Resolution V21.1 Spring 2021

REPORT

REVIEWS

REVEALED

/ AoIP: location recording / Virtual Audiences: laughter from the lounge / Deepfake voices: how they are helping

/ Merging+Anubis: Ravenna revelation / Josephson C705: clever compromises / PreSonus Analog Effects: vintage fun

/ Rupert Neve: a life in focus / Roger Quested: monitoring master / Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith: modular methods

V21.1 | Spring 2021 | £5.50

The

Interview

Xxxxx Nina Hartstone Xxxxxxxx Xxx

Unleash your creativity

Introducing GLM 4 loudspeaker manager software Pure, truthful sound reproduction. It’s the confidence of nearly half a century of research.

An unending dedication to sound technology, and an inexhaustible passion for creativity.

GLM 4 offers simplicity, efficiency and infinite possibilities. And intuitive power that helps artists evolve, naturally. It’s the promise of your very own, true sonic reference.

GLM 4. Now nothing can stand between you and your artistry.

Find out more at www.genelec.com/glm4

/ Contents

30 V21.1 | Spring 2021

News & Analysis 5 6

11

Leader News News, studios, appointments New Products Featuring Merging, Rode, Lawo, McDSP and more

Columns

15 Sound Opinion - Tim Oliver

Setting a possible course out of lockdown, and into the post-Covid world, for the music industry — and staying optimistic about it!

16 Crosstalk - Rob Speight

How deepfakes and AI technology can assist the audio production process, and where it’s all heading 50 Playlist

It’s 2021, and the world may just be returning to normal. So, lets delve into some great tracks that heralded a comeback

Craft

Nina Hartstone

16

24

34

38

24 Rupert Neve

With this previously unpublished interview we celebrate the life of Rupert Neve, who died recently aged 94. Here, he talks frankly about the moments — both fortuitous and meticulously designed — that shaped his exceptional legacy, and we talk to Rupert Neve Designs about how its archive of designs will continue to influence its products 30 Nina Hartstone

The Oscar winning dialogue and ADR editor of Bohemian Rhapsody talks about her working ethos, how technological advances can define and shape a career, the value of great ADR, and the attention to detail that can make or break a movie 46 Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith

The LA-based artist guides us through her modular synthesis-powered studio, creative process and love of analogue electronics

Technology

34 Dave Rowell & FiLO Classical

How on location classical recording works with an Audio over IP (AoIP) workflow, its possible pitfalls, and solutions

Meet Your Maker

38 Roger Quested

We meet the man behind the eponymous monitor manufacturer, look back at his career, and forward at his plans for the future of the brand

REVIEWS 18 Merging+Anubis 20 PreSounus Analog Effects 22 Josephson C705

48 Spring 2021 / 3

PROGRAMMABLE ANALOG PROCESSING

The World's First Programmable Analog Processor The McDSP APB-16 and APB-8 are the world's first programmable analog processors. For a fraction of the price of traditional outboard gear, you can have 8, 16, or more premium analog channels under total software control. Each APB-16 and APB-8 unit comes with a growing library of APB plug-ins including compressors, limiters, mixing consoles, multi-band compressors, and more on the way. All the major plug-in formats (AAX, AU, VST3) are supported. Session recall is instant. Save presets and write automation just like any other plug-in. at Find out more at www.mcdsp.com/apb.

P R O F E S S I O N A L

A U D I O

H A R D W A R E

A N D

S O F T W A R E

/ Welcome

Leader

John Moore

Editor/Content Manager John Moore john@resolutionmag.com

Contributors Mike Aiton, Dennis Baxter, John Broomhall, Simon Clark, Ian Cookson, Russell Cottier, Jay Dean, Kevin Hilton, Tim Oliver, George Shilling, Rob Speight, Jon Thornton, Danny Turner, Phil Ward

Chief Executive Officer Stuart Allen +44 (0)7999 847715 stuart@resolutionmag.com

Chief Operating Officer — Publishing, Sales & Marketing Jeff Turner UK/Europe: +44 (0)117 318 5041 USA: +1 415 307 7337 jturner@resolutionmag.com

Director of Production Dean Cook The Magazine Production Company +44 (0)1273 911730 dean@resolutionmag.com

Finance & Accounts Manager Judith Clegg +44 (0)7977 104648 judith@resolutionmag.com

Printing Gemini Print Southern Ltd, Unit A1 Dolphin Road, Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex. BN43 6NZ Published by S2 Publications Ltd info@resolutionmag.com c/o 221 Commercial, 71-75 Shelton Street, Covent Gardens, London, WC2H 9JQ ©2021 S2 Publications Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the publisher.

Great care is taken to ensure accuracy in the preparation of this publication, but neither S2 Publications Ltd or the editor can be held responsible for its contents.

The views expressed are those of the contributors and not necessarily those of the publisher. S2 Publications Ltd. Registered in England and Wales.

REGISTERED OFFICE Gowran House, 56 Broad Street, Chipping Sodbury, Bristol, BS37 6AG Company number: 4375084

/resolutionmagazine

@resolutionmagazine

Goodbyes, and hello...

W

orking as a team to create a product is invariably a fascinating endeavour; I’d wager the attraction of it is part of what drew us to what we do. People generally strive to be part of a group and big undertakings demand cooperation.

There will always be auteurs, celebrities and geniuses in any trade — and exceptional artistry, which loudly announces itself, has its place — but the vast majority of experts in their field seek to balance being respected for their skill and letting their output speak for itself. For most practitioners of a given technical niche, the pride they have in their accumulated knowledge is cut-through with a desire is to serve the aims of the project at hand.

This issue we bid farewell to Rupert Neve who, though his name was firmly ‘above the door’, was — by all accounts I’ve come across — an unassuming genius who took great joy in experimentation, collaboration and the sharing of his vast expertise. As our unpublished interview with him this month hints, and my conversations with collaborators have confirmed, he knew the value of a team and was a great guy to work with.

Talking of teamwork, here I am writing my first leader column for Resolution and getting to know the team behind the magazine — some of whom I’ve worked with before, some not.

Resolution’s previous Captain has now sailed off over the horizon and on to new adventures, leaving behind him a well-kept, ship-shape magazine that has navigated the stormy waters of 2020 as best it could. It now falls to me and

the crew, alongside our industries as a whole, to plot a course out of these inclement times. Thus my purpose, for now, is to keep our ship pointing in the right direction.

The best way we can do that, is to set our amazing group of expert contributors back to work delivering what you’ve come to expect from us: insightful news, reviews, comment and expert voices dedicated to helping you become better at your job, and better understand the everevolving market through which we move.

So that’s the plan.

Just as I’m sure many of you seek to be an invisible hand when you work, creating pleasing results with as little fuss as possible, so do I in this new role. Now is a time for a light touch. A time to carefully study the conditions, roll out the maps and plot a course to the future. A time to thank those that came before us for showing the way, but also to keep moving on.

I hope to meet as many of you in person as possible over time, when — as I’m sure they will, in some shape or form — events begin to spring back up again. If you have anything you’d like to say or share about Resolution, my email Inbox (john@resolutionmag.com) is open and I’d love to hear your thoughts.

I’m not the story, here, though. That honour falls to the wonderful Nina Hartstone, Rupert Neve, Roger Quested and all the brilliant products and people we’ve packed into issue 21.1 (my biggest decision so far has been to bring the magazine's volume number in line with the year). For now, I’ll head back to the wheelhouse and do what I do. As we all have to when work needs to be done.

John

Spring 2021 / 5

News

Way picks KRK

Real World reveals Red Room Four-time Grammy winner Dave Way continued his relationship with monitor maker KRK when it came to outfitting his Waystation Studio for Dolby Atmos. The engineer/producer, who’s worked with artists including Paul McCartney and The Foo Fighters, chose KRK’s V Series monitors and powered subwoofers for the task in a 7.1.4 Atmos array using seven V8s, four V6s, and two 10” subwoofers.

Additionally, Way has become one of the founding members of KRK’s new Kreator Alliance, and will contribute to discussions within the company regarding new product launches and updates, brand development and more. “I’ve been so happy with KRK as a brand,” he said, “that becoming a part of its Kreator Alliance was a natural progression.”

Bath’s Real World studios has added a new Red Room studio to compliment its performance-focused Big Room and Wood Room spaces. As such it will scale things down to focus on songwriting, production, mixing and post-production. It is fitted out with ATC SCM45A loudspeakers, together with Yamaha NS10s, accessed via a Grace Design M908 controller. Behind the scenes, a Mac Pro with two Pro Tools HDX cards will power the sessions. There’s analogue SSL summing for hybrid mixing, an array of analogue outboard gear, Avid S3 control surface, microphones from Real World’s collection and a felted upright piano.

Further development pencilled in for later this year will see addition of immersive sound formats, including Dolby Atmos, to the specification.

Red Room users will benefit from an on-call assistant for setup and troubleshooting, while in-house engineers and catering is available on request. Enquires regarding the Red Room can be made to bookings@realworld.co.uk.

ISE sees event demand Research undertaken by Integrated Systems Europe seems to indicate an appetite among AV professionals for a return of conferences and events following COVID-19. Fusion-Insight’s questioning of sector players showed that 98% of the audience missed attending in-person AV industry events. 2020 saw a sharp rise in digital events to fulfil education, networking, and profiling agendas, but ISE asserts that while such things are useful, live experiences allowing professional to touch, see and hear AV products, are yet to be replicated. Over 700 people from 96 countries responded to its survey, with 95% having attended ISE before (60% in February 2020).

As we were going to press, ISE announced it's Barcelona event in June will now be changed to hybrid live and online events across Europe. More details in the next issue.

6 / Spring 2021

DPA mics capture Mars audio If you, like us, watched news coverage February’s Mars Perseverance Rover touchdown, and wondered which mic manufacturer had been given the gig of kitting out NASA’s latest exploration vehicle, you’ll be as pleased as we were to find out that it was none-other than Denmark’s DPA. Specifically, Perseverance was fitted with a custom adapted DPA 4006 omnidirectional mic (seen here above the central assembly) and MMA-A Digital Audio Interface, along with MMP-G Modular Active Cable, in order to capture the first sounds from the red planet. Luckily, for both that kit and NASA, last July’s launch and interplanetary trip saw it all stand up to the harsh conditions for which it was spec’d and tested.

Indeed, it has already completed its primary task of delivering the first genuine audio from Mars, which DPA’s engineering team analysed and processed before it was made available to the public by NASA.

APPOINTMENTS

PMC's Thomas reflects on success With UK-based loudspeaker manufacturer PMC marking its 30th anniversary, it's co-founder is intent on celebrating its three decades of design and manufacture for both the pro music production and audiophile markets. Peter Thomas, PMC founder and owner, says, “When I started the company with my friend and colleague, Adrian Loader, I had no idea that our audio knowledge and passion for music would one day end up with our small company designing and building universally respected loudspeakers for audiophiles and for some of the biggest artists, producers and audio facilities in the world.”

PMC was established in 1991 by Thomas and Loader, the former an engineer at the BBC and the latter working for FWO Bauch at the time. Their first project was to build a monitor speaker that could handle the high sound levels required by the BBC for pop and rock monitoring .The solution, dubbed the ‘Big Box’, was built in Peter’s garage using electronics built in Adrian’s. A refined and renamed version, the BB5, was installed into Maida Vale Studios and PMC was up and running.

Shortly after this first pro install, the company turned its attention to the domestic market with the LB1 — guess what the LB stood for — and established a dual market approach the company has continued with since then.

“In terms of music reproduction, there shouldn’t be a distinction between a loudspeaker designed for studio use and one for domestic use,” Peter asserts. “The speaker is either reproducing the music correctly or it isn’t. The guiding principle for our R&D team is that the same ultra-high-resolution loudspeaker can be used throughout the entire recording and playback process — from studio to home.”

This approach has led to PMC leaning on a set of core technologies, including the Advanced Transmission Line, or ATL, bass loading, the aerodynamically designed Laminair vent, dome mid-range drivers and tweeter dispersion grilles. These features are found in both its domestic and professional ranges, which have helped the company increasingly move into the immersive audio market by partnering with Dolby and having its speakers installed in Dolby Atmos music mixing rooms.

Now employing 60 people around the world, from its home in and manufacturing plants in the UK to satellite offices in LA, Nashville and New York and two manufacturing plants in the UK, PMC is proudly looking back into its history. “Celebrating a 30th anniversary is a major milestone for any company,” Peter Thomas concludes, “and we know that we couldn’t have done any of this without the help of our staff and customers.”

The company is not resting on its laurels, though, also announcing two interesting new installs of its equipment. The first, at Noise Nest, Los Angeles — a complex owned by drummer, producer and entrepreneur Nick Gross — sees its flagship QB1-A in-wall main monitors dropped into studio A, and the other four studios use a mixture of PMC IB1S-A, twotwo.6 and twotwo.8 monitors for nearfield duties. Gross elected to use PMC after being introduced to the company’s equipment by fellow producer, “friend and mentor” Dr. Luke, who’s produced a host of pop hits, but is perhaps best know for his work on Katy Perry’s I Kissed a Girl.

On a smaller scale, but just as interesting, UK-based Grammy winning engineer Eddie Serafica (Buddy Guy, Michael Kiwanuka) has recently installed PMC’s twotwo.6 in his London-based project studio thanks to KMR Audio.

“When I decided to replace my old monitors, I did a lot of research and heard great things about twotwo.6’s,” he says. “I demoed them for a couple of weeks and absolutely loved them. They have great clarity and really amazing, tight and accurate low end.”

The Audio Engineering Society (AES) has appointed Jonathan Wyner as its president. Wyner has more than three decades of experience as both an AES member and as an audio professional. He has served as chief engineer at M Works Mastering, education director at iZotope in Cambridge, MA, and professor at Berklee College of Music in Boston. For the AES, he has served on the Board of Directors, the Board of Governors, and as a member of multiple committees including Broadcast and Online Delivery and the Recording Technology and Practices Technical Committee and the Diversity & Inclusion committees. He was presented with AES Board of Governors Awards in recognition of co-chairing the 145th and 147th AES Conventions in New York in 2018 and 2019 and the online 149th AES Convention in 2020.

Lawo, German manufacturer of IP audio, video, control and telemetry infrastructure solutions, has appointed Sales Director Nacho Gonzalez with the additional commercial responsibility for the Brazilian market, drawing on his 20+ years of sales experience in Latin America. Skilled in Audio for broadcast, Radio, and IP solutions, he acquired a Master’s degree at IEP/CEU Escuela de Negocios, with focus on international business and commerce.

Nacho speaks Spanish and Portuguese and is based in Lawo’s offices in Germany.

Soon after starting at Lawo in 2013 as sales manager for the LATAM region, Nacho was also entrusted with Spain and Portugal. Now, the company hopes to capitalise on its rapid recent growth in the Latin America, having partnered in large installations in each of the countries where it is present.

CEDAR Audio has announced the appointment of Tecoms Srl as its audio forensics and security dealer in Italy.

Founded in 2003, the company provides consulting, research and solutions for law enforcement, intelligence and security from its based in Rome, accumulating years of experience in developing and deploying hardware and software for data collection and analysis. All enquiries in Italy regarding CEDAR Cambridge Forensic systems, the SE 1 Speech Enhancer, the CEDAR Trinity surveillance system, and the Trinity Enhance noise reduction and speech enhancement plug-in for Macs and PCs, should be made to Tecoms partner and manager of the Intelligence and Forensic Products, Guido Villa.

Spring 2021 / 7

/ News

APPOINTMENTS Avid has made several appointments to strengthen the company, with a lot of the focus going on its cloud and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) operations, both areas that represent rapidly growing sectors of its operation and business strategy going forward.Cloud business and technology specialist Lior Netzer comes in as SVP & GM of Media Platform & Cloud Solutions, bringing experience in management, business development, engineering and sales of technologies including cloud, SaaS, artificial intelligence, machine learning, data analytics and networking.

Additionally, Kevin Riley has been appointed as chief technology officer and SVP of Technology & Innovation, with responsiblity for Avid’s technology vision and innovation strategy, having most recently served as CTO and EVP of Advanced R&D at Ribbon Communications.

In other movements within the company, long-standing executive team member Dana Ruzicka moves from chief product officer to SVP & GM of Audio & Music Solutions with responsibility for Pro Tools and solutions for music recording, audio production and live sound.

Additionally, Avid veteran Tim Claman takes up the new role of SVP & GM of Video, Post & Storage Solutions with responsibility for products including Media Composer and NEXIS media storage. Previously, Tim was Avid’s CTO and VP of Software Engineering.

Genelec has appointed Audio-Technica France to handle the French distribution of its studio and AV loudspeaker ranges, with Gilles Pétrotey joining the Audio-Technica team to spearhead Genelec sales there. With Audio-Technica already handling the distribution of Genelec products in the Netherlands and Spain, this move strengthens the relationship between both companies, which will also benefit from the three decades of pro audio experience that Pétrotey brings. His career includes positions at Yamaha, Beyer, Lexicon and the TC Group, before joining the Music Tribe organisation to oversee Western European sales.

8 / Spring 2021

NUGEN tools analyse Netflix dialogue When Ball State University was offered the opportunity to work with Netflix on research project analysing its complete catalogue, the team turned to NUGEN Audio’s Loudness Toolkit — especially the VisLM loudness metering plug-in.

The research, to be compiled into a white paper, is intended to aid Netflix’s mission to optimise dialogue loudness and give a clear view of how it’s back catalogue currently conforms to its own loudness standards.

“Netflix bases its loudness regulations and settings around the best consumer experience, and recently began focusing a

great deal of attention on dialogue loudness,” says Dr. Christoph Thompson [pictured], recording engineer and assistant professor of music media production at Ball State. To this end, the research saw students perform subjective listening tests, while also evaluating the transparency threshold of some of the streaming codecs.

“While working on the Netflix project,” Thompson concludes, “we also incorporated NUGEN into our teachings and quickly came to appreciate how awesome it is... The presets, histogram layout, presets and specialised Netflix preset are all great.”

Nigerian radio R3lay

Moog and Google team up

Nigeria’s Dala FM 88.5 has looked to Lawo to help facilitate its migrate from the analogue world to a fully IP-based radio setup, making it the country's first virtual radio station. Its 16 audio channels, derived from a range of analogue, digital and IP sources, are now connected to a mediagrade PC running the company’s R3LAY virtual radio bundle.

The R3LAY VRX virtual mixer provides audio management for up to 24 physical and IP-based audio sources, enabling interoperability with radio applications for automation, recording, scheduling, commercials, news, broadcast streaming and visual radio. It integrates with the VPB virtual patchbay and VSC virtual soundcard to make the complete R3lay bundle.

The wonderfully titled Moogseum, dedicated to the work of Bob Moog, has become a key part of Google Arts and Culture’s new Music, Makers, and Machines interactive online resource. Highlighting the role electronic music plays within wider culture, it recently launched at g.co/ musicmakersmachines, with exhibits from 55 partner museums and non-profits from around the world — including some 275 items from Moog. The ‘Machines’ section of the resources highlights other pioneering synths, their creators, sound engineering visionaries and some iconic studios through electronic music history — including Germany’s WDR Studio for Electronic Music and The Studio Pierre Henry. More on the Moogseum itself can be found at moogfoundation.org.

/ News

Eventide boss honours heritage

Eventide is beginning its celebration of a half-century in the effects business by highlighting the products that made its name. This will take the form of a series of ‘Flashbacks’ to offer users and interested admirers a view of these products through historical insights, photos, videos and documentation excerpts.

The first product featured was also pro audio’s first rackmount effects unit: the PS 101 Instant Phaser. Introduced under the Eventide Clockworks brand in 1971, its sonic whooshing effect came from then-novel processing concepts, which quickly became industry go-tos. A second Flashback in the series delves into the history of the DDL 1745 Delay, the world’s first piece of digital pro audio gear.

The Flashback series is being curated by Eventide’s managing director, Anthony Agnello, via his blog at eventideaudio.com, and will go on to feature several more of its products in the coming weeks and months.

Drop Ship pick Calrec again When the LA-based audio engineering company and rental service Drop Ship Audio looked to expand its roster of equipment, previous experience of Calrec’s products led it to chose the company’s Artemis console.

With two of the company’s Brio consoles already on its books — and with owner Sean Prickett’s experience of mixing for reality TV with company’s Apollo — the Artemis seemed a good fit for its next gig with a major US network.

“We’d been looking for a larger, full-size fly-pack console to replicate more of the experience you would have in a traditional TV truck,” Sean says, adding “I mixed the previous three seasons of this reality show on an Apollo and the ability to have the same workflow and familiarity as the previous seasons made the Artemis an obvious and easy choice.”

Prickett also uses Calrec’s Hydra2 networking, which provides scalable audio networking with other consoles and routers so that a large number of inputs and outputs can be shared and controlled regardless of the console’s location. In the console’s current configuration, they are using five Hydra2 boxes for I/O. 10 / Spring 2021

Riedel’s 360o concept covers America’s Cup Riedel’s hardware and software technologies underpinned coverage of the 36th America’s Cup, provided for the event by host broadcast partner circle-o. The combining of live TV production, event infrastructure, and race management for the sailing event relied on the company’s video, audio, data, and communications network expertise, as well as its provision of intercom systems and event IT solutions. Its work was overseen by an on-site team of 30 staff, responsible for managing all audio, video, communications, tracking, and data transmission systems — including on-board cameras, chase boats, and helicopters. Since all camera, microphone, and transmission systems needed to withstand extreme marine conditions, Riedel also provided bespoke equipment aboard the yachts in association with partners including Sennheiser and Lawo.

Riedel’s networked solution also allowed extensive support from its Remote Operations Center (ROC) in Wuppertal, Germany, which served as a monitoring and engineering hub.

From there, operators could remotely access the entire system setup in Auckland, New Zealand, where the event took place — including video, audio, and intercom signals. This enabled the off-site staff to monitor and control essential parameters of the equipment aboard the racing yachts, including audio setup, and support the on-site crew in optimising system performance.

AVID looks at Making the Media Taking a wider view of the broadcast industry, AVID’s Making the Media podcast is an audio interview series that will present an initial nine-episode look the forces shaping and changing the media and entertainment industry, and how technology is driving and adapting to them.

Hosted by veteran newsroom specialist Craig Wilson, episodes so far have covered mobile journalism, multi-platform strategies, leveraging education in media and managing remote and distributed teams. This first season will focus on the broadcast news sector, while future program blocks will widen out the coverage, and be dedicated to other areas of the media, news, and entertainment industries.

Listeners can subscribe to Making the Media on most major podcast players and can find more information about the podcast at connect.avid.com/MakingtheMedia.html.

SHOWS FOR 2021 Prolight + Sound

Postponed until '22

PLASA Online [Digital] MPTS, London

10-14 May

Postponed until May '22

AES Show Spring [Digital]

25-28 May

ISE Live & Online Amsterdam ISE Live & Online London

15-16 June 23-24 June

High End, Munich

9-12 Sept

Summer NAMM, Nashville

15-17 July

Midem Cannes

1-4 June

AES Education Conference, Nashville 22-24 July

ISE Live & Online Barcelona

1-2 June

PLASA, London

5-7 September

8-9 June

IBC, Amsterdam

10-13 September

12-18 June

NAB, Las Vegas

9-13 October

ISE Live & Online Munich INFOCOM, Florida

NEW

PM3

NEW

PM7

PM10 yamahaproaudio.com

PM5

New Gear

New products Here’s some of what 2021 has bought us so far…

Merging

Hapi MKII As engineers and their facility managers acclimatise to its potential, and the technology matures, the user-base of Audio over IP has steadily grown in recent years along with the companies innovating in the space.

Merging will happily tell you of its late 2020 sales successes, and how a six-year-old product — its Hapi networked audio converter — has sold a record 120 units since the beginning of October 2020. It will also relate how the interest has been worldwide and diverse, ranging from French theme parks to recording facilities, Dolby Atmos users, and mastering studios. Going out on a high is always great, but for Merging it also handily sets the stage for the Hapi MkII — or MERGING+HAPI MKII, to give it it’s full name — which will start shipping in March.

The manufacturer insists that “all the good bits of Hapi remain,” in the MKII. This means all the current and future AD/DA interface cards will slot straight in, as will the PT64 HDX and MADI cards. Hapi MKII also retains the redundant power supply option and now has ST2022-7 Seamless Protection added to the NMOS and ST2110-30 compatibility it already had. The dual Ethernet ports also allow “Switch mode” operation which permits the connection of one additional Ravenna /AES67 device without the need for an external switch.

The core of Hapi MKII is the ZMAN processor that features in the MERGING+ANUBIS unit (reviewed by Jon Thornton on pg18 of this issue), which allows for individual channel-based routing and several important

enhancements to the headphone performance and DA control. The headphone amplifier now monitors full DSD256 material with volume control from the front panel and, as with Anubis, it is now capable of driving ultra-low to very high impedance headphones.

Additional roll-off filters on the DA have per-channel trims and polarity switching. Demands from many mastering houses have seen all trims including the DAs to be adjusted in 0.1 dB steps to provide the precision demanded by this speciality. These adjustments are also applicable to the headphone monitoring to help ensure that you get identical results whether you are listening on speakers or headphones. As an added bonus, the front-panel display is improved, and has dimming options to cope with variable lighting conditions. www.merging.com

Synchro Arts

Rode

Telefunken Elektroakustik

Synchro Arts has updated its VocAlign software, borrowing updated features and algorithms from the headline Revoice Pro pitch and timing suite and bringing them down the line to its dedicated alignment tool. Alongside VocAlign’s established timing and pitch matching tools, the Ultra incarnation now features a tightness control alongside 60+ alignment presets, enhanced and resizable GUI, the formant shifting now so prevalent in pop vocals, and a choice of advanced or basic editing panels.

Sychro Arts’ new license set-up allows two activations of the software, with all iLok copy protection options now supported. Current VocAlign Pro users who registered their purchase after July 21st, 2020 can claim a free upgrade to Ultra.

Rode’s Wireless GO II is an update on the company’s ultracompact dual channel wireless microphone system, that looks to improve on one of its recent success stories.

The original GO, released in 2019 was squarely aimed at content creators looking for an easy-to-use and discreet mic option that was ideal to use on-the… well, ‘go’. The GO II adds dual channel recording, wide compatibility with cameras, mobile devices and computers, extended range and transmission stability, along with on-board recording capabilities.

The user can chose to record two sound sources simultaneously or apply the GO II in a single channel wireless mode, with 2.4GHz digital transmission and 128-bit encryption (and up to 24hrs local recording as a fallback for dropouts and interference). There’s also 3.5mm analogue TRS output, USB-C and iOS digital audio output.

Telefunken Elektroakustik’s TF11 is the newest member of the Connecticut company’s Alchemy Series and its first large diaphragm phantompowered condenser microphone.

The TF11 features a combination of circuit elements shared with some of the company’s other designs. The CK12-style edge-terminated capsule is a single membrane version of the capsule featured in the TF51, while the amplifier is a proprietary take on the classic FET mic amplifier similar to the M60, coupled with a custom large format nickel-iron core transformer

by OEP/Carnhill made in the UK. Premium through-hole components include UK-made polystyrene film capacitors, Nichicon Fine Gold electrolytic capacitors, and a high-performance, ultra-low-noise JFET amplifier. The mics ships with the company’s MC11 case, M703 shock mount, M782 stand mount, and sleeve.

www.synchroarts.com

www.rode.com

www.telefunken-elektroakustik.com

VocAlign Ultra

12 / Spring 2021

Wireless GO II

TF11

Lawo

Audio-Technica

The native-IP A__UHD Core just became Lawo’s new console core for mc² consoles delivering 1,024 channels of audio processing in a 1U rackmount module, the new mc²36 mixer doubles the DSP channel count of the original, as well as now offering a compact 16-fader version that takes up the smallest mc² footprint ever.

With the new A__UHD Core comes new software, including processing algorithms, multiple sets of monitoring matrices, downmixing and upmixing and integration with audio formats such as Dolby Atmos and MPEG-H. It’s designed to work within IP networks and manage networked devices and is based on open standards such as ST2110-30/-31, AES67, Ravenna, Ember+ and NMOS. And it’s designed for both 48kHz and 96kHz operation.

The compact mc²36 gets an upgrade to accompany the revamped mc²96 and mc²56 consoles. The IP-native mixer also has 16 mic/line ins and outs, with eight AES3 ins and a built-in SFP MADI port for legacy equipment. DSP has more than doubled, with 256 processing channels, available at both 48 and 96kHz. 32- or 16-fader versions are available, both with button-blow and touch-sensitive rotary controls, color TFT fader-strip displays, LiveView video thumbnails, and 21.5” full HD touchscreen controls. Built-in loudness metering, allows full loudness control compliant with ITU 1770 (EBU/R128 or ATSC/A85) standard features. Peak and loudness metering can even measure individual channels as well as summing busses.

The new variations of Audio-Technica’s ES945 omnidirectional condenser boundary mic and ES947 cardioid condenser boundary mic, the ES945O/XLR (omnidirectional) and ES947C/XLR (cardioid), will now have IPX4 water resistance to better suit their use in demanding sound pickup applications. Alongside these updated models, A-T is bringing in space-saving variations, known as ES945O/TB3 and ES947C/TB3, mics with similar characteristics but compact design for inconspicuous tabletop, ceiling and wall mounting. ES945O/TB3 and ES947C/TB3 come standard in black and are also available in white (ES945WO/TB3 and ES947WC/TB3). All variants are available in black and white. The ES945/ LED and ES947/LED conferencespecific models make way for the ES945O/FM3 and ES947C/FM3, with visible two-state RGB LED ring to indicate mute status, and a touchsensitive capacitive user switch that enables local muting. While these both feature 3-pin XLR outs, FM5 versions feature a 5-pin XLR output connector.

Here, the switch be configured to toggle between mute and live audio and can also be set up to trigger an external device, such as a camera.

www.lawo.com

www.audio-technica.com

McDSP

FLUX::Immersive

McDSP’s two latest additions to its APB digitally controlled mixer/ processing ecosystem are the Royal Mu and the Royal Q. The Royal Mu is a dual-channel compressor and limiter, featuring analogue biasing and saturation, mid/side processing, EQ, and a full-featured analogue compressor and limiter. The Royal Q is a dual-channel four-band EQ featuring parametric and shelving options, mid/side processing, and trim controls. The Royal Q equalisation is complimented by a custom analogue section, creating a hybrid processor. Both provide independent (or linked) control of the left and right (or mid and side) channels. Both the Royal Mu and Royal Q plug-ins will be free to registered APB-16 and APB-8 customers and should be released in March.

Also the company has announced support for the latest incarnation of MacOS, Big Sur, going forward. That update is will also be available free to all its v6 plug-in and APB hardware customers effectively immediately.

By integrating its Spat Revolution immersive audio design software with the established Reaper DAW software, Flux::Immersive is hoping to significantly simplify the process of using immersive audio work environments for creators.

Developed by digital audio technology company Cockos, Reaper is known as a highly adaptable and configurable DAW option, and its these attributes that FLUX::Immersive has focused on by creating a library of special macros (scripts), customised toolbars, and system behaviour preference enhancements to address some of Spat user’s most common issues by offering a new set of functions dedicated to Immersive audio production. The adaptations are also designed to provide a more cohesive starting point for those moving across from other DAWs. Users should be able to quickly integrate ReaVolution into their system, create source-objects and return routes to and from Spat Rendering, and benefit from simplified audio and MIDI editing, bus creation and folder management. ReaVolution is a freeware option for existing Spat users.

Spat Revolution offers a fully functional 30-day trial for those wanting to experiment, before being available by subscription or purchase.

www.mcdsp.com

www.flux.audio

A__UHD Core Phase II & mc²36 ES945 and ES947 boundary

Royal Mu, Royal Q & Big Sur update

Revolution

Spring 2021 / 13

/ New Gear

Waves

Imperative Audio

Waves Audio has a new v12.7 update for its plug-ins that brings in some interesting new features, including a new user preset system that simplifies handling of customcreated plugin presets, and makes it easier to share them with other users or between different systems. Each preset is now a single file, and can be found directly a plugin’s dropdown menu. Also, its SSL plugins and Tune Real-Time get new high DPI GUIs. Updating to v12.7 is free to all users with v12 plugin licenses. If you have V11 or earlier license versions and wish to update, you’ll need to be covered by the Waves Update Plan.

In terms of new offerings, its added the Vocal Bender to manipulate your vocals via two simple pitch and formant controls for a de rigueur vocal twist, and the Chris Lord-Alge created CLA Epic delay and reverbs selections. Featuring Slap, Throw, Tape, and Crowd delays as well as Plate, Room, Hall, and Space reverbs, this plug-in follows the CLA line's ethos of allowing users to quickly dial-in a sounds with limited effort, and leans on Lord-Alge’s preference to layer multiple delays and reverbs while offering up a much simplified workflow to the user. As such it features 300+ presets, over 50 of which were created by the man himself.

Vocal Bender and CLA Epic are available individually or as part of Waves’ Mercury, Pro Show and SD7 Pro Show bundles.

Imperative Audio’s PVB, or portable vocal booth, applies three layers of acoustic treatment and an optional roof, offering an 0.07 secs reflection time (RT60 in accordance with ISO 3382-2 Measurements) and an average of 28.4dba reduction (One-ThirdOctave Spectrum LZeq in accordance with IEC 61260).

It’s designed to offer 'real booth' performance but also be collapsible. Its cylindrical design, with a circumference of 324cm and an opening of 80cm, is constructed from light aluminium and helps eliminate the issue of standing waves usually found in and around corners of vocal booths.

It measures 118cm high with legs retracted, making it a possible solution for amp isolation in the studio. With all five legs fully extended, the PVB stands at 210cm. It ships with an accessory bar, bookstand, storage bag and for a limited period, a free LED light.

The optional acoustically treated roof features a 30cm channel, which allows you to lower an overhead mic stand into the booth.

www.waves.com

www.imperativeaudio.com

CLA Epic, Vocal Bender & v12.7 PVB

Solid State Logic

Output

Leapwing

Solid State Logic’s new UF8 USB-connected controller surface units can be combined to provide up to a 32-channels of control with integration for all major DAW platforms. Each individual 8-channel unit offers 100mm touchsensitive faders with corresponding highresolution displays and rotary encoders.

The UF8 uses the new SSL 360° control software to oversee multi-controller configurations, customisations, and DAW switching across multiple layers — allowing for seamless moves between numerous sessions.

While better known for its stylish instrument plug-ins, Output’s team-up with Barefoot Audio and first move into the audio hardware world has finally appeared, after being trailered as far back as NAMM 2020. Its Frontier monitor speakers feature a solid walnut base, 6.5” time-aligned coaxial drivers and 1” tweeter, 200 watt (100+100) combined bi-amplified architecture with a quoted frequency of 45Hz to 25kHz. The units measure in at 332x230x200mm. Output also offers a 30-day no-cost return policy if you’re not impressed.

As its first journey into the world of signature plugins, Leapwing has teamed up with producer Al Schmitt — winner of 20 Grammy awards, two Latin Grammys and a Trustees Grammy for Lifetime Achievement — to create a user-friendly approximation of the workflow, gear and processes he favours.

The software provides six different use profiles: vocal, piano, bass, brass, strings, and mix (bus). Each one has different sonic characteristics suited to its application, with parameters distilled down to a minimum of controls. The effect of these is represented by a striking, resizable, graphical display.

The software is available on a 30-day free trial as AAX-Native, VST, VST3 and AU versions.

www.solidstatelogic.com

www.output.com

www.leapwingaudio.com

UF8

14 / Spring 2021

Frontier

Al Schmitt Signature

Columns

Sound opinion Tim Oliver

Into the optimistic

H

Looking at a possible post-lockdown route for the music business

opefully, by the time you’re skimming this, you’ve been jabbed, the human race is stretching its collective limbs and emerging from the stupor of the last year. That’s the optimist in me talking, anyway; if it pans out that a variant outfoxes the vaccine and we’re into another spike, you probably won’t hear from me again. But, let’s presume the former and ponder the exit strategy, if you will.

It goes without saying that, as far as the British music industry goes, the worst hit among us has been the live sector. I really feel for them: no work for over a year, and a business set-up that falls between the cracks of UK government support, has left many of my friends and colleagues reeling. You’d hope that loyal crew would have been offered help in some shape or form by their band employers, but I know that although there are some good ‘uns, this hasn’t always been the case.

There’s every chance that in the coming months, as the prospect of touring becomes a reality for bands, they find that their favourite crew have had to follow another path and become unavailable. It’s not just the crew, all the other peripheral services may well have disappeared: tour buses repurposed, catering off doing private events etc. Ultimately, it will reassemble of course, but it won’t be a simple case of clocking back on, and the skill sets will certainly be compromised.

But when everyone does get back on the road, what a party it’s going to be! The Roaring Twenties was in part a reaction to the pressure release from both World War 1 and the the 1918 Flu epidemic. I’m hoping we can expect a similar burst of energy as a response, and along with it some new musical styles to bring much needed refreshment.

Living in the real world

While the live world has been suffering, studios have been surprisingly buoyant — not least because, as they can’t tour, many bands have used the time to make a record. UK-based concerns all had to close for the first lockdown, which lasted a couple of months, but since July we’ve been able to keep open albeit subject to stringent Covid-safe compliance protocols. That we’ve been able to do this is in no small part thanks to the Music Producers Guild, who took it

upon itself to represent studios collectively to the Dept of Culture, Media and Sport and express our needs and what we could do to operate safely.

Olga Fitzroy and Cameron Craig of the MPG deserve much credit for this. They went in deep, having to explain to the civil servants why, for example, brass and woodwind players can’t wear masks. It wasn’t easy, and within studios we have different requirements and working practices — some, like Abbey Road and Air, with large quick turnaround orchestral sessions had to work out the logistics of making all that traffic safe. We at Real World have a lot of space and more band-sized sessions but our problems were more about the residential aspects and maintaining separation 24/7.

Not only have we been able to keep open, we’ve been remarkably busy to the point where, frustratingly, we’ve been having to turn sessions away. The fact that we’re outside London with plenty of space seems to make it attractive, and by all accounts it’s the same for many other provincial studios. Things have been so encouraging here that we’ve been able to open a new studio space, the Red Room, dedicated to mixing, writing, production and, if all goes well, a Dolby Atmos installation scheduled for later in the year. Whether this current purple patch means there’ll be a dip once everyone’s out on the road again remains to be seen. I wouldn’t mind if it meant a purple patch for the crews.

The home front

Another sector that’s done well during lockdown has been the gear sellers. I heard from one who told me they couldn’t get enough Shure SM7s to satisfy demand because of all the musicians forced into building home studios and learning a DAW. The other sector that’s done exceedingly well are the streaming platforms and associated major labels who’ve benefited from the listening habits of a global captive homebased population. Not that it helps the artists as much as it would if royalty distribution was set up fairly and clearly. If anyone has tried to read a transcript of the UK parliamentary inquiry into streaming, you’ll have a sense of how mystifying the majors like to keep an outsider’s understanding of how it works. I was thinking of basing a column on the findings, but it wasn’t clear whether they actually found anything. If I manage to get through the smoke screens and understand it I might get back to you in a future issue.

So what will the new music of the second Roaring Twenties look like and when will we hear it? Judging by the calibre of artists at Real World during the latter part of this year, and the excitement the music is generating, it could well already be starting. The likes of Pa Salieu, JHus, Headie One and Swindle are all creating with an energy that feels unstoppable and could well help us dance out of this ordeal.

Spring 2021 / 15

Crosstalk Rob Speight

Faking it ‘cause your making it

W

AI generated words and pictures

hen Tom Cruise once said; “Every single time I start doing a picture, without fail, I feel as if I don’t know what I am doing.”, little did he know that one day he would be doing a picture without even knowing he was doing it. That picture, or series of pictures, has fallen into the legend of 2021 as an unexpected TikTok release showing Mr Cruise playing golf, doing magic and falling over. The Hollywood star, of course, was oblivious to performing in these ‘pictures’, not because he was drunk like a normal person, but because… he didn’t. Just because he can hang on to the side of a rapidly accelerating aircraft doesn’t mean he can play golf! Right?

Really, though, that’s not the point. These videos were created using the DeepFace Lab face swapping framework, which is an open source deepfake system. The software was utilised by talented VFX artist Chris Ume and his friend (and Tom Cruise impersonator), Miles Fisher. In this case it seems Cruise was actually impersonated vocally by Fisher, however there are tools, both research-based, and increasingly for audio production, that use similar techniques as their visual counterparts.

Firstly, let me clarify, I am using the term 'fake' generically. A fake being generated audio that is not physically said by a living human being. With that out of the way, lets look at one of these systems that is freely available in the from of TacoTron 2, developed as it turns out by your friendly tech giant, Google.

TacoTron is, “…a neural network architecture for speech synthesis directly from text,” which, when coupled with WaveNet, which is described as, “…a deep neural network for generating raw audio,” developed by London-based AI firm, Deepmind, can create spoken word that is almost indistinguishable from a real person.

Basically (and this is a very basic explanation) TacoTron takes the text input and creates a mel spectrogram.* Those users of iZotope RX will already be familiar with these. These files are then fed into WaveNet or similar, which generates the audio from the spectrogram.

“But what the bloody hell does this have to do with Tom Cruise? This is just science!” I hear you shout from the back of the pews. Well let me tell you, my children.

/ Mel Spectrogram

16 / Spring 2021

/ Descript

Some of you may remember that back in the good old days of 2016, Adobe previewed Project Voco, which allowed audio to be edited like text. Voco was also able to create additional speech, as if from the original speaker, after analysing just twenty minutes of audio. After some ethical and security concerns were raised, Adobe stated that Voco was never meant to be released and was in fact just a research project.

Once the world had got off of its high horse and the ethical and security concerns were swept under the carpet, several other projects came into being.

These included LyreBird, which was started in 2017. This project is actually part of a company call Descript, whose software has become very popular over the last couple of years. The desktop app of the same name, has found its way into the BBC, National Public Radio in the USA, Audible and the New York Times, not

/ Maestra

/ Column

to mention swathes of independent podcast production companies across the US and UK. The software looks and operates like a word processor but with an audio waveform at the bottom of the screen. The audio interview is imported into the software, which then transcribes it. Playing the audio, is then essentially playing the text — its kind of a chicken and egg situation. Whichever one you decide your playing the other will follow. As you edit the transcript the audio is also edited and, you guessed it, as you edit the audio the transcript is also edited. The software allows for fairly precise audio editing but can also export to Pro Tools, Audition and other DAWs. The software is not limited to audio either, it is actually primarily aimed at video productions and can also edit video (and hence the audio) by editing the transcript. This is all very clever; but now I hear dialogue editors shuffling nervously at the rear of the congregation. Are we audio editors out of a job, then? I can categorically say no. I work with several clients who use Descript for projects I edit, mix and sound design. The beauty is, it allows them to create their edit quickly, after which I get a full AAF of the project to fix the messy, clumsy cuts. It saves me time and allows the producers to get a much better overview of the flow and timing of their piece.

Where this all starts to get into the realm of fakery, is that Descript offers an option called Overdub. The software analyses audio as it transcribes it and, using similar AI technology as described above, can create words or phases and insert them into your audio file as if it was the original speaker. The results are pretty impressive, it has to be said — something Mr Cruise may not be too happy about.

Other companies such as Sonix.ai offer a very similar service, but without the Overdub feature, whereas Maestra offers something slightly different again. Maestra will extract and transcribe your audio, but in addition can create subtitles in twenty languages. These subtitles can also be used to generate a foreign language sythersised voice dub. The results are not as impressive as Descript’s Overdub, but they are aiming at a different market.

For music producers, Yamaha have had a product called Vocaloid on the market since 2004. The software, originally developed in partnership between Spanish University Pompeu Fabra, was never intended to be a commercial product. However, a stand-alone editor and VST plugin version are now in their 5th incarnations. This software, by contrast, is sample based rather than having audio generated from user audio. A selection of singers, phrases and styles are included with the software and allow the user to tune, time, edit and create different lyrics based on the audio contained in the system. It’s never going to replace a good lead or backing singer but it’s certainly good enough for more modern dance based music (am I starting to sound old?).

Where does this leave us? Do we have to re-program our intuition to recognise an ever

evolving world of realistic looking fakes? A lot of people were taken in by Donald Trump, but not so many by Lolo Ferrari (if you never watched Euro Trash here’s your excuse for that Google search!).

Are we becoming more susceptible to fakes?

There is after all a lot more background noise often making it hard to distinguish and the technology is getting better and better. Will it effect us as professionals? Is this type of thing bad for the industry? Like everything in this rapidly changing world its how you adapt to it, incorporate it into your workflows and educate your clients.

As L. Ron Hubbard once said: “What is true for you is what you have observed yourself. And when you loose that, you loose everything.”

Can someone call Mr Cruise from his trailer? * The Mel scale was developed in 1937 by Stevens, Volkmann and Newmann. It is based on the fact that humans are better at detecting differences in pitch at lower frequencies than higher ones. http://bit.ly/Mel-Spectrogram

• • • •

Descript: www.descript.com Vocaloid: www.vocaloid.com Maestra: www.maestrasuite.com Sonix.ai: www.sonix.ai

Spring 2021 / 17

Reviews

interface to be connected to the network though, whilst the Standard edition will work with any AES67 device.

Connecting another Merging (or other AES67 capable) interface to a network also solves the issue of I/O, as the Anubis can address any available I/O on the network in terms of its function.

For function, read ‘Mission’, because ‘Mission’ is how Merging describe the way in which the I/O, networking and DSP capabilities of the Anubis are brought together in a particular manner, and with a particular user interface design, to fulfil a particular requirement.

At present, there is only one such Mission defined: monitoring. But others are in the pipeline and would be deployed, one assumes, by future firmware upgrades.

Set up and go

Merging+Anubis The latest in the Swiss company’s range of audio interfaces named after Egyptian deities is tested by JON THORNTON

I

n Egyptian mythology, the jackal headed Anubis was variously seen as the protector of tombs, chief embalmer and the guider of souls to the afterlife. All a bit dark — but certainly in keeping with the muted black finish of this compact unit, which is nicely put together and supplied in its own hard-shell carrying case.

That final touch underlines both the ‘desktop’ form factor, and the fact that Anubis is likely to spend its time travelling between a range of applications. In fact, describing it simply as ‘an audio interface’ is seriously underselling it. That much is obvious from its colour capacitive touchscreen and large, gorgeously weighted rotary encoder. Dedicated illuminated buttons with icons for speaker and headphone selection, mute and talkback make it obvious that at least one of its capabilities is as a flexible monitor controller — and that it is — up to 22.2 monitoring in fact. But, at first glance at least, the built in I/O might seem a little limited for such an application.

What you get in terms of analogue I/O on the rear panel are a pair of Mic/Line balanced inputs on combo XLR/jack sockets, two balanced line outputs on XLRs and a further two balanced outputs on TRS jack sockets. At the front of the Anubis are two (independently addressable) headphone outputs, and a further two analogue inputs on TRS jacks

/ The Mergin+Anubis connectivity options

18 / Spring 2021

switchable between line level or high impedance instrument inputs. So on the face of it, a 4x4 interface that would struggle to act as a monitor controller in anything more than stereo workflows.

MAD, VAD, and what you need to know

The magic bullet of course, is the RJ45 socket on the rear panel, which offers Ravenna/AES67 connectivity. This works in a multitude of ways. At a basic level, Ravenna becomes the connection between interface and DAW. Merging’s Virtual Audio Device (aka VAD for Mac) or Merging Audio Device (aka MAD for PC) software is the equivalent of Dante’s DVS in this respect. Whilst MAD is a more sophisticated offering in many respects, offering functionality beyond simply an audio driver, as I’m entirely Mac based I didn’t evaluate it during the review. The Mac VAD is available in two flavours. The Standard edition is free to download and gives up to 64-channel I/O to a DAW over Core Audio at sample rates up to 48kHz. The Premium edition is bundled with Merging audio interfaces, ups the I/O capability to 128 channels and supports higher samples rates and DSD. It does require a Merging

Anubis is powered by an external supply with a locking connector, although this isn’t obvious at first, so care is needed to align and twist it correctly to avoid power loss. The boot-up process takes about 45 seconds — a reminder that there’s significant computing horsepower in that compact box. It can get a bit warm in use as well, but a (very quiet) variable speed fan keeps things under control.

Navigation around the user interface is straightforward. Pressing and holding the button with the merging logo brings up the four main areas of operation — Settings, Missions, Mic Preamp controls and System Logs. Of these, Settings and Mic Pre are the ones you’ll be using most — mainly as there is only one ‘Mission’ to choose from currently. Settings allows configuration of general system settings such as network settings, sample rate etc., but is also the place to determine how the Anubis is configured for its monitoring mission. Here you can define a number of monitor sources and a number of monitors. Both sources and monitors can be defined from a huge range of possible channel arrangements, from mono, through to 5.1, 7.1, Atmos, Auro 3D and cube arrangements — the options here are really exhaustive. There is an upper limit, though, on both the number of monitors (8) and the total number of channels shared between them (32).

In addition to the channel arrangement, a monitor path is also defined as being either a speaker set, a headphone, or a cue. Both speaker and headphone monitors follow the main source selection, whilst each cue can carry a separate source selection (or sum of sources). Each monitor can also be named and assigned to a selection button — either the dedicated

the Anubis in a distributed system, although I believe that this is something Merging is working on. But that potential is only really unlocked when it’s working in concert with other AES67 devices. So how does that play out if, like me, most of your infrastructure is Dante based?

‘67 problems, but this ain’t one

/ For many users, the Anubis is likely to move between locations

illuminated keys on the front panel (which have printed labels for Speaker A, Speaker B and Headphones 1 & 2 — although in practice anything can be assigned to them), or to one of four virtual keys which then appear on the touchscreen An overall trim can be applied to all outputs of a monitor, but also individual trims, delays and up to 12 bands of fully parametric EQ on each leg of a monitor output for tuning. There is an upper limit of EQ bands (56), but this is shared across the monitors currently in use, rather than all configured monitor paths. Comprehensive bass management is also available for any channel arrangement.

The ANEMAN for the job

Patching audio paths to and from sources and monitors, whether from local I/O or other devices on a network, can also be managed in the Settings area. This is made a lot easier, particularly with multiple network devices, thanks to Merging’s accompanying ANEMAN software. In essence the equivalent of Audinate’s Dante Controller, this will discover all active devices on a network, and allows simple cross-point patching between devices (AES67) or locally on the Anubis, which appears here with its physical I/O, but also the configuration of monitors, sources and cues.

The Mic Pre section is very straightforward to navigate, using the touchscreen and the rotary encoder to select the usual options for gain, phantom power, polarity and HPF. Swiping across the screen navigates across the various inputs, which are presented in pairs and can be logically ganged together in pairs. There are a couple of notable features here, though. The first is the ability to select a ‘boost’ option for the two mic-level inputs — which gives a healthy 10dB extra gain, useful if working with low output ribbon mics. The second is the availability of a ‘Split’ from each of the four analogue inputs, with independent gain controls. This feature can be enabled for each pair of inputs in the Settings menu.

Comms are also well provided for, with two talk channels configurable. These can be assigned to either a front panel button or a GPI to engage, which is available on TRS jack on the rear panel. As a side note, a GPO is also available on a similar jack socket, or these jacks can be configured to operate as MIDI I/O. A built-in talkback mic is available as a source for

either talk channel — although this takes over one of the line/instrument inputs if used — but any local or network source can be used. Monitor or cues can subscribe to either or both talk channels, with comprehensive dimming options available for each.

Once configured, using the unit involves switching between three screens — one for source selection, another to view the currently selected monitor set, and a third providing metering for the sources and monitor outputs. The UI is straightforward, allowing soloing and muting of individual speaker channels, dimming, fold-down and the ability to send the currently selected monitor source to the cue outputs. The latter is global, applied to all outputs defined as cues by default — but individual cues can be set to not follow this switching in the settings menu. With limited real estate on the touchscreen, there is a fair amount of toggling between these three views.

This is mitigated by the ability to remotely operate the unit (or any unit) over the network via a web browser.

This is accomplished either by clicking on a device in ANEMAN, or simply logging into the IP address of the unit. With a little more screen real estate available, being able to see sources and monitors simultaneously makes for speedier operation, and you also get full remote control of the Anubis pre-amps.

Some system settings are also configurable remotely, but you can’t yet remotely configure the core setup of sources and monitors. That is a shame, as you can certainly see the potential for

Well, assuming your Dante devices are capable of operating in AES67 mode, the answer is surprisingly well. Or at least a lot more easily than the last time I attempted it. Whilst it’s still not exactly ‘plug and play’ — there’s still some playing around to be done with setting uniform frame sizes on each device for example — the whole issue of stream discovery is a lot more reliable with both ANEMAN and Dante Controller than I’d previously experienced. Things have certainly progressed on the interoperability side of things and, as a result, I was easily able to deliver multiple 7.1.2 beds from ProTools to the Anubis as sources using the Virtual Audio Device, and then push monitor outputs back over AES67 to a Dante Card in an Avid MTRX to deliver to the monitoring system. You do find yourself shuttling a little between different bits of software (ANEMAN, DADMAN and Dante Controller) to get everything running, but once it is set up things are pretty seamless.

The more time you spend with the Anubis, the more you realise just how flexible it is, and more and more potential uses spring to mind. Part way through that realisation, things that initially seemed just that little bit over-complicated (and arguably would be for a simple interface/monitor controller) suddenly make perfect sense.

It will be fascinating to see how Merging develops the UI for future ‘Missions’ — and with ST2110 capability already baked in (and ST2022-7/NMOS compliance in the SPS version) there’s a certain degree of future-proofing too.

VERDICT PROS

Solid, compact and eminently roadworthy; great flexibility in monitor source / output configurations; GPIO and comms functionality; built-in EQ; remote GUI works well; ANEMAN discovery in ‘mixed economies’ seems robust.

CONS Front panel operation could be a little more seamless; no remote configuration of units (yet). www.merging.com

Spring 2021 / 19

/ Review

PreSonus Analog Effects Collection

and PreSonus has managed to get these just right. Separate speed controls for woofer and tweeter are invaluable for subtle tonal sculpting while PreSonus’ State-Space is used to good effect emulating the Lesley tube amplifier.

Three Position rotary knobs provide further fine tuning to the effect, enabling a convincing replication of a somewhat substantially large piece of equipment.

JAY DEAN has fun with these budget vintage-style plug-ins

P

reSonus has just unleashed five of its analogue effect emulations, previously only available within its Studio One software, in AAX, AU and VST3 formats.

All five share vintage gear-inspired user interfaces and incorporate PreSonus’ own State-Space modelling. Aimed at the budgetconscious, rather than fastidious seekers of veracity, they certainly have interesting looks on their side.

controls can be used and abused exactly like the Memory Man, with the added benefit of sync to host options. Similar to the Analog Chorus, this delay has an LFO, but here it modulates the repeats and can produce gentle ripples or head all the way into psychedelia.

This plugin also features State Space modelling, a drive emulation providing gentle saturation to full-on distortion with handy EQ controls to tailor the band. The Motor controls can introduce some tape delay-style fun while Width allows precise tweaking of the stereo space.

Put on the red light

The Analog Chorus is riffing on the Roland RE301 ChorusEcho in terms of its appearance, which is no bad thing, though it is not as versatile as that much sought-after device. It provides three voices and four LFO shapes via slide switches, giving wide range of textures between shimmering modulation and deep swirls. Low and High-frequency shelving narrow the band effected, while LFO speed and width control the modulation. The handy width control tailors the spread of the effect across the stereo field. While not as out-there as its vintage inspiration, it provides a lot of the character we know and love when it comes to vintage chorus sounds.

Bucket Brigade Devices, utilising basic integrated circuits to create delay have been present in the guitar world for a number of decades now — with the Mike Matthewsdesigned Electro-Harmonix Memory Man being perhaps of the most revered example among guitarists, with its signature sound-shaping modulation and saturation.

The Red Light Distortion is sonically versatile, with six modes of distortion available: three Tube-style options, alongside OpAmp, Transistor and Fuzz.

Those of you familiar with the Big Muff fuzz pedal and it’s variants over the years will find the Transistor and OpAmp selections provide pleasing emulations of these. The added bonus of shelving EQ again allows the user to be selective of frequencies effected. The Drive, Mix and Out section further provides more precise implementation of the effect, taking this out of mere stomp box territory and further into the plugin world also enabling the effect to be operated in parallel to the source material. While the user interface is well laid out and easy to use my one criticism would be the slightly garish ‘neon sign’ graphic. While this does not affect operation it definitely was not to my taste.

Last in the set of five is the Tricomp. As the name suggests this is a three-band compressor looking very much like a vintage unit apart from segment style metering. This emulation has far fewer controls than one would usually encounter, with the familiar Threshold, Attack and Release controls being a large ‘Compress’ rotary knob and Attack in the form of push buttons. In terms of workflow this means it’s very quick to get compression set up and sounding good; handy to throw on the master bus if you’re getting a rough mix together in a hurry. The saturation control can add some character and colour should you need it while Mix can be used to control parallel compression when used on a mix bus.

Grungy style

While a very useful and fun set of plugins to add to the sonic palette, there’s not much innovation or refinement here — and nor should we expect it in a set that comes in around $100. Nevertheless, vintage ergonomics and designs have always lent themselves to some creative knob-twiddling and if, like me, you like to roughen-up sounds by bringing your signal through some old guitar pedals this is an easy, inexpensive way of emulating that process and adding grit.

Obviously, plug-ins also offer that added element of control, flexibility, and less noise or reliability issues. Those wanting slavishly accurate emulations should look elsewhere, as they’re out there. They should also be prepared to pay much more. However, if you want quickly add a splash of colour to a synth or guitar track in the box — and if you don’t have anything akin to these at hand already — they are a good starting point.

VERDICT

The Analog Delay takes these features and adds in control via a user interface beamed in from the early 1980s. Time and Feedback 20 / Spring 2021

As a former owner of a Leslie rotary speaker the Analog Rotor certainly captures the look and idiosyncrasies of the original very well indeed. The acceleration and braking of a rotary speaker creates some very distinctive sounds

PROS

Wide range of fun, vintage sounds; easy to use; cost-effective

CONS

Follow a well-trodden path; garish GUI choices

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RootOne

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/ Review

Josephson C705 JON THORNTON looks at the latest of the Series Seven range of large diaphragm condensers

W

hilst ‘affordable’ might be a relative term, the Josephson C705 does come with a significantly lower price tag than the C715, its stablemate among the microphones from this Santa Cruz-based company.

While they share some significant DNA, the question is: what has Josephson done to trim the costs whilst still upholding the uncompromising values of engineering and audio quality for which it is known?

Visually, there’s a strong family resemblance to the rest of the Series Seven range — a solid, fairly wide tube-like body sitting in an integrated ‘U’ shaped yoke assembly. The most obvious difference between the C705 and the C715 is the absence of the open cell ‘metal foam’ head grille.

This unusual feature aims to provide a self-supporting structure, so no flat hard supporting bars required. This minimises and randomises internal reflections in the immediate vicinity of the capsule, especially critical in the off-axis areas of a cardioid pick-up. It’s expensive to manufacture, however, so the C705 has a slightly more conventional arrangement featuring a wide hexagonal grid coupled a finer metal mesh.

This does, of course, require those supporting structures that the metal foam dispenses with — but a close look reveals that not only are these relatively narrow, but they’ve also been pushed backwards beyond the 90o position, so that they are not at the conventional centre line point of the body. This helps to place any reflections in a less critical part of the pick-up, but also poses some challenges in making this arrangement sufficiently rigid.

This explains another, less immediately obvious difference. Rather than a more usual brass plated construction, an all-steel housing is used. This is case-hardened using the 22 / Spring 2021

same process often used for automotive drive train parts and firearms — and the resulting grey-black finish certain looks both ruggedly industrial and more than capable of dealing with the studio battlefield. The case work is actually manufactured by Latch Lake, using the same production line and processes as its (admirably indestructible) MicKing stands — but the internals, including the capsule, are manufactured in Josephson’s own factory.

Omissions, not errors

That capsule is a cardioid only version of the centre-anchored, single diaphragm capsule employed in the C715. It is effectively the same capsule, although the C715 allowed both omni and cardioid patterns with the use of a single diaphragm and an adjustable acoustic vent. The C705 dispenses with that vent, so is cardioid only — not ultimately as flexible perhaps, but in reality the setting that most multi-pattern mics find themselves in the majority of the time. Also dispensed with is the Lundahl output transformer from the C715. Instead, the transformerless output circuit from the C716 is used, alongside the same discrete, FET based input stage employed in the C715 and C716.

The final difference is the switch from a captive cable to an XLR output. To be honest, I think that I prefer this to a captive cable — and its location at the rear side of the mic body rather than underneath means easy access and no conflict with the yoke assembly.

Distance makes the heart grow fonder

First impressions of the microphone with spoken voice are very good indeed. There’s a naturalness and openness to the sound that avoids being either excessively voiced or overly sterile. It’s definitely not as glassy as a 414, and not quite as mid-forward as a U87, but still sounds honest and characterful at the same time. Moving around the microphone also shows that those structural tweaks are very effective — it’s impressively smooth sounding as you move off axis, without a hint of boxiness. What you do get though, is a very subtle shift in response with changes of axis and distance that tweak the overall tonality a little — to deal with sibilance or overly exaggerated high-mids in sung vocals for example — but whilst still delivering that same overall tonality.

/ The rear-facing XLR-out appears to be a cost-controlling design change, but not an unwelcome one

As you’d expect, proximity effect is very obvious when worked close up, but again this adds fullness rather than a lumpiness to the low end — on spoken male voice this is a cracking VO mic. But it’s at the other end of working distance that this mic impresses the most. I often refer to this as the ‘reach’ of a microphone, in other words, the way in which it still manages to deliver a focussed, natural sound even at considerable distances. In my experience, some mics have it and some don’t, and the C705 certainly does. On acoustic guitar, backing off the microphone delivers a terrifically natural but still focussed sound — yes there’s more room in it, but in an eminently useable rather than problematic way. It’s a trait that I’ve noticed in other Josephson Series Seven microphones I’ve auditioned, and one that to my mind marks out a truly classy design.

So it’s good to see that, despite the changes that have been made to make the C705 more affordable, what hasn’t been lost is that essential character. In price terms, the C705 is still going to be an aspirational mic for many, but thanks to some really intelligent consideration in terms of cost and performance, and not compromising on those things that are truly essential, that aspiration is going to be achievable for many more of us.

VERDICT PROS Rock solid build quality; impressive ‘reach’ at distance; open and natural tonality without sounding clinical.

CONS Still not cheap; no peli-case included (although can be had as an extra). www.josephson.com

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Add to that 50 analog-modeled plugins, DC-coupled ins and outs, and hard bypass on the preamps, and you can be assured the rest of the band isn’t left out.

The Interview

Rupert Neve Sadly, February saw the passing of audio giant Rupert Neve. Here we present a previously unpublished interview with PHIL WARD that stands as one of the last substantive conversations covering his life and work

Inset photo credit: Rupert Neve Designs Archive. Feature photo credit: Tristan Rhodes

It started with them asking whether there was any way in which I could — as they put it — ‘lift the guitar out of the mix’

Photo credit: Joshua Thomas / “For the most part they were delighted with what we delivered” — Rupert Neve

I

t’s always been about signals. As a young radio ham in Argentina, the son of a British rep for The Bible Society, Rupert Neve built and repaired radio sets. After enjoying a surge in demand as war broke out, he would serve in The Royal Corps of Signals until demobbed — and then continue theme at Rediffusion and Ferguson Radio, while also beginning a mobile recording and PA service.

His first manufacturing enterprise was CQ Audio, making strikingly original hi-fi units for the 1950s living room, before modern composer Desmond Leslie commissioned a prototype multiple-channel audio mixer. On the back of that, Neve Electronics was born. Moving to the Old Rectory in Little Shelford, near Cambridge, Rupert’s big break came in 1963 when Philips Records asked for a more sophisticated version of his original. The orders came flying in during the beat music boom, and a purpose-built factory opened in 1969. By 1973 the company had 500 employees. Two years later Neve Electronics was sold and ARN Consultants founded, but not before the first NECAM moving-fader automation console was ordered by George Martin.

In the ’80s the signals were mixed in a different way: the Neve Group was sold to Siemens as Neve himself started Focusrite, a commercial failure rescued by Phil Dudderidge in 1989, after which Neve began consulting for Graham Langley, Nick Franks and Amek. As the Neve Group merged with AMS in the

…after being there less than a year, they appointed me ‘Transformer King’… background, Rupert created the System 9098 console for Amek and soon afterwards moved to Wimberley near Austin, Texas.

With Amek sold to Harman, and AMS Neve controlling his legacy products, the signals were ominous. In 2000, Neve publicly distanced himself from AMS Neve products and seemed to retreat and take solace in new-found US citizenship. Then came the renaissance: ARN began trading as Rupert Neve Designs, driven by former Amek North America sales manager Josh Thomas, and the Portico Series modules heralded the complementary analogue dimension to the age of the DAW. During the last 10 years, the 5088 Discrete Mixing Console, the 5059 Satellite Summing Mixer and the Shelford Series of modules — among many other boutique products — have kept the signal strong.

How did that breakthrough moment occur in 1963?

I’d started building one or two bits of gear for quite old studios and I’d learned a lot about professional audio, having worked with Rediffusion. They had a very good R&D

Department and some really fine engineers. To my astonishment, after being there less than a year, they appointed me ‘Transformer King’, as they called it: they were involved in audio landline distribution around the towns, a widely popular thing before and during World War Two. We were responsible for audio output transformers running to about 4kW, quite a high power in those days. At the other end of the scale we designed mic amplifiers with tiny input transformers, so I was covering a large range when it came to transformers.

After that, I started a little business of my own [Neve Electronics, 1961]. By 1963 Philips Records in London, later Polydor, was looking for a transportable, high-quality console and I had the amazing opportunity of building that console for them. But it started with them asking whether there was any way in which I could — as they put it — ‘lift the guitar out of the mix’, bearing in mind everything was mono in those days. There was only one track, so if you weren’t happy with the recording you had to get the musicians back in the studio and re-record.

They were usually people who were singing and playing in the nightclubs around London, and to Spring 2021 / 25

didn’t realise it at the time. I just patted myself on the back for having done what the customer wanted! The classic Neve equalisers that followed for a number of years were all based on the same kind of approach and have been extremely successful. That’s where they got a kick-start, although I didn’t know it at the time.

Up to that point, everybody had grown up on standard equalisation for classical music, so to come up with something that was different, and tuneable, was a real innovation.

I began to think that if Philips Records liked it, maybe others will like it too — and, applying the general principle not only to those mid frequencies but in general terms, it became a much more powerful equaliser than what was available to the industry at the time. With hindsight, I can say that was a breakthrough. It was a point that was very significant, although I

The success of the business actually came as some surprise, then?

When I sold consoles in the early to mid ’70s, the Neve company just romped ahead and completely outstripped any expectations I had originally. By 1973 we had 500 people working for us worldwide; my wife was trained as a schoolmistress and I was just an R&D engineer, not a manager. The thing became too much for us, and we sold out to people who came to us with the usual formula: with your brains and my money, we’ll go places! Well, I still had the brains but they turned out not to have the money…

It wasn’t just the equalisers. I continued to work on that and I did a lot of listening — listening to what the customers were saying — and tried to respond to what they wanted. We had some variations of that form of equalisation that were also very successful, but the other thing was I’m a purist, always have been, and I was not satisfied unless the console was going to be reliable. In those days, the early days of transistors, equipment was not reliable.

However, in my ignorant way — I was totally uneducated when it came to electronics — I evolved positive feedback circuits on the negative DC to the amplifiers: I froze them in the fridge; I baked them in the oven; and I monitored the current all the time until I was completely satisfied they were solid.

Josh Thomas, his partner in Rupert Neve Designs, says: “when Rupert, his wife Evelyn, and I sat at his kitchen table and founded Rupert Neve Designs 16 years ago, he had two goals. The first was to set a new standard in the quality of recorded sound…

The second was to pass on his philosophies, techniques, and methodologies to a new generation of designers to carry his life’s work and passion into the future.

“It was always assumed that the company would outlive him on this earth, and for 16 years he poured his energies into creating a team that would become the caretakers of the theories, practices, and ideologies… All of us at the company are exceedingly grateful for the years of careful instruction and mentoring with which he has blessed us, and we will continue to preserve his legacy.”

Talking to Josh on the line from Wimberley, Texas — the town Rupert called home from 1994 until his death — he went into a little more detail about the trove of documents the team at Rupert Neve Designs have been cataloging in order to preserve his work.

“The archives are a witness to a 50-year design career,” he says. “We’re going to be doing an online archive. Everything will be put up there — or at least

a great deal of it will. There’s no shortage of it.

Much of it he went through with the design team here, but there’s still a massive amount to be scanned and uploaded.”

Thomas then goes on to explain how Rupert’s archive reflected the working ethos he picked up early in his career, and carried with him until the end.

“One of his first jobs was in transformer design and he was forced to keep meticulous notes on everything that he was working on, production issues etc., and that was kept up through the rest of his life. He was very, very generous with his knowledge, it didn’t matter if you were an aspiring designer or student at University, he would be able to sit down with whoever was speaking to him and relay complex information at a level that they could absorb and use.

“Since we started in ’05 we have been coming out with two or more products a year, and we have about a couple of dozen things that I would say are ‘in progress’ — from theoretical schematics to first article prototypes that are ready for market. So there’ll be a wealth of product coming out for years and years to come.”

You can read more on Rupert Neve’s history and legacy at www.rupertneve.com/company/history.

/ Josh Thomas and Rupert celebrate a TEC Award

get them all together for another recording session was a major logistical problem!

It really all started with the guitar. Even today, a guitar in a loud band is easily lost — assuming acoustic guitar. So, I set to work to design an equaliser: a steep-sided presence curve with a mid-frequency lift that centred between 1kHz and 2.5kHz. By applying all the somewhat limited knowledge I then had, I was actually able to produce a device that you could tune to favour the frequencies of the guitar. They liked it and ordered a console with this kind of EQ.

The Neve Legacy The coverage that Rupert Neve’s passing has received across specialist and wider media is a testament to the massive impact he had on popular culture in the late 20th Century. While he was described reverentially by The Guardian as the ‘Steve Jobs of Sound’, his business acumen and ability to market his products is not what he will be remember for — to continue that clumsy comparison, he was far more the Steve Wozniak of his own life story.

His passing was noted by music industry luminaries across the world because he leaves behind him an unimpeachable body of innovative design and manufacture that went a long way to shaping the sound of generations of bands. He also leaves behind him an extensive library of designs, projects, ideas and inspiration which is likely to keep electrical engineers busy for years to come.

“Rupert’s influence cannot be overstated,” says Mark Crabtree, managing director of AMS Neve, the current incarnation of the company Rupert sold and then steadily became estranged from.

“He leaves an incredible legacy as a key figure in audio engineering history,” he adds. “As an engineer myself, I knew and admired Rupert for many years and have nothing but absolute respect for him as designer and as a warm and generous person.”

26 / Spring 2021

/ Interview

Our major competitors — people like Philips themselves — had not managed to get it together and their stuff was not reliable. As a result, we achieved a terrific reputation for high quality audio and audio that was extremely reliable. Those were the significant sales points of the early Neve business.

That first console is still at Castle Leslie… why did Desmond Leslie ask you for a solution?

I was looking for business, and I went to see Angus McKenzie at Olympic in Carlton Street to see if there was any piece of gear I could make for him, and that’s where I met Desmond Leslie.

Everybody thought Desmond was a nutcase!

He was looking for somebody to build a piece of equipment, and he looked at me very attentively and said: “Have you heard that transmission from Jupiter?” I thought he was spoofing, so I went into the same mood and said “Yes — and the one from Mars! Have you heard that one?” He said: “No — tell me about it…” He was serious, but I was spoofing. But we got onto the same wavelength that way.

Then he said he’d got a contract with EMI to produce musique concrete background for a number of Shakespeare plays, and he took me to his flat. He’d got about five or six EMI recorders, the old BTRs, and he wanted a way of mixing these together. So I built a very simple line-level mixer for him.

We nearly killed each other, because we

…we achieved a terrific reputation for high quality audio and audio that was extremely reliable. Those were the significant sales points of the early Neve business. were both working through the night: I had my head inside this table-mounted kit making some adjustment or other, all switched off. It must have been about three in the morning. He came wandering into the room and started switching everything on — so I was playing with 300 Volts that I didn’t think were there.

Desmond Leslie’s mixer was a very simple device: there were main level controls for four or six inputs and you could pan between a number of them. I played about with the EMI tape machines, to a limited extent, with noise reduction — nothing as sophisticated as Ray Dolby’s, but the thing sounded nice. It was mainly a question of getting signal-to-noise ratios right. And that’s where the audio started.

He bought it, just when my wife and I were absolutely on our uppers. We’d been running a little hi-fi outfit called CQ Audio, for which we were building table model loudspeakers and domestic-type tape recorders. That kind of

business was going from feast to famine, and after about two and a half years of it the famine took us over and we went bust. So, I was looking for some way of earning my living. I gave Desmond an estimate for what he’d have to pay, with some temerity because I had no idea of how to price it. But he called me and said "OK, that’s sounds all right — how soon can you do it?: Now, we had no capital, so I put on a very official voice and said that it was ‘the policy of our company’ to ask for one third of the price as a deposit. Again, he said no problem — do you want a cheque or cash?

That was a God-given break — and we had recently become Christians. Some of the things we were doing involved big risk-taking, and I believe that this was really the Lord prompting me to stick my neck out. I drove down to London — we were living in Harlow at the time — called in on Desmond and he gave me cash.

I then went down to the surplus shops that

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Spring 2021 / 27

emitting electrical waves. Professor Oohashi evolved a method of measuring them.

I’ve actually got a method of measuring this too — much simpler than his method, but it works — it’s on my desk right now. I can put this device on my head and I can listen to a piece of equipment that has got some Class B distortion and my mood changes — and you can actually display the electrical brain waves on the ‘scope.

It’s quite amazing. So not only can you hear it subjectively, you can prove it.

/ Rupert's collaboration with Josh Thomas [centre] allowed him to work for himself again.

existed in those days and bought components and tools from a little Jewish outfit called ‘Shorty’ — the source of a great many parts for the earliest bits of gear that I made. We put this thing together and Desmond liked it — and astonishingly the thing still seems to exist. I don’t know if it’s still working…

What kind of continuity is there with what you’re doing today? You say there’s a resurgence of interest in high quality audio, and of course Rupert Neve Designs has recently produced a new console…

Two consoles: the 5088 is a major console and the 5060 Centerpiece is a smaller, table-model version of that, which is also now very successful. The thing was, after various business flops — I founded Focusrite, which didn’t last very long with me; I sold out to Phil Dudderidge who made a wonderful success of it — I went to work as a consultant to Nick Franks of Amek.

With Graham Langley, his partner and chief designer, we produced a major console. In 1977 I’d sold the Neve company, but I was still retained as a consultant there too; George Martin called me up at one point and told me that Geoff Emerick was very unhappy because a console that had recently been delivered — they were still buying Neve consoles — was not sounding the way it should. He said if Geoff was unhappy, the studio [AIR] could not work.

He added that the Neve engineers had been to check out what was worrying him, and they hadn’t found anything, and had said it was fine.

They also said Geoff was a temperamental guy, and if they just ignored him it would go away.

Well, it didn’t go away.

I had got to know Geoff reasonably well, and again I’d learned to interpret what customers were saying and even to read their facial expressions. If we’d delivered a piece of equipment and they were unhappy, that made me very unhappy. For the most part they were delighted with what we delivered, and Geoff 28 / Spring 2021

was always delighted with what I’d supplied him with. But I went to the Oxford Street premises and I found Geoff genuinely unhappy.

He’d brought in a tape recorded somewhere else and A-B’d it through some of the channels of the recently delivered console — and for the life of me I couldn’t hear any real difference.

Finally, I said to Geoff, for goodness’ sake what can you actually hear that’s making you unhappy? And he said well, it sounds brighter through the console. With that clue I was able to tune in and began to hear what he was hearing and agreed it should not sound the way it was sounding. So, we measured. We found that on three channels the output transformers had been incorrectly terminated. If you don’t terminate a transformer correctly its leakage inductance is going to resonate with any active load, such as the patch field and all the rest of it, that you’re adding to it. Yes, there was a resonance at 54kHz. That satisfied me that I’d found something that technically shouldn’t have happened, and we corrected it. It was only a matter of minutes to put the right correction on those transformers, and Geoff relaxed. It was incredible: his facial expression told a story.

Since then I’ve discovered a lot about the way in which humans react to sounds that are pleasant, relaxing and in keeping with what they believe to be high quality. If you go the other way, people become frustrated and even angry.

Professor [Tsutomu] Oohashi in Japan [Department of Research & Development, Foundation for Advancement of International Science, Tokyo] has done a lot of work on this. I went to Japan and spent a day with him, examining his papers, and it’s amazing: if you cut off frequencies above 20kHz it produces sensations of anger; if you allow the frequencies above 20kHz to extend to at least about 70kHz, free of distortion and other artefacts, the listener can relax and enjoy it! These things can be measured, because the brain is actually

How did ARN become RND? “I had a place in Wimberley, Texas by this time and was also doing work for one or two others, but I still had the bee in my bonnet that I wanted to do work for myself. I met Josh Thomas when he was sales director for Amek US; he’s a terrific guy and one of the finest sales people I’ve ever met professionally in the audio business, with sufficient technical knowledge to know what I was talking about. He and I spent a couple of years tossing ideas back and forth, during which I was designing a new console that didn’t use any ICs. The whole thing is discrete components, and completely free of any push-pull artefacts, crossover distortion and so on. The basic circuits were there, and the question I was asking Josh was what to do with this stuff! Well, we decided, let’s put a little company together and see if we can sell it.

We started with modules, and we agreed that we were never going to go into consoles: consoles today are a pretty major thing for a couple of guys to take on. But, you know (laughs)… the desire was there, people started talking to us about consoles and we couldn’t restrain ourselves! We finally succumbed to it, and we built the 5088. Aside from a few teething troubles in the first year, it has been extremely successful. We’ve had virtually nothing in the way of returns or complaints. The old reputation for reliability is there; it’s totally Class A — an overworked expression but it’s genuine — without any crossover distortion.

Josh and [general manager] Tom Burkhart, our financial guy, run the business; I’m still the design consultant, still coming up with new ideas — I’ve got some ideas now on a new form of equalisation — and I’m designing microphones with Siwei Zou of sE Electronics in China. He’s one of the finest microphone designers I’ve ever come across. We get on well because we can talk to each other about the kind of microphone we’d like to produce. I do the electronics and he does the acoustics. So, life is still very interesting.

Your faith has clearly sustained you through momentous changes…

In the very earliest days our little outfit was in Little Shelford, near Cambridge. We lived in Harlow New Town from about 1959, renting a house there. I was looking for work and I was designing loudspeakers, as well as bits of audio gear — actually microphones for the RAF, through a firm called Airmed in Harlow [“Lightweight air and ground crew headsets;

/ Interview

quick-donning oxygen masks for attachment to aircrew headsets”]. Then Pye Ltd. in Cambridge asked me to design a table-model loudspeaker for them, and we didn’t have the space. We had a garage in which, if I stood up, I would bump my head against the crossbeams! So, we had to find a bigger place.

The way it happened was really something that the Lord had given us: we had been looking for such a place, and this Old Rectory was empty, and they wanted £14,000 for it — this was, remember, about 1962 — and we couldn’t afford that. With a little help from my mother, we’d managed to put together £7,000. That was our budget to buy a house. I went to the Diocese of Cambridge and put my case: I said, look, this place is going to rack and ruin, it’s damp and it’s going to deteriorate rapidly, you’re asking too much money for it. Moreover, I said, I believe we can make good use of it; we are Christians like you, we will be building a business that is honouring to the Lord and so on… and I made a presentation to their committee. They asked for a few days to think about it — remember I was offering half of what they were asking for it — and the guy phoned me the next Friday and said he’d just come out of a committee meeting and that he had both good and bad news for me…

He said he needed a ‘face-saver’ for such a low offer, but I insisted on our position. But then he said: ‘Mr Neve, would you go to £7,200?’ Well, of course we said yes, and we bought that place, valued at £14,000, for £7,200. We had to give undertaking to the Local Authority — and to the University, incidentally — not to do anything that would electrically interfere with the Lords Bridge telescope nearby [now the Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory].

I went to see the guy who was in charge in those days, Sir Gordon Ryle [The Ryle Telescope is still there], a lovely old buffer who wasn’t really interested in why I’d come to see him. He wanted to talk to me about what he was doing, not what I was doing. He told me they were monitoring the equipment out at Lords Bridge by sending out a lad on a bicycle with a notebook, who would take readings twice a day and bring them back to the lab in Cambridge. I said: ‘why in the world don’t you use a telephone line?’

He said they couldn’t do it on the telephone; it had to be written down in black and white. I said: ‘have you heard of telemetry?’, and I explained the basics of what today would be so simple to do, and it had never occurred to him. He said: ‘could you do this?’

I talked to a couple of engineers and they very quickly put in a simple telemetry system… and the lad on the bicycle lost his job!

Right from the beginning, the way in which these things happen has been miraculous. They have been things that I couldn’t control myself, and I believe as a Christian that the Lord still does control what I’m doing.

At 94 years of age, I don’t have many more years sitting here designing but for those years I’m given I will continue to try and make a contribution. I should also emphasise that we’ve got half a dozen really first-class young engineers whom I’m training and nurturing, getting them to enter the principles of transformer design and all the stuff that went into the successes of the past. They really are a first-class bunch of lads, and I want to hand it on — given that I probably won’t be here very much longer…

The most accurate speaker systems around

- Trevor Horn

quested.com | info@quested.com / Rupert Neve, Josh Thomas and RND's 5088 desk.

Spring 2021 / 29

Craft

editors. I really liked the AVID Audiovision, as it was. The functionality of it was brilliant. You could have multiple sessions open, you could take an individual clip and really sort of dive into the detail of that clip and chop little bits out very easily. It did feel closest process-wise to how you did it on film, though the accessibility for it was a little bit different because it was mouse and keyboard based. But, as we all learned computers it was like driving a car, you know, you just get on with it.”

Are you largely still in the AVID workflow now?

I used AVID Audiovision, then they stopped making it. That felt very filmic, but eventually Pro Tools took over. That came through the music world, and was a little bit frustrating for a lot of people who’d been used to Audiovision. AVID took over Pro Tools when it became the main software that people were using to edit.

Pro Tools is great, it has so much functionality, but weirdly the compatibility between Media Composer and Pro Tools is still not ideal. You feel like you should be able to grab media from one and just plop it in the other, but it’s still really tricky and has all sorts of hiccups and clunkiness. But, I understand that it’s all to do with the architecture behind the software. They’ve come up completely different ways, so that there’s only so much they can do.

Nina Hartstone The Oscar-winning dialogue and ADR specialist talks through her work on Bohemian Rhapsody, Gravity, and Cats, with JOHN MOORE

W

ith a 30 year career in the film sound industry, Nina Hartstone has seen a lot of trends and technologies come and go. While serving her apprentice dues behind the scenes at Pinewood as the ’80s became the ’90s, moving from Art Department work on Tim Burton’s Batman, to working as a runner and eventually “making charts and drawing with Chinagraphs to do cues and all that kind of thing,” in the sound department, she eventually pledged to make herself as useful as possible by becoming au fait with the quickly evolving DAW technology of the time.

She talks of that time fondly as we chart the progress of her career from assistant sound editor, through her specialisation in dialogue and 30 / Spring 2021

ADR, and on to her more recent supervisory roles, one of which — her work on dialogue and vocals for Bohemian Rhapsody — bought her Oscar success alongside John Warhurst.

“When the digital audio workstations came in,” she tells me, “I wasn’t particularly looking for something that replicated that feel of working on film. In a way, I think a lot of sound editors wanted something that wasn’t like a computer with a keyboard and a mouse, they wanted things that had a jogwheel, kind of somewhere between a mixing desk and an editing station type-thing. I thought the AMS Audiofile was really good for that to begin.

That had that felt a quite tactile way to work.

“I know the Digital Audio Research Soundstation was favoured among quite a few

Are you generally working in the box? Are you working with a control surface? Or are you just working with mouse and keyboard?

I’m mostly mouse and keyboard, I’ve got an AVID Artist Mix, but so much of the work I do is very, very detailed editing. The main things that I use all the time are, obviously, Pro Tools to edit and cue ADR; and Isotope RX, because I can edit within the frequencies, which is fantastic.

The other thing that’s vital for me is having my Zoom H6 recorder to be able to just record things whenever I need to.

I’m constantly capturing things on that, when we need some extra breaths or those kind of things, just being able to record sounds and pop them into Pro Tools is more useful to me than having lots of outboard kit. The most important role for the editor, I think, is to put together the right sound and construct something where every detail is covered.

The whole conforming process, I guess, would have been a big part of your work in the past.

But now you’re a supervisor do you just point at somebody and say, ‘sort that out, please’?

There is a little bit more of that, but I’m quite a hands on supervisor. I’m quite the control freak, I love doing stuff myself. It is lovely to be able to turn over some of those more monotonous tasks like conforming to somebody else, so I feel like I’m not as knee deep in that as I would have been a few years ago. But I’m editing all the time, even though I’m supervising. I just I can’t step away from it enough to just delegate the whole process.

Alongside the DAW developments, how would you characterise the advances you’ve seen in production sound? The raw material you’re provided must have changed your job quite a lot as well over time.

Basically [it’s changed] everything. I’ve digitised on-set audio from 1/4” tape, timecoded NAGRAs, DAT machines. You know, all sorts of different things have been recorded on.

Gosford Park was one of the most ambitious projects because we had two Tascams locked together on set. While they were shooting the big ensemble pieces, the sound recordist was recording 16 tracks so that each of the actors could have a radio mic on. Moving on from that, probably the toughest one recently has been Cats, where Simon Hayes recorded across 32 total tracks on two Zaxcom DEVAs. That was a massive, massive job in terms of putting all that together and dealing with that on the post side.

As you say, Microphones have really come on. So on that film we had dancers who are singing live, and they’ve all been recorded on radio mics, but mounted up on their forehead.

And to be honest, the quality of the microphones, the DPA 4061 miniature

/ Nina celebrates her 2019 Oscar win for Bohemian Rhapsody alongside colleague John Warhurst

omnidirectional core mics, and the 4066 omnidirectional headset mics, that we use, it’s great. You know, it kind of sounds like a close boom, It’s not quite the same width of response on a radio mic, but at the same time, it sounds really, really good — and I think everything is getting better and better all the time.

On Mowgli and Detective Pickachu, we dealt with lots of head-mounted camera work [for motion capture process]. So that the actors can perform with their big headmount camera, we had to mount microphones on them. For Mowgli in particular, we wanted to get really good, heavy, decent recording… everything in 96kHz. We recorded on Sennheiser MKH8050 [cardioid condenser], ‘8020 [omni condenser] and ‘8060 [super-cardioid ‘shotgun’ condenser], because you can unscrew them

and you end up with a mic that you can then mount on their helmet. It meant you always have that perfect proximity. And you also had a really, really rich recording that you had the capability to do stuff with, you can really boost the low end on it, if you needed to pitch it down, you know, at 96kHz as well, you have the ability to do that.

So things have really moved on in terms of recording and microphones. I’m noticing it just get better. The issue we still have is placement.

It’s a tricky thing… and costumes make noise, so they can be quite tricky on radio mics.

Depending on how you director shoots, you might get the boom in close enough, but again, now you have further options. These days of some productions will decide ‘okay, keep the boom in there. We don’t want to ADR and we’ll

Source: Netflix

Do you see value in keeping those skills fresh, when projects vary in size and you may need to ‘muck-in’?

It’s still really important to me, because I want to make sure that the outcome is exactly as I want it to be. I’ll have my own creative ideas about what I want to input into the sound, but you can’t always explain to someone else how to do it, you know? You have your own thoughts about it.

What’s great about being a supervisor is that overview is being on the project from early doors; speaking to the filmmakers in preproduction and thinking about ways you can maybe maximise opportunities for sound once they’re on set that will really help in post production. Things like that are fantastic, and actually being able to step back from the whole process rather than spending all your hours every day literally looking at your little area. You know, being able to look at the whole soundtrack, that side of it is great because it feels very like storytelling and creating a bigger whole than just dealing with your little area.

Source: Bigstock

I’m editing all the time, even though I’m supervising. I just can’t step away from it enough to just delegate the whole process.

/ Actor/Director Andy Serkis utilises the custom mo-cap camera rig, adorned with a range of Sennheiser condenser mics, during the making of Mowgli for Netflix

Spring 2021 / 31

/ Goldcrest studio’s main dubbing theatre, part of a Soho complex Nina describes as “one of my second homes.”

have the effects people remove that later’.

Those kind of things are an option now, which weren’t before.

The main thing for getting ADR right is the performance and the movement. To be honest you can have exactly the same-sounding audio but, if the performance doesn’t flow into what was already there, and the movement and the liveliness of it, that’s when it sticks out.

To start with, I make sure I get all the source microphones to work with, but the other thing I always make sure I get is the absolute sync track. Because in the AVID it’s not always the absolute sync. You’re getting shot-by-shot... somebody might cut away to a reaction shot and the person that carries on speaking, I want to know what the sync audio on that shot is, they might have done a little breath, there might be something going on there that I want to know and want to recreate in ADR. But I want to know what the sync sound for every single shot is as well.

only small parts of ADR that I actually record standing in front of the lectern and boom. I’m generally saying ‘move around’.

Fairly often, I have a boom swinger up in an ADR session. On Everest, the actors were doing press ups, they were lying on the ground, they were doing ADR in the plank pose to feel constriction in the chest, feel like they were lacking oxygen on the mountain. I have people running around because it’s more important to me that they’re able to get the performance and get out of breath and do whatever they need to do to feel real, than have a beautifully clean recording.

Even if I’m putting voice over somebody who’s literally sitting in a chair and doing nothing, I’ll always make them mimic what they’re doing.

So if they’re leaning over their shoulder towards someone, I’ll get them to sit sideways, and then face the mic. So you’ve got a bit of twist in your neck, just to try and make the voice match what they’ve done previously on set.

You sound like you like to keep things kinetic, to keep an energy to ADR? Is that something that you’re conscious of when you’re in the booth?

Always! In fact, I avoid booths. That’s why [London’s Soho-based post production facility] Goldcrest is one of my second homes. My favourite studios — and Goldcrest — are when we’re all in the same room together. So the communication is really easy, and also there’s a fair bit of space in front of the screen. There’s

So, when you’re doing things like Gravity, where there’s a lot of movement in the physical space of the film. Do you speak to the director and the sound mixer about ‘do you want to do this with EQs and effects, or do you want me to move the people around?’

Or is that your creative decision?

The reality is, with Gravity, though there’s so much movement, we’re always hearing them in their helmet and on the mic that’s in the helmet.

So what you want is to be able to have the

32 / Spring 2021

movement in their physicality, but in terms of recording, you actually don’t want them moving further away. We recorded it with three microphones. So we had one open head, we have the boom mic coming in. But then we also gave them the over-ear mic that you can actually see, you know, with the helmet, and that was purely to capture the sort of plosives — the little blows on the mic that you get with those sorts of syllables of Bs and Ps and stuff. Again, to give it that authenticity and that reality of what it what it sounds like when you hear people who are speaking in space within their space helmet.

We basically had to ADR most of that film, because on the set they were in contraptions moving them around so that they looked like they were floating in space, and then their bodies were VFXd in anyway.

Most the time, you just want a decent mono signal of people’s dialogue, you want to be able to understand what they said. But if it’s something quite distant, I do love recording stuff exterior if there’s an opportunity to record things outside. You get a much more real feel about it. If they’re outside on film, trying to record them outside is always a really good idea. We do that with crowd all the time, and we’ll multi-mic it.

So you always want a nice close, decent signal, but then we’ll give other options. We put in mics at different distances to be able to capture the real sound of it at different spaces. That is particularly useful with crowd. With crowd, we’ll go with eight mics outside where possible.

/ Craft

On Bohemian Rhapsody, I understand you started working with a large crowd, and then you broke it down to groups?

The 600-person crowd [used for parts of the soundtrack], again, is where it’s really fortunate to have someone who’s going to be involved in post production on set. John Warhurst was supervising sound and music editor, and supervising the music on set, so he was there every day.

They were basically shooting the crowd as a visual reference to create the Live Aid crowd with VFX. So they were playing the music to them, and they’re all singing along waving their arms in the air. But it’s got playback all over it, so we can’t use the sound. So John managed to convince everyone on set — who are only really concerned about the visuals — to record the crowd singing along in between setups. He did a call-and-response in Pro Tools aligned with the Live Aid set, and then the extras sang it back to him. He got three passes of that.

Then for the medium and closest shots — where you can see people’s mouths — we had a crowd session with about 40 people at Shepperton, recording outside with a big TV. We wheeled out loads of headphones, and recorded them outside singing along with the headphones on and doing the whoops and the cheers just so that we had something for sweeping through the crowd. You get your big scale shots, but when you come in close, you want to feel those few voices around you and you see their mouths all doing slightly different things. So I made sure that we had something for every single mouth that you could see, just to make it really feel like you’re in the crowd in that moment rather than on-high looking down on the expanse of it.

When you’re creating the sense of these different spaces, where does your input end and the sound mixer begin?

I definitely prefer a real reverb that we can create. So again, with the crowd there, we created our reverb by having mics further away. So we would choose when we’re editing, we might choose to put in a more distant mic or close mic depending on where we want that voice to be placed. But I think it’s best for the re-recording mixer to decide the reverb in the mix environment. We might be working on our of 5.1 setup, but it’s not a true representation of the cinema space. It’s only really when you’re in the mix that you’re in the cinema space, and you can really properly judge those kind of things.

On Bohemian Rhapsody, we ‘worldised’ all the audio. While Queen were playing at the O2 Arena, we got all the concert audio, all the songs, played out of the speakers and just recorded how it sounded in different places [in the space]. So that when you’re in the back of the stadium at Live Aid, rather than going through, a plugin to put the reverb on, you can actually just feed up a track that is a recording in a space, and hear what it sounds like actually

These days of some productions will decide ‘okay, keep the boom in there. We don’t want to ADR and we’ll have the effects people remove that later’. Those kind of things are an option now, which weren’t before. coming out of the PA there. I think it’s just, it feels much more real if you can just do it in a real way. Much better, more organic.

Has the change to more immersive audio for cinema changed the way that you look at what you’re trying to provide?

It’s always in our heads. From a very early stage, the editor and the director are starting to sketch out how they imagined the interplay of the sounds and music is going to be in any film. So, you know, that’s your sort of starting point for thinking ‘what are we focusing on here? How do you want to shift to the focus in this scene?’

So certainly, if the they’re going to be mixing in Atmos, you’ll be thinking about how we’re going to use Atmos. For Live Aid we knew we wanted to be completely immersed by the crowd or by the music, depending on where you were. So you’re obviously aware of that, from an editorial perspective. Cutting dialogue, it doesn’t have too much of an effect. We might think about crowds going further into the Atmos speakers, into the surrounds and stuff.

And for that, again, we’d have some of our wider microphones available. Even Gravity where the Atmos was well used on the dialogue, you’re still talking about basically a signal from the voice. It’s just being moved around.

How much do you lean on liquid audio and time stretching? Or do you spend a lot of time making sure you don’t have to tweak?

We’ll always get it as close as we can. The most important thing to me, when I’m recording ADR and stuff is that we’ve captured every bit of detail about the performance, which could be an inhale or a lip smack on the closing of a mouth at the end of the line — open will be ending in a breath. All those details make the capture.

We’ll obviously make sure that the rhythm of it and the timing is close for sync, but I fit absolutely everything. I don’t do much time stretching, to be honest, I kind of go through and I just get in very, very tight with the scissors. And I go in and I’ll cut tiny, tiny pieces, particularly with vocals. You know, you don’t want to be time stretching vocals because as soon as you’ve got any kind of vibrato on there it goes weird really quickly.

There’s a lot more, actually an awful lot, you can do by cutting in clever places. As long as

everything is bang on in sync — and I will make sure that every single syllable is bang on in sync and every little lip smack is there that was there on the original and everything else about it — then you would buy it.

I don’t think any of the processes where you sort of go ‘right, fit that to that’ would ever do it how I would do it, and it always feels somehow inorganic.

When you’re working on smaller projects, what do you think your services do to raise the standard? What do you think good ADR and good dialogue editing brings that’s vital?

Most people will probably agree that the dialogue side of a show is the thing that’s delivering the story. The performances of the actors are the things that draw you into that movie, or that story. So any disconnect, you feel there, pushes you away from the story. In terms of good dialogue, editing and a naturalistic dialogue track pulls you into the story. With level and with the detail of breaths, and with all sorts of things, you can really sort of bring things up to the next level in terms of the dialogue track that you have, you can make your audience lean into the screen, just hang on the next word of the actor. Or you can surprise and push them away, you can overwhelm them, there’s all sorts of things you can do with the dialogue track.

In terms of bringing the level up, it doesn’t have to be a big budget to get good sound and to get a decent dialogue track, because there’s been so many times I’ve done crowds sessions where I’ve brought in friends and family and I’ve dragged them outside.

So much of that, particularly on the dialogue side of things, is about performance. It’s about the energy, and it’s about matching what you see on screen. The thing that pulls someone into movies is believing that they are hearing what they are seeing and just diving deep into that world. Anything that suddenly feels a bit weird — so it might be weird visual effects that haven’t quite stuck, or it might be some ADR that isn’t quite fitted or doesn’t sound quite right — is what jumps out at you. Those things just push you out of the story.

I think it’s all those tiny little details and making sure that every single bit feels absolutely right all the way through. That really ended up making a great whole and making a film really moving, or interesting to watch.

Spring 2021 / 33

Technology

Dave Rowell & FiLO Classical IAN COOKSON investigates Dave Rowell’s AoIP workflow and techniques for location recording

I

n the 15 years since he founded FiLO Classical, recording engineer Dave Rowell has consistently garnered praise — and no small number of awards — for his artistic and technical skill in location recording and broadcasting classical music. Known for delivering excellent recorded sound and his calm, no-nonsense approach, Rowell has worked with an array of artists and ensembles across Europe and beyond.

Rowell’s musical ear and his expertise in working with Merging Technologies’ Pyramix, his preferred editing software, are two drivers of his success, along with his commitment to using the right gear for every project.

Always optimising his recording kit to address the complexity of a performance or venues, Rowell has moved toward a Ravenna-based real-time audio-over-IP (AoIP) solution built on Merging Technologies’ Horus, Hapi, and Anubis boxes.

34 / Spring 2021

“My journey into Ravenna started through Merging Technologies and their Pryamix editing software,” says Rowell. “When the company released the Hapi, its second Ravenna -based interface after the Horus, I saw an opportunity to get into the Ravenna system.

Gradually, as the gigs got bigger and more complicated, it was no longer viable to rely on a mixed system of MADI and Ravenna.”

Ultimately, Rowell built a system comprising two Horus, three Hapi, and two Anubis interfaces, with two Artel Quarra Precision Time Protocol (PTP)-aware ethernet switches, one

rack-mount unit and one stand-alone unit that can be used as a hot-swappable spare. He was the first Hapi user in the UK, and he is among the few so far to run a complete Ravenna system both in the studio and the control room.

The application of PTP or, to give it a formal name, the IEEE 1588 Precision Time Protocol (PTP) — a system developed largely in financial systems to bring extremely accurate, GPS signal-derived timing to the inherently asynchronous nature of packet-based networks — means Dave can provide an accurate and stable timebase to his set up.

Gradually, as the gigs got bigger and more complicated, it was no longer viable to rely on a mixed system of MADI and Ravenna.

TRUST HONEST ACCURATE TRANSPARENT 150 movies later still no complaints!

- Hans Zimmer

/ Dave has now moved to a full AoIP system using Merging interfaces, and Quarra PTP switches

Addressing AoIP’s PTP requirements

For a live recording in a concert hall, Rowell might have a Hapi interface with mic cards in the roof, a Horus interface on stage, and then perhaps a third interface for offstage performers. With Ravenna interfaces in each place, ethernet is converged to fibre and then run back to a switch feeding out to the control room, be that a large dressing room backstage or a production truck outside.

Rowell is undaunted by the prospect of a gig with 60+ channels. He typically works at 192kHz and, at this sample rate, the Quarra switch gives him 256 paths, more headroom than he’s ever likely to need. However, with several signals coming from different sources and the added complication of return signals for talkback and a light relay system for the studio, Rowell works with a lot of bi-directional connections over varying distances and cable lengths.

“It’s at this point that unaware-PTP switches can’t cope,” says Rowell.

“They can manage with simple systems but struggle with more complex networks. Sadly, the giveaway that it is struggling is when the PTP clocking drops, causing the loss of all audio signals. It can be a fatal situation where the network is fully functional and stable in testing, but then, for no discernible reason, the PTP clock is lost and the network falls apart. The only option is to go with a PTP-aware switch as reliability is critical in all recording environments.”

One benefit of AoIP is that the network switch allows all devices on the network to talk to one another. With a protocol such as Ravenna, hundreds of channels of real-time audio can be transported at incredibly

quested.com | info@quested.com

Spring 2021 / 35

/ Technology

/ The Merging Anubis (reviewed in this issue) sits atop a Quarra PTP switch in Dave’s studio / Dave has made Merging’s Pyramix his DAW of choice

low latencies. However, in audio recording applications involving a significant number of endpoints, Rowell considers a a PTP-aware switch essential to ensure the synchronisation of all audio streams.

“In the audio world, with digital front-ends coming over fibre from lots of different locations, reliable clocking is essential,” he asserts. “Moving from a MADI system to a Ravenna network with a non-PTP-aware switch caused a noticeable increase in clocking drift — using MADI it was around 3 nanoseconds, which increased to 300+ nanoseconds using PTP. Additionally, we would get spikes — 1,000+ nanoseconds — and it was clearly the non-PTPaware switch being unable to handle the network traffic from multiple sources.

“With the Artel Quarra, the clocking is significantly more stable and the drift is reduced to around 15-45 nanoseconds, well within tolerance for a Ravenna-based system. If I see clocking spikes now, I know it’s not a switch issue.”

Time for creative considerations

With the reliability and stability of the switch preventing issues during setup, Rowell has found he has more time to focus on other aspects of a recording project. Factors such as the placement of microphones and musicians 36 / Spring 2021

In a funny sort of way, social distancing has forced us to relearn how to record various ensembles... now all of a sudden, they’re occupying a space four-times the size.

Everything sounds a lot more distant… have become particularly important now that both performers and technical crew must follow social distancing guidelines due to coronavirus.

“All I have to do is plug the interfaces in, turn on the Quarra, and away it goes!” he says. “This means that I can concentrate on where musicians are going to sit or stand. In a funny sort of way, social distancing has forced us to relearn how to record various ensembles. We’ve all recorded large string orchestras before, but now all of a sudden, they’re occupying a space four-times the size. Everything sounds a lot more distant, and the strains on the recording systems are far greater. It’s really nice not to have to worry about any of the technical aspects.”

In some cases, recording sessions involve multiple control rooms, plus a studio, listen-

back facilities in the studio for the artists, and then a separate listening position in the studio for the producer — all to accommodate and maintain appropriate distancing. All of these extra signals are run over Ravenna. Again, Rowell is confident that as a PTP-aware system, the Quarra switch will sort out both the paths and the communications with ease.

“While using the Quarra hasn’t changed how I engineer things, it does mean I don’t have to worry if the channel count goes up. Sometimes colleagues will ask me, ‘Why do you need 70-odd microphones to do some of these recording projects?’ My response is that I like knowing that I have options. I know that whatever job comes in, the switch will be able to deal with anything I throw at it.”

The m908 24 Channel Monitor Controller (and why we don’t have any friends) Working on a product like this, this hard, for this long, means a lot of things in your life fall to the wayside – friends, hygiene, pets, family. But luckily for audio professionals working in formats from stereo to 22.2 Dolby Atmos™, the m908 is finally here. And luckily for

everybody, it’s even more amazing than we thought it would be. And luckily for us, now we can go get cleaned up and have a few beers with our friends.

There’s some highlights below, the details are on our website or at your favorite Grace Design Dealer.

• 24 channel AES3 digital I/O • 16 channel analog outputs • 16 channel ADAT Lightpipe in • 24 channel inputs USB • AES3, S/PDIF, and TOSLINK stereo inputs • optional Dante™ or DigiLink™ modules for an additional 32 channels of I/O • optional 8 channel ADC module for 8 or 16 channel analog inputs • our latest generation of AD / DA converters • 4th generation s-Lock pll clocking system for vanishingly low jitter • powerful room correction EQ • complete bass management capability • channel level and delay calibration • comprehensive downmix control • 5 year warranty • made in the USA

www.gracedesign.com

Meet Your Maker

Roger Quested Hidden away on a Devon industrial estate is a renowned studio monitor company. GEORGE SHILLING goes on a quest to meet the team, and fires a few questions at Roger Quested

T

he journey of Roger Quested’s studio monitor brand has been something of a rocky road with regards to the business side of things. Then, two years ago, Roger’s house caught fire. But somehow, at 74, Mr. Quested — and Quested Monitoring Systems — has probably never been in a better place, with the company’s monitors being heard and revered by an increasing cohort of discerning studio professionals.

38 / Spring 2021

This cottage industry strives to use the best British components as often as possible, and historically, the tried-and-tested designs have not suffered any unnecessary revisions or tweaks. The V2108 has been Quested’s bestselling speaker in various incarnations for around 30 years.

“Everyone who works with Hans Zimmer buys them, so he’s our best salesman!” says Roger. After some difficult business situations

over the years, relatively new partner Stuart Down is perhaps the first shareholder to attempt to do an even better job than Hans Zimmer of marketing these world-class products. And excitingly, new designs are in development — which promise much. Roger’s incredible genius and experience, with help from the small but reliable and knowledgeable team, make new products a hotly anticipated prospect.

/ Q212s under construction

Everyone who works with Hans Zimmer buys them, so he’s our best salesman!

/ Roger’s business partner, Stuart Down — a veteran of XTA, MC2 and L-Acoustics in the live sound sector

As a child, Roger was fascinated by his dad’s radiogram; built by a family friend it included Celestion speakers. Roger upgraded it with a new microgroove-compatible record deck, Armstrong tuner-amplifier, and in his early teens built his first surround system. He found old elliptical TV speakers, bought cardboard tubing and cut it at a suitable angle, glued the speakers on, then hung them from the picture rail, pointing in various directions. He reminisces that Sandy Nelson’s Let There Be Drums “sounded amazing”! Landing a job at Olympic Studios, Quested’s first session was tapeopping for the recording of Jumping Jack Flash, and the first album he worked on was Led Zeppelin’s debut.

He went on to engineer sessions for the likes of Pink Floyd, Paul Simon, Cat Stevens, The Kinks, Rick Springfield, Camel, John Denver, Olivia Newton-John, Johnny Hallyday

and Sacha Distel. He managed Morgan Studios for 11 years and it became one of the most successful studios in the world, with four albums in the US Top 20 at one time, all entirely recorded at the Willesden complex.

In those days, says Quested: “Almost everyone used dual concentric Tannoys as monitors. When Studio 3 was built with a bigger control room, and tastes in music demanded more bass, the Tannoys couldn’t quite cut it.”

Jolly big loudspeakers

More powerful JBLs were brought in, but Quested found it impossible to balance using them. Following a move to DJM Studios, Roger looked around for a replacement for the TAD system there. Roger settled on Tannoys as the basis of the system, with the idea of adding bass drivers to extend the range and power.

Gauss drivers were popular and were employed for the bass units, then at a hi-fi show Roger heard some Proacs and was impressed, particularly by their ATC midrange drivers.

Acquiring some larger versions of those, new monitors were built by Roger between sessions.

Recording engineer Louis Austin heard them and thought they were fantastic. He asked

Roger to construct similar ones for Nick Sykes who was building Rooster Studios. They became the first official Quested sale; wonderfully, they are still in situ, and still used.

When they were installed, Sykes was interviewed for an article in Resolution’s ancestor Studio Sound, and beforehand he pestered Roger to decide what brand name he should quote when it came to talking about the monitors. Roger promised to call him back but never did. So, thinking on his feet Sykes told the interviewer that they were ‘Quested’. And so the company name was born. Roger officially founded Quested Monitoring Systems in December 1984. Subsequent units were initially built in the corridor at DJM. Another early sale went to Manfred Mann, who loved his demo pair with 15” bass drivers, but wanted a bigger system.

Roger bluffed that he would supply them with the “export” version, and built a speaker with four 12” bass drivers. This turned out to be even better and the Q412 soon became a standard model, still in production today.

Following the demise of DJM, it was time for Quested to go it alone. He took studio bookings manager Hazel with him to premises in Spring 2021 / 39

/ The Quested range on display in its demo room

Glasshouse Street, Soho. Hazel’s husband had a factory in Southall where the cabinets were built, and Roger would bolt the drivers and crossovers in. The company later moved to more suitable premises in Fulham.

AKG

Never particularly interested in the business side of things, Roger came to an arrangement to sell the company to AKG. AKG were then bought by Harmann and Roger wanted out, so in partnership with a handful of other investors, the company was sold with Roger owning 20%.

Unfortunately things didn’t go well. In order to compete with the likes of Genelec’s 1030, a new model, the F11 was designed with a moulded cabinet. Problems with the moulding meant a second mould had to be produced at vast expense, by which time Genelec had released a cheaper successor to their model. It just wasn’t what Quested was geared-up to do. It then transpired that a dealer in the USA owed Quested something in the region of £70,000 with no prospect of its recovery.

MC2

Quested had latterly been supplying Yamaha power amplifiers with his monitors but had more recently been incorporating amplification from Devon-based manufacturer MC2. He approached them and they bought out the other shareholders, becoming the majority owner of Quested. The operation relocated to 40 / Spring 2021

I love it here, it’s the reason I got into this stuff in the first place. You’re meeting people who are driven by passion.

Honiton. However, things didn’t progress as well as had been hoped, with MC2 pursuing a merger with XTA, leaving Quested treading water. There were still big projects and customers like Hans Zimmer, but no real drive or ambition to market the business and no reinvestment. Roger bought back some of the shares and found a new partner. The factory moved three doors down so as to separate from MC2 but still made use of its amplifiers.

However, once again the business relationship was sub-optimal.

Get down and boogie

Then in 2016 along came Stuart Down who bought out Roger’s previous partner. Down had, at one time, been part of MC2’s sales team and is a long time fan of Quested. Down had moved to XTA, which then merged back with MC2, and then he spent 10 years at L-Acoustics.

However, he had become disillusioned with the live sound scene. His ongoing affection for Quested led him to putting his money into where his heart lay.

Stuart felt that the brand was underexploited and could be marketed rather better.

Now, with his vision for the company and his unbounded enthusiasm, the company is arguably in the best shape it has ever been in.

Says Stuart, “I love it here, it’s the reason I got into this stuff in the first place. You’re meeting people who are driven by passion. For music, live sound is also full of passionate people, but it is more about audience coverage, geometry, SPL targets and so on. At times if felt more like hiring out JCBs. But here it’s about really understanding what people are looking for; what their room is, what their taste is.”

Stuart has brought the company up to date with social media, and while there is a network of international distribution channels (which Stuart feels is very important), he is exploring a hybrid approach where there is more direct contact with purchasers.

Teamwork

The hard work of building the monitors is mainly carried out by Oliver Shortland — he is

/ Meet Your Maker

If a speaker sounds right now, it’s going to sound right next year. the production manager but as Down is quick to point out “much more than that”. Shortland joined Quested in 2006, works very closely with Roger on R&D, and is also now a company shareholder. When it comes to construction, he is ably assisted by Connor Mosley. Kathryn Wilkerson is the HR and accounts manager.

And that is pretty much it — a close-knit team of just five.

One thing that Quested sees as setting itself apart is its policy of buying local components in.

Bass drivers are from another British cottage industry, the geographically close Volt Loudspeakers, with designs by David Lyth, who also helps with passive crossover circuits.

Amplifiers still come from MC2. Small tweeters were previously from the Morel factory in Ipswich, but following closure are now imported.

Some Quested models have been in production for many years. “If a speaker sounds right now, it’s going to sound right next year,” muses Roger. The naming/numbering system follows Roger’s no-nonsense approach: for example, the best selling V2108 is a two-way system with one 8” bass driver. The huge soffit Q212 and Q412 main monitors have two or four 12” bass drivers.

It’s only a demo

A few hundred yards around the corner from the factory, Quested has acquired another industrial unit including the office, board room and a newly set up demo room. The latter was still under construction at the time of Resolution’s visit, but we were able to audition several sets of monitors in a suitable environment — a service that Stuart is hoping will increasingly benefit the company. As well as demos for visiting clients, the plan is to host presentations and launches for dealers. Roger was keen to show us a prototype VQ3110; “This is going to be the world’s most accurate loudspeaker,” he told us modestly. And then gently backed up his claim with a few explanations. Alongside the VQ3110 an additional subwoofer option has been designed based on a passive radiator that enables incredibly accurate bass extension down to 15Hz +/-0.25dB. There is also a rumour of a version of the VQ3110 with the passive sub included in the same box in order to appeal to the Asian market. Residential hi-fi customers in the region love an authentically British designed and constructed loudspeaker, and currently Quested’s passive HQ210 is their most popular model. We also saw the forthcoming VQ3108

/ Ollie Shortland, hard at work

aimed at the pro studio user, and the remarkable little V2104 active speakers — as used by the Royal Opera House.

As well as Hans Zimmer, notable studio customers include Trevor Horn, who has been a Quested user for many years. Systems have been purchased by Abbey Road and Hansa Studios, and at London’s award-winning RAK Studios, Q212FS large format free-standing monitors were installed in 2019. Other happy customers come from the international broadcast community including NHK in Japan, South African Broadcast, RTL in Luxembourg, and Singapore Media Corp.

Honesty is the best policy

Stuart says the company has been busier than ever since lockdown started in March last year.

“It’s mostly spares, people who have damaged things but only now got round to sorting it out.

Some users have tried something else and moved to another monitor and used them for some time, but having replaced the drivers in their 2108s are back using them again. Many new monitor designs sound impressive, but they don’t have the honesty of Questeds.”

Another recent development driven by Stuart has been the push to build up more stock, rather than keep customers waiting several weeks for standard items. But while Down would welcome more sales, there is no desire for world domination and box-shifting.

“It’s got to stay true to what it’s about, not mass manufacture and off-shoring production — I have no ambition to do that.”

Stuart intends for the brand to continue “long after I’m gone. It stands for something and is really important, the way we do things. I

/ The prototype VQ3110

don’t subscribe to the tons of DSP in a cabinet method. I’ve heard them — they sound good, and that’s what they were doing in the live arena. But there’s an artefact, an unnatural sound. Our user base are a professional bunch, a lot of them are musicians too, and they want that musicality as well as accuracy, and the tuning that Roger does has that balance.”

Quested’s website invites you to “explore the best kept secret in audio”. Let’s hope enough people keep discovering this secret in order to keep this national treasure going on well into the future.

Spring 2021 / 41

Technology

Virtual TV and radio audiences KEVIN HILTON looks at how the sound (and reaction) of the crowd came back to TV and radio during lockdown through remote audience participation

T

he studio audience has been at the heart of many broadcast programmes since the golden age of radio comedy in the 1930s and ’40s. This continued and extended into television, becoming an integral part of chat shows and panel games. But in the last year measures to control coronavirus made having audiences in studios impossible.

Several top UK TV shows, including the topical quiz Have I Got News for You and The Graham Norton Show, went ahead using video links, with the participants in their respective homes interacting somewhat awkwardly. Part of this was due to connectivity problems, but also because guests — comedians, in particular — missed the audience response.

To bring back some form of interaction, technology has been developed to put live audiences back into programmes, if not back in the studio. The BBC did this for several of its radio productions, including the light-hearted science programme The Infinite Monkey Cage and perennial satirical panel show The News Quiz. The virtual system used for this was developed in-house by a small team of outside broadcast engineers led by Matthew Page and 42 / Spring 2021

Lee Chaundy, who later adapted it for TV shows such as Mock the Week and QI. Another system, produced in the US by live sound touring company Clair Global, has featured on other BBC and commercial channel shows, including Have I Got News for You and The Graham Norton Show.

Presenters and guests or panellists were in a TV studio, with strict social distancing implemented, while audience members watched from their homes and their laughter and applause were mixed into the overall sound.

BBC VirtualAudience

How did the system come about?

Lee Chaundy (operations and engineering manager, BBC): Charlie Taylor, a producer at BBC World Service, came to us in April last year with an idea for The World Debate: The Engineers, which he organises. Normally we would travel with him to various countries and have a live audience watching a panel discussion. We couldn’t do that [because of Covid-19] but he still wanted to have a live audience. Matthew had developed another system called PreRec, a radio/podcast

/ Radio 4's The Infinite Monkey Cage debuted VirtualAudience

production tool that allows you to record interviews remotely. We started talking about whether we could use a similar type of technology to gather a virtual audience. We did eventually do that for The Engineers but the first time the technology actually went out on air was a couple of weeks earlier for The Infinite Monkey Cage.

What is the technological basis of the system?

Matthew Page (Outside broadcast manager, BBC): PreRec, which is an automated version of a process called Simultaneous Recording that has been used for years. This is where you do a live conversation on the telephone and each

person records themselves locally. Then those two tapes were posted to someone who mixed them together. This is now file-based and can be in almost real-time. We use APIs built into modern web browsers: WebRTC for the live element, with a robust automated background file upload process, to ensure a high quality version for broadcast.

How was VirtualAudience developed and implemented?

LC: Our team works on outside broadcasts for BBC News but lockdown restricted our operations. We found ourselves re-utilising our skills, which led to VirtualAudience. We sat in front of a bunch of laptops and applauded each other to see what it sounded like. There were ten of us and we did that five or six times and got 50 or 60 rounds of applause. It’s not the same as a live audience but it’s a convincing sound. From that we decided to develop it as an option for productions because a live audience is so important to many shows as it brings a different dynamic.

MP: We did a test based on PreRec, recording each individual applauding. This produced hundreds of audio files and we went through each of them, tidying them up, and mixing them into a single, emotionless audience, which was extremely labour intensive. Then we came up with better ways of doing it and now we don’t record anybody individually. It is all WebRTC live streams, giving hundreds of incoming outside sources, which we monitor and mix together.

Anyone who sounds dreadful, in terms of the room sound or is fidgety, we can’t use. But having hundreds of incoming sources means we can whittle it down to a usable number of good sounding audience participants.

What is the mixing process?

MP: There is software mixing to start but that is broken down into groups, which appear on a standard broadcast mixer.

/ Graham Norton and his Virtual Live Audience

LC: That stereo mix is passed back to the TV gallery and used as a normal stereo pair as would be done with effects mics on a real audience. We get audience feedback to the pictures, then quality control happens, the stereo mix is done and passed back to the gallery. The delay for that is in the region of 200 milliseconds.

Has the system been used widely for both radio and TV? LC: We’ve done QI, Mock the Week and Children in Need for TV but the shows are mainly radio. These include The News Quiz, Gardeners’ Question Time, The Kitchen Cabinet, The Now Show [new series February-April 2021], Just a Minute and The Infinite Monkey Cage. On the last one [co-presenter] Robin Ince has said they get a better programme because they have access to guests from across the world. They’ve also had unexpected appearances, as when [co-presenter] Professor Brian Cox messaged Eric Idle to say they were talking about him and he called in. That got a great reaction from the audience.

Britannia Row Productions Virtual Live Audience (VLA)

How did the Clair/Britannia Row Virtual Live Audience system come about?

Lez Dwight (director, Britannia Row Productions): Clair Global, which acquired Britannia Row in May 2017, has a data services team in the US. They were looking into transmitting audio for film screenings over networks or wi-fi with the lowest possible latency. They ended up developing their own platform, which is totally bespoke and based on software that runs in the cloud.

What were the first implementations of VLA? LD: Our colleagues in Nashville set up an installation in the S4 Room for a live music series. This gave artists the ability to do shows with a virtual live audience of 260 members. It’s a two-way system allowing the audience to participate and gives the artist instant reaction — and vice versa. After that we did UK TV shows including Have I Got News for You and The Graham Norton Show, plus the most recent

Spring 2021 / 43

/ Technology

series of Ellen DeGeneres’ show in the US. Another service is screening a finished production to people at home, recording the reaction and handing it back to the production team to add the response in post. We did that for the Birds of a Feather Christmas special, Taskmaster and Top of the Pops by recording 32 stems of 200-person virtual audiences.

What technology is involved in VLA? LD: It uses a proprietary browser-based video platform with latencies as low as 200 to 400 milliseconds depending on the end-user’s

As a rule of thumb there is one moderator per 50 people, managing their audio and video… internet connection. What really makes us different from other systems are the moderation panels, which are cloud-based audience management tools. These allow us to talk to everyone individually — it’s a bit like having ushers looking after an actual audience.

How does everything work in practice?

LD: There is physical hardware, which goes to site with one or two technicians. We have our engineers in the US and the UK, working off-site to manage the platform, plus the moderators looking after the participants. As a rule of thumb there is one moderator per 50 people, managing their audio and video, making sure they’ve got headphones on or that they’re in the room.

How is the audio output organised?

LD: Everything is done in the cloud and if there are 50 people we can give up to eight mono feeds or just a single mono. It really is at the discretion of the sound supervisor as to whether they want to dial down the granularity.

Most are happy with a stereo of 50 people as long as we’re managing it and they’re getting a decent crowd noise. I think on Graham Norton they’re taking six monos or three stereos out of 150 or four stereos from 200 people. That comes down from the cloud through our hardware to the gallery.

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Craft

Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith’s earthy electronic arrangements offer a modern twist to a new-age premise. DANNY TURNER unravels her creative process

46 / Spring 2021

H

ome-educated on the idyllic Orcas Island in the northwestern corner of Washington State, a youthful Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith attended Berklee College of Music to study sound composition and engineering. A member of indie-folk band Ever Isles, Smith returned to the island following her graduation and chanced on a Buchla 100 synthesiser.

Life would never be the same, as Smith traded her folk background for synthesiserbased compositions, beginning with the self-released Cows Will Eat the Weeds (2012).

Creatively driven via the ritual of internal visualisation, subsequent works adopted a combination of acoustic, modular and software-based instrumentation.

Now based in Los Angeles, Smith’s latest album The Mosaic of Transformation produces yet more immersive electronic arrangements.

Born out of her passion for improvisatory dance and “love of electricity”, vocal mantras interweave between airy organ sounds and effervescent Buchla-spawned harmonics.

Your music seems strongly tied to the environment and reflections on nature?

It’s hard to communicate my music sometimes, but for me it’s what happens when I feel in awe of something that’s larger than I am and reminds me of how wonderfully mysterious this world is. In response to that, I’ll be moved to make sound and that usually happens because I can’t find words to express what I’m feeling. I guess music’s my way of fulfilling that inspiration and making room for another round of inspiration.

Does this connection with your environment come from your upbringing on Orcas Island?

Yes, because that’s definitely a place of joy and I have to have that feeling of being awestruck about the world around me. It’s really hard to make music from any other place,

so if I’m not feeling my environment I have to go and search for it.

What sparked your interest in sound engineering?

I was going back and forth between Orcas Island and Southern California doing a mentorship programme with a film composer.

That began my interest in sound engineering — learning Pro Tools and how to make arrangements in MIDI for orchestra, and led me to music school to learn more. From the moment I started working with Pro Tools in a studio it felt like information I already knew. It was the language of electricity and the path of least resistance.

You discovered the Buchla 100 synthesiser upon returning from Berklee. Did that inform your direction?

It definitely re-centred me. The art of listening has always been something I’ve had a deep love of and the Buchla freed me up to go the opposite way with music. I’d come from a background where you’re taught how to build music and make really big productions, but the Buchla brought my attention back to how much I can hear in the simplest form of sound. I gave up playing classical guitar and didn’t have any other instruments. From that point, my attention went towards the potential in using the least amount of resources and that’s definitely when I feel at my most creative.

The sound of nature is another thread that runs through your music. Are these sampled field recordings?

I re-released an album last year called Tides, which was a gift to my mum. That had one field recording on it, but I usually tend to make those sounds from scratch using a synthesiser. To me, that connection point of the natural and artificial is always there because electricity is a fundamental of nature and I’ve always had a

/ Kaitlyn’s Buchla 200e modular system, with the concentric rings of the 252 Polyphonic Rhythm Generator at its centre

love of orchestral instruments. I’ll often record a quintet and process parts of the recording.

In the studio, are you attracted more to the natural than artificial?

To me, computers feel more artificial because they’re containing electricity in a very consistent, articulated way, whereas the way that electricity flows through an analogue vintage synthesiser feels unpredictable. That makes me feel closer to it.

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Do you have to balance the realisation of your creative vision with the technicalities of music-making?

My joy in creating has always been the leading element of music-making, so I’m not someone who gets distracted by gear forums or how to figure out the best flow in my studio.

Inspiration will hit and then it’s about using whatever I need to make it happen. Sometimes that’s doing something really technical for a day, so I’m never trying to turn that off. I love and appreciate all the engineering stuff I’ve learned, listening or just being creative — it all works together.

Modular is a big part of your creative process.

What initially drew you to that compositional world?

It came into my world with the Buchla 100 and I only got drawn to it because it was all I had access to at the time. I’m not someone who loves modular synths — I love collaborating with all my instruments and put my admiration into whatever is in front of me. I only got into Eurorack because Make Noise lent me a system.

That system also has its limitations, but I don’t actively put limitations on myself. Sometimes I’ll get invited to a residency and I’ll end up creating with as many things as I can from their collection and right now I’m back to using Buchla stuff again.

What’s your compositional process?

I have a really regular practice of keeping music journals. I do that until I feel inspiration hit and then I’m compelled to make sound in response to that. Once I hear the sound inside of me I know exactly what to do with it. I also make calendars, so on a particular day I’m either writing a part out, doing all the notation for orchestral stuff, sending MIDI to a particular synthesiser, or editing. It’s very structured but also different with every project.

/ Kaitlyn says “I love collaborating with all my instruments and put my admiration into whatever is in front of me.”

Your new album Mosaic of Transformation is mostly instrumental. Was there are purpose behind moving away from vocals?

It’s hard to explain, but when I embark on an album I’ll usually focus on whatever I’m hearing internally. If I’m hearing vocals I’ll use vocals, either as sounds, breaths or as a storyteller. I prefer to listen to whatever my creative self is telling me and trust in my inspirational response to that.

Then again, your vocals are often more like mantras, so the messaging is subliminal…

I’ve heard people say that, but it’s never my intention. My thoughts on instruments and sound are that every aspect is conveying a message because it’s all a language. Music is layered in the same way that the English language is layered.

The words that you choose are communicating the order of it and the emphasis that you apply to those words says something about your past, 48 / Spring 2021

present and future psychology. That’s happening all the time with the music as well. For example, with orchestration, all the instruments are trading off the main voice and other supporting instruments.

You live in LA now. How critical was finding the right recording environment?

My studio’s in my house, mostly because it’s all I can afford [laughs], so it’s going back to that motto of using whatever’s available to me. It’s not the most inspiring place but as I’m always moved by the world around me I go on a lot of adventures. For this album, I was fascinated by the physical language of movement and dance — a specific style, not one with a defined label. I discovered certain dancers where every aspect of their being was utilised, from their face to their organs and nervous system, and it was really inspiring to respond to that language through music.

Do you differentiate mixing from the creative process?

The whole process feels like a conversation between me and the creative project. I’m constantly in conversation with what I’m making and asking myself what to do next. I feel like whenever creativity is in my hands and I can assert control over it I tend not to like what comes out because it doesn’t feel like kindness — it feels like I’m asserting control over some super-mysterious force.

That implies you see creativity as energy rather than a conscious, decision-making process?

Creativity is an energetic force that’s stronger than me and my ego and anytime I try to assert or control creativity I always get humbled and feel I’m not in control. I’ve surrendered to the fact that it’s a non-stop conversation and I’ll always do my best to try and keep those actions moving. That might change from day-to-day, but if turns out different to what I expected then that’s okay.

/ Craft

Artists often say they feel like they’re acting as a conduit for creativity — that they’re somehow not the source of their ideas. Can you relate to that?

I can only share my own experience and perspective of it. What I’ve found is that there are more aspects to my being than my conscious, subconscious or unconscious. For me, creative energy is collaboration with the energy in the world around me. I tend to think of it like a garden. No matter how much you try to make it exactly how you want, forces of nature will make decisions for you. It’s something alive and you’re creating an ecosystem, so nature’s going to react to that and introduce cause and effect. My viewpoint changes every day, but that’s just what came out of my mouth right now [laughs].

Does handing your music over to a mastering or mix engineer automatically equal loss of control?

Anytime I’ve tried to collaborate with a mix engineer there’s a tendency to want to redo it.

Not because I don’t like what they’re doing, but because mixing is a really important part of telling the story and by doing so it tends to become a different story. I’ll hand my music over to a mastering engineer when using vocals

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or orchestral instruments because I have a hard time mastering those compared to using electronic instruments.

You do have some particularly nice-looking tactile instruments, for example the Buchla Lightning?

Again, that was given to me so it’s just a case of using what’s available to me. I spent hours, days and months discovering it until I felt that it clicked, but I love the motion and whole idea of waving a wand to make sound. You have to learn its language and there are so many menus to programme. It connects through a separate box, so I can move 16 feet away and still communicate with it.

What’s the Buchla device with the concentric rings on its interface?

That’s the Buchla 200E and the module is called a 252 Polyphonic Rhythm Generator, which you use to input your sequences.

The circle is your different rhythms and you can cycle between 12 different ones. Each one changes as you’re moving through the presets, which depends on whether the sequences have been programmed ahead of time or you’re playing the different rhythms in real-time.

Are we likely to see you at NAMM sifting through Eurorack modules?

That’s something I really don’t like to do. I only like using these instruments in context; otherwise I don’t like having anything to do with technology unless I’m creating with it. I kind of need that immediate feedback otherwise I get a strong resistance to it.

So you’re not a nerd?

I still think I’m a nerd [laughs]. I like to do a lot of residencies because it’s such a big responsibility owning the older equipment and I’m really grateful for the kindness that people have offered that enables me to blend instruments.

I assume you’re getting increasingly comfortable using modular instruments in a live setting? What kind of efforts go into making a performance like yours work?

Right now I’m using the 200E and choreograph my live set, which I’ve worked on for over a year. There’s room for improvisation but I also practised using those instruments almost every day for that year. That’s just I how was taught to approach live performance with any instrument — practise until I feel like I can do it in my sleep!

FORWARD THINKING AUDIO GEAR

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Spring 2021 / 49

Playlist

Resolution comeback records As the world threatens to return to something resembling normality, let’s look at some of great musical returns to form…

You can follow Playlist on Spotify at tinyurl.com/ResolutionPlaylist Jay Dean Artist Song

Sonic Boom Just Imagine (2020) In the 30 years since his last Sonic Boom record, Pete Kember (Spacemen3) has released music as Spectrum and E.A.R then collaborated with Polar Bear, MGMT and Beach House. This single, and the accompanying album, represents his best work yet — successfully embodying love for vintage synthesisers, repetition, and a knack for a simple melody.

Danny Turner Artist Song

Rain Tree Crow Blackwater (1991) New wave pioneers Japan disbanded in '81 under acrimonious circumstances, yet 10 years later David Sylvian rebranded the group as Rain Tree Crow. The comeback was short lived, but we at least have Blackwater — a gorgeous track from a stunning album that provided ample opportunity to wallow in their collective maturation.

John Moore

Artist Slowdive Song Star Roving (2017)

The indie-darlingsturned-music-press punchline fronted by Neil Halstead and Rachel Goswell initially imploded in the mid-90s. Some 20+ years later, they would ride the Primavera/Coachella nostalgia bus that bought them back right through everyone’s limited expectations. This great single heralded a slew of life affirming live shows, and a wonderful eponymous LP, that matched anything from their first time around.

George Shilling

Artist Yes Song Owner Of A Lonely Heart (1983)

These old proggers are not normally thought of as a singles band, but they’d had a hit in 1972 with Roundabout. Then in 1983 came this Trevor Horn produced number one hit. To a seventeen year old fascinated by records (me), this sounded dazzlingly modern and fantastic, and it is still a favourite.

Kevin Hilton Artist Song

Jon Broomhall Artist Song

Tina Turner What’s Love Got To Do With It? (1983) Maybe not strictly a comeback — it’s complicated — but this track, and the Private Dancer album as a whole, took her from ‘nostalgia act’ to superstardom.

Great song, superb arrangement, magical vibe, absolutely stunning vocal.

Ed Lister Artist Track

David Davies Artist Song

Elvis Costello 45 (2002) A thrilling return to pop after seven years of exploring other musical avenues — and appropriately enough, it's a tribute to the timestopping, history-making possibilities of a great song.

Phil Ward Artist Song

Edwyn Collins A Girl Like You (1994) I thought he was dead. Something about a brain haemorrhage. But apparently that came later. Anyway, 12 years after Rip It Up And Start Again, he did.

Out of nowhere.

Elton John I’m still standing (1982) Not a comeback record for Elton, but for me. Here’s hoping that 2021 is a comeback year! Such an upbeat track for a great morale boost anytime of the day, just letting 2020 know that I’m still battling away and not going anywhere!

Honourable mentions

Bob Dylan — Drifter’s Escape (1968) Post-motorcycle crash but pre-Great White Wonder, Dylan emerges from Woodstock for a hasty Nashville session and produces a ramshackle folk-rock nugget.

James Brown — Living In America (1985) A massive hit for the Godfather of Soul, co-written and produced by disco legend Dan Hartman, after a long chart drought.

Roy Orbison — You Got It (1988) A posthumous, post-Wilburys solo hit produced by Jeff Lynne, and co-written with Lynne and Tom Petty.

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50 / Spring 2021

Johnny Cash Delia’s Gone (1994) The Man in Black had a succession of hit singles and albums in both rock & roll in the 50s and country during the 60s and 70s. Despite this, and being a member of C&W super group The Highwaymen, his career stalled in the 80s. He got a kick-start from U2 with The Wanderer in 1993 and then signed to Rick Rubin's American Recordings label. Rubin stripped back the production to Cash's growling voice and acoustic guitar, bringing his talent to a new audience.

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