, Notion is afull-featured notation
package, and the data exchange features,
and ability to output multi-channel audio
from Notion, are powerful. Theres alot
that can be done through adding notation
to Studio One.
VIDEO DOCUMENTARY ORIGINAL S
This month Slate VMS: Mic Shoot-Out

To accompany this months cover feature
we capture our test of Slate Digitals
Virtual Microphone System. The VMS
claims to faithfully model a range of
classic microphones so we put it up
against four of the originals the Sony
C800g, AKG C12 and Neumanns U47
and U67. So, how successful is it?

Hear the same performances (female pop
vocal, male folk vocal and voiceover)
through the modelled and original mics.
Listen carefully during the video to make
up your mind then read the print review
to see if you agree with our verdict.
TECHNIQUE / SONAR
Speed Of Sound
Quicken your Sonar workflow with these top tips!
CRAIG ANDERTON
he creative process demands

efficiency, so anything that speeds
up tracking, editing and mixing
will provide asmoother creative flow
and might make the difference between
catching an inspiration or losing it.
Fortunately Sonar has several time-saving
features, and there are also Windows

techniques that can help speed up your
workflow. Here are some of my favorites.
Visual Aids
Track Icons: Iinitially thought these were
agimmick, but find they allow identifying
tracks really easily, particularly in Console
view. You can use the BMP image format
TECHNIQUE / SONAR
TIME-SAVING TIPS
or, since the September 2015 Ipswich

update, also PNG images. Although
Cakewalk recommend a96x96 pixel size
(probably because its a2:1 ratio of the
default large icon size), while in other
places theyve said 128x128 is preferred,
but it seems track icons scale automatically
anyway, so if you navigate to any PNG
or BMP picture in the browser and drag
it anywhere into atrack, it will become
atrack icon. (Of course, scaling down large
pictures may lead to something that looks
fairly abstract!)
Saturate aconsole track colour: Ill
often have several tracks with the same
instrument, eg. multiple vocal, drum, or
guitar tracks. Generally these are the same
colour, but if Iwant one to stand out for
example, the main vocal or guitar part, or
the one currently being edited Ill click
on the Track Color band, click on Other,
enter 240 for Saturation and 120 for
Luminance, then click OK. This makes the
colour for the selected track easier to find
in asea of tracks.
Quantise MIDI effects: Theres no need
to agonise over choosing the right MIDI
track quantisation to keep the creative
juices flowing, drop in the Quantize MIDI
effect for temporary, non-destructive
quantisation. You can always tweak the
quantisation destructively when you get
into the editing phase.
Mix Recall: Immediately after opening
aproject where youve started setting up
levels for mixing, save aMix Recall scene.
They take up very little space, and you
never know when youll want to get back to
your starting point. Think of it as insurance!
Screensets: This is afeature you might

dismiss until it becomes part of your
workflow. Ive locked about half of the
screensets as permanent views (eg.
for tracking, mixing, editing or loop
construction), with the other half used
as needed for example when going
between an overview, and azoomed-in
individual track for easy editing.
Smart Swipe: This recent addition to
Sonars bag of tricks is wonderful. For
most track and console parameters (record
enable, solo, mute, track selection, and so
on), you can click on one button, and then
while holding the mouse button down,
drag across consecutive buttons to enable
or disable them. If you change your mind,
while still holding the mouse button down,
you can simply swipe back to where you
started. (Unfortunately, Smart Swipe doesnt
work with touch.)
Quick Group additions: Quick Grouping
has always been avery helpful feature
when you want to adjust aparameter
across multiple modules. For example,
hold Control while adjusting aConsole
Emulators Drive control to adjust
all Console Emulator Drive controls
simultaneously in all selected tracks. Recent
updates let you Quick Group the processes
of inserting effects into the FX Bin (ideal
for adding something like tape or console
emulation) or freezing multiple selected
tracks at once. Selecting all tracks you want
to freeze allows for what is essentially global
freezing, and you can also unfreeze all of
them with Quick Grouping.
Record straight from the Start Screen:
If you select New Project you can start
TECHNIQUE / SONAR
TIME-SAVING TIPS
recording immediately you dont have

to name the project or set afile path.
However, note that this will dump any
audio you record into the Audio Data
folder (just like what happened before
per-project folders were introduced), and
this can turn into an uncurated mess of
audio if youre not careful. So when you
reach aconvenient stopping point in
the midst of your creative endeavors, do
aSave As to aper-project folder and tick
Copy all audio with project. Then clean
out the Audio Data folder in preparation
for your next project.
Keys To Success
Of course, you know that keyboard
shortcuts save time, but you may not
be taking full advantage of custom key
bindings. For example, Ioften use the
Gain and Normalize DSP functions when
prepping vocal phrases, particularly for
narration. Both are now on key bindings, so
it takes just afew seconds to apply quick
gain changes. However, Irecommend
writing down alist of your custom key
bindings so you can refer to it until youve
memorised them.
TECHNIQUE / SONAR
TIME-SAVING TIPS
Macros: These take keyboard shortcuts to

the next level. Sonar doesnt have abuilt-in
macro recorder, but the free, open-source
program AutoHotKey makes it relatively
easy to set up macros that initiate astring of
keystrokes and mouse clicks. Although you
do need to learn ascripting language, if you
follow the tutorials on the autohotkey.com
site, you might be surprised at how easy it

is to create your own macros. If you do alot
of repetitive tasks, being able to automate
those processes is ahuge time saver.
Function key scribble strip: You can call
up various Sonar tools with Function keys,
but you need to remember which function
TECHNIQUE / SONAR
TIME-SAVING TIPS
key calls up which tool. Itook ascreenshot

of Sonar, trimmed it to only the Tools strip
in the control bar, printed it, and placed
it above the corresponding function keys
on my QWERTY keyboard. It didnt take
long for my muscle memory to learn which
function key called up which tool.
Function key shortcuts: With the Smart,
Move, and Edit tools, hitting the associated
Function key (F5-F7) while one of these
is already selected will toggle between
that tool and whichever tool you used
last. Furthermore, hitting Function keys
F8-F10 repeatedly steps through each tools
options for example, hitting F10 toggles
between erase and mute, while F9 toggles
among the various drawing choices.
Ready Made
Project templates: Icant emphasize
enough how useful project templates
can be: having tracks assigned to inputs
with suitable processing already in
place slashes setup time. For example,
when songwriting, Ihave atemplate
with guitar already assigned and three
different CA-X amps in the FX Rack
(Ienable the one thats most appropriate
for the song), avocal track with EQ and
CA-2A dynamics already set up in the
ProChannel, an audio track ready for drum
loops, and the multitimbral TTS-1 inserted
(with asongwriting preset that includes
avariety of instruments), so Ican lay down
MIDI backing tracks quickly.
Track templates: My favourite use for
these is multiband processing, because
asingle operation loads multiple tracks
and processors. This feature has become
even more useful with the advent of
aux tracks and Patch Points, as those

routings are preserved. Track templates
are also great for managing virtual
instruments with multiple outputs, as well
as for specific instruments (eg. you might
have ageneral-purpose track template
for acoustic guitar, and another for
electric guitar).
Default ProChannel setup: Sonar can
load adefault set of ProChannel modules
automatically whenever you create anew
track (this is particularly handy for making
sure each track has aConsole or Tape
Emulator, if you prefer to mix that way).
Set your ProChannel as you want for the
default, then right-click on any module
header and choose Set Modules as Default
for Tracks. Note that the modules open
up bypassed, and with default parameter
values. However you can save apreferred
ProChannel preset, and recall that from
within the ProChannel.
Windows-related tips: In addition to the
usual Windows tips (eg. avoid loading
startup programs you dont need),
having an SSD as your root drive where
Sonar resides can speed up boot time
dramatically. Also, Windows 10s Virtual
Desktop feature has proven to be very
helpful. Typically Ihave Sonar set to full
screen, so if Iwant to open disk drives
or folders, move files around, search for
something on the desktop, and do similar
non-Sonar functions, rather than minimize
Sonar Ijust zip over to asecond virtual
desktop. This is particularly welcome
when Sonar is doing some operation (like
areal-time file export or bounce) where
it takes over the computer and cant
beminimised.
TECHNIQUE / REASON
I Link Therefore IJam

We show you how to get the most from Abletons
Linktechnology in Reason.
SIMON SHERBOURNE
ith the latest 9.1 update

Reason became the first
desktop DAW outside of
Live to support Abletons Link system.
Link lets you use aWi-Fi network to
synchronise playback of music apps
running on multiple computers and iOS
devices. It makes it incredibly easy to
jam with other people, and hook up
your iPad/iPhone to your studio. This
month were going to take adetailed
look at what Link can do for you, and
how it differs from other synchronisation
options in Reason.
Well start with an example. Id
recommend giving this ago to get afeel

for how it works: it really is ridiculously
simple to get working compared to more
traditional methods. The first thing Idid
with Reason 9.1 was sync it up with my
iPad running Korgs iElectribe app. In
Screen 1 Ive selected Ableton Link as the
Sync Mode in the bottom transport bar.
Next Ilaunched iElectribe and enabled
Link in its top menu bar. Straightaway
anotification told me there are two Link
devices active. Next, Ihit play on Reason,
and then on iElectribe. The iPad counted
down to the next bar and started playing
in time with Reason. Thats it, no settings,
no MIDI routing, no wires. And the sync is
really super tight.
TECHNIQUE / REASON
ABLETON LINK
Hop On Hop Off

One of the coolest things about Link is that
anyone can join or drop off at any time.
Theres no concept of Master and Slave, so
whoever started the Link session can leave
without interrupting devices that joined
subsequently. Anyone can also start and
stop their own playback independently,
and everyone can change the tempo.
Theres no transport control between
devices, and no positional information. Link
simply creates amusical grid pulse that
any app can jump on atany time.
How agiven app synchronises its
playback to the Link grid varies. Reason
will always try to keep its own bars
aligned to Link bars. When you hit Play it

will jump in in step as soon as possible.
The iElectribe also syncs to the bar, but
always waits until the next bar before
starting playback. Ableton Live is slightly
different as it will obey its Global Launch
Quantisation setting and lock up to the
Link grid with the bar positions offset.
In any case, as Link uses no positional
information equivalent to Song Position
Pointers in MIDI Beat Clock, the time you
start playback is up to you. So if you have
awhole song playing in Reason, other
apps can jump in at any place. Or, if you
have differentlength loops playing its up
to you whether or not you trigger them in
step on the first bar across devices.
TECHNIQUE / REASON
ABLETON LINK
One Two Three Four,

IDeclareATempo War
The tempo of the Link synchronisation
is taken from whichever app started the
session. After that, however, any app on
the network can change the tempo and
everything else will follow. Theres no way
to restrict who can change the tempo
Link is astrictly egalitarian system! If two
people try to set the tempo at the same
time, the most recent update wins. If you
drop Reason out of Link it will stay at the
most recent tempo from Link.
Its also possible to set different time
signatures on different devices. If you
do this, or if you set aloop in Reason
thats not awhole number of bars,
then it cant keep its bars aligned, but
the beats will always be in sync. You
can use this creatively to introduce
polyrhythmic cycles.
The fluid nature of tempo with Link
comes with acouple of restrictions in
Reason. One is that the highquality
background processing of stretched audio
clips is suspended, so youll always be
listening in Preview mode. The other is
that any tempo automation is ignored.
The Tempo Track in the Sequencers
Transport lane will be muted while Link
is active.
Clock Vs Rewire Vs Link

It will probably be clear at this point
that Link is aimed at quite different
scenarios to the other sync options
available in Reason. Its amuch looser
system, great for ad hoc jamming,
some live scenarios, and syncing loops
from mobile apps. If you need timeline
sychronisation, transport linking, or
syncing with hardware, Rewire or MIDI

Clock are more appropriate. MIDI Clock
provides tempo and positional sync
between apps and hardware devices.
Rewire is Propellerheads protocol for
synchronising multiple audio applications
on asingle computer, and has been
integrated into most major DAWs. As
well as tempo and timeline sync, Rewire
provides bi-directional transport linking
and internal patching for audio and MIDI
between apps.
One of the coolest

things about Link is that
anyone can join or drop
off at any time.
Reason can still send MIDI Beat Clock
while synchronised to aLink network,
giving you away to include your hardware
instruments in aLink jam. However,
Reason cant use Rewire and Link at
the same time. If, like me, you often
use Ableton Live and Reason Rewired
together, its game on because Live can
still join aLink while controlling Reason. In
this case Live and Reason are effectively
asingle entity in the Link session. There is
yet another option which is to have Live
and Reason both running on the same
machine without aRewire connection,
and connect both to Link separately. This
means that you can stop and start either
individually, and ignore song position,
which could be great for live use. Either
scenario gives you away to bring back
tempo automation by the back door. If
you have tempo changes in your Live
TECHNIQUE / REASON
ABLETON LINK
project, either tied to Scenes or graphed

in the Arrangement, they will affect the
whole Link network, including Reason.
To run Reason and Live with no Rewire
link, simply launch Reason before you
launch Live.
Networking
As you might have noticed Ihope to
persuade you that Link is athing of
greatness and wonder, but Ipredict one
objection: it relies on Wi-Fi, which is great
if youre at home but could be sketchy
in live situations or when meeting up to

jam with others. There are acouple of
ways around this. One would be to add
asmall Wi-Fi router to your travelling kit.
There are many sub-50 options, or, for
abit more, an Apple Airport Express is
agood thing to have. However, where
100percent robustness is required you
can also use Link with awired network,
using asmall switch. iOS devices can be
connected by chaining an Apple Lightning
to USB adaptor and USB to Ethernet
adaptor. Happy Reason jamming!
TECHNIQUE / CUBASE
Taking Stock
Can you do character compression with
Cubases stock plug-ins?
JOHN WALDEN
ompression is one of the most

important processes when
constructing amix, but while
control over the dynamic range of asound
lies at the heart of all compressors, many
hardware units have reached classic
status more due to the way they add
acertain character to the sound. Partly
thats due to their attack and release
behaviour, but its also due to the
attractive-sounding harmonic distortions
they add. Various plug-in developers
have spent alot of time trying to emulate
some of these more esoteric hardware
designs, with varying degrees
of success, but what about the
compressors bundled within
Cubase? Can any of them do
character?
Back in the day, Cubases
stock plugins (and, indeed,
those of many other DAWs)
were perhaps best described
as vanilla, but in later
versions, Cubase has
gained acouple of
more characterful
compressors: the
Vintage Compressor,
which is broadly
speaking (theyre
not intended
as out-and-out clones) aUrei 1176

emulation, and the Tube Compressor,
based on the UREI Teletronix LA-2A.
Theyre certainly decent enough to use
in amix, but how do they fare when
compared with paid options from
third-party developers?
TECHNIQUE / CUBASE
CHARACTER COMPRESSION
Classic Compressors
The 1176 homage is plain to see in the
Vintage Compressor. The attack, release
and output (make-up gain) controls
do exactly what youd expect on any
compressor, but the rest of the control
set is akin to the 1176: you get achoice
of four fixed compression ratios and an
input control that adjusts how hard (or
not) the audio hits the compressor against
afixed threshold.
The LA-2A heritage of the Tube
Compressor plug-in is alittle less obvious.
The hardware has avery minimalist
control set, with afixed compression ratio
(around 3:1) or alimiting mode (a much
higher ratio). Cubases Tube Compressor
mimics both the fixed compression ratio
and the limiting option, but it also offers
auseful side-chain feature, and attack,
release and mix controls, which arent
found on the hardware. In the LA-2A,
the Peak Reduction control governs
how hard the compressor is driven and
the gain knob provides make-up gain
adjustment. These are echoed by the
Tube Compressors input and output
controls, but theres also aDrive control,
which gives the user separate control over
the amount of emulated tube saturation.
Compressor Comparison
Not being lucky enough to possess either
of the hardware units, Icompared these
two stock compressors with some other
plug-in emulations performing arange of
typical we want character compression
tasks. Iwill explain something about the
results here, of course, but perhaps the
best thing if for you to judge this having
heard the results with that in mind, Ive
created eight audio examples for you to

audition (you can find them on the SOS
web site at http://sosm.ag/nov16media).
To keep things simple, Ive used anumber
of individual instrument sources and,
in each case, processed them using
five different plug-in compressors.
These include three from Cubase itself
(Compressor, Vintage Compressor and
Tube Compressor) and two from Waves
(CLA-76 and CLA-2A). Other developers
make very worthy emulations too, but
as Iknow these ones particularly well it
made sense for me to use them here.
For general compression

tasks, when taken one sound at
atime, all Steinbergs bundled
compressor plug-ins are
capable of doing adecent job.
For each of the four solo instruments
(drums, bass, guitar and vocals), one
audio example is based around some
gentle compression settings, while
asecond pushed each compressor plug-in
harder so you might hear the character
more, but without getting into special
effect or deliberately crushed territory.
One further, but important, point to
note is this: our ears and brains typically
perceive louder as better, so having
dialled in my key compression settings,
Ive done the best Ican to match the
overall level (volume) via the make-up
gain controls on offer. Hopefully, this will
allow you to focus on the character and
tone of the sound rather than just any
hike in the overall volume.
TECHNIQUE / CUBASE
Finally, these are obviously limited tests,

and utterly subjective, but Ialways find
these kinds of comparisons interesting
and intriguing nonetheless.
Vanilla Nice?
So, lets begin. Listen, if you can, to the
comparison with Steinbergs vanilla
Compressor plug-in and form your own
judgements. Feel free to disagree, but my
own reactions were as follows.
For all four audio sources, when the
compression settings were kept within the

gentle range (ratios around 3:1 or 4:1,
thresholds set to just catch the obvious
peaks, and amaximum gain reduction of
3-6 dB), the differences between each of
the five compressors were actually very
subtle, and well within the bounds of my
ability to match the compression settings
despite the somewhat varied control
sets. Perhaps the Vintage Compressor
and the CLA-76 were subjectively alittle
warmer than the others, but Iwouldnt
TECHNIQUE / CUBASE
want to bet my house on being able

to pick each of the five out in agentle
compression blind test!
As expected, there were more
noticeable differences when each
compressor was pushed abit harder
(higher ratio or limiting, lower thresholds
and amaximum gain reduction closer to
the 9-12dB range). For example, for the
drums, Ifelt Steinbergs Tube Compressor
and Vintage Compressor both offered
amuch punchier result (the drums in
particular had abit more attitude) than
the humble Compressor. Ialso thought
both stood up pretty well against their
Waves CLA counterparts but, despite
the latter two offering no control over

the release times, Igenerally preferred
how they handled things; the drums
still sounded punchy but somehow also
alittle tighter.
For the pushed bass example, Ifelt
both the Tube Compressor and Vintage
Compressor added asubtle analogue
warmth to the sound compared with the
standard Compressor and, with the vocal
example, Ialso felt there was anice (but,
again, subtle) hint of distortion added by
the Tube Compressor. Again, Steinbergs
offerings compared quite well with the
two Waves plug-ins, but Ifound it easier
to dial in asound Iliked in the CLA
Audio Examples
Bass Gentle
Bass Pushed
Drum Gentle
Drum Pushed
Guitar Gentle
Guitar Pushed
Vocal Gentle
Vocal Pushed
As described in the main text, eight

audio examples are provided. All are
based on short audio clips from four
individual instruments; adrum kit,
electric bass, acoustic guitar and vocals.
One set of four examples demonstrates
each of the five compressor plug-ins
used, providing some gentle
compression, while in asecond set of
four the compressor plug-ins are pushed
alittle harder, to try and bring out the
character added by each compressor.
All the original audio used in these
examples comes from the track So
Easy by Cristina Vane. This track was
the subject of aMix Rescue piece by
Mike Senior back in SOS September
2013 thanks go to Mike and Cristina
for allowing me to use these materials
for demonstration purposes. If you
want to find out more about Cristinas
music, you can find her online at
www.facebook.com/cristinavanemusic
and www.soundcloud.com/cristinavane.
TECHNIQUE / CUBASE
plug-ins. Isuspect thats because of the

simpler controls, which are based on the
original hardware, but it may of course
have something to do with the different
algorithms that lie beneath.
For the pushed acoustic guitar
part (perhaps the most unruly of the
performances in terms of the dynamics),
Ialso preferred the Tube and Vintage
flavours over the standard Compressor,
but Ithink Ialso found the CLA-2A and
CLA-76 just alittle smoother. That said,
the differences were pretty modest.
Stock Or Twist?
So, on the basis of these specific
examples, what conclusions can be
drawn? Well, when it comes to avanilla
compression task, Id say that all five
even the modest Compressor were
more than up to the task. Indeed, in
acomplex mix, choosing the Compressor
may well save you afew CPU cycles
(although none of these plug-ins ask much
of amodern CPU) without aparticularly
noticeable impact upon each sound.
When chasing alittle more character,
Id undoubtedly prefer the Tube
Compressor and Vintage Compressor
over the standard Compressor; theyre
alittle warmer and punchier to my ears.
But choosing between these Steinberg
plug-ins and the Waves offerings is more
difficult. Theres something difficult to
define about the smoothness of the
CLA-76 and CLA-2A, particularly for
the drums and vocal examples, and it
becomes more apparent the harder you
push things. Its all very subtle, though,
and the differences arguably lie more
within the realm of personal taste than
better or worse.
OK, the hardware LA-2A and 1176

might very well blow all of these
software solutions out of the water, and
there may be other applications where
the differences in performance are
much more obvious (crushed parallel
compression or mix-bus compression for
example; an experiment for adifferent
day) but, for general compression tasks,
when taken one sound at atime, all
Steinbergs bundled compressor plug-ins
are capable of doing adecent job. The
bottom line, then, is that if stock is
all youve got, dont let that stop you
cracking on with the mix you can get
great results from them.
The Good Of Small Things

While the choice of compressor plug-in
might only make avery subtle difference
when applied to an individual track,
are those differences more noticeable
when theyre accumulated across many
instances in amix? Alas, thats too big
atopic to explore in detail here, but its
one Id encourage you to investigate
does it sound good when you use the
same compressor on everything? Perhaps
theres space for Steinbergs offerings
even if you have better plug-ins.
Listening for the cumulative
effects of all these small decisions
is one of the most important but
difficult-to-learn mixing skills. On a similar
note, some plug-ins, including these two
Waves compressors, with their simple
control sets, seem to make it easier to
make right decisions. So it may be worth
choosing tools youre familiar with or
find very intuitive: assuming they sound
good, the consequence ought to be more
rightdecisions!
25TH N OVEMBER 2016 // BAFTA PRIN CESS ANNE THEATRE, PICC ADILLY
SPITFIRE
I N
P R E S E N T S:
C O N V E R S A T I O N
W I T H
DARIO MARIANELLI
MUSICIANS
P R E S E N T S
P E T E R
S E S S I O N
L E G E N D S
W I T H
G R E G S O N
INDUS TRY
W R I T I N G
UNION
I N S I G H T:
A D D I T I O N A L
R A E L
M U S I C
W I T H
J O N E S
PRODUCTION MUSIC AWARDS

P R E S E N T S :
I N D U S T R Y
Q & A
P A N E L
MUSIC IN ADVERTISING
INDUS TRY
P R O D U C T I O N
I N S I G H T:
M U S I C
Q & A
P A N E L
INDEPENDENT LIBRARIES
Q&A
YOUR TECHNICAL QUESTIONS ANSWERED
Got aquestion youd like to ask the SOS team? Email us at ask@soundonsound.com
How can Ilearn to finish

my projects?
A few years ago Idecided to concentrate

on producing my own music. Ive
since spent thousands of hours going
through Logic Pro tutorials and gleaning
knowledge from the Internet, and am
keen to progress. The problem is that
Inever ever seem to be able to push
aproject across the finish line. It seems
like Ive erased and restarted hundreds
of projects now, and Im getting tired of
it! Ihave aNexus II, 200GB of samples,
templates, MIDI files, and Ive learned
how to side-chain and basics like that, but
Im still having trouble. Would studying
one of the big books on mixing help me
to progress beyond this point? Or taking
one of those Internet courses?
CathyChilcott via email
SOS Contributor Mike Senior replies:

Although books and courses can help in
atechnical sense, and may help make
the mixing process more logical and
manageable, the bottom line is that
theres no book or course on Earth that
can finish your music for you, because
youre the one who needs to decide when
something is done. Finishing aproject
is more astate of mind than some kind
of absolute quality benchmark, and
the reality for most working engineers/
producers (me included) is that it involves
making adecision to quit while youre still
on the right side of the law of diminishing

returns. If you wait for everything in
aproject to be perfect, youll never finish
anything, which means youll miss out
on arguably the most important tool for
improvement there is: feedback from
other musicians and engineers, industry
insiders, and indeed the public at large.
That said, Ireckon youre probably
giving up too early if youve already
abandoned hundreds of projects. Ive
always found that its the process of really
fighting to bring an idea to fruition that
has most improved my own production
chops, and taught me what was possible
and, just as importantly, what was
impossible! What turns an incomplete
track into afinished track most reliably is
the process of analysing its shortcomings
and learning how to remedy them.
The more practice you get at doing
that, the better.
Id also suggest acouple of other
practical tactics. The first is to try
dissecting acouple of your favourite
productions, and then use them quite
rigidly as models for creating new tracks
mimicking the lengths of the sections
and the function of all the musical parts
as closely as you can, but without directly
copying the melodies or lyrics. Although
this will inevitably lead to rather derivative
results in the first instance, itll give you
amuch better idea of the demands of the
styles youre working in, as well as aclear
benchmark for the sonics. And my second
suggestion would be to try collaborating

with someone, because that can provide
avaluable extra source of motivation
to get things done as well as awider
pool of inspiration and technical ability to
draw upon.
Do mics benefits from

breaking in?
I have recently acquired aBlue [Bottle]

Rocket Stage 2 with cardioid B8 capsule,
and although Ireally like the sound
itseems abit stiff in the same way
that aspeaker can sound stiff until its
been burned in. So, do mic capsules
relax over time, or will that stiffness
persist? At the moment it sounds alittle
as though the signal is pushing against
arubber ceiling (sorry, thats the best
description Ican give).
SOS Forum post
Technical Editor Hugh Robjohns

replies: No, capacitor capsules
dont generally relax and Ive never
been aware of any kind of burn-in
period. Speaker burn-in (if it exists
at all!) is claimed to be due mainly to
physical changes in the cone suspension
material and adhesives as they start
to move and flex. But the key here is
that speaker cones move arelatively
large distance, so the suspension
undergoes alarge movement range.
In contrast, the diaphragm in
acapacitor microphone doesnt
have aseparate suspension, as such,
and doesnt move any significant
distance at all; were talking
micrometres at best! So theres
nothing to relax or burn-in, really.
It sounds to me that youre actually
Q&A
describing adynamic compression effect,
which is much more likely to be down to
the impedance conversion circuitry in the
mic, and the characteristics of the specific
valve being used. However, it could also
be related to the preamp or even the A-D
converter youre using, especially if youre
working with high peak levels.
How do Ipinpoint nasty

resonances?
How can you tell that aparticular recorded

vocal or bass track includes resonances?
Specifically, Id like to know how to
identify where the resonances are visually.
Ive read articles where the engineer said
that he made anotch at 127Hz to get
rid of some problem, but how did they
identify that very specific frequency?
Pat Autrey via email
Mike Senior replies: Well, firstly,
it bears repeating the truism
that its your ears, not your eyes,
that need to be the driving force
behind any processing decisions you
make at mixdown. Its not that visual
audio-analysis tools cant help, but
theyre only really useful once youve
decided what it is youre looking
for. In this specific situation, that
means learning what recordings with
undesirable resonances sound like,
and only firing up the analysis tools
when youre trying to work out exactly
what and where the problem is. There
are some examples of such files on
my web site at www.cambridge-mt.
com/ms-ch11.htm#audio, and weve
also dealt with plenty of recordings
containing unwanted resonances in
Mix Rescue, so it might also help you
to work your way through some of the

audio demonstrations that accompany
those articles too.
Lets look at some common case-studies,
though. With bass instruments, room
resonances can manifest themselves
as an unevenness in the musical line,
because certain note fundamentals may
be reinforced by the resonance modes
much more than others. If you hear
some notes booming out too strongly,
then investigating how the instruments
spectrum looks on ahigh-resolution
spectrum analyser can help you identify
which note fundamentals are louder than
the others, and counteract the effect
of the room resonances with surgical
EQ cuts. With mid-range instruments,
the effects of room resonances tend to
be less simple, and are more likely to
manifest themselves as aboxy small
room timbral signature. In my experience
visual analysis wont usually help agreat
deal here, and you have to adopt more
of ahunt and peck approach, sweeping
anarrow EQ boost around the spectrum
and then placing an EQ cut wherever the
boost sounds most unappealing.
A lot of recorded resonance problems
arent aresult of room acoustics, though.
Most instruments have their own inherent
resonant characteristics as well, but the
same kind of approaches still work if those
cause mixdown problems. So, for instance,
the air-cavity resonance of an acoustic
guitars body can often overemphasise
the fundamental frequencies of ahandful
of the instruments lowest notes, so if
you hear those notes poking out too
much, then by all means reach for the
spectrum analyser to home in on the exact
frequencies that are problematic. Where
Q&A
its an unwanted tonal character youre
getting from amore complex pattern of
resonances, then trial-and-error EQ cuts
will likely be more useful.
With project-studio snare drums, its
not uncommon for there to be unwanted
pitched resonances that clash with
asongs harmonies, and these are usually
easy to spot on aspectrum analyser
the display peak associated with the
resonance will sustain far longer than
the more transient noisy elements of the
instruments sound. However, you may find
there are several such peaks to choose
from, so check out the sound of each one
using the trial-and-error approach to find
the ones that you like least, bearing in
mind that aresonant pitch may well result
from aseries of spectral peaks at multiples
of the pitchs fundamental frequency.
The trickiest resonance issue to resolve
is with vocals, where the combination of
certain pitch registers and vowel sounds
can sometimes give rise to sporadic
resonant peaks in the 1-4 kHz range. The
clue that this is happening is if certain notes
manage to sound harsh even when you
cut too much general high-end with EQ.
When Isuspect this, Ill usually have aclose
look at how any particularly harsh-sounding
syllable looks on my spectrum analyser,
and see if theres any spectral peak that
seems to coincide with what Im hearing.
If Ido, Ithen put in an EQ notch at that
frequency to find out if that helps the
harshness. Sometimes it takes acouple of
tries to find the correct frequency its not
always the one that looks most prominent
on the display but as long as you let
your ears take the lead you shouldnt go far
wrong even in such aspecialist processing
situation as this.
Q
Reviews Editor Matt Houghton adds:
Mike has already offered some great
advice above and Id urge you to heed
it! But one thing thats worth pointing
out, since you ask specifically about
this, is that when you read interviews
in which name producers reel off very
specific frequencies, Q values or other
equipment/plug-in settings, theyll
often be responding to an interview via
email or phone. Why is that important?
Well, unless the figure is avery rounded
one (in which case it might be abands
fixed frequency on aconsole or go-to
hardware EQ) their reply will probably
have been informed by having their DAW
session open in front of them, and without
that information there at their fingertips,
theyd most likely have referred to amore
ballpark figure or range of frequencies.
Im not saying you cant develop agood
Q&A
ear for frequencies of course you can

but telling 127Hz from 125, and then
committing each and every decision from
every project to long-term memory, is
beyond even the best of us!
Finally, if youre having ahard time
pinpointing the resonances, you can
always try cheating! Arecent update of
Tokyo Dawn Records Slick EQ GE includes
aneat learn facility, whereby it listens
to the audio and is then able to remove
resonances. Youll want to refine the results
by ear, as no algorithm can know how you
want things to sound, but in my experience
it does apretty good job of homing in on
the offending frequencies. (Igather theyre
planning to incorporate this facility in their
Nova dynamic EQ too, which is likely to be
abetter tool for the job...). If nothing else,
you could use such afacility as guidance
while you train your own ears.
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SOUNDING OFF
Private Wilhelm: screaming through cinemas
lazy history of sound effects.
MICHAEL
GREENHALGH
here is asound which

connects The Empire
Strikes Back, Howard
The Duck and Beauty And
The Beast. In fact, this
sound connects over 200
films, from the iconic to the
obscure. It is known as the
Wilhelm Scream. You have
heard it thousands of times.
Whether it is clich, trope
or in-joke is open to opinion
but it is one of anumber
of effects which have
survived and outlived entire
moviemaking eras.
The voice you hear in
the high pitched cry is
that of singer and actor
Seb Wooley, though the
name comes from 1953s
Charge At Feather River,
in which aPrivate Wilhelm
is shot with an arrow and
squeals as he falls from his
horse, rather than 1951s
Distant Drums where it
wasfirstheard.
Another prime offender
is Castle Thunder.
Unsurprisingly, this
1931recorded effect is the
sound of apeal of thunder,
and was recorded for
Universals classic monster
movie Frankenstein. And
its still in use today, a fact

which shocked Hollywood
sound editor Mark Mangini
(Green Mile, Gremlins,
Aladdin) when he spoke to
Hollywood Lost & Found.
When they do a modern
day ghost story, they still
use Castle Thunder,
Mangini says. Its such a
lowfidelity recording. It
was recorded on optical
film with all the crackles
and pops, and transferred
to mag... The bandwidth is,
like, one cycle!
So, why do these effects
last so long? We know that
at least some of Wilhelms
credibility and cool comes
from Spielbergs and Lucas
overuse of it in the 80s,
appearing in every one of
their films and sometimes
on multiple occasions. Are
these industry in-jokes?
Asymptom of the endemic
laziness of mainstream
media? Just another trope?
The movie industry is one
of the slowest to react and
change to the world outside
it. This could be, as some
critics claim, that it has been
the delivery mechanism
for American cultural
hegemony for so long
that it has lost touch with
the world it should seek
About The
Author
Writer and movie

enthusiast Michael
Greenhalgh is sadly
no longer welcome at
Vue cinemas.
to represent but instead
seeks to form. Think back
afew years, remember the
recordscratch sound from
every comedy trailer as, 20
seconds in, the voiceover is
subverted: All he wanted
to do was go to college,
but then he woke up... as
acarrot. Cue scratch and
cut to the films big laughs.
That effect was dropped
from the three biggest
effects libraries in 2010 as
the public was believed to
no longer know what it was.
Likewise, the Universal
telephone ring was used in
all of the studios movies
until 2012, when anew
digitalsounding effect
was found to match the
SOUNDING OFF
smartphones held by the
actors. Sound design is
fundamental to successful
worldbuilding and hence
to successful film making.
Star Wars, for example,
contains avast palette
of sounds recorded and
designed to exist side
by side; along, arduous,
timeconsuming and
costlyprocess.
Whatever the reason,
think only of the ubiquity
of the Inception bwaahms
the booming horns
which Hans Zimmer had
been peddling since before
the Nolan mind-bender
blared them into the public
consciousness in 2010.
Trailers are an excellent
way of hearing lazy sound
design in action. Sure, some
aspects have become so
clich as to be kitsch. The
late Don La Fontaine, for
example, was the voice you
heard on every trailer for

Must be the 60s. We
almost 30 years. In aworld
even have specific music
where or there was
for trailers, but it would
one thing they didnt count
appear that playlists are
on... You even read those
getting even shorter,
words in his voice.
as so many use Clint
The industry is in
Mansells Lux Aeterna
aconstant process of
from Requiem for ADeam,
dumbing down, and this
John Murphys Adagio in
is most obvious in its
D Minor from Sunshine,
promotion. Action movie
or the seminal Aliens cue
trailers like to end with
Bishops Countdown by
something flying towards
JamesHorner.
the screen accompanied
In the end, lets all hope
by avroooom sound
that: In aworld where
before achop cut to the
movies became dull and
title card. Horror is always
generic, there was one
marketed with rising, often
industry... they didnt
discordant strings, building
counton...
through the trailer before
suddenly being cut to
If you would like to
The
Revoice
silence. Crash zoom
onSOS
the Guide
air To
your
views in Pro
this 3.2
column,
please
title card, then play
some
Our
in-depth tutorial
will help
you send
get the
your
submissions
disconcertingpiano.
most out of Synchro Arts powerful
to soundingoff@
vocal-processing
software.
We have songs for
telling
soundonsound.com or to
us were in acertain era.
the postal address listed in
December issue on sale Thursday 17th November.
Fortunate Son? Vietnam
the
front
of the magazine.
Available at WH Smith and
all good
newsagents.
it is. Somebody To
Love?
Never
miss an issue: subscribe at www.soundonsound.com/subs.
NEXT MONTH IN
NEXT MONTH IN
The SOS Guide To Revoice Pro 3.2
Our in-depth tutorial will help you get the
most out of Synchro Arts powerful
vocal-processing software.
Never miss an issue: subscribe at
www.soundonsound.com or phone 01954 789888.
Hands Down.
The worlds top artists pick Apollo.
Tony Platt (AC/DC) Tchad Blake (Arctic Monkeys) David Guetta Chris Cornell (Soundgarden)
Albert Hammond Jr. (The Strokes) Justin Meldal-Johnsen (Beck) Ariel Rechtshaid (Adele)
Neil Davidge (Massive Attack) Weezer Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Derek Ali (Kendrick Lamar)
Big Data Buddy Miller DJ Jazzy Jeff Patrick Carney (The Black Keys) Jim James (My Morning Jacket)
Jacquire King (Kings of Leon) Salaam Remi (Amy Winehouse) DJ Khalil (Eminem) Hans Zimmer
Dave Pensado Paul Epworth (Adele) Alan Parsons (Pink Floyd) Jamie Lidell Phosphorescent
Ken Lewis (Kanye West) Alex Lifeson (Rush) Mick Guzauski (Daft Punk) Britt Daniel (Spoon)
Nicolas Rebscher (Aurora) Stephane Alf Briat (Phoenix) Ali Staton (Madonna) Steven Wilson
Matthew Wiggins (U2) Nicky Romero Hardwell Andy Barlow (Lamb) Justin Parker (Lana Del Ray)
Haydn Bendall (Kate Bush) Charlie Andrew (Madness) Adrian Utley (Portishead) Die Antwoord
CHVRCHES Adam Bainbridge (Kindness) Will Gregory (Goldfrapp) Diplo James TW
Carl Cox Rik Simpson (Coldplay) The Glitch Mob Snake Newton (Duran Duran) Animal Collective
Learn more at www.uaudio.com/apollo

2016 Universal Audio Inc. Apollo is a registered trademark of Universal Audio.
All other trademarks are property of their respective owners. Artist/producer/engineer names
herein do not constitute an official endorsement of Universal Audio products, and appear
solely based on information provided by named artist to Universal Audio.

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