Resolution V3.6 September 2004 by Resolution

Resolution 3.6 September 2004

SEPTEMBER 2004 V3.6

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THE NEXT GENERATION AUDIO PRODUCTION MAGAZINE

Tore Johansson Credibility with sales

Phil Bodger mixes music with picture Chris Munro on new production technology and workﬂow Meet your maker: Jörg Wütkke — Schoeps Why mobile phones will shape the future of music distribution Virtual Circuitry Modeling explained Ten producers who changed the way music sounded

REVIEWS • Lawo mc266

• Focusrite Liquid Channel

• Audient ASP008

• Tube-Tech MMC 1A

• Antares Autotune 4 • Vintage Design CL-1 • Pearl ELM-C • Apogee AD-16X and DA-16X • Drawmer DMS-2

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Resolution 3.6 September 2004

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ISSN 1477-4216 THE NEXT GENERATION AUDIO PRODUCTION MAGAZINE

News & Analysis 4 4

Leader News

Sales, contracts, appointments and the bigger picture

Products

New introductions and announcements plus Digidesign and Steinberg platform news.

Craft 22

Elevator Studios

Tore Johansson

Phil Bodger A music recording engineer and mixer who has incoporated a sound for picture element.

Pro Tools Tips MIDI tricks and advice for Tools.

Meet your maker Jörg Wütkke — the public face of Schoeps on small is beautiful and ‘preseasoned’ microphones.

Sweet Spot

Post

KVM switchers Duplicating keyboards, mice and monitors is inefﬁcient and wastes space.

A room at a price. Proving there’s more to a studio than a PC and a sound card.

Broadcast Paris, the Opera, and a Studer Vista 8 in an HD truck.

Mixing credibility with platinum sales and musical genres with a life in Scandinavia.

Win a SE Electronics Gemini Your chance to win a superb studio cardioid valve mic.

Liverpool newcomer has had four days off since last year but numerous hits in the meantime.

Headroom SACD ‘propaganda’...at length

Ten Producers who changed the way music sounded.

Chris Munro has ushered in new technology for blockbusters and workﬂow efﬁciency.

Business 50

The player in your pocket

Your business From disc to download and the chase for your virtual cash.

Mobile phones are going to play a key role in the future of music distribution.

Technology 68

Virtual Circuitry Modeling

Yamaha’s digital emulation of analogue gear explained.

Slaying Dragons Watkinson puts the SACD on the rack.

Reviews 24 26 28 30 32

Lawo mc266 Focusrite Liquid Channel Tube-Tech MMC 1A Audient ASP008 Vintage Design CL-1

34 36 38 40

Apogee AD-16X and DA-16X Antares Autotune 4 Pearl ELM-C Drawmer DMS-2

EDITORIAL Editorial Director: Zenon Schoepe Tel: +44 1444 410675 Email: zen@resolutionmag.com Editorial ofﬁce: PO Box 531, Haywards Heath RH16 4WD, UK

ADVERTISEMENT SALES European Sales Clare Sturzaker Tel: +44 1342 717459 Email: clare_s@tiscali.co.uk

Contributors: Rob James, George Shilling, Keith Spencer-Allen, Terry Nelson, Jon Thornton, Neil Hillman, Nigel Jopson, Andy Day, Kevin Hilton, Dan Daley, John Watkinson

US Sales Jeff Turner Tel: +1 415 455 8301 Email: turnermarketing@comcast.net

PRODUCTION AND LAYOUT Dean Cook Dean Cook Productions Tel: +44 1273 236681 Email: dean@deancookproductions.co.uk

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news APPOINTMENTS Unity Audio has been appointed UK distributor for the new professional division of Focal studio monitors. Focal from France has been in business since 1980 and is one of the few professional monitor companies that manufacturers its own drivers, tweeters, cabinets, and electronics. Unity Audio has also been appointed exclusive distributor for Little Labs in the UK. TC Electronic has taken over the distribution of all Dynaudio Acoustics products in the UK from its former distributor Unity Audio. Belgium monitor manufacturer FAR has appointed Digital Village as exclusive distributor for its range of active digital monitors in the UK.

Genelec has appointed Big Bear Sound as its new distributor for Ireland. (L-R) Julian Douglas, director and Michael Browne, MD of Big Bear Sound.

Olympic shorts

Leader The build up to the Olympics and its focus on wonderfully fit and clean living individuals only serves to remind us of the shamefully unhealthy industry in which we work. Think about it, you have chosen an existence that will see you confined to a chair in a room frequently without windows, and certainly without windows that open, through the daylight hours, often during the night, sometimes through both. You eat on the job, smoke and drink on the job, if you’re lucky you may be able to sleep on the job and the reprieve is to return to your home to rest and recharge so you can do it all again. Animal Rights extremists break out rodents from research laboratories that live a more balanced life. At least they get the chance to mate. Physical exercise can amount to pulling out a mic boom, stretching to tweak the input gains, the rush of blood to the head that coincides with bending down to adjust the compressor, flexing your mouse hand back to life between protracted editing sessions, and winding mic cables around your arm. The irony is that if you are successful then you can order some young pretender to do this all for you so you can work even longer hours in the chair. What other career rewards its gifted to such a slow lingering death? Where is the improvement to the standard of life, the regular hours, the delegation of responsibility and the commensurate decrease in stress when you’re only as good as your last job? It takes an inexplicable ringing in an ear or the curious onset of chair-bound leg ache to make you wonder if your life style will see you make old bones. Factoring in a fitness campaign doesn’t always fit in with your schedule and trying to force it to won’t get the phone ringing from those who could care less. There are institutional working practice health regimes in some sectors but as an industry we are completely unregulated from a fitness-at-work standpoint. It has always been so and the studio tans bear witness to it. Are you fit to work? Zenon Schoepe

Biggest C Series order to Danish Broadcasting

ASAP Europe is now the exclusive distributor for Estonian microphone manufacturer Violet Design in the UK and Ireland. BSS Audio has appointed Audio XL as its distributor in Holland. DPA Microphones is now represented exclusively in New Zealand by Amber Technology (NZ) Ltd. Linfair Engineering & Trading is now sole distributor for DPA in Taiwan. Ultrasone AG has appointed EARS Audio Distribution as its distributor for North America. Kelsey Acoustics Ltd has been appointed distributor for Furman Series II SMP power conditioners in the UK.

©2004 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 Publishers. Great care is taken to ensure accuracy in the preparation of this publication, but neither

SSL is to supply ten C Series digital production consoles to the Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR). Eight C200s and two C100s are destined for DR BYEN, the new all-digital multimedia facility and concert hall that is under construction in Copenhagen. The contract is the largest single order for C Series desks. Four C200s will be installed in the music recording and concert hall building, while the remaining C200s will be installed in three TV studios and one news and current affairs studio. The C100s will also be installed in news and current affairs studios.

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 Publishers.

The new multimedia centre is being built on a green ﬁeld site in Orestad Nord at an estimated cost of DKK 3 billion and the facilities are expected to be completed by the end of 2006. • Independent audio engineering service Floating Earth and Will Shapland Mobiles joint venture, Floating Earth Europe, has become the first company in the UK to invest in a C200 console. The 96-input, 32-channel frame desk has been installed in Floating Earth’s mobile truck.

S2 Publications Ltd. Registered in England and Wales. Company number: 4375084.

• Dolby Laboratories provided equipment and personnel to enable Athens Olympic Broadcasting (AOB) to deliver the Summer Games events in Dolby surround sound. Multichannel audio from selected venues is delivered to the networks using Dolby E for distribution to digital services and Dolby Pro Logic II for analogue services or those limited to 2channel audio. Networks can add commentary and other elements to the stream and deliver it to their viewers in Dolby Digital, Dolby Pro Logic II, or other sound formats. Dolby has supplied AOB with Dolby E encoders and decoders (DP571 and DP572), Dolby Pro Logic II encoders (DP563), Dolby multichannel audio reference decoders (DP564), and measurement tools including bitstream analysers (DM100) and loudness meters (LM100). • Despite a greater than expected demand for tickets and the consequent enlargement of the seating area, no parallel expansion of the EVI Audio sound systems proved necessary. • The Olympic Committee in Athens took delivery of 25 Digital Audio Toolboxes from Terrasonde. The Committee was looking for a digital audio tester to outﬁt its audio technicians and broadcast engineers with that was portable, comprehensive and easy to use. • German TV companies ARD and ZDF have lined up with a total of 100 wireless channels: around 300 wireless Sennheiser microphones and receivers will transmit the sporting events and provide internal coordination and communication. ‘Dozens of TV stations will be reporting live from the Olympic Games and there will be huge amounts of radio communication taking place,’ said technical director Gunnar Darge. ‘It’s therefore all the more reassuring to be able to rely on the support of

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news APPOINTMENTS

Sennheiser.’ Sennheiser’s RF specialist Klaus Willemsen helped with frequency coordination and system conﬁguration, supported by local Sennheiser partner Philippos Nakas S.A. Willemsen’s US colleague Uwe Sattler supported US broadcaster NBC Universal and around 65 wireless channels from Sennheiser. • The ERT Olympics team is using three Libra Live consoles at the IBC in Athens. After the games the consoles will be relocated to ERT’s TV broadcast studios.

Two Studer Vista 7s have been installed in the Digital Media Centre (DMC) multimedia facility in Hong Kong Cyberport. The consoles will be used for TV production and in a surround studio and post room. NBC personnel are working on Libra Lives in Cinevideogroep OBV10 and OBV12 (pictured) trucks from the Netherlands. Outside Broadcast Belgium also present with two trucks equipped with Broadcast Libra Lives.

SE Microphones targets global market

AudioCube 5 for Master House

(L-R) James Young, Siwei Zou, Warren Stean, Phil Smith.

An AudioCube 5 mastering and restoration system has been installed at Master House Studios in Miami, home to mastering engineer Jose Blanco. The dual Xeon processor-based AudioCube 5 system includes 36Gb system and audio drives, CD and DVD burners, Merging Technologies Mykerinos 24-channel audio card, Steinberg WaveLab and Nuendo editors, NetSupport remote help software and several Cube-Tec mastering VPIs. ‘After a lot of research and testing of several audio workstations for our mastering facility, we decided the AudioCube is the complete system we had been looking for,’ said Blanco. ‘The ease of use of the system, the sound quality of the VPIs, the overall speed and the on-line tech support really puts the AudioCube way above all the other workstations.’

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September 2004

The directorship of UK-based Sonic Distribution now co-owns microphone manufacturer SE Electronics International, based in Rohnert Park California, together with president Siwei Zou, who designs the mics and formerly owned the whole business. The deal is important as it combines a Western company-owned Chinese manufacturing facility, which builds only for the SE brand, with an international distribution infrastructure and a newly opened ofﬁce in the US run by Bob Reardon, formerly at Waves. Ofﬁces will be opened in Germany, Japan and Australia in the next 6-9 months. ‘The deal is exclusive in both directions,’ explained director James Young. ‘Siwei only manufactures products for Sonic Distribution worldwide. For our part, we will not be taking on any other product lines, and certainly none that might compete with SE in any way. The UK is the exception to this in that we will continue to run other brands, but again, nothing that competes in any way.’ Young pointed out that SE Microphones are

only really well known at present in the UK with some awareness elsewhere in Europe. For the rest of the world and particularly the US it will be like starting from fresh. ‘We are one of very few western companies in the world that outright own our own manufacturing in China,’ he said. ‘Many use Chinese manufacturing to complement their ranges, but none control this directly. That is a big difference, as it allows us an incredible degree of flexibility and therefore the ability to rapidly respond to market. The fact that in addition to this we are effectively not only the manufacturer, but also the global distributor, makes us in some ways more like Sony than someone like Røde or Neumann, except we focus on a specific area. ‘Eventually, we’ll be producing not just SE, but other lines from our factory, and these will have a direct route to market through our own distribution. It gives us flexibility to adapt and move quickly, and also complete control over how we market the products,’ he said.

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SSL has appointed Colin Lee as product manager for its XLogic range of rackmounted outboard equipment. He was previously product manager at Snell & Wilcox and spent a number of years with Soundcraft where he was part of the team that developed Spirit mixers. AudioPro International has been named the exclusive distributor of the SSL AWS 900 for the Canadian market. Other distributors include KMR Audio in the UK, Arva Trading in Sweden, Promedia Tools in Germany, Juke-Box in France, DMT in China, Audiosales in Austria, HAN SEO International in Korea, Lexon in Spain and Primetime for Serbia, Montenegro and FYR Macedonia. Mark Delbridge has joined GearBox Sound & Vision as senior technical consultant, Professional Video. He joins from Abbey Road studios where he was its Apple Macintosh technical specialist for more than ﬁve years.

Carl Owen (Sydec) and Jamie Gibbons (Audiostate). Sydec Audio Engineering has appointed Audiostate as the Soundscape UK representative. Soundscape’s systems and soundcards will be available through AS Pro Media, Audiostate’s new offshoot which was set up to handle Soundscape and higher-end ADAM monitors.

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news APPOINTMENTS Long-serving EVI Audio general manager HansPeter Richter has retired and his successor is Detlev Heiringhoff. Heiringhoff has served as administrative director of Peek & Cloppenburg AG, head of accountancy at Telecom AG and general manager finance Europe with Suzuki International Europe. Since the beginning of this year he has been general manager of ﬁnance with EVI Audio GmbH. Arno Gehlhaar has joined EVI as indoor sales assistant export. With nine year’s experience as an export manager in the computer and MI industries, he boasts 20 year’s experience working with live sound.

Marquee Audio has been appointed main dealer by Garwood for its APM 12 dual-stereo headphone ampliﬁer. Autograph Sales has appointed Louis Van Niekerk to work in a technical support and logistics role, backing up the sales and service department. He previously worked as a freelance sound operator and has a sound engineering diploma. Susie Alterman has been promoted to sales coordinator after two years working in a support role. Autograph Sales has been appointed an executive agent for Midas and has also rejoined the Klark Teknik fold by becoming a dealer for its product range again. MI7 AB and Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH have announced that MI7 AB will exclusively distribute the Steinberg WaveLab 5.0 and Nuendo product lines in Germany and The Netherlands.

Mackie 8-bus is Prodigy sound Prodigy’s main man Liam Howlett has completed the band’s new album — Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned — with his continued use of a Mackie 32:8 8-bus desk. Howlett bought his first Mackie mixer, a CR1604, in 1993. ‘I’ve always had a really good relationship with Mackie,’ said Howlett. ‘I’ve used Mackie desks from the beginning — and this particular one since the second album because it gives us our distinctive Prodigy sound. The 32:8 lends itself to being driven very hard. It has a naturally warm sound that allows us to push the channels as far as they’ll go. It really is a very capable, warm desk.’ Howlett says his initial ideas were captured using a laptop and five pieces of equipment taken from his studio. Music was written on the laptop using Reason and tracks were then transferred to Pro Tools so guitars, keyboards and vocals could be added. The project moved to Muse Studios in Stoke Newington for preproduction and recording. ‘Muse is a very small studio owned by some friends of ours. Its main advantage is that is has a Mackie desk, which I was keen to use for preproduction,’ he explained. ‘When we moved to Whitfield Street in March, which is where we mixed the album, I asked Mackie to lend us a 32:8 analogue console even though we had a Neve desk in the studio. We used the Neve as the main mixer but we had the Mackie working alongside it as a sub-mixer because it was able to create the signature Prodigy sound that everyone recognises.’ Howlett worked with co-producer Neil McClennan and Pro Tools operator Damien Taylor and the album features guest vocals from Hollywood actress Juliette Lewis and Liam Gallagher. ‘I enjoyed getting more people involved because it freed my head and allowed me to focus on writing,’ he said. ‘I wanted the vocals to be less important, more like samples, and for the album to be about energy and aggression so that we pushed the music forward without a vocalist carrying the weight. I wanted this album to be about getting back to the beats because this is what the Prodigy has always been about.’

Quested is Fried in Helsinki Studios

Fried Music Studios in Helsinki, Finland has installed Quested Q412 monitors as part of its initial equipment investment. The studios are used for music production, film work and commercials. ‘I started doing some research last year and talking to people outside Finland. I wanted to have an alternative to Genelec monitoring, which is very common here in Finland, as I felt that the music we do would beneﬁt from a different kind of system. This is our ﬁrst pair of Q412s and honestly I couldn’t be happier with them,’ explained producer and co-owner Jukka Immonen.

‘I seem to leave to bottom end much “dirtier” and I don’t start cleaning the lower mid and cut out all the warmth of the tracks like I used to. I’ve always felt that the Hip-Hop and R&B mixes done in the States have sounded way better to me than the European stuff, and I’ve always tried to put that same fatness and sharpness into my music.’ The rest of the studios system comprises a Pro Tools HD3 with Control 24, a 12-channel Studer 089 and DW Fearn for preamps, a Manley Vari-Mu and a 3-band Tube-Tech compressor for main outboard equipment.

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Gus Dudgeon Foundation takes form

Elton John, David Bowie, Chris Rea, Jennifer Rush, Elkie Brookes and Joan Armatrading were among the many leading artists who benefited from their association with Gus Dudgeon, one of Britain’s most respected producers. Dudgeon was much liked for his breezy blend of good humour and enthusiasm and following his untimely death in 2002 it was decided that Gus’s extraordinary standards in music production and genuine helpfulness should live on in the form of The Gus Dudgeon Foundation For Recording Arts. The Gus Dudgeon Foundation has been formed to preserve and promote the techniques of recording and production exemplified in Gus’s career and to give students the opportunity to learn and pass on these skills for future generations. It aims to maintain a traditional recording studio, equipped to Gus Dudgeon’s standards, and to make it available for educational purposes to the best young sound engineers in the UK. The studio, thanks to his old friend Adam Francis, contains the original MCI desk and equipment specified by Gus for his studio ‘Sol Mill’ in Cookham and is currently in a temporary location at Reading College Campus of The Thames Valley University. The Foundation will also provide an annual prize and further opportunities to the most outstanding sound engineering graduate in the UK and will collect and distribute donated sound recording equipment. The studio will provide an educational recording facility for the University and will be made available for use by other academic institutions and music based charities. Elton John is patron of the Foundation. ‘The postgraduate courses we have planned and the uniqueness of the studio will benefit the recording industry in a way that no other training course does,’ said administrator Chris Hook. ‘In 20 years time we hope to have a facility that is a reference for the recording industry worldwide.’ Donations and sponsorship will always be required: Chris Hook +44 7810 554286

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Shift the pitch. Preserve the sound.

The Dolby® 585 Time Scaling Processor eliminates the

Operation is fully automatic, so all you have to do is hook

pitch changes that can occur during film-to-video transfers.

it up and turn it on. Audio can be pitch shifted ±15 percent

Using an intelligent algorithm that continually analyses the

on up to eight tracks simultaneously, in real time. The 585

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can also scale audio programmes longer or shorter by as

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much as 15 percent, while maintaining proper pitch.

and effects tracks remain as the producers intended.

Try the Dolby 585 in your facility. Contact your Dolby dealer today to arrange for a demonstration.

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news APPOINTMENTS

System 5s score in ﬁlm

DPA demos surround Students from SAE Liverpool were recently given the opportunity to work with product specialists from DPA to investigate live recording techniques for surround sound at Liverpool’s Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, writes Jon Thornton.

Marquee directors, Spencer Brooks and Andy Huffer (left and right) with AuviTran’s business development director Wlodek Sielski.

AuviTran, the technology company formed by former Digigram employees, has appointed Marquee Audio as its distributor in the UK. AuviTran designs and develops audio and video networking and computerbased solutions and products. Marquee Audio has been appointed a dealer for Klotz Digital’s Varizone system and UK dealer for Teqsas’ Reco network remote touch system. Beyerdynamic (GB) has appointed Jonathan Foot as technical sales manager for the domestic and corporate aspects of its audio visual installation business. He started his career in the Aerospace industry and was most recently with Electrosonic where he was project engineer and manager. Beyerdynamic has confirmed an exclusive distribution deal for the UK and Ireland with German loudspeaker company WHD (Wilhelm Huber & Sohne).

Following the installation of multi-operator consoles at the Korda Theatre in Shepperton, UK and at Luc Besson’s Digital Factory in France, Shepperton has ordered a second two-operator System 5-F for Theatre 1 and Goldcrest in London has placed an order for its first Euphonix. Goldcrest, in London’s Soho, has ordered a single operator System 5-F for Theatre 2. ‘The way sources can be laid out in front of you, so the most important faders are close at hand, and saved as layouts for easy recall, will give us a very elegant way of working,’ said rerecording mixer Robert Farr. ‘The onboard router with the ability to dub from one machine to another without having to go through the console is also very powerful.’ Angel Recording Studios in Islington has purchased a Euphonix System 5 digital mixing console to be installed in Studio 2 for recording and mixing music for film and television. Studios 1 and 3 are well known for their orchestral capabilities and Studio 2 was originally built for use by smaller groups or for mixing and jingle work but will be enlarged for a 6-way monitoring system and the new desk. ‘The System 5 control surface was very comfortable on first impressions,’ said senior engineer Gary Thomas. ‘The more we looked into the desk the more inspired we became, the System 5 really lends itself to a fresh approach to music mixing and recording.’

Ares-PII captures ant footsteps

Udo Müllhoff has been named international sales manager at TerraTec Producer. He was previously at Steinberg Media Technologies where he was in charge of extending the company’s OEM marketing activities.

James Vassiliadis, Kinotechniki MD, and Steve Jordan, Mission Professional director of sales and marketing.

Mission Professional has announced two new distributors — Sonatel in Croatia and Kinotechniki in Greece.

Wildlife and documentary sound recordist Chris Watson has been using his Nagra AresPII linear, solid state, handheld recorder for a major new TV series in which he has captured the individual footfalls of army ants in the Costa Rican rainforest and the sounds of burrowing bees in the Arizonan Mojave Desert. ‘I had fixed up a loan of some unique transducers from a university in the US, which took some persuading,’ said Watson. ‘The general idea is that they pick up the movement of individual air molecules, as near ﬁeld sound, and I think the resulting recordings are the ﬁrst

of their kind to be made for broadcast purposes. ‘The ﬁrst time I used the Ares-PII was straight out of the box at the La Selva Tropical Studies centre — at 100% humidity. I just switched it on, hit Record and got some wild tracks down straight away,’ he added. ‘I realised how easy it was, even through its neoprene case and decided to use it as my main recorder. Also, because it’s solid state, I didn’t have to pack it with silica gel to absorb moisture. Afterwards I plugged the card straight into my Mac Powerbook, backed-up to my hard drive and made an instant CD-R for the rushes.’

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On hand was Mikkel Nymand from DPA who brought along a selection of DPA mics to demonstrate the pros and cons of different approaches to 5.0 recording. Three different microphone arrays were set up, and the outputs recorded to a Pro Tools rig so students could compare the playbacks in a lecture session the following day. The source in this case was a small choir, located at the front of the (circular) cathedral. The first miking approach used five omni DPA 4006s with left and right mics spaced 2m apart and elevated by 3m. The centre microphone sat between these and was pushed forward of the main pair to focus the centre image. The rear omnis were stepped back from the main pair by up to 5m and positioned slightly higher. The rear microphones were also equipped with L50 Acoustic Pressure Equalisers, giving a boost to the high and mid response of these microphones, and thus favouring the reverberant field a little more. The second approach used spaced DPA 4015 wide cardioid mics for the front channels, spaced about 60cm apart, with a pair of 4011 cardioids 30cm apart and about 1m from the front array for rear pick-up. The final, and most interesting approach, used a standard Decca Tree arrangement of 4006s for frontal pick up, with an ORTF pair of 4021 cardioids for the rears but moved significantly away from the Decca Tree and angled upwards to differentiate the reverberant field from the frontal pick-up and to give a sense of height to the listener. Given the nature of the acoustics in the Cathedral, Mikkel’s bet was on the Decca Tree + ORTF arrangement — and he was right. The spaced omnis proved to be a little overwhelmed by the reverberation and while the spaced cardioids did a good job of presenting the actuality of the listening experience — this is not necessarily the best approach. There are no real rules for multichannel and every approach has its merits. As Mikkel himself commented — the trick is to try and get as natural a sound as possible and then use your skills and judgement to make it a little better.

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news THE BIG PICTURE • A report by independent market analyst Datamonitor, Digital TV Markets 2004, says that Europe by 2006, with 63 million digital households, will represent a larger digital TV market than the US. Datamonitor expects this European number to grow to 89 million by the end of 2008, close to triple that of 31 million at the end of 2003. Penetration of digital TV in the UK is the highest in the world. • In the first half of 2004 London’s GearBox rental division had supplied multiple Apple-based Pro Tools|HD systems to music scoring and audio post teams on an impressive list of major film productions. The year began for GearBox with a credit on Cold Mountain. Other productions include Alfie, Alien vs Predator, Around The World In 80 Days, Bridget Jones Diary — The Edge of Reason, Brothers Grimm, Enduring Love, Harry Potter III — The Prisoner of Azkaban, Proof, Troy, Two Brothers, Wimbledon and most recently the scoring of King Arthur with Hans Zimmer at AIR Studios and the final mix at De Lane Lea. ‘Because the tendency is to bring together all the Pro Tools|HD systems in the dubbing theatre, the total number of “seats” we have provided in recent months has been phenomenal,’ said GearBox MD Richard Eastwood. • Apple’s iPod has a new competitor in the Rio Carbon. The product is

smaller than the iPod Mini, has 20% more memory, has a voice recording option and costs the same. It will work with any computer platform without the need for music transfer software. Apple is to produce a version of iTunes that will be compatible with Motorola mobile phones. Motorola phones will be able to install songs from iTunes via a USB cable or Bluetooth connection. • The UK Government has acknowledged that broadcasters believe that 2012 is a more appropriate cut-off date for analogue switch off. It had earlier earmarked 2010 as the switch over date to digital television. The Finish government has postponed by one year its schedule to digitise TV broadcasts. The country is expected to switch entirely to digital by the end of August 2007.

Massive order for Yash Raj Films

(L-R) Shailesh Parab, Cineom (AMS Neve distributor); Anuj Mathur, Daman Sood and Victor Dantes (Yash Raj Films); Ashish Barje (Cineom).

Yash Raj Films has ordered an AMS Neve 88R, a DFC, two Libra Post consoles, three AudioFile SC editors, ofﬂine Encore and a StarNet network as one of the biggest audio equipment deals ever made by an Indian ﬁlm company. ‘We chose Neve because we are building the best studio for international clients with state of the art acoustics and equipment,’ said Daman Sood, Yash Raj music mixer and technical consultant. The Music Studio will be equipped with a 60-fader frame 88R, the Foley Room with a 12-fader Libra Post and an integrated 32-track AudioFile SC. A second Libra Post will be used for ADR together with an AudioFile SC. The Film Theatre will feature a 40-fader DFC2 and an integrated AudioFile. All four consoles will be networked together via StarNet. • Hong Kong Movie City, a US$150m film facility, is to install two 80-fader, 3-position DFC Gemini consoles in its main mix rooms. Shaw Brothers is a substantial shareholder in Hong Kong Movie City.

Biggest ever Calrec Alpha for NCP truck Pennsylvania-based New Century Productions (NCP) have purchased the world’s biggest Alpha 100 console for NCP VII, a brand new HD truck. The 226-channel console is conﬁgured as 96 stereo and 24 mono channels, and has a 72fader control surface with a 24-fader sidecar. Based at NCP’s New Hampshire ﬁeld shop the truck will be used live on almost every broadcast. ‘The Alpha represents the current state-ofthe-art in a live, digital mixing desk,’ said Mike Mundt, senior VP for engineering, New Century Productions (pictured). ‘This is our first digital mixing desk and the possibilities intrigued us. We are particularly excited about the idea of adding an expansion chassis to the standard control surface. We have learned that it just isn’t possible to have enough faders on some of the really big shows we are faced with. Since our floor plan allowed us to put an expanding wall on the audio booth we had room for a larger console so we decided to take advantage of it.’ • Shopping channel QVC has purchased a 52-fader Sigma 100 to ‘future proof’ Control Room A at the channel’s London Headquarters. One of two live studio control

rooms at the Battersea studios, Control Room A has been completely overhauled. The console replaces an M Series desk that has seen daily service since the channel’s launch in 1993. ‘We chose digital over an analogue desk primarily because of space,’ said QVC broadcast systems engineer Mark Ushaw. ‘The ability to conﬁgure the Sigma to function in a similar way to Calrec’s S2 console, but with a smaller overall control surface, was a big attraction.’ The console compliments a 48-channel S2 in Control Room B, installed in 2001.

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BskyB launches seven Satellites Fairlight has sold seven Satellite workstations to the audio postproduction department of BskyB headquarters in London. ‘We set up a stringent set of evaluation criteria, and the Satellite met or exceeded all of them and proved to be the quickest editing platform for our style of operation,’ said BSkyB’s head of sound operations Vaughan Rogers. ‘Our crew have noticed a distinct improvement in sonic clarity, probably due to the Fairlight QDC engine.’ Satellites can be conﬁgured as a 16-, 32or 48-track DAWs with a choice of analogue and digital I-Os, and are compatible with QDC-based and MFX3plus-based project formats and with 96kHz/24-bit. The Satellite incorporates Binnacle Editing and optional mixing is provided with SoftMix — producing a similar conﬁguration to a 24-track Dream Station and enabling the Satellite to be used for standalone productions.

Pure Distribution, a division of Stirling Audio, has supplied theatrical productions around Europe with Aphex 1788 8-channel remote controlled mic preamps. Chris Full from rental company Autograph Sound Recording chose the 1788 for its reliability, features and multichannel capabilities. Several units are in use on productions of Fosse and We Will Rock You.

Pure Distribution has supplied a number of Audix VX-10 vocal condenser mics to jazz artists Katie Melua. Her sound engineer Matt Manasse requested Audix after previously using its well-known range of percussion mics. After being sent a selection of vocal mics, he determined that the VX-10 was perfectly suited to Katie’s vocal style.

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New cardioid headband mic

DPA 4088

路 New live performance cardioid headband mic

路 Maximum gain before feedback 路 Ultimate comfort 路 Ultimate sound

Designed for acoustically demanding live performance, the all-new DPA 4088 cardioid headband mic is the clear winner. Small and lightweight, just 14 grams, no other headband offers such a secure and comfortable fit. Quality construction, the use of moisture resistant materials and compatibility with all leading professional wireless systems makes the DPA 4088 the ultimate miniature to maximize live performance.

To transform every show into the performance of a lifetime contact DPA Microphones A/S Ph.: +45 4814 2828 info@dpamicrophones.com www.dpamicrophones.com

JUST ADD TALENT

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news THE BIG PICTURE • A survey of the UK’s music buying public conducted by the David Lewis Consultancy and commissioned by Sony, Philips and Universal Music has revealed that ‘sound quality’ is the biggest priority when it comes to choosing how they listen to their favourite artists. Seventy-ﬁve per cent of 800 people questioned said that sound quality was most important to them, while a third enjoy high quality music in the home but are less fussy when on the move. Eighty per cent of consumers questioned said that sound quality is important to them and they like their music ‘to be crystal clear, free from noise and interference’. Listening to music in multichannel surround sound is a much higher preference among those aged 18-24 (66%) than those aged 45-54 (26%). More men than women (47% versus 34%) said they only ever listen on the highest audio equipment they can afford, but more women than men (37% versus 25%) said they want high quality at home but are less fussy on the move. • America Online has licensed Coding Technologies’ aacPlus v2 audio codec for use with its media delivery platform and the NSV ﬁle format. • SYPHA has launched a new edition of its online guide for professional digital video cameras. The updated Pro Digital Camera Guide provides unbiased information on over 100 broadcast and professional cameras and camcorders, and can be accessed free at http://SYPHAonline.com.

Biz bites

Just as it seemed some label insiders would burst with anticipation, EC competition chief Mario Monti put them out of their misery by announcing Sony Music and BMG were cleared to proceed with their merger, writes Nigel Jopson. Sony BMG will create a label group second only to Universal Music, just four behemoths now control 80% of the world music market. Impala (the indie label representative body) has threatened to appeal the case at the European Court of First Instance, but the merger was green-lighted because the focus in this case was commercial survival rather than commercial advantage. Consolidation is a necessary part of the reappraisal our industry is undergoing, regulators released a statement saying they: ‘will keep a close watch on the music sector as it becomes even more concentrated, and would very carefully scrutinise any further major concentration in the industry.’ Napster UK showed it’s marketing nous by teaming up with The Sun, Britain’s tabloid newspaper notorious for naked breasts and gutter-commentary, to offer 10 million readers free tracks and the chance to win music players. The Sun’s head of marketing, Sean Mahon said: ‘We chose Napster because of their credibility and brand image which conveys irreverence, fun and youthfulness.’ Melanie, 22, from Watford said: ‘Cor, Coldplay — what a Corker — cum and listen on page 3!’ Meanwhile, the UK’s Official Charts Company published its first ever download chart using test data covering the third week in June. A band with no record deal — the re-formed Pixies — topped the chart with their Bam Thwok track, and a band outside the Top 20 in both album and singles charts — Maroon 5 with This Love — were in position 2. When the official chart launches on September 1 expect more surprises: The Pixies have shown that online music can be used to leverage legacy popularity and as a dealmaking PR tool. ‘By distributing our first new song in 13 years exclusively on iTunes, we were able to quickly and inexpensively make it available to millions of fans in the US and Europe,’ said Ken Goes, manager of the Pixies. Indie labels have agreed terms with Apple for their repertoire to be made available at the iTunes European store. Martin Mills, chairman of Beggars Group and AIM/Impala board member, said: ‘In the USA iTunes represents up to 5% of our album sales already, and key tracks are selling in quantities that simply were inconceivable before.’ Apple announced the iTunes European store had sold 800,000 songs during its first week — 16 times as many as OD2, its closest competitor. On a more depressing note, Velvet Revolver’s Contraband made history as the first copy protected CD to top the US album charts. It sports the lame MediaMax protection from BMG partner SunComm International. In Europe, Universal and Sony are test-marketing a 3-inch CD single containing matching ringtones ... file under too little, too late.

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Mic preamp shoot out at Kore Studios

David Dearden and Luke Baldry (Audient) and Kore’s George Apsion. Engineers, producers and audio suppliers met recently at Kore Studios in West London for listening comparisons of Audient’s ASP008 8-channel mic preamp and the public unveiling of the Sumo high deﬁnition analogue summing amp. Kore’s owner and chief engineer, George Apsion, ensured that mic pres from Millennia, Avalon, Focusrite and Amek (all donated by FX Rentals) were compared directly with the ASP008. Attendees were invited to pass comment on the sound quality with source material provided by a female vocal and acoustic guitar duo. ‘The most interesting aspect of this test was that there was little evidence of the difference between mic pres being subjective, there were clear winners and losers in this test. I’m pleased to say we were among the winners!’ said Luke Baldry, sales and marketing director for Audient. ‘The ASP008 is a lot closer in terms of the sound quality to the more expensive units tested,’ added Apsion.

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We proudly present the new member of the mc2 family: the mc266. It has been developed with over 30 years of experience and is equipped with the finest technology you can purchase today. Fitted with 48 + 8 (up to 64 + 8) faders, the mc266’s lightweight construction is ideally suited for OB vans as well as studios. The core with 3072 mono channels offers 192 fully equipped DSP channels at 96 kHz. The central control section and the flexibly assignable channel strips allow intuitive operation. Further features of the mc266 are the straightforward matrix and console configuration, advanced audio-follows-video, parallel IT track summing as well as convenient console splitting that allows two users to work independently at one console. All these new features, together with the proven architecture of the mc2 series, come at a surprisingly modest price, making the mc266 the ideal choice for all future requirements.

BROADCAST PRODUCTION RADIO ROUTING OB VAN SERVICE

Amsterdam, 10/14 September 2004, Booth No 8.371

Lawo AG · Rastatt/Germany · +49 7222 1002-0 · www.lawo.de

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gear

Products Equipment introductions and announcements plus news on Digidesign and Steinberg.

VIDEO/MULTITRACK AUDIO DISK RECORDER The Rosendahl BonsaiDrive is a miniature high-quality portable video and multitrack audio hard disk recorder aimed at ﬁlm and video postproduction, video assist and multimedia. It was born from the idea of having a stand-

alone, synchronisable hard disk recorder as a portable media storage device, instead of a removable hard disk of comparable size and weight. Running on mains or 12V DC, the unit records uncompressed 4:2:2 PAL or NTSC video together with 10 audio channels on standard IDE hard drives. A Huffman codec provides lossless video compression of 2:1 resulting in a superior video picture and a data transfer rate of 10Mb/s, which is well within the capabilities of standard IDE drives. The audio channels are arranged as an analogue stereo pair and a digital 8-channel ADAT stream and are 24-bit at 48kHz. Synchronisation I-Os include timecode, Sony 9-pin, MTC, MMC, video sync input, Word clock output and GPIOs. The front panel can be removed and used as a remote with a 9-pin connection while a second 9-pin connector allows an additional external machine controller to be connected. All configuration menus and settings are implemented as an interactive on-screen video display, together with insertion of timecode and audio levels in the programme video if required. As each frame is recorded individually, jog, shuttle and playback from 0 to +/- 200% can be realised with playback similar to a professional analogue VTR. Sync audio is output in all modes including reverse, jog and shuttle. www.nanosyncs.com

MARANTZ SOLID STATE

Platform news: Digidesign Digidesign has announced new iLok support that enables Pro Tools users to purchase and download Web licenses (or authorisations) from the DigiStore in real time. With this, Digidesign and Development Partner plug-ins and other software options (such as DigiTranslator) can be licensed at the point of sale, and can then be securely and immediately transferred directly to any inserted iLok USB Smart Key or deposited into a user’s iLok.com account. Designed and built by Magma, the 64-bit Expansion Chassis expands the capabilities of Pro Tools|HD Accel systems by compensating for the PCI slot limitations typical of most host computers. It supports up to seven Digidesign PCI cards: a Pro Tools|HD Core card, and/or HD Accel cards and legacy HD Process cards for additional mixing and processing power. The Chassis makes high track counts in the Pro Tools|HD environment a reality, which was not the case with previous-generation chassis. A short ‘universal’ PCI card extends the PCI bus outside the host computer and a 1.5m cable provides a 264 Mb/second data transfer rate between the computer and the hardware within the Chassis. Digi says that the Mac OSX and Windows XP versions of Free Bomb Factory 4.1 plug-ins for all Pro Tools 6.x users were inadvertently set to expire in July. In addition, all of the paid Bomb Factory 4.1 plug-ins for Mac OSX and Windows XP also expired. In all cases, Bomb Factory 4.1.1 plug-in updates rectify this condition, as they are not subject to an expiration date and can be downloaded from the site. Digidesign says that more than 50 Icons have been sold to music, post, film, broadcast and education. Adopters include Bionic Media, O’Henry Sound Studios, Mirror Image Recorders, Atlantis Group and Widget Post in Los Angeles, Another Country in Chicago, Ball State University, SAE Institutes worldwide, Crazy TV in Tokyo, Magnetix in Switzerland, Tracks in Australia, and Megamedia in Singapore. ‘The worldwide adoption and support for Icon that we’ve witnessed proves that the industry is ready for a next generation large-format console, especially one with full Pro Tools integration and an aggressive price point which is extremely appealing to all types of audio production facilities,’ said Digidesign director of Worldwide console sales Rich Nevens. www.digidesign.com

THREE FROM SPL

SPL’s MixDream is a cascadable 16-in-2 analogue mixer in a 2U. It has active Class A/60V stages for analogue summing, 16 balanced inserts for integrating analogue effects with individual and overall hard bypass relays, and all analogue tracks can be summed before A-D conversion. Channel adjustments and automation (level, pan) remain controlled from the DAW and units may be linked for expanding the channel count. It offers a stereo expansion control, analogue peak limiter, master inserts and switchable output transformers from Lundahl, all switching functions via relays, proprietary differential amplifiers for each input and a discrete, exceptionally low-noise power supply. Like its predecessor, the GoldMike Mark2 retains a hybrid

The PMD570 solid state recorder from Marantz runs to Compact Flash cards with one-touch record in MP3, MP2, WAV, and BWF with more than 40 assignable quality settings. It has RS232c control of functions and menu-driven contact closure for remote operation: Start-Pause,

Mark EDL/Create New File/Start-Pause with New File/ Mark EDL. The media is protected by a door. It has 16-48kHz sample rate selections, 32-384 bit rate selectable, digital I-Os, balanced XLR line inputs with trim and unbalanced line I-O. www.marantzpro.com

solid state and tube construction. New features provide a Class A solid stage, tube drive in three different intensity levels, Flair presence enhancement in two switchable settings, and switching inserts, a pre-output limiter stage, and VU metering with three different display ranges. There’s also a front panel instrument input, separate back panel microphone and line inputs, Phantom power, phase reverse, pad and high-pass filter (50Hz). Options include a 24/96 A-D convertor and I-O transformers by Lundahl. The MTC 2381 monitor and talkback controller combines

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volume level control and loudspeaker management for stereo monitoring with talkback and cue functions. It includes six rear-panel stereo inputs (four balanced and two unbalanced sources), balanced XLR outputs for three loudspeaker pairs, and a slave output. Monitoring control covers source and loudspeaker selection, mono, dim, muting and a headphone output. For talkback there’s a built-in microphone, separate output and a footswitch input while the cue-mix has a separate output, musician level, mix level and volume controls. www.soundperformancelab.com

SONIFEX TALKBACK AND REDS New talkback units from Sonifex were designed initially to interface with its new S2 mixer but the desktop or rackmount units can be used for general inter-studio talkback. There are also versions that work with the Sonifex Station Master studio switcher. A transcription system called D:Scribe allows audio ﬁles recorded on the Net-Log audio logger to be stored in a database to which text can be added with the use of a footcontroller to control playback of the audio. A standalone version of D:Scribe is available for general transcription. The Redbox RB-DSS10 is a 24-bit 96kHz capable

rackmount that produces AES-EBU and SPDIF outputs from 10 selectable AES-EBU or SPDIF digital input signals. The RB-SS10 10-way analogue source select/mixer unit is similar to the RB-DSS10 but has analogue audio inputs and outputs and can mix the inputs to the output as well as route them.

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gear The RB-DDA6W is a 6-way Word clock distribution ampliﬁer while the RB-PLI6 6-way passive line

isolation unit and the RB-LI2 stereo line isolation unit are useful where audio is to be driven over a long length of cable. www.sonifex.co.uk

DXB SHIPS Mackie’s dXb|200 digital production console has begun shipping in the US. The dXb platform is offered in two variations — the dXb|200 and dXb|400. Both models share the same basic architecture and footprint and include a dual touch-screen interface, 96kHz operation (optional to 192kHz), on-board automation and DSP, 25 100mm Penny+Giles touchfaders, configurable I-O card cage and a FireWire I-O card option for streaming to/from desktop or laptop computers. In addition, both models are compatible with select VST plug-ins and both integrate Mackie Control Universal functionality for controlling Pro Tools, Logic and other software applications. www.mackie.com

RE-ENGINEERED PRO SERIES Audio-Technica’s re-engineered Pro Series range of microphones features three new models, three updated models and improves still further on its competitive pricing. The PRO61 is a high performance, hypercardioid, dynamic vocal mic. The PRO41 cardioid dynamic full-range vocal mic has ‘superior’ internal shockmounting. The PRO31 is a general cardioid dynamic, the PRO63 a cardioid dynamic instrument microphone, and the PRO25ax is speciﬁcally designed for high SPL and low frequency signal handling. Reengineered from the previous PRO25, it

features an improved design and a superior capsule. The PRO37 is a classic small diaphragm condenser design while the PRO24 is a new stereo small condenser. Its X/Y configured capsule makes it suitable for ‘ﬁxed’ stereo recording or for camera mounting. The PRO8Hex is a lightweight hypercardioid dynamic headset mic with pivot mounted boom and pick-up pattern while the PRO70 is a miniature cardioid condenser lavalier or instrument mic. The PRO35AX cardioid condenser instrument clip mic is optimised for close-miking sax, brass, toms and percussion. www.audio-technica.co.uk

AUDIX DRUM MIC The F-90 is a miniature prepolarised condenser mic that is very low profile. Designed primarily for use with drums and percussion, the F-90 will fit into very tight places. With a cardioid pattern and a smooth response over a claimed frequency range of 50Hz-18kHz, the F-90 has a precisionmachined aluminum capsule, integrated mic cable, and a chrome plated steel clamping system with flexible gooseneck. Operation requires Phantom power of 9-52V and a phantom power adapter is included. StirlingSyco: +44 208 963 4790

AVOCET MONITORING CONTROL

Described as a discrete Class A audiophile solution to monitoring control for those working with computer systems, Cranesong’s Avocet features three analogue stereo inputs, three digital stereo inputs, three stereo speaker outputs, headphone output, talkback, mute, dim, mono, phase, metering, and a large accurate and tactile volume knob. All controls are on the remote control and all cabling goes to the 2U base unit. www.kmraudio.com

September 2004

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gear CADAC REMOTE PRES

BSS MINIDRIVE GETS WHISEWORKS

Cadac’s M16 remote mic amp integrates directly with Cadac’s new D16 Digital Input Matrix, and up to 16 M16 units can be controlled within a single system. A remote control option is available via the Cadac RM16 Remote Control Unit or via Cadac’s SAM software. Each amplifier provides three active and balanced output splits and each amplifier is provided with an in-built switchable high pass filter. All input stages provide optimal Common Mode Rejection, while output drivers are tuned to provide optimum balanced performance and the ability to drive cable runs in excess of 100m. www.cadac-sound.com

Rory Kaplan Brazilian Bossa Brazilian Romance David Alan

Following the introduction of the Whiseworks-NTM filter in the Omnidrive Compact Plus, BSS has announced a firmware upgrade for its Minidrive FDS-334 and FDS-336 units, which includes the new filters. The new firmware, available as a free download via the BSS website, includes the new 36dB and 52dB slope filters, which use a notching design to provide a faster roll-off than equivalent order Linkwitz-Riley designs, allowing speaker drivers to be powered to their optimum bandwidth. www.bss.co.uk

Ian Nelson Placebo

Dave Bracey Robbie Williams The Cure

John Pellowe Pavarotti

TELEFUNKEN USA RANGE

Telefunken North America has completed its initial line-up of new microphones that recreate the ‘legendary vintage Telefunken sound. Detailed reverse engineering has produced not imitations, but meticulous reissues of the classic Telefunken microphones.’ Models now shipping (pictured L-R): U 47M (short body); U 47M (long body); Ela M251 (with AC701K Tube) Limited Edition; Ela M270 (stereo mic); Ela M251(E) (with 6072A tube); Ela M12; and Ela M14. Prices range from US$2,995 to $14,995. The Ela M12 is described as a faithful reproduction of the C12. It has a 9-polar pattern remote, a NOS 6072 tube, T14 transformer and TK-12 capsule (‘an exact reproduction of the CK-12 capsule found in historic prized microphones’). Telefunken NA: +1 860 882 5919

NOISE REDUCTION BAY

Simon Osborne Sting

Jim Ebdon Sting Annie Lennox Aerosmith

Dave Roden Stereophonics

‘Big’ Mick Hughes Metallica Slipknot

world class engineers...

Nathaniel Kunkel Sting Crosby & Graham Nash Lyle Lovett Fuel

Chuck Ainley Mark Knopfler George Strait Vince Gill Trisha Yearwood

Moray J. McMillin Deep Purple

. . . who chose to specify audio-technica microphones when working with world class artists. Why not create your own world class performance by joining the ever increasing number of A-T users creating professional sound?

world class microphones

STAND L40

Technica House, Royal London Industrial Estate, Old Lane, Leeds LS11 8AG Tel: +44 (0)113 277 1441 Fax: +44 (0)113 270 4836 e-mail: sales@audio-technica.co.uk Web: www.audio-technica.co.uk

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Custom Consoles’ MD5003 noisereduction bay accommodates 27U of equipment. It has a 6mm laminated clear-glass front-facing door plus rear access doors, all with acoustic sealing, providing up to 13dB of acoustic isolation for noisy computers and drives. The MD5003 incorporates internal and external temperature sensors plus a rear-facing low-noise radial fan with continuously-variable speed adjustment. The main structure is of 19mm MDF with a variety of surface options. The rear door has a catch that rotates to compress a foam sealing-strip surround. Custom Consoles: +44 1525 379 909

SYMETRIX DIGITAL VOICE PROCESSOR Symetrix’s AirTools 6200 digital voice processor is targeted at broadcast and is compatible with the AirTools Studio Matrix System.

A dual-channel unit, the 6200 provides two discrete audio paths capable of processing microphone or line-level sources, independently or as a stereo pair. Combination jacks on the inputs accept XLR or 1/4-inch connectors. Phantom power is included. Audio signals are converted to 24-bit 48kHz digital and the user can deﬁne the types and order of processing to be applied. Processing includes ﬁltering, downward expansion, de-essing, parametric EQ, and compression. All parameters are accessible via front panel controls, or a software application in Windows. Control of the 6200 is available via RS-232/485, USB or Ethernet. This last option allows the user to address one or more units installed on a LAN. www.symetrixaudio.com

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gear BROADCAST AND OB 88S

The AMS Neve 88RS console is now available as the broadcast variant 88RSB. Featuring the same ‘S’ channel strip recently released for the 88RS, the 88RSB adds a redundant PSU while motorised faders are replaced by VCA faders with eight groups and one master. The console has fader starts on all channel faders, all VCA group faders and all output faders. Overpress PFL is available on each channel fader. The console solo system defaults to safe mode and has an option for a dedicated PFL loudspeaker output. The new Neve 88RSM has a narrow monitor panel enabling a 48-channel console to be provided in a frame less than 2.4m wide, ideal for OB trucks. The frame is more rugged than the standard model and includes semi-permanent loctight cable clamping. A redundant power supply system is standard and the fader system on the 88RSM can be motorised and fully Encore automated or use VCA faders with fader starts and PFL overpress. www.ams-neve.com

XLOGIC A-DC SSL has introduced the XLogic A-DC card for its XLogic Channel rackmount unit. Features of the card include reference accuracy internal clock, external sync capability, sample frequency follows external sync source from 32-200kHz, selectable fixed clock sample frequency in master mode, and 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4, and 192kHz at 24-bit resolution. One A-DC card can be shared between two XLogic Channel units and transformer isolated 110ohm AES-EBU XLR and SPDIF phono outputs allow use with a wide variety of recorders and workstations. www.solid-state-logic.com

LINN EXOTIK MULTICHANNEL PREAMP

V72 RACKMOUNTING

Offering a convenient means of rackmounting V72 modules, Neue Heimat V72 racking has a 10-way stereo trimmed rotary-switch for Gain control in 3dB steps, it incorporates three electronic fuses and mains voltage is limited from 230/240 to the original historic 220 volts, which is the correct heating voltage for tubes. There’s a 2-pole mains switch, ramped phantom power on each channel and ‘free ﬂoating’ ground lift. The mains is wired with braid shielded wire, all mechanical parts are earthed, the front plate is aluminium and the rest of the casing is steel with ventilation holes. He Studiotechnik: +49 89 84 06 17-77

DIGITAL PRODUCTION DESK The Expert digital console from Fuji subsidiary Hyfax uses two-mode layer construction with distributed numerical control through speciﬁc modules that incorporate a CPU and VU meters. It is aimed at theatre and live production applications. The desk employs 2505 switches, 614 encoders, 35 1024step faders and its display strips can display Chinese or Japanese characters. Desks can be interconnected via LAN and the desk automation is scene based. www.hyfax.co.jp

SURCODE FOR OSX Minnetonka is shipping Surcode Dolby Pro Logic II for Mac OSX. It allows broadcasters, game developers, and video producers to encode surround sound into stereo delivery formats. DiscWelder Chrome II is the newest version of its DVD-A authoring application. Features include Video Auto-Mirror, which allows the user to automatically derive a Video Zone from the contents of the Audio Zone. DSD Import/Conversion allows the import of DSD-format DFF audio ﬁles into the DiscWelder playlist. www.minnetonkaaudio.com

8 BALL AND ROBBIE PREAMP Linn’s Exotik multichannel audio preamplifier product offers ‘purist audio performance’ and access to and control of the new generation of multichannel formats. The product is derived from technology developed for Linn’s flagship Klimax Kontrol preamplifier. An RS232 link enables automatic preselection of the most appropriate decoding algorithm or analogue channels determined by the disc type being played. The EXOTIK+DA digital variant is an enhanced product that includes an additional digital audio module for processing all major audio algorithms. www.linn.co.uk

September 2004

Blue’s 8 Ball is a spherical condenser microphone designed for general instrument and vocal recording and has a Class A discrete low noise amplifier circuit. A standard thread swivel mount at the base of the microphone allows the user to pivot 8-Ball back and forth. A front-mounted LED conﬁrms Phantom power. Robbie the Mic Pre is a hybrid solid-state/vacuum tube single-channel mic preamp designed as a low noise front end. It features audiophile-grade ultra low noise metal ﬁlm resistors and polystyrene capacitors. It has an electronically-balanced, fully discrete input stage, tube gain stage (ECC88 twin triode), and an electronically-balanced solid-state output stage. www.bluemic.com

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gear FOCAL MONITORS French monitor manufacturer Focal has two models with associated subwoofers — the 3-way SM11 with dual 11-inch active and passive drivers and the 2-way SM8 with dual 8-inch

active and passive drivers. They boast pure Beryllium inverted tweeters and cones with a composite structure called ‘W’ (glass/foam/glass) for high stiffness, light weight and high internal damping. The magnet is a very high energy Neodymium circuit. With passive radiators the SM series also features active electronics and class D amplification with analogue and AES-EBU input supporting 44.1-96kHz clock rates. DSP functionality is possible with the Focal Manager software and uses IIR and FIR digital ﬁlters and includes precise level adjustment, placement adjustment called ‘sweet spot’, delays, presets storage, high and low EQ shelving, and 3band parametric EQ. Unity Audio: +44 1440 785843

LITTLE BOXES Little Labs products such as the Multi Z PIP professional instrument preampliﬁer with selectable hi/mid/low impedance for optimum input matching, re-ampliﬁer and DI box provide a number of studio solutions for the guitarist or engineer. The PCP Instrument distro 3.0 is an engineer’s toolbox for guitars, bass, and vintage effects, offering multiple isolated guitar splitter, active DI, triple re-amplifier, vintage guitar FX interface, and wireless receiver to guitar amp interface. The IBP and IBP Junior Phase Alignment Tools are aimed at engineers and studios. Both have continuously variable natural analogue phase adjustment so engineers can place multiple mics on a drum kit exactly where they want, or multi mic a guitar stack and adjust for any phase errors. Unity Audio: +44 1440 785843

CL7 MIC Samson’s CL7 is a cardioid condenser mic with a 1.1-inch, 3-micron gold sputtered diaphragm, switchable 12dB/octave at 100Hz high-pass ﬁlter, and switchable 10dB pad. Powered by 36-52V phantom it has an internal shockmount, solid die cast construction and comes with a swivel standmount and carry case. Sound Technology: +44 1462 480000

Platform news: Steinberg Mackie Control Universal Extender support has now been made available in version 2.2 of Cubase SX/SL and Nuendo. Steinberg users will now be able to add more faders to their existing Mackie Control Universal setups, which gives them the ability to build a large-scale console interface. Adding Extenders to the Mackie Control Universal provides a greater level of accessibility to parameters previously available only by using the Bank and Channel buttons with a single controller. The Steinberg Virtual Instrument Collection includes Special Edition versions of five top Steinberg instruments. Groove Agent SE takes care of the drum department, Virtual Guitarist Electric Edition SE offers electric guitar phrases in a variety of styles and Grand SE provides natural piano sounds. D’cota SE offers analogue and FM synthesis for a wide range of sounds and textures and the package is rounded off by the Special Edition of HALion VST sampler. HALion 3 offers a raft of new technologies and features including RAMSave — a memory-saving technology developed to aid working with large sample sets. The user interface has been redesigned while new sound management tools make file handling easier. The list of import formats now also includes Kontakt and Kurzweil. HALion 3 has new routing features and 27 new effects. The ID Controller by WK Audio was developed in tandem with Nuendo and offers integration with Steinberg’s Media Production software. Dedicated buttons for Nuendo functions as well as user-definable layouts and function keys give immediate access to parameters. Prices are: ID Controller UK£9999.00 (+ VAT); IDFader Fader Pack (side car) UK£5999 (+ VAT); IDStick P&G Joystick UK£199 (+ VAT); IDStand UK£599 (+ VAT); IDPanel Wooden Side Panels UK£229 (+ VAT). www.steinberg.net

LYNX CORE AUDIO DRIVERS

Lynx Studio Technology has announced OSX Core Audio drivers for its LynxTWO, L22 and AES16 products. The release allows the Lynx products to use the power of Apple’s Core Audio protocol and to operate with all G5s. Current owners can download the driver free of charge from the Lynx website at http://www.lynxstudio.com/download.html. www.lynxstudio.com

CD/CASSETTE UPGRADE Tascam’s CC-222mkII combination CD and cassette recorder and player adds digital attenuation control to the analogue inputs and the CD’s digital convertors have been upgraded to 24-bit. Other features include a bi-directional cassette mechanism, ±12% pitch control, RIAA phono input for connection of turntables, SPDIF coax and optical digital I-O for the CD recorder and a wireless remote. Updates for the US-2400 and FW-1884 controllers extend support for Steinberg applications and allow users to map FW-1884 surface controls to software applications via new virtual MIDI ports. The new firmware for the US-2400 is supported by Steinberg Cubase 2.2 and Nuendo 2.2. Additionally, these new Steinberg versions support the FE8 extender for the FW-1884 via Mackie Control emulation. www.tascam.com

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JUNGER’S LEVEL MAGIC Level Magic from Junger Audio relies on a sophisticated new adaptive level control algorithm capable of adjusting the right audio level from any source at any time. It offers transient processing and peak limiting for continuous unattended control of any programme material. With Level Magic the desired Operating Level and Peak Level are dialled in once and Level Magic gives continuous control regardless of the source. Major applications include playout for multichannel broadcasting for satellite and cable distribution, programme transfers with audio level changes, and ingest stations. Level Magic will be offered in three different hardware solutions. The d06 is a 2-channel audio processor with analogue and digital I-Os. The 4-channel b46 provides an optional SDI interface. There’s also the C8046 DSPcard for the C8000 System, with 4-channel automatic audio level control. Other C8000 Level Magic modules are planned. www.junger-audio.com

PRINT TO DISC Primera Technology’s Signature Z1 CD/DVD Printer prints solid colour graphics directly on to the surface of standard lacquer discs. Without sticky labels or markers, Signature Z1 provides an alternative at US$139.95. www.primera.com

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The neXt generation C 414

C 414 B-XLS

C 414 B-XL II

• Choose between the ultra linear C 414 B-XLS

• Two-color LEDs provide quick visual

• Higher sensitivity than on earlier models

• Five switchable polar patterns including a

and transformerless C 414 B-XL II. and extremely low self noise.

• High sound pressure level capability, wide dynamic range, and low impedance over the entire audio spectrum.

• Special gold-sputtered plastic foil

diaphragm to prevent short circuiting if strong blasts of air are applied.

• Elastic capsule suspension greatly

minimizes structurally-transmitted noise from chassis vibration.

• All switchable components operate in low

impedance circuits for ultra-high reliability even in extremely humid conditions.

indication of selected polar pattern. new generation wide cardioid for placement and application flexibility.

• Green to red LED change to give an

overload warning when the output signal is distorted.

• Complete immunity to electrostatic and

electro-magnetic interference from digital gear, computer monitors, etc. due to solid metal housing and transformerless output stage.

• Available in stereo pairs factory-matched for response and sensitivity.

• Complete with hard-shell carrying case,

• Three switchable bass cut filters and three

professional shock mount/stand adapter, external pop filter and windscreen. Stereo pairs include stereo bar for X/Y configuration and single stand placement.

• 3-pin XLR-type connector with gold-plated

• Optional remote control unit (available by

pre-attenuation pads with LEDs for quick visual indication.

contacts for loss-free signal connection to the associated equipment.

end 2004) offers full control of all switchable parameters via standard microphone cable and 3-pin XLR-type connectors.

15 new features combined with the legendary classic sound. Distributed in UK and Eire by: Harman Pro UK, Cranborne House, Cranborne Road, Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, EN6 3JN

t: 01707 668222 f: 01707 668010 e: info@harmanprouk.com w: www.harmanprouk.com

www.akg.com

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facility

Elevator Studios In Resolution V3.3’s business column we examined the ideas and commercial success — or lack of it — behind several middle-market UK studios. One relative newcomer in Liverpool demanded further investigation, if only for the owner’s startling admission that ‘... we’ve only had four days off since last year!’

STEADY STREAM OF FINE music has been recorded at Elevator studio including a UK number 1 album last July, Magic and Medicine from The Coral. ‘We’ve done the Zuton’s new album and mixed it, a Texas album, and Ian Broudie’s album Eastern Lane — which he’s just mixed — sounds amazing,’ enthused Tim Speed. ‘Ian and John Grey both like working here. Gordon Raphael (The Strokes) brought a band up here. We’ve done Mad Action just recently for Polydor and Ken Thomas recorded Clinic’s

NIGEL JOPSON album here (Grammy nominated for Best Alternative Album).’ A number 1 album, two Top 20 albums, three Top 10 singles and another couple of Top 40s in the space of just over 12 months is quite a tally. Tim and Paul Speed both spent the late 1980s in a band called River City People, recording two albums (produced by Don Gehman) for EMI, and scoring a UK Top 20 slot with a single. After the band split in 1991, the brothers continued as writers, working with several artists including Jill Jones (Prince’s singer). ‘I wasn’t thinking of a career as a studio owner at that point, but those experiences stay with you,’ Tim told me. ‘I’ve been to all those trophy studios when I was in bands or writing, and found them very functional but uninspiring. We did record in two studios I loved: Peter Gabriel’s private workroom, the space he has at Real World. What I liked was that he’d put the recording environment top of the list, he’s very concerned about the way a place feels. The other studio we both loved working in was the Talking Heads’ Tom Tom Club studio. It’s above a barn in Connecticut, very similar in space and feel to our own studio. You don’t need to have a sterile faceless environment, why not be inspired by the space that you are in?’ The brothers found themselves with a fair stash of equipment, justiﬁed — as ever with musicians — as a writing studio. ‘We ended up with a demo studio, no recording deal and ... unfortunately ... pretty skint!’ resolution

Demos for friends in bands followed, and the two built up something of a reputation as lucky talismans: ‘... at one time it was like some sort of magic touch — everyone who recorded at our place went on to get a record deal!’ When the building they were in was knocked down to make way for Liverpool’s Capital of Culture improvements, the hunt was on for new premises. A magnificent Victorian former grain store was found, located right in the centre of Liverpool, just five minutes walk from Lime Street station. There was just one snag: ‘When we found the building, it had been empty for 15 years and was virtually derelict, with rain pouring through the roof, but we could see the potential immediately. The biggest decision, and challenge, was to keep as much of the character of the original building as we could, but still make it function as a studio. The exposed brick actually works quite well, perhaps because it is so old it’s quite diffuse, not like a hard surface.’ Elevator creates a funky first-impression with the combination of weathered brick, old beams, wood floors and open rooms with natural light. Ascending the stairs, you first pass relaxing lounges with plasma screens and hip-but-practical bathroom and kitchen facilities. ‘When a band is doing an album spread over several months, they’ve got to have that space to get away from each other. I don’t want us to ever become corporate, I want us to be a cool studio that bands want to come to because of the music being done here, then they can relax and do their own best work,’ explains Tim. Plenty of corners to hide in, stainless steel wash areas and pub-strength table footy all give the impression of a hangout to bunker-down in: ‘What Clinic really liked when they were here was the exclusivity, when they closed the door it was like their place and no one was going to disturb them.’ The next floor up is entirely devoted to a huge recording room, 225 square metres of open space, punctuated by Isambard Brunel-strength Victorian columns. The control room is another floor up, and with drum kits, pianos, Marshall stacks and large flight cases seeming insignificant on the periphery of the room, the recording area almost has the feel of a sound stage rather than a studio. ‘We wanted to keep the live space as flexible as possible, so we’ve made different sounding areas and invested in big screens and drapes, you can change the acoustics to suit the band. When Ken Thomas was doing Clinic, he opened the room right up — Ian Broudie likes to close areas down — it’s good to have that flexibility.’ Apart from studio stalwarts from AKG, Sennheiser and Neumann there are some interesting Sony microphones: a pair of C38Bs and a Sony C-800 — the pricey tube model beloved by vocalists as varied

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facility as Peter Gabriel and 50 cent. There are custom-made 6-channel mixers with basic EQ for musicians to adjust their own headphone mixes. ‘We developed the system with Mat Syson, who does all our maintenance,’ explained Tim. ‘We come from a musical background — loads of studios are built from an engineer’s perspective and point of view, but we also want to please the bands themselves. Many studios underestimate the importance of a headphone mix for the quality of performance.’ As befits a studio designed with musicians in mind there’s a Hammond with Leslie, Fender Rhodes and half a dozen synths, a drum kit and amps plus — upstairs in the control room — a rack of desirable guitars including a Gretsch Tennessean and Dobro. ‘The building itself was just a shell when we first moved in, but that was good because we were able to start again. All the wiring was done to our spec, we were able to do all the correct things like having great earthing and putting the lighting on a different phase.’ Having taken the decision to retain original walls, windows and flooring, isolation between the control room and the recording space below was obviously going to be a key issue. It would have been quite tricky EQing the kick drum if the great vibe downstairs was wobbling the nearfield monitors. Tim revealed it had been an extensive task: ‘We lifted the entire floor, and now there’s 2 inches of sand across the whole area, sitting on a membrane. Then Rockwool, then 19mm MDF which is floated on Neoprene — only after that were the tongue and groove floor boards put back down. Lifting the whole floor was quite tricky because it’s over 100 years old; we lost a bit of timber through rot because the ceiling had been leaking for the 15 or 20 years it had been empty. Now the control room floor and the recording room floor below are both fully floating. I’d say that was one of the major expenses of taking on the building.’ Upstairs and through an insulated trapdoor is the large control room — it’s hard to think of it in control room terms, however — its appearance is very similar to the recording area, with exposed vintage brick, beams and natural light. ‘Sean Zoega helped with the acoustic design, he’d done K Class’ studio and the Forge in Shropshire. His first thought when looking at the site was to build a room within a room, but we gave him the brief to keep as much as possible of the original feel of the building,’ explained Tim. Zoega came up with the idea of baffles on the ceiling to control the RT, the fabriccovered absorbers being held in place by an ingenious tensioned wire-runner system devised by Paul Speed. This means they can easily be slid along the wire to different positions, should the control room layout change significantly in future. ‘The ceiling also has a

September 2004

built-in Faraday cage, because at the time we were concerned about possible radio interference,’ remembers Tim. Compact bass-traps were added in the corners behind the console, to maintain a consistent sound wherever musicians choose to meditate on mixes. The 40-channel Amek Mozart desk was formerly owned by Lisa Stansﬁeld. ‘When I went to see it there was a Pro Control resting on the desk, they’d just been using two channels for several years! Mat Syson, our maintenance engineer, formerly worked for Amek and commissioned this console, so the available support was a major factor in buying the desk.’ The Mozart was a shrewd choice, providing 40 channels of 9098quality transparent mic pres and EQs ‘... most people like to leave the entire back line set up when they’re recording.’ There’s 32 channels of Pro Tools HD, with the option of working with Logic 6 if desired — an alternative preferred by producers like Ian Broudie, Gordon Raphael and Ian Harvey. There’s an Otari MTR90 24-track, used by many bands just for recording drums and bass — although The Coral’s album was recorded entirely on 2-inch. To the right and behind the console, there’s a comprehensive collection of outboard gear of the required pedigree. Two Teletronix LA2As, a Urei 1176 and 1178, a Distressor and other compressors from Tube-Tech, Focusrite and Drawmer — even a couple of Valley People Gain Brains. They share the rack with a similarly ﬁne selection of EQs, including Neve 33135s, Tube-Techs, a Summit dual program and a GML parametric. A collection of digital reverbs and delays from Yamaha and TC Electronic complement an EMT 240 Goldfoil plate. A new addition is a rack of eight comparatively rare Audix mic pres and 4-band EQs: ‘They sound even better than the Neves we have, we bought them from Ian Broudie when he had to move his studio off Pete Townshend’s barge in Twickenham.’ Hiding at the bottom in a fairly nondescript box is an unusual prototype valve mic preamp. ‘That’s our secret weapon — the “Syson”!’ laughs Tim. ‘He’s a bit resolution

of a mad professor — Mat sits at home and designs valve channels and things, brings his projects in and we give him feedback on them. It’s actually very popular with Ian and some of our other clients.’ Once upon a time, the focus of attention in recording studios was the musician’s playing room, the recording apparatus could handily be consigned to something the size of a broom cupboard. As it became possible to actually revisit and redo recordings, musicians and arrangers became interested in this area, and space requirements increased. Before you could say Sergeant Pepper, there were decent seats and loudspeakers in there, and by the time you got Night Fever there’d been an invasion of shag pile carpet, fancy stone and wood panelling. By the time we discovered musicians could almost be replaced by samplers and sequencers there was a pressing need for extra space behind the apparatus. Control rooms were massively extended to accommodate more gizmos, the smokers’ couch was moved in front of the (now grandiose) console, and the spot for actually singing/performing music could handily be consigned to something about the size of ... a broom cupboard. You have to go there to come back, I suppose. At every stage of this development, only a handful of farsighted souls have kept ahead of the game in studio construction. They’re easy to spot — you just need to follow the music. As Tim Speed says: ‘We’ve had a good few hits come out of our studio — a lot of studios have been open for years and years — and never had proper hits. That speaks for itself, clients are making music that’s successful, therefore we get noticed!’ ■

Contact ELEVATOR, LIVERPOOL UK Tel: +44 151 255 0195 Website: www.elevator-studios.com

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review

Lawo mc266 For a company that prides itself on its ability to deliver a user-speciﬁc console in the digital age comes a desk for everyone. ZENON SCHOEPE reports on an important live production board.

We’re looking at a console for live broadcast and particularly OB van use as this attractive new model embraces new build techniques that have resulted in a more compact package. It arose from the need to create a desk that was easy on pricing, manufacturing, developing and size. Comparisons are inevitable to Lawo’s mc282 and the new desk is smaller (fader panels are 33mm wide compared to the 82’s 40mm) which means it can realise 56 faders (48 channel and 8 main) in a typical OB van width. It does away with individual fader modules in favour of fader block panels and it’s smaller, lighter with a new aluminium shell (a 48-fader version weighs about 82kg), and it sips its electricity far more frugally. As already implied, it looks substantially different from all the other large Lawos being sleeker and less upright in a wind-tunnel sort of way. Spec-wise its very able, with a routing matrix integrated into its core you can hit a matrix capacity of 3072 mono I-Os, 192 full DSP channels and 144 summing buses at 96kHz. Worksurface modules and 12-inch TFTs are connected on a star and modules can be hot plugged plus there’s redundant DSP. Interfaces cover mic, line, line out, AES, TDIF, MADI, ATM, SDI embedded, GPIO and serial. Operationally it’s a combo of central access and

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AWO HAS ALL the credentials that a prospective customer ought to be interested in — a nice bit of history and lineage behind it, family business, technologically led, innovative and different, good track record with a lot of German broadcasters, tank-like build quality, and reassuringly exclusive. For someone who prides himself on being able to identify, given enough time, most desks from the last 20-odd years from 10m away I don’t score that highly with Lawos. I can spot the brand pretty quickly — providing it’s not in one of those custom colour German broadcast finishes — but I’ll have a problem with the model and I know I’m not alone in this. It comes down to the number of customisation options that the manufacturer’s big digital desks are available with and why they can look so very different. Those who believe that custom configuration of desk worksurfaces ended with analogue’s heyday will do well to look into the available options for Lawo’s top flight boards, with the arrangement of the centre sections being a particular case in point. My desk-spotter score will go up in the future with the arrival of the mc266, which, with the sole exclusion of a user panel, is as close to a standard ‘fixed’ digital desk as things get.

local assignment via four rotaries per channel strip and the displays alter according to whether you have the desk set up for broadcast, production, recording or surround modes. You can also split the console for two-man operation with separate bank switching, monitoring and PFL summing. In the Lawo product range it sits below the mc282 and is perhaps best described as Lawo’s affordable big desk. The worksurface is scaleable although Lawo thinks that the 48 channel fader conﬁguration will be something of a mainstay with the option to take this out to 64 channel faders, plus, in both cases, the 8 main faders in the central section. Standardisation of the centre section was one of the key aims in designing the mc266, to get away from the economic implications of a full custom build. The other really important stuff has occurred in the core rack. Changes to the way Lawo is now doing its processing (new SHARCs) have made this much more compact than that in older Lawo models. Substantially so in fact; it almost doesn’t look like there’s enough of it compared to some of the older Lawo processing monoliths. What is most interesting is that this new compact core is exactly the same as that on the mc282. The hand-on is that this newer core is cheaper than previous equivalents for both models and an mc266 worksurface is around 40% cheaper than an mc282 worksurface. It means that a small worksurface mc266 starts at around Euro 120,000 with 32 faders, 8 mains, three DSP card and an appropriate selection of interface cards. That’s new price territory for big Lawo technology. An important point to note is that next year Lawo will have completed the redesign of this DSP because at the moment, for matters of continuity, its structure is the same as that on the older DSP boards. The newer DSP boards are much more powerful than the older ones and at present they’re only running at around 25% of their capability. It means that if you buy a mc266 now with, say, three DSP boards for 72 channels, in the middle of next year you will double your channel count with what will effectively be a software upgrade! The worksurface is the sum of several years of tying down user requirements and experiences. The screens are very nice with an attractive main panel in the centre section and some fabulous looking metering above the channel bays. The general demeanour is

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review

almost futuristic by Lawo’s normal conservative standards. It’s certainly modern and clear. I like the way the various sections of what is still an extremely well stacked centre section are neatly and stylishly demarcated on what would otherwise be a field of switches. Lawo has also clustered switches in an ergonomic way and not restricted itself to a chequer board layout; they are arranged around your hand. A keyboard is employed only for naming and set-up routines and the rest of the work is done on the surface. The configuration and set up sorts out the desk sources and destinations and the matrix arrangement and in truth, once this has been optimised for a particular application you probably won’t be needing to bother with it all that much. The worksurface has six banks and each bank has two layers. You set up your surface with assign buttons and you’re offered a variety of methods for achieving this for individual channels, blocks of channels or the whole desk. The logic is consistent, it’s fast and the number of key presses involved is minimal; you select the relevant action key on the centre section and then press the appropriate channel Select and it’s done. Once you grasp this fundamental operating principle you can apply it wherever you go. Possible target buttons flash to tell you when you are in the process of selecting and a press of the relevant centre section button switches them off and cancels the selection mode. You can Forward assign or

Reverse assign buses allowing you to choose a channel and then decide which bus you want to send it to or choose a bus and then decide which channels you want to assign to it. A subtle distinction but one that has important operational beneﬁts I think you’ll agree. You can insert channels into a bank and, for important channels, you can assign them to both layers and to all banks so they will stay put regardless of any bank switching you perform. In line with its live production use the mc266 offers a number of ways to ‘safe’ bits, parts or actions on the surface from inadvertent alteration. The full channel facilities include input mixing, the usual input switching functions, MS decoding, leg and phase switching for stereo inputs, stereo image and width, and delay. Dynamics offer a gate and expander and a compressor/limiter. EQ is 4band fully parametric with bell/shelf switching on the top and bottom and there are also high and low pass ﬁlters. Assigning parameters to the pots on the channel strips involves copying a parameter to a ‘clipboard’ and then ‘pasting’ it to the relevant pots simply by touching them. You can ‘freeze’ control pots so snapshot changes don’t alter them. Faders have a PFL overpress and a null position ‘virtual’ notch along their throw — both are achieved by the fader motors. Metering can be programmed for its insert point per channel and the metering screen displays group, bus, clean and main assignments together with gain

reduction for the dynamics. The bottom block of a channel’s metering panel will also show a graphic representation of the relevant ‘Free Control’ knob’s parameter that has been grabbed. This can change dynamically, in step with whichever pot is being adjusted, or it can be fixed to display a particular parameter continuously. Panning is fully multichannel with an intelligent and informative display that gives you feedback on source position. There is an excellent monitoring control panel to 7.1 and a selection of ways to control monitoring feeds to other destinations. There are a multitude of clean and direct feed possibilities, advanced variations on talkback and comms themes, N-1 matrix and Audio Follows Video external control with adjustable Rise, On and Fall times. The mc266 has snapshot automation but no dynamic automation, yet. It is hard not to be impressed by Lawo technology; you’re conscious at all times of driving an extremely comfortable and well-speced board that is working well within its considerable limits. The mc66 does encourage you to work in a particular way. While what it does is not dissimilar to other digital desk of its type and category, how it achieves this is different enough from more ‘ordinary’ boards to probably require its specifics to be explained to you. While I’m not saying that an intelligent and well travelled engineer couldn’t just sit in front of it and get the hang of it on his own from cold, I am suggesting that an outline of some of the key logic and underlying technology principles would help you to get much more out of it more quickly. It’s a powerful desk with a lot of capability and like all really good designs it has its own character and originality. Once you take this on board you’ll find it fast and satisfying. If you are experienced in other Lawo boards then I reckon you would find the mc266 as easy as falling off a log. The mc266 is a very important desk for Lawo at a time when a lot of manufacturers are releasing very important desks. It’s to do with the refinement of existing markets and defining of new ones, price expectations and distilled feature sets. I believe the mc266 will be looked back on as the desk that broke the mould at Lawo and opened up its appeal to a much broader audience. I think it’s significant and appropriate that its arrival coincides with Lawo breaking out of its predominantly home and local markets and looking elsewhere to internationalise its business. It’s an impressive desk; it really is. Far more approachable than its custom configurable siblings, it will appeal to a much broader group of end users. It deserves to do well. ■

PROS

Clever technology; modern appeal and outlook — Lawo’s ‘jazz’ console; ‘affordable’ now with the promise of doubling the channel count next year.

CONS

Not an ‘ordinary’ digital desk operationally; most experienced ‘ordinary’ desk users will probably require familiarisation.

Contact LAWO, GERMANY: Tel: +49 7222 10020 Website: www.lawo.de

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review

Focusrite Liquid Channel It’s been some time since a product has been so eagerly anticipated as Liquid and it’s probably the most important piece Focusrite has ever produced. Not just because of the cutting edge technology it employs, says JON THORNTON, but because it is the most clearly deﬁned response yet of an audio hardware manufacture to the shifting landscape in the world of the DAW and plug-in.

HE LIQUID CHANNEL applies the principle of digital convolution to replicate as faithfully as possible the sonic characteristics of any combination of front-end signal processing — in other words any possible permutation of microphone preamp and compressor that has ever been manufactured. The principle of convolution isn’t particularly new. Simply put, if a known impulse is put into a system or audio device at a particular level (and ideally an impulse containing all frequencies), and the resulting output sampled, any difference between the sampled output and the original impulse will contain information about every nuance of that device’s sonic behaviour. This information can then be mathematically applied to another digital audio signal on a sample by sample basis, and the resulting output should be as if that audio signal had passed through the original device. While we’ve seen this principle applied recently to digital reverb units and plug-ins, it needed to be moved forward in a number of ways to really do justice to the non-linear and dynamic responses of devices like microphone preamps and compressors. The ﬁrst step here comes in the form of a perfect marriage between Sintefex and Focusrite, using a Sintefex developed process known as ‘dynamic convolution’. This involves measuring and sampling a series of impulse responses at different levels from the peak level of the unit to its noise ﬂoor, and then applying these samples appropriately to incoming signals. Even that’s not the end of the story though, as dynamic processors have the usual parameters of threshold, attack, release, etc. Rather than having a set of impulses sampled at every signal level and at every possible permutation of control setting, the behaviour of an individual compressor with regard to its detection and side chain functions is measured at different levels and settings, and this information glued together with the impulse responses to form what Focusrite refers to as a ‘replica’. This allows the convolution process to faithfully replicate the sonic characteristics of a device with

regard to the frequency response, harmonic distortion, headroom, etc., but also to apply this information over time in a manner that mimics the time-based characteristics of the original device. While this takes care of the replication of compressors, using this approach to reproduce the sound of microphone preamps introduces additional challenges — most notably the fact that there is an interaction between the microphone used and the characteristics of the analogue input stage that is loading it. Not only does this encompass a huge variety of different approaches taken over the years — electronic, transformer based and with variances in nominal input impedances — but also the interaction will be different with every microphone, making it difficult to replicate with convolution. Focusrite’s approach has been to design what it describes as ‘the most flexible analogue front-end ever conceived’. A new custom wound transformer, designed to offer as little inherent colouration as possible, coupled with banks of relays switching capacitor and inductor combinations, and a specially developed electronic input stage mean that signal paths can be constructed that most closely match the impedance and operating principle of any classic mic pre. And then dynamic convolution takes care of the rest. This (lengthy) introduction is important — it gives you some sense of the engineering and design challenges faced by the development team on a number of levels. Computationally, the approach demands an enormous amount of DSP; hence the use of multiple SHARC processors in each unit. And at an analogue level, there is clearly a need to develop one of the cleanest, purest and well engineered signal paths to provide the blankest sheet of paper possible for the switching matrixes and convolution process to work their magic on. In short, this 2U unit needs to impress. It’s certainly impressive enough when you first unpack it, and at 8.6kg a fair old weight. The polished chrome rack ears might not be to everybody’s taste though. In true audio engineering style, it’s straight round to the back panel, which reveals microphone and line level analogue inputs, a line level analogue output, and an AES-EBU digital I-O all on XLRs. BNC resolution

connectors are provided for TTL Word clock I-O and a pair of phonos and a USB port (more of which later) finish things up. The front panel’s most striking feature is the large number of rotary encoders that control most of the variable parameters of the unit and these are surrounded by a ring of LEDs that indicate relative position. The Liquid Channel’s controls break down into five main sections. Located at the left hand side are the majority of the controls associated with the analogue mic preamp stage. A rotary encoder adjusts the gain level, the range being determined by the input source select button immediately above it, which can be mic, line or digital. Mic and line level signals pass via this analogue front-end into an A-D convertor stage before having the convolution process applied — digital signals enter directly into the convolution engine. An input bargraph meter shows the post-gain signal level being applied to this A-D stage, with an additional digital clip LED. Illuminated pushbuttons are also provided for Phantom power, phase reverse and a high pass filter — this is switchable in software between 75 and 120Hz. Moving along are a set of pushbuttons that select sample rate (all usual flavours between 44.1kHz and 192kHz) and clock source (external TTL, AES embedded or internal). Passing over the centrally located LCD panel and controls for a second, we find the inclusion of a 3-band digital EQ. This is not convolved, but rather modeled loosely on the sound of a Focusrite ISA 110. Featuring high and low shelving bands (admittedly with typically digital wide ranges), and a peaking mid band with a switchable Q, the EQ section can be placed pre or post compression, or inserted in the sidechain of the selected compressor replica. A data entry wheel and buttons for accessing system wide set-up menus occupy the far right hand side of the unit. There are also buttons for saving, recalling and naming user memories, of which there are 99. As all controls are ‘soft’, entire set-ups comprising particular combinations of preamp and compressor replicas with specific settings can be easily stored and recalled. Returning to the central section, we find a two row back-lit LCD panel, which displays the names of the September 2004

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review currently loaded replicas, together with the parameter values for these, which are adjusted by a row of rotary encoders immediately below. Loading replicas is as easy as hitting the preamp select or compressor select buttons located at the top of the display, and then scrolling through the available replicas with the data wheel, pressing it to load. A replica does take several seconds to instate, which makes direct A/B comparisons between replicas a little hard. Compressor replicas have the usual controls of Threshold, Ratio, Attack, Release and Gain Make-up — although depending on the replica loaded, not all of these are available as the unit will display only the parameters and associated values of the original unit. This can be overridden, though, allowing access to controls or parameter values that may not be available on the original. The preamp replicas have a single control, labelled harmonics. Adjusting this control allows a larger amount of 2nd, 3rd and 5th order harmonics to be added by the convolution process — the exact blend of which will be determined by the impulse responses of that particular replica. This has two benefits. First, it enables slight variations in sound that exist between different original units — often caused either by age or manufacturing variations — to be accounted for. Second, it allows the sound of the preamp to sound overdriven if desired without compromising the overall gain structure of the signal path. I have to say at this point that the user interface of the Liquid Channel is simultaneously a triumph, and possibly its fatal flaw. It is excellent in terms of ease of use and remarkably intuitive — and the use of single function controls in most places helps no end. But despite this, and despite the nice tactile feedback from the rotary encoders, it never really seems to give the immediacy of interaction that the originals it replicates can. It’s not a criticism of the design team, as there is clearly always going to be this compromise when making a unit this flexible, but nearly everyone who used the unit felt as if they were always operating it at a distance. You can live with this though, as it sounds absolutely awesome. I have to admit to being sceptical about Focusrite’s initial claims, but this is a remarkable machine. Fresh from the factory, the Liquid Channel comes loaded with 40 classic mic pre replicas and 40 classic compressor replicas — although Focusrite is continually making additional replicas available that can be downloaded to the unit (see sidebar). The replica

names give you enough of a clue as to what they are — in some cases its very obvious, in other cases a model number only is given, with no reference to the manufacturer. There are clearly some questions still around regarding intellectual property rights with regard to convolution technology, and Focusrite appears to be treading carefully here. Nevertheless, what is on offer is almost certainly in excess of what even the most ardent fan and collector of vintage outboard might possess. As I suspect most reviewers will do, I begged, stole and borrowed some of the original units to do an A/B comparison. Using a variety of microphones on original and replica preamps, there was no audible difference between the units. Using line level sources on the compressors, again, there was no discernible difference between original and replica. As there were far more replicas on offer than original units I had access to, this exercise soon turned into an exploration of all the replicas on offer. Admittedly, the differences between some of the mic pre replicas are very subtle, even with a variety of microphone sources. Perversely, I liked the most neutral ‘Flat Transformer’ setting enormously — this is simply one of the most uncoloured and neutral mic preamplifier sounds I have come across. Moving to the compressor replicas reveals a lot more differentiation in character, although I struggled a little with gain structure when trying to get very hot and heavy compression from a line level source. This is perhaps why Focusrite has recently released a number of ‘Hot’ replicas. The more you use this box, the more you realise just how flexible and powerful a tool is at your disposal — almost too flexible as you could spend an entire session simply exploring options. If there was a disappointment, it was in the digital EQ section. Although quite smooth sounding, it seemed to be a little too restrained in it sound. It’s fine for gentle mastering applications but struggles with anything more aggressive. Despite this and despite my reservations about the units’ tactility, Liquid Channel is an enormous achievement and a real milestone in audio processing. The original devices it replicates will (I hope) never be replaced — but we can’t all have access to them or, indeed, afford them. And in a straight battle between the Liquid Channel and the plug-in market there is really no contest — expect to see it becoming a standard studio fixture. My order is already in... ■

Liquid Control Liquid Control is a software application that allows remote control of a Liquid channel via its USB port, and also gives users the ability to manage the contents of their Liquid Channel. Replicas, user memories, or the entire contents of the machine can be backed up or restored to Mac or PC. Additional replicas, available from the Focusrite website, can also be loaded into the unit. The software installed without problem on my G4 Powerbook, and the process of archiving and restoring or adding new replicas is exceptionally straightforward. However, you are limited to having a maximum of 40 compressor or preamp replicas resident in the machine at one time, which means deleting some of the factory loaded replicas to install new ones. Given the relatively small size of the replica ﬁles, this does seem a little mean in this iPod age. Up to eight Liquid channels can be controlled at once by separate USB cables or by using the digital linking units together. Remote control is straightforward and bi-directional — while the Liquid Channel responds very quickly to Liquid Control the software display tends to update a little sluggishly if a control is altered on the unit itself.

PROS

Awesome sound and performance; ﬂexibility and expandability; very intuitive; Session Saver is a great feature; Liquid Control makes ﬁle management very simple.

CONS

Digital EQ perhaps a little too restrained; never quite as tactile as the originals; could burn up a lot of session time!

Contact FOCUSRITE, UK: Website: www.focusrite.com

The UK’s largest selection of audio equipment under one roof.

Other good stuff Although the Liquid Channel is single channel only, multiple units can be slaved together using the Digital Link Bus. This uses phono cables to link pairs of units, which can then work as a stereo linked device. More than two units can also be linked with multiple units slaved from a master unit for multichannel applications. An easy to overlook, but incredibly useful feature, is the Session Saver function. Once armed, this monitors input level to the A-D stage and output level. If the input level is in danger of approaching clipping, the system will automatically lower the input gain by an appropriate amount. Similarly, if the output level is approaching clipping but the input stage is clean the gain make-up level is dropped. Once you use this feature, you’ll never want to disable it — it works extremely well in those situations where signal levels are hot and is so much better than a post-compressor peak limiter.

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review

Tube-Tech MMC 1A Bringing the multiband compression of the SMC 2B to a single channel unit with a preamp front end is what this new box is about. ZENON SCHOEPE reckons it could end up being the most used item in your recording chain.

O MATTER HOW HARD I try I still ﬁnd it very hard to remain totally impartial to a new piece of Tube-Tech gear. I can be as cynical and calm as I want about it but by the time I get the damn blue thing out of the box I start to go a bit soft. Part of this has to do with the look of it. While it’s the front panel that sticks out at you from the rack, the Pavlov’s dog in me is triggered by the smoothness of the expanse of blue casing and the precise machining of the side vents. Once I glimpse the front panel in a little more detail I recognise bits that I know and have experience of and I immediately make a connection. So we’re at this point already and I haven’t even given it power yet. The MMC 1A (UK£2388 + VAT) is linked by lineage to the SMC 2B stereo multiband compressor, a unit that I particularly like (not getting any better is it?), but distills this down to a single channel with a mic pre on the front. Around the back you have individual mic and line inputs plus an output all on XLRs and all with fully ﬂoating transformers, of course. There are six valves inside. The multiband compressor offers three identical compressors that operate on the low, mid and high portions of your signal and the point at which these three sections ‘crossover’ or divide the frequency spectrum between them is governed by two crossover controls. The low mid split can span 60Hz to 1.2kHz, by way of a continuous pot working in conjunction with a x4 multiplier switch, while the mid to high split spans 1.2kHz to 6kHz on a continuous pot. The operation of these crossovers is central to the operation of the MMC 1A, as how you split the signal will dictate how creative you’re going to be able to be with your selective compression. Imagine a hard hammered bottom end, relaxed mid and nicely squeezed and boosted top end or, alternatively, a narrowed down, squashed and boosted midrange with the bass and treble left entirely in tact as just two of the many possible permutations. Each of the three compressors has its own gain

reduction metering plus fully variable Threshold (Off to -20dB), Attack (3ms to 200ms), Release (60ms to 2s) and Gain (off to +10dB) operated by those super Tube-Tech pots that feel light but not too light. The MMC 1A is different from the SMC 2B in that it doesn’t have the latter’s continuously variable Ratio control but opts instead for a 3-position switch offering 2:1, 5:1 and 10:1. I kind of hoped I would be able to identify this as something of a limitation but in fact these settings equate to Gentle, More and A Lot and it is adequate. You have the Threshold to play with as well, of course. End of the chain sits a bypass and an Output Gain (Off to +10dB). The Mic/Line front end also has a front-panel DI input. Gain is available in 10dB steps from 20 to 60dB plus +/-10dB in 2dB steps on two switched pots. There are switches for Phantom power, a 20dB pad, phase reverse and 20/40Hz low cut filter. In line with a lot of other modern boxes the MMC 1A sports the distinctly retro inclusion of variable mic impedance sensibly spaced as 600, 1200 and 2400ohms. Performance from the preamp is pretty damn good. It’s leisurely and comfortable sounding and also adds a bit of character depending on how hard you are driving it and how broad the incoming signal. The DI sounded solid but didn’t particularly do it for me — I find DIs subjectively far more dissimilar than most people would have us believe — but it’s a welcome addition on a box like this. You may have tried multiband compression on some of your digital outboard or plug-ins but I think you ought to reserve judgement on what you really think about it as a means of gain reduction until you have tried Tube-Tech’s analogue take on the subject. Presented with such a high pot count it is also child’s play to operate compared to digital attempts. How you implement this box depends on how you approach it. By definition most users will be piping something down it on the way to recording. As such you’ve got your input options covered and you might be expecting some form of EQ. The beauty of resolution

multiband compression is that you are effectively mucking around with the spectral balance anyway because you’re offsetting the incoming relative values and dynamics of the bands. For my money, going into a DAW through a unit like this is far smarter and purer than going through a box with EQ that you might be tempted to use. Used sensitively you can track up some monster signals that retain an element of class and character all the way through to the master, even after all the subsequent treatment you will give it. Learn the knack, get your source sounding right and you can track clean and strong and add real quality. It’s good discipline too because it encourages you to put the work in at the front as opposed to slapping something down in the hope that you can sort it out adequately later on. It doesn’t have to take long and you’re not obliged to use all the bands all the time when only the slightest bit of help in one tight region will improve matters. Vocals through this box are amazing because you can tune in or tune out the bit that you’re after and get it smooth without, what is by comparison, the relatively vulgar use of mere full band compression. You can make a rather unexciting mic sound really rather expensive with this unit. The advantage of this type of multiband over broadband compression is that you can preserve more of the apparent dynamic of a performance by controlling only the required part rather than compromising the whole lot simply because there’s a bit too much energy in certain frequencies. A keyboard pad or even a snare can be evened out selectively and they will sit better in the mix as a result. Same goes for a processed guitar or bass signal, they can be tamed. You’ll start to listen in a different way as a result and it’s at this point that the MMC 1A will become the most used piece of tracking equipment you have. The crossover arrangements are perfect, there is so much variability, so much scope for subtle and not so subtle control. The results are superb. I could convince myself that a stereo MMC 1A would’ve have been a better option. But, if I’m honest, in your typical DAW recording application you are more likely to want 2-channels of the multiband compressor than two channels of mic pre — in which case you ought to be looking at an SMC 2B. Of course, it’s a lot of money for a single channel unit and you would be hard pressed to ﬁnd even a selection of single channels at this price. However, you could console yourself with the fact that resale values of Tube-Techs are right up there with the best and you should certainly ﬁle this purchase under ‘investment’. Original friendly bias or not, I love this box. Buy one, get the hang of it and I guarantee that you will get your money’s worth. ■

n PROS

Superb performance and control; simple to use; quite unlike anything else; good package.

CONS

Not cheap; single channel; so what?

v s

Contact TUBE-TECH, DENMARK: Website: www.tube-tech.com UK, Systems Workshop: +44 1691 658550

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review

Audient ASP008 If eight mic channels in a 1U box sounds familiar, Audient has gone some way to adding value and originality to the now popular formula. Thorough, objective, at times poetic but often late — now that’s what I call JON THORNTON

WAS RECENTLY INTRODUCED to the record company executive credited with creating the ‘Now...that’s what I call music’ brand. An extremely nice man, but not at all bothered that his brainchild was now up to its 58th incarnation, together with spawning a mass of imitations, which invite comment along the lines of quantity versus quality. I mention this, because my first reaction on receiving the Audient ASP008 was something along the lines of ‘Now... that’s what I call an 8-channel mic preamplifier with digital output option 43’. OK, that’s a bit of an exaggeration but there’s no doubt that the market for this kind of device is getting increasingly crowded. I was curious as to what would make Audient’s device stand out from the crowd. Audient is, of course, a company set up by the two ‘Ds’ of DDA fame — Gareth Davies and David Dearden. They’ve had great success with the midrange analogue recording console, the ASP8024, and increasingly with the Aztec live sound board. The guts of the ASP008 are the mic preamps designs that can be found in the ASP8024. These are based around a discrete (eight transistor) Class A front end, with component choice said to deliver extremely low noise and distortion. Packaged in a 1U, the ASP008 is a rhapsody in silver — brushed aluminium faceplate and bright metal knobs. Legending is black on silver, but quite easy to read despite the small size (A rhapsody in legibility? Ed). Each of the eight channels features a Gain control and a continuously variable high pass filter that ranges from 25Hz to 250Hz with a slope of 12dB/octave. Illuminated pushbuttons select HPF in or out, phase reverse and line/mic input selection. Gain range is 0 to 60dB with mic selected, or -20dB to 40dB with line selected. Phantom power (48V) can be applied to any of the mic channels with another pushbutton, fetchingly illuminated in blue. The phantom circuitry includes a ‘soft-start’ feature in the event of phantom being applied while a channel is open. While this doesn’t make it silent, it does minimise any loudspeaker threatening transients. Finally, each channel also has a three-position toggle switch that allows the impedance of the mic input to be switched between 200, 1200 and 5000 Ohms. If this wasn’t enough, the first two channels also feature a front panel mounted DI input, which can be selected via an additional pushbutton, and an 30

associated -20dB pad switch for this input. Signal metering is rudimentary, but sensible — with a signal present LED for each channel illuminating at signals in excess of -25dBu, and a peak LED that illuminates at +16dBu. Given that most people will be using the unit as a front end to a DAW or digital multitrack recorder, this indication seems sufficient, and with well thought out threshold levels. As you might expect, this leads to a fairly crowded front panel. While the rotary controls have a nice level of resistance to them, users with the larger variety of finger might find them getting caught between the gain and filter pots when making adjustments. Turning to the back panel, and we find microphone level inputs on eight XLR sockets. The eight line level inputs and line outputs (all electronically balanced) are available on two 25-pin D-Sub connectors. The space that this saves enables either one or both of the two optional digital interface cards to be fitted. The first is an ADAT option, giving 8 channels of digital output down a single light-pipe connector. The second is an AES/SPDIF card that provides four digital output pairs on a 9-pin D-Sub connector. A switch on the rear panel determines whether the signal is in AES or SPDIF format. An external TTL Word clock input is also provided on a BNC connector, with a rear panel switch for selecting external or internal clock. Sample rates for the digital cards, if using the internal clock, are selected via a front panel

pushbutton, which toggles through the available rates of 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96kHz (although only rates up to 48kHz are supported via the ADAT interface). In addition, the output of the ADAT interface can also be toggled between bit depths of 16, 20 or 24 — while the AES output is always 24-bit. A small thing, but one that I am eternally grateful for, is that the selected sample rate/bit-depth is retained in memory even when the unit is powered down. A nicely featured digital option then, and in use it sounds very capable. With line level inputs only, the convertors sound the equal of those employed in Tascam’s MX2424, which I’ve always considered to be a good balance of price/performance. But what about the all-important analogue front end? With a variety of microphones and sources, the preamps have a very open sound, which remains pleasantly neutral. Even when really adding gain to signals with a lot of HF transients, which can sometimes give a fairly brittle sound, they remained very detailed and never strained. Comparisons are difficult to make — they don’t quite have the edginess of something like an Amek 9098, or the slightly larger than life HF of a Focusrite design — instead they just sound quiet, clean and ever so slightly warm. The switchable impedance function seems to be flavour of the month at the moment and in truth on the usual modern studio capacitor mic standards, I found it hard to discern any significant tonal change between the three positions. On a venerable old Electrovoice RE20 though, switching to the lowest input impedance did seem to give a slight shift in tonality, lifting the low mid response and generally graining the timbre slightly. The DI inputs on the first two channels also did a commendable job in recording bass guitar, giving a nice full bottom end with almost too much HF detail — but nothing that a little EQ can’t solve. In summary, the ASP008 (UK£795 + VAT) does exactly what it says on the tin. I can’t think of a single feature that has been omitted, and it performs extremely well. The provision of line inputs and a very capable digital output option makes it attractive simply as an 8 channel A-D convertor for the money. Added to this are preamps that are up there with some of the best in the field, variable impedance and DI inputs. Now that’s what I call a great unit. ■

Contact AUDIENT, UK: Tel: +44 1256 381944 Website: www.audient.co,uk

PROS

Preamps sound very open, detailed and quiet; excellent digital output option; occasionally useful variable input impedance feature.

CONS

Pots may be a little too close together for some ﬁngers; I hate wiring D-Sub connectors.

EXTRAS

Audient’s Sumo summing amp has a large scale console format, fully differential, expandable stereo summing bus, a stereo mix bus compressor and peak limiter, and balanced bus insert points. A 192kHz analogue-to-digital convertor is an option.

It features eight balanced stereo inputs with >24dB headroom, a mono function for Channels 1/2 and 3/4, variable gain fully differential mix amp with >27dB headroom, and balanced analogue stereo outputs. The unit has high resolution metering and expander input for up to four additional Sumos.

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review

Vintage Design CL-1 A dynamics device with independent compressor and limiter controls and distinctly retro lines from a company that builds them like they used to. GEORGE SHILLING puts it straight into the red.

E’VE SEEN PLENTY of quality Danish pro audio equipment, but things have been relatively quieter in neighbouring Sweden (Aside from Pearl, Milab and Lab Gruppen, before the calls start coming in. Ed). Thomas Kristiansson’s Vintage Design is a new Swedish company, its products assembled by hand, its circuits based, unsurprisingly, on vintage designs. The 2U front panel of the CL-1 certainly has vintage styling, with a deﬁnite classic ﬂavour. The unit is said to be loosely based on Neve 2254 circuitry, with sidechain circuits based on the later 2264, which was a Class AB design, but with modern improvements. However, the CL-1 doesn’t really look like either of these mono units and is laid out a bit like a 33609, traditionally a favourite with broadcast engineers. The 2254 dates from 1969 and features a fairly square front panel with a vertical gain reduction meter. These are most often encountered in pairs in a 3U power supply rack. The 2264 was originally a narrower console channel-width module with dualconcentric controls. The CL-1 meters retain the familiar black faces, and backwards-reading concept with zero on the left, although these backlit custom Sifam examples seem more EMI than Neve in terms of housing and needle. More importantly, the circuitry uses a diode bridge as the gain control element, with transformers before and after this supplied by Carnhill, St Ives UK which was one of Neve’s suppliers in the 1970s. There is also a transformer-balanced Class A output stage, also using Carnhills, and it is promised that no ICs are used anywhere in the audio circuitry. On the rear are XLRs for stereo audio inputs and outputs. The only other connection is for 24V power input. The CL-1 came supplied with a wall-wart for this purpose, looking more like something for charging your mobile phone rather than part of a vintage compressor package. A more substantial 32

external supply can be attached, although I had no trouble at all with the wall-wart except for the lack of a mains switch. Front panel controls are split with the left channel above the right, and with two distinct sections comprising Compressor on the left and Limiter on the right. Both sections feature maroon stepped Threshold controls. (These came loose, but simply needed their retaining screws tightening.) Cosmetically the CL-1 looks the part, although it has a slightly prototype feel of a first run, and indeed it is promised that following batches will be very slightly different in appearance. (The manufacturer has confirmed this. Ed.) The signal passes through the Compressor stage first; this comprises four adjustable controls. Threshold is a stepped knob with settings at 2dB intervals from -20 to +10dB. Ratio switches between five useful positions from 1.5:1 to 8:1, while Recovery switches between six positions, the first four from 0.1s through 1.5s, with two auto settings beyond those, nominally 0.5s and 2s. Make-up Gain knobs have a boost of up to 20dB available; these are continuous pots. Following this section’s In/Out toggles, their output feeds directly into the Limiter circuits. These comprise another stepped Threshold knob, with half-dB steps from +4 to +15dB, Recovery knob similar to the resolution

Compressor, Fast/Slow Attack toggle, and In/Out toggle. The Limiting circuit is fed from the signal feeding the output transformers, and acts as a final ‘brick wall’ limiter. Beyond the meters are a single Bypass toggle and stereo Link. The In/Out toggles of all sections simply deactivate the sidechains and make-up gain circuits; audio still passes through all the transformers unless the master Bypass is flipped. The Link toggle simply sums the two channels’ sidechains, rather than linking any of the controls. The CL-1 undoubtedly captures the classic spirit, and provides excellent audio performance. It is warm in character, forgiving and well rounded when compressing moderately, without adding distortion or unpleasant artefacts. It is capable of subtle tickling and savage limiting (But presumably not savage tickling. Ed). The way in which the Compressor output feeds into the Limiter enables you to drive into the Limiter using the Make Up Gain knobs. The Limiter is exceptionally forgiving, ludicrous amounts of gain reduction are feasible before anything remotely nasty starts to happen. The two different Limiter Attack settings allow for an even more forgiving character when set to the slower setting. I used the CL-1 as a programme compressor for mixing a punky rock album, and it worked beautifully on a variety of tracks to bring the elements together and make the mix sound more like a finished record. It makes an excellent warming vocal compressor if you don’t want the aggression of an 1176 or the overblown harmonic characteristics of certain valve models, and it is also terrific on bass guitar. The defining character of this unit is warmth without distortion, it boasts a big sound, and although Attack characteristics have little adjustment available, I didn’t miss this. It will make most programme material sound big and creamy, retaining good tonal integrity even under heavy gain reduction. The two Auto release settings reduce pumping in dynamic programme material in a very pleasant manner. For percussive sources I would mostly plug a different unit in, as this doesn’t have the speed of release or crunch to handle percussion in a desirable way for me. But for just about everything else, this is lovely. The CL-1 compares favourably to the competition at a ‘Studio Direct’ price of Euro 2953 (+ VAT). ■

PROS

Classic-style compressor; genuine British components.

CONS

Some early build/presentation QC issues; knob pointers could be clearer.

EXTRAS

Vintage Design offers a variety of classic

style units including the DMP dual mic preamp and the CA73 and CA81 channel amps with EQ.

Contact VINTAGE DESIGN, SWEDEN: Website: www.vintagedesign.se Europe, Golden Age Music, Sweden: Tel: +46 322 665050 Website: www.goldenagemusic.se

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review

Apogee AD-16X andDA-16X Relish or loathe the variability of convertor quality and value for money, chances are you can never have enough. ROB JAMES looks at two new 16-channel units and suggests that it might be best to buy in bulk.

IGO, AS I’M SURE many of you are aware, is an old computing term dating back to the days of the early mainframes. It is a contraction of ‘Garbage In, Garbage Out’. For digital audio, I think this needs a little modification. In our case, assuming any digital processing is transparent (and leaving aside any artistic considerations) the most likely candidate for degradation is the analogue to digital conversion and/or the digital to analogue conversion process. ‘Degradation In, Degradation Out’ — DiDo will probably do the trick. When you consider the amount of time and effort spent adding value to audio once it is digitised, not to mention the time spent listening to it, it makes sense not to stint on convertors. Thanks to Moore’s law, and the number of devices now using this technology, even high sampling rate convertors have become an insignificant purchase for consumers, hidden away in cheap DVD players and recorders. As ever though, you get what you pay for when it comes to ultimate performance and if you want the conversion technology conveniently packaged to perform the specific tasks routinely required in studios. As a manufacturer, Apogee occupies an interesting

position in the convertor food chain. An obvious step up from ‘budget’ designs and generally slightly more expensive than DAW manufacturers ‘in-house’ convertors, Apogee products are nonetheless considerably more attainable than some of the more exotic designs. As a result the AD-8000 has become something of a worldwide standard. The AD and DA16X designs bring the Apogee offer bang up to date with the promise of more channels of high quality conversion with proprietary extras, such as UV-22, at sampling rates up to 192kHz and, just as importantly, an ever more affordable price. These units are members of Apogee’s X-Series range, which also includes the Rosetta 800 and Rosetta 200. These all share a number of common features, not least the same expansion cards and very similar operational paradigms. Learn one unit and you can ﬁnd your way around any of them without opening the manual. Navigating the menu structure using the front panel controls is much simpler than with the older units. On the DA-16X there are just four Setup buttons arranged as Previous, Next, Up and Down. The AD-16X adds a Clear button. Pressing any of the four buttons enters

Option cards A range of optional interface cards at UK£449 (+ VAT) each greatly extends the versatility and reach of the AD-16 and DA-16. The X-HD option card allows direct connectivity between Pro Tools|HD systems and X series convertors including the units under consideration here and the Rosettas. The X-Digi-Mix card interfaces directly with legacy Pro Tools Mix Core or Farm cards and also provides a Superclock output. The X-FireWire Card enables direct connection to any FireWire equipped computer. It supports the new S800 standard (with backwards compatibility for S400 connections). Two FireWire sockets allow an AD-16 and a DA-16 or any other X-Series units to be daisy-chained with up to 16x16 24-bit channels at 44.1/48/88.2/96KHz or up to 16 24-bit channels at 176.4/192KHz from a single PC or Mac connection.

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Setup mode. Previous and Next cycle through the ‘Primary Parameter Loop’ — if you can remember the order primary parameters are arranged in, you can save some button pushes by going in the right direction. The selected parameter is indicated in the display and its value may be changed with the Up and Down buttons. Where a parameter can be applied to individual channels or globally, e.g. UV22, Soft Limit, etc, pressing and holding Previous or Next takes you down a level into the individual channel’s loop for that parameter. Easier to do than describe. A forest of LEDs show currently selected set-up parameters. The 16 red LEDs ﬂag up input A to D clipping in excess of 3 samples duration, the green ones act as level meters in the range -36 to 0dBFS. On the AD-16X the Clear button clears clip indications. Pressing and holding it toggles between two modes, One Second Clear, which does what it says and ‘Autoclear’. This clears clip indications between takes. The clip indication is held until the channel level drops below -50dBFS for 5 seconds or more and until a new signal above this level is input. Unusually, the Power switch LED illuminates only in standby. The power switch is programmable (via internal jumpers) to either power the unit on when power is applied or require the front panel Power button to be pressed. Also under the hood are a termination switch for Word clock and a MIDI socket for ﬁrmware upgrades. Both units come with analogue and AES-EBU connections on 25 pin Sub-Ds plus ADAT optical TOSlink and Word clock on BNCs. For the higher sampling rates single and double wire AES are supported, as is SMUX optical. The X-Series expansion card option slot further extends versatility. At UK£2500 (+ VAT) apiece these devices are still a long way from being a casual purchase. Mercifully convertors have a far longer useful life-span than computers before obsolescence sets in. Therefore it is all the more important that the build quality is representative of the excellence we have come to expect from Apogee. It is no coincidence that previous generation Apogee convertors are to be found in many of the more critical applications around the world. If anything, these are better than the earlier units. The power supplies are a new design with passive cooling — no fans to add to the noise burden. The DA16X has new, ultra-low impedance, balanced linedrivers claimed to accurately simulate transformer behaviour and able to drive even non-symmetrical loads at up to 26dBu. Clocking technology is Apogee’s C777, as used in the Big Ben, and 192kHz is standard. In short, these convertors represent another notch upward, offering Apogee ‘house style’ in appearance and sound with up to the minute technology at an ever more attractive price. ■

PROS

Industry standard convertors at a less scary price; easy to use, once you get the hang of it; no fans, so quiet in every sense.

CONS

Menu structure may initially confuse; still a lot of money for some budgets.

Contact APOGEE, US: Website: www.apogeedigital.com UK, Arbiter Group: www.arbitermt.co.uk

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review

Antares Autotune 4 Now an accepted and mature technology, the original ‘pitch ﬁxer’ has grown and broadened in its appeal. GEORGE SHILLING searches in vain for the singer ego threshold control.

K, LET ME put you out of your misery: no, it doesn’t tune the individual notes within chords or individual instruments within your mix, just yet. That would really be a scoop for the News section. But here is a significant upgrade to the rather clever tuning technology that has now become de rigueur for vocals on pop hits. And it undoubtedly gets used in all sorts of other situations — I know a recording engineer who purchased the hardware version specifically for dealing with Irish Uilleann pipes when recording Celtic music, which are nearly as hard to spell as to get in tune! Version 4 is for PC or Mac, in all major plug-in formats except Audio Units, which is promised in the near future (TDM UK£295 + VAT; Native UK£190 + VAT). The new version takes up even more screen space to incorporate a number of new features, the most obvious of which is the piano keyboard at the bottom of the main Auto page. The general appearance and function of version 3 is retained, but there are a large number of added features. The informative PDF manual is 78 pages long, but worth printing for the tutorials and explanations. Benefits of the new version include sample rates up to 192kHz and the aforementioned Piano Keyboard section, where you can use different settings in different octaves. Better still, it provides an instant visual indicator of the detected notes, as they turn blue. The useful MIDI scale setting and targeting functions can now be selected as Octave Played or for All Octaves. Notes removed from the scale are greyed on the keyboard, and Bypassed notes are brown. Individual notes can be clicked to change their status, having set the usual buttons that still activate all octaves. The Graphical mode page includes a larger graph, and the whole look is subtly enhanced with new buttons and smoother-looking graphics on both pages. A new Options dialogue includes a setting for Undo (and Redo) Levels (up to 20 can be held in memory) alternative graph colour schemes, and options for how the knobs are ‘moused’. The Buffer setting also moves to this hidden page. Vibrato function in Auto mode is vastly improved, most notably by a Variation knob that modulates the speed, and also with variable Amplitude modulation, Formant variation and an Onset Rate, as well as the familiar Onset Delay, Pitch amount, Rate and Shape settings. It is much more convincing on vocals when you get the settings right. The Improved Targeting button implements an alternative 36

recognition algorithm that, remarkably, is quite often able to recognise out of tune vibrato that veers over the threshold into what would normally be an adjacent note. Instead of pulling the tuning to the nearest note, the Stochastic Optimal Linear Estimation Theory (I kid you not!) somehow recognises the intended tuning, and pulls in the correct direction. On the Graphical mode page there is now a new Vibrato Scaling function where you can increase or decrease existing wobulations, much like the similar function in Celemony Melodyne, and although perhaps not quite as elegantly implemented and with less adjustment range it works just as convincingly. Perhaps the most noticeable change to the Graphical Mode is the introduction of new mouse tools for use with the graph. Power users might struggle initially to adapt to the new tools, but newcomers will probably ﬁnd operation slightly more intuitive, with tools for drawing lines and curves, scissors for inserting breakpoints, an I-Beam selection tool for horizontally highlighting a time-related section, for choosing a section for the Vibrato Scaling, or Make Curve or Make Auto functions. There is the multifunctional Arrow Tool for

manipulating lines, plus a useful Magnifying Glass tool, which behaves exactly as you might expect, with the ability to lasso a section and zoom out by holding Alt and clicking. The Hand tool behaves like the one in Adobe Acrobat Reader, moving the entire graph around within its frame. Full Cut, Copy and Paste functions are also available for rendered curves and drawn lines. The look and feel of the Graphical page is a definite improvement, and I found it much easier to use than older versions, although I wouldn’t call myself a ‘power user’ of this page. Those used to the old version might suffer a short spell of ‘familiarisation’. Back on the Auto page, Autotune still includes settings for a baffling list of historic, ethnic and experimental tunings, rarely used for pop hits, but something to play with on a rainy day perhaps. Scale detune now displays its setting in Hz and Cents. The new graphics look refined and mostly clear, although I don’t understand why, when most settings use a white font, some parameters now display in mid-blue on a dark green background, which is quite difficult to read. The audio still shifts slightly later when processed with the AudioSuite version, and the window takes up rather more than a quarter of my 17-inch Studio Display, but these criticisms are minor, compared to the enduringly astounding capabilities of the technology. The new features add value to the package but never get in the way of using Autotune for instant results. The additions are intelligent and useful, and even if you don’t use all the functions, the package is greatly improved. ■

PROS

Worthwhile improvements; piano keyboard is great; familiar main controls still in place; technology still amazes.

CONS

Large screen real-estate; some parameters difﬁcult to read in blue.

EXTRAS

The Antares Filter product has four true stereo multimode ﬁlters with low-pass, highpass, bandpass and notch modes, variable cutoff slope, four independent delay sections, and a variety of ﬁlter routing options.

Modulation control sources include four multishape LFOs, four Envelope Generators with delay and hold times, two Rhythm Generators, an Envelope Follower and a slew of MIDI controllers.

Contact ANTARES, US: Website: www.antarestech.com UK, Unity Audio: +44 1440 785843

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review

Pearl ELM-C Offering a more angular approach to the more commonly encountered round diaphragms, Pearl is one of the best kept secrets in microphone manufacture. JON THORNTON likes what he hears and he tells you why.

EARL’S ELMC is the second microphone I’ve reviewed recently that features a rectangular diaphragm — and they’ve both come from the land that gave us ABBA and Saab. Admittedly, there is some shared corporate DNA in the history of Pearl and Milab (the other company), and they both offer some strong justifications for the approach. In brief, the traditional circular diaphragm, although easy to make consistently, has a significant disadvantage in that its symmetry tends to make its primary resonance quite pronounced. Although this resonance can be reduced by careful damping, it can still have some effects on the linearity of the microphone’s frequency response. Added to this is the trade-off between diaphragm size and signal to noise ratios — larger diaphragms offer better signal to noise performance than smaller diaphragms, but the larger a traditional circular diaphragm becomes, the lower in frequency the primary resonance becomes, making it more noticeable in the audio frequency range. Pearl has manufactured microphones with rectangular diaphragms for some time now and claims to offer the same signal to noise benefits of large diaphragms but with less noticeable resonance effects — or a least a variety of smaller, more evenly spaced resonances. The ELM-C, however, takes this approach a step further, by using a diaphragm with an extremely high (7:1) length/width ratio. At roughly 70mm long by 10mm wide, this gives about twice the surface area of a typical large circular diaphragm. The ELM-C (UK£811 + VAT) is a fixed pattern, cardioid capacitor microphone — tidily packaged in a black metal housing measuring approximately 19cm in length and 3cm in diameter — and comes with a similarly tidy aluminium case. The diaphragm is side addressed, and on the face of it that’s all there is to it. No filter or pad switches clutter up the rather minimalist finish, although a rather funky red LED located at the rear of the microphone just inside the black mesh surrounding the capsule lights up when phantom power is applied.

Setting the microphone up for the first time and cranking the preamp gain on the console confirms that this is indeed a very quiet microphone. Pearl quotes 9dBA for self noise, which is no doubt attributable to the larger than normal surface area of the diaphragm. Plonking a singer in front of it at about 20cm distance allowed me to gain some initial impressions of tonality, which are closer to what you might expect from a small diaphragm microphone than a large diaphragm one. While the ELM-C didn’t sound quite as flat and neutral as a DPA 4011, it certainly lacked the mid-range lift and gradually tapering high frequency response of a Neumann U87, and is probably best described as neutral without sounding clinical — although it did seem quite susceptible to popping on vocals. Quoted frequency response is 20Hz-25kHz, although no deviation figures are supplied in this range. The real party piece of the ELM-C is in its polar response and directivity. Although nominally a cardioid microphone, one of the other characteristics of the extreme aspect ratio of the diaphragm is the way in which this response is ‘flattened’. In other words; its lateral response is smooth, wide and consistent at high frequencies — giving a very wide working angle to the microphone, with very little colouration to the sound even at the extremes. Offaxis rejection seems to happen quite suddenly, but very progressively in this lateral plane. Move in the vertical plane, however, and HF rejection kicks in quite sharply almost as soon as you are out of the line of sight of the diaphragm — almost unnervingly so — and goes some way to explaining the ‘linear’ designation of these microphones. The result of this is a mic that can be put to work very effectively to tame a less than ideal acoustic. As an example, a technique I like to use resolution

on drums, particularly when a more ‘organic’ sound is needed, is to position a stereo pair in front of the kit, and raised ever so slightly higher than the cymbals. Typically, this requires some pretty careful positioning, and is always at the mercy of the room acoustic, which in some cases can lead to some pretty unflattering effects caused by the microphones picking up the early reflections from floor and ceiling almost as well as the direct sound. Luckily for me, I was supplied with a pair of ELM-Cs, together with a shockmount for each and a stereo bar, which makes short work of setting up either a coincident or near coincident pair. The result was pretty staggering, yielding a kit sound that had great focus and space, but with none of the room ‘honk’ that you generally need to dial out with EQ and then supplement with individual microphones. Moreover, I was able to move the stereo pair quite some distance away to tame a slight splashiness to the cymbal sound without losing too much of the detail of the direct sound. Duly impressed, I put a single ELM-C to work as a distant microphone on a guitar amp, lifted off the floor on a flightcase. Mixed with the ubiquitous SM57 as a close microphone, the resulting sound was tight, detailed and big and would ordinarily have entailed much work with baffles and blankets in this particular live room. The ELM-C has a sibling in the range, the ELM-B. The same construction principles apply, with the same ‘flattened’ polar response, but this time based on a fig-8 pattern — which should lend itself very neatly to MS stereo configurations. It does take a while to adjust to the way this microphone behaves — at first the vertical rejection seems almost unnatural. But working with its slightly unusual characteristics is well worth the effort. I think I’ve found a new favourite for drum overheads... ■

PROS

Quiet; neutral sound without being too clinical; impressive reach and focus.

CONS

No pad or HPF; unusual polar response takes some getting used to.

Contact PEARL, SWEDEN: Website: www.pearl.se UK, DACS: +44 191 438 2500

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review

Drawmer DMS-2 The humble distribution ampliﬁer is one of the unsung heroes of this business. Often to be found lurking, unseen, inside other pieces of equipment, occasionally they get to strut their stuff. ROB JAMES reports on a Word clock measurement and distribution ampliﬁer.

LTHOUGH IT IS POSSIBLE to make do with just a few Word clock outputs from the master source, looping them through several devices, this is undesirable and a source of potential problems with clock phase and terminations. A star arrangement, with each device fed from a separate socket, ideally with equal length cables is the preferred configuration. However, in a complex studio, this can mean a lot of outputs. DMS-2, the latest addition to Drawmer’s digital interconnectivity range, certainly supplies BNC Word clock sockets in abundance. On the rear, Word clock In and Through are accompanied by 16 outputs and AES In and Through on XLRs. The inputs can be terminated via switches adjacent to the sockets. Coming around to the front panel there are four further BNC outputs. If this was just a simple distribution amplifier that would be just about it and the review would end here, but the DMS-2 has another trick up its sleeve. Drawmer broke new ground by bringing the logic of the multi-effects unit to the somewhat unexciting area of synchronisation with the first in this series of products, the DMS-1 M-Clock. The DMS-2, continues the theme at a very reasonable UK£395 (+ VAT). As might be expected both units share the same look with a subtly sculpted alloy front panel and glowing blue Drawmer logo. In this case, the blue is provided by an LCD alphanumeric display. A high (2ppm) accuracy counter measures the incoming Word clock frequency. This can be displayed in terms of Frequency +/- ppm or +/-percentage as determined by the Mode switch. The other front panel

switch determines which input is used for the source. LEDs indicate the current mode, input and the presence of valid clock on each input. I was curious to see if the DMS-2 would reveal variances that would not make themselves glaringly obvious by producing clicks, etc. First candidate was my Rosendahl Nanosyncs. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this gave a read out of 00000ppm, with occasional readings of 00002. This is on the limit of the claimed tolerance for the DMS-2 and can be dismissed as insignificant. I then checked a couple of small digital mixers, an A-D convertor and a DAT recorder. The convertor (an Apogee AD-16X with C777 clock) proved to be equally accurate at 00000ppm with similar occasional excursions to 00002, the consoles came in at 00049ppm and 00004ppm and the DAT at 00011ppm.... Although this is hardly a scientific test it does demonstrate the virtue of a serious master clock generator and the variances you might encounter if attempting to use other equipment as a master clock. The counter ranges up to 768kHz with plus and minus ppm and percentage pull up and down read-out available for the standard 32, 44.1, 48, 96 and 192kHz sampling rates. Apart from providing an idea of the accuracy of the internal clocks of new additions to the equipment roster this measurement facility will find application in the increasingly complex world of sound for picture. Having an instant indication of pull up or pull down could prove to be very useful when dealing with the plethora of video formats now in circulation. The DMS-2 brings a new twist to a potentially rather boring but essential piece of modern studio

equipment. Given the reasonable cost, if you are in the market for a Word clock distribution ampliﬁer, then the DMS-2’s frequency counter might make the purchase more interesting. ■

PROS

Attractive new take on a boring but essential part of the studio jigsaw puzzle; plug and play.

CONS

Another decimal place of accuracy would be nice.

EXTRAS

New in Drawmer’s analogue outboard range, the DSL424 TwoPlusTwo combined dynamics processor includes two frequency conscious noise gates and

two soft/hard knee compressors with variable threshold limiting. The channels may be front panel conﬁgured as four individual standalone processors, a stereo linked pair of compressor/limiters with a stereo linked pair of gates. Alternatively, any combination of processing can be achieved by rear panel patching. The DSL424 combines the gates of the Drawmer DS404 with the compressor/ limiters of the Drawmer DL441.

Contact

DRAWMER, UK: Tel: +44 1924 378669 Website: www.drawmer.com

no words – ask your ears...

BRAUNER.THE ART OF MICROPHONES www.brauner-microphones.com

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New V5 V5 is the latest version release for the entire Waves product line. V5 continues Waves’ tradition of keeping

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360° Surround Toolkit is now available for all PC XP TDM users

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Considerably faster interface response

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Now PC users can have all the benefits of HD Accel DSP density and power for their Waves processing

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Transforms Morphoder into a true “live” virtual instrument

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V5 is available with all new products and the Waves Update Plan. WUP gets you all version updates for a full year on your registered products. WUP pricing is scaled to what you own. WUP is available directly in your Waves account or through your Waves dealer.

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Tore Johansson He’s mixed credibility with platinum sales and genres with a life in Scandinavia. NIGEL JOPSON talks to Tore Johansson about 16-track 2-inch, mixing in Tools, double-length kick drums and crappy guitars.

OMBINING INDIE-BAND credibility with platinum sales has never been an easy trick for producers, and Tore Johansson is one of very few to have mastered the art. Tore ﬁrst came to prominence recording and producing Swedish poprevivalists The Cardigans, and has guided them through several stylistic transitions over ﬁve albums. He’s produced Suede, Tom Jones, A Camp, Mel C and Sophie Ellis-Bextor. He recorded and produced (and played bass on) the classic Good Humour album from Saint Etienne — quintessentially English icons of boho cool approved by even the most discerning of dance anoraks. This year he’s hit pay dirt producing Franz Ferdinand, described by the NME as: ‘The band that will change your life in 2004.’ With over a million copies of their eponymous debut CD sold, as Resolution

spoke to Tore at Gula studios in Malmo Sweden, the album stormed the US Billboard top 40.

How did Franz Ferdinand, a young band from Scotland, come your way? I was in the UK and my manager Stephen Budd played the demo to me. They were so hyped, even at the demo stage ... it was a bit bizarre going to London, seeing a sound check at a pub and then queuing up with 10 other producers for 15 minutes with the band! It’s the only time I’ve ever done something like that — it was quite funny. Apparently I said something to get their attention, so I recorded the band’s ﬁrst EP at 2kHz Studio in North London. They were happy, so we then did the album at Gula. resolution

The Franz Ferdinand CD has an unusually aggressive sound for a contemporary release, it’s almost punk ... I feel that I’ve had too much credit because they actually do sound like that! I didn’t really want to take them anywhere else. The ﬁrst song I heard was the demo of Darts Of Pleasure, it was recorded in someone’s kitchen and was right in your face. I kind of went for that and just did it my way, but with attitude. For me it’s quite an easy sound to do, I’ve always thought it quite nice when things pop out of the speakers and I’ve got good equipment for that as well! Was the sound something you had to persuade label execs to accept? The A&R were very much into keeping the band sounding like a band. We actually did more overdubs that weren’t used in the mix because we — especially the band — thought it sounded too big. They wanted it to sound more like when they play live. At ﬁrst I did rather more normal mixes, the band came in and said: ‘It sounds too good!’ It was a little bit of a process for me to get into it, because I’d just come from the UK where I’d been remixing more commercial songs, getting that kind of ‘impressive’ radio sound. September 2004

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craft Do you record to analogue or Pro Tools? When I have the time and budget, I like to record at least the drums on tape. Around here in Malmo, at Tambourine and Gula studios, we have MCI 16 tracks to do drums ... they’re amazing, you can record so hot. You know how when you increase the level more and more — it sounds better and better — then suddenly flattens out and sounds shit? Well, it’s not so delicate when you have a 16 rather than a 24 track: it’s easier to stay up there at the ‘magic’ sound without getting the ‘flat’ sound. With Franz Ferdinand I recorded the drums, bass and guitars on tape, then played it into Pro Tools and did everything else in Pro Tools. Which A to D convertors do you use? I use Apogee convertors, but I don’t have golden ears. If someone I trust technically who has good ears says ‘this machine is so much better than the others’ I’ll just say ‘OK, I’ll buy one of those!’ The soft limit on the Apogee makes it much less delicate with levels, and that feels good. I have a smaller Apogee Trak2 in my travelling kit, you can change the soft limit level in many different steps, it can almost do fuzz distortion. You get a punchy drum sound, yet there’s always plenty of space in your productions for a round bass and full guitars. My approach is probably just getting the actual instruments to sound good. With Franz Ferdinand, I used my trick of gaffa taping two bass drums shells together, so I got a double length drum. There’s less movement of air, and more of a proper core, heavy, bass note. It’s very important the beater hits the bass drum skin exactly in the middle, a lot of drummers don’t think about that. Normally the beater hits too high, it doesn’t sound as good, there are more overtones and less basic note. What are your favourite drum microphones? I love dynamic mics, I’m not too big on condenser or tube mics. My favourite is the Sennheiser 421, you can record anything with that mic. I don’t use overheads much, I get the cymbals from the tom mics — I tend to have the tom mics much further off than normal — like a foot away from the drums. I do like to have one room mic, and that’s normally a bigger mic like a Neumann, one metre from the drums in front or behind the kit. In the mix I cut all the treble and use it to add some weight. I use normal SM57s or whatever, it’s not very important to me, because after the mics — at least for the Franz Ferdinand type of sound — I equalise and compress quite heavily. I have a couple of EQs I take around, but even if I don’t go to Gula, all the studios in Malmo are based around 1970s Neve consoles. Which compressors do you deploy, and which Neve progeny are you using? I have these strange compressors from around 1977, they were made by Neve for the BBC and they’re the most aggressive compressors, extremely noisy and distorted. You can compress very heavily without flattening the sound, no track will get tired, however hard you compress it. That’s the kind of aggressive, chewy sound you hear on Franz Ferdinand. It’s the same with the Neve BBC equalisers [the 33122 made for radio and TV consoles] — extremely aggressive, with narrow curves to the midrange. You can choose one midrange frequency per guitar, just boost it and have a finished mix sound! It’s really hard for me to understand why the BBC wanted aggressive sounds like that — you’d think they’d have wanted something a bit smoother. September 2004

The guitars on your records have a very organic quality to them — for example on The Cardigans albums. With the Cardigans we tended to use very complicated set-ups. For example, the guitar players would sit in the control room, we’d put one cable to an amp in the recording room, we’d have a DI box, and we put some strange old contact microphones on the head of the guitar. We sometimes tried to make guitars sound like other instruments. If you take a jazz guitar and play softly, very high on the neck, you can almost get a harp tone. If you do two takes, you can get a really soft and dreamy feel to it. It’s also about using the right guitars. I feel that the more difficult the guitar is to play, the better it sounds: the crappier it is, the better it records! Guitars that are perfect to play sound to me a bit uninteresting when recorded. If you have to fight a bit, you can hear that on the recording. Have you got a personal hoard of special instruments? I have a little collection, and it’s a tradition in Malmo that studios are not only rooms with recording equipment, but also rooms with instruments. There are always vibraphones, guitars, pianos and organs hanging around because most of the studios are owned by musicians who’ve been collecting instruments. I feel that’s the way it should be, when you come to a studio you should be inspired to play. It’s really sad when you go to one of those fantastic studios with perfect equipment and catering ... but no instruments. Although you work with stylistically diverse singers, you always seem to capture impressive vocal performances. I tend to be quite drastic with the voice, to create a ‘sound’ when I record. That’s likely to make a vocalist sing better, just because he has a great sound in the headphones. The only problem is when I mix- - I have to go with that sound! With Franz Ferdinand we were so sure we wanted that aggressive, almost distorted, tone that we recorded it. It was a 421 dynamic with ‘speech’ filter on Alex’s vocal, not some fancy tube mic from the ‘50s. I put it through the Neve EQ, added resolution

even more midrange, cut a little bass, so when the vocal hit the compressor there was hardly any bass at all. I compressed the hell out of it with the BBC Neve ﬂashing red. After the compressor it sounded a bit fatter, the compressor was acting a little like a de-esser. Then I went to a Urei 1176, actually more to get the level up as the BBC units have a rather low output. The 421 is very punchy and you get the kind of midrange presence that you never, ever get from a ‘proper’ vocal microphone.

Presumably it was an early model white 421, and with the ‘script logo’ of course ... The Sennheiser dealer in Sweden heard about our obsession, so he actually came here (because we were complaining we couldn’t get any white 421s any more). There’s not much low end left in some of the old ones, he came with spare parts and rebuilt seven failed white 421s for us! Presumably that set-up wasn’t the vocal processing you employed with Saint Etienne? You can never get a perfectly natural vocal sound from the Sennheiser, so if I’m recording Sarah [Cracknell, of Saint Etienne] or something jazzy, I can’t use a 421. I do tend to get a little irritated with those ‘super mics’ from the 1960s like the U67, with that tingling distortion in the treble. I’ve got one of the modern Neumann tube mics — the M147 — it has a sort of super-neutral sound. I have a problem with that warm, fuzzing, tube tone. I really prefer the 1970s discrete electronics that have some kind of presence you never get with tubes. When you mix, do you take separate D to A outs from Pro Tools and mix on an analogue console? I mix entirely within Pro Tools, but I sometimes send sounds out through analogue compressors and record back into Pro Tools, so I can keep everything in the session. Sometimes I use a plate echo and record it, but I also use Pro Tools reverbs. I think some plug-ins sound very good — I use Amp Farm a lot (normally without speaker simulator) — I use it like one of those aural exciters from the ‘80s. I also 43

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craft like the Renaissance equalisers, but I’m not very fond of software compressors.

sounds best. It’s important to adjust the delay of the room mic in Pro Tools.

Reverbs are fine, but have you measured the round-trip chain to analogue dynamics and back so you can compensate for the microdelay in Pro Tools? I’m not an engineer like that — I just move things around manually — if it sounds good, it’s good to me! Although there is one slightly ‘nerdy’ Pro Tools thing I do. I adjust the phase of drum microphones through the timing of individual audio files so I get the kind of punch I want. That’s a new sort of ‘equaliser’ we didn’t have before. I just put it on sample and move the whole file a little bit back or forth, and see where it

Do you use a control surface to mix with? No, I just love a clean desk! When the Digidesign worksurfaces came along I tried one, but it didn’t feel right. I only have the computer and a track ball — that’s really important — it was a revelation when I got the track ball. It’s a Kensington and I changed the ball to a pool ball, because it’s heavier. Do you use an analogue master compressor? A big part of the mix sound for bands like Franz Ferdinand is master bus compression. In most cases I use the TC Electronic Master X3 plug-in (MacOS 9).

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It’s really weird, the newer 5-band TC sounds crap to me, but the 3 band plug-in sometimes just sounds magic. You get the three bands pumping in different ways, generating those phase artefacts that are ‘good’. You do get some distortion in the treble but it sounds musical, in a strange way. I mix down to an old halfinch Ampex.

You don’t render the mixes within Pro Tools? I tend to do the albums on tape and the radio mixes just within Pro Tools. Because I do heavier master compressing for radio, you wouldn’t hear much of a difference with tape. What are you using as reference monitors? In all the studios around here we have old Altec Model 19s for recording — I think there are five studios in the Malmo area using them. They don’t sound quite how they did in the ‘70s, you couldn’t really listen to modern music otherwise, it would be too harsh. They still have their sound though, it’s amazing to listen to ‘60s and ‘70s music on them. If you listen to Abbey Road you just think ‘OK! This is what they listened to!’ I like to use big speakers for recording, but when I mix it’s the other way around. I have some small hi-fi speakers from the ‘70s called Epicure, you’d pass them by if you saw them at a flea market! They are really cheap and ugly looking, I like that understated feel to equipment. But they sound great, and you can switch from big speakers without having that ‘... What??’ moment. Have the offers been pouring in after Franz Ferdinand? There’s more now, some American acts who, of course, want to sound just like them. I feel the Franz Ferdinand album is the last I will do for a while with such an aggressive sound. I record a lot softer and more organic now. Unfortunately I had to say no to a great new band called HAL from the UK, I couldn’t fit them into the schedule. I’m just completing an album for a London act called Spitfire — I’m really looking forward to hearing that on the radio. I’m also working with a Danish artist called Kira & the Kindred Spirits — very different from what I’ve done before — almost like some sort of Janis Joplin rock and roll. She has an amazing voice, very rootsy, everybody playing together in the same room, that kind of blues rock feel. ■

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craft

Phil Bodger A music recording engineer and mixer who has successfully integrated a healthy representation of sound for picture work into his CV talks to ANDY DAY about his craft.

HIL BODGER IS A WORLD renowned recording engineer and mixer. He’s worked with a variety of artists including ABC, The Housemartins, Gareth Gates, Emma Bunton, S Club 7, Heather Small, Eagle Eye Cherry, Made In London and Lighthouse Family. However, his latest film project, a music soundtrack for the forthcoming MGM release Delovely (the Cole Porter story) really tested his skills and talent. The film stars Kevin Kline as Cole Porter and Ashley Judd as his wife, with an amazing range of artists performing Cole Porter songs in the soundtrack. The artists include Robbie Williams, Elvis Costello, Sheryl Crow, Diana Krall and Mick Hucknall to name a few. Phil faced the task of recording and mixing all the tracks, plus a few surpises. Resolution caught up with him at one of the project’s recording locations, Whitfield Street studios London.

With so many different artists involved were there many different types of recording set up for this project? Surprisingly no, everyone was recorded the same way. There were new arrangements of several classic Cole Porter tunes, but using the same basic instrumentation of acoustic bass, drums, piano, guitar, occasionally banjo, woodwind, brass, strings and piano. The idea was to keep the atmosphere of the original Cole Porter songs as much as possible. The artists involved also appear in cameo roles in the ﬁlm, so we had to make adjustments according to the shooting schedule and occasionally change recording venues for the vocal recordings. But basically we recorded the same way for all the songs, rhythm section in the morning, woodwind and brass overdubs in the afternoon, and ﬁnal vocal in the evening. resolution

Where were most of the tracks recorded? AIR Studio 1 for the majority of the tracks with a couple of other tracks recorded at Whitfield Street. Mick Hucknall and Lamar’s vocals were recorded in Town House studio 1. Knowing that you would be mixing in 5.1, did you use any special recording techniques for the string sections? No, not really, as most of the music in the film is used in an on-screen way I felt the most important thing was to capture the performance in the simplest, traditional way. Having the fantastic Neve desk in Studio 1 at AIR was a great start. We actually recorded to 2-inch 24-track analogue running 15ips with Dolby SR, which Steven Endelman (the musical director) and I agreed had the best sound. By not recording straight to Pro Tools we felt we preserved some of the warmth. We then transferred the recordings to Pro Tools HD to overdub vocals and any editing. To what extent are the songs part of the narrative of the film? Pretty much totally, for example Robbie Williams’ track Delovely is performed by Robbie in a scene in which he plays the wedding singer at Cole Porter’s wedding. September 2004

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craft Did that mean you were working in parallel with the production — did you have to create temp mixes for playback on the sound stage during shooting? Yes, I had to create temp mixes of the tracks as stems, i.e. rhythm section, brass, woodwind, etc. and actually go along and supervise the playback on set. Frequently I would have to edit the music tracks to make a scene run better if, for example, the director felt it was slowing the action down or effecting an actor’s performance. Usually it would involve taking out a solo or changing the song form slightly, but really quickly under the massive time pressure of a movie set! When the director wants to roll camera you’d better be ready! What about at the other end of the process after mixing, did you get involved with the dub? No, I just provided several basic Pro Tools 5.1 stems of up to 20 tracks to the dubbing studio in LA, with vocal, vocal FX, rhythm section, strings and woodwind breakdowns. This allowed them to rebalance if necessary to compensate for dialogue or FX. All in all I was very pleased with the final results, they were very sympathetic to the music mixes and refrained from changing the overall balance too much. Were there any other considerations for the music 5.1 mix, for example, did you work closely to picture by trying to compensate for camera angles? Partly yes, although I did give the dubbing studio enough flexibility with the stems to tweak things if necessary. Interestingly, you used analogue 24-track to record, do you have any strong views either way on analogue verses digital for recording? Not really, I tend to use whatever feels the best. It just so happens that for the Delovely project the tape compression and smooth low end you get on analogue worked really well, coupled with the convenience and flexibility of editing in Pro Tools — essential for the onset edits. We were also using Logic as most of the demos by Steven were done in Logic. So those are my two main digital tools, Logic and Pro Tools. What about consoles? To record we used the Neve at AIR, built in 1978. But we mixed at Sony New York with an 88R. Strangely, I found myself trying to get back to the old sound of the console at AIR but ended up with an ideal combination of the old warm sound and the amazing detail of the newer console. Had I not experienced the sound of the Neve at AIR, this would never have happened.

Are you a big Neve fan then? No I love SSLs too, particularly the J and K Series. In fact I recently did some work at Strongroom on a G series and was surprised by the sheer power of the EQs. But tastes definitely change, I still hear of people who rave about the E series EQ, which at the time were considered dreadful. What about mixing in Pro Tools or Logic? I’ve mixed in Logic and Pro Tools, but I would say I prefer Pro Tools for mixing. Just because the mix page and signal flow feels more traditional, but MIDI-wise Logic is better. Do you find the selection of effects better in computer based mixing? The way I mix really uses very little outboard or EQ. I start by getting the balance right and when you spend some time getting that right and get the track to sit correctly, you find you don’t need to use much EQ or effects. When I first started mixing, I would solo each track and spend ages getting the right sound using EQ and effects. Now I work much more in context of the whole piece and concentrate on getting the balance right between each track, before turning to EQ. Outboard-wise I tend to use compression more than anything else, I find it a useful and interesting tool when mixing this way. What do you think of the recent trend to combine large format console control and DAWs as recently announced by SSL and Digidesign? I think SSL already tried that a few years ago with the J series, but it never really happened. My reservation would be to put all your audio in one place, I like the idea that there are different manufacturers of consoles and tape machines or DAWs, as they all have their own sonic characteristics which keeps things interesting. Do you have any favourite studios to work in? I do love Studio 1 at AIR. The room is amazing, especially how you can change the acoustics. I was there the other day and the screens were down, the sound was so totally different from when we were recording the Cole Porter project. Also the Neve desk and monitoring are superb. My other favourites are Whitfield Street, Town House, Strongroom and Olympic. Do you prefer to work here in the UK or in the US? It depends on the project, but I do like working in America. It’s very different to here. I’ve just been working at Trent Reznor’s studio in New Orleans, which was great, a fantastic sounding control room and a great vibe, loads of guitars and instruments around the place. What other film projects have you worked on? Evelyn starring Pierce Brosnan. That involved the The first Windows XP based Pro Tools HD suite in the UK, incorporating a Carillon AC1 HD CPU and AVXL video hardware.

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usual score recording, plus a trip to Ireland to record some traditional Irish music. Another ﬁlm called Keys to Tulsa had an interesting score, involving lots of electric guitar and a bed of didgeridoos! Jawbreaker had a loop-based score, which we did mostly in Logic and there was Blue Butterﬂy, a John Hurt movie set in the Amazonian rain forest, in which we ended up using lots of insect and jungle effects in the music.

How are you with Logic, are you a hands-on user or do you tend to work with programmers? I can certainly do most things on Logic, but I prefer to concentrate on one thing or the other. If I’m mixing I don’t want to have to be thinking about programming. You really have to treat them like different mind sets. Do you get involved in writing? Yes I’ve collaborated quite a bit with Steven (Endelman), particularly when more contemporary sounds are needed for a project. I spent quite a lot of time doing dance remixes in the 1990s, so I have a good feel for loop-based composing. What are your plans for the future? I’m hoping to get more 5.1 mixing for DVD projects in the future, I see it as a real challenge to try to get a great sounding 5.1 performance of a band that works in its own right, without losing any of the feel you get from a good stereo recording. The challenge to me is to preserve the intimacy and maintain the excitement levels of a performance and to enhance the listening pleasure using 5.1. What’s your take on the future of music mixing requirements, do you think DVD will have an impact on the way music engineers mix, by working more to picture? Yes, I guess so but I think it’s really hard to predict at the moment because you have 5.1 audio, SACD, DVD Audio and all these premium consumer products being marketed on one side and on the other you have everyone going out and buying iPods and downloading mp3s... almost two opposite ends of the scale. Are you into any current consumer technologies? Yes, I’m interested in the whole iPod idea, including the new iTunes music store. I think it really opens up people’s minds to buying music again and I’m sure it will do well. The idea of compiling your own track by track playlists and totally personalising your music collection is great. I’m particularly interested in transferring my own vinyl collection into iTunes and ‘shufﬂe’ playing all the old tunes, all the B-sides and tracks I’ve collected over the years. That’s the real beneﬁt of all this technology, not sound quality but the ease of access and enjoyment it can bring. ■

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A room at a price There’s more to a studio than a PC and a sound card, right? Leaving aside the operational differences between cheap and expensive audio systems, the one thing that unequivocally still takes considerable time, money and know-how to accomplish is a soundproofed room with decent acoustics and monitoring. JIM BETTERIDGE documents the rebuild of his studio.

HAD BEEN INVOLVED in a previous studio project, Copper Blue, in the early 1990s where Roger Quested designed the acoustics and provided the monitoring and I was very pleased with the results. Roger not only designs the world renowned range of Quested monitors but has also designed rooms for some very big names in music and postproduction around the globe. So I called up Roger and asked him, how can I achieve good results without spending a fortune? The first thing we established was that this was not a rock ‘n’ roll studio, it would be largely for my own work and I had no desire to monitor at tinnitus-inducing levels. I did, however, want a decent 5.1 mixing room, for music and sound to picture projects. I needed to be able to work through the night without disturbing the neighbours and have the trains, planes, automobiles and drunken revellers of West London also carry on through the night without disturbing me. Responsible for the copper and the blue of Copper Blue was designer Mike Stallion: a draftsman and art director whose credits include Tomorrow Never Dies, Lost In Space and The Mummy. I can’t overemphasise the importance of having someone onboard who is used to thinking in terms of three-dimensional space and who can do proper working drawings. Beyond the function of the space, design is about successfully resolving the intersections between elements: where the carpet meets the dado, meets the architrave, meets the projector box... it can get quite mind boggling for a simple sound bloke. So I did a rough outline of what I wanted from the space available and after days of discussion and doodling, Mike came up with a set of drawings that we presented to Roger. After a bit of mutual compromise Mike produced a final set of working drawings and some basic 3D sketches to show how things would look. Clearly some form of room-within-a-room had to be built but Roger’s first point was that this inner boundary would be far more effective in silencing the Great Metropolis if it was acting as a secondary defence to an airtight primary boundary. Once we removed all the skirting and the architrave from the doors and windows an alarming array of gaps was found around frames and in broken layers of lathe, plaster, plasterboard and even brick work, above and below the existing floor level. All this was made good and airtight. The new high-mass acoustic structure was going to put a considerable extra load on the building and so at the early planning stage we called on the services of a surveyor and a structural engineer to ensure safety. Preexisting RSJs and massive wooden beams meant that there was basically no problem but they did advise that we put in extra floor joists wherever we intended to build acoustic walls. Once the floorboards came up we found there was no real insulation so we threw in rockwool pellets (making sure not to cover electrical cables — they need some air to stay cool and meet their current ratings) and put down an entirely new tongue and groove floor, once again making sure of an airtight seal. With the floor up there was a unique opportunity to

run in cabling unobtrusively. However, every time you break the boundary of a wall, floor or ceiling you at least run the risk of reducing its acoustic effectiveness. With this in mind Roger suggested that mains was run only to a single point in each room, with all other cabling being routed along internal trunkings masquerading as dado rails. We also ran a few lengths of plastic pipe through the roof space to provide a cable path between rooms, making sure the runs were broken and indirect so as to reduce sound transmission. It is of course necessary to make some holes in your carefully constructed boundaries through which to run all the required cabling, but we kept them as small as possible and stuffed in carpet underlay to close up the space, making them in practice very sound proof. Roger explained that the larger the hole, the lower the frequency that can escape. So keeping them small and stuffing them with dense material is the way to go. So now we turned our minds to the room-within-aroom and how best to float it. Roger has long had a dislike for Rockwool for interior treatments because it’s something of an irritant, it’s not much fun to work with, and its fibres stay in the air long after the builders have gone home. One of the materials he uses to replace it as a means of deadening cavity walls is Britannia 56 carpet underfelt. I’ve also used it with some success in home studio projects as a means of floating a floor. So it was that Roger had the idea of swaddling the walls and floors of all the rooms in a double layer of the stuff, and building the inner shell within it. It thereby acted to kill the space between the old and the new walls acoustically and also to mechanically separate the inner from the outer. The floors were a double layer of tongue and groove chipboard flooring (low ceiling height precluded the use of studs on the floor), with the tongues and grooves carefully removed from the edges of the room and screwing and gluing the two layers together to create a rigid, dense base. On top of this base we built the new walls: a 3-inch x 2-inch timber frame screwed to the new, floating floor but definitely not fixed through the underlay to the original wall (keep a firm eye on your builders!)

Underfelt, 3 x 2 plus T&G.

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To this frame we screwed and glued a layer of tongue and groove plus one of plasterboard. A ﬂoating ceiling was built from a layer of T&G and plasterboard but, rather than lose ceiling height with studs, we opted for the use of resilient bar ﬁxed directly through

Open wall and siliconed ceiling.

Wall layers in doorway.

Underlay on wall.

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WARM - THE NEW COOL the existing ceiling to the joists above. It’s surprising how few people know of resilient bar but it’s an excellent way of creating a good degree of mechanical separation. Incidentally, you can buy it from any dry wall specialist for about half the price offered by most acoustics specialists. We ended up using it on the ceilings and also on the external walls, between the studs and the T&G to provide extra isolation. So the floor was constructed first, then the ceiling, and then the frame for the walls was wedged in between the two giving it a firm fixing but keeping it mechanically isolated from the outside world. Of course, a sound barrier is only as good as its weakest point, so there’s no point in building massive, dense boundaries if you’re going to leave dozens of tiny gaps at the

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myriad junctions within the structure. Hence, you must resign yourself to committing a small fortune to tubes of silicone that are to be squeezed generously into any intersection where air might find a way through. An important note here is that any boundary mounted on resilient bar must not be allowed to touch any ‘unfloated’ boundary or obviously the effect of the bars is negated. Hence a gap of a few millimetres should be left between the ceiling and the original wall that can then be filled with silicone; and be careful to use a putty knife or the corner of a piece of wood to clean off the excess before it dries, it’s truly evil stuff in the wrong place. In the past I’ve gone to some lengths to have large windows to the outside world and then immediately covered them up for acoustic reasons, to ensure privacy and because I’m mostly working to picture and so need a generally darkened room. So in this case we decided to frost 85% of the windows, thus allowing natural light in when desired but maintaining privacy. If you want to do this you are strongly advised to use self-adhesive frosting, rather than having the glass actually frosted. Without going into great detail, unsealed frosted glass will be marked for life by a single oily fingerprint and the sealing of frosted glass is expensive and apparently fraught with problems — talk to Pilkington for more details. Glass technology has apparently come a long way in the last decade and the acoustic performance of Pilkington’s ‘Optilam Phon’ range is significantly better than standard fare. It’s basically two pieces of glass laminated with a central 0.8mm film of plastic material. We opted for two 6mm layers giving an overall thickness of 12.8mm. These we surrounded with a U-shaped rubber window gasket and mounted at an angle to the original windows, covering the window lining between the two windows with a deep pile, felt-backed carpet to kill the space acoustically. Once again we ran a bead of silicone around the original window to make good its seal. A great deal of time and money can be spent on studio doors including the large, freezer-style closing mechanisms that very quickly give a place an industrial feel — something we wanted to avoid. So it was decided to go for 55mm solid timber fire doors that come with their own perfectly fitting hardwood frames and stops. Another common sight in project studios is the rubber strips, like heavy draft excluders, running around the door frame. These can work OK but require the aforementioned closing mechanisms and do lose their elasticity over time. Roger suggested using a system based on extruded aluminium frames that takes a profiled rubber gasket. This is mounted on the door stop and provides an excellent seal without the need for a high-pressure close. It also means you can change the rubber when it becomes tired or damaged. Next issue we’ll look at the acoustic treatment and the equipment, including a new range of Quested powered monitors at an unusually affordable price. ■

As keyboard player, co-writer and producer of Sting, Kipper has made a distinguished contribution to classic songs and great recordings. Recently converted to the warmth of valve technology, he now uses TL Audio products to help push everything to “number 11 on the fat scale!” Check out:

www.tlaudio.co.uk/kipper

Contact

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Resilient Bars: Travis Perkins, Wandsworth dry wall centre +44 20 7622 1022 British Gypsum technical info on resilient bar: +44 8705 456123 . Put ‘resilient bar gypsum’ into Google for loads of useful info. Door gasket: www.sealmaster.co.uk/acou.html for door stop seals. Acoustic Glass: Pilkington Glass +44 1773 520000 Acoustic Material: Siderise +44 20 8549 6389 (Kingston)

Kipper Producer - Sting TELEPHONE +44 (0)1462 492090 //

September 2004

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EMAIL info@tlaudio.co.uk //

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The player in your pocket Mobile phones are going to play a key role in the future of music distribution as they already possess many of the key market attributes that other distribution methods envy. NIGEL JOPSON says the future is mobile and he won’t leave home without his.

HE LAD NEXT TO ME at the concert held his mobile phone in the air for the entire finale — some sort of replacement liturgy for the ‘cigarette lighter in the air’ ritual? ‘I’m recording the show,’ he told me with a toothy grin. So was I — on my designed-for-replay only Apple iPod. It can record as well if only at 16 bit 8k mono. Until I found I could use my iPod as a FireWire drive, I carried a sample library around on my camera, which stores photos and video on a 1Gb 3.5 x 4cm IBM Microdrive. The camera connects by USB as a removable disk drive. Since I’ve discovered my skills as a video director, 1Gb seems puny, so I’ve acquired an adaptor to connect camera to iPod. Now I can be as profligate as I like with video, I just download to the iPod. A photographer friend has a Photo Blog — he uploads pictures to a website from his mobile phone seconds after he’s clicked the shutter. My son’s music teacher arrives with accompaniment music stored as mp3s on his Nokia mobile phone. Technology is converging at a startling rate, and it’s converging on a device that is particularly acceptable socially. What other electronic gizmo is so fashionable we might allow ourselves to swap it annually for an improved model? I paid full price for the technology in my camera, but the communication device in my pocket is heavily subsidised on account of the monthly tab I’m picking up. We might leave home without a portable music player, without a camera — even without a wallet — but we take that mobile phone everywhere. Phones are going to play a key role in the future of music distribution. As past appraisals in this column have discovered, one of the crucial stumbling blocks for digital music downloads is the issue of rights management and portability for purchased tracks. Mobile phones are piling on features faster than ever — colour screens and management systems to rival PDAs are already with us and mass storage will be built-in by Christmas. They are virtually given away to punters and you don’t need a credit card to use one. It all started with the humble ringtone ... At first, the ringtone market didn’t even register on the radar of music executives. If you’re a busy mediadude, your phone emits a discreet beep as you rush from meeting to meeting, so maybe it was hard to see the possibilities. Ringtones were left to the digital equivalent of the market trader but as the popularity of dodgy monophonic trills became all too apparent, the publishing industry took note. Early entrepreneurs took the opportunity of legitimising their businesses in return for a modest cut of the profits. The UK’s MCPS takes 10% of gross revenues supplied or 10p per work, whichever is greater, and a UK£500 one-off advance for global mechanical rights usage. The PRS blanket licence in respect of performance rights for world use is 5% of gross or 5p per work, with a UK£860 minimum annual charge. The rights for those simple little beeps brought in UK£85 million last year in the UK alone and are estimated to increase by 50% in 2004, according to Jupiter Research. In 2003 the global market was worth US$3.5 billion. After monophonic ringtones, which use the phone’s

crude synthesiser chip to generate beeps from a cutdown version of a MIDI file, came so-called ‘truetones’ or ‘realtones.’ These use the sampling technology of more recent mobiles to play back digital music files. The evident success of ringtones meant major labels took a keen interest, and refused to allow the PPL to negotiate mobile rights for their artists, hammering out bilateral deals with telecom operators after protracted negotiations. Truetones are excerpts from hit songs, sell for UK£1.00 to £3.50, play over the phone’s speaker or earpiece and can replace the mobile’s ring. Network operators take at least 20% from each sale, the label cut is thought to be roughly similar. Now there’s a new twist — the ringback tone. Ringback tones allow subscribers to personalise their incoming ringing sound, by choosing music for callers to listen to while waiting for the phone to be answered. The ringback does not depend on handset specification, and can be implemented for every subscriber on a network. Six months after ringback tones were introduced in South Korea, 27% of subscribers had signed up for them. The ringback market in Europe is projected to be worth UK£800 million by the end of 2005, according to developer Netsize. What has really got people talking is that the South Korean mobile music market has now eclipsed CD sales in value by 25% — helped, it must be added, by a disastrous 40% nosedive in SK recorded music sales over the last two years. Nevertheless, the South Korean mobile music market is worth US$209 million, which is roughly the equivalent of every mobile subscriber on the network buying a CD. Significantly, US$63 million of that revenue came from full song downloads, which is where the future lies. The first mobile full track download service to launch in Europe was O2Music, in November 2003. A separate music player with a 64Mb SD card connects to any 2.5G phone equipped with an iR modem, which is lined up with the player’s infrared port. The player initially cost UK£100, but is now available free on some tariffs. Songs are £1.50 for chart hits and £1 for older tracks. It was a bold move from O2, but despite shrinking song size to around 1Mb with AAC encoding, the download time was painfully slow when I tested the system, and prone to regular disconnection with the iR link. The DMP player’s screen is frustratingly tiny, but the device could be linked to a PC via the USB port and showed up as a removable drive. Full song downloads really require better media compression, or 3G network technology — scheduled for a big push this Christmas. Currently, European networks are doing well with shorter 90-120 second versions of popular tracks that download and play on phones like the Sony Ericsson K700i and P900i. T-Mobile has been plugging these excerpts to its subscribers with their Mobile Jukebox — pre-release 90 second clips of hot tracks from artists like Blink 182, Nelly Furtado and the Black Eyed Peas can be purchased for UK£1.50 and played on the latest phones. At the moment phones can store only three of resolution

these tracks at a time and there are just 500 clips available, although T-Mobile has committed to expand this to 250,000 by Christmas, when the newer generation of mobiles will be on sale. BMG, one of the partners for Mobile Jukebox, announced it had sold 10,000 units of Outkast content via mobile in four months, which gives an idea of the possibilities. ‘If the technology had been available for mobile phones to be music players when our industry was created, probably all mobiles today would be digital music players,’ said Nikesh Arora, chief marketing officer for T-Mobile. In the US, EMI is partnering with Verizon Wireless Get It Now virtual store, which has a catalogue of ‘full fidelity hit singles’ in compressed format for download to phones. ‘Last year, in Asia and Europe, we saw the kind of revenues from mobile music sales that make me sit up and take notice,’ said David Munns, vice chairman of EMI music, ‘mobile content is driving a whole new business model and a viable new revenue stream.’ The sponsorship of heavy-hitters like Munns is vital in getting any initiative off the ground at major labels, and EMI was the first major to provide music for Vodafone’s Ring-Up-Tones (a ringback service) in Europe. The European mobile music market is expected to reach Euros 2.9 billion by the end of 2008, according to Jupiter Research, and it’s anticipated that 16% of European subscribers (20% of UK subscribers) will own phones capable of full-track downloads by the end of 2004. ‘The mobile is the ultimate portable device — and bringing music to one of the world’s largest customer groups is the most exciting opportunity that the entire music industry has seen in decades,’ said Boyd Muir, VP of Universal Music International. Perhaps a sign of the way services will develop is that O2’s head of music, Leslie Golding, has now left the operator to join Siemens, which is launching an outsourcing service called Music2You for telecom providers. M2Y will take care of all the back-end distribution of music — except for the commercially sensitive licensing. ‘The problem for networks is that they don’t have the focus to be able to manage and offer all the data that labels need,’ said Golding. ‘We have got some integrated devices coming out soon, they should be here in the next four months, and certainly for the Christmas market.’ A new handset available now from Siemens, the SX1, incorporates a built-in video player, camcorder, music player and FM radio. The handset contains a 128Mb memory card, meaning it will be able to store over 100 full-track downloads onboard. Digital Rights Management in the phone is handled by the Java DRM package from SDC ag with the pre-installed music player. Java uses a virtual machine environment and already runs on most of our PCs — Javascript is commonly used to generate drop-down menus and the graphics rollovers we see on web pages. Java engines are also used for games on most modern handsets. The 3G networks are ready as well. On the 19 July Orange launched its 3G network in the UK, with 66% of the population covered by its high-speed always-on service. In the Autumn, next generation services will be launched in France — already 5000 Orange customers in France are testing video calling, video messaging and conferencing. Initial pricing in the UK indicates data charges from £0.50 to £2 per megabyte, depending on 3G tariff. At the UK’s Glastonbury Festival Orange was showing off two new services dubbed Fireplayer and Music Player. Both applications use Chaoticom’s Koz format data compression, also in use by Eurotel Praha in the Czech Republic and by Nortel in Norway over existing networks. September 2004

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Chaoticom is a spinout technology company from the University of New Hampshire. It has a unique technology claimed to improve media file throughput up to 10 times compared to existing compression protocols such as MPEG. ‘It costs an operator between 20 and 40 cents per megabyte to do a GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) download,’ explained CEO Lucy McQuilken. ‘A Typical MP3 file is 3Mb — our platform takes up only half a megabyte for the same file.’ She described UNH professor Kevin Short’s new protocol as a simulated stream — one advantage to the ‘cupolet’ type of media compression is an increase in error correction capability. Orange’s Music Player will initially have 1000 tracks available from Warner, Skint and V2, priced from UK£1.50 each, which can be previewed and downloaded to a range of eight phones from Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Motorola. Downloaded tracks can

be backed up to a computer, although they are only playable on the phone. ‘We are not positioning ourselves as a competitor to iTunes — it is about having music on the phone which is immediate, on one device you take with you everywhere,’ explained Mark Ashford, Orange UK’s head of entertainment. The Fireplayer application allows users to download a specially packaged track — and remix it on the phone! (That’s taken the user-interface to its logical low. Ed) Fireplayer tracks cost £3.50, there was a choice of 20 at launch which will be added to at a planned rate of ﬁve tracks per week. Elements of the song are triggered from the phone’s keypad, and the resulting masterpiece can be saved as a realtone. When I told producer/engineer Roy Merchant (Resolution V3.4) about this, he summed up what many production pros might be thinking: ‘Now we’re going to have to do a single edit, a radio edit, the

album mix, the acapella AND the mobile edit — a 2 minute part or whatever — so do me a favour: we’ve got enough work as it is, I don’t want to be thinking about the mobile ring-tone-thingy!’ From behind the faders, I can certainly see his point, but from the broader perspective of this page I’m aware that game sales are constantly predicted to eclipse music sales in the very near future. PriceWaterhouseCoopers predicts online and wireless games will be the fastest-growing segment of the market, increasing from US$562 million in 2003 to US$6.2 billion in 2008. Mobile phones offer a closed and secure network, where consumers — of whatever age — are accustomed to paying incrementally for what they use. There are only so many leisureentertainment dollars to be spent, and anything that makes music more entertaining is going to persuade consumers to buy more. ■

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Chris Munro He’s ushered in the use of new technology on blockbusters and remains passionate about the part it plays in defining workflow efficiency in the production process. ROB JAMES talks to Chris Munro about keeping ahead.

OUND RECORDIST, FLOOR MIXER or production sound mixer, whatever job title you choose, Chris Munro has an IMDB entry that reads like a ‘recommended film’ list. Just a few examples from recent years; Van Helsing, Black Hawk Down, both Tomb Raiders, The Mummy, no less than three Bond movies and, moving away from the blockbuster theme, Kevin and Perry Go Large, Smilla’s Sense of Snow and Chocolat. You might think this would more than occupy his time, but Chris is also a director of Twickenham Sound Station, a rental company for film and television postproduction equipment. He is also deeply involved with design and support of the Fostex PD-6 DVD-RAM location recorder. He recently finished the location recording for Sahara and is about to start work on Where the Truth Lies, directed by Atom Egoyan, in Toronto. Even in this short break Chris is far from idle. When I caught up with him he was in an ADR session at Twickenham Studios for his first short film as cowriter and director.

You’re a very busy man, what’s the secret? I started in the late 1960s, so if I haven’t got the hang of it by now, I never will. It’s also a matter of keeping up and, more than keeping up, keeping ahead. Producers are looking for experienced people because they don’t want to take risks but they also want to use the latest innovations. I was one of the first people in the UK to start shooting feature films on DAT and similarly early with non-linear. Has location recording changed as quickly as post? I think you go through revolutions. When I set up Sound Station with Gerry and Dean Humphreys back in 1989, sound editors mocked us saying DAWs would never catch on. When we changed over to DAT, people said, ‘Oh it’ll never work, it won’t sync’ and all sorts of nonsense. In the end, it was the producers who decided and they couldn’t afford to stick with analogue methods. It became a matter not just of quality but efficiency. The real advance is that we can do a lot more work resolution

for the editor. We are in multitrack, so we can provide a mix in mono or stereo, but the great thing is we can also provide separate components. I work in 6-track format on my PD-6 so track one is a mix and all the other tracks are either components of the mix or additional items. For example, we’re shooting in a city apartment. I would put another mike on a separate track in another room so it’s clean of dialogue but is getting the same background noise, synchronous with the dialogue. So, should a motorcycle go past on the selected master shot, you can take it across the cuts on the close-ups. Although multitrack means more work for the mixer there is a better chance that your work will be used to it’s full potential. Almost every editor and director I know hates ADR. Nonlinear multitrack recording is unquestionably helping to preserve more location sound.

Does the editor import all six tracks? We usually give the editor the mixed track to work with and put the other tracks in a bin for each scene. When the sound editor starts work, because he’s taken an OMF, a lot of the mixes in it will be used at the ﬁnal mix. Dialogue editors often have a thankless task. They’re taken on at the last minute when a preview is needed by the end of the week, then asked to listen to the cutting copy and come up with a list of what ADR is required. In older workﬂows, the sound was often digitised from a Beta SP, so it sounded pretty bad. All the dialogue editor could do was mark up anything that sounded doubtful. This resulted in a lot of unnecessary ADR. With the multitrack production September 2004

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craft sound in the picture Avid at full quality you can immediately judge how good your sound is and look for alternatives and ‘ﬁxes’ early on. You don’t have to run down the corridor looking for somebody who might have ‘that DAT’.

How has the workflow altered? We do a lot of ‘mag-less’ dailies. The workflow for Sahara is interesting because it’s an HD one. The reason for going to HD is because the previews have become so important. On a big special effects film you don’t want to preview with a lot of ‘green screen’. They don’t ever go to an answer print. They use 4k scanners and print back to film from that. But with HD dailies the DP isn’t seeing what the film really looks like. So, a certain amount is printed on film. They usually do a rush print of the last take of every shot or maybe just the master shot and watch those on an Arriflex portable projector, which DPs like because they know what it should look like. For editing, we down-res the HD directly to an Avid hard drive. The audio is imported from DVD-RAM and synced up within the Avid. No timecode, all clappers. Very, very fast and very accurate. There is no advantage to using TC as long as you have someone with an ounce of sense. Another good thing is this makes the editorial department responsible for sync, as they always were in the past. Did you feel 16 bit was a limitation? The quality of DAT versus Nagra was certainly an issue. What finally settled it was that DAT was far more efficient in post. Nonlinear acquisition has moved us up a bit, a lot of

September 2004

people are using 24 bit now although most are sticking with 48kHz. I was prepared to stay with 16 bit while Avids could only cope with 16 bit. It was more important to keep the advantage of not having to conform the dialogue later. But now Adrenalin has 24-bit capability and even when the editor is still using a Film Composer, Gallery’s Metaﬂow makes it trivial to substitute 24-bit media for 16-bit media in Pro Tools, Pyramix can do it too. There is now no reason not to shoot in 24-bit.

Do you feel secure working with nonlinear? The first thing I wanted was removable media so that at the end of the day you handed something over to editorial and that was the master. I’m very confident with it now so I rarely do a copy. Having said that, the PD-6 now has an internal hard drive in addition to the DVD-RAM disk and there is also a docking station with a full size DVD-RAM disk and another 40Gb internal drive. This is most commonly used in mirror mode, which makes it easy to do a safety copy onto a second DVD-RAM. Although I don’t believe real backup is just another record medium. You need a second recorder and power source. What about interchange? AES 31, XML and all the other various flavours are great but, if Avid don’t adopt them, they are meaningless as far as I’m concerned. I think MXF will eventually kill AES 31. It looks likely that Avid will take on MXF and that means Digidesign will too. Avid is moving rapidly towards the PC with Adrenalin and I’m seeing this a lot, because of Final Cut Pro and so on, I think we are seeing a teaming up with Microsoft and this will help the flow of metadata.

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What’s changed in the world of microphones? The old 816 gun-mike is still a useful tool. Sadly, it seems noisy now. I use later Sennheisers, primarily because of their durability, sadly with phantom powering. We often record in environments where self-noise is immaterial and the older T-powered mikes are far more robust. People often choose microphones for the wrong reasons. They may be beautifully rounded, but if they don’t reject enough of the background they don’t

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craft work for me. The top and bottom is going to get chopped in post anyway so why record it? I’m not looking for reality, I’m looking for intelligibility and I’m looking for consistency. I use the 50 and 60 series primarily, with Neumanns as spot mics because they are easy to hide.

doesn’t mean that’s the way it sounds. Sadly I think a lot of sound mixers are rather insular, they are only thinking about the way it sounds in their headphones. That’s why I like to spend a lot of time in the studio listening on speakers. It’s easy to be misled by headphones.

How about personals? I tend to use Sankens although recently Sony ECM 88s. They are much more robust than the Sankens, and also very good at rejecting clothing rustles.

Do you use EQ? I’ve always struggled to ﬁnd a mixer I like. I use a pretty much ‘home-made’ mixer. One of my crew, Jim McBride, did this one for me. I have almost no EQ on it. There’s bass cut but very little EQ. I don’t believe in the idea of EQing on location, especially through headphones. The rerecording guys have to chop off even more top and bottom just to make the whole

How do you judge what you are recording? Something a lot of people don’t understand is because something sounds a certain way on headphones

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thing match. People who do it think they’re being helpful but they are actually causing damage.

Have your effects recording methods changed? For big crowd effects, I put some surrounds out, leaving the rerecording mixer to place them. A chatter track of a 100 crowd recorded with four or five microphones can sound vastly different to standard stereo. On Sahara, there is a big boat chase. Using multitrack recording I could place six microphones on the boat. A Crown PZM in the engine compartment, 416s near the exhaust, the bow, astern, the side and I had one overall MKH50 up high. Then we recreated some of the manoeuvres. The beauty of this is that the sound editors can lay those tracks to match the pictures so much better. They can use the same take mixed in a different way across cuts. So you get continuity of sound but with a different perspective as the shot changes. I’m about to do a gunshot session for Sahara the same way. A pretty insensitive microphone up near the gun to capture all the mechanical noise, I use a lot of ‘disposable’ microphones, the cheap Chinese dynamics. Having said that, I also have an old STC ‘Ball and Biscuit’, a very useful microphone because it’s so insensitive. Another microphone gets the bang, another for the ballistic crack, another at the target and another a bit further away. Then, the only alteration I make is changing the target. We shoot at sand, steel and concrete. Within the 6-channel file, you can mix to give the effect of incoming fire, outgoing fire or crossfire.

Picture Shoot Film at 24fps

Mute Telecine from Negative at 25fps to Avid Hard Drive and HD tape. Print some selected takes to film.

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Import Picture to Avid from Avid hard drive. Convert to 24fps in PAL method 2. Sync sound to picture using claps.

Export audio at 25fps and lay back audio to HD Tape with sync necessary at head of reel only. Make high quality DVD (14:1) from Avid for Director, Producer, D.P Copy to Beta SP to make dailies tapes. View Rushes on HD or Film DVD-Ram disk or CD plays in Fostex DV40 in sync ARRI LocPro at 24fps or HD Projector with 24fps conversion on location.

W W W. T C E L E C T R O N I C . C O M

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craft Do you use hydrophones? I tried one that’s basically a loudspeaker that runs in reverse, but it hasn’t worked for me. I use an old AKG D109 lavalier in a condom. I often put it in a bit of plastic tube as well. Getting a good underwater sound is something I’ve spent a lot of time on, especially with the Bond films and all their underwater sequences. What is it like doing a Bond film? Tomorrow Never Dies was the first one I did and the first done digitally. I was taken on because of that. They wanted to work digitally and to cut their postproduction time by half. They didn’t want to print any film, although they did in the end, and they wanted to do a digital preview. Up until Goldeneye, on many British films they were happy to use a lot of ADR. In the 1960s and 70s some directors even thought they could improve an actors performance by using ADR. On this new series of Bond films, of which I’ve now done three, they want to preserve more and more original sound.

How do the ‘quieter’ films differ? There is a common perception that people don’t worry about location sound on action films. This just isn’t the case. The great thing about dialogue films is there is more time to focus on performance, sound and delivery. In action films everyone is focussing on so many things it makes the job harder. Do you still have any unfulfilled ambitions? I would actually like to spend a bit more time at home. I’ve spent over 30 years watching directors and I’ve always had an interest in writing. I have just written, directed and produced a short film. I don’t necessarily think that is where my future lies though, it was just something I wanted to do. John Parr wrote and

sound engineering

produced it with me. This ﬁlm has some very original music by John. We’ve had a lot of interest in previous scripts, so we thought, let’s produce something ourselves and see if that helps the writing side. But it’s all done more for enjoyment than for a career thing.

But isn’t that the secret of this entire industry? It probably is. You do it because you want to do it. I started at 16 and there is a lot to be said for that. My intention was always to be more on the production side, but when I went for the interview they offered me a job in the sound department. I took that as a way in. They could send me off to repair a Moviola or something and the chances were I knew what was wrong with it. That was why I stayed. Because I guess I proved useful. ■

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How does that work with the big set pieces? It works well because it’s a very good working relationship on the Bond ﬁlms. The special effects department will say, ‘We’ve got this effect and it’s going to make a bit of noise, what if we did this or that, would it help?’ On some ﬁlms you turn up and you’re told, ‘Well it’s noisy and that’s the only way we could do it.’

Sound RECORD 4 TRACK or 2+4 TRACK AUDIO on FOSTEX PD6 to 8cm DVD-Ram disc in BWF. Track 1 is for cutting copy sound and dailies mix. Other tracks will have discrete elements of the mix recorded ‘pre-fader’. This allows picture editor to cut with only 1 track of production sound and have access to all other tracks. Note that Film Composer can only import up to 4 tracks per file. For 6 track recording file is split into 2 files (2+4). Files names are slate numbers. In 2+4 mode the 4 track file is identified by + in the file name. E.g. 123A+001 while the 2 track file name would be 123A_001. Audio is recorded 48kHz/24 bit Film Composer will import at 16 bit only. IMPORT AUDIO Files to AVID using firewire DVDRam Drive (LaCie drive recommended) 1 hour of audio takes about 6 minutes to import. No logging required. Each take is a separate file. Clips are automatically named with slate/take number. Track 1 used for editor and other tracks placed in separate bin for each slate. Do NOT delete other tracks or non-select takes. Copy files from DVD-Ram disc to additional FireWire Hard Drive at 24 bit directly from disc NOT from Avid which is only 16 bit. Editorial dept blind sync to print. Having made an audio sequence export in BWF to DVD-Ram disc (full size type ll) or CD-R. Separate file for each reel TC starts at 01 Hrs on every reel with 12ft start. Export audio to Sound Editors by OMFI. They are able to access edited picture and audio and commence sound editing having access to all 6 discrete tracks at digital quality without having to conform original audio. Spotting for ADR is possible without reverting to original recordings. Use METAFLOW to link to 24 bit files and multitrack files in Pro Tools working at 24 bit.

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LYDKRAFT September 2004

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HD30 — gearing for High Deﬁnition Although HD has still to make its presence felt in the European market it hasn’t stopped service providers from gearing up for the eventuality. We give you the romance of Paris, the Opera, a Studer Vista 8 and KEVIN HILTON.

UDIO HAS CREATED an operational dichotomy in outside broadcasts. For sports and ceremonial events, such as state funerals, all aspects of the broadcast are handled in a single truck: vision mixing, graphics and audio, each having a dedicated area within the vehicle. On live and recorded music and entertainment projects it is customary to bring in a specialist mobile recording studio to deal with the audio as the general perception of mixing consoles and audio areas in scanner trucks has been that they are not sophisticated enough for anything other than balancing straight speech and effects. This two-truck approach for music and LE has continued even in the days of the super truck, the giant articulated monsters with expanding sides that have been a feature of television OBs since the mid1990s. It was unlikely that trucks would get any bigger in terms of wheel base and the number of cameras carried — 26 to 30 cameras have been the norm for at least the last five years — but the increasingly extravagant demands of OB production and the establishment of a new vision technology have made some operators rethink the approach to their machines. High definition television (HDTV) is not a full reality in Europe but the pressure is on to provide programmes in the format for American and Japanese networks and to create a library of material for when European broadcasters begin full HD transmissions. The audio accompaniment to HD is widely regarded as 5.1, making sound more of a consideration for OB companies. One that has considered audio in general and the issue of working without a mobile studio on all projects is Danish company PrimeVision. In the last six months it has built four OB trucks and has made the commitment to high definition with the HD30 truck. The 64sqm behemoth is not promoted under the PrimeVision banner but as a standalone service, its name stating that it is an HD truck accommodating up to 30 cameras. 56

What the branding does not say is that the truck houses a Studer Vista 8 mixer with full remote bay. This sits in a dedicated audio area at the front of the trailer, which can be separated by a sliding door from the other departments to give better isolation. Unusually this section has expanding sides like the vision mixing and production areas, giving more room for proper monitoring and additional rack equipment. Chief audio engineer Mads Kaersa comments that with this truck there was an opportunity to build a true control room. ‘This is important when working on music projects,’ he says, ‘and we have chosen to make the audio area big enough so that there would be no need to bring in a mobile studio.’ Technical manager Thomas Lomholdt adds that the issue of working with a separate audio truck for music events was discussed when HD30 was being planned and it was the potential client base that carried the ﬁnal decision. ‘If we were aiming at just

Mads and Thomas.

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sport we could have said we would use one of our existing trucks,’ he says. ‘But we are looking at music and entertainment as well and all the clients we are aiming at need equipment like the Vista 8.’ An audio support truck was a possibility, Lomholdt says, but it was felt that keeping everything in a single truck was the better option. He acknowledges that building a complete package did help cut costs but adds that it gave more scope to provide quality facilities. ‘This is a high-end truck, so it is important that all its parts are the best.’ The scale of TV OBs today not only calls for more equipment but also more people to operate it and to run the production in general. Areas for production staff and viewing rooms are now standard in big trucks and HD30 offers enough space for such needs in its present form and can accommodate further areas in the future should the need arise. Kaersa observes that the audio section is big enough for a mixing engineer and a score reader, plus a tape op and any additional multitrack equipment. Even with the doors in place between the vision and audio departments, there is still line of sight so that the director and sound engineers are not just disembodied voices on the talkback. Among the reasons the Vista 8 was selected, explains Kaersa, is the ﬂexibility it offers for music, including classical, and sports events. ‘It works well recording to multitrack and for live,’ he continues, ‘and the sound is good, so it is suitable for all kinds of music.’ In a multitrack recording situation the desk can be used merely as a means of monitoring the incoming signals; as a live balance console, Kaersa comments that it has the headroom to cope with such potentially overpowering instruments as tympani. ‘We had no concerns about the performance and reliability of digital in this situation,’ he says. Resolution visited the HD30 truck during July when it was at the Paris National Opera recording performances of the ballet La Sylphide. David Kulas produced the project for NHK television and later DVD release on behalf of French production company September 2004

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François Roussillon et Associés. PrimeVision/HD30 was sub-hired for the job by Belgian OB company Outside Broadcast, with which it has a partnership. The music for La Sylphide was recorded through 26 microphones in the auditorium — HD30 travels with a mixture of DPA, Schoeps and Neumann — onto Tascam DA-98. A live stereo balance was recorded on the audio tracks of one of 20 Sony M-2000HD video

recorders, with a backup on tracks 3-4 of the DA-98. The necessary components for a 5.1 mix were recorded on the remaining six tracks. PrimeVision also offers MX2424 and Mackie HDRs, according to client preference. Dolby Digital encoders and decoders are carried as standard equipment, with the Vista 8’s panning facilities giving full control over the placement of sounds in the surround picture. La Sylphide was HD30’s third outing since going on the road at the end of June and involved a crew of 20, including four audio staff overseen by Kaersa as system engineer. Prior to Paris the truck made its debut at a Belgian rock festival and moved on to the speedway World Grand Prix in Copenhagen. After Paris it was then building up to a Stray Cats concert in London, followed by a Danish festival and then the Olympics in Athens. All but the speedway are HD recordings with 5.1 sound. The Vista 8 features three bays containing a total of 30 channel strips, with the Vistonics user interface and motorised faders. The control panel also features Vistonics but with 10 faders, plus surround sound monitoring. Additional faders are available on a 10fader sidecar section, which can be detached from the main desk and located in the vision section. This enables the audio engineer to work alongside the director and control the main desk remotely. The integrated digital routing matrix incorporates a total of 288 input mono equivalent signals and 144 output mono equivalent signals, which can also be controlled by the Sony vision mixing and routing system. The Vista Stagebox is connected to the desk over ﬁbre, giving a maximum run from stage to truck of 300m. This gives 44 analogue mic/line inputs and 24-

bit A-D conversion with eight analogue line outputs. The input/output frames offer 16 analogue mic/line inputs with 24-bit A-D conversion, 24-bit D-A and 32 AES-EBU inputs with a sampling rate convertor. The DSP core features eight DSP boards, giving a total of 64 AES-EBU ins and outs. Among the permanently installed gear is the TC Electronic System 6000 for reverb and processing, which Kaersa views

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craft as a ‘perfect match’ for the Vista 8. Kaersa notes that with classical music being a primary area for HD30 there is no need for extensive racks of equalisers and processors. ‘We use largely DPA microphones and they do not need a lot of EQ,’ he says. ‘Mainly we use the on-board processing, which was another reason for choosing the Vista. Its on-board DSP is good enough for our needs.’ TL Audio and Focusrite equipment is kept at PrimeVision’s postproduction facility and this can be taken on the road if necessary. Audio monitoring is on Genelec 1031 loudspeakers; Lomholdt acknowledges that the Finnish brand is almost an industry standard. ‘We looked at what is being used around the business, which is mostly Genelec, and decided that as we are already using Genelec in our other vans, we would stay with them,’ he says. ‘It’s almost like a religion.’ The 1031s are supported by two Studer self-powered loudspeakers. An important part of any OB is the ability to communicate between the truck and the venue, so the choice of communications equipment is as key as the mixing console, cameras and routing matrix. HD30 features the ﬁrst European installation of ClearCom’s CellCom wireless four-wire communications, in conjunction with the Eclipse 32 digital matrix. Lomholdt comments that systems from Telex and Drake, as well as Clear-Com, were evaluated during the design stages of HD30. ‘We discussed what we wanted to use and it was felt that it would be best to have one system common to the whole ﬂeet,’ he says, despite admitting that a Telex system is used in PrimeVision’s eight camera truck, primarily because it suits the requirements of that vehicle and the work it does. Sport is as much a part of PrimeVision’s roster of

work as music and as sports production companies in Sweden, a prime market for the company, prefer ClearCom, it was decided to stick with the brand. ‘It has the best interface panels,’ says Lomholdt, ‘but most interesting to us was the Eclipse, which has new software. It’s been working perfectly for us and the mainframe can give up to 208 ports, although we’ve been using it with only 96.’ The system is used in conjunction with the i-station interfaces, which feature a greater number of buttons than previous units and so can reach more destinations. The CellCom system is a combination of digital transmission through an intelligent base station, which interconnects to wired communications, including party line and digital matrix systems. The 1U base station supports up to ten full-duplex wireless beltpacks, with the option to connect two base stations to create a larger system. Lomholdt says that as the system is still based on familiar beltpacks, it is suited to music recording and large sports events because the director and crew feel comfortable with it. ClearCom is one of ﬁve technology ‘partners’ in the HD30 project, along with Studer, Sony, Canon and Vinten. This commercial collaboration has helped ﬁnance the construction of the truck but Lomholdt admits that it has still been a sizeable investment for PrimeVision. As a result, the company is looking towards working all over Europe. ‘We thought that by making the truck HD and 5.1, we would have a good chance of being noticed by the people choosing trucks,’ he says. With the Olympics providing a global marketplace, there can be little doubt that HD30 and its standalone, expanding audio department will soon be coming to wider attention. ■

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KVM magic Running multiple computers in a production environment is now commonplace but while it may look impressive to an outsider the informed will know that the duplication of keyboards, mice and monitors smacks of inefﬁciency and wasted real estate. ROB JAMES says the solution lies in a switch.

N AUDIO AND VIDEO production and postproduction, digital recording and control is now the norm. In the past this usually meant dedicated hardware. Now, although proprietary hardware still has its place, there is no escaping the ubiquitous presence of PCs, Macs and in some areas, notably graphics, SGI and other workstations. Very few studios, if any, are now completely free from the tyranny of QWERTY keyboards, monitors and rodents. In fact, even in the smallest project studios, you are highly likely to ﬁnd several computers running different applications all working together to carry out several concurrent tasks. This used to result in multiple keyboards, mice, screens and a snake pit of cables but, thanks to the requirements of corporate networks, there is an alternative — the KVM switch. In the business world it is not hard to see the need for such a device. An IT department may be running tens or even hundreds of servers and it would clearly be impractical to have a dedicated console for each machine. Thanks to the usual price curve applicable to most computer hardware, today you can ﬁnd excellent, intelligent, four-way KVM switches for around UK£100, considerably less than the cost of a single extra monitor. I have been using just such a device (an Adder Gem) for the past year or so and would now be lost without it. More sophisticated switches provide onscreen displays and management functions including administrator controlled access rights. Operationally, switching between computers can be achieved in a number of ways. Many small KVM switches have a front panel button that simply cycles through the connected PCs. If there are only a few computers, using the middle mouse button in conjunction with the left or right to increment or

Sources There are many manufacturers of KVM switches suitable for studio use so this list is far from exhaustive. Gefen in California has a broad range of extenders, distribution amps/hubs and video convertors not only for KVM but also for HDTV, etc. Gefen offers a number of KVM switches controlling up to 8 computers from a single console. Texas-based Rose Electronics manufactures a wide range of KVM switches capable of handling multiple users and single, dual or quad video. In the UK, Adder Technology makes KVM extenders and switches ranging from single operator, two computer to multi-operator, multi-video systems addressing up to 16 computers per unit. By using several units cascaded and/or synchronised, highly sophisticated custom requirements can be met.

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decrement is fast and quickly becomes intuitive. Alternatively, keyboard hot-keys can be used to directly switch between machines or, where a large number of machines makes this impractical, to pop up an on-screen display. Then you simply pick the machine you want to control from a list. Using KVM switches also allows the noisy, heat producing, space hungry computer system units to be banished up to 30m away if high quality cables are used. KVM extenders can increase this to 200m or more using ordinary Cat 5e or Cat 6 Ethernet cabling. For true remote control, there are IP options allowing Internet access to multiple computers from a single console anywhere in the world (with suitable management and security safeguards of course!) If it is useful and convenient to employ this technology with three or four PCs in a small studio, it is little short of essential to the way many film dubbing theatres currently operate. Anyone who has been around film dubbing in recent years will be familiar with the sight of multiple workstations used, in effect, as digital dubbers. Without KVM this can get completely out of hand. Twickenham Film Studios provides a good example. On a recent visit to Theatre 2, I discovered they were using five or more PCs with dual video outputs running multiple iterations of Pyramix, a single Pro Tools and Merging’s new VCube video recorder. In Theatre 2, both rerecording mixers have a keyboard, mouse and two LCD screens and the machine rooms also have screens, keyboards and mice. An XPRO KVM switch from Adder Technology controls all this allowing four simultaneous users to control up to 16 PCs. A second Xpro, synchronised with the first via an RS232 serial link, takes care of the extra video channels from the dual video PCs. The Twickenham people are highly enthusiastic about this way of working and it is a lot more manageable and neater than the alternative. As with most things in life there is a lot more to achieving successful KVM switching than meets the eye. Early KVM switches were simple, mechanical devices and generally not terribly effective. A moment’s thought will reveal some of the reasons why. The technology is crude and physical switching of contacts is not a recipe for good video quality. A manual switch doesn’t allow for bi-directional communication with mouse and keyboard and cannot emulate them on other ports or store the video configuration. This is essential because when a PC is booted up the BIOS seeks a response from mouse and keyboard. If it doesn’t get one, it assumes they are missing. An intelligent KVM switch can emulate the characteristics of the specific mouse and keyboard and ensures the parameters are appropriately set in each PC. Then there is video bandwidth to consider. Staring at a fuzzy monitor for extended periods is a sure recipe for inducing migraine. In environments with all PC or all Mac workstations there is a broad choice of switch. If you need to mix PCs, resolution

Macs and maybe other workstations, the choice is narrower and you would be well advised to check satisfactory operation before making a commitment. It is also well worth checking whether all the species of rodent and trackerball you are likely to be using are supported. Where duplication of facilities is also required, this can be achieved with simple splitters for mice, keyboards and screens. For more complex arrangements, many KVM switches can be cascaded, securing your original investment by allowing for expansion. Although switches capable of handling computers with dual, quad or multiscreen video are available, it can be more cost effective to synchronise two or more simple units to achieve the same effect. Check for this option when comparing speciﬁcations. Finally, don’t be tempted to save money by specifying cheap cables. KVM switching is one of the unsung heroes of the workstation age. It makes a tangible difference to everyday life in the studio for very modest outlay. ■

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PT Tips: MIDI It has been consistently overshadowed by other packages when it comes to the 5-pin DIN but Pro Tools has a fair bit going for it as a MIDI tool, providing you hit the right buttons.

BILL CUNNINGHAM

S I SUGGESTED in my previous article on all things loopy in Pro Tools, this issue I want to take a look at the MIDI sequencing capabilities of the software. For many, Pro Tools is not considered a viable option for composition and sequence-driven work, often overlooked in favour of more obvious applications such as Logic or Cubase. There can indeed be little doubt that at this time, the feature set of both of those pieces of software is larger than that of Pro Tools, and this is often cited as a reason to choose them. However, Pro Tools’ implementation of MIDI has some advantages over its competitors, and for many, its capabilities are ample for the kind of work that needs doing. A big feature set is one thing, but ease of use and the ability to do the basic things well is often of more importance to all but the most hardcore sequencer users. Let’s look, then, at the standard process of recording a piece of MIDI, editing it, looping it, and arranging it with other MIDI and audio regions in Pro Tools. One of the nice things about working with MIDI in Pro Tools is how seamlessly it integrates with audio; the same editing tools are used in the same Edit Window, eliminating the need to move through (and arrange) several windows to achieve the desired result, and the MIDI tracks in the mixer window have the same kind of fader and automation modes. Anyone who can use the audio side of the software should thus have very little difﬁculty in understanding how its MIDI sequencer works. So, to begin, it’s simply a case of making a MIDI

Pic 1

track. Pro Tools on Mac OS X talks directly to the Audio MIDI Setup included with the operating system, (pic: 1) which means installing interfaces and devices is really straightforward. Once the MIDI track is created it appears in the Mix Window with the same familiar channel strip as an audio track, and so setting up the track’s inputs and outputs is just as easy (pic: 2). In this case I’ve chosen the output as SampleTank2 (a very cool software sampler plug-in from IK Multimedia) and left the input as ‘All’. Once the track is dropped into record I’ll be ready to play something. Before I do this, however, I’ll probably want a click track to play along to tempo, and this is something very 60

Pic 2

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simple that until fairly recently was unreasonably awkward in Pro Tools. Now, thankfully, Digidesign has provided users with a simple click plug in (pic: 3) that handles the job really well. Once this plug-in has been inserted on an aux track, there’s a button on the Transport Window that will enable or disable the click, to save having to manually bypass and un-bypass the plug-in every time. With the click playing back, then, it’s time to play a few bars of the usual indescribable genius that pours out of my mind. Once I have a part recorded, I’m going to need to be able to edit it. A good tip here is to leave the MIDI track in ‘Regions’ mode, as this enables easy arrangement of whole parts on the timeline, and use the ‘E’ key shortcut to zoom in on any MIDI region you need to edit. I would strongly recommend having the ‘E’ key preference set to ‘Extreme’, which means that when you select a region and use the shortcut key, almost all of the screen will be used to edit the region. This shortcut key will also automatically put the MIDI track into ‘Notes’ mode so straight away you can start editing what you’ve played, a little like going into a matrix editor or similar. Just as with audio tracks in Pro Tools, MIDI tracks have different view modes depending on what you want to be editing (pic: 4). So I’m ﬁrst going to Pic 4 correct any wrong notes I played (while this is extremely unlikely) before correcting the timing and so on. When editing notes in this way, a really useful method is to use the ‘Unlink Edit/Timeline’ button in the top left of the Edit Window, and put Pro Tools into loop playback. This way I can continuously loop over the region, using the grab tool to move notes up and down, the trim tool to increase or decrease notes’ length, and the selector tool to select and delete groups of notes, without ever changing the loop points. Without this little trick, MIDI region editing can be very awkward in Pro Tools, and as long as you remember to re-link once you use the ‘E’ key again to go back to the standard Edit Window view, you’ll ﬁnd this will save a lot of time and frustration. resolution

Pic 5

With Pro Tools standard editing tools, then, I’m able to achieve most of the manual MIDI editing task I’m likely to need. The view that the track is set to naturally determines what parameter I’m editing but whatever it is, ﬁnding the right tool to edit is very simple. Most of the standard modes such as Volume and Pan use the same kind of rubber-band automation view used by audio tracks, whereas MIDI-unique elements such as Velocity look a little different (pic: 5), but all of it uses the same three main tools. Now I’m reasonably happy that the notes are correct, I’m going to go in and ﬁx the timing. To do this I’ll bring up the MIDI Operations window, and select the ‘Quantise’ mode (pic: 6). Conveniently this

Pic 6

window ﬂoats, so it can be quite useful to leave it on the screen all the time (although with a one-monitor conﬁguration it can take up a little too much screen estate). As you can see, the quantising parameters are pretty much everything you’d expect from a basic sequencer. Once I’ve worked out what division of note I need to use, and set any other parameters, I hit the ‘Apply’ button to apply those settings to the selected MIDI. Note this is a big difference to most other sequencers — in Pro Tools, MIDI operations like quantise are September 2004

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craft coupled with the ease of on-screen editing, mean that it is pretty straightforward and intuitive to achieve the desired results. Once you get to the arranging stage, it’s simply a case of putting each MIDI track into Regions mode and using the standard editing tools to create your ﬁnal masterpiece, and then using all of the mixing functionality of Pro Tools. So what’s missing? There are a few things that users of Logic and Cubase might wish was in Pro Tools. The lack of tempo curves, for example, is a major blow to creative composers, and the fact that the MIDI clocking is derived from audio clock can be a disadvantage. This is most clear when using actual audio regions in musical positions. For example, if I had a single kick drum audio region on the beat and

then changed the tempo of the session, the kick would not move relative to this new tempo change and hence be completely out of time. The ability to have tickbased audio tracks (i.e. MIDI clock derived) would thus be of great use. However, in terms of basic day-to-day MIDI work, Pro Tools now offers a lot more than it ever has in the past. With things like Beat Detective, ReWire support, the ability to use Windows as well as Mac, and a host of synth and sampler plug-ins now available for the platform, Pro Tools is becoming a more attractive option. If a few more features were added (and if they’d just put Beat Detective in LE) it may be that Pro Tools attracts more defectors from the more accepted MIDI sequencer applications. ■

essentially destructive in that they are applied to the MIDI directly and not done in real-time. This can of course be a problem if you have applied several quantise steps and decide you want to hear what the original was like, for example, so thankfully there is a mode available in the MIDI Operations window entitled ‘Restore Performance’ that will put a MIDI region back to exactly how it was when it was ﬁrst recorded. If I need to quantise to a groove as opposed to rigid grid-like timing, I can simply choose ‘Groove Quantise’ in the MIDI Operations window menu and this will give me the option of using a groove from a selection of presets or, better, one that I’ve made myself by analysing audio using Beat Detective as described in the last issue. This, in my opinion, is one of the niftiest features of composition work in Pro Tools — the ability to extract grooves from audio and use them to quantise other audio and indeed MIDI. This feature is presently TDM only, but it really does help to make a track sound tight. Most of the other parameters necessary to tweak a MIDI part are available in the MIDI Operations window with no real notable absences (pic: 7). These features,

Pic 7

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meet your maker

Jörg Wüttke The public face behind the Schoeps brand discusses small is beautiful, misconceptions about large diaphragms, the ‘Digital Bottle’, and the problems of cooking with ‘pre-seasoned’ microphones.

ITH AN INCREDIBLY BROAD range of products in its portfolio, one characteristic of Schoeps microphones is its long-time approach of making mics as small as possible. It does this so the sound field to be picked up is disturbed minimally and because small mics have the practical advantage of being less conspicuous. This concept was pressed home more than 30 years ago with the invention of the ‘Active Cable’, which allows the capsule to be set up at the recording position and the amplifier to be placed some distance away. Today it offers ‘an even better’ form of miniaturization with the CCM (Compact Condenser Microphone) series in which the entire amplifier, with low-impedance balanced output circuitry, is built into the capsule housing. The technical performance of the CCM series competes with that of large studio microphones while surpassing them in acoustical

ZENON SCHOEPE characteristics, according to Schoeps. This technology was used to develop the CMXY 4V stereo microphone, which is claimed to be the smallest available fully professional X/Y stereo mic. Its capsules are coupled mechanically via toothed gears thus allowing their stereo coverage angle to be adjusted. Other stereo offerings include the ORTF mic, two models of sphere microphone, miniaturized equipment for M/S stereo recording and several different setups for surround. A DSP-based system called PolarFlex allows a stereo recording to be made with complete control of the characteristics of the microphones — their directionality and frequency response — in several adjustable frequency bands. While it can mimic almost any other microphone ever built, its deeper value lies in the freedom to adapt the precise characteristics of a stereophonic pickup to a specific recording environment, before, during or after the recording. Capsule benchmarks include the supercardioid MK 41 (1964) and the MK 21 (1987), which was the first ‘wide cardioid’ ever developed with a single membrane. Schoeps offers four different types of pressure (omnidirectional) capsule instead of just the usual free-field and diffuse-field equalised types because it believes that a lot of real-world stereophonic recording doesn’t fit neatly into either of these two traditional categories. Schoeps technical director Jörg Wüttke showed an interest in precision mechanics and electronics from an early age after being introduced to it by his father. He studied electronics and telecommunications at Karlsruhe University, and, as an indirect result of his interest in music, specialised in acoustics, concentrating on research into loudspeakers and phonograph cartridges. From 1967 until his graduation in 1969, he was teaching assistant to Professor Günther Kurtze, the inventor of the shotgun microphone. He joined Schoeps GmbH as a research engineer in 1970, became its chief engineer in 1972, and is now its technical director. Together with Dr Schoeps, he holds a patent on the Colette microphone series.

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He cites innovative design technologies and the design of transducers among his special interests but likes to bear in mind the practical applications of such research particularly with new developments in microphones and recording techniques. An active member of the AES and a member of the DIN Standards Committee on Microphones and Headphones, he maintains an avid interest in listening to music and recording live concerts as an important link to his other more philosophical interests.

What is special about Schoeps microphone technology? A long list could be made here. The core of our concern is always to obtain the most natural sound possible, with a high level of overall product quality. In the design of our capsules we strive for the greatest possible uniformity of directional pattern across the frequency range, and for frequency response characteristics that are as smooth and flat above 10 kHz as they are at lower frequencies; most of our capsules have response extending well beyond 20kHz. Since our microphones are small and miniature transformers are beset with problems, in 1965 we developed the first ‘iron-free’ (transformerless) phantom-powered microphones; this also helped to raise the maximum sound level that our microphones can handle without overload. The very low output impedance of our amplifier circuitry allows long microphone cables to be used without significant signal loss; it also helps to avoid adverse loading effects, thus ensuring that our microphones will sound as intended with the widest possible range of consoles, preamps and mixers. Why are Schoeps mics so often employed for classical recording? Neutral sonic behavior is especially highly prized in the field of classical music. A Stradivarius should sound like a Stradivarius and not like a ‘violin + microphone’. We don’t shy away from helping to foster beauty of tone, but our approach is to achieve it on the basis of reality. For that matter if an equaliser is to be used, it is best by far to start with a signal that is not already complicated by a microphone with strong ‘opinions’ of its own. Much of what such microphones do to a sound cannot be undone readily if at all. For a comparison, imagine a good chef whose art includes a knowledge of precisely how to use spices and herbs. If his raw materials are all ‘pre-seasoned’ he will have problems! One can always add distortion, but it is hardly possible to remove it once it has been added.

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meet your maker Why is that the majority of ‘classic’ mics tend to be of large diaphragm design? There are strong historical components to this situation. It is more difficult to make microphones small; in the early years it was altogether impossible. But since even the earliest condenser microphones were remarkably good, the use of large condenser microphones became a tradition with many users. One can be content with large microphones, especially if one chooses them by eye; large microphones look imposing, and thus are also prestige objects. Nonetheless I propose relying primarily on your earswherever possible, making sonic comparisons without falling victim to any visually inspired expectations. What are the popularly held misconceptions about large and small diaphragm mics and what is the reality? One widespread error is the belief that large-diaphragm microphones are better at picking up low frequencies. It is simply not so. While on that subject, the fact to the contrary is that large membranes present quite complex problems at high frequencies. But even the smallest membrane can have flat response to arbitrarily low frequencies (even DC) if the capsule is arranged as a pressure transducer. The basic difference between microphones and loudspeakers seems to elude people’s reasoning on this point. A loudspeaker must be large enough to deliver substantial acoustical power to a room. But a microphone’s membrane acts as a sensor — it only has to follow the incoming sound waves, and a small diaphragm can do that more accurately than a large one. The air on both sides of a microphone diaphragm must, of course, move along with the membrane; the mass of this air ‘cushion’ is greater than that of the diaphragm itself, and it is the primary means by which the membrane’s resonance is damped mechanically. The notion that exotic materials or ultra-thin membranes can give microphones a ‘faster’ impulse response is therefore unjustified — this apart from the exaggerated notions that some people seem to have about how ‘fast’ a membrane’s response should actually be. There is another misconception, on rather a different level. Just now it occurs to me that the routine use of the attenuators built in to condenser microphones is technically problematic. If, unfortunately, you really do have a microphone input that can’t handle the output levels of a modern condenser microphone, then using a balanced, inline resistive pad at that input is the best solution. It

will attenuate the microphone’s self-noise as well as the signal and any interference picked up in the cable, thus preserving an optimal signal-to-noise ratio. Most attenuators built in to microphones attenuate only the signal, leaving the microphone’s self-noise and any interference picked up in the cable nearly unaffected.

What are the advantages of separating the capsule and the preamp as you have in your designs? By being able to separate the capsule and ampliﬁer, you can also interchange capsules on a single ampliﬁer; the main advantage is then in the cost savings to our clients. Many of our customers own

more capsules than the number of microphones that they are ever required to use simultaneously. This allows them, for a given total expenditure, to build up a far more flexible set of tools than they could own if they always needed to buy an amplifier for each capsule. We sell fewer amplifiers that way, but our customers are happier and more productive, so it works out well for us. This could be compared to the situation with single-lens reflex cameras and their interchangeable lenses. However, interchangeability does make the task of designing and building the microphones somewhat more complex, which is why our Compact Condenser Microphones do not have interchangeable capsules.

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meet your maker Where are the typical areas of compromise made in old and modern microphone designs and manufacture? Once again I have to refer to issues of size. After everything I have said, we would be happy to make even smaller microphones but then we would not be able to meet the demands of studio engineering with regard to noise levels. Thus the diameter of nearly all smallmembrane microphones represents a compromise. Our microphones are nearly always below the noise level of the studios themselves. But large diaphragm microphones can have lower noise if engineered speciﬁcally for that, and in recent years a few such types have actually been produced — though that is not by any means the norm.

What is your reading of the ‘digital’ microphone issue and what do you think is required? We should express it correctly: what exists today are analogue microphones with conventional capsules, analogue impedance convertors and built-in A-D convertors. Something to fear is that the digital part of that arrangement will become obsolete as quickly as our computers do already. That would stand in crass contrast to the traditional long service life of professional condenser microphones, with some types made 40, 50 and even 60 years ago remaining in use today. For that reason we have taken a modular

approach in which the analogue part is exchangeable and can be used on its own. In a reference to the old vacuum-tube microphones, we are calling the digital part the ‘Digital Bottle’. There are various advantages to such microphones. One is that good analogue microphones can handle a dynamic range of about 130dB, and with digital technology this dynamic range can be passed along undiminished to the recording and reproducing system. In practice, this means that one no longer has to set levels. A second advantage is that a variety of parameters, particularly the directional pattern, can be remote controlled via the AES 42 port. There is also a return ﬂow of information available to conﬁrm the microphone settings you have made.

There are a multitude of ways to capture surround or multichannel sound, what is you opinion on the various ‘standards’ and their suitability for the job? The complete answer to this question can be given only at greater length, such as in the paper I gave at the AES Conference in Elmau, but I would make the following points in brief. That surround can be successful has been proved by ﬁlm and video but the production of impressive music recordings in surround is still problematic. The situation is so complex that only a scientiﬁc approach could lead to convincing results. In any case, more attention must be paid to the centre channel even in pure musical productions. How would anyone justify the purchase and installation of an expensive 5.1 playback system if all the recordings are made such that, for example, the centre channel could equally well be dispensed with? We must get the best possible use from all the channels if we wish to win over the consumer. What are the remaining technical limitations of microphones today? Can they be improved? Where is it leading? I have no doubt that microphones can still be improved. The question is which improvements will be heard and valued by the end user. Unfortunately the wishes of the customers diverge so much that it is scarcely possible to derive goals from them. And the many fans of original ‘vintage’ microphones could easily give you the feeling that there is nothing more for a microphone manufacturer to accomplish. What would happen to us all if everyone looked at things that way? In any event, it isn’t possible to bring back the ‘good old days’ with their music and their performers through nostalgia.

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Given that microphones, like every other aspect of audio technology, have decreased in price and improved in performance how have end user attitudes changed to quality? End users are actually rather more responsive to quality today than they were in the past. That explains why products that are not made in the Far East, and that are therefore considerably more expensive, can still be successful. Competent support, service and advice for customers also belong with a quality product. ■

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ten

Producers who changed the way music sounded A record producer is an amorphous role. Success can be measured by numerous parameters, the most obvious being record sales, but creativity, status, recognition and inﬂuence must all feature at the right time. They can be musical or technical and hopefully both. The producer must be the right thing at the right time, even if their input is not recognised for years after. Selecting ten names that have inﬂuenced the sound of recorded music, and why, is a personal choice. Your choice will be different but that’s part of the fun.

GEORGE MARTIN — Being producer to The Beatles, a highly gifted but (initially) untutored recording band, was in itself a challenge and their talents tended to c l o u d M a r t i n ’s achievements. Initially he managed to capture an energy on record that was far more exciting than their live bootleg Hamburg recordings. Keeping raw talent fresh in the studio is tough. In later years his command of the musical vocabulary matched their creative demands and was able to blend orchestral signatures with rock music so there was no visible join, and he applied a parallel level of studio creativity to that of his charges at a time when there was little or nothing available in signal processing. So we have, just for starters, musique concrete tape editing, turning the console and numerous tape loops into a precursor to the Mellotron, and the open-ended recording session. Recorded music was never the same afterwards. PHIL SPECTOR — One of the very ﬁrst to see the way recorded sound could be shaped to create something that clearly wasn’t just a recreation of the live performance. A clever musical arranger, he was able to make large ensembles work with double, triple

and quadrupled drummers, bass players, guitarists, etc, in such a way that when adding his reverberant sheen to the overall track, everything gelled rather than being in conﬂict — the ‘Wall of Sound’. His promotion of the ‘Back To Mono’ slogan in the 1970s was recognition that his approach doesn’t work fully in the more analytical stereo age where excess reverb doesn’t add depth but confusion. JIMMY IOVINE — Bruce Springsteen’s 1976 Born To Run album adapted some of the Phil Spector trademarks for stereo, multitrack recording and recreation of the ‘stadium-rock experience’. Iovine, engineer on those sessions, carried on developing these techniques and they were fully in evidence by the next Springsteen album (Darkness On The Edge Of Town) and as producer on Tom Petty’s Damn The Torpedoes the following year. While there is a need to adjust the playing style, the fullness and ambience surrounding each instrument was set to create an optimised live-type sound, where even a four-piece rock band could sound far larger than might be expected — yet the detail was present. Returning to

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KEITH SPENCER-ALLEN

those recordings now, they don’t sound that sonically original but turn to some artist’s earlier recordings and see how much this production style has influenced ever since. CHRIS BLACKWELL — Sometimes there is a case for the hands-off producer. Someone who only gets involved in the technicalities of recording and music when needed but acts as a major facilitator, bringing together the right talents and creative themes, stirs the ambience, and steps back to observe. In the film world this is the role of a producer but in recording it is more widely regarded as an ‘executive producer’ role when that title isn’t purely honourary. Blackwell’s deep understanding of Caribbean roots music enabled him to capture its essence on records with Bob Marley and many other reggae stars without emasculating it. A similar touch was displayed in bringing mature sounding albums from difficult and novice artists through the 1970s. So there are times when hands-off is more. GLYN JOHNS — Sometimes, not changing your production style can make you an innovator. Johns was one of the UK’s top engineers through the 1960s — early Kinks, Who and Stones benefited — moving into production towards the end of the decade. When

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ten the fashion for multiple, close miked overdubs in very dead acoustics hit in the early 1970s, Jones continued celebrating the sound of musicians playing together in a very audible room acoustic — the sound of a band. Remember early Eagles, The Faces, Andy Fairweather-Low and Eric Clapton for their studio-live sound, and his inﬂuence as an engineer on drum sounds — that ﬁrst Led Zeppelin album and the Stones Honky Tonk Women intro that has inspired for years. MICKIE MOST — While much modern recording has become far more of a collaborative process, the autocratic producer was once the norm. Most was a producer who had an innate sense of a hit single, song structure and memorable intro. He knew exactly what he wanted, surrounded himself with excellent musicians, used good studios, made instant decisions on musical matters, and had loads of hit records in all styles. Not particularly interested in the technical processes he was a song man and everyone did what they were told. It worked because he was very good at what he did — if he weren’t, it would have been a disaster.

TOM DOWD — Having been born at the time of the introduction of electrical recording and entering the studio world just after WWII, just as it was beginning to develop, provides for an enormous reserve of experience. Equally at home as engineer, arranger or producer he made his reputation working with black artists through the Atlantic Records connection. Almost all the famous soul tracks from the 1960s were part of his output. Later he became a major rock producer in demand not just for his technical skills but also for the way he could take artists into other musical traditions without loosing their way. As a very early adopter of 8track he was part of the generation that developed modern recording. MUTT LANGE — Skilled producer whose ultimate talents would seem to be a quest for perfection and the accompanying endless supply of patience. He has the reputation for creating technically and musically faultless recordings with all the commercial hooks in the right places. This is largely achieved through endless takes, sheer hard work, and a willingness to muck-in with multiple voice and guitar parts to achieve his hallmark layered sound. While this doesn’t work for everyone, it has brought considerable record sales for many of his productions.

QUINCY JONES — Consumate musician and arranger with a musical vocabulary spanning Sinatra to Jackson. If he has a speciality it is in providing the right musically creative situation for his artist and then preparing it meticulously for recording such that, despite what technical tricks have to be played, it sounds utterly natural and convincing. TREVOR HORN — Having learnt his craft as a musician, Horn moved into production and made his mark with imaginative musical arrangements, clever sounds and studio experimentation. However, he was probably the ﬁrst to develop techniques in the early 1980s for making complete mainstream recordings using Fairlight/Synclavier systems and to completely revolutionise the traditional methods of song composition, performance and production. And with extensive use of hard disk recording systems there was little need to move out of the computer domain. This allowed Horn to create recordings almost single handedly using just the sampled elements of the band that he wanted. The rest of the industry slowly saw what technology had enabled and took notice. ■

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Virtual Circuitry Modeling

various aspects. Figure 2 shows the recording/ reproduction frequency magnitude response of four types of deck in a very normal situation (normal bias, BASF 900, 500nWeb/m). After we finished the measurement recordings, we Yamaha has developed ‘state-of-the-art’ digital emulation technology of analogue studio did not really know whether we could successfully gear and implemented it into optional add-on effects updates for its digital mixers. extract the parameters of individual components from the analogue tape decks. Yamaha’s R&D guru TOSHI KUNIMOTO explains Virtual Circuitry Modeling. The procedure of magnetisation is understandable as a sort of transfer response having particular EVERAL PACKAGES INCORPORATING K’s Lab team measured the highest-quality magnitude frequency responses and very strange nonYamaha’s Virtual Circuitry Modeling (VCM) have analogue tape recorders. As our modeling process linearities, such as saturation and big distortion at been released including the Channel Strip employs component-level technology, the recording zero-crossing points. Package (consisting of compressors and a parametric amplifier, the recording head, the tape, the The frequency magnitude responses caused by equaliser), the Master Strip Package (featuring tapereproduction head and the reproduction NAB EQ can NAB and de-NAB EQ are combined with some other emulation technology) and the Reverb Package. These each be realised individually in DSP. Consequently, our compensation (pre-emphasis) filter responses on the will be followed soon by the Surround Package and consultant (an expert analogue recording engineer) modeling. The losses in the higher frequency area are Vintage Stomp Package. The effect programs in these suggested that it would be very interesting to allow very important to achieve the exact sound of the packages are all based on VCM technology that rather elements of recording and playback characteristics analogue tape recorders that are compensated for by than attempting to approach the desired sound using from different analogue decks to be combined. For the pre-emphasis filter. Also the frequency responses conventional digital audio methods, actually models example, when working with real analogue tape of the playback head (called ‘Contour effect’) are the analogue circuitry right down to individual recorders, engineers may use an Ampex deck for depicted easily from measurement data and applied resistors, capacitors and operational amplifiers. mixdown, then use a onto the model. This technology was originally developed at Studer machine for The responses have Yamaha when it developed the VL1 and VP1 — the mastering. This sort of unique, individual first physical modeling synthesisers. VCM technology flexibility should be characteristics that vary goes well beyond simply analysing and modeling provided in a digital on each of the decks. electronic components and emulating the sound of old emulation of analogue These individualities are equipment. It is capable of capturing subtleties that tape recording. mainly caused by the simple digital simulations cannot approach and in So we booked several physical layout of the creating ideal examples of sought-after vintage gear. high level professional reproduction heads. As digital recording/reproduction systems are recording studios that They are characterised becoming increasingly popular in the industry, the had very wellby bumps in the importance of analogue sounding signal processing is maintained analogue lower frequency area so becoming more obvious to engineers. Some theoretical tape recorders. We also that changes in the aspects of these technologies, especially with regard to hired engineers who had Figure 2. Frequency responses of four types reproduction-side decks the analogue tape recorder emulation, are described in extensive experience with of measured deck. cause the sound of kick this article to illustrate how these new technologies the maintenance and drums, snares and basses lead to authentic analogue sound characteristics. alignment of analogue to be influenced and Figure 1 illustrates the recording/reproduction decks. We spent several modified significantly. process of an analogue tape recording system. It is a days measuring every The speed of the very complicated procedure and there are many aspect of four different tape has a very components here that should be simulated if you want types of analogue tape simple influence on the to achieve good musical-sounding analogue tape deck that were of magnitude frequency recording emulation in the digital domain. particular interest to us. responses of the Yamaha’s VCM development team (known as K’s Measurements record and reproduction Lab) analysed this procedure in great detail. Some of included not only normal processes. Frequency the components, such as the differentiator and the bias conditions, but also responses are shifted up NAB frequency equaliser, can be implemented rather over-bias and less-bias by one octave at 30ips easily by digital filters with adequate frequency conditions, different tape compared to 15ips. responses. The problem seemed to be non-linearity types, such as BASF 900 The saturation and losses. Since this behaviour is very complex, it is and Quantegy 456, 15ips characteristics were difficult to estimate these characteristics. After some and 30ips, different Figure 3. Frequency response of four models in the extracted as parameters theoretical considerations, we understood that all the settings for Lo/Hi Open Deck add-on effect. of our modeling in a components could be realised by digital software on a adjustments and levels, straightforward manner. DSP chip. As a result, Figure 1 is not only an and so on. We also measured the responses of different We had to tune our modeling a little but this was not illustration of real analogue tape recording but also the combinations of deck. We recorded this measurement such a complicated job. The behavior of the saturation model we employed on our ‘Open Deck’ add-on effect data into digital audio files and brought them back to our effects on the individual analogue tape decks has been for Yamaha’s digital mixing consoles. own laboratory to investigate them in detail from carefully reconstructed. With regard to this aspect, it was interesting to observe the considerable differences in linearity between various tape decks. This aspect of the tape deck response characterises the sound of transient audio signals like cymbals. Sound engineers recognise this sound as dynamic compression from analogue tape decks that have strong saturating nonlinearity. This saturation effect of real decks is often referred to as ‘tape compression’. Magnetisation on the surface of the tapes has zerocrossing type non-linearity. The importance of this phenomenon can be seen when you apply less and Figure 1. The procedure of recording/reproduction in an analogue tape recording system over-bias on each of the decks. In particular, a less bias

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technology situation causes big zero-crossing distortion and results in harsh and husky sounds on vocals. When we analysed measurement data of BASF 900 and Quantegy 456 tape, we recognised that the linearities of them are slightly different, and once we became aware of these differences they were easily reconstructed. Many properties of each analogue tape deck’s individual components are depicted. Once they are exactly reconstructed by the parameters of the models, they are very easily maintained on the digital software. Different combinations of different tape decks are very easily obtained due to component-level structure of our modeling. We reorganised these parameters and models as Swiss 70, Swiss 75, Swiss 82 and American 75. They are a nice set of choices of good parameters that came from the decks we measured. Figure 3 shows the frequency responses of the ﬁnal set we realised. Many evaluation sessions were held in Tokyo, New York and London. More than a dozen experienced engineers, such as Elliot Scheiner, participated in these listening tests. They made valuable and insightful comments about the prototype add-on effects being developed for our digital consoles. We prepared many add-on effects such as compressors, EQ, phasers, tape-emulation and completely new reverb algorithms for these evaluations. The Open Deck tape-emulation technology drew tremendous attention. They claimed that all the current ‘tape emulation’ technologies and plug-ins they could ﬁnd on DAWs seemed to be simply combinations of EQ and compression. They said Open Deck technology was a completely different creature. Not only are the sounds and responses very similar to analogue tape recorders but also the sounds are very musical. Consequently, we have recognised this to be the strongest point of our technology.

simply attempting to emulate one speciﬁc processor. One of our evaluators said it sounds similar to the UREI 1176 while another said it sounds like a Neve, yet another said its timbre resembles the saturating characteristics of some tube-compressors. We can say they all are correct, because our intention was to combine many good analogue compression characteristics into one digital processor, rather than to strictly emulate one single analogue compressor. It is interesting to point out that many recent modern recordings use analogue tape recorders for multitrack recording and mastering to provide the tape compression effect that adds the punch and warmth of analogue sound. A good example of this is the recent Steely Dan release Everything Must Go on which Elliot

Scheiner employed a combination of analogue and digital multitrack recording to benefit from the best aspects of each technology. VCM offers great opportunities for advancing digital audio signal processing technology. This type of modeling can be applied to the emulation of many other types of audio effects and processors including tube gear, guitar stomp boxes and analogue console channel strips. Very significantly, by modeling at the component level, VCM can allow the specifically appealing characteristics of different vintage equipment to be combined to create completely new digital processors. ■ Technologies described in this article are patent pending. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Figure 4. Screen shot of Studio Manager 2.

Figure 4 illustrates the graphical user interface screen of Yamaha’s Studio Manager 2 software for consoles such as the DM2000 and 02R96 V2. The GUI editing screens for Open Deck and Compressor 276 can be seen in this diagram. The graphical design in Studio Manager 2 is intended to represent the look of real vintage analogue gear. When the type of recording or reproduce deck is changed in Open Deck, or even when the type of tape being used is changed, these are graphically represented on-screen. The Compressor 260, Compressor 276 and Equaliser 601 employ VCM technology to emulate analogue outboard processors. We analysed many vintage outboard effects, compressors and equalisers, and we believe we have achieved some ideal analogue processors in the digital domain. In particular, we feel that Compressor 276 combines the strongest points of several different analogue compressors rather than September 2004

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slaying dragons

The Super Audio CD The Compact Disc is getting on, but irritatingly it just seems to work ﬁne. That doesn’t seem to put off would-be replacements. JOHN WATKINSON looks at DSD and SACD and decides he’d rather keep CD.

LONG TIME AGO any quality audio was a struggle. The technology wasn’t quite there or wasn’t affordable and the entire ethos of audio was to try to improve it. A lot of people built their own equipment (some of us still do) and because of that the general technical knowledge in the industry and the standard of debate was quite good. Now that digital audio is a mature technology, we can do pretty much anything in recording and processing at low cost. It’s only the transducers that remain expensive. The quality of all but the most corner-cutting digital gear is so good that it doesn’t actually need to be any better. Unfortunately that hasn’t had the slightest impact on the continual improvement ethos. From a sales point of view, the continuous improvement ethos is wonderful because it means a continuous stream of new equipment. The general level of technical education has gone down, and with it the standard of debate, because hardly anyone makes anything for themselves anymore. This makes it easy for manufacturers to make unwarranted claims because the majority will believe them. Take SACD, for example. It uses a format called DSD64 because it has 64 times the sampling rate of CD. Each audio channel runs at 2.8224 Megabits per second, which is four times the bit rate of one audio channel of a CD. Wow, we say, it must be better. But wait a minute. CD uses 16 bit words, having 65,536 combinations and thus delivers 2900 million combinations per second, whereas DSD64 uses single bit data having two combinations and thus delivers 5.6 million combinations per second. Thus the information capacity of DSD64 is about 0.2 percent of CD. It’s unfortunate that single bit data is literally the most inefficient way of recording that there is. The fact that lossless compression can easily be carried out on the bitstream is an indication of how inefficient DSD is. From the high bit rate of DSD64 come claims that the audio bandwidth is enormous and the timing accuracy is fantastic. Unfortunately this isn’t true. If the audio bandwidth of DSD64 was half the bit rate, or 1.4 MegaHertz, the signal to noise ratio would be a few dB, grossly inferior to a wax cylinder. In order to make such a grossly inefficient recording format work, the signal has to be heavily noise shaped. In other words the spectrum of the noise is modified so that most of it falls outside the audio band (whatever that is). This is done by filters that are built into the A-DC. As far as I am aware, all such noise shaping filters are recursive, because they must feed back the error from the last decision to control subsequent decisions. Thus noise shaped conversion done in this way cannot be phase linear and claims for the timing accuracy of DSD64 we see in the press supported by printouts showing impossibly short symmetrical impulses are balderdash. In fact, the suggestion that humans can hear absurdly high frequencies that only DSD/SACD can deliver is completely misleading and deserves nothing but contempt. One only needs to refer to the noise shaping response used in DSD64 to see that the 70

designers settled on a practical bandwidth of 22kHz (the same as CD). Any signal above that frequency in DSD64 will be dwarfed by noise. If our ears are so good, how come we can’t hear that noise? This frequency limit is in the SACD spec. Thus the designers

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of SACD knew that it had a practical bandwidth of 22kHz and all the subsequent gonads about phenomenal bandwidth came from the people who brought you the Emperor’s new clothes. However, I cannot be too harsh on these weavers of hyperbole when we are equally to blame for being so poorly educated that we fail to laugh hysterically when this stuff is set before us. I remember attending an early presentation of DSD where all of this stuff was trotted out. I’m still laughing. I’ve been openly criticising it verbally and in writing ever since and I’ve never seen a single word of rebuttal, whereas I have had some off-the-record agreement.

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slaying dragons Have I seen standard texts on human hearing revised with apologies that acoustic researchers the world over had got the bandwidth of human hearing so wrong for so long? In a word: No. But surely what matters is what it sounds like. We hear that existing titles are to be remastered to SACD. But how can remastering put in the extra bandwidth that isn’t present on the old formats? And if the extra bandwidth isn’t there, won’t SACDs remastered from old formats sound worse than a fully DSD production? The problem I have is that when listening to SACDs I can’t hear any improvement over wellmastered CDs and the quality of remastered SACDs doesn’t seem to be any worse than fully DSD productions. In fact the best commercially available recording I have ever heard is on CD that was mastered using PCM equipment. As far as I am aware, DSD was originally developed for archiving analogue recordings and in this application it would be OK. However, once the marketing people got hold of it, they wanted to use it for all kinds of things, like production. That would be ﬁne except for one small drawback: the DSD bitstream cannot be subject to any conventional EQ or mixing because the result will by deﬁnition be multibit. It is then necessary to re-noise shape back to one bit and this causes generation loss. Thus in practice to perform production steps with

DSD it has to be converted to PCM and then back again. Given that PCM is more efficient to record, one wonders if it’s worth the trouble of going through these lossy standards conversion processes. In conventional CD mastering, the sound is captured at any suitable sampling rate and resolution in PCM and all production is performed in the same format accepting the wordlength extension. Only during CD mastering is a single stage of bandwidth reduction and noise shaping employed. This is the correct way to use noise shaping and it explains why noise-shaped CDs sound so good. When using DSD, the noise shaping is there in the original material and it just makes life difficult in the production process, especially when mixing, where the noise in all the channels adds up. I also wonder what all that out-of-band noise does to over-specified audio amplifiers that try to amplify it. Usually the result is reduced resolution. Given the same bit rate as DSD64, it would be much simpler to record, say 88.2kHz sampling rate with 32bit resolution. Using the much greater efficiency of binary coding, this would give us genuine 40kHz audio bandwidth and so much dynamic range we would have to immerse the convertors in liquid nitrogen to get the circuit noise down to the quantising noise. It’s only when comparisons like this are made that it becomes clear how poor DSD really is.

I think it’s sad that with all the theoretical knowledge available today and all the wonderful materials, components and processes we can incorporate, the best alternative to CD that we could come up with is this. Technically it’s suspect and in my view this probably has been the reason why some of the manufacturers involved feel compelled to generate a raft of pseudoscience and downright misleading statements that make the introduction of the CD shine like a beacon of honesty. As far as I can see the only way in which it is superior to CD is that it offers multichannel sound. Oh, and it uses compression to do that. With four times the bit rate of CD, any fool could get 4-channel PCM audio without compression. SACD? Sad Alternative to a Compact Disc. ■ • The only energy above 22kHz in DSD64 is noise: lots of it. • DSD64 cannot be more time accurate than CD because it has the same bandwidth yet uses recursive ﬁltering. • Noise shaped signals cause difficulty in multichannel mixes. • Binary coded PCM is the most efﬁcient recording format possible; DSD is the least. • DSD bitstreams cannot be processed, EQed, etc, because the result will not be single bit data.

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your business

Collecting your (virtual) money The shift from disc to download offers interesting challenges for producers looking to see their share of the cash pie. In fact you may never get to see it, suggests DAN DALEY, if what are now increasingly ‘olde worlde’ payment deals and contracts are adhered to instead of more modern and progressive strategies.

IGITAL TECHNOLOGY HAS changed the way you make records. That same digital revolution is also changing the way you make — or don’t make — money from those recordings. It’s another instance of how ‘the large print giveth and the small print taketh away,’ to quote Tom Waits, part and parcel with how digital has changed an entire industry. For better or worse, well, that depends upon where you’re sitting. In July, Apple, whose iPod and iTunes products pointed a crumbling record industry’s nose towards the nextgeneration business model it was so incapable of seeing for itself, finally cut a long-awaited deal with a loose confederation of independent record labels in the States. Indies are widely reported to account for about a quarter of the music retail market. However, anyone in the business knows that independently produced and financed recordings are likely closer to half the prerecorded music market, and possibly even more. Why, at a time when CD sales have declined precipitously and steadily (the first half of 2004 being an exception but no means a harbinger) would one assert that there is more music available than ever before? Because the ability to record music has finally outstripped any capability of measuring its sales. When so much music is sold at club gigs and through individual websites, SoundScan numbers become increasingly irrelevant, as though, during the Cold War, NATO decided to assess the strength of the Soviet navy without noticing that they had any submarines. The amount of music that falls beneath the metric radars of the conventional music business is

as invisible as the bulk of an iceberg and about the same ratio — only the tips of each are visible. But it’s worth reading the news these days. Let’s look at the Apple/indie label deal and see what it portends for record producers. At stake was the rate that Apple would agree to pay indies per download. Apple has never made its deal with the major labels completely public, but it’s widely understood that companies such as Time Warner, EMI and Sony are getting between 45 per cent and 60 per cent of the retail price of the download, which in the States has been 99 cents (about 58p). All things being equal, that

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works out fairly close to the US$12 or so that those labels earned from their share of a CD’s retail list price. (In the good old days, anyway.) But all things aren’t equal. By its very nature, downloading is a trackby-track endeavour; downloading an entire CD is a rarity. That, in theory and increasingly in practice, substantially reduces the per unit earnings potential of any full CD project. This has two implications for record producers, one immediately apparent, one more subtle but quite ominous. Working with the industry standard of a 12 per cent to 15 per cent (of retail) cut for the artist, the producer could generally count on getting between one and four of those points, depending upon his or her leverage. Shifting to a per-track paradigm screws the royalty situation up royally: most immediately, how does one collect one’s producer points from such a fragmented sales infrastructure? Secondly, and more disturbing at a point in time when business ethics in general are dismal, how can one reliably know that even these incremental producer revenues are being accounted properly? Short answer: you can’t. The new deal between Apple and the indies is assumed to offer independent record labels a rate closer to that negotiated with the majors. However, the indie market is the musical equivalent of the Balkans — they’re not as organised as a multinational corporation and as a result no deal can ever be truly comprehensive. They are also hardly the underdog angels that many independents make themselves out to be as they differentiate themselves from their corporate cousins. It’s not like Joe’s Records

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your business are answering to the Securities & Exchange Commission or the Federal Trade Commission — or even the Better Business Bureau — on a regular basis. Even CEO Steve Jobs referred to the independent labels Apple negotiated with as ‘mean and nasty’ (Times of London 13/7/04). It’s not inconceivable that record producers, who already have to fight to get proper accountings of record royalties in far too many cases, will simply have to shift their trench lines from Bertelsmann to online distributors. Trouble is, the unit price of a download is going down — mega-discounter WalMart’s new music download service costs 79 cents per track. The lower the cost of the song, the thinner the slice owed to producers and, concomitantly, the harder it will be to track it and collect it. This points inexorably, I strongly feel, to changing the underlying financial paradigm that record producers, recording artists and even the music industry has been based on for decades. You can no longer rely upon back-end revenues. You can’t lay out money and time to create a product whose earnings only show up after consumers buy one of them. The major record labels are (finally) figuring this out, and once they stop capitalising productions up front, the notion of the artist advance and the producer’s fee, which is almost always taken from the artist’s advance, will be largely history. So what do you do? Unfortunately, the fragmentation of the music industry more deeply into independent territory will make policing royalty collections that much more difficult. I mean, how much time do you have now to chase payments and still make records for existing clients and pursue new ones? The sooner you can shift your earnings basis from the back end to the front end, the better. ‘Looking back over the last five years, I can’t think of a single production deal I’ve signed on to that I wouldn’t have rather gotten paid money up front than points on the other end,’ says my friend Pat Dillett, who has produced records for They Might Be Giants and Brazilian jazzer Gilberto Gil. ‘You don’t come to this conclusion easily or quickly, because we’ve become very used to the way the payment structure has been in the past. But that structure is just about gone now.’ The core of Dillett’s clientele is non-mainstream

Advertisers Index AES..............................................................39 Alchemea ....................................Classified 71 Audient........................................................64 Audio Technica ............................................16 Brauner........................................................40 Dean Cook Productions ............Classified 71 Digital Village ................................................9 DK Audio ....................................................72 Dolby ............................................................7 DigiDesign ..................................................44 DPA..............................................................11 ESE ..............................................................12 Focusrite......................................................45 Genelec ............................Inside Front Cover Harman Pro UK / AKG Sentronic ..............19 IBC ..............................................................37 Jim Hawkins................................Classified 71 KMR Audio ..................................................58 Lawo ............................................................13 Loud/Mackie ..............................................35

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stuff, like the alt-y Giants and international jazz musicians (though he’s done his share of work for pop luminaries, such as Mary J. Blige). The fringe-like nature of their universe has helped Dillett make the transition. ‘The Giants actually own their own downloads, thanks to a quirk in their contract,’ he says, meaning that Dillett deals directly with the artist when it comes to a download royalty payment, and not with a far more opaque record label accountancy. ‘I think the sooner artists can address new distribution technologies in their label contracts, the better it will be for them and their producers. So, I think the producer has an obligation to himself and to his artists to keep awareness of that in the forefront.’ I’ve beaten this drum before, but time to beat it again as the new order of the music industry takes hold. If I could tell you exactly what to do, I wouldn’t be writing magazine articles for a living. But I can suggest that you become more aware of the ways in which music tracks are monetised, and be more assertive in keeping your rightful participation in them current. For instance, the advertising industry looks to the music business more and more as a way to get their clients’s messages across. Use of music tracks in commercials is almost always done on an up-front, synchronisation license basis. When you negotiate your production agreement, make that part of the deal. In other words, find those pathways that the music industry is already turning to that have the most front-loaded business model, such as film synch usages, and make sure your connection to them is clear. This might entail revising your standard agreement (or having your manager do so). Tracking the use of individual music tracks will become a more complex task but a necessary one. The paradigm is the same one already used with compilation records (for which artists, producers, composers and other participants generally already accept reduced royalty rates). But in a file-based environment, it’s going to get a lot busier — cereal companies and fast-food outlets are already offering music files as premiums. Producers got a taste of lost revenues when optical disc piracy became rampant a decade ago. The migration of music from disc to download is certainly going to exacerbate that problem. Start figuring it out now, before it — and the money — gets too far out of your hands. ■

Lydkraft/Tube-Tech ....................................55 Media Tools ................................................47 Merging Technologies ..........................20-21 Neutrik ........................................................53 Resolution – W|N ........................................65 Sadie ..................................Inside Back Cover Salzbrenner Stagetec Media Group ..........63 SBES ............................................................69 Schoepes ....................................................15 SCV London ................................................51 Sonic Distribution........................................61 Sonifex ........................................................66 Soundﬁeld/Drawmer ..................................67 Stirling Syco ................................................33 Studer ............................Outside Back Cover Studio Spares ..............................................31 Tannoy ........................................................29 TC Electronics ............................................54 TL Audio......................................................49 TL Commerce ............................Classiﬁed 71 Turnkey ........................................................27 Ultrasone ....................................................57 Vintage Design............................................17 Waves ..........................................................41

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SACD ‘PROPAGANDA’ Why is it that seemingly everyone who writes about SACD-related topics feels it necessary to load their articles with pro-SACD propaganda and statements of doubtful veracity about the alleged superiority of their format over other media? (The advantages of DXD for SACD by Mikael Vest, Resolution V3.5) It’s not about manufacturers writing articles instead of journalists, either: see the article on DSP-based monitors in the same issue, by Tannoy’s Tim Lount, (p48) who is quite able to extol the virtues of his company’s approach without feeling it necessary to gratuitously trash the opposition. As a professional audio writer for many years, I know it’s entirely possible to talk about a technical subject — or even a technical product or area — in which there are several choices without having to denigrate one while discussing another, but this approach appears to escape these partisan authors, who seem to think that SACD is such an endangered species that it must be protected by loaded statements at all costs whenever the opportunity raises its head. While there are some good points made in Vest’s article — for example pointing out the importance of pulse response, and slow filter roll-offs to reduce ringing — what little meat there is, in my opinion, is overshadowed by the gratuitous point-scoring attempts. To take just a few examples: The version of SACD available today does not include ‘text and graphics’, even though it may well have been in the Sony/Philips proposal of 2000, although presumably you could put them in a CD-ROM format on the Red Book layer as you could with any CD. SACD II will allegedly have these features, but it is misleading to infer that they are available on current SACDs, as Vest does. To say that ‘there are now no real obstacles, either commercially or technically, in just releasing music as SACD’, and to talk about ‘the large base of surround systems’ as if they were able to play SACD conceals the fact that there are perhaps 4 million at most, and possibly no more than half that, players in the world capable of replaying an SACD in surround or at high resolution, and that the majority of hybrid discs are bought by people who have no means of playing their high resolution content — indeed, much of the time they think they have bought a regular CD. There IS a highly popular surround format: it’s called DVD-Video. Even in the case of the other hi-res audio disc format, DVDAudio, there are almost 20 million players out there — many times more than the number of SACD players. It is not realistic at this time to consider releasing only high-resolution formats, unless they also include a Red Book capability, as in a hybrid SACD or a DVD-A/CD DualDisc. It is difficult to see what the question of copyprotection on SACD versus DVD-A — where in fact the two formats have very different schemes that appear equally secure, contrary to Mr Vest’s partisan comments — has to do with recording and editing in DXD. Indeed, virtually all the ‘key advantages’ that Vest ascribes to SACD (unnecessarily stated, one would think, in an article of this type) — ‘efficient copy protection; ... an optional CD layer for backwards compatibility; stereo and multichannel mixes... available on the disc; significantly improved sound quality compared

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to CD...’ — could equally be applied to DVD-Audio and DualDisc. The remaining ‘advantage’ Vest gives for SACD, namely compatibility with analogue recording archived in DSD, is an odd one as DSD is in fact a poor medium for archiving due to its lack of transparency (see Coding for High Resolution Audio Systems, J Robert Stuart, JAES Vol 52 No 3, March 2004.)

noise. Unfortunately the company with whom it originated can’t recommend that as it cuts across all the marketing telling us we could hear astonishingly high frequencies.’ Now that’s what I like to see in a professional audio magazine. In my view, as a past pro audio magazine editor, there should be room both for facts presented as facts, and for opinion presented as opinion. I would suggest that propaganda masquerading as facts is best left to the tabloids. Richard Elen, Meridian Audio, Huntingdon, UK Where on earth did this DXD propaganda come from in your latest issue? I’ll be interested to see if anyone can be bothered to detail all the holes in the arguments in your letters column, I guess most people will read the ﬁrst couple of paras and turn the page. The DSD noise curves are not right, the assertions about 128fS DSD are not right. A 2.8224MS/s 1-bit A-D convertor does not give an audio bandwidth of 2.8224MHz, in fact with a couple of careful tweaks it just about makes the equivalent of a 20-bit spec from 20Hz to 20kHz. Using 352.8KS/s 32-bit for audio is way over the top, and a propaganda package. Tony Faulkner, Green Room Productions, Hareﬁeld, UK

Those of us who remember the Shannon-Nyquist theorem may have trouble with the statement that ‘A very big advantage of DSD is that the audio bandwidth is equivalent to 2.8224MHz’. This is the sample rate, not the bandwidth. In principle, standard DSD as used in SACD offers a similar bandwidth to 192kHz PCM. In practice, the high levels of ultrasonic noise give DSD severe problems at high frequencies, limiting the dynamic range to the region of a mere 40dB or so and requiring most players to have filters at 50kHz to deal with the problem. This means that in real life, SACD is capable, at best, of similar performance to 96kHz PCM in the frequency domain, and considerably less dynamic range — where 24-bit PCM offers 144dB across the entire bandwidth. The above also gives the lie to the statement, in a paragraph feeling it necessary to compare SACD and DVD-Audio that ‘SACD has a higher bandwidth, enabling a more precise representation of music impulses’. Following this with the comment that ‘the difference is... marginal’ immediately raises the question that if this is the case, then, why make the statement in the first place, other than to attempt to score gratuitous points? I am also curious about the origin of a rising DSD-like noise spectrum for 176.4kHz PCM appearing in Figure 3. One would expect a 24-bit 176.4kHz PCM system to exhibit a fairly flat -144dB trace up to Nyquist. It is similarly curious to see the enormous DSD noise levels in Figure 3 passing without criticism, while the author is quick to jump on far less significant ‘shortcomings’ of PCM. For technical accuracy, you can’t beat John Watkinson. In ‘What’s wrong with 44.1 kHz/16-bit?’ (Resolution V3.3 p62) he notes ‘If you consider information theory, a 16-bit sample can specify 65,536 levels whereas a one-bit [DSD] sample can only specify two. Thus to get the same information capacity [as CD] SACD would have to have a sampling rate 32,000 times as high as CD. Clearly it doesn’t. Instead it relies on high levels of noise shaping to boost the performance of its inadequate bit rate. All the noise is concentrated at HF. Actually, SACDs sound better played through a phase linear 20kHz low pass filter as it gets rid of more

Thanks for the comments received on my article in Resolution. Just to clarify, there are three main points to the article: to explain DXD; to draw attention to the drawbacks of recording directly in DSD when doing recordings for SACD, and instead to consider recording directly in DXD or 2/4 times FS PCM; and ﬁnally to state that SACD now is a mature commercial technology through the whole ‘food chain’ from music recording to playback at consumers on affordable players. The article is not a comparison between SACD and DVD-A. I am, however, convinced that most readers would realise the SACD focused angle of the article, and thereby interpret comparison remarks between SACD and DVD-A as an elaboration over relevant differences between the two formats, on which there, of course, can be different opinions. In the following I have summarised a reply to the comments received. Regarding the DSD noise curves for 64 and 128 times FS they are indeed correct. They are measured on the Digital Audio Denmark (DAD) Axion A-D/D-A convertor. Recording in DXD is relevant especially when editing music on workstations (like Pyramix) that are operating with the DXD format internally. Since the DAD A-D convertor delta/sigma modulator samples with 128xFS on a 5-bit basis, it makes perfect sense to directly generate the DXD format in the A-D convertor. In that way the recorded signal preserves the best pulse response, and the lowest noise. Regarding the bandwidth of DSD it is correct that it is not 2.822MHz, as written in the article, this is the sample frequency, I have to have a serious talk with my computer keyboard to avoid these types of mistyping errors in the future. The bandwidth can of course not be higher than half the sample-frequency giving 1.411MHz. The important point is, however, that the DSD bandwidth is sufficiently high to allow for relative smooth filtering of the high frequency noise on the D-A output. Scarlet Book defines a narrow band mode with a filter at 50kHz with a slope of 30dB/oct. And a wide band mode with no filtering. The 50kHz filter does have a better pulse response than a brick-wall type of filter needed at around 40kHz for 96kHz PCM sampling if reasonable attenuation

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has to be obtained at the half sample-frequency. The resulting pulse response, which can be obtained in narrow band mode, is a response with a 50% better pulse response than for 96kHz, but DSD has a 20% higher bit-rate — and there by a requirement for storage capacity. According to the theory of noise shaping filters, DSD enables a dynamic range within the 20Hz-20kHz between 120 and 130dB depending on the actual implementation, which is actually the same as the performance of modern high-end A-D convertor chips. This must be considered sufficient for a high definition audio format, where a trade off also has to be made against CD disc space, playing time and the availability of simultaneous stereo and surround tracks on the media. Regarding the text and graphics functions, it is correct that it is not available in the current SACD format, but is planned in the forthcoming SACD II format. The essential point is, however, that this can be available when SACD begins to gain momentum. Thus being a relevant asset to SACD. Regarding the DVD surround systems installed in homes, there are today a large number of system set-ups as home cinema solutions. The majority of these, however, cannot directly play SACD or DVD-A. The most surround systems are also relatively cheap low-end types, with an audio quality that would not give the full benefit of the quality of SACD or DVD-A. The point is, however, that the barrier for consumers to ‘think surround’ has been broken. People are happy with home cinema set-ups in their homes, and are willing to spend money, and reserve the physical space required for the speakers in living rooms, etc. Now with the availability of US$200 combined DVD and SACD players it would be possible for most consumers to ‘upgrade’ to SACD. Regarding the noise spectrum of the 176.4kHz PCM signal it does have a rise of noise in the higher frequency. From a simple theoretical point of view this would seem wrong, and one would expect the noise to be flat within the Nyquist bandwidth. But the convertor chip doing the A-D conversion (CS5381) is, as all high-end convertors today, based on a delta sigma modulator, in this case a 5-bit one. The PCM signal is generated by noise-shaping the signal from the modulator, thus giving a rise in noise above 40kHz. The noise then has a roll-off corresponding to the convertor anti-aliasing filter. In fact, the high frequency noise of the DXD noise curves also originates from the A-D convertor chip. DXD has theoretically a flat noise floor. The statements by John Watkinson on information theory are of course correct in the ‘mathematical world’. Is has, however, been practice for some years now to use delta sigma convertors for A-D and D-A conversion of audio signals. The audio performance of these convertors is better than what it has so far been possible to obtain (even for 16-bit 44.1kHz types) with conventional commercial A-D and D-A convertors using, for example, flash or successive approximation conversion principles. Thereby the amount of information of a 1-bit PCM convertor with 64 times over sampling is the same as for DSD64. With multibit convertors and convertors with over sampling higher than 64 times, more information is available. The whole topic of SACD, and for that matter DVD-A, is, of course, quite comprehensive and I would like to encourage the music industry and manufacturers to move forward with implementations, and indeed continue the discussion on related issues. I will be very happy to participate in any discussion. Mikael Vest, Digital Audio Denmark (mv@digitalaudio.dk))

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